I don’t by and large go out for a walk. Some time ago I did and discovered that all species of guys dig up my nerve. A small boy came up and asked me to buy some flowers. I shooed him away. He pestered and uttered that the profits would go towards stopping child abuse. Did you notice what he did? He linked his profit making endeavour, with a social cause. Do you think a small boy can solve that problem? Maybe he is saving money to have pizza!
Every now and then I get mugged by social consciousness salesmen or schemes. I enter a mall and I am mugged by schemes which say that I can actually save the world by buying this packet of coffee and that packet of sugar. If I buy this packet of tea instead of that coffee I would save the farmers in Vidharba. Some few rupees from a soft drink purchase would be donated to cure TB. My whiskey glass is so socially aware that it actually saves trees, stabilizing global warming. If sending 5 or 10 emails I would help charity institutions that are making the world a better place to breath.
My reaction is simple. Are we looking at a socially conscious business houses or are they not able to sell their products straightforward and directly so as to take shelter in ‘save the world’ schemes?
Another reflection of mine is that, let’s cut the bullshit and the charade and let us get back to plain old buying and selling.
If drinking off from whiskey glasses saves trees, an even better way to save trees is not to swallow whiskey at all. It is also not very comprehensible whether lowering the requirement for paper used for packing whiskey would essentially save trees, in view of the fact that a lower demand would sooner or later signify less motivation to plant and refurbish the supply. And do we in actuality have to save trees anyway? Is anyone even on familiar terms with the optimal number of trees that are supposed to be alive on this earth at any given point of time?
The “drink this particular brand of whiskey and save trees” really is a bugging one. Whiskey breaks ice and you start to converse, get into a philosophic mood, brings all the joys and laughter and twinkling in the eyes, stimulates you, enhances joy and happiness and lets you forget the tragedies, the miseries, the heartaches, the sorrows and the pains in life. It pours millions as taxes in the Government coffers which are used to provide care to our children, to our blind, deaf and dumb, looks after our aged, builds infrastructure. Good whiskey is good whiskey. So why should I favour a particular brand which has taken up a cause to enlighten me and my social consciousness? I find it bizarre and scheming that some dumb marketing guy has dreamed of this selling campaign. Why should some phony tale be fabricated that some proceeds will be donated to achieve some grand social vision?
If I fancy and want to bestow some to charity, I am absolutely competent of doing this on my own and according to my own values. I do not need any industrial houses to get involved and facilitate me by showing me the alleyway to true enlightenment. When someone comes along and tries to dictate to me what my values should be, I have a propensity to push back. I just want product and services. I will take care of the rest at my own leisure. What is so knotty about it?
╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Nothing is new
۞ People hold a so called modern view or argue about a host of things. For example people argue that when you die, everything ends, or that it does not matter if punishment or reward is meted out.
I would like to cite the philosophy of two philosophers :
1. Ajita Kesakambali, was an ancient Indian philosopher He preached a methodical materialist doctrine which said that good deeds and charity gained a man nothing in the end. His body dissolved into the primary elements at death, no matter what he had or had not done. Nothing remained. Good and evil, charity and compassion were all irrelevant to a man's fate." According to an early Buddhist source, Ajita Kesakambali argued that:
There is no such thing as alms or sacrifice or offering. There is neither fruit nor result of good or evil deeds...A human being is built up of four elements. When he dies the earthly in him returns and relaapses to the earth, the fluid to the water, the heat to the fire, the wind to the air, and his faculties pass into space. The four bearers, on the bier as a fifth, take his dead body away; till they reach the burning, ground men utter forth eulogies, but there his bones are bleached, and his offerings end in ashes. It is a doctrine of fools, this talk of gifts. It is an empty lie, mere idle talk, when men say there is profit herein. Fools and wise alike, on the dissolution of the body, are cut off, annihilated, and after death they are not.
In short – with death everything is annihilated
Ajita lived in the 6th century BC.(that’s about 2600 years back).
