Ocean in a droplet
We live in a world where the excessive use of technology has taken us away from our roots. Man is caught in a web of so much information through social media and other advanced scientific and other types of information flooding everyday, he is lost in the ocean of vast knowledge and forgets and does not take notice of the fact that it is the droplet of observation and common sense that is the basis of all knowledge.
It is the knowledge of the past with the actual implementation of the present available materials that has produced all changes, all innovations, aand all improvement.
In the past people acquired knowledge through observation and experience. Observation is a skill we all innately possess and intuitively use. Even important breakthroughs in science arise from simple and constant observation of Nature, events, and people around us.
Sir Isaac Newton is said to have surmised the concept of gravity by observing an apple fall from a tree. Of course many people must have seen apples fall to the ground but only Newton discovered gravity. This means that simply looking is not enough. We need to oserve. Observation happens when we pay attention to what we see. And we pay attention to what we take interest in. When we pay attention with interest and observe constantly, we learn a lot and derive knowledge. This in turn accelerates our progress.
In fact, life itself is a whole field of observation. Flashes of insight need not be the prerogative of scientists alone. A curious mind, and an open mind, willingness to work diligently until the curiosity gets satiated purposefully opens the doors to miracles.
The uniqueness of observation that it is possible at various levels. It is possible of the external world. body, the mind and the inner self. By observing our body and its functions, we can become friendly and take care of this precious gift given to us by the Creator. We can find out the foods and other things that suit us, thus avoid other things causing problems. Thus knowing the cause and the cure, we can manage and maintain the body in a fitting condition. By observing the mind, we can control the emotions. By observing and introspection deep into the inner self, we can tap the divine state in us characterized by eternal inner beauty, strength, joy and wisdom. Now a days, meditation is very popular and is recommended in all fields as a relaxation technique and a stress management strategy.
In fact, the ancient scriptures all over the world have been revealed to the realized sages through meditation only. The sages were gifted with wonder and curiosity. They lived in the lap of Nature and observed its divine mysteries. The wonder-filled observation focused their thinking into discoveries of variety of great fields of extraordinary knowledge beyond the ken of human imagination, perception , and experience, is still the lighthouse for the entire humanity in the ocean of life.
Even in the practical sense, in all fields of knowledge whether in cooking, gardening, beauty, kitchen pharmacy , Nature cure or anything, observation and trusting the authority of our own experience is easier than the knowledge from the volumes of books, blogs and internet which also have the basis of observations gathered from other sources.
All the age-old tips practiced in various ancient cultures like Roman, Asian and others by people living close to Nature by observation are not only appreciated and still practiced as they are without any side effects, till date are unparalleled.
A king was holding his assembly in his courtyard. It was winter time. A man sought his royal presence to display something. He was granted permission. The man had two stones similar in size, shape and look. His contention was that he had been carrying these to the kings of various countries challenging them to prove which one them was real diamond, the other being mere a stone. His condition with the challenge was if anyone in the king’s country proved it correctly, he would donate the rare, precious diamond to the royal treasury otherwise, the king had to pay him an exorbitant amount equivalent to that rare precious diamond from the treasury. All along nobody in any king’s court could solve the contest and he had collected huge amount of money from them. Then having heard about the reputation of this king and his scholars in his court, he had come there with a hope. When he posed the challenge to the king and the assembled scholars there, no scholar came forward to accept the challenge fearing the disgrace of defeat. A blind man going outside heard the challenge from the people coming out of the court, and he expressed his desire to the royal body guards of the court to go and try the challenge.
With royal permission, he went and stood before the king. All the scholars in the court were laughing under their sleeves with the thought as to what that ordinary blind man , without any knowledge of the scriptures could do , when the universally acknowledged scholars like themselves could not come forward , and solve the problem in spite of their vast learning and knowledge.
When the blind man entered the court, he felt warmth. So he surmised that there must a window nearby through which rays of the Sun could be coming in. He took the stones , one in his right palm ,and the other in the left palm, closed them, went and stood near the window allowing the Sun-rays fall on the clenched palms for sometime. Then he came back, opened his closed palms pointing out before all that the stone in right hand was diamond , and the other in the left hand was stone. The challenger was astonished. It was correct. He was surprised as to how he, even without eyes, could judge so accurately ? On being asked, the blind man replied humbly, " When I stood near the window for sometime, I could feel the stone in the left palm getting hot and hotter in the heat of the Sun coming through the window , and the other in the right palm was not affected by the heat but remained the same in a normal manner. So I concluded that the hot stone must be an ordinary stone, and the other being a diamond."
This , he must have known from the general observation as, though without even eyes, he could have found stones on the way becoming hot in Sun's rays by the sensation of touch. Though he might not have seen or felt the diamond earlier, common sense prevailed upon him to decide and conclude that since only one of the stones was ordinary stone, the other must be diamond only, exhibiting a different character. According to the promise, the challenger deposited the precious diamond to the royal treasury and went away with satisfaction.
The king was very happy. Not only his honor was kept up, but also the royal treasury got the precious diamond.
He ordered his medical experts to do the needful to restore the eye-sight to the blind man. And he also appointed him( the blind man ) as one of his advisers in the court.
Thus many a times in the flood of knowledge gathered from other sources, it is the droplet of our observation, and experience which is the basis for taking correct decision. A tiny droplet of water merges into the mighty ocean.
Now the question is :
Is the droplet contained in the ocean or ocean in the droplet?
