Muddy Water is Best Cleared by Leaving it Alone

Muddy water is best cleared by "leaving it alone". A winternight by the village lake is scene of quite stillness, cool breeze touching the water and making subtle ripples, fullmoon hangs high in the cloudless sky. Casting a silver glow over the lake. A boy with his father walking along the lake. boy suddenly picked a pebble and thrown in to the water making thrashing ripples and shattering the moon's image reflection.

Boy asked father to, lets go to the other side of the lake to capture the full moon image in his phone. father replied it takes its own time to settle down the ripples and to show the reflect a perfect moon again. they patiently waited for a while and captured the photo on their phone and went home. This particular narration looks to be quite a regular event happens in every one's life but if we read into the depth of it. It holds a profound message of "leaving it alone". and patience is the key to certain things in our lives. To truly understand the "leaving it alone" to best clear the muddy waters, lets go back to the vastness of Vedas. Where Upanishads speaks of Mauna (noble silence), upeksha (equanimity) profoundly and extensively with help of many parables. To deal with human emotions like angst, anxiety, dilemma etc, even the modern times faces such issues especially in a globalised world where Urbanism and Consumerism affects our daily lives. When 'Kurukshethra' looming the battle fields on the final days of battle, Blind Kuru King Dhrithrashtra summoned Vidura, known for wisdom and foresight. and worried about the future of Kuru lineage, Vidura replied "Majesty, its the time for calmness, and stillness rather than rushing into political moves which even worsens the war outcomes. Time finds its own course". Does that patience, or strategic pause or "leaving it alone" is a time defining phenomenon? Not, certain, take the case of Gautama Budha. he tried all extremes from hedonism of pleasures in palace to the bone breaking fasting asceticism but he attained Nirvana only after sitting calmly under the tree. To settle down the muddy water like angst in him towards the society and human sufferings. it cleared when allowed it not acted upon. This synthesis, that deliberate inaction is vital in clearing the muddy water rather than acting on it. Here comes the crucial question of confronting with the counter examples of adverse effects of not addressing, clearing the muddy water.

the distinction is well explained, when Rajaram Mohan roy and Dr. B.R Ambedkar started fighting against the social evils like, Sati, women emancipation, Caste, Untouchability. In this case the water is not muddy but a poisoned well. Which needs an immediate cleansing of water. Muddy water has a self regulating, self correcting feature of settling down the sediments to the bottom if we leave it for a while. This same strikingly past parallels can be found in Chanakya's Arthashastra, in his treatise, he writes on state craft, and compares empire to be forest, where a tree cannot be grown overnight just by pulling on its leaves. Rather clear the weeds around it to allow the tree to grow in its own time. Likewise Maurya's focused on administration and law and order in its initial days, they focused on consolidation rather than expansion. Sun-Tzu in his book on war strategy explains the strategic pause in the battle field rather than emotionally driven vigour valourly fighting on the field. in the realm of environment, ecology. (Prakriti) Nature has its own way of self regulating feature, thats called ethos of environment. in recent developments, local communities in western ghats successfully managed and grown sacred groves (Kavu) (Serpent Kavu), there by increasing their cover, and making it a biodiversity hotspot. just by allowing it grow on its own with out interfering in to it.

muddy water settled down. this feat cannot be achieved even by a professionally managed National parks. the wisdom of not tinkering or tweaking with the nature. in modern Indian thought, where Non-Cooperation movement was at its peak by drawing masses from all walks of the life. Gandhij suddenly stopped, the movement, after Chauri Chaura incident which broke out the violence. He faced a backlash from Bose, Nehru but he knows its crucial to retreat the movement as it was going against the moral values of Ahimsa, (Non Violence). To clear the muddy water he called off the movement and went on to succeed against the mighty British empire with Non violence. "leaving it alone" means throws another question of a mere laziness. To distinguish this, explore the what upanishads distinguishes between Sloth (Maun) & upeksha (equanimity) it's a subjective concept based upon the facts & circumstance and wisdom. rather a static concept. When 2008, financial bubble burst, every investor in the market panicked and started selling, further crashing it down rather leaving it alone to course correct and finds its level. there comes the swift action from the govts to step in to protect the investors. here govts did not wait because its in the interest of investors. When rupee slides, inflationary changes. Central Banks keeps a watch just monitoring them to find its own level based upon market forces rather than quickly acting upon. In this modern era, "Burn out" is often experienced by every one. actively working continuously often misconstrued as productivity. but there's a crucial distinguishment between Seriousness & Sincerity. In conclusion, the AI Revolution has instilled fears about AI snatching away the jobs, we must leave it alone to settle down the mud-waters to take a clear decision rather than carried away by the AI fears. In the end wisdom lies in allowing it and accepting it rather than acting on it to confront with its own mechanism to settle down the muddy sediments.

To distinguish this, explore the what upanishads distinguishes between Sloth (Maun) & upeksha (equanimity) it's a subjective concept based upon the facts & circumstance and wisdom. rather a static concept. When 2008, financial bubble burst, every investor in the market panicked and started selling, further crashing it down rather leaving it alone to course correct and finds its level. there comes the swift action from the govts to step in to protect the investors. here govts did not wait because its in the interest of investors. When rupee slides, inflationary changes.