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Kutty’s killing New SGPC President |
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More is not merry
Why reservations
Another shadow, another dream
Election analysis
A strong rope is lifeline for quake-hit Nurse shortage sets off a bidding war
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Kutty’s killing The Taliban remnants, who had kidnapped India’s Border Roads Organisation (BRO) driver Maniappan Raman Kutty along with three Afghan nationals on November 19 have deliberately been cruel. They have done to death one of the nearly 300 Indians engaged in the noble task of reconstruction of a war-devastated country. The captors of Kutty wanted the BRO to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by Tuesday evening, which obviously could not be acceptable to India. Kutty was one of the BRO personnel assigned the job of completing the strategically and economically significant Zaranj-Delaram road project. This “inhuman and barbaric” behaviour of the Taliban deserves to be condemned in the strongest terms possible. India cannot take it lying down. It has to do its utmost to bring swiftly to justice the driver’s killers, the enemies of peace and development. Though the Government of India has announced adequate compensation to the bereaved family, including free education up to the secondary level to Kutty’s two sons, nothing can be a replacement for a human life lost. It is necessary to constantly review the security arrangements made for those working on the development projects being undertaken by India in Afghanistan. The BRO personnel are, no doubt, used to working under difficult conditions, but they have little experience of functioning in a surcharged atmosphere as it is there in Afghanistan. The incident, though shattering, cannot weaken India’s resolve to extend its wholehearted cooperation in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. After all, the Afghans in general have great expectations from a traditionally friendly country. The Taliban, an extremist formation of madarsa students owing its birth to Pakistan’s adventurous search for strategic depth, has a history of being anti-India in its dealings. Though no longer as potent a force as the Taliban extremists were before the US-led anti-terrorism drive in the wake of 9/11, they have been indulging in outrageously criminal and inhuman activities like kidnapping of foreign aid workers. By killing an innocent Indian worker, they have only exposed once again the “cynical character” of the forces they represent. |
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New SGPC President The election of Mr Avtar Singh Makkar as President
of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has come as a surprise. He was not among the front-runners for the post. The Political Affairs Committee of the Shiromani Alkali Dal had authorised Mr Parkash Singh Badal to choose the party nominee for the top post in the SGPC elections. Mr Badal chose Mr Makkar, bypassing such hot contenders as Mr Kirpal Singh Badungar, Mr Jagdev Singh Talwandi, both former Presidents of the SGPC, former Punjab minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan, Ms Kiranjot Kaur, granddaughter of Master Tara Singh, and, of course, Bibi Jagir Kaur. The outgoing SGPC chief, Bibi Jagir Kaur, has been in controversy for one reason or the other. Senior leaders of the party were not happy with her style of functioning. There were also allegations of misuse of her position and SGPC funds against her. The Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission had also indicted her. Mr Badal is known to defend his loyalists, but this time the pressure was, perhaps, too much to handle. Like Bibi Jagir Kaur, Mr Avtar Singh Makkar is also a committed supporter of Mr Badal. Although in active politics for about 25 years, Mr Makkar lost the last assembly election from Ludhiana West and is a first-time member of the SGPC. What has led Mr Badal opt for a dark horse? It is not for the first time that Mr Badal has sprung a surprise. The choice of both Mr Badungar and Bibi Jagir Kaur was also not on the expected lines. After Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra’s departure from the political scene, Mr Badal has made it known that he can get anyone elected to the SGPC post. But there is a definite political purpose behind Mr Makkar’s selection. And it is to counter the growing influence of the business interests represented by Delhi Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee President Paramjit Singh Sarna, who is known to be a friend of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh . Mr Badal is known to use his clout in the SGPC and has proved that he can still call the shots in its politics. |
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More is not merry IT is unfortunate that RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan has spoken without any sense of responsibility about the family planning programme. Though he has clarified that he has been quoted out of context, he has not denied the thrust of his argument. Referring to the phobia of Muslims overtaking Hindus as the majority community in the future, he has exhorted Hindus to have more children, three being the minimum with no limit on the maximum. The best comment on his suggestion came from a BJP leader: “What does he want, Hindu women to be baby-manufacturing machines?” But those who know the RSS know only too well that Mr Sudarshan has only reiterated the Sangh’s opinion on the issue, though a bit crudely. The first to articulate the theory that the Muslim population would overtake the Hindu population was U.N. Mukherjee who in his book Hindus: A Dying Race predicted such a possibility in four centuries. Over a century has passed since the book was published and there has been no significant change in the demographic pattern in India. The family planning programme is entirely voluntary. Nobody is forced to adopt it while all are encouraged to do so. The objective is not so much to restrict numbers in itself as to increase the welfare and happiness of families. Any community or family that rejects it only ensures its own weakness and poverty. In fact, no community opposes family planning, though acceptance depends a lot on the level of education of the people concerned. As regards the apprehension that Hindus will become a minority, Hindus comprise 85 per cent of the population. Even if the annual rate of growth of any of the minority communities is a few decimal points ahead of the average for the majority, it will be aeons before any significant change is effected in the overwhelming majority status of the majority community. One can easily imagine how backward, poor and illiterate such a community will be even if they are preponderant. What is required is popularisation of the family planning programme among all communities, irrespective of caste, religion or creed. Leaders like Mr Sudarshan should take a lead in this rather than injecting communalism into it. He is, however, keen to become totally irrelevant to modern India. |
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Life is a rainbow which also includes black.
