Darkness At Noon-Part XIII

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Free Parking:

The ruling concept today in the financial market is “make your money work". There could be various combinations, which will maximise the growth of wealth. Recently, an asset management company has been canvasing 'Park your current account in liquid funds for the weekend". They point out that this will make the idle money work for a weekend.

The expression, 'Parking" sets one thinking. Anyone residing in a Metropolitan City knows how difficult, if not next to impossible, it is to find a parking space. One has to go round and round hoping for the best. But the parking of thoughts in our mind is by contra, the simplest of things. It is 'Free Parking". The mental space is so vast that it can accommodate every single thought. If one reflects on the course of a single day in his life, he would come to know that thousands of thoughts have passed through his mental horizon on that day. Still a vast number of thoughts are hugged and hoarded, as they are a source of enjoyment. As a consequence, the normal movement of thought is obstructed.

The principle seems to be never let go of all that is enjoyable, while at the same time never know how to let go or to offload those thoughts that one would like to reject for whatever reason it may be. The consequence is quite disastrous. There is no inflow of even a whiff of fresh air of enquiry. This non-stop mental movement obstructed from time to time ends in the dissipation of mental energy. Unifocus is well and truly given the go-by. One is content to lead a life in which the mind is reduced to a slum, a slum of variety of permutations and combination of thoughts, associated thoughts, wanted thoughts, unwanted thoughts, purposeless thoughts, to mention a few. The principle seems to be never let go of all that is

Do we care?

Though one might speak about and occasionally feel frustrated at this state of mind, the desire to move out of it is more often than not, neither strong nor sustained, because our inbuilt value system as it is now necessarily results in the continuance of a wayward and dissipated mind loaded with the weight of
thoughts.

One father"s remarks may perhaps be taken to be a common denominator. He said, 'My son has been selected in the campus interview by T.C.S., Infosys, I.B.M. and so on". Understandably it is the parental pride at his son"s brilliance. But what price, what cost will his brilliant son, the selected student with many choices of jobs, pay for being a blue-eyed boy? He will be picked up from his home early and dropped back late at night. The better his performance, the more would be his incentives. Often they have to sacrifice even the weekend for many projects that have been entrusted to them. The pay-packet of course is thick and some additional fringe benefits are also added. Thus neither the father nor his son think of the constant grind of mind that follows from this kind of life. Can their take-home pay be the be all and end all? Is it not mortgaging one"s life to that which money can buy; a car, a flat, a growing bank balance and so on? Is it the purpose of life?

Adi Sankara, the 'guru of gurus" poses the question, 'What next?" So you have all this. Then what? At the end of a life filled with such a series of money oriented, consumption driven actions, where are you? Life is over before one knows. It is a fast movement in time. One"s balance sheet can only show one"s assets, the bank balance and growth in wealth. The liability side is very heavy. It is loss of freedom to lead a joyous way of life in which one is ready to question the purpose of life itself and its meaning. Therefore time marches on, at the end of which one is routinised to the core.

Individuality is dead and gone. In saying this, it is not one"s purpose to look down upon the values that are currently in vogue. It is only to expose one to the pernicious implications of the lure of money, which does not permit any reflection on the direction of one"s life.

About the author

This article is written by Sri.A.R.Natarajan, the founder of the Ramana Maharshi Centre For Learning, Bangalore.

To be continued