DON’T MULTIPLY YOUR WANTS

 

          DON’T MULTIPLY YOUR WANTS

          Wants are not always needs and necessities. They are also desires and wishes. They should be few and far between, if you want to live a really happy life. Too many wants are troublesome. To fulfil them is not only difficult, but also impossible.

            Fulfilment of desires and wishes leads to enhancement of possessions which are ultimately difficult to manage. Unnecessary possessions are burdensome. They curtail our movement. Life being short, we  cannot use all our possessions during our life.

Departure from this world is without any possession. This stark reality at the time of death is painful and heart-breaking. The questions “How much land does a man need? and What will happen to our possessions after we  have left  this world are meant to warn us  that we should reduce our wants and desires to the maximum possible limit. In this context, here is a relevant poem by the English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744).

Happy the man, whose wish and care a few paternal acres bound, content to breathe his native air, in his own ground. Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, whose trees in summer yield him shade, in winter fire. Blest, who can unconcernedly find hours, days, and years slide soft away, in health of body, peace of mind, quiet by day. Sound sleep by night; study and ease, together mixed; sweet recreation; and innocence, which most does please, with meditation. Thus let me live, unseen, unknown; thus unlamented let me die; steal from the world, and not a stone tell where I lie.

 

            Finally, a short but meaningful quote: It is not the man who has little, but he who desires more, that is poor.

                                                            **********

G.R.Kanwal

9^th August 2024