Life is complicated, these days for the young men, and for the young women as well. They are baffled by the demands made on them. Parents advise them to do good things, but good things look dull while the wicked things look tempting. Naturally. Parents exhort them to act good without knowing how difficult it is to act good; there is no thrill in it. Smoking thrills you but you are advised not to smoke. Liquor helps you to forget your joys and sorrows, but they ask you not to touch it. They ask you not to see objectionable material on the net but you know how titillating they are. They say that early dating leads one astray but they don’t know the thrill of holding hands in the dark. They advise you to rise early without knowing the sweet joys of early morning sleep.
In short, we are made to believe that the things we enjoy doing are not good for our wellbeing or for our future. We are asked to sacrifice the present day joys so that we could enjoy a better and more comfortable future. Let us take a look at the people who have been good and who have arrived at middle age. Are these people who are employed, liquor-free and smoke- free and married, happy? Have they got the real compensation for having sacrificed the early joys?
All of us have Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde lurking under our skins. They are at each other’s throat, with Mr.Hyde always holding the winning card.
It is like a dog having two tails.
Honestly we are not able to decide if we should follow the popular exhortations or to ignore them. The film heroes and heroines run around trees singing duets, but we cannot do it in real life. One man fights ten sturdy fellows and downs them all. We cannot even think of it. The poor hero decides to work hard and grows quite rich quickly, but it is all different in real life. Glamorous and rich girls fall in love with poor dirty youngsters, but in real life beautiful girls ride in luxury cars with no eyes for young men, poor or dirty.
They say that honesty pays, but not in real life. All the successful business men and politicians mouth such beautiful slogans about hard work and integrity, but it is rumoured they are all corrupt and dishonest.
All our epics including the Bhagavad Gita insist on honesty and truthfulness, but success in real life seems to materialize only when you shun them. The best formula to remain poor is to follow them. They say that truth always triumphs. Does it? Happenings in society seem to prove otherwise. Governments thrive on votes borrowed or purchased from the political market. Politicians compete with each other to serve the people, and we are aghast what their Swiss bank accounts reveal when they step down.
The Indian tradition says nothing should be received without paying for it. But the extant of freebees stuns us and we find ourselves actual beggars. Thirukkural lists the evils attendant on liquor and admonishes people to shun it. But our governments take pride in selling liquor and ruining individuals and families. Our teachers exhort us to study today for a successful tomorrow, but we know the best students excel in their studies and later work under the uneducated entrepreneurs who know how to make money. Suits are pending with the courts for dozens of years but the learned judges, though they know that the punishments will not be as much as the remand period, are not able to do anything about them. The police are a law unto themselves and we are aware of their third degree methods, but we are asked to believe that they are maintaining law and order. Oh God!
The society teaches our earnest citizens to practise duplicity and to lead a double life. Slowly and inexorably they are made to understand that what the epics and the Gita teach us are not to be taken seriously. Pay lip service to them but understand that practical life is different from all that nonsense. Be street smart.; be practical. Have a double tongue. Go about mouthing all the platitudes your elders have preached you; don’t forget that the elders never meant you take their words seriously.
It poses a very serious problem for the earnest young men of today: do we trust our sacred texts and wise elders? Are we going to say good things, but don’t practise them. When you are advised to be selfless, it means that you have to be selfish. When the text books say be honest, it means you can be corrupt. You ought to be a fool to take the Mahatma seriously or as a role model; understand he was an impractical nincompoop, but a lucky nincompoop who happened to have a tired and honest adversary in the British.
Yes, the conclusion is foregone: be a happy Indian citizen, unconcerned about good and bad. The holy and ancient texts are only for others to follow. Don’t be scared of the gods or retribution; you can always appease or hoodwink them.
In short, we are made to believe that the things we enjoy doing are not good for our wellbeing or for our future. We are asked to sacrifice the present day joys so that we could enjoy a better and more comfortable future. Let us take a look at the people who have been good and who have arrived at middle age. Are these people who are employed, liquor-free and smoke- free and married, happy? Have they got the real compensation for having sacrificed the early joys?
All of us have Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde lurking under our skins. They are at each other’s throat, with Mr.Hyde always holding the winning card.
It is like a dog having two tails.
Honestly we are not able to decide if we should follow the popular exhortations or to ignore them. The film heroes and heroines run around trees singing duets, but we cannot do it in real life. One man fights ten sturdy fellows and downs them all. We cannot even think of it. The poor hero decides to work hard and grows quite rich quickly, but it is all different in real life. Glamorous and rich girls fall in love with poor dirty youngsters, but in real life beautiful girls ride in luxury cars with no eyes for young men, poor or dirty.
They say that honesty pays, but not in real life. All the successful business men and politicians mouth such beautiful slogans about hard work and integrity, but it is rumoured they are all corrupt and dishonest.
All our epics including the Bhagavad Gita insist on honesty and truthfulness, but success in real life seems to materialize only when you shun them. The best formula to remain poor is to follow them. They say that truth always triumphs. Does it? Happenings in society seem to prove otherwise. Governments thrive on votes borrowed or purchased from the political market. Politicians compete with each other to serve the people, and we are aghast what their Swiss bank accounts reveal when they step down.
The Indian tradition says nothing should be received without paying for it. But the extant of freebees stuns us and we find ourselves actual beggars. Thirukkural lists the evils attendant on liquor and admonishes people to shun it. But our governments take pride in selling liquor and ruining individuals and families. Our teachers exhort us to study today for a successful tomorrow, but we know the best students excel in their studies and later work under the uneducated entrepreneurs who know how to make money. Suits are pending with the courts for dozens of years but the learned judges, though they know that the punishments will not be as much as the remand period, are not able to do anything about them. The police are a law unto themselves and we are aware of their third degree methods, but we are asked to believe that they are maintaining law and order. Oh God!
The society teaches our earnest citizens to practise duplicity and to lead a double life. Slowly and inexorably they are made to understand that what the epics and the Gita teach us are not to be taken seriously. Pay lip service to them but understand that practical life is different from all that nonsense. Be street smart.; be practical. Have a double tongue. Go about mouthing all the platitudes your elders have preached you; don’t forget that the elders never meant you take their words seriously.
It poses a very serious problem for the earnest young men of today: do we trust our sacred texts and wise elders? Are we going to say good things, but don’t practise them. When you are advised to be selfless, it means that you have to be selfish. When the text books say be honest, it means you can be corrupt. You ought to be a fool to take the Mahatma seriously or as a role model; understand he was an impractical nincompoop, but a lucky nincompoop who happened to have a tired and honest adversary in the British.
Yes, the conclusion is foregone: be a happy Indian citizen, unconcerned about good and bad. The holy and ancient texts are only for others to follow. Don’t be scared of the gods or retribution; you can always appease or hoodwink them.