An old story

I have heard this story long ago. There was a woodcutter who would go to the jungle everyday to cut wood. One day he was cutting a branch of a tree which leaned into a river and his axe fell into the river. Our poor woodcutter was devastated. He sat beside the river and cried. Then the river-Goddess could no longer see his plight, She came out and asked what has happened. On knowing the reason She went in and brought a big gold axe and asked him to take it. Our woodcutter denied that that was not his axe. Then She went in again and brought a silver axe which was also denied by our woodcutter. Finally she gave him back him old iron axe and he was happy. This pleased the Goddess and she blessed him profusely.

Many times in life because of circumstances we are separated from our loved ones and we  miss our loved ones. And people console that no worries, move ahead, you will get many better ones! I would say, thank you very much for your kind support but I need my old iron axe back. Because that was MINE and I could cut the woods with it. I want an axe to make a living and life, not some gold and silver!

Self reliance

It's a well known fact that if we start depending on others for our comfort zone, then our comfort becomes short-lived. E.g. if I derive my joy from staying near a loved-one, then when that loved-one goes far or does not react in a desired way, I get sad. I lose my peace. So what we are invariably advised is "try to be self reliant", try not to depend heavily on other (persons or stuffs) too much.

I think I don't agree with the above old wisdom. If we do not depend on anyone, then what is the benefit of a human life? If we do not feel pain then how can we feel pleasure? If we are scared of being too much dependent on someone then we will never be able to enjoy life to its fullest extent.

The above logic reminds me of a line from Narada's Bhakti Sutra (Formulas of devotion). For the uninitiated, Sutras in Indian philosophy are sets of very concise adages (sutra = formula)! This particular sutra  reads as "biraha-shakta". (As you can see it's just two words). It means "attracted to separation". One wise man explains this as the fact that the lover is attracted even to separation from the beloved one. Why? Because even if it's separation, separation from whom? From the beloved one! How can the lover not fall in love with anything related to the beloved one?

Philosophies aside, I think I will advise to continue being dependent! Separation makes you weak, but that also makes you feel the joy of reunion. Dependence makes your joy capricious; but then what is permanent in this nature? Embrace life to the full extent. Leave all inhibitions when you are in love. You have nothing to lose!

Swaraj vs. Suraj

Of late I am getting more and more convinced that like "organised" religion, nationalism is also one more opium for the masses. People just want to feel good for the fact that they belong to something bigger than a five to six feet tall body frame. And thats why they start believing in things like nation, country, state etc. And this sort of feeling is well moulded into making systems like democracy and notions like "swaraj" (self-governance). If I am being ruled by someone of my own type (and type can be anything starting from colour to caste) then I feel good! And if that someone can get a fake support like what we call "mandate", then the system becomes holy.

The hoipoloi really do not care about what is the colour of the skin of the president or what his religious beliefs are. We care about a good quality peaceful life, what we call as Suraaj or good governance. I have heard that in Saudi Arab, the young princes are trained as per the portfolio that they will take care of in their future life. They become trained to do a certain thing better. And given that he is not a tyrant (and believe me you can get tyrants of demonical magnitude in democracy as well), he can give a much better governance than democracy. Just because we do not know of a better system than democracy, does not make it the best. Just because some nations do well under democracy does not mean that its a panacea for all. I do not have an alternative. But I just can not stand the fake Swaraaj (self governance).

And today is India's umpteenth independence day. A day which should actually be observed as a black day, because this was the day when thousands of people were suddenly told that they are foreigners and need to leave the land; this was the day when neighbours killed, looted, raped neighbours. This was the day which showed the real demon in man. And what have we achieved yet? The inherently unapt system of democracy caused in highly concentrated growth. And the result is quite clear from our ex-home minister (Mr. Chidambaram)'s statement that currently around 30% of the nation's land is under some sort of parallel governance, like Naxals. It is high time, we should stop following the developed nations and seriously look for alternatives. Time to say "Thank you" to Swaraj and think of real "Suraaj".