TOI, Patna 11/8/2008
Three Fishermen And Their Take On Life
Kishore Asthana
At two extremes of human behaviour are complacent people and the ego-driven, restless, overstrivers. The enlightened ones are beyond these two extremes.
Three people are fishing in a pond. The first has the normal ego-driven, self-centred mentality. The second is the complacent type. The third is an enlightened seer.
The first fisherman raves and rants when he does not catch fish. He blames his equipment, his wife, and his stars. He sits there with turmoil in his mind. He derives satisfaction from the fact that others haven’t caught any fish either. If he catches some fish, he compares these with what others have caught and is unhappy if his catch is less or if his fish are smaller. If his catch is more, he crows with satisfaction. In either case, he strives to get more the next time.
The complacent fisherman who has not caught any fish, spends the day reading and drinking. Finally, he sighs, withdraws his line. Collects his belongings and goes home, thinking that this is what his destiny is and he cannot help it if he did not catch any fish. He will not try any better the next time, as he has convinced himself that his destiny is not in his hands.
The enlightened fisherman lives every moment he is by the pond in a state of super-consciousness. He feels the wind on his face, not only from his own point of view, but also of the wind. He sees himself as part of his boat, he finds himself reveling in every wave on the pond. He flies with every bird. And what of the fish? He is there on the pond. Knowing this, the fish will come to him like iron to a magnet. Because of that, his line is his conscious will, not coarse thread. You can substitute money, followers, whatever else you wish, for fish.
When the fishermen go home, they feel differently. The ego driven fisherman will be in a foul mood if he has not caught any or few fish, kicking his dog and making his and everyone else’s life miserable. If he has caught more fish than the others, he will boast about this to everyone he meets.
The second will go home and sleep complacently. The realised one is at home wherever he is, and he will continue to enjoy the bliss of being equally intensely everywhere.
Many seekers think that if they feel complacent, they are showing signs of spirituality. However, whereas the complacent person has not seen anything astounding, nor is likely to, the truly awakened one has experienced a vision of the world which blows his mind. He has found that there is no difference between himself and all he perceives.
He becomes aware that the reality of all that he perceives through his senses had led him to believe. It is creative in a manner he could not have even suspected. It is full.
In contrast, the complacent person skims over the world, ignoring it and deluding himself that he is pursuing a spiritual life. In fact, he and the world are charting a path indifferent to each other.
We often tend to put a garb of spiritualism on our indolence and justify it by saying that this is a result of the passive nature of Hinduism.
This is either based on a wrong perception of our religious philosophy or rationalization. Those who hope to progress on the Path should not submit to this misunderstanding.
