The Big And the Small

SURENDRA NARAYAN





Everything that exists in Nature has its place and relevance therein. Emerson's poem `Fable' refers to a quarrel between a mountain, high and mighty , and a little squirrel, nestling in one of the trees on the mountain. It ends with the squirrel saying: “If I'm not as large as you, You are not so small as I, And not half as spry . Talents differ, all is well and wisely put; If I cannot carry forests on my back, Neither can you crack a nut“.Everything and everyone has a role to play in the total scheme of things -the mountain and the squirrel, the clouds high up and the dust down below, the tall trees and the tiny weeds growing under them. Similarly, every individual possesses different capacities which are necessary and useful in their respective spheres and positions in life.
Even among the religious there sometimes arises a subtle sense of pride in their learning, their mastery of literature, philosophy and metaphysics, in their ability to present with felicity the most difficult and abstruse teachings of great saints. But as Shankaracharya cautions in the Vivekachudamani: “Good pronunciation, command of language, skill and learning are for the delectation of the mind, and not for obtaining liberation!“ Even the “lowliest“ should not suffer a sense of inferiority about one's state or station in life since such a feeling arises from a narrow perception of life. As the squirrel observed, “All is well and wisely put“.