PROMETHEUS BOUND OR MANKIND BOUND?

PROMETHEUS BOUND OR MANKIND BOUND?

Greek tragedy was one of my course papers both in graduation as well as post graduation. It was my favorite subject. Of all the tragedies the ones that touched me were Prometheus Bound and Oedipus Rex. Prometheus defies Zeus, the king of gods, steals fire and gives it to mankind. Zeus strikes him with his thunderbolt and plunges him into abyss where he is chained and tormented. The tragedy of Oedipus is that he fulfilled the prophecy of the oracles… he kills his father and marries his mother, unknowingly.

In ancient Greece gods acted capriciously, frivolously and even immorally. They were not like the god of Judeo Christian where god is all- knowing, all -seeing, all- powerful, someone who is a source of moral goodness. They fought amongst themselves, were jealous of mankind as well as of each other and sided with mankind against their own. Greek gods were hostile; they toyed with mankind and had to be appeased with rites and sacrifices. Their most distinctive quality was power and not goodness which they time and again exercised on mankind. These gods were everywhere and it was not safe for mankind to neglect any of them. Mankind was a pawn in their hands.

Oedipus is a classic example of this. The gods knew everything and they could have prevented this from happening to Oedipus but they don’t and in the process Oedipus and his family are destroyed after the truth is found out. That was the fate that the gods doomed Oedipus to. Prometheus on the other hand being a god knew what he was doing. He could not bear to have mankind toiling and suffering so he tried to help mankind and had to incur Zeus’s wrath. He also knew he would not be chained for eternity. Thirteen generations later he is freed by Hercules.

Mankind still suffers and toils and we still accept this as our fate. But do we blame god for all the pain and suffering? Most of us don’t. I think we have evolved in many ways to realize that we suffer because of the consequences of our action not only in this lifetime but also other lifetimes. We are merely paying off our negative karmic debts in this lifetime. But how often do we say “Why me God?” Is our god indifferent to our suffering and is he merely a spectator? Or have we brought it upon ourselves for there is something called free will. God can only show us the paths we can choose and the rest is up to us which course we take in this life. But sometimes we can’t help blaming god for all the hurt and pain that befalls us. We say “Why did this have to happen to me God, I didn’t hurt anyone?” We are so overwrought with pain that we need to blame someone and it is often god, who seems to us as an indifferent supreme head who just watches and does nothing. A more evolved person will disagree, he or she will take responsibility for all that happens and accept it as fate, as something that was fated. When someone is taken away from us before we think it is time we comfort ourselves saying it was time for him or her to go, no matter how young. Life seems so unfair and yet we have to accept all that comes our way. Why are we tested time and again? Do we finally taste the fruit of our undying faith in god at the end? How many of us are like that who believes there is a reason for all that happens? And how many cuss and curse god for their fate, believing they are like pawns in the hand of god?    

The Five People You Meet In Heaven

The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Have you read books by Mitch Albom, his most famous one being “Tuesdays with Morrie” which was made into a movie? A couple of month’s back I read “The five people you meet in Heaven” by Albom also a movie. It is about an old man dying in an accident and the five people he meets in heaven when he awakens in the afterlife. Heaven is not at all what he imagines but a classroom of learning about the life that he has left behind. Each of these people teaches him about his earthly life. There are no accidents in life, everything is preordained, connected, and how an act by someone can cause ripples of reactions affecting your loved ones as well as strangers, changing their paths forever.

From a very young age I have pondered often about death, not with fear but more out of curiosity. How will death come, is it painful or is there a sense of freedom in dying? What happens after you die? I have read many books on it. Most tell us that once we leave this earthly body we are guided to another realm by the people we have loved in this life and who have passed away. It may be our parents, our spouses, friends, grandparents and mentors, anyone that we would love to meet again. It is very natural after we have lost loved ones to want to be with them or meet them after we die. I remember reading another book by Lobsang Rampa, a Tibetan mystic. It is about a janitor who suddenly dies and his soul is somehow trapped in this earthly plane because he never desired to meet a loved in the afterlife so there is no one to help him cross over. And I thought to myself that it is necessary that we have loved ones in the afterlife, souls that we desire to meet after we die so that the transition to the other realm is made easier.

