A ‘FEVERISH’ FEELING

A challenging task or an idea normally releases positive endorphins which stimulate the human mind to think out of the box and when endowed with such an attitude we scale high altitudes and reach the summit.

But there is a flip side. We become attached to the product or the activity flow; consequently, the mind gets entrapped by the adulation received and tends to ignore other individuals who also participated in the successful staging of the event. The human mind in the febrile state becomes more of an actor and less of a witness. This springs from the augmented characteristic of ‘doership’ present in the mind.

‘Doership’ is a myth born from the illusion of “me” and the “mine” opines an evolved soul.

A vivacious model with gravitas, known for scorching the ramp was chosen for a cinematic role. She executed the role with aplomb and was soon nominated for several awards and managed to win some of them including the Best New Face award. The actress was bestowed with several honours and in the process bagged prestigious roles. It was indeed a heady feeling.

She was feted at various parties and became a celebrity overnight.  However, there was no end to her avarice as her mind and body craved for more attention.

She compromised and indulged in moral turpitude. On the way up the ladder of success she dumped her mentors and well-wishers.  Included among them were her lover and benefactor with whom she had once shared a passionate relationship.

The ‘I, ME’ syndrome dominated her mind and she spent hours before the mirror, taking selfies, adoring her ravishing beauty and success. This was nothing but sheer narcissism. She took the world for granted and assumed everything was hunky dory and kosher.

At her peril, she ignored the alarm bells, the death knell knocking at her door. She got hooked to alcohol, money, drugs and sex. The talented artiste lost her equanimity, equipoise and equilibrium in the state of feverishness and in the process attracted opprobrium. Very soon in the tinsel world the starlet became infamous for her tantrums.

The meteoric rise of the artiste was short-lived and her obnoxious behaviour was not acceptable to the industry and she was soon stripped of meaty roles and sure enough lost power, pelf and fame. Tragedy struck in a cruel form as her life was snuffed out at a tender age when she succumbed to car crash in an inebriated state.

Who was to be blamed for this irrational behaviour? It was a feverish mind and her exalted ego.

False egos play havoc on human minds when the power of discrimination gets obfuscated in the razzmatazz and dazzle of ‘doership’. In this feverish state, the mind is subsumed by all the glamour and attention.

The breed of such people extends among politicians, sportsmen, entrepreneurs, spiritualists and seekers. They refuse to let go, let go, let go and the mind gets stuck to obtain certain immediate outcomes and in the bargain, loses the plot and larger picture.

In the political sphere, too parties become dependent on the success and megalomania of an individual and lose their core strengths of inner democracy and grassroots contact. The supposedly infallible leader believes he/she possesses a Midas touch and is generally closeted by a coterie. This ivory tower existence often leads to his or her nemesis.

Team sports require participation and 100% contribution by all the players. One finds after achieving some success, the captain gets hemmed by his favourites who may be non-performers. Yet the administration capitulates and succumbs to the wish list of the popular captain.

Bureaucrats paint a pathetic picture with their snooty, knotty and pompous behaviour. The ‘steel frame’ believes that it is the pivot of all developmental activity undertaken in the country conveniently brushing aside large-scale corruption crippling society.

The spiritual world is not spared either. Seekers to begin with tread the path with great courage and conviction and have immense faith in the Master and the path. They unfailingly participate in Sadhana, Seva, Satsang, Meditation and other activities of the organisation.

The Master (Guru) in his magnanimity encourages all his followers. Some progress on the path, others fall aside as the rigour and regime of the spirituality is arduous and crammed with disturbances before the seeker obtains peace of mind.

Soon the feverish mind of the seeker feels proximity to the Master and in the process, rubs fellow seekers the wrong way. Their smiling photographs with the Master populate the social media, inviting several ‘likes’ by fellow seekers.

Some seekers ‘like’ these photographs on Facebook in order to ingratiate themselves with those purportedly ‘close’, in anticipation  that it could act as a passport to have a glimpse of  the Guru. Others condemn this overbearing tendency.

A true spiritual leader or Master cautions the faithful not to be trapped in the quagmire of Guru Mandal. Guru Mandal is a state where the seeker tends to be in ignorance and almost starts believing that he has complete ownership of the Guru. This is nothing but the feverish ‘doership’ of the mind, where true knowledge does not percolate to the real depths of the devotee.

‘Under the influence of false ego, one thinks himself to be the doer of activities, while in reality all the activities are carried out by nature as a natural process’ expounds Lord Krishna to Arjuna.

A genuine seeker should realise that we are absolutely infinitesimal in this vast universe. Our acts and deeds if truly positive, genuine and humble will automatically draw us closer to the Guru and Laws of the Universe. We need to train our minds to become humble witnesses as propounded in the Ashtavakra Gita and not remain egoistic actors.  Simultaneously purge the negative emotion of feverishness to quintessentially realise the inherent potential of human mind and be of use to humanity.

• Taken from my scond book, ‘Make the Mind Mt.Kailasa’