Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Sycophancy


Praying,Worshipping and asking for Favours from GOD is the highest form of sycophancy.

The most able creation of yours bowing and begging in front of you would really be a painful sight.

Instead of spending 30 mins ...burning incense sticks...chanting esoteric mantras..
Won't he be happy if you act and do some meaningful work.

I belong to a state which is called the DEV bhumi and there is a temple in each and every corner.
People are bowing,praying,worshipping and BEGGING for results.

The more people pray to god,the more coward i assume that group of people to be. In a way the group is
humilating GOD by telling him that he has created a species which is not able to survive on its own
and needs help at each and every step.

ACT ,PERFORM, EXECUTE rather than PRAY,WORSHIP,BEG.

If some one feels guilty if he didn't worship for a day, it is very much similar to a sycophant feeling bad if he
hasn't payed a servile visit to his master.
I know the visit is totally driven by my own needs and nothing else.

If i would have made such a visit to my BOSS everyday...i think that would have  perfectly categorized as servile flattery.
Similar is the case with GOD.
I think we don't need to pay him those expedient visits rather we need to start taking action.

GOD would be more than happy if i forgot him totally for a month and engaged myself in passionate meaningful work.

After that month of passionate work

Don't bow ..Stand upright...
Don't close your eyes ...look straight into his eyes
Don't Pray for results but announce your achievement
Tell him that i'm doing great on my own.

Thanks for creating me.

16 comments:

maneesh said...

thats a hornets nest that u've kicked up !! I must admit that i'm mostly a non practicing hindu, who believes in God though. I also believe that assiduous chanting of mantras and aaraties do cleanse u of certain mental if not physical toxins. Also if a person follows it as a daily ritual, it might help consolidate his mental factions and give him/her the much needed discipline in today's life. But thats not what u are contesting here , i totally agree with you when u say that a person should act and not fawn. Actions are more important in this karmbhoomi than whom we worship and how much we worship. Bootlick someone (God in this case)is the first state of denial. Our subconscious senses that we are incapable hence it starts giving out negative vibes which result in the aforementioned behavior of sycophancy. It is pertinent that we develop a routine of diligent chanting of certain mantras as prescribed by the vedas and pranayams to relieve us of this negative energy, give us a clarity of mind and give us strength and increase our self worth by enabling an introspection at the deepest level. Its only when we adopt a clearer and a higher perspective that the things become easy and intelligible.

Gaurav Vashist said...

I am totally in favour of chanting mantras...as long as they are not esoteric.

If You know there meaning go ahead..the meaning does the cleansing not the chanting.

Infact Mahamrityunjay mantra is the guiding mantra of my life so far...

But its not because of the intonations and the cadences of the chant...

it is because of the meaning of that mantra.

I'll just corraborate this with an example ...

There was a sunderkand ka path going on in my house and i was listening to a song on my ipod.

The song that was playing was KNAAN -Waving flag.
I was singing quite loudly but i was feeling those lyrics..

"Give me freedom,give me fire
Give me reason ,take me higher"

My mom asked me to stop that act of blasphemy and instead join them in the sunderkand path.

At the end of the path i asked my mom and the other ladies for the gist of that path.
What did she learn out of that?

She was clueless as it was nothing more than a synchronized fawning of GOD without even knowing the meaning of what you are doing.

In that case i think Knaan- waving flag was(is) no less than a mantra.

If you understand the chanting...go ahead..don't do it to please god.

Shoaib said...

I think , thanking GOD for making us capable enough is a nice thing to do (With or without knowing the meaning of the mantras).
P.S. : If done with a true heart and not as a mere convention.

Shaurya said...

Its such an abstract and subjective topic,my experience says, its better not to discuss it at all.

TodarMal said...

Fully agreeing with u sir g , i just wanna make a small comment... I dont know about all, but for some people its a matter of faith. i mean people believe that if they pray , their work goes good... so what my point is that if praying n chanting can give people an extra impetus, an extra inspiration, den y not...

PS - i am not an idol worshiper. just a believer, a man of faith.

Ankita said...

as always true..i too believe in that partially..

maneesh said...

whatever we do .. we must know why we are actually doing it !! if we try to understand the meaning of the legacy our sages left for us .. nothing can be more beautiful !! :) the vibrations of the chant energise u !! if u know the meaning then it becomes even more potent !! :D

Nyhow we all are agains sycophancy .. not the chanting part hai na sir :P

maneesh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gaurav Vashist said...

@Maneesh,Shoaib,Anku,Nag,Sukha

I think all of us know the difference between sycophancy and a genuine prayer.

In sycophancy you hope for some jugaad...or some external help to get the problem solved.

In a genuine prayer you may ask god for strength to solve that problem, not that you want him to solve it.

As long as prayer is backed with action it's perfectly fine.

I on purpose made this blog a real blunt one...

As i wanted to shake some hardwired beliefs and emphasize on the importance of action.

Thanks for your inputs. :)

maneesh said...

Faith is the most potent drug in the universe !! we must believe in ourselves, but we must also leave no stone unturned to see a fruitful outcome !! Thats my point of view !! Where only sycophancy works and u have no other alternative .. its no shame to be a lil flexible at times.

Gaurav Vashist said...

Dudeism :)

read about it.

maneesh said...

the dude abides !! :D

JP said...

Nice post!!
Everyone in this world has his own way to succeed/proceed. And everyone is free to follow his way. :)
There are people flattering their bosses for little favors they can enjoy. (just an example). It is their way, and they exploit the non-perfectness of the boss,which is not possible in case of GOD (perfect being).
Poor sycophants!!! They don't understand this.

lony said...

Master says "Do you will and Happen it will"

May the force be with you.

Shveta said...

I've seen people worship the whole day and yet their humanistic evolvement psyches me. I think what's more important is taking responsibility of your thoughts and actions. I don't have anything against God or his worshippers.I don't know if u exist God, never seen you around! But most definitely your self proclaimed followers do not hold a better ground in the karma bhoomi where one's account begins and ends at the theory of 'karma'...u definitely cannot shy away from what u do or think...u like it or not...gotta bear the brunt of your 'karma'!
So there Gaurav...i agree!!! I DO!

Anonymous said...

@[GOD would be more than happy if i forgot him totally for a month and engaged myself in passionate meaningful work.]

We need not "forget" God and engage in work.

You know the concept of Ether medium, right, the one that Huygen proposed for his wave theory. It's like that.

@[Prayer backed with action] - As I wrote on Facebook, Background & foreground process analogy is the simplest I can think of.

Fully agree with the point you have put forth - mentioning difference b/w Sycophancy n' genuine prayer.

About Mantra, meaning is very important of course, but the pronunciation n' intonation is as important I believe, coz Phonetics, after all, is a well founded science, n' that's what makes Pronunciation n' intonation as important.