Saturday, 22 October 2016

Where is that straight road?




Is there any straight path ahead or do I  need to take the same old path filled of twists and turns.

Why can't I get that straight path which will allow me to rest for sometime?

Sometimes these paths confuse me as to where should I move. Some paths are so twisting that I again reach at the starting point. These paths fool me and try to play with me. Every time I get toyed by it, leaving me confused once again. It is these uncountable number of twisting, clever and annoying paths that make up a Life. So far I couldn't make that where am I heading. Living a life is just like moving with a thick and heavy flow of landslide, where we do not have any control to stop. Each and everything happening on our lives is being controlled by this landslide, wherein the motion is random in nature and we won't get a single clue as to where we are leading. We meet several fellow beings, having no idea of how long will we be together.

Some obstacles in this landslide separate us, some obstacles help us to meet with an old mate

Some make a brief lag in life

Some become a carrier for us in life

Some use us as a carrier, some are used by us

Some become temporary carriers, some become permanent

Some leave an imprint in our lives, or sometimes we become an imprint in other's life




Tuesday, 18 October 2016

World and its Religious Madness

Apart from climate deterioration and energy exhaustion, the most gruesome enemy which our world is having right now is "Religion". Religion has been breeding in our world for thousands of years and history has witnessed several highs and lows throughout its journey. It has always kept humans trapped inside its constraints by not allowing us to speak out our mind. Just like an innocent  newly born human baby, which is devoid of any negative thoughts, ego, selfishness and greed, every religion was born like an innocent child. But as age goes on, the child starts absorbing the negatives. But there is a difference between this newly born child and newly born religion. While the former has its originality, the latter is full of artificiality. Artificiality in the sense that, the latter is made to take birth by a group or an individual with a view of some selfish motives. Initially, it is showcased as an innocent child in front of the masses, but a very few understand the hidden agenda. It is showcased as being filled with love, but a very few or none understand that this love is restricted to its own people only. This love gets evaporated when it crosses the so called "religious boundaries". If we closely interpret all the religious scriptures, we will find that every religion has the same philosophies to say.  Everything gets back to where it started, but the only difference is that they all are in a jumbled form. It depends on the degree of rationality of the interpreter, that how he/she interprets these with the correct meaning. Every religion in this world closes its doors for any kind of intermixing or exchange. Even though, there has been some kind of intermixing, but that too landed to form some other kind of religion. We all believe in some king of energy driving our universe. Religion is nothing but naming this energy with some name, and then calling it as the creator all of human races. I want to make a point here that, universe is not a home for only humans, every living creature has been breeding here ever since humans had or much before that also. These living creature have been living and abiding by the laws of nature without the support of any religion. Even though, there is a competition between them to survive, they have been living here in harmony for long. It is we humans who have disturbed the entire balance of nature. Nature has no religion, It only knows how to create, breed and destroy.
             The main motive behind forcefully breeding religion lies inside a few people who have been carrying out this breeding, ever since the founding of a religion, as a tradition. Motives have changed with time, from anarchic interest to monetary and interest for power to rule. This has divided our society into different cubicles, with every corner of each cubicle maintained at a distance from each other. Any attempt to lessen this distance is hampered by these few people. Masses have been blindfolded by these people with very little space given for them to question. History has also seen plenty of reforms in age old religious practices and has to some measure made some positive changes. It has allowed a few to think outside the cubicle and has also gave them the confidence to question. Reforms have borne seeds of rationality inside some people which needs to grow so that the seeds of the fruits that they bear needs to passed on to a fertile mud. Here, the fertile mud is the mind of a child in the process of his/her growth, which is having a higher grasping rate than an infertile mud. This fertile mud needs to be taught to question the irrationality in the societal traditions. An infertile mud needs to be ploughed excessively and added with fertilizers,so that it becomes fertile.
I remember people saying that the mindset of the people of Kerala became broadened when there came a huge revolution with the advent of libraries in panchayats. Libraries became a place for these people to share their views and to read books related to variety of topic, be it the same which a person is supporting or totally opposite to his/her ideology. The main advantage of this is that we will have a wide angle of introspecting ability and will help our own self to grow outside the above mentioned cubicle. The main problem which is faced by the world is the inability to accept contrary views or the other versions. The publication of the book "300 versions of Ramayana" by A.K.Ramanujan was stopped by a few hooligans of ABVP, who called themselves the saviors of Hinduism. Acceptance of Valmiki's version and rejection of other versions shows the degree of fear inside these people. They fear that showcasing  different versions will create a sense of rationality and questioning in the young minds, which they don't want to happen because this will become an obstacle for these opportunists for carrying out their selfish interests using their tool of religion. Same is the case with other religions, be it the ban on "Satanic Verses" or on "Da Vinci Code", such events have proven that the people behind these bans have the same motive throughout.
              If there is an energy which drives this universe, then why is their any need to name, dress and depict this energy in different manner. Everybody is in a hurry to make this energy theirs and in that process, they create a set of rules and regulations to attract and restrict others so as to make them their followers. In due course of time, these regulations becomes teachings and in the end a religious scripture is born out of it. If a particular religion has a particular God, will it be necessary that a particular God will be a savior for followers of that religion. I mean, how can God be religious and biased. If the God has created this universe, then the same God will be unbiased and will not be a face of any particular religion. If the religions claim that Gods of Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism etc. will help everybody who believe in them, irrespective of the caste, creed and race, then why do we have different Gods? Why can't we have a "Single God"? A single God for our universe. Yes, I agree that if we say that everybody has their way of worshipping their different Gods, then the question arises that, why do a person from a religion A is restricted to worship another religion B by his/her own people of the same religion. There answer is very easy. They are fearful that they might lose one follower if he/she worship another God of other religion. So, it is proven that, it is religion which is not allowing that person to move freely and thereby tying the hands. Religion preachers are very much aware of the fact that the mentality of these followers is like a "Sheep in a flock". But we will never think that how did human become a sheep in a flock. It is due to continuous mental pressurization and restriction that the humans are forced to behave like a sheep, otherwise if there were no cubicles, humans might have remained as humans and the number of Gods would have converged to one.
              Why can't we humans believe in one single energy and teach our children and grandchildren a new way of life. A life of freedom, a life of independence to select, a life devoid of cubicles, a life where traditions intermix, a life where inter-religion marriages are never seen as blasphemous but seen as a positive interaction and exchange of values and traditions. Every night I think of such a world coming into being, but never get an answer, as I get doubtful seeing the present state of madness among us.


