Sunday, January 11, 2009

Jesus - God's Love

God's Justice is unconditional love - and Jesus is the expression of that love. Jesus being God's own son had no purpose of being born as a human if he did not want to save the mankind. Jesus is not a concept of what God is or who God should be. Jesus was a man in flesh and blood. Unlike the Gods from epics or myths, Jesus was historic reality. Buddha was another person who shook the world with his radical principles. What was special about the teachings of the both these persons? They advocated renunciation of worldly desires and unconditional love. They did not categorise people into ones that are to be loved and hated. Jesus said - "Hate the sin, but not the sinner". Both of them advocated non-violence, calmness and equanimity.
Buddha never claimed to be God himself. He taught concepts and principles about God and how to try and attain him. Buddhism was in many ways an egaliatarian form of Hindu philosophy that was explained in the common man's language. But Jesus claimed that he was God's own son and that he came as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. If God has sacrificed his own son for sinners like us, then he truly has unconditional love.And if anyone in the world is to be saved it has to be through God's love and God's love alone.
The trouble with Jesus, for anyone who sets out in search of truth is that he forces you to either accept him as God or reject him as God. But then majority of the people in this world do not make that choice. It is only a minority who experience his love that accept him as God. There is another minority who are agnostic and deny Jesus as God. Bible calls those people who deny Jesus as Anti-Christ, Fair enough - but this is not a call for ostracizing them though. But the vast majority falls in the in-between category - this includes majority of the christians too. One reason could be that not many go in search of the truth. To put it statistically, distribution of humans falls into a normal curve. At one extreme there is one minority whose hearts are so hardened from the outset that they deny the presence of God. At the other extreme are the people who search for truth and go the extra mile to experience God's love. In between the majority of the people accomodate themselves.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Justice of God

What is unique about love?

Love gives and is never worried about being paid back. So if you love a person and expects him/her to love you back, then you are not loving that person. But isn't that silly? Too naive a policy to follow in a world as cunning as the one we live in? It is ofcourse very difficult to love even a single human being other than oneself. In some cases even loving oneself is difficult. What with all the drawbacks and imperfections that one has to live with? We tend to love an image of ourselves which we are not. We believe that to be the perfection we ought to achieve and strive for it all life.

Do any one get there? I am sure I did not get there, and inspite of knowing that I should love myself as I am, I keep tending to look for that perfection. I may love others thinking that such love takes me to that perfect world, where in, my image of perfection is attained. But when I do that, I am well and truly ditching myself and not loving me.

But how can I love myself as I am? I am a human being that is mired in the transactions of this world - which is highly calculative and not even by the minutest bit based out of love. The entire world is proliferated with pyramid structures that are governed by information asymmetries. Creating pyramid structures and information asymmetries is so very natural to human beings that they dont feel they are going away from the Truth - God by doing that. The very natural tendency to adhere to the pyramid structure and create information asymmetries belies the sinful nature of our existence.

Every child is born as a child of God. But we educate them to become sons of Devil. We know an idle mind is a Devil's workshop..., and no human mind is so perfect that it never remains idle. No success comes from anyone other than God. So whatever that has been achieved has come from God. He pours out his blessings irrespective of whether people are good or bad, because if he were to reserve his blessings for the perfect ones, none in the world would receive them. So let us accept the wretched existence that we are having and stop justifying ourselves for not believing in God's justice - Unconditional Love.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

The Fragrance of Life!

The butterfly is an ugly worm, with a pair of beautiful wings. The wings are God's gift to the worm to survive in the world, but it's so beautiful that it enchants everyone who sees it. They see the butterfly and appreciate its beauty. But it is infact the same ugly worm that people would have hated the most. Did the worm become supernatural when it transcended from being a worm to a butterfly?

No, it did not. But it went into a different level where, while it remained the same ugly worm within, it trusted God to give the gift of wings which helps it survive and enchant others.

When it was a worm eating away the leaves, it was an irritant destroying things in nature, but when it becomes a butterfly, it aids in pollination thereby spreading nature and life. It is a stark contrast, the two roles, yet so poignant and so life-like that its worth marvelling the creation of God.

