Young business team exercising Yoga in Lotus position on the floor at casual office. The view is through glass wall. Image Credit: Getty Images

Dubai: As Dubai gets set to host a massive, free-to-attend Wellness Festival or Dhyanotsav as part of the ongoing Dubai Fitness Challenge on November 16, wellness experts have emphasised the importance of meditation to de-stress and achieve better health in our fast-paced times.

Dismissing cynicism that mediation is a mere fad, or that it is an elusive concept, they said the challenges associated with the simple practice, which has many benefits, can be overcome if it is done the right way.

Luke Coutinho, holistic lifestyle coach who will be delivering the keynote address at the festival, said, Meditation allows us to ground ourselves and connectit gives us peace and calm, and helps us to find out why certain things affect us.

He said not having time for meditation is the lamest excuse. Everyone has time, people use it the wrong way. Also, too many people enter meditation thinking that no thoughts should come into play. That is not true, everyone has thoughts. The actual way is to watch the thoughts and gently come back to the breath and heart. Let the thoughts keep coming, after a while they will stop.

He said the easiest way to overcome the challenge of distraction is to practise regularly and meditate with the right intention.

Meditation is a practice where an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness of the mind and achieve a calm and stable state.

Christian Williams of Heartfulness, a free meditation centre in Dubai, said, By zoning out, we learn to zone in, which is so important in this fast paced, material world. Every little time helps. To get started, we need commitment but to keep going, we need consistency.

Those practising meditation regularly vouch for the benefits.

Dr Rex Bacarra, Dean of General Education at the American College of Dubai, said, Our life can be a very long journey, collecting experiences that are stressful, toxic, problem-laden, made worse by unmet social expectations and most often impossible demands. Meditation serves as a punctuation to our everyday struggle. It is a decisional tool that impacts ones way of living with a promise that with constancy, your life will be better, and the self, calmer.

A former monk, he said, We were taught to practice meditation every morning for 30 minutes and another in the evening. When I left the monastery and decided to immerse myself in Dubais modernity, I reserved 10 minutes for meditation right after I woke up in the morning. It kickstarts my day. It makes my dealing with people and work better. Without you knowing it, people notice the difference in the way you handle issues and the way you look at lifes impermanence.

Julian Williams, Principal, Springdales School, Dubai, said, Meditation does not just happen because you give yourself a slot, have your yoga mat and wear comfortable but perhaps slightly fashionable clothing. Focus on yourself, not on your emotions, desires, anxieties and time itself. Let time flow. Breathe by inhaling slowly and deeply and then letting go by exhaling slowly and allowing your body to relax. Be open to good and restful thoughts and new ideas that emerge not from outside stimulus but from within.

When: Date: November 16, 6-9pm

Where: Hall #8, Dubai World Trade Centre

How:: Register for free at 800tickets.com

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Myths about meditation busted ahead of Dubai Wellness Festival - Gulf News

While the skill of a Szechuan chef may be assessed through their ability to balance four primary flavor componentsma (numbing), la (hot), xian (fresh) and xiang (fragrant)it is in their chili oil that one detects their passion. Chili oil is personal. It leaves its mark both figuratively and in an ombre ring of red on the plate. Chili oil is alchemical. It expresses more than the sum of the peppers, spices and oil of which its made.

At Taste of Szechuan in Cherry Hill (one of our hottest new restaurants of 2019), the chili oil is so resonant and flavorful that customers ask owners PinJun and Dandan Yue when they will bottle it.

The chili oil, thats special, says Dandan, who runs the front of the house like clockwork while her husband turns out a roster of Szechuan (also spelled Sichuan) dishes. Every Szechuan restaurant has their own chili oil, and every Szechuan chili oil is different. We dont sell it, but lots of the customers suggest that we could. My husband says no. Thats our secret!

Taste of Szechuan menu. Photo by Jenn Hall

That well-guarded recipe is all the more reason to plan a stop anytime you are in the area, or even if you are not. Drawing on their home city of Chengdu as muse, the couple has crafted a deep menu of traditional dishes that together express the poetry and complexity of one of Chinas eight great cuisines.

A meal here can serve as a meditation on the color red: that fire-hued oil adding la (heat) to dishes from hot pot to ma po tofuthough dont forget the ma. When you taste Szechuan cuisine, its not only hot from different chili peppers. It also gives you the tinging feeling on your tongue. The numbing flavor, ma, comes from the beautiful Szechuan peppercorns.

Szechuan cuisine leverages balance to create powerful flavors, and PinJun is a class-two master chef in the cuisine. In his hands, a culinary tradition that honors harmony is expressed as much through those four central flavor elements as through texture.

To experience the latter, begin with beef tendon in chili sauce. Adorned with scallions, it arrives piled in ribbons that are stained scarlet by a deft combination of sesame, chili, and Szechuan peppercorn oils. The dish is deeply savory with a singular, peppery snap achieved through a multi-step process of boiling, cooking on fire, cooling and slicing. Serving as a textural foil to the tendon, Chengdu cold noodles in (yes) chili oil are bright-sweet, carrying a whisper of dark vinegar and peanut crunch. They veer rust-red against the brighter orange of the tendon, luscious oil pooling beneath tangle of chewy wheat noodles.

