COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS, NOT SHEEP

A cup and a saucer always go together. Is it because the tea or coffee may spill from the cup and stain your clothes or just that it is easier to hold the saucer than the cup? Some take to sipping the hot drink from the saucer, a habit considered to be uncultured and as we say in Hindi, "ganwar" meaning boorish or rustic..

The other day, a naval friend of mine, Anup Thomas, himself a writer, sent me a poem, "Drinking From My Saucer" by John Paul Moore, which gives a different dimension to the act: "I'm drinking from my saucer 'cause my cup has overflowed." It is a sweet, emotional poem thanking God for the blessings bestowed so much so that the cup of life has overflowed making one gratefully drink from the saucer. The opening lines define the beautiful thought-

"I've never made a fortune and it's probably too late now

But I don't worry about that much, I'm happy anyhow.

And as I go along life's way, I'm reaping better than I sowed

I'm drinking from my saucer 'cause my cup has overflowed."

As is my wont, I then fell to recalling some old songs with similar themes. "Count Your Blessings" was first sung by Bing Crosby, the 'old Groaner', in the all-time great Christmas movie "White Christmas", the title song of which, also sung by Crosby, is on everyone's lips in the Yuletide season. Here is what "Count Your Blessings" says,

"When I'm worried and I can't sleep

I count my blessings instead of sheep

And I fall asleep counting my blessings.

When my bankroll is getting small

I think of when I had none at all

And I fall asleep counting my blessings."

An amazing fact: Irving Berlin, the composer of the song, went to see a psychiatrist for insomnia. After listening to the steps Berlin narrated for attempts to sleep, the psychiatrist asked, "Have you tried counting your blessings?" Insomnia cured and a song was born!

"Crying in the Chapel" was a popular number expressing contentment and was sung by various top artistes of old including Elvis Presley. I loved the version by my favourite singer in my schooldays, Frankie Laine. Its opening lines go thus - 

"You saw me crying in the chapel

The tears are shed were tears of joy

I know the meaning of contentment 

Now, I'm happy with the lord."

I have experienced similar feelings in my numerous visits to the Shreenathji temple in Nathdwara and when on a trip to Rome, I stood transfixed in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City in front of Michelangelo's "Pieta" with sounds of an organ playing Schubert's "Ave Maria". 

Sometimes when things go wrong one feels like questioning God. Frankie Laine did that in "Answer Me" -

"Answer me, Lord above

Just what sin I have been guilty of?

Tell me how I came to lose my love

Please answer me, oh Lord."

Laine was gentle. Our own old singing maestro, Kundan Lal Saigal, was much more questionoing in a sad and emotive song addressing not God but "Kaatib-e-taqdeer" meaning 'writer of destiny'. The lines are classic:

"Aye kaatib-e-taqdeer mujhe itna bata de, itna bata de

Kyoon mujhse khafa hai tu kya maine kiya hai.

Auron ko khushi mujhko faqat dardo ranj-o-gham

Duniya ko hansi aur mujhe rona diya hai....

Kya thi khata ki jiski sazaa tooney mujh ko di

Kya tha gunah ke jiska badla mujhse liya hai

Kya maine kiya hai, kya maine kiya hai

Kyoon mujhse khafa hai tu, kya maine kiya hai?"

(Oh writer of destiny, just tell me this much, just this much

Why are you angry with me, what have I done

To others happiness but to me only pain, sorrow and grief

You have given laughter to the world and crying for me....

What was the guilt for which you have awarded punishment for me

What was the crime for which you have taken revenge from me

What have I done, what have I done

Why are you angry with me, what have I done?)

Some questions may remain unanswered particularly for the sufferer. The Bhagavad Gita says that we have to keep performing our duty sincerely with due devotion to God and not think about or attempt to claim the fruits of our actions. Do good and good will follow.

So wrote Richard Rodgers in “Something Good" which Maria and Captain von Trapp sing, happy and together, after falling in love with each other in "The Sound of Music". 

"Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could

So somewhere in my youth or childhood

I must have done something good."