On Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 6:56 PM, SS <cybers...@gmail.com> wrote: > The topic is huge and is partly philosophical.
Anything sufficiently complex is ultimately completely philosophical. There's a story I was told as a kid, maybe many of you have heard it. Wikipedia describes it rather blandly like so: "Once there was a competition between Ganesha and his brother as to see who could circumambulate the three worlds faster and hence win the fruit of knowledge. Skanda went off on a journey to cover the three worlds while Ganesha simply circumambulated his parents. When asked why he did so, he answered that his parents Shiva and Parvati constituted the three worlds and was thus given the fruit of knowledge." source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythological_anecdotes_of_Ganesha#Birth_and_childhood The bare bones of the story are enough for the point I am about to make. Why do we do the things we do? Beyond the physical needs, we are psychological beings that are slaves to our desires and aversions. As a race we seek control of the world around us by mastering every science, and every object of knowledge. We are like Skanda, circumnavigating the worlds in an effort to win the fruit of wisdom. Whereas, what we are really contending with are our fears and desires, which aren't out there in the three worlds, but within us. We can't get to the bottom of our psychological drive by conquering new planets. No Sir, we need to conquer ourselves, and that is far more difficult than conquering a planet. We ought to be like Ganesha, and look deep within for the answers. Humans have only progressed in technology and scientific understanding from generation to generation, but we show little generational advancement in our grasp of basic human emotions like greed, anger, love, happiness and so on. Whereas, every mystic since ancient times who was successful in looking within discovered only peace, joy and happiness. The end goal of all human quest, but they only found it for themselves, and couldn't share it with the others, no matter how much they tried. Even wise ones like the Buddha only left a teaching, with an exhortation to practice. Thus, Shiv is spot on about science losing the plot; but I'd take that further and say, humanity has been losing the plot for a very long time. We are stuck in the long route; trying to race ahead like Skanda, though we ultimately lose out. This is so from the days of the tale of Adam and Eve that we desire life, and so we fear death. We desire the apple, so we have to contend with the snake. All our pursuit of knowledge is to make life easier, and death a little more understandable. Even though often our everyday lives betray little of their lofty origins, it is so. This is why all human action happens. Most of us see meaning in life, and an end of meaning in death. This only makes the problem worse as the Buddhists are wont to say, because all life is but a preparation for death, so we should be seeking meaning in death instead in order to have a meaningful life. The pace of progress today is such that even the dullest mind is aware of it. It is said that Skanda's peacock's wings were on fire as he raced through the skies to beat his brother that the whole universe was in awe. We are exactly there, we know the time is running out, we know we are working as fast as we can, and we know we are creating more problems than we solve. It's become a real whack-a-mole, and yet we persist because we know better. Truly salvation lies within.
