Stress Free in 10 Minutes

7 ways to chill out and recharge

With problems small or large, finding a quiet oasis from stress not only preserves sanity, but can be a lifesaver. Constant stress can harm the heart and even promote clogged arteries. New findings show it can cause a surge of stress hormones in the blood—stream that can weaken the body’s immune defences, making us more susceptible to infections like colds and flu. Everything from heartburn and cold sores to asthma and cancer are linked to high stress levels—they can even exacerbate memory loss as we age.
But relax. There are proven ways to quell stress. At an American university, scientists taught 59 adults a meditative approach to stress management. Afterwards the volunteers not only felt less anxious, but also reported fewer stress symptoms, such as headaches. When students at a university in Australia learned easy ways to defuse pressure, they had fewer sick days and faster recovery from colds. And a study in Miami found that HIV-positive patients practising stress reduction could boost the number of immune cells circulating in their bloodstream.
You don’t need to turn your life upside down to tame stress, says American psychologist Frederic Luskin. “A lot of people say they’re too busy to stop and deal with stress. But things you can do anywhere, and that don’t have to take more than a few minutes, can stop the stress response before it goes out of control. The truth is, by learning to clam down, you can actually feel less busy.”
Try a different one of these techniques each day this coming week. Some will work better than others. What’s important is finding two or three you can turn to whenever your stress metre climbs.
Do Nothing
Here’s How: At least once during the day, take five or ten minutes to sit the day, take five or ten minutes to sit quietly and do nothing. Focus on the sounds around you, your emotions and any tension in your neck, shoulders, arms, chest, etc.
“It’s one of the hardest things for many people to do,” says Robin Gueth of a California stress management centre. “We’re so used to thinking of our worth in terms of what we get done. Doing nothing can be a real struggle.”
Just sitting quietly slows heart rate and reduces blood pressure, countering two of the most obvious effects of stress. It can also change your perspective an increase your sense of control over events. “Studies show that the most stressful situations are things we can’t control,” says psychologist James Carmody. “We can’t change the past. We can’t predict the future. The only thing any of us can control is the present moment,” he explains. “When people in our programme practice this technique, they regain a sense of control—and ease stress.”
Laugh Out Loud
Here’s How: Keep something handy that makes you laugh. It could be a collection of your favourite comic strips, or a funny e-mail from, say, your child or a friend. You could even take a few moments to think about watching your favourite comedy serial. Turn to this every so often during your day.
One of the most effective stress-busters occurs nightly, says California researcher Lee Berk—when many people turn on their favourite serials at the end of a long day. Berk’s studies have shown that a good laugh reduces levels of the stress hormones cortisol and epinephrine and boosts immunity. What’s more, the beneficial effects of a good belly laugh last up to 24 hours.
Even looking forward to laughing clams people. In results reported last year, Berk and his colleagues found that telling volunteers they would participate in an experiment that involved watching a funny video created a more positive mood and lowered their stress levels on the spot.
Tune In
Here’s How: When you face a daunting task, play soothing music—be it classical, country or jazz. At work you can use the CD drive on your computer to keep the music at the ready.
In an Australian study, two groups of students were told to prepare an oral presentation. Some worked in silence; others listened to classical music. Stress caused the silent workers’ blood pressure and heart rates to climb. Not so the volunteers in the musical group, whose measurements remained steadier. They also reported feeling much less stress.
Is there music you shouldn’t listen to? “A lot of people find classical music most relaxing, but not everyone,” says psychologist Elise Labbe, who has been testing the calming effects of music. “Our volunteers select everything from concertos to country music. Whatever music feels most calming to you is the one hat’s most calming to you is the one that’s most likely to help ease stress.”
Think Happy
Here’s How: Focus on someone or something you care deeply about for anywhere from 15 seconds to five minutes. Or picture a scene from a peaceful vacation. A phrase that makes you feel positive about yourself and the world can also work.
It sounds like advice from a greeting card, but thinking happy, calming thoughts can counteract the physiological changes that occur when we’re under stress. “A lot of the stress we experience comes from negative emotions we carry around with us—grudges, anger, hurt,” says Laskin, who studies the healing power of forgiveness (he’s also the author of the book Forgive for Good). “Just thinking about someone you’re angry with—a boss who’s a jerk, or a friend who hurt your feelings—can cause damaging stress hormones to flood the system. Thinking of people and things you love can have the opposite effect.”
Hit the Road
Here’s How: Get up from your desk, the couch—wherever you may be—and take a ten-minute walk.
Most People have an intuitive sense that walking helps calm them down. Now scientists are finding proof. In a 2002 American investigation, researchers looked at people who were taking care of relatives with dementia—as stressful a situation as almost any of us will face. Those who began walking four times a week, the scientists found, reported feeling less distressed and sleeping better. Tests showed that their blood pressure was also more likely to hold steady when they were under stress.
Don’t have half an hour to spare?
Don’t sweat it. Taking five- or ten-minute walks whenever you’re under pressure may be just as effective.
“Our research suggests that the best strategy is to take a few minutes—or even a few moments—to calm down whenever stress levels start to climb,” says psychologist Luskin.
Breath Easy
Here’s How: For five minutes, slow your breathing down to about six deep—belly breaths a minute. In other words, inhale for about five seconds. Exhale for about five.
We tend to take quick, shallow breaths, especially when we’re feeling tense. Taking a few deep breaths forces you to stretch your shoulders and loosen up tight muscles.
Slow breathing has other unexpected benefits, according to an international study from 2001. Researchers found that when people practice yoga or recite a prayer, their breathing slows to the five-seconds in, five-seconds-out rhythm, which, it turns our, matches a ten-second cycle fluctuation that naturally occurs in blood pressure. By synchronizing breathing to these underlying cardio-vascular rhythms, people not only feel calmer, but may also improve the health of their cardiovascular systems.
If your day is full of small hassles and frustrations, Gueth recommends putting a white dot on your wristwatch or the clock on your desk. “Every time you see that white dot,” she says, “take two or three long, deep breaths. You’ll be amazed how quickly it calms you down.”
Rise Relaxed
Here’s How: Right before bed, and after the alarm goes off in the morning, take five minutes to relax your entire body. Start by tensing your toes; then consciously relax them. Move on to the muscles in your feet, and then your calves, upper legs, buttocks, moving upwards until you end by scrunching up and then relaxing the muscles in your face.
If you start your day feeling tense, chances are you’ll feel tense all day, says stress expert Gueth. If you take your troubles to bed with you, they’re likely to disrupt your sleep. And that can mean even more tension. People deprived of sleep, research shows, experience increased stress hormone levels. Gueth’s advice: Begin and end each day by taking a minute or two to consciously relax.
One effective approach is called progressive relaxation. In a 2002 study, 46 volunteers who were taught progressive relaxation experienced a significant dip in heart rates, perceived stress and levels of cortisol. “Too much of my day is spent running around,” says Shelly Wahle. “I don’t want to start it that way. So I take five minutes before the craziness starts to quiet my mind. It’s not always easy. But once it’s part of your routine, you don’t feel right without it.”

Free Yourself From Stress!

