Essense of appreciating beauty

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever thought of what really constitutes beauty?, or more specifically, appreciation of beauty?. On its own beauty is meaningless. Its power comes from the effect it has on you. I recall once going to this wonderful garden tended by this really old man. The garden was this really huge sprawling space filled with incredible sights and smells. Orchids, carnations, roses, daisies, many tropical plants and ferns, huge trees.... it was almost too much to take in. So I walked over to the old man as he sat pruning a rose bed and asked him.

"Is there a spot from where I can really take all this in? I mean, is there some place from where I can, you know, maybe see the whole garden and , you know, maybe get the real essence of all this fantastic stuff that you have done?

He looked up, slowly, locked his rheumatic eyes with mine.

"You really want that?"

"Yeah, absolutely"

So he slowly got up on his feet, reached out for his cane and shuffled ahead.

"Follow me", he said over his shoulder.

We walked past all the beautiful flowers to an isolated corner. It had nothing but a single potted plant in the center with a chair beside it.

"Sit here on this chair and focus on this flower, admire it, see it, smell it, touch it.... and when you are done just whistle. I will take this flower away and fetch you another. The only way to get to the essence of all this beauty around you is to take it one flower at a time."

Essense of being found

There is this little Bar close to where I used to work and often in the evening I would go across with some friends and sit back and chill. It is a lovely place, relaxed, great music, great decor, but for me what made the place special was this young bartender. He was the life of the bar, always ready with a smile, always remembered what you liked to drink, knew exactly when to come over and chat and when to leave you alone. He had been there for a long long time and I often wondered what he was doing in this little place. He was clearly too good for this bar, he could choose any of those upmarket drinking holes where he would have made much much more money that he did here. But day after day, month after month he was always there. The same place, the same smile. What added to his aura was this intriguing talk that once he was just like one of the regular customers. And much like me he liked to come in the evening and unwind. It is said that he had this lovely companion most of the time, an upcoming model. Then something happened and one day he asked the manager if he could move behind the bar. Good for us, really, but still why not move on?

One day I was alone so I chose to sit at the bar nursing a drink and he came over to chat. I couldn't let the chance go so I shamelessly asked him what kept him here. He continued to polish a glass, looked around as if making up his mind, then he turned towards me and said.

"When I was a little boy my mom used to take me to the park. And she used to always tell me, listen son, if we ever lose each other don't you go around looking for me. Just stay where you are so that I can find you."

Essense of being brave

It is said that the Israelites and Philistines were head to head on opposite mountains with the valley of Elah separating them. The two great armies faced each other ready for the battle. While the Israelites had many a brave soldiers, all of them shuddered at the sight of this giant among the Philistines. The giant, Goliath, bellowed fearsomely and called upon the Israeli warriors to meet him one on one in the valley of Elah and decide the battle. Days went by but no Israelite would take up the challenge and the King was running out of options. One day a lad by the name David came to deliver the daily bread to the king and heard him despair about the giant. So David went up to the king and told him that he was willing to fight Goliath. The King was overcome by the lad's bravery and gave him his personal armour. But the armour was too big for the little lad so he left the armour behind and began climbing down to the valley. Along the way he picked up five smooth stones for his sling shot and was ready to meet the giant. Goliath saw David come down and he was enraged that they dare send him such a puny opponent. So he growled like a thousand lions and ran down to crush David. It was a fearsome sight, this huge giant trundling towards little David, eyes all bloodshot, arms spread wide itching to crush, the barrel chest heaving....

David waited, and waited, his sling ready and swinging slowly. He waited some more and just when he thought it was right he swung the sling shot and out flew the stone. The stone was aimed perfectly and hit Goliath right in the middle of the eyes. His skull split and the giant instantly fell at David's feet. Dead as a dodo.

Ofcourse all of us know this story but tell me have you ever wondered what made little David take up the challenge that all the other warriors didnt dare? The first thing he did was overcame his own fear. That must have been difficult but once he had no fear the rest was, i imagine, easy. That is how one destroys monsters in our own lives. We first overcome our own fears, we then stand our ground. And then when we meet the monster, our lack of fear allows us to think clearly, allows us to do what we have to do to overcome that monster.

Zen master and the little boy

There was a little boy in a village who lived next door to a zen master. When the little boy turned 14, his father gave him a pony. All the neighbours were delighted and said "how very wonderful". However, when the zen master heard the news all he said was "well, lets see..."

Two years later the boy was riding his pony and somehow fell from it and broke his leg. The neighbours all came together, clicked their tongues and said "how very terrible".

The zen master saw this and all he said was "well, lets see..."

A year later a war was declared and all the able bodied boys were sent off to the front. The boy was spared as he was a cripple. The neighbours were happy for him and said "how very fortunate..."

The zen master saw this too and said "well, lets see...."

So what's the point of my story????

"well, lets see....."

Being Hindu

Last few days i felt good about being a hindu... its seems a few thousand years ago some intrepid hindus travelled far east and spread the good god's word. Far east, really far east, far east like Java, Bali, Thailand and a whole lot of countries in between. The locals lapped it up and made a whole new religion for themselves.

So when a couple of millennium later I landed in Bali I saw around me all those familiar sights of beautiful hindu temples, colourful offerings, joss sticks and diyas. Even the gods were all familiar gods like Ishwara, Brahma, Vishnu & Mahesh.

We went to a traditional dance performance and they did a piece from Ramayan. A few days later we saw another performance, this time based on the Mahabharata. Our taxi driver spoke to us about Karma and how one had to be good right now so that in the next life we came back as humans and not animals. Somehow he got talking about how some religions were not tolerant of other religions but didnt they understand that all religions were mere paths leading to the same destination. Therefore why should one say that this path is better that the other, or why should one have to choose and stick with just one path?.

He spoke with difficulty, English was not his strong point but to me he neednt have spoken at all, his thought have been my thoughts for as long as I can remember, drilled and hard coded in my brain from all those spiritual lectures my devout grandma used to give us each night.

The final surprise was kept right till the end. On our way to the airport our taxi driver inserted a CD into the player. He smiled and said "you will like this" and from the speakers wafted in a melodiously sung Gayatri Mantra!!!

Feeling at home apart there was another reason why I felt good about being a hindu. Twice while haggling over the price of an artifact we were offered a special discount.... "you from India??? you Hindu??? here special special price....