This Guru
Purnima coincided with Ganesh Chaturthi in the background of
recently occurred solar eclipse, lunar eclipse and the ongoing Mercury retrograde.
I might sound like an astrologer but
believe me, I am not. I know very little about this stuff. All I know is that
somehow it really affects our lives on so many levels that you sometimes wish
you had a clue of what’s going on. If you don't, then just look back at your
life since may be August end and first week of September. At least for me, it
felt like 'Life is taking its
job as a teacher too seriously and hence I asked Vighna Harta Ganapati Bappa (Vanquisher
of obstacles) to treat me with some Modak (Sweets)' you all read that post on Facebook
and liked it. So I thought I might as well share the whole story with you guys
to make you all feel that you are not alone in this one. After all it feels so
good to have people validating us and our experiences all the time. Yet it
hardly helps us come out of it. In fact we start feeling like a victim after a
while and that's not at all helpful in any way. Because by doing that we give
away our power and are left on mercy.
But my Guru's teachings come handy at such
times reminding me that:
Your
life is your Karma!
Only we are responsible for whatever is happening in our
lives and hence we have the power to change it. Transform it into what we want.
Easy said than done! Right? But if we just try to take
matters in our hands, the feeling of empowerment will wash away all that
sadness and give us a new confidence to face life with high spirits.
Talking about high spirits, we were travelling
to Bordeaux last weekend and my confidence was tested once again. We boarded
our flight from Dusseldorf and had to catch a connecting flight at Amsterdam
airport. But then our flight got delayed by more than half an hour leaving very
little margin for us to catch the connecting one. To top it all, I lost my husband in Amsterdam! ;)
Well, almost :) We got separate seats since we
booked separate tickets while he was on a business trip and I was
not. Such simple thing resulted in him getting off the plane before me and
leaving towards the airport in a different bus. The bus I was in reached
airport so late that he had already left for the terminal thinking that would
be the last meeting point we can't miss. I thought the same when I could not
see him anywhere walking past the entrance and one gate after another. I felt
this small victory the moment I felt a sense of trust and faith filling my
heart while I was talking those steps towards Terminal in utmost calm and
composure. Believe me, this was not me a few years before. Those who have panic
attacks will know exactly what I am taking about and I am not on any anti-depressants
either. This is indeed a dream of a person who goes through such phases day in
and day out. Such is the blessing of having a spiritual guidance in life. 
When I reached at the terminal, I saw my husband
arguing with the staff to wait for me. They were adamant and didn't want to
wait for me and were suggesting him to book another flight or leave without me.
Thank God I reach in time and we boarded that flight at last. A sigh of relief
in such moments can hardly be articulated in words. But then that too was short
lived as we found out upon arrival at
Bordeaux that unlike us
our baggage did not manage to catch the pace :)
Absolutely understandable!
What next? We were just discussing about
it and to our pleasant surprise, there were other co passengers who
approached us and guided us to file a complaint since they were also in the
same situation.
This I call 'GRACE'!
We learnt a lot about filing a
complaint for lost luggage manually and digitally. After that class we
headed towards our accommodation. It already felt like a
long exhausting day but we still had to buy stuff for tomorrow since all
our essentials were in the lost baggage. While hunting for a general store in
the central Bordeaux, a sense of calm filled me as I breathed in cool summer
air walking past the beautiful old monuments and plazas. The sights of
beautiful heritage architecture housing restaurants, shops and corporate
buildings soothed my senses silently. I always fancied such neat, clean, quite
crowded public places which reflects the quality of life that we deserve to
life as a modern and developed society. It was then when I remembered yet
another teaching from my Guru:
The
external reality is a mere reflection of internal one.
Indeed! This was was my internal reality as well and I love
being this way now. In fact there is a reason why I am here in Bordeaux at this
time. It's showing me something I needed to see. Apart from being world's major
wine Industry capital, Bordeaux is a renovated city where nearly 5,000
buildings from the 18th Century's Golden Age are renovated and restored. Making
it so beautiful that Victor
Hugo once said, 'Take Versailles and Antwerp, and you have Bordeaux'. After Paris, it has the highest
number of preserved historical buildings in France. The historical part of the
city is listed as 'An outstanding Urban and Architectural ensemble' of the 18th
century by UNESCO World Heritage list.
I am here at this time to do the same with
myself. In fact it's already happening as if on an 'auto' mode and I am just an
onlooker watching it happening inside of me. The
old center of this city which once had black walls due to
pollution was referred to as 'La Bell
Endormie' (Sleeping Beauty) is now completely renovated and stands up
to the reputation in French 'La perle
d`Aquitaine' (The pearl of Aquitaine) It's time for me too to come
out of my slumber and redefine, revive all that old past which is not that bad
after all. It just needs some attention, care and presence of my own
self. And once I am done mending them, they are going to look just as
magnificent as these places around me.
Opening up to international crowd
with it's long stretched river side recreational public places, where on
one hand there is this majestic Garonne River and on the other hand these
heritage buildings from 18th century. Bordeaux is such a mix of old and new,
local and international, past and future yet living it's moments in now. I see
such healthy, happy people skating, running, jogging, chit chatting here and
there. Somewhere someone is playing music and filling the already beautiful
vistas with beautiful notes.
How I love Europe! and
their culture of living life wholeheartedly.
I am proud of my ancient Indian culture too but honestly
today it has polluted to such a degree that we want to sometimes disown it. But
that's not a very healthy way to be. I am now owning all that pollution inside
me and cleaning it with love and care only to integrate my today's modern
lifestyle so that I can co-exist with my own ironies and contradictions. I give
up the idea of belonging to ether or and embrace the oneness instead.
In that oneness I feel home.
Even if it's temporary, this place, now, is me!
In
French "Seule la Fleur de Lys règne sur la lune, les vagues, le château et
le lion"
Bordeaux:
A new city which rules over the Moon, the waves, the Castle and the lion.
I feel arrived!
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