Woe to You, Religious Leaders!

All, except perhaps the power holders and the power-brokers in religions, agree that religions  are badly in need of reformation. Christ unleashed a jeremiad against the powerful Scribes and Pharisees in the Jewish religion of his time. If he were to appear on the world scene I wonder what he would tell the current religious leaders. He would begin something like: Woe to you Christian, Muslim, and Hindu religious leaders, you hypocrites, blind guides! You describe the indescribable God, and create dogmas and doctrines, and trap humans in them inducing fear of hell and eternal punishment. Ignorant guides, you ignore or go against the commandment of love – the only commandment that really matters – and formulate laws and regulations to govern and control every facet of people’s lives.  Masters of double standard, you put unnecessary and unbearable burdens on people, that you yourselves are incapable of carrying. Unfit guides, not having the experience of God yourselves, you train others in God experience. Blind guides, immersed in the affairs of this world, and lacking light and direction to journey in the Kingdom of God, you mislead others. When you do not have sufficient love and the necessary faith in the one true God, you teach your followers the superiority of your religion, and put down other religions in hatred and intolerance. Instead of cooperating with one another in compassion, you compete with one another in pride and arrogance. Instead of discerning God’s will in humble surrendering and submission, you seek this world’s laurels, approval, and recognition in your stubborn self-righteousness. Like the Pharisee of old in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke, 18: 9-14) proud of his virtues, and justifying himself in prayer before God in the temple in contrast to the tax collector (publican) who asks for mercy and forgiveness, self-centered religious leaders, you give the impression that God needs you more than you need God.

After having lived a rigorous religious life for 25 years in a religious setting I think I know the claims of religions, and their many leaders vying with one another for power. Certainly there are many good spiritual persons in religions. However, many canon lawyers and worldly administrators lacking in spirituality, love, and compassion appear to be at the helm of strategic positions in religions stalling long overdue renewal and reformation. We can pray that the gentle Spirit of God blowing over us can renew and transform us.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti 

The Sales Lady

The door bell mounted at our gate rings. The gate of my house is about twenty meter apart from my bed-room window. I tried to spot the person across the courtyard. It was definitely a lady. I came out and walked towards my gate. Oh No! It was the same sales lady who has been coming to our house since many years. She always says, “Look! This is the last phenyl bottle in my hand. Please buy it from me. My husband is in the hospital. I have to buy medicines for him.” Whether it is me, my wife or my children, she always repeats the same story since ages. We all know that it is just a marketing gimmick. We had rarely bought any phenyl bottle from her, that too quite long back. I do not know why, but she always returns back to our house, asking us to buy her last phenyl bottle. When we ask her to go back, she insists two three times again. We also ask her, why she makes a false excuse every time to make a sale. She just makes a face, but never says that her excuse is false. She never objected to our statement, that she is telling a lie. I do not know what kind of marketing this is.

I have seen “Insistence Based Marketing” by many vendors either coming to the door or trying to make calls. I must have received at least fifty calls in past six months from some people claiming to be representatives of a popular telecom company. These callers ask me to convert my mobile connection from a prepaid service to a postpaid service. The callers do not even know that I am already having a post paid connection. When I enquired from the parent company, they say that many tele-callers are appointed by local dealers on their own who make such requests. For the readers I must put on record, that I already have a “Do Not Disturb” facility enabled. Request to bar the calling number is of no use as the calling number keeps changing, even when it is from the same vendor.

The point I wanted to make here is related to corporate or business morals. This kind of insistence marketing is something that needs to be re-discussed inside every small or big organisation. I did consult few advertising and promotion related books that I studied during my management course. Push based promotion is required, but unless there is a pull the customer satisfaction can never be achieved. Yes! This is a Pandora-box of a long debate. So what! This issue definitely needs a discussion on the moral grounds too.

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg

Republic of Throttled Expressions

Things go viral; that is the way of the world. A man from Mumbai predicted through Twitter, a self goal in the world cup and he was the epicenter one week back. Last week, the focus was on little Katie, the daughter of a simple Google staff. This Katie learned that her Dad is not likely to get a leave on his birthday on Wednesday. She might have dreamt a pleasant outing or an entertaining get-together. She did not know who or what Google is. However, she took a piece of paper and wrote to Google: “Dear Google Worker, Can you please make sure when daddy goes to work, he gets one day off. Like he can get a day off on Wednesday. Because daddy only gets a day off on Saturday. From Katie.  P.S. It is Daddy’s BIRTHDAY. P.P.S. It is summer, you know.” 

