Water drop on a lotus leaf

 

There is one song from a Tamil movie “Baba” which captured my attention after my mom casually explains its meaning while watching it on TV. Its a beautiful music composed by AR Rahman and the song lyrics go like this

“santoshi santoshi santoshi nee santosham kondadu sanyasi santoshi santoshi santoshi un santosham un kayill nee yosi.”

Meaning : Cherish the happiness which is inside you, No matter what happens – your happiness is in your hands – think about that. Its so very true that no matter how miserable the experiences are which are given by life – if the awareness is transferred to a pleasant experience – say a beautiful scenery from nature – you are still happy.

Example: Imagine you are in a dark prison alone with no one to speak/interact around. Now imagine that while sitting there you are totally in control of your mind and you imagine a beautiful beach in Hawaii. You imagine it so perfectly that you can see the waves coming and washing your feet, the slippery sand pulling your feet inside, the beautiful trees on the coast etc – And guess what – you are actually happy as long as you continue to imagine it and the dark cell does not exist.

The above is just a small example which summarizes that your happiness is in your hands. There are many people today who even though in a beautiful beach – instead of enjoying the beach – they are actually thinking of some depressing event that happened in their life in the past.

The next important lines of the same song which gives a much important message goes like this.

“maya maya ella maya, chaya chaya chaya ella chaya, pattum padamaley tottum todamaley, tamare eley tannir pol nee votthi votthamalliru”

Meaning : Everything around is an illusion, everything around is just your own (mind’s) reflection. Like a drop of water on top of a lotus plant leaf – which is Touching the leaf and yet staying untouched, live your life in (actinic) love yet free of attachments.

 

Illustration: A drop of water on a lotus plant leaf which is touching the leaf yet remains untouched as it does not leave any traces of itself when it moves around on the leaf.