2. Another philosopher called Pūraṇa Kassapa who was an Indian abstemious teacher lived around the 5th or 4th c. BCE. He lived contemporarily with Mahavira and the Buddha.
It is accounted As an illustration of Purana's beliefs, in the Samannaphala Sutta that Purana had said:
"...[I] acting or getting others to act, in mutilating or getting others to mutilate, in torturing or getting others to torture, in inflicting sorrow or in getting others to inflict sorrow, in tormenting or getting others to torment, in intimidating or getting others to intimidate, in taking life, taking what is not given, breaking into houses, plundering wealth, committing burglary, ambushing highways, committing adultery, speaking falsehood — one does no evil. If with a razor-edged disk one were to turn all the living beings on this earth to a single heap of flesh, a single pile of flesh, there would be no evil from that cause, no coming of evil. Even if one were to go along the right bank of the Ganges, killing and getting others to kill, mutilating and getting others to mutilate, torturing and getting others to torture, there would be no evil from that cause, no coming of evil. Even if one were to go along the left bank of the Ganges, giving and getting others to give, making sacrifices and getting others to make sacrifices, there would be no merit from that cause, no coming of merit. Through generosity, self-control, restraint, and truthful speech there is no merit from that cause, no coming of merit.'
In short Purana believed that any reward or punishment for either good or bad deeds are denied.
To reiterate and corroborate my belief that there is nothing new in this world and that everything is all said and done a long time back, it is only that you were naïve, badly informed or ignorant, I stand vindicated
Hence to adopt a motto like “Quest never ends” might paradoxically make us more intelligent and humble.
╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩
I would like to cite the philosophy of two philosophers :
1. Ajita Kesakambali, was an ancient Indian philosopher He preached a methodical materialist doctrine which said that good deeds and charity gained a man nothing in the end. His body dissolved into the primary elements at death, no matter what he had or had not done. Nothing remained. Good and evil, charity and compassion were all irrelevant to a man's fate." According to an early Buddhist source, Ajita Kesakambali argued that:
There is no such thing as alms or sacrifice or offering. There is neither fruit nor result of good or evil deeds...A human being is built up of four elements. When he dies the earthly in him returns and relaapses to the earth, the fluid to the water, the heat to the fire, the wind to the air, and his faculties pass into space. The four bearers, on the bier as a fifth, take his dead body away; till they reach the burning, ground men utter forth eulogies, but there his bones are bleached, and his offerings end in ashes. It is a doctrine of fools, this talk of gifts. It is an empty lie, mere idle talk, when men say there is profit herein. Fools and wise alike, on the dissolution of the body, are cut off, annihilated, and after death they are not.
In short – with death everything is annihilated
Ajita lived in the 6th century BC.(that’s about 2600 years back).
2. Another philosopher called Pūraṇa Kassapa who was an Indian abstemious teacher lived around the 5th or 4th c. BCE. He lived contemporarily with Mahavira and the Buddha.
It is accounted As an illustration of Purana's beliefs, in the Samannaphala Sutta that Purana had said:
"...[I] acting or getting others to act, in mutilating or getting others to mutilate, in torturing or getting others to torture, in inflicting sorrow or in getting others to inflict sorrow, in tormenting or getting others to torment, in intimidating or getting others to intimidate, in taking life, taking what is not given, breaking into houses, plundering wealth, committing burglary, ambushing highways, committing adultery, speaking falsehood — one does no evil. If with a razor-edged disk one were to turn all the living beings on this earth to a single heap of flesh, a single pile of flesh, there would be no evil from that cause, no coming of evil. Even if one were to go along the right bank of the Ganges, killing and getting others to kill, mutilating and getting others to mutilate, torturing and getting others to torture, there would be no evil from that cause, no coming of evil. Even if one were to go along the left bank of the Ganges, giving and getting others to give, making sacrifices and getting others to make sacrifices, there would be no merit from that cause, no coming of merit. Through generosity, self-control, restraint, and truthful speech there is no merit from that cause, no coming of merit.'
