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Thursday,
March 7, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Seer shows
the way Sterile
C’wealth Summit New
opportunities |
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Gujarat’s
gruesome inferno
Poppy
growing again in Afghanistan
‘To
strive, to seek, to find and not to yield’
Asthma
patients ‘grin and bear it’
An
incarnation of divine love
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Seer shows the way When a tunnel is long and pitch-dark, any ray of hope is a God-send. The Ayodhya conflict resembles that tunnel and the long-awaited luminance has been provided by the mediation of Kanchi Kamakoti Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi. His persuasion has made both sides to come down from their high perches, albeit just a bit. But considering the complexities of the vexed issue, even that is a step forward. The capacity of the mandir-masjid issue to tear apart the country cannot be over-emphasised. So far, the VHP has been saying that it would go ahead with the Ram temple construction on March 15 and not abide by any court verdict. If it pulls back from that precipice, the reverse count to a confrontation of horrendous proportions can be stopped, or at least slowed down. All sides have taken such rigid stands that an understanding can be reached only after long, protracted discussions. The matter went to court only because no one was willing to be reasonable, and also because the government of the day wanted to pass the buck to the judiciary. Otherwise, it is generally acknowledged that the best course for sorting out the matter is through mutual consultations. The matter for adjudication goes far beyond the mere title of the disputed land and no judgement can be acceptable to all. Just look at what is happening in the river waters dispute. The temple issue is far more sensitive and complex. It can be resolved only in a spirit of magnanimity by both communities. The benchmark is the restoration of communal harmony. There are level-headed persons among Hindus as well as Muslims who do not get swayed by shrill war cries. The problem is that politicians have all along backed trouble makers instead for their narrow ends. Voices of sanity have been sought to be drowned. Fortunately, there is the Kanchi Pontiff on the Hindu side who can take the whole community along. His rebuff to the saffron zealots that if they do not listen to his voice of reason, he would directly take the Hindu samaj into confidence seems to have made many rabble-rousers fall in line. He has the stature and the reputation to make every Hindu listen to him and respect his verdict. His intervention will perhaps encourage men of similar eminence among the Muslims to rise to the occasion and try to persuade the masses to eschew the confrontationist approach. It is not going to be an easy task to cool the ambers of hatred. But the heat is so unbearable and the threat to the comity so real that every fire-fighting attempt, big or small, has to be lauded and promoted. |
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Sterile C’wealth Summit The Commonwealth as an organisation of former British colonies may have some sentimental value. Otherwise, it has ceased to have any political relevance in the US-controlled global village. What, if any, were the major gains of the latest round of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Australia? Preventing Mr Robert Mugabe from unleashing black apartheid on the white minority population in Zimbabwe? No way. After the usual expression of concern the CHOGM leaders stopped short of recommending any concrete plan of action for stopping Mr Mugabe from implementing his mad programme. Of course, there was detailed discussion on a terrorism action plan. After September 11 it has become the global buzz word not because terrorism is a potent source of threat to the health of civil society. It was as serious a threat to the civil order before September 11 as it is after that fateful day in the history of mankind. But its potential to make even the mightiest nation in the world feel momentarily weak in the knees was discovered when US planes took off from US airstrips to target American symbols of military and economic power. That is when terrorism really became an evil that needed global action for defeating it. It was like a bunch of street smart kids walking into a well-protected home and use the homeowners weapons to cause harm to him, his property and his image. Thereafter it is the done thing to condemn terrorism at any global meeting. Look at the details of the so-called action plan. Nations that aid and abet terrorism could be expelled from membership. Will the threat of being expelled deter nations from supporting and training terrorist groups? What benefits or privileges has Pakistan been deprived of as a result of being expelled from the Commonwealth? In spite of the January 12 speech that President Pervez Musharraf made under American pressure, Pakistan continues to support terrorist groups active in India. Membership of the Commonwealth by itself is not a privilege. When the Labour Party began losing its political relevance Mr Tony Blair showed the way by reinventing it as a party of the future. The Commonwealth in its present form has become just a club of the former British colonies. The leaders should draw inspiration from Mr Tony Blair and try and convert the organisation into a vehicle of global social, economic and democratic change. In its present form it is in danger of meeting the same fate that befell the once powerful Non-Aligned Movement in a unipolar world. |
