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Monday, November 22, 2010

Yes Minister! Yes Prime Minister!

If you happened to view the above two BBC TV serials, I am sure most of you would remember these rib-tickling serials of yore. The mention of these serials is necessitated by the fact that these were a commentary on the British bureaucracy whose Westminster model we inherited. The bureaucrats used to confuse the ministers with their bureaucratese to perpetuate their perks and control over Government, with the assumption that it is not politicians who run Government but the bureaucrats. In a large part it is true, as the bureaucrats form the crucial backbone of the Government to ensure the policies and program of the Government of the day are executed in a silent and efficient manner. In theory this is all fine – but with reference to India – what does happen in reality? In view of the various scandals which have seen the light of day recently from the CWG scams, Adarsh Housing scandal, Karnataka land scams, Maharashtra mining scandals, and the list could prove endless – someone needs to examine the role of the bureaucrats!

I have written often in the past on the unholy nexus between politician, bureaucrat, builder and underworld nexus. In most cases it is the politician (mostly with a criminal background – just check the profile of our state and central parliamentarians) who provides the protection and encouragement to abuse power for personal gain. When the scandals come out in the open, the politicians’ heads roll due to real-politik – but what happens to the bureaucrat? For a politician - losing power is as good a slap as any – he may not be punished in the real sense, no prosecution and no jail; unlike the common citizen who is made to pay for minor crimes where the cost of prosecution is more than the cost of the crime itself!

Have you ever heard of a bureaucrat coming in the line of fire – he does in very rare cases – but that may just result in a denial of promotion or a transfer with all perks in place. The punishment for those in power and in the control of power should be exemplary as their responsibility is more than that of others. Unfortunately the same power is abused to get away in the loot of the nation for personal gains. The poor do not benefit from various schemes as most of the money gets drained by the time it reaches the ultimate “beneficiary”.

Unless we take advantage of the current situation to put in place checks and balances to prevent the rot from deepening further we will see an economically rising India (in spite of corruption) with a rising rank in the global corruption index. We need to have people with proven integrity to be in charge of a new investigation and prosecution agency just for bringing speedy and exemplary justice for those abusing power for personal gain. This could check the economic drain as well as reduce over a period of time the need for black money – thus cleansing up our politics which really is what feeds of this black money!

Well let us find the strength to whip lash our current lot of bureaucrats and politicians into doing their jobs honestly so that we could have a bright future for those who are being born and are yet to be born. The cleansing has to start NOW!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Cost of Corruption and who pays for it?

I wonder if one realizes the cost of corruption in Rupee terms unless one sits down to analyze the monetary impact on the common man. Corruption in India is rampant and a cancer which is eating away into the moral fiber of the country at the same time making the population cynical, with most people saying “what can we do? – our country is like this only”. For one, you can say that you will not participate in corruption at the individual level – it could be as minor as passing on ten bucks to the traffic cop who stops you for a traffic violation.

If citizens participate in corruption, this becomes a self perpetuating cycle with everyone wanting to take the easy way out. With this attitude what happens? The people in power (read Government) or wearing a uniform as a symbol of power, know that they can always extract their pound of undesirable flesh as the common man does not have a choice. One pays to get legitimate work done, even with all legal clearances in place, thus the cost of executing that job just keeps going up. It could be a road construction contract, a building contract, or any of the innumerable tenders which the Government floats every year. You are all aware of the Adarsh Housing Society scam, the Telecom scandal and the recently concluded Commonwealth Games scandals.

It is public money which was abused for the Commonwealth Games, Government lost money by giving away land cheaply for the Adarsh Housing scandal, the telecom scandal has reportedly cost the ex-chequer Rs. 1.7 lakh crores! All these costs keep adding up and the Government instead of rationalizing taxes and reducing the tax burden on the common man increases it by way of cesses and surcharge. These cesses and surcharge continue even after the cess/surcharge levied has served its purpose. All this leads to high living costs. For people living in Mumbai, buying a house is like a distant dream. A 2BHK apartment in far of suburbs like Dahisar cost upwards of Rs. 90 lakhs.

