PUNATSANGCHHU-I DAM – RIGHT BANK FAILURE

You can listen to the Presentation and discussion on the failure of right bank at Punatsangchhu-I dam site, held on DDAG Open House, given at link : https://lnkd.in/dPGjpJk

( First of the incidences of a chain of massive surprises in the two Punatsangchhu Projects in Bhutan )

–  Huge Setbacks Due To Failed Assessments Of Geology & Rock Supports

There is a strange coincidence of huge rock mass failures, which  happened in the two mega hydroelectric projects named Punatsangchhu -I & II H E Projects, under construction since 2009 -10 in Bhutan.

            The Punatsangchhu-I Hydro Electric Project (PHEP-I)  a 1200 MW project with   scheduled commissioning date of year 2016 and at sanctioned cost of Rs. 35146 millions  and  new approved Cost of Rs. 94000 millions (US$ 1.34 billions), is expected to have further escalating its cost possibly to Rs. 121000 millions (US$ 1.74 billion). The Head race tunnel and Desilting Arrangement lying completed since 2015, Powerhouse complex 98% ready have an already incurred cost of about Rs. 80000 millions .

However, even the start of concreting for construction of 136m high dam is a big uncertainty after its Right Bank suffered a massive slide with continued movement of the big hill mass about 500m height towards valley and downstream by 5m and vertically subsiding by 5m in a week in July 2013.The hill mass movement has continued at slower pace for more than year, sliding on SZ-2 Shear Zone.

            A whopping cost of about Rs. 30000 millions, out of above cost, may get attributed to extra works necessitated because of ” geological surprises”.

            The Punatsangchhu-II  (PHEP-II),  a 1020 MW project with scheduled date of commissioning of year 2017 at sanctioned cost of Rs. 37778 millions and  a new approved project cost of Rs. 72900 millions ( US $ 1.04 billions), possibly to be further escalating to Rs. 80000 millions ( US $ 1.14 billions), with already incurred cost of about Rs. 65880 millions is delayed due to the huge rock mass failure in its underground Downstream Surge Gallery (DSSG), resulting in a huge cavity of about 91m height x 70m length and 45m width in the crown of the DSSG. The Dam foundations had  encountered, a thus far unexplored, mega shear of maximum 30m width, cutting across the length all the 4 dam blocks diagonally. The shear zone with its about 35ᵒ to 45ᵒ dip, continued under the foundations to large depths.

            Again a  whopping cost of about Rs. 15000 millions, out of the above cost,  may get attributed to extra works necessitated because of ” geological surprises”.

            Occurrence of too many geological surprises, which were blamed for the big mishaps in the two mega Projects, intrigues one to investigate if ‘ harping on the geological surprises‘ may only be a scapegoat for the lack of proper geological investigations done by the Consultants and inappropriate design of rock support measures done by the Designers, who were the same for both the Projects .

The Case of Punatsangchhu-I H.E Project Dam Right Bank Failure :

1. Selection Of The Dam Site  Without Detailed Geological Investigations

( the first miss)

The present dam site was selected in 2009  at a new site, located 1.5km upstream of the original site which was considered in the Detailed Project Report (DPR). The shifting of location to the new site was done  just before taking up the Tender activities  of the Project. The selection of this new site was done on the basis of some geological explorations done at different times earlier, apparently with a purpose of studying geological conditions of the reservoir rim. The Tender  Drawings of Geological Details, issued in 2009 , showed the geological conditions that were based on the limited exploration done till that far. The Tender stage geological drawings  at the dam axis and  at various sections upstream and downstream indicated no Shear Zone to be encountered. The tender stage Geological Sections at Dam axis  and at 100m downstream are placed at Fig -1 and Fig.- 2 below.

• Tender Stage  Geological Drawings of 2009  Show no Shear Zone in Right Bank :

Tender Drawing of Geological Section At Dam Axis Fig.- 1	Tender Drawing of Geological Section At 100m D/S of Dam Axis Fig.- 2

2. Geological Assessment done By The Consultants in 2011 , At Design & Construction Stage  Did Not Detect  The Presence Of The Massive Shear Zone And Delineate  Continuity Of The Shear Zone In to Hill At Vulnerable Dip :

( the second miss)

The Geological Investigation at the present Dam site was carried out during 2010 – 11 by the Consultants after issue of Tender Specification Drawings for deciding the stripping limits and designing the rock support system for excavation of the dam pit. The excavation for the 136m high dam foundations involved excavation of a depth of 300m.

            Earlier Consultants had shown lacksidal attitude when they did not carry out detailed Geological Explorations for Selection of Dam site in 2009. This was followed, apparently, yet by a limited explorations done in 2010-11 to decide the stripping limit and design the excavation support details of the right bank  slope of 300m excavated depth.

• Did The Construction Stage  Geological Drawings of 2011  Missed To Connect Intercepts of Sheared Rock Mass In Drill Holes And Delineate The Steep Show Shear Zone in Right Bank ??

The  sheared rock mass intercepts were recorded in the Drill Holes DH25, DH31 located at dam axis and DH26  located at 20m D/S of Dam axis and in drill holes at further downstream in the geological investigations carried out by the Consultants during construction stage for excavation support designs .

• Apparently the Consultants had failed to connect these intercepts of sheared material found in different drill holes to establish the extent and the vulnerable dip the major shear zone would have, though they had detected presence of  the sheared rock material in these explorations.

Logically, after the sheared material was intercepted in different drill holes, it should have been investigated whether the intercepts were a part of one single Shear Zone. More exploratory drill holes may have been done further up the hill to connect the intercepted sheared material incidences and delineate the attitude of the Shear Zone, of which these intercepted shear material could be possibly a part of. Thus the inaccurate  geological assessment was made by missing to interpret and detect continuity and rising dip angle of the major Shear Zone in right bank of PHEP-I  dam site.

• The required further geological investigation does appear to have been missed by Consultants despite that the Resident Geologist of Project Authority had provided the Consultants the following detailed geological note which clearly mentioned presence of shear zones and brought out the possibilities of slides happening on the shear zone.

3. Geological Assessment by the Project’s Senior Resident Geologist, at     Construction Stage in 2011, Reported Presence of the 1.5m Thick Shear Zone , Prone To Sliding And Its Need for Proper Strengthening Which Was Neglected By The Consultants :

( the third Miss )

The Geological Report of 2011 of the Sr. Resident Geologist of the Project is reproduced below :

“The strata shows small scale, S- shape tight folds and broad warping of the beds at places, indicating that the rock strata has undergone the polyphase deformation in the past leading to development of numerous criss-cross structural discontinuities like joints, shears etc. of different orders. Five prominent and two random joint sets are recorded in the right bank. The foliation is very close to moderately spaced from 2cm to 60 cm and dips towards valley slightly in d/s direction; however rolling of dip is observed at places, there it dips into the hill due to folding and warping. The general topography and gentle natural slopes on the right bank of river are controlled by low and valley ward dipping foliation planes.

            The drilling data on right abutment has indicated the presence of numerous thick deformed/sheared zones/schistose rock mass having very poor RQD (below 30%) and nil to poor core recovery (below 40%) at different depths. Such rock mass is fissile and fractured, which breaks along foliation and other prominent joints and has very low strength. One deformed zone/band (1m thick) along foliation is delineated at Ch. 13m d/s of dam axis at El. 1220m and at Ch. 23m d/s of dam axis at El 1205m and dips at 150-250 in the downstream.

A ± 15m thick band of fractured, biotite rich gneiss with schistose partings and sheared seams, which dips gently towards valley along foliation was delineated during drilling and is expected to expose in all along the foundation of dam block nos. 7, 8, 9,10 &11, and below the foundation of block nos. 12 and 13. The core recovery and RQD in this rock mass are very poor. Such bands striking parallel to the flow and dipping towards valley may form passage for water and are prone to slide under forces, hence require proper treatment during excavation.

Another shear zone (± 1.5m thick), which was encountered in the drift strikes from d/s to u/s and dips gently into the hill slightly towards upstream. This shear zone is expected to expose in the foundation of dam block no.11 at El ±1165m and below the block no. 12 along its dip & in the reservoir along its strike in the upstream. Such shear zone also needs proper treatment and strengthening as they form the avenues for water draining from reservoir and development of the hydrostatic pressure.

            Layered/stratified/foliated rocks with softer beds (schistose partings/shear zones) confined between harder beds are always prone to shear stress problems/sliding, which inevitably develops in the rock in conjunction with pressure/load.“

• Geotechnical Problems Identified in the 2011 report of the Resident Geologist :

• Layered/stratified/foliated strata with soft bands confined between hard rocks.
• Occurrence of folds and warping indicating the signs of deformation and presence of  local stress areas.
• Presence of thick shear/fracture zones and biotite rich bands of gneiss/schist having very low strength and less RQD.
• Moderately jointed and very blocky nature of the rock mass with steep joints having longer continuity and persistence, striking along the flow direction.
• Valley wards dipping foliation and prominent open joints.
• Formation of wedges due to intersection of the prominent joints.
• Presence of the parallel discontinuities with variable zones of permeability. Moderate to high lugeon values indicating the fracture permeability and fissured rock mass.
• Low to moderate strength of rock mass.

The above report shows that there was adequate warning given in the 2011 geological report by the Resident Sr. Geologist of the Project Authority of a 15m thick fractured rock mass present all along the foundations of dam blocks 7,8,9,10,11 and 12, with shear seems and dipping in to the valley, having potential of sliding . The report also informed of the 1.5m thick Shear Zone dipping in to the hill which would be getting exposed in excavation of dam blocks 11 and 12 . The report further warned that the layered/stratified/foliated rocks with softer beds (schistose partings/shear zones) confined between harder beds are always prone to shear stress problems/sliding.

• The report specifically asked to provide adequate support and treatment which apparently was not so designed.

The Rock Support Measures comprising only 150mm shotcrete and 32mmDia. 7.5m Long rock anchors , would have been designed in 2010 -11 based on the limited information gathered by the  Designer / Consultant and not inferring and analyzing the sheared rock mass occurrences as a Shear Zone. Probably the Cable Anchors may have been found required to be provided , if analysis of the excavated slope would have been done incorporating the Shear Zone. However, there were no cable anchors designed for the Right bank excavation support, while provisions of cable anchors were done in Left bank excavation profile. Therefore, the rock anchors and shotcrete would have not been designed to hold the excavated profile of the Right abutment against a potential slide on the shear plane, as no such Shear Zone had been identified by the Consultants till that time. The designed provisions thus must have been under provisioned to safeguard a 300m deep excavated slope against the later resulted Massive Failure of  Right Bank  during its excavation in July 2013.

4. The Excavation Stages From 2010 To July 2013

5. Incidental Identification of the Presence of the Shear Zone :

• Considering the weak rock mass condition, a 5.5m x 5.5m wide and 60m long gallery/tunnel with 15m long x-cuts in upstream and downstream side was excavated in right abutment (Dam Block-13) at invert El 1169m, in 2011 to February 2012, for consolidation grouting.

• Until July 2013, the excavated Right Bank Profile stood intact with provided support comprising 32mm Dia. 7.5m long Rock Anchors and 150mm Shotcrete.

It was on around 10 July 2013 , subsequent to a Shear Zone getting exposed, that a few cracks were observed on the road surface which goes winding up on the Right Side Hill of the dam site, leading to the Project colony. Also the steel rib supports provided in the Grouting Gallery, at El. 1169m in the Right Abutment, were seen to be twisted and the invert floor of the Gallery was seen to have settled and developed cracks.

Immediately a team of the Consultants and the resident geologists of the Project visited the Grouting Gallery and prepared the following Geological Note based on their field observations :

6. Geological Assessment Note given   by the Consultants on 12th July 2013 after observing cracks & Settlements in the Grouting Gallery in Right bank , Reported presence of Shear Zone Affecting 1.5m ~6.5m Thickness & dipping 25⁰-45⁰/N010-040 :

The Geological assessment Report of 12 July 2013 is reproduced below :

“ The entire excavated reaches of the grouting gallery and x-cuts have been supported with steel ribs (200 x 100mm) @ 1m spacing. The final lining and grouting through the gallery is yet to be done. Recently some settlement/deformation is noticed in the gallery and x-cuts. Hence a joint inspection visit was made to the site on 12th July, 2013 for geotechnical assessment and remedial measures. The rock mass exposed in grouting gallery and x-cuts is jointed, very blocky and weathered quartz-biotite gneiss with thin schist bands and shear zones. The rocks are deformed in the form of folding and warpings and distressed in the form of open/wide/stress relief joints.

The rock mass encountered falls inpoor to very poor grade category (Rock class IV and V). One major shear/deformed zone (Clay gouge 30-200cm, affected zone 1.5 to 6.5m) dipping 25⁰-45⁰/N010-040 cuts across the gallery from RD 27m (left wall) to RD 48m (Right wall) and over the crown beyond RD 50m. Shearing effect is more beyond RD 34m as it forms hinge portion of the fold. This shear/deformed zone strikes from d/s of dam (closer to valley) to u/s of dam (Farther to valley) and as per projections it was expected to cut in u/s x-cut between RD 15m (Crown) to RD 35 (left wall) with less horizontal cover on right wall.

• The location and pattern of the settlement/deformation occurred corresponds to the disposition of the major shear zone in the gallery and x-cuts and mobilisation of its broken zone under pressure. The shear zone is low to moderate dipping and runs oblique to the main gallery from left to right wall along strike.
• Such settlements are time dependant deformations in weak/soft rocks occurred after completion of the excavation and installation of the primary support depending upon the load/pressure; stand up time of the rock mass and support provided.
• Once commenced, such deformations tend to increase with the time if structure is not provided with the strong support.”

