Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
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Can you disturb the man in the picture ? Click the Link below.
Try disturbing him by wagging the cursor around his nose from different directions. Click the link.
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Friday, June 24, 2011
Where there is a will, there is a way. Former Presidents of Brazil and Ghana leads by example in eradicating hunger and poverty.
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| Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Former President of Brazil |
While the rest of the world has spent the last few years worrying about double-dip recessions and upheavals in the Middle East, the borderless nation of the hungry has continued to suffer in silence.
It was recognition of the debilitating effects of chronic hunger that led policymakers to include its eradication by 2015 among the Millennium Development Goals. This week, in Washington, that very recognition also undergirded the announcement of this year’s winners of World Food Prize (WFP).
The award has, since it was instituted in 1987, always gone to agricultural scientists such as M.S. Swaminathan of India — the winner of the first ever WFP award — and sometimes to social entrepreneurs such as Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank, Bangladesh.
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| John Agyekum Kufour, Former | President of Ghana |
Yet this time the WFP Foundation sought to highlight the impact that top political leaders could have on the welfare of those afflicted by chronic hunger, if only they chose to foster a deeper commitment to agricultural science that actually translated into policy and results on the ground.
In doing so, the Foundation chose John Agyekum Kufuor, former President of Ghana and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former President of Brazil, “for their personal commitment and visionary leadership while serving as the presidents of Ghana and of Brazil, respectively, in creating and implementing government policies to alleviate hunger and poverty in their countries”.
Speaking to a packed audience in the grand Benjamin Franklin hall of the State Department, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah said, “President Kufuor and President Lula da Silva have set the gold standard for presidential leadership in tackling the global challenges of poverty and hunger,” adding that it was necessary to train the next generation of forward-thinking leaders to deliver meaningful results in food security and nutrition.
The two former Presidents were picked for the award, which was created in 1987 by Nobel Peace Prize winner and Green Revolution champion Norman Borlaug, for leading a drastic reduction of hunger and poverty in their respective countries.
Mr. Kufuor who was the President of Ghana for two terms, during 2001-2009, was said to have implemented major economic and educational policies that increased the quality and quantity of food to Ghanaians, enhanced farmers’ incomes, and improved school attendance and child nutrition through a nationwide feeding program.
The WFP noted that under Mr. Kufuor’s leadership, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan African country to cut in half the proportion of its people who suffer from hunger, and the proportion of people living on less than a dollar per day, on course to meet the Millenium Development Goal for hunger eradication.
Further, Mr. Kufuor prioritised national agricultural policies following which Ghana saw its poverty rate drop from 51.7 per cent in 1991 to 26.5 per cent in 2008. Hunger, in turn, fell from 34 per cent in 1990 to 9 per cent in 2004.
Mr. da Silva, who rose to the nation’s top public office despite being born into a poor family, had announced his intention to make fighting hunger and poverty a top priority of his government even before assuming office as President in 2003.
In choosing him as a co-laureate for the award, the WFP noted that Mr. da Silva had ensured that more than ten government ministries were focused on the expansive Zero Hunger programmes, “which provided greater access to food, strengthened family farms and rural incomes, increased enrolment of primary school children, and empowered the poor”. Zero Hunger very quickly became one of the most successful food and nutritional security policies in the world, the WFP Foundation added.
Similar to the policies of Mr. Kufuor, Mr. da Silva’s approach showed the dramatic transformation that highest-level political commitments could bring about. During his time in office, the Millennium Development Goal on hunger eradication was exceeded as Brazil cut in half proportion of its people who were in hunger.
The WFP said that with 93 per cent of children and 82 per cent of adults eating three meals a day, the unprecedented improvements in the hunger situation had occurred in tandem with the a sharp drop in the percentage of Brazilians living in extreme poverty, from 12 per cent in 2003 to 4.8 per cent in 2009.
Poor bear the brunt of food shortage
Speaking to The Hindu after the awards announcement, Professor Swaminathan commented on how the experiences in Brazil and Ghana compared to the situation in India, where the past few years have witnessed sharp fluctuations in food prices, and the poor have continued to feel the brunt of food shortages despite government silos being well-stocked.
Arguing that in India, rampant under-nutrition and malnutrition showed that more income for farmers was required. He said, “Agriculture will have to be revitalised in terms of getting more per drop of water or per unit of land — in other words, this can only be achieved by technological [upgrades] and more attention to land- and resource-use planning.”
Professor Swaminathan added that more than 60 per cent of India’s population depended on agriculture for its livelihood. He said, “In India, agriculture is not just a food-producing machine. It is the backbone of the livelihood security system of a majority of people.” There was also a growing tendency of the next generation of farmers abandoning farming as an occupation, he cautioned, noting that a lack of farmer interest in agriculture would make it difficult to have a second Green Revolution. He added that the absence of agricultural insurance would exacerbate such adverse conditions that farmers faced.
In this context, Professor Swaminathan had, as Chairman of the Selection Committee for the World Food Prize, hoped to underscore the significant difference that public policy could make when it helped farmers effectively obtain and adopt the best technologies.
