4 of 31 Questions for Reflection. Today’s question is inspired by reading Dṛg Dṛsya Viveka: An Inquiry Into the Seer and the Seen along with reading a short story by Lydia Davis called “The Left Hand.”

What question arises when I focus on “The Left Hand” as an object of Vedanta meditation?

This story tells of the left hand having a dialogue with the right hand. Well, not a dialogue but an argument. The right hand is feeling defensive because the left hand started the conversation by priding itself on being more refined, slimmer and smoother, than the right hand. Because the right hand does all the work, it makes its own claim to superiority, especially when it comes to playing the piano.

Reading this story as a yogi, I have to admit to growing impatient with this beautifully written creative expression. Though I have been meditating for years, I couldn’t help but get irked; as the argument developed, I wanted to scold those hands and shout shut up, already, and just hold yourselves together in Anjali mudra!

This strange story could make a Jnana yogi ask, “If the right and left hands were sentient beings — independent creatures with minds and hearts of their own — what wisdom would they seek to grasp? What blessings would they confer when placed upon objects with names and forms? Alone with each other, would the hands press together and hold one another in prayer? Or, would they only argue over who is better and who does more work?”

#AdvaitaVedanta #shortstories