The Dream of Life: A Conversation with Mrs. S. Saraswathy

Our lives are pulled by the string of our dreams like a kite. This thin string may sometimes become invisible with only the kite floating above and being visible. But the string is there as long as it floats above the skies, with the winds of breath.

Mrs S. Saraswathy a retired government school teacher,from Chennai, India, now living in Singapore since 10 years, 72 years of age,  obliged me with this insightful interview where we shared views on one's dreams in life. She started with telling about herself: Her father was in the teaching profession and had inspired her and all her 7 sisters into teaching. She started working as a teacher at the young age of 19 years. She taught English and Mathematics. Since it was her dream to be a teacher, she thoroughly enjoyed every bit of her teaching life. She said, "More than teaching it is important to love your students. If there is mutual love between students and teacher, learning becomes so much easier as the student is inspired to learn."

How do you feel after retirement, did the dream finish there or it lived on?
 "I taught for 38 years but retirement is no end to the dream, the dream continues, now I teach my grandchildren. In them I see my students."
Her dream has evolved over the years, and she is even helping busy parents in the neighborhood with raising kids, and enjoys the company of the little ones around her.

How important it is for a married lady to have her husband's support in realising her dream,
"It is imperative for anyone to have co-operation of others in manifesting their dreams, whether husband or other people who are directly involved with the dream. It is not an easy task to manifest your dream, many obstacles will come, but one has to be patient, and with love and humility get others to co-operate with you.

Should you give up if it seems impossible?
"One must try level best, with patience and persistence. It pays off well in the end."

What if two people who are working together have different dreams? Say for instance a boss demands his employee to work towards the fulfilment of his dream while at the back of his mind the employee has other dreams, his personal dreams that he wants to fulfill but feels is not able to because he doesn't have enough time left for it at the end of the day.
"The employee has chosen to work for the boss and as long as he needs the money from the boss he should work for the boss whole-heartedly and forget about his personal dream. But if the personal dream is bigger and has the intensity to overcome the need for money one can choose to pursue his personal dream."

Does the quality or the intensity of  dreams has any role to play in their manifestation?
"Yes, it is important to have a strong desire to fulfill it in order for it to manifest, but at the same time it should have good intention for it to be supported by the universe in its fulfillment."
She supported this fact with a story from the life of Buddha who patiently waited outside a household begging for alms, but the householder refused saying harsh words to him, but Buddha never lost patience and calm, and in the end the householder yielded to Buddha's patience and persistence.
She also emphasized the important role of upbringing of an individual in deciding the clarity of dream to be followed, and the sincerity with which it is followed.

What about the negative sort of dreams that criminal minds have? We see many of them manifesting, despite their ill intention, so is it not the intensity rather than intention that helps in manifestation?
"Intensity is a big factor, but what is the impact of such dreams. They don't do any good to anyone. One must choose a dream carefully that it is not going to harm anyone, because we are responsible for the after effects of what we choose to dream."

On the aspect of the choice of dream she said, it was important what we choose to dream. Giving her own example she said ,"My father told me that being a teacher was a responsible goal to choose, as being a teacher you have to be alert, as 40 eyes are watching you all the time."

Is it necessary to dream or we can live without dreams?
"We are humans after all, and we need a direction to pull our lives into. Hence I feel it is important to dream and make efforts to fulfill it."

Often it is seen that unfulfilled dreams will lead to certain negativity like depression, anger, or frustration, so you still feel people should dream?
"These things will also come along, it is not a bed of roses that one will walk in life. These are the challenges that one has to pull oneself out of and see that they do not get into the way of manifestation of the dream."

What about fulfillment leading to development of egoistic behavior in people?
"Egoism is not determined by fulfillment of a dream. Fulfillment can lead to gratitude and humility. It is individual nature that determines this reaction to fulfillment."

Is awakening necessary for manifestation of the dream, or the fulfillment of a dream leads to awakening in life?
"A certain level of awakening is necessary for giving shape to one's dream. However, selflessness is the prerequisite for its manifestation." 

If selflessness is the key, then what is the motivation to fulfill it?
"We need to be self motivated to give shape to our dream.You can take a horse to drink, but drink it must by itself."

Thus a dream in life can be seen as a choice that we make to give shape to the kind of person, we would like to see ourselves to be. The direction of the string and the wind determine how our kite flies and the skill to handle the string determines how high it soars!

Many thanks to Mrs. S. Saraswathy for her valuable insights in this interview, which I feel will be a useful guide for many people.