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Thursday,
August 16, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Election
mode in J & K Stem cell
controversy |
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Power
realities EVEN though the reduction in power rates for various categories of consumers is bound to be appreciated by consumers, the Om Prakash Chautala government’s decision seems to be based on a populist consideration. The government does not seem to have made any serious examination of the consequences of its decision on the power sector and the economy as a whole.
The RAND
Corporation report
Press
Council gets a new chairman
Hot-headed’s
heart is at risk
Men
silent victims in sex war
Toilet
cleaners harmful : study
A mantra
for the modern man
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Election mode in J & K JAMMU and Kashmir is in an election mode. In his Independence Day address Prime Minister Vajpayee promised a free and fair election, thus squelching fears that the Centre may impose Governor’s rule in view of intensified terrorism. Significantly, he invited all Kashmiris to take part in the poll without any reservations. This is a powerful signal to the Hurriyat leaders and militants to join the democratic mainstream and establish their claim to popular support. The induction of three Ministers by Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah a day earlier proclaims that the state government has joined the battle. Anyway, election is due in the state in September since Dr Abdullah took over on October 8, 1996, as Chief Minister. What is then new is the commitment to hold an uncontaminated election and, more importantly, asking the separatist groups to flex their muscles. It is safe to speculate that the appeal will not be accepted and some excuse will be trotted out to explain away the negative response. This is obviously the logic behind the Prime Minister’s gesture. Also, it is the latest twist in the Centre’s policy on the terrorism-ridden state. The past approaches have flopped and the fervent hope is that this one will succeed. As for the rest of the Prime Minister’s speech, it was on expected lines. On the Agra summit he repeated what he told the Lok Sabha at the end of the debate on this subject. As is the new tradition, he unfolded a slew of measures for rural development. (The urban middle class and the rich are taken care of in the budget.) He carefully avoided mentioning about his past Independence Day proposals and what happened to them. (Not much.) Over the decades the Red Fort speech has evolved into a list of pious promises rather than a vigorous address to the people of the country on crucial issues of the day. Until the Rajiv Gandhi days the speech was always about the ills of society and the threats from external sources and cautioning the nation to be on guard. It was an electrifying moment uniting a “bewildering diversity of people”. And it seemed that it worked. That old tradition was revived by President Narayanan in his I-Day eve address. He eulogised democracy not as a concept but as a working and vibrant model. After a tingling academic but lucid exposition of democracy, he linked it with justice. A country cannot have a thriving democratic system if its dumb millions, the poor illiterate villagers, feel that they are denied fairplay. He pointed out that these people have become articulate and demanding. That was an old style I-Day speech and put the matter in proper perspective.
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Stem cell controversy HUMAN
history is replete with instances of the votaries of ethics opposing research in the field of medicine for reasons which had no basis in science and logic. Therefore, the noise opposing any further research involving human embryos in the USA is understandable. The lack of political support to what is called "stem cell work" may see American researchers being left behind in finding the "ultimate cure" for most forms of human ailments. As of today the advantage lies with British researchers working under a less restrictive and more predictable system that allows many forms of research on embryonic stem cells and cloning. In fact, British researchers are at least a decade ahead of the rest of the countries engaged in a similar scientific adventure which is expected to produce the mother of all cures for most ailments. The proposal for embryonic stem cell research was backed by the National Institutes of Health Committee in Britain in 1994. The US Congress, in sharp contrast to the supportive attitude of the British political leadership, has just begun to grapple with the issue and may end up framing such a fierce ban on human cloning that even therapeutic cloning may also be outlawed. Last month there was a public uproar in parts of the USA when a clinic in Virginia announced that it had created scores of embryos expressly for research. One reason for the British Parliament's more adventurous approach is that human embryo research and in vitro fertilisation have been intensely discussed since the birth in 1978 of Louise Brown, the world's first test tube baby. With this kind of a head start it was but logical for Britain to approve the setting up