Not YOLO man, YAALA man; And Karma man, Karma!

Last updated on 15th Feb. 2015

I enjoyed watching this light-hearted short video (1 min 58 secs) of Obama which has gone viral and was even talked about in Indian national TV news channels, https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1631492713658271.

Towards the end of the light-hearted video which shows the US president doing goofy "Things Everyone Does But Doesn't Talk About" (quoted words are the title of the Buzzfeed video), a co-actor in the video acts as if he is shocked at Obama acting as if he is taking a basketball shot in a room which seems to be a room in the White House. Obama then acts a little sheepish and then says, "Can I  live?" He follows that by saying "YOLO, man" with a broad smile. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YOLO_%28motto%29, 'YOLO is an acronym for "you only live once"'. Perhaps the most important political message in the short video is about the USA new health insurance system (Obamacare).

I loved the video as it showed how human even an in-office US president is.

But later, the YOLO thing stayed in my mind. I had watched the video yesterday evening. Today morning I somehow felt I should respond to YOLO as a way of life. Hindu belief related to this, which has been confirmed by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, is about reincarnation/rebirth (unless a person gets moksha/liberation/merger with the divine) and karma (typically, good acts result in good reactions and bad acts result in bad reactions, that have to be experienced by the person-doer in the future, in the same birth or in a future birth).

Now, the response to YOLO is not really a response to Obama's light-hearted video. The YOLO there has to be taken in a light-hearted way.

As I played around with a short response to YOLO, I came up with YAALA (You Almost Always Live Again) :-). So now the line I have is:

Not YOLO man, YAALA man; And Karma man, Karma!

I also plan to tweet the following:
Not YOLO (You Only Live Once) man, YAALA (You Almost Always Live Again) man; And Karma man, Karma!

[Update: Here's the tweet url: https://twitter.com/RaviSaiIyer/status/566828956691607553.]

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An update:

I was fascinated to later come across another very similar response to YOLO. In late 2013, the singer-rapper, Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam aka M.I.A., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.I.A._%28rapper%29, of Sri Lankan heritage, responded to YOLO with YALA in a song of hers. From http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/m-i-a-answers-yolo-with-y-a-l-a-20131022 dated Oct. 22nd, 2013: "M.I.A. is not so sure about this YOLO business: "If you only live once, why we keep doing the same s***?" she asks on new song "Y.A.L.A.," which stands for "you always live again." After teasing a snippet of the new tune last week, she posted the full track online today. It's also available as a download for those who pre-order her upcoming record Matangi, out November 5th."

The lyrics of the rap song are available here: http://www.metrolyrics.com/yala-lyrics-mia.html. I am not into rap and so am not able to appreciate the lyrics so much. But I am able to relate to the last part of the song where YOLO is questioned and reincarnation and Karma are mentioned as a response to it. Here's the last part (one word is partly starred):

YOLO?
I don't even know anymore
What that even mean though
If you only live once why we keep doing the same s***?
Back home where I come from, we keep being born
Again and again and then again and again
That's why they invented karma

--- end extract ---

Of course, I don't agree with the view that Karma was invented. I believe that Karma is a reality that can be "seen" by genuine mystics/"seers". Also, she omits mention of the very important possibility of Moksha/liberation from the birth-and-death (or death-and-birth) cycle.