Love and Wisdom; Heart and Intellect.

The beak of a Kingfisher equips it to dive deep into water, without making much fuss around by way of sound or splashing of water, and catch the fish for it’s daily meal. If instead, it used its beak for picking worms from the ground, wouldn’t it be so foolish and under-utilised?

The muscles of a cheetah equips it to run fast, chase and catch the prey of its choice. If instead, it used its running strength to only compete with its friends and for food it depended upon the leftovers of other big cats, wouldn’t it be so foolish and under-utilised? We would indeed pity that the Cheetah is ignoring its in-built capacity and strength.

The light body, its shape and its wings gives unique advantage to this bird – tiny artic tern, that weighs just about 113 grams, yes just 113 grams, migrates each year between Greenland and Antarctica, thus travelling about 71,000 kilometers. And since it does live for about 30 years, during its life it would have travelled 2.4 million kms, which is equal to three trips to moon and back. If instead, it simply hopped around in the backyard of a farm household, wouldn’t it be such a waste of its inbuilt capacity. That would deprive it the exhilaration, freedom, and joy of traversing through the skies across the globe and discovering numerous new places and terrains.

The wings and its shape lends incredible gymnastic ability to the Humming bird, making it able to fly backward, upside down and even stay still in the air. Incredible right. What if it instead were to fly like just another bird, say a crow, would it ever be able to experience something that no other bird can? It would be such a sad thing right.

Every being in this world in endowed with something unique that distinctly defines it and distinguishes itself from everything else.

What then of a human being? Most of our living is nothing very different from the numerous other beings on this planet. We are born, we are cared for, we learn, we grow, we work, we date, we mate, we have sex, we make a family, we enjoy in their growing, we accumulate wealth and power, we become old and we shed our body, i.e we die.

Do you think there is any greatness in this? Infact in each of the above dimensions mentioned, there are creatures who do way better than we can.

• Giving Birth – Male sea horses give birth, Surinam toads are born from the back of her mother !
• Caring for the young ones – Elephants are one of the most protective of their young ones. And if one young fellow were to become an orphan, the rest of the herd will instantly adopt him. I dont need to tell what happens to orphans in the human world !
• Learning – Have you heard of Weddell seal? After a 11 month pregnancy, in just 2 weeks it equips its young one to navigate underwater in the icy cold antarctic region. And over land its taught to open new air holes and close the others to keep it from freezing. 14 days and the young seal is independent. What to talk of human babies, probably the slowest in learning and takes the longest time to get independent in life.
• Working – Everybody knows that none can compare to the hardwork and tireless effort of an ant. Infact we humans are given the example of ants for hard work and team work.
• Dating and sex – Angler fish. Check this out and your mind will be blown away. Deep under waters, they get so close to each other that they actually share their bodies. Both of them share the circulatory system, the male receives nutrients from the female and inturn gives its sperm. Males have to share though with many females ! Can we humans beat this even with all the literature on Kama Shastra ?
• Making a family – Caecilians. These are just worms living underground. However, the extent of sacrifice the mother is willing to make to nurture and grow the family is unimaginable. It even lets it’s young ones feed upon itself in times of no food, to ensure its survival. Thus the mother dies in it’s effort to keep its’s children alive. Mothers are known to be embodiments of sacrifice. But in this case, its almost unparalled.

I can go on and on and you too can discover more such instances where the animal kingdom lives its life in a much more thrilling, unique, incredible way that the human mind just can’t even comprehend.

Well then let’s come back to human beings. What is our unique capability that we are verily wasting it away and under-utilising it to such abysmal levels.

If it’s the beak, body weight, wings, muscle strength, endurance and so on for each of the various beings in the animal kingdom, then its Heart and Intellect for the human being.

Yes. This is our unique attributes that makes us human beings and not just any other being on the planet.

Heart – It has the unique ability to empathise, be kind, compassionate, sacrifice and express selfless love to the entire creation and even build a bond and develop an intimate relationship with the creator. Such is the power of this heart and the love it can embody and share. It can truly comprehend the most complex interconnectedness of everything in this universe. It can feel the life of every other being. It can experience joy and happiness without having to do anything in particular for its pursuit. It can be so expansive that one stage it has the potential to even feel the power of the universe as ONE. If instead we are using it get attached to numerous fleeting, insignificant aspects, such as, toys in childhood, friends in teenage, mate in yound adulthood, money and wealth in working age, family thereafter, power and wealth, marking boundaries, thus filling life with a series of sorrows, fears, tensions, etc…..Indeed it’s gross under utilisation of its capacity. Each heart is designed to be able to do lot lot lot lot more. What better examples than that of Mother Teresa, Baba Amte and so many more we know of and hear of every now and then…

Intellect – We can think beyond and there is no limit to the capability here. Every other being is already programmed to live its life just the way its designed. But a human being can think way beyond, that’s enabled many scientists of the East and West, current and ancient to even understand the nature of matter and energy, to even understand the source of existence, to even comprehend and communicate with the force behind the forces of gravity, magnetism and so on. If instead, we used this very intellect to make ploys to cheat, to kill, to undertake scams, to bargin 2% better, to plan for life insurance, to twist words and get away…don’t you think its such a terrible waste of this inherent strength !?

Think about it.

The beak has its potential, the wings have it, the muscles have them and so too our hearts and Intellect. Re-think, Unlearn and Relearn, make it your very own life pursuit to experience the true potential of your own Heart and Intellect, of Love and Wisdom.