Our French teacher tried to make class fun one day by having us play Chinese Whispers. She'd whisper a sentence in French to a student who would whisper it to another and so on; the last person repeated the sentence out loud which was always incorrect. In extreme cases, we had a prankster somewhere and the final outcome would be 'Aah-ringdingdingdingdingdingding!'
I find that with the export of Yoga and the import of Hollywood, a very similar thing is happening. Let me take for instance, a heavy word like Karma. The easy (read: Western) interpretation of this word has boiled down to a give & take of crime-punishment or good-reward. In my mind, if I am not wrong, there is no such thing as 'bad' Karma. Karma is duty. If it is wrong, then it isn't your duty/Karma. Duh. Hinduism does not endorse the good-reward relationship. It encourages you to forget about the reward, good is what you are supposed to do. You cannot reward people for not stealing or not killing.
Now, a big portion of the principle behind Karma relies on the concept of rebirth. So for those of us who do not believe in rebirth or Moksh, the simplistic definition suffices. Suddenly, a new understanding is developed, a combination of the Eastern wisdom and the Western beliefs.
Pizzas are spicier in India, kurtis worn so casually over jeans, the convenience of technology under a dome-shaped construction...ab dilli door nahi, meri jaan!
Practices and their whys are being misinterpreted/modified very gradually, until several years from now we'll have voila! new traditions, new stories, new whys.
Thus is the evolution of culture.
I agree with the elders constantly reminding us to not erase our traditions to replace them with new ones. I agree with the elders about learning and retaining the best of both worlds. However, each of our 'best' is different. Moreover, when it comes to alcohol, sex, giving up material pleasures for peace and meditation, we use 'best' as justification for getting out of...Karma! :)
That being said, I hope it has been noticed that we appreciate our own assets when the compliment is from outside. Validation is the human addiction. Previously worn by my doodhwala, the Madras pattern is now perfect for some of my cutest pjs.
20 comments:
Oops....Karma is 'action'. Dharma - a very difficult word to describe can loosely be defined as 'duty'.
Thoda mishtake ho gaya....'Duh'-ara :)
Action can be negative/positive. Karma is duty. Duty can only be right.
By definition Dharma is the protocol for 'righteousness' (or the morally correct path to follow).
Overlap, I agree. Karma is our Dharma.
Hmm, so I used it in a sentence. Now I'm confused!
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I don't know what to think then of the 'don't expect fruits of labor' theory. What if its negative acts? I was kinda hoping you'd expect to be punished!
Doesn't deeds/labor by default refer to good actions?
I always thought of Karma as deed and a deed could be bad or good. 'Duty' as a word has a more positive connotation to it and not exactly what I feel Karma means. "You will be judged by your Karma/deeds" makes more sense to me than "Do your Karma/duty"
You're right, grammatically speaking.
However, Karma is a word that applies to our material/worldly life. We're bound by responsibilities, strings, dependencies; Karma/kaam [according to me] refers to work/duties.
Not doing our Karma, is wrong.
I don't know if I'm explaining myself well.
Karma could be anything, it could be as trivial as me, of my own free will, going out and helping someone (maybe not asked for) to your responsibilities, etc that you mentioned. I think you're thinking in terms of Your Karma (duties that your supposed to do which I completely agree btw) to any or a Karma that is part and parcel of our daily lives.
Oh, but you see, helping/charity, etc. is ALSO our Karma!
Being human, I slip into the trade mentality: I do good, so I expect good. I make a column with good Karma and bad Karma; which is slightly stupid.
List of chores for this lifetime, better be done; or you haven't done your duty.
hehe that's funny. I don't have a column, I try doing good but I have a mentality of getting back at ppl who do bad (kinda atleast make them embarrassed or teach a lesson)
Coming to the point, a question; Do you have a set laundry list of chores for a lifetime? I can understand some being basic and fundamental but aren't the rest (most) pretty dynamic in nature?
:)
The chore list was just an analogy. I have serious doubts about 'meant-to-be'.
The trivial stuff (like you mentioned) is dynamic. 'Static' stuff like being a good brother/mother/son are etched into my laundry list are they not?
I'm not the biggest authority on this subject--this is just my understanding/belief of it.
Probably not but what fascinates me most is you have pretty strong points about what you believe which most often than not I do not relate to. It's probably your good hold on the language/matter in the posts that make me wonder, "Wow I never thought of it that way, can it really be so?"
I am more used to thinking, "Naah that's bullcrap"
Haha thanks!
Sometimes I start out writing one thing but I change my opinion midway through a paragraph.
This was gonna be one of those cliched 'dont forget your roots' kinda post but that would be hypocrisy on my part: My father does Laxmi Puja every Diwali for the family, but it's not as elaborate as when my grandfather did it. There's no dhoti either! My generation can't even match that.
But I know way more about Thanksgiving, skinny fit jeans, tiramisu, than Dada :)
"There's no dhoti either!" Hahaha. That way I would be a complete outcast. Actually I am sure that is what my ppl think of me.
Thanks for mentioning 'tiramisu'.
There's no such thing as outcast anymore. I was kinda pushing for 'citizens of the world' theory :)
Oh you can say that again and it would make no effect to some ppl back home. "citizens of the world" funda is kinda good but scary too.
I'd say something cheesy like 'your heart is where your home is' but then you wouldn't like my writing anymore ;)
What makes you so sure? :)
Ok, you asked for it:
'Your heart is where your home is...'
Did it work?? :)
your writing doesn't appeal to me anymore drparikh. :)
Awwww crap!
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