The story of the five fingers

Dear Sri,
Is Kithu a chip of the "old block"? Not all children listen so intently to stories that their classmate's mother tells & more than that,she, grasping it fully, comes and reproduces it to you!
I can imagine,
Kithu sitting on your lap
You, fondly caressing her ruffled hair
Kithu, telling you the story with an "important air" typical of children
You hugging her proudly & kissing on her cheeks!!

Swarnalatha's FB sums it all up in one line!
Yes
They also serve who stand and wait.
In the larger scheme of the Universe, everybody, everything has a role, defined. The problem starts when comparison starts, one thinking that he or she is superior or inferior to the other.
Just because we both have sub-forums allotted to us with our names, we cannot think that we are superior to ILites. No, no. Never.
When we post, we do need others to read the same and look at the no: of views to judge how well it is received. Knowing that everybody cannot send feedbacks, we are more than happy even if a single digit no: sends us feedbacks. Otherwise also, we are happy that "--" no: of ILites have read it.
But it hurts when people look at only the adulation we receive & not the hard work we have to do, to post.When we both put our heart and soul in the Gita posts, we never bother how many read them, how many send FBs.We are happy, we have a platform - just like the little finger has in our body.
Leave alone greater things in life. When recently, my maid was on a long leave, I realise how much she contributes in her own way to my housekeeping, my sitting & spending time for IL etc. Acknowledging her part in my daily life, I "quietly" gave the salary-hike she asked for!!
Let us accept each plays a different role in the Universe, withou being overly bothered by others' superiority or inferiority.
Love,
Chithra.

Friends,
To see the Smiling Angel Kithu, the apple of Cheeniya's eyes, please go to
The Faces Behind the Names.

Dear Cheeniyaji,

The story sums up what my parents have taught me. Everything has a place & significance in this world.

The five fingers may be different. But they all come together as one when we eat, pray & do any important tasks.

In families too, the person who earns more money is given a lot of respect. But what about that silent worker-the lady of the house who suppressed her ambitions for the good of the house?

One of the things that Chithraji & you (My Gita Gurus) have taught me is " Do your duty. Leave the rest to divinity'' has got in peace when mind tends to start thinking of "oh why do this job?" Same thing with fbs. It used to hurt when I got no responses. Now I look at the views & thank God atleast people feel it good to read.

Regards,

Corallux

Originally Posted by swarnalata.N.S.

Sir
I remembered one poem line we learned in highschool:
"They also serve who only stand and wait"

Dear Swarnalatha
That is a beautiful quote and one of my all time favourites. In these lines, Milton strongly emphasises the point that even the blind is in God's service kept waiting. When I read these lines, my mind travels to the extraordinary life of the deaf and blind Helen Keller who rose to become a highly accomplished figure. Any normal human being would have only sat crouching in a corner with that kind of physical disability and sulked all his life. But Helen Keller was of a different mould who justified every alphabet of these famous lines of Milton
Sri

Originally Posted by nivedi

Dear Chenniya Sir,

The topic itself is beautiful and your style and flow of words makes this a timely master piece. I would have loved this story even more had I heard it in Krithi's words, from a child's perspective.

One of my favorite blogger is a person called Trevor Romain. He writes for children and he has a similar story about the importance of every person in this universe - Trevor's Blog: Small Is Big

I am reminded of a lady in my family who would always say that without her, the family will collapse. She controlled everything, right from what the family members ate to what clothes they wore and where they worked and whom they chose as their life partner. Till her last breath, she believed that without her, things would come to a stop. She's dead now. But her family is running and it is running fine. There was a place for her, but she thought the rest of the world was nothing.

Dear Nivedi
I have not read Trevor Romain before and I read him for the first time following your link. He is so good and writes with such clarity. Thank you for providing me this link Nivedi.

There are many like that lady in your family. Even my paternal grandma used to be like that according to my mother. When she became very old and infirm, people continued to act as though she was as important as she was decades back. They made her believe that nothing would move without her consent. She lived in this make-believe world for nearly a decade and died a peaceful death.

Whenever such a feeling crosses my mind, I think of the lives of people like Hitler and Napolean! In our own country, when Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister, one question of national importance that plagued everyone was 'After Nehru, who?" The ranks of life are so full that there is never going to be any place that will remain unfilled even for a second.

It only goes to show that no one needs to feel either all important or dirt!
Sri

Wow, Cheeniya, you have outdone yourself. what a beautiful topic ! Shows how much you are involved with IL as a family and being an elderly person wanted to bring PEACE and Unity! hats off!
This is surely a great and gentle way of showing the way ......loved this story your Kithu told you....thanks to her and her friend'S mom for saying it. If she had not shared with you , you would not have been inspired to share that with us and build this beautiful , what should i say, article, naw that sounds so insipid...... piece of literary work . It was amazing the way your thought process work and how you string the words together. I for one is happy that you are a part of IL ......otherwise raeding such lovely articles in english from our own Chennai would have been out of Reach for me. I did miss the newspaper articles which i loved raeding in India. So you have definitely taken that place and please on no account do u need to change your way and style! At least for such die hard fans like me......
Continue to enthrall us and i am sure from your work it is clear that each one has a SPECIAL PLACE IN THE God's Grand Scheme!

Really enjoyed reading this work....will cherish THE THOUGHTS BEHIND IT always!