Yesterday I was speaking to a builder who accepts only cheque payments, he mentioned that after buying a property from a landlord, registering it, obtaining approvals from all tenants, the proposal after being passed by the Urban Development Ministry went to the ex-Chief Minister for final approval. This proposal was a completely above board all approvals in place, all pay-offs done, but it was delayed for more than eight months as the Chief Minister delayed in affixing his signature. According to him the cost of delay in commencing the work to his company was Rs. 1 lakh per day. When we asked him who bears this cost, he says he passes it on to the consumer – basically the end-user, the man on the street is the guy who pays for all this corruption. No wonder property prices in Mumbai are amongst the highest in the world!

Apart from the huge financial cost to the common man due to corruption at every level of Government, the sad part is the common man ends up bearing the burden of this corruption by paying for it through higher prices and higher taxes. It is high time we start saying no to corruption and force the Government to have HONEST people in the various vigilance departments. At least let us try and make a beginning by having our vigilance forces transparent and above board and not like the CBI which has exonerated Haryana Police Chief of charges in the remaining three cases, thereby allowing the Supreme Court to let a convicted rapist and an abuser of power to walk free!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

CHAITANYA MAHOTSAV – DANDI – 7, 8, 9 NOVEMBER 2010

JAI BABA SWAMI

I was packed and ready to go to Dandi a good two days before the departure date of 7th November. On 6th November I reached home a bit late and had received instructions from our ex-acharya to take a printout of the list of “sadhaks” and “havan” (holy fire ceremony) participants of Ambuja center, Andheri. I took the printouts and placed them on the packed bag in the living room, as we had decided to leave at around 6am, and I had to pick up a “sadhika” at Bandra, ex-acharya at Juhu and the last at Virar. A couple of months earlier, a “sadhak” from the Juhu center had asked whether I would be joining them in the hired bus for the Mahotsav and I had replied that I would be travelling in my car.

I went to bed at 9.30pm and woke up at around 4.00am to get ready for departure. After morning ablutions and prayers, it was exactly 6am when I went to take the car key from its regular place, to my shock the keys were not there, a thought crossed my mind – don’t tell me I am not destined to reach Dandi – but I erased that thought immediately and started looking in the last two- three places which I could have kept the key the previous night before going to bed. I did not find the key! So I took my bag down and kept it near the car and returned home to look for the key, after another unsuccessful search, I decided then and there that I had to reach Dandi and will think about the missing key on my return, so I took the duplicate set and left on my journey. At Juhu as I picked up the ex-acharya – he asked for the list, and I realized I had forgotten the list on the settee, in the confusion of the missing car key! We came back home, took the papers and left. In an hours time, we reached Virar and picked up Raju, who then took the wheel. We were doing good time and at around 8.45am we saw a huge traffic jam on the highway, and Raju drove the car on to the wrong side on a hunch, and we proceeded at a fairly quick clip with emergency lights on. We drove for almost eight kilometers and the jam still continued, as we neared Charotee town, our car came to a stop in the jam on the wrong side of the road. I told Vasant that we should offer some “seva” in trying to clear the jam, and we got off and walked to the junction at which the jam started, as we approached a traffic cop, the line in which our car was stuck started moving. The cop told us that a tanker carrying chemicals had overturned and caught fire last night at around 10pm and continued to burn. The fire brigade was just dousing the container with water so as to cool it and prevent it from bursting. We saw the fire burning, and the cops had even stopped the oncoming traffic because of the fear of a blast, we walked back and cleared the way for the vehicles coming from our lane, got into the car and left on the way to Dandi. There was very light traffic as all the heavy vehicles were stuck in the jam, we stopped at Parsi Dhaba for breakfast, and still reached Dandi at 11.15 am. The bus carrying the Juhu “sadhaks" reached at 3.30pm, we were told.

