From Dostoevsky to Sanatan Dharma – Understanding Human Nature, the Failure of Ideologies and the Power of Meditation
Why Revolutions Fail
Why does every revolution fail? Why does every revolution fail to provide the answers it promises? Every revolution has at its core the promise of an equality of all – the promise of a utopia.
Dostoevsky’s Insight into Human Nature
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a philosophical novella. It explores concepts like free will, rationality, utopia, utilitarianism, human connections and rational egoism. The most beautiful part of the novel is where Dostoevsky destroys the concept of Utopia and shows how it is so unnatural to human beings.
Quote:
“Give someone every good thing in the world — flood their life with happiness until all you see is joy. Make them so rich that they have nothing to do but sleep, eat sweets and focus on having kids. Even then, out of pure spite and ungratefulness, they’d do something awful. They’d risk losing their comforts and chase stupid, dangerous things just to mess up all that perfect logic. They’ll cling to their wild ideas and dumb choices, all to prove they’re still human – not like piano keys being pressed by predictable rules. Without that chaos, we’d just follow schedules like robots.”
Unquote
The Rebellion Against Perfection
This is the truth: Humans will rebel against perfection, even if it hurts them, just to feel free.
And this is why every revolution fails. Every revolution is a business venture by some people in society to bring about so-called mass equality in their way – whether it is needed or not. On the other hand, humans are meant to be individualistic beings, who have the choice to live their life and evolve.
Sanatan Dharma and the Individual’s Journey
A Sanatan concept explained beautifully by Dostoevsky – We are not born to be cogs in the machinery but every birth we take is for us to move closer to the ultimate truth.
If you look at life from the Sanatan viewpoint, we are born, we live, we die, then we are reborn again and the whole cycle repeats. This carries on till somewhere, in some life, due to circumstances present in that life, the individual questions themselves and everything else they had accepted till then. Once that point is reached, the real journey starts – of self discovery. It can take many lifetimes but in each life the individual moves towards wanting to know what more there is than the mundane life.
The Real Solution: Discover Yourself
So what is the solution? Don’t waste your life fighting for or against any ideology. Discover yourself. Figure out what you really like and want. And then do it. Just being a cog in the wheel is a sure shot recipe for a boring, insipid life.
Meditation: The Path Inward
The easiest way to discover yourself – Meditation. Meditation is nothing but the process or technique of going inwards. Of discovering who you really are, what your desires are and what your life journey is about. Meditation, while making you individually aware of yourself, also makes you aware of your surroundings, thus letting you create your own beautiful individual life symphony.
Conclusion: Life is to Be Lived Fully
Life is meant to be enjoyed – don’t waste it.