Kabir Day 37

Today’s thoughts

(two but working as one 😉 )

 

“Just in case you believe that great social problems are beyond your scope, consider this story: God said to me: Your task is to build a better world. I answered: How can I do that? The world is such a large, vast place, so complicated now, and I am so small and useless. There’s nothing I can do. But God in his great wisdom said: Just build a better you.”

– Anonymous

 

“A Native American Elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, “the one I feed the most.”

– George Bernard Shaw

 

..and now, Kabir Day 37

 

The couplet transliterated:

Bhagati duhelu Ram ki, jaise khante ki dhar |

Jo dole to kati pade, nahi to utare paar   ||

 

Translation:

Difficult is the path of devotion, like walking on a razor’s edge |

Waver, and you will get cut, while the steady will find salvation ||

 

My understanding:

Kabir here lays a basic truth down – the path of devotion is possibly the most difficult one to travel.

 

Devotion demands that we believe in something science cannot explain, an entity we cannot touch or feel, a voice we cannot hear, an experience that cannot be explained. Minus the devotion, the above aptly describes all the symptoms of a candidate for admission to a facility for the mentally impaired.

 

Devotion demands that we remain steadfast in the face of all adversity, keep our head down and work on when the chips are down, and do not lose sight of the goal when the going is good or the path seemingly easy. Steadfastness is a required ingredient here, as also calmness, in the face of both extreme happiness and great sorrow and the whole spectrum in between.

 

The true devotee finds strength not outside but from deep within himself.

 

What then, is devotion, really? Is it not the ability to put down a strong keel on the boat that is life’s journey, and be able to weather both dark storms and traverse gay sunny days with the same speed and without losing direction or purpose? Does it not mean the ability to find true peace in the heart of the boat, without being distracted by either the thunder or lightning of the storm or the gay birdsong of springtime? Is it not the ability to age without withering, gain wisdom without putting down others?

 

That then, is the greater world that God wants us to make (from the first quote above), the one inside us that we veer away from more often than not – for if we take care of that, the rest of the world outside will follow suit as a natural progression.

 

And this is where the Indian’s advice (from the GB Shaw quote above) pegs it perfectly – as we work to improve ourselves, we need to keep watching ourselves to ensure that we are indeed working towards our goal and not allowing the goal to manipulate us or dictate our behavior.

 

Any thoughts?