Knowledge and Wisdom, what’s the difference?

Religion, is about emotion, not knowledge.

As I sat there listening to Gurbani Kirtan, (hymns) being sung, I was transported to another inexplicable time and space. Overcome with emotion, tears rolled down my cheeks, I could not hold them back.  Tears have salt as do the oceans, that is why we shed tears when we connect with Creation.

The Guru's message carried on the waves of music, and melodious voice, piercing my entire being. A great calm engulfed me and simultaneously I felt awake and alive.

When the minstrels had finished, the priests took over and the emotions partly receded. When I emerged from the congregation and the chit chat of society was almost everywhere. Talk of business, society, family, politics and gossip brought me back to complete normality. 

The religious experience had lifted me an individual soul to a height, and society had dragged me back to the ground.

Why could I not achieve that high for a longer time, a high with out alcohol or drugs? Why not that freedom without wealth, position or power?
I could, but I had to do it alone. Society could not help me even if the government or the priests decreed. My family and friends could also not help, even though they loved and cherished me. My employees and associates cannot not no matter how much I cared and looked out for them. 

I alone, can birth tranquility within myself and that of my  being with the universe. Religion helps me, if I take its message to heart and not to the mind. 

Bhai Kuldeep Singh ji

Unfortunately we have become too literate and excessively intellectual.
We think we know a lot by reading, analysing and dissecting, but we know little unless we feel something. 
The mind which was to serve the being has become our master. Not only is the mind a master it is a terrible and fickle master.

Of course man cannot live by emotion alone, but it allows us to plumb and reach the deepest of ourselves and that is why religion is so essential. 
This is why the greater the religion the more it binds us humans to the universe through music, singing, poetry and dancing. Religion which touches our spirit makes us childlike, wondrous, loving, trusting, friendly and respectful.
This is the one and only true Religion as brought to us by countless Gurus and Masters called by thousands of names. This is the religion of the Divine and all are capable of experiencing.

When religion does not stir the soul it is not religion. 
When religion is of the mind it is an exertion, a duty, a utility, and a weapon. It makes us arrogant, suspicious, distant, hostile and destructive. None of these qualities can  create a better human nor a better humanity. This is the religion created by men which many know and practice.

Religion of the heart is spirituality, the religion of the mind is politics.

The choice is ours. To experience the wonder of creation or to know the cunning of man. 
Religion, know it less, experience it more

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You can listen to some of the hymns as sung by Bhai Kuldeep Singh ji (of Amritsar)
Tu Mero Pyaro
Gur Bahan Pakad, Prabh Seva laayen

Do you impoverish others when you enrich yourself ?

Recently while on a flight from Delhi to Pune India, my co passenger and I started a conversation.

We discussed many things but one question got me thinking. The gentleman asked me if I agreed with his contention that people became rich at the expense of someone else and thus made them poorer. We moved on to other topics but my mind kept returning to this question.

To answer this question we have to first review what we mean by rich.
I would say the rich are those who possess the ability to make independent choices of freedom, mobility, residence, food and to a great extent secure themelves, their families and their possessions.

In earlier days the wealthy were the "Zamindar" the landlords who owned large tracts of land who owned slaves and many landless people worked for the landlords for nothing but food. They were exploited and indeed the rich made the majority of people poor.Conquerers of days earlier whether it was Ghengis Khan, or the rulers of the Romans empire were such people.

From the dawn of industrialization, the rich were people who set up all the elements of mass production and their attendant features as mass communication, mass education, etc made who controlled large resources for production either as entreprenuers or as allocating agents in the government. Again by cornering resources and controlling means of finance, distribution etc they made themselves rich at the expense of the original owner of resources who remained poor. This also is an era of exploitation of the poor to make a few rich.

To take an example the birth of the automobile created a huge demand for rubber at the begining of the 20th century. In collusion with local authorities large number of native Indians were enslaved to extract the rubber in the Amazonian forest. As per the statement of Mr. Roger Casement, the British Consul General in Rio Di Janerio reported that to extract 4000 tonnes of Putumayo rubber between the years 1900 to 1911 over 30,000 South American Indians lost their lives.
The colonial rulers /powers were typical of this type of exploitation. This is rampant even to this day in many countries.

