Man's Behavior

What kind of person achieves what he wants? What kind of person becomes a tyrant? Who becomes a thief? Why do we become god fearing?

I used to think about these questions quite frequently. I come from a fairly orthodox family where everyone prays before important events such as exams or while taking up a new job etc. And I was, from my early teens, not into it. People around me were different and I was different in this respect.

Much later I got around to thinking what caused us to become this way. A friend of mine once sent me a ppt (embedded in one of those chain mails) in which it was claimed that what we need most in life was faith. And this faith is usually held to be an exalted virtue in people.

I think there are 4 different aspects in a man's character.

1. A desire: Most people have various kinds of desires be it money, objects, status, achievement. There are some people who dont have much of an ambition or desire - a "sanyasi" of these days.

2. A fire in the belly: This makes a man strive to achieve his desire. And makes him desperate to get it. Without this fire in the belly, the desire only remain a dream.

3. An ability to achieve what he desires: This happens through appropriate planning and adequate effort. People having this would know when to cut the losses, how to circumvent seemingly unsurmountable obstacles and temper their desires.

When this ability to plan, execute with relentless motivation is absent what is left in a person is only a burning desire but no conspicuous ability to achieve. Such people invariably turn into thieves or turn to religion. They believe that a faith in god (and a trip to Tirupati or Mecca or Jerusalem) will get them what they want (a good education for the son or a good groom for the daughter or a good job for self etc). Its so easy and comforting to believe that breaking 108 coconuts or wearing a new gem stone will get them what they badly desire but which they have hitherto not been fortunate to get.

4. Wisdom and strength of character: This is needed to know what boundaries not to cross which moral / ethical rules not to violate. A person without this wisdom / strength of character would turn out to be a person who achieves what he wants without regard to ethics and morals, such as a Hitler.

I believe, people having all these attributes will achieve their desires and be happier. An algebraically positive difference between a man's desire and his ability to achieve makes him unhappy, evil and turns him towards god. Have we wondered why a man goes to a temple? Is it for world peace? Most of us go to a temple because we have not got what we wanted through our own abilities. Are we born to be strong, to believe in ourselves and put in the effort and achieve it or are we born to lead an impotent life, depending on the grace of god?

If we look at the people around us, we can categorize them as having only the 1st attribute or only the 1st two or the 1st three or as having attributes. Reflect for a second and see whether we can categorize people whom we know. And see whether you admire the people who have a positive difference in desire and ability or those with a negative or zero difference... Does that tell us something?

To come back to the ppt which claimed that faith is the most important aspect in a man, how would we classify such a man? A level 1 person? Or a level 2/3/4? What is faith without ability? Yuck...