When I was in school, my teachers and parents and grand-parents used to tell me many stories which gave some lesson worth learning for the betterment of our personality / behaviour or just aiming to advise us, as to how we should endeavour to make our life more pleasant and affable, and also that we should not fall into the trap of some greed or short term gain. We should always keep long term goals in mind, rather than short gains which may look quite luring or provoking, but those are not healthy signs of leading a good, harmonious and pleasant life. You might have heard many such stories from your elders in family or from teachers. Now I am going to tell you a story which was told to me by my maternal grand-father (Nana ji) who was a very wise, persevering, religious and seasoned person and he always took care that neither his words nor his actions should hurt other people, even though he may or may not get similar type of treatment, attitude and behaviour or interaction from other people in his friends’ circle, relationships or in society at large.
He advised me that there are generally two more persons who normally reside inside us and a battle always goes on between them to gain upper hand or higher position between themselves. And those two persons are an Angel and a Satan, who always produce two different kinds of feelings and sentiments, which determine our outlook towards our life, behaviour and attitude. The first wolf is a evil character wolf and it often produces the germs of anger, envy, sorrow, hatred, greed, avarice, fanaticism, arrogance, stress, lies and tension in our minds. However, the second person i.e. an Angel is a good character and noble person; as it generally generates the energy for hope, love, peace, universal brotherhood, friendship, happiness, truth, generosity and ethics and morality in our mind, heart and soul and sometimes many other sentiments like extending a helping hand to others – particularly those who are in some kind of trouble or distress. However, the second person i.e. a Satan is a evil character; it often produces germs of anger, envy, sorrow, hatred, greed, avarice, arrogance, conflict, stress, lies and tension in our minds. It always distorts things and creates a rift between even otherwise good friends and relations, as it is made of such stuff.
I often used to ask him, “Nanaji ! Between this noble Angel and the bad Satan, who ultimately wins the battle?” And Nanaji often gave the curt reply (as if he had himself seen that tussle going on), “Beta ! Only he wins about whom you feel more, you get aligned to in a better manner and about whom you get swayed away – depending upon the state of your mind and the circumstances you are placed in, at that particular moment or time !”
Dear friends, whenever I get struck-up in some sort of predicament or dilemma or a problem, I am often reminded of that story learnt in my childhood days and it often functions as a seasoned guide for me. The story really has a superb driving force, motivating people to do our self audit or self-appraisal or critical analysis of his or her personality as and when some ebb and tide are going on inside them. The question is that which of these two we listen to daily and to what extent? If we surround ourselves in the group of negative character people, selfish people, do back biting, leg pulling, praising some rich people who has made huge money quickly by illegal gratification / corrupt means etc. learning tricks to deceive other people and talk pessimist events or ideas, then definitely we are taking sides and strengthening the Evil Spirited Satan. On the contrary, if we spend our time with nice and positive people, good and generous people, read good books, attend Satsang congregations, listen to the discourses of the religious gurus, focus on providing some solutions to the people in distress, and assist people in resolving their problems, then we are certainly working and behaving under the constant influence and guidance of the good Angel and that ultimately helps us to overcome the evil Satan.
At the end of the story, we can easily say or opine and conclude that these two people inside us truly represent our inner character, because eventually our character gets moulded the way we move about in society, we interact with friends, relatives and some other people, with our inner sentiments and feelings; and thus moving either closer to the good Angel or a bad Satan.
Here, I would like to dwell a little more about the prevailing socio-economic, political and behavioral attitudes of people in society at large. The way more and more scams, job recruitment scams, financial irregularities / bunglings etc. are surfacing in one state or the other these days or many cases of huge corruption are coming out as frogs appear on the surface after the first spell of rainy season and almost all the political parties are keeping a studied silence over such matters and economic offenders of the state, it only goes on to prove that more and more people are getting swayed by the lure of making quick money by illegitimate means. The way we read many news in almost all languages newspaper and TV News Channels about the females (even small girls) getting raped or even killed after playing foul with them, sometimes even some leaders of the political parties are found involved in such heinous crimes like rape cases, kidnapping and extortion etc., failure of the police to register FIRs against them, acid attacks on the girls and women, old parents getting neglected by their young children, cases of robbery taking place, ATMs of the banks getting dismantled or uprooted and taken away, chain snatching by the young boys riding on the bikes, apathy from government and bureaucratic circles to put an end to such negative things prevailing in society, cases of discrimination and atrocities and inhuman behaviour by the upper caste people with the lower strata of society, only shows that more and more people are being coming under the influence of Satan and thus, indulging in bad habits and are becoming a victim of their vicious circles of greed and bad character people, anti-national, it all goes on to prove that the evil person Satan is really pouncing upon the good and kind hearted angel.
Not only that, it also goes on to substantiate that the law enforcing agencies like police and courts are also not playing their roles they should play for making the society crimes-free and safe for the members of fair sex and also for the lower strata of society. The rate of conviction of the criminals is very low in our country and that works as a provoking force for other perverted minds in society. May be many other factors are also getting involved in making the whole scenario ugly / murkier and doubtful, but getting swayed by short gains also plays a major roles in turning of society from good to bad and from bad to worse. And all this ultimately goes to build and shape our national character. And when top leaders of major political parties prefer to maintain silence over such matters, it shows that the values in our society are degenerating. And above, please remember that all this is certainly bad for the society and the country as a whole and India shall find itself much more difficult situations or positions in its competitive edge as and when compared to the other developed countries around the globe.
