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From darkness to light

opinionFrom darkness to light

We start a story, and we call it the beginning, and refer to it as the dawn, with events to follow. As it progresses, we say it is coming to its end, and usually call it as the sunset and night.

In the same manner, the birth of the child is seen as the sun rise, and life progresses to its twilight, to eventually pass away into the night of the unknown.

But His prophets and devotees do not walk the ordinary path, and their narrative is different.

Saint Kabir is getting ready for sitting in congregation. He combs his hair, and puts on his headgear, then tucks in his hair.

The mirror shows some hair still peeping out, and he tucks in again. Some attempts later, a single stubborn hair is still holding back. Saint Kabir looks at it carefully, and he realizes—it is a white hair, the first one that he has seen on his body.

It is defying his tucking, and hangs over his ear. The single white hair was a forceful reminder of life moving on, to its invariable end.

The average person would have seen it as the usual story – life moving towards twilight and night, but not Saint Kabir.

The great soul sees it as a messenger to remind him of mortality, and a motivation to live a noble life beyond the ordinary.

And he breaks out in song, recorded by Guru Granth Sahib:

Black hair, gone away like departing bees,

Grey hair, like cranes, have settled upon my head.

But the everyday narrative is reversed by Saint Kabir. Early life, spent in anger and greed is the darkness; whereas the white hair, though signifying the end of life, is leading him to the light of day. And so, a warning to self:

The night of my youth has passed away;

The day of old age should not be wasted.

 

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