Kautilya ne kaha tha
Long have I bored u guys with tales of some distant Galaxies. Its time now to move closer to home and closer to reality :).
Today is our Independence Day and just like every year, its an occasion to feel proud of our country, its achievements and most of all its character. Although I strongly believe that we can surely do with being more aggressive and firm when it comes to international matters, it is not something I would be really proud of. It is more like a necessary evil which cannot be avoided in today's scenario.
This reminds me of someting from the famous Chanakya alias Kautilya. When questioned by one of his childhood friends about the rather ruteless image he had acquired, he said, "Under sab shubha hai, shuchi hai per uski raksha ke liye upper se kathorta ka aavaran od liya hai". A very simple and innocent looking statement but carries the essence of keeping right balance in life.
The world always tries to destroy the goodness within us, it makes us look like a fool when all we are is innocent, it projects our kindness as our weekness. Now we can either choose to learn what is called "Duniyadaari" which essentially means that the more shrwed we become from inside, the sweeter our toungue gets or we can heed to what the great man said.
This also reminds me of a quote that I picked up from some email. It said, " The only attitude in life that scales is taking no shit from anybody". On the face of it, Chanakya might seem to be doing the same but there is a subtle and important difference. Even though it may look negative at the first instance, Chanakya's stand is essentially positive, has something good at its core. The second statement hangs in pure void. It proudly tells u to take no shit from anybody but never suggests anything after that.
And this, I think is the basic difference is the Indian and western outlook of the world. I know I am generalizing to the limit of calling a bacteria and a elephant similar but they indeed fall into the same kingdom, don't they? Similarly this same theme can be seen, in one form or other, everywhere. The main strength of Indian tradition is the strong value system behind it and this value system is not limited to moral values only. It has much wider reverberations.
On this 57th Independence day, it is my heartly desire that my country and its people learn to walk the tight rope that Chanakya indicated towards. May God bless !
Today is our Independence Day and just like every year, its an occasion to feel proud of our country, its achievements and most of all its character. Although I strongly believe that we can surely do with being more aggressive and firm when it comes to international matters, it is not something I would be really proud of. It is more like a necessary evil which cannot be avoided in today's scenario.
This reminds me of someting from the famous Chanakya alias Kautilya. When questioned by one of his childhood friends about the rather ruteless image he had acquired, he said, "Under sab shubha hai, shuchi hai per uski raksha ke liye upper se kathorta ka aavaran od liya hai". A very simple and innocent looking statement but carries the essence of keeping right balance in life.
The world always tries to destroy the goodness within us, it makes us look like a fool when all we are is innocent, it projects our kindness as our weekness. Now we can either choose to learn what is called "Duniyadaari" which essentially means that the more shrwed we become from inside, the sweeter our toungue gets or we can heed to what the great man said.
This also reminds me of a quote that I picked up from some email. It said, " The only attitude in life that scales is taking no shit from anybody". On the face of it, Chanakya might seem to be doing the same but there is a subtle and important difference. Even though it may look negative at the first instance, Chanakya's stand is essentially positive, has something good at its core. The second statement hangs in pure void. It proudly tells u to take no shit from anybody but never suggests anything after that.
And this, I think is the basic difference is the Indian and western outlook of the world. I know I am generalizing to the limit of calling a bacteria and a elephant similar but they indeed fall into the same kingdom, don't they? Similarly this same theme can be seen, in one form or other, everywhere. The main strength of Indian tradition is the strong value system behind it and this value system is not limited to moral values only. It has much wider reverberations.
On this 57th Independence day, it is my heartly desire that my country and its people learn to walk the tight rope that Chanakya indicated towards. May God bless !
Comments
great to have u back from ur distant galaxy. :-)
T
Handa: Sab teri tareh nautanki nahin hote :P
and Abhaya : wouldn't the following transliteration be more usual tahn the upper-under one u have come up with!
"Andar sab shubha hai, shuchi hai. Par uski raksha ke liye upar se kathorta ka aavaran odh liya hai".
Keep posting!
T
I was currently reading a handout "Joseph Stiglitz on Globalization". He is the person who was behind this concept of globalization. Quoting from the article "To a great extent, the new world economic order was his theory come to life"
The link is 'http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=78&row=1'. Though in my opinion, this may be a little biased because he was fired. But a nice reading.
--
Shweta