All posts tagged: Ancient India Stories

The Cost of Attention A Powerful Story to Transform Children into Conscious Adults

Its nearing four months of my grandfather’s death. He lived for 104 years and barely narrated any story in his later years but a few on insistence. And there was this one story, probably the most beautiful, the most essential one that can make any child into an attentive adult, that he had narrated when we used share a chemistry. This story had that power and possibly that is why I still remember it. As I have to choose a story a week for the Saturday Story Session at my school, I was reminded of one remarkable lore that I came across in my lifetime and I feel everyone can take something out of it. Once a king in South India had to send his son to a mystic, to a master, to learn awareness. The king was old. And he said to his son, “Put your total energy into it because unless you are aware, you are not going to succeed me. I will not give this kingdom to a man who is asleep …

Life is only breath. Every other thing a distraction.

The night before was dedicated to red Hibiscus flowers. They ended inside the fire place while praying for the solar chord, our right nostril, symbolising river Ganga; and in yogic texts known as pingala. It was also mauni amavasya, i.e the quiet moonless night, as advised for centuries, this day must be observed in silence. Women who could not restrain themselves from speaking, fasted in exchange for words. And the ones who spoke nothing from mouths were seen talking cautiously from eyes. There was nothing satvic about the day even though I tried to make it. And above all It ended without a moral, not that it had to. But without a story as if either it wasn’t needed or we weren’t important. In the evening the walk became unending. It didn’t feel long but the sun had set. We went around the circular home to find more wood but instead found two calves loving like statues. Somehow they got excited and started running like jumping deers. The once desired magic when attained, when passed over, …