THE OLD RULE OF PLAY...























“The best way to bring down our suffering in life
is to carry our crosses… gladly!”


I came across this line, this morning, on a waste paper! 

I stood there, still, for a while… and read it, and read it again and again and again:

“The best way to bring down our suffering in life
 is to carry our crosses… gladly!”


“So simple!” I really felt like as  though I had just discovered a new continent!


As a small child, every time I resisted the work given to me by mom, she would scream:

“If you do your work happily,
you will have more time to play!”


This meant: if I resisted more – complained, grumbled, argued, fought and postponed – I would simply add more trouble in my life… waste away my time… ruin my joy… and, yes, I would have less time to play, enjoy. My stress would deprive me of my joy, my playfulness.


The rule had applied everywhere - from my school homework to every other work… Yes, when I was small.

 
Today, at 54, the rule still applies: Right from the time I wake up till the time I retire… yes, each day, every day…


If I pay my bills in time, and gladly, I would feel the joy of this act:  of paying my bills. My tax, my EMI’s, my Premiums, the college fees of my son, the cost of medical treatment of my family members… all these payments can be a source of my joy or source of my stress depending on how I pay them. 




Any condition, any situation 


that I meet in life 


can be seen in the same manner: 


I can meet it gladly 


or I can meet it 


throwing my resistance. 



It applies to my relationships, too. How another person behaves with me, reacts to me, treats me… and, my response to his behavior, reaction and treatment… yes, my well-being is determined by my response…


The less I resist, the less I suffer…the more peaceful I am!


By the same token, the more I resist, the more I suffer… the less peaceful I am!





 






So, what caught my eyes, this morning, had been there all the while... writ-large on every wall… 


My eyes had seen it before… a million times over… still missed it!


Today, that wastepaper had made its random presence in my heart just to remind me, all over again, about the old rule of play:

 “The best way to bring down our suffering in life
is to carry our crosses… gladly!”



It only meant:

“Son, if you do your work happily,
you will have more time to play!”



GERALD D’CUNHA

Pics.: 1.Amit Bhoir

         2. Prajakta


Comments

jaya kadam said…
true. the more we resist, the more stress we experience. you hve conveyed it so beautifully.
---- jaya
October 14, 2012 at 6:26 PM
Vikas Jagtap said…
Enjoyed reading. inspiring post.
... Vikas
October 14, 2012 at 10:43 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...