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| Thursday,
July 12, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Wheat
mountain and mouse Pilgrims’
protectors |
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Inching
towards progress SLOW and steady wins the race. However, it does not require a high degree of common sense to understand that slow and unsteady ends up nowhere. This is a point which Indian planners should keep in mind while analysing the ramifications of the United Nations Development Programme's annual Human Development Index [HDI]. It is an interesting and useful exercise which the UNDP carries out for monitoring the relative rate of progress of member countries. As of today, India has not done too badly.
INDO-PAK SUMMIT
PM’s
wideranging consultations
Urban
woman has no time to eat
Toxic
metals in food
The
energy crisis
Accept
yourself as you are
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Wheat mountain and mouse IN another desperate move to reduce the suffocating but steadily rotting foodgrain stock, the government has slashed the prices of wheat and rice to non-poor ration card-holders by 26.5 per cent. How did it arrive at this figure? Simple. It wants to wean the above poverty line (APL) consumers away from the open market and so fixed the new rate at Re 1 less than what traders charge. It is a price war, plain and simple. And carries a price – Rs 2700 crore a year as additional subsidy. But bureaucrats add that if the step leads to an additional sale of six million tonnes of foodgrains, the carrying cost, mostly interest charges on bank loans, will come down by Rs 1350 crore. Still, it will be Rs 250 crore more than what Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha hoped to save on food subsidy when he increased foodgrain prices 15 months ago. Since then wheat sales from fair price shops have virtually ceased and rice offtake has been affected by 10 per cent. Today the FCI (Food Corporation of India) is sitting on a mammoth foodgrain mountain of 65 million tonnes. And worse is to come. After the kharif crop another 20 million tonnes would have been procured; it is frightening to think of the consequences of all this on the government finances and quality of the stored grain. For record, the FCI should have only about 25 million tonnes but it has nearly 40 million tonnes of wheat and the rest rice. There is no change in the price of wheat and rice supplied to the below poverty line section. It remains the same and wheat export is also done at the lower rate. Even here the government faces a problem which is entirely self-made. Official figures show that only 60 per cent of the card holders lift their entitlement. In other words, a good number of very poor people in urban slums are unable to avail of a key concession. The reason is again simple. Each family is allowed to buy 25 kg (until now 20 kg) but the whole quantity has to be lifted in one go. That means each family has to have ready cash of Rs 100 in the case of wheat and Rs 125 in the case of rice. A daily ragpicker or a casual labourer cannot produce this amount. And hence his shocking self-denial. Many have pointed this out to the government. But it is so overwhelmed by its generous gesture that it refuses to re-examine this. If this quota of 25 kg is split into four weekly portions, the effect will be dramatic. There is reason to believe that the APL consumers will flock back to the fair price shop, at least theoretically. The price difference of Re 1 a kg is too tempting for shop owners to permit any unsold stock. |
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Pilgrims’ protectors IN cricket, the agile fielder who saves a hundred runs gets fewer bouquets than the swashbuckling batsman who scores half as many runs. Somewhat similar is the fate of security agencies. They are blamed whenever a violent incident takes place, but are hardly complimented when they prevent such an event. However, the nation owes a collective vote of thanks to the valiant men who are on their toes day and night to ensure that the Amarnath yatra passes off peacefully. The discovery by the BSF of 14 kg of white RDX on Tuesday en route is a grim reminder of what they are up against. One shudders to think of the consequences of the deadly powder wreaking havoc. After all, last year more than a hundred yatris had fallen victim to the militants' heartlessness. The detection of RDX is not the first success that the security agencies have scored this year. Only a few days back, they had discovered a rocket launcher, rockets and lethal explosives. The recoveries prove that despite the appeal by the Hizbul Mujahideen to fellow organisations to declare the Amarnath yatra route as "safe", the ground situation has not improved. The Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba has also asked the yatris to join the pilgrimage without any fear as the outfit has no intention to target them. Even that reassurance has proved hollow. There are many groups unreconciled