Nearly all men can stand adversity, but to test the character, give him power

Disney's Aladdin (2019) showed that while facing adversity brings out one’s resilience, it is the power that ultimately uncovers one’s true nature. With great adversity, when both Jafar and Aladdin got the magic lamp, the former fueled by revenge, sought all-more power, while the latter, filled in love, wished to free a friend in Genie. Similarly, in life too, the power has the ability to expose one's character and bring out the depth in its features. And the depth in its features, in turn, determines the degree to which one can withstand the perks of power.

Power – Indicator of Character

“World is a stage, we are all its puppets who are stringed and controlled by puppets above us in the hierarchy.” –Anonymous

In such a puppet show, the power is perceived to be capable of liberating one by cutting such strings. This cassette of freedom plays the tunes of empowerment for some, eternity for a few, and becomes addictive for others. One becomes like an over-compressed spring. Upon cutting of strings, the spring explodes out of control unless and otherwise contained.

Mohammed bin Tughlaq was one such notable exploded spring. When he became the all-powerful sultan of India in 1325, the fragrance of his unquestionable freedom evoked his deepest desires of experimenting different ways to send a person, presumably those who opposed him, not to paradise but to death. His creative brutality might have even terrify the goddess of death herself, recalls many historians.

However, in a history shaped by many complex characters, not all of them had such dreadful desires. Sher Shah Suri was a great visionary who raised from the ranks of simple revenue officer to become an all-powerful sultan in 1540. And his desire, forged by sufferings of his people, made him administer justice impartially.

The fragrance of freedom, besides evoking desire, tests one’s value system. It simply makes one express what one values the most. In the modern age, the popularity has become a simple yet powerful weapon. In that line, actors became the uncrowned powerhouses who can either influence their fans positively, or seduce them into a misery. Those actors who valued morality campaign for initiatives that can bring a responsible behavior change in the followers, as seen in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign. Whereas, those who valued money through any means seduced their fans by endorsing in online real money games advertisements, brutalizing their followers’ lives.

How-much-ever noble the values are, without tolerance, it would not sustain its nobility. Freedom, thus, tests one's tolerance to critics because inherently, any ideology per se will be challenged by some people, that being the spirit of diversity. Emperor Ashoka was one of the powerful examples of tolerance. Despite being an all-powerful Buddhist king, he was very accommodative towards all religions. He organized and encouraged intellectual debates, pacifying the sound of opposition with his voice of justice – dharmagosha, rooted in tolerance.

Unfortunately, this is not the case everywhere. Rospierre was one of the heroes of French Revolution who was popularly called as ‘the incorruptible.’ But this popular title couldn’t stand the test of power, which exposed his insecurities with the help of critics. Thus, once a liberator, drove France into ‘the reign of terror’ (1793-94), replacing tolerance with guillotine justice.

Finally, the elixir of power invokes one’s ego, blinding even great scholars. In Ramayana, Ravana was a well-versed philosopher. Yet his unworldly power never let him repent for his evil deeds. He let it suppress his divine knowledge by evoking his ego and thus, pushing him into the path of self-destruction.

However, signs of hope too shines in the sky when we see some powerful people exhibit humility. For instance, PM Justin Trudeau was humble enough to apologize to India in 2016, on behalf of the Canadian government for the Komagata Maru incident (1914), when his country unwelcomed Indian immigrants.

While such incidents are momentarily pleasing, giving in a sense of confidence and hope, peace and justice will not endure in this world unless everyone realizes the true nature of power and attempts control its influence.

De-Veiling Power

As contradictory as it may sound, the true nature of power is not independence, but responsibility. As the saying goes, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Power necessarily creates in oneself, an obligation towards others. This obligation, in turn, constrains one’s freedom through moral boundaries. Therefore, the widely prevailing theory of ‘power giving freedom,’ is nothing but a myth.

Furthermore, the trusteeship doctrine says that powerful people are endowed power in the form of wealth, skills and resources in order to aid those who are devoid of it. Therefore, all the power centers in this society – politicians, rulers, celebrity and, even fictional superheroes, exist to fulfil such noble responsibility of service to people.

And to prevent such noble responsibility from turning into violent autocracy, an ethical and just foundation must be laid. For such a foundation, while humility, altruism and compassion form its roots, weeds such as greed, pride and envy must be chopped out. Such kind of moral rooting was shown by Emperor Marcus Aurelius who lived like a saint, devoted to his people, unshaken in the storm of luxuries of his powerful kingdom.

Besides such moral base, a safety valve must be installed to preventing wild turns at times. This means external checks and balance must be ensured, especially in a sovereign state, to prevent misuse of power by the powerful. This is usually done by dividing and de-concentrating power, and establishing various accountability mechanisms. Even in ancient times, Kautilya advocated to hold the king accountable by protesting against him, if he became unjust. And modern world has diversified the means of protesting via elections, media, judiciary, social audits and so on.

Although power poses itself as an ultimate liberator from shackles of control, it actually entrusts one with a noble duty of service towards others, enchaining one with responsibility. The one who realizes this truth becomes the true altruistic hero, while those who fall for its fantasy become the new evil genie who must eventually be contained in such an itty-bitty tiny space in lamp. Therefore, in the test of power, one withstands its whims and fights its fancies, with what we call “Nishkama Karma” – Selfless duty!

Do you agree on my take that power is the true measure of character? Share your thoughts below.

Social media is triggering ‘fear of missing out’ among the youth, precipitating depression and loneliness

In this tech-driven world, one need not be an astrologer nor calculate the position of stars to predict the fact that very soon, the World Health Organization (WHO) will consider declaring FOMO, a pandemic. And seeing the state of our ever-stressful, sleepless, screen-scrolling youth population, it feels like we are already having a silent outbreak of FOMO that is secretly snatching every country's demographic dividend, of its surging youthful energy.

This essay will shed light on this ongoing outbreak of FOMO, how it is silently slaughtering the youths, and what vaccine will be effective against it.

FOMO

To begin with, we must understand what FOMO is. It is an abbreviation of the fear of missing out. It simply means the feeling of being unseen, unheard, unrecognized, and underappreciated. When our youths feel FOMO, they feel like a cockroach in a bungalow, which is uninteresting, unwanted, and not welcome. Just like how this cockroach fears being poisoned and killed, the fear of getting unrecognized makes youths go into a permanent mode of insecurity. Thus, the silent erosion of their youthful contributions to the world is a manifestation of their hidden insecurities driven by the FOMO.

FOMO is more of a modern terminology for age-old human behavior. Even in the old times, people desired to be seen and heard. And such desire is a basic social need for humans. But back then, a small chit-chat with one's family, a cute-tiny gesture to neighbors, and brief tea time with friends were more than enough to satisfy that social need and prevent FOMO.