The Consultants noticed presence of the major Shear Zone, for the first time, in July 2013 only during inspection of the Grouting Gallery. Where as, the Sr. Resident Geologist of the Project Authority had already informed of the 1.5m thick Shear Zone dipping in to the hill which would be getting exposed in excavation of dam blocks 11 and 12, in his note provided to the Consultants in 2011 . This Shear Zone had did get exposed, in July 2013, at El. 1110m in excavation of dam block no.12.

7. Massive Slide of 500m high x 300m long Hill Mass in Right Bank on 24 July 2013 :

Soon after the settlement/deformation was noticed in the gallery and x-cuts in the Right Bank, a massive slide in the Right Bank occurred which detached a hill mass in Right bank of a reach 500m in height , 300m in length and moved it over 5m towards the valley and 2m along the flow with 5m vertical subsidence. Cracks of about 10m to 15m depth appeared on the road and hill slope.

           

The right bank failure resulted in huge hill mass slide, causing separation of hill mass of about 500m ( 1/2 km) height , 300m length and 40-50m in its thickness under the ground surface. The slide created about 10m deep fissures at the top levels of slip in this stretch of the hill mass. This reach of the hill suffered   subsidence/ settlement of  the hill by 5m vertically and moved en-mass towards the river side by 5m and along river in downstream direction by 2.5m.  

The photographs below show the sagged Cable Car rope due to subsidence of foundations of their end anchors provided at a bench at El. 1250m in the Right Bank

8. Delineation of the Shear Zone in the Right Bank

The hill mass stretch of over 500m height in a 300m length kept moving at faster pace for four days period, resulting in a shift of the separated big hill mass over 5m in to valley and over 2.5m along the direction of flow of river with a subsidence of the hill mass of 5m. The movement of this hill mass continued at smaller pace for days , weeks and months to follow. The hill mass seemed to have had slid over the Shear Zone. However the extent of the Shear Zone extending in side the hill was not known at that time. The cracks and fissures of about 10m depth had surfaced at locations as far till about 500m height of the hill.

The outer boundary of the hill surface affected by the massive slide was marked. A total 23 numbers of drill holes , running a total depth of 3500m were driven along the boundary of the slide affected area. The Shear Zone was delineated from the core logs .

Comparison of Geological Assessments Done By The Consultants In 2011 Investigations V/s Actual Geological Conditions Encountered & Established in 2014 After The Massive Slide :

The Sheared Rock Mass Intercepts Were Not Inferred, By The Consultants In 2011, To Be A Shear Zone Continuing In To The Hill Fig. – 11	The Shear Zone SZ2, Delineated As Dipping Sharply & Deeper In To The hill Was established Through Additional Holes In 2014 , Only After 2013 Slide Fig. – 12

9. Synopsis of the Geological Investigations Done in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2014 :

• The Consultants had failed to detect  and delineate  the shear zone in the  geological investigations forming the basis of selection of the present dam site in  2009.
• The Resident Geologist reported in his Note in 2011, the  presence of a shear zone SZ-2 assessed by him from the geological explorations done in 2011 for detailed design of slope excavation supports. But the Consultants / Designers  had  failed to build on gathered information and thus ignored to do further exploration to  identify and delineate the continuity of the major Shear zone which extended in to the hill at a vulnerable dip angle.
• The Resident Geologist had reported, in his Note in 2011,  of potential risk of slide along the Shear Zone and suggested proper strengthening. The Consultants apparently failed to do a slope stability analysis for the potential destabilised  condition of the excavated slope in the Right bank arising from presence of the  steeply dipping major shear zone, despite its warning given by the Project Authority.
• Therefore, the Consultants failed to design the appropriate support measures required to be provided during progress of excavation of the Right Bank, to ensure stability of the Hill Mass against hazard of a potential  slide of the big hill mass , which eventually slid  en-mass in its 1000m height, 300m length and about 30-40m depth inside the hill.  
• Incidentally the Cable Anchors were provided at various levels in the Left bank excavated slopes, but the Consultants failed to establish the need of design and provision of Cable Anchors in the Right Bank to hold the endangered  hill mass, which eventually  separated out in the Right Bank and slipped over the Shear Zone.
• After the slide, a total of 3500m of length in 23 numbers of drill holes were done in 2014, along the boundary of the affected hill mass , which delineated the alignment of the shear zone.
• A more intelligent inference from the Sheared material intercepts in the drill holes done in 2011, would have established the need of a few more drill holes and detected continuity of the shear zone SZ-2 with its  dip  risingng sharply in to the Hill.

It may be seen that firstly there was lack of Geological Information gathered for selection of the present dam site. Thereafter, the inaccurate  Geological Assessment was made by Consultants from the explorations that were carried out at the Construction stage for Designs  of stripping limits of the excavation and Support Designs in 2011. Missing to connect the sheared material intercepts in detection of the Shear Zone had resulted in under provisioned design of the rock supports. The designed 32mm dia. rock anchors of 7.5m length were no match to and too insufficient than the required measures e.g. longer cable anchors like those provided in the Left bank . Thus the inappropriate and inadequate rock supports led to the major hill mass slide in the right abutment of PHEP-I dam, during its excavation in July 2013.

The slid hill mass has been in motion for years thereafter, though at much slower pace, despite a number of measures designed by the Consultants and implemented in the field to stall the movement of the hill . A number of more slides have happened in the downstream of the main slide, after 2013 till recently in 2018.

10. Strengthening Measures Implemented In Right Bank After Slide :

• After the slide, the Consultants designed  installation of about 1050 numbers of  300mm dia steel encased micro piles from 11 different levels   as a strengthening measure for the destabilised hill mass.
• Further also subsequent to the hill mass slide, bout 250 numbers of 2m diameter steel reinforced RCC piles of depth varying from 50m to 85m  were driven from various levels along the excavated slopes. Each of these RCC piles were socketted in to sound rock for 10m length beyond the Shear Zone.
•  About 50,000 MT of cement was consumed in grouting the slipped hill mass, carried out  through 566 numbers of drill holes, totalling together to 123 kilometres of depth, to improve the deteriorated quality of the disturbed hill mass in local vicinity of dam axis after the slide as a strengthening measure.
• Also 1000 numbers of 100 MT capacity Cable Anchors from 12 different levels were installed.

• Important Observation :

          It was experienced that during many instances of drilling, undertaken for installation of micro piles, the drill rod/ shaft used to drop for one to two meters depth, by itself without requiring any drilling effort, thereby indicating that the entire hill mass in the Right bank has been rendered geologically further weak & poor and porous resulting from the massive movement of the hill mass.

11. Present Status in June 2020 :

• The right abutment hill continued to move for years after implementation of all of the above mentioned strengthening measures , but at reduced pace. The 2m dia piles too may have suffered some deflection.
• Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI)  has advised for off loading the right abutment by excavating and removing a huge part of overburden from the right abutment, starting from much higher levels, to improve its stability against sliding.

• A proverbial “stitch in time” in 2011 by adopting an adequate investigation, appropriate analysis and design by the Consultants may have saved  from occurrence of massive rock failure in the Right abutment.

• The actual construction of the dam having halted since 2013, despite various strengthening and rehabilitation works being attempted to rescue the situation, there have been two more slides in the Right Bank in the immediate downstream of location of the massive slide of 2013 .

• However, after 7 years of the massive slide which happened in July 2013, even the start of concreting for construction of 136m high dam is a big uncertainty as of now in 2020. With about Rs. 80000 millions spent already, the future of the Project apparently hangs in uncertainty as of now.

There remains a point of debate that with given geological conditions in the Right bank, whether this site was a fit site for implementing excavation of 300m depth ??

Moreover, the “churning” of the rock mass with in the hill, affected by the massive rock mass movement, which pushed the hill to over 5m, possibly would have created many voids in the rock mass. It can be adjudged so from what was indicated by many an incidents of self dropping by a meter or so, of drilling rig shaft, experienced while driving 325mm piles in the slid mass. Therefore, it may also be debatable that whether this Right Bank be making a safe and a water tight abutment for a 136m high dam??

Since you’ve seen part of the debate in this video, you would also appreciate that there was not enough time to go into this exciting topic in detail. My intention is to expand my point of view in a series of articles beginning with this one – Part I of the series. Also in Part II we will share the complete debate, so that we can get our co participants viewpoints across as well. To begin with, lets look at the sequence of events as reported by BBC ^​*​

The US Department of Defense has released three declassified videos of what it now calls an “Unexplained Aerial Phenomena” – the new nomenclature for UFOs

The Pentagon said it wanted to “clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real”.

In its statement, the Pentagon said: “After a thorough review, the department has determined that the authorised release of these unclassified videos does not reveal any sensitive capabilities or systems, and does not impinge on any subsequent investigations of military air space incursions by Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.

“DOD [Department of Defense] is releasing the videos in order to clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real, or whether or not there is more to the videos. The aerial phenomena observed in the videos remain characterized as ‘unidentified’.”

The videos had already been leaked in 2007 and 2017.

Two were published by the New York Times^​†​, while the third was leaked by an organisation, To the Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences, co-founded by former vocalist Tom DeLonge. The musician co-founded the academy in 2017 in order to study UFOs and other paranormal phenomena.

Tweeting about the release, DeLonge thanked shareholders in his organisation, and said “I am hoping to fund further research into the objects.”

“With today’s events and articles on my and @TTSAcademy’s efforts to get the US Gov to start the grand conversation, I want to thank every share holder for believing in us,” he said.

“Next, we plan on pursuing the technology, finding more answers and telling the stories.”

Many people surmised at that time that there were alien’s navigating those Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).

According to the New York Times, the clip from 2004 was filmed by two navy fighter pilots and shows a round object hovering above the water, about 100 miles (160 km) out into the Pacific Ocean.

Two other videos filmed in 2015 show objects moving through the air, one of which is spinning. In one, a pilot is heard saying: “Look at that thing, dude! It’s rotating!”

Let’s look at these videos described above

Obviously these aerial objects were not following any known laws of Newtonian physics . This author^​‡​ has always held that many new laws of dynamics are yet to be discovered or harnessed. One of them is Gravity. Yes we use Gravity of heavenly bodies to catapult or alter the course of rockets and satellites, enabling them to wander into the universe. This technique helps to save fuel and helps the spacecraft to remain navigable for a longer time. Hence Gravity is a force, a form of energy which is so powerful that it can hold Gigantic Planets, Suns and Stars together.

Yet my colleagues in the debate on Times Now program probably felt that if they were UFOs then they were to follow the same laws of physics which purportedly governed the rocket science of contemporary Space agencies like NASA. ISRO, Roscosmos and CNSA. Yes these Agencies have done remarkable work in outer space, but we are infants of science, if you compare yourself with the unimaginable size and extent of the Universe, and our place in it.

As beautifully put by Jonathan Marcus ^​§​ , “The fascination with the unexplained never goes away. And the UFO phenomenon is perhaps one of the most potent of these stories, linking uncertainty about worlds beyond our own to conspiracy theories about government and especially the US government. Down the centuries people have looked to the sky and tried to explain mysterious lights and objects.”

Roswell, New Mexico, currently known mostly through myths about aliens and UFOs, is a major Tourist destination with plethora of tourist attractions, skywalk and UFO museums, art galleries, Alien Zones, Inns and Hotels, was a little known place in 1947. It catapulted to fame when One morning around Independence Day 1947, about 75 miles from the town of Roswell, a rancher named Mac Brazel found something unusual in his sheep pasture: a mess of metallic sticks held together with tape; chunks of plastic and foil reflectors; and scraps of a heavy, glossy, paper-like material. Unable to identify the strange objects, Brazel called Roswell’s sheriff. The sheriff, in turn, called officials at the nearby Roswell Army Air Force base. Soldiers fanned out across Brazel’s field, gathering the mysterious debris and whisking it away in armored trucks. The farmer’s discovered debris, was initially described as a flying saucer, by the local media.

On July 8, “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region” was the top story in the Roswell Daily Record. But was it true? On July 9, an Air Force official clarified the paper’s report: The alleged “flying saucer,” he said, was only a crashed weather balloon, but later it emerge that it was part of a secretive balloon programme to monitor the Soviet Union.

However, in 1950, there was another twist to this public fantasy when the skeptics grew more numerous, when the Air Force conducted a series of secret “dummy drops” over air bases, test ranges and unoccupied fields across New Mexico. These experiments, meant to test ways for pilots to survive falls from high altitudes, sent bandaged, featureless dummies with latex “skin” and aluminum “bones”–dummies that looked an awful lot like space aliens were supposed to–falling from the sky onto the ground, whereupon military vehicles would descend on the landing site to retrieve the “bodies” as quickly as possible.  So we can see how much folklore is associated with the UFO mystery

Subsequently the testing base for advanced aircraft, known as Area 51 in Nevada, became the alleged centre for UFO research. For the conspiracy theorists this was where the US government sought to harness advanced alien technology.

Over the years many of the most outlandish theories have been debunked. But in 2017, the Pentagon did finally admit that it had a long-standing programme, now terminated, investigating alleged UFOs.

Undoubtedly the Idea of Aliens do fascinate people because of mystery attached to it. The event at Roswell got so embedded in public mind that it has inspired novels like Roswell High by Melinda Metz or even a recent television series Roswell, New Mexico , which is an American science fiction drama, named after the city . 

