Precis exercise on “The Aim of Education” Education ought to teach us how to be in love always and what to be in love with. The great things of history have been done by the great lovers, saints, men of science and arts, and the problem of civilization is to give every man a chance of being a saint, a man of science or an artist. But this problem cannot be...

Precis exercise on “False Sense of Superiority” Almost every country in the world believes that it has some special dispensation from Providence, that it is of the chosen people or race and that others, whether they are good or bad, are somewhat inferior creatures. It is extraordinary how this kind of feeling persists in all nations of the East as well as of the West without exception. The nations of the...

Precis exercise on “The Duty of an Artist” On the duty of the artist in the coming years, much has been said, indeed, rather too much. He is always being preached at and being told that he ought to preach. Naturally, he will be interested in his surroundings and want to comment on them, he will express the feelings of his people and reflect their attitude and he will, if generous-minded,...

Precis exercise on “Gandhiji and Nehru on Religion” Gandhi’s secularism meant something totally different from irreligion. He regarded all religions as true and could say with complete sincerity, ‘My veneration for other faiths is the same as for my own.’ Nehru’s views cannot be identified with Gandhi. He had little patience with religion in the communal manifestation or what he called ‘organized religion.’ He wrote in his Autobiography: The spectacle of...

Precis exercise on “Ashoka, the Great” Ashoka seems to have ruled his vast empire in peace and with great ability. He was no mere religious fanatic. But in the year of his one and only war, he joined the Buddhist community as a layman, and some years later became a full member of the Order and devoted himself to the attainment of Nirvana by the Eightfold Path. Right, Aspiration, Right Effort,...

Precis exercise on “Place of a Scientist in Modern Society” That science has become one of the most powerful factors in modern life is a generally accepted and indeed obvious fact. The proper role of the scientist himself is, however, a point on which there is no general agreement. On the one hand are those diehards who, ignoring the changed circumstances of the outside world, contend that, outside the laboratory, the...

Precis Exercise It has been a bad year for politics. It has been a good year for law. What has been revealed exposes much that is rotten in our society. The trustees of the people have forfeited their trust. The ‘Bofors’ deal – ignominiously absolved by a Joint Committee of Parliament — was the tip of the iceberg. There is virtually no activity of government not tainted by corruption in some...

Precis Exercise  The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the Nobel Prize in economics, continues to spring surprises. Not that the selection communities goes against the intention of Alfred Nobel which was to award those who make the most important discoveries. The prizes so far have gone to economists who made ‘important contributions. The surprise comes because the word ‘important’ means the thing to many people. Economics despite its pretensions...