The word ‘stress’ is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “a state of affair involving demand on physical or mental energy”. A condition or circumstance (not always adverse), which can disturb the normal physical and mental health of an individual. In medical parlance ‘stress’ is defined as a perturbation of the body’s homeostasis. This demand on mind-body occurs when it tries to cope with incessant changes in life. A ‘stress’ condition seems ‘relative’ in nature. Extreme stress conditions, psychologists say, are detrimental to human health but in moderation stress is normal and, in many cases, proves useful. Stress, nonetheless, is synonymous with negative conditions. Today, with the too many diversification of human activity, we come face to face with numerous causes of stress and the symptoms of stress and depression.
At one point or the other everybody suffers from stress. Relationship demands, physical as well as mental health problems, pressure at workplaces, traffic snarls, meeting deadlines, growing-up tensions—all of these conditions and situations can be valid causes of stress. 
People have their own methods of stress management. In some people, stress-induced negative feelings and anxieties tend to persist and intensify. Learning to understand and master stress management techniques can help prevent the counter effects of this urban malaise. 
The Dynamics of Stress
In a challenging situation the brain prepares the body for defensive action—the fight or flight response by releasing stress hormones, namely, cortisone and adrenaline. These hormones raise the blood pressure and the body prepares to react to the situation. With a concrete defensive action (fight response) the stress hormones in the blood get used up, entailing reduced stress effects and symptoms of anxiety.
When we fail to counter a stress situation (flight response) the hormones and chemicals remain unreleased in the blood stream for a long period of time. It results in stress related physical symptoms such as tense muscles, unfocused anxiety, dizziness and rapid heartbeats. We all encounter various stressors (causes of stress) in everyday life, which can accumulate, if not released. Subsequently, it compels the mind and body to be in an almost constant alarm-state in preparation to fight or flee. This state of accumulated stress can increase the risk of both acute and chronic psychosomatic illnesses and weaken the immune system of the human body. 
Stress can cause headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, eating disorder, allergies, insomnia, backaches, frequent cold and fatigue to diseases such as hypertension, asthma, diabetes, heart ailments and even cancer. In fact, Sanjay Chugh, a leading Indian psychologist, says that 70 per cent to 90 per cent of adults visit primary care physicians for stress-related problems. Scary enough. But where do we err?
Just about everybody—men, women, children and even foetuses—suffer from stress. Relationship demands, chronic health problems, pressure at workplaces, traffic snarls, meeting deadlines, growing-up tensions or a sudden bearish trend in the bourse can trigger stress conditions. People react to it in their own ways. In some people, stress-induced adverse feelings and anxieties tend to persist and intensify. Learning to understand and manage stress can prevent the counter effects of stress.
Methods of coping with stress are aplenty. The most significant or sensible way out is a change in lifestyle. Relaxation techniques such as meditation, physical exercises, listening to soothing music, deep breathing, various natural and alternative methods, personal growth techniques, visualization and massage are some of the most effective of the known non-invasive stress busters. 
Stress can be positive
The words ‘positive’ and ‘stress’ may not often go together. But, there are innumerable instances of athletes rising to the challenge of stress and achieving the unachievable, scientists stressing themselves out over a point to bring into light the most unthinkable secrets of the phenomenal world, and likewise a painter, a composer or a writer producing the best paintings, the most lilting of tunes or the most appealing piece of writing by pushing themselves to the limit. Psychologists second the opinion that some ‘stress’ situations can actually boost our inner potential and can be creatively helpful. Sudha Chandran, an Indian dancer, lost both of her legs in an accident. But, the physical and social inadequacies gave her more impetus to carry on with her dance performances with the help of prosthetic legs rather than deter her spirits.
Experts tell us that stress, in moderate doses, are necessary in our life. Stress responses are one of our body’s best defence systems against outer and inner dangers. In a risky situation (in case of accidents or a sudden attack on life et al), body releases stress hormones that instantly make us more alert and our senses become more focused. The body is also prepared to act with increased strength and speed in a pressure situation. It is supposed to keep us sharp and ready for action.
Research suggests that stress can actually increase our performance. Instead of wilting under stress, one can use it as an impetus to achieve success. Stress can stimulate one’s faculties to delve deep into and discover one’s true potential. Under stress the brain is emotionally and biochemically stimulated to sharpen its performance.
A working class mother in down town California, Erin Brokovich, accomplished an extraordinary feat in the 1990s when she took up a challenge against the giant industrial house Pacific Gas & Electric. The unit was polluting the drinking water of the area with chromium effluents. Once into it, Brockovich had to work under tremendous stress taking on the bigwigs of the society. By her own account, she had to study as many as 120 research articles to find if chromium 6 was carcinogenic. Going from door to door, Erin signed up over 600 plaintiffs, and with attorney Ed Masry went on to receive the largest court settlement, for the town people, ever paid in a direct action lawsuit in the U.S. history—$333 million. It’s an example of an ordinary individual triumphing over insurmountable odds under pressure. If handled positively stress can induce people to discover their inherent talents.
Stress is, perhaps, necessary to occasionally clear cobwebs from our thinking. If approached positively, stress can help us evolve as a person by letting go of unwanted thoughts and principle in our life. Very often, at various crossroads of life, stress may remind you of the transitory nature of your experiences, and may prod you to look for the true happiness of life. 
Stress Throughout Evolution
Stress has existed throughout the evolution. About 4 billion years ago, violent collision of rock and ice along with dust and gas, led to the formation of a new planet. The planet survive more than 100 million years of meltdown to give birth to microscopic life . These first organisms endured the harshest of conditions—lack of oxygen, exposure to sun’s UV rays and other inhospitable elements, to hang on to their dear life. Roughly 300,000 years ago, the Neanderthals learnt to use fire in a controlled way, to survive the Glacial Age. And around 30,000 years, Homo sapiens with their dominant gene constitutions and better coping skills, won the game of survival. Each step of evolution a test of survival, and survival, a matter of coping with the stress of changing conditions.
Millions of trials and errors in the life process have brought men to this stage. Coping with events to survive, has led men to invent extraordinary technologies, beginning with a piece of sharpened stone. 
From the viewpoint of microevolution, stress induction of transpositions is a powerful factor, generating new genetic variations in populations under stressful environmental conditions. Passing through a ‘bottleneck’, a population can rapidly and significantly alters its population norm and become the founder of new, evolved forms. 
Gene transposition through Transposable Elements (TE)—’jumping genes’, is a major source of genetic change, including the creation of novel genes, the alteration of gene expression in development, and the genesis of major genomic rearrangements. In a research on ‘the significance of responses of the genome to challenges,’ the Nobel Prize winning scientist Barbara McClintock, characterized these genetic phenomena as ‘genomic shock’. This occurs due to recombinational events between TE insertions (high and low insertion polymorphism) and host genome. But, as a rule TEs remain immobilized until some stress factor (temperature, irradiation, DNA damage, the introduction of foreign chromatin, viruses, etc.) activates their elements.
The moral remains that we can work a stress condition to our advantage or protect ourselves from its untoward follow-throughs subject to how we handle a stress situation. The choice is between becoming a slave to the stressful situations of life or using them to our advantage. 

Use Skills, Not Pills

Stress is the most commonly used word in today’s busy world. Many health hazards are immediately connected to stress. While it is said to affect the most busy business people, the reality that it affects even children who are burdened with too many lessons to study and too many home works to complete, saddens us.
Some people want to reduce their stress so much that they are willing to pay large sums of money to do so. People spend thousands of rupees needlessly on stress vitamins, tranquillising pills, sleeping pills and many more products in the hope of eliminating the harmful effects of stress on their health.  
Sometimes stress becomes really severe, in spite of all your efforts. Then even small details become overwhelming. If you find yourself chronically unable to function because stress is so overwhelming, it may be time to seek outside help. 
Perhaps that is the time when people caught in stress begin to look for any product or service that can bring you a little relaxation and tranquillity. Today one needs to be aware that any product or service that can bring you relaxation can take your money, and make empty promises that it will bring a 
soothing relaxation. 
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it,” said General Douglas MacArthur. Stress is the by product of entering into a war without a will to win. For those who are determined to win and courageously enter into any risk, stress has no place.
Wise time management can also help you to minimise stress. When students say that they spent all week studying for their exams, it actually means that they spent six days worrying about the exams and just spent one day studying. Thus, instead of worrying too much if we can make the best use of time, stress can 
be released. 
All of us, at certain moments of our lives, need to take advice and to receive help from other people. Perhaps you can choose the moments of stress to listen to others and humbly receive some helps from others, so that you don’t lose your inner peace and calm.
Helen Keller said, “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Perhaps stressful moments open new horizons for anyone caught in stress. The saddest reality is that those under stress remain looking at the door that is closed instead of the new horizon that has opened up. 
Stress comes into the life of so many people primarily because many of us want to be men of success rather than men full of values. Human mind can easily work out a clear plan without taxing your mind or body in such a way that it can lead us to a stress free life. Instead of relying too much on the artificial ways of removing stress which in turn may bring additional problems, it is better to opt for a simpler and personal solution to the problem.
The exact opposite of the stress response is the relaxation response. This response reduces blood pressure, slows the pulse, quells anxiety, and releases tension. Relaxation permits your body to recover from the effects of stress, and you can will it to happen, even in the midst of a stressful situation. You can relax anywhere, any time. You can simply tune into a tranquillising thought or word and relax. For most people, though, relaxation is first learned through a formal exercise. 
Leonardo Da Vinci said, “Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more 
readily seen.” 
You need to develop many personal skills to handle your stress. The best relaxation will always come not from outside, but from inside. Because, relaxation, happiness and peace are inside jobs. The skills you develop to handle your worries will guard you against stress. 
Relax! Enjoy your life! For tranquillity, you don’t need pills. All you need 
is skills.

The Union of Wills

‘Union of Wills’ whose ultimate fruition is service to all beings. It will make the man-woman relationship more beautiful than a symbiotic union.

Man is a thought - adventurer, says D.H. Lawrence. Real thought is an experience. It begins as a change in the blood, a slow convulsion and revolution in the body itself. It ends as a new piece of awareness, a new reality in mental consciousness.

On this account, thought becomes an adventure, and not a practice. In order to think one must risk oneself doubly. First one must meet life in the body. Then, face the result in the mind.
The risk is double, because each of us has two selves. First is the body which is vulnerable and never quite within our control. The body with its irrational sympathies, desires and passions, its peculiar direct communication, is defying the mind. And second is the conscious ego, the self.
Historically, the male has changed considerably in the past fifty years. The earlier male was a person who was hard-working, responsible, fairly well-disciplined: he didn’t see women’s souls very well, though he looked at their bodies a lot. The present day male is vulnerable to collective opinion: if you were a man you were supposed to like football, cricket and other games, be aggressive, never cry and always provide. But this image of male lacked female. It lacked some sense of flow; it lacked compassion. He was a macho man.
Separation and unity – the excitement and fear, the triumph and anxiety they generate-will remain continuing themes in adult life. In adulthood, when we find ourselves in an intimate relationship, each of us experience again, even if only in highly attenuated form, those early struggles around separation and unity-the conflict between wanting to be one with another and the desire for an independent, autonomous self. 
For each woman and man who comes into any relationship stirs the yearnings from an unremembered but still powerfully felt past; each brings with her or him two people-the adult and the child. Both know the agony and the ecstasy of a symbiotic union. Ecstasy, because in the mother’s arms the infant could experience the bliss of unity and the security that accompanies it. Agony, because from the time of birth life seems a series of separations. 
Of course as adults we know there is no return to the old symbiotic union; survival is no longer at stake in separation. But the child within feels as if this were still the reality. And the adult responds to the archaic memory of those early feelings even though they are far from consciousness. Thus, we do not usually know what buffets us about-what makes us eager to plunge into a relationship one moment and frightens us into anxious withdrawal in the next. We know only that we long for closeness and connection with another, and that we feel uncomfortable when we get it. 
In this process, two things are central: the crystallisation of a gender identity and the maintenance of what psychologists call ‘ego boundaries’ that set us off from the rest of the world. This in larger part, is what a child’s separation struggle is all about-a struggle that’s different for boys and for girls just because it is a woman who has mothered them both.
It’s obvious that the experience of being male and being female is different. But what has been less clear until now is how the process of developing and internalising a gender identity affects the development of ego boundaries and thus, determines the shape of feminine and masculine personality in adulthood. 
Today, the man-woman relationship is a microcosm of the interaction of larger forces in the greater cosmos. However, this sacredness is lost when men and women relate to each other primarily as personalities. Then their magnetic polarity is diminished by what is known as ‘little needs’ for entertainment, excitement, security, admiration and so on. The real magic of love can happen when their connection reflects the dynamic interplay of the energies in the cosmos at large.
J.G. Bennett writes about the inner meaning of marriage as a ‘Union of Wills’ whose ultimate fruition is service to all beings.  
In order to be able to serve others, we first have to learn to serve one another, to consider other person’s well-being before our own. This union of wills will make the man-woman relationship more beautiful than a symbiotic union.