In short Purana believed that any reward or punishment for either good or bad deeds are denied.
To reiterate and corroborate my belief that there is nothing new in this world and that everything is all said and done a long time back, it is only that you were naïve, badly informed or ignorant, I stand vindicated
Hence to adopt a motto like “Quest never ends” might paradoxically make us more intelligent and humble.
╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
David Cameron
Watching the BBC today I was amazed how the new British PM David Cameron and his Dy PM Nick Clegg addressed the press so succinctly and precisely. How I wished our politicians spoke in these no nonsense approach.
They maybe idiots in their own country (the citizen always considers their very own politicians as monsters)…but to us Indians the speech and the coalition Govt. marriage depicted a sense of responsibilities, albeit it is to be seen how long this marriage last.
They maybe idiots in their own country (the citizen always considers their very own politicians as monsters)…but to us Indians the speech and the coalition Govt. marriage depicted a sense of responsibilities, albeit it is to be seen how long this marriage last.
Édith Piaf__ Non, je ne regrette rien
Today suddenly I discovered Edith Piaf. This was when I had the occasion of listening to some French songs. She was a French singer and an icon. So I called on my next door neighbour - Shri You Tube and ‘saw the song’. It is called, Non, je ne regrette rien. My eyes got misty after the end of the song. . . After translation the song came out something like this:
Édith Piaf__ Non, je ne regrette rien
Non, rien de rien [No, nothing at all]
Non, je ne regrette rien No, I don't regret anything at all
Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait [Nor the good that was given to me]
ni le mal, Tout a m'est bien gal [Nor the evil. They’re all the same]
Non, rien de rien [No, nothing at all]
Non, je ne regrette rien [I don't regret anything at all]
C'est paye, balaye, oublie [It’s all paid for, wiped out, and forgotten]
Je me fous du passé [And I don't care for what’s gone by]
Avec mes souvenirs [With my memories]
J'ai allume le feu [I’ve lit a fire]
Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs [My sorrows, my pleasures]
Je n'ai plus besoin d'eux [I don’t need them anymore]
Balayes mes amours [My romances wiped out]
Avec leurs tremolos [With the trembling they brought]
Balayes pour toujours [Wiped out forever]
Je repars a zero [I set out once more from zero]
Non, rien de rien [No, nothing at all]
Non, je ne regrette rien [I don't regret anything at all]
Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait [Nor the good that was given me]
ni le mal, Tout ca m'est bien egal [Nor the evil. They’re all the same]
Non, rien de rien [No, nothing at all]
Non, je ne regrette rien [I don't regret anything at all]
Car ma vie, Car mes joies [Because my life, Because my joys
Aujourd'hui, ca commence avec toi.[Today It all begins with you]
Another song written by Edith Piaf was La vie en rose. If means “Life in Pink.” This is the original. Despite the fact that I have heard the English version of this song sung by Ella Fitzgerald, Jose Carreras, Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin, Connie Francis, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Liza Minneli among others, I never knew that Edith Piaf originally wrote and sang this song. It is a very famous version.
