Monotony is an inbuilt aspect of our lives. Internally, my heartbeat, functioning of every organ is monotonous & repetitive. On a more gross level, habits like eating food, brushing my teeth, bathing etc. are repetitive & monotonous.
Our 5 senses create an illusion of breaking the monotony. I have a variety of flavours, colours, smells; these prevent me from getting
‘bored’ of doing repetitive acts like ‘eating’ everyday.
I have, however, wondered very often, why monotony & repetition is such a big part of my everyday activity?? There had to be a reason.
I would like to share a story here that comes to my mind:
Once a woman wanted to learn how to meditate! She approached a
wise man & the wise man re-directed her to a goldsmith. The woman
approached the goldsmith & said, “Please teach me how to meditate!”
The goldsmith was surprised at the request & said “I donot
have any knowledge about how to quiet the mind & mediate. However, you are
welcome to watch what I do through the day & gather information that might
be of use to you.”
The goldsmith did an extremely repetitive & monotonous task.
He burnt a piece of metal in fire, brought it out of the fire, increased the
heat & put the metal in fire again & again & then when satisfied
gave the metal the form of an beautiful ornament’.
The bewildered woman asked the goldsmith ‘what do you achieve by
this monotonous act.’
The goldsmith replied ‘burning this piece of metal in fire
removes its impurities.’
Woman asked ‘How do you know when to stop?’
Goldsmith “I go on till the metal is pure enough to reflect back
my own image in it’.
Message for the week:
In life we have to go through several monotonous activities like
studying, traveling, working in an office, cooking food etc…
The creator of this universe is the ‘Goldsmith’; ‘burning in the
fire to remove impurities’ represents going through activities that cause us
discomfort on the physical, emotional & mental level.
Passing through 'the fire'(of fear, monotony & boredom), clears our mind & intellect of unnecessary thoughts & judgements & thus we start reflecting our divine qualities like creative thoughts, love, inner peace, happiness and balance.
Was it not Thomas Edison who, on invention of the bulb, said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. I've just found 10,000 ways (of making a bulb) that won't work".
For eg. When learning to play a guitar, only if I transcend the initial monotony and boredom of playing chords, after I pass through the intense pain I feel in my finger tips, only if I hang on with consistency for years for the same repetitive practice, will it ultimately be possible for me to someday create and play a Master piece in Music.
This week,
Thankyou so much for this wonderful knowledge....
ReplyDeleteIts amazing.
Will keep track with you.
Jai Gurudev,
Jusstine
Mumbai
Thank you Jusstine
DeleteI will not follow the monotony of always saying the same 'thank'. got the point, this gives me the strength to go through the rut at work & home.
ReplyDeleteAll the best
Deleterightly said, either the mind gets stuck & becomes dull, or want sto run away from unpleasant situations. would be great if there were some easy solutions in life
ReplyDeleteNo gain without pain. Progress has its price, just go through it once & the same situations will not get repeated again. Trust me!!
DeleteJAIGURUDEV DIDI WONDEFULLY SAID AND EXPLAINED
ReplyDeleteThank you SO SO SO Much… for your comment, your presence, your encouragement
Delete