“Modithva must spread”

Interview with L. Ganesan, the Tamilnadu state unit president of the BJP.

Following Orissa there is a widespread violence against Christians in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. The secularism of India is under question again and again. With religious freedom on one hand and the threats against conversion on the other, the Christian community is at crossroads as it is targeted for some sporadic conversions in some parts of the country. While there are political questions behind every heinous attack, even more serious issues irritate the BJP, RSS and VHP groups. L. Ganesan, the Tamilnadu state unit president of the BJP, opens his heart for the first time about the background of the anti-christian violence and issues that lead to constant friction and violence between Hindu and Christian religious groups in this Interview to the editor, Glorious Steve.

What is the background against which this continuous violence against Christians is set?

Swami Lakshmanananda, an 82 year venerable man had been working for the upliftment of the tribals and dalits in that region for many years. The Christian missionaries were trying to convert the hindus. But, there was no support from the hindu harijans. Similarly, many harijans who became Christians were constantly rubbing shoulders with the tribals. This constant friction was created by the Christian missionaries and particularly the priests. Swami Lakshmanananda opposed this. So the Christians missionaries were angry with him. Prior to the killing of Swami Lakshmananandna there were four attempts on his life. Every time the missionaries were behind the attempt.

Is in’t it true that there were news reports saying the Maoists were behind the murder and that they had accepted that they were responsible for the act?
That is a wrong presupposition. Generally, governments, government servants, and the police used to be the target of the Maoists. How can a swamiji who was serving the people become the enemy of the Maoist? So, Maoists have no part in the murder. In fact, a news was passed by the district collector to all the Christian run schools to safeguard themselves some hours before the incident took place. How can this happen? This is a planned murder. And Christian missionaries are behind the murder.
There is so much of anger against Christians because they have become like the multinational companies. They set target and work. How can you work for conversion with targets. It is to do with conscience.

What about Karnataka? It is BJP that is in power in Karnataka...
The reason is politics. It is planned to bring down the image of the ruling BJP. be hind these attacks there is Congress party. The police dogs have gone straight to the house of a member of the Congress party. This is to fool the Christian community to get their votes. Christians are being treated as fools.
Generally Hinduism practices tolerance. At the same time, many people miscalculate our tolerant behaviour. How long can we tolerate this? People say that in Orissa and Karnataka there is BJP rule that is why Christians are attacked. But in Kerala only the Communists are ruling. How is that Christians are attacked there? In fact, Communism propagates atheistic principles and is just opposite to Christianity which believes in God. Even there Christians are attacked for political reasons. Christians must make an effort to understand who is good and who is evil.
There are many denominations within Christianity? How is that most of the Catholics and catholic institutions are targeted when such attacks take place?
The one who indulges in violence will not differentiate between who is a Lutheran, CSI or a Catholic. All of them appear to be the same. During an emotional outburst he will not be looking for the differences. There is so much of anger against Christians because they have become like the multinational companies. They set target and work. How can you work for conversion with targets. It is to do with conscience. How can this be right? I am not blaming all the Christian institutions. I am referring to the many new churches and organisations emerging in the name of Christians. Such organisations are to be banned and this business in the name of religion has to be stopped.
Observing the recent violence all these, it looks as if the BJP run states seem to follow the style of Modi in Gujarath, thinking that taking a violent path will fetch them success politically. Is it true?
It is a wrong perception about Modi. Modi never indulged in such politics. People are happy about the rule of Modi. It is true that he controls every religion with an iron hand. He is very strict everyone. Many women happily say that they are able to walk even at night without any fear. You must understand fully what modi has done there. Media propagate a word called ‘Modithva.’ I say, modithva is not bad. We are proud about that and Modithva must spread.
Aspects of Christianity you like and aspects you dislike...
I like the unity that is evidently seen among Christians. Yours is an organised religion. You feel for each other. Otherwise how is it possible for you to close down schools condemning the attacks in Orissa? The second aspect I like is their service mindedness. This is nurtured in every Christian. Even women and nuns go with courage to serve the people even at night. I shed tears reading the news about a girl who wanted to serve Jesus as a nun but was denied the opportunity who eventually went on to commit suicide.

I dislike the sprouting of new organisations without proper motive. We condemn churches that attract people with money from abroad.

Do you differentiate between Islam fundamentalism and Christian fundamentalism?

There is no point in that. But, Christians are behind the separatist movements of the north eastern states. We condemn that. Conversions are going in a grand scale in the north east.

In the last 20 years Christian population has not even crossed 2%. How can you say there is a lot of conversion?
The problem is they begin to demand separate status after becoming a majority. Even if they have not grown in number ideologically they are united and fight against the rest. What is important for us is nationalism. The nation is more important for us than anything else. We cannot tolerate regionalism or separatism.

COVER STORY
‘We need a government that can be fair to all’
Now the Church is actively engaged in empowering and educating people. So, naturally the Church becomes the target, tells Fr. Adolf Washington, the Public Relations Officer, President of Indian Catholic Press Association and the Managing Director & Editor- in- Chief of South Asian Religious News, in an Interview to Fr.Glorious Steve.
1. Do you think that the Church is the real target of the BJP agenda or is there something else for which Christians and the churches are targeted?
That’s a good question. The real target is against any organisation, movement or persons that engage in the education and empowerment of the poor and the marginalized. Because with education and empowerment of the marginalized, people who were voiceless begin to speak-up against unjust socio economic structures, be it against bonded labour, casteism or any oppressive structure. With education and empowerment people also begin to claim and assert their Constitutional Rights. Now the Church is actively engaged in empowering and education people. So, naturally the Church becomes the target.
2. Do you think that all the Christian groups are united in fighting the BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal? If yes, what kind of coordinated actions have come about? If no, what causes the uneasiness among various churches to unite?
The presence of several denominations does not imply the Church is disunited. Unity does not imply uniformity of doctrine and form of worship. Unity to me implies ‘a feeling of oneness and solidarity despite difference. In a way, we are having common suffering and so we seem to be looking in the same direction and are looking at the same enemies who are perpetrating violence against the Church.
3. What are the strategic moves made by the Karnataka Church so far? Are you satisfied with the strategies proposed so far?
The Church in Karnataka has exerted sufficient pressure on the State, the Centre, on the Judiciary and on the Police Machinery in making them curb the spread of violence. NGOs, people of other faiths have also joined hands in solidarity with the Church.
4. How well do the opposition parties particularly the Congress and JD cooperate in fighting against BJP?
I think we should not be too concerned about looking for political parties as Godfathers of the Christian community. What we need is a government that can be fair to all communities and not antagonise or spread hate campaigns against anybody.
5. What kind of clashes happened in Dakshina Kannada and what are their effects? How well are they poised since there are sizeable number in the Christian community there?
We must not use the word Clashes. When we say clashes, we are talking about two or more groups confronting each other. There were not clashes in Dakshina Kannada, there was force by one group exerted upon a peaceful, praying community. The attacks ranged from ransacking prayer halls and Churches and convents, desecration of sacred vessels, destruction of furniture, burning of bibles and holy pictures, destruction of statues and even desecration of the Holy Eucharist. The ‘sizeable’ number of Christians you speak of are not there to serve as an armed force to fight- they are simple Christians who go about their day to day worship.
6. Have you made legal moves sufficiently so as to strengthen the case of Christian communities?
Yes, I had mentioned that the Church has exerted sufficient pressure on the Judiciary. In Orissa, Archbishop Cheenath took the state to the Supreme court. In Karnataka we made a representation to Justice Nayak on the National Human Rights Commission. I was part of the delegation that met Justice Nayak.

In a way, we are having common suffering and so we seem to be looking in the same direction and are looking at the same enemies who are perpetrating violence against the Church.

7. Are there strong Christian youth movements within the Karnataka Church to plan for a future course of action?
Every new problem gives us opportunities to look for new possibilities. The Church is planning strategic responses and a plan of action. We will gradually know it.
The Church has exerted sufficient pressure on the Judiciary. In Orissa, Archbishop Cheenath took the state to the Supreme court. In Karnataka we made a representation to Justice Nayak on the National Human Rights Commission.

