Saturday, August 9, 2008

Life, Hope, faith..........

Who can forget one of the most wonderful aphorisms to have been shown on the celluloid, from the movie Shawshank Redemption. "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and good things never die". I hear people talking about never losing hope in life and believing in "Whatever happens happens for the best?" .

"Dont worry, God has the best things in store for you". "Be courageous and look forward to the future, be optimistic". Aren't these supportive caring words from near and dear ones words necessary whenever things are not looking up. Don't they instill in you a lost confidence, a lost trust.

Optimism, faith, hope, God all being convoluted and intertwined concepts sometimes beyond comprehension.

The labyrinths of human nature has always intrigued me. When things are down, our emotions go through a cycle. First we feel disappointed and depressed. In this phase there is a feeling of hopelessness.Then after a while we feel angry - angry over destiny and faith. We blame God, we look for reasons, we blame whoever is responsible. Human ego never lets us blame ourselves. Then we solicit help. We try to talk to the close ones, share our anxieties and concerns. After some time we again become optimistic and start looking forward to a brighter future. Maybe this is the reason why they say "Time is the best healer". The sore times and how we react under such circumstances stand testimony to our conviction and inner strength.

Sometimes I wonder, "aren't faith, hope and optimism just a bait to push us forward in performing our actions. Is it always necessary to get the best in life? Is it true that temporary set backs are a part of a larger radiant picture of life that God has in store for us? What is pessimism, what is optimism? Doesn't optimism lead to future pessimism, if things don't work out? If not then is human hope and faith eternal? Does God exist? If yes, how much of a control does God have on anybody's life?. Is there a dependency between our actions and results? Who is affecting our actions and who is affecting our results? If God controls our actions and actions cause results, what is our purpose in the scheme of things?. What should be our take on life?".

Probably these questions might be complex enough to not have specific answers. Maybe they might be the questions that man has been trying to answer since ancient civilizations.

It is in this context that quotes from the Geeta like
"Karmanye Vadhikarasthe, Ma Phaleshu Kadachana", concepts like an unwavering, steady mind - the trait and character of a "sthitapragna", make them essentially the crux of its teachings.

"When a person gives up all the desires in his thoughtful state and when his inner self is satisfied within itself, at that time he is said to be a 'sthithapragna' ( a master in the stability of mind)"

"Undisturbed amidst three fold miseries, immobile in happiness, free from attraction, fear and anger, is called a sage of stable mind."

"Who is everywhere without affection, who does not praise or loathe auspicious or inauspicious events, his mind is stabilized."

"The knower of Brahman, stable of mind, established in the Supreme Brahman, shows no sign of rejoice when he achieves the objects of his desire nor agitation when unpleasant things happen to him."

"Unattached to external sense objects, immersed in himself, he remains blissful. Establishing his self in Brahman, such a Brahma yogi enjoys unlimited happiness."


Are these verses only for the spiritual yogis? Can a common man achieve a state of uncluttered mind?

Our efforts should be aimed at realizing a simple fact that both Good and Bad things do happen in life. And that there is only a limited relationship between efforts and results. Hence the Gita calls out for "desireless actions". We should at least make an effort in trying to perform actions without having hope and consequences as our prime objective. Ain't that difficult. Yes it is!

To add, One of my favorite Kishore da songs

Yeh Jeevan Hai, Is Jeevan Ka
Yahi Hai - Yahi Hai - Yahi Hai Rungroop
Thode Ghum Hain, Thodi Khushiyan
Yahi Hai - Yahi Hai - Yahi Hai Chaon Dhoop
Yeh Jeevan Hai...
Yeh Na Socho Isme Apni Haar Hai Ke Jeet Hai
Ise Apna Lo Jo Bhi Jeevan Ki Reet Hai
Yeh Zid Chodo, Bandhan Yuh Na Todo
Har Pal Ek Darpan Hai
Yeh Jeevan Hai...


