The story of the five fingers

Dear Radha
There is a temple for Lord Subramanya at Swami Malai near Kumbakonam. The legend has it that He sat on His Father Siva’s lap and taught Him the meaning of Pranava. A child teaching the elders is nothing new! In fact, it makes the parents proud too. I am even prouder when my granddaughter tells me such stories!

You are right about the strong bond between the grandparents and the grandchildren. Those days too the bond was as strong but it was never openly flaunted as now. Probably they were obsessed with 'dhrishti' being cast on the children by the outsiders! My granddaughter is my best companion now and she shares with me her daily life on a minute to minute basis!
Sri

 

Dear Viji
"if each one of us can recall an instance where we have played an important role" A commendable way to enhance our self confidence indeed! But let's go a step further. Let us learn to quit thinking that we are a mere cog in the wheel. Every cog is important and even if one becomes dysfunctional, the wheel stops. This thought should make every cog feel not only important but highly responsible too.
Sri

 

Dear Viswa
Thank you for your laudatory words of appreciation for this Rambling of mine.
Most of us do not understand that the roles of Gods in our scriptures are allegorical and not real. It is this flaw in our view of the Divine that causes us to fight for the supremacy of our own gods over the others'. We see in our movies our gods vested with all the human traits only. We find that the goddesses of wealth, knowledge and bravery fighting it out to determine who is the most powerful of them using the humans as their pawns. We see them as possessive as humans. If our gods have two wives, there is a war between them to determine who their Lord loves more! In short, we superimpose our gods with our own traits. We invest God with the same imperfections as we have ourselves.

It is this perception that makes us believe that God has created this beautiful planet for our exclusive use and others have no reason to be here. We find it hard to believe that the stray dog running across the road has been created with a purpose, a purpose as valid and strong as for which we have been created. We find the argument that there is a purpose behind every creation as highly untenable. It is in this context, I love this story of my grand daughter.
Sri

 

Dear Syamala
In a pure symbiotic relationship, the question of importance does not arise at all. I fully agree with your reluctance to use the word 'Important' The proverb that for want of a nail, the shoe was lost stresses on this aspect forcefully. We all have our slotted place in the grand scheme of things and our purpose is known only to our Creator. All we can do is to try and understand our purpose and even if it is not possible, we must put our faith in it.
Sri

 

My dear Viji
Now I am in serious confusion. If the fourth finger is the last finger, why do you say 'instead of fifth finger'? Does the last finger have to be necessarily the fifth? Which finger is actually missing? Fourth or fifth? Merely because every one has five fingers in each foot, we cannot assume that the missing one is the fifth. It could be the fourth that is missing and the fifth is in its rightful place. I have become very pensive now!

Incidentally, in one of the movies starring Dhanush and Chaaya Singh, we were told that if a woman had the second finger longer than the toe, it would be better to avoid her as she was certainly bound to be extremely bossy. I must verify this with some couples of IL!
Sri