The inevitable question that follows is, are we a freak occurrence of life in the Universe, are we alone in this cosmos of Trillions of stars, galaxies, planets, exoplanets and what have you or is there life elsewhere too

DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.12571016
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12571016

More about this in subsequent articles

Part II will examine whether Science Fiction is really Fiction?

Part III will deal with the quintessential question: Are we alone in the Universe?

Also Read:

• The UFO sighting investigated by the police
• UFO ‘sighting’ becomes legend like King Arthur

The OneVorld video explains a scheme started by the Delhi state government to curb rising air pollution levels in Delhi.

Odd-Even Scheme: Drivers of the private vehicles may be allowed to drive, park or purchase gasoline on alternating days, according to whether the last digit on their license plate is even or odd.

AIM: The scheme aimed to reduce pollution and smog in Delhi

Phases of Odd-Even: The scheme was implemented from January 1, 2016. Re-implemented for the third time on November 11, 2019.

Results–

1. Less traffic pollution
2. Less road congestion
3. Increase average car speed
4. Less fuel usage
5. Increase public awareness

LEARNING: Start using public transport and car-pooling.

Save Delhi from pollution. ACT TODAY!

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BTP Students: Sejal Kumar / Aysha Fazilath / Rahul Patwardhan / Vyshakh Dharan
Video Input: Utsav Rohilla / Nitin Yadav / Aditya Diundi

It is Mahavir Jayanti today, one of the most important days in the Jain religious calendar. As the Jain community celebrates the birth anniversary of Bhagwan Mahavir by exchanging greetings on email or whatsApp messages, it seems Nature has taken upon itself to celebrate this auspicious day on a grand scale, Universal in nature. The Universe knows no geographical boundaries, hence the divine celebrations are playing out on the entire planet.

The Corona virus has mandated we rethink how we live, consume, and treat others. I will briefly mention only two principles that Lord Mahavir gave to the world that seem like a balm on the Corona-ed human soul.

The current state of the world is very appropriately reflected by the opening lines of Charles Dickens famous novel A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, …” It tells about a time of chaos, conflicts, and despair, as well as happiness. It, in fact, tells us about the time of extreme opposites without any in-betweens.

Something similar is unfolding on planet earth today.

As I sit pondering over the birth celebrations of Lord Mahavir since when I was a child, the images of community events where school-children performed plays and songs depicting the life of the Teerthankara, the liberated One, flash before my eyes. It was a time of community gathering, celebrations, much fun and socializing, followed by lots of sumptuous food eaten together. I recall with much nostalgia the annual speech I was asked to deliver, in English (at age 7 onwards, because I studied in a convent school!), on his life and principles. I knew by rote the main tenets of Jainism and Lord Mahavir’s three-fold path of Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct. For many years it continued thus, and I could have rattled off the entire Four-fold or Eight-fold Path (they are different for ascetics and householders) without pausing for a breath. Yet there was no deeper thought, no time for reflection on the teachings of this noble, liberated soul. Posters and banners proclaiming the lofty tenets of the world’s most non-violent religion were put up all over town, but how much was followed by people is anyone’s guess. As indeed it often happens in most religions.

However, today, as I sit locked up in my house – Coronavirus indeed has locked up indoors practically all humanity, I am having some Eureka moments! Yes, the wisdom of all my Mahavir-Jayanti speeches, scripted by people more learned than a 7-year-old, is gradually dawning on me. I feel the lessons humans have failed to learn by volition are being taught by Nature, à la science experiments demonstrated in a lab. Humans are perforce made to sit back while Nature takes over and teaches. The coping stone of Mahavir’s teaching has been “Live and Let Live,” kindness to all beings and cruelty towards none. He even went to tell humanity that plants too have a life, and therefore deserving mindfulness from humans.

The fact that the deadly Corona virus most probably originated from wet animal markets in China has forced mankind to rethink cruelty towards animals. In India most slaughter houses are shut, people are shunning animal flesh, eating healthy and vowing to continue with their kindness towards other living creatures. Humans are not the only inheritors of this beautiful planet. We have encroached in most downright manner, the habitat of birds and animals, cocking a snook at the principle of “Live and Let Live”. Now when the world, locked up behind closed doors, sees animals hitherto unseen on the roads roam freely, does it realize that in our race “to live” we forgot to “let others live”. We need to let the animals and birds, the air and water, sky and earth breathe and own their space in the universe. Our rapacious ways and the choices we make will not only kill them, but spell our own doom. In fact, we can live only if we let others live. The choice we had in “Live and Let Live” is long gone.

Another important tenet that Mahavir gave to humanity, and my most favorite one, is the beautiful precept of Aparigraha, or, in simplistic terms non-attachment to material things. Aparigraha is one of the virtues in Jainism, and one that was uncannily prescient when Mahavir expounded it more than 2,500 years ago. It is also one of the five vows that both householders and ascetics must observe. Non-Violence, Non-Stealing, and Truthfulness we all believe are necessary virtues, but when it comes to Aparigraha we are neither aware nor believe the same is very important virtue in higher pursuit of life.

Aparigraha is the virtue of non-possessiveness, non-grasping or non-greediness. Aparigraha is the opposite of parigrah, and refers to keeping the desire for possessions to what is necessary or important, depending on one’s life-stage and context.

In my current ruminative mood, I was wondering that the end of winter is usually the time for big-ticket sales in all shopping malls as well as online commerce sites. At this time of the year, one would have seen teeming crowds stocking up on “discounted goods,” unmindful of their need. But forced lock-downs the world over have seen people managing with what they have and no one is any the worse for it. When man‘s avarice could not be checked by any wise person’s advice, Nature had to step in and teach mankind a lesson it is not likely to forget any time soon. Instead of hoarding unwanted stuff, most people are decluttering their homes and spring-cleaning wardrobes. The world is seeing the benefit of minimalist life. This minimalist lifestyle, or Aparigraha was preached by Lord Mahavir at a time when the world probably was still unspoilt by abundance of material possessions. While excess consumption leads to bigger houses, faster cars, fancier technology, and cluttered homes, it never brings happiness. This, the world is being forced to see in the times of Corona virus. “A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient,” said Alexander, the great Greek conqueror about himself just before he died.

We don’t need a full house, we need a full life. This is going to be a life-changing resolution. Lord Mahavir’s other teachings of Forgiveness, Compassion and Sacrifice are as pertinent in the new world order when there seems to be a tectonic shift in human consciousness. Of that later!

In order to earn respect and to prove herself perfect to her own family, she gives up her own natural expression, her individuality and physical health.

How will she take charge of her life after 10 to 20 years of working as housewife and a full time mother, whereas she has nearly lost her self-confidence?

While waiting for our turn she asked me “Is it very difficult to get separated from the husband? My life is a mess, after 15 years of our marriage, my husband is still possessive and controlling. I feel I am done, but who will support me? My parents are so innocent. Where will I go? What will I do? From where will I get the money?

She shared all this with me because she knew I had separated from my husband four years back. It was a long and tough, yet a magical journey to find happiness, to be more confident, to face the challenges and to let it go.

Since my daughter was born, my life completely changed like most of the females in India. I gained much weight yet I was weak from inside. I did my best for my child and family. In the middle of it, it was usual disagreement with my husband, no closeness, and difficult to communicate, that made the life bad to worse.

There was no love and respect left in the relationship. We tried to adjust for eight years in the name of the child, family and social pressure, but the loneliness and sadness was eating me up.

I decided to go to Rishikesh alone to spend some time with myself. That was my first big step. I came back, armed with mediation techniques. They were powerful. I was eager to know more about myself with the help of them. By practicing intensely for two years, I got more clarity. Gradually I became more calm and peaceful yet happiness was missing.

One day mom asked me to leave her place. I was unofficially thrown out. I found a decent apartment at an even better place in no time. The required furniture was provided by the landlord.

After sending my daughter to the school, sitting at home, I was thinking how to manage the rent of Rs.20,000/- and daily expenses. I had some savings, which were fast flowing out from my bank account. My prioriies were, first to stabilize my health, second to occupy myself especially in morning and third some regular income was needed. This all was worrying me at back of my head all the time.

In the middle of struggles, two things supported me, first my daily meditation practice and second my dance classes in the evening, which I never discontinued even during the financial crisis.

Soon the meditation trust which I was working with started paying me the salary of Rs.15000/- per month. In additional I took up a part time job, teaching dance to the small children twice in a week. The money was exactly covering my needs.

Seeing my efforts, mom realized that she had been hard on me and offered me to take care of papa’s books and stationary shop, which was in a bad condition.

I found it challenging and creatively. Mom also started paying me some salary and I left the part time job and stopped taking money from the trust. Life became comfortable.

I am happy doing my writing, working at papa’s shop, learning dance, conducting retreat once in three months. I realized everything is temporary, for short time but my sincerity, totality and the joy is real.

The life continues bringing me more and tougher challenges. In the process of finding the best way out, I feel growth in all the aspects of my being.

We are so much in the habit of calculating our life as a profit and loss account, that fears have settled in us, that prevent us to truly follow our heart. Sometimes we keep waiting for others or God to take the first step and the whole life is gone. It is not easy but when one has no choice and ready to take the flight then life supports us

Poem

I had never been persistent in my life

Changing the jobs number of times,

No relationship to hold tight,

No material achievements to feel pride,

“Have I been so restless?” it came to my mind

Then why do I feel peace when I close my eyes,

Yes, I was persistent following my heart throughout my life.

On Sunday 12 August 2018, a US-based group called ‘Sikhs for Justice’ organised a rally in London (UK) to demand what it called ‘Sikh Referendum 2020’ in the Indian state of Punjab to find whether Sikhs there want a separate State for themselves.
Before discussing what such groups exactly want, first a couple of simple questions for this group –

Does the group ‘Sikhs for Justice’ imply that they are the only Sikhs who stand for justice, and those Sikhs who are not their members don’t stand for justice? What is the meaning of the group giving the title ‘Sikhs for Justice’ exclusively to themselves?
Secondly, do the ‘Sikhs for Justice’ demand ‘Justice for All’ or ‘Justice for Sikhs only’. If it is the latter, then you should be calling your organisation ‘Sikhs for Justice for Only Sikhs’, rather than presenting yourselves as ‘saviours of everybody’. Let the group’s potential followers and observers know that the group members are not concerned about non-Sikhs – no matter how much indignities are inflicted and atrocities are committed upon them.
On the other hand, if ‘Sikhs for Justice’ stand for ‘Justice for All’, then the group needs to answer what have they done from their own side to provide justice to the families of innocent people killed by the followers of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, presumably their own spiritual leader? Before he was flushed out of the Golden Temple, Mr Bhindranwale led a gang of (Sikh) terrorists who killed hundreds of innocent Hindus, Nirankaris and Sikhs. According to the independently compiled reports, in the two year period between 4 August 1982, when the so-called Dharma Yudh Morcha (Sikh Jihad) was launched, and 3 June 1984 there were more than 1200 violent incidents in which 410 persons were killed and 1180 injured. In the year 1984 itself between 1 January and 3 June, 775 violent incidents happened killing 298 and injuring 525. All this happened before the Operation Blue Star and before the anti-Sikh riots following Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Do those innocent victims not deserve any justice? Before you ask for justice for yourself, shouldn’t you be asking for and doing something towards justice to the victims of your own violent campaign that provoked anti-Sikh sentiment in India in the first place?

Coming to the main issue, the State Sikh separatist elements crave for is called Khalistan, the land of the pure! The thinking is to have a state on the lines of Pakistan, the land of the pious! Pakistan and Khalistan are synonyms.

Now, a verse from the Granth Sahib, the Sikhs’ holy book, written by the 15th century Indian mystic poet and saint Kabir, says –

Awwal Allah Noor Upaya, Qudrat Ke Sab Bande!
Aik Noor Te Sab Jag Upajiya, Kaun Bhale Ko Mande!!
(God created the light from which all human-beings were born! The whole universe was born from one source; So, whom would you call good and whom bad!!)

The verse is widely quoted in Sikh teachings. So, the question the proponents of Khalistan need to answer is – Who do they call ‘pure’ and whom they would call ‘impure’, and on what basis?

The Sikh Gurus have also said, “Manas ki jaat sabai eikai pahachaanbau”, meaning ‘All human-beings are one caste; we must treat them all equally.’ So, on what basis are the proponents of Khalistan discriminating between Sikhs and non-Sikhs, and demanding a State exclusively for Sikhs? Are they not violating the teachings of the Gurus, while claiming to be their disciples?

By demanding an exclusive State for Sikhs, the proponents of Khalistan are in fact saying Sikhs can’t live with non-Sikhs, definitely not with Hindus, who are basically their cousins. If you can’t live with your cousins who are the same race as you, who speak the same language as you, who have the same ancestors as you, and who respect your religion as much as their own, which is your ancestors’, how would then Sikhs live with people of other races and other religions (in whose eyes they are still pagans) in Britain, Canada and the US? When are they going to demand separate Sikh States in those countries? In your “struggle” for Khalistan against India, you expect to get support from Western countries! Do you expect the people in Western countries to be totally dumb and not see the danger you pose to them in the future? People of Canada have not forgotten 23 June 1985 when you blew up midair Air India flight 182 operating on the Montréal-London-Delhi-Bombay route off the coast of Ireland killing 329 people. Among them were 22 Indian nationals and 280 Canadian nationals. Do you think the Canadian people thanked you for that?

