Ananya is a modest girl with pretty looks. She is so fair that if we touch her, we may leave our fingermarks on her glowing skin. She is five years old and thoroughly enjoying her childhood.

One day, she returns home, her face heavy, and she gazes into the mirror for an extended period.

‘What happened in school today?’, her mother inquired.

Maa, why do I have numerous moles on my face when my friends don’t? They are teasing me as if it is my fault,’ said Ananya in a low voice as she wants to know the answer to this question.

‘These moles indicate that you are the most beautiful girl!’, her mother told her with a big smile.

Ananya felt awesome to hear this but she is very excited to know more and tell her friends.

, how is it related to beauty?’, asked Ananya, out of curiosity.

‘Do you know the most important Rule of the Universe?’, her mother asked.

‘No, I don’t know! What is it?’ Please tell me, said Ananya.

‘Nothing happens in Nature by accident and every event has a defined purpose,’ told her mother.

, I want to know how these moles indicate beauty?’, Ananya asked impatiently.

‘Ok, let me explain. Are you aware that 

, the creator of the Universe, is responsible for bringing us into existence? ‘, asked her mother.

‘Yes, you told a story about the Hindu deities including 

‘While creating a baby girl, he takes many breaks especially when he wants to create a masterpiece like you’, said her mother.

‘Is that so? How is a break related to my birth mole?’, asked Ananya impatiently.

 puts a mole so that he can resume working from a specific point when he returns. It helps him to avoid duplication of work and improves his efficiency.’, her mother explained patiently. 

‘So, it seems he took numerous breaks and invested a considerable amount of time crafting you into a masterpiece, evident from the number of birth moles’, said her mother. ‘WOW! That was truly overwhelming!’ exclaimed Ananya with sheer bliss.

‘Look at the wings of the butterfly! The moles indicate her beauty and enhance her charm! Otherwise, her wings will be plain and dull,’ her mother said.

Ananya is on cloud nine and blushing in silence. Being modest, she asked another question to get over this uncomfortable situation as she could not contain the bliss.

Maa, why do the moles have to be black? I don’t like the color,’ Ananya inquired, her cheeks still flushed.

‘Do you know that, black is the color of the Divine? And it is considered as the most sacred color because it is from where all the colors of the rainbow have formed,’ her mother said in an enlightened voice.

‘Could you please explain more about it?’ Ananya asked in an inquisitive tone.

‘Ok, listen to me carefully!’ said her mother while taking a deep breath. ‘I am ready!’, said Ananya as she widened her eyes.

‘Black is the zero state of the universe, from which all the other colors emerge when the Sun rises. It is manifested as a vacuum in the Universe. The vacuum is always dark as there are no particles to scatter light into our eyes. This ZERO STATE is nothing but Divinity’ said her mother.

‘Maa, I’m having trouble grasping what you just said,’ Ananya admitted.

‘Don’t worry! You are still a small kid and you have plenty of time to understand it.’, said her mother.

‘Now, close your eyes and see what happens?,’ her mother instructed.

‘I can see only darkness as there is nothing else,’ Ananya answered in a scared voice while opening her eyes.

‘Do you know that we are given eyelids to access darkness as it is the roadway to the Divine?’ asked her mother.

‘No, I don’t have any clue about it!’, said Ananya.

‘Most of us witness the darkness during sleep, i.e., at night and some witness it voluntarily by doing meditation. And most of us feel rejuvenated and calm after getting some sleep or engaging in meditation. And the main reason behind this soothing effect is witnessing such darkness, which is a metaphor of the 

, why is my friend dark skinned as she feels bad about it, while I am fair?,’ Ananya asked another question.

‘As you already know that darkness is a metaphor of the 

, God uses it wisely to create a very few blessed people in dark complexion and shows more affection towards them!,’ her mother explained with a smile.

