Inner Metamorphosis

The philosophers have only   interpreted   the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change   it. – Karl Marx A friend once commented that reading philosophy is waste of time. Most of the things are absurd and are of absolutely no relevance to daily life. One doesn’t need philosophy to be happy in life! Infact I agree with him. I think what man primarily needs to be happy is power . For example if you lose your cellphone and if you have the power (wealth here) to buy another without least hesitation that you don’t need to bother about it at all! On the other hand if you can’t buy another straight away and have to settle with another of lesser price you would philosophize that the principal use of cellphone is to communicate and other features are quite unnecessary. And if it’s not possible to buy another right away, one will say that hardly 10 years back none had these devices and yet all were quite content!! Philosophy is thus...

Inquiry is fatal to certainty. - Will Durant. Last week, most of the TV channels were full of news relating to some babas (aka gurus, swamis etc). I’m amazed looking at the popularity these people have managed to possess. More astonishing is the fact that they run big business empires under the cover of spirituality. We need to save God from these people literally.!!!! Hahaha Hindus in general are less informed of their religion than followers of other religions. However I’m against these sects centred on Human-Worship. Such man-centric worship removes all traces of sanity in men and makes them scapegoats to all kinds of rubbish. People must enquire adequately before making their final move to faith. Though I call myself a Hindu and believer and have a set of beliefs, values  and also interested mental speculation I’m usually a positivist ( someone who emphasizes observable facts and excludes metaphysical speculation about origins or ultimate causes ) when it comes to oth...

There are few philosophical questions always confound the human mind. One of the major issues that had been especially problematic to theists has been the “ problem of evil ”. Broadly stated the problem of evil consists of the supposed incompatibility and contradiction of the following 3 statements: 1.)  God is all good. 2.)  God is all-powerful 3.)  Evil exists in a world where God is both all-powerful & all-good. Hence, this leads to two assumptions God allows evil. (against our presumption that He’s all-good) He’s not willing to address it (against our presumption that he’s all powerful) This is really a problem which religious men of all times have answered in various degrees. So why does evil exist at all on this marvellous wonderful creation by a benevolent God? Why are we against our own genuine intentions of peace thrust against an evil world? Philosophers have given an explanation worth thousands...

Most of us talk about corruption in India and most of us are apt to pinpoint corrupt politicians as the root cause of all problems in India . Little realised in the fact, the these politicians rise to ranks from the masses and if corruption is common in politician, its because its common in men. I once asked a close Marvadi friend, if he keeps black money. He replied yes, upon which I asked him being so educated why you should continue to involve in such practises. He said blankly, “ We are not interested in indulging in such practises. But are you aware that at every point we are forced to cough up our hard-earned money to so many officials without any official purpose? If I don’t have this kind of money, I can’t have even a decent life. But atleast I have decided in personal front, that the moment I needn’t cough up money unnecessarily, I shall give up this practise ”. In the struggle for Indian freedom, Gandhiji was correct to dismiss the ideology of revolutionaries who...

One thing that is common for all recent emotional developments – I wanna a quick-fix. Most of our present culture in a way encourages instant satisfaction through whichever means possible. This is a disturbing trend. There are no shortcuts, no free-lunches. But we have conveniently forgotten this under the mask of various clichés.  A case in point is the way most of the self-help books ( i.e. motivational, personality growth based) are written. Almost all of which I’ve seen in recent times are based on personality ethic- superficial changes in external personality . The rise of this concept can be seen with the success of Dale Carnegie’s “ How to Win Friends and Influence People ”. The book was a huge success & this captivated the imagination of many other writers who wished to earn quick buck by writing some out-of-context quotes to derive most funny conclusions. Most of these writers write some personal examples which (supposedly) motivate all to achieve suc...

These are heydays of reality shows. Every channel worth its salt has come up with innovative (uff…sorry most are copied from West) formats. All compete to grab eyeballs & in the name of increasing TRPs most resort to ridiculous stuff. Lets see, why these have become so popular replacing the saas-bahu serials which were in vogue before. I see this as a satiation of common-man to become the centre of attraction. If idealism of saas-bahu type which was removed from reality appealed back then, now the “reality” of normal, ordinary people craving for popularity has become more appealing. So far, only few elite had access to adulation of masses. It is time for the commoner to occupy the centre-stage & enjoy the newfound celebrity status. Hence, this is infact democratization of popularity and masses are subtly made to believe their potential-popularity which forms the lure of these shows. However, I feel that this is not a step in right direction. A casual glance at the...

I fancy myself to have understood philosopher Frederich Nietzsche to some measure, yet when I just came across this quote it hit me like thunderbolt “Every profound thinker is more afraid of being understood than of being misunderstood. The latter may hurt his vanity, but the former his heart, his sympathy, which always says: "Alas, why do you want to have as hard a time as I did?” Nietzsche has this habit of using extremely complicated sentences which can be interpreted in multiple ways, all of which appear to be equally correct. However this sounded like a warning to me, that by the sheer virtue of being capable of understanding him, I was myself a recipient of his sympathy. Maybe he means that only a person who has personally undergone severe trials & tribulations could be intense enough to understand him. Whatever that means, I had always felt that I’m somehow distinctly different from others not as a superiority/inferiority complex but as a person who do...