But with the world’s networks expanding more and more with urbanization and globalization, and AI adding to this mix, such simple mechanisms to satisfy social needs started rusting. The amount of effort required to prevent the influence of demons in FOMO goes proportional to the speed of globalization. And such efforts have taken a steep upright slope with the increasing imprints of social media.

Social media has successfully trapped our all-powerful, genie-like youths into lamp-like, itty-bitty, tiny living spaces on screens. Although it looks like in such tiny spaces, one is getting more connected with someone else miles away, the reality is that such people are already beginning to disconnect from their surrounding society. A mother's love-filled call for dinner feels like an abrupt interruption when chatting with a fake Facebook friend. WhatsApp emoji have already replaced one's real-life, meaningful & nuanced gestures as a means of communication. The TikTok world feels more real for our youths than the real world, which now feels more like a bad dream. And when such a virtual world fails to recognize them, their hopes fall, aspirations shatter, and confidence crumbles.

Virtual Expectations drive FOMO

The virtual world has raised the expectations of our youths to a different height so that anyone falling below is made to feel like a loser, seriously denting their self-esteem. While social media must be credited for increasing awareness among the public, it has also pushed carefully curated contents that can cash the cows in our youths. Its algorithms feed the viewers with not what they need, but what they like. In the case of youths, their desperate desires to be recognized is being weaponized by these codes.

One such desperate desire that gets weaponized is the “success mantra”. The social media has effectively rebranded success in terms of popularity, and further the achievement in terms of wealth and happiness in terms of appreciation. These rebranded values, despite becoming the new means for motivating youths, have also stripped the hard work of its foundational features like consistency, persistence, and patience and redecorated it with instantaneousness.

Truly, this instantaneousness is a disease. It shifts the focus from performing the duty to expecting results. Because of this, youths in every step towards their goal, crave for rewards to the extent that even a fraction of failure becomes extremely painful and creates a perception of as if the world has turned its back on them. This FOMO in turn transforms itself into anxiety and depression, drowning our youths in gloomy loneliness.

Further, expectations also dislike repetition. For example, a similar kind of content posted in SnapChat again will not guarantee as many likes or views as before. This means the validity of any virtual recipe is limited, and sustainability requires reinvention and renovation. When one fails to reinvent, the views fall, the likes disappear, and the re-share button becomes invisible. This crumbles the confidence in our youths, shaking their mental fortitude.

While some droop in depression, others take a wild turn to stay in the limelight. Many content creators turn toxic to stay relevant and capture a wider audience. Their contents start pivoting towards creating sensation through deep fakes and false news, and thus turning even an aspiring patriot into a petty propagandist.

Moreover, social media not only deprives young people of their time to build their relationships, the false narratives sold by these platforms through the dating apps, pornography, and fantasy videos create unrealistic expectations in real-life relationships. When such expectations are unmet, those real-life social relations fall apart, forcing the youths with FOMO syndrome to hide from life.

So, any vaccine against FOMO should address these false expectations to pivot our demographic dividend towards prosperity.

The Vaccine for FOMO

Youths must understand that false expectations induced harm is not an alien attack, but a self-inflicted injury. Thus, any prevention must begin with the self itself. One's self-esteem must not be measured by the yardstick seen in social media posts, but rather be realized through self-realization.

And in such a pursuit of self-discovery, the FOMO must be replaced by the JOMO – joy of missing out. As opposed to feeling alienated, one must see it as a chance to be with one’s self. Such solitary pursuit gives way to introspecting one’s thoughts, hidden feelings and talents. This also trains them to derive happiness and satisfaction from self rather than from other people’s reactions.

Another crucial step is to redefine success. It must be defined in terms of morality, service to others, and persistence. People must condemn dishonest money-making through these social media platforms and withdraw support from it. In contrast, selfless acts of service with persistence must be glorified and celebrated.

Finally, youths must learn to earn relationships through trust and further build it by investing time with their loved ones in real, not in reel. And family and friends help them in this process as this is the first place where one learns social behavior.

To summarize, the FOMO is just an old wine in a new bottle whose sales saw a new peak through social media networks. Its sales are attributed to virtually induced expectations, which have intoxicated our aspiring youths to the extent of pushing them into the realm of lonely depression, breaking their selves. Besides all the warnings, the only way out of this FOMO drink addiction is – self-recovery through self-discovery. 

Do you agree with my take? Do share your comments below!

A smile is the chosen vehicle for all ambiguities

 

A warrior is not the one who is defined by his victories. Definitely not the one who surrenders upon defeat. A true warrior is the one who, in the face of adversity, despite being outnumbered and out-weaponed, refuses to yield and, daringly, challenges his death with a proud smile! While a warrior challenging a certain death is often an epitome of greatness, what can we call the one who grins in the face of ambiguity? Is legend an appropriate word for that?

In this modern day and age, such legends are not in dearth. In fact, we can see them in our lives every day, especially in our reflection in the mirror. Their smiles not only have charm in them, but also hold a firm promise that silently whispers – We can do it!

Smile in Ambiguities

Ambiguity not only poses itself as vague, but it also invites different interpretations that further heat up its subjective nature. This causes confusion and conflicts, further magnifying the adversity. This ambiguity often crumbles most who carry it in a boat of fear, but some, whom I call legends, choose to carry this obscurity in a vehicle of a smile. They not only withstand the storm, but also secure their shore!

A smile is not just a facial expression, but an armor of confidence. When one faces a situation that demands bravery, a smile is often the source of breeding grit. Often starting from our lips, a smile sends ripples across the nerves, flanking the brain with a spark – not of fire, but of hope!

This hope is like sunlight that escapes the gloomy clouds of doubts, fear, and confusion, gradually bringing a moral clarity in the sky. Thus, the mind becomes calm, composed, and ready to sail through the ambiguity at the command of its captain – the smile!

 A smile is often witty in the face of a storm. It buys you the time needed to make a decision. A smile keeps even the ambiguous confused, evokes in subjectivity, a cusp of doubt, and makes even the disputed to self-contest. It often leaves your opponent without any clue about your thoughts. It stalls your foe, slows down time, gives you the space to think, which further brightens the clarity. The Great Muhammad Ali, amidst the chaotic trade of shots with the ever-scary George Foreman, with his smile, froze the mind of George for a moment, making him hesitate. This hesitation gave Ali the time needed to break the soul of poor George, thus winning the historic “The Rumble in the Jungle” boxing battle. That victory for Ali was a testament to his grinning heart!

While happiness comes at the end of a victory, a smile can sneak in throughout the process. This not only signifies courage, but also symbolize perseverance. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s life, from getting rejected by the Indian Air Force to become the Missile Man of India, and further becoming the Indian president, is a relentless trek through the hills and valleys of life, made possible only with his grinning attitude.