Mr. da Silva and Mr. Kufuor will be formally awarded the WFP in Des Moines, Iowa, on October 13, in conjunction with the Borlaug Dialogue international symposium, themed “The Next Generation: Confronting the Hunger Challenges of Tomorrow.”
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Copy and Paste the link to watch The Photo Album of Visitors Stay in Ashram
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You are the flame at the tip of the Candle : Meditation for the 100th day after Tsunami - Thich Nhat Han
Let us tell our friends there, those who survived the catastrophe, that we are with them, we suffer with them, and we need their courage and their perseverance to maintain our hope. During the war in Vietnam, I myself underwent many moments close to despair. The village of Tra Loc, near the demilitarized zone separating North and South Vietnam, was rebuilt by our Buddhist social workers after it had been destroyed by the American bombing, just because it had been temporarily occupied by the other side of the war. Our young monastic and lay workers rebuilt it, only to see it destroyed a second time. “Shall we rebuild it again?” our workers there asked. “Yes, we have to rebuild it,” I answered. The village of Tra Loc was destroyed five times, and we rebuilt it five times. We had to, because otherwise we could have allowed despair to overtake us. The young people came to me and asked, “Thay, do you think that the war will end someday?” We did not see any sign telling us that the war was ending. We could not yet see the end of the tunnel. But in order to protect us from despair, I said, “Dear ones, the Buddha said everything is impermanent. The war is also impermanent. It cannot last forever. It will end someday. So let us trust in the Buddha.”
Dear brothers and sisters, please do not lose hope. We are aware that you are doing your best. Not only for you, but for your children, for your people, and also for us. We also need hope. Your courage and your compassion will help us retain our humanity and our hope. The situation is really difficult. But the world is with you. We are with you. The tsunami hit us all.
You are the flame at the tip of the candle. It is hot. That heat reminds us all that mother Earth is calling for help. And you shine the light for all of us. We need the light in order not to be drawn into the realm of darkness and forgetfulness. You are children of the Buddha, children of God. Please allow your compassion and courage to be your guide. We need you. And we try to be present for you in every way we can.
Dear brothers and sisters everywhere, please come back to your breath. Let us breathe mindfully to be aware of what is going on, and try our best to preserve our humanness.
Thich Nhat Hanh
"I am not for DRUGS" -Osho
For centuries humanity has struggled to stop drugs, but has failed. The only way to get rid of drugs is to purify drugs. And it is possible because they are chemical -- we can change their composition. And we can make them so useful that they don't destroy or harm anybody, but just give him a restful, peaceful moment to look beyond his ordinary life. That may help him to inquire more deeply, that small incident may become a search for meditation.
Unless drugs can be used as a step towards meditation, they are dangerous. As they are today they are all dangerous, and no government has been able to prevent them. All kinds of measures... millions of people are in jail -- particularly young people, who have been utterly destroyed by those drugs. And a simple solution... I have always wondered why the people who are in power always go for something that is impossible and don't try that which is very simple. The simplest thing is that no factories should produce any drug that destroys anything in people's minds. The drug should be a nourishment and creative of an urge towards meditation. But nobody has even proposed that.
The situation is the same with all our difficulties. Those who are in power are in power only because most of the humanity is sick. Either they are sick because of undernourishment, or they are sick because of wrong nourishment. Either they are suffering from drugs, or they are suffering from anxieties and other anguishes.
It seems the elite, the powerful, want people to remain as they are. Nobody wants that everybody should become a Buddha. And every opportunity should be provided -- by education, by parents, by neighbours -- every opportunity to help the person to meditate.
My understanding is that there is nothing in the world to be denied. I am absolutely in affirmation of everything, because even poison can be used to cure something. So nothing has to be denied, only you have to find how to use it in an affirmative way so that life becomes richer. Now, you say a few people heard that I endorse drugs. In a way, yes; however, not the drugs that are available, but the drugs that can be created, which will not be the same as marijuana or hashish or LSD. They will have a different composition of chemicals, helping your body and mind in all the possible ways. So they heard rightly, but they may interpret it wrongly.
They may think, "My God, I have been thinking Osho is against drugs." And they may have rushed after the meeting, thinking, "Enough of the Buddha, now find someone who is selling all kinds of drugs." But they misinterpreted me, they did injustice to me. I am not for these drugs. Man can reach the moon, and he cannot transform a drug with its negative, harmful aspects to have life affirmative, life enhancing qualities. It is simply a surprise. Nobody is trying in that direction just because the religious leaders are afraid: if people become satisfied with drugs, who is going to go to church? Who is going to go to temples? People will simply be enjoying drugs, and without any bad effects so you cannot even speak against them.
Something that has not been solved for centuries and has disturbed millions of people's lives... It is time that somebody points out to the scientists and to the governments of the world that they are unnecessarily torturing millions of people in jails. The simple thing will be to change the composition of the drugs and make the drugs healthier.
