Traffic Jam

The number of vehicles is increasing very fast in our country. Over a period of ten years, the total number of vehicles has gone up manifold and the trend continues. While it is a healthy sign of economic development, it is also creating many problems. In India, the road infrastructure has not kept pace with the increase in the traffic, resulting in the crowding of roads, particularly in big cities. Earlier, Calcutta was known for its traffic jams but now other metropolitan cities have become worse. In addition, the problem of pollution is also reaching unmanageable proportions. While legislative measures are being taken to tackle pollution, their poor implementation makes the situation worsen

day by day.

For few years I had the opportunity of living in Delhi and Calcutta. Quite often I also faced the problem of traffic jams. At times I was able to change my route or would not venture out, just to avoid traffic jams but normally they had to be faced. Once we get stuck in a traffic jam, it becomes very difficult to come out as a number of vehicles surround us and we have to follow the race. In such moments, I generally took a very amused view of the situation and compared it with the growing rat race in the society. This contemplation has taught me some valuable lessons.

In today’s materialistic world, the number of desires entertained is considered to be an important criterion of progress, and for most of us, it is the sole criterion. The increasing emphasis on consumerism is an indication of the acquisitiveness of today. Even the TV programmes are full of commercial advertisements and create the unnecessary desire to acquire more and more things. I compare this increase in the number of desires with the increasing number of vehicles on the roads. Like the number of vehicles, human desires have also increased manifold in recent times, resulting in a materialistic rat race. While the increase in the number of desires up to a certain extent and their fulfilment is a healthy sign, beyond a point they choke us materially, mentally as well as physically. It is more so when resources do not permit such an increase. This is like the road infrastructure in relation to the vehicle population. Unless the roads are widened accordingly or new roads are constructed, the increasing number of vehicles is bound to choke them. Similarly, unless our income increases proportionately or new sources of income are created, it is not possible to fulfil the increasing number of desires and they are bound to choke our resources. Comfortable living and the use of modern appliances can be quite helpful if one is able to afford them and also maintain a healthy mental attitude towards them. Such an attitude will not create the pollution of negative thoughts. 

Unfortunately, this is not happening. The more we progress materially, the more we are becoming envious and jealous of each other. In the process, we are not always able to enjoy the fruits of our own progress, nor of others. Our negative thoughts keep polluting the environment and the pleasure of our acquisitions is also lost. We either take no steps to stop this mental pollution or do not act upon them. The situation is like taking legislative measures to control vehicle pollution without implementing them properly. Not many of us read good books or live in the company of wise people, who, in any case, have few followers.

It is also not possible to fulfil the increasing number of desires of all the people. In fact there are not enough resources to meet them. Unnecessary desires can be fulfilled only by a small percentage of people, thus creating disharmony. Generally, such desires cannot be met by honest means. The kind of corruption we see all around today is mainly due to unnecessary desires of the people. Even if one is able to fulfil such desires, in the final analysis, one finds them not worthwhile. By the time one realises so, it is too late and one has to endure the consequent agony, much like the situation of a person trapped in a traffic jam. He can neither move further nor change his path. All progress at that time comes to a halt.

What is the way out? The way out is to choose the correct goal, the correct path and the correct means of transport. A good number of vehicles on the road are moving without any goal, going from place to place due to restlessness. After choosing the correct goal, choose the right path. At times, the goal is achieved quicker by taking a longer route which may be less crowded and it is not always necessary to be in the rat race. Also, do not change lanes every now and then, most traffic jams being due to such changes. The correct means of transport is also important. At times one can reach the destination quicker on foot than in a luxurious car. After all, the vehicle is just a means and not the end. Lastly, choose the correct timings. It is better to start early. Taking care of these factors, a traffic jam can be avoided to a great extent, be it on the road or in life. In that case even occasional jams can be enjoyed as they give us an opportunity to watch our own position closely.

Rakesh Mittal IAS

Human Situations - 1

I am going to write here about some human situations arising out of counseling and psychotherapy, spiritual guidance, and relationship and friendship settings. These situations not uncommon in day-to-day life can help us learn more about humanity. They can help us cope with life better, and enjoy life more fully.

Situation 1: I listened intently and empathically over an hour to a person who considered himself to be one of the best husbands and fathers in the entire word. He always treated his wife with deference and gave her the best his money could buy. He always made sure his wife was well-dressed in public. He made many sacrifices so his two daughters could have the best education and best careers in the world. He even went beyond his means to make his wife and daughters happy. When his wife and daughters ganged-up on him, and abandoned him completely, ungratefully, and cruelly, the bottom of his world fell down. He was utterly devastated. His life was his family, and he attained the goals set for them. That the thought of his wife and daughters leaving  him would not leave his mind disturbed him immensely, and made him very restless.  He did not think he would want to receive them back into his life as things would never be right again. He could not understand why they did what they did to him as he was nearing his retirement age, and eagerly looking forward to enjoying time with them. Nobody including God gave him an answer. That there was no answer was the only answer. The only comfort I could give him was my attentive and empathic listening intended to afford understanding of his very painful situation.

