The secret of happiness: part 5

Author Raja Krishnamoorthy / Kitty - Feb 26, 2014

Lessons from Laasya!

When the child is in the mothers’ womb, they both are just one- not 2 entities. The mother does not buy a separate ticket for her child-in-womb when she travels.

• To be childlike is, to begin with, to know that you are not separate from creation. You are one!

The little baby, just a few weeks old puts its’ thumb into its’ mouth and sucks it. It also sucks the pillow, the bedcover, the little soft-toy given to her…It has no knowledge that her fingers are her OWN fingers or the other things are NOT HER OWN.

• To be child like, you need to have no sense of “MINE or MY OWN”.

The little baby is a few months old now, and feels hungry. She cries for her food, her milk. As soon as she gets it she is calmed. She is in a matter of minutes done with it and back to her play, cooing, smiling and gurgling sounds. Happy with the world, happy with life! She is not into the effect of the past or anticipation of the future.

• To be child like is to be responding to the present…not the past, not the future.

Laasya, our 20-month-old granddaughter reserves the best of her affectionate calls to Meena, her granny and Kala, the domestic help. She is full of smile and keeps calling out Kala, again & again thru the day. By the way, Kala is not her Nanny. She does not even take care of her for 10-15 minutes. But for Laasya, Kala is very very special. Of course Kala reciprocates with the most affectionate sweet- nothings to Laasya too.

• To be child like is to love people because, they are people and you just love them…and not because they have a role or hierarchy or they are agents of your need fulfillment. This pure quality is called NIR- VIKALPA, non-discriminating mind!

Deeply watch a child when she has just learnt to walk around! She is here, she is there, she is pulling down some thing, picking up another; She is asking what you have in your hand, and she is offering you her bread & Jam- half eaten! She has just been dressed up for the evening, but happily tumbles a mug of water on the clothes and laughs. She is active & alive and happy…without a great sense of “goals or purpose”.

• To be child like is to feel alive and active even if you have no great sense of “purpose”. Because you are alive, it is a good enough reason to be happy! The ability to be happy, non-causally enjoying life, to just to be, is a great child like quality. And if you do have a purpose, the ability to be at ease with life, in-spite of the purpose is to be wise!

Though “less than 2 years” old, our Laasya is now on her own, most of the times. She is chatting away, orders this, orders that, is singing away, pushing down books from the rack, intently turning pages (reading!) 4 books one after the other; Starts dancing for a Telugu rhyme, goes round – and –round, tumbles and falls with the imbalance and gets up with a roaring laughter.

Every time she falls, she falls as if it is an activity and gets up as if even that is an activity! She is non–evaluative about success and failures.

• To be child like is to not assume that you need to do things only logically, but to also respond with your instinct, and go with the flow; to be child like is not to hanker after controlling events, and pushing yourself to guarantee to succeed all the time.
• To be child like is to not know that you must be useful to the world, and put yourself under delivery pressures.
• To be child like is to know that to fall is not equal to fail. A win, is not for ever; and to lose does not matter!
• To be child like is not to behave like an A-D-U-L-T: Anxious-Dull-Utilitarian-Lost–Tired…Traveler of LIFE

    Oh my god! I am so worried…. Laasya may just grow up!