Apni to jaise taise
Thodi aise ya waise
Apni to jaise taise
Thodi aise ya waise
Kat jaayegi
Aapka kya hoga janaabe-aali
Aapka kya hoga 

Apne aage na peeche
Na koi upar neeche
Apne aage na peeche
Na koi upar neeche
Ronewala
Na koi ronewali janaabe-aali
Aapka kya hoga 

Aap bhi meri tarah insaan ki aaulad hain
Aap mooh mangi dua
Hum unsooni faryaad hain 

Aap bhi meri tarah insaan ki aaulad hain
Aap mooh mangi dua
Hum unsooni faryaad hain
Woh jinhe sara zamana samjhe laawaris yahan
Aap jaise zaalimon ke zulm ki ijaat hain
Gaali huzur ki to
Lagti duaon jaisi
Gaali huzur ki to
Lagti duaon jaisi
Hum dua bhi de to lage hai gaali
Aapka kya hoga janaabe-aali
Aapka kya hoga hm 

Aapke maathe se chhalke jo pasina bhi kahin
Aasma hilne lage aur kaap oothe yeh zameen
Aapka to yeh pasina khoon se bhi keemti
Aur apne khoon ki keemat yahan kuch bhi nahin
Apna to khoon paani
Jeena marna bemaani
Apna to khoon paani
Jeena marna bemaani
Waqt ki har ada hai apni dekhi bhali
Aapka kya hoga janaabe-aali
Aapka kya hoga 

Haan apni to jaise taise
Thodi aise ya waise
Apni to jaise taise
Thodi aise ya waise
Kat jaayegi
Aapka kya hoga janaabe-aali
Aapka kya hoga 

Apne aage na peeche
Na koi upar neeche
Apne aage na peeche
Na koi upar neeche
Ronewala
Na koi ronewali janaabe-aali
Aapka kya hoga

We all judge ourselves. Generally the purpose of judging is Self “Improvement”. Why do we want to improve ourselves? The basic idea or assumption behind self improvement is, “If I improve myself then I can be more happy”. Happiness and continuity of it is something which we want. We all want to be continuously happy.

Generally when it comes to judging ourselves then we do that by comparing ourselves with “others”. “Others” are generally the basis of judgment of ourselves. When we judge ourselves on the basis of others then it gives rise to Inferiority/Superiority. When we feel inferior we try to do something to become superior, and when we feel superior then we take pride in it and try to dominate those to whom we feel superior. It may be possible that we feel inferior to some people and superior to others. Generally we compare ourselves with the people with whom we interact more.

The basic thing which is needed to be analyzed here is what is this feeling of inferiority or superiority? and how does it come?

In my opinion I might feel inferior when I feel the uncertainty of getting respect from other and I might feel superior when I feel certainty of it due to any reason. So, we come to know that it is “Respect” which plays an important role in the feeling of Inferiority or Superiority.

If we try to analyze Respect then we come to know that we all want Respect. Need of Respect is continuous in us i.e. we want Respect continuously. This feeling of getting respect from others drives us in doing many such things which we do not want to do and sometimes it makes us not to do those things which we really want to do!!

I remember it was my cousin’s marriage. Father of my cousin did not have much to spend on the reception and other things. but being a girl’s father and that also in an elite society he was in Peer Pressure to give such a reception which couldn’t afford, but still he did. He took loans from banks, from his relatives and many other people just to confirm to the “standards”. He had a feeling that if he does not do so then he will loose “Respect”, so ultimately he gave a reception which was even above the “standards”. Now after 5-6 years of marriage, the situation in girl’s father’s house is, he is still in a big loan and his business is same sluggish as it was before and he thinks twice before buying even the daily needed things like grocery and all.

This was just one, not-so-high example. There are several examples like this where we make “others” around us as basis of judgment of ourselves and feel Inferior/Superior which leads to Competitions and Peer Pressures. Ultimately this Peer Pressure or Competition or feeling to avoid Inferiority or feeling to prove superiority becomes the driver of our thoughts. It becomes driver of almost all of our decisions and we keep on doing things which others around us are doing or whatever “others” dictate, just to keep on getting “Respect” from them!!

