Sources of inspiration and process of adjustment

Prof Sunanda MAHENDRA

"What's your favourite book?" may be a lame question to respond to. There may be more than one book in one's life which had either inspired or adjusted one's life. As such there can be more than one book or one single source of inspiration. There may also be numerous sources of reading material which had helped one's process of adjustment.

For me Dhammapada may have been one of the main sources of spiritual inspiration all throughout my life both in the capacity of a student and a teacher. Apart from Dhammapada with the highest creative and philosophical inspiration there are several other works.

For sometime I have been inspired by the writings of Khalil Gibran, especially his parables and maxims I came across in a single volume titled as 'The Complete works of Kahlil Gibran' (Crossland, India 2008). In this single volume there are twelve books bound together out of the twelve books by Gibran my special attention was drawn towards the well known two books: 'The Prophet' and 'Tears and Laughter'. These two books have been helping me out in my moments of isolation as a good companion. In 'The prophet', I have been reading and rereading one particular poem which I would like to quote.

On children

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said:

'You children are not your children,

They are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you

And through they are with you yet they belong not for you

You may give them your love, but not your thoughts

For they have their own thoughts

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell

In the house of tomorrow,

Which you cannot visit,

Not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them,

But seek not to make them like you.

You are the bows from which your children

As living arrows are sent forth

The archer seeks the mark upon the path of the infinite

And He bends you with

His might that His arrows

May go swift and far

Let your bending in the archer's hand

Be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies

So He loves also the bow

That is stable.

For me this poem by Gibran first is a source of inspiration to fathom where we exist and on what conditions we thrive exist. Secondly it's made up of a mini narrative where a mother is made to narrate it as an insights of understanding the reality of children.

This philosophical trend makes one feel though love to one's own children is the highest gift still they do not belong to us. The metaphor of bow, arrow and archer are spiritual symbols. All these enable us to realize that ultimately the family is the first and perhaps the most enduring context for growth or the process of adjustment. This process of adjustment within the family means identifying with models, accepting values, playing out family roles, developing affection, and eventually distinguishing one's own values and goals from those held by other family members.

Gibrans' poem reminds me one of the age-old Buddhist maxims:

Matha Yatha Niyam Puttam - a yasa eka putta manurakkhe

For the general reader, Gibran's creative insights allows one to rethink of one's role not only in the family, but also in the society at large. In this manner a particular work could be regarded as a favourite source of inspiration and adjustment. There are many more books, small and volumes. Recently I casually picked up a book from a book sale, at half the original price. The book is titled 'Maxims and Reflections' (Penguin classics 1998) by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, the German artist, poet and philosopher. The work is packed with quite a number of maxims and reflections, which may look fresh , social and cultural insights I wish to pick up a few from this treasury of source.

"It used to happen, and still does that I dislike a work of art because I'm not up to appreciating it, but if I sense some merit there, I try to get at it and this often leads to the happiest discoveries, new qualities are revealed to me in these things, new capacities in myself." (19pp)

"Completely moderate action to achieve what is good and right is very rare; what we usually see is pedantry seeking to retard, impertinence seeking to precipitate." (22pp)

"I can promise to be candid, not however, to be impartial." (21pp)

So then a favourite book of insights may help you to create a better climate of living even amid several upheavals and disturbances. It is recorded that mini creations belonging to genres like Zen stories, Haiku poems, notes and diary entries have inspired people all over the world to get rid of the boredom, stress and strain, brining a new life pulse to positive thinking. What is most important is to find where they are stored.

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