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Tag: guru knows best

Bear necessities

We were recently watching the new BBC Earth series called A Perfect Planet, narrated by the incomparable Sir David Attenborough.

One shot focused on a group of bears that had just come out of hibernation. They were quite skinny and weak, having gone many months without any food.

Hundreds of them had come together at a lake, the largest such congregation of bears in the world. Their objective? To hunt all the salmon that come to the lake shores, and there were plenty of them. However, in this initial period, the salmon are very strong, and the bears are not quick enough to catch them. Most bears fail, and go hungry.

One old, experienced and wise bear though, had a trick up its sleeve. Instead of fishing from the shore, he swims coolly to the middle of lake, and makes a few dives to the bottom. Each time, he comes back up with mouthfuls. These apparently are fish that have just died and been deposited into the lake bed. The wise bear’s excitement is palpable, as much is the anxiety of all the other bears combined.

It always helps to pay heed to the wise.

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Who is being foolish?

The mentor in his/her years of wisdom keeps telling the newbie to build relationships and speak up more.
The newbie doesn’t listen. He thinks his mentor is foolish.
The newbie prefers to sit at his desk and work ‘hard’.
The newbie is doomed to learn only by experience, and not by the wisdom of his mentor.
Who is being foolish?

The parents in their decades of wisdom keep telling their child to study / practise hard.
The child doesn’t listen. She thinks her parents are foolish.
The child prefers to play or watch TV instead.
The child is doomed to learn only by experience, and not by the wisdom of its parents.
Who is being foolish?

Our Gurus / ancients in their millennia of wisdom keep telling us to embrace spirituality, meditate, fast, serve society and stay away from material objects and pleasures.
We don’t listen. We think the Gurus do not understand, as “life only happens once, and is to be lived and enjoyed.”
We prefer to party and indulge instead.
We are doomed to learn only by experience, and not by the wisdom of the saints of today and yore.
Who is being foolish?

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