A Saviour came this day

Wherever one goes in the world, you will find a special type of people.  They are inevitably respected for their integrity, passion and joyful nature. They work hard, live well and love passionately. They are the Sikhs.

Who are the Sikhs and where did they come from?

Whenever there is grief and unbearable anguish and humanity loses its way, there always arrives a saviour, to provide a loving balm, guide and inspire people to rise and discover through their true potential, salvation.

On this day in 1469 on the day of Kartik Poornima ( the full moon in the month of Kartik) such a saviour took birth in Rai-Bhoi-di Talwandi. Guru Nanak ji had arrived. The people who imbibe Guru Nanak ji's teachings call themselves Sikhs (meaning disciples).

When people are lost they seek guidance, but the priests inevitably land up distancing man from God. The older the faith the more distorted and abused is the religion by those who claim to serve it.

Sikhism is the most modern and relevant faith in the world. The teachings of Guru Nanak ji are easy to understand and hence follow, as it is in the spoken language, free of rituals and does not need middlemen. All it requires, is for us to be loving and to be true. 

Guru Nanak ji's preached three fundamental beliefs.

• 'Kirat Karo':  Fulfil your duties. Make an honest living. For if you do not earn how will you provide for those you are responsible for. This is why the Sikhs are extremely hard working and have a very good work ethic.
• 'Vand Chakko': Share what you earn with others, who are in need. This is why the Sikhs are so helpful and charitable.
• 'Nam Jappo': Remember God and joyfully sing his praise. This is why Sikhs are usually alway happy evening adversity.

Sikhism is relevant even more today for it teaches, 

• Tolerance and universal brotherhood. All are accepted and welcome without any preconditions or  compulsions.
• Breaks all forms of class barriers ignoring sex, colour, religion, caste, rank or wealth. 
• The "Langar" or the community kitchen where kings and the poorest break bread together
• Feed, protect and care for the poor, the hungry and the unfortunate.
• Promotes environmentalism. For to love and respect creation is to love The Creator.
• To honour and respect women as equals and give them same rights and privileges as men.

Guru Nanak ji had two constant companions Mardana a Muslim and Bala a Hindu. He travelled widely across a world torn by strife,  singing hymns and teaching love and tolerance by example.
They travelled mostly on foot from Punjab in all directions, up North till Tibet and South to Sri Lanka, up to Myanmar in the east and Saudi Arabia in the West.


If we do seek salvation then let us learn from a saviour. Paths may be many, but the destination is the same. "There is only One and He is Truth"

I congratulate all the people in all lands on this great day.

_______________________________

*Rai-Bhoi-di Talwandi is now called Nankana and is in Pakistan

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

 - Plato

Plato was a great and wise Greek author & philosopher who lived in Athens - Greece (427 BC - 347 BC)

Where the Gods reside

“Yatr Naryasto Poojyantay,
  Ramantay Tatr Devta"

- Manu-Smriti*                   

Translated from the Sanskrit the statement means,

Where the women are loved and honoured, the Gods are pleased to reside there. 

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Nowadays one regularly reads about incidents of mistreatment and disrespect of women and that can never be condoned. Exceptions however do not define the majority. 

Contrary to common belief, in India, as in most agrarian societies the Goddess, the provider of all things as mother nature has always been revered. The female has always been respected, loved and worshipped. Hindu and later Sikh tradition has always honoured women with the highest status of which women are rightly deserving.

Somewhere along the way, this valuable lesson which kept man and nature in harmony got disturbed. Influence of patriarchal religions, industrialisation, urbanisation etc. amongst other causes has taught man that nature and hence females are to be exploited for man's convenience and pleasure. Exploitation can never bring dignity and love. 
Our salvation and lasting joy can come only by loving and cherishing nature which is manifested in the female.

Culture is shaped by both tradition and historical influences, and provide many valuable lessons. 
Love, trust, respect, and worship can never be legislated, it can only be instilled and cultivated in the hearts of our children. This is not the responsibility of the government, media, priests, schools, or even civil society but only by elders and parents in our own homes.

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* The Manu-Smriti, also known as Manav Dharam Shastra, is the earliest work on Brahminical Dharma in Hinduism. Manu-Smriti is believed to be the word of Brahma, the Creator and it is classified as the most authoritative statement on Dharma .

