God Connection

Over the years I have come to the strong conviction that it is well-nigh impossible to have God connection without harmonious involvement with nature. Nature reveals God in manifold ways: in the blossoming of a flower, in the melodious chirping of a bird, in the frolicsome leap of a calf, in the pure, innocent smile of a child. Everything in nature reminds us of God – the Higher Power, the Organizing Intelligence. As we explore the universe and make progress in science and technology, we are becoming more and more aware of the marvels of the universe and the magnificence of God.

As I became aware of the importance of nature not just for admiration and contemplation but also for deep connectedness with God, I became aware of my role as a bhoomiputran (son of the earth), and as such I work on land several hours, whenever possible, growing vegetables, planting flowers and trees, tending cows, and building retaining walls to stop land erosion and to trap rain water. These hours afford me special joy, satisfaction, exhilaration, and mystical union with nature and God. The sheer pleasure that comes from union with nature and the Organizing Intelligence drowns for me the distinction between theism and atheism. We are all called to the mystic union that results from the cosmic harmony that pulls everything together in unity and equilibrium.

Materialism and consumerism seem to have taken over our civilization pushing spirituality to take the back seat for a period in history. The golden period of materialism is going to peak and decline when people get fed up with its inner emptiness. Barely humanity has corrected its course from slavery, race and caste discriminations, severe human rights violations, and authoritarianism before the plague of materialism and the hoarding of wealth and world’s resources by a select few celebrated by numb and dumb billions have engulfed the world. The overwhelming majority seems to be helpless spectators of a world civilization shaped by a few amoral, self-centered, and unscrupulous entrepreneurs whose only value is material prosperity and body cult. A few multi-national corporations are capable of controlling world’s resources. They produce agricultural and factory goods, and convert the world into a market place that thrives in service industry, and create a new class of slavery. It is in this context that one needs to connect with nature to learn its inner workings to preserve one’s sanity and integrity. This connection with nature alone can bring connection with God, the creator of nature that also includes us. Connection with God is tantamount to connection with nature that prevents mindless exploitation of nature, and preserves a healthy ecological system.

Swami SnehanandaJyoti  

Right or Left

Recently I and wife needed to visit Kolkata. There we both sat down on a parapet near the pond and requested a passerby to click a photograph of both of us. He happily obliged us. Then we kept taking more individual photographs of a great picturesque location. Sudden a security guard came running to us. He was watching us getting photographed together from a distance. He said, “You sat wrongly. That is not the right way of sitting.” We thought that we probably took pictures at a prohibited place and he will soon delete the images we took. But soon we understood, that he meant something else. He wanted me, the men to sit on the right side and my wife, the women to sit on left side. He said married people should always sit in that order only. We asked him to take another photograph, the way he wished. He said, he had never taken a photograph earlier. I quickly trained him, how to click and he happily photographed us in the order he wanted us to sit. He was a happier man now. I too was happier, as I had already got the next topic I would write a post on.

From where at all this theory of men, women positioning must have started. I asked my friend Google and I got many versions. The most convincing one was that in olden days men needed to protect their better half by using a sword and as most people were always right handed, it was easier to keep the women on the left, so that right hand can be used freely. I also learnt about an unconvincing answer that as ‘Eve’ committed the sin of eating the apple, so churches decided for her to be always on the left side to remind her, that left is the side of evil. In fact some societies have the reverse arrangement too. Although, our modern society has moved far away from all sorts of positioning logics, I feel many people still like to carry the baggage of symbolism in the name of traditional values. So think twice, before taking a dinner seat in a restaurant or making a pose for a photograph, a waiter or guard may be on his way to give you his precious traditional wisdom.

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg

A ‘like’ please!

By now, we are all aware that social media has had a tremendous impact on our culture, in business, on the world-at-large.  If we take a closer look at the effect of social media on politics, business and socialization we find that the demerits are much more than the merits. British companies have lost billions of dollars per year in productivity because of social media addiction among employees. Many introverts and socially reclusive users place too much emphasis on virtual interaction, and ignore the real world outside. If you are not careful, unscrupulous people can target you for cyber bullying and harassment on social sites. School children, young girls, and women can fall prey to online attacks which can create tension and distress. If you are not careful, what you post on the Net can come back to haunt you. Many companies perform a background check on the Internet before hiring an employee. 

