He was roaming in the streets of Mumbai in a deplorable state. His body was covered with faeces and he was just donning a tattered t-shirt and nothing else. Jagdish Mali was once a renowned film photographer who is credited with immortalizing the famous Indian movie star, Rekha. During his hey days, several movie aspirants would make a beeline in front of his studio. But today he was all alone, in a decrepit state. Aghast by seeing his plight some of the people tried contacting his daughter. But sadly she too decided not to respond. (“Man who immortalised Rekha rescued from streets”, Times of India)
Our deep longing for material glory entangle us in this material world. Due to our intense desire for name, fame and money we develop strong lust and eagerness to achieve it. However, when we discover that our attempts for enjoyment are being thwarted or in spite of achieving it we do not feel any satisfaction then we develop great hatred and anger. This strengthens our illusion and we again run behind it just like a thirsty man runs towards a mirage in the desert. In this endeavor we completely forget our real spiritual identity thus forgetting God and His message. Due to our forgetfulness of God we lose our intelligence and thus we get further entrapped into illusion. Our life becomes miserable, without right intelligence we transform ourselves into a lump of flesh. Our pitiable situation although generates sympathy but it does not do any good to us. This is why in Bhagavad – Gita, Lord Krishna has warned us, “From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool.” Bhagavad – Gita 2.63.
So in our life’s journey we should pause for a moment and ask ourselves, “Are we treading on the right path? Is the goal which we are pursuing will connect us to God and bring ultimate happiness or will it further entangle us in this material world?”
