Success thru Silence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How can silence help in building success? What is the relationship between silence and success? Why success thru silence?

To understand all these we need to understand what silence is... absence of sounds all kind of sounds human, humanmade, natural and unnatral all sounds... even absence of music. Music is certainly next to silence.

There is a certain thing to be understood: Music does not consist, in the first place, of words, language. It consists of pure sounds, and it consists of pure sounds only to those who don't know anything beyond sound. Those who know silence - for them, the whole gestalt changes.

You see five fingers, but somebody can see the five gaps between fingers. Ordinarily you will not see the gaps, you will see five fingers. But the gaps are more real: fingers may come and go, gaps will remain.

Between sounds of music there are gaps of silence. The authentic music consists not of sounds, but of the gaps. Sounds come and go; those gaps remain. And music can make you aware of those gaps more beautifully than anything else; hence music comes next to silence. But it is possible even the musician may not be aware of it, unless his/her music is his/her meditation too. Then, soon, the shift from sounds to silence.

The ancient Chinese story is that whenever a musician becomes perfect, he throws away his instruments; whenever a swordsman becomes perfect, he throws away his sword. History proves the quest for perfection... everyone wants to be perfect - success then is nothing but achieving perfection - may be... may be not...

Let's come back to the story... It is a very strange saying that whenever a musician becomes perfect, he throws away his instruments; whenever a swardsman becomes perfect, he throws away his sword and goes back almost five thousand years, because it has been quoted by Lao Tzu as an ancient saying. What does it mean? Chuang Tzu was asked, "This seems to be a very strange kind of proverb. When the musician becomes perfect we should have thought that he would have purchased perfect musical instruments, and the saying says he throws away his instruments."

Chuang Tzu told a very beautiful story to explain it. There are things which cannot be explained without beautiful stories, because stories give you enough space and freedom, enough gaps for you to fill with your own being. Prose is too tight and too mundane, so either poetry has to be used or a story has to be used. These stories are such that even a small child may be able to understand, or even an old man may not be able to understand; the question is whether he gets the undercurrent of the story.

The story is: A man reached to the emperor of China and said, "I am the greatest master of the art of arrows, targets, archery, and I have come to ask you to declare in the whole empire that if anybody wants to compete with me, he should come forward; otherwise give time, and if nobody comes, then declare me the champion archer of your empire."

The king knew that man. He never missed a target. As far as human understanding is concerned, he was perfect. What more can you expect? One hundred percent success - success cannot be more than that. The king said, "I know about you. And I know that there is nobody who can compete with you."

When he was saying this, the servant of the king, who had raised him from his childhood... he was not just a servant but almost a father to him. The emperor's father had died, and he had given the responsibility to his servant to take care of the child till he is of age, and see that no trouble arises and that he succeeds to the throne. So the emperor respected the servant as much as perhaps he would have respected his own father. The servant had done immense service to him; he had taken care of the whole empire till he was of age.

The servant said, "Before you say anything to this man, I would like to interrupt. First listen to me. I know a man far in the hills who is really the champion. Compared to him, this man is just a child. He is a giant!"
The king said, "How do you know he is a giant?"

And the servant said, "He is so perfect in archery that he has thrown away his arrows, his bow - and you know the ancient proverb.... Send this man to that old man in the hills."

The archer could not believe it. What kind of perfection is this, when you throw away your arrows and your bow? But the emperor said, "You will have to go. I cannot deny anything to the man you have seen. Although he is my servant, deep down in my heart he is as great as my father. So you will have to go to that man, and if he recommends it, you will be declared the champion."

The man had to go, although feeling a little weird and awkward: What kind of a stupid thing...? The hills were great and very steep and it was a long journey, but he managed. Slowly, slowly he also became interested - what kind of perfection...? He reached finally to a small cave. He met an old man and asked him, "Are you the famous archer?"

He said, "Archery? I remember, I have heard the word. It must be fifty years ago."

The archer said, "How old are you?"

The old man said, "I am not capable of saying, because here there is no calendar, one does not know how time passes, but maybe one hundred and twenty, or one hundred and thirty."

The man said, "I am the greatest archer in the empire and by a stupid servant's advice the emperor has sent me to you. Unless you give me a certificate, I cannot be accepted as the champion."