People from all sects, good or bad, are increasingly preying on Social media. Ahmed Zalata isn’t a model or a celebrity; but he’s acting like he wants to be one. On a hill above the minarets of old Cairo, in one of the city’s only parks, a photographer snaps him posing in Ray-Ban sunglasses, ripped jeans and a patterned hipster’s jumper. It’s a common, if odd, sight in Egypt these days. Zalata’s photographer, 19-year-old Mohamed Effat, agrees: “People see it as the easiest way to become famous.” This roof topping craze has been labelled a misguided attempt at popularity by a social media expert. Publicity and Popularity are the most sought out factors these days. Recently, one of my friends made a serious note on this subject. He wrote, “Empty are those who yearn for popularity, however it be.” 

Ever since humanity appeared on earth we have been seeing frantic struggles and fights just for an upper hand in glory. This is evident in Politics. Popularity and publicity have become their purpose of living for the politicians. People are ready to screw out any tactics to reach this goal. Just because they do not know that these honours they yearn for are meaningless, they are absolutely empty, with nothing valuable inside. 

Catriona Pollard, a social media expert with CP Communication, said online media was creating a misguided subculture that provided children with a false sense of popularity and self achievement. She said, “If these kids see their peers doing it then it becomes acceptable and it turns into a popularity contest and the more followers they get the more it gives them a sense of fame. “This is particularly dangerous because that fame is not real and once you look at the world outside of that social media circle you see these actions are not acceptable at all. She has concluded her comment saying, “Education is the key to addressing this issues and I believe that can be done in schools.”

I think our leaders will revisit our educational strategies and syllabus, before the nation falls prey to a subculture of inhuman chivalry.

Joseph Mattappally

Living in the Present

In one book of the Dalai Lama, I got a very interesting interpretation of the ‘present’. We are generally advised to live in the present. This is so, because the past has gone and we can do nothing about it while the future is yet to come and is unknown, so why should we worry about it? Therefore, we should look at the present only so that we make the best and optimum use of our energy and efforts. This approach also helps us to insulate ourselves from the regrets of the past and the worries of the future. While explaining this concept, the Dalai Lama has tried to define the ‘present’. He says that the moment we think of the present, it becomes the past and if we think about a point in time even slightly ahead, it is the future. The difference can be reduced to infinitely small units, as small as in nano-seconds or even less. Going by this logic, there is nothing like the 'present'. It is like a ‘Point’ in geometry which is defined as something which has no length or breadth. The moment we make a point it acquires both qualities. Similarly, with the ‘present’, the moment we try to catch it, it becomes either the past or the future.

This being so, ‘living in the present’ loses its meaning in the literal sense. It only means ‘living beyond time’ or in ‘timelessness’, thus caring neither for the past nor the future, nor even the present. It also means living at the level of consciousness which is beyond time. One may also call it the ‘spiritual concept of time’. Perhaps, the advice to live in the present is only a simple way of advising people to live in consciousness, in order to raise themselves from the worries of the past, present and future.

Rakesh Mittal IAS

Searching for Truth

Searching for truth is the most difficult thing in the world. That may be the reason why such a  few persons are engaged in it. The prevailing myths for telling untruths are: 1. Nobody tells the truth, or everybody tells lies 2. One cannot get ahead or succeed in life without telling a few lies, and 3. It is alright to tell harmless or white lies. It is important to respond to these myths:  1. If nobody tells the truth, this very statement is true or false; if it is true, there is at least that much truth; if the statement is false, then persons do tell truth. 2.  One can get ahead or succeed in life in the long run without telling lies or seriously compromising one’s integrity; when you compromise your integrity you are not there anymore. If you are used to telling lies to get your ways, start telling the truth to experience the spiritual and emotional joy and satisfaction you get. Of course if your conscience has become dull and insensitive, then you may have to retrain your conscience to reach the desirable level of sensitivity to experience peace and satisfaction. 3. There are no such things as harmless lies; any lie that we say dulls our conscience, and renders us less and less capable of making the right kind of discernment that is necessary for our ultimate purpose and goal in life, that is, freedom from all kinds of bondage. That is why Christ so emphatically said that only truth can set us free. It is also very relevant to remember what Mark Twain, a great author and humorist once said: “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything”.

