Qui se ultro morti offerant facilius reperiuntur quam qui dolorem patienter ferant
“It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.”
Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico, book VII
Some people are naturally patient. But the rest of us need to practice for it to become a habit. Becoming more patient will not happen overnight, but persistence can pay off.
Wat Arun (“Temple of Dawn”) is a temple in Yai district of Bangkok, Thailand. It was named after The Hindu sun god Surya’s legless charioteer, Aruna. There are many versions of legend of the birth of Aruna – all of them teach us the value of patience – especially how it very much helps the people around us.
The sage Kashyapa Prajapati had two wives. Their names are Vinata and Kadru. Vinata and Kadru wanted to have children. Kashyapa granted them a boon. Kadru asked for one thousand sons, while Vinata only wanted two sons. Kashyapa blessed them, and then went away to a forest.
Later, Kadru gave birth to one thousand eggs, while Vinata gave birth to two eggs. After incubating her eggs for five hundred years, Kadru broke the eggs open and out came her 1,000 sons. Seeing this and eager for her sons to be born already, Vinata broke one of the eggs and out came Aruna. Aruna was beautiful. He looked radiant and reddish as the morning sun, but not as bright as the midday sun as he was supposed to be and he was born without legs. Aruna chided his mother Vinata, because it was due to her impatience that he was born before he was ready.
Arun warned his mother, for the sake of his younger brother yet to be born, to wait for the second egg to hatch instead of breaking it. Aruna then left to become the charioteer of Surya, the sun god.
Vinata waited, and years later the fully developed brother of Aruna was born. His name was Garuda, and he became the divine eagle-sun king of the Birds.
And that companion is helpful,
because patience expands your capacity
to love and feel peace.
The patience of a rose close to a thorn
keeps it fragrant. It’s patience that gives milk
to the male camel still nursing in its third year,
and patience is what the prophets show to us.
Rumi (1369-1420)
Aruna literally means “red, ruddy, tawny”. He is the personification of the reddish glow of the rising sun. Wat Arun (“Temple of Dawn”) is a temple in the Yai district of Bangkok, Thailand. The temple is among the best known of Thailand’s landmarks. The first light of the morning reflects off the surface of the temple.
Martini Fisher 