Seeking Solace
I am on a train to Cochin, it’s a
long journey and mild banter amongst fellow passengers is the norm. On the
topic of aerated drinks the lady sitting next to me, confessed that she had
stopped taking a particular brand of aerated drinks after seeing a television
programme of a famous guru who had advised his viewers on the ills of consuming
these soft drinks. One male passenger sitting in our section of the coach opined
that all these so called gurus and god men are fakes and it is the people who
are foolish to fall prey to them though he agrees to the aerated drinks warning.
Listening intently to them, I am
reminded of a recent newspaper story where a certain Baba Bamdev from Jharkhand
who had a sprawling business in placing tribal girls as domestic helps in the
entire North Indian region had been arrested. Headquartered in New Delhi he had
spread his tentacles well beyond the region. His bountiful wealth had been
acquired from providing girls belonging to impoverished hamlets to wealthy
clients in the cities and urban settings to work as housemaids. More often than
not, these girls were sexually exploited some as young as 12 to 13 years old.
This man used to have believers around him, believers who trusted the man to
produce a magic wand and make their woes disappear. In anticipation they contributed
their might in keeping him going even as he dished out conclusively sweet
nothings to them.
Recently we heard about the
famous Asaram Bapu, who has since been exposed as a woman hopper and land
grabber, making his vast wealth through dubious means. Even his son dutifully
and truthfully followed the father till the politicians were forced to squeak
on him and has since been confined to his rightful meditating space. Then there
is the famous Baba with clear political leanings, who had wreaked havoc on the
political system through his brand of yoga. Another ‘Art of living’ guru, with
a few prefixes to his name has urged followers to exercise their franchisee in
a particular manner. There are many more that have been exposed in the past and
many more that need to be exposed. All these so called Gurus and Babas have
manipulated ordinary folks to attain their political and personal needs. This
act of conning does not flow in a particular religion but is prevalent in all.
The only common link being, the ordinary people-who irrespective of their
leanings, learned or illiterate, rich or poor, by their acts of sheer foolishness
fall prey to such conmen and follow their bidding.
The question that naturally
arises is why do we not learn? Why are we enticed like a moth to fire? Why are
we willingly destroying ourselves getting conned over and over again? Why do we
continuously trip and fall? Why are we being overtly and covertly foolish? What
keeps us from realising the truth? Why do we go back to them over and over
again through generations? The answer is simple- Insecurity.
We are all insecure from within
no matter how daunting we look, how well we are placed, how pretty or ugly we
look, how settled we are in our lives, how learned or illiterate we seem to be.
This insecurity stems from the uncertainty about the future. We are so
engrossed in decoding the future that the present seems lost on us. We seem to
cement our present more realistically only once we are aware of the future and
this future is beyond comprehension to ordinary mortals which is when the God
men and Babas fill in with their brand of wares and entice us on our path of
discovery. They seem so astonishingly placid and calm in their sooth saying
skills, so sublime in their version of the truth, that we curse ourselves for
not having joined their bandwagon earlier and rue our earlier wasted existence
as ‘doubting Thomas’s’. The present though unchanged seems more meaningful,
worth the future, when all one should do is sit back ponder on how to do things
differently and believe in your own abilities over prescriptions written by
these fake leaders of men.
This is our failing, when we
should be trusting in our own abilities, our sense of reasoning is sent on a
vacation, and we laid more faith on our saviours, mere mortals who can never
change our destiny since one’s destiny is always linked to one’s action. I am
reminded of another Baba who seems so convincing when he answers his followers
desperate queries. All queries are dismissed with the wave of the hand and a
simple prescription which makes you wonder why you yourself did not think of it
in the first place. Ah! If you had the ability to think alike you could also
have been a Baba.
Someone has rightly said “the
past is history and the future is mystery” what actually matters is the present
and it is through the present that you can deal with your future. For this you
do not need Baba’s and Gurus, at best simple motivational speakers, for times when
the chips seem to be down, and the going gets tough. Our teachers and motivational
leaders are sufficient unless you are not willing to accept the present and
work towards the future, unless you willingly enlist your details for the conmen
to realise their potential.
Will we learn to trust our
judgement, our skills, our being, our sense of direction, our intuition, our
conscience and our own abilities, or do we still run to these comforters when
the clouds turn dark? Next time when you are down and seemingly out, when the
world seems overburdened and stifling, when barriers seem to be insurmountable
and you seem to be sliding down a deep unending hole, just sit back and relax,
contemplate on the past, on why you have become the torchbearer of bad times,
introspect, forge ahead anew, choose to do things a little different, learn
from the past, believe in yourself and the moment will pass you by. Then you
can merrily skip towards your goal, your future, and your tomorrow even while winking
and whistling slyly at your detractors.21st August 2014
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