to the Indo-Pak peace attempts which have been trying to derail the forthcoming talks. For them, the yatris are a "soft" target. To prove them wrong, an elaborate security team comprising more than 20,000 men drawn from the Border Security Force, the CRPF, the Army and the J and K Police has been maintaining a constant vigil all along the yatra route. An interesting feature is the helping hand provided by school-and college-going youth in manning nakas and detecting suspicious looking persons and properties. Since they are locals, they are able to keep a close watch. The security agencies call them their "eyes and ears". It is such cooperation that can foil the evil designs of foreign mercenaries. It is a daunting task nevertheless. Apart from the difficult terrain, the large number of people who congregate there poses numerous problems. What is more, the mischief-mongers have to be lucky just once to make the prophets of doom bay for the blood of the security personnel. Instead of behaving in such an unstable manner, what is called for is the sympathetic understanding of the magnitude of the menace and learning how to cope with it. |
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Inching towards progress SLOW
and steady wins the race. However, it does not require a high degree of common sense to understand that slow and unsteady ends up nowhere. This is a point which Indian planners should keep in mind while analysing the ramifications of the United Nations Development Programme's annual Human Development Index [HDI]. It is an interesting and useful exercise which the UNDP carries out for monitoring the relative rate of progress of member countries. As of today, India has not done too badly. Last year it was ranked 128th on the HDI which includes measures of well-being based on literacy levels, life expectancy, gender disparities and incomes. The latest report shows the country inching up 13 places to finish at 115. Among the neighbours India is ahead of Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, languishing at the 127th, 129th and 132nd positions on the HDI. However, its tiny neighbour in the South, Sri Lanka, and the giant in the North, China, have secured double digits positions, 81st and 87th. India obviously has a lot of catching up to do for it to emerge as a serious player for the top honours at least in South Asia. The competition for the top slots has become extremely stiff. Canada, which set a unique record of being counted as the best country in the world for five consecutive years has been pushed to the third spot. Norway has built up a useful lead over Australia now occupying the second spot on the development chart. Of course, it would take India at least half a century for being counted among the top 10 countries of the world. However, without sustained and focused strategies it may take even longer for closing the gap with the global leaders. It should take seriously the concern expressed in the UNDP report over the disparities in the spread of technologies both within the country and in relation to the progress made by other countries. It needs to step up research in key areas for combating the spread of malaria, AIDS and TB. It also needs to take more seriously its research efforts for producing pest-resistant and drought-tolerant varieties of staple food. UNDP has come up with an innovative suggestion for tackling the problem of brain drain. Employers should be made to pay a hefty amount of money as exit fee. It may not stop the process of brain drain, but at least help the country recover the amount it spends on the education and training of the students who manage to procure attractive job offers from off-shore employers. |
INDO-PAK SUMMIT BOTH the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and Pakistan’s military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, have made it impossible for me to stick to my resolve to give the Agra summit a miss until it actually takes place and to turn to other significant issues during the interval. The alarming situation in Manipur resulting in the Union Government’s piecemeal retreat on the recent extension of the Nagaland ceasefire, for instance, is too serious a matter to be ignored. So is the scandalous breach of the nation’s trust by the ill-named Unit Trust of India. However, the summit must take precedence over these and other grave issues. Sadly, for a depressing reason. Only the other day, General Musharraf had made the welcome statement that both sides must do all they could not to spoil the atmosphere for the summit. Since then, however, he has been doing precisely what he had warned against. His flip-flop over meeting the Hurriyat leaders somehow or the other, though disruptive enough, is a lesser problem. Some of the gratuitous and inexplicably provocative statements by him or on his behalf have vitiated the atmosphere much more. The worst of these was one by his Foreign Office alleging an orgy of “rape and molestation of women” by the Indian security