Sense of Power and Powerlessness

                                                                                                *Saumitra Mohan

            During one’s interactions with members from different walks of life, one comes across different kinds of people with different kinds of mindset and attitude. Naturally, all these people have varying conceptions of life. But there definitely is a predominant idea about what makes a good life and this invariably subsumes possession of power and pelf. Most of us have this constricted vision about what constitutes a good and fulfilling life. However, the same is far from the truth.

            Most of us, holding one or the other positions of power, suffer from a gross delusion which completely detaches them from the true worth of an ephemeral human life. Firstly, the so-called situations of power are always relative depending upon our place in the societal pecking order. In heteronormative patriarchal societies, a husband may be powerful against his wife, a monarch or autocrat in a monarchy or autocracy, a company head in his company, an elected head of the state in a democracy or any person holding such position of importance.

            Thus, any and every person holds some position of influence vis a vis others. The power exercised could be spatiotemporal. After all, head of a company would only be important in his own company or till the time he is the head. A celebrity today may lose her status and charm with time to be replaced by another as is usually seen in the tinsel world of glamour. A very powerful politico could soon be rubbing shoulders with the hoi polloi. How people treat him in such situations depends completely upon one’s conduct while one wielded a position of influence.

            However, whether we continue to command influence or public adulation even after exiting power positions depends completely on our conduct when on the high pedestals. Often, we forget that we are only a visitor to such situations of power which may change anytime. Time has been the biggest graveyard of all the bumptious and supercilious people who rubbed people very wrongly while in situations of power. We forget the eternal truth that everything which belongs to us today belonged to someone else yesterday and would be in possession of someone else tomorrow. So, any arrogance for passing prominence or influence may do us in.

            Many among such people, however, servile and obsequious to those high in the hierarchy. As they say, the real character of a person could only be known by his conduct towards the weak and underprivileged, and not towards the high and mighty. They are forced to be at the best of their behaviour in front of the more powerful, but are vile and vicious to those down the ladder including subordinates, colleagues, family and friends.

            While there, some of us think that our positions give us the right to mistreat or humiliate people in weaker power situations without appreciating that, sooner or later, we would cross over to the other side. When out of power positions, such people face real crises in life, adjusting to the emergent hard realities when they suddenly feel unimportant and sulk heavily in solitude. They may have hoarded money or other means of material comforts, but lead a pitiable life without many friends or sympathizers.

            We conveniently forget the eternal truth that no one has gone out of this world alive and none of us shall remain in our respective power situations forever. The wise ones, ergo, work hard to make hay while the sun shines. They leverage the fleeting power situations to earn goodwill of their friends, relatives and everyone around them. Such people consciously expand their circle of goodwill to positively touch the lives of as many people as possible. Each one of us could all be useful and helpful to those around us if we so want. If anything, our positive and helping attitude towards others itself could earn us immense goodwill, thereby making our lives meaningful.

            Most of the megalomaniac people with convoluted sense of power and self-importance usually get so engrossed and attached to the impermanent vocations, positions or situations that they stop adding value to their own life. Immersed in mundane affairs, they get so alienated that they end up dehumanising themselves as often reflected in their conduct towards their immediate family members, friends, colleagues and others coming into their contact. Like a taskmaster, they keep inventing ways to piss, pester and hassle others around them.

            Moved by negative outlooks and orientations, these people hardly find any time for indulging in positive and constructive tasks. With suppressed muses and stressed mind, they are often the reasons for all the pain and mess in the lives of those they directly or indirectly influence. Doing this, they spoil their Karma by generating negative vibrations for themselves. That’s why, we should all add and earn as much goodwill and virtues as possible while on Spaceship Earth, using our momentary power situations. But most of us remain unconscious to this.

            More often than not, most of us keep running in a maze trying to earn and possess way beyond our needs. By doing so, we actually spoil our Karma for the sake of our deemed offspring who come with their own destiny and conduct as per requirements of their own spiritual growth. As such, we should not be overly exercised over the fripperies of human life. Actually, we are guarding the wealth or possessions for others while we are here, often at a huge loss of hurting our own metaphysical growth.

            If these power positions were so important or useful, we would remain here forever to enjoy them. But they are nothing but a means to the ultimate end of uplifting our eternal consciousness. All value additions to our eternal consciousness in this life help us see through bigger challenges of spiritual growth during our next rebirths. Hence, we ought to conduct ourselves with discretion and judgement so as to guard the eternal interests of our enlightened Self. We should give only as much importance to the objective possessions as is warranted for the growth of our timeless Self.

            We often get the impression of our invincibility or omnipotence through the adulation and eulogies of those around us. All these people, who have one or the other axe to grind, treat us like demigods and praise us to the skies. Taking their words to be true, we actually end up transporting ourselves to the ethereal world. Many refuse to come down to the earth, with disastrous consequences. How futile is this misplaced sense of power could be gauged from the fact that we are often confronted with the hard realities even while in power. After all, a company or a political head would never be treated with the same importance in other company or State. Even in one’s own company or State, one may not be recognized unless one reveals one’s identity or has usual fripperies of power to mark him out as such.

            Against 100 million celestial bodies in our galaxy and there being billions of such galaxies in the entire cosmos, we are not even a speck in this vast Creation. Our body itself is nothing but a heap of food and a loan from the Mother Earth. We can’t take even a speck of dust from this earth after we die. That being so, why should we not focus on guarding our eternal interests of spiritual learning and evolution for a better comeback through reincarnation? So, let’s conduct ourselves with discretion and dignity while we are here.