Moving Away

Suppressing truth is not fair. But truth has a very special characteristic. It sticks out its head sooner or later, no matter what. One particular truth that I am realizing very distinctly is that most people take his share and move away silently. The bigger the favour, the lesser is the chance of him to reappear again. He reappears only when he again needs something. And again the same story of moving away silently.

Nobody feels like giving company to someone, even for a few minutes. True, out of courteousness, people do lend an ear to what the other person is saying, but mostly it is a deaf ear. People do respond with some statements, but mostly these are innocuous statements, arousing little or no feeling within. That does not touch the heart. This keeps on increasing, as one grows older and older.

There are people who are exceptions; sympathetic, considerate, compassionate - but it has become so difficult to find them.

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More from Life

Pride, ego vanity, desire for fame (even if at others' expense), enjoyment, entertainment, desire to acquire, symbolic lifestyle, etc. are playing a major role in directing our activities. This way, are we not depriving our own souls and frustrating the ultimate wish of God? The soul finds peace in giving away, not in taking. The Divine Soul also has the same nature.

We are progressing in various fields, but along with progress we are also carrying a lot of junk that is making our daily lives strenuous and exacting. Life, these days, requires such careful attention and precise accuracy. Which way is it - are we demanding more from life, or life is demanding more from us? Are we searching for the black cat in a dark room, with no cat inside?

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Virtue, Morality and Ethics

Virtue
Virtue is nothing but moral excellence, which promotes individual and collective well-being. It includes goodness, righteousness and uprightness. Each individual has his own values that build up his inner system of beliefs, ideas and opinions. Value system forms the inner core of a person from where he operates. Values also include cultural values.

Morality
It is the ability to differentiate between the right and the wrong, good and bad, through thoughts, decisions, intentions, actions and behaviour.

Ethics
It is a branch of study that addresses questions about morality; that is, concepts such as holy and evil, good and bad, injustice, virtue etc.

The four main virtues

1. Wisdom
It is a deep understanding and realization of people, entity, events or situations using ones' principles, reason and knowledge, so as to act in a way that produces the optimum results. It is also the ability to ascertain what is true, and what is right. It is basically composed of reasoning power using ones' value system and intellect.

2. Courage
Courage is to ascertain what is good for oneself, an instinct to preserve oneself, but surely not at the expense of others. It is an ability to act rightly in spite of problems and hindrances. It is the ability of the mind to face danger, pain, difficulty etc. without any fear. It includes also the ability to pursue truth.

3. Temperance
It is the ability to control desires. It means restraining some impulse, or maybe a control over oneself to go for the excess. It is basically self-restraint in action, statement, behaviour, thought, intention etc.

4. Justice
Justice means that everybody gets his due. It is basically righteousness or equitableness. It includes prevention of unethical procurement of pleasure, enjoyment and entertainment.

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Thoughts and Views - 1

During the last ten years (2001-2010) or so, we can notice there has been an evolutionary change in human thought process and behaviour. People are getting more and more attracted towards material gains. We have forgotten how to appreciate and enjoy a good work of art or a literary classic, or get some joy just by knowing other people, share some common thoughts with them or even share the joys and sorrows.

History as a subject no longer attracts our mind. We are always so much occupied with the present and future. Also we are feeling less and less secure. We get frightened or scared very easily. We are trying to shut every door and window and live in an air-tight compartment, except in cases where there is a possibility of any material or other gain. That is because most gains seem to assure some kind of prosperity. We spend very little of our time doing something for others out of the sheer joy of helping others. Our souls are remaining in a subconscious state.

These are happening possibly because we have lost our faith, our hope in age-old beliefs, customs and traditions. New thoughts are always welcome, but not by discarding universal truths. We fail to realize that misery lies even after getting our heart's desire. We are always trying to justify ourselves in our modest virtues. We have ceased to hope for our neighbour, because we cannot forgive him. We fail to accept our neighbours, our fellow men, with dignity, and thus betray them more effectively than our hatred could. Our moral shortcomings become our real failure in life. We need to understand the holy meaning of forgiveness. Our attitudes and behaviour are affecting our children also. That is the worst thing happening. They are becoming self-centered. Some day all these may ruin our society.

The New Age

This is the new age. Welcome to the new millennium lifestyle. Only we have to remember that material pursuits do not reign supreme. Running after fame, fortune and honour should not be the primary objective.

