Monday, October 6, 2008

" To err is divine " & " To forgive is human "

Surprised? Agitated? Find it boring?
If you have these kinds of feelings, then I would advise you to not make premature views. Read on and then feel free to feed in your views in the comments section.

As children ( and for many cases even as adults ), we were always told ( mostly by our english teachers ), that
" To err is human " & " To forgive is divine ".
The first saying or rather proverb is often given as an example to people who ( apparently ) make mistakes and are ready to accept it. It is also used, by some very smart people, as an excuse when they commit a blunder.
The latter is often quoted as an epitome of greatness when someone is really angry on someone or is in a mood for revenge.

However, I think that the whole thing is quite the opposite.

Let us take the example of our Mahadev, The God of Destruction, Shankar Bhagwan. (Disclaimer: These thoughts are not meant to be demeaning to Hindu religion. I am quoting known incidents. So to those who find these as an insult to the religion or something, I would advice them to think maturely.)
It is said that He did not know his son Ganesh that well. On the fateful day on which he was returning, Goddess Parvati had gone for a bath ( or some similar work ). Apparently due to lack of doors at her house or for a similar reason, she asked Ganesh to guard and keep all visitors at bay till she completed her bath/work. So the obedient son sat outside the house with a 'Gadda' ( mace ) to keep an eye for the visitors. When Shankar Bhagwan came home, Ganesh, not recognizing the person, refused to let him in. Shankar Mahadev was enraged and in one stroke killed the 'meddlesome' boy. After this when Parvatiji made him realise what he had done, Shankar Bhagwan admitted his MISTAKE and brought back the child to life by fixing the head of an elephant on his body.
( Keeping the Indian Penal Code in mind, Mahadev Shiv can be booked for murder as well as poaching. I still wonder why the innocent elephant had to be killed for Lord Shiva's folly. )
Now, Shankar Mahadev is not a human for sure. But he did commit a mistake, which by all means ( I am sure people will agree ) was a BIG one.
We also have heard about Indra, the king of gods, who attacked Hanuman by......( Guess what ) a mistake. ( There are many tales about Indra's mistakes). We also find many incidents in our scriptures about God's mistakes.
So erring, instead of being confined to the set of humans, can be safely thought of as a part of the bigger universal set comprising of humans, gods, demons and all other creature we know of.

These things make me believe that to err is indeed divine, but because they are gods, their blunders and mistakes are deliberately overlooked ( They are supposed to set an example after all! ). So this highlights the flaw in the first proverb.

While it is always stated that forgiving is a divine act, at the same time, we are also told to believe that everyone gets punished ( eventually ) by the God for his misdeeds. But hey, God is divine. Isn't he supposed to forgive? Again taking the example of Lord Shiva, he should have forgiven the child for failing to recognize his hitherto elusive father rather than cruelly behead him. Again our scriptures are filled with many acts of punishments meted out by the God, who is supposed to forgive. Compare this with the case of human beings. Once a Human forgives someone, he never thinks of punishing him/her eventually like God. So isn't forgiving more an element of the human domain?
At least this what I think.


All theories or conjectures are incomplete without stating the assumptions made.
Here I have only assumed the literal meaning of proverb and have tried to make only literal correction.
Also, I consider forgiving as a great act ( no two thoughts about it ) and erring as undesirable.
And lastly I do not in any way claim to be a non erring or all forgiving person. ( This is for those who draw a character sketch of people from their writings and expression of thoughts. )

Conclusion: If what I have written here convinces you, then I believe that the following can be concluded.
" We were taught wrong english at school "
or rather
" The Englishmen got it all wrong from the beginning "

Looking forward for your views on the subject. The more views ( read feedback ) I get, the clearer I can think and the better I can write next time.



PS: The French eat more meat than the Americans and the English and yet suffer fewer heart attacks. The Italians drink more wine than the English and the Americans and still have lesser cases of heart attacks.
Conclusion: Eat drink whatever you want. It is probably speaking English that kills you.

11 comments:

Saurabh said...

Typically Tej, this post of urs..liked it..keep up the good work..!!
p.s-lookout for spelling errors..

Prem said...

you should apologize in public and in front of all regional TV reporters for your writing on Hindu god this way......u liberals ...what do u all think of ur self???
you are in Mumbai and still righting in English and not Marathi. This is insult to Marathi manus...

Unknown said...

great points... could have stated points from greek mythology too...

keep up the good work.

PS: u misspelled french.

Makarand MK said...

The topic and the way it is presented is fantastic!!

But if that IS your feeling about that proverb then i would like to say something:
1.The sayings like this are drawn from a general observation. So rather one should say: Humans err more than Gods and seldom forgive as compared to Gods.
2.The Indian mythological stories are often being "adulterated" infinite times before they reach to us. So it is not perfectly right to draw any serious conclusions from such stories.
Still I appreciate the way you have outforth the story of Lord Ganesh's Birth.
But we are intellegent people so we must seek for the REAL mythology if possible.
3.
"To err is human"
Whenever you commit mistake don't let the regret win over your"self".
"To forgive is devine"
Whenever you get angry then think twice. Revenge is bad. If you forgive then you will be treated as devine.
The first thing is to be remembered after error.
The second thing should be there at the back of your mind always.

thats what i think abt it ...
nice to read your blog

Iman Mukherjee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Iman Mukherjee said...

Good points...

But, since the Englishmen would have had no idea of the Hindu mythology, the claim would be justified if you could point out something from their past...may be, there isn't any... n that's y the quote!!

You've really remixed philosophies though..!!

Nice one :)

Anonymous said...

The Englishmen got it all wrong from the beginning... Totally fucking awesome!!! :D I just loved reading your post... Good work... Keep it up... Waiting for the next one... Aur haan, abse angrezi mein baatein band... Humara dil ka sawal hai... :P

Tapan said...

LOLzzz

Deep Golu said...

Tej just hope that this piece of work is not read by editor of Aaj Tak ot tej ( Tez ) channel.....dude. if they read it u are in serious trouble..........

MNH said...

my quote says " to err is human but it takes a computer to make a blunder "

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Let me know when done...