Ma po tofu, left, and fish fillet with tender tofu. Photo by Jenn Hall

Both dishes showcase a Szechuan custom of serving cold, savory starters before a meal. A Sichuanese feast always begins with a teasing spread of cold dishes to arouse the senses, open the stomach (kaiwei) and set the mood for the meal to come, writes Fuchsia Dunlop in her just-released The Food of Sichuan, which updates her classic Land of Plenty from 2001. At Taste of Szechuan, such traditions are central to the experience. We come from Chengdu, Dandan says with her trademark smile. The beef tendon and the Chengdu cold chili noodles, if you had them there, they would be almost exactly the same. The restaurant pays homage to their home city, highlighting the specific, complex flavors of a food-obsessed province that names no fewer than 23 core flavor profiles.

As recently as 15 years ago, Dandan says, most Chinese restaurants stateside were in the American style. (Think sweet and sour.) Now, a lot of American people can travel to China, or they have Chinese friends or Chinese family members, so they know what the real Chinese flavor is. We keep it 95 percent Chinese traditional. Here, the emphasis is on Chinese flavor, with a few Americanized classics thrown in, like a simple, sublime wonton soup laced with white pepper and handmade dumplings that is altogether soothing on a dreary day.

Savoring a gorgeously old-school ma po tofu, yielding soy is balanced with rich bass notes courtesy of minced pork. Sizzling in a hot pot lit by gas flame, fish filet with tender tofu brings together fresh flounder and soy protein in a sea of sizzling red, brightened by Szechuan pickle (and yes, chili oil). A word to the hungry: you will leave with leftovers, all the better by which to relive a special dining experience.

My dream is that I want to share not only the dishes from Szechuan, China but also the Szechuan culture, Dandan says. Someday, that might include a few more restaurants, and perhaps a hand or two to help make the 1,500-plus dumplings the restaurant serves each week. (Dandan helps out with those. They kind of make me crazy, she laughs, though she can bang them out in three hours.) Until then, it is well worth the drive to Cherry Hill to experience PinJuns trademark chili oil and Dandans warm welcome in person.

Taste of Szechuan, 2091 Marlton Pike East, Cherry Hill; 856-888-1370. Open 11:30am9:30pm, Monday Saturday; and 11:30am 9pm on Sunday.

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A Meditation on Chili Oil and Tradition at Taste of Szechuan in Cherry Hill - New Jersey Monthly

If youve been practicing dentistry for any length of time, youve encountered your fair share of gaggers. It's a familiar situation: There you are working, and suddenly you see the patients tongue lift. Before you can say pharyngeal reflex, the patient is sputtering and choking nearly to the point of tears.

For clinicians, a patients strong gag reflex means longer appointment times and more treatment challenges. But to the patient, gagging is a potential barrier to care. In fact, a 2004 literature review found that frequent gaggers are more likely to postpone dental care than nongaggers.1

Gagging, however, isnt just a physiological problem. There is also a psychological component. According to a 2014 research paper in the Journal of the American Dental Association, a survey of 478 dental patients found that 50% had gagged at least once during a dental visit.2 Moreover, 7.5% reported gagging during every or almost every appointment. The survey also found that frequent gaggers were more likely to report higher levels of dental anxiety than nongaggers.

Clinicians who want to create a better experiences for gaggers and eliminate barriers to care have several options at their disposal, ranging from sedation to desensitization. But one little-used strategy could also be the easiest to implement: mindfulness meditation. In fact, teaching patients just a few simple mindfulness exercises could be the difference between a dreaded appointment and effective treatment.

Pam VanArsdall, DMD, MPH, is a dentist by trade and a former academic dean at the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry. She is also a mindfulness instructor certified in Koru Mindfulness, an evidence-based mindfulness curriculum developed by psychiatrists at Duke University. Dr. VanArsdall says that while anatomical variability in the sizes and locations of the glossopharyngeal, vagus, and trigeminal nerves can contribute to a stronger gag reflex, not all instances of gagging have purely physiological causes.

Dr. Pam VanArsdallThere are two components [to gagging], she says. Anatomic variation and systemic physical disorders like sinusitis can play a role, but there are also psychological factors like anxiety.

Dr. VanArsdall notes that the correlation between dental anxiety and gagging in the 2014 JADA study warrants further investigation. Ive read that study, and its interesting because its a chicken-and-egg problem. The study authors mention in the article that they dont know whether the fear causes the gagging or the other way around. A patient who didnt previously have a gagging problem might have developed one after a bad dental experiencemaybe the impression tray was overfilled and they felt like they couldnt breathe. Or perhaps they had a predisposition toward gagging that had nothing to do with the dentist or hygienist.

Dr. VanArsdall says that a patients strong gag reflex can pose a variety of challenges. A patient with even a mild gagging problem may make it more difficult to take x-rays, for instance. Depending on the severity of the gag reflex, the appointment may run longer than scheduled...or need to be cancelled partway through. Some patients, she says, have such a severe gag reflex that they may vomit mid-appointment, which can compromise the sterile environment.

Mindfulness meditation is a specific type of meditation that emphasizes paying attention to ones current environment without attaching emotional meanings or passing judgments on the events that are happening. The goal of mindfulness meditation is to induce a change in brain activity that creates a sense of relaxed focus and separates ones sense of self from ones thoughts and emotions.

