No landlord should have the right to kill an unwanted tenant. Why feminists have got it wrong on Abortion..

 

I do not say that feminism is an evil force. Like many other well-intended movements, its objectives are noble. Over the centuries women have been subjugated and often denied an existence, livelihood and life of parity with men. Certainly, this needed to be rectified and the feminist movement has indeed played a big role in achieving emancipation of women. (For futuristic thoughts on gender, this blog might be worth a peek http://karmasutratkos.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-changing-contours-of-gender.html).

However, on the issue of abortion (or ‘voluntary abortion’ as it might be called to distinguish it from miscarriage), the stand of most feminists is not congruent with the ideal of avoiding negative karma in this universe. In this article, some of the arguments and their counterarguments are discussed.  Some practical solutions the massive negativity of killing a foetus are also proffered.

Argument 1:  “An apple seed is not the same as an apple tree”  is used to suggest that the unborn foetus is not the same as a full human being. After all, an apple seed thrown into a bin is not the same as cutting up an apple tree.

Counterargument : In case of an apple seed, even after careful planting it will still take many years before it becomes a robust tree. There are various factors such as soil conditions, weather and so on which determine if the tree will finally happen.  If it is a good apple sapling, the act of destroying such a sapling would most likely amount to killing a tree before it reaches the full potential. According to Centers for Disease control, in USA, as on 2020, only 1 in 100 pregnancies are lost naturally. Hence, if killing a baby is karmically negative and legally wrong and criminal, and the probability of most foetuses becoming a baby is 99%, then there is no reason why killing a foetus should not invite the same condemnation and punishment as killing a baby. 

[There could be further elaborate discussions on various stages from a zygote to an embryo to a foetus, but for all practical purposes, the moment the sperm and egg fuse together, there is an irreversible change which has happened and that new fused cell is a new spiritual entity.]

Argument 2 : “All of women’s aspirations – whether for education, work or any form of self-determination – ultimately rest on their ability to decide whether and when to bear children.” Susan Faludi.

Counterargument : Needless to say, there is some truth in this statement. In many parts of the world, the moment a woman decides to have a baby, her career and personal aspirations go into deep freeze. The discomforts she faces during pregnancy – from morning sickness to mood swings all have a detrimental impact on her job performance or full-time education.

Having said this, except for failure in contraception and rape (the situation of rape pregnancy is discussed separately), pregnancy is something entered consciously by both parents. Some people would like to pretend it was not a ‘conscious wish’, but just a good-natured spontaneous love-making. If I throw a glass bottle high in the air on a busy street, there is a good chance it will hit someone on the head. I cannot escape the responsibility for it, by arguing that it was just good-natured ‘spontaneous’ act.

This brings us to the other part of the same argument which is Faludi’s implicit complaint that while the pregnancy happens due to an act indulged in by both men and women, women seem to have to bear the lion’s share of the ‘adverse’ consequences starting from the physical symptoms to the collateral damage to career and/or education. Yes, while that is unfair and men should bear equal responsibility for their part of their contribution to the pregnancy, one must remember that this (physical burden of pregnancy) was not created by any man-made system injustice.  Moreover, punishing a third party namely, the unborn child, by killing it, does not make this inequality right (‘two wrongs do not make a right’ principle).

Argument 3 : “To use a woman's body, against her free will and choice, as a receptacle for unwanted pregnancy has got to be seen as a kind of 'legalized rape'……..”Howard Moody.

Counterargument: This is the more elaborate version of the slogan ‘my body, my choice’, sometimes simply referred to as ‘pro-choice’.  The word ‘pro-choice’ almost makes it sound like the fight for the right to kill an unborn baby is a fundamental choice that women should have in free societies. It makes women look like the victim, forgetting that the foetus is the one killed at the end. Hence, unsurprisingly, in order to make women forget the killing part, milder terms were designed to camouflage it, for example, by calling it ‘abortion’. Sometimes even this is further diluted with terms such as ‘removal’,  to create an impression that it is a mere commonplace surgical procedure such as removal of a non-malignant growth. Another term often used is ‘terminating a pregnancy’ as if the decision to terminate a pregnancy by killing a foetus is as simple as closing a tap or putting off a light switch. Do we use similar euphemistic positive phrases for ‘shooting a human who enters our house without permission’ or ‘killing a tenant who refuses to vacate our property’?

If we look at the womb as a temporary accommodation for an unborn child, should the owner of the accommodation (the mother) have the right to kill the temporary occupant (unborn child), assuming the occupant is not wanted by the owner? In case of unwanted tenants who refuse to leave our accommodation despite our written notices, the state permits us to evict them by the due process of law. However, no humane state (to the best of my knowledge) allows us to kill the occupants of my property just because I do not want them anymore on my property. Then why is this terrible deed permitted by nations when it comes to an unborn baby, which is only temporarily occupying the bodily space of the mother?

This also brings us to one of the possible solutions for abortion in a civilised, ethical and humane society. In an advanced society, if a woman does not want to have a baby for any reason, the state must use advanced medical technology to transfer the baby from the womb of the mother to a facility where children can be brought up by the state. If the pregnancy was the result of voluntary sexual intercourse, and provided the mother/father are financially capable, then the mother/father must also pay a one-time discharge fee for contribution towards the child’s upkeep. Then the parents must sign a discharge agreement giving up all her rights to their baby. The state must bring up these babies and perhaps put them up for adoption by genuinely interested, child-seeking families.

Hang on, some feminists might argue. Is it not the owner’s right on how their body should be used? How can the uterus and a woman’s entire body be compared to an inanimate object like a rented room or house?

