Ethics

Paraya dhan- Shameful facts...

2006-08-12T02:04:00.000+05:30

Jai Hind all Indian Brothers (and sisters!),

Please read these stories carefully-(true stories)

1. Ranu, mother of one son, killed her first two children by throttling them within a day of their birth. Both the babies were girls. Married at the age of 18, she became pregnant 7 times. Teo sons died due to ill health, two pregnancies were terminated as the foetuses were females, and two infants were killed. One child, a boy, is alive.

Ranu wants another son. She says clearly and firmly that she will kill other children if they are girls, because she hardly has any money to give them at the time of their wedding.

Neither Ranu nor her family members express sorrow on the death of the baby girls as they consider a girl child a ‘trouble maker’.

Ranu explains, ‘The practice of eliminating females continues in some districts of Rajasthan including our village. The girl child is killed by putting a sand bag on her face or by throttling her. It is not a rare phenomenon. It happens without any hindrance’

2. Mr. & Mrs. Ravi have 3 children. Their eldest daughter is 23 years old, a second daughter is 21, and son is 10. Before delivering their son, Mrs. Ravi undertook 9 sex determination tests and had 8 pregnancies medically terminated.

She died two days after giving birth to their son. Her doctor had advised her not to get pregnant as it would pose threat to her life.

Mr. Ravi is senior executive in a multinational company and the late Mrs. Ravi was a teacher in a public school.

(Source for above stories- UNPFA supported study- ‘Adverse sex ratio in Rajasthan’)

Please have a look at this latest report by

United nations population fund
Ministry of health & family welfare
Office of registrar general and census commissioner, India

Published in Nov 2003

Title- ‘missing’….mapping the adverse child sex ratio in India

Indians total population on 1^st march 2003- 1.03 billion persons. With this India became the second country in the world, after China, to cross the one billion mark.

Strong preference for son over daughter has led to serious decline in child sex ratio in India.

The data published is as follows- It divides state population into following subgroups and assigns each district to one of these groups-

950 & above girls per 1000 boys

900-949

850-899

800-849

Below 800

India as a whole-

National average- 927 girls per 1000 boys.

Punjab-

Total districts-18

950 & above girls per 1000 boys- 0

900-949- 0

850-899- 0

800-849- 7

Below 800- 11

Haryana-

Total districts- 19

950 & above girls per 1000 boys- 0

900-949- 0

850-899- 2

800-849- 12

Below 800- 5

Gujarat-

Total districts- 24

950 & above girls per 1000 boys- 3

900-949- 5

850-899- 12

800-849- 3

Below 800- 1

Delhi-

Total districts/regions- 9

950 & above girls per 1000 boys- 0

900-949- 1

850-899- 7

800-849- 1

Below 800- 0

Rajasthan-

Total districts- 33

950 & above girls per 1000 boys- 3

900-949- 20

850-899- 10

800-849- 0

Below 800- 0

Maharashtra-

Total districts- 33

950 & above girls per 1000 boys- 5

900-949- 20

850-899- 8

800-849- 0

Below 800- 0

Tamilnadu-

Total districts- 29

950 & above girls per 1000 boys- 16

900-949- 9

850-899- 3

800-849- 1

Below 800- 0

Himachal Pradesh-

Total districts- 12

950 & above girls per 1000 boys- 3

900-949- 4

850-899- 2

800-849- 2

Below 800- 0

(Kinnur data unavailable)

Other states have little better sex ratio, especially south Indian states have still maintained 1991 census profile (West Bengal, Kerala, Orissa, North East India, Kashmir, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh)

There are reasons to believe that it is increasingly becoming a common practice across India to determine the sex of the unborn child or foetus and eliminate it if the foetus is found to be a female. This practice is referred to as pre-birth elimination of females.

In Indian context, the strong preference for son is because of following socioeconomic and cultural factors-

Son is supposed to support during old age
Son is required to perform religious rites at cremation
Dowry practice makes female child unwanted.
Females are viewed as ‘paraya dhan’ (to be married and sent away)

What do you think on this matter?

What do you think is the solution on this really shameful situation in India?

Do you think education really changes people’s views? (The report shows that all backward and tribal districts had very good sex ratio)

Please do write and post a reply by clicking the option at the bottom of this article.

Jai Bharat (Mata??)

Reservations for whom?

2006-05-17T01:44:00.000+05:30

The photo you just saw is from Maharashtra, the most advanced state in India at present. And this is one of the most recent photos from Yawatmal district of Maharashtra.

This picture is just a tip of an iceberg. The problem is more serious there and in most of the India. It is not visible from the AC rooms of Delhi or Bombay.

But the fate of these `Human Beings' is decided by the people who are sitting in these big cities.

Is there any solution?

Vitthal Dnyanba Vaidya, a 25 year farmer from Vidarbha committed suicide yesterday. What was the reason? No crops for successive years, and lot of debts which he couldn’t repay.

Did he have property inherited from his ancestors? Did he have pension coming in his home from retired father? Did he have funds in his bank account? Did he have shares in his name? Did he have lot of farm land in his name? Did he have secured pension for old age?

On the other side we have people who have got good property inherited and earned with them. They have good houses, education, bank balance, good connections to secure jobs and career. Job loss or debts don’t disturb their sleep as they did for this poor fellow. They get pension from their parents’ job. Many of them get scholarships and various funds for education. Their property has been increasing due to very good opportunities for them. Of course, they do work hard. But the situation is not as hard for them as Vitthal Vaidya.

We have reservation system for backward classes in India. This system has helped many to progress ahead. There has been lot of politics involved in reservation system.

Is this the time to stop reservations for backwards? Do you think people like Vitthal Dnyanba Vaidya will be able to self develop themselves in the era of fast development and modernization?
So, what do you think is the way?

Shall the Indian Government-

Stop reservations at all and deny opportunity to all the tribal and economically disadvantaged poor people?

Start reservations strictly on economic basis? (You know what happens with this system in India!!).

Continue reservations as it is? This is not ideal system, as only those who are already progressed are getting benefited with the present system. Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav belong to this category. Their children can get advantage of this system.

Increase reservation to include other backward classes in the system. This seems to be totally political in most instances. Politicians have been doing this just to gain voters’ favor.

No further reservation for the candidate’s next generation if he/ she has taken advantage of reservation to become doctor/ engineer or to get a job.

