(B15)- Be an observer and not a Judge!

[Quick links]

 

 

Have you ever seen a rotten corpse? Just the thought of it may be repulsing to you. 

The nauseating stench, decomposed flesh, wriggling maggots, the hungry vultures tearing apart the rotten stuff… Can you picturize that? Horrible isn’t it?

 

But ask the vulture. It finds the stench most aromatic. It comes flying all the way, attracted by that ‘pleasant’ smell! For it, the rotten flesh is the best meal in the world! What is horrible to you is the most enjoyable thing to these creatures.

 

Now step back and look at the whole thing as an observer. There is nothing ugly or horrible about it. It is one of the nature’s best way of recycling the stuff that is no longer useful in its present form. The vulture lives on it. The maggots thrive on that. And ultimately the entire stuff gets turned into fantastic manure which is ploughed back into mother earth, once again to create another new body! Isn’t that wonderful?

 

So, when you are a mere observer, you don’t take sides. You just enjoy the beauty of nature, it’s organized way of handling things. Only when you take a judge’s seat, you find the same thing either as offending or pleasant.

 

I had an Indian friend who was a great Vedic scholar. He used to look down on all ‘westerners’ as uncultured people who are materialists and moving on the wrong path. He would never even think of crossing the boundaries of India and come in contact with them. He does not want to get ‘polluted’!

 

Unlike the ancient Jews or may be even Christians who considered some race to be God’s favorite, Hindus don’t consider only Indians as God’s favorite creation. So, I asked this friend whether he was not showing disrespect to his God by looking down on one section of God’s creation! After all, no Hindu text says that God created only Indians or they are his favorite. That being the case, how can one differentiate between people merely because of their race or place of residence? Great people exist everywhere, in India as well as outside India.

 

The Hindu text Bhagavad Gita even goes to the extent of saying “a knowledgeable man does not differentiate between a scholarly Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog or even a lowly person who feeds on dog’s meat”. So, was my friend wrong?

 

The problem is that sometimes we take a judging position. We consider some things as right and some things as wrong. And start viewing everything from that categorization. That is when the problem crops up. But if we descend from the judge’s seat and place ourselves as a mere observer, we get a broader view.

 

But then, taking a judge’s seat is also important. Without that you can’t act since actions are prompted by our judgements. So, we need to play both roles without crossing their limits and as and when needed.

 

Why am I talking about all this? I was supposed to be talking about the debate that was going on between the Brahma supporters and their opponents who rejected the concept of God or for that matter even the soul. As you probably observed, this debate often crossed the limits of mutual respect. The stronger contender almost pushing the weaker one to the wall and shouting a victory cry.

 

I have heard many Indian Gurus and scholars taking one side or the other and trying to project their side as the ‘most right’. This is not just restricted to Indian Gurus or scholars. Even scholars outside India show this tendency. Most of the hatred or misunderstanding are created by this over association with one’s views.

 

That is what happens when you sit on the judge’s seat. But if you look at everything as an impartial observer, probably you find sense in the views of each side. Afterall, all of them exhibit human potential for attempting to understand things which are beyond their realm of understanding. That is what makes this debate fascinating. You don’t really have to take sides. Merely marvel at the human intellect! Be an observer and not a judge.

 

I will elaborate more on this in the next episode. Please do join me then. 

 

Start            Previous          Next

 

A series on ancient Indian composition Brahma Sutra. © Dr. King, Swami Satyapriya 2020-21