(૩૯૪) વેગુ ઉપરના વિદ્વાન શ્રી મુરજીભાઈ ગડાના “સમય-૨ : સમય શું છે ?” લેખ ઉપરનો મારો પ્રતિભાવ

“જીવન કે જીવ નાશ પામે છે પણ શરીરના પરમાણુઓ નાશ નથી પામતા. મ્રુત શરીરની રાખમાથી બધું પાછુ મળી શકે સિવાય કે એવા પરમાણુઓ જે બાશ્પશીલ હોય અને ઊડી ગયા હોય.”

બાઈબલ અને કુરઆનમાં ન્યાય (કયામત)ના દિવસે સઘળા જીવોની પુનર્જીવિત થવાની વાતને આ વિધાનથી સમર્થન મળે છે. જો કે આ બધો જે તે ધર્મોમાંની શ્રદ્ધાનો વિષય છે અને તેનું સામાન્યીકરણ થઈ શકે નહિ, થવું જોઈએ પણ નહિ. ઈશ્વરને સર્વશક્તિમાન અને સર્જનહાર તરીકે સ્વીકારવામાં આવતો હોય તો તેના માટે બધું જ શક્ય છે. આદમ કે મનુને પ્રથમ માનવ માનવામાં આવતા હોય તો તેમનાં માતાપિતા હોવા વિષેની વાત ઉપર આપણે અટકી જવું પડે અથવા માનવું પડે કે તેઓ વગર માતાપિતાએ ઈશ્વરેચ્છાએ અસ્તિત્વમાં આવ્યા. આમ વગર માતાપિતાએ તેઓ બિનઅસ્તિત્વમાંથી અસ્તિત્વમાં આવ્યા ગણાય. આપ પ્રજોત્પત્તિનો એક પ્રકાર બન્યો કહેવાય. બીજા પ્રકારમાં ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત અને કર્ણને લઈ શકાય કે જેઓ માત્ર માતા થકી અસ્તિત્વમાં આવ્યા. ત્રીજા પ્રકારમાં બહુમતીમાં એવા બાકીના સઘળા એ જીવો આવે કે જેમની ઉત્પત્તિ નરમાદાની રતિક્રિડા થકી થઈ.

આ સઘળી વાતનું તાત્પર્ય એ છે કે માનવીના મૃતદેહને બાળવામાં આવે, દાટવામાં આવે, જલસમાધિ આપવામાં આવે કે કોઈપણ રીતે દેહનું વિસર્જન કરવામાં આવે તો પણ તે સર્વથા નાશ પામે નહિ. (સોકેટીસે તેમના આખરી સમયે શિષ્યો દ્વારા તેમની અંતિમક્રિયા કેવી રીતે કરવામાં આવે તેના જવાબમાં તેમણે પણ આ મતલબનું જણાવ્યું હતું.) એવું પણ બને કે નવીન દેહ માટી (ખાક) કે પંચમહાભુતમાં પુન: સર્જાવાના બદલે જ્યોતિ (નૂર) ના બાંધામાં બંધાય અને તેમાં બિનનાશવંત એવા આત્મા (રૂહ)ને ફૂંકવામાં આવે. મૃત્યુ પછી પાપ અને પુણ્યનાં લેખાંજોખાં થયા પછી સ્વર્ગ કે નર્કમાં સુખ કે સજા ભોગવવા માટે એ જીવો સદેહી હોવા તો જોઈએ ને !

વેગુમિત્રો, મારા પ્રતિભાવમાં વિજ્ઞાનના વિષયનું વિષયાંતર થવા બદલ ખેદ અનુભવું છું. આ તો જીવનભરનાના વાંચનના પરિણામે જેમજેમ વિચારો આવતા ગયા તેમ લખાતું ગયું. અહીં મારો ‘આવો કે તેવો’ કોઈ મત હોવાની કોઈ ગેરસમજ ન થવી જોઈએ. વળી મારા આ પ્રતિભાવના સમર્થન કે ખંડનની પણ મારી કોઈ અપેક્ષા નથી, કેમ કે મારું તારણ એવું કોઈ અંતિમ પણ નથી. “Say not, ‘I have found the truth’; but rather, ‘I have found a truth’.”(Khalil Gibran). (અહીં અંગ્રેજી આર્ટિકલ a અને the ધ્યાને લેવાવા જોઈએ.)

– વલીભાઈ મુસા

નોંધ :- વિદ્વાન શ્રી મુરજીભાઈ ગડાના વેગુ ઉપરના લેખ : “સમય – ૨ : સમય શું છે ?” ને વાંચવા માટે અહીં ક્લિક કરી શકો છો. 

