What does lineage stand for?

-

Question: Beyond inheritance (including legal aspects), social & cultural identity, DNA (biological clarity), succession, and continuity what lineage stands for?

Answer: Let me try to explain with personal experience and insight.  Your mileage may vary.

I perform 'Tharpanam' on Amavasya and other prescribed days.  While performing it, I try to recollect the ancestor's face, whom I have seen or have seen their pictures.  It is considered such rituals are performed to please the ancestors.  I do not attach much importance to that perspective.  I perform them because I want to.  I realized that they are for my own benefit.  How?  Here it goes.

On performing the rituals over a few years, I get to remember the qualities of my ancestors.  Either I am lucky that I could see only their good qualities, or I do not have any memory of their bad qualities.  I also noticed that the qualities I see in them are also present in me at some point in time.  For example, if one of my ancestors was a happy-go-lucky man, I was one too.

My qualities are a combination of some of the qualities of my ancestors.  The combination may be unique, but individual qualities are not.  I could see my existence as a node in a tree. (Don't go into the Graph Theory definition of tree.)  The tree has a root, that must have been the divine itself or the purest form of creation.

On one end of the tree, it is me and the other end is the divine.  

Just as I inherited some qualities of my ancestors, I must have inherited some qualities of the divine as well! 

To me, that's the lineage.  It is for everyone to discover.

Comments

SHANKAR said…
Wow, crisp ,short, sweet and profound
7:57 PM
othisaivu said…
MMMV - but a good & crisp write-up nonetheless. (am reminded of that ashvattha tree def in katopanishad...)
9:14 PM
Devarajan S said…
I applaud your in depth perception on this subject. All the phenomenon of our lives are the manifestation of the Mystic Law which is governing the entire universe. The rise of the tides and merging again with the Ocean are synonyms with the manifestation of our lives and again merging with the universe. In that aspect, inheritance of ancestors devine power is absolutely possible.
11:09 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interview Questions

-
Tired of being called to interview fresh graduates who can't think, I gave our HR person three sets of questions as follows. I didn't want to copy paste objective type questions. I wanted to see how they think, present etc. Set 1 1. Write the events that happen between requesting for a web-site address in browser's address bar and the retrieval of the web page. State your assumptions on internet / intranet, static / dynamic web sites. 2. Write a function (secondLargest) to find the second largest number in a given array of integers. (Expectation is just the function in such a way it can be reused in multiple programs with the most optimal solution in any programming language.) 3. Write a data structure in C/C++/C#/Java to store folders and files in a computer. Set 2 1. Give step-by-step instructions to go from your home to college. Be clear that a stranger to these places can simply follow the instructions and still reach the destination with no additional help. 2. Wr...
Read more

Is there a thing that doesn't exist?

-
"Is there a thing that doesn't exist?" was the question my son Krishna asked me last night. It has been his habit to listen to my ramblings before he goes to sleep. His point is - my voice gives him good sleep. And I see the reason on why I didn't become a teacher. Coming back to his question - it made me happy, for he asked a difficult question. It made me happier as I can answer this one to my satisfaction. So, I started. "The answer in a single word is No. But let me explain. We perceive everything through our minds. Thousands of inputs from the sensory organs and a memory help our mind make sense out of what the eyes see, ears hear etc. So, to perceive something, the mind must be present. That is the basic premise. To answer your question, we must first define what that "thing" is (that doesn't exist). You can define that thing as something not in your memory. For example, a creature with three legs, four arms, eight eyes and three ...
Read more

தேங்கிவிட்ட தமிழ் - உவமைகளும் நகரவாசிகளும்

-
Anti-fragile  எனும் ஆயிரங்காலத்துப் பயிர் தமிழ் மொழிபெயர்ப்பில் உள்ள சிரமங்களையும் சிக்கலான சிந்தனைகளை எப்படி தமிழில் விளக்குவது என்ற ஆலோசனைகளிலும் சிந்தனைகளிலும் நேரம் சென்றது.  நண்பருக்கு என்னுடைய பழைய கட்டுரைகளில் ஒன்றை அனுப்பத் தேடியபோது நான் நாஸிம் நிக்கலஸ் தாலேபின் Anti-fragile என்பதை விளக்க முயன்ற கட்டுரை கண்ணில் பட்டது.  குழந்தைத்தனமாக சுற்றி சுற்றி  விளக்கியிருந்தேன்.  எழுதிய எனக்கே அது புரியவில்லை. ஆங்கிலத்திலேயே Anti-fragile என்பதை விளக்க ஒரு புத்தகமே தேவைப்பட்டிருக்கிறது.  ஆனால், சிக்கலான இந்திய சமூகங்களே Anti-fragile.  ஆனால் அவை அதை எப்படிப் புரிந்து கொண்டுள்ளன? நாம் உவமைகளைக் கொண்டு சிக்கலானவற்றைப் புரிந்து கொள்கிறோம்.  அந்த உவமைகளும் பெருமளவு இயற்கையுடன் ஒன்றியவை.  தாவரங்கள், விலங்குகள், இயற்கை அமைப்புகள் கொடுத்த உவமைகளைக் கொண்டு சமூக பொருளாதார கருத்தியல்களைப் புரிந்து கொள்வது நமக்கு எளிது; அதுவே வழக்கம் கூட.  வரம்பின்றி வரிகளின் மூலம் மக்களை வதைக்கும் அரசுக்கு  'யானை புக்க புலத்தை' உவமையாகக் கூறினர். அப்படி இருக...
Read more