IKIGAI AND SHIKAKAI

“Count your age by friends, not years;

Count your life by smiles, not tears.”

-     John Lennon

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Some of my heroes did not live long… Jesus Christ, Swami Vivekananda, Martin Luther King Jr., Terry Fox to name a few. But, I did not say, that did not live a meaningful, purposeful and impactful life. Even Mahatma Gandhi, Gautama Buddha, Mother Teresa did not live for a hundred years. But, did they not live a meaningful, purposeful and impactful life?

A long life can never be the barometer of a good life. Yes, if a long life comes my way, welcome. But, a meaningful, purposeful and impactful life doesn’t come my way unless I create it around me…

Many young kids, these days, rave about a book by the title ‘IKIGAI- The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life’. I said ‘many young kids’, because, I was introduced to this book by my own young son. Post that, I heard at lease half-a-dozen parents telling me, that they, too, were introduced to this book by their young ones!

Good for all of us!

Here is something about this book:

Wikipedia gives this explanation about the Japanese term ‘IKIGAI’:

Ikigai (生き甲斐, pronounced [ikiɡai]) is a Japanese concept that means "a reason for being." The word "ikigai" is usually used to indicate the source of value in one's life or the things that make one's life worthwhile.^[1] The word translated to English roughly means "thing that you live for" or "the reason for which you wake up in the morning."^[2] Each individual's ikigai is personal to them and specific to their lives, values and beliefs. It reflects the inner self of an individual and expresses that faithfully, while simultaneously creating a mental state in which the individual feels at ease. Activities that allow one to feel ikigai are never forced on an individual; they are often spontaneous, and always undertaken willingly, giving the individual satisfaction and a sense of meaning to life.

So, if you haven’t yet been lucky enough to be gifted or introduced to this book by your young one, go grab one for yourself… It’s a great read…

Having said that, I go back to what I stared with: What difference does it make if I do not live long? I am going to 62 in 2020. Have I lived well during these six decades? And, even if God gives me another four decades, what would I do with them?

To me, the whole idea of living long – for the sake of saying ‘I lived long’ - is a dumb idea. When Terry Fox learnt, that he had barely some months to live, the 22-year-old decided to go on a countrywide run (with his amputated leg) to raise 20-million dollars for the Canadian Cancer Society… And he did, before going down to the Cancer!

Christ went on the Cross at 33… Vivekananda and Marin Luther, both, went in their thirties… There are millions and millions, who do not live for hundred years… But, they live well… live a meaningful, purposeful and impactful life…

So, for today’s young kids, who think the island of Okinawa is a paradise, I say with a smile, “Dudes, the paradise is right under your feet… Just celebrate!”

When we were small, one of the great delights was to spend our entire summer vacation at our maternal grandparents' place. The house was, literally, in the midst of a thick jungle… with mud walls, hay-roof, floors prepared with cow-dung paste… Kerosene lamps, the jungle bushes for toilets… running brooks of water, wells and ponds, cows, buffaloes chicken, dogs, cats, and fields and fields of vegetation… By 8, everybody went off to sleep… but, never before saying the family prayers… The household woke up before the Sun came out… and, the activities would start… The women of the house washed clothes with Shikakai seeds of the jungle… The Shikakai seeds were used to wash our hair, too…

But, then, everyone around, in the village, had a similar life… Not that they chose that life… They had to make the most of that life. The best thing, and the last thing, was this: none of them were asked that ‘intelligent question’: “What is the purpose of your life?”

Thank God, today’s kids do not have to live in houses of hay-roof, mud-walls, and floors prepared with cow-dung paste… Today’s kids don’t sleep at all in the nights… leave alone going to the bed before 8!

But, I love these kids, including my own son. They live in what Charles Dickens famously said in the start of ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ – “The best of times… the worst of times”! And, they are the best of kids and, certainly, not the worst of kids!

We love them… and, we thank them for gifting ‘IKIGAI’ - the jadu buti from the paradise island, Okinawa… yes, for a ‘long and happy’ life!

All that I wish to give them back, as a simple and humble return-gift, today, are a fistful of seeds of Shikakai from the jungles of our maternal grandpa’s home…

Hope, they accept it and find it useful!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.:  Edu Carvalho 2. pixabay

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