 

(385) My quoted Quotes in my Posts (9)

(127) “Normally, the human loves its own life more than any other thing; but, when it decides to commit suicide, the dearest life becomes hateful and the death attractive and savior from all miseries.” (Valibhai Musa)

(128) “Suicide is man’s way of telling the God that He can’t fire him – he himself quits.” (Bill Maher) 

(129) “Mostly living people live willingly because they are afraid of dying; and, dying people die by suicide because they are afraid of life.” (Valibhai Musa)

(130) “Murdering one’s own body is considered equally sinful as murdering another.” (Hinduism)

(131) “Human life is sacred – a wonderful and miraculous creation of God and at any cost it must be tried to save and preserve as far as it is possible. (Christianity)

(132) “And do not kill yourselves, surely Allah is most merciful to you.”(4:29). (The Holy Qu’ran)

(133) “Loneliness and feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” (Mother Teressa)

(134) “Richness is not confined in worldly wealth or intellectual properties only.” (Valibhai Musa)

# Suicide

(135) “For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law is against her mother-in-law – a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.” (Unknown Source)

(136) “You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. Life goes not go backward nor tarries with yesterday.” (Khalil Gibran to Parents)

(137) “Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” (James A. Baldwin)

(138) “If you want your children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibilities on their shoulders.” (Bette Davis)

(139) “A Happy Mom equals a Happy Home.” (A funny slogan)

# A man’s household foes !

(140) “Democracy means ‘Government of the people, for the people and by the people.'” (Abraham Lincoln)

(141) “A government for the many, not the few.” (A Political Slogan)

(142) “Poverty is a threat to peace. I believe that putting resources into improving the lives of the poor is a better strategy to end the most of the problems in the society.” (Muhammad Yunus of Bangla Desh, a Noble Prize (2006) winner for Peace.)

(143) “Keeping away the poor from having education means that we encourage such a great mass of youths to choose the destructive paths such as forming gangs, committing violence, creating war zones in streets, drug selling and making them its addicts.” (Valibhai Musa)

 (144) “A stone that is fit for the wall can never be found in the way.” (A Saying)

# Education for All

(145) “Lip Service is the act of claiming to be something that you are not.”  (An Unknown Source)

(146) “Lip Service is an insincere expression of respect, loyalty and support etcetera.” (An Unknown Source)

(147) “One of the most crucial but the hardest things to do as part of turning your life around is to get rid of all the negative people around you and replace them with people who encourage you instead.” (Neal Boortz)

# Paying lip service 

-Valibhai Musa

 

(364) My quoted Quotes in my Posts (5)

(59) An efficient horse-riding is only possible when both the horse and its rider are efficient. The efficiency of any single cannot bring the expected results. Same way, the soul is a rider and body the horse. Conclusion is that both soul and body must remain healthy. (Valibhai Musa)

(60) Prevention is better than cure. (A Saying)

(61) The slightest imbalance makes the body as well as soul sick. (Valibhai Musa)

(62) I think; therefore, I exist.  (Descartes)

(63) One hour’s contemplation is better than seventy years of adoration. (An Islamic Hadith)

# Soul – Its nourishment

(64) Human kind cannot bear very much reality. (T.S.Eliot)

(65) A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us, we are dependent on him. He is not an interruption of our work, he is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider to our business, he is a part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him, he is doing us a favor by giving us opportunity to do so. (Mahatma Gandhi)

(66) When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life such when you die, the world cries and you rejoice. (A Saying)

(67) Surely, from the Almighty God we come and to Him shall we return. (A Qur’anic Verse)

# As if Mr. Jeff is alive!

(68) Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress and working together is success. (Henry Ford)

(69) If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him, you will always remember. (Khalil Gibran)

# A Last Tribute

(70) Everybody is willing to go to Heaven, but nobody is prepared to die. (Valibhai Musa)

# A Challenging Puzzle (3 in 1)

(71) The world is weary of hate. We see the fatigue overcoming the Western nations. We see that this song of hate has not benefited humanity. Let it be the privilege of India to turn a new leaf and set a lesson to the world.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

(72) Human blood is sacred and in any case it cannot be spilled without justification. And if anyone violates this sanctity of human blood by killing a soul without justification, the Holy Quran equates it to the killing of entire mankind. [A Hadith of Prophet of Islam Hajarat Mohammed (P.B.U.H.)]

