November 2019
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MAN DOES NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE

CSS English Essay

Outline:

  • Man a combination of soul and body
  • Body's requirements
  • Man's greediness
  • The virtue of contentment
  • The thirst for knowledge. the strongest impulse in man
  • The real aim of a scientist
  • Man's interest in arts and literature
  • The head of a family bread winner and the relation of love
  • Emotions, intelligence forming the basis of man's character
  • Man's sacrifices for ideal, religion and country
  • The limitation of this maxim A balanced attitude


It is a reference from, the Holy Bible, according to which man needs many more things tor his living apart from bread

Although man has certainly a soul, yet we must remember that the soul does .not live apart from the body,- The body requires food and comfort, and the mind is inseparably connected with the 1 body. It is because man requires food (and also clothing and many other things) that he is. alway s eager to earn money with which he purchases commodities. Man is always engaged in the pursuit of wealth. It seems that if he can have enough money, he will have material com forts, and these will make him happy.

Most of us live in want, and therefore, it is natural for us to think that if we can satisfy our physical needs, we shall, be happy. But a little reflection will make it, clear that this is a one-sided view of human life. If we go on satisfying our wants, we shall find that the satisfaction of one need does not bring contentment, it only creates new and ever new needs. From bullock carts we came to carriages, from carriages to trains and from trains to motors and aeroplanes. Still the hunger for more and more comfortable conveyance will continue. This is true of every other amenity of life. First we satisfy our needs, and then we want luxuries and of luxuries there is no end.

The problem is not solved if man is contented with little. If he lives on what he can get easily, his time will not be taken up with.

the quest for wealth. Then too, he must have something else to live for Bread-winning cannot be a major occupation for him. He roust have other pursuits, other interests if he has to live at all.

The fact  is that although man has a body which requires to be fed. he also has a mind that has needs and desires, that are not always connected with hunger or love for pleasure. Man does require bread and ‘other material things, but they constitute only a part of his life. He does not need these alone. The thirst for knowledge, which some people consider the strongest impulse in man, is independent of the desire for'comfort although knowledge gives us power and thus improves our material circumstances. "Science has added immeasurably to man's comforts and conveniences, but the great scientist - Galileo or Newton or Einstein - pursues science out of a disinterested love for knowledge, and the application of science to improve material conditions is for him only a by-product. .

What is true of science is more true of arts and literature, which, from .material" point of view, are useless or worse than useless. 'Age' after, age, jnan has delighted in poetry, he has sung songs and painted pictures and found ineffable joy in these activities. He has interested him self in those activities not because They have helped him to earn his bread - sometimes they, have done the opposite - but because he has imagination and because his life of emotions has appeared to him to be as important as his physical life. His intellect has taken, him, to science. and philosophy, and his imagination and his eruptions have found expression in art and literature.

Most men are. neither scientists nor philosophers, neither poets nor artists. But they, too, have a rich fund of emotions which play the most important part in their lives. The head of a family is called the bread-winner: superficially his most important function is to earn the wherewithal to feed his wife and children. But the relationship is not merely that of a bread-winner and his dependents. . It is relation of love and affection, and it is because of this relation that he faces thedo.il of earning, his Livelihood and theirs. It is on our loves and attachments, our jealousies and hatreds that the life of us all is centred it is from this storehouse of emotions that we all derive sustenance. A few men Commit suicide when they cannot find food, but most, side ides out of some sorrow or disappointment.

It is emotions and our intelligence that form the basis of man's character, and unoften it is found that character is stronger than the urge of material needs. Men in all ages have made great sacrifices for an ideal religion, patriotism or some oilier things which was proved stronger than the desire for food and the attachment to material things. All men do not make such large sacrifices, but even, man at some moment or other feels that there arc principles and causes that are superior to the claims of physical well being, that there arc nobler things than bread. Bread winning may take most of his time; but it does not absorb the whole of his being. Although he may not be able to live up to the ideal, he knows that the ideal exists, and it is this consciousness that really makes, a man of him.

In the sordid struggle of life it is good to, remember now and then that man does, not live by bread alone. But we should not exaggerate the value of the saying. Generally men who have not only bread but also Cakes, who live in comfort and luxury teach the poor that man does not live by bread alone. The poor man who cannot find two meals a day knows how necessary bread is to life. It is comfortable? life that gives main the health and leisure to enjoy' the delicacies of emotion or the subtler beauties of poetry and fine arts. Man docs, not indeed, live by bread alone. But he requires bread if he has to live at all. No amount of poetry or philosophy can pass over the hard realities of life. Man's primary right is the right to live, which is also the right to cat. and then only,can he think of the nobler aspects of life.

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THE FACE IS AN INDEX OF CHARACTER

CSS English Essay

Outline:

  • Character forms faces
  • Faces are sometimes deceptive it first sight
  • The art of reading faces

A man's face, if we can read it aright, is generally an index to his character. We can tell what sort of man he is by the expression of his countenance, as we can tell the spices of a shell fish by its shell: for as a shell fish secretes its shell, so the sou! secretes its physical face. It is we ourselves who make our faces: and we make them gradually and unconsciously and to express our inner character. Character is simply the sum total of confirmed habits; and as a habit is formed, it slowly writes its characteristic mark on the face, and gives its own look to the eyes. It is harder to read character in the faces of young unformed children than in the faces of grow up men and women, though one can often detect meanness or frankness even in the face of a child; but the older people get. and the more fixed their habits, the easier it becomes to tel! what sort of people they art from their faces.

There are certain kinds of faces which almost anyone can read. The character is written in capitals on the face. You cannot mistake the red and bloated face of the drunkard, the pride in the face of the arrogant, the crafty look in the eyes of the sneak. But it Takes a trained and careful observer to read some faces, for some clever people can make their faces like masks to hide their real selves. The word "hypocrite" literally means actor; and as an actor can make up his face so as to appear on the stage a different person, so can a hypocrite. A false hearted man may have an apparently frank and open face: cruel man may wear a deceptively kindly smile; a rogue may look very honest sight. As Hamlet says. "A man may smile and smile, and be a villain." A member once being introduced to an old gentleman of most benign aspect', who appeared to be a benevolent' and almost saintly old man: yet i knew he had been guilty of several rumless and deliberate crimes!.

But the face has always something that will betray such, hypocrites to an acute observer; especially in the most expressive features, the eyes and the mouth. A look in the eyes, the way in which he shapes .his mouth, may betray the hidden meanness, cruelty, craftiness or selfishness that lurk behind the friendly smile and the frank look. Certain it is that dishonesty, lust and cruelty, honesty, purity and kindness., all, leave indelible mark on the face.
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THE FACE IS AN INDEX TO THE MIND

CSS English Essay

Outline:

  • Face reflecting the characteristics
  • The different expressions of a child's and younger's faces
  • Man's inability to hide his emotions
  • Faces are highly trained become a complete mask in politics
  • The usefulness of hiding the emotion in emergencies
  • A certain minimum of pretentiousness. necessary to move in society
  • Fits of depression difficult to hide
  • "One may smile, and smile, and be a villain." Hamlet
It is one of the afflictions of a lonely life to find one's thoughts occasionally a little too insistent. I pass a good deal of my time in reading books and now and then my servant can judge from my face whether the book I am reading is happy or gloomy. For one's thoughts flit across the mind, the face reflects their characteristics. Often, as one reads Voltaire, one breaks out into a guffaw, or puts the book aside and stares into space revolving in his mind Voltaire's thoughts and wondering at his wit and clear headedness.

The face always reflects the mind amongst children. the young and sincere persons. A child is the most egotistical of creatures but he makes no effort to hide his egoism, I 'know of a child who began to cry loudly when his mother paid any attention to his father, because the child thought that the mother belonged to him. and the father had no right to share her with hint. Youth is the period when emotions work havoc with us. and they are so powerful that no effort of will can entirely control them. It is also the period when we fall in love. Lovers arc so absorbed in their ownselves or in each other, that they think other human being do not exist, and tend to ignore them. Nothing can hide love. I remember a scene in Piccadilly when two lovers were going arm in arm and billing and cooing to each other as if they were upon the desert island of Robinson Crusoe.

entirely oblivious of the rest of the world. School boys can read each other's thoughts like a book.

