Acharya Tulsi
There are two styles of living. There is a way of living in which another’s pain is looked upon as one’s own. He, who adopts this way, does not live for himself or for his family alone; his self-expands to embrace everyone; no one appears to be alien to such a man. His frontiers are ‘limited to his community, village, province or country, but include all men living his world, and even, all living beings. Are there people in the world today who live in this manner? The answer to this question is to be sought not by looking around, but into oneself.
There is another way of living—the way of the limited and limiting self. Those who adopt this way, will never comprehend another’s pain, what to think of their sharing it with the afflicted. Leave aside other living beings; such people cannot even appreciate the pain of their own fellow men. On the one hand, man looks upon himself as a being endowed with great intelligence. Indeed, he has galloped along the path the evolution to reach heights he never even dreamed of. But, on the other hand, ‘we find him singularly lacking in common courtesy, cordiality and compassion. Have the springs of compassion flowing within man completely dried up? If this is so, Gandhiji's anxiety about the future of India appears to be fully justified. Lack of sensitivity has made man today so callous as to make him play irresponsibly with the life of fellow human beings and of other animals.
I do not hold that most people in the world have adopted this second way of living. But midway between the two styles of living mentioned above. I can see a new culture of indifference popping up. At the root of this culture of indifference, lies a fatal tendency-"what does it matter’? Why bother?" An act of goodness evokes no appreciation; nor does an evil deed meet with any kind of protest. Whether good or ill, no happening seems to elicit any response. "It doesn’t concern us. Why bother?" This attitude may be in order with respect to the private life of an individual or a family. But where a man's whole life is at stake, such apathy can prove very dangerous.
For one who lives in a jungle or sits in meditation in the Himalayan caves, the greater the introversion, the better it is. However, the negligent attitude of those living in society among their families can only give rise to improper traditions. An inhuman happening in any part of the world calls for a vehement collective response. Indifference towards loathsome atrocities perpetrated under one’s very nose, can only be instrumental in propagating unhealthy trends in society.
It may be the case of selling Latin American children in America, or the sacrificing of innocent babies, or the killing of Harijans, or the stripping naked of poor Harijan women and taking them out in a rally, or the rape of a girl, or the torturing or burning alive of a bride, or the massacre of billions of harmless animals and birds in the name of catering to man's requirements of food, clothing, cosmetics and entertainment—each of these heinous crimes is a blot on the face of humanity, and if no collective voice is raised against these, it would become more and more difficult to control the astronomical rise in their number.
Animal meat is no natural diet for man. And yet to quench his hunger, man butchers millions of animals and birds every day. The egg in itself is a bane, and yet millions of people are blindly taking eggs every day. All man’s clothing requirements can be easily met with cotton and other simple materials, and yet the craze for velvety, shimmering and heavily-piled garments and head-dresses is responsible for the ruthless slaughter of innocent animals. The way the poor curlew lambs are brutally exterminated for their soft and curly hair to make headgear, or for the export of their costly fleece, is horrifying indeed.
Man today uses allopathic drugs to maintain his health. In order to evolve certain medicines, experiments are conducted on countless animals. Thousands of innocent creatures die a cruel death, writhing in pain. Insensitivity to their suffering is truly appalling.
ls not the kidnapping of children and their sale a living example of man's cruelty to man’? As a consequence of this, millions of young girls and women are forced to take to prostitution. Are not such happenings in any society or country indicative of a profound degradation? Of course, all these ills are not confined to any one country or civilization. The whole world is faced with certain burning problems to resolve which it is necessary to renounce once for all, the indifferent mentality embodies in "it concerns us not!" Whatever happens to any one man happens to us all. Any untoward incident anywhere affects the life of every living being on earth. No man can live in complete isolation from the world. When this is understood, all evil would evoke a massive protest and when billions of hands are simultaneously raised in protestation, evil would disappear of itself.