 Moreover, a smile attracts support. A grinning commander instills in the heart, a piece of faith that turns even cowards into warriors, forming a massive army. Buddha started his journey to spread peace in this chaotic world alone under a peepal tree. But his kindness, expressed through his smile, attracted thousands of followers to aid him in reducing the turbidity around the world.

A smile, which is a mark of joy, is also a scent of love that the wearer sprays around him, spreading its fragrance everywhere. Mother Teresa, with her grin, captured the hearts of the poor, giving them hope of love to battle their ailments and sufferings.

So, a smile is a proven vehicle to surf along the gloomy waves of ambiguity. However, modern society does not let everyone enjoy a ride on it!

Not all Smile in Ambiguity

The dearth of smiles should not be attributed to its dislike, but to how this modern world has redefined ambiguities. Society has tailored the narrative such that ambiguity is projected as a villain that must be defeated by the hero who can fit into their molds.

Society keeps coming up with predictable paths to eliminate ambiguity. But ambiguity is a sneaky river that can navigate through any terrain and still keep flowing. Thus, when it inevitably confronts the hero, the hero's predictable plan fails, bringing in frustration, fear, and hopelessness.

This hopelessness not only robs the hero of her smile but also lets the uncertainty consume her, thus making the molded hero into a staggering victim, about to fall into a deep trench of vagueness.

So, it is important to reorient this societal narrative progressively to cultivate more legends who grin in adversity rather than crave for predictability.

In this regard, a simple but powerful mantra can be effective: “Control only the controllable.” At first glance, it may look as if we should ignore uncertainty, but that is not true. On the contrary, it asks us to embrace the unpredictable and be prepared to face it by doing what we can do, with a smile on our face.

Great leaders and warriors like Rani Lakshmi bai, Nana Sahib, Kunwar Singh, and many others never expected such aggressive and bloody battles in the revolt of 1857, which is still one of the darkest rebellions in Indian history. But despite being out-resourced, they cleverly strategized and bravely battled, smirking in valor on the battlefield despite the uncertainty of survival, let alone victory.

Thus, a smile is not only a ship to sail through ambiguity, but also a puzzle that confuses illusions, a tool that challenges disputes, a seed of hope in the windy deserts, and a mask that not only shields from chaos, but also reflects the rays of love all around. To cultivate such a smile in people, we must re-narrate ambiguity as a part of life rather than to treat it as an anomaly. This will help us become legends who can face any adversity in our unpredictable lives with a grinning face by gently whispering to ourselves – we can face it all!

Legends! Don't be shy. Smile and comment your thoughts below.

History is a series of victories won by the scientific man over the romantic man

Many students perceive history as just a record of dates, personalities, and events. Yet, our past is more than just a chronicle of facts – it is a series of wars fought between scientific and romantic humans trying to influence the world. Though traditionally viewed as black and white, in reality, the true victor has often emerged from shades of grey – a rational person with an ethical heart who blends science with romance!

This essay explores how science dominates the historical rhetoric over romance and why its victory is dangerous if not confined by moral romance. Let’s get started!

Science-Romance Differentiation

The confrontations of scientific and romantic humans can be better understood by knowing their meanings. Science involves rational and critical thinking before performing an action, while romance refers to irrational, cultural, and emotional reasons for doing the same. Generally, a same action has both scientific and romantic backings. For example, greeting others through “Namaskar” is being followed as an Indian tradition. But due to no hand-to-hand contact, it also prevents transmission of diseases as seen in COVID-19!

However, actions and events in history did not have an equal blend of both. In fact, till the time of the scientific renaissance (revolution), romantic thoughts prevailed. While it certainly helped to bring morality into society at first, it soon transformed into a tool of oppression under power-hungry elites who tried to keep society under their control. To win over their irrational manifestative reasoning and bring in universal prosperity, many scientific wars in different forms were fought throughout history in which science ultimately triumphed.

Science Triumphed Over Romance

Throughout our past, victories of science have been distributed among various fields and aspects to comprehensively move towards this scientific world.

There was a time when economic relationships in many places were predominantly based on trust. Eventually, the exploitation of innocent workers by so-called trusted employers started to increase, giving rise to the workers’ movement. This movement was truly a scientific intervention, as it helped in formalizing labour rights by defining working hours, the pay scale, rules, etc. through written contracts, thus giving them a voice in history, which was earlier choked in the name of romantic trust! 

Politics was another major domain of elite rule and the 19^th and early 20^th century USA was a notable example. Until scientific interventions by US President Wilson, and many other scholars, including Weber, politics was corrupt, nepotism prevailed over merits in public service, and exploitation multiplied due to poor checks and balances. Their efforts gave rise to a scientific bureaucracy, restoring rationality in the political structure that mitigated the sufferings of common people.

Society is an arena where frequent scientific revaluation of reasoning for social practices becomes important to prevent injustices. While the varna system in the Vedic period was mobile, the elite intervention over the period made it rigid, attributing the caste to the birth. Not until the original Vedic scriptures were scientifically reinterpreted by social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, etc., did the people understand the truth that the caste is based on their profession and even that profession is based on their choice and not hereditary.

Further, Science itself is a field where science must war against romance. There was a time when people believed in geocentric theory which held that celestial bodies, including the sun, revolved around the earth. Any critic on this view was challenged by the Roman Catholic Church as they believed it opposed their long-standing intellectual and theological authority. It was only after the efforts of scholars, including Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, and Johannes Kepler, that the rational heliocentric model, where planets including earth revolve around the sun, was accepted. This became an important chapter of European history for accelerating the scientific revolution by breaking dogmatic authority.

The expectation of the education system to blindly accept adults’ sayings without asking why, was also culturally masked in the name of respect. This led to the domination of the elderly, thus prioritising blind compliance over creativity. Again, scientific humans like Socrates were needed to bring back the scientific temper and courage to challenge the irrationals and negatives.

While all the above cases may make us believe that the scientific world is the most just world, this is only partially true. In fact, history has illustrated that science with no romance is a double-edged sword. It can pierce even the good if wielded by an immoral hand!

Romance as a Guide

The scramble for Africa is a classic example of how science can exploit innocents if driven by corrupt forces. The technological advances fuelled by imperialistic and economic ambitions led the European colonial powers to artificially divide Africa among themselves, paying no regard to the innocent African souls. Effects of such scientific colonial exploitation are still being reflected today, as we can see from Africa’s malnourished children, underdeveloped infrastructures, terrorizing coups, and continued economic and political instabilities. What went missing here was not rational thoughts, but empathetic minds.