 

As he could see no reason for what happened, I gently tried to explore his plight with him psychologically and spiritually. Did he enlist their cooperation sufficiently to achieve his goals even though these  material goals were for their own good? Did they feel respected in their own freedom of choices all along the way to the goals? Was he over-motivated in achieving their goals in such a way that they got stifled? Would their not achieving the best careers in the world have kept their family intact?  Did he treat them as subjects or objects? Did he exclusively focus on their worldly goals and material well-being to  the detriment of their spiritual and emotional growth? He definitely loved them; but did they experience him as loving them?  We have no answers especially since his family wants to do nothing with him. Yet he has to keep on living. It is important that he finds the message contained in what happened to him. He may never get the answer or the message he is looking for. His getting the answer or the message he looks for may not make him happy either? Besides, it is not necessary that we have answers to all our questions in order to live a happy and purposeful life. He needs to find his own purpose in life independent of his wife and daughters. His wife and children are there solely to help him achieve his purpose in life as he is there to help them achieve their purpose in life. I suggested that he forgives them even if it is only for his own enlightened self-interest. I also impressed on him that it is not necessary for the thought of betrayal to leave him in order for him to be happy and emotionally healthy. The unwanted thought would leave him at its own good time. What he would do if they came back to him can be left safely for the future as he has enough to do presently.

In this context it is relevant to inquire as to what is his purpose in life? Also, what is our purpose in life? Is our purpose in life dependent on someone else's purpose in life? If we let our purpose depends on someone else's, no matter how dear that someone may be, we are condemned to misery and psychological and spiritual turmoil and wasteland as thinking and aware persons.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti  

Life of Eye

Six days before he breathed last. He was one of the best and oldest students of my class. His family called me. They wanted to get his eyes donated as per his last wish. I called the national eye bank help line number 1919. Telephone service provider kept telling me that I am trying a wrong number. I dialled the eye hospital directly as I knew where exactly the eye bank is. There team came and got the job done. A large number of people gathered outside his house to know how the eye donation is done. I had to herd the crowd towards a side to avoid distraction to the eye surgery team. I tried to explain the facts about eye donation to the anxious neighbors. I always wondered that in spite of so much promotion by stars like Aishwarya Rai and Amitabh Bachchan, the knowledge about eye donation is quite limited. Our country needs about 2.5 lakh eyes and only about 25000 donations are received in a year. Many people still feel that eye donation can lead to deformity of face, which is a complete myth. Only a very thin layer of cornea is lifted from the eye. 

Sometimes corneas can even be sliced vertically to give the gift of vision to multiple people from one eye itself. Two eyes can often lead to vision for four people for their life. Eyes of very old people, people with diabetes etc, can also be donated successfully. Even if the person has never pledged his eyes, his family members still have the legal right to donate eyes after his death. Eyes can be donated up to six hours of death. Most hospitals in our country do not promote eye donation as a part of their service. Even if a person dies at hospital, you might have to shift the person to your home before his or her cornea can be collected. This reality I have faced myself. India has a crude death rate of 8 per 1000, which means about 80 lakh people die every year. Out which getting just 25000 eyes means only about 3 eyes every 1 lakh people we are able to get as donation. To fulfill the need we need to make it 3 eyes per thousand people. This is possible if we can make some simple changes to our mindset. All doctors in the hospitals can be trained to encourage people to donate eyes. All surgery forms can take permissions for eye donations also. All funeral places can have eye collection team ready. Telecom companies can be forced to treat eye donation number as an essential services number.

So friends! Please tell your family today, that you want to see this world for ever, even after your physical absence. If you happen to go for a condolence of any near or dear ones, please do counsel them for eye donation, if the time frame allows. Believe me, it always works and even the family of deceased will ultimately appreciate it. Please do save the number of a nearest eye bank around you in your mobile address book.

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg

The greatest Wonder

Which is the most striking or the best of all the wonders in this world? The Pyramids of Egypt? The Great Wall of China? The Taj Mahal? A conclusion without objections is impossible. Perhaps, the Great Indian epic Mahabharata might be the only book which gave an appropriate answer to this, quite beyond all disputes. The greatest wonder in this universe according to Dharmaputhra (Mahabharata) is nothing other than a living human being. He did not mean the many billions of cells in a human body that works in absolute harmony; he was also not referring to the puzzling twists of consciousness. What that quizzed him most was the way humans generally think and our foolish deeds which we generally claim to be the output of an ultimate boon, called wisdom. Dharmaputhra meant that death is an inevitable transforming factor in anyone’s life, at which we leave aside all the glories we have accumulated and leave this matter world with nothing in our hands. Still, every one lives as if this rule is not relevant to them. This is what surprised Dharmaputhra. This says that those who have realized this truth are worth to be called rich and all others unquestionably poor. I think that this old dervish story may clarify what I mean.

