The
faculty of liking one's praise exists in almost every human being. We can say that the
desire to hear one's praise from others is a part of human nature. The instinct is,
however, great weakness of the human being. Many times we find that a man who refuses to
be allured by money, estate, wealth or any other charm, is easily exploited by people with
vested interests when they hold a public function in his honour, garland him profusely and
resort to his praise, rather flattery. In fact, listening to one's praise is a kind of
intoxication which is so stimulating that one fails to maintain one's mental stability.
So, with the wine of praise one can easily mislead a person and exploit him for one's own
interest.
Those
who indulge in the art of flattery are generally quite shrewd and clever. It is a hobby
with them, which they apply to their own advantage quite successfully. They would invite a
person to preside over a function or hold a public reception for him so that the latter
feels so indebted to them that he acts like a captive. In order to grind their own axe,
they may address an ordinary police constable as head constable and a head constable as a
sub-inspector. They know the liking of the person they propose to exploit. During their
conversation, they would, therefore, address him with titles as 'Saviour of the Poor',
'Noble Soul', 'My Lord', or call them 'A Great Leader', 'A Great Servant of the Nation'.
To select the most suitable phrases and give them some new meaning as the situation may
demand is a child's play for them. Sometimes, they would praise the person even for his
most uncivilized remarks and describe him as a great philosopher and intellectual. They
would rather ask him to repeat the remarks so that the person feels all the more excited
and elated.
No
wise person or a scholar can claim that all his wisdom and knowledge are the product of
his own intellectual ability and this has nothing to do with the scholarly research and
innovative works of the numerous known and unknown great writes, thinkers, philosophers
and other learned men of the past. In fact, it will not be proper to give credit to a
single person for the knowledge and wisdom which is the result of a forceful consensus of
ancient luminaries, the great masters of the past. There is every probability that several
people, known and unknown, may have a role behind the achievement of a particular
individual. It may also be possible that a particular person might have tried to see that
the crown of success is placed on his head alone and no other person should be found
worthy of praise.
Man,
however, is sparing not even a single moment in quest of praise. He is virtually mad to
see that more and more people admire him, praise him, so much so that sometimes he himself
drafts the news, articles and advertisements in his own praise and releases the same in the name of others. He doesn't realize that the ocean cannot be
crossed by a paper boat. It has also been noticed that a person who is being praised by
outsiders is despised by his neighbours so much that they constantly try to get rid of
him. In this way, the person may not succeed in hiding the truth for long; he just cannot
make the Ganges flow back to its source - Gangotri.
Despite
all these facts, however, man continues to consider the one who flatters him, as his
well-wisher, sympathizer, rather a close friend. Instead, he takes his critic as his enemy
and starts hating him, whereas the truth is that the one who flatters him is only harming
him. The one who resorts to false praise is neither a friend nor foe; he is simply bound
by his selfish motive. His gesture of friendship or enmity goes only to the extent it
serves his self interest. On the other hand, a straight forward and frank critic gives an
opportunity to man to reform himself, to improve himself. In this context, there is a
saying that 'positive or truthful criticism is far better than negative or false praise.'
For peace in the desert of life, therefore, one just cannot rely on the oasis of false
praise.
Religion, sect, caste or community have no relevance for such incidents. They cut across all these considerations. In fact, we all experience such incidents often. However, we are carried away by them in such a way that we just do not try to ponder a while and know the facts or realize the truth. We can, of course, always find a way out or escape being trapped, provided we make it a habit to consider every thing carefully. Only a regular application of mind to all that happens in life and a careful action can lead us to the stage where we will consider false praise, commendation letters and welcome addresses as mere poison; where we will treat our sincere and frank critics as our friends and the flatterers as our foes. In short, for leading a peaceful and happy life, we must be careful about our thoughts and actions.