forces in Kashmir. The official spokesperson in New Delhi repudiated the absurd Pakistani claim, of course, but the damage was done. The General has also dropped from his delegation his Commerce Minister, Mr Abdul Razak Dawood. This is a clear signal that his parleys with the Prime Minister would have nothing to do with trade though business communities on both sides want this to be taken up. As at the time of the Kargil war, so now, General Musharraf’s strategy is transparent enough. He wants the summit to be confined to just one issue — Kashmir, Kashmir, Kashmir and nothing but Kashmir. If Mr Vajpayee points out, as he is bound to, that the Kashmir issue, though clearly in need of being resolved, is but a part of the India-Pakistan relationship “in its entirety”, the Pakistani President would have ready answer. Echoing Ms Benazir Bhutto’s 1994 statement, with which she terminated the meetings between the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries, he is almost certain to say that unless the “core issue” was settled, no other matter could be discussed. In spite of this, the General would not want the summit to be declared a failure, for that would be against his own interest. He would want to make out that, their discussions having been inconclusive, the two leaders had agreed to meet again. He can then tell his country and the international community that he was the first Pakistani President to “force” India to hold talks on the “core issue of Kashmir” without being sidetracked by other issues. That this is not idle speculation but hard reality is underscored by the current crowing in Islamabad, that the international opinion in general and American pressure in particular have compelled Mr Vajpayee to invite General Musharraf to “discuss Kashmir”. It is this single-point agenda of the General that is casting a dark shadow on the summit, the first to be held after Lahore. Some of the consequences of the aggressive “Kashmir only” stance of Pakistan are already becoming clear. The idea of a joint Press conference by the two leaders after the summit is already as good as abandoned. The Indian side is discreetly advising the General to cool his ardour for holding a solo Press conference at Agra, too. A joint statement, if feasible, will be issued only on July 16 at the time of the visiting dignitary’s departure. Some may ask whether General Musharraf’s expectation of being able to convince his countrymen that he is the first Pakistani leader to put the “Kashmir dispute” as the overriding item on the agenda of India-Pakistan dialogue is realistic. The answer is yes. The people who believe that they won all their wars with India, including those in 1971 and at Kargil, would believe anything. The Pakistani belief in their victory in all wars is not an Indian invention. It was expounded and superbly documented in a series of four articles in a Pakistani daily, The News, in September 1999 “Four Wars, One Assumption”. The author was Altaf Gauhar, Field-Marshal Ayub’s virtual alter ego and later a respected editor and commentator who died a year after the Kargil war. What makes the fusillade of provocative, even offensive, statements emanating from the Musharraf regime all the more regrettable is that these have come in response to “positive and constructive” initiatives by the Prime Minister. Some of these gestures — aptly called parts of a “goodwill offensive” — are entirely unilateral. These include the release of Pakistani fishermen straying into Indian territorial waters; educational exchanges; easing the terms of trade and so on. The most imaginative and potentially most beneficial to the people on both sides is Atalji’s resolve to liberalise and humanise the visa system that is unspeakably harsh and humiliating at present. Where the Vajpayee government may be faulted is that if the purpose was to be nice to the Pakistani people, why had the Union Home Ministry issued an asinine circular only a little earlier? It had made it practically impossible for scholars, academics and journalists from Pakistan and even Bangladesh to take part in seminars in this country. Incidentally, relaxation of the visa system is likely to go through even if Pakistan does not reciprocate which is a great tribute to the Gujral Doctrine and its author, the former Prime Minister, Mr Inder Gujral. But then that is a different story. To revert to the main theme, Atalji’s decision to send the Director-General of Military Operations, Lieut-General G. S. Sihota, to Pakistan to initiate military and nuclear confidence building measures (CBMs) has also irked the General and his cohorts though they haven’t tried to obstruct General Sihota’s mission. To put in place measures of nuclear restraint is something international community is bound to applaud. This does not suit General Musharraf at all because it would “divert” attention from Kashmir more than somewhat. When the US Deputy Secretary of State, Mr Richard Armitage, was in Delhi recently he publicly stated that his