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Monday,
September 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Implications
of UTI bailout IT
professionals’ woes |
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Raising
an Afghan national army
The lure
of the IAS!
Action
and reaction in the Punjab and Haryana High Court
Health
benefits of fruits, vegetables
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Implications of UTI bailout THE long-expected UTI (Unit Trust of India) bailout package accompanied by a programme for splitting the government-owned biggest mutual fund into two conveys several messages at a time concerning the economic as well as political aspects of life in the country. Going by the timing of the crucial decision, the BJP-led NDA government has made it clear that the country is as serious about its privatisation programme as it ever was since 1991 when the ball was set rolling. This inference can be drawn from the plan to divide the UTI into UTI-1 and UTI-2 with the latter meant for being handed over to the private sector. The development should be looked at in the backdrop of the anti-privatisation atmosphere created by a controversial letter written by Defence Minister George Fernandes to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee demanding a thorough review of the very disinvestment policy of the government. Now one can believe that those behind the “vicious anti-disinvestment” campaign, as pointed out by Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie at Saturday’s historic meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, are not in a position to derail the ambitious privatisation programme. There is also a clear message that the government will not relent on the privatisation of the oil PSUs, irrespective of the opposition from Mr Fernandes and others. The government has already committed an early package for the two beleaguered financial institutions----the Industrial Finance Corporation of India and the Industrial Development Bank of India. By creating UTI-1 for managing the flagship but troubled US-64 scheme affecting 20 million people and 21 other assured income schemes the government has tried to win over the angry small investors, including pensioners. They constitute a major middle class political constituency and were greatly disenchanted with the policies of the ruling coalition at the Centre, particularly the BJP. Finance Minister Jaswant Singh will set aside Rs 14,561 crore for the bailout programme, not a small amount when the government is hard-pressed for funds. But this has to be arranged keeping in view its political significance. Attractive measures, including income tax concessions, have been finalised to boost investor confidence in the schemes brought under UTI-1. The government is ready to honour the commitments made to the investors but it wants them to continue their patronage. Hence the plan to extend the redemption period beyond May, 2003, in the case of US-64 unit holders, the financial liability for which comes to Rs 6000 crore. These assurances are primarily aimed at preventing a rush of investors with redemption claims. The government has dissociated itself from the UTI schemes based on their net asset value, which will be brought under the privately managed UTI-2. Since this mutual fund will be in the hands of professionals enjoying considerable freedom to draw innovative investment schemes, one can expect better returns from UTI-2. In that case most UTI-1 investors may think of shifting their loyalty to UTI-2 at some stage provided the privatised entity succeeds in gaining the confidence of those who cannot afford a risky plan. The bailout package under the circumstances appears to be the best available remedy for the seriously sick but largest mutual fund of the country. |
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IT professionals’ woes THEY went by the thousands, they came back in thousands. The few thousands who have not returned are facing problems in their host countries. Information technology workers were meant to be the harbingers of the new knowledge economy. Little did they know that they would face such an uncertain future. The international IT slowdown has hit foreign workers, hired by the West with much fanfare, the hardest. Let us take the case of the UK. Migration to the UK stopped in the 1970s, after which most emigrants were relatives of those already settled in the country, asylum seekers, or people with money to invest. Even though Britain has the third largest foreign population and labour force in Europe, just below Germany and France, the UK and Germany were among the European countries that still devised special green card-type schemes to attract foreign IT workers two years ago. At the time the focus was on Indian IT workers, who were actively sought after, so much so that it became almost every Indian youngster's dream to be a software professional. According to British government figures, 11,474 fast-track work permits were granted to Indians till April, 2001. The Highly Skilled Migrant Programme was launched in December, 2001. It followed the Canadian model and allocated points for education, job skills, experience, etc. The warm atmosphere turned cold pretty fast thereafter. Faced with the slowdown of the global economy, there have been many layoffs, at times affecting local workers who charge their Indian counterparts with doing more work for less money, something that the employers hardly complain about. There is more than a grain of truth in this allegation, since immigrant