4 March 2010 Raichur
This is my first trip to india. I felt so many differences between Japan and India.
First, I was surprised at unique Smell of India. I can’t explain well but it’s so impressive because there is no smell in Japan.
Second, I felt a power of religion. Almost all people in India pray to God and they have a mind which most Japanese don’t have. I think it’s great thing to live here.
Third about poverty. I have known India has a lot of problems about poverty.But when I came to India,there are big big smiles.
On the other hand,I think begging is so bad culture. How can we reduce this?Anyway, I think India has to reduce it and I hope so.
Forth, before coming to India, I haven’t known what real happiness is.Japanese have many things but some people feel I’m not happy. India is opposite. Happiness is different for each people.
What I wanna say is the most important thing on living a life is SMILE!!
MASAYUKI TAKAHASHI
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That was a great read ! As Amma puts it, ” Like all other decisions, Happiness also is a decision. Make a strong resolve that, Whatever happens,I’ll be happy”
We also have a lot to learn from Japan as my teacher says, like hard-work and punctuality ! As it goes, taking goodness from each countries’ culture and living and making it a part of our character makes us more beautiful and our actions useful !
Begging is bad culture? It’s definitely unsettling, because we are brought face to face with the stark reality of poverty. But what else do poor people do to survive and get food? And what could be done to discourage it? Rehabilitation? Education? Jobs? I’ve seen people eat out of trash cans in SFO too. Many monks beg for food and subsist on what they get, because they aren’t allowed to have possessions. Also, all of us ‘beg’ in different ways – to God and to humans -for funds, for higher salaries, for love etc.
aruna_amma : Probably what the author is trying to say (and having difficulty expressing it in English) is that it is bad that people have landed in/been born into a situation where they have no option but to beg.
It was a very impressive post. Smile is ¥0 at McDonalds in Japan 🙂 but really, it is free but giving so many good things to other people as well as to ourselves. I was at the volunteer meeting in Nishinomiya in Japan on Saturday for Amma’s visit in May here. Br.Shantamritaji put importance on smiling and forgiving. It’s a very wonder, how human being can be help of others by doing such a simple thing. Thanks for the post.
@kupamanduka – i understood what he was trying to say, and was trying to give another view point about begging. I agree that people beg when they have no choice. And again, not all the poor beg too. But some of them are trained by their parents to beg, esp the ones that are homeless, and raised on the streets. Later they show signs of alcohol addiction too. Hence they need to be counseled and rehabilitated, educated and given jobs. All these require lots of funding and are long term solutions that every country in the world with poor people would need to focus on.