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| Friday,
August 10, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Disturbed
enough to act? America’s
goodwill gesture |
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Hari Jaisingh
Learning
together
‘Mail
runners’ going strong in HP
Black
and white: will the twain ever meet?
Indian
soldier is treated as ‘gun fodder’
|
Disturbed enough to act? THE latest incidents of killing of civilians belonging to the minority community in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan-trained groups of terrorists has forced the Centre to exercise the last option available to it, that of extending the provisions of the Armed Forces (J and K) Special Powers Act, 1990, to Kathua, Doda, Jammu and Udhampur. To help supplement the efforts of the Central forces to deal effectively with the highly volatile situation Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah announced that all the six districts in Jammu were being declared as disturbed areas with immediate effect. The package of additional measures announced by Union Home Minister L.K. Advani in the Lok Sabha on Thursday provided additional evidence that the Central Government might at last show the kind of firmness for dealing with the Pakistan-instigated proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir which it should have displayed a decade ago when terrorism had just raised its ugly head in the valley. To say that the situation is extremely grim in the state may sound like an understatement in the context of the agony the civilian population has been made to undergo because of the apparent lack of determination by the Centre to evolve an effective policy for rooting out all forms of terrorism from Jammu and Kashmir. On hindsight it may not be wrong to say that the series of mistakes which India made in dealing with an unreasonable and belligerent Pakistan began with the signing of the Simla Agreement and ended with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's hawkish posturing at the Agra summit. In fact, the first mistake was technically made by Jawaharlal Nehru when he stopped Indian troops from recapturing the Indian territory called Azad Kashmir by Pakistan. Be that as it may, the immediate concern, as reflected in the seeming harsh measures announced by both the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government , is evidently to prevent a communal backlash in other parts of the country. Make no mistake that the incidents of targeted killing of civilians from just one community is part of Pakistan's sinister objective of spreading communal tension elsewhere in the country. The provisions of the Disturbed Areas Act and the one giving special powers to the Army should be used effectively and judiciously for stamping out militancy and not for harassing civilians. It is important to emphasise this point because in the past members of the security forces have been found involved in abusing the special powers rather than using it for giving a sense of urgency and focus to the campaign for rooting out militancy from Jammu and Kashmir. It must also be remembered that the special laws have been in force in the valley since 1990. However, instead of containing terrorism in the valley their inept use has resulted in the malaise spreading to the Jammu belt. In the overall context both the Centre and the state government have much to explain. One, why have they not been able to draw up a strategy for nipping the Pak-inspired bloody mischief at the LoC itself? Two, does not Mr Advani's statement that henceforth the Home and Defence Ministries would work in tandem in Jammu and Kashmir read more like an admission of failure to have done so much earlier rather than the unveiling of "the ultimate plan" for rooting out terrorism from the state? |
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America’s goodwill gesture TRADE
relations with the USA received a boost on Wednesday when it restored the zero-duty import scheme to 42 items from India. Among them are jewellery, leather goods and carpets. These are the commodities in which this country enjoys a clear advantage both in terms of quality and price. Exporters will save as much as $540 million as customs duty but the real value of the goods will be much more, very much more. There are about 60 more items out of the generalised system of preference (GSP), a typical US innovation to encourage imports from developing countries. There are still nearly 60 items outside this system and among them pharmaceuticals, chemicals and agro-products. The first two actually triggered the withdrawal of the GSP concession. Indian laws enforce only process patent and not product patent. It means that local companies can produce the same product without the fear of punishment for violation of patent laws if they followed a different process. And Indians, gifted as they are in copying others, started manufacturing and exporting drugs and chemicals at very low prices since they spent very little on research and development. The USA, always edgy on “free” trade, had often banned imports of these two items for short periods only to lift it later, all the while demanding that India should amend its Patents Act. When there was no action, the USA withdrew GSP concessions from about 100 items. Revealingly, it now promises to free all remaining items if the Indian Parliament passes a new patents law to its satisfaction. Excluding