It is very difficult to live in a materialistic, consumerist world without being tainted by it. Here I am reminded of the story of the Rich Fool told by Christ. Warning against one’s greed, he said that a man’s life is not made secure by what one owns even one has more than one needs. To illustrate this point he spoke of a rich man having a good harvest from his land. The rich man built big storage bins to put his grains and other goods to save them for many years to eat, drink, and be merry knowing little that he would die that very night. The story is not against judicious saving but against hoarding, unwillingness to share, and inordinate attachment to things. Not telling what needs to be told truthfully in a detached way and keeping in mind also the interest of the persons told to at the time it needs to be told is detrimental to the physical, emotional, and spiritual welfare of all concerned. Telling what persons need to hear and not what they want or like to hear requires a strong and assertive personality that keeps depression and other emotional problems away. Getting systematic and irrefutable facts, which means not getting caught up in gossips or rumors, is essential for a searcher after truth who also deals with people. Truth is often inconvenient but that alone can save.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti  

Larks or Owls

Thomas Alva Edison, Leonardo DaVinci, Nikola Tesla, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, Madonna, Charles Dickens, A. R. Rehman, Marilyn Monroe, Amitabh Bachchan, Bill Clinton and Napoleon, I can keep on naming many here in this list. They all had one thing in common. They all had some kind of sleep disorder. Medically such disorders are termed as CRSD or Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder. You might have heard the terms “Larks” for early risers and “Owls” for people who sleep very late. Many of readers might have already associated them with one of such categories. Everyone has his own reasons. Our traditional wisdom does justify a set rhythm that goes in favour of “larks”. In many ways the traditional wisdom is a perfect model for a balanced lifestyle for an Individual and for a social system to run. If children don’t wake up in time, how can school start on time and how education can be provided in a group. Same thing applies for office goers also. But! Is this pattern changing now?

If we try to look around people in the “owl” category can be seen everywhere. The biggest invention that converted billions of Larks into Owls was “Light Bulb”. Interestingly, Thomas Edison was not “owl” but he had a poly-phase sleep disorder. This means that he used to take many naps in a single day. The next great invention that is creating a big army of CRSD people is “Internet”. And now mobile/web applications like Facebook and Whatsapp are putting even more oil to this fire. So is it just a matter of worry for older generation, who can continue giving their advice which no one ever takes, or is it a matter of adjusting to the new world of owls. Were the people who were quoted above performed brilliantly in their respective field because they had sleep disorders? Absolutely not. People do have different circadian rhythms. The average rhythm of society has changed in past twenty years itself. It will keep on changing. With a new model people with different rhythms will also co-exist happily. Instead of cursing the new generation as a bunch of owls, we might need to find concrete activities, which are more productive and satisfying for everyone. A new research proves that attempts to change “Owl” sleep pattern children to “Lark” pattern did no good to them. In fact, sleep patterns were also found to run across generations. So friends let us accept people the way they are and try to draw best out of them, according to their basic nature. And let us be ready for a change that has already come, whether we like it or not. This is a topic, where no one is right and no one is wrong, but larks and owls around us may keep fighting like good siblings. Sh..Sh ! Please don’t ask me, I am a Lark, Owl or Like Thomas Alva Edison.

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg

The Story of the Weeping Camel

Artists are best in surprising others with magnificent creations mostly from things and situations quite ignored by general public. Give a Marble boulder to Michael Angelo; he will definitely carve a heaven of angels from it. Sometime back, I happened to read a review on a 2003 German documentary, ‘The story of the Weeping Camel’. “Uniquely composed of equal parts reality, drama, and magic, this film is a window into a different way of life and the universal terrain of the heart” so said the review. The story was woven around a set of nomadic shepherds. The last of their camel to calve that season brought forth a cute rare white calf. Somehow, the mother camel refused to accept it and rejected it due care and milk. The matter grew into a great concern for the family of nomads. 

The film beautifully draws every thread of sentiments in between the camel and the calf and also the camel family and the nomads. The film portrays the charm of human attachment with Nature. The nomads tried all known tricks to bring harmony between the calf and the camel, but miserably failed. The nomads finally take the help of a few lamas who suggested a series of tough rituals. A musician was brought from some distance and he plays his Mongolian 'violin' as part of the healing process. This however worked; mostly hit by the charming lullaby of the musician, the camel reconciles with its calf. 

The documentary happened to be a total delight from start to finish, and it spoke volumes about the ties that bind human beings and animals together. It is considered as a tribute to the spiritual power of nurturing as an essential ingredient in keeping life bountiful and opening the hearts of all species. How this family of herders dealt with this small crisis delighted children and adults alike. The plot kindles within, a craving to reconcile with everything. The energy of reconciliation sprouts from the springs of love; there we also weep. There, we understand that it was with our own elements that we had been fighting incessantly.

