Monday Musings – 24 – God’s Miracles

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Have that kind of faith that your GOD will do only good things for you in your life. You are never alone in your life. Remember this especially when you are in low ebb. That will boost your confidence to fight.

I hear with pain whenever parents chide their children that GOD will punish whenever they do wrong deeds. GOD never punishes. Punishment is not in the job description of GODs. All religions say the same. Hate, Punishment, misery are not in GOD’s vocabulary. GOD understands only love, vathsalyam which is much more than love. That is why we have to believe in GOD and spend time with GOD, to be in the positive vibe and remove ourselves from the so called rationalists.

GOD created this universe with abundant opportunities and unlimited potential. Every religion proclaims this. GOD loves everyone and wants only good things for everyone.

A sincere, positive and intense prayer is very powerful. To which GOD the prayer is addressed to, is immaterial.  GOD has given us the flexibility to choose the form and norm comfortable to us. Unfortunately, many don’t understand the power of faith but fight for the form and norm.

Rationale behind miracles

Miracles do happen and miracles are possible with faith. Rationale is very simple.  Actions armed with unassailable faith and deep desire (prayer) triggers our infinitely powerful sub-conscious mind to work harder and faster for us. Exercise for our subconscious mind is faith and desire. Faith becomes stronger and stronger when you associate with someone/something with whom you have the trust and confidence. When you build the faith on your GOD and build the desire in front of your GOD followed by positive actions, it is like 8 other people working with you to ensure that you achieve your dreams. 

Why not ‘believe in you’?

You might ask why not we build the unassailable faith on ourselves and build beliefs based on self-confidence. Don’t we need GOD then? Possible. But there is one risk. There is a possibility of self-confidence stretching towards hubris. ‘Belief in GOD’ gives us the beautiful balance between the ‘need for unassailable faith’ and ‘faith not turning into hubris’. Why is hubris undesirable?

Hubris bites hard

With an arrogant attitude, you cease paying attention to differing viewpoints. Confirmation bias makes you to screen out all the sounds that indicate your faults and amplify those that is music to you. Thus, it’s important to be aware of hubris. When it bites, it bites hard”.

You rarely realize that you are possessed with hubris until it already run an unhealthy portion of its course. There are many examples.

“On Sunday, 18 June 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte who was leading the French Army against the British army under the command of the Duke of Wellington, assured his soldiers that the war will be won by lunchtime as the enemy army was not a match to their prowess. By the end of that day, Napoleon was defeated and that ended his rule as Emperor of France.

If you are repeatedly successful, human temptation is to believe that you’re no longer subject to human fallibility. That is why most of the religions tend to suggest that “GOD is the ultimate and not we humans, everything is GOD’s glory, GOD is always with us and GOD is waiting to help us”, giving us the much required confidence but at the same time limiting the possibility of developing hubris.

If you are confident of the right balance between self-confidence and humility, you probably have attained godly qualities, tvam brahmasmi

Is hubris a taboo?

Hubris is not totally unavoidable. We need a bit of hubris as well. Being self-confident is not a problem as long as it does not blind you. A little humility can help you steer clear of the disaster. Faith in GOD brings in that humility without compromising on the confidence.

Here is a story of how humility, commitment, faith and dedication brought out an exceptional skill of Nampillai, which was not known to him.

Miraculous Memory Power of Nampillai

Nampillai was a vasihavaite acharya in the lineage of great acharya Ramanujacharya. Nampillai was born in the city of Nambur as Varadharajar.

Nambur Varadharajar moved to Srirangam, traditional center for vaishanavite learning, to study under Nanjeeyar, the direct disciple of Sri Parasara Bhattar, son of Sri Koorathazwar. Nanjeeyar wrote a treatise called “9000ppadi” (9000 steps) for Nammazhvar’s Thiruvaymozhi. He then decided to have this work written down in silk sheets to preserve for the future generation and was looking for someone who could do a good job of it. He asked his disciples for suggestions, and they recommended Nambur Varadharajar.

Nanjeeyar gave him a test and was impressed with his handwriting and decided to entrust the responsibility with him. Only problem though was that Varadharajar had not become a disciple of Nanjeeyar yet. Nanjeeyar took him as his disciple and taught him vaishnavite philosophy including ‘the 9000ppadi’ in full during that process. Then he handed over the manuscript to him and told him to rewrite in silk sheets. Varadhrajar collected the manuscripts with respect and obtained permission from the guru for WFH ie to do the writing from his hometown. ‘Work From Home’ in 12th century!

Nambur was on the other bank of River Cauvery and he had to cross the river to reach his home. Bridges and transport were not known during his time, 12th century. He had to wade through the river and swim across the river at one place. So, he put the manuscript in a towel and wrapped it around his head and started to swim. Alas, a wave came and took away the towel and the manuscript with it. Varadarajar managed to get to the other side without the manuscript.

He felt remorse that he lost the treasure and would not be able to fulfill the wishes of his guru. He felt ashamed to meet the guru without completing the task. He prayed to Lord Raganathar to show him a way.  It is believed that Lord Ranganathar came in his dreams and asked him to write the script from his memory. He wrote entire treatise recollecting his memory. He was astonished that he could rewrite entire manuscript recollecting what Nanjeeyar taught him. He added additional references and meanings here and there in the work based on what he heard from Nanjeeya’s discourses.

He then took the work back to his guru who upon reading it was amazed to see few beautiful additions to it. When he asked about it to Varadarajar, he fell at his feet and narrated him the story. He thought Nanjeeyar would get angry with his carelessness. But Nanjeeyar picked him up and embraced him calling him “nam piLLai” (Our son) in recognition of his commitment to the work and his faith.

His dedication to his work was recognized and his sincere prayer was answered by Lord Ranganathar.  The work was done by Varadharajar, of course, he always had that phenomenal memory but was not aware of his skill. Lord Ranganathar had to come in his dreams to make him aware of his skill (It could possibly be his sub-conscious mind which triggered a dream in the guise of his favorite GOD).

We all have many such skills beyond our realization. Think of Nampillai’s story next time when you have to read, memorize, write and clear an examination! You will clear for sure. Not just for memorizing, any skill which you were not sure of. You need someone/something to lay your faith and wishes.

Management and Leadership Topics covered in the previous posts

  1. The right attitude — Ch 1Ch 2  Ch6 Ch10  Ch11  Ch14  Ch15  Ch18  Ch23
  2. Governance — Ch 3  Ch4  Ch7  Ch13
  3. Leadership — Ch 5  Ch 8  Ch10 Ch14  Ch15
  4. Management — Ch 7  Ch13  Ch16
  5. Intelligence & Wisdom — Ch 9  Ch10  Ch11  Ch14  Ch15  Ch16
  6. Happiness & Success — Ch10  Ch14 Ch15  Ch18  Ch23

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