In a previous blog, we discussed about pannati, mental models we create to perceive the world around us. Today, we shall take a deeper dive into this subject. My father often states that "a rose is made up of everything in the universe except the rose!" It took me a long time to appreciate this statement.
If we look at a rose and think a bit, we can link every part of the universe to it. Each part of the universe (in both space and time) has played a small part in creating this beautiful flower that I hold in my hand. Any tiny change in the cosmic history or in the evolutionary history would have created something completely different. Then we can think of all the processes (social, economic, geographical, political) that has caused this flower to end up in my hand; viz. shipping across seas, going through different borders, coming to this form through hundreds of years of meticulous breeding by passionate farmers/clergies, all these and many more processes have given rise to this flower. We can also think of the soil, the water, the farmers, energy from sun etc. which created this flower. In a way, this rose that I hold in my hand is made up of everything in the universe except "rose". How? Because "rose" is not a physical thing. "Rose" is a mental model we have created to represent this thing that actually holds the whole universe in itself. Of course, this is not true only of the rose. We can consider any thing or any person or any animal or plant. The same logic can be applied. "Amit" (myself) is made up of everything in the universe except the pannati "Amit"!
From here, my father takes a leap. If we want to make a nice dish, we need to make sure that each ingredient we add to it is of good quality. Making the best masala-chai will need us to use the best cardamom, organic A2 milk, good quality large grain tea from Assam, fresh organic ginger and so on. Similarly, to have a happy and content "Amit", I need to make sure that all the ingredients (to make "Amit") are of the best quality. Which means that if I want myself to be happy then I need to take good care of everything in the universe. When everything in the universe is of good quality then only a happy "me" can be created!
This is a great mental exercise. We just need to think of anyone or anything we really care about. Maybe it's ourselves or our kids or our pet. To make sure that that person is of the best disposition we need to make sure that every part of the world is taken care of.
If I like myself, I have to take care of the world, its trees and bees; it's snails and whales; its men and machines.
