Why Indians don't give back to society ?

July 30, 2009

Dear friendsI am very soryy to say that of late it has become a practice to everybody to praise others and criticise our own brothern. Dont make comparisions for the sake of criticism if u want to compare compare with respect to each cpuntry's area , density of population,percentage of poverityin each country,,and many more on one to one basis .with great pain I have to say one thing let all the people who all criticise our own brothern go to the so called foreign countries and vacate the so much criticised country so that the population will reduce and automatically other things will take their own shape.Lastly one thing.. instead of criticising better the individual think in retrospect what he/she is doing in this country and not bother about other what they do then there will be a lot of change in the countrySWAMI

NATH

Dear Friends,

We are not charitable.. .,

The reasons are :

1) High ppopulation density and lack of opportunities have made us

very competitive & 'self-centric' . Our universe starts and ends with our family.

2) While growing up, we have not received or seen such largesse from

soceity. So, we don't have much ideals to enumerate.

3) Lack of opportunities for growth has made us very short sighted.

We always calculate "what is there for me ?" in every scenario. So,

giving donations etc., is not there in our minds. This also made us going

for short--cuts in every scenario. We adulterate everything for short-term

gains. As the saying goes"Dhanda mein sab chalta hain" (Everything is

fair in business)

4) An affluent soceity which is rooted in a place and have a sense of belonging

do go for "giving it back". Many of our affluent businessmen do give charity.

5) Sometimes we search for a reliable instrument for giving charity. However,

except few religious institutions, we don't have many such instrument.

Even in last Tsunami, we gave whatever we could. Later we came to know

that many of our donations are either abandoned, or misplaced or going

somewhere else.

But I have seen many self-less charities in life. many of my colleagues

provide food for people going for Satsang / Teerth-yatra. Generally the scenario

is like this...

People who are going to such holy places by train and crossing Mathura ....

my colleagues do provide food (generally breakfast or meal)...provided that

the teerth-Yatri- s are from same locality. The nos. of meals may 100-200.

And my colleagues don't advertise that either.

regards

P L Chakraborty

renunw [renunw@ .co. uk] Thursday, July 30, 2009 12:03 AMancient_indian_ astrology[ancient_indian_ astrology] Re: Why Indians don't give back to society ?

