Most of the evils that our modern society faces today, are the result of this ‘sinking in’ process which has got disturbed due to excess of haste and hassles in our lives.
Dr. Jernail S. Anand
The world that we see around, which has no time to ‘sink in’, which does not believe in rest, which has no faith in eating with restraint, which has no faith in thinking and acting with restraint, – this is the debauched world devils look for.
‘Sinking in’ is an expression which refers to something going home – And it takes time when the entire picture becomes clear to us. And it takes time too, before what we have eaten, or done, may sink in. Time is the operative word. Generally, what happens? We are eating and eating, and not giving time for all to sink in. In the same way, we may be forced to think and think, and there can be no time to let the thoughts sink in. When we are running after things, and things are happening one after the other, because we believe in speed, it needs time to allow the things to settle down. But here again, we keep moving one from one happening to another. So fast is our life. But, alas! So short is time at our disposal. We have no time to stand, stare, think, and let things settle down, or sink in. We do possess a watch, but time has evaporated from it.
The Olden Times
The Olden TimesI may refer to old times when we had time. When each task was done without any haste. Giving it proper time. Let me talk of food. It was cooked in leisure, with love by women, who had no other job except rearing children, or pleasing their men. Men too had time, they would take the lunch, and have a nap on the couch, lying under the shade of a tree. Cuckoos singing. It was a shared living, animals, trees, birds, insects, vegetation, rats, bats, ants, lizards, and cool breeze – everything mingled in a harmonious relationship. Not one was a threat to the other.
Lack of ‘Sinking In’
Basically, I am talking of the idea of sinking in. And I believe, most of the evils that our modern society faces today, are the result of this ‘sinking in’ process which has got disturbed due to excess of haste and hassles in our lives.
Consider the life of a young couple. Each job they have to do in the morning needs time. But in everything, they are applying short cuts. Tea is made at a higher speed. It is gulped down while sitting in the toilet. Newspaper is read in the toilet. In a way, we are not doing things we are expected to do, at the right place. The worst of all, we take breakfast running around. And most of the time, we have stopped sitting down. The dining table is a highly provoked symbol of modern living which has replaced the easy going ‘chowki’ [a wooden stool] of the past, where each item of the food was served to you with love and care. You were asked to take another ‘chapati’ when you had eaten the one in the ‘thal’ [open plate].
Buffet
Buffet has entirely replaced the etiquetted dining system of the past. Now, no need to sit. In marriage parties, we prefer to just stand and eat twenty or thirty things, while walking and talking, or listening to the loud music and dance. Our stomach does not know what is being gulped down and how to grapple with it. With one or two drinks, we actually don’t know how much we have swallowed. Those who do not eat chicken, throw away all scruples when they find it served only legs. In fact, we can eat hell, only it should be finely cooked. Religiously inclined people, who don’t want to be seen taking drinks, put their handkerchief around the glass, and stealthily take the chicken also. They are vegetarian only on paper. Actually, they are non-veg in their thoughts and their actions too.
Lunch. We order fast food. Women are not around to cook food. They have no time. It is evening. They come back tired. To kill this tiredness and boredom, again, the dinner is at a food joint.
The Hot Chase
The Hot ChaseThe food that is taken at home, is definitely different from the food that is taken at the food joint. What bothers me is: have they got time to relax for some time after they have taken food? Being busy all the day, have they got time to think over all that has happened? Was it all right or something went amiss? Have they time to sit alone? And consider what has been happening to them, is it right? What they do, what they eat, what they think, what they have got, how they have got, what they have failed to get, how they can get it…all these things need cool reflection, not always a hot chase.
Cooling Down
Cooling DownDo they really sit down, or lie down, to think coolly over the day’s job? And can they connect themselves with the eternal flow of life? Can they connect with the cosmic forces? How much they remember gods? Do they have time to count the irresponsible acts they have done? Have they time to consider which good acts they could not do?
All the problems that we see in our world are manufactured in these industries of ambition, which are run without license by our highly educated, highly placed, highly acclaimed, highly rated, young and not so young men and women.
While we do not allow food to sink in, [not get proper restful time, to let it settle in our stomach at its right place], we are, rather, always on the move, making the food stuffs keep moving here and there, instead of reaching their proper places, resulting in a disturbed body system, ailing with a dozen problems, too much of mental occupation. Not letting the mind to rest and sink in disturbs our mental condition also.
The World Devils Look For
The World Devils Look ForThe world that we see around, which has no time to ‘sink in’, which does not believe in rest, which has no faith in eating with restraint, which has no faith in thinking and acting with restraint, – this is the debauched world devils look for. Men, who have moved away from the center of existence, men who do not know where to draw the line, men who have no sense of the existential determiners, for whom, life is a free gift which can be wasted away, such callous specimens of life are not acceptable to Life, Nature or even Gods. All the problems that we see in our world are manufactured in these industries of ambition, which are run without license by our highly educated, highly placed, highly acclaimed, highly rated, young and not so young men and women.
Read – GOING SOLO: BETTER ALONE THAN IN A BAD COMPANY
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Dr. Jernail Singh Anand, President of the International Academy of Ethics, is author of 167 books in English poetry, fiction, non-fiction, philosophy and spirituality. He was awarded Charter of Morava, the great Award by Serbian Writers Association, Belgrade and his name was engraved on the Poets’ Rock in Serbia. The Academy of Arts and philosophical Sciences of Bari [Italy] honored him with the award of an Honorable Academic. Recently, he was awarded Doctor of Philosophy [Honoris Causa] by the University of Engineering and Management, Jaipur. Recently, he organized an International Conference on Contemporary Ethics at Chandigarh. His most phenomenal book is Lustus: The Prince of Darkness [first epic of the Mahkaal Trilogy]. Email: anandjs55@yahoo.com
Link Bibliography:
https://sites.google.com/view/bibliography-dr-jernal-singh/home
