BOON
OR A BOONDOGGLE ?-2
M.Sc., Ph. D
Retired Principal
GUDIVADA-
A.P
B1-87
Strangely, what lends life its charm is the
transitory nature of its pleasures but even more strangely, what (imparts it
its) imbues it with its mystique is the constancy of life’s little pleasures
and their transience.
One eats, works, sleeps, cohabits and
copulates, for each act satiates one with pleasure but of a purely ephemeral
nature, lasting as long as such activity lasts by way of normal reward. But
before one starts feeling sorry for their not being otherwise-- enduring as
long as one longs them to last—the next train of transitory pleasures awaits
one for another round/bout of joyous experience. This goes on endlessly, for
one’s craving for pleasure accompanying each gratified desire is as compulsive
as the recurrence of one’s fundamental needs is inevitable. Yet, surprisingly
none is bothered by the boring predictability of their routine. The temporality
of the pleasures with their freshness of approach and flavour of allure ever
remaining unimpaired and undiminished by the deadening habit and the constancy
of their cyclical occurrence, together makes the merry-go-round of life
whirling by eternally.
Although the whole thing appears to flow, there
is something constant and comforting about its constancy. Notwithstanding so
much that is common to and characteristic of humanity as a whole, each
individual is different and unique in his/her own way making life what it is, a
never ending journey punctuated by contradictions and concordances, concerns
and comforts demanding to be reconciled and resolved into complementarities.
B1-88(telugu)
Jeevitham
ante?
B1-89
Jealousy is the homage mediocrity pays/does
to virtuosity and envy the tribute want pays to affluence. Maybe, the jealous
and the envious acting as fingerposts/signposts of excellence and abundance
deserve to be treated with a much less contempt and a lot more tolerance than
they normally are, for they too serve a purpose.
B1-90(76, 77)
Sycophancy is the honour done to untruth by
untruth even as truth suffers from acute embarrassment and blushes/winces with
disconcertment .
B1-90A
Life is like a ladder. The contented and
the mal/discontented are but different rungs in it; the former being ever equanimous
or mindful of all the rungs including their own and view everyone/all, with
malice to none and goodwill to all while the latter, being total strangers to
such virtues as composure and equi poise are obsessed with only those that are
above them and end up drowning themselves in a sea of bitterness and rancour,
borne out of envy and jealousy.
B1-91
If you do a good turn to someone, you had
better stay away from him, and if it is anything like bailing him out of dire
straits particularly when he is down and out , stay far, far away from him, for
you can then be sure of being run down or run over by him in his new avatar as
somebody special in society as part of an elaborate stratagem to safeguard his
little—is it his bloated?—ego from possible hurt or injury. Twisted as this
logic appears to be, it is nevertheless true-- almost always.
However, as everywhere here too are a couple of exceptions. One is that
rare individual who knows no difficulty in subordinating his ego to higher
values and principles or better still, is altogether free from ego problem. The
other is that pure and simple soul who knows how to enjoy “the benedictions of
gratitude” and knows also how to experience the blessedness of unalloyed life,
free from strong likes and dislikes. Such are the ones who keep the spark of
charity kindling in our bosoms.
B1-92
Truth triumphs ultimately. Those that vouch
for the veracity of this are those that have had the patience to wait to
witness/watch the triumph of truth whereas those that have not had the patience
to wait long enough are not around to vouch for a (non)event.
B1-93
If
nothing succeeds like success, can anything fail like failure? Sure, it can,
for anything is something that can still fail while failure is left with
nothing further to fail.
Success comes when luck meets with opportunity and you recognize it, and
failure when misfortune masks opportunity and you do not notice it or when ill
luck flashes before your eyes , a pseudo opportunity and you fall for it only
to end up discovering that you have fallen flat on your face. Thus in the
ultimate analysis, it is your ability to perceive things properly that makes
all the difference between success and failure.
Now
the question that naturally arises is, who is a success and who a failure? In
the wise words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “ To laugh often and much ; to win the
respect of intelligent people and the affection of children… to leave the world
a better place…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded”. On the other hand, one whose entry into and exit
from the stage of life or more appropriately, existence , are the only events
worth mentioning is more a monument to failure than anything than can still
fail.
B1-94
Nothing succeeds like excess , especially
lawless excess, until it is time for it to fail and fail it certainly will
ultimately. And when it fails , it fails like nothing else but itself—with a
crash and a bang echoing a message, loud and clear(sending out a signal, loud
and clear).
This is one side of the coin. The other side? “ Moderation is a fatal
thing; nothing succeeds like excess”, says Oscar Wilde. Adds William Blake as
if in support, “ the roads of excess lead to the palace of wisdom”.
Hence the need for looking at the other side of the coin, or at least
suspecting that there might be something on the far side of the hill before
jumping to a conclusion in any situation in life.
