jennysdiary's blog » Philosophy

myths

deby — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:17:59 +0000

For awhile now, I have been mulling over the idea, of writing on the topic of Myths….while myths r fascinating, not to say the least, and any myth, will find scores of debatable issues surrounding it, what i find even more fascinating, is that many of these myths, if disected through and through, have at their base, certain very intriguing truths attached to them.
     Myths do not ofcourse stand rational questioning…so they r often scoffed at or at the least, met with amused tolerance, by those given to logical thinking….and there r those who very simply accept it as THE TRUTH for the simple reason , that it has come down from generations…., that it has been advocated by Great minds….and therefore, it has got to be true and there is no questioning the wisdom of ages…..This is one of the reasons why Myths get labelled as “Superstitious Beliefs”, by the logical thinker.
   I have always maintained that in the face of the Harsher Realities of Life, Man turns out to be the most Vulnerable of all creatures, simply becoz, he is the one creature, that is AWARE of his vulnerability….the human mind is the one entity, that realizes its vulnerablity, in the face of the inevitable realities…the mysteries that the whole phenomenon of life is shrouded with..and therefore all the more difficulty in coping with these REALITIES…That brings me to the point…..THE NEED TO COPE…..
                       Science ofcourse explains the Objective World……governed by mathematically precise principles.But our world is more than that…..the inner Subjective World of thoughts , feelings, aspirations, fears……the driving forces underlying the Core of our existence…….What about these…..?..It is here that the need arises…to find Answers that have to match the innumerous Questions that arise from within.Here is where Myths play an important role…..
              I therefore look upon Myths as the Direct Result of our attempts to understand the world around us and the world within us…….
                Seen in this light, Myths, whether eastern or western, Hindu or Greek or Roman…..they seem to cater to but one requirement…Man’s need to cope with his needs ——physical, emotional,spiritual, even intellectual….., thereof leading to a desire to better understand the world around him.Which brings me to the most important issue in question……….Do we blindly accept every myth as the Eternal Truth?…..or do we scoff at it clubbing it as Blind Belief?…
   I wud say..NEITHER attitude does justice to the sacred nature of these myths…….THE FIGURATIVE ASPECT…….that is what we tend to miss out on….If these myths r looked at figuratively, then there is neither need for the scientific mind to scoff at it, nor is there need for blind faith……For figuratively speaking……these myths serve as windows to Eternal Truths………
I am going to borrow at this point this passage from Devadutt Pattanaik, which illustrates to some extent , the point which i am trying to make….
“The story of virgin births and parting seas……. in effect is advocating the existence of an entity who is greater than all forces of Nature, put together…….. A God with six heads, and a demon with eight arms, projects a Universe where there r infinite possibilities, for the better or for the worse………...and so on……….”……and so every myth is a Treasure trove…….containing answers to many of the mysteries that plague our mind , from time to time……...we just need to look that much deeper…..and with broader visions……..
It is not my intent in writing this post to stir up a debate for or against myths….just that seen in a proper light, myths have answers to many questions……and i intend delving into these realms further……………..

24-A DIALOGUE

deby — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:52:40 +0000

DEBY: Jen……u r more critical of our religion than any other…..usually it’s the other way round….

JENNY: I know enough about other religions, to be able to appreciate them..
I do not know enough about them to be able to be critical about them….

The religion into which I was born….I know it through and through…..i am therefore aware of all its plus and minus points.
While I appreciate the many gud aspects……i am in a position to be critical of it too…

DEBY: U tend to bend more towards Hinduism……..

JENNY: What I know of it, is in keeping with what I believe in…..it is incidental…..

DEBY: What about the rituals and superstitious beliefs…u r so analytical otherwise….

JENNY: In many of these practices..if u go into the origin of these rituals….I find there was a scientific basis for them……..which was not quite understood by the common man, of the time….so maybe those who understood the relevance of these rituals, put it forth ,with a touch of religion….which the common man understood better…..tell him to do it in the name of religion..it made sense to him. …scientific explanations did’nt…..

DEBY: They worship the snake….does that make sense to u?

