Story: A PASSIONATE ACCOUNT OF THREE TIME CANCER SURVIVOR

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

A PASSIONATE ACCOUNT OF THREE TIME CANCER SURVIVOR
Just finished writing a book on a three time cancer-survivor from Chennai. The book is under print. It is co-published by Cankids a PAN India NGO for child cancer in India, and Shravan Charity Mission, again an NGO that works for child cancer in India. The book has been endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, Vice-Chairperson, Apollo Hospital Group. While we will unveil the book next week, below are some kind words for the author and the Co-author Dr Sujata Tripathi from the Can-survivor Suresh himself.

“There are two kinds of people in the world: Givers and takers, the takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better..
Grateful that we all are in the latter category. Convey my special greets and bunch of thanks to Dr.Sujata Tripathi.

God bless you sir.”

There isn’t a bigger reward than a heartfelt ‘God bless you’ from a pained soul.

FOLLOW THE TEACHINGS ONLY, DON’T ATTEMPT TO IMITATE GOD

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

gita picture of gita 2

A tip from Gita

Follow the teachings only, don’t attempt to imitate God- Gita

“Man should attempt to follow the spiritual teachings of God. Either by following the God directly or through his avatars on whom he has vested such powers. His updesh (sermons) alone are good enough for the welfare of mankind, which any intelligent person can explain to us in a proper manner.

It is indeed in the interest of human beings to draw their lessons only from the sermons of God and never try and attempt to either imitate or emulate his actions for that could be hazardous. A devotee of Lord God Shiva shouldn’t attempt to consume poison. Just as he drank all of it that came out from the Samudra Manthan (Churning of the sea).

We should consider God as the supreme power and his avatars the forces that reign and control the direction and speed of the sun and the moon.   Any person without such powers, in his own interest should not try and imitate the all powerful God almighty.

Lord God Shiva consumed all the poison that came out of Samudra manthan, because he had the capacity and ability to do so. But if an ordinary person tries to consume even a drop of poison he will die. Lord Shiva has many ardent devotees and followers who consume ganja (Cannabis) and other intoxicating stuff, thinking they are permitted to follow suit just because Lord God Shiva consumes it. Such devotees and followers are only killing themselves, because their body and soul does not have the capacity to sustain this poison over a long period of time like Lord Shiva.

In the same manner there are many devotees of Lord Krishna who intend to practice and imitate his Rass-Lila or love dance, but forget that he also had the capacity to lift the Goverdhan Parvat which an ordinary person can’t.

Therefore, the best option would be not to imitate the all powerful God and his Avatars and only follow their updesh. Without eligibility and capacity one should not try and copy what God does as it will only hurt. And there are many God’s and Avatars who too don’t have the powers of God Almighty yet they are God’s.

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BEEF-HINDUISM-VOTE BANK POLITICS-RAGHUVANSH PRASAD SINGH

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

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In a recent statement RPS (Raghuvansh Prasad Singh) of RJD said ‘Hindu sages, ate beef.’ Tomorrow if it suits his party he might even say Allah preferred poke. RPS knowingly crossed the line hurting Hindu sentiments. Such silly netas can go to any extent for vote bank politics. They should not be taken seriously, rather as opportunist of the rotten kind. They belong to no one, except hustings. Neither Hindus, nor Muslims should get enamoured by useless netas like RPS. They only belong to themselves and do not shirk to scathe the sentiments of the masses through their quirky bayanbazi and I would leave him as be pendi ka lota (a vessel without a stable base).

That apart, we need to understand the criticality of times while talking about, who ate what and why?

In this regard let me take you through the famous incident of Andes flight disaster.

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, also known as the Andes flight disaster that happened in South America, and is the Miracle in the Andes (El Milagro de los Andes) was a chartered flight carrying 45 people, including a rugby union team, their friends, family and associates, that crashed in the Andes on 13 October 1972. More than a quarter of the passengers died in the crash and several others quickly succumbed to cold and injury. Of the 27 who were alive a few days after the accident, another eight were killed by an avalanche that swept over their shelter in the wreckage. The last 16 survivors were rescued on 23 December 1972, more than two months after the crash.

