ghatmaa ghoDaa

I have wonderful memories about the following few lines (Shri Jhaverchand Meghani)

- ઝવેરચંદ મેઘાણી

ઘટમાં ઘોડા થનગને આતમ વીંઝે પાંખ
અણદીઠેલી ભોમ પર યૌવન માંડે આંખ
    
ghaTamAM ghoDA thanagane Atama vIMjhe pAMkha
aNadIThelI bhoma para yauvana mAMDe AMkha

Full poetry here

I had used it for an elocution contest - and come up with my own version then

filam jova thanagane ne vyasane minche aankh
sanmarge kadie na vade upaya choo kare sau lakh

ફ઼િલમ જોવા થનગને ને વ્યસને મીંચે આંખ
સન્માર્ગે કદિએ ન વળે ઉપાય છો કરે સૌ લાખ

filama jovaa thanagane ne vyasane mIMche AMkha

sanmaarge kadie na vaLe upaaya chho kare sau laakha

Point I wanted then to make was - Shri Jhaverchand Meghani had visualized a youth - who is full of energy and enthusiastic to take on unseen land in positive sense ... where as some folks who are devoid of 'satsang' (or misguided) might waste their efforts and energies in wrongdoings/vices


PS: used aksharamukha.appspot.com/converter to have script conversion :-)

potatoes OR karma?

this is no ordinary bag of potatoes .. it is really special - it is one i bought from a big grocery store on Friday (29th May) evening .. but after paying for it - along with few other items - i left the checkout counter little absent minded maybe .. i forgot to pick it up (and i wasn't even aware)

i had checked it off from my list of things to buy - and came home with almost all things from that list .. and then i got a call (after an hour or so) from a friend - whom i did interact with at the store .. no hand-shake of course - just 'namaste' :-) from safe distance

he asked - did i forget a bag of potatoes at the store .. it so happened - that he was there with his dad - and they too bought a similar bag .. and they were just behind me at the counter - and out of confusion - they carried my forgotten bag of potatoes along with their rightfully purchased one .. only when they reached home and unloaded stuff from the vehicle - they realized they both carried one bag each of potatoes (assuming it was their own; the one they paid for) - and the friend mentioned it is extra one they carried - so was thinking to return it back to the store - when his father reminded him about me - and mentioned he did see me carry/pay for a bag of potatoes too ...

when he called and asked and explained the above situation - it is then i realized - i had not been aware that i was missing the bag of potatoes i was supposed to bring home along with other grocery items .. he then said he will drop at our place - soon - which actually happened on Mon (1st June)

i was very happy to know - that even in a big box store - where many do shopping - there was a friend sent by the almighty looking after my special bag of potatoes :-) .. really grateful to the universe for all the blessings

it reminded me of a subhashitam (#187 here)

यथा धेनुसहस्त्रेषु वत्सो विन्दति मातरम् |

तथा पूर्वकॄतं कर्म कर्तारमनुगच्छति ||

- महाभारत

yathaa dhenusahastreShu vatso vindati maataram |

tathaa puurvakRRItaM karma kartaaramanugachChati ||

- mahaabhaarata

which means "Calf recognizes its mother among the herd of thousands of cows; the same way, karma of previous birth (good and bad deeds) goes with the doer."

it also reminded me of somewhat similar incident i had experienced some 2 decades ago .. i was studying for one of my Master degree's interim exam at friends place overnight ... woke up in the morning and rushed for the exam venue - and while getting on to my two wheeler (a scooter) dropped my prized wrist watch (hmt brand) - and when i reached the venue - couldn't find it ... and then my friend (where i was studying overnight) came after me (on his own two wheeler) and asked me if i was missing my watch .. it so happened he noticed it and picked up .. and all fell in place for me by grace of Almighty .. :-)

i am grateful for the GRACE!

learn from the past?

I recall 'grand' story I have heard about my 'great-grand-father' .. according to the 'legend' that goes around in our household - he was once very hard-working and had to work as farm-hand to earn his livelihood (and make ends meet) ... but then he made mental note of all the places he toiled at and somehow became land-lord of all those farms through his great deeds .. and would have many people working for him as farm-hands.