But the trouble is, the government is interested in violent people, not silent people. And the priest is interested in tense, anxiety-ridden, miserable people. Otherwise, who is going to pray for whom? This is the basic reason why nothing has been done; otherwise it is a simple matter, nothing can be more simple. And the same is the situation with other matters.
-Osho,
The Language of
Existence
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Go Green at Work - The Hindu Newspaper
If you feel stressed and exhausted while in office, keeping potted plants on your desk could have a health benefit, a new study says.
In the study led by environmental psychology expert Tina Bringslimark and her team at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and Uppsala University, Sweden, researchers found that the presence of potted plants in offices reduced fatigue, stress, dry throats, headaches, coughs and dry skin among workers.
In a second study conducted on 385 office workers, the researchers looked at sick-leave rates and the number of plants individuals could see from their desks. Results showed that the more plants they could see, the less sick leave they took.
An explanation is that plants and the microbes in their soil are good at removing volatile, organic compounds that can affect health.
“There could also be a psychological explanation in that people believe plants are healthier and are likely to evaluate their own health more optimistically,” said Bringslimark.
Potted plants are particularly beneficial for offices where workers do not have a window, says a report from Washington State University.
In the U.S. research, workers completed timed computer tasks in rooms with and without plants. When plants were present, workers were more productive and had a 12 per cent quicker reaction time. They were less stressed and had lower blood pressure.
Bringslimark says that foliage plants, or houseplants, may be better than flowering plants.
Friday, June 17, 2011
The power to rebel against slavery. A Tribute to Women's Rebellion. A Happenings from Saudi Arabia.
A number of Saudi Arabian women drove cars on Friday in response to calls for nationwide action to break a traditional ban, unique to the ultra-conservative kingdom, according to reports on social networks.
The call to defy the ban that spread through Facebook and Twitter is the largest en masse action since November 1990, when a group of 47 women were arrested and severely punished after demonstrating in cars.
“We've just returned from the supermarket. My wife decided to start the day by driving to the store and back,” said columnist Tawfiq Alsaif on his Twitter page. “I took King Fahd Road [Riyadh artery] and then Olaya Street, along with my husband, I decided that the car for today is mine,” Maha al-Qahtani tweeted.
“This is a right for women that no law or religion bans... I went out to get my right, so that it would be up to me to drive or not,” she told AFP by telephone.
Her husband Mohammed al-Qahtani tweeted that she carried her necessary belongings “ready to go to prison without fear”.
Another woman posted online a video of her driving after midnight Thursday as the first woman to answer the call for protest. The veiled woman drove along nearly-empty main roads until she parked at a supermarket.
Police patrols were at normal levels on the sleepy streets of Riyadh on the first day of the weekend, an AFP photographer reported.
Many Saudi women had pledged on Facebook and Twitter to answer the call to defy the deeply entrenched ban.
Sharif, a 32-year-old computer scientist, found herself behind bars for two weeks last month after driving in the Eastern Province and posting footage of her actions on the Internet. Six other women were also briefly detained after being caught learning to drive on an empty plot of land in north Riyadh.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Being a Vegeterian - Osho
Now there are ways to judge whether a certain species of animal is vegetarian or non-vegetarian: it depends on the intestine, the length of the intestine. Non-vegetarian animals have a very small intestine. Tigers, lions — they have a very small intestine, because meat is already a digested food. It does not need a long intestine to digest it. The work of digestion has been done by the animal. Now you are eating the animal’s meat. It is already digested — no long intestine is needed. Man has one of the longest intestines: that means man is a vegetarian. A long digestion is needed, and much excreta will be there which has to be thrown out.
If man is not a non-vegetarian and he goes on eating meat, the body is burdened. In the East, all the great meditators — Buddha, Mahavir — have emphasized the fact. Not because of any concept of nonviolence — that is a secondary thing — but because if you really want to move in deep meditation your body needs to be weightless, natural, flowing. Your body needs to be unloaded; and a non-vegetarian’s body is very loaded.
That meat which you are eating belonged to an animal body. It had a specific purpose there. A specific type of consciousness existed in the animal’s body. You are on a higher plane than the animal’s consciousness, and when you eat the animal’s meat your body goes to the lowest plane, to the lower plane of the animal. Then there exists a gap between your consciousness and your body, and a tension arises and anxiety arises.
One should eat things which are natural, natural for you. Fruits, nuts, vegetables — eat as much as you can. The beauty is that you cannot eat more of these things than is needed. Whatsoever is natural always gives you a satisfaction, because it satiates your body, saturates you. You feel fulfilled. If some thing is unnatural it never gives you a feeling of fulfillment. Go on eating ice cream: you never feel that you are satiated. In fact the more you eat, the more you feel like eating. It is not a food. Your mind is being tricked. Now you are not eating according to the body need; you are eating just to taste it. The tongue has become the controller.
Now advertisers know well that the tongue can be tricked, the nose can be tricked. And they are not the masters. You may not be aware: much food research goes on in the world, and they say if your nose is closed completely, and your eyes closed, and then you are given an onion to eat, you cannot tell what you are eating. You cannot tell onion from apple if the nose is closed completely because half of the taste comes from the smell, is decided by the nose, and half is decided by the tongue. These two have become the controllers. Now they know: whether ice cream is nutritious or not is not the point. It can carry a flavor, it can carry some chemicals which fulfill the tongue but are not needed for the body.
