कबीर यह संसार है, जैसा सेमल फूल

 कबीर यह संसार है, जैसा सेमल फूल,

दिन दस के ब्योहार में झूठे रंग न भूल

It's "Semal" flower season. These flowers look very attractive from a distance. However, they last for very few days. Kabira says that the same applies to our materialistic pursuits. Our achievements and possessions do not keep us happy for long. It's not just a theory. All of us have experienced this in our lives. How many days does the happiness of getting good marks in the class last? What about the happiness of getting a job? Does it last for more than a few days? What about marriage, home, and car? Does it last for more than a few days? No.

All of us know this, and yet we keep setting targets. One after the other. We wish for so many things we do not have, depending upon our circumstances. We continue to make efforts for the same. People toil day and night to get their desired colleges, degrees, jobs, properties, cars, and "settle" their children. They do all these things, and that "I wish" still continues. You ask a 70-year-old parent, and they will have many wishes as well. Mirza Galib wrote long back:

हज़ारों ख़्वाहिशें ऐसी कि हर ख़्वाहिश पे दम निकले

बहुत निकले मिरे अरमान लेकिन फिर भी कम निकले

But why is it so easy to get attracted to that semal flower? It is because reality is abstract. Bhakri, as well as Jnana, is abstract. It can not be appreciated by a mind that has not grown capable of understanding it. You give a baby the option to choose between a toffee and a car. What will he choose? He will choose the toffee because his mental faculty is limited. He finds toffee to be more useful and valuable. Similarly, you ask an adult to choose between a cruise ride and a Vipassana camp. Most adults will choose a cruise because they see more value therein. 

It is because we have not worked on ourselves to establish that inner connection. It takes time to establish that inner connection. The inner world is abstract and therefore can't be measured. One can never be sure about one's progress in the spiritual world. It requires constant examination and observation. That's why it is not meant for people whose minds are still tempted by the semal flower. When Rama developed vairagya for the world, only then could he live with equanimity. 

There are not only semal flowers, but the flowers of so many different varieties in this world which attract us. Some fall down very soon, like semal. While some stay fresh for longer. We keep desiring one or the other flower. The whole of the world is made of matter as well as energy. Energy is abstract. Matter is visible and therefore attracts more. That's why we set our life goals around the possession of matter. The energy of love is very subtle, and therefore, it's very difficult to connect to it unless our body and mind are ready for it. Yet when a scientist develops a love for exploration, an artist for his art, a dancer for dance, a singer for singing, a bhakt for God, or a person for his beloved, the whole of the world watches that expression with a sense of awe. The materialistic mind also understands what love means. However, it finds itself so trapped in the targets it has set for itself that it does not dare to drop the temptation for the semal flower and keeps getting disappointed again and again. If we keep running after attractive flowers, we will waste our entire life in those pursuits. After one failed pursuit or two or three, somewhere an intelligent person will do an analysis to understand the futility of these pursuits and connect to his inner self to discover "love" that's within all of us and will express that "love" in this world in the form of his "passion".