of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). The agency licences both fertility clinics and research institutions that study human embryos. Part of the work being done by HFEA should be of interest to the medical fraternity in India for making fertility clinics fall in line. The agency regulates details of clinical practices, such as how many embryos may be implanted in the uterus, and rules on knotty ethical issues such as whether a couple may choose the sex of their baby. It is allowed for only medical and not social reasons. As far as the American diffidence to backing stem cell research is concerned, it should be seen in the context of the permission for therapeutic cloning of embryos being abused for advancing the cause of human cloning. The fear may be exaggerated, but not entirely unfounded. However, where is the guarantee that lack of legal support to stem cell research will also prevent rogue medical scientists from secretly offering the dream of notional immortality to willing and moneyed individuals through human cloning? |
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Power realities EVEN
though the reduction in power rates for various categories of consumers is bound to be appreciated by consumers, the Om Prakash Chautala government’s decision seems to be based on a populist consideration. The government does not seem to have made any serious examination of the consequences of its decision on the power sector and the economy as a whole. The issue in question is whether the government has made a comprehensive study of the present power scenario and the likely impact of its decision on this critical sector of the economy. The state electricity board is in a mess. Corruption, leakages and poor quality of power supply characterise the power scenario in the state. Over the years, there has been no attempt by the state government to make a realistic appraisal of the power sector and take suitable measures to streamline it. The state government may have claimed that the effective rates of power will come down — ranging from three paise to 21 paise — following the abolition of the fuel surcharge on July 31. However, this is in no way a positive indicator of the efficiency of the power boards. The power situation could be the same in other northern states. But over the years, the scenario has deteriorated in Haryana because of various factors. There is no denying that the Chief Minister has a soft corner for the farmers. This is philanthropy but clearly philanthropy has no place in economics. Even international lending institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have made it clear time and again that users should be prepared to pay more for better quality of services. This is true of any sector of the economy. The Haryana Government’s decision goes against this basic principle. It is time the state government took effective steps to strengthen the state electricity board and other power utilities through better and effective management practices. It needs to infuse some professionalism into these units. There is also the need to check transmission and distribution losses. By the Chief Minister’s own admission, the line losses in Haryana are a whopping 41 per cent. It is not clear what the government has done to check this malady. Mr Chautala says that if these losses are brought down to 15 per cent, the cost of power would be “much less’’. Then why can Mr Chautala not show it in action? |
The RAND Corporation report HISTORY has a strange way of repeating itself when Republican Administrations assume office in Washington. The Pentagon affiliated RAND Corporation has a key role to play in this process as far as Republican Administration policies towards the subcontinent are concerned. When the Reagan Administration assumed office in 1981, an unknown analyst in the RAND Corporation, Mr Francis Fukuyama, produced a report in which he ordained that Pakistan should play a leading role in promoting American interests as a frontline state in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf. He even claimed that Deng’s China was more democratic than Indira Gandhi’s India. (Fukuyama, whom I met in Washington in 1981, had till then visited neither India nor China). His report became a virtual Bible for American policy makers in the Pentagon, the CIA and the White House. The Eisenhower Administration had reacted similarly to a RAND Corporation report in 1956. The assumption of office by the Bush Administration has been accompanied by yet another report of the RAND Corporation that focuses attention on India’s nuclear capabilities and emerging nuclear strategies. Unlike Fukuyama’s report, the latest RAND study is devoid of cold war imperatives. Written by well-known analyst Ashley Tellis, the report avers that while New Delhi does not currently possess or seek to build a ready nuclear arsenal, India does aim at creating a “force-in-being” comprising available but dispersed components: unassembled nuclear warheads under civilian control and dedicated delivery systems kept either in cold storage or in readiness, away from their operational areas. Tellis suggests that such a posture enables India to implement its no-first-use strategy by developing capabilities to