A Smile at Billion Hearts!

        The world is a beautiful place. Its people, animals, birds, landscape and even the tiniest of organisms create value to one another. There is harmony on the sky, on the Earth, in the fire and in the air we breathe. Life dwells in the present and provides a great amount of learning experience every moment. In the course of my ‘Operation Smile’, I discovered myself more than anything else. All the new friendships which made me to get used to new languages and culture and above the unity of soul between every creature in the world. Of all the great things I learnt, I believing realizing all souls are all the same and the most wonderful. The truth that I felt is the soul inside each and every creature is one and every soul is driven by different vehicles in the form of different names, body structure, gender and color.

       Taking the example of people introducing themselves like ‘I am Deva’, ‘I am Mr.X’, ‘I am Mr.Y’ and so on, the letter ‘I” is common to all just as the way; soul is unique and same to all. ‘I’ is the soul which applies to everyone and the name is the ‘vehicle’ with which everyone drives their life. One beautiful quote in ‘Mahabharatam’ astounds me every time I feel about the beauty of smile. When Krishna rode the chariot of Arjunan during the war, the chariot was tied using five horses. Human philosophy in the modern era has declared the significance of the chariot run by five horses. Those horses with their respective ropes in the hands of the rider signify the five different senses (sensory organs in human body) and the sixth sense is the person himself (brain included!). When I was going through all these eye-opening lessons after joining here in Amrita, I was so much interested in knowing the self which is almost the toughest part in anyone’s life.

     Only during that time, ‘Smile’ was begun or rather assigned. Initially before this process, we may be smiling at strangers retaining to our emotional swings at that particular moment but all those gestures of smile were made unconsciously. Now after the establishment of ‘Smile’, whenever I smile at someone, the smile became conscious and I could realize the complete beauty of smile given and taken! Wow! This self-realization of my smile’s effectiveness is exactly correlated with my eternal search for knowing me. Obviously, the whole process of creating that ‘smile from unconditional love’ excited me incredibly and that indeed changed the way of life to a great extent.

            The smiling ability in a man is a divine gift. It cannot be articulated, but it is a quality that should be imbibed like blood and bone in every cell of life. Such abilities could only be profound by showing deepest affection on self, others and the world. As I mentioned earlier about the similarity of ‘I’ in every living-being, one should believe all living beings are equal and there is no way people could be differentiated on disputably baseless terms. Smile brings the beauty to the place and the great moments in life always accompany with a smile or with tears of happiness! So smile being the integral part of human life has to be showered endlessly and that defines a whole life of positivity and integrity.

            When I knowingly or rather consciously began the process of ‘Life with Smile’, for the first time in my life, I started looking into the eyes of the stranger. Eyes – what a creation it is! Indeed, yes! Eyes carry a lot of information when thrown for a glance and that image strikes as a bone marrow of the human body till the end. Eyes hide behind lot of happiness, endless struggles, withering pain or growing desires. But at the same time, eyes are lesser of secret-keepers. One could control the entirety of other person through the eyes. Hence, when I started looking into the eyes of a stranger feeling that the person who I see should see me back, amazingly many times during this operation, the feeling got real! Magical! Do eyes possess special powers of attentiveness? What does really happen when we find normality in abnormality? How does it feel when you realize 21 years of nothing translates into something powerful that could control self and self-reliant others? Eyes! Eyes contain ‘Yes’ even within them! Wow amazing creation of God – the eyes.

            The moment at which two strangers meet is always an interesting one. When their eyes meet, there arises a sense of strangeness, familiarity, caution, care, friendship, doubt, uncertainty and humanity all at the same time. I consciously realized that few seconds meeting the eyes of a stranger could be so lengthy when I remembered how I was feeling. So when I started to meet new people in their eyes, I made a strong eye contact and had a smile in my face. And after we both crossed each other, I just remembered the situation again and wow how beautiful one’s smile can make our life better. Just imagine yourself getting an affectionate or ‘well-known’ smile from a stranger. You believe that there are people who care for you and thereby eventually every smile boosts your self-confidence to higher levels. I felt the same feeling of my growing confidence when people smiled at me back. It is a feeling like no other and there is a great amount of satisfaction of leading a good life. I developed new friendships completely out of strangers like the lift-support employee at Big Bazaar (Sarjapura Road), Docomo Outlet Salesman, PVR Cinemas popcorn maker and many others in this short span of 30 days. Initially I had the count of people to whom I smiled at but fortunately I lost the count and won the real battle of life in making my environment a happier, healthier place to live in. Knowing thy self knows the eternal power. I am on the way of that search.

            Kindness is an epitome of human behaviour. When kindness is shown to our known ones, it becomes more of a conditional affection, while when it is shown to everyone alike it becomes more of a heavenly bliss and supreme quality. This world has seen and is now seeing few great human souls who have buried their self and put forth their people in front. Money-making or living for the society is just an arbitration of one’s duplicate reality, but the real happiness lays in one’s inner satisfaction and harmless peace. I can realize that inner peace during this ‘Operational Smile’.

            Smile has a direct impact on reducing anger and frustrations. Normally, I am more of a tempered person who cannot take mistakes lightly. I respect everyone’s work and I admire people who live, earn and spend by working hard. So I easily get frustrated when people do not recognise my work. But after this operation, I am getting my innocence back which I have lost on the way after crossing my childhood. Now I am feeling good every moment and living the life the way it comes. Surely, the one change I did which made a great impact or done a great transformation in my life is – SMILE.

            I could see happiness around me and I cherish all those moments. This process made me realize that smile is not bestowed only for the rich and that is deprived for the poor. Smile is an universal act and only because of that, we get a feel of goodness whenever we see whomsoever smiling. Smile defines the person you are. It is not what you are inside but it what you do that defines you. When you do smile, that smiles helps you back in defining you. I believe that the essence of living is to leave behind a legacy that makes others lives better.

            Through this process, I have met numerous people and putting aside some unlucky or non-responsive incidents aside, this is a great learning experience. Now I needn’t think twice to smile, the art of smiling has now become a habit. I am sure that the smile on my face could stay there forever even when my ship is sailing through hardships, storms, hurricanes or abruptly having landed on an uninhibited island.

            ‘Smile’ is just the simplest process that could take a person miles higher to supremacy. The knowledge of people accepting you as their one fellow-being and the nature of creating a space for yourself just for the creation of goodness is something barely believable. The realization of self is complete only when realizing the realization is not realized in the real world. I am happier that I am marching towards the fort that carries peace as wisdom and happiness as its children.

THE WORLD AND ME: WHAT DO I EXPECT AND SEEK-TO-BE?

              In pursuit of something irrelevant or falling in an unknown space, this world keeps moving every day. There is a wide speculation that ‘everyone’s goals are chased’, ‘dreams are made real’ and so on but I believe that the real essence of life is missed on the way. Have you ever wondered why this world is highly partial to its people? Why someone has the power and wealth to have fun while the other literally starves every day? Why someone has the liberty to grow a cash tree while the unluckiest of the lot willing to house under a branch-less tree?

            Ironically, the answer lies within the question itself. It is just the belief and attributes of an individual that defines who one really is and how one perceives the world. Many are under-privileged because of the place, race, and time and to the parents they are born. Incidentally, no one can control their birth. But their life till the end is by far in their own hands. This could well be proved by the fact that this world has seen great people with magical lifestyle undoubtedly from every corner of the world. The one quality of all is being the HOPE.

            Hope, as said, is the most special virtue in human life. It is like a ‘pointing finger’ painted on a door that is closed to you. It points, directing to you to another door further on that will open to your big opportunity. Keep looking for that other door – that open door where success, great lifestyle and the so called ‘liberties’ could be achieved.

            However, many hands do not possess this ‘pointing finger’. Those whole lots of people have created a space for themselves and are just living and passing everyday just to die soon. This action all revolves in your minds and without ‘hope’, life is a barren land with maize seeds thrown in. Hope to live and never hope to die. This is not human at all.

            Every man in this world is striving to reach a space which is abstract, but the fact is through that process, one forgets to live. Everyone awaits the future, believing it exists if alive and restrict oneself to believe there is happiness even now.

