The very purpose of human life is to enjoy abundantly. However, most people are living like zombies and struggling to make a living. The majority of human beings put in alot of energy, time, and money into amassing wealth in the mistaken belief that wealth will provide them happiness. We spend hours every week to make a living. The amount of stress is needless and can be avoided. We buy lot of things just to show off. When we share our joy with others it abounds and cascades into an avalanche. The way things are organized in the society we feel frustrated and annoyed at our lot in life. It is not about how much you have but how much you enjoy with meager resources. We are living in times when our lives are just wonderful but manufacturers through advertisement make us feel that we need to fix our lives.
Its time we made a paradigm shift to live in the present no matter what the situation is. Living in the now makes our lives blissful. There is an apt aphorism that today is the first day of the rest of our lives. The problem arises when we are worried and anxious about future. When you take care of the present future takes care of itself. Now and here are the storehouse of joy and happiness. It has been found that those who are grateful and contended enjoy their lives even though they have very little money. Of late it is found that the young generation is burning itself to amass wealth as they lack clear vision. Our society makes everyone run the rat race. Running the rat race makes our lives miserable. As per Gautam Buddha we are self-sufficient. We do not anything external to make our lives joyful. We should stop comparing, complaining and criticizing others and ourselves. We also need to make sure that we do not compete with others to ensure joy and bliss stay with us.
To be truly joyful does not take any money. Watching sunrise, sunset, a smile on the face of children, the blue sky, listening to the chirping of the birds, listening to music, watching the ocean tides and many more simple things can provide loads of joy. Avarice to fulfil our endless desires has made the world belligerent and war-prone. Both on the levels of micro and macro avarice spoils the joy. Joy is an inner mechanism and does not need external support. A person who is cheerful for no reason at all is happy and joyful in all the situations. All the other creatures are happy if they get their food and do not have ambitions which are a spoil-sport. Children are always in a joyful and cheerful mood. Even their sadness for not getting what they desire lasts for a brief moment and they come back to normal spontaneously leaving no traces of that frustration. Joy returns to them immediately.
It’s a clarion call to all the sentient beings to tune into natural state of joy rather than running on the treadmill and spoiling the heath. Running after amassing wealth is ridiculous as later on we spend our wealth to regain health. Nature has gifted and endowed lot of abundance but due the apathy of society everyone is out on the treadmill to amass wealth to secure future which as it is nebulous. In our quest for more and more we are plundering the nature and damaging its fragile balance which would lead to destroying the flora and fauna forever. Minimalistic living would ensure and promote camaraderie and salubrious society. The way we are exploiting nature we are living a dangerous world for the coming generation. We need to behave responsibly.
To conclude we have to coalesce all our energies to restore the pristine glory of our beloved mother earth. It has taken billions of years to bring nature to provide us abundance and within decades we will forever devastate and make the planet unlivable. Let each one of us simplify our lives so that there is egalitarian affluence ensuring equal opportunities and a decent life for all the creatures including all the other things in the cornucopia of mother earth.
Murli Chari
January 21, 2023
Comments