Dialogy... Amrit Jami

My illustrious, diligent and talented friend Amrit Jami (better known by variations of his surname) once had a status msg that quoth

"jaage hain ... soaae nahin..."

Being jobless myself, I sought an explanation. Here's what ensued ...

me: to ab soo jao

11:07 Jami: he he

 me: y did u stay awake?

 Jami: i was workin

  on somethin

 me: hmm

11:08 u got some sort of magic power

  u were properly awake in afm

 Jami: arre

  dis is my fav subject

  how can i sleep

  ?

 me: mine 2

11:09 but i slept thru anyway

 Jami: he he

 me: maybe i need more practice

 Jami: no

  u jus need 2 focus

 me: well get some rest

 Jami: sleep

  is always under ur control

 me: m doing the same

11:10 Jami: u jus need 2 hold ur mind

 me: i doubt that

 Jami: jus dont let it stop thinkin

  and u wont fall asleep

  d moment u let it stop

  u sleep

 me: u r telling me the secret of atibala

  m going to post this on my blog

11:11 chow

 Jami: atibala?

 me: it's a mantra that vishwamitra taught to rama and lakshmana

  whi;le they were helping him

11:12 it enables one to be healthy without sleep

 Jami: ok

  wow

 me: they were taught another mantra

 Jami: see

 me: it's called bala

11:13 Jami: one doesnt need 2 read all mythology 2 know it

 me: guess its power

  i know

  just my preferred way

11:16 Jami: he he

  yes

  predferred way

My insomnia and ensuing somnolence in AFM class had got me thinking of the Ramayana. As a matter of fact, I'm thinking of starting a series on it. So thank you Amrit for inspiring me, and get well soon (He's got a backache).

A Holiday Called Life

The things that we do, in the course of survival, are seldom questioned. It is our other-worldly pursuits, so to speak, that are brought under the scanner.

Life, says the philosopher, is what exists beyond the business of survival. When you are certain that you can make it through the day, the rest of the day is a holiday.

Welcome then, to the holiday called life.

The realm of the living is populated by many kinds of holidaymakers. Some are busmen, some are compulsive travellers. Others are lotus eaters, and perhaps still others who are unclassified.

Busmen are people who spend their holidays doing the same thing that they do for a living. They are addicted to the thrills, chills, and by that extension, the miseries of the game of survival. When they’ve beaten the wooden jungle, they create one out of concrete just for kicks. And then they lament about their misfortunes. Truly, life is wasted on these lily-livers.

Then there are the compulsive travellers. Their sole aim is to cover as much ground as possible. They have a simple belief – the journey is more important than the end. They care not about purpose, not even about pleasure. They believe that they have one life – and they intend to do it all in that period. And as you know, like velocity and time, grading is relative, and the travellers are only relatively better than the busmen.

But as far as holidaymakers go, in my opinion, the lotus eaters take the cake. They care neither about the arrow of time, nor the vagaries of space. They live in the here and now and are unaffected by the illusions of duality. Sins tempt them not, neither do virtues beguile them. They see the world not as it was, can or should be, but as it is. Only of these people can it be said with conviction – that life is not wasted on them.

So, is life wasted on living?

Well, it depends on the liver.

Me, in verse

What I do, wherefore and why,

I know not and the days go by,

Here that I am, whence did I come,

Where will I go, these are just some,

Queries that I have, and forsooth,

I won't flinch in the face of the truth.

When it's play, it's just that, a game,

But done for a living, it's not the same,

By the time I knew, my days were spent,

Upon my resolve, I had to repent,

Disgraced by the Monarch, and out of spite,

I left Sangraal for the Jesuits' light.

My hand, my pride, the place I reside,

I am within and beauty outside,

What I see, I get the same,

If I lose it, I am to blame,

Strange bedfellows, my mind and me,

An empty manger, not a place to be.

Karma with Karan

More in the dialogue form...

KPJ: What do you mean by duty? Who decides duty?

my humble opinion: No such thing as duty...

Survival requires us to do a lot of things, all of which affect us, our friends and family, our foes and our environment.There's simply one compulsion to do these things - either do them or die. Die now, or die later, or ...

Social functioning in humans, like in wolves and dolphins and other primates, is defined by a learnt code of conduct (COC). The COC simply lists those activities necessary for survival, and calls them duties. For example, in a baboon clan, the elders always feed first, so it is the duty of the younger members to wait/assist.

But that's not all. Individual clans also might have extra clauses in their COC, to serve as differentiator between clans.

Extrapolate this to humans. The original COC's were inevitably religious, but with the rise of religious pluralism and such circumstances, they became secular, and unique to a region or community. In course of time the 'differentiator clauses' turned into proper duties.

'Respect your parents, and care for them in their old age' is one such example (in my humble opinion). This clause has no evolutionary merit, as such, but is still considered a duty in the Orient (that includes us). Idea is, anyone who loves their parents will do this anyway, but there isn't any point compelling someone who doesn't. In the US, for example, old folks don't expect their children to take care of them, and usually bequeath their properties to the institution which does. The children don't expect otherwise. In India, in spite of this being deemed a duty and all, we observe the worst of both worlds.

