It is very
difficult to sift illusions out for worldly affairs as they are very badly
entangled with all the practical truths, half truths and untruths that we come
to know about in our lives. Here, I am not inclined to treat all the illusions
as untruths. Any deceptive appearance or deceptive absence, for me, is an
illusion. Some illusions are ‘basic illusions’, they exist irrespective of
place time and circumstances. In the process of leading our lives, we
discriminate, distinguish and differentiate things that are actually not
different, while making efforts for our survival. Such thoughts or ideas of
discrimination are ‘basic illusions’. We distinguish men from women, powerful
from weak or certain from doubtful; such discriminations or distinctions are basic
illusions.
There are also illusions that depend
on space time and circumstance. For the sake of simplicity and brevity, let us
call such illusions as ‘dependent illusions’. Abdullah is a Muslim and Francis
is a Christian, Ram is an owner and Hari is a servant, Geetanjali is educated
and Neeta never had a formal education or James is an administrator and Natasha
is a clerk; such distinctions are ‘dependent illusions’.
We have to accept ‘basic illusions’ in
our life. A woman can give birth to a child, but a man can’t. The nature needs
both of them. A woman’s hunger is as important as that of a man’s; here we
can’t and shouldn’t differentiate. A goat is a food for a lion and lion is more
powerful than a goat. That is how the nature has made them. Does it mean that
if we have the ability we should kill all lions, tigers, and leopards etc. to
protect the weaker species? Or, are we free to conclude that the weak have
inferior rights of survival in this world? We have learned by experience that
nature’s violence is often aimed at the survival of nature; undoubtedly a
perfectly nonviolent arrangement. There may be rains, it may not be raining,
sometimes; there may be light, there may be darkness; there may be enough food
for all, there may not be enough food; all such things depend on the cycles of the
nature, some of which may be certain, but about many we can’t always be very
sure. There are many distinguishable things that have been appearing and
vanishing in this universe since time immemorial. We should not apply our
intellect casually for treating a few of them as good or useful for us and
considering others as bad or useless. We may make marginal and temporary
modifications in them for our survival to the extent that the original order is
not disturbed, but no attempts should be made using our discriminatory
intellect for our ‘assumed welfare’. If we insist and persist with
distinguishing them for creating a new order according to space, time and
circumstances we may land up causing an irretrievable loss to us.
To clarify this issue, I will give an
example. 223 Kms. away from Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India; Kedarnath temple ( at a height of 3583 meters)
is located at the foot of Kedarnath peaks (6940 meter high). Kedarnath town has
a small population of less than 1000 people. However, about 5000 people from
India and abroad visit the temple every day from May to October each year to
worship Lord Shiva, as it is believed that the Pandavas of Mahabharat era also,
subjected them to tough penance to seek Lord Shiva’s blessings. The things are just
fine with the faith the devotees have in the God.
They leave the worldly
affairs behind and subject them to the hardships of the journey to renew their
faith in the unknown that may bring them closer to the real meaning of life.
Unfortunately, in the year 2013 heavy rains and cloud bursts destroyed the town
and the region surrounding the temple (but, leaving the temple intact).
Thousands of people lost their lives and thousands of people could never be
traced after the calamity. This was a natural uncertainty that no one was aware
of. Neither the lack of faith in Lord
Shiva in many can be considered as the cause of the disaster, nor the absence
of any damage to the temple itself, may be treated as a proof of the outcome of
the faith of devotees of Lord Shiva. This, of course is my personal view-point.
Just after the aforesaid disaster a
well-known spiritual leader came up with a suggestion that the Government of
India should provide necessary facilities by developing roads, the town itself
and making arrangements of good hotels so that the temple becomes comfortably approachable
to many more devotees who are not able to visit the revered Kedarnath temple
otherwise. I could not digest this statement, particularly coming from a
spiritual leader. No one can be sure without proper investigation if such
developments in that region could be considered as harmless. Should we play
games with the nature (the environment) even for a cause that supports human
faith in the God, or a God in particular; and that too, to benefit those who need
‘Starred’ comforts for nourishing their faith in the God? Human beings cannot
afford to compete with the nature, even to prove that they are closer to the
God than the nature itself; this much we have learned by experience.
‘Basic illusions’ do appear to be
discriminatory at times, but we are not always very sure if they are really
discriminatory in their character. ‘Basic illusions’, however, tell us to use
the gift of nature for our growth and welfare and not to interfere with the
affairs of nature and the cycles of nature, about which we may not be knowing
everything, unless, there are cogent reasons for it. ‘Basic illusions’ also ask
us to become aware of many uncertainties and be warned to adjust according to
them. They further teach us that the man must never try to attach any ulterior meanings
to natural distinctions.
About ‘dependent illusion’ we will
discuss in the next chapter.
[This series is
being presented by Promod Kumar Sharma, who has also authored “Mahatma A
Scientist of the Intuitively Obvious” and “In Search of Our Wonderful Words”.]
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