Connecting The Dots

A few random thoughts that seem to connect some dots:

March 27,2026

I was home. Sitting in the living room. And out of the blue, could hear a slow humming of AUM within.  It lasted for several seconds, may be a minute. Definitely less than 2 minutes. I had doubts. Was I hallucinating? Turns out, this was a random experience of Nada Bramha. Perhaps accidental because mind just happened to be still.

April 15th,2026

We were on circuit 1 at Machu Picchu. Had taken plenty of time walking around, viewing the landscape from the elevation, taking pictures from every angle and what not. Finally wanted to just sit down for a moment and soak in the quiet energy of this place. And that’s what I did. Found a stairway leading down and facing directly to the citadel on the hill across. Sat on one of its stairs. And there it was again. The internal humming of AUM. I don’t know how long I sat there experiencing it. May be 3-5 minutes? Then it was time to move with the group.

April 16th, 2026

The very next morning, about 5:15 am. I had called Minal( my sister) to tell her I am dropping out of the trip because of some shortness of breath the night before. Then I just sat on the bed in the hotel room. Abhay was still not out of bed. 

As I sat without agenda, again the Nada Bramha made its presence felt. This time it came with a definitive prodding to not shy away from the trip that was planned. “ You should go” was the message. Crisp. Clear. Reassuring.

I got up. Immediately changed into the clothes I had placed on the table the night before. Packed my charger and phone into the backpack. Picked the bag with the shoes and socks in one hand and told Abhay I was going. In less than ten minutes I was downstairs. And in another 15 minutes, in the bus with Minal and Atul on the way to Vinicunca, the Rainbow Mountain. 

And I made it to 16,500 feet elevation. No altitude sickness, nothing. Experienced the wonder of Nature. A different world than anything I had seen before. And returned in one piece. 

The same force that sustained me for the past sixty years through thick and thin had sustained me for this challenging visit up the mountain. Despite a body that was not trained for such adventure. 

April 26,2026

I was up by 5 AM today to get started with cooking. We had invited a friend over for lunch. There was the weekly zoom class at 8:30 AM. I wanted to get done with cooking and shower before the class. 

I put some vegetables in the pressure cooker to steam. Then began chopping other vegetables that needed to go into the pav bhaji. 

As I was slicing and dicing onion as fine as possible I perceived there was an intrinsic rhythm to the activity. Every movement with the coordination of the eye, the left hand holding the onion firmly on the cutting board, the right hand holding the knife and applying just the right amount of force to cut into the onion, first lengthwise, then across…..till extremely fine and perfectly uniform pieces of the onion lay heaped on the board…it was like a symphony. Almost with a mathematical precision. Next to lend itself to the rhythm was the green bell pepper. Then tomatoes. Then cilantro. Each vegetable or herb took a slightly different force and/or movement of the hand to chop. It was art, mechanics, music and joy rolled into one performance. 

The thought of Zakir Hussain, the legendary Tabla maestro came to mind in that moment. His genius with the rhythm stood before the eyes. He was a shining example of someone who was perfectly aligned with the rhythm of the universe. Not just with his hands on the drums but also with his kindness, humility and generosity of the heart. His ability to embrace and blend with musical talents from diverse backgrounds and create innovative music until the end.

As random as these experiences and thoughts were, collectively they were opening the eyes and gave a fairly good peek into the nature of the deeper reality of the universe. It had an intrinsic rhythm, flow, melody, harmony, mathematics, kindness, love, security, and vastness to it. All it took was stillness to feel it. Just rhythm and no kindness could not make you feel it. Just kindness and no rhythm too wouldn’t suffice. Life had to be flowing. And flowing with ease. No resistance whatsoever. Both heart and brain had to be synchronized into the universal rhythm. Only then the elusive secrets of the universe would become apparent.

Why Vitthala ran to lend a hand to Janabai when she worked? 

Why Vitthala ordained Namdev to recover Chokha Mela’s remains from under the rubble?

Why Krishna provided unending length of fabric when Dushyasan attempted to disrobe Draupadi in front of a full court audience? 

Why Narsimha emerged from the pillar and tore open Hiranyakashyap when Prahlad’s safety was threatened?

There was perfect alignment of brain and heart with the universal truth in each case. 

One may not want to believe it. But that’s when and how magic happens. 

Science struggles playing catch up. It eventually will catch up because truth has no intention to remain hidden forever.