Personal evolution helps mankind's progress
Phaltan-415523, Maharashtra, India.
E-mail: anilrajvanshi@gmail.com
It is said that when Gautam Buddha reached enlightenment there raged a great conflict in his mind for 7 days. A part of the mind said, "since you have found the truth what is the need to remain caged in this body? Get liberated". Another part of the mind counseled "share your knowledge for the benefit of mankind". It is this mind which won in the end and Buddha spent next 50 years preaching his gospel to the world, which got enriched by his teachings.
Not only is it necessary for all of us to discover truth but it should be shared freely with others for mankind's progress. This will help make our planet a better place to live and help improve the lives of its inhabitants.
The desire to share our discoveries with the world is normally fuelled by greed for either fame or money. Very few people have the selfless attitude to share their discoveries freely for mankind's benefit. Even people who practice philanthropy are guided by desire to get fame.
Every inventor is justified in getting due returns for his/her inventions but we should try to curb our greed for very high returns. This will help in large flow of inventions and discoveries taking place for mankind's progress. There is a law of knowledge. The more knowledge one shares and imparts to others, the more ability one gets for its discovery.
Why are most human endeavors driven by fame? Even rich and wealthy people aspire fame. It probably comes from internal insecurity. The desire to be loved and adored by other humans is the basic desire since it reinforces the work, direction and path of an individual. Fame is another name of this desire. When a person becomes completely secure he becomes very humble and the desire to get fame, name or money goes away or is greatly reduced. Then his desire to tell the truth comes from pure selflessness. Sometimes even for people, who are in search of ultimate truth, initially fame may be at the back of their mind but later it simply vanishes since all the desire to show off goes away with truth realization.
Nevertheless greed and fame (it is also a form of greed) are a necessary engine of development, for producing inventions and finding truth. However they should be put in check and not allowed free reign. The best way to keep them in check is to cultivate from childhood the habit of deep thought. This will help removal of psychological knots and create all round happiness. We seem to always teach our children the desire and necessity to compete and beat the other fellow beings. This competitiveness helps create insecurities. These insecurities do provide a driving force for short term bursts of inventiveness and discoveries, but in the long run prove to be counterproductive, since too much memory space in brain is taken up by them and results in producing psychological knots. A relaxed brain, which is free of greed, can create many more inventions. However it is very difficult to remove the greed from the human system and this trait will remain as long as humans exist. It should therefore be curbed and channeled for greater human cause.
The most important thing, which can help mankind, is personal evolution. Without obtaining the knowledge how can we share it with the world? The personal evolution also includes fulfillment of personal needs so that we can think of higher things. When personal needs are resolved we can work for society and mankind's benefit selflessly. For personal evolution we should endeavor to change ourselves so that we become better human beings. Spirituality helps us become better humans. It gives us a certain perspective in life so that the focus is shifted more towards mental peace and away from material goods and greed. Once each individual becomes a better human being then it will have a multiplier effect on others who come in contact with such evolved beings. This is one of the best ways to help mankind.
Sometimes by chance or fate we are thrust into taking an active role in public life and if our personal needs and emotions have not been resolved they can then create dangerous situations for humanity. This is normally the case with very greedy, ambitious and insecure leaders both in political and economic fields. History is replete with leaders like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Nixon etc. who were extremely insecure human beings and created havoc with the world since they had tremendous resources and powers at their disposal. Similarly the present crisis in Iraq and the Middle East is also an outcome of the greedy and power hungry leadership of countries involved.
After personal evolution we should strive to give back to society, either in cash or kind, according to our abilities. A simple way to achieve this is to do our work diligently and conscientiously in whatever profession we are. The corruption and general lethargy of the society will change rapidly if all of us do our work diligently. The greed of most people who expect more for whatever they are doing fuels the corruption and nonfunctional system.
We should realize that this world is the only home we have. Most of us are reborn on this planet and the souls of very few super human beings can leave the gravitational field of earth by will. In future with our technological advancements we might fly to colonize other planets. But till that time it is in our interest to make this world a better place. This can happen when all of us work together to share our knowledge and inventions freely. With the motive of secrecy and greed for money and fame, the growth of mankind is inhibited. We will eventually evolve technologically but with secrecy it will be in fits and starts. However with all of us working in unison the rate of evolution will be faster.
Published as an editorial article in Times of India, June 1, 2004
a Copyright. Anil K Rajvanshi, 2004