Oh My God! Episode 13

Archana,
Thanks a ton for your kind words. You have quoted the lines I love the most from the post. Thanks again.
love,
sridhar

 

Dear EQ,
Thanks for the nice fb. I was a little hesitant to use such strong, stinging words when Arvind replied to the query. But certain things have to be told clearly and firmly in the very first time.
Of all the religious stories I read the story of the two brothers affected me the most. I would rate that story as the most spiritual story I have ever read.
My boss in the CA firm where I apprenticed used to say, 'If you want to be a billionaire run away from your house before finishing your school. And if you want to be a millionaire run away after completing your school or half way through the college. But if you want to be stuck in middle class all your life do a hard course like CA."
At that time I enjoyed. But now I differ from him. Just study what you love to. Whether it would be useful or not, do not bother. Anything you study with love, with sincerity would surely help you to grow. That's the very crux of education. And can be applied to all the activities.
Hope the post helped you answer some of your DS's questions at least.

Have a great vacation, EQ. And come back refreshed and rejuvenated. Take care and God bless,
love,
sridhar

 

Hi Shrika,

It's really heartening to know that you find my posts helpful especially when you are passing through troubled times or when you are depressed.

Let me start my reply with a very sincere prayer that you should never have trouble or depression.

I was amused by your observation that my writings get better week after week. I think it is because of your fb and the enormous practice I get in answering each of them. That's the preparatory work for the next episode.

I am happy to know that you liked the story of the two brothers.

And I congratulate you for raising such a deep question. I will have to nevertheless admit it has been raised several times in the past. I am not happy with the existing answers to the question.

When God does something good, we thank God. But when he does something why can't we question God?
The earlier answers are that God can't be questioned, it was because of our past sins... and so on.

But my answer is quite different. When something bad happens you can question God. You can blast him.

But please listen to me Shrika. This is a very delicate point. When something bad happens you can question God. But I tell you with a loving God ever present to look after us, nothing bad ever happens.
Then you ask, "Then sridhar sir, how do you explain our griefs, sorrows, pains and problems?"
The problem is squarely with us. Our ego has got a nasty habit of sticking on to the status quo. But that is a recipe for stagnation. God wants us to go up. But ego has glued us to the chairs. And God lifts us up. Because of the glue we get pain. It's just an illusion. When we understand this there is no place for pains or problems. And God never does anything bad for us. Why should he?

Thanks for the fb, Shrika.
love,
sridhar

 

Dear Gayu,

That was a beautiful response, Gayu. I enjoyed it. And you have given a practical solution to many of our problems.

A few years back I happened to have a meeting with a client who was plagued by sales tax problems. Well, I was not a consultant for his sales tax matters. I was advising him on the business process only.
But he was so depressed with his problems that he was absolutely restless during the meeting.

I asked him to open his diary and write against that day "Today I was so bothered by my sales tax problems that I even thought of quitting the business."
"You are right, Sridhar. That's what I think."
Now that you have recorded it in your diary, let's talk about something else. We talked about the new projects and expansion plans for about an hour before I took leave of him.
I met him after three months. He had the diary before him. I asked him to open the diary and go to the page for the day on which we had the first meeting. The day on which he was depressed by sales tax. He opened the diary, saw the entry he had made and started laughing. Because the problem had now been solved and he had a totally different set of problems.
I told him, "Like your body cells your problems get completely changed every three months or six months or whatever. What you thought was a life threatening problem is today a matter of laughter. That's life for you. Once you understand that you'd never let your problems interfere with your love and happiness."

God operates under a golden law. Whatever is indispensable had never been impossible. Failure to understand this law is the root cause of all our worries, hypertension and heart attacks.

I salute you gayu for your brilliant fb.
love,
sridhar

 

Srividya,
thanks for coming in again to share your experience. It's quite thrilling. Nice of you to have shared OMG 13 with your Dad. Hope he liked the story.

And Srividya, your temple visit was an expression of pure love for God. When you go to His temple with nothing but love, with gratefulness and without petitions, then your visit itself becomes holy. With that kind of attitude you would have given happiness to those who visit the temple. Because that thought which your filled your mind with peace would have given you some aura which would have given peace to others.

That's why we keep on visiting saints and great people. When you strongly feel the need for something then to that extent your aura is diminished and your presence would only make others suffocating.

As we do not deserve anything in this world, and as God has given us so many things which we do deserve the least, the only attitude with which we go to a temple should be of gratitude. Of gratefulness. Of love and affection for the Almighty.

thanks Srividya.
love,
sridhar

 

Most Gracious Ladies,

I could not post OMG 14 on Friday as usual. I thought of posting it on Saturday. Or at least today (Sunday). I have got the idea crystallized but need to get it into writing and post it.

Now if I post now there would be once again a delay in my responding to your fb. In fact I feel guilty that for OMG 12 and 13 my responses to your fb were inordinately delayed.

Let me complete the work at hand. I will post OMG 14 as usual this Friday around 5 30 pm, the usual time. This episode and the next are going to be really special. And I need some more time for organising my thoughts.

Please forgive me for the delay. Will see you on 3rd July, 2009.

love,
sridhar

 

Hi Shrika,

Thanks for coming back to the thread to express your views. I am really touched.

In fact since Saturday I have been feeling guilty that I could not post OMG 14 on time. I thought of posting it on Saturday but could not do it. Then I decided to skip a week and post it on Friday (3rd July) at the usual time.

My feeling of guilt came down because of two factors - one your fb when you have told me not to mind the delays. And two only an hour ago I completed OMG 14 first draft. And I was crying all the way. May be God made me cry a lot when I was writing OMG 14 to make some kind of amends for my omitting to post it on time.
thanks for the response, Shrika.
love,
sridhar

 

Most Gracious Ladies,

The time has come at last. In a few seconds from now I will be uploading OMG 14.

As I always do I had given enough "build-up" for this episode. There are strong reasons for that. Number one I gathered the story from a very old book in my library. As soon as I saw the frayed cover of the book I remembered the story. And I opened the book at a random page and this story came before my eyes.

And then I have been doing the job of "packing and moving" for more than ten days. The story is a bit too long. But fortunately it is very neatly divided into two time periods. I am giving the story for the earlier time period now.

I might be posting this week's episode 5 minutes earlier than the usual time. But ladies my posting is delayed by more than 168 hours as I could not post the story last week.

I have already given enough reasons. I am holding back the sweetest of all reasons - which I would be hopefully able to tell you by this Tuesday.

Again this week I have to skip the epilogue. I want you to finish reading the post with the powerful story lingering in your mind. We will have epilogues in the coming weeks.

As I told you earlier light a lamp, or chant the God's name once or think of His love before you start reading.

Looking forward to your loving responses.

take care and God bless,
love,
sridhar