This is from the Krishna Bhikshu chapter in The Power of the Presence, Part Three, by David Godman:

It was a summer evening, and we were all sitting outside in the open space by the well. Suddenly one of the visitors started weeping bitterly.

‘I am a horrible sinner. For a long time I have been coming to you, but there is no change in me. Can I become pure at last? How long am I to wait? When I am here near you, I am good for a time. But when I leave this place, I become a beast again. You cannot imagine how bad I can be — hardly a human being. Am I to remain a sinner forever?’

Guru Ramana

‘Why do you come to me? What have I to do with you?’ demanded Bhagavan. ‘What is there between us that you should come here and weep and cry in front of me?’

The man started moaning and crying even more, as if his heart were breaking.

‘All my hopes of salvation are gone. You were my last refuge and you say you have nothing to do with me! To whom shall I turn now? What am I to do? To whom am I to go?’

Bhagavan watched him for some time and said, ‘Am I your Guru that I should be responsible for your salvation? Have I ever said that I am your Master?’

‘If you are not my Master, then who is? And who are you, if not my Master? You are my Guru. You are my guardian angel. You must take pity me and release me from my sins!’

He started sobbing and crying again.

We all sat silent, overcome with pity. Only Bhagavan looked alert and matter-of-fact.

‘If I am your Guru, what are my fees? Surely you should pay me for my services.’

‘But you won’t take anything,’ cried the visitor. ‘What can I give you?’

‘Did I ever say that I don’t take anything? And did you ever ask me what you can give me?’

‘If you would take, then ask me. There is nothing I would not give you.’

‘All right. Now I am asking. Give me. What will you give me?’

‘Take anything. Everything I have is yours.’

‘Then give me all the good you have done in this world.’

‘What good could I have done? I have not a single virtue to my credit.’

‘You have promised to give. Now give. Don’t talk of your credit. Just give away all the good you have done in your past.’

‘Yes, I shall give. But how does one give? Tell me how the giving is done and I shall give.’

‘Say like this: “All the good I have done in the past I am giving away entirely to my Guru. Henceforth I have no merit from it nor have I any concern with it.” Say it with your whole heart.’

‘All right, Swami. “I am giving away to you all the good I have done so far, if I have done any, and all its good effects. I am giving it to you gladly, for you are my Master and you are asking me to give it all away to you.’

‘But this is not enough,’ said Bhagavan sternly.

‘I gave you all I have and all you asked me to give. I have nothing more to give.’

‘No, you have. Give me all your sins.’

The man looked wildly at Bhagavan, terror stricken.

‘You do not know, Swami, what you are asking for. If you knew, you would not ask me. If you take over my sins, your body will rot and burn. You do not know me, you do not know my sins. Please do not ask me for my sins.’

He wept bitterly.

‘I shall look after myself. Don’t you worry about me,’ said Bhagavan. ‘All I want from you is your sins.’

For a long time the bargain would not go through. The man refused to part with his sins. But Bhagavan was adamant.

‘Either give me your sins along with your merits, or keep both and don’t think of me as your Master.”

In the end the visitor’s scruples broke down and he declared,
‘Whatever sins I have done, they are no longer mine. All of them and their results, too, belong to Ramana.’

Bhagavan seemed to be satisfied.

‘From now on there is no good nor bad in you. You are just pure. Go and do nothing, either good or bad. Remain yourself. Remain what you are.’

Silence

“A great peace fell over the man and over us all. No one knows what happened to the fortunate visitor, for he was never seen in the ashram again. He might have had no further need to come. “

Recently came across a beautiful written blog from Vasanth Benjamin. Wanted to share with you all. Hope you all enjoy as much as I did.

Someone once said, most men take more out of life than they give to it. A few give more to life than they take out of it. The world runs because of such men.

I had booked the tickets to go to Coimbatore long back and was eagerly waiting for the day to arrive…Getting ready for yet another trip, worth a thousand miles, and was packing very seriously when all of a sudden the day and the time to go; did arrive much faster than expected. Time was so fast.