We took the registration sheet and collected the identity cards for the “sadhaks" from the registration counter, took our bags and selected our beds in our enclosure. We collected the “havan” passes and then went for Prasad lunch at around 1pm. After lunch, we got fresh and relaxed a bit, as the program was to start at 2.30pm. We were told that the “havan” would be at 4pm and reporting time was 3.30pm, hence we were staying put in the tent. One of the “sevaks” came and told us that we should attend the opening of the mahotsav and PP Gurudev was expected any time. We reached the program enclosure at 3.20pm, PP Gurudev entered at 3.30pm and welcomed us all. After the welcome address, those who were to participate in the “havan” were told to assemble in the “havan kund” area immediately. It was around 3.45pm and we went to our respective “havan kunds” – there were 171 “havan kunds” with an average of four participants per “kund”. The climate was very pleasant and a cool evening sea breeze was blowing when the ceremony started. With the clear chant of Sanskrit shlokas by Rambhai and his team, the ceremony progressed, from the inviting of the divine energies and invocation for divine blessings and so forth. As the ceremonies progressed Lord Ganesha’s idol was purified and consecrated after which the holy fire was lit. For two hours the "havan" progressed with the beautiful Sanskrit shlokas being chanted and repeated by us. I was getting a faint aroma of roses intermittently throughout the ceremony. There was no smoke and no heat in spite of 171 havans being lit, the ceremony concluded with Rambhai exhorting us to do “jay jaykars” loudly so that Dandi village residents should hear and feel our joy! Which we gladly did with resoundingly loud “jay jaykars”!

After the ceremony we paid obeisance to PP Gurudev’s photo and took our Prasad and were told to proceed for dinner as the next program was to start at 8pm. We went back to our beddings and sat down, decided to get fresh and then go for the Prasad dinner. As it was only 6.30pm, we thought we would go later for the Prasad, and left at around 7.30pm. By the time we reached the food enclosure, almost everybody had finished their dinner. We went and took our plates (no line you see), I got a bit of rice, some salad and half a glass of butter milk and an apple, my fellow “sadhaks” in the group did not get the butter milk and were waiting for “daal” (curry), I too waited for a bit and as announcements started for all the stragglers to assemble in the main “mandap”, I sat down and ate a mix of rice, butter milk and salad. I asked the others if they were coming, they said they would come after dinner, so I left alone for the “mandap”. Before 8pm I reached and took my seat and sat with my eyes closed. The announcer said that we would be having a bhajan (devotional songs) evening to be lead by Rambhai in the presence of PP Gurudev and PP Guruma. The bhajans started with “Aamay Tara Ren..Guru mara antar na ajwala”, “Baba Swami Dham Mogar Ruda Gaam”, then “Baba Swami Dhamma bole jheena mor”, “Prem ras se bhari Guru Mayya laage”, “Mere Gurudev tujhe baar baar vandana”, “Baba tujhe milneka satsang hi bahana hai”, “Sunkar karuna pukar Sadguru aa jaana”, Karlo mere Swamiji se pyar amrut barsega” and some bhajans by a twelve year old boy. Rambhai sang these bhajans non-stop for two hours – my eyes were closed for almost an hour and my hands were clapping away very loudly as if they had acquired a life of their own, my lips were loudly accompanying Rambhai’s bhajans and I was in a complete state of blissful trance -completely thoughtless. My eyes opened after an hour and I saw that almost everyone was standing and clapping and dancing; I too stood up and saw PP Gurudev waving his hands and bathing us with divine energies and at the same time clearing us of our negative energies. The atmosphere by now had become chill, like the climate of the “Himalayas” had descended upon Dandi Ashram. There were 5000 plus “sadhaks” filled with bliss, clapping, dancing and chanting in a frenzy. I had only heard from friends about Rambhai’s devotional song effect and how PP Gurudev always blessed all those present due to the power of Rambhai’s devotion as reflected through his bhajans. I consider myself really blessed to experience this first hand as PP Gurudev stood up and filled us with divine energy. For two hours this continued, had the compere not intervened, I think this session would have continued through the night with no letup in the songs or in the intensity of the clapping. At 10pm the session ended with the night temperature down to maybe 12-14 degrees centigrade… I saw my hands- the fingers adjoining the fingers which had gold rings on them had become black, with the left hands mound near the thumb having turned completely black with the clapping due to the ring on the index finger of my right hand – not only that my left hand got locked near the thumb and was paining due to the intensity of the clapping, I pushed back with my right hand and relieved the pressure on the left hand. I had not felt pain nor did I get a single thought for those two hours as I soaked in the energy and participated in the joy of Rambhai’s bhajans – I was TRULY BLESSED that night and really fortunate to enter the “mandap” just in time!

