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Conversation With The Lord

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by Viswamitra, Sep 12, 2021.

  1. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    With vigorous meditation, Viswa invoked Lord Ganesha to appear before him. “Goodness Gracious, you woke up to take care of twin responsibilities of performing the rituals for your dad and perform pooja for me?” said Lord in His sweet voice. Viswa asked, “I am sorry Lord. What did you say?” Lord Ganesha starred at Viswa and told him to take his thoughts away from the smell of delicious items cooked in the kitchen. Viswa said, “My apologies Lord. Please forgive me for my temptations” and immediately prostrated to the Lord. Lord said, “After finishing the rituals for your dad, come and see me at the Temple and do 27 thoppukarnam to me”. Viswa folded his hands and accepted it gracefully. The Lord made Viswa wait until 1:30 p.m. to get the priest to perform rituals at the temple, visit the Lord and then leave for home. All those delicious meals prepared at home were consumed by Viswa only by 3 p.m. Lord has His unique way of teaching lessons.

    Now, the scene shifted to Cheeniya Sir’s residence. “I have been smelling all you were preparing for the past 2 hours after finishing my daily routines plus Ganesh puja. Now, you bring limited quantities of each of these items?” said Cheeniya Sir to his wife. His wife responded gently with a smiling face, “Have you forgotten that your doctor has strictly advised you to be on diet?” Cheeniya Sir responded, “It is time for me to change the physician as we don’t communicate well with each other”.

    The next scene is in SLN Sir’s residence. “Appa, if you have finished Ganesh pooja, your lunch is ready” said SLN Sir’s daughter. After finishing elaborate puja, SLN Sir looked at the delicious Semiya payasam and medu vada with great love. He remembered the negotiations he and his physician had about granting exemption to consume medu vada occasionally as they both are die heart fans of medu vada. SLN Sir gently soaked a piece of medu vada in chutney and sambar as though he was handling a precious gem and put it into his mouth. He thought to himself, “Isn’t this a moment I waited for?”

    Lord Ganesha orders a post lunch meeting with all three seniors in His court. Cheeniya Sir, SLN Sir and Viswa assemble themselves in the court of Lord Ganesha wearing Vibhuti in the forehead and with a towel tied around the waist above the dhoti each one of them were wearing. After all of them prostrated to the Lord, the Lord gently said, “I am going to ask each one of you a question and if you answer the question correctly, I will exempt you from taking whatever you feel like eating from now on”.

    The first question was to SLN Sir. The Lord asked, “Why your favorite vada is called “Medu Vada?” SLN Sir being an intellectual knew the answer and said, “Even though it has a crispy outer layer, its inner texture is very soft and spongy made of dhal. Hence it is aptly named as Medu Vada”. He was blessed to have anything he likes from that time onwards. The next question was to cheeniya Sir. The Lord asked, “What is the significance of Modak having a white outer layer while the sweet poornam is inside?” Cheeniya Sir being very advanced and deep in his spiritual knowledge answered, “It is to let the devotees know that once they break the outer koshas, inside is the sweetest Anandamaya Kosha”. The Lord blessed him and said, “You are now allowed to eat whatever you like without any fear”.

    Viswa was in great tension as two of his senior friends were blessed after they answered the questions right. He was wondering what the next question would be. The Lord asked, “What is the lesson learned by me circumambulating my parents to win the mango fruit brough by Sage Narada?” Viswa scratched his head and answered, “Because the mouse can’t go around the world faster than the peacock?” Lord said, “Wrong answer” and asked Viswa to do another 27 thoppukarnam which he did right away. Then Lord said gently, “The entire universe is manifestation of the divine Iswara and hence when I circumambulated my parents, it is equivalent of going around the world”. The Lord also ordained Viswa to reveal what happened to all ILites without hiding the ignorance of Viswa.
     
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  2. Mistt

    Mistt IL Hall of Fame

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    Viswa Sir,
    Nice write up! I was imagining the scenes and smiling while reading entire snippet. Thank you for your snippet because it reminds me to do thoppukarnam. I don't know how I forgot them and I do them now in front of Ganesha before Nimajjanam.
     
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  3. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    @Mistt,

    Thank you for your first response. I am glad this thread reminded you to do Thoppukarnam. Now Yoga masters in the US have rechristened it as "Super Brain Yoga" as it has a special effect on our brains when we hold the soft part of our ear lobes by criss-crossing the hands and keep doing sit-ups. I also remember to do it only when I am in front of Ganesh Idol in the temple. I must do more of it regularly to activate my dormant brain.
     
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  4. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Excellent Viswa. I had a smile on my face when I started reading it and it grew into a large grin in the end.
    I am a great fan of the Italian writer Giovanni Guareschi. His Don Camillo series are fabulous. Don Camillo is a devout parish priest who has a dialogue with the Lord every night on the day's happenings.
    Though a priest, the Lord doesn't support all his actions and He can be brutally critical too!
     
