Backbone of India

Perhaps very few know that Lord Macaulay in his address to the British Parliament on February 2, 1835, made the following statement: “I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage. And, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.” 

When I first came to know of this statement, my apprehensions about the British strategy of ruling India got confirmed. During my twelve weeks stay in UK for a training programme way back in 1990, I had been contemplating on the point as to how a small nation like Britain could rule over countries like India and many others. My apprehension at that time was that the Britishers tried to split the nation by polluting its culture and this is what they did in India also. It is a fact that despite many centuries of foreign rule, India was still a culturally and materially rich nation. That is why it was known as the ‘Golden Bird’ at that time and this finds proof in the above statement of Lord Macaulay. This statement amply proves that our moral values, cultural heritage and spiritual wisdom were a matter of envy even for powerful nations like Britain. Britishers found it so formidable that they planned to break it first before they could think of ruling India for a long time. As a result, they intruded into our culture through the route of education and succeeded to a great extent. The legacy of this system continues till today. 

India’s freedom is now more than sixty years old. During this period, we have made tremendous progress in many fields. But to say that India is a developed and powerful nation in a true sense is wrong. A vast majority of the Indian population is still struggling for a dignified survival. The progress of a section of population cannot be called the progress of the nation. Our human development index is dismally low. With the rise in industrial growth rate, we are slipping on our integrity score, which puts India at the 93rd rank among 180 countries. Our education, health, sanitation and human rights parameters are poor and despite the deployment of huge funds, the situation is not improving appreciably. This is a matter of great concern for all those who are patriotic in the true sense. A lot of debate and serious thinking is going on in this regard. It is now being realised that the answer to these problems also lies in the statement of Lord Macaulay. Once again, we have to understand the depth of our ancient values and spiritual wisdom, which have no direct conflict with the modern times. At best, they need to be reinterpreted in the face of scientific and technological progress. If we are able to do so, India can once again achieve the place it used to occupy once upon a time. Time has now come to pay serious attention to our national values in order to restore them. Only then, the backbone of India will become straight and strong.  

Rakesh Mittal I A S

Miseducation

Education is for learning formally or informally knowledge, skills, and culture of a community for purposeful living, and relating with others, and for transferring the best information for future generations. It is for cultivating virtues and values to actualize the human potentials fully, and thus to achieve our human destiny. It is for learning the best current available knowledge in arts and architecture, science and technology in order to become who we are meant to be. Proper education can impart wisdom to bring out the best in humanity for a kinder, gentler, and more compassionate world. It enlightens its recipients removing the darkness of superstitions and ignorance. It is not a mere coincidence that I am writing this piece on the feast of Ignatius of Loyola, who in the dark Middle Ages around mid-1600 revolutionized education through his Ratio Studiorum (the reason and purpose of studies/education). The order founded by him, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) have provided the world an all-round education and character formation for about five centuries through the best educational system in the world that I know. It is interesting to note that Rabindranath Tagore studied in St. Xavier’s School, Kolkotta. I may also note that I was very closely associated with the Jesuits, being one of them for about 25 years, in training educators and spiritual leaders. It is in the context of what true education should be that I am going to narrate the pathetic story of miseducation or what education should not be.

Three days ago I was invited as a trustee of a School for a fare-well get-together for an out-standing headmaster of the school who provided unstinted service to the school for 10 years with very little or no remuneration. He came to our school after retiring from a private, aided school as a headmaster. I was touched by his simplicity, gentleness, humility, and over-all genial and unassuming attitude. His parents were farmers who migrated against all odds to the virgin lands of the High Ranges of Kerala for better financial opportunities for themselves and their children. They managed to give him a good education far away from home, undergoing many financial hardships. Speaking about his early and difficult years as a teacher, he said he had to go out of his native state to find a job as a teacher in a north-western state of India with a different language and culture. As he proved to be a good teacher there, he was invited by his home-parish to teach in the government-aided parish school managed by the corporate management of a Catholic diocese. In order for him to teach at that school, his parents had to shell out hard-earned money to build a class room for the school. I was appalled to hear his story. How can such a corrupt system teach any value, give any enlightenment? How can it teach a faith related to justice? How can it represent the teachings of Christ? Later on I came to know that it is not unusual to pay a large amount of money to get an admission into an educational institution or to get a job as a teacher. More than these corrupt and unjust educational institutions, I am grieved by the human status that is so desensitized, numb, and helpless not to question the unjust state of current educational system. Nothing good can come out of an unethical system. What is taking place currently is not education but miseducation.

Swami (Dr) Snehananda Jyoti 

“You Liar!”

The world always says, find good people and leave bad ones, but I have found that finding the good in people is more feasible and practical, because identifying a good person is not an easy thing as we assume it to be. Who is a good person? Perhaps it could even be a liar. Suppose you hear somebody screaming ‘You liar!’. Who needs to be explained that a bad person could be on the other end? It is what exactly I also would have guessed. A few classic stories on liars that I came across recently have changed my attitude to liars. A lie is a false statement. Liars come in various categories like pathological liars, compulsive liars, beautiful liars, habitual liars etc. Be it big or small, it is not an attribute to good moral standing. I don’t know how many lies an average person hears each day. The biggest liar could be the market economy. It says, Kareena has dandruff problem, Katrina has dry hair problem, Shilpa has hair fall problem and Priyanka has chip-chip. If we believe advertisements, the only reason why men use deodorant is to get girls; nobody uses motorbikes for commuting, it’s only to pick up girls. Media comes next. They are more dangerous than a violent anaconda. Politicians are best liars as the public interprets them. Religious leaders, who are experts in meticulously twisting Holy verses for personal/group interests are not anywhere down.

In spite of all these, frankly speaking, I yearn for best liars in my life because what I believe is that best lies come from the most loving. Siddhartha Buddha once told his disciples the parable of a merchant and his children. Whenever the merchant in the parable came home after long business journeys, his children used to hang around him asking for a chariot and horses, which he could not afford. The merchant was a very pious man who never opened his mouth for a lie. One day, when he came home, he was shocked to see that his house was on fire. He could also hear his children playing inside. With all his might he shouted, ’fire, fire!’  The children did not respond. The fire was quickly spreading all over and he hesitantly shouted ‘chariot, chariot’ and the children came out running. Buddha asked his disciples, how on the earth this merchant is a liar?

Nobody is going to blame this liar merchant for the false statement he made. It is clear that he spoke so only because of his intense concern for his children. Sometime back, I happened to hear the story of great liar. This lady liar was a poor widow with an intelligent hardworking son. The son many times asked her to get married. She said that she can’t love one more. She raised money to educate her son by working in a toys factory. Many nights she was found assembling toys at home, and when asked she used to say that she doesn’t feel sleepy. Whenever she cooked fish at home, she took only the bones; she used to say that she likes it very much. Sometimes she skipped meals. If asked, she would say that it is fasting for her. The son passed the grades with distinction and quickly got a job abroad. He wanted to take her too along with. But she said that she is happier at home. As days passed by, she fell seriously ill; the son hurried home and found her abed in a public hospital for the poor. He learned that she is in heavy pains struggling in her final phase. She but told him that she is okay. However, she passed away the other day. When the son reeled back through his memory, he understood that she was a big liar. She worked overtime to fetch the necessary money for his tuition; she fasted because there was not enough for her too. The son understood that all that she spoke was big lies only, all with an intention to up bring him appropriately. As she lay motionless, the son bent his head and whispered in her dump ear, “You Liar!”

Joseph Mattappally

Krishna, Buddha & truth- 3

By the Time of Buddha, the tradition of Vedas and Upanishads had almost degenerated except in some pockets of families scattered around the country. The whole region was really corrupt and rotten. To say a word in favour of these old scriptures was tantamount to providing support to a decadent and rotting tradition. Knowing well that the Vedas too contained the same truth, Buddha could not take their support. He just kept quiet about them. But it often happens in the history that when a new Buddha comes he has to uproot many old truths, because being old they get so badly mixed up with falsehoods that to support them would automatically strengthen those lies. 

Krishna did not have to face such a situation. In his time the tradition of Vedas and Upanishads was very much alive. It was really at the height of its glory. It was absolutely unpolluted and pure. For this very reason we say Krishna’s Gita is the quintessence of the Vedas and the Upanishads. In fact we can say Krishna himself is the embodiment of the great culture which had come out of these scriptures. Krishna reflects all that is essential and basic to that culture. Krishna comes at a time the Vedic civilization was at its Zenith. Buddha comes when it has touched its nadir. It was the same culture, but Buddha had to witness its utter decadence and degradation. It was the time Buddha saw when most of the Brahmins had ceased to be knowers of truth and instead was busy exploiting people in the name of God and religion. 