Édith Piaf__ Non, je ne regrette rien
Non, rien de rien [No, nothing at all]
Non, je ne regrette rien No, I don't regret anything at all
Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait [Nor the good that was given to me]
ni le mal, Tout a m'est bien gal [Nor the evil. They’re all the same]
Non, rien de rien [No, nothing at all]
Non, je ne regrette rien [I don't regret anything at all]
C'est paye, balaye, oublie [It’s all paid for, wiped out, and forgotten]
Je me fous du passé [And I don't care for what’s gone by]
Avec mes souvenirs [With my memories]
J'ai allume le feu [I’ve lit a fire]
Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs [My sorrows, my pleasures]
Je n'ai plus besoin d'eux [I don’t need them anymore]
Balayes mes amours [My romances wiped out]
Avec leurs tremolos [With the trembling they brought]
Balayes pour toujours [Wiped out forever]
Je repars a zero [I set out once more from zero]
Non, rien de rien [No, nothing at all]
Non, je ne regrette rien [I don't regret anything at all]
Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait [Nor the good that was given me]
ni le mal, Tout ca m'est bien egal [Nor the evil. They’re all the same]
Non, rien de rien [No, nothing at all]
Non, je ne regrette rien [I don't regret anything at all]
Car ma vie, Car mes joies [Because my life, Because my joys
Aujourd'hui, ca commence avec toi.[Today It all begins with you]
Another song written by Edith Piaf was La vie en rose. If means “Life in Pink.” This is the original. Despite the fact that I have heard the English version of this song sung by Ella Fitzgerald, Jose Carreras, Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin, Connie Francis, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Liza Minneli among others, I never knew that Edith Piaf originally wrote and sang this song. It is a very famous version.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Fascism is as old as life
۩ Human beings by birth are fascists, should fascism be described as an absurd reaction of a typical human temperament. This means that fascism is as aged as life (not civilization). Fascism cannot be eradicated overnight. It took hundreds of years for the human race to become civilized. In spite of this fascism can be seen popping its head up in some corners of the world, in one form or the other.
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
۩ Even when we really grow up and become old, we are still looking for playmates to share our thoughts and feelings. We are still children. A lonely man who prefers and enjoys his loneliness is a true grown man and has successfully shredded the garb of children.
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
۩ One form of depression is another form of expressing one’s regret in life.
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
۩ Is there something wrong with politics or is my mind telling me something else. Otherwise why should we shoot the small thieves and appoint the bigger ones as ministers? Why?
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
۩ Most people don’t live. They dream about living
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
۩ Some people make their way up in life, fast. Most of them though make it slow. But the majoring of them does not even make it at all. How little it is worth making it up in life! Is that all people achieve? Making money and a little bit of reputation, the latter in any case is a bubble.
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
۩ Even when we really grow up and become old, we are still looking for playmates to share our thoughts and feelings. We are still children. A lonely man who prefers and enjoys his loneliness is a true grown man and has successfully shredded the garb of children.
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
۩ One form of depression is another form of expressing one’s regret in life.
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
۩ Is there something wrong with politics or is my mind telling me something else. Otherwise why should we shoot the small thieves and appoint the bigger ones as ministers? Why?
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
۩ Most people don’t live. They dream about living
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
۩ Some people make their way up in life, fast. Most of them though make it slow. But the majoring of them does not even make it at all. How little it is worth making it up in life! Is that all people achieve? Making money and a little bit of reputation, the latter in any case is a bubble.
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
Saturday, May 08, 2010
The Day’s Dose _ 6
۩ If there is a god up there – then you cannot see, hear or touch that god. But you can surely screw his creatures.
____________________________________
۩ Is there is difference between god and chance?
____________________________________
۩ I haven’t learnt much from history. History revealed how people in the past made mistakes. It tells us what we should not do. It does not tell us what we should do going forward.
____________________________________
۩ The internet suddenly seems to have become another planet.
____________________________________
۩ All people must work to live and survive. Leisure is leisure. (I mean it’s leisure to think or have leisure). People work throughout their lives and retire in their late fifties or early sixties. I don’t profess that one should not work. Work, but for a decade only and then retire with maybe fifty years of your life in idleness, doing nothing or doing the things that you always aspired to do.
____________________________________
The banking system, the political system, the, advertising world, the multi national corporation, the entertainment industries have mended, molded and controlled us, our thoughts and actions. These are the modern day tyrants. They rule and subdue us. Call it Kafkaesque or Kafkaism
____________________________________
____________________________________
۩ Is there is difference between god and chance?
____________________________________
۩ I haven’t learnt much from history. History revealed how people in the past made mistakes. It tells us what we should not do. It does not tell us what we should do going forward.
____________________________________
۩ The internet suddenly seems to have become another planet.
