“Don’t watch the clock, do what it does. Keep going.” — Sam Levenson
It was the year 2002. I was 12 years old then.
One evening, my father took me for an animated movie named “Ice Age”.
The characters were simply amazing, especially the very famous squirrel in the series, Scrat.
There were more than 100 kids and we all were bursting into laughter at different scenes filling the entire hall with our charming laughter.
But suddenly, there was a fire and everyone got scared. It started screaming and the waves of laughter turned into cries.
To save their lives, people started rushing towards the main exit, creating almost a stampede.
I was almost in tears seeing the situation. My father observed what all was happening, picked me up and moved towards a small gate which rarely anyone noticed. Thus, we escaped the disaster safely.
The silver chain, referred to as “the mode of passion” as per Bhagavad Gita’s terminology, is considered much higher than the iron chain.
The philosophy of life of such a person is: “Don’t watch the clock, do what it does. Keep going.”, without caring if they are moving in the right direction.
The inclination of thoughts of a person pulled only by this chain moves towards unlimited desires, opposite sex and optimism. Such a person wants to be the best in every field and wants the best of all that exists, which is hoping against the hope because of human limitations.
The decision making of such a person follows the pattern: “what should we do now?” and doesn’t use an appropriate amount of intellectual faculty to plan their actions.
As can be seen from the above story, the people who panicked, tried to escape but got caught up in havoc, actually acted without much intelligence. Such people make decisions based on the impulse instead of utilising rational faculty. My father, on the other hand, analysed the situation and escaped with ease (he was pulled by the Golden chain (Sattva Guna), to be discussed in the next article).
Such a person, although highly active and energetic, is not very productive because of the lack of a long-term vision due to continuously changing desires.
It’s similar to a squirrel, which moves very actively up and then down the tree without any concrete plan, and obviously, hardly achieves anything.
His experience in the journey of life is like nectar in the beginning and suffering in the end. Why? Such a person searches for happiness at the wrong place, in the objects, power, position and so on.
The acquisition brings great joy, but if a friend, a neighbour or a colleague achieve something better than him, happiness ends. For example, he works hard and succeeds at purchasing iPhone7, but as soon as someone has a better model (iPhone8), happiness is gone because he no longer owns the best amongst his circle!
This mode, although much better than the mode of ignorance, is not the best.
Conclusion
Disclaimer : This article is written, reviewed and revised by GitaQuest Volunteers, and contains life experiences to make them more relavant and relatable, if you have any concern write to us at [email protected] .
