Random Thought!!

A shift in perspective is all you need to make a hopeless situation look like a god send...

Ladakh Musings

My friend B is working hard on striking things off her bucket list and today she strikes off 'Travel to Ladakh'. She  is also big on researching the place she is visiting and all her friends benefit from her research, as she believes in sharing knowledge, so here is a impromptu lesson on Ladakh (now Ladakh has landed itself a place on my places-to-visit-before-I-die list).

I quote her "Ladakh literally means a land of high passes and through where the Indus_River runs its course. The word "India" is derived from the word Indus and that the word “Indus” comes from the Sanskrit word “Sindhu” meaning river, stream or ocean, probably from a root sidh meaning to keep off. In Tibetan it means Lion River. Geographically, Ladakh is the highest plateau of the Indian state of Kashmir with much of it being over 3,000 m (9,800 ft). It spans the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges and the upper Indus River valley. It’s also lovingly referred as  little Tibet."

The reason why she chose to go to Ladakh was the fact that she will be at the height of about ten thousand feet for a week or so, and wondered, how weird it would feel like being that close to heaven...she figures that one practical advantage of being at such a height is the improved chances of Prayers and Wishes reaching straight up there without any interruptions or delays...like reaching a place which has a hotline to GOD!!! 

She plans on visiting a number of monasteries and while planning for the trip she had a brainwave of the century. She had read somewhere "A prayer, in its simplest definition, is merely a wish turned heavenward." and as she intended to put up prayer flags herself, she kindly offer to be a carrier for any prayer or wish for any of us and put up prayer flags on our behalf. I liked the idea about writing down my prayer, as I too function better when I write things down, the following is the first prayer that came to mind,

"Dear God, I believe in you and know that you will always be with me in every situation. Please help me become a more empathetic and trusting person in all my relationships and continue to give me the strength and grace to face all the challenges and obstacles that are bound to be in my path of life"

But soon realised that I need to be more specific, this is not a wish, these are my beliefs and desires, so I started thinking what is it that I really pray for, I know the politically correct thing is that I should actually be asking for big things like world peace and international brotherhood, but I figure, I will start locally by asking for the betterment of the people around me or better still, wish for a better me, even if one life is a little better  it will contribute to world peace eventually. I confess it is not an original thought, currently reading Eat, Pray Love and the author has used a similar thought to express her logic for the decision she took at one point in life, it struck me as a good way to look at life... Not sure if you have read the book , but it is a must read, I've read it to the point where she has completed her stay in Italy and moved onto India, and I've loved it so far... 

But I digress, finally it came to me that what I really want is to know what is the purpose of my being born as a human being. I'm sure there is a plan that maybe staring me in the face but I've not yet realised it, it may not be a grand thing like starting a revolution or leading a nation, but every life has a purpose, even if it is a small task like watering the plants, I want to find out what is mine... Once I know what is my purpose, I know I will be at peace with myself and everything else will fall into place... so this is the prayer flag that I asked her to put up on my behalf...

"Dear God, help me understand my true purpose and bring me closer to the means of achieving it' 

She agreed to put up my prayer flag, and I can already see the benefits of writing down my prayer/ wish, for she shared with me a story of a Wild Rose - a desert plant that blooms once every 12 years with a sweet fragrance that spreads miles around. She asked, do you think the rose should wait for some right time to bloom, like when there are people around to admire her beauty and sing all the right praises or should the rose go right ahead and just bloom, no matter if there is someone out there admiring or not!!!

If this story is any indication I must be on the right path, for it sure mirrors my thoughts on purpose, now all I need to do is use my heart to recognise it when it lands in front of me...