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Quid Pro Quo With The Gods

Discussion in 'Cheeniya's Senile Ramblings' started by Cheeniya, May 20, 2017.

  1. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    @Iravati
    On nonsense (358)
    From this game I realise that there is some sense in our pure nonsense too. It makes me sad that I can see some sense in our nonsense too. In Buddhist format, if a person says after the end of his tortuous training that he knows what is Nirvana, he is sent back to the start of the exercise again.
    'Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.'
    You know who said this?
    Marilyn Monroe!
     
  2. Iravati

    Iravati Platinum IL'ite

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    I shall catch up with the QPQ posts in the night. But I could not wait on this one.

    Recently I was probed by a friend that I should do so much "more" in life rather than being complacent in my job. I should scale to great heights and do this and that, make more money and buy houses and buy cars or something to that effect. Let me tell you, I love money! I love money to the extent it facilitates me to have a good life where I can buy the things I want to. I can dine at any restaurant uninhibited and download any book carefree. These are my only expenses. This maniacal drive to hoard things that do not interest me puzzles me. People of my age are upward and marching to success, their salaries are manifold higher than what I earn, they have beautiful houses and posh cars. Any one in my position would be provoked with such disparity induced by our incompetency. I tell them only one thing: my needs are different, my interests are different, my happiness is different.

    Again, I love money, let me repeat. But, I also want a life where I can day dream and spend time for my personal avocations. I need uninterrupted time to pursue by fancies. A life where I am "dispensable" that if I vanish for few days my unaccountability is venial. I don't have any dependents or kids on me. I don't have to build mansions or save up for their college fund or flaunt sports cars. I want a life with flexibility to lounge and linger. It is difficult to explain to people that I could not have dreamed of any other kind of life. This is the best of the lives I could have had in that Leibniz's best of the worlds. For someone like me, I could not have asked for more. A decent income and generous time to indulgence in my fancies! What else can I ask for ...but that mansions and cars I don't strive for. I don't own any jewellery. I don't fancy any car. I have no interest in collecting artsy decor. I love to lounge and occasionally jump from sofa, like this instance, to pound away excitedly and tell another simpatico that I totally get that unfelt peer influence. However, I have great admiration for people who pursue the goals they seek. I tell them, just that your goal is different from mine, and what matters is whether we are pursuing goals tailored for us and not decreed by a common denominator.

    Peer pressure is good for ambitious people but for simpletons like us we would prefer a life that suits us. You told me once, oh, not today, but I got you long ago. Let me squeal in return, I know exactly what those words "peer pressure" at work mean. Meaningless to us. That does not mean we are not driven but it only means we are self-propelled in our custom-built drive for our purpose-built needs.
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2017
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  3. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Cheeniya Sir & @Iravati,

    Your's and Ira's response about peer pressure and what is more important in life than pursuing and associated luxuries is a great eye-opener for me. I often contemplate how good life is, if we lead it under the influence of everyone around us particularly peers. Everyone of us came into existence with different interest and different skill-set for a reason.

    When I visited Mumbai a few years back, I saw a man drawing Rangoli in the road and the amount of fulfillment he had in his face was exciting to watch. He didn't even look at who is throwing coins into the Rangoli. Similarly, when I walked the roads in Paris, there were several painters who were pouring in their creativity into a canvas and the amount of joy in their faces is immeasurable.

    When I asked my son what excites him the most, his reply was playing a musical instrument. He said he wouldn't mind spending hours together playing a musical instrument not thinking about anything. The question I asked several years ago in the form of snippet, "Am I trying to be who I am not?" daunts me from time to time.

    After hearing both of you, I have come to the conclusion that the greatest feeling one could experience is the feeling of contentment and joy of pursuing the life one likes.

    I keep talking to many friends about what is missing in life with a keen interest to learn from their responses. But both your responses gave me the impression that you both lead your lives with a lot of clarity. When I asked a professional friend of mine in the UK, he said, "Spending time with incarcerated people every weekend gives him immense amount of joy". He told that those people who are incarcerated got an opportunity to press the reset button to pursue what they like the most and those who live outside don't get an opportunity. How can I find what excites me the most? Even if I find what excites me, how can I press a reset button? After pressing the reset button, how do I pursue something that is exciting to me? How do I liberate myself from the prison of regulated lifestyle controlled by what others think of who I am?

    Viswa
     
  4. shyamala1234

    shyamala1234 Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear
    Dear Viswamitra,
    Are we really free to do what we like? No!!!Many ifs and buts arise. We try to balance between want to do and have to do....but the balance tilts to have to do things. Needs a lot of courage to sacrifice what we have to do for what we want to do.
    Many bondages in life prevents it. There is a Telugu writer Buchibabu. He wrote only one novel "chivaraku migiledi" . Means what remains in the end. One chapter's name is "Chappudu cheyani sankellu". Means chains which do not make sound. If a prisoner is tied with chains they make sound. But the bondages we have in life do not make sound but tie us tightly. We try our best to do things we love to do and many times do also...
    I do not deny. But not at the expense of our bondages. Exceptions are there....but they do not make a rule. Bottom line is we do not have complete freedom to do things we like. Compromise is "jeevithasatyam" (reality of life).
    Syamala
     
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  5. Iravati

    Iravati Platinum IL'ite

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    Cheeniya is a seventy plus man who recovered from a stroke. Thereby, a lot of vaunted things are inconsequential to him except for the ones he enjoy and cherish. But, he was no different even before the stroke. Following that, he is heedless of peer pressure or conformity. He is a merry and jovial chap and now is the merriest in his life.

    Iravati is someone who has not a worry in her life because she has no problems, lamentations, nagging regrets, persistent grudges, unsurmountable conflicts, bad friends, evil in-laws, scary parents, biting colleagues so forth. She shifts and drifts and shuffles by her happiness, rather what keeps her happy. She is bloody selfish. She keeps melancholy and trouble at bay. She is choosy in whom she mingles with and their influence in her life. She can be heedless because she has no commitments nor mortgages nor encumbrances nor liabilities to conform to any norms. That lifestyle suits her but it can unfulfilling to another woman. She can be what she chooses to be. No accountability nor restrictions. (Also, she moves in funny circles with comical friends).

    Both can afford to be what they are with no ifs and buts in their lives because their lives have been conducive to lead up to that happiness. I don't know what is missing at your front. I don't know what excites you.

    Our lives are vastly different and our needs are different. Cheeniya and Iravati are "naturally" very happy people. Iravati, for one, is naturally explosive in happiness. She said several times that she feels like her head would explode in happiness when she wakes up in the morning and that reflects in her chirpety writing. Don't ask her what she usually eats for dinner because she just had lunch and the talk of dinner will make her hungry and happy again. Note, some people are naturally happy souls, that is the way they are built.
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2017
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  6. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    I am sure it is your mindset not to look at anything as a problem and see yourself happy piercing through all of them. You are not looking at them as slippery slop where you have no control but a slop that accelerates your speed towards happiness. In my view, people can be classified into three categories, a) those who are determined to be happy and work towards that brushing aside the huddles that they need to cross understanding the difference between needs and wants, b) those who take life as it comes and go through ups and down with associated emotions relevant to the circumstances and c) those who get bagged down by the life and keep blaming the world for it.

    Listening to music and singing excites me for sure. For some strange reason, words of appreciation excites me and I am unable to take it with a balanced mind. Criticism doesn't bother me. Sometimes, I work more and more to get appreciated by others than achieving a deep sense of fulfillment for my own benefit. I am an intense critic of myself and set very high standards on my day to day matters and my spouse keep advising me that it is okay to drift from the discipline a little from time to time. If I don't find my key or wallet, I curse myself for being irresponsible. I wish I know what I miss.

    Viswa

    Viswa
     
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  7. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Let me add one more category to that Viswa - maybe related to type b. Those are the ones who go through life with their heads in the clouds. They might get mildly distressed when they fall, but then they lift themselves up once again and start dancing to the music! Their memory is a black hole and this helps them leave behind their slippery slops. They might be vaguely aware that there might be one around the corner and might keep half an eye open for those, but it is as likely that they might slip on that one.....or they might just manage to avoid it and then dance some more to celebrate the fact that they remembered to avoid it!!!
     
  8. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    @Iravati
    (372)
    This reminds me of the famous Tamil Poet, Avvaiyar, who lived between the 1st and 2nd Century AD. She was a highly respected figure even among the Kings of her period. She has written many poems especially for children which are taught in Schools even today. I must quote one verse of hers that is very relevant to our discussion. It is as given below:
    Paadu Pattu Thaedi Panathai Pudhaithu Vaitha
    Kaeduketta Maanidarae Kaelungal Kooduvittingu
    Aavithaan Poyinapin Yaarae Anubavippaar
    Paavigaal Andha Panam

    meaning, Oh you people who toil to earn money and then safeguard it by burying (hiding) it without even using even for necessities. Who will be going to enjoy all your hard earned money once the soul leaves your body, you sinners?

    A very hard hitting poem which should open the eyes of all the hoarders. I love the old pair of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in all their movies for the way they splash money. I must make a particular mention of Hollywood or Bust!
    Tell me who doesn't love money but the question still remains: What are they going to do with it? Does it make any difference if a man lives in a 200 room palace? The question still remains how much of his money can he take with him when he departs.
     
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  9. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Unfortunately people don't seem to have that kind of wisdom CS. In today's context it would be 'where will you hide it? Who will benefit from it? The IT department? The government? The corrupt babus and bureaucrats whom you will try to buy with that money?' Blessed are those who don't have that kind of money these days.
     
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  10. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    @Viswamitra
    My dear Viswa
    Everyone of us comes into this world alike and goes out of it alike. It is what happens in between that is known as the great drama of life. This is about the only story in which people get so engrossed knowing what the end would be. It takes an evolved soul like Adi Sankara to tell us about the 'Punarapi Jananam, Punarapi Maranam' drama but do we pay heed to it? My mum would often say that the salt we mixed with our food for taste made us oblivious to the facts of life. That's why, she would say, that the ancient sages down to our Paramacharya never mixed salt with their food.
    The right and wrong of whatever we do is of no interest to anyone but ourselves. An occasional peep into the route that we have traversed thus far would certainly restore balance to our life.
    Am I carrying coal to Newcastle?
    Sri
     
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