" What kind of human being you want in this world? "
Some of our material and spiritual goals take
their birth in the experience and thoughts of men and women we hold in great awe
and esteem. We tend to eulogize and emulate their thoughts and behaviors.
Society showcases two contradictory models or
archetypes for our emulation – the first is symbolized by the King (the ruler
or the achiever or the top dog in any field) epitomizing the material goals. The
second is the Savior (the saint or the philosopher or the guru) evangelizing
the spiritual goals. Both models are dangled as worthy of our lifetime pursuit.
There is also the third kind, the hybrid model of
the ‘Philosopher-King’ or the ‘Sage-Ruler’ (the benign-leader).
We are brainwashed from childhood to believe that achievement of
material goals or the attainment of spiritual goals as the be-all and end-all
of our life.
“Your spiritual goals are not different
from the material goals” - UG. He maintained that both are fundamentally self-serving or self-seeking
activities.
Spiritual goals are mere psychological wants. Psychology
is a societal burden, a superimposition on the biology, the root cause of mental
anguish.
Wanting to be someone, to be superior, to be different
from others is a fake, unnatural undertaking. Not only it involves huge effort
and energy, it is the root cause of frustration, restlessness and hopelessness.
“Wanting and thinking always go together – as long
as you want something, there is thinking.” - UG.
Greater the seeking, greater the needless thinking,
greater is the misery!
****
Frustration could arise when someone is chasing some impossible or unachievable goal. Also, when there is an incompatibile goal that contradicts one’s true
nature.
UG addressed both these issues in his
inimitable ways. He personally helped many individuals through timely intervention.
He made some give up their jobs to pursue business instead ( a la banker Nagesh who went on to establish a successful business in Realty Finance) , he made some give
up their business to take up a public career ( a la Frank Noronha who gave up tea business and ended up as the Chief Spokesperson for the Government of India), he encouraged some to embrace saffron ( a la Lahiri, an Indian businessman from Europe) while influencing others to give up saffron ( a la Udipi Swamiji).
The guidance was always finetuned
and calibrated to suit the needs of the particular individual to mitigate the suffering born
of impossible or incompatible goals.
****
A note from Chandrasekhar Babu, UG's longtime friend and host:
In the year 1983 while I was employed with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bangalore, I got a lucrative offer from a private company in Hyderabad. I went to meet UG who was at the time staying at Goldie's (Film Director Vijay Anand) guest house in Mumbai.
After learning about the new job offer, UG said, "Do you have to relocate to Hyderabad? What a shame!"
To drive home the absurdity of the choice, he quoted a Telugu proverb, " ఇంత బతకు బతికి ఇంటి వెనక చచ్చాడాన్నట్లు" ("After living life king-size, dying like an outcast!")
UG advised me not to accept the offer.
Soon after, I got a fantastic offer from Hindustan Motors, closer to Bangalore. UG readily approved. I left Hindustan Aeronautics to join HM.
Years later, once again UG played a key role in my opting for voluntary retirement from service in 1992. I was 47 at the time, with at least a dozen more years of service under my belt.
I complied with UG's advice, resigning from service on the 9th of July 1992, incidentally on UG's 74th birthday!
My stint with Valentine Model School commenced soon after.
Transcript of the Video Clip:
UG: The basic question we all have to ask is, “What
kind of a human being you want in this world?”
( Q: the goal of psychiatrists etc.)
UG: We have unfortunately placed before mankind the models of a perfect being. THAT PERFECT BEING IS THE SPIRITUAL TEACHER AND HIS BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS. AND THE WHOLE VALUE SYSTEM IS BORN OUT OF THAT.
And our insistence and demand, on the part of
culture and the value system, to fit them all into that mold is bound to fail,
because every individual is unique, UNIQUE!
Nature is not interested in creating the human
species in one common mold, it is interested in creating different species, it
does not use anything as a model, that’s where we have gone wrong. Because of
the fear that the status quo of our culture or society or whatever you want to
call it, cannot be maintained if we do not fit all the people into that value
system.
I am not against the value system at all, but
the demand to fit everybody into a common mold, which is the value system, is
responsible for the breaking up or breaking down of many people. They have
given up.
And the so-called normal man, if there is any,
he lives in hope and dies in hope, (that) one day he is going to successfully
fit himself into that value system very successfully, and live in harmony with
that. And the mad people have given up and so, we are pushing them to make them
functional and it is the very thing that is pushing them to suicide.
****
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