As she expected, she was replied, “Dear Katie, Thank you for your thoughtful note and request. Your father has been hard at work designing many beautiful and delightful things for Google and millions of people across the globe. On the occasion of his Birthday, and recognizing the importance of taking some Wednesdays off during the summer, we are giving him the whole first week of July as vacation time. Enjoy!” If people across the world generally think of expressing appropriately what they need, I think India is distinct and no little girl in India is likely to try such a chance. One of the prime reasons why Indians fail to reach their goals is that they refuse to express what they really intend. Even educated guys reserve their plans and do not share it with others. How shall the Universe know what they mean? The one who wishes to set something need to speak it out at every chance he has. It makes a difference because it is not the person who truly creates what he/she intends, it is the Universe. The Universe picks up what we mean only when we speak on our plans aloud in present simple tense. 

Article 19 of Constitution of India guarantees freedom of speech. In fact, Indians are not that free but are highly restricted. Insulting other religions or beliefs is an offense according to section 295 of Indian Penal Code; defamation is denied through section 499 (India is one among the few countries in which defamation is a criminal offense); hate speech is prohibited through section 153(a) and finally section 124(a) controls offensive messages. Truly speaking, public responses in India are highly restricted by the Constitution. But, no Sections or Clauses in Indian Constitution restrict anyone’s freedom of expressing his/her needs, intentions or wants. Still, we love to reserve our freedom to express ourselves and India deserves the title of ‘Republic of Throttled Expressions’. Why not we practice the art of legibly expressing our intentions and utilizing our freedom of fair speech? 

Joseph Mattappally 

Krishna on Bondage 10

These few weeks let us analyze the life of great souls & try to understand their different approaches towards life. There is a good deal of similarity between Christ’s concept of neutrality, Buddha’s idea of indifference, Mahavira’s transcendence of attachment and Krishna’s non-attachment. These are the ways of looking at and meeting the world. But there are some basic differences too. While their end-points are similar, their approaches are very different. While their ultimate goal is same, they differ much in the ways and means they use to achieve their ends. 

There is deep similarity between what Christ calls neutrality or non-alignment with the world at large, and what Buddha calls indifference to it. As the world is with all its strange goings-on, its contradictions and conflicts, its struggles and trials, a seeker on the spiritual path will do well to keep a distance from it. But we must remember, neutrality can never be blissful. Deep down it makes us sad. If I don’t choose life, if I reject it completely, if I say I take neither this nor that, and then I will soon stop flowing, I will stagnate. If a river refuses to move in any direction, it will cease to flow, it will stagnate. It will turn into a closed pool. It is true that stagnant pool of water too will reach the ocean, but not in the way river reaches it. It will first vaporize under sun and then into clouds and then descend on the ocean in the form of rains. It will not have the joys of river, pushing its way to ocean, singing, dancing, and celebrating.  

Buddha’s indifference is silent, peaceful and quiet. Buddha is never sad; he is just quiet, serene and silent. If he lacks the dance of Krishna, and secret bliss of Mahavira, he is also free of sadness of Jesus- sadness for the suffering of masses. Buddha is utterly settled in his peace, his silence. Buddha has attained to indifference, which is different from neutrality. He has come to know that everything in life, as we know it, is meaningless, so nothing now is going to disturb his peace. Every alternative, every choice in life is same for him. So his stillness, his calm, his peace is total. Buddha has attained to absolute choicelessness.  For him nothing is good or bad, right or wrong, black or white. For him summer and winter, day and night, pleasure and pain, laughter and tear are the same. For him choicelessness is the choice!

More analysis will follow coming week!

Wishing you good health & happiness,

Dr. Dwarakanath, Director, Mitran foundation- the stress management people

Only One Complaint

My first posting in IAS was at Aligarh as Sub-divisional magistrate (SDM). One always feels very excited about first posting and more so in a job which has public dealing. At that age, one tries his best to help people and at the same time finds it difficult to tolerate any nonsense. As a result, complaints against young officers are received quite often. It depends upon the temperament of the officer as well as upon the wisdom of the boss, how these complaints are taken and used for supporting or correcting the officer. 

While such incidents look trivial with the passage of time, they play an important role in shaping the career, approach and ultimately the character of the officer. I have an interesting experience of my first posting to share. After about two months of joining, I received a copy of complaint against me, which was addressed to the District Magistrate (DM). It was sent by a village pradhan who had accused me of caste bias. Since the District Magistrate also belonged to his caste, he expected an action against me. When I saw a copy of the complaint which was endorsed to me, I got a little upset and was looking forward to an opportunity to explain the matter to the DM. There is no need to say that the allegations were totally false and I had given relief to the village by taking action against the pradhan, who had filed the complaint. 