The scripture consists of 2690 verses, divided into 12 chapters.  It is presumed that the actual human  author of this compilation used the eponym ‘Manu’, which has led the text to be associated by Hindus with the first human being and the first king in the Indian tradition.

Burn Baby, Burn.

She said, "May I come Close? I have many demons inside". 

I answered, "Don't come any closer, there is already a hell inside of me, created by unwelcome gifts from others like you". 

I want to tell you a secret

For the frivolous and trivial minded, gossip is an important currency. Such people trade so called secrets with one another until nothing is secret and everything is naked. All useless but extremely entertaining. The small and idle minded can be forgiven for that is all they can indulge in.

I do not want people to tell me their secrets, though I am good at keeping other people's secrets. It is a terrible quality to possess for I am burdened by carrying someone else demons.The burden of these secrets were burning in others now they burn inside me.

Many a times we are told, "I am going to tell you a secret, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else". Is it not foolish for people to expect someone else to keep your secret which you yourself cannot keep?

It is believed that the profession with the highest suicide rates are psychiatrists,  and why not? They are constantly overloaded with other people's treachery, complaints, secrets, guilts and problems. 

“If you have a secret that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” - Eric Schmidt

Empathy, is certainly a desirable trait in people. It is the ability to place oneself in someone else's shoes, and to be compassionate. Empathy however, is different from allowing people possession of your mind and filling it up with useless gossip and often malicious information.

Next time someone wants to bare their soul to you or tell you a secret, maybe you should reconsider whether you should be listening to it.

Savouring Life

We all need challenges to enjoy life. 
Challenge gets our adrenaline flowing to either fight or take flight, and this in turn creates stress. Some level of stress is in fact healthy and even essential for  us to live exciting and interesting lives. However stress can often become addictive, and as with all addictions we need greater and greater doses of excitement to get the same high.

One of the greatest stress creators is modern man's, need for speed. Our lives are running faster and faster, yet rarely do we arrive anywhere meaningful. 

Time is money we are told, money for whom and what will you do with that money if you have lost your health, your sanity, and your self. We often have no time to enjoy life, nature, our families, our friends and precious moments we live. If we ever do realise our folly, it is often too late in life to do anything about it.

Life is not only to be lived, it has to be savoured. Unfortunately we have come to believe that only through money and power, can we enjoy life and be happy. That too if we have lots of it.

Many things in life can be enjoyed which money cannot afford to buy,  The love and company of family, friendship, sound sleep, good health, mother's cooking, wisdom, etc. etc. 

The sounds and smell of nature, the sun, rain, the breeze, the song of birds and the mischief of youth, the joy of play, music and dance, all these and many other things we increasingly miss in our lives.

When we travel fast we hardly ever notice and therefore can never admire the scenery. When we zip through life we journey from cradle to the funeral pyre or grave, we hardly get to live. Mere existence is not living.

Many years ago I went through a catastrophic personal and business setback. I struggled and I struggled and I struggled, until there was nothing more I could do. 
When all worldly doors close we seek a higher self within our own being. Through the doorway of our soul we seek to find answers and solutions. Eventually, exhausted, I surrendered to God's will. I stopped struggling and that led an awakening.

Now I had time to look within. I now had time to do all the things I should have done all my life and somehow forgotten to do because I was too busy.

I found I had time to reflect, meditate, go for walks,  spend time with my loved ones. I learnt to chew rather than swallow my food. Help with the children and home, read listen to music, tell and listen to stories, etc. I had done many of these things before but grudgingly or almost robotically, now I savoured them.

I do not regret the years I spent in discovering my potential and to achieving  spectacular results. I had a wonderful relationship with my colleagues and the immense learning I obtained. Many liked me and some even loved me but I was too busy and oblivious of their affection.

I still work hard, and do many things, but all with greater meaning. No issue is too minor, nor is any relationship too demanding. A joy fills my being for I no longer live life but savour it.

A word is worth a billion pictures

A picture is said to be worth a thousand words, but how many pictures is a word worth?

_______________________

A word when read or heard will form an image in the mind of the listener or reader. Rarely do we find two people sharing the same image.

This is because each individual has his or her own unique perspective on everything. These perspectives exist within the reality they have created for themselves.  For example take the word 'love', it will form a different image in each individual's mind because of their own unique reality.