The old man said, "Champion? - so you have been learning archery to be a champion? Then you don't love archery - it is motivated, it is goal-oriented. You can never be perfect because you are not directly related to archery.

Archery is only a means; the end is championhood. But don't be worried. You will have to pass just a little test, and I will give you the certificate - although as long as I am alive, remember that you are just a so-called champion. But because I am not a competitor, you can enjoy being the champion. Just come out with me."

The old man was so old... his back was bent, he had become hunch-backed. He took the young man, who was in the prime of his youth, to a cliff. The rock of the cliff, a small rock, hung high over a valley, thousands of feet below. And the old man went on that small rock - just a little missed step and nobody would be able to find you, not even your pieces could be gathered. He went to the very end of the cliff and stood with his feet on the edge of the cliff, just on his toes. He was standing there unwavering, as if he was standing on solid ground, and he said to the young man: "Come."
The young man took the first step and started trembling. "My god, what kind of test is this, and what has it to do with archery?" But he has to do it because the championship is in his hands. After the first step he fell down on the cliff, holding the cliff and saying, "Please forgive me, I cannot come that far. And I cannot stand with half my feet over the edge and just my toes on the rock. And I can see - I have never seen such a deep valley. It must be the very hell! Forgive me...."

The old man said, "Then what kind of archer are you? The real archery is not to hit the target; the real archery is that you should be unwavering. Your unwavering is the real qualification of being an archer. Then your target cannot be missed."

The old man came back, helped the young man to stand up - he was perspiring, trembling, almost half dead - and the old man said, "Why are you carrying this bow and these arrows? A perfect archer throws them away."

The young man said, "Again the same thing! I don't understand why a perfect archer should throw them away."

The old man said, "Look!" And he pointed towards the sky, where seven cranes were flying. The old man simply looked at those seven cranes, and they all fell on the ground. He said, "If you are absolutely stable, absolutely unmovable, you become such a magnet that your eyes are enough; no arrows are needed. How many cranes could you have brought to the earth?"

The young man said, "Of course by one arrow, one. And by that time the others would have gone far away."

The old man said, "You are just a learner. You have not even found a master who can initiate you. So my suggestion is, go back, and unless and until you have forgotten what archery is... I will send my son to check you and if he can certify you, you can go to the emperor."

He said, "Strange, I have got into such a mess! With great effort I have learnt archery - but certainly I am not that kind of archer whose eyes become arrows, whose absolute immobility becomes a magnet." But he touched the feet of the old man. He was certainly unique. He knew he was no comparison to him.

He went back. The man had said, "Try to remain unmoving..." That's a way of meditation: no movement of thoughts... utter stillness.

After twelve years the old man's son came. He said, "My father is dead, but he has left this message with me. I waited for twelve years before I came, because to be perfect in anything is not easy." And then he suddenly said, "What is that thing that is hanging on your wall?" It was his bow.

He said, "I somehow remember, it was something known to me. But these twelve years, just meditating, just remaining unmoving... You have to forgive me, I have forgotten what it is."

The young man said, "That's enough! This is the certificate the old man has left for you. Now you can go to the emperor and be the champion."
But he said, "Now who wants to be the champion?" He tore up the certificate and threw it away.

Chuang Tzu has told many beautiful stories unparalleled in the whole world, stories not without great spiritual significance.

When a musician, starts shifting his attention from sounds to silence, his music becomes almost perfect; when he starts listening only to the silence and forgets all about sounds, his music is perfect. And to show the perfection he throws away his instruments; they are a kind of disturbance... the most beautiful disturbance in silence - but a disturbance is a disturbance.

Music comes next to silence, but the difference is very big. And it is not that all music necessarily comes close to it. In the name of music, contemporary idiots are doing something which goes even farther away from silence - from Beatles to jazz to Talking Heads. It is not music; it is simply making noise! It is simply disturbing the silence.

In the East, music has been always accepted as a spiritual phenomenon. If your music cannot create silence in the people who are listening, it is not music. If your music does not become an unmoving no-mind in the people of your audience, it is not music. It is just making noise.

It happened in Lucknow, in the time of one of the very colorful kings of Lucknow, Nawab Valid Ali Shah. He was really a very incomparable man. When the British armies were entering to capture Lucknow, he was listening to music. Somebody told him that the enemies had entered Lucknow, and he said, "Welcome them. They are guests, we are the host. Make places for them. We have so many places... make arrangements for them."