Youth passes and a time comes when we begin to hide Our , emotions. Life is cruel and brings with it crosses, disappointments and failures. The sensitive man tries to hide his disappointments from the rest of the world. He does not crave for sympathy but for fortitude. He tries to make his face into a mask though not always successfully.

No man knew how to suffer so patiently as Spinoza., He sought consolation only in himself, and the only suffering that affected him was that of others. He know better than ancone the excesses of which men are capable, and yet when the Dutch mob tore De Witt to pieces, he could not restrain himself from shuddering at the cruel sight and shed tears. Even Spinoza, so used to mastering the 'troubles of the soul could not make his face into a complete mask.

There are certain professions in life in which it is essential that the face should be trained to become a complete mask. These are low politics and diplomacy The Prince of Wales used to shake hands with hundreds of people every week, and to each he had to give the impression that he was personally interested in him. At a prize giving function the guest of the evening must be bored, stiff with the speeches that he hears, and the prizes that he distributes, yet he must keep a cheerful expression and show that he is enjoying himself. The advocate sometime knows that his client's case is weak, yet he has to cross-examine the witnesses with great apparent 0 to show that he is engaged in a just plaint. As for politicians there are . few who are not opportunists.'Take for instance our party leaders.

Ulema's and religious leaders these days. They can work the mob up into work a fury of fervour and make them do almost anything. When the police or the troops open fire on the law breaking mob; the leaders are nowhere in sight. Yet they profess to work in the’ interests of the masses. Their faces are such mask that not a single character. In diplomacy one has to negotiate with one's enemy at the same table silting like the best of friends. It was of people of this type that I lamlet said: “One may smile, and smile, and be a villain."

Having control of one's features, not allowing the face to index the mind, is useful in emergencies. In a great disaster, like the Earthquake (8th October 2005). those who were doing the salvage work, had to appear calm, and optimistic, though the vultures of anxiety for their dear ones may have been tearing their hearts.

A certain minimum of hypocrisy is necessary in order to move in society. The face must be trained to those emotions only which we want it to show, not those that are actually in our mind. If I meet a man on the Mall and he tells me that the uncle of his brother-in-law's wife has caught a cold. I must at once pull a long face and as piously that I hope, he will soon get over it. We have to train our face to reflect the emotions of those Whom we meet every day. otherwise social intercourse will be impossible.

The hardest to hide and overcome are fits of depression. The face refuse to obey the will and the blues will be out. We poor, single men are rather handicapped in such a situation. Married men bully their wives, grumble at the dinner and insist on the children's going to bed. All of which creating as it does, a good deal of disturbance in the house, is a great relief to the feelings of the man in the blues. But the bachelor can only read poetry, sit in the dark, and think what a hollow world this is.

Yet there are occasions when the face must show the heart bidding long farewell to a friend at the railway station, or reading the news that an article of yours has been accepted by the press. Self-restraint on these occasions is not worth much. There is no harm in allowing the emotions to have a little pay now and then, because the saddest spectacle on earth is a man who has killed his feelings.

A good story has come from the First World War 1914-1918. Two men were facing machine-gun fire and the face of one was pale. The other said "You are afraid.” The first man replied "Yes. I am But if you were half as afraid as I am you would have run away. This shows that the face is not always a good index of the mind. Sometimes when we go to. some one to ask fora favour and he receives us stonily and says. "I will see what I can do about it” we wish his face showed more of his thought.
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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

CSS English Essay (PCS (J.)1997)


  • Outline:
  • Power an instinct of man 
  • Wrong notion of power associating with the strong
  • To know the secret of a thing is to control that thing
  • The victory In war depends on swiftness of movement, strength of will
  • The role of new weapon in war
  • The difference between the ancient man awed by ghosts, gods and the modern man' controlling the natural forces
  • Science of medicine
  • The art of leadership
  • Use of modern techniques in agriculture
  • Science of psychology enables man to control his impulses
  • It was Bacon, the great essayist who said that knowledge confers power on man


Men always want power, power over things, power over other men and power over themselves. The instinct for power is a fundamental instinct. Man can never rest until he has extended his power, and the history of civilization is. indeed, the history of man's conquest, the extension of his power in different spheres.

Generally we think that power belongs to the strong. If two wrestlers fight, we think that the stronger will win; in a battle the country with the larger army expects that it will be victorious. But a little reflection will make it clear that, th is is not so. Strength does play a part, but it is of no weight when pitted against knowledge. When we know the secrets of a thing, we can exercise control over it. because we know the way in which 'it can be moved. Strength without knowledge is blind. A blind giant cannot cope with a man who has sharp eyes.

In warfare, the side with a strong army has its advantages no doubt, but it will prove- ineffective against a leader equipped with better knowledge of. the secret of warfare. Take Alexander, for example, he defeated vast armies with only a band of Greek soldiers who had to fight away from their homeland. We say that this was due to Alexander's genius or his Generalship. But what was this.

genius or Generalship! It lay in swiftness of. movement, strength of will and some others virtues. But Alexander's principal virtue was knowledge- knowledge of his own men. knowledge of the Country of his enemy and his strength, knowledge of the tactics and strategy of warfare. This is the ultimate secret of success in all warfare. Other factors pla\ their part, but knowledge is supreme.

The fortunes of battles have in all ages been determined by the part played by new weapons. When gunpowder was invented it made short work of armies fighting with swords and spears. The last great war was brought to a close by the dropping of atom bombs. The history of modern warfare is to a large extent the history of new weapons from gunpowder to the atom bomb and these inventions are only indications of man's knowledge of the secrets of destruction.

How knowledge leads to power is best seen, in man's increasing control over forces of nature. In primitive times man had no knowledge of nature and thought that the trees and the hills were inhabited by spirits and fairies. He believed in ghosts and gods and was himself inert and powerless. But now man knows many of the mysteries of nature, and his knowledge is reflected in his daily growing power over natural forces. By controlling electricity man has made lightning his salve; he now floats over oceans and flies in the air. Man no longer looks with wonder and fear at a waterfall: he now- dams it and converts the water power to energy that irrigates his fields and runs his mills and factories.

Another valuable contribution which man's knowledge has made to his power is found in the science of medicine. In ancient times people thought that diseases were due to the malign influence of spirits and stars, and they would go to magicians or try to appease the-gods. But now-a-days man tries to find the causes of diseases inside the body and to trace them to purely material factors. This knowledge of the causes of diseases and also the properties of things has led to wonderful advances in the science of medicine. Man has not yet been able to control all diseases, but he has conquered many of them and has added to his longevity. This is possibly the most beneficent aspect of man's knowledge.

Knowledge helps men not only to control the forces of nature but also to exercise power over other men Politics is largely the art by means of which some men control others, and the\ do so chiefly through a knowledge of the secrets of human character. We see this not merely in the field of politics but also in our daily social contacts. The leader is one who possesses strength of will and capacity for taking the initiative, but he is pre-eminently the man who knows other men. Brutus, a noble idealist, kills Caesar and delivers a lofty speech before the Roman mob. He has little insight into human character and allows Caesar's friend Antony to make a speech after he himself has left the scene. The mob praised Brutus but did not understand the significance of his speech. Antony has knowledge of men and rather than talk of principles, he makes a ' speech gradually inflaming their passions and soon the mob is under his control.

The increase in power through the acquisition of knowledge is seen in every branch of human activity. Man no longer cultivates fields in a blind manner. The science is giving him knowledge of the .properties of soil. and. this enables him to produce increased quantities of food and other things. He studies even the way of animals and learns to control them better than his forefathers. Whether .it is the small insects eating up his crops or the wild, beasts in the jungles, man. is acquiring knowledge of all animals and is learning to protect himself against-them. Man is now the ruler of the kingdom of nature and. the kingdom of animals, because he has acquired knowledge of them.