Man is confused, more confused than buffaloes. You cannot convince buffaloes to eat ice cream. Try!
A natural food...and when I say natural I mean that which your body needs. The need of a tiger is different; he has to be very violent. If you eat the meat of a tiger you will be violent, but where will your violence be expressed? You have to live in human society, not in a jungle. Then you will have to suppress the violence. Then a vicious circle starts.
When you suppress violence, what happens? When you feel angry, violent, a certain poisonous energy is released, because that poison creates a situation where you can be really violent and kill somebody. The energy moves towards your hands; the energy moves towards your teeth. These are the two places from where animals become violent. Man is part of the animal kingdom.
When you are angry, energy is released — it comes to the hands and to the teeth, to the jaw — but you live in a human society and it is not always profitable to be angry. You live in a civilized world and you cannot behave like an animal. If you behave like an animal, you will have to pay too much for it — and you are not ready to pay that much. Then what do you do? You suppress the anger in the hand; you suppress the anger in your teeth — you go on smiling a false smile, and your teeth go on accumulating anger.
I have rarely come to see people with a natural jaw. It is not natural — blocked, stiff — because there is too much anger. If you press the jaw of a person, the anger can be released. Hands become ugly. They lose grace, they lose flexibility, because too much anger is suppressed there. People who have been working on deep massage, they have come to know that when you touch the hands deeply, massage the hands, the person starts becoming angry. There is no reason. You are massaging the man and suddenly he starts feeling angry. If you press the jaw, persons become angry again. They carry accumulated anger. These are the impurities in the body: they have to be released. If you don’t release them the body will remain heavy.
Osho, The Essence of Yoga, Talk #5
To continue reading – and see all the available formats of this talk: click here
In Ethiopia one thousand people were dying every day, and at that very time in Europe, in America they wasted two billion dollars in carrying their foodstuffs to be drowned in the ocean. - Osho
All condemnation of sex and all appreciation of celibacy should be absolutely stopped; otherwise we cannot get rid of AIDS.
It is going to spread -- it is spreading.
It is a simple fact that the earth is undivided.
What is the need for so many nations, except that they fulfill so many people's ego trips?
There is no other need.
Why should Germany be afraid of immigrants, and give incentives to Germans to produce more children, when the earth is dying from overpopulation? If there was one world government we could shift population from one place to another place. Wherever the population starts decreasing, it should be replaced by the increasing population from other nations.
It is going to spread -- it is spreading.
It is a simple fact that the earth is undivided.
What is the need for so many nations, except that they fulfill so many people's ego trips?
There is no other need.
Why should Germany be afraid of immigrants, and give incentives to Germans to produce more children, when the earth is dying from overpopulation? If there was one world government we could shift population from one place to another place. Wherever the population starts decreasing, it should be replaced by the increasing population from other nations.
Once we accept that the world is one, then there is no need to destroy, every year, billions of dollars' worth of food in America, in Europe. They have to destroy it, and people in the East are dying.
In Ethiopia one thousand people were dying every day, and at that very time in Europe they wasted two billion dollars in carrying their foodstuffs to be drowned in the ocean. If the world is one, and some countries are producing more and some countries have become barren, the food can be distributed very easily.
In Ethiopia one thousand people were dying every day, and at that very time in Europe they wasted two billion dollars in carrying their foodstuffs to be drowned in the ocean. If the world is one, and some countries are producing more and some countries have become barren, the food can be distributed very easily.
If religions disappear from the world, then many idiotic things will disappear with them.
They are against birth control, although they know perfectly well that Jesus is the only begotten son of God -- God created only one son in the whole of eternity. He must be practicing birth control; otherwise why only one son? -- at least one daughter as well.
But the religions are against birth control, they are against abortion, without any feeling for the danger of overpopulation -- that the world will kill itself.
That death will be very cruel because it does not come immediately; when a person dies because of hunger, it takes months of torture and suffering.
A healthy man can live without food for three months; then he will die, because the healthy man has a reservoir of energy in his body, which is for emergency purposes. But even the poorest man, the sickest man, will take a few days, a few weeks to die. Those few weeks of hunger are going to be absolute hell. But religions are concerned with creating more children because more children means more power -- power in two ways: more votes, and more fodder for your cannons in war.
For twenty to thirty years absolute birth control should be practiced. It is not a question of democracy, because it is a choice between life and death. If the whole world is going to die, what are you going to do with your democracy?
Democracy will be the rule then -- for the graves, of the graves, by the graves -- because people will have disappeared.
Religions carry superstitions of all kinds which are hindering your intelligence, your vision, your possibility of creating a new man in the world.
They are against birth control, although they know perfectly well that Jesus is the only begotten son of God -- God created only one son in the whole of eternity. He must be practicing birth control; otherwise why only one son? -- at least one daughter as well.