retaliate with “certainty and speed” in the event of a nuclear threat. He argues that this strategy enables India to gain in security, stature and prestige while simultaneously exhibiting restraint. The RAND report realistically notes that it would be impracticable to seek to cap, or roll back, the Indian nuclear programme — an aim that many nuclear non-proliferation fundamentalists in the USA and elsewhere dearly cherish and retain. The study refers to Indian conventional superiority over Pakistan and China (in the theatre) and acknowledges that in the current circumstances the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons is remote. It also injects a note of realism in the policy debate in the USA by arguing that as there was never the remotest possibility of India, Pakistan and Israel acceding to the NPT, US non-proliferation policies worldwide have succeeded by getting countries like Iran, Libya and North Korea to be bound by NPT obligations. Tellis recommends that the USA should shift its regional strategy from the prevention of proliferation to the prevention of war. He suggests increased interaction with India on export controls and in encouraging New Delhi to evolve a deterrent that is “modest in size, surreptitious in nature and slow to be used”. India will necessarily have to analyse the size, sophistication and thrust of the nuclear arsenals and policies of others possessing nuclear weapons while evolving its own nuclear posture. There are indications to suggest that Pakistan has a nuclear arsenal at present comprising around 20-25 weapons of Chinese design, each with a 25-kiloton capacity. Given China’s assistance in providing Pakistan with an unsafeguarded plutonium plant in Khushab, it would be prudent to assume that the Chinese will also provide Pakistan with the designs for boosted fission and fusion weapons. Pakistan can use aircraft from its present fleet like the F-16s or Mirage-5s to deliver nuclear weapons. It can also use its Chinese supplied M-9 and M-18 missiles to target major population centres ranging from Delhi to Bangalore. China is today estimated to possess around 2500 nuclear warheads, with its nuclear arsenal increasing by 150 to 200 warheads annually. It possesses neutron weapons for tactical use and has a wide range of missiles that can target population centres in India. Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is totally under military control and the armed forces have a predominant say in nuclear policies. It is only natural for Pakistan to refuse to adopt a no-first-use strategy, given India’s conventional superiority. But it should also be evident that while some Pakistani Generals like Musharraf are by inclination adventurist, they have no suicidal tendencies. Even the champions of the qualities of head and heart of the Pakistani military establishment, like Prof Stephen Cohen, feel that the use of nuclear weapons by Islamabad will be the last resort against an Indian attack. It is likely to occur if important population centres in Pakistan are about to be overrun. China’s policies are dictated exclusively by its perceptions of national interests. China was a vociferous critic of the NPT and labelled the treaty as an instrument of super-power hegemony for nearly 25 years. Given its relatively weak nuclear arsenal, China also adopted a policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons. When the Cold War ended, China found the NPT a useful instrument to assert its great power status and proceeded to accept the treaty. By 1993 there were informal indications from China that as India was not a signatory to the NPT, its nuclear no-first-use and non-use pledges would not be applicable to New Delhi. It is imperative that as India fashions its future nuclear posture, there should be a clear and transparent understanding of what exactly Beijing’s nuclear policies are going to be. In its presentation on the “Evolution of India’s Nuclear Policy”, tabled in Parliament on May 27, 1998, the Vajpayee government asserted that “the challenge to Indian statecraft is balancing and reconciling India’s security imperatives with valid international concerns in this regard”. On August 17, 1999, the National Security Council Advisory Board presented a draft nuclear doctrine. The draft doctrine recommended that our nuclear deterrent should be based on “sufficient, survivable and operationally prepared nuclear forces” backed by “a robust command and control system, effective intelligence and early warning facilities” and, most importantly, “the will to employ nuclear forces and weapons” . Emphasis was laid on a strategic posture involving “no first use” of nuclear weapons. The board also recommended the negotiation of “appropriate nuclear risk reduction and confidence-building measures”. While the size, sophistication and operational readiness of our nuclear arsenal will depend largely on global and regional developments, there is merit in the recommendation of the RAND study about the need to evolve strategies that are sensitive to concerns about the risks of nuclear conflict. The Bush Administration has spoken about measures to reduce and de-alert its nuclear arsenal. We have repeatedly tabled resolutions in the United Nations about the need