Now, it has happened the umpteenth time, and I have to, have to blog about it. Another of my friends broke up with his love of five years and almost sounded suicidal, dialogues like Kya hai life mein bacha huya ? and Merre saath hi aisa kyon hota hai ? flowed incessantly, and I being very bad at consoling (somebody actually told me once, all I could be was a good punchbag, hope she din't mean it like literally :)), could only hear him out. Theek hai, but this brings me to the most existential question of all, Do we control our lives at all ? Or, is it plain pure destiny..?
Okay, b4 you throw brick-bats, hear me out, because I was once the utter pessimist (as the origins of this blog would no doubt indemnify me as), but I have swung really between extremes and have changed my outlook towards life immensely from the times when all I used to wonder was Why in hell did I have to wake up today ? But, then that is life..One of the other key questions is, Is God Benevolent or is he the other sorts, who just likes videogaming all of us ? But, take a minute and think about it, because God has been the most benevolent he can be. He has given us the power of choice, the ability to decide the course of our lives, the ability to choose the less-trodden road, even though you were warned well. And, from that ability rises the key essence of life, i.e. Uncertainity, since all of us are making choices all the time, hence the outcome cannot be deterministic, because given the same situation, two individuals can decide in any number of plausible and seemingly implausible ways, but the irony of our existence is, though the charm of it lies in uncertainity, all our lives we want to do just one thing, find what's gonna happen next really ?
So, now, to further explore the nexus, in this uncertain equation, the only thing certain is Nature's principle of balance, for every ying, there would be a yang, and for every IITian, there would be a non-IITian and so on. So, by implication, as soon as I got into IIM-A, I changed the direction of some other unknown person's career, a hand I never shook, a face I never saw. All it means is, our lives are influenced by everyone on this planet theoretically, the percentages varying obviously, and vice-versa (and that's the key). But, its like a shareholding in a firm, while 80% of your control is fragmented, 20% of the solid control is with you. And when you do your best on that 20%, it goes as an input in everyone else's life (who make up your 80%) and your returns will be much more than your individual efforts, kinda the multiplicative effect in Economics. But, the charm lies in the fact, that even though you do your best, you might end up with the worst returns, because Life is Uncertain, and the key is to accept that fact. As Krishna says in Bhagvad Gita, Karmaneya Vadhikaraste Ma faleshu Kadachanah, the gist of Gita, the quintessential definition of life :).
Infact, applying nature's principle of Balance, it has made sure, that for every rich man, there would always be a poor beggar, and however much he or she might strive, they would never prosper. So, all I am saying is, all of you who are reading this blog, this one time, this one birth, Nature is saying, Boss I am with you, I am here, so go ahead and kick arse and make it big, because this one time you are on the heftier side, so make it count. And, as a spin-off, Nature's principle of balance means it is thoroughly Capitalist :), and as my common line goes these days :P, Humans know of socialism, only because they can think, trust me to be this self-effacing :P, nahin ?
And I want to write more, but really these things are bestest-discussed over a cuppa coffee..so where can I catch you next, you know :) ?
Why I wrote this ? Dunno and have a grr8 time !
Ranjan
Okay, b4 you throw brick-bats, hear me out, because I was once the utter pessimist (as the origins of this blog would no doubt indemnify me as), but I have swung really between extremes and have changed my outlook towards life immensely from the times when all I used to wonder was Why in hell did I have to wake up today ? But, then that is life..One of the other key questions is, Is God Benevolent or is he the other sorts, who just likes videogaming all of us ? But, take a minute and think about it, because God has been the most benevolent he can be. He has given us the power of choice, the ability to decide the course of our lives, the ability to choose the less-trodden road, even though you were warned well. And, from that ability rises the key essence of life, i.e. Uncertainity, since all of us are making choices all the time, hence the outcome cannot be deterministic, because given the same situation, two individuals can decide in any number of plausible and seemingly implausible ways, but the irony of our existence is, though the charm of it lies in uncertainity, all our lives we want to do just one thing, find what's gonna happen next really ?
So, now, to further explore the nexus, in this uncertain equation, the only thing certain is Nature's principle of balance, for every ying, there would be a yang, and for every IITian, there would be a non-IITian and so on. So, by implication, as soon as I got into IIM-A, I changed the direction of some other unknown person's career, a hand I never shook, a face I never saw. All it means is, our lives are influenced by everyone on this planet theoretically, the percentages varying obviously, and vice-versa (and that's the key). But, its like a shareholding in a firm, while 80% of your control is fragmented, 20% of the solid control is with you. And when you do your best on that 20%, it goes as an input in everyone else's life (who make up your 80%) and your returns will be much more than your individual efforts, kinda the multiplicative effect in Economics. But, the charm lies in the fact, that even though you do your best, you might end up with the worst returns, because Life is Uncertain, and the key is to accept that fact. As Krishna says in Bhagvad Gita, Karmaneya Vadhikaraste Ma faleshu Kadachanah, the gist of Gita, the quintessential definition of life :).
Infact, applying nature's principle of Balance, it has made sure, that for every rich man, there would always be a poor beggar, and however much he or she might strive, they would never prosper. So, all I am saying is, all of you who are reading this blog, this one time, this one birth, Nature is saying, Boss I am with you, I am here, so go ahead and kick arse and make it big, because this one time you are on the heftier side, so make it count. And, as a spin-off, Nature's principle of balance means it is thoroughly Capitalist :), and as my common line goes these days :P, Humans know of socialism, only because they can think, trust me to be this self-effacing :P, nahin ?
And I want to write more, but really these things are bestest-discussed over a cuppa coffee..so where can I catch you next, you know :) ?
Why I wrote this ? Dunno and have a grr8 time !
Ranjan
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