Not all Industrialists are robber barons, this was and is possible because they are more efficient than others and hence were able to offer high standards of living to their employees and their associates.

Nowadays a new equitable trend has emerged and that is based on knowledge. You do not need land or commodities to be rich but only knowledge. This knowledge can be in the form of a formulae to produce a material or even a sauce, the lyrics to a song, design for a chip. Wealth created by such efforts do not render anyone poor but increases wealth more universally.

While farming a tract of land only the farmer can use the land wheras when using a formulae several thousand people can be using the same computer program simultaneously and that is why those who focus on knowledge will create more wealth for the least effort. A bigger bang for the buck so to speak.

So my co passenger's wish that wealth be created without exploitation now seems possible.

However it is not going to be easy because Governments and educators are still applying outdated policies and education models more suited to mass production and an era that is not focussed on developing knowledge but the continuation of dogma which is increasingly irrelevant.

Knowledge without grace

One can choose their friends but not always their neighbours. With God's grace I have always had wonderful neighbours, that is until very recently.

A neighbour moved in recently to stay with her mother. She is a highly educated 'professional', but totally devoid of civility and possesses a bitter personality. An obnoxious person, she knows all her rights but is ignorant about her responsibilities.

A fascinating product of our current education and political system she is. Weaned on social and political entitlements and blinded by her 'professional knowledge', this was a good example of the new modern world we have been creating.

Knowledge without grace is both ugly and destructive.


Sharing and caring have been sacrificed at the altar of greed and 'professional' creed.


I try to give her a wide berth but it is difficult not to cross the path of neighbours especially when one lives in an apartment complex. Every encounter is dreadful and it is not difficult to appreciate why she has no friends. I felt angry initially, but now there is only pity.

On the bright side,  I am now even more appreciative of the many wonderful people that are in my life.  God bless my friends and neighbours.

The Education Prison

Image by Ben Heine

In a country with a population of over 1,200 million people it is astounding to hear from almost all employers, "We can't get the people we need".  

India has one of the youngest populations in the world, and this represents a fantastic asset, if the people are productive. However a majority of these young and middle aged people are currently unemployable. If this situation is not corrected soon then India is indeed sitting on a gigantic human resources time bomb. 

Compared to earlier generations the opportunity to acquire knowledge was a great boon for the preceding two generations, with literacy rates and job skills being greatly enhanced. 

To meet the growing demand education institutions have mushroomed mainly owned and managed by politicians. With a focus only on maximization of short term profit  most of these institutions are providing education which is often hopelessly out of sync with current requirements of employers and society in general.

Learning which should be an exciting phenomenon has become a dreary and boring affair for students. So bad is the situation that the students are forced to attend classes which they would prefer not sit in. The system has come to represent a prison of sorts.

Indian educational institutes from school to universities have mandated that every student must attend a minimum of 80% of all classes to be eligible to be examined or tested at the end of each term.

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Why was the rule created and why is it sustained?

•   Parents do not have the time, energy or inclination to police or engage their children, they expect the educational institute to do that.  The system keeps children somewhat occupied with each other if not with their teachers and their subjects.

•   When education becomes a drudgery, because of overflowing classrooms, poor quality of content, falling teaching standards, and indifferent or overworked teachers, the children will rebel.  The education institutions see it as an opportunity to earn more fees by imposing penalties, repetitive collections of fees from detained students, etc.

This makes everyone happy except the student, because they have to endure, long boring sessions with drudgery. No prisoner is happy, even if the attempts of teaching are claimed to be for the student's benefit.

 "You can take the horse to the water but you cannot make it drink", goes a well known saying. It is possible to force the student to sit in a class but it is impossible to force them to learn.  You don't have to be a genius to know that any kind of forced action always has unpleasant or problematic results.

Instead of treating the student as a lamp to be lit, our system now considers them to be vessels to be filled.

The situation is indeed alarming but can still be rectified. We need to restructure the way we ourselves and our children learn and acquire skills more suited to meet the challenges of the 22nd century. 

Readers are invited to respond with their thoughts and suggestions.

Paradox of our times ..

      Image by Ben Heine

We have bigger houses but fewer residents,

More conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees, but less common sense.

