Road less travelled

A FRIEND from elsewhere returned to India after several years. One of her first stops was at an exclusive ashram in the hills that is being marketed as a one-stop shop for the resolution of everyday worries. In five-star surroundings, the spirit is pampered beyond belief.

Needless, to say it is very expensive and it is quite likely that the sense of well-being is transitory. As I listened to her, it occurred to me that the better alternative for you and me would probably be Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Tao Te Ching (or his most recent translation, The Bhagvad Gita). A chapter a day would serve us as well as a week at an expensive spa; moreover, it would be less expensive and its effect would probably be longer lasting.

As one with a nodding acquaintance with the teachings of at least two great religions, Christianity and Hinduism, I am constantly surprised at how similar some of the central teachings are. Take for example, this perception in the Tao:

He who stands on tiptoe does not stand firm He who rushes ahead does not go far. He who tries to shine dims his own light. He who defines himself cannot know who he really is. He who has power over others cannot empower himself. He who clings to his work will create nothing that endures If you want to accord with the Tao, Just do your job, then let go.

Compare this then with Krishna's teaching in the Gita to Arjuna on the battlefield: Do your duty, uncaring of the results. Compare this with similar teaching in the Bible and in Buddhism. Makes you wonder what the fundamentalists are going on about.

The Tao Te Ching (Perennial) which can be translated as The Book of the Way is attributed to Lao-tzu of whom very little is known. Stephen Mitchell writes that he may have been an older contemporary of Confucius, and probably a keeper of the archives at a small kingdom in China. His book may have had certain interpolations added over time (as was certainly the case with many of our own classical scriptures) which may account for its unevenness. The translator has tried to smoothen out the inconsistencies and has relied on his own great gifts to present the reader in English with a translation that works in this language.

Has he succeeded? As I have no way of comparing this translation with the original - and as I am a devoted fan of Mitchell - I would have to say, wholly subjectively, that he has succeeded.

I found myself thinking as I came to the end of the review that this was an apposite book to notice at the edge of a new year. Let me quote with a verse that might help you through 2001:

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.

DAVID DAVIDAR

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