“Ishwar Allah Tero Naam

Sabko Sanmati de Bhagwaan”

I can still recall how I grew up singing this song in my school. Even today, this bhajan is being chanted in many temples of our country. Mahatma Gandhi, a great supporter of communal harmony, popularized this melodious song which means God, Almighty, Absolute Truth is one, although people call Him by different names. Some call Him as Ishwar while others call Him as Allah, Waheguru, Ram or Krishna. Just as one person is father to someone, husband to the other and son to another, similarly God is one, called differently by different persons. Just as there cannot be two heads of a nation, similarly there cannot be two heads of a universe. Had there been two Gods, there would have been a chaos in the world.

       While creating this universe, the Almighty did not make any difference between different human beings. He treats all equally. For Him, all are equal without any distinction of caste or creed. It is therefore our moral duty to develop a feeling of brotherhood amongst ourselves. We should treat all on equal footing irrespective of the fact whether one is rich or poor, white or black, learned or illiterate. People may have faith in a religion of their choice. One may be a Hindu and others may be Sikhs, Muslims or Christians. But all are the creation of one God. All temples should reverberate to the verses of Quran in their prayers and all mosques should reverberate to the verses of Geeta and Vedas in their prayers. In this way communal harmony will spread amongst people of different faiths.

       Today we find that people have forgotten the old traditions. They have become materialistic. They attach more importance to wealth and wine, than humanity. In the days gone by, people had full faith in God and His doctrines but now they are becoming atheists. This trend is ruining the society. People have started to exploit each other.

         In the event of any disaster all persons irrespective of their religion should come forward to help physically and financially those in distress. But even at such occasions, some mischief mongers take undue advantage  of the situation and exploit the persons instead of helping them. We should condemn such persons with one voice and Government should take strict action against them and give them deterrent punishment.

          We request the Almighty, Absolute Truth to give Sanmati(wisdom) to such persons so that we may see a new era where there is love and happiness everywhere so that we can have a paradise on earth. I hope a good sense will prevail upon the people and they will adhere to the inherent meaning attached to the said song !!!

What can we do to stop corruption?

At the outset, I would like to define what is corruption-Corruption is to lose purity or to make anything putrid or to bribe a person for personal gains. There was a time when India was corruption free but during the last three four decades this malady has assumed an alarming proportion. In today’s India, there is hardly any department or segment of life where corruption is not found. “Honesty is the best policy” is now simply an empty slogan for our people. Now no work is done in a routine manner. You have to grease the palm of other person to get your work done. Corruption is a pest, and affects all those who come in its contact. Hence time has come when the youth of the country will have to jump in the field to get rid of this malady. This youthful cohort has inherited a country, shaped by the great struggle against colonialism. This challenge for corruption is stupendous but our country’s youth has the courage to take on this work.

 It is almost a cliché that today’s young generation wants to play a positive role in shaping the country and its future. They have a very straightforward approach and have courage to face all odds. Today the youth of the country is result oriented and wants results now. The prevalent corruption has given a chance to parties like Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to come in the field to fight for corruption. Anna Hazare has taken the flag in his hand followed by thousands of young people who fight for corruption .They had urged the government to enact the Jan Lokpal Bill. When enacted, there will be a check on corruption.

       Similarly, youth can join hands to raise a voice against corruption. Firstly, they should stop paying bribes to get their job done in any walk of life. They should keep their surroundings clean by keeping their household, street and city spick and span. As we know that charity begins at home, so these are some basic etiquettes to eradicate corruption from our society. Along with it, they can also arrange awareness programs like seminars, conferences on streets, in schools, colleges to apprise people of the prevalent corrupt practices. They can bring the cases of corruption to the knowledge of the media to highlight them. They can inform the government what is going on in the Government departments and request them to enforce the law regarding corruption. They can personally educate the people about the pernicious effects of corruption. They can start the education campaign at home. They can also write to the Secretary of Education to include anti-corruption modules in school curricula. They can take help of Electronic and print media to explain people the ill-effects of corruption. They can approach the income-tax department and request them to keep an eye on the income and expenditure of employees and if they find that their assets are much more than their income then they should give deterrent punishment to them. They also need to convince the Government to increase the wages of the employees at stable level and lower their basic commodity bills so that people may avoid getting involved in corrupt acts.

 In the end I would like to say that corruption can’t be dealt with until there is a strong will to stem the rot. So the youth of country should come forward and make earnest efforts to put an end to corruption so that people of our country may feel some relief.

Think Global, Act Local

“Think Global, Act local”, a famous quote by  Paul McCartney , emphasizes on nurturing the entire planet and taking action at the individual level, in order to create a resilient community . God is one and all the living beings of His creation are alike without any distinction of caste, creed or religion. He has created fine elements like sky, air, fire(sun),water and  earth as a result of which humanity has come into being. They provide basic necessities of life that are available to every individual, whether rich or poor, pious or sinner equally.

                                          Hence it is incumbent for every individual to pay the debt to God in lieu of the services provided by him.  At present His universe has been divided into more than two hundred countries consisting of seven billion people. If the inhabitants of individual countries think and act for the welfare of His creation, His universe will become a paradise on earth. For that we need to bring changes in our own lifestyle in order to reflect our global concerns. If every individual of different countries takes a pledge to grow and protect one tree, then the problem of global warming will be solved to a great extent and all will heave a sigh of relief  and lead a blissful life. 

 Thus a locally acting, globally thinking attitude is pivotal in the fight to save our world.