 When I booked, I specially asked for a window seat, coz I loved sitting by the window and watching outside, while the train whistles through the terrain…When I got to the station I looked out for my coach and walked quite a distance before I got there, and when I did, I looked for my seat 64W and I saw an old man happily sleeping on the very same seat, I looked with awe at the way he was sleeping in my seat…. My basic instinct wanted to wake him upand shoo him off to his seat, Well but sometimes you need to wait and listen to your heart rather than what your mind wants to say… I did…!!!

 I just sat next to him for the rest of the journey and for all the 8hrs I was next to him I enjoyed seeing the window from far, but felt happy that the poor man was having a good deep sleep of his lifetime…. Coimbatore finally arrived; the lovely climate and the chill breeze gave me a great welcome relief from the bustling Chennai… I was so amazed that an 8hr journey has made so much difference in the weather, no wonder they call it Incredible India…!!

 When I was getting ready to get down, the old man, woke up and asked me if Coimbatore had arrived, I said yes and asked him if he had a good sleep, he smiled and said yes and told me that this was the first time in his life nobody has woke him up from his seat for an entire journey. Well after hearing this, I felt glad I didn’t wake him up for the window I badly needed..!! I just thought, maybe while I return back, I am sure going to get a good window….

I always used to keep me filled with lovely quotes and thoughts, and one was this “When you do something really good for someone, don’t expect them to return it right away, because they can’t or sometimes wont, but the goodness you have done today, will someday come back to you in some form, may be not in your lifetime, but it will come back to your children or your children’s children…” When I fall in an accident or when I wait in the hot sun, and when a total stranger lends me a hand to get up, or gives me a cup of water, I think of that quote… It’s true… Absolutely true indeed!

 When you pick up random people from the roads and given lifts to hundreds of people, and there will always be a joy to hear them say thanks from the bottom of their hearts, coz they don’t know you and you don’t know them, but for a few minutes they respect your nobleness, and that cause is contagious, because I’ve learnt that just like the conservation of energy, the energy let out from love, generosity and smile can never die, it just transforms itself from one form to another, and it passes from one being to another….

 One day I waited in the hot sun for a bus from Velachery to Mandaveli, and none of the buses were willing to come in empty. The breeze was killing hot. I happened to ask a man who passed by about when the next bus would arrive, and he in return asked me where I wanted to go. After a small conversation he told me that he works for BSNL and that his van would come in 10mins and that I could join him along for the journey to Mandaveli…. On hearing this I was so happy. They say, ask the value of shade to a man who has been waiting in the sun for hours for a seat in a bus, I knew how hard it was to take wait in the sun, stand in the bus and take the journey for 2 and half hours…. After 10mins, I saw a company bus before us, it was all air conditioned and looked like heaven in my eyes. The man asked me to get in and when I felt the chill air inside I knew how true it was, the quote. All good you’ve done; it all comes back to you…

 I certainly had a great trip in Coimbatore, the people, the culture and everything twined to it has made it one of the most memorable cities in my life. My trip was over and it was time to leave Coimbatore for Chennai… I packed my bags, told farewell to my friends and seniors, My friend dropped me in the station and told me “It’s been wonderful to have had you for a couple of days, hoping to see you soon before you get married “…. I smiled and said oh ya,. I reached the platform and waited for the train to arrive and sharp 2:30 I heard the loud honking…I stepped into the train with a mind full of desperation and I looked out for my seat and was so happy when I saw the window seat empty, I guess that feeling what I call “The Just for me” feeling…:)

 I sat there for half an hour looking at the winding tracks and feeling happy inside that I finally made it for a window, and in the next station an old man and his son got into the train and sat beside me. The son who was around 50yrs old kept on staring at my face but looked very double minded, I understood that he wanted to ask me something and in an instant he did…. He asked “My dad here is old and has a weak neck, will it be possible for you to switch over and give him the window seat instead?” for a minute I thought he’d never ask!!! At that time my brain was so diffident, it just wasn’t ready to accept any differences and I told him straight away on his face, “I’m sorry”