Man's most recent, achievement is the increasing power he has Established over himself through, knowledge. This know-ledge is being, given to him,by the. science of psychology which analyses emotions, impulses reasoning and even dreams.. This science, goes beyond, consciousness into the . region. of the. unconscious. This enables man to control his .impulses and organize his mental powers. Insanity was originally supposed, to. be beyond man’s .control .and, attributed .to the gods. .But psychology has, shown that insanity is connected with repression, the cause of insanity will.be removed and the patient will become normal. This ,is, in a sense, the most wonderful of man's discoveries, and. it will, in future, not, only make, man more powerful but also a better and more rational creature.


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A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE IS A DANGEROUS THING

CSS English Essay

Outline:

  • Pope's saying and irony
  • Modern age of superficiality
  • Pitfalls made by journalist and'writer
  • Aldous Huxley's account of an exhibition of arts and crafts
  • Diversity, cause of superficial knowledge
  • The role of certain theories, dogmas in diverting man from the pursuit of knowledge
  • Shortcomings our little learning 
  • The humility of Newton
  • Man's haplessness before the vastness of the knowledge
  • Knowledge's purpose to shun the ignorance
  • The unending gratification of the desire of knowledge.


"A Little learning, ‘wrote Alexander Pope, is a dangerous thing.' We are much amused when we remember that Pope himself undertook to translate Homer without '(for all practical purposes) ' knowing much Greek! who would have known the pitfalls of a little know ledge better than he? So when he goes on to say in the next line "Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring, the thought has for us a certain ironical appositeness.

We live in the age of the superficiality. Everyone wants to show that he is learned, yet everyone is shallow. The methods of showing that one is learned are interesting. One of them is to ignore all that others know. Another is to ignore the common place, and . concentrates on something odd and out-of-the-way. If somebody begins to discuss Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights say that you prefer 'The tenant of Wildfell Hall'. In this way you will easily acquire a reputation for profound learning.

This pretence of profound learning is the pitfall into which the journalist in particular always falls. He must write airily of the odd and remote in order to conceal his ignorance of the near and the classical. He has no leisure. His profession makes him acquainted with a mass of miscellaneous and haphazard knowledge, which he is compelled to reproduce in his articles with an air of knowing, everything. The journalist is tempted to be readable and so he always tries to be original and unusual.

Is the Pierian Spring suited for everyone? Can everyone drink deep of it? The philosopher or the man of science may do so with safety, but of others the Pierian Spring makes only prigs.

Aldous Huxley, in an essay in “Alongrthe Road," gives an amusing account of an exhibition arts and crafts which he saw at Munich. In that exhibition every applied art was represented through' furniture, jewellery, ceramics, textiles. “The Germans." says Aldous Huxley, “know more about the artistic styles of the past than any other people in the world and their own art today is about as hopelessly dreary as any national art could well be. Its badness is. in mathematical terms, a function of its learnedness." This could be seen from such exhibits as these - A Maxican pot, decorated with Moorish arabesques; a Black Forest peasant's table standing on Egyptian legs. Learning may be good for poets, politicians, philosophers and businessmen - for the artist it is bad.

Good art demands intense' concentration. And excessive knowledge tends to make the type of concentration that art demands difficult.

For the superficial knowledge of our own times other things are responsible also. Men now-a-days have become so mercenary that they are not willing to undertake any serious work that “does not pay”. Intellect is valued only as a key to material prosperity. “He wastes his money on books; What good are they to him? “He is a carpenter, not a school-master.” Men do not realize that the brain is not a tool for exploiting our fellow-meh but-

To follow knowledge like a sinking star Beyond the utmost bounds of human thought.

“The French have a beautiful phrase in their language - 'la Joie de vivre." Parallel to this we can invent another phrase - "La Joie de sa voir, " The joy of knowledge is all unknown to money -makers.

There are certain theories .and dogmas which have diverted men and women from the pursuit of knowledge, and .made them , content with their ignorance and stupidity. Religious, teachers have made most of these dogmas. They have taught that man has .a body and a soul, but they have forgotten that man has-a mind also. The Cynics of Greece despised education and intellectual pursuits and declared that Virtue was the only Good. St. Basil is reported to have remarked very frankly : “It is a matter of no interest to .us whether the earth is a sphere, or a cylinder or a disc."

With this exaltation of stupidity and ignorance it is no wonder that we- suffer from all the shortcomings of a little learning Dogma in our country has gone to such lengths that we are always.

ready to shelve common sense in favour of some authority. Take such a glaring social evil of our country as early marriage. People riarfy because certain so called religious books have recommended this- practice. They are to quote chapter and verse to support their ideas. ’ call this one of the instances of a little learning. Let them go. behind the book into the mind of the author who made it. With such questions of scholarship as-when was this book written? Who wrote it our people have no concern. If they drank deeper of the pierian spring they would be compelled to throw away early marriage, casts, untouchability. and a good deal of their outworn and harmful theology.

The Greeks could not think of a higher word of respect than "philosopher" -lover of knowledge. Newton who knew so much, thought humbly that he was like a little child picking up pebbles on the shore, while the vast ocean of knowledge lay unexplored before him. My colleagues always try to give me. impression that while Newton collected pebbles of knowledge painfully, it has been their pastime to collect boulders of it.

Knowledge is long and life is short, and even the best of us must be content to have only a little of it. If we could live for hundreds of year, instead of a few decades, we could not have enough time to acquire all the knowledge that there is. All the ills of humanity arise from ignorance and egoism. With knowledge we can at least, overcome ignorance.. Let us remember the beautiful exhortation of the Persian poet. Saadi: "Like a taper one should burn in the pursuit of knowledge. This is thy duty, even if thou has to travel oxer the whole earth." .

A quotation from A.E. Housman in which he, praises the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake is worth pondering over:-

" Other desires perish in their gratification, but the desire of knowledge-never; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear-filled with hearing. Other desires become the occasion of pain through dearth of the material to gratify them, but not the desire of knowledge; the sum of things to be known is inexhaustible,, and; however long we read we shall never come to the end of our story book. So long as the mind of man is what it is. it will continue to exult in advancing on the unknown throughout 4he; infinite field;of the universe; and the tree of knowledge will remain forever as it was in the beginning, a tree to be desired to make one wise.
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FIRST DESERVE, THEN DESIRE

CSS English Essay
Outline:

  • Man's countless desires 
  • The sure way to acquire the desire
  • Reciprocal process
  • The need for self criticism

Laziness, lack of judgement, incorrect understanding of values lead to disappointment.

Our desires have no end and they are also innumerable in kind. Our mind flitters from one wish to another as a careless bee from one blossom to another, without realizing the futility and the foolishness of riding on the wings of fancy. People expect good luck ’to accost them at every turn of life. And when fortune obstinately refuses to meet them, they feel bitterly disappointed and angry with fate for being so unjust. 

Monev. love, power, popularity beauty and peace are the objects most universally desired by man. But none of these covetable blessings has ever come to a man until he deserved' it through endless' effort- Men who have been fortune's favourites are so few that they can be counted as exception to the rule. When a man comes to-possess one of the crowns of life, others' instead of envying him ought to enquire what a heavy cross he had to bear for it.

A man becomes rich if he undertakes back-breaking labour and sweats for earning an extra penny. To receive love, one must learn to love by cultivating the noblest virtues of sacrifice, self-denial and endurance. Power will reside only in a man who has both integrity of character and merit that is productive. Popularity can be maintained at a high price. And- that price consists of character, kindness and unselfish service to others. Beauty is more an outcome of care and culture than a sheer gift of Nature. One enjoys spiritual serenity when suffering have purified one's soul. Happiness of our life is not a lost button that we can look for it under the table and behind the' door. One has to strive steadily towards realizing whatever he ardently wishes for. 