country had a “problem” with Pakistan’s nuclear programme. Last week he gave an interview to a news agency in Washington in which he declared that America’s friendship with Pakistan in the past was based on “false assumptions”. What is more, he had made it clear that in the matter of lifting post-1998 sanctions, India and Pakistan could not be treated on the same footing. This annoyed Islamabad so much that it issued an official statement protesting against Mr Armitage’s remarks. Knowing that not only the USA but also other countries would welcome the Indian move for nuclear CBMs, General Musharraf has apparently chosen to be tough with the international community, too. If the Agra summit sought to project issues other than Kashmir, he seems to be saying, he wouldn’t mind wrecking the resumed dialogue. How does this country deal with the situation? Surely, Indian diplomacy, despite its several flaws of which being slow and reactive is one, has enough ingenuity and resilience. The Prime Minister has enough savvy and even more statesmanship to cope with every possible ploy of General Musharraf. But whatever may or may not happen at the Agra summit, there ought to be no let-up in Indian efforts to address the Pakistani people. There is no doubt that the dominant view in Pakistan coincides with General Musharraf’s “Kashmir or nothing” approach. But within that framework there are different strands of opinion amenable to reason. It was nice to see on a private TV channel, for instance, well-known Pakistani commentators and thinkers taking the line that Pakistan ought to abandon its insistence on a plebiscite in Kashmir. A young Pakistani said that economics rather than politics ought to set the pace for relations between the two countries. These elements need to be encouraged by concrete steps, taken unilaterally, if necessary. Nothing would electrify the subcontinent more or more quickly than if India were to open its doors fully to all Pakistanis wanting to come here. |
PM’s wideranging consultations PRIME
MINISTER Atal Behari Vajpayee has been having intense consultations over the last fortnight with a wide spectrum of public opinion on how to put the bedevilled Indo-Pak relations on an even keel. The list encompassed former Prime Ministers with the exception of Mr H.D Deve Gowda, leaders of all the political parties and groups in Parliament, erstwhile career diplomats who have been involved in talks with Pakistan and have served in the neighbouring country as high commissioners, editors of leading newspapers, academicians and intellectuals. Mr Vajpayee has spent at least 30 minutes with each of them, minutely studying their assessment of why things have come to such a pass. Some of these personalities who have been involved in track-II diplomacy with Pakistan gave detailed notes to the Prime Minister with their suggestions. One aspect which appears to have emerged in these heady encounters is that the Prime Minister should engage Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in extended one-to-one parleys at Agra on July 15 and 16. That way, it is widely perceived that the two leaders will be able to evolve a chemistry of their own for confidence building. It is widely believed that the direct interface between the two leaders without their delegations can help in breaking the ice. In such an ambience Mr Vajpayee and General Musharraf can take each other in their confidence and explain their compulsions in India and Pakistan. Can this bring about a thaw in the bilateral ties and reduce tension in South Asia? That is the million dollar question. Ajmer, Musharraf & Mughals The famous dargah at Ajmer, the final resting place of India's most revered sufi saint, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, has been attracting the ruler and the ruled ever since it came into being in 1236. It was on March 16 that year the sufi saint died at Ajmer at the age of 97 and the shrine came up soon. When Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf along with his better half visits it on Monday he will have established a sort of connection with the Mughal rulers of the subcontinent. The Mughals began evincing unusual interest in the upkeep of the dargah after Emperor Akbar's historic visit in 1562. What followed his decision were some moving songs he heard at Midhapur, near Agra, at a programme presented by certain travelling musicians. The devotional compositions were in praise of the Khwaja. The birth of Akbar's son, Salim, on August 30, 1569, after special prayers for the purpose by another well-known Chisti saint, whose mortal remains lie buried at Sikri, in the vicinity of Agra, heightened his interest in Ajmer. The reason being that the Sikri saint, Shaikh Salim Chishti, was a follower of the Ajmer Khwaja. Akbar not only adopted the name Salim for his "ja-nasheen" but also made a special thanksgiving visit to Ajmer in February, 1570, covering the entire distance on foot. His interest did not remain confined to making pilgrimages to Ajmer. He