agro-products from the GSP is a pressure tactic. It wants a reciprocal arrangement. It wants India to throw open its gates to import of grains, meat and dairy products. Dollar for rupee, the US produce is a third of the price of that of India and American farmers, very small in number, exercise enormous emotional influence on all political parties. Thus the American insistence on unhindered import of agricultural items is understandable. So is India’s stiff resistance. If this country gives in, the rural part will lie in ruins and nearly three-fourths of Indians live there and elect their rulers. This is a ticklish issue and a temporary patch-up is possible but not a long-term solution. The importance of the US announcement made in New Delhi by US Trade Representative (US version of Commerce Minister) Robert Zoellick goes beyond commerce. It proclaims that this country is a leading trading partner and one that can play a key role in building a compromise between the desires of the developing world and the demands of the industrialised West. Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran grabbed this opening to voice the collective voice of the Third World. To make this real he has to do a lot of travelling before the Doha (Qatar) ministerial meeting in November. |
Government lacks political will A number of disgusted and angry persons ask me: what is the Government of India's policy on Kashmir? How can we tackle Pakistan and pin it down for spreading terrorism in the valley and beyond while pursuing soft policies towards Islamabad? Is the massacre of Kashmir's civilians a non-event for the civilised Western world that reacts sharply to such happenings otherwise? Is this not a sign of the government's failure to arouse the conscience of the global community against Pakistan-engineering barbaric acts at world fora? Where are oft-talked about counter-terrorist strategies? Why can't we identify and eliminate Islamabad-aided-and-abetted militants? Are we not overstretching our tolerance and patience? Hasn't the time come to strike at the terrorists' training camps run by Islamabad? The people's anger is genuine and deep-rooted. The Jammu railway station carnage has only added to their disgust. They openly ask: Where is Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani's proactive policy? "If this is his performance, then he should cease to see himself as the Sardar Patel of today's India", a hardliner on Pakistan told me in Delhi after the recent killings in Doda, Kishtwar and Jammu. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee says that there can be no improvement in relations with Pakistan unless Islamabad stops aiding and abetting cross-border terrorism in Jammu and
Kashmir. He told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday: "The way innocent persons are being killed in terrorist activities, it cannot be called freedom struggle. They are blatant acts of terrorism." Very brave words indeed! But mere rhetoric cannot crush terrorism. This task requires will power, determined efforts and guts. The people want action, not brave words. Unfortunately, we have acquired the reputation of being a nation of talkers. Action, if any, tends to be either slow or lopsided, if not scandalous. For, officially we seem to thrive on scams and scandals. No wonder, even the economy is on the slidedown. It has been hit by officially-blessed economic terrorists! I am saying this in anger and disgust but in full senses. There has to be serious thinking and action for effectively tackling the basic socio-economic and political problems facing the nation. Apart from eliminating terrorists, we have to get rid of crooks and the corrupt operating freely in the corridors of power. We cannot accept the proposition: make money while the nation bleeds! It is high time the BJP-led NDA government will have to come out of its small shopkeeper's mentality. The nation's interests must not be bartered away on the retailer's scale! The people expect the Prime Minister to face the problems boldly and squarely. He has reached a stage in national life which leaves him no choice but to move on, swiftly and with clear focus and priorities. He has to look around and see why India is lagging behind vis-a-vis China and other developing countries even on the economic front. There is something seriously wrong with the quality of our governance and management of problems. "As it is, there is no threat to Mr Vajpayee's government. Still, ironically, India has no government worth the name!" These remarks by our columnist Inder Malhotra sum up the state of the nation, whether it comes to the economy or the handling of terrorism. Militancy in Kashmir, for that matter, is not an isolated phenomenon. It is a deep-rooted conspiracy hatched by anti-India forces with short-term and long-term strategies to grab Kashmir by the gun. They have resorted to the time-tested guerrilla tactics against soft targets. And the national leadership has yet to find viable answers to meet this menacing challenge. Any feeling of helplessness will be unjustified. As a nation, we are capable of handling the complexities in Kashmir and across the Line of Control provided we coolly work out our strategies in an integrated manner, act firmly and not at cross-purposes. Mr Prime Minister, we have to learn to act and not just react and later say sorry to the nation for the militants' barbaric acts! First of all, it is absolutely essential to mobilise the requisite political will to take on the problem head-on. Two,
