As a
newborn, we are blissfully ignorant about anything in this universe
except for pain and pleasure. We are not involved in anything about
when, where and why we are born to a particular couple. We do not
realize the implications of their color, religion and language in our
own lives. We fail to recognize any of the direct and indirect
implications of our births on others around. We do not bother about
who brings food for us and how he or she gets it for us. We can hardly
distinguish between the good and bad. All things of pleasure are good
for us and we go for it repeatedly. As time pass by, we gain the
knowledge and develop the instincts for survival. It will be
interesting to go through a few such realizations in our lives so far.
As we age, we realize how insignificant we are in this vast universe
of about 6 billion human beings, which is just one species of the
millions that inhabit this planet alone. We often forget how helpless
we are in the face of natural calamities and disasters. An earthquake
or cyclone or lightning can destroy anything at any time. We refuse to
recognize the millions of possibilities regarding our health at any
point of time. Anything can happen to any one of us in the very next
moment. Yet with our bloated egos and assumed superiority, we take
many things for granted in our daily existence. Quite often we also
fail to acknowledge our fellow beings whose mere presence around is
sustaining our own lives. But nature has its own ways of correcting
our mistakes. For each devil someone wicked is nurtured to destroy it
and those who play with fire gets burnt ultimately.
As we age, we come to know about how little we can know. The realm of
knowledge in any field is expanding at an incredible pace every day.
Even the best among us can manage to scratch only its mere surface
during an entire lifetime. Yet we have people who assume themselves to
be scholars and know-alls. We have leftists who assume complete
knowledge after a few readings of Das Kapital and rightists who claim
to have answers for everything in some ancient texts. Most of them
refuse to understand that even Science is relative nowadays and what
is perceived as the final word currently can turn out to be absurd in
future. This has happened many times and it will happen again.
As we age, we recognize how meaningful our relationships are. At the
start we know only our mother (for sure) and slowly we begin to
recognize the father, sisters and brothers. This circle of
relationships expands (and contracts) till the very end of our lives.
In the beginning they are just ‘others interested in us’ but as time
passes by we realize the deeper meanings of relationships. The do’s
and don'ts in each relationship is very enlightening for anyone
growing up. It is true that quality of relationships is changing in
modern times (some people say it is declining) but the emotional
strength associated with these intangible connections can be
unimaginable at times. Making the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of a
relationship is not uncommon even today.
As we age, we realize how important are our traditions and culture. As
a youth, words like culture, tradition and religion are often
meaningless and inconvenient. We feel that our world would be a better
place to live in without these ‘divisive’ measures. Concepts like
socialism and equality appeal more to us as logical and just. But soon
we come to accept the fact that man is created unequally. Each
individual is different and unique. Each one has their strength and
weakness. And each can do something specific for himself and for
others. All artificial ideologies and systems to enforce equality have
failed and USSR is the latest such in a big scale. Then culture,
tradition and religion become more and more meaningful to us. We
realize how thoughtful our forefathers have been and how much of our
own self is bonded to our traditions and culture. Rituals, customs and
festivals become meaningful as modes of distribution of wealth if not
anything else. Castes and tribes become natural and logical in a
society of unequals. As we age, we begin to appreciate the ingenuity
of our forefathers in all their creations, which we felt ridiculous
sometime back.
As we age, we feel sad about our late acceptance of the Almighty. The
concept of God dawns on different people at different times depending
upon their economic and social backgrounds. In most cases the need for
any faith comes out of helplessness about an unknown number of
parameters that can affect our lives. As our family grows we feel
increasingly helpless about things we consider our own. The need for
an all-powerful benefactor who will standby us at difficult times
becomes an inevitability then. Though different people perceive of God
in different ways and hope HE will always help us in whatever we do,
deep within us we accept the fact that HE will only stand by what is
right. That comes natural because we know that one cannot do
justice to both the victor and vanquished at the same time. And any
system can be sustained only by encouraging the right ways and right
beings.
As we age, we realize how much away from birth we are and how much
nearer to death we really are. It is often said that death is the only
certainty for anything alive. All other concepts are merely beliefs
depending upon the extent and variant of our faiths. Yet we always
assume that our own exit is far away even when we see our
contemporaries depart. We feel indifferent at the demise of unknowns
in distant lands only to suffer the same fate sooner or later. But we
continue to believe and hope that our own desires will fructify before
we go.
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As a
newborn, we are blissfully ignorant about anything in this universe
except for pain and pleasure. We are not involved in anything about
when, where and why we are born to a particular couple. We do not
realize the implications of their color, religion and language in our
own lives. We fail to recognize any of the direct and indirect
implications of our births on others around. We do not bother about
who brings food for us and how he or she gets it for us. We can hardly
distinguish between the good and bad. All things of pleasure are good
for us and we go for it repeatedly. As time pass by, we gain the
knowledge and develop the instincts for survival. It will be
interesting to go through a few such realizations in our lives so far.