The survivors had little food and no source of heat in the harsh conditions at over 3,600 metres (11,800 ft) altitude. Faced with starvation and radio news reports that the search for them had been abandoned, the survivors fed on the dead passengers who had been preserved in the snow. Rescuers did not learn of the survivors until 72 days after the crash when passengers Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, after a 10-day trek across the Andes, found Chilean arriero Sergio Catalán,[1] who gave them food and then alerted the authorities to the existence of the other survivors.

The Andes survivors fed on dead passengers when faced with an onerous situation where they were about to lose their lives, so does that mean they were cannibals? In the same manner the sages of ancient times led a life of extreme austerity in tall mountains and tough conditions, and they may have consumed a crisis diet of beef only to survive; as to keep yourself safe, and to survive is one of the biggest obligations of life. So does that mean they were regular beef eaters?

A crisis diet should not be branded as your normal diet, but as a survival diet supposedly allowed by a religion. What really matters is your mainstay diet or what you eat on a regular basis should be labelled as your standard dietary habit.

RPS should know that food preferences and diets of communities and civilizations don’t change overnight like political affiliations. In case of Hinduism beef is banned and in case of Islam pork is banned as a regular religious practice.

Respecting the sentiments of our brethren, is our duty; however we should not open our little mouth to vitiate the atmosphere by hurting the sentiments of any community.

RPS thinks if he hurts Hindu sentiments he will get Muslim votes which may not be true. Muslims are wise and definitely won’t vote for RJD on beef appeasement.

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Political column: KEJRWAL KE DAT KHANE KE AUR DIKHANE KE AUR

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

aap party arvind kejriwal manish sisodia

     The sweet simple junta of Delhi voted for the duo of Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, thinking, ‘idealism’ was their totem-pole. They initially projected to the people of Delhi they had come to serve, sans perks, lal batti and corruption and in fact they sounded loud opprobrium against parties like Congress and BJP who were after power and corruption. But today AAP is cheating the hapless public of Delhi by going back on almost all parameters of ‘idealism’ and now they want a hefty salary increase of 140%. Kejriwal should visit all the mohalla sabhas and seek permission from the junta of Delhi whether this increase is justified, for this is how AAP party works for all their major decisions.

SNAP/JUDGEMENT toi TODAY

Kejriwal, Stop This

Delhi’s AAP government came in on a wave of idealism. However; it is now trying to raise MLA salaries from the current Rs 88,000 per month to Rs 2,10,000 per month. Such a hefty hife, amounting to a 140% raise, is outrageous. Has the AAP government , in the six months or so it has been in power, raised incomes in Delhi by 140% for MLAs to deserve this much of a hike?

#STORY: BLESSINGS AND SUPREME HAPPINESS

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

blessings and supreme happiness 2 blessings and supreme happiness brahmgyan

Once upon a time there lived a renowned scholar in the forest who had many bright shishyas (pupils). They were under his aegis for a long period of time, and were eager and impatient to learn the rare talent of Brahmagyan (divine knowledge) from their Guru; considering they had acquired enough mastery on other issues and what was left was only the divine knowledge.

They were somewhat suspicious, thinking the Guru was not keen to teach them Brahmagyan the way to paramsukh (supreme happiness) for reasons best known to him. Somewhat, dissatisfied these shishyas were now desisting to move as per the guidance of their Guru and had started putting pressure on him for teaching them Brahmgyan. Their logic was, when they had surrendered themselves completely at the Guru’s feet, then why wasn’t the Guru teaching them the coveted talent that was the way to supreme happiness.

One day the guru called all his shishyas and said, ‘don’t be under the impression that I don’t want to share Brahmagyan with you. But I only want to say that you all are not ready for it as of now. There is no point in pouring amrit (elixir) in a vessel which has many holes because the entire nectar will just flow out. Before pouring the nectar we need to close all the holes.’

Upon hearing Guru’s words all the shishyas started whispering amongst themselves. The oldest out of them got up and said, ‘Gurudev we don’t agree to your logic that we are not ready for Brahmagyan yet.  For many years we have been staying with you and we have carried your message and teachings to many places.   People know us as your representative and even you have praised us for our work in the past. Besides Brahmgyan what else is left for us to attain? Your words are creating doubts in our minds, that you don’t want to share this divine knowledge with us, which is the only way to attain supreme happiness.’