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New opportunities Two important decisions were taken by the Union Cabinet at its meeting on Tuesday. One, the Cabinet has cleared the proposal to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the domestic advertising and film industry. The fortunes of the advertising industry depend on the health of the industry in general. Because of recession, advertising firms worldwide have suffered revenue erosion. Multinational companies, both Indian and foreign, depend on advertising companies that can operate at the global level. The Cabinet has cleared the way for FDI in advertising hoping to cash in on emerging opportunities. India’s film industry, the largest in the world quantity-wise, faces a cash crunch, especially after the recent raids blocking underworld money’s entry into the film world. Allowing industry status to film-making in the Union Budget and encouraging FDI may ease the cash problem, but only to a limited extent. Film-making is a risky business with uncertain rewards. Foreign money goes only to destinations where profits are assured. However, since the film industry provides large-scale employment, it needs to be encouraged. Given the increasing interest of the Indian community abroad in Hindi cinema, NRI money can be tapped. Besides, Hindi and regional films can be dubbed in English and exported. Music industry is already flourishing , touching the nostaligic chords of the Indian diaspora. The second Cabinet decision that merits wider attention is the grant of approval to a policy to promote Indian education abroad. Like almost every other sector of the economy, education too faces a finance crisis. The central and state governments are increasingly cutting down the state support to the universities and telling them to fend for themselves, while rising staff salaries, overhead expenses and demands for better infrastructure require more funds. This has put the university authorities in a fix. Most universities have taken an easy way of fund generation, that is, to hike the fees. But the scope here is limited because of student resistance, parental incapacity to pay and the general notion of keeping higher education within easy reach. One significant alternative is to export education. But for that quality and content have to match global levels. There are quite a few education institutions in the country that can afford to take the plunge and sell their technical expertise, particularly in IT, at affordable prices in developing and developed countries. This will open up new opportunities and challenges to teachers suffering from work fatigue. |
Gujarat’s gruesome inferno Mercifully, the ravaging communal conflagration in Gujarat is being slowly brought under control as these lines are written. But, beginning with the unspeakable outrage at Godhra, in which 57 Ram bhaktas returning home from Ayodhya were burnt alive in their overcrowded railway compartment, the egregious violence across the state has already done enormous, indeed incalculable, damage. It is not merely that more than 430 innocent men, women and children have been done to death, often by the gruesome method of setting them ablaze. It is not merely that homes, hovels and work places of tens of thousands of traumatised citizens have been reduced to smouldering ashes. The worst wounds have been inflicted on the hearts, minds and the psyche of the people, a vast majority of them belonging to the minority community, who are still scared about returning to whatever remains of their abodes. Such grievous wounds would take a very long time to be healed. But healed they must be though this is easier said than done even after full allowance has been made for the possible impact of the noble deeds of the brave souls that endangered their own lives to cross the communal divide and help the victims of the horrible storm. As the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, has said, a mere restoration of peace in the riot-torn cities, towns and villages would not be enough. A “measure” of communal harmony must also be restored. And that is exactly where the rub lies. To explain this, one has to underscore some points even at the risk of stressing the obvious. For example, there is not the slightest doubt that the foul deed at Godhra