Will You Let Me Work For You?

Hello Varalotti sir,

Very nice and enlightening topic.

And the Great Gita does not say, reading Gita is yogam.It thunders for all of us to hear, “Yogam Karmashu Kaushalam” Skill in action in yoga. It does not talk about the nature of the action.

It is not what you do that matters but how do you do it. If some one can show skill in cleaning a toilet, yes, that is yogam, because it is “karmashu kaushalam”. A person reading the upanishads with his mind being somewhere else is in a far worse position than a person who cleans our toilets with skill and dedication.

How true!If we only constantly strive to practice this every single day!

Coming to your question, an outright 'No'.Not withstanding the above fact,I have already accepted the offer, unwittingly.. for the second most important man in my life!And to some extent for the third too ....(son)...and not free.Sorry!

Sriniketan,
You are right, we prefer working outside our house than otherwise. I know a lady who used to go to slum, give bathe to the children there and feed them; while her own sons would have returned from school and would be waiting for her for their food. And my recent story in Kumudam where the daughter-in-law refuses to take the plate on which her mil had eaten, but as an airline stewardess, when she sees a passenger puking, she wipes him with her own hand.

You need not ask Indhu; even I can tell you that you are right.When I attend function at my friends' houses at times I serve food - at least used to that till a few years back. But have never done anything like that inside the house.

Coming to Sri Ramanujar's incident, who can be like that...Thousands and thousands to Him...
Service to human is service to God is clearly proved here..

You know Sriniketan, if there is something greater than Sri Ramanuja's humility and devotion, it is the devotion of his disciples. If you and other ILites are interested, I will write about his disciples also.

.And the tears we shed would be the most powerful germicide available on earth. They would kill the germs of anger, lust and greed and make our hearts pure and germ-free.
Moving sentences....

Normally we classify our tears into two - one class is shed when are in grief and the other is a manifestation of too much happiness. But the one you would shed while reading Sri Ramanuja's life story, belongs to the third category. Purifying, elevating tears of spiritual growth. I am happy you liked that lines.

You are working for us and give us wonderful topics to ponder., I think that is of great help we get from you...

thanks, thanks and thanks.
regards,

Dear Lalitha,
It was a slap on my face too, when I read it for the first time. And every time I read it the slap is becoming more and more forceful. Incidents like this one are to be remembered again and again. I first came to know about this when I was 35. When I remembered it for the thousandth time, when touched 50, the impact was different, and a little deeper too. We should never forget this incident in the life of a great saint.

There are times to instruct and times to just do. There's a time to command and a time to obey. No harm in commanding others if we do not let that thing go up right into our head.

About ego,well, I am privileged in that because I have two in-built ego-busters - one is my wife and the other is my daughter. Another technique that would help us buckle our ego is something like this.

You remember my walk series? When I walk on the Albert Victor Bridge at times I come across some lepers. They will be just lying there. A body full of wounds, puss and blood coming from a hundred places and they will be in a semi conscious state. I used to think that at the time of death there is going to be no difference between him and me. Which means, whatever things I have over and above what he has, would have no relevance at the time of death. Many times this thought has induced sobriety in me, at least for a short while.

But whatever I do will be good and expect others to do it perfectly (a virgoan trait, can't help)

Sorry dear, it's universal trait and nothing to do with the Zodiac signs.

Regarding your question, I just can't understand why you asked this because you are already working for us so tirelessly, making us see some sense and bringing such nice post to us regularly so that we do change ourselves to better human beings.

Idhu oru anil sevai irkalam unngalku, annal engalukku adhu oru maha bhagyam.........adhum ungoludu anbu ketaikka nangal rombe athrudhstakaranga dhan

A conversation a la Sunkan Style
Indhu: konja nerathukku munnadi varaikkum nallathaane irundheenga? en ippadi thideernu bayankarama cold pidichirukku?
Me: Vera onnum illa, ILla lalitha ezuthiana fbya padiachen. Adhularunthu....
Indhu: sari, sari, konjam thalliye nillunga, enakkum thothikka pokuthu...

Originally Posted by lalitha shivaguru

Dear

A moving illustration of the great saint. Really to be frank it was a slap on my face because most of the time I do laze around and instruct others to do it rather than myself doing that. But whatever I do will be good and expect others to do it perfectly (a virgoan trait, can't help) Actually you showed me the way.........sridhar of how to work.

