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August 30, 2012

இன்றாவது விழிப்போம்

சமீபத்தில், தென் மாவட்ட சிற்றூர்களில் விதவிதமான கேமராக்களால் பெண்களை ரகசியமாக படம் பிடித்து சில ஆண்கள் வெளியிட்டு பிடிபட்டு மானம் மற்றும் புகழை (??) இழந்து நடைபிணமாக குன்றி காவலரிடம் நின்ற காட்சி நினைவிருக்கலாம். இவர்கள் அத்தனை பேரும் சிறு நகரங்களில் நம்பிக்கையான ஆசாமிகளாக மின் சாதன வேலைகள், எரிவாயு மாற்றுபவர்கள் என வீடுகளில் புகுந்து, ரகசிய கேமராக்களை குளியலறை, படுக்கை அறைகளில் பொருத்தி தவறான காரியங்களில் ஈடுபட்டுள்ளனர். சிலர் உறவினர்கள். பெருநகரங்களில் அல்லாமல் சிற்றூர்களில் இந்த காரியங்கள் நடந்தது பலருக்கும் அதிர்ச்சி.

கேவலமான, இழிவான இந்த நடத்தை உதாரணம் காட்டுவது போல தண்டிக்கப்பட வேண்டியது தான். சந்தேகமில்லை.  

ஆனால் தண்டனை தற்காலிகமான, இருக்கிற தீயவர்களை கட்டுக்குள் வைக்கவே உதவும். இன்றைய சின்னஞ்சிறிய பிள்ளைகள் நாளைய ஆண்மக்கள் (பெண்களும்). அவர்களாவது இம்மாதிரி கனவிலும் கருதாது மனைவி தவிர மாற்றாரை தாயாக, தமக்கையாக, தங்கையாக, மகளாக பார்க்க என்ன செய்கிறோம்? 

எது உதவாது என சொல்லவா? கண்டிப்பாக மெகா சீரியல்களும், காமத்தை தூண்டும் சினிமாக்களும், பெண்ணை போகப்பொருளாக சித்தரிக்கும் ஊடகங்களும், காமக்களஞ்சியங்களும் இதற்கு உதவாது. மதிப்பெண் சார்ந்த குழந்தைப்பருவமும், பணம் சார்ந்த வாழ்க்கையும், பிறர் சார்ந்த முதுமையும் உள்ளவரை மனிதம் உருப்படுமா? 

நமது கலாச்சாரங்களை, "பிறன்மனை விழைதல் பாவம்" என்ற கோட்பாடுகளை சொல்லி வளர்க்கிறோமா? இன்றைய பிள்ளைகளுக்கு Michael Jackson, Ricky Martin, Bryan Adams, J Archer தெரியும். தப்பில்லை. ஆனால் அதே சமயம்  அவ்வையாரை, கபிலரை, நற்கிள்ளியை, சேரனை, நற்சோனையை, கிள்ளி வளவனை,  கண்ணகியை தெரியுமா? பட்டினத்தாரை தெரியுமா?

ஆங்கிலேயன் தனது கலாசார மகிமையை அவன் பிள்ளைக்கு சொல்லி கொடுக்கிறான். அவன் பிள்ளைக்கு ஷேக்ஸ்பியரை, ஷேல்லீயை, கீட்சை  தெரியும். நம் பிள்ளைக்கு நமது கம்பனை, கபிலரை, சங்கத்தமிழை  தெரியுமா? ஜப்பானியன், ஜெர்மானியன், பிரஞ்சுக்காரன் தனது மொழியை இலக்கணம் தவறாமல் சொல்லிக்கொடுக்கிறான். பிறகே ஆங்கிலம். இங்கே? எத்தனை தமிழ் பிள்ளைகளுக்கு தேமாங்காய் புளிமாங்காய் கூவிளங்காய் என்னவென்று தெரியும்? அது எந்த அண்ணாச்சி கடையில் கிடைக்கும் என பலர் கேட்பார்கள்.

மேற்கத்திய மோகத்தால், பணம் மேல் ஆசை கொண்டு, போலி கௌரவத்துக்கு ஆசைப்பட்டு மதிப்பெண்களையும் பொறியியல், மருத்துவமும், கார் பங்களா மட்டுமே நல்ல வாழ்க்கை என பெற்றோர் நினைத்து,  நூறு சதவிகித ரிசல்ட் மற்றுமே பள்ளிக்கு முக்கியம் என பள்ளிகள் நினைத்து,  நம் பண்பாட்டை கற்றுத்தர விரும்பாமல், அன்று விதைத்தோம். இன்று அறுக்கிறோம்.

இனியாவது விழித்துக்கொள்வோம். காவல் துறையே தேவை அற்ற (குற்றமே இல்லாத) உலகத்தை படைக்க விழைவோம். சிரிக்க வேண்டாம். நட்சத்திரத்தை பறிக்க ஆசைப்பட்டால் தான் கொய்யாக்காயாவது கிடைக்கும். இன்றாவது விழிப்போம் 
பிரியங்களுடன்
புவனேஷ் 


 

 

August 27, 2012

Shree Raama's greatest achievement

Shree Rama was a man of towering stature, a leader par excellence, perhaps the most ingenuous and resourceful military leader the world has ever seen or even imagined, a dutiful son, a loving brother, and a doting and perhaps even jealous husband.

He has a long list of shining achievements in his long life, of which, I shall list a few below:

At a tender age of 12 he received an upadesam of Yoga Vaashishtam from Shree Vashishta muni.

He received the mantras bala and adhibala from the sage Shree Vishvaamithra.

He killed the invincible tataka.

He received all the Astras and weapons that Shree. Vishvamithra had obtained from maheshwara.

He guarded the yagna of Vishvamithra and killed Subahu with Agneyastra and dumped Maareecha with Manavaastra on the seashore. He also slew thousands of Raakshasas in the process.

He broke the Rudhra Dhanus at Mithila, married Seetha.

He quelled Shree Parasuraama by handling the Vishnu Dhanusu. He obtained it.

He, without a single word of protest, obeyed his Mother Kaikeyi and his father and left for the forest, sacrificing the kingdom for his younger brother.

He killed Viraatha in the forest.

He killed 14000 raakshasas with no support in 48 minutes!

He killed Kara, Dhooshana and their ilk.

He performed the last rites for the poor bird Jataayu , who he revered as his father, just because he was his father’s friend, and lay his life down for him.

He killed Kabandha;

He killed Vali.

He struck a trailblazing pact with the monkey leader Sugreeva.

He accepted Vibheeshana’s surrender, knowing fully well, he was the brother of his prime enemy Ravana, based on his principle of never turning down a man who says “I am your friend”, even if that means it will cost him his own life.

He destroyed the whole army of raakshasas, killed Kumbakarna and Ravana.

He kept his word to return in time to Bharatha.

Despite all this accolades, if one has to pick something that he has done in his life as the greatest achievement of his, what would I pick?

None.

Why?

If we are to know what the greatest achievement of a person is, we need to ask a person who is devoted to that person and knows that person well, and has no personal need to praise that person and get benefited from that. That person should have unconditional love for the person in question. And the person whose achievements are being discussed, must approve that.

I would ask Hanuman.  Why not Lakshmana and Seetha?

Lakshmana was his brother and grew up with him. So no wonder he loves Rama so much.

Seetha is his wife. So no wonder she loves him.

