Media Trails and Intelectual masturbations:

Dear all

Many years before mainly after the Prasar Bharati act and the liberalization of media, India witnessed,  reverberation of our fifth estate. In exposing corruption and building up of public opinion, our media performed a stupendous task. Its role in building up public opinion did have a positive effect on our public policy. However somehow on this route something foul is taking place. Our Supreme Court have smelled the rot and have asked the state government on how much an Investigating officer should brief media on a criminal case and has asked for a report on this.

Let us take the most recent cases. Notwithstanding the fact that Tarun Tejpal was alleged to have attempted to violate the modesty of a junior colleague, the media houses was on a continuous tirade against the magazine tehelka and its management. In our national media we could see a crusade of self-interest. An opportunity for rival media houses to pounce on the fallen hero, and a smooth revenge for a political party to settle their scores. The victimized journalist’s molestation cry is far heard than the brutal rape and murder of a north eastern women .Similarly an intern files complain on her superior judge for sexual harassment after 11 months giving the  right opportunity for the vested interest to malign the credentials of an honorable judge who was critical about some political party. The trial and judgment is already done by the media. 

Media trails, character assassination and defamation has now become the order of the day among the elite in India. They are teaching the rest of the world the wonderful art of mud-slinging. In an election year this also acts as cannon fodder to political rivals in settling scores.

 India’s public discourses have become a farce with any bedroom news worth a sensation becoming national debates. Our media selected intelligentsia is seen daily blabbering on gender and women’s right while ordinary women flock still  out there  suffering with the social evils of dowry death , female infanticide and malnutrition . Our High net worth Intellectuals opine and tweet their egos and is well cashed by the media and its cronies.

At a time when India need to set a social and economic agenda for its future, this media masala has stooped into an intellectual masturbation giving  only them a one sided pleasure  but making us the audience puke:

Sanyasi

In search of reality: Seeing a tip of an Iceberg:

Dear all

As we emerge in festivities and with an upcoming new year let us ponder over the triviality of our existence and go beyond the ritualism that we practice and make an effort in understanding reality, if at all it is real

In the 18^th Century the Irish philosopher George Berkeley propounded the theory of subjective idealism in a paper which was named ‘’ the new theory of vision’’. He propounded through this theory that objects  we see are nothing but perception of light seen in colour and shape. This thought process was further developed by the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in his theory of absolute idealism. According to Hegel, for human consciousness (which is the subject), the perception of the material world (which is the object) is based on a relationship between both, through the medium of thought. To make it simple, if you are standing on a floor and observing it, in your mind (observer/subject) the floor (observed/object) is a solid surface. If you are instantly hypnotized and told by the hypnotizer that you are on a pool of water, the mind perceives the floor as water. So here the thought creates the relationship between the object and subject.

This theory was further rationalised by the theory of transcendental idealism by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant. In  his treatise the critique of reason which he published in 1781,Kant argued that our experiences are structured by our minds. He wrote that ‘’ we never have direct experience of things and what we do experience is the phenomenal world as conveyed by our senses. 

 For any student of Vedanta, genesis of these thoughts can be traced to the philosophical ponderings of our seers, who believed that the sensible external world is a perception of the consciousness.  According to A Parthasarathy from the Mumbai based Vedanta Academy (readers are recommended to read his book Vedanta Treatise ) perception is the interplay (identity or relation of Hegel )  of  the internal world of consciousness (object) to the subject. Let me quote him “Let us examine the perception of a flower. As per Vedanta the quality attribute of the flower exist in the flower as an object. The thought of the flower exist in the mind as a subject. The union of the thought and quality of the flower produces it”.

