Acharya Tulsi
The public moves with the current. The direction of the follow determines its response. The ancient writers refer to this eternal trait of the human mind as follows:
When the greater number of people follows the current, it becomes all the more difficult to go against it. Even fairly intelligent people, abandoning their own faith, take to the common path which, though more convenient, is often times misleading. In consequence, an individual adopting the wrong course takes along with him thousands of people who are swallowed by the prevailing current. This contagious disease of swimming with the current becomes even more fatal when a man, forsaking intelligence, blindly follows the fashion of the moment.
Many a time it so happens that some people start a wrong trend which, in course of time, putting on the mask of civilisation, becomes largely prevalent. Then a great many people go astray in the name of civilisation and the trend becomes more powerful. Hemp, wine, cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, smack, L.S.D. or other intoxicating drugs people become addicts to these in the name of civilisation. Basically, a large number of young people or teenagers take to these drugs in order to escape from reality or in reaction to a particular situation, to drown their sorrow, or out of sheer curiosity, or under the pressure of friends. The way of self-destruction starts from here. Curiosity changes into liking, and liking into inveterate habit. Then it becomes difficult to get rid of this habit even if one wants to do so.
If you want to bring a Country to the brink of destruction,it is enough to make the young people of those country drug-addicts. That is what the British rulers did to China in the fourth decade of the 16th century; through the medium of their businessmen, they turned a large number of Chinese into opium-addicts, so as to make them totally ineffective. When a large number of people in a society or country are swayed by a particular wave, there are some who step aside to preserve their independence. However, sometimes the circumstances are too. Much for them and ultimately they too join the multitude.
An astrologer made a prediction before the King, that it would rain on a particular day and those bathing in the rain or drinking the water thereof would go mad. The King did not believe him. He gave no warning to his subjects beforehand. lt, however, did rain at the predicted hour. The King remembered what the astrologer had said and now he duly warned his Queen and his Minister. The three of them did not partake of the rain-water. Except these three, all others went mad. They walked naked in a procession. The King and the Minister went out of the palace to assess the situation in the town. When the -crowd saw them dressed in clothes, they surrounded them and said, "Our King has gone mad; likewise our Minister. What is the utility of a mad King or Minister? Let’s kill them." The King and the Minister tried to remonstrate with them, but the crowd paid them no heed. At last, the King as well as the Minister had to take off their clothes to save their lives, and becoming naked like the rest, joined them.
Like the King and the Minister, the young generation, in order to save themselves from the mischief of the drug-addicts, start taking drugs. But in time, it results in their becoming dependent upon them. That is why it is said in the scriptures, "One should avoid bad company." One man caught in illusion can be responsible for the destruction of thousands of people. That is why it is said, that falsehood is the greatest sin. It is necessary to be on one's guard against those who are misleading the public by spreading the illusion of happiness through the use of intoxicating drugs. Those who, seeing a large number of people walking in a wrong direction, yet have the courage to move in the opposite direction, will be able\to save themselves from ruin.
