musings

THINKER NOT JUST A DOER !

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

To Where the Sun Sets ...

I have always felt this, as they say, in my bones that there is more to life than meets the eye. It has been like an uneasiness that always travels with me, in my mind, in my thoughts- like a shadow, a feeling you can’t shrug off. A truth that cannot be denied.

Ever wondered why it is sunny one day and rains the next? Why the gently flowing breeze and the slightly cloudy sky make your heart sing one day and the gloomy weather makes you want to cry the very next? Doesn’t everything in nature talk of the impermanence of life?

On a still clear day as you sit by the poolside you can see your reflection clearly in the water. Suddenly a stone comes from nowhere and causes the water to ripple erasing your reflection completely. Moments are like these images, thousands of them that flit across the radar of what we call life.

Seen a setting sun. Like poetry captured and frozen in one moment. Horizon is where the sun and the earth meet. Try walking toward it. The more you come nearer to it the farther it seems to go away from you. Life and all things around us are like these elements of nature that tell us subtly, everyday ,that we are living in a make belief world , and world that is grounded in only one truth – that of impermanence .

We are always grasping at things which are inherently ungraspable and the more we try to grasp them the more we are drawn towards them , the more we want to attain them becoming one whose wants know no end , always seeking and wanting a false happiness . A happiness which has no feet.

At this point I feel the need to make a bold statement. One may feel that it is harshly put too. But if one were to think of it then the only thing that is indeed permanent in life is Death. Everything in life has a relative veracity. Everyone has their own truths! But none can deny that absolute eventuality, the surety and intensity of which is all pervasive and omnipresent. It is a truth; it is the only truth of existence.

And if it is the truth of our existence then what are we doing about it? Our life revolves around our wants, our world as we desire it .Instant gratification are our truths which make us dissatisfied at the core.

We are bothered with only what we can perceive with our 5 senses and running to assuage them .We don’t look behind the curtain, what is there that lies at the end of the journey, where are we truly headed and if we are going somewhere what are we supposed to gather on the way to be prepared for that ultimate truth, for the destination!

Shouldn’t we start looking beyond tomorrow??

All Content including Pictures are Copyrighted 2006- 2008 © Shruti Bansal.
Copying or Using the content without permission is punishable and offenders will be liable for prosecution.

26 Comments:

  • At Wednesday, 05 July, 2006, Blogger bhupesh said…

    Great... Well Socrates,Plato are you reading this..Keep it up.This world still needs more visionaries like you.

     
  • At Wednesday, 05 July, 2006, Blogger shruti said…

    Thanks .. Why dont u post something on ur blog too,, would love to read it .. Am still a kid thou ..way too much to learn from life still.

     
  • At Thursday, 06 July, 2006, Blogger Gotta Be Max said…

    The makings of a thinker!

    We are interested in the destination. And we dont know what to do when we get there.

    Life is not about the Big Bang theory, it is about the simple chemical reactions that happen all the time...

    If we miss them, we miss the essence of this wonderful gift called life!

    -APS

     
  • At Thursday, 06 July, 2006, Blogger Gotta Be Max said…

    My modest take on life The Journey Called Life - Nfyniti

    APS

     
  • At Thursday, 06 July, 2006, Blogger Memoryking said…

    Liked your blog.Here is mine. www.emotionalzombie.blogspot.com You studied at MEC? or at IIM-C? Just a guess....Found Binu nina on ur profile.

     
  • At Thursday, 06 July, 2006, Blogger Geo said…

    Young lady, not yet time to be philosophical

    :_)

     
  • At Friday, 07 July, 2006, Blogger shruti said…

    @GBM - thanks kind Sir !! It is my endeavour to be one and hope to reach there some day !
    Nice to know tht we think abt the destination and also realise that we are not prepared for it.
    True simple things are the most important and because they are simple we take them so much for granted and dont consider them worth our time and effort ..and hence the foundation which is made up of these simple things becomes weak as we fail to revisit them .
    Big , small , good , bad is all a perception ..we need to treat both as equals and with respect ..for which acceptance is very important ..with acceptance comes the power to change the course of ur life !
    NIce blog you have - nice read !
    @memoryking - No am not MEC or IIMC passout ..Ninan I came across thru blogosphere only ..he is a blog friend ..met him in cal once ..very nice and genuine person .. and very intelligent ..a rare species !
    @Geo -dear theris no prefixed time or date for anething in life.. I infact feel I am running out of time to learn all I am supposed to in this birth .. I want to be able to earn as many brownie points before I face God as I can .. its just that realisation can never be forced .. its something that manifests itself over time ..and as u imbibe and interpret things around you ..one may do it sooner than the other .. things will take their own course .. we can just walk on the path called life !

     
  • At Saturday, 08 July, 2006, Blogger mathew said…

    Instant gratification are our truths which make us dissatisfied at the core.
    ....very true..

    Guess many people have debated on what life is all about..Isnt it a mystery too deep that u wont get an answer as u dig!!

    We have "cool" people saying "Take life as it is"..Maybe thats a cool way of escapism...

    And my idea on life as zeroed down to following your own consience!!!

    good write up..Hardly few people write such stuff!!!