Joseph Mattappally

State of Flux

Evils prevailing in the society upset most of us and we keep wondering whether a time would ever come when there would be no evil. Some of us even try to reduce, remove or eradicate the evil. Many also regretfully compare the present with the past and worry about the future. Their concern is to be

well appreciated, but the situation has to be seen more objectively. I am of the view that the society has never been free from evil though the form of evil keeps changing with time. When we read history, we find that many evils which do not exist today existed in the past and the reverse is also true, as today we see many evils which were non-existent in the past. Similarly, in today’s society, there are many good things which were nonexistent in the past.

Thus, evil and good are only an indication of negative and positive tendencies. They both have to coexist though their form and effect may change with time. Everything will come to a standstill if either of them is missing. A battery needs both positive and negative terminals if the current has to flow. Similarly, the whole dynamics of the society will come to a halt if any of its components is missing. The situation can be compared with the ‘State of Flux’ which is a continuous beam consisting of positive, negative and neutral particles. Both goodness and evil have a role to play. It is, therefore, pointless to think of a society which is totally free of evil.

The world will not change. You have to change yourself.

Rakesh Mittal IAS

God Experience

God designed God experience for all the created by the very act of creation. It is unthinkable that the Infinite Wisdom would neglect such an experience with God’s creatures. Thomas Aquinas, a saintly and wise man, said that whatever is received is received according to the capacity of the receiver (Quidquidrecipitur, ad modumrecipientisrecipitur).This was a house-hold expression when I was doing philosophical studies long ago as preparation for theology and priesthood. In other words, a stone expresses God in its own way, a plant and an animal in their own inimitable way. Humans reported by scriptures to be created in the image and likeness of God are uniquely equipped to acquire the knowledge, wisdom, and consciousness to enter into a special relationship with God.

Revealed religions like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam prepare humans for God experience in their own prescribed ways. Of these revealed religions Christ reveals God as his father and himself as the way to the father. Christ and his disciples and the early Christians preached the Kingdom of God (a spiritual kingdom) as an anti-dote to the materialism, legalistic ritualism, domination, and, above all, the power and control of humans over their fellow humans. In that sense, Christ represented the best glimpse of a personal God.Unfortunately, most Christians, paying only lip-service to the teachings of Christ, undermine those very teachings, and get enmeshed in materialism, legalism, and power and control. Natural religions or Wisdom Streams such as Hinduism and Buddhism pave the way to the Supreme Being (God) or Enlightenment as their ultimate goals. The   Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita contain precious gems that propound Sanatan Dharma or the best way of life that leads to God. Buddhism can achieve enlightenment with or without God. Throughout human history, prophets and sages made corrections of the course humans need to take to their destiny that is God. However important and helpful or, for that matter, indispensable these corrections may be, God in the original plan had all that was needed for a full measure of God experience or beatific vision.

Disobedience or doing one’s own thing or going one’s own way that is away from the way of God can spell disaster for us, children of God. This certainly interferes with God experience and the peace and love that go with it. Therefore, discerning and doing God’s will are essential for any meaningful God experience. There are spiritual guides who can perceptively facilitate discernment in humans coming from different paths in order to follow God’s will. These guides do not have their own agenda as they are in touch with the God of all creation that is above the gods of all religions. Saint Augustine, a great sage, said that God is more intimate to us than we ourselves are. Saint Paul, another sage, said that we live, move, and have our being in God. That we are in God and God is in us is so characteristic of the best Indian spiritual thinking. Fish in water may not be aware of the water. But it cannot live without water. God truly is our life breath without which we cannot spiritually live. As freedom, God experience is also our birth-right.Our inertia comes in the way of our experience of God. Awareness meditation as well as active brahmacharyam (walking in God) can help us be one with God and the universe.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti  

Medical Advice

Many times your current situation governs your frame of mind. I was sitting amidst a gathering of people who had collected to mourn the death of a close relative. Suddenly my wife handed over a mobile to me, where a doctor from Kolkata was there on the phone. This call was regarding the discussion related to the need for surgery for a knee-ligament injury of my son who studies in Kolkata. I asked the doctor a genuine question, regarding the urgency of the surgery, as my son was having examinations in the forthcoming week. I also needed some time to reach Kolkata from my place of stay, which is Lucknow. An unexpected doctor’s reply, gave me a reason to write this post. The doctor’s reply was, “We are taught medical books written by foreign authors, but we are asked to advise Indian patients. If you don’t get it operated, your son’s knee will be completely damaged in next ten years.” As I have already told you about my frame of mind, rather than asking current precautions and other medical guidance, I enquired about the cost of surgery and admission procedure. So, a little irritated doctor advised me to talk to the hospital manager for any further query.

