{"id":111,"date":"2009-01-09T08:36:25","date_gmt":"2009-01-09T13:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/?p=111"},"modified":"2009-01-09T08:36:25","modified_gmt":"2009-01-09T13:36:25","slug":"kabir-day-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/kabir-day-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Kabir Day 25"},"content":{"rendered":"

On tools and weapons..<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wandering around the web in an absolutely aimless search, I came across a blog post with a photo of a hammer under the caption..” Thoughts on thoughts…. tools and weapons” [ http:\/\/bearbicycle.blogspot.com\/2008\/12\/thoughts-on-thoughts-tools-and-weapons.html<\/a> ] – and a respondent made a telling comment –<\/p>\n

Actually a tool is just a tool. IT’S THE MIND THAT IS THE “WEAPON”.
\n– Frank W. James<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

And now, Kabir Day 25:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The couplet transliterated:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kabira loha ek hai, gadhne mein hai fair |
\nTahika bakhtar bana, taahika samsher\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>||\u00a0<\/p>\n

Translation:<\/em><\/p>\n

Says Kabir, the same iron is used to make many things |
\nArmor to protect, and the sword to smash the armor and wearer ||\u00a0<\/p>\n

My understanding:<\/em>
\nThink about it for a while – the only weapons around are the minds milling around. What we refer to as weapons are truly only tools the brain creates to facilitate the mind’s demands.<\/p>\n

As Kabir points out, it is not the iron that is to be faulted for the destruction around us – nor the weapons forged from it. It is not the iron-smith either – he is performing his job and trade. It is the person directing the wielder of the weaponry that is the true perpetrator of the crime – and all around who condone it or support it share the blame equally.<\/p>\n

Yet, at some point in the entire cycle of crime and punishment, we have to also accommodate self-preservation and protection of the weak and innocent – and this by definition means taking up arms for a righteous cause. So it requires a proper understanding of the cause, the drive and the purpose. In anything as relative as human life, there can be no absolutes (to paraphrase something I read written by Hugh Prather). As in everything else, understanding and moderation are the key to a successful and meaningful life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On tools and weapons.. \u00a0 Wandering around the web in an absolutely aimless search, I came across a blog post with a photo of a hammer under the caption..” Thoughts on thoughts…. tools and weapons” [ http:\/\/bearbicycle.blogspot.com\/2008\/12\/thoughts-on-thoughts-tools-and-weapons.html ] – and a respondent made a telling comment – Actually a tool is just a tool. IT’S…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kabir","category-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}