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A folklore centres on a king
who approaches a sage in his quest for untainted happiness. The sage ask him
to bring to him the shirt of a person who could sing blithely and with
carefree abandon. The king's long search finally takes him far away to a
person singing such joyous tunes. Lost in rapt attention, he suddenly
remembers that his purpose was to obtain his shirt. But lot he observes, on
going near him that the man was dressed only waist below just in rags and
had no shirt to wear! The king thus learns that unadulterated joy often
resides in humble surroundings and certainly cannot reside in one who is
obsessed with material acquisitions or craze for power.
A scene in the immortal
Oscars winning film Titanic captures two separate party scenes aboard the
ship. The natural, energetic and rapturous revelry and celebrations of the
merrily dancing passengers of the lower class is contrasted with the solemn,
pompous and formal snobbery of those of the higher class whose idea of fun
making is cultivated and cramped. In a similar manner, an old film A Roman
Holiday (released in 1953) picture an ebullient princess bored with her
stately and royal chores escaping though for a short while, to mingle with
the crowd and enjoying herself in the process! In his poem, The Miller of
the Dee, C Mackay, the 18th century poet, writes about how king Hal lost in
admiration for the contented miller who issues forth joy and peace as he
goes about his work.
Lessons in sublime thinking
teach us that regardless of one's status or position, it is often necessary
to free the mind of the shackles of clutter and anxieties meeting life head
on, savouring the joy and glories that reside in its different
manifestations. True, money and material acquisitions are important as the
base to obtain that feeling of security, so necessary for spiritual
progress. Ancient Indian wisdom in fact, conceives of Artha (material
possessions) as a requisite for progress. Nevertheless, this always goes
with the need to nurture the aspirations of the spirit and unalloyed
devotion to the sublime and the pure. It is indeed necessary to nurture the
'child' within us and to be natural, simple and innocent in dealing with
aspects within and without!
Wordsworth rightly sang in
his Miscellaneous Sonnets: The. world is too much with us; late and soon,/
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers. |