He had 3 sons ..

one of his grand-son - my father - vaguely remembers (when he was very young) that on arrival of a new-born child in the extended family, a cow would be set aside - milk/etc from that cow would be for that particular young one :-)

I like to think he understood the way 'the abundance of universe' works and was in alignment with 'law of attraction' to grow by being in harmony with the flow of nature ..

In absence of detailed account of his business deals if i try to think - did he get 'rich' by creative means OR by competitive ways? ..

I also remember hearing further accounts - there came a time in the history of the then bhaarat (or India) - whereby British rulers of those days brought in the rule where the land would be only owned by those who would till themselves .. i don't know exact details - but it was (from what i understand) in favor or laborers (or workers/farm-hands) and thereby against the land-lords ..

in such situation, any farm-hand raising a claim on any land would get to keep the farm which was owned by the land-lord .. to go through the official procedure, they would have to of course go to nearby town where documentation etc would get done and verified ..

so, as per the story, my great-grand-father was going on his horse to the town when 'summoned' in one such case .. and on his way he sees the farm-hand who had filed (& had been fighting) the 'case' against him for a particular piece of land (where he was working for my great-grand-father) .. of course, as yet - he is not the owner yet - and he was walking on foot .. my great-grand-father gives him ride on his horse-back and they both together go to the 'court' - to 'fight' over the ownership of the land in question :-)

this anecdote makes me happy that my great-grand-father was not 'competitive' in this incident - he could have ignored the farm-hand or even worse - he could have shown behavior depicting enmity - but rather he showed kindness towards one who was going to take away land (of course as per the then 'legal' process) :-)

there is no 'competition' to creativity - because thereby we all can 'win'!

What I want for myself, I want for everybody

i am fortunate to be able to revisit wonderful book that i read some time back - The Science of Getting Rich in a group setting where we discuss one chapter every week on tele-conference - the wonderful interactions of friendly reading buddies (despite of being couple of thousand miles apart in physical distance!) make the understanding much deeper - and the motivation/cohesiveness of the group ensures there is discipline along with fun
[power of संगच्छध्वं ? :-) ... to know more about the invocation/prayer; refer to page 4 of Yoga doc here https://yoga.ayush.gov.in/yoga/public/assets/front/pdf/CYPEnglishLeaflet.pdf ]

Chapter 14 ends with ... the favorite declaration of the late "Golden Rule" Jones of Toledo: "What I want for myself, I want for everybody." (NOTE to SELF - explore more about it/him - TODO)

it reminded me of blog post in Dec 2008 and one more in Feb 2013 :-)

life?

i have read somewhere (some long time back?) -

life is a bitch .. and then you die

Certainly, it sounded pessimistic to me - so, i had to twist it to something happier

Life is a BLISS .. and then you FLY :-)

why be angry? let go :-)

past weekend, i was reminded of a childhood incident - i am kind of ashamed, but i was very young - (when my age was somewhere between 5 to 7?) - and i have forgiven myself now :-)

[from Intenet search]

i was mad at my elder sister for something (since we both were so young - it must have been something trivial or silly - which i don't remember) .. and started running after her - she started going around our dining table - and since she seemed to be out of reach, my 'anger' increased - i noticed simple knife on the table - and i grabbed it in my right hand and started scaring her with that .. while i was 'blinded' by the 'rage', i started to rub the knife on MY own left palm (while continuing to chase her) .. after a round or two around our small dining table, i started feeling some pain and noticed that my sister too had stopped going away from me (saving herself) but came towards me pointing to couple of drops of blood that had fallen on the ground from my delicate and hurt left palm (or fingers) ... soon, i realized that with intent to just express my anger at her, i had actually hurt my own self - And, yes, I forgave my sister too :-)

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned" .. internet search attributes this quote to Gautam Buddha - so, i tag this post on 6th May 2020 (Buddha purnima)

want to hop on the 'happy' train?

universe is a 'happy' bus (or train) ... it takes any happy passenger that hops on to wherever he or she wants to go :-)

it probably doesn't like whining or unhappy folks - hence it makes them detrain for sometime ... don't worry - it goes round and round - so it will again happily take you onboard once you have dealt with your cribbing - so, be cheerful and you will get where you want to go !!