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SAARC’s sadness President Rajapakse |
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Urban mess
Jehanabad raid
Of leaders and leadership
Let Bhuppi govern by his rules: Ranbir Goa’s ore turns fodder for China Winds of reform in China
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SAARC’s sadness IF Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s message to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) business leaders’ conclave in New Delhi on Thursday had a tinge of exasperation, he cannot be faulted for it. Trade within SAARC accounts for only 5 per cent of the total volume of trade in the region. There is little likelihood of the free trade pact among the member countries, which is expected to come into force next year, radically altering this dismal scenario. What comes in the way of greater economic integration in the region is the tortuous India-Pakistan relationship. To put it more matter-of-factly, it is the support Pakistan extends to terrorism in the name of Kashmir that derails the region’s economic progress. For instance, if there is goodwill among the SAARC nations, they can meet a substantial portion of their import requirements from within the region. Unfortunately, as the Prime Minister has mentioned, some countries are bent upon pursuing their “beggar-thy-neighbour” policies. Pakistan has been following this policy much to the chagrin of not only India but also the whole world. It is true that India has some differences with Pakistan, which it is committed to sort out bilaterally under the Simla agreement and the Lahore Declaration. Instead of attempting such a solution, Pakistan has been aiding and abetting terrorism. Following 9/11 and the consequent “war on terror”, Islamabad’s overt support to terrorist organisations has lessened. However, the infiltrations across the Line of Control and the terrorist attacks almost on a daily basis in Jammu and Kashmir bear proof that Pakistan’s covert support to terrorism has not slackened. Unless it ends its moral, material and logistic support to terrorist organisations, development in the region will remain a chimera. Even children know that peace is a must for progress. It is in this context that Dr Manmohan Singh has warned the SAARC nations that none of them can remain immune to terrorism. They will have to join hands to fight the scourge of terrorism if they have to achieve progress commensurate with their potential.
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President Rajapakse SRI Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse — who won the presidential election on the day he turned 60 — could not have asked for a better birthday gift. Of course, those who want to look a gift horse in the mouth may well point out that Mr Rajapakse, the fifth President, has scraped through by the narrowest of margins in Sri Lankan electoral history. He polled just a little over 50 per cent of the votes with his rival Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe close at heel with more than 48 per cent. Once past the post, margins don’t matter much in this situation, though this has been seized upon by Mr Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) to demand a fresh poll in the island’s north. Such a demand may have few takers because in the northern areas, the Tamil rebels imposed a boycott of the election. These votes, which perceivably may have favoured Mr Wickremesinghe, could have tilted the scales. Yet, that is not sufficient ground for a fresh vote. Now Mr Rajapakse has to tackle the twin challenges — a tsunami-hit economy and the stalled peace process — that were at issue in the election. The new president, who represents Ms Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party is yet to be tested for the directions in which he may take the economy. As a man of the masses, his leanings are in favour of the poor and the workers, especially in the southern part of the island. So, there might well be a correction of the economic course on which there have been no marked differences between Ms Kumaratunga and Mr Wickremesinghe. But tsunami-hit fishermen may certainly find a saviour in Mr Rajapakse. His hard line against the Tamil Tigers raises questions about whether the peace process would be revived. The fact that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam enforced mass boycott when the Tamils could have helped Mr Wickremesinghe win is a clear sign that the rebels are in no hurry to re-start negotiations. With neither Ms Kumaratunga nor Mr Wickremesinghe inclined to support Mr Rajapakse, the new President has to reckon with many obstacles.