“Foreign authors, Indian patients”, this remark kept boggling my mind since last few days. I don’t know why such a remark was made for my simple query related to urgency of surgery. May be because, doctor was preconditioned because of queries of other patients that he might have been counseling that day. May be he might be struggling with an answer to this question while he was doing his medical degree. I do not have the expertise to comment on effectiveness of our medical system which is based on knowledge evolved on foreign case studies. What I can definitely say is that our experts do work under a great pressure everyday in the absence of concrete research based on our own data. While talking about the response variations due to a particular frame of mind, we do need to address the basics behind such responses.

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg

The Four Letter Words

“One of the few men, who became great, while remaining good.” This is a statement on Abraham Lincoln as presented by Karl Marx. This statement of Marx says that all Great people are not good and it is difficult to be Great while remaining good. Our concepts of people and culture are redefined. What we have now is an iCulture and an iCrowd in which it is more difficult to be great and good at the same time. 

The main feature of the emerging iCrowd is being smart; smart in the sense nobody does anything other than pressing on the screen of their android device. You might laugh at me if I suggest that it could be a few four letter words that create all these problems. A young couple got married and went on a cruise for their honeymoon. When they got back home the bride immediately called her mom, who lived three hours away. 

"Well, darling," said her Mom, "How was your honeymoon?"

"It was wonderful, and so romantic. We had a great time," said the bride, but as soon as we got home he started using really horrible language. Words I have never heard before. Really horrible four-letter words! You've got to come get me...Please."

Then the bride began to sob over the phone. 

"Please, mom come get me!" begged the bride.

"But honey what did he say, what 4-letter words, you have to tell me what's troubling you," said her mom.

Still sobbing the bride said to her mother..."Words like....Dust, Iron, Cook, Wash, Work,!"

Our style of interpretations has changed. I remember the story of a man passing through a small southern town where there was a nativity scene on exhibit that showed great skill and talent had gone into creating it. One small feature bothered the man though.  The three wise men were all wearing fireman's helmets.

Totally unable to come up with a reason or explanation, the man the man asked the lady behind the counter about the helmets.  She yelled at the man, "You damn Yankees never do read the Bible!" The man assured the lady that he read the Bible regularly but simply could not recall anything about firemen in the Bible. She jerked her Bible from behind the counter and ruffled through some pages and finally jabbed her finger on the passage.  Sticking it into the man's face she said, "See, it says right here, the three wise men came from afar!"

Joseph Mattappally

Room for Improvement

I started writing about my experiences of life and lessons learnt from them from the year 1990. In that year the ‘Kabir Peace Mission’ had been founded. The purpose of creating such a mission was to develop positive thinking in the society. The mission also decided to bring out a small quarterly journal in the name of Kabir Jyoti. Basically, it was a compilation work with contents taken from various sources. However, I used to contribute an article in each issue based on my experiences in life. The objective was to draw a positive message from every experience. In due course, I developed a fondness for writing and inspiration came quite naturally. 

In 1991, I went to Delhi on central deputation and since then the process accelerated. By the end of 1994, I had a good collection of my writings. My friends and well-wishers spoke well about the style and the message of my articles. What they liked most was that the message was based on real-life experience and it was narrated in a short and simple manner. They also advised me to get them printed in the form of a book. This encouraged me to think along those lines. By this time I had developed a good communication with my publisher and my first book Dictionary of Positive Thoughts had already been published by him. However, there was a difference between the two books. The first one was a compilation of thoughts taken from various sources and there was hardly anything personal about them except the selection. The latter book, on the other hand, were totally personal views meant to inspire others. Since one could never be sure of their impression on the readers, I decided to further test their effect on various readers. To do so I prepared a few sets and circulated them among those whom I considered balanced and mature enough for a reliable feedback.

