Reforms and Women

Why aren't there more women reformers? We had Manmohan Singh (as Fin Minister) and Narasimha Rao, way back in 1991, and Sreedharan (Konkan Railway and Delhi Metro), Verghese Kurien (Amul), and a few other good men (Sam Pitroda), thrown in. But where are the women?

I say, find more women reformers. They have the natural flair. They are completely immersed in improving their surroundings. They want to perpetually clean their abodes, and things within the abodes. They will go to great lengths to wash clothes, and iron them and loook good in them. Often, this extends to making others around them look better than they otherwise would (children, husbands?).

The trouble arises only when they want to reform their husbands. This is the only animal who is beyond redemption. If they would just concentrate on the community, environment, neighbourhood, the globe, etc., they would do exceedingly well. The parliament could do with some more grace, in general, and they can bring that to it. The GST would get passed in a jiffy. And jewellery, clothes, eating out etc. would be less expensive.

The downside? The (self-and-spiritual improvement) babas of all types may go out of business. The babes would take over.

Teacup in a Storm

Yes, I know we usually talk of a storm in a teacup. But I woke up this morning due to the sound of a thunderstorm with rain, and decided that the best course of action was to make myself a cup of tea.

So I did. And tea makes you think. So I did that, too.

The more I thought, the less I understood. Then I remembered I used to have a poster which said, "The more I think, the more confused I get." So I stopped thinking.

Our gurus (those that I have read anyway) advise us to stop thinking in order to approach the thoughtless state of 'being' to escape from the mundane, useless thoughts that crowd our poor minds. This is supposed to take you (over time, when the time is right etc..) to a meditative, calm, 'being-in-the-present' kind of state.

So I tried my best to meditate. And lo and behold, I found a new awakening, ....from sleep, because unknowingly, I had dozed off in the middle of my spiritual quest.

Anyway, there is always a next time!

Blackouts

India was shaken by two blackouts on Monday and Tuesday (today is Wednesday). This was aimed at making us spiritual, and bringing us closer to nature. And to make us watch less TV- sorry, all the creative people at the TV channels! If India were winning medals at all the Olympic events, it might have been a different story!

We are too dependent on the material world, and not spiritual enough. Once the lights are off, it is easier to meditate. Also, we have a pool of arrogant (electrical) engineers who think they know what they are doing. They now know what they don't know. How to Manage a Grid. So now we can sue the colleges that gave them a degree and recover all our lost GDP.

How's that for a quick solution to multiple problems?

Gender Inequality in the Spiritual Realm

We are generally drawn to spirituality at some point in life- generally in the later part. But this is not about man's spiritual quest. This is about why so few women are in spiritual leadership positions. A glass ceiling that  operates in their hierarchy, maybe?

Or, it could be that women are already evolved and couldn't be bothered to reform the others. After all, even in non-spiritual realms, their effort is wasted on incorrigible men. So why bother?

On the other hand, we have several Goddesses (most after the Greeks and Romans) whom we pray to. Some of them are pretty violent too, like Durga/Kali, for good reason. Anybody would turn violent if subjected to the daily goings-on on our great planet.

There is a more mundane explanation. That the daily grind gets to them, what with balancing (household) budgets, cooking and raising children, that they just don't have time for anything else (Ekta Kapoor's serials are the only exception, kyun ki...).

But I think they would do a good job of it, if more of them ventured to try. I had one of my smoothest landings while flying recently when the crew was 2 female pilots!

Jaggi Vasudev and Shivaratri

Watched an interesting TV program- or a part of it- conducted at Coimbatore by Jaggi Vasudev, a new age guru who usually speaks in English- and very well, too. I once saw him on a Golf course in Chennai. He organises a night-out of song, dance, music (with some big names participating) and discourse on every Shivaratri. He also runs a program called Inner Engineering at various places including the hills near Coimbatore where they have some sort of a dome called Dhyanalingam. I had once visited this when on a trip to a Coimbatore college.

After Osho, I find in him a very down to earth, pragmatic person who happens to be a guru. His logic is easy to follow, but whether to believe is a matter of choice. Another of the spiritual gurus I have been hearing off and on from (on TV) is Shivani, a 'sister' of the Bramha Kumaris group. She is cool, and takes on any difficult question from her interviewer, and answers succintly, without exasperation and with a smile. If nothing else, these two should be observed for their mastery over language and skill in communicating their thoughts.

Many of the others that appear on Aastha channel appear to me to be either ignorant, or fake in some way. That is entirely a personal opinion, and some may find them useful, or stimulating. Incidentally, spiritual fundas were India's USP for a long, long time, and it seems there is a large following for the gurus of recent times. They come in all sizes, shapes, and maybe unique to India, also in both genders.