Dr. Patanjali J. Yogendra
Mick Kelly was a young vibrant girl with a passion for
music. She lived in a large mansion with her parents. They had put up a
boarder, a Mr. Singer who was a bank clerk and lived in the Kelly house for a
small rent. Mick and Mr. Singer over a period of time grew to be close friends.
Mick wanted to share with Mr.Singer the joy that she found in music. But the
problem was that Mr. Singer was deaf and dumb from birth. However, one day,
Mick brought her record player to Mr. Singer’s room and put on a record of
Mozart.
As the music played she gestured with her hands and
arms trying to give Mr. Singer an idea of what the music was doing. She made
big sweeping gestures as the volume of the music increased. Subtler gestures as
the music got softer. Mr. Singer just sat there and nodded and smiled as he
watched Mick. The record got over but Mr. Singer kept nodding and smiling at
Mick as if it were still on.
Mick at that time realized that she could not really
communicate to him all that she experienced in the music. She could only convey
a vague idea of what it was all about. But she did it because she loved the
music and because she loved Mr. Singer and wanted to share with him the most
important things in her life. Mr. Singer knew what she was trying to do but he
also knew that there was more to it than he was equipped to grasp.
Isn’t this episode similar to the experiences of
mystics and saints throughout history, who having experienced God wanted to
help others reach that state? It is also true for all of us in our daily lives
when we wish to communicate our feelings to others and hope that they understand
us as we wish them to.
Objectively speaking, it is a hopeless exercise. But
nonetheless with care, compassion, love and patience who knows we may succeed.
Nothing in life can compare with the thrill of knowing
God and loving God and above all knowing that he knows and loves you too.
Published in the September 2011 edition of Yoga & Total Health Magazine
