Spirituality is undoubtedly the shibboleth of all religions.They are like trees,when i say trees, i mean trees of the same kind,which have the same attributes but grow out to be very different from each other in terms of the fruits they bear or look they don.However,I am not here to discuss universal brotherhood or concept of one religion.What interests me more is one of the philosophies of the hindu religion, the KARMIC philosophy,which goes hand in hand with the concept of spirituality.I may not have understood these two terms well enough as they are indeed very profound as well as ambiguous for the layman a.k.a me.
The whole idea behind the karmic philosophy is misinterpreted by many to be analogous to "as you sow,so shall you reap".Well,it is not so!. The whole concept of karma lies behind the principle of doing every work as a duty without having any concern for its fruit or result.That simply implies that you have to perform all tasks in your life as a duty not as a means or source of some happiness or pleasure for us.Ironic!! this theory seems to contradict all the age old maxims which ask us to work hard for acheiving success.The paradox is crystal clear isnt it? If I were to follow karmic philosophy then i have to work, perform every task as a duty without any expectations, I would acheive what they call salvation.Now the question that arises in my mind is that if i were to work without having any expectations,to attain salvation wouldnt i be basically performing every task as a duty without caring for their fruit to attain the ultimate fruit of salvation,or put more bluntly,desire of salvation???
The whole idea behind saying that one should be hardworking to acheive success,he should be sincere etc..is to motivate us to work towards acheiving a goal,which will be the fruit of our labour.But if i call that attatchment to the materialistic world or succcinctly put, a desire,what do i call attatchment towards the goal acheiving salvation..?Anyways the ambivalence started driving me crazy and so i digressed conveniently to an easier task of questioning the very concepts of salvation and spirituality..
I often come across people talkin off judgement day,karma and how our soul would be punished on the day of doom or how we would face difficulties based on our actions in the next birth (as you go deeper into the karmic philosophy,you learn that the results of your actions are carried on by your subconscious mind or soul in the next birth and you pay for them in that life).i dont mean to question the rationale or the ability of the people and saints who came up with these concepts,but, while i can slightly comprehend the phenomenon called God,I fail to understand my soul.I mean,why should care for my soul's suffering?I have never felt it.I have felt myself suffer,thats all that i have felt and that is what I consider the truth.Whats the point in doing things for a phenomenon we cannot even feel,let alone see or associate with!
Suffering is bound to be there,so is happiness that is life ,law of nature,nature's not always just ! for example animals and trees pay the price for man's deeds..funny,they pay a price greater than man!!
I would rather work to be happy,judge a deed as good or bad on a principle of what makes me happy,me,this physical materialistic body which i feel and not for some phenomenon my mind makes or someone elses.
while i dont intend to give this article a patronising tone,maybe it has that.I apologise in advance for that..and for the few who rad this post i would like aan elaborate opinion for i am expecting a battery of ,well,contradictions..
i
12 comments:
maybe they say "do the duty without thinking of the result" because that way we can give our very best and complete concentration to every job whether it earns us just 5 bucks or a 100...
some things individually may seem not important and too much effort for the fruit but in the greater scheme of things actually lead to the betterment of civilization............
take for example, the lax quality of many things we see around us like the quality of wiring and connections, that electricy board guys dont do it whole heartedly leaving all kinds of mess around... today it may look fine but during storms and rains we'll know the difference...........
KARMA is a spiritual way of overall quality management...
very much similar to modern day six sigma, tai po whatever japanese stuff......
the quality stuff is like what we see the differnce between an ordinary indian street and that in new zealand etc......
the other scheme is ... people want to be happy... following the principles of karma, one attains peace of mind and soul , into an elevated spiritual state where things dont matter and one does not worry..... making its followers happy....
just look at ourselves.. in the first year of engg. we paid some attention to each and every exam and stuff thinking about it but by the end of it, we stopped absolutely worrying about whats gonna be the result etc... were we not happier later and in many cases infact performed better....
its streamlining of our thought process focussing on what needs to be done rather than the management overheads...
the karmic philosophy can also be looked at an angle called Disciplining........
If one just thinks some task is his duty, they do it without questioning is as he/she is not concerned about what the outcome is favourable or not....... much like the linear order followed in the armed forces, just do what the senior officer says, do not ask why or what is in it for me.........