workers typically outperform local workers, even in hi-tech jobs. Faced with the Rightist ire over rising immigration and buttressed by studies that predict that one in every 10 immigrants in Britain is likely to be an Indian over the next decade, the British establishment seems to have taken an "Indians go home" tack. The proposed changes in the immigration laws to deport illegal immigrants are likely to target Indians and have raised fears about a witch-hunt against the community at large. As for the formerly much-in-demand IT workers, they are facing pressure. British organisations had lobbied successfully for the exclusion of C++ and JavaScript from the IT skills shortage list. Now the Home Office has decided that all occupations should be removed from the Work Permits (UK) IT Shortage Occupation List. As such, "all IT work permit applications must show that the job has been advertised in either a national newspaper or a relevant trade journal." This would mean the end of fast-track visas for IT professionals, though technically, professionals who have the skills that are needed and not available among local workers would still be able to get such permits. The rollback will add to the woes of new Indian IT workers, though conversely it should also help those already working to get fair wages, which has hardly been the case till now. At the same time, there is a silver lining: according to a Nasscom study, a shortage of nearly 5,30,000 IT professionals in India alone is expected over the next four years. No wonder, IT is still the main draw for Indian students. |
Raising an Afghan national army Afghanistan at the best of times has been a wild, ungovernable and ethnically diverse tribal society with dispersed loyalties. There has always existed a fiercely independent spirit with a pronounced aversion to an organised and ordered central state authority. Through centuries the invading armies, on their way to India, marched through this country, but rarely left any imprint on the socio-economic and cultural fabric of the country. In the nineteenth century the British, obsessed as they were, with the possibility of a Russian advance through Afghanistan into the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, or even India, adopted a strategy which came to be known as “The Great Game”. However, the British efforts to gain control over Afghanistan did not fructify. During the later part of the 20th century, Russia moved into Afghanistan in the hope of gaining control over this country. America pumped money and weapons into the region, using Pakistan as a conduit, to create a Vietnam for the Russians, and the rest is history. In these new developments, the Pakistani Generals saw an opportunity to create what they perceived as “strategic depth” for their country, which it otherwise lacked. This attempt at achieving strategic depth eventually led to what Vinod Seghal calls, “strategic over-reach”. Once the Russians were driven out, the Americans lost interest in the area, leaving Pakistan to its devices and to strive for the illusive strategic depth. It led to the Talibanisation of that country and a breeding ground for a worldwide terrorist network. Madarsas to indoctrinate and train terrorists came up all over Afghanistan and Pakistan. There was an influx of over a million refugees and a flood of weapons into Pakistan with all the attendant problems of lawlessness and drug money. A more virulent and dangerous outfit, with a worldwide terrorist network, called Al-Qaeda found a safe haven in Afghanistan and an ideal location to operate from. With Talibanisation, a primitive society became more orthodox and, as an increasingly oppressive regime took control, drove the country a few centuries back. Then the Americans arrived, consequent to 9/11, carpet-bombing the country and pushing it further into the Middle Ages. Whatever could pass for schools, hospitals, irrigation systems bridges, administrative infrastructure, communication facilities, etc, were reduced to rubble. While the carpet-bombing could not kill Taliban and Al-Qaeda cadres in appreciable numbers, it dispersed them into the wilderness of the mountain ranges of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The Americans and the UN are now faced with the stupendous task of rebuilding this country and providing it an administrative and military structure which can hold out against the re-emergence of Taliban and Al-Qaeda elements, and give the country a measure of stability and usher in progress. President Hamid Karzai and his team, assisted by experts from the West, have prepared a paper to have an Afghan Army with 60,000 men, 12,000 border guards and an air force of 8000 at a cost of $ 289 million over a period of four years. The first to come up is a force of 6,000 as quick Reaction Corps, which would respond to any terrorist threat and would be backed by combat-service divisions of 6,000 men each. The proposal, termed as Afghan Security Sector Reform, aims at creating multi-ethnic Afghan National Armed Forces. For this a Central Commission for Recruitment under a National Security Council is being recommended to ensure recruitment of an ethnically balanced force. Given the nature of Afghan Society, ethnic divides and narrow tribal loyalties, this welding together of a unified and integrated military is more difficult of the tasks facing that country. Of the 600 men trained under the UN as presidential guards, a third of them have already deserted. At present the Americans have completed the training of the first batch of 36 officers and 350 troops. A