Indian philosophers from time immemorial believed in the illusion of the world which they referred as Ma (not) Ya (that) meaning ‘’not that’’ we see. The best definition of this is seen in the second verse of the Chatusloki Bhagavatam (canto 2 Srimad Bhagavatam) which reads

Ru- thertham Yad Pratiyeta Na Pratiyeta Cha Atmani

Tad vidyad Aatmano Maayaam Yatha bhaaso Yada Tama:

It means - Besides the real existence whatever is experienced is not that is experienced by the soul but that experienced by you which is    MaYa ,like a reflection in  darkness-

It is this reflection (Abasa) in darkness (Tama) which later became part of the quantum string theory and was called as the holographic principle by Gerard Hooft, the 1999 Nobel Prize winner and Dutch Physicist. For him the whole universe is an holographic reflection of a two dimensional information structure painted over a space-time horizon. His theory was later interpreted   by a physicist from the university of London named David Bohm who was a protégé of Einstein. Along with Stanford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram they developed a new way of looking at the universe. (Please read The Holographic Universe: The revolutionary theory of reality: Harper Collins 2011.) Their work explains on the quantum levels of existence distinct from the observed and experienced universe.

In 1975 , Fritjof capra , the Austrian born American Physicist wrote Tao of Physics, which is probably the first book written  on ‘’scientific orientalism’’ exploring the parallelism between modern physics and ancient Indian wisdom . I quote from the book “Quantum theory reveals a basic oneness of the universe. It shows that we cannot decompose the world into independently existing smallest units. As we penetrate into matter, nature does not show us any isolated "building blocks," but rather appears as a complicated web of relations between the various parts of the whole. These relations always include the observer in an essential way. The human observer constitutes the final link in the chain of observational processes, and the properties of any atomic object can be understood only in terms of the object's interaction with the observer.”  It is this dichotomy between the perceived and the real world , makes us think of a realm which is actually real and to which we are all part of . Our ancient rishis called this  as Brahma ( Sarvan Khalidam Brahma ) embroiled in an expanding egg like formation (brahmandam). In reality beyond our perceived knowledge of our reality, we are scientifically proved to be part of the Universal energy level. We are only experiencing a state of differentiated identity from a common whole .The ancient Indian sankhya philosophers explained this as a differentiation of the   prakriti from the purusha. According to them prakriti is a space-time conundrum which is maya which I and you believe is our world, where our feeling and aspiration (Kamaartha-moham) dwell. It is the place where we love and hate and a place we enquire and seek which in itself is not real but only a holographic projection. However it is for a moment of that experience that we are all here, beyond which I,  you and all are just  quantum states of consciousness  . We are all like the series of pots emerging from an artful potter’s wheel, to be broken back to mud and re-emerge as another new pot.

As science and philosophy merges let us cherish, and celebrate the moment of life with mutual acceptance and respect. While reading stories of horror, of death, destruction , violence and hate , I feel let the humanity be taught the science of Vedanta and meta physics and made to realize that peace and love is what only that exists , the rest of the feelings being hallucinations and what that exists is one , which is complete and universal .  I conclude this article by a verse from Isha Upanishad

Purnamadah Purnamidam
Purnat Purnamudachyate
Purnasya Purnamadaya
Purnameva Vashishyate
Om shanti, shanti, shanti

Sanyasi:

Narendra Modi : The PM designate: A Choice less Choice:

The BJP parliamentary board is likely to meet and announce that Narendra Modi is the Prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 General Election in India : As per press reports, veteran leader L K Advani and his mentee Sushma Swaraj , has opposed the move. On the eve of this announcement, let me put forward three questions  on What it makes to be a Prime Minister of India and you readers think and decide on how much is NaMo ( Narendra Modi) eligible as per this questioned  criteria .

1   Nationally recognized and acceptable?It is said that the legacy of the congress party in the post      independent era has its genesis on Mahatma Gandhi anointing Jawaharlal Nehru as his       successor. The socialistic and secular credentials of Nehru outweighed the feudal and rightist lineage of Sardar patel in this choice exercised by the father of the nation. Nehru was a nationally accepted leader irrespective of party affiliation- a charisma later inherited by his family and carried forward even now to the fourth generation-  Atal Behari Vajpayee was also viewed as a moderate leader and Statesman , in the whole of the country irrespective of his being the leader of a right wing political party.The present Prime Minister did acclaim a nationalist credential as India's path breaking Finance Minister:On these yard sticks, where do NaMo stand?