No further reservation to the next generation of present doctors, officers and other economically established people.

Encouraging specific tribes for taking advantage of reservation in educational institutes and in jobs.

No more reservation politics in India to gain votes.

Fix deadline for reservation facility. Serious and regular reviews of the reservation system to include/ exclude certain tribes from it.

What do you think? Give your comments in descent wordings. Please don’t use improper wordings in your comments.

Jai Hind.

Where are we going?

2006-04-18T02:57:00.000+05:30

Please read the following headlines from a local daily newspaper from Maharashtra.

These headlines are from a single day.

Fake currency racket found in Dhule, Maharashtra.

Reducing proportion of female children in most of the districts of Maharashtra (2001 population survey).

More farmers committed suicide today due to poverty, debts.

Loss of millions of rupees due to heavy rains in Vidarbha and Khandesh in Maharashtra.

Road accidents kill a child and 2 farmers, leaving their families orphan.

A couple commits suicide as they couldn’t withstand the opposition from society.

A story of pseudo prestige- 2 teenage girls killed by their own families as gossip of their so called ‘love affair’ reaches the family.

A story of lost humanity- A patient with his leg cut laying in front of Dhule district hospital- his fruitless cry for help; nobody has time to listen to him, not even doctors.

35 year man slaughtered like animal by a group of men in an open market place in Akola, Maharashtra.

State governments (Maharashtra and Karnataka) fighting on border issues (not developmental issues!!).

Electricity shortage.

Scarcity of water in many places in Maharashtra, India.

Increasing river water pollution in India.

Petrol and diesel prizes will go up.

More case of malaria and bird flue in Maharashtra.

This is the snap shot of Maharashtra, the most industrially developed state in India.
What to expect from Bihar, Nagaland, Kashmir?

This is not the India we dream about.

Do think and share your views on this please.

dadagiri@hotmail.co.uk

Related link-
www.funplusjokes.blogspot.com

2006-04-14T21:30:00.000+05:30

Tributes to the
great hero...

Hi friends,

Let’s pay tributes to the practically most effective leader of the modern India, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. Babasaheb fought for his whole life for the upliftment of our nation.

My sincere appeal to every Indian- please don’t label him ‘only the leader for backward classes’. Practically, he was the only seriously working member for draft of our constitution. He was one of the greatest scholars on the issues of Indian history, culture, spirituality and the most educated Indian of his time.

He tried to convince the orthodox upper caste leaders to give equal religious rights to everybody. He stood firmly for the cause of backward and suppressed castes. He had expressed very brilliant thoughts on the issues of population, relationship with Pakistan, reservation for the backward classes and several other practical burning issues.

The most significant of the activities of Dr Ambedkar was conversion to Buddhism along with millions of his followers in Nagpur.

Here are few of his brilliant thoughts-

1. 'Let the slaves know about their slavery and they will stand up against it.'

2. 'The greatest thing that the Buddha has done is to tell the world that the world cannot be reformed except by the reformation of the mind of man, and the mind of the world.'

3. 'Men are mortal. So are ideas. An idea needs propagation as much as a plant needs watering. Otherwise both will wither and die.’

4. 'Untouchability shuts all doors of opportunities for betterment in life for untouchables. It does not offer an untouchable any opportunity to move freely in society; it compels him to live in dungeons and seclusion; it prevents him from educating himself and following a profession of his choice’.

5. 'Everyman must have a philosophy of life, for everyone must have a standard by which to measure his conduct. And philosophy is nothing but a standard by which to measure’.

6. 'Unlike a drop of water which loses his identity when it joins the ocean, man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man’s life is independent. He is born not for the development of the society alone, but for the development of his self’.

7. 'Freedom of mind is the real freedom. A person, whose mind is not free though he may not be in chains, is a slave, not a free man. One whose mind is not free though alive, is no better than dead. Freedom of mind is the proof of one’s existence’.

His life events….

1891 Born at Mahu (Madhya Pradesh), the fourteenth child of Subhedar Ramji Sapkal and Mrs Bhimabai Ambedkar.

1900 Entered the Government High School at Satara.

1904 Entered the Elphinstone High School at Bombay.

1906 Married Ramabai, daughter of Mr. Bhiku Walangkar, one of the relations of Gopal Baba Walangkar

1907 Passed Matriculation Examination secured 382 marks out of 750.

1908 Honoured in a meeting presided over by Shri S K Bole; Shri K A (Dada) Keluskar Guruji presented a book on the life of Gautam Buddha written by him. Entered the Elphinstone College, Bombay.

1913 Passed B.A Examination with Persian and English from University of Bombay, secured 449 marks out of 1000.

1913 Sayajirao Gaikwar's Scholar in the Columbia University, New York, reading in the Faculty of Political Science.

1915 Passed M.A. Examination majoring in Economics and with Sociology, History Philosophy, Anthropology and Politics asthe other subjects of study.

1916 Wrote a Thesis entitled 'The National Dividend of India – A Historical and Analytical Study' for the PhD Degree.

1917 Columbia University conferred a Degree of Ph.D.

Return to India after spending a year in London working on the thesis for the M.Sc. (Econ) Degree. The return before completion of the work was necessitated by the termination the scholarship granted by the Baroda State.

Appointed as Military Secretary to H.H. the Maharaja Gaikwar of Baroda with a view Finance Minister. But left shortly due to illness.

1918 Gave evidence before the Southborough Commission on Franchise. Attended the Conference of the depressed

1920 Started a Marathi Weekly paper Mooknayak to champion the cause of the depressed classes. Shri Nandram Bhatkar was the editor, later Shri Dyander Gholap was the editor.
Attended depressed classes Conference held under the presidency of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj at Kolhapur.

Resigned professorship at Sydenham College to resume his studies in London.

Rejoined the London School of Economics. Also entered Gray's Inn to read for the Bar.

1923 The Thesis 'The Problem of the Rupee – Its origin and its solution' was accepted for the degree of D.Sc. (Econ.). The thesis was published in December 1923 by P S King & Company, London. Reissued by Thacker & Company, Bombay in May 1947 under the title History of Indian Currency and Banking Vol. 1.

1924 Founded the 'Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha' for the uplift of the depressed classes. The aims of the Sabha were educate, agitate, organize.

1925 Published 'The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India' - dissertation on the provincial decentralization of ImperialFinance in India'.
Opened a hostel for Untouchable students at Barshi.