The beautiful wings grew out of the ugly worm, but it did not hide the ugliness. It is just that wings were big and beautiful that no one really cared about the ugly part.

Does the butterfly ever think about its past and present? May be May not be.., I dont know. But it is so blissful to fly around enjoying every moment, bringing happiness to others without worrying about the past or future.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Jesus Is Love

Been a long time since I posted a blog. Maybe it was the long wait till you break out of the last bits of the pupa, before the butterfly emerges out. It was a long struggle to find out whether a God existed in the first place and secondly, who was it, if one existed. It was an intellectual exercise which landed me in the middle of nowhere and an intense experience which led me to discover Jesus or rather Jesus revealed himself to me. So what can I tell - Jesus Is Love. Period!

It is as succinct and simple as that. Why did I have to do all this soul-searching to arrive at such a simple solution? Did I waste all my time and effort all these years?

Yes and No.

Yes because the answer is as simple and was one among the consideration sets that I started out with.

No, because I had many more answers each of which looked equally appealing at that point in time. In the earlier blog, "The Five Precious Crystals-----cont....d", I had stated that I found out that last remaining crystal. But I never explained what it was, because it was too complicated for me to understand, leave alone explain. I was trying to comprehend with all my abilities, but Jesus was yet to reveal it to me. And this is how everything in life is. When Jesus reveals it to you its so simple, but otherwise its a puzzle without an answer.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

The Selfish Positivism.

People are selfish. Is it a character of humans that they are selfish or is it a character that society has created in humans to ensure the progress of civilisation?
Jeremy Bentham, in the theory of legislation said -
"Property and law were born together, and die together. Before laws were made, there was no property, take away laws and property ceases."
As far as we can think of, we have property in our society, we cant imagine one without property. Property satiates the need for something..., what is that something? Is that something innate in people or something that the society has created? Plato in his "Republic" thinks of a society that is largely controlled by the state and "property" rights are vested in the state. Karl Marx on a later date went on to develop it into something more intricate like Communism. The key reason pointed out for the failure of these kind of theories is the lack of individual freedom under such regimes. What is this freedom? Is this freedom linked to selfishness? If a person were totally selfless then he should not be worried about freedom at all. Because he doesnt have any needs or desires. He obeys what is told to him without any objection whatsoever. So it appears that there is a compromise between the society and the individual with regards to the freedom that he can have. Some of the selfish desires of people are legitimised by the society so that it results in a collective good of all the people. This is the premise of law and civilisation.
It seems like every law is a compromise. It guarantees something in return of something else. It's a give and take relationship. If the state can compromise with individuals why can't individuals compromise among themselves? This is what happens in things like corruption and organised crime. It is simply an optimisation exercise which people indulge in. If the compromise between state and individual is skewed, then the individuals tend to indulge in compromises among themselves, so that they get maximum benefit.
This is not a very healthy view to have, as its highly critical in nature. Even if this is the reality, accepting this reality will demoralise our minds making our lives more terrible. So we love to hear high sounding words, which inculcate a so-called "positive" attitude to life. Will the change of attitude change reality? It will change the way we experience life. But the reality will always remain reality. Those who opt to view reality as reality have a terrible life. Those who prefer to close their eyes to the reality, enjoy their lives in their cozy havens.

So what should one do?
"Deepasthambham mahascharyam namukkum kittanam panam"
This is a poem which means - "The Lighthouse is Wonderful. I too deserve the gifts" This was sung sarcastically to ridicule those people, who were blindly praising the king on the completion of the lighthouse, for earning gifts from the king. In the same way, if a positive attitude to life will bring happiness to life, then so be it. I cant be selfless when the world is selfish. And this is where Jesus says - "You can't follow the world, because you don't belong to the world."

The message is not to contradict the world in whatever you do, but to establish a personal relationship with God and make your decisions based on that. The only love that is genuine is the love from God. Because there is no law that binds it. And its not linked to any property. We live in a society that is bounded by many laws - physical and social et al. As a result we exhibit those characteristics as well - which means that it is impossible for humans to be like God. We tend to celebrate moments of greatness in the lives of certain people, who transcend these laws at least for a short period of time.

