IT IS A DEARTH OF CHARACTER, MY FRIEND!

IT IS A DEARTH OF CHARACTER, MY FRIEND!

The problem today once more is this absence of character in people, in leaders arising out of this mass of men, the lack of courage of conviction, the capacity to fearlessly articulate the truth, the fact of things, without compromising content or commercialising end. The problem that beset the world when Swamiji addressed it plagues it today as well. The world is a complex web of contradictory elements jostling for scope and space, opposed forces fighting for resolution. Here, addressing all and trying to place your point will necessarily be either naive or insincere and is bound to be manifestly weak. This is the predicament the leaders of the world face. As it is, most are not of integrated character and are desirous of personal position, profit and in megalomaniac cases even inordinate glory. Their words are weak, more often hollow and lack in the aforementioned 'courage of conviction'. Devoid of sincerity that springs from selflessness and a genuine concern for human welfare, these 'hollow men' fail to inspire confidence in the bulk of humanity as the latter continues to suffer from the iniquities that beset the world. The only way out of this cesspool of perfidious politics, this crass commercialisation of life and love, is to build character along the lines laid down by Swamiji (Swami Vivekananda). Do it and in a flash the world changes! But there isn't a single taker for his words today, leave aside his peerless preceptor, the Paramahamsa of Dakshineshwar. Alas!

Written by Sugata Bose