We are excellent at making plans. Plans for work, home, saving, earning, doing a specific task, for self change, giving up bad habits like overeating, tobacco, smoking and drinks. We enjoy making plans so much that we use all the new years in the calendar to make resolutions for making plans and changes. We have the English Calendar New Year, Tamil New Year, Gujarati New Year, Marathi New Year, the first month of the Muslims and so many others. We use all of them and keep making plans. There is an irresistible excitement in making plans – the first step, the second step, the obstacles and hindrances and how to overcome and come out with flying colours. It is particularly satisfying to imagine the effect of the final results on others – the looks of jealousy and envy at our achievement and the great satisfaction of being better than the others. Year after year passes and we still make plans. We rarely put them in action. Only those plans which cannot be avoided are implemented. All others are there – in a rosy state in our mind and when we are mentally down, we pick them up and polish them and live in an imaginary world where we achieve all and are king amongst men! Our entire lives are spent in this manner. The man who simply dreams rarely achieves it. The man who achieves is the one who understands the significance of the dream and takes the action NOW. This story tells us the importance of taking action now; else it gets delayed forever:
A man came home tired after work. He took bath and got ready to have dinner. As his wife served him the food, she sat next to him and talked to him of the events of the day. She spoke of her activites during the day and then came to the topic of her brother. She relished speaking about her beloved brother and said: My brother has become a follower of Mahavir. He speaks of renouncing the world and becoming a bhiku. The man laughed and said: He is just speaking? Then he will never renounce the world.
The woman was hurt as her husband was speaking scornfully of her brother. She retorted: So you think you know everything? You have never met Buddha or Mahavir and have never made an attempt to understand their teachings. What knowledge do you have that you speak so ill of my brother? My brother is a great scholar. He understands the teachings of Mahavir. My brother does daily worship, meditation and reading of sacred scriptures. But you my dear husband, you do not do puja or read sacred scriptures. You know nothing and you sit on judgement on my brother!
The man stood up. He had half eaten his food. He walked out into the street. His wife ran after him and asked: What are you doing? Are you crazy? Come back and finish your dinner and rest. The man replied: I have renounced. The man walked away. He did not come back. He had not prepared himself by sadhana for taking sanyas or renouncing the world. But the significance of renunciation stuck him and in that very moment, he gave up all and walked away. He reached the place where Mahavir was camped and surrendered himself to him.
The wife, her brother and his wife all came to meet the man who renounced all. They tried to convince him to come back saying it was a spot and hasty decision and he had not prepared himself for it. The wife tried emotional blackmail by weeping and crying. Her brother said: I have been preparing myself for twenty years and I did not succeed. It is not possible for you. So come back home. Her brother’s wife said: You must be a responsible man. When you cannot take care of your wife and leave her, how can you take care of the world. The man replied calmly: When you want to do something, you must do it. Not keep planning for years. There is no way I change myself now.
When we do planning with clarity, we must understand that all changes take place NOW and not in future. No one changes in future. Anything which has to be done or achieved, must be done right now. This moment is the right moment. Things can happen only at this moment. Not in any other moment. So let us reaffirm our faith in God, Guru and our practices and start our journey right now.