Guru for a moment went quiet as it saddened him, thinking his pupils were not humble, and on the contrary arrogant. He thought this distance between the pupils and the Guru will only weaken them and give them a feeling of defeat, and on the contrary nearness to Guru will increase the feeling of self respect.

After a little while the Guru said, ‘dear students, possibly; I was wrong when I thought you all were not ready for Brahmgyan. I guess you all are adults, knowledgeable and ready for the divine knowledge. But I want to take a small test of you all.’

After saying this he took out is basket of fruits and distributed one fruit to every shishya and requested them to hide it in such a place that when no one is watching they could eat it.

All the pupils were a little surprised at this unusual and simple request of the Guru but since all of them were determined to learn Brahmagyan they decided to carry out his the instructions at any cost. They accepted the order of the Guru. After sometime all the shishyas returned with the belief that they had successfully obeyed the orders of the Guru. Leaving aside one who was a continuous laughing stock, and considered a simpleton in the entire group and many didn’t even consider him in their league.

Guru was eagerly waiting, and with a lot of inquisition he asked about how they ate the fruit without anyone noticing them. Everyone narrated their success story.

Then, was the turn of the simpleton, who was often ridiculed by his fellow students. Upon orders from the Guru he came forward on his wobbly legs with the fruit in his hand to tell his story. Guru displayed anger and said, ‘I had asked you to eat the fruit. Everyone obeyed my orders then why did you not have the fruit? What is the reason tell me?’

Shishya said, ‘’Gurudev I wanted to obey your orders but I had no place to hide. You had instructed to have this fruit when no one is around. But wherever I went I felt I am not alone and God is around me, as you only told us God is omnipresent. Because of this I could neither hide myself nor the fruit. Kindly therefore forgive me because I could not pass the test.

‘No, my child, only you have passed in the exams. All the other shishyas only counted on the physical presence. They forgot about the omnipresent God who watches every action of ours and is a witness to all our deeds. When they don’t understand omnipresent God, how will they be blessed with Brahmagyan? Only you could recognise that supreme existence and that is why only you are entitled to receive the supreme divine knowledge—Brahmagyan.’

This story is from the purans (religious texts) which highlights the point that we should only desire for something when we are capable of handling it. Guru knows when he has to bless his shishyas and when they would be capable enough to learn Brahmagyan the way to supreme happiness.

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SHORT STORY: MANY FACES OF GOD

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    Once upon a time there lived a king whose daughter was very beautiful and intelligent. She often used to be present in the king’s court for fierce discussions and debates with the king’s pundits and scholars on various issues, where she often used to defeat them. The pundits and scholars were quite embarrassed and upset because of this fact. Therefore, they all were silently scheming and waiting for an opportunity when they could take revenge of the insults in the court.

     One day the king summoned all his scholars and pundits in the court and requested them to look for a suitable match for his daughter. At this request of the king all of them were extremely happy for they all wanted to teach the king’s daughter Rajkumari a lesson.

    Soon they all set out on the mission and after searching a lot they found a murkh (simpleton) whom they assured good food, drinks and clothes provided he kept his mouth shut under any situation. Murkh initially got scared but then for the sake of good food, drinks and clothes and that too without working he decided to do whatever the Pundits and the scholars wanted him to do.

    They decked the murkh with clean and holy appearing attire and presented him before the king as a Maha Pundit. King was happy to meet him. But Rajkumari wanted to test his knowledge and wisdom and so was keen to debate with him. The pundit and scholars therefore decided to call for a question and answer session in the king’s court. The topic of the Q&A session was ‘The reality of God.’ But since the Murkh had vowed to keep a maun-vrat (a vow to remain quiet) he could have spoken only in sign language.

    When the session commenced Rajkumari was in a dilemma. But after pondering for a few moments she lifted her finger. Soon a scholar who was sitting behind the murkh pressed two of his fingers on the back of the Murkh and the Murkh catching the simple hint lifted two of his fingers. Rajkumari in response lifted three fingers when the Murkh raised four fingers when he was hinted to do so.

