In my IAS entrance examination I opted for two papers of Physics. Though I had not been a student of Physics, the studyof the subject during my Engineering Course had given me enough confidence. I remember that my score in one paper of Physics was the highest among those who were selected. I also remember one exercise in that paper on Ohm’s Law. It was a simple numerical question of forty marks whose solution required only a few lines.
Most of the candidates were puzzled to see such a simple question carrying forty marks and I was no exception. However, the question was tricky and required a clear conception of Ohm’s Law. Fortunately, I could understand the trick and solved it as the first question feeling quite happy about scoring forty marks in the first ten minutes. When the candidates came out of the examination hall, that question was the topic of discussion. Each one was giving his own interpretation and the answers varied widely from candidate to candidate. This created a very interesting scene as our selection depended on this question. Fortunately, my answer was correct and that was largely responsible for my selection as well as the highest score in the paper. I have narrated this incident many times. The interesting fact was that most of those who had obtained a master’s degree or even a doctorate in Physics had committed a mistake in solving the question. They could not believe that a question of forty marks could be that simple. As a result they had interpreted the question in their own way and gone off the track. Perhaps, they did not have a clear understanding of the Ohm’s Law and made a mistake. Subsequently, I contemplated over the incident and related it to one simple aspect of life.
The fundamental laws of living are so simple that we often fail to understand them and make our lives complicated. If we draw a simile from Ohm’s law, the electric current may be compared with the motivation to live and the objective is to have a continuous flow of motivation in good quantity. For this, there has to be a source of power. Such a source can either be a battery or power line. When the source is a battery, the current flows for a limited period depending upon the strength of the battery and the resistance in the circuit. If we wish the current to flow for all time, the battery should either be replaced or recharged. In case the source is a power line, such replacement or recharging is not required. The energy in that case will come directly from the power-house and as long as the power-station works, the current will continue to flow.
The second factor on which the amount of current depends is the resistance. The lower the resistance, the higher is the amount of current. In case the resistance becomes zero, the current will become infinite and the conductor in such a case becomes a super-conductor. Super-conductivity is the latest development in science, and it is said that it can solve the energy problem to a great extent because there is no loss of energy in a superconductor.
In life, the source of motivation can either be material objects or divine power. Material objects like name, fame, wealth, position, etc., give us a strong motivation to live but all these sources are transitory, like a battery. After a time they stop giving motivation and need either replacement or recharging. On the other hand, if divinity is the source of motivation like a power-house, there is no question of its depletion. The motivation to live then continues till we ourselves become part of divinity. The equivalent of resistance in life is our ego. The more dominant the ego, the more is the loss of our energy. Therefore, the aim should be to reduce our ego as much as possible. If we become totally egoless, the current will become infinite and, perhaps, that is the stage of reaching divinity itself. However, as long as we live in the world, it may not be possible.
Therefore, the conclusion is that if we connect ourselves with the divine power-house with full sense of surrender, we shall experience infinite life current flowing through us like a superconductor and there will be no loss of energy. This is what is called Ohm’s law in physics and we may call it O’m’s Law in Life.
Rakesh Mittal IAS
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