As I lay in bed today a thought came to me…if I outlive everyone, who are the five people I would most love to meet? Have you ever thought of that? The most obvious will be our parents of course and then perhaps brothers and sisters. And then who? I am keeping out children because I hope and pray we don’t ever outlive them. But yes I am sure there will be mothers and fathers who have lost a child want to be reunited with them once they die. I have a cousin who lost his mother at a young age and I know that he has conversations with her even today. Every time he is in a dilemma he will reach out for her and he feels her presence and knows that she watches over him. When my father passed away, the first thing my cousin told my mother was “Now Mama (uncle) must be meeting Ma”. My father and his mother were brothers and sisters.

The first thought that came to my mind was that if I outlived everyone life would become pretty lonely. The prospect of crossing over would then be a welcoming one. As I mulled over the list of people I realized I had countless people that I would want to meet. I tried to shortlist that list but it wasn’t easy. I know I would want both my parents waiting to engulf me in their warmth. I would also love to meet someone very close to my heart whose life was taken away too soon. And yes perhaps even a stranger who changed my life and I his. What a reunion that would be! And if I outlive my other half then I would be anxious for him, my closest soul mate, whom I met too late in this lifetime. As I close my eyes imagining, I can almost feel the love that will radiate from all my loved ones as they guide me through this transition. A promise of a new beginning and of lifetimes of togetherness.

However on the other hand if I am one of the first to leave this realm, I wonder who would want to meet me? I think the people that we are most connected to in this life are the ones that we meet again and again in all our different lifetimes. But how many will be there to meet me half way? Who are the ones who will long to meet you in the afterlife? Have you ever thought about it, the ones that you touched so deeply in this lifetime that they will miss you till they are reunited with you? 

The Road

The Road…

We embarked fearlessly

On a road, you and I

A promise, love and hope

Our only guiding light,

An unfathomable chasm

Separated us yet we

Sought that crossroad

To our union,

Our togetherness…

My hand reached out

To you across the abyss

Of possibilities

But your hand lay by your side

Inert, holding back

Leaving me directionless

As you took our

Road with you

Who am I? I wondered

Doubts seized me

Was I a distraction?

Or the woman you

Truly loved?

Without a choice

I turned towards

The unknown,

A road of pain

Despair and fear

Its path strewn

With corpses of broken dreams

And unfulfilled desires

I heard their wails

Of souls tormented

Of hearts shattered

And I knew I was

Not alone

  

The palpable darkness

Spreading its tentacles

Longed to possess me

I scurried along the

Haunted trail

My wails in tune

With the others

An age long walk

Down the devastation

The lure was strong

To stay forever

Tempting…

But I walked,

Tripping and falling

I walked 

Seeking the light…

The life that was mine…

Every faltering step forward

A shedding of old skin,

Helplessness, despair, agony

Slithered away

As darkness gave in

To the day,

The night pierced

By the first rays…

The echoing cries

Faded away

Happy chirping birds

Filled the air with

Their morning songs

In the distance

I saw him…

He who had come

In my dreams

The one that chased

My nightmares away

Hands outstretched…

I ran, reborn

The old dying for the new

As he took me

In his arms

I knew I was

Home at last.

The Reawakening

The Reawakening 

Like a rapid forest fire

Her burning desire

Spreads, stirring

Longings buried deep

Every pore,

Every cell, every atom

In her wants him,

Like a fever

It ravages her…

Her heart races

With a wanting

So strong

It takes her breath away

“Why, how, why?”

Her mind quizzes…

She had banished them

All those eons ago

When she lost him…

Her heart now

Like a thick dark

Tangle of gnarled

Stubborn roots

Claws into every beat…

Numb and cold

Warmth shying away

From her

Fierce resolution.

But he is here tonight…

He sleeps

A stranger, by her side

Unaware of the

Unleashed passion in her

Spiraling out of control

Consuming her…

A familiar shimmering memory

Like a fragile cobweb

Hangs between them

Random memories

Ricochet…

Illusive like a dream

Who is he?

This stranger

That shares her space?

As her burning luscious

Lips scorch his

The hot desire in him

An equal match to hers

Devours her ripe

Swollen mouth

Awakening her

From a slumbering stupor…

He enters her very core

With an urgency

As their heated bodies

Aflame in their passion

Fuses as one

Something explodes

Shattering all

Illusions…

Lost memories

Like streaks of lightening

Jolt her from her

Darkness of self exile

This is no stranger…

He has held her

Close to his heart

Through the ages

Some lifetimes of

Holding her hand

Sharing a journey

And in some

Loving her from a distance

While she walks alone

He is her eternal lover…