    With some hesitation Rajkumari then lifted five fingers and responding to that the Murkh raised six fingers. Rajkumari in response raised seven and in response the Murkh raised eight. Again after some hesitation Rajkumari raised nine fingers in response to which the Murkh raised both his hands. The entire court sitting there was watching with great interest the question and answer session.

    Finally Rajkumari raised both her hands, when the Murkh too raised both his hands but in a cross position. By now Rajkumari had lost her patience and was stunned at the mysterious ways in which the Murkh was raising his fingers and now his hands. She said if this Maha Pundit is on maun-vrat, someone else, and at least one out of you can kindly stand and tell us what he is trying to convey in his sign language. Finally one scholar got up and said, ‘fine but first you kindly tell us, what you meant by those fingers that you raised.’

    ‘Fine’ said the Rajkumari, ‘when I raised one finger I meant God. God is one and he is omnipresent, but what did his two fingers mean.’ One scholar said, ‘divyata (divinity) is always present in two ways. Female and male, right and wrong, high and low, true and false, work and worship, clear and unclear etc. etc. ‘Fine’ said the Rajkumari, ‘my three fingers meant three subtle components of life (three gunas or habits)—sat, rajas and tamas. Three periods of time—past, present and the future. There are three kinds of lokas (worlds) in mythology—swarglok, (heaven) prithvi (Earth) and yamlok (Hell). There are three jobs to be done by anyone and everyone in this world—create, execute and destroy.

    One scholar stood up and said, ‘in response to three, four fingers were raised.  It means there are four Vedas (religious texts of Hindus)—Samved, Rigved, Yajurved and Atharveda.     There are four directions—North, West, South and East. There are four stages of life—bachpan, (childhood) jawani (youth) prodavastha (middle age) and vradavastha (old age). There are four ashrams- bramcharya-ashram, grahastha-ashram, vanprastha-ashram and sanyas-ashram.

    Rajkumari was happy and impressed is when she accepted the logics and said, ‘my five fingers meant five basic substances required for life—sky, air, fire, water and earth. There are also five gyanendrias (sense points) – eyes, nose, ears, tongue and relieving points (anus and urination).

    The reply to that was with six fingers. Which meant, there are six hurdles on way to acquiring Brahmagyan (complete knowledge)-desire, grief, greed, hate, anger and arrogance. There are six threads to happiness- courage, kindness, humility, perseverance, love and happiness.

    ‘O my God! This Maha Pundit is really great.’ Rajkumari whispered to herself. Meanwhile the entire king’s court had started praising the Maha Pundit. Rajkumari sermonized, ‘my seven fingers signify the presence of divinity that is present in the saptarishis (seven-rishis), the seven rivers, the seven seas, the seven colours and are also present in the seven threads required to run this life.

    Maha pundit replied to seven fingers by raising eight because in Yog (meditation) there are eight branches, there are eight kinds of assets and eight types of tribulations and it depicts all these. Nine fingers meant- nine faces of God, nine faces of mother, nine types of ratnas (precious substances) and nine vents of the human body.

    Pundit further said, ‘ten fingers of his meant that god is complete. God is one. No matter how many names, how many faces, how many divisions, but the divinity is firm, supreme, it is one and supreme.

    Rajkumari said, ‘one last question, when I raised my one hand why did he cross both his hands and lift it?

    Pundit said, ‘this is quite simple because he wanted to continue with his puja and meditation and therefore he wanted to stop the question and answer session.

    Rajkumari was now ready to marry him and the scholars and pundits were happy seeing their revenge coming through. Soon they were married.

    But when they met in isolation after marriage, the intelligent Rajkumari quickly understood, just to take revenge the scholars and the pundits had planned all this, and got her married to a murkh.    But Rajkumari without getting annoyed, and in a peaceful manner asked her husband to go to the close by temple of Goddess Durga and pray, and when Goddess is happy to ask for a vardan (blessing) of knowledge and wisdom.

    Without saying a word the murkh husband went to the close by temple with a heavy heart but open mind and started praying sincerely and in due course he got a vardan from Goddess Durga.

    This person was no one else but famous poet Kalidas of ancient times.

