A People That Values Its Privileges above Its Principles, Looses Both

Human beings are considered as the best creation of god, not for physical strength but for affection, sympathy, morality, social value, intelligence, consciousness etc. ‘Privileges’ and ‘principles’ both are essential for human life and the status of human life is shaped by the fact that who gets supremacy among these two key terms.

‘Privileges’ are transient matters in human life. It continues to change with the flow of time, whereas ‘Principles’ are quite long termed and largely effective in human life. In very simple terms ‘privilege’ means advantage to someone particular in any aspect. If advantage is equally distributed among all without any discrimination then it will lead fair competition but if it is given to someone special without caring principles the system may be corrupted and the person may be inappropriate for the position that can defame him/her as well as the system. Will it be effective for society if a dishonest person becomes a bureaucrat or a powerful person misuses his/her power?

Now the question comes that why we should give ‘principles’ more importance than ‘privileges’? ‘Principles’ form human character that is very much essential for human society. ‘Privileges’ are just wants of the time that may lead one to disaster at the end. ‘Privilege’ can kill one’s true potentials because if he/she gets advantages than others then he will not work hard or will not use his potentials. If earning a lot of money is one’s only intention and he/she does it even by the means of corruption then he/she should be ready for punishment because he/she cannot escape from the ambit of law. ‘Privileges’ may make a man greedy but ‘principles’ make an ideal man. If Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose would had valued his privileges of earning by accepting the prestigious post of civil servant in British India rather than caring of his principles to make India ‘free’ then perhaps India would have been still suffering the pain of colonisation.

In practical life it is often seen that a person who values his/her ‘privileges’ rather than his/her ‘principles’, looses both and in recent time the cases of Vijay Malya and Neerav Modi support this. They privileged ‘money’ more in their life than the principle of ‘trust’ in human society and as a consequence they have already lost reputation and are going to lose money soon. ‘Privileges’ often lead to criminalisation that can drive away one’s sleep whereas ‘principles’ can lead one to prestigious status in society in society and can provide him/her a peaceful sleep in night. India is a land of talents. In every family there is at least one talent in several fields like sports, music, education, handicrafts etc. one year of hard work can lead one to crack civil services exam but one year is not enough to form principles of life. To quote Smt. Sarada Devi, “Character formation is the principle intention of human life.”

M K Gandhi is considered as the father of nation not only because he fought for our independence but he relied upon the principles of ‘ahimsa’(non violence), ‘karma’(labour), ‘ekta’(integrity), ‘jan andolan’(mass movement) as means of independence. His intention was not only to make India free but also to make a great India where there will be no violence of order, where all people will live peacefully and will cooperate with each other, where there will be trust for each other and perhaps because of these idealistic principles he is still considered as the guide of our nation.

In upcoming time we need to focus more on the ‘principles’ of human kind as India’s target is to be the major ‘soft power’ country because we believe that sweet word performs more than bullet. It should be the call of our heart that we should value ‘principles’ more than ‘privileges’.

“Those, whose wisdom has been rent away by this or that desire, go to other gods, following this or that ride, led by their own nature.”

- The Gita.