ADDENDUM TO NEP ON NATION-BUILDING
Europeans and Americans are largely credited with breakthrough discoveries in science since the renaissance period, and these discoveries have made a huge contribution to human progress. On the flip side, Indian seers asserted eons ago that there is something beyond science, and demonstrated it with unparalleled discoveries. Humanity will have to call upon both of these methods of discovery to solve the myriad of significant challenges facing it including renewable energy, global warming, desalination and the like, and they should both be included in school and college curricula. They are also essential skills for the workforce.
The National Education Policy 2020 [1] released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, contains much valuable information on education for nation-building, but if nation-building is taken to include a desire to emerge as a developed nation, then, there are some missing links.
My experience spanning five decades in industry and academia has uncovered these links, and incorporating them in the National Education Policy will hasten progress.
First, emerging nations are distinguished from developed nations by the much higher levels of defects in manufacturing and services. A dramatic reduction in defect levels is the only plausible way India can emerge as a developed nation.
At first glance, tackling this problem of defect-reduction may appear deceptively simple: Design and operate all processes and transactions in the best possible manner with minimum variance-seeking strategies [2–8], but that is not the case. Minimum variance is the theoretical upper limit of achievable performance.
I have discovered that in the absence of an adequate level of internal excellence, the best of the best strategies, including six sigma, do not, and cannot, deliver exemplary performance (minimum variance) [9]. Boost internal excellence and the performance will zoom.
Much of the world is unaware of the link of internal excellence to the performance in the external world.
Internal excellence of an individual cannot be measured but emotions can, and this is fortunate because internal excellence and emotional excellence are directly and positively correlated [10].
The pursuit of emotional excellence to cultivate positive emotions (unconditional love, kindness, empathy, compassion) at the exclusion of negative emotions (anger, hatred, hostility, resentment, frustration, jealousy, fear, despair, sorrow and the like) is a well-posed scientific problem since emotions can be measured [11, 12], and the process with which to rise in emotional excellence is meditation, or more generally yoga, known for thousands of years. The availability of measurement devices for emotions means progress can be audited.
The upshot of the foregoing discussion is that both internal and external excellence are required for nation-building, and therefore, the scientific framework for internal and external excellence [13] is deserving of a prominent place in the new education policy and in the national skills development initiatives.
A review of the papers listed in the References will reveal that this scientific framework for excellence is resonating both in India and in America. Still, a reasonable question is why it has taken so long to realize the link of internal excellence in the pursuit of excellence in the external world.
There is a two-part answer to this question. The first, humanity has become increasingly rational-minded since the days of Copernicus, perhaps stung by Aristotle’s false claims of our earth-centric existence. This is not a bad thing, but unfortunately, many have become tunnel-visioned, unable or unwilling to think outside the box.
The second answer has to do with the philosophy of renowned 18th century German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, which says, “All knowledge begins with the senses, flows then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.” Much of the world continues to follow the philosophy of Immanuel Kant.
Products in the “domain of reason” include sciences, policies, laws & regulations, and the like.
In contrast, Swami Vivekananda asserts, “Indian thought dares to seek and successfully finds something higher than reason” [14]. Vivekananda was a monk, revered in India and widely respected in the United States [15, 16].
What Swami Vivekananda is trying to convey is that products in the domain of reason should certainly be used, but, if, or when, they are found to be inadequate, the solution may lie beyond reason, in the domain of consciousness. And, he is further asserting that Indians have already discovered things that are beyond the reach of reason.
To verify this claim, we must find discoveries that are unequivocally beyond the reach of reason, find examples where reason has not given satisfactory results, and then tackle the issue of how to transcend the domain of reason to reach the domain of consciousness and what the consequences of success will be for nation-building.
Discoveries that are beyond the reach of reason
Three examples of such discoveries are presented in the following paragraphs. The first involves the mystery of the creation of the universe, the second is on enhancing intuition, and the third sheds some light on the US Government’s recent acknowledgment of the presence of UFOs and their extraordinary capabilities.
How the universe was created. In 1995, teenager Amanda Gefter set out on a search to understand the meaning of nothing and the nature of ultimate reality with the help of her father, Warren Gefter, a Radiologist at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. For her research, she interacted with some of the best brains in physics, including Stephen Hawking and John Archibald Wheeler. In 2014, Gefter released her findings in the path-breaking book, “Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn” [17], wherein she concluded, ultimately nothing (physical) is real.
The universe came into existence pursuant to a big bang event some 13.8 billion years ago when it was an incredibly small (about the size of Planck length, 10–33 cm in diameter), unbelievably hot and immensely dense energy phase. The universe evolved out of this energy phase which continues to expand today.
