Sir,
This is in response to the topic.’Renounce and Enjoy’ by Lt. Col R K Langar (Sunday Magazine) dated 12 Oct. 2014. The author has stated that if one wants to enjoy the world, one must go for renunciation first; happiness will follow. The author tells the readers that desires, love, attachment, ego etc are all vices which makes a person unhappy and miserable.
Spinoza defines happiness as the presence of pleasure and the absence of pain. Both of them are relative, not absolute. Pleasure is man’s transition from a lesser State of perfection to a greater State. Pain is Man’s transition from a greater state of perfection to a lesser state.
For the author man must be detached from the worldly affairs so that he is joyous and happy. But there is every possibility that detachment will lead to inaction (Akarmanyata) or weakness. Spinoza has rightly said-‘A system of morals that teaches a man to be weak, is worthless. To take the discussion further, let me quote an example. A student in a school tries to outshine another student on the playground or in an examination. But his outshining the other students is possible, only when he is attached to his/her studies or to the game he/she plays. If all the students are detached, where will be the competition.
The author says detachment also means performing one’s duties in life, whole heartedly without bothering about the results. But there is a problem. Human soul has not yet lived its fuller life. It demands not materialism but morality, love, compassion, emotion and heart if not head. It wants happiness and more happiness. Great happiness like solemnizing your son’s or daughter’s marriage comes rarely. One wants to be happy round the clock even if it comes from very small deeds like your daughter in-law buying a shirt for you and presenting it to you with a smile. But once one is detached and unable to distinguish between emotions, one loses greater part of happiness. Preaching more and more detachment will lead to negativity.
What to me? What was mine when I was born? What will I take with me when I die; such ideas lead us to escapism. Escapism is not a vedic way of life. It will produce the habit of submission, subordination and slavery, smashing all that was superb, superlative and supreme in Indian culture. But does this mean that we must always be attached to worldly affairs and be unhappy and repent at the time of death.
I am of the opinion that one must be ambitious upto a limit and be attached to the world upto a certain age, say 60 years. If we don’t be ambitious for worldly matters, civilizations won’t grow. There will be decay in civilizations. One of the causes for the fall of Maryun and Gupta dynasties was detachment part of human nature propagated by the Budha Dharma prevalent at that time in India.
A student must be ambitious in outperforming his other classmates. A scientist, an artist etc must be ambitious for name and fame, so must be a teacher. We must be free; and a free man, thinks of nothing less than of death and his wisdom is meditation not on death, but on life.
Yours etc…
O N Bhat
Durga Nagar, Jammu
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