to globally de-alert and remove nuclear warheads from missiles. These are issues we need to discuss not only with the USA, but also with Pakistan and China. We should formulate practical measures to promote transparency and better understanding about nuclear policies. Pakistan is slowly realising that a resort to nuclear blackmail by continuously describing Jammu and Kashmir a “nuclear flashpoint” while, at the same time, refusing to discuss or adopt measures enhancing transparency, trust and confidence will only isolate it in the international community. It is unfortunate that there has been so little discussion in Parliament and the media about our evolving nuclear postures. Despite this public disinterest, it is heartening that apart from the planned acquisition of long-range strike aircraft like the SU 30 MKI and Airborne Early Warning Systems, we are also moving ahead in serialising the production of the Agni missile. We also need to consider the acquisition of suitable missile defence systems. We should, however, go about this effort in a discreet and low-key manner. We should be careful not to rush into large investments to develop systems for which we may have neither the financial nor technological capabilities. It needs to be remembered that even China has not been successful in developing a credible sea-launched nuclear deterrent. There is little point in living beyond one’s means. The writer is a former High Commissioner of India to Pakistan. |
Press Council gets a new chairman MR Justice K Jayachandra Reddy takes over as the new chairman of the Press Council of India at a crucial time in its history. A former Supreme Court judge, Justice Reddy had an impeccable record in the judiciary. He was born on July 15, 1929, at Thimasamudran in Cuddapah district of Andhra Pradesh. He brings with him over 45 years of experience in the legal profession. He enrolled himself as an advocate as far back as 1952, started practice in the Madras High Court and later in the Hyderabad High Court. He was the Additional Public Prosecutor of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 1966 and the Public Prosecutor in 1970. He was appointed Judge of the same court in 1975. Over the years, the Press Council has been playing a unique role in safeguarding the freedom of the Press. It has been entrusted with tasks such as promoting the freedom of the Press and independence of newspapers and news agencies, raising the professional standards of journalism, keeping under review any development which may interfere with the free flow of information and fostering a sense of responsibility and public service among all those involved in the profession of journalism. The importance of the Press Council can be gauged by the fact that there has been a steady increase in the number of complaints received both from the newspapers, news agencies and magazines and against the Press. The Press Council has evolved a code of ethics for journalists in conformity with the highest standards of journalism. True, the Press Council has no punitive powers to punish violations of the professional ethics or the encroachment on the freedom of the Press by the authorities. However, one cannot overlook the fact that the Press Council has been constituted essentially as an internal regulatory mechanism of and by the Press. Except during the 19 months of the Emergency in 1975-77, the Press in the world's largest democracy has been as free as in any other liberal democracy. On its part, the Press Council has played a valuable role in strengthening the rule of law by keeping the executive authority within the constitutional bounds and by exposing the acts of omission and commission. In the days to come, the Press Council has a challenging role to play in the light of the reported cases of brutalities on journalists allegedly perpetrated by the Tamil Nadu police. There is information drought in Tamil Nadu as the Jayalalitha government simply refuses to disseminate information to the Press, having closed all the normal channels of communication. Justice Reddy's assumption of office assumes special significance in this context. — V. Eshwar Anand A non-techy as Nasscom chief The new Chief of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), Mr Kiran Karnik, is not just an extraordinary manager. He has always been in search of a job full of excitement ever since he passed out from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, in 1968. When he gets the feeling of being a routine player at the organisation he steers, he quietly begins to look for a new pasture where he finds challenging opportunities. He loves being daring. When he accepted the NASSCOM offer after leaving Discovery India, Mr Karnik was fully conscious of the challenges ahead after the dotcom slowdown and the industry's expectations from him since his predecessor, the late Dewang Mehta, had led the 850-member software association with admirable success. In fact, these factors forced him to take keen interest in the NASSCOM assignment, though he is not a "techy" with an IIT stamp. Before his entry into the IIM portals he had been a student of physics at a Mumbai college. The association's selection committee found him the most suitable person for guiding