It is this feeling of getting or maintaining Respect from others around, we do a lot many wrong things also, which ultimately leads to corruption. Like, if my neighbor has a bigger car than me then I start feeling inferior. Now I need a bigger car to get back my lost respect. I don’t have much money to buy a bigger car, but I want it on any cost. My current salary in my job can not draw me a bigger car, so I try to find out some other ways of earning money. I start stealing tax, I start showing wrong medical bills, I start taking bribes and a lot many things which ultimately contribute to corruption. Ultimately after doing all these things when I get the bigger car I get back my “Respect” but only till the time my neighbor buys a more bigger car than my new car and in this way this vicious circle never ends. In this case also if we see then we come to know that, it is “car” which is being respected and not the person.

If we see in a bigger view then we come to know that, it all starts from the feeling of getting more and more Respect from others. It is this feeling of getting Respect in ourselves makes us to compare ourselves with “others”, which makes us feel either inferior or superior or both. It is this feeling of Inferiority/Superiority which creates “Peer Pressure” on us, which ultimately leads to corruption. Its a chain

Feeling of getting Respect from others leads to

Comparison leads to

Inferiority/Superiority leads to

Peer Pressure leads to

Corruption.

Those who have become corrupt, motivate others also to become corrupt and earn easy money. People compare themselves with those others who have become corrupt and are earning more and more money and again feel inferior and this chain ultimately becomes a vicious circle.

We all, almost all of us are suffering from this problem and fit somewhere in between the above chain. To come out of this chain there is necessity to understand “Respect”. We know that we want Respect continuously, so in current scenario to make respect continuous we will need to show ourselves superior to others continuously, which creates nothing but a self-destructive society as we have already seen. This reinforces the necessity to question and understand the definition of “Respect”.

As we have seen above generally we make possessions of the other person as the basis of Respecting him rather than the person himself. Possessions of a person includes his material and non-material possession like his property, car, house, salary, designation in his job, religion, caste, country, language, gender, build of the body, his ideology etc.

Till the time we keep on making possessions of a person as basis of judgment of person we keep on disrespecting him because we either find him inferior or superior to us but never find him same as us. Due to this kind of comparison we find ourselves inferior/superior and stuck in the same vicious circle. It requires us to correctly understand ourselves as well as others and to rightly evaluate them, not on the basis of their possessions but what they actually are!!

Definition of Respect thus turns out to be, “Right Evaluation”. Right Evaluation of a person leads to right “Respect” which is to the person and not to his possessions. Now it is left to the reader to evaluate it.

निम्नलिखित मेरे विचार हैं, जो मैंने १५ अगस्त पर IIIT-H में हुए समारोह में अध्यापकों, विद्यार्थियों तथा अन्य लोगो के समक्ष प्रस्तुत किए| Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam भी उस दिन वहां उपहस्थित थे|

आज स्वतंत्रता दिवस है| आज के दिन हम अग्रेजों की अधीनता से मुक्त हुए थे| आज का ही वह दिन था, जब हमें राजनैतिक स्वतंत्रता प्राप्त हुई थी| यह राजनैतिक स्वतंत्रता हमें यूँ ही प्राप्त नहीं हुई, इसे प्राप्त करने के लिए हज़ारों लोगों ने अपने निजी स्वार्थ को दरकिनार कर अपने प्राणों की खुशी खुशी आहुति दे दी|

आज स्वतंत्रता के ६० वर्ष बाद हम कहते हैं की हम स्वतंत्र हैं| स्वतंत्रता का अर्थ हम राजनैतिक स्वतंत्रता से लगाते हैं, पर क्या राजनैतिक रूप से स्वतंत्र होना ही, स्वतंत्रता है? राजनैतिक स्वतंत्रता प्राप्त कर के हम मानते हैं की हमने स्वराज हासिल कर लिया है, पर क्या यह सही मायने में स्वराज है?

इस जगह पर आकर हमें स्वतंत्रता तथा स्वराज, इन शब्दों को परिभाषित करने की आवश्कता महसूस होती है| स्वराज को पूर्ण रूप से परिभाषित कर पाना मेरे ज्ञान तथा योग्यता के परे है, पर तब भी में एक मोटे स्तर पर यह कहना चाहूँगा की स्वराज का अर्थ है, समाज में सुख तथा सम्रद्धि अथवा समाज में व्यवस्था| जब हम समाज में व्यवस्था को सुनिशचित करने जाते हैं, तो हम पाते हैं की समाज में व्यवस्था, मनुष्य के स्तर पर व्यवस्था को सुनिशचित किए बिना नहीं लाई जा सकती| मनुष्य के स्तर पर सुख तथा सम्रद्धि अथवा व्यवस्था सुनिशचित करने के लिए हमें मनुष्य के स्तर पर व्यवस्था को समझने की आवश्यकता है| मनुष्य के स्तर पर व्यवस्था को केवल स्वाध्याय से ही समझा जा सकता है| किसी गुमनाम व्यक्ति ने स्वाध्याय की महत्ता को बड़े ही अच्छे ढंग से समझाया है, जो में आप सबके साथ में बाँटना चाहूँगा|

