Retaliation is an Animal Instinct

The Goddess of wealth (metaphor for qualities that get you wealth), Lakshmi asks the devil of poverty (vices that lead to poverty) to stay outside the home until the latter mends her ways. In retaliation, the devil shouts at Goddess to "get out" when the Goddess is visiting, not realizing that she's the one who is losing. That summarizes retaliation. Retaliation is mindless - like all other sensual instincts, and can be worse than similar instinct stimulated crimes such as rape and rage.

Retaliation is a much bigger problem than it appears. Most of the crimes are indeed a result of retaliation. Unfortunately, it is not as cognizable by the current law as other crimes such as rape and rage. A spouse points out some serious shortcomings that need to be corrected by the other spouse. The latter, in retaliation, separates, breaches trust in as many ways as possible and does as much damage as legally possible under the law. The latter's retaliatory actions are not even cognizable under the "no-fault," accommodating law. A family is literally killed by these retaliatory actions and it is perfectly legal. We hear of police getting killed by criminals they arrest, purely in retaliation. Police did their duty, but there is no reason for the criminal to kill them other than for retaliation. Fortunately, this killing is cognizable by law, but not the killing of the unit of civilization that the family stands for.

The instinct to retaliate or serve tit for tat is only skin deep and animalistic. A deeper insight will reveal that the cause for the original action is no longer applicable at the time of retaliation, so an equivalent counter-action is not justified. Correct solution is to address the cause for the original action. If the cause is unjustified, address that one too, but do not retaliate by yielding to instincts without a deeper thought. The more the number of times these instincts show-up, the greater is the attachment to body and the happenings associated with it, the greater is the pain and the harder it becomes to self-control.

Happy Vijaya Dasami

అందరికీ విజయదశమి శుభాకాంక్షలు

Festive wishes to all of you on the happy occasion of Vijaya Dasami, which means Victorious 10th. My interpretation of Vijaya Dasami, however, is Victory over the 10 senses. The festival symbolizes the destruction of tamo guna that feeds into the senses. What is the most tempting sensation to a man (these days, to some women as well), that even sage Viswamitra, with his severe penance and determination, could not overcome? It is the female form. What better entity can we propitiate to conquer this sensation than the female form of divinity itself?

When i was small, my grandmother used to call Dasara as an essentially boys' festival and always insisted that i celebrate it as much as i can - wear new clothes and recite hymns in praise of the goddesses, at least. i didn't understand then, but it does make sense now. Not that only boys need to conquer the 10 senses, but they do need it more, at least in this context :).

Durga, the goddess who is worshiped for the festival, means unattainable - cannot be reached. As long as we have a terrestrial form, absolute victory over the senses is unattainable. But the festival symbolizes the goal that we should try to achieve, even if it is unattainable in this birth. It reminds us of the need to keep trying to detach from worldly matters by practice, devotion and dispassion. 

When we see divinity in the objects of desire like food and opposite sex, the lowly basic need that lets the senses loose, transforms into a want of the higher plane of love and devotion. Festive food is deliberately rich and delicious - not to be hogged and consumed to satisfy a basic need, but enjoyed as a divine blessing at a much higher plane. Easier said than done though, but worth every minute of trying.

Investing Irresponsibly is a Sin

I'm sure your first reaction would be: why will anyone spend hard-earned money irresponsibly? Think again. Who were the investors into the recent rave parties in India? Using "My son", "My sister", "My caste" as the only criterion to give money is hardly exercising responsibility. Consequences must be thoroughly thought out before investing. The investment could ruin a life, a family, or an entire social fabric. Abetting is often not punished enough. But in cases such as this, most or all of the fault lies with the investors and they are not even touched by the law. When a sin goes unpunished in a court of law, inheritance, like in Object Oriented Programming sets in and will be punished in the court of God. Hopefully, perpetrators will realize by then.

In a sense, the law regarding child support is flawed in this respect. It requires the non-custodial parent to pay significant support amount, but does not give any responsibility on how the money is used. Freedom away from the responsibilities of marriage is, IMHO, indeed taking its toll on future generations. Hope the world will realize the impact sooner or later.

