A LEISURELY reading of one of the text messages aroused a quaint little feeling of ‘mock, ersatz (unreal), pseud’ emotion this Sunday morning: Do I really or am I really what I do or am I actually what I feel? Is it important to feel right or is it right to feel important? For both the situations, emotions will have to be wronged or righted (read corrected). So in effect, you sometimes have to fake the emotions to emote correctly even if introspection is a powerful faculty which enhances your self-awareness. To put it more specifically, in the words of Mahatria Ra: “One of the greatest blessings of being human is this gift of self-awareness. Man, is the only creation, who can stand apart from himself and practice self-awareness. Man alone can analyse his own experience and improve himself. Man alone can, not only study a subject but he can also become the subject of his own study.”

 

“The purer our motives, the greater the courage and faith we will have to accomplish things that seem impossible” (Radhanath Swami). The youth today need to think and thinking can be channelised into a pattern of behaviour. Why is it that the thinking youth today is very aggressive and does not pause or think even for a second before reacting? When we were young, ‘Socho (read Think)!’ was factual and a quality to be imbibed. Today ‘action’ is the mantra. So much of erosion of values, ethics and to witness dissent and depression as the response to genuine advice from elders is actually when I personally wonder how to react to- ‘fake a reaction and mock the situation’ or ‘react as you would ordinarily and be mocked at as quaint and not in tune with the times.’ It is hard to believe and sad to accept. I am forced to believe that the times when we grew up were those where we were influenced by our elders’ behaviour and teachings and the values at home and in school. We were made to listen to stories and recall commendable actions done during the class dedicated for Moral Science. It is a fact that it was called a science that was supposed to be a way of life and a method of living. ‘Time’ is an important constraint I feel today that needs to be managed. You have to ensure the youth sit by themselves at least for half an hour everyday to introspect, to revive that faculty of ‘thought and self awareness.’

 

There is a case where a child refuses to follow the advice of the father to mark her answer sheet during the examination to pass through the unfair means she understands would go into making her score. That is what I call an astutely capable futuristic, self assured and individualistic decision. I pray for more of such girls in families blessed with such girls. Then, there are students who have been debarred from appearing for examinations because they followed their elders’ wishes to adopt unfair means for a gain in a few marks and when the crime was booked, penalised. I pray that we, as educators morally take the onus of ensuring that the message reaches each child very early that we, Indians, have been so rich in ethical and morally correct behaviour in ancient times because of the wealth of scriptures and the verses read in the families where divine help and divine justice were ‘mantras.’ I am going to practice ‘my belief’ with renewed fervour this season. Even a few more elders do actually speak out like the Editor of a famous newspaper in Nagpur does- we have awakened to the fact that Awareness and Thinking as a

trend is assured.