SIMPLE FACTS YET GREAT TRUTHS

From Sampath’s Desk:

SIMPLE FACTS YET GREAT TRUTHS

 

One has to eat to live and not live to eat. However rich one may be, he can't and shouldn't eat more than what his stomach can accommodate and digest without any resultant health problem or discomfort. And if one has co-morbid health conditions with diet restrictions, he/she has to necessarily follow them. Just because you are rich, you cannot overeat. Isn't it just?

Likewise, a man can wear only a pant and shirt, or dhoti and shirt, or kurta and pyjamah. Similarly, a woman wears a Churidar/dupatta, or a saree and blouse. In both cases, the cost may perhaps differ. 

Even if you own a very palatial bungalow or big palace, you only need a cot/bed occupying a space of 6 feet length/2-3 feet breadth to sleep. Needless to say, you don’t have to roll down on the entire floor space to sleep and/or take rest just because it is your own sweet big home and you can make full use of it. In a river, pond, or running stream, an animal has to lick the water to quench its thirst! Isn't it?

A rich person with problems of sorts may not be able to have a proper sleep despite being on a decorated cot and foam bed in an A/C room, whereas a poor man, say, a construction worker may get sound sleep under a thatched roof or on the floor of his small house or elsewhere on the roadside or even anywhere near the construction site with debris strewn all around under the open sky. The most effective tools for good sleep are – Bed of Trust – Pillow of Care – Bed-sheet of Understanding – Blanket of Peace – Dream of Friendship. What it all boils down to is peace of mind and worry-free life which you have to create for yourself by being content and satisfied with what you are and what you have!

 

It doesn't however mean that you should shun a rich and comfortable living if you are gifted so. Let us live rich both in body and mind if one is so blessed by the Divine Grace (rather than die rich) and also help others. After all, whatever we earn is to make ourselves and the life of our family comfortable. Good Samaritans would say that the greatest and truest joy lies in giving and making others happy. And again, the best way to find happiness is not to expect any gratitude, but to give for the joy of giving. George Eliot (pen name for Madam Mary Ann Evans) would pose a question, “What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?”

Life is so rich in its intricacies and complexities that at times even a supposedly perfect arrangement may not work or go haywire without yielding the desired result for no explicable reasons. It is all in the game of life. Tolerance and forbearance are the two mighty pillars of humaneness. So, in the societal context, peace education gives you lessons to understand that our lives are enriched when we learn to celebrate and not merely tolerate the differences and diversities. It also provides us with tools of relationship-building and for carving out an egalitarian society in the truest sense of the term. This will be the best bequest that we are supposed to leave behind for posterity!

 

Banana tree epitomizes selflessness and self-sacrifice. It gives away everything of itself – the raw-vegetables, fruits, leaves, trunk, etc. – to the living-beings to enjoy. And with its progeny coming into being, it vanishes.

 

Emotions are the same for all – rich or poor – educated or illiterate – children or adults – may be with varying dimensions of intensity. Children generally have no inhibitions. They mingle without any reservations. They may quarrel or fight. But they don’t carry over the enmity or take a revengeful attitude. They forget everything (even bad things) very soon and start moving with their friends and peers as usual. Taking the cue and clue from and envying the children’s world, we would sometimes wish we continued to be children without growing into adulthood which is neither biologically possible nor scientifically feasible. It is only a pipedream and wishful thinking just for a possible temporary escape from the negative thoughts of the nagging and lurking problems of the mundane life.

                  

Our thought-process normally reflects the reality of our living world vis-à-vis the situation we are in and the upcoming circumstances we are likely to face. Nobody would wish to plan to fail, but fail to plan properly at times. Treat a problem as an opportunity and a challenge to your problem-solving skills. Bear in mind the dictums, “Only the weak have problems, but the strong have solutions. When the going is tough, only the tough get going” while taking a decision which is considered an 'action-in-process' and if followed by sincere and hard work it will help clinch success. Perceive any well-meaning criticism as a source of potential help in right decision making. Consider the entire gamut of any issue, in nuts and bolts, and threadbare to get a real big picture of the problem and proceed further for an out-of-the-box solution. Never put off for tomorrow what you can do today. Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow. You can learn so many lessons from past failures and mistakes, but virtually there is nothing to learn from past successes. Again, consider your success as a stimulus to do still better in the future. Remember, success is only a journey and not the destination.

We are in an era of convergence, as the whole world has shrunk into a virtual global village, thanks to the phenomenal transformation in all walks of human life. Though the world has become tiny, let our minds be as broad as the sky.

         

Land is a natural gift of God to mankind. It had its existence prior to one’s birth and would continue to exist even after he/she vanishes. The ownership in the interregnum is thus a mirage - temporal and transitory – as some philosophers and saints would say. The world conqueror, The Great Alexander, wanted two big holes to be sliced out off his coffin box to be used for his funeral, one each on either side, so as to keep his hands stretched out through them to be kept for public view after his death. The Great Warrior wanted to tell the world that in spite of all his success streaks in this mundane world, he was leaving it empty-handed and carried nothing along with him.

 

The great Tamil philosopher-saint-poet Thiruvalluvar in his magnum opus Thirukkural observed, ‘Only the remainder left behind (thoughts, acts, things, etc.) by one after death decides whether he/she was a noble soul or not’, and, ‘The world has the dubious distinction that a person lived yesterday is no more today’.

 

It is relevant to recall the golden saying in The Bhagwat Gita, ‘What you claim to be its owner today will belong to somebody else tomorrow (and so on and so forth)!

Between yesterday's mistakes and tomorrow's hope, there is a fantastic opportunity called 'today' - love and live it. It is squarely yours! Again, the past is an experience, the present is an experiment and the future is an expectation. Use your experience in an experiment to achieve the expectations.

 

(R.SAMPATH)