Is India really so bad for Women?

This is a rant about this recent article in The Guardian. As an Indian, I feel ashamed and embarrassed of all these incidences. But we need to consider few things before defaming an entire nation because of the situation in few cities or states. In any civilization such demonic characters exists and we need to curb those with stricter laws and stronger punishments. After reading the article and reading some of the comments, I wondered, is really the country, that I grew up in, so bad for Women? There is a problem with collective reporting in journalism. Reporting all of such horrifying incidences collectively, it is bound to give you a very gloomy picture of the country. It seems to indicate that Indians approve of those acts and civilization’s attitude towards women is demeaning.

Points raised by the article about journalism and political systems are true. Yes, it is absolutely pathetic to see the issues raised by politicians and the way things have been handled by media. Visiting this website of India’s leading newspaper should give you an idea about disgraceful journalism.

Well India has its issues like population, corruption, weak judicial system, excessive religious influences, caste system, illiteracy, etc. With recent growth, India is facing growing wealth disparity, which is unleashing some of the worst characters of human nature on either sides. Despite all of this, India is bad for women, is the argument I refuse to accept. I agree that life in few cities and some states have degenerated drastically for women. But those places can still be regulated.

India is fighting a battle against old customs at the same time it is trying to adjust with ethics of 21st century. I would say India has made so much progress in last 60 years on both fronts than any other country. I am proud to say that Indian women enjoy equal rights, educational benefits, tax benefits, etc. There are so many policies to help women in social circles. I do accept that India can do much more than this.

I am generally a strong critic of my own country. But, I felt writing this rant because India’s impression made in this article is really false. Collective conscience of India as well as individual conscience of Indians does not approve any of such acts against women. These acts are as unacceptable and embarrassing for India as they are for any other country. Such behavior infuriates Indians as it does non-indians.

–

Sujit

India – Photographer’s Paradise

I recently visited India after almost two years. Mostly, my  visit was about meeting friends and  family, still I was able to take out my camera on few occasions. There is so much activity in India, that almost any click has the potential to become a great picture. Here are few that I could click.

India: A Wounded Civilization

Naipaul continues his assault on India in his second book of acclaimed Indian trilogy. Like the first one, “India: A Wounded Civilization” is also a travelogue. It is written during his second visit to India in 1975. When Naipaul first visited this country, he realized that he didn’t really belong to India. The country he came across was completely different from his imaginary picture of India. You could see his disillusionment throughout the first book. During that visit, he never really rose above the filth, poverty, and unhygienic life styles. But with this book, he finally rises above all those issues and starts observing Indian culture, religion, art, and science in more detailed way.

After independence India faced many challenges. The average Indian was very little equipped to cope up with these challenges. Naipaul says, India – for the first time in the history – was starting to realize its own fragile state. The Hindu world, he says, shatters as soon as it tries to expand. He chose multiple Indian novels to make his argument and he partially succeeds in this attempt, especially when he precisely exposes Indian attitudes of worldly defeat. Naipaul says, this characteristic Indian attitude caused the death of this great civilization.

“Hinduism hasn’t been good enough for the millions. It has exposed us to a thousand years of defeat and stagnation. It has given men no idea of contract with other men, no idea of the state. It has enslaved one-quarter of population and always left the whole fragmented and vulnerable. Its philosophy of withdrawal has diminished men intellectually and ill-equipped them to respond to challenges; it has stifled growth. So that again and again history has repeated itself: vulnerability, defeat, withdrawal.”

” .. Where the world had shrunk, and ideas of human possibility had become extinct, the world could be seen as complete. Men had retreated to their last, impregnable defenses: their knowledge of who they were, their caste, their karma, their unshakable place in the scheme of things; and this knowledge was like their knowledge of the seasons. Rituals marked the passage of each day, rituals marked every stage of Man’s life. Life itself had been turned to ritual; and everything beyond this complete and sanctified world – where fulfillment came so easily to man or to a women – was vain and phantasmal.”

Being an ancient civilization, India should have advanced quickly. But instead it become more and more archaic. The reason, Naipaul believes, lies in the subtle effects of constant invasions for past thousand years. He says the whole creative side of India has died because of this conquering. The effects are evident in Indian paintings, cinema, music, and architecture. With each one of this art forms, Naipaul says, the tradition has been broken. He believes this creative loss has gone unnoticed for generations.

