Seeking meaning

"He who rightly knows that all things follow from the necessity of the divine nature, and happen according to the eternal laws and rules of Nature, will surely find nothing worthy of hate, mockery, or disdain. . . . Instead he will strive, as far as human virtue allows, to act well, as they say, and rejoice." ·- Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677)

Desires are devilish and they always have to be given up intentionally or reluctantly. But, to want is quite different from what we need. Wants often translate into desires whereas needs become necessities that are essential for everyday living.

Thirsting for something beyond the necessities of life is often thought to be unethical. But, it depends on what your thirst is about and the greater good that such thirst would lead to. In fact, the impulse to know That by which everything is known is the impetus for various intellectual quests right from Upanisadic days to today. Our human life seems to be suspended between seeking and finding with answers followed by unanswered questions.

There is a famous story in the Chandogya Upanisad about the ceaseless quest of a seeker to know the Ineffable (or rather I would call the God who is sought because of Intellectual Love.) There was once a great sage named Varuna. His son Brigu was quite a curious lad trying to probe the mystery of life. So, he asked his dad to help him out. For which Varuna replied that such a majestic question must be sought by oneself. Nonetheless, the wise dad directed his son to pore on his question to find the answer. So, Brigu began his penance to grasp the Unknown. When I was young, I was thrilled to see devas and rakshasas undertaking pointed penance: for the devas were the good lacking strength and the rakshasas were the strong lacking goodness. Both of them sought the Divine and the procedure is quite interesting. They first retreated to the jungles (unaware that the presence of God can be felt anywhere) and then begin their unending penance – going foodless and untroubled by surrounding circumstances.

The impressive Jewish philosopher Benedict Spinoza once wrote:

After experience had taught me that all the usual surroundings of social life are vain and futile; seeing that none of the objects of my fears contained in themselves anything either good or bad, except in so far as the mind is affected by them, I finally resolved to inquire . . . whether, in fact, there might be anything of which the discovery and attainment would enable me to enjoy continuous, supreme, and unending happiness.

Seekers meditate upon the various names of God or chanted a single name of God repeatedly. Why? Usually, when we write a sentence, words follow towards a goal ultimately molding up the meaning of the sentence. But, words and in turn, sentences may remain inadequate because they cannot fully express the flowing thoughts in our mind. So, is the case with the uttered words. We repeat words so that their recurrence gets them a place in our mind. Utterances are common means to express the unexpressed; yet, every word or the name of God cannot completely describe His magnificence. So, we have thousands of names for a God, which are chanted one by one – signaling that His splendor still escapes our grasp. Or as the Upanisads proclaim: Neti Neti (Not this, Not this).

Of course, Brigu would also be indulging in such an act and penance is just a demonstration of the spiritual profusion of the act. Brigu after a long penance finds that matter is that which sustains the world or the manifestation of God. When Brigu informs his dad about his discovery, Varuna tells him to seek further. Brigu is puzzled but realizes that an Unchangeable eternal God cannot manifest as matter (as it grossly changes). So, he undertakes further penance and finds that it is the mind. But, quickly realizes that mind too is subject to change. Then, again in strict penance (ever so intensely focusing on the pressing question) he has a flash of illumination: it is Bliss (ananda) which is tied up with the Sat (existence) and Chit (consciousness). The right mix of which is called the Sat-Chit-Ananda.

By bliss, it may perhaps mean that calm that is accomplished in our inner self – uncorrupted by outer world. But, this bliss should be used to help better the outer world. If bliss is kept for oneself, it rots and loses its rhapsody.

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I’m often intrigued by this word culture whose meanings vary from agriculture to cyber-culture. Especially, when one claims about the uniqueness of a culture so much that – as the postmodernists violently proclaim – we are trapped in our cultural prisons and would be unable to transcend them to become a universal citizen with widest reach to humanity. Should we be mired in our culture and never recover from our fetish with our own culture?

As one Indian cultural commentator explains:

Indian culture has often been sought through the uniqueness of certain cultural themes in various configurations. Probably, the uniqueness of Indian culture lies not so much in a unique ideology as in the society’s traditional ability to live with cultural ambiguities and to use them to build psychological and metaphysical defenses against cultural invasions.

This has been – according to Ashish Nandy – the post-colonial Indian worldview where Indian selfhood has not been defined too tightly or loosely but is lodged in a house where leakages help preserve the fluidity of the concept of Indianness.