We went to bed at around 10.30pm, I woke up at 3 am and got fresh, had my bath and lay down peacefully for the morning meditation which was to start at 5.45am. After me, the others got ready one by one and we reached the “mandap” at around 5.30am and sat down in silence preparing ourselves internally for the meditation session. At exactly 5.45am Rambhai started the session with Guru Ahavan and Guru Mantra. The climate was cold and by the time the meditation was getting over, for the first time, I could feel cold waves of energy coming out of the center of both the palms – almost 22 months after starting meditation. There was a tremendous sense of peace and calm as we meditated and bathed in the divine energy present at the ashram.

After breakfast we attended PP Gurudev’s pravachan wherein He explained in detail the reasons for the new Guru Shakti Dham, the problems being faced by the Ashram in Dandi, the need for living quarters for the “Aajeevan Sevadhari’s”, various plans for the future and He also announced that the next year will be “Jaagruti” (Awakening) year for all “sadhaks” wherein Guru Karya will pick up great pace and also new fields of karya will open up. As usual, it was a very inspiring speech, filled with emotion and passion which enthuses us “sadhaks” to spread the divine message to more and more people. One could see the emotion affecting quite a few of the “sadhaks”, including me, as we were moved to tears with his words. We then had a 45 minute tea break and were asked to re-assemble at 10.45am. He mentioned that we must all be feeling good after yesterdays bathing in energy (chaitanya ke ganga me nehalaya).

After the tea break, as it was PP Gurudev’s birthday we were all given balloons to inflate and wave during the birthday celebrations and cake cutting. We all participated very enthusiastically in the birthday celebrations, with Guruma looking on lovingly at the grand celebrations. We waved the balloons and sang Happy Birthday and then burst the balloons in celebration as PP Gurudev cut the cake. At around 11.15 am the birthday celebrations were over, and the “paduka naman” program started. All the volunteers were first requested to come and pay obeisance to do the “paduka naman”. The compere had announced that during the program of “paduka naman” devotional songs would be sung by Smt Sumangala and her daughter Krishna. PP Gurudev intervened and said that the stage for the singers should be moved behind the line where the “padukas” had been kept and also said that no one should walk between the “paduka” and PP Gurudev as that could create problems. After this re-arrangement, the program started and as each row of ladies and gents completed the “paduka naman” they were told to proceed for lunch. Our group also completed the “paduka naman” and we proceeded for lunch. As the sun rose, the previous days chill had completely gone and the temperature was up to around 30 degrees centigrade. After our Prasad, we went to our enclosure and relaxed a bit before the re-assembly at 2.45pm.

The post lunch session was kept for the Trustees to explain various plans and tell us in minute detail the problems which were being faced at Dandi Ashram, the plans for the new Ashram at Mandvi, Kutch, plans for Goa and Maharashtra, etc.

By 3.30pm the cultural program started with garba, and various dance forms being performed by “sadhaks" from different centers. At 5pm we broke for tea and re-assembled at 5.45pm for Guruma’s pravachan.

Guruma is truly everyone’s mother as she spoke in her mellifluous voice on various topics, advising “sadhaks” and also singing one of her compositions for us. It is always a great pleasure listening to Guruma talk as she speaks with such love and in such a loving manner that her voice has a completely calming effect on her listeners. After Guruma’s pravachan we left for dinner – the difference in temperature this night as opposed to the previous night was a good 12-15 degrees centigrade.

At 8pm we attended the next cultural program, wherein the Ganesha dance performed by Mulund “sadhaks" and the Dashavatar dance performed by Rajkot “sadhaks” being truly outstanding with a lot of energy flowing. Every time I closed my eyes I sensed the energy with my body going cold from head to toe in continuing waves. The dashavatar program was repeated by popular demand with the permission of Guruma, after which the program ended for the day. The amount of divine energy which one could sense was awesome even in the cultural program due to the blessing of PP Gurudev and the presence of GuruShakti. We retired for the night, completely tired as it had been a long day, with the night temperature at a pleasant 27 degrees or so, I had a good nights’ sleep.