1926 Gave evidence before the Royal Commission on Indian Currency (Hilton Young Commission).
Nominated Member of the Bombay Legislative Council.

1927 Started a fortnightly Marathi paper Bahiskrit Bharat Dr Ambedkar himself was the editor.
Established 'Samaj Samata Sangh'ight of access to the Chavdar Tank.

1928 Introduced the "Vatan Bill" in the Bombay Legislative Council.

Gave evidence before the Indian Statutory Committee (Simon Commission).

Professor. Government Law College Bombay.

Principal. Government Law College Bombay.

1930 Satyagraha at Kalram Temple in Nasik to secure for the untouchables the right of entry into the temple.
Delegate for Round Table Conference representing untouchables of India

1932 Signed with Mr. M.K. Gandhi the Poona Pact giving up, to save Gandhi's life. separate electorates granted to the Depressed Classes by Ramsay MacDonald's Communal Award, and accepting, instead representation through joint electorates.

1935 Death of wife. Mrs. Ramabai Ambedkar.

Dr. Ambedkar was appointed as Principal of Government Law College, Bombay. He was also appointed Perry Professor ofJurisprudence.

Historical Yeola Conversion Conference held under the President ship of Dr. Ambedkar at Yeola Dist., Nasik. He exhorted the Depressed Classes to leave Hinduism and embrace another religion. He declared: 'I was born as a Hindu but I will not die as a Hindu'. He also advisedhis followers to abandon the Kalaram Mandi entry Satyagriha, Nasik.

1937 The First General Elections were held under the Govt. of India Act of 1935. Dr. Ambedkar was elected Member of Bombay Legislative Assembly (Total Seats 175. Reserved Seats 15. Dr. Ambedkar's Independent Labour Party won 17 seats.)

1937 The Mahad Chowdar Tank case was decided in favor of D.C. by which they got a legal right to use the public wells and tanks.

1938 The Congress Party introduced a Bill making a change in the name of Untouchables. i.e. they would be called Harijans meaning sons of God. Dr. Ambedkar criticised the Bill. as in his opinion the change of name would make no real change in their conditions.

Dr. Ambedkar and Bhaurav Gaikwad protested against the use of the term Harijans in legal matters. When the ruling party by sheer force of numbers defeated the I.L.P., the Labour-Party group walked out of the Assembly in protest under the leadership of Dr. Ambedkar. He organized peasants march on Bombay Assembly. The peasants demanded the passing of Dr. Ambedkar's Bill for abolition of the Khoti system.

Dr. Ambedkar opposed creation of a separate Karnataka State in the national interest.

Dr. Ambedkar moved a Resolution for adoption of the methods for birth-control in the Bombay Assembly.

1939 Dr. Ambedkar addressed a large gathering at Rajkot

Ambedkar-Gandhi talks

Dr.Ambedkar-Nehru first meeting.

1940 Netaji Subash Chandra Bose met Dr. Ambedkar in Bombay.

Dr. Ambedkar published his Thoughts on Pakistan. The second edition with the title Pakistan or Partition of India was issued in February 1945.

A third impression of the book was published in 1946 under the title India's Political What's What: Pakistan or Partition of India.

1941 Dr. Ambedkar pursued the issue of recruitment of Mahars in the Army. In result the Mahars Battalion was formed

1942 Dr. Ambedkar submitted a paper on "The problems of the Untouchables in India" to the Institute of Pacific Relations at its Conference held in Canada. The paper is printed in the proceedings of the Conference. The paper was subsequently published in December 1943 in the book form under the title Mr. Gandhi and Emancipation of the Untouchables.

1946 Opening of Siddharth College of Arts and Science in Bombay.

The Bharat Bhushan Printing Press (founded by Dr Ambedkar) was burnt down in the clashes between D.C. and the Caste-Hindus

Dr Ambedkar went to London to urge before the British Government and the Opposition Party the need to provide safeguards for the D.C., on grant of Independence to India and thus to rectify the wrongs done to the D.C. by the Cabinet Mission

Dr Ambedkar's First speech in the Constituent Assembly. He called for a 'strong and United India'

1947 Published 'States and Minorities'. A memorandum of Fundamental Rights, Minority Rights, safeguards for the D.C. and on the problems of Indian states.

1947 Article 17 of the Constitution of India for the abolition of Untouchability was moved by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the Constituent Assembly and it was passed.

1947 India obtained her Independence. Dr Ambedkar was elected to the Constituent Assembly by the Bombay Legislature Congress Party. Dr Ambedkar joined Nehru's Cabinet. He became the First Law Minister of Independent India. The Constituent Assembly appointed him to the drafting Committee, which elected him as a Chairman on 29th August 1947.

Dr Ambedkar completed the Draft Constitution of Indian Republic.

Second marriage - Dr Ambedkar married Dr Sharda Kabir in Delhi.

Published his book The Untouchables. A thesis on the origin of Untouchability. Dr Ambedkar submitted his Memorandum, "Maharashtra as a linguistic Province" to the Dhar Commission. The Linguistic Provinces Commission).

1948 Dr.Ambedkar presented the Draft Constitution to Constituent Assembly. The Constituent Assembly adopted Article 17 of the Constitution for the abolition of Untouchability.
1949 Meeting between Dr Ambedkar and Madhavrao Golvalker, Chief of RSS and the residence of Dr Ambedkar at Delhi.

1950 Dr Ambedkar addressed the Siddharth College Parliament on the Hindu Code Bill.
In the evening he was presented with a silver casket containing a copy of the Indian Constitution at Nare Park Maidan, Bombay.

Dr Ambedkar's article 'The Buddha and the Future His Religion' was published in the journal of Mahabodhi Society, Calcutta. Dr.Ambedkar addressed the Young Men's Buddhist Association on "The Rise and Fall of Hindu Women". Dr Ambedkar spoke on the "Merits of Buddhism" at the meeting arranged on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti in Delhi.bay.

1950 Dr Ambedkar went to Colombo as a Delegate to the World Buddhist Conference.

1951 Dr.Ambedkar, Law Minister introduced his "Hindu Code Bill" in the Parliament.

1951 Dr Ambedkar resigned from the Nehru Cabinet because, among other reasons, the withdrawal of Cabinet support to the Hindu Code Bill in spite of the earlier declaration in the Parliament by the Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, that his Government would stand or fall with the Hindu Code Bill.

