We had our second baby on 8th Feb - last week. That's right, the date of my last blog..
By the grace of God, and blessings of the well wishers, and intent of the hospital staff and so many other things in the Universe, everything was normal. We reached the hospital at about 10:15am and Arunoday was born through a normal delivery at 12:45pm... It was a wonderful day. It was Basant Panchami that day. Everything was perfect...
Aarushi had been seeking her 'golu' baby and was happy to see her baby brother in it...
I think we were getting all that one could have asked for... The first emotion was of immense gratitude - towards the Divine, to the whole Universe and definitely towards the physical beings involved in the event.
But the Divine is wonderful and has lessons to teach in every happy and sad situation...
In the same days, I came across a text that said that 'satva' is also not desirable. OK... rewind... I pursued a 6 week program (http://www.do42.com/) some time back. As a part of it, I should read a holy scripture daily. I chose the Bhagvad Gita and in that, the commentary by Sri Paramhansa Yogananda - "God Talks to Arjuna". One of the chapters is "Transcending the Gunas" which talks about every action being related to a result that is either uplifting (satva), activating (rajas), or degrading (tamas) to the evolution of the human spirit. While common understanding of religion would say that an uplifting action is desired, what I was reading stated that even 'satvik' result producing action is not desired - because it leads to attachment. Attachment to 'goodness' and 'happiness' and it also feeds the ego.
This was not easy to understand. And questions were lingering...
So, the Divine, through Arunoday and my family, gave me an experiential answer.
The Indian society being patriarchal in character, has a preference for boys. My mother and father have instilled in us values of equality and non-differentiation. 'Daughter-in-laws' are equal to daughters. Daughters are equal to sons. All have equal voice and share a veto power in whatever concerns them. I am grateful to the Divine and to my parents to have instilled such noble values in us. Working on these principles, one can only get 'satvik' results. This is where the lesson was in store :-)...
In the first few days the gratitude for a healthy mother and child waned off, Simultaneously, influences of society like, 'mubarak ho ladka hua hai' started pouring in... The desire to be upright and to set the example made me feel if it would have been better if we had a baby daughter. Our family would have even then experienced the same level of bliss, joy and happiness and the congratulatory statements would really have been gender independent - the way it should ideally be... In some little corner in my heart, there was Ingratitude in place of being in gratitude...
Something happened, and this ingratitude, coming out of the desire to do 'the right action', led me to even suggesting to my mother that we do lesser than what we did for Aarushi, lest those who have forgotten the sweets we had shared when Aarushi joined us, believe that the sweets are being distributed because this is a baby boy...
This was possibly the point where the lesson was to come, and I am indebted to my mother and the Divine for bringing it to me in such a lucid manner.
I am again in gratitude.
I now understand that the desire to do good is also finally a 'binding' desire. I understand that 'good actions' can also lead to strengthening the ego. I understand that we should do all actions without any desire for results. Let others color them in whichever way they wish. It is their karma. We should simply act in noble ways and not desire any result, neither appreciation, nor criticism.
"Thank you Divine!" for answering my query in a way no one else could have.
In Gratitude.
By the grace of God, and blessings of the well wishers, and intent of the hospital staff and so many other things in the Universe, everything was normal. We reached the hospital at about 10:15am and Arunoday was born through a normal delivery at 12:45pm... It was a wonderful day. It was Basant Panchami that day. Everything was perfect...
Aarushi had been seeking her 'golu' baby and was happy to see her baby brother in it...
I think we were getting all that one could have asked for... The first emotion was of immense gratitude - towards the Divine, to the whole Universe and definitely towards the physical beings involved in the event.
But the Divine is wonderful and has lessons to teach in every happy and sad situation...
In the same days, I came across a text that said that 'satva' is also not desirable. OK... rewind... I pursued a 6 week program (http://www.do42.com/) some time back. As a part of it, I should read a holy scripture daily. I chose the Bhagvad Gita and in that, the commentary by Sri Paramhansa Yogananda - "God Talks to Arjuna". One of the chapters is "Transcending the Gunas" which talks about every action being related to a result that is either uplifting (satva), activating (rajas), or degrading (tamas) to the evolution of the human spirit. While common understanding of religion would say that an uplifting action is desired, what I was reading stated that even 'satvik' result producing action is not desired - because it leads to attachment. Attachment to 'goodness' and 'happiness' and it also feeds the ego.
This was not easy to understand. And questions were lingering...
So, the Divine, through Arunoday and my family, gave me an experiential answer.
The Indian society being patriarchal in character, has a preference for boys. My mother and father have instilled in us values of equality and non-differentiation. 'Daughter-in-laws' are equal to daughters. Daughters are equal to sons. All have equal voice and share a veto power in whatever concerns them. I am grateful to the Divine and to my parents to have instilled such noble values in us. Working on these principles, one can only get 'satvik' results. This is where the lesson was in store :-)...
In the first few days the gratitude for a healthy mother and child waned off, Simultaneously, influences of society like, 'mubarak ho ladka hua hai' started pouring in... The desire to be upright and to set the example made me feel if it would have been better if we had a baby daughter. Our family would have even then experienced the same level of bliss, joy and happiness and the congratulatory statements would really have been gender independent - the way it should ideally be... In some little corner in my heart, there was Ingratitude in place of being in gratitude...
Something happened, and this ingratitude, coming out of the desire to do 'the right action', led me to even suggesting to my mother that we do lesser than what we did for Aarushi, lest those who have forgotten the sweets we had shared when Aarushi joined us, believe that the sweets are being distributed because this is a baby boy...
This was possibly the point where the lesson was to come, and I am indebted to my mother and the Divine for bringing it to me in such a lucid manner.
I am again in gratitude.
I now understand that the desire to do good is also finally a 'binding' desire. I understand that 'good actions' can also lead to strengthening the ego. I understand that we should do all actions without any desire for results. Let others color them in whichever way they wish. It is their karma. We should simply act in noble ways and not desire any result, neither appreciation, nor criticism.
"Thank you Divine!" for answering my query in a way no one else could have.
In Gratitude.
2 comments:
Congratulations Sir! Wish the baby best of health & happiness. I chanced upon your blog.
I can relate to the incident in your post. Agree that the desire to do good is even tougher to relinquish because it ties us with the golden chains and doesn't even make us realize.
Very nice Anuj! You give a very good example of the difference between satva and raja gunas which is difficult to be understood otherwise! :) Great going! Wish you all the best for your endeavours! :)
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