A great saint can work so selflessly, without any ego..........I really don't know how many janmas we have to take to have that kind of feeling and the EGO less said about it is better.

Regarding your question, I just can't understand why you asked this because you are already working for us so tirelessly, making us see some sense and bringing such nice post to us regularly so that we do change ourselves to better human beings.

Idhu oru anil sevai irkalam unngalku, annal engalukku adhu oru maha bhagyam.........adhum ungoludu anbu ketaikka nangal rombe athrudhstakaranga dhan

Dear Sudha,

Sorry i did not post fb for ur Superstar thread( actually i am not his fan and i did not want to offend His fans and YOUR fans! )

It's okay. No sweat. But the super star was not about the Super Star. It was about the mistakes we commit in our daily lives. So no question of offending his fans.

Of course being a Vaishnavite , i had to post my FB here . This was another wonderful writing, bringing to light Sri Ramanujam's selfless service! Like you had mentioned they were such Great souls....i completely agree with these lines too:::::::
"And once you finish reading, you will be crying for the rest of your life, thinking about the love, about the humility of the great saint.
And the tears we shed would be the most powerful germicide available on earth. They would kill the germs of anger, lust and greed and make our hearts pure and germ-free."

Ramanuja is such a great soul that he belongs not just to the Vaishnavites but to the entire humanity. In fact it was he who first brought out revolution in religion by standing up on the wall of Thirukosthiyur Sowmya Narayanan Temple and by giving the "mantropadesam" to all those who was willing to listen. And then he said that whoever was there on that day at that time, they and their families are Srivaishnavas.

As for toilet cleaning.....that was an eyeopener for me....after i came here and had to do it myself, i went thru a process of hatred , anger, self pity and then slowly these emotions gave way to the understading that It is the place my body gets rid of TOXIC elements and so i have to revere it, keep it clean, in fact this place needs to be maintained even more than my Pooja room, ...only if my physical boday is clean and free from Diseases, can my Mind stay Clean N Pure! Isnt it,:::

I like this part of your fb very much. Recently in Chennai we saw the movie "Arai Enn 305il kadavul". In that picture, Prakash Raj appears as God. And in one scene, God will be cleaning up the toilets of the mansion He was staying. To a surprised onlooker he would say, "is it not our duty to keep our toilets clean?"

enna gnanodayam.....so i started to Love my Work here.....so much for our Gita lessons , not to mention your TEAR JERKERS now and then ( i mean emotional and Mental BRAKES! ); I have learnt to serve my family and humanity without any emotions ....LOVE is yet to come , that may take a few more jnamams i guess!

When we start serving our family loves comes into us on its own. No need to wait for many janmams.

As for the answer to your title....you yourself have gotten out by saying you will make a mess of everything.....now how do u expect us to ASK or Let u work for us , i wonder! ( Indhu, helpppp)

That was a good one. In my profession many times I am paid to complicate things. I always try to convince the Assessing Officer and if I do not succeed, I confuse him, a job in which I am an acclaimed expert.

regards,

Sridhar,
Please do write about Sri Ramanujar's disciples...
waiting to read....

sriniketan

Sriniketan,
Will definitely do that. I was actually waiting for you to ask.

regards,

Originally Posted by Sriniketan

Sridhar,
Please do write about Sri Ramanujar's disciples...
waiting to read....

sriniketan

Dear Aruna,
thanks. Actually what I quoted is just one page from the life of the great saint. There are so many incidents like this. Will be writing about them in the days to come.
All our wrongs happen only without our knowing it. You know what Jesus said to God before he was crucified, "Forgive them father, for they know not what they do."

Coming to your title "Will you let me work for you" We already know Varalotti what a great man you are how can anyone make you work for us???????????.............Not me atleast.

thanks Aruna. But Sri Ramanuja was at least a few zillion times greater than me.When he himself chose to work, why not me? May be I wont work after all, because I am not that great.

