Travel for Pleasure or ‘Diyo yo na prachodayat’

 

Suppose we are traveling for pleasure. What is it that gives us pleasure? Newness or oldness? If we go to a place where we had been already before, going to all old spots do give us pleasure. But if we suddenly find an unexplored spot or a newness amidst all the old, that perhaps gives us more pleasure. Generally, youngsters like new places and the old like to revisit old haunts. It may be a sign of young-heartedness if older people continue to have an appetite for newness.

We all live in the wrap of space and time. As we travel in space, to different places, so do we over different times. Some travel to past, chew the cud of old memories. What tasted bitter at the first nibble, mostly tastes better when chewing. What tasted sweet at first, perhaps tastes sweeter now.

Then there is travel to future. Planning, anticipation of joy, etc. are this type of travel.

Mostly the old travel over past and the young into the future. The young-at-heart among the old, travel more into the future.

Then there are people who say that the present is everything. They say the past is dead, future is uncertain, so make the best out of the present.

But we are not tabula rasa. My past has made me. Journey in time is a must for me even if I manage not to spread myself in space.

I stand Here Now before the Sun. All my past has flowered into my present. I look within You. May You illumine me and overwhelm this little ‘I’ with Your Infinite and Timeless Resplendant Joy.

 

Swami Sampurnananda; Genre 273, No. 33; Lalgarh Dining Table

12 Jan. 2004, 9.25 p.m.