PROSPER AND BLOOM - 1

One sometimes wonders at the time spent on yearning, reaching, craving for the illusory wealth of money. Lifetimes go by in the chase. An elusive prize, indeed; one that makes superhuman demands of time and effort. And appears and vanishes at will.

Why has this money benumbed our senses? Why do we direct our children into an ‘education’ with the lure that it will earn them more and more money? If a child paints well, he is encouraged by spinning dreams of how well his pictures will sell and how rich they will make him. Doesn't the richness of his passion, the satisfaction of the picture he creates make him wealthy already in a way no amount of money can? 

If a child talks about studying to be a doctor, we talk to her about how much money doctors earn, not about how many ailments they cure and how much succour they bring. Is it not a misconception that all work is aimed at monetary gain, and that after having earned 'enough', one may sometimes take some ‘quality time’ out for what one enjoys being or doing?

If I profess confidence that a benevolent God looks out for me, then why do I go overboard in trying to 'provide' for ‘my’ children?

Were my elders crazy when they let me ride a horse or row a boat or swim in a river or climb a mountain or study what I wished as I liked and follow any profession that came my way? No! They were all heart. Their faith did not need to rest on me or my abilities. They knew that God would take care of me.

Money is happenstance. So is passion. Why do I let one be clouded over by the other?

The time spent on brooding on money, on ways to get it, save it, hold it, spend it; can I spend those innumerable hours on life and living and playing and laughing and loving and reaching out and touching and breathing and walking and jumping and smiling and feeling? Could I forego the feel of owning thousands, for the feeling of giving or having hours and days? Could I spend the same time and effort on prayers, thanks, gratitude, love, cheerfulness and sympathy? 

So many centuries of humans have lived by toil and courage, prayer and fortitude. Toil gave them strength, forbearance, endurance. Now we hear that toil gives fatigue. Cleaning the rug was fun, but now the rug remains dirty till a paid cleaner does it. Painting a door or wall. Feeding the cow. The sly and sharp demeanour that was reserved for bankers, card sharps and loan sharks seems to have become the wise and wanted look. ‘Ferret faced’, one old writer used to call them.

Is that what the generation gap is, that we are children of a benevolent god and they are children of anxious parents!

This unthinking and blind race for money preys so heavily on ties of family and friendship, of love and camaraderie. Everything is measured in money. It brings families and governments and nations to their knees.

Love and caring and services and blessings and time and effort and prayers, can they ever have an equivalent in money? Let us work to go forward, or backwards, to days when 'payments' are made in prayers and blessings, 'dua' and 'ashirvaad'! 

There is so much Barkat in that; so much thriving and flourishing, blooming and prospering, blossoming and fragrance. And Love.

Let us live in Love, and its inner glow.