Living For God

In the great epic Ramayana, there is an incident whereby, during the war in Lanka, an arrow from the bow of Lakshmana hit a child being carried in his mother’s arms. The mother did not stay to care for her dead child but fled for her own safety. Lakshmana commented on the lack of maternal love saying, “Look at her, she is truly a demon, she does not lament even for moment for her dead offspring”. Lord Rama shook His head disapprovingly at Lakshmana and said, “Look patiently, brother, She has surrendered to the Lord. She has no attachments or desires, call her here and find out whether she is fleeing from the danger to her life or for something else.”

The woman was produced before Lord Rama and questioned. She said, “Oh Rama! I loved my child dearly. But the evil hands of death have snatched him away from my bosom and put him to sleep forever. But, since I have survived, I want to live on till the day when Rama defeats Ravana. For then, Rama shall take all the demons to Ayodhya. I shall feast my eyes upon your enchanting form. I shall serve you with my heart and soul. I want to live with only this hope.”

Goodness always exists in the midst of evil and evil is always present in the midst of Good. And GOD is only one O away from GOOD.

We need to learn to live from the Lotus – it is pure and unblemished. It floats on the surface of the muddy water. Its beauty is untainted by the muck around it. So too is the case of our tongue, which learns to survive in the midst of our teeth, whose inherent nature is to cut, bite and tear anything that comes in their way.