second batch of similar numbers is being trained by the French. Hopefully, they will serve Kabul rather than the regional warlords. However, such hopes are belied by the ground realities. For one, America is yet to reconcile its support to some of the warlords who formed part of the Northern Alliance and are hindering the formation of a national military the USA requires the help of these warlords, including General Fahim, an ethnic Tajik, who still heads the Northern Alliance army, to hunt down the remnants of Al-Qaeda in Eastern Afghanistan. Equally, the Americans apprehend that withdrawing support from General Fahim will drive him and other former Northern Alliance allies closer to Russia and Iran. General Fahim, the country’s Defence Minister, is keen to expand his own army and those loyal to him, rather than create a national army, something which other ministers in the Cabinet do not accept and, in any case, is not desirable in the larger interests of that country, General Fahim wants an army of 200,000 men with his largely Tajik troops at the core. Given the current situation and the pulls and pushes, only the American can reign in General Fahim, something they are reluctant to do at this state. According to one European ambassador, “Fahim has been dragged kicking and shouting even to reach this stage. He has given his consent but not strict endorsement. Money won’t flow from the donors unless Fahim fully signs up”. The British complained that the USA refused to pressure General Fahim when he stopped paying soldiers and refused weapons and housing in an obvious efforts to stall army building plan. So far efforts to convince the USA that the need for a political strategy is absolutely necessary for building a national army have not fully succeeded, and this diffidence on the part of the USA can only further complicate the security problem. A British official was constrained to remark that, “in the beginning the Americans just don’t get it right, thinking that training was the only issue.” But the real issue is to create a structure acceptable to all, and a strategy linked to the demobilisation of warlord armies and other armed groups, and linking this to reconstruction and job creation. The estimated strength of various warlords’ armies is around 75,000 men and that there are possibly another 100,000 armed irregulars and war veterans dispersed around the country. In addition to these, there are many more who remain armed. Thus there are, perhaps as many as 200,000 men who would have to be disarmed, demobilised and rehabilitated. Some of these will, perhaps, be absorbed into the national army being created while other will have to be usefully employed to keep them out of mischief. This kind of rehabilitation of an de-mobilised army in primitive societies with limited avenues for employment is essential to retain order. It may be recalled that the demobilised Sikh army, after the Anglo-Sikh wars, was redeployed by the British on developmental tasks. They built the Ropar barrage and dug the Sirhind canal, etc. The present discord within the ruling elite in Kabul and General Fahim’s obduracy in the creation of a national army, representing various ethnic groups, is the more daunting task before the country. Added to that is the task of disarming and rehabilitating various private armies and other freelance armed men roaming through the countryside. Mr Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN’s special representative on Afghanistan, is equally seized of these issues and would like the phasing out of those who currently call themselves soldiers and policemen and had surfaced during the closing phase of the Taliban’s eviction from Kabul, etc. Perhaps, a National Security Council headed by the President and including the Ministers of Defence,
Interior, Finance and Foreign Affairs should be put in place, as recommended in one of the working papers. The paper also recommends a council, staffed by a multi-ethnic group of officers and headed by the Defence Minister with all the corps commanders as members. There is, therefore, the need to work out a political strategy to build a new Afghan army, with a genuinely agreed national structure to control, house, equip and deploy it. The demobilised armed manpower will have to be redeployed and usefully employed to build roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, the irrigation system destroyed during the American bombing and other infrastructure required. Kabul would need to take an early decision on the building of the gas and oil pipeline through the country which will provide added employment opportunities and will be a regular source of revenue. The country will need to create, with the help of the UN, the necessary administrative structure to usefully spend the financial aid likely to be made available for developmental work by the UN and other donor sources. It is in the interest of long-term stability in the region that the urgency to set Afghanistan on the road to economic prosperity and well-being can hardly be
over-emphasised.. The writer, a retired Lieut-General, was a Deputy Chief of Army Staff. |
