Latest news with #Vivekananda
Time of India
9 hours ago
- Health
- Time of India
Becoming a mentor – Reflections to know our self & train our mind towards better
Sunil Kumar is currently member, managing committee, Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi. An engineer and project manager trained at Vickers Armstrong Engineers and Babcox & Wilcox, UK, he is a former general manager of The Projects and Equipment Corporation of India, Ministry of Commerce and Consultant, NIDC, Ministry of Industry. Sunil has been member of a high-power government committee for value orientation in Planning Commission and In-charge of Value Education Programmes of Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi. He has written books on Vedanta, managerial effectiveness – Indian Insights, human values, etc. His passion lies in applying Indian wisdom & Vivekananda's principles to managerial situations. His vision and managerial expertise led to the setting up of a unique PGDBM Management Institute in Delhi, called SriSIM, of which he was a Founder Trustee and Professor and which offered education in Indian ethos based Management. He is currently taking the message of Vedanta-centric human development to public servants through programs on 'Ethics in Governance. LESS ... MORE Every moment we have 'choices', but modern teachers and preachers have failed to 'teach or preach' how to 'know' and build 'powers of mind' to walk the talk towards the higher and better. Today we've teachers and preachers who 'believe', but we don't produce the 'Acharya and Shrestha' or 'Seers and men of God who 'see, realise, love all'! Whether we like it or not, we are continually in the process of 'becoming' and the 'educated choice' is to become 'better' not 'worse', in and through all our goals, choices, thoughts, motives, actions, relationships. At least now let's learn from our Vedantic wisdom which asserts that along with, and simultaneously with 'knowing', we must build 'ability'. And incidentally, all 'armed forces' do follow this commonsense, universal, ancient wisdom! And the 'better' can only be determined if we've an idea of the 'best' and so, process of education and preaching must inspire us to continuously reflect and strive to 'Know yhyself'. A person who has more and more love, care, and concern for others, is committed to kartavya-palan; and fulfils all his duties, is certainly better! Understanding and managing our mind: I am the 'subject', the 'knower', the body-mind are mere 'objects. I am not the object. This 'awareness' that 'I am not the mind' helps in control! Only continuous, regular, repetitive practice and spirit of selflessness and commitment to duties are needed to purify/refine and expand the mindset to feel one with awareness, consciousness. Doing what 'I' want to do implies doing what the mind wants to do. Freedom is not having to do what the mind wants to do! The motive power for all actions is either our 'duties' or our 'good-bad wants, desires'; and as we choose, we build our destiny. As educated people, we must continuously learn and practice to check the actions and desires to do wrong and continuously practice doing better. Those actions, which take us towards manifesting our 'infinite potential' for 'perfection', are good or right actions and those that take us away are wrong actions. Not allowing the mind to take us towards lower desires is to be constantly practiced. Mind imbibes that on which it dwells & it likes to dwell on what it likes. Only a pure mind, refined by 'righteousness/good' can be led. Based on past memories as impressed in our mind, our thoughts and mind flow towards 'trivia' and 'likes-dislikes'. From Trivia we've to learn to withdraw through 'practice'. And from likes-dislikes we've to learn to detach by learning to focus on the higher, better. Only when the mind gets hooked on the better will it stop tempting the lower. Mind wants enjoyment, whereas 'I am peace and fulfilment'. Mind will not give up easily. Only repeated better thoughts and habits can overcome past tendencies and impressions. There is no shortcut – 'Practice & detachment/focus on higher'. We can learn how to manage the 'unwanted thoughts flowing in our mind' by following the example of how we're managed by our mother, father, teacher, police, and how we ignore an unwanted Guest! Through continuous exposure to good thoughts and deeds, righteousness, commitment to duties, kartavya-palan, disciplined life, etc., supported by daily self-development practices, we can gradually purify, refine the mind, and make it more amenable to control towards the best. Not allowing the mind to take us towards lower desires is to be constantly practiced. Good actions calm the mind, and only a calm mind can really be effective and