Seek your spouse’s permission – Short Story
Mitali & Sneha were school friends meeting after a very long time. While conversing Sneha came to know that Mitali was deeply into meditation and got very interested to learn the art of meditation.
Sneha – Wow! I am really interested in joining your meditation classes – will you take me?
Mitali – sure – but I think it would be better that you take your husband’s permission….
Sneha – what nonsense! Hey…we don’t live in the 12th century that we need to seek permission from men to breathe also – this is the 21st century dear – I don’t need any permissions…
Mitali – Even if you had been my male friend – that we both have in common since we were in co-ed school – I would have asked him to either bring his wife to the meditation class or at least tell her about it before joining….
Sneha – Why on earth? What business would my spouse have in my personal affairs?
Mitali – Beg your pardon? Your spouse is part and parcel of your personal life….not professional life dear..I am not asking you to seek the permission of your reporting head or Boss!
Sneha – But why is it so important?
Mitali – Do you think that an ant and an elephant will make a good match?
Sneha – Maybe in Jataka tales – yes…..but why?
Mitali – Only in imaginary fantasy worlds yes – not in real life right…
Sneha – what kind of a dumb query is that yaar!? What has that got to do with your spouse?
Mitali – Well with meditation, your sense and sensibilities begin to change – your priorities begin to change…you become wiser, more forgiving, all embracing….
Sneha – hang on! So what’s the problem with that? It’s a good thing right – becoming loving, caring, forgiving – but I personally know many of them in my condominium practicing some meditation or the other – I do not see any change whatsoever in them! You are overrating this meditation thingy I tell you….
Mitali – (deep sigh) yeah – that is the problem actually! Why do anything at all if it does not fetch you any results? Would you wake up early in the morning to go to office and slog the entire day long…without any salary at the end of the month?
Sneha – of course not! Why should I ? Even if I am a member of couple of Charity Homes…..but in order to donate to their cause, I need the money!
Mitali – Exactly! Similarly, when you meditate, slowly and gradually ….depends on your depth and dedication towards your own ascent ….you change, things around you change, priorities change….
Sneha – So what?
Mitali – suddenly you will find that you have turned into an elephant – of wisdom and benevolence – whereas your husband remains the same as he was…..but compared to you and your spiritual achievements – he will seem like an ant to you!…do you understand what I am saying?
Sneha – So even if I become an elephant….and he remains an ant…how will it matter?
Mitali – Are you serious? He will become invisible for you…don’t you understand? You are a couple – probably a happy couple and then things will not remain the same between the two of you….how will you handle that!?
Sneha – I don’t understand why are you thinking so negative about my future relationship with my husband!?
Mitali – Well Sneha, I have seen a lot of couple problems and in-laws issues that come up when you try for your ascent….as you reach out for higher ideals, those with lowly or mediocre lifestyles will start opposing you….there are very few people in this world who are interested in their spiritual ascent…..and when one rises – they (of lowly plane) feel threatened and take to all sorts of low-level activities just to stop one from attaining higher divine goals…..
Sneha – Let’s say I ask my husband and he does not agree…what do I do then?
Mitali – Ask him to read about this meditation technique….
Sneha – Yeah yeah – ok…in spite of all that, he does not agree – what do I do then?
Mitali – That is your discretion and decision – what is important for you – carrying on with life just like you are doing now…..or work on your spiritual ascent.
Sneha – and you are sure that my spiritual ascent will bring about domestic disturbances?
Mitali – No…I never said that – just warning you about the meditation that I practice – it is not some mind control, repeating mantras, imagining beautiful things….reaching higher levels depending on the amount of money you pay to the so-called spiritual organization…..it is an actual spiritual growth within….
Sneha – you asked your husband before plunging into this deep spirituality that you are talking about?
Mitali – My husband is the one who introduced this to me even before we got married! The day he came to see me formally – ours is an arranged marriage you know – he told me about this meditation technique and asked my about my spiritual inclination….
Sneha – eww! How dumb and unromantic is that! Why did you even get ready to marry such a creep…I would have rejected him immediately had he come to see me…
Mitali – well..that is why he came to see me and not you….I was always a religious minded person…he made me spiritual…I am ever indebted to him in fact!
Sneha – Awww…well whatever makes you happy! My mother-in-law is into all this mumbo-jumbo – she goes to tantricks and astrologers and almost every year she changes her gems and stones etc….as advised by some new astrologer…she makes me sick really!
Mitali – see that’s what I was telling you…..if your in-laws practice something else..then you will have problems…
Sneha – oof! Forget it! I am not interested in all these anyways!
They changed their topic of discussion and parted ways after sometime. Sneha pitied Mitali -thinking that she had become a victim of black magic and mesmerizing ….. and Mitali succeeded in warding off a selfish opportunist that Sneha was …..
Mitali knew her from childhood – she used to lie blatantly to her parents and teachers, use boys and get used in return too – her father was very miserly…so she took advantage of her good looks and youth to rope in rich guys of her school/college and locality …Mitali did not want to introduce some such person to her group of meditation practitioners! Earlier, when Mitali was new to this Meditation practice, she had gone ahead and introduced everyone to it…but observed that average people with materialistic disposition could never get drawn towards higher ideals!
Mitali had already wasted a lot of her time trying to explain the technique to many of her friends and relatives…but it all fell on deaf ears and blind eyes…deaf to the sweet music of Lord Krishna’s flute and blind to the sheer beauty of God’s creation that is all around us!
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