The cases that we discussed before, from legalizing labour rights to rationalizing bureaucracy, from reinterpreting religion to questioning authority, all seem to heroize science over romance. On contrary, this African Scramble example seems to warn against science. Finally, all these cases keep the focus on the victory between science and romance. But the meaningfulness of that victory has always been determined on whether the victor was rooted in moral romance or not.

That is, every heroic scientific intervention, from labour rights to questioning authority, was backed not only by rationality, but also rooted in morality and justice, which is nothing but moral romance. Without such moral foundation, mere scientific victory seemed destructive as seen in the case of Africa. So, battles in history were truly won by rational humans, who were grounded in morality. 

And further as we advance in science, such battles will be replicated at a huge magnitude. That too in this AI age, which attempts to replace human thinking with that of machines, rooting science in ethical values is never the more relevant.

So, although history is a triumph of empirical fighters over emotional ones, it also shows how even such scientific warriors can lose in the battle of desire, if not guided by a moral compass. Opposed to solely scientific ones, the future needs virtuous technocratic commandos who can lead their people into a glorious age of responsible prosperity!

This is our turn for bringing scientific renaissance. Give your scientific temper a boost. Share your logical thoughts in the comment section below.

The Time to Repair a Roof is when the Sun is Shining

 

When American President John F. Kennedy popularized the quote – “The Time to Repair a Roof is when the Sun is Shining,” he wanted USA to build a proactive economic infrastructure in good times to prevent future economic breakdown. Later, many further interpreted this same quote in terms of bringing political reforms in line with people’s aspirations; social reforms to break the rigidity of regressive practices; legal reforms to make inclusive justice; other infrastructural reforms to cope up with climate change, disasters, defence, technology boom, etc. – All these reforms undertaken in times of stability to avoid future crisis, just like how one must repair the roof in the sun to prevent leakage in the rain.

While even regular physical exercise as a repair to bodily ailments is a common interpretation, mental health aspects often go unnoticed. In this fast-paced world order, the fact that the mind can sustain huge wear and tear on restless exploitation is seriously neglected. As a result, efforts to heal the mind are neither undertaken nor are timely, thus, leading to surging psychological issues.

In this essay, we are going to explore why, when, and how the mind must be repaired and reformed.

Why Repair?

Life is a dynamic maze which poses – continuous questions that need to be answered, frequent challenges that must be overcome, and evolving puzzles that require adaptable solutions. While this creates an illusion that life is complex, in reality, it is not, when we realize that all answers come from one place – The Mind.

Mind is the place where thoughts emerge, interact, unbecome, and evolve. These thoughts are what are often being celebrated as solutions to living crisis. However, just like how an un-repaired roof itself could collapse besides leakage during rain, an unchecked thinking and unhealed mind can bring catastrophe; just like how the negligence to correct unethical conduct in child leads to morality breakdown in adulthood besides mental drain out. Thus, the periodical maintenance and repair of mind at the right time becomes necessary.

Repair when Sun Shines

When it comes to mental health, the timing of the repair and maintenance becomes crucial. While unwarranted delay might cause mental breakdown, excessive resting periods could slow down the cognitive process. That is, stress management must be done as soon as possible before burnout. This is because burnout might lead to consequences ranging from frequent anger outbursts to permanent self-termination of life – suicides. The suicide of the chartered accountant Anna Sebastian in 2024 was a firm reminder of such an extreme burnout.

On the other hand, over-resting in the name of stress management is also not good either. It will not only make one’s mind lazy, but also leave it feeble. That is, mind will perform at its best only when the stress is proportional to mind’s pressure handling capability. Below such a threshold, the mind feels less motivated to think critically, and thus, leading to boredom and stagnation. So, when the time to handle massive decisions comes, the mind often crumbles on facing such a challenge. Those are the situations that expose the vulnerability of a mind that is always in a comfort zone.

The timing of repair and maintenance also applies to ethical conduct. In reality, rarely all ethical values are universal. They are subjective and contextual, i.e. differ across time and space. In that way, one must continuously think and rethink ethics according to the context and apply it wisely as per situation. Thus, maintenance of mind includes periodical introspection of our decisions and realizing our mistakes. However, excessive introspection of all decisions risks indecisiveness. If introspection is completely absent, it risks dogmatism due to rigidity of value system. Thus, the maintenance must be at a correct interval and frequency.

Repair Smart under the Sun

Whether it is mental health or ethical conduct, both are related to the mind which houses thoughts and expectations. Thus, both issues get solved by the reformation of the mind.

People assume happiness or stress as a product of environment. But, if that assumption is fully accepted, then it is same as blaming the rain for the collapse of the roof. While rain can certainly affect the integrity of the roof, it is the job of the roof to endure the rain. Similarly, it is the job of the mind to decide on whether being joyful or strained, not the external circumstances.

So, reforms of the mind involve changing one’s perception. Perception means how we make sense of our environment. It is subjective, i.e. different people perceive the same situation differently. For example, take any two different people. While one is satisfied with certain amount of wealth, other feels it is inadequate. The issue here is not about the outer world, but on the inner perception. So, if one can repair their perception of the world, then happiness is right within them. The smallest reform one can do is to practice minimalism and contentment. If one works on reducing expectations in life, s/he will certainly be less disappointed.

While timely introspection of our value system is another mental reform, the nature of introspection determines its actual effectiveness. Empathy is the best tool for self-introspection. While what is right or wrong is based on our existing values, empathy teaches us to think about them from others’ perspective. If all start to think from other’s shoes, then one might hesitate to harm others for their self-interest. Everyone must start to self-introspect value system through an empathetic lens, before taking any decisions. This will not only remove any bias and prejudices, but will make justice more inclusive for all.

The best psychological repair for a stressful mind is spending time with mind or self. Even if one is engaged in selfless service, self-service is a necessity to sustain such an altruistic mindset and action. Because, how can one serve if the instrument of service, the mind, is torn? So, periodic rest and recharging of mind must be done to prepare for upcoming harsh work weathers.

While the rain cannot be controlled, at the least, throwing of stones on others’ mental roofs can be prevented. That is, we must stop imposing undue pressure on peers in the name of expectations, toxic motivation, and competition. While they might help one to grow to a certain level, beyond limits, they knowingly or unknowingly crush one’s peace of mind. So, family, peers, employers must encourage one to push beyond limits. But such encouragement must remain healthy and reasonable, not turn into obsession. Thus, reasonable motivation can prevent substantial roof damage and maintain sustainability.

Mind is the biggest roof that must be repaired when sun shines to face the harsh rainy times. Such repairs must not only be prompt, but also be smart in order to prolong psychological wellbeing and adapt morality according to the circumstances. Thus, societal prosperity will be possible only if mental revolution occurs because – “What you see outside, is a reflection of yourself!”