also built a grand mosque with red stones. Today it is called Akbari Masjid. Akbar's successor, Jahangir, was no less devoted to the Ajmer dargah. He donated, besides other things, a big cauldron (degh) for preparing food enough for as many as 5000 pilgrims. However, this "degh" was smaller than the one presented by Akbar. Shahjahan and Aurangzeb continued the Mughal patronage. Both built a mosque each. In the process Ajmer acquired a special political significance. General Musharraf's interest in the Ajmer dargah has brought it to the cetrestage again. There is no harm in using it for reducing the bitterness between India and Pakistan. Wildcard creates history Never in the history of the Wimbledon tournament, or for that matter any grand slam championship, has a wildcard entry been able to lay his hands on the glittering trophy. But Goran Ivanisevic, one of the most colourful characters on the tennis circuit, now at 29 in the twilight of his career, rewrote all history books of the most prestigious tennis tournament of the world to emerge winner, when he outplayed third seed Pat Rafter, who had the support of a very vociferous crowd on centre court, in a cliff-hanger five-game affair which had the capacity on its toes right through the match. The wildcard is a ‘‘favour’’ granted by the organisers of a tournament to an unqualified player to take part. And Goran made full use of the wildcard to lay his hands on a trophy whose history goes back 114 years. Ranked 125th in the world at the start of the championship, the centre court of the All-England Tennis Club was not unfamiliar territory for the Croatian, who had earlier entered the men’s singles final of the tournament on three occasions — in 1992, 1994 and 1998. But on all these occasions the crown eluded him. So indifferent had been his form this year that he thought of giving up the game, plagued as he was with a nagging shoulder injury. Goran, who dedicated his victory to basketball star Drazen Petrovic, who died in a car crash in 1993, was not even considered by the bookmakers as a possible winner when the tournament began a fortnight ago. His last title came in Split in 1998 and since then he had done little of note. But he proved all the tennis pundits wrong. The final tie against Rafter should go down in the annals of the tournament as one of the most closely fought title matches as fortunes swung from side to side. His 21 tournament victories have brought Goran more than $ 18 million, but he will definitely savour the paycheque of $ 703,000 which he picked up for his two-week effort in London. But more than the money the return of self-confidence will help the tennis world see more of Ivanisevic in the months to come. |
Urban woman has no time to eat AT one time, elaborate meals used to be savoured at leisure by entire families without a care for calories or diet control. Not so any more. Women, particularly working women in urban India, today have very little time. No time to dream, think or even to breathe. Experts lament that the time to eat does not even appear on their daily schedule. “Having no time to cook is not a serious problem, but having no time to eat is alarming,” says a nutritional specialist. The consequence is that the women are increasingly suffering from a lot of nutritional deficiencies. There is an alarming escalation in the incidence of mineral related problems, obesity, anaemia, osteoporosis and chronic degenerative diseases such as cardiovascular problems and diabetes, say Ms Louis Lagace and Ms Jyoti Gulati in their book The nutritional challenge for women. The same view is echoed by medical practitioners. Requirements of nutritional value changes in the body with age. Anita, 25, a lawyer, is gaining weight and feeling less energetic. She has trouble concentrating, specially in the afternoons. The last blood test of Monica, a 45-year-old successful businesswoman shows excessive cholesterol and iron deficiency. She can barely keep herself going until the weekend. In their work, Legace and Gulati vividly bring out how changing lifestyles have altered the eating habits of urban middle class women in India. As in the West, the diet of Indian women is increasingly being conditioned by the fear of being overweight, busy work schedules and the pressures of life in modern cities. The authors have proposed a unique eating strategy to maintain health. Their prescription of daily diet is to provide enough of three essential nutrients — iron, calcium and magnesium — which in turn replenish other minerals and vitamins. “Women are eating less food and less nutritious foods. You cannot necessarily eat more food but you can make wiser food choices. To do this, you need to buy fresh, healthy foods that have undergone minimum transformation by the food industry,” says Rashmi Gupta, an ayurveda consultant and diet specialist. “Consider food as health investments and pick the ones that give you the highest return. Look for more foods rich in calcium, magnesium and iron,” nutritionists say.
