Living Dispassionately Like A Disenchanted Spectator
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
27 January
2023
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Human Life Finds Its True Significance, In
Fact, Its True Calling In The Non-Involvement Of Life's Interminable Illusions.
A Superior And Un-Agitated Mind Realises This And Gets Insouciant To Worldly
Pleasures, Though It Doesn't Make Its Indifference Obvious.
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Go beyond limit
Travel beyond time
Like an evolved hermit
Live life sublime
Arthur John
Arberry's translation of Persian mystic Anwari's Rubai
A few days
ago, I read a beautiful thought in the
Persian mystic Jami's profound poetry, ' There's a mystic in a truly
intellectual self which doesn't let one get too attached to anything.'
It made me
think. A truly intellectual mind is above mundane attachments because there's
an ever present hermit in the core of an enlightened person.
Gita's
eternally thought-stirring exhortation by Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield,
'Tanmay Apitu Tatasth' (engrossed, yet not involved) articulates this
evolved state of mind which remains like a 'Drashta' (spectator) despite
being in the hullabaloo of life.
Asadullah
Khan 'Ghalib' articulated this higher consciousness in his inimitable manner, 'Bazeech-e-Atfaal
Hai Duniya Mere Aage/Hota Hai Shab-O-Roz Tamasha Mere Aage' (The world is
like a child's play/This charade has been going on before me for ages).
The
cavalcade of life is best observed from a distance when one is an indifferent
spectator. A little distance always lends a new perspective to life and
Truth. 'Saahil Pe Baith Ke Lahron Ko
Dekhte Hain/Saakit Khade Hum Door Se Chehron Ko Dekhte Hain' (Sitting on
the sea-shore, I look at the swelling waves/Remaining silent and unfazed, I
observe the faces from a distance).
To see life
in its myriad avatars, it's a must to observe it from a distance with the heart
and mind of an uninvolved onlooker. When the great Buddhist monk Sariputra was
arrested and taken to the king of Java, the king asked him, 'Young man, you'll
soon be beheaded. Are you not afraid?' The ever calm Sariputra said, ' Why
should I be scared just because the blade of the sword will cause me some pain
while getting decapitated by it? I have a body but I'm not in it. I have gone
beyond the quotidian feelings of pain and pleasure.' The king was stunned by
the fearlessly measured reply of 23-year-old Sariputra and he freed him to
spread the compassionate message of his master Buddha.
The same
happened when the great Arab mystic Mansoor Hallaj was being excoriated for
proclaiming 'An-al-Haq' (I'm the Truth) in 922 AD. The evolved mystic
went beyond all perceived pains of the human body and proudly declared on the
cross that this very pain had now metamorphosed into indescribable bliss: Dard
Ka Had Se Guzarna Hai Dava Ho Jaana' (When pain exceeds its limits, it
becomes its own remedy!).
We all can
be interested and disinterested in life just like the great souls mentioned
here. It's very much possible to be engrossed, yet not immersed just like water
and oil. The two remain together but don't get mixed up and merged like milk
and water. ' Duniya Mein Hoon, Duniya Ka Talabgaar Nahin Hoon/ Baazaar Se
Guzra Hoon, Khareedaar Nahin Hoon' (I'm in this world, but I'm not desirous
of it/I've gone to the market but not as a buyer). Akbar Allahabadi’s
philosophical take on life is further consolidated by an unknown Urdu poet's
equally apposite couplet that puts an accent on the dispassionate existence of
an individual, despite his ostensible involvement in life's varied activities,
'Majnoon Hain Magar Khwahish-e-Laila Nahin Karte/ Hum Ishq Toh Karte Hain, Tamanna Nahin Karte
' (I'm a lover but I don't long for my beloved/I love but I don't covet).
Human life
finds its true significance, in fact, its true calling in the non-involvement
of life's interminable illusions. A superior and un-agitated mind realises this
and gets insouciant to worldly pleasures, though it doesn't make its
indifference obvious.
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A regular columnist for New Age Islam,
Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to
Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in
several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/dispassionately-disenchanted-spectator/d/128971
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