Work & Idling

These days I take some time off to study Vedanta, one of the most contemplative spiritual philosophies.

I take a weekly group class besides studying it by myself.

The title of the book I am studying is “Vedanta in Action” by Chinmaya Mission trust.

I came across this story which has left me with a new understanding & perspective to what we essentially call “work” & “idling”

 A great painter was once sitting near a wayside pool, throwing stones into the water and watching the play of light and shade upon the ripples.

An ordinary man walking along the road, carrying milk to the nearby town to sell, jealously looked at the man and thought, “This fool is sitting idly from morning to evening eating food that is brought to him. How unfair! I have already put in eight hours of work and I cannot make both ends meet. What an injustice! “

The simple villager did not know that the person against whom he had complained was no less an artist than Michaelangelo, the great painter, who as a result of observing the wave, reproduced them on canvas.

Michelangelo wanted to observe the play of light and shade on the waves, so that he could capture their alluring beauty on canvas. He was vigorously studying, but others thought he was idling away his time.

It is that man, the so called idler, who produced the immortal paintings and sculptures while the milkman who was supposed to have worked and toiled so honestly for the society died like a bug, leaving nothing for posterity to remember him by.

Everyone must work, but what matters is how to work and in what way one should work.

Being in the sun for the whole day alone is not work. That is only one method of work.

The question at hand is what type of work can we do and how can the maximum be brought out of us.

Now with the world on a pause, is no work getting done?

Milkmen of the world, who have been forced to quit and stay home, Isn’t this an opportunity for them to study & reflect like Michelangelo & create their masterpieces ?

I have always suspected that Idle may not be idling after all.

For the sake of evidence, looking forward for the masterpieces to emerge when life gets back to new normal!