Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), today we will share this tale from the book Kalila Wa Dimna by Ramsay Wood, where he brings some of the ancient and timeless tales to life once again.
Also as we begin today ‘let us remember this about ‘Attention’. Our life experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to. Attention: is important and most of the times we are so indifferent to it. It is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. We feed the hunger blindly. Once the mechanism is brought to our attention and we begin to study it, it is as if a veil has been stripped off ordinary life, and we become freer in our action and choices.
THE FLIES IN HONEY
“A quiet minded dervish was passing a bazaar one day when he attracted the attention of an impoverished halva maker, who felt compassion for one seemingly worse off than himself.
‘Will you not rest with me, brother?’ the confectioner asked.
‘I will, with thanks,’ answered the seeker after truth, and, smiling, took the stool offered him beside the humble stall.
Hoping to win a blessing for service, the master sweetmeat-maker set before the dervish a small cup of his best honey. However, the local flies congregated around the cup in a most irritating way.
Some settled on the lip of the cup, but most dived into the honey. The poor halva-maker vigorously flourished a fan to drive the pests away. Those perched on the rim of the cup buzzed off, but those with their feet stuck in the honey struggled in vain, and sank to sweet oblivion. The pious dervish began to shriek with wild delight in sudden rapture and ecstasy.
When this strange moment of hilarity had passed the halva-maker gently asked if he might know what insight had triggered the outburst.
‘A deep, melodious voice suddenly sang these words to me,’ said the dervish:
‘The world is a nectar-filled cup
And we but gobbling flies.
Some hang on the lip and modestly sup
While others gorge up to their eyes.’
Excerpt from Doctor’s orders:
I must emphasize this last point: my stories require, at this stage, no extra commentary, wretched imaginings, or vapid guesswork by you, me, or anyone else. The very worst would be that of moralizing away the effective substance. Thus the urge to tag tidy little rationalizations, persuasive formulas, intellectual summaries, symbolical labels, or any other convenient pigeon-holing device, must be steadfastly resisted. Mental encapsulation perverts the medicine, rendering it impotent. It amounts to a bypass around the story’s true destination; to explain away is to forget. Thus, let the stories which you can remember do their own work by their very diversity. Familiarize yourself with them.
Kalila Wa Dimna; Vol.2 – Ramsay Wood
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