As mentioned in the 2016 book  ‘Karmasutra The Karma of Sex’ (chapter 12),  this idea that every bit of my body is owned by me and therefore only I must decide how to use it as I think fit, is the fundamental flaw with the paradigm of freedom in Western societies. When we often talk of ‘I’ very often we talk of our intelligence and conscious brain power alone. But the reality of karma is that every unit of our body starting from the cell to organs have their own intelligence and will. As the bullish leader (monarch) of this parliament (of our body),  the brain and conscious intelligence often take the final decisions. But this does not mean our leader (the conscious brain) is always right. For example, our leader sometimes decides it is ‘okay’ to consume copious quantities of alcohol (far exceeding what is easily manageable). If we were able to hear the voice of liver, whose job is to detoxify our body of these incoming toxins, we would have known that Mr./Ms. Liver was screaming hoarse about not wanting any alcoholic drinks. Similarly when a person decides to tattoo his/her skin extensively, he/she thinks they are only doing what they love to their body. However, if Mr. (or Ms.) Skin’s opinion was sought, we would know that it is a gross violation of skin’s right not to be poked, disfigured or pierced.

My point is that pegging the whole paradigm of freedom to the idea of ‘individual freedom’ and then linking this individual freedom to the will of the conscious brain alone (as the last point of call) is a grossly erroneous paradigm. Under this faulty paradigm, societies which call themselves humane, have historically done grave injustices to those who have not been able to articulate their views, using a logical pathway.

To some extent, humane societies have made laws to protect these groups despite their inability to articulate their own rights - for example, children below talking age, mentally challenged, animals and so on.  Yet, even in such so-called ‘humane societies’, there are entities which have their own will which is still not acknowledged merely because these entities are unable to make their ‘will’ known.  (For example, individual organs of the body, foetus inside a womb etc. are still considered decisions of the individual’s conscious brains, even when the decisions of the conscious brain go against the actual wishes of these entities.) Simply because there is no existing technology to listen to what these entities have to ‘say’, we assume these entities have no will. This is a fundamentally wrong assumption, which ethical societies need to get rid of.

I am hopeful that this era will pass and we will come to a more technologically advanced era, where we will be more clearly able to listen to the will of individual organs and the will of unborn babies. Hence, when that era comes (and it may not be too far away), societies/civilisations which call themselves humane will have the duty to listen to both a woman’s uterus and other important reproductive organs as well as the unborn baby, when it comes to abortion.

Even if the last two paragraphs above are more doxological than a ‘scientific’ argument (based on what we currently know), the important ethical principles that must guide our thinking on abortion should be:  

a) No owner of property has the right to kill his/her unwanted tenants

and

b) A third, innocent party should not have to pay for the mistake(s) of other(s) because two wrongs do not make a right.

 

And to the hardcore feminists I would say:

Emancipation of one suffering group should not be at the cost of other speechless beings and their right to live.

When travelling towards light, dark, unethical, torturous pathways are not always unavoidable.  Often, there are better lit, but longer roads available.

©Staju Jacob, 2022.

Staju Jacob is the author of the path-breaking book Karmasutra The Karma of Sex, which deals with the karmic spirituality of consensual sexual actions. This book is available globally on various Amazon sites in Paperback and Kindle, Sony Kobo, Google books, Iphone Ibook etc.  He may be contacted on Twitter @KaRmasutraTKOS  or through www.staju.com

Spiritual Quotient (SQ) is more important than IQ and EQ alone

 

IQ, short for intelligence quotient, is highly valued in our world. People who have high IQs and able to solve reasoning and other problems are valued because some of the toughest competitions for further studies and employment are based on similar tests. World’s toughest entrance exams, GMAT, GRE and so on all capture those with high IQs. As a result, high IQ individuals become leaders of big organisations, run important corporations and end up having high government positions. Because all employers want to have the most intelligent, sharpest employees, even smaller organisations/employers have started using clones of IQ tests as part of their selection tool(s). In this blog, I will discuss why I think it is more important to have Spiritual Quotient (SQ) than just IQ (or Emotional Quotient (EQ), which has also become popular in recent years).

Before defining SQ, let me give an imaginary example, which will clarify what SQ means. Imagine there a beautiful, large (say, a 2 metre by 1 metre) painting hanging on a wall. Let us say it is a wildlife or nature painting consisting of big red roses, animals such as elephants and big lush green trees. Now let us suppose we bring in two people Mr. A and Mr. B to see and tell us what the painting is all about.  Mr. A has a high IQ measured at around 150 whereas Mr. B’s IQ is only around 100. Both of them are graduates. Let us say, in terms of all other factors such as family income, where they were educated and previous exposure to art  etc. , both are at the same level.

Mr. A is brought blindfolded into the room and made to stand at a distance of merely 10 cms from the painting and then his blindfold is removed. He is asked to describe what is in front of his eyes.  Most probably, the high IQ Mr. A will only describe the painting in terms of blurred colours. Perhaps he might describe it as lot of black blur (if he was positioned in front of the elephant) or a blur of green colour (if he was positioned in front of the tree) etc.  Let us say Mr. B is brought in to see the same painting but his blindfold is removed at a distance of 2 metres from the painting. He is able to see the painting as a complete and coherent picture, making logical sense, not just a splash of colours but depicting a coherent, carefully thought out artistic design.

The point I am making is simple. The ability to perceive a picture clearly is not dependent on the IQ of the person but on the distance between the painting and the person. Hence, at the correct distance, even a small child is able to perceive the picture much clearly than an adult with highly developed intelligence but standing too close. (Now before someone asks me whether more distance is always better than less distance, and whether it isn’t equally undesirable to be very far away from the picture, I will answer this question subsequently.)

A person could be brilliant at solving puzzles, logical reasoning or have a great level of grasping power or comprehension, but it is still the correct distance from the painting, which makes him/her see the picture holistically and coherently. Again, ability to manage emotions, empathise with others and ability to adjust oneself socially (namely, emotional quotient (EQ)) is also not particularly useful in deciphering the painting.

