Chapter 2: Meeting with Ken and beginning of a new Journey?

The morning of Saturday the 5th December 2009, had a very special place in Anirudh's life, this morning was about to gift him a day of his lifetime which would change the flow of his life journey into a completely new territory where life is not just about achieving things only for ourselves. But It is also for creating a larger impact on the life of others while pursuing your own path of personal achievement.

Where you always comes before me. Where mind calculations and just achieving has no place. How many life you impact in a positive manner is the ultimate goal. Where Destination is very important but journey leading to the destination more important..

It is all about compassion and pure heart connections, it is all about awakening.

This day was also special for Anirudh because he was looking forward to meet his spiritual guide and a lost friend.

He was extremely excited and happy about this but he was not aware what plan's destiny had in store for him and this day would prove a seed for a bigger plant of a new journey for him which was way beyond merely getting a Nobel prize.

Ken's flight was scheduled to arrive at 3:30 PM in Boston and that's all that Ken informed Anirudh and had specially mentioned that he needn't come to pick him up from the airport, he had said that he would meet Anirudh at his residence around 5:30 PM.

To meet his lost friend Anirudh couldn't wait until 5:30 PM and decided to go to the airport himself and wait for Ken to walk out of arrival gates.

Around 4:30 PM Ken came out in the same Buddhist attire which he used to wear all those years ago when he first met Anirudh.

To Anirudh, he looked like Buddha had come alive and is was walking and blessing the earth again. Anirudh couldn't help himself and he shouted in excitement, "Hey Ken! Over here!"

Ken couldn't control his eternal smile when he heard Anirudh's voice and gave a child like grin on seeing him.

They both hugged each other as if they we were lost souls longing for each other for eternity. Ken's hug gave Anirudh unknowing calm which he had felt last time when he graduated from Griffith as both of them had the graduation ceremony on the same day and both had celebrated that day together.

"Why did you come to airport buddy?" Ken asked with smile.

Anirudh replied with mirroring smile, "I could not wait to see you until 5:30."

Everyone around must have felt strange at the way they hugged and talked to each other. The two of them however were utterly oblivious to their surroundings and within the next 40 minutes they reached home.

Although Anirudh's wife was meeting Ken for the first time that day, she had heard a lot about Ken from Anirudh during the early days of marriage in BITS Pilani.

To Anirudh's surprise, his wife was equally excited to see Ken, after the intital welcome discussions Rachna felt like she knew Ken from a long time and not at all as if she was meeting him for the first time.

Ken, after settling comfortably on the couch decided to ask few questions to Rachna instead of Anirudh.

"Rachna why don't you come and sit here," asked Ken. She felt a little surprised on Ken's offer but she was feeling very comfortable of Ken's presence and promptly went and sat next to him. "How are you doing? Is my friend treating you well? Is he living with you or for you?"

For a minute Rachna was quiet and had no answer to this question but then she replied, "I am fine, your friend is a good man."

Ken again asked, "Is he a good husband?" Anirudh was surprised to see his spiritual guide asking these questions but was not in a position to interrupt Ken as he knew somewhere deep in his heart that whatever Ken says or asks had some kind of hidden meaning.

Ken continued, "anything you want to tell me about my friend which you feel he should change?"

On this question she could not control herself, it is a known fact that all the wives of this world have so many things all the time to tell which they want to change in their husband and may be Ken had asked this question consciously to start a dialogue with her.

"Ken, your friend has achieved everything in in his professional career including Nobel and I am very happy for him but he doesn't have enough time for the family. He is busy in his research."

Rachna expected after hearing this Ken would scold and ask Anirudh to change this as she knew that Anirudh has lot of respect for Ken.

However to Rachna's surprise the answer was not to her expectation.

With a serene wider smile Ken replied "He'll have all the time for you one day Rachna."

Rachna couldn't hide her inherent frustration on this and asked "when will that day come?"

"Very soon," replied Ken.

Anirudh couldn't help but intervene and asked Rachna to prepare a green tea with roasted almonds having rock salt sprinkled over it as the snack for Ken.

Ken smiled, "I am happy you still remember my liking."

"Yes of course I do," replied Anirudh. 

"Now please go and freshen up, I know you'll not have anything unless you take a bath after the end of the day."

"Again I am happy that you remember everything, that is why I told you over the phone, that I was with you all this while and I will remain with you on a soul level. Physical presence doesn't matter once a connection is established at the soul level," replied Ken.

Rachna had prepared a nice green tea along with roasted almonds with little sprinkle of rock salt for Ken and for herself and Anirudh black tea with milk.

In the pursuit of achieving Nobel, Anirudh had compromised his health and become chubby with a pot belly, diabetic and was also having higher levels of blood pressure. So, Rachna had prepared tea without sugar along with almonds without salt for Anirudh.