The longer one is in denial of the truth, the more fiercely does it surface

The story of Hiranyakashyap sort of indicates this. He eventually had to face God that he denied for so long, in His fiercest forms. My paternal uncle who passed away this week used to say that truth is like fire. Any number of rugs will not be able to hide it. I spent very little time with this paternal uncle and that too when i was little. But i remember almost every word that he said. He used to say, "We pendyalas never bowed down to injustice or let go our values and never should we." There were times when he was in dire poverty. Even then, he brought-up his 5 daughters with dignity and never asked for any favors from anyone. From what i heard about him, he lived up to his own lofty ideals till his last breath. Rest In Peace, Peddananna!

Suffering does not stop until we get to the Truth

A patient has fever, headache, fatigue, indigestion, and some other symptoms. Doctor starts treating them one after the other. Will the patient's suffering stop? It won't, until the doctor discovers the ultimate truth that is causing all these symptoms and addresses it. It could be cancer or it could be something else. Same goes for everything else. Suffering of the world will not stop until the ultimate truth is known. World becomes a better place as more and more truths are discovered and inventions are developed based on these truths. But the suffering still does not stop until the ultimate truth is discovered and addressed.

While, this being the case, imagine the foolishness of people who live in falsehood, let alone discover new truths. No one can save them from suffering. They will continue to move from one disaster to another, avoiding one at a time, by cheating, lying, working around the problem. It is never a good idea to associate with such people either, because they will need and rope-in whomever they can to support them to live in the virtual life of lies and deception.

Suffering indeed does not stop until we get to the Truth. - Vishnu Pendyala

Ignorance is always our best Weapon against Unwanted Influences and People

Happiness is what we think it is. Each one's definition of Happiness is different, until they discover and convince themselves that the real happiness is within and discard the dependence on external stimuli to be happy or sad. The discovery is a long journey though. In the process, one needs to constantly redefine happiness and retrain the mind to loosen the grip of external happenings on the mind and body. Age of course helps with this, but determination helps the most. Basic needs should probably the first to lose their impact on us. Gradually give up the craving for meats, sweets, and snacks. We ignore so many things in life and finally, but most often suddenly, we ignore everything when we die. The detachment should not be sudden, however. In olden days, sages used to prefer getting buried alive. That clearly shows how detached they were with their body and how much they ignored external pleasure or pain. For them, detachment has been gradual and complete to the extent that even death did not matter. To experience the happiness within, ignorance is always our best weapon against unwanted, ephemeral influences. Vishnu Pendyala

If Motivation is like Fire, Complacency is Water that puts it out

I was reading a forwarded mail containing an eyewitness account of the Ramlila grounds episode against corruption. It is sad that even such a momentum and public sentiment gathered over the years could not achieve its goal against corruption. Someday, hopefully, it will. Punishing a handful and passing a "weak" lokpal bill is a good beginning, but hardly matches the magnitude of the problem or the movement against it. What is even more deplorable are the efforts to curb people's voice. Let's see who finally wins in a land where the common man eventually prevailed whenever the question really raised its head.

Aggression is the most Expressive Sign of the Weak...

...and dealing with aggression, living, and letting others live in peace is the least expressive sign of the strong. Religion confirms this - Jesus Christ or Lord Srirama showed no signs of aggression at any time and were at peace even when dealing with aggression. When do people become aggressive? When they sense there is something lacking that they want to achieve. They want to stretch themselves to achieve it. They want to overpower others to achieve it. Why will anyone want to overpower others if they are powerful themselves and realize it? To the really powerful, it is like adding a drop to the ocean. When do people get angry? When they lack the stamina to deal with the issue with what they are naturally endowed with. So, they realize the need to stretch themselves, thereby exposing, what else - their weakness. A kid once asked me why a lady nearby was shouting so angrily. To make him understand in his own words, i asked him what he does when he is holding his urine for a long time. He said he'll keep jumping, running or even shouting. That's what she is doing, i told him, until she gets rid of that something undesirable she's carrying inside. So, when someone is angry, we should understand that they, like the kid holding pee, need to relieve themselves and help with it sympathetically, if we can, rather than counter with more aggression.

New Year Resolution

Someone forwarded me an e-mail from Sri. V.V.RAO,National coordinator VeTA Convener, Election Watch A.P, Convener, Social audit council on information Right, Coordinator, Forum for intellectual initiative -Hyderabad. I'd summarize it in one word: detachment. When we are detached and unaffected by material happenings, what remains inside is the blissful nature of the soul. A good, but very tough resolution for the new year. Happy New Year!