ANGEL

I looked at his face and he smiled. A bond was established with that one smile. He must have been just a few months old and that is all I know about him. I don’t know his name and I am not sure if angels do have any names. I don’t know his religion and again I don’t know what religion angels follow. I know that he is God’s own creation, an angel and that is all what I can tell about his family. You don’t talk to strangers in mall when they are passing by even if they are carrying an angel in their lap. The social norms don’t advocate such actions. But the society of angels has very simple rules and very simple rituals. They Smile if they feel good, they cry when they feel bad. They scream when not fed or when not dry. They laugh and giggle whenever they want. And above all they are happy most of the times and they don’t keep grudges. They don’t cry for past and they never anticipate future. They just display an emotion for what is there in the present.

There is a story in Indian subcontinent about two saints. When these two saints met each other they didn’t speak, they just looked at each other for hours. They kept on looking towards each other and that was it, People were surprised that how could these two communicate without talking, without uttering even a single word. Some say that they communicated telepathically and some say that their brains were in sync. I think that these two being enlightened two people had nothing to talk about. We generally talk to discover or to share the discovery. When one understands the ultimate truth then there is no need for any communication. So these kinds of people communicate with the normal people. With the people, who need to learn something. The people who need to know the truth.

The communication is like water flowing from one height to another; but with same height between the two points; the water just stays connected throughout and doesn’t flow. Or may be an enlightened person is like a mirror, reflecting the light. You go to that person with a question and he will reflect back an answer to you. I read a small Zen poet’s verse.

“When asked he answered

 No Question no answer

Then the master must not have

Any thing in his mind”

This is how enlightened souls are. They don’t speak without reason. “When asked he answered.” They keep quite otherwise “No question no answer:” They don’t keep any past memories or any future plans or any thing, they don’t dwell on ideas, they don’t keep grudges, they don’t even teach without asking. Their mind is empty. They practically convert themselves into mirrors. Reflecting what ever they see or what ever is incident on them. They have the knowledge and they don’t hold on to it. Because they know that it is eternal and omnipresent. The truth of the moment is always there and is always changing and is always available for any one who wants it. So they don’t hold it at all. The truth is the light and they are the reflectors; reflecting that truth to the seekers when ever asked for. So these two saints didn’t speak because when you place two mirrors in from of each other you don’t see any image.

With all this I know I am a lot deviated from my little angel who gave me a divine smile in the mall. But the discussion was important as the angels are like these saints. They are pure. They are mirrors. They live in the moment. They reflect the light. They don’t hold any grudge, they don’t remember the past and they don’t plan for the future. They truly live in the moment.

We all are born angels. And the process that we call as growing up is nothing but the process of corruption of soul. We keep on depositing sooth and dust on the mirror which we all are born with. Most of the religions believe that innocence of a child is Godly and children are closer to God. The babies descend from heaven and are delivered to humans on earth. At that time the angelic infancy is alive which starts getting corrupted. The politics, various faiths, racism, money, fear, ego, lust and so many other entities contribute towards the corruption of the souls. This corruption is nothing but moving away from God. Ego is the reason. But those days of infancy are the days when the wings and halo is clearly visible to loving eyes.

I moved away, thinking about that angelic smile. Thinking about the new angel in town. Thinking about the fresh one from the heaven. And there was some thing so godly in that smile that I could feel some dust getting shed off from my mirror. I could feel the appearance of a cleaner image. I smiled. Closed my eyes thought about the little angel once again and I could not help but smile. I was standing there smiling. My heart was floating as if I am in air. May be a little light can start moving one closer to the unadulterated self again and thus one feels lighter and floats in ether. I saw the old couple looking at me from a distance. May be they were my age when I was in the age of the little angel. I sent a smile targeted towards them and bowed my head a bit. They smiled back. May be some dust was shed off from their mirrors to. I was feeling much happier and much lighter as I moved back.

The whole mall seems to be happier than before. May be the little angel has done the miracle. I was happy and I was greeting everyone who was passing by. Most of them smiled back. It was smile revolution in making here. I moved out in the parking lot and as I was turning keys in my car door, I heard a giggle. There was him, the little angel in his mother’s lap again. He looked at me and giggled. The angel was happy. Another Giggle; congratulating me on my success. I laughed, bowed my head and whispered, “Little angel, please count me in; I am ready for my innocence to be revived, I am ready to follow your lead O little angel. I am ready to start the smile chain. I am ready for the dirt to be removed and to become the mirror again. Can you please send my message  to your community?” He giggled as if he was telling me that they are counting me in.

Grateful

New year; 2012 just started a few days back. 1^st of January was spent by us in a very good way. All of us woke up a little later than the usual in the morning. We all started the day in a relaxed mode. I had finished all critical office work on 31^st to ensure that nothing from work comes in to jeopardize the day. All we wanted (though none of us had said it out loud) was to go through the day very slowly, like savoring every moment of the 1^st day of the New Year. Late at night while we were retiring to bed; I looked at my wife and she said; “so the 1^st day of the new year was as hoped. Right?” and I couldn’t disagree even a bit.

