Wednesday, March 30, 2011

A Cure for the Corruption in India, By Stephen Knapp

A Cure for the Corruption in India, By Stephen Knapp: "

Throughout my travels in India, while lecturing at so many cities and venues, it is not unusual for businessmen, industrialists, or even professors to ask me what I think should be done about all the corruption in India, which exists on every level.

The British also helped jump start this corruption by two things:

First the bureaucracy they established in their managerial system which they used against the Indians, most of which was adopted by the Indians in the form of a Parliamentary government and which allows for the loopholes and cracks in the system for the continuation of so much corruption.

Secondly, while under the British, the citizens of India were forced to struggle so hard to exist that it forced them to think in terms of the survival of their own immediate family while giving up the consideration of the whole community. After so many years of that conditioning, this need for self-preservation and the desire to fulfill selfish concerns went from one generation to the next until it became a general trend to get whatever you need regardless of the consequences or how it affects others.


The Indian constitution itself, under the guise of freedom and fairness for the minority religions, fuels corruption and inequality by favoring the few at the expense of the majority Vedic or Hindu population. How can this inspire a united vision?


This goes back to the point that there is no real lack of anything in this world in regard to resources needed to survive. The only real lack is God-consciousness and the higher vision to see that spiritually we are all the same and that we are only barrowing things from the Supreme during the short duration of the life we are given. Thus, the world’s resources need to be distributed in a way so everyone benefits, and that it is not monopolized by greedy people in prominent positions.



Such a disease can only be cured or purged in society by having the proper training, especially while young and still growing up, in order to add the appropriate character building traits necessary to know what is a decent and balanced human being and how to be one.


THE CURE FOR THE PERVASIVE CORRUPTION


As I said earlier, I am often asked when I am in India what to do about all of this corruption. I always answered that the best thing that I know of is to continue to teach the ethical and moralistic standards as found in Vedic Dharma. Fortunately for me, this was reaffirmed while I was in Bangalore with my visit with the eminent M. Rama Jois, the retired Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He told me that this was indeed the best way to relieve the country of all the corruption that we see, but he explained the best means to do that.


M. Rama Jois told me that before the independence of India in 1947, there used to be government pre-schools where the children would go to learn, not necessarily how to read and write, but about the basic rules of Dharma. Then the children would also hear of the examples of Dharma from the great epics, like the Mahabharata and Ramayana or Puranas, and about those great heroes who acted in various situations under the rules of Dharma. This way, before the children ever went to general school to learn reading and writing, etc., they were already educated in the proper content of character to know how to act as a proper human being, and know how to judge what is right or wrong in the various situations of life.


Unfortunately, it was after 1947 when the new administration of independent India decided that learning the ethics of Dharma was religious study, and that the new secular government could no longer support such pre-schools. Thus, all such education of basic moralistic principles under Dharma were no longer to be taught in the schools of India. And since that time, the materialistic selfishness, greed, and the insensitivity to the situation of others for the benefit of oneself, have all increased to the point where now it is almost all-pervasive.


As M. Rama Jois explains in his book Dharma: The Global Ethic, “All our present day problems are a direct result of disregarding Dharma, under the influence of a materialistic philosophy, in the belief that it alone can usher in happiness and secure the welfare of the people. Now it is becoming clear that human problems increase as we go on multiplying our lust and desire for material wealth and pleasure, and that the solution to all the problems, whether they be social, economic or political, and in particular the crash of our moral edifice which the world and our nation are facing, is Dharma alone. There is no alternative to Dharma. This is the eternal truth. This can be realized if we understand the real meaning of Dharma.”


So, what is Dharma? I have already written more extensively about this, but to put it simply, the Mahabharata (Shanti Parva, 109.9-11) says: “Dharma has been explained to be that which helps the upliftment of living beings. Therefore, that which ensures the welfare of living beings is surely Dharma. The learned rishis have declared that which sustains is Dharma.”


A little more clarity can also be provided by Madhavacharya, a Minister to Hakka and Bukka, founders of the Vijayanagar Empire, in his commentary on the Parashara Smriti: “Dharma is that which sustains and ensures progress and welfare of all in this world and eternal bliss in the next world. Dharma is promulgated in the form of commands (rules both positive and negative, Vidhi and Nishedha).”


The Mahabharata (Shanti Parva, 90.3) also says that “The proper function of the king [or any ruler or politician] is to rule according to Dharma and not to enjoy the luxuries of life.” Thus, a politician is not meant to take advantage of his position, but to execute his duties with the welfare of the people in mind, under the guidance of the rules of Dharma.


The basic rules of Dharma, as explained in the Manu-samhita (10.63) are: “Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (not acquiring illegitimate wealth), Shoucham (purity), and Indriyanigraha (control of the senses) are, in brief, the common rules of Dharma for all classes of men.”


These are the Yamas and Niyamas, which also includes Santosha–satisfaction or contentment of mind with what one has without undue endeavor; Tapas–voluntary austerity and tolerance in body, mind, and speech for a higher cause; Swadhyaya–self-analysis, introspection, scriptural research, and reflection to understand and perceive who and what is our real identity and how we are progressing; Ishwara-pranidhana–acceptance, devotion, and surrender to God, or the offering of the fruits of one’s actions to God; and Brahmacharya–following the eternal principle of Brahma, or the control of sensual passions in thought, word, and deed, particularly in the student stage of life.


Therefore, by learning these rules, how to apply them in all aspects of life, and by hearing the examples of the great souls in India’s history and great epics, a child would develop and build his character to be a truly strong, balanced and properly motivated individual who can continue to develop him or herself, and be a true contribution to the rest of society. When this kind of training is received at a young age, it can last for one’s whole life. This is what makes a difference in all aspects of society.


