Hello,
Kaise ho? Kya interesting chal raha hai life me?
Deep inside, we all know that our life is about two things:
– Doing things that make us look good
– Not doing things that make us look bad
It gets overwhelming at times. But we continue doing it.
I completed reading ‘The Forest of Enchantments’ yesterday (it’s a retelling of the Ramayan)
And therein came a powerful incident that holds the solution to this pattern.
People worship Ram.
But it’s not him we need to learn from.
We’ve heard of Shabri.
She’s an old, illiterate, tribal woman. Lives in the forest.
Doesn’t even have a little etiquette about what kind of food to serve guests.
I mean – who in their right mind would serve jhoota food to a god.
From all practical parameters, she is not a ‘likeable’ character.
Yet, she’s celebrated in mythology like a hero. An ideal for others to follow.
Yes, despite her seemingly ‘stupid’ actions, we all like her.
Why?
Because she doesn’t care whether she likes her or not.
She is true to herself, her life’s purpose: when Shri Ram comes to her, she must take good care of him.
I’m pretty sure she doesn’t care what Ram thinks of her, either.
She’s devoted to taking care of him to the best of her ability. And that’s all that matters to her.
She is so obsessed with focusing on making the other person feel better,
That she doesn’t care about herself or her reputation.
That’s the lesson. Plain and simple.
Be like Shabri and people will like you.
Stop caring about opinions, focus on others’ happiness and people will like you.
Hope we all activate the mini-Shabri in us.
Because I’m pretty sure that Ram visits us daily, in one form or another.