A sensible person must make a self-analysis and assess how much he deserves the thing he desires. The man who knows what his particular duty is and performs his own part with due care and respect, is never denied the sweet fruits of his toil. When one of two students comes out with flying colours and the other fares poorly, we should not blame luck for being treacherous. For thorough and regular work is sure to achieve its reward.

Besides laziness there are other defects in a man's character and temperament which may offset his success in life. Lack of calm judgment, the patience to follow a tedious plan to its end. and the incorrect understanding of values also cause disappointment to a man otherwise vigilant and hard-working. So instead of attributing failures to reasons outside, one must seek to discover them in one's own self in one's errors and weaknesses.

‘’Knock the door and it will be opened to you", said Jesus Christ to his disciples. And this gospel holds the truth of all times, that when we have put forth our best effort and proved ourselves deserving, no-gift will be withheld from our extended hands.

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VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE

CSS English Essay


Outline:

  • Spices, imparting taste to food
  • Freedom from dullness
  • Variety's definition
  • Abuses of a monotonous life
It is not enough that our food should be wholesome: it must be tasteful too. But what is that, above all, which imparts taste to food? The answer is 'spices'. In fact, without spices our food will become insipid, lacking in the essential quality of being palatable.

As with food, so with life. Nobody wants to live a dull and monotonous life. What is that, makes life free from dullness and monotony? What is it that leads to joy and flavor to it? The answer is variety. What spices do to food, variety does live.

Variety means diversity or, in other words, the absence of rigid uniformity. In every sphere of life, major or minor, food, association and even place of residence, from time to time. Even io hear the same song, however enchanting, or to read the same book, however enthralling, would cause boredom before long. Hence out of an instinctive urge from within, man does, not like to be surrounded by the same things for a long time much less a lifetime. His soul needs contact with ever-changing joys and experiences. Else it dies. Life becomes burdensome and uninspiring and death seems preferable to that state.

Man lives more by the mind than by the body. When having fallen into a rut. the mind becomes sick and weary, his health begins to give way. The advice for a change of climate given by wise doctors springs from the ultimate motive of affording the sick new experiences, new sights, and sounds, and new sources of delight because the old have lost their appeal to his mind. Thus variety is also a great healer likewise, .in every other sphere of life, variety .denied is the soul killed whereupon the body exists only to smart till death steps in to relieve it of the intolerable burden of life.

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A CLEAR CONSCIENCE IS A SOFT PILLOW

CSS English Essay

Outline:

  • Sleep, best blessing of God
  • A clean conscience the surest way to enjoy sound sleep
  • A man not having the deceiving plans, haired against others will enjoy sound sleep.

Soft pillow is symbol of peaceful sleep. We all know that sleep is the best blessing conferred on us by God. Its denial robs us of all the joys and comforts of life. Nothing, not even the total wealth of the world, can be an adequate compensation for sleeplessness. But how it can be ensured at all time?

We all know that freedom from cares and worries is very-conducive to peaceful sleep. He who is haunted by evil thoughts and anxieties over misdeeds, done or to be done, will never enjoy sound sleep. And the surest means of' keeping the mind free from such emotional disturbances is to possess a clean conscience.

A man who does not think ill of others or do wrong to others has a good conscience. He has no enemies to guard against. All love him and none hates him. He has hot brood over plans-of deceiving others or concealing his guilts committed in other spheres. He is. in short, free from fear of private enmity, legal action or social disgrace. He is happy though poor. He is respected though he may be illiterate. All these give him such a calm and serenity of mind that he is never in want of that peaceful condition of mind which is a condition precedent to sound sleep. He needs no cosy bed or feather-made pillow. Even lying his head on a stone or having the bare earth as his bed. he can sleep comfortably than the king can enjoy on his feathered bed. His clean conscience is his soft pillow and he heeds none from outside.
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DISCRETION IS THE BETTER PART OF VALOUR

CSS English Essay

Outline:

  • The difference between courage and sheer animal force
  • Intelligence superior to physical strength 
  • The difference between the soldier and a general in a war 
  • The result of a heedless act
  • The 'sample of a big game hunter equipped with necessary knowledge 
  • A fool's courage and the courage of Socrates, Galileo, Jesus.

It is taken from Shakespeare's Play “Henry IV" Act III Sec. 2.
Man has been endowed with many powers and capacities, of which perhaps his reason is the supreme possession. Courage undeniably is a great virtue that has made possible all achievements of life. But sheer animal force can scarcely be called courage. Courage indeed is a venture that involves risks but nevertheless it is guided by reason and caution.

Wit. presence of mind and intelligence certainly is much superior to physical strength. In muscular power a man is no parallel to a mountainous elephant. But man by dint of his intellect can enslave the giant to obey and follow him like a little child.

When a war breaks out. the common soldiers are sent to fight the battle in the actual field, but the General sits in his camp or in the office for which no one will question his bravery. For. his courage is manifested through the plans he prepares and in the way he conducts action, which requires more direction than courage.

We are often to mistake foolish daring as courage. But stupidity cannot be justified on any account, and much less lauded. A heedless act jeopardize life and property and result in unhappiness for all. If a man goes to kill,a tiger with bare hands, we shall not admire his bravery; rather we will be tempted to doubt his sanity, and call him a half-wit. On the other hand a big-game hunter who studies the condition of the jungle and enters it properly equipped, does not fall in our esteem for his lack of courage. Columbus sailed across the unchartered ocean not altogether depending on a dream. He had some knowledge, however inadequate, on which he could plan his voyage. When an epidemic spreads out. a man. of discretion takes necessary precautions in’ the form of inoculation or vaccines and prove useful to others: while those' who in order to display their daring go without necessary measures, and endanger the safety of all.

Expression of courage is not limited to the acts of physical valour only. The men of creative genius, philosophers, discoverers and revolutionists invariably possess great spiritual courage which enable them to weather the storms of opposition and bitter criticism. Yet Socrates did not drink the cup of hemlock to scoff at death but to uphold the values- of truth. Galileo died to establish a scientific explanation of a natural phenomenon. Jesus bore the pains of the crucifixion to save the benighted souls of the sinful humanity. Such fearlessness of death and suffering is the‘ spirit of real courage. Courage in itself has scarcely any importance unless it has a definite goal to reach and a purpose to serve. Without -sober discretion courage can never be utilized for productive purposes.

But when everything is said, this cannot be lost sight of that discretion'carried to an excess will affect enthusiasm, inspiration and ambition as a light. And by being too discreet a man might be reduced to a coward at times.
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WHEN AT ROME DO AS ROMANS DO

CSS English Essay

Outline:

  • The necessity of travelling abroad
  • Man's capacity to adopt himself to changing circumstances
  • A civilized man's attitude
  • The rigidity of one's mind

We cannot expect to live in our homes, surrounded by familiar faces, all through our days. By compulsion of necessity and circumstances we' have to travel abroad, associate with strangers and accommodate ourselves to customs and conventions which may not agree with our taste. The more resilient a man's temperament, the greater will be his capacity to adapt himself, to alter situations. The soundness of education and intelligence is proved by a man's quick grasp of the demands of a particular time and place.

The ability to adjust oneself to the speedy development of life is an essential requirement for one's simple survival against the adverse factors. The gigantic mammoths of the prehistoric ages died out of existence while their puny, feeble, fellow creature man weathered successfully the vagaries of nature because man by his superior mind learnt soon to swim with the current.

The spirit of friendliness towards all ensures a life of peace and harmony. A sensible man realises,this and can make himself at home even in an alien atmosphere. A truly educated man does not labour under mean prejudices. Hence he will not find any difficulty in appreciating the manners and ways of life in other countries. He is tolerant of other habits’ even if he cannot emulate them. A polite man is too sensitive to wound the feelings of anyone.