यह कुछ इस तरह से है,
स्वयं से बातें करना हमेशा से ही मेरा काम रहा है| स्वयं से बातें करते करते अक्सर में दो “मैं” में बट जाता हूँ| एक वह “मैं” जो में होना चाहता हूँ, जिसकी मैंने अपने मन में छवि बाना रखी है, और दूसरा वह “मैं” जो में असलियत में हूँ| ऐसा करके मैं पाता हूँ की मेरे उन दो रूपों में कितना अन्तर है, कितना मतभेद है !! यह भीतरी मतभेद ही है जो आतंरिक हिंसा को जन्म देता है और अंततः बाहरी हिंसा के रूप में अपने आपको प्रदर्शित करता है|

काफ़ी लंबे समय से में इसी उलझन में पड़ा रहा की मेरे उन दो “मैं” में इतना अन्तर कैसे है, और मैं उसे आसानी से क्यों खत्म नहीं कर पा रहा हूँ? और भी कई प्रश्न मेरे इस अशांत मन को और भी विचलित कर देते, जैसे, आख़िर इस जीवन का उद्देश्य क्या है? हम क्या करना चाहते हैं?, आदि| मुझे पिछले कुछ समय से बस यही बात समझ मैं आई की इन प्रश्नों के उत्तर मुझे स्वाध्याय से ही मिल सकते हैं| स्वाध्याय ही मुझे बता सकता है की मेरे जीवन का उद्देश्य क्या है, मेरी भौतिक, मानसिक आवश्यकताएं क्या हैं|

मेरी ऐसी धारणा बनी की इन प्रश्नों के उत्तर के आभाव में और जीवन के प्रयोजन से जुड़े ज्ञान के आभाव में ही, हम स्वयं को उद्देश्यहीन पाते हैं और अक्सर वाही कर बैठते हैं जो हमारे समाज में अन्य लोग कर रहे होते हैं| और इस तरह से हम राजनैतिक रूप से स्वतंत्र होकर भी परतंत्रता का जीवन व्यतीत करते रहते हैं|

स्वाध्याय से मुझे यह पता लगा की मैंने अपने अभी तक के जीवन में जो भी कुछ अपने अन्दर ज्ञान समझ कर भर रखा है, वह सही में ज्ञान है, या फ़िर मेरी मान्यता है? मैंने यही पाया की हमें हमारी मान्यताओं और ज्ञान अथवा सही समझ के प्रति जागरूकता अत्यन्त ही आवश्यक है| ज्ञान तथा मान्यताओं को प्रथक करने वाली रेखा मुझे स्पष्ट रूप से दिखाई पड़नी चाहिए| हमारा व्यवहार हमारी मान्यताओं तथा ज्ञान का दर्पण होता है| हमारी मान्यताएं व ज्ञान हमारे व्यवहार को परिवर्तित कर देते हैं, हमारे नज़रिये को बदल कर रख देते हैं| एक ग़लत मान्यता का होना एक रंगीन चश्मे को लगा लेने जैसा है| अब भाई, लाल रंग का चश्मा लगा कर देखोगे तो दुनिया लाल ही नज़र आएगी ना!!

स्वाध्याय से ही मुझे समझ आया की समझ का आभाव ही सभी दुखों का कारण है| अज्ञानतावश ही मनुष्य गैरजिम्मेदाराना व्यवहार करता है| ज्ञान का अर्थ है, स्वयं के सम्पूर्णता से सम्बन्ध की समझ, जो स्वयं की समझ के बिना नहीं आ सकती| इसी समझ के आभाव में मनुष्य स्वयं भी दुखी होता है, और अन्य लोगों को भी दुखी कर बैठता है| अज्ञानता ही सभी दुखों का कारण है|

आज जब में अपने आसपास देखता हूँ, तो पाता हूँ, की चारों ओर भष्टाचार का बोलबाला है| सुधार की अवश्यक्ता है| इस सब भष्टाचार की जड़ अज्ञानता ही है| जब तक अज्ञानता ख़त्म नहीं होगी, तब तक भष्टाचार नामक इस राक्षस का वध नहीं होगा| जब तक हम स्वयं में सुधार नहीं लाएंगे तब तक हम समाज, देश, तथा विश्व के सुधार की आशा नहीं कर सकते| हर वह प्रयास जो अज्ञानता को मिटाकर ज्ञान बांटने में समर्थ है, सुधार कार्य की तरफ़ बहुत ही अच्छा और भव्य प्रयास है|

आज स्वतंत्रता दिवस है| आज के दिन हम अंग्रेजों की अधीनता से मुक्त हुए थे, पर मैं इस आजादी को सही मायने में आजादी नहीं मानता| हम तब तक आज़ाद नहीं होंगे, जब तक हम इन अज्ञानता रुपी बेड़ियों को तोड़कर स्वतंत्र नहीं हो जाते|

आइये हम सब आगे आयें और सभी में ज्ञान रुपी इस ज्योति को प्रज्वलित करने का यथासंभव प्रयास करें|
जय हिंद|

In this analogy, our Body is considered to be analogous to a chariot.

Our Body is the chariot,

Our Senses are the horses,

Reins controlling the horses, is the “Mann”,

These Reins are in the hands of “Buddhi” i.e the driver,

We are the one in the chariot, i.e. the “Swami”

If Buddhi is not appropriate i.e if the understanding is not proper then the Reins (Mann ) will not be in control. If Reins (Mann) are not taut i.e not in control, then the horses (senses) will be out of control, which will end up taking the chariot along with the Swami nowhere.

In fact it is the Buddhi (driver) keeps on teaching the Swami. Swami is the one who is the decision maker. If it is according to the knowledge given by Buddhi then it is fine otherwise we end up ending nowhere.

It was a train journey from Indore to Kota, my home place. Just two days back before the journey, I requested my uncle to get me a train ticket; he got me a sleeper class ticket with a waiting number of 53. We thought it would clear. In this hope, came the day of leaving. I inquired to railway inquiry, and found that there was still a big waiting. I told my uncle to cancel my train ticket and get me a bus ticket instead, but he said, “don’t worry, I will settle you the train, be patient and just see!!”. I was wondering how he will do that. On my repeatedly asking the same question he got irritated and shouted, “it is my responsibility to get you into the train, don’t worry, and don’t ask me this question again.”. I did not touch the topic again. Time of departure of train was approaching; I packed my luggage and got ready. We left to the railway station. After reaching there we checked for my waiting list number, it was 10. My uncle then started searching for TC. He asked to TC, if I could get one seat. He said, there is no seat available in sleeper coach. He then asked if there is seat available in AC coach, TC said “just go and sit on seat number 7, which is my seat, rest I will see in the train itself”.

I was afraid with all this; I was not ready to do all this. Many questions were revolving in my head, “what if … ??”. The main fear which I had in my mind was of fear of indulging in bribery, which I was not at all willing to do. I repeated asked few questions to my uncle, “How can I sit in AC coach with a sleeper class ticket? and even if there is some legal mechanism to do this, then what is the surety that he will not ask me for some money for his pocket?”. To this he said, “There exists a legal mechanism to upgrade a sleeper class ticket to AC coach, depending upon the availability of seat, but even then if he asks you for some money then, give it to him!!” I was not willing to indulge into this. In spite of my unwillingness they put my luggage into AC coach onto the seat number 7 and told me, “You are very impractical; you are unfit to survive in this world”. I kept quite, due to regard as he is elder to me.

And the time of departure came, train started moving; I was waving my hand on the gate of my coach and was saying bye-bye to all. I sat on seat number 7 in AC coach as said by TC. I still had fear and many questions were still revolving my mind, “what if …??”. What if some other TC comes? What if there is no legal mechanism to upgrade the ticket? What if TC asks me for some money? If he asks me for some money then how will I handle that situation? All these questions were revolving in my mind.

I was asynchronously monitoring if TC was coming, I couldn’t even concentrate much on the book I was reading. I was thinking to shift to general coach but I had a lot of luggage which I couldn’t shift in little time. I was cursing myself that I brought that much luggage and decided to not to carry more that 2 luggage in any journey in future.

Ultimately, I saw TC coming. I took my ticket out of my pocket and when he came I showed it to him. He told me to keep the ticket with me and wait for some time. May be he did not have any free seat till then. It happened 3-4 times, every time he was coming near to me, I was showing him the ticket and getting the same reply, “keep the ticket with you for some more time.” After some time he came back and told me to show him my ticket. I showed, he then took out his booklet to upgrade my ticket. He made a slip of Rs. 310 and allotted me a free seat. I was not expecting this; I thought he will ask me for some money without giving me any slip. I gave him 500 rupee note since I did not have change. He was supposed to return me 190 Rs. He went away without returning. I too did not ask him the change with the belief that he will return me change in some time and might not be having it that time.

