In the twenty-first century, when everyone is busy earning more and more of fame,money and recognition, one moment of light humour can rejuvenate your spirits and inspire you to achive greater heights
In our greed for fame, our lust for wealth, we get so carried away with our desires that we unconsciously overlook the blessings that God has showered us in our present stature. We go on comparing ourselves with the rest of the fellowmen in the society and consider, rather discover critical faults in ourselves. We don’t recognize the better half of us, the other side of the coin. And end up thinking, that we are inadequate and unlucky. This creates a harrowing turmoil within to improve and come at par with the world. Most of us, go through the above mental crucifixion, whether we realize it or no.
Now comes the panacea, the cure to the above symptoms of inferiority complex, and insecurity. Live in the present. Don’t think of the past, which is a history and the future which is a mystery. The only thing which is in our hands, in our reach, and will always be, is the present time. Experiment with it, play with it, or procrastinate with it, is your choice!
The process of doing things is the gift, the success or failure at the end of it is not.
The ancient saints of India propounded the theory of Karma. Karma is you will reap what you sow. Take pride in the doing of things, not in the outcome of it. The reap is not under your consideration. Take pleasure in the breathing process, in the blinking of the eye, in the cycle of action and reaction, in the first drop of rain reaching the ground, emancipating it from the sweltering, scorching heat. The beatitude of the blossoming daffodils, the exaltation of fresh air in the early dawn, the bliss and contentment that the divine music fills in the hearts of every one, the triumph experienced from compassion to the marginalized, and last and foremost the eudemonia of being alive can be the harbinger of elation and jubilation, brightening the dark night of our lives. It has the power to make each moment count, because we have started living for now, not for a future goal, or to rectify a past happening.
I would like to site an example depicting the above. Once, a group of students of a renowned and highly prestigious institution who were all pass outs gathered together. They were all pioneers in their fields respectively but still were depressed and gravely unhappy. They decided to pay obeisance to one of their oldest retired teachers.
The teacher was very experienced and lived in a tiny cottage with minimal furniture and a modest livelihood. He welcomed his students and made them sit. He went to make coffee for them and kept a tray where there were ten different types of cup. He asked his students to choose one cup from there to have coffee.
The students noticed the cups minutely and analyzed that some of them were slightly broken, while some were very dirty print, while several were very beautiful and in perfect condition. They all went for the most beautiful cup and the ones who dint get the desired cup, became irritated and disturbed. The ones who got the broken cup, were petulantly sulking within and were feeling inferior to the rest, so much so that now the coffee was secondary and what was of prime importance was the cup.
Unable to contain his frustration, one of the students showed his dissatisfaction, which resulted in an altercation between them. When the teacher noticed this, he returned with the coffee and told his pupils that he had made a set-up to see if they have really achieved success in life, and concluded that they were yet to be successful in the race of life. He said that what matters more is the coffee, and the cup is a medium, the intermediary, not the end. As was evident, the pupils gave the cup so much paramountcy and preponderance that the coffee was no longer desired. The coffee stands for life itself, in its entirety, as a whole. The cup is the want of material pleasures and supremacy. The purpose of the cup is to enable you to have coffee. Similarly the prime role of the material pleasure is for you to enjoy the life in its complete form. The life is best lived in the present which is a precious gift to be nurtured and endured , that is why it is called a “Present”.
