Good Bye...

Lessons

“Siddhartha has one single goal-to become empty, to become empty of thirst, desire, dreams, pleasure and sorrow-to let the Self die. No longer to be Self, to experience the peace of an emptied heart, to experience pure thought-that was his goal.”

“Knowledge can be
conveyed, but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is
possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it
cannot be expressed in words and taught.”

“When someone seeks,” said Siddhartha, “then it easily happens that his eyes see only the thing that he seeks, and he is able to find nothing, to take in nothing because he always thinks only about the thing he is seeking, because he has one goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: having a goal. But finding means: being free, being open, having no goal.”

“It is not for me to judge another man’s life. I must judge, I must choose, I must spurn, purely for myself. For myself, alone.”

“When someone is seeking,” said Siddartha, “It happens quite easily that he only sees the thing that he is seeking; that he is unable to find anything, unable to absorb anything, because he is only thinking of the thing he is seeking, because he has a goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal. You, O worthy one, are perhaps indeed a seeker, for in striving towards your goal, you do not see many things that are under your nose.”

“What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find.”

“One must find the source within one’s own Self, one must possess it. Everything else was seeking — a detour, an error.”

“We are not going in circles, we are going upwards. The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps.”

“It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration and respect.”

“And all the voices, all the goals, all the yearnings, all the sorrows, all the pleasures, all the good and evil, all of them together was the world. All of them together was the stream of events, the music of life.

Pain

Empty, betrayed, and no happiness; that's heartbreak. You don't want to cry, what's the point? You feel like your heart is falling apart, but your life is going to fall apart too. You don't think it will ever end, like it feels impossible to stop loving them. If they have hurt you so much, then why do you still love them? That's the confusing part, you don't know why. After a few weeks, you finally feel a sense of relief,but you know inside that you're just going into denial. And after a few more weeks, you're back to where you were an empty soul and teary eyes. You've spent so many nights laying awake in bed, and fear of rejection. After about a million tears have been cried, finally pull yourself back together and keep going. You look back on all of the hurt you had from this,and you realize it's horrible. You're still hurt but you've learned to hide it so that everyone thinks you are okay. You just sit back and wonder how someone could have caused all of this.

That's life. The most acute pain are caused by someone you loved the most.

Blessings !!!

And finally you achieved it. You must be feeling exalted… a new life with newer challenges and greater opportunities awaits you. From now on, a new battle is waiting for you. Every day you will be startled by the labyrinth of life. Every day you will learn some new lessons. You will meet new people. During the process, you will also realize your self-worth and potential. You will discover yourself and will find a new purpose for your life.

I am also elated for your achievement. But somewhere deep inside me, I am also sad. Maybe it is because of a fear. Just a thought that someone is there who cares for you, someone who understands you, makes you happy. Maybe I am unhappy because of the fear of losing that special bond with you. This is life. The only thing that remains unchanged is the change itself. And I have to accept this change even though it is painful.

I even don't know whether I acted as a motivator or a demotivator in your journey. It was only because of your hard work and determination.

I wish you from the core of my heart for your new journey. Be happy and stay blessed...

Forgiveness

The purpose of forgiveness is not to absolve someone of the sins committed against us; but to free ourselves from the pain and the anger that is keeping us stuck. When we forgive,we are better able to let go of past and keep moving forward with our life.

A R Rahman

“Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.”          - Albert Einstein

None of us know who that invisible piper is. Some of  us think we do but no body really knows, who the invisible piper is.

But I can say the song that HE's playing will be written by AR Rahman...

The fourth estate...

In a democracy, every institution has their functional roles assigned which are necessary for ensuring the healthiness of the system.

All the institution i.e. legislature, Judiciary and Executives should be responsible and accountable. The constitution has ensured well defined roles and responsibilities which make them functional and coherent at the same time provided necessary checks and balances to ensure restriction on the abuse of their power. Because of the importance of these institutions they are termed as 'three pillars' on which the entire democratic system stands.