JENNY: If u notice Naag panchmi co-incides with the harvesting season…..The snake is a friend of the farmer……it keeps rodent population down…..A farmer loses more to rodents than to anything else….So in effect, the snake is a natural saviour for the farmer…like a God…

DEBY: What about the no. of fasts that they keep..in the name of this and that…..

JENNY: Abstinence…evry now and then, is good for health….Fasting occasionally helps clear the body machine…flushes out toxic components, that accumulate in the body….Even the different food items that they prepare for every festival……it is connected with the prevalant weather conditions….Ever heard of the neem bath, they take at ugaadi?…Ugaadi co-incides with the on-set of summer…..and neem is good for heat-related problems….what better way to start the summer, than with a neem bath that helps beat the summer heat…it is so soothing…….and having a tulsi plant in the vicinity….tulsi is high on medicinal value…. also a good air-cleanser…..what better way to
ensure its proper care than to entrust it to the woman of the house….plus whether anyone cares to admit it or not a family’s welfare very much revolves around the woman of the house….make her go round it a couple of times in the early morning fresh air…it works wonders for her health, both mental and physical…there’s a lot of wisdom and knowledge hidden in these so-called superstitious practices……

DEBY: u’ve got an explanation for every ritual of theirs..????

JENNY:No…I’ve read about a few things…it makes a lot of sense to me…..The rest ..there must be some explanation…One has to delve deeper to get at the facts…

DEBY: what about superstitious beliefs…mirror cracking…cat crossing the path…..

JENNY:Yeah, there r many that make no sense…..one has to learn to distinguish between what makes sense and what does’nt….but there r very interesting stories about how these originated…..that’s why it’s important to know the origin of these things….u know what to follow……. and what not to…

DEBY:What about Islam?…Dont hear u speak of it often……

JENNY: The few Muslim friends I have , have a heart of gold, Deby….That’s all I know of Islam…..And if these friends of mine are anything to go by…then Islam must be a great religion…..Tried to get a copy of the Quran in English, many times….though…did’nt manage to get one….I’d tried learning the Urdu script, u know that….Ofcourse that was becoz i had gotten interested in reading the original manuscripts pertaining to Mughal history from the National Archives…..Had I learnt urdu..I might have read the Quran…then maybe I cud speak about it……

DEBY:What about the Purdah….?

JENNY:Well, if the woman in question is more comfortable in a purdah, than without it, that’s fine…..tomorrow if i felt the need to wear a purdah for some practical reason, I’d surely use it……but if it were to be forced on me, in the name of social etiquette, then NO…!!!!…..then it wud be more of a statement on the males in the society than anything else……….

DEBY: And what about Polygamy…?…Some of the people in the neighbourhood…u know how it is….

JENNY: For one thing, a person can love more than one person at a time…there r so many nice people out there ..if u have ur mind and heart open u can very well fall in love with anyone who touches ur heart ,cant u?/….why deny it…?//though u dont have to marry everybody and start a family with evrybody,,,,nor can u indulge in getting physical, with evrybody,……practical problems wud ensue., which a person cannot handle……so common sense shd prevail here and this applies for everybody…,muslim or otherwise……even the desire for a male issue….lets not debate that…it is something very personal….But if the polygamy thing is a sign of MCP-ism, then definitely it ’s a question, to consider , is’nt it?/

Actually,U know . after the Holy War in the Gulf, Polygamy was advocated inorder to equalize the male-female ratio in the society of the time…Some of these practices were introduced as solutions to a period-based problem.They shd’ve been erased with the problem. Unfortunately, they have outlived the period that they were meant for.
And there are those who take advantage of that…..

But i do so love the biryani prepared by my Muslim friends…and the puran-polis from my Hindu friends…served to me with so much love…it’s great to live in the midst of such diverse cultures…I am lucky to be an Indian….and the Urdu shayaris…the Ghazals…..Even where clothing is concerned…..I have such a wide range to choose from…..the salwaar-kameez, when I feel like it…the saree..there’s such grace in it, if draped well….there’s no other apparel that can beat it, is’nt it?/

DEBY: but u r in ur jeans or trousers most of the time…

JENNY: Comfort level, Deby…..U have to be comfortable in what u wear……that shd be the deciding factor…not somebody else’s whims or fancies….