2   Administrative experience in a National Level?All former Prime Ministers excepting the       makeshift PM Deve Gowda had considerable exposure in handling national issues. Does NaMo have it?

3 Crossing the Language barrier?Much has been done unsuccessfully  in camouflaging the national identity of INDIA to that of the Hindi language. Setting aside the diverse and culturally richer languages of India, efforts in officiating Hindi hitherto have been resisted by people who don't speak that  language as their  mother tongue. Here the Queen's language whether we like it or not have been an acceptable lingua franca and  hence all Prime Ministers of India were fluent and converse in that language whenever they addressed the non-Hindi speaking people which made them comfortable ?Will NaMo do it ?

On other counts too like ‘’NaMo being a successful Chief Minister’’ is not a singular eligibility, as the chief ministers of Bihar,Tripura, Goa and TamilNadu were all  equally successful .

In spite of all this what makes NaMo the numero uno for the Prime minister post? This is not a result of  marketing gimmicks or any  type of social media blitzkrieg , but due to the  prevailing lack of trust and the leadership vacuum that this country faces. The level of energy and youthfulness lacking on our existing political establishment and the need for a leader ,  who is selfless and incorrupt have made NaMo a better choice in spite of all the ineligibility cited against the above three questions. The determination and strength shown by him  in the caricatured and pinpointed  political mudslinging and International isolation  he faced since the Gujarat riots , did make the nation realize that it was unfair to put the whole blame on him.

As he is poised to surpass this milestone and as cited earlier in this blog (Modification of theBJP June 9,2013 ) , the inner conscience of NaMo should act in paving way for Advanji to lead ....... If Sonia Gandhi can listen to this call in the last minute, why not our NaMo.....  Sanyasi

Thought of the day: We the land of Asarams:

Dear Readers,

We all know that in India , there is this  Godmen syndrome. A sense of blind belief , or a mass hysteria spread around an ascetic who is normally addressed as  Baba or a Sadu  . Among such innumerable characters both dead and living  , few were  indeed pious and philanthropic and  set up schools, colleges and hospitals , delivered lectures on Hindu scriptures and benefited  a large section of the population. 

''Sadhuism" as I will call it is  great business . A Baba  with millions of followers is a force indeed. Armed with  oratory skills  and   ability to win mass followers, they  attracts money and power and eventually  rise to be  a CEO of a multi million charitable organization. But as long as they preach peace and the society benefits , I don't see any wrong doing . As  a society we need religious preachers with a positive impact on our lives . But the tragedy today  is  on the  emergence of black sheeps  among those herds of religious preachers. Many of them have come to prominence by their  claim of curing diseases through some mass placebo effect or by propagating some variant of yogic exercises or religious mass games . The strategy is by conducting  religious congregations called satsangs  which increases popularity and resultant cash flows . Behind the veil of religiosity,  these fraudsters indulge in unlawful activities  be it money laundering, land grabbing or sheer sexual voyeurism, all with candid support of the vested interests.
The question here is , If such religious fraudsters  emerge what is the check and balance  . It is here we fail as a state. Among the many such instances that are reported , the recent episode of child abuse,  against a popular saint in western India named Asaram babu is a case in point. This seemingly eccentric saint is alleged to have acted like a pedophile with the police behind him now, but cautious enough,  fearing political backlash of losing his million plus follower's votes in an election year. This babu is notorious to have been in the law makers records for all reasons ranging from land grabbing to mysterious deaths . But ever since ten days of framing allegations against him, the police till this time has not arrested him. This is the pathetic state of our criminal delivery system. The high and the mighty, the sadhu and politicians are always above law. 

The thought here is '' where do we take this discourse further? . How do we as a society check this evangelical malice ? 

 Sanyasi

Dr Amartya Sen : The argumentative Indian:

Dear All

Dr Amartya Sen has proved again to be an Argumentative Indian.  

