The Journey Called Life
Live in the present. This is very important in the journey which is our life. Utmost care
and concentration should be given to the "present" to extract maximum yield. Horses are provided with eye shields so that they don’t be fearful of the vehicles passing beside them on the road. They will not be distracted by the sights on the road and will be able to concentrate on their task; i.e. pulling the cart and moving ahead. Similarly all of us need to wear the shield while pulling our cart, ie; our life.
We become sad about the bygone ‘Yesterday’. We live in today thinking about the mistakes, fears, sorrows and the bad experiences of yesterday. We live in today thinking about the uncertainties and anxieties of tomorrow. We don’t realize that one can live only in the present. Hopes and happenings of Tomorrows are not in our control. Tomorrow at day break we have to get ready for our work, our task of life. But the actions of tomorrows are energized by our deeds of today. We have to prepare for our tomorrows, ‘Today’.
We have only Today as ours. Yesterdays are cancelled cheques. Yesterdays, whether full of successes and happiness or failures and sorrows, have already gone. If we can concentrate well in ‘Todays’, our life will become more peaceful and fulfilling. If we attach yesterdays sorrows and tomorrows anxieties with today, our life will easily crumble. Thus we will fail in our efforts of today. Try to live each moment of today. Do not give a moment’s time to think about yesterdays and tomorrows.
Matha Amrithanandamayi Devi (Amma) has her advice. "While taking ice cream try to enjoy it. If a sorrowful thought comes to one’s mind during that time, one cannot enjoy ice cream. Any thing can be made more enjoyable and interesting if we concentrate on it and do it with our full mental and physical involvement.
. The southern most state of the Indian sub continent is Kerala which is known as "God’s Own Country" in the tourism maps of the world. When India was under the rule of Britain, Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer, an ICS officer, was appointed the Dewan or ruler of Travancore, a province of Kerala. He was a very cruel and strict administrator who tried to suppress the local revolt with iron fist.
The great writer of Kerala, Vaikom Mohammed Basheer was jailed by him during those times for his revolutionary writings. During his long tenure in jail it could have been miserable for him to spend time. Basheer cultivated the habit of engaging himself in many activities in jail. He developed a small garden in the compound. He started Watching spiders, crows, squirrels and other birds who were regular visitors to the jail compound. He mimicked them, joked with them and engaged in imaginary conversations with them. To an on looker this could have been madness. But for Basheer that was a means to avoid madness. He practiced these activities with intense devotion and enjoyed every moment of his many years of life in jail. He could pass his time with out boredom. Most important of all, he could keep his humanness and humorous mind intact.
Finally the day came and the jailer came with the happy news of his release. The Jailer asked him whether he is happy about his release. Basheer replied; ‘I was very happy here in the jail’. My mind was always free whether I was inside the jail or out of it. Nobody could build a wall between me and the world. (He bid farewell to his jail life. After many years Basheer wrote his jail life into a short story "Mathilukal", which was later made into a classic movie) He could achieve this state of mind because of his wholehearted involvement in what ever activities he was engaged in.
Life is a journey some times full of thorns, some times flower beds. We have to move ahead. Live in the ‘Present’. Live in ‘Todays’. Let the journey be pleasant and successful.
(cherukalam@yahoo.com) (Dear reader tell your friends to read this and rate)