Desire

"Pen, Ponn, Punn- ivay eavum maayai alla! Aasai than maayai.. maayaiye aasai!!!"
(Woman, Gold, wound- These aren't illusions. It is only our desire that is illusion.)
This is a dialogue from the Rajini starrer, Baba.
A thought provoking one!
It makes me contemplate the reasons for our desires.
Is it the Hormones? the brain? the situations? Or a combination of all these?

Recently, my roommate was looking at a music video in which a 5 year old was doing extreme hip-hops.
He asked me sardonically if I could perform at least a single step in it.
I couldn’t dance like that even in my wildest dreams. Yet, there was something that I could! – to retaliate.
I replied,
"You are able to see him dance as his moves are less than 3x10^8m/s.
I dance faster than the speed of light and so, you aren't able to see me dance. It is your limitation, not mine!"

Though the reply was instantaneous, I felt the urge to think and write something on it.

We, human beings have a lot of limitations.
We cannot capture a thing faster than light, a noise faster than sound.
We can't breathe without Oxygen.
We can't sustain without water and food.
We can't live without gravity and sunlight.
All our actions are restricted to these human limitations.

For instance, a dog can only bark. It cannot sing operas, nor can it cook.
It has to survive on human leftovers and flesh of lesser animals.
If we pelt stones at it, it can only bite or bark (mutually exclusive events!!! :-) ). It cannot pelt them back at us.
Yet, it does not complain about it. It is quite contended doing what it can. Its desires are limited.
This is because of its limited brain, physique and social status.

And so are ours. We have so many limitations ourselves.
Do we usually wish to have wings and fly flapping it? Or swim underwater without supplements like a fish?
If we had such desires, we would know ourselves that it is impossible, atleast for now.
Our desires rather revolve around more achievable things like money, fame, health and sex.
But are they, in real, achievements? Or, are they just being perceived by us so?
Are they worthy to be sought after?

When we are able to accept that our body has a lot of limitations, we must also realize that same is the case with our intelligence. Our perception is based only on our 5 senses and naturally, our desires are also limited to that.

Just like we are amused with the "limitedness" of a dog, the enlightened ones are with us.

Here is that dialogue by one such enlightened character in Baba, again.

"Women, Gold and wound - all are real. It is just the perception and the associated thoughts that is illusion."

It makes some sense now. Doesn't it? :-)

P.S: Don’t brand me a male chauvinist. The “woman..” dialogue is proprietary of Swami Divyananda Bharathi (Baba)! :-)

The Body

There is an old saying,

"Tell me about your company, I'll tell about you!"

And there is another one,

"A man is best judged in his loneliness".

The two may be contradictory. But, doesn't it make you ponder on which one is true?

Illogically so, both seem correct.

A deep thought process on it answers some of the questions but raises many more.

There is a term called the "Mob psychology" which is nothing but the state of the mind of an individual in a mob (group).

When a group of people join together with a common cause, they tend to lose their individual desires, mannerisms and conduct.
They are no more individuals, but a Mob.

One example is an angry crowd at a Cricket Match. When left alone, Mr.X might be a well mannered, reserved person with a dislike for noise.
Yet, when a disappointed Mr. X is in the stadium watching a huge section of the crowd breaking chairs, yelling slogans and pelting stones at the ground, he joins them. He loses his individual thinking and becomes a part of the mob.
This probably answers the question of how a region, state or a country, in itself, is termed Rogue.

But this raises the question of what is driving the thoughts and action of an entity.

What is a body? How do we define it?

A shallow thinking would tell us that it is a being's physical form which comprises of different parts like the brain, face, hands and legs.

But is it the start and end of it?

I would say a No!

According to me, a body is an entity which consists of different elements coordinating with each other.

If we take the physical form of a human being, the brain should instruct other parts and they have to act accordingly. A Hand-eye coordination is needed to lift and place objects, feet must organize to walk, and so on.

To call an entity as body, all its elements should coordinate with each other, or at least, bear with one another.

An overgrown finger nail is cut off from the body as it hinders the grip of the hands and causes harm to other parts of the body. A cancerous arm is amputated to stop it infecting the other elements of the body. But, a polio-attacked leg or a pair of deaf ears can be kept as they can better be borne.
Let us add another dimension to it by bringing "Mob- psychology" into picture.

We can call a mob, a body in itself. The aim of the mob in our example is to cause chaos and display its disappointment.
Every element of it, i.e., each person, coordinates and does his/her part. A person doing nothing, but keeping quiet is borne by the mob.
But a person going against it, shouting at it for its mis-doings has to bear the brunt of it.

A brain without hands, legs, eyes, ears is useless. Similarly, hands and legs lose their importance in the absence of a sound brain.
Each element of a body is, thus, inter dependent.

Now, taking a bigger perspective, A whole country can be seen as a body. Each person in it is inter-dependent in some way or the other.
And they share a certain common cause that brings them together.
Any person going against the body (country) is borne to a level and then, admonished.

Similarly, all the living, non-living things in the universe are inter-dependent. Everything is connected. Everything is, knowingly or unknowingly, coordinating with each other.

The whole universe is one body!

All physical matter, information, knowledge, beliefs, good, bad, Gods, devils, are part of that single body!

The elements of it may grow in number or get amputated. Anything can happen to them. Yet, ultimately, the body would survive.

This body is called the "Maha Purusha" or the "Brahman" by the Vedas.

Each one of us is a minuscule part of the Maha Purusha.

This body covers all the things that make sense to our limited human brain and everything else. The Maha Purusha is the Almighty! Nothing is bigger than the Maha purusha.

So powerful would have been the thinking of our ancestors to bring out such an exemplary thought in so few words.
We, Hindus, believe the Vedas are the teachings of the Gods to our fore-fathers.

It is not always that I try to express my thoughts on such complex topics to others. I usually relish them within.
But, the desire was evoked by a beautiful illustration of a “bigger-body” by director Shankar in the climax of Enthiran, the Robot.

Hundreds of Rajini-bots join together and coordinate superbly to form a bigger body that is mightier than each one of them.

We have to realize the same that, we are a part of a bigger body and should not be a slave to the desires and hatreds of our tiny human form.

It took a Mahatma to realize it when Gandhiji decided to forego luxurious clothes and don a simple Dhothi for the rest of his life, seeing the miseries of his fellow body parts (fellow countrymen). :)

So, it is only natural that we, the lesser ones, would take more time. I am only hoping against hope that we would, by this lifetime. :)