The real India remains so little known to Indians, he says. People lack the ability of social inquiry. The habits of analysis are foreign to this land. And because of this lack of observation, Indians don’t have any ideas, instead they have obsessions. And these obsessive lives act like a collective amnesia blurring the past quickly. The intellectual second-rateness caused by the Indian attitudes make India more crippled and India has so little to offer to the world. He says, the self-absorption – the retreat of Hindu mind – causes an enormous defect of vision, which further hinders the development process. Naipaul believes that, for too long Indians – as conquered people – have been intellectually parasitic on other civilizations. He questions the contribution of the Indian scientist to the world in the past thousand years. Again, he attributes these failures to the excessive religious influences.

“… in the accounts of wars and conquests and plunder, the intellectual depletion passes unnoticed, the lesser intellectual life of a country whose contributions to civilization were made in the remote past…I wondered whether intellectual for a thousand years India hadn’t always retreated before its conquerors, and whether, in its periods of apparent revival, India hadn’t only been making itself archaic again, intellectually smaller, always vulnerable.”

Naipaul attributes the lack of intellectual growth to the underdeveloped ego of Indians. The underdeveloped ego, he says, has permeated through the entire social organization. It pushes Indians away from individuality and makes them less adventurous. And as a result deprives them of possible excellence in any field of study.

“The underdeveloped ego is created by the detailed social organization of Indian life, and fits into that life…Cast and clan are more than brotherhoods; they define the individual completely. The individual is never his own; he is always fundamentally a member of his group, with a complex apparatus of rules, rituals, taboos. Every detailed behavior is regulated … the left hand and not the right to be used for intimate sexual contact … Relationships are codified. And religion and religious practices – ‘magic and animistic ways of thinking’ – lock everything into place. The need, then, for individual observation and judgement is reduced; something close to purely instinctive life becomes possible.”

With this newly given freedom if India has to survive, Naipaul believes, it needs to break away from its old patterns. The turbulence in India didn’t come from invasions, but it generated from within. And India can not afford  to respond in an old way. Naipaul warns that the old hindu retreat will make India more archaic. Naipaul believes that the borrowed institutions from the western world, like judicial system and constitution in general, will not be able to succeed because of the fundamental flaws in the civilizations. India needs institutions that are based on its own value system, and these systems need to evolve gradually towards more relevant modern world systems.

Naipaul is an exacting writer, his brilliance shines when he pauses and starts analyzing his subjects. He never settles as a writer. Naipaul never stops questioning and the picture of India that comes out of his questioning is very gloomy. Despite this, I really wonder, how Naipaul has never encountered a single positive thing in his two visits. I cannot disagree with his observations, but still the book appears to be one-sided. I also believe Naipaul sometimes misses the Indian philosophical perspective. He tries to generalize everything from the colonial point of view. India, from the outset, appears to be chaotic, but if you stare long enough, you will start finding patterns. Naipaul never found any patterns and he somehow got lost in this chaos. Though, the contemporary India has made so much progress since his visit, the fundamental problems are still the same. After almost thirty years, it still remains a very relevant work. Overall I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants a glimpse of an ancient civilization.

Mindfulness !

“Do not dwell in the past; Do not dream of the future; Concentrate your mind on the present moment” – The Buddha

Living in the moment is the essence of living, the Buddha taught. What is really stored in a moment? What does it consist of? I was thinking about these questions for quite sometime. Few months earlier, I registered with the Art Of Living course, where our teacher discussed the same idea – one about living in the present. Snapping his fingers, he asked us a question, “What am I doing now?” We answered, “Snapping your fingers” Teacher said, “That was a moment ago. What am I doing at this very moment?” He expounded that if we observed closely – there was nothing in a moment and yet a series of moments became the powerful experiences and impressions that shaped our lives. Later that day, we played a simple game of ‘River and Bank’, where we were asked to move forward or backward, when the instructor says words River or Bank respectively. Anyone who misses was out of the game. After the game teacher asked us, “How many of you were thinking about worries and problems in your lives?” None of us did. During these events, we were doing two seemingly different activities, in the first, we were paying attention to a single moment and in the later we were completely absorbed in the moment. But there is a common thread; our mind was in the present state in both, not wandering into the past or future. Those events gave me the first glimpses of what living in the moment might be or what the Buddha might have meant by Mindfulness. Of course, we all experience such moments time and again, for some it may be singing, painting, or dancing. And for some others it may be programming, listening to a song, or watching some great performance. In all such moments we truly are in the present state, living life to the fullest.

