The Un-Mindfulness of Doing

The Un-Mindfulness of Doing

There is no where I have gone today that someone is not talking on their phone, using their iPad, texting while walking, driving or sitting on a bench; walking toward me on the sidewalk speaking to the Blue-Tooth on their ear or listening to sounds on a headset that is connected to something other than a human person.

There is a kind of awkwardness sitting alone in a café, having a cup of coffee waiting for your meal and not reading, texting, watching a nearby television or talking to someone.  You are there by yourself, with yourself and there is no external entertainment.  I will often take my pen and jot words on my paper napkin-- the start of a poem or essay-- a reminder of something I will do later in the day. This seems to fill the emptyness.  And yet "always doing" is extremely "unmindful."  When I sit quietly with my cup of coffee and become aware of this short-lived awkwardness, then I become centered.  I have learned to just sit and be quiet.  It's not always easy to be mindful in an unmindful world with such an enormous amount of distractions.  But mindful quietness is a gracious discipline that brings me peace of mind and closer to God.

 

I have recently read some poems of the Hindu mystic, Nanak.  As one of the great teachers for the Sikh community, he placed a great amount of emphasis on the need to wait for divine truth, to be silent before it.  His poems breathe a deep tranquility and he speaks of the value of pondering and listening;  “Those who hear, flower forever;  From listening, sin and sorrow disappear…”  He preferred to withdraw from the world rather than engage it.  He is said to have spent a great amount of his lifetime in silence, inactivity and somnolence.   It is also said that when he died, his body turned to vapor and two piles of flowers remained in its place. (1)

Here is part of a poem by Nanak that especially speaks to me:

If the True Guru is gracious

Trust becomes complete.

If the True Guru is gracious

No one ever wastes away.

If the True Guru is gracious

Trouble is a thing unknown.

If the True Guru is gracious

One is painted with God’s hue.

If the True Guru is gracious

How could there be fear of death?

If the True Guru is gracious

One is given instant joy.

If the True Guru is gracious

One finds life’s nine great jewels.

If the True Guru is gracious

One mingles with the Truth.

 

Nights, seasons, dates, times

Air, water, fire, hell:

In the midst of this is the earth,

A place to rest from travel and practice religion,

And in it there are manifold lives—

Names without number, names without end—

They act.  And when they act, notice is taken

By Someone who is true, whose court rules true,

Whose council of just ones radiates light

As the Vigilant One sets his mark on our deeds.

Well done or ill done—the verdict is found.

So says Nanak in chant and song.

 

(1)    Comments and poems taken from “Songs of the Saints of India,” Hawley and Juergensmeyer