What
if I say greed is good- greed to lend a hand to the poor, greed to accomplish
the best for our society, community, nation and entire human race, greed to
empower the susceptible, frail and marginalized sections of our society, greed
to fortify the downtrodden, oppressed and underprivileged, greed to serve the
sick, ailing, and elderly and the disabled? Greed to emancipate- the wounded
souls! Greed to accumulate pain, sorrow and sufferings and then letting them go
is the Eventual Endeavour (E2 J) of all humans. Hence we are Spiritual beings
with human experiences! Such greed is better than the ambition that the Rich
and Powerful possess.
Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein,
Charles Darwin,Sachin Tendulkar, Lata Mangeshkar, Bachendri Pal, Kalpana
Chawla, Dr. Baba Saheb Ambekar, - Just
one unsatisfied desire led these unique souls to set them on an extra ordinary
voyage of their life!!! All of them had one thing in common- Greed to do Good
in their respective professions- the paths chosen by them w/o any attempts to
exploit/ corrupt anyone deliberately! Hence, greed if it’s emerging from Good
Intentions and for Good Actions is Good Greed or rather better than ambitions!
Hitler, Kasaab, Mussolini, Alexander,
Duryodhan, Ravana, Politicians like Sharad Pawar, Karunanidhi, A Raja, Suresh
Kalmadi,Vilasrao Deshmikh, Kripashankar Singh and Business People like Ketan
Parekh, Ramalinga Raju And the recent
example of Rajat Gupta ruined, exploited and sucked up all the resources not
just from our society but entire humanity for their selfish personal gains.
Ambition to amass and accumulate reserves and property of entire humanity is
worse than any greed can ever be! Ambition to reach the top by trampling on the
dead bodies of innocent ones, ambition to capture authority, political power
and funds by betraying your near and dear ones, Ambition to manipulate a person
to satisfy your lust, Ambition leading to destruction is thousand times worse
than greediness!!! Access to excess is
the real root cause of such radical disparity existing in our society. Drastic ambitions,aspiration, goals, aims, visions,
objectives, targets, desires, hopes, etc though having positive connotations
will lead to permanent and irreversible
damage of our society if they emerge from negative/destructive intentions!
Things themselves are not dreadful– it’s the excessive longing and clinging or
fixation for them, the feeling of dependence for self worth on materials rather
than human qualities, traits and empathic emotions screws us up. Chasing every desire for temporary cheap
thrills ruins everything. And ultimately
we go through burnt if not death, death of not mere physical body but death of
our soul when compassion is ripped of due to our never ending hunger that one
unsatisfied desire that many of us are not in aware of !!!
We tend to forget the fact that
“True Relationships and family and friends” strengthen us more than an arsenal
of clothing, accessories, luxuries, ornaments or latest gadgets!!!!
A diplomat once said, “It’s
amazing! Half of the Rich and Powerful sleep with the other half………..
lols You might be wondering why have I
interchanged the Words Greed and Ambition, right???? That’s precisely because
that’s how it is these days!!! The result of the ever over-hyped RAT-RACE of
the 21st Century…………….smiley
(i)Pune ; a 15-year-old murdered
by friends for Rs 50,000 , (ii)the ever mysterious Aarushi Murder case and now
(iii)the murders of Arun Tikku and Karan Kakkad and the Simran Sood and Vijay
Palande puzzle with Gautam Vora’s involvement in suicide of Former supermodel
Viveka Babajee.- Just a few of the tons of
Headlines flooding our Newspapers daily!!!!
Paisa,
Politics, Power Have Replaced Prayer, Persistence And Patience!!!
We
are occupied with covetousness!!!
Passion to help people with
Compassion is perceived as a crime and hence the word greed whereas ambition to
grow (filthy rich) by exploiting the poor, innocent and powerless is the in
thing, what an irony!!!
This is not the first time that
we are brazen-out with these concerns that counterfeit a weakening predicament,
but perhaps the time has come to deal with them rather than just putting them
under the carpet as usual! Just one unsatisfied desire is stronger than any
other satisfaction! So, please find it but don’t run behind the illusion
created by materialism is my genuine request to one and all!!!
"We need to EVOLVE and not
DISSOLVE"-Shabana Navani.
To shed some more light on this I am sharing
some excerpts from Chetan Bhagat’s Article,smiley
The
Great Indian Social Network: The
corporate czars we celebrate are second or third-generation tycoons who run
huge empires comprising dozens of unrelated businesses. Traditional management
theory will wonder how a company can be in food, telecom, power, construction
and finance, all at the same time. However, in India such conglomerates thrive.
The promoters of these companies have the required skill, which is navigating
the Indian government maze. Whether it is obtaining permission to open a power
plant, or to convert agricultural land for commercial purposes, or to obtain
licenses to open a bank or sell liquor – our top business promoters can get all
this done, something ordinary Indians would never be able to. This is why they are
able to make billions. We load them with awards, rank them on lists and treat
them as role models for the young. In reality, they are hardly icons. They have
milked an unfair system for their personal benefit, taking opportunities that
belonged to the young on a level-playing field. Indian companies make money
from rent-seeking behavior, creating artificial barriers of access to
regulators; thereby depriving our startups of wealth-generating opportunities.
In reality, they are no heroes. They are the opposite of cool, and despite
their billions, they are, in what is known in youthful parlance, as 'losers'.
For if they are not losers, why have they never raised their voice against
government corruption? Our corporates don't think twice before creating a cartel
to fleece customers. Yet, they never have a cartel to take a stand against
corrupt politicians. They scream about the Radia tapes being leaked but do not
reflect on their disgusting content. None of our blue chips have the capability
to invent technology like the cell phone but being opportunists, they jumped at
the chance of making money in spectrum allocation. International investors
already know this, and while they see India's potential, they understand that
the Indian corporate-political nexus is actually keeping India poor, not making
it rich. So, we as individuals have to stop admiring and glorifying the
parasitic billionaires of India. They may not be technically doing anything
illegal, but there is definitely nothing cool about using connections to get
something that you couldn't have if there were fair competition. We should not
be celebrating money, consumption and power. We should be celebrating
innovation and entrepreneurship. Yes,
these businessmen employ some of us, and we have seen increased affluence
amongst some Indians. Maybe we have a million rich Indians now. It isn't
enough. With the right business environment, India can be a dramatically
different place, offering a better life to not just a few, but all of us. After
all, to modify a dialogue from the film, "You know what's cooler than a
million rich Indians? A billion rich Indians."
