Who owns what?
Consider a hypothetical situation in which you are traveling by train from Chennai to Delhi. Let us say you have got the lower birth, and obviously, someone has been allotted the upper berth. Let us say you are very tired during the day time, when people usually sit. How comfortable will you be in occupying the upper berth? Even if you have taken his permission, how long will you sleep there?
Now reverse the scenario. How easily would you let someone else sleep in the upper berth? How long will you let him/her sleep?
There is no right or wrong answer to these questions. But, the answers will reflect something about ourselves. In most cases, it will show that we feel that the berth that is allotted to us is our "own", and that we have a greater "right" to occupy that berth. I have seen some men asking kids to leave the window seat in a train or a bus, just because they got that seat while booking.
This shows something. That we get attached to things which are only temporarily allocated to us. The same thing happens in life as well. We get attached to our language, religion, country, region, gender, blah blah blah....all those things that we were born into. We even fight for them, wage wars, and even elevate those who give up their lives for these causes to the status of heroes. We get attached to all the things that we "own". Money, wealth, women (some people think so), cars, land, houses, etc etc.....all these will leave us and go some day, just like the berth in the train. But we all think these "belong" to us, and that we are their "owners".
I am reminded of these lines of a tamil film song from the film Muthu:
Mannin meedu manidanukkasai, manidan meedu mannukkaasai
Man daan kadasiyil jeykiradu idai, manam daan unara marukkiradu...
Soil desires man, Man desires soil (land)
The soil wins eventually, but the mind refuses to accept this.
Kayyil konjum kaasu irundaal needan adakku yejamaanan
kazhuthu varaikkum kaasu irundaal adudaan unakky yejamaanan
If you have a little money in your hands, you are its owner
If you have money till your neck, it is your owner.
Reflect on these:
Now reverse the scenario. How easily would you let someone else sleep in the upper berth? How long will you let him/her sleep?
There is no right or wrong answer to these questions. But, the answers will reflect something about ourselves. In most cases, it will show that we feel that the berth that is allotted to us is our "own", and that we have a greater "right" to occupy that berth. I have seen some men asking kids to leave the window seat in a train or a bus, just because they got that seat while booking.
This shows something. That we get attached to things which are only temporarily allocated to us. The same thing happens in life as well. We get attached to our language, religion, country, region, gender, blah blah blah....all those things that we were born into. We even fight for them, wage wars, and even elevate those who give up their lives for these causes to the status of heroes. We get attached to all the things that we "own". Money, wealth, women (some people think so), cars, land, houses, etc etc.....all these will leave us and go some day, just like the berth in the train. But we all think these "belong" to us, and that we are their "owners".
I am reminded of these lines of a tamil film song from the film Muthu:
Mannin meedu manidanukkasai, manidan meedu mannukkaasai
Man daan kadasiyil jeykiradu idai, manam daan unara marukkiradu...
Soil desires man, Man desires soil (land)
The soil wins eventually, but the mind refuses to accept this.
Kayyil konjum kaasu irundaal needan adakku yejamaanan
kazhuthu varaikkum kaasu irundaal adudaan unakky yejamaanan
If you have a little money in your hands, you are its owner
If you have money till your neck, it is your owner.
Reflect on these:
- What is the concept of ownership?
- Who possesses what? Do we possess things, or do they possess us?
9 Comments:
Wonderful rhetoric, Ram. Nice thoughts. Unfortunately, I do not have the answer to the questions you posed, especially the last one.
I think the concept of "possession" or "ownership" is a mere invention of man to label those that are close to him (in proximity, not just physically) as his. It's part of human logic. Like when you place dots on a piece of blank paper. The human mind tends to classify those dots that are close to each other as belonging to one group and the rest to another group and so on and so forth.
I'm reminded of that accountant whom the Little Prince (by Antoine de Saint-Exupery) meets in one of the many planets he visited. This man kept counting the stars because he said he owned them even though no one, not even the planets, knew that he was their owner. The Little Prince asked the man why he kept counting his stars and the man said that he was going to use them to buy more stars.
So I guess what I'm saying is...it's a human thing. ;)
Thank you Jute for your comment.
I agree with you...it is a human thing. Also, it is just as our understanding about most things in this universe is far from comprehensive, and satisfactory, this too is. The reason I say this is this:
Our stay on earth is temporary. As much as our train travel, or our stay in a rented house. In all these, whatever we claim rights to during the period of our stay, are really not ours. We ar just temporary owners, or caretakers. If you look at life too in a similar way, we are not the real owners of anything, except the body. Everything else belongs to someone else, and we are just caretakers. The body belongs to us.
Further, if you can get what I am saying, this human way of understanding ownership is at the root of the entire economic setup in the society.
I think the attraction lies in the fact that it is a transitory world we're living in. The fact that it is temporary is what draws us into it when the truth is we should be doing the opposite.
So the flaw that we see in our society today is nothing but a reflection of the flaw that is inherent in ourselves.
And thus, the utopian belief that a man cannot be punished for acting on a sense that society purportedly infused in him is completely false. For if the flaw lies in man himself, why should society, a mere reflection of man, shoulder the blame for man's act?
Sorry. I'm ranting and completely off-topic. :P
Thanks Tech.
I wonder what is it that you want to know? My thoughts on what? Your comment is so long and in some places so complex that i am left speechless.
There is only one thing that can be possessed or that can possess...that is ignorance! For he who is a true Adhvaiti does not see anything to possess or to be possessed and he who is yet a Dhvaithi, what matters to him if he is going to analyse whether he possesses things or things posses him?
And on those lyrics from Muthu, having too much money does not mean money starts owning the person. A truly enlightened person can have all the riches all the pleasures in the world and still not be affected by them!
True....but how many of us are truly enlightened? Today, I earn nothing, and have no money. It is easy to talk all this. But tomorrow when I begin to earn, how am I going to handle it? If not all, most of us do undergo some change when we begin to earn, and if we earn a lot of money, it does seem to have the ability to take over us. Old friends are chucked out. Simplicity goes out. We see this happenening in the world.
When we talk of rich men who are still simple, Narayana Murthy comes to my mind. But I am sure he too would have gone through some internal conflicts, which he successfully resolved to regain control. This itself requires some amount of wisdom. And that is the minimum requirement to a spiritual aspirant.
He who changes when wealth comes, he who lets money take control of him do you think he will be a better person spiritually if money were not there to distract him? It is no big deal being a teetotaller in a land where there is no alcohol. Doesn't the same thing apply here?
True...the real test of a person comes when he has money.
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