I had read somewhere a long time ago that there were saints everywhere and they appeared as and when they were needed. They live amongst us, protecting us, helping us in our everyday struggle with life. When we give up hope, they appear out of nowhere to motivate us not to give up our fight against life. And for long I have believed them to be angels working with us to make our lives easier. And for ever, I have placed them at par with Gods.
And so it has been that whenever I have been troubled, a stranger has come up to hold me. The past few days, I have been bothered about how the office space. I have been bothered about the evil that men do to project the good in them. I have been swallowed by sycophancy, I have been devoured by debauchery, I have been troubled by the troublemakers. And in this troubled mind, I hail a riksaw, almost when I had given up hope of finding one.
The people seemed to have found the Lord on the streets, with everyone in this city stepping out to see the Lord Ganesha off on the penultimate day of his visit to the common world. The traffic was in a state of stationary inertia and the tempers hotter than the weather, when the old man at the wheel said, "What a waste of money. Do you think the God wants to listen to these songs as his so called devotees dance in a drunken trance?"
And that was just the beginning of a wonderful discussion we had on God, life, treachery, struggle and the evil that men do to win. I was taken aback with the knowledge that this seemingly uneducated old man had about the scriptures and the philosophy of life. I asked him why was it that evil always won and why should I even believe in God because he seems to be doing nothing about the evil around him. His reply was that evil only seemed to win but never did. In the long term, it is the Good that wins and not the Bad. When I asked him about people who would go to any extent just to win a promotion, he asked me to be patient and wait for the results.
By the time I got out of the rikshaw, I stood impressed by the ability of this man to understand life and how firm he was in his beliefs. If we could all understand what we actually stand for, the world would be such a better place. However, we always live by what the others have to say or do. We have idols and ideals but never enough dedication to ourselves. Its amazing how we worship people but never ourselves. Food for thought from a rikshawalla?
And so it has been that whenever I have been troubled, a stranger has come up to hold me. The past few days, I have been bothered about how the office space. I have been bothered about the evil that men do to project the good in them. I have been swallowed by sycophancy, I have been devoured by debauchery, I have been troubled by the troublemakers. And in this troubled mind, I hail a riksaw, almost when I had given up hope of finding one.
The people seemed to have found the Lord on the streets, with everyone in this city stepping out to see the Lord Ganesha off on the penultimate day of his visit to the common world. The traffic was in a state of stationary inertia and the tempers hotter than the weather, when the old man at the wheel said, "What a waste of money. Do you think the God wants to listen to these songs as his so called devotees dance in a drunken trance?"
And that was just the beginning of a wonderful discussion we had on God, life, treachery, struggle and the evil that men do to win. I was taken aback with the knowledge that this seemingly uneducated old man had about the scriptures and the philosophy of life. I asked him why was it that evil always won and why should I even believe in God because he seems to be doing nothing about the evil around him. His reply was that evil only seemed to win but never did. In the long term, it is the Good that wins and not the Bad. When I asked him about people who would go to any extent just to win a promotion, he asked me to be patient and wait for the results.
By the time I got out of the rikshaw, I stood impressed by the ability of this man to understand life and how firm he was in his beliefs. If we could all understand what we actually stand for, the world would be such a better place. However, we always live by what the others have to say or do. We have idols and ideals but never enough dedication to ourselves. Its amazing how we worship people but never ourselves. Food for thought from a rikshawalla?
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