A wealthy merchant, observing a dervish who was praying silently appreciated his devotion and sincerity; it touched him deeply. He offered the dervish a bag of gold. 

“I know you will use the money for God’s sake. Please take it.” He said.

“Just a moment,” the dervish replied.

The dervish asked the merchant, “I’m not sure if it is lawful for me to take your money. Are you a wealthy man? Do you have more money at home?”

“Oh yes. I have at least one thousand gold pieces at home,” claimed the merchant proudly.

“Do you want a thousand gold pieces more?” asked the dervish.

“Why, yes, of course. Every day I work hard to earn more money.”

“And do you wish for yet a thousand gold pieces more beyond that?”

“Certainly! Every day I pray that I may earn more and more money.”

The dervish pushed the bag of gold back to the merchant. “I am sorry, but I cannot take your gold,” he said. “A wealthy man cannot take money from a beggar.”

“How can you call yourself a wealthy man and me a beggar?” the merchant spluttered.

The dervish replied, “I am a wealthy man because I am content with whatever God sends me. You are a beggar, because no matter how much you possess, you are always dissatisfied, and always begging God for more.” 

Joseph Mattappally

Coordinates of Life

Coordinate geometry is an interesting branch of mathematics. In plane coordinate geometry, there are two axes, namely, ‘X’ and ‘Y’, crossing each other at right angles. The point of intersection is known as the origin. The origin is given the coordinates, zero-zero. All other points lying on the plane of these two axes are given coordinates with respect to the origin. Thus, each point has two coordinates known as ‘X’ and ‘Y’ coordinates. Depending upon the position of the point, these are either positive or negative or a combination. Since the plane is divided into four quadrants, one quadrant has both the coordinates positive, one both negative and the remaining two quadrants have one coordinate positive and one negative. In graphic form, these may be shown as below:

                                                         

Based on the relationship of these coordinates, various figures are studied in this branch of mathematics. Starting with a straight line, there are complex figures of various shapes.

Overall, the study is very interesting. From two-dimensional geometry we proceed to three-dimensional, which is a little complicated but the basic principles remain the same. Here, the study is made in respect of three-dimensional figures instead of two-dimensional figures. Viewed philosophically, the basic principles of this branch give some very interesting lessons for life. I intend to share my reflections, confining them to the lessons which can be learnt from two-dimensional coordinate geometry.

Firstly, the four quadrants can be compared with the different states of mind. The quadrant with both positive coordinates indicates the happy state of mind when one feels everything positive in life. The quadrant with both negative coordinates indicates the gloomy state of mind when everything appears to be negative. The remaining two quadrants indicate a mixed state where some aspects appear to be positive and some negative. The lives of most of us pass through these three phases and we accept them as such. In all these phases we dissipate our energy either by enjoying or suffering and eventually depart from the earth. The cycle goes on till we understand the truth and realise it. In fact, the truth lies in rising above both positive and negative. Such a position is possible only at the origin which is the supreme reality, or in other words, God. Till we realise this position, we keep on dissipating our energy, irrespective of our coordinates.

An interesting comparison can also be made with three tendencies, namely Sattwik, Rajasik and Tamasik. The first quadrant represents the Sattwik tendencies, the second and fourth represent the Rajasik and the third represents the Tamasik. Most of us have Rajasik tendencies and that is why they occupy two quadrants. Such tendencies motivate us to act for the fulfilment of a desire. If the desire is fulfilled we feel happy and if not, we feel unhappy. On the other hand, the Sattwik tendencies always keep us happy while the Tamasik keep us unhappy. Again the fact is that we stay away from the truth and keep dissipating our energy in all the three situations. The only difference is that in the Sattwik situation, energy is used for good purposes, in Rajasik, for mixed purposes while in Tamasik, for bad purposes. Therefore, the answer lies in rising above all the three tendencies and to become Gunatita. This state is possible only when we take our position at the origin which is nothing but the supreme reality or God. This is what is concluded by Lord Krishna also, in the 18th chapter of the Gita.

