whether there is some set pattern for our lives

My revered friend was wondering whether there is some set pattern for our lives

My take on it

Not that there is no pattern.

You and I and other humans are not given the clue about it.

Some very learned sadhakas finally obtain the key too.

The choice is ours.

We can just flow along or we can attempt to seek solutions.

Of course the search is not easy and the search can span many janmams

It is just a tight rope walk, sure, life life is

 

Nothing is moral or criminal in the absolute terms; it is the definition of the society or a major chunk of the populace that ultimately evolves into law. What is de facto becomes de jure by efflux of time. This is an established social dictum. If today I say that the sight of someone other than my wife excites me, people call me a pervert or criminal. However, emotionally or in the biological sense, no one can really find fault with me, because nature has created human mind like that.

Human race, and the two sexes, man and woman, existed and the institution of marriage evolved later only as a matter of social safety and security. I know what I posted here will seem abhorrent to some or even to many.

Law is just a creation of the society, a sort of imposition or restriction on the Individual liberty, brought about by some sort of consent, some operation of the idea of checks and balances.

However, we lull ourselves to the belief that certain laws existed even before the start of civilized society. It is not so. I am here talking about Law we see in courts, worn in the collars of advocates and higher judiciary and not biological laws or scientific theories. But the social law tends to override even the laws of biological propensities and laws of statics, dynamics and thermodynamics.

The issue will be inconclusive because human mind is not exactly capable of defining absolute morality or the lack of it. Great philosophers might have reached very near the conclusion but like Absolute Zero in thermodynamics, the summit is beyond reach. Moreover, we the ordinary mortals are far off the summit. Life is just moving ahead, making instant, temporary, semi-permanent or even permanent adjustments and compromises. A simple person can easily accept it and come to terms with it, but we complicate the issues.

When considered from the perspective of social stability, no one can find fault with the restrictions the society clamps unless they stymie the individual into non-existence or self-annihilation. The present social order cannot subsist without reasonable controls. It is ultimately a dynamic balance between interests of the Individual, molecular family, larger family, region, state, Nation and humanity as a whole. The priorities can vary with mind-set, time and other circumstances. However, we end up with false notions when we try comparison among things that are by nature contradicting. Only a sensible balance is the viable solution. The wisdom of the social group alone can lead us to success in such a balancing act.

It is not that I oppose law and social order and i would not dream of entertaining thoughts of carnal and avaricious nature and I have never coveted the things that belonged to anyone else. My idea is rather to point out that there are some basic materials inside our minds which when left without channelling can create problems of adjustment for ourselves with the external world. It is just a tight rope walk, sure, life life is.

priorities in life can vary substantially according to the situations

 

How much each one should allocate as percentage of performance  while dealing with priorities in life can vary substantially according to the situations. Each aspect or ingredient has great value and the priorities can overlap and mutually integrate with one another too. Life is more like a cocktail. Once it is mixed, you cannot specify which ingredient is more delectable.

When you are indisposed, the physician takes over aspects other than get secondary importance. Kalidasa said शरीरमाद्यं खलु धर्मसाधनम्..(it is a quote from KumaraSambhavam of Kalidasa.. meaning.. this human body is the primary instrument of supreme importance and no virtuous deeds are possible without this body.)

The maintenance of this physical body is the top priority, as you can be functional only if your body is in working condition. In fact, the scriptures prescribe cancelIation of all other routines of life if your health is in a bad condition.

Our hoary traditions of education in Gurukulams prepared and equipped the wards for all sorts of challenges in the life on earth and beyond. Absolut disciple and obedience to the preceptor and his family, complete equality among fellow-scholars irrespective of whether they are princes or class Brahmins or simpletons was the distinctive feature of our educational system.

See the difference between Krishna the Prince and Kuchela or Sadhana the penniless Brahmin while they took training in the hermitage of Sage Sandeepani. Bothe face similar tough and tortuous tasks and both got treatment on equal footing. This is just an example.

Of course, keenness in educational activities and efficiency decided the relative merit of each ward. विद्यया विन्दते अमृतं, न हि ज्ञानेन सदृशं पवित्रमिह विद्यते। तत्स्वयं योगसंसिद्धः कालेनात्मनि विन्दति।।4.38।।, प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म etc., Were not empty slogans anyway.

