LITERATURE-LIGHT AND DELIGHT. 27. WHERE IS THE TIME?

LITERATURE-LIGHT AND DELIGHT

27. WHERE IS THE TIME?

Assuming we have found the money to buy books, the next question most of us would face is: where is the time or who has the time to read them? After all, the hurly-burly  of bread-winning consumes most of our active hours, with its daily grind of city commute, work-place tension and now even the nature of work- most now work with the computer, involving continuous eye and back strain; who will have the energy or inclination to read anything at all, leave alone the serious stuff?

This involves a prior question: why should we read at all? This can be answered at several levels. If we merely want to spend time or entertainment ,other avenues are there- especially  the ubiquitous TV. Or we may simply while away the time attending to  silly nothings, the petty preoccupations. But if we take life as an opportunity for growth and self-improvement, reading would become an effective means. Great minds are at work in all fields of human endeavour, and the fruits are accessed through books. Not that they have solved the riddle of life- for that we still have to go to the old masters- again through books!- but at least we get to know the dimensions of the problem and the dynamics of the human mind in attempting to solve it. What is the point in a vegetative existence, when we do not know the very meaning of that existence?

Throughout history, human wisdom has been preserved only through books. Before the invention of writing  and printing,  traditional wisdom was preserved in myth, legend and poetry and transmitted orally, through song, dance and drama, in which whole communites participated. We know that the ancient Greeks had their great Tragedies enacted as part of religious ceremonies in which the whole cities participated; even the Olympic games were held in honour of their gods. Today, with the advance of civilisation, printed material has become our prime means of recording, preserving and transmitting human wisdom; whoever does not read becomes a literate idiot, and a drop out from the school of civilisation.

I have found at least 4 reasons for reading:

1. Reading entertains. Books like those of R.K.Narayan, R.K.Laxman, James Thurber, Mark Twain,P.G.Wodehouse, Gerald Durrel, James Herriot, Jim Corbett, M.Krishnan , Panchatantra, Vikramaditya stories, Kathasaritsagara, etc.are great entertainers.There are any number of short story collections from all over the world.O.Henry alone will engage you for a month.

2.Reading educates. Books by good authors- no matter the subject- provide great learning , even if the object is not overly, oe even obviously, didactic. This is the value of great poetry and classical literature. The Story of Civilisation by Will Durant, along with his The Story of Philosophy, Arnold Toynbee's 'The Study of History' (condensed in 2 volumes), books of Erich Fromm, E.F.Schumacher, Richard B.Gregg, Fritjof Capra, Plutarch's 'Lives', Dr.Johnson's 'The Lives of the Poets', Gandhiji's autobiography, speeches and writings of Dr.Radhakrishnan, works of Ananda Coomaraswamy, Jacob Needleman, Michael J.Sandel, Tom Butler Bowden, some modern classics like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M.Pirsig, whole series of books like the Bantam New Age, non-science works of Einstein, biographies of truly great men like Lincoln, autobiographies of even actors like Sidney Poitier are all highly educative.Such books are indeed legion. One need not be a graduate in any discipline to read those books.They may not provide us with technical knowledge leading to a university degree, but they will help us pass or at least face the school of life more confidently. Above all, they will make us yearn to be better human beings. After all, what else is true education meant to accomplish?

3.Reading can be meditation. Reading certain works like the Dialogues of Plato, Cicero and Seneca, works of Sri Aurobindo. a good translation of the Gita (without modern commentaries), Valmiki's Ramayana in the original, the poems of Tukaram ,Mirabai and Kabir- such works provide great mediatative experience. The secret is to read them a little at a time, and spend some time alone, thinking about them. Their reading demands so much attention and focus- we cannot hurry through them. And in this lies the key- the mind is naturally withdrawn from the outside world and is made to focus on a theme, idea or image at at time! The passages need not necessarily be religious or spiritual. The poems of Rumi provide a great example. Eknath Easwaran, the great modern, non-sectarian teacher, has some good advice and material on this subject. If we read at all, why not derive some long term benefit also?

4.Reading can be therapeutic. What is the modern disease? Stress, tension,depression,feeling of restlessness - all related to the fast pace of life and lifestyle. We -especially of the middle class- are part of the giant economic machine and we cannot opt out.We are all silently suffering.
The remedy  is not to try to change the world, but to adopt measures at the personal level to counter the adverse forces outside. The classic course is of course to resort to religious and spiritual practices. But certain types of literature can slow us down and help us regain balance and composure. Most of us take the Gita as religious, and not literature, and rush through reading  or reciting it, often without understanding the meaning. But if we stop rushing, take up a verse or even a word, and think about it, that will hold the mind and slow it down. Even the individual names in the Vishnu Sahasranama can be used in this way. (Eknath Easwaran has shown how).

But I have found that certain purely literary works can achieve this effect. The modern novels have the tendency to rush with action, exciting the mind all the time, and inventing new ways of doing it. But you cannot rush with a Moby Dick or Robinson Crusoe. Or even with Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen. Where the story depends not on the speed of action, but focuses on characters and their development, the inherent human condition, its twists and turns, its contadictions  and ironies-  the mind naturally has to slow down and introspect. We will wonder whether it is fiction, or philosophy! This is the case with great poetry like those of  Shakespeare,Milton, Wordsworth,Browning- which forces you to pause and think on every line. This is even the case if we read a classic like Kambaramayana, or Valmiki Ramayana in the original, trying to understand the words and their true significance, and not just run with  the story. After all, the Ramayana has been summed up in one Sloka!.Aristotle justified  tragedy on the ground that it led to wellbeing, no matter the story! Recently it was reported that sad music leads to a feeling of relief and fulfillment, more than happy music.(See Times of India, 11-11-14)

 (These are not cut and dried categories but mere indications. Each one may, and indeed shoud have his own categories and thus make it personal.)

The purport of all this is that  we must have a strong reason or motivation  to read, when it will become a postitive activity, and not just a time filler! Then we have to make time for it-deliberately! If it is worth reading, it is worth finding the time.

When we think of time, we know we cannot control all the time. But it only means we can control some. We should learn to discern what we cannot and what we can.

So long as we have active bread-winning duties, we have to submit to outside forces - work-place routine and timings, commuting ,etc. But most of the other things can be controlled by us. 

Arnold Bennett wrote a short but very practical book a hundred years ago with the title "How to Live on 24 Hours a Day". It was condensed and given as a book supplement in The Reader's Digest in the late 60s or early 70s. (It is now available on the Web in pdf).Two of the suggestions I immediately followed:

1. Get up an hour or hour and a half early in the morning!.
 It is said, if you lose an hour in the morning, you are looking for it the rest of the day! Almost half of our adult life is spent in sleep! We are supposed to live, but embrace sleep, "the death of each day's life", half the time. It is said that "people sleep themselves stupid". If we want to wake up intellectually, we must wake up physically first! For this purpose, we may have to go to bed early. We thus save  (or earn )550 hours a year!

2. Give up reading newspaper in the morning!
 Most of us read the newspaper in the morning like it is a religious duty- like morning Sandhya! Yet what do the newspapers report? Murder, rape, corruption, deceit, accident, blah-blah of politicians,economic bunkum,sports and cine trivia- all controlled by money bags! Is any of this wholesome? Is any of this civilized? Does any of this enhance the quality of our life or thought? Are any of us able to do anything to change or improve matters-except look up to heavens, if we have faith, or sign a petition if we believe in action? Most of the time we only sigh.Even if on some issue we feel strongly and write to the editors, they only publish what suits them. Have you noticed how the space allotted for the 'letters to the editor' feature has gradually shrunk and almost disappeared in the major 'national' newspapers?  And over a time, we become totally insensitive -things just become part of life or we take it in our stride.

Our powers of concentration are at their peak in the morning, after a night of restful sleep.It is then, with the further stimulation of a cup of coffee, we take up the newspaper and bestow all our attention on the worthless reporting, mostly covering the murderers and cheats, petty politicians, glamourous cine stars, the crook and the corrupt!We thus waste nearly an hour at possibly the best part of the day, reading this muck daily! Does this not look stupid?

I gave up reading newspapers altogether, not just in the morning! For over ten years I did not read a single issue. The only earth-shaking event that seemed to have taken place in those years was that Harijans were called Dalits! Murder and mayhem, politicians' prattle and economic imbroglio- all continued unabated. Indira Gandhi had already 'globalised' us, declaring that corruption was an international ( and hence incurable) phenomenon!

Bennett wrote  when there was no TV. But even here, we  know the contents and quality of what comes there. We can sonsciously control our exposure to TV.

The hour or so saved daily  and the additional hour gained by getting up early, can be devoted for serious reading-even if it is only fiction! It will at least improve our diction! Just imagine the number of books we can read, and the amount of knowlege we can gain in a year!

So, no one with his wits about him can truly say he 'has no time'. If one is convinced about the value of reading, surely on can find the time! Of course, some may find resort to the net or on line reading is more convenient for them. Fine, so long as they read at all, and not simply skim and  browse!