Ravi S. Iyer: Worldly

Last updated on 24th April 2015 Note: As this post includes several extracts from a few wikipedia pages, I felt it appropriate to explicitly state that my part of the contents of this post (i.e. content other than the wiki extracts) can be freely reused by others. Note that wikipedia uses the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license,  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ . For many ethical and conscientious religious people, the golden rule is a great ideal. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule : The Golden Rule or ethic of reciprocity is a maxim, ethical code or morality that essentially states either of the following: * One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself (directive form). * One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated (cautionary form, also known as the Silver Rule). --- end wiki golden rule extract --- However its practice in a large set of people/society is usually (...

Here's a thought-provoking and informative article about vital public service provided by anti-fascists like Grass (Germany), Murakami (Japan) etc.. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/grass-murakami-and-national-guilt/article7130902.ece . I do not know much about Murakami but here is a link where he talks of the need for Japan to apologize for its wartime invasions, http://www.afp.com/en/news/japan-must-apologise-wwii-until-it-forgiven-murakami . The article refers to fascism and its dangers. But what exactly is fascism? I found these two sentences from wikipedia to make it quite clear, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism : "Fascists view World War I as having made liberal democracy obsolete and regard total mobilization of society led by a totalitarian single-party state as necessary for a nation to be prepared for armed conflict and to respond effectively to economic difficulties, such a totalitarian state is led by a strong leader as a dictator and a martial gove...

A decade old, but still very interesting history documentary video of Saudi Arabia, one of the most intensely religious, if not the most intensely religious, country/people of the world, from the early 20th century onwards by the well known and well respected PBS (USA) channel, "House of Saud - PBS Frontline 2005", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDSfJTw63rU , 1 hr, 56 min. Please note that the documentary covers sensitive topics including fairly recent wars and other violent events. Those who would like to avoid these sensitive topics may not want to watch the video. I pray to Almighty God (Allah/Ishwar/God in formless aspect of all other religions) to bring peace and brotherhood in the currently troubled region of Arabia and the Middle East in general.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/indias_prime_minister_modi_emphasizes_importance_of_strong_ties_with_unesco/#.VSiWqtyUffJ Some extracts from the above article: PM Modi's words: “I am truly honoured to address UNESCO. I feel specially privileged to visit this great institution in its 70th anniversary year. No organization serves our cause more than this one. The seeds of our collective destiny are sown in human minds. It is nurtured by the light of education and the spirit of enquiry. It makes progress through the marvels of science. And, it draws strength from the basic character of Nature–the harmony and unity in diversity. That is why UNESCO was among the first missions of the United Nations. That is why India values the work of UNESCO so deeply; and, cherishes our partnership so immensely.” ... “For us, science is driven by the larger purpose of human development; and, for a safe, sustainable, prosperous future for India. Science also u...

Last updated on 20th April 2015 Please note that I am simply an observer of Indian politics who is not aligned with any political party. I am interested in this crisis in AAP from a human interest point of view, as such clash of views among leaders seems to happen in almost every organization, even spiritual organizations (one of which I was an active member of, a few years ago). I saw the very emotional Arvind Kejriwal speech in Hindi (edited), "Third National Cou(n)cil Meeting Arvind Kejriwal Speech", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efn4QWGk7fA , 45 min 6 secs, published on Mar. 28th 2015, which like a Mark Antony speech in Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar, really touched the emotional chords of the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party/Common Man Party) national council members, resulting in their removing Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav from the National Council. Note that Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav are founding members and well known leaders of AAP. Whi...