was premeditated and pre-planned. The needle of suspicion is also pointing towards Pakistan’s ISI and activists of notorious Muslim militant organisations, as the arrests made by the state police show. Even if the Ram sevaks had offered provocation to the minority community, as is alleged by some, there was not even an iota of justification for the heinous and sinister crime that followed. However, equally there cannot be a shred of justification for what followed though it is arguable that a wave of anger over the Godhra episode was perhaps inevitable. Nor is there any point in condemning the march of madness only in retrospect. For, the tragic fact is that for the first 24 hours of the post-Godhra carnage and arson, if not longer, popular fury was officially used as a pretext to let the mobs do what they pleased. The Police Commissioner of Ahmedabad, when confronted with the charge that his force had idly watched and indeed looked the other way when the murderers were busy, blandly stated the policemen were affected by the same sentiment that was sweeping society. He had added that at some places the police were greatly outnumbered by the rioters. Sadly, some of the statements of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, were even more chilling. No one can be taken in by his attempts, for instance, to explain away his invocation of Newton’s Law that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. It is impossible to think of anything more callous than the Chief Minister’s claim that the torching of the entire family of a Muslim former MP was the consequence of the gentleman firing on the mob first with his licensed pistol. The poor man was ringing up almost everybody in authority in Ahmedabad and Delhi from early in the morning until three in the afternoon when he and his family were reduced to cinder. What was he supposed to do before meeting this macabre fate? Hasn’t the Chief Minister of Gujarat heard of the citizen’s right of self-defence? Of the reported utterances of some other Gujarat ministers, known to be activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the less said the better. It is tragic that Mr Advani and other Central leaders of the BJP should be giving the Modi government in Gandhinagar (the Home Minister’s constituency, incidentally) a clean chit. No wonder, many in New Delhi, including some in the government, are raising a pertinent point. The irate reaction to Godhra was by no means confined to Gujarat. It may have been stronger there, but it was nationwide. All other states could control it. Gujarat was the only exception. Why? Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, a wiser man and a more far-seeing leader, has pointed out that both the Godhra outrage and what followed in many towns and cities of Gujarat constitute a “klank” (black blot) on the whole nation. It, he has added, has badly damaged India’s image and reputation in the world. To nobody’s surprise, Pakistan’s military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, has lost no time in calling upon the international community to bear witness to the sway of extremism and anti-minority violence in India. He has even taken upon himself formally to ask the Vajpayee government to take effective steps to “protect the Muslim minority”. This should have been expected and it cannot but complicate the already difficult task confronting Indian diplomacy. But that is the least part of the problem. The real difficulty is that Pakistani interference in the matter cannot but intensify the communal bitterness in this country that has steadily escalated as the VHP-Bajrang Dal threat to start building the temple at Ayodhya by the middle of March has gone on. That this agitation, often with its aggressive overtones, coincided with the U P state assembly elections only widened the communal divide. The situation inevitably worsened after the BJP’s defeat in the poll. It follows, therefore, that the lethal debris that the Gujarat riots have left behind cannot be cleared without ending the kind of raucous and divisive campaign for the temple’s construction regardless of the court’s verdict. The trouble is that as of now the VHP seems in no mood to countenance this even though some of its leaders also profess that they don’t want any bloodshed. At the time of writing, VHP leaders are engaged in some delicate negotiations with the Prime Minister, thanks to the mediation of the RSS leaders whose support Atalji had had to seek in order to restrain the hotheads. It is possible that some kind of a compromise might be found to avert an immediate showdown. But this can at best be a temporary reprieve, not a permanent solution. The reasons for this ominous state of affairs are not far to seek. All through the UP poll, and even earlier, the BJP spoke on the mandir issue in two
