World Vision 2000 Succees / Failure ?
From: srinivas@eng.umd.edu (Nagulapalli Srinivas)



        We know success is relative - no matter for individuals or
organizations or functions as large as Global Vision 2000.
        If we mean "success" of a function like Global Vision 2000 to
be prompt in serving food with no waiting, immediate attention
to your personal accommodation needs when more than 8000 people turned up,
and if we measure success by decibels of street-shouting especially when
such a big crowd is available, and if success means yelling at the
rest of the world for ignoring what they believe as Truth and right,
and if success means how cleverly and greatly I made my presence felt
rather than how much I well-behaved, surely the World Vision 2000
was an unmatched catastrophic disaster and pitiable failure.
        But, if we mean "success" by lifting the thoughts of people
to higher ideals of peace, harmony and unity, and deepening the
understanding of our culture and what it stands for, and broadening
our vision of world we live in and the world we face within,
and if it inspires us atleast for a moment in total forgetfulness
of the outer inconveniences and anxieties, and if it atleast
encourages anyone to do a single good act or thought and if it
provides a perspective of the Divinity hidden inside Man,
then surely and definitely it was a roaring success and
a splendid grandeur.
        Despite the traveling strain and after attending programs
that lasted till 1 AM (night) on Saturday, to see people get up
early to attend the sessions by spiritual leaders and scientists
who were no professional crowd-pullers, on Sunday morning at 8:30 AM
in a spirit of total love, devotion and discipline was itself
a testimony to the vision of the people and the spirit of the occassion.
        When the noted dancer Ms. Sonal Man Singh danced with no
music troupe of hers and only with just an audio casette and
also when one of the audio casettes's tape was broken and had to
be fixed and even inspite of all this she marvellously
performed all the various "Bhangimas" and explained
beautifully every nuance, to which crowd patiently
and understandingly responded - then it is upto the imagination of
us to fathom the sincerity and purity that pervaded the aura.
        To a new watcher of American football, the play seems to
be with no rules whatsoever, with every player trying to
plough through everyone with no idea where he is heading to
and with so many group-falls and shoutings and yellings --- it is hard
to imagine that it is all for a play! But dont we enjoy every second
of it when we know the rules and the intricacies of the play?
Does that mean what we saw before is wrong? Initial impressions
are very valid, only so long as we did not understand what it
really is.
       It is unfortunate that journalism now-a-days has lost
total touch with anything related to human-values and philosophy
and only portrays events such as these as organizational failures,
and religious bigotry.
        I am neither member of VHP nor have mind of BJP, but
when I attend such a function organised by VHP which had put
so much of hard work ( needs much more in fact!) and in which
the relevance of multi-faiths was expounded, the Moses's acts
were explained and the relevance of Islam highlighted
besides the non-dualistic Advaita Vedantic Philosophy
was articulated - what does it matter who organized it and why
they organized it??
        I do not think the volunteers and organizers who did so
much work expect any thank-you cards from 8000 people
or praise from press as they did not leave their addresses
with 8000 people! It does not matter if we criticise or
praise as the goal of the function was to address mankind
as such and not any single individual or organisation.
Why then I wrote this?
        Well, I remember my roommates trying to explain
to me the American football when my understanding or
interest did not decrease or increase an iota of their joy of watching,
but only to make me enjoy they used to yell at me to only
point out the touchdown which I could never appreciate then!
        -Srinivas Nagulapalli