Sorrows and Joys Alike

Long ago, an Indian sage echoed these words. Happiness and joy are phases of life. They come and go as seasons in a year. Men should not let themselves be moved or affected by both phases. Pleasure and pain must be treated alike. Moments of glee must not make us go over the board and moments of sadness must never send us in acute depression. In other words, our behaviour must be balanced or equipoised between grief and glee. One who learns the art of such equilibrium shall always remain content. A world made up of such serene men and women shall stay free from dispute and disturbance. Critiques of Vedas and religious Granthas have carried this line of thought in them. Need for stability in mirth and grief has been reflected widely in Gandi, Vivekananda and Aurobindo. This is why our elderly generation has been quite free from excitement, agitation, and depression. Unlike the West where people behave as they do without giving a hoot to philosophy or dictates. Death, destruction, natural disaster, loss of wealth, loss of loved ones on account of emotional disagreement are all events of grief. Indians face a lot of these. However, they react to such trouble much more coolly than people in the West. Truckloads of tolerance seem built into them.

However, tolerance, sorrows and grief alike, all these concepts have altered rapidly in the nineties. People have become much more intolerant than before. Politicians, big businessmen and bureaucrats used to be the only intolerant creeps in India. Now the common man is also in the queue. Instances of schoolteachers beating children to unconsciousness on petty pretexts have become quite common. Picking fights on flimsy grounds, using weapons where it is not necessary at all, abusive verbal exchanges instead of normal cool talk have become common too. In fact, in increasing cases, verbal squabbles are fast replacing normal mature cool talk. The elderly generation feels it the most. Young people get agitated very quickly and elders feel insulted badly. Youngsters will get up and walk of when an elder is trying to explain something. Or they would snap out an insulting remark and the elderly person will have to quit. Physical fights over traffic problems like overtaking, parking, not flashing an indicator have become daily events. People get overjoyed and deeply depressed very soon. This has disturbed the stability of Indian society. The calmness and sweet talk is fast becoming a thing of the past. Short temper, excitement, agitation, as well as tears and depression are displayed in public. Youngsters are especially prone to such behaviour. They cannot digest failure to earn a living, failure to secure a relationship with the opposite sex, failure to earn an incentive from their corporation, failure to secure a promotion or a job etc. they no longer take it as a tide of time. They think its their personal defeat and they have a right to take a revenge on society. They no longer tolerate other peoples' success as a stroke of luck. They think they have a right to get jealous and execute their envy by harming the successful. Time will change. Therefore, one must keep his cool in difficult times and keep going. Youngsters can no longer accept this assurance as a rule. They want instant success in all fields and failure is intolerable. Failure leads to short temper, showing anger, destructive mentality and even suicide. Sorrows and joys are no longer alike. They are very much different. Sorrows must be mourned. Their intensity must be exaggerated. Likewise, joys are to be rejoiced and celebrated. Balanced behaviour is becoming a thing of the past.

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