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Participation in the Symphony of Life

Today, while watching the annual day function of my daughter, I noticed musicians playing different instruments beautifully, and suddenly a thought struck my mind. Music comprises seven different musical notes. What if the musician gets stuck on one of these notes. The entire beauty of the music will be lost. Similarly, nine different forces of nature operate through us making our lives so diverse. We all play different musical instruments using those nine forces of nature. When it gets fixated on one possibility, life becomes so boring and meaningless. I fail to understand why we get stuck on one of the possibilities. Why would a Tabla like to become a "Sitar" or a drum like to become a flute? We all are so unique and use the nine forces of nature to play different tunes. Why would we like to play the same tune again and again? Wouldn't life be so boring in that case?

I also watched the choir. It was so nice to see the coordination among the singers. The teacher was beautifully instructing the students to raise and reduce their volume and pitch. The symphony was lovely. An individual instrument may play beautifully but it compares nowhere near the symphony. The individuality of every instrument takes a back seat in the symphony. Sometimes Sitar plays a lead role and the Tabla takes a back seat and sometimes the flute comes to the front and the rest of the instruments take a back seat. If Tabla insists on being the leader, the entire beauty of the symphony will be lost. That is happening everywhere in all the organizations and communities. Everybody wants to become a leader and prove his own viewpoint. That is why the symphony in the society is getting lost.

Life is a grand symphony wherein all of us participate. I could see some of the students playing very joyfully in the choir while some were relatively less participating. However, it does not make much difference. The more participative ones take care of the rest. They make up for those who can not or do not participate to the best of their capacities. However, the best choir is where every participant gives his 100%. But it does not matter for the individual participant whether everybody is putting his 100% or not. The moment I give my 100% to it, I get my reward instantly. I have used nine forces of nature operating within myself to the best of their potential and that makes me full of joy. 

I feel that the entire feeling of joy is all about "participation in the symphony". We come in a particular body for a limited span of time and then move on to another body. Every body is like an instrument that we play. Somebody may have got a flute and some other person a Tabla or Guitar. It does not matter so long we play the best of the music. In a symphony, nobody remembers which instrument played the longest. What matters is the overall coordination. That can not happen unless individuality takes a back seat. Sometimes magic happens and everybody is hypnotized and a symphony takes place. Sense of individuality is lost and everybody becomes a medium of expression of something divine. The entire auditorium is electrified. 

Somehow, it happens rarely. Most of the time, our egos are too big to participate in the symphony. The rich are busy exploiting the poor and the poor are busy dreaming of being rich. The rich are fixated on their affluence and the poor are fixated on their poverty. The powerful are fixated on their powers and the powerless are fixated on their dreams of being powerful. Just because the Guitar has more likes, every other musical instrument wants to become the guitar failing to realize that symphony demands the presence of different variety of musical instruments. The joy of life is not "becoming" something but it is in appreciating what "we are" and playing our best tune by participating in the symphony of life. The sweetness of the sound of an instrument does not depend upon the wood it is made of. Krishna can play an ordinary flute so well that the entire world may dance to his tune for ages. The flute made of the best of the material may be so badly played that it may cause a headache. So, life is not about seeking to get the best of the instrument but to play the instrument we have got to the best of our ability by participating in the symphony of life. 

प्रवाह

flow.pravah@gmail.com

 


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