You are demanding a State on the pattern of Pakistan that was created exclusively for Muslims. That State was based on ethnic cleansing. It was established by chasing out Hindus and Sikhs out their lands where they had lived for thousands of years. Now, you are craving for a State exclusively for Sikhs! You’re dreaming to chase out Hindus and other non-Sikhs from Punjab! Do you know what repercussions it could have for the Sikhs living in other parts of India? More than 5 million Sikhs live outside Punjab, in other states of India. Before demanding Khalistan, have you consulted those Sikhs? Are you going to invite all those people to join Khalistan? Do you have a settlement plan for them? Are they prepared for this? Why the socalled referendum should be confined to the state of Punjab?

Today you demand a separate State in the name of Sikhism. Suppose tomorrow a minority community among Sikhs such as Ramgarhias (who even today have separate gurudwaras) or Dalit Sikhs demand a separate State for themselves, would you accept the demand?

Would the proponents of Khalistan treat all Sikhs equally? Would you all drop your surnames showing your castes such as Sandhus and Siddhus? Why have you not done it so far?

You say Pakistan is your friend. According to the 1941 census, in some of the districts that now form Pakistan the Sikh population was as high as 19.8%. After the creation of Pakistan it dropped to 0.1% in all of them. What do you think Pakistan did to its Sikh population?
The Pakistani army and ISI might still “love” you and help you in your “fight” against India. However, in the eyes of Islam, you are still ‘disbelievers’. People like Hafez Sayeed still consider you Kafir (infidel). So, what treatment do you expect from Pakistani establishment where Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhavi, Maulana Masood Azhar and Hafez Sayeed wield power, once Sikhs get separated from India?

Different proponents of Khalistan have made different territorial claims for the formation of Khalistan. If you are after the territory Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled, then most of it is in Pakistan now. Are you sure that Pakistan would allow you to take over that region? Some of your leaders have made claims over Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan too. What is the basis of these claims over these areas, where Sikhs form a tiny minority of the population, that too through immigration from Punjab in the recent decades? Or do you think you would be able to chase out non-Sikhs from those areas too?

Historically Sikhism has been pan-Indian. The Granth Sahib draws from works of saints in North as well as South India (a large part of it is written in Khari Boli and Braj Bhasha, and not in Punjabi), and many of the important seats of Sikhism such as Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, Sri Patna Sahib in Bihar and Hazur Sahib in Maharashtra are outside the Indian state of Punjab.

So, how are you going to follow the dictum Raj Bina Nahin Dharam Chale Hai (without self-rule a religion can’t keep going) with many important seats of Sikhism still outside the raj (rule) of Khalistan/Sikhistan?

The proponents of Khalistan also need to inform their potential followers a bit about the character of the proposed State –
As you also believe Dharam Bina Sab Dalle Malle Hai (without religion everyone gets trampled upon), first and foremost question is, what would be the position of clergy in the governmental system of Khalistan? You were happy for Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale to occupy the Golden Temple and stockpile a large quantity of weapons and ammunition there.

Would in your Khalistan both the government and the religion be run by the clergy sitting in the Golden Temple and they would be allowed to store weapons & ammunition in gurudwaras and keep an army? Or would there be an elected government? If the government would be formed through elections, what power the clergy would have over the government ‘to stop it from trampling over everyone’?

Or would you follow the Pakistan model where the army has the overriding power over the elected government, and religious clergy is kept subordinate to the government. If you adopt that model, how would the dictum of ‘Dharam Bina Sab Dalle Malle Hai’ be taken care of?

Assuming Punjabi in Gurumukhi to be the official language, and being “progressive” leaders you would like people to learn English too. But would people be allowed to learn other foreign languages such as Hindi, Urdu, Persian, etc and watch foreign films such as Hindi and English movies, and whether they would be allowed to have full access to the internet? Such freedoms could have corrupting influence on the “pure” people of Khalistan, you know! What dress code men and women would be made to follow? If a man wants to cut his hair, or shave his beard, what punishment would they be given? Basically, how would you deal with a ‎bajjarprati?

The most important question is – Whether there would be any freedom of religion at all in Khalistan? One would assume going back into the Hindu fold would not be tolerated in Khalistan. You would most probably have death penalty for such people! But what if a person wants to get converted into Islam or Christianity, how would they be dealt with? Would you kill them too, or would you let them change their religion?

Remember, if you let people change their religion, theoretically everyone can change their religion, and the Khalistan could disappear. It is not entirely impossible – Sethis, Bajwas, Cheemas and Ranas in Pakistan got converted from Sikhism to Islam. On the other hand, if you bar people from changing into Islam, do you expect to have friendly relations with Pakistan? Furthermore, if you bar people from converting into Christianity, how those of you who live in Western countries would justify your right to profess and propagate your religion in these countries? What if these primarily Christian countries bar you from practicing any non-Christian faith? You would be denying the citizens of Khalistan the rights that you enjoy yourself in the West. Would that be justifiable? You murdered Nirankari Chief, you attacked followers of other cults and faiths! And, you expect the West and the World to support you! Pakistan may support you till you get separated from India. Do you believe Pakistan to continue to coddle you, particularly when some of you talk of breaking up Pakistan too!

You proclaim Sikhs are a separate nation and your history starts only from the time of Sikh Gurus (about 500 years ago), and you have no connection with the Hindus! How has this come about? Are Sikhs a different species and were airdropped by ‘God’ into the land of Punjab! Contrary to your belief, no such thing happened – Get your DNA checked and you would find that you have the same blood as Jats of Haryana, Rajputs of Rajasthan, Khatris of Punjab and the rest of Hindus. Your ancestors were the same as those of the Hindus. This is a physical fact.

But you have developed such hatred towards your ancestors that you hate the connection with them – actually you don’t even acknowledge the connection. Well, how would you feel if a section of your descendants hates you the same way? Imagine one of your grandsons or great grandsons turning their back on Sikhism and calling you ‘backward thinking’! You think it cannot happen? Your ancestors also never thought that their descendants would hate them the way you do. There was a convention among the Hindus of Punjab. They used to make one of their sons join Sikh panth. They never imagined that their descendants would disown and hate them. The law of nature is – What goes around, comes around – if you hate your ancestors, your descendants would do the same to you.

You are hankering after a homeland for Sikhs, and you say that India is the homeland of Hindus only. Would you then say that India is not the homeland of Jains, whose religious philosophy and traditions separate from the so-called Hindus are much older than yours – more than two thousand years old?

You may not, but the rest of the world can see – India is the homeland of not merely Hindus. India is the birthplace of Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism along with Sanatan Dharma. And India is the homeland of every person who calls themselves Indian, whatever their race or faith. India is certainly the homeland of Sikhs. How can it not be the homeland of Sikhs when a Sikh became the prime minister of India twice in the space of 15 parliaments after Independence! There is no top position in the country that Sikhs, with less than 2% population, have not occupied.

Khalistan is primarily a Diaspora construct. The first known proponent of Khalistan, Davinder Singh Parmar migrated to London in 1954 and asserted the demand for an independent state of Khalistan. And the chief proponent of Khalistan was Jagjit Singh Chohan who moved to the United Kingdom, to start his campaign for creation of Khalistan, after losing the Punjab Assembly elections in 1969. It was Chohan who raised the Khalistani flag in Birmingham in 1970, and placed an advertisement in the New York Times in 1971 proclaiming an independent Sikh state.

Most of the Groups such as Babbar Khalsa International, International Sikh Youth Federation, and Sikhs for Justice also are based in the US, Canada and the UK. So would you really go back to Khalistan if it ever gets formed? Or do you just want to push the Sikhs of India into a swamp?
Don’t you think, you have done enough damage to the Sikhs – from being seen as ‘Sardar ji’ (leader/protector), they were reduced to ‘suspected terrorists’ all over India at one time; their job prospects and business interests suffered; and economically from Number One position in India, Punjab, though still above the Indian average, has drastically come down in its ranking among the states – the thirteenth position in 2016-17.

Just to say, immature Justin Trudeau might be romancing with you, but the people of Canada aren’t. They were aghast at Mr Trudeau’s antics, as you might have noticed by the reaction in the Canadian media, when he was dancing with Khalistanis at the Taj Mahal during his last unwelcome visit to India. The UK authorities might allow you to hold a rally in London, but people in the UK, France, Belgium, Spain, and Germany have had their fair share of Islamic terror, and haven’t got any more appetite for supporting terrorist organisations against other countries. Your track record isn’t exactly very peaceful.

Long gone are the days when anti-India elements used to get support from Western establishments. Among the Indian Sikh community there is zilch support for you. Whether you hold a rally in London or New York, you would get nowhere.
It might be an idea that you now pack up and go home, and let the Land of the Gurus have peace and prosperity as it was before you developed a craving for the mirage called Khalistan.

Copyright © 2018 Krishan Tyagi. All Rights Reserved.

some feedbacks received by the author on his personal website:

As always, your article is well written, informative and above all educative and rational.”
Mukat Singh, Educationist

“It’s a very well researched and logically advanced sharp rebuttal of the Khalistani movement. Thank you for sharing.”
Shivkant Sharma, former Sr Producer, BBC World Service

“The questions raised are very appropriate.”
Sardar Jagmohan Singh

“I found it a very passionate argument against Khalistan.  I liked the fact that you quote from Sikh scriptures and remind people of the terrorism that Khalistanis carried out in the eighties.  The facts you give lend a lot of weight to your argument.  The only thing I can say against the article, is that I suspect some people won’t like it at all.  Personally, I think the points you make are very valid.”
Jeanice, Development Activist

“Very impressed with the article!  These elements pose a challenge to the Sikh community.”
Kailash Budhwar, former Head of the BBC Hindi Service

A HOMAGE  TO  KIMATRAI BAHARMAL KHUSHALANI

 Bringing to you the Late Shri Kimatrai Baharmal  Khushalani’s  essay UTILITY OF HONESTY IN TRADE. Priced two annas, published in 1936, this essay was awarded a Gold Medal  based on an All India competition held in 1934. Readers will find that the essay is as relevant today as it was then. We begin with a foreword which was published along with the essay – Editor

A  Foreword  by
S. G.  Sastry Esq.,  B. A.t  M. Sc.  (Lond),  F. C. S.,
Director of Industries  and  Commerce  in  Mysore.
THE DHARMA  SAMAJA
BANGALORE   CITY., 1936.
Price: Annas 2
[All Rights  Reserved.]

FOREWORD

I welcome the opportunity afforded to me by. the Secretary of the Dharma Samaja, Chickpet, Bangalore City, to write a foreword to the Prize Essay on the subject of “Utility of Honesty in Trade”  by Mr. K. B. Khushalani. BE

The Dharma Samaja is being conducted by an enthusiastic group of young men who feel that there is an ever growing need for conducting trade and commerce of the country in the true and ancient spirit of the “Vanik Dharma.” This harkening back to the old traditions and ideals is a good sign amongst the youth of the country and should be welcomed and encouraged in all ways

Owing to changes in the political and economic conditions of the people, traditional and time-honoured ways of carrying on trade and commerce of the country  have   undergone many changes, alas, for the worse.

Now-a-days the spirit of fair-play in commercial transactions is lacking. The mutual trust that ought to exist between the buyer and seller is absent. As of old, the buyer and seller make offers and counter-offers but in many instances bargaining degenerates into cheating. Either the buyer or the seller always tries to take a mean advantage over the other. Once upon a time, the motto of commercial transactions used to be ‘ Good value for money – This is no longer the rule.

One often finds in transactions between two countries especially if one of them is more advanced than the other the former country exploits the ignorance and helplessness of the latter country to the utmost and charges unconscionably high rates for goods supplied. Importers of machinery and other equipment in India know this too well.

One of the most regrettable forms that this cheating has assumed is the adulteration of goods offered for sale. I do not state that this is peculiar to India only but so long as it does exist in this country, it must be taken note of and attempts made to eradicate the evil. Once upon a time this evil was rampant in all our staple exports to foreign countries but it is gradually on the decline owing to legislation in some cases, owing to the realisation on the part of the exporters that it does not pay to adulterate commodities, and also owing to inferior position allotted to such commodities in International markets along side with similar commodities from other countries. There is also an increasing moral pressure being exercised by those who believe in a fair deal.

But nearer home, in all our markets – small or great – the evil of adulteration of foodstuffs is on the increase. This is nothing short of a criminal practice and ought to be put down ruthlessly by legal and other methods. Whereas the mixing of cotton with woollen goods or cotton with silk goods or mixing silk and Rayon and pass off the articles as real 100 per cent woollen, real 100 per cent silk, etc. may not have such consequences, the adulteration of foodstuffs  strikes  at

the  health  of the community itself.  Whatever may  have been the genesis of this situation, so long as it exists it is high time that the Government took early steps to put down the evil-   It  is  unnecessary  to  enumerate  cases  of  such adulteration as every householder will  be able  to prepare a long list.

One special field in which adulteration becomes a positive sin should be mentioned. This relates to drugs and medicines. Anybody who is inclined to go through the Drug Enquiry Committee Report will find ample recorded evidence of so called medicines sold in the markets not being medicines at all. It is regrettable that scientists have abused their knowledge in some instances and are committing the unforgivable sin of tampering with and adulterating medicines which are meant to alleviate human distress and save human lives. Such deceit could be, to some extent, controlled by drastic legislation but that cannot be expected to prevent fraud in trade for ever as man-made laws cannot be fool proof. But even here, unfortunately, India is lagging behind the other countries which have enacted stringent legislative measures to punish such people by award of deterrent sentences. Unscrupulous foreign merchants knowing full well that their crime goes undetected in India for lack of laboratories and further goes unpunished for lack of legislation in the matter have been running “amock” as it were, in Indian markets and label all sorts of fraudulent preparations as potent medicines which not only do not cure the disease but impoverish the poor and ignorant public.