Starting at the bottom, distinct changes can be seen among kids. They are learning the tricks of survival very rapidly. But wisdom is not developing. We are to blame ourselves for this. Loss of innocence now comes too early, as they are learning many a things of life too early. Childhood has been cut short. Images of soft drinks, fast foods, fancy cars, motorbikes and mobile phones flicker on their minds very prominently. They are growing up singing the tune, "This heart wants more." Enjoyment, and more particularly self-entertainment are at the top of everything.

Aspirations have their positive aspects also. They form the basis upon which all developments and achievements take place. With a reasonably good education, a clear vision and positive thinking, one can fulfill his ambitions.

The cyber revolution has changed people's minds, opened up visions of a world of free communication and interaction. One can now seek information, descriptive or visual, on anything under the sun. Internet now allows every person to reach out to a global audience. But only those with a desire for and the ability to move fast with time will benefit from this. Flexible jobs and flexible working hours are altering people's lives in a significant way.

However, we must never give up our quest for spirituality. We must remember that spiritual upliftment and material pursuits should be mixed in right proportions. Making a life is more important than making a living. Longing and belonging should always move together.

Also read: Spiritualization and Common Man

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Right to Create

Days pass on one after another. But within each heart there remains a painful feeling that possibly what should have happened has not happened. Many more things ought to have been accomplished. Men are constantly saying that he must attain and achieve what he is destined to. Till now he has been able to attain very little. That men can think in this way, distinguishes him from all other living beings. I have not been able to grow up into what I was destined to grow up into, is never comprehended by any living being other than man. God has sent men to this world with consciousness and an ability to build and create, seek and find, to experiment and invent, to explore and discover, and thereby express his humanism.

God has sent men to this world in a very helpless condition. A baby cow starts running around within a few hours after taking birth. Human babies take several months even to stand on his feet. But at the same time God has endowed men with immense ability to create, build and grow. He has not decorated our body with various colours like a peacock, but he has given us paints and brush to put colours anywhere we like, according to our wish. The Almighty wants to see that a being of immense strength and ability may emerge out of His creation of the human being. That is His wish. There lies His joy. He seeks to find total satisfaction out of His best creation. Man will create and man will build, and He will derive His ultimate satisfaction and delight out of it.

Men are destined to make all such arrangements himself to beautify this world further, to make his life worth living, to make this world a heavenly abode, thereby serving as the ultimate source of gratification for the Divine Soul. If men fail to do that, all His creative efforts become futile.

We, as human beings, are getting buried under the drudgery of everyday life. Daily habits have turned us into slaves in the hands of man-made destiny. The drums of man-made destiny keep on producing a dull, monotonous beating sound, for men to hear every moment. There is no tune in it. Borrowed thoughts, mimicry, artificiality etc. are engulfing us from all directions. Materialism is keeping us confined in dungeons.

In such a state His Divine Light finds no way to enter into our house. His grace is everywhere in this world, possibly except in our hearts, which we have saved for ourselves only.

His presence is everywhere in this world except possibly in our houses. There He won't come until we invite Him. From times immemorial, He is standing at our door-step asking for our permission to get in. Alas! We have always been so ignorant about this fact. He would love so much to enter into our houses. He has never asked for the best place to sit upon. He will be happy just if we can share our own seat with Him. In our entire house, we have managed to assign only a small place for Him. Let us recognize Him once for all. He is our friend, our guide, and our philosopher. Let us not frustrate one of the highest truths of this universe.

We cannot build or create on our own. We have to have His grace upon us to create something of everlasting value. We have to see our creations not only in the light of everyday use, but also in the light of eternity. We have to experience the eternal feeling and gain an everlasting lease of life. All our creations will become meaningful that day when we will be able to share our seat with Him. That would be the day of real celebration.

We have visited many a sacred places, we have performed complex rituals and religious ceremonies to seek glorification, and finally find a place in the heaven after death. But where is the heaven? There is no such place called heaven. It is up to us humans, to create our own heaven in this world.

But we alone cannot build our heaven. For that we need the help of God. He is also waiting for us. He has created everything on His own, except heaven. For that He also needs the help of human beings. Without us, His desire to create the heaven has remained incomplete. That is because we were too much engrossed with ourselves, and had failed to notice that God is waiting for us to help Him create the heaven. Working together with Him, we only have the right to create the heaven.

