Vedanta - Wonderful Balance

ISHAN CHAUDHURI





It came to the head of a man that all his stress had its source in worrying about two things: one, whether he would be able to keep the things he possessed, and, two, how to obtain the things he wanted.The man was also a pragmatic man. He knew that things outside his control -the well-being of loved ones, the condition of traffic, the price of things -were not worth fretting over. What he worried about was his ability to maintain his life as he wanted to live it.So, upon being told by friends and family that he should focus on matters spiritual in nature -fixing his thoughts on intangibles or contemplat ing the beauties of a skyline or a novel -he sought to try out this new regime.
After some initial resistance, he took ance, he took the non-material world like a duck takes to water. Everything was going fine until people started noticing that the man's surroundings were going to seed. He became increasingly dependent on others without even noticing it.
The same friends and family members who had advised him to take his mind off material things now counselled him, “It is the physical world that we all live in. You can't neglect it!“ The man, puzzled and feeling sorry for his wellwishers, came up with a solution: he started producing things inspired by the objects of spirit that moved him.These things he produced became his only objects of contemplation. And a wonderful balance was born.