voices. Mr Vajpayee insisted that the matter would be resolved either by the court’s verdict or by agreement between the two communities. Since the latter is not likely, the issue boils down to respecting the court’s verdict. Unfortunately, he did nothing to discourage the VHP’s wild rhetoric and provocative action. It is, therefore, proving difficult to “persuade” the mandir’s votaries to defer their agitation until the court’s verdict is delivered. Consequently, the Union Government has taken action to disperse kar sevaks already assembled at Ayodhya and to prevent others from coming in. But that cannot be enough. For, the Vajpayee government’s dependence on the RSS leaders is transparent, and it is inconceivable that they would agree to put the temple issue in deep freeze indefinitely. What an irony it is that the responsibility to deter and, if necessary, punish the potential lawbreakers has fallen on Mr Advani, the man who started it all with his famous rath yatra in 1990 from Somnath to Ayodhya. He is also the author of the argument that Ram mandir is a matter of faith over which courts have no jurisdiction. Champions of the temple’s cause within the Sangh Parivar are now hurling this argument at him! In all fairness, the BJP alone cannot be blamed for the dangerous dead end in which the country is stuck over the mandir-masjid conflict which, by definition, assumes communal colour. The secular parties are also culpable because they have used the issue to consolidate their vote banks. For its part, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has aggravated the situation by its unconscionable delay in disposing of the case. However, the responsibility of rescuing India from the impasse is that of Mr Vajpayee, the man in the driver’s seat of the ramshackle jalopy that his government seems to have become. He deserves full support in this stupendously difficult task. Recriminations can come later. |
Poppy growing again in Afghanistan With the end of the Taliban's rule, farmers across Afghanistan have reverted to their old, lucrative ways. Everyone is planting opium again. One can earn $1,600 by growing poppy even in a modest kitchen plot. The harvest season between May and July is a happy time. They collect the poppy resin together, including the children. Even women do it, because the crop grows very high and nobody can see their faces. The eradication of opium is one of the first big tests for Mr Hamid Karzai, leader of Afghanistan's new interim authority. According to a report, a kilogram of opium currently costs between $2,200 and $2,700 down from last year's price of $3,300 when there was no prospect of a fresh crop. But nobody at the opium bazaar seems genuinely miserable: the business has, it appeared, merely shifted from the front of the shop to a small back room accessible via a waist-high door. With the Taliban gone, ending Afghanistan's status as the world's largest heroin producer is going to be an uphill task. Last year before the ban came into effect the trade was worth $98m to Afghanistan's farmers, with most of the buyers wealthy businessmen from Iran and Pakistan. Ex-prisoner as rights activist He counts them effortlessly. There’s no need to think. The marks on the prison walls are ever present in his mind: 1,600 days in isolation, 352 days to figure out where he was, 310 days in one prison, and 1,028 days in another. Altogether he spent 2,955 days — or eight years, one month and five days — in prison before being released. His name is Dr Joseph Hallit — known to inmates as “Number 16”, his prison appellation. He was released on December 15, 2002, from a Syrian jail. He was a Lebanese political prisoner charged with “communicating” with the Lebanese Forces, a Christian militia active during the Lebanese civil war between 1975 and 1990. Now he wants his story told. “Not just my story,” he says. “But the plight of political prisoners who were released from Syrian jails. Nobody wants to hire them. Employees get scared.” But Hallit is speaking out — in the past year he has become a human rights activist, urging society to allow the reintegration of ex-prisoners into society. In his spare time Hallit works with the Association Justice et Miserecorde (AJEM), a Lebanese human rights group whose main concern is to find ex-prisoners jobs and assist their families. Life for Hallit has started again. At 40, it’s not too late. There’s a lot to do. Every minute has to be savoured. His ordeal began on November 11, 1992, just after he obtained his medical degree from a Syrian university and was preparing to leave for the USA to continue his studies. He was arrested at a cafe in Damascus. For the next 15 days, interrogations accompanied brutal beatings. In his cell, Hallit stared at his bloody arms with exposed, torn nerves and muscles dangling from one of them. The choice was clear: survive or wither away. Determination took over and he grabbed a plastic spoon from his lunch tray, pushed the nerve and muscle back inside his arm and trapped it tightly. His arrest by the Syrians was not uncommon: during and after the war, many people “disappeared”. The Human Rights Watch, international non-government organisation, estimates that 17,000 Lebanese civilians were kidnapped or disappeared during Lebanon’s civil war. Very rarely did the Syrians feel they had to give reasons. Hallit marked the walls to keep track of the days and months, with only a tiny slit in the door to tell him whether it was day or night in his solitary confinement. |