 There can be two ways of achieving such a position. One is not to move from the origin, which means that we remain engrossed in God and do not come out in the world at all. This is not possible for most of us who have to lead an active life in the world. The alternative, therefore, is to see God in each happening and object of the world. It means that whatever interaction we have in the world should be seen as emanating from the supreme reality and we should accept it in a detached manner. In that case, everything will appear to be from the origin and the question of positive or negative will not arise at all. In terms of coordinate geometry, it amounts to shifting the axes in such a manner that whatever point we see should appear to be the origin. After all, God is said to be omnipresent and it should not be difficult to see Him everywhere. In coordinate geometry, an exercise for shifting the axes is given occasionally and in life it should be a constant exercise.

 Rakesh Mittal IAS

Ramanujans of Today

Let me begin with this famous story of great Indian mathematician Ramanujan. He was ill and was admitted in a hospital in London. His British mathematician friend G. H. Hardy paid him a courtesy visit. Hardy came with a taxi and he just referred to Ramanujan that the number of the taxi he rode was quite uninteresting and he could not make any sense out of the number. The number was “1729”. Hearing this number, Ramanujan immediately became excited and told his friend that this is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways. It can be one cube plus twelve cube or nine cube plus ten cube. Today mathematicians have found many other interesting properties of this number and this number has been named as Hardy-Ramanujan number. Numbers have always fascinated many people in many different ways. In recent years a new fad about numbers has evolved in the form of changing names of people based on numerological luck. I know some people who really charge very high fee to change names. They will add an additional ‘k’ or an additional ‘s’ or any other alphabet, that will suit a certain numerological summation of their names. These so called numerology based astrologers have celebrity clientele and are advertising themselves as fortune changers. I also observe an interesting thing that such clientele often comes from a very highly educated class. Obviously this kind of business is flourishing much more in metros than in smaller towns. I call these astrologers as Ramanujans of today. 

This comparison came to my mind as I found that one such person was also using name of Ramanujan and Aryabhatt to prove that what he is doing is all scientific in nature. He claims that this is our ancient knowledge from the period of Vedas. Such people use the same fear psychosis that is used by other religious contractors to trap you on account of making your future. Sometimes I feel that rational people are falling short in fighting such increasing trend of superstition in our society. I see that even the media of modern times promote it for their monetary benefits. I would be happy if at least one another person can hear my feeble voice and make it a little more louder, so that it can be heard louder in years to come.

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg

E-Heaven

The word Hindu originally meant people living on the banks of the river Sindhu. Through centuries, it has gained more religious-cum-philosophical connotations. Now, it refers to those who believe in the philosophy of Vedas and silently practice all sorts of rituals that evolved in due course. For the practical attainment of liberation, Hindus have Yoga, which is a system complimentary to Samkhya. Gita expounds the synthesis of three Yogas or ways of attaining union with the Supreme. They were Gyana-yoga (union through knowledge), Bhakti-yoga (union through devotion) and Karma-yoga (union through action). Since Ages, knowledge (data in the modern sense) was being passed from Guru to disciple; knowledge was not either sold in the market or put to auction. 

Today, what we have is only the shadow of a profound heritage – no values are socially promoted, except in words.  Everything, subtle or concrete, good or bad is measured in various units and is show cased with a price tag on them. The worst thing is that that there are only very few souls committed on a spiritual path to the Ultimate. We do not believe in Nature or any natural courses. We insist on strategies that could easily market what one intends. Huge flex hoardings of vicious ads decorate even religious places. Prayers are paid, offerings are taxed and discourses are expensive …….. Thank God! We have polluted air for free. 

Advertisements have become bread and water for everything. Even poojas are arranged by marketing experts. All sorts of general communication mediums are half filled with advertisements, most of them cheating in disguise. It has come to be that even a devil with an appropriate marketing skill can strive here. I remember a physician who opened a clinic in a foreign land. Nobody came to his clinic. He put a hoarding which said, ‘guaranteed treatment for all ailments at 500 bucks, Damage if any compensated with 1000 bucks’. In a world in which everything is translated into e language, it is no surprise that e people look out for e Vedas and e Ashrams. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard about an e heaven which I can recommend. 

Joseph Mattappally

Varilux Lens

SP 200 170115 Varilux Lens

My eyesight became weak at a very early age. However, no one took notice of it and my hints about not being able to see were not taken seriously. It was only when I went to the Government High School at the district headquarters at twelve years of age, that the Vice Principal advised me to get my eyes tested. As a result of this delay I had to wear high-powered glasses right from childhood. Subsequently, the power of the glasses increased further and they also became complex.

Like all other technologies, optical technology has advanced greatly in the last thirty years. My first pair of spectacles cost me only nine rupees in the year 1961 while the latest made me poorer by three thousand rupees in 1995. I parted with this amount with great hesitation. My optician had been pleading for it for quite some time, explaining the salient features of the latest glasses known as Varilux Lenses. These lenses are not only light but also have no dividing line between the short-sight and long-sight portions. Their power changes with the distance of the object seen. They are very convenient at an age when one has to wear complex glasses and more so for those whose jobs involve reading and writing. These glasses are not only efficient but also look good.