Some people most unfortunately never learn the value of this precept, of becoming a Roman in Rome; The rigidity of their nature induce them to assume a wary attitude towards whatever seems foreign to them. They are afraid of yielding an inch without stubborn resistance. These people waste their energy in futile conflicts with their fellow beings, and spoil everybody's happiness including their own. Some of them even go to the extent of acting as self-appointed crusaders for upholding the superiority of their own belief and customs. They do not realize that sympathy is not a sign of weakness, and that no one can earn respect by being offensive.

At times sheer common sense will prompt us to change our mode of life when we are living under different circumstances. A great coat is a superficial luxury in this country, but in England one runs the risk of catching pneumonia if one goes out without an overcoat. In America easy friendship and sociability is expected from all. Now, the man who disapproves this volubility will find himself miserably lonely, as a veritable outcast.

A wise man will never deprive himself of the chance to enjoy the infinite variety of life for the sake of some futile taboos.
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LIGHT SORROWS SPEAK, GREAT ONES ARE DUMB

CSS English Esssay

Outline:

  • The way to unburden our heavy hearts is to talk and share the sorrow
  • Some deep pains are not expressive so causing the devastation of offerer's mind
  • The agony of grueling onslaughts cause dumbness in sufferer
  • Great pains, cause of isolation

Usually sorrows and pains find relief through expression in one form or another. When we cannot find words to let out our unhappiness, we wail and moan, and thereby unburden our heavy hearts. When we are smitten by the pangs of loss, failure, disappointment or thwarted desires and our hearts feel sore; we have to talk and share the sorrow so that it does not feel unbearable.

But yet there are pains which are too deep for words. Our senses respond promptly to our experience, but when a certain limit is reached, the senses may fail altogether. And at that stage a numbness overcomes our consciousness. In that torpor our body and mind become partly para lysed and quite incapable of displaying any normal reaction. It is not unusual that a sudden shock gives such a stunning blow to a person that he loses his mental balance for ever. At times the pain he is bearing is so devastating that the mind can scarcely perceive of it. When a man sees his whole world of hope and dreams, the very purpose of his existence crashing before him irretrievably, all that he can do is to stand and stare with a vacant look.

Words may prove poor vehicles of expression when the grief is of a towering-magnitude. Insufferable agony may froth and foam inside a closed heart and try in vain to find a channel. For want of adequate language one may fail to bemoan one’s sorrows. There are miseries and tragedies in life for which no words have as yet been coined. Such speechless sorrows also strike a person dumb.

Sorrows may be so deep rooted that no amount of words or tears can minimize its grueling, piercing onslaughts. Expression in such cases fails to bring any solace or peace. A sufferer lightens the load of his misery by sharing it with his friends and near ones. But all great sorrows penetrate the very core of one’s innermost being, and settle there instead of giving one eloquence: Thus the sufferer becomes incapable of purging out the corrosive feelings that eat away his poor heart.

A great pain’ isolates a man from hrs fellow-beings and renders him utterly lonely. The world after all is a callous place. Everyone goes about his own affairs. None has the time or inclination to minister to other’s comfort and share the grim fate of others. So a tragedy tends to make a man a spiritual recluse who will scrupulously guard his sorrow from the. gaze of the public and bear its torture alone in absolute silence.
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UNEASY LIES THE HEAD THAT WEARS A CROWN

CSS English Essay

Outline:

  • Power and responsibility cannot bring peace
  • The cause of this unhappiness
  • A dictator's troubles: doubt and his desire for controlling everything
  • The way io avoid that trouble
  • The guidance of our conscience
  • Responsibility and uneasiness go together


There are some who take this proverb too literally. They say that crowned kings lead an uneasy life because they-are surrounded by constant dangers. They speak of Ramchandra and Alexander, of Napoleon and Kaiser Wilheim. and so on. But this is a wrong interpretation of the proverb. It really means that those who have power and responsibility lead an uneasy life. All the wealth and comfort enjoyed by a man having power and responsibility cannot bring peace to him.

A crown
Golden in show, is but a wealth of thorns.
Brings dangers, troubles, cares and Sleepless nights.
And another poet said: "The royal crown cures not the king's headache.

It is not difficult to understand why it is so. Power and responsibility are disturbers of mental peace, but they do so all the more when he who has them' stands alone. - when there is none to share, his troubles. The dictator - whether he sits on the throne or lords it over in his home can never know peace.

This is mainly, because he takes too much on himself. He monopolises all power, and tries to look after everything. But a man's capacity on matter how big he is - is limited. If he takes everything upon himself, he will have to divide his mind and energies everywhere. That is enough to make anyone uneasy. Not only so, he becomes suspicious and doubtful of everyone, for he believes that he alone is capable and efficient and sincere: all others are bunglers or shirkers. - This megalomania is the penalty of dictatorship. If he is conscientious, his troubles increase. He works hard to do his duties, but he is always dissatisfied because he thinks he has not done enough. To feel that he is personally accountable that all that is done is always a most uncomfortable sensation.

Then are we to shun responsibility? Should we give up all powers and retire within our own little cell, guarded and secured by fixed routine - going round the same circle like the oilman's bullock? But we must try to take things easily - even our responsibilities. That it can be done is the experience of many. In the first place we must learn to share power and responsibilities. What is difficult to bear all the oneself becomes comparatively easy when 'there are others to share the burden with help and advice. The dictatorial attitude is always fatal to mental peace.

Secondly, it is good to work under a taskmaster to whom one feels accountable. Even when one has no human task matter, one falls back upon the idea of God : “All men." said Carlyle," If they work not as in the great taskmaster’s eye, will work w-rong, and work .unhappily for themselves and for you." But far better it is to work under the eye of one's own conscience.

Nor know we anything so fair
As is the smile upon thy face

Conscience tells u; what to do and what not to do. and-he who follows the dictates of conscience has no burden on his mind. Thirdly, some amount cf humility helps to relieve the mental uneasiness of one 'who wears a crown', who exercises power and responsibility. A man who thinks less of what other owes to him than of that he owes to other is spread much uneasiness of mind.

Yet, w'hen all is said and done, it remains true that the man in power must have some anxious moments that he cannot avoid. He cannot afford to take life lightly. The selfish man should perhaps be the least unhappy. But that is not true because everyone avoids him; he has none to come forward to share his troubles. If power involves isolation, uneasiness becomes unavoidable.

So Shakespeare's words, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown/ are true in more than the literal sense. It is certainly not necessary to avoid power and responsibility, but we should accept him as a kind of sacred trust and fulfil the obligation they lay on us in a spirit of humility and selflessness.

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WE LIVE IN DEEDS NOT YEARS

(CSS English Essay1993)

Outline:

  • The most fundamental thing in life blind clinging to life
  • Blessing for a long life, most valued possession of main
  • our feeling about a man who dies early.
  • The true standard for judging a life not years but deeds
  • The example of Christ, Buddha, Alexander and Napoleon
  • A single heroic age worth many lives
  • Quality of work not the length of years
  • An oak tree


Who does not want to live long? The dying patient suffering from terrible agony hopes that he will come'round and have many more days to live. The old "man with one foot in the grave'expects many more returns of his birthday. The man who has failed in one venture after another and faces starvation likes to live longer and make other ventures that will make up for his failures. Philosophers point out that the most fundamental thing in life is the blind clinging to existence. We all want to live. We do not know why.

When we bless a man, we pray for wealth, and learning, power and happiness, but above all we pray that he would be long-lived. There are various forms of this blessing; his days should be as countless as the hairs on his head, as the sands on the sea-shore; the simplest is that he should live for a hundred years, though we all of ' us know that not one in a hundred will come near this age. Long life ' seems to be the most valued possession of man. What, according to the popular conception, is the difference between a God and a man? A man is mortal and lives for a short time whereas a God, being immortal, lives for ever.

When a man dies early, we are all very sorry. We think that he will not live to enjoy more happiness, as if mere living is happiness. If a man lives up to a ripe old age, we feel that he has got what life has had to offer him. He may have had sorrows and failures; still we feel that he has lived in the true sense of the term, that is to say, he has lived- a long life. The mere joy of living is regarded as a sign of happiness and success.

