After writing for final term papers i developed an aversion towards writing. It is like the feeling you get when you eat too much sweet. You feel like eating and you know that you love it, but cant bring yourself to eating it. I was in a similar state of overwriting. But finally today i opened my blog only too see a dozen of half completed scribbles. This post, only with the title written... reminded me that i wanted to write about it but couldn't find time then. So I finally threw the veggies I was chopping... while happily watching a saas bahu soap... and dragged myself in front of the computer.... I hope you enjoy this read.
In my previous post "who am I?" i was discussing the nature of 'I', but before asking what is this so called 'I', it is relevant to ask "where is this I?" where do we perceive this "I"? Is it inside our body or outside. Most of us might accept that it is inside the body. Not sure where exactly... but somewhere within. But, are there instances when we perceive it outside?? Instances where we perceive our self outside our physical existence? Let us consider some examples... For a mother of new born child, where does this 'I' reside? inside her... inside the child or somewhere between the child and the mother? For her, 'I' might include both her body and the child's body. It might reside somewhere between the two bodies. Where does 'I' reside between a husband and a wife? somewhere in the space between the two... In such relations, when a person says 'I', it includes two bodies. If we can extend this argument further... In a family, the 'I' resides between all the members of it... if we can still push the limits of this argument... we can say for a patriot "I' resides among his/her countrymen. if we can still extend it... for a human, I resides between all the other human beings on this earth... still pushing it, I exists between all the living beings existing at that time.
Sometimes 'I' not only exists among beings that are in the present but also includes beings of the past and the future.... So 'I' can exist within me or it can exist everywhere around me. It depends on the capability of the person to push the boundaries and include everything into his/her 'I'.
This reminds me of a line from Bhakta Prahlada... who says "ఇందు గలడందు లేడని సందేహము వలదు చక్రి సర్వోపగతున్ దెందెందు వెతకి చూచిన నందందు కలడు దానవగ్రిని వింతె" (translation:"Oh Demon king ! You don’t have to doubt His existence. He is seen in any place you can name. There is no place he cannot be.) This could be a way of saying... any person who can extend his presence to all the beings around him is equal to God. That person who can include and have compassion for everything around him/her both in the past, present and future, can be no less than God. It is the inclusive capability of a person that makes them greater. One can only become bigger by including and smaller by excluding.
Now the question is... "How big or small is your 'I'?" How inclusive or exclusive are we? this is something to ponder upon.
In my previous post "who am I?" i was discussing the nature of 'I', but before asking what is this so called 'I', it is relevant to ask "where is this I?" where do we perceive this "I"? Is it inside our body or outside. Most of us might accept that it is inside the body. Not sure where exactly... but somewhere within. But, are there instances when we perceive it outside?? Instances where we perceive our self outside our physical existence? Let us consider some examples... For a mother of new born child, where does this 'I' reside? inside her... inside the child or somewhere between the child and the mother? For her, 'I' might include both her body and the child's body. It might reside somewhere between the two bodies. Where does 'I' reside between a husband and a wife? somewhere in the space between the two... In such relations, when a person says 'I', it includes two bodies. If we can extend this argument further... In a family, the 'I' resides between all the members of it... if we can still push the limits of this argument... we can say for a patriot "I' resides among his/her countrymen. if we can still extend it... for a human, I resides between all the other human beings on this earth... still pushing it, I exists between all the living beings existing at that time.
Sometimes 'I' not only exists among beings that are in the present but also includes beings of the past and the future.... So 'I' can exist within me or it can exist everywhere around me. It depends on the capability of the person to push the boundaries and include everything into his/her 'I'.
This reminds me of a line from Bhakta Prahlada... who says "ఇందు గలడందు లేడని సందేహము వలదు చక్రి సర్వోపగతున్ దెందెందు వెతకి చూచిన నందందు కలడు దానవగ్రిని వింతె" (translation:"Oh Demon king ! You don’t have to doubt His existence. He is seen in any place you can name. There is no place he cannot be.) This could be a way of saying... any person who can extend his presence to all the beings around him is equal to God. That person who can include and have compassion for everything around him/her both in the past, present and future, can be no less than God. It is the inclusive capability of a person that makes them greater. One can only become bigger by including and smaller by excluding.
Now the question is... "How big or small is your 'I'?" How inclusive or exclusive are we? this is something to ponder upon.