the software and services sector because the management wizard has an exceptionally rich experience in the fields of media, communication and marketing. But for Mr Karnik it was an opportunity to give a new shape to the organisation under his command. He feels NASSCOM has to conquer new territories. It has to look beyond the familiar US market, to the European Union and elsewhere, for selling the India Inc brand aggressively. He will, however, be expected to show results in a situation when there are certain inbuilt handicaps. NASSCOM acquired a big name because of the boom in the software and services sector and Dewang Mehta's courage and determination, but it has a very poor organisational network. Mr Karnik admitted in a recent interview that it was his unending urge for excitement which brought him to the slow-moving ship of Discovery from the Indian Space Research Organisation. He knew that Discovery had the potential to turn into something its management had never thought before. Today its needs no
introduction. The enviable reach of its programmes has made it one of the most preferred advertising channels in India. Mr Karnik is basically a man of marketing. But his heart lies in reading and writing and he had plans to spend the rest of his life in this manner. In the meantime he was picked up by NASSCOM, which desperately needed a person with the qualities of head and heart he has. He can, however, continue having an affair with both management and writing at the same time. — Syed Nooruzzaman |
Hot-headed’s heart is at risk HOT tempered individuals who blow their top at the slightest provocation may have a higher risk of coronary heart disease than their less anger-prone peers who react angrily only in certain circumstances. “The study implies that having a personality trait, such as a proneness to anger, can place a person at high risk of heart disease and cause high blood pressure”, lead study author Janice E. Williams, of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said. The findings are based on data collected over an average 4.5 year period from nearly 13,000 middle-aged men and women. Six per cent of the individuals studied said they had a strong, angry temperament, Williams and her colleagues report in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Among those with a strong temper, individuals with normal blood pressure had a more than two-fold risk of heart disease than their less anger-prone peers. They were also more than twice as likely to suffer heart attack or heart disease-related death, the report said. Further, these fiery-tempered individuals with normal blood pressure had a heart disease risk similar to both their hot-tempered peers with high blood pressure and their less anger-prone peers with high blood pressure, study findings show. Williams notes that the results are convincing because none of the study participants had heart disease at the start of the study. “Thus, we can conclude that anger preceded the event (heart disease)”, she said. “These findings suggest that it is the intense volatile aspect of proneness to anger that has the more catastrophic consequences for cardiovascular health; thus, it is angry temperament, not angry reaction, that is the more potent link to coronary heart disease”, the authors conclude.
Reuters
How to report on suicides A panel of experts in behavioural science, suicide and the media has said reporters often inadvertently “romanticise” “or idealise” suicide, encouraging vulnerable people to identify with the victim and kill themselves. While the media alone cannot be blamed for this sad statistic, said Madelyn Gould, a leading researcher on “suicide contagion” from Columbia University in New York, nearly 50 studies over the past three decades showed reporting on suicides had a “substantial impact” on subsequent deaths. “Suicide contagion is real. Research finds an increase of suicide by readers or viewers when the frequency of the stories increases,” Gould told a news conference. Mental illness is a leading cause of suicides. “The media often look for simple explanations as the cause of a suicide, when in fact, the cause of an individual suicide is unvariably more complicated than a recent painful event such as the break-up of a relationship or the loss of a job,” said Herbert Hendin, medical director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Hendin said mental illnesses were treatable and if the media could convey that, this would educate those at risk that they could find help. The experts urged the media to be cautious in describing the method of suicide or to give detailed descriptions or pictures of the location or site of a suicide. Studies on in-depth interviews with those close to the victim found in their first, shocked reaction to the death, the account of why the person died was frequently unreliable. Dramatising the impact of suicide by speaking to grieving relatives and friends might encourage potential victims to see suicide as a way of getting attention. The experts also gave advice on language, urging journalists not to use the word suicide in a headline and to describe the victim as “having died by suicide” rather than “committing suicide”, which connoted criminal or sinful behaviour.
