ai'm sure you've noticed that come 26th january or the 15th august and everyone is suddenly playing patriotic songs (they are also heard blaring from the loudspeakers). there is a sudden surge of patriotism in every indian, almost. but i can't help but wonder at the emptiness of these gestures. if you are patriotic, you should [i]do[/i] something for the country, rather than shout out your feelings. there was a parade in my college this morning. i was asked whether i'll go or not. i gave an honest answer - if i wake up, i'll go. the person was infuriated and labeled me unpatriotic. i asked a simple question. if, during the placements, schlumberger (one of the leading oil companies of the world) offers you or those of you who are going for the parade a job, who will decline? schlum usually employs people in foreign soils. so taking the job means leaving the country. most of the people who say they are patriotic will take the job (no one has declined schlum till now in my college).
i love my country as much as anyone of you. but i don't believe in blank show of it. i listen to patriotic songs when i want to, but usually it is not on the afore mentioned dates. i also know one thing. i won't leave my nation and waste the resources she has bestowed upon me on XYZ. patriotism doesn't mean going to the parades. it means respecting your country and her citizens.
Showing posts with label random thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random thoughts. Show all posts
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Life
Many a time I have wondered what am I, whom am I. what is the purpose of life? The universe? I have tried finding the answers to them in books, but they have eluded me more. I know only one thing for sure – life is an illusion, a dream that ends when you wake up. There is no purpose of life, for it is too short to comprehend it.
You come into this world, grow up, earn money, give birth to children, watch them grow, and then die. Where does all this lead to? Nowhere. Death is the destination we’re all heading. Death will wipe you off the face of the earth as if you were no more than a burrowing mouse. So why do people celebrate and exult in material gains and look down upon those who couldn’t be as successful? For me journey is more important than destination – means are more important than the end. But the end is same for everyone – death. So it all boils down to the means of attaining it – life.
Here is my philosophy: lead a simple life so others may simply live. Extend help to those who need it, give shoulder to someone, who is feeling blue, to cry upon. Love. We are unhappy because we can’t find what we are looking for – happiness, peace and love. Alas! These are the very things which you need not look for. They are with you. Love and you’ll receive love. If you want to feel happy, you will. If you are at peace with yourself, you will find that the world is peaceful. Don’t give in to the rat-race for materialism, for even if you do win the race you will still remain a rat. Show mercy to everyone, for someone has shown mercy to you without yours realizing it. Forgiveness is the greatest virtue. No man is perfect, so why condemn those that have wronged you?
In short, either love or perish. That’s my philosophy. I’m not a spiritual guru, neither do I want to be one. All off them are pseudo who talk of life as if they’ve created it. They have not and they do not understand life more than a child does. They have had a glimpse of the coral reefs and they believe that they have explored every nook and cranny of the ocean.
I don’t believe in god. God is nothing but a manifestation of our fears. Read history and you will know that it was not god who created man, but vice versa. After reading the scriptures I can say it with even more firmly that god doesn’t exist. If there was one, he/she would have treated man and woman alike. He wouldn’t have demanded alms with threats of death to those who refused it. God would not have to ask for your devotion.
There is no heaven, no hell. What is there is mind and conscience.
‘Mind is its own place and in itself
Makes a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven’
And if mind is heaven and hell, then our conscience is god. God does not know everything we do, if indeed it exists, but our conscience does. It is the only thing we can’t fool. Above everything else, how can we assume that god has a gender and that it is male? Quite convenient for the male chauvinists who wrote the scriptures.
However, I do not condemn the scriptures completely. The single thing I like most in Geeta or the Bible is the philosophy of loving your neighbour as yourself – the crux of my philosophy.
Life is too complex to understand in a lifetime. We should not spend time in comprehending it. Instead, spend the time in extending love and happiness to others. In giving we receive. You will understand it when you will experience it. The greatest thing that you ever do is to love and be loved in return…
You come into this world, grow up, earn money, give birth to children, watch them grow, and then die. Where does all this lead to? Nowhere. Death is the destination we’re all heading. Death will wipe you off the face of the earth as if you were no more than a burrowing mouse. So why do people celebrate and exult in material gains and look down upon those who couldn’t be as successful? For me journey is more important than destination – means are more important than the end. But the end is same for everyone – death. So it all boils down to the means of attaining it – life.
Here is my philosophy: lead a simple life so others may simply live. Extend help to those who need it, give shoulder to someone, who is feeling blue, to cry upon. Love. We are unhappy because we can’t find what we are looking for – happiness, peace and love. Alas! These are the very things which you need not look for. They are with you. Love and you’ll receive love. If you want to feel happy, you will. If you are at peace with yourself, you will find that the world is peaceful. Don’t give in to the rat-race for materialism, for even if you do win the race you will still remain a rat. Show mercy to everyone, for someone has shown mercy to you without yours realizing it. Forgiveness is the greatest virtue. No man is perfect, so why condemn those that have wronged you?
In short, either love or perish. That’s my philosophy. I’m not a spiritual guru, neither do I want to be one. All off them are pseudo who talk of life as if they’ve created it. They have not and they do not understand life more than a child does. They have had a glimpse of the coral reefs and they believe that they have explored every nook and cranny of the ocean.
I don’t believe in god. God is nothing but a manifestation of our fears. Read history and you will know that it was not god who created man, but vice versa. After reading the scriptures I can say it with even more firmly that god doesn’t exist. If there was one, he/she would have treated man and woman alike. He wouldn’t have demanded alms with threats of death to those who refused it. God would not have to ask for your devotion.
There is no heaven, no hell. What is there is mind and conscience.
‘Mind is its own place and in itself
Makes a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven’
And if mind is heaven and hell, then our conscience is god. God does not know everything we do, if indeed it exists, but our conscience does. It is the only thing we can’t fool. Above everything else, how can we assume that god has a gender and that it is male? Quite convenient for the male chauvinists who wrote the scriptures.
However, I do not condemn the scriptures completely. The single thing I like most in Geeta or the Bible is the philosophy of loving your neighbour as yourself – the crux of my philosophy.
Life is too complex to understand in a lifetime. We should not spend time in comprehending it. Instead, spend the time in extending love and happiness to others. In giving we receive. You will understand it when you will experience it. The greatest thing that you ever do is to love and be loved in return…
Death
Death. The ultimate calm. The time when everything merges into oblivion. Indeed the time stops. It is the freedom from this world. Death is the truth, while life is an illusion. Death is nirvana. However, all things said and done, there is no afterlife – no heaven, no hell or purgatory. Everything there is, it is here on the earth. It would be absurd if it were otherwise. The whole purpose of life would be defeated. We are just a complex macro-molecule residing on an ordinary planet, revolving an ordinary star in this vast universe. How can we so arrogant so as to assume that any part of us can be so special so as to be eternal? Yes, if you apply the law of conservation of energy then you may claim that we always existed and we always will. But then, it would not be same as residing in heaven or hell.
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