Jon Kabat-Zinn is the inventor of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and a former Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness this way: Mindfulness is the awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.4

Mindfulness meditation is also an effective means of reducing stress and changing the brain structures responsible for creating the feeling of anxiety. One 2015 randomized clinical trial found that a three-day mindfulness meditation training intervention caused a statistically significant reduction in the size of the right amygdala, the brain structure that coordinates the stress response.3 This change was also correlated with reduced levels of cortisol and cortisone in participants hair and a reduction in participants self-report scores for perceived stress. Control subjects who participated in a nonmindfulness stress-reduction program did not see similar changes.

For patients who are not amenable to sedation, mindfulness meditation could potentially be an effective tactic for combatting a strong gag reflex. If frequent gagging is correlated with higher levels of dental anxiety, and if mindfulness meditation reduces stress and anxiety as Taren et al. found, then its reasonable to hypothesize that mindfulness meditation may have an effect on gagging during dental appointments.

While theres currently no research on the books to either establish or refute a direct causal link between meditation and reduced gagging, Dr. VanArsdall says that some patients may be amenable to mindfulness meditation.

There havent really been any studies on whether mindfulness can reduce gagging. It would definitely be an interesting study to conduct. But we do know that different strategies work for different patients. A mindfulness exercise could be helpful for mild gagging during an x-ray, but it takes practice.

Teaching mindfulness techniques in your practice doesnt have to be time-consuming or challenging. Resources from organizations such as the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, or even tools like Headspace and Calm.com, can provide you with easy-to-teach mindfulness strategies that patients can start using immediately. While not all patients will benefit from mindfulness techniques, it could be an effective strategy for those who arent amenable to sedation or whose insurance doesnt cover sedation.

There are strategies (like mindfulness meditation) that could be helpful for patients, strategies that are less risky and less expensive than sedation, Dr. VanArsdall says. It goes back to whether the patient is open to trying new things.

Dr. VanArsdall says the easiest in-chair mindfulness exercise to start with is diaphragmatic breathing. Ask the patient to place one hand on the chest and one hand on the stomach, and then close the eyes and breathe into the stomach.

Once the patient has a handle on diaphragmatic breathing, they can slowly count silently to three or four on the inhale and exhale. This can be hard for some people. The key is to encourage patients not to be hard on themselves and to approach the breathing in a non-judgmental way.

A smartphone app is an easy way to introduce patients to mindfulness meditation. Insight Timer is a freemium app for Apple and Android devices that offers guided meditations ranging in length from three minutes to three hours. Offline listening is only available with the paid version, but your patients can listen to any one of 28,000 free meditations when their mobile devices are connected to your office WiFi network.

Much like teaching proper flossing technique, mindfulness exercises could be an effective part of patient education that could help patients to have a more positive experience during appointments. More research is needed to investigate whether mindfulness meditation could resolve the gag reflex, but the available data suggests that, at the very least, it can help anxious patients relax and create a calmer, more peaceful in-chair experiencewhich is something that every dental clinician can get behind.

References

Mike Straus is a freelance medical and dental writer based in western Canada. He holds a Toronto Star Award for journalism, and his work has been published in Nutritional Outlook, Canadian Chiropractor, Grow Opportunity, and Massage Therapy Canada.

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Resolving the gag reflex with...meditation? - Dentistry IQ

I just spent 4 days fully immersed in my first Tony Robbins event.

[ TRIGGER WARNING ] This might make some of you upset. If you are easily offended, please be near your safe space.

PS. This is long, stop here if you dont have the mental stamina to read it.

First, let me set the stage.

1I have never consumed a single piece of Tony Robbins content in my life. (No joke)

2I make fun of Life Coaches often, but I have quite a few in my network and I call many of them friends (and clients).

3Im a realist and while Im spiritual and religious, I am not a meditation guy.

4Im not superstitious.

5I am a skeptic of everything.

6I have heard a lot of GOOD things about Tony Robbins & his events.

7I have heard many BAD things about Tony Robbins events.

Now, with that out of the way, lets continue.

I got a call Tuesday last week from a client who is/was a Platinum Partner (which is like Tonys inner circle) with an invite to come to the event as his guest.

It comes with a hefty price tag, but a truly unique experience.

You guys probably saw my pictures and video and the access I got as a guest.

I really got an inside look at how it runs.

Im going to give you what I saw, and my own thoughts for you to decide for yourself.

It was hard to not think of how much $ was spent on the event, nor how much it generated.

The bottom rows on the floor ranged from $3995 to $100k+

THEN there were 3 completely full FLOORS of bleechers.

It was packed, and those bleechers were starting at $500 a ticket.

Realistically, even if you didnt include the ground floor of $4k-100k tickets.

13,000 x $500 = $6.5M

Whoa.

Not to mention the sponsors and vendors

Now, lets get to the part you want to hear about.

The CULT

The crowd was insanely motivated and the energy was inescapable.

The Crowd was truly all-in on Tony, and most of the people who go to these events seem to really love Tony. Even in my network, I made a Facebook Post with a picture of me and Tony from Day 1 and it had crazy engagement (and the one in the Tony Robbins FB Group got almost 700 likes)

There were MANY times I felt like I was at church.

For anyone who is atheist, or agnostic, this could be tough.

They were very inclusive, they would often use phrases like whatever you believe, God, Mother Nature, the Universe.

I felt this was probably smart considering there were 13,000 people with tons of Faiths

On the last day I was next to a great guy named Abdul, a commercial pilot from Saudi Arabia who was Muslim.

