IGNITED MINDS

APJ ABDUL KALAM

On September 30, 2001, I was on my way to Bokaro from Ranchi in Jharkhand when the helicopter carrying me crashed moments before landing. It hit the earth with a thud after its engin failed. All of us on board had a miraculous escape. Greatful to God but unfazed by the incident, I went ahead with my scheduled programme of addressing the students of Bokaro. At night however, a panel of doctors persuaded me to take a tranquillizer to alleviate my percieved shock. the drug made me sleep hours ahead of my usual time 1 a.m. also failed to raise at my usual 6 am. and woke up only after 8. It was however a distured sleep and sometime in the middle of it I fell to thinking why the human race the best of all of God's creation has been so deeply divided by violence. I imagined a conversation between five people who together symbolise the finest attributes of the human mind and whom I admire deeply. Thru their conversation I sought an answer. In this experience much more intense and vivid than a dream though for want of a better word i shall term it that, I saw mystelf in a desert with miles and miles of sand all around. There was a full moon and the desert was bathed in its light. Five Men Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Emperor Asoka Abraham Lincoln and Caliph Omar stood in a circle their clothes ruffled by the wind....

As I stood by I wondered. Why the Kalinga war, why the assasination of Mahathma Gandhi and of Abraham Lincoln and why many others life them. Has god almighty faltered in his creations, is the destruction of mankind essension for a second creation?

In that blissful silence Mahathma spoke Friends the divine message we are hearing is the message of creation. Since we all belong to planet earth we may give message to mankind, how people of different races, religions and languages can live peacefully and prosperously together.

God almighty has blessed us all with something unique that we passed on to mankind through our deeds and efforts. Is that working? Is there any divine message or doctrine? Divine beauty should enter the human soul and happiness blossom in the body and mind. Is it possible?

Asoka said " Friends, there is one thing I have realised there is no victory in causing suffering. Triump is a peaceful kingdom.

Caliph Omar said "I learned after I entered Jerusalem that all men are equal. There is no point in forcing others to follow your path. You will get only that which is ordained for you. God alone is the soverign"

Caliph Omar never saw his position in terms of the special privileges that it carried. To him government was a sacred trust and he did his best to betray that trust in any way.

It was Einstein's trun " I would like to recall my friend Werner Heisenberg's view. You know in the West we have built a large beautiful ship. It has all the comforts in it, but one thing is missing it has no compass and does not know where to go. Men like Tagore and Gandhi and their spiritual forbeares found the compass. Why can this compass not be put in human ship so that both can realise their purpose......