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Urban mess LOST: a document called urban policy. Has no commercial value but does have some sentimental significance. Finder may return it to the government.” Well, the situation may not be quite as bad yet but the cities of the country are indeed expanding haphazardly without any holistic masterplan in sight. If at all laws are made, these are made to be broken. The largesse sought to be gifted to illegal builders by the proposed sweeping changes in the periphery laws is not something unique to this “planned” city. The template is replicated in almost every city by rewarding the lawbreakers and punishing those who abide by rules and regulations. The message that goes out to all and sundry is that rules are for fools. That is why most of the cities across the country today are only slightly better than slum areas where even basic amenities are conspicuous by their absence. All this is normally done to benefit a handful of domineering squatters who dangle the carrot of managing votes for the leaders. Around Chandigarh, things have gone even beyond that. In a free-for-all atmosphere illegal houses were constructed by anyone who can. All such unauthorised constructions up to November 1, 2005, are being regularised. Ironically, all this is being done in the name of introducing a comprehensive policy on the periphery of UT Chandigarh. Regularisation story is the same in Delhi and most other cities. If the Centre expresses it helplessness to evict VVIP squatters, the states shower benefits on others who are even one-up on them. Buoyed by the pliant governments’ decisions, such privileged persons have become millionaires many times over virtually overnight merely because they had the “foresight” to brazenly throw rules to the winds. What was said in medieval times is very much in operation today: “I am the law”. It is a sign of times that courts have to intervene in such matters time and again. Strictures passed by the judiciary would have in normal circumstances made the politicians follow the rules, but in vain. The invaluable lesson they have learnt is that there is strength in unity and if the lawbreakers are in majority, they can even get away with whatever they want to do.
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You must experience and accept the extremes. If the contrast is lost, you lose appreciation; and when you lose appreciation, you lose the value of everything. — Philippos
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Jehanabad raid
THE
Jehanabad raid by Naxalites of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), or CPI-Maoist, in south Bihar, on November 13 which is also being termed as Operation Jailbreak, is important for many reasons. The attack loudly states the level of ‘militarisation’ that the largest and most lethal Naxalite outfit in the country has reached. It illustrates the ability of the CPI-Maoist leadership to mobilise, motivate and train a large number of people, as well as successfully coordinate the entire attack with meticulous planning and great stealth. In Jehanabad, the Naxalites conducted synchronised attacks on the district jail, district court, police lines, police quarters, district armoury and police stations. Though the Bihar government has yet not admitted, it is said that the Maoists looted several hundred rifles and a huge quantity of ammunition, perhaps a few thousands. The focus of the raid was on the district jail resulting in the escape of 341 prisoners, including a prominent Maoist leader, Ajay Kanu, and some other Maoist cadres imprisoned there. Besides, the rebels abducted an unspecified number of their class/caste enemies belonging to the Ranveer Sena and later executed at least nine of them. However, the number of fatalities in the incident is still unclear. In Bihar, where polarisation on caste lines is intense, and where caste is nearly co-terminus with class, the attack on the jail and the consequent abduction and execution of the upper caste-Ranveer Sena leaders and activists is a chilling reminder of the numerous bloodbaths involving the Ranveer Sena and the underprivileged, dalits often backed by the Naxalites. The CPI-Maoist would project the Jehanabad attack as a resounding victory of the underprivileged, Dalits over the “feudal, oppressive and exploitative landlords”. Therefore, the CPI-Maoist claimed that the Jehanabad attack was a “successful military campaign” with a strong “political overtone”. In terms of the sheer numbers involved in the attack, it is the largest-ever staged by the Naxalites in the country. Beyond doubt, among the approximately 1,000 people who reportedly conducted the raid on Jehanabad, alongside the battle-hardened underground cadres, an overwhelming number of common people, who the Maoists would term as members of the “people’s militia”, have participated. This implies that, in some parts of the country that are under their stranglehold the Maoists have created and trained the third and crucial component of their military wing — the people’s militia or “base force”. The other two components are military platoons which constitute the “primary force” and guerrilla squads which form the “secondary force”. The existence of the people’s militia is, thus, a clear indicator of the intensity of support that the Maoists have come to wield in the areas under their control similar to what has played out in Nepal in the past few years. The numbers involved notwithstanding, the Jehanabad attack is not a one of its kind, or the first of its type. It is, in fact, a continuation of well-rehearsed, meticulously planned— which includes snapping telephone and power lines and blocking and mining highways and roads — and highly coordinated similar attacks involving hundreds of rebels storming multiple targets in an area. On February 6, 2004, a few hundred Naxalites laid siege to the district headquarters town of Koraput, Orissa, brought it to a complete halt for a few hours, attacked the district headquarters complex, made an abortive attempt to storm the jail, but successfully raided the district armoury looting all 500 weapons and several thousand rounds of ammunition. In a second major attack, on June 23, 2005, over 200 Maoists went on the rampage in Madhuban, East Champaran district, Bihar. They looted many arms, set a police station on fire, killed three policemen, attacked the block office looting arms and killing two