And what is it that I am learning in MBA? To optimise the transactions at all levels. Which means to learn to compromise in a more effective way, which results in a greater output for the selfishness of both the interested parties. If there were no God, MBAs will rule the world in the near future. Or may be they will overpower God from earth, as is given in the "Revelations"[Subject to discussion as this is my own interpretation].

Still I have a "positive" outlook on life [;)]

Sunday, January 27, 2008

This is Good!

"the children of God deserve to live in peace" - this is nice. It's a promise that God has given. That everyone who trusts in him will be delivered from all the worries and have a peaceful life.

It raises a couple of interesting points. What if one doesn't believe in this promise? He won't receive this peace offered by God. So is it necessary to believe this to obtain peace? It depends on one's definition of peace. We know that India and Pakistan are at peace now. But is that really peace? Again, it depends. [:)]

So you can start constructing your logic from two view points - 1.Believe in the promise 2. Don't believe in the promise. Both of them are logically sound and well-founded. Both will attain peace in their own definitions as well. Then why to subscribe to one school of thought?

Life can't be stale..., it's like a river which flows until it reaches it's destiny. We have to make choices and move on. The choices depend on the kind of experiences one has in life. One can ponder over many "what-ifs" but ultimately, everyone has to make a choice and move along. I feel that the above-mentioned view points are equally powerful and self sustaining. Depending on the choice one makes, he/she will get the kind of experiences that reeinforces their viewpoint.

But then who decides these choices? Is it the conscious decision of the individual? Or is it random? Or is it destiny? Fate? Or is someone controlling everything above in the heavens? Questions that can make you think for a lifetime...., but again life has to move on. So we make a choice and move on..................!!!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

I was wrong.

The subtitle of my blog says - "nobody is born bonded, neither is anyone bonded in death, then why be bonded all your life?" Am I right in making such a statement?
Nobody is born bonded..., how do I know that? None is bonded in death..., how do I know that? we are bonded in life - that is true, I can know that.

But then what does this imply? That life is bondage? Freedom is a never fulfilling dream? Well yes if one is speaking about absolutes then may be it's never a reality. What is absolute freedom or absolute bondage? They tend to be relative. I can't imagine anyone who is free of everything. There is always something higher that people crave for. And they become slaves of that.

This is where I find the teaching of Jesus as thought provoking. He said that we are sons of God, and not slaves. Sons are free in every sense, they are not bounded by anything. Then what is it that causes the bondage in our lives. He says its the sins that we do. We are addicted to sins or are the slaves of sin. Sin is not something which can be defined as a wrong act. It is something which gives us the pleasure of indulging in and one which we like to become slaves of. Jesus says that the ultimate result of sin is death. What is so special about it? Everyone will die and so will I. But Jesus says a free man will never die. How is it possible? It is humanly impossible. But for God nothing is impossible.

Putting faith in Jesus makes me strong. But to be without sin is not humanly possible. I don't know what that state is or how would one be if one reaches that state. When you know that there is a path where you have the option of freedom and everlasting life, it is not logically possible to chose the path which leads to death. But humans are not rational beings. That's why marketers survive. This is one time I really feel humans should all be rational, at least I should be rational. But it's not possible, for we are not created so.

Does that mean that we are doomed to death? Bonded in birth life and death? Logically speaking, Yes, we are. But the statement "what is impossible for humans is possible for God" reverts the entire logic. Everything ultimately boils down to this single statement. The moment one realizes, accepts and transcends the meaning of this sentence God's glory is displayed. But it is difficult, very very difficult.

Realizing and accepting can be achieved to some extent. But to live out this sentence is something else - it's really OUT OF THE WORLD.

So what's the point? How is it that I was wrong?
Bondage is not a lifetime phenomenon, which starts at birth and ends at death. If it were so, dying is the salvation that everyone should be looking for. So I need to change the subtitle of my blog. What could it be???

Pondering................................