Sand castles on the beach

Life, as far as I can tell, treats plans like sand castles on the beach… Occasionally this leads to resentment… this time it is leading to a lot of resentment. Thanks for thrusting this idiotic idea on me, I tell life, I proceed to explain exactly all the 10 billion ways in which this is idiotic… harmful even. But nothing gives, and I am still in the same square… I want to be home, and that is one place on earth that I am not getting to.

Two men looked out of the prison bars
One saw the mud, the other saw stars…

The point is – if hell is a burning hole and heaven – a qualitatively different place, then there isn’t much that can be done about the horrible experiences in life. But if… and let me here tell you a story, a parable, because they are so much more fun:

Once the danavs went to Bhramaji and said, “You are as much our father as you are of the devatas, why do they have so much better a time than us? Why this partiality?” Bhramaji replied, “Well, let me invite you and your brothers for dinner one night; and we can discuss this after food.” The invites were sent out and both the devatas and the danavs, and they arrived at Brahamaji abode on the date. The danavs were led to a dining room where they found lavish arrangements and wonderful food. However, when they sat down and were about to start eating, they realised their arms had been magic-ed and they could no longer bend them at the elbows. With arms like that, they tried to feed themselves by putting their mouth to the plate and many other ways, but none of them really worked, and what was promising to be a very enjoyable dinner turned out to be a hopelessly frustrating experience. While this was going on, they suddenly noticed, that the sounds from the other room were of a lot more pleasant. Hungry and angry, they marched out to see what was going on in the dining room where the devatas were having their dinner. The devatas, they found, had also got their arms magic-ed, however, they had gone on to feed each other, and so each one could enjoy the food on the table.

So you see, while it might be tempting to say, heaven is creative solution – if life gives you lemon, make lemonade; I think heaven is being unselfish, so many problems would get solved if we stop taking ourselves so seriously. And what do we substitute for plans as goal posts? Hah! Well, if you can’t see the 10 billion things that you are expected to do anyhow, whether plans work or fail, then… drop me an email and tell me how you did that!