Let me know in the comments about your perception of my views on mind. Do comment below!

You cannot step twice in the same river

 

Life is always represented as flowing. This means that it is ever moving and never static. This dynamic nature of the life makes its permanence disappear, i.e. every moment in this life is unique. So, one will never experience the same moment twice – may be a similar moment, but never the exact same ones. This beautiful universal truth is captured by a famous quote of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus – “You cannot step twice in the same river.”

In this essay, I will attempt to explain this beautiful universal truth – decoding why the river-like life changes every moment; how this change affects one; and finally, how one can sustain and endure such change. 

Let the sail begin!

Dynamic life

Life consists of two constantly interacting variables – self and non-self. Here, the ‘self’ denotes our mind and the ‘non-self’ denotes the environment. The dynamic interaction between our mind and the environment is what makes life flow like a river.

In the theory of relativity, Albert Einstein proved that matter is equivalent to energy. So, when one matter encounters another, the energies get transferred. While science limits interaction to energy transfer, Indian Vedic philosophy extends it to formation of imprints. Since the environment is made up of matter, every interaction between the mind and environment leads to energy transfer, which in turn, leaves mental imprints called Samskaras. So, one is never the same at any two points of time. Just like how the river never contains the same water!

Such mind-environment interactions are without a pause, ever happening. Thus, loads of new Samskaras are generated every moment. These new Samskaras in turn, constantly alter the mind, giving rise to new thoughts. These new thoughts rewire our perception of the world, i.e. how we evaluate a situation based on our internal value system. This perception is what is often reflected as behaviour, i.e. our response to a situation. Thus, the altering of mind involves a change in our perception as well as our behaviour.

While these alterations of mind can lead to short-lived mood swings, the prolonged exposure to a specific environment can change one’s perception & behaviour substantially. For example, a girl from a patriarchal family might believe that she is a subject to be controlled and any share of power with her is an act of kindness. But, after the exposure to an egalitarian college environment, this perception changes. She will expect more share in power, not as a matter of kindness, but as her in-born right, as a matter of natural justice. This shift is marked by the change in her internal value system, which went on from expecting chauvinistic sympathy to demanding her ingrained right.

This establishes the truth that – change is the only thing that is constant! But one must be wary of the nature of such change. While mind gets altered by interacting with environment, the outcome of such change is determined by the quality of that environment.

Mind the surroundings

There is a famous saying, “show me your friends and I will show you who you are.” On broader interpretation, friends are a vital part of environment. Since one is shaped by their environment, it becomes important to choose to live in a good company. Often miserable acts are done by those whose mind is narrowed by ugly companionships. In Mahabharata, while Duryodhana committed unforgivable deeds under the companionship of his uncle Shakuni, Arjuna was driven into the Dharmic path by his ethical charioteer Shri Krishna. It is just similar to how a river flowing through mineral rocks gets enriched opposed to mixing with sewage which gets it polluted.

Thus, the change that happens in life, despite inevitable, can be directed towards goodness if we choose our surroundings wisely. But often, it does not end there. Despite a healthy atmosphere, the interaction between the mind and the environment becomes crucial. For that interaction to happen in the first place, the mind must be “present in the present.”

Live the moment

Many either grieve too much about their past, or over-forecast their unpredictable future. But what they fail to do is to invest in their present. Investing in the present involves to leverage the past experience and live in the present fully without the fear of future. This does not mean to disregard the future just because it is changing and is unpredictable. But, to resist oneself from expecting a predictable future, and get ready to endure the change. This is what the Taoism says as – “Let it go, ride the wind.” It means not to resist the change but to travel along with it.

But, in a world filled with expectations and warnings about the unseen, this practice of staying in the present becomes challenging. In reality, one must have a goal in life. However, fixing that as the endpoint of the journey is not wise because it was set by your old self. Now that you might have changed along with the circumstances, your goal might need revisiting, and also resetting if necessary. This does not necessarily make the journey towards your previous goal useless. In fact, the experience from that journey was the very reason you might be successful in pursuing your new goal. Just think – would have Gandhi imagined that he would end up as a national leader when he started as an unsuccessful lawyer? Or was being a lawyer a necessary precondition to become a national leader? In fact, he wouldn’t have imagined his experience in South Africa would translate to Indian freedom struggle. All these events in his life unfolded just because he rode along the wind!

Life is an ever-flowing river filled with energies that interact constantly shaping and re-shaping one’s inner and outer space. This lets no one remain the same making change inevitable. Since such change is influenced by the nature of one’s surroundings, it forces one to choose their acquaintance wisely. Besides that, a healthy interaction between self & non-self is possible only if the mind lives in the moment riding the wind, embracing the travel, and further, re-determining the destiny in line with the flow. Summing up with what Bruce Lee had said – Be water, my friend!

Do not restrict your thoughts. Let it flow in the comment section!

Just because you have a choice, it does not mean that any of them has to be right

Freedom of choice, or simply called free will, is said to have been a defining character of human civilization since its beginning. And further, the political movements around the world, including the French revolution, Marx’s social revolution, women's movement, recent decade’s LGBTQ movement, etc., all had increased the amount of this freedom to choose one's way of life. While political movements provided with this liberty, the economic movements like rise of capitalism together with techno-globalization has increased the life choices via exposure and accessibility.

But such liberty also comes with a responsibility to make the right choice as just because one is exposed to many choices, it does not automatically mean any of them has to be right. Maybe, most of them could be wrong; sometimes only one could be right; while in other times, more than one could be right.

This essay will help one not only to make the right choice, but also will help to do so when more than one choice looks equally compelling. Let us begin!

Liberty comes with responsibility

In simple, one's life is the summation of choices made in one’s journey. While many choices in our life might be available, not all of them might be right. The karma concept of Vedic religion tries to explain this by stating that whatever is going to happen will be shaped by your present and past actions. That is, “you reap what you sow.”

Thus, it is important for one to choose right with pure responsibility. This can be explained with a simple example. If one chooses to save extra money in bank instead of spending on unnecessary sin goods like tobacco, wine, etc., such choice might come as a saviour in times of crisis. Just like how when people lost their jobs in COVID-19 pandemic, their savings helped them sustain and bounce back.

The free will vests us with a responsibility, that gets magnified when an individual is devolved more power. Just as quoted by Uncle Ben (from Spiderman), “with more power comes more responsibility.” Take in the case of king Ashoka, who was once a bloodthirsty conqueror with the powerful army in the world. Being in such a powerful position, he had many choices including expanding his territory and influence through iron and blood. But he chose to do so with Dhamma (peace) instead. He wanted to conquer people's heart through Buddhism. That responsible choice of such powerful king was the reason for peace for decades in his empire.

