My Sixteen Cigarettes Towards Opulence--Need

Need
Object = Want = (need?)

Do I need to straighten my bed before leaving or do I need to buy a bigger car. Questions like these and others seldom tingle in the minds of today’s generation. Need is something which you can fit inside the palm of your hand and have the pleasure of wrapping your fingers around it too. But if you want to blow it up the whole earth would be a smaller place to contain its dimensions. I remember a story of a beggar, which would throw some light on this.

“Once there was a beggar who used to wake up every morning, take bath, do his daily prayers and then go out to beg for alms. In his prayers he used to ask god when he would have a wife whom would press his tired feet when he came back. Other than this need of someone to press his tired feet he was a very contended man. He knew no fears as he had nothing that could be stolen and he had no wishes, as there was no one to look forward to. After roaming all day in hot sun he used to come back to his shack take a bath and sit down to eat his begging. He offered the first morsel of food towards the setting sun to thank god for his kindness and then eat his food and go to sleep. These rituals went on for years. One day got felt pity on him and came in his dreams. God said, tomorrow you will meet your prospective wife who will press your feet for the rest of your life. In the morning the beggar got up and to his surprise found a beautiful woman sitting and pressing his feet. The beggar was very happy and thanked god in his morning prayers and went out to beg for alms. Days went by. Every day the beggar would come back, share his food with his wife and go to sleep with his wife pressing the feet. One day the beggar noticed that the sari his wife was wearing was torn from two three places. He promised his wife that he would buy her a new sari in coming days. But there was a problem. The money he got from begging was too little to meet his needs for a sari. He desperately needed to do some other job to earn more money for his need. So he left begging and started pulling a rickshaw. In a few days time he earned enough to buy a good sari and presented it to his darling wife. Some more days went by. One day when he was pulling the rickshaw he saw two women wearing beautiful gold jewelry. He felt sorry for his wife who didn’t have any jewelry to wear. Next day he took his life’s savings and went to the goldsmith. He asked the jeweler the cost of the necklace displayed in the showcase. He was shocked to learn that his life’s savings were a drop in the ocean, which the goldsmith was asking for. The gold was a noble man and after hearing the beggar’s problem he asked the beggar to work for him as his assistant. He said that like this you would be able to earn a lot more than by pulling a rickshaw. The more you earn the sooner you can buy this necklace for your wife. The idea suited the beggar. He left rickshaw pulling and started to work for the goldsmith. To earn money quickly he worked day and night at the shop. In a few months time he became an expert goldsmith and earned enough to buy his wife a necklace. His wife was very happy and thanked him for this beautiful present. A few more months went by when one day a woman came to the shop to buy a n ornament for her baby. Seeing the baby his paternal urges arose from within which he confided with his wife. His wife gave her consent and in a few months time she became pregnant. Life with time passed by and the beggar by climbing the ladder of needs became a very rich man. In context to his worldly offerings he was a contended man with a wife to take care of him, his sons to carry his name forward and scores of servants to look after his daily needs. But the worldly bliss, which he enjoyed also, had some thorns in it. The beggar became weak from heart by thinking and shouting at others often blowing out of proportions his anger glands for trivial issues. With the body movements restricted to minimum, as he didn’t need to stretch out for anything and consuming delicacies prepared by his wife he became diabetic. With the pleasures growing on him by god’s blessings he became fat and obese. One fine day while he was taking bath he lost balance, fell down on the floor and died.”

The rabbit looked up in my eyes and said, now that you have heard the story you can smoke a cigarette, think, comprehend and then give me an answer to which of the two is the culprit behind beggar’s death.
The morsels that the life provided to the beggar?
The morsels that the need provided to the beggar?

I lit the cigarette with shaky hands and getting my intellectual machinery geared up I said, The story has to be dissected into finer parts and each part has to be looked into very closely before replying to your question.
Very well. Go on the rabbit said.
I feel pain, which plays a major part in this story, is directly linked to the need.
How, the rabbit quizzed?
Well, all the happenings in the story originated because the beggar had pain in his legs when he used to come back from begging alms.
Good one, the rabbit said. It’s true the feeling of pain though not in the same theoretical order due to the absence of an object in one’s life gives rise to its need. A human being like you tolerates pain upto various levels. Some give in and fall in the trap easily and some linger on for a linger duration. God has created life on this earth in such a way that each living thing from an insect to a animal like me and to a human being like you must fall into this trap created by him at least once in their respective life time.
At least once? Can a person climb out after falling in, I asked.
Yes, the rabbit said. The great sages of the past fell into the trap of devotion towards god. They learnt the lessons well, came out and taught people what the lord had said to them. A life well spent by falling into the trap only once. Then there are people who fall into this trap more than once but after a few times realize the important part of who is governing whose life. The most common of them fall into the trap day in and day out, making the need govern their life rather than they govern the need in accordance to their life. The life of a common man who let need rule their life is in a pit hole with no ladder to climb out of them. They cherish the rewards of the new acquisitions in their lives but deep inside they know no reward comes without its bit of thorns gift wrapped in it. Their life is like a person buried deep in sand and trying to get out. The more he tries to push the sand out the more comes in. The beggar originally had pain in his legs for which he wanted a cure. But in process of curing the pain when he boarded the train of needs with unending carriages he himself didn’t know. From one need originated another and from another another. Till he died he was bound in the shackles of needs.
Do we get peace of mind once our need is answered? I asked. Yes, the rabbit said. But the graph of peace varies depending upon whether you are sitting comfortably at home and enjoying your need or you have taken some pain to come out of your cushy position and stand in queue at the station for more needs or taken the worst pain of boarding the train shipping needs. The happiest person is the one who knows when to stop and when to begin his quest for needs and endure the least possible pain in the process.
But if the beggar didn’t go for more pains to address his needs he won't have anyone to carry forward his name with no social standing in the society. I shot back. The rabbit smilingly looked at me and asked who makes the society – you and more people like you? Yes I said. Who governs the society- you and more people like you? Yes I said. Who work for those governing bodies – you and more people like you? Yes I said. Who sets the status symbol notch on the wall – you and more people like you? Yes I said. It means it is you who is setting standards for yourself in your present life. Yes I said. Then whom or what do you want to conquer in your life. You are the only person who builds a stadium, sits as a spectator, takes part in the race, starts and runs the race, wins it, stands in the winner’s podium, is the chief guest who awards the medal and finally is the one who receives it and feels proud about his achievement among the faceless masses. If you are the only one to enjoy the so called pleasures derived out of your needs and the one who takes the pain to achieve it, won’t it be better to know when to throw the dice and when to call quits, the rabbit said.
So, now tell me, which is the culprit behind beggar’s death, the rabbit smilingly asked. The morsels that the life provided to the beggar, I said without hesitation. True, if he had reined in his needs he would have been a lot happier. So did you get to learn today, the rabbit asked. Well the need should be well justified before making it a priority in your life. It’s an ill, which no one can duck from. But the less the merrier. Well done the rabbit said. Now that you have learnt what need is, my need now is to go out and find some food for myself. Saying this the rabbit hopped out of the hole. I was left alone with fifteen more cigarettes lying in front of me, with fifteen more answers hidden in them. I was tempted to smoke one more but then that would have been minus one answer for me. A need nipped on the bud. As I left the hole I was humming these lines…. Ke Sara Sara, What ever will be will be, The future is not asked to see, Ke Sara Sara. What will be the other fifteen keys to bring me to the gate of opulence and which the future held was a mystery.