Life with Confidence

excellent link with some very good tips :)

National awards.....??!?!?

National Awards: The ‘Secular’ Connection
by Saurav Basu via Boloji

This article brings out some harsh facts on the prestigious Bharat Ratan awards. How the rulling party makes a difference and how our leaders define how we look at the past... and who are the heroes?

Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award for national service. The order was established by Dr Rajendra Prasad, President of India, on January 2, 1954. Today, there are 41 Bharat Ratna winners in India, the last being Bhimsen Joshi. And yet, there are noticeable absentees. Mahatma Gandhi, the most conspicuous but since he was already elevated to the ‘father of the nation’, his posthumous soul automatically opted out of the race.

But there was no Sardar Patel either, the iron man of India until 1991, despite the fact that the provision to award the Bharat Ratna posthumously was enacted way back in 1955. This provision was probably made to confer the award on Sardar Patel. But Nehru’s profound ideological and personal differences with Patel came in the way.

and so the story goes....

Beatutiful

When Love Ceases
by Kojo Asiedu

As long as I live,
I pray never to beg for the love
Of those who proclaim to love me
And never to let those whom I love
Suffer to earn my love
For, as it is a privilege,
I know love ceases
When it has become an obligation

Thought

We have such different ways of interacting with people and sometimes even when we have best of intentions we mess up. Care too much, care too little, try too much, not try at all. How to fix it?
If only we knew ...

What makes Hinduism?

Today I was reading an article from a Muslim clergy stating that yoga was not 'haram'. It was a really good article. However, there is one line just one line that got me thinking about so many different things -

Yoga, according to Ashraf F. Nizami's book "Namaz, the Yoga of Islam" (published by D.B. Taraporevala, Mumbai 1977), is not a religion.

No I am not thinking about Islam and its teachings. I am thinking about 'Hinduism'. Somewhere along the line we have forgotten the fact that Hinduism is not a religion(link defining religion). What is even more worrying is we as Hindus do not realize this fact.
In this world today, when every is fighting for or against a religion I am scared the we have been type casted into one too. And for votes or power or money our leaders have accepted it too.
Hinduism is a way of life which allows you many paths (paths refer to technical definition of religion) to achieve your purpose in life. Being a Hindu - does equate to idle worship, nor to worship of many God's, not even to worship of one God.
You can be a Hindu and believe in One God.
You can be a Hindu and believe in Many God.
You can be a Hindu and believe in No God.
You can be a Hindu and believe in idle worship.
You can be a Hindu and believe in no idle worship.

Hinduism is a lot more that just a religion. It is respect for human life. It stands for equality of race, sex, religion, caste, status. It is far more complex then any one person can understand... And as it is with things that people do not understand instead of accepting that it is far beyond my understanding, we say well it this (however tiny, insignificant or even misinterpreted).
I always remember the story of the 5 blind people trying to feel the elephant to decide what it was. None on its own were correct but all put together was still a partial picture.

Instead of pretending to know it all let us make an effort to actually know atleast the partial picture.

Good retaliation

Mangalore Pub Incident: Blame Them All! via Boloji

Probably one the best retaliations I have read so far. I don't know which part of the article to quote...

Quote

Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.
-- Voltaire