But this standard, although commonly accepted, is hot the only standard forjudging the value of a life, and it is not the correct standard. Nobody remembers the long-lived man, the man who has only enjoyed or suffered for a large number of years. If we recall the great men of the past, Jesus Christ or Buddha, Alexander dr Napoleon, Shakespeare or Goethe, we do not care to know how many years they lived, we judge them by the quality of their work, the influence they exercised on others. For example, Christ died early and Buddha lived up to a long age. But when we judge them, we judge them as founders of religions, by their deeds and not by their longevity. The same thing is true of Alexander and Napoleon, two of the greatest w'arriors and of Shakespeare and Goethe, two of the greatest writers.

Jesus Christ, Alexander, the Great English poet Keats - all these men died very prematurely. It should have been a good thing if they had lived longer. But the few years they lived were crowded with good things. Jesus preached a religion that is a part of Western Civilization, and Alexander won battle after battle and conquered country after country. Their short lives were crowded with glories and were thus much more valuable than millions of men who have lived long but who have not achieved any glory. Jesus and Alexander will be remembered as long as the world lasts but who cares for the nameless people who lived and lived and then died? Keats died very prematurely in his life - time he did not meet with much appreciation, but he wrote poetry that is now regarded as very great. Shall we judge him by his short life or by his lasting glory?

Sometimes even a. single heroic deed is worth than an age without a name. A man - not distinguished in any way is passing along and he finds another men trapped in a fire or drowning in a river. The man who risks' his life and even lays it down to save another has done something heroic, and this one act makes him great. He is to be judged by his deed, this one deed, and he had not taken this risk and passed away indifference, he would have lived longer but that life would have been inferior in quality. 

The examples cited above, are of men who have become famous. They have not lived long in body, but their name and fame have survived. Men in ordinary walks of life cannot hope to do anything great, anything that will be remembered by ages to come. But even here in our day-to-day activities, it is the quality of work that counts. Whom do we praise-or love? The teacher who toils for his pupils; the trader who is honest, the friend who stands by his friend. Here .it is little, deeds of kindness, courage and love that determine the value of a man's life. not the length of his years.

An English poet says that the big oak tree grows in bulk, lives for three hundred years and is then' used as fire wood. The lily lives for a day; but it scatters sweet fragrance all the time it is alive. The lily is far sweeter than the log of wood. So also a man who performs good deeds lives a better life than one who has lasted an age without doing anything that is valuable.

A man's life is measured not by the years lived but by the volume of works he has done. It is not given to man to fix the span of his life but it is up to him to turn every moment to account. All will die, whether after a century or just tomorrow. What, therefore, matters is not the fact of longevity but of making memorable every moment over which a life extends. That is what made Napoleon, who died before fifty, famous and immortal. Christ passed away when he was hardly thirty. And yet they have left their impress on human history .which few octogenarians can claim by the half. A death is inevitable,-, the goal of life should be not to make it long without purpose but to make it purposeful even though short.
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Man Is Known By the Company He Keeps

CSS English Essay

Outline:
  • To judge one's character is to know his company
  • The things having common qualities attract each other
  • The cause of happiness
  • Care regarding the choice of a company
  • The dangers being in a bad company.
The best way of knowing a man is to know what company he keeps. A. thief associates with a thief, and a saint, with a saint. Righteousness can have no fellowship with unrighteousness. Light can have no connection with darkness and a believer with a infidel. Fire and water have a natural affinity to their own kind, and a natural aversion for each other. Water is attracted by . water and two drops meeting Together will readily become one; but when fire and water meet together they destroy each others. Tigers and deer, serpents and doves, lambs and wolves, lions and whales, never voluntary associate with each other. Light and darkness can never unite. So men of similar tastes and habits unite with each other and become friends. Therefore a man's character, opinions, tastes and' temper may be fairly gauged by the company, he lives in.

Birds of the same feathers flock together. If a police man is to. detect a thief or a felon, where will he search for him? He will no doubt search him among the haunts of wickedness. Since the police knows that a thief can be nowhere but among thieves. A man is never so happy as when he finds himself in the company of those who are as he is. If a man found in the company of thieves says he is not so, who will believe his protestations, however fair he may be. His company will prove more than his professions. What did the husbandman in the Fable say to the stork, when he protested he was no crane? The husbandman said, "All that you say be true. I dare say.

but this I know, that I have caught you with those who were destroying many crops, and you must suffer with the company in which you are taken." Such is the case with everyone. A man is always judged by the company he keeps.

One should exercise great care in the choice of one's companions. Our happiness or misery depends upon this choice. If a good man mixes with those who are bad and wicked, he is sure to lose his character whereas if a bad man comes into contact with the good and the virtuous, he will soon be one of them. It should, therefore, be the earnest endeavour of everyone to secure a good company .since it is only there that character can be preserved and improved. It is the company on which the structure of a man’s career is built. Then how important is the choice of associates. Even Jesus Christ was pronounced bad because his associates were bad men; since he Showed himself, “the friend of publicans and sinners." If we wish to make our lives happy and peaceful, we should have none for our companions but those who are good, wise and pious. To be among the good is to be good and among the bad is to be bad. Now let us determine what we shall be.
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Peace Hath Her Victories No, Less Renowned Than War 

CSS English Essay

Outline:

  • The victorious men of the world ' victory at the cost of other's catastrophe.
  • Example of Napoleon
  • The ravages of the war
  • The end result of the victorious nations
  • Peace time, a time for gaining happiness and utilizing your energy to build up. your nation
  • Victories of peace greater than victories of war
  • Hero of a nation. Victorious of wars or a man who worked against ignorance, poverty and disease

The word ‘victory’ calls to our mind names of men like Alexander, CaeSar, Napoleon. Chengiz Khan and Tamerlane, who fought many wars, won victories-and made themselves famous. Indeed, these are the men whom generally we adore as heroes. There is no doubt that they were men of ability and power. Some of them might be mere soldiers of fortune, ravaging countries and destroying civilizations. But many of them were builders too. Alexander left a large empire behind, and Julius Caesar laid the foundations of the grandeur that was Rome.

It is very good to read of the glories of these men when they are dead and gone, when their’ deeds can no longer touch us. But what was the effect of the work of these heroes? Wars might have brought them victories, but they often meant the ruin of the countries that were defeated and loss, of lives on both sides, the victors as well as the victims. It is often said that Napoleon was the greatest soldier of all times, that he could work miracles, but although he might have brought glories to France, his wars killed so many thousands of Frenchmen that France was faced with depopulation. One need not speak of the countries that Napoleon warred on, in which damage to property was almost as great as the loss of lives, so that those who were left alive had to struggle against famine and chaos.

Whether a country wins or loses, it has to concentrate alt its energies on the prosecution of wars. In these days we say that war effort must have."Top priority". The result is that the country cannot devote its attention to the nation-building activities, to education, sanitation, agriculture and commerce. The nation works at maximum pressure, and all its efforts are engaged in destroying what others have built. We cannot construct, it only destroys. That is why wars are very good to write poems or stories about; but they are very terrible when one comes to have actual experience of them.

It is said that wars may destroy much: but they also build empires. But that in itself is a half truth. An empire based on force can never be stable or create happiness and contentment. After Alexander's death his empire was broken into fragments that could never be united again. Napoleon brought many countries under his sway but he could not retain and overthrow him; the conqueror was conquered by his own victoms. War is a kind of lust that is not satisfied until it has destroyed itself. Once men and nations yield to this passion, they will go on from destruction to destruction until they are themselves destroyed.

