Is it possible to create meaning out of small things in life & get frequent moments of happiness thereby? Or generate lasting feel-good memories from small acts? And then make a sigma of all these small deltas to reach as much near as possible to the state of permanent happiness? Bliss?
Yes, we can do that. We don’t need an abundance of wealth or a perfect body. Neither do we need hundreds of admirers and high social positions. All we need is an empathetic mind and a compassionate heart. An awareness of the universal consciousness residing in all living beings and willingness to identify ourselves with that.
My friend narrated an interesting incident that correlates with the above beautifully. He has a refined mind and is compassionate in his ways. A remarkably evolved person! The story in his words is as follows.
“One morning I went to the washbasin as usual. As I was about to open the water tap, I noticed three black ants in the washbasin standing around a fourth one lying motionless. One of the three ants was moving to & fro as if trying to move the fourth one.”
“As they sensed my presence, they quickly scurried to the safety of the drain hole. The third one followed them a little slowly, as if reluctantly. Curiosity got over me. I bent and took a close look. There was a dead body of a small size ant, stuck to the washbasin in its own body fluid. Possibly the other three ants were trying to dislodge the body and carry it away. Instinctively I extended my little finger and gently freed it with the tip of my nail.”
“As soon as I did it, one of the ants quickly came out of the drain hole, sprinted towards the dislodged body, picked it up, ran back to the drain hole vanishing from my sight.”
He fell silent for a moment as if he was recalling the scene in his mind.
“I am still not able to understand,” he continued looking at me, “as to how the ants came to know my presence? Why the third ant moved slower than others? How she came to know that I have freed the body? How did she manage to come so fast, lift the body almost her size, and sprint back to the same place? What was that which controlled everything that happened?”
“Please believe me,” he concluded the story, “I prevented my family from operating the washbasin that whole day. I was concerned about the ants inside that drain. It sounds ridiculous. But I felt a sense of happiness in protecting their lives that whole day. I am still feeling good as I am remembering it.”
Sounds crazy? Yes. By all normal standards. Who bothers for the life of insignificant ants when most of us won’t care two hoots for the vast majority of the mankind around us? But think on this a little deeply. Isn’t here something called consciousness which connects all of us beyond our bodies? The more spiritual-minded we are, the more aware we are of that consciousness. Couldn’t it be the same indestructible consciousness that my friend and three ants had in common, which controlled what happened there?
Lord Krishna describes this consciousness in Bhagwat Gita.
अविनाशी तु तद्विध्दि येन सर्वमिदं ततम्।विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्र्चित्कर्तुमर्हति॥
How many of us are truly aware of this consciousness? How many of us identify ourselves closely with every other living being through it? Forget ants. How many of us identify ourselves with our parents, our spouses, our children, our neighbors, the stranger on the road, whose consciousness is the same as that of ours?
I am sure if we are aware of this on constant basis, it will certainly make us feel good on constant basis. It will be like the perennial river of Oxytocin flowing through every cell of our body. Who knows, it may geadually take us to the ultimate truth of life, as declared by one of the four महावाक्यानि of ऐतरेय उपनिषद.
प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म। The consciousness is the Brahman, the ultimate reality. And further elaborated in छांदोग्य उपनिषद as सर्वं खल्विदं ब्रह्म।Everything is finally this Brahman.
Once we realize this, then the state of सत् चित् आनंद, a feeling of permanent bliss is not far away. It will be here, in this life. Today, tomorrow, and forever! Through every big or small conscious act of ours!.
Either through the deepest transcendental meditation or just by being concerned about the three ants in the wash basin!
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