Life is not because of it, Rather in spite of it

My Dear Rishi,

I missed  talking to you on the weekend love.

Few years back I came across an interesting article, unfortunately I don't know who is the author nor do I remember the source or the original article. I remember writing the following in my dairy

Life is not because of it, Rather in spite of it

Anonymous

Mother earth is never benevolent to any seeds.It does not  make the process of germination easy for any seed. The seed has to and sprout against the force of earth to emerge  above the  soil. Providential it is that the very earth which stood against till it sprouted then nurtures its growth. It is nature's way of qualifying the seeds worth and if found deserving, it provides all the resources that are needed for it to grow to its full potential.

Similarly, all great men and women were ordinary who were forced to meet and undergo great challenges by circumstances. History is full of simple human beings who won over forces well beyond their control and emerged as champions. So, life is not a journey of "because of it, it is rather in spite of it.".

Rishi, life will throw challenges at you, it is up to you to take those challenges and turn them into opportunities. Life is beautiful, life is fantastic, this universe has enough to support to every ones needs but not every ones greed.

God bless you Rishi, I love you and miss yo very much.

With lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Daddy

A Prayer of Compassion

My Dear Rishi,

We could not talk on the weekend love, I tried many times. Few weeks back I was reading a wonderful book by a Buddhist Monk Lama Surya Das. There was a beautiful prayer I came across and it spoke to me volumes. Rishi, life over past few years has prepared me to accept solitude and solitariness today. Any way, let me not bore you with this heavy stuff.

A Prayer of Compassion

By Lama Surya Das

May my heart stay open and loving when I am feeling hurt and frayed.

May I learn to always to include others in Love's vast embrace.

May my heart remain pure and kind amid the painful details and muck of life

May virtue and serenity belong to all, even my competitors and adversaries.

May my broken heartedness open my heart ever further (like open-heart surgery) and bring forth love and open-hearted compassion.

Rishi, I love this poem for many reasons. It teaches us to remain open and embrace life despite what appears to be humanity's cruelty. We should not let the weeds of bitterness take root in us especially when some one has hurt us very deeply. It is imperative to forgive and show compassion with understanding. Compassion teaches us to understand the person who is inflicting pain on others are themselves carrying so much pain that they  are oblivious to pain they are causing others. Jesus Christ, when he was being crucified alive said, "God forgive them for they don't know what they are doing". This in essence is true essence of compassion. When we don't have compassion in our hearts we humans can continue to inflict enormous pain to humanity. 

Rishi, always remember, two wrongs will not make anything right. Sweetheart eye for an eye will turn whole world blind. The world needs love and compassion more than fear, anger and bitterness. There are only two  emotions in this world either it is love or it is fear.and every other emotion is derivative of these two emotion.  Love is light and Fear is dark. Always be true to your name Rishi (Your name also means " ray of first light", Light is Love and You are love.

I love you, miss you very much darling.  God bless you love.

With lots of love, hugs and kisses.

Daddy

One Step at a Time

My Dear Rishi,

Last weekend I enjoyed talking to you for an hour and fifteen minutes. I could not write this letter as I was involved with organizing an event on Sunday. The organization I volunteer for is called O.N.E: Only Now Exists. We were involved in organizing yogathon. You can check out our website www.onlynowexists.org We were raising funds to build a school in Nigeria for kids.

Now continuing with the theme for this letter, today's poem is called "One Step at a Time". By Adrian Rogers. Rishi, this poem has sustained me over the years especially when going gets tough. I just close my eyes try to recite this poem in my heart, feel the meaning of each word and finally it helps me to see the day through.

One Step at a Time

By Adrian Rogers

One step at a time, is the best way to go

When going through life and

travelling in the direction of your dreams, 

the best way  to get ahead is the simplest way.

Take it one step at a time.

Don't look over your shoulder, if you do,

you'll feel the weight of all your yesterdays upon you.

And don't worry about what lies ahead

By the time you get to the bend in the road,

Or the crest of the hill, you're going to be better and stronger

than you ever were before.

Just go one step at a time, one day at a time

And you'll find a rich thankful life you never thought you could afford.

Rishi, in life's trials and tribulations, sometimes poems like act as a balm to our souls. Hence poetry is also called the language of soul.

With lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Daddy.

The Serenity Prayer

My Dear Rishi,

It was fun talking to you on Saturday. Hope you had a great weekend. Yesterday was Canada day and I went to watch baseball game with friends. Hope you were here with me.  I guess some day at least for now I can hope.

In one of my earlier letters, I mentioned I will be sharing with you poems, various writings etc which I collected over the years. One of my grade IX teacher's introduced me to "The Serenity Prayer". I am so grateful to her over all these years. This prayer has helped me deal with life's trials and tribulation.  When ever I find something powerful I have written it down in my dairy and hoped to share it someday with my children. Never did I imagine that I will not be able to read to you when I am putting you to sleep or over sunday afternoon conversations or just after dinner conversatios. Over the years I have collected many poems, writings and prayer etc.