peaceful, and allow us to experience our full potential perfection and bliss. Because of the numerous impressions we create every moment, which propel us into fresh actions, the very nature of mind is to be restless like a monkey. Drunk with 'Desires'; stung by scorpion of 'jealousy'; and also possessed by devil of 'pride'; the mind is therefore very difficult to control! The more self-control we have, the greater a person we become. Mind is a continuous flow of thoughts – wanted / unwanted. The mind is built to look outside through the five sense organs. By its very nature mind has a tendency to 'flow down' – be tempted, enjoying the experience of the senses, weak people don't have self-control and do wrong. Mind is difficult to lift up and control – like reversing the flow of river. Mind is one-track in nature; gets attached easily but detaches with difficulty. Mind is material in nature, just matter! I am conscious, the master of the mind, not its slave! Our mind carries the impression of every single thought, word, action; choice/motive. Some reflections on how I get inspired to be better? I accept myself totally and express my gratitude to all who have helped me be what I am. I take full responsibility for what I am, and from now on, it is up to me to take responsibility to try to become better towards the best. I am a unique person, different from all; I want to discover my strengths and weaknesses, what I am good and bad at, what I really want and what qualities and skills I need to develop, and how I can prioritise my life towards long-term good for all. I want to discover whether my wants are in harmony with my deep-seated need for happiness, peace, and bliss. I will learn to reduce quantity of thoughts by keeping busy on planned SMART goals; improve quality by pouring good thoughts, prayers, meditation, study/ discuss/ explore inspiring books, satsang, etc.; control direction towards good, better, best. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Time of India
26-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
First work as worship and commitment to fundamental duties; only then academics and Human Rights!
Sunil Kumar is currently member, managing committee, Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi. An engineer and project manager trained at Vickers Armstrong Engineers and Babcox & Wilcox, UK, he is a former general manager of The Projects and Equipment Corporation of India, Ministry of Commerce and Consultant, NIDC, Ministry of Industry. Sunil has been member of a high-power government committee for value orientation in Planning Commission and In-charge of Value Education Programmes of Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi. He has written books on Vedanta, managerial effectiveness – Indian Insights, human values, etc. His passion lies in applying Indian wisdom & Vivekananda's principles to managerial situations. His vision and managerial expertise led to the setting up of a unique PGDBM Management Institute in Delhi, called SriSIM, of which he was a Founder Trustee and Professor and which offered education in Indian ethos based Management. He is currently taking the message of Vedanta-centric human development to public servants through programs on 'Ethics in Governance. LESS ... MORE A stone falls and we ask why: This question is possible only on the supposition that in this world, nothing happens without a cause. Let's reflect on the learnings from Vivekananda's talks on practical Vedanta and Karma Yoga. The foundation of Indian 'composite culture', is based on the scientific reality that in this vast universe of 'space-time-causality', we're prisoners of the unforgiving law of 'karma', of cause and effect', i.e. 'every action, work, karma (choices-motives-thoughts-actions) has equal and opposite effect, result (also 'karma' or karma-phala). Thus, in this world, we're all slaves to our respective 'karma' and its fruits; as we sow, good or bad', we shall reap 'happiness or miseries'. How to escape to Freedom from this cycle of slavery to 'karma'? God resides in every being; learn to see and serve God in every being; … this is the core of our civilizational work culture and essence of all education and religions. If we practice this attitude of work as worship of God in man, we will purify our mind and 'know' the truth of truth, ourselves. 2. The basic human problem: – As we're, we somehow never feel adequate, complete, fulfilled! Of course, in many moments we certainly do feel content, satisfied, not needing anything else (and 'sleep' is one such state) but the very next moment, we feel incomplete and once again willy nilly have to 'work' to re-gain (religion) and re-unite (yoga) with a state of 'Completeness! And by work, karma, we mean our actions and its fruits externally and as karma-phala, as impressed in our mind, which then gives rise to all our sukha-dukkha, joys-miseries. During growing up we must learn, reflect and recognize that all 'work' in life is a struggle to re-gain and re-unite, i.e. be 'Complete', fulfilled, blissful. And, work, when done as 'yoga', (union, re-unite, re-gain, as worship) can lead to being complete, fulfilled. 