Mulla Nasruddin’s unorthodox solution to his mother’s worries
Mulla Nasruddin used to come home every day with his girlfriend. After noticing her regular visits, his mother once said, “You’re causing me a lot of worry by bringing your girlfriend home every day like this. What would our neighbours say? We are an orthodox family, and what they think of us is very important to me. I’ve always loved you so much, and your father was a spoiled brat.
Although I tried my best to raise you well, you’ve turned out just like him. I realise now it must be a genetic flaw—you’re a manufacturing defect!” Mulla said, “Okay, Mom, I’ll stop bringing her with immediate effect.” A week later, Mulla’s mother asked him, “Have you ended your affair with that girl?” Mulla replied, “No, I’m still seeing her.”
“Where are you meeting her?” his mother asked. Mulla responded, “I meet her at her house now. I have set you free and let her mother worry instead.” Is our consciousness evolving? Technologically, we have advanced, but has our consciousness progressed as well? Just look around the world: weapons of mass destruction have increased, global warming is worsening, and there’s inter-religious hatred. Religions often promote a dislike of other beliefs. So, while we have progressed technologically, our consciousness seems to have stagnated.
Do not resist what you experience in life. We need to reflect on whether we are digesting our experiences or being weighed down by them. If we can truly digest our experiences, they transform into valuable insights. Churned experiences—whether disappointment, business loss, or frustration—turn into essence, fostering personal growth.
Let us briefly examine the process that shapes most of our common experiences. Our experiences are often filtered through reactions like “I like it,” “I don’t like it,” “It must be so,” “It must not be so,” “It should be true,” “It cannot be true,” “It is against my religion,” “It is against my belief,” “It is against my opinion.” In this way, one typically constructs an experience rather than truly experiencing it, meaning one is not sensitive to the authentic nature of the experience.
When tears roll down your cheeks, you might think, “I am a Punjabi male—I shouldn’t cry; crying is only for Punjabi women.” So, when tears well up, you’re held back by your identity as a Punjabi male, and everything that could flow from the beautiful, poetic dance of tears is lost to your idea of how a Punjabi male should behave.
In this way, you’re prevented from fully experiencing the freedom to cry. If your husband reprimands you, try to fully experience his scolding! Just observe how beautifully he opens his hippopotamus-like mouth, moving up and down! Watch how his moustache flutters with each word. It’s like a delightful drama—a free scene to entertain yourself! Why can we not experience something without the baggage of our desires?
We usually approach experiences burdened by what we want from them. When this happens, our desires take on greater importance than the experience itself. For instance, if you sit with the expectation that Swamiji will activate kundalini within you, you’re merely interested in kundalini as a transaction. When someone photographs you, the photograph represents you but cannot become you. You are a dynamic being, while the photograph is static.
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We need to reflect on whether we are digesting our experiences or being weighed down by them