Dear Editor,
While coming from office, one day I inadvertently touched FM button of Radio in the car, where a song was playing ‘Dil dhoondta Hai Fir Wahi, Fursat Ke Raat Din.’ All of a sudden, the anxiety caused by hectic schedule and pressure of work dips so quickly just like mercury dips in sphygmomanometer after measuring blood pressure.
I wondered, how just a song, or say just a few congenial words make such an impact on a person’s inner chaos. Life is moving at such a fast pace these days that we don’t know how quickly the time has lapsed, how rapidly the dawn has turned into dusk.
There were times, when there used to be evenings, and peoples have time for friends and neighbors. That was the time for recreation, relaxation, entertainment, fun and games.
In present era, where technology is ruling the world and everyone moving so hurriedly that it caused stress and depression to such a supreme level that one has no idea how quickly the day has gone by.
The days slip into weeks and weeks into months and before one could understand the relevance of real meaning of life, years of years pass.
If we could introspect, we will find that last 10, 20, 30 years of life went so swiftly that we are not aware what treasures we have lost to gain unwanted desires.
In the name of responsibilities, we have clutched ourselves so firmly in this ceaseless world that we have no idea when our children turned into adults and how quickly our parents swept away into old age.
If we ponder at years gone by, we realize that we are running a race which has no end. A journey which has led us nowhere, a journey where we have lost our morals, values, ethics in the name of gathering things.
No doubt, we have gathered the knowledge of the whole world. No doubt, we have information about, who owns which brand of car and which business someone is doing, but we are ignorant to our true self. Buddha has said, “What consumes your mind, controls your life.”
And the fact is that we are being run by such a technology, whose sole purpose is to let us run without understanding the real essence of life.
There is a Zen proverb, which says, ‘Sometimes simply by sitting the soul collects the wisdom.’ Sometimes you have a vast collection of songs in your library, but that one song on radio turns your day.
Everything humans have earned in this world, but not freedom, not leisure, not peace, not the satisfaction of being complete. We have no time to speak patiently to someone nor time to listen curiously. The whole of life is being run to earn the food for self and family but not a time to eat even two lobes of bread peacefully.
We are roaming all around to collect the things for ease of life but to enjoy those ease, again we don’t have time.
It is said that sometimes, one is only at peace, at rest, the day he is being carried for his funeral. Nowadays, even the advertising industry is pushing people with slogans, “Din Raat Daudti Zindgi, Thakna Mana Hai.”
Being in rest with body, mind and soul is very much needed to feel the essence of our true self. Get tired and sit with yourself. Get tired and talk to your real self. Get tired and listen to voice of your inner self. Get tired and take a deep dive in the fathom of your heart. Get tired and understand yourself.
Make time for yourself. Make time for your family. Make time for your parents.
Jagdish Raj,
Bishnah, Jammu.