Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Note to myself (and my ex-school teacher) - Ozymandius
I don't know if I had told this before but this is one of those memories (an unpleasant one) which I wish just goes away.
A new English teacher, Lawrence, came to my school when I was around 14. He was quite friendly and since I was sitting in the front seats of the class (with always a wish that Lakshmi seated far back might start noticing me), I chit-chatted with him and he was friendly as well. Maybe he also wanted to have some good vibes created around him being new to the school. He was very scholarly in English, which I think may have been helped by himself being a Christian. He took some nice poems like Lucy and Ozymandius which he explained with great zeal and clarity (relative to our standards). Then oneday, he asked everyone to come with the notebooks covered or wrapped up and labeled. I'm not exactly a devoted student and so I didn't do it. When he saw this, he scribbled in big bold letters, 'I'm a fool'. I thought...there goes the pretty look of my notebook. But then, on a lighter vein the way we have been all this time, I said...'Sir, why are you signing your autograph on my notebook?'. He looked at me blankly for a moment. He then asked me to come and meet him after the lecture. Then, he got up and asked me to tell the class what I had just said. I saw that he had taken it too personally and so I said sorry. But he will have none of it. So he brought me before the whole class and asked me to say it. It wouldn't have been a big deal if only Lakshmi was not there. So just as I was trying my best to build up a good image before her, I was made to stand like a culprit. Not only this, after this, he took me to the next class and asked me to kneel down in a corner. But this didn't matter much because Lakshmi wasn't there. And even then his anger didn't subside. He asked me to meet him at lunch in the staff room. There he asked me to sit down on the floor asked me to write 'I'm a fool', a 100 times in my notebook. Again, a little bit of my self-respect went out as some of my teachers came in and out. Some of them liked me while some of them knew me to be a bad boy of the class. After I had given this to him, he told me that I have to come and do like this every day for 1 month. I didn't think about it except to have a guilt feeling. The next day I reported as required but this time thankfully, he let me off with a smile. I was relieved and forgot the whole thing almost immediately.
A new English teacher, Lawrence, came to my school when I was around 14. He was quite friendly and since I was sitting in the front seats of the class (with always a wish that Lakshmi seated far back might start noticing me), I chit-chatted with him and he was friendly as well. Maybe he also wanted to have some good vibes created around him being new to the school. He was very scholarly in English, which I think may have been helped by himself being a Christian. He took some nice poems like Lucy and Ozymandius which he explained with great zeal and clarity (relative to our standards). Then oneday, he asked everyone to come with the notebooks covered or wrapped up and labeled. I'm not exactly a devoted student and so I didn't do it. When he saw this, he scribbled in big bold letters, 'I'm a fool'. I thought...there goes the pretty look of my notebook. But then, on a lighter vein the way we have been all this time, I said...'Sir, why are you signing your autograph on my notebook?'. He looked at me blankly for a moment. He then asked me to come and meet him after the lecture. Then, he got up and asked me to tell the class what I had just said. I saw that he had taken it too personally and so I said sorry. But he will have none of it. So he brought me before the whole class and asked me to say it. It wouldn't have been a big deal if only Lakshmi was not there. So just as I was trying my best to build up a good image before her, I was made to stand like a culprit. Not only this, after this, he took me to the next class and asked me to kneel down in a corner. But this didn't matter much because Lakshmi wasn't there. And even then his anger didn't subside. He asked me to meet him at lunch in the staff room. There he asked me to sit down on the floor asked me to write 'I'm a fool', a 100 times in my notebook. Again, a little bit of my self-respect went out as some of my teachers came in and out. Some of them liked me while some of them knew me to be a bad boy of the class. After I had given this to him, he told me that I have to come and do like this every day for 1 month. I didn't think about it except to have a guilt feeling. The next day I reported as required but this time thankfully, he let me off with a smile. I was relieved and forgot the whole thing almost immediately.
What's your point, Guardian?
