it is all one

In the shadow of the mahatma

2011-08-04T00:58:00.000-07:00

In The Shadow of the Mahatma

Should a Psychiatrist keep to his clinical work of curing ailments of Individual mind or be aware of larger socio politics around him? .

Even if one chooses to be aloof the macro cosmos is represented in the client’s world . The sorrows, the ambitions, the conflicts , the dynamic resolutions and reactions of the generalized are presented in the individual within the consulting chamber. The solutions   interface with the larger system, and the good doctor at least in the intentions is embroiled with what he is avoiding.

It was never so true as in the present times hence a psychological analysis beyond the clinic becomes a compulsion.

As ‘India rises against corruption’ taking the lead from Anna Hazare it is time to revisit the man whose picture looms in the background …Mohandas Gandhi.

Especially when likes of Baba Ramdev talk of Satyagraha . Those who own millions suddenly have became the moral guardians of millions. The fear of an arrest makes them run and hide . One can wonder whether he knows about the tenets of Satyagraha.
Carl Jung called democracy as “ a chronic state of mitigated war”. It serves our instincts to war, outwardly peaceful but the fight goes on within the constitutional framework. The external peace leaves them free to quarrel within.

This is war ‘introverted’ at a societal national level. But the real war is within each individual, the eternal conflict between baser and higher instinct. Facing the devil inside and unable to rein it , the evil is projected to an external object eliminating it from the individual consciousness. The external shadow becomes the focus of antipathy but the real monster lurks in dark corners of mind.

The worst adversary remains in the heart smiling away as we point fingers.

We the people excel in this ,consciously or unconsciously. From the corner chai shop to academic discussions, corruption is an act which the ‘other’ is doing .As the blame rests on someone else we are temporarily able to pass off the guilt . it was natural to our temperament to pop up as a whole on the idea of campaign triggered by Anna Hazare and his group. What was a focused idea to ensure a certain law became a generalized slogan against corruption.

The pop revolution pulled the NGOs, the well fed , and the vast crowds searching for meaning in life. In the euphoria, JanLokpal bill appears as a panacea of all that is wrong in India.

Nevertheless the risk remains both psychologically and socially. The enthusiasm to rein in politicians and corrupt officials takes away our responsibility to be corruption free in personal life.

Gandhiji is on the picture but what he meant is forgotten. He defined in 1909 Swaraj as “rule over the self”. A disciplined rule from within.

He kept insisting that when things go wrong we should look inward, each one of us, as we determine our surroundings by our inner self. The crusade should be against one’s own shortcomings. Whether these crusaders realize this is the question.

On a litmus test very few of these campaigners will pass. One cannot protest against corruption unless his own mind and life is free from it. No one stops to think this because the singular meaning implied in this is corruption of money.

Financial corruption has been isolated for the attack and all the other faces ignored. It raises a sinister question .Whether all those who are on roads protesting are honest or it is the lack of opportunity which is making them angry.

The ugly face of corruption raises its head in all spheres of Indian life and the responsibility of all cannot be relegated to politicians.

Exploitation, disobeying rules , lack of commitment to one’s duties , and general apathy and insensitivity can be cleverly linked to money but in the heart we know that it is more of a personal issue than economic.

But these do not concern us. While we press the Government for the bill and indulge in the shadow game as per Jung , ignoring the Mahatma , loot can continue in our lives.

Not undermining the efforts of Anna Hazare and all those who toil in heat and dust , we should pause for a moment and at least realize that the toughest battle is still on within us.

The real revolution is still in waiting .It will only come from the below when the Government doctor will be found in his Primary health clinics, the teacher in his school , or at least drive on the left.

The insecurity haunting the Indian mind is pushing them to rush forward blindly at the cost of all that is human. And it is not a good omen for the mental health of nation.

A nation which shuns it's individual responsibility often finds alibi in sickness.

India needs another Mahatma . Till he comes we can at least listen to our inner selves or to Mahatma Gandhi.

                                           ---- Dr Alok Bajpai

                                                   Psychiatrist

                                           ---- Dr Alok Bajpai

educated or examined

2011-06-01T22:12:00.000-07:00

EDUCATED OR EXAMINED?