Reuters
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A “lazy and insidious’’ culture that allows women to demean and insult men without a whimper of male protest has taken hold in the feminist movement, renowned author Doris Lessing has told the Edinburgh Book festival in London. Men are the new silent victims in the sex war, “continually demeaned and insulted’’ by women without being able to respond, Lessing said. Lessing (81) who grew up in Southern Rhodesia — now Zimbabwe — became something of an icon to feminists for her stories set in colonial Rhodesia — best known of which is “The grass is singing’’ — and for her lifestyle. Young boys were being weighed down with guilt about the crimes of their sex, she said. “I find myself increasingly shocked at the unthinking and automatic rubbishing of men which is now so part of our culture that it is hardly even noticed... “Great things have been achieved through feminism. We now have pretty much equality at least on the pay and opportunities front, though almost nothing has been done on child care, the real liberation. “We have many wonderful, clever, powerful women everywhere, but what is happening to men? Why did this have to be at the cost of men? “I was in a class of nine- and 10-year-olds, girls and boys, and this young woman was telling these kids that the reason for wars was the innately violent nature of men. “You could see the little girls, fat with complacency and conceit while the little boys sat there crumpled, apologising for their existence, thinking this was going to be the pattern of their lives,’’ she told the book festival. The teacher had tried to “catch my eye, thinking I would approve of this rubbish’’, she added. “It is time we began to ask who are these women who continually rubbish men. The most stupid, ill-educated and nasty woman can rubbish the nicest, kindest and most intelligent man and no one protests”. Lessing also revealed she would not write a third volume of her autobiography because she did not want to offend so “many great and eminent people by reminding them of their silliness. I just can’t be bothered, to be honest’’.
DPA
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IN television commercials, dangerous germs and bacteria lurking in bathrooms and toilets are killed by cheerful housewives with big bottles of disinfectant. Yet in reality these bath and toilet cleaners are unnecessary and harmful to the environment, experts say. “Bath cleaners and disinfectants are simply a marketing ploy,” said Thomas Hagbeck of the German Environment Ministry. They are not strong enough to be sterile, he said. And children who grow up in a germ-free environment are more prone to illness and allergies, he added. “Using disinfectants in the home is comparable to using insecticides, pesticides and fungicides in agriculture,” a spokesman said. Disinfectants kill useful microorganisms and can help create more resistant bacteria. And the human immune system is weakened if it is not exposed to bacteria. The experts say no one should fear picking up illnesses from germs in home toilets because bacteria quickly die once they are outside the body. They say bathroom surfaces that come into contact with skin should be cleaned especially carefully with an acidic sanitary cleanser. An all-purpose cleaning agent is sufficient for other surfaces.
DPA |
Aeroplane smash at Multan
Simla |
A mantra for the modern man MAN has harnessed rivers. Scaled peaks. Can fly. Walk on the moon. But he is still not contented, happy and satisfied. Is anxious. Remains perturbed. Undergoes strain and stress. Toils. Still remains in turmoil. All kinds of problems confront him. Man looks for stress-busters. Seeks love and affection from animals, “dogs and pets heal humans in hospitals”, is the essence of a recent report on medicine. Resorts to drugs. Takes
tranquilisers. The effort prove ineffective. Strong spirits fail to raise the modern man’s spirit. What to do? There is a mantra. It is simple. Costs nothing. Do you want to know? Firstly, what is a mantra? Swami Rama gives the answer in his book Walking with the Himalayan Masters. He says it is “a syllable, a sound, a word, or deep set of words found in the deep state of meditation by the great sages.” And he narrates an incident. It is interesting and instructive. May I share? In the early part of his life, he went to a “swami who lived quietly, deep in the Himalayas.” He asked the swami for a mantra. Was told to wait. He did. After a few days, he again went to the Swami. The old man took him to the banks of river Ganges and asked him to promise that he would “remember it all the time.” After the promise had been duly made, the swami gave him the mantra. What was it? He said, “No matter where you live, live cheerfully. This is the mantra. Be cheerful at all times, even if you are behind bars. Anywhere you live, even if you go to a hellish place, create heaven there. Remember, my boy, cheerfulness is of your own making. It only requires human effort. You have to create cheerfulness for yourself. Remember this mantra of mine.” Do these words not provide the panacea for all