From morning till evening, from birth till death,
Modern man’s life is stitched with work.

Is work the elixir of life or a gateway to happiness?

Work as practiced by modern man is a way to earn money,
It is not meant to be spiritual or artistic.

Money cannot be the salvation of man,
As materialism cannot connect with man’s soul.
But why does this blindness persist?
It persists because materialism on surface
Gives power in the world and gratifies the senses.
It seems an easy path to happiness,
But it never provides that.

Gratification of senses leads to sex,
Which is a highly venerated elixir of modern life.

Does an overactive sex-life give us joy and liberation?
Or is it a series of momentary excitements which quickly evaporate,
Leaving behind a residue of effete purposefulness.
The extraordinary importance given to sex
Signifies the shallowness of the modern man’s soul.

Modern man does not as such pursue happiness:
He does not know what it is.
His approach to life is mechanical,
That is it is physical with mind giving commands.
Granted such a detached posture of life engenders peacefulness
But it does not produce positive happiness.

One of the widely popular fixes of the modern culture is to keep working.
This is supposed to entice the mind in a frame of happiness,
But we know an unhappy mind cannot be fixed by work alone.

The only true environment of the modern times is loneliness.
It is present at work, in society, and at home.
Today’s man must work lonely at work
As colleagues do not communicate much.
At home there is a hidden tension with the spouse
And a political play with the children.
Often people do not know who their neighbors are.
Loneliness is the cruelest legacy of the modern life.

In The Age Of Technology there are a plenty of creature comforts,
But there is thinness of spirit,
Paucity of love,
And a wide halo of loneliness.

Suffern, New York, May 6, 2013
www.kaulscorner.com
maharaj.kaul@yahoo.com