(73) A true Believer cannot hurt anybody using own hand or tongue. To write an unfair letter to hurt the feelings of the addressee is the double sin. While using this weapon of unfair writing, the writer uses his hand and tongue also. The tongue in the sense that the reader while reading feels that he is hearing the speech of the writer. (Peer Mashayakh Rehmatullah)

(74) Electronic and print material is like a speech and any imbalance, from the side of the orator or author, may bring man-made disasters to the world. (Valibhai Musa)

(75) Wherever any sensitive issue in the world arises, it becomes the prime and pious duty of media not to encourage the people towards violence. (Valibhai Musa)

(76) Just to prevent the mass violence, it should be noted that the actions of an individual or a small group do not necessarily represent the beliefs of a particular religion, nor is that religion is responsible for such actions. The media’s labeling such unfair events as Islamic, Christian, Judaist or Hindus is incorrect. Media should try to discourage the mass mind going towards the path of violence and encourage them to be initiative to support the authorities to bring peace and order. The people should be counseled by highlighting the ideology that there is neither bravery nor sacrifice in destroying life or property for any cause of either offence or defense. (Valibhai Musa)

(77) My faith is as strong as ever. There is no hope for the aching world except through the narrow and straight path of Non-violence. Millions like me may fail to prove the truth in their lives; that would be their failure, never of the eternal law.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

# International Non-violence Day

-Valibhai Musa

 

A man’s household foes!

Click here to read in Gujarati
Today I stand in front of you through this Article with a surprising title creating curiosity in you to know about our household foes (enemies). Before I go further, I urge you to sit back relaxed and read. These enemies are not the outsiders or external, but they are our own – our own family members living with us under one roof. These are not the words of mine, but somebody has quoted as “For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law is against her mother-in-law – a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.” Let me clarify here that the daughter-in-law only may not be responsible for discomforts of the household. A mother-in-law may be equally responsible as she frequently forgets that she was once a daughter-in-law of somebody. Similarly, the daughter-in-law should always remember that she is going to be a mother-in-law one day.

Human relationships and values of life change in a changing world. Nothing can be expected steady. In family matters, one common issue of ‘generation gap’ is found everywhere in all communities. Parents expect from their next generation that they should be as they are. Likewise, children also think that they should be allowed to do whatever they like. Khalil Gibran has advised to the parents in these words as “You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.” He further adds, “Life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.” These are the great thoughts of great people, but reality of the environment of households is quite different. Here below, I’ll put before you some dialogues, generally heard in the most of the families which show how the members of the family behave and interact with each other. They are as follows:

A loving mother warns the younger son or daughter in the words as “I won’t tolerate your attitude any longer, listen to your lies or defend you when you are wrong.” An elder sister scolds to the kids, “Are you not ashamed to speak like this to elders?” A notorious son insults to the elders in the words, “I don’t want to listen to your lecture!” A sister complains to a brother, “Oh! I never imagined this from you.” A wife irritates the feelings of a husband as “What sort of big work that you have that can’t wait for you!” A mother is annoyed and says, “What the world would speak about for bringing up a son like you!” A grand father shouts and says, “You have hung my head in shame.” A husband quarrels with a wife, “What do you think you are?” A parent warns the collegian girl or son, “I dislike your friend circle or your company.” A child feeling avoidance says to elders, “You have time for everyone but me!” A grandmother fires her own son, “You are a betrayer of relationships and family values.” A mother to a daughter or a son shouts crying in the extreme words as “I wonder how you were born to me!” An uncle says to any junior in the family as “To break every rule of the family and denial is your usual practice.” And somewhere, a wife threatens her husband, “I won’t keep my mouth shut to keep the family peace.”

I recall having read a poem of Alfred Lord Tennyson during my PG study days in early 1970s. Let me give you a quick extract of the said poem. The poet’s feelings are so deeply hurt with his daughter’s mate selection that he expresses his hatred in these words as “Come not, when I am dead / To drop thy foolish tears upon my grave.” In the last stanza of the poem, the words are as “Wed whom thou wilt, but I am sick of time / And I desire to rest / Pass on, weak heart, and leave me alone where I lie / Go by, go by.” My good Readers are advised to refer my previous Articles “No honor in Honor-killing!” and “Life Partner”, if missed, to co-relate it with the burning issue presented here in Alfred’s poem. The most of the communities throughout the world have to face such situations in their households on the issue of ‘marriage’ where sometimes parents become the enemies of their children or the children consider their parents their enemies with their differences of opinions or contrasts of the angles of seeing the life.

I have written somewhere in my previous Article that to rule a country and run a family are equally difficult. The key person of a household who may be either a male or a female is always fully capable to deal with all external affairs of the life successfully; but when the critical situation of internal family problems comes to him or her, they have either to fall on knees to surrender themselves or resist against the problem. Both the extremes are risky – the former makes the family discipline weaker and the latter results into the lifelong hatred of the person responsible for disharmony in family environment. Some middle way should be sort out to ease the situation and for that very purpose mutual understanding and preparedness of hearing each other are necessitated. Purity of intention and sincerity in action are surly to bring good results for the solution of any type of family problem.

