The Rainbow Nation

I am in Cape Town,- Africa's most popular tourist destination. The Atlantic is within sniffing distance and from my room in The Table Bay Hotel, I can see Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years of his incarceration, bereft of everything but his iron will.

From what I have seen and read, South Africa is also a beautiful country, with a rich history of everything that humanity has come to be known for,- peace, crime, inspiration, apartheid, self-preservation, unemployment, progress, slavery, Nelson Mandela, breath-taking beauty, and (the need for) a roadmap.

From Dr. Christian Bernard's hospital three minutes from here, to Robben island, South Africa is a rainbow nation in many ways, and maybe a bit like other newly-Westernised places, where the message of universality is still in the infancy of implementation. That said, it is always better for an idea to be born and in infancy, than in the head and in gestation. The seven colours are not only distinct, but also differentiated. This plural-cultural society has to be transformed into a multi-cultural society. But then, the African people have dominated the spiritual world-map with their indomitable spirit. And if they have climbed many mountains of darkness, they can swim through oceans of inequality as well.

Some years back, I stayed with some South Africans in Puttaparthi. One of the youth mentioned: We are Africans, we can endure anything. Africa has come a long way from enduring to inspiring. And South Africa stands to exemplify this transformation in some ways.

Chalo Dilli enroute Cape Town

I do not generally watch movies, much less, Hindi movies. And if I am flying, I generally avoid movies altogether, even if it long-haul. The takeaway from a standard Hindi movie value is the equivalent relaxation from two shots of tequila,- temporary relief and life-long regret. I avoid the former, I abstain from the latter.

But then, stereotyping Bollywood is like stereotyping Kollywood. The same factory that dishes out the regular trash, also dished out Pithamakan. And thus, we come to Chalo Dilli.

The whole movie is about two sharply contrasted and well stereotyped characters (but of course) who end up driving together to Delhi from Mumbai, via train, car, truck, jeep, and camel-cart. One is a high-flying professional and the other is a desi shopkeeper. By the end of the movie, the professional gets the message that life is much more than the small obstacles she faces that equate to big deals in her life. The end is, less climactic as it is poignant, and in the last few scenes of the movie lies the message of life.

Personally, this couldn't have come at a better time for me. I have been struggling with work, and standing on my head to secure a particular project, as if this will be the panacea to all my problems.

But then, the universe has a purpose for everything. Right down to the movies that you watch. Else, I, who never watch anything on-board, but for The Simpsons and the History channel, had to settle down to Hindi. And when things have been going bad for quite some time for me, and when I have been focusing on business growth to address issues as diverse as health and personal life, the tag-line of the movie becomes the message for me: Kaun si badi baat ho gayi? (what's the big deal?)

In all probability, the inevitable will happen. I might or might not secure the project that I have been struggling for. But over the last 24 hours, everything has taken a dramatic shift (in the mind), and so, if the inevitable is inevitable: what's the big deal?

The Mahasamadhi metaphor

I don’t know the karmic computation that led us to be among the first to behold the marbled edifice that will hold the elements of the Avatar, but the symbolism became quite apparent in a while. As we sat there, half awake, half pretending to be awake, it somehow felt as if this would be yet another day in Puttaparthi, when one would go through the exercise of stretch, strain and ache to catch a partially self-conjured glimpse of the Avatar separated by the rolled-up window of His car, and the waists, hands, arms and letters of a hundred devotees in front of you.

While I kept reminding myself to be fully awake by 8.30 AM when the Mahasamadhi would be unveiled to the devotees, I threw occasional glances at the VVIPs streaming in and students loitering about as if it was last year. And just when I began to wander again inside, the gong rang out in deep bass, and with a mode of surrealism that the Avatar Himself was so good at, the red curtains were drawn apart. It seemed unreal for a second, just like a gentle nudge that shakes you out of a slumber to a sobering awakening, an awakening that, as always with the Avatar, is more felt and experienced than heard and observed.

The podium has been reworked, the Ganesha idol removed, pillars added, and the recessed area walled from three sides. The backdrop is a round beautiful picture of the Avatar flanked on both sides by soft, long, vertical lights in yellow. Everything seemed to there, simplicity, ostentation, poignancy and insentience. But then again, everything about Parthi is like that. All looked normal, as if there is nothing different. After the unveiling, it was spiritual business as usual,- chants, talks, songs and bhajans.

What struck me was what one of the speakers noted. He stressed that this Mahasamadhi is unlike any other, in that, this breathes and thrives through the devotion of all who come here. The symbolism is not to be missed. Till date, we would wait for the physical form to glide in; now He will wait for our physical forms to gather. This seems to be the first dawn of a day in the life of every devotee which will never be like the past days of his life, and where, he will have to fight with a higher level of consciousness, just to get to that level.

It is like coming home to your mother, only to discover that though she is still there, your house has changed from the inside out, and her form has changed, and when you have barely managed to regain your spiritual wits, it becomes time to leave. Of course, you also realize that the only thing that is still the same is the outside world, and this tragicomically will remain what it always was: till you realize that you are, but to walk the invisible, but verily perceptible gossamer line between the tragic and comedic.

Unexpect the expected

We all know what’s to happen very shortly. Prema Sai will arrive. He will be born in a village in Karnataka. And He will complete the Plan He drew up for Himself. And the rest, like they say, is posterity.

