morning musings

Philosophy, Life and Marriage

I remember whenever I have been in dilemma I have taken to find an answer in some kind of philosophy. Or rather, by trying to peek into philosophy, of which I little understand, I have attempted to bewilder myself to a separate state than of the bewilderement of dilemma. However, until there is a resolution of dilemma, it is like out of the pan, into the fire place!

The first time I remember I took to philosophy was 4 years ago. As an undergrad student, and a teenager in love. (will not get into the argument or discussion if at all it was love, that for later blogs). However, this person seemed to have a secret love already! So, you see, a teenage damsel in distress reading, Radha Krishna and KrishnaMurthy. At this point, I also got a book, called The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran. Given, the emotional temperament, that girls are besotted with, or by the virtue of being a girl, being sentimental comes first and logical comes next, I was well versed with the prose of Tagore, his love poems, that he writes in the gardener than the basic tenets of philosophy.

Now at this moment of life, I seek philosophy again, not by choice, by an accident (is serenditpity the write word to be used here…). Not that I was not tempted to go back to Tagore and his lovely expressions ( I will post one of his poems, that I like and you will know what I mean by saying the temperament I possess by the virtue of being born as the female of this specie).

Suddenly, I am reminded of my friend who about 4 years ago, in my attempt to learn philosophy (existentialism and metaphysics fundas), had told me, keep philosophy and your personal life distinct, don’t mix them up. Philosophy is a pursuit. It is not to implement in your life. I had agreed to him, and all these years, I have been somewhere forming my own philosophy of life, and being influenced little by others (I attribute this to my ignorance to philosophy, I have not read Kant, a little bit of Russel and I even wont be able to name ten names of philosophers, next to Plato and Socrates..)

My influence in the last two years have been, Al Ries and Jack Trout. Their marketing fundas! Before, I digress, let me come back to Kahlil Gibran. I would like to post a prose of his, from the book the Prophet.

It is on marriage. And here it is.

Then Almitra spoke again and said, And what of Marriage, master?
And he answered saying:

You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces inyour togetherness.
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love : Let it rather be
A moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each others cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but
Each one of you be alone.
Even as the strings of a lute are alone thought they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can containyour hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.


As always, poetry is also philosophy, and sometimes may be slightly easier to understand.

Now something from Tagore. Before I write it down, let me tell you why I read the gardener, it satisfies, the emotional reader, the emotional writer, the emotional dreamer. Yes, dreamer, somewhere all of us dream, and live in a dreamland, dreams are fed by poetry and not reality. The other day, a friend of mine brought me to stark reality, where a dreamer and a poet has to abandon his literary armaments, and face himself upfront. However, Tagore for now-

I run as a musk deer runs, in the shadows of
the forest mad with his own perfume.
The night is the night of the mid-May ,
the breeze is the breeze f the south.
I lose my way and I wander, I seek what I cannot get,
I get what I do not seek.
From my heart comes out and dances
the image of my own desire.
The gleaming vision flits on.
I try to clasp it firmly, it eludes me and leads me astray.
I seek what I cannot get, I get what I do not seek.

There are more prose I can pick from the Gardener but for now, this will be it. However, there remains a two liner, a work of the National poet of Nepal : which is an implementable philosophy for me :

Aayera kahiley ritu siddhidaina
Layera maya mutu ritti daina

Meaning :
1st line : Seasons do not end, by coming. ( my elaboration : seasons come each year, spring comes each year, it does not end by coming again and again… there is an infinite reservoir that nature has.

2nd line: Your heart doesn’t empty itself by loving ( my elaboration : like the infinite reservoir that nature has, that seasons do not end, this heart also belongs to nature, to GOD, who gives us an infinite capacity to love, love doesn’t stop coming in your heart, just because you have loved)

This post should have been titled, poetry, philosophy, marriage and life!