In Life, Consider the Energy Quotient and Save Energy for the Future
By Ravi Poduri
HOUSTON: Often, we think we know that something, somewhere is fundamentally wrong, but despite our honest and sincere efforts, our attempts to tackle personal and even global problems, fail in vain, causing frustration in our life. Even an intelligent man like the late Indian President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam or a successful political administrator like Indian Premier Narendra Modi might have tackled problems in many ways only to see them spiral into much bigger issues.
The reason seems to be that humans have gotten entangled in a vicious cycle where we tackle our social, economic, academic, employment, agriculture, water management, transportation, power production and distribution, marriage, business and management systems on the wrong foot, by trying to find solutions from the top down. This only makes the problems grow larger and more complex when we try to remedy them.
Perhaps a better approach is to ask, and answer, simple questions to issues we come across in our daily lives and examine them deeply. What is happiness? This is a question that can be answered at many levels but the truth remains that happiness is a pure state of mind.
Likewise, “what is the purpose of human life?” can be answered in many ways but the simple answer is: to seek energy and save energy for future generations. All problems can be brought down to simply an excess consumption of energy; whether financial, economical, personal, mental health, physical health, in private or public life. By wasting energy in the pursuit of happiness and planetary development, we cause unrest and add to global pollution and environmental damage.
Philosophically speaking, a mumukshuvu or the Liberated Human is a person who consumes the least amount of energy. Such a person or system should be called the most developed or most efficient rather, but other the other hand, society considers systems that consume the maximum energy as rich.
When you apply this concept, you soon realize beyond any reasonable doubt that if we make it our purpose to find energy and consume energy optimally, and save abundantly for future generations, we will grow spiritually, mentally, bodily and socially and attain better levels of happiness and prosperity.
Ignoring the energy from celestial bodies like the Sun, the energy available on Earth is finite and by extension, this makes all goods and services finite too. Hence, we shouldn’t measure goods and services in terms of a negotiable instrument like money but rather value them in units of energy, like Joules or Calories. We will then manage energy, not money, and we see how to conserve for the future.
This concept can even be extended to education, employment, marriage, raising children and so on.
It will help humans to live in YOG (harmony) with nature, but it requires that we unlearn many concepts and relearn to consume energy optimally and save energy abundantly.