BEING AND BECOMING

पिछले कुछ दिनों से दिल्ली का मिज़ाज बदला सा नज़र आ रहा है। वैसे जो ना बदले वो दिल्ली कहाँ! बादशाह बदले, इमारते बदली, पुरानी से दिल्ली नई भी हो गयी। मेरे ख़्याल से यहाँ का मौसम घड़ी दर घड़ी करवटें लेता है। अब मई के महीने में सावन का एहसास तो यहीं से मिल सकता है। अभी ख़बर आई कि मानसून देर से आएगी। अखबार वालो ने लिख रखा है। पर यहाँ तो बारिस सुबहो-शाम हो रही है। मौसमी पढ़ने-लिखने वालों के लिये आफत ये है साहब कि अभी परीक्षाओं का ताबड़तोड़ दौर चल रहा है। अब भला सुबह से लेकर रात तक, विद्यार्थियों का हुज़ूम पुस्तकालय के चक्कर काट रहा है। बीच सेमेस्टर में पुस्कालय ने बड़ी आस भरी नज़रों से उन्हें याद किया था। तब नहीं दिखे। अभी साहब बिना कुर्सी के भी पढ़ने को तैयार हैं। वो भी ऐसे मौसम में।  चुनावी मौसम भी है साहब। हर कोई अपनी उपयोगिता को सिद्ध करने में लगा है। लोकतंत्र का पर्व ट्यूटर के हैंडल पे एक्टिव हो चुका है। मीडिया वालों ने अपने अपने चैनलों पे इंटरव्यू की होड़ लगा रखी है। कुछ यूट्यूब पे इंटरव्यू दिए जा रहा है, और तो और कुछ लोग इंटरव्यू की बखिया उधेड़नेे में लगे हुए हैं। साहब टी आर पी का कम्पटीश...

Asian values are often discussed in the 21st century, whenever European cultures are trapped int their limits of imagination; undoubtedly, Greek and Roman had significant contributions in the advancement of Episteme. Europe witnessed some sparkling minds as well as aesthetic ones. Europeans were smart enough to recognize the wisdom of history and brought back some invaluable wisdom from the graveyard of history, particularly they looked back at Romans in order to develop a system of law; Bentham and Austin were fascinated by the wisdom of Romans, and their "twelfth table" was the remarkable example of a systematic and discursive foundation of law. But, Asians, particularly India and China neglected their own traditions; Chinese adopted Marxism in the leadership of Mao, but later on moved at the fundamental building blocks of a "market society". Their old traditions were very rich, particularly Confucianism and Daoism, in the leadership of Confucius and Lao Tzu flo...

Everyday I read some columns in various newspapers and what I find intriguing is the same issue again and again, articulated by leading thinkers of our age. To be fair, thinkers are no more. Articulators and commentators are many around the spotlight. Nobody pays heed to the role of people in the dismal performance of our institutions. Institutional safeguard cannot be a singular method to enhance freedoms of our fellow citizens. Institutional pragmatism has its own limitations. It cannot change the nature of the governors and governed. People are the sole guardian of every valuable thing humankind has achieved with steady struggle. No institution is perfect, but it can be made perfecatble. For we need to avoid imitation games. We are too much obsessed with copying everything from others. The best way to check institutions across the board cannot be uniform everywhere. We need to work on human resources and devlopment. Better people are the solution for the better institutions and th...

Marriam Webster dictionary has today preferred to explain the meaning of a word, "hypermnesia", which means abnormally vivid and complete memory. Some public intellectuals refer it with "elephantine memory". Memory is a unique apparatus of our brain which preserves many a subtle emotional and intellectual phenomenons at the same time it is always ready to erase many a minute details we often pass through. The logus of memory and memorial ceremonies are revered around the world, reason being, memory is regarded as the foundational leap from animal kingdom which differentiates humans from instinctual life-cycle of mysterious nature. Memory, for a yogi, not a obstacle but a journey through which a yogi transcends it, to reach at pure consciousness. Memory is quintessential for a scientific journey of humans; it is a deep and pervasive source of pleasure and pain. Memory, in that sense, loves to be filled with what is available. If one aspires to achieve some pleasura...