 The poor guy felt my reply very harsh and told his 80yr old dad to adjust with the seat they ve got. Half an hour passed by and I was sitting by the window watching the speeding train pass by green fields and plush meadows and for a second I looked at the old man who was sitting next to me, he was trying very hard to sleep and his son was holding his neck and helping him to make things a little comfortable for the old man. I had a very heavy feeling which slowly sank into my heart, sometimes; we humans mostly think from our brains, our brains are cunning, selfish and very calculative. In life we need our brains with outmost importance, but there are times when I stop to think from my heart about what is right and what is wrong, the answer to the “have I really done something wrong?” can only come right from our hearts and not from our brains. Simply speaking, our brain is on top of us, it controls our every move, where as our heart controls what’s beyond us, it’s our inner eye. People with eyes often don’t tend to realize the beauty of love that revolves around us. The Author of the book Go Kiss the World – Subroto Bagchi once said “Our vision is not always a function of our capability to see, it is out willingness to open up our inner eye; our heart, to the limitless universe that lights up the path to our existence.”

 I got up and asked the old man to have the window seat and enjoy his sleep, I moved and sat by the aisle and was reading a book about evolution of the human kind; when the train stopped by a station I was 2hrs into the journey and there was 4 more hrs to go, the train was now crossing into the town of Salem and after 10mins it stopped by a station by the border and two ladies got into our coach, now it was a Muslim mother and daughter. The old mother was nearly 90yrs old and the daughter looked 50, they both stood by the door and awaited the TTRs presence, and finally when the TTR came, they asked for 2 seats, but he firmly told them that the coach was full and that there was no extra seat by any cost.

 The poor lady begged him by all means for a seat but the helpless TTR denied any assistance and moved on to another coach. In the middle of this commotion I looked around myself. The old man sleeping happily, the son giving me a smiling look every time we met our eyes and the helpless old woman who couldn’t get a seat. I knew that there was only one last thing I could do; out of what was given to me. “My Seat”!!!

 For the second time, I got up from my seat and walked towards the door and asked her to sit down comfortably. The smile she gifted me then from her stretched face was immense and glorifying, my heart was so filled and blessed, I was so happy deep inside, I left her to sit there and I took her place by the door and stood there quietly reading the book while the sweet breeze flushed in as the train sped across the valleys. After sometime the air became so chill and it started raining, the whole weather turned so amazing to feel. I didn’t want to miss that moment, I closed the book and spread out my hands by the door and felt the rain splashing through my hands, it was such a lovely moment. I remembered the days when I and my little sister ran out to the terrace and played in the chill rain. I miss those days…!!

 While it was raining I was thinking inside about the little things which had unfolded in this journey, I smiled at how I booked the tickets spending a thousand rupees and wanting a window seat and here I am standing by the door, given up of all luxury but yet getting the most special feeling of what life has devised for me and enjoying the most angelic smell in the world, the smell of the first rain falling on land… They call it the “The Best Smell of Nature”….

 After 4 wondrous hours of standing by the door and 3 full chapters, Chennai was finally in sight, I went in and brought down my bags and waited for the train to halt by the station, and while I was in the queue to get down, the old man and his son passed me and said thank you and the old man said something in Telugu and blessed me, I wished I could understand, but I couldn’t. And then before I can reflect on that, the old Muslim mother and her daughter passed me and the daughter looked at me and smiled and thanked me, and the old mother kept her palm on my hands blessed me and smiled once again. I can never forget the smile she gave for me. After both of them got down, I looked at the window seat one last time, turned back and I kept my feet on the ground smiling and knowing that I’m getting down from this train with my mind closed and my heart open.

 It’s true:

 “Most men take more out of life than they give to it. A few give more to life than they take out of it. The world runs because of such men.”

 - One day; I wish to be a part of such men…!

Wish you all a very happy, prosperous and peaceful New Year 2011.