A kid loses his parents in an automobile accident and his uncle takes over as his Guardian. Being a rich kid, the Guardian sends him to some of the finest schools making him a complete man, like the way the commercial goes, 'Ryamonds - The Complete Man'. The Guardian, for his part as bringing up a fine kid gets to enjoy the many material benefits that the kid has inherited. When the kid becomes a fine young man, the Guardian wants him to see how good he is among the girls because that will be the ultimate proof of his fine upbringing. So, he instigates the kid to visit parties where there are nice young ladies as well as sluts. The young man, who has indeed become a very refined person hesitates because he was not taught to do these things in school where it he learnt the fine arts, science and sports. The Guardian suggested, "Son...you will get some real life encounters with some interesting people and come on man...you are grown up and be a man and find for yourself a woman." The youth has for some time been wondering about why girls acted differently and why there were separate sections for boys and girls in the school. Being rough and tough with his male buddies, he was also attracted to the softness that girls seemed to be. But he was too afraid and so when his Guardian suggested, he went along the idea. So he went to late-night parties and social events and to his surprise, he got a lot of admirers. Though he was inexperienced, all his learning and fine manners attracted many because they were all used to unruly, time-wasting and uninteresting folks at the parties and the events. No wonder that many girls fell for him too but he was always wary of one-night stands and believed in commitment to a single girl. After a long period of searching, making friendships and even getting a bit close with some girls as a sign of intimacy to find if one of them matched him, he came across a girl who was just what he had always wanted and needed. They both hit off together and oneday he proposed to her. To his joy, she accepted him and all they had to do was get the approval of her parents and his Guardian. Her father came over to see his Guardian and as every father would like to know,the father asked, "I came to know that your goes to parties. I hope he is a decent young fella." The Guardian said, "Oh, my son is a great guy indeed. He is the darling of all the girls who come to the parties. They all fall over him and just cannot stop rubbing on him. He doesn't turn down even a single girl because being his Guardian, I have told him that honouring human emotions is very important. So I have allowed him to stay late at night in the parties with them...some of them he brings over here as a favour back. He is a Playboy. The fantasy of every girl, if you get what I mean." (winks proudly).
Beyond divinities and spirituality
Some may differ from what I say here but it is just a case of blind men touching different parts of the elephant and giving it different names.
In India, God is sacred. Even if we want to scribble some notes, we will start with scribbling the 'Pullaiyaar Suzhi" (Ganapathy's mark), on the paper. At the same time, there are also atheists like Periyaar (as also a particular school of Indian philosophy) who consider that God doesn't exist, those who believe Him are demons, cheats, fools etc. There is some truth in all this. For example, when God doesn't come to rescue for every cry, when the followers practise terrible rituals, use the name of God for gain or hold an idea of God which is not in touch with common-sense. Hinduism is quite accommodating and there is not even a clear idea or agreement of what God is. The nice thing is that we have somehow still managed with all this confusion.
