Within and without

The endless ocean. Sky so blue, dotted here and there with tall tall palms. Hard soil and soft sand. Scrubs and thorns and salt pans. A winding road curving sharply every now and then. Goats with dirty white coat and black underbelly grazing in clumps. A few even sauntering across the road, oblivious to the zooming cars. Space space and more space. The air always tinged with salt. A silence so sacred that the audio system in the car is often turned off. The lighthouses looming across the horizon every now and then. Tantalizing glimpses of sea every, playing peek -a -boo with travelers driving south. A town or village appearing here and there. Tea stalls, butcher shops, small temples and tall minarets, the Virgin carrying her son and the cross looming behind, posters of happy couples welcoming guests for their wedding, flower shops, a bus stand and then, the space again. We found God here, more potent and powerful, whipping through us with the powerful wind and shining upon us through the golden rays. Again and again, we lost ourselves and found our lives entwined with all that is around. And when we did stumble upon His imposing abode, we realized that there is nothing more to ask, but only bow down with love and gratitude.

The glorious towers raising majestically, perfect in their symmetry and intricate in their work. The inspired work of an ancient artist delighting the visitors with their beauty even now, after a millennia or more. The vision of kings from so many dynasties and the execution of the vision by the long dead chief architects. The untiring work of so many laborers toiling through the sun and the rain, the innumerable cogs of the giant wheel that enthroned all the Gods in their splendid earthly abodes. Try as much as we could to capture the beauty through the tiny lens of the mobile camera, it could recreate only a bit of the magic that we felt when we viewed the splendor through our eyes and heart.

And here, in this inspired work, we found God and bowed down with surrender.

To lose oneself in the splendor of this creation and the wonder of its perfection. To revel in the quiet bliss that raises from within. A joy that has no price. To realize that there is nothing to  break away from, there is nothing to switch off from, nothing specific to do to find joy, because to just be is happiness. The heart swelling with love for everyone and everything around, because that is also just the way to be. Try as much as I could to paint the scenes and capture our emotions with sentences and paragraphs, they are but mere words. Extremely inadequate to convey that which swells so beautifully in my bosom. It was a journey to remember. Not just for the togetherness, not only for the scenic beauty, but as a reminder to abide in me.