It
is a human weakness to pretend to appear before others as an embodiment of virtues and
goodness, which one does not possess. In
other words, we are not what we present ourselves to be, or we do not present what we
really are. Even otherwise, appearances are often deceptive. The distant hills look
charming and the shimmering sand looks like ripples of the seawater, in the glow of the
bright sun, causing an illusion. We bear a two-faced personality, the real one with all
its infirmities and a masked one to attract and impress others. In our day - to - day
life, we often hear people speak of love but such people may not be imbued with even a
modicum of love. We come across social workers who may not be actuated by the spirit of
service. There may be many who sing of beauty but more often they are bereft of beauty.
There is a wide gap between their profession and practice. A man who looks to be a darvesh
may be a fake one, possessing not even the elementary trait of a darvesh. At times, we have no sympathy for others and yet
we pretend ourselves to be most sympathetic and compassionate. What a paradox! By so
doing, we try to build up a false image of ourselves in our minds, which drives us away
from the reality. Thus, we go on deceiving ourselves, and the more we drift away from the
reality, he more we get caught in the quagmire of self-delusion
and self-deception. Therefore, unless we cease to pretend and be what we are, we can
realise neither our true self nor the Supreme Self.
In
fact, so long as we tread the path of pretence and falsehood, we cannot tread the path of
Truth. On the contrary, if we take recourse to truthfulness, falsehood would automatically
flee. Whenever truthfulness confronts falsehood, it always triumphs and shines all the
more. Whenever we suffer from any disease, we go to a physician for treatment. Similarly,
if we have any infirmity, shortcoming or drawback, we must remedy it or else it would eat
into our vitals like a canker. There is no malady more serious than falsehood. We must
weed it out root and branch.
‘Know
thy self ‘ has been the constant refrain of the ancient sages and seers. What is
needed most is to know our real self and for that we shall have to cast off our deception
and learn to present our true self. If we do so we shall lead a life of bliss and
happiness.