One reason everyone struggles with living is
that we are too self-obsessed.
The focus all the time is on what you need,
what you are going through and what’s in everything that’s happening for you!
The you here at times is just the individual or, often times, your family. Look
around you. And reflect on the behavior of people in your circle of influence.
Spend quality time reviewing how you experience them and how, perhaps, they
experience you. With the exception of a few, almost everyone, including you, is
self-obsessed. From the neighbor to your maid to your colleague to your manager
to your elected representative, everyone is working toward and asking, all the
time, “what’s in it for me?”! This is the main cause of unhappiness in the
world. This tendency to be self-focused and not be even remotely interested in
the welfare of people around you. This attitude is so prevalent that, on the
other hand, people don’t want to even allow you to be interested in them!
 |
| Swagat Thorat |
I met a man called Swagat Thorat in Mumbai yesterday who reinforced in
me the need for us, citizens of this big, beautiful world, to be compassionate.
Swagat is a journalist, wildlife photographer and a film-maker. Almost 20 years
ago he was commissioned by Doordarshan (the state-run TV channel in India) to
do a documentary on students who were visually challenged. The experience of making
the documentary exposed Swagat to a whole new world of darkness that we sighted
people are unfamiliar with. Swagat was so moved that for several years he tied
a blindfold over is eyes to understand the lives of the visually challenged
better. He learned Braille and decided to apply his talent__which was in the
space of media and communication__and launched a Marathi fortnightly in Braille
called Sparshdnyan. Here is someone
who can see but has decided to devote his entire Life to help those who can’t
see by providing them an equal opportunity to learn and acquire knowledge. The
fortnightly is free for visually challenged subscribers and he supports his
operations from offering donors the opportunity to gift a free subscription for
someone who cannot see. His next project is to launch a Braille daily in
English that will be available to the visually challenged community across
India. He says he faces huge challenges in bringing out his fortnightly on time
but because he has the right motive, the means get taken care of, one way or
the other. Sparshdnyan has not missed
producing a single issue since its launch several years ago. “I don’t seriously
worry about our financial challenges. Because our work is of a higher order. We
are not in this for profit. We are into this with a purpose. I was always passionate
as a journalist, photographer and filmmaker. Whatever I took up I did it well. I
am still passionate. But when I entered the dark world of the visually
challenged 20 years ago, it actually opened the eyes of my heart. I felt
compassion for these people. So, I simply decided to focus on what I could do,
with my limited resources, in my own small way. One thing has led to the other
and this entire effort has now become a movement. I know a lot more needs to
happen. But I never worry, I never despair. I let my inner core of joy guide me
one day at a time, one step at a time, to touch the Life of one visually
challenged person at a time,” explains Swagat. (The gift subscription for one
visually challenged person annually is Rs.1200 or US $ 24. You can gift a subscription
by writing to sparshdnyan@gmail.com or
by going to www.braillenewspapers.org)
I find great value in what Swagat has shared with me. All of us have a
lot of passion for whatever we do. But passion is such a selfish emotion. So it
often results in self-obsession. Not that we should not focus on our lives, our
families and provide for financial security or healthcare needs as time passes
by. But somehow, several years of being only self-focused, makes earning-a-living
a habit that’s difficult to break. So, we hardly see the world around us. We
are too consumed by ourselves, our needs, our wants and our problems. Which is
why, despite having everything that we need, we feel we are still missing
something, searching for it, yearning for it, even as we are unable to define
what is it that we are missing! The cause for such inexplicable unhappiness and
discontentment is, simply, lack of compassion.
A woman called Kisa Gotami, who was suffering and in great misery, went
to Gautama, the venerable Buddha, and asked him to help her bring back her dead
son to Life. The Buddha accepted to do this for her provided she brought him a
mustard seed from a family which had not seen death ever. Gotami spiritedly
went around the entire village hoping to find one family where no one had died
and was truly hoping to get a mustard seed from that home. After much knocking
on doors and hearing painful, sad stories of death in every home, Gotami came
back to the Buddha after four days and said she was NOW willing to accept the
reality of her son’s death. She conceded: "Oh, Gautama, how
selfish was my grief? I went from family to family and pretended for four long
days that there might exist some clan of immortals. I have understood that those
mothers alive who haven't already lost a son are bound to lose one someday. And
if they never lose a son, then a son is bound to lose a mother. And how many
parents lie buried beneath our feet!" Her passion for her son and her
passionate desire to bring him back alive were causing Gotami agony and
suffering. The moment she replaced the passion with compassion__for every
family in her village__she found peace and happiness despite her unfortunate circumstance
of having lost a son.
Stay passionate by all means. But know that compassion is
uplifting. It is liberating. It makes living worthwhile. It alone leads you to
equanimity, peace, happiness and bliss__in that order!
No comments:
Post a Comment