Bhagavad  Gita - Life’s  Manual  and  A Treasure House  of  IKS

Indian Knowledge System is found in Indian Scriptures which are all written in Sanskrit language. There are also hundreds of such scriptures available reading them all is a herculean task and grasping and understanding them still tougher. But these scriptures possess the true knowledge and hence distancing oneself from it because of its vastness would never be a wise decision. When it comes to incorporating these scriptures in the school, college and university curriculum the task becomes further more complex and difficult.

I remember when I was in middle school in 60s I would study Newton’s three laws. When in high school the same three laws were studied again and so I studied these three laws even at my plus two level – in those days either higher secondary or intermediate level during 70s. But every time the description of these laws by the teacher would be different and fortunately for me I had the same teacher of physics teaching these laws at all these three levels. My understanding got magnified on every subsequent occasion.  This experience of my schooling gives me the conviction that we should not get lost in the vastness of the Indian Scriptures when it comes to connecting learners to the Indian Knowledge System.  Knowing about Shruti, Smriti, Vedas, Upnishads, Puranas, Itihasa, Ramayan, Mahabharat, Bhagavad Gita, Shashtras and Sutras, Sampradaya, philosophical schools, Vivek Cudamani, Panchatantra, listening to Guru, Rishi, Adishankaracarya, Mandan Mishar,  and hundreds of such literatures with their classifications and all makes it cumbersome to navigate oneself in this ocean of knowledge to reach the true knowledge. The gist of all these scriptures is presented in the Bhagavad Gita. It is like ghee taken out from milk.

The Bhagavad Gita contains seven hundred verses, eleven thousand four hundred words organized in eighteen chapters. All these verses have been uttered by the Lord – Lord Krishna – himself on the battlefield of Kurukshetra (symbolizing life) and relayed by Sanjay to Dhritrashtra (symbolizing an ignorant person seeking true knowledge). It renders solution to life’s every problem and so is called as life’s manual. It advances solution to problem(s) of an individual, an organization / institution, a society, a nation, the world or the universe and these solution as eternal in nature.

In my view every person – a student and a teacher or whosoever - should have in his or her pocket a copy of Bhagavad Gita scripted in Sanskrit language and translated in local language – say Marathi in our case in Maharashtra – national language – Hindi – and international language – English – for wider application throughout his / her life.  The learning does not end with completion of one’s schooling; it is a life-long learning till we breathe our last. We should refer this manual continuously and consistently such that at every situation, discussion or debate a relevant verse comes out of our mouth instantly and spontaneously to suit that situation, discussion, debate. It then connects us to our inner self, the eternal true knowledge, the Indian Knowledge System.

Architect of India's Economic Reforms

June 1991, the then Finance Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh presented his first Finance Budget in the Parliament of India that put the roadmap for LPG – Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization. He thus laid down the architecture of Indian Economic Reforms that saw unleashing of economic progress in our country and opening of India to the world. Dr. Singh knew that it was a big bold step that will encounter many challenges and therefore he ended his budget speech with a Sher written by a poet from Bihar – Bismil Azimabadi – and popularized by Ram Prasad Bismil.

"Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai,

dekhna ki zor kitna baazu-e-qatil mein hai.”

Dr. Singh’s this move left an indelible mark on India’s economy. It was a turning point in the economic history of independent India which witnessed bold economic reforms, abolition of licence raj and opening of many sectors to private players and foreign players so that capital could flow in. After serving as Governor of Reserve Bank of India from 1982 to 1985, he served the nation for next fourteen years from 1991 to 2014 as Finance Minister, Member of Parliament and Prime Minister (for a continuous tenure of ten years) but never took the credit for historic achievements including MGNREGA causing the fastest compression of poverty anywhere in the world in world history according to World Bank.

Dr. Manmohan Singh was a humble and self-effacing person who wore his scholarship lightly. Today words are falling short to shower adjectives for this visionary politician by the world leaders, bureaucrats and intellectuals – a thorough gentleman, one of the stalwarts, great economist, patient listener, persuasive, visionary politician, humble person while upholding his personal values, a renowned name in the global financial and economic sectors, true statesmen and acumen with vision, humility and commitment to India’s growth, kind, benevolent and gracious person but intellectually very sharp, inspiring and venerated leader, an honest man, India’s one of the most illustrious sons, a man with nobility, integrity and tolerance, and the adjectives go on. Salute to this simple but great man -a Pinnacle of Nobility, Integrity, Wisdom and Exceptional Intelligence..