3. Ideal attitude towards work: Yudhishthira tells his wife, in the epic Mahabharat, which depicts the historical background of ancient India: Behold, my queen, the Himalayas, how grand and beautiful they are; I love them. They do not give me anything, but my nature is to love the grand, the beautiful, therefore I love them. Similarly, I love the Lord. He is the source of all beauty, of all sublimity. He is the only object to be loved; my nature is to love Him, and therefore I love. I do not pray for anything; I do not ask for anything. Let Him place me wherever He likes. I must love Him for love's sake. I cannot trade in love. And what is his nature? He is everywhere, the pure and formless One, the Almighty and the All merciful. And how to worship, reach out, attain Him? Through love. 'He is to be worshiped as the One beloved, dearer than everything in this and the next life.' A man ought to live in the world — his heart to God and his hands to work – work as a karma yogi, fulfil your duties, work for good of society – work selflessly for love's sake. 4. Unless we are first taught and learn to fulfil our duties, can we expect Fundamental Human Rights in society. Academia must teach, inculcate, evaluate based on both 'Knowledge' and 'Application of Knowledge in Work', i.e. commitment to Fundamental Duties, righteous conduct etc. We are all aware that there is a wide-spread crisis of character, inefficiencies, corruption and selfishness in Work. Who all are responsible for failure? 4.1 Religions and Preachers, for dividing people into 'my religion' versus 'your religion', focusing on rituals etc. that divide, but failing to unite and work together with other religions and academia to produce the 'good' who strive to become good and better towards 'best', working for good of society as a whole. 4.2 Teachers and Academia, for failing to understand that mere Knowing theory isn't good enough without learning how apply it in work. Academia has failed to focus on training, disciplining, and building powers of mind thru' Self-development processes available as Life-skills to be committed to selfless duties and quality and excellence in work. 4.3 Politics and governance, for not creating systems for ensuring that citizens are committed to the Fundamental Duties and to working together for good of society. Instead, they are dividing people into 'my party, my vote-bank' versus 'your party, your vote-bank' and not focusing on bringing people together as parties of 'Cooperation', not parties of 'Opposition'. We have allowed people to rise to their levels of incompetence. We have failed to create systems where the 'Result-producers' have total responsibility for results and payments are linked to results. As education and governance, we've curbed the entrepreneurship spirit of our karma-yogi Result-producers and skilled workforce, who had once made India the sone-ki-chidiya. 5. We must understand that Work can never make us 'Complete': Now that we're talking of public servants as karma yogis, it is necessary that academia must plan how we may ensure that every citizen is educated, preached, taught the idea that as Self, we're all One and only by selflessly working for good of all, can we expand our mind from selfishness to feel one with more and more to experience the truth that as Spirit, Self, we're all One; there's no other! Governance must ensure that we recruit those for professional and leadership positions who have a proven record of commitment and ability to selflessly work for the long-term good of all. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Time of India
18-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
How can society & governance bring together ‘preachers & teachers' to train & educate us to treat ‘work & duties' as worship to ‘know thyself'