Now let us have a look on some principal root causes of disharmony in a household. First of all, the elder people of the family should love all impartially and must set a good example of good manners and behaviors towards them. James A. Baldwin has said, “Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” Can any alcoholic father or mother prevent their children from going to the path of such a harmful habit in all aspects? One more thing is that the parents should not mistake to silence the children all the time, but allow them to express what they wish to say. Parents should not become heavy with loaded ego and they should be good attentive particularly towards kids by sparing some hours even from their busy schedules of work. All members should sit together at least a single time in a day, if possible, particularly at the dinner time. This habit is the best tool to bring all to nearness of one another. The culture of a household can be judged well on its dining table.

A true home has a function of making their children good, honest and obedient. Children are such plants which cannot be uprooted if the proper seeds are sown and proper nourishment is provided for a few years. Children should not be made handicapped by making their lives easy. Offering more services than they are entitled to have is the greatest drawback in raising up the children properly. Bette Davis has said, “If you want your children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibilities on their shoulders.” Just like filling an ocean into an earthen pot, I may say that the parents should teach limits to their children. They may be given all gustatory treats, but never any luxurious ones which may be too much expensive and beyond own economical capacity.

Summing up, I would like to say in brief that all the members of the family should try sincerely to create credibility among one another so that nobody may think that somebody in the household is his or her enemy. To make a home paradise is in the hands of particularly a mother who may be called as the queen of the kitchen. A funny slogan is such as “A Happy Mom equals a Happy Home.” A father is also like a king of his household which is just as a small scale kingdom. “As the ruler, so the subject” is well known to all. Love, Faith, Self-discipline and Responsibility are the key words to make a home happy or free.

Hope my above thoughts may help you to protect your home from attacks both within and without, without any doubt; and, have peace and harmony in your household.

Wish you a happy home, my good Readers.

-Valibhai Musa
Dtd.: 16th March, 2008

 

Character and Reputation

Click here to read in Gujarati
Let me come to the point straightway and say that this Article is mainly intended to be addressed to the parents worldwide for their self reformation in order to bring up their kids in a proper way. Khalil Gibran’s quotation on children is very famous in literary world, but being lengthy and also out of my subject, I set it aside here.  But, instead of it, I’ll quote a Chinese proverb, “If you plan for a year, grow rice (corn); if you plan for ten years, grow trees; and if you plan for 100 years, educate mankind (grow children !).”

Above two words of my title are such as one in two and also two in one. Just to have the primary knowledge, let us go first to the thoughts of Dale Carnegie in this regard as “Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” Character, in brief and in other words, is who we are when no one is looking towards us. One has said also that our character is not just our face in mirror, but our face behind the face. Here, I would like merely to remind my Readers my previous Article “Inspired knowledge” where similar talk regarding ‘face’ has been presented in a typical style.

Now, read further and see how some common people tell us some great things with their inner vision and wisdom. A little literate person, having similar name of mine and whom sometimes I used to call as ‘William’, had explained me the meaning of “Reputation and Character” some years ago in his country-like words very simply and yet profoundly. Alas! May his soul rest in peace in heaven as he is no more on earth. He said to me, “Valabhai (Sweet addressing), man lives in a society wearing four robes, one on the other and so on. The upper most, the fourth can be seen by the society and the person is considered to be the man of the great reputation. But the nearest friends of him smile in their moustaches by seeing the inner, the third robe of that particular person and think that the world doesn’t know many things about him which they people know. Then comes the turn of the wife of that Gentleman. She can see her husband closely covered with inner, the second robe and thinks that the friends and the society know very little about her husband and his character.” Further, Mr. William (not me!) laughed loudly concluding his talk by saying, “And the inner-most i.e. the first robe of the man is perfectly known by the God what real reputation that Gentleman possesses and what character he is having. Nothing can be hidden before the God.”

William Hersey Davis (one more William!!!) has quoted, “Reputation is the photograph, but the character is the face. Reputation is made in a moment, but the character is built in a life time. Reputation makes you rich or poor, but the character makes you happy or miserable.” In my own view also, the reputation is just like a bubble of water – it comes in existence and vanishes, but the character always remains with us. Everybody should try to develop own character and should not care for reputation as it will follow to the character itself in its own way as the child follows its mother.

Lastly, before I wind up my composing, I‘ll quote Abraham Lincoln in his words, “Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow.” It is self-explanatory that the shadow of a tree may change its direction or size, it may disappear in the noon or at night; but the tree is always there standing steadily and growing larger and larger to make its shadow wider and wider. In other words, it can be said that the character is independent, but reputation is dependent on character as the shadow on the tree.

I hope my Readers will find my Articles useful for the character building of own and their family during their leisure times when the life is hardly free. As my Readers may be knowing also through my Introductory Article “About me” that I am a senior citizen and with the grace of the Almighty God, I could acquire the knowledge of human behavior and many aspects of human life through my life long experiences, Reading and sitting with old-hand people of my youth period.

Bye, my good fellows; see you again …

With best wishes,

– Valibhai Musa
Dtd. : 6^th October, 2007