'THE SUPERHUMAN ARJUNA!''
It is 3016 AD.
Arjuna stands there atop his chariot, the legends like Drona, his mentor and other senior statesmen stand in front of him.
Krishna, his charioteer and the god incarnate himself, is waiting with bated breath for Arjuna to flinch so that he can teach him the important philosophical lesson.
Arjuna looks at Krishna, guilt and fear building in his eyes and Krishna seizes the moment.
He doesn't teach him the karma yoga and it's principles. He simply asks Arjuna to close his eyes and FORGET the past memories which are weighing him down and FORGIVE himself of the emotional burden of guilt that lies ahead!
Obediently, Arjuna does as told.
And to his utter surprise, Arjuna draws out an arrow and unflinchingly aims at his opponents.
Mahabharata is over.
In one arrow, Arjuna has slayed both his opponents and humanity's biggest fear- to not be burdened by the emotional memories. He has now become the first SUPERHUMAN on the earth.
Bhagwad Geeta was just about one thing- FORGET and FORGIVE.
Back to 2016 now.
I know what I just wrote above was a piece of fiction, a figment of my imagination.
But that's how i think Mahabharata would unfold if it were to be fought 1000 years from now.
In the latest episode of The Permanent Roommates titled, 'The Memories', Asrani who plays an old, ageing grandfather confesses that he always makes things difficult for those around him intentionally so that nobody remembers him fondly or cries for the memories when he is dead.
This forces me to wonder how we find it so difficult to forget things which no longer exist but keep playing on a loop in our brains and mostly these are things we should not keep reminding ourselves.
Are memories a blessing or a curse to homo sapiens? Of course, without memories we wouldn't have come this far in our evolutionary cycle and would have never established ourselves as the most supremely dangerous beast of the world.
But it has also had a deep impact on the way we look at life and the way we always keep looking back and forth rather than the present, like the original Arjuna of the original Mahabharata.
The moments become memories and we become prisoners of this memory cage.
I am sure if superhumans are to arrive in the process of evolution, they will be robotic beings, with ability to erase the selected memories from their brains as per their own volition, like a computer does.
Of course, emotionally they will be far inferior to us, but spiritually, they will be far ahead of us, for they will know the true meaning of 'detachment' as Lord Krishna preached thousands of years back in the original Mahabharata.
But, it might so happen that they will look back at us through our writings, movies, arts and wonder how amazing it would be to keep carrying some unwanted memories in the brain and yet live so meaningfully.
Perhaps, they will not be able to express themselves as succinctly as we do; playing with the subtle emotions and flash back of memories.
Will that existence be worth it or will it be too difficult to accept?
Given a chance, would we not want to be the emotionally detached super humans like the Arjuna of my story who can delete the emotional memories which bind us and weigh us down?
I think this must have been the same question which the apes must have ruminated(FORGIVE me for playing with theories of evolution!)- Would they want to give up their life style of playing and jumping around all day and risk going to schools and offices just for the development of what we call- the brain, to be the highest in the pecking order of evolutionary genetics?
Will the superhumans arrive and how different will they be from us, humans?
I think they will have minds like computer with an easy access to all the vital information and yet, the ability to delete negativity from weighing them down..
But hang on, can we be the superhumans today, in this same body?
The question is tough to answer, but we can give it a try.
''Focus on the present. This moment- now, has all the power!'' - Swami Vivekananda
- Devashish Palkar
It is 3016 AD.
Arjuna stands there atop his chariot, the legends like Drona, his mentor and other senior statesmen stand in front of him.
Krishna, his charioteer and the god incarnate himself, is waiting with bated breath for Arjuna to flinch so that he can teach him the important philosophical lesson.
Arjuna looks at Krishna, guilt and fear building in his eyes and Krishna seizes the moment.
He doesn't teach him the karma yoga and it's principles. He simply asks Arjuna to close his eyes and FORGET the past memories which are weighing him down and FORGIVE himself of the emotional burden of guilt that lies ahead!
Obediently, Arjuna does as told.
And to his utter surprise, Arjuna draws out an arrow and unflinchingly aims at his opponents.
Mahabharata is over.
In one arrow, Arjuna has slayed both his opponents and humanity's biggest fear- to not be burdened by the emotional memories. He has now become the first SUPERHUMAN on the earth.
Bhagwad Geeta was just about one thing- FORGET and FORGIVE.
Back to 2016 now.
I know what I just wrote above was a piece of fiction, a figment of my imagination.
But that's how i think Mahabharata would unfold if it were to be fought 1000 years from now.
In the latest episode of The Permanent Roommates titled, 'The Memories', Asrani who plays an old, ageing grandfather confesses that he always makes things difficult for those around him intentionally so that nobody remembers him fondly or cries for the memories when he is dead.
This forces me to wonder how we find it so difficult to forget things which no longer exist but keep playing on a loop in our brains and mostly these are things we should not keep reminding ourselves.
Are memories a blessing or a curse to homo sapiens? Of course, without memories we wouldn't have come this far in our evolutionary cycle and would have never established ourselves as the most supremely dangerous beast of the world.
But it has also had a deep impact on the way we look at life and the way we always keep looking back and forth rather than the present, like the original Arjuna of the original Mahabharata.
The moments become memories and we become prisoners of this memory cage.
I am sure if superhumans are to arrive in the process of evolution, they will be robotic beings, with ability to erase the selected memories from their brains as per their own volition, like a computer does.
Of course, emotionally they will be far inferior to us, but spiritually, they will be far ahead of us, for they will know the true meaning of 'detachment' as Lord Krishna preached thousands of years back in the original Mahabharata.
But, it might so happen that they will look back at us through our writings, movies, arts and wonder how amazing it would be to keep carrying some unwanted memories in the brain and yet live so meaningfully.
Perhaps, they will not be able to express themselves as succinctly as we do; playing with the subtle emotions and flash back of memories.
Will that existence be worth it or will it be too difficult to accept?
Given a chance, would we not want to be the emotionally detached super humans like the Arjuna of my story who can delete the emotional memories which bind us and weigh us down?
I think this must have been the same question which the apes must have ruminated(FORGIVE me for playing with theories of evolution!)- Would they want to give up their life style of playing and jumping around all day and risk going to schools and offices just for the development of what we call- the brain, to be the highest in the pecking order of evolutionary genetics?
Will the superhumans arrive and how different will they be from us, humans?
I think they will have minds like computer with an easy access to all the vital information and yet, the ability to delete negativity from weighing them down..
But hang on, can we be the superhumans today, in this same body?
The question is tough to answer, but we can give it a try.
''Focus on the present. This moment- now, has all the power!'' - Swami Vivekananda
- Devashish Palkar
