Guiding Light of The Month

O Lord, how ardently do I call and implore Thy love! Grant that my aspiration may be intense enough to awaken the same aspiration everywhere: oh, may good- ness, justice and peace reign as supreme masters, may ignorant egoism be overcome, darkness be suddenly illu- minated by Thy pure Light; may the blind see, the deaf hear, may Thy law be proclaimed in every place and, in a constantly progressive union, in an ever more perfect harmony, may all, like one single being, stretch out their arms towards Thee to identify themselves with Thee and manifest Thee upon earth. - The Mother

The magic of a beautiful teacher


A thought strikes god for a little bud to appear. This, the beginning? A stem, a support for the bud is grown first. And then, a very tiny, beautiful bud takes form. It is closed but there is a lot of beauty in it.  Perhaps there is a million prospects teeming with life within? Or perhaps there is just one, waiting to express, in God’s Perfection? There is a yearning from within to open, to reveal the beauty as a fully grown flower, to reveal the teeming multitude or just that one beauty. The sunshine falls on it, joyful at times, little harder at times, to unfurl it or sometimes, if need be, to wrench it open. A lot of water is poured for it to grow. And slowly, one petal at a time, step by step, it opens. It is guided, the very sunshine, water, breeze does the opening and the stem is always there for it to stand and never fall. The little bud doesn’t make any effort. It is just happy. None of the petals fall down. For they are all given with a purpose whether they appear good or bad. They all transform, change colour too, sometimes, and open.

It looks beautiful when the flower blooms. The mystic centre is revealed and the petals appear dancing around it. Like gopikas dancing around Krishna. The centre is all that holds this beauty we call a flower.

Sunshine and the moon glow are the best of all teachers. They just do their work at the right time. Sometimes, clouds cover them too. But that is only for the clouds to pour down as rain, splashing rain falls, and then, the shine is back again with little chirping birds.

This flower, isn’t it the sweet child in our midst, waiting to bloom into his or her own brilliant self? How we all stand around this being, this flower, mere instruments. But instruments can make or break. And education only a life-long process that hopes to unfurl the flower, true to its truest nature and quality.

Who is this beautiful teacher who can cast that magic spell? Who is she? Who is he? Parents? School teachers? Grand-parents? Neighbours? Family members? Friends? …Who?

Perhaps, the best teacher could be one who is also in the process of unfurling his beauty, on the way perhaps, to revealing his centre to himself. Or one who has already realised what true knowledge is and transforms lives just by being, allowing rays of grace to do their work, integrally.

Isn’t education then a long journey? Perhaps, in this journey, there is no teacher, no taught. Perhaps it is a becoming and we all ride on this river towards a greater sea and a vaster ocean of self-discovery?

Sandhya and Jayanthy

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