I was woken up on Tuesday morning by Shri Shantaram Bapu at 3.30am after which I had my bath and got ready for morning dhyan. After the dhyan session, the question-answer session started with PP Gurudev answering a host of spiritual questions from ““sadhak”s”. This session got over at 9am after which we got our breakfast break. At 10am we re-assembled for talks on Madhuchaitanya, sahitya, etc by the persons in charge of the same.

After lunch, there was a program of experience sharing by overseas “sadhaks”. “sadhaks” had come from Singapore, Canada, USA, London and Germany to share their experiences. Shirley from Singapore mentioned that she did the first meditation camp in 2004 and started actually meditating from 2008. She mentioned that the first time she sat in front of PP Gurudevs photo in 2008 she felt cold energy waves bathe her from head to toe. Earlier this year, one morning as she was preparing to sit for meditation she felt tremendous cool energy waves coming from PP Gurudevs photo, and as she stood experiencing there was a phone call from her husband saying that he was involved in a serious accident but had escaped with a few minor bruises. The time of the accident was exactly the point in time when she got the cold vibrations – she said that PP Gurudev had sent her a message that her husband had just been protected by the GuruShakti. Yogeshwari from Germany mentioned that when she attended last years’ Chaitanya Mahotsav she was surprised to see a balloon being given to her and she thought he is a saint why should he be celebrating his birthday with balloons. This thought kept bothering her and this year again when she was given the balloon and she was inflating it, she suddenly got her answer and burst out laughing. She explained that what is an inflated balloon – it is the same air outside as inside, separated by a thin membrane – just like our ego, if we keep our ego we are trapped in a small dimension but if we let go of it then we are connected to the large universe outside. I found this explanation lovely and true. There were other “sadhaks” who gave their experiences, of which the one from London mentioned that he could actually see the atomic particles floating in the atmosphere in the form of twinkling stars. He said that he did not believe this, so he tried it in his bathroom at night and saw glow of light in the bathroom and mentioned that he can actually see things at an atomic level – he ended by exhorting all of us to meditate regularly so as to individually reach a state to connect with universal consciousness.

The thanks giving ceremony started thereafter, with one of the trustees reading out a long list of people who had helped in making the function a grand success. PP Gurudev had already come and was waiting at around 4.15pm and the compere requested the trustee to wind up quickly. PP Gurudev, then gave a concluding pravachan and told us that we would meditate for 5 minutes before winding up the program. After we chanted the Guru Ahawan, PP Gurudev told us to repeat after him three times “Mai ek shudha atman hoon, mai ek pavitra atman hoon” (I am a clean soul, I am a pure soul) and then we sat for meditation. As we completed the meditation a few drops of rain fell and PP Gurudev mentioned that the Guru Shaktis themselves had indicated the end of the program. We got out quietly, collected our bags, took the Prasad on returning the registration card and left for Mumbai filled with peace and calm and taking back cherished memories of an unforgettable experience.

On the way back we experienced heavy rainfall all the way to Mumbai. I reached home at around 11pm after dropping the other “sadhaks”. As I reached home, I saw that the Kandeel lamp was not on though the blinking lights were on. As I entered, the thought of the missing car key again came to mind. I had my dinner and then decided to change the kandeel lamp. I opened the drawer in which spare bulbs are kept. I removed about five bulbs but they were of a higher wattage and placed them in a bowl, I found a bulb of correct wattage and connected it to the kandeel, came back and started keeping the other bulbs in a cabinet on top of the drawer. As I was picking the last bulb, I saw something black behind two books, it was the car key! My mom had told me that the house maid had looked all over the house and had not found it, and I had given up hopes. I went to tell my mom the good news; she had just gone to sleep. As I called out to her and told her the news, she got up and told me that she had just retired two minutes ago after lighting a lamp in front of PP Gurudevs photo praying for the keys to be found. As she said that I felt cold energy flowing from head to toe. Co-incidence? I think not – it all points to PP Gurudev leading me systematically, step by step in the direction of where the key was kept!

JAI BABA SWAMI.