The lure of the IAS! “THE lad will land a job clothed with power and authority. His mount of Mars is pronounced. He will join the Army and rise to be a General”, declared Panditji as he looked intently at the web of lines in my palm. It was the summer of 1964, and my parents had taken me to an astrologer-cum-palmist in Aliganj, Lucknow, beside the Great Hanuman temple, to be foretold the profession which I would follow. I had cleared the BSc (final) examination of Lucknow University, and had appeared, much against my wishes, under parental pressure, in the examination for entry into the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology), for an engineering career, the results of which were awaited. What Panditji said was not what either of us — parents and I — wanted to hear. Parents wanted me to be an engineer in the Railways and I dreamt of the IAS! The results of the IIT examination were announced. By God’s grace, I came out successful securing a high position. Father wanted me to join the IIT, Kanpur, nearest to Lucknow, where I was likely to have been assigned the mechanical engineering branch, the most sought after, at that time. I resisted saying that I would try my luck for the IAS when I came of age. I was less than 18 then, whereas the minimum age was 21 for the IAS. My insistence prevailed. I forewent the IITs. Two years later, in 1966, I passed MSc and soon thereafter, was appointed a lecturer in Lucknow University in the department of physics. Again, at the insistence of the parents, I took the examination for the Indian Forest Service, conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, in 1968. The final result of the written and the interview saw me selected with 2nd position in the all-India merit list. I was thus likely to be allocated to the state cadre of Uttar Pradesh, my home state. Everybody was happy in the family but not I. Parents wanted me to join the IFS. I was, however, daydreaming of the IAS. The examination for the IAS and the allied services had been held. I had appeared at the same. Results were expected any day. “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush”, my parents advised me. “Moreover, you don’t have even the university job as on date,” they added. I had given up the lecturership a month back as a mark of protest against what I thought was the high-handedness of the university authorities in a matter pertaining to selections and appointments. Reluctantly, I agreed to proceed to Dehradun to join the Indian Forest College as the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy was known then. The day of departure dawned. I had to board the Dehra Express leaving Charbagh railway station in the evening. The month was March and the year, 1969. I had first class, confirmed reservation for journey in the train. A cycle-rickshaw had been summoned to my residence in Mahanagar to take me to the station. I sat in it with my holdall and trunk. My parents bid me adieu standing in the verandah, with moist eyes. The rickshaw trudged its way on the road to the railway station. My friend, Dhruv Raj Singh — may God grant him long life — was escorting me on a bicycle, to see me off at the station. Those were not the days of the Marutis or Ford Ikons or any other of a plethora of sleek cars seen on the road today. Fiats and Ambassadors were the cars of choice, the former, of senior bureaucrats, and the latter, of the business class. Dhruv and I belonged to neither of the categories. As the rickshaw neared the railway station, a strange feeling pulled me back and I blurted out: “Dhruv, come what may, I shall not join the IFS. I would rather wait for the IAS results.” Dhruv tried to argue me out of my decision but in vain. I reached the station, surrendered the ticket, collected the refund, hired a rickshaw and reached back home where, naturally, all hell broke loose. It was difficult to pacify the parents. Then, the results of the IAS and allied services were announced. I missed the IAS! But, made it to the IPS. The prophecy of the Pandit had come out to be true, albeit via a police career, if not an Army one!
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Action and reaction in the Punjab and Haryana High Court SHORT-lived though it was to prove to be, a strange, unedifying spectacle was witnessed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court last week, a spectacle that must make every objective observer of the judicial scene sit up and think. “Soon after the news regarding the restoration of work (to three High Court judges) reached the staff,” reported this paper on August 28, speaking of the previous afternoon, “a wave of excitement swept through the High Court premises. The staff attached to the affected Judges distributed sweets. ‘The stand of the Judges has been vindicated,’ was their comment.” Even if the Judges’ stand — that they had done nothing wrong and were wholly innocent of involvement in the PPSC scam — had been vindicated, how was the celebration justified? Was it not bad enough, in the first place, for them to have been even suspected of involvement in one of the biggest corruption scams to have hit the country, a scam that has subverted and emasculated the Constitution of India — the Public Service Commission is, after all, an institution of the Constitution — from within. Possessed neither of the purse nor the sword, as Justice Felix Frankfurter once put it, and resting ultimately on “sustained public confidence in its moral sanction”, the judiciary forfeits its real claim to authority the moment that confidence is undermined or impaired. This is true not only of the judiciary as a whole or as an institution, but of judges individually, though mistaking the individual for the institution is a common failing in public psyche and discourse in developing societies like India inured for centuries to hierarchy and patronage. Judges under a cloud, therefore, once the cloud lifts, ill serve themselves or the public interest when they celebrate the retrieval of confidence. What is