Tag Archives: Life

Life, Society, Inequality, Harmony, Law

THE LEGAL SYSTEM AND HARMONY

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by Jayram Daya, R. Srinivasan and Naresh Jotwani

In a few previous posts, we have discussed harmony of mind, body and spirit (here), harmony with nature (here) and — somewhat indirectly — harmony in a society (here). On the last point, harmony in a society, clearly the legal system also plays a big role. The ideal, of course, would be that the legal system adds to societal harmony. But can this ideal ever be attained, given human nature and the working of a modern society?

The legal system is a practical, administrative necessity in a modern society. Without a proper legal system, a modern economy cannot function. Harmony figures nowhere in the stated goals of an economist or a business titan; and only a very simple-minded person would assert that the legal system adds to societal harmony.

Thus we have a seemingly unavoidable tradeoff here between two goals — economic performance and societal harmony — both of which are desirable for a society. Three views are presented here to get you thinking!

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Communities, Economy, Harmony, Life, Society

COOPERATION, COMPETITION – OR BOTH?

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by Jayram Daya, R. Srinivasan and Naresh Jotwani

Cooperation and competition both play a role in our collective life — sometimes more of this, sometimes more of that. However, a self-styled ‘capitalist’ sees red at the mere mention of cooperation, whereas a self-styled ‘communist’ argues for forcefully imposing cooperation on the whole society.

Suppose we put all such western ideologies to one side and ask: What does our lived, empirical reality say?

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Ecology, Evolution, Harmony, Life, Nature

NATURE DEMANDS HARMONY

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by Naresh Jotwani

We often hear the phrase survival of the fittest, when it is used with reference to evolving natural eco-systems. However, for two reasons, this usage can mislead. One reason is that survival may be wrongly taken to mean the survival of an individual, whereas its correct meaning is the survival of a species. The second reason is that the central, crucial criterion of fitness is left unspecified in that phrase.

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Happiness, Health, Life, Spiritual journey, Well-being

WELLNESS, PREVENTION OR CURE?

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Last week a discussion took place within our WhatsApp group on the subject of wellbeing, quite broadly defined. Members shared their views, based on their own knowledge and experience. Overall, the members’ views, when arranged together, took the form of a panel discussion. Needless to say, in a discussion among friends, nobody had a personal axe to grind. Views were shared in the hope that a thoughtful reader may find something useful in them.

It is in that spirit that are we presenting the views here.

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Civilization, Life, Search for truth, Time, Truth

RIGHT ON TIME

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by Naresh Jotwani

A recent post on this blog, Time as a Resource, showed that time is a crucial resource in business management. Like any other valuable resource, time must be utilized in an optimal manner. As a short and sweet summary of that post, we repeat here the line from Peter Drucker with which that post started:

Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else.

However, as we shall now show, there is much, much more to time than what we encounter in our busy worldly lives. When we logically explore various aspects of the lived human experience of time, we are led to conclusions which have a huge impact on the values by which we order and live our lives.

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Happiness, Individual, Life, Search for truth, Truth

MEMBER STORIES

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Today we present contributions from three of our members, Suman Rao, R. Srinivasan and Naresh Jotwani. The common aim of these pieces is to bring out the fascinating relationship between the truths we seek within, and the lives we live in the world outside. We believe that sincere, first person accounts of good friends are at least as valuable as scriptures.

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Karma, Life, Philosophy, Search for truth, Spiritual journey

KARMA 101

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by SUMAN SATISHCHANDRA RAO, GUEST AUTHOR

[Our previous post (here) contained only the introductory part of Suman’s article on Karma. This is the full article.]

Karma is the all-encompassing concept of action and reaction in a continuous chain in time and space. It is inclusive of causality as conceived in Science. It includes the effects of grief, hurt and wounds caused to ‘another’ or ‘others’. That is nothing but insecurity playing upon the ego which is nothing but false sense of separation. Until the ego with its limited contents of consciousness drops its limited identity and becomes one with all, through repeated experiences of samadhi, this sense of separation continues and actions are of a mixed nature.

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Karma, Life, Philosophy, Search for truth, Spiritual journey

CAUSALITY OR KARMA?

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The co-editors of this blog, Srinivasan and Naresh, have also been running a WhatsApp group named seeker-of-root-causes. Occasionally, a question or a statement is posed to group members, to which members are invited to respond with their own views.

The practical context and significance of today’s topic will be established by this first-person, true life account submitted by Srinivasan:

My own experiences have taught me the enormous scope of karma in practical life, and totally ingrained the concept in my psyche. I will cite just one specific instance here.

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Childhood, Civilization, Happiness, Life, Money

A boy learns about money — 2

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by JAYRAM DAYA, GUEST AUTHOR

Those who are lazy and lethargic become slaves, while those who work hard create opportunities.

This code of moral upliftment was impressed upon me by my grandmother. I understood that dedicated work is the instrument to combat poverty, and thus my anticipated future seemed attainable. Stories shape history for people of all ages, leaving a lasting legacy that inspires future generations. I became a determined follower of this code, resolved to make a positive change.

A country’s story is told by legends. Granny was born in India, and so her thoughts were shaped into a coherent entity that represented Sanatan Dharma. I was taught that we did not have a religion, but had Sanatan Dharma, which promotes peaceful coexistence of all life on Earth.

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Childhood, Civilization, Happiness, Life, Money

A boy learns about money — 1

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by JAYRAM DAYA, GUEST AUTHOR

Looking at matchbox cars in a shop window, I would be happy as a lark. I would stand in front of toy stores, claiming to want to buy one. I would think that everything there might one day be mine. As a young and growing boy, I lived in a dreamland dominated by toy cars. When the sales-lady questioned what I wanted, I would simply walk away and, while walking back home, keep thinking, ‘If only I had the money’.

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