Vivekananda as a young man heard Ramakrishna say: compassion for living beings! Fool! Who are you, an insignificant creature, to show compassion! No, no, not compassion, but service to all beings, looking upon them as God Himself! These words had a tremendous impact on him, and he expressed: I have found a new light today. This ecstatic utterance of the Master has shown me that 'Vedanta' need not be a dry, other worldly – affair. If a person learns to look upon all people as the Lord, he cannot have feelings of anger, superiority etc. towards anybody. 1. Working as Service to the Divine in individual beings, he will have his heart purified and be convinced in a short time that he himself is also a part of the Lord, who is none else but the eternally pure, blissful, absolute. Let man do everything he is doing; there is no harm in that; it is sufficient for him, first, to be fully convinced that it is the Lord who is manifested before him as the universe and all the beings in it. Those with whom he comes in contact every moment of his life, whom he loves, respects and honours, and to whom his sympathy and kindness flow are all His parts, are all He Himself. If he can thus look upon all the persons of the world as Lord, how can there be an occasion for him to regard himself as superior to them or cherish anger and hatred for them or an arrogant attitude towards them, or even to be kind to them? Thus, serving the 'human beings as the Lord himself', he will have his heart purified and be convinced in a short time that the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Lord is all pervasive. 2. We need to examine: What is the nature of a human being? What is the purpose of human life? What is the importance of 'work' in attaining the purpose of life? All societies, traditions, religions have answered these issues in various ways. For us, a common sense and simple understanding can be put forth as follows: A human being, Jiva-atman, is inert body, enlivened by consciousness, all pervasive life, spirit, Self, Identified with which we all one, inter-connected, inter-dependent, inter-related. Identified with body we are all separate and different from each other and are bound to be selfish, narrow and petty minded. Consciousness alone, not matter can be the source of all power, energy, and the unlimited potential for perfection, peace, bliss – Perfection that we're all striving for. We are unable to focus on the consciousness within us because our mind-set and our whole thinking, is that 'I am the body'. If we hurt 'others' we, do it based on an untrue worldview of 'separateness'; we really hurt only the one omnipresent all-pervasive life or consciousness which is the same in all beings. Such actions, therefore, pollute our mind and cover-up the Perfection and results in misery, sooner or later. If we serve others, knowingly or unknowingly, we act based on the truth that as consciousness we are all one. Such actions, therefore, purify the mind allowing us to experience more and more of the Perfection already within us, and leads to peace and bliss. Our daily 'Work' itself is our opportunity to either manifest or cover-up our potential. Daily routine of prayers, meditation and studies to acquire conviction in our potential Perfection alone can give us the wisdom to know and the strength, will power and self-control to walk the path of serving humanity to attain our inherent Perfection. 3. Only when we are taught and practice will we understand and be intellectually convinced that to serve humanity, is the only way to gradually expand our consciousness and learn to identify more and more with life. 'Work' we must. Does my work, i.e. thoughts-actions, lead to manifesting or covering-up our potential? My mind-set and my way of behavior, my worldview, is being formed, deformed, refined or polluted every moment by my personal governing values; my beliefs; my motives; my thoughts; my goals; my choices; and my work and actions. The only question is how we can work so that whatever we do leads us towards realization of our highest aspirations. And the clear-cut answer can be expressed in the ideal conceived by Vivekananda 'Strive to manifest your inherent Perfection by working in the spirit of service to humanity' 4. We are identified with desire alone: Desires arise from tendencies we acquire every moment by our Thoughts-actions, all of which we can collectively call 'work'. What we desire, we resolve to do; as is our resolution, so is our action. And whatever we carry out into action that we reap. Action is inherent in the nature of living beings. It cannot be avoided. We are 'working' every moment. Our nature is constantly making us think, choose, work, to fulfil our bodily needs, our multitude of desires. Through all 'work', even when done for selfish or wrong ends, we are actually aspiring to become better and greater because our inherent nature, the divine potential of life within, is continuously urging us to expand ourselves to attain an unknown ideal state of perfection. Conclusion: Vedanta literally means the end, essence, of the Veda, and logically discusses, explores and establishes, not by belief but thru' sheer logic, that as Self, Consciousness we're all one, and only selfless work for good of all can help us towards experiencing this blissful truth and reality.
The Hindu
13-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
In India, education without employment
In defending the educational policies of the present government, it has been claimed that education has been freed from the shackles of previous governments: Atal Tinkering Labs, coding right from middle school, the recruitment of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe teachers, and the empowerment of Muslim girl students. But primarily, it is stated that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 'will enable an educational renaissance'. In all these utterances, the seminal point that is forgotten is that our educational system remains clueless about the shape-shifting marketplace — namely, the employability of our graduates as a workforce. Education has many purposes. It enables, it enervates and elevates. As Vivekananda said, education empowers one to stand on one's own feet. After 75 years of foolishly gambling excellence for equity, India has squandered both. Young people are unable to find meaningful employment that is commensurate with any training that they may have received. The degrees they have are not worth the paper on which they are printed. It is irrelevant that these problems were created or ignored by the Congress pot or the Bharatiya Janata Party kettle. The present lawfully elected government has the responsibility to cleanse these Augean stables. Never mind that the NEP 2000 is the fourth such document that was supposed to do this after the Radhakrishnan Commission (1948); the Kothari Commission (1966) and the Officers' Commission (1985). A good education is one with an optimum of depth and breadth. Depth alone imparts the technical expertise for employability. Breadth provides flexibility in a rapidly changing Artificial Intelligence-driven ecosystem, where those in the job market need to constantly re-train themselves to avoid extinction. A high rate of educated unemployment There is barely any evidence, four years on, that any of the NEP recommendations have been put into effect. In 2025, India's overall graduate employability rate is 42.6%, which is practically the same as the 44.3% of 2023. Similarly, knowledge-intensive employment in the year 2023 only stands at 11.72%. Multiple entries and exits, a hallmark of NEP, have only created low-quality and poorly paying e-commerce jobs. The high rate of educated unemployment today shows that education in India is actually disempowering students. The NEP is a retreat to the Vannevar Bush model of the mid-20th century U.S. without its financial cushioning. The NEP is outdated and financially unviable in the India of 2025. With lip service paid to 'new' ideas such as Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), mother tongue learning, changing history textbooks, flexible curricula and a complete absence of methodology to effect its recommendations, the NEP is a dead fish in the water. It depends on course choice alone to correct imbalances, notwithstanding that the course content itself may be unworkable. It is noteworthy that there was not a single member from industry or the business sectors in the committee that drafted the NEP. A good university seamlessly integrates breadth with depth. It is claimed that there has been a remarkable improvement from the past in that 11 Indian universities are ranked in the top QS World University Rankings (WUR) 500, clearly echoing the selective narrative of Nunzio Quacquarelli, CEO of QS, who was generous in his praise of India, while releasing WUR 25. Mr. Quacquarelli quoted the 318% increase in the performance of Indian universities, as the highest growth among the G-20 nations, quietly avoiding mention of both India's low ranking (above 100) and low publication quality. To wit, India's Category Normalized Citation Impact (CNCI) rank (an indicator of publications quality) during 2008-19 which was 17th among 19 countries in the G-20, inched up admirably to 16th position in 2024. Such 'increases' have been touted by the Ministry in its Press Information Bureau press release of February 13, 2025. It has also been claimed that this is the year when Indian universities showcased the highest performance improvement among all G-20 nations. It is unbelievable that in this digital era, the government has failed to recognise and understand the commercial implications of QS, THE and similar agencies and the reasons for their skewed and deceptive analyses. A missing transparency on projects Mega research projects were carried out with great fanfare and amidst a media blitz in the past. These included the New Millennium project (CSIR-NMITLI), the $10 Akash tablet project, and the IMPRINT (IMPacting Research INnovation and Technology) project (MHRD). These projects were in the limelight for years, but the public is not aware of the emergence of the intended products or processes from these projects, on which hundreds of crores of taxpayer money has been spent. It does not matter whether these projects were initiated or shut