Today we are starting ‘Das Lakshan Parv’ – Paryushan which means Celebrating 10 Virtues of being a good Human.
Each day we go deep into one virtue where all the scholars of the philosophy speak about that virtue. As per Anekantvaad philosophy of Jainism – All perspectives of Specific virtue are appreciated without one prescriptive book.
I have been listening to various scholars over many years. I am sharing my understanding of today’s virtue – Forgiveness. It’s a partial knowledge and full knowledge of the virtue will be completed by you and your thinking. This summary may provide a trigger for your experiences to reflect on forgiveness virtue.
Trust you all are having a nice and joyful festive season!
Recently, Manju and I attended the Non-Violent Economy Network (NVEN) event at Madurai. I was very intrigued by the narrative of Non-Violent Economy. How come the Economy which provides livelihood to us all becomes violent?The movement is led by Global leaders from many countries who are relooking at the economy from a sustainable lens.
The Sustainability of Human Existence is now anchored around Climate, Water, Energy Systems, Chemical free Agriculture practices, Forests and Consumption.The word Economy is for 138 Crs people of India and 750 Crs Global people not for a select few. In India alone, there are more than 90 cr people living in Rural India spread across 6 lakh villages.
The lowest structure of local governance is the elected Panchayat System consisting of 2.5 lakh Panchayats, governed by 11 to 17 members each. Now the question is what is their role in our Urban Economy?How do we calculate the contribution of each village in the traditional economy?Are we in a hurry to produce higher and higher by applying toxic chemical fertilisers and compromising on Sustainability in Non Violent way?
I interpreted ‘Nonviolence’ as non-violence at Thought, Speech and Action Levels by an individual or community. Non-Violence for sustainability is to respect Nature, Climate, Water, Forest and Agriculture. It is also about Fair Trade& profit and about right consumption.
In the last 6 yrs, I am enjoying working with self motivated Development Accelerators (called NGO’s) through Mission Samriddhi who are completely committed to Sustainability without even knowing the word ESG or Non-Violence. I got humbled when the Tribal community of Shiratoki, a small village of Yavatmal, Maharashtra came together to participate in Collective Farming by pooling their 150 acres of the land. We got the opportunity to apply Design Thinking to solve problems of Fragmented land holding, Water, Natural farming and single crop dependency along with 10 other compassionate experts. We call this experiment HOCO farming (Holistic and Collective Farming). I must thank each one of the experts who are putting their substantial time in designing this non-violent economic experiment.
When Manju & I were thinking about a Diwali gift this year, we felt we need to participate in this movement in a very small way by sharing products from Non-Violent economy to our friends and families. We picked up a few products from rural non-violent startups. The Handbag is sourced from YellowBag Foundation which helps women gain financial independence, Millet based sweets and savouries are from The Timbaktu Collective, a non-profit organisation that works towards the sustainable development of marginalised people across 285 villages in the drought-prone and ecologically challenged in Andhra Pradesh
This Diwali, we were happy to be part of the Non-Violent economy movement.
We set up ADK Eye Hospital in the district of Baghpat to serve rural districts of Western UP. The hospital is situated within a 45-minute drive from Delhi with state-of-the-art facilities. We are finding very high demand for Cataract surgeries and retina surgeries there from 7 districts (Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Shamli, Sonepat, Ghaziabad, Modinagar) with a population of over 12 million people.
Within 2 years, 50000 sqft exclusive eye hospitals are completing 1000 high quality surgeries a month with 5 state-of-the-art Operation Theatres.
We found demand has grown faster than what we anticipated. Thus, we are looking to enhance capacity and for compassionate eye surgeons for the hospital. The hospital will provide family accommodation and compensation.
We are also looking for healthcare fellows who want to work in western UP. We are exploring partnerships with international hospitals with focus on rural eye care for internships.
Could you please circulate among your circles to get the right compassionate surgeons and partnerships?
This morning, one of my friends sent this poem to me. It narrates the experiential definitions of simple and yet it is difficult to understand. These words are by Charlie Chaplin when he was 70. As I began to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth. Today, I know, this is Authenticity.
As I began to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody if I try to force my desires on this person, even though I knew the time was not right and the person was not ready for it, and even though this person was me. Today I call this Respect.
As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life, and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow. Today I call this Maturity.
As I began to love myself I understood that at any circumstance, I am in the right place at the right time, and everything happens at the exactly right moment. So I could be calm. Today I call this Self-Confidence.
As I began to love myself I quit stealing my own time, and I stopped designing huge projects for the future. Today, I only do what brings me joy and happiness, things I love to do and that make my heart cheer, and I do them in my own way and in my own rhythm. Today I call this Simplicity.
As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health – food, people, things, situations, and everything that drew me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism. Today I know it is Love of Oneself.
As I began to love myself I quit trying to always be right, and ever since I was wrong less of the time. Today I discovered that is Modesty.
As I began to love myself I refused to go on living in the past and worrying about the future. Now, I only live for the moment, where everything is happening. Today I live each day, day by day, and I call it Fulfilment.
As I began to love myself I recognized that my mind can disturb me and it can make me sick. But as I connected it to my heart, my mind became a valuable ally. Today I call this connection Wisdom of the Heart. We no longer need to fear arguments, confrontations or any kind of problems with ourselves or others.
Even stars collide, and out of their crashing, new worlds are born. Today I know: This is Life!
I watched the 2nd episode of ‘Guilty Minds’ on Prime Video.