KPJ: Emotions make us weak, cloud our judgement, force us to waste our time and energy - how do we escape them?

me: You don't.

There are two systems that coordinate everything we say or do, voluntary or otherwise. And they always, repeat, always work together. One's the endocrine system, other's the nervous. Both are headquartered in our brains, but in different regions. Emotions, largely governed by the former, are the tools of this decision making system. Not reasoning.

Emotions don't cloud your judgement or weaken you; they are the results of ages of evolution, and hold considerable survival value - or had held in the past. The reason they seem redundant sometimes, is that we have changed our environment much much faster than our brains had time to evolve to modify or discard them. Which is why most human COC's advocate control of certain emotion as a duty.

But it requires wisdom to distinguish between which 'duties', so to speak, have social/survival value, and which are not. So you shouldn't blindly stifle your emotions or do what is supposedly required of you.

KPJ: What stops us from doing what we want, especially at the expense of the others?

me: The transactional analysis theory is the simplest way of explaining it.

This theory talks about the human mind being divided into three overlapping sections - the parent, the adult and the child. It works like this: when we are children (or encounter a new experience, such as learning to drive a car), and any event happens, it is simultaneously recorded in two areas - one records the child's own emotions, reasoning, and reactions and the other records the emotions, reasoning, and reactions of the elders/dominating authorities involved in the event. The former record is the child, and the latter is the parent.

The child and the parent areas are also governors of certain traits, such as inquisitiveness/creativity and a dominating/nurturing tendency respectively.

When making a decision, inputs from both records are compared and the person's own discretion is used by the processor area, which is the adult. But this is the ideal case.

Sometimes, one of the records dominates, or is completely estranged from the decision-making process. For example, a typical religious fanatic does exactly as programmed in the parent, without taking inputs from the child or processing it in the adult. Such a person is technically said to be parent contaminated, and child estranged.

Needless to say, you'd have figured out that it is the parent that stops you from doing a lot of things. But the influence of this area can and should be overcome in the face of circumstances.

At any rate, it is my belief that even if the parent stops you from doing really dangerous stuff or makes you do stuff you really like to, it is wise to come up with logical adult-like reasons for doing/not doing those things.

Extra Info: Existentialism in a nutshell: Existentialists believe in the power of personal choices in determining destiny - this is all I gather.

...Like I always say, a story or two is worth tomes of theory. So I suggest you watch The Beautiful Mind, and if so inclined, read more about TA in 'I'm Ok, You're Ok'.

About KPJ

Karan Pankaj Jani is currently pursuing his BS in Astrophysics from the University of Pensylvania. He's known to be a friend in need, and for his propensity to ask beautiful questions. Watch out for his comments.

Love

Many scriptures and other profound writings in the past have been presented in a Dialogue format - most notably the Bhagavat Gita. I too propose to adopt something similar here. Here's an excerpt of a chat between my sister and me. (I think the world of my sister, and I may be excused for it)

21:00 Aritri: love s nt done lik buisness

  neway kp it ur way

21:01 me: i agree

  but love is something that should make u rise

  not fall

  true love increases one's powers

  remember kikio

 Aritri: i noe

  nice :)

21:02 me: she was lost in inu yasha's thoughts

  her rival priestess thought that falling in love made her spiritualy weak

  and attacked her

21:03 but in spite of being lost in thought

  she not only repelled the attack nonchalantly

  but also practically destroyed the enemy priestess

  this example is etched into my mind

21:04 and u must remember it too

  i don't know if m in love

  in fact m trying to find out if m capable of such a thing

  but i care for these ppl

21:05 i think so atleast

  and probably that's something like loove too

  coz it inspired me to apply those fundas

  which i didn't even know properly abt

21:06 that's all

  temme what u think

21:08 Aritri: bravo

  m amazed

  realy

  u inspire me

  pls blog this thingy up

 me: no way

21:09 will be teased to no end

 Aritri: arey

  pls blog it up

  man dis s wat ppl

  die 2 hear read

  dey need dis clearance didi

  do sum social service

So, upon her request, I narrate this excerpt from a famous Japanese Manga storyline.

"Once upon a time, the world was inhabited by humans and demons. The latter came in all shapes and sizes, and like humans, in all personality types. Those who were kind and good sometimes fell in love with humans, and raised mixed families. Those who meant no good to any creature were slain by monks/nuns and priest(esse)s.

We talk of a time when there existed a Sacred Jewel (history and name irrelevant to us now), guarded fiercely by our heroine, a priestess named Kikio. Evil demons and humans sought this artefact with equal enthusiasm, for all the reasons typical to such fairy tales.

But one fine day, an exceptional individual came to seek the stone. Born of a human mother and a demon father, he had had a tough time growing up. Neither the humans nor the demons would accept him, and his mixed blood had unusual properties (not of interest here). Sick of being in no-man's land (no-demon's land, actually), he sought the powers of the Jewel to turn into a fully fledged demon. Meet the hero, Inu Yasha.
Well, needless to say, they met. Also needless to say, it was love at first sight.