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Posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

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GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

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ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

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STORY- THREE TESTS

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

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Maharishi Vashist was a renowned Mahatma. Many people from far of places used to come to him for help and guidance in education and spiritual knowledge. One day a visitor who had come to see him said, ‘Maharishi I have heard a lot about your spiritual powers. I want to learn Brahma-gyan (complete-knowledge) from you, so kindly bless me with the knowledge.

On hearing this all the shisyas (pupils) who were present there started smiling sarcastically thinking it was not all that simple as they too were at the service of the Maharishi with the same objective for years now. Maharishi heard the request and peacefully said, ‘sure! I will definitely pay attention to your request but for that you need to first do tapasya (intense meditation) for a year, and after completing that come to me. The Bhakt (disciple) turned visitor was extremely happy considering the spiritual knowledge that some people couldn’t attain all their lives was now going to come to him in a year. And assimilating Maharishi’s advice he left the place happily for his mission when all other pupils out there looked stunned.

After completion of a year the Bhakt came back to the ashram and along with other visitors he was waiting to meet the Maharishi. But while he was waiting one pupil who was carrying litter in a basket slipped and fell and the entire litter fell on him. This enraged the Bhakt and he bashed up the shishya for dirtying him. Later he met the Maharishi who then smiled and said, ‘son you have failed in your first test.’ Shunning violence is the first lesson of Brahma-gyan. Your entire tapasya has gone for a waste but I will still give you one more opportunity. Go and perform tapsya for one more year and then come back to me.’

The Bhakt was quite dejected. But obeying the command of the Maharishi was his duty so he left for the second round of tapsya for a year. After a year he returned again, but as ill luck would have it this time one servant by mistake poured dirty water that drenched and dirtied his clothes.

Although, the visitor remembered and regretted what he had done last time, he did not beat up the servant but he reprimanded him nice and proper. Later he met the Maharishi and complained about the servant and conveyed to him of the incompetence and indiscipline in the ashram.

Maharishi said, ‘son again this time you have not succeeded in your exams, because to shun anger, should be the second biggest step towards your objective where you’ve failed. So again your tapasya has gone for a waste. But I will give you one last chance. Go back and perform your tapasya for another year.’

This time the Bhakt was filled with repentance and gloom and started doubting if he really required this Brahmya-gyan for the journey of his life. But since he didn’t want to cross the Maharishi, he again set himself out for the tapasya and after a year he returned again. This time also by an unfortunate chance the dustbin of the kitchen in the ashram fell on him.

But, the surprising part this time was neither did the Bhakt get angry nor hassled on the contrary he cheerfully started helping the shishya who was carrying the dustbin to clean up the place; and he didn’t even mention about it to the Maharishi. And some other pupil informed the Maharishi about this incident.

When the Maharishi met the Bhakt he smiled and said to him, ‘all the three tests were taken at my behest. And I’m happy this time you’ve cleared your test and now you are heading towards your objective. Now you are away from anger, violence and hate. Your mind is filled with love, trust and kindness. My best wishes are with you.’

Upon hearing this the Bhakt fell on Maharishi’s feet and offered his pranam and thereafter he very happily left; so happy that he didn’t even enquire about Brahma-gyan. Rest of the shisyas were dazed at this behaviour of the Bhakt. They enquired from the Maharishi; the objective with which he came to the ashram was not even fulfilled so how could he leave before that.

Maharishi very politely said, ‘any person who is peaceful about himself and the world and trusts his Guru completely and who has love for mankind need not run after Brahma-gyan. In fact Brahma-gyan will run after him. A righteous person gets knowledge and wisdom even from the best wishes of his Guru.

This story tells us how we can obtain Brahma-gyan without running after it.

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STORY: Panch prakar ke Murkh (Five varieties of Jerks)

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

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Long time back in a far away kingdom, there lived a king who was very kind and judicious. His queen too was very intelligent, who from time to time used to advise him in matters related to law and order and day-to-day life.

One day the king was faced with a very complex issue where he wanted his queen’s advice. He was in a great hurry, and therefore without giving any advance intimation to the queen he entered her private chamber where she was closeted with some of her friends, discussing, women’s welfare related issues. And this embarrassed the queen in front of her friends, when she suddenly found the king in her chamber. She immediately conducted him to a corner and politely asked, ‘O my Murkh Lord, please tell me what can I do for you.’