‘To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield’ Courage, fortitude and self-sacrifice are among the finest virtues of human life. I have often wondered to what extent these well-cherished values have become part of our life, and how far we have exemplified them in our actions at most critical moments of history when our existence was threatened. In our encounters with a host of invaders from the north-west, and later from the sea, we lost many battles and suffered ignominious defeats, much to our chagrin. Such gory events had broken our back, stunted our growth, and subjected us to untold misery. We went through all this travail. But how did we run into such a situation? Why? Did we lose the battles for lack of courage, resources, patriotism, discipline or unity? Naturally one can claim greatness of courage only if one shows it in action. Greatness of courage lies precisely in the practice of it in the most adverse circumstances. However worthy of appreciation a sermon may be, it is penalised by poverty in achievement unless followed and imbibed as a living part of experience. Mahatma Gandhi was no scholar. His reading was wide, and whatever he read, he read with a profound sense of critical discrimination. He had a remarkable power of assimilation. He organised the whole pattern of his life on the foundation of his own experiences, which he churned and meditated over to set a high moral standard for humankind. Since Alexander's defeat of Porus in 426 BC, our ancestors had not been facing the reality of the situation confronting them. Arjuna, the prince-warrior, had refused to fight the Kauravas on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. The Kauravas were infringing flagrantly the social and moral norms that bind society. Arjuna did not lack the courage but he failed to understand the magnitude of the harm that his adversaries were inflicting on the social order. Krishna, with his persuasive power combined with his spiritual strength, dispelled Arjuna's doubts. Consequently, Arjuna fought his powerful foes, supported by a number of veteran generals and a large army with immense resources. But it was the righteous cause that made Arjuna fight with courage and fearlessness to vanquish the Karuravas. Man is neither an animal nor an angel. An animal is limited in his capacity, never leaving anything behind him, and an angel is a messenger of God, not having his own voice. Aristotle had said that man is almost everything capable of evolving, changing, and becoming intensely conscious of carving a distinct place for himself in nature and history, despite the limitation of people, races and social, cultural and economic limitations that constrict his freedom of action. What man can become remains hidden in his freedom as long as he remains man, and it is freedom, the choice of his discretion coupled with his will power, that makes him fight the battle of life. Man's consciousness of himself and his role in the universe comes through from two directions: first, his awareness of his unbounded progress in the world torn by doubts and conflicts, and the other through the infinity which the Transcendental opens up to him. The quest for freedom means to develop abilities in order to gain excellence in spheres of human activities. According to Greek mythology, one of the Titans, Prometheus, meaning forethought, brought fire from heaven to earth and gave to humans life by providing them the opportunity to shape it consciously through their action. Thus Prometheus bestowed numerous benefits on humankind by giving it what it needed, by material resources and spiritual uplift for the enjoyment of freedom and happiness. Though the Gandhian ethics of non-violence disapproved of the methods adopted by Indian revolutionaries to free their country from foreign rule by violent means, their acts of heroism have won great admiration. Sarmud, a sufi-poet, had aroused the wrath of Emperor Aurangzeb because he refused to make a distinction between the mosque and the temple. Sarmud was a Godfearing man who firmly believed in the unity of religion. Like Erasmus, Sarmud thought that all religions stood for universal love and compassion. When he saw the executioner approach with a drawn sword, he said, "Come, come, in whatever form. The appearances, I have known for long." The axe fell on him. Sarmud died with a smile on his face. Anyone reading his Rubbayait in Persian would be struck by their message of love, piety and deep and abiding search for Truth. According to Sarmud, joys and sorrows come and go, and are part of life, but the important