Intolerance in the society in general and among politicians in particular

These days a few things came up very rapidly in front of entire nation and posed some important questions which should better be answered sooner than later to keep the nation alive. One of them is "Cartoons in textbook" of 11th class NCERT book on Political Science printed some six year back. The entire parliament without any exception (!) opposed the Shankar's Cartoon of 1949 cited it as defamation of Dr Ambedkar. The HRD minister who came up with some brilliant innovations (?) in education system took no time to apologise for the publication and instantly announced to withdraw the textbook. The two members of text book advisory committee resigned immediately, perhaps under pressure as Shri YogendraYadav still finds no issue in the cartoon, Shri Palshikar has been attacked over. The Parliament condemned another cartoon indicating politics is being adopted to make money. The intellectual fraternity is still silent over this issue barring a few exceptions (Nakkarkhane me tuti ki awaz). This incident is surrounded by two important thing one is 60 years of Parliamernt and other 100th birth annivrsary of Saadat Hasan Monto, the outcasted writer.

I think the issues started from the point when Anna Hazaare's movment against corruption caught the imagination of millions and in turn 'The Parliament'  ought to make an appeal to him, an outsider. The political class took it as an self committed insult which was done to halt further damage. It has been made amply clear very soon during discussions in Parliament over 'Lokpal Bill', which has been torn to pieces around midnight. Our 'Tryst with destiny', 'Emergency' and above incident all took place at midnight, is it irony or merely co-incidence.

What appears is that the politicians are all set for vandetta of an 'self inflicted' insult by censoring google, facebook and now cartoons. I am expecting a ban on a TV Programme "Satyameva Jayate" very soon as it is presenting issues of social interest which often put our political class in embarrassing situation however they are foolproof against any kind of embarassment.

The days are not faraway dear political leaders when the people get ready to oppose the system which has been rottened by you. Beware!

The Way You Use Your Hands

It is easy, too easy, as we get caught up with so many things in an overly-busy time, to lose sight of what is important in our lives. And if we are lucky, sometimes a teacher – in the form of a person, a sentence, an image, a book – will appear...

One such teacher was a book, ‘How to Train a Wild Elephant: And Other Adventures in Mindfulness’ authored by Jan Chozen Bays. Abbess of a Zen monastery, also pediatrician, mother, and grandmother, Jan Chozen Bay’s book on mindfulness is designed particularly ‘for those who would love to practice mindfulness, but…can’t seem to find the time!’ We are offered one mindfulness exercise per chapter. Each is meant to be practiced for one week, mindfully, before moving to or including the next practice.

All suggested practices deal with one of three central tenets of mindful living: staying in the present moment, being aware of our own actions, and observing the world around us. One of my favourites is ‘Use loving hands and a loving touch, even with inanimate objects.’ Sounds simple, yes? However, it is so revealing when you get down to doing it. For a whole week!

Entering this practice, we soon become aware of when we ourselves or others are not using loving hands. We begin to notice, perhaps as never before, how doors are slammed, purchases shoved at us, money handed over impatiently, luggage hurled onto the conveyor belt at the airport.

We all know how to use loving hands and touch, Chozen Bays points out; after all we touch babies, faithful dogs, crying children, and lovers with tenderness and care. So how come we don’t use loving touch more often, if not all the time? This is the essential question of mindfulness -- Why can’t we live like this all the time? Once we discover how much richer our life is when we are more present, why do we fall back into our old habits?

Chozen Bays not only offers us a challenge – or invitation – each week, she leads us into deeper reflections around each one. Ordinarily we are more aware of using loving touch with people than with objects. And yet, when we are in a hurry or upset, we do end up turning someone into an object by the way we treat him. We rush out of the house without saying good-bye; ignore a co-worker’s greeting because of a disagreement the day before; fail to pause a moment to express appreciation. “...This is how other people become objectified, a nuisance, an obstacle, and ultimately, an enemy.”

I was reminded once more that mindfulness also involves working with discomfort -- walking right into it, and feeling within the body what is true. And when we are this attentive, when our meditative absorption is deep, what we call discomfort or pain begins to shift, reduce and perhaps even disappear.

The practices range from the simple to do, to ones that are harder, even ones that might make us uneasy. Confronting difficult truths is an essential part of the mindfulness process, and this is brought home sharply in the practice ‘This Person Could Die Tonight’ which encourages us to remember that when interacting with someone, anyone, it could be for the last time.

In our quest for inner peace, sustained mindfulness practice is a method that I find works even for the most excitable and reactive among us. And even if we lapse, we will come upon those who bring us back to the path.

We create our life

Always wait for something good and it happens, because whatsoever happens, we create. In fact we create it; we sow the seeds. But we sow the seeds unconsciously, that's why we think that some accident has happened. Accidents never happen, nothing is ever accidental. It is a cosmos, it is not a chaos. Everything is absolutely based on a fundamental ultimate law: nothing ever goes wrong. Yes, sometimes it looks to us as if it has gone wrong, because we were expecting something else. That’s a problem --we do one thing, we sow one seed and we expect something else.

We sow the seeds of one kind of flower and we expect some other kind of flower, so when the flowers come we are frustrated. But flowers come through the seeds, not our wishes. So remember: We constantly create our world. There are people who are constantly afraid that something wrong is going to happen, and then it happens! And when it happens, they are proved right. They have made it happen. People who are afraid will always find situations in which fear grips them. People who are loving will always find situations where love blooms.

Because this existence goes on giving you that which you project. Life is our project. We are our life's creators. God has created man, but as freedom. So there is an essential freedom inside; now it is up to you to choose what you would like to happen to you in life and then you will see that it starts happening. One thing is linked with another, one thing leads to another, and slowly you have taken a certain route; then all other alternatives are dropped. When a child is born, all the alternatives are open; he is utterly free.

He can be a musician, poet, wrestler, a politician, he can be anything an Adolf Hitler, a Gautama Buddha; anything is possible But sooner or later choices start coming and he starts moving in a certain direction. Then that direction remains his world. So always remember: whatsoever has happened to you, you have been the cause of it. Sometimes it hurts that you are the cause of all the misery that has happened to you; you feel sad But there is no need to feel sad, because through it, you come to an understanding, and then things need not happen the same way again to you.

And the second thing to remember is: For every hurt or happiness always feel thankful, because sometimes pain is needed for growth and pleasure is not needed. So whatsoever happens, make it an opportunity to grow. Use that opportunity as a springboard for something higher. A friend dies, there is pain, there is anguish and misery, but use that opportunity. Meditate on death. Your friend's death has reminded you of a very significant phenomenon that death is there. Don't arrange your life without taking note of death.

Maybe existence has given you a message to get ready: the friend is gone, you will be gone one day, so prepare for death! Life is a small affair; a seventy-year affair in which one-third will be gone in sleep, another one-third will be gone in earning bread and butter, another one-third in other stupidities. Nothing much is left! It is not a big thing, it is a very small phenomenon; compared to death it is nothing Death is eternity. (http://www.speakingtree.in/spiritual-articles/new-age/we-create-our-life_2361)