Love in action

Its been a week since we returned from our trip to Parthi and already the world has entered back into our system. But there are still many things we retain from it. My personal account of it will follow later, but what the boys have taken away from it has to be narrated.

We were at the station after our entire Parthi pilgrimage, waiting to board the train to Chennai at 10 PM at night. As we walked on the platform to the exact spot where coach B1 was likely to be stationed, R noticed a beggar asleep. He was lying on top of some newspaper carefully spread out, and next to him in a covered little bundle was his little baby. It was chilly Bangalore night, and the baby slept on the newspaper like its father, wrapped on top only by a very old and very dirty towel. Noticing this, R immediately asked me for a bedsheet that we were carrying. As I was finding a good clean one for him, another thought struck me. We had bought two very cute mini pillows to be used in darshans and in the room, and we had it handy outside too. And it seemed like a wonderful opportunity to help Winkie put his love into action. And to hopefully impress on him that the 5 human values were not just part of an SSE curriculum, but something that he could actively cultivate in life.

But there was one problem. It would not be very easy to convince him to give up his pillow, because he had grown very attached to it. He loved it. He slept on it and he took such good care of it. But we drew him close and softly told him the plight of that little baby lying there atop a newspaper, on a cold, dusty platform. He was resistant at first, pointing to the other pillow that was Thambi's. Next, he said that the blanket would be enough for the little one. But something in him began to soften as his heart connected to the need of that other individual, even as his mind pleaded to him of his attachment to his pillow. The conflict was on in full earnest, but he gathered the will to walk over with his father, to hand over the warm sheet and the soft pillow for that little baby. The father accepted it immediately and as we watched, he inserted the pillow softly under the child's sleeping head and covered him/her snugly with the sheet. Our hearts were full on seeing this, and I am afraid so was Winkie's, for big. fat tears spilled over as the pain of losing a beloved objected renewed itself with greater force. A big tight hug, lots of soothing words on the bigness of his action and encouraging words stopped the flow as he took in what had just taken place. I hope its a memory that will be strong in his heart and act as a beacon of inspiration for times when the self seems more important than seva.

In another 1/2 hour, his mama had arrived carrying a bag with tees for the boys. And as Winkie received his gift, we didn't miss a beat as we told him how quickly he had been rewarded for his kindness and his sacrifice.

A whole week after the fact and Thambi still remembers how you reach out your hands to the light of the arati and touch it to your eyes. Only, this extends not only to the light of the flame, but to just about anyone you may see, even on the street. An example : Last evening, as we were walking the streets on a shopping trip, and we passed a beggar with outstretched hands, calling out to us. Winkie went forward with the change in his hands and dropped it into his open palms, and our little copycat master did the same. The man was beyond happy to get so much of change and raised his hands in blessing for the boys. He held it over each one's head, blessing them individually. Mistaking that for the typical arati, Thambi, reached out as if taking the energy of the light and touching it to his eyes and he did this a couple of times, much to our amusement and I must say, delight. The moment was light and one that evoked laughter for cheerful innocence, but it didn't make me lose sight of the all important fact. That man's blessing was a divine fact that played itself out in front of our eyes, and Thambi's taking of his blessing in that form, innocently done, was the ultimate lesson of how we must all perceive one another. As individual flames of that same atmic truth. Love is all. All is One.