Today I met my cousin who's just come from Sydney and she told me about the varying life styles of people over there and here in India. As the cultures vary customs and attitudes are markedly different, beginning with children leaving homes at eighteen, setting up their own households, working to maintain it and saving for a university education. Parents, too, encourage them to leave and be independant. India is vastly different, with parents willing to sacrifice but determined to extract their pound of flesh when their children are settled in life. It's difficult to decide what is right or better for the parents and children both. It's a matter of understanding the concept of duty, where it begins and where it ends.
The ideal is of course to perform duty with love and without expectation. The moment we do this, we become bound to the law of return from nature which is the best form of return.

Monsoon rain

Trying times

Trying times basically means difficult times. But to pun on the word trying , we have a vast range of connotations from trying out different remedies for various problems, to experimenting with challenges that life flings at us to see whether we are up to the mark or debunk our problems under the carpet i.e out of sight, out of mind.
Trying times can also mean making efforts to understand the changing time and adjusting accordingly. As the status quo shifts, trying times emerge and one should be thankful for then one never grows old. The secret of not letting changing times affect you is not to get used to the status quo.

The Path

I just read Mabel Collins treatsie titled " Light on the Path". Mabel Collins was part of the Theosophical Society in the late nineteenth century.

We are all treading a path, but are we aware of the direction in which we are going , the hurdles we are likely to encounter, and the means at our disposal to over come them ? The path is of our own choosing , we must own responsibility for it and not blame others for any mishaps that ocurr on the way. Even if we feel pressured by guides, we always have the option of turning to our inner guide who truly loves us. We must learn to listen to our inner self waiting patiently by our side. We can do so only if we close our ears to the cacophony around us. We must learn to see and we can do so only if we see through the world around us, see the unity behind the diversity,

the real from the unreal.

All those who are on the path must go through Mabel Collins Light On the Path.

Summer in New Delhi

It's hot and dusty ,with a constant hot breeze keeping people indoors as far as possible. The haze of dust is trapping the heat and a restlessness grips me as i patiently wait for a relief of a thundersquall or shower. The relief is momentary but sorely needed. I try to see something positive about this weather. Well, the trees Gulmohur and laburnum are in full bloom. Their deep red and yellow flowers are easy on the eye. The extreme heat has killed all the mosquitos and this heat makes the kharbuja and the water melon really sweet. Most people are away on a holiday and there's relatively less traffic on the roads. Moreover I look forward to the monsoon when the heavy rains actually make us think of the sun wistfully. Are we ever satisfied ?

Childhood memories

The simple joys of childhood are climbing the ladder in the snakes and ladder game or crashing down to the bottom.
Watching the children play, one is reminded of our own childhood when we experienced identical feelings. Revisiting our childhood and perhaps relearning to feel happy about small innocuous happenings will fill our inner self with long forgotten joy make us better equipped to deal with the present.

Love and loving

We love to love without knowing what loving is all about. Loving is understanding and giving what your love needs most at a given moment in time. Loving is learning from each other, admitting your ignorance and being modest about your achievements.

We are all sailors in this vast ocean of the world. Our boats are often rocked by stormy waters. We constantly need help and coordination from all those on board. We love to hear our own voice but we must learn to listen to the heartbeats of others.