Give and Leave or Leave and Go
The reader will find this title a bit strange — but if you introspect on it you will realise that it has a far deeper meaning, a far greater significance than appears on a cursory reading! When we are born and as we grow up, we are receiving and giving all the time during our lifetime — as toddlers we give untold joy to the parents, we give them love, fear, tension, anger — all the gamut of positive and negative emotions play-out with our parents and close ones when we are small. This is all part of the joys of parenting. At that age we are just giving and what we receive is invariably unconditional love in far greater quantity than the other emotions.
As adults too we are giving and receiving — but now it becomes more material than emotional — what we now experience is transactional — it is all about give and take!
With the above background let me try and explain the nuance about ‘Give and Leave or Leave and Go’ with the help of a story which was circulating on social media! A barefooted young boy was selling flowers in the afternoon heat. People were bargaining with him in spite of seeing his dire circumstances. A gentleman was observing all this and he noticed the boy’s feet and felt very sad. He ran towards a nearby shoe store and came back with a pair of shoes and said, “Son, wear these shoes.” The boy quickly wore the shoes and his face showed extreme happiness. He held the gentleman’s hands and said — you are God, you are God! The gentleman was embarrassed and replied that I am not God. Then the boy’s response left him bemused — then you must definitely be God’s friend, because last night itself I had appealed to God to give me a pair of shoes as my feet burn and hurt a lot in the heat. Please get me a pair of shoes! The gentleman had tears in his eyes as he smiled and left, but he had realised that it is not too difficult to become God’s friend. Because nature has created two paths — ‘Give and Leave’ or ‘Leave it behind and Go’ — why is this because there is no arrangement to take it away with you.
The meaning of the above story is so profound in its simplicity. Whatever is excess in our life is meant to be distributed and if it is not distributed, then when we die — we leave it all behind, we cannot take it with us! With meditation, we get this realisation very naturally — because with the clearance of our energy centres and meridians our core nature becomes that of giving universally. Realisation dawns on us from within that we are born to give and when we leave, we leave empty handed — all we leave behind is memories and the values which we spread while alive!