The servant said, "But they have come to conquer."

He said, "There is no problem. They can conquer, but first let them rest. What is the hurry? Conquering is not going to be a difficult problem because we are not going to fight. We are human beings, and it does not matter... if they enjoy ruling, they can rule." And he told the musicians, "Go on!"

This was the kind of man who was interested in a musician in Varanasi. He was thought to be the greatest musician of those days, but his conditions were so strange that nobody would even invite him to play his music. Vajid Ali Shah invited him.

People tried to prevent him. Friends, courtiers, wives, everybody said, "What are you doing? That man is mad. He is a great musician, but he is certainly mad."

He said, "It does not matter. If music cannot cure madness, then he is not a musician; and if music cannot create a divine madness, then too he is not a musician. Let him come."

The musician came and said, "My condition is that while I am playing nobody should move. If anybody moves his head, or anything, his head has to be cut immediately. All around the listeners swordsmen with naked swords should be standing watching, and if anybody moves - finish!"

Lucknow was one of the most juicy places in India in those days. It has still some remnants of that juice.... Knowing the conditions - because the conditions were also declared to the whole town - tenthousand people came to listen. Even the musician could not believe that tenthousand people are ready to risk their life to listen to the music. When the music ended in the middle of the night the officers had noted down almost two dozen people who had moved their head in appreciation, despite knowing the condition. Vajid Ali Shah said, "What do you say, should we behead them?"

He said, "No! Everybody now should be allowed to go, and I will sing for those twenty-four - they are the real lovers. They moved their heads, they could not help it. They started swaying with the music, they became one with it. All the others were cowards, sitting like statues."

Those twenty-four people were retained, and everybody was allowed to go. People were afraid - perhaps they would be murdered. But in the morning they found them coming back home. They said, "What happened?"

Those people said, "That musician knows how to find the right audience. The real music began when you had all left. He is certainly the greatest musician. We are feeling so pure and so fresh and so clean as we have never felt in our life. He has managed to initiate us into meditation."

Music is certainly next to meditation. But not the modern music, which is ugly, which is sexual, which draws you lower rather than taking you upwards. It does not give you more consciousness, higher skies to fly in; it brings you down, back to deeper gutters.

The real musicians will not accept this nonsense that goes on in the name of music. But young people who know nothing about music, who know nothing about meditation, who know nothing about silence, become fans, and they are mad about these idiots who think they are playing music. In any other wiser generation they would have been kept in psychiatric hospitals to be cured. They have gone berserk!

A violinist was convinced he could use his art in music to tame wild animals. So, violin in hand, he traveled to the heart of the African jungle to prove it. He had no sooner begun to play than the jungle clearing was filled with animals of all kinds. Birds, lions, hippos, elephants all stood round, entranced by his beautiful music.

Just then a crocodile crawled out of the nearby river and into the clearing and - snap! - gobbled up the violinist. The other animals were extremely angry. "You idiot! What on earth did you do that for?" they demanded. "We were enjoying that."

The crocodile put his hand on his ear and said: "What?"

Music can be understood only by those who have a musical ear. And those who have a musical ear should think themselves fortunate because beyond music, just one step more, they enter the world of meditation, silence.

Silence is the ultimate music... and this silence can lead to success of anykind... find that passion within you whatever you really love and just do that... no expectations... just being with it... success will be yours...

How Psychologists (are trying to) Understand Wisdom

Wisdom has been a much discussed topic by philosophers and theologians throughout the ages. In Wisdom: Its Nature, Origins, and Development (1990), edited by Yale professor of psychology and education Robert J. Sternberg, a group of Western psychologists seek to open up this discussion by presenting a number of different frameworks for thinking about, analyzing, and even measuring wisdom. Underlying their essays is a mix of historical, philosophical, folk, and psycho-development understandings of wisdom. The authors use a variety of research methodologies based in developmental, cognitive, social, personality, and educational psychology to try to better understand some major component processes of wisdom: the development of wisdom, the traits of wise people, and the products that result from wisdom.