Almost all those who went through the articles gave me a positive feedback and, therefore, I decided to go in for their publication in the form of a book. When approached, the publisher immediately agreed to do so. I had also given a set to my spiritual master for his blessings and guidance. While approving the idea of publication, he advised me to pay greater attention towards the editing of the book and I took his advice seriously. Then I was to decide about the 'Foreword’ for the book. For this, I requested my then Director of the National Academy of Administration, for whom I had a high regard and who also knew me well. He gladly agreed and wrote a very inspiring ‘Foreword’. He was generally appreciative of the language and did not mention anything about the editing. At this stage the book was sent for editing. The person chosen for this purpose was someone who had worked for the Hindustan Times. I had a few sittings with him before he started the work of editing. He was very serious about his work and took great pains in doing his job. When the manuscript was returned to me by him, I found it so much corrected that for a moment I was stunned. I could not believe that my language required that much correction. I was also not sure whether the edited draft carried the same meaning I intended to convey.

I discussed the matter with my wife who also felt the same way. Then the thought came to my mind that I should carefully go through the corrected draft and I did so patiently. I noticed that the corrected draft was much better though here and there it also changed the original intentions, therefore, decided to moderate it further and to come up with something in between. My publisher also advised me to do the same. As a result, the whole exercise was carried out again and I had to rewrite the whole thing in the light of the editor’s correction. The final draft, which came out as a result of this exercise, turned out to be much better both in terms of precision and content. The editor himself was quite happy and approved it for publication. 

The lesson learnt from this incident is that there is always scope for improvement in whatever we think or do. Most of us resist the idea of being corrected by others and it creates great disharmony in our lives. The fact is that we are not able to see ourselves in an objective manner, something which is possible only by our well-wishers. Their advice should therefore be taken in the right spirit. If we do so, our lives will turn out to be much more beautiful and harmonious. Someone has rightly said that the biggest room in this world is the room for improvement. Saint Kabir also meant the same thing.  What can be a better lesson for self-improvement!

RaKesh Mittal IAS

Leading Questions!

Leading questions or pseudo questions are asked by persons who already have answers to the questions asked. The questions often begin with a “don’t you know” or “don’t you think”.  They might even ask a genuine question giving the impression that they want to know what you think. They are not really interested in your answers. They want to know if you have the same kind of answers as they have. Once they realize that your answers are not the same as theirs, they keep on interrupting before you finish talking to let you know that you do not have the right answers. Of course they have the right and the only answers, often based on their understanding or interpretation of scriptures. They are the criterion of truth even though they may not realize this. Without understanding your answers, they may even caricature your answers. They are often fundamentalist, self-righteous, and intolerant. They try to impose their views on you often with the good intention of bringing you to the right path. Persons who interrupt constantly are not interested in what you want to say. Instead of listening attentively to what you are saying, they may be preoccupied with how they are going to answer you. They may also interrupt you to let you know what they want to say right away lest they forget what is on their mind when they wait for their turn. Listening attentively means one is able to accurately reflect or summarize what the other person is saying. I am less likely to carry on a serious conversation with someone who is doing multi-tasking (doing more than one thing at the same time) that is not uncommon in these days. A serious conversation requires an ambience of concentration. 

What is the best thing you can do with such persons? First thing to realize is that you are not going to go anywhere in your discourse with such persons. A healthy compromise, highly desirable as it is, may not be possible. A good course of action is to acknowledge the irreconcilable nature of differences at hand, and attempt to agree to disagree in an agreeable way. It may be good to state briefly where you stand on the issue. On your part it may be important to examine and study the issue further, if needed, to acquire the needed knowledge in order to further the discourse. If the issue does not involve important moral or ethical concerns, and if you desire to have a close relationship with the person concerned, accept and love the person for who he/she is. Be accurate in the use of your language to convey only the degree of knowledge or certainty that you have. It is very important that you do not engage the same tactics that you are accusing the other person of. You cannot teach anyone who is not open to learn. Above all, never compromise your principles or conscience for the sake of any relationship.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti  

Oh GOD!

Hear My Voice It was half past four in the morning. I had completed some sessions of recordings of my online lectures. I wanted to do some more sessions. Just when I begun again I heard a loud sound from a place nearby. I immediately understood that someone in my neighborhood had called the ‘Jagran’ team and they are doing their job of finishing their morning rituals. ‘Jagran’ is a common ritual in our part of India, where a family decides to have a sleepless night and they very often call an orchestra party to sing devotional songs. The only problem is that, not only they decide to have a sleepless night, they also force all nearby residents to have a sleepless night, by singing the devotional songs with a full blown volume on a loudspeaker. Anyway, after some time the singing stopped. I took a sigh of relief and started to record again. 

