Sunday, March 2, 2008

pain is pious

long ago, when i was in college, an American lady came to our class. i remember asking her - why do Christians wear cross? because it was on the cross, jesus was ill treated, his hands and nails were nailed. He bleeded and died on this very cross. so when u wear a cross, doesnt it rather bring the sadistic nature of mankind. she said - the question was a difficult one to answer and probably what i said was true, including, possibly, if jesus was electrocted, probably, she said all christians, would be wearing an electric chair.
of course she took time, to explain the powerful meaning of the cross, and what it represents to the fellow believers.
but the idea remained in my head that people celebrate pain.
in hinduism also, we celebrate ravana's vadha, how bhima tears a demon into two half, how narshima tears open the demon with his hands, and so on. each death and gory event celebrated with fanfare.
it always made me think is it in human nature to celebrate pain. or is it pain tht beautiful. finally i realised, that pain is no beautiful, but it is pious.
when our hand bleeds, it bleeds because it removes, all the impurity from the body, making blood pure again.
so does the pain associated with pregnancy....it is celebrated.
why go so mch far to explain this. have u ever seen a mosquito bite u. and did u ever let it bite u, seeing how it sucks r blood. the pain associated is absoltely pios, because, u r donating ur blood for its offsprin....more arguements continues

13 comments:

Sukanya said...

i don't get it.. honestly.. i dnt knw any1 who lets a mosquito bite thm and thn njoi s it!!

however, christians do not celebrate pain. its a way to remind us the pain and sorrow that Jesus suffered for us. and in general all the pain n suffering tht is prevalent in d society.

in a diffrnt vein..
we have been taught.. forever.. that pain and sufferin is good and that it brings us closer to God.. which i do not believe in.

nice topic for a post tho :)

pandian chelliah said...

hey, i used to think i am weird, but i did find people do that....i did this as a kid...and kid do weird things...and i have seen bad examples of masochists also....anyways that was not the point....what u say is true...i understand, why christians wear cross...but i can explian by using bhajji's incidence....it is very common for indians to tease each other as monkey, so he might have called symonds....but the truth is, monkey is indeed a racial slur.....and indians didnt realise it....until now...and even after this indians still think how monkey could be a racist remark...esp if it unintentional......but then both are wrong......it is indeed racist....and intentional.....but we mask the intention so well, that we have accepted it as a joke....got it?
thanks anyways.....

Deni said...

Uh, I think the cross may have a different meaning also-like the 4 elements united by the power of spirit represented by Jesus Christ? And I don't think it's about the pain. At least I never connect it with pain. It's more for the life-cycle of life and death. Like the cross is the symbol of the life beyond and the transition that we all so fear.
And side note-i don't understand that "suffering for us", really. If "for us" doesn't mean "caused by us". Isn't this just a comfortable way to make the crime committed against somebody by the society actually something nice. Because if we didn't cause the pain, He couldn't suffer for us and thus, we plaid the necessary villain role in the piece.Unpleasant (unfortunately, for us all), but essential (fortunately for us all)! Right...

pandian chelliah said...

agreed....denitsa....cross does represent different things to different people.....is it essentially because it represenst our faith and belief, which is subject to individual bias.
but looking from psychology point of view, no matter how good or bad or different thing it represnts, it is indeed a symbol of pain...right? the best way to look at this arguement is, to look at as if a martian who comes to earth, looks at it.....
and yeah...when we say, he suffered for us, it doesnt mean the pain caused by us...when we say, he suffered for us, it means he suffered for our cause. and so it doesnt matter, whether we were good or bad, whether we gave pain or not, he would have still suffered, because he has a higher cause...!!!

S Ramanathan said...

well, i wud completely disagree with u on this!! anyways, its jus ur point of view...

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Matangi Mawley said...

i dont see anything pious abt mosquito biting us!

else.. write up is jst fine!
i believe there s a sort of mystic beauty abt pain.. loss..
keep writing!

Matangi Mawley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gauri Gharpure said...

a masochist post and doesn't convince enough.. the examples u have cited (Ravana, Bhima, Narsimha, etc) and have interpreted as celebrations of pain are more commonly associated with a clash of two ideoligies, two different schools of thoughts in which we largely interpret the 'good' to win over the 'bad'.. now the understanding of good and bad may be debated, but pain and violence nowhere takes centre-stage in the issue as u have claimed. pain and violence is merely a by-product or a precursor to thought and philosophy, it might jus be the means if u so insist, but never the end..

and thnks for reading the haiku so often.. feels good to hear from u, esp. on tht less-frequented blog of mine..

pandian chelliah said...

@matangi - a mosquito biting us means we are feeding the eggs of the mosquito, we are giving life to it, and doesnt that qulify as pious
@gauri - what people said abt cross, u r saying abt ramnayana and mahabharata. indeed, they seem to represnt absolutely different things, but hidden in them is the misery, pain and suffering. a war, no matter when and where, it symbolises only pain. but often is glorified and celebrated with different reason. everything can be interpreted in thousand different ways, but the truth remains only one. if i fight, why am i fighting. is it because i dont like u. no. its because i have chosen to fight, because i want to fight. all other reason is mere reasons. and if i chose to fight, isnt it because i know there is going to be bloodshed and there is going to be pain. ofcourse pain is pios, and hence the war is inevitable.
i must confess though, i am not sure what i am writing, all i know is i think i am right

inu said...

I don't think i would let a mosquite bite for long.IF it hurts, i will hit it!:P
but i sit sometimes, looking at it,how it suck all my blood. one of my friend told me before, that 'pain is pious' when i asked about his pain while piercing. and i like pain to an extent. o.O

and i guess, its been throughout the history, associating with christian era or hinduism, pain is associated with religions, and may be its related with taking sacrifices?!

Lena said...

i believe pain is more like a symbol of remembrance, not like it is celebrated but more are the efforts and sacrifices done for the good deeds. Pain only reminds us that we should cherish what we have got because it is associated with pain we had to go through to get it

Anonymous said...

Nice!!! and i think I enjoy pain too!! coz it too makes me feel im alive at times....


Also comment on my blog!! Because???:0

Confounded-Lady said...

Damn...I just wrote a long comment I dont know where it went. Grr.

ok..my 2 cents worth, I think there is a difference in the concept of pain in both religions. Hinduism celebrates the death of evil..which is basically celebrating their pain. No?

But I agree with you at some point...pain eventually leads to some sort of happiness at the end of the day.
Peace.