Past impressions, future expressions!

[Edited to add some inserts!]

When we holidayed in Chennai last summer, we had a chance to observe what we thought was something new about Thambi. You will understand why I use that phrase, when you read on. Without any inputs from our end to identify, he would greet all the God pictures around the home with an immediate coming together of his hands, in a silent pranam. We enjoyed this trait of his very much. And in every home we went to, he could spot these kind of pictures right away and give his due respect. What was really surprising to us was how he spotted the divine forms, right through the more modern looking pictures...the stylised, artsy ones, the ones with minimal strokes and embellishments, the glass paintings, the embossed ones on foil, everything. No matter if it bore very little representation to the more traditional figures, he still knew.

I am reminded of this now because of something that happened more recently.

He prefers and insists on eating his meals by himself and we let him. Only, 5 minutes later, a glass of water is asked for and then begins the typical game of watering down your meals and dunking your food into the cup and then eating it type of activity, which ends up way more messy than we like it to. The other day, we were too tired and hungry to protest as he dipped his fingers in to the cup of water. We watched him warily out of the corner of our eyes, preparing to step in if it got out of hand. What followed was something we will never forget. He sprinkled the water on his food, going in a circular motion around his plate. Then he dipped his fingers in again and sprinkled again, one more time and then one more, thus a total of 3 times in all. Then he daintily set aside his cup, dug in with his spoon and began to eat. Me and R looked at each other, dumbstruck. How did he figure out to do that? And that too 3 times?

Explanation : It is a brahmin custom, once a boy has had his thread ceremony, initiating him into the brahmin way of life, to do this little ritual of water and circling it around his food, before beginning to eat. Its a way of invoking the divine grace to bless the food he is about to eat. He has been doing this a couple of times now. And its amazing to watch each time.

And of course there is the coincidental fact that I am reading Many Lives, Many Masters, right now and that gives me a clearer understanding of how all these things can play out. How impressions from past lives can filter through and find expressions in your current life. Its easy to see how it all fits in when viewed from this broader perspective.

Initially whenever he looked at the picture of Sai Baba, he learnt to identify him and called him Thai Baba, which is just as apt, if you ask me. And then suddenly, one day, out of the blue, he pointed to a photograph and said Baby Thai Baba. We were puzzled about the baby, and wondered what he saw. If only we could have had the gift of his vision for a few seconds, we might have been able to glimpse what visions of innocence the Lord afforded him. For now, we have to take his word on it!

I recollect with affection, the sound of his little voice ringing out strong and clear, as we chanted the Gayathri at the Sai Center last Sunday. Each and every one of those 9 times that we chanted it, he joined us, his baby voice starting just 2 seconds earlier in a clear Om, and stretching the prajodayat...a few seconds longer and saying it in the clear vedic version of the chant....prajodayaaaaatu. I couldn't see him then, for he sat on R's lap, but I heard his earnest voice and felt the sincerity of his soul, as he innocently joined in the chant that he was so familiar with.

All of this makes me want to dwell a little on the way he approaches music. How his whole body instantly stills, every pore and cell alert to the vibration, the melody, his eyes glazing over, achieving a certain faraway look, his whole persona radiating a silent bliss. He certainly has a deep connection with music, and a keen ear for it. I only have to sing a bhajan once or twice and the third time, we are singing in unison. All that's stopping him from a full blown perfect rendition are those neural connections in his brain that produces language as we know it. Otherwise, its all there, intact, coming from a place deep down, from eons past, from experiences that I can only guess at. I don't know the details of his past, but I am thankful for these little pearls of inputs that give me a nudge to the direction I should take in helping him shape his future.....by giving him a chance to explore these newly unearthed aspects of his delightful personality!