You should read the sixteen essays written by Dr Sen on the historical and political landscape of India’s argumentative tradition, where, he concludes that arguments are vital for the success of India’s democracy and politics. { Ref Amartya Sen: Argumentative Indian: Writing  on Indian History, Culture and identity } May be it is for us to keep up this tradition that he made national headlines yesterday. The Nobel laureate was not only critical of Narendra Modi’s model of governance but also made public his non acceptance of Modi , even as  a Prime Ministerial candidate.

As a developmental economist of International acclaim  with a leftist lineage, Dr Sen has always had his own critics on evaluating development in an economy. There are two sets of developmental economists. The first ones mainly the capitalist class, looks into the general increase in money supply in the economy and the resultant availability of capital for growth. It is this lot which measures the data on infrastructure development, banking and other macroeconomic indicators ,while the economists of leftist linage- to which  Dr Sen belong to -focuses on  social sector development, mainly on education ,health , poverty, freedom, human rights  etc. When we  analyse and give a value judgement on how good a state’s economy has performed we will always have economists and politicians who cherry picks data and interprets them. Accordingly for the leftist economists, the Kerala model of development may be far better than a Gujarat Model.

The Kerala model which was claimed to have created an egalitarian society with universal education and health care proved to be a misnomer. While education did result in skill development, there was no capital available for utilization of the same resulting in unemployment and skill migration. The Kerala economic development model has only resulted in creation of a money order economy with a dearth of capital, entrepreneurship and policy not to mention of left wing trade unionism. In the health front too while leftists economists talks about well ness indices of  Kerala State, its tribal region of Attapadi recorded nearly fifty child deaths in this year due to malnutrition . On the other hand Gujarat Model which focussed on capital and investment resulted in better roads, power and other infrastructure facilities making it the fastest growing state with no power failures. It increased employment opportunities not only to people of the states but also resulted in migration to the state for employment. On the education and health care front Dr Sen is right on pointing figures at Gujarat, because quality and standards of its health and education delivery system is dismal and needs change. While public distribution system is better than other states, capital percolation in health care and education has created more hospitals, schools and colleges but with low quality doctors and teachers. Most of the capital flows in education has come from the private sector but they have not been able to attract the best talent. It is often heard that school teachers themselves does not have the requisite knowledge and skill with cases of senior students engaged in teaching their juniors.

In such a contradicting scenario we cannot portray a state to have achieved or not have achieved any form of universal growth but growth need to be evaluated in the context of the indices of under discussion. Cheery picking economic growth numbers will never give a clear picture but can only add to political rhetoric.

Well whether Dr Sen accepts Mr Modi or not is his choice but he indeed has thrown open a debate prelude to election and hence proved to be a responsible and argumentative Indian.

Sanyasi

An Open letter to Arnab Goswami:

Dear Sir,

I know that I am writing this letter to the most articulate journalist in India. I do respect you for your stupendous contribution in the national media and the activism and vigour you show in bursting the hypocrisy of the political class. I watch your News hour program in Times now and have been following your stellar performance in the media ever since your NDTV times. However off late in your debates, you does not seem to play the ringmasters role of bringing divergent opinions to the nation, but instead you yourself get into the ring, and give an impression of taking sides. This gives an image of you taking positions in a debate. I think the flavour of your program is in your ability to expose the politicians by your rhetoric, but that should not get into a state of sensationalism which I doubt is happening now in your program. Secondly excessive emotion that you exhibit be it anger or sarcasm, does not taste good. I have found you yelling at the participants of them being touchy, but on the contrary you seem to be touchy while you are put in a spot. In one of the debates I heard you  saying that you are a citizen of India and you have a right to say what you want. However it should be understood that being a national figure, your right to speak should not offend others. Your activism on issues related to matters which are  subjudice, needs to be handled with caution especially when you are anchoring a national debate participated by the best brains in the country .