Perfectionism, though a good trait always creates a weakness for a perfectionist, especially when the perfectionist is working in a very demanding environment. There is always a conflict in balancing between perfectionism and accomplishment. Being a perfectionist myself, all throughout my life till now I have been going through this conflict. A typical example that I could feel the stress was during my semester examinations in my college days. Before the exam I used to read every chapter with a thorough understanding and diligence that at the end of the day I wouldn’t have completed the syllabus. As I entered into my career and in the state of growing towards higher level, this trait brought actually a bad name. The work used to be demanding, aggressive timelines and I used to sit hour long to complete the task with near perfection. End of the day I got back home satisfied but then in deep in the mind the thought always run through, am I doing right?

Recently one of my friends shared a story and I was inspired reading it and I could see a reflection of myself in that. Here it is:

A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God.

Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby.

Surprised, he asked the sculptor, “Do you need two statues of the same idol?”

“No,” said the sculptor without looking up, “We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage.”

The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. “Where is the damage?” he asked. “There is a scratch on the nose of the idol.” said the sculptor, still busy with his work.

“Where are you going to install the idol?”

The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high.

“If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?” the gentleman asked… The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, “I will know it.”

 Yes, for a perfectionist, every job irrespective of any importance matters most. No wonder Martin Luther King has rightly quoted “”If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.”

 The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not.
“Excellence” is a drive from inside, not outside.
Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and efficiency… 

It’s been long time that I have got up from my bed before the sunrise. But today, my day started at 5:00 AM as I was preparing myself to head to my alma mater, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT). But not as her student or ex-student instead as one of the interview panelist from Cognizant.  I was all excited and I don’t think there is any excuse why I shouldn’t be. 6 years back, I was recruited from the same campus by the same Cognizant. When the day started, I had all the old memories of me attending campus interview, my professors like Narayanan sir, Gokul sir etc advising us and mentoring us on how we should carry ourselves. Thank God, I was able to meet up to their expectations.

 Today I’m fortunate to represent my Cognizant for my alma mater. With all that excitement I walked down dressed in my best costume to the road where the huge Toyota Innova was waiting for me along with two other colleagues. The vehicle rushed through the National Highways of Chennai – Bangalore and with just one coffee break in between, we reached VIT by 8:30 AM. We got down at the campus Guest house and had an excellent breakfast, no wonder Quality has always been way of life at VIT be in food or infrastructure or any service. The same kind of attention which VIT gave to corporate and others when I saw my college as a student, not a nano point level has been decreased from what I received today as a corporate person myself. After the breakfast, I had a chance to meet my professors Narayanan and Gokul, the same professors who advised me for my interview. Being a product from VIT myself, can you expect my quality to go down as well? With the same humbleness which I greeted them years back for 4 continuous 365 days, the same humbleness I carried when I saw them today and it made me feel good.

 We had to wait for some time in the lobby of the guest house after breakfast. Within few minutes, after getting information on the venue of the interview room, we had to take the cab and again go through the college Hostel H block, 4 storey magnificent building where the interview was planned to be conducted. I could see 100s of students waiting outside the H block hostel with the same expression in the face as any college kids attending interview first time in the life would have. I could see their earnest preparation in the way they looked at us walking down to the hostel from the car. This time, as a panelist I also took effort from my side to prepare myself for interview. Unlike the students, I personally believe even the panelist need to prepare before they conduct interviews. During my morning journey from Chennai to Vellore, I mentally prepared myself to be warm and kind to the candidates than being intelligent, to be accommodative and listening than demanding, to be nice and polite but not compromising on the values and objective of the interview. I repeated this often in my mind as a self assertion and I think I did some good job. The previous day one of my good friend also advised me to be nice to the kids and give them enough consideration. She said they are just kids and treat them the way I was treated while attending interview. I reminded myself about it.