This is what victory in war effects in spite of ail the glory that is associated with it. Contact this with man's achievements in time of peace, which may appear to be uneventful. It is in peace that scientists can apply themselves to the invention not of newer and swifter means of destruction but of newer methods of improving'the condition of making. It is in time of peace only that scientists, philosophers and men of letters can devote themselves undisturbed to the advancement of learning, to the acquisition of knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Quite accidentally, some beneficial scientific inventions have been made during the times of war. But generally such times are barren so far as progress in knowledge is concerned. In times of war, the energy of the atom is applied for making of atom bombs; in times of peace the same energy is utilized to add to the comfort and happiness of mankind.

. In war man fights against his fellows, against other men: in peace he fights against poverty, disease and ignorance. The inventions of war destroy men, the inventions of peace save them. It is only in times of peace that it is possible to- spend money for the advancement of education and for the fight against illiteracy. It is in times of peace that governments can improve the condition of the poor by increasing production and stimulating commerce. It is only in times of peace that determined efforts can be; made to fight against disease, not-merely to invent new medicines but also to check the spread of disease and to improve the sanitation of a country. These victories against ignorance, poverty and disease are achieved quietly; nobody advertises them and very often they are achieved so silently that we are not even aware of how much we have achieved. But are not these victories greater than victories in war? Once the people of France voted on who was the greatest Frenchman, it might naturally have- been expected that the largest number of votes would go to Napoleon who had dazzled the world by.his successes on the battlefield.' But it was not so. The people ' of France by an overwhelming majority decided that the greatest Frenchman was Louis Pasteur, the eminent scientist, who by his researches, had helped to save innumerable lives.'The victories of peace were, indeed, more renowned than war. Who is greater and more renowned; Socrates or Alexander. Shakespeare or the Duke of Marlborough?

It is not merely a question of tangible achievements, of the medicines Pasteur invented or the dramas which Shakespeare wrote; it is a question of fundamental ideas. War is based on hatred. We generally make war on other nations whom we want to subjugate, whom we hate, whom,we consider inferior to us. Even when we fight in self-defence, our sense of the rightness of our cause is mixed with a feeling of vengeance against our enemies. Peace is the product of goodwill among nations; it promotes understanding-between them stimulates international trade and leads to cultural contacts. From whatever point of view we may look at the matter, there is no doubt that the victories of peace are greater than those of war. It is only a mistaken sense of values that makes war popular, and it may be hoped that as men are drawn to one another by ties of friendship, war will be a thing of the past.
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MAN IS BORN FREE BUT EVERYWHERE HE IS IN CHAINS

(CSS English Essay 1971, 1996)

Outline:

  • Introduction 
  • The freedom of ancient man
  • The harmonious life of man under nature
  • The artificial life in civil society
  • Restricted life
  • Progress in Science and Arts
  • Possession of property
  • The Theory of Anarchists
  • The Hippie movement in Europe
  • Conclusion.


According to Rousseau “Man is born free but everywhere he is found in chains." What Rousseau meant by this was that in the state of nature man was leading a free and unrestricted life. But from the moment man has entered the civil society from the state of nature all his freedoms and liberty have been finished. Rousseau was a spoilt, child of genius and he loved the life of a free man, a life led by a noble vagabond without any restrictions.

Rousseau believed that in the state of /attire the human beings developed their physical, mental and moral personality to the maximum extent. The life of man in the state of nature was absolutely free; free like the lark. Man had no worries. He did not have to worry about his clothes, his dwelling place and about his food. He ate whatever fruits or roots he could get in the unglues. Man grew to his maximum height physically, just like the trees, plants and flowers which grow in nature. Man lived a natural life, a life according to the laws of nature which was a real life. Such a pristine and natural life is preached and propagated by Rousseau. He says that it was a pious and spiritual life. A good, happy and contented life.

In the state of nature man led a pure and moral life. Here he was not worried about the laws of the society, the state, marriage and family life. Man ate whatever he could get. He dressed himself with the leaves and bark of the trees. He was leading . highly moral life, as there was nothing immoral in the state of nature Man did not have any vice or any evil habits. He had sympathy and pity for his fellow human beings. Man was not greedy. He was not hankering after wealth, property, false honour, prestige and status. He was leading a blissful life, a free life without any chains or restrictions of any sort.

Man enjoyed sex in the state of nature, whenever he felt the need, the children were born as the by-product of his love. Thus man was completely free and absolutely happy. He did not have the fear of the police, the fear of the Government or the fear of the social and moral laws. Rousseau said that the healthy, pure and true life was only possible in the state of nature where man was one with the nature and was true to himself. Rousseau had also personally experienced the life in the lap of natural surroundings. He had lived for a few years in the jungle outside Paris to observe closely the life of man in the-state of nature before he committed the folly to enter the civil society.

According to Rousseau, man’s life in the civil society, is an artificial life. It is a false and untrue life. Man in the society becomes highly formal and sophisticated. He becomes greedy and wicked. The life in the civil society is not natural. It is a pretentious and showy life. Here man follows double standards. He becomes civilized and a hypocrite. He says one thing but does something else. In the society man is every where in chains. Everywhere there are a set of do’s and don’ts. Man is bound by the social, marital and the Governmental laws. Thus a man cannot be free in the society. These restrictions, restraints and limitations are the real obstacles -in the path of his progress and development of his talents.

. Rousseau did not like a restricted life full of limitations, a life , bound by social, moral, legal and religious laws. He rather propagated a life which was not limited by these laws. Rousseau believed that man was not bad by nature. He possesses self-discipline and can exercise moral autonomy. Rousseau had faith in the nobility of the ingrained nobility of the primitive man. There is, no doubt, that the so called civilized and cultured person has committed hundreds of times more cruelties, more tyrannies on the human kind than the primitive tribes and the primitive man.

According to Rousseau even the progress in science and arts, has not contributed towards the raising of the moral standard of human beings. On the other hand the advancement in science and literature has been responsible for the fall in the standard of moral character of the human beings. Rousseau believed unlike the popular belief that science and literature have made the life of man immoral instead of civilizing him. if has brutalized man and made him inhuman.

The modern civilization is based upon the possession of -property but this possession of property has been the'cause of all the evils in the modern society, because it is the root cause of inequality among the human beings. When there was no property in the society, all human beings were leading a happy, contented and simple life. Property brought about inequalities among the human beings. Some human beings became very rich, because they had accumulated huge property. Other individuals became'' poor because they had no property. The rich started exploiting the poor. They started enslaving the poor to work for them. Thus property .created economic strife and differences among the human bqings. In the beginning all human beings were equal as thev-had been endowed bv the nature with equal, physical and mental talents. Society is based upon the perpetuation of the inequalities especially economic. Therefore, society is also unjust. In the state of nature, property was the common ownership of ail. It is for this reason that Rousseau gave the call "lack to the nature." There man could again lead a happy and blissful life free from all these chains. He believed that these chains enslave us and they thwart our development.

J.S. Mill, an English thinker also was of the opinion that, too many restrictions on the human being retard the development of their personality and kill initiative in them. Mill like Rousseau believed in the development of instinctive spontaneity in man. Mill also wanted to ensure the maximum liberty to man for his welfare and good.

The anarchist philosophers like Prodhan. Prince Kropotkin and Borodin also believed in the theory that man by nature was destined to lead a free and. unrestricted life. But the society has chained the human beings. According to the anarchists man is exploited by the rich and the propertied persons. They also do not believe in the economic, social, moral or religious inequalities created by the state. The anarchists say that state, society, church and Government all combine together to exploit man. They also condemn religion as the opium which is given to the poor people so that the rich can exploit them. The anarchists want to destroy all the social, economic and political institutions which are exploiting the individual. They want to build a new-ideal society on the-ruins of the present decadent society. The anarchists like Rousseau want to give maximum freedom to man in their ideal society.