                                                             Will we get such a world ?????????

Wednesday, 6 April 2016

The deformed meaning of Nationalism : Present era


What was Nationalism some six-to-seven decades ago is not the same Nationalism what we see today. A word which created a sense of pride among the masses earlier has lost its importance now. Colonial era witnessed a series of breathtaking and brave contributions from our freedom fighters, for whom Nationalism was a part of their DNA. They criticized each other's viewpoints as well as they grew on those criticism to mould the true meaning of Nationalism. It was not required for those brave fighters to show the love for their nation by shouting "Bharat Mata Ki Jai", as they were the people with senses, who understood that true love for nation was not in words, but in action. They believed in actions, as to how to overthrow the British and regain the motherland. They believed in propagating ideas of brotherhood among different communities and to bring them to the common objective of regaining the Swaraj. The true moulded meaning of Nationalism, was flowing through the blood veins of each and every citizen of the country. Children of that period were so much ideologically advanced that they had that inbuilt thirst of freedom. Their ideologies were so much developed by the time they reached their adolescence, that they were never unclear of the concepts of Nationalism. 
         
            But alas! This idea of Nationalism has been tarnished and has lost its true meaning. The idea which our ancestors had developed through critical review, has been disfigured by the pseudo-nationalists. The main reason for the present condition is the narrowing of space for any kind of criticism.  Nationalism which we see today is stuffed with ideas of religious fundamentalism. This epidemic of religious fundamentalism is fast spreading among the youth, the same age group which in the colonial times was the backbone of freedom struggle. The present brand of Nationalism, as we should say, has originated from a particular section of people hailing from an organisation which has nothing to claim for their contribution in freedom struggle. It is because of their blank history in freedom struggle that they are trying to create a hysteria among the masses and creating a new opium for the masses, in the name of (their version of ) Nationalism. The same people supporting those organisations which cleaned the boots of British, are now playing this fake card. Who are they to provide us with the certificates of being national or anti-national, by placing a worthless criteria of chanting "Bharat Mata Ki Jai"? Recent remarks by a yoga guru of beheading those who do not chant "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and that of a state CM for labeling them as anti-national, reflects the intentions of the whole lot of brainless, yet dangerous, outfit which is ruling our country. Carl Sagan has beautifully explained the difference between "Science" and "Pseudo-Science" in his book "Demon- Haunted World: Science as Candle in the Dark", where it is said that 