— Yevgeny Yevtushanko |
Why reservations
Dr Ambedkar did not want the constitutional safeguards, as “reservations” were known, to last more than a decade of operation of the Constitution, as it was originally provided. Explaining the rationale of his stand, he told the Constituent Assembly that he would like the Scheduled Castes - he did not relish Gandhiji’s appellation of Harijans for them - to be free of the crutch of safeguards so that they could develop on their own. In other words, perpetual or long-duration safeguards were inimical to the healthy development of the community and impeded its integration into the mainstream of Indian people. He would never forgive the Hindus for the way they treated the “untouchables” for centuries, but towards India he had no illwill. Even when opting to embrace Buddhism, Ambedkar did not dilute his loyalty to
India. The Constitution originally provided for a 10-year limit for the concession, which has been repeatedly extended every 10 years until the 79th Amendment prolonged it till 2010. It is nothing short of a metamorphosis of attitude for one who had accepted Ramsay MacDonald’s Communal Award providing separate electorate for the depressed classes. After the failure of the second Round Table Conference, Ramsay MacDonald, the then British Prime Minister, announced the “award” on August 16, 1932. The award gave the right of separate electorate not only to Muslims but also “ to all communities” in the country, including the Hindus in Sindh and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). The Sikhs similarly were to enjoy the right in Punjab and the NWFP. The wholesale distribution of “separate electorate” meant legislative weightage for one and all, including the Europeans in Bengal, who were sought to be buttressed against the Hindus. Interestingly, every community was unhappy especially with the quantum of the weightage. The All-India Muslim League, for instance, complained that the concession wronged the Muslims in Punjab where they got only 86 out of 186 seats in the state legislature although they accounted for 56 per cent of the population. The Muslim League, however, accepted the award “in the interest of the country reserving to themselves the right to press for the acceptance of all their demands.” The Hindus unequivocally rejected the award and decided to carry on a campaign against it. They organised a “unity conference” in Allahabad with Motilal Nehru in the lead, which demanded a joint electorate instead of a separate electorate. (Separate electorate meant the community would be apart from the mainstream and both the electors and the candidates seeking election would be confined to a single community.) The Indian National Congress participated in the Allahabad conference, which was attended by representatives of the Sikhs and nationalist Muslims. It rejected separate electorate and opted for a joint electorate. Our Constitution reflects that national sentiment. Gandhiji was outraged by the classification of “untouchables” as a community separate from the Hindus. Declaring that the “Harijans” were his special care, he went on a fast unto death in the Yeravada jail where he was imprisoned. With non-Congress leaders like Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru also pleading Gandhiji’s case, Ambedkar “was obliged by the pressure of the moral blackmail” to abandon separate electorate for “untouchables” and signed the Poona Pact with Gandhiji opting for joint electorate. While the Congress conceded several minor demands of Ambedkar, Gandhiji changed the name of his weekly publication young India to harijan, his term of endearment for the “untouchables.” Even while being a votary of varnaashram dharma or caste system, Gandhiji consistently rejected treating a section of the people as untouchables condemned to segregated living and performing detestable tasks. He went round the country raising money for his Harijan Fund and propagating the cause of removal of untouchasbility. He raised a substantial sum of Rs 3 crore - a veritable fortune in the 1930’s - for the Harijan Fund. Ambedkar’s sacrifice was no less. His wife, Ramabai, was keen to visit the Pandharpur temple, which was revered by Sai Baba, but could not because the priests would not allow “an untouchable” inside. She died without her fond wish being fulfilled. Ambedkar put up with the trauma stoically. The Constitution has, no doubt, abolished untouchability but unfortunately it has become more a token than either a reform or a change of heart on the part of Hindus. Worse still, caste and communal classification of the people has been growing by leaps and bounds, very often promoted by opportunist policies of governments and political parties. For instance, the Andhra Pradesh government invited the ire of the state High Court by its decision to reserve 5 per cent of seats in universities and public employment for Muslims, who constituted no more than 11 per cent of the state’s
