I think the entire world is comprised of two broad types of people: givers and takers. The givers find happiness in giving and sharing, while the takers want more and more. I am often surprised by the behavior of the takers. They remain beggars even after reaching the best positions and becoming the richest people in this world. It appears that their thirst increases exponentially with the intake of water. Having earned for their lifetime, they want to earn for their kids and then for the next generations. People's greed rises to the extent that they use the whole of the organizations to fulfill their desires and members of the organizations and communities are just tools to achieve their targets.
In the process, everybody and everything becomes a tool for them. The entire country became a tool for Hitler to fulfill his ambitions and he brutally killed millions of people for his maddening desire. It was the greed and ambitions of Dhritrastra that gave birth to monsters like Duryodhana that led to the destruction of Hastinapur and the killing of so many people. Similarly, it was the greed of Ravana that led to the killing of so many people in Lanka. We have read all these stories, pray Rama and Krishna, and yet become greedy.
The worst part of the story is that these people are so self-obsessed that even their kids and family members become tools for them. At least Ravana had the courage to admit that he was fighting the battle against Rama for his ego. Most greedy people are so weak from the inside that they attribute the reason for their greed to some other person or their helplessness. A weak executive will torture his employees in the name of carrying out the commands of senior management while the reality is that he just wants to get the appreciation of the senior management so that he can retain his position and rise in the hierarchy.
Probably, there is some inner fear that these greedy people do not acknowledge and address throughout their lives. The fear of becoming poor, powerless, or being insulted. They make greed their "winning formula". Accumulate more and more and the fear will fade away. However, rather than fear disappearing, it becomes stronger and stronger. Now they are afraid of almost everything. Fear of losing what they have accumulated takes away their sleep. Different people invest in different things. Some invest in properties, some positions, and some relationships and there is a constant fear of losing whatever we have invested in.
Unless we get to know the inner treasure, all of us will remain greedy and keep seeking one or the other thing. There is no effort required to find the inner treasure. However, we need motivation to work which is generally defined in terms of certain outcomes that satisfy our greed and desires. We have not discovered the joy of working when work is not to fulfill certain desires, rather it is to have fun and joy. Like an accomplished actor performing on the stage neither for the money nor for the appreciation but to play the role to the best of his capacity. The satisfaction one gets by using the body and the mind to the fullest is itself a reward. Just like the marathon, where running itself is the reward. Till the time we get to discover this, we will keep running after the outcomes and the greed for outcomes will keep us dissatisfied and restless and we will keep making the lives of all the people associated with us equally restless.
प्रवाह
flow.pravah@gmail.com
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