|| SAFE LISTENING FOR A BETTER FUTURE (Part 2) ||

|| SAFE LISTENING FOR A BETTER FUTURE ||

Today, in this pandemic, we all are safe because we have understood that health is very important for life on this earth for any human being. Apart from health, if you are safe by not depending on others and safe by loving and respecting yourself when you are in quarantine, you only have to take care of yourself. This quarantine has taught us how to invent ourselves and how important our relations, with those that are always there to help us, are. It is time that we have to be safe and make others safe by listening to ourselves and others. There were certain rules made for quarantine and listening to others, we blindly followed as we believed that that is the only remedy that would keep us safe. Did anyone question why only 14 days? Why self-isolation? Anyway, we are following those remedies and coming out of them slowly by learning many new lessons of life. A painter, according to his nature, mood and liking decide which colors to use in his painting. Either black and white or with lots of beautiful bright colors. The time has come that we all, together make our earth beautiful and safe for our own future and with beautiful colors.

We were talking about safe listening in our last blog, we shall continue the same with another thought process from Lord Krishna. What I read in the Bhagawad Geeta is to be self-sufficient or self-dependent in life. We must listen to Krishna's five important tips of life- be physically fit, grow yourself with your intelligence, have good exposure to your own surroundings. Now, though Arjuna was intelligent, he needed someone to guide him for life so we need to have a Guru who can guide us correctly in life. The fourth one is that you need to do philanthropic work in life that doesn't necessarily mean give money but through the small deeds of helping someone like getting medicines in these difficult times. The fifth and last tip is that one should have god's blessings and that can only happen if you know how to connect with him. Listen to these messages given by God over the years; it has been proven very helpful.

When we talk about further points of safe listening, it says avoid throttling your vehicle to be a show-off. Many times, we just do things in comparison to others. To show others how intelligent we are or how powerful, rich or influential we are. How about we all show how helpful we are? Many times, we get fascinated by people who show off by their talk, clothing, or the kind of car they have but inside, they are lonely. I have a special student from a royal family. They give all the facilities to that child and hence, he never became independent. Whenever he gets upset or feels lonely and fearful, he calls me and will ask what he can do to overcome that. On the other hand, a special child who stays with a family of 30 in a small house learned to be so confident that today, he runs his shop independently and whenever he has any difficulty, the whole family is ready to help him. Where there is show off, there's insecurity; is what I have observed. Today, major fear comes into our life because we feel insecure. Though we are surrounded by people, we still don't feel safe.

The other point is to ask passengers to keep conversations quiet and to a minimum. This is something we maintain while traveling abroad but when it comes to traveling in our own country, we become tigers and do whatever we feel like in cars, buses, or trains. We, Indians, love to talk whether we are at a wedding, naming ceremony, or death ceremony. It's in our souls as Indians. Sometimes we make chaos out of small issues and now, it has become a marketing strategy for all; that too, against each other. Just imagine that when the Coronavirus arrived, making us so restless, and when the lockdown happened, we started chit-chatting with each other. One person gets affected and the story reaches everyone and everyone feels that the same difficulty might happen to them. One person getting scared leads to everyone getting scared and it becomes a big cycle of fear and we can always count on social media to add fire to it.

I don't understand how every human born on this earth is different. Everyone has a similar brain but their minds are different. Everyone is born in a different religion, community, country and has a different living style. Everyone eats differently, sleeps, and breathes differently as observed everywhere but suddenly, this Coronavirus is hitting everyone in the same way? A thought to think about. When we start discussing or spreading a message, we don't think about kids who still have to live longer, we don't think about youngsters who are still struggling to live a better life or elders who want to live a peaceful life now. Though social media has got us nearer we are using it to spread negativity than positivity. Coronavirus becomes positive but our thought process while listening to others becomes negative. Over time, hearing sad, sympathetic, or inappropriate news has become our habit. God knows who will show us the way to come out of it. Why can't we be quiet and face this pandemic helping each other to motivate each other to come out of this situation?

Keep the car window closed to minimize road noise. Similarly, if we stop collecting negative thoughts, find solutions to fight, and minimize noise by analyzing ourselves first, our lives will become much easier. A Covid-free state could have hoards of people gathering whereas a cautious one might have created havoc. We, as human beings, are not thinking with our brain and mind. Who are we to blame for this? Us, individuals? Yes. We don't have to use our minds to think, we are just carried away by external resources. We are not able to see which road we want to reach. We have to first understand what we want to achieve exactly! Draupadi, in the Mahabharata, wanted everything but she didn't know what was good for her. For her survival, the only God that came through was Krishna!

Today, we are all surrounded and trapped by evil thoughts and our survival can only be done by God. Time and again it is proven that even if you are alone on the earth, if you have God with you,  nothing will happen to you and you will survive through your prayers. A few days back, an aunt of mine called to tell me that she was craving to get Krishna's prasad from Nathdwara. Her devotion to God was so intense that my cousin, coincidentally, happened to be in Nathdwara at the same time so I told them to get the prasad that she needed. She felt so lucky that she asked for God's blessings and it happened within two days. If we all start calling God through our prayers together, he will soon give us blessings to survive this pandemic. Let's try and make him listen to us.

Lastly, it says, (for the hearing impaired) maintain your hearing aid and use fresh batteries while heading out in traffic to ensure optimal hearing... Hmmm... Right now we are also falling in the same category and need to use the fresh batteries of our minds to come out of this pandemic of fear. We need to learn the good skills of listening from these deaf kids who only listen to grow for a better future.