And The Lord did Answer Me - Trip to Dwarka

A wedding invitation to Ahmedabad, in the scorching month of May would never have been such an excitement if not for the possibility that it brings along with, possibility to visit Dwarka, the place where the Lord Krishna had lived. Everything about it was so very exciting, the history , the stories, the miracle. Since childhood I loved reading and listening to the stories of Lord Krishna. The fondness kept increasing day by day . I moved from the stories of Childhood Krishna to the Mahabharat- Geeta and reading books and articles on philosophies of Krishna. The more I read   the more the curiosity grew- ultimately it led to an inner quest a quest of finding Krishna. Several times I felt like going to Mathura, Vrindavan, or Dwarka but never could actually plan. Thus when this invitation came I was so thrilled– I thought this is the invitation from the Supreme itself

The trip was planned. Me, my husband and my Mother in law all set for the trip, started our journey. My Mother in law was equally excited about going to Dwarka. Being quiet a religious person, she follows Bhagwat and performs daily Puja with utter faith. She had her own reasons to feel that this indeed was an invitation from Lord for us to visit him. We took the overnight train from Indore and next day at around 11 AM reached Ahmedabad. We took the cab and headed towards Dwarka. It is around 8-9 hours journey. Throughout the journey we discussed about mystics of Krishna. I kept reading Gita, thinking and discussing over every verse. As we were approaching Dwarka the excitement grew, the fact that Krishna had lived here, he breathed here, spoke here in this air, made me feel elated. 

We reached Dwarka at around 7 in the evening checked into the hotel, freshened up and headed straight to the temple. Mother was particularly excited as she wanted to catch the evening aarti.  With all our excitement and anxiety we drove through the narrow crowded and bustling roads of Dwarka. The city of Dwarka is said to have been submerged into sea for six times in the past and the current  is the 7th city rebuilt in that area. We reached a square surrounded by shops all around. I looked around to realize that Krishna Idols, flutes and many other decorative items were being sold. A very lively market it was. The Driver then pointed out to the right showing us the temple. As we got down the car the first thing I noticed was the architecture of the temple, a familiar cone shaped top and a saffron coloured flag on its peak, it looked like an under construction building. The flag is said to be changed 5 times a day and each flag having different colour has its own significance.We walked towards the temple we were escorted by group of Pandas or the Pandits offering us their services to take us through the temple and tell us about it, they were saying “we don’t charge anything we just want people coming here to know more about this place and Krishna’s life here”. I was in two minds whether we should hire one of them or ignore them. Would they be telling me about the temple its history, would they tell me more about Krishna, something that I don’t know, would they help me understand Krishna, would they help me realize Krishna, ultimately would they help me find Krishna. Just when thinking all this I could not resist and asked one of them, who was still following – “when was this temple made”- the others pounced over – “I approached you first, you can’t go with him”, I could sense the enmity they had for each other. I got my answer- I don’t need their help.

The entrance of the temple is heavily guarded, separate queues for men & women. Every person entering the temple is thoroughly checked by security officials. Cameras and phones are not allowed inside the temple. Finally after all the security check in we entered the temple. Devotees were standing in a queue to see the main deity Krishna- Dwarkadish as famously called here. We got in the queue, after 10 minutes our turn came, Mother offered flowers, and fruits that she had got, to the deity, took blessing from aarti. I looked at the idol for a moment. It was a black colour small idol covered with blue velvet cloth. There is a story behind the idol as well, it is said that there was a devotee who used to come here daily and offer his prayers , the Lord was so impressed with him that one day the Idol followed him and went with him, when the priests found the Idol missing they thought that the devotee has stolen it and they went to take it from him, he tried to explain and convinced them to take the gold from him as the weight of idol and let him keep the idol, but when the idol was weighed to everyone's surprise it weighed only as much as the weight of a nose ring, as the devotee only had a gold nose ring to offer. The priests were then told that they will get a new Idol soon in the temple, but the priests could not hold their anxiety and excavated the temple that night itself and thus found this yet to grow idol.  I thought, so this is Krishna – I want to talk to him, I have questions, I want to express my feelings. I want to sit with him, just then a hand waved in-front of my eyes, I was awakened from my thoughts. It was Priest’s hand, he was signalling to move as others were waiting for their turn. We then went on to see other parts of the temple. Archaeological findings suggest this temple to be 2,200 - 2,000 years old. A memorial within the temple is dedicated to Adi Shankaracharya. The temple became part  of the char Dhams after his visit. In one of the chambers there were idols of all wives of Krishna. There were information and stories written next to each idol, stories that we have read, seen on television or heard from people. In another part there was an idol of Baldaun in yet other idols of Mothers of Krishna. The curtains are drawn every five minutes and the idols are covered. In the centre of the temple there is a verandah where lots of people were sitting and talking, some were chanting some mantras, some talking about the beauty of the place and the idols. A small boy sitting there was offering Ganga Jal to everyone. We decided to sit there in the verandah for some time.