Hence, based on this imaginary example, I hope to bring much needed clarity to this concept. Although Spiritual Quotient (SQ) has been discussed in books, blogs etc. this lack of a very tangible definition was holding back our understanding of SQ and kept it as a mumbo-jumbo concept, although every great master across religions have mentioned about the paramount importance of SQ directly or indirectly.

In recent centuries, we have always valued the limited logical intelligence (IQ) and in more recent times, EQ.  Perhaps in a relatively, static world where we only had newspapers, only land based telephones and few television or radio channels, this might have been sufficient. But in this era, we are deluged by information from all sides, from television channels to internet to myriad forwards and ‘news’ and information coming to us from diverse social media websites, it has increasingly become critically important to ‘make sense of the big picture’.

Hence, even though it is a bit like putting the cart before the horse (considering that many articles first like to define and then discuss), let me define what I mean by spiritual quotient, derived from the above imaginary example of a person viewing a painting.  In my view, spiritual quotient is this perceptual distance, which enables a person to have a more holistic understanding of what is happening. Greater this perceptual distance, higher is the spiritual quotient (SQ). To my knowledge, no other article or book has defined SQ in these terms. (I request my readers to correct me if I am wrong).

Let me answer some questions, which might arise in the minds of my readers. 

Is having an optimal perceptual distance (coming back to the analogy of person seeing the painting) better than simply maximising this perceptual distance?

Of course, this is a question, which could be asked in terms of IQ and EQ too. The upper limit of most IQ tests are about 170. Albert Einstein is famously reported to have scored around 160. In case of EQ, the maximum possible score is said to be either 60 or 80, depending on which type of questionnaire is used to generate that score.

In terms of Spiritual Quotient, if it is measured simply as the perceptual distance it means that it can almost be infinite. A person can be 1 feet away from a painting or 90 feet or 100 feet, going right up to infinity.  Perhaps it could be more useful to now apply the analogy of height. If I am flying 10 feet above the ground, I have a certain view of things below. When I fly 200 feet above the ground, my view is more holistic and comprehensive. At 1000 feet it is even more comprehensive and so on. Hence, with increasing distance, we see things more holistically and in larger area. However, the disadvantage is that things, which had appeared significant and big, now appear much smaller and insignificant.

So is the case with Spiritual Quotient. Higher this perceptual distance, higher is the SQ.  Masters who had great SQ such as Buddha or Jesus or other spiritual gurus often see things from such a broad perspective that smaller things such as everyday issues of family, closer society etc. appear small and insignificant. That is why Jesus did not get embroiled in the issues of Jewish political aspirations of his time. Similarly, Buddha even though a ruler was not an ambitious empire builder/expansionist king.

Think of a plane flying at 35,000 feet. Even huge buildings on the ground would be either invisible or like small dots or even just a blur of clouds.)  If the distance continues to increase, at one point the entire earth would itself be a dot. (Ignore the problems of gravity and space travel). In a similar way, the SQ (distance) can also be infinite. That is why there is no limit to spiritual growth.

Having said this, even if we are in the midst of normal life and working in organisations navigating through everyday problems of work life, family, relationships and money, this ability to have a distance (high SQ) can entirely change our life for the better.

Another possible question:

Can SQ be cultivated through training or is it genetic? After all, they often say that good genes have a role to play in high IQ. Is it the same in high SQ?

Of course, spiritual merit passes through death barrier. Therefore some people are born with high SQ naturally because of accumulated spiritual merit, which include various factors such as their previous karma, purpose of their birth etc. etc. As per Bible, Jesus was found at the age of 12,  to be debating with Jewish scholars. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa started having spiritual experiences also at a very young age. Buddha is said to have developed a state of very high distance (high spiritual IQ) from his earthly surroundings at a young age of 29. Having said this, there is no age at which we cannot train ourselves to increase our perceptual distance (SQ). The simplest method to increase this SQ is through meditation. There could be other spiritual practices such as various physical interventions (hatha yoga among them) and tantric practices, bhakti and mantra practices, worshipping higher spiritual entities etc. which can all in different forms and degrees increase our perceptual distance (SQ). Practices such as mindfulness (fancy Western names for ancient Eastern practices) all help towards this increasing our SQ.

Isn’t it better to develop Spiritual Quotient (SQ) along with IQ and EQ, in balance, rather than just focussing on SQ?

This is more of what I call a ‘politically correct’ statement. Perhaps those who make this statement are thinking along the lines of the dietary balance of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. But, that is not how SQ works. I would unequivocally say that IQ and EQ are the sub-sections of SQ. SQ is the larger bracket, and IQ and EQ are smaller parts of this larger bracket.  

I think Lord Krishna is saying this when he tells Arjuna (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 10, Verse 8) that “I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise know this and thus worship me.”  Again he elaborates on this importance of SQ as the most important when he says “From me alone arise the varieties in the qualities amongst humans, such as intellect, knowledge, clarity of thought, forgiveness, truthfulness, control over the senses and mind, joy and sorrow, birth and death, fear and courage, non-violence, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame, and infamy.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 10, Verse 4-5). Jesus Christ again says that it is better to work to elevate our SQ when he says “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Similarly, again very clearly, this folly of focussing on high IQ is highlighted by Jesus when he says “…the meek shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5).  Jesus does not say the sharpest and brightest will inherit the earth.

In fact, once SQ is sufficiently developed, other subordinate faculties such as IQ and EQ will be added on as much as deemed appropriate and necessary. It is thus not without reason that ancient Indian monarchs and maharajahs were always advised by people of high SQs, often referred to as rajguru. Similarly, viziers (prime ministers) who were often also high priests and philosophers, endowed with high SQs, often assisted ancient Egyptian rulers.