We share this planet with billions of people, therefore each word can potentially translate into billions of images. Harmony between people can only be achieved if people are willing to accept that different people and communities have different realities. Openness and  engagement 
allows us to broaden, deepen and makes vibrant our individual perspectives.

Wise and evolved individuals are dangerous for exploitive leaders. They want just obedient zombies. Smart enough to work hard and stupid enough to willingly accept orders and norms blindly. 

So leaders and exploiters depend on authority, so that their brand of reality is imposed on the mind of followers and potential followers. Thus the individual's natural or original reality is distorted or suppressed.

That is why the first phase of creating followers is generating mass discipline by indoctrination. This is used by priests, social leaders and parents. They give each one of us our prime reality. Subsequently formal school and college teachers impose on us our secondary reality. This is why all political parties and organised religions have such a keen interest in mass education. The younger the mind the more virgin it will be, and easier to implant their preferred perspectives on pure minds.

This is why Albert Einstein observed, "Few are those that think with their own minds and feel with their own hearts."

Once indoctrination is complete, most people enter a stage of stupor and stay that way. Now their given realities are reinforced by suitable laws, norms and the use of communication media. 
In such a society that we have now come to live in, individuals are generally unhappy but are intellectually and spiritually too weak to dare make or even think of making any changes. They often live frustrated, hypocritical, shallow lives and will one die within these given realities. But who cares? Definitely not the leaders and definitely not the new mass of docile sheep lining up for the slaughter.

This struggle between leaders and individuals goes on. The leaders want to impose reality where as the individual seeks to discover and experience their own reality.

All it needs for an individual soul to break free from these artificial realities, is a trigger. 
Several factors can act as triggers, extreme failure, or success, new information from other non traditional sources from the outside of the controls of leaders who dominate our reality. Stimulus can come from reading, travel, engaging with people who have different perspectives, listening to others, or encountering true and good teachers. All these can jolt people awake from their given realities and they start to see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.

This is why so many restrictions are imposed by the power authorities on engaging or mixing with other people, travel, etc. They seek to keep people on the straight and narrow path laid out for people to follow.

The fortunate ones with the help of genuine teachers learn to courageously experience, evolve and create their own true reality.  The true teacher can be a parent or a master or even a stranger. He or she is not is not someone who draws you to them or a dogma, He or she is someone who draws you towards yourself.

These blessed people live fulfilling lives. Rich or poor, successful careers or not, they will be contented, tolerant, friendly, peaceful, and compassionate.

__________

There is another dangerous side of awakening. 
History is full of scientists, artists, teachers, saints, prophets, gurus,  who have been tortured and killed because they dared to espouse new and different ideas and perspectives. Anyone who dares to express a reality other than the commonly accepted reality is sought to be destroyed. The worst offenders who seek to destroy are whose power is challenged by new ideas and perspectives. Most common destroyers being governments, organised religions, and professional organisations, etc. in short all those who are politically structured and govern others.

This is why many people who actually awaken pretend to remain asleep, for they have not the courage to show their own picture, their own reality.

Genuine and happy

When you buy something because you like or love it, then value comes not from the price you pay but from the joy or satisfaction it brings to the heart. However if you obtain something for a commercial reason that essential quality, that joy is missing. You always fret because you always know the cost etc. and rarely realise it's value. 

One day a man looking to make a financial investment bought a painting supposedly made by the famous painter Pablo Picasso.  Since this man had bought it merely as a commercial investment with no attraction towards it, he was a worried man.  "Did I pay too much for it?  What if the value does not increase?  The greatest fear, was it a fake?"

He had spent a lot of money and now felt ill with worry. A few days later a friend met the buyer and remarked, how bad the man looked. The man confided in his friend on what was eating him up.

Unlike many great painters who were recognised only after their death, Picasso was very famous and wealthy even while he was alive. The friend reassured him, "If it worries you so much let me help you. Pablo Picasso happens to be well known to me. We will take your painting to him directly and ask him to verify if it is a fake or not."

The man thanked his friend profusely for his assistance. They set a date and time when they would go to meet Picasso himself after the friend had secured an appointment with Picasso. 

After receiving the visitors Picasso examined the painting. After a brief while in a rather dismissive manner, Picasso declared, "This painting is not genuine."

The buyer clutching his forehead the buyer collapsed onto the floor as his knees buckled under him from the shock. moaning, "I should never have trusted that seller, that cheat. Why did I have to buy it? What have I done? I have bought a fake." 