 Media activism and investigative journalism has made a difference to Indian democracy making it more transparent, but media too has a line not to be crossed which needs to defined by law. In the  judgement dated 19^th April 2010 ( Manu sharma v/s State of Delhi) , the division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice P Satashivam and Justice Swatenter Kumar observed , and I quote ‘’ Presumption of innocence of an accused is a legal presumption and should not be destroyed at the very threshold through the process of media trial and that too when the investigation is pending. In that event, it will be opposed to the very basic rule of law and would impinge upon the protection granted to an accused under Article 21". The learned judges also cautions that the  ‘’freedom of speech protected under Article 19 (1-a) of the constitution has to be carefully and cautiously used so as to avoid  interference to administration of justice and leading to undesirable results in matters subjudice before the court”

As Parliament elections are nearing the private media finds enough sentiments in their ‘’market’’ which can be capitalized by sensationalism. Be it scamgates or modi mania  for a nation frustrated by their politicians , any ringmaster , who throws a ring to the  political class and make them juggle is a matter of satisfaction. However this does not absolve the ringmaster from his role of not being a player by himself.

Sanyasi

Living in relation: The Elderly way:

Hi,

A recent visit to attend a mass marriage ceremony of lonely and elderly men and women opened a Pandora’s box of thoughts. Men and women aged above 60 but lonely due to the death of a spouse or neglected by children met and choose their companions for a living in relationship for the rest of their life. No strings attached, no liability clauses, you can choose your companion and live forever. Some couples choose not to live under a roof but to only share moments of companionship while on travel or on spending quality time together.

The greatest social threat that we face today is that of the social security of an elderly parent when they are alone. Aging is made synonymous with withdrawal from life and we make our elders a dependent, redundant and feeble human entity in the house by trying to be pseudo shrvan kumars . We approach them with an attitude of a protectionist, giving a heavy dose of instruction the moment they step out of the house or by restricting them to do household work and just spend time by reading and watching TV.  Extra expression of concern on their health, talking carefully with them, taking too much precaution while leaving them alone will only make them weak and dependent and  delicate showpieces in the house.  Our excessive considerations could be out of love or to make them feel special and valuable, but such a singular attitude makes them weak, aged or incapable rather than of confident individuals.  

The legend of Shravan Kumar, the mythological dedicated son of blind parents has been a part of traditional Indian household. Parents cherish their sons to be like shravan kumars to take care of them in their ripe age. Thanks to this tradition still in India we do not find our aged parents languish in old age homes unlike the few hapless ones put to the mercy of the caretakers.  

 In India aging is more related to the cultural mindset. The moment one touches 60, the person is regarded old i.e. not capable of doing work, need retirement from professional life etc . Children and young alike are indoctrinated to give a helping hand to old people. Young child holding hand of a healthy 60 plus is a common image cherished in literature and in Indian cinema. Oldies are expected to spend rest of their life in religious functions or similar types of activities. They should be away from the vibrant social activities. They should take rest, live with their married children, tell stories to their grandchildren and restrain from   their day to day work.

However, this type of mindset is not put into practice in reality. Majority of the elderly living with their children does not live a gratifying life; many are the victims of harassment by their own children and many feel alienated in their relationship with married children while living together. Living jointly is relentlessly marred by the issues of adjustment in life style, feeling marginalized, secluded, and ineffective.    

This is the traditional mindset on old age. Nevertheless, a genre of elderly people who have lived an independent lifestyle and believes in ageing gracefully finds difficult in fitting themselves into such a conservative mindset. They do not believe in shravan kumars tradition and culture.  For them such a living is suffocating.  Self reliant and own space is what present time elderly look forward to and strive for that. Ageing gracefully with spouse or without spouse is what a seventy plus wants. With sufficient funds, own house, friend circle and exciting travelling plans fills the life of today’s generation oldies. They would like to be in touch with happenings and developments in society. This phase of life is looked upon has rejoicing thoroughly each moment of  life which hitherto did not happen  due  to the rush for livelihood and  family responsibilities . No wonder, throughout world, in comparison to young people who are largely down with depression and worries, oldies are the happiest lot.  Perhaps how to live a fulfilling life is realized only at this stage by today’s mankind.  

The new living in relationship models among single old citizens is a step in the right direction and I was feeling OLD among a set of YOUNG 60 plus couples romancing each other.

Long live cupid:

Sanyasi: