Blissful Coexistence

When five-sensed animals can coexist in harmony, can’t we?

The jungle is one of the best places for the human race to understand the gross realities of life.  Many of us wouldn’t have explored what life is all about in the wild.  However, we would have at least read about animal’s ‘way of life’ and watched how nature works through National Geographic or Discovery Channels.

We can learn so many wonderful things from the jungle.  In fact, it is the best B-School ever in the history of mankind.  The lion teaches us leadership skills, the elephant shows us how to be strong and humble, the cheetah shows us what the speed of execution is all about, the birds teach us aerodynamics and what it is to view things from an altitude, the monkey teaches us how to be cheerful and the fox helps us in understanding strategies.  The list goes on, and whatever we claim to have evolved comes somewhere as a lesson learnt from animals.

In my perspective, one of the best lessons we learn from the jungle is the wonderful lesson of blissful coexistence!  It is the same piece of land wherein live the predator and the prey, the strong and the weak, the fastest and the slowest, the tallest and the shortest, the most beautiful and the ugliest.  It is from the same source of water that all the beings survive, and it is the same flow of air that all inhale.  It is so amazing that so many diverse forms of life, with so many differences, peacefully coexist to form the one term called the ‘jungle’.

Yes, of course, there are challenges of survival.  The fittest of all survives, and the game is a fair play.  Of course, there is the struggle for food and area of domination.  There is differentiation amongst the species, and herds prefer to be undisturbed in their area.  Fear, hunger, anger, fights, possessiveness and peer pressure exist.  It may sound more or less like what we humans undergo in our day-to-day lives.  The only difference is that the animals are able to coexist happily, in spite of the differences, whereas we humans cannot, in spite of our sixth sense!

The problems of coexistence are so huge for us that, with so much of education and worldly knowledge, many tend to commit suicide, just due to the inability to be at peace with fellow humans at home or elsewhere.  It is so funny that we do not have any major problems of survival like the folks in the jungle.  We have our share of food guaranteed, our corner in the cosy bed guaranteed, a safe roof above our head guaranteed, multiple sets of quality clothing guaranteed and a good income to maintain all these for life guaranteed.

We have to learn to use this beautiful tool of happiness in life – blissful coexistence.  People who have unlimited happiness and blissful peace are those who know the differences and yet appreciate the similarities, be it with people or things or their expectations in life.  We are all in a world of differences, and the whole fun about life is in the variety and diversity of each creation of the existence.

It is so painful to see a husband and wife, who were passionate lovers just before marriage, turning towards options of divorce, as they could not harmoniously coexist with the preferences they had as individuals.  Children abandon parents at their old age, and young couples prefer to stay away from parents.  The best of all, we have religious wars today just because the so-called spiritually evolved cannot accept the fact that God is one and the same across all religions!

Harmonious coexistence is the mantra for peaceful living.  Making an emotional decision is a matter of a few seconds, but the impact that it can create on our life and on the life of our dear ones is huge.  Understanding the importance of peaceful coexistence in every relationship not only makes us accept the differences, but also evolves us to the next stage of life as better human beings.  No matter who we are and how much influence we have in this society, there are always things which we cannot change, yet cannot avoid too.  Being the CEO of an organisation, one can dictate terms of how things must work at office, but back home everything may not be as smooth as office.  As the roles in life change, the rules of life also change.  The secret of success is to understand the rules and harmoniously coexist with differences at different situations of life.

In a holistic way of life, blissful coexistence cannot be partially applied.  The major problem with many of us is that we are able to coexist happily at some places which give us returns that we expect, but we are not able to do the same for the sake of improving the relationships we need to cherish.  While at business, we are patient with the demanding customers and irritating suppliers.  The business generates huge wealth and obviously this is for the family, but what good is all the wealth if we cannot be happy with our family just because they are not up to our expectations?  Blissful coexistence does not mean ‘You do this for me, and I will do this for you’.  It is rather ‘No matter what you do in this relationship, I will continue to love you unconditionally and accept you as you are’.

Great leaders from our past are those who could blissfully coexist with followers of different capacities.  Great cultures are those which could imbibe the best practices from across multiple cultures.  Great species are those which could survive the drastic changes of nature and adapt themselves with the changes over a very long period.  Great nations are those that could be at peace with other nations with transparency and acceptance of all differences.  Great economies are those which evolved diverse opportunities of wealth creation that encompassed all classes of working people.  Great relationships are those in which individuals look at similarities that draw them closer instead of differences that pull them apart.

Peaceful coexistence starts with a simple quality of ‘acceptance’.  This acceptance is the first step which evolves to maturity.  Maturity helps living an emotionally balanced life, which promises understanding relationships better.  Once relationships are understood better, there is peace and harmony.  With peace comes happiness, and with happiness comes the bliss of existence!  When the animals of the jungle start accepting their strength or weakness, they eventually know how to harmoniously coexist in the dangerous jungles.  When animals can do that, why not we, as humans, attempt a peaceful coexistence in our homes?  The rules of life are always the same because the creator is the same for man as well as nature.  Let us try to live by the rules of existence because man has all the questions and nature has all the answers.

Ego can never mend a relationship, anger can never guarantee power, pressure can never deliver expected results, war can never unite nations, luxury can never improve peace, money can never buy a home.  Master the art of peaceful coexistence, and you will find a loving spouse, affectionate parents, great cultural values, an encouraging organisation, a great nation and wonderful religions.  Coexisting peacefully means to live a life of selflessness and sharing.  Joy is in sharing, and in fact, joy doubles as you share.  Let’s grow together; let’s blissfully coexist!