The Entire World is a Family

अयं निजः परो वेति गणना लघुचेतसाम्।
उदारचरितानां तु वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्।।

The literal translation is :

“This is mine” or “this belongs to someone else” is the thought/ consideration of the small minded.

But for those with big hearts, the entire earth (world) itself is their family.

A small minded person is exclusively focussed on herself/himself. ‘This is mine’. She/He finds it very difficult to include others. The others remain separate. “This belongs to someone else’. The person with a big heart, on the other hand includes all. She/He experiences the world as one big family.

When we feel that each of us is separate from the other then the tendency is to isolate ourselves and protect what we have. Trust gets obliterated. The mind becomes small. Fear of loss becomes the guiding force. We find it difficult to share. In fact we become hoarders. Amassing things which we don’t really want or need.

Fearing what we have, we may lose. We come from a mindset of scarcity. Our circle of concern shrinks. We don’t reach out. We become concerned only about ourselves. This is mine. That is yours. Us versus Them. Separateness breeds divisiveness. The small mind finds it difficult to include. There is no growth as a human being experienced. In fact we regress.

On the other hand the large hearted see the differences among us but don’t see our separateness. We are interconnected and interrelated and interdependent. The large — hearted embrace our differences. Nature thrives on diversity. We may be different but we can never be separate. That is why if we do anything to destroy nature we are literally destroying ourselves. We have evolved from nature. We are one with nature. We need to see this and experience it.

The famous poetess Maya Angelou was raped when she was young. And it took her a long time to realise that all of us are human persons. We all share the same human experience. We breathe the same air which is the breath of life. Looked at in this way one can say that I am in you inasmuch as you are in me. Within each of us there is good and bad. And therefore she was able to forgive her rapist when she realised that “I am my rapist”. The enemy too got included. There was no exclusion. Us versus them was replaced by Us and them. An experience of being one big family.

In a family there are different individuals playing different roles but as a family there is a strong bond which creates a oneness that transcends differences. A child, however, will manifest behaviour based on ‘this is mine and that is yours’. Each of us needs to go through the passages of growth. But when grown up members within the family begin to strictly act with a mindset of ‘This is mine and that is yours’ it causes dysfunctionality within the family. This attitude of separateness results in the distancing of members of the family from one another leading to the collapse of the family.

The same is being seen among nations. Each nation is striving to define its identity through emphasising its separateness from other nations. Trying to acquire the maximum of everything in terms of resources and wealth. Attempting to maximise ‘this is mine’ and minimise ‘that is yours’. Believing that this will lead to their gaining power over all the other nations. In the process this small mindedness which emerges from a mindset of scarcity is destroying life. To let life thrive we need to experience a mindset of growth and abundance where differences are embraced and we experience being one big family.