Taare Zameen Par-Every Child Is A Special Child

I was standing at the door of my flat in Mumbai. Could hear sounds coming from my neighbours house. Their only son, four years of age was crying loudly. The resident maid was shouting loudly at the child and the Televison was on full blast may be to camouflage the childs loud cries. Everyday occurence. Parents are working with a reputed Airline. Mother is an Airhostess and Father a pilot. They fly Internationl-London and USA. Very prestigious job. Their job requires them to work extremely erratic hours. I have heard these loud sad cries of the child even when the parents are around. The maid shouts at the kid because thats what she has seen her employers do to the kid. The poor tiny four year old soul. Surrounded by elders who keep shouting at him all times. His cries go unheard in the grown ups world. I wont be surpised if the maid beats the kid too. But I can understand. They can't sack the maid. Who will look after the child and the house? So they sort of overlook these things and pretend to themselves all is normal. Their career aspirations is taking a toll on a tiny mind. Making him a rebellious monster at the age of four.

What is so special about this child? or many of those tiny souls left on the streets to beg or steal? What is special about the small boy who was chained by his school teacher in a small town of Andhra Pradesh- his only crime being at 7 years of age he is naughty? Or what is so special about the children who were raped and then mercilessly killed in nithari village near Delhi? What is special about children whose adult insensitive parents fight like cats and dogs and then seperate from each other, leaving the childred with only one parent? What is so special about a teenager who commited suicide because his family put an extreme pressure on him to perform well in education?What is so special about the little boys cleaning plates and used tea glasses at the road side tea stall.....shivering in cold and rains....not knowing where their life is leading them?

Mr Amir Khan, what is so special about children in India? Dyslexia is the least of the problems....There is nothing wrong with the children, it is the adults who need a spanking! To value the child and give each child a morally sound upbringing, health, happiness and education. Every child is a special child in the Kingdom of God. They are his tiny messengers.....

Striking a balance

There are times while meditating, I manage to reach strange depths within my self. An unknown zone of existence in my mind and conscience. I am lost somewhere deep within myself cut off from the external world. It is a divine experience. Complete bliss. Those who have experienced deep meditation will understand or appreciate my words. I manage to cut through the noise and clutter of outside world. When I gradually open my eyes after meditation......for the first few seconds my mind is lost. It fails to connect with the outside world. It tries to establish a connect with the outside physical world. Naming things, recognising people, establishing a context. Slowly the pleasant effect of meditation starts fading away. It all comes back. Work, money matters, society and various pressures of our contemporary human existence start taking control like the tentacles of an Octopus. The peace and quite which I had found during meditation vapourises. One thought echoes in my mind "Welcome back to the insanity of human existence!!!!"

I become a mixed bag of human emotions. Angry one second, happy next and again sad the third second. And so the pendulum of emotions keeps oscillating. Coping with life and the demands made upon me by the outside world. No grudge as far as the demands are concerned. The world has a right to make demands on me. I am obliged to meet their requirements. This is my Niyat Karma (Destined Karma I am born with). But yes, the noise and the clutter of the external world irritates me. I crave for the peace and the quite inside me. Sounds of joy, chatter of family members, the birds and breeze, Small children crying or laughing, people chanting prayers, soothing music....all good but still noise.Traffic, people screaming and shouting, making demands, fighting with each other...all bad again noise.

Given my wordly commitments and responsibilities it is not possible to remain in a state of meditation at all times. The dilemma is whether to seek the depths within myself which requires me to cut off from the outside world or to give up the quest for self and focus only on the outside world? I feel like a Pilot who is flying a plane at 30,000 feet above the ground with a few hundred pasengers on board. Even if the poor fellow has a sudden urge to quit his job and leave the plane, he is bound not to do so. He is bound by a sense of responsibility to fly the plan to a safe destination. We are all seeking to fly our planes to the safe destinations. As helpless as the pilot. Forced to give up the self needs and focus on those we feel responsible about, willing or unwilling.

It is all about making the choices. Religious teachers say "strike a balance", corporate trainers say, "work-life balance", saints call it a state of "Samadhi". But how do I attain it? Is it really possible for anyone to attain a state of "Samadhi" in the physical form of exisitence? Remain bonded to the external world and yet strike a balance between the self and the outside world. Is giving up one of the two the only way to attain peace?. As did Mother Teresa; loosing the self completely in serving the outside world or as did Lord Buddha; loosing the outside world completely and retreating deep within oneself?

But then even that is not a balance!!!!