AMOKSH Fortnightly eZine

AFTER the untimely death of her husband, a magnificent mother was devotionally committed to her only son even before he was born. She used to nurture dreams of him coming, playing, conversing and growing up into a wise, handsome man. The day he grew up, he met a girl who caught her fancy, and he started weaving dreams of being with her for life, imagining her all the time. He loved his mother also. So he decided that all three of them would live together and have a happy life. The girl found the love of mother and son grandly strange; she had not seen that before. He never said no to his mother for anything she asked for. The girl felt threatened. She thought if they live together, the mother will be overpowering and the son would give first preference to her AND HER ONLY.

As a part of her defence, she started putting undue pressure on the boy to abandon her mother and live separately. Son could not digest that. It was not him. He loved her way too much and had felt her love every moment of his growing up. One day, the girl gave him an ultimatum - your mother or me - final! He loved the girl too. He had been weaving all the images of a fresh new life with her, so could not leave her. No doubt he was in a dilemma. But in front of the life already lived with the mother and looking at her years left in the world, combined with his lustful love for the girl, he chose to agree to what the girl was saying. But this girl was smart. She knew the power of their love. She knew the moment his mother would call him, he would be there for her. In order to be sure that this does not happen, she asked him to bring the heart of his mother as a proof of his love for her (the girl).

Blinded by the girl, the son did just that; the temptation of being with her was so strong to resist. Right after this feat which he had achieved, he ran towards the girl’s house. Seeing the boy coming towards her with his mother’s heart in his hand, she ran towards him to hug him. Seeing her run towards her, he also started to run towards her - the awaited moment of their being together for life had finally come, and was simply too overpowering and exciting. In the enthusiasm of all goodness, he missed seeing the stone on the road, and fell down in equal proportion to the speed with which he was running. 

The heart flew in one direction, out of his hands, and he was badly hurt and wounded with scratches around his knee from where the blood had started oozing out. Just as he was trying to manage what has happened by attempting to get up, he heard a voice call out to him and say, “My beloved son! Hope you are okay, hope it didn’t hurt you!”

He looked in the direction of the voice to see whose warm and comforting voice was it - at this point of time. As he looked, he was simply left speechless! The beautiful voice was from the fallen down heart of his mother, which he had taken out of her body, after killing her for life - to give to his girlfriend as a proof of his commitment for her (the girl).  

Is your love for your beloved like the love of this mother for her son?

INSIGHT: Beyond Enmity
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People say life is very short, and that is true also. How our past 20 years have passed, we do not even remember each moment to its detail. On recall of specific events, it seems as if it all happened only yesterday. Same will be the case with next 50 years and the whole life as such. Life is too short to be really lived and enjoyed. So do we really have any time for enmity at all? Also, when one thing is for sure - the feeling of enmity will immediately rob us of our feeling of bliss. In enmity, mind will be always in a deep state of anguish. The focus will never be on self but on the so-called enemy and that too about how to destroy him/them. The peace, happiness and positive energy will completely disappear for ever. One will always be living in a false feeling of pleasure, which one will feel after the so-called victory in the self declared war. But that never happens. Enmity destroys everything. Bliss goes totally missing. So let us again consider the choice with us and make a decision in favor of that option that will give us bliss. What do we want - Bliss of Enmity? The choice is simply ours.

Learning through Humor
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I had always been scared of heights. When I was a little girl, my visits to the fun-fair meant lots of fun, frolic and food, but a strict ’stay away’ from the giant wheel. All my friends had a great time swinging and screaming in excitement on their rides at the giant wheel, but the little timid heart of mine always said “stay away dear!” Years after when I had my 2 daughters, it was difficult for me to keep my little one, aged 4 to stay away from it the first time I took her out to a fair. So eager to get on to it, I had to ask my elder one, aged 13 to accompany her. I was still standing away from it :-) 

Seeing her scream out loud, laugh and clap when on top I started getting nervous. She was really enjoying looking at the world from top, was happily waving at me and shouting, Mama! you look like a dwarf! Mama! you look like a dwarf! It was my turn to now get petrified at her courage. When the wheel came closer down for the second turn up, I shouted at my elder one to hold her hands and tell her to fear getting rolled down!

She was so confused at the question of her elder sister that in all her innocence, moved her hands up and asked, ‘What is fear, sis?’ and turned her attention back to the fun. On coming down, she just hugged me! I could feel her excitement with this experience through the twinkle in her eyes.

Back home, the first thing she did was to open up the concise oxford dictionary and look for the word FEAR!

Learning
Children don’t know what fear is! They therefore very happily pick up the cockroaches, play with the dogs, put hands in switches, enjoy the giant wheel etc. We want to tell them about fear and have them behave accordingly. Why we put our conditioning into our children and handicap their minds and behavioral responses? Instead of the negative expression like fear, we must share with them the right expression, right track and right moves. Once a child knows what is right and also knows the role of each then he will for sure live his role only, as everything else will then be ir-relevant. Safety is a must to be explained and not fear. So let us explain to our children the responsibility for safety. And when they will feel responsible for safety, fear will never happen in their mind.

Your Questions of the Fortnight
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NC, USA
Winning Question: Dear Relationship Spiritual Mentor, I want you to throw some light on the most important value that binds and keeps a husband and a wife together for all times to come?
Answer: Accept and be willingly present for your spouse in 100% non-judgmental devotion under all circumstances.

Jenny, Italy
Question: How can I stop feeling that the world revolves around me? The moment I see someone upset, I feel I must be the reason.
Answer: How can you feel that the world revolves around you, as you yourself are revolving around God. Yes, God has a reason for everything and humans normally get to feel the Divine Reason after a long-long time. Then they say, “Thank God, you saved me from this situation”.

Pushpanjali, Maharashtra, India
Question: What do you do when people from your own surroundings like your own mother-in-law mistrusts you with other men from your professional sphere because of her view (negative ideas) of the world? On top of that when such people seem to get the kick out of doing so.
Answer: People from your surroundings mistrust you as they are not aware of your total professional situation. When they will meet the men you are working with and admire the strong points in their personality they will develop regards for them. But again, it is very important that you as a woman yourself must be dignified in your own behavior itself.

Jessie, Australia
Question: How do I know if he’ll accept and love me under all circumstances? Is there anything which can force him to think twice about being with me because his goal may be to have a comfortable hasslefree life with one good news after the other? How do I become fearless over this feeling because I do desire to be with him?
Answer: If you expect him to accept and love you under all circumstances then it is a foolish expression, that means you are away from love and bliss may happen in your life ONLY if he really loves you and accept you as per his decision. You can never force a person to love you. That’s stupidity. Just ask a question to self, “Am I fulfilling every feeling and need of those persons who love me?” And if the answer of NO then how can you expect him to accept and love you under force? Live love for Divine and live fearless.

Preeti, Delhi, India
Question: Is it true that every such moment in which one realizes ones mistake and choses to correct it, is a new birth for that person?
Answer: Yes, so brilliantly explained. Rather with each breath we live life and live death both. So every next breath is a new birth indeed. In simple language, breathing IN is life and breathing OUT is death.