8. What are the significant roles played by the religious congregations during this crisis?
Everybody is working. Let us not single out Religious Congregations. We are together in this struggle.
9. How are the media in Karnataka responding to these heinous attacks?
There is bias in the Media. But that is unavoidable because some of them have their own policies and ideological slants. However, by and large, The Media in Karnataka, or I must say, the Global Media responded and reported issues pretty fairly.
10. What is the response from Rome and other churches?
The Vatican is informed and aware of the happenings. The Vatican expresses its concern and so do other global Christian organisations.
11. Yeddyurappa held discussions with Archbishop of Bangalore and invoked Anti-Goonda Act on all those involved in attacks on places of Christian worship. How do you look at this act of Yeddyurappa?
The anti-goonda act is pretty complicated. You can arrest someone under the act, but the process that leads to a conviction in a court of law is extremely long and tough. You have to go into the past records of the accused and establish a length of evidences to convict the person.

Deccan Churches Attacked

A Crusade against Christians in Karnataka

Everything began on September 8. A Christian prayer hall was vandalized in Bada village of Davangere district. Three other churches were targeted in the district before this incident.
Yeddyurappa, while maintaining that the focus would be on preserving communal harmony, said, “The rule of law will prevail. Nobody has the right to indulge in forcible conversions, and inducement to pave the way for conversions is banned.”
But, his words clearly stated that the victims of the attacks were at fault, not the perpetrators. The Deputy commissioner of Davangere, K. Amar Narayan, gave instructions to check how many churches were authorized. He made it clear that the survey would be only for churches and Christian prayer halls.
Speaking to ‘The Week,’ on why no action was being taken against temples that encroached on public places, BJP state spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar said, “If you don’t expect temples to come up in a Hindu country, where else do you expect they will?”
So it was not surprising that when 14 churches were attacked in Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Chickmagalur districts on September 14, state Bajrang Dal convener Mahendra Kumar proudly declared that the organisation was behind it.
In the Adoration Monastery on Falnir Road in Mangalore, a mob damaged the crucifix and the tabernacle. In the afternoon, Mahendra Kumar told the Mangalore media that the Bajrang Dal had carried out the attacks. “We will continue to do this against all churches indulging in conversion,” he said.
The sizeable Christian community in Dakshina kannada protested against the attacks and clashed with the police, who resorted to lathicharge and teargassing.
While prayer halls in Davangere were attacked on grounds that they were “illegal structures”, in Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Chickmagalur, churches were targeted for allegedly converting people. Though the Bajrang Dal claimed they were targeting the New Life Group, even Catholic churches were attacked.
‘The Week’ and ‘Tehelka’ reported that there had been 55 attacks on churches in different parts of Karnataka since the BJP came to power in the state. “This is payback time for the BJP. Which has built its success on 40 years of hard work by the RSS,”Tehelka reported.
“While the various Christian groups were targeted, the primary anger of the BJP, RSS and VHP is on the newly emerging church groups which are booming and which try to lure the people with money if they joined their churches. While Catholic and other prominent churches remain silent about such incidents, the BJP is alarmed about the growing menace,” said some informed sources from Bangalore.
Yeddyurappa alleged the attacks were an opposition conspiracy “to besmirch the government’s image”. The Congress and the JD(S) said the attacks were part of the BJP’s “hidden agenda”. Congress leader Veerappa Moily called it “state-sponsored communal terrorism”, and alleged that the culprits were being allowed to go scot free.
More than 170 people were arrested. But on why Mahendra Kumar was not arrested, the chief minister’s reply was that “the police have also arrested Bajrang Dal activists”.
Yeddyurappa ruled out a judicial probe, and ordered an inquiry into the sources of funds for the New Life Fellowship Trust (NLFT).

BJP pressure

On the other hand, the BJP put pressure on the government to arrest those involved in the murder of Lakshmanananda. While all organisations of the Sangh Parivar insisted that conversion was the main reason for the communal tension in Kandhamal, the BJP urged the Chief Minister to implement strictly the laws pertaining to conversion and the ban on cow slaughter.
On the political front, a joint initiative by all political parties could restore peace and communal harmony in the district. But that is unlikely to happen as elections to both the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly are scheduled for next year.
Justice delayed
The record of the BJD-BJP government shows that it has never been serious in its approach to ensure peace in Kandhamal. In fact, the district witnessed communal violence for more than a week in December last year following an attack on Lakshmanananda Saraswati. At least four persons were killed and hundreds of houses of Christians were burnt down. While the judicial inquiry into the violence is still on the next judicial inquiry into the killing of Lakshmanananda and the communal violence is followed. By the time the reports of the two commissions see the light of day, Kandhamal’s communal clashes may well have acquired a new dimension because of the interplay of social, political and cultural factors say media persons.
Brushing aside all their differences the BJD workers joined BJP activists to enforce the State-wide bandh called by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and other Sangh Parivar outfits. As of now Patnaik, his critics say, is going the Modi way with his eyes set on the elections.
“ Looking into the whole communal attacks on Christian community in the country and naming whole Muslims as terrorists , I tend to believe that it is a vicious technique of Sangh Parivar and its Gujrath mascot to install a desperate man in the waiting list to be the Prime minister of India , because he might cross to his eighties if does not become PM this time.” Said , Fr. Anand Muttungal, the PRO and the Spokesperson for M.P Bishops Council and coordinator of Madhya Pradesh Isai Mahasangh.
Glorious Steve

And then...they came for the christians...

While the whole nation was just trying to recover from the economic crisis, a fresh political storm has set in in the name of religion. It looks as if the words ‘religion’, ‘God,’ ‘Swami,’ and ‘priest,’ can easily set fire to the whole nation more than any other fire accidents. While the former sets fire and rifts people apart the latter only destroys the property and not so much the people with flesh and blood; people with heart and soul and conscience.
The great nation that claimed that it was tolerant for centuries towards any religion, kings and empires, proves now that such tolerance and goodness are over with the bygone ages. This seems to be a new era. Intolerance is the order of the day. Anything can kindle fire to appease the political thirst of the parties particularly the BJP, RSS and VHP that use religion for political gain.
The recent attacks on Christians and churches come as a retaliation for the killing of swami Lakshmanananda and outside Orissa and practically in many parts of India as a retaliation for conversions to Christianity. No BJP leader has as yet condemned or even regretted the attacks on churches.
In an article, ‘It’s time to act, Mr Advani,’ written by Raghu Krishnan that appeared in THE ECONOMIC TIMES on 21 September, 2008 commented like this: “Those of us Hindus who studied in convent schools and continue to be Hindus will know how irrational the argument is that the recent attacks on churches in Orissa and Karnataka was a response to an attempt at forcibly converting members of the majority community. Even if the Bajrang Dal activists claim they were upset by what they perceived as forcible conversion, the logical response should have been to bring this to the notice of the state governments.”
He continues, “If its governments in Karnataka and MP cannot even prevent attacks on churches while investigating complaints of forcible conversion, then how can the party keep claiming that a BJP-led national government will protect the entire country from serial blasts by diabolical terrorists!”
And if there are recent reports that some Christian missionary somewhere is involved in an attempt at forcible conversion, it should not take too long for an experienced national leader like Mr Advani to have things sorted out through administrative measures, especially in BJP-ruled states.
Just nine years and two months ago, when the BJP-led NDA ruled the nation, its leaders inspired young soldiers of all faiths to fight and die for the country while evicting armed cross-border intruders from the frozen heights of Kargil.
Surely, some 110 months later, it should not be too difficult for a national leader like Mr Advani to ensure that the unity and integrity of the country is not harmed by unruly activists who think that vandalising a church or any other place of religious worship in a BJP-ruled state is what 21st century India is all about!
While the BJP, RSS and VHP groups have lost the control of their senses, there is still another question that deeply arises: What is quietly happening to the Christian community that is known for its unity?
Not many years ago Muslims were attacked. Mosques were demolished and Christians kept quiet about it. They thought that Christians will never be attacked. We wake up to see the Christian Community under attack in many parts of India.
This immediately reminded me of the poem “First they came…” which is attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group:
“In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.”
Times have ripened for attacks on Christians. We have been studying about the various attacks in history on Communists, Muslims, and Jews. This time they came for the Christians… Unfortunately, to their astonishment, they found them divided. Our divisions based on language, caste, creed and greed are killing the Christians more than any external force. The pity is that we are not united when they came for the Christians.