But the religions are against birth control, they are against abortion, without any feeling for the danger of overpopulation -- that the world will kill itself.
That death will be very cruel because it does not come immediately; when a person dies because of hunger, it takes months of torture and suffering.
A healthy man can live without food for three months; then he will die, because the healthy man has a reservoir of energy in his body, which is for emergency purposes. But even the poorest man, the sickest man, will take a few days, a few weeks to die. Those few weeks of hunger are going to be absolute hell. But religions are concerned with creating more children because more children means more power -- power in two ways: more votes, and more fodder for your cannons in war.
For twenty to thirty years absolute birth control should be practiced. It is not a question of democracy, because it is a choice between life and death. If the whole world is going to die, what are you going to do with your democracy?
Democracy will be the rule then -- for the graves, of the graves, by the graves -- because people will have disappeared.
Religions carry superstitions of all kinds which are hindering your intelligence, your vision, your possibility of creating a new man in the world.
One thing is certain -- the old humanity is going to die.
If we can make the people of the world understand, then a new kind of man can survive.
He will be a citizen of the world -- no nations.
He will be religious -- but no religion. He will be scientific -- but not destructive; his whole science will be devoted to creation.
He will be pious, compassionate, loving -- but not celibate; that is a kind of lunacy.
A celibate is a lunatic.
The new man will stop all kinds of experiments which are increasing the heat of the atmosphere around the earth, because the priority is life, not your experiments.
The new man will not send rockets to create holes from which death-rays can enter into our atmosphere; there is no need at all. And if the need arises, then you should also be prepared to close those holes -- the moment the rocket goes out, the hole is closed; the moment the rocket comes in, the hole is closed.
That is the only way to avoid the seas bringing the old story of the flood in which everything was destroyed... and now even Noah's Ark will not help, because the flood will never recede.
A new man without any burden of the past, more meditative, more silent, more loving... all the universities, rather than wasting their time on superficial subjects, should devote time to creating more consciousness in man.
If we can make the people of the world understand, then a new kind of man can survive.
He will be a citizen of the world -- no nations.
He will be religious -- but no religion. He will be scientific -- but not destructive; his whole science will be devoted to creation.
He will be pious, compassionate, loving -- but not celibate; that is a kind of lunacy.
A celibate is a lunatic.
The new man will stop all kinds of experiments which are increasing the heat of the atmosphere around the earth, because the priority is life, not your experiments.
The new man will not send rockets to create holes from which death-rays can enter into our atmosphere; there is no need at all. And if the need arises, then you should also be prepared to close those holes -- the moment the rocket goes out, the hole is closed; the moment the rocket comes in, the hole is closed.
That is the only way to avoid the seas bringing the old story of the flood in which everything was destroyed... and now even Noah's Ark will not help, because the flood will never recede.
A new man without any burden of the past, more meditative, more silent, more loving... all the universities, rather than wasting their time on superficial subjects, should devote time to creating more consciousness in man.
But football seems to be more important. It is one of the most idiotic games... and millions of people go mad when there is a football match.
OshO
The Razor's Edge
Chapter #2
Chapter title: The new man: a citizen of the world
The Razor's Edge
Chapter #2
Chapter title: The new man: a citizen of the world
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
A Biography on Anna Hazare's Life
At the village of Ralegaon Siddhi, I discovered why God saved Baburao Hazare. In the 1970s, Ralegaon Siddhi wasn’t very different from hundreds of other villages in this arid part of Maharashtra’s Ahmadnagar district. With water available only during the monsoons, its farmers could barely grow one crop a year, and 70 percent of the village’s 315 families lived in abject poverty. Indeed, Ralegaon Siddhi’s most distinctive feature was its 40 illicit distilleries that made the village a popular haunt for drunks and gamblers. Thefts and brawls were commonplace.
Since he returned to Ralegaon Siddhi in 1975, Hazare has spearheaded a movement that has changed all this for ever. Today, Ralegaon Siddhi is brisk and prosperous. Signs of rural modernity abound. Its fields are heavy with grain; there’s a bank, a boarding school, biogas plants; some of its farmers drive around on mopeds. Even more remarkable is the social transformation that Hazare has wrought. No one drinks in Ralegaon Siddhi. Only a handful smoke. There hasn’t been a crime here in years. Even the practice of untouchability has weakened. “Thanks to Hazare,” said the former Collector of Ahmadnagar, Rajiv Agarwal, “scores of other villages here and in neighbouring districts look to Ralegaon for inspiration.”
It’s hard to believe that Hazare could be responsible for all this. He’s a short, thin, mild-looking fellow; the kind of person you wouldn’t look at twice. Nor is his background the stuff from which leaders are supposed to be made. The son of a poor farmer, Hazare never got beyond the seventh class in school. As a young man his fiery temper constantly got him into trouble: once he had the Bombay police after him when he beat up a cop who had been harassing hawkers.
He was known as a troublemaker in the army too. Soon after he enlisted, he discovered that a senior officer was embezzling mess funds. He publicly questioned the officer—and was posted to far-off NEFA as a punishment.