Dear Sunil ji,An interesting article! The 'opportunism' mentioned here sounds so familiar...may be something not alien to Sri Lanka too. Taking just one example in the article, I can vividly visualize the impatience, selfishness, and the urge to break through traffic lights thus breaking through all the barriers our sacred books have imparted on us. I don't see much of a difference between Hinduism and Buddhism.... the most liberal religions/philosoph ies. If we adhere to the moral guidance shown by our ancestors/religious leaders, our countries would be a model to rest of the world, our countrymen would be the most compassionate, most generous and most unselfish beings in the world. Yet, it does not seem to be so. The majority acts just the opposite.Why? Why are we like this? Where and what has gone wrong? It is indeed very sad...why is it that a raped girl is cornered in our society and the rapist is protected? Where are those ardent followers of Hinduism/Buddhism when such things happen? Why are they silent? 'Ah...that's none of my business'. Do we care? Oh...no. Why should we? As long as our needs are satisfied why bother about the other?Recently at a funeral house, it was seen the daughter of the deceased father, revising and questioning from a school text book from her 7 year old daughter in a corner of the hall where the body was kept. Why? Because the school tests were going on....and for this lady the priority was to prepare her child for the rat race and not to pay due last respects to her dead father! This is only one example out of many.....but this is another kind of opportunism.Sorry, for the non astro post. But it pains to see opportunism corrupting all our esteemed values inherited from our religions and culture. blessings,Renuancient_indian_ astrology, "sunil nair" <astro_tellerkerala wrote:>> *Subject:* [Why Indians don't give back to society ?> > *An article every Indian should read!**> *> Why Indians don't give back to society> > By Aakar Patel, Mint, July 4, 2009> > Some characteristics unite Indians. The most visible is our opportunism> > Why don't we worship Brahma? We know he's part of the Hindu> trinity as the> creator, but we worship Vishnu, manager of the cosmos, and Shiva, its> eventual destroyer. The answer lies not in religion, but in culture. But> in> what way does our religion shape our culture?> > Weber explained the success of capitalism in the US , Germany and> Britain as> coming from their populations' Protestant faith. This ethic, or> culture, was> missing from the Catholic populations of South America , Italy and Spain> .> Protestants, Weber said, extended Christianity' s message of doing> good> deeds, to doing work well. Industry and enterprise had an ultimate> motive:> public good. That explains the philanthropists of the US , from John D.> Rockefeller to Andrew Carnegie to Bill Gates.> > What explains the behaviour of Indians? What explains the anarchy of our> cities? To find out, we must ask how our behaviour is different.> > Some characteristics unite Indians. The most visible is our opportunism.> One> good way to judge a society is to see it in motion. On the road, we> observe> the opportunism in the behaviour of the Indian driver. Where traffic> halts> on one side of the road in India , motorists will encroach the oncoming> side> because there is space available there. If that leads to both sides> being> blocked, that is fine, as long as we maintain our advantage over people> behind us or next to us. This is because the other man cannot be trusted> to> stay in his place.> > The Indian's instinct is to jump the traffic light if he is> convinced that> the signal is not policed. If he gets flagged down by the police, his> instinct is to bolt. In an accident, his instinct is to flee. Fatal> motoring> cases in India are a grim record of how the driver ran over people and> drove> away.> > We show the pattern of what is called a Hobbesian society: one in which> there is low trust between people. This instinct of me-versus-the- world> leads to irrational behaviour, demonstrated when Indians board flights.> We> form a mob at the entrance, and as the flight is announced, scramble for> the> plane even though all tickets are numbered. Airlines modify their> boarding> announcements for Indians taking international flights.> > Our opportunism necessarily means that we do not understand collective> good.> Indians will litter if they are not policed. Someone else will always> pick> up the rubbish we throw. Thailand 's toilets are used by as many> people as> India 's toilets are, but they are likely to be not just clean but> spotless.> This is because that's how the users leave them, not the cleaners.> > The Indian's reluctance to embrace collective good hurts his state.> A study> of income-tax compliance between 1965 and 1993 in India (Elsevier> Science/Das- Gupta, Lahiri and Mookherjee) concluded that "declining> assessment intensity had a significant negative effect" on> compliance, while> "traditional enforcement tools (searches, penalties and prosecution> activity) had only a limited effect" on Indians. The authors puzzled> over> the fact that " India 's income tax performance (was) below the> average of> countries with similar GDP per capita".> > We do not think stealing from the state is a bad thing, and our> ambiguity> extends to corruption, which also we do not view in absolute terms.> Political parties in India understand this and corruption is not an> issue in> Indian politics. Politicians who are demonstrably corrupt, recorded on> camera taking a bribe or saying appalling things, or convicted by a> court,> can hold legitimate hope of a comebackâ€”unthinkable in the West.> > The opportunist is necessarily good at adapting, and that explains the> success of Indians abroad. We can follow someone else's rules well,> even if> we can't enforce them at home ourselves. The Indian in the US is> peerless at> the Spelling Bee because the formula of committing things to memory,> which> in India passes for knowledge, comes naturally to him. But this talent> for> adapting and memorizing is not the same as a talent for creation.> > The question is: Why are we opportunists?> > In his great work Crowds and Power, Elias Canetti observed that the> rewards> religions promised their faithful were all far off, in the afterlife.> This> is because a short goal would demand demonstration from god and create> sceptics instead of believers. There is an exception to this in> Hinduism.> Hinduism is not about the other world. There is no afterlife in Hinduism> and> rebirth is always on earth. The goal is to be released entirely and our> death rites and beliefs -- funeral in Kashi -- seek freedom from> rebirth.> > Christianity and Islam are about how to enter heaven; Hinduism is about> how> not to return to earth, because it's a rotten place. Naipaul opens> his> finest novel with the words "The world is what it is", and> Wittgenstein (> "The world is all that is the case") opens his Tractatus> similarly.> > Hinduism recognizes that the world is irredeemable: It is what it is.> Perhaps this is where the Hindu gets his world view -- which is zero-sum> --> from. We might say that he takes the pessimistic view of society and of> his> fellow man. But why?> > The Hindu devotee's relationship with god is transactional: I give> you this,> you give me that. God must be petitioned and placated to swing the> universe's blessings towards you. God gives you something not> through the> miracle, and this is what makes Hinduism different, but by swinging that> something away from someone else. This is the primary lesson of the> Vedic> fire sacrifice. There is no benefit to one without loss to another.> Religion> is about bending god's influence towards you through pleas, and> appeasement,> through offerings.> > Society has no role in your advancement and there is no reason to give> back> to it (in any way, including leaving the toilets clean behind you)> because> it hasn't given you anything in the first place. That is why Indian> industrialists are not philanthropists. Rockefeller always gave a tenth> of> his earnings to the Church, and then donated hundreds of millions,> fighting> hookworm and educating black women. Bill Gates gave $25 billion (around> Rs1.2 trillion), and his cause is fighting malaria, which does not even> affect Americans. Warren Buffett gave away $30 billion, almost his> entire> fortune. Andrew Carnegie built 2,500 libraries. Dhirubhai Ambani> International School has annual fees starting at Rs47,500 (with a Rs> 24,000> admission fee) and Mukesh Ambani's daughter was made head girl.> > An interesting thing to know is this: Has our culture shaped our faith> or> has our faith shaped our culture? I cannot say. To return to the> question we> started with: Why is Brahma not worshipped? The answer is obvious: He> has> nothing to offer us. What he could do for us, create the universe, he> already has. There is no gain in petitioning him now.>This Message was sent from Indian Oil Messaging Gateway, New Delhi, India. The information contained in this electronic message and any attachments to this message are intended for the exclusive use of the addressee(s) and may contain proprietary, confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. 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July 30, 2009

Dear Mr. Gopalakrishnan Subra Iyer,

//How is this article related to the research in astrology? Are we not

focussing?//

By making this above comment you yourself are indicating that you are a silent

member (observer) of AIA since long if not New entrant...

Forget about the thread's content now tell me how much you gave back to AIA?

after being a member here? by way of asking/sharing and teaching Astrology

here...?

If you can't understand the *Gist* or the idea behind Shri Sunil ji's this

thread or any other non-astrology subject forwardings here then i doubt what

type of Astrology Research you are doing.. and i have not seen your any

Astrology knwoledge sharing here..till today from you or from this ID!!! correct

me if i am wrong i am open for the same.

Considering my limited understanding capability... what i understood is - i see

Value i repeat VALUE, some sort of Geniune Concern of the Subject(s) in his

threads which is of great help and rich in quality which will definatly enhance

and kindle the spark needed for the learning members here. provided the

Member(s) understand it.. This is my personal experience being here in AIA since

3 Yrs..

Regards

Chandu2Chill

, Gopalakrishnan Subra Iyer