Hats off to the Indian Citizen

Long long ago I read an article by Mr. Devdas Gandhi in which he complimented, though tongue-in-cheek, most Indians for being so tolerant. On the eve of India's second 62 nd Independence Day, I feel like saluting the Indian citizen for this wonderful quality that allows him/her to tolerate the corrupt political leadership that India has got saddled with in recent times. Hats off to you my dear friends n bear the pain n agony with patience while the oppressor wallows in luxury at your expense!

Bankruptcy of Political Leadership

As I watched the Opening Ceremony of Beijing Olympics, my head hung in shame for the sorry state in which Indian leadership has landed a once-great civilization like India. If China with its huge numbers could leave a mark not just in flexing its economic and military muscle but also in sports, what then had happened to India, the cradle of civilization? Is political leadership too busy with its political cock-fights to devote attention to nation building? What had happened to the dream of the founding fathers of Independent India? Do we need another Gandhi to rescue the nation out of the rut of hyperbolic talk of the politicians sapping the vitality of the nation?

Seeds of Conflict as Seeds of Harmony

Long ago Rousseau remarked man is born free, but everywhere he is bound in chains. Man may have been born free, but what is equally true is that he has been born as a different individual than his fellow human beings. God's plenty thrives on infinite variety and not similarity. Differentiation is, therefore at the heart of Creation. At the biological level, differentiation helps to define species and to distinguish one species from one another. At the level of the same species it helps to define and distinguish varietal and individual characteristics. None is similar to another. And as the biologists would tell us there is a method in this maddening variety. Each variety and species fulfils an important function in the eco-system that keeps it going. None is more important than the other no matter how simplistic and/or complex a species may be. The Indian seers used the word Dharma to define this functional significance. As long as Dharma was upheld, the Creation could go on uninterrupted. But, the moment Dharma was tinkered with, causing Dharam sankat, the survival of the world was endangered.

As long as Creation had to grapple with differences at the biological level without the intervention of man, Dharma remained in the ascendant and the world was safe. But, as man became aware of his mental capabilities and superiority, he pitted himself against the rest of Creation. The entire history of Western civilization is based on this cardinal belief in the superiority of man over Nature. The East which was the font of the harmonizing philosophy of Dharma, due to its descent into the Dark Age of spiritual and intellectual bankruptcy, forgot this age old mantra and fell to the dazzling lie of Enlightenment philosophy. It too followed suit, much to its discomfiture and loss when Nature backfired. This may be called as the divide of the first order.

Within the human universe, differences got defined by the identities that individuals and social groups/sub-groups acquired. Identity, as Ken Browne remarks, is about how we see and define ourselves and about how others see and define us. In other words, identity is the outgrowth of socialization.

The Power of Concentration

Concentration unlocks the infinitude within the finite human being. It releases superhuman Energy, Limitless Consciousness and bathes the Self in self-existent and uncausated Bliss. In other words, it uplifts the human to the superhuman level, without disturbing the Harmony of the Manifest as wel as the Unmanifest Reality.

The Power of Meditation

Meditation is the key to introspection and self-discovery.

Light up the Candle of Love

This blog is being launched on May 13, 2008, the date bears significance when spoken in Hindi. Guru Nanak Dev ji, one of the greatest of seers and prophets that the Land of Ind ever nurtured and brought up expounded the significance of the number 13, otherwise deprecated in the West as inauspicious. Understood in Hindi, the word signifies the act of surrender, germinal to the Vedic ritual of yajna, wherein the individual surrenders his/her all to the Absolute Transcendental Reality That is All Blissful and All-Knowing. It is appropriate enough that on such a 'selfless' day, one should think of the message of Love preached by the icon of Selfless Love, regarded by every Christian as the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who overturned the Law of the Past to plant in its stead the firm Rock of Love. The Candle of Love burnt by him by giving up his mortal remains for the Redemption of humankind must burn for all times to come so that this Creation may go on.