Monday 16 January 2017

Blog Task - “The Waste Land” by T. S. Eliot




        I have studied “The Waste Land” by T. S. Eliot in my 3rd semester of Post Graduation. Dr. Dilip Barad has given an online task to perform after reading theories of Nietzsche and Freud.



For activity - click here

My response to the blog task:

 For my first response - click here

     After reading my response, my professor has asked me some questions,


Questions from Dr. Dilip Barad –

+Yesha Bhatt : You have expressed very well. The example of Buddha and Buddhism is good one.
Well, don't you consider that Buddha is exactly the Ubermench / super human whose concept Nietzsche talks about. As Nietzsche found it necessary to believe in the concept of "Death of God' so this superhuman quality can be achieved, similarly, Buddha also did not believe in God.
What Eliot believes and tries to get solution is from Buddhism, whereas Nietzsche thinks about Buddha.
Isn't it true that one should be Buddha rather than 'follower' of Buddhism?
Isn't it true that one should be Christ rather than christian?
Isn't is true that one should be Gandhi rather than Gandhian?

Don't you think that someday humans have to grow and come out of cradle to stand on their own feet - someday they shall take responsibilities of their own karma - someday they should be accountable for what so ever good or bad they do? Don't we need cultural or religious shackles because humans are not educated to understand self-discipline? Won't it be a better idea to give free went to human emotions along with sense of responsibility? Isn't it true that we need crutches when we are feeble? If humans are strong enough can't they stand without crutches like upanishads etc? Shall we not be progressive in our outlook and vision?

                                                                                                   
My response –

+Dilip Barad :
Yes Buddha can be considered as Ubermench / super human but as per the mentality of people superhuman or powerful human is God or Avatar of God and as we all know Buddha has a position of God; he has given a message to develop superhuman quality in humans with the power of meditation, But now Buddha has became a leader and Buddhism is a religion which contains followers; the concept “Death of God” cannot be applied by every human in the world so we can say that everyone cannot be superhuman. Eliot believes and tries to get solution from Buddhism because he is aware with the reality of world and Nietzsche thinks about becoming Buddha, which is beyond the capacity of ‘all’ human beings.

The follower of Buddhism will follow Buddha in one or the other way but it depends on the understanding level of humans, It is truth that people should not become followers but as I have mentioned in my answer that all cannot be the superhuman because everyone cannot think differently. If all people will think that they are superhuman and above everything, they will consider themselves as God, and it would harm the world.

Becoming Christ, Buddha or Gandhi is another way of following them, because if people will apply their values and way of living in their life then they will follow them in one or the other way; no one should lose their identity, people can become good enough with their own identity.

Yes, human have to come out of cradle to stand on their own feet, because they are responsible for their happiness and sadness which most of the time depends on their karma, and if people will understand the Karmic philosophy, then only the concept of “Death of God” can be applied in world.

Religion and culture cannot teach self-discipline, but it creates fear of punishment and that is why human have to follow the rules of Society. So its better idea to give free went to human emotions along with sense of responsibility so there will not be any need of fear and shackles, but most of the time human lacks Sense and sense of responsibility.

In 'The Waste Land' Eliot has very well described that how there is moral and spiritual degradation; to come out of the dark well we need rope, so Upanishads are like this rope or crutches when humans are feeble, but after that the responsibility of humans is to walk carefully so we don’t need crutches again.

Obviously we should progressive in our outlook and vision, but to achieve progress we should be aware with our regression and that what Eliot wants to say, that the modern life has became hell so we can say that earlier it was not hell. To achieve that peaceful life back we have to look back and then only we can progress, we cannot find solution in future because it is mystery for us, but we can get solutions from our past and make our future better.


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