Skip to main content

Master



When my problems bogged me down, I approached Guru.

“No one, not even God, can solve your problems unless you want to solve them yourself,” said Guru.

“But…” I was shocked.  I went to him for help because I wanted to solve my problems, didn’t I?  Why is he speaking as if I didn’t want to solve my problems?

Most people are in love with their problems,” Guru said as if he had read my mind.  “The drug addict, for example, loves drugs and don’t want to leave them though he may say he wants to kick the habit.  What withholds him from kicking the addiction is precisely what led him to the addiction.”

“A sense of emptiness?”  I asked because I had faced that sense time and again. 

“Is there anything better than emptiness in life?” asked Guru.  “Weren’t all the Mahatmas searching for emptiness?”

“People can’t bear emptiness,” I blurted out.

“Precisely.  That’s why they fill their life with things.  And when things fail to satisfy the real inner need, they look for alternatives like drugs.  And drugs perplex your neurons.  Upset your consciousness.  You find yourself in somebody else’s shoes.  You enjoy that.  You enjoy walking in somebody else’s shoes without any obligations.”

Being in somebody else’s shoes without any obligations is a wonderful idea, I thought.  It’s a kind of transmigration of the soul. 

“Escapism,” said Guru.  “People want to escape.  Though there really is nothing to escape from.  Ultimately we have to fall back to the same reality which is nothing but the world before you and its demands.”

“Which is very mundane,” I thought aloud.

“The world is mundane.  What else do you expect?  Haven’t you learnt history?  Have you seen paradises or utopias opening up anywhere though your leaders may have promised them in their election manifestoes time and again?  2014 CE is no different from 2014 BCE.  Except for the attachments like electricity and gadgets supported by it.  But the social structure was the same now and 4028 years ago.”

I got stuck with that number 4028.  But I realised soon that if I added 2014 CE and 2014 BCE I would get 4028 as long as I didn’t think like a mathematician for whom pluses and minuses neutralise one another.  I also realised that the Egyptian pyramids were constructed more than 4028 years ago.  The Indus Valley Civilisation originated more than 4028 years ago.  The Greek civilisation can take us far beyond 4028 years.  Civilisations.  Were those people any worse than us?  They too worshipped some gods, drank wine, built monuments or whatever they thought were great, some enslaved some others ...

How are we different from them?  Except that we built better gadgets?  As time goes forward we will build still better gadgets.  Will the world be any better?

“Will man be any better?  That should be the question.”  Guru has a way of interrupting my thoughts.

“Know you are a master, and you are one,” continued Guru.  “Know you know the answers to your problems, and you get the answers.”

Otherwise you search for answers in granite gods or preaching Babas or tranquilising drugs, I thought.


“No one can solve problems of someone who looks for solutions outside,” said Guru. 

Comments

  1. Guru justified being the Guru. He showed the right way...Liked the conversation..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Profound. Very well narrated. A depressive person is also in love with his own depressions as it gives a meaning to his/her life. Something I have always observed in melancholic people.. and it also allows me to observe myself if I start falling into the same trap..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I too have noticed it. People seem to fall in love with their problems. Perhaps that's one way of making their life bearable!

      Delete
  3. Yes, all the Mahatmas ultimately sought emptiness.. For what more can be important than attaining peace with yourself? Profound indeed..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Enlightenment is emptying the self of superfluous attachments, isn't it?

      Delete
  4. People can't bear emptiness...
    How true...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ... And how they choose to fill it matters a lot.

      Delete
  5. The conversation is a profound one and how true is is that common people can't bear 'emptiness' in their lives..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Nature abhors vacuum," as the saying goes. In fact, how one fills that emptiness determines one's meaning in life.

      Delete
  6. He he :D.. People in love with their problems! Interesting one :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If people were not in love with their problems, there would be very few problems in the world. King Lears and his daughters continue to live with their illusions and delusions.

      Delete
  7. Wonderful....Search for God within....and you will find him...;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't believe in God; I believe in Truth and that too relative truths. Yes, we should discover those truths, our own truths, and they are within.

      Delete
  8. Does it happen that you know what your problem is, you know the solution too but you are just not ready/capable or fear to execute it. Like agreeing to what the Guru said is different than abiding it...Just a thought.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No doubt, Shewta, sometimes we know the answers/solutions but are incapable of acting... There are times when external help (counselling, for example) is of immense help. My post is a philosophical look at the theme rather than psychological one.

      Thanks for sharing your thought.

