Indian (Hindu) Political Thought

Ranjit Hoskote had written an article in the 'Times of India' (29 July 1998) on ancient Indian (Hindu) political thought. Here is an abridged version:

The Marriage of Power and Wisdom

Even so long ago as the Vedic period, Indian thinkers were preoccupied with the question of making power answerable to wisdom rather than rejoicing in autocracy. This is the tradition of thought to which the savant Ananda Coomaraswamy drew attention in his little known but fascinating study, "Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power in the Indian Theory of Government" (1942).

In this work, Coomaraswamy drew on texts like the Vajasaneyi Samhita and the Satpatha Brahmana to arrive at an alternative understanding of kingship, its responsibilities and goals. To Coomaraswamy, the problem of governance was best defined in terms of the relationship between the principles of kshatra and brahma. In early Aryan polity, kshatra was the temporal power held by the king, while brahma was the spiritual authority symbolised by the priest.

Coomaraswamy invites us to consider the coronation ritual (found in the Aitareya Brahmana, 8.27) during which the priest consecrates the king with the words: "I am That, you are This; I am sky, you are earth; I am harmony, you are the words. Let us two unite our houses."

The metaphor of the ideal marriage between king and priest reflects the importance the Vedic thinkers attached to governance, as against mere government. In this model, kingship is not an excuse for indulging one's appetite for control, nor is it a mechanical procedure of administration. Kingship is, rather, a sacred mandate to hold power in trust and use it responsibly for the general good – a mandate the king receives from the priest.

Coomaraswamy illustrated this concept of regulated authority by appeal to the Vedic deity Maitravarunau: Mitra (the sun god) and Varuna (the sky god) conjoined in one presence. Maitravarunau incarnates the duality of perfect rule: the marriage of energy and restraint, power and wisdom, consciousness and life. In the Satpatha Brahmana (4.1.4) we read: "Mitra is the counsel, Varuna is the power; Mitra the priest, Varuna the king; Mitra the knower, Varuna the actor... Whatever deed Varuna did that was not quickened by Mitra was unsuccessful... Whatever deed that Varuna did, quickened by Mitra, came to fruition."

Maitravarunau is an instruction in what a distinguished commentator has called 'serene vitality' – a dynamic balance of opposites through which the human possibilities can flower. The life of action demands a stern will, alertness and moral flexibility. The life of contemplation calls for compassion, responsiveness and moral reflexivity. And yet, as Coomaraswamy reminds us, each principle finds its fulfillment only in the other.

The publication date of "Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power in the Indian Theory of Government" is fraught with significance. At the height of the freedom struggle, Coomaraswamy already had a premonition of things to come. He had seen the abuse of authority – resulting from the divorce between power and wisdom – at its worst in the British colonial regime. Fearing that this divorce would be replicated in independent India, he offered his book as a gift to the nation in the year Gandhi launched the Quit India movement. Five decades after India achieved independence, it is painfully clear that its author's worst fears have been realised.

Today we have neither kings nor priests. We have politicians who require no consecration, and intellectuals who lack the authority to bestow it. The complete division between the two principles has led to undisguised power lust on the one hand, and impotent rage on the other. This indulgence in the negative passions, among politicians and intellectuals, provides tragic evidence for Coomaraswamy's assertion that national liberation is without meaning unless we learn to govern the self.

The inner meaning of swaraj, swarajya, autonomy – call it what we will – is self governance, conceived of as a moral discipline that brings inward motives and outward actions into accord. Only by liberating ourselves from the desire to control do we become truly free. Self government without this practice of self governance, as Coomaraswamy saw all too clearly, would simply translate as the replacement of foreign structures of domination with indigenous ones.

"The only royal road to power is to become one's own master; the mastery of whatever else follows." wrote Coomaraswamy. This is the traditional secret of government that we appear to have forgotten.

The Time That Is Given To Us

From the "Lord of the Rings":

Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.

