Is there a single objective to all our lives?

A Tiger always worries about catching it's prey. A deer worries about how to escape from the claws of the Tiger. So is the case with the dog, cat and a rat. Almost all animals are either worried about their food, shelter, life and partner. Is our life same as them, or are we capable of doing something better than them? Is there something superior than food, shelter, life and partner which a human being can think of?

How many of us have ever thought about it! It looks like a very little percentage of the human population have ever thought about this. Don't we work day-night to fulfill the pleasures of our life? We run through our life silently without even realizing the purpose behind it. Finally we feel we have wasted our entire lifetime in unwanted things. Do you think is this the right life we are living? Do you think is there any higher objective for our lives? Kanaka Dasaru finally concludes his poem with an objective we should think about each and every second in our life

ಉನ್ನತದ ನೆಲೆಯದಿ ಕೇಶವನ ಧ್ಯಾನವನ್ನು |
ಮನಮುಟ್ಟಿ ಮಾಡುವುದು - ಮುಕ್ತಿಗಾಗಿ
ಭಕ್ತಿಗಾಗಿ - ಜೀವತ್ರುಪ್ಥಿಗಾಗಿ |
ಆತ್ಮಶಕ್ತಿಗಾಗಿ - ಅನಂದಕಾಗಿ ||

This thought is different from food and clothing needs. Do animals think about it? No, it is something only human beings think about. Kanaka Dasaru was a great human being. Why was he great... He was great because he had seen Keshava(the eternal truth), he enjoyed his life through his poetry and compositions, he preached the society the objective one should have in their lives. So is our objective just to pray Keshava everyday. Do you think there is only one objective to all of us, a single objective to all in this diverse world? Introspect yourself!

What are we here for?

Swami Vivekananda in one of his letter to the Maharaja of Mysore reads in part "My Noble Prince, This life is short, the vanities in this world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive".

Then if we have to do something before we pass way, what is that best thing we can do? Before discussing this beautiful question, I would like to mention the name of one of the most famous philosopher, poet, musician and composer from Karnataka. Kanaka Dasaru (1509-1609) [1] was well known for his(avara) Kirtanes and Ugabhoga (reminiscent of Vachanas) compositions in Kannada langauge for Carnatic music. The uniqueness of his(avara) compositions was he(avaru) embedded common people's day-to-day language into the complicated classical carnatic music which was mostly limited to scholarly language[2].

Kanaka Dasaru in one of his(avara) works has explained LIFE beautifully, probably the simplest i have heard so far. Although the words used in the poem are written by keeping in mind the society that was there during Kanaka Dasa's period, the inner meaning implies to all societies of all periods

ಎಲ್ಲರು ಮಾಡುವುದು ಹೊಟ್ಟೆಗಾಗಿ | ಗೇಣು ಬಟ್ಟೆಗಾಗಿ ಮುದ್ಧೆ ಹಿಟ್ಟಿಗಾಗಿ || ಪಲ್ಲವಿ ||
Every one works for stomach, clothing and food. Kanaka Dasaru when saying for Stomach, implies we all earn/work to fulfill our hunger and then we earn/work to fulfill our clothing needs.

ಕೊಟ್ಟಣವ ಕಟ್ಟಿಕೊಂಡು - ಕಟ್ಟಿಗೆಯ ಹೊತ್ತುಕೊಂಡು | ಕಷ್ಟ ಪಾಡು ಪಡುವುದು ಏತಕ್ಕಾಗಿ?
ಹೊಟ್ಟೆಗಾಗಿ - ಗೇಣು ಬಟ್ಟೆಗಾಗಿ ||
Why does one do the difficult task of carrying paddy and wood (referring to the agricultural prominence in India)? for Food and Clothing(the inner meaning is as implied in the previous line)