Picasso helped revive the sobbing buyer and said" I never said it was a fake, I said it was not genuine."

The buyer and the friend were  now thoroughly confused. The man asked, "What is the difference? Fake or not genuine, why play with words, is it not the same thing?"

Picasso said, "No, there is a big difference. A fake is something made by someone else. I actually painted this myself, therefore this painting is not a fake. However when I made this painting, I was not really in a creative mood.  A man had come to buy a painting and I had none to show him. I told him to come back next week.  This man would not take a no, he wanted to buy something and he wanted it right away. So I painted something for him in a few hours. This painting is a copy of another painting I had made much earlier. **I say it is not genuine because, I never put my heart and soul into it, just some physical and memory work. "**

This painting it is not a work of art, it is not genuine. It is just some colours on a piece of canvas which lacks passion and a soul. "
                                              

______________________________________________

This incident probably explains, why people fall out of love with artists and their creations so quickly.  Why does the song or poem fail to create the magic after some time?

When first produced, it is born out of passion, the story, painting, dance or song has a soul, a life. When we repeat or duplicate it which we often do, it becomes just a mere copy. 

Copies lack a soul, and without that a soul art is just noise, a piece of canvas or paper. Every work of art, or creativity is invaluable. The moment we assign a monetary value to art we give birth to a business and in the bargain we destroy both the art and the artist.

Whenever something is created or prayers offered or friendship made, to earn money, it ceases to be genuine, for it lacks that special quality which it possesses when it is born out of passion and love.

This is also why many relationships personal, social or professional last only for a short period of time before disintegrating. Fakes die soon and genuine endures for long.

               ______________________________________

Living genuinely is not difficult, all it requires is integrity, to be honest with oneself. Yes it requires courage to be true to oneself, but it is very worth it.

I have discovered that living genuinely and not as a copy, has enriched my life and made it vibrant. My soul and I are now closer to being one, and nothing can beat that.

                               

The base of the lamp is always dark.

Called by thousands of names Prophets, Gurus, Murshid, Teacher, Messiah, all of them unselfish masters have since time immemorial come showed humanity the way and then left. They were a light unto themselves and humanity tried to follow them.

Politically inclined people can spot opportunities much easier than the masses. They have always seen great power and wealth to be made by appointing themselves as the exclusive marketing agents of the Gurus, Messiahs.

So these self appointed agents set up gigantic multinational institutions called organised religion, to market and take full advantage of the goodwill, and light of the now departed masters.

While masters possess the breath of life itself, a religion is lifeless, a mere body without a soul.

When real masters are replaced by paid preachers or teachers, the magic of the message is greatly diluted if not completely lost. What remains are empty words, mere songs, complex rituals and soul-less political establishments.

Religions use complex rituals, nuances, etc. written and spoken in undecipherable language. They expect the masses to follow unnatural behaviour, demand total obedience and following by the faithful to a small group of priests.

Institutions are political in nature, and whenever there is politics, the worst aspects of human nature tends to come to the fore. Power struggles are common, and power seeks only its own absolute monopoly and continuity.

To increase their power, every religion employs an army of priests, assistants and missionaries to spread the 'message', which is nothing more than recruitment drives under various guises and to acquire wealth an power for the religious institution. The 'message' also conveniently grants religious leaders special privileges and the masses to merely serve the religious leaders.

Now preachers try to replicate the energy and light of the Masters to guide people. They resort to holding up holy books /scripture as divine lamps. The mangers of organised religion and the paid priests have granted themselves exclusive rights to hold up the lamp for others to unquestioningly follow.



They ask that people follow the persons carrying the lamp. But have you noticed the base of the lamp is always dark?


The lecturers, preachers and the leaders are themselves in the dark. A darkness possibly created by a mix of greed, lust, vanity, power, wealth, and anger,  and the insatiable desire to possess your mind, body, possessions, wealth and influence.


The ones in darkness hold up the lamp, beckon us to follow them along their path. They want you to surrender all that is yours to them including your soul. If you do not surrender they will legislate it, and enforce it.  History is full of examples of religious leaders fabricating, misleading, manipulating, etc, and if not successful with these measures, confiscate wealth, torture, and kill to take followers to the promised land and heaven.