One of the genuinely profound contemporary mystery and myth of our beloved India is our education system. As the claims of India becoming more educated, reflected for enthusiasts in higher literacy rates deserve a cheer , a brief halt to review and differentiate between literacy and education is worth the effort.
While assessing any system for its efficacy two essential elements have to be studied . Firstly the process and then the outcome. The former is an internal analysis but the latter is the interface with the world.
And this baffles even the most liberal of critique . The outcome of any education system are it pupils when they function in society. The achievements of Indian scientists , doctors , Entrepreneurs ,Engineers and wealth generating Businesswomen (and men) globally is an accolade to our higher education and to few world rated institutions . Their creativity and leadership in their fields is exemplary for the Western educated peers too.
They are certainly the golden cupola on the top of the pyramid , but a descent towards the base shocks. The pyramid has its walls but the solid structure supporting it is patchy and the base appears to be almost fluid and non existent , in our case the secondary and primary education structures respectively.
This raises the ever perplexing question- how does a country whose preparatory education is disparate and skewed , both qualitatively and quantitatively produce innovators and geniuses.?
Even if we ignore the negligence of Government in upgrading the primary (a whole lot is still under the tree often without a blackboard and teacher!) the gaps are glaring even at secondary.
The other end is public schools which are pampering the kids from the richer India not only in extra curricular but in survival comforts too. Air conditioned class rooms , smart boards ,foreign spots for ‘school excursions’ a new world of rich brats is being created. The new upper middle class is has it eyes on foreign universities for them where money more than merit matters.
Contrast it with Government schools with barely any facilities , surviving on minimal fee and a disinterested environment. The only way bright ones have is the open entrance examination systems to be reckoned in the race.
The two divergent streams meet at the University. It would be a interesting research to look into the educational background of the students in quality Institutions.
But both public and Government schools at least agree on one part of the process…….ROTE.
A few rebel experimental schools do make an effort to minimize the information based teaching system but most across the country have no place for enhancing or instructing in ‘thinking ability’ .
This job is left for post graduate education. After 12-15 years in a system without evolving ‘critical thinking abilities’ one is suddenly thrown into a mode of thinking , which has a jarring effect and can be disorienting. This phenomenon is almost universal and often people confess that the knowledge imparted to them till Undergraduate usually goes waste. Re training and re studying remains the only way to bounce back.
The larger lot proves the point but the jewels must be different as individuals or be fortunate enough in their personal environment.
Schools are overloaded with overburdened teachers , hard pressed to complete the syllabus with no time or inclination to involve in hairsplitting queries. Even the expression of creative teaching is rare so the best escape route devised by the faulty system is examination.
From the good old trimester examination system , a whole range of daily to weekly tests have emerged.
Asking questions is always better than answering them. As parents and children move in a maze of grades ,the report card becomes the only reality and focus shifts from passing the examination rather than learning the process of learning . Very few escape this tussle between teachers and parents to preserve their mind and instincts to exhibit originality later. Majority suffers both intellectual as well as emotional trauma with the whole range of psychological sequel.
Burn out is more real than perceived , any adolescent clinic can hold testimony to it. If schools are guilty of excess the parents have turned the child’s success to trophy. The grades and certificates are an essential part of social status paraphernalia which inflates the vanity.
The tired minds are reflecting in the standards of Universities and professional colleges. Remove the handful of them , the atmosphere is hardly academically challenging , where inspiration is an illusion. The hoards of student need a degree ,least bothered about the knowledge ,the fixation of marks and grades is deep rooted.
Whatever is left of the fire is extinguished by the Typical University faculty . The GURU who chiseled a diamond out of stone is in relics. The routine stereotyped lessons across all disciplines is the common scene in classrooms creating not only an aversion but a feeling of insufficiency in the pupil. Proliferating coaching institutes are proof enough of this fallacy.
It cannot be debated that in a country like India where education is linked to earning the insecurity is justified but the psychological cost is tremendous. The despair which people carry in their minds is like a yoke. Not very many can claim that they are living the life they wanted. Even rare are those who have self actualized in their chosen field of work.
Vocation based training and skill based education though accessible is still a far dream.
Being skilled to earn, being educated to be wise perhaps may work well for this vast country.
It seems difficult especially with economic prosperity because we lack what Gandhi learnt from Ruskin – dignity of Labour.
Being wise and knowledgeable is no one’s prerogative and that has to be independent of his or her job. The lesson is simple enough.
Those who are fortunate to get into the premiere Institutes get a chance to live a creative life rest slog.
A positive golden mean exists though. Learning the process of learning should be the focus and not information loading. If schools can attempt to ignite the fire of inquisitiveness and keep it alive , accepting the individual differences the young minds will naturally activate themselves when they discover the inner calling. They should be allowed to dream and discover. Give them the tools of mind but allow them to experiment. Only when boundaries are broken innovations happen. And that day the classroom will not be so aversive.