The best security against such practices is a high sense of morality among the manufacturers and traders themselves. If “Honesty as a faith” does not appeal to one and all, at least “Honesty as a policy” ought to be the guiding factor in all our economic transactions. The Trade Guilds of our country and the Graff and Merchant Guilds of mediaeval Europe exercised a powerful influence on their members dealings and one would wish for the revival of this “Guild’ Spirit” through the modern trade organisations. Enlightened public opinion based on a high sense of morality is the best guarantee for the protection of the public against commercial frauds. The members of the Dharma Samaja have in this direction a rich field for effective and enduring social service.

I do not want the foreword to be longer than the text itself and I should draw a line at this point. I wish the Dharma Samaja and all the enthusiastic workers connected with it every luck and success in their endeavours. Their work is not easy but they must carry on with a missionary spirit and try their level best to see that the trade and commerce of the country are carried on in the true spirit of ancient “Vanik Dharma“.

S. G. SASTRY,
Director Of Industries And Commerce In Mysore.
Bangalore, (21st September 1956)          

UTILITY OF HONESTY IN TRADE
HONESTY THE BEDROCK OF SUCCESS
An award winning essay by K.B. Khushalani

1. Honesty, more natural than dishonesty

The fundamental principles of Human Existence are Truth and Honesty, for, everybody is more honest than dishonest; the   greatest liar utters more truths than lies. This is part of the general fact that there is more goodness in the World than badness or Evil, though occasionally we find appalling crimes, which are rather aberrations or freaks and do not proceed from the intrinsic nature of the World. In fact, a perfect liar is really a ‘ truthful man”, for, we can then always. say that truth must be other than what he speaks. By a liar we mean an occasional liar, and he is really a dangerous man. So is it in the case of Honesty- By a dishonest man we al­ways understand one who is occasionally dishonest. Thus honesty is more natural than dishonesty, and that is why it betrays its nature from beneath the darkest cloaks, and we can’t once suspect that the man is dishonest. It is exactly because of the same reason that crimes are detected, for, every hap­pening leaves its traces, and, try as we may, we will not be able to hide them. Again that which is natural is beneficial, for it works in a graceful manner; and honesty, when allowed its free play, works wonders, specially in the long run. In trade; one has to depend on the good-will of many, and honesty is the best means to the end. Honesty should be practised in all walks of life; it is a strength and a support in all matters of routine; it has all advantages and only one apparent dis­advantage, that sometimes one feels that there is loss, but really that  is temporary and   in   many cases only apparent.

There are often trials and, when one successfully stands them, he comes out nobler and brighter. Every trouble means a fur­ther rise, and the greater the opposition it offers in surmounting, the better are its results. The fruit is simply delayed, but never denied, and if and when withheld longer, it is paid with in­terest. One has only to be patient and watching; he should muster up courage and should never be disheartened. All obstacles are meant for training; they are cleverly designed and intentionally set, each for its purpose, and each variant in design, and different in colour to suit the particular case. All this is for Honesty generally; in trade, its results are direct, cheap and comparatively earlier than elsewhere.

2. Trade differentiated from other occupations as regards honesty.

Trade is different from other occupations, in that its, adherent is independent. It is his merit alone that counts; he is the master of the situation, controlled only by market rates. It is a profession peculiar in it­self. In spite of the trader’s dealings with many people of different temperaments, for whose pleasure and custom he has to strive constantly which he can do better by honesty rather than by dishonesty, he can remain independent and can main­tain his self-respect fully well. Of course, there are some people always and everywhere, who can never be pleased by any means, honest or dishonest. As they are few and far between, they should never be bothered about, and it is always preferable to ignore their custom rather than hanker after them.

 

3. Businessman   should fulfill   his part of   duty

The relationship of the customer and the merchant is one in which are involved  the interests of   both.   The  former wants   supply of good articles  at a reasonable price,   while the latter is after the custom  of the former; and the maintenance of the tie depends upon both   the reasonableness of the one and the honesty   of the   other.    The   businessman, who   wants to establish himself well, should fulfil his   duty and the customer will automatically do his.    Granting that men are   unreasona­ble,  yet it in no  way   pays   the   dealer to   be   dishonest with them, though  we   should   consider the   average   buyer who is seldom unreasonable in his demands.    In case a purchaser ex­pects too much concession,   it should be explained to him for an amicable deal, as few would grudge the fair profits of a dealer. It is only when a dealer   sets   his   prices unreasonably   high that he does not like to explain his   position.    Explaining the position is not disposing   trade   secrets, which   are as dear to  any  one else, and principles of honesty  do not their  revelition.    The   position of the buyer is slightly superiot to that of the   seller in the respect   that the choice of choosing his suppliers is in his hands; and this is a further rea­son for the seller to   adapt his behaviour in accordance with the likes and dislikes of the buyer.    None will or can say that any purchaser ever wants his supplier to be dishonest to him. From the time he enters the   shop or   negotiates by   corres­pondence, his pleasure   is to be considered   supreme, and it is the duty of the dealer to see that   he gives no   cause for any suspicion.    But, as the face is the index to the mind, he can­not successfully do it unless he practises honesty.   Customers are free birds, they cannot be tied down to one shop unless-there is something to attract them, and the best that the-owner of the shop can offer is his sincerity.

4. Dishonest tricks practised by the Seller and their detrimental effects.

The kind of honesty  expected  from   the trader is :—

                     (i) Honesty in talk

(a) While recommending his articles to his customer he should neither exaggerate their qualities, nor assign to them any­more qualities than they possess, and

(b)    He should   not at   the   same time,   speak low of others’ articles,  but   should restrict  himself only to praising his own.

                     (ii) Honesty in rate

He should keep his rates fixed   once and for all.    The tendency to snatch   as much from the other party as possible is counterproductive and creates suspicion in the mind of the customer

A prudent businessman should avoid flexible rates, he should  see that the rates are in fair  level with the market price. Of course no two traders can keep the rates of all articles the same; it is just like saying, that no two watches tally exactly, and if they do at all, they cannot continue to do so for long; yet as much of standardization as can possibly be attained should be aimed at.

                       (iii) Honesty in samples.

Dishonesty- in this   can   be of   two kinds. Some dealers show samples from the best lot, they want to sell but quote prices   for   the    inferior  articles;   others choose as their sample  the best of the  lot they want to  sell,

but the sample does not represent the average of the stock. Both practices are decidedly not good and should be discouraged; it is only a question of  degree as between them, the former being worse, and the latter bad.

                       (iv) Honesty in Supply

(a)     It is a practice   with   many   dealers   to   show one article as a sample and supply   another an inferior one. Some of them maintain great differences in the qualities and some keep less. The former are ruled out at the first stroke by the purchaser in his choice and they seldom continue as traders for long, whereas the latter carry on, but cut no good figure. Thus, the latter class of people exist for exigencies only.

{ b ) Some of the dealers again put in a few bad things in the lot; they either take undue advantage of the purchaser’s weakness, or think that he would not take the trouble of returning the articles. If at all he does try to return, they reserve to themselves the choice of accepting them, and, in almost all cases, refuse to take back. This audacious abuse of confidence is very bad and detrimental to the interests of the dealer.

 

The kind of honesty  expected  from   the trader is :—

5. Honesty in maintaining books

 

It is a habit with many merchants to maintain duplicate books, vouchers, bills etc. Duplicate books vouchers are maintained to cheat either the Income Tax Authorities or debtors and creditors, the debtors when they are illiterate and the creditors at the time of insolvency; whereas duplicate bills are shown to customers as a proof of quoted cost prices. These’ bills are prepared either by the merchant or his supplier who-is requested to show higher prices than actual. Another trick is sometimes played, the supplier being asked to show true prices but not the commission on the bill. This is justified by some people on the ground that commission is meant solely and entirely for the trader, and the purchaser has no-business with it. But in the true sense of the word it can be justified only when the trader plainly tells his customer that he receives a certain commission, the extent of which he cannot disclose. -The act of cheating the Income Tax Department puts Government to heavy loss, which is usually counteracted by revision of rates by Government, and the burden is. borne ultimately by these who do not, or by both. Besides, if once caught, they are heavily penalised.

The fact of anybody declaring himself insolvent, after setting aside certain properties for himself and having prepared false books for submission to Court, never remains a secret. and is often proved in the Courts of Law. In those cases, however, where sufficient evidence is not available to pin the dishonesty, there is a definite judgment against him in the business world, where each individual weighs his action the balance and finds himself wanting. Such a man  loses the confidence of the mercantile class, and everybody tries to keep him at a distance and hesitates to deal with him.

6. Honesty in general not covered by the above five cases

All these practices are bad; they are enumerated in the order of increasing importance and should be avoided by every businessman who .wants to expand his business. The traders who practise them are shortsighted, for they look to the immediate and not to the

 permanent gain. They do not understand that it is not a day’s business. If the public are  prejudiced against any dealer, the prejudice lasts for years, and may stand as a permanent  and indelible stain against his firm even though he be dead, and his posterity have to drudge heavily to wipe it off.

Remember: Dishonesty is detected always

All malpractices, deceitful tricks and other acts of dishonesty are bound to come to light some time; some are known on the very day and others later on. If one has praised his article too much and given it fictitious qualities, the truth will be known after use, when it will not stand the test. Dishonesty in the quality of materials, in samples, and in quantity is known the very moment the goods are received by the purchaser. One can

Befool one at all times

Or all at one time

But not all at all times.

Now-a-days the World has advanced considerably. Scientists are after speed; and are  providing all kinds of facilities with the result that the entire world is connected by Telegraph, Telephone and Wireless systems. Telepathy, and Television are abstract subjects no more. Every merchant worth the name keeps a Telephone instrument in his office, and market prices are being communicated to him every moment; therefore the chances of a big dealer’s cheating and being cheated in rates are remote. Besides, the present age is the age of specialization, and everybody knows the ins and outs of his field. He keeps up a thorough acquaintance with the rates and other information connected with  the commodities he deals in, and seldom allows himself to be cheated, if at all, and much  less by the same man twice. People do not hesitate to form opinions from a single instance, and that is what is being done. They do not want even to wait and defer judgment until a repetition occurs. If even from a distance they smell dishonesty, they would cut off their connection at once.

6. Efficacy of Low Profits

Every dealer should believe in low charges, ie. less profit and more custom (small profits and quick returns) and never in high profit which is bound to result in the long run in less custom – But whatever be his rates, they should be uniform, and then only can he be said to be honest.

7. Dealer should not play in quality

No dealer should play with quality; neither in toto nor in part, as the opposite party, failing to understand the dishonest intentions of the sender, forms an opinion, wrong though, that the general quality of his entire stock is bad.  This is detrimental to the reputation also of the manufacturer, who should see that no bad stuff leaves his factory. All the inferior output- should be forthwith sorted out and sold definitely at a low rate, not to the big merchants, but to the retail sellers. Better still would it be if each factory should create one or more shops, according to need, for the  purpose of selling such stuff under its direct guidance, so as to reduce the chances of  marring-its reputation-

8. In regard to the purchaser, the following are the acts
           of dishonesty performed by him.

(i)       If he sends for goods from two people dealing in the    same commodity, and perchance gets bad stuff from one who refuses to take it back, he tries to dump it on the other. This is a mean practice and is simply taking advantage of somebody’s goodness and reliance. In case the fact becomes known to him through the concerned supplier, as it generally happens, he is pained  at the trick of his customer, which naturally deters him from affording such facilities thereafter.

  (ii)      In the process of bargaining with a dealer he may falsely state that he is getting the same stuff cheaper, or better stuff at the same price from some other dealer, in order to compel him to reduce his rates. It is evident that the same trick cannot be repeated, and that it breaks the faith of his supplier.

(iii)    When the sample shown to him is really good, he generally disapproves of it or approves of it after higgle haggle, this is unfair. If he does not want to praise the article lest he should hear a high bid from him, he should keep silent. Such lies, like many other ones, can be avoided without any disadvantage, and, when one does not do so, he simply burdens his conscience for no gain.

9. Do as you wish to be done by.

Every trader is a purchaser and a seller at the same time, and should observe honesty in both the capacities. Unless he is an honest seller, he cannot be an honest buyer and vice versa. He should always keep in mind the maxim ‘Do as you wish to be done by ‘. This will guide him in both the lines, and when he feels that he has satisfied himself accord­ing to this test in both the ways, then only can he be called a successfully honest trader.

10. Quick rectification of bonafide mistakes increase confidence.

The trader should be honest in his accounts; if he has perchance committed a mistake in dispatching goods or preparing a bill,he should ,immediately he comes to know of it, correct it without waiting for its being   pointed out by   the other party.    Similarly, if   he   receives   any article   extra   or discovers a mistake in   account to   his   advantage,   he should forthwith point it out to his supplier.   Again, if perchance and through mistake, i.e. he has unintentionally charged some one higher rates, he should communicate the fact to that customer and credit the balance to his account or be prepared   to remit in   cash.       All    these    acts,    and    specially   the     last,   in­crease the   confidence   of his    supplier and   purchaser,   who-repay his goodness by advertising him among others.    This-evidently   brings him greater profit than he   would   otherwise have realized, for, in many cases, if he does not himself point it out , the other party does it, and claims the balance as a right..

