Burst Twenty Eight (For Youth):
Pursuit of Fame
There is a topsy-turvy situation when we pursue fame, if we do. True happiness is when we live in the present moment, giving our best to the work on hand. (It need not be work alone; it could be playing with a child or walking on a field.) We relate to the activity with gentle attention and there is no unwarranted memory or projection into future. Excellence comes about with total involvement. Even aiming at excellence through thoughts like, “I must do things excellently” could sidetrack us in the sense that we might be giving priority to the good image of ours that we are likely to build.
Can we not act, with joy in the action itself? Seeing the worthiness of the activity, we give our heart and soul to it; rest of it is what will happen on its own. Fame, a good image, reputation, material rewards etc. are thus really side products of good work done. To pursue them and to work hard for their sake is surely putting the cart before the horse.
Pursuit of name and fame is thus a corruption of the human mind. It is a sad deviation from the reality of the present moment. We indulge in the illusory pleasure of the dead past or the unborn future when we attach value to fame.
“A man chases name and fame everywhere – at home, in religious places, at gatherings and at the market place. He wants to be recognized even when he is in the forest and when he goes finally to the grave. He invites unnecessary misery and suffers endlessly in this seeking of a special place for the self. Alas, he misses totally the bliss of the within.” (Manku Timmana Kagga: Verse 653)
Swami Chidananda
Thursday, June 03, 2004