Elections 2009: Why Did BJP Lose?

Why did the BJP lose the 2009 elections? Some clues might be found in the following articles:

Swapan Dasgupta
They won all the battles, we had the best songs
Picking up the pieces
This verdict will force leaders to think nationally
Congress won conclusively

Shekhar Gupta
Hindu rate of BJP growth
Hands down

Sudheendra Kulkarni
Why stability won over change

(These are the few political commentators whose views I respect)

Society, Culture, Politics

The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society.

– Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

From John Ronald Reuel Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings":

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

Bhagavad Gita: Favourite Shlokas

My favourite shlokas from the Bhagavad Gita:

2-38

sukha duhkhe same kRutvA lAbhAlAbhou jayAjayou
tato yuddhAya yujyasva naivam pApam avApsyasi

Making (yourself) the same in happiness and sorrow, gain and loss, victory and defeat,
then engage in battle. Thus you will not incur sin.

2-48

yogasthah kuru karmANi sangam tyaktvA dhananjaya
siddhyasiddhyoh samo bhootvA samatvam yoga uchyate

Being in Yoga, perform actions giving up attachment, Dhananjaya,
being the same in success and failure. Sameness is called Yoga.

2-50

buddhiyukto jahAteeha ubhe sukRute duShkRute
tasmAd yogAya yujyasva yogah karmasu kouSalam

The intelligent man gives up both good deeds and bad deeds here,
therefore engage in Yoga. Yoga is skill in work.

Vajpayee, the Right-Wing Leader

In the last three posts I dissected a couple of articles by Atal Behari Vajpayee to get to know his exact views on politics and governance. Now I am struck by the mismatch between the media's portrayal of the man and the real Vajpayee.

The media portrayed Vajpayee mainly as a smiling, amiable man whose only skill was his ability to get along with everybody. But the real Vajpayee, as we have seen, is a different – and much more impressive – person. He comes across as an intelligent and well-read man, who was knowledgeable about the world we live in today, and who had a bold new vision for the country – that was both nationalist and pragmatic. His biggest achievement was to help India break away from the failed ideas of the past – not just in politics, but also in governance and the economy.

The Congress may have fathered India's economic reforms, and the Third Front may have continued them. But they did it reluctantly, more out of necessity than out of conviction. They are left-of-centre or leftist parties, that still haven't gotten over their socialist hangover. The BJP, on the other hand, is a genuine right-wing party that is ideologically commitment to reforms.

Thus it was the BJP that took the reforms to a new level and ensured they are here to stay. And the man most responsible for this is Atal Behari Vajpayee. This contribution of his has been misunderstood, and its magnitude underestimated, both by his critics and his admirers. Vajpayee was a right-wing leader not just because he was a Hindu nationalist, but also because he championed reforms and freedom. Thus he was a true right-wing leader, in the complete sense of the term.

Reforms, Freedom, Globalisation

In the previous post we saw Vajpayee's right-wing agenda for governance. Though the agenda is quite detailed, full of plans and prescriptions, it is not just an arbitrary collection of proposals. There is a certain coherence, consistency and integrity in it. The agenda is based on a broader vision. If we look closely, this vision consists of some key ideas. These key ideas/concepts are:

1. Reforms
2. Freedom
3. Responsibility
4. Participation
5. Globalisation

To put it in the form of an equation,
Reforms and Freedom (from the government)
+
Responsibility and Participation (from the people)
=
Success in the era of Globalisation

Contrast this with Nehru's socialism, where:
Licence-permit-quota raj (from the government) + Mai-baap sarkar mentality (from the people) = Failure.

An interesting parallel: Yuval Levin had proposed a reform manifesto for John McCain in the 2008 US presidential elections.

