“Having a low opinion of yourself is not ‘modesty.’ It’s self-destruction. Holding your uniqueness in high regard is not ‘egotism.’ It’s a necessary precondition to happiness and success.”
– Bobbe Sommer
Kabir – The couplet
बन ते भागा बिहड़े परा, करहा अपनी बन ।
बेदन करहा कसो कहै, को करहा को जान ||
transliterated:
Ban te bhaga bihade paraa, karhaa apni ban|
Bedan karha kaso kahai, ko karhaa ko jaan||
Translation:
The rabbit, as per its nature, runs from bush to bush, and falls into inescapable traps|
Once in the trap, who can it lament to, who will listen to it’s woes? ||
My understanding:
Giancomo Casanova said “Be the flame, not the moth”.
However, humanity has largely succumbed to the trend of “following the Joneses” – we mimic those who we deem successful, and expect to find and improve on their achievements ourselves.
The first mistake – our calling them successful based on external view. The second is the lack of recognition of the effort that got them there. The third is the presumption that we can exactly trace the very same path over the same or similar period of time – and improve by compressing time.
By the time we fully recognize our folly, we have burned through much of the time this life has granted us, and do not have the time, the energy, the enthusiasm or the vim to find our own path. We then turn to blame our failure on everything else, from circumstance to fate to bad timing. But those we are complaining to have complaints of their own, and do not have the time or patience to genuinely pay attention to our woes or offer sincere advice.
Hence the guidance to find the right teacher, find the teacher when young, and then follow the prescribed path without superimposing the instinctual direction of desire on the prescription.
Only by staying true to this remedy, from this moment onwards, irrespective of age, status or ability, can we truly find success and happiness in this life and for ever afterwards!