Who is this Hanuman? How is he related to Rama? Why should he become so emotional at the first meeting? Why should he risk his life and serve Rama? Why should he search the nook and corner of South India for a stranger whom he knows only for 4 months? Why should he cross the sea, take on vicious demons and risk his life? What has Rama done to Hanuman, so that Hanuman is obligated to help Rama? It’s pure unalloyed devotion. That’s true love for Rama.

Among all, Only Hanuman served Rama out of pure love. Others had some sort of reason to love him or some gratitude for Rama. So, we will ask Hanuman what his greatest achievement was.

----

Scene moves to Asoka vanam.

Hanumaan has seen Seetha.

He exclaims:

दुष्करम्कुरुतेरामोहीनोयद्अनयाप्रभुः|
धारयतिआत्मनोदेहम्नदुह्खेनअवसीदति||५-१६-२७

Dushkritham krithavaan Raama: heenoya dhanayaa prabhu:|

Dhaarayath yaathmano deham: na shokena avaseedhathi|| 5-16-27

“This Lord of men, Rama has done an impossible act by staying bereft of this one (Seetha); It’s a wonder he is still staying alive and has not perished with sorrow!” 

(Shlokam in Sanskrit reads Dushkaram instead of dushkritham, and duhkhena instead of shokhena.  They are errors on the part of the type setter)

And Rama also endorses/approves that:

When Hanuman says when he meets Rama afterwards, “Sita will not live for more than one month” to Rama, Rama says to Lakshmana:

चिरम्जीवतिवैदेहीयदिमासम्धरिष्यति|
क्षणम्सौम्यनजीवेयम्विनाताम्असितईक्षणाम्||५-६६-१०

chiram jiivati vaidehii yadi maasam dharishyati |
kshanam saumya na jiiveyam vinaa taam asita iikshanaam || 5-66-10

"O gentle lakshmana! If Seetha can survive for a month from now, it means that she will be chiranjeevi (poetic meaning of sorrow, also shows the confidence Rama has that within a month he will save Seetha); without that Seetha with black eyes, I cannot survive for even a moment."

So, that is the real achievement of Raama: He survived for 10 months not knowing the whereabouts of his sweetheart.

That’s a man’s heart for you.

 +++++

With love and Hearty Greetings for Onam,

Bhuvanesh

August 23, 2012

வாசுகியும் வள்ளுவரும்

வள்ளுவர் எழுதியது திருக்குறள் என்பது எல்லாருக்கும் தெரியும். அவர் திருக்குறள் மட்டும் தான் எழுதினார் என்று அனைவரும் எண்ணிக்கொண்டு இருக்கிறோம். அதாவது ஒன்றே முக்கால் அடி கொண்ட குறள் வெண்பாவை தவிர அவர் வேறு எதையும் எழுதினாரா என நாம் அறியோம் அல்லவா?

உண்டு. ஒன்றே ஒன்று. அப்பாடல் ஒருவருக்காக அர்ப்பணமாக வடிக்கப்பட்டது. யார் அந்த அதிர்ஷ்டக்காரர்? ஆதரித்த வள்ளலா? அரசரா? அவர் குருவா? இல்லை. அதிர்ஷ்டக்காரர் அல்ல, அதிர்ஷ்டக்காரி என்று தான் சொல்ல வேண்டும். ஆம். அவர் ஒரு பெண். வள்ளுவரின் மனைவி. ஸ்ரீமதி. வாசுகி அம்மையார்.

அடியிற்கினியாளே அன்புடையாளே
படிசொல் தவறாத பாவாய் - அடிவருடி
பின்தூங்கி முன்னெழும்பும் பேதாய்-
இனிதாய் என் தூங்கும் என்கண் இரவு?

என்று ஒரு நாலு வரி பாட்டெழுதினார். "அடியேனுக்கு இனியவளே, அன்புடையவளே, எனது  சொல்லை என்றும் மதித்து நடந்த என் பாவையே (கண்மணியே), களைத்து வந்த எனது பாதங்களை பிடித்து விட்டு தூங்கச்செய்து பின் உறங்கி, நான் எழு முன் எழுந்து என்னை எழுப்பும் இளமை உடையவளே, அப்படி உன்னால் தூங்க வைக்கப்பட்டு உன் அன்பில் உறங்கிய என் கண்கள், இனி நீ இன்றி எவ்வாறு உறங்கும்?"என கதறுகிறார் வள்ளுவர்.

அதில் பாருங்கள், நான் எவ்வாறு உறங்குவேன்? என்று கூறவில்லை. என் கண் எவ்வாறு உறங்கும்? என்கிறார். அதற்கு முன் "பாவையே" என்கிறார். அதாவது பாவை இல்லாத கண் பயனற்றது. இனி நான் உறங்க நினைத்தாலும் அந்த கண்ணானது பாவையை பிரிந்த ஆற்றாமையால் இனி உறங்காது என்கிறார்.
 
“நெருநல் உளனொருவன் இன்றில்லை எனும்
பெருமை படைத்து இவ்வுலகு”

என்று உண்மையின் அடி ஆழத்தினை கண்டு எழுதிய அந்தத் தெய்வப்புலவரே, மனைவியின் பிரிவைத் தாங்காமல் கலங்கி கையறு நிலையில் பாட்டெழுதி விட்டார். (நேற்று இருந்தான் இன்று இல்லை என்று ஆனான் என்னும் இயல்பினை உடையது நிலையற்ற தன்மையை உடைய இவ்வுலகு என்பது இக்குறளின் பொருள்).....

அதற்கு முற்றிலும் தகுதியானவர் அந்த அம்மையார்.

"வாசுகி, பழையது சுடுகிறது, விசிறி விடம்மா" என்றார் வள்ளுவர், தன் நண்பர் முன்; பழையது சுடுமா என யோசிக்காமல், அன்புக்கணவரின் வார்த்தைக்கு இணங்கி விசிறி விட்டாராம் வாசுகி அம்மையார். பார்த்த நண்பர், தன் மனைவியுடனான தனது பூசலுக்கு விடை கிட்டி விட்டது என விடை பெற்று சென்றாராம். இது பெண்ணடித்தனமல்ல. அன்பு. தூய அன்பு, துணையை உள்ளபடியே ஏற்றுக்கொள்ளல், அர்ப்பணிப்பு. அதில் தனி சுகம் உண்டு.

வள்ளுவர் பெருமான் சாப்பிடும் போது, ஒரு சிறு கலத்தில் தூய நீரும், ஒரு ஊசியும் வைத்துக் கொண்டுதான் சாப்பிடுவாராம். அது ஏனென அம்மையாருக்கு விளங்கவே இல்லையாம். ஆனாலும் கேட்கவில்லையாம்.

இதற்கான காரணத்தை அந்த அம்மையார், தான் இறக்கும் தருவாயில், கணவரின் (வள்ளுவரின்) மடியில் கிடந்தபடி அவரிடம்  கேட்டாராம். அன்னப்ப்பருக்கை கீழே சிந்தினால் ஊசியில் குத்தி எடுத்து கலத்தில் உள்ள தெள்ளிய நீரில் அலம்பி, மீண்டும் அன்னத்தில் கலந்து  உண்ணவே அவை இரண்டும் என்றாராம். "மான் போன்ற மருண்ட கண்ணினையுடைய என் அன்புடையவளே, நீ அன்னமிடுகையில் அன்னம் சிந்தவே இல்லை. அதனால் அதன் பயன்பாடு உனக்கு இந்நாள் வரை தெரியவில்லை" என்று உருகி விளக்கினாராம்.