We cannot always cheer up for Indians who win Nobel prize sitting in America
We as a nation have to find that mean somewhere between Tagore’s romanticism and Gandhi’s karma yoga.

gandhi and nobel prize

2010-01-06T23:44:00.000-08:00

wish you all a new year with new spiritual gains.
Though Bapu was nominated five times, whatever politics kept the prize away from him,
even posthumously.
But Bapu himself would have liked the way it turned out. Inadvertently Nobel committee has honoured him. The man himself never coveted any position or prize. He shines out of the list and reminds us of our fallacies.
no greater tribute . Afterall He created his way.

Freedom again --- Refined by my friend Akshaya Bakaya

2009-11-15T20:29:00.000-08:00

Chaupal, an informal meeting of a motley group which meets once in a month in Mumbai and brainstorms on a pre-decided issue discussed Freedom on 16th August 2009. What does it mean to you? As a participant speaker I did a random research and shot off a question on sms to a cross section of people.
‘Could you define What Freedom means to you in 1 or 2 sentences’. I carried these people into the discussion through their responses. The content clustering revealed-

70% of the respondents wanted to do things or live for self without fear or compulsion (internal or external) or conscience ! .
To need no apology, be able to act on subconscious urges .
The rest had various views--
Mind free of complexes, fear, prejudices, preconceived ideas.
Speaking one’s mind/expressing oneself without compulsion.
A smaller subset viewed freedom as internalized responsibility in sync with the larger good.
Freedom from reaction to life or living fearlessly
A myth.
Freedom from desires.
Self sustainability.
On the contrary kids wanted happiness and smile and share heritage freely.

This by no means defines all but it surely kicked up a dynamic question.
What is freedom ? From what and to what end ?

Carefully observed, most people want a freedom to live life on their terms at a material, concrete level and only then arises the concern for the other. Maslowian pyramid of self fulfillment is a fact of human mind. But when all bodies live their own life, why this need for freedom?
As life evolves in opposites, perhaps examining the inimical BONDAGE will explain it.

So the human situation is where—
Absolute freedom is a utopia. All action and reaction is in context of humans and bound in spacetime. The genetic pattern and loading already sets the blueprint of behaviour and health.
So a fresh human life on planet Earth is biologically and physically bound, a part of its destiny is predetermined. So what remains is relative or perceived freedom.
And then starts a complex interplay of nurture and nature to influence the end product -a free or a bound mind.

Freedom is after all a metaphor, and mind is about abstracting this metaphor. Given the underpinnings of temperament, these metaphors are interpreted variously.
Imagine Krishna sermonizing Buddha, instead of Arjuna (he was also a kshatriya ) in the Mahabharata. I am sure at the end of it Buddha would have given a respectful bow to Krishna and excused himself.
Examples galore where people have sought ways in life for the same goal.

Acting on this blueprint are social, economic and above all religious influences creating what we call CONDITIONING of mind. Lives are spend in either following or fighting the maze of this conditioning.
Let us look at the its precursors….
Religion assigned from birth is the strongest chain for the mind. It never allows people to be what they are. Providing a societal structure, it always exhorts one to become something else. In the process pointing at weaknesses and creating guilt in Homo sapiens.
It is exactly what Freud broke... Rid yourself of the guilt arising out of Victorian morality. Many later philosophers and psychologists in their own time focused on it.
Following close on heels are teachings, some from evolved but mostly from half baked minds, which masses believe due to lack of critical thinking..
The rest is all experiential. Teachers, subjects, parents and media as the new influence
all mix up with one’s own desires, ambition and compulsions to create a real (or surreal) anxiety of being bound and not free.

‘Be this’ and ‘be that’ or ‘ become something’. An average child hears ‘no’ 400 times a day .
Such a conditioned adult struggles all his life and probably questions, towards the end about the gain.

