Quid Pro Quo With The Gods

When John Wheeler said “It is bit”, people assumed he was singing an itsy bitsy spider rhyme. Whereas, he packaged the profoundness of the reality in that line. It (reality) can be expressed in bits (information boolean). How do some people accomplish such concision and wit? Even I like people who deliver the punch in few words but that is only because we always like what we aspire to be.

I won't ask you to fact-check. When I am lazy to hunt the source of a quote, I attribute to Plato. No, it is not Charlie Chaplin, but Plato. No, it is not Amitabh Bachchan, but Plato. No, it is not Queen Ranavalona, but Plato. Plato always said that before anyone else. Plato is so ancient and wise that he would have conceived everything that is recycled today, I add. Plato is a safe choice. He might in turn blame it on his mentor Socrates yet Plato is so cushy and safe that he might even have scripted Montana's I always tell the truth even when I lie.

 

The quid pro quo crux of your blog. What if the auto-driver had a bed-ridden mom and two younger sisters to get married and four kids to feed? Would he return the bag of money? Are people good or bad or actions good or bad? Rather, is a person compelled to act good or bad because he has no choice over the situation. Is it disposition or the situation that determines our selection of good and bad? The principle of Fundamental Attribution Error demonstrates that we think we are good only because we have not been in bad situations. In a bad situation, every is bad. We have not murdered people and looted shops only because we have not been in situations that prompted or induced us to do that.

Kamal Hassan in the movie should have knocked on the head of his son and hinted like Lanning to Spooner, “The right question is not ‘are you good or bad’, the right question is ‘have you been in more good or bad situations’ ”.

You have taken after Dave Allen. May your triple O God save you now.

 

Is that the conversation where Chitragupta inquiries with Yamaraj,

Chitty: Satchi washed the contaminated container and put it back.

Yammy: But she washed it, right?

Chitty: Yammy, it is still tainted and she has been dishonest.

Yammy: Do you think we should revise our 17895th edition of Garuda Purana and add that as a sin.

Chitty: Absolutely.

Yammy: What should the punishment be?

Chitty: Feed her the same food for ten years.

Yammy: Do we have budget for such undertaking. You know that food is expensive these days esp. same food which means restaurant food.

Chitty: You are right.

Yammy: Unless Bill Gates is sent up, we won't be able to fund such ventures.

Chitty: Ok, let's cancel it.

Yammy: Go and bring subsidized canteen meal for us both. All these editions and revised publications are worrying me.

 

No Sir, no bash up. I liked this post because you were in a way, speaking my mind.
I tried my best to meet your standard of "crisp"; sadly I could not.

LOL! ! Yes, that was a bit too crisp!

I never ask that question Sri sir, because I am afraid I will not like the answer.
On a serious note:
My take after studying the Bible is that the Garden of Eden is what we are. We are made up of a majority of goodness with a little bad thrown in (the single tree of temptation).
While going through the Mahabharata I felt that we are a mixture of the Kauravas and Pandavas, the co-existence of good and bad.

Nowadays my only question is on the proportion of the good and bad – Am I the Garden of Eden or am I Kurukshetra? (I want to lean towards Eden of course )

(Not sure if you receive Whatsapp messages on being good. I get a deluge of them and on Facebook too, that I want to scream, "Noooo, I don't want to be good, I want to be human")

True. Very true.

You hit the nail on the head.

The other day we were discussing the same thing. Not just co-workers sir, even family can change an honest person to dishonest.

Let’s say dad asks his son A, to go get some tickets for a cricket match. Son goes to the stadium, finds that the tickets are sold out, and returns home empty handed. The neighbor’s son comes to know of this and offers to get the tickets. He bribes some folks and gets the tickets.

Now the father tells his honest and straightforward son, “See how smart the neighbor’s son is. He can get the job done. You are fit for nothing”. The son, who cringes at these words decides to become a corrupt man just so his father will respect him.

I did a double-take reading this line. Exactly my thoughts.
Often have I wondered if this is just to reiterate themselves the value of honesty lest they forget it.

Same applies to people who believe in God.

Those who truly believe in God will not keep talking of God or exhibiting their faith. Especially Sanathana Dharma; it never mentions that going to the temple, or observing penance is the only way to show your faith. As the name implies, it is how we live our lives.

Many times I have been ridiculed just because I refuse to observe fasts and do not believe in Rahukalam and Emakandam. I take these in stride and put them aside, knowing that folks who really understand religion will not make fun of me or put me down.
Now I have even more strength knowing that one more person thinks my way.

