Parallel truths

However, it was not long before I realised that I was not even a speck in the universe I wished to fathom. I thought, even God wouldn’t know the spatial and temporal confines of the universe since he himself is anaadi (without beginning) and anant (without an end). How then could he be taken as omnipotent? If he possibly wasn’t, no way could a poor creature like me be of any consequence in the universal scheme of things. All my fellow human beings, too, were sailing in the same boat, I thought. The feeling of being inconsequential so put me off that my pursuit of astronomy soon met its proverbial dead-end. But the frustration persisted and soon influenced my earthly existence too. I saw no sense in doing anything, since nothing, I thought, would make any difference to me or the world I was living in when seen against the background of the intimidating dark infinity surrounding my insignificant planet. I looked at those trying to do their best, or worst, as poor creatures unable to see beyond their world ofmake-believe. But I, after this revelation of "universal reality", decided to take life with a pinch of salt.

The logical spin-off of this was that I lost all interest in studies in the crucial school-end year. Later, setting off for college, I used to wander with friends, mostly visiting the theatre. Movies, with their dreamy content, provided an ideal departure from my grave existential crisis.

Naturally, my academic career took a nosedive, never to take off again. This secession from the make-believe world did take its toll. I stood isolated. The demands of an earthly existence started telling on me, with the result that I couldn’t be comfortable with anything. It led to the realisation that one cannot be a part of what one construes as a virtual non-reality, and still not come to terms with it. In this realisation lay the seeds of a rethink that was to put an end to this tormenting crisis.

Little did I know that the answers lay in my astronomy notes. One day, while nostalgically rummaging through those dusty notebooks, I stumbled upon a chapter which discussed an ironical fact of geometry about straight lines. Any straight line we draw is actually a part of the earth’s spheroid and is hence not straight in the strictest sense. But for all practical purposes, it serves well as a straight line.

Isn’t life on earth comparable to this dual reality? Like the line deemed straight, it is locally meaningful and yet part of the larger, infinite reality. Ever since this cosmic truth dawned upon me, I have been able to relate myself better to the compulsions of being an offspring of Mother Earth.