All this is known rhetoric, then why bother?
Because the subconscious feel of being bound creates tremendous overt and covert misery.

Then why don’t people free themselves? Because fear and guilt add a burden to already existing chains.

Even if the heart desires, the mind is afraid of the unknown .
The fear of treading into an unexplored territory creates a blockade, an inertia in most minds.
Heels are cooled in the shadow of false, erroneous tested world rather than walking on hot coals of doubt.
The known and experienced is safe and false sense of security makes them continue .
False because the mind forgets that what is being held to mind so dearly is also temporary and it all will end, anyways sooner or later. No one will live eternally, there is nothing to lose. Yet even if one overcomes this fear, the guilt of going against the moralistic teachings and conditioning halts them.

The average mind is unable to throw off these shackles And continues to languish in the chained prison of mind, fantasizing for some illusory freedom.

Only a few minds in the history of mankind have had the guts of iron and nerves of steel to attempt to rise above the conditioning, fear, guilt and taste the real freedom, freedom of thought.

And they were persistent in discovering and going beyond SELF. The great movements set in by them, helped the masses and glorified lives .
This is self actualization and its reflection shines upon us.

Is their a way to shape the future?

Set young minds free. Train them in critical thinking. Allow them to doubt and question. and wait for the change they bring.

For a future human who is ---
Fearless in mind, self actualized and carries humanity forward.

On Sun, Nov 15, 2009 at 9:12 AM, alok bajpai wrote:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: alok bajpai
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:52:06 +0530
Subject: alok's blog
To:

Hi
Here's the blog
http://alokbajpai.blogspot.com

A ‘DHAROHAR ‘ INITIATIVE
AN HOUR WITH THE MAHATMA
An interactive multi-media presentation on Bapu for teachers and children
Inputs in the form of stories,sketches, bhajans are welcome
45MIN – 1HOUR
Anchored by Dr Alok Bajpai
Just an LCD projector and sound system provided by you will suffice.
And of course …….. 60 minutes
Contact: Mr. Arun Bajpai----- 9415127848
--
alok

--
Akshay Bakaya
21 rue Eugène et Marie-Louise Cornet
(Pavillon 17)
93500 Pantin, Paris, France

Cell: + 336 78 87 11 72
Home: +331 41 50 71 93
Home: +331 48 91 96 72

Reply Reply to all Forward

Reply |alok bajpai to Akshay
show details 8:08 PM (13 hours ago)

Sure bhai.
Thanx for corrections. Historical sense itself is underdeveloped in schools.
Will be in touch
Alok

