Monday, March 2, 2015

Strange as it may sound

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Is liberation attained only through sainthood?
How can young minds and energetic souls renounce the world and embark on spiritual journey? Their voices still have that morning freshness and aggressive killer instinct. Yet they chose to ignore all this and begin a journey which will be so different from the world they have been living. These are the sentiments and thoughts that are running in my mind while I finishing writing a story on 75 youths taking the path of sainthood in a religious ceremony on Saturday.
I spoke to four youngsters who were doing so well for themselves, leading successful careers and hobnobbing with the best brains in their respective industry. But I guess since these privileged youngsters got all the success and luxury too soon or too easily, that they now want to see life with a different perspective and surrounding. Expensive cars, staying and dinning in five star hotels and splurging on branded stuff are something that lures a lot of youth to work hard or smart. But these youths have somehow lost interest in all of them.
These group of youngsters who are set to live as saint had everything in their life that others aspire to have. Yet it took them just a year to kick all these comfort and dedicate their life to god and religious activities.
“Most of us feel that bhajan sabha and satsang should be attended when one has grown old. But I think as youngsters we should be attending them so that we don’t get carried away in materialistic pleasure,” is what a mere 23-year old fresh graduate from London College of Fashion tells you when you ask him his reasons for taking on sainthood.
Surprisingly this budding fashion designer was set to start his design studio in London but somewhere he just cancelled all these plans. Instead he had made up his mind to adorn saintly robes and lead a detached life. “Everything in life is temporary. It is important to live for a meaningful cause,” shared this would-have been fashion designer.
I agree materialistic pleasure is temporary and only increases ones greed to have more. But does one find contentment in renouncement? I mean how can one just get up from bed one morning and erase memories of ones family, friends and relatives? A mother who till now was used to scolding and cajoling her son will no longer get to acknowledge in public that - ‘The saint standing on the stage is my son’.
How easy can it be for someone to just chuck laptops, mobile phones and ambitions all of sudden? I know answers to these questions are not easy to find.
This 26-year old researcher who could have done wonders with his research in bio-informatics has now decided to serve god. “I did not want to be part of the rat race instead I wanted to liberate my soul from all sorts of comfort and attachment. The process of renouncing the world was running in the back of my mind even while I continued my research at Cambridge,” said this researcher.
What strikes me is that these youngsters have no regrets and are proud of their decision to take ‘diksha’. Even their families are rejoicing over their children’s decision. Relatives too flock at their homes to see their son who would soon be a saint.
Life they say is strange but it cannot get stranger than this. Why is it that these Gurus preach renouncement and not ask their followers to lead simple life without shunning ones responsibility? Can’t these religious gurus channelise the minds of talented youngsters so that world can progress and mankind can prosper? A researcher, a fashion designer and engineer can do wonders as professionals but what use would they be to the nation as saint draped in orange robes with large red tikka. Will these young saints really lead a liberated life? I find it tough to answer…

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