Nothing big, just a simple slow day; warm showers, nice breakfast, lunch at a laid back restaurant followed by a trip to the Temple thanking God for a nice last year and praying for an even better New Year. Returned home after a small drive. Then we played with the two little princes of our kingdom, our sons. Had some nice home cooked dinner and watched some comedy shows on television, laughed heartily before getting to bed. Thank God for a beautiful life and all the comforts; that was the only thought when I closed my eyes to sleep.

Late at night I felt colder than usual and didn’t know what was happening. Woke up in the morning and realized that it was so far the coldest night of the season with mercury dipping a few degrees below freezing and in that coldest night of the season; the heating system had decided to give away.

WHAT? NO!!!! How can such a perfect start be ruined in less than 24 hours, it never happened in the past, nothing of this sort actually. The house had been almost problem-free ever since we moved in almost 3 years ago.

It’s all right ….. She moves in mysterious ways… (somehow these lines from the song play themselves in my mind in such situations always) She sure does. And that’s the beauty of life.

Never take things for granted, a side of my mind was trying to tell me. This had not been the perfect start of the year that we thought it to be. The same side continued. Things can get better for a while but then it will be same old, some challenge to upset you. Don’t you think it is a small problem; nothing to fret about? The other side tried to argue. Well you enjoyed the small happiness yesterday so why ignoring this problem as a small one; you always have a knack for finding vastness in the little facts of daily life; isn’t this right? The sorry side of the mind continued. And also don’t forget; this heater could have given away any time of the year, but the day it picked is the 1^st day of what is predicted to be the coldest week of the season. And that was very true.

Finally I dragged the tool bag with me; without even taking a shower or breakfast; to the attic where the furnace for the upper level is placed and started opening the furnace to see what might have gone wrong. It took almost 3 hours in the frigid attic to somewhat understand what was working in the whole system. Still I was far from finding the problem and even farther from fixing it. My whole body getting numb from the cold temperature and also due to lack of getting even a single morsel in my stomach since dinner last night and it was already almost 1 PM. So I climbed down from the attic; sad and upset. The best start of the year had turned in to a bad 2^nd day, rather very bad 2^nd day.

Now think of me sad, upset, hungry and very cold coming down from the attic where the sudden fall of temperature had the worst effect. The moment I stepped in to the bed room that had felt way too cold at the beginning of the day; suddenly appeared much warmer. No the room was not warmer than it had been 3 hours ago when I went to attic; it was rather a few degrees colder; but I felt it much warmer as the attic must have been around 10 degrees lower than the rooms below. That was a good enough chance for the other side of the mind to show its face again. The Sunshine seeker side, I mean. And honestly I do have a Sunshine Seeker hidden in me; mostly hidden way down there in some lower basement under a million truck load of every day challenges, but just like Sunshine; it at times shows up even from way below. And that was one of those rare moments; so the Sunshine seeker side started saying. You see it is just a perception; things are good and can be better or worse or how you want them to be.

Then one after the other the positives of the moment started surfacing on its own. Our house has two separate heating and cooling units so in spite of the failure; we had one big area of the house that will be kept warm by the other unit and that was a big positive. And also we had a small space heater; small but big enough to keep our middle size bedroom warm in the night. And I can easily buy a few more similar heaters to help us till the furnace is fixed. So I went after a quick meal and bought another space heater. The problem was not solved completely but we had a workaround and a very good workaround.

After I came back from the store; I started again with the Furnace unit and by a few rounds of elimination steps; realized that there was a bad igniter causing the problem. So one after the other the solutions were surfacing by themselves. When one has positive thoughts the whole life turns positive.

Now the easier part started; finding the igniter and after a few websites; we found the right model. Order placed and everything done. Well here comes another surprise; one of my friends at work found out about my predicament and that I have ordered a part online for a quick delivery and also that it would cost me more for the shipping charges than the part itself. He went in and ordered the same thing for me using his privileged status with the seller and the shipping cost was reduced to less than 10% of the original. And the happiness of living among such caring friends was really invaluable.  After a wait of two days later the igniter was delivered to our house today. Now opened the Furnace and replaced the Igniter and the Heating system came to life.  Problem solved. And not only that it was so good have this problem to start with.

It was good because I realized that how fortunate we all are to have warm homes and a family to love and care for. I realized that how a little bit of sunshine can remove the darkness from the even most remote corners of the mind. I realized that how easy it was to fix the problem when I started thinking in the right direction. I realized how our mind controls the environment around us. I realized how small we are when we think small and how our mind can blow up the smallest things into huge problems. I realized that how good it was to have friends who help when you need and who care even for the small things and thoroughly participate with you to surmount your challenges.

And I realized that tomorrow is going to be much warmer than last few days, now that the heater is fixed I didn’t mind bit more or cold weather; but the cold is receding at least for next couple of days. Right when the heater is fixed. So I realized God is winking and smiling because this had been a small practical joke but really a good one. So I smile back and wink and look around. I have so many things to be grateful for and so many things that I take for granted. I hope as long as I can understand his lessons and his jokes I will have these privileges. So now that it is late at night; soon I will go to my bed, kiss my two little Princes, say good night to my loving wife and then sleep in the warm room.  Some experiences are worth relishing and some things worth taking for Granted.