Tyaa fulaanchyaa gandh koshi: Part 3

Tyaa fulaanchyaa gandh koshi

Part 3 

5.

मानवाच्या अंतरीचा ~ प्राण तू आहेस का...

Are you the breath (life) in a human being?

I once had a patient who came to me in her early 80s. When she was 90 she was diagnosed with a kidney cancer. I had referred her to oncology. My husband consulted on her at the time and recommended to leave the cancer alone considering her advanced age. She was upset with him for that. Surprisingly despite no intervention she celebrated her 100th birthday ten years after the diagnosis. Even then she had not forgiven my husband! She was just not ready to die. A few years back she finally passed away at the age of 105, and not from the cancer! 

It is indeed something to ponder deeply. What is it that we hold on to so tightly?

Is it the physical body? Even when it is wrinkled, ailing and become dependent on others? 

Is it the material comforts around us?

Or is it the life principle within us? 

If it is the life principle there is nothing to fear because when it leaves the physical body we are going with it. What’s there to lose?

When we go to sleep each night we are not concerned if we will wake up the next morning. We take it for granted that our breath and heart will go on when we are deep in sleep just like it does when we are awake and engrossed in other things. Is it our merciful Father in Heaven who keeps our breath going ? Or is it He Himself that is our breath?

Was He the breath that dwelled in our departed forefathers and in our loved ones? Was it He who expressed unconditional love for us through them? 

 Is HE that Life which we hold on to so dearly ?

In the 22nd verse of the 10th chapter of the Bhagwad Geeta the Lord has declared:

IndriyaaNam manaschaasmi bhootaanaamasmi chetanaa!

“Amongst all senses in living beings I am the Mind and I am also the Life principle that allows their movement.”

Here too the poet seeks to confirm if indeed that Divine Being, our creator is the breath that sustains life in each of us ?

6.

वादळाच्या सागराचे ~ घोर ते तू रूप का...

Are you in the form of the terrible stormy sea? 

Earlier I cited a line from a famous song by Mr Jagdish Khebudkar . Airanichyaa devaa tulaa from the Marathi movie Saadhi Maansa ( which means Simple People) has become a classic through multiple generations. The song is not just rendered by Lata Mangeshkar in her voice, the musical score is also hers under the pen name Anandghan.

सुख थोडं दुःख भारी दुनिया ही भली बुरी

घाव बसल घावावरी सोसायाला झुंजायाला अंगी बळ येऊं दे

The wife of a blacksmith is singing this song. She is praying to God as she is working alongside her husband. 

This life, she acknowledges, is made up of fewer joys than sorrows and the outside world is not always to be trusted. Yet make us strong to withstand every hardship like the hard blows of the hammer upon the anvil. 

Unlike the scorching heat of the day, storms are unanticipated calamities. They are terrifying, arise suddenly at the most unexpected time and give no opportunity to prepare for the ordeal. You grab whatever you can to reach to safety. Inevitably the challenge teaches you invaluable lessons and instills precious survival skills. 

Perhaps that was the master plan! 

Mr Khandekar wonders if God Himself is the storm that stirs up the sea? 

7.

जीवनी या वर्षणारा ~ तू कृपेचा मेघ का...

Or is it you in the form of mercy that showers like rain from the clouds?

Drought ridden areas endure years of poverty, hunger,thirst and disease. How would they perceive a good rain shower? We cannot fathom. 

A married couple who has watched several unsuccessful pregnancies for a decade or more, what would be their feeling when they hold their first ever healthy baby in the arms?

A person who was born blind if he were to get vision through successful medical intervention, what would be his reaction?

Mercy enters life like a fresh rain shower, sometimes much less dramatically than in the above examples. Nevertheless each of us experiences it one time or other. 

I remember an incident from my childhood. We were traveling to Chiplun in Maharashtra for Diwali to meet my father’s sister. Having celebrated Bhaubij we were on our way back. Dad was driving. Rest of us ( mom ,my siblings and me) were fast asleep. Suddenly one of the wheels of the car came off and the car slid off the road and flipped over and fell upside down into a 50 feet deep trench. Miraculously none of us were hurt. The villagers managed to get us out and the car was pulled out as well. Turns out someone had brought stacks of hay and put them in that trench just the previous day. As a result even the car survived the mishap without a scratch!

The storm and the benevolence that puts us back to safety, could they both be the same power that watches upon us like a teacher and a savior? 

8.

आसमंती नाचणारी ~ तू विजेची रेघ का...

Is that you in the startling line of lightning that dances across the sky? 

A mysterious phenomenon during storms is lightning. A momentary flash of light catches your attention through the corner of your eye and the next moment it is gone and you don’t know if, when and where you can see it again! 

How many of us have encountered such mysterious appearance of light in the form of inspiration in our minds when we are in the midst of a personal storm ? I can raise my hand for sure. If I try to look back to understand how and where that came from there is no answer. Only a question “ is it you my dear God who came to me at that hour?” 

To be continued in the next post.

Saree is a mulberry silk from Odisha with a temple border in 3 colors. I had picked it during my trip to Bhubaneshwar in 2018.