O J's Corner : Reflections

Imbibe spirituality

Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy
….
The Youth… still is Nature’s Priest
And by the vision splendid
…the man perceives it die away
And fade into the light of common day.

These are the lines of William Wordsworth from his Immortality Ode.

He says of the youth as having splendid vision.

The same Wordsworth, in another Ode, yearns for Milton’s presence.

We are selfish men…
Give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.

Wordsworth may not have been a practical man as our youth are being groomed to be.

I may sound an old man if I should urge the youth not to lose spirituality, cultural resilience and pearls of wisdom that got transcended from generation to generation.

It is no exaggeration to say that the youth, who have been exposed to liberal knowledge too quickly, is being spoiled.

The antonym of moral is immoral. But there is a condition under which one is not bothered about morals at all. Such a person is amoral. I am not speaking about vices. I am referring about the approach to any quality like honesty, sincerity and the like.

If a person is not just bothered about such qualities, the world would be in the worst scenario.

Values are ebbing away. India boasts about more than 50 per cent of its population coming under the youth category.

The youth are repositories of unfailing energy and drive.

Liberalisation is good. Wealth generation is all the more good. No one wants our youth to foot it to his destinations or travel in bullock carts.
But where is the feeling for others first, which was synonymous with the youth at one time?

The predicament of the youth cannot be ignored. They live in a world where he has to be extremely selfish.

In the formative age, school boys and girls are groomed in such a way that they don’t have to care for others.

If a boy/ girl was not well and could not attend classes one day, he/she would not be helped by classmates about what transpired in the classes earlier. Competition for getting a few marks more by denying an opportunity to the fellow being is gaining ground.

Now-a-days, a peculiar sort of spirituality is catching up with the youth.

One cannot say that the youth is lagging behind in spirituality. Actually, they are thriving on their own brand of spirituality.

They want to do things their way and they attribute these things as Godliness and spirituality.

They want God to be a provider of boons, which could be selfish, silly or inflicting great harm to fellow beings.

They may be immersed in a system where crude assessment is made by unworthy elders who actually should have inspired them with noble characteristics. Alas, some of them would ask for incentives for chucking out a junior from the institution and still project a brave face of an idealist!

But that is not the end of it all. Hang on, and be honest. No one can ruin you. Your real spirituality would guide you to the shining path.