The story of Hazare’s transformation began in 1964 at a Delhi railway station bookstall after he bought a book on Swami Vivekananda.
Enthralled by the great sage’s life and by his dictum that the noblest thing a man can do is work for the good of others, Hazare avidly began reading religious texts and biographies of social reformers. And after his escape from the Sabre jets at Khemkaran, Hazare became a vegetarian, gave up cigarettes and liquor, and vowed to remain a bachelor devoting himself to public service.
A worthy cause, he realized, lay right in front of him: The upliftment of his own village, Ralegaon Siddhi. During his annual visits home, Hazare had been appalled by its steady deterioration—even the village temple had become badly run down. “If I could re-build the temple,” Hazare said to himself, “more people might think of God and lead better lives.” But he didn’t have the money; nor could he leave the army just yet—to qualify for a pension he had to serve for several years more.
Finally, in August 1975, Hazare returned to Ralegaon after retiring from the army. His service benefits amounted to Rs20,000 and he planned to spend the money rebuilding the village temple. He hired carpenters and masons, and helped them lay bricks and lug wood.......................................
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Tuesday, June 14, 2011
I have always made Guru Pournima, a special day in my life - My experiences
Personally, I have made this day, a very special one in my life. Whatever addictive limitations i have discovered in my life, this is the day I will abandon it. For eg. I love tea. It has occupied the major portion of the things I drink. But it is also taken a bad toll on my health. Instead I could have choosed a better drink for myself. But it is difficult to leave tea just like that. Sadhguru, is everything, that I have experienced in my life. So I will make a Choice on Guru Poornima Day, whether will I choose Tea or will I choose Sadhguru ? So it has always been a easier choice for me to choose Sadhguru, against whatever things it may stand against him. And I have never regretted the decisions taken on this day. I have always discovered that nothing is missing in my life, whether it be Tea or anything. I have this whole bliss of being in love with Sadhguru. I have neither taken this idea from any book, neither I have emulated it from anyone. It just came up from within myself. So, I would caution people against emulating.
To give an example, My brother is an alcoholic person. He will go to some holy temple and will take some vow never to drink alcohol again under some Goddess or Deity. Within a month or 2, he will start drinking again. For him, the choice between Goddess and alcohol, was alcohol. But it was easy for him to break the vow since there was not really any relationship between him and the Goddess. The relationship just came up because of the traditional upbringing. When any vow is not soaked with Love, it becomes difficult to sustain it. I wished, he could have known something of the unconditional love.
Like this, I have been quitting things one by one, to enhance my spiritual growth. And what better way will it be to make an offering to the Guru I love.
I have not made making vows into a serious business. I have left a hole, which can be filled. I have attached a string to the vow. The condition is, if I am in process of volunteering, which means when I am not, and If i am offered a Tea by someone, will I take the tea. I have left the act at the will of existence. But till day, the conditions that I attached, have not met. I just hope, that I do not have a fight with my wife, on the Guru Pournima Day. :---)
I have not made making vows into a serious business. I have left a hole, which can be filled. I have attached a string to the vow. The condition is, if I am in process of volunteering, which means when I am not, and If i am offered a Tea by someone, will I take the tea. I have left the act at the will of existence. But till day, the conditions that I attached, have not met. I just hope, that I do not have a fight with my wife, on the Guru Pournima Day. :---)
Monday, June 13, 2011
It doesn't matter how many trees we plant, how many policies we change, what kind of technologies we bring, unless we consciously put a cap on human populations, there is really no solution. - Sadhguru
In India, in 1947, the population was 330 million. Today, it is 1.2 billion. It doesn't matter how many trees we plant, how many policies we change, what kind of technologies we bring, unless we consciously put a cap on human populations, there is really no solution. Either we control our populations consciously, or nature will do it in a very cruel manner. There is no choice.
Particularly right now, 52% of land in India is plowed to feed this 1.2 billion people. It's a fabulous fact that our farmers, with rudimentary infrastructure -- with totally ramshackle infrastructure -- are producing food for over 1 billion people. This is an absolutely commendable fact. But still, the men and women who produce food are not eating properly. That is not a commendable fact; that is not something to be proud of. The people who produce food for all of us -- the rice, grain and wheat that we eat today -- their own children do not enjoy a full stomach. And this is essentially because we have not taken the responsibility of deciding, "Okay, we have this much land -- how much population can we support?" Definitely, the land cannot support endless growth of human populations.
Our next stage of development is very touchy for various reasons -- political reasons, religious reasons, so many things. But we are thinking of asking villages to consciously take up "no conception" years, to voluntarily take such a step. Even if 50% of the people commit, it will still make a difference.
By international standards, the average requirement of forest to take care of one human being -- just to take care of his breath -- is 1.4 hectares of land. But in India, we have only 20% of the actual requirement of forest for each individual human being. So are we going to plant the whole Indian landscape with forest? Definitely it's not going to happen, and it's not practical. The only thing we can do is, "Are we going to adjust our population to the resources that we have?" That is all we can do. And that is the easiest thing to do. That is something that every human being can do if the necessary education and awareness is brought into their lives.