இன்று, சிறுசிறு கருத்து வேறுபாடுகளுக்கு கூட, பிரிவினை வேண்டி நீதிமன்ற வாசலில் நிற்கும் தம்பதியர்(???) நினைத்துப்பார்ப்பார்களா? 

பழைய பதிவுகளில் நான் சொன்ன எனது கருத்துக்களை தான் நான் இங்கும் சொல்லி முடிக்கிறேன். துணைக்காக கஷ்டப்பட தயாராக இல்லாதவர்கள் கலியாணத்துக்கு லாயக்கில்லாதவர்கள். அனுசரிப்பதும் விட்டுக்கொடுப்பதும் கெட்டவார்த்தைகள் அல்ல.

பெண்ணியம், உரிமைபேச்சுக்கள் பேச தெருக்கோடி மேடை தான் சரியான இடம். வீடும் குடும்பமும் அல்ல.

இப்பாடலை படித்த பிறகு தான் வள்ளுவரின் மீது ஒரு தனி மரியாதை பிறந்தது.

பிரியங்களுடன்
புவனேஷ்
 

 

August 16, 2012

பாரதத்தின் பொன்னோவியம் (கவிஞர் தனுசு)

 பாரதத்தின் பொன்னோவியம் (கவிஞர் தனுசு)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
பொன்விழா கண்டு
பாரதம்
சாதனை புரிந்தது-இந்த
பொன்னோவியம் கண்டால்-அந்த
சாதனை புரிந்தது!

சாமியே....
ஆளும் ஆசாமியே....
புன்பட்ட மனதை
நான் எதைக்கொண்டு ஆற்ற?

பார்...
துள்ளி குதிக்கும் வயது
சுள்ளி சுமக்குது!
ஏடு தூக்கும் வயது
காடு பொறுக்குது!

கல்லும் முள்ளும்
காலுக்கு மெத்தையா?
உங்கள்
கண்ணும் காதும்
இன்னும் திறக்கவில்லையா?

விலை மதிப்பில்லாதது
விடலைப் பருவம்!
இவர்கள்
வீட்டில் உலை ஏறாததுக்கு
சாட்சி இந்த உருவம்!

தோள் கொடுக்கும் சமூகம்
தொலைந்து போனதா?
மீள் பதிவாய் உலகம்
மாறுகின்றதா?

இந்த
சவுக்கை தோப்பு சரித்திரம் மாறாமல்
வாள் அழிந்து
ஏவுகனை வந்து என்ன பயன்?
வான் முட்ட
கட்டடங்கள் முளைத்தும் என்ன பயன்?

இந்த
காட்டு பூச்சிகளை ஆள
ஒரு கோட்டை தேவையா?
இந்த
நாட்டு செடிகளை காக்க
கோட்டும் சூட்டும் தேவையா?

-தனுசு-

கருணை மனு

வேளை நெருங்கும் போழ்து
பிரசவ வலி ஒரு வேதனை........
பிள்ளை முகம் பார்க்கும் வரை...... உனக்கென நான்
காத்திருக்கும் கணங்களும் காண், கொடுமை......
உன்மடி வீழும் வரை.....

உன்னிடம் முன் அனுமதி பெற்று தான்
என் தாயின் மடி மேல் வந்தேன் போலும்.......
கண்மறைத்து இன்னும் உன் கண்ணாமூச்சி ஆட்டம்.......
கொடுங்கோலரசி தானடி நீ.......

கருணை மனு போட்டு விட்டேன், உன் முன்.
இனி காத்திருப்பது எத்தனை நாள், சொல்?

Time management - # 1

My Time management tactics: # 1:
+++++
Treat each phase of work like a test match innings; Get a role model! Usually, when someone comes up to me and says watching test cricket is the best way to kill time, I tell them to go jump in the lake.

Let me be frank, I love test cricket; And more than sometimes, that helps - in more than one way. The work I do is driven by motivation from within - research, just like test cricket; It is exacting, just like test cricket; I chose it because I love it more than the apparently glittering corporate jobs - Just like Rahul Sharad Dravid chose by preference, Test cricket over any other form of cricket.

Let me admit, research can get me lazy on a few days. It can get me frustrated. It can make me feel awkward when I flounder (- we're all allowed to)!

I treat each half hour of work as an over to be faced in a test match. Yes, you got me right, Rahul Dravid is my hero for a long time.

And during that half hour, I focus on just what I am doing - reading a research paper/doing something/whatever. Unless utterly required I would not distract myself from what I am doing - I used to force myself to doing this.

And take a break after that half hour - five minutes or so...... in six sessions it would be lunch time.

And the innings continues from there. There is a tea time for me at 3:00 PM. At the end of the day - I call it stumps. he he! When I am tired, I recollect some of Dravid's epic innings..... and it gets me pepped up again!

Dravid used to say, when he is beaten by a ball, he puts it behind and focuses on the next ball, lest he shouldn't be there batting.

That's true in any work place or for that matter, in life.

More on putting awkward moments behind and moving on, next post!

Happy working!

 

Gurumurthy's inspirational speech in IIT.....

 

The intellectual scene in Post-independence India
A speech of S. Gurumurthy given to IIT Chennai

"... Defeat and anger go together. Abuse and defeat go together. So, it is in this norm and with this understanding of what an intellectual debate means, I would like to place before you some of my thoughts today. Some of may find it provocative. I am confident that the audience is competent enough to absorb this and think rather than get into the mood which all of us have got used to in the last 30-40 years abuse.

Background: India before Independence
Let us see the pre-independence background, the intellectual content of India. See the kind of personalities who led the Indian mind Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Gandhiji, Tilak- giants in their own way. Most of them were involved in politics, active politics, day-to-day politics, handling men, walking on the road, addressing meetings, solving problems between their followers. And, meeting the challenges posed by the enemy, the conspiracies hatched against them. They were handling everything, yet, they were maintaining an intellectual supremacy, and an originality which history has recorded.

Let us look at the academic side. Whether it is a P.C. Ray who wrote on Indian Chemistry in 1905 or Sir C.V. Raman who wrote about mridangam, tabala, and violin, and saw the physics in it (this was in 1913); whether it was R.C. Majumdar or Radhakumud Mukherjee who saw greatness in the Indian civilization; trying to bring up points, instances, historical evidence to mirror the greatness of India to the defeated Indian race, they were all building the Indian mind brick by brick.

Sri Aurobindo spoke of Sanatana Dharma as the nationalism of India. He didn't rank it as a philosophy. He brought it down to the level of emotional consciousness. Swami Vivekananda spoke of spiritual nationalism; it was the same Swami who spoke of Universal brotherhood. For them philosophy was not removed from the ground reality. The nation was at the core of their philosophy. Swami Vivekananda was called the "patriot monk".

Mahatma Gandhi spoke of Rama Rajya. Bankim Chandra wrote Bande Maataram. The song, the slogans in it, the mantra in it made hundreds of people kiss the gallows smilingly and many others went to jail. It transformed the life of the people. This was the intellectual scene, this was the content. This is what powered the intellectual as well as the mass movement in India. This was the core of India, the soul of the Indian freedom movement.

