Can we become like the Ocean?

Can we become like the Ocean?

This is something to ponder upon. The ocean is vast and appears never ending. It has different moods and can be very calm and soothing or rage in anger. If you have sailed the calm seas you will know what I mean, even a slight roughness in the tides makes the ship sway up and down each wave – that is when we realise how puny we are in front of nature!

There is a story which can tell us the nature of the ocean and how we can relate to it. Here goes – a wave came on to a beach in one corner of the world and took a child’s slipper along with it. The child took a stick and wrote on the sands, ‘the ocean is a thief’. The same ocean on another shore helped fishermen catch lots of fish. A fisherman wrote on the sand, ‘the ocean is my guardian’. On another shore a youth who had gone swimming drowned and met his death. His grieving mother wrote on the sand, ‘the ocean is a murderer’. On yet another shore an old man with a bent over back was walking on the beach. He found a big oyster and inside the oyster was a massive blue pearl. He wrote on the sand, ‘the ocean is very generous and giving’. Suddenly a huge wave comes and wipes away all that is written by these people leaving behind just smooth wet sand.

Whatever people may say of the ocean, but the vast ocean is very comfortable in flowing in its own tides, the waves rising and falling according to the wind and the weather, it is not bothered about anything else. It determines its own ebullience and calm according to its own wishes – it does not depend on anyone else to determine its mood. It just flows according to its own wish.

If we want to become like the vast ocean then we must follow some simple rules  .  

1.  Don’t pay attention to someone else’s decision. Do whatever you feel is right.

2. 2. Do not worry about whatever has passed by – don’t let your mind get disturbed with binary thoughts such as victory-defeat, finding-losing, happiness-sadness, love-hate and so on.

3. 3. If life was to be full of peace and happiness then the child would not cry at birth and nor would relatives cry at the time of death.

4. Life’s challenges exist between the time when one cries at birth and makes others cry on dying!

Ref: An anonymous WhatsApp post in the Marathi language