I must say that this conversation happened only because of the divine will of Lord Lakshmi Narayana in this temple that I visit almost every day. Otherwise, there could be no other reason!
This conversation took place on 04-July-2019 but I am able to make the full transcript only now.
There is this reporter of a prominent spiritual magazine in Tamil language (name asked to be kept in anonymity), who happened to see me and recognize me. He happened to visit the temple that day. He stopped me right on the road and wanted to converse with me. The conversation (Tamil translated to English) goes like this:
Seeker 1(Reporter)
Seeker 2(Rajini (myself))
Seeker 1: I am a reporter from this magazine in Tamil. We focus mainly on spiritual subjects. I have been a regular follower of your blog and I see that you are nearing 150 posts, that is really a big achievement!
Seeker 2: Thank you very much. I am very glad that you are regularly checking on my blog posts.
Seeker 1: It is my pleasure. I note that you have good knowledge on scriptures, particularly Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavatham, Thirukural etc.
Seeker 2: 😊 Please don’t say that. I am only a learner…
Seeker 1: I find that you have written a lot and covered a lot of topics in depth. I want you to summarise based on all that you have written on the present attitude of people in general and what could be done about it.
Seeker 2: 😊we are standing on the road and do you want to talk about it right here?
Seeker 1: I am really sorry. I respect the value of time and so we cannot afford to go to my office to have discussion at this point of time.
Seeker 2: That’s really very nice of you! Okay, then we shall go to this isolated kind of annexure to this temple. I call it the ant-hill Lord Lakshmi Narayanan 😊. I am usually here most of the time because this is solitary and peaceful for prayers. No one ever comes here inside 😊
Seeker 1: Sure.
Seeker 1: I am recording what you are saying for my interpretations. I hope this is fine with you. I would share the recording with you after sometime. I think the recording is likely to be interspersed with lot of traffic noise because of our location, but I think that doesn’t matter.
Seeker 2: Sure. But One thing I want to tell you. This is the place where I meditate regularly. So, I might get into a sort of trance at some point of time as I watch Lord Lakshmi Naarayanaa and speak on the answer😊 and say anything as ordained that time, you may note some subtle changes in my voice etc., but I would sincerely request you to take note of the validity of whatever I say and use it for the benefit of everyone.
Seeker 1: Sure, I will.
Seeker 2: Before I answer on what you have asked, I dedicate whatever that I had to say, advertently or inadvertently to Goddess Saraswathi because She is the source of all knowledge, She is the object of all knowledge and also She is the destination of all knowledge. I also seek the blessings of the source of everything, Lord Naarayanaa and His eternal consort Goddess Mahalakshmi.
Seeker 2: <<Goddess Saraswathi Invocation>>
Seeker 2: Here it goes…
Seeker 2: People, why you are running around here and there all the time? Where do you actually want to go from here? What big things are you doing in this world that is of really of any significance or benefit to anyone or anything? What???
Seeker 2: Same running around all the time…same sleeping…same waking up…same eating…same work…day in and day out…
Seeker 2: When is this all going to end?… Is this work that you are doing giving any satisfaction to you? you are doing the same thing again and again as if you have become mentally retarded…
Seeker 2: Is this giving happiness? What sorts of happiness? Where is this all leading to?
Seeker 2: At the end of ONE day, we all have to leave this place., by being disciplined. Doing good…learning good things. do you want to find a way of reaching the abode of Lord Vishnu…or…
Seeker 2: By being too materialistic like…I have to buy this house…I am to earn this much…I have to buy that car…I have to buy this…I have to buy that…I have to buy luxuries for my family and well-wishers…
Seeker 2: Eat this…eat that…eat whatever I feel like that satisfies my palate…
Seeker 2: You have this…I have that. I will show off my possessions to people around me but that only gain you jealousy and envy…
Seeker 2: What is going to come to you finally? Are these “possessions” of yours really yours??? What is really going to come to with you at the end?
