Yesterday I had a discussion with my friend. The argument was whether we are in control of what we do, or are we kind of puppets. As per his view of this world, all of us are like software programs, defined clearly before we came on this earth. Our future is already written and there is nothing we can do about it. In essence, we are like puppets, our destinys already written and decided.
But I just cant believe this. I believe that we have the power to choose what we want to do, we have the power to fight. It is very much true that we are the product of our beliefs, our thoughts. Things exist because we think they exist. But our thoughts tend to be influenced by these external factors, be it astrology, palmistry or other sciences, which claim that our behaviour is influenced by planets. There may be truth in them, but I feel they do more harm than good. They tend to create a negative force in the mind which cripples the mind of its powers. So, I dont want to believe them. I dont want my mind to be obstructed by all these restrictions, these fences which we ourselves create. I feel that we are living in a Matrix, created by us, binding us, holding us, scaring us, drowning us and dissolving us….
Considering the case of vastu shastra, many people manage to lead their life peacefully till they are ignorant that their house is not according to vastu. What about people who are from a different part of geography and where there is no notion of vastu? It is however true that, following this science will result in a very good house with proper ventilation, acoustics and other aspects of architecture. In a typical orthodox family, a child will be taught to do pooja everyday, lets say 1 hour. But he will not be told, why should he do that. He will not have the power to reason, to question, to find out, and then to accept. In such cases, if on some day, due to some reasons if he cannot perform his daily ritual, somewhere in the corner of his mind there is this negative force, which keeps on telling him that things might not be very good today because he had not followed the practice.
I feel that, when we have the power to practice, we should also have the power to understand them. Our mind should not be bound to meaningless practices. It should be flexible and strong.
When I tell all this, I also realise we are at the mercy of nature. If I think along these lines, it follows that we are not totally in control. I want to know what is our limits. I want to know whether we are puppets, our futures decided by horoscopes written by astrologers? I want my mind to be powerful and free and not entangled in any of these obstructions. I want to come out of the Matrix.
I want to know ‘Are we in charge?’
In search of Neo in me…