In the pursuit of finding answers, my questions were pilling up. Some questions would get answered along the way and some stayed unanswered though the journey never stopped. An answer to a particular question at certain phase of my life seemed like a dot, but now these dots were connecting and were making a sensible line. A line which can be phrased. The question that kept coming to me was " Whats the difference between those people who are their own best friends and those who are their own enemies knowingly or un-knowingly?"
While reading some books, particularly "Life Leaves Clues by Bryan Thayer", I came across something which I could relate to an incident that happened in my life. It acted almost as a last dot to complete the line or phrase which could answer the above question.
It was during my visit back home in India. Even-though the monsoon season was not yet started, the sky poured unexpectedly in the month of April. Like everyone else I was not prepared for this and had to run to the closest shelter to avoid getting wet. I saw people running to that shelter quickly. I heard people talking various things. Some discussed global warming being the possible cause, someone commented about what would be the situation of roads and traffic due to rain, someone was worried about his brand new leather shoes and a man throwing tantrum on his woman for not bringing umbrella. A young boy standing next to me seemed quite serious, he was heavily occupied in arranging his wet wallet into a plastic beg and trying to dry his wet 50 Rs note. I realized no one was actually paying attention to the rain. Meanwhile, I saw one gentleman walking towards the shelter. He was wearing specs and his one hand was covering his forehead to avoid getting rain drops on his specs and face, but with the other hand he was holding his cute little daughter. The only difference was, the little girl's hand was not covering her head - instead it was open - palm facing the sky. They came and stood next to me, I moved a little, closer to the Money Drying Machine guy ( I should have given him some of my notes too to dry! :P). I saw that the little girl was collecting water in her hand and drinking it again and again, sometime she would collect water in her hand and throw it to her face. Suddenly, she asked her dad - " Daddy, why doesn't it rain everyday?". Occupied in his mobile, her dad answered - yes dear, it will tomorrow, it will. She went back to her play and after sometime asked again " Dad why doesn't it rain everyday?". This time there was no answer. There was just Silence. But that day I got my answer. I got the answer about the differences between those who are their best friends and those who are not!
The rain falls on all of us equally. It doesn't discriminate between rich or poor, taller or shorter, male or female, black or white. Same way, there is this infinite power or energy, or consciousness, or higher-self, or god or whichever term you want to use to refer to, continuously showers upon us. It is that power because of which we all are alive and because of which all concepts exist. It is there for everyone, just like this rain. The only difference is some people have their hands up covering themselves from it while others have their hands open receiving it. They collect and drink it and let it go inside. Those who cover their head don't let it go inside, the power - the infinite rain just touches them and passes away. But the beauty is we all know how to bring our hands from up there to down in receiving mode. If you remember, by default, our hands were always in receiving mode when we were kid. We all were asking so many questions and seeking answers then. As we grew up, we stopped asking questions and accepted the life as it comes. Some people's hand went up in covering mode while few kept their hands in the same position like that little kid. Today, we call them successful people or people who are their own best friends. Successful people are not an extra ordinary people, they are just ordinary people with extra ordinary questions. Just like that little kid, they have the questions, lots of questions, but they seek the answers too and embark on their pursuit.
Just pause, ask the right questions, answers will appear. Connect those dots and line will appear.
Love,
Rakesh