Mindful of life
Life is simple and requests of us submission with joy. Submission comes unhesitatingly to each of us when we live with respect, chiefly for ourselves, gratitude and humility.
A passenger rushing to board his train at a railway station noticed a beggar seated on the platform with a cloth spread before him. Seeing some pencils lying on the cloth, he stopped briefly and asked the beggar if the pencils were for sale. The beggar looked up and said ‘yes’. The passenger quickly dropped a couple of rupees on the cloth, picked up the pencils and left. Many years later, the man was at a party when a well-dressed middle aged man came up to him and said, “Sir, do you remember me?” But the man couldn’t place him and thought he might be a successful businessman who wished to engage in conversation. The stranger then saluted him and said, “I am indebted to you, sir, for having restored in me my self-respect.” Surprised, the man asked the stranger who he was and what he had done for him. “Many years ago you bought pencils from me on a railway platform and gave me back my lost faith in myself. Thank you,” the stranger replied.
Self-respect is one of the most powerful ingredients for restoring pride in oneself and living a full life. When we respect ourselves, we begin to discover who we are. We awake to everything, and recognise that everyone and everything are equally precious and whole and good. We discover what is confused in us and what is brilliant, what is bitter and what is sweet. In effect, it is not just ourselves that we discover but also the universe.
When I respect myself I respect others, for what I do not do for myself I cannot do for others. When I love myself I learn to love others. When I appreciate myself I learn to appreciate others. When I allow myself to be happy and enjoy every moment of my existence I encourage others also to do so. I become compassionate, accepting and non-judgmental of myself and those whom I receive into my life. One feels confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes.
Gratitude is the singular quality that allows me to live in abundance.
A child once asked his rich father to take him to visit a slum. When they got there they went towards the hut of a potter. The child noticed a little stream of water running into an open drain and several children and dogs playing outside the hut, which was illuminated by a kerosene lamp. Going around the hut, they saw a vast dump with children and dogs playing on it.
The child was satisfied and asked the father to take him home. The father was curious to know what the child had understood of this experience. The child looked dolefully at his father and said, “Thank you, father, for showing me how poor we are and how rich the potter is.” The father became confused. The child went on to explain, “I am grateful that I have seen so much of abundance in the potter’s life that I do not see in ours. We have electric lights, so limited in glow, to brighten our homes while the potter has the whole sky, the moon and shining stars to lighten his existence. We have a little pond at the back of our house; the potter has a small river running in front of his hut. We have only one pet and the potter has so many dogs to play with. Few children visit our house while the potter has several children playing in his house. We have no backyard and the potter has a whole dump. I am glad I am able to recognise the poverty of our life.”
True gratitude comes from recognising the preciousness and bounty of life’s offering.
Each morning when I wake up, I sit down and write a page of gratitude. I acknowledge all that I am being offered as a gift and celebrate each offering with thankfulness. I am able to accept without demand and, most important, to be able to live in wonderment.
Humility comes when I offer myself in the moment with contentment and devotion. I recognise my awakened heart as I no longer shield my vulnerability from the fragility of my existence.
I neither grasp nor reject but enter into a relationship valuing myself and valuing the other. I neither defend nor do I have the need to prove.
The Arya Samaj movement in Bengal was gaining immense popularity during the lifetime of the sage Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. The Samajis believed that knowledge or gnana, rather than devotion or bhakthi, was more important to achieve moksha or salvation. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa personified bhakthi and the Samajis decided to engage him in a discussion to prove he was poorly schooled in the Vedas. On the appointed day, a senior member of the Samaj reached Ramakrishna’s humble abode and invited him to a debate. Ramakrishna unhesitatingly bowed before the wise man and requested him to ask his questions. The erudite Samaji held forth on the benefits of the Upanishads and asked Ramakrishna several questions. To each question Ramakrishna bowed low and acknowledged his ignorance. Soon the Samaji got up and claimed that he had been defeated. When his disciples wondered how he could have failed when it was Ramakrishna who had been unable to answer a single question, the Samaji, feeling genuinely contrite, replied that Ramakrishna had made him feel small by being so defenceless. Ramakrishna’s genuine acknowledgment of his ignorance made the scholar realise how silly he was to fight honesty and simplicity.
True humility does not demand performance or perfection. It allows me to live with my frailties and humaneness.
We are like children building a sandcastle. We embellish it with beautiful shells. The castle is ours, off limits to others. We are willing to attack if others threaten to harm it. Yet, despite all our attachment we are mindful and know that the tide will inevitably come in and sweep the sandcastle away. The trick is to enjoy it fully without clinging and, when the time comes, let it dissolve back into the sea.
Mindful living is about recognising the impermanence of much around us and thus let the impermanence intensify the preciousness of life.
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