Friendship Therapy

The following are the ways to make your friendship therapeutic and soothing

Be open to finding new aspects of your true self in your friendship. When you see yourself in the eyes of a friend, you discover “you” as a fresh and exciting creation.
• Do not compete with your friend; play, but do not, compete. Friendship does not have a goal – only “winning” or “beating” is a goal.
• Don’t falsely flatter your friend because you’re trying to avoid being critical. There’s another way- affirming while expressing constructive, loving concern.
• Don’t fear the anger that is a natural part of friendship. Anger itself can be a friend telling you that something is wrong. Respond with openness and honesty.
• When your friend hurts you, your friendship can survive. Don’t try to hide your pain. Talk it over.
• Turn to your friend when you’re feeling weak or in need of help. You may have more to offer the relationship when it seems you have little to give.
• Let your friend be weak or in need; a friend’s weakness is a gift that calls out to your strength.
• Be truthful with your friend. Truth and love are themselves friends; one without the other makes each less.
• Be humble with your friend. You cannot be who your friend needs if you think you have all the answers.
• Allow yourself to be loved by your friend. You can give only what you have received.
• Give to your friend without expecting something in return. The most gratifying giving comes without expectation or concern for outcome.
• Spend time with your friend: sweet times like, walking, playing, praying; and not so sweet time like disagreeing, hurting, searching.
• Listen gleefully to each other’s laughter; your hearts will know abundant joy.
• Listen gently to each other’s sobs; your hearts will know abundant life.
• Bless your friend’s brokenness; let your friend bless yours. This is what God does.
• Accept your friend without being judgmental. It’s not that you don’t challenge each other; it’s just that you strive to know each other’s reality.
• To be a good friend, value yourself. To treasure another’s essence in your heart, you must first treasure the precious essence that is you.
• You don’t need to vow to be a friend forever; just be. Say yes to the gift you are to each other and warm yourselves in the glow of that miracle.
• A friend accepts you just as you are. Who you are in your friend’s eyes gives you a glimpse of who you are in God’s eyes.
• Cultivate your friendship. In the soil of respect, drenched with the light of truth and the moisture of compassion, life will burst forth as a towering tree, abundant with the fruit of love.
• Welcome magic and serendipity in your friendship. The most wonderful things can happen when two persons share their deepest selves.
• Pray with your friend and speak of God together. The most profound experience in friendship is to share you encounters with mystery.
• When overtures of friendship are made in ways that make you uncomfortable, your friend is probably needy. Give your friend a chance to explore that neediness by being honest about your discomfort.
• Say “no” to your friend when “no” is appropriate, and gracefully accept your friend’s “no”. Friendship is wide enough and deep enough to allow “no”, “yes”, “may be”, and “I don’t know”.
• Respect your own boundaries as well as your friend’s. Know what is yours to share and what is yours to hold quietly within.
• Share a special time with your friend – an early morning breakfast, a walk at sunset, a late-night conversation. When your souls are free from the day’s concerns, you can savour the quiet bond between you.
• Touch your friend, when it is respectful and reassuring, not needy and demanding. Touch between friends is sacred, connecting body and soul.
• Accept a friend’s departure gracefully. Farewells allow for new beginnings and fresh experiences.
• Set an anniversary date to mark the birth of your friendship. Together you can remember, laugh, cry and dream about the future.
• Celebrate your friendship with gratitude. Lift up your friend in thanksgiving and rejoice in God’s blessing.

How to bring in variety Tips to nurture good and varied friendships

Variety is the spice of life. It is true also in the case of friendships. It does not mean that the old friends are forgotten and only the new ones are retained. There is a natural selection taking place when we decide who should be our friends. This takes place also when we meet people for the first time. Stratification is often done in any relationship keeping in mind the usefulness of a person to oneself and one’s personal development. Friendships cannot be retained merely by our inactive life. We miss much of life’s richness if we fail to take affirmative action to counteract the pressures that throw us only with . Here are some sure guides for people who would like to venture into variety in friendships:
Revamp that one layer guest list
There are families which cherish the diversity of their friends and guests. I can never forget the way Vasanthamma, a professor of Sociology department, Maharajas College, Mysore used to entertain students from all walks of life. There used to be a big band of students from Tibet, Tamilnadu, Kerala, African countries etc., They used to visit her after the class hours. I used to wonder how she enjoys the friendships of such a variety of people in her life and in the life of her family. Needless to say that these students also enjoyed her company. Apart from this the students also varied in their economic strata. That never mattered to her. In fact I had to meet all of them though personally I was a bit reserved. Today after her retirement, she keeps visiting those students who shared her vision in friendship. The students recall all the help she had done to all of them. There is an ever growing number of friends for Vasanthamma today. That is her strength.
Change worlds once a year
You can do this by taking a vacation in an out -of -the- way place Where you will be among people very different from yourself. I know a student who went from tamilnadu all the way to Mysore and earned good friends with his pleasant dealings. In spite of the Cauvery water dispute between Tamilnadu and Karnataka, he was enjoying the company of his companions. It is after you enjoy a good time you will begin to have a sigh of relief. You will never regret for having gone out of the way.
Join projects that cut across status lines
The simplest approach , perhaps is to become active in town politics, or in the solution of school problems, or in community fund raising projects, for these tend to be of concern to everyone. I know of many wives who have become part-time social workers, volunteers in order to broaden their personal horizons. Sudha Narayanamurthy is one of the examples for this. In fact while her husband could rise to stardom in one sense she could rise to equal heights by her social concern.
Revive the old-fashioned family parties
I’m for fewer cocktail parties and for more parties that bring together young and old for singing and festivities. Many informal gatherings bring you closer to people. Traditional and old-fashioned parties have this magic of bringing people together and unifying them. In course of time, even the worst of enemies become friends. The closer you go the better you will feel to relate to people. More chances of such parties will help you build a wider network and will bring you closer to many friends.
There is a joy in newness. There is happiness in finding something new. The same is also applicable for friendship. The newer the friends the better will be the closeness you will have with him/her. This helps people who would like to embark on a new course of action in their life. Try this and enjoy the variety and richness of the friendship which is available in all its variety and richness.

The Friendship Factor

Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver and the other is gold.


What better way to articulate this epical relationship which is not of blood lineage called the bond of friendship! Everything is being defined these days including the term friendship. Many realise the significance of a long-standing friendship. Perhaps, that is why `Friendship Day’- assumes such great importance among all other west-imposed celebrations.
Even celebrities, not wanting to be left behind, are jumping onto the friendship bandwagon.
In 1935, the United States (U.S.) Congress proclaimed the first Sunday of August every year as the `Friendship Day’. While the idea of celebrating `Friendship Day’ has caught on with today’s generation, there are apprehensions about the way it has been understood by them. There seems to be a big gap between the understanding people had about friendship some years ago than the type of things that are understood as friendship today.
Even celebrities, not wanting to be left behind, are jumping onto the friendship bandwagon.

Togetherness
“We do not know if friendship helps us to party or parties bring us together as friends. The fact is our friendship offers time together to party,” says Anand who is working as a journalist in Doordarshan in Chennai. Anand has taken time off from his busy schedule to attend a party organised by his college mates to celebrate the day.
“In school, we used to exchange friendship bands. We went out as a group and enjoyed the evening, ate out and had lots of fun,” says Tanveer, a student of mass communication. This year, Tanveer wants to spend the friendship day with one of his best pals, Nithya, undergraduate student at a college in Chennai. “If possible, we will meet up somewhere and exchange friendship bands like old times,” he says.
Why women have more friends
Women are more fortunate when it comes to friendship. Women strike friendship cards easily and most often they are successful at that. The primary reason could be that they care much for persons.
Why are such friendships so rare among men? Conditioning, of course. In our society, except to shake hands, men are not even allowed to touch each other. We can attempt to explain this phenomenon in the following lines:
Most men have had no practice in the art of intimacy nor role models to point the way. Little girls can walk to school hand in hand, hold each other, hug, cry and say, “You are my best friend. I need you. I love you.” Little boys wouldn’t dare. The enormous blackening cloud of homosexuality is always present, and the devastating power of the snicker begins in playground days.
This fear haunts boys and as a result they keep away from men who might become his friends. Ultimately, it affects his behaviour toward the women he will meet.
While this is true in an Indian context, it is very much the same in America. Some of the leading psychologists and therapists were asked how many men ever have real friends. The bleak replies were “not nearly enough” and “too few.” Most guessed at 10%. Richard Farson, Professor at the Humanistic Psychology Institute in San Francisco, Says, “ Millions of people in America have never had one minute in their whole lifetime where they could ‘let down’ and share with another person their deeper feelings.”
Since so few males have been allowed the luxury of openness and vulnerability in a relationship, they are not aware of the gaping void in their emotional lives. In short, they don’t know what they’re missing.
In one of the studies made by British Sociologist Marion Crawford it was established that middle aged women and men had considerably different definitions of friendship. By an overwhelming margin, women talked about trust and confidentiality, while men described a friend as “someone I go out with” or “someone whose company I enjoy.” For the most part, men’s friendships revolve around activities while women’s revolve around sharing. A man will describe as “my very good friend” a person who is an occasional tennis partner or someone he just met five minutes ago. But are they friends? Hardly.
Young women are newly aware of these issues and increasingly selective. “ I think more women are looking for a sensitive man today, “ says Lynn Sherman, “and it really doesn’t make any difference to us if he can lift up the couch with one hand or two. I think it’s a responsive friendly person most younger women want now.”
Real issues in friendship
Real and true friendship involves freedom of choice, accountability, truth, and forgiveness. Real friendship looks at the heart, not just the “packaging.” Genuine friendship loves for love’s sake, not just for what it can get in return. True friendship is both challenging and exciting. It risks, it overlooks faults, and it loves unconditionally, but it also involves being truthful, even though it may hurt. Genuine friendship, also called “agape” love, comes from the Lord.
Relationships in real life involve different levels of friendships. Often our isolationist society offers only vague, empty relationships. One cannot deny the fact that friends do stick closer than a brothers and sisters sometimes. The question is: what type of friend do you desire to be?
We break a true friendship when we break trust. There are situations when we need to speak truth and often at the cost of losing some good friends. Those are the critical moments when we willingly risk to sacrifice our needs for those of our friend.
“We do not know if friendship helps us to party or parties bring us together as friends. The fact is our friendship offers time together to party,”

Rubbing shoulders in a relationship
Friendship has a special status. It is contrasted with all those relationships over which we have so little control: the families we can’t change, the neighbours who irritate us, the colleagues we have to put up with. Friends are thought of as free and joyous part of our lives.
There are different studies showing different facts about friendship. Recent research concluded that at any time we have around 30 friends, six of whom we think of as close. Over a lifetime we will make almost 400 friends, but we will keep in touch with fewer than 10 percent of them. Almost 60 per cent of us claim that our friendships are more important to us than career, money or family. Other studies shows that men have, on average, one fewer close friends than women do, that middle class men have more friends than working class men, and that both men and women find their friendships with women more emotionally satisfying than those with men. Those findings are fascinating, but they mask huge variations.
Most men have had no practice in the art of intimacy nor role models to point the way.

