20.3.07
Death ceremony
Funny how one ends up doing what one doesn't want to do at all. Like the ceremonies of my father's death anniversary. I feel so hypo critic_ that the man I really never cared about, had no good feelings for is today being felicitated by me. The traditional way. Why am I doing it. Because I want to avoid a big scene about the whole thing. The crying and abuse of my mother. It doesn't matter that she never gave him peace, as long he lived. But today the ceremonies have to be done.
What if everyone had the choice to do what he pleased. The social obligations were followed out of choice rather than being forced into it. What would happen if everyone was allowed to follow ones belief rather than be coerced to follow the traditions without having any belief in them. Do we really believe the traditions that we follow. On what are our beliefs based. On what we have been told by our elders. Have we ever questioned the rationality of our beliefs, faiths.
What if the social pressures were taken away and then we were asked to stay true to our understanding of life, what will happen then. Will people still perform the same rituals. Will they still profess respect for the person they-didn't care about, they disliked.
That is something of a conjecture. Today if we ask the same question what would be the answer, most porbably a falsehood. A very carefully worded statement, which is designed, so that the speaker is not caught on the wrong foot. Many would hotly deny ever not following the traditions.
What I see around me astounds me. There has been a tremendous increase in number of people going to the temples. The gatherings at the satsangs is astounding. The increase in the corruption in life is again astounding. Today corruption in the society is at an all time high. Every sphere of life is getting corrupt by the day. So much so even the judiciary is not immune to it. What are judges if not human beings sharing the same beliefs and coming from the same society. So that is not surprising anyway.
What is surprising is that at one end we all keep talking about the lack of values, high incidence of corruption, yet on an individual level keep on indulging in it.
The question is why and how and when will all this come down. It won't end anyway. That would be utopian thinking.
Labels: Community
18.3.07
Drunk
There should be a day
When I could get drunk,
Forget what I was
Forget what I am
Forget what I will be
Just be me
Drunk in happiness
And let things be
None of the weariness
From the journeys long
that tend to be
Wearing out the bone
And the mind
The stories that the stars told
Never turned out to be
For I was to be
drunk in happiness
Labels: Community