A day will come when all our accumulations will seem worthless. That day we will have to leave our throne for Him. Whatever we have created and accumulated in our lives, we have to give everything to Him, and again merge our souls with His Divine soul and make our human birth a success. We will realize that without Him, everything will turn into dust, and with his grace all our creations will collectively give birth to a place like heaven in this world.

Translation based on Bengali works of Rabindranath Tagore.

Also read : Religion is Simple

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Tired Afternoon

This very simple painting in mixed media on paper, (watercolour, colour pencil, little pastel) was done in 2005. Here I have tried to depict a glimpse of the life of a shepherdess of the hills. Just took it out yesterday night and found that some areas have faded out. I had to work for more than two hours to set it right. It is ok now. Note the stick lying in front of her.

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Endowed in some way

Not all people are endowed with equal abilities. Men differ from one another in so many ways. A man may not be mentally equipped enough to serve someone else. This may have got something to do with genes preventing him to go into subordination. He may dislike taking orders. He may even be unable to earn his daily bread and butter. He may be a person who loathes subordination. That may be his mind-set.

He may be a spiritual person who dislikes materialism, and as a result finds it disgusting to indulge into jobs that fetch money. He may be a person who dislikes the drudgery of daily life, and just may not be able to concentrate upon his work unless it gives him delight, joy and peace.

He may be a creative person who could never realize the fact. Knowing oneself is such a difficult task. He may be a person who has been driven by circumstances and expectations from people around him to take up some job, which he utterly dislikes. Environment and circumstances play such a big role in building up a person. He may be a person who never tried to mimic someone else's life.

Even then, we must not forget that every person has been sent to this world with certain qualities and abilities. There are people who fail to realize his endowments, and spend the life in total darkness. His talents remain untapped. Faiths and beliefs, imposed upon him from childhood, may have prevented him from realizing his capacity, power or ability. This may have prevented him from answering to the wake-up call.

Such men may also possess a characteristic of becoming autonomous in his own way, which constantly induces him to solve his problems himself. This may be his shortcoming, but who is there in this world without any ?

He may be an artist or a literary talent. Who knows ? Lack of success may drive him to a state of mental depression, which people around him may fail to recognize. The thought of having wasted a lot of time and effort may make him feel pressurized also, because his desire to achieve is always there.

After all, at the finest level, all relationships are give-and-take relationships, possibly except the one that exists between a mother and a child. As that depressed feeling puts him several steps backward, ultimately he may be labelled, even by his near and dear ones, as a person who is good for nothing.

But he is surely not a person devoid of all abilities. He is definitely endowed with some. If others fail to understand it, then it is their shortcoming; their virtue and morality are at stake. One thing that people around him can't see is his constant effort to meet with success.

Such men and women are there in this world, at various corners. It is our duty to recognize them and stretch our helping hand so that they can also live in this world with dignity, which has been so ruthlessly or most unethically snatched away from them, possibly by fete. Such men and women are not to be condemned, as in God's total creative pursuit, there is a place for everyone.

Must also read : Bigger Audience

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Bigger Audience

When ones' audience is a single person, he may as well whisper, meaning that just whispering may serve the purpose. But when the audience is large, he needs to exert a lot to make people listen.

When a person realizes that he has something to give to this world, however small it may be, something that will remain in this world after he departs, something that will bring peace and happiness in some other people's lives, something that will help people to progress, in whatever small way it may be, and feels it is his duty to accomplish the task, then he definitely takes up far more responsibility voluntarily upon himself than looking only after his near and dear ones. In his mission to accomplish the task he mostly finds himself all alone. It becomes a lonely journey for him, which he must complete alone.

His perspective becomes wide and high, his vision becomes broad, and he needs to set himself somewhat free, not fully, from the drudgery of everyday life, in someway or other, so that he can work, he can fulfill his commitment. He really needs freedom from other commitments, particularly social.

The thing becomes quite tough as people around him mostly fails to understand the load of his task. He feels caged up at times. Plainly such a person has to work under severe constraints. Thing becomes a bit easy if people around him take up a liberal attitude, which is seldom found.

As money is not attached to such a task, at least during the period of accomplishment or even later, people give very little importance to his task. Such is the materialistic world.