A Right-Wing Agenda for Governance

The previous post outlined a right-wing political ideology, in Atal Behari Vajpayee's words. To complete the picture we need a right-wing agenda for governance. Once again Vajpayee shows us the way. Here he is, in his "Musings from Kumarakom" in 2001:

Our first task is to strengthen the awareness that we are one people – sisters and brothers who are children of the great Mother India. Some of our citizens focus too much on one or the other aspect of our diversity, ignoring the common national bonds that unite us.

All citizens and communities have an equal duty to strengthen our national unity and integrity, and to contribute to the nation's progress. In recent times, there has been a tendency to focus more on one's rights, and less on one's duties. This must change.

The time has come to introduce radical developmental reforms, which should encompass, besides economic reforms, administrative and judicial reforms. The most important component of these reforms is to fix transparent accountability at all levels and increase people's involvement in monitoring the functioning of all agencies that impact on development.

This places a far bigger responsibility on our citizens than has been realised by them so far. The habit of looking to the Government for a solution to every problem must give way to a new democratic attitude of fully participating in the Government's efforts and of maximising the scope of non-governmental efforts. This calls for a better work culture, a superior civic culture, strong discipline and a radical shift in the attitude of the citizenry from rights to duties.

Recalling how India became a colony of a foreign trading company in the past, they prophesy that India will again be "sold out" to foreigners if economic reforms are allowed to be continued. This is a ludicrous prophesy. India is an incomparably stronger nation today than when the British colonised us.

The true purpose of economic reforms is to further strengthen our economy, while removing its self-evident weaknesses, so that poverty and unemployment can be removed at a faster pace. We need to broaden and further accelerate the economic reforms, so that our economy becomes sufficiently productive to meet the growing demands of our growing population.

We are living in a world of globalisation, created by the information and communication revolution, global trade and greater inter-dependence among nations. Neither Indian industry nor agriculture can ignore the new competitive global environment in which they are called upon to operate. Our agriculture should be freed from many infrastructural, investment and other constraints that have prevented it from growing to its full potential.

We need to reduce the size of the Government, so that more resources can be channelled for people's welfare and development. We must also reform our labour laws and make them more conducive to faster economic growth and greater employment generation. Some of these are difficult measures, but we cannot shirk away from any of these imperatives.

It is our collective responsibility to devise a national strategy that effectively counters the challenges and seizes the opportunities of globalisation.

Guided by the light of the eternal and universal values of our civilisation, inspired by a modernising vision of national development, and powered by the youthful energy of one billion children of Bharat Mata, we can certainly make the 21st century India's century.

The BJP's History and Right-Wing Ideology

On the 50th anniversary of India's independence, Atal Behari Vajpayee wrote an essay in "Frontline". In his inimitable way, Vajpayee traces the history of the BJP and in the process, also outlines a genuine right-wing ideology:

India might have had to sacrifice territory at the altar of the Muslim League's communal politics, but like Sardar Patel, many of us were convinced that we would be able to mould what remained of this ancient, timeless land into a modern nation-state, firmly anchored in the republican values of democracy, equality and fraternity.

Soon after, the Bharatiya Jan Sangh was formed, largely with the purpose of floating a nationalist political party that would offer an alternative platform different from that of the Congress.

Meanwhile, the party grew, with more and more people joining it. We began carrying our nationalist message of "One country, one people, one culture" to the farthest corners of India.

The Chinese aggression came as a rude shock to the people and for the first time the Congress began to lose its nationalist appeal. Instead, more and more people turned towards the Bharatiya Jan Sangh's nationalist agenda.

Indira Gandhi's Emergency in 1975 brought the wheels of democracy to a grinding halt. Suddenly, our polity was endangered as never before and dictatorship appeared to be a very real possibility. Since ours was by then a large organisation, our party cadre jumped into the battle against autocracy.

Prior to the merger and the formation of the Janata Party, we had made the relationship between the RSS and some of us very clear to the other leaders. They had emphatically stated that they had no objection to this as the RSS, and here I quote them, "is a cultural organisation devoted to good work". The same RSS, however, was unacceptable to these same people who raised the "dual membership" issue – they went back on their word.