The king never expected such insulting words from his queen. He felt hurt and without saying a word he went back to his castle. Naturally, he was very angry and agitated. He was not able to understand as to why the queen welcomed him with such curt words. After a little while he cooled down. But he desperately wanted to know the reason for this, as he was well versed with the sharp and intelligent mind of his queen.

The king had an intelligent minister in his court. He narrated the entire episode to him and asked for his point of view on the matter. The minister heard the king attentively and then smiled and softly said, ‘your majesty, the queen is but telling the truth, and she was addressing you only, when she said this. By entering the queen’s personal chamber without her permission you have displayed murkhata (stupidity) but you happen to be in the first category of murkhs (jerks) residing in this planet who generally harm the least. Let me also explain to you the various varieties of murkhs.

INNOCENT MURKH- 1st type

‘Your majesty the first category of murkhs are those who go uninvited and without informing to any gathering or a crowd, and after reaching there they just stand quiet in a corner like a pillar and this embarrasses rest of the crowd. But they don’t harm anyone. You happen to be in this category.’

MURKH WHO CREATE HURDLES- 2nd type

Second category of murkhs are those who on being invited by their friends often disrespect and overlook their politeness and hospitality and indulge in discussing such topics where they have poor knowledge and embarrass their hosts. This creates awkward situations. But the host is not able to turn the murkh out because he is a friend.

Such murkhs are more damaging than the previous variety, but not dangerous.

POPULAR MURKH -3rd type

Third category of murkhs are those who always argue and try to showcase their poor knowledge without realising they are becoming a laughing stock. Such murkhs are indifferent to the hollowness of their conversation and they waste everyone’s time including their own. Such murkhs are famous because they neither learn anything nor do they forget anything.

DREADED MURKH -4th type

Dreaded murkhs are intelligent but incorrigible who pride upon themselves and always find fault with others while in a conversation. They ridicule everything and everyone, just to show how intelligent they are. They attract everyone with their intelligence but soon they start opposing and sit in judgement, such murkhs are very dangerous.’

After explaining all the four types of murkhs the Minister further added. ‘That is why your majesty; her majesty the queen amongst all categories of murkh has indicated towards the category you belong to.’

Now the king understood what the queen meant, though his respect for the queen remained intact in his heart, but he still had a doubt in his mind, and so he asked the minister in a mischievous tone, ‘where you and the queen have rated me murkh of the 1st type, may I also know which type of murkh you and the queen are?’

‘Sure’ said the minister with a twinkle in his eyes, ‘I can’t say about the queen but I’m the fifth type of murkh because I’m in your company.

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STORY: KRISHNA JANMASHTAMI

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

janmashtami janmastami 2 janmastami1

Lord Kirshna’s birthday on Krishna Janmashtami is indicative of a path breaking new era. Let’s analyse it from a fresh point of view. He was born in the night. Night signifies darkness and darkness is indicative of ignorance and illiteracy. Krishna’s birth brought the light of dazzling knowledge that removed illiteracy of minds.

He was born in a jail, where his parents were tied to chains. This signifies that we too are in our own jails and are locked up in our own vices such as sex, anger, greediness, selfish love, hatred, jealousy, enmity, cheat, eroticism and arrogance. When, he was born all the chains in the prison broke by themselves, and all the prison guards went off to sleep and he was let off the jail. This shows God almighty has tremendous powers and can make anyone sleep or wake up from sleep. If we with true spirits remember him, all our doubts are removed and what we are left with is love, trust and faith.

Today, the people of this world look at each other with a great amount mistrust and jealousy. Man’s intelligence and skills are misused which gives rise to human discords. Wars are fought to keep peace. In this violent and deceitful atmosphere it is even more important to learn trust, gentleness, hope and love from Lord Krishna.

After his birth little-mighty Krishna was shifted to Gokul (Gau-kul) In Sanskrit ‘Gau’ means a cow, which is the emblem of purity, simplicity and nobility. Baby Krishna—avatar of God was kept away from the atmosphere of slavery and cruelty of king Kans. In fact he was kept in the pure and loving surroundings of mother Yashoda’s home which depicts even we could attract Lord Krishna to come and stay at our home provided we too have earnest love for God and his simple ways.