In Buddhism, mindfulness is one of the seven factors of enlightenment. Also, it is one of the most important aspects of the forth noble truth – the noble eightfold path. In the path to enlightenment, right mindfulness is an essential step before one achieves equanimity towards all facades of life. Essentially, it is a practice, which helps one become consciously aware of her body, feelings, and emotions. You pay conscious attention to the processes inside and around you. The mind becomes still, like a perfectly serene surface of a lake, ready to detect every minute movement of a thought. In this halcyon state, when you listen, you listen to the noise, birds, nature, people – but just listen. The mind never intercepts the listening and does not offer any conclusion. When seeing, you pay attention to the smallest detail, insects, flowers blooming, and very subtle expressions on the faces – but just see. The prejudices and stimulations are consciously observed and avoided, until they completely disappear. You become the passive observer of everything within and without. Sylvia Boorstein, a great meditation teacher and the author of many spiritual books, describes mindfulness in these words:

“Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience. It isn’t more complicated than that. It is opening to or receiving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it.”

The Buddha has always placed importance on balanced and alert mind. Mind that is free of prejudices, desires, and turmoil. Unfortunately, for most of us that is not the case. Our mind is full of cravings. Past events stirs archetypal memories. Future events cause anxiety. It constantly gets stimulated through various sources and immediately reacts to individual stimuli. According to the Buddha, this chaotic state of mind is one of the main causes of suffering. The practice of mindfulness prepares us towards peaceful and unruffled mind. In this practice, the mind accepts the stimuli and does not do anything with it. Buddha says in such a state, you can truly live the moment. The key here is to understand the flux of life. You never cling on to anything, not even to your identity. The story goes that once the Buddha was in an assembly and a person looking very furious walked in. He was very angry, because he thought his children were wasting time with the Buddha, instead of helping him in his business. In extreme anger, he could not say anything and just walked towards the Buddha and spat on him. All the disciples were very angry, but the Buddha was calm and did not say a single word. He simply looked at the person and smiled. The person was very surprised by the reaction of the Buddha. Later he felt very embarrassed by his actions, and went again to the Buddha to apologize. He fell at the Buddha’s feet and said, “Lord please forgive me” The Buddha said, “I can not forgive you.” Everyone was surprised, how can compassionate Buddha be so unsympathetic? The Buddha smiled and said, “I cannot forgive you, because the person who spat wasn’t you and the person who you spat on isn’t Me.”

Of course, it is really hard to attain the state, where we are completely unattached to our identity. And it is even harder to live life in detached moments. But the partial state can be achieved by practicing mindfulness regularly. The Zen Buddhist masters suggest practicing it early in the morning. When you wake up – before even opening your eyes – start observing various processes inside your body. Try to feel sensations in your body. Be aware of the state of the mind. Concentrate on your breath for couple of minutes and feel the rhythm of it. Feel how your body is getting into the rhythm and how breath plays an important roll in this process. There are many ways of practicing, but the essence is to become a detached observer for at least few minutes during the day.

One of the major obstacles in life is our dived attention towards everything. Something else is always important than the current moment. When at work, family is more important. When with friends, work is essential. When meeting people, individuals are least important. Every handshake, every smile, every situation needs your sincere attention. We should be able to listen every word whispered and unwhispered. The practice of mindfulness helps us to be more attentive towards little things in our lives. It helps us increase, what Stephen Covey calls ‘space between the stimulus and response’. What that means is our reactions to the situations, problems, and emotions become more thoughtful. We become more patient and choose our responses carefully. It helps in avoid becoming victims of sudden burst of anger. It improves your concentration and makes you more focused. Your anxieties and tensions slowly start disappearing. This space helps us in every aspect of our life, from loosing weight to avoiding that confrontation.

Each one of Buddha’s teaching – even the most abstract and abstruse – has a practical use. Practice of mindfulness helps you in accepting the ever-changing reality with the realization that you never step in to the same river twice. It is an effective way of living life to the fullest. The Buddha had taught so many of these beautiful practices, which are more relevant today than ever. These practices can make a world of difference in our lives. We need to make just a little effort towards learning. A little effort towards self-discipline. But again, as the Buddha said – “I can give my teachings in brief. I can teach in detail. It is those who understand that are hard to find.”

—
Sujit Bhosale

The Life Divine

The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo, is one of those books which you feel blessed to have come across. You never stop appreciating the literary beauty of his geniality. A poet at heart and Yogi by nature, he eases through very difficult concepts with poetic, but logical excellence. It’s a voluminous work spanning across 2 sections, 58 chapters and over 1100 pages. Sri Aurobindo had written series of articles in Arya magazine during 1914-1919. The essays from those articles were collected, rearranged and rewritten by Sri Aurobindo himself for this book. It has a massive scope, covering entire compass of Indian philosophical thought. The language of the book is tough with rich vocabulary and many of the sentences taking a whole paragraph. At times, you get overwhelmed by the number of new concepts introduced and some other time, you get mesmerized by the beauty of an excellent prose. Sri Aurobindo directly uses his concepts in evolved form and reader needs to continue reading until he explains those concepts very later in the book. It took me over six months to finish this read.