There are surprises in getting to know someone whom do not know fully. The older you become, the more “history” you will have to relate to each other. Bear in mind that it is always easy for us to handle our own “problems” emotionally, than those of others. You may have endured a bankruptcy or the death of a spouse as part of your life, and to someone else this might sound insurmountable.
Begin your friendship by showing your wonderful, positive strengths and the qualities that have allowed you to be resilient through the rough seas of life. That will help you not only to start a god relationship but sustain those you cherish most.
Too Few and Too Many Friends
Dr. Stephen Johnson suggests asking yourself the following question about your relationships:
· 1. Do you have at least one person nearby whom you can call on in times of personal distress?
· 2. Do you have several people whom you can visit with little advance warning without apology?
· 3. Do you have several people with whom you can share recreational activities?
· 4. Do you have people who will lend you money if you need it, or those who will care for you in practical ways if the need arises?
· If your response to Johnson’s questions is largely negative, it may be that your friendships are being impeded by your social life! Some people immerse themselves in such a whirl of parties and social affairs that there is no opportunity to establish a close relationship. The fact of the matter is that one cannot have a profound connection with more than a few people. Time prohibits it. Deep friendship requires cultivation over the years-evenings before the fire , long walks together, and lots of time for talk. It requires keeping the television off so that the two of you can log in with each other. IF your social calendar is too full to provide for such intimate bonding, it should be pared. “True happiness,” said Ben Johnson, “consists not in the multitude of friends, but in the worth and choice.”

Fill your vacuum with self worth

There is a story of two famous couple’s combined intimacy and freedom. Theirs is the story of friendship which rather than crippling each other with dependence a strong relationship with one another freed them and took them further to greater heights. That is the story of DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Acheson, the co-founders, co-editors and co-owners of the popular magazine called The Reader’s Digest.
The story of how such an empire rose from an initial capitalization of $1800 is one of the most exciting success stories in the annals of American Business. It is also the success story of a friendship that turned into partnership of marriage.
When DeWitt Wallace was recovering from shrapnel wounds in the army hospital at Aix-les-Bains in 1918, he read every magazine he could lay his hands on. Most of the articles were too long. He started editing them into a shorter form.
After getting discharged from the hospital he selected a group of these condensed articles and called the collection The Reader’s Digest, and sent samples to publishers throughout the country. He was willing to give it to any publisher provided he is retained as editor of the magazine.
The experts were unimpressed. While many predicted that it would have a fast death and some said that it would not even cross a minimum circulation. Everyone he trusted turned down his offer. He was desperately looking for a friendly gesture from someone.
“A friend is one who walks in when others walk out,” said Walter Winchell. When Wallace was in Minneapolis, he found an ally, Lila Bell Acheson who had already fallen in love with Wallace. She became a source of great support to Wallace. They got married. There was hope for Wallace. Now both could dream together and achieve everything together. They got ready to go to honeymoon. Before they left both jointly sent thousands of letters as appeals. By the time they returned there were thousands of letters in their mail box. The remittances totalled nearly $5000. Wallace and Lila together worked even harder until their eyes blurred and their shoulders ached, slipped out to lunch, hurried back. The result of this hard work together brought in the long expected result. The magazine’s circulation grew beyond the couple’s fondest dreams.
Today, Reader’s Digest is printed in 21 languages, sells 18 million copies a month, and is distributed in 70 countries with 50 editions. In Asia alone there are six editions and five languages with 1.6 million copies sold every month. The company grosses an estimated $500 million a year.
This is the story of people who have understood their self worth and shared the same dream together. This is also the story of people entering into friendship having a good self image.
Today, one of the vicious circles with which therapist do daily is this one: The better a man’s self image, the better friends he is likely to choose, hence the better the relationship, and hence his self-esteem is enhanced. The worse a man’s self – image , the more likely he is to choose jerks for friends, hence the relationship is likely to go bad, and his self image is further lowered because of this failure.
How do we break that cycle? Two ways, basically. The first is to try to establish in the counselling room a good relationship. Perhaps it is the best relationship the patient has. Perhaps it is even the only one.
But that is not enough, for people who depend on the approval of others to feel good about themselves will be disappointed, and what is more, their need for approval can ruin relationships by overloading them.
M. Esther Harding says, “When someone is uncertain of himself, always needing approval and support of others and being unduly depressed by their criticism, it means that he has no valid criterion of value from within himself. If he is disapproved of, he feels crushed; if he is not noticed, he ceases to exist; and if he is praised he is in the seventh heaven of elation. He has little sense of his value, though he may give the appearance of being exceedingly egotistic, since he is always fishing for praise. He purrs and preens himself when it is given, literally basking in an atmosphere of approval, while he usually goes away by himself to hide his hurt if the desired notice is not forthcoming. His centre of gravity is not in himself, but outside in other people.”
So the lesson is obvious: No hide and seek game can help in friendships. You cannot expect someone to fill your vacuum. You cannot depend on others for your sense of self-worth. It must come from within you. Only two persons with good self image can take relationship to a newer frontiers.

The Growing Pressure

Is this a problem of increase in number or a problem of growing human centred planning?

Each year, about 90 million new people join the human race. This is roughly equivalent to adding three Canadas or another Mexico to the world annually, a rate of growth that will swell human numbers from today’s 5.6 billion to about 8.5 billion by 2025.
The earth is a “closed system,” indicating that we have to recycle or store all the wastes we produce. We have one planet’s worth of land and water to provide resources for agriculture, energy and other needs. The resource use and pollution management basically depend on two factors:
1. The number of people on the planet, and
2. The average amount of resources available (per person) and the average amount of pollution produced.
As the world population continues to grow geometrically, great pressure is being placed on arable land, water, energy, and biological resources to provide adequate supply of food while maintaining the integrity of our ecosystem. According to the World Bank and the United Nations, from 1 to 2 billion humans are now malnourished, indicating the combination of insufficient food, low income, and inadequate distribution of food. This is the largest number of hungry humans ever recorded in history. Based on their evaluation of available natural resources, scientists have issued a joint statement reinforcing the concern about the growing imbalance between the world’s population and the resources that support human lives.


Strategies for the future must be based first and foremost on the conservation and careful management of land, water, energy, and biological resources needed for food production.

What solutions can we have?
Once we recognise the fact that overpopulation is a problem and that increasing standards of living around the world will add to our resource-use and pollution-management challenges, we must resist any temptation and work toward better solutions.
We should
• Strive to reduce suffering by combating disease and poverty around the world;
• Improve resource efficiency and pollution control so that standards of living can rise without negative impact, and
• keep human population to numbers that are sustainable.
Extinctions of non-human species
Human activities that have caused massive extinction of species are by killing and degradation of natural habitat. There are other factors as well which are directly or indirectly relate to human actions.
According to a survey nearly 70 percent of biologists believe that we are currently in the early stages of a human-caused mass extinction, known as the Holocene extinction event. The problems are:
• Seriously impairing the ability of the environment to recover from natural and human-induced disasters.
• Destroying the natural systems that purify the world’s air and water.
• Reducing the potential for the discovery of new medicines.
• Increasing flooding, drought, and other environmental disasters.
• Contributing substantially to the degradation of the world’s economies, thereby weakening the social and political stability of nations across the globe.
• Damaging agriculture, fisheries, and food production.
• Decreasing the ability to control infectious diseases.
Nearly one third of the world’s wildlife has been lost since 1970, according to the study released by the Zoological Society of London, WWF and the Global Footprint Network. It is high time we woke up understanding the consequences of our actions.
The Holocene extinction event is a name customarily given to the widespread, ongoing mass extinction of species during the modern Holocene epoch. The large number of extinctions span numerous families of plants and animals including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and arthropods; a sizeable fraction of these extinctions are occurring in the rainforests. Since 1500 AD, 784 extinctions have been documented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
According to the World Bank and the United Nations, from 1 to 2 billion humans are now malnourished, indicating the combination of insufficient food, low income, and inadequate distribution of food. This is the largest number of hungry humans ever recorded in history.

What should we do?
Strategies for the future must be based first and foremost on the conservation and careful management of land, water, energy, and biological resources needed for food production. The conservation of these resources will require coordinated efforts and incentives from individuals and countries. Once these finite resources are exhausted they cannot be replaced by human technology. Further, more efficient and environmentally sound agricultural technologies must be developed and put into practice supporting the continued productivity of agriculture.
Additionally, as developing countries become more integrated into the world economy, they will place greater demands on their own natural resources and as a result, pollution and environmental degradation are projected to increase at a rate exceeding the population growth rate.
One of the greatest threats to the world’s environment is the compounding number of rural poor who turn increasingly to the rainforests to feed and shelter themselves. They are sometimes pushed off more fertile soils by large, wealthy landowners who are capable of purchasing land or using political influence to gain title to land. Without realizing it, these poor farmers are perpetuating their own situation by their role in deforestation, which worsens their quality of life by increasing their chance of being diseased, degrading their drinking water stocks, escalating soil erosion, and leaving their children without the benefits of sustainably utilized forest. As the human population grows, the quality of all forms of life plummets as people are forced to move into more and more marginal lands with higher incidence of natural disasters (floods), crop failures, and disease.