Strictly speaking, priestesses differ from nuns (in the Japanese form of Buddhism) in that they are ascetics - they can't get married. So this was, sort of, bad news in a lot of respects.

So, word got out. A rival priestess (name both irrelevant and difficult), who was evil, btw, decided that the time was ripe to wipe Kikio out. Assumption was, since the priestess has fallen in love, her spiritual powers have weakened.

So one evening, when Lady Kikio sat on the riverbank, contemplating her beloved, our villainess struck. Too bad for her though. For the thing is, losing herself in his thought had made Kikio 4 times more alert, and 10 times more powerful, and with a casual flick of her bow (she was always armed), she not only deflected the aforementioned attack, but wiped the villainess out.


fin"


Ignorant as I may be of many things, I do believe that being in love magnifies one's powers, and this tale is one of my favourite examples.

It's only words... Part II - वान्ग्मयम तपः

Words are constituted of two parts - the phonetic, or sound, and the intrinsic meaning. The phonetic part is manifest- it can be heard, recorded in writing/audio, and reproduced. The meaning is unmanifest- it can only be perceived or understood.

One ancient school of thought described God the same way. Divinity was expressed in the manifest form as Creation, and as the Unmanifest form that was the Spirit or Paramatma or whatever one might call it. In fact, so strong was their concept of duality, that their official language had a singular, plural and dual form.

Seeing this similarity in between the nature of God and words, they held words sacred, and professed that  the art of good speech was tantamount to penance - वान्ग्मयम तपः

The school of thought is of course the Shaktha/Shaiva school, whose credo is:

वागर्थविद सम्वृत्तौ, वागर्थः प्रतिपत्तये |

जगतः पितरौ वन्दे, पार्वती परमेश्वरौ ||

Salutations to the parents of all Creation, Parvati and Parameshvara, who are inseparable, just like the sound and the meaning (of a word) are inseparable.

Divinity theories aside, there's no denying that words are powerful tools in the aid of mankind. Wielding them skilfully requires true penance. But using them well is penance too.

Long before Socrates' triple test, our scriptures defined that anything to be said must satisfy three criteria: सत्यम्, प्रियम्, हितम् - It should be true, it should sound good and it should be well intended. Such speech is truly an offering to God, and pleases all who hear it, and never fails to fulfil it's intentions.

So with the best of intents, I pray that this Deepavali, Ganesh, Lakshmi and Sarasvati, bless us with the power to win over the recruiters with our words (and deeds, but mostly words).

It's only words... Part I - Etymology

E PLVRIBVS VNNVM - one, among many. This is one of the two inscriptions on the Great Seal of The United States of America. বিবিধের মাঝে আছে মিলন মহান - among the various, exists this great union. This is a lyric from a Bengali patriotic song, referring to what is technically known as The Union of India or The Indian Union.

There cannot be union without communication. But what happens when the means to communicate becomes the instrument of diversification?

The parable of the tower of Babel tells us of such consequences. In a nutshell, the story goes like this:
Ages and ages ago, the twelve tribes of Israel decided to pool in their technological expertise and build a tower that would take them straight to heaven. Infuriated by this arrogant intent, God created a multitude of languages, making communication between the tribes effectively impossible. Since the tribes couldn't understand each other, they couldn't coordinate and build the tower, and their ambitious plans were laid to waste.


Biblical parables aside, the languages of the world, while being distinct, are definitely not distant. Shown below is a graphic taken from my sister's project

Copyright Aritri Roy

This brings us to another branch of knowledge that is closely related to mythology - we call it etymology - the study of words and their origins.

I'm inclined to quote Prof. Srinivasan, our OB-II prof here - that a language is more than a sum of its grammatical syntax and vocabulary. A foreign speaker, who's an expert on a language can be easily differentiated from a native speaker, because the former would not have the body language, the slang or the attitude of the latter. All this simply because he wasn't brought up in that culture.

Etymology however focuses only on the vocabulary of languages, and can give valuable insights into the history and the mindsets of the speakers of the languages. But again, there is also a matter of perception.

Take for example the words for left - sinistra in Latin and gauche in French. It is clear that they're the origins of the English words sinister and gauche, both with very negative meanings. Dan Brown related the fact that the left side has traditionally been associated with the 'Feminine Principle', to the prevalent male chauvinism of the Dark Ages and thus explained the etymology of these words.

While this theory is plausible, I draw your attention to another very gender-neutral explanation to the same phenomenon. Do you think it is a coincidence that left handed people make only 25% of the human population? Before you point out that left-handedness is a recessive trait, let me assure you that it's not the cause for the actual demographics.

Maybe, just maybe the low survival rates of left-handed people caused a stigma to be attached to the phenomenon of left-handedness, and anything related to the left side. Hence the origins.

The point in mind was that etymology, like mythology, has tremendous powers of revelation, if used carefully. With this short piece, I leave you to ponder on the true meaning of 'It's only words...'

... to be continued