ATITHI DEVO BHAVAH

This is the new punch line that we hear quite a bit in the latest ads by Indian tourism department. What we don't hear is the complete sloka. And this is the real reason why we still have not grasped the true picture. Let me first put the complete sloka here and then I will sort of try to link this post with the last one written yesterday

MAATRU DEVO BHAVAH! PITRU DEVO BHAVAH!
AACHAARYA DEVO BHAVAH! ATITHI DEVO BHAVAH!

The translation is very simple (even I can do it!!). It means mother, father, teacher and guest are god or god like and we should worship them. What we listen regularly is just the last bit. The problem is that we are all loosing the first 3 bits and then expect that we would follow the last bit ... that's not how it works. I would like to point to the fact that the flow starts with mother, then goes to father, then to the teacher and lastly to guest. I might be reading too much into this but this is also how I think it is supposed to be. If you don't respect your mother, you cant respect your father, if you cant respect your father you cant respect your teacher (after all father and mother are your first teachers) and finally if you respect all three you might respect your guest!! This is again my understanding of things and not the literal translation of the sloka.

Basically what I am trying to say is that if we have to achieve the goal of being a hospitable country we have to get in touch with our roots. The same roots we are moving away from. The same roots we thing are not worth aspiring for. The same roots that start by respecting our elders especially in our home. Its our tradition that we need to follow. Unfortunately in the blind race of being modern we have sort of lost complete touch with that. We in the past have been the country which have always kept our tradition albeit modifying it with the new good things we get from other cultures. But over the last few years we have started completely westernising rather than modernising. This definitely does not bode well for us as a country. We might progress but we will never be truly happy. You just need to have a look at the western countries and see that they have more problems in life than we do even after having far more resource.

To just summarize I think that the initiative of tourism industry is great but we need to take it to the next level and preserve what little we have been left with!!

Ek doha har roj

I have this mission for the next few days that I will try and memorize one doha per day. I read one today which I liked a lot and it applied too aptly on me. The doha was:

Deh dhare ka dand hai, sab kaho ko hoye

Gyani bhugte gyan se, murakh bhugate roy

Now I don't know the real meaning of this is but from what I can gather and translate there are multiple meanings to this and I will try to give my understanding of this which might not be correct.

(This is part of a bigger poem and I could find out complete poem and post it but I did not. I read the complete poem and its also good so those who want to can do a google and you will find it.)

So here it goes: To me this firstly describes that no matter who you are whether you are very wise or as dumb as a dodo you will have to suffer in the world in one way or form. (Another apt poem to look up here is "Ek EK baar sabhi sang biti" I did not find the complete poem but if some one does please post). The wise suffer as they try to see meaning in all the actions around, they try to dissect every thing no matter how small and hence are always anxious and the fools always cry about what happens to them. So no matter what you will always suffer in the world. Another way to look at it is that no matter what even if you are extremely intelligent or dumb you will ultimately be treated equal when death comes to you. Its like saying in the long run every one is dead so why be materialistic. Lead a simple life. This meaning comes out more clearly from the entire poem in which Kabir says that why I should be afraid of anything because death, old age and peril comes to all and not just me. Also too me its like a warning for people like me not to think too much about anything as over analysis leads to anxiety.

Now as to why this was apt was because I went to Manhattan today and generally around saw a lot of Indians but just didn't like how they were behaving and what they were wearing. Without going into too much details let me say that what I felt was they were trying to mingle too much with the people in NY. Its nothing new for me as I have seen this time and time again and this is not necessarily wrong but what I felt was that we as a nation and a group of people are loosing touch with our traditions, our clothing, our culture of being humble and respectful of elders and this lead to a sort of chain reaction of thoughts. I sort of started thinking that am I right in questioning these people correctly because to a large extent I also behave in a very similar way. i wear a shirt and a trouser, speak english, eat all kinds of food so am I not guilty of the same thing. Yes I am and this is even more sickening to me. In a bid to gain ground in career I have lost things which are and will always remain very dear to me. I regret this very very much. I dont have an answer to what I can do about this but I will keep the question hanging in my mind. Just in case one day a sudden thought comes to my mind which might be able to solve this question. But one thing is for sure - whether I will be able to get an answer or not this question has definitely ruined my evening. That is why one should not think too much :(

The verdict

         The verdict is finally out and I have lost. Not only have I lost I have lost huge. I have had that one moment when you realise that you have been living a pseudo life a life which is far from reality, a life in which what you are and what you think you are are like two shores of a river - they never meet. It is in this moment I realised that I have lost. The only real surprise to me now is not that I figured this out but the fact that it took me this long to figure it out. There have been signs all along of this but I have always turned a blind eye to it and people around me have never pointed that to me. Not that I blame them because I don't think they could have figured that out - I duped them too as I had duped myself.

       I am talking about having a fighting spirit. I always assumed I had a good figthing spirit and that once there is a big problem I will fight even harder. But I realised recently that this is not the case. I was reading various things that people have written about me. Every body was unanimous in their opinion that I was destined for big things. But the irony of the thing is that I never felt the same way about me. I always had a doubt that although I have done reasonably well in my life so far my expectations of myself was very different from what peoples expectation of me were. And this made me think what is the real reason of this. I could have brushed it aside by saying I am a person who is not confident about myself but I think I know this much that I am a confident person. So I thought and thought about it. and then..

      it came to me in a flash - sort of after the last 7-8 years of my life flashed in front of me. It was crystal clear to me.  I have always shied away from a real fight. I am not saying that I have never fought in my life but I will say this that there is a an optimum size of problem and if I think the problem is bigger my will to fight sort of diminishes exponentially. And this is the thing that bothers me the most. I think people who succeed in life do fight hard and fight the hardest when chips are really down. I thought of incidents in the past where I can see that happening over and over again. I can see that in my day to day life - on sports field and in class rooms. In career and personal problems alike. To sum up I think I am a very bad competitor.

     Naturally the thing one should do is to get rid of ones weaknesses. Now I thought the same about this one as well. But the thing is to be more competitive you need to compete and since I dont have the will to do so I dont. I can only say I am stuck between rock and the hard place. I want to improve myself but I am just not able to. I have always sort of taken the "easy way out" and it seems like I will continue to do so. I think from now on since I have realised it I will fight a bit more but this is not my innate nature and to go against it will take some doing. I will try but I have doubts about the success - serious doubts I must say.