In spite of great advances into the material world, men have not learnt the essential arts of living

If we compare a growing plant and a growing child, we will understand what the difference between men and nature is.

A plant when grows up, gathers a lot in its stem, and from here, it forms the grain, which is not meant for its own consumption, because it cannot eat grain. The grain that it produces is meant for others. And, it does not feel a sense of fulfilment until the grain is eaten up by squirrels or birds, or even men. Buffaloes and lactating cows, if left un-milked, can they stay in peace?

Now compare it with a growing child. While growing up, it sucks vital elements from outside. And when it grows up, the grain that it grows in its mind, should have been for the benefit of the wide world. But no. This brain is used for his own good. Rather, it is used for being injurious to others, so that it can reap gains for itself.

Teaching Living Arts

This is natural movement of a man’s mind. To teach him living arts, we need a whole library of scriptures. Whereas, the plant was self-educated. Men need scriptures, and holy lectures, to teach him a simple lesson in social usefulness. Wordsworth was not off the track when he said: “An impulse from a vernal wood, May teach you more of man, of moral evil and of good, than all the sages can”.  Here you can see, on one side is a single plant and on the other, sages and saints and their wisdom, to teach you what a plant already knows. From this I deduce that what animals, birds and vegetation know originally, is superimposed on men through special training, as if they are mentally retarded.

Sheikh Farid writes:

Farid man maidan kar, man di lahe bhraand

 Darvesha nu lodiyai, rukhan dee jeerand

[O Farid, level up your mind, and leave all confusions and illusions. The men of God need the fortitude of trees].

Trees possess great fortitude. Even if you cut them, they won’t cry, not assault you. But men are short of temper. Touch a man, and then, count your limbs if they are complete.

The Magnificent versus the Malignant

I sometimes wonder where is the dividing line between the magnificent world of nature and the malignant world of men. What is that object which has let nature remain benign, and turned the human world carcinomic. .

In my humble opinion, fire is the dividing line. There is a race which does not cook its food, i.e. nature, and eats it raw. And there is a race, the human race, which cooks its food. The fire is a symbol of lust, and greed. And from this point issue forth all the evils that were at first lying contained in Pandora’s Box.

Putting all evils back into Pandora’s Box

Can we put all evils back in the box? At present, we don’t even know what is right and what is wrong. We only know that we must work for our gain, and anything that does not cater to our prosperity, is harmful to our interest. Hope is languishing in the box and does not know what to do with itself.

Men, who were given the gift of knowledge, failed to match up to the wisdom of vegetational and the animal kingdom. Even winds and waters show more loyalty to their original character than men. It is highly paradoxical that while men believe in change, and you cannot recognize them after a chunk of fifty years, objects of nature, on the contrary, consider it a great quality to be steadfast in their loyalty to their essence. Banana has not been afflicted by the currents of modernism. Nor have mangoes adapted to any changes in human living style. They are sweet. That is all. Winds, if they have become heavy, it is not because of their nature, but they are suffering the pangs of man’s progress. If mountains are having a hard time due to cloud bursts, we can trace its reason in the blind passion of man, for more and more. The nature does not change its essential brief. If there is any change, it is in the ranks of men.

Modernization: From Fire to Electricity

The progress of mankind towards modernization signifies only one thing: its distance from the original essence or nature. At first it was fire, now, it is the more powerful, but more silent electricity, which has moved man planets away from the earth. Things have not stopped yet. Man is still moving forward, and the distance between nature and man is growing. Man is forgetting the living arts, and gathering killer arts of a superficial living based on artificial props.

The Suicide Mission

It is a pity, there is no chance man will ever let it into his head that he is on a suicide mission. That he cannot survive on artificial supports, that his passion, his anger, his jealousy, for gods will ultimately consume him. Why is he after power? Why is he after greed? He has a small stomach. And there is no dearth of food on this earth. If I say animals are wiser, it is not for nothing. In the colonies inhabited by men, there are people who are dying of starvation. Can man show one animal, who is not tethered, dying of starvation? In spite of so much knowledge, power & wealth, where is the joy on the faces of men?

Take Away

In spite of great advances into the material world, men have not learnt the essential arts of living. One principle is: if we go on getting, and don’t share, we are, as I said earlier, on a suicide mission. We shall have to make man realize the fact that life does not lie in modernism, nor in progression, nor in stocks, does it live in essential joy. If we can keep the winds and the waters happy, and if the animals know they have a friend in man, things might change for the better. All depends upon one fact: have we learn the living arts, of love and respect for the creation?

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Published under International Cooperation with "Sindh Courier"