Monday, July 24, 2006

God ....

Though it sounds funny and a little stupid .. God is the most wonderful, incomprehensible, tender, excellent being in the whole world! ... whole universe .. Though there can be arguments for/against each word in the last line, everything I said there is true.
If you pause to think a while, it's so awesome .. it's frightening .. wonder what Arjuna would have seen during the Vishwarupa sandarshanam ..
God is the ultimate abstraction of all sciences, all forms of art, all religions. He is what we look for in every endevour of ours, whether we know it or not.... He is the satisfaction we look for in food, the bliss we want from sleep, the fulfilment we look for in work ... the sense of oneness in sex .. He's the tenderest parent, ever faithful lover, sweetest friends ... He can be to me whatever I want him to be ... yet he is above and beyond all this. He can be the dusky playboy, ever charming his way into peoples lives .. he can be strict taskmaster threatening hellfire if you dont abide by his command; he can be the cool big bro of the little boy crossing the lonely forest ... He is to each of us what we want him to be. He can be the loving mother source of everlating love ...
When I read back what I just wrote, I sound so much like so many books and essays .. Oh is'nt there a better way to express this pain of separation ... this almost adolescent longing ... this crushing desire for just one glimpse of the infinite one, his tender glance, his mischeveous smile, the eternal embrace ... that puts to rest all joys, all fears, all desperations and exhilarations .. the eternal embrace like a sea of calm and peace .. the end; the begining ..
A river that runs it's course, broad and might for a while, a thin diying stream for a while, loosing it's identity, the good and bad, the triumphs and despairs in the mighty eternal arms of the infinite ocean ..

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Hindu philosophy vs hindu religion

Hindu philosophy is about the soul; it's nature; it's relationship to God. It is the same today as it was a thousand years ago, for there is nothing in there that can change.
Hindu religion or Sanatana Dharma on the other hand is about people, guidelines for people, how they should live, what they should and should not do etc. and therefore cannot be the eternal truth.
The Bhagavad Gita is the crown jewel of Hindu philosophy. It is the best gift that God has given man (hmm .. I wonder if God's love for man is his best gift .. hmm i dunno .. i feel God's love for me is my rightful inheritance; I am ever grateful for it, for it is causeless and will never ever go away, but it's not a gift, it's the birthright so to speak, of every soul.) But anyway .. the bhagavad gita can never ever get outdated or needs to be headed with discrimination ..
The Manu Smriti etc on the other hand are so very different. They are like the Old Testement of the Bible. They talk about social conduct, rights and responsibilities of women etc. which sort of change from age to age ..
I found "In search of the supreme" by Gandhiji in my school library. It was interesting to find books by Gandhi and Nehru in a school in New York ! The book is interesting, totally sincere and honest. So many useful ideas.
Gandhi was a truly wonderful man...

Saturday, July 01, 2006

The awakening - kate chopin ...

i just read The Awakening, by Kate Chopin ..
It's a lovely book. It reminded me a lot of Anna Karenina. So many of Somerset Maughm's books are a bit like that, the stuggle of a soul trying to reach out to something wonderful and glorious and true and ultimate .. but this is the first time I read a woman's attempt at it; Ayn Rand ofcourse, but her's is a different approach ...
It's moving, stirring and beautiful .. especially against a backdrop of society in those days. Love, soft and gentle, or deep and passionate, or tender; that of a baby's ... all love is a chain that binds the soul .. like all things and emotions are ... but love has the potential to lead the way to truth ...
How are marriage, children, society relevent to a woman in the struggle of her soul is a very interesting question ... and how for so many women, the children are the hardest to give up, so to speak. So far I never distinguished between man and woman in the quest for the ultimate .. I still dont know if it is necessary or meaningful. But a woman's opinion on it is interesting. It is a pity that women are always influenced, weather they accept it or deny it, by society so much more deeply than men. Why can we not reject unimportant things as ruthlessly as men can do? Why is social acceptance, or some form of acceptance, so important.
I always thought that feminists are irresponsible, whining women clamouring for rights(or a diluted version of this statement), but the role of women in society is so difficult to define. It is an authority that is lost when claimed, a power that exists and grows as long as it is not asserted.
It is sad that it ends in Edna's death .. unfortunate .. but if society that day had give the encouragement that Chopin richly deserved she could have explored so much more ...