1021. Admiration or Flattery........hard to make out!

“Ramudu, you have this amazing talent of digging the trench in a very quick time,” said one. 

“Ramudu, what do you have for lunch you have strength enough to drag the concrete pole all alone?” asked the other. 

“There is none among us who has the tight grip to pull aluminium cable from the huge spool like how Ramudu does,” conceded the foreman.

Ramudu was a middle aged farmer hailing from Kolar district about 70 kilometers from Bangalore. As the ground water level receded, he had no other go but to come to Bangalore searching for job to support his family. He had been enrolled as probationary lineman when my father was Assistant Engineer in Karnataka Electricity Board. All those who were appreciating him were his seniors in the job. The views about a person like Ramudu who had come from a village to work in a city like Bangalore made him puff up to go for it and he delivered more than his ability. All the others in the team were indolent and were banking on Ramudu to do the job.    

Once Ramudu had to attended his village fair and was absent for duty for a week. Those seniors felt the heat as none of them who appreciated Ramudu we able to work at his pace nor had the strength to do the job. They were using the words of admiration as flattery to make Ramudu work instead of them. They all knew very well that Ramudu would fall for their flattery words. When Ramudu came back to work after a week my father called him to his cubicle and advised him not to get carried away by those flattery words. He said, “Those who do not get motivated when they praise or appreciate others, then they are mere flatters who want to take advantage of the situation.” 

Ramudu got the point.

This was an incident my father told me when he was in service and after 25 years I am seeing people fall for the flatters even today.   

Our ancients have identified three levels of appreciation namely: Gunagrahana, Gunanuraga and Gunarjana. 

GUNAGRAHANA is the ability to identify the good virtues in others. We are so self obsessed and become narcissistic that we have forgot to even identify the good virtues in other. In contrast we impose the “Missing Tile Syndrome” on others and focus on what they lack instead of accepting the good in them. 

GUNANURAGA is approbation of the good virtues in others. Though some identify the good virtues in other few try to find the motive behind it. Any action which is done without any motive behind it is a good virtue, if it done with some intentions it is only a deal. 

GUNARJANA is to imbibe the good virtues which was identified and acknowledged in others. This is the part which is not as easy as the first two. It calls for a little courage; before trying to imbibe the good virtues there is a prerequisite trait which is humility which develops only if the ego is subdued. There has to be broad-mindedness to absorb and develop the qualities of others which is lacking in us.