flight; found the paper in my bag yesterday!)
A word from the skies over Mumbai: 7:10am
We took off for Hyderabad in a westerly direction this morning, which
meant that we flew over the entire stretch from Dadar to the Gateway
of India. In the pale grey of morning, my city looked small and
vulnerable; a skinny, gawky child, just waking up and stretching its
arms out on its oceanic bedspread.
As we flew further and higher, glorious, molten shafts of sunlight
poured through the windows, a burnished message from God Himself --
"I am here for you. Always. You do not realize your own weakness,
frailty, evanescence. You think you are so big and strong, all grown
up and all. You're screwing up this planet. When will you wake up to
the love I have for you and for all of my creation?"
There is a shabad in the Guru Granth Sahib, "Mil mere preetma jiyo,
tudh bin khadi nimaani". The word "nimaani" here means extremely
soft, fragile, vulnerable; just like a baby bird. It is this feeling
of utter susceptibility that breeds abject surrender to an infinite
power, which guarantees shelter through any storm or circumstance.
This is the security a devotee feels when he/she surrenders totally
to the Divine. It's an apparent paradox, making you invincible when
you realize you have no power at all!
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