Sunday, March 31, 2013

Agony and Ecstacy of Eman - XIII

Eman is like the shy new village bride, who is ashamed of the lack of fire in her hearth, yet does not speak of it, but patiently waits. He feels it natural to feel shame before he starts talking of the condition of his friend, the ratioanl man, that worries him constantly. For, it is said:

    Love of knowledge is akin to wisdom.

    Strenuous attention to conduct is akin to compassion.

    Sensitiveness to shame is akin to courage.

    ...

    My friend, why do you shout thus:

    "The emotional man is afraid to speak!"

Eman finally blurts out: I am searching for the higher law. But like the my friend digging for treasure in the city finds tangled channels of degenerate matter, I witness the degeneration of knowledge into blind faith, faith and trust into fear and mistrust, vigorous inspired practice into half-hearted rituals. I witness the creative imagination of my forefathers being reckoned as primitive ignorance. I witness the degeneration sciences into beliefs. I find that the symbolic practices of the potential man are reckoned as conventions of the moral man, religious man, ascetic man,.... No! I am in search of this higher law of being for the new epoch, abiding which I shall know the new form of the law of life, growth and decay. I've glimpsed the nature of the laws I seek, I attribute neither strength nor superiority to the dead and forgotten. Behold! I am the night watchman praying for the child that is being born.

    The man who clamors for the wealth of his father

    Begins by claiming his right to live,

    Begins by forsaking his right to build;

    The men who lay claim to the books of ancestors

    Begin by staking their claim to know,

    Begin by forsaking their right to discover.

    The man who cradles every new born child as his own

    verily discovers the newer forms of truth!

    What is living can not be counted among the dead,

    What is growing up can not be counted among the old.

    I am the Eman laying my claim thus:

    Let me know the true nature of the new gods from the west,
    Give me the new law of growth and decay,
    Let me behold its forms!

Eman continues: The men and woman roaming in public speading the fragrance of lust, attracting the attention of the wealthy, do not lose their purpose because she can not imagine the nature and features of the one who is going to find her first. The longer the wait, the more intense her search becomes, the more inviting her glances. The woman who settles for the easy prey rarely succeeds in attracting the minister and the sheriff.

Know this: The man who casts the net deep, alone catches the big fish. He uses small fry as bait and waits for the big splash, the turbulent churning. Listen to my song:

    All affairs of the heart grow and decay the same way!

    Will you not wait for the big splash ?

    And know the meaning of clinging on the way?

    Will you not cast the net deep,

    And drink the Soma Rasa?

Therefore I say, models do not constitute knowledge, they enable you to imitate the creator. Constructions must not be understood as explanations, they enable you to build castles. They simply let you know what is significant and what is natural. For it is said:

    Man models himself after the earth,

    The Earth models after heaven,

    The heaven models itself after Tao,

    Tao models itself after nature.

Eman calls the house he was born my-house and the house constructed in his name the house-i-got-made. The rational man calls the house he got made my-house and the house he was born in as the house-we-used-to-live.

Eman almost defines his duty when he discovers that complexity is not a new description of reality; that, in every age and time, he had to transcend the complexity equal in measure to all the grains in the Ganges to realize the potential man. Thus he rejects the 'acceptance' or 'renewal' of traditions as a survival-spirit balancing the survival-pill of modernism. For, survival is not his aim! For, in the struggle for survival, the aggressive vitality of the rational man is the sure winner!

Eman is now angry. He shouts :'I call them ignorant thieves! The king and ministers are spreading lies about tradition, about heritage, about meaning of our martyrs. They are going about their duty, doing their job as they say. But listen, these men need only a good job. They are anxious

about their children and family. Give them a better job with guaranteed pension. Their humor and handwriting will bring them mementos! For, it is said,

    You can put a superior human in charge of

    an important position with large discretionary powers,

    but you can not give him a nice little job;

    you can give an inferior man a nice little job,

    but you can not put him in an important position

    with great discretionary powers.

So, if my fellowmen were to choose to become traders, middlemen and entrepreneurs then, will they all prosper, will they be truthful to each other? I see a hitherto unknown battle ahead for my tribe.

But, know that this battle can not be fought by being strong. Why ? Because, each one of my fellowmen on gaining strength joined the side of the strong. Thus I understand the mahatma.'

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