Category Archives: Education and Society
Swami Narayan’s Wisdom
Someone has thought beautifully! One must read and try to understand the deep meaning in them. They are like the Ten Commandments to follow in life -all the time.
1] Prayer is not a “spare wheel” that you pull out when in trouble; it is a “steering wheel” that directs us in the right path throughout life.
2] Do you know why a car’s WINDSHIELD is so large & the rear view mirror is so small? Because our PAST is not as important as our FUTURE. So, look ahead and move on.
3] Friendship is like a BOOK. It takes few seconds to burn, but it takes years to write.
4] All things in life are temporary. If going well, enjoy it, they will not last forever. If going wrong don’t worry, they can’t last long either.
5] Old friends are like Gold! New friends are Diamonds! If you get a Diamond, don’t forget the Gold! Because to hold a Diamond, you always
need a base of Gold!
6] Often when we lose hope and think this is the end, GOD smiles from above and says, “Relax, sweetheart, it’s just a bend, not the end!
7] When GOD solves your problems, you have faith in HIS abilities; when GOD doesn’t solve your problems HE has faith in your abilities.
8] A blind person asked St. Anthony: “Can there be anything worse than losing eye sight?” He replied: “Yes, losing your vision.”
9] When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them; and sometimes, when you are safe and happy, remember that someone has
prayed for you.
10] WORRYING does not take away tomorrow’s TROUBLES; it takes away today’s PEACE
What ails India ?
What ails India fundamentally? To this simple question, one can expect 1.2 billion answers from the 1.2 billion people of this country – in complex permutations & combinations. Is it rich-poor divide? North-South divide? East west divide? Religious divide? Multiple political parties divide? Linguistic divide? Cultural (Indian – western) divide? Regional divide? Generational divide? Gender divide? Poor governance? Irrational reservations on cast basis? Power in the hands of incompetent?
Well … it could be all and none! One absolute common denominator of all the above is Corruption! Fundamental corruption of Minds – ie- loss of “Ethics & Morals”. But why? What is the reason for our ethical & moral degradation? Spiritually the answer lies in the Karma theory – but philosophically it is in the History! Karma theory is good for knowledge – but history is a good source for solution. So, let us look at history! We have been ruled for centuries by Invading Mughals and Europeans.
They robbed our possessions first. They robbed our confidence later. Finally they robbed us of our “self-esteem”. Material possessions are easy to rebuild with some determination. Confidence can be rebuilt with some collective action & cooperation. But what about self-esteem? That of both individuals and collective population? It appears that we lost it forever (individually & collectively) and never attempted to regain! We have not even recognized the need for it. We beg for importance from the powerful or impose it on the weak – but never attempt to earn it.
Material poverty can be more easily corrected than the mental poverty. Mental prosperity will help us regain material prosperity easily – but not vice versa. We have fairly succeeded in progressively overcoming the material poverty – though not sufficiently as yet. But our mental poverty, which is a more serious issue – has not even been recognized to exist and hence not addressed. The single most important issue to be addressed by both individual Indian citizens and collectively as The Nation (which aspires to become a super power) is to recognize the importance of regaining our lost self-esteem – which is the foundation of ethics & morals. What ails India? Absence of ethics, morals and self-esteem … corruption!
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Human Relations – 2
Every one has 3-distinct personalities as follows …
1. What you think you are! This is in the “Emotional plane of existence”. You think you are a son, daughter, brother, sister, father, mother, friend, citizen of a country etc. This is the basic beingness –or- your own self identity. This is full of personal relationships. This has both positive and negative aspects to it. You can feel happy / unhappy with your having such good / bad relationships. You are so contented and / or even so proud of these good relationships – you feel you need to do nothing more in your life at all – leading to a “Thamasic” (lazy / inertia) way of living. You are either quite wanted or hardly wanted or not wanted by others – depending on your exhibiting positive or negative traits of emotional existence.
2. What others think you are! This is normally the “Material plane of existence”. Mostly people identify you by your physical body and looks (appearance such as … handsome – beautiful – normal – average – ugly), as also your ownerships and possessions of property such as – Estates & Land, Cars, Bungalows and Jewelry etc –OR- your position and power. Here your importance is attributed to your positions & possessions – not You! You are as great as your possessions are valued by others! This comes from havingness – ie- your own sense of ownership over material wealth and power and the influence you can project. This is the result of “Rajasic” (high energy low moral output) way of living. You are definitely wanted in most places – as “material” attracts commoners.
3. What actually You are! This is the “Action plane of existence”. This is the actual doingness. You are assessed and then perceived by others by seeing your demonstrative actions –ie- what you actually do, than what you materially possess or think of yourself. Your rational / irrational actions prove beyond any doubt what you actually are. Your actions will prove if you are a kind & compassionate person -OR- a psychotic & neurotic person. Your actions will prove whether you are creative & constructive –OR- purely destructive. When all your actions prove you to be a kind, compassionate, rational, constructive person – you are a “Satthvic” person. You are needed & wanted everywhere!
Human relations are multilateral permutations & combinations of the above stated factors 1-2-3. Most of the humans have all the 3-traits in varying proportions. Their relationships with others will vary accordingly.
Naari – The Woman of India
Where women are respected, honored and venerated – gods will dance in ecstasy! Where women are subjugated, insulted and ill treated – gods will vacate that place, nothing will prosper there – only misery and sorrow will prevail – that place will never have peace or happiness! This is the extract from Manusmruthi – the ancient Indian ethical & moral code book of culture.
How true it is even today! – if only if we open our eyes and take an unbiased look! The present and recent past generations of humanity may have taken objection to many tenets of Manusmruthi and argued about their irrelevance to the needs of the time – but no one can deny the fact that there are eternal principles in the order of creation and nature that continue to prevail timelessly. These principles remain “changeless laws” in the midst of all changes! Out dependence on gravity to stay on earth did not change – our dependence on Sun for energy did not change – our dependence on rains for food did not change … and these will never change – no matter how wildly different the Sci-Fi projections about the future of human survival and behaviour.
Despite all the impressive and concurrent technological progress in diverse fields of science & technology – ethical & moral degeneration of mankind witnessed in the modern times has not allowed the benefits of that material progress to contribute to life and provide happiness & peace to the mankind. The starvation for peace & happiness continues and is more rapidly & widely growing than the material prosperity. Why? Read the rest of this entry
Indian Nation needs education more than qualification
Education and Qualification are two completely different aspects of human society – and should not be mixed-up or confused for one another. You will find many qualified but uneducated people – and much educated but unqualified people – world over.
Qualification is essentially a certification by an authority – which means that the certificate issuing authorities vouch for your knowledge & competence. We have seen all over the world that such system has miserably failed to ensure quality – a certificate is no guarantee for competence.
A certificate is only (just represents) what others can think you are – not necessarily what you actually are! But I am not decrying or devaluing this process / system altogether – as it is generally equipped to filter, grade and tag people to some extent quite accurately. Read the rest of this entry
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