If we had no stomach,
will we be working still? I had this question since I was a little boy looking
after the cattle with a torn notebook in hand. Actually was herding cattle and
at the same time preparing for the exams. This was the only help I could render
to my parents. I was then in class two.
One day when I was
with my daily chores of looking after the cattle, an elderly man came by. He
was carrying a bunch of firewood on his back. I know him very well, a jolly
person, worthy to spend time with; he is a friendly neighbor. A locally brewed
wine is his favorite. I always used to give him a cup or two without even my
parent’s consent. That is why he always come to me and share all the skills and
experiences he had as an army personnel some twenty years ago. He sat beside me
with a long “whoosh of breathe”. I helped him rest his firewood stably on the
little slope so that it would be easier for him to lift it latter. “Have to
bear the hardships because of this stomach” he spoke in a tone that was
regretful placing his hands on his stomach. I smiled. He was really tired; I
offered him whey that I was carrying in my bag. After having rested for sometimes,
I tied my cattle, two of them and a calf. I helped the man get up with his
firewood and walked with him to my house. I knew what he was expecting. My
parents were out for works at neighbor’s place and it was easier for me to
offer his favorite quenching brand. I looked for it but all bottles were empty.
I felt it would upset him. I opened the jar and sieved out a cup of alcoholic
liquid, locally termed as ‘singchhang’
and offered him apologetically for not having local wine. He gulped at once and
warned me if my parent knows about it. He also taught me an idea to add some
water into it so that it will be unnoticed by them. I did it like he said and
lidded tightly. He went with a smile on his face and I went back to untie my
cattle and herd them.
That night his
statement ran all over my nerves. I questioned myself, why do I study? Why do I
look after cattle? Why do my parents work so hard in sun and rain? Why do
neighbors fight over boundaries? Why everybody is busy morning till evening?
And many such questions. That is where I started to think “If we had no
stomach, will we be working still?” The man that I met earlier that afternoon
was very much aware of it. But now when I think back about this statement,
having learnt a bit of science, if there had been no stomach, none of our body
parts would have been functional as stomach is the main organ that digest and
distribute food to various other organs to function properly. Stomach is
necessary and every sentient beings work hard to get this organ filled up
before going to sleep. If we just narrow our thinking that we work to earn food
and we eat food to work to earn a food again, there is no purpose in life. I once
read a book that states ‘the purpose of life is life of purpose’ so we need to
have purpose in life. If we have the purpose, we will have many other reasons
to live and many other reasons to eat. Not just eat to live and live to eat. We
have to eat to live and when we live because we eat, we have to fulfill the
purpose. So it becomes ‘eat to live to fulfill the purpose of life’.
From the religious
point of view; we are taught that we have to eat only to gain the energy to
practice Dharma. The purpose of Dharma practitioner is to liberate all sentient
beings from the oceans of suffering, the ‘Samsara’. The Dharma practitioner
like great Yogi Jetsun Milerepa survived on a single meal of nettle plant broth a day.
Lord Buddha meditated feeding on a single grain a day for six years just to
attain the enlightenment and help liberate other beings. If we have that
purpose in life, we will eat bearing in mind that, ‘I am eating just to gain
enough energy to fulfill my purpose’. That is a mindful eating. Eating with
mindfulness gives the adequate energy that is required by our body. Science
says we have to chew twenty four times before we swallow just to grind it well.
This is as good as mindful eating. If we eat mindfully, there will not be any
cases of diabetes or other lifestyle related diseases. Being mindful helps us
to focus at our purposes, it helps us to eat with compassion, it makes us thank
for the joy that we get out of eating and the most importantly it let us know
the purpose of eating.
Human beings do not
make own food. We depend on other living beings for food. So we have to be
thankful to them. Once I was in my friend’s house and he has cooked some sweet
potatoes. I took a bite and enjoyed the sweetness of it. “Indeed it is a miracle that the plants can make a sugary taste themselves” he said with a look of confusion. And now we get to taste that sweetness, we have to be thankful for the joy that they are able to provide us. We have
to be compassionate while eating because our food cost a life of other living
beings. Eat with good purpose, the ultimate thing. So eat not for the taste,
eat to gain energy and that energy should be used to fulfill the good purpose in
life. We should not live to eat, live for the purpose and eat as a tool to
reach that purpose. I eat to live with purpose and live to get my purpose
done.
The man that I met that afternoon passed away in the year 2011 when I was in 2nd year in college. It was sad to know but he has lived his life with a purpose. He reared all his seven children and they are now of their own.
***THE END***
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