On the importance of being frivolous!

I am a member of a group that is very strongly following a spiritual path. I purposely use the word strongly because I want to draw the attention of some of the members of the group that they are doing it too ‘seriously’. I feel they are somewhat mistaken in their attitudes to life, living, and to the spiritual path (this so called spiritual path is what is actually supposed to be an unbroken integral part of life and living!)

The mistake some members of the group seem to be making, is to mistake intense for serious. A spiritual path is to be pursued intensely. Perhaps the members of this group erroneously believe that the spiritual path should be bereft of hilarity, light-heartedness, enjoyment and frivolity. So you might find that if you make a light-hearted joke in this group, some members would consider it inappropriate. How can a spiritual path include fun? You might also find that a member of this group, who has an excellent voice, sings a melodious bhajan but very conscientiously prevents himself from singing a ghazal or a song that incorporates other aesthetics of music but with emotions different from devotion like love (romance) for instance. You find him avoiding these songs even after the bhajan session has ended and when people are just sitting there eager to see the music continue.

Likewise, I find their attitude to other aspects of life perplexing. For instance, there is a definite beauty and an intellectual harmony of an entirely different sort in the ideas and concepts of science. Being extremely weak in mathematics I cannot really appreciate this, but I can see the obvious pleasure in the face of a man who is scrutinizing a math concept and coming to a realization and understanding of it. I see God’s intelligence and design in that too. I also see God’s intelligence and design in some exciting ideas of science and realize that it too is an aspect of divinity. The whole thing is God! But the attitude of the members of the group is that science stands in opposition to spirituality. I feel that rather than opposites, they are complements. One completes the other and stands adjacent to each other.

I also see God’s intelligence in the romantic Hindi songs of Mohammed Rafi and in the voice and compositions of Hemant Kumar, Manna Dey and so on. The talent of O.P.Nayyar to me has a divine basis. In a tour I had gone recently with the group, I was earnestly thirsty for these things, but I had to pretend that such desires were evil. And inasmuch as they were evil they were opposite of being spiritual.

Likewise, I see God’s intelligence in humour, wit and jokes. Some of these are so ridiculous that I feel if you don’t enjoy them you don’t have a soul. If you really see clearly, there is a great intelligence behind some of the witty sayings and the concept can come only out of the divine. Take a famous Murphy’s Law :

              “When a body is immersed in water – the telephone rings!”

Or another one:

          “Stains are of two types – Those of the light kind on dark coloured objects;
            and those of the dark kind on light coloured objects.”

Or again:

          “Adhesive tapes are of two types – those that don’t stay on;
            and those that won’t come off”

And then (My friend Raghavendra’s observation)

           Lawyers of Bangalore are of two types –
          Those whose black coats have faded green;
          and those whose black coats have faded red!

and finally:

      “THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE –
        THOSE WHO DIVIDE ALL PEOPLE INTO TWO TYPES;
        AND THOSE WHO DON’T!”

Anyone who does not see the divine in these concepts has no soul!
Is there a rule that if you are on a spiritual path, you should not look at such things?

I hope to continue on this attitude in the next entry!