Some of the authors seek to understand the development of wisdom by separating it out by the different ingredients that, when blended together in the right proportions, produce a sort of recipe for wisdom. Others try to understand wisdom by differentiating it from conceptions of intelligence or creativity. Most of the authors see the development of wisdom as an integration or balancing of two opposing aspects of personality - the cognitive and emotional. Wisdom thus brings together previously separated processes of logical knowing with uncertainty and reflection. To these processes, some authors add the dimension of volition, that is, a willingness and motivation to act on certain information.

Another avenue for the study of wisdom lies in the identification of persons who are sought for advice and presumably display the behavioural traits or patterns that are characteristic of wisdom or wise people. This angle is appealing to those who believe that wisdom does not exist in a vacuum and cannot be viewed apart from human beings. L. Orwell and M. Perlmutter suggest that a wise person is not only smart, but also has a highly developed personality structure that enables him/her to transcend narcissistic personal needs, thoughts and feelings and reach a certain level of detachment. Some characteristics of a wise person -- empathic, exceptionally understanding, and open to change - are shared among the various authors.

We can also look at the products of decisions as another way of understanding wisdom. Wisdom presumably allows us to make good decisions at the individual and societal levels. In this respect, M. Csikszentmihalyi and K. Rathunde frame wisdom as a virtue providing a compelling guide to action. They see wisdom to provide a major mechanism of cultural evolution and an alternative to extrinsic rewards based on pleasure and materialism. On a more individual level, D. Kramer suggests five highly inter-related functions of wisdom that appear in our daily life: to resolve dilemmas and make decisions in one's own life; to advise others; to engage in the management and guidance of society; to carry out one's own life review; and to question the meaning of life. P. Arlin argues that we cannot understand wisdom simply by looking at the results of specific decisions or solutions. Before we can reach the right answers, we must first formulate the right questions. According to Arlin, wisdom is closely related to "the art of problem finding."

A number of authors also suggest that the human elements of traits and states are not enough to create wisdom, and that we also look at context when we consider whether or not to qualify actions or decisions as wise. For example, J. Meacham argues that many life experiences (including over-accumulation of information, success, and power) or atmospheres (such as today's atmosphere of rapid technological and cultural change) can be extremely threatening and damaging to wisdom. Only a "wisdom atmosphere of supportive interpersonal relations" caters to building the personal strength necessary to "engage in confident and wise action even when in situations of doubt."

In their conclusions, the authors themselves admit that their explorations of the topic of wisdom are at an early stage. The subject of wisdom is complex and elusive and merits much more thought and research.

TEACHING AS A SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITY

Radical pedagogists, such as Paulo Freire, Neil Postman, bell hooks, and Henry Giroux, challenge the conventional concepts of a classroom teacher and pedagogy vis-à-vis schooling and larger political-economic systems. They argue that teachers must fight the rigidity and conformity of schools and create genuine spaces for learners to explore and develop their diverse capacities and talents. Teachers should also use their teaching power to question and subvert oppressive and exploitative institutions, policies and relationships in society. Giroux describes his vision of progressive teachers as those who "are also concerned in their teaching with linking empowerment — the ability to think and act critically — to the concept of social transformation. That is, teaching for social transformation means educating students to take risks and to struggle within ongoing relations of power in order to be able to alter the ground in which life is lived . Acting as ‘transformative intellectuals’ means helping the students to acquire critical knowledge about the societal structures, such as economy, the state, the workplace, the mass culture, so that such institutions can be open to potential transformation."

However, Postman describes, "The trouble is that most teachers have the idea that they are in some other sort of business. Some believe, for example, that they are in the ‘information dissemination’ business." Others see their only duty as creating clever bureaucrats or preparing consumers to further corporate agendas. Many don’t have a vision of what they are doing — their primary pre-occupation is on their salary. The few who do realize the irrelevance and inherent damage of schooling feel powerless to change the System.

Teachers must start to recognize the power they have within their classrooms. Rather than simply making student memorize the syllabus, they can critically question along with their students "what is being taught and why?"; "who has decided that this should be taught and what legitimacy do they have?"; "how does this relate to local realities?"; and, "what other perspectives exist?" Teachers can also demystify the ‘sacred Truth’ of textbooks, I.Q., classroom discipline, teacher-student dichotomy, competitive examinations and degrees, as essential elements of the learning process. A ‘subversive’ classroom can be identified by the frequency with which students ask meaningful questions, their search for and tolerance of diverse answers, and their challenges to assertions made by other students, teachers or textbooks.

