Skip to main content

The loin cloth philosophy

Once, a wealthy and a powerful family man decided to embrace the Zen way of life. So he renounced everything – except for his loin cloth. But the rats in his hut were prying on the loin cloth (good that those were not squirrels) and hence he brought a cat to take care of the rats. Now, the cat needed milk, so he had to bring a cow. The cow needed to be attended, so he brought in a maiden. Shortly, he fell in love with the maiden and went back to square one.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I remembered the ‘simple life’ days when we used to hop rental homes. All that mattered would be 2 sky bags and a taxi. This time home moving was a few bruises, a sore back and shoulders, a loss of 2 kgs of body weight and a week’s time off from work. Mentally, it was like moving Mount Kinabalu. All the time, I had been wondering about how junk got accumulated. And that’s when the story above came to mind.

I consulted Sujatha’s thick yellow book – The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. For the uninitiated, Patanjali was the sage who documented the ‘open source’ version of the Yoga 2500 years ago. To him, it is not just the stretches you do once a week ogling at babes in True Yoga, still cursing your boss, complaining about your bonus and scheming how to cheat income tax in your mind. It is a holistic life style with codes of conduct (called the 8 limbs of yoga). Under the topic ‘Non-Possession' (aparigraha), Patanjali talks about the 4 folds of misery of accumulating objects

Misery 1 : The effort and time spent in researching for, running around, paying and buying objects and the buyer’s remorse that follows. Darn not simple if your spouse is involved in it too.

Misery 2 : The effort and time spent in maintaining things. Typical scene in my home involves us yelling at each other every few hours on unclosed wardrobes, wet towels on the bed, strewn staplers on the floor, un-repaired equipments, unpaid bills…

Misery 3 : Things do wither and expire. The pain of loss and withdrawal syndrome due to that.

Misery 4 : It is getting caught up in the continuous cycle of buying and replacing things. Called ‘upgrading’ in the consumer lingo.

Hmm…. even the possession of just a loin cloth is powerful enough to drag one down. Is there a way out?
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 7, 2009 at 1:59 PM

    Learn to catch rats with your bare hands.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJuly 8, 2009 at 12:33 AM

    Why do you need a way out? I am not sure either that the other way will "pull you up".. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Raja SPJuly 10, 2009 at 10:04 AM

    Anonymous, yes, that probably is the approach to the solution. I guess, its about drawing a line on the wants and needs and trying not to get sucked into the 'rat' race. People who lived that way had a fulfilling life and stand a great example ever (Gandhi, Teresa...).

    Cheenu, dont you want your name in that list?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Birthdays and Facebook

I read about a guy who had 400+ friends in Facebook. One day he woke up as a curious little wanker and wondered if he is really that sociable. So he organized a party and sent invitations to all his contacts over Facebook. 50% confirmed and another 20% were tentative. He was delighted - that’s one hell of a response, actually. The real day came. Our man waited at the venue, which happened to be a popular joint, but no single soul turned up. An hour later, one woman came but she also left in the next 30 minutes. He had 400 friends and yet he ended up drinking alone that night. So the question to ponder is how close are our virtual worlds to the reality? . But my case was quite not as somber. Yesterday was my birthday. Facebook reminded of it to a whole lot of my gang. Some of them have never wished me in decades and some are new. How exciting! So here is my big thanks to all my dear friends for the wishes over calls, sms and facebook. You made me feel special. Special thanks to cutie p...
9 comments
Read more

The extinction of IT Architects

If you are as old as me, you would have stood in line in front of a ‘Printer Room’ with your ID card to collect your print outs from Printer Admins aka people who thought they ruled the world. If you are slightly older, you would have traveled with Lift Operators who had a control over your life for those few minutes. If you are as old as your father (hehehe) you might have thought a career as a Telegraph Operator would get you the fattest dowry and a gorgeous girl. And if you have survived the medieval period, you might have come across wood cutters, armor smiths, hostlers, furriers, shoe polishers … Simply, these jobs are extinct now. And jobs keep becoming extinct as I am typing this now. I am reading about Cloud Computing these days and I am beginning to think that my job - the IT Architect , would become extinct in another 5 years too. For my non IT friends - IT Architects design how a group of machines and software can be put together to run a business. These are nerdy, un-pr...
6 comments
Read more

Sex, scents and some secrets - Part 1

Life is one suffocating crowded train. With tamed aggressions and with an indifference, you let yourself moved by a greater force through a long humid tunnel. And suddenly something happens to transport you into a valley of blooming daisies with a cooling shower and a distant rainbow. That’s how I felt meeting her. I shall introduce her to you as ‘Swapna’ When I saw her the first time, I remember having troubles lifting my eyes up her bosom. Dusky in complexion, with full lips and big eyes Swapna can easily make you wear your heart up your sleeve. Whenever she walks with me, all eyes would be on her and on me by association. She would gracefully bag the wide eyed silent compliments like a graceful breeze, dazzling more at being noticed. A cheerful social butterfly, always fresh with high energy that when she is moody, you can spot it like a full buffalo in your soup. I have met her few times in social and business settings but that was the first time I am meeting her outside both our c...
3 comments
Read more