As he is clearing his desk, he tells his protege never to get so caught in the busyness of routine that he loses track of the advancements being made in the field. He implores him to lock himself in a cupboard if required to and keep abreast about everything that is going on and not turn into a relic who is out of touch with the latest advancements.
The story of Gautama Buddha is well known to most of us, even if we don’t practice Buddhism or read its texts.
As the story goes, Siddhartha (Buddha’s original name) was the son of a king who lived a life of luxury. His father had been told that if his son left the palace, he would become an ascetic and in a bid to prevent his son from becoming one, he did his best to ensure that he never left the palace. He was accorded all the luxuries he desired and had no clue about the world outside the confines of the palace.
One day, he happened to venture out of the palace and what he saw transformed him. His excursions opened his eyes to human suffering and death, things that been kept away from him for all the time that he was confined to the palace. He then chose to shun the life of luxury and left behind the life he had known in search of the real meaning of life. His journey and discoveries formed the tenets of Buddhism.
While few of us might have dabbled in meditation and yoga, read a few religious texts, experienced moments of ‘zen’ and ‘nirvana’, all of us are like Buddha in our own ways. No, we aren’t all enlightened and nor have we attained nirvana, but all of us are ignorant in our ways just like Buddha was before he attained enlightenment.
From time to time, all of us enter into our own cubby holes and get comfortable. Inevitably, something happens that shakes us out of our revelry and we are forced to jump, looking for safe ground. If we’re wise, we can use these moments to explore and see what is out there. A similar thing happened to me when a particularly uncomfortable experience forced me to look out and explore. And when I finally went on that journey, my mind was blown and I was kicking myself for not beginning that journey sooner.
The moment I realized how much there was to learn and saw all the ways in which I could contribute, I was freed from the limiting world that I was inhabiting.
There is a wonderful book by author Arthur Hailey called The Final Diagnosis. Set in a fictional hospital, it examines the challenges faced by medical staff in the hospital. One of the central characters in the book is Joe Pearson, a brilliant pathologist who is close to retirement and someone who is opposed to change. His stubborn ways and being out of touch with the advances made in the field cause him to not consider all the possibilities while doing tests and coming to conclusions, resulting in a gross misdiagnosis that causes a young patient to lose her leg. That is the last straw and he is asked to resign. As he is clearing his desk, he tells his protege never to get so caught in the busyness of routine that he loses track of the advancements being made in the field. He implores him to lock himself in a cupboard if required to and keep abreast about everything that is going on and not turn into a relic who is out of touch with the latest advancements.
Just like the Buddha did all those centuries ago, we too will be benefitted if every once in a while we get out of the palaces of our own making and see what’s happening in the world outside.
We might not attain enlightenment, but it will surely reduce our ignorance.
P.S. Whether you agree or vehemently disagree with my perspectives, I’m glad to listen to what you have to say. Continue the conversation at pawanram0823@gmail.com