guards, and looted two banks. It is believed that these attacks are a result of a conscious decision of, and directive from, the apex Central Committee of the CPI-Maoist to launch a country-wide tactical counter offensive campaign (TCOC) to demoralise the state, and in retaliation to stepped-up crackdown on the outfit in various parts of the country. As part of this all-India TCOC, the Maoist guerrillas have also conducted a few more high-profile actions. They had killed KC Surendra Babu, the police chief of Mungher district, Bihar, on January 5 and made a failed attempt on the life of Mahesh Chandra Ladda, Prakasam district police chief, Andhra Pradesh, on April 27. Besides, two days ahead of the Jehanabad attack, the Home Guards Training Centre in Giridih, Jharkhand, was raided on November 11 and 185 rifles and 25,000 rounds of ammunition were looted. Also, on September 3 the Maoists blew up a mine protected vehicle in their bastion, in Dantewada district, Chhattisgarh, killing 24 policemen. In future, if the strength of the people’s militia expands, the Maoists would be able to launch more spectacular attacks across the red belt in India. Indeed, the Maoists have, in any case, already indicated their intention to storm more jails across the country in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, to set free their arrested colleagues. In parts of all these States, the Maoists have a significant support base among the people, wield enormous influence and virtually run a parallel administration. And in all these States large areas are either their bastions or part of what the CPI-Maoist terms as “special guerrilla zone”. In protracted armed struggle as understood by the Maoists, as the movement advances, these guerrilla zones in the hinterland transform into base areas from where they would storm the town and cities. Thus, if, in the assessment of the Naxalites, their movement has reached a critical and higher stage in these areas, they could well deploy the people’s militia to stage “big actions” involving synchronised attacks on multiple targets, which would, thus, radically transform the Naxalite movement across the country, and would be required to be handled entirely differently. The Jehanabad attack is more than a wakeup call for the various state governments and the Centre. While the state continues to underestimate and misconstrue the Maoist dynamic in the country, the latter has seized the initiative, both geographically and now even militarily. Unless the state wakes up from its slumber and be pro-active, the “Long March” to Delhi might transform from wishful thinking into a
reality. The writer is Research Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi
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Of leaders and leadership OUR President often recalls with pride the leadership of Prof Satish Dhawan, his chief at one time, when the former as the Director was saved the ignominy of a failed mission, by the latter taking upon himself all the criticism often heaped upon in such situations. And when later the mission was a success, Prof Dhawan once again showed his magnanimity by asking the Mission Director to hold a Press Conference for a well-deserved applause and rest is history. The President too acknowledges a leader. In the armed forces, leader and leadership are the bedrock of its foundations. However, a real leader is appointed by the President’s Commission granted to an Officer. Therefore every officer is a leader by appointment. He or she becomes a real leader through numerous leadership qualities and traits that are to be learnt, imbibed, practiced, emulated, demonstrated, refined and finally get acknowledged. While the Chetwood Hall saying (“The Honour, Welfare and Safety of your country come first always and every time; The Safety, Welfare and Comfort of your Men come next always and every time; Your own Safety, Ease and Comfort come last always and every time”) is repetitively ingrained in the minds of the officers passing out from the Indian Military Academy, there is seldom a mention of a United State Army Sergeant Major’s address in which he exhorts the young officers that, “No badges of rank or embellishments will make you leaders unless you create a place of your own in the hearts of your men” and he goes on and on as to what the men expect out of their officers as a leader. It is this challenge that makes the armed forces a unique career in leadership and history is replete with such personalities who squarely meet this challenge. Some of the recent events remind me of Sam Maneckshaw, the Field Marshal — a living legend — a real leader. A Gorkha officer, he is affectionately known as Sam Bahadur. Having been badly wounded in the Arakans in the erstwhile Burma, he almost lay dead when his Divisional Commander came visiting and seeing the valour of a young Company Commander who led an attack, removed his own Military Cross and pinned it on the chest of young Sam Bahadur, saying that “Military Cross is not for the dead”. One day his ADC walked up to him and said: “Sir, I do not think that I should be here serving you as the ADC at this time”. “Then where should you be? retorted the Chief. “Sir I should be with my Gorkha platoon leading them in the jungles of Mizoram.” The ADC was posted back to his unit within 24 hours (This officer recently retired as Army Commander — who happened to be my Directing Staff at the Staff College). Just before the 1971 Indo-Pak war, he as the Chief of Army Staff, visited all the formations and addressed officers, exhorting them: “You will win, there will be no draw and forget about defeat; and when you land up in Dacca/Lahore, you will see so many beautiful things, including women, do look at them but put your hands in pockets and think of Sam (as I will be watching your conduct as an upright soldier and not as a demeaning victor who tries to enslave the vanquished.” When the instrument of surrender was to be accepted it was not Sam but the Eastern Army Commander, Lt Gen Aurora, who stole all the world limelight. We did go to Dacca and saw what was expected but always thought of Sam — and I am doing even now when, in fact, every Commanding Officer has to caution every man of his unit who ventures out on any task to do look around, enjoy what the environment offers him keeping his hands in the pocket thinking of Sam (Commanding Officer) and rest assured nothing of demeaning nature will ever
happen.
