A CONCEPT

Nobody seems to be fully satisfied in this world of plenty. Everyone lacks something or the other and is haunted by such consciousness. One may have a wife but no children. Blessed with children, another may not be possessing riches. With wealth, one may be deprived of health. Man is always given to grumbling over anything or everything. Ironically enough, he never holds himself responsible for his adverse circumstances, failings and deprivations. For all this, man lays the blame on God, bad luck, family conventions, social and environmental factors. He seeks false consolation from such extraneous props and takes them as inevitable. In this context, Freud said that man’s present position is attributable to the first seven years of infancy. Even followers of Freud soothe themselves smugly that the first seven years in question cannot be recalled. Consequently, man takes refuge in imaginary formulations and feels that all is well. Such speculations, however, drive him to state of helplessness and to apply brakes to his life, thus making it stagnant and colourless. In order to make life dynamic, it is imperative, therefore, for man, to hold himself responsible for his failures and privations, his luck, society and childhood notwithstanding.

Doubtless, man has to face hardships in the beginning. For sometime he is on mental tenterhooks, but by persistent efforts, he becomes capable of discerning and appreciating the charm implicit in his circumstances. The consciousness of privations and reverses is certainly not bad by itself. It is, in fact, a challenge for man that rouses him from slumber. Actually man is inclined towards spirituality because of uncongenial circumstances. The latter inspires him towards Divine knowledge and leads him to self-realization. This transforms his technique of contemplation.

Such a person stays satisfied, if endowed with health, even though he may be deprived of wealth. He prefers health to bank balance of a couple of lakhs. Nor does he blame his luck if he is rich but issueless. For, his vision sees persons who are unable to procure two square meals a day, despite toiling and breaking stones in the scorching sun, the whole daylong. He considers himself lucky even with a worthless and bad tempered wife. The latter does not entangle him in attachment but makes him God conscious. Then he recalls the episode of Tulsi Das running madly after his wife. The latter’s sour and bitter remarks however, overhauled his head and heart, through and through. This made him Tulsi Das, the great poet.

The idea is that positive thinking makes man’s life pleasant. He picks up the art of remaining happy and gay in every circumstance. Words like luck and destiny are automatically erased from his conversational diction. Relishing the available amenities of life, he actively plansfor acquiring more. Thus he steps into a creative and joyful era of life. His personality is forged into a pleasant model of fragrant values, full of all ecstasy and charm. The ups and downs of life have no impact on the life of such a person. This is just like a rose whose loveliness and scent stay in tact in an archard or a desolate place alike.

Would that we made our thinking and attitude towards life positive.