Friday 1 August 2014

MUSEUM PIECE OR LIFE REALITY

A billboard once said, “it is not about being good, but being great.”
To that, an idealist said, “it is not about being great, but being good.”
To that, a pessimist said, “it doesn’t matter since everything will be flowing towards flaw-fullness.”
To that, an illusionist said, “nothing actually exists. Good and great are both creations of the mind.” For him, the conception of existence itself is non-existent, and hence, it’s all a myth.
The Mahabharata has all of these opinions but beyond these concepts.
It is important to be great. It is important to be good. It is important to know everything moves towards negativity. And it is important to know that illusion also has a role to play. But what about moving from knowing to acting?
Is simply knowing things relevant in a particular situation enough to turn it into application?
The master strategist of Mahabharata, Krishna speaks about the principle of ‘does it work?’ Are these opinions user-friendly or museum-friendly? Do they lubricate the over all progress of human society?
Therefore Mahabharata deals with the core realities of life. And the solutions or opinions are compellingly substantial and moving-friendly, not stagnant or at worst – regressively negative.
Krishna, in Mahabharata, therefore spoke the Gita with such profundity, reconciling so many concepts and harmonizing them to an extent that it is deeply philosophical, intellectually stimulating, emotionally fulfilling, devotionally uplifting and practically very simple to implement.
It is neither a museum piece, nor meant for the few elitists, nor for creating madness for the mass. It is very eclectic, minus the hotchpotch. The beauty of dharma is that it is wholesomely natural.
It is not of biased opinion although there is profound opinion. It is utility-friendly. It trains everyone to be off this world and not of this world.
Krishna, therefore, remains evergreen because He lets us know in the beginning of Gita itself that life is not always green. Sometimes, it even becomes dry, some other times it becomes wet and soggy without the green between the other times.
Only the one who is philosophically realist can realize this philosophy in his or her daily life.

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