11. The manufacturer and the consumer

There are two more classes of people who have dealings in trade, but are not traders. A trader necessarily is one who purchases certain goods and sells them at a profit. He is the middle man between the manufacturer and the con­sumer, the two classes of people under consideration. Both these have one sided dealings, the one sells and the other only purchases, and, because of their restricted dealings, they are not so tactful as the trader

The manufacturing class includes the artisan who prepares articles with his own hands on a small scale.  He is generally poor, and his business, like that of the manufacturer, depends upon the quality of the manu­factured articles.   He can retain his customers only if he continues using good raw materials and producing good stuff.

12. Psychology of the consumer

The consumer is a purchaser on a very small scale, but because of his existence in large numbers, he is the most important member of the trading circle, and, because every article has ultimately to go to him, his pleasure, and, choice is considered supreme. Both the manufacturer and the trader try to adopt their policy according to his taste. He purchases articles for his or his friends’ and relatives’ use. He wants good stuff and at a reasonable price; he frequents only those places where both these conditions are satisfied; and thus he always prefers an honest shopkeeper. He is reliant and will continue attending the same as long as nothing happens to break his faith which, if once broken, requires a very great effort to restore.  To make new customers, they say, is difficult, but to retain them is still more difficult.

Thus perpetual honesty is required to attract new customers and to retain old ones. Carelessness in this matter never pays the dealer, but will rather harm him. One may give away anything of one’s own accord or on demand, but never when he knows he is being cheated; he then feels much pain and many are actuated to revenge, when they know that they have been cheated. Further the consumer likes to make purchases from such shops as maintain fixed rates, for he is not a trader and naturally not so well versed in the line. Therefore be may not know the current prices of articles, especially of those that he occa­sionally requires. In a fixed-rate-shop he may have to pay a slightly higher price, but he feels sure that lie will not be cheated for a big sum, which is generally the case in shops where no uniform rates are charged, and where the shop-keeper tries to snatch as much as he can from the customer, the more so when he gets the clue that he has no definite knowledge of prices of the article.

The shopkeepers are usually clever enough to understand this at once from the manner of his enquiring. From what has been said above, it is absolutely clear that the shopkeeper can cheat the same man only once. A dishonest dealer can make successful business, when he gets every day new faces to deceive, and has to deal daily with different men not known to one another and not expected to meet one Another; or, if at all they meet’ they should not speak about the purchases made by them on that day or any of the previous days, so that everybody else remains in the dark and never knows about the dishonesty of the man unless he gets a chance to be cheated himself. This however, is an utterly impossible condition to realize. Or dishonesty may pay, where people are suppressed due to pres­sure of one’s superiority or where heads are corrupt; but such conditions do not exist in the business world, and where they exist, they never last long.

13. Honesty the best of all Qualities of a trader

As in other fields it is hard work and intelligence that establish a recruit, so in trade it is Honesty that can establish him. Cheerful temperament, a tendency to accommodate the customer in his choice and demand, agreeable manners, respect for the customer, self-respect and, last but not least. honesty in dealing are some of the qualities required for successful business, and, among them all, honesty stands Supreme, and makes up for all the deficiencies and defects of the trader. One needs to realize how difficult it would be if all people were dishonest; one could not then move an inch. One cannot then trust anyone with anything even for a  moment, nor can he pay him anything in advance.

14. False fears due to lack of self-confidence & experience

There is a general cry that the time for honesty is over, and that it is not valued now-a-days. There may be a grain of truth in the .statement, which amounts but to an acknowledgement of the struggle between honesty and dishonesty, or between truth and untruth which appears eternal, though. victory in the long run is never in doubt for honesty and truth. Under no case can dishonesty over-power honesty. Our fears against honesty are often merely theoretical, un- grounded, baseless and false. Our troubles are either; imaginary, self-created or self-invited. None of them that grumble against honesty has ever practised it, and never has he tasted the sweetness arising from it. His opinion is the opinion of others, who in turn cannot claim it as their own. Thus an idea, emanating from a few unworthy individuals, is passed on by several lips to several ears and obtains a strong grip over a large majority. A votary of dishonesty, when asked to state if he has put in serious efforts to follow up his trade by honesty or given a fair trial to it would certainly answer in the negative. People adopt the easiest course, they would like to go by the shortest route, they want to be rich in a day, and that is why they adopt dishonest means. The path of the honest dealer is weary in the beginning but joyful in the end, troublesome at the outset but easy in the long run, and tedious at the start but sure in due course. It is, of course, certain that he who starts his business on the lines of honest dealing will meet with opposition, but he should stand it bravely and every difficulty will melt away in due course leaving the way-clear for him. Generally every one who starts a new business meets with certain difficulties and obstacles: the success in the enterprise depends on the grit and tact of the actor. It is said that an honest man is offered more difficulties, but we should not at the same time forget that he has behind him, as an outcome of his honesty, a greater force to support him. This force is sure to succeed. The honest dealer may take long to establish, but when once established none can dislodge him. His success is lasting; the customers secured by him are permanent, and his profits regular, sure and more definite.

15. Honesty promotes, dishonesty impedes all business

Never can anyone lose in business because of his honesty, and when such a report is received, one can take it for certain that there must be some other defect or defects in the organization, and that were it not for honesty, the concerned party would have incurred greater loss and at a much -earlier date than otherwise, for, as said above, that which takes long to establish takes long to dwindle. Honesty in fact makes up for many defects in staff, in management, in organization and individual abilities; it protects from grave fears. Weak administration, careless management, deficient organization, expenditure disproportionate to income incurred for unnecessary show, squandering of money by responsible persons connected with the concern, improper investment, defective accounts and dishonesty on the part of some one or other are the salient causes of failures of business, heavy losses and bankruptcy. A majority of failures occuring in petty concerns are due to defective accounts, but a still higher proportion of failures in both petty and big concerns can be attributed to dishonesty. Dishonesty is a termite, a canker, a pest that can eat up the very tissue of any undertaking, retard its growth and finally destroy it in toto. It needs to be guarded against from the beginning to the end

 

16. Dishonesty – its effects on the employees

Dishonesty of the master induces the servant to be dishonest: it becomes a vicious circle ever widening itself by absorbing freshmen every day, and like an infectious disease catching hold of every one coming in contact- Every act of cheating by the employer produces a reflex effect on the employee, who, by his intimate contact with the former, is enamoured of the alluring gains easily got by the cut-short methods, and is tempted to adopt them for his personal benefit. He has none else to rob except his master; and he starts with double vengeance to make up for the time ‘uselessly passed in honesty’, he feels least for his master whose profession is cheating; and he knows that he has his share in the earnings of his master, which he wants to have over and above his pay as a reward; for sharing his sins and consequent smothering of his own conscience. The poor employer is doubly affected: his tricks-being sufficiently known by this time, his customers have started leaving him, and he finds his business on the wane on one hand, and on the other he is being robbed at home. He realizes his folly too late, or he may not realize it at all throughout his life. The vice invented by him has caught and entangled him. Similarly many partnerships have been ruined by dishonesty, If the same trader had put in all his efforts to prosper by honest means, he would surely have done better.

17. Causes of Occasional Thriving of Dishonest Men and Losing of Honest Men

 We have often seen a dishonest man thriving and honest man   losing.    We then   get   perplexed.  But let it be clear, that under such circumstances the dishonest man flourishes for his ability and skill and never for his dishonesty, while the honest man loses not for his professing honesty but for his incapacity, inefficiency and general weakness. If the former were to adopt honesty, in addition to his other qualities, he would thrive still more, and if the latter takes to dishonesty he would fall further. For fair comparison, either the same man or two equally competent men, or say nearly equal in qualities, should be made to start similar business under similar circumstances, but by different means, honest and dishonest, and it needs no prophet to say that honesty will bring betterprofits. Unfortunately the capable men are not. guided and trained in the honest methods with the result that they adopt the unnatural ones – which by its usage has become natural and easy or so-called easy course while weaklings who are really unfit to adopt any method, adhere to honesty for fear of being exposed, caught, or sent to gaol.

18. Honesty in Trade compared with Honesty outside

There is a vast difference in professing honesty in trade and elsewhere.  In trade it is easy. without complications, never harmful but always beneficial, whereas when followed outside trade, it invites opposition, entails trouble and requires greater nerve on the part of its adherent to stick to it. Though, even in the latter case, it is bound to lead to pros­perity, it may be a little later than expected. In trade it is in the interests of all those who have dealings with one another that everybody should be honest. Those who practise dishonesty do it for their sole personal gain which they wrongly think results from dishonesty. But, outside trade, there are certain spheres in which those having dealings with each other want one or the other party to be dishonest for their own personal and selfish benefit, and because of their pressure, some people are led into dishonesty. In trade it is entirely different, for, all the customers without a single exception will undoubtedly be pleased by their supplier’s honesty.

19. Extent of probable saving to the business world from wholesale honesty

To realize the utility of honesty it will be worth while to consider, what an amount of misery would be saved to the World, if dishonest men were removed from it. Of course, it is an Utopian idea, but is taken up here simply for argument’s sake. All auditing would then be unnecessary; accountants may remain, but auditors as a class would cease to exist. All watch and pro­tection against theft would be unnecessary. The World is spending millions merely and solely on watchmen and guards. Every individual has to adopt means to protect his property, and this too would be unnecessary. Dishonest men are a drag on the world, they are a drag on individuals and a drag on the merchant class as a whole.

20. Honesty the best policy

It is said that honesty is the best policy, and no­where is the significance of the saying so fully realized as in trade The Proverb is very expressive and important in the respect that it treats with the material side of honesty and lays no stress on its moral aspect. The enunciator of the proverb has made honesty stand on the merits of its use­fulness, and states it as a profitable policy, and all that has hitherto been stated is simply in expounding this maxim. Besides, all great men have emphasised its usefulness and they cannot all be wrong.

21.Scope of Honesty in moulding the future

Viewing things broadly we cannot help coming to the conclusion that our World is connected-with other lokas or worlds and that lives do not terminate here.  Each individual leads an eternal life of which the present one is but one out of many phases; its length or duration is but a tiny part of the Infinite whole. This is the scientific view of life and is not only accepted but propagated by great Scientists like Sir Oliver Lodge, the late President of the Royal Society of Science. That being so, it is but a logical conclusion that our actions will not only bear fruit here, but will mould our career in future births and effect our economic life there, as is the present moulded by the past Thus, even with a view to improve our future business career, we are required to be honest.

 

22. Honesty enhances social status and expands business

A dishonest man is held very low in the esteem of the society, and intimately connected as human beings are, we cannot for a moment disregard its opinion. Society can set aside any individual, it can non-co-operate with or do away with any undesirable fellow, but an individual cannot do so even though he may not like a particular society. Has not everybody seen the effect of social pressure in bringing round and moulding the worst type of people? Individuals have to submit to the social will, even though it be wrong; much more so, when it is right.  An honest man, who has established himself in the opinion of the public by his honest methods, finds himself safe in the hands of society, and his customers increase day by day. Every man attending his shop will bring a few more. Every trader has to depend upon the goodwill of his class and the general public, for the very word ‘trade’ means free transaction in commodities for mutual benefit. Thus honesty raises social status, which in turn expands one’s circle of acquaintance and increases his business.

23. National reputation affected by dishonesty

As individuals have to care for public opinion, for gaining which they put forth the most strenuous enorts that sometimes cost them their lives, so do nations have to care for and establish international reputation. Observance of honesty in international trade dealings is one of the most efficacious methods for maintaining such a reputation. A few fraudulent merchants are a blot on the nation ; they not only spoil their own case but prejudice all those who have dealings with them against the entire trading community of the nation they belong to. Besides, they create wrong impressions and false notions about their people, which, apart from affecting the international reputation of the country, gives a definite set-back to its trade with the consequent loss of revenue to Government and income to the people.  It is beyond the scope of this essay to suggest the methods necessary to be devised to guard against such dangerous people, but it will be sufficient to state here that all possible means should beadopted to prevent successfully any kind of dishonest tricks with outside merchants, and specially the habit of cheating in quantity or quality.

24. We should extend our vision to other classes of trading circles

The merchant or the shop-keeper spoken of so far is but typical of the business world. From wholesale dealers to the hawkers and pedlars, there are all grades and sorts included in this class. We have to think not only of him but extend our vision so as to include all business men from frequenters of stock exchanges to agents, brokers, touts, contractors and canvassers of every description, and from big hawkers on to the village ryot^[1] who is also seller and buyer.

 

25. Divine punishment^[1]

Folk stories about honesty and its benefits are told in every language. Poets and prose writers have eulogized on the one hand its charming effects and, on the other, censured dishonesty. The average man believes in them, but forgets them when the time for action comes. Nature adopts its usual methods and reminds him by some punishment; she has no power of speech, but has greater power to act, and so she teaches man by action and never by words. Every one of us must have heard of several cases of sudden fires, thefts, earthquakes and such other heavy calamities to individuals or classes or locali­ties. Sometimes one fails to unearth the cause, but often it is so apparent, manifest and definite that none can ever mistake it, and it is from such instances alone that men understand. Dishonesty, like all other bad qualities, brings its results and the punishment is as sure as Death. Man may for the time being rob others, and amass many treasures by thousands of tricks and dishonest methods, but nature snatches them with one stroke in a moment, exposing him and his acts mercilessly. The reason that honest dealers are also sometimes subject to such calamities deprives in no way honesty of its beneficial blessings, for it may be that they may have been penalized for some other crime of theirs, belonging to the past. It may also be that the punishment has been lightened, because of his professing honesty. lt should then be taken as. an admonition.

26. Religious injunction

Besides, there are commandments in every religion prohibiting cheating of others. Honesty talked of by all. religious books is really speaking honesty in trade, for all dealings in money and goods come under trade and we will not be far wrong in saying that general honesty means honesty in trade.