ಬೆಲ್ಲದಂತೆ ಮಾತನಾಡಿ - ಎಲ್ಲರನ್ನು ಮರಳು ಮಾಡಿ | ಸುಳ್ಳು ಬೊಗಳಿ ಬಾಳುವುದು - ಎತಕ್ಕಾಗಿ?
ಹೊಟ್ಟೆಗಾಗಿ - ಗೇಣು ಬಟ್ಟೆಗಾಗಿ ||
Why does one cheat others by speaking sweet (as sweet as Jaggery) words, and lead life by lying? for Food and Clothing

ಸಂನ್ಯಾಸಿ ಜಂಗಮ ಜೋಗಿ - ಜಟ್ಟಿ ಮೊಂಡ ಬೈರಾಗಿ | ನಾನಾ ವೆಷಗಳೇಲ್ಲ - ಏತಕ್ಕಾಗಿ? ||
ಹೊಟ್ಟೆಗಾಗಿ - ಗೇಣು ಬಟ್ಟೆಗಾಗಿ ||
Why does one wear different attires of saint? for Food and Clothing

When you think of the plight of cows, pet dogs, rats in the gutter, cats, birds etc... Are their needs quite similar?

ಹೊಟ್ಟೆಗಾಗಿ - ಇಷ್ಟು ರೊಟ್ಟಿಗಾಗಿ ||
For Food and just Food alone...

When you think of wild animals like lion, tiger, snakes, eagles, flies and mosquitoes etc... Are there needs quite similar

ಹೊಟ್ಟೆಗಾಗಿ - ಗೂಡುಗಟ್ಟಿಗಾಗಿ |
ಸವಿ ತುತ್ತಿಗಾಗಿ - ಹಸು ಮೆತ್ತಗಾಗಿ
For handful of food, best shelter, and for better sleep

Is this all for which we are here in this world, or are we aiming at things higher? Lets Discuss...

Glossary
avara - Kannada word for its English counterpart "HIS". The kannada meaning denotes more respect to the addressee

avaru - Kannada word for its English counterpart "He". The kannada meaning denotes more respect to the addressee

References
[1] http://www.publicationsdivision.nic.in/b_show.asp?id=857
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanaka_Dasa

A short beginning to a long thought...

This is a short beginning to a very long series of articles I am planning to write in the coming days. I do not want to discuss what will be the soul of all my articles, but the article should itself reflect the true spirit behind it. I hope i do justice to all great Legends while i refer their work when composing the articles.

Sri Dr Devanahalli Venkataramanaiah Gundappa, popularly know as DVG left this physical world even before I came to this beautiful place. I grew without even knowing what DVG had left behind. Left behind? I will come back to this question a little later. DVG was a prominent Kannada writer and philosopher. He was renowned for his famous literary work called as Manku Thimmana Kagga, which is a collection of versus. I do not think there is any matching literary work to this in any other language in terms of the simplicity in which DVG communicates philosophy to all sections of the society. Basically it was for the entire humanity, such is the depth and vastness of DVG’s most of the literary works. In fact Manku Thimmana Kagga is called as the Bhagavadh Gita of Kannada.

I will take up the question which i left unanswered in the last paragraph. What did DVG leave behind? DVG has left behind his thoughts through numerous writings in a language which can never be imitated or can be made more simpler. Leave behind? when we ask this question 40-50 years from now what should be our answer. A teacher asks his students in the class, do you remember your grand father's name, great grand father's name and so on.. Many students say they remember their grand father's name, a couple say they remember their great grand father's name and no one remembers their other ancestors. When the teacher asked them why don't you remember your ancestors, one of the student answered with conviction and arrogance "Not worth remembering sir!" So the teacher said "This is a irony, we remember Chanakya, Shankaracharya, Madwacharya, Ramanujacharya, Swami Vivekananda, Aurbindo, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Mahatma Gandhiji and there is a long list... without them being our forefathers, Can you tell why do we remember them?" The same student gets up and answers with conviction

"Anyone who lives for themselves will never be remembered and Anyone who lives for others will never be forgotten"

A lesson we should never forget. We are here to leave a MARK BEHIND and not just pass away silently

To be continued ...