Entire water of the sea can`t sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, negativity of the entire world can`t get you down, unless you allow it to get inside you.
Once I had gone to conduct a seminar in Amritsar, and during the lunch break, I stepped out to get some fresh air. While I was walking, I saw a man polishing shoes under a tree, and a line of people waiting to get their shoes polished. I was amazed how the man squatted on the ground was polishing the shoes. His whole body was in amazing harmony as he was handling the shoe with his left hand, and with his right hand he was handling the brush. I couldn`t resist but get into the line to get my shoes polished as well.
Soon I realized that he was taking his time polishing the shoes, so I requested the four people standing ahead of me to allow me to break the line as I had to go back to start the seminar, and to my pleasure, all the four agreed, and soon I was right behind the man whose shoes were being polished.
When my turn came, I removed my shoes and started to witness an experience that left me immensely inspired. The man started with my left shoe, and soon I was mesmerised, as to how he was moving the shoe on his left and the brush in his right hand in amazing harmony. Soon I realized that he was using six brushes in succession, one by one, each brush for a different part of the shoe, and for different function. Watching him in action, I felt like he was playing the violin, not just polishing shoes. While I was mesmerised watching him working on my left shoe, I realized he had devoted more than five minutes, so I requested him to hurry up so he could start and finish with my right shoe as well, so I could get on my way. He looked up and smiled, and said `please allow me the pleasure to shine your shoes to the potential they have.` I was stunned by his answer, and felt totally silent, and focused on watching the magic. When he finished my left shoes, and when he started with my right shoe, I didn`t realize, as I was totally mesmerised by the passionate performance.
When he finished, he got me out of the trance, by thanking me for giving him the opportunity to polish my shoes. I was speechless. I asked him, how much did I owe him for his service` He said twelve rupees please. I gave him a fifty rupee note, and before I could even request him to keep the change, he gave me the difference and signalled the person behind to remove his shoes.
I quietly bowed my head to him, as he had resumed, his magic of polishing the next pair of shoes. As I was walking back towards the hotel, where my seminar was being held, I looked back on numerous occasions just to catch as many glimpses of the wonderful man.
The man had such an aura of positive energy, and the lines of eager customers lined in front of him came, not just to get their shoes polished but to get inspiration. The man exemplified the Karam yog philosophy of being happy.