Apart from this Nehru announced that he will sink or swim with the Hindu Code Bill.

Dr Ambedkar published his speech in book form under the title The Rise and Fall of Hindu Women.

1952 Dr Ambedkar was defeated in the First Lok Sabha elections held under the Constitution of Indian Republic. Congress candidate N. S. Kajrolkar defeated Dr Ambedkar.

Dr Ambedkar was introduced into Parliament as a member of the Council (Rajya Sabha) of States, representing Bombay.

Dr Ambedkar left for New York from Bombay.

Columbia University (USA) conferred the honorary Degree of LL.D., in its Bi-Centennial Celebrations Special Convocation held in New York.

Dr Ambedkar delivered a talk on "Conditions Precedent to the Successful working of Democracy" at the Bar Council, Pune.

1953 The Osmania University conferred the honorary Degree of LL.D on Dr Ambedkar.

1953 The Untouchability (offences) Bill was introduced in the Parliament by the Nehru Government.

1953 Dr Ambedkar contested the by-election for Lok Sabha from Bhandara constituency of Vidarbha region but was defeated by congress candidate Mr Borkar.

1954 Dr Ambedkar visited Rangoon to attend the function arranged on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti.

1954 The Maharaja of Mysore donated 5 acres of land for Dr Ambedkar's proposed Buddhist Seminary to be started at Bangalore

1954 Dr Ambedkar spoke on the Untouchability (Offences) Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

1954 Dr Ambedkar participated as delegate to the 3rd World Buddhist Conference at Rangoon.

1955 Delivered a speech "Why Religion is necessary".

Dr Ambedkar established Bhartiya Bauddha Mahasabha (The Buddhist Society of India
Published his opinions on linguistic states in book form under the title Thoughts on linguistic States.

Dr Ambedkar installed an image of Buddha at Dehu Road (near Pune)

Dr Ambedkar spoke against reservation of seats in the State and Central Legislatures.

1956 Dr Ambedkar wrote and dictated the Preface of The Buddha and His Dhamma.
Dr Ambedkar completed his The Buddha and His Dhamma, Revolution & Counter-revolution in Ancient India.

1956 Dr Ambedkar spoke on Linguistic states in the Council of States.

Dr Ambedkar spoke on BBC London on "Why I like Buddhism", Also, he spoke for Voice Voice of America on "The Future of IndianDemocracy".

Dr Ambedkar embraced Buddhism at an historic ceremony at Diksha Bhoomi, Nagpur with his millions of followers. Announced to dissolve S.C.F and establish Republican Party.

1956 Delegate, 4th World Buddhist Conference, Khalinandu, where he delivered his famous speech famous speech 'Buddha or Karl Marx'.

1956 Maha Nirvana at his residence, 26 Alipore Road,New Delhi.

1956 Cremation at Dadar Chawpatti – Now known as Chaitya Bhoomi Dadar (Bombay).

Jai Bhim.

Why these heroes suffer?

2006-04-08T02:12:00.000+05:30

Why these heroes of our nation always have to suffer? They keep trying again and again to improve the situation. But, every time they are opposed by the evil forces very strongly. These real heroes are defeated and we just talk about it every time. Nobody seems to be caring for them or supporting them in their actions.

Look at the example of Kiran Bedi. She had to suffer because she fought against the evil. Ratnakar Gaikwad suffered as he tried to expose the corruption in Maharashtra. Arun Bhatiya was thrown in a corner for the same reason when he fought against corruption in Pune.

Medha Patkar has been trying to convince the world the problem of poor tribal who were displaced from Narmada River area without any arrangements to remain alive. But nobody seems to be listening to her.

Anna Hazare, the anticorruption crusade, has been charged of the corruption charges. He was sent to jail in connection with his fight against evil. Our dirty political and social systems have done nothing but demoralised these heroes.

Many of our top officers and social workers are suffering a lot. They have been tortured and subjected to the false charges for no reason. Their families are being tortured, raped even today. Many smaller rank officers are living life worst than prisoners because they tried to raise the voice against corruption. They are being humiliated by our politicians, public and criminals.

Coming to the recent example of top rank officer, Dr Gedam, working in Jalgaon (Maharashtra), has been charged of offence because he took action against the corrupted corporaters. All the corrupt politicians and political parties came together to throw him out of his chair.

They have charged Dr Gedam of going out of the way to take actions against them. This suggest that they are not opposed to the charge that they have done corruption, but they are opposed to the way the matter was handled by Dr Gedam.

My questions to all Indians are-

Do you think the situation needs urgent attention?
What are you doing to change this situation?
Have you decided to contribute in some way to the fight against corruption?
Have you written/ are you planning to write to local newspapers, expressing your concerns on the issue of corruption?
If you are from Jalgaon, have you expressed your support for the action against corruption? You can at least write letter to Dr Gedam saying you support him in his fight against corruption.
If you are in Jalgaon currently, have you thought of participating in any rally to support action against corruption?
If you have answered no to most of the above question, will you please seriously think of doing at least something to fight against the evil?
Will you please forward this link to every other Indian you know?

http://www.ethicalpractice.blogspot.com/ or http://www.nonresidentjalgaoites.blogspot.com/

Jai Hind

Posted by Jalmad.
07.04.2206

Will China bit India?

2006-03-28T20:55:00.000+05:30

This article has been published in Lokmat newspaper- online & printed editions.

India, being a developing nation, has to rely on businesses in western countries, especially businesses which have job opportunities in them for us.

Similarly, these developed nations depend on the third world countries for the work force and other supply. One of the most important reasons for the western countries to import from third word is that it’s cheaper for them to import rather than producing many things here.

The second important reason to import is the quality of the material goods. The west imports good quality material at a cheaper rate. Other services like software, IT and call centers depend on quality of services provided and trustworthy services. If we really want to compare and win against China for our businesses with the west, we need to look for-The Quality, Trustworthiness & Cost.

The main reason China is growing fast in this field is because they provide cost effective, quality and reliable services. The recent incidence of leakage of information about bank accounts from one of the India based call centers should be taken very seriously. Especially when China is already ahead of us in international marketing & trying to take over in fields where we have monopoly, we should take extra efforts to maintain and improve the trust.

Employment issues are taken very lightly by Indian firms. Appointments are very need oriented. There are no strict protocols followed by Indian firms to appoint the new employee. There are no strict police checks. That’s the reason we land up in such problems related to confidentiality.