While sitting there I was thinking will I get answers to my curiosity, to my purpose of coming here, to my anxiety on the importance of this place. If Krishna had actually lived on this earth in human form and since centuries the world has been influenced by the Legend, then the actual place where he had lived on this earth should have some more of Krishna, some more of Krishna in the people, in the thoughts, in the conscience, in the atmosphere. I meditated there for some time with a hope that the vibrations in this divine place will leave some impact on me. After spending some time in the temple we decided to leave, once again my eyes started scanning the corners of the temple, the architecture, the idols, the information plate, people around, their behaviour, to see if anything is inspired by Krishna, of his being here.

On the way back to the car, the road was occupied by beggars, a usual and painful sight around every temple. Wonder if this is God’s way of telling us that there are more needy people, there are more of hardships and struggle. Or a way of putting forth the question-‘Before asking for more favours from God , of what use have we put our resources, how much have we helped the needy and how much have we contributed to humanity’.Next Morning we went to visit Bhet Dwarka. It’s a village / a small island. The first sight entering village was that of small shops selling beaded colourful lamps, idols of baby Krishna and other deities. There is also a very famous Mosque here on this Island. Many Muslims also visit this place to offer prayers and practice their religion. Every seeker travelling to any of the holy places or practicing his /her religion ultimately has the same goal, unification with the Supreme, but just the different paths. The hostility within humans because of religion is the most unfortunate thing. We move on towards the temple. After almost same procedures of security, queues and seeing the main diety, we entered into the other half of the temple. There is a big Painting of Sudama & Krishna- depicting the scene when Sudama comes to meet (Bhet -in North Indian Dialect ) Krishna with the gift (Bhet in Hindi) which he shies away from giving when he see the affluence of Krishna. But Krishna insists on having the gift and receives it with the utmost pleasure.  The ‘act of compassion’ is what I construe from this story.

 In the afternoon we left for Ahmadabad. On our way back I was absorbed by same anxiety and thoughts. Can Krishna be confined in one idol, In one temple, then what was I actually looking, where else can he be found  I realized If at all I could, I could have found him in people, in their behaviour, in their thoughts. When I say I thought there would be more of Krishna, I actually meant people here would have more of Krishna within them and thus their lifestyle and surroundings would have an impression of the same.

So the Lord did give me the answers. If I wouldn't have visited this place I would never have realized where to seek Him. Krishna is a philosophy is an ideology. He is omnipresent, more importantly he is Inside us. We need to realize him, we need to bring him out  spread him, share him.

He is in our emotions, in our every chaste feeling , Krishna can be found in the Mothers’s love that is so virtuous, in father’s care and elder’s blessings. Krishna can be felt in a child’s innocence. He can be experienced in every deed of love and compassion. He is beyond religion and rituals. He is in the greater act of humanity. He is in the smiles and happiness. He is in the tears that thaw out even the rigid most emotions. He is in the truth and righteousness. He is in the courage that fights the evils. He is in this benevolent & bountiful nature. You think of him whole heartedly and you will find him in you, around you, guiding your life taking control of the chariot of your soul.

As if Mother Nature did this deliberately, angrily, ferociously !!

A place, whose significance was due to the fact that Pandavas performed penance here to be relieved of sins of massacre, and to please Lord Shiva who was upset with them for being the reason for the bloodbath that happened in the war of Mahabharata, that place has today in itself become the reason of one of the deadliest massacre. This cannot be without purpose. This is some kind of signal or reprimand for sure. Was this nature’s way of telling us to see the Supreme in nature and naturalness? 

One of the holiest places in India today has turned into the scariest place. A place where thousands of people gather every year to pray, they come with faith and love. The aura, the vibrations, energy around that place and the atmosphere there is supposed to be so tranquil. On the main gates of the temple where the devotees stand with folded hands full of devotion is today full of corpses of those devotees.  It was as if Mother Nature was angry with us and this is how she showed her fury and punished us. But how can a Mother be so cruel to her own children?