The symptoms: India immediately after Independence
Imagine what happened in 1947 and after, India was able to intellectually lead not only Indians but also the whole world because of the intellectual assertion that the freedom movement brought about. Let us look at post Independence India. The persons who led post-Independence India were also trained in the same freedom movement. They went to jail, but they were not rooted in the intellectual content of the Freedom movement!

The first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru was in jail for 7 years. He was a great intellectual, purely in the sense of his capacity to reason, understand, read, and expound a thought. He told Galbrieth once, "I would be regarded as the last English Prime Minister of India." See the intellectual capability of the man, the enormously competent mind.

But intellectualism doesn't exist in a vacuum. It has to be rooted in something concrete. Swami Vivekananda's universal brotherhood was rooted in India's greatness as a civilization. The concept of "Vasudaiva Kutumbakam" cannot exist without a living form, a population which believes in it and believes in itself. You need to have a society which believes in it.

That is why India could invite the Jews who were butchered, raped, all over the world. In 107 out of 108 countries, this race was butchered. At least they had the courtesy and the gratitude to publish a book. The Israeli government published a book that out of 108 countries that we sought refuge, the only civilization, the only country, the only people, the only ideology that gave us refuge was the Indian civilization. They published a book, which most Indians are unaware of.

And we invited the Muslims. The refugee Muslims first landed in Kutch. And they are called the Kutchy Memons even today but not the Memons who bomb Mumbai. But the Memons who lived with us.

In the year 1917, many of you might be aware, a case went to the Prey Council, equivalent to the Supreme Court now. The Kutchy Memons went and told the Prey Council that we are Muslims for namesake, but we follow only the Hindu law. Please don't impose the Shariat on us. The Prey Council ruled that they are Muslims but the only sacred book they have is called "Dasaavathaara", it is not Koran. In fact they knew no language other than the Kutchy language.

And in the "Dasaavathaara", nine avatharas were common between Hindus and Kutchy Memons. We call the tenth avathaara "Kalki" and they call him "Ali". The Prey Council ruled that the Shariyat law is not applicable to them. The All India Muslim League took up the case, went to the British and told them that this finding is dangerous to Islam and requested them to pass a law which will overrule this judgment. The British government passed a law in 1923 which was called the "The Kutchy Memons Act" declaring, "If a Kutchy Memon wants to follow the Shariat, allow him to do so".

It doesn't mean a Muslim must follow the Shariat. Between 1923-1937, before the All India Shariat Act was passed not a single Kutchy Memon filed an affidavit with the plea that he wants to follow the Shariaat. That was the integration prevalent in India.

In 1937, when the All India Shariat Act was passed, the preamble to the act mentioned that this was being passed by a demand made by the AIML leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Today, the Shariat has become a part of Muslim consciousness.

The purpose behind making you aware of this background is that 99% of the people who speak about the constitutional rights of the minorities or the distinctiveness of Muslim life are unaware of the facts. Till the year 1980, in Cooch Behar district, the Shariat law was not applicable. In 32 instances between 1923 and 1947 by legislation, the Shariyat law was not applicable to the Muslims. This is the extent of the intellectual gap in India.

Secularism: A Reversal and perversion of the Indian mind.

And now, coming to what is the position today. Everything that drove the freedom movement - everything that constituted the soul of the freedom movement, whether it is the Ram rajya of Gandhiji or Sanaatana Dharma of Sri Aurobindo or the spiritual patriotism of Vivekananda or the soul stirring Vande Maataram song, came to be regarded not only as unsecular but as sectarian, communal and even as something harmful to the country.

Thus, there was a reversal, a perversion of the Indian mind. How did it occur? Today, the intellectualism of India means to denigrate India. There are mobile citizens and there are non- citizens deriding India. Go to the Indian Airlines counter you will find people deriding India. Go to a post office they will deride India. Go to a railway station, they will deride India. It is the English educated Indian's privilege to deride India.

When I was talking to postal employees in the GPO, Chennai (a majority of them were women). I told them the basic facts about the post office. I said it is one of the most efficient postal systems in the world, one of the cheapest in the world, one of the most delivery perfect postal systems in the world. For one rupee, you are able to transport information from one end of the country to the other.

And you have a postman, nowhere in the world this happens the postman goes to the illiterate mother and reads out the letter, he is asked to sit there and shares a cup of coffee and comes away. Money orders are delivered to the last rupee. It is an amazing system, one of the largest postal systems linking one of the most populous nations, one of the most complicated nations with so many languages.

Somebody writes the address in Tamil and it gets delivered in Patna! It gets delivered to Jawaan at warfront! When I completed my speech many of the women were wiping their tears. I asked why are you crying I have only praised you. They said, "Sir, this is the first time we've been praised, otherwise we've only been abused!"

You know how many people use the railways in India? A million people and that is equivalent to the population of Australia! And we have only abuses for them!

Have we any idea of what this country is? India has been compared with Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan and Taiwan. You can walk across many of these countries in one night (laughs)! The best politicians, intellectuals, sociologists in India have compared us with them because, we have never understood what we are and unless you do that, you can never relate us with others.

Demonising India: Projecting a negative image.

This enormous intellectual failure, to the extent of being intellectually bankrupt, did not occur overnight, it was no accident. There is a history behind this enormous erosion. And I told you about these mobile citizens, what they have done to us. Every country has problems. There is no country without any problem. Are you aware of what is one of the most pressing problems in America today? It is incurable according to the American sociologists; even American economists have begun to agree with them. American politicians are shaken, one third of the pregnant women are school going children. And mothers mix the anti-pregnancy pill in the food without daughter's knowledge everyday.

But this is not the image of America. The image of America is a technologically advanced country etc. etc. Ours is the only country where the mobile citizens of India have transformed the problems of India into the image of India -its identity is inherently related with its problems.

Go to any country and the same negative stereotype is echoed that India is suffering from poverty and malnutrition. India has no drinking water. Indian women are burnt. If they are married, they are burnt, if they are widows, they are burnt. See the image that has been built about this country. Who did this? The English educated Indian.

And one Kaluraam Meena (have you ever heard of him? Asks the audience to raise their hands if they have), only a small fraction of this large audience has heard of him. When Clinton came to India, he went to a village called Nayla where the villagers interacted with him. And one of the panchayat board members asked him, "Sir, I am told that in the West, all of you believe that this country is a rotten country, a backward country, a poor, hungry country. Do you also think like that?"

Clinton was shaken, because he might have thought that this person might be approaching him for some favour. I will relate my experience when I went to the Carter Centre in 1993. They were talking about dispute resolution and all that. I went there to meet somebody, if not Carter, somebody else at least. His Deputy, a lady, was very hesitant to receive me. "Mr. Gurumurthy", she said, "Mr. Carter is not around, anyway,

I can spare seven-eight minutes for you." I said three or four minutes of your time would do. Even before I could start, she said, "Mr.Gurumurthy, we don't have funds, we will not be able to help" (laughter from the audience). I replied, "Let us assume you have a hundred billion dollars, how much will you give me? One billion? One million?" She kept quiet, I said: "I don't need your money. I came here to discuss whether community living is an answer to disputes. I have come to discuss this because you have suggested electoral means to resolve problems in communities which have no damn idea of what an election is; whether community living is an answer because you don't what that means. She sat and discussed this with me for two hours. This is the image we have projected that anybody, who comes from India, comes to beg. Ordinary Indians did not create this impression; educated Indians created it. This is the work of civil servants, NGOs. Christian missionaries during the freedom movement created this. Indians are filthy, rotten, dirty and unhealthy, advertising abroad these are the people who need to be saved. We have to Christianise them, enlighten them, and give us money. I can understand that because it is their business. But what did we do after 1947?

