Forever Love 3: Selfless Love

When does a human gives his brain some work in the modern days.. ? When the telephone lines are down and the power is blacked out. Thats what seema was doing in the balcony that day. She was giving the concept of forever love a thought. She thought,'Would it be possible for a spouse to love his wife even if the other partner is not ready to or not in a position to reciprocate.' Then suddenly she heard a ashiraravani, "Why not! There r lots of examples'" Seema looked puzzled and like basanthi from sholay remarked , 'Yun ki! yeh kaun bola'
Then a pushpak viman appeared on the sky with the heavenly sage Narad in it...Seema rubbed her eyes in disbelief and asked Narad, "Wow! Earlier You used to travel through the clouds on foot, rite?. Now a aerial car!!... You got promoted?"
Narad directly came to the point, "I am here to show you a living example. Take my hand and come into the chariot' Seema hesitated and Narad commented, "Don't worry, I am a pucca bachelor.Not like the sages on the ground... And I am definitely not ravan in disguise"

Seema stepped into the aerial car and within minutes she was in the US of A and in front of a research scientist Acharya's house. Seema observed the activities from the comforts of the plane. At the ground level, the sun had dawned and the husband was on his toes.He picked up the newspapers and also switched on the geysers. Within minutes the porch and the lawn was cleanly swept and also coffee was prepared. And the wife was enjoying her sleep or so it looked to Seema. Seema immediately cried out, "This is not selfless love!!! He is just another joru ka ghulam!!"
Lord Narad calmed her down, "Shanthi! ... Shanthi!" Seema looked confused, "You should cry Narayan! Narayan! rite... so now who is this shanthi?" But suddenly her focus turned to the earth where the wife slowly pointed her finger at something... It was a bowl... The next deeds by Mr Acharya brought tears to Seema's eyes... She realised that Acharya's wife was completely paralysed and she couldn't do any work of hers by herself
Narad then explained her, "Theirs was a love marriage. They were not just life partners but also research partners trying to come with some kind of artificial blood. But fate had other plans and one fine morning the wife never got up to wish him good morning and from that day she remained in the bed, completely paralyzed.
So it is all up to the husband now to take care of her...." Seema saw the husband taking assent of his wife for the donation he wanted to make for a cancer fund.
Narad read the expression on Seema's face and explained why it was happening "There are reasons.. As a human being, he believes in doing his karma without expecting fruits... And As a husband, she is his source and inspiration even now.... that's why he consults her on every matter" Seema remembers a kannada Song, 'NINNA NOVVU NANAGIRALLI... NEMMADI SAVI NINAGIRALLI... SADA KAYUVE" (Let all your pain be mine... let peace and happiness be your... I wil always be there for you...forever and ever"

Before Seema gets too emotional, Narad announces "Lets go to a place near your hometown and zoom they are in the coastal town where a lady Sowjanya, 40 plus something is looking after a business while her husband is idle sitting at home reading sum philosophical books and getting mad at some caller. When she comes home, he starts cursing her and finds faults with all her actions. She silently digests the same and cooks food and serves food and goes to sleep without even raising a voice."
Seema is irritated,"This is not selfless love... this is exploitation" Narad didn't made the mistake of saying shanthi again, "Narayan! If you knew the past, you wouldn't say this. When she got married, she was only gaun ki unpadh ladki. But the good husband gave her the education and the nuances of the trade. One day some misfortune fell upon the business and the husband broke down completely and never recovered. The dutiful wife picked up the broken parts and built the empire back with whatever her husband had taught her. But the husband never came back to his earlier stage. He was filled with venom against everyone and most of the time took it out against his wife. Now the wife knew what her duty was and she stuck to it and gave her family all she can"
When seema saw sowjanya looking innocently at her husband, she thought as if sowjanya was saying, "Tujhse naaraz nahin hairaan hoon' but she heard sowjanya say softly to her husband, "You told me you didn't want me to change... but you have changed so much..." and tears flowed from her eyes

Before Seema could get emotionally involved, Narad turned his small plane towards the home when Seema asked, "Why does your Lord does this to such lovely couples? If he has love and affection for his creation, then is he inflicting pain upon them."
Narad got a bid angry, "You are pointing fingers at my Lord Narayan!!!Concentrate and understand this truth: There is no purpose or meaning in God's play. Keep mum and endure your life as it comes and give selfless love; This is the way to peace.**"
(**The last four lines are from a kannada poem collection by DVG)