“Real kindness seeks no return – what return can the world make to rain clouds?”
-Tiruvalluvar, Tamil Sage and Poet
Kabir – The couplet
कबीर मन फुल्या फिरे, करता हूँ मैं धम्म ।
कोटि क्रम सीरी ले चल्या, चेट न देखै भ्रम ॥
Transliterated:
Kabir Man Phulya Phire, Karta Hoon Main Dhamm |
Koti Kram Siri Le Chalya, Chet Na Dekhai Bhram ||
Translation:
Says Kabir – our mind swells with pride, about the good deeds we have done |
It is in ignorance of all the karma, the doing of the deeds has accumulated ||
My understanding:
The human mind is an interesting animal. It creates an image of the self it feels will show itself in the best light, and then puts every resource available to strive to that single goal. However, it rapidly runs into an interesting cul-de-sac – for every one who praises a specific view, there are more than a few detractors. So it soon lands itself in the state of dejection where it finds that it cannot create a single view that earns accolades from “everyone”.
In this state, it then pushes the self close to the cliff-edge of despair – but then finds a backbone in arrogance, and demands that the world be told the righteousness of its stance, and acknowledgement of the true grandeur of itself.
Pretty soon, the mind finds itself rapidly vacillating between elation and depression – finding vicarious pleasure in perceived praises and dejection in assumed insult/hurt. In this state, the constant change of focus and attention disallows the practice of disciplined thought or attention to detail – leading to a superficial, empty life-experience.
We need to work to correct this natural tendency of the mind to seek praise for all presented acts. Our focus needs to be changed to point at the action, rather than perceiving and expecting result. When we do that, we will find ourselves naturally drawn to what is right, rather than what promises the most glamour. In that space, we will see our environment slowly light up in welcome light, and become the place that is the best suited for us to be in at that time!