We repeated the same mistakes. We projected India as a country of unending problems. As I said, every country has problems. Only in India, problems become identities. How many dowry deaths take place in India in a year? Yet, India is projected as a country burning its own daughter-in-laws. And we also talk about it. Every damn newspaper will be writing about it. We believe in self-deprecation. And this goes on in the guise of intellectualism in India. And one woman, she attempted to take a film of the widows. I wrote an article, asking her to go to Lijjat Paapad. A widow brought me up. Millions of widows have worked to bring up their children. It is a nation, which believes in Tapasya. You may not believe in it but you are an exception. Compare Deepa Mehta"s attitude with Sarada Maa's who was the wife, who became a widow after Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's passing away. She went to the very same place where Deepa Mehta went and saw the widows. Sarada Maa said, "These widows are so pure, they are an illustration and an example to me." Deepa Mehta saw them as prostitutes. The widows have already been hurt once. Why are you sprinkling salt on their wounds?

I am very sorry to speak about this, but I have to, this audience is enlightened enough to understand me. Indian women are sexually unsatisfied and so they are becoming lesbians? This is one bloody story against us, about us. This is the image of Indian men and women, and this film is in English. Catherine Mayo wrote a book and Mahatma Gandhi said about it, "I have no time to read this filth. But I am under a compulsion, under pressure because this has been published abroad. The image of India has been rubbished and I have to counter it." With this introduction, he wrote about the book and said that this woman is a gutter inspector (laughs).

The intellectualism in India is gutter inspection- people are of this kind etc. Understand the level of erosion.

Indian Politics: Weaknesses and Pitfalls

Let us look at the post independence scenario from the macro level. We installed a system of governance and it postulated all the important goals for the Indian society and polity, which was gulped by the Indian academia, by the Indian intellectuals. We will have a classless society through socialism. We will have a casteless society through equality. We will have a faithless society through secularism. We will have a modern society devoid of tradition.

Instead of politics restructuring caste, caste has restructured politics today. Political parties are talking only in terms of castes. Has any Indian intellectual come to terms with caste? You must understand caste if you want to handle the Indian society. You cannot say that I want to have a very different kind of society. You have to handle the Indian sentiment, the Indian tradition and Indian beliefs. You can't clone a society of your choice in India. Social engineering has failed everywhere; the masters of social engineering have given up the Communists - whether it is sociologists or economists you have to accept a society as it is. You can only increase the momentum of evolution in the society; you can't forcibly bring about a revolution today. But, Indian leaders and intellectuals, till today, keep abusing caste. They don't know how to handle the caste.

Let me narrate to you how a community in Karaikudi handled this issue. The Chettiyar community assembled top businessmen, professionals from all over the world for 3 days to discuss their culinary act, how to construct houses, what languages they use, what old adages and stories their grandparents used to tell, what clothes they used to wear; not one word of politics, mind you. This was not even published in the newspapers. Intellectuals were not even aware of it. So, caste is a very important instrument in India, you may not like it. Unfortunately, every intellectual leads a caste life inside, but outside he is casteless! He is cloning an approach outside. There is no intellectual honesty at all.
And what happened in the case of secularism? In India, anyone who is not a Hindu is per se secular. In the year 1947, just 10 years had passed after the Muslim League demanded and got the country partitioned, the leader who voted for the resolution for the partition of India was Quazi Millath Ismail, (who was leading the same Muslim League on the Indian side), the Congress certified that the Muslim League in Kerala is secular and hence it can associate with them. The Muslim League outside Kerala is communal with the same president! Three hundred and fifty crores are spent today for the Haj pilgrims out of the funds of secular India every year. No one can raise an objection. At least I can understand why politicians don't want to do that because they want the Muslim votes. But what about the intelligentsia. What about newspaper editors and journalists? And academicians? None of them speak out. The reason is that we have produced a state dependent intellectualism in India. We don't produce Nakkeerans anymore, our intellectualism is a derivative of the State and the State is a derivative of the polity. And in turn the polity is a derivative of the mind of Macaulay and Marx.

The Indian education system: A Legacy of Macaulay.

This Macaulayian system of education is a poison injected into our system. At least I had the opportunity of schooling in Tamil and hence could withstand the corruption that this English education brings with it. This corruption begins the moment the child steps out of the house. He is told to converse in English at home. This did not happen even in pre-Independence India, even when Macaulay wrote that notorious note sitting in Ooty. How many of you know Macaulay's formulation? Just those two or three sentences at least which form the crux - "We require an education system in India which will produce a class of interpreters, who will be Indian in colour and Englishmen in taste, opinions and morals."
This is the education system, which we have been continuing with, which was earlier conceived to produce clerks for the British Empire. If you have to differ from an English educated person you have to differ only through the English language. If you have to abuse somebody, even that has to be done in English! If you abuse the Anglicised Indian, he will not find fault with the blame but with the grammar in your language! This is the extent to which a foreign language has possessed us. But, we must master English, that is needed, but why do we have to become slaves of the English language? We must use that language as a tool, but why do we consider it as a status symbol? This is the influence of Macaulay.

If you want to understand the Macaulay/Marxist mix in India, you have to go a little back to see how Marxism grew out of the Christian civilisation. I recommend that you read the Nov 27, 1999 edition of the Newsweek, which describes how the Christian idea of the end of time called the "apocalypse", influenced the entire history, art, music, prognosis, sociology, economics, and the entire attitude of the Christian civilisation towards the non-Christian civilisations.

A Christian scholar who describes how Communism grew out of Christianity has written it. In 1624, Anna Baptists, a group of Christians who believed in the basic tenets of Christianity seized power in a particular place, banned private property and use of any book other than the Bible. When Marxism came up later through the exposition of Das Capital, the Marxists began expounding their doctrine as an extension of Christianity.

The thesis, antithesis and synthesis of making Christianity acceptable to the age of enlightenment was the Hegelian way demanded rationalisation of Christianity in the days of the Protestant movement. Hegel began with a disagreement, then started interacting with Christianity and ultimately ended up accepting Christianity.

You can see the same phenomenon with Marxist postulates- "capitalism is my enemy, we have to deal with capitalism" and finally "we have to find a synthesis with capitalism".

Marx on India

In fact in the year 1857, Marx wrote about India, " India was a prosperous civilisation. It had a very high standard of living. Their productivity was higher. India was an economic giant." It was so. If you look at the statistics in 1820, India's share of world production was 19%, and England's share was 9%, please note that Britain was deep into the industrial revolution at that time. 18% of the world trade was in Indian hands at that time whereas 8% was the figure for Britain and 1% for US. When 80% of the American population was engaged in agriculture, India had 60% of the population engaged in non-agricultural occupations. This is supposed to be an index of development. All these statistics can be found in Paul S. Kennedy's "Rise and Fall of Great Powers".

So, Marx says, "This was a great civilisation which had produced prosperous communities." A prosperity which went deep into the villages. In the early stages, when the East India Company came to Murshidabad, an unknown name in Bengal today the Britishers were awe struck with its prosperity and wrote that it was more prosperous than London. This is no more disputed anyway, even by Indian intellectuals. Marx acknowledges the fact that this was a prosperous country and also had equality but unfortunately, he says for 2000 years the society did not change nor did it allow any revolutionary forces to enter! In his worldview human beings cannot progress without a revolution!

