When Self appears lacking, the world appears the master
Question: Sir, from the article “Why am I always thinking of the society?” there is this extract:
“Now, because of years of colonisation, in fact, decades of colonisation, you have a great emphasis on fair skin in India. There are all these companies that are selling fairness products in India and believe me they cannot do that in any other country of the world ”(Link: Why am I always thinking of the society? )
Sir, I know they can’t do this in some other country of the world as this would count as racist. But the reason that our colonisers, who molested, tortured and exterminated whole villages of our ancestors, what’s the single reason why we want to be like them, appear like them?
In America, the light switches are reverse than ours (we push down for ‘on’ and press up for ‘off’, they do the opposite). Only logical explanation is that they didn’t want to be like them. No developed country has education in a foreign language.
When I read the freedom movement and the post-freedom political literatureof the country, I found that they wanted to restore their original system. Why has Bharat not done so?
Why do we feel a person, who is not fluent in English is less educated? Can the knowledge being an accumulation can be expressed in any language?
Thank You, Sir.
Acharya Prashant: Gaurav,
The mind that has lost connection with its centre wanders desperately. It has a deep feeling of incompleteness, inferiority. It desperately wants to fill itself up with something or the other: a relationship, a language, money, ideology, purpose, stuff.
Faith is the name of the connection with the centre. Only in faith are you connected. But this land has been so badly traumatised over centuries that it has become faithless. It has no inner sense of sureness left. I am not talking of self-belief, or jingoism, or social confidence. I am talking of an individual relationship with the centre. That has gone very missing.
As a result, we feel empty, lonely and helpless within. We are not at all certain within ourselves. So, we become emulators. When self is perceived as lacking, then the world becomes your master. You want to copy your master, thinking that copying will rid you of the deep hole within.
The deep hole, the void, the sense of incompleteness, will not go away by emulating. It goes away only by having a fearless, loving relationship with yourself. It is essentially a spiritual thing.
Spirituality is not religious affiliation. It is wisdom, it is intelligence. Spirituality is about not being stupid. Only a spiritual person is fearless and feels adequate. We lack that. Hence, we are mentally diseased, and we keep copying.