Teachers can also create new spaces of power by inviting others into authentic discussions on education i.e. "what are the problems faced by communities"; "what should be learned by youth today?"; and "how does schooling support global exploitation?". Giroux describes that teachers "will have to open every aspect of formal education to active, popular contestation and to...community members, parents, support staff, youth advocacy groups, and others with vital interest in the schools." Teachers can also involve the students into exploring community issues as well as other spaces of learning in the community. Both above processes require that teachers stop seeing themselves as the ‘great experts’ and communities as ‘illiterate’ or ‘backward’. Postman suggests that as teachers redefine themselves and their roles, "great strides can be made if the words ‘teach’ and ‘teaching’ are simply subtracted from the operational lexicon."

The Buying and Selling of Knowledge

The Knowledge Economy is considered to be the most evolved phase of the global economy. Its cornerstones are the same as the industrial-technology economies: private ownership, production and consumption, for the highest profit. Once considered the collective domain of humanity (shared with all for the benefit of all), today intellectual resources are marketed as ‘products’, to be bought by and sold to the highest bidder.

The commodification of knowledge occurs in several ways. For example, we ‘pay’ for knowledge when we send our children to private schools or tuitions, or when we ourselves attend special workshops and courses. In doing so, we affirm two ideas: (1) information can be given a price, and (2) the ‘quality’ of information you access will vary, depending on the amount of money you have. In other words, the knowledge economy follows the rest of global economy; it increases levels of inequality by linking participation to a price.

Knowledge is also being bought and sold through patents and copyrights. Laws are used to declare ideas, products, and even living things, to be the ‘intellectual property’ of individuals or corporations. But although one might want credit for his/her contributions, patenting prevents the general public from using creations without permission and payment — which again means that only those who can afford to pay, get to use it. Ironically, many of the people who acquire patents steal and manipulate knowledge to claim it as their own. For example, in India, genetic-engineering companies have recently attempted to patent neem and basmati rice in order to control and profit from them. Pharmaceutical companies are trying to collect indigenous knowledge about medicinal plants to create and patent their own drugs. While peoples’ movements are resisting these efforts, should they fail and the patents be given, then these staple necessities will only be available for use at a heavy price.

Buying and selling knowledge is a growing epidemic in universities around the world as well. In the guise of donations, private companies give equipment, buildings, facilities, professorships, research grants, etc. to universities. In exchange, the university provides them with exclusive rights to the research produced. “Commercially-sponsored research” means that companies’ interests are dominating the research agenda — which could seriously limit which questions are asked, which are not, and how the studies are designed. For example, many universities only put their money into commercially lucrative disciplines (science/technology) and stop funding humanities and social sciences, which do not yield profits in the global market. Further, many privately-funded studies are biased; professors receive additional monies from the companies that fund their research and so, not surprisingly, end up giving conclusions that endorse corporate interests. More and more it seems research is done for private gain (profit) rather than for public good.

Members of a learning community can reflect on the following questions:

- How can we credit inventors/creators for their work and encourage new creations, in the absence of patents or copyrights?

- How can we draw upon other understandings of knowledge (as shared wisdom, for example) to begin to de-link it from the market economy and profit motives?

Regenerating Our Creativity in India

was good at singing when I was in 5th grade. But whenever I sang in front of my class I was always de-motivated by everyone, who said, "You don’t know how to sing! Just sit quietly." I was also very curious to know who I am, why are we living, and what is a meaningful life? When I asked my teachers such questions, they totally dismissed me and said, "These questions will not come in your exam. Just cram whatever the text book says." Similarly, whenever I played the harmonium, my family members were always screaming, "What nonsense are you playing! It is not your cup of tea. Keep it aside." I was interested in exploring and experimenting with different ideas, but each time I tried to do so, I was forced by my peers, my teachers, and my family, to do things in a conventional manner.

When I failed in 12th grade, my family members and other friends made comments that implied that I was a failure and good for nothing. These comments tortured me deeply. Shortly after, one of my cousin brothers, who was good at crafts and had an excellent sense of humor, committed suicide due to examination fear and family pressure. His only fault was that he did not do well on his 12th grade examination paper. We lost a person who could have spread happiness all over the world.

