Free Willing In Madurai and Pandyan Express

I happened to be at Madurai recently. I visited Modern Restaurant near Meenakshi Amman temple. The chutney and sambar that they serve is delicious. Apparently the restaurant has been in existence for at least 40 years, actually closer to 100 years as per my cousin who accompanied me. The food is also reasonably priced - see menu below.

Photo of Meenakshi Amman At the restaurant

Menu Card at a lovely restaurant, great chutney and sambar- must visit

Incidentally this is a nice Rajasthani restaurant in Madurai: http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/rice-vs-roti-in-madurai/article20698951.ece

Outside the station

Outside the Station. Looks quite nice.

Gentleman Operating Self Service Railway Machine / Counter

That's Pandyan Express. Rake looked absolutely new. Just 2 months old I was to find out later.

Spanking New Compartments. 

Chargers at each bay

And reached Chennai right on time. Not much else was interesting in Madurai.

In the train my cousin and I happened to discuss about free will. He mentioned a song நான் அசைத்தால் அகிலமும் அசையும். While the actual translation is more like "If I move even the world will shake" we both took the saying to mean that God moved everything in the world and nothing moves without His intervention. My cousin agreed that this was the intended meaning. 

I had earlier written about free will. I told my cousin that if nothing moved without Him, then Man had no free will. He agreed. In which case, I continued, it is useless to hold man to be responsible for anything in the world - good or bad. My cousin agreed. Here is where the fun started.

He said while it was true that God moved everything, it was within each of us to make ourselves Good which meant to exercise control, to avoid selfishness, arrogance etc. I asked my cousin how this was possible. He said we have to meditate... Granted that we were given or not given certain skills when we were created but it was within the best of us to rid ourselves of what is bad in us, my cousin said. And when I asked him, if nothing moved without God's will then how could we change ourselves, he insisted it was so. That practice makes a man perfect. Is it not then true that to attain perfection all that was needed was practice? And what prevents each of us from practicing, he said? I asked, can Man decide to practice all on his own - since nothing moves without God deciding to do so. So how could we practice without God willing. And this went on back and forth for half an hour.

Now he, my cousin, was very sure that he was right. And I was sure that he was violating the basic premise we had agreed on (that nothing moves without God).

The surprising thing is that I have had the same kind of response with whoever I had spoken with. What am I missing? How can one hold the basic premise and yet aver that we have the wherewithal to be good and rid ourselves of all things negative. And yes, they do concede that not many of us can do it.. That only the Gnanis and sages do. 

Another friend explained. That my cousin (and perhaps others I had discussed with) were strongly rooted to two premises from childhood - that God's will pervaded everything and second, that we had to and could change ourselves to be better. These two contradictory thoughts are perhaps entrenched in their minds from childhood. The very strong parent state prevents them from using the adult state and see the contradiction. Hmmm.

Incidentally a friend told me about Vidyarthi Bhavan in Basavangudi Bangalore. https://www.zomato.com/bangalore/vidyarthi-bhavan-basavanagudi/menu and http://www.vidyarthibhavan.in/. Very good place for masala dosa.

Entrance to Vidyarthi Bhavan

Seating Inside - Quite Old Fashioned - Definitely worth visiting

A place in Valparai  I have been hearing a lot (positively) about is Sabari Mess (Tel; +919489181602 and +918903951996).

And today I read about Bharat Coffee House in Kochi: http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/a-home-away-from-home/article18383776.ece. India Coffee House in Kannur is worth visiting. There are many branches in the city.

Additional reading:
Food for thought: http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2015/11/tirth-yatra-by-train.html