Paadukas

My very first pair of footwear was when I had to attend a wedding. My mom bought me a pair of Hawaii slippers at Bata, Gandhi Bazar - a shop that still exists. 

It had broad straps - blue in colour. 

After the wedding, next morning I went to my RSS morning Shakha proudly wearing slippers (a rarity for kids my age). I left it near the light pole on the field (next to Karanji Anjaneya temple). After the class I triumphantly returned home with bare feet. When I remembered my new slippers, I ran back to find them gone, perhaps adorning a more deserving pair of feet.

After many years, I have now bought the costliest slippers of my life. At Bata today. For ₹1999 - Hush Puppies. They are strictly for in-house use. I feel really like a king at home!

Guru Poornima

*Guru’s Grace* 

Your grace fills my heart. 

It is the soft light that illumines.

It is not a blaze I need to take shelter from, 

Not something that scorches my ego.

It grows day by day, 

Shows me my interiority, 

Makes me enjoy the inner experience. 

Such that I stop seeking in the outer world.

As Gita says, your grace nourishes and

protects me. Gently, quietly, gracefully. 

Indeed, I realize what is happening

Only when I witness the Full Moon.

That is Guru Poornima!

हरिः ॐ तत् सत्

Maha Prabhu Jagannatha!

Oh dear Lord Jagannatha! 

I write this as I watch the Rath Yatra commencement on TV (thanks to DD Bharati)! 

Namaste! Namaste! 

Prabho Natha Deva! 

When I hear that you are 

Sat-Chit-Ananda Parabrahman, always blissful, I bow down to you in awe, thinking how different you are from me!

When I hear that through Jnana I can indeed become you, I begin to think it is a great idea to become all bliss. 

But Jagannatha! When I see and marvel at this game you play called creation... 

As you make me, make everything... 

Give me good and bad as and when I need it....

And hold my hand in love... 

And lift me up to your bosom and bathe me in your love and bliss, 

I cannot control my emotion.....

Oh Maha Prabhu Jagannatha! 

I want nothing more than this embrace. It is the ultimate bliss for me. For all creation. 

What a game you play oh Lord! 

Aaallleeezzzwell!

Ishwar C. Puri Group

*Aaallleeezzzwell*

Master, one totality
All love, intuition, creativity and beauty
Became the many as a sport!
Consciousness made the mind.
The mind - with its crown of thinking in duality,
Holding the reins of time and space.

Mind makes matter.
And
Thinks, speaks, remembers, calculates.

But misses what matters the most: Love.

Life is neither a struggle nor a conquest.
It is either a prayer in harmony,
Or a wandering in disharmony.
My game?

My!?! 😀

Master, come play with me!