The priests need the power of rulers and the State to stay in power and the rulers need the priests to legitimise their reign. A convenient symbiosis, where two sets of people in the dark thriving off each other. Look closely and you will find that politicians and religious leaders share the same characteristics.

_________________________

Sadly, man lives in fear. Fearful creatures are easily confused and will cling to any thing that offers a way to mitigate their fear. The priests know this and there is a race to recruit followers as soon as they are born and often even before birth. More the number of followers of any religion, the greater the hordes of people to be used and sacrificed and greater wealth at there disposal.

We, each one of us, has great individual potential. In fact that is the only true potential we possess. However to realise that potential we must be one with ourselves not with the crowd or the mobs. Each one of us has our own lamp, that we can use to illuminate the path ahead. The base of this lamp is bright and there is nothing hidden from the glare of this lamp. All we need to do is turn it on.

But we dare not to turn it on. We are fearful that we will discover horrid things about ourselves. So what? As there are nights, there are also days. We humans all have strengths and weaknesses, look within and you will find many wonderful things in life and within you.

We are all originally divine and we can realise our divinity through meditation.

Once discovered our divinity will automatically drop all negativity. Then fear is banished, wonder fills us and childlike we will become, innocent, pure and fearless.

Be your own lamp, for your existence begins and ends with you and your spirit, and not that of the other person holding up their own lamp.

On a clear night

On a clear day, 

        I can see 7 kilometres to the horizon

On a clear night, 

         I can see million of kilometres to the stars.

                                 - Author unknown

_______________________________

Success is like a bright day.  Shiny, attractive and blinding. 

Failure is like a foggy day. Unclear and confusing.

Without reflection or contemplation little can be understood or experienced.

Contemplation is like a clear night. We can see deep within and without ourselves.  

Who is king of kings?

   "Chah gayi chinta miti, Manva beparwah;

    Jinko kachhu na chahiye, Wohi shah-en-shah"

- The Guru Granth Sahib

 Translated.

When desires are gone, worries end, and person will become carefree;

The one who wants nothing is the king of kings. 

Let her go.

Once an elderly monk and a young monk were trudging through the forest, back towards their monastery They came to a small river, which was in spate. The water was not deep but the current looked dangerously swift. They would simply have to wait it out. 

On the same river bank stood a young attractive woman, looking tired, hungry and  very anxious. With hesitation she approached the monks and said, "I have been here all day. I am desperate to get to my home on the other side. My young children will be waiting for me for they will be very hungry. Sirs please help me to get across, I implore you."

The less people think and feel, the more zealous they become. The young are particularly eager to be accepted and therefore always more earnest in obeying orders.
Being an ascetic the younger monk refused to even make eye contact and simply turned his back on the woman. He dismissively gestured to her to be gone.

The elder monk was a wise and spiritual man, he too had taken many vows, but he felt it no sin to look at and listen to the woman. With spiritual awakening comes compassion. The monk understood the anxiety of a mother longing to reach out to her children. He felt obliged to be of service and to assist the young woman in distress.

He set about putting together a makeshift raft, and when completed he waded into the river with the raft. He gestured to her to sit on it and she hesitatingly climbed on board and held on to the monk and raft for dear life. The angry young monk grudgingly followed the older monk. 

Pushing the raft forward with one hand he began to slowly wade across the river. When they had almost crossed the the river, the raft was hit by debris and overturned, tossing the woman into the muddy water.  As the young monk watched with shock, the elder monk plunged quickly into the water grabbed the woman and carried her safely towards dry land. 

The woman regained her breath and composure, then with folded hands and tears in her eyes, she bowed to the monk and touched his feet. After a few long moments she stood up and ran, on her way to her children. The two monks also resumed their journey but the younger monk now visibly very very angry.  

He continued sulking even after arriving at their destination. After a long while, the elder asked the young monk, "Brother what is it that bothers you?"

The younger retorted, "You know what troubles me. You have broken your vows. You not only looked at but touched the woman, and even carried her across the river."

The elder monk with a smile replied, "Yes, I carried her. I believed it was a greater duty than obedience to my vows to help that poor helpless woman. However, I left her at the river's edge, but it seems to me my brother, that you are still carrying her."  "Let her go"

Dream or Awaken?

Who looks outside, dreams;

Who  looks  inside, awakes.

             - Carl Jung

Power of Yoga, explained.