First part entitled, The Omnipresent Reality and The Universe, deals with nature of the ultimate reality and the universe in general. He also explains the origin of creation and the nature of truth consciousness. In the second part entitled,The Knowledge and The Ignorance: The Spiritual Evolution, Sri Aurobindo, takes us on a journey from in-consciousness in matter towards the divine life. Culminating chapters of this second part describes the final stages of evolution, resulting in divine life on earth. Every chapter is preceded with excellent related verses from ancient scriptures like, Vedas and Upanishads. Re-reading those verses after finishing the chapter makes their meaning more perspicuous. Like every other philosopher, Sri Aurobindo develops his own conceptual language and getting used to it takes time and complete immersion. Unlike other contemporary philosophers, he bases his work on very ancient scriptures like, Upanishads, Vedas, and occasionally Gita, avoiding semantic ambiguities of later schools of thought. He does mention The Buddha, Shankara, and Vedantawhile comparing the distinctive logical streams on the same subject. He categorically rejects the illusion-ism of Shankara and describes void of the Buddha, as one of the aspects of reality which is still incomplete. He considers West and Greek philosopher’s approaches and synthesizes those with the Indian thought. Indirectly, he reviews MarxDarwin, Hegel, Kant, and many others and accepts their explanation of reality to a certain degree, but holds Vedic seers understanding as much more accomplished. He agrees with Darwin’s theory of evolution in physical plane and extends it in spiritual plane. In his view, though reason and science based approches are extremely helpful in physical plane, they become obsolete as we move to a spiritual plane.

The central theme throughout the book revolves around his theory of involution followed by evolution. Sri Aurobindo begins his thesis with discussion of disparate approaches taken by materialist and ascetic, and noting the usability and important contributions of the two, he discards both. The great descent, he calls, starts from the Conscious Force, which is like an ocean of energy, with its power of truth consciousness (Supermind) becomes the universal forms. Mind – the lower form of Supermind – moves through a dynamic current called Life. This current has its own gradation which eventually culminates in matter, where the Conscious Force is in veiled form. But It has a great potential for manifestation. The evolution starts from this very point and begins its ascent. The manifested life starts with the matter, giving its way to vital life and eventually to its highest natural formation which is The Mind. This is a gateway to the Supermind from down below. When mind reaches its Supermind status, the whole existence changes, and it finally achieves the status of Gnostic Being or The Divine Life. The evolution is nothing but life’s journey towards the mind followed by humans spiritual journey towards the divine life. The involution of conscious force into matter and evolution of matter into conscious force are inevitable processes.

Sri Aurobindo, essentially affirms different planes of consciousness and consequently various grades of reality, where our current consciousness is not necessarily the highest. The highly evolved further plane is what he calls a Supermind. Man must ascend himself from Mind to Supermind and achieve the status of Gnostic Being, or live The Divine Life. For this ascent, he has to go through psychic, spiritual, and supramental transformation. This transformation will break the shackles of ignorance and will lead to sevenfold knowledge. Along with this theory, he also explains ego, duality, intuition, materialistic attitudes, and nature of desire. When he considers ego, he starts from the matter, and calls atom’s attempt to separate itself from rest as its ego. From matter he moves to the spiritual plane and shows how ego is one the most difficult hurdles to overcome. In his theory, ego is an inherent part of the nature. His explanation goes deep into the subject and becomes a necessary building block of his theory. He carefully clears out notions about ignorance, rebirth, death, life, and other worldly planes and perfectly fits those into his framework. At times, it is difficult to believe in his explanation and stated possibilities. And like every other great Indian thinker, Sri Aurobindo does not merely want you to accept it. He believes in realizing and living the ultimate truth than just to know it. The divine life is the inner and outer existential transformation. For this, he has developed certain yogic practices, which he calls ‘Integral Yoga’. They are designed to help man in his spiritual journey. The book does not explain those, but these can be found in his other works

Sri Aurobindo sets exacting standards for his reader and does not allow passive reading of this material. You have to allow yourself to permeate and then flow with it. There is repetition of certain concepts at some places and occasionally verbose sentences makes you lose grip over the main subject. But a second visit to the paragraph makes things more comprehensible. My understanding of this book is not great, but still it changed my whole perspective of looking towards life. His insights into the common problems of life and his analysis of nature of mind, helped me organize as a better person. His detailed explanation of many of the Indian philosophical concepts assisted me in understanding other great books like Gita and . Essentially this book details the spiritual journey and makes a very valuable resource for someone embarking on one. As I said, it is not an easy read and definitely not a one-time read. But if you do put in your efforts, this will be your life changing experience.

— Sujit Bhosale