Sunday Musings With Dad

My dad Kishore V Sonpal, was just short of 82, when he breathed his last on June 12, 2020, 01:24am. He built the habit of maintaining a diary right from his late twenties, when he took up his first job with Indian Railways, way back in 1964. His writings have stood the test of time. They are as relevant today, as they were, when he penned them down. I am sharing third of these diary entries. Just like me, hope you will also find subtle meaning in his writings.

Here is the fourth share. 

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Transcript of the Image:

Love is a quality of the heart and hence by its very nature, universal and indivisible. Exclusive love for one’s family is but a pale shadow of love, born of attachment and a sense of possessiveness and therefore harmful to all concerned. Only he can love all his kith and kin whose heart is large and warm enough to love all human beings.

There is no man in this world who has not had ups and downs. Do not be pessimistic. You can make your life happy by changing the your angle of vision towards it. It is by cheerfulness that you conquer the darkening influence that seek to make you feel miserable. Reliances on and submission to God will bring cheer and peace to your heart. You should give up impatience and worry.

end of transcript

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True to this note, Dad was a harbinger and messenger of love. In his youth, he had an extremely bad temper and would get angry very often.He confided with me once during his last days on how much he suffered due to his temper in early part of his career. It was through the readings of Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Swami Vivekananda and introduction to spirituality, that he was able to bring about a transformation in himself. It did not help to remove his anger completely, but reduced the instances drastically. More importantly, it helped him embrace the element of love, strong belief in God and more kinder approach to mankind.

As he rightly indicates, that we all face challenges and tough times in life. It is during these moments of test, that we need to be able to maintain our calm composure and faith in God. The storm, however big it might be, the pandemic, however horrifying it might be, they all end at some point of time. And like the beautiful sunrise that follows a stormy night, there is bound to be peace and tranquility ahead at the end of every tough period of our life. We just need to be patient and keep the faith.