Anyway, some spiritual observations:

There was a lot of meditation.

I mean a LOT.

As someone who never meditated before in my life outside of a long prayer

This was hard for me to get.

But I really wanted to give my all and truly give it my all-in effort.

I did find myself doing some very deep thought and prayer.

The guided prayers / Meditation were actually very calming.

I did feel many times as though I had been day dreaming for long periods of time and yet they were only 10-15 minute meditations.

The important thing is I didnt compromise my values as a Christian, and they didnt want you to.

They encouraged whatever your beliefs to dive deeper into them.

There was a colleague of mine who spoke at an event a few months ago who left the event early and wrote a scathing article on LinkedIn yesterday

She brought up her struggle with the spirituality part and obviously if you believe that life was not created, that we are a random set of occuring positive genetic mutations over millions of years and there is no life force or Creator, this isnt for you. Be warned.

I found some of it to be useful, especially the physiological priming of your body.

The meditation & breathing exercises were actually some of the most valuable things I learned from a body standpoint.

Personal Development

This was my favorite part. They went through a great process of human needs and I found myself nodding my head a lot in agreement.

I have been working on myself for the past 16 months through masterminds and coaching so a lot of this was more a validation that Im on the right track.

My belief system in the past was mainly led by my own need to feel significant and growth.

I remember in 2016 my actual goal was to grow my team to 100.

Talk about a stupid goal.

It had no real deep purpose.

Over the past few years Ive learned that by focusing on contribution is key to both my growth and need for significance.

It also helped me better understand some specific relationships and how I can make them stronger by learning to identify their needs.

How to get in PEAK STATE

This was very intriguing to me scientifically. I was pretty blown away how much the body does influence the mind.

Tony showed some simple techniques that help alter your mood, and attitude quickly

And it worked.

I have never in my life been to an event that started at 7am and ended at 2am and the only thing I felt after was hungry.

The energy was high, but my body felt great.

My feet definitely got a good workout considering my weight but Sunday was a meditation day and I felt like I recovered really fast.

Just look at the energy in this crowd ALL DAY:

Firewalk

One of the most contentious things people talk about and to be honest I was very skeptical.

I thought how convenient, we do the walk in the pitch black so we cant see the supposed hot coals

I figured it was rigged or there was something over them.

But when the girl in front of me walked over the coals and I saw one fly out burning hot I was like oh damn here we go.

Jake got his right foot singed a little but not bad. They just put fresh coals on the right side and I definitely felt it on the right side of the walk.

The Cool Kids aka Platinums

These are the elites, they spent some coin.Most of them like to do business witbin their own circle, and it makes sense

So do I.

They were really a great group and to be able to go to their platinum party and get a behind the scenes look into how they hold themselves and work with each other was inspiring.

I went to a Platinum Party hosted by some of the big dogs that pay $100K+ to hang with Tony and his team and the connections at the party were truly invaluable.

MY THOUGHTS

As most events go, Ive always tried to make the most out of them.

I definitely got more than I expected out of it.

There were some things that I didnt quite get and buy into from Master Coh

But there were some valuable breathing techniques and some undeniable truths about the power of the mind and how it can make you feel things that arent physically there. (Or in his case, feel an energy force)

It was definitely a unique experience and I enjoyed it.

Its definitely got a cult vibe but at the end of the day I learned a lot.

The way they motivated the crowd.

How they sold the crowd.

How they kept people engaged.

How they used a lot of great mind-hacks and NLP to make people take action to buy was something that inspired me to implement in my business right away.

So there it is.

Have you gone? If so what was your experience?

Responses have been pretty intense over on my Facebook Post here: https://www.facebook.com/jhunter101/posts/2204184929882407

Continued here:

The CULT of Tony Robbins - Thrive Global

Amid a sharp increase in air pollution in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has stated that the Delhi government will decide on extension of the odd-even scheme on November 18. The minister held a press conference at 12pm on Friday, where he said, "As per weather forecast, air quality in Delhi will improve in the next 2-3 days. If the air quality doesn't improve, we will take a decision on extending odd-even vehicle scheme on November 18."

Delhiites woke up to a rather thick blanket of smog on Friday. Air quality in the city has dipped to 'severe-plus' level. November 15 is the third consecutive day of Delhi's dipping air quality. Friday is the last and final day of 12-day odd-even car rationing scheme.

Air quality in several areas of the city was recorded at severe categories. AQI at Pusa Road was at 777, while it was 930 at Dwarka Sector 8. AQI at Sri Aurobindo Marg was 733, 757 at Ashok Vihar, 610 at Jahangirpuri, 808 at Narela, 865 at Bawana, 722 at Okhla, 765 at Rohini.

He had earlier stated that the scheme could be extended "if need arises". "If the need arises, we will extend it," Kejriwal had said to media.

The CM had also appealed to the opposition parties to not resist the scheme. "Pollution has increased drastically. All of Delhi is demanding odd-even. At such a time, the Opposition should support the people's wish," he had said.

Arvind Kejriwal has blamed stubble burning in the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for the air quality in Delhi. He had said that these states were disregarding the directions of the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Delhi government on a plea challenging the odd-even road rationing scheme. The apex court also directed it to show the data of pollution in Delhi from October till November 14 this year. The bench also directed Delhi government to submit pollution data from October 1 to December 31, 2018.