In recent times, under the influence of the otherwise healthy idea of keeping ‘religion’ and ‘state’ separate, people with high SQs are deliberately kept away from the proximity of important leaders such as President of USA, PM of UK or Chancellor of Germany etc., all in the name of democracy and pluralism. To me, this amounts to throwing the baby along with the bathwater. As a result, advisors with only high IQs (and perhaps EQ) counsel leaders of the world’s most powerful, big democracies such as US, UK, Australia etc.  This focus on IQ is a mistake and will result in the failure of many complex systems in the future. Even in India, under the tradition of secularism, which India followed after gaining freedom in 1947, spiritual leaders were kept away from democratic governance. (Of course, it is worth cautioning here that high SQ does not automatically mean only those who occupy religious positions such as Sadhus, Maulvis or Catholic clergy).

Another probable question:

Okay. Even if we agree on the importance of SQ, how can we measure the SQ of individuals objectively, to use it to hire the right people?

It is important to identify the nature of the concept first, with a high level of clarity. That is the first step. For example, Henri Becquerel discovered radiation in 1896, whereas the most commonly used and feasible instrument to measure radiation, the Geiger-Mueller counter, was only designed in 1928. Now that there is more clarity on what needs to be measured (namely, the perceptual distance at which an individual is able to view reality), in course of time, this generous universe will provide us more precise tools to measure SQ. Let us all meditate upon this.

To conclude, let me say that we are living in an extremely turbulent world. Sometimes we get so much information from diverse channels that we do not know what bits to believe and what to discard.  It is only SQ, which will help us discern things better and with great sagacity. It is time that schools focus on developing children’s SQs and not merely train them to improve their IQ and memory. Similarly, more people with high SQs must be brought into the government, leadership positions in corporations, if we want to see a better world. The time has come.

©Staju Jacob, 2020.

Staju Jacob is the author of path-breaking book Karmasutra The Karma of Sex, which deals with the karmic spirituality of consensual sexual actions. This book is available globally on various Amazon sites in Paperback , Kindle, Sony Kobo, Google books, Iphone Ibook etc.  He can be contacted on Twitter through @KaRmasutraTKOS

Coronavirus Attack : Do Prayers, Mantras or Meditations work?

Recently, a reader of the 2016 book “Karmasutra The Karma of Sex” asked me whether in the light of Covid-19 pandemic, all these prayers, meditation, mantras and yantras “have proven to be COMPLETE BULLSH*T?” (italics for the verbatim quote of the reader). After all, in the book (in chapter 11, on page 227 under ‘Mid-course corrections’), I had mentioned about use of prayers, meditation, mantras, yantras (devices/amulets) and other such methods.

I am sure this question is presently running through the minds of millions of believers of different religions. After all, even some clergy and religious people have died. Did they not pray enough?  Do mantras or yantras (for example, taveej - metallic or other amulets etc.)  have any use against this virus?  There are no easy answers, which will satisfy staunch rationalists. However, my answer might be useful for those who are struggling to hold on to their faiths in the light of the severe trauma of this pandemic.

Let us look at some analogies:

When a house is on full blazing fire, is a jug of water sufficient to extinguish the fire?  The answer is no.  Does it therefore imply that water has no use against a fire and therefore ‘complete bullsh*t’ against fire?  Someone who thinks YES, has obviously some level of reduced grasp of the whole situation.

Let us look at another one – Can a small candle light up every corner of a pitch-dark football stadium? The answer is obviously no. However, does it therefore imply that candles are useless in providing light? Again, someone who thinks yes, has some lack of knowledge/understanding.

Hence, what is needed in these dark times, are not doubts about the efficacy of prayers, meditation or mantras, but a deeper understanding of the force and magnitude of the problem.  Taking the example of water and fire, even though a jug of water is ineffectual, can hundreds of jugs of water thrown quickly enough, quell the fire?  (The answer is YES !! …. Although we will keep aside for the time being,  the logistical difficulties of gathering hundreds of jugs of water and the fact that there may be more effective solutions than this …)

(I am keeping this blog short and simple, not going further into the details of ‘hard’ karma and ‘soft’ karma which have been discussed in chapter 2 of the book.  Also, perhaps more specific, nuanced questions can be taken up in comments section.)

For the time being, let us just share this message of hope and strengthen our faith in prayers, meditations, mantras and genuine other cosmic interventions.

©Staju Jacob, 2020.

Who is the most compassionate?

Three sages lived in three huts. They meditated most of the time and lived under frugal conditions. Each of these huts had a room and a small verandah, all covered by thatched roof. All the three sages noticed a bamboo shoot sprouting from the dirt floor under their verandahs. In time, these bamboo shoots grew and almost touched the ceiling of the roof.

The first sage, thought of the life forms that might be existing in (or under) the thatched roof. Hence, he would cut the bamboo shoot every time it was about to reach the ceiling.

The second sage, opened a hole in the thatched roof, so that the bamboo shoot could grow without hindrance.

The third sage, first thought of making a hole in the thatched roof for the bamboo, and then thought of the pain of all the life forms in the thatched roof, and hence decided to do nothing and let nature take its course.

Which sage should we consider the most compassionate,  and why? 

(Original idea from the Zen story of master and the bamboo shoot. Modified and extended by Staju Jacob. )©Staju Jacob, 2019.

Staju Jacob is the author of path-breaking book Karmasutra The Karma of Sex, which deals with the karmic spirituality of consensual sexual actions. This book is available globally on various Amazon sites in Paperback , Kindle, Sony Kobo, Google books, Iphone Ibook etc.  He can be contacted on Twitter @KaRmasutraTKOS

Universe always gives us that 1 degree

Water remains liquid at 99 degrees Celsius. Just 1 degree more and it transforms into vapour.  

