Monotasking Vs Multitasking

This parable is very true & relevant to our lifestyles where we feel that doing only one thing (mono tasking) is a waste of time.

Mother saw the child studying and watching TV at the same time. She invited her child to play a game. She said, "we have 5 fingers on each hand lets call them the five senses, thumb is touch, index is smell, middle is taste, fourth is hearing, little finger sight." She then threw a ball at the child asking him to catch it. The child caught it easily with one hand. She then bandaged the little finger with the palm and again threw the ball. The child caught the ball but with difficulty. The mother then tied the thumb and the little finger to the palms then threw the ball at him. Child could not catch the ball.

She explained to the confused child, "as we require all our fingers and our palm to catch the ball, similarly we need all our senses to do things efficiently."

In the ancient scripture Upanishads, our five sense organs are compared to the 5 horses that pull a chariot and our mind to a charioteer. Just as the horses would run wild if the charioteer lost control of them so also our senses would play havoc if not controlled by the mind. Therefore, we should concentrate fully on one activity at a time. No matter how mundane the task at hand seems, but if you give your undivided attention, you end up doing it better & in lesser time.

For this week, list all the tasks that you carry out during the day and analyse which ones are clubbed together with other tasks and what is the outcome of those. e.g talking on phone while driving, eating while watching TV, reading newspapers in the loo............ the list seems endless.

A man in search of Peace

There was once a man who had one wife, four children living in one BHK (bedroom, hall kitchen), very stressed with work, lack of space, children crying and shouting, totally distressed in his life. One day, saintly person came to the village who was apparently distributing peace. So the man went to him asking for mental peace in his life. The sage was ready but on one condition that the man does exactly whatever he said without questioning.

For the first week the saint asked the man to bring a dog into his house. "A dog!!", the man said. "We can barely manage with the 6 of us living in this tiny house & you are asking me to bring a dog on top of that." "Do as I ask you do, if you want peace and come back to me in the next week", the saint said. So the man did as was told. Next week he met the saint, a cat was added to his home. The man started to protest but kept quiet because of the saint's condition. Third time the man went to him with his hopes high on getting what he wanted, but to his shock a goat got added. And a few hens in the fourth week. By this time he was getting used to the shabbiness of the house, stink of the animals but yet he survived.

In the later weeks he was asked to get rid of all the animals one by one. First when he got rid of the hens, he was happy. When the goat went he was glad, his happiness knew no bounds when the cat was gone & he was in sheer bliss. When the dog was left the man was so much at peace that he didn’t even bother to go back to the saint. So the saint came to his house inquisitive about what had happened and asked to give the dog away. The man had finally found his peace.

What changed? The situation remained the same. He was staying in the same dingy house with his wife & four kids; but his outlook towards it changed. CAN WE ALSO TAKE A BETTER LOOK AT OURSELVES KEEPING THIS IN MIND?

Two monks and a lady

Once 2 monks were traveling together on pilgrimage by a route that took them across many rivers & villages. One day when they were walking on the bank of a river, they came across a beautiful young girl. She was distressed as she wanted to cross the river & didn't know how.

"We are unable to help you", said the first monk keeping his eyes downcast & kept walking. The second monk stopped and asked "do you know how to swim?". "No sir", said the lady. "Then you must lean on my back & I’ll carry you across", offered the monk. After putting the girl on the other side, the monks continued towards the temple upstream where they planned to stay overnight.

That night, unable to restrain himself, the first monk asked, "how could you carry that girl over the water on your back, we monks don’t go near females, especially young & lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you carry that girl?? Why did you do such a thing?" The monk simply looked at his companion, "I dropped her 10 hours ago on the other side of the river but you are still carrying her!!"

Moral - Learn to practice detachment, letting go. In life, when we have small quarrels, tiffs with various people, we don't forget. (At least we can't complain of having a bad memory :-)). But can't we be objective and look at things in a broader perspective?