Truth:
Raj pondered over what the old man had been
telling him. Was it really true that life could be broken down into
phases, that those things that we love and hold dear could actually be
the things which lead us astray on the spiritual path? He quickly
followed the old man as they both got off the train and were about to
go their separate ways. He could not help but notice that the old man
seemed to just pass on by the people crowding the train, doing so in an
almost metaphorical way.
"Excuse me," said Raj as he stepped alongside the old man, "do you
think I could walk with you for a bit?"
"But of course," replied the elder.
"It's just that," began Raj, "I don't exactly understand what all you
have been talking about. Well, I mean, I do in theory, but it just
seems so extreme to apply it the way that you do. You just walk along
through life doing what you think is right and acting like this world,
this big world that surrounds us, is just totally a distraction."
The old man stopped walking. He turned to Raj and led him to a place
where they both could sit down. Once seated, he took a deep breath,
exhaled, and put a big smile on his face and looked straight into the
impressionable eyes of the young man.
"Simply put, I hold my beliefs to be true. I don't
question them;
rather, I let them question me. I examine my life and see if I am doing
what it is that I believe in. I believe that each one of us, from all
walks of life and all sizes, shapes, and colors, has a mission and a
gift. Their mission may be big or small, but their life will be
incomplete if they do not fulfill it. Their gift may be to help
hundreds of thousands of people, or maybe just one person that they met
one day and who they will never see again. The important part is to
fulfill your mission and to give your gift to the world. This is truth,
this is Dharma. One has an importance that is solely outside of the
self, and it is only by viewing the world as a trivial testing ground
that one can realize their importance. I believe that I have achieved
my purpose. Now, the time has come for me to renounce. I must complete
my final stage of life, that of Sannyasa, where one loses their
identity with the self and merges with the ocean that is god."
The old man paused for a moment and then smiled again.
"If you want to have a better idea of what I am
telling you, try to
view the world in the manner that I have described. Perhaps pick up
those great books by the names of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. In
them you
will find men who have fulfilled their purpose in life. Read of Rama,
the man whose mission and gift to the world were so great that they
took on an importance that made his self and individual secondary. Read
of Lakshmana, a man who's purpose in life was solely to devote himself
to another. Read of Sita, a woman more brave and patient than
any other that came before or after her. Read of Yudhishthara and his
family,
a man who searched for righteousness in the midst of the greatest
family strife imaginable. Most importantly, remember that your life is
yours, and you are ultimately responsible for your greatest successes
and your greatest failures."
Having said all that was on his mind, the old man looked into Raj's
eyes for one last time, nodded his head, and disappeared into the
crowded street that was life.
Author's Note:
I have tried to
make
this story convey an over all message of what I feel is the philosophy
of the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Through the use of the old man, I have
been able
to assume an air of superiority in terms of knowing the truth and
living it,
while through the use of the young Raj, I have been able to assume an
air of
youth and ultimately the opposite of the old man. Both of my figures
create a
yin and a yang, thus while one preaches, the other listens. This has
allowed me
to explain a little bit about Dharma not only to those who have read
this story
book, but also to myself (I am one of those weird people who often have
to
write in order to really be able to think about something). With this
story in
particular, being the final chapter, I have attempted to summarize the
beliefs
of the old man and how they relate to Dharma. I have tried to briefly
reconnect
them with the Ramayana and the Mahabharata while not spending too much
time
actually retelling the stories (that's why we read the books right?).
In the
end, I hope that my story book has been able to convey some of my
own
thoughts and meditations on life, while also creatively weaving it into
the
assigned subject matter.
Back to...
The Cover Page
Introduction
The First Story: The Brahmacharya
The Second Story: The Grihastha
The Third Story: The Vanaprastha
Image Information:
The
bright sun breaking through the clouds.
Bibliography:
Buck, William. Ramayana. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2000.
Narayan, R. K.. The
Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the
Indian Epic (Penguin Classics). London: Penguin Classics, 2006.
