A friend made some comments to me about my complaint about the speaker at the dance performance that made me think about some things in a new way.
He pointed out that I am often unhappy at feeling like an outsider at Indian events and how difficult and frustrating that is. The woman may have had a point, although I think she chose a very poor way to express it and could have discussed the advertising possibilities with the director in private.
However, it also made me think that the dance school is not responsible for making her happy. They are there to put on an event of their beloved music and dance and it is not a failing on their part to not consider how to make sure that white people like it or are there.
And that leads back to me. It is not the responsibility of Indians at temples or in my daily life to make sure that I feel comfortable. That is entirely on my own shoulders. No one else should have to alter his life because I want validation!
I had not noticed this mindset in myself until it was pointed out and that is one of the great values of having a blog like this. The flow of ideas and the discussion of lifestyle leads me to important insights.
Thanks, everyone, for reading and for giving opinions!
i have few queries completely off topic. i am posting it here because i am not sure whether you read comments of your previous topic. my apology .
ReplyDelete1. attaining moksha breaks the cycle of rebirth . but after a soul attains moksha through the law of karma , what happens?
2. you said you follow advaita vedanta . which i suppose says god, a supreme being is beyond all our senses. and the personal gods visnu, durga, lakshmi etc are result of an illusion/maya. in that case how do you relate to myriads of mythological stories? do you think all of them are symbolic stories?
i found it difficult to get the symbolism of all our mythological stories.
3. you surly heard the phrase "33 koti devas/deities" in hinduism. wikipedia says that it is possible that 330 million is a mistranslation . and it is actually 33 kinds/types of gods. do you have any reference on this issue for further reading? or if you yourself can explain it to me .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptions_of_God#Conceptions_of_God_in_Hinduism
-basu
I will do a post soon to answer (or at least reflect on) these questions. Thanks!
ReplyDelete