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Let Bhuppi govern by his rules: Ranbir
KHADI. It is one word that describes an entire spectrum — everything from Mahatma Gandhi to our freedom struggle, simplicity to nationalism, great Indian leaders and statesmen as also today’s power-hungry politicians. And, yes, of course, our story’s protagonist, freedom fighter Ranbir Singh Hooda, perhaps, the only surviving member of the Constituent Assembly who signed on our Constitution on November 26 as far back as in 1949. So, on the day when the Indian Constitution turns 56 years old, this grand old man who witnessed history being created from close quarters, turns 92 years old. Even at this ripe age, Ranbir Singh retains the crispness in his voice, the agility in his walk and a memory that recalls everything about the independence struggle down to the minutest of details. So many years down the line, the words “freedom” and “constitution” evoke a mixed reaction in this Khadi-clad nonagenarian. “After freedom, with progress as our motto, we framed the Constitution to serve the country’s interests to the optimum. Plagued with problems resulting from the Indo-Pak division, we designed the Constitution to be able to wipe out poverty, hunger, illiteracy and unemployment as also usher in an era of development and self-sufficiency. Today, we have achieved much of what we envisioned but there is a lot more that still remains undone,” he says. There are people who still die of hunger when our godowns are laden with food grains, there are homeless people and there are people who cannot read or write, there is a frustrated youth who ends his life in desperation of a job in some part of the country. To Ranbir Singh, the only man to have represented eight different Houses from the Rajya Sabha to the Constituent Assembly to the Punjab and Haryana Assemblies among others, all this is sad and more so because India is emerging as a power the world is looking up to. “We need to look closely at why these ills remain. If it calls for a review of the Constitution, I am not averse to it. More than anything else, the country and our people are of utmost importance and should be served in the best possible way,” he opines. This stated, the only other thing that pains this leader even more is Bihar with its state of affairs and corrupt politicians who are society’s bane. Despite suffering from glaucoma which makes reading impossible, he is surprisingly, updated about news. “Everyday law is given a go-by in Bihar and hooligans rule the day,” he says referring to the latest incident of storming of Jehanabad jail by Naxalites. “Uttar Pradesh has a similar story line. It’s such a contrast from our times when most of our top leaders came from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. These states were two nurseries of our leadership and look what they have been reduced to today — a cradle of rampant hooliganism,” Hooda maintains. In the midst of all this chaos in these states, he’s still looking for the genre of leaders represented by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. To him, the name doesn’t mean an individual, a leader or even the first Prime Minister of free India. To Ranbir Hooda, Pandit Nehru is the name of an entire philosophy of hard work and dedication, one which today’s politicians must follow in letter and spirit. “I don’t say that all politicians are bad today but a few bad fish are certainly spoiling our pristine waters. For these bad fish, the mission of serving the public has changed to one of serving their self. They are minting money at the cost of the people. It is certainly not in our best interest to have such men around. We still have miles to go and if the very leaders entrusted with building up the country begin to fill their own pockets, we will get nowhere,” Ranbir Singh, also the president of the Akhil Bharatiya Swatantrata Senani Sangathan, maintains. This is one other cause that is close to Ranbir Singh’s heart. Post independence, he has been fighting to give freedom fighters a life of integrity and respect. “All those freedom fighters who fought for the country and went to jail must be given their due by way of a respectable pension. Anyway, their number is shrinking rather fast so it is no financial burden the government cannot take on,” he states. For this indefatigable leader who still does yoga early mornings to stay fit, life is about doing good turns without looking for rewards. So, when he is not busy with problems of freedom fighters, he is attending to people from Haryana. With his son, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda as Chief Minister of Haryana, there are loads pouring in all day and his hands are always full. On being prodded if there is any fatherly advice flowing from his rich experience to the son, Ranbir Singh breaks into a smile, vehemently denying it. “Absolutely none unless Bhuppi asks for it. I don’t want to be labeled as ‘Super CM’. That is a title that scares me. Anyway, today’s politicians have their own ideas about dealing with everything. They think our advice is old-fashioned and irrelevant in today’s times. I don’t want to be an interfering old hag. I let him play the game by his own rules,” Hooda insists. While we begin to wind up our conversation, Ranbir Singh surprises us with his last comment. Coming from a state where the sex ratio is skewed and the girl child is not very welcome, he signs off with, “Women are doing very well in all walks of life. That’s one big reason to smile and be proud of. Our daughters will hold our flag aloft in times to come.” For this bespectacled old man stuffed with eons of experience, watching life go by at a whirring pace from his chair with his MP grandson, Deepinder Hooda, always by his side, is the most comforting feeling. While he wallows in this joy, he is trying to keep pace with the changing world around him and very successfully at that.
