Rebirth

Do you believe in rebirth? I do. I am a Hindu. I was raised with all the epic stories which state rebirth a lot. I was told to be kind to people and do good things in this life as it gets carried to my next life. So practically I have the power to make my next life a better one. It felt nice to have that kind of control and I followed it.

I have seen the rebirth in trees. It hit me looking at the autumn season known as fall in North America where trees shed their leaves. The leaves of the trees change their color to a reddish hue prior to falling. It is also the season during which days get shorter and cooler, the nights get longer. I see a resemblance to human life here.

I used to feel really bad for the plants to lose all its leaves and look grey and dry. I never liked the empty trees. It is depressing to watch them. But the fall of 2006 changed my perception.

I observed that during summer the trees reach maturity and perfection. They look lush green and are full of great tasting fruits and flowers. So it is like one life cycle for the trees that can be compared to the human life. I see the on set of fall as the maturing season representing the old age followed by death(fall).

The interesting fact to be observed is that the tree does not lose its identity. It certainly loses what ever it owned in its previous life but if it is taken good care of, nurtured properly it has a better life in the next season. So, the fact that your today’s deeds gets carried over to a better tomorrow is true. Now I have a stronger reason to be good and do well!

Life gives answers in three ways

Life gives answers in three ways:

When you ask life for some thing
1. It says yes and gives you what you want
2. It says no and gives you something better
3. It says wait and gives you the best

My belief is that if you do not ask for anything, do not have any expectations, be sincere in your efforts you will get the best. It happened with me all my life. I never planned for anything. I took one step at a time, put in my sincere efforts got the best results.

I did not have a wish list for anything. Things just happened for me. May be I am very lucky. But I don’t believe that people are just lucky and they get what they want without the hard work. I think of it more as I got what I deserved. I guess it is like that with everyone.

I have seen my parents live like this. Dad and mom never had any expectations from life, from us, from what they did. And they led a happy, peaceful life. You will not face many disappointments in this way of life.

I believe in God. But I confess I pray most of the time when I need something, like when I go for an interview. But I never ask for success in my attempt. I do ask for the strength to do my best. After the interview or any exam I ask god to give me what I deserve the most. I will accept it happily; with out any regret what so ever. I am not a super human not to get disappointed when I fail in my attempts. But I do recover quickly keeping in mind that “Everything happens for the best.”

The secret is I don't know what is best for me, and I leave it for my fate, destiny or God to decide it for me. One catch for this is that you need to make the best of what is given to you. I failed at certain things in my life but I had better things that followed. So now when I fail at some thing I feel that it will do something good for me in the long run. Now I am less worried about my future!

What I learnt from a chameleon?

When I was a kid about 9 years old, I saw a chameleon for the first time on a tree in front of our house. I hate lizards but this one was different. My mom told me that it has an unusual ability to change the color of the skin. I was surprised and kept staring at it for quite sometime.

It changed its colors to brown when it was on the bark of the tree, to green when it was on the leaves and to red when it jumped to the brick wall next to the tree. Mom told me that it is trying to protect itself by not being visible. I accepted her version then.

Later, as I grew older, I felt that the chameleon is very wise in adapting to the surroundings. It may be true that it is defending itself, but I see it as it is trying to mingle with the surroundings. The way it perceives its environment is incredible. It is a great quality to have as you can really enjoy where ever you are if you can adapt to the surroundings well.

I observed that people always try to search for some one who are like them - similar ideas or ideologies. They get to be friendly with a similar group. I guess I learnt from the chameleon to match my wavelength with the people I interact with to make them comfortable in my presence.

You never know the true color of the chameleon. May be it feels insecure to stand out in a new place? But it can get along with anyone with its unusual yet great capacity.