Of Haunting Hunger

Right from birth to death, hunger continues to haunt man in one way or the other; it’s a cog in the wheel of life

By Mukesh Sharma

No living creature can beat it. None can conquer it. It is invincible. It is master of all the forms of life. All are its slave. Each and every living being knows it and experiences it. Be it king or commoner, all serve it alike without question. Yet it is unquenchable. It is undisputed and unchallenged ruler of the living world. From tiny protozoan to huge mammals, all work for it. Like God, it is omnipresent and all pervasive. It is basis of life on the earth. Even mother Nature nourishes the world through it. Of course, its name is Hunger – the haunting Hunger.

The Haunting Hunger

 

All through millions of years, it is the hunger that has developed a simple monkey into a present day complicated man. It is the hunger that has taken a savage man from cramped cave to commodious castle, from ordinary house to spacious bungalow, from bullock-cart to space satellite, and surprisingly enough, from Adam and Eve to nearly 7 billion populace on the earth.

Hunger has amazing dualistic character. Hunger is life as well as death – a crying baby is born with hunger and a decrepit man dies with hunger for ‘heaven’ on death-bed. Hunger is love as well as hate  – hunger for more and more ‘my’ – my kids, my house, my money, etc. is ‘love’ and hunger for dislike is hate. Hunger is progress as well as regress – hunger for betterment results in progress and hunger for other’s possessions leads to regress. Hunger is knowledge as well as ignorance – hunger to know the secrets of nature is knowledge and hunger for ego-serving is ignorance. Hunger is devotion as well as distraction – hunger for goal is devotion and hunger for the gratification of senses is distraction. Hunger is a man as well as woman – hunger of a man for a woman-body is man, hunger of a woman for a complete man is woman. Hunger is God as well as human – hunger beyond self is God and hunger for self is human. Like the imagination of a mind, hunger can be expanded to infinity and can be shrunk to a size of an atom. Hunger is both constructive and destructive.

Through human perspective, hunger can be divided into four categories:

1.       Physical hunger

2.       Psychological hunger

3.       Intellectual hunger

4.       Spiritual hunger

Physical hunger can be described as a natural or biological hunger – hunger for food and hunger for sex. It is common to all animals including man. Food is first priority and sex is next. Food is must to live and sex for the furtherance of progeny – both essential for the perpetuation of life on the earth.

Psychological hunger is a distorted hunger emanating from unbridled desires. A man turns epicurean or hedonistic seeking sensuous satisfaction – wine, woman and wealth – an insatiable lust. Fire can’t be extinguished with fire. The uncontrolled ‘hunger’ for wine, woman and wealth has been the cause of the downfall and doom of wealthiest emperor/knight/regimes.

Intellectual hunger is the hunger for the knowledge of the secrets of nature; it leads to discoveries and inventions. Credit for all kinds of advancement in human society so far goes to intellectual hunger only. It is this hunger that has produced great many philosophers, writers, poets and scientists -  Aristotle, Shakespeare, Kalidaas, Albert Einstein, Stephn Hawkings –  the list is very long.

Spiritual hunger is the hunger for the knowledge of unseen and unknown super natural power so named God. What is God? Where does God live? How to meet the God? All these intriguing questions have been nagging man since the advent of man on the earth. However, this spiritual hunger has blessed the world with Lord Rama - God incarnate, Lord Krishna - God incarnate, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad and Guru Nanak; it has bestowed on timeless scriptures like The Upanishad, The Gita, The Ramayana, The Mahabharata, The Bible,  The Holy Quran, The Guru Granth Sahib.

Right from birth to death, hunger continues to haunt man in one or the other. Hunger is the cog in the wheel of life.

Life, a Game of Plus and Minus

 

Life, a Game of Plus 

and Minus

While revolving around the relatives, friends and circumstances, ever rising and falling wants, emotions and desires come to the fore in the life of the worldly man

By Mukesh Sharma

With the birth of a baby, so many people are added to its life – mother and father, brother and sisters, uncles and aunties, granny and grandpa – all near and distant relatives. Man comes on the earth with relative relationship.

Life, a Game of Plus and Minus

As the child grows up, addition continues with the inclusion of buddies and pals. When one reaches the youth, the circle is further widened with the beginning of a new family – wife and kids, and all the relatives of wife’s side.

While revolving around the relatives, friends and circumstances, ever rising and falling wants, emotions and desires come to the fore in the life of the worldly man.

