The Mystery of the Missing Keys

Ok, this is complicated, so you need to hang on to every sentence, every word if you don't want to lose me. This was a very interesting episode that happened today, and hence I wanted to jot it down before even I forget the intricacies!

We have four house keys. Let us call it A, B, C and D: A is usually kept in the house or wife has it, B is with daughter, C with me in my office bag and D with mom (who stays in a different house close by, just in case we get locked out, we can always go to her to get back in). 

A -> Wife/House

B -> Daughter

C -> Me

D -> Mom

The tale began yesterday when I took key A in car and forgot it in the car itself while coming back. So, now A is in the car, not lost. Key B is usually with daughter but she has misplaced it. So at this point:

A -> Car

B -> Misplaced

C -> Me

D -> Mom

Today, wife planned to go out at 4 pm just when daughter is supposed to get back home from school. So, I gave my key C to wife and asked her to lock the house while she is going. Wife told daughter that in case she decides not to go, she will stand in the balcony at the time of her (daughter's) arrival so she can come home directly. If she (wife) does go out, there will not be anyone in the balcony which will be an indication for her (daughter) to go to my mom's house to collect the key D to enter our house. Since key A is still in the car, I took the car key with me so that I can get it on my way back from office after getting out of my office cab in the evening. So at this point:

A -> Car

B -> Misplaced

C -> Wife

D -> Mom

At 3 pm, wife decided to go but she forgot where she kept the key C which I had given to her in the morning! Since she had not gone out of the house, the key C was within the house itself yet she was unable to find it on time and it was getting late for her to leave. So she decided to get the key D from my mom, lock the house and leave. My mom decided to come to our house instead and stay until her granddaughter arrived from school, and my wife agreed, completely forgetting what she had told my daughter about the balcony plan. 

My wife called me up and informed me all this on her way to the event, and then I thought I will call my mom and ask her to go back to her home as my daughter will come to her house directly since no one will be in the balcony, as per the plan decided in the morning. But then, my mom had forgotten to get her mobile to my home, so I couldn't call her! So, we were now in a spot! The daughter will not see anyone in the balcony and hence will go to my mom's house only to find no one there because my mom is in my house! 

A -> Car

B -> Misplaced

C -> Misplaced

D -> Mom

I then called the school bus helper and was able to reach my daughter, and told her to go directly to our home. She said she would have done that anyways since she found her key B in her bag..! My mom, on her own intuition (without being told), stood in the balcony to guide daughter!

A -> Car

B -> Daughter

C -> Misplaced

D -> Mom

In the evening, I got back home from cab and walked past the car but forgot to get the key A from car! Once in the house, I saw both keys A and C on the sofa! Apparently my mom had taken the car in the morning and found the key A lying in the car, and she returned it back to our home. And daughter found the key C on the living room carpet where my wife had kept and forgotten. So, we got back all keys!

A -> House

B -> Daughter

C -> Me

D -> Mom

So many episodes of forgetfulness:

- I forgot to get the key from the car the previous day.

- Daughter had forgotten where she had kept her keys.

- Wife forgot where she kept the key in the house.

- Mom forgot to take the phone with her to my home.

- I forgot to get the house key from car even today even though I had taken the car key just for that purpose.

- The 'balcony plan' slipped out of wife's mind when mom offered to stay in our house.

On hindsight:

- There was no need for me to take the car keys.

- There was no need for the 'Balcony plan'.

- There was no need for me to call school bus helper.

- There was no need for my mom to stand in the balcony.

Well, anyway - All's well that ends well! The intricate happenings sure brought mirth today, and a blog post from me after a long time!

The Birthday Trilogy

Here, I am back after four years to chronicle the latest updates! Without my own knowledge, looks like I have a biographer for my wife..! Read on to see what transpired thereafter to our Queen...!

Alas, the second wave of Covid did not leave our Queen untouched. She had barely any energy left, her breath was shallow, hardly ate anything or even had the drive to eat. Covid, as we have heard from so many, was a very sickly disease. It took the life energies completely out of you and the feebleness was too low for the life to continue. I read somewhere that first 4-5 days you need to let it run its course but thereafter either the body fights back and recovers completely or loses. Fortunately in our case, she survived. From the 5th day onwards, she started recovering, and getting better. All through, she continued with her yogic kriya practices despite it taking a toll on her body. She believed that and the grace of her Guru were the only things that revived her back. She never took a single tablet, not even Dolo which was the most famous pill at that time. Even though she was an ICU candidate, she preferred to stay isolated in her room. The 'isolation' was also her idea to ensure rest of the family did not catch it from her. Strictly she stayed within for 14 full days and those were tough times although it was far, far better than any mortality which we were hearing from our neighbours. In fact, there was a time when the King and her said their 'Final Goodbye's looking at the state she was in, knowing fully well that there might not be a happy ending! However, she withstood the test of time and came out of the dangerous woods unscathed without having to take any medication. 

Slowly, rest of the world also started to stand on its feet, and then started running hither and thither! By that, I mean, started travelling! With relaxed office norms, workations became a fad! Not to be left behind, the Queen ventured into car travels (still not very willing to mingle with public) to nearby places. In one such instance, she visited Mysore to see Dasara in it's great grandeur. Unluckily it poured heavily in Mysore that very day, and she was stuck in a car with rising/gushing waters all around! Thankfully, waded through the traffic and saw it subside whereas cars in and around were inundated! That was a second fatal scare in the same year!

