1. Have an Interesting Snippet to Share : Click Here
    Dismiss Notice

The Cart Before The Horse

Discussion in 'Cheeniya's Senile Ramblings' started by Cheeniya, Apr 15, 2017.

  1. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    12,626
    Likes Received:
    16,902
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    @ojaantrik

    My dear OJ
    My right eye is now blaming me for sending you that warning putting the blame on it. It tells me 'Buddy! See who is the loser now! This is the result of poor communication' . Even during my banking days, I have not been an effective communicator even when both my eyes were functional. My brother would often tell me that my silence is more effective than my spoken communication. I remember an occasion when my HO instructed me to tactfully decline a proposal for loan and I wrote to the applicant that his application for loan has been tactfully declined by HO!
    Sri
     
    satchitananda and ojaantrik like this.
  2. Iravati

    Iravati Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    2,430
    Likes Received:
    2,105
    Trophy Points:
    283
    Gender:
    Female
    Mostly I day dream that I am reading a book and later delude myself that I have read the book. Actual reading is very little. With all the day dreaming and delusions, where would I find time for veritable reading.

    I am curious to know why Ubo Roi as a random pick?

    I read somewhere that when one chances on a good book, momentarily, they convulse in an uncontrollable exhilaration to wish to collar every passer by and implore them to read the book. Later that implore may intensify as instruct if such madness persists. How true! While growing up, I would read a comic and throw myself on the street and urge every friend I had across on the street to read that comic book. Why do we impose ourselves upon others? Is it to validate as well as challenge our thoughts? Is is to distance from cross-partisan and affiliate with co-partisan? Perhaps this is what John Donne meant by “No man is an island entire of itself”. In our ever-shrinking landmass of an existence, we reach out to other islands to coalesce as an enriched archipelago of kindred convictions, proclivities and tastes. However, your compulsion to quote and my obsession to recommend have less poetic ardour to connect but more self-directed expression of thrill and amusement in experiencing life.

    Here's my reckoning on your column. Usually, people wish to do better than others. However, there are few who are content doing different than others. When Aristophanes guised his scorn for Athenian hubris and political machinations in satirical comedies, he strove to contravene the prevailing wisdom on necessity of wars and allied statesmanship. His plays were laden with strong political message. Then Menander arrived on the stage and casted his comedies on lighter topics like everyday travails and confusion. His comedy of manners was a smash hit with the audiences who until then only spectated politically or morally loaded plays.

    I feel what we all lack or limit in our versatility and expertise is complemented by our distinctive style. I know no other way of doing it is as good a standing as I know no other person who has done it this way.
     
    vaidehi71 and shyamala1234 like this.
  3. Iravati

    Iravati Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    2,430
    Likes Received:
    2,105
    Trophy Points:
    283
    Gender:
    Female
    Tsssk, tssk Cheeniya, what about the countless movies where pure evil sustains for two hours of gana bhajana only to undergo a sudden change of heart just before the credits roll.

    I am always gobsmacked at such rushed penitence. I wonder how our filmmakers manage to reform vile criminals in a blink of a second with the pinprick of a reuniting incident, those ...those ... moments where a villain learns of his buried kinship with the sworn hero and switches loyalties. Bhaiyya! Damn my adopted parents.
     
    vaidehi71 likes this.
  4. Iravati

    Iravati Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    2,430
    Likes Received:
    2,105
    Trophy Points:
    283
    Gender:
    Female
    Alas! I missed such splendour (including the transformation brought on by the black plumes)

    People cleverly plan up travel in winter to avoid the summer onslaught not realising that they are not the only smart ones around. I was once in Goa and noticed a hippy swarm cartwheeling on the shoreline to loud music and drinks and exclaimed, “It is not December, yet” to which the guide corrected, “In Goa every day is December 31st.”

    There's definitely surge pricing during peak seasons on hotel reservations though “peak” is arguably less seasonal and more trumped up.

    In the beginning, these intercutting songs were known as “item songs.” When showbiz extravaganza trampled pale modesty, this attraction was popularised as “speciality songs.” If the trend ensues, what will they be called tomorrow? Honorary songs.
     
    vaidehi71 likes this.
  5. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    12,626
    Likes Received:
    16,902
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    @Iravati
    I am amazed to hear this! You quote from some of the most obscure authors and books that makes me run to Google to get the basics about what you quote. In my response, I pretend that the authors that you quote are all my childhood pals! But I must admit this. You have made me acquaint myself with more authors and books than I would have ever cared to read!
    Oberai Grand in Kolkata is one of my favourite ones and during my Bank days whenever I had to attend a professional meet there, I used to stay there. It has now become even grander and I keep hoping that I do get a chance to stay there again. Ubo Roi appealed to me instantly with the similarity of the two names!
    My obsession with Wodehouse made me behave in a manner similar to his celebrated characters. I once told a friend that if he wanted to improve his sense of humour, he must start reading Wodehouse. I started laughing at the very mention of his name even though it was I who mentioned his name! My friend's reaction was ice cold and he told me that his sense of humour was ok even without Wodehouse. I felt bad that one could react that way on hearing Wodehouse's name. When I narrated this incident to another friend who is also a great fan of PGW like me, he merely shrugged his shoulder and remarked 'Binna Ruchihi loka'!
    Some friends have warned me that my survival as a blogger would be in great jeopardy if I don't change my style of narration. I knew they meant well but my problem is that I cannot change this style. I cannot think of versatility and stuff like that because I have my limitation. I enjoy what I write and is that not the best yardstick of quality?
    Sri
     
    vaidehi71 and shyamala1234 like this.
  6. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    12,626
    Likes Received:
    16,902
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    @Iravati
    I know a guy who badly ill-treated his wife all through her life and when she died, he started a few charity endeavors in her name! She was a great lover of classical music but he never allowed her to go to her favourite concerts while alive. Now he celebrates her Birth Day with a three day concert of classical music, admission free!
     
