WHEN I SAW AN INSECT

 

          WHEN I SAW AN INSECT

            A couple of days ago, I happened to see a very small insect in my washroom.  He was all alone.  Not moving at all. But I knew that he would move. He was just thinking which direction to take.

His tiny body was a miracle for me. He had not only a small physical frame but also a mind with which he thought about his next move. .

            For me this insect was an unexpected obstruction. I wanted to wash myself with a lot of water which now I could not do because it would hurt the insect and might even kill it.

For a few moments I became a religious philosopher. To kill or not to kill was the question. This made me an instant Buddha. I abandoned the idea of washing myself and let the insect remain the owner of my wash room for as long as he wanted.

A few minutes later the insect did start moving, very fast and then according to some plan, which I could not guess, flew away. 

This was a thrilling sight. This reflected the religious  philosophy  : “All Life Is Sacred” which I had earlier studied somewhere.

 It also reminded me about ‘The Ancient Mariner’  who in the poem (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ) by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) had shot dead an innocent albatross who flew round his ship.

The consequence of the hellish murder committed by the ancient mariner were terrible. So many of his fellow travellers  died because the sea had starting rotting.  

The situation changed only when he watched some water snakes  whom he called “happy living things” whose beauty could not be described by any tongue. These appreciative words filled his heart with love and he began to tell whomever he meant :

He prayeth best, who loveth best

All things both great and small;

For the dear God who loveth us,

He made and loveth all.

These words were preceded by the following words  addressed to a “Wedding Guest” whom the Ancient Mariner had suddenly stopped:  

 

            “O Wedding Guest! This soul hath been

Alone on a wide, wide sea;

So lonely ‘twas, that God himself

Scarce seemed there to be.

 

“O sweeter than the marriage feast,

‘Tis sweeter far to me,

To walk together to the kirk

With a goodly company! –

 

“To walk together to the kirk,

And all together pray,

While each to his great Father bends,

Old men, and babes, and loving friends,

And youths and maidens gay!

                                   

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G.R.Kanwal

17 April 2025