Originally Posted by Srama

Dear Cheeniya sir,

What an inspiring story - thank you for reminding it. I will share it with my 5year old. If only people were to remember this in every sphere of lives, it would be so much easier. In relationships especially if somebody wants to feel important like the rest of the fingers, if we choose to be the little finger, I am sure no harm is done. Infact I was thinking about all the relationship problems people face and honestly was thinking life should be much more meaningful than these bickerings - a little background to this is the sudden and sad demise of Tim Russert, his meteoric rise, my son's questions about death and people dying early, his perspective and ofcourse the news that the space shuttle landed and a crew of 8-10 staying in space for 95days and landing safely back on earth! Sometimes these events put things in perspective but more often than not these little stories that we have heard in childhood but have forgotten is what makes us wake up, look around and start afresh.

Once again, thanks for sharing.

Dear Srama
Tim Russert's sudden end is one of those deaths which are hard to reconcile like Kalpana Chawla, Lal Bahadur Sastri, Ayrton Senna, the car racing legend, John Kennedy.. The list is endless. Amazing is the way that all aspirations of a person, his ego, importance, everything comes to a grinding halt with the final call! But despite all this, we dont contemplate on the inevitable conclusion to our life and mould our lives accordingly but rather concentrate on the ramifications of living. There is nothing wrong in it provided we understand that what we leave behind is as important as what we accumulate during our life. Living has as much to teach us as dying. There have been countless people whose lives teach us great things.
sri

Originally Posted by sunkan

dear sri,
nice bond i see here again with your grand daughter how wonderful is that relation for her to tell and for you to patiently hear it out to bring it here in your own style.

man can convey so many things with these hands and with each finger a wonderful meaning, each finger also rules its owner with its contribution,thumb shows the man's refined nature of diplomacy or orthodox approach to life, the first finger is of jupiter shows about his status and connection in life, the center finger tell all about his melancholics attitude if it rules man is the worst his own enemy as he can never think good of others,but with a star there he could be the highest philosophical the third finger is the finger of the heart and cheerful ness comes from there, with out which man will may be not smile at all and it is the little finger the business finger of a man, one can make out how shrewd he would tackle people with, if it is a little bent he would lie through his teeth to get his work done, if it is a tiny one and bending towards the ring finger, it will give the quality of dreamy approach to an otherwise very shrewd transaction.

while reading this i dont know why i got reminded of kalidasa, and how he used his fingers to escape a predicament which otherwise would had gone hay wire and there would had been no darshan of mother to him...

one subject from you can produce so many different dimension of thought in many...bravo young man keep going...sunkan

Dear Sundari
What a multifaceted personality you are! I know that you are a Tarrot reader but I never knew that you could read palms too. I too have heard that the shapes of the fingers show the character of a person but after reading your FB, I could get the gist of it.

The folklore of Kalidasa using his fingers to win over a princess is well-known but for the benefit of those who may not know it, this is how it goes:
It is said that he was a dumb fool to start with. The king's daughter was a very learned lady and said that she would marry him who would defeat her in `shaastraartha' (debate on the scriptures). Anyone who got defeated would be black faced, head shaven and kicked out of the country on a donkey. The pundits took Kalidasa, whom they apparently saw cutting a tree branch on which he was sitting, for debate. They informed the Princess that he only accepted mute debates. The princess agreed and showed him one finger saying `shakti is one'. He thought she would poke his one eye, so he showed her two fingers implying that he would poke both her eyes! She accepted it as valid answer, since `shakti' was manifest in duality . She then showed her the palm with fingers extended like in a slap. He showed her the fist. She accepted it as answer to her question. She said `five elements' and he said `make the body' but in reality Kalidasa thought that she was threatening to slap him and retaliated by showing his fist implying that he would smash her face! So they get married and she soon found out that he was a dumbo. So she drove him out of the house. He straightaway went to Kali's temple and cut his tongue at her feet. Kali was appeased with him and granted him profound wisdom.
Sri

Originally Posted by anandchitra

It is natural for a person to wonder if they are useful or not if they are worthy or not especially when they face difficult times and are more downtrodden than others. It is at those times, that one has to come up out of self annointed misery and motivate oneself further.

Dear AC
What you say is very true. When we face difficult times, it is natural that our self-confidence gets a severe beating and the impaired self-confidence can in turn plunge us to further depths. But even more dangerous is self-pity. People who lack self-confidence may soon regain it when the tide turns their way but people who develop self-pity can never come out of it.

There are two ways of looking at life. One is to look at less fortunate people and become contented with what we have. Sri Ramakrishna's parable of a man sulking about not having a foot-wear realising that he is better-off when he observes a man without legs.

The second way is to observe people who are better placed and get motivated by them. The choice is entirely ours!
Sri

Originally Posted by Malathijagan

Cheeniya Sir!
Hats off to you! Excellent way to end the raging war in your unique style! Age does matter!
Love,
Malathi

Dear Malathi
Nothing is dearer to me than seeing the whole community of IL living in total harmony and bonhomie. We are all here to share our thoughts and experiences so that everyone can benefit out of it. It makes me sad whenever acrimony shows its ugly head in this adorably peaceful community.
Sri

Dear Sir,
Very nice and meaning ful story....You have narrated very beautifully...And the most intresting in this was that you have crafted this story in a broadspectrum view which is definetly needed for the hour now........ You really Rock....

Thanx a lot sir.... I am gld to tell my kid this story tonight.... And thanx for Kirthi too...