Suddenly the teenager vagabonding about (now called 'chilling' I believe?) halted in his tracks! It was like very very early in the morning, brahma muhurta his pure(itanical?) parents tried to impress upon him and inculcate into him the good habit of being up and about if he were to ever amount to anything, spiritually speaking, that is!

Like most teenagers that really go for it with what serves their needs and strikes their fancy, this one too took that as the signal. He just overdid a bit. In order to be there at the brahma muhurta party, he stayed up all night, just in case! Teenage-souls can do that you know!

Now mind you, this tale comes from safe times when streets even at those early hours were safe and the bad elements just did not exist because there was a SERIOUS and SINCERE chowkidar who kept patroling on his Hercules cycle painted deep green and sounding the human siren every so often, "Jaagtey RAHO!". Most villagers thought of Mishrajee as just a big nuiscence! Who would ever come and rob us poor people? We barely have adequate barley, to speak of! But no one dared speak up to Misirjee, the Sipaheeji! Especially on the weekend, only SUNDAY back then and not the saturday-sunday that soft city dwellers now have and would die for if it were to be taken away from them! Anyway, when Misir jee was seen waxing his Hercules mobile every so often, diligently going inch by inch over its deep green steely sheen and once in a while passing his waxy fingers (no protective gloves used in those days, folks!) over his symbol of manliness, his moustaches which over the years were turning more grey than shiny perhaps due to the carnuba wax which is great on steel but not so forgiving upon human hair! ANYWAY the point was at that point NO ONE dared to speak to him and passed by him with bowed heads and truly 'feigned' deference. Even the teenager who was just minutes ago tossing pebbles at the guava trees in Phalbaag. Even Misrajee knew all that and emitted an almost inaudible 'humph!' grunt and kept polishing his chariot of steel!

His reverie broken, the teenager's thoughts moved from useless reflections about Misir jee and the village folks and sleeplessness (Not his problem!) to a mysterious, hazy bag that he could see from a distance. The bag was moving and pulsating! Wonderstruck, the teenager stalled! His eyes growing wider and his young heart missing a beat or two, and not for the same reason as it did earlier when he saw his new math teacher (!), but finally his youthful curiosity overpowered him. Gingerly, and carefully (whatever that word means to a teenager!) he proceeded, his heart racing wildly now! "Where is that blasted Misirjee when you really need him?", he thought for a fleeting juvenile scared moment! "Probably waxing his ...!". Teenagers can be so rude and wild when they let their imaginations run! JESUS!!

As he inched closer, the amorphous grey cloud of a bag became clearer even in the dim light of brahma muhurta! Teenagers have such clearer visions! Don't you just hate that? They have so much in their favour, so much vitality, so much promise, so much of everything, including longevity!

The 'bag' groaned! The teenager could now see that it was a very old woman. Her hair dishevelled, body wrapped in a cocoon of old rags, newspapers and all kinds of insulating filth. If he was not so insensitive to smells (ever wonder how teenagers can dab so much perfume and deodorants and not swoon from it all?), he would probably have detected the distinct rot of death and decay. "How may I help you, grandma?" the kind at heart well-raised youth asked. She smiled and said, "You shall carry me through your soul, always!". Suddenly, the youth realized that there was no one around, no bags no old woman. But there was this sense of heaviness within his inner self, not a burden-like heaviness but this sense of knowledge, or knowing what will happen next! And he was right! Within seconds he heard the shrill monotone, "Jaagtey raho!"

REALITY as he had always known was back. But was it really back?

There is nothing sacred about this or ANY other post really!

What is sacred is that pause that even little children demonstrate, the ones dying to dig into the CAKE!

When my children were small I learned that, I observed that! Those little lovable bundles of joy never attacked the birthday cake until the singing and rituals were over. BUT AFTER THAT? WOW!

Is penance ONLY about postponing gratification?

Is it okay if we fill up our stomachs that we were supposed to deprive and then go through the day PRETENDING that we were carrying out a PIOUS FAST, day after day?

Are the planets stupid? Are the DEVAS, equally so that we jyotish-lovers think and accept to be so?

When you are appeasing venus or saturn or whatever your guidance told you to, WHO ARE YOU REALLY SERVING? OR PRETENDING TO??

Namste Rohiniji


anecdote or allegory ?? ...... your writing skills have made it to be allegorical anecdote ....

the narration aroused in me with the long lost thought from Sant Kabir "--> Moko Kahan Dhondee re  Bande"<--  here the knowledge is asking this question ..
though there are no Mishra-ji practising the OLd chant ne more .... this MB does have a YOU to say and not just say .. but make us "Jaagtey Raho" ....  
but for a beginner (or Teenager) like me ... to start somehwere it becomes a necessity to personify Sat or Ven. Fortunaltey or unfortunaltey thats the way human mind works .. as something must contain it .. then y not be it Sat whip or Ven passion. As long as one is on a path and tries to seek the knowledge hidden in all rags, papers or ne impermeable material,  the Mishra-ji will be happy.  But a per me, its imp to draw a line to the personification and prevent oneself falling for these personifications as obstacles that one must please/ overcome  in ones lifetime.

"JO DIKHATA HAI USKE PARE DEKHIYE"

warmly
Ashutosh

[quote="asro"]Namste Rohiniji


anecdote or allegory ?? ...... your writing skills have made it to be allegorical anecdote ....

the narration aroused in me with the long lost thought from Sant Kabir "--> Moko Kahan Dhondee re  Bande"<--  here the knowledge is asking this question ..
though there are no Mishra-ji practising the OLd chant ne more .... this MB does have a YOU to say and not just say .. but make us "Jaagtey Raho" ....  
but for a beginner (or Teenager) like me ... to start somehwere it becomes a necessity to personify Sat or Ven. Fortunaltey or unfortunaltey thats the way human mind works .. as something must contain it .. then y not be it Sat whip or Ven passion. As long as one is on a path and tries to seek the knowledge hidden in all rags, papers or ne impermeable material,  the Mishra-ji will be happy.  But a per me, its imp to draw a line to the personification and prevent oneself falling for these personifications as obstacles that one must please/ overcome  in ones lifetime.

"JO DIKHATA HAI USKE PARE DEKHIYE"

warmly
Ashutosh[/quote]

yes absolutely!

but some individuals get so enamoured in the forest of symbological mythology that they get lost and sometimes more than lost, stuck and wish to remain stuck and lost forever! It is like the security blanket never gets discarded...