The "I" in "Me"

For a long time I have struggled with one question - "Who is the "I" in "Me"? My brain, thru' the exclusion principle, had reasoned that it itself, that is my brain itself, must be the "I", since it is the store house of my thoughts and my thoughts is what makes me who I am. I was comfortable with that idea, since it seemed rational, however, I was not comfortable for long. If that is all that is there to be known, if that is the ultimate truth, I should have been at peace with myself. As I had reasoned, knowing the ultimate truth will bring me peace, it will make me calm, it will quench my thirst, my brain will quieten down. Well, I was nowhere close and still ain't.

Hindu philosophy offers another explanation. It says, "I" is the atman. Atman is not any part of the body, not even brain.  It further says, it is not possible to know the "I" thru brain. An analogy to explain it more vividly - one does not need any light to see the sun, sun is seen in its own light, similarly, one does not need brain to see "I" the atman. Seeing atman is like self awakening. Seeing in this case, ofcourse,  is not the seeing thru' eye, it is to know, to experience, to awaken, to become self aware, to realize that "I" is different from the body and "I" is the only constant, hence it is the only truth.

Question is how to get to this "I" in "Me". Hindu philosophy says, you get there thru' guru. Guru, it says, is the only way.

The key takeaway for me has been that brain is not the way to get to "I". All this while I have been thinking that brain/intellect could be a way to get to the "I" in "Me". It was a revelation to me, when I heard what the Upanishad's say, that this is an independent path.

Let there be Million Indias but No Hungry Child in One India

Huston we have a problem! However, this one is not for Huston to resolve.  It is a Himalayan problem, that we, the dweller in the shadows of Himalayas, have to comprehend, come to terms with and fix.

The problem is "Unity in Diversity". I expect a question, why is that a problem, is that not a virtue? Exactly, that is what we have been told and taught all thru' our school, and is now ingrained in our brains. We are a land of diverse cultures, multiple languages, different faiths, blah blah blah and yet we are united. Really? Common, really?

Even at the height of India's dominance of the world (at that time India controlled approximately 33% of World's GDP), India was not the geographical India as we know it today. India was multiple independently ruled states that stretched from Indian Ocean in the south, to Himalayas in the north, and from today's Afghanistan on the west, to today's Bangladesh on the east. That kind of independent states structure did two things to our region (if I were to call India as a region rather than a country)

a) it brought a lot of prosperity to individual states, within this region, and the region as a whole.

b) From time to time it allowed external forces to invade this region and loot the wealth, since individual states were not all very militarily strong, and sometimes played one against the other, ultimately leading to Britishers subjugating the entire region.

So, what is the take away from history?

a) By uniting we have solved the problem of security, we are a much more secure region, that can not be subjugated in bits ad pieces, as was possible earlier, when the region was divided

b) Uniting these diverse parts, means we are living a common minimum program. Which essentially means, we as a united nation, only do those things, run those programs, that are acceptable to all.  In a setup where there are diverse set of cultures and creeds and faiths and different development levels, you know what happens, there is very less that come out as common, and lot of good things of different geographical areas, cultures, faiths are left out, since they are not acceptable to others. So, what has it done to the region? Well, it has left us with sub optimal growth. It has wasted multiple generations in this region. It has spread poverty equally!

It wont be an exaggeration, if I were to say,  we are not united, we are bound together. We have tied our hands and feet to each other so that all of us can sink together!

What we must do. We must overhaul our federal structure. Make each state autonomous. In the new structure, center should have control over only three things - Defense, Foreign Relations and Monetary Policy for the region's currency, everything else should be run by the States. Each State must choose its Prime Minister, these Prime Ministers can then choose a President for the entire nation. With a center that is only responsible for Defence, Foreign Relations and Monetary Policy, the buck will securely be with the respective States so as far as development and growth is concerned. Let there be no ambiguity in who is responsible for children going to bed hungry.