A Note on Mithya

It is ironical that for all the value we give to the rational, life is primarily governed by the irrational. Love is not rational. Sorrow is not rational. Hatred, ambition, rage and greed are irrational. Even ethics, morals and aesthetics are not rational. They depend on values and standards which are ultimately subjective. What is right, sacred and beautiful to one group of people need not be right, sacred and beautiful to another group of people. Every opinion and every decision depends on the prevailing myth. Even perfection is a myth.

~ myth=mithya by Devdutt Pattanaik

Sometimes, its astounding - the complexities of human kind. We are a billion different worlds co-existing in a complex grid, directly and indirectly effected by every other entity, human and non-human. Our minds concoct a picture of a shade, motion, sound, script and actors of its own choosing, many times unaware of the colours and shadows and noise from other parallel pictures. 

i think sometimes, that one of the more intelligent ways to exist is to always, always negate the adamance of our ego, our desire for approval, for respect, for admiration. To always remain humble and harmless, and patient. To remember that our self is insignificant, but the potential of our energy is unlimited. 

Every thought- expressed or unexpressed, is energy. Love, sorrow, hatred, ambition, rage... once felt, they spread through the air and they linger and they cling. 

But we don't understand, we don't realise. We see only what is near us - blind in perspective, eager for our desires. We are slow in learning, quick in judging and mostly foolish. 

A billion worlds. A billion afflictions.... all huddled on this tiny speck of blue dust.

Wise Man says...

" HEYAM DUKKHAM ANAGATAM "
A short conversation on Life and its Meaning

Wise Man: In existentialism, the individual's starting point is characterized by what has been called "the existential attitude", or a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world.

Camus, like many others, rejected the existentialist label, and considered his works to be concerned with facing the absurd. In the titular book, Camus uses the analogy of the Greek myth of Sisyphus to demonstrate the futility of existence. In the myth, Sisyphus is condemned for eternity to roll a rock up a hill, but when he reaches the summit, the rock will roll to the bottom again. Camus believes that this existence is pointless but that Sisyphus ultimately finds meaning and purpose in his task, simply by continually applying himself to it. The first half of the book contains an extended rebuttal of what Camus took to be existentialist philosophy in the works of Kierkegaard, Shestov, Heidegger, and Jaspers.

Me: I guess i will have to read the book to make sense how Sisyphus finds meaning in the pointless task. May be, the best solution for humanity is a resignation to life's meaninglessness and in this situation try to have all the fun and follow all the passions that one has... since there is nothing better to do anyway.

Wise Man: That is escapism or evading looking further and harder! Existentialism is a  philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts.

You are blessed with  (or condemned to?) Freedom and can not escape the consequences of your choices. Realizing the existential crisis is the first half of the story but having woken up to the reality of it, it just is not possible to sleep walk through life, if you want to do so.

Me: Yes, we cant sleepwalk through life... and we have to bear the consequences of our acts (and thoughts), as well as that of others' acts & thoughts, whether we are connected to them or not.. A person can lose his life/become handicapped in an accident with a complete stranger for no fault of his... So, we dont really have as much Freedom as we wud like to believe we have... this world is such an interconnected grid of cause-effects... in which i have control over only a part... 


So, may be, ignorance is bliss. Existential questions does nobody any good.... it is without end, these questions... and, those who have them... have no choice but to suffer.

Wise Man: Yes, you bring out the "absurd" kernel of life, which says that there is absolutely no rationale, and cause and effect chain stops at the boundary between objective inanimate world and, sensing, feeling, world of living beings.  Freedom, you may look at it as a curse , yet you can not opt for desirable (?) bondage of  ignorance. Knowledge, awareness of one's situation and even conviction about the "absurdity'" is a cross and you have to bear it ! I totally agree...

So one Indian thought is " The best you can do is to minimize the sorrow that has not befallen yet !

" HEYAM DUKKHAM ANAGATAM "

HEYAM  = worthy of avoiding
DUKKHAM = Sorrow
ANAGATAM = That which has not arrived yet

{ Thanks for this opprtunity to exercise those cells and memory locations and thoughts which are endangerd species ! }

Me: Absolutely, i am your student! Thanks...

***

End Note: Camus concludes "one must imagine Sisyphus happy" as "The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart."

More on Sisyphus here.

On going away...

When i die... perhaps my life force shall flow into the world - to the soil, to the trees and flowers, to ants and beetles, to the air, to space and the stars...

May be, i shall be the wind that blows on a bright moon night, somewhere near my home... and i bring the sweet smell of the flowers... to my loved ones... 

...perhaps...

Like a Memory of the Universe

My mind is like a clean slate. It is as if I was born today. Nobody taught me any ideas, nobody handed me any religion. I am free from all outside influence. I know nothing. I only see and sense for myself. And what do I experience…?

I find myself alone. I am just me. And there are million others, just like me, alone themselves. But we also have each other for company, for loving, for sharing and for supporting. We call them our friends and family. We see strangers everywhere- all of them with their own stories, each of them with their thousand experiences of life, filled with both sorrow and laughter. I see prosperity and comfort, and I see people sleeping on the roads, while i pass by them at night. I feel this whole cacophony of sounds and sights filling up my senses when I am amongst the world.

I hold a little baby in my arms and I see life that is innocent, alive and absolutely pure- the proof that perfection of life is a reality. I put her to sleep singing an old nursery rhyme and I feel I have lived well.

In the nights, I see the white moon, shining on quietly. It is so still and calm, although I know that it is moving all the time... When it rains, I get hold of a hot cup of coffee and sit by the window, watching the rain drops wet the leaves of the swaying happy trees and I feel intoxicated. While I travel to the hills, I see the clear night skies, filled with a million stars. I see the beautiful green pines and I see wild orchids in the meadows.

Sometimes i hear the notes of a haunting song that fills my heart with sad melancholy... 

I go to the seas and I feel an ancient tug inside me, as if the sea has been there since aeons and I have stood by it all the time – the sound of the waves, the salt in the air, the gravity of its depth, all so familiar. I have been there before… or am I just a dream, dreaming an old dream, in the memory of the universe… who am i, i often ask….