Washing Machine, Satan, Rumi and God!

Dear Radhi,

We did not come into this world to enjoy, accumulate and go. We have come here to grow. To evolve. And to evolve spiritually. We came in as dirty clothes and have to go back as clean clothes. Only if we are spotlessly clean we will go to adorn God's beautiful body. Or else we might be returned to the world for another round of washing and drying.

I am really moved by the involvement with which you read my blogs. To have such a reader is the greatest blessing for a writer.

At the highest level, Muvaiya, Rumi, Propeht Mohammed, Jesus, Buddha, Nammazhwar, Andal... everyone is the same and they talk the very same language, the language of pure, selfless love.

Now we have a very interesting question raised by sreedevikan, what is the connection between the first part and the second part of the blog.

Please do read the response I am going to give her and let me know your views as well.
love,
sridhar

 

Dear Seetha,

Well, when it comes to titles I am about the naughtiest man in the site. My titles are always misleading. But I am giving my life to see that the contents do not.

Welcome to this wonderful community. I am really impressed by your self-description "working grandma". the two words speak a lot about you. I am really happy that I wrote something which a "working grandma" found useful and interesting.

And your title for your fb was OMMMGGG.. Do you know that one of my series (posted in my forum Saturdays With Varalotti) was entitled Oh My God!. It had 17 episodes in all. All about the love stories God had had shared with his devotees.

thanks for the fb, Seetha.
regards,
sridhar

 

Dear Sreedevikan,
Please do not be too harsh on yourself. You are not dull. Your accusation is well founded. You are right. The two incidents are good in themselves but the connection between the two is missing.
There are several ways of answering you. I choose my own story telling way.
Let's say a mother takes her ten year old son to a dentist for a tooth-extraction. Of course local anesthesia is given and the Doctor does the job with utmost care. Even then tooth-extraction has its own share of agony.

The Dentist finishes his job after about an hour's time. The boy is shifted from the Dentitst's chair to another chair in the same room. As the boy is looking at his mother through tears the Dentist hands over a large ice cream cup to him. The boy's face brightens. He forgets the pain and devours the ice-cream.

Now, Sreedevikan, the Dentist is not an ice-cream merchant. And there is no connection between tooth extraction and eating ice-cream. Even if it is necessary the Dentist could have simply told the boy's mother to get him some ice cream.

Apparently there is no connection. But why the hell did the Dentist do that? Only to minmise the pain, make the boy forget the pain.

I have explained through the metaphor of a washing machine, the kind of cleaning process used by God. We should know that no metaphor can hold a candle to God's love or his actions. For instance if you had dropped a soft saree in the machine and had by mistake switched on to the level that is used for hard blankets.. well, the Washing Machine is not going to forgive you. Nor is it going to be soft to the saree. It will literally tear it apart. But God has never done that kind of a mistake. In that way Washing machine might not be the correct example.

But I had to use it nevertheless to drive home a significant point.

All of you, including Maran, would have understood. But in the back of your minds you will have a vague fear that if you have dirt on your heart or mind, God is going to use a painful process to remove that. You might start fearing God, which to me is the end of loving God.
So like the dentist I wanted to give you a cup of ice cream just to tell you that God is not that hard. A washing machine acts only on the power of electricity. God acts on the power of his infinite love. So I added Muvaiya's story to balance the hard feelings of fear which you might have had while reading about the washing machine.

I hope I have substantiated the connection between Washing Machine and Muvaiya. Should you want more, please let me know.
love,
sridhar

 

Bhargavi,

That's exactly what I want. That's the advantage of using a day to day working example. Whenever you see that the learning is reinforced.
But at the next level what happens is that whatever you see reminds you of God and His love.
Nammazhwar says that whenever he sees clouds he loses himself.தொக்க மேகப் பல்குழாம்கள் காணும் போது தொலைவன் நான்
Likewise there's an advantage in Satan chanting the vedas. Once you listen to Satan you will never forget those verses. And if our heart is full of love the evil intentions of Satan can never get hold of us. At the same time Satan can even become our Master in teaching something valuable. That's what happened to Muvaiya.
thanks for coming in,
sridhar

 

Chithra,
you might have heard about Swami Dattathreya. He was so much of love that he considered almost every around him as his teacher. Even the street dog taught him something and Dattathreya did not hesitate to fall at the feet of the dog to express his gratitude.
Thanks a lot Chithra for coming in and thanks a lot for your kind words.
sridhar

 

Dear Anabika,

How can I not miss you? This blogspace is a small family which congregates every week. It's like the family members sitting before the dining table. If one of the members is not there, how can I not miss her? Her place is vacant. And in this family as it happens in many places no one can take the place of the person who is not there.

I am happy you came early this time. As you rightly said the order of the comment is not that important. The important thing is to read and post a comment. Comments are like food to me. You can change the order; but should not deny that to me. I am sure no DD would let her appa hungry. Even yesterday my daughter called me from Chennai to shout at me because I skipped dinner.

It was 11 30 pm yesterday when I completed the long reply to Sreedevikan. Please go through that and let me know what do you think.

I am happy that you enjoy my replies to fb as well. You see it's like a family eating together. I have a duty of love to respond to the person who has commented on my work. That's the least I can do to her for having spent her time reading the blog and posting a comment.

Appa should not thank his DD. But how can I say that I am thankful to you for coming in and for those kind words?
regards,
appa