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Goa’s ore turns fodder for China BEYOND the deceptively placid beaches of Goa dumpers and excavators are furiously ripping apart the verdant state’s bowels for iron ore to fill China’s insatiable appetite for iron ore. Mounds of reddish earth that line the roads of Goa’s interiors are growing rapidly as harried miners cut back on time spent outside the gigantic mining pits. Goa’s mining companies, accounting for 80 per cent of India’s iron ore exports, are reaping a bonanza as the Chinese go on a buying spree. On the whole, Goa exported 32.59 million tonnes of iron ore in 2004-05 as against half this amount five years ago. The state mine-owners’ association says 80 per cent of the exports went to China alone. Data prepared by Goa’s environmentalists indicate that every tonne of iron ore excavated from the earth leaves behind three tonnes of mining rejects. Goa’s farmers are selling off their paddy fields to be used as dumping grounds for mining rejects. “The silt forms a two or three inch thick layer which affects the fertility of the soil,” says Dr A.G. Chachadi, Scientist on Groundwater and Reader in Earth Sciences in the University of Goa. Consequently, agriculture along Goa’s mining belt has come to a complete halt. Worse, Goa’s main sources of drinking water like the Selaulim Reservoir, the Khandepar river and the Mayem lake are being damaged by mining rejects. Not surprisingly, health officials along Goa’s mining belt have reported increase in pollution-related ailments. Doctors say, instances of respiratory ailments including bronchitis, asthma, common cold, upper respiratory tract infection, sinusitis and cancer have increased substantially in the past few years. However, data on this is sketchy as people resort to private hospitals which are not required to collate data. According to the state government, the health outlay in the mining areas has increased sharply in recent years. Goa’s Health Minister Dayanand Narvekar recently told the State Assembly that the state’s mine owners pay a paltry Rs 17 crore to the Centre by way of royalties while the state spends almost Rs 15 crore on the health and welfare of affected residents. After Narvekar’s statement, mine owners have begun to empanel local doctors to set up clinics providing free treatment to villagers. However, data collected by these doctors are not shared with the government health departments prompting allegations of a cover-up. Incidentally, the data prepared by other agencies indicate the extent of damage caused by the mining industry in Goa. A report on the state of the environment prepared by the state government indicate that the suspended particulate matter concentration levels exceed the Central Pollution Control Board standards described for industrial areas. Dust fall rate in mine areas and mining villages is reported to exceed CPCB standards of 10 t/sq km/month. “Unfortunately, the mine owners here are yet to loosen their purse strings to undo the damage,” says environmentalist Claude Alvares who heads the Goa Foundation. Meanwhile, Goa’s mine owners are intensifying operations. With even low-grade ore finding a market in the neighbouring country, pits sealed more than 25 years ago are being opened up in the quest for residual ore. Opposition to mines is dying as mining companies woo the local population with small sops. “Local residents and truck owners are coming out in open support of mine owners whenever public hearings are held,” says Dr L.U. Joshi, Chairman, Goa Pollution Control Board. Mine owners now gloat that local residents are in favour of polluting mines.