Another cause for concern is our bureaucracy. We still have to go through lot of difficulties to initiate export process. If that’s going to give us quality output then it’s acceptable. But, there is lot of malpractice and misuse of export licenses by the officials themselves. Export licenses are given for temporary rent by this officer's lobby and there is lot of corruption in issuing licenses as well. So, the deterioration in quality starts at this stage.

If you look at the materials exported from India and China, it appears very obvious that China's exports are smarter than ours. If you want to buy something which is of daily use in house or garden, you are more likely to get the item made in China than India. You will get cheap and very user friendly goods made in China. Our businesses need to pay attention to these issues as well. In summary, I think, our export industry should concentrate on need oriented supply, cost effective and quality products.

Our IT and call centers should develop good network of skilled employees and try to maintain and improve trust in their respective fields, so that their position would be unshaken even if any other country tries to compete with them in future.

And again, we would need to keep doing this till our own country will have enough jobs and sufficiently strong economy so that we won't have to serve the west.

Save sons of Mother India.

2006-03-27T20:11:00.000+05:30

Read today’s news from Maharashtra, the most developed state in India.

363 farmers in Vidarbha (east Maharashtra) committed suicide last year due to huge debts and this number is rising every day.

There are officially 6, 88,089 malnourished children in six districts of Vidarbha.

There are officially 700 malnourished children in the huts of Nagpur city.

Just compare this news with ‘one British hostage freed/killed by militants’. This is international news currently. Even the Indian media have highlighted this news as very important news. But, unfortunately they haven’t given serious attention to suicide issue in our own country.

The main news in our media currently is resignation by Mrs Gandhi and explosive statements by our nonsense politicians. Every other news agency is busy covering this news. The suicide news gets place in small heading in local news papers, but no proper place in our news channels.

What can we do to help these sons of mother India?

We, Global Indians owe a lot to our motherland. We can help in lots of ways. I have few suggestions-

Forward this message to all Indians and NRIs you know.

Donate the good organisations working for the great cause. Donating to temples and churches won’t help improve the situation.

Encourage education- whenever we go home we can encourage people to have at least basic education. Girl’s education is especially important for the overall progress of family. This is not the short term process, but even small steps would help to achieve the goal.

Direct help to the affected population in the form of money, material, basic facilities like building public toilets in villages. This can be organised when you visit India. You can directly give money to build toilets or similar facilities in your village. Believe me it doesn’t cost much to construct single toilet there.

Have organisation of your own- you can support small developmental activities like women’s self employment, financial awareness of the farmers, youth groups to help the farmers in need. To have an idea, please see the example of one such organisation below.

Mental health support- we don’t care of the psychological aspect of the problem. Chronic depression is very common in Indian rural society. Frequently, our females are labelled as being possessed by evils and subjected to inhuman torture by the society. That is the reason, I think, awareness in the field of mental health needs to be increased. To do this we can support such organisation or organise mental health awareness programs in our areas. Local psychiatrists could be involved to address the issues in the community, to give lectures in schools and colleges.

Volunteer group- to identify at risk persons and help them come out of depression or suicidal thoughts. These could be dome in the form of organising gatherings, meditation courses, formal discussions and sharing the thoughts.

We can right to our local MPs and MLAs regarding these issues.

Write letter to newspapers. Most of the newspapers have online editions and they do publish opinions sent be email. This will help improve campaign in this field.

I run a small organisation back home. Please visit www.samyaktrust.blogspot.com to know in details. One of my friends is IAS officer. Both of us are planning to organise a volunteer group which will try and help at risk people. Our organisation also supports girl’s education in rural area.

Please feel free to share your views on these issues and email me your suggestions on Noopisang@aol.com

Please forward this message to other Indians, so that we can spread this message across the world. This might lead to more and more help for these unfortunate poor rural farmers.

Jai Hind.

Jalmad
Indian.

Global Indians..

2006-03-24T05:04:00.000+05:30

Indians everywhere should become enlightened International citizens. Wherever you are, whichever country you live, enrich that nation, not only in financial terms, but also with your sweat knowledge and dignity since that is the tradition of the country from where you came. At the same time, remember we have a common umbilical connectivity to our motherland, India.

A P J Abdul Kalam, President of India.

How can we help building our nation?

1. By helping Indians abroad in whatever way possible. Our south Indian brothers are good in this quality. I am not sure about rest of the India.

2. Sharing our knowledge with our brothers and sisters back home.

3. Helping our Indian counterparts back home to improve the system there.

4. When you visit home, go to schools and encourage the students for studies and extracurricular activities.

5. If we have very patriotic ideology it will automatically stimulate lots of friends and relatives back home. If we just care for ourselves, it won’t help improve situation from our side.

6. We should always try to talk and greet each other in foreign countries. (If the opposite person turns out Pakistani or Bengali, we won’t loose anything!) The usual trend is just to look at each other and behave as if we are not related in any way. We can at least give smile to each other and try to greet and speak if possible. Through this we can share ideas and come closer.

7. Economic activities- I think this is the main area where we can help our nation.

a. Indian banks- I know they are not as competitive as the foreign banks. But if we give them fair chance, they might improve with time and perform better. Just to let you know they do give good competitive interest rates and good services.

b. Indian investment- Investing in India is a very good idea, especially in current situation of rapidly growing economy. We can either invest in stock market or property. Few of us might want to start business in India or abroad, which gives extra income to our country.

c. Regular donations- Nobody will disagree to the great spiritual advice given by every religion that we must donate a part of our earning for poor and needy. Donating money to temples, churches or mosques is not going to help improve our country. We must be very serious about where the money should be donated. There are high chances that whatever you donate for the cause of good wont reach to the actual site of action. That is the reason I mentioned initially that donating in the name of religion is not the best way. This money might be used for the destruction of our communal harmony, you never know.

I have few suggestions-

A. Direct help- Try to help as much directly as possible. For example, during your home visit you can visit the location and donate in the form of actual material, books, instruments, medicine or any other facility. It would be more effective than donating money to somebody.

B. The organizations you know very well- we must keep our senses open about what’s happening where and decide accordingly. You might hear or read about somebody working sincerely for noble cause and you can support his or her activity in a way you can.