Also read: Delhi air pollution: No relief from thick smog as AQI hovers around 500-mark on the last day of odd-even rule

Also read: Tired of the pollution in Delhi? Migrate to these cities

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Odd-even scheme: Arvind Kejriwal to decide on extension of rule on Nov 18 - Business Today

It is not surprising that Jiddu Krishnamurti, arguably the greatest Indian thinker on education in the 20th century, does not find a mention in the most recent iteration of the New Education Policy (NEP) 2019. Krishnamurthis ideas on education and freedom learning in a non-competitive and non-hierarchical ecosystem and discovering ones true passion without any sense of fear may have been too heterodox for a government report. Nonetheless, there are elements of contemporary global thinking that do inform the NEP en passant the emphasis on creativity and critical thinking and the ability to communicate and collaborate across cultural differences, which are part of the global common sense.

The near-final NEP, despite its lacunae, is a vast improvement over its earlier, almost-unreadable avatar. The reports 55-page brevity is matched by a reader-friendly organisational structure: four chapters focussing on school education; higher education; other key areas like adult education, technology and promotion of arts and culture; and a section on making it happen by establishing an apex body and the financial aspects to make quality education affordable for all. While the commitment to double the government expenditure on education from about 10% to 20% over a 10-year period is still insufficient, given the enormity of the challenge, it is an unprecedented commitment to the sector.

Education, for most of us, is a necessary public good central to the task of nation building and, like fresh air, is necessary to make our communities come alive; it should not be driven solely by market demand for certain skills, or be distracted by the admittedly disruptive impact, for instance, of Artificial Intelligence. This form of education should be unshackled from the chains of deprivation, and affordable education, for instance in JNU, is vital to ensure access to even the most marginalised sections of our country. Education policy, in essence, must aim to produce sensitive, creative and upright citizens who are willing to take the less-travelled path and whose professional skills will endure revolutions in thinking and technology.

A menu of choices provided by the private sector, which reduces education to the status of a commodity and views our youthful demography as human capital, is being doled out as panacea by instant India specialists to our educational challenges. This is a fallacy. We have to be conscious and deeply aware that there is no developed country where the public sector was not in the vanguard of school and higher education expansion, in ensuring its inclusiveness, and in setting standards. Even the sui generis Ivy League universities, created because of generous philanthropic endowments, function more like public institutions today. It was, therefore, essential for the government to produce a blueprint for reforms after widespread consultation; whether the present NEP report can deliver on this challenge is debatable.

As an academic, I am of course delighted that the NEPs stated goal is to reinstate teachers as the most respected members of our society. Empowerment of teachers remains a key mantra of the policy, and it is understood that this can only be achieved by ensuring their livelihood, respect, dignity and autonomy, while ensuring quality and accountability. If the NEP stems the rot in most institutions of learning which leads to the erosion of autonomy of teachers even on academic forums it would have achieved a major breakthrough. Indeed, such is the intolerant dictatorial attitude of many of our current university leaders that the act of intervening in academic debates itself seems like treason.

Equally laudable is the emphasis on early childhood care and schooling more generally. The anganwadis remain the backbone of an early childhood care system but have suffered on multiple grounds, including lack of facilities and proper training. This, as the report recognises, needs to change; but the incremental and rather ad hoc changes proposed (in stand-alone anganwadis, or anganwadis co-located with primary schools, etc.) may not deliver. The idea of volunteer teachers, peer tutoring, rationalisation of the system of schools and sharing of resources does sound ominous. It is also not clear what strategies will be adopted, nor what resources will be committed, to strengthen the public sector, including the Kendriya Vidyalayas, the State government-run institutions and the municipal schools.

Much has to be learnt here from examples even in the non-commercial private sector. The best example I know of holistic childhood education is that of Mirambika, a free-progress, experimental school inspired by the writings of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

The NEP wisely recognises that a comprehensive liberal arts education will help to develop all capacities of human beings intellectual, aesthetic, social, physical, emotional, and moral in an integrated manner. Indias past, and its unique, culturally diverse matrix provide a rich framework, but delivering on a holistic liberal education programme requires much more than just proclamations.

The proposal to establish a National Research Foundation, with an overarching goal... to enable a culture of research to permeate through our universities needs to be applauded and widely supported. But the creation of a National Testing Agency (NTA) has understandably generated scepticism. While, on paper, the NTA will serve as a premier, expert, autonomous testing organisation to conduct entrance examinations for admissions and fellowships in higher educational institutions, in reality, universities and departments may lose autonomy over admissions, even of research students. This is not an empty fear; the initial signs of this change are already visible in universities.

Equally serious is the concern about the division between research-intensive premier universities; teaching universities; and colleges. The NEP suggests, three types of institutions are not in any natural way a sharp, exclusionary categorisation, but are along a continuum. But the advantage of these divisions, per se, is neither intuitively nor analytically clear, given that high quality teaching and cutting-edge research comfortably coexist in most universities of excellence.

The NEP draft will now be placed before the Cabinet; one hopes that many of the concerns raised are addressed before an official policy is finally announced, recognising also the enormous pressure from global educational service providers to capture the Indian education market.

