************************************************************************************************************
That is a cute picture of a crane (konga) standing on his one leg by the side of his favorite pond.
If you ever watch him keenly you will find that he looks absolutely still...as still as a yogi. Indeed there is a yogic asana (posture) named for him. He seems to close his eyes and meditate deeply on the Infinite. But the moment he spots a fish that takes him for a rock and approaches him, our crane will promptly abandon his japam (meditation) and grab the poor fish in his expert beak and swallow it...and reverts to his japam once again...it is called Konga Japam in Telugu.
Most of our yogis also are like that, it appears. We read about their paranormal exploits as well as their earthy weaknesses that land them in soup sooner or later.
It is said that only one in a billion acquire the true tranquility that they desire so ardently. Sooner or later they get trapped by their innate instincts for which they are not entirely to blame. Genes overpower all of us.
One morning I was in a barber shop in Gudur enjoying my rare haircut. All of a sudden there was an uproar in the street. And it turned out that news was being broadcast of the incident when some miscreants approached the famous Satya Sai Baba of Puttaparti in his sanctum with daggers drawn trying to stab him. And that he ran away and hid himself in his cellar.
Everyone had their bellyful comment.
One man roared:
"I told you so...this Baba is fake. Were he really a true yogi with the supernatural powers he claims to display, he wouldn't have run away seeking his own shelter abandoning his devotees"
My friend, who had always claimed he was an atheist, suddenly turned a Sai devotee (with a vengeance) at 50 after his first heart attack. Then on he used to try and convert everyone else including me. And his comment about this incident was:
"This is also one of his leelas (playful deeds). By this he wanted to test who were his true devotees and who were fakers"
But I was waiting for Sai Baba's own comment which came a good 6 months later when a reporter asked him why he had to run away to save his life. Sai Baba said:
"Everyone is slave to his inborn instincts. It was my Fate that prevailed then. Even Lord Shiva can't escape his Fate"
That satisfied me immensely. It sounded honest.
When we were renting in an apartment near Banjara Hills 3 years ago, a retired Chief Engineer (80) befriended me. Indeed, after a year of observing me keenly, he paid me a compliment which NO ONE has done so far. He told my son in my presence:
"Your father is very lovable"
Reason was that he used to talk to me for hours at a stretch of his exploits in Bhutan...and he found that I was his only keen listener.
And I used to gift him my Ishani booklets as and when they arrived from the printer. And he used to say:
"I can't follow your English although I try to"
Once he told me:
"It is high time at your age that you think of God and write about Him. I think of God all the time since I have nothing else to do. Prayer cures all our innate bad tendencies like lust, anger, avarice, jealousy, pride. You should visit temples and pray at your age rather than waste your time writing limericks"
I agreed with him heartily and promised to do so.
A month before we quit that place, I saw an ambulance arrive at our gate and our Chief Engineer brought out on a stretcher with his right arm in a sling. He was carried upstairs in a coma by the ambulance driver and his younger brother.
I asked our watchman what happened with our CE. And he said:
"The old man was praying in his meditation room. And there was too much noise coming from the apartment above him. He got enraged and walked up and banged the door and a young man came out. Seeing him, our CE got so angry that he hit him in his abdomen. And the young one pushed the old man with his left arm (he had a bottle in his right arm). Our CE fell down on the floor and had to be rushed to the Care Hospital where the X-ray revealed a fractured collar bone. They bandaged him and sent him home"
QED
************************************************************************************************************
That is a cute picture of a crane (konga) standing on his one leg by the side of his favorite pond.
If you ever watch him keenly you will find that he looks absolutely still...as still as a yogi. Indeed there is a yogic asana (posture) named for him. He seems to close his eyes and meditate deeply on the Infinite. But the moment he spots a fish that takes him for a rock and approaches him, our crane will promptly abandon his japam (meditation) and grab the poor fish in his expert beak and swallow it...and reverts to his japam once again...it is called Konga Japam in Telugu.
Most of our yogis also are like that, it appears. We read about their paranormal exploits as well as their earthy weaknesses that land them in soup sooner or later.
It is said that only one in a billion acquire the true tranquility that they desire so ardently. Sooner or later they get trapped by their innate instincts for which they are not entirely to blame. Genes overpower all of us.
One morning I was in a barber shop in Gudur enjoying my rare haircut. All of a sudden there was an uproar in the street. And it turned out that news was being broadcast of the incident when some miscreants approached the famous Satya Sai Baba of Puttaparti in his sanctum with daggers drawn trying to stab him. And that he ran away and hid himself in his cellar.
Everyone had their bellyful comment.
One man roared:
"I told you so...this Baba is fake. Were he really a true yogi with the supernatural powers he claims to display, he wouldn't have run away seeking his own shelter abandoning his devotees"
My friend, who had always claimed he was an atheist, suddenly turned a Sai devotee (with a vengeance) at 50 after his first heart attack. Then on he used to try and convert everyone else including me. And his comment about this incident was:
"This is also one of his leelas (playful deeds). By this he wanted to test who were his true devotees and who were fakers"
But I was waiting for Sai Baba's own comment which came a good 6 months later when a reporter asked him why he had to run away to save his life. Sai Baba said:
"Everyone is slave to his inborn instincts. It was my Fate that prevailed then. Even Lord Shiva can't escape his Fate"
That satisfied me immensely. It sounded honest.
When we were renting in an apartment near Banjara Hills 3 years ago, a retired Chief Engineer (80) befriended me. Indeed, after a year of observing me keenly, he paid me a compliment which NO ONE has done so far. He told my son in my presence:
"Your father is very lovable"
Reason was that he used to talk to me for hours at a stretch of his exploits in Bhutan...and he found that I was his only keen listener.
And I used to gift him my Ishani booklets as and when they arrived from the printer. And he used to say:
"I can't follow your English although I try to"
Once he told me:
"It is high time at your age that you think of God and write about Him. I think of God all the time since I have nothing else to do. Prayer cures all our innate bad tendencies like lust, anger, avarice, jealousy, pride. You should visit temples and pray at your age rather than waste your time writing limericks"
I agreed with him heartily and promised to do so.
A month before we quit that place, I saw an ambulance arrive at our gate and our Chief Engineer brought out on a stretcher with his right arm in a sling. He was carried upstairs in a coma by the ambulance driver and his younger brother.
I asked our watchman what happened with our CE. And he said:
"The old man was praying in his meditation room. And there was too much noise coming from the apartment above him. He got enraged and walked up and banged the door and a young man came out. Seeing him, our CE got so angry that he hit him in his abdomen. And the young one pushed the old man with his left arm (he had a bottle in his right arm). Our CE fell down on the floor and had to be rushed to the Care Hospital where the X-ray revealed a fractured collar bone. They bandaged him and sent him home"
QED
************************************************************************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment