WHEN YOUR WORLD MOVES OUT INTO THE WORLD

My dearest,

Oh, so precious and beautiful you appeared! So tiny and helpless were you! The others around me wondered how I would manage to help you grow. But you have grown, and now their eyes have the answer to their curious queries as they look at you.

They say how fast it all happened and I tell them that I watered you every day. They laugh, thinking it to be a joke; but honestly, how I watered you with good thoughts, encouragement and prayers; only my heart knows.

As you began fitting into my shoes, I often saw you standing in front of the mirror with an unhappy face. They told you that you were not as beautiful as them; and sadly, you believed them. I smiled then, not at your self-doubt but at the confidence of my heart because it knew that you wouldn’t wait endlessly for their confirmation of your comeliness, which you would soon know.  Your inner light, I then knew for certain, would shine on your face making it sparkle; that you wouldn’t let the definition of ‘beautiful’ the others believed in, have any hold on you. That one day, deep inside you, you would know that you were so perfect and pure that you wouldn’t need a stamp of approval from them.

I knew that the people by whom you were troubled would gradually move out of your way as soon as you wouldn’t allow them to boost their egos. Your confidence would soon shatter their false pride.

Today, you move with a passion for life, but mind well not to confuse this passion for the lure of the world which is daily thrown in your face with the advertisements you see. They keep telling you that you aren’t perfect; making you constantly strive towards perfection which does not exist.

Beware of that craving of wanting to be loved, to be told that you are ethereal. It’s good that you have an inexhaustible fund of love in you. Yes, continue to be like a deep well which never dries up. Allow them to come with their empty pails and fill them up with your affection but don’t feel sad when they fail to return it. Feel instead sorry for them who are so empty of the most essential quality of humanity.

Don’t allow them to hold mirrors for you to see yourself in, because how you feel about yourself is more important than how you see yourself in the mirror held in their hands.

Never forget that your inner beauty will captivate those who believe in warmth of endearment and don’t waste your time on those who don’t believe in you. Those who fall in love with your soul will not be entranced to give a second look to your body.

This world has become a planet of greed and it will strive consistently to excite you to have what you don’t need. It will coat stones in bright colours and flash them in front of your eyes turning them blind to simplicity. You will then be led by them into the realm of bazaars, only to return with bags full of things useless. Oh, don’t waste your time on perishables! Don’t forget that your smile and your confidence will always be the best that you could ever wear. Please don’t get misled and set out to make an impression and in the bargain forget to set a mark for yourself.

Mind well, you have a responsibility to thank your creator and pray to him with every breath you breathe in. Don’t let your prayers go all wrong. Please, don’t plead for all that you want, instead implore to understand all that you need to love and care for. Such a prayer will enhance your inner sparkle and make it shine brighter than the stars in the sky. Don’t go to the temples. The trees don’t go there too. Their stems reach towards light and their roots drink water from the earth. They bend and toss in the wind and stand in silence to worship the creator of all things. Real offerings are not made to stone deities; they are made from the depth of your heart to those who can’t extend their hands.

 What you must never neglect is to constantly revive the beauty of your wisdom, compassion and diligence. You may find, on the pathways, ungrateful and lustful creatures, whose vision will be limited to your skin, unable to penetrate beyond it. Their carnal touch may hurt you but don’t stop to be revengeful in pain. Move on towards light, for otherwise such dark creatures will only cover your bright personality with gloomy shades. Don’t hold tight to pain; it will only add to your heart’s grief and make you weak. Real strength is not when you hug your sufferings, it’s when you let them go that you get stronger. This does not mean that you will not remember your painful past or that you will forget it all or never mention it.  How could that be possible unless you lose your memory? No, certainly it doesn’t mean any of that; but with every remembrance of your sorrows you will get stronger knowing your strength and capacity which helped you to overcome.

May be at times your dear ones will tell you to live the way they want you to. Listen carefully to the intentions behind their words. I don’t mean to tell you to allow their opinions to drown yours. All I wish to say is don’t hurt them in rebuke. Pray that your heart will lead you right, because it is not that you are always right and courageous when you stand up and speak your mind. It takes more to sit down and listen. Also remember that their reprimands are because they love you and have seen the world more than you have.

Don’t believe in catchy phrases of the world. It will proclaim that it is good to be selfish. It can never be! Being selfish may keep you warm on a winter night when you wear an extra coat over the woollens; but your conscience will never cease to prick your cold heart. Half of the world is in joy today because the other half has sacrificed itself. Maybe many will look down upon your sacrifices and call you a nincompoop, but don’t bother to justify yourself. Don’t you know that you gave up things that mattered, for relationships that mattered more?

Your courage, your popularity, your honesty, your simplicity, your passion, your happiness will often fetch you enemies because you have loads of what they don’t have; but don’t give ears to their chattering. It’s nonsense largely! Don’t sit and smirk at them because they don’t have the wings like you to fly. Keep company instead, of silence; giving time to your soul to be friends with peaceful thoughts.

Don’t always crave to be out in the world which parties, guzzling down liquids which numb the senses; instead sit in quietness and paint your life on a canvass or sketch it with words of ink on a paper. Share your life till you defeat cessation of existence and become immortal in your art.

When age begins to appear walking fast towards you, don’t worry. Invest a little in anti-wrinkle creams and more in thoughtful books. They will help you understand and laugh at life and renew your youth with the assimilation of needful knowledge.

The world today seems to be bitten by the travel bug. It will tell you to keep moving because you are not a tree. But tell them then, that if today there is any hope for the world to be saved from global warming it is in growing more trees. And remind them that often it is under the shade of a tree that lovers feel protected from the harsh showers of the world. May be your soul too has become desirous and in enthusiasm has borrowed the eagerness to become a wanderer to capture the beauty of the world in your eyes. But I’m sure that this zest will one day come to a satisfactory end when you will locate the beauty of the universe within yourself. At that time your search for happiness will come to an end and instead your journey for a search will begin and the Divine in you will get transformed into Divinity.

Till then and forever, God bless you.

Love and kisses.