Krishna represents the summit of Vedic teachings. In his times the Upanishads and Vedas have touched the pinnacle of attainment and splendour. The light of truth and knowledge emanating from them is spreading in all directions and their perfume is everywhere in the air. The Upanishads are not a dead thing, they are fully and youthful and their music can be heard even in the bushes and shrubs of the land. So when Krishna talks about them, he is not talking about something old and dead; he is talking about something which is in the prime of its youth. But by the time Buddha comes much more than 2500 years after Krishna, the whole tradition is in its collapse. So we must understand that it is not out of his arrogance he is declaring his truth on his own. At the same time there is nothing egoistic about Krishna when he seeks the support of old seers and their sayings. 

It is important to understand Krishna to properly understand Gita. 

Wishing you all good health & happiness,

Dr. Dwarakanath, Director, Mitran foundation- the stressmanagement people

Everything is All Right

In 'Drops on a Lotus Leaf ‘ written by Sri Ramalu, also known as Sri Ram of Andhra Pradesh. This book was a collection of letters from seekers to Sri Ram and their replies by him. The letters as well as the replies were full of depth, the latter more so. This created a wish in me to meet him. The above mentioned book was published by my own book’s publisher and so I could get his details from him. 

The opportunity to meet Sri Ramalu came soon in early 1998 when I was appointed as an observer for the parliamentary elections in Andhra Pradesh. Sri Ramalu was then working in a polytechnic at Adilabad, a town nearly 200 kilometres from Hyderabad. He was a lecturer in the department of English. An IPS friend of mine arranged my visit to Adilabad and I got an opportunity of spending a few hours with Sri Ramalu. It was a very sublime meeting and we both liked the company of each other. I also noticed that Sri Ramalu was treated almost as a living God by those who knew him closely.

Soon after this, I received a letter from Sri Ramalu and apart from mentioning our meeting, he gave a very deep message through that letter which I am sharing here. In one of the paragraphs of the letter Sri Ramalu raised a question about ‘faith’. Normally, all those who have faith in God believe that everything will be all right in their lives. While apparently there is nothing wrong with this definition of ‘faith’, Sri Ramalu said that it was not faith but the lack of it. He explained further that when we say that the future is going to be all right, indirectly it implies that perhaps, the present is not all right. Since we live only in the present, according to this definition of faith the feeling of being all right becomes only an imagination of future, which soon becomes the present. Thus, it becomes a chasing game that goes on throughout our life. 

He further explained that the correct definition of faith is, ‘everything is all right’. As a matter of fact both definitions are the same; the difference is in the way of looking at them. What is future today becomes the present in due course. So if we shift our focus a little backwards, we can always believe that the present is the best possible as of now. Our endeavour would then become to make the future better by working for it today. 

Viewed from a different perspective, there can be no denial of the fact that the present could not have been better than what it is. It could be, had we thought of it yesterday and tomorrow could be better if we think of it today. But the present remains as it is and no purpose is served by complaining about it, even if there is reason to complain about it. Therefore, a person of true faith never laments about the present, never regrets the past and never worries for the future. He has complete faith in the laws of Nature and does his best in all circumstances. For him, everything is all right at all times and he lives in perfect harmony with Nature. Accordingly, for Sri Ramalu, this is what true faith is. 

Rakesh Mittal I A S

Globalization of Indifference

Recently referring to the plight of refugees from North Africa at the door steps of Europe, Pope Francis spoke about the globalization of indifference, an apt term to describe the callousness, insensitivity, and the growing lack of concern for others in suffering in our age. We have become so used to the news of unspeakable, atrocious crimes that we have become numb. The news hungry media has lost their moral role and social conscience to present news-worthy items in order to thoughtfully reflect, conscientize, and enlighten the public through pungent and thought-provoking editorials and articles about the pathetic condition and suffering of humanity to create changes for a better world. Instead they focus on anachronistic news items and sexy salacious, irrelevant reports to seduce the world to buy their publications and other wares. Today (July 24, 2013) the biggest item on the menu of the media headlines going around the world scene is the birth and the consequent naming of the child of prince William in England. That the news media cater to our voracious appetite for sensational news, and our penchant for titillation and momentary entertainment is itself a sad commentary on the status of humanity. In fact a good bulk of news is produced by the media. In a world where the medium is the message, to quote Marshall McLuhan, Pope Francis stands out as a beacon of hope to high-light the condition of the poor and the disadvantaged even though his message is not widely disseminated by the media.

What happened to the Parable of the Good Samaritan of Jesus Christ where every suffering human is our neighbor, our brother or sister who is desperately in need of our help for sheer survival. I remember years ago when I helped educate two very poor girls to become registered nurses in my village of origin. They belonged to a different religion and community from mine. One of the girls also had a severely alcoholic father who virtually abandoned the family. Their community at that time was in great tension with my relatively well-to-do community of origin in the context of a very dilapidated and abandoned little religious shrine (kavu) of theirs that happened to be in the property of a land-owner of my community. There was communal polarization in the village, and a contingent of police had to camp in the village to avoid violent conflicts. A few of my relatives did not appreciate my financial assistance for those girls in abject poverty in order to lift them out of the deep pit of poverty. They thought they could use that money themselves. They were not persuaded by my argument that those innocent girls needed a break in life, and it was not their fault that they were poor or one of them had an alcoholic father, who wasted whatever little money he had on alcohol, and that my mission in life was not to make my relatives, who had enough to live on, richer. They were like most others in the world were engrossed in their immediate needs and desire for more wealth. Then are we our brother’s/sister’s keepers? Are we so immunized from being affected by persons in dire need? Are we so insensitive, and indifferent to the precarious situation of others?!   

Swami Snehananda Jyoti / July 24, 2013

Love Unbound

There is a popular joke on Father’ Day. It is attributed to be the most confusing day for the Americans, because 80% of them don’t know whom to wish and 20% are scared that someone will come and wish them. No surprise, if this joke turns relevant in other parts of this great global village also. Relationships grow threats, quite a strange phenomenon; truly hard to believe. Some time back, I remember to have read the story of an Algerian husband from the town of El Eulma, 340 km east of the capital Algiers, who has been carrying his ailing wife for five years. Salim married his wife in 1996 and they lived a very happy life in a dormitory in the school premises, where he worked as a security guard, according to Algerian newspaper Sunrise. In 2007, his wife went into a state of paralysis and became unable to move, speak or eat. Salim became his wife’s principal care taker. Thereafter he used to get up early every morning to attend to his wife and son, giving them breakfast before going to work. He cleaned the house, prepared lunch, fed his wife and did almost everything a man could. I’m not sure of the motivating force behind his commitment to his family. It can be anything from love for his wife, love for his son, love for humanity as a whole, love of God or love for his purpose. 

This live story compelled me to differentiate between pain and suffering. The strange thing which marked a difference in Salim’s story was that he is reported to have said that he has gone through none of these, pain or suffering; he expressed no regrets in life. Are all sufferings painful? Do all sufferings end up in pains? However, this is not the first occasion I hear about suffering and pain consolidating into love. World Literature is filled with passionate real/fabricated stories of divine love staged in real lives. Read the live story given below and try to understand love in its true nature.

This story is from Thrissur, the cultural capital of Kerala state in India. Thrissur Pooram is one of the most popular temple festivals in South India. In the very centre of the city there is the famous Vadakkunnathan Temple, which is said to have been founded by Parashu Rama. The temple situates in a fortified area of 9 acres. Around this fortified area there is the famous Thekkinkad maidan with 65 acres of land in its’ name. The circular road around this maidan (Swaraj Round) is the biggest Roundabout in South Asia. I gave a brief account of the maidan just because the story took place mostly in and around this big ground. There are only just two characters in this story, a mother and her son. Both are known to almost all those who live in this city. Lakshmi Ammal and her son belonged to an upper cast Tamil Brahmin family. They lived in Kolkota until her son turned 16. Their life was upturned drastically as her son Raju became mentally disturbed. Things became beyond their control and they returned to their home city of Thrissur. 

Raju never liked to be within the walls anywhere; he roamed all over the city and mostly this great maidan. His mother followed him all the way. Slowly, following her son became the only thing in her daily chorus. She and her son were virtually abandoned by their relatives. In rain and storm, in hunger and pain she continued accompanying him for almost 47 years until at the age of 67 Raju passed away, that too lying in the lap of his mother. No fancies of life were acceptable for Lakshmi Ammal and she continued living in the very same scenario where she lived more than four decades. She lived as a pinch in the hearts of the city men. Lakshmi Ammal Passed away in 2005, after one year of Raju’s death. Till date, this story of love and care remains unexplained in my heart. What I understand is that love in its’ true nature is absolutely unbound, irresistible, inexplicable and undefined.

Joseph Mattappally