After having a bath Ken came back to the tea table in the backyard garden which was lush green and was like a mystic getaway for Anirudh.

"You have such a beautiful garden in the backyard. You must be enjoying the nature and the walk on this grass," asked Ken.

Before Anirudh could speak, Rachna replied in a complaining manner, "today he has come back home before sunset after ages and I am sure he might not have even seen this garden more than few minutes in last few years as whenever he is back from University or his lab it is dark and he directly goes to study room either sits on the computer or reads books or spends time watching news channels. Most of the time he eats his dinner while watching TV or reading books."

She continued with her complaints, "Ken, your friend was much better when he was doing his PhD or was in BITS pilani in India, at least he used to be with us more often."

Anirudh had no answer for these questions and decided to keep quiet thinking Rachna may explode further if he argues or gives any justification.

Inside Anirudh knew that whatever Rachna was saying was the absolute truth, to reach to this point of his career, he had compromised a lot of things in life.

Ken came to Anirudh's rescue and replied in a single line with a smile, "don't worry Rachna he'll spend all the time with you one day."

At this point Rachna lost her cool and wanted to blast Ken as she'd heard these lines second time in last few minutes. Inside she had given up on this facet of life and in a way compromised this way of life and wanted to inform this to Ken that nothing will change with your friend's routine and lifestyle but she quickly decided to eat her words as Ken came to meet them after years and he was a guest.

Moreover, Ken always displayed a smiling face, warmth and his words were always assuring that it was almost impossible to reject his words.

Having the first sip of green tea and roasted almond, Ken smiled and appreciated the taste of both and congratulated the Ken for having such a lovely wife who knows how to make good green tea and roasted almonds that too for a guest who is not from her own family and friend circle.

"In today's world house wives display a strange behavior, where if the guests are not from their family and friend circle than whatever hospitality they provide is not out of love and affection and this can easily be felt in their actions and taste of whatever they cook."

Ken continued, "In our monastery, there used to be a unique and strange process to select a chef. The selection process had three stages, in the first stage the participants were asked why did one choose cooking as a profession, in the second stage, they were asked to cook food without telling them whether the food to be cooked was for the head monk, his second management layer or for rest of the monks, and lastly, they were asked to serve the food the way they wanted without giving them any guidance like who should be given preference in serving the food."

Both, Anirudh and Rachana intervened Ken, "this is strange, a test for cooking that too in monastery and such strange tasks and questions. Please tell us more Ken," Rachna prodded.

"And tell us what was the motive behind this exercise and what they wanted to achieve out of this."

"This concept was designed few thousand years ago to identify the key skill or the minimum requirement to be a cook."

"And what is that?" Asked Rachna curiously.

"While cooking one should be fully immersed in the activity of cooking, it should be done like a prayer without differentiation and with full emotions. While cooking one should be in a meditative state of mind and should not only be focused on required ingredients for cooking' but also be in a state on compassion which I call as the Bhav, a Sanskrit word meaning state o mind/feelings. Detailed ingredients of Bhav includes: love, warmth, care and compassion. There is a proverb in Hindi language which I read in one of the books from India and I am sure both of you must be aware of, spoke Ken. 'Jaisa khaya ann waisa hua mann'. Whatever we eat, greatly influences our soul, mind as body in totality. When participant in the first stage were asked the question 'why they choose cooking profession?' the purpose was to know the reason behind their choice of becoming the cook. If they did not come to this profession as their first preference than they were not selected for the job because if one doesn't have a career which is their first choice, they'll never be happy and that unhappiness will one day grow in to frustration and one will not be able to work in their job with great Bhav. Moreover, one will be physically present in their jobs but mentally always be thinking about their first job/career preference which they could not get for whatever reasons. In the second stage they were asked to cook the food without telling them whether it was to be served to the head monk, second rank monks or all other common monks to identify whether participant were influenced to know this additional information about the eaters. An ideal cook should be like a mother who never differentiates between their children or like God for whom everyone is like one. Finally, in the last stage participant were asked to serve the food the way they wanted, this task was to again to see whether participant showed any preference or priorities based on on their rank and other superior qualities and changed their serving style or time devoted for garnishing the food to please elite group of monks. They were closely observed whether they were serving the food with love, warmth and attention or just as a routine job."

Both Rachna and Anirudh were surprised to hear this practice of selecting a cook that too in a monastery, but somewhere deep in their heart, they could understand the importance and the depth of the hidden philosophy under this practice.

After minutes of silence, Anirudh said, "sorry Ken I could not keep in touch with you once you left Brisbane after completion of your degree. I can understand that I was too self indulged and was running for worldly competitive races but you are different, why you did not try to stay in touch with me? Did you miss me at all?"

