AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI says there is an appropriate time to enjoy things in our life
We were invited to a marriage function at a farm. The time given was 6 pm. We were surprised by the choice of time for the marriage. But who were we to question the wisdom of the hostsIJ My wife did point out that we shouldn’t expect anybody to be there. I, being a stickler for time, insisted that we reached by 6 pm. As my wife had predicted, there was no trace of any guest or even the hosts.
We had to pass time somehow till others arrived. Fortunately, the farm was very beautiful and very big. So we decided to take a stroll around the farm. We took permission from someone who appeared to be incharge of the arrangements. Walking around, my eyes caught a gardener snipping small mangoes from a small tree. I walked up to him and enquired: “You should be glad that you are getting fruits so soon. Why are you snipping them offIJ” He laughed and said, “If I don’t remove them, the tree will get dwarfed because the protein which is required for the growth of the tree will be taken by the mangoes. Therefore, for the health of the tree I have to do this.”
I was to say the least quite surprised and learnt an important lesson that fruits should be enjoyed only at the appropriate time. Then I began to scratch my mind to find similar instances where we make the mistake of wanting to enjoy premature fruits.
I remember, when I was studying in engineering college, there was lot of talk about a love affair between two of my classmates. Felt exciting to even think about it but I had better things to do. So I focused on my studies. The love affair went on and both of them started to do badly in studies. Maybe that was not the right age for a serious love affair. I don’t know what happened to them finally.
I know a family which is very superstitious about auspicious dates. Their son got married and immediately after that the family began planning the birth of a child. They picked out a date about a year from the date of the marriage and told the couple to plan the birth of the child on that date. Not having a baby is easy but planning it for a particular date is not that simple. This is what the family found out. The child was conceived a month and a half later than the anticipated date. Furious consultations took place in the family and the gynecologist was also consulted. She calculated that the child would be premature by a month and a half. Knowing the family, she assured them that this could be handled. These days hospitals have very good facilities to keep such babies.
The child was born as they had desired by doing a caesarean operation. Unfortunately, for the family there were serious health complications. Fortunately, the child survived but this did give a lot of heartache to all concerned.
Another family, also very rich, decided to get their young son, who was just 21, married. The marriage was solemnised with great fanfare. Everything was great except that the boy and girl could not get along with one another. After a lot of acrimony between the families, the girl went back to her father’s house.
Do you now agree that we should avoid all premature fruitsIJ I welcome your comments.
Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and canbe reached at spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com