Will You Let Me Work For You?

Dear Kaluputti,

First things first. Your user ID sounds quite interesting. There has to be some
interesting reason/background for that, which I will be grateful to know.

It is heartening to know that you liked what I had to say on Gita's words, Yogam Karmashu Kaushalam.
I have a friend who is so devoted to Gita that he carries a pocket editon of the book constantly with him. One day I told him as we were discussing about religion, that there is absolutely no difference between reading Gita and listening to film song. I even told him that reading Gita is no way superior to being a waiter at a hotel. He felt offended. He told me what I said was blasphemy and that I have insulted Gita.

I told him that you will be blaspheming the Gita more if you think that reading it can uplift you. Gita is a map, a very good, divine map at that. But at no stretch of imagination can the map, even something as good as Gita, can become the territory. The symbol can never usurp the role of what it represents. So long as we understand this, our life will be in fine balance.

I will be thankful if you can please explain the statement. I can understand that your husband is the second most important man in your life. First is your father, right? Why do you feel that the acceptance was "unwitting"?

regards,

 

Dear Kamla,

Days are such that even if you want to sell some religious books or self improvement books, you need to have the picture of a voluptious actress on the covers. My titles are the closest that I can come to having a sexy actress on the covers of my book. So long as you pay attention to the contents, your ignoring the titles is perfectly okay with me. Some friends like you may not like Nameetha's picture appearing on the cover of the book that talks abour relevance of Gita to our daily life.

Thanks. I am still in the process of learning the lesson. And when I turn out these incidents for others to read, I take that as an opportunity to improve myself, an endeavaour that has been going on for a million lifetimes now, and will be on for a billion more.

You are right, Kamla. It is difficult for ordinary mortals to achieve such a state. Yours truly is a wonderful evidence to prove your point. But reading incidents like these we come to know that there is somewhere beyond the yonder, an ideal point like this towards which we can start to travel. As the Chinese proverb says, the journey of a thousand miles start with a small step.

I wish I also could understand the significance of these statements and help poor Indhu in the household chores. I aspire to do that but end up making a worse mess for her. So the next time when I ask her a la Kaundamani style, "Any help?" she folds her hands in utter despair, "please leave me alone."

thanks.

I am capable of a far worse mess than you can ever imagine, let alone clean up. As to having a heart for you, poor ILites, I have not yet decided. Give me some more time to think.
love,

 

Dear Swetha,
thanks a ton. I too am waiting for the next post. A few ideas are now fighting with each other to come out. Let's see which idea wins the fight.
regards,

 

Dear Vidya,

I would have stood my word if only the place of work is half away across the globe from me.And if you pay for my travel (after all a servant's travel is master's responsibility, right?) I will become most expensive packer in the whole world.

Catchy titles are not for the likes of you and Kamla. I am sure that Kamla and you would have read this post even if I had titled this "Varalotti Blabbers" or "An incident in the life of Sri Ramanuja". But there are new members, juniors who do not know me and I want these people to read my writings.
I got the idea from a zen story. There was a restaurant in a hill town called 7 bells. Outside the door 7 beautiful bronze bells hung in place and the wind would make them chime musically. In spite of this the hotel was languishing for custom. One day a Zen Master happened to pass that way. The owner of the hotel welcomed him to his place, offered him free food and drinks. As the Master was about to leave the owner told him about his problem. The Master looked at the hotel's interior. It was quite good. And the food and drinks were quite tasty. Then he took the owner to the door and pulled out one of the bells and threw it away.
'From now on your hotel will prosper."
"But having taken one bell off should I not name the hotel six bells?"
"Don't ever do that."

Soon a man who was passing by entered the hotel and complained "How come you have named the hotel seven bells but there are only six on the door?"
The owner said about some pending repairs. Meanwhile the person saw the beautiful interior and ordered food. He found it good and ordered for more. Before he paid and went out another person came to the owner with the same complaint. And the complainant soon became a customer.
So is the case with my threads. The title-subject mismatch is the missing 7th bell. It attracts new customers;but I am also aware that it causes a mild frown on the faces of beautiful old customers. Please bear with me.

That was typical Vidya's way of saying nice things about me. Thanks. But as I said earlier, for you and others who know what Gita contains I can market it as such. For others who do not know, Namitha's picture on the cover page is surely a selling point.

The great Tamil writer Chandilyan wrote a beautiful highly readable book on Sri Ramanuja and told his friends, that he was doing some kind of 'prayaschitham' for some of his earlier writings. I read that book several times and this incident is lifted from that book.
Thanks for upgrading me to the guru status (I think that is not in the scheme of things in the new elite-status announced recently). But I would rather prefer to remain in the ordinary ILite status, charged with the responsibility of passing on to other ILites what I consider good and valuable.

Thanks for bringing in two parallels in the modern context.

I am thrilled to find that you have read my reply to Kaluputti. And for me responding to a FB is at least as important as the leader post, if not more.

Enjoyed every word of beautiful fb. Thanks.
love,

 

Dear Swarnalatha,
You are right, Ramanujar's life is an inspiration for all of us, though an imitation of the same, without the underlying love in our hearts is impossible. Enough if we are aware that great people go to that extent to show their love. This knowing would ultimately set us free. You are right, Gandhi, respected the dignity of labour and cleaned the toilets himself and even made his wife do that. Again an impossible example to follow.

This is a valid point. I will give an anecdote to illustrate the point. When I was doing CA, one of my friends used to do his Accountancy problems while listening to Vivid Bharathi (in those days TV was not there; audio systems were not this ubiquitous) He scored very high marks in Accountancy in the CA inter examinations. And then it became a craze in our office to listen to Vivid Bharathi while doing Accounting problems. Legend has it, that one hardworking boy asked his father, 'Dad, get me a Philips Transistor, for unless I listen to Vivid Bharathi while working on my accounts, I may not get high marks.' The father obliged.
But many students failed in the Accounts paper. The lesson we learn from this simple incident is, that the students instead of emulating the other boy's qualities just imitated his methods. There is a world of difference between the two. Emulation is much more difficult, requires hard work and determination; whereas imitation is superficial and easy to follow.
What applies to CA and Vivid Bharathi applies with greater force to Ramanuja. We should not imitate his methods - of working in another house, or wearing a panchakacham or having 12 namam all over the body. But try to emulate his qualities - his love, his humility and his respect for menial work.
Only when people try to mindlessly imitate great souls others see it as an opportunity to "milaka arachify". While doing something out of genuine love no one can cheat us. For when we are in a state of pure love, we are in a state of godliness, and it is impossible to cheat on God.

Welcome to this great community, Swarnalatha. Keep writing more.

regards,