Thousands of texts and scriptures right from Rigveda and Mahabharatham and Arthasastram of Chanakya onwards, have underlined the importance of money, its management and fiscal wellbeing.

The discussion can fill thousands of pages.

Remember, कोशमूलो हि दण्डः declare the saint cum political guru Chanakya.

We have to work, work hard,work as long as we live. The blessed Lord Krishna said in Bhagavat Gita.

नियतं कुरु कर्म त्वं कर्म ज्यायो ह्यकर्मणः। शरीरयात्रापि च ते न प्रसिद्ध्येदकर्मणः।।3.8।।

न हि कश्चित्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत् | कार्यते ह्यवश: कर्म सर्व: प्रकृतिजैर्गुणै: ॥ gita

Suffice to say, we have to regulate our lives ever ensuring that we maintain the balance and equilibrium between the interests of Individual self and the world at large and at the same time we must assign the right priority to our own health, wealth and happiness. Never attempt to harm others. If you try to have gain by causing ruin to others, be sure that your affluence will be short-lived.

A slice of sweetness from my life

 

A slice of sweetness from my life. This is what I wrote to Rajan, a bosom friend for years and a comrade in commuting by train

My dear Rajan

We are actually friends for very long time. The bond among persons who commute daily -between workplace and home-especially by train is something wonderful.

Leaving home without seeing the sunrise, and reaching home a couple of hours after sunset, for six days a week at least.

That is the life of commuters..

And we spend four to five hours in trains daily--with compartments crowded, with passengers of all denominations, -- it is a wonderful experience..

In addition, even persons who exchange bad words and even have minor physical skirmishes in the chase for a portion of a seat in the train, cool down and become lovely chums within minutes.

Only commuters can understand that wonderful experience.

I have been doing that for 16 years or so.

Palakkad to Coimbatore, Palakkad to Pollachi, Palakkad to Trichur.

You were my train mate for a long period.

You refer to me as IT sir, because, I and a good number of Income tax Employees underwent this Odyssey persistently and others watched because the Income tax men stuck together even in train journey.

Employees of all cadres were available in the train.

We could have even run an Income tax office in the train.

Your post takes me back to those memories.

Yes, we have lost our identity as human beings.

Once a taxman, always a taxman.

Even years after retirement, I cannot think of myself anything other than an employee of the income tax department..

Thank you Rajan Iyer.

Thank you for the memories.

Thank you for your friendship.

You represent a portion in my life, which is ever sweet, worthy of remembering ever.

I have had the sweet privilege of your friendship.

God bless you.

Kva the taxman

Building castles in the air is very easy.

Life too is a big project.

Planning is a very important part of it.

Without proper planning, we are likely to enter into mazes and blind alleys and we are likely to face drawbacks or even failures.

Agreed.

However, the process is not just planning. Life is not mere planning

Life will go on, and must go on, as anything else even if there is no project report, no planning and no inauguration.

We tend to underline the importance of planning and publicity and often we do not give even adequate care and attention for the implementation.

In our public life, we come across so many inaugural stones and plaques, fading fluxes and hoardings, and volumes after volumes of project reports just lying idle and nothing happening on the side of implementation.

Moreover, often we spend huge chunks of our resources in planning, preparing projects and in the inaugural bash too.

Often we seem to get away with such show-offs in respect of the projects planned and then blotched up by ourselves.

But life passes through many issues which are not within our planning capacity..

If we just allow such things to happen by themselves, they will happen surely in their own ways.

Nevertheless, we tend to plan and defeat ourselves at times.

We tend to plan for defeat.

And we often overlook the fact that we should make plan only about what we can do, what we can look forward to do..

Building castles in the air is very easy.

However, there can never be such castles in real life.

In addition, any planning is likely to succeed only if the persons who plan have the responsibility to ensure that some positive outcomes do emerge.

Let us be realistic..

Let us be realistic..

Most of the relationships in life are loveless or having little love..