Seeker 2: How you have lived…How has been your life…Has anyone really benefited from your gestures that transformed them, that made you live in their heart forever like a guardian angel? He introduces you to his friends and well-wishers…saying…”I have been with this person…What I am now is because of him”…Have you made anyone tell like this about you? Then what has been the purpose of your life? What is going to happen after you are no longer there? What are the people going to talk about you then?
Seeker 2: Goats, cows, pigs etc. eat well…sleep well…procreate well…know how to defend…are you being born as a human being only to do this in a much more sophisticated manner?
Seeker 2: Do you know how you have evolved into a human being? These mundane things what you are doing now are being done by you in all your life forms since ages…
Seeker 2: You have been provided intelligence…right? right? Doing these same things, then what is the use of acquiring this human birth after crossing all these life forms…
Seeker 2: Wealth, Work??? Can you do it honest in this world? Everything is disguised cheating…. that causes heart-burns for so many people and you are also not satisfied as well…
Seeker 2: This is Karmic influence…you have to face it…Will it go? What is going to happen after THAT day…Is atma (soul) like a stone etc. that is made from 5 material elements to also disappear??? atma is life particle…atma is eternal…and that keeps transmigrating…
Seeker 2: The Supreme Lord thinks this way…Atma , you moved away from Me…you wanted an identity…to dominate material nature… “thinking” I know how to live on my own…the material nature is mine and is for mine…this body is mine…this is my wife…my kid…my house…my nation…my earth…
Seeker 2: Krishna asks…What is yours???? For how long? What did you bring in when you came into this world? From previous births…t is just continuing from there. What else you had? Understand that..your being is now like a dog…just for the sake of living a livelihood and seeking petty pleasures, you didn’t seek to learn good things…forget what is needed. Forget your own self…
Seeker 2: Forgot that the atma is in your body…you forget even that…you get attached to false conceptions and feelings that this is my body…she is my wife and so on.. The body that is made of 5 elements. What is going to happen. How will atma go out on this body on THE day…it can only go through the nine holes (two holes in the western side…mouth..nostrils, eyes and ears). If you don’t realise yourself before the time of your death…
Seeker 2: Why being born again as to do what you have been doing before? What are the things that has come to you as of now, at this point, that were with you since the time of your birth? everything is changing…what is staying the same from birth to death? Its only the atma that is dwelling in your body that stays unchanged throughout…
Seeker 2: How did the atma acquire this very body? Have you ever thought about it? It had been in various bodies earlier. Even now this atma could have been in any body…be it in a coconut tree, snake, demon etc. but what made it chose this very body of yours to stay? Won’t you think about it?
Seeker 2: For this sake only, God has provided intelligence to “human beings”…but what are you using it for? watching some junk stupid movies and third-rated soaps…indulge in all sorts of habits, useless idle talks, gossip and pomp…eating all sorts of obnoxious stuff and spend time in cooking them and discussing about them as well… ☹
Seeker 2: Without even realising what the gunas of the food that you eat are the ones that drives your thought process, character, your intelligence and your way of life…you spin like a wheel running around…
Seeker 2: Everything starts from what you eat…food constituents are split into 2 parts…one part for energy to drive all physical activities. The remaining part? What it does do you know. You think eating this will build muscles, that will improve eyesight etc. But for how long..50yrs+???..wont the aging process take over?
Seeker 2: Skin starts to lose its lustre…eyesight fades…ear doesn’t hear properly…whatever you have been eating so far…Will you be able to eat them for life. Your doctor says eat without salt…reduce fats…reduce sugars…having eaten all obnoxious foodstuffs so far to satisfy your tongue…and thinking only food is life…you ask yourself how you will be able to stop it suddenly?…then you start to think…why should I live…are you living just for eating?