The BJS was reborn as the Bharatiya Janata Party on Good Friday in April 1980.

While the Congress tried to abuse its brute majority in Parliament to impose itself in a most arrogant manner, we regrouped our forces and drew sustenance from our uncompromising commitment to ideology, morality and ethics. Our hard work, relentless campaign against Congress corruption and dedication to the nation paid dividends in the next general election.

Our uncompromising nationalism, our commitment to probity in public life, our war against politics of opportunism, our opposition to pandering to casteism and minorityism gave us the strength to prove these Cassandras wrong.

The Ayodhya movement has no doubt contributed to this success. We joined the movement because Sri Ram epitomises the cultural heritage of all Indians, he symbolises our cultural nationalism. Through this movement, we were able to unleash the suppressed aspirations of millions of Indians and canalise their nationalist fervour towards nation-building.

What has also contributed to our success is our slogan "Justice for all, appeasement of none". The BJP believes in creating a society through able governance where every individual, irrespective of caste, religion or sex, will have a place under the sun; where optimism, opportunity and oneness will provide the impetus for the creation of a strong and prosperous nation.

The spirit of nationalism that spurred our freedom fighters to sacrifice everything for their motherland was sought to be suppressed by the Nehruvian consensus in the decades immediately after Independence. But nationalism cannot be killed by transplanted ideologies or pseudo-ideologies.

I am confident that India will enter the next millennium with its head held high, a strong and prosperous nation, proud of its past and confident of its future as a leading member of the comity of nations. The mantra that will see us yet achieve this goal is the same mantra that ended foreign rule – uncompromising nationalism, nationalism that verges on devotionalism as epitomised by Vande Mataram, nationalism that puts the nation above everything else.

The Hindutva Debate (contd)

In this month's poll, 9 readers/visitors have selected the option "I am first an Indian, then a Hindu".

Here is a question for these 9 people: What is there in you that is "Indian", but not Hindu?

You can comment on this post, or you can send your answer to me by e-mail.

Btw, nobody responded the last time I called for a debate on Hindutva.

Dr Raj Kumar and Kannada Culture

Sugata Srinivasaraju of Outlook magazine wrote an excellent profile of Dr Raj Kumar in 2004, calling him a "gentle hero of Kannada culture". Some quotes:

He had acted in 205 Kannada films, one-fourth of all the films ever made until then in that language. Rajkumar has effectively defined Kannada identity.

For the growing number of middle-class Kannada speakers in particular, the actor's simple lifestyle, humility, the liberal humanism in his films, abstention from alcohol and tobacco and a genuine desire to avoid the limelight struck a particularly resonant chord.

A local culture is (now) groping for identity with competition from foreign shores. This may be an outcome of globalisation and commercialisation of culture.

Certainly there continue to be Kannada icons. But these are from sport – like cricketers Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble – and business, like Infosys's N R Narayana Murthy. And their appeal is pan-Indian, even global. There is nothing obviously or uniquely Kannada about them that would make them specifically local heroes.

A process of 'loss' began when various groups like Dalits, farmers, and backward classes began aggressively asserting their identities. The idea of a single hero unifying an entire culture began to wane. This may also be the reason that Karnataka has no tall political leader after Devaraj Urs.

The baton has simply not been passed on, not just with Rajkumar, but in the context of the Kannada language itself. The stagnating readership of Kannada newspapers and sales of Kannada books are strong indicators of this change that has come about.

The revolution in information technology over the past decade has also distracted the Kannada middle class, which formed much of Rajkumar's support base. This middle class amnesia appears to have taken a toll on all that is local.

Rajkumar is the last in a line of icons that once defined Kannada pride at its most visionary and liberal. These included literary giants like D R Bendre, Masti Venkatesh Iyengar, Shivaram Karanth, A N Krishna Shastri and K V Puttappa, and the visionary engineer Sir M Vishweshvarayya.