point is how to wrestle with the battle of life, keeping intact one's integrity of character, a priceless gift from God to fight evil. Sarmud's faith in the healing power of prayers was immense, for more things are wrought by prayers than this world dreams of, Tennyson says. Sarmud regarded amnesty as the greatest word in human speech. Bertrand Russell claimed to be an atheist. Nietzsche declared the world to be "Godless." But Einstein's attitude towards the universe was one of absolute humility. He described himself as a "deeply religious non-believer." His views were similar to those of Spinoza: admiration for the beauty and belief in the logical simplicity and order and harmony that exist in the universe. Einstein did not believe in personal God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation. Nor did he favour organised religion, though he conceded its utility in mobilising the goodwill of its followers to fight for social equality and justice. About the meaning of life, Einstein wrote, "To know an answer to this question means to be religious." You ask: Does it make any sense then to pose this question? I answer: "The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow creatures as meaningless is not merely unhappy but hardly fit for life." In other words, to Einstein a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe — a spirit vastly superior to that of man, a power that leads to a religious feeling of a special kind, which the mystics have apprehended through their deep meditations. Thus the old controversy between religion and science is irrelevant if we see the religious spirit in a profound and sublime sense. |
Asthma patients ‘grin and bear it’ A study in the International Journal of Clinical Practice points to the fact that people with asthma are missing out on essential treatment because they are not going to the doctor. Many believe their condition cannot be improved by medication and are taking a “grin-and-bear-it” attitude, researchers claim. However, experts say talking to a GP or asthma nurse can help people keep their condition under control. In the article, doctors said there were several therapies available, which could make a significant difference to people’s lives. We’ve so many good therapies available now that there really is no need for many people to feel their asthma is holding them back. More than half (51 per cent) of the 1,000 patients who took part in the study believed having asthma imposed restrictions on how they lead their lives, even if they are feeling relatively unwell. More than two-thirds (69 per cent) were resigned to the fact they cannot do certain things because of their asthma, including playing sport, going up and down stairs and playing with their children. Nearly one-third (32per cent) avoided any physical activity fearing it might worsen their condition. However, only 37 per cent said they actually contacted their doctor if they thought their asthma was becoming worse. Only 7 per cent subsequently took the time to attend an asthma clinic appointment, the survey revealed. Dennis Shale, Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Llandough Hospital, Cardiff, said GPs and nurses had a “proactive” approach to asthma. He said, “We’ve so many good therapies available now that there really is no need for many people to feel their asthma is holding them back.” ANI Hic, Hic happy heart remedies Though drinking red wine has always been said to be beneficial for the heart, latest studies have shown drinking a moderate amount of alcohol can protect against congestive heart failure too. Researchers studying results from the Framingham Heart Study said so in the journal, Annals of Internal Medicine. Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a condition in which the heart weakens and is unable to maintain adequate circulation of the blood. One of the major risk factors for the condition is heart attack, which is caused by heart disease. Since moderate drinking protects against heart disease, doctors have speculated it may also protect against CHF, although studies have been lacking. These researchers looked at drinking habits and CHF rates among a group of participants in the study, which involved more than 5,000 people. All participants were free of CHF and heart disease at the beginning of the study. At follow-up, they found 59 cases of CHF had developed in the men and 120 cases among the women. Analysis of the data on drinking habits revealed no increased risk for the development of CHF with any level of alcohol consumption. Those who drank a moderate amount of alcohol, between 8 and 14 drinks a week for men and 3 and 7 drinks a week for women, had the lowest rates of the disease. The study’s authors write “In the community, alcohol consumption is not associated with increased risk for congestive heart failure, even among heavy drinkers. To the contrary, when consumed in moderation, alcohol appears to protect against congestive heart failure.”