A couple may be devoted to each other in excessive yearnig in the earlier periods of courtship and marital bliss .. but physical, material and psychological factors do make dent even in this relation and after sometime --it is pax romana...nothing particularly right or wrong about it..

And love for the offspring is pronounced in parents.. but it cannot be denied that social compulsions also play a role in that too...

But as the children grow up and grow their own wings, the same amount of love cannot be expected to be returned..

In fact, the gesture of caring for old parents comes more from social rules rather than love or even gratitude.. This is natural.

No one need blamed for that..

Each one has a role to play and once he leaves the stage, limelight will not follow him.. But the conflict arises because the characters who should exit and wash off the makeup, are trying to sing and dance, and hindering the new players whose term has already come..

Things will be more clear if we can see the issue from the perspective of both the players..

Our judgment gets clouded when we empathise with one person or point of view in preference to the other party to the transaction and the latter's state of mind...

The biological aspects of love are more real, and love would remain strong to bond the persons concerned as long as that aspect endures.. The other aspects of love, like idealistic, social, spiritual, etc have really no such strong legs to stand...

Let us be realistic..

the ideal and the real....

the ideal and the real....

I had posted on Deepavali about the Sacrifice of a mother in killing her son Narakasura for the welfare of the society.. Someone raised a query as to whether all the living beings were the children of God, implying that there was nothing special in that Mother slaying Her son. 

My reply to that as a layman is as follows:-

But it is definitely very difficult and even a heartbreaking experience for a father or mother to mete out punishments on his own children... 

Secondly, we consider God as the father and mother of everyone just because he created or crafted us..

By the same argument, a pot is the child of a potter, a building is the child of a mason, a plant is the child of a farmer.. That is true only in a symbolic way..

But when a child is born out of the union of ones own cell with another, that makes a real difference.. Paradigms and raw truth are sometimes poles apart.. Of course, the story of Deepavali like this would make sense only if Naraka is considred as the child biologically born to Vishnu and Mother Earth..

There is a lot of difference between symbolic sayings and realities of life...

I may declare, I am brahman,, aham brahmaasmi..अहं ब्रह्मास्मि

But then in the normal course, my stomach will not be filled if the so called Brahmam eats..

I am a subscriber to the idea that we have two thinking planes..

One, the poetic, spiritual, and mythic... that would give a very pleasant mental sensation..

But there is the real and mundane thinking plane which is equally significant --.. where I scratch when the mosquito bites, run for life when a bull or buffalo chase me, swoon when I see blood, react sharply when someone berates me, feel the pangs of thirst, hunger, heat, cold etc..

That proves that I am present in the Terra Firma.. (the hard and firm earth)

So long as we live with this body, we cannot help   having at least one foot, and preferably both feet, anchored firmly on the ground.. 

Thanks.

show off and survive

निर्विषेणाऽपि सर्पेण कर्तव्या महती फणा।
विषमप्यस्तु माऽप्यस्तु घटाटोपो भयङ्करः॥
चाणक्यनीत्यां
nirviṣeṇā'pi sarpeṇa kartavyā mahatī phaṇā|
viṣamapyastu mā'pyastu ghaṭāṭopo bhayaṅkaraḥ||
cāṇakyanītyāṁ

"Even if a serpent is not having venom  it should never fail to hold high  its hood and make a frightening appearance.. 

Such show of strength, although a make believe,  and making  a lot of noise can instill fear in the minds of the adversary  and  more often than not save you.."

The master statesman Chanakya  is just pointing out his fingers at  a stark reality of life.. 
People go by appearances.. 
When we see a snake we are stuck by fear at once ..

 However if the snake is very meek and simply keeps quiet, we would start  throwing stones at it, even if it is poisonous.

 But if only it raises its hood and makes hissing noises, we  normally tend to  bolt, and no one is  likely to be either brave or foolhardy  to stay near the  hissing snake and verify  whether it carries venom in is fangs ..


And this is just the way many people survive..

 It is not the inherent worth of a person that matters.. Usually we get away with show offs..


Tinsel world survives on make-ups..
 Politicians thrive on the gift of the gab.. 
And we survive in social media posts  proving to the hilt Chanakya's above dictum in words and spirit..