My friend (unnamed, because he shuns publicity) has given me permission to share this. I have no reason to doubt the authenticity of what he has narrated. 

A little about my friend. My friend is a big devotee of Lord Krishna from his childhood. Over the last decade or so, he has been a strong devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba also, having travelled to Shirdi more than once. He also loved travelling.  Unfortunately, in 2012, his travelling came to a standstill, because he started getting severe lower back pain periodically. Being a purchase engineer in a government organisation which involves a fair amount of sitting, this caused him heavy discomfort. He visited several doctors but X-rays and other tests did not produce any results. Some doctors blamed muscles, while others blamed deeply embedded, surgically unreachable nerves. Finally, doctors prescribed him pain killers which he took in small doses initially and then as their effectiveness waned, took larger than recommended doses for the same relief. Surprisingly, on some days he experienced absolutely no pain. On other days, sitting itself was extremely painful. Question of other activities such as running, jumping or bending did not arise. On those days, he would not take his car to work, but commute by bus, preferring to travel standing. He spent some more time and money on various medical tests for bone problems, kidney stones etc. which yielded nothing conclusive. 

One day, he woke with a severe back pain. As was the routine on such worse days, he asked his wife to call up his office and tell his boss and apply for a half-day casual leave. Then, when the pain abated a bit around 12 noon he ventured out and like he used to do on these ‘more painful’ days, decided to take the public transport. It was a hot, dusty, typical early March day in Maharashtra, India. Luckily the bus stop had a shelter and there were some people waiting there. With one eye on the road for coming buses, he was checking his WhatsApp messages.  At this moment he heard a lady pleading with someone near him in a mixture of Hindi and Marathi ‘please can I use your mobile phone? I need to make an urgent call to tell my son that I am here. I have forgotten my phone…’  When the person hesitated, this lady in her quivering voice mentioned that she was willing to pay him for the call. 

My friend glanced in that direction. The lady was Muslim, obviously very old and wearing an old worn out black burqah, which looked more dusty brown than black. Her face was full of wrinkles and her spine was bent. To add to all this, she was wearing thick soda glasses.  The person to whom the request was made mumbled some excuse about not having any mobile phone balance and moved on.  Then she repeated the whole story to the second person. The second person completely ignored her and looked away, assuming she was a beggar. She moved to the next person. Some of them just moved to more inaccessible corners of the bus stop shed, so this lady would not easily reach them.  

Then this lady touched my friend and repeated the request. She also produced a wrinkled five rupee note from the insides of her burqah and held it out to him.  My friend is a sensible guy and would definitely not lend his mobile phone to a perfect stranger, that too a Muslim lady. God alone knew whom she might call from his mobile. Why get into all these complications? (My friend's thoughts at that time, as he recollects now). My friend is an engineer. 

But sometimes highly educated people also do stupid things. Before he knew it, he had lent his phone telling her 'zaldi karo' (make it quick). He regretted it the second he said it, but his mobile phone was already in her old wrinkly hands, which were also dirty,  with uncut nails filled with grime.  To his further annoyance, she moved a little away from him as if to get some privacy for her phone call. This irritated him more, but being a middle aged man with some sense of decorum, he could not be seen following her. He did not let her out of eyesight though. Around this time, he noticed his bus coming from a distance. 

He cursed himself. The public transport bus was approaching and he was just about to shout at the lady to give his phone back, when she returned his phone. She held out the old wrinkled five rupee note. He said ‘no need’ and proceeded towards the bus which was braking. But this lady tapped the side of his arm. With some irritation he turned with a ‘what do you want now’ expression. She only looked at him and murmured something which was lost in the din of the bus arrival. Then, without warning, she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her wrinkled face to his cheek. Tears ran down her old, tired eyes. Instinctively, he turned his face in the other direction to avoid the stink of her clothes. Flushing from embarrassment, he untangled himself and ran into the bus, getting in from the rear entrance. Once in the bus he looked behind from the rear windshield glass of the bus. But he could not see her, perhaps partly due to the dust of the moving bus and the dirty windows. 

He reached the office anticipating his usual extremely painful day. But from that afternoon of March 2017 when he ran into the bus, till now (in 2019) he has never felt even the slightest pain in his back. He says he feels like he has a brand new back. He once ran into one of his erstwhile doctors in a supermarket. The doctor was happy to hear that his back pain had completely disappeared and said that some deep-seated nerve which might have been pressed earlier would have become ‘unpressed’. Many unopened boxes of painkillers lie unused in his home (some have expired – since few pharmacies in his city are willing to take back medicines 'sold once').  

As for me, I think, the universe always gives us that 1 extra degree.

 ©Staju Jacob, 2019.

Staju Jacob is the author of path-breaking book Karmasutra The Karma of Sex, which deals with the karmic spirituality of consensual sexual actions. This book is available globally on various Amazon sites in Paperback , Kindle, Sony Kobo, Google books, Iphone Ibook etc.  He can be contacted on Twitter through @KaRmasutraTKOS

Compassionate Capitalism : How to raise the game on 'Selling'?

In a blog last year, one aspect of compassionate capitalism was covered, namely, the idea of ethical executive compensation levels (the link is http://karmasutratkos.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/contours-of-compassionate-capitalism.html). That post generated some heat and dust. Some people felt that business should not be mixed with spirituality. Others felt that extraordinarily high compensation levels for executives are ‘earned’ and we should not grudge them their ‘just reward’.