  7. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    12,626
    Likes Received:
    16,902
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    @Iravati
    In Tamil Nadu, those songs are still called 'Item numbers'. The hero will be waiting in the railway station to catch a long distance train. Suddenly a fruit-wending girl would appear on the screen in an utterly scanty outfit and starts dancing in which the hero gets sucked. When the train comes and starts, the hero and the whole gang board it with the dancing fruit seller till the train reaches the destination. Some movies have run for a hundred days only on the strength of the 'item numbers'
     
  8. ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    3,535
    Likes Received:
    2,437
    Trophy Points:
    308
    Gender:
    Male
    But note good friend! Silence can be pregnant. Just think of the picture I attached. No less a genius than Wodehouse. He too used to put the cart before the horse. And we have no idea what the final product turned out to be in this case. Chaplin was never known to have failed. Except for the last movie he made with Sophia Loren I think. The King in New York.

    I was just trying to tell you that you had taken us along a magnificent journey on a cart before the horse. You have the genius to achieve the impossible.

    I silently reminded you that your creativity reminded me of Chaplin. Please give me the credit for searching out the photograph from Chaplin's Autobiography. I simply admire your work good friend!!

    oj
     
    satchitananda likes this.
  9. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    12,626
    Likes Received:
    16,902
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    @ojaantrik
    Thank you OJ. A good word from a man of your eminence is the equivalent of the Nobel for Literature.
    Chaplain! Please for Heaven's Sake don't compare me with him. You don't compare the blazing sun with its reflection on a pool of water! My writing is just a reflection of all the great men I have read and admired. PGW is of course the Abou Ben Adhem of them all. Sophia Loren? The movie you probably have in your mind is A Countess from Hong Kong.
     
    ojaantrik likes this.
  10. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    13,370
    Likes Received:
    24,115
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    Dear Cheeniya Sir,

    I am reproducing below what Lord Krishna, Vasistha and Ramana Maharishi said about Prarbtha Karma:

    "According to many sages and philosophers, Prarabdha karma end only after we have experienced their consequences. Sage Ramana Maharishi presents another viewpoint when he says, "If the agent, upon whom the Karma depends, namely the ego, which has come into existence between the body and the Self, merges in its source and loses its form, how can the Karma, which depends upon it, survive? When there is no ‘I’ there is no Karma.", a point well reiterated by sage Vasistha in his classical work Yoga Vasistha, wherein, when Lord Rama asks sage Vasistha about the way to transcend the two binding effects of past karmas, namely Vasanas or the effect of impressions left on the mind by past actions and one's fate created by Prarabdha Karma, to which he replies, through with Divine grace (Kripa), one can go beyond the influences of past actions.

    The Bhakti Yoga theme within the Chapter seven of the Bhagavad Gita also talks eloquently about the concept of Kripa, but its most important verse comes in the final eighteenth chapter, about Liberation, where Krishna finally makes a sweeping statement to Arjuna in Verse 18.66, "Setting aside all meritorious deeds (Dharma), just surrender completely to My will (with firm faith and loving contemplation). I shall liberate you from all sins. Do not fear."

    In my view, a birth is through the parents and not from the parents. One can never choose the parents. Each life comes into existence to eliminate their Prarbtha Karma. By building good character and surrendering to the divinity, one can destroy the Prarbtha Karma. I believe that is the purpose of life.

    A good example is Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He was born in a poor family and could have continued pursuing anything of his choice to become shade better than his father. His brother still polishes shoes for a living. He was in the great company of Hindus, Muslims and Christians and learned good virtues from the childhood. His class teacher taught him how the bird flies which motivated him to become an Aeronautic engineer. When he was aspiring to join the Airforce, he was wait listed and told that he could join only if someone fail to join. Fortunately or unfortunately, everyone joined and he was disappointed. He had a chance to visit Sivananda's Ashram and his upadesam changed his life forever. He went on to become a great scientist and then the President of India. He said many times Bhagavad Gita had a major impact in his life. He led a simple life throughout and never gave up. He destroyed his ego and surrendered himself to the will of the Lord. I honestly believe his life is an example of how to eliminate Prarbdha Karma.

    As you rightly pointed out here not everyone who face "near death experience" become a Maharishi. It involves gaining a lot of knowledge through inquiry, simplifying life, surrendering to the will of the Lord and so on. He changed his Prarbtha Karma by His holy actions which resulted in obtaining grace from the Lord.

    Viswa
     

Share This Page