 Already we had 15 panelists interviewing the candidates. Our HR Chandana greeted us upon our arrival and thanked us in advance for having come down on a Sunday. We were then taken to one of the hostel rooms in H block and were given a quick debrief about the interview. Soon we were all set to join other panelists for interview. Each of them was given a room to interview the candidates. Relaxing on the seat, I took the first resume and gave a quick glance and immediately started with my job. By noon I could complete close to 10 students without any break and I wanted to finish off soon for myself and for the students. I just asked questions from the basic subjects but my focus was on how they communicate, their passion for articulating their answers, the way the approach the questions instead of beating with too many technical questions. Every time when I had to decide on selection, the only question that I asked my self was “Can I take him or her as part of my team?” because I always wanted my team to be “A” team and nothing less or nothing more.

 As time went on, I could sense I was losing my self assertion was got a sense that I was making it tough for them. One of the gal got really tensed and was about to break, that I realized that as a speed breaker for me and took a break for 10 minutes going down and taking a walk around the hostel campus where once I lived and breathed for all 4 years. When I came back, the memories brought me enough strength.

 Afternoon we went to down for an exotic buffet lunch. I had a quick chat with other colleagues and expressed on our views of the students. Though the students were asked to break for lunch, I could see many not wanting to go for lunch until they complete their interview. Soon we all went back to continue our days duty. We had close to 400+ students and by lunch we had already complete 75%, so the afternoon session was little relaxed.

 The form provided by Cognizant for the candidates to fill their interview notes was something interesting that I would love to highlight. I know when we would all would have been at that age, even we would have expressed our thoughts in the same manner. Some of them looked sweet and cute that I couldn’t help but not stop smiling. Few of them:

 One of the candidates had this Long term plan- “To become CEO of the Cognizant in 3 years.” (Frank! Beware you have a competition now.)

 One other candidate wrote about what is the expectation from Cognizant? To have more office across India

 And even there were touching moments – one of the candidate I guess who has been working hard for his family and also studying wrote that his plan for joining Cognizant was to build a home for his mom in next 3 years. I sincerely wish he builds one!

 Fact which I was surprised was, when I asked this question to many of them just to know what made them look forward to Cognizant and impressed them a lot, 95% of the candidates said it was the emotional touch Cognizant gave with respect to service to society for orphanages and village schools and social service, through Cognizant Outreach program. The video showed in debrief for the students had a clipping of Cognizant Outreach team helping the society for better. I’m so proud that brought a huge impact to these students other than Cognizant being in top 5 global IT service providers.

 By the time we completed it was almost 3:30 PM and we came out tired and satisfied having completed days work with complete dedication. Me and my colleagues, we did a quick chat having coffee and soon got into the cab thanking the HR and complimenting each other. It was a good day and within few minutes I dozed off in the Toyota like sleeping in my bed. We reached Chennai by 6:30 and after I came back home, I had a hot shower and did a prayer thanking for the opportunity to be at my alma mater! Life is Beautiful!

Meditate in peace

… a good sunday to rejenuvate.

…but not really productive. There are days at work place when you start your day with not much on your plate; and surprisingly on a Monday. Today has been such a day for me. I did not have anything important to do and was well confident that I could leave the office at 6:00 PM, do some shopping for my friend’s birthday and go back home to catch up with some book.

It all went fine till 4:00 PM, until I got a call from one of the managers. He was inquiring about one of my peer colleague who had actually completed some job to the manager a week back. I said that my colleague was not in to office today and unfortunately not able to connect either via phone or e-mail. The manager wanted to complete some pending work which my colleague had left behind and said that he couldn’t understand what has been done, so thought I can take a shot at it. Since I had 2 hours more and since I knew the background of the work, I accepted. By the time I completed it was 7:00. Still I had hopes to catch up my shuttle at 7:30. Once I sent the revised document to the manager, he called up and wanted a walk through and there were lot of discussions, I had to walk him through the entire document and by the time I completed it, the time was almost 8:45 PM. He had suggested some changes and I knew it wouldn’t take not more than 10 minutes and I can still catch up the 9:30 shuttle.

A twist in the story….one more manager pinged me the communicator (or the office messenger) and asked, Palani do you have some time. I said I’m working on some numbers and shall get back to you later or tomorrow. He insisted that we talk by tonight. I said give me 10 minutes and I shall get back to you. Meantime I completed other work and closed it out. When I called this second person, he was on the way home and I had to wait for 20 more minutes until he reached home to give me a call. It went on till 10:30 PM and I had to then close my work for the day.

Little did I know that I would end up having such a long day… but was delighted to get back home and find two ice creams – one casatta and one chocolate in my refrigerator which my mom had saved for me.

By the way, I brought a cotton saree for my mom’s wedding day and 2 half sleeve shirts for my dad. And I also presented them a silver lamp with gold coating at the center. It looked marvellous. Morning my sister had sent a beautiful rose flower bouqaue  for my parent’s wedding. I’m pretty sure my parents would have been so glad to have kids like us, especially my sister.

For past 1 week I have been trying hard to get  up early and start my yoga schedule. But my main sleeping hours in the night seem to be early. Luckily today I got up at sharp 5:00 in the morning. And the biggest surprise was I never had any alarm to wake up me nor I informed my parents and neither programmed my mind forcefully to get up early. It happened naturally. I wouldn’t contribute to early night, because I slept sometime by 1:00 AM only.

As soon as I walked out from sleep, I went to brush my teeth and another biggest change from the usual is – not sitting straight in front of my computer. Usually after brushing my teeth, my next activity of the day is getting to my computer. Today, I walked up to the terrace and starting to do Yoga. I learnt basic Yoga postures and pranayama from  the Sivanand Yoga Ashram in Kerala sometime back, I should say more than a year. I had a copy of the book, “Yoga – Mind and Body” from the ashram which I used today as reference.

For the first time I’m practising without any trainer and practising it after a year. I had my own doubts. But before I started I paid my prayers to the God to guide me on the right way of doing it and accept my mistakes and give a mind to rectify it. I started doing abdominal breathing for five minutes. Just lay on the back on the floor with the back straight and slowly inhaled and exhaled. Subsequent to that, started with Yogic breathing in sitting posture. I guess I faced the problem in doing it. Though I tried to inhale, I did not get a feeling of doing a long breath, it was very short than exhale. I did not try for a long time though.

Next was my favorite Anilom - Alternative nostril breathing. I guess I did close to 15 rounds and I felt good doing it. And finally closing the pranyama with Kapalbhathi, forceful exhale. The thought that I had while doing was on the sound of exhale. I guess there was no rhythm, every time I made a forceful exhale there was no rhythmic pattern of exhale.

Then started with Sun salutation - Surya namaskar. I did about 10 rounds and now I can feel little pain in my body with all the stretches. I also wanted to try one more yoga posture which was shoulder stand. I just read the instruction in the book and followed the steps. I did about 2 times with standing in shoulder stand for about 2 minutes in each round.

I started doing all the above by 5:30 AM and could complete by 6:30 AM. Not sure if I did correctly, though the doubt always remains in my mind. But I’m happy that I tried naturally without forcing myself. Best way to start my day and fill with inspiration.

1.       Whenever you do any good thing, treat yourself with what you like. May be a scoop of ice creams with honey and cookies topped or a dark cream chocolate with almonds and nuts. Save the chocolate cover!

2.       Wake up in the middle of night and shout at top of your voice “Bring back the Time Machine, Bring back my Time Machine!” until the neighbor goes and complaints to your mom.

3.       Write long long e-mails to God about any complaints, feedback about life and any improvement plans. And flood His / Her inbox until you get a definite and tangible answer

4.       Bring bunch of chocolates, show it in front of the people and eat all by yourself. Amazing happiness!

5.       Keep telling your mom – “I love you more than yesterday”

6.       Love your job, and your never feel like working

7.       Do not worry if you feel sleepy at work, just close the computer and close your eyes and take a nap. It is refreshing, I bet!