The forth pillar, though not defined in the constitution, is the media which has a very constructive role in educating and informing the citizens to build their opinion and exercise an informed choice.  The constitution has provided equal political rights to every citizen. The right to vote and elect their representative in parliamentary democracy is a very powerful and important right given to the citizens. The media plays a crucial role in informing the citizens about the programs and ideologies of various political parties and helping them in exercising an informed choice. It informs them about the social and political developments happening around them.

Media plays a very important role in creating awareness among the citizens about their social, economic and political rights they are entitled to. At the same time it provides a platform to vent their grievances which also act as a feedback to the government.

With increasing corporatisation of media and separation of financial and editorial power, media is now acting as a tool to further the agenda of power elites and big corporates. This election has seen an unprecedented use of media, both mainstream and social, and has witnessed its power in creating or rather manufacturing public opinion. A powerful medium can be misused to create false opinion and consensus that is evident from the high pitched campaign of BJP which ultimately turned out to be a huge electoral gain for them.

A backroom consensus has emerged among the political class and big business. They are now setting public issues to be debated on. The real issues of common people have been side-lined. The people of this country have been kept uninformed about the social realities. The large scale inequality that has been persisting has created two parallel societies. A society of affluent which is availing the fruits of the development and it is their concerns that are finding its place in the media. At the same time there is a society of downtrodden which is continuously getting marginalised. Their voices hardly find any place in the media.

There can’t be a shame bigger, that in a country where a person earning Rs. 23 a day is considered as rich and in spite of such ridiculous yardstick, 30 per cent of the population is below poverty line after 65 years of independence. A country where malnutrition among children can be comparable to that prevailing in sub-Saharan African countries... and that in a country where wealth is trickling up and is producing increasing number of billionaires… These contradictions hardly find its place in the mainstream media today.

The fourth estate of this country has completely surrendered in front of the market forces. Now it’s all about the game of grabbing more number of eyeballs… Now market is creating and deciding news.

The state of electronic media is pathetic. In the 24 X 7 format, there is hardly any content that qualifies of being news. Instead of raising healthy debate on issues and promoting rational and scientific temper among the people, they are showing all sorts of debris. The content and rationality of arguments is now decided by the decibel of the anchor in the newsroom.

Recently, when the Anna movement against corruption shook the entire country, media grabbed that opportunity and a ball by ball commentary had been shown. Similarly, in the outrage against Nirbhaya case, media played a leading role in creating an environment in which constructive debate and discussion took place. But at the same time, recently when four dalit girls, in same village of Haryana, were raped, this incident has hardly been reported in the electronic media. The public outrage that had been there in the case of Nirbhaya case was missing. Why this discrimination? Because in the market driven media, only those stories are picked up which has to have any concern with the consumer. The dalits of Haryana are not the consumers in the market. So who cares for them?

Now there is hardly any alternative available to bridge this lacuna. The state owned Doordarshan is struggling to mark its place. I can remember that in our childhood days what had been the importance of Doordarshan? In its golden days, it happened to be one of the reasons of our happiness. With all sorts of entertainment and informative programs, it shaped the conscience of an entire generation. It is a pity that now it is struggling for its own existence in the crowd of private channels.

The policies and negligent approach of the government are mainly responsible for it. Time has come to grant financial and administrative autonomy to Prasar Bharti. The reach of Prasar Bharti to the remotest and far flung areas is beyond any doubt. By granting financial and administrative autonomy, it can improve its infrastructure and attract the talent pool which will improve the content qualitatively and will make it not only popular but also representative of the social realities of this country. BBC of UK is the best example of a successful state owned media.

Until and unless the media of this country will not be made independent and accountable, the success of democracy in its true form will be doubtful. But sadly the present situation is way behind satisfactory level.

What had been envisaged as a watchdog of the democracy has now been turned out to be a cheerleader!!


Kundan