population. It was the second time in about a year that the court disfavoured such reservation. As a matter of fact, the percentage of Muslims is far less in many districts in the north and the south; only the old city of Hyderabad and some Telengana areas plus Guntur have a sizable Muslim concentration. Their concentration is the legacy of Nizam’s rule in the erstwhile princely State of Hyderabad and the blatantly sectarian policies of the Razakars in the run up to the integration of the state in the Indian
Union. The wounds of those years were slowly healing by the emergence of the Telugu Desam Party marking the upsurge of the Telugus. The present government is trying to reverse the situation by first favouring the formation of a separate Telengana state and more recently by reservation for Muslims. The High Court found the “entire process” of identifying the beneficiaries of such reservation “arbitrary”. The state government is taking the matter to the Supreme Court. The intention is not so much to accomplish the reservation as to keep the issue burning for vote gathering. Aligarh Muslim University has been similarly in the vortex of politics with denominational overtones. First, the Union Human Resources Development Ministry decided to reserve 50 per cent of the seats in the university for Muslims, striking a blow at the pan-Indian character of the institution. Gone are the days when Justice Mohammed Currimbhoy Chagla, as Union Education Minister in Nehru’s ministry, said that his dream was to see a Hindu vice-chancellor at Aligarh and Muslim vice-chancellor for Banaras Hindu University. Meanwhile, the Allahabad High Court added fuel to the fire by negating the minority character of the university on the ground, mainly, that it had been set up by an act of British Parliament in 1920 and that it is maintained by government funds. One can understand the resentment of vocal Muslims at the court decision, but the reaction of organisations like that All-India Muslim Forum is provocative. It has alleged that the Muslims have been “continually subjected to “such persecution” since Independence. Even Asghar Ali Engineer, a liberal-minded scholar, and an Urdu daily like Siasat have reacted sharply against the
judgment.
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Another shadow, another dream
Two full-page articles on Amrita Pritam carried by The Tribune were remarkable in portraying the essence of her life with delicate sensitivity. There was the episode of the shadow in her dream of a man standing by a window and painting a canvas. And how that dream metamorphosed into Imroz, the last great love of her life and right up to her death. When I came to Amrita’s poem addressed to Imroz “I Will Meet You Yet Again”, possibly the last(?) creation before death claimed her, I thought may be, Amrita had had another shadow in another dream, as well. Take for instance this Chinese, ancient poem which Confucius is said to have told one of his students as among the great expressions of true love between man and woman: “
‘Twixt you and me There is too much emotion. That is the reason why There is such a commotion! Take a lump of clay,
wet it, pat it, And make an image of me, and an image of you. Then smash them, crash them, And add a little water. Break them and remake them Into an image of you, And an image of me. Then in my clay, there is a little of you. And in your clay, there is a little of me. And nothing ever, shall us sever; Living, we will sleep in the same quilt, And dead, we will be buried together.” Was Amrita that ancient, Chinese anonymous poet in her earlier
life? |
Election analysis
It is a common belief that “Justice delayed is justice denied” and nothing perhaps sums up the 15 years of RJD rule in Bihar better than this. The decisive positive mandate in favour of Mr Nitish Kumar, one of the three champions of the cause of social empowerment clearly indicated that the people by and large refused to delink the slogan of “social justice “ from “development”. By all means the outcome can indeed be viewed as a turning point not only in the post-Mandal years of Bihar politics, but the Hindi heartland politics as a whole. This is primarily because for the first time in the past 15 years the people chose to cast their dice more in favour of development than on caste lines to achieve their goal for social justice. No one, perhaps not even Mr Nitish Kumar, can ever deny the contribution of 15 years of RJD rule followed by Mandalisation of Bihar