23-Jen’s innermost conflicts

deby — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:32:01 +0000

from Jen’s diary: All in all, when I look at the

people around, I find their attitude towards life,just

right….. ……..they are not too analytical…their

analysis, of things ends where their own

requirements end…….beyond that they could’nt

care less…….and they’re happy….never taking

anything too seriously….u find them

everywhere….wherever u go…….they survive

becoz they r like that….be it matters of

principle…of dealing with people…..with

incidents, with their own feelings..their

beliefs…their religion and their work……..I try…I try

to be like them…I do succeed many a times, but

the inner self asserts itself…the undercurrent of

intensity………that is not satisfied with mere

survival…..my sense of fulfilment comes from

giving the heart a full run, when it comes to

experiencing joy or pain….love…or faith for that

matter…

I cannot see God in the church….rituals and formal prayers

have no meaning for me…., but in the things that fill me with

admiration…in man’s capacity to build bonds with others…in the

littlest of things, I’ve experienced HIM….Tribute and thanks rise

from my heart……..that is my communication with God…..that is my

prayer and my experience of divinity…. Joy and serenity have been

mine for the asking becoz they have sprung from within me, not

from without…….U may never find me in the church evrytime u go

there…….but I know I take God with me wherever I go…….he is there

with me and around me…..in the people i meet..in the people I

love…….in all of His Creation….

But there is the other side……My mind has always

been of a questioning nature ….formulating

ideas,creating, editing, forever evolving….never

stagnating…..in fact this is the secret of my

success in the workfield….but my analysing

does’nt stop at that…..it extends to the world

around me…..to religion..to faith, to pain &

suffering, both mine and that of others….this is

what churns up the turmoil within me….making me

experience Hell with an equal intensity, with

which I experience heaven…..If I do not tackle

this part of me…it might just take over……my own

attempts r falling short…hence the need for

communication….but anyone i think of talking

to……is enslaved by the trappings of the

community he belongs to…thereby narrowing his

outlook…..what most fail to understand is that

one’s choice of the mthd in which one practices

religion shd be based on one’s stage of

development…the so-called guiding forces shd be

forces that enlighten, not forces that barricade,

within narrow perspectives. It is this tendency of

religious groups and of society that suffocate the

mind and spirit….creating a so-called conflict….

Life has given me countless opportunities to

see the beauty of God’s creation…in the things

around me…in the relationships I share….in the

music I listen to……in the poems i’ve read…….in

the profound thoughts left behind by people that r

gone…in the littlest of things…i’ve experienced

Divine Bliss in all these….I’ve never failed to thank

God time and again ……my heart has soared up

countless times to God in tribute, in adoration, in

veneration…I’ve seen His hand in all the gifts He

has blessed me with….all the qualities for which I

get appreciated…..respected or even loved……..my

mind has never accepted credit for anything…my

heart has always admitted before God, that the

credit goes to Him…for He has made me what I

am….

I’ve had opportunities .of reading the best

that that there is to read and understand…..the

best works of man and God have never failed ,

when it came to enriching me and above all, my

own experiences both beautiful and ugly, have all

been learning experiences for me…But I see

various other things which make my mind still

dare to look God in the eye and there looms large

between Him and me a very Huge Question

mark…..a Ques before which, Religion and Faith

crumble like empty promises……..

        A very simple , tender ,

compassionate heart…coupled with a

very harsh, complex mind, which

becomes ruthless , when it questions

established beliefs….this becomes a

very difficult combination to live

with…..

        The point is who do I

communicate with……The christian

tells u follow Jesus..the hindu says

…follow Ram & Krishna..the muslim

will say something else…….It does

not matter to me so much who I

follow…it is what I follow, that is

important….i am not a bird to be

caged by any society, religious or

otherwise… I am a bird that breaks

barriers and soars high up in the sky

and explores all that there is to

explore in God’s beautiful

world……but when I soar up there…..I

see not just the Beauty…..but the

ugliness as well…promises, real or

otherwise, of either earthly or

heavenly rewards, fail to motivate

me…nor would achievements of this

nature give me a sense of fulfilment

in   its   entireness….I am always left

feeling hungry and thirsting for

more…….Ive heard preachers

galore…..some of them do impress

my mind…….I salute them from the

bottom of my heart…but the

rest…they make me wish for a

Krishna of the Bhagwad Gita…with

whom I could interact….who could

meet my resistance with an inner

strength par excellence……

22-REFLECTIONS

deby — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:28:13 +0000

Jen ki shikaayat….

