“Have I heard the latest news? No, I haven’t. Lately I have had no taste for watching any televised news. I don’t even want to check the latest headlines on the internet. Why? I’ve finally picked up on the trend. The lead stories are always about something negative. ‘Teenagers murder innocent man at gas station.’ ‘Infant found in dumpster after mother dropped her there.’ ‘Politician such and such caught on tape making racist remarks.’ ‘Union X is on strike to lobby for better benefits.’
“Seeing these headlines every day, I started to wonder. What is it exactly that goes into making a newspaper? If I were in charge of the nightly newscast, how would I go about putting it together? Seeing the end result, and doing some reverse-engineering, I see that the way it is done now is to look for anything bad that happens. Did someone get killed through something other than natural causes? If so, that is a story. Did someone of prominence make a disparaging remark about someone else? That is news fit to print as well.
“But in taking a step back, we see that so many things happen each day. The murders are minuscule in number compared to the lives that are maintained in any given day. The number of people who take care of their children, tell the truth, hold doors open for others, smile as they pass by, and give in charity is far greater than the liars, cheats and scoundrels combined. And yet the good behavior is rarely reported on. It might make the later segments of the newscast. Those segments are commonly referred to as fluff pieces or light-hearted news, and no serious journalist makes a career doing them.
“And yet the level of attention shouldn’t determine which news is more important. News is discussed, after all. A famous person of royalty dies in a tragic car accident, and thousands come to her funeral. A common person loses their life in the same manner, and not nearly as much attention is given. This doesn’t make sense to me. Just because of attention, we have to focus on the negative? Why would I want to live my life this way?”
From the ancient Sanskrit texts of India we get the word “paramahamsa.” This translates to “supreme swan.” It is used to describe an enlightened being, someone who sees everything in the right context. The difference between the knowledgeable and the unintelligent is vision. The unintelligent steal from someone else for a short term gain, but they fail to see the hard work that went into acquiring that money. They fail to see how they would object if they were the victim of the same act.
The unintelligent, suffering from a lack of vision, are more prone to the crow’s behavior. The crow rummages through garbage. Perfectly nice food could be available nearby, but the crow would rather look through weeds and dried grass. The swan, meanwhile, takes only the good. It stays amidst lotus flowers on the calm pond. It cannot act like the crow because it has no interest to. If the supreme swan has to go through garbage it will look for anything good in it. It will pick out the jewels and discard the rubbish.
“How can that female swan who is accustomed to sporting with the king of swans amidst lotus flowers ever cast her eyes on a water-crow that stays amidst bunches of grass?” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.20)
The paramahamsa sees Him in everything, and so even the good news is noteworthy to them. The person who takes care of their child shows the loving nature of the Supreme Lord. The act of a mother carrying her young infant reminds the paramahamsa of how mother Yashoda tends to Shri Krishna in Vrindavana. Since God is the Supreme Father, it is difficult for others to serve Him with the urgent care that only a parent offers. Therefore in Vrindavana He accepts parents who are exalted beings looking to serve God through parental affection.
The paramahamsa finds goodness in everything, and so they are at the top end of the enlightened scale. To be knowledgeable should be a good thing. More knowledge shouldn’t mean more misery. Without God in the picture, however, consuming more and more news does indeed make one less happy. Reaching the human species through the evolutionary chain is the greatest punishment if one remains ignorant of God. The animals have it better than the non-devoted human since they don’t have to worry as much over what happens to others. They also aren’t wise enough to be consumed with fear over the future.
In Closing:
Why paper to always give news bad?
My mind only then to be more sad.
To be less viewership understood,
If only focused on happenings good.
Situation still not of any sense to me,
Goodness in all situations rather to see.
Paramahamsa acts like swan supreme,
Divine influence from everything to glean.
In bhakti aspire to state of the swan.
Make days of crow long gone.
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