Dr. G.R.Kanwal views

Thursday, 11 July 2019

The Cup and the Wine

The Cup and the Wine

A drunkard went to a wine-seller and asked for a cup of wine. Sorry, said the seller, there is a lot of wine in several containers but not a single cup is available in my bar today.

Doesn’t matter, said the thirsty drunkard, I will turn one of my hands into the shape of a cup and sip the wine. What is really need is the wine, not the cup. The wine is the soul of the cup. It is the wine which quenches my thirst. Have you ever seen a drunkard swallowing a cup? No, replied the wine seller, but asked: “Do you mean to say that a cup has no value?” It has, said the drunkard, but not so much as the wine. A drunkard can do without the cup but not without the wine.

Okay, said the wine-seller. In future, I will give you the wine without the cup, even if cups are available in my bar.

No, no, no. The cup, too, it has its importance. It can hold the wine for years together, while my cupped hand cannot do so for more than a minute or so. The container does have a purpose, but not as much as the content. Look at the human body, it is lifeless if it does not have a soul within. Likewise, the soul is unsheltered without the body. Yet, the soul is more important than the body because the body cannot breathe without it.

The wine seller let the dialogue stop there. The drunkard, too, did not like to prolong it because his thirst could no longer wait for the wine

-------G.R.KANWAL

Monday, 27 May 2019

BIRDS AND MAN

Birds And Man

I have three birds, sparrows, pigeons and crows.

They greet me and I greet them almost every morning.

I watch them when they visit their food court, and pick up

Grains and sip water.

One day during the election times, they asked me to define man.

I said: I cannot.

But hear what Shakespeare said:

“What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite

In faculties! In form and moving, how express and admirable! In action,

How like an angel! In apprehension, how like a god!”

No, no, said the birds unanimously. It is flattery. Tell us something different.

I agreed and quoted Pascal:

“What a chimera is man! what a confused chaos! What a subject of contradiction! a professed judge of all things, and yet a feeble worm of the earth! the great depository and guardian of truth, and yet a mere huddle of uncertainty! the glory and the scandal of the universe!”

True! True! Exclaimed the birds.

A mere huddle of uncertainty!

Look at us: We never change. Our appearance, actions, cries, food habits, likes and dislikes, beliefs and disbeliefs are constant. We don’t disguise ourselves. Our actions and reactions are predictable. We are non-deceptive, unselfish, and un-opportunistic. Our feathers and beaks remain unalterable. We are neither actors nor diplomats. We are simple birds, as natural as God made us. There is no artificiality, because there is no lust for power, no hunger for fame and no desire for becoming turn coats.

I heard my birds like students hear their great teachers who speak like

ordinary, if not extraordinary, Buddhas.

-------G. R. Kanwal