The article, “Where the head is held high” drew two interesting comments. One despaired of anything changing for the better in India, while the other radiated hope. It was a repeat of the oft quoted “the glass-is-half-full vs the-glass-is- half-empty” debate between the optimists and pessimists.
More than a year back, I witnessed in a forum what to me was an effusive, unbridled and blind glorification of India and Indians. To counter what was only one part of the story, I went to the mike and spoke about the hundreds of suicides by farmers all over India, particularly in Vidharbha region. Then my teacher, T T Rangarajan, the Founder of Alma Mater spoke while I squirmed in my seat.
Rajan said if anyone felt strongly about the plight of the poor farmers, do something about it rather than just speak about it. And, by being positive, proactive and truly concerned about people, we can stop suicides from happening.
Finally, our minds are like the radio. Whatever frequency we tune into, we attract into our lives.
If we tune into a channel of happiness and abundance, our reality would mirror that frequency. The much acclaimed recent book, “The Secret”, by Rhonda Byrne covers the same ground that Rangarajan has been espousing for several years.
In the Swaminomics column of 25th January, 2009 in The Times of India, the well known economist, Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar, makes a very bizarre but interesting contention.
“UP is on the verge of economic take-off. I base this prediction on the fact that Uttar Pradesh has reached the Ranji Trophy cricket finals in three of the last four years, winning the trophy in 2005-6. And, believe it or not, there is some association between cricketing and economic clout”.
Perhaps, there is a connection between feeling good and becoming good economically.
I am hopeless at economics and so I can be permitted to ask a few naïve questions about the current world economic mess. Despite several fundamental reasons for the present crisis, what can explain the sudden feeling of scarcity though the wealth available in the world about a year back was pretty much the same as it exists now? Is the disappearance of wealth a conjured perception or a reality? What is the meaning of “market sentiment”, a favorite term of market analysts? Could it be that the present economic paralysis is largely fed by the collective vibrations of fear emanating from people around the world? Perhaps the answer, like what Hamlet says to Horatio is, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Tijn Touber, in a great article – based heavily on quantum theory – titled, “The amazing promises of the Zero Point Field” asserts,
“Dreamers used to be laughed at by people who considered themselves sensible. Now those dreamers have science on their side. Dreams are where reality begins. The future is created by seeing that future, by tuning into it. In principle, anything is possible. The miracle of Jesus and other enlightened thinkers was their ability to see and help shape a better world. They understood: if I want another world, I have to learn to think differently. Or, as Gandhi put it: ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Speaking about things closer home, India Special is another dream that has been unleashed into the universe and yearning for nurture and tenderness at this stage of infancy. Sudev and his team have a dream and I see them tuning into a great future, consistently. There is a collective responsibility that each of us share. It is to breathe life into this dream by putting ourselves to some slight “inconvenience”, by taking responsibilities – encouraging good initiatives or contributing good articles, commenting or even by the simple gesture of rating an article. We will then see the unfolding of Paulo Coelho’s prophesy, “ When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it…”
I started with the debate raging around us and within us between forces of pessimism and optimism. My teacher, Rajan’s answer would be to stoke the fires of dissatisfaction within us, and doing something about what makes us dissatisfied, while remaining happy all the time. In short, “being dissatisfied, happily.”
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