Money, Elections and Politics in India

Albert Einstein discovered the mass-energy equivalence in physics, given by the equation E=MC².

We the people of India have discovered the election-money equivalence in politics, given by the equation E=CM².
E = Elections
C = Caste
M = Money
Check out these horror stories:

Tamil Nadu:
On an average, ruling party candidates spend Rs 25-30 crore. Other candidates, a minimum of Rs 10 crore. The budget for urban constituencies is higher, with major candidates spending an average of Rs 50 crore. And if the candidate is an ex-minister, a high-profile candidate or the relative of a veteran political leader, then there is no limit.

In the recent Thirumangalam assembly by-election in Tamil Nadu the DMK is said to have spent around Rs 80 crore. So when the stakes are high, purses are wide open.

Andhra Pradesh:
"I am a Congress legislator from coastal Andhra Pradesh, having won for the first time in 2004. My constituency has around 1.5 lakh voters. My task began with identifying a local pointsman, a party sympathiser, in every village. He costs Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000. In turn, he picks two youths for each booth, which on average has 1,000 voters. They have to be paid Rs 10,000 each."

Karnataka:
"Reaching 14 lakh voters spread in 1,600 booths in 240 gram panchayats of eight Assembly segments in the LS constituency located in central Karnataka region was not an easy job. I spent Rs 17 crore last time."

A Brief History of Hindutva - 3

A Brief History of Hindutva

The trigger came in the form of a temple, in one of the holiest cities of the land. The temple had been destroyed almost 500 years ago to make way for a mosque. Now the people of the country wanted their temple back. The temple was important in itself, yes. But it was even more important as a symbol. A symbol of our great religion, civilisation and history. A symbol of the thousand years of barbarism inflicted upon us. A symbol of the need to end the nonsense called secularism and once again stand up as who we are.

What followed was a national movement of epic proportions – the greatest since the freedom struggle. The campaign for the temple created a new awakening. Indians started calling themselves by their true name: Hindus. No more apologising. No more feeling guilty or defensive for being the "majority community". We are Hindus. This is our country and our culture. And we will fight to take it back.

The movement created a tidal wave of nationalist fervour. The wave swept the nationalist political party, which had only 2 seats in a 545-strong Parliament, to power within just 15 years. The party may have lost later, and may be struggling today: with its own weaknesses and failings, and also with the division of Hindus by caste and language. But Hindu nationalism had taken a giant step, from which there was no going back.

A new threshold had been created, best illustrated by the temple/mosque question itself. The pulling down of the mosque was a violation of the rule of law, no doubt. But even the incident's most vehement critics were not proposing that the mosque be rebuilt. The debate had been taken to a new level.

A new spirit had dawned. Indians were now proud to be Hindus. An ancient truth was embraced: India is a Hindu nation, a Hindu rashtra. For a long time, this had been the chant of lonely voices in the wilderness. Now a sizeable section of the population accepted it. The people were finally beginning to call a spade a spade.

True, the journey has only just begun. There is still a long way to go. Hindutva is not yet the dominant ideology. But it is no longer a fringe ideology either. It is now one of the competing ideologies. Meanwhile the nationalist organisation continues its work – slowly, silently, but surely. It may take 10 years, 50 years or 100 years. But succeed we will. Victory shall be ours. Mother India shall once again sit on the throne she once adorned. Our Mother India – smiling, beautiful, radiant and glorious – giving light to the world and hope to mankind. It is only a matter of time.

(Concluded)

A Brief History of Hindutva - 2

A Brief History of Hindutva

When Gandhi became the supreme leader of the freedom struggle, it should have meant the triumph of Hindu nationalism. For he was a deeply religious Hindu, proud of his country's ancient heritage. But it was not to be. For some reasons, Gandhi did not have the confidence to make Hindu-ness, or Hindutva, the basis of Indian nationalism. The ideological vacuum was filled by Nehru (Gandhi's closest follower and chosen heir) with his secularism and socialism. It was left to a doctor from Nagpur to found an organisation that would keep alive the flame of true Indian nationalism. Hindutva, which should have been the dominant, mainstream ideology was instead marginalised and banished to the fringes.

