Delusion

Next time when the leadership tells us how hard we have worked and how much sacrifices we have made and thank us for the same we need to remind them that, actually we have not made any sacrifices. We are merely chasing dreams, aspirations and ambitions of name, fame, power, promotions or authority, money – in short our own selfish motives & desires. It is actually our family that does the most sacrifice when we work too hard and chase those dreams. We are merely being selfish and self-deluded (as we attach too much importance to ourselves, our own puny ego that gets all puffed up by the appreciations which are like the pats at the back of a dog when it has brought back its bone successfully after a long run). It is our daughters & sons, our wives & husbands and parents who are making all the sacrifices because they are getting deprived of our associations, the valuable time that we could spend with them, day after day, year after year, until we grow tired of this game of chasing a mirage and reflect on how much we have wasted in doing so, how much we have deprived our children of the little association that we could have given them and instead bribed them with costly toys and gifts, perhaps a vacation abroad or an expensive family outing. We perhaps think that we’ll be with them over the weekend, but then think again how much time could we take out for the rest of the people from our own pleasure seeking activities even on weekends – Our TVs, our android phones, our tennis or football matches, our chats & social media? But then again we are back to the same routine, day after day, chasing the same desires and always deluding ourselves that we are doing our duty. But reflect on it and see how much of it is true. Are we really doing our duty or are overdoing it because of our inner urge to prove our capabilities, to gain position, to get that pat at the back and possibly also because we fear failure, we are troubled by the thoughts of layoffs and losing our relevance. So both desire for selfish gains and fear of selfish loss act as the motive forces that drive us to work harder and harder like the proverbial donkey until one day we realize that we have lost our youth, our joy, and our precious time which could have been spent in association with our near and dear ones or in doing something meaningful for the society selflessly. We realize that all these appreciations and the name and fame and power are nothing but mere froths, bubbles that will burst anyway one day and we’ll be as lonely as ever. From the highest company executive to the lowest rung employee, everybody’s work, material gains etc. will be reduced to memories only in their loneliness and suffering.  One cannot always enjoy limelight, stars fade and so the glamours of success. Recognition and power and authority are mere foams on the surface of the ocean of life.

So please do get rid of this delusion that you are sacrificing while working hard, you are not, in fact you are clinging to your selfishness with all your might in doing that and better you realize that now than repenting later. There is much more joy in reading out the bedtime stories to your children and putting them to sleep than to take that late evening meeting with your customer where you are only trying to establish your own importance or get into a planning meeting or a late evening dinner with your boss where you are only trying to satisfy your lust for progress. In our pursuit of happiness we often forget the real source of happiness and joy, in striking out the balance between what is essential and what is non-essential. That is why the statement made in the story Little Prince is so profound, what is essential is revealed only to the children and remains hidden to the grownups. It is because the children have so little ego and the grownups have really a blown up ego fuelled by their money, positions, power, respect and recognition, driven by the propensity or the urge to achieve more and more and more, all the while deluding themselves of their own sacrifices and thinking all along of what happiness they could gain by all these so called achievements.