If that investment is made, we don't have to plant trees. If we stay away from the land, in 25 years if nobody enters a building, trees will grow through the concrete. You cannot stop it; they're resilient. The planet is not in peril, it is only human life which is in peril; this is something human beings need to understand. People are going about projecting, "The planet is in danger!" The planet is not in any kind of danger. It is only human life which is in danger. I hope we wake up to this fact and do what is needed.
Of course, governments have to make policies, but they cannot enforce these kinds of things in a democracy. It can only be done by campaigns, by bringing the necessary awareness. There was a time when India was campaigning for a planned family. You don't see any of this anymore, it's as if we have reached a solution, but I remember in the 1970s and 1980s, wherever you go, you would see family planning slogans on every truck. Where has this gone? Have we solved the problem? We have multiplied the problem, isn't it?
Well, we're nice but we're too many. And as I land in Chennai and drive from the airport, I see neon signs advertising fertility clinics. So much for god-given children! If it is Him, if you know a prayer, please tell him to slow down the production line.
Cartoons and Indian Politicians
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Cartoonist Satish Acharya shares his experience of working with J'Dey, a Journalist, who was killed recently while the todays media goes corrupt in the guise of gaining TRP's.
His mysterious manner of talking on the phone fascinated me. He would call people bhai, boss, chief etc. One of my crime reporter friends joked that now that I’m his neighbor, even my phone would be tapped. Later Jdey told me that he’s under observation from both cops and criminals with his phone being tapped. So, he tries to mislead them by talking to people in different names, sometimes calling even female friends as bhai! He was a mystery, which suited his investigative reporting.
At Midday, graphics people work with crime reporters, the most, doing a story board, managing a visual/graphic and sketching criminals. So, I had a great opportunity to work with Jdey and know him as much as he wanted me to know. If I ever had any silly doubt while working like, about the number of stars on policeman’s uniform I would either trouble Jdey or Vinod Kumar Menon.
When he was working on his first book, he wanted me to do illustrations for the book. So, he took me with him to meet the publisher. Though, illustrations never went in the book because of cost constraints, on the way back he took me to meet the family of one of the oldest underworld kings of Mumbai at Byculla. The family treated him as if he’s a part of their family, sharing their grievances. He told me how politicians create underworld dons according to their convenience and crush them in cold-blooded encounters. He was angry and vivid. Those stories seemed straight out of Ram Gopal Varma’s movies.
Jdey was more like a cop, more like a spy who could go any length to get that little extra detail for a story. He had tones of info and photos about the darker side of Mumbai. He had a huge network of khabris, whom he’d feed regularly. He’d talk about his khabris proudly. He’d passionately share his experience of dealing with the underworld and police, with us along with his home-made dabba. Though some stories he narrated would seem unbelievable to us, there was no denying about his hardcore crime journalism experience.
I thought he always lived his life dangerously, never caring about the consequences. He knew he was under constant observation. He wanted to hide from the public gaze. When I asked him why his picture in the paper has a cap covering his face, he said he wants to remain a stranger, which would help his profession. He said he wants to roam freely in the gullies of Bhendi Bazar or Behrampada without being recognized. He made many people angry. I remember I had done a funny illustration about Dawood Ibrahim’s sister in Mumbai for Jdey’s story. Next day Jdey told me people in Dongri are angry both with the illustration and the story. I then realized the danger involved in crime-reporting, who’d go deep into the comfort zone of hardcore criminals. But after a couple of days he’d still roam those bylanes meeting khabris and looking for stories.
It’s so ironic that his massive informer network couldn’t tip him about the danger to his life yesterday.
Jdey will live in the lives of all those crime journalists who work passionately without fear. This will alarm them but I’m sure it won’t deter them.
RIP Dey!
Goodbye Chief!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
A blogger who wanted to help, who did help but could not help
Dozens of dirt-poor children in a Philippine mangrove village no longer have to swim to school, straining to hold their books above the water.
A blogger who learned how children from Layag-layag village struggled to reach school raised money through Facebook to provide boats to the community in the southern Philippines. A bright-yellow, donated motorboat carried the children to their elementary school off the bustling Zamboanga city on June 6 when the country's more than 25 million students returned to school after a two-month break. The new school year refocuses attention on the ills of Philippines's educational system — congested classrooms, dilapidated buildings and a huge number of dropouts. For years, the youngsters had to swim and wade through about a mile of mostly chest-deep water and cross sandbars to reach school. A teacher said the children arrived in her class with their clothes dripping wet in the past when they could not hitch a ride on fishing boats. Many often came late but a few excelled in school.
“The children were jumping with joy holding their new bags and slippers,” said a charity worker. “They did not appear as excited with the new boat. They've been so used to being in the water.”
Cartoons and Indian Politicians
Now Baba Ramdev wants to fast...
While the Jan Lokpal Bill is being formed, one of the team-mates of Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev is planning to go on an indefinite fast to bring back the black money from abroad!
Sushma ke tumke...
Sushma ke tumke at Rajghat and govt's lathi charge on the sleeping crowd must have forced Bapu think about migrating back to South Africa!