So, on one side of the energy phase is this ever expanding universe, and on the other side, there is absolutely nothing, a void. No product of reason can ever explain how “nothing” can transform into “something”, the energy phase of the big bang event.
In the same year, Jim Kowall, a triple board certified American physician who additionally holds a doctorate in Theoretical Physics, shed light on this riddle [18]. “Consciousness” created the energy phase which then created the universe. This is the only plausible and logically consistent conclusion. Jim was guided by the wisdom of Adi Shankara and Nisargadatta Maharaj, the author of the book, “I am That” [19].
Nothing physical can pass through the size of Planck length in a free fall in the sense of relativity, but consciousness can as it is not physical, and therefore, it has no difficulty in passing through and be present on the other side [18].
Reflect on the Puranic stories of Paratpara Shiva and Adya Shakti. Shiva is known by several names, one of which is Ardhanareshwar (half-male-half female), which implies that consciousness and energy are both required for creation.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama expresses this thus: The universe may end one day, but consciousness will remain. It is eternal. His Holiness received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
Shiva also goes by the names, Antaryami, Trikaldarshi, and Sarvavyapi.
Enhancing intuition. Intuition is immediate cognition without the benefit of the five senses [20] and the rational mind. H. H. Gurumahan’s Universal Peace Foundation has developed a seven-day yoga program to enhance intuition among children between 6 and 14 years of age. Three hundred and fifty children have been trained so far and the success rate is 80%. I have witnessed a live-demonstration of this program. See this short video clip [21]. Science does not have the tools to design such a program.
Mystery of UFOs. In June 2021, The United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a report formally acknowledging the presence of objects in the sky that it cannot identify nor can it explain the extraordinary capabilities of UFOs [22]. See this CBS program segment on UFOs with Bill Whitaker [23].
Science as we know it today cannot explain these extraordinary capabilities. Ancient Indian wisdom can shed some light on the topic [24].
When reason fails to deliver satisfactory results
The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution abolished slavery in 1865 and a number of laws have come into effect since then, including the 1965 Civil Rights Act, and yet, racism persists.
In India, the age-old problem of caste-discrimination persists despite numerous attempts to eliminate it.
These examples, and there are many more, are telling us that products of reason are important and useful but when they fail to deliver success, the solution may lie in the domain of consciousness.
Internal Excellence, pathway to the domain of consciousness
In ancient parlance, discoveries that transcend reason go by the name “Shruti”, meaning revealed, not remembered. Shruti discoveries can occur unknowingly when the focus of attention is expanded, as they did to Albert Einstein engrossed in his famous thought experiments, or to S. Ramanujan in prayer, or they can occur in meditation.
A word of caution: Shruti discoveries once made are nonetheless subject to the constraints reason imposes on all knowledge. That is, we have to be able to corroborate shruti discoveries with measurements and experimentation.
Another way to say this is, all discoveries occur when we connect to the domain of consciousness, either knowingly or unknowingly. Internal excellence, or equivalently, emotional excellence, is the way to reach the domain of consciousness, and meditation is a bridge to get there.
Even modest progress will deliver enormous benefits and these benefits can be audited as emotions can be measured.
By now, improved health and wellness benefits of meditation have been widely reported and acknowledged [25].
Improved performance in any field of activity is another one of the benefits. An impressive example is Mumbai’s Dabbawalas. The 5,000 semi-literate dabbawalas deliver 200,000 lunchboxes a day, six days a week, 365 days a year, producing 1 defect (late delivery, wrongful delivery) in 6 million deliveries and they have been at it since 1890. This performance level is arguably the best in the world.
Prince Charles visited them as did Virgin Atlantic Chairman, Richard Branson. Harvard, Columbia and others have studied them, and major media outlets have carried their story. All this attention to learn how these semiliterate folks are able to deliver such incredible performance.
What much of the world has not realized is that the root causes of such performance are twofold: Their processes are organized and operated the six sigma way (They have been certified as a six sigma organization but their performance is better than six sigma), AND they possess a high level of emotional excellence. The Dabbawalas are all Varkaris — pilgrims, who travel 200 miles on foot every year from Alandi and Dehu Road to Pandharpur.
Bhakti comes naturally to some as it does to Dabbawalas, as it did to Ramanujan, but for the rest, meditation is the pathway to enhance emotional excellence.
My company has signed an MOU with Dabbawalas to explain to the world how such exemplary performance becomes possible and how it can be achieved [26].