- Show quoted text -

On 11/15/09, Akshay Bakaya अक्षय बक़ाया wrote:
> Dear Alok Bhai,
>
> Great initiative - a respected professional psychiatrist like you taking
> Gandhi to school children. It will make a difference, and your new blog
> (where 'dusra na koi' seems a guiding principle) will enable wider
> participation.
>
> If you search "Ahimsa Finds Teen Voice" you'll see a *Telegraph* article
> where Priya Dutt announced her action plan with Rahul Gandhi to take Mahatma
> Gandhi to schools. I'd met Arjun Singh with Sanjay Kapoor earlier and the
> minister too had promised the same. But I wonder how seriously the Congress
> is taking this idea?
>
> Asking Indian students here (aged 15-18) about Gandhi, I was appalled to see
> how little they'd learnt. They didn't know the group of assassins were
> Hindutva ideologues (Savarkar to Godses), that the present Sangh Parivar are
> moved by the same urges. Please tell kids if they search "Mahatma Gandhi: A
> Death For Peace" they can watch this documentary - the only film with an
> on-camera interview of (87-year) old Gopal Godse, proud to have participated
> in the murder. I believe Godse's ideology must be studied and analysed, not
> hidden from kids.
>
> http://www.gandhitopia.org/video/a-death-for-peace-mahatma
>
> It took a blockbuster (Lage Raho Munna Bhai) to make Gandhi acceptable in
> drawing rooms. To prop up the Ahimsa Day resolution, minister Anand Sharma
> felt a need to project this film at the UN general assembly on 15 June 2007
> when the UNGA adopted the idea (modifying the 30th Jan proposal to 2nd Oct,
> of course).
>
> So, Hindutva-vadis apart, I wonder if the Congress leadership itself is
> comfortable with the idea of the young taking Gandhi seriously - symbolic
> obeisance and ceremonial commemoration seems enough, for actual state policy
> makes short shrift of Gandhian ideals. (and why change the date from 30th
> Jan to 2nd October, if one is serious about reflecting on Godse's Hindutva?)
>
> I've made some small changes (in red below) in your declaration of intent,
> mainly corrections of a typographical nature. If you find these changes ok,
> just put the text in black again and upload again.
>
> Seeing your conclusion, I was reminded of Tagore's poem "Where the mind is
> without fear and the head is held high, Where knowledge is free..." which
> had greatly moved me when I was a schoolboy, though, being raised by
> atheists, the appeal to (a male) God in the last line bothered me! Do make
> sure you get kids to read and reflect on it !
>
> Reading what you say about the Bhagawat Gita, I remember my despair in 6th
> grade Hindi, when I found the call to violence won the argument! I suspected
> our violent Hindi teacher (though her name was 'Daya') of having twisted the
> story. Evidence of a disposition for the Gandhian or Buddhist choice in a
> child's mind..?
>
> Your concerns seem similar to Salman Akhtar's (click below), also a
> psychiatrist, poet (and Jan Nisar Akhtar's son like Javed Akhtar). You must
> have read his educative inaugural lecture in Delhi, which is well within the
> reach of young minds I think.
>
> http://www.sabrang.com/cc/archive/2005/sep05/perspective.html
>
> Your concerns (what a relief) also match those of the NCERT led by Krishna
> Kumar and the teams he put together. And of independent activists like
> Arvind Gupta, a professional like you from (IIT) Kanpur !
>
> All the best and keep in touch !
>
> Yours ever,
>
> Akshay
>
> P.S. Charu, I'm copying this to you (and several others with similar
> concerns) especially since you wrote that front-page piece ("Ahimsa Finds
> Teen Voice", Telegraph, 30 Jan 2006) quoting intellectuals and Congress
> leaders. Could I request you to forward this (especially my question) to
> Priya Dutt and other young Congress leaders - Jyotiraditya, Rahul...?
>
>
> Alok Bajpai's text, with small corrections:
>
>
> Chaupal, an informal meeting of a motley group which meets once in a month
> in Mumbai and brainstorms on a pre-decided issue discussed Freedom on 16th
> August 2009. What does it mean to you? As a participant speaker I did a
> random research and shot off a question on sms to a cross section of people.
> ‘Could you define What Freedom means to you in 1 or 2 sentences’. I carried
> these people into the discussion through their responses. The content
> clustering revealed-
>
> 70% of the respondents wanted to do things or live for self without fear or
> compulsion (internal or external) or conscience ! .
> To need no apology, be able to act on subconscious urges .
> The rest had various views--
> Mind free of complexes, fear, prejudices, preconceived ideas.
> Speaking one’s mind/expressing oneself without compulsion.
> A smaller subset viewed freedom as internalized responsibility in sync with
