ENLIGHTENMENT is a phenomenon for which seers and mystics go to forest, renounce their desires and follow disciplined life. This is true across all religions. I was just musing one day if there are any shortcuts to this for householders who may not follow this kind of strict discipline. One way is to attain enlightenment in the company of saints and saintly persons where the effect gets transmitted automatically without one’s efforts. Another way is from ordinary incidents of life through common man. One just needs to be mindfully aware for this.

Something like this happened with me in a location near Ballarshah train junction. After unboarding the train, one of my friends offered to pick me up after some time.

Coming out from the station and walking down the lane, I reached a road junction where the office of Nagar Parishad Ballarshah is located. As I walked to this junction, I saw a cemented platform around a Peepal tree near the entrance of Nagar Parishad office and settled there, waiting for my friend.

The junction is named after Dr. Baba Saheb Amdedkarji and his statue is installed there. Very near to that, inside the campus of Nagar Parishad, there is a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. When you sit close to the sculpture of such great vibrant personalities, watching them with respect and devotion, you are sure to get gift of wisdom, knowledge, strength and valour.

This was a working day and people were starting for offices, businesses, work places etc. I just kept watching the commuters. Sometimes, doing this activity in free time is equivalent to a healthy exercise as one’s head and shoulders are in straight posture compared to the activity of checking mobile messages with bent down posture.

And then suddenly, I saw a middle aged person who was probably a porter, a daily wage earner moving on the road. He was cheerfully carrying a lunch box and a conversation with another person engaged on same place most likely

His clothes was very ordinary but clean. He wore a T-shirt with a message which arrested my attention. It was “I smile to hide my pain.” What a wonderful message. It seemed to me that he had assimilated that thought in his life. The garment manufacturer deserves applause for spreading this message .

This is not just a sentence but a true enlightenment if one understands it. One part of the message is the inevitable which is pain. Another part is the action to counter it, viz. smile to hide the pain. Definitely this is not the physical pain but painful situations created in the mind. If we go deeper in meaning, one has to introspect about the situation which is causing pain. If we realise it and if it is worth enduring, we should endure it and then smile. Smiling can never reduce the pain but one’s pain does not become infectious to others. If we want to give something to help others, start with a big smile. Gift others with a smile and not pain, which is definitely a selfless action.

What an amazing life changing message to come across, without doing any effort. A simple awareness about our surroundings always brings something new to our life. Be aware, be enlightened and smile till you become eternally cheerful.