This too shall pass

Oasis

“This too shall pass”, these magic words teaches us the power of impermanence. The basic idea of these words is to remind us that, whatever situation we are currently going through in life, is temporary and will change. Legend has it, that these words were engraved on a monarch’s ring, by his wise men to remind him that joy, sorrow, exultation of victory or desolation of defeat are temporary.

Nothing is permanent in this world. Everything changes except the law of change. We have experienced many elated moments and sorrows, support and setbacks, victories and defeats. They all have passed away over a period of time, maybe short or long, but have eventually passed away, leaving us to face the oncoming task with more vigour and resolution.

Therefore, let us rest assured that, these days of trial and trouble, hardship, pain and grief caused by the pandemic throughout the world, will not last forever. “This, too, shall pass away”. At the same time, let us try to live in the present and welcome each day, experience it, understand it and face it with courage and intelligence to ultimately enjoy it, because as Alice Morse Earle says “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”

Gautama Buddha emphasises the significance of living in the present by saying “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly”.

God has bestowed the greatest gift of analyzing and adaptation to us human beings to cope with any uncertainties and calamities. The present, if well spent, will be the happy memories of tomorrow and a foundation stone for what is in store for us in the future. Because, in today lies all the “truth and reality of our existence” as said by the great court poet Kalidasa in the 5th century “Look to this day, For it is life, the very life of life, For yesterday, is but a dream, And tomorrow is only a vision; But today well lived makes yesterday a dream of happiness, And every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day! Such is the salutation to the dawn”.