Saturday, February 12, 2011
Worldly Success and Liberation Aims
Of the final two aims of Hinduism, Worldly Success and Liberation; I actually found it difficult to find songs to fit both categories. As far as worldly success goes, I guess that that would probably be most prevalent, but I had trouble finding songs that I thought fit into that category because I kept thinking that the ones I was finding went more in the pleasure category, so I was worried about getting the two confused. So I think since worldly success could go hand in hand with pleasure, is why they were easier to find. As for liberation songs, I had an easy time finding four, but I struggled for a while trying to find a fifth. I was trying hard to stay away from gospel songs, but I had to look up lyrics and listen closely to them to make sure they fit the category. When I think about liberation songs, I would think they were about breaking free of something, not just life, or achieving something or having an epiphany. But I wasn't sure if those would entirely count as liberation or not, so I'm not entirely sure if all my songs really fall into that category. Especially since not everyone's view of liberation is the same or that liberation doesn't necessarily have to be once one dies. Worldly success in the Hinduism understanding may be different from how the west views it because we tend to emphasize different things we want out of life and what we feel is more important. Being popular and famous or having respect from people may be what everyone would want at some point in their life, but it seems to be emphasized more in America because of the idea of the 'American Dream' and making something of one's self. Liberation may be different as well because the view of liberation and the after life is different in each religion and sometimes even from person to person.
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Finding songs about liberation was a little more difficult for me too, but you had some good picks. It took more time due to analyzing the lyrics. Success does seem like it's a big deal to many people in America. It comes hand in hand with money and power. We made some of the same points in our paragraph response.
ReplyDeleteI mean I agree with you about Liberation songs, but I'm glad you added that its because people have different opinions about what that is. That is because everyone wants to be liberated - but in whatever way is going to satisfy them. I lot of things are just about interpretation. For me I think my liberation songs are pretty good but to someone else they might think they don't fit the category at all. you know? So it might have been easier for some people because they already had this idea of what exactly liberation was and went with that. Anyway I'm sure your songs are just fine =).
ReplyDeleteI also searched for more songs relating to being set free and letting go while searching for songs on liberation. I found it easier that way to apply liberation to songs in today's culture. I found it difficult to find these songs though and it wasn't as easy as success. I definitely think that success and pleasure overlap because many of the hip hop songs I found relating to success were about money which falls under pleasure. However I found while searching for songs on success to really take a look at the lyrics. Although money is an indulgence many songs I found talked about being successful as a whole or being a "rockstar" or the glamorous life and the road it took to get them there.
ReplyDeleteThe liberation aim was a little harder for me to find songs for as well. As for success, different people have different opinions on success. Many people think that money is key to success and happiness, but this is not true for everyone. This, in my opinion, made it easier to find songs about success.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you noted that Americans have different views on what success and liberation are compared to Hindu views. Your songs for success were really tight; I didn't even think of Ms. Independent. I think you probably know a lot more songs on liberation than you think. Just think of songs that you like and describe your personality and idea of being free and successful. 8tracks.com is a really cool music site that you can search songs by key terms.
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