The footsteps in the apartment

This is a true story of a successful software professional in the Bay Area.

"We had just bought a new flat in Chennai. In the night when I was sleeping, I heard footsteps. For a moment, I thought that the footsteps were from my upstairs neighbor. But it came very close to me. It passed me. And kept going back & forth.

I wasn't scared. I was merely curious.

In the morning, I spoke to my sister about it. She said that she heard it too, but was worried about what people would think of her if she revealed it.

This kept happening & we kept hearing footsteps in the night.

Suddenly, my mother started having epileptic fits once in a while. She had been fine her entire life until now. We took her to multiple doctors for treatment but to no avail.

Later, we heard from our neighbors that a couple had committed suicide in the flat.

We later moved away to a different flat. We never heard the footsteps again. And my mother never had epilepsy again."

What can we learn from this story? When the body died, what remained clearly had the power to cause material sounds (footsteps in this case). Was the epilepsy a failed attempt to gain a material body? Clearly, suicide by killing one's material body solves nothing.

The grandmother & the tree

This is my friend's experience, an engineer from India's top institutions.

"

I am from Dharwad. I was a kid. I had just lost my grandfather.

We noticed our grandmother acting strangely. She would sometimes tie up her Sari like a man's dhoti, the way my grandfather used to wear. Her gait would also change to a manly gait, just like my grandfather's. Her voice would also sometimes become more deep, with the diction of my grandfather.

My uncle had interest in the supernatural. After consulting with my parents, he came to my house one day. He performed some rituals with lamps.

Then, he asked my grandmother her name. She responded with my grandfather's name.

He asked my grandfather what he was doing here. He responded that he was greatly saddened by the anguish shown by the entire family on his demise. So, he decided to stay behind, so that he could look after the family.

My uncle then told him that everyone grieved and will get over their grief with time. His staying behind will simply cause more problems to the family. Everyone would be ok. It was time for him to leave & move on.

My grandfather agreed.

My uncle asked him: 'Can you show me a sign that you will be gone forever"?

My grandfather responded: 'When I leave, a branch from the tree outside will break. You will hear it.'

My uncle asked him to leave.

Immediately, we heard a loud crack outside the home. We all ran outside. A branch on the tree outside had broken & fallen.

I was a kid & I was completely terrified witnessing all of this.

However, after this episode, my grandmother was normal.

"

What can we infer from this?

The primordial human question is: "What happens when we die?"

There are fundamentally three beliefs. Atheism says: "Once dead, always dead". Abrahamic religions say that the dead remain dead until raised on Judgment Day. Indic religions say that only the body dies.

In this story, only the grandfather's body had died, he still remained alive.

What surprised me most in this story was the breaking of the tree branch. How did someone without a material body manage to break the branch of a tree? Why was the branch breaking shown as a sign?

The strange boy

This is a strange story. This is also a true story.

This is the personal experience of a brilliant & hardworking engineer, who is successful in the Silicon Valley. This is his story.

"

I grew up in Puducherry (Pondicherry). As kids, we used to gather & play cricket.

One day, one of our friends had a strange demeanor when he came over to play. He was not friendly. He was rude & aggressive.

He then didn't go to his house. He went to a different house & said that he was hungry. The family fed him. He ate an enormous amount of food. He also drank an enormous amount of buttermilk & water. He was later taken to his home.

He continued to behave strangely in his home as well. He kept going to other people's homes, and eating a lot. He would come to play cricket but he kept behaving badly.

The boy's parents took him to the local temple. He was forced to sit down. After some rituals involving lamps, the Pujari asked him who he was.

The boy responded with a different name.

This was the name of a farmer in the neighborhood. The farmer had committed suicide a while back.

One day, when the boy was returning from school, he had traveled close to his place. The farmer had taken over the boy's body then.

I interrupted. Did they ask why the farmer had taken over the body? What did he want?

My friend responded that the Pujari didn't ask what the farmer wanted. He was stern in addressing the farmer that it was his mistake that he committed suicide, and that he had no right over the boy's body. He ignored whatever the farmer tried to say and simply kept angrily reproaching him for spoiling the life of the boy without any right, asking him to leave. The farmer left. The boy was normal since.

"

Is there anything we can learn from this episode?

One of the primordial questions is: "What happens when we die?"

Atheism's belief is: "Life emerges out of nothing. Nothing remains when we die."

The Abrahamic religions believe that the bodies will be raised up on a judgment day & sent to eternal heaven or hell.

The Indic religions believe that only the body dies. Something beyond the body doesn't perish & moves on to yet another body.

Why did the boy eat the way he did?

This farmer had successfully killed his body. But clearly, he had an amplified hunger & thirst. Why?

Per the Indic religious thought, if you kill yourself, you have successfully managed to kill your material body. However, the real you continue to live on. A material body is not easy to come by. Without a material body, you will continue to feel hunger, thirst and the anguish that caused your suicide, without a material body to satiate your material needs. The material anguish will be amplified. You will lead a miserable existence. Suicide (Atma Hatya) is strongly discouraged for these reasons.

Are riots justified?

No one is perfect. Nothing is perfect. Everyone can & try to do more to improve themselves & their underlying societies.

Seeking justice is a right. Violent riots don't deliver justice. A judicial system exists because history has shown us that kangaroo courts don't deliver justice.