C. Your own efforts/ organization- here is a simple example of one such effort. Though this is in very premature stage at the moment, you might want to start with at least something. Something is better than nothing!
Please go to www.samyaktrust.blogspot.com to see the example of this kind.

D. Adopting child/ children for education purpose- we can support education of children by adopting them for education (not the actual adoption). Believe me, it costs very less to support this if you earning in stronger currency. Please see the explanation given in my article in the above website under heading of- To help poor schoolgirls in rural India for education.

Please feel free to express yourself, if you have any other idea for these purposes. Do drop a mail on-
noopisang@aol.com

Ethics in politics

2006-03-12T03:39:00.000+05:30

The things that are expected from our (young) politicians are as follows-

Dos-
1. Please make sure that you love the nation before even thinking of entering into politics.
2. Be well informed and educated politician. Know what is happening where in world.
3. Be a man/woman of virtues.
4. Know the Nation’s history properly, so that you won’t misuse the names of our great historical leaders.
5. Have an ideal in front of your eyes- M K Gandhi, B R Ambedkar, Buddha, Ashoka and others.
6. Your first concern should be progress of your population. Everything else is secondary.
7. Please respect students and help them to grow.
8. Please be secular in real sense.
9. Be aware of time, we don’t have much. Utilize it for the well being of our nation.
10. Act quickly in the times of emergencies.
11. Be honest to yourself and our nation.
12. You must be able to represent our country nicely anywhere in the world.
13. Please use our young generation in a positive way, don’t show them wrong path.
14. Know the priorities of our nation and be united on the issues of national importance.
15. Be open-minded and learn all the time; it’s never late to learn good things.
16. Be modern and implement the useful modern inventions at the earliest.
17. Children and the students are the nations future; it’s wise to support investing in them.
18. Warn and oppose people on antisocial activities like female infanticide, feticide, dowry, and other social evils.
19. Stick to your ideals and be unshaken.
20. Be an excellent teacher so that you can teach and give people a vision of future and mobilize the masses for the same.

Don’ts-
1. Don’t break precepts- don’t lie, no stealing, no killings, no sexual misconduct, no addictions.
2. No wastage of time- we don’t have much. We are already lagging behind.
3. Don’t spread any rumors for your personal or political gain please.
4. Don’t act partially- no caste/religion/regional politics.
5. Don’t just work hard to gain more and more power. Work hard to strengthen our nation; you will get political benefits automatically.
6. Don’t falsify our history for your political or any other gains please.
7. Don’t speak irrelevantly if you are not the expert in particular field.
8. Don’t be responsible to spoil the name of our country.
9. Don’t ever do anything that will mean that you participated in selling our nation.
10. Don’t waste our resources please; we don’t have much left now.
11. Don’t oppose just to restrict other’s progress.
12. Don’t ever support people’s blind faith just to earn more votes.
13. Don’t support so called spiritual leaders to earn more votes on the basis of religion/caste.
14. Never be a part of any antisocial or antinational activities.
15. Don’t misuse the power and authority for your personal/political gains.
16. Don’t mislead people.
17. Don’t try to break people from each other- you should build a nation.
18. Don’t be arrogant, be polite.
19. Don’t get excited too much once you get power, you might misuse it.
20. Don’t forget you are there to serve and not to get served.

Meditation

2006-03-12T03:31:00.000+05:30

Meditation and spirituality-
For more details of meditation please follow the link below.
www.dhamma.org

Precepts and their importance in life

2006-03-10T05:24:00.000+05:30

The precepts in their simplest form can be stated as-
No lies
No killings
No sexual misconduct
No stealings
No addictions

Why these are important to life?
How should we go about it?
For detailed information on precepts click on www.dhamma.org

Ethics for students

2006-03-10T05:21:00.000+05:30

Ethics for students

Ancient India had one of the world’s earliest and largest universities like Nalanda, Vallabhi, Vikramsila, Jagaddala, and Odantpuri. These universities mainly involved teaching of Buddhism and other aspects of life. Many scholars from different parts of the world had visited and learnt in these universities. These universities were open to all irrespective of their caste or economic status.

Another system of learning in India was Gurukul system where one guru (teacher) used to teach a group of students. The education involved mainly teachings of Vedic religion. This system was mainly restricted to upper caste and rich candidates.

Ancient India is known for its rich cultural history. Students had to work really hard to get educated and trained in specific activities. Ethics were given top priority in the education system. Students needed to follow shila (Precepts).

Five precepts were necessary to be followed by common students, though eight precepts were to be followed for those working in spiritual field.
The Precepts
1. to abstain from killing any living creature;
2. to abstain from stealing;
3. to abstain from all sexual activity;
4. to abstain from telling lies;
5. to abstain from all intoxicants.
There are three additional precepts which candidates more serious in spirituality were-
6. to abstain from eating after midday;
7. to abstain from sensual entertainment and bodily decoration;
8. to abstain from using high or luxurious beds.

Medical ethics

2006-03-10T05:19:00.000+05:30

Hippocratic oath- the original version

I swear by Apollo the healer, by Aesculapius, by Health and all the powers of healing, and call to witness all the gods and goddesses that I may keep this Oath and Promise to the best of my ability and judgment.

I will pay the same respect to my master in the Science as to my parents and share my life with him and pay all my debts to him. I will regard his sons as my brothers and teach them the Science, if they desire to learn it, without fee or contract. I will hand on precepts, lectures and all other learning to my sons, to those of my master and to those pupils duly apprenticed and sworn, and to none other.

I will use my power to help the sick to the best of my ability and judgment; I will abstain from harming or wronging any man by it.

I will not give a fatal draught to anyone if I am asked, nor will I suggest any such thing. Neither will I give a woman means to procure an abortion.

I will be chaste and religious in my life and in my practice.

I will not cut, even for the stone, but I will leave such procedures to the practitioners of that craft.

Whenever I go into a house, I will go to help the sick and never with the intention of doing harm or injury. I will not abuse my position to indulge in sexual contacts with the bodies of women or of men, whether they are freemen or slaves.

Whatever I see or hear, professionally or privately, which ought not to be divulged, I will keep secret and tell no one.

If, therefore, I observe this Oath and do not violate it, may I prosper both in my life and in my profession, earning good repute among all men for my time? If I transgress and forswear this oath, may my lot be otherwise.

Translated by J Chadwick and WN Mann, 1950.

