Modern life is measured by success in financial growth, power at work, a large home in suburbs, cars and lifestyle products and possessions. Millions of successful adults today live a life of frenzied activity. The global – technology driven lifestyle we have today with its gadgets of cell phone, high speed internet, instant messaging, blackberries, email on the go plunge us into hectic activity and keep us on call twenty-four by seven. We work for longer hours than before and seem to participate in an endless rush of activities at home and work.
The modern trend of the society called sophisticated life lures people like a honey comb lures bears. The rock beats, the metal music, the dance mode, the drinks, the fast cars, the faster life pace holds an unholy attraction to most. Doing drugs and having special cocktails seem to make people feel special as they indulge in these more and more. They feel their lives are larger than life and better than all others. One person or a group sets the trend and the fashion magazines and newspapers highlight it. And the rest of us follow blindly like sheep and do not see the precipice we land on. The more number of followers in a group, the more popular it becomes. What was a trend becomes a fashion and the fashion becomes a lifestyle.
This fast paced life keeps us in a hurry always. We are always performing a balancing act of doing too many tasks at the same time. We exert pressure on ourselves to remember and do too many things. We take upon ourselves far more work than what we can handle and not able to keep track of the details or jobs we are expected to do. As a result, we start forgetting things, become impatient, angry, worried and stressed out. Modern life and our need to follow the trend and fashion – to be one with the crowd – saps our creativity and joy from life and even our sense of humour. We live just like the fly in the story given below:
A fly was flying around and spotted a web. The sparkling lines of the web lured it and it seemed so attractive that it flew around it a few times. But it was reluctant to land. The resident spider who was watching it, poked out its head and invited it in. The fly refused. It was looking around for other flies and since it did not see any, it did not wish to come there. It felt safe only with others of its own kind in a crowd.
The fly flew off to a safe distance away from the sticky web of the spider. It suddenly saw a large number of flies sitting on a big piece of paper. A bee suddenly appeared near it and buzzed a warning: Do not land there, it is a fly paper. All those flies are stuck to it and so will you be if you land on it. The fly had no eyes for the fly paper. It saw many flies dancing and waving their legs in merriment. It replied: What nonsense! They are all enjoying themselves. I will also join them in their mirth making.
The bee buzzed again in warning: No! Take care. Pay heed! They are not dancing! They are trying to free themselves! The fly would not listen. It landed on the flypaper and settled and got stuck.
We think we should be with the crowd, dancing and enjoying ourselves. But the crowd is not dancing or enjoying. They are stuck ruthlessly to lifestyle which does not let them go and which saps them of their life energies. Let us unstick ourselves from the fly paper. We must make time for our family and soul. Daily japa and meditation, a peaceful time of reading of sacred scriptures will put life back in perspective and we will be able to prioritize our lives. Then we can let go of unimportant activities and schedule time for things that really matter. And what matters most in life is love for family and God.
