Week 4: Storytelling (The Pursuit of Happiness)

"Away with the worlds, where a little pleasure costs a lot of pain." --Valmiki

He travelled over the world and everywhere he saw sadness and grief. Those moments where he witnessed people with smiling faces and a sweet gleam in their eyes lasted only a brief time before vanishing into thin air.

Walking through the dark streets of the town, the rain poured down hard on the ground. He spotted an old man resting against a tree and people passed by him, rushing to get home. They did not offer him a home, they did not offer food, and they did not even bother to provide him with any bit of help. He simply sat there with sorrow in his eyes, his hands quivering from the cold as he squeezed his arms to warm himself. How could one simply stroll on by when someone is lying helpless under the great skies, having nothing in this world but the clothes on his back? It worried the sage greatly.

It wasn’t shortly after he noticed a man giving the poor old soul on the ground some bread to eat before continuing on his way. Feeling a little optimistic, the sage followed this man to his home where he spent some time with his family. He watched the man till morning, where he saw how the man leaving for his usually day of work. But the sky was still dark and there was no one out on the streets. Curious, the sage quietly followed the man once again to see where he was going at such an early hour where the sun hadn’t even lit the horizon. And shortly after, his optimism died and the sorrow came back. The man had entered a whorehouse.

What is this world? Where men and women live in lies and sorrows and there is pain everywhere. Where one can’t trust another’s promises anymore? Where there is no trust. Where there is war. Where people are selfish and greedy and think only of themselves. What is this world where there is no happiness?

The sage grew more sad by the minute and soon enough was tired of seeing the same things over and over again. He walked away into the forest, forgetting everything else and isolating himself for years.

"Away with the worlds, where a little pleasure costs a lot of pain." --Valmiki

 Valmiki

Source: Google

Author's Note: For this story, Valmiki, the sage presented at the beginning of Buck's Ramayana, was traveling the world and everywhere he went he experienced sadness and sort of lost faith in people. It wasn't really told where he went or what he did, just gave a brief understanding that he went many places but didn't find the happiness he was looking for. So for this moment, I wanted to expand on what was going on during this time when we went around traveling. I wanted to explain in detail what he saw, just a snippet of his travels, but it kind of gave an idea of why he was sad and what lead him to isolate himself into the forest.
I chose to write this story because I can sympathize with Valmiki and I can understand his sorrows because I too travel a lot, especially overseas to third-world countries and I see a lot, lot, lot of people who are homeless, on the streets, beggars, just people who have no one in this life and are helpless and there are people who are just walking right on by without doing anything or caring at all. And it is really sad to see that, sometimes sad enough to make you depressed and just want to shut yourself away from such people and such a world. So my story came out of how much I could relate to this sage and hopefully you all felt what I and sage felt through my story.

Bibiliography: Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.