What I was intending to say is that...there is a state after divinity and spirituality. Buddha went in search of liberation and He practised a lot of terrible austerities. One fine day, He got a nice potion of Payasam (a sweetened liquid made from milk) and everything just fell into place. Yes...I agree, he also sat under the Bodhi tree just after that, but this was what triggered everything. What did He get? He just got a nice simple drink given with love from someone who found Him emaciated. Actually, this is all there is to life and even calling it spirituality is limiting it. What does Krishna promise to Arjuna at the end of the Bhagavad Gita? Just that He will release him from all sins. He doesn't promise heaven or a Mercedes Benz or a kingdom or a beautiful wife or even an abstract state. The same way, at the end of the Vishnu Sahasranama, Veda Vyasa says that those who recite will never have to encounter any evil. Why did He not just say instead you will encounter only good? And in the Pathanjali Yoga, the author says that the practitioner will be in the true form (whatever that is). These three mean one thing...that whatever the end state is just what we started as...the home (But hold on and read further). Everyone is born pure, whether one is born in a noble or pious or rich or shabby home. As they grow up, some people go up while others come down and some remain as they are but eventually after a point, life forces everyone to get back to the pure form they were when they born. But there is a subtle difference...an insect is pure and so also is a lizard or a dog or a chimp. But with each birth, there is a shift to the next level with the same purity. Those against caste system will say this is discriminatory but it is not. It's because a Sudra doing his work will reach God the same way a Vysya or Ksattriya or Brahmin will do so by being devoted to his work. This is told in the Bhagavad Gita but it is also true that a Sudra would have to climb the hill a little more. In life, one has to accept reality as it is. If there is a disease in the body and one just ignores it, it is not going to just go away. It will just get worse. In life, it's not as important where one is as much as in which direction one goes. There are Brahmins who are deluded and hold wrong ideas and habits in the name of modernity, not knowing the blessings that they have. It's vital that people live according to the way they were brought up in. Today in India, a Brahmin who has a peaceful environment at home, instead of learning some creative art or science, goes to the gymnasium to have a 6-pack body, so that he will look like his action hero idol. But then, a Ksattriya has a batter body because he eats non-vegetarian food accepting that it as a fact of life that killing another life is alright as long as it is done as a necessity. A Ksattriya however might get into the lure of money not understanding that the Vysyas are born rich. A Vysya, may be interested in the simplicity of social service and so want to a Sudra's job. So he lists himself in an NGO and the NGO politely requests him to sweep the floor on the first day. This guy, who is used to the Mercedes Benz, balks at such a request and comes back home. The Sudra, thinking the Brahmin class has all the respect wants to be a Minister and he ends up like Raja in a scam, where people blame his integrity when it might have simply been a lack of understanding of mathematical figures. I'm not saying that the caste system is perfect in India because there is still the case of ranking based on the caste. But then, I think it was a grave mistake to have abolished the caste system because India is not a homogeneous society in the cultural sense. Caste system may have been abolished officially but this is just a sham because Indians practise caste system in jobs, marriages etc. in their daily life. I should know because my girl friend married another for this reason. Does it mean that I will try to find a girl within my caste? Yes. Does it mean that I will not fall in love or marry a girl outside of my caste? I don't know but I think it's a matter of balancing emotions and rationality.
But again, I'm transgressing...I was intending to say something else. Being a divinity or a spiritual person is not the ultimate end of anyone. Someone enjoys a cup of coffee but then over time, he or she loses the joy of the experience of it. Then he or she goes on a spiritual endeavour and he or she gets to develop some spiritual qualities but what use are those qualities for? Is it to going around proclaiming that one has turned into an enlightened being or a Jesus or a Buddha or Moses or Krishna or Siva or Sai Baba etc.? Those qualities must pave the way to enjoy the cup of coffee once again, this time without the risk of ever losing the capacity ever. This is liberation. But then, to come to this eternal state, one has to pass through divinity or spirituality, whether knowingly or unknowingly. I just told a cup of coffee because I like it but to some other it can be, playing a game nicely or enjoying a movie or writing a book or inventing a machine or the infinite things in life.
In India, God is sacred. Even if we want to scribble some notes, we will start with scribbling the 'Pullaiyaar Suzhi" (Ganapathy's mark), on the paper. At the same time, there are also atheists like Periyaar (as also a particular school of Indian philosophy) who consider that God doesn't exist, those who believe Him are demons, cheats, fools etc. There is some truth in all this. For example, when God doesn't come to rescue for every cry, when the followers practise terrible rituals, use the name of God for gain or hold an idea of God which is not in touch with common-sense. Hinduism is quite accommodating and there is not even a clear idea or agreement of what God is. The nice thing is that we have somehow still managed with all this confusion.