Ken smiled in his trademark style, "to me whether we are physically together or not, whether we are communicating with each other or not doesn't matter. Once a connection establishes on an emotional level, physical presence is immaterial. Tell me, one thing, have you seen or met God?"

Anirudh answered immediately, "of course not."

"Have you communicated with him in any physical form?"

"No, what kind of question is that Ken?"Asked Anirudh.

"I am just trying to explain that physical form of communication has no meaning. If you are connected on an emotional level with someone, that person will communicate or meet you when you need a communication the most and that is why I am here today for one of the most important event of your life. Maybe you need me the most today," answered Ken.

His wordings were affirmative, spiritual and had inculcated some sort of spirituality in Anirduh at that moment. Everything became in slow motion for Anirudh. He was enjoying the silence after those wordings of Ken.

After finishing the tea, Rachna got up from the table, and said that she had to start cooking. "I want to cook everything that Ken likes today and I don't need to ask you Anirudh, I'll cook myself," replied Rachna. 

"Do I have to?" Asked Rachna turning to face Ken.

Ken replied with his usual, modest smile, "no Rachna, I have already seen the trailer of your cooking and it was awesome and it has enhanced my confidence in you cooking that you cook with great "Bhav". So, you can surely cook for me without asking me."

"Thanks Ken, for showing this confidence in my cooking and the compliments. I'll not disappoint you at all with my cooking." She started moving towards kitchen for cooking and while moving she was remembering everything she had just heard about cooking, the monastery cooking selection process etc.

She was smiling and for sure has already improved as a cook and a human after listening to Ken.

Anirudh continued with his questionnaire, "Ken I heard you had found a job after your degree, what did you do there? tell me everything about those days?"

Ken replied, "I had found a trainee animation job where in first six months I had to prove my worth to the company, at first it appeared very strange that I had to prove my worth again for a job but then I had realized that I was in the professional world, where spirituality is an unknown entity and nobody has understanding about this field. So I decided to do my first project where I took one of the Budhha fable and made an animation film based on it. My manager liked the film so much so that he made me a confirmed employee only after four months and then I became the animation project manager and started working on big projects. God has always been kind to me Anirudh, I still remember when at the age of five I went to monastery and started my basic education and stayed with great monks of those times, never knew as a kid where life will take me in future. I have always believed in one thing and that is something what I was always taught as monk that "always follow your heart" as the heart always connects with the super-consciousness as it has the message of God, brain is for calculation to live our material life, we need to use mind but our decisions related to us should always be based on our inner voice and that's what I have always done. I remember one of the monks, Lee, who had told me one day when I was fourteen years old that we need to live this life super-consciously, be present in all the actions and activities we perform. We should be aware and sensitive of every object around us no matter whether it is living or non-living, he believed that even the non-living objects have souls. We should always try and aspire to take and walk on an internal journey (cosmic), to understand the meaning of who we are. What is our purpose to be alive. At the same time fulfill our materialistic/worldly duties. According to him, we should spend at least one hour in "Dhyan-Meditation" and rest of the time we can be like actors playing our role of a father, mother, son, daughter, friends, employees etc on the stage of life without losing the focus of our internal journey. We need to be aware that we have come on this earth with a purpose and that purpose is to identify the supreme inside us. The only way to achieve is by following our heart."

"It sounds weird Ken, Lee's words make sense but not practical. Don't you think it is difficult to behave as actor's with the ones you love the most? Is it not unethical to play with our kid while having a thought that it is just acting? Were you able to follow Lee's advice and practice in your life," asked Anirudh.

"Yes, Anirudh," replied Ken. "And how is it unethical or weird? Please explain in detail," asked Anirudh.

"Well, if you closely observe your own behavior, you'll realize that from the morning to the time you go to bed whatever you do is like a sleep walk."

"How so?" Asked Anirudh.

"Think about it and it will make sense to you. Tell me when you wake up in the morning and you go to rest room, you go with some thoughts of yesterday or what you are going to do entire day, in the same state of mind you brush your teeth, take your shower, wear your cloths and eat breakfast while either reading the newspaper or watching the morning news hour. All the activities you perform, you don't even are into those activities, you are always somewhere else not present in that particular moment. Your kids around you are getting ready for school, there is Rachna and of course lovely garden in the backyard but you never enjoy any of these things or moments. I am sure your day starts in a hurry and ends in tiredness and frustration. Let me tell you, don't think Rachna has told me this. I am just giving you a description of a common hard working Man's schedule and I am pretty sure you also fall in that category. If you think through your entire schedule you'll realize that your all activities are sleep walk only. You are always physically doing the activity and mentally you are always somewhere else. Does it make sense now Anirudh?"

