THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE
The famous “Indian“English writer has
stated some months back in an interview hat “marriage” is not necessary.
Whether it is not necessary to him or it is unnecessary as a social institution
is unclear. He himself has married four times and divorced all the four times. And,
of course, he is currently dating with another “girl” much younger to him. He
also derogatorily said that women have fascination for wedding and not for
marriage and women crave to wear wedding gowns. The truth of this is debatable.
Celebrity and rich person can live as he likes. But can we take his statements
on marriage seriously? Shall we have to review the social institution of ages
freshly again? An attempt is made here in this direction.
Marriage is a social institution which has
evolved with civilization. Marriage seems to have economical, social, cultural,
though not religious or spiritual, aspects. Marriage is based on faith though
not is a dictate of the faith or religion. Marriage is a commitment and
responsibility. In Indian context it is a life-long bond and association. In
view of changed perceptions, the cultural or religious aspects seem to have
relegated to the background and marriage became a mere social institution.
It must be noted that marriage has
essentially been an economic transaction, the chief and more important aspect
than other tags like cultural or religious. The spiritual aspect is completely
missing now. Dowry has come into being because of the economic nature of the
institution. Father has to give his earnings, however meager they might be,
equally to his sons and daughters. Daughter is given dowry as her share and
sons are getting the rest of the earnings and property as their share. But in
our country most of the families do not have any property to share. The meager
earnings of the father are the sole property. Under these circumstances
families not having property or are poor blame dowry for all ills.
Human-beings by nature are selfish. When
they give their daughter in marriage they think in one way and differently when
they arrange the marriage of their sons. Ignoring economic aspect of marriage
is naivety. The celebrate talks the way he or she talks, because they are
economically sound and independent, and marriage is just a tag to them. Many of
them do not at all think of the commitment and responsibility aspects of
marriage. But for ordinary people this example is not suitable and can not be
imitated. Equality of genders, sharing of house-hold activities etc.,, are fine,
but bringing up children is a great responsibility and sacrifice by itself. Not
only women but men also sacrifice a lot for the sake of family and family
members. This aspect can not be ignored at least for now.
After India also becomes a socially
“advanced” country like the west, when marriages and divorces happen casually
and are faced and looked at with a“matured” awareness, and equanimity of mind
and one is ready to marry and divorce any number of times, the institution of
marriage can serve a different purpose. For the present it is a commitment and
responsibility to most of the Indians. To destabilize or play with the
institution of marriage in the absence of another institution which serves the
emotional needs of individuals and also takes care of the offspring, marriage
has to serve the noble purpose it is serving, by taking care of the infants,
the sick and the old and the infirm in the families. Faithlessness in wed-lock,
incompatibility, cruelty practiced by one of the spouses (may be many times by
men and some women do not lag behind in this aspect) will rock the marriages
and then divorce can be taken. Until then adjustment, compromise and sacrifice
should be inbuilt in marriage for the good of family, society and nation. The
individuals who do not want to be committed and desire to live devoid of
responsibilities concerning infants and old and infirm in the family, can live
as spinsters or bachelors, as the case may be.
KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM
The following narration is a small story
which I have read as a prescribed lesson in my II or III class. I am very much
fascinated by the wisdom it contains and always cherish its recollection. That
story I will present below together with its relevance to modern times as I feel
and understand.
The story is as follows:
·
* * * *
There were four brothers long long back. It
was the period when kings were ruling.
Of
the four brothers, the first one is adept in restricting the scattered bones of
any animal or human to its skeleton. The second brother is capable of infusing
blood and flesh into it. The third brother can breathe life into the structure
life. As usual despite their knowledge and abilities they are poor. We know
Goddess Saraswati and Goddess Lakshmi are daughter-in-law and mother-in-law and
they can not stand each other and can not stay together. So the brothers wanted to exhibit their
skills before the king of the day and get rewarded by him.
Their fourth brother is a fit for nothing
fellow. He is neither knowledgeable nor adept in any skill as his other three
brothers. So when the brothers started
for the capital to meet the king the fourth brother also desired to go with
them But the others refused saying you are fit for nothing fellow why should
you come at all. But the fourth brother pleaded with them volunteering to carry
their luggage and requested them to allow him to accompany them. They
reluctantly agreed.
As was the normal practice those days, all
of them started by foot to reach the capital. They had to pass through a thick
forest on the way. While they are
proceeding through the forest, the brothers saw the remains of an animal. The
first brother recognized them to be of a lion. The three brothers have got
inspired by its sight and wanted to exhibit their skill of bringing it back to
life.
The fourth brother was dead against it. He
told them: “Brothers, lion is a cruel animal and once you give it life, it will
pounce on us and kill us. But the three brothers laughed away his statement as
fear of an innocent fellow and said that when they gave life to it, it will
never harm them.
But the fourth brother is not convinced. He
said he will climb a tree and they can proceed with their unwise act. The
fourth brother climbed a tree a bit away.
The first brother arranged the remains of
the lion as its skeleton. The second brother infused blood and flesh into it.
The third brother breathed life into it. And the lion got life and rose. As it
has not taken any thing for many days and is hungry it pounced upon the three
brothers and devoured them.
The fourth brother watching all this from
the tree was very sad not only for the death of his brothers but also for the
lack of common sense and wisdom in his brothers. He returned back to his
village as a shattered man.
·
* * * *
Even though I am a student and teacher of
physics, and myself am engaged in scientific research, somehow I am not much
enthused with the attempts of the scientists who are currently trying to
created conditions of situation just before Big Bang at CERN at the borders of
Switzerland and France near Geneva.
There is a Large Hadron Collider facility
spread over 27 KM underground to conduct this experiment. A week back they have
successfully conducted the first part by making high energy protons travel in
opposite directions. They are looking for the generation of Higgs boson, the
building block of matter. The next experiment is to make them collide.
Presently the facility is down because of development of a snag. And it takes
minimum two months for its repair. And now, in the proverbial way as digging
mountain to catch the rat; this gigantic and most expensive experiment did not
in any way end in knowing about the hadron or God’s particle; but just saying
even not with certainty that neutrino is capable of moving faster than light.
They could not know anything about big-bang theory or origin of the universe.
Somehow I feel is it necessary that we
should conduct this sort of experiments? Not that I am afraid that the conduct
of the experiment leads to a catastrophe. But no one really knows what happens
after the conduct of the experiment. They are only enamored that they
understand the conditions before Big Bang clearly. The origin of the universe
is zillions and zillions of years old. And that could not be known even remotely with
this experiment.
And the study of theories of modern
cosmology sound as mythical as ourmythological stories. No one clearly knows
what is what. We respect modern physicists and cosmologists who proposed those
theories and they are more confusing than clear.
Should we know every thing about everything?
I know that this is not in the spirit of science or furthering of knowledge.
Can not we curb our thirst for knowledge?
I do not know.
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