Valmiki

‘Valmiki’, what is the first thing that strikes our mind when we listen, read or utter this word, obviously, the great epic Ramayana. So, am I going to make u read about Ramayana or Valmiki? Well absolutely not. I am not going to talk about Ramayana or Valmiki but something different...

I believe that we not only live life but also learn life every moment. No one comes on this earth as a teacher of life but we all are students in Life's classroom. Even Arjun, one of the five Padavas & great scholar sought the knowledge of life from Lord Krishna. We are simple ‘Human Beings’ and bound to learn life, sometimes from somebody's experience and most of the times from our own.

During our lives it happens many times that we commit mistakes and even blunders. Many people follow wrong paths. Some commit crimes and even sins. Sometimes we may be the privileged ones to realize these. But then what? We feel ashamed of themselves, we go into our shells, we blame themselves, we cry, we punish ourselves, we go into depression that may be chronic, we even recline to commit suicide and if alive we may make our life hell. We waste our lives in doing something futile and even fatal and that is ‘Regret’. We fail to realize the fact that life is too short for repentance & we need to come out of the guilt to do something to compensate any wrong deed.

Now, why we tend to do all the above mentioned negative things? Well, it may be because of lack of support, lack of self confidence, lack of motivation or may be because these are the easiest things to do. Whatever may be the reason but the ultimate loser is the mankind.

The toughest thing to do is to rise above ourselves & to make a comeback in the world of good deeds and it requires: willpower to change & hope that we can bring that change. The toughest thing is perhaps the transition from bad to good. The toughest thing is perhaps to have the willpower to hang on in our efforts to re-enter in the world. The toughest thing is to keep the hope when there is no hope at all. And that’s where I would like to recall Valmiki. Who was he? A Bandit! But do we recall that? No, obviously not. What we recall is his greatest creation and a gift to mankind: the Ramayana. He did one of the most difficult things on this earth, not writing the Ramayana but having the willpower and hope to change from a bandit to a saint, a transition from bad to good.

Here I am not saying that we can do any bad thing on this earth as we can always return from that path. No, absolutely not. We may not have the same people around whom we can ask forgiveness. We may not have the breadth to go and ask for forgiveness. Life is uncertain. That’s what I believe, do good deeds as there is no tomorrow and abstain from the bad ones as we may have no tomorrow.

All what we need to remember is that life is meant to live, to live in such a manner that we would be able to smile after our day's work and in the twilight of our life. Though difficult to live but we have only one life to live and to help others to live & smile. Past is always a past. We can neither rest on our laurels nor waste in holding on anything bad.

And it is an eternal truth that good deeds can always overcome bad deeds. If not, then how come only the word ‘Ramayana’ clicks to our mind when we listen, read or utter the word ‘Valmiki’?

With a smile willing to change for better,
Pragati Soni