Karma Yoga

KARMA YOGA: A Philosophy for the Present Youth

                   Youth, the people in the younger generation are the people with very high energy levels and extremely high levels of enthusiasm in the world. Every human being will experience a greater amount of confidence in him during his youth and this statement is truly indisputable. The zeal to perform and the love to achieve something really special are the characteristic features of the young people. On the flip side, this extraordinary will to succeed or gather attention makes them the most vulnerable group of people who can be influenced very easily. This vulnerability is utilized by some fanatics and lunatics for fulfilling their evil intentions and that is the most common phenomenon in the present and also the least desirable. Endurance and perseverance are the words that are far apart from the majority of youth which is indeed an extremely undesirable phenomenon.

                             India with its ever increasing population is one of the largest and youngest states in the world. The term young here refers to the average age of the people in the nation. It is also a known fact that Indian civilization is one of the oldest. This pioneer mix of young people with oldest civilization can work wonders and some of the glimpses of such wonders can be conceived from the achievements of our nation in the recent past. But the available potential and the results achieved are truly incomparable. Though we talk a lot about a lot of achievements there are equally or more number of important issues that need to be addressed very urgently. With this population and man power the amount of success we have achieved in any field is definitely an underachievement and there is an urgent need for reconciliation of our principles of education and also the system. Every year we manufacture thirty lakh graduates from India                      . Yes the word manufacturing is apt because the present education system in our nation emphasizes either good standard only in mathematics and sciences or an ill standard education only meant for increasing the no of literates without providing any useful knowledge. The former education is affordable for well to do, urban and brilliant students and the latter is applicable for the children in villages whose parents are illiterates and economically backward. Both the above mentioned systems have a good number of flaws and rectifying them takes a certain amount of time as changing the education system overnight is not possible even in fiction.

             Now, coming to Karma Yoga, it is not a difficult, highly intellectual philosophy which can be understood only by yogis or rushis. It is just another way of life where it is believed that everything we undergo in this life is the sum of the results of all the karmas(works) we have performed earlier. If we try to understand this more closely this theory can be explained with a good logic. Here in explaining the life we can take a simile of the law of conservation of energy where energy can neither be created nor it can be destroyed but it can only be transformed from one form to the other. In the same way we are enjoying the fruits of our past actions and the present actions shape up our future. This is easily understandable but there arise a good number of doubts about certain situations for even the noblest person cannot think of any reason. Here we need to go deeper into the philosophy where we have the law of reincarnation and the inability of the human brain to store all the actions performed in the past. Finally the most important preaching of this Karma Yoga is to work for work’s own sake. That we should love the work we do but not the result and that will indeed help us lead a happier life.

             Karma yoga for the youth can help the nation a lot. There are a good number of reasons for this like

1.     It is a very easy philosophy to understand and there is literally no need for any sacrifices to be made.

2.     Loving ones work is not at all difficult if one is totally interested in doing that work.

3.     Working like a master is far better than working like a slave. In detail if we work to impress someone we are doing slave’s work because we are expecting something from the other person so we are slaves. When we work for our satisfaction we do not need others consent and that is masterly work.

In this way there are a lot of reasons why Karma yoga is apt for the present day youth but what can be the results?

  People will start loving themselves and thus their works and so quality increases. Everyone will think twice before doing something wrong as they would believe in karma and its effect. Though there is a lot more in this philosophy the above mentioned basics are sufficient to make a giant leap in the nation’s development. So karma can be the philosophy that can help people help them and in turn help the nation as a whole.

                                                                        Mallikarjuna Rao Kanala

                 

              

CITIZEN JOURNALISM

Citizen Journalism: A Change In its Perception May Augment its Dimensions

               With the advent of the internet, the globe has become a tiny place to live in and the world of journalism has undergone a sea of changes in the recent past. News, these days are not reaching people faster than ever but they are real time. Everything from a natural calamity to a small incident in the neighborhood has become a breaking news. Journalism, previously a vocation for a selected group of enthusiasts dedicated for social causes has now become a common ground for both professionals and common people with basic knowledge and interest. Though the quality of work differs, quantitatively both the groups are comparable. Every person with a specific feeling about a latest happening is free to express his ideas thanks to the fundamental right, right to freedom of expression and the internet. This kind of journalism is the citizen journalism which has gained prominence in the past few years with many discussion forums, bloggers and news websites encouraging people to express their views on an international platform.

                Now -a- days there is no dearth for quality journalism as there are a good number of thorough professionals working in different genres of journalism and one can easily get access to the news both well presented and ably interpreted. But at the same time there are many charlatans in the same field and one should be extremely careful to avoid being misinterpreted by such people. The media industry with its ever growing competition is the most sought after industry and the different kinds of media such as the print, visual and web are keeping the people very busy. At this time is there any need for citizen journalism? The answer is yes and it is absolutely necessary in a democratic country like ours. Every citizen should be aware of all the latest happenings in the country and if possible he should express his ideas and views about them. Many people feel that all the important decisions that a government makes should be taken after people’s consent which is a distant dream considering the present situation. But there is no doubt that people should be well informed and the right to information act affirms the same. So citizen journalism is not only desirable but it is essential to keep the government under the scanner. After all we are the government and we need to watch it work efficiently.

                Citizen journalism has increased in many folds and this should be attributed to the increase in the literate population, increased awareness among the people and more importantly the easy availability of the internet which is the major platform for this kind of journalism. People with some idea on a certain topic could express themselves on a common platform.There is a good possibility that the ideas of such well informed people would help others to come to know about some important facts and policies which were unknown to them. Even The government should accept and respect people’s opinions on certain issues. For instance the Telangana issue which has created several problems in Andhra Pradesh may be addressed after taking the people’s opinions in to consideration. There are many other issues that can be solved if the people are given a chance to make their voices heard.

             Although citizen journalism has achieved some positive developments in the society its complete effects have not been realized and the reasons for this may be many. One of the main reasons for this may be people’s general tendency to attract and impress others than to induce something in to people which people require the most. This is a bold statement but an article should be either informative or inspirational and it should never be intended to impress someone. Because information and inspiration helps some but impression helps none. Yes, impression does not even help the writer himself because in his quest for impression he may even lose his own identity. So if people start perceiving citizen journalism in the best possible way then the dimension of the change it can bring may increase exponentially.

     Waiting for a day when people prefer reality to beauty………..

                                                                                  MALLIKARJUNA RAO KANALA