Meeting a monk in the times of ‘my dharma versus your religion’ 

The first trivia that crossed my mind after meeting Gyanbodhi was –if I were to wear a robe like his, it will create so much space in my tiny flat; save my time, money and energy.

Keeping a wardrobe is a job that consumes time and energy-like any other job. And, it doesn’t pay!

So does the rest of paraphernalia.

That these are time -devouring traps-- is another matter.           

At a time when religious identities are inciting a war of the babble; constitutional amendments are dividing masses (in the absence of an informed debate the power of hypocrisy and ignorance reign), I meet a monk who lives by dharma, and makes no fuss about it.

Gyanbodhi was Ranvireshwar Singh before he changed to the robes of a Buddhist monk. Son of a senior IAS officer, whose siblings have followed the family legacy by entering the IAS and IPS cadre, he charted out a path people seldom tread. He too cleared the IRS, just to please his father, but changed the course to follow his true calling.  

How many of us have the conviction and courage to listen to our own ‘will’. Conditioned by expectations of the family and peer group, we succumb to the demands of the world—read material success.

For Gyanbodhi, the realisation that he did not wish to be in the rat race was growing since his childhood, as he came of age, he acted on it.  

Most of us live the life of a juvenile for most part of our adulthood; we fail to come out of the ‘pleasing the other’—from parents, spouse, bosses, ideology or the absence of it, to the lure of branded goods. At best, we become a good, obedient herd.   

To be a strong individual is to invite trouble from the herd!

It must have been hard to resist so much temptation, I ask the monk. And become aware of the stupidity of my question, as I utter it.

Is it easy to live by others’ expectations and never to know what we were meant to be! To never be in touch with the inner chord! To keep falling to the temptations— carved out by the times we live in!

I’ve met great achievers in the course of my life—artists, writers, scientists et al. Somewhere, as you scratch a bit deeper, you get to hear the same refrain! They sound alike.

And what does the monk say! Nothing! He doesn’t explain his position. He’s just there, effortless. I could see, he’s comfortable in his robes he chose over a life of temptations and complications.

Renunciation may not be the path most of us would like to choose, but do we follow our dharma, wherever we are?

He lives by his dharma, that is, living by conviction and sincerity--a frugal life, avoiding extremes, following the middle path.

Not long ago, one learnt about one’s dharma, at home, by imbibing values that were good for the self and society. We didn’t need pompous representatives to brand our dharma, by brandishing flags of specific colours. Most of us have lost our dharma, by making it an object of street fights. 

The monk who lives by his dharma spends time meditating and reading and analysing the Buddhist history and philosophy. He doesn’t have to prove anything.

I spent ‘timeless’ hours in his company and felt at ease.

And returned to the cacophony created around dharma—my dharma is better than yours.

 Dharma, in its narrowest denomination—as religion-- gets currency but loses value.

A monk quietly walking on the footpath is ignored by the chaotic traffic moving in opposite direction.