Of Body & Soul

Since each of us is a physical and spiritual being at the same time, everything in our life has a physical and a spiritual aspect to it. Even those things that seem simply physical in nature, such as our bodies, are in truth also spiritual. It makes sense then that if we go deeply into our relationship with our physical self that we will soon find ourselves in the realm of spirit. At the root of everything lies our relationship with God. We find Him wherever we look, even when we look into our bodily self as we struggle with weight. A spiritual approach to any pursuit — even one as seemingly mundane as weight loss — always brings us to a deeper truth. Some people who have an aversion to God are drawn to this deeper truth, while others who profess to be spiritual are secretly avoiding the truth. We can be in denial of the existence of God or of truth, but that doesn’t diminish the existence of either. The crucial thing to realise is that the realm of spirit is the realm of truth. Here, we can’t pretend to be something that we are not — we can’t be in denial of our choices and the fruits they bear. Being brutally honest with ourselves is standing naked before God. As long as we stay hidden in our proverbial clothes or avoid the scale, the truth-teller, we can’t have a close relationship with our creator. Physical truth: Mrs X’s most urgent truth was that she was making poor eating choices. Emotional truth: Acknowledging this truth led her to her next truth: that she eats for comfort when she is stressed. It was necessary for her to face the things that triggered her stress, allow herself to experience the stressful emotions she was escaping and learn to process them. Mental truth: This brought her to memories of verbal abuse that had stripped her of her self-esteem. Spiritual truth: Once we lifted the veil of shame and pain the belief had created, she saw the low self-esteem of her perpetrators and that she had been their scapegoat. The wound was exposed. She had been blamed for the worthlessness of others and had carried it as her own. She also saw that she was abusing herself with food. She had designated her body as her scapegoat. Standing naked before herself and God she requested love, forgiveness and healing. She saw the truth and was able to forgive her perpetrators for how their pain had come through them and onto her. She emerged more loved, and empowered with wisdom, understanding and compassion that she can thrive on. This is fulfillment at its best. When we let go of false beliefs about ourselves, space is opened in our hearts and minds for God to fill with love and truth. We no longer need extra sweets to make up for a lack of affection, fatty foods to cushion potential blows from abuse, or carbs to stifle our passion. We see our feelings as fuel for growth and healing and learn how to use them to experience God at work in our lives. Walking this path allows us to witness how our relationship with our world is divinely orchestrated based on our intentions rather than random and chaotic as we once thought. We can adopt new eating habits that nurture our new state of being. Once the real issues are addressed, eating healthily is easy and fun because there is no longer a purpose to unhealthy eating choices. And if we do find ourselves in some other struggle in the future, we know that it is just a heads-up from the universe, a signal that it is time to confront a truth that will bring us into even deeper intimacy with ourselves and God. When we make choices based on fear or shame, we are likely to avoid God, the source of truth and light, just as we avoid the scale. We don’t want him to see us; we flee from the truth as we avoid facing up to our own behaviour, whether it’s late night snacking or secret stashes of junk food. We tell ourselves we’ll talk to God when we are in a better place, just as we postpone pursuing our desires (buying that dress, seeking that relationship) until we lose a little weight. But avoiding the truth just prolongs our agony while it immobilises us.

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Of Zardaris ,Bhuttos & Musharaffs

Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of the slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and a controversial politician with little experience in governing, was elected president of Pakistan on Saturday. Describing his victory as “another step towards the transition to democracy”, Zardari said at in iftar hosted at PM Gilani’s residence: “I reiterate parliament is sovereign. This President shall be subservient to the parliament.” Flanked by daughters Bakhtawar and Asifa, he said, “We (took) revenge on the dictators in the form of democracy. She (Bhutto) taught us how to live, how to do politics...” Results from voting in the two houses of parliament, and three of four provincial assemblies, showed that Zardari had easily prevailed over his closest competitor. Zardari, 53, who spent 11 years in jail on corruption charges that were not proven, succeeds Pervez Musharraf, who resigned as president last month under the threat of impeachment. The elevation of Zardari to the presidency, where he will have great powers, including the ability to dissolve parliament and name the head of the Pakistani army, comes with the tacit approval of the United States.