We had seen such type of calamity some time back in Allahabad during Kumbh Mela. And every year we get to hear the news of people dying in such holy places or on the way to such places, due to stampede, due to accidents etc, but this time it wasn’t an accident, it wasn’t a stampede, it was not due to a human error, as we always tell ourselves and move ahead. It was as if Mother Nature did this deliberately, angrily, ferociously.

There are some questions that come up in my mind every time I hear any such incident and this time they have become louder.  Is there something seriously wrong in our religious practices? Is the Mother Nature unhappy with us? This time has she sent a direct signal and big and evident one by blowing away one of the biggest sacred places? Is this a question we should put on our beliefs? Is the Mother Nature unhappy with the abuse done to her for our selfish motives?

I believe a Mother can get this furious only when something very wrong is being done to her children or by her children. We are all her children,   Was she fed up with our degraded morality? Was she fed up with our demands of trivial worldly things from her, was she fed up of our sleeping conscience and insensitivities towards her and towards each other?  Murders, rapes, and deceptions all such heinous crimes are prevalent and dominant in our society; and with all this we contaminate her sacred home, which is not just confined to few places but it is the entire earth.  We must know the nature to be the manifestation of Supreme, respect it, love it and preserve it. Efforts should be to make environment we live in as ‘sacred’ through our thoughts and actions. Imagine if each home is like temple and one can feel love and austerity in every home. We won’t need to travel to other places in search of divinity. Holy places are those places where someone with good deeds and steady mind realized the ultimate truth; they felt the presence of Supreme there. The energies at those places are of course divine, but we need to prepare our self to be able to receive and benefit from such a place eternally.  And not just go and ask for some worldly gain. That would in true sense be pilgrimage.  Those people who suffered and died are just the victim of the collective immorality, irresponsibility and insensitivity of the society. It’s high time we learn our lessons.

And last thing that I would like to tell all the reporters on Television who are now going there and coming up with the sensational news headline that – It’s a Miracle Look at the Strength of Lord even such a calamity could not destroy his idols- the idols are intact, the inside of the temple is damage less.  For God sake just think before thinking and calling this as a Miracle. This cannot be God’s way of showing strength or power. God cannot so self-absorbed to protect its own sculpture and let his devotees die.

Life is a matter of time and lifetime a function of choices

Time is eternal, it is forever and it is expiring every moment; we relate to it as past, present & future. Every past has had a past, present and future of its own and every future will have a present, a past and a future. We cannot live in past and future. We can only live in present. Every past was a present at a point in time and every future will become present at some point in time. The present that we are living in is becoming past every moment. Past is thus certain, hard-coded and gone by, we can’t live it again. So the past is determined by present. The future is uncertain, unknown and mysterious. The only future that is certain is that at the end of it the lifetime of a person has to become the collection of pasts.  While past is decided at the very moment by the choices we make in the present, does our choices, actions and deeds in the present also have an effect on the future?

At all moments in the present we are made available with choice, choice of right and wrong. You choose right, it goes by becomes the right past and a new present is available with another set of choice. But what if chosen wrong, the moment still goes by becomes the past but the same choice is again sure to show up in another present to make the right choice. So in a sense it slows us down, it becomes a hindrance in our evolvement. Because every present raises a new situation that helps us to learn something new and necessary for our evolvement as humans and until we have learned to make the right choice in that situation it tends to show up again; sometimes in a tougher form to kind of compel us to make the right choice and move on. This is called learning the hard way. This is what is referred to as samskara in sacred text. In other words backlogs. Thus time is teacher and life is a school.


Life is thus a sequence of events happening over a period of time. Albert Einstein said – “Time exists only because all cannot happen at once” which means time is a function of occurrence of events in the space and it is only relevant as long as events occur and statuses change. Imagine a world where nothing changes, everything is static and is going to be as is forever. No activity in the subtlest and grossest level of universe. In that scenario there is no time, no relevance of time; because there is no discrete past, present and future. But in the real world universe is ever evolving, nothing is static any moment and thus the time is never static, is always moving. We all get a window of this time for our life on earth. The window starts at birth and ends at death. Events that occur in between constitute lifetime.