Summary

In a few words, honesty establishes business, helps in maintaining and expanding it; it leads to prosperity and peace of mind, enhances social status, international reputation and is sure in its effects though seemingly slow

THE END

By Sunil Sarpal

A healthy lifestyle is a must to lead a life cheerfully. 

In the morning before sun rise,  visit the close by park for walk/jogging/running as per demands of your age/body.  Most of the parks these days have in-built Gym.  One can do exercise of your choice.  Never miss out on this regimen so that you may start the day in a vibrant and healthy ways. 

Consume a coconut milk after the work out. 

After a shower,  the breakfast should consist of milk and some ‘dry fruits,  apart from what you prefer.  Avoid Paronthas and too much butter. 

Make it a habit not to eat between two meals. 

The lunch should always consist of Curd and Salad, apart from Roti, Sabji, Daal, Rice etc.  The food should not be spicy and oily. 

If because of the demand of your age, you feel like taking a nap, it is your choice. 

Tea in the evening accompanied by some biscuits. 

Avoid consuming food at dinner time and instead eat fruits, particularly seasonal ones.  and hot milk. 

Avoid food from outside. 

Always eat moderately and never indulge in over eating. 

Eat when you feel like and clean up your stomach once or twice in accordance with your routine. 

Dont eat non veg and drink liquor.  Stay away from the company those prefer such things. 

By Sunil Sarpal

It is a hard and well known fact that one day everybody has to leave this mortal frame.  Life therefore be treated as a dream run.  Sometimes the dream is good and favourable but sometimes it is a bad omen.  One has to undergo both good as well as bad phase of life in a sporting manner.  

The hard lessons of life should be learned on a serious note that this world is fraudulent and on false footing.  

It is karmic to be rich with abundance of material things at your disposable.  Similarly, it is also karmic to be a pauper.  Being a pauper should not be considered a sin.  Sinner is the one who always look at the world keeping ‘maya’ up-front.  

The title of the article  –  MUN TOON KYON GUMAN KAREGA

Why should I be so much obsessed with what I have.  Whatever I have, has been given by God.  Why should not I be indebted to God for what I have and feel his gratitude.  

TUN TO TERA KHAK MILEGA

One day, your body will perish.  You will lose grip on its strength.  From childhood to youth to old age and this sequence  will happen with everybody.  

This is an inevitable reality of life and finally this frame will end up in flames.  

The ‘soul’ keeps on traversing in 84 lacs yonies in accordance with his karmic debt.  

A question often seekers ask to Satguru  –  knowingly if so much pain and sufferings one has to bear then why God sent souls to this world.  To which, Satguru gives a very ambiguous reply that without going into the history, I can show you the way forward, how to break the cycle of life-death-life.  

BHAJAN SIMRAN

Till the time it boils down to settling karmic account of a soul,  the soul keeps on traversing from one yoni to another.  Bhajan Simran has in it to clean up the karmic debt of a soul.  

In this yug which is called kalyug, people are so much entrenched in accumulating maya and in  mundane affairs that they do not have time going to satsang and listening to satguru’s teachings.  Satsang of ‘shabd guru’ is that forum where the nuisances of Naam Bhakti is explicitly explained in a systematized manner.  

Human form is considered top of the creation.  Breaking the cycle of birth-death-birth is possible in human form thru Naam Bhakti. 

By Sunil Sarpal

What is Santmat ?

Sant + mat  =  Teachings of Sant. 

Babaji often sums up in his discourse  –  NANAK KE GHAR KEWAL NAAM

What is Naam  ?

The words of Naam have been derived from the names of deities.  Above the eye centre of human being,  there are five Ruhani Desh and each Ruhani Desh has a separate deity.  So five Ruhani Desh have five different deities and the names of those deities form the NAAM. 

Satguru, in his satsang, explains that Naam  already exists within us, human beings.  The process of giving Naam Daan by Satguru to a devotee is just to channelise how to do bhakti.  How to sit in meditation and how to repeat those holy names, concentrating at the eye centre of forehead. 

In fact, the human body is the real temple of God.  But because ‘maya’ plays a pivotal role in human being’s life,  ‘mun’  has become slave to sense pleasure viz Kaam, Krodh, Lobh, Moh and Ahankar. 

Human beings remain in the process of satiating one desire after the other and in this process keep accumulating N number of karmas.  In order to repay the karmic debt, human soul has to remain in the cycle of 84 lac yonies.  In which yoni a soul deserves birth is decided by kaal on the basis of karmas. 

Kaal is the driving force in this creation in which we live in.  According to our ‘karma’  Kaal Bhagwan decides what our soul deserves, be it human form,  animal yoni,  tree etc. etc.  from the living beings. 

‘Mun’  by nature, keeps accumulating karmas and resultantly the soul remains entrapped in changing one yoni after the other and this cycle goes on unabated. 

Satguru ,  in his satsang, often says  –  KARM JO TOON KAREGA USIKO BHOGNA BHARNA. 

How to break the hudoo of birth-death-birth ?

NAAM BHAKTI

In human form only,  Naam given by time’s Satguru enables a human being to break the cycle of life-death-life by doing daily meditation.  

The soul then merges back to its origin i.e.  God wherefrom it descended to this creation. 

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By Sunil Sarpal

In this article, I like to dwell upon ways and means thru which this human body is turned into a Temple of Living God.

Bulleh Shah, a sufi faqir, when interested in realising God, he went to his Satguru who was working in his farms. Bulle Shah asked his Satguru “How to realise God” ? His Satguru Inayat Shah gave him a very simple example – ATHON PUT KE TE OTHEY LANA.

This means that you switch your ‘mun’ from this world to within for God realisation.

In this yug which is called KALYUG, it is Naam Bhakti which can lead you from a simple mortal to a ‘Temple of Living God’.

Doing daily meditation of Naam can first cleanse your ‘mun’ and then pour ‘nectar’ in his frame. In this case, nectar means – shabd dhun. By doing daily meditation and listening to shabd dhun will guide you from being an imperfect human being to a perfection personified.

A perfect ‘mun’ has in it to turn a man to a Temple of Living God.

That is why it is said in satsang – Harimandir Aye sharir hai.

Only a human being is entitled to enter into the gates of heaven.

‘Naam Bhakti’ cleanse the heart from the filth he carries from ages.

‘Mun’ by nature, is slave to sense pleasure.

Listening to ‘shabd dhun’ leaves a lasting impact on the ‘mun’ to get rid of all impurities of mind and embrace good qualities of life. When the heart becomes pure then his persona becomes a ‘Temple of Living God’.

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“When Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi does the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of Shri Ram Lalla’s idol at Ayodhya, he would be representing every citizen of our great Bharat”.

“Shri Ram embodies the spirit of India. The true spirit of India and Indianness is discipline, truth, honesty, ethics, moral values, acceptance and celebration of diversity, respect for elders, strong family bonds and all such fine human values“

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SHRI RAM MANDIR – Fulfilment of a divine dream
The Original Unedited Article by Shri Lal Krishan Advani

I am elated beyond words that we are on the verge of realising my most cherished dream of having a grand Shri Ram temple at Ramjanmabhoomi, the birthplace of Shri Ram. On 22nd January 2024, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will install the idol of Shri Ram at the beautiful temple in Ayodhya, and I feel blessed that I will witness this historic occasion in my lifetime.

I have always believed that ‘faith’ is the foundation on which rest both a meaningful life of a person and the whole society at large. Faith not only infuses energy and confidence into a person’s life, but also helps give it direction. For me and for crores of Indians, this faith has been our deep reverence for Shri Ram.

Shri Ram embodies the spirit of India. The true spirit of India and Indianness is discipline, truth, honesty, ethics, moral values, acceptance and celebration of diversity, respect for elders, strong family bonds and all such fine human values and Shri Ram is the epitome of all these impeccable human qualities. Hence the title ‘Maryada Purushottam’ (an exemplar among good human beings) by which he is known. He is an ideal for Indians’ aspiration to live a life of higher values.

Shri Ram was also an ideal king- the living embodiment of ‘Dharma’. Hence the concept of ‘Ram Rajya’, the epitome of good governance, was extolled as the ideal for India. Although Shri Ram is the holy religious figure worthy of worship for the Hindus, he is a pre-eminent symbol of India’s cultural heritage and national identity -which belong to all citizens alike.

The story of Shri Ram’s life, the Ramayana, is both a source and a carrier of the continuity of India’s cultural traditions and has greatly influenced the Indian mindset generation after generation, century after century. Therefore, for the last almost 500 years, the reconstruction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya has been a deep desire for countless Indians.

The Ramjanmabhoomi movement for the reconstruction of the temple at the Janmasthan of Shri Ram in Ayodhya proved to be a major watershed in the history of post-1947 India. Its impact on our society and polity, and on our sense of national identity has been tremendous.

In my own political journey, I have always said that the Ayodhya Movement was the most decisive transformational event, which gave me an opportunity to discover India anew, and in the process, rediscover myself.

I feel humbled that destiny made me perform a pivotal duty in the form of the Shri Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya in 1990.

I believe that before any event finally occurs in reality, it takes shape and form in a person’s mind. At that time, I was feeling that a befitting temple for Shri Ram in Ayodhya would indeed be a certainty one day, and that it was only a matter of time.
A grand Mandir for Shri Ram at Ramjanmabhoomi had been a desire and mission for the Bharatiya Janata Party. When in the mid-1980s the Ayodhya issue rose to the centre-stage of national politics, I was reminded of the time how political stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Rajendra Prasad and K M Munshi had, against all odds, effectively steered the reconstruction of another landmark temple in independent India- the Somnath Temple at Prabhas Patan on the coast of Saurashtra in Gujarat.

Somnath was both a witness to, and a target of, multiple foreign invasions during the medieval period. And reconstructing the Somnath temple was a proud testimony of India’s determination to erase the history of bigoted alien attacks and regain its lost cultural treasure.

Sadly, as in the case of Somnath, the temple at the birthplace of Shri Ram in Ayodhya had also become a target of attack by an invader, Babar, who founded the Mughal empire. In 1528, Babar ordered his commander Mir Baqi to erect a mosque at Ayodhya to make the spot a ‘place for descent of angels’- hence the name Babri Masjid.
It is widely believed, and later even confirmed by compelling archeological evidences that there was a pre-existing temple at Ayodhya which was demolished for establishing the mosque.

So in many ways, the Ayodhya movement was the continuation of the spirit of Somnath.
When the BJP decided in 1990 that I, as its President, should lead the Shri Ram Rath Yatra to mobilise people’s support for the Ayodhya movement, it took no time for me to choose Somnath as the starting venue of this historic journey.

On 12th September, 1990, I called a press conference at the party office at 11 Ashoka Road, New Delhi and announced my decision to undertake a 10,000-kilometre-long Rath Yatra, starting from Somnath on 25th September and reaching Ayodhya on 30th October to join the kar seva in Ayodhya, planned by the saints associated with the movement. 25th September was special to me as it is Deendayal Upadhyaya ji’s birth anniversary.
In my autobiography- “My Country My Life”, I have extensively talked about the Ayodhya Movement and the Shri Ram Rath Yatra that I undertook in 1990. On this momentous occasion today, I would like to recall some significant portions from it.
On the morning of 25th September 1990, I offered prayers at the jyotirlingam in Somnath temple. I was accompanied by the present Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi (who was then a promising leader of the BJP), Shri Pramod Mahajan, (who was the General Secretary of the party) other senior functionaries of the party in Gujarat, and members of my family. Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia and Shri Sikander Bakht, both Party Vice-Presidents then, had come to flag off the Rath.

Before the Rath was flagged off, we all paid floral tribute to the imposing statue of Sardar Patel just outside the temple. In my mind, I thanked and drew inspiration from all the great men who had toiled for the reconstruction of the temple. Amidst a large crowd that had gathered to greet and bless us, we climbed the Shri Ram Rath which had been decorated with marigold flowers. Then, to the accompaniment of the sound of the ceremonial conches and full-throated slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Saugandh Ram ki khate hain mandir wahin banayenge’ (In the name of Ram, we resolve: We shall build the temple there—at Ramjanmabhoomi—itself), the Rath rolled on. In subsequent days, these slogans became identified with my yatra and a song-“Ram Naam Mein Jaadoo Aisa, Ram Naam Man Bhaaye, Man Ki Ayodhya Tab Tak Sooni, Jab Tak Ram Na Aayein…” sung by late Smt. Lata Mangeshkar, India’s Nightingale, became the signature tune of the Rath Yatra wherever it went.

I was truly overwhelmed by the response to the yatra within the first few days of our journey in Gujarat. The Rath was received by tumultuous crowds everywhere—in villages, towns and even along roads where people from nearby hamlets would gather under trees eagerly waiting for the Rath to arrive. The response reached a crescendo in bigger towns and cities, where it would take hours for us to reach the venue of our meetings.

This response was as big, even bigger, in Maharashtra as well as in all the subsequent states that we travelled through. People everywhere greeted the Rath by erecting ceremonial arches and showering flowers. The most astonishing sight for me was the manner in which people, especially women, would come forward and perform aarti and throw coins, as if they were praying in a temple. What I soon realized, was, that for many people, I was secondary and incidental to the campaign. I was only a sarathi or a charioteer; the principal messenger of the Rath Yatra was the Rath itself. And it was worthy of worship as it was headed for Ayodhya for the sacred mission of construction of the Shri Ram Temple at his birthplace.

