Lord Vishnu and his mischievous ways of teaching…..It’s my favourite topic. I’m back with one more story. This story relates to Dwaper Yuga, when the Lord had incarnated as Krishna. Draupadi, the wife of Pandavas had a very beautiful relationship with him. Very affectionately, He used to call her “Sakhi” (female friend). For Pandavas, he was elder brother, mentor, Guru all rolled in one. But, for Draupadi, he was “Sakha” or friend, with whom she could share anything and ask for anything. So, when Dushshasan was disrobing Draupadi, the wife of valorous Pandavas, the sister of the great warrior Dhrishtdyumn, and the daughter of the great king Drupad, she couldn’t think of anybody for her rescue but her Sakha. Poor Draupadi, face wet with tears, trying desperately to save her honour cried,” O Krishna, King of Dwarika! Please come and save me!” For a moment, nothing happened as if Krishna was not responding to her prayer. Then, suddenly, a miracle occurred…..

After several days, when Krishna came to meet Pandavas, Draupadi confronted Him for his delay on that fateful day. Her Sakha flashed His sweetest disarming smile and said, “Sakhi, I was always beside you. But, when you called on me for help, you addressed me as the King of Dwarika. Therefore, first I went to Dwarika and then I came back to you. What could have I done, it was you who confined me to the boundaries of Dwarika. Only if you had summoned the omnipresent Krishna, I would have been there for you immediately.”

The mistake that Draupadi committed, we keep on repeating again and again. We keep on trying to confine the Lord to man made boundaries. There is One God for Palestine, another for Israel. There is one God residing in Vatican and another God residing in Mecca. The Hindu God and the Muslim God are staring at each other suspiciously. We have imposed our pettiness on that omnipresent, omnipotent, all pervading entity that is beyond the limitations of time and space. If only we could understand the depth of the message that the Lord gave to Draupadi, we can make our world a better place.

There is a very interesting game called Kabutarbazi that was popular in the Awadh region of India. It is a game like the Derby race. People who indulged in this game used to   keep pigeons and organize their races. Kabutarbazi was considered a hobby of the elite class. There were so many self proclaimed Ustaad, the specialists of this game who used to boast about the finer details of the art of capturing and training pigeons. On the other hand, there were so many rich youngsters, having nothing worthwhile to do, who were always busy collecting tips of Kabutarbazi. One such Shagird (aspirant) went to an Ustaad to learn the great art of capturing pigeon. After much cajoling and coaxing, the Ustaad agreed to impart such precious knowledge. He decided to give a practical lesson to his pupil and showered him with several instructions. He told his disciple to hold a metal vessel full of wax and stand quietly where the pigeons were sitting. Then he said,” go quietly to the nearest pigeon and put the wax on its head. Now, wait until the warmth of the sun melts the wax and it comes on its eyes. When the wax will cover the eyes of pigeon completely, the poor creature will become temporarily blind, and then you can catch it easily without doing any harm to it.” Shagird, bewildered with that entire hullabaloo and so many tedious instructions, asked,” Ustaadji, should I had not capture the pigeon while I had been putting wax on its head? It would have been easier.” Ustaadji answered nonchalantly, “Then who will call me an Ustaad?” Poor Shagird !!!

Ustaadji and his Shagird are not isolated examples. Lifestyle Gurus and so many self-help books flooding the bookstores, always remind me of the duo. So many people speaking so much about peace and contentment in highly technical jargon…sometimes it makes me dizzy. Scriptures declare repeatedly that the peace is our essential basic nature. Simplicity is an indispensable virtue required for peace. Do we need anything other than surrender in the lotus feet of almighty to know him and attain peace?

Om Shanti …Shanti …. Shanti..

The other day, someone asked me why spiritual people are always supposed to be so serious, or we should say, gloomy. Some childhood memories came rushing in. I remember very vividly that whenever there would be any religious occasion at home, the extended family would gather, and we kids would be elated at the prospect of all of us being together. We would be playing around, laughing, talking, exchanging news…but very soon the grown-ups would come and inquire if we thought the whole occasion to be some kind of a joke. And we would be told to keep quiet, and keep our faces straight.

Anyhow, after this short digression, let’s come back to the subject. Why are spiritual people so gloomy? Or rather, as I would like to put it, are spiritual people gloomy at all? For a truly spiritual person resides in Sat-chit-ananda (truth-eternal-bliss). Now, indeed, how can one residing in bliss be gloomy? Is there even room for gloominess when one resides in sheer bliss? Gloominess is caused by frustration, jealousy and suppressed desires. A truly spiritual person would have none of these. So we are compelled to conclude that truly spiritual people are never gloomy; they are forever brimming with bliss, joy. Acharya Shankar has in fact said ‘childlikeness’ to be an important attribute of the true spiritual people.