Today’s quote –Â
“A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn’t care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not. As I wrote that farewell column to Marley, I realized it was all right there in front of us, if only we opened our eyes. Sometimes it took a dog with bad breath, worse manners, and pure intentions to help us see.”
– John Grogan (character in movie “Marley and me”)Â
..and now Kabir day 29:Â
The couplet translated:
Desh desaantar main phira, maanus bada sukaal |
Jaa dekh sukh oopjai, taaka bada dukaal      ||
Translation:
Wandering both at home and abroad, I met many a man |
Rarely did I find, one who brought a smile to the heart ||Â
My understanding:Â
The inner goodness, the simple heart of a man, shows up in his eyes, face, the spring in his step and the tinkle of his voice. Caught up in the bonds of this world, knotted up by the silken strands of desire, most men are too distraught (navigating the web they find themselves in) to be able to share and be shared.
Finding a person free of the tangles of desire is akin to finding a rare treasure – such men are to be sought and their friendship and companionship truly hoarded, as Kabir asserts.
For me this finds echoes in the story of the movie and book “Marley and me” – the simple story of a newlywed couple and a dog they adopt. The dog, to all initial external appearances, is a nuisance, a terror, a pain in all the wrong places. However, it takes only a little introspection to understand that the dog is looking for and has found true friendship in the family, and give more love than its frame can possibly hold. The quote above, the last statement in the movie, sums up the movie perfectly.
If only more would take heed of the simple message, this world’s beauty would be so much more visible to all of us!