Darkness At Noon-Part III

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The sun of consciousness is shining, by itself, all the time without any break. But, for those blinded by the illusive ways of a fragmented mind it is non-existent. In the centre of one"s world is the identification with 'I" and 'Mine". In this seemingly innocuous beginning lies the seed of sorrow. For it fences one in and such a life is consequently limited to the perimeters of his mental world. This mental world of his is over-crowded and there is no elbow-room, often no room even to breathe. The dust of time in the form of thoughts and more thoughts in ceaseless succession pollutes the atmosphere.

Human Football

Well, do you know or don"t you that all of us are human footballs? Perhaps not. Why? Because, everything appears to be fine in a life that is static with no basic ups and downs. But the mind does not leave one in peace. It kicks one all the time in different directions with its thought clusters and competitive directional thrusts. In this modern scenario there is the luxurious life lived on personal loans, car loans, house building loans, credit cards, debit cards and so on. 'Loan-rich, consumerism-driven" is the scenario. So tempting. So one mortgages life to being swallowed by temptations galore. To imagine that one can enjoy life as if there are no minuses in any give situation is to be merely utopian. 'Who is to do the costing? Why do it at all?" says the unwilling, unthinking mind, our inner dictator. 'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

The Vortex

The desire vortex drags one into and along the path of enjoyment, integral to the consumer-centric values. With more and more Malls and Fast Food joints, why not enjoy them to the hilt? Well, what about the corrosion of our values? Charities, looking after the old at home, and the like? The less we talk about them, the better. For who cares? With desire and enjoyment in the driver"s seat, one has to be prepared for deaf ears that cannot hear or cherish time-honoured values.

Does your car have a brake?

The way we are ready to conduct our life looks as if our car has only an accelerator and no brake. Thank heaven that there are no crashes. Or are they not? What about stress? What about depression? What about unemployment? What about between jobs idleness? The market forces keep changing, sometimes quite volatile indeed in their impact. This needs constant readjustments that one"s dissipated mind cannot handle. It is a mind that is constantly worn out by workaholism. The result and the damage, which is not noticed while it is happening, is that one gets burnt out by one"s middle age. Do you know you are paying this price? If you do, have a break from the momentum of thought, and start for using on the fundamentals of your life. Not looking beyond your nose, not having the foresight to see the wasteful ways of our life, we may not yet be ready. But the entry of Ramana Maharshi into one"s life will make a world of difference. Only we have to allow him to do his job.

To be continued