Supporting violent riots doesn't deliver justice. Would you support it if it were your home, business or neighborhood burning?

Racism is bad. Reverse racism & generalization against whites is also bad.

The police are people from our own society. They have signed up to put themselves in harm's way for a greater good. Just like there are bad apples in our society, there will be bad apples in every system. Generalizing & demonizing all police will demoralize the force. The next time an officer is called in to control a crime, if the officer is worrying about being called racist, suspended or dismissed, how will he do his job with full efficiency.

If the police choose to not respond owing to the media pressure, our neighborhoods will burn. The citizens will be forced to arm themselves to defend themselves. This can easily descend into vigilante chaos. Is this what we want?

USA has a robust political & judicial system and it is possible to make positive changes within the system. USA has enabled multiple immigrants from Africa & across the world to gain wealth, create wealth & lead peaceful lives. 

Don't like your political leader? Vote & campaign accordingly. 

Feel wronged? Approach the police or the courts.

Are the laws bad? Try to change the laws through your representatives.

USA has excellent freedom of speech laws. Speak up. Influence. Organize peaceful 'Satyagraha' rallies to get your message across.

Sometimes, the system (eg: a communist dictatorship) will not allow any dissent. This forced dissenters to use code language & write secretly, called Samizdat in the erstwhile Soviet Union. Most citizens of the world cannot even express themselves freely in today's world. Americans can. This is a gift precious beyond measure. Use it wisely.

Here is a message to all those who celebrated (overtly or covertly) the riots in USA. This country has faced far worse, learned from it & come out stronger. This will happen yet again.

The Golden Mongoose

On May 29 2020, the Rotary Heritage Mysuru reported that in the midst of their Annadaana preparations, a 70 year old Kamalamma walked in. The volunteers offered her food packets. She refused and humbly responded: "I get a monthly pension of Rs.600. It is a small amount, but I have been seeing your Annadaana in my area over the last month &  wanted to donate Rs.500."

This incident went viral on social media.

This is also reminiscent of the Golden Mongoose story in the Mahabharatham.

In today's English language, the word: Mogul means an important, wealth & powerful person (eg: realty-mogul, media-mogul). The word comes from the Mughals, who ruled a portion of India a few centuries back. India was the richest country in the world back then, which attracted traders, imperialists & colonizers. (Source: Macro-economic historian Angus Maddison's Contours of the world economy). The wealth would get concentrated with the ruler and consequently, each Mughal ruler was the richest person in the world. This lent the meaning to today's English word, Mogul. Even today, we find a human tendency that the powerful tend to accumulate wealth.

Travelers to ancient India noted a different phenomenon in amazement.

Hieun Tsang visited the court of Harshavardhana of Kanauj. He noted that every few years, Harsha would perform a Rajasuya Yajna & donate the entire wealth of the kingdom collected through taxation. He expressed amazement and was effusive in praise of the Indian kings.

There are references to Jayachandra, the father to Samyogitha who would marry Prithviraj Chauhan, performing the Rajasuya Yajna.

In the Mahabharatham, Yudhishtira (युधिष्ठिर) performs the Rajasuya Yagna after the great war. He donates the entire wealth of the kingdom. He is praised by everyone for his generosity. At the end of the Yajna, a strange mongoose arrives. The mongoose is golden in half of its body. It rolls over in the remains of the offerings. Then, the mongoose surprises everyone with its gift of speech. It disdainfully comments that there was nothing praiseworthy about this Yajna and that it was a mockery and a show.

Yudhishtira is anguished. He had just donated his entire wealth. The assembled people question the mongoose as to its strange body & behavior. The mongoose narrates its story.

There was once a poor old Brahmana living with his wife, son & daughter-in-law. They were ascetic Yogis interested in pursuit of the ultimate truth and didn't bother about material possessions. Consequently, they were in poverty, leading a hand-to-mouth existence. In this situation, a great famine struck the land. The family starved for days. The old man managed to get a little rice. The rice was cooked and divided into four portions. At this point, a traveler knocked on their door.

अतिथिदेवो भव (Athithi Devo Bhava) was a concept in ancient India where the guest was treated like divinity. Travelers to India have praised the extraordinary generosity of its people. 

The old man invited the guest into his home. After the guest freshened himself up, he revealed that he had been traveling without food for days. The old man immediately offered him his food. The guest ate it & still looked hungry. 

The wife comes forward to offer her food. The husband is distraught. It was his responsibility to feed her. The wife insists & offers her food. 

The guest still looked hungry. The son offers his food next. The parents ask him to reconsider. A young age is not an age for starvation & sacrifice. But the son insists. 

The guest still looked hungry. The daughter-in-law now comes forward. The others plead with her not to, saying that she was married into the home & that they had an obligation towards her. The daughter-in-law insists. The guest now looked sated.

Suddenly, the house enveloped in a great light & guest transformed into a Deva. Other Devas revealed themselves and proclaimed this the greatest Yajna. The entire family reached the highest states.

The mongoose rolled on the remnants of the food & half of its body turned gleaming gold. It got the gift of speech & long life. The mongoose laments that it had since been going to multiple yajnas to turn its remaining body golden, including the current one by Yudhishtira, but to no avail.