As We Met

I was going to meet Sovan after over three decades. His last image in my mind was that of a chubby-cheeked boy in school uniform – playful and studious. I remember his father had shifted with family to some country in the Gulf when we were in class IX.

We discovered each other on Facebook just a couple of days back and reconnected. In the meantime, he had come to Mumbai for some work and we had decided to meet up over dinner. He was waiting for me in the restaurant by the time I arrived. That was indeed good, because I could not have recognized him on my own. There was not even an iota of similarity between the Sovan who sat before me and the one I remembered from my school days. He looked pretty much old and matured with an over-weight large body and an expanding baldness. I felt dwarfed when he got up to greet me, his voice deep and heavy.

Soon we got immersed in reminiscing the past. There were some common memories about the class teacher, about some prominent students of our time, and so on. Sovan seemed to be completely out of touch with the other classmates though he had vivid memory of our school life. He remembered every small incident that had happened so many years ago. I was indeed surprised that he treasured his school memories so well. He laughingly admitted how he tried his best but could never surpass me in the merit list and how his parents would always compare his performance with mine and would scold him for lagging behind. While it was a great pleasure catching up with him, what struck me was his imposing view on ‘spirituality’ (that is how he described it).

His central theme was that we are living in an illusion in this world and we need to understand the true meaning of life so as to achieve real happiness. He insisted that the way to discover the meaning of life is by following a guru who is supremely blessed with wisdom. He even promised to introduce me to his guru who was likely to visit Mumbai sometime later in the year.

Sovan is entitled to his opinion. If he has discovered the so-called true meaning of life, let him stay happy with that. The problem was, he was becoming increasingly imposing as the conversation advanced. We gradually got into serious, philosophic stuff for our discussion. I was mostly listening to him and wondering about the complete transformation in his personality. I was thinking what would have pushed him into such serious pursuits in life – a major personal failure in life? Or was it because he had achieved enough in the mundane world and would thereafter like to transcend to a different state?

I was just thinking, why should one seek to understand the ‘true’ meaning of life? By the way, is there a hidden meaning at all? The seekers and gurus play with semantics and create puzzles for themselves. If the intention is to lead a good life, one has to lead a life full of sincerity and respect for all; it does not matter what religious belief one subscribes to and what profession one chooses. The semantics of the gurus’ discourse may in fact present a non-problem as a complex, unsolvable issue. The more one gets into gurus’ discourse, the more entangled one becomes and feels a greater urge to cling on to the guru.

When I was not able to divert his attention from the topic that was stealing our time, I decided to contribute to it in my own way. I asked him, why he thought we are in illusion and hence in misery? I find this world to be wonderful with my family and friends around – it may not be perfect in every way I desire, but it definitely is not a miserable place. I keep myself busy with my work, my hobbies and of course, with my friends. I have not felt the need for a serious pursuit of spirituality in any known sense. In fact, I do not even know what is spirituality. Is spirituality, in whatever way it is understood, expected to make a person’s life qualitatively better by ushering in desirable qualities in human beings, say, kindness, sincerity, being helpful and respectful to others, and so on? Well, I need no guru to imbibe those qualities. Such qualities comprise the essence of one’s personality; they are often inborn and seldom acquired through conscious training by a guru. I admit there is no harm getting a lesson or two in improving one’s attitude to life.

While I was making these points in the course of the conversation, Sovan was not very amused. ‘Arguments would seldom take you towards truth; you need to completely surrender yourself before the guru to understand his teachings’, argued Sovan.

By the time we took leave of each other, Sovan appeared to have got a sense of superiority with the conviction that he knew and understood a lot more in life than I could even comprehend.

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Author: Manoranjan Mishra

Interested in creative expressions. View all posts by Manoranjan Mishra