As Gandhi said, there is enough on this planet for our needs but not for our greed. In today’s world, bringing spirituality and ethics into our model of unbridled capitalism has become essential, for the survival of our planet. The paradigm of greed and consumption on steroids, as often seen in countries like US where many families have more than 3 or 4 cars and dozens of high end electrical gadgets  spells doom for our planet, especially if copied by striving billions in populous countries such as China and India. If supercars, high end electrical gadgets and  gargantuan houses with swimming pools remain the much-extolled goals of capitalism, it will also continue to widen the gap between the haves and have nots.  According to this Fortune article published in 2017, the present wealth inequality between haves and have nots in US is worse than Iran or Russia¹. Other developing countries like India, which are copying the capitalism model of the US without strong checks and balances are destined to go the same route. Like in US, we are going to see more and more superrich and abysmally poor in many of these ‘fast developing’ countries.  While the numbers in the superrich club tend to grow moderately, the numbers in the abysmally poor club grow at an exponential, much faster rate. For these reasons it is imperative that we develop and implement this paradigm for compassionate capitalism quickly. 

In this blog,  we will talk of what could be more ethical selling practices in a compassionate capitalism practising firm. Readers are also requested to add their own thoughts to this bullet point list.As we probably know, selling is personalised persuasive communication used by salespeople for promoting purchases of their goods or services. Recruitment professionals and talent head-hunters also use these skills to entice human resources into their companies. The thumb rules proposed in the following paragraphs could be used, with minor adaptations, to all persuasive communication situations. 

We all know that most people want to avoid salespersons, just as talented skilled people avoid cold-calling recruiters. Sometimes, people put up notices specifying that salespeople are unwelcome in their premises. Sales people are often perceived as aggressive, liars, unpleasant, pestilential, poor listeners, pushy and so on.  There are instances when people buy something from a door to door salesperson just to be able to get rid of him/her.

These days, the more progressive companies train their sales people to be good listeners and to be empathetic, polite and keep their promises, all the while speaking highly of their product (strong defence of their product). Salespeople are also trained these days to avoid attacking competitors directly by name although they are often encouraged to sneak in an indirect comment putting down competitor’s product or its features.  Undoubtedly, if these rules are followed by salespeople, it makes their interaction with prospects more pleasant. However, since this training does not come out of conviction from the companies to practice a more ethical or compassionate selling approach, it is merely tactical window dressing. The pressure on sales people to meet their targets remains high and the management does not really care whether their top salesperson really has been polite and empathetic all the time. Success is worshipped. Companies have awards for top performer in sales and no awards for the most empathetic or most serving salesperson. (If queried, companies might answer that only the most polite, sincere and empathetic salesperson would anyway get the most sales.  This would not be true, especially in the short-term).  This blog builds up further to what the progressive companies might have already achieved in terms of making selling process more pleasant.  (There are of course many companies which are still at the first stage where their sales people are aggressive, pushy, half-liars or deceptive. We are assuming that most reputed and progressive business firms with some level of integrity have crossed that bridge and come out of that selling mind-set…)

In order to understand a more radical, compassionate capitalism approach to selling, let us look at the selling style of greatest spiritual leaders (although they were not marketers in the very conventional sense). For example, Lord Krishna, when asked by Arjun whether it is useful to have the war and to fight his relatives, could have easily suggested the easier, more pleasant path and advised everyone concerned not to have the war. But he suggested the harder path of battle for duty for Arjuna. Jesus Christ did not invite his disciples by stating that he will give them money, palatial mansions or riches, but in fact stated quite the opposite. He tells those who want to join him ‘anyone who loves their father and mother more than me is not worthy of me’.  Not a very enticing message, is it?  No recruiter would ever dream of telling a potential candidate that if you join this company you will have to forget your family or love them less. Similarly, he advised his disciples to ‘take their cross and follow me’. Again, not a rosy picture here. In some stories of Prophet Muhammad I came across recently, it was mentioned that he often told his followers that they would face difficult situations and potential loss of life and gave them an option to leave him. 

There are other things we can glean from these leaders for our model of compassionate capitalism. Jesus never go around asking people to become his disciples. Jesus simply did what he wanted to do -  his preaching, his miracles etc. backed by his personal style of living. People who wanted to be his disciples flocked to him. Mirabehn, the disciple of Gandhi, was not sought out by Gandhi. She wrote to him asking to join him. In fact, while he invited her, he also warned her about the ascetic lifestyle and discipline of his ashram.

Based on these we can come to some principles of salesmanship for an ethically driven, spiritual model of compassionate capitalism. Business firms which seek to ethically reform their sales department to conform to this model of compassionate capitalism must follow these rules (needless to say, those organisations which call themselves charities must have been following these rules in some form, one would hope):

