Good morning. I wish you a beautiful day. One moment please
You are driving your car, slowly, safely, following lane discipline and then they honk. Then, a car, a bike, a cyclist cuts across and your heartbeat increases like an accelerating F1 car, and you gasp like a fish, taking deep breaths to calm yourself down. You feel it, your car being bumped, scratched as the two-wheeler hurries towards his destination which hopefully is his office or home and not to meet Lord Yama on his four-wheel drive armed with real, nasty horns and swishing tail.
Lord Yama, claims nearly 1.85 Million lives every year all over the world and of this nearly 148,707 lucky or unlucky ones are from India. But, for the majority of those who escape, the God of death has only a smile, wave and a promise " You think you escaped here, but sadly no and I will be seeing you soon."
Traffic fatalities is a full stop of a life, lives and there ends that. But, the daily rigors of driving in traffic are a slow building, a slowly executed sentence, and sometimes leaving you wondering if the former would have been better than the slow and later one.
Stress, strain, and the constant push and pull of your essence, of both body and soul is a silent killer for they bring with them diabetes, heart problems and the dreaded word " C" cancer.
If road traffic is bad, then life traffic is just as bad for the collisions inside the house and between family and friends are just as bad or far worse than fatal vehicle collisions.
Even today, amidst all the distractions of mobile phones ringing, people chatting loudly next to you, people trying to chat with you, the temple is a safe bet when it comes to relief from stress and strain.
Wise men and science say that meditation is the best everyday relief for us humans and that even five minutes of meditation brings down your Blood pressure and sugar level.
I tried it and sadly failed at this so called meditation or maybe I am just not ready for it.
I tried it a few times and only burst out laughing and also found that many who say they are meditating are in fact just acting as if they are meditating. squeeze your eyes shut and freeze.
Sorry, I have got better things to do than that.
I then realized that meditating does not mean that and that you can meditate with your eyes wide open but with your thoughts focused on one thing and the right thing and that is the chat between your soul and its true parent, God.
The Ambience of the temple, its aura coupled with your faith is a beautiful moment and all it takes is chanting the name of your favorite God.
I am sorry, even chanting the name of your favorite actress or actor will work for the magic and the beauty is that only the focus on one point is important and the subject can be anything of your choice.
Walking your dog is a form of meditation. That, quiet moment of solitude that you enjoy as your furry, tailed friend looks at you with sparkling eyes and wavy tail, you know you are in safe hands and so you let your companion lead and take you for a walk.
So, meditation is just than, be still in body and mind and be still with your thoughts.
Sometimes, during the Monsoon days, the rain falls on my roof and windows chanting ' Om, om, Hari, Hare' and I let it dance its way into my soul and surrender for in the end is the essence of true meditation.
Surrender or should I say in namma language saran.' Kadavule, un kaladiyil naan Saran.' Saranakathi.
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