Lastly, I would like to quote my favorite teacher TNS' discussion on this topic. "Life is a Sine Wave Kanree. At Pi/2 we are happy, At 3pi/2 we are sad. But realize that after 3pi/2 we have a 5pi/2. When you reach 5pi/2 don't become complacent kanree because 7pi/2 is approaching!". - More than Maths, I owe to this teaching of yours Sir.

10 comments:

Vikram Mandyam said...

super Kachings-post macha....
and Life is a sine curve???
I say life is more like a Binary data modualated on a sine curve. Typically I would say life is like a sine wave modulated by a binary sequence(which god has chosen for us). The modulation scheme is more like a combination of QPSK and FSK. QPSK determines when we are up and when we are down, FSK determines the frequency of these cycles. Dont understand??? Wikipedia is always present for the rescue.

Sachin Kulkarni said...

hahahah.. macha.. super comments!

Unknown said...

Life itslef is a big chapter that could be understood only during its journey with its unique experiences.

Adelphia said...

Awesome writing kulka :)

I did know that you have a real thoughtful mind, thanks for putting things down here about the most important things to think about and which are most forgotten!

An addition from what I inculcated from my hero: "If you lead your life the right way, the "karma" will take care of itself."

Keep writing!

Santosh said...

Continuing from where Sudhi had left here..... good

your post & song reminds me of lines from my fav song..:

....Gham aur khusi mein phark na mehsoos ho jahaan..
main dil ko uss maakaam pe laata chalagaya....
... main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya

Thats the ideal condition :)

Some Little Greens said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Some Little Greens said...

great post sachin .. liked it .. and too good reply by vikram. I am not from tronix or communications, still i can understand conceptually.

non technical people, please skip this para .. i think life is more than a simple or complex function, it has certain randomness. pure randomness, no pseudo random. this is controlled by god. it can not be complete binary .. it has to be fuzzy logic .. don't think there exists a turing machine which can predict the outcome at certain stage. .. whatever ...

as sachin described, life is about ups and downs, hope, optimism, pessimism, god fear, aim, sacrifice, success, failures .. randomness.
One has to learn by living it. No one can teach you how to live. That you have to show yourself. by living it.

one should never give up hope. learn from failures and move on.

I like to mention one line from steve job's resume : "I am not afraid to start from the begining". Thats the principle of my life. Each person should decide one for himself.

Sudhindra Aithal said...

"We should at least make an effort in trying to perform actions without having hope and consequences as our prime objective"

This comment negates ur start of blog. Hope drives Effort , if we don't hope at all , how can there be a complete effort???

Its is easy to say that , life is full ups and down when ur life is not down. But , when your life is really down , common man doesn't think about this. As you said , he will go through the cycle.

Harsha.Kulkarni said...

Sachin...this post is inspiring !!!
I read it almost thrice in order to understand what is said.
I've few thoughts which might or might not relate but im putting it across...
Lemme start with Problem & with problem comes hope. So it becomes very important to find out what are we seeking from hope.
most of us dont think about why are we hoping, is the hope we have will fetch us something, of course its the cause to move ahead but dont you think when we get a when we receive a superficial answer, we are satisfied with it. But if you care to go into the matter, you will find that the mind is merely seeking some kind of satisfaction, some kind of pleasant talk or words which will gratify it.
As for as god is concered, he's a master of all controls, he controls the fate of souls in accordance with their karma. Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may.
whatever is destined to happen will happen, however you prevent it. therefore, its best to remain silent, take life as it comes.

Well written, after a lot of contraversies, All I can say is Phata poster nikla hero ;-)

Happy Blogging

Sachin Kulkarni said...

@Sudhi

My whole point of the post was to contradict my first paragraph.. I think i havent made that clear..

My post was aimed at realizing the importance of "Nishkama Kriye" or "desireless action", Since hope and results are directly related to each other and end up contributing to the amount of happiness/dejection we gain.

Hence what i wanted to say was .."Dont assume that always good things will happen to you, Bad things also do happen.. let there not be that expectation.. and theres nothing wrong in bad things happening.. its a part of life.."