down by the Congress or the BJP. What we, as taxpayers, want to know is if these projects were value for money. India's Global Innovation Index (GII) represents the innovation capabilities of India. Our ranks in 2014, 2015 and 2024 were 76, 81, and 39. Malaysia and Türkiye lead India in GII with ranks of 33 and 37, respectively. The GII reveals the world's top S&T clusters in two innovation metrics: published patent applications and published scientific articles. India has four clusters with ranks of 56 (Bengaluru), 63 (Delhi), 82 (Chennai) and 84 (Mumbai). The Bengaluru cluster is often touted as an unparalleled rival to Silicon Valley, particularly with respect to the numbers of startups and Unicorns. However, its 56th rank needs to be compared to the sixth-ranked Silicon Valley cluster. In terms of cluster intensity of the top 100, Bengaluru at 94 followed by Chennai at 96, Delhi at 98, and Mumbai at 99 pale in comparison to San Jose-San Francisco (Silicon Valley) at 2 and Cambridge at 1. The number of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications per capita and scientific publications per capita for the Silicon Valley cluster are 7885 and 9211, respectively. The corresponding numbers for the Bengaluru cluster are 313 and 1077. Samsung Electronics (South Korean) is the leading patentee in Bengaluru. No further comment is necessary. The subject of start-ups There is no point talking about start-ups, when we do not know what they mean. Start-ups in China, the U.S. and Israel tackle semiconductor technology, how to refine rare earth elements with ecological sensitivity and how to make metformin cheaper. In contrast, our government lauds new apps that hawk food products. India cannot have start-ups without indigenous technology. It cannot have indigenous technology without indigenous science. It cannot have indigenous science without indigenous quality education, sans political agendas. Two-wheeler kiranas are not startups. Contrary to the thinking of the Education Ministry, the University Grants Commission (UGC) remains an instrument of control. It always has been and there is no justification for this antediluvian organisation to have both regulatory and financial control over universities. Can the UGC present a single piece of hard data showing that changes in pedagogy and syllabus have had a positive effect? In other words, how relevant are these changes, if any, to industry, skilling, and employability? India would probably be better off if the UGC was shut down. Sitting UGC chairs, vice-chancellors, directors and ministers need not appear in national dailies peddling their policies and propaganda ad nauseam. Their job is to execute policy, not talk about it, and to ensure decent employability for the youth. It is our job, as independent academics, to write in the newspapers, if they do not do their job. 'When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent' — Isaac Asimov Gautam R. Desiraju is Professor Emeritus, Indian Institute of Science and Distinguished Professor, UPES Dehradun, with a citations-to-publications ratio of 102.5. Mirle Surappa is INSA Senior Scientist at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, former Vice-Chancellor, Anna University, former Director, IIT Ropar and former Dean, Indian Institute of Science. The views expressed are personal
Time of India
11-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
‘Religions & Education' and ‘Preachers & Teachers' must together plan how to BE & MAKE the ‘GOOD'
Sunil Kumar is currently member, managing committee, Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi. An engineer and project manager trained at Vickers Armstrong Engineers and Babcox & Wilcox, UK, he is a former general manager of The Projects and Equipment Corporation of India, Ministry of Commerce and Consultant, NIDC, Ministry of Industry. Sunil has been member of a high-power government committee for value orientation in Planning Commission and In-charge of Value Education Programmes of Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi. He has written books on Vedanta, managerial effectiveness – Indian Insights, human values, etc. His passion lies in applying Indian wisdom & Vivekananda's principles to managerial situations. His vision and managerial expertise led to the setting up of a unique PGDBM Management Institute in Delhi, called SriSIM, of which he was a Founder Trustee and Professor and which offered education in Indian ethos based Management. He is currently taking the message of Vedanta-centric human development to public servants through programs on 'Ethics in Governance. LESS ... MORE 1. Modern global societies have failed to define, identify, select, nurture, and place 'good' men in leadership positions in governance to lead us; and failed to give us teachers, professionals, businessmen and workers to educate us to be 'good'. We can attempt to define the good, as those who are Committed to knowing and fulfilling their duties to society, organization, family, Self; Committed to striving for quality and excellence in work and relationships; Committed to striving to develop feelings of love, care and concern for all, etc., which have now been expressed by GOI as be a 'Karma Yogi'; 'treat work as worship of God in man and in all creation'. To imbibe such spirit of selfless Committed to Duties, religion and education must together inspire us to the necessity of daily self-development practices to learn how to strive to build powers of mind to know and be convinced to walk-the-talk. 2. Our time-tested civilizational culture of Sanatana dharma recognizes that the masses will always need symbols, images, god-men and their life and teachings for inspiration. Only a few Selfless men of wisdom can draw inspiration from universal principles alone, irrespective of their religious beliefs. As mature citizens we should recognize that Principles and Essence of all Religions are universal and eternal and these can be taught in mainstream systems, to inspire all 'to be and do good'. My religion, my ways of worship, my source of inspiration and ideas of divinity may be different, but 'selflessness' and learning 'to do and be good' is our universal ideal. Commonsense provides the simple fact and obvious principle and worldview that as 'Self, Life, spirit, Atman, Rooha' that makes us 'exist' 'consciously', like it or not, we're all One and shall exist eternally (maybe in different names and forms, e.g. rebirth!) because the law is 'that which exists, can never cease to exist'. Somehow, we've never been made aware of this reality and so, identified with Body-mind we become self-centered. Thru' learning to be Selflessly Committed to our Duties, our Mind expands to grow in feelings of love, care, concern for all equally. Only some very few who grow thru' their respective religions, will understand this and strive sincerely to be and do good. These should be nurtured to be our mentors, teachers and leaders. As you sow so shall you reap is universal law. Our culture shows and believes that we will continue to take rebirth and grow till we finally recognize that as Self we're all One. Schooling and Preaching must work together to inspire us to realize that Goodness can be acquired only through individual self-effort, in and through daily work, dealings and interactions, and the inspiration for it comes through daily self-development practices. Respective religions may inspire us to be and do good thru' their respective religious scriptures etc. and epics like Ramayana, Mahabharat, Puranas, and the many gods and goddesses can also provide the inspiration for the masses. Both the educated and the masses keep forgetting the eternal knowledge 'To be and to do good'! The purpose of all Religions is to give clarity on the aim and purpose of life and create systems to guide people towards it. Essentially all Religions suggest that during Schooling and Growing up we must learn to Imbibe commitment to Righteousness. Righteous conduct implies those virtues or obligatory duties, which lead people on the critical path, to 'Know Thyself'; to know that as body-mind we're separate but as SELF that makes us into Conscious Living-beings (Jiva-atman) we're all One. Each of us has to individually grow towards Oneness through self-effort and selfless work as worship. The parents and elders of society, the teachers, all the educated people, the statesmen, executives and public servants have the responsibility of creating necessary systems to inspire people to walk on the right path; and they can do so only when they themselves strive for the higher and seek guidance of the selfless men of wisdom. Righteous conduct, Dharma, is the Fruit of all Religions; it is the firm foundation upon which the entire universe stands. Thus, all religions and education and Preachers & Teachers must be evaluated and judged by their ability to produce the Good, who have learnt and are committed to both Earning and fulfilling all Desires through legitimate means. Thus, Preaches and Teachers must encourage and inspire people to strive to develop powers of mind – discrimination, 'viveka', and the self-control, will power, powers of concentration to walk the critical path to 'Perfection' through Righteous conduct. It is only daily and life-long continuous practice that can help in developing powers of mind. Continuous practice and self-effort alone can keep people aware of the purpose of life so that they can keep on reviewing and harmonizing their choices, thoughts, words, and goals towards the highest perfection. Conclusions: All work, actions good or bad, are only efforts to seek 'bliss', which always eludes man! Our culture asks us to reflect and realize that I enjoy maximum Bliss, Ananda, only in deep-sleep state, when I am in my own blissful Self, detached from ever-changing body-mind complex. Only thru' selfless work as worship for good of all, i.e. being a Karma Yogi, can we enjoy this Ananda even while working and living. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
