Sleeping Sound Slumber

 We may remember Dr Samuel, the revolutionary, from my previous blog. He and his team live in a hut. Often, they have to move around to take care of the health of people in other villages and refugee camps. One day I wanted to see their beds. This is where they sleep. 

Sleeping place in the camp. 

It is just a plastic mat with pillow and blanket. I was quite shocked. This is not even a hut in its traditional meaning. It has no walls. It is basically a shabby camping site which they have adopted as their domicile for more than two years now. While I was digesting this I saw some pictures of the night life in Yangon. Hundreds of young people having "fun" as if everything is going great.

Club scenes in Yangon.

I asked the doctor, "is this the generation you are fighting for? How do they get sleep at night when most of the country is burning and millions have been made refugees? How do they get a good night's sleep when you guys are stuck in your plastic bed in open forests?" 

My karma-focussed upbringing made it painful to digest. This is not the first time though. I have seen many people doing bad-karma but having a great life. 

Many people claim that if your karma is pure and your conscious is strong then you get a good sleep at the end of the day. I always had my doubt. I was pretty sure that the dictator who ordered a genocide or the banker whose scams caused the loss of job for thousands also get pretty decent sleep. 

The doctor's answer game me a fresh paradigm. He told, "I am sure the club-going ones are also getting pretty decent sleep. But, Amit, we are not in a competition, are we? We all have our inherent nature, circumstances and dispositions. If I were to go to the club then, of course, I shall not get a good sleep. Because, my consciousness wants me to be in the right side. Mark that this is right side by my definition and disposition. Similarly, the club-going ones can not get a good sleep if they are to spend a night in my bed! We all are doing what our individual dispositions and circumstances make us capable of."

I really loved this explanation. It helped me answer my age old question about if people not doing seemingly good karma sleep a sound slumber. As long as we do what our natural disposition makes us do, we all will get a good night's sleep! The trick is to understand our true nature and true disposition (also called true "dharma" in the Hindu scripture Bhagawat Gita). Suddenly, I could clearly see the meaning of this line from Bhagawat Gita. 

Swadharme Nidhanam sreya; paradharma bhayAbaha||

(Better to die working as per your true disposition and nature than to act otherwise.)