Seeker 2: In olden days rishis, munis, gyanis have told…written Ramayana.Mahabharata…puranas etc. and for Tamils, the Tamil Veda…Thirukural…leaving these things…what you guys are reading…how to influence others. How to be successful in business…these are required…no doubt…but this is not all…
Seeker 2: What is required for good living? You people leave this…what is good…what is bad…how to live…how not to live…not thinking like that…hear from junk and degenerated people with all sorts of vices and bad habits…if you don’t know anything…even if some idiots says something it becomes Vedanta to you. Are these things not worth thinking about?
Seeker 2: ..or for the remaining part of your life. Do you want to do the same thing…running around here and there without any use…expecting flattery for whatever you do…What are you having for lunch…Shall we go to this hotel…How is this cinema…How is this TV serial? How much this guy score in that match… What is this all going to lead to? Think! if you think what I am saying is good for you. start with books…
Seeker 2: for example. Start with Thirukural. If you don’t know Tamil. Do you know that Thirukural has been translated into at least 80-90 languages worldwide…you don’t have to do anything like learning all the 1330 couplets…just take any from the first 500..you may even take it some random page…there is something in everything there for life…you just need to take your preferred language and just READ.
Seeker 2: You complain…I lost my job…I fought with wife…i don’t know how to reconcile…my kid is not obeying me…my kid is not studying…my kid is roaming around…if we are disciplined…why the kid will not be obedient or wayward? we are not obedient ourselves…but worry about our kid…what will happen to him. How will he study…how will he succeed…?
Seeker 2: Already God has carved a path for everyone based on our past karma and what we do in this life…so what will we do. We don’t even know what is in store for tomorrow. Then why think about your kid so much ???…he will do…he will study. If kids are undisciplined…so are we…!
Seeker 2: We leave our parents alone in their old age either in “homes” or get themselves solitary confined in their own home…your family…your wife and kids live in a different place…you live in a different place…your parents sweated out and shed blood for you to bring you up…you forget what they did for you…
Seeker 2: You say…they are old…I can’t even take care of my kid. You listen to your wife for all her idiosyncrasies. If her family come to your house you buy everything for them and make them happy. I am just saying what is happening you have to judge it yourself…
Seeker 2: I don’t even bother whether this happen or doesn’t happen with you…you see everything that is happening around you but if you agree to this or not…it’s just your discretion…
Seeker 2: I don’t have anything to gain or lose…that you guys listen to me for this long I treat this as a blessing and some sort of an achievement…I am just telling what I think and also many are my own personal experiences that I I am talking about…
Seeker 2: At the present state of world affairs, if you think even 10% – 15% of what I said as truth or fact or if it makes some sense to you…I think that would be a big happiness to me…
Seeker 2: …or I would have to take this like this…you people tend to watch at least 3 or 4 TV serials daily that are total time wasters anyways…and there is only negative takeaway from them…I would think this like that…that’s all…people cannot change themselves and would always want to remain like status quo…it is their destiny…
Seeker 2: Thank you very much for the opportunity to share my thoughts. I hope all will be good to everyone…understand people…life and its importance…
Seeker 2: Hare Krishna!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sdixUGwe-JTwc093Q9sAQCwUzmTNUksp
(The above audio is my voice is in my mother tongue, Tamil Language)
The below conversation is after the recording and before parting our ways…
Seeker 1: Phew…that was too much…really a pleasure to be able to listen to you…looks like you covered the basic principles of Gita and Bhagavatham in just around 20 minutes.
Seeker 2: 😊 there is a lot to talk…I just didn’t want to divert from your question too much.
Seeker1: Yes, you were very much to the point…very subtle but thought-provoking…
Seeker 2: It’s just my longing that people lead a more basic and disciplined life and get contented with what they have. Pretty hopeful this will happen at least to those who are inclined for it.
Seeker 1: Yes! You are right. I have to thank you again for suggesting this make-shift arrangement for this “interview” 😊
Seeker 2: It’s my pleasure!
Seeker 1: நன்றி! மீண்டும் சந்திப்போம்! (Thank you! We will meet again!)
Seeker 2: Thank you very much!
Spirituality is the only way to solace 