national consensus needs to be evolved on broad parameters of policies in all related areas. Three, once a comprehensive policy is firmed up, the armed forces must be given a free hand operationally and made accountable for their performance in achieving time-bound targets. Four, the elected state government of Dr Farooq Abdullah has to be fully backed up and categorically asked to improve its house-keeping substantially and qualitatively. It is necessary to have full faith in the persons worthy of trust while keeping a watch and monitoring their performance. Trust is not a matter of politics and manipulation. There has to be a degree of consistency in what we do and decide not to do. Five, the message to all political groups in Kashmir should be clear and firm: either get into the mainstream of India's established democratic process or get lost. They cannot enjoy the fruits of freedom and democracy here and go on destroying India's secular fabric. Six, a massive programme needs to be launched in Jammu and Kashmir aimed at faster economic revival, the people's welfare and generation of jobs for the youth. This can be done, notwithstanding past failures. The benefits of Jammu and Kashmir's subsidised economy must percolate down to the poorest of the poor Kashmiri and not remain confined to a few hundred families. Seven, a modern and secular system of education is the need of the hour in tune with Kashmir's long-standing secular tradition. The Kashmiris are not communal. Islamic fundamentalism in the valley got promoted because of the dubious game played by some politicians for their personal ambition at the prompting of certain foreign forces, particularly Pakistan. Ironically, it was Sheikh Abdullah who encouraged the setting up of questionable madrasas to promote his politico-religious designs. Eight, the intelligence set-up needs to be thoroughly overhauled under a unified command. Whatever steps taken so far in this regard have proved to be inadequate. Right information will begin to flow once we give the right signals and exhibit determination to handle the problem of militancy. This requires sustained efforts and not half-hearted measures. Looking at the Kashmir problem in the larger national framework, it is necessary that the country should not be guided by politicians with regard to religion; nor by parties based on a communalised religious thrust. For, they change their stances as and when exigencies demand. In fact, most politicians twist the established secular ideology to suit their political and sectarian goals. In his book "Bewildered India: Identity, Pluralism, Discord", Prof Rasheeduddin Khan of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, holds that the trouble with the much-publicised Vedantic ideal of equal respect to all faiths (sarva dharma samabhava) is that it has led to an attempt "at fusion of religious symbols, idioms, and social rituals, which has meant in effect reconciliation of multiple communalism, promotion of multiple obscurantism, universal superstition and mixing of all mythologies". In fact, the politicians, who are generally ignorant on most matters, had not only confused the people but also made the usual process of adjustment — political and social — impossible. They are responsible for reducing every complex problem to simplistic terms and rituals: for example, with respect to the reading of scriptures of all religions at state functions as a symbol of the ethos of Indian unity and fraternity, Professor Khan says: "There can be no more spurious interpretation of secularism than this." He further states that such an interpretation does not take into account the basic difference in approach of Hinduism and Semitic religions. While the eclectic perception of Vedantic Hinduism is based on the essential unity of all religions, the dogma of Semitic religions like Islam and Christianity condemns eclecticism as heresy, he adds. Professor Khan goes on to state that emphasising the ethical and humanistic dimensions of the Semitic heritage is to ignore the more appealing (to Muslims) dogmatic and ritualistic aspects. According to him, "a more relevant strategy" is to emphasise the civic-secular rational ideology of political culture and statecraft and leave the question of reconciliation of religions and belief patterns to voluntary social action and accommodation". But this is not a course favoured by politicians. Professor Khan takes to task majority communalism but does not spare minority communalism either. He stresses that communalism of the minority manifests itself in "separatism, exclusivism, withdrawal and anarchism". Islamic fundamentalism of the Taliban type is again threatening the basic ethos of Indian society. ("Kashmir: A Tale of Shame", UBS Publications). The Muslims in India should unite in a big way and forcefully condemn the outrages of terrorists. Their silence could encourage the militants to go on merrily with their agenda. Terrorism is not a communal issue. We must not forget that the militants have not spared even Kashmiri Muslims! Militancy and fundamentalism pose a serious threat to the very existence of human civilisation. General Pervez Musharraf too will soon realise this. But, I'm afraid, it might be too late then. |
