jabdakhata

There has been outrage in different forms over JNU incident. Some were outraged by what they perceived to be a curbing of "freedom of expression", some expressed outrage over anti nationalist spirit displayed, and others, over what they saw Government's high handedness and "intolerance". The intellectuals, media and some political parties belong to the first and third groups. Some politicians have already expressed their solidarity with the students. I am not going to argue here whether they were right or wrong. One thing is however very evident, that in communist thought process their can be no place for Nationalism and when communism mingles with communalism, the concoction becomes deadly. JNU has always been noted for communist sympathizers, some of its professors and academics were noted for their virulent and passionate opposition to anything to deal with the greatness and glory of nation because they either perceived it to be narrow mindedness to love on

Translated from Mahendranath Datta's "London e Vivekananda". Swamiji said in one of his lectures, that many European scholars try to explain philanthropy in different ways. Some says that people try to help others and feel compassionate about others because one thinks that the same misfortune may befall him or her. Therefore to get rid of that possibility we help others. Others say that probably one had been in the same situation in the past. By seeing the plight of another, one remembers one's own experience and therefore try to help others. Others says that if we do not help each other there will be chaos in the society. Nobody would be able to work as the cohesiveness of the society will be destroyed. No sympathy for others would imply that there is also no sympathy for me from others and hence extreme selfishness will result in not doing any work together, thus destroying the fabric of social harmony. In order to prevent that society has evolved into a syste

Translated from "London e Vivekananda" by Mahendranath Datta Duty is driven by responsibility assigned, it can be enforced. [Duty means literally that which is due from me]. Therefore a slave has to perform its duty. A duty is duty, they say and therefore all ethical and moral person think its best to perform one's duty to the best of one's ability. In many cases duty forces one to do reprehensible acts, an acts one would not have done had one been free from sense of duty, a fact that is evident when police or other state actors perform their "duty", however heinous it may be, under order or compulsion. Many Nazis justified their act of killing Jews as "done under order", for the sake of duty. So a duty as an expression represents slavery. Swami Vivekananda in one of his lectures said that there can be different thought process espoused by the ancient Indians. There is no equivalent word of duty in Sanskrit, Kartavyam is not duty, but rather

This is a discourse between Vidura and Dhritarastra in Stree Parva, when the latter was much afflicted by hearing the sad news of the killings of all his sons and grandsons. Taken from Mahabharata of Krishna Dwiapyana Vyasa, translated by Kishari Mohan Ganguli, volume 7 - Stree Parva. A certain brahmana, living in the great world, found himself on one occasion in a large inaccessible forest teeming with beasts of prey. It abounded on every side with lions and other animals looking like elephants, all of which were engaged in roaring aloud. Such was the aspect of that forest that Yama himself would take fright at it. Beholding the forest, the heart of the brahmana became exceedingly agitated. His hair stood on end, and other signs of fear manifested themselves, O scorcher of foes! Entering it, he began to run hither and thither, casting his eyes on every  point of the compass for finding out somebody whose shelter he might seek.  Wishing to avoid those  terrible creatures, he ran in

Vyadha Gita was the name of an excellent piece of wisdom appearing in Mahabharata, Vana parva, that was given by a vyadha (fowler) to a Brahmin who went to learn from him as requested by a housewife.age Markandeya had narrated to Yudhisthira and other Pandavas, in front of Krishna, this story. The story also appears, albeit briefly in one of the lectures of Swami Vivekananda. The story goes like this. There was one Brahmin named Kaushika who after being well versed in Vedas acquired some special power. One day he was meditating under a tree and a crane sitting on the top of that tree and its dropping fell on the Brahmin, who instantly looked up and the crane fell dead. The Brahmin was astonished by the display of this power and also was sad that he killed a creature through his anger. He reproached himself and went to beg in a nearby village. There he begged for alms from a housewife who was busy serving her husband. she told him to wait and served her husband to her heart's cont

Swami Vivekananda's letter to a boy in Alwar has often cited by various sources, esp. the organizations that help others - "Be good and do good, that is the essence of all religions." Swamiji said this in specific context, to a boy who was interested in spiritual life and yet who was groping in darkness. It was person specific and was not general. A spiritual giant like Vivekananda knew very well that religion and spirituality extends far beyond the Western popular notion of being good and doing good. Those are good values no doubt for the beginners, but with certain advancement, being good and doing good does not seem to suffice. Being good does not ensure mental peace, doing good does not conquer ego and doing good with an eye on results is counter  productive. Worldview accepts everything with a utility. If there is utility then the action is accepted, else it is rejected. Without utility there is no meaning or significance attached to the action. Of course from a

Imagine riding a boat with many holes. You are aware of the holes. Some holes are bigger and some are smaller. Water enters through these holes and may lead to critical conditions for the boat, depending on degree of water entered. Therefore some holes may need greater attention while others less. That's what project management as a profession is all about. Being aware that there are holes is called risk management. When water enters through one or more holes they are called issues. It is important that we know which holes need plug in in order to keep the boat floating. Else it may sink at any moment. We also need to be aware of the existence of the holes. Unless we know that there are holes we won't be able to identify the source of the water entering the boat which may tilt and sink it. Being aware of the holes and the tactics and strategies adopted to plug these holes so that the boat does not sink is the essence of project management.