More knowledge, but less judgement.

We have more experts but also more problems.

More medicines, but less wellness.

We spend too recklessly;

laugh too little,

drive too fast,

get angry too quickly,

stay up too late,

read too little

watch TV too much,

meditate and pray too seldom!

We have multiplied our possessions,

but reduced our values.

We argue too much,

love too little,

lie too often.

We have learnt to make a living, but not a life.

We've added years to life, not life to years.

We have taller buildings,

and shorter tempers.

Wider roads but narrower viewpoints.

We spend more but we have less,

We buy more, but enjoy it less.

We've been all the way to the moon and back, but we have difficulty in saying hello, smiling, or reaching out to shake a hand.

we have conquered outer space, but not inner space.

We have split the atom, but not our prejudices.

We write more, learn less, plan more but accomplish less.

We've learned to rush but not to wait.

We have higher incomes but lower morals.

We build more computers, to hold more data, to spread more information, make more copies, yet we have less communication.

We are long on quantity, and short on quality.

These are the times for fast foods and slow digestions;

Tall men and short characters.

More leisure and less fun;

More kinds of foods, but less nutrition.

Two incomes, but more divorces.

Fancier houses, but broken homes.

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That is why I propose; 

that as of today, you do not keep anything for special occasions because every day you live it's a special occasion.

Enjoy the passage of time, be one with creation

Read and discuss more,

Seek wisdom along with your search for knowledge, 

Admire the view.

Spend time with your family and friends.

Eat your favourite foods, and visit the places you love.

Life is a chain of enjoyments, not merely about surviving.

Use your crystal goblet, and don't save your favourite perfume, use them when you feel like it.

Remove from your vocabulary words like "one of these days" or "someday".

Write the letter you've thought about writing.

Tell your friends and family, how much you love them.

Don't delay anything that brings joy and happiness into your life.

Every day, every hour, every minute is special.

You never know if it will be your last.

Last but not the least

Never forget Him, that made this wonder called life possible.

My Thanks to Mr. Ephrem Augustus for this contribution

Foot in Mouth Disease?

My friend Seema calls me an expert. My chest always puffed up with pride, until one day she shared with me her definition of an 'expert'.
An expert is someone who is never in doubt but frequently in error!!

I realised a little late in the day that she was merely being polite for an ailment which can be labelled as 'foot in mouth' disease.

Upon this great realisation, I was curious to determine if I belonged to a small group or a larger community that had been afflicted with this malady. I am glad to inform you that this problem is quite common but lays dormant until triggered by any of the following phenomena;

A powerful trigger for turning into an expert is to get elected to office. Does not matter which office, any office will do. Even getting elected to the management committee of a housing society or your local club will bestow upon you the crown of all knowledge.

Some acquire money, some are born with it, and some have it thrust upon them. Wealth thrusts people into the world of experts. It does not matter whether it was plundered , earned, or acquired in the old fashioned way, that is to inherit it, the person is instantly transformed into an expert.

The third way to become an expert is to become the boss of some poor creatures at work. The boss knows everything.

The fastest and most certain way to gain expertise is of course to get married. You will immediately acquire an expert. Whether this makes your life better is questionable, but it will certainly make it interesting, at least for a while.

Last but no less powerful and all pervasive mother of all expert sources is to become a parent. No one knows better than a parent. As the quote goes "You may fool some people all the time, you may fool all the people some of the time but you can never fool Mom." Parents apparently wear the crown of all knowledge.

Before you begin to feel sorry for all these different types of experts and the great burden they have to bear in the upliftment of mere mortals you may want to review the mumblings or should I say bumblings of some other great experts;

• We don't need you. You haven't got through college yet. -
  Hewlett Packard excuse to Steve Jobs, who founded Apple Computers instead.


• I think there's a world market for about maybe five computers. -
  Thomas J. Watson, chairman of the board of IBM


• Everything that can be invented has been invented.
  Charles H. Duell, Office of Patents, 1899


• 640K memory for a computer ought to be enough for anybody -
  Bill Gates, Microsoft, 1981


• There will never be a bigger plane built. - A Boeing Engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that carried ten people.


• Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value. -
  Marechal Ferdinand, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.


