Who is watching ....

Every time I get into aero - plane, I am excited not about the travel, but the journey itself.I make sure I get window seat always. There is something about viewing the cities from high above.When I am on ground these cities seem so important for our existence but from the sky they just seem like specs, totally insignificant . Or when the sky is filled with clouds it is a different feeling to get in between them and be amazed at the beauty we are so close to but still so far. I always wonder , how nice it would be if I had a home in the cloud :-) It also brings in a kind of humble feeling and I start thinking, about what is the significance of my existence. My home is probably a dot at that high altitude and cannot even make out where it is. Imagine how I would make any difference to this world just by my existence. At the same time, I cannot stop wondering about the power such a small being has - look at the power of some of the revolutions spawned by a single leader like Gandhi / Nelson Mandela. Another thought I get every time is, we all are coached in our religions about God watching all of our actions. Looking at a view of the city- just the city i live in- and identifying the houses / monuments is such a tough task. If God has to watch the whole of earth with all the beings, I cannot even imagine how he should be or how he would do it. That is when I come back to some of our spiritual learning and realize why there is the concept of -"God Within". Every religion preaches this. The greatest messiahs , the most thoughtful people of all religion were enlightened with this concept and have enunciated this - "God is there within yourself and don't search outside for him". Just thoughts ......

Book Review : One flew over a cuckoo's nest

Well, I took quite a bit of time to read this fiction. Ken Kesey's amazing creation. The book is refreshing , not just in terms of the new kind of story, but the narration and the language. It is sarcastic at times. I would sometimes laugh myself sitting in the cab reading some chapters. It has all of it - plot, story, jokes, philosophical views of author, reality of the society. Its one book apart from The Fountainhead which I would not mind reading again. Basically it revolves around the fact that how society sidelines some of the human beings and constantly makes them realize their deficiencies(Deficiencies in the eyes of society). If you ever felt you are an odd man out in a group and the group is constantly telling you that, thats what this book is about. But here the group is the whole system, the society, the families - knowingly or unknowingly. Good read I must say.....

Views

While reading a book -"The idealist view of life", there was one note from author where he says that - the religion and the belief, the practices are something which one inherits from his birth." If you think about it , probably it is the best reuse ever - inheritance - Inheritance of belief, inheritance of religion, inheritance of views about what is right and what is wrong and a lot of day to day practices. We inherit all of these from the families into which we are born. One way this is good, imagine if every one of us were to be born and then understand all of this ourselves - from scratch. It takes a lot of thought and knowledge for a human being to come out of this initial shield and then try to create a different view about religion imposed , and the day to day activities part of it. For example, as we start understanding a lot of the beliefs and scientifically try to reason, we unveil that not all practices are needed or are correct. In this line of inheritance a lot of things have just mutated so much that they are no more valid. Now there is no need that this new view is the right one in the eyes of your society, people who have grown so far in their thought , will now be very staunch about what they now think is right. Because they are the creators of the view, they are not just following something. This can be a better experience if our education systems were equipped to help us question rather than gather information. The Indian education system today just ensures that we know things but does not emphasize enough that we believe, with a reason about what we know and the view we have. While reading one of the books - a philosophical one rather - it was hard to keep up with the topics discussed. Often after a day's work it is hard to sit and concentrate on abstract topics like the ones above. Although the book and the topic is good, its very intense and there is no story. A story does not have to be like the way it is in fiction, but just make you come back to the book to complete what ever the chapter put a question on. This is when I started realizing the importance of stories full of life in Hindu religion to showcase principles of religion. The Vedas , the Upanishads are abstract in this sense, it requires one to concentrate with lot of thought put into whatever is being read. When they realized , it is hard to achieve and propagate this knowledge is its abstract form, the Puranas came into picture. They have colorful stories, Making it easier to still emphasize on what they want to communicate but in a different manner. This is the reason, we have rituals to engage a human beings mind on activities which will keep them busy. If all of this is taken away and if you were to just lead the life - just you as a human being , it would become monotonous for those of us who have not found the real human bonding - love.