Bare necessities for life constitute wants – food, clothes and house. Food is indispensable. Clothes are imperative to cover up the nakedness in human society. And house, what a castle is to a king, a house is to a man. Except a few rich heirs/heiresses and of course some blessed one, majority of people continues to live in wants till the bitter end. Man is responsible for the woes of teeming millions. The hell is man’s own creation. However, the fortunate ones are able to add up, by sheer luck, some succeed to live on borderline. But the majority of the unblessed people slip into the abyss of subtraction. Downhill gravity, plummets them to bottom where they are lost without trace. 

Destiny has its own queer ways. Some rise by gravity and some fall by levity. Rules of game differ from person to person.

Each man has its own world; he lives and dies in his own world. There are seas of emotions; there is jungle of thoughts; there are mountains of ego; there are rivers of selfishness; there is endless space of ignorance. Material body keeps floating freely towards unseen  unknown destination till the last breath.

Sea of emotions witnesses endless surge of ebbing and flowing waves – anger, disgust, fear, happiness and sadness – breaking at the beach. Depending on circumstances, rise and fall goes on. Man is essentially a humble creature of circumstances; he is born in circumstances, lives in circumstances and dies in circumstances. Even the God-incarnate Lord Rama and Lord Krishna couldn’t go beyond their live circumstances. The sun stirs the world, circumstances move life.

Jungle of thoughts is dense and deep. Man keeps wandering in it for the whole life. With the blessings of God a few are able to spot trees bearing fruits and also find their way out of the jungle like Buddha. Otherwise, the most of the people are lost in the jungle of thoughts with no footprints.

Mountains of ego stand tall. Moneyed and mighty are proud of their dizzy heights. They enjoy standing atop and feel that even God is within their reach. Like a frog of well, illusion lives in its own world. Mountain of ego is transient. Sooner or later it melts away like a glacier. Even the ego of demon king Ravana couldn’t last long.

River of selfishness originates from self; it flows along the life right from celebratory birth of self to crematory death of self. Self can’t survive without selfishness.

Space of ignorance is vast and boundless. Knowledge increases ignorance. What one knows is negligible in comparison to what one doesn’t know. Man is born unconsciously. Day of his death is not known to him. And he doesn’t know how to live. He remains blissfully ignorant of himself life-long.

Man is a bundle of desires. Opportunity gives rise to thoughts, and thoughts give rise to desires. Circumstantial desires cease to exist with the end of circumstances. Born in idle time, placatory desires have no basis, but a sole purpose to entertain the self -    hallucination hype. Such desires have short life –  born every moment and dies the next  – come and go continues.

Thus the game of plus and minus goes on and on in a spontaneous process. What cajoling life gives, callous time takes away one by one – childhood, youth, relatives, friends, old age, and finally man reaches the deathbed where the death stakes its claim on the mortal body. Journey of life starts from zero and ends in zero from aloofness to aloofness. Through all additions and subtractions, life comes to naught. Life is a game of plus and minus.

The Secret of Success Lies in Self

The Secret of Success Lies in Self

Journey of success takes full circle – it starts from Self and ends in Self

By Mukesh Sharma

 

“What is the secret of success Sir”, asked one of the disciples of the great teacher and philosopher Socrates. ‘Come tomorrow’, answered Socrates. “I will let you know the secret of success.” The next day, the disciple presented himself again. Socrates took him to a river nearby. Both stepped into the river water and started wading through the water towards the middle. When both were in neck-deep water, Socrates halted and put his hand on the head of the disciple and pushed it inside the water. After holding it for two minutes inside the water, Socrates released the head. Gasping for breath, the disciple popped up his head and was panting heavily. “Are you okay” asked Socrates. “How did you feel inside the water”. “I” the disciple stuttered. “I was dying for breath sir”. “So” said Socrates with a smile. “Here is the answer to your question”. “If one dies for success in the same way as you were for breath inside the water, one must get success.”

The Secret of Success Lies in Self

It’s a fact when success becomes the sole purpose of life, it doesn’t keep away from its aspirant longer. Sooner or later, it embraces him/her.

Mind you, there is no ‘road’ to success. Each success-seeker has to make his/her own road. There are no set rules to win success. Each candidate has to make own rules and observe it. There is no teacher to teach success. One has to be one’s own teacher.

The size, shape and form of success are different for different people. To a young love-sick man, his love-lady may be a success; to a woman, being an independent career woman may be a success; to lesser souls, a secured government service may be a success; to enterprising people, own flourishing business may be a success; to likes of Amitabh Bachchan acting may be a success; to likes of Sachin Tendulkar, being a top cricketer may be a success; to a neta, CM/PM chair may be a success, and the story of success goes on differently for different people.

Like hunger and sex, success is also insatiable. Success succeeds success -  fulfillment of one success creates  hunger for the another.

The road to success may be long or even endless depending upon the form of success and the success- seeker. Nevertheless, all types of success, inevitably, begin from Self and essentially through Society and ones Country, reach the World. Out of millions, a few like Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking reach at the threshold of universe. And in ages, a few blessed like Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and Nank Jump all the barriers and reach the depth of the universe and become one with the universe – the inexplicable and incomprehensible regime of God.

Since journey of success starts from Self only, it is imperative to know thyself  -  all the aspects of self:

1.      Know your material

A potter knows his stuff very well and gives it different shapes and size accordingly. If one inherently feels that one is IAS/IPS material, go for it without hesitation. At an early age,Virat Kholi knew he was cricket material, and today he is a skipper of Indian team. Jeff Bozos knew he was business material, and today he is the richest man in the world. None can guide better than natural instincts and traits. A rat knows it can make hole in the mountain. Listen to inner voice. Follow it passionately. One succeeds like success in the field of one’s choice. Tragedy with the unsuccessful people is the most of them are misplaced.

 

2.      Know your weakness and strength

Make weakness your strength and your strength an asset. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he made his good physics an asset – succeeded as Mr. Universe, shot to fame with many successful movies and later joined politics too, and ended up as an Hon’ble Governor of California (US).

 

3.      Set your goal dream

With an eye on your stuff and your strength and weakness, capabilities and abilities, set a goal of your dream. Caution: don’t be a day-dreamer who dreams during day time to have fulfilled his dream with no effort. Such people are a failure. Don’t be a night-dreamer either who forgets the dream at the break of the day. Be a goal dreamer who stays up wide awake day and night. And at last realizes the success of his dream.

 

4.      Construct Success

Castle of success is not built in air. It needs a layout plan. It needs skilled hands to do foundation work, erect walls brick by brick and further lock walls with a roof. Construction of castle of success is a team work of Self, Strategic planning, Hard work, Patience and Perseverance.

  

5.      Don’t listen to ‘nay’ sayers

On the way to success, one is likely to come across scores of people who would discourage one. Don’t heed on their mischievous advice. Commenting on such people, Mark Twain says:

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambition. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great.

 

6.      Don’t be afraid of failures

Fear of failures deters success-seeker the most. No one is born  learned or perfect. Before learning to ride bicycle, a learner falls many times. But after each falls, he stands up again with a strong will to ride. This will power teaches him to ride bicycle. Don’t be scared of failures. Look at the causes of failures. Nothing happens without a cause. Commenting on failures, Winston Churchill says:

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm

Yet another writer Clement Stone says:

Failure is a lesson, a learning experience – a rung on the ladder

 

7.      Trust Yourself

All successful people trust themselves like anything. They know well before doing something that they can do it. Nothing can stop you except you. Tom Broadley rightly says:

The only thing that will stop you from fulfilling your dream is you

 

8.      Don’t wait for ‘auspicious’ time

You can reach nowhere without walking. The time when you feel like starting something is the most auspicious time. Arthur Ashe puts it rightly:

Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can

Martin Luther King Jr, elucidates further:

You don’t have to see the whole stair case, just take the first step

 

9.      Don’t entertain negative thoughts

Weeds do grow with crops. Unsteady mind keeps hoping between negativity and positivity. Problem starts when it gets stuck in negativity and starts creating negative scenes/thoughts – one imaginary bad situation leads to worse and further to the worst. Best way to tackle negativity is to counter it with positivity. If plan A fails, there is plan B. If B fails, there is plan C. Don’t let the mind wander in the failure of plan A. The stubborn are often found ‘third time lucky’.

The celebrated writer Christopher Reeve rightly says:

So many of our dream at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable and then when we summon the will they soon become inevitable.

 

10.  Discover winner in you

There is always a hidden winner in every one. It often comes to front in the ‘game’ of its choice where the winner is supported by strong Will, intense Desire that unleash the potential of par excellence needed to win the game. Discover the winner. James Dean puts this in his touching words:

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach . . . there are the keys that unlock the door to personal excellence.

 

11.  Don’t imitate

Successful people don’t copy, don’t use the hackneyed path. They make their own path to success. Kapil Sharma, the renowned stand-up comedian has created his own style of comedy. While interviewing celebs, he uses witty remarks and  petty jokes.  He is a roaring success. All successful people have unique and unparallel identity in their field. Ralph Waldo Emerson comments:

Don’t follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

 

However high building, there is always room at the top. This world is your oyster, your El-dorado. Success signifies achieving the impossibilities. Stage is yours. Act on the stage in such a way that people can take notice of you, can recognize your talent, can count you as successful. Enforce and expand your success through social skills, and extend it through society, country to the world. All successful people follow this strategy. The journey of success is full circle – it begins from Self and ends in Self.