Yesterday i posted a picture of the sun setting on the Digital Hindu wall. One person commented, "nice morning." As I have told you before I'm a thinker, and this got me to thinking that sometimes sunsets and sunrises looking the same. During and before my recent visit to India, I was at a very interesting point in my life. I had worked day and night to save my company for about 1.5 years and the day that I was leaving for India had to make some heart breaking decisions. My life was very rough. I was distant from every family and friend. Work for many, many reasons was a nightmare on a daily basis. I was no longer able to create the one thing that I had always cherished the most in life and that was to create memories with those that I had in my life. In the end - everything in my world was gone. People, relationships, trust, faith - all of it had vanished in almost a heartbeat. I thought about sticking around and canceling my trip but in the end, I needed to slow down and bring my life back together. My trip to India was not as fun as one might think. Mentally I was in place of despair, loss and just trying to recover from one blow after another from life.
I ended up in Gokarna alone at the recommendation of a dear friend. The idea was to go visit OM beach and stay in one of the beach shacks right on OM Beach. This was a long journey - took about 14 hours from driving from Mysore to Gokarna. It rained the whole way there and when I reached my night's accommodations at 11pm. I woke up in the morning to the heaviest rain that I had experienced throughout my entire time in India(I was there during Monsoon season). Going on the beach was not an option and while doing research for what to do in the city - I found out that I was near the Mahableshwara Temple. This temple is famous for a few reasons, but the most important is the Atma-Linga. In short the Atma-Linga has been described as bestowing the blessings of immortality and invincibility and was once possessed by Ravan himself. After getting to the temple and praying. I walked out with the rain gone and the sun shining. As I walked out of the temple, for the first time in months and months I was at peace, I almost felt as if my entire view on the world had changed. While I was in the temple and actually in the presence of the Atma-Linga I did not know anything about it or its symbolism. I was in Karnataka and english and hindi my two fluent languages were not a commonplace. It was until weeks later, when I came back to the US that I realized where I was. The reason why I share this story is simple, at that point in my life before I got to Gokarna all I could see was what was ending around me. I never saw tha one chapter of my life was ending and a new one was beginning. Months and months later when I look back on the sun shining and the birds chirping outside of the temple - I realize that, that was the first time I saw something move forward and actually took time to acknowledge it.
Months after I left India and I sit here in the US looking at my life today,and how different it from the life I had 6 or 7 months ago - I can say one thing for certain. What may look like the sun setting, may actually be the sun rising. That day in Mahableshawara, being in the presence of the Atma-Lingam, I dont know if I have been bestowed with Immortality or Invincibility. I do know that day when I walked out of that temple, I definitely had a new perspective. The way I saw the world changed and what I was about to do next was clear. Atma-Linga and Mahableshwara for me was a very significant part of my story - it was the beginning of a new chapter in my life. I was in a place where I was literally all alone, with a feeling that everything was lost, I found a strength and the beginning of a new journey.
So as dark as life might get, keep moving forward. Sometimes things don't happen gradually, especially recovering from emotional incidents but things will always changes. As many have said before me, our jobs in life is to move forward and just try to be the best human being we can be. Never give up, because the change that you need maybe a second away.
Love all and let the light within shine bright!
fb.com/digitalhindu
@digitalhindu
No comments:
Post a Comment