Third Side of a Coin!

There’s a nice bakery - Just Baked - near our home which we used to frequent. The number of visits has subsequently reduced, but certainly not because of the quality or cost of their baked goods, which have always been excellent. Yesterday, while coming back from school with Jr. (have you also wondered like me ‘why do schools operate on weekends’, spoiling the children’s chance to have some focused fun – the way we used to have in our cherished childhood), we dropped by the bakery. That’s when I saw the three little siblings (brothers or sisters or a combination of both isn’t important). Cute, curious and busy, they were adorable. But we weren’t sure if we could feed them any of the sugary stuff we just bought.

Today morning after a rare morning walk (an essential activity that Swamy does only occasionally, but needs to do more often), I decided to pay a visit to the three little siblings. Unlike the usual Tiger biscuits (just Rs.3 a packet) I and Jr. carry with us to feed strays, got the Milk Bikis this time, thinking that would be good for babies. They were very much there, in the same place, amused at the passing traffic. 

When I approached, they were very cautious, which is natural, considering that not all humans that approach them might have been kind. I broke the biscuits into small pieces that they can nibble and placed on the ground. While one of them immediately came – still very alert – and started eating them, the second one kept a distance and waited for me to throw some to him. The third just gave me an ‘I don’t trust any human’ look and walked away. When my gaze followed him, I realized to my amazement that there were just not three, but three of probably seven or eight siblings!

A request to readers: If you or any of your friends or relatives is planning to get a dog, please adopt one of these (or any other like them – there are obviously many such adorable strays all over the place). These siblings can be found near Annai Wholesale Rice Shop next to 'Just Baked 'and Bharat Petroleum Bunk, opposite to Jeyachandran Nagar, Pallikkaranai, Chennai – 600100. You may also adopt dogs from BlueCross.

This post isn’t about all those adorable siblings, but the fresh perspective Swamy got from the third one, that simply walked away!

‘Every coin has 2 sides.’ A clichéd term used from the time when someone started disagreeing with the other, to prove his or her viewpoint or conclusion or prescription or choice is the right one. Many other things were imagined or pointed out to prove that term thereafter. Such as sun & moon, man & woman, zero & one, day & night, solid & liquid, happy & sad, heaven & hell, love & hate, create & destroy, above & below, good & bad, yin & yang, give & take, human & inhuman (well, most will find it hard to digest this truth) and so on. But they are wrong, as they usually are about most things in Life!

While Sun and Moon are the most well known, seen and even worshipped, there are Stars too. Millions of them across many galaxies. May be billions!

When Day becomes Night, or the other way around, there’s Sandhya, the transformation period between the two (which is when the daily spiritual process of Sandhyavandanam should be performed).

For every solid and liquid, there are also fluids, which is more or a less a mix of the two.

In between above and below, there’s middle, right in the middle of both.

Beside Zero and One, which form the basis of numbers (with Zero, the most essential, being contributed to the world by none other than our great motherland), there is always Infinity.

Create and destroy are typically limited to one Life or object. But Transform can impact a much larger group of beings, way beyond just the single individual or object.

Heaven and hell are just manifestations of the inner self. When one elevates the tormented self to a state of bliss – a possibility that can be initiated and accelerated with the grace of a Guru – any place is heaven and no place will be hell.

Happy and sad are just the states of one’s mind, something that’s feared and considered uncontrollable by many, but can be diligently trained – like a pet – to accept both the states with equanimity.

Love and hate are just two of the many emotions that humans posses. It is possible for every being to transcend the emotional state and just Love all beings unconditionally, when the all consuming “I” dissipates completely and becomes “1” with the truth.

Good and bad are a result of our limited perception, that lets us comprehend only things that are physical, which can be perceived by our five senses. The limitation will just melt away like the morning due, when one can just ‘Be’ and starts to see and accept ‘Life the way it is’. That’s what happens when one reaches the state of self-realization or nirvana or enlightenment.

Swamy also thought like any other human that we can only give or take. It just took a little puppy to open my eyes wide to the third possibility of ‘leave’ or 'let go'! He simply walked away from what was possibly the only healthy meal of the day. And still appeared unperturbed and content!

Whenever something happens in Life - and they continue to happen at an alarming frequency - it is natural for us to start pondering about the human being in us or the inhuman other being. Which leads us to conclusions such as good or bad or divine and evil about such things (go back two paragraphs to remind yourself that there is no such thing as good or bad). At such times, we’re better off remembering this…

When a coin is tossed up, the outcome need not be assumed just head or tail. 

There is a chance beyond the presumed outcome of fifty-50. 

There is always the possibility that the coin could land on its side and stand on the edge – vertically. 

That, my dear readers, is the Third side of a Coin! 

Love + Gratitude = @PrakashSwamy

Be Joyful & Spread the Cheer 

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