Before you start reading,I wish to tell you,I am not a radical.My thoughts, at times maybe radical,but I don't dream of changing the society......
'An idle mind is a devil's workshop'.I was expecting to churn out a topic from that 'workshop'.Much to my dismay, I found nothing worthwhile to blog on,until yesterday night.While 'channel surfing',I came across a verse from the Bhagavad Gita,which meant,Everyman is bounded by chains.I pondered on the intricacy of that verse.
"A dog is tied to a chain,while the dog ties us to our home,without a chain".Think about it for a while.I have heard many people saying,they can't leave their house owing to the fact that they can't leave their pet dog unattended.Maybe you too would have come across such situations.You may not like to skip your favourite TV show to attend some function,and many such circumstances.There are people who are slaves to money,alcohol etc.Knowingly or unknowingly we are slaves to something or somebody.We are slaves to societal laws.We tread a familiar path,and anyone going off beat is a pervert in our society.The only people who 'live free', are the ones who have lost their mind.They are not aware of the rising inflation,fuel costs,laws and norms in society etc.They are happy in their world.
There is a thin line between what can be said as a moral obligation,and slavery.In school we are made to sit in a class,with 60 odd students,and forced to take tests,and assignments.Is this slavery??.
We seek permission from parents to go for tours and the like...Is this slavery too??..
I can present a big list of similar situations.So what is slavery??.I don't have a precise answer,but I feel,as long as we believe that we are not bounded to 'chains',we are no slaves.A key point here is,it is subjective.Interference in personal issues by our parents can be disturbing to one,while not to another.
Humans are not instinctual creatures,and hence our actions are modified by the various norms in society.If we start acting out of instinct then there would be utter chaos,in this world.So being subjected to law,though to an extent is slavery,but is highly preferable.Too many arguments and counters can be given in this regard.I am rest assured that nothing will come up with an exact solution.
All i wish to say is,never be slave to things that are immaterial in our life.One should be able to set a threshold and be capable of demarcating between good and bad.After all we need to be slaves to our own mind,for surviving in this world.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A kaleidoscopic view on life as it comes.
9 comments:
Ah, slavery... The word always brings allusions to 'The Matrix'. I've forever contemplated living in a Matrix like scenario. The fact that you're 'chained' (to borrow your lingo) to unknown forces who actually use as their singular energy source as we trample about our lives... Worse, one would never be aware of such slavery; unless alerted by the "Red" pill (Now you know the secret behind the name of my blog!) Such a slavery, perhaps is many a notch worse than the ones you've mentioned, I feel...
Btw, I think I know where you got that worse from! My mom is an addict to that program. I've even got a recorded collection of DVDs of most episodes at home! :-)
And yeah, great to see you back in action with this thought-provoking post!
I meant 'words' not 'worse' in the previous comment!
[sheepish grin] :-)
Error regretted!
You said it!!!!Humans are enslaved to attachments and voluntary bondage.
I too am a slave! A slave to my conscience which makes me stand tall with my head held high against the manipulations of a crooked world promising unworthy but so called heavenly pleasures.
And my conscience says 'if u have a dog then take care of it ,else sell it'.
Someone said and I quote,"the one who goes alone,goes the farthest."
everything has to do with the choices u make.. and it starts out very early from ur childhood itself.. for example if ur parents are sure that u are able of taking care of urself and if u had shown such abilities from younger age they might have let u come for the tour without hesitation :D .. we are never slaves to anything as long as we can think.. there's a whole new dimension called imagination.. and the more thought u put in them the more u ll come closer to enjoying the forbidden pleasures without actually acting them out..
@D
"the more thought u put in them the more u ll come closer to enjoying the forbidden pleasures without actually acting them out"...could u elaborate???????...
theres nothing much to elaborate.. i was jus saying tat theres nothing we cant do that what we can imagine.. so the more closer u ll come to acting out the thing in reality based on how much thought you put in it.. it may come out in different ways for different people.. it may be music, writing or drawing.. like eminem for example.. he gets back at people who he doesnt like by making songs about them.. and another hypothetical example is me drawing a pic of me and amisha patel holding hands in a beach.. i hope u got what i meant..
hmm..sounds good...Imagination offers limitless possibilities...
Slavery is a little diffrent from wat u presume it to be ,a slave is never cared for , a master never tries to view things frm slave's prespective he tries to get the maximum out of the slave and tat too for the well bieng of the master and not of the slave and all together it is diffrent from u ask permission frm ur parents or when they interfere in ur personal issues they do tat keeping in view ur well bieng not theirs.
Then coming to the tv programmes u r addicted to u still have choice not to view it may be a little hard one to make though but u hav a choice but a slave never have one.
Again bieng subjected to law needn't be viewed as a sort of slavery since most laws are made to ensure that all people in this socitey has equal right to live as others, may be it seem to be a paradox they bound u to ensure u dont bound somebody else.
Yet we are all bound by some chain of relationships which at times we enjoy and at times we despise.
Just to quote Rousseau and would hav liked to see this quote in ur blog
"Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they ."
@Karthik.
About the quote..i couldn't recollect it in time,so dint post it..
I seem to have dwelled on the word 'slavery',on a broader perspective.The exact terminology would indeed resolve the issue,the way you have pointed out.
Post a Comment