Unity in Variety

Once upon an afternoon, while I lazed around in my room, the peacock feather I'd recently bought from a market caught my attention and didn't let go until I had made something of it.

I stared and stared at it and was surprised by the multitude of colours and textures in there!!! I was wonderstruck at the finesse of it and to think that it was just one feather I was staring at! How many such feathers got together and formed the peacock's body I cannot begin to imagine! They are what make a peacock a peacock! It's like a whole Universe in there!!!

My mind was blown and I'd happen to write something in that moment and would like to share it with you! But, before you start reading, I'd like you to look at a peacock feather yourself, if you don't have a real one, guess a picture should do. You must do this else all that you read now might just seem like empty words meaning nothing. In fact if you spend enough time with it, I don't think you'll need to even read further as I'm sure you yourself will find something of wonder in there and relate to it in some way! So, here goes:

I hope you have done the needful. If not, then please don't tell me I didn't warn you ok?

So here goes, for real:

The Peacock Feather is such a beautiful culmination of each strand in it, growing and getting coloured different shades so perfectly that they all come together to form a perfect rendition! From the core black at the centre merging into purple, spreading into brown that forms a pinch where starts the purple mixing gently into blue and into green forming the well-known peacock shade!

Then comes the brown background for the center piece with a pink tinge at the edge, bordered by shining green followed by a trail of pink edged again by the same green as we move forward!

Now comes the magical portion where each strand thins out for a time to form a perfectly harmonious transparent band all around, again edged by the ever-faithful shining green! Beyond this, each strand moves on in its own direction and ends up in space forming the whole picture of sheer elegance!

You must be wondering why I am describing each millimetre of the feather as you can see it anyway- I just want you to imagine those colours like the different shades our lives take on as we move forward..Just Imagine!

One wonders then, how each shape on it formed so perfectly coloured? After all, they are individual strands eh? If I were to attempt making it, I'd put together all the strands first, put them in place in the shape of the feather, draw the different shapes and bands on it and then fill them in with colour...but of course it could never come anywhere close to the real deal!

In the real deal, each strand grows in its place and knows exactly where to get what colour so that all of them could come together to form this amazing beauty! Imagine the connection between them?! o_O

I can't help but wonder what if each of us were a strand of a peacock feather? Which means that there is a time and place and extent for everything in one's life! Life knows when you shall be coloured what, coz there's a bigger plan up there!

I am sure that all of us down here with our lives are forming an amazing sight from up there...a vision so perfect and complete that if we saw it, we'd cry tears of joy at the sheer beauty of things and learn to accept that everything happens for good...for this wonderful creation- best perceived from somewhere up there!

Smile On!

Here's the extract from "Conversations With God - Book 3" with the parable called "The Little Soul and the Sun"

"You may choose to be any Part of God you wish to be," I said to the Little Soul. 

"You are Absolute Divinity, experiencing Itself. 

What Aspect of Divinity do you now wish to experience as You?"

"You mean I have a choice?" asked the Little Soul.

And I answered, 

"Yes. You may choose to experience any Aspect of Divinity in, as, and through you."

"Okay," said the Little Soul, "then I choose Forgiveness.

I want to experience my Self as that Aspect of God called Complete Forgiveness."

Well, this created a little challenge, as you can imagine.

There was no one to forgive. 

All I have created is Perfection and Love.

"No one to forgive?" asked the Little Soul, somewhat incredulously.

"No one," I repeated. 

"Look around you. Do you see any souls less perfect,

less wonderful than you?"

At this, the Little Soul twirled around,

and was surprised to see himself surrounded by all the souls in heaven.

They had come from far and wide throughout the Kingdom,

they heard that the Little Soul was having an extraordinary conversation with God.

"I see none less perfect than I!" the Little Soul exclaimed. 

"Who, then, shall I have to forgive?"

Just then, another soul stepped forward from the crowd. 

"You may forgive me," said this Friendly Soul.

"For what?" the Little Soul asked.

"I will come into your next physical lifetime and do something for you to forgive," 

replied the Friendly Soul.

"But what? 