In 2003, I had the opportunity, as Vice Chancellor of the University of Jammu, to invite the then-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief K.S. Sudarshan for breakfast at home. Also invited were my colleagues in the university, K.L. Bhatia and Nirmal Singh. Addressing the issue of a section of Jammu chauvinists campaigning against my appointment (as a Kashmiri) to the Vice Chancellorship, Sudarshan said: This is a vishvavidyalaya (university) an academic universe, a global sanctuary of ideas which we can never be reduced to a space for narrow bigotry. We have to upload the highest principles here, not let academic positions or programmes be traded or let education become yet another business. Given that the RSS is an important stakeholder in the NEP, it is critical that it guards against consumerist, neoliberal ideas of education taking over through the backdoor, while an apparent vigil of cultural nationalism is maintained in the front.

Amitabh Mattoo is professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University

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Treating education as a public good - The Hindu

Marking a strong presence in the field of excellence, five students from India bagged prizes at Oxford Big Read Asia Prize at the Asia level. Out of these five students, four were from Nagpur while one from Madurai.

There were around 6000 submissions from schools from China, Malaysia, Pakistan, and India in the competition.

There are three categories for the different age groups in which the children compete.

BR Nimeesha from Sri Aurobindo Mira Universal School, Madurai was the winner in category 1 for the age group five to nine years.

In category 2, which is for the age group of 9 years to 11 years, Ananya Sheorey from The CDS School, Nagpur and Saara Den from Centre Point School, Nagpur were the winners. While in category 3 for the age group of 12 to 13 years, Neha Chhajed and Sama S Jahafirdar both of Bhavans BP Vidya Mandir, Nagpur were the winners.

Speaking about this competition, Sivaramakrishnan Venkateswaran, Managing Director, OUP India said, We are delighted to see growing participation and engagement in Oxford Big Read Asia. This competition provides students with an opportunity to augment the ambit of their reading and also demonstrate their literary and creative skills.

He added, We believe that early age interest in reading and writing is fundamental to ensuring better learning outcomes in young learners.

M Gnana Sundari Principal Sri Aurobindo Mira Universal School, Madurai said, I am happy to state that Oxford Big Read is an excellent contest for the students which creates in them a love for reading. Writing book reviews help students engage more deeply with what they are reading and also it is a great way to develop their vocabulary. Kudos to Oxford University Press for introducing this unique global program in India.

The campaign is open to schools and institutions in Hong Kong, China, India, Malaysia, and Pakistan through the Oxford University Press branch offices. Submissions from students are evaluated by a panel of judges based on originality of thought and expression, vocabulary range and the overall quality of content.

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Five Indian students win Oxford Big Read Asia Prize, four from Nagpur - The Statesman

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Much blood has flowed, tears too. Many insecurities have drowned, fears too. Enough political capital has been wasted, narratives too. Abundant inter-religious divisions have been created, riots and killings too. The 491-year-long religious battle behind, the three-decade-old political skirmish resolved, the victory for what had degenerated into a property dispute in hand, and the supremacy of the Constitution established, it is now time for India to live the ideals that Ram stood for.

If we are to examine avatars from the prism of spiritual goals, Rams transformative role was to deliver to the world the ideal of sattwa through action. Unlike the next avatar Krishna, Ram neither gave any spiritual discourse nor announced to the world his avatarhood. His role was to live like a man and raise men towards the sattva ideal through his actions, sacrifice, valour, justice and above all, love. Actions were his teachings, victory a legacy. At the point society then stood, Ram delivered the highest ideal by slaying Ravan and establishing Ram Rajya.

Rams business was to fix for the future the possibility of an order proper to the sattwic civilised human being who governs his life by the reason, the finer emotions, morality or at least moral ideals, such as truth, obedience, cooperation and harmony, the sense of humour, the sense of domestic and public order, to establish this in a world still occupied by anarchic forces, the Animal Mind and the powers of the vital Ego making its own satisfaction the rule of life, wrote Sri Aurobindo. Rama and Sita are the ideals of the Indian nation, Swami Vivekananda said in a 31 January 1900 lecture.

Taking that as a civilisational context, the battle for a plot of land measuring 2.77 acres seems statistically insignificant. But before the force of faith that sees the timeless, spaceless eternal in holy premises, this small plot of land had become one of the central points of division between Hindus and Muslims over centuries and in a formal court of law over decades. With the Supreme Court finally ruling favour of Hindus, but with caveats that include giving Muslims a five-acre plot to build a mosque in Ayodhya, we hope this clash of political religiosity, is behind us.

Also read:Ayodhya verdict made one thing clear. This is the problem with Indian secularism today

The five-judge verdict comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, next Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and justices Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer is unanimous. Spread over 1,045 pages, this has been one of the most closely-watched judgments and will be among the most closely-tracked orders of the Supreme Court over the next few decades. The scope for error and hence a revision, therefore, is limited. Judicial orders are technical and pivot around points of law and the Constitution, and hence, this judgement will set a precedence for future disputes on and around properties of faith.

Apart from the order per se, we laud the administrative planning between Gogoi and the government of Uttar Pradesh. Sensitive to potential troublemakers who could enflame peoples, the two institutions, the judiciary and the state executive, took pre-emptive measures to prevent violence. At the time of writing, we see no flashpoints. Hopefully, there will be none going forward. We also commend the maturity of political parties, all of which are standing firmly behind the judgement.