It raised 2 key dilemmas or issues of this decade A. Impact of gaming on youth B. Effect of Bitcoin
Such games are getting into an addiction zone. It has equal or higher impact on a human’s brain than drugs. They show a young 19-year old boy committing murder under the name of a ‘challenge’ in a gaming scenario.
The challenge has reward money of 100,000 USD to be paid through Bitcoin – no account, no traceability. Parents or no one will not know anything.
Some questions: 1. Why are video game ads allowed when alcohol ads are banned? 2. The role of crypto currency as ‘hawala’ money? What is the purpose of its existence? What is the economic impact created by it?
Yesterday (March 26, 2022) was a historical and memorable occasion as we had the launch of HOCO Farming at Shiratoki.
Shiratoki is a village in the Zari Jamani region of Yavatmal district in Maharashtra. What made it truly memorable was that the 65 families in this remote village came together to make history. Forty farmers from the Kolam tribe broke silos and pooled 225 acres of land for Holistic Collective (HOCO) Farming.
I am proud to be a part of this fine example of Design Thinking in action. The first aspect was that they had broken the Rembrandt Silos by coming together. This requires all the farmers to have boundaryless thinking.
The second remarkable aspect was that they questioned assumptions. Thus far, they have practiced rain-fed agriculture that limited their produce to just a few crops a year. Average productivity resulting in meagre incomes had been the norm. This was now broken. They are now considering forty types of Kharif crops, Rabi and summer crops – all to be grown on the 225 acres of land with the direct involvement of 40 farmers.
This took dedicated and consistent effort by all the stakeholders. Gramin Samassya Mukti Trust, supported by Mission Samriddhi, was continuously supporting the seed that was collectively sown in conjunction with the farmers themselves. The seeds sprouted in two years. In the meanwhile, 18 farm ponds of 30m by 30m by 3m in size, many recharge pits, hundreds of meters of CCTs, farm bunds and dug wells are taking concrete shape, again with the direct involvement of the farmers.
Agriculture depends on effective water management. The tribal farmers saw the big picture (we call it L0) by mapping the terrain and then designing 18 water ponds of 100ft by 100ft by 10ft that are being dug using five JCBs. Bhartiya Jain Sangh supported in designing the excavation operation and loaning the JCBs. The design team has been meeting every week on Mondays with 10 experts to plan and execute the activities. I am happy to note that the government is playing an active role.
HOCO Farming! Holistic because it integrates Personal, Social, Economic, Ecological and Institutional Development (the 40 farmers have formed an FPO and selected a 10-member Board of Directors). And of course, Collective in its truest sense wherein all the stakeholders are coming together aligned to the purity in this purpose.
This launch is proof that going beyond limiting beliefs, collaboration, co-creation and innovation is the way forward. I am confident that this experiment will put Shiratoki village on the global map where people from different corners will come to visit, stay and understand the concepts of HOCO Farming.
Mission Samriddhi is building a collective farming of 300 acres by pooling in farmers of Shiratoki village, Yavatmal. The farmers were making less than 30,000 to 40,000 per acre.
MS design team consisting of 12 members with agriculture, water and social community experts, program managers, chartered accountants, terrain designers, market linkage experts and sustainable model designers have been working for the last 8 months on this project.
They need to design a capacity of 160 million litres of water storage for the next 2 crops. They are digging 18 ponds of 100 ft by 100 ft by 10 ft. All the large JCBs and large machines reached the site yesterday. There is a Bhoomi Pooja on 16th March at the site.
This kind of collective farming is getting designed among very few project heard.
A couple of weeks ago I catalogued 15 Educationalists and Teachers before 1200AD and encouraged my network to add more to the list.
I was overwhelmed with the responses I got and truly appreciate each one of you for taking the time to add to my list.
India is blessed with rich wisdom and knowledge since ancient times. It has a rich tradition of Intellectual heritage and its contribution has gone a long way to enhance the lifestyle of mankind. They are visible in the field of mathematics, arthashastra, formulae of medicine, vibrant art, literature and the list goes on.
Here is the list which is classified in 3 Groups (Group 1 – BC, Group 2 – 1 AD to 600 AD and Group 3 – 600 AD onwards) which is a testimony to us being blessed with rich wisdom and knowledge since ancient times.
We have recorded the history of kings. I was searching for the history of Educationists/Teachers in India but could not find one. I collected a list of 15 names before 1200 AD. 1. Valmiki – 4th BC to 7th Century BC 2. Sushruta – 6th Century BC 3. Mahavira – 5th Century BC 4. Buddha – 5th Century BC 5. Chanakya – 375 BC to 283 BC 6. Uma swami – 2nd Century AD 7. Kalidas – 4th Century AD 8. Aryabhata – 476 to 550 AD, Bihar 9. Varaha Mihira – 505 to 587, Astrologer in Ujjain, Brihat Samhita – Trigonometry 10. Brahmagupta – Mathematician – 598 to 668, Gujarat 11. Bhaskara I – 600 to 680 AD, Saurashtra in Gujarat 12. Shankaracharya – 700 to 750 AD 13. Aryabhata II – 920 to 1000 AD, Geometry and Maha Siddhanta 14. Ramanujam – 1017 to 1137 AD 15. Bhaskara II – 1114 to 1185 AD, Maharashtra Ujjain Observatory, Calculus predates Newton
I need more names to complete this list. Please do suggest.
Hello, my name is Arun Jain. I am a design thinker living in Chennai, India. This is my blog, where I post my thoughts, technology trends and tips about the fintech world and many more.