What could you, a being of such Perfect Light, do to make me want to forgive you?" 

the Little Soul wanted to know.

"Oh," smiled the Friendly Soul,

"I'm sure we can think of something."

"But why would you want to do this?"

The Little Soul could not figure out why a being of such perfection 

would want to slow down its vibration so much that it could actually do something "bad"

"Simple," the Friendly Soul explained, 

"I would do it because I love you. 

You want to experience your Self as Forgiving, don't you? 

Besides, you've done the same for me."

"I have?" asked the Little Soul.

"Of course. Don't you remember?

 We've been All Of It, you and I. 

We've been the Up and the Down of it, 

and the Left and the Right of it. 

We've been the Here and the There of it, 

and the Now and the Then of it. 

We've been the Big and the Small of it, 

the Male and the Female of it, 

the Good and the Bad of it. 

We've all been the All of it.

And we've done it by agreement, 

so that each of us might experience ourselves as the Grandest Part of God. 

For we have understood that. . . .

In the absence of that which You Are Not, that Which You ARE, is NOT.

In the absence of 'cold', you cannot be 'warm'. 

In the absence of 'sad', you cannot be 'happy'.

Without a thing called 'evil', the experience you call 'good' cannot exist.

If you choose to be a thing, something or someone opposite to that 

has to show up somewhere in your Universe to make that possible."

The Friendly Soul then explained that those people are God's Special Angels, 

and these conditions God's Gifts.

"I ask only one thing in return", the Friendly Soul declared.

"Anything! Anything", the Little Soul cried. 

He was excited now to know that he could experience every Divine Aspect of God. 

He understood, now, The Plan.

"In the moment that I strike you and smite you", said the Friendly Soul, 

"in the moment that I do the worst to you that you could ever imagine-

 in that self-same moment . . . 

Remember Who I Really Am."

"Oh, I won't forget!" promised the Little Soul. 

"I will see you in the perfection with which I hold you now, 

and I will remember Who You Are, always."

That is . . . that is an extraordinary story, an incredible parable.

And the promise of the Little Soul is the promise I make to you. 

That is what is unchanging. 

Yet have you, My Little Soul, kept this promise to others?

No. I'm sad to say I have not.

Neither have I :-(

Do not be sad. Be happy to notice what is true, 

and be joyous in your decision to live a new truth. 

For God is a work in progress, and so are you. 

And remember this always:

If you saw you as God sees you, you would smile a lot.

Smile On! :-)

The Plan

This post was actually meant for just sharing a wonderful parable called "The Little Soul and the Sun"- A beautiful story that changed the way I saw things. I had read it in a book(the THAT book), whose precious existence I came to know from another book by the same author that came to me by pure chance (or not? I Wonder...)

So, this is a story about how I got acquainted with one of the many wonders that have greeted me just when I needed some light to guide me along. And as usual, they have come to me through strange mysterious unexpected ways and have always taken me by surprise! Mostly, it's been books. So, O Dear Angelic Librarian- I dedicate this post to you! Thank you for all the treasure you've helped me find and I'm really looking forward to more such surprise visits!

Well, now I never was a fan of reading books and I always ran away from 'fat' books and so always managed to pick the 'thin' ones at School during the Library period that too just because we had to -Thanks to which - I ended up reading lots of 'I-don't-remember-the-name' (I really can't recall---there was a particularly silly series of twin sisters---quite famous among the girls o me class---tried googling but didn't help---but I really wish I'd remember---By any chance, if you know or can guess, do drop a line) books just to fill up the library card.

The turning point came when I got a book as a prize for standing third in class. (Yes, my School gave me the best gift I could ever wish for! So, A BIG THANK YOU TO I.S.W.K!) That was in the 7th standard. And the book was none other than 'Agatha Christie-Curtain Poirot's Last Case'. Now that this book was 'mine' and being a permanent resident at my home, it kept imploring me to take the journey every time I glanced at it. So one fine day I picked up the courage to go through the 200 page(just checked-my memory ain't too sharp) 'fat' ordeal. Voila! I was hooked and that was how I discovered my passion for reading. Since then, as you might have guessed already, my library cards were full of Agatha Christies with the occasional Ken Folletts and Jeffrey Archers here and there- all fiction - and I've come a long way since those first few steps towards Nirvana.

So, where was I? Oh yes, THAT book. Oh it wasn't Agatha Christie. Actually since my dad came to know that I'd started reading, he started getting random ones for me from his Library membership at his office. The first one he had brought was 'Kaleidoscope' by Danielle Steel - my first fattest(and last fattest because I've stopped running away from 'fat'(this word holds no meaning now) books. On the contrary, the way I grab any book(no matter what the size) and don't let it rest until I'm done with it, don't be surprised if you find them running away from me!) book ever until then - about 400 (I googled that) pages. It was my first encounter with a genre other than Mystery---Drama. It's about three sisters and how their lives take completely different turns after they are separated in childhood. I'd found it very distressing and yet very humbling- the lives people lead- it's quite dark and depressing especially the story of the eldest but it inspires courage.

Anyway, this wasn't the book I was talking about. It's the next book that he got me that opened another door in my life- Philosophy! And that book was 'Friendship with God' by Neale Donald Walsch. THIS book! Whoa! Just the thing I'd needed!!!(Why?! To help me believe that it was possible to be friends with God, with Krishna) Thanks Dad and Thank You again O Dear Angelic Librarian! Though I never got around to finishing it, I decided I'd get myself the rest of the series when I could.

And when did that happen?! Another totally unexpected source- My college! Turns out it's as smart and kind as my School- Only difference? They give Strand coupons instead of books-Yeah now we are old enough to choose which books we want eh? Any guesses for what I bought with my first coupon?! Yes- The Conversations With God Trilogy by Neale Donald Walsch. And now this definitely is the THAT book that I have been talking of since the beginning of an Age if you haven't forgotten thanks to the untangled tangle of tangles.

If you are wondering why I didn't just buy the books if I wanted them so bad? That's because according to  my Dad, buying books was unnecessary because one reads them once and could always just join a library and read as many as possible! I understand the logic of it but I'm sure book lovers will understand the agony of it. I prefer having the books with me even after I've read them once:

Reading a book is like being on an adventure discovering treasure along the way with the highs and the lows, the lefts and the rights knowing all along, that this book, your friend, has got your back! Why would I not like them to be with me even after the journey was over?

Anyway, the way the books found their way to me also helped me take pride and ownership in them!!!

Now that I see this post has gone really long, I shall share the parable itself(called "The Little Soul and the Sun" in case you forgot) in the next post!

PS: All in all, it's all working out pretty well You Smart Angelic Librarian! The treasure hunt must go on!

I won't but I know

I won't explain myself to anyone

not just anyone

not everyone

not noone either

but I know someone

I won't stay anywhere

not just anywhere

not everywhere

not nowhere either

but I know somewhere

I won't do anything

not just anything

not everything

not nothing either

but I know something

I won't live anyhow

not just anyhow

not everyhow

not nohow either

 but I know somehow

I won't die anyday

not just anyday

not everyday

not noday either

but I know someday

I won't be with anybody

not just anybody

not everybody

not nobody either

but I know somebody

Bug Plants

My mom and me are waiting at the bus-stop for the bus to come.

I start picking inch-long black bugs from the ground, 

collecting them in a bottle I am carrying for the very purpose.

The bus approaches. 

My mom is telling me to get ready to get in.

I carry on my treasure-hunt.

The bus arrives. 

Mom’s getting impatient.

I continue adding to the collection and I enter an 

excavation in the ground to find more and more bugs.

Meanwhile, the bus kindly waits for us. 

My mom starts throwing pebbles 

at me to catch my attention.

Yet, I work intently at my dig 

oblivious of everything around. 

The bus loses hope and leaves us stranded 

But not my mom! 

Out of exasperation, 

she picks a big stone and 

targeting it towards my direction, 

ready to throw it, 

She yells at the top of her angry voice –

 “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH THOSE DARNED BUGS!!!!”

With all the excitement I can muster, I say – 

“I am going to grow BIG-BIG plants out of them!”

And, Dear friend! 

That’s the end of her Dream.