Few days later, I got such an opportunity when I was travelling with the DM to some place in the district. When I brought the matter of complaint against me to the notice of the DM and explained my side, he showed no reaction. Perhaps, he needed no explanation from me as he could understand the genuineness of the complaint from his experience and my way of working. But what he said was interesting and also had a message. He said that while he had full faith in me, he also had a complaint against me. And his complaint was that only one complaint had come against me during two months. According to him a young officer like me should have attracted many complaints by then and it showed that I was not doing enough work. He then complemented me for the good work I was doing and advised me to go ahead in the same manner. 

Today some of us shun work for fear of complaints. There can be nothing more unfortunate than this. I have always believed in taking decisions and often took bold decisions when my conscience dictated so. This has always brought me good will as well as admiration. Sometimes things went wrong also but in that case system supported me and no harm was caused. The laws of nature also work with the same perfectness. May be we need to be a little more wise in the present times.

Rakesh Mittal IAS

Be A Good Father

Fatherhood is a big responsibility but it is also a lot of fun. Some fathers miss opportunities to spend time with their kids because of their busy office schedules or other interests. If you don’t establish an intimacy with your children when they’re young, it will be difficult to catch up when they are older.

Children need to be taught to choose right over wrong and need to see it demonstrated by their father. Make decisions in front of them and explain to them why you came to that resolution. Teach your children that everyone makes mistakes but it is important to learn from your mistakes and avoid making them again. Teaching a child right from wrong is a process. Instead of using force, other approaches, such as depriving the child of something they value can prove more effective, while preserving the child’s self esteem and the child’s respect for you as a parent. 

Some men are uncomfortable in communicating their love to their kids. Be loving and affectionate with your children. Give respect to your wife and do not misbehave. Don’t place unreasonable expectations on your child. A child’s life can be filled with pressures at school. Help your children understand their capabilities, desires and limitations. Give them a good education. Although it is important to encourage your children to become financially and emotionally independent, it is also important to let them know that you care and are always there for them and that they are valued.

Fathers are a very important part of their children’s lives. Even when they walk in a room, just their presence commands respect. Be a good leader in your home by taking responsibility for your family and household.

Make an effort to spend quality time with your kids and take interest in their activities. Give them good moral values.

Listen to your children and give them quality advice and help them in negative circumstances. Encourage your children when they are doing well. Teach your children to be caring, helpful and honest. We reap what we sow. Therefore, it is important to practice to sow good seeds and deeds so that your children may do the same.

Mrs.(Dr) Archana Bharat

Beyond Religion

Family and religion are the two most important institutions in the life of a human being. Complimenting each other, they instill in the individual a purpose and a value system, and material and spiritual goals. They give safety and security by providing roots and wings: wings so persons can explore the unexplored territories and become who they need to be; roots so persons can return to their base if and when needed. Ideally, they facilitate all-round growth and development of the body, mind, and spirit. While the paramount importance of family and religion is stressed, we cannot overlook the need of individuals to establish their own families and to go beyond their religion to spirituality while searching for the one God that unites the entire humanity. 

In my own search for true spirituality and  the ultimate meaning – the Logos or the Word or God - my two families, the family of my origin and the family of the Society of Jesus, played vital roles in being where I am now. Even though the two families, that I hold very dear to my heart, may differ with me, I am deeply convinced that I, as a prophet, represent the future and the hope of humanity that God in eternal wisdom and love provides for. I left my family of origin with strong roots at 17, and joined the second family with great wings. The Jesuits gave me strong and untiring wings to search and explore. After about 25 years I left the Jesuits (the second family) letting go of the comfort of their company and the security of a prestigious job. In the world, alone with a compassionate and loving God, and armed with my clear conscience and a strong value system, I was fortunate to experiment and explore unhindered by any earthly authority. While there were many intense sorrows and intense joys in my life, I do not regret any of my major decisions in my last 32 years. Leaving my native country, I surprisingly returned to it after many years.  Many of my old tenets were happily replaced by new ones. My bold experiments cost me dearly emotionally and financially. But I am more contented, stronger, and happier for all that. 

In my search I learned that while religion is important and can be very helpful, its role is to bring all to the door of spirituality. Religion does not need to shut its followers up in a cage with rites, rituals, and devotions even though most persons feel secure and contented in that cage. Beware also of “God-men and God-women” because they will also prevent you from reaching the true God. I discovered certain vital truths that Christ taught. Be faithful to God and the Kingdom of God within you. God is worshiped in spirit and in truth everywhere. God is my father (Abba) and mother, and everyone in the world is my brother and sister. Jesus himself is my brother. Neither any dogma nor any doctrine/discipline can save us. Know the freeing truth that alone sets us free. Love is God, and love alone matters. Go beyond religion to worship the one God of all.

Swami(Dr)Snehananda Jyoti