Hippocratic oath- modern version

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures, which are required, avoiding those twin traps of over treatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death? If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings that sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

Written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, and used in many medical schools today.

The Art of Living:

2006-03-07T00:55:00.000+05:30

Vipassana Meditation
Everyone seeks peace and harmony, because these are what we lack in our lives. From time to time we all experience agitation, irritation, disharmony, suffering; and when one suffers from agitation, one does not keep this misery limited to oneself. One keeps distributing it to others as well. The agitation permeates the atmosphere around the miserable person. Everyone who comes into contact with him also becomes irritated, agitated. Certainly this is not the proper way to live.

One ought to live at peace with oneself, and at peace with all others. After all, a human being is a social being. He has to live in society--to live and deal with others. How are we to live peacefully? How are we to remain harmonious with ourselves, and to maintain peace and harmony around us, so that others can also live peacefully and harmoniously?

One is agitated. To come out of the agitation, one has to know the basic reason for it, the cause of the suffering. If one investigates the problem, it will become clear that whenever one starts generating any negativity or defilement in the mind, one is bound to become agitated. A negativity in the mind, a mental defilement or impurity, cannot exist with peace and harmony.

How does one start generating negativity? Again, by investigating, it becomes clear. I become very unhappy when I find someone behaving in a way, which I don't like, when I find something happening which I don't like. Unwanted things happen and I create tension within myself. Wanted things do not happen, some obstacles come in the way, and again I create tension within myself; I start tying knots within myself. And throughout life, unwanted things keep on happening, wanted things may or may not happen, and this process or reaction, of tying knots--Gordian knots--makes the entire mental and physical structure so tense, so full of negativity, that life becomes miserable.

Now one way to solve the problem is to arrange that nothing unwanted happens in my life and that everything keeps on happening exactly as I desire. i must develop such power, or somebody else must have the power and must come to my aid when I request him, that unwanted things do not happen and that everything I want happens. But this is not possible. There is no one in the world whose desires are always fulfilled, in whose life everything happens according to his wishes, without anything unwanted happening. Things keep on occurring that are contrary to our desires and wishes. So the question arises, how am I not to react blindly in the face of these things, which I don't like? How not to create tension? How to remain peaceful and harmonious?

In India as well as in other countries, wise saintly persons of the past studied this problem--the problem of human suffering--and found a solution: if something unwanted happens and one starts to react by generating anger, fear or any negativity, then as soon as possible one should divert one's attention to something else. For example, get up, take a glass of water, start drinking--your anger will not multiply and you'll be coming out of anger. Or start counting: one, two, three, four. Or start repeating a word, or a phrase, or some mantra, perhaps the name of a deity or saintly person in whom you have devotion; the mind is diverted, and to some extent, you'll be out of the negativity, out of anger.

This solution was helpful: it worked. It still works. Practicing this, the mind feels free from agitation. In fact, however, the solution works only at the conscious level. Actually, by diverting the attention, one pushes the negativity deep into the unconscious, and on this level one continues to generate and multiply the same defilements. At the surface level there is a layer of peace and harmony, but in the depths of the mind there is a sleeping volcano of suppressed negativity, which sooner or later will explode, in violent eruption.

Other explorers of inner truth went still further in their search; and by experiencing the reality of mind and matter within themselves they recognized that diverting the attention is only running away from the problem. Escape is no solution: one must face the problem. Whenever negativity arises in the mind, just observe it, face it. As soon as one starts observing any mental defilement, it begins to lose strength. Slowly it withers away and is uprooted.

A good solution: it avoids both extremes--suppression and free license. Keeping the negativity in the unconscious will not eradicate it; and allowing it to manifest in physical or vocal action will only create more problems. But if one just observes, then the defilement passes away, and one has eradicated that negativity, one is freed from the defilement. This sounds wonderful, but is it really practical? For an average person, is it easy to face the defilement?

When anger arises, it overpowers us so quickly that we don't even notice. Then overpowered by anger, we commit certain actions physically or vocally, which are harmful to us and to others. Later, when the anger has passed, we start crying and repenting, begging pardon from this or that person or from God: 'Oh, I made a mistake, please excuse me!' But the next time we are in a similar situation, we again react in the same way. All that repenting does not help at all.

The difficulty is that I am not aware when defilement starts. It begins deep in the unconscious level of the mind, and by the time it reaches the conscious level, it has gained so much strength that it overwhelms me, and I cannot observe it.

Then I must keep a private secretary with me, so that whenever anger starts, he says, 'Look master, anger is starting!' Since I cannot know when this anger will start, I must have three private secretaries for three shifts, around the clock! Suppose I can afford that, and the anger starts to arise. At once my secretary tells me, 'Oh, master, look--anger has started!' The first things I will do are slap and abuse him: 'You fool! Do you think you are paid to teach me?' I am so overpowered by anger that no good advise will help.

Even supposing wisdom prevails and I do not slap him. Instead I say, 'Thank you very much. Now I must sit down and observe my anger.' Yet it is possible? As soon as I close my eyes and try to observe the anger, immediately the object of anger come into my mind--the person or incident because of which I become angry. Then I am not observing the anger itself. I am merely observing the external stimulus of the emotion. This will only serve to multiply the anger; this is no solution. It is very difficult to observe any abstract negativity, abstract emotion, divorced from the external object, which aroused it.

However, one who reached the ultimate truth found a real solution. He discovered that whenever any defilement arises in the mind, simultaneously two things start happening at the physical level. One is that the breath loses its normal rhythm. We start breathing hard whenever negativity comes into the mind. This is easy to observe. At subtler level, some kind of biochemical reaction starts within the body--some sensation. Every defilement will generate one sensation or another inside, in one part of the body or another.

This is a practical solution. An ordinary person cannot observe abstract defilements of the mind--abstract fear, anger, or passion. But with proper training and practice, it is very easy to observe respiration and bodily sensations--both of which are directly related to the mental defilements. Respiration and sensation will help me in two ways. Firstly, they will be like my private secretaries. As soon as a defilement starts in my mind, my breath will lose its normality; it will start shouting, 'Look, something has gone wrong!' I cannot slap my breath; I have to accept the warning. Similarly the sensations tell me that something has gone wrong. Then having been warned, I start observing my respiration, my sensation, and I find very quickly that the defilement passes away.

