There are periods in the lives of the collectivity just as much as in the life of an individual, when the atmosphere is saturated with immense inertia. Tamas invades our beings through breath and food and inactivity and sleep. Its own weight is so much that we are left with no choice but to double under it, physically, mentally and at times even spiritually. The causes for such an invasion are numerous and not always do they have a profound origin, arising from an inner state of conflict or turmoil. Take the advent of summer for instance. It is an ordinary event, a seasonal change, a fact of life. And yet, within its predictable occurrence lies hidden the tendency to inflict a lethal dose of the very same inertia that we speak of. A season which is heartily welcomed in some of the coldest parts of the world is equally dreaded in a country like India where the earth burns the skin below one’s feet and no matter how we protect ourselves through ingenious technology, the heat is enough to numb the least suspecting and the most vigilant. Exceptions are there undoubtedly for the wise will never let external factors invade the peace and calm of their aspiring souls, but the question is, how many of such men are there?
Wherever the attack may come from, whether from a simple external phenomenon like the onset of summer, or from a much deeper cause, it becomes imperative to fight the oncoming torpor, to build a dam and repel the wave that will send us into a stagnant pool. Ways may be many, to each his own, but one which proves effective and is almost an antidote is to dive into the oceans of wisdom that this great nation has within. Words charged with energy that belong to the worlds of eternal progress, words suffused with the current that comes from eternal achievement, words shining with the light that comes from eternal truth.
Drinking from the founts of knowledge drives out the disease of indolence, gives us the strength to open our eyes wider, brings in the motivation to take those extra steps – physically, mentally and spiritually. Before one knows it the intense heat fades away into the cool bliss of another season, in the life of the earth, in the life of a man.
