"Aaji," said Jeeva one morning, "the festival was wonderful. But it's over.
Now there are just ordinary days again — sweeping and eating and chores.
When can I do something special for God again?"
Aaji was grinding rice into flour, her hands moving in the slow steady circle
she had made a thousand times. She did not stop.
"Come here," she said. "Let me teach you the best secret I know. Then every
single day will be special — and you will never have to wait for a festival
again."
Jeeva sat beside her.
"When you wake," said Aaji, "before your feet touch the floor, say in your
heart: This day is Yours. When you sweep the courtyard, sweep it as though
you are clearing a path for God to walk on, and say: This is for You. When
you eat your bhakri, take the first bite and think: I eat this as Your gift,
and I give it back to You. When you give a coin to the old beggar at the
well, give it in His name. And when you sit down to paint our wall —"
Jeeva's eyes lit up. He loved painting the white Warli figures on the mud wall.
"— when you dip your stick in the rice-paste and draw the little dancing
people," Aaji went on, "do not paint them for yourself, to show off. Paint
them as a gift. Say in your heart: I make this for You."
Jeeva tried it that very day. He swept the courtyard, and instead of grumbling
it felt almost like a dance. He ate his lunch and the plain food tasted
sweeter for being shared with God. He carried water from the well — This is
for You — and the heavy pot did not feel quite so heavy.
That evening he painted a long line of tiny white figures holding hands
around a tree, and with each one he thought, For You, for You, for You.
When he finished he sat back, paint on his fingers, and felt something he had
never felt on an ordinary day before — full, and quiet, and close.
"Aaji," he said, "I didn't do anything special today. I just did my ordinary
things."
"Yes," said Aaji, smiling. "And you gave every one of them to God. That is
exactly what Krishna asked for. Whatever you do, do it as an offering to Me.
He never asked for special. He asked for all of it."
