By Leela Ramesh
It is 1 PM and time to cook some hot rice for lunch. I look for rice in its usual container. It is empty. I store 3 or 4 varieties of rice. To my dismay, all the containers are empty! Obviously, in my preoccupation with various things, I have not checked the stock. I look around wondering. On the kitchen platform lies a beautiful vegetable basket, fresh from the market. Alluring red tomatoes, inviting white potatoes, cutest of red onions—and I remember the fresh peas I had frozen when they were in season. A bunch of green coriander leaves, a couple of yellow, juicy lemons complete the dish already cooked in my mind. Pav Bhaji!
A packet of soft pav gets delivered by the small shop downstairs in no time, and the vegetables get chopped in the chopper, loaded into my fast-cooking AMC cooker to produce a delicious mash in a matter of minutes—suffused with Everest Pav Bhaji masala, Kashmiri red chilli powder, salt, and turmeric—emanating a heavenly aroma. The segments of pav get roasted in butter with a smear of pav bhaji masala and lol!—an unplanned, unexpected treat is ready on the eve of my Gurudev’s birthday!
The purpose of the post is not my lunch story. Far from it!
As the Pav Bhaji making process was on, my mind raced back to 1999—to a Guru story that was hidden in the deep recesses of my memory.
Those were the days Art of Living teachers from India visited Gulf countries to teach courses. At the end of the day, we would all sit around the visiting teacher and listen to Guru stories late into the night.
A visiting teacher once shared that Gurudev was in Mumbai, the teachers took Him to a chat joint and ordered Pav Bhaji. Gurudev asked, “How do you eat this?” The teachers said, “Dabake khana hai” (by stuffing your mouth). Our childlike Gurudev promptly followed their words and started stuffing His mouth with Pav Bhaji with the glee of a mischievous child. The hilarious action of Gurudev left everyone in splits! He is still that ‘child who refuses to grow up’—in His own words! Innocence with profound wisdom.
Time for some introspection. Had I not exhausted the rice supply in my kitchen, this Guru story would not have come to the fore.
Trivial it may seem, to me it drove home the knowledge point: “Everything is a happening. You are not the doer” — Ashtavakra Geeta. Heard, read, taught several times—yet it feels new today. Knowledge is ever new.
The whole lunch episode was a happening! To remind me to be childlike, just as He is; to go with the flow, and to be a witness to the happenings.
Awakening to the Witness Consciousness is perhaps the most valuable gift I have received from my Gurudev.
I am grateful!
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