In the modern multipolar world order, it becomes the responsibility of the powerful countries to help others in distress. India illustrated this in 1971 war with Pakistan. When the Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) approached India for help, India at least had three options – One, to push-back the refugees as India was not a signatory of 1951 refugee convention. Two, be a bystander by letting Bangladesh suffer. Three, save Bangladesh from Pakistan. While all three options were available, the first two choices, despite India had the right to make, weren’t the right ones to make. By choosing the third option, India not only restored peace in Bangladesh, but also exemplified to the world the responsible decision making.

While the above simplified examples create an illusion of one ethically right option, this is not generally true. In life, often one is compelled to choose between more than one equally right alternatives. That is where one wonders, what to choose?

What if…. all choices are right?

This situation is called an ethical dilemma. The paradox that lies in these ethical dilemmas is that since all the options are equally good or convincing, choosing any one will lead to compromise of the other. That is, one good comes at the cost of the other good!

It is similar to a zero-sum game, where one's gain will affect others. So, no choice is entirely good or bad, and often lies in the grey area leading to dilemma. And such dilemmas are very routine for a policymaker. Take in the case of construction of dam. Here, the policymaker must choose between three options (to keep it simple) – national development, tribal welfare, and environment protection. Choosing one will lead to the compromise of the other.

This is where choosing only one option between black and white isn’t infeasible since all are equally important. While utilitarian perspective will compel one to choose based on majority benefits, that is not the right option certainly as such trade off will lead to later problems like Naxalism, climate change, etc. Here is where the choice must include blending of all options, and simultaneously minimizing the harm for all the stakeholders.

This can be achieved by conducting environmental impact assessment (EIA) and social impact assessment (SIA), planning the compensatory afforestation (CAMPA), before the project. Besides minimizing harm through these mechanisms, it is also necessary to maximize welfare by distributing benefits through tribal rehabilitation & welfare program like JANMAN, etc.

In the above case, not only were the choices blended to grey, but also our value priorities got reshuffled. Initially, the justice was seen from a utilitarian perspective, i.e. benefits for majority, which was given the foremost priority. But the right choice not only shared the benefits among all, but also minimized the harm to the minorities. This shifted our value priority from majority benefits to equity-based justice, upholding the true essence of democratic justice!

In an ethical dilemma, an individual with wavering mind cannot choose the right alternative. It is necessary for the mind to be calm and composed just like how Shri Krishna preached in Bhagavad Gita – Yoga Samatvam Uchhate (Equanimity is Yoga). Only at such state can the self-introspection be effectively done, reshuffle value priorities accordingly, and then make an assertive choice.

Besides equanimity, one must also muster the courage to face the consequences of one's choice, just like how Jesus Christ did. He got crucified (nailed in the cross) for choosing to propagate the truth and love through his teachings, and he graciously welcomed it. He not only took the responsibility to choose the right path, but also withstood political retaliation, forgiving them for it.

The unimaginable power of free will in the world of abundant choices comes with an undeniable responsibility to choose wisely for universal benefits. In an ethical dilemma, an unshakable mind must look inside and re-order the value system before making the right choice. And such right choice is not devoid of negatives; but demands us to face the consequences with a grit, helping us become a wise & a resilient leader – leading not only the self, but also the world!

For the sake of democracy, let us debate. Do comment your views below!

A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ship is for

 

The “Ford v Ferrari” movie shows a scene where a customer complains the mechanic about his ailing race car. The real reason for its ailment was due to its slow ride in streets and preservation in garage. For a race car, that amounts to inactivity. This paradox is well explained by the mechanic's emotional reply to the customer. He said, a race car is not supposed to be handled like a passenger's car. Its place is in the tracks and not in the garage!

This scene clearly brings out the truth about the potential, i.e. unless something is used up to its potential, it becomes useless and ailing. This applies not only for a race car or a ship, but also for humans! This essay will explore this phenomenon in depth, further pondering on why to break free of safe harbour and what it takes to do so.

Let the voyage begin!

Destiny awaits outside

Almost everyone believes in destiny. They often equate it to destination. Some call it a dream, some refer to it as ambition, some see it as a duty, while others as a milestone. Whatever the destination is called as, doesn’t matter. What truly matters is the choice to step out of the safe harbour we are provided by our birth, or a template life imposed on us by the society. This choice is what kickstarts our pursuit to destiny. And this pursuit brings out all our potential, expressing our true selves in such a journey. Many legends and greats have demonstrated this!

According to the legend, when the greatest warrior of Greek Mythology, Achilles, was called for war against Troy, he hesitated at first. His mother gave him two choices – To fight for his country and become a martyr, and be remembered forever. Or to forfeit his responsibility, be safe at home, marry, and let his name get forgotten in his family lineage. The moment he chose to set sail towards Troy, leaving his safe harbour, was the moment he truly became the warrior he was meant to be, and rest is legendary!

Besides mythology, even in real world, there is no shortage of such warriors, especially in India. The Prince of Shakya clan, Siddhartha, also had to face such dilemma 2500 years ago. He can either continue his luxurious princely life, or renounce that to walk into the path in search of enlightenment. And his choice to step out of the safe harbour of his kingdom turned him into “the Buddha”, the enlightened one.

Down the history, in mid-19^th century, a young widow who was a trained warrior was made to choose between two options. One wanted her to relinquish her kingdom and go to Kasi Yatra. And the other wanted her to fight for her country as the Queen against British. And her bold choice gave us the great Rani Lakshmi Bai, who we see as the icon of “revolt of 1857” even today.

Similarly, in this modern age, another bold woman had to break her safe harbour of traditional women’s life to achieve what was considered a men's sport back then. She was Mary Kom, our country's living legend, 6-times boxing world champion who redefined women's role in sports.

All these greats had tremendous potential. But their choice to step out of the safe harbour is what brought it outside, inspiring many. Such choice not only forfeits safety, but also breaks the predictability of life because the journey of a ship, despite map and a compass, is always unsure of the obstacles in the path. While the map shows the path to our destination and the compass is our morality, there is a need for something more for the ship to set the sail for the voyage. It is called “the grit” in the face of uncertainty.

Opportunity in uncertainty

While people are aware of the destiny as said before, still, they are unwilling to pursue it. This is simply because in this age of instant results, they lack the grit to face the uncertainty of the journey. This not only deters them from reaching their goal, but also makes them settle for something less than their potential. If the greats mentioned earlier had forfeited their journey due to fear of uncertainty, they would not have been celebrated now.

To endure the uncertainty, it should be viewed as a privilege rather than mere obstacle. “Adversity is a privilege”, as quoted by Alexander Volkanovski who came from 2 consecutive losses and won back his MMA championship title in UFC. He said how the adversity of uncertainty caused by his previous consecutive losses in his MMA journey, made him not only a stronger person in that sport, but also in life. So, it is not always the destination that makes one great. It is the journey that holds the utmost significance in shaping and preparing one for greatness.