politics, which indeed lent a “voice and a sense of respect” to the Dalits and the backwards. But where Mr Lalu Prasad faltered and Mr Nitish Kumar prospered was that by and large the RJD supremo confined “Mandal” to “Yadavs”, with some fringe benefits to Kurmis, Koiris, and a few other castes. And at one point of time, particularly after forming the government in 1995 when the RJD alone crossed the single majority mark, Mr Lalu Prasad apparently started suffering from “self pride” by further confining Mandalisation to the Yadavs. The decline of Mr Lalu Prasad actually started after the 2000 Assembly poll when he could not get majority on his own. Despite being a grassroots leader, Mr Lalu Prasad failed to read between the lines that “Mandal raj” did not mean “Yadav Raj”, which he tried to combine by ensuring security, not development to the minority
Muslims, which gave rise to his mythical “Muslim-Yadav” (MY) vote bank. A section of the Muslims, however, did not like the failure of 15 years of RJD rule to punish the culprits of the Bhagalpur riots and proper rehabilitation of the victims. The 2004 Lok Sabha poll was another turning point for Mr Lalu Prasad when his “MY” joined hands with larger segments of the Backwards and Dalits as he and the LJP supremo Mr Ramvilas Paswan together grounded the NDA by capturing 26 of the 37 Lok Sabha seats. But the people, mostly backwards and Dalits, who had sided with both Mr Lalu Prasad and Mr Ramvilas, saw both these champions of social justice fight a bitter battle first on the “Railway portfolio” and then after the February polls in 2005,for the “kursi” in Bihar. The feeling by and large, beyond caste lines was that the delay of justice on the part of both Mr Lalu Prasad and Mr Ramvilas to deliver development on the plea of “voice and respect” was nothing but justice denied . So the only choice left in the name of social justice was Mr Nitish Kumar, who promised, before he actually started ruling, to link the same with development beyond caste lines. Even the defeat of the RJD candidates in a good number of seats in the Koshi region of Madhepura, Saharsa, Gopalgang in the just-concluded polls indicates that even a section of the Yadavs too refused to delink the slogan of social justice from development. This is also clear from the decline of the victory margin of Mrs Rabri Devi from over 25,000 in the February polls to a little over 4,500 at the just-concluded polls which by and large can be viewed as the rejection of Mr Lalu Yadav’s claim of having delivered development along with social empowerment. For Mr Ramvilas too, his decline was evident from the reduction of his seats from 29 in February to just 10 in the current polls. But apart from the voting beyond caste lines by people to a large extent in the name of development, the voters also gave a clear mandate that it was not a victory of the “communal forces “ against the seculars. The defeat of a good number of RJD candidates in a large number of seats in the minority-dominated Purneea, Kishanganj and Bihar Sharif where even the Union Minister and RJD leader Taslimuddin failed to get his son elected, is a clear pointer to this. For the first time in Bihar at least a section of the minosiry voted for the JD(U) despite its alliance with the BJP. The initial analysis indicates a five-to-seven per cent shift in the Muslim votes in favour of the NDA from 3 per cent in the February polls, which was substantiated by the leader of the Pasmanda Muslim Mahaj (Dalit Muslims) Mr Ali Anwar. The verdict can thus be viewed as a lesson for those in the BJP too who think than “mandir” alone could ride the party to power. Even otherwise, be it the Noakhali riots in pre-Independence India or the Bhagalpur and Godhra incidents, Hindus and Muslims, by and large, are more concerned about development than mixing religion with politics. This, however, makes the job of Mr Nitish Kumar difficult as the reins of power have been handed over to him at a time when people by and large have now become sceptical whether he would also confine “Mandal” to “Kurmis and Koiris,” like the “Yadavs” during the “Lalu-Rabri raj”. A sense of social empowerment is already there with “voice and respect” enjoyed by at least a section of the backwards and Dalits, manifested in the emergence of Mr Ramvilas Paswan, Shyam
Rajak (RJD), and obviously of Mr Lalu Prasad. For the BJP, the outcome symbolises the first-ever successful experiment of “Mandalisation of mandir”, which even
attracted a section of the Muslims in the name of development. This is evident from the demand raised long before by a section of the leaders in the BJP to dilute the
hardened brand of Hindutwa. For the Congress, even though the people this time largely voted beyond caste and religion, it a serious matter to ponder why it could not capitalise on the same despite the call of “Garibi Hatao” 30 years back by the late Indira Gandhi. The Congress registered the lowest- ever performance in terms of seats since Independence this time in Bihar by failing to cross the double digit. It bagged nine seats, even lower than the LJP and the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls are not far away. |
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A strong rope is lifeline for quake-hit BARANI (Pakistan): Dressed in a white turban and flowing blue robe, Amraz Khan climbed into a small steel basket suspended 400 feet above the Jhelum River. As the basket swung in a stiff wind, he and another passenger pulled on a rope for a nail-biting ride to the river’s far side. The white-bearded Khan offered a tip on the crossing: “I do not look down — ever,” he said. Before the devastating Oct. 8 earthquake, numerous bridges spanned the deep gorges carved by the Jhelum into the dusty landscape here in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. Some could handle a small vehicle, and others were merely suspended walkways. Now, many bridges are gone or unstable. Others hang precariously by single cables, marooning this isolated village. For many, the only way across is the “rassa,” the risky basket contrivance Khan took to visit quake-injured relatives across the waterway. In the local Punjabi dialect, rassa means “strong rope.” The pulley device near Barani was built in 2000, a single steel cable anchored in two slabs of concrete on either side of the river, 700 feet apart. Kashmiris have used such pulley cars for decades to span the Jhelum and other rural rivers. But since the quake, the passenger volume has tripled, turning the rassas into critical lifelines. Hundreds of residents of Barani and the two nearby villages were killed or injured in the quake. Survivors used the pulley bridge to haul out the wounded. Then they brought out the dead, one by one. Today residents use the rassa here to transport relief aid and water. The alternative is to walk six miles to the nearest standing bridge. There has been only one injury. Days after the quake, five men crowded into the basket designed for only two riders. Halfway across, one dropped into the raging waters below, barely surviving the plunge. During the wind and rain, only the bravest venture over the river. “Sometimes I cannot believe I am in this chair,” said Altaf Hussain, 32, a Barani resident. “But we have no choice. People have fought for the rassa.” The pulley bridge even has its rush hours — mostly in the early morning, when the wait can last three hours. Dusk is also busy, when residents wait anxiously to cross. Darkness, they know, sharpens their senses, heightening the roar of the river below. The unwise few who embark alone with heavy loads often get stuck over the river, unable to pull themselves to the other side unaided. They have to wait, suspended in midair, until someone arrives on shore to help them to safety. When the rassa is too crowded, some residents hike to a nearby footbridge that provides a similar thrill. One of the span’s cables has snapped, and its wooden walkway lists sideways over the water. Sarwar Shah, 55, watched as several youths inched their way, stepping gingerly across the corkscrewed bridge and keeping an eye on the river a few feet below. “This is a young man’s game,’’ he said, shaking his head. ``Not for grandfathers like me.’’ Back at the rassa near Barani, Mohammed Sharif waited his turn to cross. “After the quake, we used it to take our wounded relatives to the hospital,” he said. “The rassa has saved lives. But it has yet to take one.” — LA Times-Washington Post |
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Nurse shortage sets off a bidding war Competition to hire nurses in California is so intense that some headhunters routinely make cold calls to nursing stations at rival hospitals, desperate for recruits. Others are sending out direct-mail pitches that read like time-share come-ons. Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, for example, offers nurses a $200 gift card just to come in and take a look around. And in one extreme case, a nurse-staffing firm is using a $10 million Newport Beach mansion as a lure. Even the recruiters are getting recruited. “I probably get a call once a week,’’ said Robin Ludewig, director of nurse recruitment for UCLA . “It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there.” Scrambling to comply with California’s first-of-its-kind law mandating 1 nurse for every 5 patients in most wards starting this year, hospitals are in a hiring frenzy reminiscent of Silicon Valley’s lust for engineers in 1999. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this month dropped his fight to suspend the law, leaving hospitals to cope with a labor shortage that is expected to grow for decades. “We had a shortage before the ratio,” said Sue Albert, who heads the nursing school at College of the Canyons in Valencia. Now, “it’s a free-for-all in the nursing market.” Not all California hospitals are in the same bind. Kaiser Permanente and University of California hospitals often exceed the state staffing mandate, and their recruiters say hiring is relatively easy because nurses like the more manageable workloads. But most hospitals are forced to use every recruiting tool they have — and invent new ones. One hospital staffing agency, in an extreme example of creative recruiting, has turned to reality TV. It invited six nurses from around the country to work in local hospitals for 13 weeks while living in a mansion not far from the scene of MTV’s hit reality show “Laguna Beach.” The result is a show designed to tantalize nurses around the country with the joys of nursing in Southern California. The show, called “13 Weeks,” follows the four women and two men as they go about their jobs and get to know one another in the leased mansion. Access Nurses, the San Diego-based company that created the show, plans to show the episodes on the Web at www.nursetv.com beginning Wednesday and hopes to get them on television. Each of the 13 half-hour episodes also features the nurses in their free time pursuing dramatic and daring activities, including kayaking, hot-air ballooning, skydiving and go-cart racing. “There’s nothing that’s scandalous on the show, and yet it’s highly entertaining,” said Alan Braynin, chief executive of Access Nurses. “You see people delivering babies. You see people learning new things, pushing themselves to the limit. You see people enjoying Southern California.” Access Nurses considered 100 audition tapes from nurses, and it didn’t have any trouble finding hospital executives willing to collaborate. Larry Anderson, president of a company that owns four Orange County hospitals, said he saw the show as an opportunity to reach a broad audience of potential recruits. “Most hospitals offer some kind of bonus and incentive system,” said Anderson, of Costa Mesa-based Integrated Healthcare Holdings Inc. “We’ve had to get more creative.” |
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From the pages of The “Persia” tragedy
Further particulars received about the sinking of the P& O mail boat “Persia” go to emphasise the unscrupulousness of the enemy. As many well be expected, this act of savagery has only served to draw all parts of the Empire closer together in the common object of abolishing the inhuman and barbarous methods of warfare. The “Daily News” (London) faithfully echoes Indian opinion when it says that “in this instance the grief and suffering to which the Atlantic murders have inured us are shared by our fellow citizens in India, and the link of sorrow will not be less real or enduring than the link of victory.” Every part of India has contributed in its own way towards lightening the cares of the Government in this conflict, and every section of the Indian population has also suffered in one way or another. But the part played by the Punjab stands out prominently in this respect. It will be seen from the passengers’ list of the ill-fated “Persia,” the Punjab equally shares the sorrows of England.
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Verily we have sent this in the night of power. And what will convey to you what the night of power is ? The night of power is better than thousand months: the angles and the spirit descend in it, by permission of their Lord, for everything matters. it is peace: this until rise of daybreak. — Islam It is by words that we utter his name and give him praise. It is by words that we acquire knowledge. It is by words that we worship him and sing praises of his virtues. It is by words that we write and speak. It is by words that we interpret our relation with him. But no words can describe the glory of God. —
Guru Nanak It is the foolish who grieve over death. They do not know that they are grieving over a shell, some clothes, some flesh and some bones. The spirit that they know is indestructible and cannot die. —
Bhagvad Gita It is when the mass mind is unnaturally influenced by wicked men that the mass of mankind commit violence. But they forget it as they commit it because they return to their peaceful nature immediately the evil influence of the directing mind has been removed. —
Mahatma Gandhi The knowledge of Truth brings with it power. But if the power be mixed with arrogance, it slides back into ignorance. Power with humility is the hallmark of the learned one. He never boasts of his accomplishments or achievements. Instead he tries silently
to help others. — The Mahabharata All your questions, all your knowledge should spur you to greater action. But if they give rise to more and more questions incessantly, they will only lead to paralysis of action, and you will never achieve anything. —
Bhagvad Gita Many wish to put on ochre and yellow robs and be venerated as ascetics. Neither the robe nor the colour makes an ascetic. The man who wishes to be an ascetic without first cleaning his thoughts of anger, greed, ego and vanity is chasing a mirage. — The Buddha |
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