      Delete
  9. So skillfully written. :)
    I am so impressed by the way it is written.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Namrata. What happened to you - not writing these days?

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Country where humour died

Humour died a thousand deaths in India after May 2014. The reason – let me put it as someone put it on X.  The stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra called a politician some names like ‘traitor’ which made his audience laugh because they misunderstood it as a joke. Kunal Kamra has to explain the joke now in a court of justice. I hope his judge won’t be caught with crores of rupees of black money in his store room . India itself is the biggest joke now. Our courts of justice are huge jokes. Our universities are. Our temples, our textbooks, even our markets. Let alone our Parliament. I’m studying the Ramayana these days in detail because I’ve joined an A-to-Z blog challenge and my theme is Ramayana, as I wrote already in an earlier post . In order to understand the culture behind Ramayana, I even took the trouble to brush up my little knowledge of Sanskrit by attending a brief course. For proof, here’s part of a lesson in my handwriting.  The last day taught me some subhashit...

56-Inch Self-Image

The cover story of the latest issue of The Caravan [March 2025] is titled The Balakot Misdirection: How the Modi government drew political mileage out of military failure . The essay that runs to over 20 pages is a bold slap on the glowing cheek of India’s Prime Minister. The entire series of military actions taken by Narendra Modi against Pakistan, right from the surgical strike of 2016, turns out to be mere sham in this essay. War was used by all inefficient kings in the past in order to augment the patriotism of the citizens, particularly in times of trouble. For example, the Controller of the Exchequer taxed the citizens as much as he thought they could bear without violent protest and when he was wrong the King declared a war against a neighbouring country. Patriotism, nationalism, and religion – the best thing about these is that a king can use them all very effectively to control the citizens’ sentiments. Nowadays a lot of leaders emulate the ancient kings’ examples enviabl...

Abdullah’s Religion

O Abdulla Renowned Malayalam movie actor Mohanlal recently offered special prayers for Mammootty, another equally renowned actor of Kerala. The ritual was performed at Sabarimala temple, one of the supreme Hindu pilgrimage centres in Kerala. No one in Kerala found anything wrong in Mohanlal, a Hindu, praying for Mammootty, a Muslim, to a Hindu deity. Malayalis were concerned about Mammootty’s wellbeing and were relieved to know that the actor wasn’t suffering from anything as serious as it appeared. Except O Abdulla. Who is this Abdulla? I had never heard of him until he created an unsavoury controversy about a Hindu praying for a Muslim. This man’s Facebook profile describes him as: “Former Professor Islahiaya, Media Critic, Ex-Interpreter of Indian Ambassador, Founder Member MADHYAMAM.” He has 108K followers on FB. As I was reading Malayalam weekly this morning, I came to know that this Abdulla is a former member of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Kerala , a fundamentalist organisation. ...

Lucifer and some reflections

Let me start with a disclaimer: this is not a review of the Malayalam movie, Lucifer . These are some thoughts that came to my mind as I watched the movie today. However, just to give an idea about the movie: it’s a good entertainer with an engaging plot, Bollywood style settings, superman type violence in which the hero decimates the villains with pomp and show, and a spicy dance that is neatly tucked into the terribly orgasmic climax of the plot. The theme is highly relevant and that is what engaged me more. The role of certain mafia gangs in political governance is a theme that deserves to be examined in a good movie. In the movie, the mafia-politician nexus is busted and, like in our great myths, virtue triumphs over vice. Such a triumph is an artistic requirement. Real life, however, follows the principle of entropy: chaos flourishes with vengeance. Lucifer is the real winner in real life. The title of the movie as well as a final dialogue from the eponymous hero sugg...

Violence and Leaders

The latest issue of India Today magazine studies what it calls India’s Gross Domestic Behaviour (GDB). India is all poised to be an economic superpower. But what about its civic sense? Very poor, that’s what the study has found. Can GDP numbers and infrastructure projects alone determine a country’s development? Obviously, no. Will India be a really ‘developed’ country by 2030 although it may be $7-trillion economy by then? Again, no is the answer. India’s civic behaviour leaves a lot, lot to be desired. Ironically, the brand ambassador state of the country, Uttar Pradesh, is the worst on most parameters: civic behaviour, public safety, gender attitudes, and discrimination of various types. And UP is governed by a monk!  India Today Is there any correlation between the behaviour of a people and the values and principles displayed by their leaders? This is the question that arose in my mind as I read the India Today story. I put the question to ChatGPT. “Yes,” pat came the ...