Training in Dharma, which is certainly at the heart of India’s Vedic tradition, can help provide for an orderly society. And an orderly society is the result and an expansion or even incarnation of Dharma.


This leads us to understand that the real happiness and prosperity of any nation is directly proportional to the number of men of character it has produced. This is why it is in the interest of the state or government to supply the means by which all children can understand these principles through appropriate education.


Therefore, it is this education that again needs to be offered and supplied to young students in India. This can be done by the government re-establishing the pre-schools, as previously mentioned, to teach the principles of Dharma. Or, as I have seen on my 2010 trip to India, through a grassroots effort of individuals, or husband and wife teams who give such classes on Dharma to the children of their neighbors or friends on weekends, such as Sunday mornings, they begin to influence each child who attends. This is very effective and will have long range results. Thus, everyone can do something. But people should team up and work together to make this possible and duplicate these methods that are successfully used in order to expand this process all across the country. They should also work with those honest and reputable politicians to help again establish such pre-schools throughout the nation so that gradually India can again return to being a country where corruption is not so pervasive. Then the character of the country will reflect the content of the character of the people who inhabit it.



Euthanasia: The Life-Death Continuum – Sandhya Jain

Euthanasia: The Life-Death Continuum – Sandhya Jain: "

Sandhya JainSome unsatisfactory aspects of the Supreme Court judgment derive from a tacit assumption that the worldly life is the summon bonum (highest good) of existence. There appears to be a bias towards Western materialism and its bizarre quest to prolong human life to the point of abolishing death. This derives from the belief that there is just one life, at the end of which the soul remains in limbo for aeons, till the Day of Judgment assigns it to eternal heaven or hell. – Sandhya Jain



(title unknown)

(title unknown): "
INNOCENT SWAMI AMRITANANDA DEV TIRTHA IN GUANTANAMO BAY OF MAHARASHTRA
ILLEGAL ARREST AND INCARCERATION WITHOUT ANY END IN SIGHT
– A CASE FIT FOR AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Part II

Swami Amritananda Dev Tirtha, Shankarachrya of
Sri Sharada Sarvagya Peeth


I am presenting below the facsimile of the letter in Hindi dated 25th March 2011 sent by Shankaracharya Swami Amrutanand Dev Tirth to Shri P. Daivamuthu.




Will the Maharashtra ATS, (Anti Truth Squad), Congress Bureau of Investigation/Intimidation (CBI) and the National (Hindu) Intimidation Agency (NIA) dare to foist a false case on the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Ahmad Bukhari or the Cardinal of Bombay Oswald Gracias? These anti-Hindu and anti-National agencies are taking their operational instructions from the Firangi Memsahib Sonia Gandhi and her private family business called the Congress Party.

Men in the bonded labour of Sonia Gandhi like Digvijay Singh and P. Chidambaram acting together are co-ordinating all these anti-Hindu activities under the guise of tackling the imagined phantom called Saffron Terrorism. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Digvijay Singh, P. Chidambaram are all promoters of Islamic terrorism in the Southern and Western parts of India and promoters of Christian terrorism in Orissa and the North-Eastern parts of India. Perhaps all of them are fated to get their due justice without any trial in the same manner as Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi got from Madame Destiny. I derive my inspiration for saying this from the following lines of immortal poetry:

“Glories of our Blood and State
Are shadows and not substantial things
Early or late we stoop to fate
Sceptre and crown must tumble down
And in the dust be equal made
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.”


Vijayvaani - Tamil Nadu Politics: Cancerous Church Eats into Dravidian Parties - I Radha Rajan

Vijayvaani.com: "

Tamil Nadu Politics: Cancerous Church Eats into Dravidian Parties - I
Radha Rajan


The cancerous objective was to eat away the umbilical cord binding Tamil Hindus to Hindus in the rest of India and replace it with a sense of anti-Hindu Dravidian Tamil and anti-Hindu, non-Hindu Church ‘Tamil’ ness.

This was the lemon sold to Kashmiri Hindus too in the name of Kashmiriyat. The Kashmiriyat lemon sold to Kashmiri Hindus by Kashmiri Muslims (almost certainly this fiction was fabricated in the colonial Christian mind and its potential allowed to sprout in the Kashmiri Muslim mind) said, we Kashmiris are unique and so Kashmiri Hindus have more in common with Kashmiri Muslims than with Hindus in the rest of India.

This is vintage Christian war strategy - de-link the target community from its parent, give it a sense of separateness resulting in alienation, render it defenseless, alone and vulnerable, and then step in for the kill. The political propaganda that Sikhism is not Hinduism, Jainism is not Hinduism, is a piece of the same diabolic Church fabric. Sikhs and Jains who mouth this Church fiction must look at the tragic fate of Kashmiri Hindus which does not warrant repetition here."

Goa to abolish colonial era tax on temples

Goa to abolish colonial era tax on temples: "Panaji (Goa): A tax imposed by the colonial Portuguese regime on Goa’s Hindu temples and which continued to be exacted even 50 years after the state’s liberation, will soon be scrapped."

Haindava Keralam - Now comes demand for Muslim reservation in Parliament and State assemblies

Haindava Keralam - global community of dedicated Hindu Keralites with a peace mission

Now comes demand for Muslim reservation in Parliament and State assemblies

New Delhi: Following demands for Job reservation and reservation in Educational institutions for Muslims in the country, Samajvadi Party Chief harp on Muslim reservation in assemblies and Parliament. The demand for reservation for Muslims in state assemblies and Parliament was made in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

Before coming up with such sops to divide the Nation based on religious lines , Mulayam Singh should first show the audacity to implement the idea in his own party first and we are sure that there will be enough takers for it from Congress and Communist parties.