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Before Buddha Purnima

I have obviously not been cooking a lot these days. Nothing that I want to talk about. Cooking has gone back to becoming a ritual and I wonder how I can make it interesting again. I do it without much thought nowadays. For my mind has been engaged in so many other things. I try to read the Bhagwad Geeta every now and then when I find time. And I'm happy to say it still makes sense. I do and read other things too and my mind is all over the place. Sometimes its hard to focus it when you are attending to a toddler 24/7 so a good night's sleep is all that really helps me focus my mind.

 My body has been seeking a break from being with me since a while now. And here I am sitting in the early hours of the morning trying to feed my mind so it would spare my body when the day begins. Before the new moon set in.. I was thinking of Ramadan but somehow I came across the story of Buddha and feel suddenly so interested (no I did not think of following his footsteps, though I'd enjoy a little bit of time with myself for myself, thinking is a luxury I can not afford nowadays), I even shared the story of Buddha with my 3.5 year old who hardly understood but enjoyed it nevertheless. So, here I am writing again as I realized we are a few days away from Buddha Purnima... coincidence? collective intelligence? intuition? whatever.. I don't know what to call it, it doesn't even matter.

 Buddha's story is a very interesting one. Funny how many focus on the appropriateness of Buddha's renunciation of his household responsibilities. I feel I've lived through that stage of my life already and its neither a sin nor saintly. We all attempt it at some point, even if without realizing. What I see when I read this story is Gautam did not become Buddha because he realized the truth that many scriptures claim. Here is the verse from the Bhagawat Geeta I'm reading today:

 vidya-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-pake ca
panditah sama-darsinah

 The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].

 He was Buddha because he accepted this truth as a way of his life. Being a householder is easier but being a householder and accepting this truth is not easy and I continue to accumulate both negative and positive karma as I go about with life. I guess God is trying to tell me that since I've chosen to be a householder, I need to be easy on myself, I don't need to chase my destiny, it catches up with you anyways. Here's what the Buddha said:

 The mind is everything. What you think you become.
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.
I guess he is also sitting up there and laughing at my efforts to tame my mind, God probably sent in the Buddha to show me that I need to be easy on myself. Or who knows what new dimension comes out of this story as I go about my householder responsibilities. Lets see...

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