Human errors in lifestyles and production models

Population trends are crucial determinants of economic, social and environmental change. The 1999 medium fertility scenario predicts 9.5 billion in 2050, peaking at 11 billion in 2200. You can still get scary figures by projecting 1995 fertility rates, ignoring the declines in fertility. There have been large declines in fertility in many Third World countries.
In June 1999 it was reported that the average Mexican woman had 7 children in the 1970 but has 3 children today. Bangladesh and India have also had large declines in fertility. The world’s most populous country is China. Its rate of increase has declined recently. The earth and accessible and usable planets place a limit on the possible human population. Population may eventually approach this limit, thus necessitating actions by sovereign countries or other entities to limit their population.
World population would not be a problem if there were unlimited land, unlimited water, unlimited resources. Unfortunately, with overpopulation, there is the problem of sharing the same sized pie with smaller and smaller portions. People in developed countries who have been accustomed to a better quality of life are reluctant to give it up. In many cases, more efficient use of resources has come along hand-in-hand with improved quality of life. But there are still problems of overconsumption, exploitation, the short-sighted search for an ever-higher quality of life, and the greed of companies and individuals in cutting corners resulting in pollution and reckless use of raw materials. Less-developed countries that, in the past, had smaller populations such that slash-and-burn agriculture had less impact, cities had fewer vehicles to send pollution into the air, and industries were not as attracted by cheap labor and thus polluted rivers and the air less.

Sustainability is the practice of conservation that will allow people to have enough resources through their life and the lives of future generations.

Sustainability and Population
Population is not of concern if there are enough resources to go around. Important resources like water of suitable quality for growing crops, drinking, cooking, and cleanliness, fertile soil for growing food and trees, and fuel for warmth and cooking.
Depletion of important resources leads to poverty, disease, malnutrion and often death. Impoverished people are usually forced to destroy their environment in order to survive. Sustainability is the practice of conservation that will allow people to have enough resources through their life and the lives of future generations. Sustainability is possible by conserving energy, materials, resources, by new technologies, and by ensuring that the number of births is low enough so that there is enough to go around.

Increasing Human Population ,A liability or an untapped resource?

Ironically, where there is famine, the problem usually is not an excess of people but an excess of government, which leads to gross misallocation and misuse of resources as corrupt bureaucrats and dictators
Newspapers have become overpopulated, so to speak, with warnings about human overpopulation. Such warnings have been issued regularly for decades - even centuries - with consistently incorrect predictions. On the first Earth Day, Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 bestseller, The Population Bomb, was widely quoted. He predicted that by 1985, the “population explosion” would lead to world famine, the death of the oceans, a reduction in life expectancy to 42 years, and the wasting of the Midwest into a vast desert. He was about as accurate as Malthus himself, the Englishman who, in 1798, predicted catastrophic food shortages that never came.
The population doomsayers usually offer the solution of global government - BIG government - to determine, in Gaylord Nelson’s words, “the optimum number of people.” Ironically, where there is famine, the problem usually is not an excess of people but an excess of government, which leads to gross misallocation and misuse of resources as corrupt bureaucrats or dictators seek power more than the welfare their subjects.

The resulting large population, living at a higher standard than ever before, breathing cleaner air and drinking purer water, is a cause for celebration, not for doomsaying.

Just what is “overpopulation”? How does one determine when a nation is overpopulated? There are no clear demographic indicators for this fuzzy notion. If population density is used as the criterion, then Bermuda and Monaco would be crisis zones, while Nigeria and Ethiopia should be paradise. Other factors, like population growth rate, also provide metrics riddled with inconsistencies. Yes, there are places where people lack resources and go hungry, but eliminating neighbours is not the solution to the condition of poverty. If we are worried about those who go hungry, let us recognize that the hungry are suffering from poverty, not from overpopulation.
But isn’t poverty directly related to population size or to rapid population growth? Absolutely not. The population control crowd is now embarrassed by the light of scientific study into the relationship between population and economic development. A wide variety of recent economic studies on this issue have shattered the myth that population growth is bad for a nation’s economy. Though rarely reported by the media, this has led to a remarkable revolution in the scientific (not the political) community. This scientific revolution is documented by Dr. Julian Simon, Univ. of Maryland, in Jay Lehr’s book Rational Readings on Environmental Concerns, Van Nostrand Reinhold Publ., 1992. Now the real scientific debate centers on whether population growth has a neutral or positive effect, but there clearly is no significant negative effect.
On the first Earth Day, Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 bestseller, The Population Bomb, was widely quoted. He predicted that by 1985, the “population explosion” would lead to world famine, the death of the oceans, a reduction in life expectancy to 42 years, and the wasting of the Midwest into a vast desert. He was about as accurate as Malthus himself, the Englishman who, in 1798, predicted catastrophic food shortages that never came.

Fascinating case studies can be found in pairs of similar nations having centrally-planned and market economies, such as China and Taiwan or the former East and West Germany. Though the centrally-planned nations began with similar resources and similar birth rates, and even lower population densities, than their market-based counterparts, the market economies prospered, in spite of the higher “population pressure.” Even with high population density, enterprise-based economies flourish while centrally-planned nations stagnate and become addicted to foreign aid. The real problem is not excess people, but excess government.
Even with high population density, enterprise-based economies flourish while centrally-planned nations stagnate and become addicted to foreign aid. The real problem is not excess people, but excess government.

How can the “obvious” logic of the population control lobby be wrong? Because the resources of the planet are not a fixed pie that dwindle with each birth. The resources are whatever we can make of this planet - or solar system - and it takes the work of human beings to transform raw materials and energy into useful resources. Humans are not a liability, but a resource that we need!
Our technological society, fueled by the precious resource of abundant working, thinking human beings, has enabled crop lands to skyrocket in productivity and has enabled humans to live vastly longer than ever before. The resulting large population, living at a higher standard than ever before, breathing cleaner air and drinking purer water, is a cause for celebration, not for doomsaying. Once-neglected resources - solar energy, sand, radioactive minerals, salt water, carbon dioxide, the vast interior mantle of the earth itself - may provide the foundations for future economies beyond anything we have today. The future could be bright, unless we surrender what’s left of our free economy for a global, centrally-planned economy in which political elitists rule and decide how many of us must live to achieve “the optimum number of human beings.”

Work and Temperance

The rate of inflation is going higher and higher. A couple of months ago the rate of inflation had just crossed 7 per cent, and that was the highest price rise witnessed in the previous 40 months.
There was an air of acute despair amongst top Congress leaders since no easy options seemed to be available to the government to control the surge in prices of a wide range of commodities, including most staple food items.
Today, the prime minister and his senior cabinet colleagues would probably be very happy to give up their salaries for a month or two if they could turn the clock back to April! The rate of inflation has now touched a mind-boggling 11 per cent. And what is worse is that the future looks just as bleak as it was in April. No one can predict when the process of spiralling prices will come to an end.
We know that the current inflationary process is a global phenomenon and practically every country is suffering. Nominal prices of oil have increased by 150 per cent. Food prices keep rising and pressure keeps mounting on families. In simple terms, the world economy is just not producing enough to satisfy rising world demands.
Emerging and developing countries have been growing significantly faster than the rest of the world, and there has been a steep surge in demand in these countries. This has been a major cause for the rise in world demand because the economies in most developed countries have been stagnating. Since there is no reason to believe that world production will rise miraculously at least in the immediate future, many people expect that prices will keep on rising.
These expectations in turn exacerbate the inflationary process. Households buy more of non-perishable goods than they need for their immediate consumption because they expect prices to go up even further.
What can the government do under these circumstances? In the short run, it is not easy to increase domestic supply. So, its policies must be aimed at reducing aggregate demand.
Of course, attempts to restrict demand will obviously have some adverse consequences for growth. People are not accustomed to give up their desire to hoard up. We got used to linking growth with more and more acquisition of wealth.
There is no magic cure-all solution for all times and all economies. But when inflation rages at close to double digit figures, clearly the only sensible solution is to lower the consumerism level and to produce more with our capacity to work all the harder.
While contractionary monetary policies will have some effect on the general level of prices, more needs to be done in order to reduce food prices. Unfortunately, there are no easy options, partly because of the past sins of the government. Krishna Iyer once said, “ In times of crisis, the democracy of India was safeguarded not by the educated rascals; but, by the ordinary simple people who toiled and sacrificed even their basic needs.”
Desperate times call for desperate measures. The government’s efforts to buy small quantities of food grain from world markets which will also signal to domestic traders that the government is determined to curb prices. This in turn may induce traders to release additional quantities because of fears that hoarding would no longer be profitable.
Apart from government machinary’s efforts, what is going to be the measures taken by individuals who are part of this government?
The salesian constitution Article 18 has something important not only for critical moments like current inflation, but. It gives a general norm for life. It speaks of work and temperance:
“Work and temperance will make the Congregation flourish”, whereas the seeking of an easy and comfortable life will instead bring about its death.
The Salesian gives himself to his mission with tireless energy, taking care to do everything with simplicity and moderation. He knows that by his work he is participating in the creative action of God and cooperating with Christ in building the Kingdom.
Temperance gives him the strength to control his heart, to himself and remain even-tempered.
He does not look for unusual penances but accepts the daily demands and renunciations of the apostolic life. He is ready to suffer cold and heat, hunger and thirst, weariness and disdain whenever God’s glory and the salvation of souls require it.”
Hard work is the hallmark of any development. Similarly is the curbing of desire to acquire. Giving into ease and comfort will make us die a slow death. We had learnt to grow fast; now is the time to device pace suitable for our growth. Temperance is the key to a stable growth.
These are difficult times particularly for the families. But, let us continue to work and follow temperance. That is all that we need to arrest any inflation.

To enjoy music

Factors you need to understand

You may be a great music lover. You may have a lot of collections of CDs, DVDs and VCDs. But, if you do not know some basic factors that will help you to make the best of use of these, you may end up wasting them and not benefit from any of them. Here are some tips to help you enjoy music.
Room Dimensions. First, know the dimensions of the room before you design the layout. A good layout is essential. Select a rectangular room with minimal doors and windows. Select the components according to the size of the room. Then arrange the room with the proper acoustics, proper lighting and additional components so that it gives a good overall sound effect.
Home theatre acoustics. Using sound absorbing component like thick curtains for windows/doors, and placing pictures on the walls will improve the sound.. You can think of making the room soundproof if you have a big budget. Ensure that the floor is covered since bare floors reflect sound and diminish the quality of the sound.
Lighting of the room. Remember the lighting in a cinema hall? You can follow the same style in your sound system. Provide some dim light. It gives some ambient light to the room. Do not place the TV or projector screen opposite to any source of light, especially doors and windows.
Use a TV or Projector? If your intention is to watch ordinary cable TV, satellite TV or VHS, then Television is better because when these images are displayed through the projector, the quality is often not as good as when you view it on a Television. In addition, video projectors usually do not have an RF connector like in a Television. Your cable or satellite receiver needs to have s-video, DVI or component connections to connect them to the projector.
Projectors are good for watching DVDs or DVD quality movies and Cable/satellite TV content that has high Definition (HD) signals. The major drawback is limited lamp life. The cost of this lamp is comparatively high. A cost effective alternative to the projector is a Large sized rear-projection television.
The right TV size: A simple rule is to provide the minimum viewing distance from the TV. It is the minimum distance you must keep from the TV while watching it. This distance is at least two times the width of the TV screen.
Arrangement of speakers. The 2.1, 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1 speaker systems are popular. A 5.1 speaker system means that there are 5 speakers with a subwoofer. The number before the dot indicates the number of speakers and the 1 after the dot indicates the number of subwoofers in it. Among the above systems, 5.1 is the most popular today.
The commonly available multi-channel digital surround sound formats are Dolby digital and DTS(Digital theater system). It is used for making the movie sound both on film and on DVD. Both these surround sound formats use a 5.1 channel system.
Now let us see how the speakers are arranged in a room. First, place the Television in a proper location. Then, keep the centre speaker below or above the TV. Place the front speaker pair on either side of the TV. The other speaker pair is the rear speakers and they are kept behind you. If you have difficulty in wiring the rear speakers, buy wireless speakers. Place the sub woofer between the front speakers. You can adjust the phase control of the subwoofer to get the best sound effect in the room. Do not buy large, tall speakers for a small room (less than 100 square feet).
Seating arrangement. Arrange the seats like an arc leaving the minimum distances. You can reposition the seats or components in order to make the overall experience more comfortable.
Apart from all these, you can get the help of technicians for professional assistance. Don’t forget to go through the manuals carefully. This may relieve you from headaches!
Ravi Kiran

The only sensual pleasure without vice

“Music, the greatest good that mortals know, and all of heaven we have below,” said Addison, in his ‘Song for Ceceilia’s day’.
Whether you admit it or not, music imbeds our daily life, weaving its beauty and emotion through our thoughts, activities and memories. If you’ve paid much attention to how you respond to a variety of music, you may have noticed that some music seems to energize you, some music can move you to tears or spark a special memory of a time, place, food, or perhaps a certain person. Some music seems to make you relax, feel less stressed, and feel happier. And some music fills you with deep spiritual attunement.
If you look on the Internet or go into your nearby audio store you are likely to find music labeled “Healing Music.” The section may include music for relaxation, meditation, stress reduction, pain relief or tapping into one’s soul. There may be a variety of instruments or sounds from a forest or the ocean.
So what makes this music “healing music?”
Music has a way of stirring our innermost feelings and all of our senses, of tapping into parts of ourselves unlike anything else. Music is a universal language that has the ability to speak to us deeply and uniquely because of its healing qualities. That is what John Logan meant when he said, “Music is the medicine of the mind.” It is a sweet and healing balm of troubles.
I remember watching “Titanic” and its gorgeous love theme that permeates throughout the movie and throughout ourselves with its bittersweetness, generating the beauty of love and the tragedy of the massive ship’s sinking and loss of so many lives. It is because emotion is the sphere of music more than thought.
One aspect of “healing” music is to stir our feelings, to help us deal with grief, sadness, anger or other feelings. By allowing ourselves to ‘feel’ those feelings, the intensity will eventually lessen and even dissipate, resulting in being healing for us. When we avoid our feelings, consciously or subconsciously, they nonetheless tend to build up inside. They don’t just go away. Music can be a tool to help us deal with feelings within us, whether we’re aware of them or not. This is one of the wonderful ways music can be incredibly healing.
In ‘The Mozart Effect,’ Don Campbell talks about using music in a variety of ways throughout the day, in the morning to help energize us, throughout the day to help us focus or concentrate better, music to help our intelligence, and in the evening to help us relax.
What exactly is “relaxing” music? Whether we are aware of it or not, music that’s relaxing tends to slow down our heart rates to about one beat per second. If we’re feeling stressful, angry, anxious, or irritable, our heart rates tend to increase. Music can actually help our heart rates slow down to a more relaxing pace, changing our physiology. This phenomenon is what can help people fall asleep more easily. That is what is found with many meditation tapes or other music specifically designed for stress reduction or relaxation.
Chanting has existed for centuries. For example, there are wonderful recordings of Gregorian chants, Indian chants, chants sung by Catholic or Buddhist monks and other religious or secular groups. They tend to be repetitive with the goal of deepening our spiritual lives, whatever they may be, or at the very least, to help bring peaceful feelings into our beings.
There is a large variety of music that taps into our souls. Listening to music has been a truly inspirational journey, one that has been incredibly healing. It reaches the soul directly to give a healing touch. All that we need to do is to pay attention to our responses to a variety of music - physically, mentally, spiritually.
Music does things that even human beings cannot do at times because of the space that it creates for you to be yourself. When someone enters your life you are happy. But, slowly he/she takes away your time, energy, space and your possessions. Instead music fills you with enough riches: memories, feelings, rejuvenation and make you energised so that you take on anything with ease.
A new song can reflect a new way of being without creating side effects, and a new way of imagining life in the world. This is what music means to all of us. We can say with Samuel Johnson that music is the “only sensual pleasure without vice.”

In sweat of thy brow…!Reflections on human labour in view of May Day

Human life is filled with contradictions of all sorts. It is quite surprising that each of us has these contradiction within us. We see people who would like to score first rank and yet hate to spend time studying. We see people trying to be rich without working hard. Short cuts are being taught from books to blogs, from personal sharing to great preaching. Short cuts are offered because people hate hard work. This is the contradiction in life.
One such contradiction is regarding manual work. We hate to do manual labour. We associate manual labour with suffering, sadness and displeasure. Walter R. Courtenay said, “God gave man work, not to burden him, but to bless him, and useful work, willingly cheerfully, effectively done, has always been the finest expression of the human spirit.”
The same sentiments are shared by Jawaharlal Nehru when he said, “ We must get rid of the extraordinary notion that manual work is degrading. There is nothing more ennobling than manual work and nothing better for physical and mental health.” Manual labour tackles most of the issues relating to the physiological needs.
At the same time we see such a lot of exploitation that is physical in nature. Exploiting the hard work of others has become the order of the day. Indira Gandhi once said, “There are two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there.” Thus work or human labour spares us of all the vices that follows the undue pursuit of wealth.
In fact, Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice and need(greed). That is the reason why Don Bosco himself said, “An idle mind is the workshop of the devil.” We keep the youth busy and make them do a lot of manual work to keep them away from all vices and to save them from boredom. It is because of labour that life assumes its beauty and grandeur.
The fruit derived from labour is the sweetest of all pleasures. Maxim Gorky said, “When work is pleasure, life is a joy! When work is a duty, life is slavery.”
Labour disgraces no man; unfortunately, you occasionally find men who disgrace labour. We see great men who begin mega ventures, but, don’t we understand that it is labour that helps to complete the work? Joseph Joubert rightly said, “Genius begins great works; labour alone finishes them. “
To save our own self only one thing is absolutely necessary: a liking for work. Many great men have hailed manual labour as the only panacea for poverty, sickness, melancholy and all other ills and woes of humanity. Even the highest level of God experience is presented in the form of human labour. God is truly present in the poor people who toil and labour. Tagore gave us this beautiful truth in the following lines:
Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads!
Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut?
Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!
He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground
and where the pathmaker is breaking stones.
He is with them in sun and in shower,
and his garment is covered with dust.
Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!
Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense!
What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained?
Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.
In toil and sweat, can we experience the true God, our God who struggled, suffered, toiled and died to save us.