We had the great fortune of meeting Br. Sai Rameesh, the grandson of N. Kasturi, the veritable Arjuna or Vyasa or Hanuman of this age (depending on which sect is offering the hypothesis). And we had quite an uplifting conversation with this modern-day Parkishit, sitting in the garden beside the North blocks, under a tree planted by him many years back. For someone of his lineage, the discussion naturally dwelt on the metaphysical aspects of the Avatar and His message, but the most important revelations had less to do with spirituality, and more to do with posterity, rather, our version of posterity.

Now, before we get to Prema Sai, there is something about Sathya Sai as well, that is unheard of, or at least, unknown to me. As per record, Infinity composes itself into a bright blue light and settles in the womb of the Mother. Apparently, last December, Swami told Sai Rameesh that even before this had happened, God had had to enter the mind of the Father, Pedda Venkappa Raju, so that the latter would yearn for a Divine child. This had to precede the auspicious occasion for Mother Eshwaramma.

If this has not caught your spiritual fancy, listen to the next one. During the interview with Sai Rameesh, Swami also mentioned that Prema Sai would not be born in the way the birth is being propagated. In fact, He would not be born at all in the Human form. Rather, Prema Sai would appear for a very short while to some people. Prema Sai would rather, refer to Prema SAI - Prema Sai Always Inside.

This is their version of Prema Sai as per His version of last December. And both Mrs. And Mr. Sai Rameesh want to actively spread this message. When I noted the many happenings in Karnataka, and all the inferences, Br. Sai Rameesh simply remarked that the Avatar can change His Sankalpa as He pleases.

So be it. Whether this entire version is authentic, I know not. Whether it is verifiable, definitely not. Whether it is acceptable, that’s a choice. At the end of the day, the future will bring its own Present. We are better off living with the Gift of today, which is the legacy of our unique past relationship with Divinity. And we are well off to let Prema Sai take care of the future.

Living my heart on my head

Throughout my life, I have been bogged down by this malaise of keeping my heart in my head. I have been reminded by personalities ranging from the psychologist to the plebian that I use too much of my head and little of my heart. This was driven home by Kasturi’s grandson’s German wife, within half a minute of my meeting her. And I had only introduced myself by then. She, undoubtedly, was a good aura reader as well. This is yet another perceptible message from this pilgrimage,- that I need to break free from my servitude to my head at the expense of my heart, a problem that has assailed me from the time I realized I had a mind with a signature labyrinth.

Leonardo Gutter, a member of the Prashanthi Council, and probably the most handsome member of this holy caucus chosen by the Avatar Himself, revealed that when he first came to see Swami, they were all waiting in thousands in a stadium in Chennai, and it seemed like forever. And all of a sudden, he realized that his heart was beating with incredible intensity, as if he was going to have a heart-attack. And then Swami arrived. In other words, his heart could feel what his eyes were yet to see. I think the message was tailor-made for me.

Hotel California

Every trip to Parthi is an eye-opener, and without doubt, it never is either of the two between the ears. Un-strangely enough, the awareness of the epiphany that the vision bestows on you remains demystified till many yeas later, if at all. And one day, we realize that it all makes sense in hindsight, which is the foresight that real Masters possess. This jaunt reminded me of a song entitled, Hotel California by The Scorpions, ‘where you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.’

Parthi is a Hotel California, where you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave. All that we can hope to do is to munch and step out and then return again for some more sustenance,- till He decides that there is nothing needed to be fed. That’s probably when it will also dawn upon us that the Hotel had boundaries of our making alone. And, that Paradise was never lost in the first place. Till then, you should allow the stomach to be starved, and the thirst unquenched.

My takeaway will be that I will keep asking what would love do in this situation, for many situations from now on, till I forget to ask. And, when I sink to the state of spiritual starvation, He will send me back to His hotel.

What would love do in this situation?

I have just returned from Puttaparthi, after having participated in the first international event in Parthi after the Mahasamadhi. This was the Youth World Conference 2011, unique in many ways, and the most compelling reason for my first blog in more than a month.

The agenda of the conference itself was a forced departure from the past. We discussed, of all things, politics, flat organizations, communication, miscommunication, lack of communication, democracy, dictatorship, mentoring for youth, mentoring for elders, Samastha Loka, Loka Samastha, and facebook, while none so conscious of the irony of delving on the mundane to expedite the movement to the metaphysical and ultimately to the transcendental.

Every pilgrimage is undertaken with baggage to be dropped off and fresh implements to be brought back. And my biggest takeaway from this trip to Parthi was this question: What would love do in this situation?

One of the speakers spoke from the heart, and, to the heart, and touched everyone present. For the purpose of a reference, I am reminded of our EHV Coordinator Sis. Meena Kumari and the way I have heard her speak. During his talk, he mentioned this statement as a stethoscope for one’s own diagnosis of the mind. This Zonal coordinator, who oversees the operations of the Youth Wing in 16 countries of Southern Europe suggested, in effect, that, the best way to connect with others is to disconnect the mind. And for every situation that is confrontational in appearance, we would need to pose this question to ourselves: What would love do in this situation?

I have known few other questions to be answers in themselves.