"A prayer to the lord"
"But for what?'
"So that you get well soon"
"And now close your eyes and I will tell you a story"
"Tell me of god please".
And she told a new story each night.Mostly of gods,but sometimes of the village she left behind in Pakistan and surely missed a lot.
"There are 108 of them"she replied when I enquired of the beads she spun in her hand.
"But why these many and this number"
"Go add up this number...you get 9.Right!"
I took a while to agree though I was always sharp in numbers.
"Yes"
"The strength of this number is that you pair it with any other number and the sum wud always be 9.Do you get me?"
"Oh really! I wud check!!
"And if you do this cycle of 108 beads 9 times..well go ahead thereafter and wish for any blessing from the lord..You wud surely have your wish answered!"
She said this half in jest I suppose,pursing my cheeks and obviously bemused with the attention she got when she preached this.
I was unusually quite when she pushed me to sleep that night.Tossing to a side I kept thinking of what my aunt said earlier in the day.There were too many things I wanted to pray and wish for,but I settled for three...things I truly longed for...
When I got up next morning the first thing I engaged my aunt was for my own set of beads.
She looked surprised and tried to wish me away.My insistence and the gaze was obviously too intense to ignore..
"Bubbles you bother me when you gaze thus",is what she used to tell me often.
I got my beads!And I did just as told.9 spins of the necklace followed by the 3 wishes...blessings asked for solemnly with closed eyes and lots of reverence.I continue to do so till date and with a discipline matching that of my aunt who had earlier encouraged me each morning I did them.
But what are the 3 things you wish for? She asked of me.
Now that was something I struggled to confide..However a lot of persuasion and I was decided I would share with her and no one else.But just when I was ready she interrupted
"No.You should not disclose this to anyone.You have after all been talking to God!And these conversations are meant to be between the two of you...They should remain thus.Your secret!"
I havent shared them with anyone yet.No.With none at all!
I do the beads to date.And follow them with those 3 wishes.Time..in decades..has gone by.Alas!Not one of my 3 wishes have been answered !Though I yet hope they would one day!
My wife asked me once "So what sense this riguer?"
"Oh I got so much of love and happiness thru this..A daily ritual that positively energises me."
But the lord has already blessed me..though with a gift differing.. the gift of happiness!!Happiness as I absorb all experiences and emotions..however testing they may be...Experiences that life throws up with amazing regularity and variety!
Just like it happens,the journey is usually more fascinating than the destination!
Happiness is the 9...add up to any state you find the sum would be...well!...as magical as 9!
The gifts we pray for need not take just the shape we desire.Because then what we would recieve would be limited and finite to what and how much we can percieve.When the lord blesses he gives in a shape and form that blesses us the way it well should.Though many a times so differently from what we imagined while praying!
Happiness is the destination that we all pursue in the journey of life that we already have embarked on.
Chant keeps me happy in the journey...so happy that I am not looking forward to the destination point.I think I am already there!Already blessed three times over!
