Pastime

He is happy:
who is wise.

He is wise:
who knows the only thing worth knowing:
that it is not in oceans and tides
mountains and rides
trophies and prides
revelations and hides
children and wives
nation and tribes

it is not in through, by, from, for any of those…
those are merely bonuses and pastimes!

The point is to concentrate on being wise. Focus on being calm, mentally strong, joyful and happy. Be content on your own. Be sufficient on your own. Don’t be dependent on foreign things. Don’t rely on travels, profession, power, popularity, prestige, pleasure, relationships, and money to make you wise; calm, strong, joyful and happy. Be fulfilled even in the absence of them. For example, you should to be able to attain your desired inner characteristics in the emptiness of a boring room too — don’t be dependent on a trip to Thailand for that!

You don’t need to be socially-accomplished; you don’t need to have powerful friends, millions of followers, hundreds of medals, a great partner and bank balance for the real achievement of life — which is wisdom.

For, those things in life (travels, profession, power, popularity, prestige, pleasure, relationships, and money) are merely bonuses for you. Pastimes! What you derive from them is merely supposed to add spice to your meal. Not make you feel best and not better or good because you are already better and good on your own!

Look at it from another angle: how can a disturbed you ever properly take care of your family?

(The poem is from my book PARANOIA. You can dig it here: Paranoia — Adesh Acharya (Fr. Adesh) (fradesh.com)