Thursday, October 9, 2008

It's a grey world.

Friends.. this is a twisted version of an original post made on my 1st blog. Trying to see if there can be any matching between this and the Bhagwada Gita. Please comment honestly if you find it wrong.

IT’S A GREY WORLD


(An interview takes place between Mr. X and Mr. Y. Discussing about some philosophies, they finally come to this topic.)

Mr. Y: So after all these topics.. let's discuss what it means to be a good human being.

Mr. X: Honestly speaking, I don't believe in this nonsense of right and wrong.

Mr. Y: What do you mean? Dharma, Adharma.. all this stuff have no importance to you?

Mr. X: No they don't.

Mr. Y: So.. departing from the event under discussion for a while, would you please allow our viewers an insight into your line of thoughts?

Mr. X: Sure

Mr. X: (Facing the camera) Generally speaking.. there is nothing like right or wrong in this world. All people do what they think is right. Human rights activists, gay rights activists, environmentalists, feminists, evangelists, thieves, murderers, terrorists, rapists.. whatever category that may come to your mind, they will only do what they believe is right.

Mr. Y: So you would club all groups of people into being right?

Mr. X: (Facing the interviewer) Exactly,.. like how would you define something as right or wrong? When we some event in the society.. how do we know which side to take? At this instant, somebody would answer that this is defined in this religious scripture or that. But pray how, did the writers of those scriptures got the idea as to what to classify as right or wrong?

(Back to the camera) The thing is, that this too comes from our selfish mindset of self satisfaction. What I think is that something which is right to us, is something that satisfies us,.. something that gives us pleasure or something that is proven to be good for us. Like, remaining healthy, maintaining cordial relations and so on. Whatever does not satisfy us, does not give us pleasure.. we relegate it to being wrong.

Mr. Y: But religion defines for us these things clearly..

Mr. X: (Interrupts) Remember that almost all major religions were written by consent of the majority of the society.. and most of the religions we see today had started before the advent of materialism. Which is why we see a distinction between our religious ideas and what is required of us in the industrialised, globalized world of today.

And in those days, (before the industrial age) a majoriy of people would have abhorred stealing, kidnapping, telling lies, and so on and so forth. These have been propagated down the generations, although somewhat diluted these days. What we recognize as good today, is nothing but the will of the majority imposed on the minorities or a will of the powerful imposed on the masses. What is bad today is what is/was abhorred by the majority in the bygone days. Heck, most of our constiutional laws are based on ideas of the ancients..

So in a nutshell.. I would say that as far as right and wrong is considered.. there is nothing like that. You cannot divide the world into two parts, white and black.. good and evil respectively. It is all mixed up, in shades of grey. This must be the right way.. for as you see.. both good and evil are selfish forces to some extent or the other. Both are in an eternal struggle, to impose one group's interests over the other. The world is a constant battle of groups with self interests, and this can be easily seen if we remove our rose - glassed goggles.

Mr. Y: So,.. what would you say a common man must choose? You have even nullified the purpose of being good and linked it to selfishness.
Mr. X: To propagate peace and order in the world, I have to say this. Every human is there for a cause in this world. And his choices must serve the cause he intends to live his life for. But at the same time, he must also greet the choices of other humans with respect, and not be intellectually smug about his goodness. Be choosy, of neither goodness nor badness, but only observe the intent. Inspite of different opinions.. he must show love and peace to all humans.. after all, all are made of the same matter but for their views and he should share his views among the deprived sections of the society with an intention of selfless reform without walking over any sentiments. It is after all,.. a grey world.

Epilogue: And then friends.. we come to my favourite shloka again.

२ - ४७
कर्मन्य एवाधिकरस ते
म फलेसू कदकाना
म करमा-पहला-हेतुर भुर
म ते संगो ’सत्व अकर्मणि।
"You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty."