I was crossing a kind of canal while going to Delhi. It was dirty and smelling bad. I happened to notice some lotus flowers and I screamed with joy. I asked my daughters to look at lotus flowers who were busy in their own conversation. And for some time we forgot that it was stinking. We slowed down, so that my daughters could have a good look at the beautiful flowers. And then I wondered, even if the entire area was stinking, we could look at the beauty because it was beautiful. The flowers maintained their beauty instead of getting maligned by the surroundings. They did not blame their birthplace, they did not blame the canal, they did not blame anything. They just kept standing tall with their beauty. And we cannot forget, whether it’s laxmi or Shankar or Vishnu, the preferred flower to be offered is Lotus. So even God loves the fact that it is beautiful despite the fact that it is born in mud.
My Nana used to say, that “Ghar heena lena, Var heena naa lena”, Such a great wisdom he gave. Which meant, the boy should be of good character and strong, whether he has a good background family or not. If you have accepted a boy who is wealthy but not good enough for your daughter, she would never be happy. But if he is capable, she would always be happy. Because as an old wise man, he knew the importance of what’s inside the man.
So what do we mean by what’s inside and whats outside?
Well outside definitely means, wealth, opportunities, helpful people, and things that can support us in growth in life. But what’s inside is much deeper. It is our belief system, our vision about life, the values we stand for, how much we are committed in life, the character we follow, our real wisdom which can come handy in any situation, our knowledge, experience, how much we are ready to forgive and move on rather than sitting on revenge and how much we are attached to our roots. A strong character gives us strong roots. If we have endured, we can develop strong roots. A tree with strong roots can stand tall in the biggest of storms. It also means, how much we are connected to our own higher self and how we see this world. How we accept failures and how much faith we have in self and in him. How much compassion we have for others. How we treat elders, children, destitutes. everything makes our character.
So work on your core and you will always grow in life.
