Dearest,
It's been a while since I last wrote to you. I went travelling with some of my closest friends and experienced and learnt more than I could have ever imagined. I was going to let today’s newsletter be about my experience but the way my weekend unfolded has made me want to write about an entirely different topic.
Before we get started I’d like to make one request. So many of you write to me sharing your thoughts about Masala Puff Moments, and they mean the world to me! If reading any of my posts makes you feel something, write to me in the comments below, it would truly help my newsletter grow :)
Okay onto this week’s topic!
My father recently asked me to think about how I want to progress in my career, what role do I see myself growing into and how I envision my life to be. He wasn’t expecting an immediate answer, but deep down I already knew one aspect of it with certainty.
Life’s WHY
My father has always spoken to me about “knowing your WHY.” He emphasises at least once everyday about the importance of having a goal that is larger than me and my individual life. He says when you put your heart, soul, time, energy and dedication into achieving your larger-than-your-life goal, everything materialistic that you want will follow as a byproduct. The way he phrases it to us is “Do God’s work and God will take care of your work/needs along the way.”
For my father, his why, his purpose behind working every single day for the past 30 years, is to create employment opportunities; to be able to touch and uplift the lives of those around by creating employment opportunities through the building of profitable businesses.
So what is my purpose in life?
I have been thinking about my Why and I believe with every cell in my being, that my Why is to live as a testament to the parenting of my Amma and Daddy. To be able to make them so phenomenally proud for having me as their daughter. And I believe that with divine energy and my consistent efforts, my visions about contributing massively to the family business, creating employment opportunities like my dad and creating impact through educating young minds will all follow on this journey as by-products.
And that brings me to a song that is very close to my heart. Listen to it here
Enna Thavam Sheidanai
This tamil song brings me to tears any time that I experience it. It’s a song sung to Yashoda, the mother of Lord Krishna, where the singer asks in absolute awe, astonishment and wonderment to Yashoda:
“enna tavam sheidanai yashoda”
Which translates to, Yashoda, what good karma, tapas and prayers did you do, that the lord himself calls you dearly, “Mother”?
This song and line is how I want to lead my life. To be able to gift my parents this beautiful and overwhelming emotion. For them to feel “what a blessing it is to be the parents of Vaishnavi”
I feel this even more strongly when I think of my Amma, a woman who has dedicated her entire existence to look after us, her children. She is an epitome of selflessness. And I cannot even entertain the thought that her life can merge into oblivion after her time on this earth. My father is building a tangible legacy that will live beyond his time but what about Amma? Her children are the legacy that she will leave behind. So when I say, I want to lead my life as a testament to the parenting of my Amma and Daddy, I mean I want my Amma’s story to always live on through everything that I will achieve and make of my life.
My love toward my parents is one that defines my whole personality. It is a love that creates.
What makes them the OGs!
The personality of my parents that I appreciate the most is their open-mindedness. They don’t ever come to us thinking they are perfect, thinking that they know it all, in fact what makes them my superheros is their willingness to evolve and grow along with their us, their willingness to shed old thought patterns when they know different, their willingness to say I know better now and hence I will be different.
And that brings me to…
The Most Profound Conversation I have EVER had
Dad recently spoke to me about something that felt like the MOST reassuring and liberating thing that I will ever hear. He said,
Have a list of personal values that you want to lead your life by. And then ask yourself these 3 things whenever you do something:
Is your action aligned with your set of personal values?
Your action does not harm anybody?
Are you aware and ready to accept any judgement of the world towards your action?
If you can answer these 3, then go ahead and do anything that you want, we (parents) will stand with and by you.
I cannot even begin to explain the mental peace that this gifted me with. And that brings me to the last part of today’s newsletter.
The Umbrella Concept
Last Sunday in my spiritual satsang, a seeker had asked “How do I make my child believe in the power of faith? He currently considers himself an atheist”
And my Guru said “Why do you want to tell him about the power of faith, why don’t you show him? In fact, intensify your faith so much that everyone around you, even those who don’t have faith, will be positively impacted from the umbrella of your faith. With money we often think about earning not just for ourselves but also for the next and the next generation; to create and secure a comfortable life for them too. Why can’t we think the same way about faith?”
Even penning this down gives me goosebumps. My parents have and continue to make their umbrellas so massive, so monumental, with so much room, that just by being in their presence I have been able to bask and soak myself within their gorgeous gracefulness, without even being aware of it.
What is more beautiful is that my parents have shown me, by the way they lead their lives, how I can open up my own umbrella and keep making it bigger and bigger.
I will end by saying just two things, 1) the more they trust me, the more I want to live up to their trust. And 2) if there exists a concept of rebirth, I pray with all my heart that I am born as the daughter of these two humans in every one of those births.
I can go on writing about my parents but that’s everything for this week my lovelies. I hope reading this reminded you to cherish your parents, and if you are a parent yourself pat yourself on the back, you are literally your child’s hero :) And to my Amma and Daddy, thank you for being my two Best Friends.
If something about this moved you, write to me in the comments below I would love to hear from you!
Before you go!
Something to Watch: Tourist Family, thoroughly enjoyed this Tamil movie. Had a heart-full laugh and came out feeling beautiful.
Something to Listen to: One of the most tender podcasts I have heard; Ocean Vuong with Krista Tippett.
Something to Celebrate: I submitted my first ever flash nonfiction piece to 3 literary journals. I can’t wait for it to find a home, and I can’t wait to share that piece with you all soon!
Something to Hold onto: “Even the words that we are thinking are shaping the way that we are interacting” ~ Ocean Vuong
With warmth and wonder,
Vaishnavi
From the table of Masala Puff Moments, a newsletter.
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I’m Vaishnavi Radhakrishnan, a third generation entrepreneur, a poet, a writer and a 23 year old figuring out her space in this world. I love buttery masala puffs, admiring bougainvilleas, being by the ocean, and buying jibbitz for my purple crocs.
This is fantastic. Great message to start the week with. Thanks Vaishnavi
I so relate to this!
It’s been 14 years now. From a time when we would speak 10 times a day to now, we find it difficult to catch up even monthly once over a call. We have gone through phases of being strangers. Every realisation here is spot on. Friendship is a choice and it grows when one makes time!
Beautifully penned!