Embracing Indian Heritage: Presentation on National Pride and Cultural Appreciation

My dear HR friends,

While enjoying the spirit of freedom in Kuwait, I really miss my country in many aspects. Please find the following attachment to feel how lucky we are to be Indian.

Mera Bharat Mahan

Hi All,

You can check this attachment, too. I am really proud to be an Indian. Do you?

Regards

Dear Karunadas,

Namaskar.

Sorry, I am unable to be proud to be Indian. The reason is that all the incarnations of God except Buddha (Matsya, Kacchapa, Baraha, Nrusingha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, and Buddha) indulged in violence which shapes Indian culture, and the result is feud, bickering, and killing the kith and kin. Unless harmony is seen in Indian life, I do not like to live in pseudo-pride. I feel proud of Buddha and feel shame for Buddhism being wiped out from India in the 12th century.

Regards.

Hi guys,

Please express more in text rather than only through attachments. Though visual posting explains more than text, personal views are largely diminished. You can also add some of your personal opinions with visual attachments. Kindly post your own views. Most of the time, I am unable to download or view during my office hours.

Anyway, you guys are posting good content.

Thanks & Regards

:) :) :)

Dear Dr. Jogeshwar,

There are historical reasons for Buddhism to have left India. Firstly, there was no state sponsorship after Ashoka. The second reason is that although Buddha gave clear indications about the path to be followed, later followers forgot his teachings and were content to install him as an Avatar or a deity. With many other Hindu pantheon traditionally worshipped, it was natural to forget the newfound icon, Buddha. It is another story that Buddhism thrived in the Far East.

The Avatars you mentioned are largely mythological, like the Greek pantheon with poetical exaggerations. The human Avatars were extolled because they were kings, and a king was considered equal to God. There were strifes and even genocides. But in those days, war was practiced as a Dharma, and Dharma varied from individual to individual.

Kindest regards,
Raghavan

Dear Dr. Jogeshwar,

There are historical reasons for Buddhism to have left India. Firstly, there was no state sponsorship after Ashoka. The second reason is that, although Buddha provided clear indications about the path to be followed, his later followers forgot his teachings and were satisfied with regarding him as an Avatar or deity. With many other Hindu deities traditionally worshipped, it was natural for the newfound icon Buddha to be forgotten. It is another story that Buddhism thrived in the Far East.

The Avatars you mentioned are largely mythological, similar to the Greek pantheon with poetical exaggerations. The human Avatars were praised because they were kings, and a king was considered equal to a god. There were conflicts and even genocides, but in those days, war was seen as a Dharma, which varied from individual to individual.

Kindest regards,
Raghavan

Dear Raghavan,

Namaskar.

It is a very nice interpretation. However, I am not particularly concerned about that. Interpretations always vary. What is important to me are the repercussions of myths on culture, such as feuds and the killing of one's own relatives. I would be pleased if you advocate for a culture that promotes comfortable living.

Under your signature, there is a line about your yoga practices. Could you please elaborate on that?

Regards

Dear Dr. Jogeshwar,

The Buddha being accepted as an Avatar and the absorption of Buddhism by Hinduism was from Jawaharlal Nehru in Discovery of India, which I read many years ago. Right from Julius Caesar, all military and social upheavals directly affected the common people. This is also another interpretation.

Now, onto Yoga. I have been a practitioner/teacher for almost three decades. I will gladly share more with you if you provide me with your email address as I am unable to send any files through this platform.

Regards, V. Raghavan

Dear Raghavan,

You are always missing the point which I want to emphasize. The point is - Is our sociocultural ethos conducive enough for comfortable living? My answer to this question is "NO." This is my grievance.

Regarding Yoga and health, I think you may start a thread for the benefits of interested citehr members. My e-mail ID is jogeshwarmahanta@yahoo.com.

Regards

Dear Dr. Jogeshwar:

I thought the debate was on, and further comments would pour in on "BE PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN." But the bug stopped with me! I was not missing any point. On the other hand, I was trying to get more from you and others perhaps.

Coming to socio-cultural ethos - are we away from it or in it? Does it exist away from us, in any society for that matter? The cultural ethos of America is proudly spoken. Look at what happened in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck that region. The people who died mostly are Black or Afro-Americans, and the whole of America was crying over the destroyed oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico. The damage in millions of dollars is calculated based on this. Can an American be proud to be one based on this one incident? Privately, he may debate or find fault with the failure of the system. But what about the human tragedy? The callousness of the authorities. An American may not agree with this view. The system is laissez-faire, and the people have to look after themselves, whatever tragedy, either natural or otherwise. But an ordinary man, a compassionate man who feels for fellow humans would definitely extend his helping arm. They are doing it now belatedly, and many died like a bunch of rats. Can this happen in a predominantly White population? This is what I am asking. I am concerned with the world situation as such. Leave the patriotism aside, or your racial pride or whatever pride. That is why I said it happens in any society. Our society is so diversified, stratified by castes and classes, it is no wonder that the socio-cultural milieu is hardly possible. Still, look at the people, each one is conditioned by several thousand years of this division, and it is not so easy to break in one day. I understand your feelings, your feeling for fellow humans, their restrictions imposed by themselves, their thought conditions, and the society at large. Yes. It is too heavy a burden. But a conscious society moves on. Let us move on with this thought.