By the time it was already five in the morning. My lecture recording was further interrupted by another loud call, this time from a nearby mosque. By the time, this devotional onslaught stopped, it was already dawn, so I postponed my plans for the next night. As I always do, I surfed the Internet, regarding rules related to use of loudspeakers at the night time. I found the clear set of rules, legal bindings etc. But who cares? If I am making a direct call to my GOD, I can do whatever I want. I can defend myself by saying that I have full freedom to practice my faith, the way I have been always doing. Many times it becomes a sensitive matter, as it is connected to faith of various groups. It is the perception of feeding this faith that brings me vote in election times. It is this faith that becomes larger than my basic needs. I as an individual feel helpless to change or challenge this faith. I at least find this forum to express myself; you may be having many such conflicts buried inside your heart. Friends! Let us share views.

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg

Thank You!

How many words are there in English language? It’s hard to answer this question. Even those conditions which decide a word are not fully agreed upon. The second edition of the 20 volume Oxford English Dictionary contains 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. However, a question on the most powerful word combination in the language has always a clear answer. It is ‘Thank You’. We often miss out on the fact that people really want to be appreciated. We see people choosing a work place depending upon the appreciation they get. Making ‘thank you’ part of vocabulary changes any one’s destiny. That recognition you give to others helps you to complete every interaction more than a success. Setting aside 10 minutes to thank everyone related to you that week do wonders in your relationship with them. Appreciate both your superiors and inferiors. Punish in private and praise in public is a good policy to be adopted.

I remember an old folk story. A boy and his friends happened to come aside an unusually huge tree. They were hungry. To his surprise, the boy heard the tree speaking. It said, “Use the magical words and I will give you and your friends a nice treat.” The boy and his friends tried all magical words they knew - Abracadabra to Ajji Majji la Tarajji . Nothing happened. At last the boy turned to the tree and requested it, “Please tell us the magical words, dear tree.” Immediately, a door opened on its’ trunk. As the boy and his friends entered the tree trunk, they said, “Thank you.”  The moment they said thank you, the interior of the tree lit up and they saw a table loaded with the most delicious dishes they yearned for. The moral of the story tells us that Thank you and Please are the magical words in the language.

Sometime back, I happened to be in a mechanical workshop, managed by an engineer I knew. In spite of all his talents, he has ever been struggling to make both ends meet. His workshop always had only a few other laborers. He was busy at work, when I met him there. He asked me to wait a little and I did so. In between I saw himself bursting upon his helper every time the helper did something which he did not intend. My long withheld question was answered. I understood that he never uses these magical words, which would have changed his destiny. Filling every interaction with things and beings with an expression of thank you is all that we need to do to win man and God alike.  Download these Words; it is free!

Joseph Mattappally

From Known to Unknown

I was posted at Gorakhpur in August 1980 as Regional Food Controller. This posting in itself was a turning point in my life. Before this I was at Meerut and was transferred to Lucknow in March 1980. The events turned in such a way that I had to seek a change only after a few months and went to Gorakhpur. My post at Gorakhpur was a regional one under the Divisional Commissioner. My Commissioner was a pious person and I worked with him for three years, in the final year as Collector in the same division. His personality left a deep mark on my life. Our families too came close together and developed a mutual liking. He had three daughters and one son, Amitabh, who was the youngest. The boy was bright and influenced all those who came in close contact with him by his manners, intelligence and courage. I, in particular, developed a great fondness for him which grew with time.

The boy did not enjoy good health right from his childhood. His body suffered from a lack of resistance, and soon it was found to be a kidney defect. At that time he had hardly entered his teens. He was operated upon for a kidney transplant which was donated by his mother. All through he displayed tremendous courage and continued his studies without much disturbance, thus giving hopes to all those who came in touch with him. Unfortunately, after a few years, the problem appeared again and he had to undergo another kidney transplantation. This time the donor was his sister. The operation was successful, and soon Amitabh was full of courage and hope. He completed his graduation and joined the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) at New Delhi for his MBA course. 

I had been in contact with Amitabh all through but the closer contact came in Delhi when he came to join IIFT. I was his local guardian and he used to stay with us frequently. My whole family had a liking for him and our affection grew as we came closer. I was deeply influenced by his courage and nicknamed him “Fighter”. At times we used to get depressed but he never displayed any sign of sadness or self-pity. Despite all his problems he never expected any help from others. Instead, he was a source of inspiration for them. I always felt the depth in him but not to its fullest extent. Occasionally, we used to discuss the philosophy of life but, perhaps, the generation gap was a barrier in reaching to his depths.

