01 Jan 2013
Are you Good or Bad???
Are you a good person or a bad one?! (by bad I don’t mean your mother-in-law or your boss 
Bad means a robber or a rapist or corrupt politician or a terrorist)
Bad means a robber or a rapist or corrupt politician or a terrorist)If you are good, then probably, you are alone. If you are bad, then right now you would be surrounded by a crowd. You have heard things like, the best way to make friends is to pull out a cigarette, or offer a drink or check out – if you simple say, “lets mess up the opposite hostel”, you will have ready volunteers. But, “lets clean up ourcollege campus”, will get you the weirdest looks of all.
As an unwritten rule (with a few exceptions), bad people naturally tend to gravitate towards each other, help each other (to be even worse). Good people tend to keep to themselves, maintain their so-called individuality (the ego of being ‘good’ makes them feel separate from others). It is said, a fool may have a thousand faults, a wise one will have only one – ego!
Bad people really practice the ancient Indian ideals of Sangachadwam (lets move together)! Lets learn from them and from our smart visionary ancients who proclaimed – Sanghe Shakti kaliyuge; when the times are bad, it’s the power of togetherness that works wonders. Its time good people used this power, time to together volunteer for a better India…
Think again, are you good or are you bad?!
Good people think. Bad people act.
Good people think and think and think, get tired and do nothing. Bad people act and achieve and feel inspired and enthused and act and achieve more.
That’s the reason why, just a handful of bad people give such a bad name to the whole society.
Good people, before doing anything good, think, think hard about everything, about whether it is good, what others will think, how will it be perceived by the world, what if it hurts someone, what if I am invading others’ privacy, should we really do it, should we do it now, does it even make sense in the bigger scheme of things, but what if things don’t work out… The buts and ifs are unending…Bad people plan well, act on time, work together in a coordinated and strategic manner and achieve the impossible! (study most of the terrorist attacks, robberies…)
So once you’ve decided who you are or want to be, here are few quick steps each one of us can take for the generic issues our country is facing today:
Direct youth towards sports, dance, yoga or service.
Equate smoking, drugs, drinking (even social drinking etc) with weakness.
Civic sense:
Educating and ensuring proper parking.Implementing sticker laws for honking, speeding or not wearing a helmet or a seat belt.
Judiciary:
Speedy delivery of justice through fast-track courts.
Ban on postponing court dates more than 3 times.
Establishing strong Lokayuktas at various levels to ensure judiciary remains not-corrupt.
Politics:
Take a typical Indian election. On an average, optimistically say 60% population votes. The votes are divided between 3-4 main players and sundry others for who, only few of their family members vote for. So the MP or MLA may win with 15-20% of the total population votes. How can we call such a person our representative if only 20% of the population want him in office? This is what breeds appeasement and vote-bank politics because if a politician pleases a community which is 13-14% of the population, he doesn’t need to bother about anybody else.
VOTE: It’s your duty and responsibility as a citizen of a free country to vote. If everybody votes, politicians will have to please everyone, which will, by default, make them good politicians!
Also we need to simplify the process of getting voters registered and may be a heavy penalty for not voting (like in Australia).
Point to Note: Every single service that the Art of Living Foundation or any other service organization does, the government already has schemes allocated for it; be it cleaning the roads, making things plastic free, water harvesting, fair trade for farmers, providing education and health care, rural development, slum rehabilitation, prison rehabilitation, drug rehab… Our Government is supposed to do it. It takes our hard earned money to do it. But doesn’t do.
We give upto 30% tax. Meaning, out of 12 hours of work every day, we work 4 hours for the government, out of 12 months, we work 4 months for the government. They are not doing it, because we the people of the country are not bothered to put the right government in power or once it is there, we don’t monitor them or demand good governance. In ancient day, the kings guided by the spiritual Guru would righteously govern the subjects. In kaliyuga, it is time the people govern the government and ensure righteousness…
So most importantly we, the people of India need to vote and once voted someone in, good people need to make the right noises to ensure smooth functioning of good transparent practices and systems.
For India, more than a problem, it is an asset. How the foreign settlers finished the smaller communities in Australia (aboriginals), in America (the native American Indians), in New Zealand (the maoris who, to a small extent have maintained a sizeable community), the Mughals and the British couldn’t do to India, inspite of the scores of Hindu genocides, was thanks to the size of our population.
We need to abolish reservations based on caste and religion. (reservations based on economic conditions may still be acceptable), which is mostly practised in India to appease those communities and create vote banks. The Muslim, Dalit and Christian community must protest against these reservations and appeasements because the trade off is the cold animosity they have to face from the majority community. If there is level playing field, the majority community will themselves take care of the minorities. Why should we let the politicians divide and rule us???
Awareness about the one of two children per family, (especially in the rural areas and in certain communities) and activism for similar religious code and stopping conversions need to be done.
Media today have seemed to move away from ethical journalism. Rather than exposing truth and creating a hope in the minds of people, it has evolved into a medium for broadcasting views or lies of the rich and the powerful. Thankfully, emerging trends show younger generations are going mostly away from TV and print towards electronic media.
So an effort should be made to educate and engage citizens in social media and making sure Govt doesn’t censor this too much.
Also encourage/coax/arm-twist film and media personnel to make non-violence “cool”.
I am a VOLUNTEER FOR A BETTER INDIA.. are YOU???
I am a VOLUNTEER FOR A BETTER INDIA.. are YOU???
About Author
dinesh.ghodke@gmail.com
IITian, Patriot Indian, DirectorYouth - The Art of Living. Mentor2the young(ur defn;-)) 4Leadership, Talents&Values.
Thanks a ton!!!! this is really an eye opener…nothing better can be explained after this
Also encourage/coax/arm-twist film and media personnel to make non-violence “cool”.
SO SO SOoooooooooooooooooooooooooo important.
I am a VOLUNTEER FOR A BETTER INDIA amd I am working towards it…Jai Gurudev
Nice one. There’s a beautiful poem by Tagore that I’m tempted to share. The poet pleads to all Bengali mothers (metaphorically the Motherland of Bengal) to stop being overprotective of their children, to not pride in their sons (and daughters) being ‘goody goody’ and obedient, to not impose a hundred different Dos and Don’ts that bind them and stifle their identity. Instead, he says, set them free, cut the umbilical chord, let them venture out and seek what they want, let them make their place in the world. Good work cannot from the ‘good sons’, he says, but rather from the ones labelled by society as reckless, irresponsible and rebellious—who are not afraid to risk failure, shortcomings, sadness to achieve what they set out to do. The last line is most telling. Translated: Dear proud Mother of 7 crore children, you have managed to raise good Bengalis, but alas, not good human beings.
One of the BEST articles I have read. BRILLIANT. “Equate smoking, drugs, drinking (even social drinking etc) with weakness. ” – absolutely the need of the hour!
yessss verrrrrrryyy truee .. And verrryyy important that the film industry also needs to take this seriously .. since it has a great influence on the youth of the country ..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sangachadwam from good people & also from good side of Bad people !!
Very impactful. I want to Volunteer for a better India too!
I will VOTE for sure!
Brilliant take and Courage to Voice our Problems. I am a Volunteer for a better India
Wow! Art of Living definitely engages the ones labelled by society as reckless, irresponsible and rebellious. Recently Sri Sri addressed 760 rowdy sheeters in Delhi after they completed their Art of Living workshop and saw how they are getting involved in building the society.
Facts put so brilliantly … such article should reach to masses … Instead of just thinking will take responsibility to act …
you make everything sound so simple…..which it is if all of us join hands and volunteer for a better india:) thank you
WOW.. really amazing. Thanks for consolidating this. I AM a Volunteer for a Better India!
An eye-opener and what a simple way to put forth solutions for issues plaguing our country today
V.v.practical and “practice-able”
for better india abolish cast based reservation. why are expecting this from govt. abolish reservation from your society. why priest/purohit/pandit is only brahmin. ………….think look within yourself then ……politicians….