India is facing a huge backlog of Court Cases. Knowing just about a handful of these, one can extrapolate that most of these cases are due to acts done by people in Moha. These civil and criminal cases are due to actions taken by seemingly good people in the state of Moha, delusion, which is nothing but unchecked emotional attachment to person(s), object(s) and situation(s). The wickedness has not come from somewhere outside. True enemy is our greed, anger, hypocrisy, ego, jealousy and the likes – the birthplace of crime. That is why siblings are fighting among each other, divorces are rampant, parents are left in old-age homes to die alone, relatives are usurping property and so on. These inner enemies need to be won over and one realizes the world is not that bad afterall!
Take the case of Arjuna in Kurukshetra. He came there all set to kill the enemy. During inspection, he identified them as relatives and kept on dwelling on it to come up with arguments to avoid his duty and abscond. What is the use of winning a kingdom by killing our own kith and kin? These guys have lost their mind and it doesn’t mean we also should not understand and kill them! If we kill everyone from our dynasty, all relatives and friends then traditions practiced over generations will be lost forever.
He kept on going and started pitying himself to have come to the battleground. He argues that by participating in this war (where he had not been left with any other choice), he will be committing the crime of killing relatives and straightaway go to hell for these sins. Everyone in the enemy camp may have made up their mind to kill or die, but I am no fool and will lay my arms even if they slay me, says Arjuna. This is an example of a person being deep in Moha, which leads to Shoka (sorrow, despondency).
Tendulkar doesn’t want to bat in the world cup final and throws away the bat or Federer doesn’t feel like serving in Wimbledon final, finds himself unable to lift the racket!
Moha, delusion, is of such nature that it makes us eschew our duties, makes us Adharmik so to say. The ability to discriminate between right and wrong, what ought to be done and not to be done goes for a toss. The solid answer of the proverbial “To be or not to be” goes out of the window.
Moha wrecks duty.
This is why even the greatest surgeon finds himself or herself unable to operate on one’s own child. A high ranking, honest and dedicated police officer finds it difficult to let cases be filed or run their due course for his son’s crime. A teacher gives extra marks to her child for even poorer answers to those written by others in the class. A manager fails to take disciplinary action against a friend from the team who has flaunted rules and regulations at the workplace. We fail to see the violation of duty due to moha, and even if seen, it gets ignored.
Knowing what needs to be done and what doesn’t, and what needs to be really known in the spirit of leading a life free of emotional turmoil is the real knowing. This is the aim of studying our scriptures. A spiritual guide helps maneuver this forest for picking up the right herbs, roots and fruits.
SHARE
