MOST of us are aware about the famous dictum that say’s “Power corrupts man; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Initially, most people think that they will work for the public good if they have political, economic, administrative or such other kind of power.
However they forget a fact that man’s weakness for seeking mundane power, by its very nature, results in blurring his judgment of what is good and what is bad or what is fair and what is foul. This weakness or loss of proper judgment results in vitiating his intentions. It allows corruptive tendencies to enter his mind or to manifest. It changes his focus and modus operandi and makes him seek more and more power even by dishonest means. He meets only the VIPs or VVIPs and this further inflates his ego which had already become puffed up by the pressure of power.
He is now surrounded generally by sycophants who expect to win favours by praising him for whatever he does —good or bad. This constant praise further inflates his false ego and alienates him from his real well-wishers and sincere friends whose plain-speaking he now can-not tolerate.
Power also creates the tendency to help friends, relatives and those who praise or who helped the individual in seat of power to acquire power even though these persons do not deserve help. It is not that only individuals work for attaining seats of power; cultural, ethnic, racial or economic groups, certain classes, dynasties, religious communities and nations also make all efforts to gain power without taking adequate and effective precautions against its corruptive influence. Whatever the name of the group, the net of power is so wide that all get en-trapped and entangled in its corruptive meshes.
Hence, the only safety measure to save oneself from this devastation is to be free from the ambition of name and fame in the power game & listen to those learned souls who have views that are different from ours. Whilst keeping in touch with reality as it is, one should also try and maintain sancity of character & mind through Meditation which facilitates our intimate contact with Supreme who is the ultimate source of Power.
Remember! the more close we get to the supreme source, the more safer we get and live a life that’s uncorrupted and without any kind of illusion.