> the larger good.
> Freedom from reaction to life or living fearlessly
> A myth.
> Freedom from desires.
> Self sustainability.
> On the contrary kids wanted happiness and smile and share heritage freely.
>
> This by no means defines all but it surely kicked up a dynamic question.
> What is freedom ? From what and to what end ?
>
> Carefully observed, most people want a freedom to live life on their terms
> at a material, concrete level and only then arises the concern for the
> other. Maslowian pyramid of self fulfillment is a fact of human mind. But
> when all bodies live their own life, why this need for freedom?
> As life evolves in opposites, perhaps examining the inimical BONDAGE will
> explain it.
>
> So the human situation is where—
> Absolute freedom is a utopia. All action and reaction is in context of
> humans and bound in spacetime. The genetic pattern and loading already sets
> the blueprint of behaviour and health.
> So a fresh human life on planet Earth is biologically and physically bound,
> a part of its destiny is predetermined. So what remains is relative or
> perceived freedom.
> And then starts a complex interplay of nurture and nature to influence the
> end product -a free or a bound mind.
>
> Freedom is after all a metaphor, and mind is about abstracting this
> metaphor. Given the underpinnings of temperament, these metaphors are
> interpreted variously.
> Imagine Krishna sermonizing Buddha, instead of Arjuna (he was also a
> kshatriya ) in the Mahabharata. I am sure at the end of it Buddha would
> have given a respectful bow to Krishna and excused himself.
> Examples galore where people have sought ways in life for the same goal.
>
> Acting on this blueprint are social, economic and above all religious
> influences creating what we call CONDITIONING of mind. Lives are spend in
> either following or fighting the maze of this conditioning.
> Let us look at the its precursors….
> Religion assigned from birth is the strongest chain for the mind. It never
> allows people to be what they are. Providing a societal structure, it always
> exhorts one to become something else. In the process pointing at weaknesses
> and creating guilt in Homo sapiens.
> It is exactly what Freud broke... Rid yourself of the guilt arising out of
> Victorian morality. Many later philosophers and psychologists in their own
> time focused on it.
> Following close on heels are teachings, some from evolved but mostly from
> half baked minds, which masses believe due to lack of critical thinking..
> The rest is all experiential. Teachers, subjects, parents and media as the
> new influence
> all mix up with one’s own desires, ambition and compulsions to create a real
> (or surreal) anxiety of being bound and not free.
>
> ‘Be this’ and ‘be that’ or ‘ become something’. An average child hears ‘no’
> 400 times a day .
> Such a conditioned adult struggles all his life and probably questions,
> towards
> the end about the gain.
>
> All this is known rhetoric, then why bother?
> Because the subconscious feel of being bound creates tremendous overt and
> covert misery.
>
> Then why don’t people free themselves? Because fear and guilt add a burden
> to already existing chains.
>
> Even if the heart desires, the mind is afraid of the unknown .
> The fear of treading into an unexplored territory creates a blockade, an
> inertia in most minds.
> Heels are cooled in the shadow of false, erroneous tested world rather than
> walking on hot coals of doubt.
> The known and experienced is safe and false sense of security makes them
> continue .
> False because the mind forgets that what is being held to mind so dearly is
> also temporary and it all will end, anyways sooner or later. No one will
> live eternally, there is nothing to lose. Yet even if one overcomes this
> fear,
> the guilt of going against the moralistic teachings and conditioning halts
> them.
>
> The average mind is unable to throw off these shackles And continues to
> languish in the chained prison of mind, fantasizing for some illusory
> freedom.
>
> Only a few minds in the history of mankind have had the guts of iron and
> nerves of steel to attempt to rise above the conditioning, fear, guilt and
> taste the real freedom, freedom of thought.
>
> And they were persistent in discovering and going beyond SELF. The great
> movements set in by them, helped the masses and glorified lives .
> This is self actualization and its reflection shines upon us.
>
> Is their a way to shape the future?
>
> Set young minds free. Train them in critical thinking. Allow them to doubt
> and question. and wait for the change they bring.
>
> For a future human who is ---
> Fearless in mind, self actualized and carries humanity forward.