What I was intending to say is that...there is a state after divinity and spirituality. Buddha went in search of liberation and He practised a lot of terrible austerities. One fine day, He got a nice potion of Payasam (a sweetened liquid made from milk) and everything just fell into place. Yes...I agree, he also sat under the Bodhi tree just after that, but this was what triggered everything. What did He get? He just got a nice simple drink given with love from someone who found Him emaciated. Actually, this is all there is to life and even calling it spirituality is limiting it. What does Krishna promise to Arjuna at the end of the Bhagavad Gita? Just that He will release him from all sins. He doesn't promise heaven or a Mercedes Benz or a kingdom or a beautiful wife or even an abstract state. The same way, at the end of the Vishnu Sahasranama, Veda Vyasa says that those who recite will never have to encounter any evil. Why did He not just say instead you will encounter only good? And in the Pathanjali Yoga, the author says that the practitioner will be in the true form (whatever that is). These three mean one thing...that whatever the end state is just what we started as...the home (But hold on and read further). Everyone is born pure, whether one is born in a noble or pious or rich or shabby home. As they grow up, some people go up while others come down and some remain as they are but eventually after a point, life forces everyone to get back to the pure form they were when they born. But there is a subtle difference...an insect is pure and so also is a lizard or a dog or a chimp. But with each birth, there is a shift to the next level with the same purity. Those against caste system will say this is discriminatory but it is not. It's because a Sudra doing his work will reach God the same way a Vysya or Ksattriya or Brahmin will do so by being devoted to his work. This is told in the Bhagavad Gita but it is also true that a Sudra would have to climb the hill a little more. In life, one has to accept reality as it is. If there is a disease in the body and one just ignores it, it is not going to just go away. It will just get worse. In life, it's not as important where one is as much as in which direction one goes. There are Brahmins who are deluded and hold wrong ideas and habits in the name of modernity, not knowing the blessings that they have. It's vital that people live according to the way they were brought up in. Today in India, a Brahmin who has a peaceful environment at home, instead of learning some creative art or science, goes to the gymnasium to have a 6-pack body, so that he will look like his action hero idol. But then, a Ksattriya has a batter body because he eats non-vegetarian food accepting that it as a fact of life that killing another life is alright as long as it is done as a necessity. A Ksattriya however might get into the lure of money not understanding that the Vysyas are born rich. A Vysya, may be interested in the simplicity of social service and so want to a Sudra's job. So he lists himself in an NGO and the NGO politely requests him to sweep the floor on the first day. This guy, who is used to the Mercedes Benz, balks at such a request and comes back home. The Sudra, thinking the Brahmin class has all the respect wants to be a Minister and he ends up like Raja in a scam, where people blame his integrity when it might have simply been a lack of understanding of mathematical figures. I'm not saying that the caste system is perfect in India because there is still the case of ranking based on the caste. But then, I think it was a grave mistake to have abolished the caste system because India is not a homogeneous society in the cultural sense. Caste system may have been abolished officially but this is just a sham because Indians practise caste system in jobs, marriages etc. in their daily life. I should know because my girl friend married another for this reason. Does it mean that I will try to find a girl within my caste? Yes. Does it mean that I will not fall in love or marry a girl outside of my caste? I don't know but I think it's a matter of balancing emotions and rationality.
But again, I'm transgressing...I was intending to say something else. Being a divinity or a spiritual person is not the ultimate end of anyone. Someone enjoys a cup of coffee but then over time, he or she loses the joy of the experience of it. Then he or she goes on a spiritual endeavour and he or she gets to develop some spiritual qualities but what use are those qualities for? Is it to going around proclaiming that one has turned into an enlightened being or a Jesus or a Buddha or Moses or Krishna or Siva or Sai Baba etc.? Those qualities must pave the way to enjoy the cup of coffee once again, this time without the risk of ever losing the capacity ever. This is liberation. But then, to come to this eternal state, one has to pass through divinity or spirituality, whether knowingly or unknowingly. I just told a cup of coffee because I like it but to some other it can be, playing a game nicely or enjoying a movie or writing a book or inventing a machine or the infinite things in life.
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