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India Nabled

The deal is done. And it’s a big deal for India. It has gained unique status as the only nuclear weapons power to be allowed global nuclear commerce without signing either the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty or Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, until now a precondition for entering the elite nuclear club. When the NSG ‘‘adjusted its guidelines’’ for India on Saturday, after 76 hours of high drama, it marked a delicious irony. It came into being 34 years ago as a response to India’s 1974 Pokharan test and yet, on Saturday, the NSG was bending its rules to accommodate India’s nuclear ambitions. The NSG’s approval was also Manmohan Singh’s moment. The Prime Minister, who had quietly worked out the architecture of the Indo-US nuclear deal with US President George Bush, made history on Saturday by salvaging the agreement, while staving off the threat to his government and political career. Singh described the NSG waiver as a ‘‘forwardlooking and momentous decision’’. Bush praised Singh for his ‘‘strong leadership’’ in ensuring success at Vienna. Indian foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon said the waiver gives India access to full civilian nuclear cooperation with the rest of the world. The text of the waiver is yet to be made public. The deal will not just give India access to nuclear fissile material and technology to mount a credible nuclear energy programme, it will also open up certain key high-tech industries such as pharma, IT, space and defence. But the implications go much beyond energy and technology. In strategic terms, it now brings India closer to the US and several key European countries. At the same time, it might bring a certain frostiness to India’s relations with China as expected after Beijing’s sudden objections in Vienna to the waiver. Even so, Beijing formally welcomed New Delhi to the nuclear club after the NSG finally nodded it through. The NSG’s exception for India did not come easily but happened because of recognition for India as an emerging power with a stable democratic system, growing market economy and business appeal. India’s earlier unilateral moratorium to nuclear testing — made by the Vajpayee government and cited by foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday morning — helped winning over the last naysayers. WHAT IT MEANS? UNIQUE STATUS: Ends 34-year nuclear isolation following 1974 Pokharan test. India now gets N-technology, keeps its nuclear program, doesn’t sign NPT, CTBT N-MAINSTREAM: India can carry out nuclear trade, gets options for nuclear power and access to sensitive hi-tech that serves industry but is also used for nuclear technology; will help sectors like IT, space, pharma, defence, manufacturing RISING POWER: Shows India as an emerging power. Waiver also came as India seen as a stable democracy and growing market economy STRATEGIC SHIFT: India comes closer to the US. As also France, Germany, UK, other European countries, Russia, Japan, Australia. Indo-China ties could get frosty GREAT DIVIDE: De-hyphenation with Pak complete. India now in category of responsible N-powers with impeccable non-proliferation record WHAT NEXT? US Congress expected to take up Indo-US 123 pact when it meets on Monday. It must be approved by Sept 28, when the session ends Bush expected to ask Congress to skip mandatory 30-day period required for putting up pact for approval. Would like to see it through without re-look Both sides may sign pact when PM goes to US at month’s end. India will then sign similar pacts with other N-suppliers POWERING AHEAD ALL EYES NOW ON US CONGRESS Vienna: With the NSG crossed, the scene will shift to the US for the final ratification of the Indo-US nuclear civil cooperation agreement by an up-down vote of the US Congress which meets on Monday. The Bush administration is expected to persuade American lawmakers to pass the pact before the session ends by September 26 by not insisting on the mandatory 30-day session period required to present the agreement for approval. If all goes well, Manmohan Singh will sign the agreement with President Bush in Washington towards the end of the month. Back to the NSG’s decision, it came Saturday morning after two days of bruising diplomacy that saw the last of the conscientious objectors wilting under sustained US pressure. Six of the last objectors — Austria, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Netherlands and Switzerland — relented after India went the extra mile to reassure them about its nonproliferation commitments, and the US, France and UK leaned on them. Until Friday night, when the NSG sat, exhausted through round after round of talks until 2.30 am, two things happened. A modification was made in the waiver text that had been circulating for a week, but with which some countries still had problems. Here, India’s statement earlier in the day came in handy, and a link was made between India’s commitments and the adjustment of the guidelines.