I have approached Government of Maharashtra and the Central Government proposing a new award to be called Mumbai Dabbawalas Award for Exemplary Performance to be presented to an organization which demonstrates exemplary performance by combining the strategies of external excellence with the strategies that enhance internal excellence. The proposed award would be a cut above the other two renowned awards, namely the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award given in the US, and the Deming Prize given in Japan because they incorporate only external excellence strategies.
I included the scientific framework for external and internal excellence in my six sigma class of the MBA program of the University of Kentucky in Athens, Greece that I taught for twelve years and the student feedback has been excellent. I have also made presentations in several countries including the Office of the Prime minister in New Delhi, NITI Aayog, Parliament of Peru and many others, always to enthusiastic audiences.
Universal Peace Foundation, founded by my Guru, H. H. Gurumahan has introduced a CSR-compliant training program which goes by the name SWAYAM (Swami Vivekananda Youth Awakening Mission) in rural colleges in Tamil Nadu that covers a subset of the ideas and concepts outlined in this article.
Gurumahan has been going into three weeks of meditation every year with no food for the past thirty-one years for world peace. He is a recipient of Ambassador for Peace Award from the Universal Peace Federation — Malaysia and in 2011, the US state of Nebraska designed November 11th as Global Peace Day in recognition of Gurumahan’s tireless efforts for world peace. Gurumahan fully endorses the importance of internal excellence in the pursuit of excellence in the external world.
In Closing
The importance of internal excellence in the pursuit of external excellence and its significance for national transformation is highlighted. These ideas and concepts should be included in the new education policy and in the skills development training programs.
References
1. National Education Policy 2020, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.
2. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Six Sigma for Karma Capitalism, Six Sigma and Advanced Controls, Inc., 2nd Ed., 2015 (amazon).
3. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Inclusion of Six Sigma in ChE Curricula, Chemical Engineering Education, Fall 2015.
4. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Six Sigma could change the world, The Economic Times, September 18, 2009.
5. Deshpande, Pradeep B. and Tantalean, R. Z., Unifying Framework for Six Sigma and process Control, Hydrocarbon Processing, June 2009.
6. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Six Sigma Enlightenment, Business World, October 4, 2004.
7. Deshpande, Pradeep B., BBC Radio Interviews Deshpande about Mumbai’s Dabbawalas, November 4, 2003.
8. Deshpande, P. B., Makker, Sohan L., Goldstein, Mark, Boost Competitiveness via Six Sigma, Chemical Engineering Progress, 95, 9, September 1999.
9. Deshpande, Pradeep B., The Secret of Exemplary Performance, BizEd, September/October 2019.
10. Deshpande, Pradeep, Madappa, Krishna, Korotkov, Konstantin, Can Internal Excellence be Measured — A Preliminary Study, Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, 4, 9, 2013.
11. Deshpande, Pradeep B., How Emotions Are Measured, YouTube Video Clip.
12. EQ Radio for Emotions Measurement, Massachusetts Institute of Technology YouTube Video Clip.
13. Deshpande Pradeep B. and Kowall, James P., The Nature of Ultimate Reality and How It Can Transform Our World: Evidence from Modern Physics; Wisdom of YODA, Six Sigma and Advanced Controls, Inc., 2015 (amazon).
14. Swami Vivekananda, Rajayoga, Deepak Publications, New Delhi 110052, 2016. p. 96.
15. Bardach, Ann L., What Did J.D. Salinger, Leo Tolstoy, and Sarah Bernhardt Have in Common?, The wall Street Journal, March 30, 2012.
16. Niebuhr, Gustav, Lemont Journal: The Sensational Swami of 1893, The New York Times, July 11, 1998.
17. Gefter, Amanda, Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn, Bantam Books, 2014.
18. Kowall, James P., The Physicist’s Dilemma: The Non-physical nature of Consciousness, Journal of Consciousness Exploration and Research, 5, 4, 2014.
19. Nisargadatta Maharaj, I am That, Chetana Publishing, 1973 (Translated by Dr. Maurice Frydman).
20. Kasanoff, Bruce, How to Measure and Strengthen Your Intuition, Forbes, November 26, 2020.
21. Aha Dharana Intuition Enhancement Program, YouTube Video Clip, Universal Peace Foundation, Thirumurthi Hills, TN, India.
22. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, June 25, 2021.
23. CBS 60 Minutes Program Segment on Unidentified Flying Objects, YouTube, May 2021.
24. Deshpande, Pradeep B. and Kowall, James P., Light on the Mystery of UFOs, ThePulse.One, October 19, 2021.
25. Deepak Chopra in Conversation with Jay Shetty, Benefits of Meditation.
26. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Disruptive Innovation, Mumbai Dabbawalas’ Website, https://mumbaidabbawala.in/transformational-framework/?id=76, February 2020.
