No I'm not so arrogant to say that its all mumbo-jumbo. Neither can I say I'm not curious. Nor am I so secured in my present moment, that sometimes I would not wonder "Ah if only I knew what lies ahead"! But in spite of the occasional temptations, I feel a very strong inner resistance to anything that deals with fortune telling. And these are my reasons.
Firstly, I feel there is something right about the way we are kind of stuck in the present moment. In spite of all the burden of past memories we carry, there is an undeniable feeling of optimism in our heart. In spite of our past failures, there is something inside that tells us may be this time we would succeed. In spite of all the disappointments, we are not so disheartened so as to give up another try. Tomorrow always seems to hold a better promise than yesterday. This intrinsic optimism, I believe is built into our system, so as to give us the strength to pull ourselves up and carry on, even in the face of dire difficulties. Obviously there are a few who find the strain of the present moment so unbearable that they give up- but aren't they the exceptions rather than the rule? Life often comes across as a sea of mundaneness and indifference, if not hostility, where we frequently find ourselves submerged and struggling, but somehow we assure ourselves that there is a westerly wind of good tidings heading our way, which will keep us afloat, if not take us ashore, someday. Would unshackled knowledge of the future not rob us of this indefatigable source of strength and hope we carry in our bosom?
Secondly, I find it a highly odd if not impossible to reconcile my faith in Divinity and the Theory of Karma with the desire to know what lies ahead in the hope of adjusting it, if not changing it completely. I believe that whatever I face today and whatever I will have to face tomorrow are only reactions to my past actions. This is the unalterable and un-exonerative law of Karma. What lies ahead I cannot change, but the test of my faith in Divinity lies in how courageously and with how much equanimity I face them, with the awareness that it is I alone who have constructed them with with the web of my past thoughts, words and deeds. Grounded in this belief, would it not be totally absurd to consult an astrologer to know if stellar movements are responsible for all my woes and worries and wear colorful stones as remedial measures? Few things surprise me more than the oddity of co-existence of faith in Divinity and astrology, that I come across so often in so many people, blissfully unaware of the inherent contradiction!
And lastly, deep in my heart something prods me not to take life as seriously as we tend to take most of the time. Even a cursory comparison on the scale of our existence with that of the expansive universe would reveal to us how utterly insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things. It would reveal how puerile it is to give the inordinate amount of importance we attribute to our lives and its trappings, when truly its not worth even a trifle, once all of existence is taken into account. It would reveal how delusionally inflated our sense of self and ego is, that we can't but laugh at the stupidity of it. Even a little pondering on this line would make us realize that in stead of the importance and centrality we have accorded to our lives, at the end of the day, life is nothing but a game, to be played by the rules, enjoy the thrill, and return home when the play is over. What fun will be left of it if we get to know the scorecard before hand?
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