Sincerely,

Raghavan

Hi all,

I would like to quote below from the well-known Francisco Roberto Canada, Director & Partner, Errepar S.A.,

Quote:

"A concept from Buddhism and Hinduism, dharma, has had an enormous impact on my life. Ordinarily, this term is translated into "right action" or "acting righteously", but to me this term is much more than these definitions imply. For me, it really is all about responsibility. Given my nature, my wish to be silent, it is difficult for me to be a business leader, but my concept of dharma as responsibility has helped me a lot to understand my position as a leader. It has also helped me make the difficult decisions I have had to make, such as those dealing with firing people.

Whenever we have to make a decision, and we don't do it in a dharmic way, in the long run, it becomes obvious that it was not the right way to decide and not the right decision to make.

On some occasions, we have had to refuse publishing a book if it did not align with our principles, even if the book would obviously sell many copies and give financial success to the company. The managers are very focused on earning money, and in many cases, they have proposed publications that were not dharmic - meaning in these cases that they would not inspire people to act in a proper way. Such books we have turned down.

In the beginning, this attitude sometimes created confusion, but little by little the employees understood that their work, and those affected by our work, were to lead them in the direction of spiritual growth. When we select a book for publication, we focus on quality, in the broad, spiritual sense of the word."

Unquote

An owner-publisher (in Argentina) also talks of Buddhism and Hinduism as a guide to run his business. Shouldn't Indians be proud to be an Indian?

Thanks

Bala

Dear Bala,

I don't know if the quoted person is doing this with fear in mind for going against the principle of Dharma or doing it with delight for the love of doing the right things. These thoughts - Buddhist as well as Hindu - have stayed long in our psyche. We should have been doing the right things for a long time, setting an example for others. We should be proud of the foreigner who is at least doing this as a corporate principle.

Sincerely,
Raghavan

Dear Raghavan,

Namaskar.

First of all, let me ask if there was an email from you in my ID. By mistake, I have deleted it, and while it was getting deleted, I thought that it was from you. If so, please send it again.

Coming to the topic, I visualize two concrete models:

A - Justice Model / Components:
1. Provocation,
2. Distortion,
3. Misinterpretation,
4. Fabrication, and
5. Rationalization.

In this model, the aberrations you have mentioned are inevitable. No one can check those.

The alternative model is what I call the Harmony Model/components:
1. Maturity,
2. Wit,
3. Humor,
4. Creative Intelligence, and
5. Diffusability (ability to diffuse tension).

I am sure about the futility of A and cherish B.

Regards,

Attention - Bala and others too.

Dear Dr. Ji,

I concur with your view. You are 100% right.

Bala

Thanks and most welcome, Bala.

Now, I would like to add that The Indian Express is publishing a column daily on its front page titled "India empowered to me is...". The space is filled daily by a VVIP. My feelings are as follows:

1. India empowered to me is that India is empowered constructively.
2. India empowered to me is that India becomes India minus feud-mongering.
3. No empowerment is empowerment unless it is qualified by constructive.
4. I shall not be proud of India unless these conditions are satisfied.

Regards

Dr. Ji,

I am proud to be Indian and I am sure and convinced that India would be what you mentioned as your feelings.

Please read this. Not sure whether this was posted before. If so, my apologies in advance.

Quote:

Shock for the Nation!!!

Do you know that India is the richest country in the world!

Right now, India is the richest country in the world!

Wondering how? It's really amazing.

It's due to Mr. G Vaidyaraj, who donated all his wealth, about which he actually did not know. He is a descendant of Raja Krishnadev Raya from Mysore district. For the last 400 years or so, three stones were worshipped in his house. But nobody tried to see what it was, except this person, who is a lawyer by profession. One day, when there was nobody in his house, he took the stone out to see what it was that they worship. Due to the dust deposited on it, from many years, it looked only like a simple stone. But when he touched it, some portion of the stone was cleansed. And he saw a bright ray of light. He saw something, which attracted his attention. And he was amazed when he cleaned all of them. The whole room was filled with light. He discovered they were diamonds of about 4600 carats each. He informed the Govt. of India and the news is censored with its security. It's now deposited in a Swiss Bank. The cost of a single diamond exceeds the GDP of the USA + UK. India can buy virtually 7 developing nations. Even the World Bank does not have enough money to buy it. One diamond costs thrice the debt of the World Bank over India. One such diamond can buy 10 Bill Gates for you. And the World Bank has proposed to the Indian Govt. that it can pay India in installments if it wishes to do so. India's GDP is 34.25 billion dollars. Bill Gates' property is 95 billion dollars approximately, so that is the way "nature changes". Mr. Vaidyaraj refused to sell it. He said it will be sold or mortgaged for credit when we need it. Otherwise right now we have no problems. You can go through Times of India - a small column on it a week ago. Star TV presented a documentary on it about 15 days ago. The Hindu ran a half-page article on it. After that, it was censored as classified. Another good news is that in the Desert of Thar, a deposit of Oil and Natural gas has been found. This stores what Kuwait has in its stomach. India can go with this ONGC energy reserve for another 30 years. And moreover, it can export it to other countries. It's incredible!! But true. An Indian boy in his 12th standard has disproved Einstein's "Theory of Relativity". Shocked? Read on...

