Sunday 9 June 2013

Picture Perfect Moments


|| Aum Sri Ramakrishna Sharanam||

 
Picture Perfect- Google Images

||Aum Namo Narayanaya||

 

A collage of white and yellow daisies bordered the pristine lake that mirrored the beauty of the majestic heavens ruled by the glorious solar star. A carpet of vibrant yet elegant lawn invited and welcomed many ducks and other game to quench their thirst and then take refuge under the bowing bottle brush - the perching station for a family of hummingbirds that anxiously gaze into the glistening ocean of wild flowers screaming out to be tapped for their nectar. If only these 'picture-perfect' moments sustained themselves I thought... as I tried to wrap my duvet more securely around me in defence of the obnoxious, advancing cold. Sometimes you wish photos had a portal through which you may go and enjoy those delightful moments. But alas, a realisation dawns that it is just that a moment that has passed.

 

I was never really in tune with the fine arts movement, but when I was in Paris a few years back, I was caught overwhelmingly by a few colleagues to visit the Louvre Museum in this most enchanting city. I was more enthralled by the street violinists and the Champs Elysees than the thought of walking through a museum the size of a little town with so many artefacts, that our guide said if you spent a minute at each artwork without any breaks it would take you 200 days to complete the tour. There are many old and wonderful paintings in the museum, which was once a palace, depicting the sorrow and joy of the time. But my attention and interest took a little nap until we reached the most visited and famous piece - Da Vinci’s "Mona Lisa".

 

Even though I was not an expert admirer of fine art, I was able to connect and interpret a message from the painting. I realised that Da Vinci had an understanding of life.  The most unique feature of this piece is her enigmatic facial expression. At one moment you will see her smile and the very next she will frown. Absolutely amazing and stunning as I could not believe what I saw - in total contradiction to the other artworks which in essence simply captured a moment in time. We all wish sometimes that our life was that polaroid moment of happiness... but in reality it is a motion picture of uncut scenes that can leave you bewildered. The "Mona Lisa" was the interpretation and representation of life: a scale of joy and sorrow balancing on the fulcrum of uncertainty.

 

Every one of us wants happiness to preside over us yet it eludes you somehow. It can only be captured in a picture but cannot be tied to you using ropes or chains. Then how do you keep it? Swami Vivekananda said: "There is the desire to be happy. We run after everything to make ourselves happy; we pursue our mad career in the external world of senses. We find at last that our desires cannot be fulfilled. Wherever we go, there is an adamantine wall beyond which we cannot pass. Every sense-activity results in a reaction. Everything is evanescent - enjoyment, misery, luxury, wealth, power, and poverty, even life itself, are all evanescent."

 

Our problem is that we root our happiness in the future rather than the present. We say that if this or that happens, I will be happy. 'If I win the Lotto, I will be happy' etc. etc. Hence, we are basing our happiness on something that is not certain. We are not sure if tomorrow will be there... how can we be sure that that which we are basing happiness on will happen... hence that which we pin our happiness on becomes the cause of our grief as well. How paradoxical, that our very pursuit for happiness results or becomes the foundation of our grief.

 

An eclectic analysis of teachings and thoughts but most profoundly from the words of Sri Krishna Himself says that rather than trying to derive your happiness from the results of your action which have no guarantee, you should rather derive your happiness in the action itself.

 

In our lifetime, we have seen how people have saved and sacrifice so much in their lives in order to enjoy their retirement, but passed on at a very young age. Even in spirituality, there are thousands who want to enjoy post-mortem-heaven. A debate on its existence can span an entire 'kalpa' with no conclusive answer. Even in the remote past, where recorded history cannot help us, in the mysterious light of mythology, back in the dim twilight of civilization, we find the same question was asked -said Swamiji.

 

Since actions can only take place in the present, and we want to enjoy happiness in the present and now, we must therefore enjoy all the actions we perform. Swami Tejomayananada said that "the present is a gift from God; we must cease and exploit it for our benefit". The secret lies then in taking whatever situation you in, and turning it into a happy movie not a moment. Swami Tejomayananda also said that "if you grumble, you crumble and eventually tumble".

 

This dear friends, is absolutely impossible if you cannot see God in everything and take every action as worship itself. It must be with the same attitude that you perform the aarthi and make offerings to the deity, that you must undertake your work, seva and other activities... and then only will you experience the happiness and bliss that will cling to you unassisted like a magnet clings to metal. 

 

May happiness inundate us all, is my  sincere prayer.

 

With love and prayers always

Yogan

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