Who is my best friend?
Should it not be me, myself?
For how can I befriend or love others when I cannot love or befriend myself?
How can I know the eternal, when I don't know myself?

But who am I?
I don't know.
My impressions or understanding of myself is what others have communicated to me.  Even my name is given to me by someone else.
I am this and that and a thousand other things, but I always remain that being, who is defined by others.
Then who am I?

_____________________________                                

Who am I?
To find out, I must ask none other than myself.
But how can I know myself?

Man the animal has his senses trained to handle the external world. The eyes, the nostrils, the ears etc, all are directed outwards.

Man the divine being, lies within us. We should journey inwards into our being, and that journey has to start with the mind.

But my mind is not one. There is always a crowd within my mind and all of them are clamouring for attention. I need to silence them all and still all thoughts, so that I can listen to and observe myself.

This listening and observation is meditation.

This is why it is imperative for me to spend some time alone with myself, to meditate. Concentration does not work, because the more I focus, the more I am strained.

 When I try meditating, I find that sometime my body and most of the time my mind dominate my being.  I tried to fight the thoughts but the more I battle them the stronger they bounced back.


This is why it is imperative for me to spend some time alone with myself, to meditate.

When I try meditating, I find that sometime my body and most of the time my mind dominate my being.  I tried to fight the thoughts but the more I fought them the stronger they bounced back.    

I try not to judge or fight my thoughts, I try just to observe them. Like clouds in the sky, they waft in and fade away, I am often swept away by the clouds or I go a chasing them.

The answer lies in performing yoga.

Yoga is not just contorted body postures, and exercise. It is an ancient and complete science. It has remained a gift from India to humanity for thousands of years.

The more I perform Yoga, the easier it is to meditate.
The more I meditate the more I discover the foolishness of being busy just for the sake of keeping myself uselessly occupied, trying to satisfy and keep entertained that insatiable factor, the human ego.

With each passing day, grows the harmony of my being. The less my mind strays, more healthy and alert I feel. I have traded useful action for useless activity.



Harmony cannot be explained it has to be experienced.


Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word 'Yuj', means to join. I prefer to describe yoga as a confluence, the coming together of the flow of the body, the mind and the spirit.

Yoga offers, possibly the simplest and best path for individuals and humanity to be to be truly holy*.  Holy because the mind, body and spirit of the individual will be in harmony with each other.  Blissful, aware, active and healthy people.

Could we ask for anything more?



*Holy comes from the same word, meaning, 'to be whole'

Who is a Warrior?

"No one has the right to take another life. A warrior for us is different from what you think of as. The warrior is not someone who simply fights and kills. 

The warrior, for us, is the one sacrifices himself for the good of others. His task is to take care of the elderly, the defenceless, those who cannot provide for themselves and above all, the children who are  the future of humanity."

 - Sitting Bull

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Sitting Bull  (1831 – 1890) was a holy man and tribal chief of the Hunkpapa Lakota people, who led the Sioux Red Indian Nation against the American government which mainly constituted of Europeans who had settled in  America

While two thirds of who died were due to diseases imported by the settlers a third of the native American Indians were simply exterminated. It is estimated that approximately 18 million Red Indians died for the sake of 'freedom' and 'progress' of the settlers in North America.




It is estimated that the number killed in South America or what we also call Latin America was still higher at over 50 million native Indians killed.

It marks one of Humankind's greatest tragedies and depicts Man at his possible shameful worst.

The American colonisation of the West, and the dispossession of its indigenous peoples was carried out under the ideology of Manifest Destiny. Europeans believed that they had a superior culture, and that it was their God-given destiny to occupy the land and to extinguish the culture of its original inhabitants. 

Manifest Destiny - American Progress by John Gast (1872)

In this illustration, we see Progress leading the settlers across the prairie, Bible in hand, stringing telegraph wires with the other, while the “savages” flee ahead

Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.

Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers

       - Alfred Tenyson

I visited the Universal Business School (UBS) in Karjat (near Mumbai, India) several times. An impressive and wonderful feature at UBS is called, 'The Wisdom School'. UBS is probably the only managerial and business school in India which seeks to amplify and stimulate human goodness.

In addition to producing some good potential business managers UBS also strives to evolve good human beings and leaders.

Usually students and parents too often are focussed only on facts and figures, tools and techniques seeking to get knowledge. The grades and mark sheets are all that matter to them and to potential employers. Alas if more of them also sought wisdom.

