Pondering on Life

This speech was made on Oct 21 2005 as a Toastmasters speech.


You hear of massive earthquakes, giant waves, hurricanes, floods, mud slides everyday. To top that there are bombs and explosions blowing everyone to smithereens. And if you survive that there is danger of dying from dengue, bird flu and other maladies. Nearly every family has someone dying of cancer.

Why am I painting such a gloomy picture? Well, face it that is life. For those who deal with the passing of a loved one, the pain is even greater but the struggle for survival continues.

How do we cope with calamities in life? The survivors of Hurricane Katrina have lost all belongings, some their families, and have nothing but he clothes on their backs They have to start all over. It is the same scenario for the survivors of the tsunami.

There is an apt ayat in the Quran, where Allah S.WT says,

"Be sure we will test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss of lives or the fruits of your toil but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere. (Al -Baqarah: 155)

The key word here is patiently persevere. How do you do that? Well, there is a trick to it. My father told me this story one day, the story explains the concept of Maya. Maya is a sanskrit word which means illusion. The story goes like this, there was a young man who went to a Yogi, to ask him the maning of Maya. The Yogi told the young man to close his eyes. As soon as the young man closed his eyes he found himself washed away by a great flood. He was washed ashore on a distant village. He was saved by a maiden who was the village chieftain's daughter.Slowly the young man was accepted by the villagers and he eventually married the the chieftain's daughter. They had many children and lived happily for many years. Suddenly there was a great flood. The young man who was now quite old, saw his wife and children being swept away by the strong currents. He wailed and shouted and tried in vain to save them. He saw his plantations which he had cultivated all these years being destroyed. He saw his in-laws and all his friends, being swallowed by the swirling waters. He closed his eyes and cried in anguish and when he opened them, he was sitting in front of the Yogi. He understood then about the illusion of life. Our family, our belongings even our own life does not belong to us. If you are able to detach yourself from the this world then the pain of losing will be less. It is of utmost importance to to maintain inner peace that is not easily shaken by the adversities that you face in life. If you can achieve that, you are the most successful person on earth.

There are certain ways to maintain inner peace
1) To forgive everyone, hatred eats your soul
2) Give, making others happy makes your soul happy
3) Smile, it is a charity
4) Spend time to contemplate, meditate

If everyone practised this, we would not have so many depressed souls, seeking psychiatric help. In a summary, I would like to emphasize that iit is essential when faced with tribulation in life, to patiently persevere and maintain inner peace.