     
  • At Saturday, 08 July, 2006, Blogger shruti said…

    mathew - yes u seemed to be grappling with the questions that arise in us all the time . Its called the Tension of opposites that there in everything we do in life ,, AM currently reading a book - Tuesdays with Morrie ( mitch albom)- read it if u can - its a revelation !
    Hmm I dnt think life is that big a mystery - its what we like to believe ,so that we can put off the questions till tom ..its human nature to protect the comfort zone we are in ..not upset the kettle.
    Cool form of Escapism - very nicely put ..we give too much importance to materialistic things..and outer appearance ,, how long can u remain cool / hep / happening ..can this collness prevent u from getting , old , sick ,retain this lifestyle which u so love ?
    Our COnscience is our guide unless we condition it to listen to us instead of us listening to it !
    Thanks for the sweet comment.
    @bhupesh - thanks for actually visting my old posts and leaving comments .

     
  • At Monday, 17 July, 2006, Blogger manuscrypts said…

    yup.. we definitely should, weekends are way more important than tomorrows... :) but seriously, if you liked albom, you should check out tomorrow's god by Neale Donald Walsch.. he's famous for the 'conversations with god' series, but this book, i thought was better than those ...in fact, a lot of your post is what he has written about..

     
  • At Tuesday, 18 July, 2006, Blogger shruti said…

    Hi ..thanks will check out the book .. I wrote this post ebfore embarking on reading tuesdays with morrie but the book is sso good that I wanted to keep reading it ..a lot of the book gave me a sense of deja vu especially because a lot of it matched wht I believe in too ..especially the part about emotional detachment .. at a point in my life i too learnt to experience an emotion fully and then let go of it ( contrary to human nature of clinging on especially to our pasts and habits) .. and it really helps ..

     
  • At Wednesday, 19 July, 2006, Blogger manuscrypts said…

    i think albom is good in patches, but when it comes to giving a concrete view on this stuff, he skirts the issue.. the classic example would be the way he ended 'Five people you meet in heaven'.. but its still a good book and a concept.. and hey, you are a GIMmite or GIMmian er, what do we call ouselves now.. we never could decide :)..

     
  • At Thursday, 20 July, 2006, Blogger shruti said…

    yep albom sometimes does make u feel that its not all there but then u have a direction and one can always discover oneself too ..thts wht life is abt discovery - self or otherwise ... we i.e my batch calls itself gimmates what abt u ? which batch ? are u on orkut ?

     
  • At Monday, 24 July, 2006, Blogger manuscrypts said…

    we dropped gimmites because it sounded like termites, and gimmates because it sounded like primates :D... got out in 2002...

     
  • At Monday, 31 July, 2006, Blogger unfuel the planet said…

    looking beyond tomorow...?
    well the only time i do that is when the dedline is 48 hours away.

     
  • At Monday, 31 July, 2006, Blogger shruti said…

    cool but sometimes u dont knw the deadline ..then its a tough decision !!!

     
  • At Thursday, 10 August, 2006, Blogger Mind Curry said…

    well..i think its not about yesterday, today or tomorrow.. you need them all. the important thing is to not get stuck on any one of those. then you will do fine.

    sorry..been away from blogs for a while.. been away from everything for a while..me back again. hope all is well with you. nice to see your great writing back here in musings.

     
  • At Thursday, 10 August, 2006, Blogger shruti said…

    @mind curry - as long as ur back its gr8 ...
    Hmm I was talking abt looking beyond tommorow in a metaphorical way rather than literally...more specifically its not abt yesterday , today or tommorow but rather about acceptance of a truth , of death and working towards it ..not giving important to just the illusory things in life !

     
  • At Saturday, 12 August, 2006, Blogger Suchintya said…

    lines from a hindi song which I thought you might find interesting:

    ' Zindagii to bevafaa hai ek din thukaraaegii,
    Maut mahabuubaa hai apane saath lekar jaaegii'

    And yes life's too short to do what we want to do, leave aside those that others want to do. [:D]

     
  • At Thursday, 17 August, 2006, Blogger Life said…

    good and mature post...love to read it.........well ur rite life is...

    life is butterfly....the time u go to catch it will fly away and if u set it free it will come and sit on ur shoulders.....

    do visit my blogs .....and let me know ur views.....

     
  • At Friday, 18 August, 2006, Blogger ketki said…

    nice post ........very philosophical!!!!!

     
  • At Saturday, 19 August, 2006, Blogger quills said…

    Hey Shruti!How'z the horse riding coming alon? :)Been meaning to ask you for some time now.

     
  • At Sunday, 20 August, 2006, Blogger Alex said…

    Well shruti,
    A very impressive write up on life. I myself am on the journey to explore life.
    I am really impressed at what you have realised as i more or less realised the same things as you did.

     
  • At Sunday, 20 August, 2006, Blogger shruti said…

    @ketki - thanks dear
    @quills - the riding is coming along fine ..shall put up the next post soon ..its all there in the mind ..the rains been a dampner thou ...evready it rains and the ground gets too wet and hard..

     
  • At Sunday, 20 August, 2006, Blogger shruti said…

    @alex- thanks ..welcome to this journey called life..it can be quite a ride !!

     
  • At Monday, 21 August, 2006, Blogger quills said…

    Shruti, you have been tagged. Hope you do take it up.

     

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