What the body requires…everybody is out to attend to ………and they r satisfied about a job well done………

What the mind & heart require……..they r heedless about that……………….

So friends, before we go into the episodes that ensued in Jen’s life……a glimpse of what went on in her mind……..

One of a series of entries in her diary:

Divine energy is all around u……allow it to flow

thro’ you…..

u become an ex-pression of that DIVINITY..

.U become a beautiful part of CREATION

Evil forces only deflate u….! It is only Positive Energy

that makes U soar up in the skies….In ur ability to rise

up is the secret to ur success as a human being….U

justify HIS reason for having created U

KHUDA ko toh mai bahut maanti hoon…uske bagair

meri zindagi nahi chalti…..agar nahi maanti toh logon

ke ibaadat karne ke tareekon ko…mere liye zyaada

zaroori hai, mere dil ki aawaaz ko sun -na….is dil ki

awaaz mein chipi hoti hai kaheen na kaheen , khuda

ki awaaz…jo tumhein kabhi galat karne nahi

deti……phir baaki mai altar pe candle jalaaun ya

nahi…kya fark padta hai…mai church jaaun ya nahi

kya fark padta hai…..?///

The next entry…….

Aaj ghar pe kuch aisi baat ho gayi., mai ro di……TED

aaya tha, bhai ke saath…..he saw my tear-stained

face …. ….Ab uska sms aaya hai…..forwarded msg

hai…

Agar aansoo na hote, toh aankhen itni khoobsurat na

hoteen

Jo dard na hota, toh khushi itni keemti na hoti

Jo maangne se mil jaata agar sab kuch….

toh Khuda ki bhi zaroorat na hoti

I wrote back to TED…..

Yeh toh , kamzor dil ko tassalli dene ka aur bhi

kamzor tareeka hua….The strong mind overcomes all

obstacles in its path, achieves its goal and then

thanks God, that without u God, this would’nt have

been possible…..for me , this is faith…and this is my

tribute to god, if ever there was one….

The suggestion that troubles and tribulations r meant

to keep u in touch with god…does’nt it rather raise a

big question about the Divine Nature of God?…that

he has filled the earth with such untold suffering only

so that his creation would be in touch with Him?////It

must be a weak mind that tries to justify the need for

suffering on this earth. For me, this would rather put

an end to my faith in God..in the Divinity of His Nature

A THIRD ENTRY

If given a choice,…what religion would I like to

follow?/// the principles that dictate or inspire my

code of conduct are essentially the basic principles

of every religion that is practised all around me……I

do not subscribe entirely to any single faith…..I am a

product of the country of my birth…..with its

Christianity, Hinduism, Islam…and what have

u….!…….. I am also a product of the 21st century…..I

have a legacy not of Christianity alone, but of the

Krishna of the Gita, the Vivekanand whose

philosophies r timeless, the Sufi saints , the Rajyog

stream of thought, Akbar’s Din-e-ilahi,and countless

others including Tagore, Kabir, Tulsidas, Wordsworth

, John Masefield and several others ,both by-gone

and contemporary. Coupled with this legacy, my own

theories based on my experiences and experiments

with truth…….I cannot be bound by any one school of

thought….I need to work things out for myself….. I

refuse to labour under any delusions….. I wish to

strip the Truth of all these illusions & delusions and

see it for what it is…….What I see there is in total

contrast to what my religion tells me to see…in

essence, I am speaking of the concept of god, as

portrayed by religions….this is in total contrast to

what my vision is showing me. …and it is this concept

that forms the basis for the faith & religious practices,

right?/ After everything is said and done…I am but a

human…I need Faith, just as any other…

     This very need makes me write:

     God is but a complement of man’s requirements

     Man’s need for God is in direct proportion to his

inadequacies….

So the question is, Is he really the God one wishes

Him to be…..

