Toughie

This is our Toughie, who came to us as a pup ten years ago, she was an angel, good tempered, well behaved and a soft natured darling. It was part of our family for almost ten years. She was very protective and always on guard, she was always on duty 24x7, Our house is located in an extension area, we do get cobras,kraits and scorpions as surprise visitors and Toughie will handle the little ones on its own and anything big comes she will corner the snake and will not allow the snake to move, It will bark continuously till one of us go and take charge of the situation. It was not keeping well, the vet came, inspected and said signs of old age showing up, gave her a shot of antibiotic and said we will wait for a day, it slowly started sinking, it was not able to take food on its own, I started giving her egg yolk mixed with glucose by pumping it inside her mouth through syringe. This continued for a day, Vet came again checked and said her pulse is going down and her breathing is also becoming weak. He put her on to drips and said whatever medically possible we have done, let us keep our fingers crossed, if she responds well to the medicine, she will recover. But she never recovered, that whole evening and night she was continously crying with pain, she was not able to rest, We prayed as a family, I was continuously talking to her saying that she will be alright, just one more day. But she thought it is better to leave than suffer. We have toughie's daughter daisy with us and she is eight years old, when they removed toughie from our house, daisy was continuously barking and she was searching for her mother, poor one it was not able to express her grief, I was helpless and could do nothing more than crying.

Toughie was more than a pet to our whole family, She is out of sight, leaving behind wonderful memories about her. We will miss her a lot, now her absence will be more felt than her presence.

Oneness

Oneness is not a goal to be acheived or targeted, it is not reached for, but it is a state where we comfortably settled into. Self is the supreme and worldy identities are an illusion. To understand and practice it on a continuous basis is really difficult. The more i try to focus the more i drift, bringing back my wandering thoughts to one focus point 'self' is really tough. When i seek for it in the outside world it is full of confusion and a splintered reality. The unity of all living things is inside us, how do i experience it on a 24x7 basis. Saints, Gurus & Masters say live your life moment to moment, being here and now is the key, but most of the time i exist, don't live. living fully is just in glimpses.

(Pic : Clouds after rains in Coimbatore)