On this birthday of your’s

It’s a curiosity, wonder, admiration, fascination, confusion, disagreement, respect, love, reflection, experimentation, gratitude and more that started exactly 35 years ago on this day when I saw the black and white image of a little boy climbing up a tree to get a good view of something that was coming towards his village. I still remember that smile of a quiet satisfaction that spread on the little boy’s face as he caught sight of the man whose glimpse he wanted. It was a man dressed simply with a bunch of people walking along with him.

Since then I have watched that movie 55 times and I have come back challenged with something more I need to still work inside myself.

I still remember the first challenge I had to work on myself: stop lying; start telling the truth about myself and living the truth; however scary it was going to be. It still took me another 10 years before I could courageously start doing that.

The next challenge that’s still ongoing is to learn to love. I have made some tiny little progress there and have created some daily practices around it but it looks like the challenge is going to last my entire life time.

A couple of days ago I was reflecting on something and I found my next challenge.

We have an entire lifetime to work upon straightening the three fingers that always point back at us when we accuse and blame others. So why waste time in deflection and fighting others when we have only one lifetime to straighten ourselves in every which way?

And anyway as I realised many years ago, you can shake hands with people only if all your fingers are pointing away from you.

Bapu, that’s what I choose to consciously dedicate myself to from this Birthday of your’s today.

Thank you for challenging yourself and setting an example for people like me.

With lots of gratitude to you.

😌🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