For some time, I questioned the wisdom behind spending so much for the spectacles. Only after I started feeling comfortable with the glasses and the memory of parting with a huge sum faded, did the questioning come to an end. I also looked at it philosophically and some very interesting lessons came to my mind. First of all, we should understand the working of an eye. It has a lens and a retina. When an object is seen, its image is formed on the retina which is then noticed by the mind. If for some reason, the image is not formed properly, it is known as an eyesight defect. This defect is corrected with the help of an external lens which is worn in the form of spectacles. Depending upon the nature of the defect, a suitable lens is fitted in them. With the advance in age, the defect becomes complicated and hence more complicated lenses are required. This is where technology has developed. Earlier, two separate spectacles were required for long-sight and short-sight. Subsequently, complex lenses provided both powers in the same lens. Such a lens has a dividing line and requires some practice for adjustment. The latest technology takes care of both these problems. I am not very clear about the exact principle behind the working of a varilux lens but the fact is that its power changes with the distance in a manner which takes care of the movement of the eye. As a result, a correct image is always formed on the retina.

I feel a similar attitude has to be adopted in life also. The world we see around is very complex and if we see it with a fixed focal length, quite often we get aberrated images. Therefore, there is a need to change our attitudes according to the need of the situation so that the mind always receives a good image of the world. Thus, the attitude is like the lens and the mind is like the retina when compared with an eye. If one is able to develop enough wisdom (like optical technology), the change in the attitude with the changing surroundings can become a natural process. In that case, both good and bad can be accepted with equal ease. Living can then become natural and harmonious. The efforts made for such an achievement is worth the outcome. Having learnt this lesson, I stopped regretting the sum spent on my latest spectacles. Perhaps, the lesson is worth the amount, if not the spectacles.Rakesh Mittal IAS

Rakesh Mittal IAS

Dealing With Terrorism

Terrorism, the most senseless violence in the modern age, needs to be dealt with from a multi-pronged approach taking into account spiritual, psychological, and human rights perspectives. This most monstrous, mindless, and vicious type of terrorism that disregards all human rights and canons of decency, and that began in the grandest scale in the most visible form took place on September 11, 2001 in New York. I happened to watch it live on television in a psychiatric ward of a hospital in the USA that I was working on at that time. Terrorism in different forms of viciousness and cruelty raises its ugly head everyday in different parts of the world maiming and killing innumerable persons. Recently terrorism played out in Paris.  Markedly disproportionate publicity, though, is given to the deaths of about two thousand deaths due to terrorism in Nigeria.   

That most names and groups, who perpetrate terrorism in the world, have Islamic names played on my mind. I slowly began to be aware that this play on my mind started forming a  negative image of Islam as a religion. I want to take responsibility for this and apologize for the same. For I know there are right thinking Muslims who condemn strongly the terrorist activities of their very wrong and misguided co-religionists. We definitely need to bring every terrorist to the legal system wherein due justice can be meted out. It is not enough that we treat terrorism through legal system as it could be a symptom underlying a deep problem. The deep problem, to me, is the Palestinian issue. As I wandered in the present Israel for about three weeks I learnt that Israel came into being all of a sudden in 1948 while the then promised Palestinian state has not yet born. We have still in the world a people entitled to nationhood but unjustly deprived of it. This suppressed people has been living in refugee camps in pathetic conditions since 1947.  These refugee camps are a breeding grounds for desperate acts including all forms of terrorism across the world because they do not have hope. Essentially misguided Muslims sympathizing with the Palestinian cause and/or extremely fundamentalist Muslims wanting to conquer the world for their religion are committing these heinous crimes of terrorism. There is no God in their behavior. They are untouched by truth or morality. The right thinking Muslims have a great task on their hand at their own peril to distance from as well as enlighten these terrorists.

Ethically, morally, and spiritually we need to be strongly aware that any group or section of persons suffers injustice or prolonged violations of human rights can become hopeless and act in  on themselves or act out on others. By acting in on themselves, persons become emotionally and mentally sick. By acting out on others, persons commit violent and senseless crimes. Violence has not solved any problems. There will always be depraved persons and violence. But by being fair to all, we can eliminate any just cause for violence and terrorism.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti 

A point of no return

He is a person, I do not want to meet. I do not know why he comes to my house now and then. He presses the call bell. I open the door and always give him some excuse for not being able to talk to him at that moment. I only ask him in general if everything is ok and then I always want him to leave as soon as possible. He wants more time to talk to me, but I always turn down his request. In a very short time, at the gate itself he tells me his story like what he is doing at the village. How he helped his cousin to get a job in the city. How his wife lost the first child at the birth. I am not much interested in knowing anything from him.

