A tribute to my friend - on friendship week

Friendship week , Aug 2012. I was travelling to office as usual in my bus. A co-passenger who works in the neighbouring company was next to me. He had some sad news that day :

There was a guy,also travelling in the same bus to office daily. I knew him quite well from the daily bus journeys. I have often seen him walking his aged father in my neighbourhood. Let us call him SM.

SM was very smart and talented guy. He used to solve critical issues and problems which many of his collegues gave up. He was a helpful kind of guy. He was strong willed. He used to walk long distance and not spend on autorickshaws unncessarily , instead treat his friends with fresh fruit juices on the way. He used to say - "Why pay for the auto, lets walk and midway have something good to refresh"

But he was not to be seen from quite sometime now. I learnt that he had been diagnoised with leukemia ( blood cancer ) a year back. Still he used to come and watch his friends play cricket on Saturday mornings. He used to keep a tally of the teams scores , when he could not play. He had such strong will power that he used to say - nothing will happen to me.

In the last few months , each week , SMs blood needed to be changed. Then it was once in 5 days , then once in 4 days. Doctos suggested bone marrow replacement , for which SMs elder brother had agreed to sell off their only home.

A week back , blood started to ooze out of his body... Then , SM passed away.
May His Soul Rest in Peace !

Where ever you are , my friend , wish you a happy friendship day ! I dont have much other words to convey the deep felt loss but , Life is just a journey somewhat like our daily bus commute to office. You have reached your stop , am just somewhere behind you, my friend.

Have belief and faith in God

A story from Mahabharatha :
During the Mahabharatha war , Bheeshma and Arjuna were fighting. All in the Pandava camp were worried for Arjuna as Bheeshma was a very skilled and experienced warrior. Each night the Pandavas were loosing sleep over this. Lord Krishna once arrived to find Arjuna peacefully sleeping whereas all others were sleepless worrying for Arjunas safety. So , Lord Krishna goes and wakes up Arjuna and asks him " Hey Arjuna, Arent you worried that Bheeshma is fighting with you and is very powerful and you may get killed ? How can you sleep with that worry of death ?".
Arjuna replied " Lord , I can sleep peacefully as you are awake. With you by my side , why should i worry ?"
Arjuna's reply is the core essense of my blog. This story shows the complete faith which Arjuna had over the Lord. We should also develop such a strong faith that the Lord takes care of ALL his creations, without fail. What is happening and what is going to happen is all HIS wish and HIS command. Such a strong faith and belief will go a very long way in our spiritual path.
Time for another story , this one from Ramayana :
When the bridge to Lanka was being built by the monkey army , Lord Rama was watching silently. He saw one monkey taking a stone, saying out aloud "Shree Rama" and dropping it in the ocean. And Lo Behold, it floated. Another monkey did the same, again the stone floated on the water. And so it went on , each monkey used to come with a stone , uttering the Lords name, drop it on the ocean ,and it just floated.
Now , Lord Rama was in an experimental mood :-) So, He also took a stone and dropped it on the ocean. But , it sank. He tried again , and yet again it sank. Now , he was perplexed and sat in a deep thought.

Along came Hanuman and looking at his Lord realised that something was wrong. So , he asked the Lord "Whats up , Captain?".

Rama replied " Look here dude , all these monkeys are throwing stones chanting my name and it floats. When I try the same , it sinks. Whats the problem ?"

Hanuman said "Thats pretty simple. Naturally , Sirjee, If You drop anybody , He has to sink. You are the ONE lifting the entire world up. If you throw off a stone, then it just obeys you"

This story is a sort of corollary to the first one from Mahabharatha. The monkey army had complete faith in the name of the Lord and that chanting the name of the Lord would make the  stone to float. And Lo!  it does so. Here , the belief and faith in the Lord is what is important. 
Lately , I see that there are many articles and blogs with questions of "Is there really a God ?" I am not able to undertand why anyone would keep on questioning about the existence of a God and thereby decline his or her belief considerably. Reading such articles and questioning only raises doubt in ones mind. An iota of doubt then grows in the doubting mind and then one day it becomes so big and strong that man loses faith and belief. Please donot feed more food for such thoughts. Remove such poisonous thoughts from anyone who tries to influence us. Whenever some one questions us "Why should we believe in God ? Am not seeing him", please tell them politely that "Please belive first, Proof will surely follow"

PS : I might have worded the story in a comical manner , that is only to keep up the interest for the readers and drive home the point that God also loves fun.

When do you remember God ?

When the body becomes weak
When the breath becomes difficult
When the mind gets cluttered
When the memory starts to fail you

This is when most remember God
This is when most start their prayers
This is when most become believers
This is when most try to reach the Supreme

O Man , why don't you wake up and realise a little earlier
Instead of waiting perpetually and procrastinating your source
Pray , Believe , Meditate and  Help the needy when the body is strong 
And enjoy the bliss , which comes along.

- prashanth rajarao

Keep our earth clean and green

It's amazing , the way it is
The sun shining and the moon smiling
Isn't it wonderful to feel the earth moist
When it rains and the sky kisses the land

It's amazing , the way it is
The lakes clean and the city green
Isn't it wonderful to see the birds sing
Each morning on your terrace wing,

It's amazing , the way it is
The stream sparkling and the peacock dancing
Isn't it wonderful to see the fishes swim 
In rivers and  lakes, not in our aquariums glim

It's amazing , the way it is
Man is just another creature , intelligent than any
But , he has to use his intelligence to co-exist with nature
Only when he realises that , will he stop polluting.

It's amazing, the way it is
I sure hope, it remains the way it is
For our kids , lets make a pledge
To keep our earth , clean and green.

- prashanth rajarao