The incidents I have been describing are not only limited to me or my brother. The majority of children and youth in India today are facing such problems. They are constantly being suppressed and frustrated by their families, schools, and peer groups. Every human being is a potential creator, thinker and experimenter. But often, our vast human potential remains hidden due to lack of opportunities, oppressive surroundings, and mechanical thinking/living. How do we get beyond these obstacles to create a united, peaceful, loving and creative India?

The Demise of Creativity

India, a civilization of diverse cultures, languages, and spiritualities, is a unique role model for the development of indigenous creative forces. According to Devi Prasad (Art: The Basis of Education. NBT,1998), "traditional India did not compartmentalize art and life." The pursuit of knowledge included wisdom, a capacity of discretion, control over the ego, humility, truthfulness, self-dignity, social service, and creativity. For centuries, people explored and shared the meaning of life through creative living expressions and divine creative power in various forms: chores, relationships, farming, cooking, decoration, festivals, games, crafts, music, dances, prayers and yoga. Yet, today, there seems to be a dearth of people who value and seek out creativity in their daily living. In fact, instead of developing and nurturing creative processes in our lives, we are being mechanically conditioned to become more egoistic, rigid, insecure, and dishonest. I see several institutions as responsible for this demise.

Factory schooling: In the present model of factory-schooling, no more than 4-5% of pupils are declared ‘successful’ or ‘educated’. Yet of these, very few can creatively think/judge/analyze/synthesize by themselves. The imposed standardization of MLLs force us to ‘fit’ into the system — to all follow the same goals in exactly the same way. In the name of examinations, children’s diverse abilities/potential/talents are judged in just a three-hour, extremely limited didactic question paper, which punishes students for their creative answers. Pre-occupied with perfoming in the exam, a child’s mind is full of tension, fear, and depression. When we can see that schools are nearly as inhumane as prisons and that they nurture a false sense of superiority/inferiority, why do we continue to send our children to them?

Mass Media: Today, what we should wear, eat, buy, do, is defined by the mass media. We no longer think for ourselves; instead we copy those whom we see— who themselves are usually copying from someone else. The media also makes us passive observers. We are so busy watching others perform, that we have neither the time nor the inclination to reflect or to do things ourselves. Moreover, the mass media manipulates our diverse senses of aesthetic and beauty. In today’s world, for example, the creative expression of women has been reduced to distorting and destroying one’s face and body to win beauty contests. How can we engage with the media in ways that offer us opportunities to develop our aesthetics, imagination and creativity?

Family and Samaj: In the name of samaj (community/society), we are constantly told to behave in ‘the right way;’ that is, to be ‘respectful’, to be ‘silent’ and ‘submissive’, and to seek ‘security’. Samaj tells us to remain within certain ‘safe’ boundaries that close us off to diversities which may threaten our narrow identity. It has become a rat race, where people are forced to blindly follow a path of greed, competition and materialism. ‘Success’ is judged by how much money one has, rather than by creativity or compassion. Can we create such a samaj where creativity is valued and everyone has the chance to explore their unique human potentials?

Today there are very few constructive or open channels for children and youth to fully express themselves. All around us, the world is pressuring us to think in one way: one uniform, one hairstyle, one language, one culture, one identity, one Truth. How do we get out of this system which is designed to homogenize us and kill our diversity?

Rediscovering Creative Living

To adapt from Paulo Freire (quoted in bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress. Routledge, 1994), creative living is a process "to begin always anew, to make, to reconstruct, and to not spoil, to refuse to bureaucratize the mind, to understand and to live life as a process — live to become." Facing the challenges of the future will indeed depend on an artistic, aesthetic, and creative attitude towards life. Though we have much to learn from the past, we cannot copy it. Generating (and regenerating) ‘Creative Indias’ will depend on our ability to engage in processes of learning, unlearning and relearning. We can begin these processes together by initiating the following steps:

- Very little research has been done on creativity in India. We must carry out applied research on indigenous creativity that can nurture common peoples’ aspirations and that can transform the ‘systems’ before us.

- Instead of simply adding a ‘creativity’ subject to an already homogeneous/stifling curriculum, policymakers, teachers, parents, students must collectively begin to rethink both the vision of education and its structure.

- Schools can create a pro-creativity learning environment by eliminating competitions and by developing more participatory self-assessment techniques.

