Letter to a Friend -II

Mech71 members regularly exchange communications with each other, quite often a brief one but at times  a long communication has a a message that others may find useful too. Therefore, I had posted one as a letter in this blog earlier. Here is another one that I just sent to Sanjay Mukerji one of our dear friends who recently suffered a severe cardiac arrest and is still indisposed but still full of his spirit of adventure and enthusiasm.

Dear Sanjay,

Your long communication describing the recent cardiac event you suffered made me get to know you in a way that I have never known you before, this despite the fact that I knew you from before IIT and our fathers knew each other from even before we were born. They say a human personality is immensely deep, so that one can never fully know another, even in a life time, not even oneself actually – that is why the Greek philosophers put that as the most esoteric task for a human to pursue – Know thyself.

The interest and fascination with which you described your attack and your responses to it brought out the unique and exceptional sense of adventure that is a part of you. It would explain why you have always walked your own path and kicked more traditional careers and life- your own professional one – for another of adventure and tourism. No doubt every good quality comes with a baggage of its own disadvantages too, and the one in this case may have been a lessened financial and other worldly security that others of similar backgrounds may have acquired as a matter of course. However, of the two I think the joy one can find in an adventurous life and the huge experiences it brings is indeed worthy because one of the main functions of a brief life we all spend is to undergo experiences and in turn learn from it.

When one perceives a human to be following an ordinary course in life like most others, one is labeled as sheep because one sticks to a flock but in reality each of us a unique creation of the universe with a set of unique strengths and weaknesses that exceed the same in most others and the particular mix being unique to each one of us. It is a different matter that others may not be able to realize what these weaknesses and strengths are as mentioned and in very many cases not even the person concerned. It is because of this perhaps that the sages said – know thyself – so that one may get to know one’s strengths and make best use of them to make life more fruitful, joyous as also to know one’s weaknesses and work to conquer them. Patanjli the father of yoga termed this as Swadhyay – an essential step of evolution. In fact according to him just three things that he called Kriya Yoga can take a being to the highest possible level of evolution in the universe and these three are – Tap, Swadhyaya, Ishwar Sharnagati – i.e. Disciplined effort, study of self and surrendering to the will of the universe.

As regards my self one of my unique things has been my interest in spiritual sciences. Any submergence in these like everything else comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. It makes also one appreciate things that most others appreciate less and lose interest in things most others pursue with enthusiasm.

One of the outcomes of my spiritual involvement has been the conviction that we are all eternal souls and this life is just one of many in a series of human and other lives. With this conviction comes a losing of the fear of death since one knows it will not happen and one rather looks forwards to a new fresh suit (body) when the old one is wearing out. However, this does not mean that one does not aspire for whatever it is that one might cherish in life although one loses any deep attachment to them noting their transient nature, and therefore it makes one avoid deeds of bad karma and increase those of good karma for that is the easiest way to be granted and acquire what one cherishes in life e.g. there are many in world who because they wish for more wealth or power grind their very butts out for it pushing themselves into deep stress, misery and a mountain of bad karma while the Queen of England just gets it all for free while sipping tea on a tree house in Kenya because she was born that way – her karma.

Losing the fear of death also does not mean that one does not worry about pain and suffering while in this body and even spiritual persons pray for its avoidance. They do not pray for a long life but pray that whenever the Lord ends it, he may do so swiftly and painlessly.

Out of this came also the realization that all leave this body from a cardiac arrest, and if one got it directly from a cardiac weakness or disease instead of say after getting a cancer in the gut, it is indeed a blessing. I wrote a note about it years ago entitled – When heart disease is a blessing and it annoyed a leading cardiologist, family friend much because it was in a sense going against the propaganda of cardio professions.

Those were not just empty words for I lived them too. In Jan 2001 I acquired angina. Soon, within a year or so I learned that the brief pain of it is overcome quickly for me with soluble dispirin (aspirin) that I use to carry with me. I shun most medical treatments and interventions for reasons described earlier and rejected all suggestions of it. The condition lasted until 2007 becoming severe around Dec 2001, also around 2004 or 2005 and finally the severest in 2007 when I nearly popped of more than once, but these darned, as many think, spiritual mantras, they saved me and gave me another life after that an opportunity perhaps to get rid of a bit more bad karma and create some good one while still in the present clothes as also learn more of the infinitely deep mysteries of the universe. By clothes I mean the body because as a matter of fact some of it has been without clothes as in my novel – nude besides the lake : -)

All the best Sanjay, I know now as regards you, that whatever will be will be good – Que Sera Sera Good.

Your friend

Mal

update April 18, 2019

Today by chance I read this letter again and realized that the divine spiritual mantra mentioned in this letter, (I discoverd it in the central  Himalayas in 2007) was recorded by me and put out in public domain so that anyone may access it, listen to it and chant along with it until you pick up the chant,  just in case others need its help. It helped me yuuuuuge during a period of the severest crisis in my life that lasted for around six months ending in early September of the same year. My experience with it was that it drives away evil and magically brings the Lord's angels to one's aid if one chants it believing that the name used - Ram - is one of the infinite divine names of the infinite Power that rules the Universe.  It is also the name of an ancient divine king highly revered in Asia.

Following is a beautiful professional rendering in Hindi by Jagjit Singh incorporating this divine name in his music

https://youtu.be/sCK359KYDqk