Profundity is the name of the game!

Cheeniya · Jan 15, 2012

My dear Bhargavi
In my school (Hindu High School in Triplicane, Chennai), we had a Science Teacher by name Swaminatha Iyer who would throw a piece of chalk if he found any student yawning and it would invariably land in the open mouth of the victim. I understand that his sone has become a teacher too and continues this legacy of his dad. A chip of the old block!
Sri

Viswamitra · Jan 24, 2012

When the world started the riddle started in the form of the following question:

Is Life opposite of death? I came to the conclusion that the death is absence of life and the life is absence of death. But when I thought more about it I was able to visualize that a dead person has no life but can we say for sure the living person has no death in him? As a matter of fact, with certainty, we can conclude that a living person definitely has death in him. if we consider the frame as the person which is the case in our day to day life, that frame has no value without the life force that operates it. In its absence, what is in him is mere death. If I go further into philosophy, I am also able to visualize that even a dead person has life. If we believe in rebirth and if we believe in Atma (AHAM BRAMHASMI/THAT THOU ART), a dead person is alive even after his death. It is his frame that is dead. Based on this principle death has life in it and life has death in it and life and death are together.

When a person is alive people call him passionately with his name or nick name but when the same person is dead, they do not refer him by name and call it as his body. A relative will ask, "Eduthacha?" (Has it been taken?) and the other person will answer "Illa. Innum kedakku" (No. It is still there). They do not ask, "has he been taken?' or tell "No he is still there." respectively. Can we sing, "Why this Kolaveri di?" to these people?

Viswa

Cheeniya · Jan 24, 2012

Dear Viswa
If we go by the wisdom of Adi Sankara as embodied in 'Baja Govindam', it is 'Punarapi Jananam, punarapi Maranam' . How lucidly he conveys "Born again, dying again, sleeping once again in a mother's belly - here in this endless ocean of samsara (the world), which is difficult to cross, protect me, Murari, by Your Grace"! This simply means that neither birth nor death has any finality and it is one continuous process till we get liberated from this cycle.

The Spanish philosopher Spinoza compares this to the flight of a bird from darkness through a well-lit room back to the darkness beyond. Nothing stays alive permanently. Nothing stays dead permanently. As Ramses I says in Ten Commandments, 'dying is a part of living'. This leads me to think that even living is a part of dying.
Sri

iyerviji · Jul 7, 2012

My dear Anna

Enjoyed reading your ramblings and everyone's fbs. I think when nothing interesting is there in IL its good to go through your ramblings from where we can get good knowledge on various subjects

Cheeniya · Jul 8, 2012

My dear Viji
It is nice to see you visiting my old threads and giving FBs. I am happy you find them informative.
Sri

Srama · Jan 31, 2013

Dear Cheeniya sir,

I have to tell you that I am all smiles! Yes, my good mood is back but that is a different matter altogether. The reason I am all smiles is yesterday while waiting at the dentist's office, yes another one, I read this snippet of yours and could not help but laugh thinking about the profound questions you have raised. That kept my spirits up through the procedure much to the amusement of my dentist who is also a friend of mine! Well, no I do not have any such profound questions nor have I sought answers to those. I am just the adult grown up and accepting what is, as is! This was made more apparent this morning when DD asked me to pick her up and I did so with "Oh you are growing older .... I cannot carry you any more" and she counters me with "mom, why is it that when both of us are growing up, I am growing stronger and you are growing weaker?" Oh the innocence! Now you see how I might have lost that innocence! Well, thanks to your ramblings and kids that surround me, time and again I am reminded that it is okay to think like that even if I don't come out with profound answers! Just like you have mentioned somewhere half the battle is won by asking the right questions, well let's just say that half the innocence is gained by thinking about these profound questions! Now you know why I am all smiles! Universe does have a way of working!

arch1209 · Feb 1, 2013

Dear Rama,

Your daughter reminds me of how children in their innocence say the most profound of things Your feedback actually made me smile....

PS Reading old snippets by none other than Cheeniyar Sir, while waiting in the dentist's office could be a nice idea

Srama · Feb 1, 2013

Oh! that was such a pleasant surprise when I saw a like and then saw the feedback too! Thank you Arch. A few of the ILs here know and always wonder what would I do if I didn't have to learn from my kids! They bring out the best in me and for me. Now you see how I get carried away!

I am truly happy that my FB brought a smile - continue to keep that on your face as you enjoy the day!

PriyaKathiravan · Feb 2, 2013

As a teacher , i deal with little Philosophers every day ! A child's mind, as yet untutored in received traditional knowledge , is open to so much wonder and fresh perspective , that one can only bow in awe . One almost regrets "educating" such keen minds.......
At day's end, when i sit mulling over those innocent queries , i feel lifted, as though on wings of light , to the possiblities generously gifted to us, to the simple solutions that can wipe away knotty problems, to wisdom hidden in plain sight.........and then the crash landing to realise, "we grew up" ! Grew up and lost that perspective, that openness, that all embracing love, that sheer immanence of humanity ; hardening into gross, assembly-line "educated" individuals, ensconced in rigid egos and weighted with debilitating baggages of belief and prejudices.
Sigh !

Cheeniya · Feb 3, 2013

My dear Srama
Once a friend of mine told me that 'you are not old until you lose the ability to think young!' So I am tenaciously clinging on to a lot of profound questions without ever trying find an answer for them. Too much of a rationalistic approach to things puts me off a lot. I ask myself why I should I have an answer for everything merely because I am old? I am getting old not to lose the child-like perspective but only to consolidate it. When people lament that despite my age, I behave too much like a child, I feel very happy. This is the only proof that I have for my defiance of my mounting years trying to kick away the child in me.

I strongly believe that our efforts to demystify the romance called life should lead us to greater bewilderment. Too clinical an understanding of our life can at best make us a cynic. Is that worth bargaining for?
Sri