He needs to have a firm grip on confidence and faith, and pray to God that he may succeed in his mission. In the process his whole endeavour turns out to be an offering to the God.

Must also read : Endowed in some way

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Religion is simple

If I have to light up even one corner of my room, I have to make arrangements for so many things, like electrical wiring, switch, electrical connection, bulb etc. The light that I get after making so much arrangement is still so little, though it serves my purpose. But this little light makes the darkness outside even more intense.

But to get the natural light I don't have to make any special arrangement. As soon as I open my window, my room gets flooded with broad daylight. Religion is also like this daylight. It is abundant, and simple, and ever-present. It is a gift of God. We can get it everyday as a matter of habit. Like getting the daylight, we don't have to make any special arrangement to get this eternal religion. Had it been so, we would never have been able to get the true essence of religion.

Whatever we try to create ourselves, that becomes complex. Our relationships within the family are complex, our society is complex, and our lifestyle is complex, because these are man-made. Complexity makes things weak, simplicity makes things strong and easy to grasp. Religion has never been a complex stuff. From times immemorial, it has always been so easy to grasp. That is the universal religion, the religion of humanity.

If religious practices appear to be complex to us, that is because we have made it so. Instead of submitting ourselves to the simple religious faiths and beliefs, we have tried to mould religion according to our wishes, our needs, our faiths and beliefs. We have complicated religion with artificial practices, complex explanations and unrealistic imaginations, which make it so difficult to comprehend. We have curtailed religion in many a ways and tried to give it our own shape, and in the process fragmented it into innumerable parts and divisions. Religion does not change with time or place. As a gift of God, it remains same for everyone, same for every place and time.

We try to assume or imagine religion in a way that would bring comfort to our hearts. Our assumptions make it fragmented again and again, and we wrongly assume it as consisting of all the characteristics of this material world with its vast complexity. We try to build it in our own way. That eventually brings sorrow.

We cannot live under the open sky. We need a dwelling place. But if we want to capture a portion of this vast expanse of the sky to beautify our dwelling place, will we succeed ? Obviously not. We can only open the window to catch a glimpse of the sky. That way a relationship is established between the endless sky and our finite dwelling place. That makes us peaceful.

If we try to catch a sparrow and keep it in a cage, we will lose it soon. It will die of starvation. It needs freedom more than anything else. So we can only enjoy a sparrow when it is hopping freely amidst nature. Such is the nature of religion.

In order to see the broad daylight we need to open our eyes. In order to feel the presence of the Almighty we need to open our mind's eye. He is everywhere. Only we have to bring that feeling within us. How to bring that feeling ? Go out in broad daylight, look at the sky, take a deep breath and just think about this universe as a creative endeavour of the Almighty, constantly being accomplished through a force, which is incessantly flowing towards us. Please utter the words, "Oh God, do reveal Thyself." You will instantly feel the presence of God. You will feel expansive, selfless, courageous and joyous, as you get connected with Him. Establish this connection at least once daily. It only calls for an eagerness to know Him and an effort similar to the one that we give to get daylight. It has always been so simple. It calls for no other extra effort, nothing else. Soon you will also be free from all sins, which vanish instantly at the advent of God. Love will get established as a consequence.

We must cherish what we have. We must never lament for something that is unreachable. Restraint is absolutely necessary. We must never feel greedy about something. If we can get rid of excitement and be peaceful and tranquil, all the joyous and delightful things of this world will reveal themselves in front of us automatically.

The philosophy of the Almighty is not to throw ones' might all around. It is not always necessary to show ones' might. One who can hold his might within himself and yet remain calm, peaceful and tranquil, he is really the possessor of all the might.

We need to accept all, that is as true as broad daylight, without any question. Truth is always the nearest, the easily accessible, the easily understandable, the undisputed, the safest stuff to dwell upon and the dearest one to live with. It is of no use running after the enchanted deer to catch it. That will turn into a futile effort, resulting into a dissatisfied feeling.

Let the heart become free from all selfishness, conflicts and uncertainty so that we may not run around in all directions hopelessly. Let us concentrate on what we wish to achieve. Let our minds remain concentrated on that Universal One. May truth, enlightenment and eternal feeling reign supreme in our lives.

Translation based on Bengali works of Rabindranath Tagore

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