The Last Chapter
8 years ago
Saturday, April 20, 2013
A small incident I’d like to share,
It was this time when I was traveling on foot for my some work in a bylane of a bylane in one of the very old area of the ahmedabad city. It was some Christmas time ‘2011, and the innumerable narrow lanes in the area resembled the ‘veins’ in a human body. These houses looked rickety but tempting. They were painted in a specific ancient pattern. The road I was traveling through was a so-called Hindu area. My eyes caught the sight of a highly decorated crib where baby jesus was just born. There were these huge speakers next to the crib, with loud music to which a 10 yr old was dancing. And the song on which he was dancing was this composition by Pakistani sufi rock band, ‘Sayoneeee, chain ek pal nahiiii’!!
My country cutessttt! :)
I have been
fascinated by ants since childhood. I don’t know if we had more
worthwhile things to do back in those days when we were a 3-4 yrs old,
but we spent quality time following the trail of ants in houses/ walls/
terraces, dint we?. How beautifully they kissed and greeted each other
while they moved in opposite directions along a line. Not an ant was
missed in this greeting process.
After many years of ignoring these tiny living beings, yesterday to my surprise i saw a black ant scurrying over my arms, as if in some major hurry to achieve something!
Abruptly, my mind concocted a metaphor.
How different are we humans from those tiny creatures? Their entire life is about working, eating sleeping, reproducing. But that’s exactly what we as humans do too. Isn’t it?! As for ‘Working’, of whatever I know, a large part involves collection and storage of food. Here I am talking about the ants, not some trip to the grocery store.
But we, of course are smarter and ‘evolved’ as they say, aren’t we? We work too, but for MONEY?!! We obviously fail to see that even this is to buy food, clothing and a place to see- if we consider basic requirements. So basically, we just take a longer route, while we slog at work, get paid at the end of the month and then go buy food with it. The ants just go out and get food directly (quite often from our kitchen compartments too)!
What else can money buy?
Clothes? Ants don’t need them.
Travel? They don’t need tickets and passports.
Discotheques? They can dance whenever they want, they don’t need pretentious time and place for it.
Just list anything else that comes to your mind and see what the ants do instead
Just one innocent tiny God’s creature can so wondrously put the whole pride of being ‘more evolved’ as species to pretense.
I say, Wake Up!
See that just mere physical structure difference or money doesn’t set us apart!
We still are a worker ant, slogging away to eternity. One needs to Excel in life by growing as a person, by growing as a good human and not just by mere promotions!
This ability to be able to meditate is only given us, isn’t it! One wouldn’t see an ant sitting cross legged with palms on thighs breathing deeply. The entire life of humans has been about: waking up- go to school/college/ work- come back home- eat- watch tv/talk/etc.- sleep. On weekends- go for movies/ hangout with friends. And then of course, the occasional vacations. 25/30 years of your life have passed by and it only feels like yesterday right? Well, another 30 will pass in the same way. And all people will remember you as some CEO of some company. If that’s just the case in reality, Sad it is! Let’s hope that doesn't happen.
Let’s live, lets experience something that we have never ever before in life.
Let’s get some exposure of the different flavors that life has to offer. I can promise one thing with the experience that I have. The satisfaction that one would get when one child hugs you will be unmatched to the ‘happiness’ you’ll get with your promotions. Go to an orphanage; adopt a child’s education- for as long as one can. Go to an old age home, take up some medical bills. Enroll for those teaching programs. OR SIMPLY ANYTHING SIMPLE!
The time to explore these little things is NOW. One will always have a choice. There is a choice to transcend into infinity and evolve yourself beyond a state of being human or, just scurry along crazily, for just tiny pieces of sugar!
After many years of ignoring these tiny living beings, yesterday to my surprise i saw a black ant scurrying over my arms, as if in some major hurry to achieve something!
Abruptly, my mind concocted a metaphor.
How different are we humans from those tiny creatures? Their entire life is about working, eating sleeping, reproducing. But that’s exactly what we as humans do too. Isn’t it?! As for ‘Working’, of whatever I know, a large part involves collection and storage of food. Here I am talking about the ants, not some trip to the grocery store.
But we, of course are smarter and ‘evolved’ as they say, aren’t we? We work too, but for MONEY?!! We obviously fail to see that even this is to buy food, clothing and a place to see- if we consider basic requirements. So basically, we just take a longer route, while we slog at work, get paid at the end of the month and then go buy food with it. The ants just go out and get food directly (quite often from our kitchen compartments too)!
What else can money buy?
Clothes? Ants don’t need them.
Travel? They don’t need tickets and passports.
Discotheques? They can dance whenever they want, they don’t need pretentious time and place for it.
Just list anything else that comes to your mind and see what the ants do instead
Just one innocent tiny God’s creature can so wondrously put the whole pride of being ‘more evolved’ as species to pretense.
I say, Wake Up!
See that just mere physical structure difference or money doesn’t set us apart!
We still are a worker ant, slogging away to eternity. One needs to Excel in life by growing as a person, by growing as a good human and not just by mere promotions!
This ability to be able to meditate is only given us, isn’t it! One wouldn’t see an ant sitting cross legged with palms on thighs breathing deeply. The entire life of humans has been about: waking up- go to school/college/ work- come back home- eat- watch tv/talk/etc.- sleep. On weekends- go for movies/ hangout with friends. And then of course, the occasional vacations. 25/30 years of your life have passed by and it only feels like yesterday right? Well, another 30 will pass in the same way. And all people will remember you as some CEO of some company. If that’s just the case in reality, Sad it is! Let’s hope that doesn't happen.
Let’s live, lets experience something that we have never ever before in life.
Let’s get some exposure of the different flavors that life has to offer. I can promise one thing with the experience that I have. The satisfaction that one would get when one child hugs you will be unmatched to the ‘happiness’ you’ll get with your promotions. Go to an orphanage; adopt a child’s education- for as long as one can. Go to an old age home, take up some medical bills. Enroll for those teaching programs. OR SIMPLY ANYTHING SIMPLE!
The time to explore these little things is NOW. One will always have a choice. There is a choice to transcend into infinity and evolve yourself beyond a state of being human or, just scurry along crazily, for just tiny pieces of sugar!
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