In 1947, after half a century of struggle, India became free. Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty we are free at last! But the moment was bitter-sweet. Along with the joy came shock, horror and anguish. Mother India, our beautiful Mother India, was torn apart. Her right and left arms were chopped off from her body. Meanwhile the Congress became the dominant political party of independent India. It had disregarded the advice of its patron saint to disband itself. Enjoying a virtual hegemony, it imposed Nehru's secularism and socialism on the nation.

The nationalist organisation meanwhile soldiered on, now led by a zoologist-turned-sanyasi. In 1949, Nehru signed a pact with Pakistan agreeing to set up a "Minority Commission" and guaranteeing "minority rights" in the country. This shocking compromise with the nation's sovereignty, unity and integrity was the trigger for the birth of a nationalist political party, which had the blessings of the sanyasi.

For the next four decades the Congress ruled the country, implementing its "secularism", which in practice meant:
– Dividing the country into "majority" and "minority" communities, instead of uniting the country as one.
– Giving special rights to minorities, instead of giving equal rights to all citizens regardless of religion.
– Turning a blind eye to minority communalism, while branding any talk of majority welfare as "fascism".
– Creating and nurturing minority vote banks, while doing nothing to solve their genuine problems.
– Appeasing minority fundamentalists, and creating a separatist mindset in the minds of the minority.

During the freedom struggle and at the time of Independence, Indians had not embraced their identity as Hindus, preferring Nehru's secularism instead. Gradually they realised that something was seriously wrong with this "secularism", that this country was on the wrong track, and that they were being made fools of. As the cynicism and manipulations of the rulers continued unabated, the country started boiling beneath the surface. A correction became overdue. All that was needed was a trigger.

A Brief History of Hindutva - 1

A Brief History of Hindutva

For almost the whole of the second millennium, India was invaded, conquered and ruled by people from other lands – the Turks, Mughals and British – who brought with them their violence and intolerance. During this period India, and her soul – Hinduism, was bruised, battered and broken. Indians were subjected to a thousand years of atrocities, massacres, persecution and oppression. The result was they forgot their true greatness, their true history and their true identity. In short, they forgot who they were. Indian society limped along, barely surviving and holding on to its traditions. Then, in the 19th century, when the night seemed to be at its darkest, an awakening began. Seers appeared, telling Indians who they really were and reminding them of their true genius. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Dayanand Saraswati were the pioneers. They were followed by Swami Vivekananda and Aurobindo Ghosh. They all said the same thing. Their message was very simple:

"We are Hindus. Ours is the oldest surviving civilisation on earth. Our way of life is 5000 years old. For almost 4000 years, Hindu civilisation was the greatest civilisation in the world – having attained the heights of both material prosperity and spiritual progress. But we didn't keep our wealth to ourselves; we shared it with the world. We gave the world our knowledge and culture. We gave the world our philosophy, science, mathematics, art and literature. We gave the world lofty thoughts and noble ideals. For centuries this sacred land, Mother India, was the light of the world. But now she is in chains. And you, her children, have forgotten your true nature. Arise, o lions! You are descendants of gods and goddesses, sages and saints, kings and warriors. Arise, free your Motherland! Rediscover your true spirit and lost genius. Take your Mother to the heights of glory she once commanded. And be the shining light to the world that you always were. This is your role, this is your duty, this is your destiny."

Indians woke up and heeded the call. But the awakening was partial. The people did start fighting for their country's freedom. But the other half of the message – the message of Hindu nationalism – was ignored by the leaders of the freedom struggle. They were city-bred lawyers, products of the British education system. They were Macaulay's children: "a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in morals and intellect". They didn't want to have anything to do with the word "Hindu". Only one leader, Tilak, embraced Hindu nationalism.

