What Medhajananam meant to me?

Let me put it this way. Ever since my mom stopped shaking me out of bed and shoving me into the bathroom to get ready for school, there were few classes in which I had 100% attendance. So, what made me attend every class of "Medhajananam"? The answer is very obvious: No taking Notes, no exams, no homework, you don't even have to sit attentively with a pretentious expression on thy face … plus you need not hide any yawning sensations … If only every class were like this, I guess the problem of education can be solved much faster …

Medhajananam had been an exciting journey, more like a field trip into the concepts of an Indic Philosophy. The framework of AUM, I feel, has a stunning clarity and remarkable relevance to today's world. The most important aspects I liked about the framework are its overall simplicity, its openness to new ideas and information and lastly, the rationality of its worldview.

The following features of the philosophy struck a chord with me at this point in my life:

* The class helped me understand a great deal about importance and power of religion & mythology and their influence on human society and dynamics.

* The fractal nature of the universe implies the scalability of understanding the same by understanding ourselves and our daily lives and vice-versa. I thought that was an interesting point.

* The most exciting concept that I learnt in the course had to be about the constant interaction of purusha (the "Idea") and prakriti (the "media"). The limitlessness of an idea being expressed through the finiteness of a media to choreograph the dance of life is an amazing concept in Indic philosophy. The delightful poetic use of colorful symbolism that clothes Indian mythology to express the relationship between prakriti and purusha (examples: the chemistry between Radha-Krishna, Krishna-Satyabhama and the meaning behind the consorts of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva etc.) throws a great light on the fabric of Indian culture.

* The overall emphasis on the intuitive God over the intellectual or the inherited ones was something I found appealing.

* I also find the philosophy quite humanistic in the sense that we have to embrace the diversity of energies we all exude and bring to the drama of life while being conscious of the oneness of everything that pervades this universe. (OM SHANTHI SHANTHI SHANTHI HI). And also, simplistic (Life should be enjoyed in its full capacity. The more we express, the more we further the intent of the universe).

Obviously, any reasonable philosophical framework is a complete consistent web of ideas. The above presented features may not do sufficient justice to the content of the whole course. While, the concepts appear quite simple, I feel that the course has been just an overview to the Indian philosophy and I also feel that it might take years before someone can grasp all this and integrate into their worldview. Today, I am very much like a kid in the chocolate factory. Indic philosophy has just started to entice me. Today, I can only stare with a sense of awe the philosophy that refuses to be obsolete even after 5000 years. There are a lot of broken links, but Medhajananam was a good start to bridge the gap and then hopefully, break my next shell!

I can only wonder at the energy and enthusiasm of the instructor - Mr. Krishna. It is a courageous, self-less, single-handed effort to sift through volumes of ancient scriptures and hand pick this neat, original framework which I believe is a consummation of your quest spanning 30 years. I am very grateful for the time you spent in making this happen. I wish you all the success with this course and beyond.

Beneath philosophies lie the all-important human experience. After all, it was a bunch of people hanging out and I admit that I enjoyed every part of it … the diverse opinions of everyone ... the playful arguments … the clash of colors (green vs. blue) … sneaking out for coffee … the chai-pakoda breaks … I thank everyone in the group for all the fun.

One last comment. A thought that recurred almost throughout every lecture is "Did they think of all this ? When did they have the time?" My naivety committed my mind into a prejudice that visualized the old society to be busy in agriculture, wars and the daily humdrum of eat-sleep-pray-make merry-have kids routine. I just realized what a distinguished class of people in that era gifted with intelligence and sufficient social ineptitude were doing -they were thinking about the heavens (One reason could be that there were not enough gizmos around) !!!

Links :
http://www.medhajananam.org/workshops.html

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The blood on our hands

I think I have solved the mystery of global economics.

The idea that spurred this blog post is a thought-provoking article by Arundhati Roy where she argues that the Indian Government's "War on the Maoists" is actually a ploy to gain controlling interest in mining Bauxite from the hills of Orissa and Bihar threatening the ecology, the lives of natives residing there.

[Please read this article:

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262519

"The people who have taken to arms are not spending all their time watching (or performing for) TV, or reading the papers, or conducting SMS polls for the Moral Science question of the day: Is Violence Good or Bad? SMS your reply to.... They’re out there. They’re fighting. They believe they have the right to defend their homes and their land. They believe that they deserve justice."] - Thanks, Jeetu.

Now, I am not saying that's the whole truth but I won't be surprised if it's a substantial motive. It really did get me wondering if all wars and all human misery is a result of some sort of "good economics". Exploitation is good money, folks.

Human society seldom conjured businesses that generate wealth without endangering some form of life or ecosystem. The lands gifted with natural resources are always torn with strife and homicide. After all, that’s the stuff we get free from nature and yet those lands suffered the most anguish. Oil politics is one of the main reasons for the state of affairs in the Middle East. Not only that, oil spills in the seas have affected marine life and carbonated the environment. Think about the horrifying blood diamond trade and mining trades in Africa that financed militant insurgencies and homicide. Children in these impoverished lands are forced to skip school and work in mines at great hazard to their health. Farmers are being forced to grow narcotics in Afghanistan to fund Jihad wars and they don't take anything home. The blood hounds of greed have wounded these lands and profited from ensuring eternal conflict.