>
>

War

2009-11-15T20:23:00.000-08:00

When will we learn?

While the cameras have already focused on Oscars and may be Eastwood again for his ‘Letters from IWOJIMA’ we should ponder.

The film was a back to back release with Flags of our Fathers , the war between US and Japan at Iwojima in 1945. The viewpoint and the gains differed. Where America ,in spite of the initial setback , turned it to political advantage and changing public opinion, Japan made it a issue of national pride , and fought till death.

One cannot stop thinking about WAR even while watching , this man created phenomenon or (process!! ).
No doubt the history is replete with wars and more wars and more….. ,but this is no reason not to condemn it, especially when Mr. Bush was bothered about Iran after making a mess of Iraq.

National pride and patriotism were the jingoism used to initiate and propagate wars till few decades back. It was as false as the pride of the rulers, but masses caught up in frenzy would support the Governments.
The ambition of few was garbed in emotionally stirring words and armies pushed to combat often to die..
Post WW2 , scenario changed . The heavy industrialization of Arms industry has produced excess of weapons not withstanding nuclear and other WMD.
Where do these weapons go? The philosophy of consumer market comes handy
Create a need and then sell.

But then the world is global and open

People are wiser , in the world of open information and globalized business , money rules so no one is too bothered with national pride.

Another image is created ---National Security . Same forces which were used to turn a false bipolar world image (used for arms race) to unipolar world , were used to create a threat for oneself.
The fear instilled in public by a clever use of visual media almost to a paranoid intensity justified invasions.
History is cruel in exposing ,even if written in a partisan way

The modern repetition of history has similar undercurrent of vain ambition and greed. Else there is more need to liberate Africa then Iraq and Iran . But this episode is about Oil and Africa still does not have it.
So non English speaking countries with Oil ,beware!
You are a threat.
Or who knows the truth , whether the mother of all conflicts Israel-Palestine is spilling over..

Now the bigger question --- The power lust in politician is eternal but what about the people?
Are the peace makers impotent or false? Why don’t people see the futility of war and the destruction?
May be we don’t feel the heat till it burns us , but then someday it will be me.

If words fail to change ,let the images and films change them.

Please do think because only when each one of us will throw the war out of our head , will true peace come.

Dr Alok Bajpai

Psychiatrist

PS --With Mr Obama having the Peace prize... it may change !!!

pen and word

2009-11-15T20:07:00.000-08:00

The opinion ,the word , the statement always was more important and powerful than physical power. It changed the opinions ,created revolts and changed history.
Since man started writing and expressing his thoughts in word , pen assumed
a strength unparalleled . Though the sword could win battles but the course of wars were always changed by opinions and ideas . And the tool was written word .

The age old adage ‘The pen is mightier than the sword" coined by English author
Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play the Conspiracy ,sums it all .

But even Lytton would not have imagined the prophecy in his statement , the proportion and the power which pen was to attain in last few centuries especially 19th and 20th centuries is stupendous.
We do no have to go far to prove this … India’s struggle for independence has ample proof . Physical war could have never driven the British out of here …. But the anti British feelings and opinion of the masses were changed only with words of people like Gandhi, Tilak , Nehru. The masses which suffered for 200 hundred years pushed them out in 50 years once they could consolidate their feelings in words.

The world opinion in 2nd world war resulted in magnificent rise of media . the sword was obviously defeated…..
And that adds to the 2nd part of my this statement…… WORDS ARE DEADLIER ..
Past 6 decades in the world have seen the rise of the media both print and electronic…… TV wields tremendous influence on the psyche both consciously and subconsciously.
Newspapers ,TV news and information channels rule the major time of human wake hours.
Statements made by people ,leaders are spread in no time all over the world and emotions /opinions are evoked in no time. A case in example is 9/11 . The frequency of news flash and images has created a split in the world . World opinions are easily formed on basis of words uttered by leaders .Spin doctors are in vogue.
Heroes are made overnight and are fallen the next day..
The omni potent media is proving the word is deadly

freedom

2009-11-14T10:27:00.000-08:00

Chaupal , an informal meeting of motley group which meets once in a month in Mumbai and brain storms on a pre decided issue discussed Freedom .on 16th August 2009. What it means to you? As a participant speaker I did a random research and shot off a question on sms to a cross section of people .
‘Could you define What Freedom means to you in 1 or 2 sentences’. I carried these people into the discussion through their responses. The content clustering revealed-

70% respondents wanted to do things or live for self without fear or compulsion (internal or external) or conscience ! .
To be without apology or being able to act on subconscious mind .
Rest had various views--
Mind free of complexes, fear , prejudices, preconceived ideas.
Speaking one’s mind/expressing without compulsion.
A smaller subset viewed freedom as internalized responsibility in sync with larger good.
Freedom from reaction to life or living fearlessly
A myth.
Freedom from desires.
Self sustainability.
On the contrary kids wanted happiness and smile and share freely the heritage.

This by no means defines all but it surely kicked a dynamic question.
What is freedom ? and from what ?

Carefully observed, most people want a freedom to live life on their terms at a material, concrete level and only then arises the concern for the other. Maslowian pyramid of self fulfillment is a fact from human mind . But when all bodies live their own life , why this need for freedom?
As life evolves in opposites , perhaps examining the inimical BONDAGE will explain it.

So the human situation is where—
Absolute freedom is an utopia . All action and reaction is in context of humans and bound in spacetime. The genetic pattern and loading already sets the blueprint of behaviour and health.
So a fresh human life on planet Earth is biologically and physically bound, a part of its destiny is predetermined. So what remains is relative or perceived freedom.
And then starts a complex interplay of nurture and nature to influence the end product -a free or a bound mind.

