Often whenever philosophical topics are discussed, or when thought provoking movies are made or when people put fundaes in life, I go back to the basic question "What is the point of Human Existence".

That reminds me of a Calvin joke, where he also has the same doubt, and doesn't see any sense in continuing with the teacher's lesson until the issue is resolved.

Anyways coming back. Today after making me go red in the ears for not remebering the names of the ragas of previous lessons, my Flute teacher, started putting fundaes in life to his students. The students are all working guys so he can talk really complicated stuff, I mean you can't put Fundaes in life to school kids and all, that's what I mean. So he started talking about the origin of Music and how the swaras were discovered. He talked about the vedas and stuff. The pity is though I was hanging on to his every word if you ask me to quickly summarize I can't because ...oh well, forget it. It is beside the point. The point is from there he went on to talk about how his work on some music book was plagarized by another chap. He said it with a tinge of regret, of complaint. But then at the end of it he said that it doesnt matter who gets the credit, it is our duty to work. Even if we dont get credit for the work we do, we must be satisfied if our work comes to somebody's use.

Taken by itself it seems a fantastic philosopy. Karmanye-eva-aadhikaras te, ma phalesu kadachana. But taken with a million others which keep floating around at every HR seminar, or Art of Living course and what you get is, what I get is, confusion.

Let me list a few.

One: Aham Brahmasmi. I am Brahman. I am the universal everything. I can accomplish anything. I am every thing etc.
Two: I am nothing. He is everything. He is kind. He is powerful. I am but a plaything in His hands. Through him alone I'll get salvation.
Three: It does not matter. Nothing is permanent. So enjoy while you can. Dont worry about tomorrow or yesterday.
Four: Live for others. Take care of others. Help others. "Jeena isi ka naam hai." "How you have lived your years counts" etc.
Five : A la Fountain head. Live for yourself. Fearless propogate YOUR ideas. Decide for yourself. Ditch, even pity, the weak and the foolish.

Contradictions. Contradictions.
More.
Should one live in a world of hard headed duniya daari breaking ones head over politics and war and money.
Or should one live in the arfifical world of beauty and poetry and Romance and fantasy.

Everyone says...ultimately what matters is ..such and such ( I dont mean truth :) )
So how does one know what matters?
Is there some great big ice-cream to be gotten at the end of the day. If so what does one have to do to get it. If God has created all of us and is just watching how his creations perform, probably running Characterization tests on us, who will he be happy with. What are we supposed to do? What results is he expecting. Why the hell should we bother?

People have told me ( when I tried to bug them with these questions) that all this is idle talk. We must get to work. These things dont get us anywhere. Why? Why? Why?
Why must we work?
How do we know whether continous action or serene inaction is what we are supposed to do?

The theory of evolution, that we all are nothing but a bunch of sociable atoms come together doesn't hold. For how do you explain instinct? How a lot of Hydrocarbons get together and strive for self-perpetuation is totally beyond me. However many fossils they dig out I am for Creationistic theory.

Have you read a great story with a great twist in the end and found a thrill of pleasure going all through you and making the hair on your arms and neck stand on end. Sometimes I feel that some such great ending will be revealed to us in the End, when all things will fall in place and all the above questions (and other similar ones) will be answered with, pardon the expression, shagadellic beauty. An undescribable, unimaginable, un-even-begin-to-imaginable Thrill will rock us then. And then the whole thing would be worth it. I think that would be Nirvana.