ANI |
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An incarnation of divine love The trail blazed by Vivekananda has been kept ablaze by a host of sages, saints, and savants from this ancient land. Parmahansa Yogananda belongs to that distinguished band of illumined souls. His teaching and message was “Self Realisation”: Through love. Being an apostle of love, he founded Self Realisation Fellowship in the USA. Its Indian counterpart is Yogada Satsanga, with headquarters at Ranchi. In the words of Parmahansaji, Self-Realisation means, “to know the self as soul, made in the image of God”. Fellowship stands for “Fellowship with God, first, and through Him, fellowship with man.” As soon as we learn in meditation to love God, we shall all love mankind, as we love our own family. Those who have found God through their own self-realisation — those who have actually experienced God — they alone can love mankind; not impersonally, but as their blood brothers, children of the same one Father. That was the personal experience of the saint. When God is our religion, the dross of dogmatism is removed. The most important of all life’s accomplishments, according to Yogananda, is to establish a temple of God in one’s soul, and meditation and prayer, saturated with divine love, can easily do it. Divine communion is the criterion of religion and true religion satisfies the needs of one’s soul not by words but by proof. What is needed a spiritual experience. Only God communion can remove the great boredom that exists when one is not following the spiritual path scientifically. What is necessary in order to have that spiritual experience? The habit of daily meditation. God is realisable. We can know Him through meditation. Then without any question, without a speck of mental reservation we can say: “I am with God”. Why not? He is our own. Yogananda’s philosophy of love is all embracing, and universal. In the universal sense love is the divine power of attraction in creation that harmonises, unites and binds together. It is opposed by the force of repulsion, which is the outgoing cosmic energy that materialises creation from cosmic consciousness God. Repulsion keeps all forms in the manifested state through maya, the power of delusion that divides, differentiates and disharmonises. The attractive force of love counteracts cosmic repulsion to harmonise all creation and ultimately draws it back to God. Those who live in tune with the attractive force of love, achieve harmony with nature and their fellow beings, and are attracted to blissful reunion with God. Love is an omnipresent spring with countless founts. When one of its heart-openings is clogged with the debris of wrong behaviour, we find it surging from some other heart. But to think love dead in any heart is ignorance of omnipresence of love. One should never block with wrong actions the channel of love in his own soul. Then he will drink with countless mouths of soul-feeling from divine fountain of love coursing endlessly through all open hearts. Of his own search for the divine love he states:- “I sought love in many lives. I shed bitter tears of separation and repentance to know what love is. I sacrificed everything, all attachment and delusion, to learn at last that I am in love with Love...... with God — alone. Then I drank love through all true hearts. I saw that He is the One Cosmic Lover, the One Fragrance that permeates all the variegated blossoms of love in the garden of life.” Indeed, the ideal of love for God and service to humanity found full expression in the life of Sri Sri Parmahansa Yogananda. Verily he was a Prema Avtara. His goal was to unite East and West by spiritual understanding and to awaken divine yearning in all hearts so that they may commune consciously with God......... through Love. |
Say sorry at the right moment to reduce the anger of others. You cannot change others as easily as you can change yourself. Do not just catch your children doing wrong things; it will make you angry. Catch them doing right things. A matchstick has a head, But it does not have a brain. — Promod Batra
AmdVijay Batra, Management Thought Starters. *** Every soul must taste death, and ye shall only be paid your hire on the day of Resurrection. — The Quaran, Surah III. 182 *** The agony of death shall come in truth, that is what thou didst shun. — The Quran, Surah I.17 *** Devote your full energy, effort and thoughts to purifying your life. You should try to reach that fearless state of self-fulfilment and bliss before death can claim you. Provide others with happiness just as you desire it for yourself. We look at the enchanting garden that is the world but rare is the one who gives a thought to its maker. Discern life within life. Practise simplicity. Avoid treachery. Cleverness and deception will not work in His Court. The teachings of saints open closed hearts. The real miracle of the men of God is in their devotion. Saints do not purposely perform miracles. Bodily comforts can never be complete. — Mahatma Mangat Ram Ji Maharaj (1903-1054), Samata Prakash *** Do right to the widow, judge for the fatherless, give to the poor, defend the orphan, clothe the naked. — The Apocrypha,
2 Esdras, II, 20 To look up and not down, To look forward and not back, To look out and not in, and To lend a hand. — Edward Everett Hale,
Ten Times One is Ten (1870) |
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