required, and which alone is consistent with the dignity and responsibility of the judicial office, is not celebration but introspection, grim and deep introspection, over how and why the confidence was lost in the first place. Needless to repeat, however, the celebration was short-lived. As this paper disclosed but two days later, the Judges’ stand had not been vindicated. On the contrary, they had been found guilty and indicted by the Chief Justice of the High Court in a report that took him almost a month to write following an inquiry that lasted over two months. Whatever the Judges concerned might have told their patrons and supporters, and might continue to tell, and whatever those who are blind to judicial failings might continue to believe, the involvement of the Judges — all three of them — in l’affaire Ravi Sidhu stands established by the Chief Justice beyond a shadow of doubt. “The panache of wigs and robes, ‘wise saws and modern instances’, ‘eyes severe and beard of formal cut’, ‘silver mace and liveried bearer’ cannot cover up,” wrote Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer in 1992, “the pathology of lost confidence and exposed culpability. Their Lordships in full panoply will still invite contempt unless they become institutionally and individually accountable to the country and be punishable for unbecoming behaviour, dereliction of duty and common criminality...... Office and apparel are not amulets against detection and conviction. If we do not arrest the vice now, the institution may well be heading for collapse.” If the explosion of anger at the High Court Bar Association meeting on August 29 was a case of lost confidence, the report of Chief Justice Arun B. Saharya indicting the three Judges is a case of exposed culpability. And while I would strongly disagree with the Chief Justice over his decision to restore work to the three Judges — the case for withdrawal of work from them is clearly strengthened, not weakened, by the CJ’s findings of guilt — I would like to commend him openly for the grit and resolve that he displayed in conducting the inquiry in the face of acute “peer pressure”. The opposition of a large number of High Court judges to the CJ’s inquiry, and the whispering campaign undertaken to discredit it, invoking all kinds of legal and constitutional niceties, is a distressing sign of the judiciary’s studied reluctance to accept any measure of internal reform while holding up the mirror to all other organs of state and society. Whether it be a platitudinous code of conduct, or the expedient of transfer (to another High Court) or a searching in-house inquiry by the Chief Justice himself, nothing whatsoever is acceptable to Their Lordships in full panoply (to borrow Justice’s Iyer’s pregnant lexical sarcasm). Impeachment, of course — the ultimate disciplinary weapon — is veritably out of reach, thanks to l’affaire Justice V. Ramaswami. The moral of the story, then, though there is nothing really moral about it, is that once a man is fortunate enough to be selected and appointed as a Judge — and ask no questions about how Judges are selected and appointed — there is absolutely no check on him and absolutely no possibility of correction except his own conscience. Even if, however, the “conscience” of a Judge in India is slightly more amenable to a fixed and objective standard of measurement than “equity” in England — which Selden, the 17th-century British jurist, historian and antiquary, compared, in a famous gibe, with the length of the Chancellor’s foot — that leaves us with an aery nothing by way of sanctions for judicial accountability. With great respect to the Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and their counterparts elsewhere, no right-thinking person can, fifty-five years after independence, put up with such a state of absolute and unchecked unaccountability. That brings me to the Chief Justice of India, Justice B.N. Kirpal’s speech to lawyers and judicial officers in Hoshiarpur on August 30, as reported by The Hindustan Times the next day. “We have to maintain the dignity of the profession,” said Justice Kirpal, referring to the High Court Bar. “It is unfortunate that somebody is missing. We will have to ignore it.... They are our family members. And they are welcome to share their problems with us. But an internal dispute of the family must not be made public.” I would hate to join issue with the Chief Justice of India but that is a rather odd way of putting it. Judicial corruption is an “internal” matter of the judicial family no more than political corruption is an internal matter of the Council of Ministers or bureaucratic corruption is an internal matter of the civil secretariat. From ministers to bureaucrats to judges, corruption, nepotism and favouritism practised by holders of public office is, always and everywhere, a matter of the highest public concern and it cannot be otherwise. And insofar as nepotism is concerned, the very employment of the concept of a “family” to avoid the embarrassment of a public debate is patently misconceived, for what is nepotism if not the abuse of the family name and family connections? Judges and lawyers constitute neither a family nor a freemasonry. The one a public service and the other a profession, the judiciary and the Bar relate to each other more closely than they do with other sections of the community. But, important as the relationship is for the functioning and progress of both, it relieves neither the judiciary nor the Bar from the obligation of speaking the truth about each other. To speak such truth, even