At this point, I would like to talk a bit about the ‘Rath’ that I travelled in. It was a actually a mini truck that was redesigned to take the shape of a Rath and was provided with basic amenities.

Travelling in a ‘Rath’ was indeed a novel experience for me, but it presented its own set of challenges. For one, it had a small room-cum–washroom at the rear of the vehicle, which could only be used when the vehicle was not in motion, otherwise it was very bumpy. So I recall standing most times on the platform of the moving vehicle, holding on to the front and side grip bars in order to maintain my balance. Of course, this also meant being constantly subject to heat and dust as the platform was open from three sides.

Also while in motion, it was impossible for me to sip water, juice or tea without spilling. So a special sipper bottle was arranged to overcome this issue. As for food, although arrangements were made that the dinner would come from some party worker’s home in whichever city we were to reach for night halt, invariably the last public meeting would only end up close to midnight. So I would usually have just a glass of milk with marmalade on toast.

Another problem we often faced was due to the height of the Rath. Although the party officials had circulated the information about the height of the vehicle to various destinations along the route of the yatra, as we moved through small towns and cities, one of the frequent hold ups used to be the overhead hanging electrical wires. So party workers then arranged for extra long wooden poles to get the wires out of the way and also started moving along with the Rath. Well, all these were really miniscule issues which form just a small part of the beautiful memory of my Shri Ram Rath Ratra.
The most touching moments of the yatra were witnessed in villages and remote hamlets where the piety on the faces of the village folk was of a purer and deeper kind than what I saw in cities. Many of them were either illiterate or nominally educated. They had not learnt about Shri Ram by reading; it was as if the knowledge flowed through them, passed on from one generation to the other, through folk tales or word of mouth, as usually happens in the Indian society.

At many places, I found an odd villager who would come quietly, without shouting any slogans, perform a puja before the Rath, greet me and walk away. I was truly humbled by experiences like these as it gave me a first-hand insight into how deep-rooted religiosity is in the lives of the Indian people. It was the Rath Yatra that made me realise that if I were to communicate the message of nationalism through the religious idiom, I would be able to transmit it more effectively and to a wider audience.

My speeches, delivered mostly from the specially designed raised platform on the vehicle were just about five minutes long, because I had to address nearly twenty to twenty-five such roadside receptions each day. In most towns and cities, I had to get down and address public meetings attended by tens of thousands of people.

I would explain the purpose of the yatra and the circumstances that compelled the BJP to actively participate in the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. Although the people’s response to the Rath Yatra was mainly religious, the focus of my speeches was on nationalism, as I have always believed that the Shri Ram temple issue is intrinsically connected to our sense of Indianness.
A recurrent theme in my speeches was that the power of a positive approach to religious faith can contribute greatly to social transformation and nation-building. I stressed on the equal status that our Muslim brethren enjoyed in independent India as India chose to remain non-theocratic and secular. This, I added, was principally due to the age-old secular ethos of Hinduism. I also appealed to leaders of the Muslim community to respect the Hindu sentiments over Ayodhya.
My yatra was scheduled to enter Deoria in Uttar Pradesh on 24th October 1990. However, as I had anticipated, it was stopped at Samastipur in Bihar on 23rd October and I was arrested by the Janata Dal government in the state, then headed by Shri Laloo
Prasad Yadav. I was taken to an inspection bungalow of the irrigation department at a place called Massanjore near Dumka, on the Bihar-Bengal border.
This action invited angry and spontaneous protests all over the country.

This was a time when there were no mobile phones. The news of my arrest reached my daughter Pratibha, who was in Kolkatta then, in quite an interesting manner. She was looking to hire a cab on way back to her home when the taxi driver told her to hurry up. On her enquiring from him why he was saying so, the taxi driver told her that Advani “Baba” had been arrested and people were fearing a backlash in the form of riots in the city! Two days later, Pratibha spoke to Laloo Prasad Yadav ji, who facilitated her coming to meet me at Massanjore during my detention. I spent five weeks in detention before being released.

Thus ended my Shri Ram Rath Yatra, which was indeed an exhilarating episode in my political life. I felt happy that the Yatra helped in galvanising the aspirations, energies and passions of its countless participants.

A significant debate that started during the course of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was the difference between genuine secularism and pseudo-secularism. On the one hand, there was a groundswell of popular support for the movement. On the other hand, most political parties were shying away from supporting the movement as they feared losing Muslim votes. They succumbed to the lure of this vote-bank politics, and justified it in the name of secularism.

Thus, the Ayodhya issue, whose primary objective was the reconstruction of the Ramjanmabhoomi temple, also became a symbol of reclaiming the true meaning of secularism from the onslaught of pseudo-secularism.

It has been 33 long years since my Shri Ram Rath Yatra. A lot has happened since, including the legal battle which had implicated me and many of my colleagues from the VHP, RSS and the BJP.

However, after almost three decades, on September 30, 2020, the CBI’s special court acquitted me and others and released us from all charges.
It is pertinent to note that while on one hand the protracted legal battle was going on, on the other, not only I, but every karyakarta of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar continued working towards awakening the soul of Indians to realise this dream of restoring Ram Lalla at His rightful abode.

I am very happy that due to the decisive verdict of the Supreme Court in November 2019, the reconstruction of Shri Ram Mandir has happened in an environment of tranquility.

And now that the magnificent Shri Ram Temple is in its final stages of completion, I am filled with a sense of deep gratitude towards the present Government headed by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, all organisations, particularly the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Bharatiya Janata Party, the countless people associated with my yatra, saints, leaders, kar Sevaks and all the people from India and the world, who made valuable contributions and sacrifices in the Ayodhya movement over many decades.

There are two persons who I am missing immensely today. The first one is late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had been an integral part of my life- both political and personal, and with whom I shared an unbreakable and everlasting bond of mutual trust, affection and respect.

The second person is my late wife Kamla, who had been the mainstay of stability and a source of unparalleled strength to me, not only during the Shri Ram Rath Yatra, but throughout my long stint in public life.

In the run-up to the upcoming special occasion of 22nd January 2024, the atmosphere in the entire country has truly become ‘Ram-maya’. This is a moment of fulfilment for me, not just as a proud member of the RSS and the BJP, but as a proud citizen of our glorious motherland. My greetings to all my countrymen!

When Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi does the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of Shri Ram Lalla’s idol at Ayodhya, he would be representing every citizen of our great Bharat. It is my belief and my hope that this temple will inspire all Indians to imbibe Shri Ram’s virtues. I also pray that our great country not only continues to accelerate on the path of becoming a global power, but also presents itself as a sterling example of dignity and decorum in all walks of life.

I bow at the lotus feet of Shri Ram. May He keep everyone blessed.
JAI SHRI RAM!

Watch a documentary on LK Advani’s “Fulfillment of a Divine Dream”

By Sunil Sarpal

This is the most important subject in the life of a human being.  A man’s mind is often engrossed in the thought process as to what and why the other said.  Do I deserve such comments or behaviour.  What wrong did I do that I have to bear the burnt of that ignominious situation.  We keep pondering over such thoughts and never find a solution to it.  Why should we waste our prestigious time in such useless exercise.  When a barking dog keep honking, do we indulge in a counter attack.  NO.  

Pondering over negativity is just a waste of time.  The meaning of life is to move on.  

On the contrary, if we keep on doing introspection of ourselves, we figure out that from ages we carry so many negativity in our lives.  Bad habits, bad attitude but we toe the path relentlessly.  

Have we ever thought of eradicating them from our lives ?  What have we achieved in toeing the path.  NOTHING.  

Let me take a fresh guard in my life, putting aside all anomalies.  

When we wash our body and clothes daily, why cannot we wash our heart as well.  

Why so many wars taking in the world, one after the other.  Because people are not peace loving but their mind is cluttered with revenge.  People expect that their life of thinking should always prevail.  Hell with what happens to the other side.  

Since we do not see God in others, devil habits prevail upon our mind and keep polluting us time and again.  

As love breeds love, same way, animosity breeds animosity and this process one day takes the form of a war between two nations.  

The root cause of the problem lies in INTROSPECTION.  

Unless we keep a check on our thoughts, actions and reaction in sync with what it is and what it should be ,  we keep on committing one error over the other.  

The situation calls for INTROSPECTION.  

By Sunil Sarpal

This sums up how this creation is evolved and running.  People come, zoom and go one day but the creation exists and function as it is.  

Some times the economy of USA will overwhelm,  sometimes it is China prosperous and and sometimes it is  Russia.    But Indian style of functioning is altogether a different kind of recipe.  India does not attack first, notwithstanding China’s aggressive and intimidating ploys and even not like Russian invasion of Ukrain.  But other nations do not take a leaf from Indian line of thinking and keep on beating their own trumpet the way they like.  

Although Pakistan is badly under debt but does not spare India from terrorist activities.

Most of the nations aspire a foothold on the moon but not bothered about two nations fighting  for issues which could be resolved thru dialogue or compromise formulae.    It takes years and decades to build a nation but an atom’s explosion can turn a nation into debris,  just like Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

Every nation wants to enrich itself with still more arms and ammunitions but cannot extend a helping hand towards a starving nation such as Pakistan.  

A speeding car often found whistle past a hungry beggar but there is no compassion or empathy on the part  of the car owner to  provide some food  for the beggar.  

This is the pathetic drama being enacted among human beings but nobody  gives any heed to the harsh reality of life that all the human beings are here because of God but some struggle to cope up with two times meal for their survival.  

Living in posh bungalow, eating non-veg and drinking liquor or wine is what a man aspires for.  Man knows that his stay here is numbered in years and one day he has to depart from this mortal frame.  People give a damn to this hard fact of life and keep on accumulating more and still more.

Satguru says ‘ Calling Ram Naam behind the last journey of a dead body does not entitle him to merge back in Ram.  One has to ensure that Ram Naam needs to be made an integral part of one’s life by doing daily bhajan simran and there is no other way out.  

People remain in the rat race of buying a latest modelled car or constructing a house in the hilly area, so on and so forth.  What about the creator because of whom we are here.  It is the creator, the God, who will take care of our soul back to its true home.  

What is the harm  living in the will of God and doing daily bhajan simran.  Why to keep running after more and still more pennies day-in and day-out.  

YEH MELE KABHI KAM NA HONGE AFSOS HUM NA HONGE

                 We meet people for reasons we don’t know.  We connect at so many levels…and yet we may not connect at all. Sometimes we see we’re wearing the same or similar colours, sometimes a friend may simply give us the most enormous bear-hug. How could they know we needed one? Often when I wish for something I get it. This be the power of yoga or meditation. or telepathy heightened by decades of yoga. We can dream of a car and often enough it materialises. Yes, these are also called manifestations or visualizations. 

Yes, these are solid tangible facts for some like me who have practised and successfully lived these blessings. It is another way to live to believe emote and exist. So many times, you remember someone only to see the same from them top. I have experienced knowing what a friend needs and for some reason being there and taking care of that need. so many times, when I have been in a low or desired help it has shown up. These are all connects inexplicable but there nevertheless. It is also my quest and desire to live and experience life at another level that has allowed me to experience this.  This connecting with another may happen over long distances.

In the coming years these practices will grow.  People living in remote areas and forests also practice calling n connecting. They have heightened telepathic skills. All humans have some way these capacities. It suffices to empower and give them life. This connect with a higher energy that may be called by any name begins with connecting with yourself first. The first love affair so to say. I learnt this just a few years back and my god it works. You keep reminding yourself though.

To spend time in silence or with nature or meditate or immerse yourself in a book or music is forms of connection. As also is healing giving loving and spending special moments with loved one’s friends, family, even strangers. I have often potent connects with strangers that Deja-vu feeling, or just some common chord strikes up. If you open yourself to and allow all this to happen – it will. If only people meditated or did some form of it – lives, health – mental or physical, would reach peaks unimaginable. Thus, the world would be happier calmer and perhaps become a utopia

Arguably the way to resolve a problem is to see what is holding back the problem from finding a solution. If mental suffering and its associated “illness” be seen as a problem then possibly there has to be a way out. Does the way come via psychiatric medication or does it come via some other pathway(s)?

When I recovered from bipolar disorder and stayed “sane” for long periods of time, one of the first acts I performed was try unearthing why or how I had recovered. But when others, predominantly caregivers of other similar “patients”, started calling me an exception it became a challenge for me to understand if I could recover, why were others not doing so. I got this opportunity via doctoral research in 2016. I took the challenge up to not rebuild my life, but find a way out for others! (no wonder the “mad” are called so!).

Entering the psychiatric maze in 1992, by the time I quit the patient role it was 2010. I spent another dozen years understanding (1) my own recovery (2) recovery from psychosis (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) more generally, all via research done alone at home for years and years.

Finally when my book came out last year three decades had passed. Not the easiest time of my life, a time spent in grief and suffering, thereafter pondering over intractable issues of living, listening to narratives both in research and counseling.

At the end of this span today I can say that nobody’s mental health will get affected if everyone had opportunities and managed to do what they ardently want to. And, significant others who would support and believe in them getting there, instead of imposing their ideas on them, as parents sometimes tend to. The book is a bit of an academic analysis, but for someone interested the publisher offers 50 odd pages to read for free, from this link. There is a button that says “preview PDF” to the top right of the page, if seen on a computer, as I am doing right now. Once you click it it downloads those pages into your device.

Hope it will interest you to engage with some of these ideas. What is true for psychosis is valid for most mental health issues, as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are among the more unmanageable of issues, even for psychiatry. If people can recover from these, they can pretty much heal their minds from most other things as well. Provided, they will do what it takes to recover, which itself is not child’s play!