By this time, readers must be thinking, why they are reading a narration being given by a rude person like me. Just read few more sentences and you will hopefully understand the reasons. This person worked in my organisation a few years back. He was a young boy of twenty years straight from the village. He came to me through some reference. Within few days I understood about his erratic personality. He was a drug addict and was never interested in work. He was probably sent to city along with his relative, so that he may become responsible. Somehow, in those days I decided to transform him. I thought that goodness will overcome evils inside him. I counseled him a lot. Sometimes his relative used to throw him out of his house. I used to give him shelter and food. He started showing signs of change. I started giving him lots of creative assignments. Some of them he did with interest also. Even after all this, random ups and down in his behavior continued. None of the other staff in the office was able to work along with him. And then came the D-day. It was that dark day when I lost my mother due to illness. Whole office people, family people were at my residence. He came, but vanished without telling me anything. I do not know what happened to him and was busy in other rituals. He came back after many days. He started telling me many strange stories. He even told me that he had earlier murdered two people and his friends were behind him to take the revenge.

This all was quite disturbing for me. Before I could report to the police, his relative in the city came to me and took him back. His relative clarified that out of drug addiction he keeps telling such untrue and nonsense stories. I was really frightened. I had no choice but to keep an alternate staff in his place. Till that point I used to believe that everyone can be changed. My friends keep telling me that for some people there is a point of no return. I am still confused, which philosophy to believe? Is there a point of no return?

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg

Complaint Boxes

I think that life is the most defined concept in the world. Perhaps, there couldn’t be any one who hasn’t defined it. It is neither a bundle of problems nor a poor folk tale. There were models, who lived as loadstars, never to fade away. Those were people who lived in the reality of the present. John Smith, born in Philadelphia in 1921 was destined to suffer severe spastic cerebral palsy right from childhood days onwards. He lost control of his face and hands; could not even eat, clothe or bath for himself. He could not even express himself. His doctors, who predicted an early departure, but did not live to see him go first. He changed all odds with his determination. It took him 16 years to learn to speak – and 32 to learn to walk.

Early in life Paul learned the technique of creating pictures with a typewriter. He was able to use one hand to steady the other and thus press the desired key. He was creating typewriter art by the age of 15 and steadily kept on refining his technique. He lived at a time when opportunities were limited. He never went to School and was not taught to read or write. He continued creating typewriter pictures until 2004 in which his cataracts worsened. Paul did not know about fame and publicity and he did not publish any works. Later, his works have been collected into several books of art. The world lost Paul Smith at the age of 85, but not before several generations had an opportunity to admire his distinct and intricate gallery of art. His legacy continues. He is known worldwide as the ‘Typewriter Artist’. And by the time Paul quit creating beautiful pictures with thousands of delicate key strokes, he left behind hundreds of extraordinary, thought-provoking pieces that make a statement not only about their subject matter, but especially about how they were created. 

Whenever I think of people, known to others as complaint boxes, I remember people like John Smith.

Joseph Mattappally

Minus Infinity to Plus Infinity

Once I was attending a spiritual discourse. The gathering consisted of men as well as women. The subject of the discourse was Lord Krishna and during the course of discussion, the devotion to Lord Krishna was deliberated on. Lord Krishna is loved by most of the women devotees in one form or the other. When Swamiji asked them whether they were devoted to Lord Krishna, almost all of them raised their hands. Then he asked how many of them would like to become the mother of Lord Krishna. Not realising the implications, many showed their willingness. Swamiji then posed the conditions for becoming the mother of Lord Krishna. The first condition was that she and her husband would be imprisoned just after their marriage, by her own brother. The second condition was that Lord Krishna would be the eighth child and the first seven would be killed just after their birth. The third condition was that she would only give birth and the upbringing would be carried out by someone else. After listening to these conditions, everyone backed out.

No one had ever thought so deeply about the price paid by Devaki for giving birth to Lord Krishna. Most of us take such realities as routine matters and hardly think about them deeply unless such events take place in our own lives. The conditions put forward by Swamiji were the facts and the parents of Lord Krishna actually underwent such extreme agony. However, in no account of their sufferings is their bitterness reflected anywhere. This means that the human mind is capable of harmonizing harshness even in such painful situations. I have reflected upon this matter deeply and am sharing my thoughts here. 

