Actions Speak Louder Than Words!

True to the title of the post, I’ll say very little and let the following video clip and a photo speak for themselves. The video and the photo are that of my one-year old grandson shared by my daughter recently.
First view this link for the video clip:

The video shows the kid walking and falling repeatedly. Every time he falls, he gets up without any fuss and goes about his only job which is to walk. The video is not about how many times he falls but how many times he gets up having fallen! I guess it’s a great lesson for adults on how to handle failures in life.

Let me show you the photo now:

My daughter has this to say on the photo:
”He was quietly sitting on my lap and listening as I talked to thatha on phone, and then put his head down calmly looking around peacefully for a long time. I sang ”suttum vizhi” and ”bhavayami” and he listened quietly. Then slowly started closing his eyes and fell asleep on my lap without any fuss. Here he is, fast asleep across my leg”.

She adds further: ”It is the most peaceful time I’ve had with him! I was away for a day and a half for a conference so he has been hovering around me since i got back this evening. Especially after dinner he has been content to just sit with me without needing to be entertained”.

I said to her:That is the real bliss – a state of total contentment, no wanting of any kind, just the two of you complete as one.

I Got 3 promotions – Said My Taxi Driver!

Last week I went to Baroda on business. On the way back I took a taxi from the airport. The driver turned out to be an interesting character. As soon as I got in, he greeted me and said: Narsingh sahab,Namashkar. I returned the greeting saying: Hasan Ali Khan Kaise Ho? In case you are wondering whether we knew each other before, you are mistaken. As you will have guessed, it is the power of the modern technology, which made it possible. As soon as one books a MERU cab, the name of the passenger with the  mobile number is transmitted to the driver by SMS while another SMS with the driver’s details is sent to the passenger.

As I settled down in the car, the driver was keen to strike up a conversation. I was equally keen too.  The driver said: ‘Saheb, I am from UP’ and without further questioning added: ‘Saheb, I got 3 promotions in life so far’.

Me: What promotion? What are you talking about?

Driver: My first promotion was when I left my UP village for Mumbai’.

Me: Where did you land in Mumbai & what were you doing to make a livelihood?

Driver: I was living on the streets of Masjid (near Crawford Market) and was employed as a labourer pulling carts, loading & unloading materials, making 4000 rupees per month.. After a couple of years of hard work, I became a driver with a tourist taxi company in Thane. That was my second promotion, sir

Me: Then what happened?

Driver: I worked for one year roaming around the country, driving day & night. I used to make about ten thousand bucks per month. This was my second promotion. I got tired of travelling day& night and now for the past one year I am working with Meru Cabs. This is my third promotion.

Me: How is it a promotion?

Driver: Now I drive an AC vehicle from 8am to 9pm and make about 12000 rupees. I am the boss of my timings – I drive if I feel like. Otherwise, I will simply relax parking the car under the shade of a tree. Absolutely no tension. I also shifted my family to Mumbai,sir.

He gave me a break-up of how he made 12000 rupees pm.

I was amazed at his simplicity and his great sense of contentment. His contentment arises from the fact that he is NOT comparing himself with anyone. He is merely concerned with his own life and improvements. What a refreshing contrast to my day long business meeting in Baroda where we were discussing strategies and counter strategies on how to increase our market share, browbeat competition, somehow show growth in top line and bottom line  every quarter! I guess competition and contentment are inversely related. Clearly, contentment is not a product of education – it’s simply a state of mind which some people are blessed with by virtue of their simplicity.

Experiential Learning – A Story from ‘Yoga Vasishta’

Consider the two contrasting statements – ‘Greed is good’ and ‘Contentment is supreme gain’. Doesn’t this sum up the difference between the western way of life and the Eastern philosophy? In fact the entire Consumer durable industry with its mall culture heavily depends on perpetuating the philosophy that Greed is good. But how about the the second statement about Contentment? The present generation with its exposure to consumerism will find it difficult to agree with this statement.
I would think the relative merits of the two statements is best learnt through one’s experience in life. No amount of preaching is going to help. In this context I would like to narrate a story from our scriptures which deals with this question with emphasis on experiential learning.
The text I am referring to is’Yoga Vasishta’. This is in the form of a dialogue between the sage Vasishta and Rama on philosophical issues. The story goes that Rama along with his brothers went on a pilgrimage at a very young age. After returning, instead of feeling happy, he was depressed. The depression was pretty much similar to whath Budha went through in his youth. He was troubled by basic questions about human life, misery arising out of the false pursuits led by ego etc. At this point Rama met the sage Vasishta and posed certain fundamental questions. The entire dialogue between the two is captured in the text YOGA VASISHTA.
I liked the book because it was full of interesting stories to drive home the truth.

Vasishta started off with his own personal story. The story goes back to the time when Brahma started his act of creation. As he went about his job, Brahma was highly displeased with himself as he found that majority of the human beings were suffering and in great misery due to extreme greed. Brahma became compassionate and somehow wanted to solve the problem. Thus he instituted a path by following which people could get what they wanted. The path required human beings to follow certain auterities, charity(YAJNAS), truthfulness etc. People could use these as instruments to satisfy their desires. However, this did not solve the basic problem as people continued to remain miserable with ever increasing craving for material objects. Therefore Brahma created the all knowing sage Vasishta and brought him onto the earth so that he could teach the ultimate Truth leading to final liberation. Surprisingly though, as soon as the ‘all knowing Vasishta’ was born, Brahma covered him with a veil of ignorance. The ignorance plunged him into misery and he also began struggling like others. Vasishta begged and prayed earnestly to his father (Brahma) to bless him with the knowledge and wisdom which would liberate him out of the misery. Brahma obliged and revealed to him the True knowledge. Brahma explained to Vasishta that he spread the veil of ignorance on him deliberately so that he would truly appreciate the glory of true knowledge and understand the misery of ignorant masses and help them with compassion.
Having narrated his personal story, Vasishta declared that Contentment, Self control, enquiry and ‘satsang’ are the 4 gatekeepers to complete liberation. As a concession he prescribed the practice of any one of the 4, which would automatically lead to the attainment of the other virtues.