Sudarshan Reddy has theoretically proved the existence of a sub-atomic particle, which can travel at a speed greater than that of light, thereby challenging one of the fundamental postulates of the "Theory of Relativity". In his recent research paper submitted to the Institute of Advanced Physics (IAP) at Trieste (Italy), Sudarshan has proved the existence of a class of sub-atomic particles called "leptons", which can travel faster than light. The international physics community is shocked by this discovery. Dr. Massimo Martelli, President of the IAP, has this to say about the paper submitted by Sudarshan. "After long, careful, and critical analysis, I can confidently say that Sudarshan's research papers show a tremendous leap in our understanding of physics. His investigation mounts up on "leptons". His work builds substantially on the work of Einstein and others in the field of relativity."

When physicists from Princeton University tried to measure Sudarshan's IQ with an IQ-meter (at the American Embassy in Delhi), the meter broke down. Sudarshan, incidentally, is the brother of Madhu Reddy, the Indian whiz kid who developed an operating system superior to Microsoft Windows. We should all be very proud of these boys.

Unquote

Thanks

Bala

Dear Bala,

Everyone has his/her own way of looking at things. If what you have described makes you proud to be Indian, then it is fine. But it does not persuade me contrary to my feelings.

Materially, what did Lord Krishna not have when Yadu vansha turned into ashes and he ran to the jungle to be killed by a hunter? This Yadu vanshi syndrome continues. Go to any Indian court, criminal or civil. You will find NADOs on both sides. That proves that YADU VANSHI SYNDROME persists in India.

In the Human Development Index of the UN, India's position is 127 in 2005. The wealth you have described cannot improve India's position even to 126.

So, my suggestion is that let us have a 360-degree vision as far as possible.

Regards

The United States can lose its tech edge to India if the US does not take urgent action. The top advisory panel of the United States has warned that the US is rapidly losing its edge in science and requires extensive efforts to strengthen its scientific competitiveness, according to a report by The New York Times.

A 20-member expert panel convened by the National Academies has outlined 20 steps that the US must take to uphold its dominant position in science and technology. The panel highlighted that India and China are emerging as significant hi-tech centers that could challenge US hegemony in technology.

The panel mentioned that India and China possess the necessary sacrifice, talent, creativity, and strong governmental support for technology development. They emphasized the availability of capital for technology and an awareness of the shifting landscape in global IT. The panel cited examples of emerging scientific and industrial powers abroad and recommended 20 steps for the United States to maintain its global leadership.

The panel raised concerns about the weakening of the nation's scientific capabilities, noting the increasing strength of other countries. They stressed the importance of creating high-quality jobs through the development of new industries and energy sources based on innovative ideas from scientists and engineers.

In a news conference in Washington, panel members estimated that the cost of implementing the recommendations would be around $10 billion annually, which might pose a challenge for Congress given current budget constraints, as reported by The New York Times.

The report highlighted the erosion of the US's advantages in the marketplace and science and technology due to widespread advanced knowledge and the availability of low-cost labor globally. The National Academies released a new report calling for a comprehensive federal effort to enhance US competitiveness and leadership in science, technology, and the economy to capitalize on opportunities presented by rapid globalization.

The report identified various indicators underscoring the need for immediate action. For instance, it noted the disparity in costs between hiring chemists and engineers in the US versus China and India. Additionally, it highlighted shifts in the distribution of chemical facilities, educational performance in math and science, and the number of engineering graduates in different countries.

The report, requested by Congress, proposed four recommendations and 20 implementation actions for policymakers to focus on creating high-quality jobs and directing science and technology efforts toward meeting the US's energy needs. The committee stressed the importance of ongoing evaluation of the outcomes of these measures.

Norman R. Augustine, retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp., emphasized the urgent need for the US to preserve its economic and strategic security by leveraging its knowledge-based resources and maintaining an environment conducive to new industries.

The report's recommendations include initiatives to improve math and science education, invest in long-term basic research, attract and retain top talent, and foster innovation in the US. These proposals aim to strengthen the nation's competitive edge, particularly in science and technology, amid global challenges.

Source: Rediff.com