The human mind is capable of a very wide range of reactions to a particular situation as revealed in the way the two characters in the story of Lord Krishna deal with situations confronting them. One is Devaki, mother of Lord Krishna, who could bear the extreme cruelty of her brother without any bitterness. This is the positive dimension of the mind which is achieved through great wisdom. There is no limit to this dimension and it can reach to plus infinity. Questions may be raised about the practicality of this but here we are talking about the possibilities of a positive reaction. Besides Devaki, there are numerous examples of extreme sacrifices made by human beings from time to time in all parts of the world. Most of them made such sacrifices willingly without any bitterness or malice towards anyone. They made such sacrifices for a great cause and derived great satisfaction from their strength drawn from the plus infinity dimension of their minds. Such persons have existed in all times, exist today and shall continue to exist.

Now we look at the second character, Kamsa, who was a very powerful but ignorant king. He considered his might and the kingship as permanent. In order to protect his position, he adopted the lowliest possible means, using violence and cruelty to gain his own ends. This is also a dimension of the mind but the negative one. Here also, there is no limit and it can be minus infinity. Such characters too have existed in the past, exist today and will continue to exist in future. They all display the negative dimension of the mind which is the result of ignorance. Thus the range of the human mind is minus infinity to plus infinity. This also reminds me of integral calculus, a branch of mathematics. Quite often the range of integration is from minus infinity to plus infinity. An integrated mind should be able to accept these ranges objectively and harmonise them. Harmony is possible only by 'knowledge', not mundane but spiritual. Only at a spiritual level harmony can become possible. Life, then, becomes a process of integration of the mind with a range of integration from minus infinity to plus infinity.

Rakesh Mittal IAS

Your New Year, My New Year

This New Year I got an email message from a friend with a message in Hindi which translates to, “How can I greet you now, when our own New Year starts in March after Holi. How can I greet you now when people are celebrating this time in the western way? My New Year greeting will come to you when our season begins in the Hindi month of Chaitra”.

With this kind of message, I was forced to think, that even New Year could become an agenda to polarize people on the basis of their religious thoughts and roots. Even New Year could be “Your New Year and My New Year”. Today we find reasons to curse anything and everything around us. Everyday a new breed of “Culture Contractors” is taking birth. If we really claim that we have most fertile mind on this earth, then why can’t this so called right wing fundamentalists open research labs to create things that can benefit the society. The kind of money and effort people are putting in spreading pseudo-religious faiths can be used fairly to develop vaccines for diseases, seeds for better crops, pollution free fuels and many other things like that. An expression of “Your New Year versus My New Year”, feels like “Your Terror versus My Terror”. My way of answering my friends email was writing this article. Will you find your way to answer such things?

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg

Healthy Detachment

I know someone who, after having gone through a very painful experience, and after having plunged into total despair and hopelessness, is learning to regain his meaning and purpose in life. His story briefly is this. His wife retired from her job three years before he did, and went to live with their youngest daughter in another state. Their oldest daughter lives in another country. He educated both his daughters, his only children, to the point that both of them have very good jobs. He even got a specialist orthopedic surgeon from London to India to correct his oldest daughter's previous surgery due to an accident so she can walk. He was totally dedicated to his wife and children. The only thing that may not have sat well with his wife and daughters was his criticism of his youngest daughter's loose life. All his life's dreams dashed, he was totally devastated and did not want to live. However, under the correct conditions, he was able to regain his health and enjoy life through healthy detachment.

All of us at some point or another in our life have gone through painful or even extremely painful experiences due to no fault of our own. Some of our near ones who tortured us out of their own fear, or others who opposed us for their own gain might think that we would be better dead than alive. We do not need to despair. We have great historical examples of Socrates, Christ, Saint Paul, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King, Jr., to cite a few, who suffered for the values and principles they stood for. We can emerge spiritually and emotionally wholesome from such destructive experiences and persons only through healthy detachment and from a deep abiding faith in ourselves and ultimately in a Higher Power or God beyond us yet deep and more intimate than ourselves within us.

Healthy detachment is essential for growth in spiritual life. It is letting go completely and unconditionally believing a Higher Force (God) is going to hold us in life unharmed. It  is indispensable for lasting and meaningful solution to any problem in life. Spiritual authors call it holy indifference or affective neutrality. Holy indifference, for instance, is expressed in Christian marriage vows wherein one spouse promises to hold his/her partner in bond and love for ever in good times or bad times, health or sickness, wealth or poverty. A great spiritual writer, Ignatius of Loyola, in his well-known Spiritual Exercises, proposed this kind of indifference for making right choices in one's life, and union with God and service of humanity. This kind of indifference or detachment sees one sailing through life with even-mindedness and even-handedness in benign as well hostile situations. A person with healthy detachment does not have inordinate or disordered attachments or affections. This person carefully discerns the messages contained in favorable and unfavorable events in life. This person celebrates life and lives life fully in the present moment, and totally surrenders self actively to God and to the inevitable happenings that one is helpless in avoiding. The total surrendering of life to God as self-oblation expressed through total service of humanity, and unreserved and full celebration of life can happen only through healthy detachment.