The Serenity Prayer

By Reinhold Niebuhr

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

Rishi, in life sometimes we just need to let go and just be. I have had to such cross-roads in life. This prayer has helped me to accept "what is" with grace. It takes lot of courage, faith and wisdom to let go my love. Letting go is not for the weak hearted, not for people who are self-centered and selfish. Letting go does not mean that you don't care, it means you care so much you keep other persons welfare in mind than your own selfish and self centered needs. When you let go with the above prayer in your heart  and lips, it means letting go with faith and hope. Rishi, for hope to work you need to have faith. Faith and hope are like two wings of a bird, just like a bird needs both the wings to fly we humans need both the wings i.e. hope and faith, so that  we can cross mountains, oceans, face any storm that life throws at us love.

I recently came across another quote on letting go by a  Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu.  He said, " By letting go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning".

God bless you son. I love you and miss you

With lots of love and best wishes,

Daddy

Purity of Mind

My Dear Rishi,

We spoke briefly on the weekend. I recently read a very interesting story and I wanted to share with you love.

Purity of Mind

Long time ago, in a dense jungle in India, three thieves lived and made their living by robbing travellers who passed through the jungle. One evening they waylaid, a very rich merchant who accidentally ventured into their territory. One of the thieves got hold of him and was ready to kill the merchant, so that he could take away all his belongings. Seeing the big sword, the second thief snatched the sword and said," What do we gain from killing him? Let us just tie him up and take whatever we want." The third thief who was witnessing all these quietly said nothing. Finally, the three thieves tied up the merchant and took away all his valuables. After they had gone a little way, the third thief was overcome by remorse and said, "Both of you share this valuables which we took from the merchant. I do not want any of it. That traveller must be scared out of his wits. I will go back and help him". Saying this, the third thief returned to the traveller, untied ropes that bound him, gave him food and escorted  him safely through the forest.

Rishi, the three thieves represents human qualities which we need to understand. In this story, the first thief represents the quality of selfishness and self-centeredness. This quality made the thief so callous and cruel that he was ready to kill the merchant without a second thought. The second thief represents the quality of quality of result oriented action or thinking of means to achieve an end. He did not see any benefit in killing the merchant and defined a better course of action that would allow them to take the valuables from him. The third thief represents the purity.Though he participates in crime initially, he was later overcome by remorse and he listened to his conscience. He put the needs of the merchant before his gain and went back to help and protect him.

Rishi, when you have purity of heart and mind we are able to listen to our inner voice. I have found meditation is one of the ways to keep the purity of heart and it also enables to listen to your inner voice. In this story, the third thief had three things aligned, purity of mind, purity of heart and purity of action. In other words, his thought, word and deed were aligned to take a higher road.

God bless you Rishi, I love you and miss you. May you always have a pure heart..

With lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Daddy

Father's Day

My Dear Rishi,

I really enjoyed talking with you on the weekend.  Today is father's day. This father's day brings along with the grief of not being with you, your mother's ask of me and as well as missing my dad.  It has been rather emotional day on many levels. The day has just passed as one big blur for me.

I belive there are many men out there who will agree with me that being a father is the most rewarding relationship that they have in their lives. Children begin by loving their fathers unconditionally. There is nothing the father has to do to earn his child's love. The difficult part is not losing it. In our case,  everytime you see me, talk to me you have always been unconditionally loving to me.  Rishi, you have risen above the surrounding noise and love is what you see whenever we meet or talk over the phone. This love is unconditional is mutually given and recieved. For this I am eternally grateful to you  and  god. Rishi this uncondtional love I receive from you, is what sustains me. Hope and wish this continues as long as I live.

On this day Rishi, once again and always my prayer for you is always the same as the day I wrote the following poem for you:

A Father's Hope, Prayer and Wish for his child

May you always be a BETTER person and not a BITTER person
May you always be the LIGHT wherever there is DARKNESS
May you always be LOVE wherever there is HATER ED
May you always be KIND wherever there is CRUELTY
May you always bring JOY wherever there is SADNESS
May you always bring PEACE wherever there is CONFLICT

May you always be HAPPY and realize that HAPPINESS is within you and the purpose of life is to be HAPPY!

When I was in Singapore recently, you recorded following message for father's day for me love..Thank you very much.

 Rishi's message for Father's Day: 2012

I love you very much and miss you darling.

With lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Daddy.

What is Grace?

My Dear  Rishi,

I tried calling you few times but no one answered the phone. Hope you are doing well and enjoying your holidays.

Today's poem is called, "What is Grace?" I don't know who is the author. I found this poem very helpful over the past five years  and still continue to do so especially now as I am not sure if and when I can see you again. Hopefully one day as you grow older you can visit your old man love.

What is Grace?

Anonymous

When we are sure we can't get through another minute and we do,

that is the Grace of Creator life in us,

When we are sure we can't find the light and we do.,

that is the Grace of the Light of world in us.

When we are sure we can't take one more breadth and we do,

that is the Grace of Spirit breathing through us,

Grace means that we are not alone, we are always accompanied.

Singapore Zoo: May 31st, 2012

I love you Rishi and miss you.

With lots of love, hugs and kisses..

Love,

Daddy