Some social work

Once I shot a video of the dilapidated condition of the unused quarters of ENT hospital, Amritsar located at the backside of my house. Here it is:

It did create some ripples but didn't help much to achieve something concrete as yet.

Holistic Intelligence

Let me put it straightaway to the functioning of the brain and the classification of the left and right side of the brain and the functioning of each hemisphere.  It will be clear from the self-explanatory image as below

This has been pointed out time and again by many spiritual leaders but the main focus behind writing this article is to point out the difference between the left-brained and right-brained individuals and figure out what exactly is the right way to live. In India, left-brained individuals usually are considered intellectual as they perform well in their academics but right brained individuals have to struggle hard and face a lot of resistance. Left-brained people also perform well in competitive exams and hence go ahead to acquire high ranking positions in the government but right-brained individuals are made to feel devoid of the privilege.

But there is a different aspect through which we can look at the right-brained individuals. All sportsmen and celebrities are primarily individuals of immense right-brained intelligence. They make hundreds and thousands of crores in their lives which a govt. official like an IAS or IPS officer can only dream of. Once they find a path to excel, they give a befitting reply to the faulty education system of the country. They are recognized on many platform and fetch the glory of the highest order.

Once we have actually understood about the difference between such individuals, we can realize that there is a universe of opportunities for both the left-brained and the right-brained individuals to excel and grow in life. But in order to live a peaceful and a complete life, one ought to seek the balance between the two. Irrespective of your lifestyle attached to your profession or your means to make your ends meet, you can use the inherent aesthetic sense to embellish your life.

The qualities of the left part, which usually is referred to as the masculine part of the brain, definitely finds more acceptance in the patriarchal societies and the qualities associated with the right part, referred to as the feminine part, are usually valued in the matriarchal societies. Since, patriarchy is a more common set up and is found in majority of the communities in India, the left-brained individual are given more preference over the right-brained. But that does not comprise a holistic personality. Even if the right-brained intelligent person fights out the odds and excels, somewhere he has to come in close interaction with the left-brained people and this is where he struggles.

Though I would personally give equal weight-age to both forms of intelligence but I would insist on seeking a BALANCE between both the sides and one must focus on the holistic growth of his metal skills to enjoy both achievement and happiness in life. Though a person seeking a balanced growth may not make quick strides towards achievements and may not even be recognized at the social or the worldly platforms for his qualities but his existence is always supported and facilitated by the universe itself because nothing is above BALANCE in the universe.

Bureaucracy, Politics and Acquisition of Power

Power is every human's dream and one would go to any extent to grab it. However, if we translate the word into Hindi or Punjabi as "Shakti", it becomes very subjective. Some would consider it a divine gift or a supernatural state which empowers a human to exercise his/ her will. "Shakti" also refers to physical strength, but the social or political definition of power refers to the ability to influence the behavior of other people or a course of action. Though, the common notion about acquisition of power is that it can be captured through force but it may be possible in the rein of terror but in a democratic set-up like India specifically, political and bureaucratic institutions are highly empowered. Though I will not make a mention about the constitutional power hierarchy in India which has President on top of it, followed by the Prime Minister then Unions Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers and the Governors of the states, this hierarchy very well adjusts those civilians in it who have been bestowed upon them the prestigious "Bharat Ratna". A holder of a "Bharat Ratna" decoration enjoys the status of that of the Chief Minister of the state or a former Prime Minister of the country. But in this article I will focus on how people acquire such institutions.

Firstly, let's start from the level of a city/district, the amount of social status and respect enjoyed by the the District Collector (DC) or the Commissioner of Police (CP) in India would surpass the social status of a well-established Director/ CEO in an MNC. Though, he may be getting a much higher salary slip, but he won't enjoy the proximity of the top notch political leadership of the state or the country as that of a senior IAS or an IPS officer. We usually say in a lehman's language that XYZ is the DC of the city or the SSP or CP of the city but let us correct ourselves by admitting that DC, CP or SSP are not people but established institutions which are subsequently occupied by competent individuals and are thrown open to acquisition through UPSC civil services exam for the super-intelligent people of the country or the person from a lower rank be promoted to these positions based on their performance at the lower rank and the work experience of fixed number of years. Now, to occupy these institutions, the main criteria is intelligence- the mind power. Any bureaucrat if reaches the level of a secretary i.e. the defense secretary, finance secretary or the chief secretary is assumed to have had brilliant career in Civil Services. By the time, he/ she reaches the secretary level, he/ she is at the threshold of retirement.

