A life in reverse!

Cheeniya · Jun 7, 2011

Dear Kamla
I almost tend to put the fascinating question of PG Wodehouse to you,'To what do I owe the honour of your visit?' But the fact that you have furnished the reason in your post itself makes the question redundant and I may have to wait for a more suitable occasion to use this great sentence of PGW.

Your take on the past sounds almost like the teaching of Jiddu Krishnamurthy.He taught us that without freedom from the past, there was no freedom at all, because the mind would never be new, fresh, innocent. I belong to the school of thought that tells us that those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. There lies the beauty of the past. It is the fulcrum on which our future rests. I often wish that I could divest myself of the memories of the stings of the past but would I be where I am but for those stings? It is strange that some people are more afraid of their past than of their future!

The present will soon be past. The only way a person can have a delightful past is to live the present like there is no tomorrow!
Sri

Viswamitra · Apr 30, 2012

Dear Chenniya Sir,

Every time I read a post of yours, I come to the conclusion this one is even better than the one I read before. I am not sure what order I follow but this particular post made me think deep. May be everyone who is in the evening of life should go through his or her life in reverse the way you have narrated here. Death is never an end if we identify ourselves as our consciousness but it is only a beginning of the rest of several lives that we are going to experience. Flash back in reverse would help us understand how much we learned out of our experiences. In terms of desires and attachments, we would like to be a child but in terms of what we need to experience again in the next lives, we would like to be a matured adult. Our review in reverse gives a good measurement of how our death would be felt by the near and dear. If only thing that we would be carrying with us is our good deeds, reviewing them before we are ready to move on gives us a good overview of our starting point for our next life. People say that we need to be chanting the name of the Lord while dying which invariably never happens in most cases. In my opinion, at least if we have reverse review of our life, that would help us to embed some of the positive lessons we had learned into our memories that we could carry forward into next life without wasting our time relearning them. In my opinion, to start where we left is what we struggle in every life. Time available is precious and let us learn how to become immortal by shortening the cycle of birth and death.

Cheeniya · May 2, 2012

Dear Viswa
I very often think what a blessing it would be if we can run our lives the way we make a presentation on MS Word. We can edit and change the portions that cause us discomfort without much effort. But the fact remains that we can't even retrace our words let along our actions. And we wring our hands helplessly when our words and actions draw severe criticism and adverse reactions. Many people tell me that men become unscrupulous in their utterances as they grow older. To ensure against such aberrations, I have developed now a system of reviewing my words and actions at frequent intervals so that if any damage control becomes necessary, I plunge into action voluntarily without any prodding from any one. Cheeniya cannot hurt even a fly is the overall rating I have secured in my life! Good enough! What say you?
Sri

Viswamitra · May 2, 2012

Dear Viswa,

I thought you are different because you wear faded jeans and T-shirts and write outstanding blogs but through your words above, you have clearly indicated that you are different in your words and actions as well. Overall rating of can't even hurt a fly is remarkable accomplishment and should have been through a lot of time and effort. When I come to Chennai, I need a special session with you to learn how to achieve that goal. If I am half of what you are, I will be more than happy at my age of 58. I can't even achieve that goal with my family members leave along with everyone outside. Good enough? I worship you for what you have accomplished.

Viswa

Cheeniya · May 6, 2012

Dear Viswa
Friends don't worship each other. They may admire each other for their respective merits. And I do look forward to meeting you for a long session!
Sri

iyerviji · May 12, 2012

My dear Anna

It was very interesting to read life in reverse which made me think and felt like going back to childhood. You wanted to go back to your mother's womb. Its really a very nice place where you are taken good care. Its a very nice feeling when the child is in the womb which cant be explained in words. Dont know whether I have gone out of the topic. Sorry

Like Viswa I am also very eager to meet you and take your blessings in person. Hope that will come very soon if God wills.

Cheeniya · May 12, 2012

My dear Viji
You have my blessings always. I too hope to meet you one day. I am indeed overwhelmed by the love and affection of ILites. I feel highly energised by it.

A fetus growing into a full fledged baby in the safe and confined space of the mother's womb is one of the greatest miracles of life. Vaali has penned a touching song about a mother in the film 'Mannan' sung soulfully by Jesudoss. Every time I hear that song, my eyes start watering.
Sri

Srama · Jul 3, 2012

Dear Cheeniya sir,

this post has certainly a sense of melancholy to it. Or is it just me? Who in this world has never felt the need to curl up and become an embryo in their mother's womb or a baby in her hands again? May be the timing of my reading the post was not right! Oh well! It certainly drew emotions out of me! The post also reminded me of the movie "Curious case of Benjamin Button"! It was very well received and a lot of people were ra ra over it. I watched the movie sir, but only could get through almost 3/4 of the way - it depressed me to no end. May be I love the process of ageing way too much for I thrive on the experiences and lessons learnt as we age and when I am that old and do literally become a child, it is with the full understanding of been there, done that and hence can rest in peace. May be.

Cheeniya · Jul 3, 2012

My dear Srama
You have raised a very valid point in saying 'this post has certainly a sense of melancholy to it. Or is it just me?' From time immemorial, we have been told that things external to us do not stimulate any feelings in us. Joy or melancholy is generated within. If the external thing generates it, it should be uniformly felt by everyone though the intensity of the feeling may vary.

This post of mine has been dismissed by many as trivial and look at the profundity of your response! How can I attribute it to my post? 'Curious case of Benjamin Button' is certainly reflective of the thought process of a life in reverse. Right from our vedic days, life in the reverse has been engaging the minds of our Rishis and scholars. The story of Yayathi has this aspect reflected in it.

I love your concluding sentence. It will be great if the entire knowledge and wisdom of a life time get transferred to the infant. I would like to think that this phenomenon is behind the making of child prodigies. I am told that the entire knowledge of the Dalai Lama gets transferred to his successor. When I think of knowledge as a continuous process passing from generation to generation, I am overawed at the prospect of how the frontier of human knowledge and wisdom will extend.
Sri

shyamala1234 · Jul 4, 2012

Dear Sri,

A serious topic....but tried to write in a lighter mood. No, it is serious enough.

Past, present and future....many quotes on them. Some scholars say " Live only in the present." But I always doubt that.Today, yesterday and tomorrow...are they not linked and dependent on each other? I think so.As T.S.Eliot says in The Four Quartets.....

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.

We learn many things from past, life is a kaleidioscope, a mixture of various experiences, some good and not so good and varied. Depending on those experiences we act in our present. How can we not think of future? We need not brood about past and endless apprehensions about future but we do think.

Death..we think we and our near and dear ones live eternally but we do face some tragic events in life.....but still life goes on. This is a kind of "chakram".

I think somewhere else I quoted in this forum about Yakshaprasna to Dharmaraja....."What is the most amusing thing in this world?" To which he replies "Everyone who is born is bound to die, but people think they would live forever."

I am not able to express as well as you expressed...some confusion is there and not able to put what is all in my mind into writing...it needs skill. Only people like you can write.

Syamala