Personality development thro' Gita 9. Emulate wise people

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9. Emulate wise people

 

Madduri Rajya Sri

There was a sudden splash of rain accompanied by thunder and

lightning when the school was still going on. In an L.K.G. class

one girl started crying, one girl was chanting, `Arjuna, Phalguna,

Pardha, Kiriti', another girl hid herself behind an almirah, yet

another girl closed her eyes and so on and so forth, but only one

girl was sitting boldly, laughing away to herself. The teacher went

round to every girl and asked why she behaved thus. The answer was

the same for all the different reactions. `My mother does so!' Then

she asked the last child. She said, `My mother told me not to be

frightened.' The kid added `somebody up in the sky is moving his

furniture from one room to another. So let's enjoy says my mother.'

This experience takes us to Wordsworth's famous

quotation. `A child's vocation is endless imitation.' A child

learns through imitation. If he sees the good habits of parents and

teachers he learns their good habits and vice versa. I am an

English lecturer and I dictate essays to my students. I follow a

particular style of writing. I give an introduction of the author,

an introduction of the theme, cover all the important facts and

figures and end with an analysis of the story as a conclusion. Once

I made my students prepare an essay of their own for one important

lesson in my presence. You can't believe it. 99% of them wrote it in

exactly the same way I would have dictated! This is not boasting

about me but to show you how others consciously or unconsciously

imitate us and how exalted our behaviour should be!

Lord Krishna explained this idea in the following sloka.

Yadyadaacharati Srestaha tattadevetaro janaha

Sa yatpramanam Kurute Lokastadanu Varthake.

Sresta - a great man, yat + yat - whatever, aacharati -

does, itar - other, jan - men, tat + tat - that thing, eva - alone,

sa - he, yat - which, pramanam kurute - sets up as a standard, lok -

the general public, tat - that, anu varthate - follows.

Whatever a great man does, that very thing, other men also

do, whatever standard he sets up, the common man also follows the

same.

Sresta is a saint or learned man who has been known for his

noble Virtues and ideal conduct and is held in reverence by all the

men and enjoys their confidence.

In the modern sense, people follow the footsteps of great

people in whatsoever field - There is a fan fare for Megastar

Chiranjeevi and the Big B Amitab Bachchan. Even their ordinary

dialogue becomes a message to the humanity. So their writers see to

it that they convey good message to the public at large. It is said

that they don't advertise for the product which they don't believe

in!

Lord Krishna proved himself a true example to the theory he

evolved. He added in the 23rd sloka -'Should I not engage in action,

scrupulously at any time, great harm will come to the world, for

Arjuna, men follow my way in all matters.' It means there are two

reasons for his incessant action. God is the creator, destroyer and

controller of the entire universe and being the ideal person for

laying down propriety of conduct, if he ever neglected his duty a

great disorganization would set in the world process. Since people

regard him as an ideal person, they automatically imitate his ways,

so if he failed to do a thing efficiently and carefully, people

would at once begin to imitate him and would thus be deprived both

of worldly happiness and of the highest good.

The same way, whenever we think of Rama we remember his

greatness thus - `Oke mata, Oke banam, Oka patni' (one word, one

arrow, one wife). Rama is born as a human being and faced all the

miseries of a man. This is to show that to be God, one has to be

gold, one has to face difficulties boldly like Rama, and come out of

them successfully!

As I have already mentioned, the students imitate their

teachers. Once a teacher came to the class, forgot something, left

his books on the table and went back to the staff room. When he

came back within five minutes, the students were making hell of

noise. He got angry and shouted at them - `Can't you see my books

on my table! It means I am very much here.' The students became

silent. The next day there was not a single soul in the class room.

The master went in search of them and found them at the canteen. He

got wild and shouted at them. Pat came the reply `Can't you see

sir, our books on our benches? It means we are very much there.' The

master was tongue- tied.

Then we see the children imitating their parents. They wear

the shoes of the father and walk like him, they wear the spectacles

of father and eat their breakfast, pretending to read a newspaper,

they pretend to drive a car, to talk over the cell phone etc. One

child saw his grandfather eating from a plastic plate while the rest

of the family ate from costly dinner set. The next day he bought a

plastic plate. The father was surprised at his act and asked him

why! The boy answered `Today you are making your father eat from a

plastic plate. Tomorrow should I not reciprocate your action to

you?'

Thus we imitate not only great people but also people older

than us; we imitate not only good actions but also bad actions. So

we should be careful in our imitations and we should also keep in

mind that we are leading a path to others without our knowledge.

Emulate no other than Godly people

Do no other than Godly actions.