Soon after the completion of his MBA, Amitabh joined MMTC at Delhi and I was transferred to Calcutta. Our contact thus reduced to a great extent, though I continued to enquire about him. His body resistance had come down once again and it became difficult for him to continue at Delhi. As a result he had to shift to his parent’s home at Lucknow for a new job. However, things were gradually becoming difficult. I returned to Lucknow in July 1996 after my deputation and once again came close to Amitabh. By this time his condition had become serious. He had to discontinue his job and was confined to bed. I visited him several times and he used to feel very happy when I did. At times we said nothing, though we communicated a lot. Talking of courage and hope had lost its meaning as the outcome was known to him and to those around. Now it was only a question of facing the reality with courage and hope. He left for his unknown destination on 3 January, 1997, destined not to enjoy the new year.

Amitabh had grown very contemplative during his last years. Perhaps, he was always so but gave more expression to his thoughts towards the end of his journey. He used to do it silently and rarely shared his thoughts with anybody. Perhaps, he expected others to measure his depth and did not want to disclose it while he was alive. He left ample proof of his depth in the form of many jottings which are like pebbles on the vast seashore of life. One has to find, collect and understand them. They are the true measures of his depth. One such jotting goes like this: There are things Known, And things Unknown, And in between are the doors. Amitabh has conveyed the whole philosophy of life in these few words. The journey of life is always from known to unknown. Whether it is a mundane or spiritual matter, our goal is to know the unknown. It is only a question of finding the door, which definitely exists but someone has to show it to us. Amitabh has done the same by his physical extinction. He is like a “Guru’ described by Kabir in his ‘doha’. His father paid him a fitting tribute when he said: ‘Till his death he was my son and now I consider him to be my Guru’. Who says Amitabh died? Amitabh never dies. It only sets to rise again.

Raesh Mittal IAS

Anomalies of Democracy

Religious fundamentalism is the breeding ground for self-righteousness, arrogance, and intolerance. It does not foster a climate conducive for freedom, democracy, human rights, enlightenment, and, ultimately, spirituality. The main reason Christ was crucified was that he spoke strongly against the practices of his time that sacrificed humans and human values at the altar of religious fundamentalism and blind traditionalism.

The most vicious and oppressive systems of racism, casteism, and colonialism sanctioned by religions and enforced by the most immoral of civil laws governed humanity late into the 20^th century. That we have passed the right kind of ethical laws does not mean that the spirit of these laws has permeated the heart of humanity enabling the celebration of freedom and equality.

The Islamic State that promotes and legitimizes extreme violence is reported to have roots in the Wahhabic strain of Muslim fundamentalism centered in Saudi Arabia. A Wiki-leaks cable quoting the former Secretary of State of the USA said “donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding for the Sunni terrorist groups worldwide… Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support for al-Qaeda, the Taliban, LeT, and other terrorist groups”. Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates beside the Saudis are also implicated in the memo. Muslim religion as a whole has problem with democracy, and would rather follow theocracy, and govern their countries through the religious Sharia law (the body of Islamic law). Muslim fundamentalism is intolerant of other religions as current state of affairs in the Muslim countries seems to indicate.

What about the oldest democracy, USA, and the biggest democracy, India? Conservative Republican governors in the states of Indiana and Arkansas in the United States influenced by the Christian fundamentalist groups are willing to sign (Indiana governor has already signed) bills presented by their respective legislatures in to law that discriminates persons based on sexual orientation.  They are having second thoughts only due to economic reasons in the forms of significant pressures from big businesses and gay groups. The separation of church and state that used to be celebrated during the over 30 glorious years that I lived full time in the USA seems to be blurring as of late due to religious fundamentalism. In India after the coming of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) into power, fundamentalist Hindu elements want life in India their way. The state of Hariyana, for instance, wants to give a special place to Bhagavad Gita in education. There are other states that want to make beef-eating or killing cows illegal as these things hurt the sentiments of fundamentalist Hindus. Even though I am a vegetarian, I am against such laws as they denote intolerance in a secular country like India. India prides in sarva dharma sama bhava (equality of all religions) by integrating religions into the lives of people by respecting all religions for a harmonious nation.

What we need to constantly remind ourselves is that God gave us the precious freedom knowing that humans may misuse it even to the point of rejecting him/her. That act of God, for me, is the greatest act of God’s love. We do not need to micromanage the world. What we need to do is to provide sound guidelines, and live our lives to the best of our ability loving God and loving all humans, and leave the rest to God who makes everything right.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti