Topic: RECONFIGURING
THE WAITING FOR GODOT WITHIN SOME PARADIGMS OF HINDU PHILOSOPHY
Paper:9
Submitted to:Smt.S.B.Gardi
Department of English
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar university
Bhavnagar
(Gujarat-India)
RECONFIGURING
THE WAITING FOR GODOT WITHIN SOME PARADIGMS OF HINDU PHILOSOPHY
Circumscribing Beckett’s Waiting for
Godot and the philosophy of ‘waiting’ within several intriguing parameters of
Hindu philosophy can be a challenging and a celebratory experience, not just
because it unearths new interpretive spaces, but also for the critical temerity
that this venture entails, given Beckett’s unendorsed association with Indian
philosophical systems. Unlike Eliot or Arnold or Emerson or Thoreau, the authenticity
of Beckett’s personal linkages with the complicated matrix of Indian philosophy
is suspect. However, given the conceptual pliancy of the play, the provocation
to offer philosophical re-constellations in line with Indian philosophical
systems can hardly be ignored. Hear the concept of Karma, Dharma, and the
Indian value system, so as to offer a new perspective on ‘waiting’. The
critique of ‘waiting’ concentrates on Hindu philosophical-metaphysical-ethical
interpretation and tries to unearth a fresh dimension to the relation plexus
between Godot, Vladimir and Estragon, which in a way, reorients our entire approach to the play itself.
In the light of Hindu philosophy, the
Godot-denied world of the play can ne categorized by pramada, alasya and nidra
as mentioned in the Gita. it is a drugged state reeking with the
‘incomprehensibility’ of the ‘real’-a near misguided obstinacy. so the initial
feeling for the situation in the play speaks of the tamasic state which is born of ignorance: it deluded. from a tamsic
state we find at a certain stage in the drama, a clearer conative perception in
a rajasic state that is, however, void of the unity of existence. it lacks the
deeper insight into the unifying factor that Godot’s anticipative presence
purports to bring to the surface.it is karma, samsara and then the inevitable
bandha that constitute the fundamental existential matrix of Vladimir and
Estragon. but what I propose hear is that, when drawn into relation with
certain paradigms of Hindu philosophy Beckett’s work dose not just foreground
am incessant undertow of non-knowledge, nescience or avidya but also a
possibility for ‘discriminative knowledge’ figuring the way of release.it neecs
to be understand that,in Hindu philosophy ,’waiting’ is the unity of existence,the
inspiring to reorient the undertow of moral slackness and other entropic
forces. Following such premises, the ‘waiting’ ,as conative presistence can
have as consequence a ’consummation’ that provides a clear understanding of the
situation-a state of being free from the morbid transition can matter. So a
positive liberty is underlined where self-determination can adjudge the
possibilities for self-transcendence.
The ‘inauthentic’ milieu in the
waiting brings us to the conceot of the adhyasa in Advaita philosophy. Steeped
in avidya, the world of Vladimir and Estragon becomes a state of consciousness
where realizing Godot would be realizing Brahman, the ultimate reality under
Advaita Vendnta of Sankaracarya. Adhyasa is brought by maya :maya is concealment
and superimposition. maya in the Vladimir and Estragon world springs from ‘inauthenticity’ and give
rise to indiscrimination and this leads to attachment to Ragadvesadi, to Karma,
to embodiment and finally to misery.it is this misery that forbids the
kierkegaardianleap into enthusiasm and thus promotes a dichotomized entity in
reading Godot.It is worthwhile to note that the interpretations arrived at
within this as well as other paradigms of Hindu philosophy cannot be
conclusive, because the pregnant conceptual ‘fluidity’ of the play enables a
plurivocity of philosophy interventions.
However, the problems of inauthentic
modes of existence can be seen to revolve around the mimamsa philosophy of
holding the individual to be morally
responsible for this action. This is notthe concept of karma as found in the
Nyaya-Vaisesika system or Buddhist philosophy ; it is, rather the judgmental axis
of performance of the mimamsa .so hear we have vidhi which mean that one has to
wait for Godot and Nisedha which implies that one can not move away but simply
wait for Godot . the karma of waiting has for me a truth of spiritual world;the
karma-vipaka or fruition of action is in waiting for movement that decides the
arrival of Godot. the philosophy of Avidhya might interpret the situation to be
noumenally false yet it is not simply anonetity or a purely subjective
experience for it is here, within it that the struggle is actuated’the karmic
process to realize the dharma of Godot’s Dasein. The Godot-awaited world is the
product of avidya which is a kind of non-discriminative knowledge where
jivatman is exempted from avidya. It is avidya that inspire the momentum for
salvation or salvaging the ultimate Dharma. With some effort the inauthentic, adharmic
state of being can be interrogated when anticipating the future is privileged
over mere waiting.
Under the Sankhya system,we know that
no action can take place unless there is a decision to act. The arrival of the
boy bearing a message from Godot is a stimulation to initiate, or rather
manifest ‘action’:
Vladimir:
It’s starting that’s difficult
Estragon:
You can start from anything.
Vladimir:
Yes, but you have to decide.
Without fatalistically waiting for
future to drew near,Vladimir understands the difficulty to starting amidst
avidya and the evolution of the situation that makes for karmic flexibility.
Godot and the duo of Vladimir and Estragon range in the scale of Hindu
philosophy between monism, perfection and being eternal contrasted with
pluralism, incompleteness and transience. The hesitant in ability to offer a
rejoinder to Godot’s ‘deferred’ visit-‘tell him….. tell him you saw us. you did
see us,didn’t you?-underwrites an incompetence in their conduct of temporal
affairs which precludes the essential means to a spiritual realization in
waiting for Godot. Godot within the value system of Hindu ethics is integrated
consciousness .Vladimir and Estragon cannot respond to this naked condition of
pure selfhood because action in the realm of dichotomous being they fail to
achieve an integrated personality. However, the rajasic state of affairs puts
the creation of their personality in train ;it is a state that preludes a
condition of recuperation. Godot has the potential to reveal an order of being
which, more than being merely human, is a spiritual reality which is also the
source of the significance of what happens in the temporal order of begin. But importantly,
despite the hesitant rejoinder to the boy, the message they wish to communicate
concerns the persistent act of ‘waiting’. They have no left their ground and
the ‘consequent’.
The situation of Vladimir and
Estragon cannot carry its own final meaning: avidya springs from the acceptance
of this world as final and conclusive. Whatever the result of action may lie,
whether in the action itself or in the agent or somewhere else, it become
obvious that it has been generated in the course of the ‘performance’. Vladimir
thinks of change, desires reconfiguration, contemplates a ‘performance’ and
thereby lends the power of contingency to their predicament. Vladimir says,
’let us do something while we have the chance …Let us make the most of it
,before it is too late!’.This performative potency insinuates the finality
achieved in Godot.in the theory of Prabhakara, Godot could be the Niyoga; it is
the incentive to prompt the Apurva to realize the dharma of authenticity. We
presume that Karma in Vladimir and Estragon world can be exercises in efficient
causality but not without the actuation of Godot.IT is Godot karma that
establishes the dharma both at the micro and the macrocosmic level in the
Vladimir-Estragon existential circuit. so Godot can be interpreted as an
efficient cause.But under the theory of the sahakarivada of the naiyayikas,Godot’s
causal efficiency needs to take into account what Vladimir’s and Estragon’s
‘being’ and ‘action’deserve.
Vladimir: Let’s wait and what he says.
Estragon:
Good idea.
Vladimir:
Let’s wait till we know exactly how we stand.
Estragon:
On the other hand it might be bitter to strike the iron before it freezes.
Vladimir:
I’m curious to hear that he has to offer. then we’ll take it or leave it.
So in a way, Godot exists because
Vladimir and Estragon wait; Godot stand to be realized because of the karmic
self-reflexivities of the two, So the possibilities of Godot’s ‘being revealed
‘ are ingrained in the givenness of Karmic
potency, the whatness of things.
Hindu ethical philosophy would argue
that ‘waiting’ in its steadfastness then becomes the functioning unity of the
personality that is realized when thought ripens to judgment through value
choices. Vladimir assesses the situation appropriately when he stresses the
need to know exactly how they stand. It is a critique of the relation he has
with the ground and the consequent. within the philosophy of karma, waiting,
then calls for an intensely self critical awareness where the functional and
intentional capacities available to Vladimir demand the responsibility of
exercising them. Within such tenets of Hindu philosophy reaching for Godot
would mean a combination or synthesis of jnana and karma under the theory of samuccaya. So, if efforts are directed
at the karmic honesty of situation, we can have
condition suitable for the revelation of the knowledge. The
‘inexhaustibility’ reminds me of what Krishna tells Arjuna on the eve of the Kurukshetra.
If
filled with pride,you say, I will not fight
it
is all on vain you are foolish
Fight
you will, your nature will make you fight
Your
karma will make you fight
You
are foolish. You will fight in spite of yourself
Doesn’t
the world revolve like the magic wheel?
Isn’t Brahman
the hub?
The question hear is: Isn’t Godot the
hub? According to the Bhatrprapanch karma is essential to the process of
Brahman realization.Godot’s implicit ‘you ought’ awaits the right response of I
ought. Volitionally, Vladimir needs to set in place an attitude which act like
the formation of a centre of gravity in a cosmic nebula.HE understand the need
to wait- ‘Let’s wait and see what he says’; he grows curious to ;earn what
Godot is capable of delivering. His karma will make him fight.
Knowledge of the vyakta is essential
to a realization of moksha. The dramatic milieu foreground the dialectic with
the avyakta-the perishable and the caused conflated with the manifold, the
emergent and the all pervading. In fact ‘waiting’, inveterate anticipation,
ascertains and appends ‘value’ to reality where the totality of reality is
realized in the maturity of the ‘partnership’. Godot’s
values are not karmasadhya; they are intrinsic and absolute beyond the scope of
human agency.So it is pointless to believe in the pointlessness of existence in
the Godot –delayed-denied-deferred universe of man. Its basic resistance to
analysis defies all categorized hermeneutics of self. For me, its silence
revels in interpretation: waiting .non appearance calculates the modes of
appearance. At most,a kind of ‘self-realization’ is hinted at by Beckett where
more than ‘voidness’, it is self identity with the existent; it is a striving
towards attainment of identification with the ultimate. Vladimir, thus admits
that they are ‘inex haustible’. Within concept of moksha, the self. having an
intuition of the supreme self, is a conscious self persisting in the state of
release.
Vladimir:
Tied.
Estragon:
Ti-ed
Vladimir:
But to whom by whom?
Estragon:
To you man.
Vladimir:
To Godot? Tied to Godot? What an idea!
It is a liberating ‘idea’ to be tied
to Godot. So the effort to struggle to maintain –‘Let us do something, while we
have the chance…Let us make the most of it. before it is to late!’-is the
restoration of a ‘natural positon’, a perservation of the self’s distinctive essence through being identified
with Godot.
So what I term a Godot liberated
status is a positive state of consciousness, not a bare existence afflicted by
desolate materiality and soul stultifying inertia.It should be a freedom that
makes a claim on value and puts a premium on knowledge that affect, infiuences
and purifies being. Within the formative matrix of the play there is a clear
change in the trajectory of knowledge , especially for Vladimir, and in the
knowledge content which is implicit in the play. For instance, the insistent
enquiry ,’will night never come’ and Pozzo’s affirmation that he would have
waited for Godot till it was back night,
point to change in process that border on Karmic and the Dharmic entelechy as
mentioned above. Estragon’s Adam-like stature confirms a ‘struggle’ and Pozzo’s
call to be a ‘littele more attentive reinforces greater involvement with
self-reconstruction. However, Karma, is more significant paradigm and Beckett
seems to put greater emphasis on karma then, the concept of dharma, as
traditionally propounded, intimation of the godot-world make us believe in
interrelatedness, implicating a possibility for ‘growth’. the dharma, as
implied through the godot world, is a philosophical reinterpretation of the
temporal schema. Dharma, for Beckett,would propose a valued order which more
than a specific order of life is
‘thoughtful’ orderliness.
Godot, thus, within several tradition of Hindu philosophical
thought defies low; the uncertainty concerning Godot is a revaluation of the
Hindu view of the temporality and materiality of existence. the dharma in
waiting would never discount the samsara or Vladimir and Estragon’s
circumstantial immediacy.the ethical perfection waiting to be actualized is the
condition which precedes the achievement of a liberation through karman which
does away with the sacred –secular dichotomy. karman would brighten the possibilities of being
identified with Godot and the dharma of ‘waiting’ foreground the partnership
that decimates this dichotomy. In the event of this realization in waiting .the
situation , conceptually, leads us to a site where dharma and moksha caninterwine,
the ethical and the spiritual can
enmesh. The intermeshing is graded: in the interactive situation involving
Vladimir and Estragon the value in the lower rung of the Indian value system
are put on trial and are sublimated and transformed in the light of the
‘waiting’ for Godot.
so, following the graded system of
value of Hindu philosophy , Godot has intrinsic value whereas the rest of the
values are instrumental. I refuse to read the play as predominantly absurdist
because ends can be ascribed to most of the action and most of the consequence
are meaning full and symbolically fruitful. the frustration and resistance
involved in the time portal situation of vladimir and estragon is integral to
the very ontology and teleology of the waiting. The message contained in the
waiting concerns a correspondence between matter and brahman with stress being
laid on a new degree of ethical activism .thus with the right kind of
realization of the dharma of the existential situation oje would be assured of
reaching the gateway to moksh. vladimir and estragon need to understand that
morel ethos of the given in their existential circuit is not the absurd realm
which is self sufficient and self complete. One has to go beyond the ethics of
the situation to reach the state of being free where; in the complete
experience of spiritual freedom all contradiction will be resolved. nothing
would then remain uncertain thereby negating estragon’s assertion no nothing is
certain .the remained state of waiting will have godot as the final the all
sufficing human toad and the following true philosophy of authenticity .Godot
is seduction and enticement.