• We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out. -
  Decca Executive, 1962, after turning down the Beatles


• There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home. -
  Ken Olson, president of Digital Equipment Corp. 1977


• This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. - Western Union, memo, 1876


• No imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?
  David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urging investment in the radio in the 1920's


• Who wants to hear actors talk? -
  H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927


• While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility. -
  Lee DeForest, inventor


• Radio has no future. Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. X-rays will prove to be a hoax.
  Lord Kelvin English scientist, 1899 ( William Thomson)

Trust your instinct, if you believe in yourself.

It is said that;
'As per all known laws of aerodynamics, the body shape, weight, design and frequency of flapping of the wings, the Bumble Bee cannot fly. However, since the
Bumble Bee does not know anything about the subject of aerodynamics, it flies.'

Surprisingly, knowledge is often a barrier.
Some people know so much about certain things and what could go wrong that they get paralysed.

Here are two examples from the lives of our father and uncle which shows that following their instincts and ignoring 'knowledge' can sometimes pay off.

My father Man Singh ji along with my Uncle Manohar Singh ji had founded our organisation. Both brothers had been schooled only to the 4th grade in a large village in rural Myanmar. They could not study any further because of the advent of World War II in Burma.
They emigrated to India in 1964 after the Burmese Govt nationalised all properties and businesses belonging to foreigners, rendering most Indians almost penniless.

Before they started their manufacturing project, they hired a highly reputed management consultancy firm. The consultants were to provide a demand supply and project viability report for the steel forging business for a rather stiff fee.
The consultants submitted a report in three months recommending that the project proposal be cancelled as there was no scope for such a venture. My dad shredded the report and went ahead with the project.

It was the late 1970's when Messrs Bajaj Auto the giant scooter manufacturing company in Pune still imported certain parts from Italy. Sometimes even importing them through very expensive shipments by air freight. One such critical component called 'cross' had been developed in our plant after great effort, because the material was very difficult to forge.
Only one steel manufacturing company in the world situated in Italy seemed to be able to manufacture that particular grade of steel required and they kept Bajaj Auto on a tight leash.

Dad had a philosophy that if anyone could do it so could he.
He sought Bajaj Auto's permission to develop the steel on his own with other mills. He travelled to Italy and tried to excite other steel mills without success.
Dad then sought the help of a steel trading friend and approached several steel manufacturers in Japan, again without luck.

His persistence eventually landed him in the offices of Daido Steel. They were impressed with Man Singh ji and agreed to make the quality of steel required provided the order was large enough and they wanted certain modifications in the specifications.

Excited Man Singh ji returned to Pune, India with an offer to provide a solution for this serious supply problem that Bajaj Auto faced.
All the metallurgists, managers, engineers and the technicians at Bajaj Auto were extremely knowledgeable. They advanced many arguments why Daido steel could not provide a solution, and why we would fail. They also questioned the seemingly low level of knowledge possessed by our father etc.

Man Singh ji eventually lost patience and sought the personal intervention of Mr. Rahul Bajaj the Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Auto to be permitted to be given an opportunity.

Mr. Bajaj a mature and shrewd industrialist hedged his bets. Realising a great upside benefit if we succeeded he encouraged my father, but warned him that it would be at the risk of our company. Either way Bajaj Auto was safe and could only benefit.

Our father invested a huge amount of money from our capital in 1982 and imported the steel from Japan. The engineers and metallurgists at Bajaj kept on testing the steel and the cross products that we supplied. Eventually with reluctance they gave their approval.
Respect for our organisation and Man Singh ji moved up several notches for we had solved a huge strategic supply problem and also passed on a huge saving to Messrs Bajaj Auto Ltd. From then we had a very special and mutually beneficial relationship with Bajaj.

My father did not allow the huge pool of knowledge available to deter him most of the time. He followed common sense and his instincts and made a grand success of his life.

Sometimes it pays to ignore popular or common knowledge and follow your instincts. This is a risky prescription and fraught with danger. However if you believe in your self and your team, pursue relentlessly and sincerely implement your strategy you will find your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

We learnt to always question 'knowledge' and who is providing that 'knowledge'.

"An expert is someone, who is never in doubt, but frequently in error."