Mirror!

Where to begin with? The very word itself makes my head to spin at times. What do we see in the mirror? Or, to be exact, how many times you see the real you in the mirror? When we see ourselves there, yes, apart from the physical aberrations however small, gaining more magnitude, we cannot discount that little 'better' feeling and that nonexistent imaginary state which we have seen in our dreams. The sagging bags beneath the eyes, the mellowing features, the graying hair and the wrinkling skin suggest otherwise, yet I feel a bit better seeing it.

There is a time when this mirror was not tinted or biased and reflected what we were as such. In fact, there was no need of it too. But as days went by, the need of the mirror slowly arose and then it came in to existence. Initially, it was just applied or mildly smeared with traces of small desires which soon got bloated to ego, lust and greed. As days went by, we saw that what we liked is still way out of reach and instead of deserving it, many of us went for the easiest but false route, which is just dreaming about it. We qualified ourselves in our dreams so much that we paid little heed to these much desired things in life, as we 'got' them in our dreams. Even in our lives, as we get one, we look for the other. It is at this time that the mirror reveals itself as the mirage. We see ourselves in it and feel that we will get that too one day. There is nothing wrong in that, we know, but just seeing it all the time will take us nowhere. Right?

Now, our own mirror is rarely seen by us, at a point where we are even afraid to have that trial. From the point where we were to the point where we are at that time, it takes some courage to accept our state. At times we don't see ourselves as our own mirror seems to be covered in soot, of you know what. In spite of all this, we just get to see a glimpse of ourselves only in a few occasions - when we see our children. As we revel in them, understanding how their thoughts translate to actions and wondering how fast they pick that up, it is hard to realize that we too had been that way, not long back. A child is just a flashing mirror by itself and no different from its mind. We perceive that what we see in them, is just us, the 'glorified' us of course and feel a lot more up. Of course, the child picks just from us all as we did and adds up its own too. Somewhere down the lane, whatever we learned all the years will be left like a tightly wound coil thats cut. While for some, its dramatic and for many others, it just happens in the same or at times even slower fashion than the way it was wound.

I hope that there will just be this wonderful time where these words from The Rig Veda are realized by us, if lucky - "There are two birds sitting on top of the tree, one eating the fruit and the other just seeing it!". There may come a point where we witness ourselves doing things as though seeing a third person. May be that is the way to liberate ourselves. And this is just worth all our lives. And that too, just starts as a dream that is almost impossible to accomplish. But a few of us are gifted enough to seek, pursue and reach that state.

It is at that time when our own mirror glitters.

 

Thanks KishoreG, for giving a like to support this lonesome post. -rgs

 

That was a great first line, KishoreG. Thanks for that lovely feedback. -rgs

 

A sentence can make you think a lot
And come up with a lot more to
Understand what it means and start
Writing such, enriching ourselves too!

Thats what yours did KishoreG. -rgs

 

Happy to make you feel that way buddy. Thanks. -rgs

 

I am spellbound after reading your wonderful response to this post Jayasala Madam.
Thanks a lot for that. The story is so lovely and adds a lot more context to the thread.
I saw mirror, as just a mere object of reflection, our mind and ourselves too, and you have covered each and every one of these.

I was so moved by that quoted translated line from the Rig Veda, as it keeps opening up in multiple dimensions for me. One of those was what I mentioned there.

Just a short story based on your lovely story:
A sage who had never seen a mirror before, found one lying on his way to his abode. He did not know what it was and would not have been interested in it, but for the reflection of the evening sun in it. He took it with him and used it in the evenings after his prayers to see the sun's reflection. Occasionally he would see that woman and her little son who come to pick up fallen dry logs. That day, he saw the boy and showed him the glittering image of the sun. The boy, true to his age, snatched it from his hand, but put it down in the end. The mirror broke to pieces. The boy felt sad, but the sage was ecstatic, as there were so many suns there. He got his liberation that day. -rgs