In the two articles on British rule in India and the East India Company- history and results written by Marx, quoted in the New York daily "Karl Marx does grant though somewhat in a grudging manner that "materially, India was fairly industrious and prosperous even before the onset of the British rule. He said that India was an exporting country till 1830 and started importing because it had opened its trade to the British." Many of you may not be aware that the kings in India had no right to over the lands, which came under the jurisdiction of panchayats. Whether it was Emperor Ashoka or Bhagavan Sri Ramachandra, the rule was the same. It was changed only during the British rule under the Ryotwari system. Even the Mughals could not change it. It was also found that family communities were based on domestic industry, with the peculiar combination of hand-spinning, hand- weaving, agriculture etc. which gave them a supporting power.

The misery inflicted by the British on Hindusthan is of an entirely different kind and infinitely more intense than what it had to suffer before civil wars, invasions, revolutions, conquests, famines all these did not go deeper than the surface. But, England broke the entire framework of Hindusthan, the symptoms of reconstitution are yet to emerge clearly. This loss of the Old World without the emergence of a new order imparts a particular melancholy to the present misery of Hindus and Hindusthan. Marx goes on to say that the British interference destroyed the union between agriculture and the manufacturing industry. Suddenly he remarks that the English interference dissolved this semi barbarian, semi-civilised community.

He concedes that they were prosperous, that they organised their affairs well, they have a measure of independence, they have a democracy at the lowest level, all this has been conceded. Then, how does he classify us as "semi-barbarian and semi-civilised communities"? He notes that India's social condition remained unaltered since remote antiquity. This is important, for him revolution is the core, the soul and centre of the society. This society never had a revolution; hence it cannot be modern! There is an underlying assumption, which considers revolution as a pre- requisite for being modern.

Hence, he feels that the destruction wrought by the British is the inevitable revolution needed for the development of the Indian society. England had vested interests, violent interests in bringing about this "revolution". But, the question in focus is whether mankind can fulfill its destiny without a fundamental revolution in the social state? Whatever might have been the crimes of England, she was the unconscious tool of history in bringing about a revolution, whatever bitterness the spectacle of crumbling of an ancient world may evoke, from the point of history, we have to exclaim - should this torture torment us?

Since it brings us great pleasure, were not the rule of Taimur, souls delivered without measure? It is a creative destruction in the cause of revolution according to him. If you see Indian Communism which was expounded by a man called Rajane Palme Dutt. Has anyone heard of his name? (Two persons from the audience raised their hands). Two. He was born of a white woman and an Indian father in England. He was in charge of Indian Communism for 25 years. He never came to India though. In his book, "India Today", he laid down the framework, the policy for Indian Communists, what must be done, what is the kind of revolution needed in India, the development model etc.

In those days, even good photographs of India were not available, yet this man spoke about India sitting in London. He came to India for the first time in 1946, ten years after he wrote this book and realised that he had to revise it. He stayed for 30 days! A visitor to India was the father of Indian Communism! And from that day till date, the Indian Communist has never been with India. Not only that, they took over the Indian mind in the post- independence period. It is these Marxist/Macaulayist intellectuals who will certify whether somebody is modern or traditional, backward or secular or communal, progressive or regressive. They were running an Open Air University issuing certificates every day through the press. They have branded me as a communal man.

Labels: Tools for stultifying important debates

Labels substituted debate in India. Simply a label - communal, that is enough. Four or five editorials will appear preaching that Gurumurthy is communal and the matter must end there. No one would even discuss what communalism is! Religious fundamentalism, RSS/Bajrang Dal fundamentalism! Anyone, who exposes the Hindu cause in India is a fundamentalist! We have seen this term being used so casually and superfluously and incessantly by politicians and newspapers. Has anyone bothered to understand the meaning of religious fundamentalism going beyond these slogans?

Secularism is an intra-Christian phenomenon. It has no application outside Christianity at all. Secularism resolved the fight between two powerful persons, the King and the Archbishop who were loyal to the same faith, to the same prophet, to the same book and to the same Church. It is not a multi-religious virtue.
A multi-religious idea, a multi-religious living, a multi-religious culture, a multi-religious fabric or a multi-religious structure was unknown outside India. There was usually only one faith and no place for any other, not even for a variation of the same faith.

Fifty six thousand Bahais were butchered in one hour in Tehran! They believed in the same Koran, in the same Muhammad, the only difference was that they said that Muhammad might come in another form again. That was their only fault and they were all butchered.

But we have no such problem. We can play with God, we can abuse God, and we can beat God!

If I say that monotheistic religions have had a violent history, and the reply will be "you are communal." But this is exactly the same conclusion that a study in Chicago revealed, probably, the only study on fundamentalism conducted by anybody so far. This fundamentalism project brought out five volumes each volume about eight hundred to nine hundred pages. The conclusion they have reached is that, "Fundamentalism is a virtue of Abrahamic religions. It is not applicable to eastern faiths at all.

What about the Indian intellectuals? Day in and day out, they keep abusing us as fundamentalists, communalists, that we are anti-secular and it is being gulped down by everyone including those from the IITs and IIMs, lawyers and police officials, journalists and politicians. Look at this intellectual bankruptcy.

An inner revolution: The much needed change

We need a mental revolution, an inner revolution; we need to get rooted in our own soul. There is a missing element in India today and it is this. That element has to be restored otherwise Indian intellectualism will only be a carbon copy of Western intellectualism. We are borrowing not only their language and idiom but also we trying to copy the very soul of the West.

So, all that we need to do is (it is impossible to share the entire depth of the subject in one evening's lecture programme. I have only tried out point out in an incoherent way, how a completely fresh mindset has to be evolved. And unless it evolves, the Indian mind, which leads India, will be in a perpetual state of confusion ordinary people are perfectly all right.

Consider for example how thirty years before there was a question whether Tamil Nadu will be a part of India or not. The Dravidian parties have taken over the mind of Tamil Nadu. It had virtually ceased to be a part of India. And their attack was aimed at Hinduism. The moment you attack Hinduism you attack India. This is a fact. Neither politicians nor intellectuals nor academicians realised this. But, the ordinary people did. Just three religious movements- the Ayyappa movement, the Kavadi movement and the Melmaruvatthur Adi Para Sakti movement- have finished the Dravidian ideology to a very great extent. It is only the outer shell of Dravidianism that remains today. Tamil Nadu has been brought back successfully by Ayyappa, Muruga and Para Sakti, not by the Congress or the BJP or any other political party.

How many people have intellectually assessed the depth and the reach, the deep influence of religion over the people? A paradigm shift in a study of India would be an intellectual approach to this subject. Or consider for example its influence on economics. Many of you by now would have studied economics in some detail. Take a look at the society in India and compare the figures for public expenditure for private purposes, which is called the social security system in the West. 30% of the GDP in America is spent for social security, 48% in England, 49% in France, 56% in Germany and 67% in Sweden. This private expenditure is nothing but what you and I do by taking care of parents, our wives and children, brothers and sisters and grandparents, widowed sisters and distant relatives. This expenditure is met by the society in India.