‘And beauty cannot be defined by the color of one’s skin; it is rooted in the purity of one’s heart and intentions. Hence, you should learn to embrace harmony and treat everyone as equals, irrespective of their color, caste, creed, nationality, religion, etc.’, said her mother.

‘Does it mean that God has less affection towards people, who are fair like me?,’ asked Ananya in a low voice.

‘That’s why he adorned you with black moles, symbolizing his equal affection for all his children,’ her mother answered with a grin.


“The beauty you see in me is a reflection of you.” -Rumi

September 8, 2023 | Aham Brahmasmi, Racism, Spiritual, 

Is darkness, a metaphor of the DIVINE?

One fine day, I updated my Whatsapp status as “On the way to Nothingness!”

Then my friend called me and asked, “Did you say Nothingness?”

Then my friend said that who wants to go to ‘nothingness’? When you are telling that there is nothing, who would approach that place?

Then I replied, this is not the nothingness that you observe in the outside world, but rather in the Internal world.

I continued, “this is “Nothingness” in its purest form! “

And believe me, when you get there, you will get everything! Because, it’s where everything originates and culminates.

My friend said that it sounds interesting!

I said, Let’s first understand what is ‘nothingness’ and then we can dive deep into it.

There is a small village in the middle of a lush green forest in Southern India. The village is situated in the lap of nature, on the bank of a small river, in a valley surrounded by hills.

It is a beautiful place beyond imagination. The presence of flora and fauna exemplifies its picturesque beauty.

There lives a few families belonging to an indigenous tribe in harmony with nature. They are so pure at heart, just like a flowing river. They set up a beautiful temple of Lord Shiva on the bank of the river. A couple lives there in a small hut. They have an enormous devotion to Lord Shiva and visit the temple everyday. Their day starts with collecting flowers, performing 

. No day passes in their life, without visiting the temple.

After a few years, the couple is blessed with a baby boy. The child is pretty with a bright smile on his face and he radiates joy all the time. He spends most of his time playing and observing the nature around him. As he is the only child in the family and there are no elders at home, their parents carry him all the time when they go out. So, the child has been visiting the temple along with his parents since his birth. The little boy has no idea why his parents visit the temple everyday and pour water over the elliptical rock, later known as 

 and offer flowers, fruits, etc. Initially, he thinks that they like this rock, so keeps it clean by washing everyday with water and adorning it with flowers. As he is so young, he can not feel the devotional connection with 

One day, the boy asks his parents, “why do you guys pour water over the piece of rock everyday and decorate it with flowers?” Then his mother tells him that it is a symbol of 

 and warns him not to call it a piece of rock. As the boy visits the temple everyday, it has become his morning ritual too like his parents’. After a few years, he develops a deep rooted connection with the 

. Even after his parents leave the temple, he sits there for hours together and just stares at the 

. Unknowingly, the boy develops immense devotion for 

 for longer periods of time, he observed that his view often gets disturbed when there is movement of people across the temple. So, he thinks of creating an image of 

 in his mind and looks at it with his eyes closed. He feels that this idea can solve his problem. So, he does it as planned. But, this time, it is even worse. He keeps getting many thoughts at random, which are completely unrelated to 

 is buried in those thoughts. But, he does not want to leave this idea as he thinks that it may work with practice. So, he sits still in the temple in a corner and closes his eyes imagining the 

. Slowly, as he improves, he is able to focus on 

 for a longer period of time. Eventually, he finds some joy in sitting still without any movement. While his friends are playing on the bank of the river, he chooses to sit still with his eyes closed. As the young soul is hungry for divinity, he starts the process of seeking at an early age.


As he is surrounded by natural beauty around his house, he finds it interesting to stare at a flower, a leaf, the sky, the hill in front of his house for extended periods of time. He notices that he is deriving happiness from this simple activity. As he falls in love with nature around him, he develops a curiosity to climb a tree and the hill opposite to his home. He is curious to know what lies over the hill and how it feels to be on top of it. Hence, he tries to trek to the top and succeeds in his first attempt. Then he closes his eyes to meditate for sometime. It feels absolutely better than meditating in the temple as there are no people on the top. So, he makes it a routine to trek to the top of the hill everyday in the morning after visiting the temple.

