Comments on: Hacking Life http://www.swadharma.org/2009/10/17/hacking-life/ The voice of Dharma Thu, 16 Dec 2010 23:48:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Gokul Madhavan http://www.swadharma.org/2009/10/17/hacking-life/comment-page-1/#comment-613 Gokul Madhavan Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:34:07 +0000 http://www.swadharma.org/?p=2025#comment-613 @ Aneesh-bhai: Why do I get the feeling you wrote "Matrix" and then ran a find-and-replace with "māyā"? :D Jokes apart, I like your metaphor a lot, and find it quite interesting that the Vedic seers were often described as possessing some sort of special sight or insight into the workings of reality (a <i>divya-dṛṣṭi</i>, so to speak), just as a hacker would. @ Hamsa: Your point about humility is valid. At the same time, I suspect the reason most of us are told to follow gurus and the like is because most of us don't possess that sort of insight into the working of the world—in exactly the same way that most of us don't possess the computing insight that a hacker possesses. Most "cosmo-hackers" (can I say that? please?) often faced deep issues within their contexts, whether they were the Buddha or Zoroaster or Vedānta Deśika. And there are stories of secret knowledge being revealed for the betterment of all: consider the story that Rāmānuja expressly disobeyed his guru and announced the mantra "Oṃ Namo Nārāyaṇāya" from one of the temple towers of Śrīraṅgam because he wanted the power of this mantra to be available to all. Anyway, there is an old but really good science fiction novel that is along similar lines. (Yeah I know, you're allowed to judge me!) It's called <i>Lord of Light</i> and is by Roger Zelazny. I'm not going to say more about it, except that it would look favorably upon the idea of the Buddha as a "hacker". @ Aneesh-bhai:
Why do I get the feeling you wrote “Matrix” and then ran a find-and-replace with “māyā”? :D Jokes apart, I like your metaphor a lot, and find it quite interesting that the Vedic seers were often described as possessing some sort of special sight or insight into the workings of reality (a divya-dṛṣṭi, so to speak), just as a hacker would.

@ Hamsa: Your point about humility is valid. At the same time, I suspect the reason most of us are told to follow gurus and the like is because most of us don’t possess that sort of insight into the working of the world—in exactly the same way that most of us don’t possess the computing insight that a hacker possesses.

Most “cosmo-hackers” (can I say that? please?) often faced deep issues within their contexts, whether they were the Buddha or Zoroaster or Vedānta Deśika. And there are stories of secret knowledge being revealed for the betterment of all: consider the story that Rāmānuja expressly disobeyed his guru and announced the mantra “Oṃ Namo Nārāyaṇāya” from one of the temple towers of Śrīraṅgam because he wanted the power of this mantra to be available to all.

Anyway, there is an old but really good science fiction novel that is along similar lines. (Yeah I know, you’re allowed to judge me!) It’s called Lord of Light and is by Roger Zelazny. I’m not going to say more about it, except that it would look favorably upon the idea of the Buddha as a “hacker”.

]]> By: hamsa http://www.swadharma.org/2009/10/17/hacking-life/comment-page-1/#comment-609 hamsa Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:29:29 +0000 http://www.swadharma.org/?p=2025#comment-609 Part of religion and spirituality (at least as has been taught to me) involves learning humility and attaining the realization that we are not intelligent enough to understand the grand scheme or "truth". This is why we resort to gurus, who themselves meditate and ask to be given knowledge freely. We even have stories about those who gain such knowledge and are strictly forbidden to share it. At this point, can you really consider truth as knowledge that we gain through our own endeavors in life? Is it even ours to share? My thought is that this interpretation perhaps gives too much credit to human ability and the meaning of our lives in the grand scheme of things. Part of religion and spirituality (at least as has been taught to me) involves learning humility and attaining the realization that we are not intelligent enough to understand the grand scheme or “truth”. This is why we resort to gurus, who themselves meditate and ask to be given knowledge freely. We even have stories about those who gain such knowledge and are strictly forbidden to share it. At this point, can you really consider truth as knowledge that we gain through our own endeavors in life? Is it even ours to share? My thought is that this interpretation perhaps gives too much credit to human ability and the meaning of our lives in the grand scheme of things.

]]>