The time window is not in our control. But the will power and consciousness given to us is to make the right choices and control occurrence of events. The only way to perfect a lifetime is to perfect the present. A series of well spent presents over the time becomes a well lived lifetime.  We may think what is the objective to identify right or wrong when we know that at the end of the day all this is going to be a thing of past. Neither right will be there nor wrong. Being a thing of past would it still effect anything  or anyone.

The right and wrong is differentiated on the basis of effect it has on others. The right is that which maintains balance & harmony among all the players , the one that disrupts it and disturbs other players is wrong. Everyone's  responsibility in the given life time is to help others in their purpose. A lifetime spent in accordance and cognizance of this fact becomes an example for future. Other Players get inspired, they try to understand such a life, imbibe and thus contribute to the overall harmony. The lives of special personalities which are somewhat depicted in our sacred texts are examples of such a lifetime.

To Conclude--Time is forever but a lifetime is certain to cease. The complexity to the lifetime is because of our incomplete unconsciousness or lack of complete consciousness. Life after all is a matter of time. And in the words of the greatest ever  scientist and visionary Albert Einstein—Time is an illusion !!!

There is a Mother Teresa in every Mother

There are very few people who are able to do justice with their time on earth. Only handfuls are able to find a purpose to their life and yet few are able to fulfill it. Mother Teresa was one of those rare descendants on earth. She in true sense lived and lived a laudable life. If there can ever be an ideal and meaningful life be led, it was led by her.

Mother Teresa is an inspiration to most of us. But owing to my tendency of taking inspiration from people in the day to day life, I tend to observe the populace around me and thus my parents are my first and biggest inspiration & motivation. Also generally interacting with so many beautiful women and Mothers around, comprehending their psychology and appreciating their mindset, getting greatly influenced by many of them for various of their characteristic, I come to this conclusion that ‘There is a Mother Teresa in every Mother’ . Mother Teresa’s life’s most prominent essences are selflessness and love. And this is what I find common in Mothers across society. They too live a completely selfless life devoted to their children & family. They bestow all their love and affection, take up all the hardships effortlessly and never show any sign of distress. For most of us our Dad is our hero; the fact is many times it is Moms who create that image into our minds. Because of this trait of ‘giving without expecting’ Mothers epitomize the nature in the human form and thus are considered God’s delegates on earth. Mothers are embodiment of love; love in its deepest, purest & truest form- Unconditional Love. They may get angry or upset but can never ever hate. Probably hate is too strong a word to associate with Mothers so I will rephrase it as, they may get angry or upset but they can never ever ‘not love’.

I would like to share few things about my Mother whose conduct has led me to this impression about Mothers. She is a very simple lady, she is a home maker, and her life revolves around family. There are some very influential virtues about her nature; the ideologies that she advocates and lives with are enlightening. Her decisiveness, courage, ability to be herself and her resolve to adhere to the righteousness at all times are some of the qualities that have influenced me greatly. Being at home all day, she rarely watches television and hardly any serial. She doesn't like to watch any daily soap on television (Except when I tell her to see a particular dress that I like J ) her objection is that these shows create a world of extremism. At one hand it creates extreme negativity on the other hand it portrays a super human flawless women, both the ends do not exist in the real world and even trying to be like one puts you under lots of pressure. She loves reading and her favorite are books on Swami Vivekananda, Gautama Buddha, Kabir & Krishna. She has a strong believe system, she doesn't believe in religion as much as she believes in truth and realization.  Yet she is not at all imposing, there are no rules at our home except for being good morally and well behaved. She is very much against the show off business happening in the society around her. She refuses to relent to the social pressure and bring about any kind of unnaturalness into her behavior or life. For her ‘Beauty is in simplicity & Opulence is in generosity’. But at the same time she is very broad minded and is very much a believer in women equality and empowerment, to an extent that is sometimes too much to absorb for so called modern women. She definitely is an inspiration to me. It’s the value that she has imparted makes me what I am.

Nowadays with the office going career oriented and ambitious Mothers it becomes a little difficult to play the dual role. Though the times & scenario have changed, few things that haven’t changed and should never ever change are compassion, love, calmness and morality in women. These are true, inherent and natural characteristics of a woman. As they say "Woman is a man with a womb", and thus with womb comes these additional characteristics of love & care. Even in today’s transformed scenario women must not lose touch with their inherent qualities and they should be cognizant enough to preserve the serenity endowed to them by the nature.  For only a woman with high morals and values can raise a child to be a good human being and thus contribute in creating a virtuous society.