- As individuals, all of us must introspect and reflect on our own creative potential and how it can be applied for the regeneration of Self and community.

Do We Need Globalization?

I heard about globalization a few years ago and there I began to find out what is this globalization. One old friend of mine who was a professor of economics told me that globalization is not a new thing as it is portrayed. Until First World War all the trade in the international commerce was based on globalization concept advocating for true free trade; and so we may call that as natural globalization. Only after that war international trade practice was controlled by British and other powers to help their dilapidated economies. Those controls were designed to serve the vested interests of these powers. This practice was further encouraged by nations formed after the second war as the erstwhile British Empire collapsed. These controls were also designed to serve the vested interest of those newly freed nations like India. These controls created hindrance for American business houses who are mainly multinational Companies. Other developed countries joined hands since they were also going to benefit in the process. And in this way we as a world body accepted today’s concept of globalization. Since the globalization was actually initiated by American interests the structure of this globalization is inherently designed to help developed countries in general and American Companies in particular. After telling me his he remarked that, the ancient globalization was natural in its structure based on needs and demand and supply position of international societies while what globalization we have accepted today is artificial type of globalization only to serve the powerful multinationals. He vehemently asserted that this globalization is designed to help only multinational Companies and not any nation; even America. He further said that with his type of globalization only multinationals will thrive at the cost of ordinary people of all nations.

Last few years we have been experiencing effects of Globalization on all aspects of life. All nations keep talking about practicing globalization in trade and other related topics. What is globalization? How it shall benefit all the people of the world is the question; always asked by many small citizens, and there is nobody to give a suitable reply. I wanted to know about the correct perspective of globalization and so began to investigate the subject.

One expert I happened to meet told me that globalization process is to initiate a concept “globe is nation”. If globalization is truly achieved in that sense we the people of this earth will be as citizens of one nation and that nation will be the globe of the earth. That means there will not be separate nations any more and we all people shall be as one people. This will help reduce strife amongst people of different nations on the ground of say, religion, language, cults and cultures and more... this idiosyncrasy is encouraged by many theorists who deliberately connive at the true nature of human societies.

Through trade they believed the process shall begin and so globalization is first tried on trade practice. I observed that whether we make globe as one nation or keep the present system the quarrelsomeness of human being will not stop people from continuing to keep on quarrelling on subjects of concern or otherwise. Ego of individuals and their ambitions and through that ego of the societies of different origins and nations shall not be removed by such exertions. I know that all the concerned people who originated the concept of globalization are also aware of this and so I was very much curious to find out what is the actual ultimate aim of these groups who have come with this concept.

Globalization in trade means any country can supply any merchandise to any country and no country can ban the imports or exports of any goods from any country save on quality and cost grounds. By this provision trading was expected to be free from any and all restrictions those may be put up by any Government on imports and exports of any goods to that country. Many nations joined the convention of globalization and so did our beloved India.

After some years of practice gradually some facts began to immerge. It became clear that the true purpose of this convention is to strengthen the arms of multinational Companies. Now they could sell their products to all countries who had signed the convention innocently. As we all know that most of the multinational Companies are from USA in a way the purpose of introducing globalization was to help grow business of these American Companies.

I had read about how Americans forcibly pushed themselves on Japan in the nineteenth century using armed forces and cannon attack to open up the trade with that nation and this could clearly explain to me the intentions of the successors of those Americans who bombed shores of Japan to open it to the international trade in that far period. Globalization was a very decent embodiment of that same violent method they used in those days on Japan. Ultimate aim was to promote their trade all over. In the process other developed countries were also going to benefit and so they were agreeable to this concept of globalization.

Yes, globalization in the trade was primarily designed to help developed countries to have easy access to the developing countries who are usually not much interested in encouraging the interference of developed countries into their affairs. However, there are other side effects to this globalization and they began to become evident as time passed. Those side effects were not helpful to the people of developed nations but were helpful to the multinational Companies from those countries mainly USA. The effect was mainly felt in the IT activity. Highly enterprising small Companies from developing countries could grab contracts from these multinational Companies and the local youth from those countries began to loose their jobs. Governments of developed countries were in a fix because they were encouraged by multinationals to support globalization on the one hand and on the other hand people from that country were trying to dissuade the governments to limit the scope of globalization so that the youth from the country may get their jobs back. Money was pouring in from the multinationals to the politicians from the government to keep on the globalization in ‘as it is condition’ so that they continue growing their profits by saving on the service charges they would otherwise have to pay to locals if globalization is removed. So I realized that globalization is primarily designed to help multinationals and not the nations. There was sense in what my old friend had guessed.