Also, ponder on how the rich countries became the 'rich' countries. It's not entirely by their hard work and innovation. The French and the British set up colonies all across the world and basically looted the countries. America profited immensely from the world wars by selling weaponry that took millions of lives. Not only that, time and again rich countries have not questioned military dictatorships throughout Africa marked by genocide and today in the Af-Pak as long as war is good business. China manages to manufacture anything from matchsticks to missiles at dirt cheap prices by flouting uncountable human rights. Business Process Outsourcing is no magic either. Not only Indians do high-quality technical jobs for lowly salaries but it ended up causing a disequilibrium, a weakening of other sectors in the Indian economy too. It's not surprising that politics in the developing countries are run to ensure that poor remains poor. Given the head start as a rich country with an eloquent framework of international laws with seemingly good intentions, it just turns out that maintaining the riches and calling shots is a piece of C-A-K-E.

In short, there was a lot of plundering and raping on this planet in the story of rags to riches. The pattern is simple, elegant and utterly repeatable as manifested latest in the global financial meltdown and is as follows:

1. Find a loop hole in the form of a law / community / country.
2. Milk that cash cow before there are voices against it. Meanwhile, ensure that the media is making enough confusing noises.
3. The law will be passed against the practice soon after a backlash. Well, what do we care. We are rich already. See you around.

Look at Africa. It's a beautiful continent endowed with rich wildlife and some of the most valuable natural resources. Don't tell me that the problem there is lack of education or hot climate or too many people. Just visualize Africa if they had gotten the fair prices for all the natural resources ever mined there. They would probably be the world leader in some things today. It didn't happen. There are no fair games - just too hard to play! Is just it not easier to play and pile up a huge score before the opponents realize the rules of this game? It's just good economic sense. That’s where we are. Most games are zero-sum. I think the term "win-win" in the business jargon has the least utility to profanity ratio.

Here is one thought that sends a chill down my nervous spine: For every object we use, someone paid dearly with their life for it. Lastly, Do I have a solution to all this? No. Obviously not. I am not here to offer solutions. Not yet. I am not even questioning the existing practices (Please refer to my earlier blog post where I argued long ago that life makes sense only if there is a conflict). I am merely making observations, taking notes at the moment and I just smelt the blood on our hands.

THE REBUTTAL
Doesn't life feed on life?

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Of Vote-whores and Utopias

If the Indian Congress Party can take a day off from being a Vote-Whore to all the so-called minorities, I would like to make a simple prayer.

The grand session last week of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind while expressing concern over communal hatred and violence advocated a fatwa that banned Indian muslims from singing the national song of India "Vande Mataram" as it contains some verses which are hinduistic in content. Now, paradoxes, contradictions and oxymorons are nothing new with these self-appointed religious morons, but your home minister attended the conference and seemed quite okay with that kind of a fatwa. When inconvenienced about this issue, he just shrugged that he "wasn't there". The congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmad responded “This is a very sensitive issue. It is our national song. And there are also religious sentiments attached. Keeping in mind all these facts, the issue should not be made controversial”.

So, you just want to dismiss it with a language of political correctness. But, It's the national song. And people sing it everyday proudly in respect and awe of our motherland. It's the war cry that made this nation independent and a sovereign state (I got this from the movies , though!!!). And, as the ruling party, Isn't your job to represent the nation? I do not understand how a spurious religious interpretation can endanger the validity of our national song and make it a "sensitive issue".

A little thought experiment. Let's say, I start a successful religion in which my God's favorite sacrificial offering is a politician (Imagine it's success). Would you let me continue the practice based on the sole right to practice my own faith? No. You wouldn't. The reason is this is an unsustainable ritual (no matter how much fun it can be) and can lead to a lot of disharmony in the society. That's because violent, crazy ideas even with divine recommendations should have no role in nation building, Mr. Government. So, isn't it the duty of a official responsible for internal security of a nation to discourage and condemn such kind of divisive speeches especially when you are attending that very conference at the very least. In turn, you ask the opposing party to shut up and not politicize this. You have already politicized it. You have nodded the reaffirmation with your silent attendance, Mr. Chidambaram!

I hope I don't have to clarify that I have nothing against people following their faith. I, do, have something against people condemning and refusing to acknowledge the existence of values and beliefs of other people. I definitely, do have something against the religious noise that seeks to emphasize the differences we have amidst us. I, do, have something against politics that choose to capitalize on these issues. I also, choose to not argue with those folks who just heave a sigh and conclude that the whole problem can be solved by removing religion -we cannot ignore it after we come so far. Should we not encourage a generation to understand the need for living together harmoniously enjoy and rejoice the colorful customs and culture of each other.

I understand freedom of speech. Those religious cartoons can say what they want. I have no problem with turning a deaf ear to their yelling and shrieking. But, the least I expect of a government is that it display some character, some consistency that reflects the idea of a nation and what citizens want. It is just shameful that the even singing the national song of India cannot be the one thing that every Indian can/should do.


Yes. I am asking for Pluralistic Humanism. It's a humble utopia. However, I cannot disagree with you that all utopia is some sort of fantasy pornography - the story lines can never be true in this unfortunate universe, folks.

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