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Toxic metals in food CERTAIN metallic contaminants — arsenic, mercury, nickel, lead, antimony, cadmium, chromium etc — in different foodstuffs accumulate in body tissues and thereby produce illness. Green leafy vegetables have been found to contain lead, chromium, arsenic, mercury & nickel. Turmeric samples contained arsenic, cadmium & lead. The presence of metallic contaminants in cooking utensils and in food containers has been a subject of controversy. Glass, stainless steel and tin are not harmful to health as these are practically insoluble. Only acid foods dissolve some of the tin and they should be transferred to another vessel, although there is no harmful effect. However, every care is required to ensure that food is free from metallic contaminants. The canning industry has been taking extra precaution to devise containers for canned foods so that the food is not contaminated and is safe for human consumption. But even the most secure containers cannot provide 100 per cent protection against insidious smells & taints. The presence of container-generated taints in raw materials, food & packaging materials, in many cases, make them unfit for use. The main source of such problems is the group of chemicals -chlorophenols and their metabolites, chloroanisoles. Non-refrigerated foods are often transported in general containers with timber floors. The absorbent nature of timber stimulates the microbial conversion of chlorophenols to chloroanisoles. Therefore, extreme care is required for using general purpose containers for transporting foodstuffs and packaging materials. Arsenic poisoning is a public health hazard. Over one million people spread over six districts in West Bengal have been victims of arsenic poisoning through potable water. The poor in rural areas suffering from malnutrition are the worst affected. The presence of arsenic in ground water at different places has been responsible for contaminating drinking water. It is reported that the level of arsenic contamination was 50 times higher over the safe level of 0.01 mg/litre prescribed by the WHO. This contamination has been spreading. If there is no check, more than 21 million people in West Bengal are likely to be affected from arsenic poisoning by 2005. Arsenic accumulation in the human body produces ill-effects like sores on their hands & feet, loss of apetite and discoloured pigmentation on their skin. There is a need to educate people that treatment of water with alum & bleeching powder is the cheapest method to remove arsenic from drinking water. Aluminium, which was earlier considered as harmless, is reported to have neurotoxic effects at abnormally high levels. The cumulative effect of aluminium has been receiving serious attention because of its wide use in cooking utensils. Cooking in aluminium utensils under acidic conditions liberates about 200 ppm (parts per million) of aluminium in presence of one ppm of flouride which is the permitted level. Therefore, cooking or prolonged storage in an aluminium ware of foods containing larger amount of flouride is a great risk as it could easily release more than 100 ppm of aluminium. Lead contamination of food has been on the increase due to pollution from industry & automobiles, and has been posing a serious threat to health. Much worse, on inhalation, organic lead emitted from cars, gets easily absorbed in brain, liver, kidney & blood, which becomes a cumulative poison leading to brain damage, muscular paralysis, convulsions and even death. The risk from these metallic contaminants is thus widespread and adequate precautions are required for survival. There is a greater need for a campaign against industries releasing untreated & toxic effluents. |
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The energy crisis POWER cuts normally appear with the onset of summer. Why in a country like India where everything is in surplus power cuts are exceeding. Various organisations have organised seminars on “how to manage energy crisis.” Indian Oil Corporation has always stressed the need to make optimum use of energy. The Punjab State Electricity Board has always laid stress on the gap between demand and supply of power. According to Er Kirpal Singh, Member Operations, P.S.E.B., the gap touches as high as 20-22 per cent during the peak hours. This gap is expected to increase with the increase in population and urbanisation. Nowadays, in advanced countries, the degree of richness is judged by the amount of energy utilisation per head. If we want to compete with these