I hear my dad. He was of the same idea. He would just put it another way, “Is this a business dealing with God? Why say do this for me and I will do this for you? If you believe God is omnipotent, don’t bring Him low to your level”

In the same vein I also want to document a pet peeve here. Every time I mention to some folks that I attended a wedding, the question would be “Are the bride and groom well-matched?” I would always retort angrily, “If you believe in God, don’t you think He knows if the bride and groom are suited for each other? Who am I, a mere mortal, to pass judgement on the Almighty’s decision?” That usually shuts them up.

This statement brought back a memory. A few years ago I was shopping at Landmark, the bookstore in Chennai. I saw some knick-knacks at the bill counter. Noticing that there were only statuettes of Lakshmi and Ganesha, I asked if they had a Saraswati. “No madam, nobody buys Saraswati, only Goddess Lakshmi sells"!!!!

 

Dear Sri,

Your post took me way back in time and reminded me of a short story by Banaphool, the same person who wrote the original version of The Neem Tree. The story I recalled was titled Vidhata, which we might read as God Almighty. I couldn't help the temptation of redoing it in English. I am putting it up as a post called God Almighty. In the year 1992, I had tried out a Japanese version of the tale, but I did not have the original story with me at the time. I simply wrote up a story based on my impressions from past reading. Today, however, I found the original publication and was stunned to see how different my Japanese version had been from the story Banaphool wrote. But, the conclusion of my Japanese version was the same as Banaphool's own version, or the transcreated version I am going to put up now.

oj

 

Dear Cheeniya Sir,

It was while walking on a busy road bustling with heavy traffic and hardly any space for a pedestrian, that I happened to witness something shocking. I saw a beggar or mentally challenged person, foraging the garbage bin for the leftovers and eating it right there unmindful of the people or the traffic.
This picture remains frozen in my mind even after so many years. When our stomachs are empty, when hunger stalks us constantly, our mind refuses to think , be it about God or even our own existence. That left me with the question as to why God should hold innocent people as pawns in his hands. Faith or no faith destiny gives every person born in this universe some hard knocks, through which we learn invaluable lessons that no school or college could teach! Thank you for such an interesting piece of writing which makes us think at least occasionally about life!

Agatha83

 

My dear Anna

Today I would have met with an accident. I was crossing the road and a bike came in front of me which I did not notice and somehow he took a turn and I was saved, might be because I was thinking of this post God saved me.

 

Dear Cheeniya Sir,
Your rambling'Quid -pro-quo with Gods is really a web consisting of so many intricacies-self assessment,Good and bad, bargaining with Gods etc etc.
Quid pro Quo reminds me of a story of a rich business man who was returning by ship with many riches.When there was a violent storm, he prayed God that if God helped him to return safe he would sell his big mansion and give the entire sale proceeds to God.He returned home safe.He was reminded of his vow.He thought that it was high time that he repaid his debt to God.
He gave an advt in papers that he is going to sell his cat.For the max bidder his mansion will be given for one Rupee.
Every one was surprised,yet it was a real venture.The mansion was really worth lakhs.
At last the cat was sold to 90% of the real worth of the house.
The deal was struck.He humbly placed Re1 in the hundi and said I have fulfilled the vow because I have sold the house forRe1 only.See the quid-pro-quo deal.The quid pro quo deal with God should be made with care and diligence, we were advised by mothers.
Am I good or bad? Very hard to assess as we don't know what is good and what is bad.The great epic Mahabharatha is obsessed with the elusive notion of dharma.Almost all the characters -Bhishma, Yudhishtira, Karna, Drona and Draupathi-why the omniscient Krishna indulge in visible Adharma, though quoted with a brush of dharma.Krishna tells Yudhishtira that a lie is permissible when it is for greater good.Untruth is dressed up as 'truth' according to situations.

It holds a mirror before us to judge yourself.When it is difficult to be good, better be bad and redefine Dharma. For a simple matter like this, which Lord Krishna stands as an exemplor, why to break our heads as to whether we are good or bad. We can never be bad in this world.Why to deceive yourself and all others in the process? All our business decisions, political strategies, decisions at home front have a silver streak of Dharma and Dharma only.You need not have an iota of doubt over this.There lies only a thin line of demarcation between good and bad.As long as the goals are achieved-with selfish or self less motives,there is no Adharma in this world.Dharma always wins.Logically the converse also is true" whichever wins is Dharma.

Sorry for the long reply.See at your leisure.
Jayasala 42