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Sky’s The Limit

In a ruling that could change the face of Mumbai, the Supreme Court has cleared the way for pulling down more than 16,000 pre-1940 buildings — including chawls — that have become dilapidated, and constructing modern highrises in their places. The ruling has devised a win-win formula according to which people who occupied the old tenements will be given, free of cost, flats of the same size in brand new buildings. Other flats in the building can be sold by the builder, who has been allowed to make his money by relaxing the floor space index (FSI) to permit the construction of high-rises. Cities across the world tackle housing shortages through redevelopment and the construction of high-rises. But rules governing land use remain archaic in Indian cities. That includes FSIs that are low by international standards, inhibiting the construction of high-rises. Coupled with other restrictive legislations that hobble the real estate sector, the net effect is acute housing shortages and the proliferation of slums. Even among Indian cities Mumbai is a byword when it comes to housing shortage or lack of commercial office space. Inability to resolve the former means that the city offers a poor living standard to its residents. And unless it can tackle the latter it can bid goodbye to its dreams of becoming a global financial hub.

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East And West Can Learn To Strike A Balance

Paramahansa Yogananda teaches that, in the ancient past, India had the optimal balance of inner and outer development: material riches and great spiritual wealth. During the colonial period that balance eroded: wealth declined; there was great poverty and difficulty for many, while the spiritual wisdom was maintained and even thrived. During the same interval in the West, there was an aggressive explosion of technology and material wealth, with very little inner spiritual development to keep pace with it. As a result, the West began to suffer from moral, social and spiritual decline. The great Masters of India foretold of a time when the East would regain its optimal balance through the accumulation of wealth and advances in technology, and the West would attain balance for the first time through inner spiritual development. That time is now. Today, India is succeeding masterfully in technological and scientific prowess, and material well-being, consistent with its destiny. During the same period, the West was given two of India’s greatest teachers: Vivekananda and Yogananda. Just as now in India there is a new generation of technologically savvy people and a burgeoning middle class, there is in the West a new generation of modern-day yogis — people accomplished in worldly ways who have a deep familiarity with eastern spirituality. As the East is rushing to imitate the West and the West is rushing to imitate the East, it is possible we could pass by one another, like two ships passing in the night without knowing it and without the benefit of exchange.

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TATA Nano Dreamz

With the Tatas’ Nano factory in Singur under siege for the past several days, things are looking bad for the West Bengal government. A non-democratic society might well have precipitated a new version of Tiananmen Square. But ours cannot afford that option, though the violent incidents at Nandigram last year didn’t fulfil some of the basic requirements of a democracy. The Singur crisis has reached a tipping point with the Tatas threatening to leave and the West Bengal governor being forced to intervene. Is there a credible way to defuse the crisis? Clearly, the return of the 400 acres in Singur — that is at the heart of the current dispute — will not help the farmers since the land is no longer cultivable. There is no reason to believe, therefore, that the opposition is engaged in preserving the bucolic charm of rural West Bengal. What it clearly wants is more money to be shared between the party bosses and cadre. Besides, they are well aware that under the present legal arrangement, the land acquired by the government under the 1894 Act cannot be returned in any case, though a higher price can surely be offered. Land prices in and around Singur have been continuously rising ever since the Nano plant began coming up. There is no way the government can afford to pay the prevailing price. However, if the Tatas leave, the price will fall to negligible levels.

A rise in the ex-factory price by Rs 10,000 will not affect consumer demand. The market can undoubtedly afford to pay more. The advantage of this proposal is that the Tatas do not need to cough up the money themselves since the consumers are paying it. The disadvantage is that the Tatas cannot offer the money directly to the farmers since the government owns the land. Hence, the funds need to be handed over to the West Bengal government as a loan. This would be a one-time loan and could be offered at a low rate, like the government’s soft loan of Rs 200 crore to Tata at 1 per cent interest for 20 years. Another subsidy the Tatas were offered was the low rent of Rs 1 crore for the next five years. This too could be modified. Will the Nano price be brought down to Rs 1 lakh after a year or so i.e. after the farmers have been paid off ? The price need not be brought down. In return for the higher price, the Tatas would be less dependent on subsidies which, in any case, would have been borne out of taxes collected from the middle class. Also, with the current annual rate of inflation hovering around 12 per cent, it is almost certain that the Nano’s price will rise soon enough. By leaving Singur, the Tatas would have to bear the extra cost and trouble of relocation. By following the suggested policy, they can avoid this as well as ensure steady profits. Indeed, a price revision for the Nano could well have its merits.