advanced nations, we must enhance our energy generation by tapping different unconventional energy resources. During the last two decades people have tried to use solar energy in lighting streets, running tubewells and heating water. The solar energy is recovered by using solar cells (voltaic cell). In this process efficiency is low and cost is quite high. This is why this process has not been widely used. Recently the Punjab Government tried to generate power in sugar industry by installing power station based on bagasse (waste to sugarcane). In this process efficiency is quite low (20-30%) and problems of pollution and handling the large amount of ash are acute. In our country when fossil fuels are depleting in quality and quantity, the best way to meet the challenge of energy crisis is to generate energy from agriculture wastes, city waste and animal waste by its bio-degradation. During the bio-degradation we get biogas and manure and there is no pollution or bulk handling problems in this process. Biogas so obtained can be used for domestic purposes or for generation of power. By doing so we are not only generating burning gas or manure but all the ingredients are being returned to earth for its requirements. In addition this will provide: pollution free atmosphere. The city waste will be usefully utilised. The need for petro products will decrease and thus save the foreign exchange. The project can easily be managed at the village level and will provide employment to village boys. The installation cost will be low and the process is environment friendly. It will result in better health of the citizens. It has been reported that in Britain the Institute of Arable Crops Research is trying to evaluate the use of fast growing grasses as a source of renewable energy. |
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Accept yourself as you are LIFE
is the most precious gift of nature. Love each day of life. Nothing is more highly prized than the value of each day. Make the most of it. Live each present moment completely and the future will take care of itself. We live in moments, not in centuries. Every day we should wake up to the eternal miracle of life with its limitless possibilities, its sense of wonder and hope. Prefer action to abstraction. Problems should be solved, not shelved. Face life and its upheavals around you. Be active and tirelessly dynamic. Grow though work. Expand while striving. Don’t underestimate your potential. Most of us think that we know our limits. But much of what we ‘know’ is not knowledge but belief — erroneous, self-limiting belief. Self-limiting beliefs are the biggest obstacle to high-level performance. Compete with yourself not with others. You are your own best pace setter. Always keep your discrimination alive. Living is an art, the skill of having enthusiasm for life. Napolean said, “Men grow old quickly on the battle-field.” They do so in life too if they are not careful. People grow old when they lose enthusiasm for living. Enthusiasm and zest for life should never ebb. It should progressively increase and grow more meaningful despite difficulty or age. Enthusiasm makes ordinary people extraordinary. It makes you lit up from inside — alive with a million batteries. Enthusiasm, not apathy, makes the world go. What we love in life is the key problem. If we love money, then our values become materialistic. If we love power, then our aggressive instincts become dominant. If we love God, our whole perspective on life changes. God brings cosmic reassurance as well as fear. It is the sense of a distant cloaked observer, that is eerie. Accept yourself as you are. Be competent enough to take your own decisions. Choose your own direction. Act or do not act, but do not ‘hedge’ or compromise. Do not take half action. Tackle any hiccup and get back on the road. People usually have greater control over their lives and their environment than they realise. Many of us do not exercise that control and become rudderless. No matter what our circumstances, the manner in which we think and react to them is an area in which we can exercise total control. Our response should be situation dependent rather than ego or emotion dependent. The human body has unlimited powers and wonderful potential. An overwhelming majority of human beings do not realise what they possess and hence the power lies dormant. Sustained anger, hostility and unresolved conflicts in the unconscious mind can make us physically ill. When we are tormented by guilt, racked by anxiety, exhausted by unresolved hate, it is because we do not know