Swami(Dr) Snehanad Jyoti

                                                                                                                                         

Absolutely insecure

Life on earth is becoming more and more scientific - precise in time and shorter in space. This is how every culture has been advancing. Does it mean that we are becoming more and more insecure? In every city in India, the number of security guards is alarmingly increasing. In front of each city house, apartments, villas, shops, ATMs, banks, most business show rooms and prayer houses, don’t you see breathing mannequins in custom costumes, simply wasting time, counting the foot wears left aside?  There was a time in which we kept all data in hard copies. I remember that my father had only a wooden table and a draw with a lock to keep all our documents most important or less important. As decades swept off, things have changed and we have more physically secure and strong data storing systems and devices. The number of keys in our possession has increased and the few most important things a human being carries along have turned out to be a set of keys, a bunch of user names/passwords and a mobile phone. The net result? Everything has become more vulnerable to lifting and manipulation. Locks are easily broken and passwords are stolen with remote controls.

I did a little investigation into how secure we are. Here are some 2014 cyber crime news: ‘AT&T employee fired for accessing customer data.’ ‘Man Sentenced to Prison for Trying to Buy Stolen Data.’ ‘US Will Adopt Chip-and-PIN, The idea of storing credit card account information on a magnetic stripe, while innovative in 1960 when it was first conceived, is now vulnerable to theft, particularly because the data encoded on the magnetic stripes are static.’ ‘Internet Crime Complaint Center Warns of Spoofed Messages.’ ‘The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is warning organizations of a rise in insider threat cases’. ‘Google spots Malvertising Attack’. ‘Russian Police Arrest Two in Connection with Android Malware development’. ‘The Nigerian authorities are looking for a missing IT admin at an unnamed bank who is suspected of helping cyber criminals make off with 6.28 billion Naira ($38.6m)’. ‘Police in London, UK have arrested two people in connection with a software piracy ring’. ‘Several popular websites have been targeted by maliciously-crafted advertisements to infect site visitors' computers with malware’……. It never ends. What we understand is that we have become alarmingly open to all sorts of intrusions and thefts.

The situation in India, at a time in which all cultures in this land were at the zenith of their glory, was different. They knew the secret of Asteya – a stage of being happy with bare necessities only, a stage in which they knew that everything belongs to everybody. The more we refuse to share, the more we frantically strive to earn the more we become open and insecure. Today, the richest appears to be no way different from a street beggar surrounded by a universe of wealth but distinct in the quantity of fears and burdens he carries. We are yet to learn that satisfaction is not reserved to the haves alone and it is a referential state of mind, attainable to the poor and rich alike. Hail our ego, king of a few pounds of flesh and bones!    

Joseph Mattappally

Permanent or Less Temporary

I joined the IAS in 1975. Within twenty years of my service, I changed places twelve times and the number of posts held exceed even this. It had always been difficult to write my permanent address on any document. In the beginning, I gave one or two addresses as permanent but they were always care of someone else. With the change in the quality of relationship with them, the permanence of those addresses also lost its meaning. Twenty years is a long period in a life and career. Children grow up to adulthood and many family as well as social, responsibilities are added. The volume of personal papers and correspondence in various matters increases greatly. In several matters one has to give a permanent address from time to time. This need arose in my case also and I faced great difficulty in giving such an address, being constrained to give different addresses in different cases, depending upon the convenience at that point of time. It also became difficult for me to remember the address given in a particular matter. All this made me think seriously about settling down at a permanent address.

Fortunately, I had constructed a modest house at Lucknow in the year 1989. It gave me a reasonable rent which augmented my income at a time when expenses were at their peak. Notwithstanding this fact, I decided to settle down in my own house at the earliest, so that there would be no problem relating to a permanent address. Accordingly, I worked on those lines and shifted to my Lucknow house after the completion of my deputation in the Government of India in 1996. One day, while thinking over the plan to settle down in one place, a philosophical thought came to my mind. The question that arose was: ‘Would that really be my permanent address?’ The answer, naturally, was in the negative. At best, it would be a less temporary address compared to what I had been writing on forms and documents. After all, there is a limit to the time of stay even at a so-called permanent address. If this is so, how can we call it a permanent address? The world we live in is always changing and all events of life are transitory, so how can one think of a permanent address here ? In the final analysis, it becomes only a relative term.

This contemplation opened up my mind. Even though I have shifted to my own house, I have done so taking it not as a permanent address but only as a less temporary one.

Rakesh Mittal IAS