“The Alchemist”, a popular novel by Paulo Coelho, also demonstrates the importance of sailing, i.e. journey. The shepherd has to go on a dangerous journey to achieve his dream of finding a treasure. After traveling around the world, encountering numerous weird adventures, he realizes that the treasure was buried, hidden in his home, right where he started. Just like a ship reaching back to its harbour, he came back home for his treasure after his journey.

While people may think that the whole journey is pointless, the author contradicts that thought sharply. If he had searched the safe harbour i.e. his home at the start, he might have been sparred of the dangers of that journey. While he might have got the gold, but he would have missed the real treasure, which is the journey itself!

While the destination here, the gold is just a symbolic treasure. The journey that gave him the experience, resilience, and brought out his true potential, is the true treasure. That kind of wisdom earned from journey is what helps him to handle the responsibilities of his future life. Perhaps, if the author plans to write a sequel for his novel in name of “the Alchemist volume-2”, he might show us how the journey prepared the shepherd to responsibly use his symbolic treasure, the gold, for the welfare of the society without being carried away by its glitters in greed!

We humans, like ships, are not meant to stay safe in the harbour, but to utilize our potential to reach our destiny. And destiny requires a captain to not only muster the courage to take off from the harbour, but also develop the grit to endure the uncertainties of the journey, shedding off all fears. And the journey not only makes one resilient, but also prepares one to handle the gold that is offered by the destination for the welfare of all. While this has been demonstrated by legends and greats throughout the history, now it is our time to make history. Let us leave our harbour, begin our sail to Viksit Bharat!

Share the story of your Voyage in the comments below!

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school

Albert Einstein, by giving this quote, not only acknowledged the human being’s natural tendency to forget, but also their ability to remember only those that matters in life. So, in his view, what matters, is beyond the traditional syllabus of the schools, which is often unwritten, but is the one that helps us lead our lives. If life is like a war, then, education is like what remains after the dust has settled, because only that which remains, can lead the life forward. Not the ones that are dead or forgotten!

In this essay, we will explore the unwritten syllabus of schools; what remains after the dust settles; and importantly, if the one that got dusted, really matters or not. Also, we will see the case of what happens if everything is dusted and nothing remains. Let's get started!

Let us begin our journey from our schools!

Back to school

Traditionally, the school education was perceived to be confined to a “textbook syllabus”. So, the focus lies towards the mastery of syllabus, to be more precise, “memorizing the chronicles of syllabus”. Furthermore, the certification obtained through this memorization becomes a parameter for measurement of the education. One must realize that with time, the unrevised and unused contents will eventually disappear, leaving only some remnants to stay!

This is where one gets a question, “Did I waste all my school years?” The answer to that depends on another question, “Did you learn only the syllabus?”. This in turn raises a question for us – did we miss anything or misunderstand what education truly means?

Education Beyond Syllabus

The true meaning of education as Einstein envisioned, is beyond the textbook syllabus. While the syllabus gives us a list of intellectual contents that need to be studied, often there is an unwritten syllabus beyond textbooks that needs substantial coverage.

The first and foremost part of the unwritten syllabus is – Intellectual Probing (IP). The IP, in simple, is just synonymous to what Socrates implies as the “art of questioning”. It will help to develop critical learning ability, i.e. teaches one ‘how’ to learn something instead of just memorizing. This ‘how’ is of utmost importance because besides learning new things, even forgotten ones can be learned back if knew how to learn. And thus, beyond the traditionally emphasized ‘what’, the ‘how’ forms an important part of education.

The second part of the unwritten syllabus is – Emotional Intelligence (EI). EI, in simple, is the ability to manage your emotions and use your social skills to successfully navigate any situation in life. In life, even a simple situation can be blown up if the emotion takes over our cognition, thus hindering our social skills. And schools prepare us to such situations by often simulating it every day. We learn leadership skills through team events, pressure handling skills through jam-packed exam schedules, healthy competition through sports, and equanimity through yoga, and so on. All such learnings necessarily sharpen our EI to face those situations boldly.

Finally, the last one but also the best part of the unwritten syllabus is– Values and Attitude. In fact, the values and attitude are mostly shaped by textbook syllabus. One may forget the specifics of subjects they learned. What still persists is the permanent effects they had on the values and attitudes of the student. While the names, dates, facts and figures of the history subject vanishes, the nationalism invoked while learning the chapter of “Indian freedom struggle” can’t be erased. And such reflection of nationalism in our values and attitude, is the sign of true education. That’s why psychology defines education as the one that brings relatively permanent change in behaviour!

Thus, true education lies in the everlasting effects the unwritten syllabus had on one, when one truly pursued it. This goes well beyond the textbook content, which may be forgotten if not applied in one’s career. But this reminds us of our previous question, “If unwritten syllabus is the true education, then, the once pursued now forgotten knowledge, a waste?” Not really!

The forgotten, are mere ‘means’

While becoming an educated person is the destination, it is not possible without a journey. All the knowledge we obtain is a means to prepare ourselves for our future career. Once its purpose is done, it departs from us just like how a rocket departs from the spaceship once it reaches the space! Poor understanding of this has caused many confusions and misjudgments in the society.

One such popular misconception is expecting career-linearity. While people often criticised the mismatch between graduation and career path against a linear career, many have shown that such criticisms are baseless!

 Dolph Lundgren, famous for his role as a boxer named ‘Ivan Drako’ in Rocky IV, was actually a graduate in Chemical Engineering. When asked about this career switch, he said while he forgot most of what was taught in his graduation, the ability to handle pressure, lesson of perseverance, and work ethic were inspired from his Engineering, especially the project phase. This was of paramount importance for his acting career.

Another example is Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, an Indian biologist who got Nobel Prize in chemistry, started his career as PhD holder in Physics! Here, the journey of physics taught him critical thinking, while the destination in chemistry got him the Nobel prize.

Similarly, other notable examples include Gandhi who started as lawyer to become a national leader. Dr. Lakshmi Sahgal became the leader of Jhansi rani regiment of Subash Chandra Bose’s INA, started as a doctor. She also later turned into a politician and a women rights activist.

So, all of them took what was important from their old careers, and together with their values, pursued their new career paths with conviction. If they have worried about what they forgot and deemed them waste, then, they won’t have realized the power of what they have got, nor would have got that in the first place. Therefore, the journey holds utmost importance, and being educated is just a destination!

In this context, it is fascinating to think upon another thoughtful question – then who are actually the “uneducated” in real sense?

