Prohibition - Here today, Gone tomorrow? Naw....

For sometime I've been following the Government's initiatives towards curbing addictions. It started with banning gutkha, moved on to stopping ladies bars and now its putting the screws on discotheques and pubs in one guise or the other. Not that it has stopped people from chewing gutkha, visiting prostitutes or having a good time. Prohibition is not a route to curing addiction. It never has and never will be. Remember the time when your parents told you not to do a particular act. What happened next? You went and did it the very next moment. (At least I did *gryn*). Or so was moi foray into the world of smoke, booze and rock n roll early on.

Addiction...It's nothing new, is as ancient as man…Is an escape route - a temporary, momentary one. There has never been a time when man didn't need an escape route. Everyone seems to have a need at the end of the day: a few beers, cigarettes, drugs, womanizing - any short cut to relief. None of these things bring any satisfaction, yet the desire for some sort of gratification continues…

The main cause of addiction is that man does not know how to live; how to live in totality - a complete awareness. And that is how he gets exploited by society which has a vested interest in making him suffer and offering temporary relief. A person who lived totally will not consume any alcohol, smoke cigarettes ot take any form of drug. Naturally, people who are earning millions of bucks out of alcohol and drugs cannot let you live totally. What would happen to business if no one has an addiction? Half the economy would collapse. Addictive substances are needed by people who are miserable; troubled people, people who want to forget their troubles for a few hours.

If a man lives totally, his every moment is such a fulfillment that you will not see groups of people watching porn - who wants to see someone else making love? When you yourself can make super love, why should you see senseless acts of copulation? Our life itself is such a tremendous challenge, a big mystery. If everyone delves into even half its depth, we could make this world a better place.

There is no purity in purpose with 98% of the people. I have seen people gulp down alcohol before a stage show to ease their nervousness. Have seen people dance in the club only after two pegs down. Be able to play music only after a quick sniff of cocaine. The art is not at all crystallized in the people because there hasn’t been a complete focus in what they do. Lack of awareness. Hence the placebos or props. Hence the addiction.

For e.g. smoking - Smoking helps on a momentary basis to forget about anxieties and tensions. In the deep unconscious, it is related to sucking milk from the mother's breast. As civilization has grown, breast feeding for at least 1.5 - 2 years as in ancient times has stopped. One - due to work commitments and spending time away from home. And two - women are prone to stop breast feeding because of the paranoia of loosing the shape of the breast; the worry of the breast losing its beauty. A child does not need a round breast - a round breast will suffocate him; his nose will be stopped by the breast. So as civilization has grown, children are taken away from the mother's breast before time. The longing to suck from the breast stays in the mind and whenever people are in a nervous state of mind, smoking helps. It helps them to relax again. It's just like the mother's nipple and the flow of smoke is warm just like the milk.

Similarly with snuff, paan and alcohol. The sneeze clears the mind and gives a good shake leading to a nice feeling. But again the anxieties come back. And then people graduate to alcohol and other substitutes. The trick is to create total awareness for every action. De-automatize every activity. Try to do it one step at a time. Make it a very sensual act. The act will drop by itself and you will soon realize the futility of it. Prohibition has never worked in a thousand years and it never will.

R.R. Patil - are you listening? Create awareness. Introduce workshops. Transformation is they way. Not the use of power in the name of love.