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Winds of reform in China
THE initiative by the President Hu Jintao for reassessment of role and contribution by the former Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang clearly indicates that Hu Jintao was not averse to political reforms but there are also indications that he accepts that the pace of political reforms would have to be slow. A series of events were planned this week to mark the 90th birth anniversary of Yaobang who had fallen from grace in late eighties because of the controversies around his stances. These were planned by the noted liberals, but there was a clear indication from the authorities that Jintao has approved rehabilitation of Yaobang whose death had sparked of protests that led to the Tiananmen Square carnage in 1989. The liberals had planned to hold a public function on November 20 to mark the 90th birth anniversary of Yaobang in Hunan province, where he was born. However now officially it had been scaled down to a seminar where only 300 guests, mostly liberals and academics, have been invited. The official approval to rehabilitation has naturally unnerved the hardliners for they fear that rehabilitation of Yaobang would lead to vociferous demands for political reforms and at a quick pace. They also point out the protests prior to the Tiananmen Square were sparked out during the morning period after the death of the party leader. The last-minute scaling down the event connected with the rehabilitation process can be treated as a compromise with the hardliners by the party functionaries. It concedes a point to the hardliners who feared unrest flowing from a high scale celebration, but the fact that official endorsement has been given to the rehabilitation indicates that the Jintao regime accepts the need for political reforms that were initially indicated by Yaobang when he was the Communist Party chief. For most Communist leaders, liberals as well as hardliners, Yaobang is best remembered for his political courage and determination to rehabilitate millions of Chinese, including former party officials and intellectuals purged in the political campaigns of 1950’s and 1960’s. That had helped to unite the party and set the stage for China opening up and the beginning of the era of economic reforms. Jintao’s mind over the political reforms is reflected in several articles that have recently appeared in various academic publications of the Communist Party in praise of the contribution made by Yaobang though the mainstream media has maintained a studied silence for past 16 years, perhaps awaiting the official announcement. The party liberal Tian Jiyun, former vice-premier, has, in an article in Yanchung Chunqiu, an official magazine of liberals in the Communist Party, advocated economic and political reforms describing the period during which Hu Yaobang was the party chief as one of the best in the history of the party. In a separate article, Zhu Houze, propaganda minister during the Yaobang tenure, claimed that Yaobang introduced the Sunshine politics and had fought against the autocratic politics in the Chinese government by encouraging debate, discussion and dialogue. These series of events are clear indications of the changing winds in favour of political reforms in China. The events come at the end of President Jintao’s official visit to several European nations including Britain and Germany to create a better climate for foreign direct investment in China. Events also come just before US President George W. Bush’s official visit to China early next month.
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From the pages of Aristocracy in education
The Government is creating an aristocracy of education and giving it a treatment denied to the rest of the public. The reply given by the Hon’ble Mr Godley about restrictions to admission of respectable middle class girls to the Victoria May School at Lahore is truly unsatisfactory and insupportable. If it is desired to establish the doctrine of class privilege and class advantages in the 20th century, it is altogether wrong. The institution was established for “Indian girls of good family,” but subsequently, he says, Sir Charles Rivaz had in his mind only the “upper classes of the country”. He then says that admission is still restricted to girls belonging to “families of good standing.” We should like to know which of these is correct, whether the school is intended for the aristocracy or whether it is also for the middle classes, in which case what are the qualifications for admission?
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There is no destruction, for the one who tries to attain perfection either here or hereafter. A transcendentalist is never put to grief. The less evolved unsuccessful one is reborn in the house of the pious and prosperous after attaining heaven and living there for many years. A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires, that enters the mind, like rivers into an ocean which is ever being filled but is not disturbed by the rivers, can alone achieve peace, not the one who strives to satisfy such desires. By the forenoon, bright, and the night when dark and quiet, your Lord has not abandoned you and does not despise you. Surely hereafter is better for you than what was before. And your Lord will surely give to you and you will be pleased. Did God not find you orphaned, and you will be pleased. Did God not find you orphaned, Or refused the one who seeks. And tell of the bounty of your Lord. Do not be proud ( of your wealth) and do not laugh at any pauper; your boat is still rocking in the ocean and you don’t know what can happen. Truth is a great virtue, speak it on all occasions, Let it be reflected in all your acts and let is decide your deeds, all your thoughts and emotions. The ego that asserts, ‘I am the servant of God’s is characteristic of the true devotee. It is the ego of Vidya (Knowledge), and is called the ‘ripe’ ego. |
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