Case of nothing remains

While true education is what one learned from the unwritten syllabus, the educated-uneducated classification depends on the degree to which it remains in them. Sometimes, nothing may remain!

Consider the example of two person. One with multiple degrees, many accolades, but is a short-tempered and self-centred. The other person has no degree, but is very sociable, friendly, and altruistic. When we think who can have better relationship with peers, the obvious answer is the second person. This answer also points to us who really is the educated ones! For the first person, despite all the achievements, the life becomes hollow and empty because true education never rested in these academic achievements. The true goal of pursuing education is to lead a better life. And for that, mingling with people around and living together with good values becomes paramount.

Thus, the real education is not the one that is constrained by textbook syllabus, but extends beyond it, encompassing the ability to critically learn, control emotions, and develop behaviour filled with good values. So, one must not worry about the forgotten texts as it was just the part of the journey to become educated. And, the truly educated one uses education wisely, leading an ethical life, thus bringing happiness to all – Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavanthu!!

Let us learn through Socrate's discussion. Leave your thoughts below!

A society that has more justice is the society that needs less charity

 

“The world has enough for everyone's need, not for everyone's greed”

– Mahatma Gandhi

While this quote signifies the importance of minimalism and warns about the limited availability of resources in the world, it is unfortunate that greed, which is one of the seven sins according to Catholic Christianity and also called as one of the residing places of the demon Kali post-Mahabharata, has already taken over the minds of many. This has not only led to over-exploitation, but has also brought in disparity of resources, both material and intellectual, where some possess unlimited access while others left in shadows!

Here, to obtain parity and to satisfy each other’s needs, there should be mutual sharing of resources, which is justice. Besides Government actions, from historical times, this has been achieved through charity, also called as ‘Dhaanam’ in Sangam literature. Even Vedas that were composed earlier than that proposes – “Daanam Nyayam Sthapitham” (Charity establishes Justice).

While many have considered the need for charity to bring justice, the below quote flips the coin: “The society that has more justice is the society that needs less charity”. This implies that once justice is established with the help of charity, it no longer needs charity to sustain. But is that possible? If charity is gone, can justice still survive? If so, how? If not, then should charity reform itself to stay? Let’s explore!

But before any of that, we need to understand what justice truly is, since it is claimed to self-sustain without charity, right?!

Justice as multi-faceted

Justice is a narrowly viewed, if its definition is confined only to the economic angle of money and material wealth redistribution.

Justice should be seen also in terms of social angle where it tries to bring in equal opportunities in education and employment. Government through various schemes like RTE, Skill India, etc, provides such opportunities. But if they were effective and equal access was present to all, there might be no need for free YouTube video lectures, crowdfunding for various educational institutions, educational scholarships, all these various kinds of charity.

Also, we can take the environment sector where if there was environmental justice in terms of responsible use of environment adhering to Governmental standards without over-exploitation, the green donations collected by the NGOs, another form of charity would be needless.

The justice also transcends to global issues like climate change in terms of climate justice. If the rich and the industrialized nations would have reduced their exploitation of global commons like air, sea, etc., this would have not only reduced pollution, but also could have reduced the persisting dependency of the poor and developing nations on rich and developed nations for funds and technology transfer, another form of charity to better cope up with climate change.

These cases clearly illustrates that the charity is not needed if justice was established earlier, and actions of various nations and Government are effective in sustaining them. But unfortunately, this multi-faceted justice is a dream to be aspired for, rather than a living reality due to the actions of human greed taking over as discussed before. However, this does not mean that charity is required for justice to sustain, i.e. it is again a tunnel view if we believe that besides making government welfare actions effective, charity is the best way to attain that kind of multifaceted justice and sustain it in this globalized society.

Redefining Charity

First-of-all, let us try to understand why multifaceted justice is not what we are born with i.e. why are we all not born as equals?

If we ponder into the philosophy altogether with logical reasoning for the answers, we can see that if all are born as equals, with equal resources and abilities, then, there will be barely any relationship. This is simply because no one needs the other, thus no respect for others. This leads to arrogance, which in turn breed conflicts and clashes, eventually ending humanity!

Since we are born with interdependency, we must aspire to establish justice through mutual helping of each other. This will not only breed communitarianism (sense of togetherness), but also strengthen our social bond leading to growth of all.

But to attain it, charity is not the best way. It is not because of its nature of giving, but due to the common understanding of its definition. The commonly accepted definition of charity is to voluntarily donate the excess of something that one may have to one who lacks that, expecting no reciprocity. The problem with this commonly accepted definition is that, the donor develops a sense of pride over their noble actions of donation over time. This pride, another sin in the Catholic Christianity’s seven sins, manifest into arrogance, followed by the birth of psychological hierarchy and further leading to expectations of loyalty from receiver in reciprocity (while actually charity doesn't expect reciprocity at all!).

That is why we need to redefine the word ‘charity’ as per what Gandhi has said. Also, Quran has this same concept – ‘trusteeship’. It redefines charity, from being perceived as a help or service to others, to social duty. That is, the wealthy are just a guardian of resources and they must distribute the excesses of that to the needy as a matter of their duty, not of generosity.

This definition not only eliminates the ego of the donor, but also makes them feel the gratitude for the opportunity to perform their duty of donating, rather than being prideful for it. This is well articulated by Bhagavat Gita – “Karmanyae vadikarasthe, ma faleshu kadhachana” (You have the right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of the action). Thus again, only duty, no reciprocity!

Also, while charity can become a burden in the long run, considering it as duty won't make it feel so, as the duty is the primary job of a person (like a habit). But charity is an extra-voluntary effort which fades the interest away eventually.  Just like how a business that pays regular tax and follows corporate governance practices with CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) won’t feel burdened, when done as a part of duty. One example of this is the Mitti Cafe, run by Alina Alam, who employs physically challenged in her restaurants, and has brought social justice through her social duty.

Beyond economic and social justice, true political justice can be attained in if there is better political representation of different sections of society, or else, the Government initiatives will be a mere empty & irrelevant set of actions. Through political representation, the needy will help themselves by drafting inclusive policies. Thus, bringing this political representation becomes the social duty of politicians and advocating for the same is the duty of citizens. Examples of the same includes Women reservation act, Gender budgeting, JANMAN yojana, NCSC establishment, etc.

Similarly, in context climate change, the rich and developed countries must abide by UNFCCC's CBDR (Common but Differentiated Responsibility). Through this, the fund and technological transfer becomes their moral duty which helps not only to establish, but also sustain the environment & climate justice.

Thus, when charity in generosity is transformed into social duty as a moral imperative, the justice self-sustains in the society, leading to happiness of all – Loka Samastha, Sukino Bhavanthu!

Let us bring justice to democracy and start an discussion. Share your thoughts below.