THE POSSIBILITIES OF JOY IN A NIGHTMARE OF CEASELESS PAIN
Dr. Jernail S. Anand
‘Oooooooo’ is the cosmic voice, and when it enters Me, i.e. when O and M come together, it becomes Om, the talismatic word of Hindu spiritual lore. The cosmic voice Oooooooo when enters man, becomes silent [hushed] but when he is no more, it regains its sound. Look at this: Ooooooo[sh]ooooOO. This is the constitution of the word Osho, which essentially relates to the Cosmic Voice. It also conveys to us the fundamental truth about human life, that, for the soul on a long journey, it is only a station. And we forget, the train has stopped for a while.
What consumes human breath most of the time, are the thoughts of the Pre-birth times, and the Post-death world. Books are available in thousands, and google too has no end to information about Pre-birth of men, and also about the post-death scenario. They can tell you who will go where. They can also tell you, thanks to the games on FB, what you were in your previous lives [believe them or not, at your risk]. It may be a game, but it interests us.
Janus is a figure which represents the month of January which looks back at the previous year, and forward at the forthcoming months. I feel we too are like Janus, and our eyes and minds are rotating in the twin directions, back and forth. Every image, human or divine, has one thing in common. They cannot see themselves. We cannot see our eyes, our cheeks, our lips, our face, our back, and then, most conspiracious of all, our mind, our thoughts, and the highest level of this game of self-concealment is we have no access to our dreams. What is more surprising is, we do not know how we frame our dreams.When they come, and when they fritter away. Every thing is mysterious, and therefore so tempting, that we become oblivious of our present self, and keep looking back into the dark mystery of the past, better call it Pre-nativity and into the bright realms of Post-death scenario. Birth to Death is a plank which we suffer through as passive victims. But we look actively at the past, and more actively at the future.
The oracles are the busiest people these days. Men are flocking to them, because they tell you about your past, which you cannot verify, and they also tell you about your future, which often does not come about as foretold. But then, our most natural reaction is: not to shun the idea of an astrologer, but we choose another astrologer. And we are trying our best to avert supposed disasters.
If we look at King Oedipus, he was happy in his present life only so long as he had no knowledge of what had happened. Past is a disturbing reality, which has been concealed from our memory, and kept safely away. So that, this life is a starting afresh, and we do something good. When we think of our past and future, we do not consider the idea of the past which lies before our birth and the future which lies beyond our death. In our normal reckoning, the idea of past and present and even future relates to our present life. Blissfully, we do not remember anything of our pre-birth times. And if we look at the trajectory of human experience, only business tycoons make plans about future expansions, or politicians who want to enter their sons and daughters into the profession. Ordinary men have no future plans, except to amass some money for buying a car, or for marrying off their daughters. Beyond this, I wonder if any man has any future plans.
Shouldn’t we be bothered about our post-death issues, which do not disturb us at all. Enlightened and spiritually inclined people do think about these possibilities. Yes, the religious scriptures tell a lot about the tortures of hell and the joys of heaven in life hereafter, causing temptation and fear.
If tragedy arouses the twin emotions of pity and fear, and leads to catharsis of these emotions, leaving behind a sense of relief, the idea of post-death life gives rise to emotions of ‘temptation’ and ‘fear’. The saints and prophets try to use ‘fear’ and ‘temptation’ to keep men on the righteous path. Fear of Hell and the temptation to enter Heaven if they do good deeds. Thus, Post-death scene is very active in our imagination. But I have a strong feeling all these imagined fears have practically no impact on mankind. Men are afraid of neither gods nor hell. And they have no interest in heaven either. They are too much occupied with making a living. They have no time even to think of their present, thanks to the corporatisation of human life.
The Post-birth and Pre-Death scenario [our life] has its own blues. Happiness is extinct, and men are let loose to create suffering in bulk. Happiness and suffering are neither self-created, nor any gods force them upon us. Just imagine you sit in a sophisticated car and do not know how to operate it. It you have its knowledge, it can take you on a great ride. But if you do not know its working, then, you are just fiddling with it. You can cause damage to the car’s working systems, and if you are able to start it, you can bring about a disaster too. This is how we ourselves create situations which turn tragic, or which give us joy.
The means of happiness and misery are lying before us. It is our wisdom, if we know how to arrange the things so that they look beautiful and give of us joy, or we can choose to let them lie messed up, and cause misery out of the same set of givens. Let us think of money. In most of the cases, money give us nightmares. It gives nightmares not only to those who have it stashed in banks, but to the society also, because we indulge in inhuman and indecent practices to amass it. Ruskin was right when he said, blood should visit every part of the body, to keep it in good health, and if it clots up anywhere, like wealth in a few hands, it can lead to a cancerous situation. And, when wealth accumulates in a few hands, we are living in a society which is toxic and malignant.
Now the greatest question before mankind is: how to reap happiness from agiven situation. What type of a mindset is needed so that even our wealth cannot destroy our happiness. Or let us consider it this way. How to keep suffering and misery at bay. It is essential to remember one thing. We see the entire world in a state of sorrow. So that it appears misery is a permanent state of mankind. And, man after man we find worried, lost in despair. Can you tell me one man who might have wished and worked for despair and the misery he is reeling under? Not one. All the men, invariably, are doing everything to ensure their own happiness. Their own happiness, I repeat. Still, the end result is misery.
Now, the important issue here is: how to use our time, our wealth, so that it gives rise to Joy. First thing is: we should realize we do not need much wealth to lead this life happily. A modest amount of riches is enough. If wealth is coming to us, suppose we are a businessman and our strategies work, and there is an upsurge in our earnings, it may guarantee success, but it cannot guarantee happiness. If we want our wealth to generate Joy. First of all, it should not come by robbing others of their rightful earnings. It is tainted otherwise, and will never give you joy. Second, if you think of happiness of the society around you, and use your wealth for the people, it will bring you happiness. We spoil our own kids, when we ensure ceaseless supply of wealth to their wallets. Why we make castles of air for the future? Our present should be happy. And it can be happy if we do not run after wealth. And never use ulterior methods to amass wealth, and whatever we have, if we share it with the less blessed.
It will help in alleviating human suffering. And it will also ensure that suffering does not touch us in our lives. Yes, if we are acting well, there is no fear of the post-death scenario. You are an architect of you destiny. Read future here.
Author:
Dr Jernail Singh Anand is President of the International Academy of Ethics. He is author of 161 books in English poetry, fiction, non-fiction, philosophy and spirituality. He was awarded Charter of Morava, the great Award by Serbian Writers Association, Belgrade and his name was engraved on the Poets’ Rock in Serbia. Recently, he was awarded Doctor of Philosophy [Honoris Causa] by the University of Engg and Management, Jaipur. His most phenomenal book is Lustus:The Prince of Darkness [first epic of the Mahkaal Trilogy]. [Email: anandjs55@yahoo.com Mobile: 919876652401[Whatsapp]
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