As it’s the rainy season, one day, he finds a big cloud in the shape of an ellipse over the hill. It looks similar to the 

 present in the temple. It is dark and thundering frequently. 

When he looks at the cloud, he finds it more interesting to see

 in the sky and is curious to reach there and observe closely. 

that he can see in the sky is more powerful than the one present in the temple.

 So, he treks to the top of the hill and tries to reach closer. But, the cloud moves away due to winds. The boy finds it disappointing for not being able to reach closer. So he returned home with disappointment. He is moody and dull. When his mother asked him to come for dinner, he said he wanted to skip it. He just wants to be alone and does not want to speak to anyone. Then his mother inquired about what happened. What made him so upset? Then he told his mother that he wants to get close to 

. But he is evasive. His mother felt concerned and happy at the same time. Then she made him sleep on her lap and told him about 

 and how to reach closer to him based on her own experience. 

That night was the most crucial night of his life. It cleared many questions of his mind and paved the way for knowing the truth.

 Then slowly he slides into sleep. In his dream, he finds that the Shiva 

 is drawing everything into itself with tremendous force, not sparing any, including himself. He went inside and went deep at the speed of light. There is a lot of noise as everything is whirling at astronomical speed. As he is going deep inside, the noise and turbulence subsiding slowly. Finally, he reached a place where there is absolute silence and immobility. He went around to find something, but in vain. There is absolute nothingness. In this place, there is no dimension of time as there is no present, past and future. Every atom, if it exists, is still like a rock on the hill. The boy is scared of this deathly silence. He murmured, “Is this 

?” He did not dare to ask this question aloud as he did not want to disturb the ambience of absolute silence. Being in that place for some time, he lost the thought of himself completely. The thoughts are slowly fading away. His body is slowly disintegrating into atoms and they are slowly disappearing into the enormous void existing there. Finally, “the observer becomes the observed”!

Is this enlightenment? He again whispered to himself, but he had no clue about his physical body anymore. He is terrified about the state of nothingness! And finally, the sense of “He” is no more. He wants to feel his body again and get back to life. As he is a small boy, he had many ambitions in life. And also he wanted to do many things in life, like getting married, having children..etc. But, nothing was achieved until now, so he does not want to die now. He prayed to God to save him and give back his life. The feeling of nothingness is palpable but the witness is not there.

Then after a while, he feels that he is at the center of 

. Then, slowly he starts to feel his body. As he is moving at the speed of light, he reached the floor of the ocean (

), which is also absolutely silent like before. So, he did not want to experience “nothingness “ again! So, he kept on moving! He reached the surface of the ocean and went up to the Sun. It’s a huge ball of 

. Out of curiosity, he went deeper into the Sun to reach its center. Again, there exists the “nothingness” which was present in centers of Earth and Ocean. Then he went out of the Sun and headed towards the center of the universe, from where everything else was getting created and destroyed. There was a void 

, which was responsible for the creation of the world. This material, “that which is not” is also named as 

Suddenly, he felt that there was a movement on his forehead, so he quickly opened his eyes, to find that his mother is caressing him so that he will be normal again. He felt so relieved after looking at his mother. He did not remember when he slept and he could not remember what was there in his dream, but he just knew that he was dreaming! He tried to recollect the events from his dream, but in vain. So, he could not tell anything about it to his mother. But, his disappointment vanished eventually and he felt rejuvenated after experiencing bliss. And he lived there ever after.

 is a formless state of the Universe, ‘

                                         Shiva, ‘that which is not’

https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/e1okln9

Is darkness, a metaphor of the DIVINE?

On the way to ‘Nothingness’!