COUNTING THE FOOTWEAR OUTSIDE MY DOOR

 



“There has been only one Christmas -

the rest are anniversaries.”

W. J. Cameron

A dear friend of mine, who is a spiritual teacher, would, often, joke about his own fraternity, just to drive home the point: Here on earth, no one is ‘free’ from the human desire to be liked, followed and praised. “Do you know, that there is competition among we religious teachers, too?” He would, often, poke fun at his own fraternity. “Our popularity is measured by the no of footwear outside our doors?”

Well, that may have been a joke my friend would crack just to make us feel less burdened with our own human nature to seek more attention. But, the truth has been – in my opinion - this: Freedom is tough!



Today is 26th December.  In once England-ruled countries, it was called the ‘Boxing Day’. How did this name come about? One of the versions is that, on 26th, the servants were sent on a day off with boxes of gifts…

“Physical greeting cards are extinct these days. Greetings come, virtually, from left, right and center… From top and bottom, as well! As a little boy, I remember, counting the greeting cards… Yes, more the merrier. We proudly displayed them around the Christmas Tree. Now, there are a thousand virtual cards and greetings. Though we don’t display them around the Christmas Tree, we do display them, proudly, around our egoes…

“Got more than 500 messages, today,” someone boasted yesterday. Was he alone counting, or we all were?

I remembered my Guruji friend and his colourful imagery: the number of satsangis’ footwear outside the door!

Mukti is very hard to achieve, even for the ‘evolved’!

Merry Christmas is now going to be ‘Compliments of the Season’… till the New Year comes. I look back at 2020 and recall how coolly we all had wished each other “A Happy and Prosperous New Year”! Here is what one of my friends shared, last evening, about 2020…

 



Meanwhile, a building couple, dear friends, came over to wish us Merry Christmas with a pretty croton-plant. “We thought this would be there for long compared to a bouquet of flowers,” they said…

“How thoughtful,” we said!





Another dear friend wanted to wish me Merry Christmas with some mischief… “Hello” she said…

 



All is well as long as our hearts are able to feel the simple joy and friendship. Our 500 greetings will not make our lives less burdensome. Yes, they may be able to massage our egoes… But, simple joy has nothing to do with the number of cards or messages we receive, or the footwear outside our doors!

Let's give away those ‘heavy boxes’ to the needy… It’s the ‘Boxing Day’ today!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA 

Pic's .:1. pixabay  2. www.alamy.comc 3. Unknown

Video: 1. SRCC 2. Source unknown

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