• Sales people must not seek to persuade prospects or ‘convince’ them to buy our products. Make information available about the products to prospective customers. Visits if any, must be made by sales people to only inform about the product and serve the customer. If they (the prospects) want the product or service they will let the company know. In fact sales people must be encouraged not to ask any questions to ‘get the sale’. Just leave the information about the products.
• In fact, visits must be made by sales people only if they want to give something to a prospect. Every sales visit must have a clear bottom line – what are we giving the customer? (For example, companies could give away knowledge/information, free participation opportunity in seminars, some free solutions or useful products). Products which are given away must not advertise anything about the company. If our company is giving away a diary it must not mention anything about the product or your company. It should be just an excellent diary that our prospect can use. It will not have any advertisements about our company or products. Only then is it a genuine give away.
• If a prospect asks about the attributes of a competing product, the salesperson must genuinely praise the real advantages of a competitor product, without trying to put it down in some indirect way.  For example, when our prospect points out that our brand of vacuum cleaner is much heavier, replying ‘our vacuum cleaner is much heavier, but we provide more colour options’ is not right. (It is also insulting to the intelligence of our prospect). Our salespeople should simply and calmly acknowledge that the competitor’s vacuum cleaner is light weight.
• After elaborating on the strengths of our product, our salesperson must also tell the real disadvantages of our product and the areas where our competitor’s product is better. If the prospect says at the end of our balanced presentation, ‘your competitor’s product seems better because of so and so…… why should I not go for that product?’, instead of defending our product endlessly,  our salespersons must say, ‘Yes, indeed in those areas our competitor’s product is better. Please go for them if you feel so. However, even if you go for our competitor’s products, if you need any support or help or information or any other service from me, please do not hesitate to contact me’.
• Those salespersons who use the competitor’s product for their personal use must disclose this to the customer and honestly state why they have themselves chosen to go for a competitor’s product.
• If the customer wants a product in 3 days and our absolute minimum delivery time is 3.5 days we must honestly tell them that our delivery time is 3.5 days (even a half day), even if that leads to customer walking away. Salesmen who make commitments knowing they cannot deliver exactly as desired by the customer, must be punished.
• If our firm's product is not necessary, the salesperson must discourage the customer from buying the product. For example, if a customer feels that a replacement room heater is necessary whereas in reality the existing heater with slight change in settings can improve the performance (something the customer was unaware about), the sales person should make the customer aware about this and discourage them from buying their company’s product. Sales people who actually save a customer’s money by this gesture should be rewarded. Similarly, recruiters who feel there is not much for a prospective employee to gain by leaving his/her present job must discourage them from resigning from their present jobs.
• Recruiters who are talking to potential employees must not merely tell the company’s stated values, mission or vision, but tell potential employees about the actual implementation steps taken by management to instil those values in the company. For example, instead of telling ‘our company values diversity’ the recruiter must tell the actual numbers/percentage of diverse racial mix, genders, disabled people in the company and its different departments etc.  Instead of saying ‘our top management has an open door policy’, the prospective employees must be told about situations where a lower level employee has actually walked into the Managing Director’s office and spoken about some issue, based on which some action was actually taken by the top management.
• Every recruiter must have a slide in their presentation which must tell the unpleasant things that the company did or was accused of doing in the past 5 years. If the company was in the news for money laundering, involved in any sort of cases of corruption, fined for wrong doing by any regulators, sued by any customers or taken to employment tribunals for unfair dismissals, bullying or sexual harassment, this must be mentioned without the recruiter going into a lengthy defence of the company.  If there were no such negative facts, the recruiter of the company must still depict sincerely, the disadvantages of joining the firm.
• Sellers and recruiters must remove aggressive terms from the selling activity lingo. The language which we use often defines our mind set about that activity. Right now, the language we use is the more aggressive type -  ‘capture customers’, ‘get them in your bag’, ‘get the business’,  ‘don’t let them escape’, ‘keep them under your watch’, ‘nail them’ etc.  If we look at the terminology often used by sales managers, recruiters etc. the metaphor is often that of a hunter (sales people) and prey (the customer).  There is no place in a compassionate capitalism paradigm for this mind-set. More positive, empathetic language could be ‘helping the customer’, ‘serving the customer’, ‘making customer happy’ and so on.

Companies which are committed to creating a global capitalistic business environment of compassion, ethics and sustainability can have a system of ‘naming and shaming’ (or any other suitable punishment) for those who violate these rules.

Some readers might say, the above rules are not practical. Company’s sales might go down drastically if one follows these rules, especially in an unscrupulous marketplace where other players in the market are trying to put us down. Well, no one said that running a business on the lines of compassionate capitalism is going to be an easy cakewalk (perhaps even if I had my own business firm and a team of salespeople, I might not have the courage to put all of these in practice). However it is not impossible. 

Ideals always seem impossible to achieve or implement. Those businesses which took the first steps towards sustainability, recycling or environmental friendliness must have all faced initial costs of new plant/machinery, people etc.

Ideals are something we can strive towards and with some efforts, able to achieve. Buddha never said that non-violence against animals is impractical and hence we should dilute that ideal itself. He laid down the ideal and while some of us are striving to achieve it, others have already reached there.  In terms of compassionate capitalism too, we will strive to get there some day (hopefully not too far away).

Besides, we also owe it to our planet.

 ©Staju Jacob, 2018.

Staju Jacob is the author of path-breaking book Karmasutra The Karma of Sex, which deals with the karmic spirituality of consensual sexual actions. This book is available globally on various Amazon sites in Paperback , Kindle, Sony Kobo, Google books, Iphone Ibook etc.  He can be contacted on Twitter through @KaRmasutraTKOS

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1      Reference quoted in the article :  1.Fortune, 2017.  http://fortune.com/2017/08/01/wealth-gap-america/

The relevance of 7. The rainbow of different religions.

Sometimes we come across websites which rant against a particular religion or faith. We also tend to be drawn to some religions and not others. Of course, in many parts of the world religion is something thrust upon us at the time of birth by our parents who initiate us into the rituals of a particular religion right from birth. Some of us continue the path of our ancestors and stick to it. Others dare to give up these forced religious choices and adopt their own. Still others become atheists, ‘rejecting’ all religions.  Whatever our choice, this blog might be useful in our understanding using the VIBGYOR rainbow model.

Seven is an interesting number which helps us enhance our spiritual understanding. The week has 7 days. According to Yoga, there are 7 chakras in human body. In Hinduism, there are 7 ancient rishis (holy seers) popularly called ‘saptarishis’. In many religions, they think there are 7 astral worlds (lokas).  Hindu couples take 7 rounds around the fire to sanctify and complete their marriage ritual.  Recent books also state that there are 7 senses in the human body - besides sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, there is also vestibular sense (balance and movement) and proprioception  (perception of body organs in relation to each other).

Let me start with the most important one, which helps us understand religions – the rainbow or VIBGYOR, which is nothing but white light. When white light passes through any prism it gets separated into its seven constituent colours which are Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red.  If we talk scientifically each band of light is a different wavelength.

