THE DYNAMICS OF LIFE ... 1

THE DYNAMICS OF LIFE ... 1

If you are tamasic, there is hardly much hope for you to rise in life unless there is a radical transformation of your nature under whatever inspirational influence. The object of action is to alter the status of life and advance unto a higher order of existence. Rajas is, thus, an imperative of evolution and ceaseless, well-directed, conscious action the means to achieving it. Then will come sattva in the fullness of time when the seeds have germinated to fruition and the crops have been harvested. Meanwhile, there must be unbounded enthusiasm in action, in deeds divine, in the disciplined performance of duty so that the fate of the individual and the nation changes for the better.

Leaders of men, lustrous personalities with in-depth knowledge of life and existence come to show humanity the way. They teach through precept and practise what they preach. They bring in a mass of spiritual energy which they impregnate humanity with. They bring in fresh inspiration to jaded humanity so that it revolves around and about this divine focus which they witness in the prophetic figure come alive. The direct contact with him sparks off a chain reaction of evolving force which starts the transformation of first a select group of people, the disciples and the devotees of the sage and then the rolling effect carries on till vast masses of people are shaken out of their stupor unto living action of civilising self and society at large.

The problem, however, is that the human mind is conservative and the brain, though, pliable and prone to moulding, nonetheless, seeks to run along familiar tracks and refuses to change status. To make matters worse, the bulk circumstance already obtaining in society makes this transformation, otherwise possible with not too much difficulty, that much harder to achieve as archaic notions of outdated scriptures and the trappings of tradition resist tooth and nail every impulse to reformation and change. The baton of barbarism is handed down from generation to generation along familiar channels of indoctrination and humanity held hostage to impious prescriptions of prophets and messengers of God. Thus, education and the diffusion of information notwithstanding, human society refuses to change easily unto more enlightened ways of living and the molestation of the mass mind continues with impunity.

Added to this is the fundamental association of the mind with the body to the seeming oblivion at times that man is more than a body. This makes the seeking of pleasure the one objective of the vulgar mind and hordes are goaded by their base instincts to lead lives of piggish gluttony with the difference that the human being absorbs garbage gleefully with all his senses.

This sense of body is intrinsic to the material man for all practical purposes and drives him along sensory routes of satisfaction which keeps the inertia going. Transformation of nature is, thus, difficult. But evolution demands transformation, either through slow adaptation or rapid, revolutionary adjustment of forces. In the animal world this evolutionary change takes places over hundreds of thousands of years, perhaps, millions, but in the human world education and cultural training can make for rapid changes. The human mind being immensely pliable, this rapid change is possible. The neurons are to connected along newer channels, new pathways created in the brain for the flow of fresh ideas and new combinations are to be sought in the grey matter for deeper ideas to grip the mind. Thus, education is the key to this regeneration of the terrestrial man and his resurrection from a dusty death in 'the desert sand of dead habit' (quotation from Tagore).

Written by Sugata Bose