And there is no law in India that people should do this. We consider it as our dharma. A person went to a court and demanded a divorce from his father and mother. The American court granted it saying that the only relationship that exists between two persons of America is their citizenship. The law in America recognises no other relationship ... In the year 1978, an interesting incident occurred in Manhattan. There was a power failure for six hours. Manhattan is in the heart of New York where you find the UN building, the World Trade Centre and the head quarters of many multi-national companies. One third of the world's health is concentrated in Manhattan. Within six hours, hundreds of people were killed, robbed and assaulted. We don't need electricity to behave in a civilised manner. How many intellectuals in India have ever articulated from such a sympathetic approach? We have only tarnished the image of this country. We must be ashamed of this.

Conclusion

I shall conclude my speech with this example. When Sri Aurobindo came to Pondicherry in search of a new light. He used to get five rupees from a friend and four persons used to live on this. A cup of tea was one of the luxuries they used to have everyday in the morning, on the Pondicherry beach.

Sri Aurobindo used to always look at a mystic called Kullachamy (Subramanya Bharati has written a poem about him). He used to behave like a madman, wandering here and there, throwing stones ... One, day he came near Sri Aurobindo, lifted his cup of tea and emptied it in front of him. Then he showed the empty cup to him, placed it on the table and went away. Sri Aurobindo's friends were angry and wanted to chase him. Sri Aurobindo stopped them and said, "This is the kind of instruction I had been expecting from him. He wants me to empty my mind and start thinking afresh."

That is my appeal to you"

 

 

எதிர்நோக்கி......

முகம் தெரியாமல் உன்னை நேசித்து, எதையும்
எதிர்பாராமல் உனக்கெனவே சுவாசித்து, இறையிடம் 
உனை மட்டுமே வரமாக யாசித்த உன் தாய்க்கும் 
உனக்காக காத்திருக்கும் எனக்கும் அதிக வேறுபாடில்லை.....
உன்னை எதிர்நோக்கிய நாட்களில், 
என் மாமி உன்னை கருவில் சுமந்தார்,
நானோ சுமக்கிறேன் உன்னை, உனக்கெனவே உருவான என் நெஞ்சில்.......

August 15, 2012

நீயின்றி ... விந்தை

நீரின்றி வாழ்கின்ற மீனுண்டோ? காண் விந்தை!

நீயின்றி வாழ்கின்ற நான்.

மாயமென்ன?

உன் அன்பென்னும் தேன் பருக ஆசைப்பட்டு 

உன் முகமென்னும் தாமரையை சுற்றி சுற்றி வந்தேன்

உனக்கெனவே வண்டாகிய நான்......

திடீரென்று உன் பொல்லாத விழிமீன்கள் 

என்னைப்பிடித்து விழுங்கிய மாயமென்ன?

August 14, 2012

வன்கொடுமை

வன்கொடுமை யார் பண்ணினாலும் குற்றமே. சந்தேகம் இல்லை. ஆனால் இன்றைய இந்திய சமூகத்தில் பெண்கள் நல அமைப்புகளின் உந்துதலால் அரசு இயற்றும் சட்டங்கள் அப்பாவி ஆண்கள் (மற்றும் பெண்கள்) மீது  பாயாமல் இருக்க வேண்டுமே. 

தங்களுக்கு அலுவலகத்தில் பிடிக்காத ஆண்களை, தங்களது வளர்ச்சிக்கு தடையாக இருக்கிறார்கள் என அவர்கள் நம்பும் சூட்டிகையான ஆண் பிள்ளைகளை பழிவாங்க/நீக்க பல பெண்கள் பொய்யான பாலியல் புகார் கொடுப்பது கண்கூடாக நானே பார்த்த ஒன்று.

ஆண்களை தங்கள் இச்சைக்கு பயன்படுத்தி விட்டு, பிரச்சினை வரும் போல தெரிந்தால் அந்த ஆண் பலாத்காரம் பண்ணினான் என்று அப்படியே சற்றும் யோசிக்காமல் தான் தப்பிக்க பொய் சொல்லும் பெண்களையும் பார்த்துள்ளேன்.

பாதிக்கப்பட்ட பெண்களுக்கு நிச்சயம் ஞாயம் கிடைக்க வேண்டும், அவர்களை கொடுமை பண்ணின கயவர்கள் தண்டனை பெற வேண்டும். சந்தேகமே இல்லை. அதே சமயம் ஒரு பெண் என்ன சொன்னாலும் அது உண்மை என நம்பும் மனோபாவமும் மாற வேண்டும். மாறுமா?

August 13, 2012

An inspiration.....

A 97 year old Doctor has this to say...

At the age of 97 years and 4 months, Shigeaki Hinohara is one of the world's longest-serving physicians and educators. Hinohara's magic touch is legendary: Since 1941 he has been healing patients at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo and teaching at St. Luke's College of Nursing. After World War II, he envisioned a world-class hospital and college springing from the ruins ofTokyo; thanks to his pioneering spirit and business savvy, the doctor turned these institutions into the nation's top medical facility and nursing school. Today he serves as chairman of the board of trustees at both organizations. Always willing to try new things, he has published around 150 books since his 75th birthday, including one "Living Long, Living Good" that has sold more than 1.2 million copies. As the founder of the New Elderly Movement, Hinohara encourages others to live a long and happy life, a quest in which no role model is better than the doctor himself.

Doctor Shigeaki Hinohara

"Energy comes from feeling good, not from eating well or sleeping a lot. We all remember how as children, when we were having fun, we often forgot to eat or sleep. I believe that we can keep that attitude as adults, too. It's best not to tire the body with too many rules such as lunchtime and bedtime.

All people who live long regardless of nationality, race or gender share one thing in common: None are overweight... For breakfast I drink coffee, a glass of milk and some orange juice with a tablespoon of olive oil in it. Olive oil is great for the arteries and keeps my skin healthy. Lunch is milk and a few cookies, or nothing when I am too busy to eat. I never get hungry because I focus on my work. Dinner is veggies, a bit of fish and rice, and, twice a week, 100 grams of lean meat..

Always plan ahead. My schedule book is already full until 2014, with lectures and my usual hospital work. In 2016 I'll have some fun, though: I plan to attend the Tokyo Olympics!

There is no need to ever retire, but if one must, it should be a lot later than 65. The current retirement age was set at 65 half a century ago, when the average life-expectancy in Japan was 68 years and only 125 Japanese were over 100 years old. Today, Japanese women live to be around 86 and men 80, and we have 36,000 centenarians in our country. In 20 years we will have about 50,000 people over the age of 100.

Share what you know. I give 150 lectures a year, some for 100 elementary-school children, others for 4,500 business people. I usually speak for 60 to 90 minutes, standing, to stay strong.

When a doctor recommends you take a test or have some surgery, ask whether the doctor would suggest that his or her spouse or children go through such a procedure.Contrary to popular belief, doctors can't cure everyone. So why cause unnecessary pain with surgery I think music and animal therapy can help more than most doctors imagine.

To stay healthy, always take the stairs and carry your own stuff. I take two stairs at a time, to get my muscles moving.

My inspiration is Robert Browning's poem "Abt Vogler. "My father used to read it to me. It encourages us to make big art, not small scribbles. It says to try to draw a circle so huge that there is no way we can finish it while we are alive. All we see is an arch; the rest is beyond our vision but it is there in the distance.

Pain is mysterious, and having fun is the best way to forget it. If a child has a toothache, and you start playing a game together, he or she immediately forgets the pain. Hospitals must cater to the basic need of patients: We all want to have fun. At St. Luke's we have music and animal therapies, and art classes.