Science thrives on errors, cutting them away one by one. False conclusions are drawn all the time, but they are drawn tentatively. Hypotheses are framed so they are capable of being disproved. A succession of alternative hypotheses is confronted by experiment and observation. Science gropes and staggers toward improved understanding. Proprietary feelings are of course offended when a scientific hypothesis is disproved, but such disproofs are recognized as central to the scientific enterprise. Pseudoscience is just the opposite. Hypotheses are often framed precisely so they are invulnerable to any experiment that offers a prospect of disproof, so even in principle they cannot be invalidated. Practitioners are defensive and wary. Skeptical scrutiny is opposed. When the pseudoscientific hypothesis fails to catch fire with scientists, conspiracies to suppress it are deduced.  
In the same way the difference between Nationalism and Pseudo-Nationalism is to be understood. Nationalism is always open to critical review, while Pseudo-Nationalism is habitual with suppressing the critics through force.
Voices of dissent against these outfits are been suppressed, but the positive sign which we are witnessing is the uprising of students for the rightful i.e. right for rationale thinking . For every suppression, there is an uprising and it is rightly said. 
It is once again in the hands of young minds belonging to that age group, who during the pre-independence era ignited the struggle for independence. If earlier it was for freedom from the ruthless colonial rule, now it will be for freedom from the dangerous communal rule.  

Monday, 8 February 2016

Man's Search for Meaning



Viktor Frankl's book has opened up new ways to see my life from different angles through his book. The book has been able to drive one's thought of meaninglessness towards a meaningful path and thereby has been successful in extinguishing Nihilism. Logotherapy in a nutshell is in itself a capsule which contains essential doses for a person who has lost hope in his/her life. I am a person who always gets depressed with small failures, but this book has helped me a lot in exploring the reason for every failure. The author is a renowned scholar in the field of psychology and also a survivor of four concentration camps, including the Auschwitz. The first chapter explains the extent of sufferings through which a man goes through in a concentration camp. It clearly explains that how a prisoner shows his symptoms prior to his death and also helps in explaining that most of the deaths (except those suffocated to death inside the gas chambers) are due to lose of hope in one's life and thereby considering his life as meaningless. In due course of time this hopelessness creeps into their mind and body and thereby diminishing their resistance towards the camp's inhuman atmosphere.

Monday, 18 January 2016

Struggle for progressiveness

Right through the history, there has been a series of events of oppression of the ruling class over the section fighting for their basic rights. One category among the series of cases of oppression is student victimization. Universities and colleges have been breeding grounds for progressive thinkers and it is this group who are been constantly victimized by the goons of the Fascist forces. Progressive student fronts have always raised their voices against the wrongs and have never been afraid of these goons. College/University campuses have been able to eradicate the communal flavour added by some fringe organisations like ABVP and have always been successful in countering these impotents because of progressive thinkers inside the student fraternity. But, I am deeply saddened to say that authorities have most of the times bowed their heads in front of these impotents. They have always given breathing spaces for them and as a result progressives have been targeted continuously. It is us who have been on the receiving side. We have lost a lot of progressive blood and life but everytime it is made more clearer that progressive thinking will sustain inside campuses as long as there are progressive organisations.

THE INNOCENT HEART




If only people all over the world stopped thinking about religion, caste and creed the world would have been such a nice place...But can't say, if people do stop thinking about religion caste and creed they would find some other way to fight, as we all know that humans have a tendency to dominate over their fellow humans and in this race for dominance these fools forget that the colour of that liquid which is flowing inside all of us is the same.. The workaholic heart situated inside every human doesn't know that it is pumping for a hindu or muslim or sikh or jew or christian or parsi..It only knows how to pump that red liquid to all the corners of the body...If it would have known that it is working 24x7 for that human who is discriminating his fellow humans, who also have the same innocent non-religious heart, on the basis of religion caste and creed, it would have stopped pumping that red liquid the moment itself it came to know that a new born is tagged based on the above categories...It would have felt pity on its hard work if it was able to see the red liquid, for which it was working so hard to pump to every corner of the body, scattered all around on the gloomy streets after a massacre on the petty issues of religion caste and creed... When will the time come when humans start thinking like their non - religious hearts and consider every other person with the same non - religious heart as equal.. Let us save the red liquid from spilling or being spilled and use this liquid for somebody in need...After all, the person who is in need of that red liquid also has the same NON - RELIGIOUS heart!!!!