 Indexing Human Life

Human body is made up of five elements – Panchtattva – Air, Water, Soil, Fire and Space (Akash). The purity of these elements speaks of the purity of human beings. Unfortunately the extent of impurity in these elements barring Fire to some extent is rising day by day. Air quality is deteriorating as indicated by Air Quality Index (AQI) of different cities, and in some cities like Delhi it is crossing its extreme making life hell for people there. Hence what was considered as important for living / breathing is now becoming lethal for mankind. Water is becoming toxic day by day making it undrinkable and unusable for daily uses of mankind. The Yamuna river water is an example before us which is full of toxic foam floating all along the surface bed of this river. Soil is turning into another toxic element because of use of fertilizers, chemicals, insecticides and so on and hence growing infertility reducing its production capacity. Space is being filled with space debris which is gradually becoming a global concern. It is fire alone of these five elements which seems to be spared to some extent by the human greed and hence remaining unpolluted as of now.

Everyday morning we wake up to find out what is the AQI for today. The human life is therefore getting indexed to this AQI. There is no self-restrain towards saving the humanity from this tyranny of natural resources. We have to awake.  

 

Frugal Innovation takes over Jugaad for winning Noble Prize

Long ago Gonu Jha, a rural native from Mithilanchal area of Bihar, did a Jugaad to safely participate in a dairy development program launched by the then British government. He made a cat to learn not to drink milk by repeatedly feeding her hot milk. This way he conditioned the cat to learn that milk is always hot and hence ran away at the very sight of milk being brought for her. This Jugaad had four variables – a cow, a cat, milk and its boiling. The outcome was that the cat learnt not to drink milk even after cold milk being brought for her. This Jugaad led Gonu Jha to save his head from the British Authorities for playing cheat with their instructions and won him a prize at the conclusion of the said dairy development program.

 

Long after a similar experiment was done by Prof. Steven Pavlov. This frugal innovation also had four variables – a dog (in place of act), meet (in place of milk), bell and light (in place of hot and cold milk). The outcome was that the dog learnt to salivate even after there was no meat offered to him. This frugal innovation led Prof. Pavlov earn the Noble Prize for developing “Conditioning Theory of Learning”.

Poor Gonu Jha!

What wins – a Jugaad or a Frugal Innovation?

DR. Hari Mohan Jha “Bidyarthi” (Shegaon)

ICH BIN TEACHER

ICH BIN TEACHER (I am a teacher)

I had an opportunity recently to be part of a session on learning German language. For the first time I knew that German and English languages have common script i.e. Roman. What is uncommon is pronunciation of the Roman letters and words. This makes learning German language easiest of all foreign languages particularly for those who are proficient in English like students and teachers of professional courses whose medium of instruction is English. Additionally, learning German language helps improve the present level of your English language skill as well.

According to international certification of language learning, there are six levels of learning any foreign language. However, the instructor for the said session had himself learnt only three levels and he said it is sufficient for conversing in that foreign language. That makes it still more easier.

The fact that headquarters of all international organizations are housed in Germany and most of the world class companies from mechanical, automobile etc. streams come from Germany, it becomes more motivating a fact to acquire proficiency in German language and improve language skill required in this global world today.

Danke! (Thanks)

Economic Revolution Through Bottom of Pyramid

Economic Revolution Through Demonetization

History is witness of the fact that no revolution, may it be political, social, cultural, legal or whatsoever,  in any part of the world has ever been successful without involvement of common man. History is also witness of the fact that in cases of all such revolutions the common man has suffered massive casualties in varied forms. And hence the present economic revolution through demonetization is no exception to these historical facts. It is imperative therefore that the common man shall be subjected to sufferings of all types and it is heartening to note that they are also ready for it not by imposition but by self-instinct.

Common people have to sacrifice their lives, as many of them died standing in the long queues before ATM and Banks, many in front of the hospitals because of not being admitted to or treated by the hospital in want of legal tender, many in their houses or on way to bank because of work load or depression and we don’t know how many more such cases are to be reported in times to come. The common man has to sacrifice his / her luxuries / convenience as many of them have nothing to eat in their houses as they have no cash to buy from shops, many are stranded at railway stations / bus stands because of no cash to pay fares, many are walking long roads as they have no cash to pay for rickshaw fare. They say marriages are settled in heaven and solemnized on earth which is finding rough weather due to paucity of adequate cash. Markets are observing near curfew like situation because the buyers have no cash to go there. People seem to have become activists as they stand on roads, sleep on roads, spend days and nights on roads for withdrawing cash from ATM / Bank etc. Immaterial of their ages from adult to old people have queued up to meet their cause in short run and to support this revolution for a long term aspiration.

It is rightly said that the power lies at the bottom of the pyramid. The section of society from BoP is the most victimized section as their daily wage is hampered, their life is becoming miserable in the name of those few who are the cream of the society and for whom they say is this surgical strike. Added to it are the statements by people-in-power that any surgical procedure brings some discomfort without recognizing and realizing the fact that this discomfort for whom. Is it not therefore that revolutions are driven by common man. They are the strengths behind every revolution, they are the force behind it and if leaders of such revolution don’t understand and estimate this force it may (or may be caused to) lose its direction that might take an ugly shape. This power at the bottom must be honored and each one of us must realize that it is the will power of the common man alone which can bring this economic revolution not the economists, politicians, bureaucrats, social activists, reformists and all.

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