the truth about ourselves. We have to remove the camouflage, the self-deception, the rationalisation. It is essential to bring unconscious conflicts into conscious mind where reason can deal with them. Freud said “Reason is a small voice, but it is persistent”. Once insight is gained, the cure can begin. Locked in the unconscious of each of us are elemental forces of love, longing, lust and hatred that have haunted and inspired the human race from the beginning. Most of our troubles in life are self created, caused not by conditions or by other people but by ourselves. We suffer more from our opinions than from events. Ultimately the only power for which we should aspire is that which we can exercise over ourselves. For Karl Marx, happiness was to fight. Picasso advocated “Lust for Life”. He once described optimal life as “Fighting everyday and making love every night”. Mind, body and the emotional system are closely aligned. There is need for reprogramming our inner tapes. All personality lies on a continuum between excess and insufficiency. G.B. Shaw said “Never fear to use yourself up. The great elixir of life is to be thoroughly worn up before being discarded on the scrap heap”. What survives is that which easily adapts to change. Nature’s tendency is to balance extremes. On the ecological plane, nature pulls down species that grow too dominant and carefully supports that are fragile. Dinosaurs have disappeared. Rabbits survive. On the atomic level, the balancing can be observed in the way over-charged particles seek out their opposites to stabilise their existence. On the social plane, individuals who attempt to dominate others trigger a natural psychological response from society. Clever strategies trigger their own cunning responses. Unbalanced individuals and energies are not stable and their time as such quickly passes. All reality is in the process of change. All processes cycle in the direction of their opposites — life to death, positive to negative, energy to matter and back again. Everything depends on thinking. Right thinking leads to right action. The timid never find their true selves. Frightened people never learn. Success depends on the courage to go after opportunity. Man can achieve nothing unless he has understood that he must count on no one but himself. Usually people mark their own bad luck by regularly getting trapped in self-defeating attitudes and behaviour. What we regularly encourage and consistently cultivate in our mind determines our character and
ultimately our destiny. Govern your mind wisely by dwelling upon the positive aspects of life. Make life beautiful and interesting. Start a Romance with life. Two things that trouble humanity are loneliness and need. Tackle them effectively. Make life a rainbow of fulfilled desires, dreams and beliefs and not a chronicle of sadness, shadows and sins. Celebrate life. Osho Rajneesh rightly said “Life’s aim is itself — more life, deeper life, higher life, but life always. There is nothing higher than life”. |
Behold, the dark clouds melt away, That gathered thick at night and hung so like a gloomy pall above the earth! Before thy magic touch, the world Awakes. The bird in chorus sing. The flowers raise their star-like crowns Dew-set, and wave thee welcome fair. The lakes are opening wide in love Their hundred-thousand lotus-eyes To welcome thee, with all their depth. Ah hail to thee, thou Lord of Light! A welcome new to thee today, O Sun! Today thou shedest Liberty! Bethink thee how the world did wait, And search for thee, through time and clime. Some gave up home and love of friends, And went in quest of thee, self-banished, Through dreary oceans, through primeval forests, Each step a struggle for their life or death; Then came the day when work bore fruit, And worship, love and sacrifice, Fulfilled, accepted and complete. Then thou, propitious, rose to shed The light of freedom on mankind. Move on, O Lord, in thy resistless path! till thy high noon o'erspreads the world. Till every land reflects thy light, Till men and women, with uplifted head, Behold their shackled broken, and known, in springing joy, their life renewed. — Swami Vivekananda. * * * I believe it to be possible for every human being to attain to that blessed and indescribable, sinless state in which he feels within himself the presence of God to the exclusion of everything else. — Mahatma
Gandhi, Young India, * * * The one in whose search Thou goest to Kaba and Kailash That beloved Lord dwelleth In thy heart, sayeth Ravidas. — Guru Ravidas |
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