            A salesman was having trouble making sales, always afraid and forever whistling in the dark. An older and successful salesman gave him a 3-sentence prayer. Reprising that the results were miraculous and his percentage of sales rose steadily.

            A group of words or three sentences changed many a lives. The prayer is:

‘I believe that I am always divinely guided..!

I believe that I will be led always to take the right turn of the road.

I believe that GOD will always make a way where there is no way’.

Quality of Self:

            In the last 21 years, I happened to travel a lot, maybe more than others would have done in my same age-group. Family pilgrimages, school tours, college industrial tours, trekking and for participating in numerous symposiums, I kept travelling and found endless patterns of people around the country. The difference between people from various landscapes arouses mainly from their cultural habits. Everyone makes own lifestyle and keeps surviving every day, really not knowing what they are up to. Every life is fulfilled only when the time comes to make you feel that you are satisfied. In the world, not the money nor the power that determines fulfilment but the art of getting contended is what gives the fullest satisfaction. In the history of human life, if one clearly observes, ‘he who is satisfied with his desires and principles has become great in life’.

            An important question for anyone is: ‘what am I doing to my own self? Am i making myself big to equate with the power potential in me? Or am I accepting smallness as I am capable of?’ The answers and confidence by which your answer yourself defines the gem who you are. To think yourself smaller than you actually are a violation of your real nature and disaster is anytime near.

            

           Through the years, every thought, every emotion, every experience contributes to the quality of self. We are coincidence building up or breaking down the self. The art of leading gives you the wisdom to lead others. As the world knows, success is 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent motivation.

              

            No matter how old or how settled one becomes, self is in the making continuously. Everything contributes to its greatness or littleness, its stagnation or growth, its shadow contention or real attribute. The world perceives to chase their dreams in an empty arena where the entire hope rests within. I perceive that this world is still better when the inner-self actuates and people go in by answering the questions their self asks. Just imagine if everyone speaks to their self and do great things benefitting all, how the world would be?!

 

Hope to see things come true:

            Hope is wishing for a thing to come true; faith is the believing that it will come true. The world is real; its people are real; their actions and achievements are real but everyone keeps trending the unknown path of contention. Many conceive to forget that the art of satisfaction lays in every action. Chasing dreams of fantasy is absurd while chasing dreams of contention is the only absolute. Every day, every moment do actions by which you get satisfaction, similarly even now when I write this blog, I feel so. This unbelievable feeling called ‘HOPE’ is wanting something so eagerly that, in spite of all evidences that you are not going to get it, you go right on expecting it.

            However, the actions on the way to tread the undefined path are satisfactory. There is nothing wrong in doing so, as even if one fails to reach the destination, one still lives in the road that is the real outcome of fulfilment. And the remarkable thing is that this very act of hoping or belief produces strength of its own. No matter how long it takes, ‘persist’. No matter how discouraged you get, ’persevere’. No matter how much you want to quit, ‘hang in there’.

            Deep within an individual is a vast reservoir of untapped power waiting to be used. The big heart of faith can push those crushing circumstances of life wide apart. The positive mind is not limited, while it carries the power to penetrate, solving the problems in life effectively. People who have big hearts and big minds need not be afraid of what may come, for those hearts and minds determine the quality of the future.

            Expectations many a times lead to disappointments. Even then, I often never fail to expect. It gives courage to keep your head held high, seek right things and march forward in life leaving behind countless defeats, embarrassments and struggles. I expect this world to be full of hearts and minds, filled with contended people who feel satisfaction in every action they do. I expect one answers oneself before doing every action. I expect that the sun never sets on anyone who deserves to live rather defy dying. Eventually, I believe with the fullest hope, this world will be a far better place to live in, even better than the ages of its birth millenniums ago.

Life-changing prose!

This may sound like a simple quote bt it resounds to the life-altering quote for me! Its the most inspiring prose of literature ever!


'Thedi soru nidham thindru - pala

chinnansiru kadhaigal pesi - manam

vaadi thunbam miga ulandru - pirar

vaada pala seyalgal seithu - narai

koodi kilaparuvam yeithi - perum

kootruku irai aana pinn maayum - pala

vedikkai manitharai pola - naan

veelven endru ninaithaayo'


Magaakavi Subramaniya Bharathi!