Avoid the excess!

 There is this very interesting proverb in Sanskrit, "ati sarvatra varjayet". Translated loosely, it would mean our title today, "avoid any excesses". Indeed a truly worthy advice! 

Any excess is bothersome. That is absolutely true of the vices. How about our virtues, you would ask. Well, virtues, too, are a problem if they are, or are practised, in excess. 

Want an example? Being straightforward is a great virtue. Its excess is dangerous though. Want literary examples? Remember Desdemona? How about Ophelia? Both of them suffer horribly because of their terrible straightforwardness. 

 So does Cordelia! If any one of these  worthy women were less straightforward, their lives would be absolutely different! They could not help it though. You are determined by your character, of the inner variety, let it be clarified, as a woman's virtue is involved!

Let me give you the example of Raja Harishchandra. Honesty is the greatest virtue. His life shows how you suffer in a wicked world due to your honesty. Sure it is finally rewarded. 

In real life, it may not be. Moreover, the suffering in between till it gets rewarded would be unspeakable as well as unbearable. Satyakama Jabalí should undoubtedly an ideal, but only in moderation is what the world would  suggest.

Let us get to the real, in its innateness neither literary nor religious nor mythical, world of today. Using the mobile, for example, is good. In excess, the social media can be a source of ruin, and not merely of the eyesight, but of our very vision, too, right?

Hope someone could tell the monsoon this year to avoid its excess. Well, we have forced the abnormalities in nature. Our excessive interference in the natural cycle has led to many natural disasters the world over, from wild fires to flash floods, for instance. Time the mankind tells itself yet again, avoid the excess!

Pratima@ Any excess is absolute distress!