Freedom is after all a metaphor , and mind is about abstracting this metaphor. Given the underpinnings of temperament , these metaphors are interpreted variously.
Imagine Krishna sermonizing Buddha ,instead of Arjuna (he was also a kshatriya ) in Mahabharata. I am sure at the end of it Buddha , would have given a respectful bow to Krishna and excused himself.
Examples galore where people have sought ways in life for the same goal.

Acting on this blueprint is Social, economic and above all religious influences creating what we call CONDITIONING of mind. Lives are spend in either following or fighting the maze of this conditioning.
Let us look at the precursors of it….
Religion assigned from birth is the strongest chain for the mind. It never allows people to be what they are. Providing a societal structure , it always exhorts to become something else. In the process pointing at weaknesses and creating guilt in Homo sapiens.
It is exactly what Freud broke ..Take off the guilt arising out of Victorian morality. Lot of later philosophers and psychologists in their own time focused on it.
Following close on heels are teachings ,some from evolved but mostly from half baked minds, which masses believe due to lack of critical thinking..
Rest all is experiential . Teachers , subjects , parents and media as the new influence
all mix up with one’s own desires , ambition and compulsions to create a real (or surreal) anxiety of being bound and not free.

‘Be this’ and ‘be that’ or ‘ become something’
An average child hears ‘no’ 400 times a day .
Such conditioned adult struggles all his life and probably
questions ,towards the end about the gain .

All this is known rhetoric ,then why bother?
Because the subconscious feel of being bound creates tremendous overt and covert misery.

Then why don’t people free themselves.
Fear and guilt add a burden to already existing chains.

Even if the heart desires ,mind is afraid of the unknown .
The fear of treading into an unexplored territory creates a blockade ,an inertia in most minds.
The heels are cooled in the shadow of false .erroneous tested world rather than walking on fire of doubts.
The known and experienced is safe and false sense of security makes them continue .
False because the mind forgets that what is being held to mind so dearly is also temporary and it all will end ,anyways sooner or later.
No body will live for eternity ,there is nothing to lose .Yet even if some one overcomes this fear ,guilt of going against the moralistic teachings and conditioning
halts them.

Average mind is unable to throw off these shackles And continues to languish in the chained prison of mind ,fantasizing for some illusory freedom.

Only a few minds in the history of mankind have had the guts of iron and nerves of steel to attempt to rise above the conditioning ,fear, guilt and taste the real freedom ,freedom of thought.
And they were persistent in discovering and going beyond SELF. The great movements set in by them ,helped the masses and glorified lives .
This is self actualization and its reflection shines us.

Is their a way to shape future?

Set the young minds free.
Train them in critical thinking .
Allow them to doubt and question. and wait for the change they bring.
For a future human who is ----

Fearless in mind ,self actualized and carries humanity forward.

Gandhi in schools

2009-11-14T09:24:00.000-08:00

AN HOUR WITH MAHATMA is an initiative to rediscover , redefine Mahatma Gandhi and his relevance in our times. It is an INTERACTIVE BIOGRAPHY ,constructed in a multimedia presentation for children from around 11 yrs to 20 yrs, even adults.
As we roll the pictures and the AV ,Gandhi's life philosophy is narrated by kids themselves through his life sketch.
This is a part of larger PARIVARTAN FORUM working in kanpur to reawaken the responsibility of citizens towards the city. Gandhi camr to our rescue and children are definitely able to relate the need to rise above oneself and work to change for the better life of all
'BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE'

Gandhi's the humanist and the experimenter with truth appeals to young minds.
Though their minds do have a few questions (essentially out of misinformation) but a discussion on these issues makes them think and i hope encourages them to read more.
Gandhi did address the issues facing the country and partly answered them too.
His solutions may not be the best fit but no one can deny that he knew the pulse of this pluralist country. His insistence on benefit for all and not the 'maximum ' probably was the right approach .The conflicts which face usnow may have some answers with Gandhi..
All it needs is re interpretation. Possibly some young mind may reinvent.

7 sessions in 5 days.. He still is the star. Children are liking him ,talking about him ,especially in public schools where material rush seems to have pervaded.
The hope is alive inspite of discovering an extremely poorly informed and unexposed student group in a Govt. supported school.

we are on to it......
cheers
alok