He came back after some time sat next to me, took out money from his pocket, confirmed from me, “You gave me 500 Rs, right?”, “Yes” I said. He gave me 100 Rs back and very slowly said something to me with a mild sarcastic smile on his face. I couldn’t exactly hear what he said but I could understand that he was expecting me to leave 90 Rs. I said “I think I have some change”, I took out 10 Rs note out of my pocket, gave him, and raised my hand in the expectation of 100 Rs. He returned me 100 Rs unwillingly and was expecting me to give him 50 Rs or something. He did not explicitly ask me that but I could figure it out from his gesture. I did not give him anything. Without saying anything, I kept 200 Rs in my pocket and ignored him. May be he understood and did not ask me for money then. All the people around me were awake so may be, he was not willing to do that explicitly in front of all of them.

I was feeling secure now. I had got an AC coach legal ticket. All my fears had gone except the fear, what if he comes again sometime later and asks me for some money? How will I handle that situation? I started imagining that situation in my mind and was trying to find out the solution for it. I decided that if he asks me for money sometime later then I will refuse him humbly with gratefulness for allotting me seat in AC coach.

He did not come for a long time. Kota was approaching us, only 30-45 minutes were remaining. TC came back and sat next to me. He was also going to get down at Kota. Again same questions started revolving in my mind and I started revising what I had decided in my mind. But by God’s grace that situation did not come. He did not ask me anything and Kota came. I was now fearless and happy. I was happy that I was saved from the thing which I was not willing to do. But during these ending hours I saw him taking money from some other people, when all were almost asleep.

There are some more things in it. What if he would have asked me for money without giving me any slip? What if I had refused to give him money? What he could have done? If he had asked me to leave the coach or had charged me fine for boarding into the AC coach in spite of his instructions, since I did not have any proof that he gave me instructions, then what would have happened? I was with 5 big bags which I feel was difficult for me to change the coach on any station since the train was not stopping on any station for more that 10 minutes.

In this entire thing first mistake was mine. I shouldn’t have boarded the AC coach in spite of the TC’s instructions. I should have completed the formalities on the station itself, then only I should have boarded. But I feel he did not have any free seat that time in AC coach and there was pressure from my uncle’s side on me to board it. In this situation when I had already boarded the AC coach, if he had asked me for money, then I would have definitely refused humbly, but if he had insisted then probably I would have given him the money. I know that it wouldn’t have been right, but I was in such a situation that I wouldn’t have had any other option.

There have been many times in past, when I did things which now I feel were wrong. There were many wrong things which I did, out of ignorance i.e. without knowing that what I was doing could be wrong, out of need and having no option other than doing what I feel was wrong, out of fear I did things which I was not willing to do and sometimes even out of greed and temptation, in spite of knowing that what I was doing was wrong.

What I feel today is, what I know could be wrong, but yes I feel that is the Truth for me today. I will make it base for my action. Yes it is possible that tomorrow the Truth changes for me, then the new version of Truth will become basis of my action. I will try to refrain myself from temptations and greed which I feel could only be avoided with more understanding and for fear it will require more courage and knowledge.

It is said that God Almighty wanted

to create the best creation. He worked for

millions of years, designing and evolving

the image. He went on looking at the image,

improving it and finally decided to give it life.

As soon as the image of the man got life, two

things happened. First, he opened his eyes and

smiled. God was very happy. The second, he

opened his mouth and said, “Almighty, thank

you.” God was delighted to see His creation

and felt that he did the two right things.

Suddenly, God found that something was

missing in the man. He then created fire in

a flash of a second, out of which came the

Shaitan, who said, “God, you took millions

of years to create the man, but you created

me out of fire in a flash of a second. So I am

the best.” The Almighty who had created the

universe with mighty orbiting galaxies with

the outburst of Shaitan. He had created the

best of his creation, the man on one side, and

on the other side, the Shaitan. He thought of

it and looked at both with the benevolence and

integrated the man and Shaitan and gave the

following message:

“I have created the human being with brain

and thinking faculty. I command all My

creations to use your faculty with reasoning to

reach My Image.”

As Rumi, the Turkish Sufi poet, wrote:

Angel is free because of his knowledge,

The beast because of his ignorance,

Between the two remains the son of man to stuggle.