if irreverently and even at the risk of overstating it, is not to “wash (dirty) family linen” in public, as The Hindustan Times, headlining the CJI’s speech, would have us believe. The truth is often harsh, it may even be abusive (for popular assemblies cannot, and do not, observe the niceties of forensic semantics), but it is never dirty. “Because the judiciary has such a central role in the government of society,” writes Queen’s Counsel David Pannick in his compulsively quotable book on judges — and a more readable book on them may never perhaps be written — “we should (in the words of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes) wash with cynical acid this aspect of public life.” “Unless and until (he continues, and I entirely agree) we treat judges as fallible human beings whose official conduct is subject to the same critical analysis as that of other organs of government, judges will remain members of a priesthood who have great powers over the rest of the community, but who are otherwise isolated from them and misunderstood by them, to their mutual disadvantage.” Whatever the CJI might think of the Bar, however, let him not treat Chief Justice Saharya’s report and its findings as an “internal” matter or dispute. Having himself authorised Justice Saharya, in writing, to hold an inquiry into “insinuations” against Judges, let him now act upon the report as quickly as circumstances permit. And as firmly as truth and justice demand. |
Health benefits of fruits, vegetables An apple a day keeps the doctor away while an orange keeps the cold at bay. Karela or bitter gourd is the magic vegetable for diabetics and grapes — a dieter’s delight. Household vegetables and fruits have medicinal properties which help cure diseases like anaemia, common cold, ulcers and measles, says a new book. The book “Plants for Good Health” written by health writer Manisha Jain elucidates the medicinal and curative properties of common plants. It lists the nutritive elements present in various plants and also gives simple recipes for making various decoctions and home remedies. “The kitchen garden is a good source of medicines in the form of plants and vegetables. In fact some of these can be used as effective home remedies and one need not pop pills mindlessly for every ailment or indisposition,” says Jain. Listing the health benefits of various fruits and vegetables, the book says apple has excellent recuperative and strengthening properties. Being rich in iron, it improves body resistance and strengthens the bones and joints. Royal fruit pomegranate can add zest and life to any fruit bowl. It is low on calories and good for diabetics. It increase the number of red blood cells and white blood corpuscles in the blood. It also cleans the blood and removes impurities from stomach and intestines, the book says. In its vegetable section, Jain lists the medicinal properties of carrots, raddish, bitter gourd and how they can work wonders. While spinach purifies the blood as also stomach and intestine, fenugreek is good for diabetics and those suffering from high cholestrol and hypertension. Bitter Gourd, though literally a bitter pill to swallow, is the magic vegetable for diabetics. It is known to reduce the blood sugar levels drastically. A glass of karela juice taken early in the morning is good for diabetics, the book says. These fruits and vegetables need not be looked at only for their nutritive value. Some of them are also excellent complexion aids and it is very easy to make shampoos, hair rinses, face masks and complexion creams with them. The book contains home remedies for common complaints like acne, pigmentation, falling hair and itching eyes.
PTI |
Here the tenth guru expounds, since he found the ‘true’ guru, all other guides, preachings, doctrines have faded into oblivion, and he speaks His word. Ever since I clutched your feet, My eyes have not beheld another. With Ram, Rahim, Puran and Koran and others I did not bother. Of Simritis, Shastras, Vedas and other texts I took no notice. It is by virtue of your banner and your sword, What I have written is not mine but your sacred word. The guru declares, he has found his final abode, where he shall live as His slave. I passed by all doors before I stopped at yours Hold me in your arms, and my honour save Gobind will forever be your slave. When the seeker finds the guru he was seeking, he rejoices and bursts out in songs of praise. Mother, my heart is full of joy For I have found my true guru; I found the true guru following the gentle path of ‘Sahaj’ My heart resounds with cries of felicitation Jewel-like ragas and their families of fairy-like houris. Have come to sing hymns of praise; They within whom Hari resides, divine hymns sing Says Nanak, I have attained bliss because the true guru I did find. My heart, ever abide with the Lord Hari Abide with the Lord and forget all your misery; Gathering you within Himself He will sort out all your affairs. In every way He is your master Why then let Him out of your mind? Says Nanak, my mind, forever with the Hari abide. Master true, what is it that is not in your house? There is everything there Only those you choose to give find it. Lord grant me the gift of ever singing your praise So your name gets imprinted on my mind. The hearts of those wherein dwells the name Always resound with hymns of praise Asks Nanak, true Lord what is there not found in your house? Name of the true Lord is my support With the true name’s help, I lost all my hungers. Rehras, Sri Guru Granth Sahib |
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