UBS have not yet got there but they believe that in addition to the knowledge they impart, they must help their students to become wise.

Mr. Gurdip Anand the main founder of UBS, sought my opinion on what I felt would help the students be wise. That really stumped me and I needed to think long and hard and search for an answer. 

No doubt many of our education institutions provide knowledge but that is wholly inadequate. Knowledge increases our ability to act. However mere actions without wisdom often causes suffering and degradation of individuals,  society and nature.  

The ability to apply knowledge, understanding experience, insight, and common sense for the benefit of oneself, for others and for creation, is called wisdom.

Good education should teach the person,

• To discover oneself and realise one's potential
• How to be in harmony with oneself?
• To enjoy life by being true to oneself.
• To be friends with the world.
• To continuously learn, un-learn and re-learn?
• Respect for oneself, others and creation in general.
• To be compassionate
• Tolerance
• To be healthy?
• Enjoy art, creativity and to be innovative?
• The true meaning of responsibilities and rights and their judicious application 

_______________________

"The more I see, the more I learn.

The more I learn, the more I know.

The more I know, the more I realise.

The more I realise, I learn how little I know."

______________________________

If you wish to know more about Universal Business school you may contact 

Brigadier GPS Cheema

Chief mentor of UBS Wisdom School 

email:      gpscheema@yahoo.com

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God everywhere and in all things - Chief Seattle

 In 1855 President Franklin Pierce of the United States made a “request” to Chief Seathl of the Suwamish tribe of Indians (who lived in what is now the State of Washington) to “sell” his land to the government. In reply, Chief Seathl sent the following letter to the President:

The great chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. The great chief also sends us words of friendship and goodwill. This is kind of him, since we know that he has little need of our friendship in return. But we will consider your offer, for we know that if we do not do so, the white man may come with guns and take our land.

How can you buy or sell the sky—the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. Yet we do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water. How can you buy them from us?

Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore,every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the

same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. But perhaps it is because the red man is a savage and does not understand. 

If I decide to accept, I will make one condition. The white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers. What is man without beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of the spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to man.One thing we know which the white man may one day discover: Our God is the same God. You may think that you own Him as you wish to own our land. But you cannot. He is the God of men. And His compassion is equal for the red man and the white. 

This earth is precious to Him. And to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. The whites, too, shall pass—perhaps sooner than other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. When the buffaloes are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the sacred corner of the forest heavy with the scent of men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wives, where is the thicket ? Where is the eagle? And what is it to say goodbye to the shift and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of dying.

There is no quiet place in the white man’s cities. No place to hear the leaves of spring or the rustle of insect wings. But perhaps because I am a savage and do not understand—the clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lovely cry of the whippoorwill or the argument of the frogs around a pond at night? The Red Indian prefers the

soft sound of the wind itself cleansed by the midday rain, or scented with a pine. The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath—the beasts, the trees, the man. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the smell.

We might understand if we know what the white man dreams, what hopes he describes to his children on long winter nights, what visions he burns into their minds, so that they will wish for tomorrow. But we are savages. The white man’s dreams are hidden from us.

And because they are hidden, we will go on our own way. If we agree, it will be to secure our reservation you have promised. There perhaps we may live out our brief days as we wish. When the last red man has vanished from the earth, and the memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, these shores and forests will still hold the spirits of my people, for they love this earth as the newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat. If we sell you our land, love it as we loved it, care for it as we have cared for it, hold in your mind the memory of the land, as it is when you take it, and with all your strength, with all your might, and with all your heart, preserve it for your children, and love it as God loves us all. One thing we know—your God is

the same God. The earth is precious to Him. Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny.

Chief Seattle

(Letter released by the United States Government as part of the Bicentenary celebrations).

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The only known photograph of Chief Seattle, in 1864 (c. 1780 - June 7, 1866). Chief Seattle (anglicised name) was a Suquamish (or Suquampsh) Chief (possibly also a Duwamish Chief), also known as Si'ahl, Sealth, Seathle, Seathl or See-ahth. Seattle in Washington was named after him.

"We are all one Tribe,  the Human Tribe... "

"Native American isn't blood. It is what is in the heart. The love for the land, the respect for it, those who inhabit it, and the respect and acknowledgement of the spirits and elders. That is what it is to be Indian."

              White Feather, Navajo Medicine Man