Random Thought #3 : GOD

Do we humans question the existence of God,debate over Him,in short make a BIG song and dance about it because we ,like everything around us ,are created and destroyed,and therefore the concept of an eternal,ageless,timeless God just doesn't seem right ? Is it beyond the realms of our three dimensional,logical,rational and analytical intelligence to encompass the true understanding of the entity we fondly refer to as God ? May be that's it , God is God because we in our human form cannot possibly come even close to understanding Him.I guess that is why we just don't need to believe in Him,we need indubitable Conviction ! Does all this make any sense ? :)

Random Thought #2: Perfection

Perfection: The state of being perfect, without defect or blemish. We humans are always trying to achieve perfection is our little endeavours. And it is often said that nothing in this world is perfect except God. But is our definition of perfect correct? Maybe something is perfect only when it has flaw, at least a tiny one. Maybe that defect is necessary for the system to ultimately break down, end itself and perish. Because everything that is created is destroyed. Everything has a life. Even our universe. Hindu philosophy says that the entire process of creation-evolution-destruction has been going on since aeons. The eternal cycle of birth and death, of creation, preservation and eventual destruction. If there were to exist an entity which would be perfect by our standards, it would cause a glitch in the overall operation. We have defined perfect as flawless, I guess, because we do not want to create again and again, only to see it destroyed. Maybe we have defined perfection for our own convenience. Let us consider our own species. If we were created by the God who is perfect himself, again by our definition, then why did we evolve over time? Why are we still evolving? Perfection would imply that nothing could be better than the current state. I guess that’s against the very concept of Life. Our body creates itself out of mere nothing, a sperm cell and a minuscule egg. Driven by the super software of DNA, we develop into a living organism. And once fulfilling our biological and/or spiritual purpose, we die and disintegrate. Isn’t this perfect? Why does man-kind crave immortality? That’s stupid. If I were to be born again and again on this earth , I would prefer not to start from scratch in every iteration of the loop,i.e. it would be really cool if I could re-load my last conscious image and continue from there , provided I was born in the same species . Now that would be Perfect ! An imperfect system would be the one without a flaw, because then, it would cease to fit “perfectly” in the big picture. Its one hell of a cycle!

I am a Feynman Fan

Richard Phillips Feynman

Nobel laureate, got one for Physics, for his work on Quantum Electrodynamics. Legendary physics teacher ,wrote the world famous and very widely read The Feynman Lectures on Physics. All genius – all buffoon. I chanced upon a documentary in which Feynman is talking about himself, it’s like an interview, and came to know what a wonderful and wondrous man he was. And I must admit that I feel sad that somebody like me could never ever get to attend his “legendary” physics class. He was so curious, so madly into science. He pursued it with such a zeal and fervor, it’s like every fragment of his DNA had been coded for the passionate pursuit of science. And I mean Science, not just Physics. He got a Nobel for physics, but he worked as a chemist for some time, did research in biology with some top-notch people for a year, not to mention that he was a mathematician as well. Feynman’s father had a monumental role in shaping his mind. Right from his childhood, he was encouraged by his father never to take things at their face value, to think, to ponder over problems, to question things. He sowed the seeds of curiosity in him. It made me realize how a parent can shape up the future of his child. I doubt whether Feynman would have been the Great Nobel Laureate Feynman, had his father not been there. He played pranks, he loved dancing, he learnt to sketch, and he was a fearless thinker when it came to Physics. Once, when Neils Bohr and his son came to America, they asked him to come and have a discussion with them. And why him, because Bohr observed that this guy was not afraid of him, not afraid of the Great Bohr. He spoke his mind, if he thought something was crazy, he spat it right out. If he thought it was great, he said it with his heart. In his own words, when he was thinking about Physics, he could not think about anything else, and so came out the words without any hesitation. His language, it was pure American that his spoke. No fancy words. He did not want the Nobel Prize , and when he was woken up in the middle of the night and told about it , he answered the phone as if it was just another call , and went back to sleep . He did NOT want the Nobel Prize! According to him, the joy of discovery, the pleasure of finding things out and the fact that people found his discovery useful and were using it, was the real prize for him. He did want any accolade for that. Once again, the credit goes to his father for inculcating such strong values in him. What a man!

Random Thought #1 : Freedom

What is Freedom? Is it the condition of being free? Is it the power to act, speak or think without external constraints? Or is it immunity from an obligation or duty? Is it a state of mind? Or is it just an illusion, something which seems to exist? Or is it relativistic in nature, you are only free if the man next to you is bogged down by more than his share of trouble! If somebody shackles me up, I won’t be free to move, but would I really be enslaved by mere shackles? Or even if I were free to do anything I wish for, would I really be free? We are enslaved by our senses; the very purpose of our very existence is their appeasement. How can we be free then? A better education, a degree, job, money, material comforts, good health, the list is endless. Even the most content man on this planet would be free in a limited sense. He is free because he doesn’t burn with the desire to acquire more. But even he has to bow down to cycle of birth and death. Even death won’t free you. I guess, salvation, freedom from the cycle of birth and death is the Ultimate Thing. Sometimes I wonder, what’s the purpose of life? Why do we exist? Where is all this leading to? Everything in this universe is a part of some great cycle, but why oh why? Is it because He had nothing else to do, so he created all this to keep himself busy? Its really mind boggling!

Mother

How can you ever repay the women,
Who bore you, nurtured you, cared for you,
Whose love for you is deeper than her blood,
For whom you are closer to her than her heart,
Who stood the insurmountable, excruciating pain,
Only to shed the tears of joy in happiness and gain,
Whose first and last thoughts are of you,
For you she laughed, cried and sighed,
Through the low and high of tides,
Engraved are you in her heart and soul,
For your smallest of sufferings,
She took a severe toll,
For whom you are a treasure trove,
Whose emotions for you define Love?
There is no way, to pay that debt!
Neither in the heavens, nor on this earth,
Nowhere in this unbound Universe's girth!
I have never seen God,
But I sure have seen more than a glimpse of Him,
In the woman who gave me more than my Life,
My Mother.

For all the mothers in this World !