THE THREE MOST-ADDICTIVE SUBSTANCES IN LIFE
Pic.: Candice Correa
“If you want total security, go to prison...
There
you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on.
The
only thing lacking... is freedom. ”
Ketan*, a dear-old student of mine, who is in his
mid-thirties, is a Vice President in one of the top foreign-banks operating in
India. I have been happy to watch him go about his career and, I have, always, told
him as to how proud I am for him.
But, this young-man, always, tells me how
keen he is to start something on his own. “This job, for all its golden lure
and aura surrounding it, doesn't excite me, sir,” he keeps telling me, “I find myself
wasted here; I am not working to my fullest potential.”
Danish*, another dear-old student of mine,
who, too, is in his thirties and a Vice President in one of India’s top private-banks,
has a similar story to share. The marketing and business-promotion profile that
he is holding, doesn't give him any high; but, the training that he does, on
and off – speaking, mentoring, life-empowering etc. – does.
Let me take my own case. I have been teaching
college kids Accountancy, Costing and Taxation for over thirty-five years, now.
But, as far as my memory goes, I have been dreaming much beyond the three Commerce
subjects that I have been teaching my students in order to run my home. “Where
is my real heart?” I ask every day. “Why did I become a teacher? Why did I
choose to teach these three subjects? Should I end-up my life as a Commerce
teacher or is there something else that I am destined to do in life?”... Yes,
often, I wonder: “Why do I write daily? Why do I talk to my students much
beyond the subjects I teach them? Do I know what is that I am called upon to do
in life and what is holding me back from doing it? Is it fear or is it the
money that I am presently earning? Is it fear of criticism or is it the fear of
the unknown? Am I compromising? Am I caught-up in my own safety-nets?”
I am sure, both, Ketan and Danish will end-up
doing what their hearts deeply long to do... I am sure, I, too, will. That
burning restlessness inside is a very essential creative force of our
souls... They call it the ‘Divine Discontentment’. Just as a stream restlessly
longing to join the river, and just as a river restlessly yearning to join the
sea... sea, the ocean... ocean, the sky...
Yes, unless, we break-free from our safety-nets, unless we
go by the calling of our hearts... we will never, ever be able to sense in our
souls that mighty something called ‘our Creative Freedom’... We shall, always,
remain captive in the cage called – ‘Security’...
Ketan knows what holds him back. “My boss
tells me, often,” he says, “The three-most addictive substances in Life are: Cocaine,
Heroin and monthly salary!”
In the wider context, the same thing is told
by Jiddu Krishnamurti, this way:
“Tradition
becomes our security;
And,
when the mind is secure, it is in decay.”
Finding
our security in the heart of our freedom is what spirituality, all about!
*Names changed
GERALD D’CUNHA
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