Be At Peace

Thanks guys for all the comments! What is a grand life? I had a realization about two weeks ago when I finally got to watch the movie “Siddharta” based on a Novel by Hermann Hesse that was given to me by my roommate Lester for Christmas.

I read the book years ago and was deeply moved by it. The movie is equally beautiful. Siddharta a young Brahman leaves his parents to become a sadu, an ascetic. His best friend Govinda follows him. He meets Buddha but decides against becoming a follower while Govinda makes the decision to stay with Buddha. Instead his spiritual path leads him to sexual passion and he becomes a rich businessman but something is missing in his life. He abandons all his possessions. He works as a poor ferryman and the river becomes his teacher and though the river he finds enlightenment.

But what struck me most was that at the end of the movie when Siddharta is very old he meets his friend Govinda again who had followed Buddha all these years but had not been able to free his mind. Govinda understands that Siddharta has found enlightenments but does not understand what he is talking about when he tells him that he loves everything.

He asks desperately for Siddhartha’s help. Govinda wants him to tell him something that he can understand. Siddharta looks at him and says, “Stop searching, stop worrying and learn to give love”. After he asks Govinda to work with him at the river he says (and here comes my realization! :-)), “Be at peace Govinda, be at peace!”

Could it be that simple? Is a grand life a life lived with a mind at peace? Does a peaceful mind make any life grand?

This is what George Harrison had to say about the Beatles at the end of the Beatles Anthology:

“They gave their money, they gave their screams but the Beatles gave their nervous system which is a much more difficult thing to give.”

"Be At Peace" Williamsburg/Brooklyn/Flags on Grand Street 02-08-09 at 04:24 PM

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