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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also as we begin today \u2018let us remember this about \u2018Attention\u2019.<\/strong> <\/em>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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n THE THREE FISH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Three fat fish live in a deep pool near a river bend: wise fish, clever fish, and stupid fish. They are fat because, as a threesome, they dominate their habitat. Any lesser fish that swims the channels from the river into their pool they eat on arrival. Also any, newt, salamander, eel, insect, leech, slug, spider, snake, or frog who visits that pond too long, probably enters one of their bellies. And since the pool is hidden and remote, no predator ever disturbs them. That is until one day two men who have been fishing the river accidentally discover the pool and spy these three fat ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fish also notice the men. Looking up through the water, they see one man\u2019s forefinger quickly point at each of them in turn. His companion whistles softly. Delightful smiles of boyish expectation beam down their faces. One man closes his eyes and blissfully licks his lips. The other taps his friend\u2019s shoulder and indicates where they can use their fishing nets to best advantage. He mimes casting a hauling motion over the pool more excited whispers, then they have their nets from their shoulders onto some nearby rocks and begin to make ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wise fish acts immediately to remove himself from danger. Without even a goodbye to the others, he swims vigorously across the pool. His flashing fins and rapidly undulating body churn up a frothy wake. With great commotion he splashes up the narrow inlet towards the river and is soon out of sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEffective, but not particularly elegant,\u201d remarks clever fish, quickly recovering from the shock of wise fish\u2019s sudden exit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhere did he go?\u201d asks stupid fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy all the fuss?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy friend,\u201d clever fish very slowly and patiently explains, \u201cthe men are coming soon with their nets and we must think of a way to outwit them. Otherwise they will catch us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow do you know?\u201d, stupid fish questions suspiciously. \u201cMaybe these men are only fish \u2013watchers and intend us no harm. Besides, I can swim better than a man! This pool is deep and I can hide down on the bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clever fish again patiently tries to explain the situation. \u201cFishing nets have weights along one edge,\u201d he says, \u201cto reach the bottom even of this pool. And fishermen have crafty techniques for casting and dragging these nets in deep water so that large fish such as you and I are unlikely to escape. We must do something, and soon!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, I\u2019m sure it\u2019s all very interesting,\u201d says stupid fish, somewhat annoyed at clever fish\u2019s lecturing tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut I\u2019ll tell you what I am going to do. I am going to take a nap, that\u2019s what! All this talk makes me sleepy. I don\u2019t see the men. I don\u2019t see any nets. However, I will sleep near the bottom \u2013 just in case. Thank you for your advice. Meanwhile, you to your way; me to mine.\u201d And with that and several dignified sweeps of his tail, stupid fish swims off into the depths for his nap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clever fish remains floating, alone and almost motionless. As he deliberates, he very gradually sinks. \u201cHow to act and when?, That is the question,\u201d he soliloquizes. Every now and then a bubble billows from his lips and slowly wavers up to plop faintly on the surface. \u201cI must analyze this predicament extremely carefully,\u201d he thinks. His astute fish brain reminds itself how to do this: \u201cSystematically separate all the variables; creatively scrutinize tactical probabilities; dynamically evolve an original escape strategy.\u201d His intellect races. The more profoundly he ponders, the deeper he sinks. At last he decides to inspect the inlet from the river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne needs accurate information prior to formulating assumptions,\u201d he deduces as he swims. But when he arrives he finds that the men, alerted by wise fish\u2019s noisy escape have covered the exit with some of their nets. He swims across the pool to check the other channel. Same there: covered in nets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDamn,\u201d he says to himself, and begins to swim about in fear and confusion. Then he hears a splash, and turns to see a curtain of fishnet gracefully descending into the water behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDamn!\u201d he repeats. \u201cDamn, damn! Why did I waste so much time? This is terrible! What do I do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Luckily, clever fish controls his fluster by remembering one of his favorite maxims: \u201cPanic solves nothing.\u201d Then, by way of extra reassurance, he remembers another, and, would your Majesty believe it, even laughs as he says it aloud:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNothing like pressure to concentrate the mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sure enough, like magic, inside his mighty fish head brews a brilliant plan. He dives down quickly to the bottom of the pool. \u201cThe nets are coming! The nets are coming!\u201d he calls out to stupid fish, who is floating in a doze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, be quiet!\u201d stupid fish replies, and turns away. \u201cLeave me alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clever fish bites up a huge glob of filthy old mud from the bottom and swirls it about in his mouth. It is so awful he can barely stop himself from choking. He swims back to the top and just before reaching the surface , rolls over all limp and floats as if dead, his white belly pointing to the sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the fishermen are carefully starting their sweep across the pool, casting and swishing their nets about in the water so nothing escapes. They notice clever fish floating belly-up on the surface and haul him over. One man picks him up by the tail and sniffs him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPhwaaw! Eeyuuch!\u201d he yells, \u201cthis one\u2019s dead and rotten,\u201d and flings clever fish to the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With his mouth full of the dreadful mud, clever fish holds his breath as long as he possibly can. When the men are back at their work, he flips himself over and over until he reaches one of the channels beyond the netting, tumbles into the water with a smacking splash, spews out the horrible mud, and rushes off to safety in the river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stupid fish is asleep and knows nothing of all this. He snores a thin stream of bubbles right up until the moment the net closes around him. Then he awakes to his final nightmare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat? What\u2019s all this, then?\u201d he cries out in desperation as the men pull him out of the water with great shouts and whoops. However hard he struggles, there is no escape for stupid fish. The men stun him with a club, take him home to their families for an enormous fry-up. Later they tell endless stories of the \u201cTwo big Ones That Got Away,\u201d but nobody ever believes them.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Excerpt from Doctor\u2019s orders:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kalila Wa Dimna; Vol.1 \u2013 Ramsay Wood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n