____________________________________
۩ All people must work to live and survive. Leisure is leisure. (I mean it’s leisure to think or have leisure). People work throughout their lives and retire in their late fifties or early sixties. I don’t profess that one should not work. Work, but for a decade only and then retire with maybe fifty years of your life in idleness, doing nothing or doing the things that you always aspired to do.
____________________________________
The banking system, the political system, the, advertising world, the multi national corporation, the entertainment industries have mended, molded and controlled us, our thoughts and actions. These are the modern day tyrants. They rule and subdue us. Call it Kafkaesque or Kafkaism
____________________________________
Saturday, May 01, 2010
When We Pass Away / The Old / The Wall
۞ People keep advising me “have an ‘open’ mind.” The problem being open minded is that people will keep coming in and keep trying to put things in it.
_________________________________
۞ I don’t seem to understand why and how can suicide be against the law. I have often wondered if I every try to commit suicide and somehow failed in my attempt. The rope might snap or the gas may not light up. I would then be thrown in a prison and would be shown and made to feel how wonderful and cheerful life really is and how thoroughly life is worth living.
_________________________________
۞ There is a rumour going around that my friend has found God. I think this is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my car keys, and fancy my friend finding the almighty himself! (or is it herself?). Whatever….
_________________________________
۞ I asked someone what could be the opposite of miracle.
_________________________________
When We Pass Away
A date passes away
The day ends and brings another date
A month and then a year pass away
Ushering in another month, another year
It is becoming easier to deduce
What lies ahead
Yesterday was exhausted in world-weariness
Tomorrow will conclude just like tomorrow
A droning day
Pursued by another repetitive day
Similar things will occur again
And then will occur again
The same moments will come and go
Another day, another month, another year
Will pass away
But there is hope
Hope indeed
One day it will end
When we pass away
_____________________________________
The Old
Take a close look at the old
There bodies crumbling
How unhappy they look
Weary by their pathetic life
They live on
This is the life we live
We fear to lose our wretched life
We love this life
The life which resides in our miserable body
How contradictory is our existence
We love life
We are afraid to die
Still we grumble
And hang on to this old depressed life
______________________________________
The Wall
I am constructing a wall
Thick and High
I’ve had enough of this outside world
This bleak world, it nibbles my mind
Slowly, steadily the wall is rising
Without the world noticing it
They won’t hear a sound
I will close myself off
From the outside world
Indiscernibly_____
_______________________________
_________________________________
۞ I don’t seem to understand why and how can suicide be against the law. I have often wondered if I every try to commit suicide and somehow failed in my attempt. The rope might snap or the gas may not light up. I would then be thrown in a prison and would be shown and made to feel how wonderful and cheerful life really is and how thoroughly life is worth living.
_________________________________
۞ There is a rumour going around that my friend has found God. I think this is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my car keys, and fancy my friend finding the almighty himself! (or is it herself?). Whatever….
_________________________________
۞ I asked someone what could be the opposite of miracle.
_________________________________
When We Pass Away
A date passes away
The day ends and brings another date
A month and then a year pass away
Ushering in another month, another year
It is becoming easier to deduce
What lies ahead
Yesterday was exhausted in world-weariness
Tomorrow will conclude just like tomorrow
A droning day
Pursued by another repetitive day
Similar things will occur again
And then will occur again
The same moments will come and go
Another day, another month, another year
Will pass away
But there is hope
Hope indeed
One day it will end
When we pass away
_____________________________________
The Old
Take a close look at the old
There bodies crumbling
How unhappy they look
Weary by their pathetic life
They live on
This is the life we live
We fear to lose our wretched life
We love this life
The life which resides in our miserable body
How contradictory is our existence
We love life
We are afraid to die
Still we grumble
And hang on to this old depressed life
______________________________________
The Wall
I am constructing a wall
Thick and High
I’ve had enough of this outside world
This bleak world, it nibbles my mind
Slowly, steadily the wall is rising
Without the world noticing it
They won’t hear a sound
I will close myself off
From the outside world
Indiscernibly_____
_______________________________
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