A new temple was being built, hundreds of laborers were engaged in building it. New stones were being broken, and new sculptures and idols were being created. A poet, having lost his way, walked near the temple. He asked a laborer engaged in breaking a stone that – My friend! What are you doing?
The worker replied with fury-filled eyes burning with fire, and replied angrily – Are you blind? I am breaking stones. And he restarted breaking the stones. He seemed to break the stones with a fury full of revenge on his whole life in some form of vengeance.
The poet went ahead and asked another laborer working further. That laborer was also breaking the stone. He asked – My friend! What are you doing? That laborer raised his sad eyes, looked at the poet, and replied – I am earning a livelihood for the children. And he restarted breaking the stones with the same sadness. His life seemed to be completely bereft of any vigor, joy, song, beauty, music, or happiness. Life looked like a burden to be carried until the finish.
His style of breaking the stone was akin to someone pulling a weight through inability, helplessness, misery, without any way out. The poet proceeded ahead and asked the third laborer who was also breaking the stone. But he was singing songs while breaking the stones. His eyes glowed with a joyful spark, full of fragrant spirit. He was happily singing the song enjoying a passionate dance within his whole self. The poet asked him – My friend! What are you doing? He lifted his laughing eyes and with musical notes replied – I am building a temple of God.
Those three laborers, all three of them, used to break stones. All three of them used to do the same work but they performed their tasks differently. In furious anger. In the gloom, burden, and meaningless spirit. In joy, bliss, and offering. One was breaking a stone, other was earning a livelihood, while the third was building a temple of God. How can you enjoy the hard labor of breaking stones? How can you sing or dance while earning the livelihood? However, building a temple of God can certainly be joyful.
Similarly, there are three kinds of people in our temple of life. Three types of laborers building this temple of life. You can think of your life as a sad burden, or you can stay blissfully happy in life while perfectly completing all tasks in joy.
What kind of laborers are we? Are we just breaking the stones, earning our livelihood, or building the temple of God? You should remember that our life turns into whatever perspective we view it from. Life is like a blank slate or a blank sheet of paper. Whatever our perspective be, It gets etched. Our spirits dance and get etched. The emotions we write our life with, create similar situations in our life. We do not get born with life, rather we build it daily.
Life is inaccessible at birth, it becomes available at death. Life is a long journey, and whatever we see or make daily, gets built. Therefore, continual creation of noble thoughts within our own self, and acting of those auspicious thoughts progressively develop our life into a magnificent temple of Almighty.
Unfortunately, thousands of years of education have taught humans to remain unhappy. Our perspective is always full of sorrow. Nobody has drafted an education to teach assimilation of joy within the life. The focus is on the one who revolts against life, the one who opposes life, condemns life, give up life, to explain some salvation outside life, to seek it out to be freed from life itself.
The education teaching these tenants has always remained on this planet earth. However, we could never develop the education or science to turn life into salvation or to convert availability into joy. Thus this frustrated education is responsible for this depressive miserable state of the humans.
Life is full of sorrow, because we are not able to provide the capability and skills to make life enjoyable. Our life is not miserable due to looking outside with these sad eyes. The sorrow within our eyes darkens our entire life. Why to always seek out, throughout the life. This is so because, we have tamed sadness, a pessimistic perspective. And perspective is responsible for this entire misery.
Leave the illusion of perceiving life from a sadistic point of view, cast away the view that life is miserable. If anything is bad, it is me, my own self. Realizing the badness of mine, can lead us to a cure for this. How can you change your life? Completely wrong! If life is bad, then there must be a way to change it, as it is so long. There is only one single way. We will have to change our thoughts, alter our perspective, otherwise, it all will finish one day. If we do not change it today, then it will only create frustration and despair, cause flight from life or lead to the creation of more traditions to run away from life.
All of us are standing in that circle. Break this circle and rebel against the ignorance, and the sadistic perspective. This will create space for potential bliss, leading to the emergence of the spark of joy. Thus continuous consistent noble wisdom will lead to the creation of noble situations in life.
With divine blessings,
Kailash Shrimali
