Sunday, September 22, 2013

Hunger – A Sign of Strength or Weakness?



Often, the word Hunger is linked to lack of something that makes one weak. But are we looking at it as an instigator to fill what we lack? What we achieve or would like to achieve is the result of hunger/craving/passion that we have towards it. Hunger is not a ‘lack’ of something, but if we don’t have it, we lack success. This is the crux of my thought process today.

Like an expert swimmer who doesn’t fear the deeps and like the phoenix, which doesn’t fear the fire, a person with a hunger for something doesn’t fear obstacles towards his destiny. Let us literally take the attitude that we demonstrate when we are hungry. Don’t we eat crazy like a glutton the moment we see food after prolonged fasting? Does that demonstrate the force that we have/exhibit when seeing our passionate food?

A spiritual digression to this topic can also be cited here. The reason why we follow fasting before we offer our prayers ... There is an unconscious activity or energy flow that happens in our body, when we are hungry. It is believed that when you starve for a very long duration and sit near a small tender plant for few hours, the plant droops down losing its vitality. It is because our body tends to absorb the vital energy around it, when it lacks/craves for energy. Scientifically I would say that energy flows from higher to lower concentration. Thus came the belief of praying in empty stomach that makes our body absorb the spiritual/positive vibes effectively. When every cell of our body exhibits this involuntary behavior, don’t we have a reason to believe that hunger is a sign of strength in us?

I have heard of a story where a man goes to Swami Vivekananda to know the secret/tip behind achieving what he wants.  Vivekananda takes this man into the nearby water body and immerses him inside water. When the man somehow manages to come out and takes a deep breath for his survival, Swami says that one should be that desperate like how desperate he was to get that one breathe of life while he was under water. That’s the hunger that can also be called as desperation to achieve.

Hunger gives us the drive to run for what we want. It sets us on fire and helps achieve greatness. Its only when we don’t act upon this intensity, it starts to develop weakness in us.

Stay Hungry and Stay Tuned towards your goals!
-         -  Mani