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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
Anatomy & Physiology of “Selfishness”
What is selfishness? We tend to use this word very loosely. If some one desires something strongly and acquires it – which he is not prepared to share easily with others – we immediately tend to call him selfish. Is that actually selfishness? Working for wealth, larger income, greater comforts, additional possessions, sound financial security, stability in life, self preservation, emotional security, better education for children, better family welfare, more pleasures in life etc …. None of them can be classified as selfishness! They are all simple mechanisms of enhancing one’s own survival potential against the possible future challenges in life.
Some people argue that selfishness is the basic drive behind all human actions – that there is a selfish motive behind every simple action of a human – be it in friendship, marriage or even worship of God. Even falling in love has a selfish motive. A mother’s or parental love has hidden selfish motive to get back something in future from their children. All these arguments betray nothing but ignorance. Self preservation and self enhancement can never be called selfishness – as that is the basic instinct – the absence of which can be called unnatural. Ambitions and aims of life can never be classified as selfishness – as that is the purpose of life. Then what is selfishness?
12 principles for great grand success in life!
1. Communication
All indications are that willful decisions not to communicate were a significant part of the
original factors which caused us to deteriorate. In any situation where you are unsure as to whether to say something or not, your best course (lacking any other reasons) would be to communicate rather than to keep your mouth shut. One of Hubbard’s most famous quotes is – “When in doubt, communicate”. And if you do get in trouble for communicating, the solution is often to communicate more rather than to back down.
2. Confront
Flinching at things and backing down from them leaves them free to operate against you.
That which is not confronted tends to persist. That which is fully viewed tends to come back under one’s control and ceases to affect one adversely. And so it is generally better to face up to things rather than to suppress them or hide them.
3. Forgiveness
We have been at each others throats for a long time, in a mutually destructive tit for tat. We have taken turns for lifetime after lifetime playing good guys and bad guys. Both Jesus and Buddha saw this one and it is an important part of the road out. If you need more encouragement, then please realize that forgiving others lessens the weight of your own karma, for in forgiving them you forgive yourself as well. And we have all been around long enough to have tried every possible role and committed every dastardly deed at least a few times. The only way out is mutual forgiveness and an abandonment of vengeance and getting even.
MSR Ayyangar's Blog 