Above all, we see the rise of a mature India, a society that has been honed to peace on the hot anvil of religious violence, a nation worthy of the time. No triumphalism, no victory marches, no needling by Hindus. No violence, no threats, no anguish by Muslims. A general sense of peace and calm prevails that tell us that we are more than what the media headlines expect, that we can surprise ourselves in what cynics see as the most dire crisis of faith. Exhausted by years of suspicion and fighting, perhaps we are turning a new leaf in Hindu-Muslim relations, a leaf that the rest of the world could emulate.

Also read: Muslim bodies split on Ayodhya verdict review plea, community at odds with clergy

There is dissonance, of course. But barring stray comments by political leaders, it is not coming from Muslims. The source of this frustration is the predictable Left-illiberal ecosystem. Already a diminishing ideology and receiving only contempt and whataboutery with every tweet, Leftist ideologues are attacking not merely the judgment but the Supreme Court itself. In their minds, the judicial process works only when a verdict is in their favour. Not for them the multiple hues of democracy where among other things, finally we argue differences out in a court of law and bow before the majesty of law. In a civilisation that stands high above suffocating Left-Right-Centre boxes of Western thought, this ecosystem is best ignored. Stepping back, we see this group of people and their ideology expressions of tamasic forces that have been and continue to weaponise victimhood.

Irrespective, having won this long-drawn battle that has sucked out the energies of several faith warriors, the arc of action is now in the hands of Hindus. How they behave and what they do with this victory will decide the future course of India. Having fought for Ram, they need to follow Ram. Had the verdict been in favour of Muslims, Hindus should have embraced sacrifice and walked away, like Ram did, when asked to forego the kingdom and live in the forest for 14 years by his father. Along with Sita and Lakshman, as Ram walked into the forests, away from the luxuries of palace life, he didnt look back, harboured no regrets. A sattwic detachment guided his actions.

Winning the case, however, has placed the yoke of morality on the shoulders of Hindus. And as Ram bhakts they need to follow their faith. Despite defeating Ravan and killing him in battle, Ram installed Ravans brother Vibhishan as the king of Sri Lanka. He neednt have. Nobody would have raised any question had he taken charge of the kingdom. But driven by the sattwic ideal of righteousness and justice, Ram did what he did. No great discourse, no lecture. A simple act decided the course of the island nations future. He handed the throne to Ravans brother and flew to Ayodhya. Again, Ram didnt look back and despite a spectacular victory, remained detached in sattwa.

Also read:Why Mathura or Varanasi temple disputes wont go the Ayodhya way

To complete this judicial-physical win and turn it into a moral-religious victory, Hindus must learn from and follow Ram. If the Muslim leaders agree, for instance, Hindus could help build their mosque. They could help finance it. They could participate in several ways and celebrate its completion. All this without the smallest political grandstanding. Simple actions, silently executed would go a long way in not merely imparting dignity to the victory but even creating a virtuous cycle of Hindu-Muslim unity, a model for 21st century India.

This would mean the people shunning vested political interests from both communities. Politics in the area of religion has repeatedly proven to be a tool that has short-changed the people. Religion in the premises of politics has failed to harmonise collective interests. On the contrary, political religiosity has created rifts and fed on and profited from them. It is perhaps time to reverse the cycle. That is, allow the sattwa ideal in individuals each being harbours some aspect of sattwa within to engage one another and create a new and harmonious India. From that sattwic ideal, that unity, that spiritual oneness will emerge Indias 21st century Ram Rajya.

Finally, we see the pyres of hatred and potential rebirth of an aspired-for harmony. Now that the people have shown the maturity that political leaders ought to have had in the first place, perhaps politics will follow through and pick up the pieces of destruction physical and psychological and rebuild the nation as per the new will of the people. The people are done with faith-based, religion-driven lives of mutual suspicion. We look at this verdict as the beginning of new political alignments in tune with a new India.

The temple is a body, Ram an eternal ideal. The body in control, now embrace that sattwic ideal.

The author is Vice President at Observer Research Foundation.

This article wasfirst publishedon ORF.

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Here is the original post:
Frustration over Ayodhya verdict is not coming from Muslims but Left-illiberals - ThePrint

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Read the original post:
Top 5 of the day11 November 2019, Vacancies TRIFED, ISRO, South Central Railway, WBHRB and other organizations - Jagran Josh

Much blood has flowed, tears too. Many insecurities have drowned, fears too. Enough political capital has been wasted, narratives too. Abundant inter-religious divisions have been created, riots and killings too. The 491-year-long religious battle behind, the three-decade-old political skirmish resolved, the victory for what had degenerated into a property dispute in hand, and the supremacy of the Constitution established, it is now time for India to live the ideals that Ram stood for.

If we are to examine avatars from the prism of spiritual goals, Rams transformative role was to deliver to the world the ideal of sattwa through action. Unlike the next avatar Krishna, Ram neither gave any spiritual discourse nor announced to the world his avatarhood. His role was to live like a man and raise men towards the sattva ideal through his actions, sacrifice, valour, justice and above all, love. Actions were his teachings, victory a legacy. At the point society then stood, Ram delivered the highest ideal by slaying Ravan and establishing Ram Rajya.

Rams business was to fix for the future the possibility of an order proper to the sattwic civilised human being who governs his life by the reason, the finer emotions, morality or at least moral ideals, such as truth, obedience, cooperation and harmony, the sense of humour, the sense of domestic and public order, to establish this in a world still occupied by anarchic forces, the Animal Mind and the powers of the vital Ego making its own satisfaction the rule of life, wrote Sri Aurobindo. Rama and Sita are the ideals of the Indian nation, Swami Vivekananda said in a 31 January 1900 lecture.

