Tuesday, February 13, 2007

The sickness of this age.

Busyness is the sickness or curse of this age. Even a lazy person has no time to be what he is. There is nothing wrong as such in being busy. However, what busy people try to accomplish is not addressing their need or solving anyone’s problems. Instead it makes even simple things complicated.

The first victim of busyness is relationships on every level. This not only affects relationships within the family, but also among friends, colleagues and it spreads to every part of society. The next victim is patience. As everyone wants instant solutions for everything in life, it deprives us to cultivate the best of virtues: PATIENCE. In addition, to cater to such needs now readymade and even artificial solutions are available. This naturally leads to the commercialization of life itself. Yes, instead of values now money alone is enough in life, as it will buy the ready-made solutions instantly.

Take for example the fine arts. In old times, what was learnt from a teacher (guru) was not merely the art, but also important values based on relationships. The guru also, instead of merely teaching the technique of the art, actually transmitted himself along with virtues and values to the shishya, based on relationship. Now what has happened to such a beautiful relationship? Neither the guru nor the shishya has time, as they are too busy with many things. So, what is known as ‘guru parampara’ (guru tradition) has not only disappeared, but even both teaching and learning have been commercialized.

Of course, certain forms need to be changed in life in order to accommodate ourselves to changes of the times. But not basic values.

The solution lies not in taking some holidays and then returning to the busy schedule, but rather in cultivating relationships, first at home and then extending to other areas of life. When RELATIONSHIPS again become center stage in life, it will serve as the best antidote the sickness of busyness. Busyness and doing things in a hurry are merely symptoms; the disease is insecurity. As relationships provide security, we will learn patience and will do things as they ought to be done - PROPERLY rather than busily.

Dayanand
Mathigiri, February 13, 2007.

2 comments:

Srikanth.M.S said...

hello swamiji, i am thrilled to see that you have started blogging. A very insightful entry to start with.

Ashish said...

Swamiji... I extend a warm welcome to you to the world of blogging ... not because I own this world but because I have been looking to engage in a सम्वाद, in a dialogue... and i hope that our relationship too becomes more and more meaningful in spite of the busy schedules ...