Learning together “PAPA, after retirement what?” asked our son when he learnt about the last day of my classroom contact. I told him about my aspirations, hitherto dormant, which I said I could perhaps fulfil when I didn’t have to worry about the course work. I wished to read. I told him. Will Durant’s Story of Civilisation, from the first volume to the last. A little diffidently, I added. I wanted to acquire some basic understanding of the cyberworld as well. For the family reunion on Divali he came along with his wife and proclaimed in the evening that just the next day he would get the computer installed. And that is precisely what he did when he called someone to get us the system with a printer. The same table at which he used to do his school and college home work, he now wanted to be used for the desktop, two speakers and the printer. When the system got operational, he called both of us, his mom and dad, to get ready with individual notebooks and pens. While he put me in his own charge, he asked his computer savvy spouse to take care of his mother. I noted down every point he mentioned without knowing anything about the actual operation. My wife did exactly the same, though her writing looked far neater than mine. Being a mechanical boob I was dreading the thought of sitting in front of the monitor and practising what he wanted me to practise. Anyway, with the manual in hand I faced the screen and missed my faithful Remington that had sailed the seven seas to reinforce my self-esteem. I missed those familiar green keys on which my fingers played with ease and confidence. Here was something alien that intimidated me at the outset. The “click” command failed to give me the sense of control. And I felt belittled by all those icons on the top till my son held my hand and asked me not to panic. To be honest, I didn’t panic as long the children were around. The young man would pull me out whenever I screamed for help. But in his absence I felt utterly bewildered by the wayward drift of the cursor. Fortunately a friend’s son in the adjacent house once heard my groans and angelically descended to navigate the course. But for him I would have cracked up or cursed my curiosity about information technology. Now that our two guides are away, my wife and I sit together going over the vital steps that we must take to access our e-mail or surf the internet. We used to sit together like this 40 years ago when we would compare the class notes in our flaming early twenties. Oblivious of the jealous little world, we couldn’t have visualised at that time that one day we would again sit that close to continue with the process of learning. What fascinates me in particular is e-mailing: the lady first commands me to click the name and then I click the name and the gizmo obeys the command just to bring out the plain truth of our home life: One who controls the man controls the machine as well. |
‘Mail runners’ going strong in HP E-mail may have made calls by the postman less frequent in Indian cities, but the “mail runners” are still very much in business in Himachal Pradesh. The mail runners are the only means of communication in some of the remotest pockets of the state. Locally called “harkara,” the runner in khaki, wearing the traditional Himachali cap and armed with a Biblical staff, a bell and a mailbag slung across the shoulder, is a welcome sight in inaccessible areas. The runners cover long distances on foot across isolated river valleys and high mountains covered with snow. Their territory begins where the motorable roads end. Without their services the mail may never be delivered in several remote villages perched atop ridges or nestling at the edge of icy brooks. The runners reach even ascetics living in caves. Home to some of the highest habitations on earth, several parts of Himachal Pradesh remain cut off for up to six months a year due to deep snow over the high passes. Under such conditions, it is the runner who risks his life to carry mail from one destination to another. The mail runners date back to the medieval ages when the Mughals ruled most of India. But not until 1854 were they adopted by the Indian postal service. The runner’s tinkling bell breaks the breathtaking silence of the high country. The tinkling sometimes sets off a commotion, as the runner’s arrival is a major event that breaks the monotony of everyday life in the high mountains. “His work, though, isn’t over with the mail delivery. He is also the roving reporter, the carrier of news from one village to another. It isn’t uncommon for him to be an adviser to the tribal folk of Lahaul, Spiti, Kinnaur, Pangi and Dodra-Kawar,” says 81-year-old Sukh Das, who worked as a mail runner for decades. The unlettered hill folk seldom let go of the runner immediately. They stop him to read out the letters, listening in rapt attention, often with their mouths agape. These mail runners, who form the backbone of the postal network in the difficult areas of the state, are ironically placed in the lowest rung of the department ladder — lowly paid and often denied several service benefits. Vijay Bhushan, Chief Postmaster General, Himachal Pradesh, told IANS: “There are 1,719 mail runners in the state, out of which only 65 are full time employees while the rest are part timers.” About the tough conditions they work under, Bhushan said: “It isn’t unusual for some of them to be buried under avalanches in the high mountains.” Clearly, despite e-mail, the development of roads, laying of railroads and air links, the postal service will need the services of runners for a long time to come.