Many treaties signed between the Companies under the convention of globalization were studied and they all showed that they all are intended to help multinationals and not the respective nation.

My other study revealed to me one more interesting angle to globalization. Countries of different mindsets had their own approach to this convention. Two approaches were noticed in the study. I named them as slavish approach and commanding approach. Slavish approach was found with developing country like India. Other countries from Europe and America, Japan and even China were seen to practice commanding approach.

Countries practising commanding approach were seen to dictate terms while slavish countries followed the dictates. Slavish were seen to be always following or staying as second or third in the line as far as deciding the terms of business and commanding gave orders.

When I was talking with a young American businessman he told me that Americans want globalization where the earth is at their feet. While Indians were seen to accept a place at the bottom of the globalization trying to eke out some foreign exchange. I saw Indians never could dictate terms to the world market. They are always at the receiving end. For any and no excuse even the smallest of the nation could refuse our products. Indians are habituated to accept all sorts of humiliating treatments at the hands of other countries. Why this sorry state, I do not understand. Somebody told me that this is because Indians lack moral force to dictate terms to the world. Mainly because our government is made of criminals. Our present parliament is made of criminals; they are about thirty percent in all. I shall be discussing this sorry state of our parliament some other time. An absolutely corrupt government can not have the courage to talk with pride. Pakistan is dictating terms to us even after the attack made by invaders from that country. The whole world knows that India is of no significance. One can do anything with it and escape without any harm. The ubiquitous shameful thing I see is that we claim to be tomorrow’s super power. Actually we are becoming super laborer or coolies in IT industry. We are capable of doing nothing original in that field. At best what our IT experts do is using the software prepared by developed nations like America, France and Japan to earn some coolie charges. This is not the sign of a super power. Super power does not do that way. A super power creates its own software and hardware and that makes a super power. As far as IT technology is concerned all OS are US made. We can not develop our own OS since we are prohibited to use ASCII code for our languages by unicode convention. So by calling ourselves a super power we are making a laugh of ourselves in the eyes of the wise world. Worst part is that we are not aware of this sorry state.

Then what to do?

Nothing!!

Manmohan Singh was telling the other day that we must invest in research and contribute to the scientific development. Mere investing more money for research will not do; I was advised by my other enlightened friend from Germany. He told me that primarily Indian scientists are not efficient in their work. When he happened to visit Bhabha Atomic Research Centre some years ago he could see that the scientists there are lazy in their work. Killing time is the way these people work on any project. Nobody is truly interested in the end results. Indian scientists talk of promotions, perks and other fringe benefits more than the job of research they are working on. There are fights amongst these research scientists for credit of the work their junior has done subsiding that junior. One striking example he told me. That example clearly showed to me the mindset of Indian scientists working in this premier research center. I would like to share that with my friends here.

A project for developing electricity from sea waves was mooted and it was suggested that the project be taken up somewhere at Tamilnadu sea shore. Actually all data was readily available to do the work and so my friend recommended that the time frame can be about five years. Nevertheless, the chief scientist asked for 25 years to do that work. On asking to him why so much time is demanded and why Tamilnadu shores? He told my friend that the scientist hails from that state and he will retire after 20 years. His simple plan was to keep with this one project comfortably until his retirement and that is all! Project time shall continue even after his retirement and so he need not reply to the authorities about the fete of that project. What an intelligent plan! To my surprise I found that almost all scientists are of this mindset and so, by putting more money alone, our scientific work will not progress. How can such scientists help solve problems of this country? To this I was told by other scientists from the famous IIT that we do not have tradition in scientific research; we inherit tradition of talking philosophy and bogus spiritualism!

Friends, I am dismayed at this observation. We Indians will remain only slaves of the globe and not never masters, with this type of scientific community. We are destined to remain super slaves or coolies rather than super powers.

As usual, I request the readers to send in their comments and let me know how they feel about my rendering on this subject. Can we correct the mindset of these scientists? Can we help this situation?