Don't be crazy about amassing material things. Remember: You don't know when your number is up, and you can't take it with you to the next place.

Hospitals must be designed and prepared for major disasters, and they must accept every patient who appears at their doors. We designed St.... Luke's so we can operate anywhere: in the basement, in the corridors, in the chapel. Most people thought I was crazy to prepare for a catastrophe, but on March 20, 1995, I was unfortunately proven right when members of the Aum Shinrikyu religious cult launched a terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway. We accepted 740 victims and in two hours figured out that it was sarin gas that had hit them. Sadly we lost one person, but we saved 739 lives.

Science alone can't cure or help people. Science lumps us all together, but illness is individual. Each person is unique, and diseases are connected to their hearts. To know the illness and help people, we need liberal and visual arts, not just medical ones.

Life is filled with incidents. On March 31, 1970, when I was 59 years old, I boarded the Yodogo, a flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and as Mount Fuji came into sight, the plane was hijacked by the Japanese Communist League-Red Army Faction. I spent the next four days handcuffed to my seat in 40-degree heat. As a doctor, I looked at it all as an experiment and was amazed at how the body slowed down in a crisis.

Find a role model and aim to achieve even more than they could ever do. My father went to the United States in 1900 to study at Duke University in North Carolina. He was a pioneer and one of my heroes. Later I found a few more life guides, and when I am stuck, I ask myself how they would deal with the problem.

It's wonderful to live long. Until one is 60 years old, it is easy to work for one's family and to achieve one's goals. But in our later years, we should strive to contribute to society. Since the age of 65, I have worked as a volunteerand assist senior citizens who need care/love. I still put in 18 hours seven days a week and love every minute of it."

 

August 8, 2012

மருந்து

மகான்களும் யோகிகளும் நம்பி வந்தவர்களை காப்பாற்ற அவர் தம் பிணிகளை த்தாம் ஏற்றுக்கொள்வது இன்றளவும் நம் காணும் உண்மை. ஹீலிங் என்று செய்வது வேறு; இது வேறு;

ஹீலிங்கில் நோயின் வெளிப்புற வெளிப்பாட்டினை அடக்கலாமே ஒழிய கார்மீய காரணத்தினை அதாவது நோய் வரக்காரணமான கர்மாவை ஒழித்துக்கட்ட இயலாது.

ஆனால் மகான்கள் அவ்விதம் அல்ல. கர்மாவையே தாங்கள் ஏற்றுக்கொண்டு கழித்துக்கட்டி விடுவார்கள்.

எல்லா மதத்திலும் இது உண்டு.

இயேசு நாதர் பிறர் பிணிகளை போக்கினார், அவர் தம் பாபங்களை (கர்மாவை) தான் ஏற்று கொண்டார். அவரே ஸ்பஷ்டமாக தெளிவாக இதனை சொல்லியும் இருக்கிறார் - உங்கள் பாபங்களை நான் ஏற்றுக்கொள்கிறேன் என்று.

சரி. அவர் இறைமகன் மட்டுமல்ல, மகா யோகியும் கூட, என இந்தியாவில் இந்துக்கள் பலர் ஒப்புக்கொள்வது நிஜம்.

மகான்களை காணும் பாக்கியம் இல்லாதவர்கள் என்ன பண்ணலாம்?

தாங்களே ஏதாவது ஒரு இறை வழிபாட்டின் மூலமாகவோ, அல்லது அந்த கர்மாவினை கழிக்க ஒரு தொண்டின் மூலமாகவோ நோயினை போக்க வேண்டியது தான். மருந்துகளும் வைத்தியமும் தற்காலிக நிவாரணமே.

அப்படி விழைவோருக்கு பூம்புகார் அருகில் உள்ள வைத்தீஸ்வரன் கோயில் ஒரு சரணாலயம்.

அங்கு போக முடியாத மக்கள் என்ன பண்ணலாம்?

இந்த நாராயணீய சுலோகத்தினை சொல்லலாம்.


இந்த கீழ்க்கண்ட கட்டுரையை  திரு. மகேஷ்அவர்கள் தனது வலைத்தளத்தினில் பதிவிட்டுள்ளார்.

அதன் இணை பதிவாகவே இப்பதிவு, 

அஸ்மின் ப்ராத்மன் நனுபாத்மா கல்பே

த்வமித்தம் உத்தாபித பத்மயோனி

அநந்தபூமா மம ரோகராசிம்

நிருந்த்தி வாதாலய வாஸ விஷ்ணோ

- ஸ்ரீமத் நாராயணீயம்

பொருள்: பரமாத்மாவாக எங்கும் நிறைந்திருக்கும் ஸ்ரீகுருவாயூரப்பா! பாத்ம கல்பத்தில் பிரம்மதேவனைத் தோற்றுவித்தவனும், அளவற்ற மகிமையுடையவனுமான நீ, எனது எல்லா வியாதிகளையும் நீக்கி ஆரோக்கியம் அருள வேண்டும்.



ஒரு சமயம் பக்தர் ஒருவர், காஞ்சி ஸ்ரீமகாபெரியவாளை நமஸ்கரித்து கண்ணீர் பெருக நின்றார். பெரியவா அவரைப் பார்த்து, என்ன ரொம்ப வலிக்கிறதா?” என்று கருணையுடன் கேட்டார். பிறகு, மேற்கண்ட ஸ்லோகத்தை எழுதிக் கொள்ளச் சொல்லி, தினமும் நூற்றி எட்டு தடவை இதைச் சொல், கவலைப்படாதே” என்று ஆறுதல் கூறி அனுப்பினார்.

ஆறு மாதங்கள் கழித்து, அந்த பக்தர் மீண்டும் கண்ணீர் மல்க, பெரியவாளை தரிசித்து சாஷ்டாங்கமாக விழுந்து வணங்கினார்.

"நன்னாயிட்டியே” என்றார், அந்தக் கலியுக தெய்வம். அந்த பக்தர், "ஆமாம் நன்னாயிட்டேன். மருந்து எதுவும் வேண்டாம் என்று டாக்டர்கள் சொல்லி விட்டார்கள்” என்றார் அவர்.

அந்த பக்தருக்கு வந்திருந்தது புற்று நோய். பகவானை நம்பி பிரார்த்தித்தால், நிச்சயம் பலனுண்டு என்பதை, இதன் மூலம் மீண்டும் நமக்கு உணர்த்தியிருக்கிறார் மகா பெரியவர்.

நான் இந்த ஸ்லோகத்தை எழுதி, எனக்குத் தெரிந்த யாருக்கேனும் (இப்போதுதான் இந்த நோய் அதிகமாகக் காணப்படுகிறதே) புற்றுநோய் என்று தெரிந்தால், அவர்களுக்குக் கொடுத்து, பெரியவா சொன்னதைக் கூறுகிறேன்.


- கலா மூர்த்தி, சென்னை

நன்றி – தீபம் (கல்கி வழங்கும் ஆன்மீக இதழ்)


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பலருக்கும் பயன் பட வேண்டும், போய் சேர வேண்டும் எனும் விருப்பத்தில் இக்கட்டுரையினை நான் வெளியிட்டுள்ளேன். 


இக்கட்டுரையை படிப்பவர்களுக்கு எல்லா நலனும் உண்டாகி, தேக நலனும் மனசாந்தியும் சந்தோஷமும் நிறைந்து வாழ்வாங்கு வாழ இறையருளை வேண்டுகிறேன்.