IANS |
Black and white: will the twain ever meet? HAS the black man got a soul? No. For 1600 years, the Christian church held on this superstition. Today most of the white Christians are not free from such cant. Racialism is deep-rooted in the European psyche. More so among the English. It was sanctioned by religion, as also by custom. And it made no concessions to the less black. Or even to the yellow race. No wonder, the British people have rejected all forms of racial integration. If the battles of Bradford and of many other places in the UK proved anything, it is this: that the whiteman is not ready to accept the coloured peoples as his brothers. There is a queer logic in what he says: how can the British get on with blacks when they (the English, Scots, Welsh and the Irish) have failed to get on with each others? A pertinent question. But it is another story. Europe had two notions about men — that they are either free or unfree. Slavery of the “unfree” whites was rampant among the Greeks and Romans. The slaves came from the Slavic regions. Hence the word “slave”. But racism is different. It has to do with the blacks and the whites. It has a more hoary antiquity. One can go back to Noah’s curse. Or to the Bible, which says that the blacks were condemned to be slaves. This is what gave legitimacy to the slave trade. Lord Palmerston, the British statesman, has said of the slave trade that it was the worst crime in human history. President Clinton was ready to apologise. But the spirit of the slave trade is by no means dead. It is as alive in the streets of England and other places in the West as it ever was. The black man has been a plaything in the hands of history. Some want revenge. Some want reparations. And others want the wrong righted. “Britain is a nation in shock,” bemoans a British daily, for, it says, “among us are those with minds so warped and views so extreme, that they will plan and carry out cold blooded murder because of the colour of your skin.” Well, the British may be hunted down by similar men — not for the colour of their skin, but for what they did in history. And yet there were hopes of assimilation and homogeneity. There was Macaulay’s formula — English in all respects but colour. But it did not work. Why? Because the idea was to extinguish the identity of the minorities. Britain tried integration too. It accepted cultural differences. But the immigrants felt uncomfortable. Prof Bikhu Parekh, an authority on the subject, says: “It is not easy to bear the burden of differences, especially for the young. Differences draw attention to oneself, intensifies self consciousness, singles you out as an outsider, and denies one the instinctive trust and loyalty extended to those perceived to be one of us.” One, therefore, takes the safer route to attention by being great achievers. This is what the Jews did. Indians are the modern Jews. Multi-culturalism is the latest mantra. But the tax-payer is unwilling to support so many cultures. In any case, violence has become the order of the day in Britain against the minorities. Status and rights can be granted by law. But belonging calls for acceptance. No law can enforce it. A multicultural society calls for political unity without cultural uniformity. This is not easy to achieve. And there is no model to go by. Why do these Asians and Africans go to Britain? Because, says Lord Tebbit, former Chairman of the Tory Party, they want “to get away from their own countries and enjoy the benefits of this country.” Rubbish! It was poverty and unemployment which drove these people to seek a life elsewhere. For this, colonialism has much to answer. But what were they offered? Menial and hazardous jobs which the whites refused to do. There will always be such jobs and the need for lesser breeds to do them. “Enjoy” life? One does not “enjoy” life in the midst of racial hatred. Migration has become today a sophisticated form of slave trade. Industries and traders of the West need the migrants. But what of the people? They oppose all migrations. That is why racialism is more in the streets and not in the work places. Has Tony Blair an answer to all these problems? He has none, and is not likely to have one, for racialism is a deep-seated prejudice that has defied solution in the past two thousand years. America is, of course, the true “melting pot” of the races an expression coined by Emerson. He hoped that a new race, a new religion, a new literature, would come out of it. But the experiment failed as America failed to assimilate the African-American. A report by President Clinton’s Advisory Board on race laments that even after 130 years of “equal rights”, the whites are ignorant of the nature of the discrimination against the blacks. And after four decades of federal efforts at integration, there are “few spaces that black and whites occupy as equals”. The point is: racial integration has failed in the US. In Washington 96 per cent of black children attend segregated schools. Today, for all practical purposes, there are two civilisations in America — that of whites and of non-whites. Which makes me raise some relevant questions: 1. If the white Christians are unwilling to accept the non-whites as brothers and equals, why are the white missionaries engaged in conversion of the non-white peoples? 2. Pope John Paul-II wants to convert Asia into Christianity. Is he aware how these Asians are treated in the white world? South African apartheid is still the macabre example of what white Christians can do to non-white people. 3. What is this globalisation about unless it is to extinguish all other civilisations but the western? But what is the record of the western civilisation? Intolerance of other faiths, slave trade, genocide of the Red Indians, colonialism and imperialism, holocaust of the Jews, racialism and apartheid and so on. With these records, can we entrust the destiny of mankind to the West? Mere atonement for the crimes of the church is not enough. I think the church must work for a change of heart. Migration, as we have seen, creates its own problems. In 1965 there were 75 million migrants all over the world. Today there are more than 120 million. The number is growing by 15 millions by each year. Very few see any good in these migrations. More so of the refugees. America is a country of refugees. Hannah Amerndt says that the refugees have come to symbolise the violence of our times. America is a violent society. Some of the greatest pathologies come from these exiles and refugees. In the final analysis, the West and the whites must accept the diversity of the human race, its cultures and goals. It is wrong to universalise the experience of the whites or of America. There is nothing to suggest that the white race has been “chosen” for the further evolution of man. |
