The question may sound silly. Agreed. But this was a conflict I always had since I was a kid. I happened to read 'Srimad Bhagavadgita', (holy book of Hindus) in which, Krishna (Narayana) says, "I am omnipotent and omnipresent. I am the one who creates, preserves and destroys but not you (man or nara). You must perform your duty / action and leave the results of the action to me." This should have made my life easier. Did it? Nope. This paved way to a new question, when god is everywhere how could I kill the god!?
I posed the same question to my dad, to which my old man answered, "It is not only your duty to preserve nature but also have an equal responsibility to protect your body." Hmmm this sounds reasonable I thought. I happily started killing mosquitoes. One day I happened to watch a show on television. It was about Valmiki, a sage who after being a dacoit / thief, renounces everything and goes to meditate in dense forest. Nothing moved him. Ants build mound on his body. I also saw/ read couple of other stories on the same lines. That meant people could still live in peace without actually having to harm other living beings.This again brought back the conflict.
I would like to narrate two stories here. One. A saint and his disciple were traveling together. They saw a bus fell into the river. By the time the bus was pulled up using a crane and rescue team, every one in the bus was drowned. Disciple asks his master, "O master! you had mentioned in one of your speeches that, people who do punya (or good deeds) are closer to god. This bus must be carrying good people too. So why should they die?" To which the saint did not answer. They continued with their journey. At night they decide to rest beneath a tree. They sit down. Suddenly the disciple springs on to his feet. Something stung him. He looks around and sees ants. In an act of rage, he kills not only the ant which bit him, but also, the ants around. When he settles down. The sage smiles at him and asks his disciple, "How many ants bit you?". "One", replies the disciple. "Then why did you kill the good ants around it? You're only supposed to kill the one that harmed you." (The moral of the story is interpreted in many ways but what stuck me was the line highlighted. This made me think. Am I killing the mosquito which bit me or innocent ones too?)
Then I happened to read the second one. Its about Sri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa and his teachings. (I cannot vouch whether it s a true story or not) He had several disciples. He used to send one disciple daily to fetch condiments from a store which was across the river. One day he sent Shantananda (Known to be the most saatvik amongst the disciples). The boatman started abusing Rama Krishna Paramahamsa, to which Shantananda didn't reply and instead started weeping. When he returned to ashram, master asked his disciple (in front of several other disciples) what happened. When the disciple narrated the incident. Master gave a mouthful to his disciple and questioned him, "How could he hear someone abusing his teacher?" Next day, he sent Vivekananda to the grocery shop. The boatman again started abusing the teacher. Vivekananda was not amongst the ones to keep quiet. He bashed the boatmen and threw him into the water. When he returned, the master asked him to narrate if something happened. Hearing what happened, (in front of several other disciples) he gave a mouthful and questioned him, what kind of a sage Vivekananda was? and commented that the disciple was unfit to be a sage with such a temperament. When Vivekananda left, other disciples asked the teacher to explain his actions. To which the master replied, "Shantananda is too soft, he should learn to use anger when needed. On the other hand, Vivekananda is temperamental, he should cool down and learn to suppress his anger. One should display emotions in right amounts at right times and should not be bogged down or tied to the events and move on. One should strive to live like a droplet on lotus leaf. Attached but yet detached."
All these din't completely answer my question till last week. I joined a philosophy class and posed the same question to my teacher. I thought the question was silly and was wasting others' time. Teacher thought otherwise. He answered it perfectly saying, one should behave according to ones nature. If you're aggressive. Understand your nature. Accept it. Love yourself. Go ahead kill the mosquito because it might harm you. If you're passive. Understand your nature. Accept it. Try to avoid killing the mosquito by applying a repellent. One should understand ones nature first. Without understanding it, if you try to imitate others it will become a source of conflict of values. Slowly with experience one attains the higher levels beyond the three gunas (qualities). That finally answered my query.
Last evening one of my classmate, Mani told me that he blogged his thoughts on the same question, "Mosquito Geeta". Please go through it. After going through his work, I thought I should elaborate why I asked that particular question and hence posting the same. So do not know if this post answers any of your questions but I got mine answered!
I would like to thank Somayaji Manikantan to make me think and give my thoughts a shape.
No comments:
Post a Comment