Knowledge is greatest power of the mankind. It is only due to knowledge that man emerged as the ruler of the earth.  Knowledge is the greatest asset of man which has helped him to see the past and future and discover the secrets of the nature. Yet knowledge is also the source of all miseries of man. There is no other animal on this earth whose life has so much of sorrow, pain, misery, boredom, fear and hatred as that of a man. It is only a man who kills self by committing suicide. 

A chicken lives happily, playing with its mates not knowing that it may be killed within minutes. However, man is always worried as he knows for sure that he is going to die one day. He is sad because he missed so much in his life which other people have acquired. His knowledge of other’s achievement is the source of all his sorrow. He fears other men as he knows that they can harm him for the sake of his money or power. Most men live a life of fear as they know the evil nature of other men.

Imagine that all your knowledge is removed from your brain just like all data in a computer is deleted. We shall become like children with no knowledge. A child is rarely unhappy as he has little knowledge of the world. The children of a man are not much different from the children of other animals as they all lacked knowledge.

Every man knows the secret of ignorance which is often a bliss that provides him so much happiness. Therefore, people try to forget everything at least for sometime so that he can enjoys the moments of happiness in those moments of ignorance. They use music, hard work, exercise, drugs and intoxicants to attain the state of ignorance.

When Ignorance is a Bliss

In Indian philosophy, every man is said to have three types of nature i.e. Satvik (Nature of Truth or Light), Rajsik (Nature of Passion) and Tamsik (Nature of Ignorance or Darkness). The desire of man to attain ignorance emerges from his nature of Tamsik which is always present in every man just like darkness is present in the universe all the time except for a short time when light illuminate the space.

The Indian Scriptures further describe everything based on these three natures and claim that the nature of the person drives them to eat the foods that are Tamsik or do the deeds that are Tamsik. The Tamsik foods are described as following:

Tamsik foods are those that have become cold, insipid, putrid, stale, discarded and unfit for sacrifice (Gita, 17: 10)

All intoxicates like alcohol, tobacco, drugs, opium are considered to be Tamsik foods. These foods are disliked by Rajsik and Satvik peole, yet loved by the people who have tamsik nature.

One of the key characters of Tamsik foods are that they help a man to forget all knowledge that for sometime, thus making him ignorant till the effect of these intoxicants subsidize. There are many reasons why people wish to forget everything for sometime to be happy. Some people need more forgetting than others and get addicted to intoxicants to live.

Crime and Intoxicants

The modern world is the most regulated world. Every civil society is full of rules and laws that are designed to reduce the individual freedom of the citizen. These restrictions suffocate the man as everything that he wants to do seem to break some law which makes him liable for punishments. Many laws are made to maintain the status quo in the society so that the rich and power remains rich and powerful while the poor remain powerless. The inequality and injustice is prevalent in every society. There are billions of people in this world who are dying of hunger and their only fault has been that they were born in a poor family or in a poor nation. These people see rich people all around who are enjoying their life. However, these poor people can not hope to reach to that level of prosperity and happiness as everything that can make them rich is in the control of rich people. The laws of the countries are so designed that the rich people not only retain their wealth in their lifetime but they also passes he wealth on to their children after their death. 

Though laws have provided equal opportunities and justice, yet people have realized the futility of laws in giving justice. Thus most people try to break the law so that they can achieve their desires by illegal means. Even the riches break the laws to become richer. Thus most people fear the punishment of laws as they know that they have to reap what they have sown. It is difficult to remove such thoughts from their mind. They often use alcohol or drugs to forget the consequences of their criminal acts. It is well known fact that most crimes are committed under the influence of alcohol or drugs as people can not do these criminal acts with their conscious mind.

Survival of the Fittest

The modern world thrives on the philosophy of the survival of the fittest. It awards only the winners while ignoring the losers. Unfortunately, there are only limited numbers of winners and it is always lonely at the top. Therefore, most people have to be losers in their battle of survival as there can be only one “fittest’ in the race. Some people try to reach to the top by following illegal methods while many kill their conscious for the sake of their material success. Many professionals are used to tell lies in order to get more money and more value for the organization. They do not mind cheating their customers to sell their product or advertise fraudulently to attract the customers. All such knowledge of being untruthful and being liars always fill their heart with guilt. They can fool others but they can not fool themselves. Therefore, they wish to forget their sins and moral misgivings to live a happy life. They also do not wish to leave the life of untruth as they can become rich only by following such untruthful methods. The only solace before them is intoxicants which let them forget all their past for sometime and bring some happiness.

Army and Police 

While killing another human being is the most heinous crime and biggest sin for mankind, it is under some situation is the noblest act. While a person is punished to death, if he kills another human being, the same person gets the highest honor of the land, if he kills the enemy in the battlefield. The police too kill many people or use inhuman methods to maintain law and order in the society. Thus these people have to forget the value of humanity to serve their profession. They have to often kill the people of the same religion and values merely because they happen to be on the other side of the fence. They have to make their heart as tough as stone to forget the truth that all human beings are children of same God. Intoxicants play extremely important role in helping them forget such spiritual and humane knowledge.

Truth is Bitter than Drugs

Intoxicants are like painkillers which suppress the signal of pain only for some time. Thereafter, the pain returns back as soon as the effect of the drug reduces. There is only one method to live a pain free life and that is to get cured by eliminating the ailment that causes pain. People who use intoxicants to forget their knowing often suffer much in life as they do nothing to cure the ailment. These drugs and other intoxicants cause severe damage to their body and soul. They gradually get addicted to drugs as they pain recurs as soon as the effect of drugs subside. Drugs are preferred only when Truth become bitter than even drugs. The only option, therefore, is to face the truth boldly and learn the knowledge that can brings true happiness in the life of man. When a man leads a life of truth, he can not tolerate intoxicants which are bitter and pungent.