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Indian soldier is treated
as ‘gun fodder’ THE gallant Indian soldier is forgotten immediately after his heroic deeds. Every war is fought by him on an unequal footing. The Indian soldier had gone to all wars since Independence ill-clad and ill-equipped compared to his adversaries. The Kargil war was no exception. We are so ungrateful a nation that we find no time in forgetting these soldiers who die just for asking. Really, the Indian soldier is being treated as “gun fodder” by everyone. If it were not so, how could we forget some of the glaring injustices being done to him. A few examples are mentioned below: (1) The Punjab Government announced to grant ten acres of land to war widows of the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars. About 200 war widows have been ignored on the plea that they applied for land after the “cut off date”. Has the martyrdom of “the young soldiers” been washed off simply because these widows could not approach the bureaucracy in time? Is it a herculean task to amend the cut-off date? Can’t adequate money be given to these widows if land is not available? (2) Sapper Udai Singh, in recognition of his gallant deed in World War-II, was awarded the IDSM and allotted one “murabba” of land in west Punjab. He could not take possession of the land because of partition. The Punjab Government denies him the land on the ground that the ex gratia grant has been made to him. What a pity. Incidentally, the Punjab Government awards Rs 50,000 as ex gratia to the family of an employee who dies in harness — even if he commits suicide. What a strange comparison. (3) The Punjab Government illegally collects excise duty in lieu of octroi on liquor being sold in canteens. Instead of refunding the amount to the Army, the state government is spending it on its own projects and announces that the government is spending money from its revenues for the welfare of ex-servicemen and their families. The Indian Ex-services League has been forced to file a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against this injustice. Two years have passed and the Punjab Government has not found time to file a reply in the high court. So much regards it has for the judiciary. (4) The Punjab Government does not have any moral grounds to further collect excise duty in lieu of octroi and is still not taking any steps to stop further collection. (5) The land allotted to DSOI, Chandigarh, has been illegally taken over by the Punjab Government and money collected from excise duty in lieu of octroi is spent on it. To top it, bureaucrats of the Punjab Government want to control DSOI for ever. An illegal, ill-conceived and ill-timed organisation which did not exist at the time of allotment of land is formed to manage DSOI and is hoodwinking everyone, including the Governor. The Punjab Government and its bureaucrats have no locus standi and still do not want to hand over DSOI to the Army. (6) Our worthy Defence Minister announced at a religious congregation at Anandpur Sahib that “one rank one pension”, would be awarded in a few days. More than two years have elapsed and these “few days” are not over yet. The Defence Minister has resigned on some mercurial issue. Had he resigned on the “one rank, one pension” issue, he would have won the hearts of all ex-servicemen. These are a few glaring instances where the defence forces are conveniently being rubbed and robbed. There are other issues which are causing a lot of heart-burning amongst the ex-servicemen and war widows. |
Maharana of Dholpur HIS Highness the Maharana of Dholpur, General President, Punjab Provincial Sanatan Dharam Conference, was given a befitting reception at the Amritsar Railway Station when he was going to Lahore. Besides members of the Sanatan Dharam Sahba, Yuvak Sahba, and Mahabir Dal, there was a big crowd conspicuous among whom were Pandit Rajendar Misra, Vakil, Lala Moti Ram, President, Sanatan Dharam Yuvak Sabha, Lala Kanshi Ram of the Durgayana Committee, and others. |
The same thing looked at from one angle makes us lose our temper, and when viewed from another makes us laugh. Will it not be better if we neither become angry nor laugh. ***** It is man's habit to forget his own faults and see those of others. This naturally brings him disappointment in the end. ***** Untruth corrodes the soul; truth nourishes it. ***** He who is the dust of everybody's feet is near to God. ***** Do not think, speak or write without reflecting. Consider how much time could thereby be saved. ***** Experience is daily growing upon me that everything is attainable through silence. ***** If we stopped talking about useless things and talked of things that matter in as few words as possible, much of our time as well as that of others could be saved. ***** Guru Tegh Bahadur says: "The life which causes the least possible injury is simple life. That which causes no pain at all is pure life". Therefore, he alone practices true religion who does nothing evil. Is only that unclean which appears to the eye as unclean? If there is even a little dirt on what is white, we feel annoyed; but the black may have any amount of dirt on it and we care not at all! ***** We consider the black impure and the white pure. But black, in its natural setting, is as much a virtue; as white out of place, is a vice. — The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 80 ***** How little of you is in your will! Above your will how intimately are you related to all of us! In God we meet. — Swami Ramatirtha, In Woods of God Realisation ***** Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance. — Kahlil
Gibran, The Prophet |
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