UPAasana!
UPA extended VIP red carpet welcome to Baba Ramdev!
Maran in 2G tangle!
Dayanidhi Maran is a new angle in the 2G tangle!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Questioner: In today’s world, you see so much terrorism and violence. How do you explain this?
Monday, June 6, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
The Wave of Bliss with Sadhguru's Mega Program along with the Glimpses of Volunteering in Isha
Sadhguru has started a vibrant spiritual movement throughout Tamil Nadu known as “Ananda Alai – A Wave of Bliss.” Through a series of Mahasathsangs, and Mega Classes – large spiritual gatherings drawing anywhere from 10 to 15 thousand people – he seeks to offer every individual at least “one drop of spirituality” in their lifetime.
This video is a glimpse of the Wave of Bliss which is sweeping the state of Tamil Nadu.
One Drop-Spirituality
At least one drop of spiritual process must exist in every human being, because the possibility of being human cannot be explored when you exist just as a physical entity. The greatest crime you can commit against yourself and humanity is that you are not a full-fledged life, you are a half-a-life. And when your life is limited to the physical you are much less than half-a-life.
- Sadhguru
There is a story in the Ramayana. There was a lady named Ahalya who became a stone. She had to be touched by somebody to come alive as a human being. Most human beings need this touch otherwise they will remain like stones. That story is very significant. She waited like a stone – it does not mean she actually became a stone. She waited like a stone until Rama came and touched her.
So this touch is needed for most human beings. This is only because somewhere people have become like half-stones. They will not come alive by themselves. If they did, it would have been great. I could just spend time golfing or doing something else, but they won’t. Human consciousness needs to be handled – it is very important.
Everything else is in place, please see this. For the first time in the history of humanity – even twenty five years ago this wouldn’t have been possible, we couldn’t have dreamt of it. Today, we can address every human problem on the planet – from nourishment, health, education – you name it, we can address everything.
In the year 2009, the world produced enough food for 18 billion people, but we are only seven billion people, and still over 40% of the world’s population goes hungry, they are still malnourished. We are producing food for eighteen billion people; out of seven billion people, almost three billion people don’t get to eat. We have the needed resource, we have the needed capability, we have the needed technology to handle these things, but we are still nowhere near handling it because the necessary inclusive consciousness is missing. This needs to happen. Raising human consciousness is the most important priority on the planet right now.
As a part of this, we have started the mega programs in Tamil Nadu. We are really causing a spiritual revolution. It has been twenty-one years since I stepped into Tamil Nadu, and initially it was an uphill task, but today there is no door that does not open. In literally every village, every little town, it is on in a big way. I have not taught a Tamil program in the last thirteen years and I am going back once again on the road show. Though I know approximately thirty-three words in Tamil, I manage to speak within that. Each town is all fired up and they have been going all out. I want you to imagine this – in small towns, where population is in the range of three or four lakhs, if fifteen thousand people begin to meditate at once, the impact of it is phenomenal.
Volunteers have worked very hard to make this one big success and to create the possibility of making the spiritual process not as a teaching, but as a way of life for everybody, irrespective of their caste, creed, religion, gender – making it available to everyone. And it is just multiplying.
The idea is to make sure that every human being has some kind of a spiritual process, which was the reality of this country just a generation or two ago. Every home, every family had their own simple spiritual process. But in the last three to four generations we have damaged it substantially. It’s time to build it back.
Now, we don’t expect that the whole population will go through programs. All this discipline is just for a certain level of mind, but for others, we will give an extremely simple process that anybody can teach to anybody, so that everybody has something. We are doing what is called as “Oru shottu aanmeekam,” that means “one drop of spirituality.” At least one drop of spiritual process must exist in every human being, because the possibility of being human cannot be explored when you exist just as a physical entity. The greatest crime you can commit against yourself and humanity is that you are not a full-fledged life, you are a half-a-life. And when your life is limited to the physical you are much less than half-a-life. There are other dimensions to a human being which must be explored.
When it first happened to me, when it just blew my mind and left me in an ecstatic state, I just sat here, blowing like a volcano and I thought, “If I just sit here it happens. What is the problem? I am going to make the whole world ecstatic.” But it has been almost thirty years now. We have touched a few million people, but the world is still far away.
Now I am getting old and I am becoming wiser. Now I am thinking, if we cannot make everybody blissful, at least we must let them die peacefully. At least that much spirituality should happen to them. Those who live blissfully – wonderful. That is what should happen to everyone, but if they are not interested, they must at least die peacefully. So for that – one drop spirituality. They don’t live blissfully; they live somehow, but at least they will die peacefully. At least a human being deserves this much, isn’t it?
All this is just to ensure that every human being has the possibility of touching a dimension beyond the physical. This possibility has to be sown into him. This awareness has to be brought into him because the possibility exists, but between a possibility and reality there is a distance. Unless you create a conducive atmosphere and the necessary focus, most human beings will not make that distance. It is my wish and my blessing that every human being should make that distance.
- Sadhguru
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