Now let's talk about the Ministerial positions at both the state and the Central Level. Any person who aspires to be the minister in the state Cabinet first needs to win the seat of an MLA in legislative assembly elections, then, based on his past record or his performance as a party worker, the high command of the particular party which has allotted him/ her the ticket to contest the elections decides whether to give him/ her the ministry or not. Same kind of procedure is laid down for those who acquire Union Cabinet berths but they have to either go through Parliamentary elections or they can be nominated through the upper house of the parliament.

Usually, both the processes i.e. selection in civil services and elections in the assembly or the parliament are not very transparent and usually the parameters of the selection or the elections are kept hidden whether by the UPSC or the party high command in question. But UPSC is known for its sanctity and unbiased attitude but the acquisition of a political rank gets dirty because of the involvement of money and muscle power. Hence, the institution of Ministry carries much more power than that of the bureaucratic institutions because it requires three M's i.e. Mind, Money and Muscle whereas bureaucracy requires just one M i.e. the Mind. Though one needs to be physically fit and strong to join the police force but Muscle power is definitely not the physical strength of an individual. It is the number people backing you up who are always ready to manhandle any person or a situation that is proving to be an obstruction for you to acquire the seat of an MLA/ MP and subsequently the ministry. Money power is required to allure such people with alcohol, cash and other benefits.

The things that I've mentioned in this article as yet must be common-sense for a civil servant or a politically socialized individual. But now, I'll hit the soft spot by saying that we should ask bureaucrats personally why did they choose to be bureaucrats ?? Was that their personal calling ?? or Did the leader within them felt the dearth of money or muscle power to acquire a ministerial rank ?? Same sort of piercing questions can be asked to the ministers why did they choose to be politicians ?? Were they born leaders ?? Were they circumstantially forced to acquire power to change their life situations and meet the other ends ?? Didn't they aspire to have their own business empire ?? Don't they envy cult leaders who enjoy much more material comforts than them and are literally worshiped by people ?? Weren't they bound by their dynastic compulsions ??

The term "Leader" is highly misunderstood in India. For an uneducated Lehman, every politician is a leader. For the educated middle class, a "Leader" is the one who excels in life. My definition of a leader is somewhat similar. I would rather define a leader as guided by Stephen R Covey. I would say leader is the one who has successfully found his/ her inner voice and inspires others to find their inner voice. That may be too idealistic for acceptance in the Indian masses majority of whom are still struggling with the basic necessities of life but there are countless examples of both political and non-political leaders in India who have found their voice, followed it and unleashed the infinite potential hidden within themselves. Though the government institutions are highly empowered in India but there are people/ places and events happening in India which makes one feel the complete absence of government in the country. Best examples are , some award ceremony of Bollywood or the award ceremony of a cricket match. Such institutions make you feel that no government is required to govern the country and the country and the citizens can take care of themselves. Government only seems to be a set of nonsensical, egocentric people asserting themselves time and again and making life tougher to live instead of facilitating it.

In the early stages of evolution of the country after independence, the need of the government was absolutely necessary to guide people about the working of the institutions and tell them about what they can/ cannot do for the nation, what they can achieve in their lives. But now, as the Indian society has evolved into a wiser and a much more matured society, even a normal person would not feel connected with any office-bearer of the government and would find it actually hard to believe that a particular govt. institution has been set up to facilitate his/ her life.

Though social stratification definitely has a role to play in the utilization of the govt. institutions as a rich and an influential person can use these institutions better to work for his/ her advantage but that is more the outcome of his/ her own wisdom instead of the directions or guidelines given by the govt. I firmly believe that one should never work for acquisition of power or money in life but one should definitely work for realizing one's own potential and unleash it, chase one's dreams, once they're realized and accomplished, all the power and money will fall at your feet and you won't have to deliberately work to acquire it. It has been rightly said about power that: "Power is like a dead sea fruit, once you reach there, you realize there's nothing."

A Love-centered LIFE

Many a times there are huge discussions about love. Is it a phenomenon that enfolds humanity or does humanity enfold it?  Many philosophers have come up with different approaches and definitions of love which can be better felt than defined. Such definitions give a relative idea about love but it is impossible verbalize something which is beyond comprehension. So is it fair enough to stick to the ideas proposed by some great men. Don’t we have the right to develop and endorse our own idea and frame our own definition of love?

YES!! Absolutely. We have the right.

Just as every individual is unique, his/her point of view about love is also unique. This article aims at developing an LQ (Love Quotient) for the revered reader and help make them Love-conscious. Though I don’t claim that this article can solve the problems regarding world-peace overnight, I can definitely commit that the people who’ll feel this article will give a very positive input to their minds and will definitely make a positive impact on their surroundings and with rigorous propagation of Love-consciousness, the problem of world peace will gradually be solved.

