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Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Life- an unending puzzle- Lessons of life and Moral code-My reactions to Arun Shourie’s book, ‘Does He Know a Mother’s Heart?’

The beauty of life consists in the unknowns and the unending searches and researches –the unending process of evolutionary trends in everything.

Let us get our facts clear that personal sentiments and emotional binding will impact every human being- only the degrees of impact may vary from person to person and situation to situation. We all must acknowledge that we are neither sure about all the ingredients in the cauldron of life nor can we claim to know the complete process of churning.

These are my reactions to the book Arun Shourie’s book, ‘Does He Know a Mother’s Heart?’

I have also given at the end the links to many excellent reviews and reactions to this book.

There are literary works that prompt our philosophical inquiry; some that appeal to our emotions; some that soak us in sentimental stuff; some that hold us with suspense; some that unfold wisdom; some that trigger our adrenal; some that make us to contemplate; some provide certain templates to certain issues; some just take us into an island of imagination; some that sink us into the world of intense thinking; some that appeal to our aesthetic senses and cultural sensitivities and so on. But there are certain books that somehow provide combination of all these because such works contain both a biographical narration and the biographer’s personal reactions, observations and an unquenchable thirst to find reasons and an urge to find logical meaning for all that happens in life and not an outpouring of hysterical frustrations or decadent desperation especially from someone who cannot afford to perch on the ivory tower of dispassionate indifference and engage in emotion free debates. This is one such work.

Everyone is a victor in some aspects and victim in some other aspects of life. Compassion, concern and clarity permeate unsolicited in the process of search and realization in moments of suffering and sorrow than during moments of happiness and victory.

Starting to research in topics which have too many unknowns, sometimes including the topic itself, is a very tough task indeed. It suffers from a very objective and dispassionate approach and analysis more so, if handled by a person who unfortunately is himself a player and part of very sorry state of sad situations which have panned out in life and whose consequences he is forced to face on a day to day basis. People from outside can sit in the comfort of their normal or cozy life and either choose to be indifferent or show pity or make the journey along with the author to search for answers.


Here in this particular case because of the nature of uncertainties and unknowns coupled with presumptions becoming the premises and rational and /or scientific intellectual perception [fortunately or unfortunately, till now in human evolution, the best known and easily recordable, retrievable and reusable means of deciphering] the tool used to decipher the unknown it becomes difficult to understand, much less explain everything.

We as well as our rational and scientific intellectual perceptions are still in the process of evolution and therefore we do not know yet either the total scope of their capacity or the extent of their shortcomings to deal with many issues of life in general. This is the very beauty or element of the mystery or part of the unknown, not unknowable, aspects of life that sustain our everlasting processes of search, interest and scientific and philosophical inquiry and expand our understanding of many aspects of life and enhance the evolutionary emancipation of mental faculties.

The more we worry about our lack of understanding we start the process to understand better and the moment we become aware of our inability to understand many things [either through humility or due to inevitability] then wisdom may or can unfold through myriad means and unravel gradually the ingredients of the cauldron of life.

Scriptures, scientific discoveries and inventions, philosophical explanations,great thoughts, ideas, actions, events,works of art  etc all are revelations popping out of as parts of the evolutionary process of human understanding of life. But we must be aware that they are not the whole of life nor can anyone well versed in any of these aspects claim to be possessing the key to understand the whole of life nor are they even answers to all aspects of life that we know of. Life is lived moment to moment and we try to understand life , the meaning and purpose of life by utilizing all the faculties we think will help us understand life better.

But with the help of scriptures, scientific discoveries and inventions, philosophical explanations etc we must form various rules to play the game of life in the best interests of every life.

So, one obvious lesson of life is that any one method or every method to understand life is either valid or inadequate as everything is in a process of evolution and constrained by contextual confines and restricted by tools of perception.

One obvious moral code could be that ultimately everyone can choose any method to understand, experience and live life,  of course, ensuring to the maximum extent possible, that the methods chosen do not affect the life of others and environment.

I felt many relevant materials pertaining to the observations made above by me or through me along with the questions in the authors mind may be found in the following links as most of the contents of the book both at emotional and intellectual level:-

New Year with a New Realization of Reality


SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY


MORALITY         






Religion is understood better by synthesis than by analysis. 

Religions grow better by syncretism than by antagonism. 

As D.J.Mercier, the Archbishop of Malines has said even “Sound Philosophy sets out from analysis and terminates in synthesis”. 

Regarding religious differences, men of vision and wisdom have explained and warned repeatedly knowing well that the common man with his limited perception and the fanatic by limiting his perception may engage in petty fights and arguments over differences.

The inevitable fact of life and stark reality is that whatever we may have planned or planning to plan may not be the plan that unfolds in life in all sphere of life irrespective of whatever label we may give to that as fate or destiny or however we may try to ignore it or work hard to justify it. 

This does not mean or need not necessarily lead to the conclusion that we must not plan and that there is no use in planning.

Links to many excellent reviews and reactions to this book:-










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