SWEETHEART, THE COURSE HAS ALREADY BEGUN
“I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing
than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.”
-
e.
e. cummings
I find
it very amusing! Many parents come to me or call me to enquire about our ‘Personality
Development’ programme. It’s for their little kids or for their young ones… “What’s
that you teach them in this programme?” “Who are the teachers (trainers)?” “What’s
the duration?” “Will there be any visible change in the kid/young one?” Etc,
Etc, Etc…
I answer none
of these questions. To me, they seem too insignificant, even naive. Instead, I
tell them about these: Why I started these activities, three decades ago,
despite the fact that I myself had never, ever been to any such programmes… Why
a dozen brilliant teachers/trainers volunteer to offer their expertise in
carrying out this programme… Why, so often, parents, too, end up sitting with their
kids and find it so enriching… Why there cannot be a ‘syllabus’ for Personality
Development’… Why there cannot be one universal approach… Why number of
sessions do not really matter but the quality of one’s involvement does. I tell
them, that even if they sit under ‘the Bodhi Tree’ for 12 long years, there is
no guarantee that they will become ‘the Buddhas’… Because, they will become ‘the
Buddhas’ only in a flash!
Do they understand
my words – this ‘off-beat’ explanation?
Fortunately,
many do.
In
last one week, I must have had conversations with parents of at least a dozen
young ones. They come to me accompanied by their young ones. Yes, it starts
with the same old questions and apprehensions. Kids and young ones are, often,
reluctant to do it and parents are, often, anxious that it is something very,
very important. I spend a lot of time discussing these issues with the parents
as well as the young ones… I tell them clearly and most sincerely, that even if
the young one attends a hundred programmes like the one they have come for, the
change – ‘the Buddha experience’ – can happen only when the Siddharthas are
ready!
“The course
has already begun, sweet heart,” I told Paurush, two days ago. The 15-year-old and
his parents had come to me to ‘discuss’. We had discussed for more than thirty
minutes; and, during this period, I had touched upon so many things about life,
attitude and development of personality. So, I was reminding Paurush and his
parents: “Why are we not recognizing the lessons that Life offers us right now,
right here?” “Why are we waiting for the stars to dance in the sky?” “Why are
we not able to hear the amazing song the little bird sings right here, right
now?”… Yes, I reminded Paurush, “Sweetheart, remain awake… the course has already
begun!”
“We cannot teach people anything,” said Galileo Galilei, “we can only help them discover it within themselves.”
One
early morning, many years ago, I had been to one of my friend’s house to find a
way out of my own problem. A particular problem was weighing upon my mind
heavily and I was passing through some sleepless nights. So, that early
morning, I was there at my friend’s place to unburden myself and, as I said, to
find a quick way out of my pain…
My friend, after hearing me out patiently, and with empathy, for nearly an hour, played on his computer a small story…
A man was watching a butterfly coming out of its cocoon… It was a slow
process… The man was unable to see the struggle, the pain, and, in his
eagerness to help the butterfly to come out faster with less pain, he helped it
with a pair of scissors. With this, the butterfly did come out faster and with
less pain… But, crippled, it couldn’t fly for the rest of its life!
My friend, with his eagerness to help me, did not want to
cripple me for my life… He wanted me to go through my ‘natural process of
growth’ and be able to fly gloriously for the rest of my life…
Why
is this obsession in us, this anxiety, to bring out butterflies faster? Let the
stars dance in the skies and let the birds sing in the woods… And, let our
hearts remain awake when they do…
“Sweetheart, the course has already begun!”
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: Anil Bedi
Video: Lessons Taught By Life
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