It is not what you do that matters but how do you do it.............great sentence
Whatever you do has to be done with great devotion.........

thanks, Aruna. You should either do whatever you love or love whatever you do. In either case you wont do anything.
I give this example when I talk about time. A boy is waiting for his lover to come. He is all alone in the park. Even if the wait extends to an hour, he wont mind. But at the same time standing in the queue for a railway ticket will be hell for him. I am not saying that you should fall in love with the Railway ticket. But try to fix that in the overall scheme of things and then understand its significance.

thanks for the fb, Aruna.

love,

Originally Posted by Arunarc

Dear Varalotti
That was a nice story. What a great man he was.............After knowing what a great man he was will anyone make him work that way..............This action has happened unknowingly right........
Coming to your title "Will you let me work for you" We already know Varalotti what a great man you are how can anyone make you work for us???????????.............Not me atleast.

It is not what you do that matters but how do you do it.............great sentence
Whatever you do has to be done with great devotion...........

Dear Sridhar,

I have stopped paying much attention to your titles..A lesson I have learnt from all your recent titles..they really don't mean what they say. So, the curiosity with each title is at once aroused and I keep thinking ..what's he up to this time round!

And as usual, you didn't disappoint. That was a beautiful lesson indeed-No job is menial and below any one's worth.

The episode from Sri Ramanuja's life was amazing and it is no wonder considering his divine stature. One can aspire to learn from it although I guess it will be difficult for a common man to achieve such freedom from ego.

And the Great Gita does not say, reading Gita is yogam.It thunders for all of us to hear, “Yogam Karmashu Kaushalam” Skill in action in yoga. It does not talk about the nature of the action.

It is not what you do that matters but how do you do it. If some one can show skill in cleaning a toilet, yes, that is yogam, because it is “karmashu kaushalam”. A person reading the upanishads with his mind being somewhere else is in a far worse position than a person who cleans our toilets with skill and dedication.

The above quote was impressive. So very true. I guess I should now feel quite pleased with my chores at home about which I was complaining in another thread very recently. Perhaps that is my way of scoring positive points towards my Karmayoga?!

As for asking you to work, Sundarusha who gave the first fb for this thread said it all...you already work for us through these wonderful writings, so where is the need to ask you for more?

Also, I am being just nice and trying not to be too frank like Sudha.......for it is true, you got out of it yourself!! Then, Varalotti.....have a heart for us poor ILites, we have worked enough, don't want to work again after you mess up things !

L, Kamla

Dear Swetha,

I feel as if my daughter had written this feedback to me. You know Swetha, when I and my daughter went on a bike raid a few days ago, I told this story to her. From her choked response I could sense that she liked this story very much and hence decided to post the story here.

Swetha, even if we are placed in the best of circumstances, we have a lot to complain. We curse a lot if the AC goes off on a hot summer day. (It happened yesterday in Chennai when the power in my client's office went off and there was no AC for 15 minutes). At that times I always remember our brothers an sisters who stand in the hot sun to lay the road, to pour the liquid tar on the surface standing by the side of the mobile furnace - the machine where tar is melted and mixed with stones.

I think all of us at IL will now look at life from a different perspective. Thank you.

Reading these lines I feel that suddenly all hours spent alone before the system writing this or that, had been worth the while. At the end of the day the game is worth the candle. What more do I want!
regards,

Dear Aishwarya,
In our tradition Sri Ramanujar is considered an Avatar of Adhi Seshan, the Lord's bed. Bearing our Lord ever since the beginning of time and even before that, Adhi Sesha is all love and one of the manifestations of his love is his birth as Sri Ramanuja.

Even to share his birthstar should be a great blessing. I am happy to know that you are blessed that way. The Ramanuja statue at Sriperumpudur has been blessed by Ramanuja himself. Thats the reason you find the statue so full of life and love. That you were able to visit the place for a second time shows how blessed a person you are.

Next time when you happen to visit Sriperumpudur, try to make a visit to Madhuramangalam. Instead of going off the highway for Sriperumpudur go straight and soon you'll reach a place called Sunguvar Chathiram. You need to make a turn there to reach Madhuramangalam, where there is an Embar Sannadhi. Embar is Sri Ramanuja's disciple (more about him in future posts) and it is believed that visiting that temple is particularly benefical for people having eye problems.

Sorry for deviating, but you brought back those memories and now i have the urge to go to the shrine once again.

It's not a deviation at all.

Thanks for working for the benefit of 20,000 plus Ilites to bring up this beautiful post.

You are most welcome. And thanks for saying that so nicely.
regards,