By Vikas Vij 07:33 28/Oct/2007 2 Comment(s)
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Bobby Jindal continued...
When Arnold Schwartznegger won his elections in California, the Austrians celebrated back home.
Similarly, Sonia Gandhi's victory caused jubilation in Italy, and became a hot topic of discussion in Italy's political circles, and the leading Italian newspapers frontpaged the news in headlines. And perhaps the most generous compliment of all, came from a magazine owned by the then Prime Minister of Italy (media magnate Bertolusconi) that said: "Now we are going to have two Italian Prime Ministers, but theirs is better than ours." It is the destiny of the narrow-minded to view everything through the colored glasses of race, religion and nationality. Whereas, if you view it through the prism of humanity, the victories of Arnold Schwartznegger, Bobby Jindal and Sonia Gandhi are the victories of humanity over parochialism and narrow-mindedness. These victories are the little joys of life that are shared and celebrated by those who understand their meaning. As humble immigrants, Arnie and Bobby came to America with hope and with stars in their eyes. They rose to the very top amid stiff hurdles and extreme competition. But the most delicious victory of all, perhaps, was the victory of Sonia Gandhi in India when she demolished the highly seasoned "ghaags" (I don't have an English equivalent for this term) of Indian politics -- in one swift stroke with her humility and straightforwardness. They heaped personal insults on her, such as repeatedly referring to her by her maiden name "Sonia Maino", and making fun of her Catholic religion, and even mocking her culture, accent, food habits and so on. It was the most vicious personal campaign ever orchestrated that single-mindedly attacked an individual's personal life. And yet that simple woman of Italian origin won against all odds and all opinion polls, and provided a fresh lease of life to the dead and buried Congress party of India. Let us understand a fundamental truth about humanity: Left to themselves, human beings do not discriminate. It is not in their nature. Hindus and Muslims lived like brothers before the partition riots -- their diverse cultures and diverse religious beliefs notwithstanding. Hindus and Sikhs lived the same way in Punjab before terrorism of the 80's. Politics, i.e., divide and rule, is man's second nature. Therefore, discrimination among humans becomes a critical divisive tool of politics. For the politician, it is easy to fool the emotional masses by using this tool effectively. But in an increasingly globalised world, this tool of race, nationality and religion is beginning to lose its discriminatory value. The dividing lines are blurring, even though very slowly. Jindal's or Sonia's victories are only a reaffirmation of this fact. Merit comes before anything else in today's competitive times. The choice of the candidate must be professional, and not emotional.
Let us not forget that the Indian ancient thought was based on the principle of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" (the whole world is one family.)
Ayam nijah parovetthi gananam laghu-chetasaamUdaar charitanam tu vasudhaiva kutumbakam"
[Maha Upanishad, Verse 71]
This is mine, that is yours, is man's petty way of seeing the reality; For those with noble consciousness, the whole world is a family.
Warning: But don't tell all this to emotional fools who are experts in fake patriotism. Even when the times are changing, you will never be able to change their thinking. An old Mewari saying: Akal deveyo'n naahi aaveyEey tou heeyo'n hi upajeySensibility cannot be givenIt sprouts from within
Venu Gopal said...
10:41 AM 28/Oct/07
Add Vikas Vij as Friend Write to Vikas Vij Forward this link
Bobby Jindal continued...
When Arnold Schwartznegger won his elections in California, the Austrians celebrated back home.
Similarly, Sonia Gandhi's victory caused jubilation in Italy, and became a hot topic of discussion in Italy's political circles, and the leading Italian newspapers frontpaged the news in headlines. And perhaps the most generous compliment of all, came from a magazine owned by the then Prime Minister of Italy (media magnate Bertolusconi) that said: "Now we are going to have two Italian Prime Ministers, but theirs is better than ours." It is the destiny of the narrow-minded to view everything through the colored glasses of race, religion and nationality. Whereas, if you view it through the prism of humanity, the victories of Arnold Schwartznegger, Bobby Jindal and Sonia Gandhi are the victories of humanity over parochialism and narrow-mindedness. These victories are the little joys of life that are shared and celebrated by those who understand their meaning. As humble immigrants, Arnie and Bobby came to America with hope and with stars in their eyes. They rose to the very top amid stiff hurdles and extreme competition. But the most delicious victory of all, perhaps, was the victory of Sonia Gandhi in India when she demolished the highly seasoned "ghaags" (I don't have an English equivalent for this term) of Indian politics -- in one swift stroke with her humility and straightforwardness. They heaped personal insults on her, such as repeatedly referring to her by her maiden name "Sonia Maino", and making fun of her Catholic religion, and even mocking her culture, accent, food habits and so on. It was the most vicious personal campaign ever orchestrated that single-mindedly attacked an individual's personal life. And yet that simple woman of Italian origin won against all odds and all opinion polls, and provided a fresh lease of life to the dead and buried Congress party of India. Let us understand a fundamental truth about humanity: Left to themselves, human beings do not discriminate. It is not in their nature. Hindus and Muslims lived like brothers before the partition riots -- their diverse cultures and diverse religious beliefs notwithstanding. Hindus and Sikhs lived the same way in Punjab before terrorism of the 80's. Politics, i.e., divide and rule, is man's second nature. Therefore, discrimination among humans becomes a critical divisive tool of politics. For the politician, it is easy to fool the emotional masses by using this tool effectively. But in an increasingly globalised world, this tool of race, nationality and religion is beginning to lose its discriminatory value. The dividing lines are blurring, even though very slowly. Jindal's or Sonia's victories are only a reaffirmation of this fact. Merit comes before anything else in today's competitive times. The choice of the candidate must be professional, and not emotional.
Let us not forget that the Indian ancient thought was based on the principle of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" (the whole world is one family.)
Ayam nijah parovetthi gananam laghu-chetasaamUdaar charitanam tu vasudhaiva kutumbakam"
[Maha Upanishad, Verse 71]
This is mine, that is yours, is man's petty way of seeing the reality; For those with noble consciousness, the whole world is a family.
Warning: But don't tell all this to emotional fools who are experts in fake patriotism. Even when the times are changing, you will never be able to change their thinking. An old Mewari saying: Akal deveyo'n naahi aaveyEey tou heeyo'n hi upajeySensibility cannot be givenIt sprouts from within
Venu Gopal said...
10:41 AM 28/Oct/07
Dear Vij, When you say, “But don't tell all this to emotional fools who are experts in fake patriotism. Even when the times are changing, you will never be able to change their thinking”, there seems to be a glossing over (explaining away) of others’ points of view. Are those who are emotional, fools? Fake patriotism? Who do you have in mind? I would say that those who sided China in the 1962 war and today oppose the Indo-US nuclear deal and those who consider Mecca as holy land but are unable to sing Vande Mataram but are willing to lap up all benefits they get as minorities are fake patriots. You say that changing times require change in thinking and yet you quote from the Upanishads, thereby asserting that some thoughts don’t dim with time.
Sonia Gandhi’s main agenda is strengthening Christianity in India. However when Jindal went to America he renounced Hinduism and converted to Christianity. One could say that in both instances each have only exercised their right to live and believe as they prefer. However, Vaasudeva Kutumbakam would work only if we accept that others’ way of living are also legitimate. An educated person like Jindal who abandoned Hinduism and accepted Christianity would only be working for Christ’s Kingdom (meaning the Church) and not for Vasudeva Kudumbakam. About Arnie, he has fans across the world including me but as of today he would not be able to become President of America. The Americans are only now talking of changing their constitution to allow a foreign-born to become President but till they actually do so (when they think it is priority) let us not be unfair on Indians who state the fact that Sonia is an Italian and we do not want an Italian Prime Minister of India.
Sonia Gandhi’s main agenda is strengthening Christianity in India. However when Jindal went to America he renounced Hinduism and converted to Christianity. One could say that in both instances each have only exercised their right to live and believe as they prefer. However, Vaasudeva Kutumbakam would work only if we accept that others’ way of living are also legitimate. An educated person like Jindal who abandoned Hinduism and accepted Christianity would only be working for Christ’s Kingdom (meaning the Church) and not for Vasudeva Kudumbakam. About Arnie, he has fans across the world including me but as of today he would not be able to become President of America. The Americans are only now talking of changing their constitution to allow a foreign-born to become President but till they actually do so (when they think it is priority) let us not be unfair on Indians who state the fact that Sonia is an Italian and we do not want an Italian Prime Minister of India.
INDER VIG said...
4:11 PM 29/Oct/07
This is mine, that is yours, is man''s petty way of seeing the reality; For those with noble consciousness, the whole world is a family.AND THATS THE ONLY TRUTH,,,,,,,WHAT A MEANING FULL POST IS YOURS,,,WISH ALL TO UNDERSTAND THE SPIRITS
What Inder Vig says is absolutely true - mine-yours divide is a petty way of seeing reality. But the state of non-duality is achieved by man only after intense spiritual practices - till then our understanding would not be translated to reality. That we should be exited about an Indian becoming Governor of a state in America proves that the mine-yours divide is alive in us. Criticizing him for having converted also proves the existence of the same divide in us - our sense of righteousness and falsity. Whose sense of righteousness is true? Then again, the greatest of Advaita masters do come down to the level of ordinary people to raise them to a higher level. So even such Advaita masters need necessarily take a "my-way-right, your-way-wrong" stand point.
Therefore in the ultimate analysis, duality is inevitable. When we achieve non-duality, we achieve moksha - no more return to the pettiness of the world. Advaita is the absolute truth, the glory of Hinduism, the teaching that disproves the claim of the Semitic religions to be the ultimate messengers of truth. However, Advaita is for the individual. So long as we need to have a society, the mine-yours dichotomy would remain.
I further wish to add to what I''ve said above.
The teaching of Advaita has had pervasive effect on Hindu culture, the most obvious being the inclusive nature of Hinduism - crystallized in the mantra "Vasudeva Kutumbakam". Today, when the world is slowly and surely moving towards a clash of civilizations - between the Christian and Islamic worlds, Advaita can bring in the cooling effect - would even expose the limited dogmas of both these Semitic religions. Therefore if we are to contribute to universal well being both as individuals and as a society, the yogic vision of Advaita is inevitable, which alone would lead to a harmonious or Dharmic society.