8.       Wear new dress every week

9.       Miss your flight or bus or train esp. when you want to go for some important occasion

10.   Do not stress your mind with words like hard work, commitment, dedication, sincerity, maturity and blah blah. They will come by itself when they need, you don’t have to strain to go and meet them

11.   When someone scolds keep your face as if you are innocent and if they scold you very badly, start crying very badly in return. True feeling of accomplishments

12.   Save your Friday night – for a cup of coffee, Eagles Hotel California album, a good novel or story and a pair of cotton to avoid hearing people at home shouting at you

13.   When you feel happy, scrap in Facebook, When you feel sad scarp in Facebook, when you feel bored scrap in Facebook.

14.   When you want to take a revenge of someone, flood their e-mail with huge files back to back, eat of lot of nicey nicey things in front of them and pray to God that they should work in weekends.

15.   In the end, Life is not a game or a journey or playground; do not seek for any meaning or purpose. Because life is a maya! And love life.

 

There are days where you spend time with yourself, your own “self”, thinking deep in heart that stirs one’s soul. Today has been one such day for me. Accidentally, I slipped on to a television channel which was screening an American dramatic movie “Bobby”. The movie revolves around the last few hours of assassination of Robert.F.Kennedy and end with a thought provoking speech. This speech “On the Mindless Menace of Violence” was actually delivered on April 5, 1968, the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

 On the Mindless Menace of Violence

This is a time of shame and sorrow. It is not a day for politics. I have saved this one opportunity, my only event of today, to speak briefly to you about the mindless menace of violence which again stains our lands and every one of our lives.

It is not the concern of any one race. The victims of violence are black and white, rich and poor, young and old, famous and unknown. They are, most important of all, human beings whom other human beings loved and needed. No one – no matter where he lives or what he does – can be certain who will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. And yet it goes on and on and on in this country of ours. 

Why? What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr’s cause has ever been stilled by an assassin’s bullet.

No wrong has ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of reason. Whenever any human being’s life is taken another human being unnecessarily – whether it is done in the name of law or in the defiance of the law, by one man or a gang, in cold blood or passion, in an attack of violence or in response to violence – whenever we tear at the fabric of the life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole world is degraded.

“Among free men”, said Abraham Lincoln, “there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and those who take such appeal are sure to lose their cause and pay the costs.”

Yet we seemingly tolerate a rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity and our claims to civilization alike. We calmly accept newspaper reports of civilian slaughter in far-off lands. We glorify killing on movie and television screens and call it entertainment. We make it easy for men of all shades of sanity to acquire whatever weapons and ammunition they desire.

Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is very clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.

For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions, indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter. This is the breaking of a man’s spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among other men. And this too afflicts us all.

I have not come here to propose a set of specific remedies nor is there a single set. For a broad and adequate outline we know what must be done.

When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or his policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies, to be not met with cooperation but with conquest; to be subjugated and mastered. We learn, at the last to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force. For all this, there are no final answers.

Yet we know what we must do. It is to achieve true injustice among our fellow citizens. The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we can find in our midst and in our own hearts that leadership of human purpose that will recognize the terrible truth of our existence. We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children’s future cannot be built on the misfortune of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled nor enriched by hatred or revenge.

Our lives in this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in our land. Of course we cannot vanish it with a program, nor with a resolution. But we can perhaps remember, if only for a time, that those who live with us are our brothers, that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek, as do we, nothing but the chance to live out lives in purpose and in happiness, in winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.

 

Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men, and surely we can begin to work little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again.

 

Morning 5:30 Kanyakumari beach, Located at the southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula.

The very confluence of the three water bodies – Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Mannar

Thousand eagerly waiting to see the Sun rise.. it looked like God is descending to Earth and people are waiting! And in that early morning, the sweet seller is busy with his business no matter if sun rises or not. See the boy holding the pink sweets Duty consciousness.

The first few of the beautiful face of the Mother Nature. The heart feels so joyful seeing Her rising to show the world how beauty She is… thousands cheer on seeing her Good morning India!

Up, up, up , hurraaay…… Here She comes….

The Vivekanada Rock Memorial and 133 feet Thiruvalluvar statue shining brightly along with the sunrise.