If one studies the happenings around

you, one is forced to believe that all happenings

around u r set in motion on a basis of, or rather a

principle of Cause and Effect. Purely…!! Every event

therefore occurs within this framework. What I find

objectionable is when ur religion expects u to

believe that things occur beyond this framework.

If a guy ’s bike went out of control and

he bumped into something and got hit fatally in the

process…the cause is surely the bike mechanism or

whatever led to the mishap….now if u r going to tell

me that it happened becoz that was God’s Will, that it

was his Destiny, that we must accept it becoz that

was God’s will…now dont u expect me to buy that

story. Then I would question u about the ‘All

Mightiness, All Powerfulness of ur God, that u

profess to believe in….and I would hate Him becoz he

did not stop the bike from collision……Look at the

pain the mother and wife and child of that man is

going thro…..I would accuse ur God of

heartlessnesss…no, dont expect me to accept that

crap…I’d rather believe that God does’nt interfere in

these matters….Cause & Effect is what I’d rather

believe in and leave it at that.So then all this crap

about .”.have faith…evrything will get sorted out and

all these rites to appease God…oh none of it makes

sense to me….these practices make me sick.. I

neither love nor hate ur God…..Let me find out what

He is for myself ..u believe what ur heart tells u to

believe…dont force ur belief on me….

17-gory details

deby — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:33:37 +0000

Jeff’s niece’s wedding….the wedding hall…...
From her diary;

I tried sitting in one place….in a corner…..so that

nobody would talk to me much..

but then this doesn’t work out.From out of the

blue..there’s always someone…I tried to make myself

busy….so that no one could stand with me for more

than two min…But the children…I could’nt keep them

in one place..they kept running about..and out of the

hall to play.How cud I leave them…..I kept going out

to keep an eye on them..to see they were safe…from

the shadows, Jeff suddenly came upon me..”.U r

coming out so often to draw attention u b***** !”he

said…Get into the car, just now…we r going home ….”

Damn the tears of mine….they r never in control.

They just start spilling..I just went n sat in the

car…lest someone shd see me crying. He pushed

Diana n Roy in and got in after me . We came home

without taking leave of anyone……with him abusing

me all the way..and the driver trying to pretend hard

he could’nt hear anything…..ph.calls asking me why

we left in such a hurry. What do I tell them…..am

having a tough time keeping my voice from breaking.

Damn me…why cant i ignore him?…Why do I have to

get all emotional n teary-eyed?gud I did’nt invite any

of my staff members…there wld have been so many

unasked ques on the work scene…

Another entry…

This guy from Germany was here yesterday…Janice had sent him…a

German….her husband’s friend…come on a tour of India…we were to

put him up here for the night….the guy had to be made to feel at home

here….. he would take experiences from here back home…Indian

hospitality….jeff could’nt even carry off a normal conversation with

him…i still stayed aloof, knowing what jeff would do to me…..finally when

the silence became heavy, jeff himself came n said to me that i must

attend to the guest…it turned out the man was a buddhist…..he started

out with feeling uneasy in the strange surrounding…soon we got to

talking..he wanted to know many things about india..about …indian

cultures …i had to keep the conversation going, while i served him

dinner….and i can talk about these things…so by and by the man

loosened up …enjoyed the dinner n talking to me,,,and said

so….formality demanded it too…..he retired to the guest room..least

aware of what was in store for his hostess ,for having attended to him….I

could sense the violence building up in Jeff…but still what i was in for..i

never could have imagined ……i was tired.. i just tried to fall asleep,

hoping Jeff would fall asleep too …he put off the lights and advanced

towards me …i cringed….he was upon me…pinning me down..but this

time he took me totally unawares…his knees were on either side of my

neck..and God ..that thing… he was pushing it down my throat…..as

deep as he could..i was suffocating……..and that uggh going down my

throat and i was swallowing it,gulping for breath, …..he was raving n

ranting…”b****..prove u r mine…..prove u r mine ..”

does this type of thing happen between other couples?//..how do i

know…i cannot ask somebody this sort of thing….

i hate u jeff….i hate u……from the depth of my heart….i curse the moment

i married u…..God is this the hell they speak of ?//…if so, what is my

fault?//

i do not wish to add anything to this today…….i must take ur leave…