Srikrishna was born on ashtami—which is the eighth day of the calendar month and falls in—shani-grah that signifies algaav (non-attachment) This conveys the message that when Krishna was born he was away and above the mischief and deceit of the world. This also means we should promote dispassion and surrender from the world and should do away with ‘attachment’ but in any case we should not forget our real self.

Today in many families people don’t respect their elders and love their younger ones. There is a great amount of mistrust. Religious fanaticism is all over. And in such an atmosphere birth of Lord Krishna gives us a feeling of positivity.

And his birth brings us the holy message:

“Learn to have faith in yourself the way I have faith in you. Follow the discipline of life, stay within your own simple behaviour and help me in serving others as it is your duty. Don’t worry about anything. Without any conditions surrender yourself to me with all your love. I will look after your welfare both in this birth and beyond.”

This should be our aim of life.

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Article: THE UNWIELDY SIZE OF NEWSPAPERS

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newspaper newspaper1 newspaper2

    When you calculate or plan the ‘capacity’ of a crowded place, in terms of a frolicking gentry in a building or a mall you normally take an area of nine square feet per person (3 x 3 feet). In Delhi Metro this painfully gets reduced to four square feet per person (2 x 2) or even less because of the huge crowd.

    In big cities and booming metros preference of real estate in terms of size has only reduced because of the size of the pocket, so much so in very expensive areas three bedrooms have become two and two have become one. Therefore, the in thing today is … single or a small-size or even a compact unit.

    In the auto industry also, sedans have become compact sedans and compact sedans have become hatchbacks. 350 CC bikes have reduced to 125 CC.

    But even with all the stinginess of shapes and sizes all around. The size of newspapers continue to remain as generous as ever and the thickness has only increased because of the boom in advertisements. 

    Now, let us for a moment run through the unwieldy size and spread of the newspaper. Take for example the size of Times of India which is 32.9 cm in width x 52.5 cm height = 13 x 21 inches respectively, which is around 210 square inches or 2.09 square feet and if you open the newspaper holding the two ends in your hands the width increases to 2.2 feet and the area to approximately 4 square feet.

    Today, India has a literacy level of 74%. Most homes subscribe to newspapers, be it in English, Hindi or any other local language. And with the rise in population the density of people living per square kilometre has also increased. Places have become overcrowded. Therefore, as a consequence people are unable to read newspapers in crowded places because of its unwieldy size, folds and pleats that are extremely inconvenient to spread, especially when the fan above you is swirling. This has led to:

  • Increase in number of subscriptions but reduction in actual reading, as most subscribers have only become ‘Head-Line’ viewers because they don’t get an opportunity to read their newspaper during the day in crowded locations to their hearts content, which is because of its onerous size and folds.
  • Most office goers would love to read newspapers in the morning while travelling to office to utilise their time effectively, in a public transport. But the unwieldy size doesn’t allow you that convenient privilege.
  • Once you are in office you are on the grind and newspaper is soon forgotten as—

SO WHAT SHOULD BE DONE

  • The size of the newspaper should be made more slim and precise so that one can open and read it in crowded niches, in metros and in other modes of public transport where even INTERNET doesn’t work, and so you can’t think of reading newspapers.
  • The correct design could be a ‘newspaper’ that could be opened and read with a single hand more like a book in crowded places.
  • One can think of compartmentalising the daily newspaper into various chapters that can be sold separately if the subscriber doesn’t want the full newspaper, for everyone doesn’t read everything in the newspaper, such as:
  • Only Headlines
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Current affairs
  • Page 3
  • Movies and entertainment
  • Spiritual
  • Medical and Health
  • Corporate and Industry
  • Crime
  • International affairs
  • Education
  • Jobs
  • Children

    I understand the paper of the ‘newspaper’ is subsidised and the same can continue. Irrespective of the size and compartmentalised contents, as this is one of the widest and most effective ways towards a literate India. Even if GOI has to spend extra it should not mind and the citizens and the newspaper lobby should push for it.

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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