Jamming Judgements

I have been told umpteen times that I am a man of strong characters, strong temperament, likes and dislikes. It would be quite hard for me to accept or reject this major complaint about me. I would not make an attempt to address this issue of strong sentiments. Honestly speaking over the years I had been spending considerable amount of time delving deep into the inner recesses of my heart; the greatest discovery that I can possibly achieve during this life on earth is unravelling some of the baffling secrets, which are even now shrouded in mystery. No Sherlock Homes will ever be able to do it; nor can any Feluda of Satyajit Ray can ever enter into the guarded Red Forts!

A man of strong characters! Is it a virtue or a vice? You might smile and say, it all depends on whom I ask. But is there an objective truth in our judgements? How much of our judgements and evaluation of persons in our society are based on objective facts? In fact, even the very term objective facts may be understood by one hundred persons in one hundred and one ways. Each of us look at an external reality on the basis of our own perceptions, or to borrow an image from psychology, on the basis of the color glasses we wear. Perhaps there is not a single day in our lives when we had even unwittingly failed to judge a person or an event. It has become our second nature. Often I feel judging is itself a necessary evil that we have come to accept and acknowledge - judge others, often erroneously and allowing ourselves to be judged.

One of the greatest tragedies that often shake the world is caused by people who take the judgement of others too seriously. For many, what others say is the gospel truth; even if they know the information to be completely false, yet they will give undue weightage to it, and undergo untold suffering and pain deep within. It doesn't cost us any money to judge a person - either positively or negatively. For quite many of us in socieyt it is one of the most favorite passtimes. We know the very moment we take the words of these people seriously, our world may begin to crumble slowly. All our dreams will be fragmented into a million pieces all within a minute! But the moot question is : Am I free to take this judgement or not! Do I have the power to reject it? Of course I have the power deep within me!

This brings us to yet another crisis moment in life: can I ever live a peaceful life without paying heed to what others say about me? Is it not too rude and impolite to reject the opinions of others? It is not! In fact it is only when I begin to ask myself if I should take or reject the judgements of others, do I truly begin to show that I am a mature person, and am serious about my relationship with others, and that I control the direction of my destiny. Often we wish others to control our lives and find it frightening to reject what a good majority in society may say, or wish us to accept as blatant truth.

At this juncture, what am I to do? the one and perhaps the only question that I may have to ask myself is this : how far is this evaluation of myself by others or the judgements going to shape my future. If we give power to these judgements, however sound they may seem, then I am sure to ruin my life; but unfortunately more than 60 per cent of the people in society may take the criticism of others literally. Today I pause for a while and think of the one or two persons who had judged me positively or negatively, or reacted to me on the basis of his/her prejudgement or prejudice. Can I overcome the consequences of these judgements? Let me over come the excessive pain or pleasure that they may cause. Let me learn to take them for what they are truly worth! That may also be the beginning of accepting myself as I truly am, and there is the way to true enlightenment!