Though I won’t recommend any particular approach to read or implement this article, I do request you,  dear reader, to open your mind and start feeling the words, implementation will follow automatically. The main purpose for writing this article is to unleash my own potential and help others to unleash theirs through the awesome power of love, with which we are gifted. I want to help the reader (and myself) to maintain the balance between the universe around us and the universe within us as the gift of love and wisdom knows no boundaries.

Is LOVE important??

Just like oxygen.Love is not only important but a necessity of the highly intellectual and civilized animal called human. The people who already have a good LQ will say that, “It is inescapable. I LOVE to get carried away by LOVE and there’s absolutely nothing that I fear.”

Before we proceed towards the simplified realization theory I would like to draw a simple classification of people according to the way they chose to live their life.This classification is inspired by Mr. Stephen R Covey’s works (“Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and “The Eighth Habit.”)

• Egocentered is that category of people who put their self in the center of their lives. It might put them in a comfort zone temporarily but it gradually develops a shell around them with has to be broken by either some internal motivation or external impact (usually painful).
• X-centered is that category of people who put anyX-factor in the center of their lives. It can be family, career, peer-group, sex, spouse, money, religion, power, possessions, control, success etc. This approach narrows down the bandwidth which results in low flexibility and ability to accept change as well as other people.
• Principle centered is that category of people who are very true to their calling. They’re usually looked up and act as the role-models in the society.
• Love centered is that category of people who are completely enlightened about their calling and help others to get enlightened. They’re the real heroes of the cosmic drama and have risen above all yet they aren’t hungry for anything.

REALIZATION THEORY Simplified….

It has been rightly said that, “What is most personal, is in fact the most general.” So instead of using some rocket-science or attempting to interpret some complicated love theory, I’ll just introduce a simple theory to develop LQ and become Love-conscious. I’ll be depicting this theory by a diagram that I’ve named as the LOVE-trapezium. The Love-trapezium has to be such that it connects you to universality and abundance leaving a reasonable amount of space for your own self. It is based on the line of interface whichis the linking pin between the universe around and the universe within,commonly understood to be the spheres of private and public life. This line of interface acts as the lower base of the trapezium where compassion and acceptability increases from bottom to top and arrogance and animosity decrease from top to bottom. The non-parallel sides of the trapezium depend upon the sensitivity and the mysticism of an individual. If an individual has an acute sense of sensitivity and mysticism, he/ she will make acute angles along the line of interface and such individuals are likely to be more love-conscious. On the other hand if the individual doesn’t have any sensitivity and mysticism, he/she will make obtuse angles along the line of interface resulting in arrogance,egomania and restriction in the public sphere. Let us try the Love-trapezium with the acute angle first:

 

Now let’s try the Love-trapezium with obtuse angles of sensitivity and mysticism.

 

The Love-trapezium depicts four levels of consciousness/realization where compassion and acceptability increases from bottom to top and arrogance and animosity decrease from top to bottom. The most important factor is undoubtedly the angles of sensitivity and mysticism which every human being has by default. Though the showoff and unreal world around us tries its best to make us artificial human and exerts a lot of pressure to make these angles obtuse. Though, the acuteness of these angles decides the indispensable human potential, lack or absence of these angles means death. Yes… death of conscience and humanity. We can clearly see in the above diagrams that theacute angles lead to love-consciousness and abundance whereas obtuse angles lead to egomania and restrict a person from becoming love-conscious.

Now what?? Do you want to try it with right angles? Don’t even think about it, as that will be the case of a computer program or a machine made artificially intelligent. Though AI is a great subject to study but I think EQ (Emotional Quotient), SQ (Spiritual Quotient) and undoubtedly LQ (Love Quotient) are the areas where no machine can ever challenge the humans’ monopoly.

DECISIVE PARAMETER

Though the fou rlevels depicted in the diagram look overlapped but there are huge chasms of fear and self-doubt between these levels which need to be crossed with theupward force of courage and confidence.As, courage and confidence are acting as the upward force, the intensity of this upward force also plays a decisive part in deciding the acuteness of the angles of sensitivity and mysticism or it could be the other way round too, i.e. the acuteness of one’s sensitivity and mysticism could force the individual to gather courage to break his/ her shell and move out. But the decisive parameter for love consciousness is neither the angles of S&M nor the courage & confidence.

The decisive parameter is the movement between these levels. YES! This movement that has been depicted here is so powerful that it can decide the immortality of one’s name, bring people out of delusions of grandeur, and empower people to make or break cultural, social and religious taboos. It can bring about immediate changes in society starting from the microcosm of each individual.

Now that we’ve realized the power of the LOVE-Trapezium and every dimension related to it, wecan say in a single line without any fear and self-doubt that; “Jin prem kiyo tin hi prabh paayo” as said by Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru of Sikhs, now makes perfect sense and is understood to be an eternal truth.

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa,
Waheguru ji ki Fateh!!