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Awaken Their Minds

Dnyaneshwara, the great Marathi saint, described education as knowledge poured from one heart to the other. Our society has always valued the importance of knowledge, learning and scholarship. The ancient Indian system of gurushishya parampara is one that illustrates the traditional approach of holistic education, where it moves beyond the confines of imparting knowledge and becomes a process that leads to enlightenment. Education rouses the mind from the slumber of ignorance and it is only when provided with the nourishment of education that the mind of a person is truly awake. This metamorphosis through education plays a crucial role in our life as it awakens the minds of people and turns them into thinking beings. The irresistible power of human thought is what shapes not only our consciousness but also our perception of the world around us. It is only a thinking population that can truly participate and therein transform the society we live in. Hence education, with its power of awakening the minds of a billion people, can play a critical role in determining the destiny of our great nation. The social context, within which education as a tool of empowerment functions, is also equally important as it helps in understanding the dynamics of its impact on the process of nation-building. In a democratic and secular country that revels in its diversity and spirit of tolerance it is essential that education upholds and imparts these values to successive generations to strengthen and protect such traditions. Education is the path to knowledge and knowledge is the path to truth. No education can be truly enlightening if it fails to instil in people a respect for truth and purity of purpose and with it the nobleness of humanism. The issue of providing education to every child in this country is very close to me. I have emphasised my desire to see every person to be touched by the light of modern education. Education must teach the lesson of gender equality to both boys and girls and negate the deep-rooted influence of gender bias which forms the bedrock of social prejudices. With determination and popular participation the vision of universal education can be realised. The government is committed to providing elementary education to all under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Our concerted efforts towards universal elementary education have resulted in a manifold increase in educational institutions and student enrolment. However, there are still many impediments and we need to put in place practical solutions to make our education system more effective. Poverty remains the biggest hurdle in the path towards universal education. Our drive towards educating the nation must focus on poor and remote areas and be sensitive to local problems that come in the way of families sending their children to school. The high rate of school dropouts in economically backward regions and tribal areas is directly linked to economic compulsions where girls and boys have to often work to earn a living for their families. Even though laws are in place to deal with the evil of child labour, it is still present. Only through increased awareness and sensitivity can we succeed in ensuring that every child is taken away from the grip of exploitation and delivered to the doorsteps of a school. It is also important that the education imparted is relevant to their needs.

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The Image Of Ganesha And Its Meaning

An elephant’s trunk has the strength to uproot a tree as well as the finesse to pick up a needle. Ganesha’s trunk symbolises the fact that the wise person has both immense strength and fine discrimination. Ganesha has large ears. The wise person hears all. He has four hands. In one hand he holds a lotus, the symbol of enlightenment. In the other hand he holds a hatchet. That is, the old karma — all your sanskars, the accumulated good and bad of past deeds — get cut when enlightenment comes. The third hand holds laddus, the round sweet-meats. They are the rewards of a wise life. Ganesha is never shown eating the laddus. The wise man never partakes of the rewards of his deeds. He is not attached to them. The fourth hand is shown blessing the people. The wise man wishes the best for everyone. Ganesha has only one tusk; the other is shown broken. There is an interesting story as to how Ganesh happened to get an elephant’s head and how one tusk got broken. The symbolism of the broken tusk is that the wise person is beyond duality. We tend to think that we end when our bodies end in the material world. We are the first person. All else is different. This duality is created by the mind which creates the ego to help us survive in this world. This ‘me-other’ duality is the screen keeping us from realising our real Self, which is beyond body and mind. Once we transcend this duality, we see the entire Universe as a single whole and we become aware of our true Selves. The single tusk of Ganesha symbolises this non-duality. Wisdom allows us to see all as one and ourselves an integral part of the whole. Ganesha is shown sitting with one foot on the ground and the other resting on his knee, above the ground. The wise person is of this earth, yet not entirely of this earth. Ganesha is shown seated on a rat. The reason for saying that Ganesha ‘rides’ on the rat is that the rat is among the greediest of all animals. It will keep nibbling at whatever is available, eating everything it can. Scientifically, too, the rat’s teeth keep growing and it has to keep chewing on something to keep these within limits. The rat is a symbol of our senses, which are never satisfied. They crave new experiences, new tastes. Left uncontrolled, they keep growing forever. The wise person rides on his senses. He keeps them under control. Ganesha is often shown seated in front of a tray of sweets. In these images the rat is shown sitting in front of Ganesha, perhaps a bit to one side, looking up at him. The senses of the wise person are under his control and the rat dare not eat the sweets without the permission of Ganesha. Ganesha is the son of Shiva and Parvati, the God governing the life-force and the earthmother. This symbolises the spirit and body of the wise person. Finally, the wise person has the dignity of an elephant. When we say “Aum Ganeshaya Namah” before starting anything what we are saying is that “In what we are about to do, let wisdom be our guide”. In a sense, Ganesha is our most powerful god, and he is usually remembered before starting any rituals for other deities.