"Yes, please continue," Anirudh agreed as every word was true and he wanted to hear more.

"How often you have looked around yourself for natural beauty? Have ever listened to your children's stories or what they have done during their school? When they explained anything or asked you anything you were always busy in something not giving attention to them. You have always taken them for granted and they very well know that. Once they grow older they do the same thing by not listening to us and that irritates us and this cycle continues. The simple philosophy of life is 'what you give you get in multifold in return'. Have you ever smelled the soil/floors or woods of your backyard garden? You were always in hurry."

Everything was making a deeper sense to Anirudh but having a scientific mind, he could not accept without arguing and decided to give his point of view. "I agree with you Ken but if I had not worked that hard, do you think I have ever got nominated for Nobel. Could I have made this great discovery which is going to benefit so many diseased individuals and the world?"

Ken smiled, "you'll not change Anirudh as you are a scientist you are looking everything from a logic perspective."

It was shocking to Anirudh as it was something which he thought before giving the argument.

"Are you sure if you would have slowed down a little, enjoyed one job at a time, enjoyed the nature and people around you, you wouldn't have reached in your career at the pinnacle? Are you? Please close your eyes and think for two minutes. Don't you think you have missed something in your life which is more important than the Nobel?"

This last statement of Ken had hit Anirudh like a hammer. He was completely numb and could not move but instead just chose to follow Ken's advice. He closed his eyes and was silent for few minutes recollecting his past. After few minutes Anirudh was back into the conversation, "yes Ken you are absolutely correct, there is a void in me, when I was recollecting my past memories, at lot of places I was thinking that if I am given a chance to re-live those moments, I would have lived those moment differently, I would have done things differently, but alas! now it is not possible." But one thing is still not making sense to me Ken. 

How can I learn to be an actor? and why I need to be an actor asked Ken?

When I say an actor it means you watch yourselves doing each and every activity. In simple words we go through many daily routines/experiences both good ones and bad ones. These are primiarly becuase we start expecting from each action and relationship and then feel pain or happiness based on the outcome of the expectation from the task and person. We believe we are just a "Body" and a "Name". Which is not true at all. The moment we detach/dissociate body and name from the soul, and become watchful to observe the tasks body/name is performing. We don't go through the emotional ride at soul level which the body/name is going through. So, you perform your wordly duties as an actor in different roles and actual "YOU" which is just soul not body is just an observer. It makes sense!! responded Anirudh and it feels like I have wasted years in wrong understanding going through emotional ride.

"Don't feel disheartened my friend," replied Ken. "It is never too late. I am happy that you are able to get the message before reaching to your deathbed. Most of us go to the deathbed empty hand. Have you noticed one thing?" Asked Ken. "When we are born as a kid, we are full of divine energy and come to this world with clenched fists but when we die we always have open palms. From the time we are born we are involved in all the activities which are energy consuming, we never focus on something spiritual like "Dhayn" (Meditation). I'll tell you a small story about Alexander the great. After wining each corner of this earth, when he was about to die, he had asked his head minister to make sure that when he died, his hands should be outside of his coffin so that people could see that even after wining everything, he was going empty hand from this world. It shows that during his last moments the great conqueror emperor realized whatever he had won through war was immaterial."

Anirudh was shaken completely and went into a self examination mode suddenly. He became silent and sad. Ken could see that and wanted Anirudh to self examine but not with a disheartened attitude so he went on.

"As long as we are aware that what we are trying to accumulate or achieve in everyday life is going to be helpful in our final journey, when we die, is something I call a 'Super-Conscious Living.' All others' are dying every bit from the time they are born as they do not have an idea about "Real Super-Conscious Living". Everyone like Alexander the Great, realizes that they are going empty handed," said Ken.

"How can we live consciously? Isn't everybody breathing, walking and doing one or the other things consciously? I know I wanted to be a scientist and win Nobel and here we are. I am about to achieve that milestone. As far as I remember, I have always lived my life with full consciousness and a plan to achieve something," said Anirudh.

"Really, Anirudh?" Asked Ken skeptically.

"You must be fortunate to be able to live a conscious life as majority of humans' never live conscious life. If you don't mind I want to revisit your life from your childhood, I know some of the things from your past you have shared with me during our college days but it would be good if you help me in knowing your past in more details and taking a journey back into your past life with you, that will not only help you give a sense of real achievement before the Nobel ceremony but also help me to know my friend in greater detail," asked Ken.

Anirudh felt really touched with this gesture of Ken as Anirudh always wanted to share his past to his spiritual, friend Ken but never had an opportunity to do so due to busy lifestyle. Anirudh always wanted to share his extent of happiness with someone who can really feel happy for his achievement and Anirudh knew that Ken fell in that league.