Taking that as a civilisational context, the battle for a plot of land measuring 2.77 acres seems statistically insignificant. But before the force of faith that sees the timeless, spaceless eternal in a holy premises, this small plot of land had become one of the central points of division between Hindus and Muslims over centuries and in a formal court of law over decades. With the Supreme Court finally ruling favour of Hindus, but with caveats that include giving Muslims a 5 acre plot to build a mosque in Ayodhya, we hope this clash of political religiosity, is behind us.

The five-judge verdict comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, next Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and justices Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer is unanimous. Spread over 1,045 pages, this has been one of the most closely-watched judgments and will be among the most closely-tracked orders of the Supreme Court over the next few decades. The scope for error and hence a revision, therefore, is limited. Judicial orders are technical and pivot around points of law and the Constitution, and hence, this judgement will set a precedence for future disputes on and around properties of faith.

Apart from the order per se, we laud the administrative planning between Gogoi and the government of Uttar Pradesh. Sensitive to potential troublemakers who could enflame peoples, the two institutions, the judiciary and the state executive, took pre-emptive measures to prevent violence. At the time of writing, we see no flashpoints. Hopefully, there will be none going forward. We also commend the maturity of political parties, all of which are standing firmly behind the judgement.

Above all, we see the rise of a mature India, a society that has been honed to peace on the hot anvil of religious violence, a nation worthy of the time. No triumphalism, no victory marches, no needling by Hindus. No violence, no threats, no anguish by Muslims. A general sense of peace and calm prevails that tell us that we are more than what the media headlines expect, that we can surprise ourselves in what cynics see as the most dire crisis of faith. Exhausted by years of suspicion and fighting, perhaps we are turning a new leaf in Hindu-Muslim relations, a leaf that the rest of the world could emulate.

There is dissonance, of course. But barring stray comments by political leaders, it is not coming from Muslims. The source of this frustration is the predictable Left-illiberal ecosystem. Already a diminishing ideology and receiving only contempt and whataboutary with every tweet, Leftist ideologues are attacking not merely the judgement but the Supreme Court itself. In their minds, the judicial process works only when a verdict is in their favour. Not for them the multiple hues of democracy where among other things, finally we argue differences out in a court of law and bow before the majesty of law. In a civilisation that stands high above suffocating Left-Right-Centre boxes of Western thought, this ecosystem is best ignored. Stepping back, we see this group of people and their ideology expressions of tamasic forces that have been and continue to weaponise victimhood.

Irrespective, having won this long-drawn battle that has sucked out the energies of several faith warriors, the arc of action is now in the hands of Hindus. How they behave and what they do with this victory will decide the future course of India. Having fought for Ram, they need to follow Ram. Had the verdict been in favour of Muslims, Hindus should have embraced sacrifice and walked away, like Ram did, when asked to forego the kingdom and live in the forest for 14 years by his father. Along with Sita and Lakshman, as Ram walked into the forests, away from the luxuries of palace life, he didnt look back, harboured no regrets. A sattwic detachment guided his actions.

Winning the case, however, has placed the yoke of morality on the shoulders of Hindus. And as Ram bhakts they need to follow their faith. Despite defeating Ravan and killing him in battle, Ram installed Ravans brother Vibhishan as the king of Sri Lanka. He neednt have. Nobody would have raised any question had he taken charge of the kingdom. But driven by the sattwic ideal of righteousness and justice, Ram did what he did. No great discourse, no lecture. A simple act decided the course of the island nations future. He handed the throne to Ravans brother and flew to Ayodhya. Again, Ram didnt look back and despite a spectacular victory, remained detached in sattwa.

To complete this judicial-physical win and turn it into a moral-religious victory, Hindus must learn from and follow Ram. If the Muslim leaders agree, for instance, Hindus could help build their mosque. They could help finance it. They could participate in several ways and celebrate its completion. All this without the smallest political grandstanding. Simple actions, silently executed would go a long way in not merely imparting dignity to the victory but even creating a virtuous cycle of Hindu-Muslim unity, a model for 21st century India.

This would mean the people shunning vested political interests from both communities. Politics in the area of religion has repeatedly proven to be a tool that has short-changed the people. Religion in the premises of politics has failed to harmonise collective interests. On the contrary, political religiosity has created rifts and fed on and profited from them. It is perhaps time to reverse the cycle. That is, allow the sattwa ideal in individuals each being harbours some aspect of sattwa within to engage one another and create a new and harmonious India. From that sattwic ideal, that unity, that spiritual oneness will emerge Indias 21st century Ram Rajya.

Finally, we see the pyres of hatred and a potential rebirth of an aspired-for harmony. Now that the people have shown the maturity that political leaders ought to have had in the first place, perhaps politics will follow through and pick up the pieces of destruction physical and psychological and rebuild the nation as per the new will of the people. The people are done with faith-based, religion-driven lives of mutual suspicion. We look at this verdict as the beginning of new political alignments in tune with a new India.

The temple is a body, Ram an eternal ideal. The body in control, now embrace that sattwic ideal.

The views expressed above belong to the author(s).

See the original post:
Temple is a body, Ram an eternal ideal - Observer Research Foundation