Why Be A King, When You Can Be God

Nowadays, it is a trend among youngsters, to keep updating their whatsapp status to reflect their moods or to just express what they are feeling. A few days back, my son had updates his whatsapp status as “Why be a King when you can be God”. When I saw it, at first sight I got a feel that it was an arrogant statement to make. When I asked him, he said it is just a line from an English pop song and there was nothing in particular about him of having it as his whatsapp status. As I was contemplating the sentence, I could realise that there was a very strong message behind the words. It is quite common for someone to aspire to be a king, but to aspire to be God is something way beyond expectation. It is like asking, why do we have to settle for something small, when you can become something higher?

If we take a closer look at people and their aspirations, we can predominantly classify them into two types: One type of people are those who are material oriented, and the other type are those who are spiritual oriented.

The material oriented people are the ones who aspire to be KINGS. They are generally self-oriented. They crave for leadership positions, social recognition and public admiration. They achieve this by striving hard to be the No.1 in their chosen field. For them their dreams, their goals and their achievements are important, than anything else. In the process of achieving their goal, they hurt many people but to them that is a part of the game. To them winning is everything. We find this type of people in every field, be it business, politics, sports, cinema or any other. We hear phrases such as “King of Cricket”, “King of Bollywood” so on and so forth. The pomp and glory of being a Supremo, gives this type of people immense pride and delight. A typical example, is Lion which is called the King of the jungle. It holds its status as a King, not only by its might but also by being ruthless when coming to deal with an opponent. There is no empathy. Kill or be killed is the law of the jungle. In their world, MIGHT IS RIGHT.

Then there is the other type of people, who are spiritual oriented. These type of people are not self-oriented, whereas they are people oriented. They work hard to make others happy. They do not bother much about their own welfare, whereas they are always concerned about the welfare of those around them. They are not selfish, jealous, greedy or egoistic. Their love energy flows in the form of selfless service and touches everyone they come across. 

History has many stories of people who have transcended from KINGS to SAINTS, because at some point of time they found a divine calling which was more appealing than their worldly pleasures.

We have heard the story of Lord Buddha. He was born as a prince and lived a very luxurious life. He indulged in all the worldly pleasures and enjoyed the life of a King. However at  some point of time, as he got exposed to the realities of life he understood the futility of being a King and went in search of the eternal truth and became a Saint, and ultimately became a God.

The story of King Ashoka, also reveals of how he transformed from a ruthless warrior to a noble ruler, after seeing the bloodshed and tears of innocent people in the war of Kalinga. He realised the fallacy of war and chose to transform and govern his kingdom based on the principles of dharma. It is this period that is called as Golden era in Indian History. Even today, Ashoka is remembered for his good works, that he did in the later part of his life.

The lyrics of a Tamil song, goes like this: “Manidhan enbavan dheivam aagalam”, which means Man has the inherent capacity to become God. Does it mean, anyone can be God? Perhaps, YES, if we are willing to take the hard path of righteousness. It is difficult, but not impossible.  It is just a matter of choice. It is not a position to aspire for but just a state of mind to attain.

Think it over – “Why be a King, when you can be God.”

D. Senthil Kannan,

Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com