This form of disciplining can also be lets say, GODS LUBRICANT so that things go smoothly in this world..... the food chains, the trees falling for us.... the tree feels that it is its duty and willingly does so....... and our lifestyles proceed... some things which raise doubts in us like, why should the trees suffer are rebuffed by assuring us that it was its duty... just lubricating for the smooth moving on of our lives.. and similarly of the whole nature...
its just not humans and trees.... every interaction in the natures food cycle is built on this philosophy... but we humans alone knowingly analyze it with intelligence.......
how do we measure suffering, economic loss, hurt feelings, etc... if we look at the society and human feeling as a measure.. this philosophy achieves the utopian goal of uniform society with no class or creed... as everyone is performing their duty and even on this currency despite the physical wealth factors being different.........
it justifies some items maybe important and special but even the others are needed.... we cant live with only gold... even if this world is full of gold its of no use... we need iron for many of our tasks....... maybe more wealth but the utility is important and this is where the karmic philosophy kicks in and brings balance....
our brain is most important , but still we need our arms , legs and stomach...... all doing their duty for the smooth lubricated functioning of our body... its karma.... for our own good... so admire all organs critical or not because they follow their karma and make our lives better..........
this karmic philosophy is what keeps the universe running..........
p.s. i just kept writing without looking back so any order, typograhic or other errors are requested to be overlooked.......
good post.. u remember i debated this with you in the room long back? i raised the question of aren't we attaching ourselves to the duty itself and thus binding ourselves to this world?
not that i believe any of this karma stuff.... :)
Hmmm... thot provoking indeed. Are we supposed to work (following Karma) for a "future reward" for the soul.. or are we supposed to work for our personal happiness now- for we know not of any after-life!
Karma also means actions.. So, judgement based on ones actions. I ve mixed feelings.. Being a theist, I tend to think of Judgement Day.. but amore thotful part of me looks at the paradox u mentioned....
nicely written but got to suggest change the slicky green color to something better!
theres no scope of contradictions from this side atleast... every single word of this article is true!!!
Gosh! It's the way things are!!! But if you can't follow them, understand them or agree with them, adapt them doing your best! Everybody knows what's right and what's wrong! Please! Don't tell me that what is right for me maybe is not for you... Right is right and wrong is wrong!! Everybody knows! So, face your karma and try to make it different! Then tell me if you were succesfull... AND if you become tired of trying to change things you can't, try dealing with trees properly! I'm talking about jungle, forest, nature, invironment, cfc, bad ozone, RCES, breathing in the future, real life conditions... bla bla bla
I said that... Not an anonymous... Just forgot to change that option... So, if you disagree, tell me!
@ alana...see the philosophy of karma has nothing to do with right and wrong... A murderer has commited a crime no matter what u or i think agreed..but karma is not about that..karma is about doing your work as your duty without thinking of its consequences..like in the epic "arjuna" had to kill his kith and kin cause it was his duty...but he was not supposed to think about the result of his actions..he was supposed to execute them as a duty..
The idea is not about doing things without judging its merits..rather without being concerned with its results...and this is very confusing...this confusion is what i have tried to bring out ..am not trying to say that kill someone thinking that its ur duty and forget if its right or wrong..no...
Of course the philosophy of karma has nothing to do with right and wrong... Am I talking Chinese here? lol... I was refering to the fact that you menttioned about performing every task as a duty without any expectations... I meant you must do what you have to do and do ask for your expectations!! Why not?!! Is this right when talking about karma? No! You're supposed to do what you have to do and just... So, if you wait for some return, this is wrong, accorging to karma philosophy... AND, things are changing... This is a new world... The globalization I mentioned early... So, Karma, Buddha's words, Jesus words, etc, etc, etc, have a new context nowadays... IF everything changes, everything has to be adapted, why not their words? C'mon! Don't argue! I got you! And you got me!
Happiness or Sadness, these will ever-remain,a vicious-cycle, including success & failure in life.These will be out under the category of "Life-situation" because these are the situations created by us(by our own minds,it's a fact !). But, wat i term "Life" is slightly beyond..the feeling of joy...where there is Peace(where the mind is calm)& we focus on our Present moment actions by awareness rather than bringing up the Past pain or playing the unseen future mind-movies which do not exist & which we cannot cope with, while at the same time keeping the goals which we desire in mind. One important thing to note is that if we Desire something in the Present moment as something we want happening now, then it will not associate any expectations as expectations are bound to exist with the future. It is also said watever we do comes back to us in some form or the other(the karma)..so we have been taught to do good to Humanity. Well,i can't say much about the soul, but there is this one aspect that Spirituality focusses on which forms an important part on one's way to higher development & Enlightenment..The Present moment awareness is that exists & all that we ever have !!
Post a Comment