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Poor, Rich India

Even while a lot of people are wringing their hands about the on-again, off-again Indo-US nuclear deal, a far more crucial potential deal is being overlooked, a deal between two countries. No, not between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, important enough though that is. This deal is between the two seemingly adversarial countries which are the two Indias. One is the India which is home to one-third of the entire world’s poor, with a proportionate population higher than that of sub-Saharan Africa living on less than $2 a day (75.6 per cent and 72.2 per cent, respectively); over 456 million, 42 per cent of all Indians, or four out of every 10, subsist below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day, calculated after taking purchasing power parity (PPP) into account. The other India is an inchoate India, a India in waiting, as it has been for over 60 years. This potential India is said to be worth some $54 billion, which is more than the individual GDPs of more than 100 of the world’s countries. This India-in-waiting is tiny, comprising an aggregate area reportedly of just 92,000 acres, half the size of Mumbai, and moreover is scattered in bits and pieces all over the country. It is the India of the many industrial, mining, power and other projects which are on hold till the politically and socially sensitive issue of rehabilitation and compensation for acquired land — brought into sharp focus at Singur and Nandigram, to name just two recent flashpoints — gets settled, one way or the other. According to a report in this paper, 15 projects involving 91,865 acres and some five lakh farmers are currently deadlocked, representing Rs 2.43 lakh crore of unrealised investment. What is the key to unlocking this waiting wealth which would go a long way in resolving that old paradox: that India is a rich country inhabited by poor people? The answer is deceptively simple in theory, hugely problematic in practice, as evidenced by land-industry disputes as diverse as that of the Nano project and the Tehri dam. These, and a score of similar literally life-and-death — or livelihood-and-death — controversies, have thrown up fundamental, and so far tragically unanswered, questions. Under the law of ‘eminent domain’ the state has the right to acquire private land for ‘public benefit’. But which is the public which benefits: the tribal or the agriculturist whose land is acquired, or the contractor or entrepreneur who sets up shop there? What is fair compensation? Market value of the land? If so, who decides what that market value is, and how it is to be determined? Cash compensation apart, how do you compensate an individual or a community for the loss not only of land but, perhaps more importantly, the loss of an often centuries-old way of life that the land represented? No single set of answers can — or ought to — be found for such questions. Cookie-cutter, one-sizefits-all solutions would do far more harm than good. But that doesn’t mean that a top national priority oughtn’t to be given to finding a variety of ways of honestly and equitably brokering a deal — or rather, a spiderweb of many deals — between the two Indias — the India of entrenched poverty, and the India of stalled prosperity — to mutual advantage. Can the so-called ‘political will’ be found to strike such a win-win deal? No. Not if we assign ‘political will’ exclusively to the professional political class who — as seen at Singur and elsewhere — for their own vote-catching machinations would rather be part of the problem than part of the solution. So where’s the ‘political will’ to be found? How about looking for it in informed public opinion. In civil society. In the seminars and classrooms of educational institutions like the IIMs and IITs. In the chambers and federations of commerce and industry. In village panchayats and rural pathshalas. In NGO networks. In both the sundered Indias whose only hope is to be made whole and one again.

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