What Should I Do With My Life?

Excerpts from Po Bronson's book "What Should I Do With My Life?" (2003):

Asking The Question aspires to end the conflict between who you are and what you do. There is nothing more brave than filtering out the chatter that tells you to be someone you're not. There is nothing more genuine than breaking away from the chorus to learn the sound of your own voice. Asking The Question is nothing short of an act of courage: It requires a level of commitment and clarity that is almost foreign to our working lives.

The ruling assumption is that money is the shortest route to freedom. Absurdly, that strategy is cast as the "practical approach." But in truth, the opposite is true. The shortest route to the good life involves building the confidence that you can live happily within your means (whatever the means provided by the choices that are truly acceptable to you turn out to be).

Avoiding crap shouldn't be the objective in finding the right work. The right question is, How can I find something that moves my heart, so that the inevitable crap storm is bearable?

Every industry has a culture. And every culture is driven by a value system. One of the most common mistakes is not recognising how these value systems will shape you. People think that they can insulate themselves, that they're different. They're not. The relevant question in looking at a job is not What will I do? but Who will I become? What belief system will you adopt, and what will take on heightened importance in your life?

Not everything has to go right in order for it to work. His backup plans do not lead to different destinations, such as "If I don't get into business school, I'll be a schoolteacher." His backup plans lead to the same destination, and if he has to arrive late by a back road, that's fine.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Summary of Steve Jobs' commencement address at Stanford University (2005):

Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Stay hungry. Stay foolish. I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

On Media, News and Journalism

In 1958 legendary radio and TV journalist Edward R Murrow gave a speech to the RTNDA* about the state of the American news media. Many of the things he said are relevant for the Indian media (print and electronic) today:

The elaborate structure of networks, advertising agencies and sponsors will not be shaken or altered.

That your voice is amplified to the degree where it reaches from one end of the country to the other does not confer upon you greater wisdom or understanding than you possessed when your voice reached only from one end of the bar to the other.

I am seized with an abiding fear regarding what these two instruments (radio and television) are doing to our society, our culture and our heritage.

If there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or colour, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live.

One of the basic troubles with radio and television news is that both instruments have grown up as an incompatible combination of show business, advertising and news. Each of the three is a rather bizarre and demanding profession. And when you get all three under one roof, the dust never settles.

Or do we believe that the preservation of the Republic is a seven-day-a-week job, demanding more awareness, better skills and more perseverance than we have yet contemplated?

I am frightened by the imbalance, the constant striving to reach the largest possible audience for everything; by the absence of a sustained study of the state of the nation.

If the sponsor always, invariably, reaches for the largest possible audience, then this process of insulation, of escape from reality, will continue to be massively financed, and its apologist will continue to make winsome speeches about giving the public what it wants, or "letting the public decide".

*Radio-Television News Directors Association

Rajiv Gandhi's "Power Brokers" Speech

At the centenary session of the Congress in 1985, Rajiv Gandhi delivered the inaugural speech in which he lashed out against his own party, calling it a party of power brokers. An excerpt:

But they (party workers) are handicapped, for on their backs ride the brokers of power and influence, who dispense patronage to convert a mass movement into a feudal oligarchy. They are self-perpetuating cliques who thrive by invoking the slogans of caste and religion and by enmeshing the living body of the Congress in their net of avarice.

For such persons the masses do not count. Their lifestyle, their thinking - or the lack of it, their self-aggrandisement, their corrupt ways, their linkages with the vested interests in society, and their sanctimonious posturing are wholly incompatible with work among the people. They are reducing the Congress organisation to a shell from which the spirit of service and sacrifice has been emptied.

We talk of the high principles and lofty ideals needed to build a strong and prosperous India. But we obey no discipline, no rule; follow no principle of public weal. Corruption is not only tolerated but even regarded as the hallmark of leadership. Flagrant contradiction between what we say and what we do has become our way of life.