In
the thoughtful words of a perceptive observer, “ often—though convinced we are
right—it pays to look again and see things from the other fellow’s viewpoint.”
B1-95
Just as nothing succeeds like success, so
too nothing fails like excess affirms common sense.
B1-96
It is far easier for a humanitarian to love
humanity as a whole than to love his next door neighbour; just so is it for a
social worker to love the whole society than to love his own family. Only a
politician can excel either of them in appearing to do what each is good at
while all the time he is head over heels in love with himself and his skin.
B1-97
Money merely changes our circumstances but
not our destiny although it appears to do even the latter following every
sudden change in our fortune.
B1-98
Sex, sans emotional involvement between the
partners is a purely bestial act, a mere physical relationship , appropriate to
the biological plane , and sex with emotional identity rooted in trust and
understanding is a pleasurable act and a source of happiness for both, on the
human plane; if to this is added intellectual sharing, sex becomes a joyous
experience on the aesthetic plane and a magical vehicle for transporting the
lovers to a blissful state defying description ; and when this recipe is
enriched with the addition of spiritual dimension the result will be a mystical
experience belonging to a transcendental domain which is far removed from
anything in the realm of ordinary experience, and which ordinary/common
consciousness can , if at all, ever hope to have a fleeting glimpse of.
In
the thoughtful words of Scot Peck “while a relationship with a beloved other is
necessary to bring us to the very highest mystical heights of orgasmic
experience , once we reach those heights we actually lose the awareness of our
partner. At that brief peak point of little death(la petite mort, as the French
traditionally refer to it) we forget who and where we are because we have left this earth and entered
God’s country.” Resonating with what Peck wrote , Joseph Campbell said “ when
one has lost oneself in the rapture of love , the partner is of no more
importance than the portals of the temple through which one has passed to the
altar.” As if to emphasize their profound observation, Ananda Coomara Swamy,
the great Indologist added: “ At the moment of mutual climax, each as individuals
has no more significance to the other than the gates of Heaven for the one
within.”
Such is the ecstasy of delight--a brush with the joy eternal—confined
though this may be to that transient moment of escape/elevation into the land of Gods
So, if this primeval relationship between
man and woman fails to pass through such a process of maturation and enrichment
and dazzle in all its splendour , it gets bogged down in the quagmire of
physical titillation offering carnal pleasure without blossoming into the
flower of fulfilment and bearing its fruit of bliss as is its destiny.
B1-99
Rakthi sublimated is Bhakti.
B1-100
During our struggle for independence from
the British Raj, the distinction between us and them was clear—its us versus
them. It was relatively easy for us to wage a war , albeit a protracted one,
and vanquish them—our enemy—ultimately. Today, when we are engaged in the even
more important struggle for freedom from want, ignorance, disease and
deprivation and social and economic justice for all, the situation is
altogether different; the distinction between us and our enemy has become
blurred to the point of becoming non-existent because our enemy is us—an enemy
more insidious than the most that we have ever encountered, and more
intractable than the most that we may ever again face. And to enter into a
battle with such a faceless enemy, let alone come out victorious, is that much
more difficult, nay, impossible almost.
Now
, the million dollar question is how to identify who is ‘us’ and who is ‘them’
and which is the appropriate battle ground , and again , who is to decide and
on what basis ? Unless and until this question is answered adequately, we don’t
even know where to begin our battle, leave alone wage it and win it.
Fortunately for us, no crystal ball is needed to get at the right answer
to this question, inscrutable though it appears to be. Like all weighty
questions of great import and significance in life this too elicits a simple
and straight forward answer: we are as
much ‘them’ as ‘us’ and the most appropriate battle ground is the theater of
our conscience. Everyone of us should be able to know this self evident truth
on the basis of his/her shared humanity, rooted as it is in spirituality—the
very foundation of our being and becoming , collective as well as individual. A
moment of introspection with the right attitude of mind tinged by a little
honesty , sincerity, courage and willingness to face facts is all that is
required to lay our finger right on the spot. The enemy is new , the fight is
different , the war field is not location specific and the struggle is long and
hard. Conventional strategies and tactics as also the weapons of war and the
instruments of diplomacy will not do. The armaments and the plan of action we
choose should accord with the altered reality and suit the novel situation.
Everyone of us should delve deep within for hidden resources waiting to be
harnessed and become a willing soldier in battling against the vicious half
of/aspects in our character, the dark side of our personality and all the
negativity in our approach to life, in short exorcise the hated other lurking
in every one of us from our hearts and minds. It may appear a tall bill, but
not so when we realize the common human bonds that tie us all together as also
our shared destiny in the light of the latest scientific findings and the age
old spiritual insights and revelations about our identity and oneness , not
only with our fellow humans but with everything animate as well as inanimate
that exists and act on the basis of that understanding. If only we will it
sincerely enough , we shall come out victorious.
The
victory so won will be total, so total as not to leave any scope for further
battles , for it is that war that ends all wars.
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