This mental-physical phenomenon is like a coin with two sides. On the one side are whatever thoughts or emotions are arising in the mind. One the other side are the respiration and sensations in the body. Any thought or emotion, any mental defilement, manifests itself in the breath and the sensation of that moment. Thus, by observing the respiration or the sensation, I am in fact observing the mental defilement. Instead of running away from the problem, I am facing reality as it is. Then I shall find that the defilement loses its strength: it can no longer overpower me as it did in the past. If I persist, the defilement eventually disappears altogether, and I remain peaceful and happy.

In this way, the techniques of self-observation shows us reality in its two aspects, inner and outer. Previously, one always looked with open eyes, missing the inner truth. I always looked outside for the cause of my unhappiness; I always blamed and tried to change the reality outside. Being ignorant of the inner reality, I never understood that the cause of suffering lies within, in my own blind reactions toward pleasant and unpleasant sensations. Now, with training, I can see the other side of the coin. I can be aware of my breathing and also of what is happening inside me. Whatever it is, breath or sensation, I learn just to observe it, without losing the balance of the mind. I stop reacting, stop multiplying my misery. Instead, I allow the defilement to manifest and pass away.

The more one practices this technique, the more quickly one will find one will come out of negativity. Gradually the mind becomes freed of the defilements; it becomes pure. A pure mind is always full of love--selfless love for all others; full of compassion for the failings and sufferings of others; full of joy at their success and happiness; full of equanimity in the face of any situation. When one reaches this stage, the entire pattern of one's life starts changing. It is no longer possible to do anything vocally or physically which will disturb the peace and happiness of others. Instead, the balanced mind not only becomes peaceful in itself, but it helps others also to become peaceful. The atmosphere surrounding such a person will become permeated with peace and harmony, and this will start affecting others too.

By learning to remain balanced in the face of everything one experiences inside, one develops detachment towards all that one encounters in external situations as well. However, this detachment is not escapism or indifference to the problems of the world. A Vipassana meditator becomes more sensitive to the sufferings of others, and does his utmost to relieve their suffering in whatever way he can--not with any agitation but with a mind full of love, compassion and equanimity. He learns holy indifference--how to be fully committed, fully involved in helping others, while at the same time maintaining the balance of his mind. In this way he remains peaceful and happy, while working for the peace and happiness of others.

This is what the Buddha taught; an art of living. He never established or taught any religion, any 'ism'. He never instructed his followers to practice any rites or rituals, any blind or empty formalities. Instead, he taught just to observe nature as it is, by observing reality inside. Out of ignorance, one keeps reacting in a way which is harmful to oneself and to others. But when wisdom arises--the wisdom of observing the reality as it is--one come out of this habit of reaction. When one ceases to react blindly, then one is capable of real action--action proceeding from a balanced mind, a mind which sees and understands the truth. Such action can only be positive, creative, helpful to oneself and to others.

What is necessary, then, is to 'know thyself'--advice which every wise person has given. One must know oneself not just at the intellectual level, the level of ideas and theories. Nor does this mean to know just at the emotional or devotional level, simply accepting blindly what one has heard or read. Such knowledge is not enough. Rather one must know reality at the actual level. One must experience directly the reality of this mental-physical phenomenon. This alone is what will help us to come out of defilements, out of suffering.

This direct experience of one's own reality, this techniques of self-observation, is what is called 'Vipassana' meditation. In the language of India in the time of the Buddha, passana meant seeing with open eyes, in the ordinary way; but Vipassana is observing things as they really are, not just as they seem to be. Apparent truth has to be penetrated, until one reaches the ultimate truth of the entire mental and physical structure. When one experiences this truth, then one learns to stop reacting blindly, to stop creating defilements--and naturally the old defilements gradually are eradicated. One come out of all the misery and experiences happiness.

There are three steps to the training which is given in a Vipassana meditation course Firstly, one must abstain from any action, physical or vocal, which disturbs the peace and harmony of others. One cannot work to liberate oneself from defilements in the mind while at the same time one continues to perform deeds of body and speech which only multiply those defilements. Therefore, a code of morality is the essential first step of the practice. One undertakes not to kill, not to steal, not to commit sexual misconduct, not to tell lies, and not to use intoxicants. By abstaining from such action, one allows the mind to quiet down sufficiently so that it can proceed with the task at hand.

The next step is to develop some mastery over this wild mind, by training it to remain fixed on a single object: the breath. One tries to keep one's attention for as long as possible on the respiration. This is not a breathing exercise: one does not regulate the breath. Instead one observes natural respiration as it is, as it comes in, as it goes out. In this way one further calms the mind so that it is no longer overpowered by violent negativities. At the same time, one is concentrating the mind, making it sharp and penetrating, capable of the work of insight.

These first two steps of living a moral life and controlling the mind are very necessary and beneficial in themselves; but they will lead to self-repression, unless one takes the third step - purifying the mind of defilements by developing insight into one's own nature. This is Vipassana: experiencing one's own reality, by the systematic and dispassionate observation of the ever-changing mind-matter phenomenon manifesting itself as sensation within oneself. This is the culmination of the teaching of the Buddha: self-purification by self-observation. This can be practiced by one and all. Everyone faces the problem of suffering. it is a universal disease which requires a universal remedy--not a sectarian one. When one suffers from anger, it is not a Buddhist anger, Hindu anger, or Christian anger. Anger is anger. When one become agitated as a result of this anger, this agitation is not Christian, or Hindu, or Buddhist. The malady is universal. The remedy must also be universal.

Vipassana is such a remedy. No one will object to a code of living which respects the peace and harmony of others. No one will object to developing control over the mind. No one will object to developing insight into one's own reality, by which it is possible to free the mind of negativities. Vipassana is a universal path.

Observing reality as it is by observing the truth inside--this is knowing oneself at the actual, experiential level. As one practices, one keeps coming out of the misery of defilements. From the gross, external, apparent truth, one penetrates to the ultimate truth of mind and matter. Then one transcends that, and experiences a truth which is beyond mind and matter, beyond time and space, beyond the conditioned field of relativity: the truth of total liberation from all defilements, all impurities, all suffering. Whatever name one gives this ultimate truth, is irrelevant; it is the final goal of everyone.

May you all experience this ultimate truth. May all people come out of their defilements, their misery. May they enjoy real happiness, real peace, real harmony.

MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY

The above text is based upon a talk given by Mr. S.N. Goenka in Berne, Switzerland.