Thursday, November 20, 2014

The right thing.

As a child you are taught to ‘do the right thing’. Be honest. Don’t fight. Respect people. Work hard. In Hindu mythology, consider Mahabharata here, Krishna spoke about Dharma and Karma. But honestly, I think, He manipulates and twists the truth to suit his convenience and get what He wants. People, very fondly, like to call it Krishna’s leela. Who decides what the right thing to do is? Can there ever be a right thing without having opposite consequences? Can you ever be sure that you are in fact on the right side, and that it is not counterproductive in another space and time?

I truly pity and sympathize with Arjuna. He really wanted to do the right thing. His intentions and conscience were clear. But Krishna is a manipulator, he is a politician with a very warped sense of Right and Wrong. 

From the life I have lived so far, with all the rights and wrongs, I really think that there is no such thing as ‘doing the right thing’. Nothing is right and nothing is wrong. What may seem right at the moment, may lead to extremely devastating things later on. And what may seem wrong, let’s go back to Mahabharata where Krishna tells Arjuna that war is the right thing to do (because it is ‘meant to be’ and Arjuna is merely a puppet in the bigger scheme of things…and that he should only do his duty and leave everything else to providence), may turn out to be the right thing in fact.

For the record, I think Arjuna was right and Krishna was wrong – especially in today’s context. I cannot expect a ‘divine intervention’ in my life, I don’t know what God’s will is and so all I can really do is what seems right at that moment. That is the best shot life has given us. We cannot try to predict our future and try to make the right choices – because NOTHING ever works out as planned. Life and the world has a way of surprising us when we least expect it. And as long as our conscience is clear – which I think is more important than following someone’s definition of right and wrong – we should be able to live with it.

Edited to add:
Did you know that after the war got over and Pandavas ruled the dynasty for several years. . .they all went to Hell? And the Kauravas who lost the battle, went to Heaven? And that Krishna was also cursed because of his misdemeanor during the war?

This whole idea of doing the right thing and getting brownie points of Karma makes no sense whatsoever! At the end of the day, you have only one life to live - no point in thinking about what is good or bad.

18 comments:

  1. Wow ! Almost had to double check whether I was reading the right blog ! ;) Never knew you did spirituality... Why all this messing around ? Did you do something naughty ? ;)

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    1. Hahaha..the point is that there is nothing right or wrong :)

      Christmas is around the corner, how can I be naughty :P

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  2. I can't agree more with your words (yes literally! word by word!) :).

    P.S. Is someone asking(forcing) you to do something or telling you that whatever you are doing is wrong???

    Following your heart is the right thing to do if you have choices to make for your future.

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    1. I am glad that you agree :)

      Nobody is forcing me to do anything..haha. You won't believe it but I had meant to write about this six months ago - that is when it had triggered in me. But it was only yesterday that pen was put on paper.

      Following your heart AND your mind, I think :)

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    2. Following our heart and mind at the same time can get tricky at times.

      Believe me I've been in situations where my heart and mind stayed exactly at the opposite ends and I've chosen my heart over mind even though I knew it that they were going to be bad choices.
      Again as you have expressed in your post, there is nothing like right or wrong. What matters most is what you feel at that moment. Having said that striking a balance between heart and mind is very important (sadly I could not learn it yet).

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    3. Heyyy! That's you! I remember you from my 'purane din' on the blog..hehe..and then you had disappeared, and now you are back! Yayy! But where is your blog? *stern look*

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    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. i completely agree with you here.

    But having said that, there is one way to decipher whether what you are doing is right or wrong. If your conscience pricks you, it is wrong for sure, nevermind what others say.

    Cheers
    CRD

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    1. Conscience - that's the true judge!

      But you know, what may feel Right at the moment, may not actually be right. The problem is when your actions have consequences on others. Then it becomes tricky, I think.

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  4. I agree with you but want to point out:

    You wrote that Arjuna's " intentions and conscience were clear" but the fact is he was just a dude with the cold feet. All his life, he was preparing for this particular battle. He was collecting the divine weapons during his exile to particularly cancel out the Karavas. Pandavas announced the war, assembled the army and just when Arjuna was suppose to take the case, he was like "bro, I ain't doing it ". Krishna was just playing a role of a best man who tells a confused groom that "shut up and marry the woman you love"

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    1. I understand what you mean by cold feet, and Arjuna did perhaps have that. . .but it's more like a dilemma coz he could not understand the point of waging a war. When a groom gets cold feet it's because he is scared that his life will change - compare Arjuna to that, he had cold feet because he thought it was not the right thing to do and it didn't help solve the bigger purpose. He was not afraid that he would die on the battlefield (which is what a groom's cold feet seems like :P that he will lose himself, his freedom or whatever...) Arjuna's dilemma was intellectual and emotional. He had been following the 'right' according to his elders, till that moment before the war when he felt helpless and didn't see the point in what everyone wanted him to do.

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  5. Ah, the question about right or wrong... You know, I actually fell in love with Krishna only after reading the Mahabharata (or watching it, whatever). Yes, he did manipulate, cheat, lie.. and in the process tell that the world is rarely black & white. What I took from it was that in most cases the conscience will tell u the truth. Of course, in that case, this becomes a war waged on the basis of one's "idea" of what is right: which is a very dangerous thing to teach in today's world when people are accustomed to lie to themselves. But, it's a powerful message all the same. Makes me believe that I do have a modicum of God with me :)

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