Minimalism-இருந்தும் ,இல்லாமல் இரு!

 Minimalism is an old concept but is gaining ground these days when Covid 19 pandemic is trying to devour the entire world.

Minimalism is all about living with less. This is not a fad but a way of life of renunciation and deep withdrawal from worldly pleasures, which has a profound effect on the psychology of humans.

In India, many of our Saints and philosophers have talked about leading life of penance ,sacrifice and total detachment. Even wealthy persons of yester years led a life like that of a Trustees of their wealth. Gandhiji also said this in his seven sins of life:

"Wealth without work; Pleasure without Conscience;Science without humanity;Knowledge without character; Politics without principle; Commerce without Morality; Worship without sacrifice"

It is said that Gandhiji also laid lot of stress on wealthy businessmen and persons to remember that they are Trustees not owners of their wealth which provide them an opportunity to serve the people at large and for social welfare.

Minimalist philosophy emphasizes on getting rid of excess stuff and living life with less and less of worldly possessions.

This is similar to the concept of leading a life like that of water on Lotus leaf. It is a status of living attached but detached explained in Bhagavad Gita. Nishkamya karma yoga in Gita is a path on the same lines without any attachment to the results. If you stretch it , this will show that the emphasis is on being not selfish but living for the sake of greater good of the society.

In Tamilnadu, siddhars gave a concept of "இருந்தும் இல்லாமல் இரு" which is nothing but minimalism of modern era. Siddhars extended this concept even to knowing the meaning of our existence. According to them God Dhakshinamurthy symbolises total silence and  inward withdrawal of soul to know thyself. Arunagirinathar was delighted at being advised by the Lord "to remain in silence".Even getting rid of words or speech is the best way to realise the truth about oneself.

This is Minimalism at its maximum!

India's research, design and manufacturing capabilities!

If you do a SWOT analysis of India's capabilities, certainly Software prowess will be among the top in the list in terms of technological leverage. Pharma will come next to it and there are others like leather goods, cotton textiles, garments etc.

There is one niche area where India has excelled in all- Research, Design and Manufacturing capabilities and that is two-wheeler production. Even though India borrowed the technology from Japanese manufacturers initially, now India has its own name in the world for 2 wheeler manufacturing competing and even outshining the best in the world.

Yesterday I was listening to a panel discussion on defence manufacturing. Two out of the four panelists predicted in about 5 to 10 years time, India will be among the first three in terms of Research, Design and Mfg. of niche defense equipment incl high-end weapons built on the cutting end technology. According to them ,it has been made possible by the coherent, calibrated and painstaking efforts of this Govt. starting from Manohar Parrikar as the Defence Minister.

One of the panelists being Air Vice Marshal(retd) knew what he is talking about in terms of Govt. policies and the dilly-dallying attitudes of bureaucrats in carrying the agenda of the Govt. forward. He said that the dance involving the Govt, bureaucrats, and the armed forces have got into synchronized steps with well thought out targets after listening to the Defence Mfg.Industry.

Apart from these industries, India is also looking at developing capabilities in semiconductors, smartphones, chemicals and high-end pharma, renewable energy power equipment production, Mobility solutions etc. India stands to gain by investing in cutting edge technologies in Nano, AI, Robotics, Space, IoT, ML, DL, etc. For these things, India's investment in Targeted Research and Development will have to be substantially scaled up as a percentage of GDP.

Alvin Toffler in his "Powershift" mentioned about Knowledge, Wealth and Power/Violence as the three dimensions (கல்வியா,செல்வமா,வீரமா?) of the society with Knowledge being mentioned as the most democratic of all levers.India has to use that lever to its advantage.

Then, India can leapfrog into Industrial Revolution 4, since India was forced to miss the first three Industrial Revolutions by design!