The Hippie Movement in Europe is also based upon Rousseau's slogan of “back to the nature'. The Hippies call themselves as the children of nature. They want to lead a natural life like flowers of nature. They are sick of the materialistic affluence of the Western society^ because this is based upon artificiality. They Hippies want to expose.the corruption, and hypocrisy prevailing in .the Western society. Although the Hippie Movement wqs started in USA first but it is now spread all over the European countries. An Hippies can be seen 4n all parts of the world, especially they have come to the Eastern countries for getting solace and peace of mind through spiritual means. The Hippies also do not believe in any restraints, on the enjoyment of sex, or any social, political, or legal restraints. The Hippies want to establish a permissive society, where all taboos are overthrown and where life is lived according to one's own wish and desire. The Hipies feel like Rousseau that by living in this materialistic and sophisticated society of today is unnatural.

The Hippies believe that this existing affluent society with its modern civilization has been unable to realize the real purpose of man. for which he had joined this society, after leaving the state of nature. This society has corrupted the-morals and the mind of man. It has suppressed his soul. The only way out to escape from it lies in the state of nature where all. men should live in communes on the basis of fraternity, equality and liberty for all. Here there should be no inequality, no concept of high and low. All should be equal, and live without hatred. Love not hate should be the guiding principle in the state of nature.

Although al! this may look to be Utopian, and impracticable to achieve Out no body can deny the veracity in the statement that man was born free but he is everywhere in. chains. Man should try to shed the artificial aspects of his life and try' to live a life in close touch with the nature which is more natural and true. Only thus man can realize his soul and true-self. But on the other hand the Islamic concept of social life is ali together different aqd which is ideal one for all the humanity.
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THE WORLD IS DIVIDED INTO PEOPLE WHO DO THINGS AND PEOPLE WHO GET THE CREDIT TO WHICH CATEGORY WOULD YOU LIKE TO BELONG: AND WHY?

(CSS English Essay 1964)

Outline:

  • Weakness of a man
  • Two men having the opposite characteristics
  • The man with substantial character disdains unearned increment
  • One of the greatest character destroyer thing
  • This is the weakness of a man to takecredit of a thing which is not done by him. This weakness brings disgrace in the long run.
  • I do not like an unearned credit, I am a great believer of the following lines.
  • This earthly life
  • Surely not your own.
  • Your hard-earned wealth
  • That you call your own.
There are men and firms who toiled hard and attained the heights of glory in their lines. They are synonymous with honesty. They are equal to any trade mark or patent whenever or wherever they are found. Nobody thinks of going'back of them or inquired into the quality or reliability of goods so marked. These names stand for character, and they are mentioned with respect. How often is the contrary noted a contemptuous reference to a man or a firm whose name is known to be synonymous with inferiority and who tries to palm off just as paltry goods or talent or service as can force acceptance'. We never have respect for a man who deals in imitations or who manufactures or sells shoddy as we have for one who deals in genuine articles. The human mind loves the actual, the real, the genuine, the things that ring true, and hates the false.

Note the difference between the character of the maker and that of the man who spends a life time in the barter of cheap goods who constantly tries to make things appear what they are not, to cover up base metal with a thin wash of gold, and to imitate diamonds with paste.

It is demoralizing to have any share in dishonest, shoddy work. There is enough or the good, the beautiful to do I need not ally myself with the opposites. I want to ally myself with a house that stands for something high and sells substantial goods.

The man who disdains unearned increment, who does not eat the fruit of a bush which is beaten by another, is a man that is blessed with solid and substantial character. There is not a false note in his make up. Everything rings true. He is honest. He is transparent to tine very core and I attribute a large part of this symmetry of character to this life habit of creating his own world.

While continual and determined thoroughness develops character and leads to 'success and happiness, one of the greatest success killers and character destroyers is a habit of gaining unearned credit. It makes no difference whether our work is seen or not for there is a certain something within us which pricks our conscience in gaining the unearned credit. There still, small voice keeps repeating "wrong wrong” you know it is all wrong. You know it is not right. It tells us that we are failures, we know when we are failures although the world may applaud us and the press may laud our achievements oyer the world. A man must learn that there is something greater than the world's applause and nearer and dearer to him than other's approval, and that is his own.
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WHERE THERE IS A WILL THERE IS AWAY

Outline:
  • The importance of strong determination
  • The cause of our failure
  • Examples from the history
  • Fable of hare and tortoise
  • Robert Bruce and the Spider
  • The example of the Greek orator
  • Demosthens the story of Pallisy


There is nothing difficult in this world which a man cannot achieve. How rough and rugged .our path may be, however utterly helpless and weak we may feel success is sure to come to us if we work with determination and a dogged will. The virtue of perseverance and of trying ‘again and again' will never fail to bring success to us in the long run. “Little strokes fell might oaks." “Patience and perseverance will overcome mountains," it has been wisely said. We don't succeed in an undertaking because we do not possess a strong desire to do it. Our desire is like a thin, feeble stream of water, which is. turned aside or blocked by every small obstacle. But a rushing torrent simply sweeps rocks and trees and banks out of its way. and forces itself through every obstruction. In the same way, a fierce desire and a strong determination will make light of difficulties, and will discover the way to success.

“Impossible." said Napoleon on one occasion, “is a word that is found only in the dictionary of fools.’’ There is nothing impossible in the world that cannot be, made possible. History abounds in examples of the power of the strong will in acquiring success. Sir is sac Newton had several obstacles thrown in his way to mathematical studies, but as he possessed a strong will he succeeded in winning the reputation of being the greatest mathematician in tire world. Even the fable of the Hare and the Tortoise affords us a lesson of the power of self-will in achieving success. The tortoise possessed a. strong will and, therefore, gained the day, even though its competitor was one of the swiftest of animals.

The proverb holds out a message of hope and encouragement to the discouraged in this life. The story of ‘Robert Bruce and the Spider' illustrates the fact that the spider, though it failed nine times to reach the highest point, succeeded at last. Robert Bruce was so much struck with the perseverance of the little insect that he took-heart, tried again and succeeded. Therefore.

'Beware of saying, 'I can't,'
'Tis a cowardly word, and apt to lead
To idleness, folly and want."

Macbeth, when he was going to murder Duncan, was haunted by fear "lest lie might fail* But Lady Macbeth harangued him thusf'If we fail.’

But screw your courage to the sticking-place
And we will not fail?'

Demosthenes was a stammering and weak-voiced lad. He determined to be a great public orator. He cured himself of stammering by speaking with pebbles in his mouth. His weak voice gave place to a sonorous and. thundering voice, as he overcame this defect by reciting aloud as he ran up steep hills, and by declaiming on the shore of the roaring sea. So this weak-voiced lad became the greatest orator of Greece that the world has ever known. Lord Beaconsfield, on his first appearance in the House of Commons, was laughed down. He angrily exclaimed, ‘the time will come when you shall hear me? and by his perseverance he made himself one of the greatest orators of England. The- story of Pallissy, the French potter' in the 7th century, also illustrates the same fact. He made-up his mind to discover a pure white glaze for China. He was a poor man and had nothing but little education; but for twenty years he worked at his task trying hundreds of experiments and failing in all. But he did not give in. His wife and neighbours called him a lunatic, for he ruined himself in his efforts. At last, to get wood to feed his furnace in the final experiment, he burnt up all the furniture id his "house. But he succeeded in the end, and became a famous man. He.had the will, and he found the way. Kalidas, the greatest of Sanskrit poets, was at first an illiterate man. One day he was strongly rebuked by his.wife for his illiteracy. He .determined there and then to become a great Sanskrit scholar. He left his wife and home; and acquired knowledge of Sanskrit. For twenty years he studied, then returned home and died as the greatest Sanskrit poet the world has known. He is now called the Shakespeare of India. Thus success is within the reach of all who have got a resolute will firmness and determination, energy, and enthusiasm. God always helps those who help themselves; and apparently insuperable difficulties vanish into the nothingness of a dream if we are fired by a heroic determination and strong will ‘to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield? .This idea has been beautifully expressed by a poet in the following lines:-

“Say not the struggle naught availeth,
The labour and the wounds and vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;

It may-be, in you smoke concealed,' Your comrades chose .even now the fliers, And but for you possess the field."
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