Since I believe in the Karma theory, I have a question that I would like to ask some wise man someday...
It is only in retrospect that we can analyse actions-reactions-counteractions-consequences, the trail is not so clear..
In my personal life, if there is something I do not like, should I adjust & put up with it because it is my karma? What decides my karma? Part of it is external power (totally out of my scope), part of it is internal power (what we do with our own life, the decisions we make, the choices we choose).
So when I feel uncomfortable with a status-quo, how should I decide whether I should accept it or challenge it?
If I accept it, perhaps I am giving up greater opportunities to live a fuller life, a happier life, a life with more dignity & self respect.
However, if I challenge the status-quo, it might transfer my misery onto someone else, perhaps it is in pursuit of myself. So will I incur the bad karma of having made someone else suffer, is it 'wrong'?
But then again, how come that person doesn't bother when the status-quo hurts me, so are they not already incurrring bad karma from 'using' me for their pleasure, are they not in pursuit of their own self? How come only I have to worry about right or wrong? Am I not fearing the unknown & giving up on my desires?
Karma theory is not about analyzing someone else, it is about analyzing the self.
Hence, let me stop thinking of someone else's position.
Coming back to myself & my karma, why should I feel guilty about challenging a status-quo which make me feel uncomfortable? Should I spend this one precious life of mine in adjusting for someone else in a one-way relation? Is it necessary for me to live through it if I feel unhappy, sad, short changed?
Life is not just lived on a physical plane, it is lived on a psychological plane. There is no point in ensuring physical peace by adjusting, the self lives on in eternal mental turmoil. That will not help earn any good karma, this kind of stifled life generates negative vibes, it is like you have forced yourself to adjust, but you don't like it, you are full of negative feelings about the situation & the people who are involved in it. So though there is a physical peace, all the people are bound in karmic chains.
For now, I have learnt this lesson in karma: Karma is about your own mind, your own heart, it is about understanding your own self, your own strengths & weaknesses. Only the self knows one's own limits.
So, I have decided that I will not stretch when it hurts me, I will not do things that make me feel sad, I will try my best, but I will decide what is my best. I will continue to try understanding others, but I need not live only for others, either a relation is two way, or it is no way. Relations are not lived one way.
In any relation, there is a give & take out of love. But if I realize at one point that my mental state cannot cope with the situation, it is okay, it is my life, and I have a right to live it the way I want as long as I am not hurting others. Everything that I think cannot be wrong, people should also accept that there are things wrong in them. Karma theory is not just about me trying my best to give, it is okay for me to decide & prioritize my life.
It is not wrong to challenge wrong status-quos.
When anesthesia was first discovered/invented, the priests opposed it, they said that the sick deserved the pain!! When forced Sati was abolished, some sections of society opposed it. When the first child widow went to school, her father was chided.
Where my independence is thought to be 'wrong', I refuse to belong. I refuse to belong to a system which thinks all its thoughts are right, mine are all wrong, and that it is 'right' of me to accept the status-quo and 'wrong' of me to challenge to status-quo.
'Right' or 'Wrong' are very relative words when it comes to personal lives. What is convenient is usually passed of as right. What is inconvenient & draws discomfort is dismissed as wrong.
A 'wrong' person cannot fit in a 'right' system. A 'right' person cannot fit in a 'wrong' system.
And every person has a right to decide what they want out of life, without imposing their decisions on others.
If I am continually wrong about something in a system, perhaps I do not belong in that system, perhaps that is my karma. And my life is not about living in fear, it is about living to get the best out of it.
The biggest paradox in all this is: When I think I am adjusting for someone and I at least look for some appreciation, I see none coming. Because according to their system of thought, it is their right and my duty to be in that situation. They see nothing wrong in it, they would probably find it extremely wrong if I challenged the status-quo. I guess these things are what people try to study under 'Human culture'. I try to wonder, have I ever behaved this way, assuming a status-quo which is convenient to me while inconveniencing another? No, I do not think so. But yes, because I live life the way I want, perhaps I have not performed certain ritualistic duties that somebody else in my position may have unthinkingly performed. But I am not a reckless person, I make sure not to impact others with my confusions. I only impact others when I refuse to put up with their confusions.
Life is a continuous learning process, all the way, every way...
I was really amazed, that I am learning much more about the evolution of culture/desires by watching animal behavior films narrated by David Attenborough!! I never realized, that I would understand human beings through animals :-)
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
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