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  5. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Beautiful, Viswa! Neatly done! Of course the inclusion of our dear ILites is a master stroke that could overshadow the rest. But that doesn't happen -- the lessons and message so nicely woven into a breezy narration, the right combination of gentle humor, only a teeny tiny hint of self-deprecation. My favorite part, a sacrilege as it is to choose one part, was the ending. Viswa's tension, the Lord's guiding Viswa and Viswa himself narrating it all to us ... This has all the becomings of a short epic.

    I am typing up cooking recipes for a young adult right now. I was subconsciously thinking of the lessons and "life curriculum" you have created for 12-17 year olds. That thought made me check IL .. and I read this snippet .. I will forever associate this snippet, the Lord and the Lord's wisdom with the recipes. Can't think of a better blessing for the recipes.
     
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  6. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Cheeniya Sir,

    What a coincidence that you have quoted Giovanni Guareschi and his Don Camillo series here in response to my thread! I heard about Giovanni Guareschi from a fellow spiritual participant in a Zoom call that I had in the Hospice last week and she was narrating how she used to enjoy reading conversation of Don Camillo with Jesus and Peppone, the communist Mayor of the town. Who said world is not connected! Now, you both have motivated me enough to go and read Giovanni Guareschi's conversations with Jesus.
     
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  7. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    @Rihana

    What a wonderful response from you! It is an honor for two moderators visiting this thread in a day! Despite me failing the test with Lord Ganesha, He continues to bless me with His grace. You highlighted my greatest weekness of not able to write self-deprecating humor. Somehow, when I write something like that I believe it has an effect on my self-confidence which might be wrong. Only places where I wrote such comments is in my conversations with the Lord in the past. Thank you for your words of appreciation and I am humbled.

    Congratulations on preparing a cooking recipe for the young adults. You should make it a full-blown book format with index and even divide it into 30 days recipe cycle so that one dish is not repeated within a month. This could become a circulating book among young adults. I will be happy to send how I convinced the parents to send their children aged 12-17 to my class through a private message to you, if you like.
     
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  8. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    Kudos to your power of imagination. it is nice to know that you had chosen His birth day to invoke blessings and he had given you the apparition.

    Was it a reverie after sumptuous ceremony food or scenes took place deep in your mind at the end of a meditation session?

    A laudable way of demonstrating reverence to elder members of IL Indeed.
    I thoroughly enjoyed reading your snippet.

    Luckily for me Lord Ganesha not demanded to perform thoppukaranam (T) 27 times. I have a collection of Ganesha Idols in sizes ranging from one inch to four inches made In varieties of materials that include silver, Jade, spatikam, Ivory.. and so on. I am intrigued with number 27. I was contemplating how to associate 27 with Ganeshji! In Tamil almanac there are 27 stars.
    I am at my age find it difficult to do T - in one go not more than three or four at best.

    I posted dancing Ganeshji for IL now in

    Infinite Intelligence

    Stretching the ear lobe and striking five times on either side of temple, activates the frontal lobe which is involved in reasoning, motor control, emotion, and language. It contains the motor cortex, which is involved in planning and coordinating movement; the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for higher-level cognitive functioning; and Broca's area, which is essential for language production.
    Could it all be a kind of acupressure, when kuncles strike temple region gently for T.

    God Bless.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2021
  9. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Thyagarajan Sir, It is pure imagination after reading SLN Sir’s recent thread. As I have written “Conversation with Lord” as a sequel before, I continued this theme roping in Cheeniya Sir and SLN Sir. 27 times is what I practiced when I was young and I still continue this practice even now. I don’t know how long I will be able to do it. Super brain yoga is very popular now in the US after its benefits are widely discussed. When I visited the temple on Friday, I noticed a wonderful young Caucasian family doing thoppukarnam in front of Ganesha along with two children aged approximately 5 and 3 years old.
     
  10. sln

    sln Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Viswa,
    Your imgination has run riot with satiating results . As far as medhu vada is concerned the reverential nomenclature indicates" medhuva rasichu sappidanum"[eat slowly and enjoy] .Everything with a brownish exterior and soft interior does not qualify itself to be called medhu vada which has a celestial flavour and unique divine taste. As far kozhakattai is concerned, you feel like singing ellam inba mayam as the pooranam gets soaked in the overflowing saliva. The thoppukaranam ordered for Viswa is to alleviate the aftereffects of Vada and Modak on SLN and Cheeniya.
    A rummy player did penance before Lord Shiva. Unable to bear the impact and on the appeal of Devas, LORD appeared before the devotee and asked what boon he wanted. The bakth said " very simple .I am a rummy player. Grant me a joker and a natural sequence. Iwill take care of the rest."
    A refreshingly different and delightful article.
    Regards
    SLN
     
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