Belong means accord, fit, be a part of, to be akin, to have a relationship. We all want to belong to someone. I am going to share excerpts from ‘The Little Prince’ with you:

One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes… it’s the time that you spent on your rose that makes the rose so important… You become responsible for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose.

The quotation explained

The little prince was crying in the grass, because he was so lonely. A fox appeared. The prince asked the fox to play with him, as he was so unhappy. The fox replied that first the prince needed to tame him. The prince did not understand the meaning of the word, ‘tame’. The fox explained that it meant to establish ties. The fox elaborated that at that moment the prince and the fox meant nothing to each other.

However, if the prince tamed the fox, they will need each other and each will become unique and special to the other. The little prince felt that he had been tamed by a rose and then he shared that he was from another planet. The fox was very excited to know this, but he lost interest when he learnt that there were no chickens there.

The fox explained to the prince that his life never changed. He hunted chickens and farmers hunted him. If the prince tamed him, he would have footsteps to look forward to rather than to run from. The prince’s golden hair would make the fox’s view of the grain fields come alive, because golden wheat would remind him of his friend.

The little prince is concerned as had little time to look for friends. The fox then said that if the prince wanted a friend, he would have to tame him. The prince asked, what was taming? The fox then explained in a playful manner that there was a method where rites and rituals were followed. Rites and rituals were important because they allowed certain moments to stand out.

The prince tamed the fox and when the time came for parting, the fox said that he would weep. The prince blamed the fox and said that it was his fault for insisting on becoming friends. The fox replied that it was true what the prince said, but the prince had made him realize the beauty of the cornfields and then told the prince to visit the rose garden again and learn as to why his rose was so special. The fox said that he would share a secret, when the prince returned to bid good-bye.

At the garden the little prince realized that his rose was only special because he had cared for her and loved her. He told the other roses that his rose was like the fox. He had tamed her and now in his eyes she was the only rose.

The prince returned to say good-bye to the fox. The fox then told him a threefold secret: that only the heart could see clearly because the eyes missed what was important; that the time which the prince had spent on his rose was what made his rose so important; and that a person was forever responsible for what he had tamed.

Bhava, feeling, sentiment

If we follow the trend of thinking here, we are looking at taming of the heart. In Sanskrit the heart is defined as bhava, feeling, sentiment which is spontaneous and not guided by the mind. It is essential to use one’s common sense, the common faculty of the heart and mind to be able to discriminate.

Taming refers to karma yoga because one is giving unconditional service, and this results in one being accountable for taking care. Looking at the rose and the fox, the prince took care of them and then realized that he was responsible for them. The process is that we turn to God with no expectation and allow our hearts to overtake us. We are now tamed by God and we see him everywhere.

Aim Hrim Klim

Photo by Scott Walsh on Unsplash