our problems? Can this not be the mantra for all the mortals living anywhere in the world? Does it not give the essence of Indian attitude and thought? Shall it not be universally good for the mortal man and his kind? Today man claims to be civilised and cultured. He has certainly created creature comforts. Air-conditioned houses. Big cars. Fast movement. On earth and in air. Flies. Communicates quickly through electronic mail. But he is still unhappy. Fighting unseen battles? All the time? Why? The problems that he faces are essentially of his own creation. Today, man is not merely needy. He has become greedy. He looks for gold. Not for God. For pleasure and not peace. The so-called cultured man is like the “cultured pearl”. Unreal and away from reality. He has become artificial and arrogant. He has gone away from nature. He lives in multi-storeyed complexes. Can walk on the moon. But he is unable to live on the earth. False ego is the first error. Pride is man’s second sinister sin. The absence of passion for principles only adds to the problems. Thus, a variety of factors combine to make man miserable. Resultantly, his smile is not sincere. He has no time to stand and stare. Is unable to laugh. Is rarely happy and relaxed. He builds a big house. Then he looks for the fastest car to get away from his home. He raises. Then he makes missiles to ruin it. Man uses the fastest planes to destroy himself and his own creation. There is a characteristic contradiction between the apparent deed and the hidden design. We need to realise that earthly possessions cannot provide peace or pleasure. The wealth of the world cannot satisfy the fool. But very few things shall make a wise man happy. If we desire, there may be disappointment. Those who seek might suffer. Desires can only destroy. Run after the butterfly. You may never catch it. Sit down. It might land on you. Renounce. You will be rewarded. Enjoy what He has given. Increasing the needs shall only create needless problems. When we look for more, we can only become miserable. Frugality ensures freedom. Greed can only bring grief. True happiness lies in being active. Doing duty. Standing waters invariably stagnate. Moving rivers carry all the unwanted dirt away. Exertion brings exhilaration. Labor of the body relieves the fatigue of the mind. Each act of labor is a step on the ladder to satisfaction. Happiness comes from giving. A ‘gift is the gold that adorns the temple.’ So enjoy the luxury of giving. Not getting. Sacrifice. You will smile. The soul shall be sanctified. Snatch. It may be a sin. You will be shunned. Be a Samaritan. People shall pray for you. He will shower the divine grace. You will never be sad or sorry. And then happiness is just an attitude of mind. No one can be happy unless he thinks so. Can I be happy if I keep telling myself that I am unhappy? Obviously not. Happiness should not depend on what we have. Nor on the events or the problems that confront us. It should lie only in the way we face them. So come back to the ground. Close to the mother earth. Discipline the mind. Dispel the desires. Get rid of despair and disappointment. Forget the unfounded fears. Give up the greed. You will have no cause to grieve. Live in the present. Enjoy every moment of it. Do not ruin it by worrying about the uncertain future. Renounce the love for riches. Become truly human and humane. Seemingly small things? Yes. But sure to give good results. The swami’s mantra is good. It is a simple remedy for the modern man’s malady. Follow it faithfully. Give it a good trial. Decide to remain happy. Forever and everywhere. Under all circumstances. Even in moments of extreme trial and turbulence. You should never have a cause to regret it. |
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Religion and Faith Religion is no religion if it becomes mechanical. *** Only when religion becomes an integral part of one's life can it be called religion. It is not like a garment. *** How can that be religion which cannot be put to use in one's daily life? *** By donning the garb of religion, vice does not become virtue nor does a wrong cease to be wrong. *** Religion does not consist in eating this food or eschewing that but only in the realisation of God within oneself. *** Religion is not religion if it expects others to follow it. For example, the religion of ahimsa (non violence) can manifest itself only in the face of
himsa (violence). —Mahatma Gandhi, "A Thought for the Day" *** Whose name shall we hold sacred? Who is that all glorious resplendent Being. Who is imperishable among all the perishable things, Who having made us enjoy the bliss of emancipation, again invests us with bodies and thereby gives us the pleasure of seeing our parents. It is all-glorious, eternal, immortal, all pervading Supreme Being, whose name we should hold sacred. He, it is, who helps us to enjoy the bliss of emancipation, and then brings us back into this world, clothes us with bodies; the same Divine spirit it is who regulates the period of emancipation and is Lord over all. —
Rig Veda, 1.24.1-2 |
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