But these were nothing compared to the 'Mother of all trips' which she planned for later - Kailash Darshan! The prep for this started about 6 months in advance, with a battery of health checks. She barely cleared those checks, and some startling revelations about her heart being in the center of her chest due to which her ribcage was constricting the expansion! Somehow, got the clearance but the altitude hit her at Hepka, which was about 10,000 ft above sea ground. She was advised to take steroids which thankfully alleviated her condition. The condition prior to that was similar to the Covid days - where she could barely stand or walk or focus, and this was in the middle of Himalayan mountains! Soon after that episode, she had the blessed Darshan of Mt Kailash. A point to be noted in this trip is that she was the only person in the entire batch of 80 odd yatris who was in complete silence for last few days until the darshan of Mt Kailash. Although this is repeatedly asked by all to ensure one can grasp the energies better, no one quite follows it due to its rigor. But she was able to steadfastly maintain her silence and communicate with hand signals only when necessary. It was easy to see why she was affected so deeply during the process that Isha Sacred Walks conducted at Kailash Darshan - the silence sadhana that she had performed had a great impact.

As if this was not enough, within a few weeks after returning, she was back in the Himalayas - this time to visit Gangothri, Badrinath and Kedarnath. Tougher than oneself being sick is to see your loved one being sick - which is exactly what happened for her at the base of Kedarnath when her princess fell extremely sick. Thankfully for her, the King (who had previously seen anyways) stayed back to take care of the daughter while she could complete the two-day trek to Kedarnath. And equally thankfully, the princess recovered after a brief admission to a local hospital, and rest of the trip was a success. She felt it was only due to Sadhguru's Grace that she and her family escaped the imminent throes of Death.

One significant event that happened in her life was on a trip to Isha Yoga Center Ashram at Coimbatore when she entered Dhyanalinga Temple at about 9 am in the morning and sat in a meditative pose. Although she knew she had to have breakfast at about 10 am, she resisted the urge and continued to sit. Soon, 10 am became 11 am and then 12 noon when Nada Aradhana started. She continued to sit. She was even mentally talking to Dhyanalinga that she will not go (or she will keep coming back) until she got the answer for "Who am I?", a deep spiritual question which has been bothering her since eons. To her satisfaction, she got a response which made complete sense to her. All the jigsaw puzzles fit with that response. In the back of her mind, she knew she had to check-out of her room by 4 pm else it will cause issues for other seekers, so finally after 7 hours, she got up. Seven full hours of non-stop meditation with no breaks! She felt enlightened indeed!

At home, she spent 8-10 hours daily on Spiritual reading and/or watching Spiritual videos. She was open to any and all teachings and soaking it all up like a sponge - Vidhura Neethi, Ashtavakra Geethe, Bhagavad Geetha, Power of Now, Journey Home, etc.. She explored all four modes of Yoga: Bhakti, Gnana, Kriya and Karma. She listened to many teachers like Sadhguru, Anandamurthi Gurumaa, Guru Pashupathinath, Hare Krishna scholars, Dhirendra Krishna Shastri, Sri M, etc. but followed only the former. While two decades ago, she was listening bollywood songs while doing chores, now she is totally into Bhajans and Devotional songs. If she just sat and listened to songs, tears will flow down her cheeks. If she is doing something (like cooking or eating) and a divine song enters her ears from nearby, she will become stillness personified. If she is standing, she will just collapse down and cuddle up. 

There have been multiple episodes of strange experiences in her life in the recent past. There was this  instance when she once stood in front of the mirror and could not recognize the person in the mirror. Another time, she had violent shuddering & shivering all through the body although she was perfectly fine and aware, which is a clear sign of Kundalini awakening. And then she had an out-of-the-body experience where she realized she was no longer contained in her body and could see her body from afar. At Srirangapatna temple, she felt Lord Ranga was within her! When we did Homa, at the time of Purnahuthi, she felt a part of her was getting dissolved. During festivals, at the time of Prana Prathista, she can actually feel a part of ourselves being poured out into a Divine Energy form. At Gad Kalika Mandir in Ujjain, when she sat within the temple premises, her left side of the lip felt like it was getting pulled! When she came out, it stopped automatically. Later researched and found out via this article that Sati's upper lip had fallen at that location! During funeral rites, she could easily feel the presence of the departed beings. Few months ago, at the hospital, we were all sitting and a man was walking towards us. Her first impression was that the man looked like Lord Yama. It so happened that this man was none other than the doctor who was treating my father, and she was not aware of it then. Within few days, my father passed away...

It is said that once you are born as a Human Being, if you do enough sadhana, you can start perceiving dimensions beyond the five senses. Above experiences show that she has reached that stage already. If Part 1 showed glimpses of the Rise of the Champion and Part 2 showed her accomplishments, this Part sheds light on some of her (thanks to her Guru's grace) Supernatural instincts! 

It is also said that a Marriage is for couples to go through Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha - and she has lived it to the word. Thanks to my wife, I am getting a free ride along with her to at least taste Liberation...! 

Presenting this blog-post as another (hopefully immortal) birthday gift which will make her smile and wonder about the life she has undergone so far..!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR!!