This is the most interesting understanding of religions too. Different religions and different energy bands vibrate at different wavelengths. I am summarising here,  in the form of a picture the different colours of the rainbow and different religious energy bands  all coming from white light (the one cosmic divine source). 

Some interesting notes on the various colour and religion bands.

•         Is it a coincidence that Krishna is often depicted as a god in Indigo colour?
•       When Shiva drank the poison from the churning of oceans, it turned his throat blue. This allegory is not a coincidence.
•          Green is the colour of fertility and also that of Islam. Is it a coincidence that growth of population (fertility) among Muslim communities are among the highest?
•         Is it a coincidence that, red is the colour of bindi (centre dot) worn by Hindu women? Married women also wear vermillion (sindoor) in India. Is it a coincidence that it is bright red (feminine spiritual energy colour)?         
•    Most of pictures of Christ and Christian saints often have a yellow halo around their heads. Is this a coincidence? Yellow is the colour of Christ energy. In Judaism too, Moses saw god in the form of a fire which did not burn up the bush. Gold and Yellow.

{Besides the above light bands, which are constituents of the white (divine) light these, of course, there are darker forces which could be used for getting energy. But these darker forces operate outside the realm of white light (divine sources). Satanism, worship of certain rakshasas etc. would come under this.  (More about this can be read in the blog ‘The nature of evil’ http://karmasutratkos.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/the-nature-of-evil.html)}

Some of those who are spiritually accomplished like to access this white light directly. Others seek to immerse themselves in particular colours for their spiritual advancement. Some like to be Buddhists, others find spiritual progress through Christ while still others progress through Islamic energies etc.  (To each their own way, based on their personality, emotional make-up, karma, physical make-up and tendencies).

These same religious energies can be also looked at from a chakra perspective. According to many books on yoga etc. there are seven main chakras. Their link to religious energies can be summarised thus,  as seen in this picture. 

Different weekdays can also be assigned based on different religious energies.  The list is as follows. Buddhism and Buddhist energies do not strongly identify with one particular day, but many Buddhists visit their temples on Sundays.

Most people are attracted or inclined to some religious path due to their personality, emotions, nature etc. Some are drawn to it due to their karma or the need of the overself  to learn more about a particular path. Different energy bands help us differently because the charism of that energy band is different. If we seek the help from that energy band and meditate, we will receive help. Some tips are as follows:

•        If we are in a mental dilemma in a situation, feeling confused, not knowing what to do and need more rational discrimination to see clearly, then Krishna energy is very useful. 
•       If we are seeking healing from hatred and struggle to forgive some friend or relative who has hurt us, then Christ energy is very useful for healing.  We do not have to get baptised or ‘convert’ to Christianity to access that energy.
•        Similarly, if we are looking for fertility and rejuvenation, the energy of Islam is very useful. 
•       If we are looking to get spiritual advancement with no selfish motives, the Buddha energy helps us. 
•      When we seek to immerse ourselves in our family, share love, friendship and affection with friends/relatives and touch their hearts with empathy – the feminine energy band is the one we should seek.  Feminine energy is also drawn in a situation of righteous anger, when we are fighting those who are far more powerful than us.
•       Massive energy to destroy the old and re-build can be drawn from the Shiva energy band. Shiva energy band also helps us to bear and neutralise the toxic aspects of our situation without getting demoralised or hurt.

If we follow one energy band and if someone is telling us to hate another energy band, that is not coming from the divine, because white light is the same for all.  Hence this understanding of religious charisms and energies should free us from hate of other religious paths, if we suffer from it.

Those who know a bit of physics also know that when white light breaks into constituent lights, each light is a range of frequencies. Therefore it is a continuous spectrum of light. For example, between 600 to 640 nm (nanometer) wavelength would be saffron/orange light.  But within this broad spectrum of 600 to 640 nm, each unit will have its own subtle unique energy personality. For example the 610 nm. wavelength will be the energy of a particular deity. Within the broad spectrum wavelength brackets of Hinduism energy (orange), there would be so many different Hindu saints and rishis which operate within that wavelength bracket. Similarly, there would be so many Christian saints and mystics which operate within the brackets of yellow wavelength of between 570 to 600 nm., but with their individual energies. Several Sufi saints and mystics etc. will vibrate within the green (Islamic) energy wavelength bracket.

Again, for the purpose of this blog and to avoid the ‘we are better than you’ controversy, please note that all the chakras and colours are treated as equal and merely having diverse energies.

Now, for some other interesting bits. Before we condemn all those who wear stones or certain metallic rings as superstitious, let us remember that metals also have particular affinity to colours. When certain elements or their salts are used to burn as fuel in a flame test, they will emit certain colours. Each metal also has an emission spectrum. Similarly, those who have affinity to certain deities also wear certain type of stones which emit certain colours.  

I leave it for my other readers to research and put down the relations between various metals or stones and their respective spiritual energies. Similarly, I leave it for my other readers to decipher the link between various saptarishis and their relationship to certain energy bands. Similarly since planets also emit various colours, they also have significance on our inclinations, which I leave for my readers.  

Before I finish, let me remind that only when white light passes through the pyramid it transforms into seven colours. In other words, the other side of our coloured light is white light. Hence, it is not a coincidence that the real pyramid is a unique structure for spiritual transformation well-known to those in the occult.  Again, it will be the pyramidal framework in our mind and perceptions which will help us get from our narrow religious inclinations to pure white light (divinity).

On this note, without complicating things further, wishing all my readers a wonderful happy, harmonious new year 2018.  

©Staju Jacob, 2017.

Staju Jacob is the author of path-breaking book Karmasutra The Karma of Sex, which deals with the karmic spirituality of consensual sexual actions. This book is available globally on various Amazon sites in Paperback , Kindle, Sony Kobo, Google books, Iphone Ibook etc.  He can be contacted on Twitter through @KaRmasutraTKOS