How Milton Came to Resolve His Internal Conflict

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THE SPEAKING TREE: How

Milton Came to Resolve His Internal Conflict

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/OPINION/Editorial/THE_SPEAKING_TREE_How_Milton_Came_to_Resolve_His_Internal_Conflict/articleshow/606072.cms

K S Ram

 

Most of us tend to hop between two

agendas in life: One that God has set for us, and another that we have

set for ourselves.

 

It is one thing to disbelieve in God and

therefore to assume complete charge of your life and draw up an agenda

for yourself. It is quite another to believe in God, to be keen to do

your best in His service, and so draw up an agenda for yourself.

 

The first kind is a matter of individual

discretion, right or wrong. It is outside the scope of discussion here.

The second kind is subtle and complex.

 

Adverse turns in life that upset one's

personal agenda for serving God could sometimes decimate faith and

mislead a person to hastily reject God.

 

It requires strength of character and

vision to overcome adversities and find the divine grace that lies

beyond. This kind is rare. John Milton, the English poet, is an example

of this kind.

 

Milton was a highly talented youth. He

was learned in the Classics. He had enormous faith in God. And he had a

noble ambition to create in the English language a great epic.

 

He was not yet clear as to what the

subject of the epic would be. But he was determined on writing an epic.

He believed that he was born to do so. It was to this end that God had

blessed him with poetic talent, he felt.

 

Even as he was exploring possible

subjects in his mind, Milton lost his sight and became visually

impaired. This was not only a great personal loss, it also raised

important questions in his mind.

 

He did not know how he should respond to

this sudden misfortune. The mental conflict that he experienced and the

resolution of it has been documented by him in a sonnet titled On His

Blindness.

 

The question that tormented him was, now

that he had been rendered blind, was he still required to vindicate the

talent he was born with?

 

Or did incapacitation exonerate him? Was

he free from accountability now, or was it that new hurdles had been set

on his path?

 

With all his talent turned useless

because of the blindness, when he faced God empty-handed, would He feel

betrayed?

 

In his cryptic style, the question

Milton asks in the sonnet is: "Does God exact day labour, light denied?"

 

Milton considers the issue from a regal

perspective. God is the Supreme King. We are all His servants. God is

not dependent on any individual's work. Obedience is what He values.

 

The servant standing in attention at the

door is serving God as well as the prime minister or the general. Hence

Milton's great realisation: "They also serve who simply stand and wait".

 

What the above points to is the

importance of surrender to God's will. This is at the core of the Holy

Qur'an. In fact, the word 'Islam' connotes 'surrender'. Subordinate your

personal agenda in life to the Agenda of God.

 

Strive with zeal, but with the firm

faith that everything is subject to the will of God.

 

Insha'Allah: God-willing, is the supreme

big print rider that must underlie any personal agenda. This is the gist

of Karma Yoga: to work is in your scope; to bring forth the fruits of

your work belongs to the jurisdiction of God.

 

Does it matter then whether your

personal agenda stands or falls?

 

The fact that Milton could successfully

write his immortal epic Paradise Lost despite his handicap confirms the

truth that with God's grace the challenged can cross mountains, the mute

sing, and the blind see.

As many Vaishnavas say " Hari Ichha Baliyasee" meaning the Will and Desire of Hari is the strongest and will prevail "