Don't donate to charitable organizations

I almost never give any money to charity because most charities are useless; some are even harmful.

The main beneficiaries of a charity are not the recipients, but the givers. People donate because of feeling of guilt or shame. Some givers get tax benefits, some boost their ego of being better than others. Charity primarily exists to make the donor feel good. It assuages the guilt people accrue over their life, for real or imaginary reasons. In most cases, philanthropy doesn't arise from the love of one's fellow man, but from a need to assuage guilt, a need to show off and a lack of imagination.
Many film stars and famous personalities associate themselves with a charity because of their pride. It is not about improving life of others; it is about being more famous. They buy fame by giving away the money that was either easily earned or undeservedly received.

A charity is corrupting to both parties involved. The recipient of the charity usually does not deserve it. People should have/get things because they deserve them, earn them. People should contribute to improving the state of the world. Rewarding people because they have had bad luck or are stupid, is actually immoral.
A person receiving charity usually does not improve fast. The charity causes an urgent situation to become non-urgent. It takes away the incentive to improve. So charity is a not a virtue; it is a vice.
Poverty is not a function of bad luck, in most cases. Poverty is usually a sign of bad habits. In a free country, it is usually an inability to save i.e. unwillingness to produce more than you consume.
Poverty indicates a lack of self-discipline. Most poor people dream of being rich, but indulge in sloth. Most poor people are not victims of anything other than their own bad habits.

Charity transfers wealth from creators of wealth to consumers of wealth. Money should be in hands of most competent and productive people; the people who create wealth for others. Any effort to take wealth from wealthy (productive) to the poor (non-productive) is counter-productive.

Take the example of UN that accepts donations. The UN is a corrupt club of governments. It should be abolished, but stupid people donate to it.
Let say that there is a natural disaster. Many people donate. Charities rush with food, medicines, etc. Does this help the recipients? Free food hits the market; the price of food falls; so local farmers can't produce profitably. Local farmers go out of business. There is no crop next year. Food shortage becomes worse. The very act of charities trying to help a famine stricken area, prolongs the famine.
Now, consider charitable organizations going round the world treating diseases. Countries have terrible diseases that kill many people, because they are economically underdeveloped. So giving free medicines is like putting band-aid on smallpox. It does not help in solving the problem.

A charitable organization will have secretaries, assistant vice-presidents, etc. Lot of money is wasted on bureaucracy. This is in addition to charities doing more harm than good for recipients.

Governments helping the poor is worse kind of charity because the money comes from taxes. People are forced to pay the taxes and hence are left with less money to give to people who genuinely need help. The idea that "Government can deploy wealth better than people who create wealth " is ridiculous.

When should we give in charity?
I give in charity only to people I know for a long time. These people sometimes need a helping hand. I should feel good about helping; not give because of any guilt. Charity should never be institutionalized, because it creates distortions in marketplace. Charities also tend to attract corrupt people.

We should abolish all charitable institutions and government handouts. Don't replace them with anything. Instead, reduce taxes and regulations to permit more wealth creation. To select few desperate deserving cases, individual conscience would suffice.

Charity should be strictly individual, a one-on-one transaction.

What is happening in Syria?

Basically, there are some power-hungry people in this world, who want Muslims to create terror, and use that as an excuse to extend their military power. Now, for the detailed history.

America has had a long-term plan to destabilize seven countries (Reference). This strategy involves the USA military-industrial complex and the Elite (a select extremely rich and powerful group of people). The strategy aims to control Europe and China; indirectly Russia. The idea is to break up the Monarchy created after World War I, and to replace them with Muslim brotherhood groups, which are under the control of USA.

Muslim Brotherhood was created in Egypt in 1927 as a "Death Cult". It has had assassin squads. In 1950, they were brought by CIA into Saudi Arabia. The Monarchy of Saudi Arabia was convinced by USA, that Muslim Brotherhood would be valuable to Saudi Mosques. This was the fusion of ideologies i.e. political Islam and ultra-conservative Islam. The Saudis financed the Muslim Brotherhood to setup Madrasas in Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc. The CIA watched this.

In 1979, USA provoked a Russian invasion on Afghanistan. CIA trained Mujahideen caused a collapse of Russia. Osama Bin Laden, financed by Saudi's, was responsible for recruiting Jihadists (terrorists), training them in Pakistan and then sending them to Afghanistan. CIA helped Osama Bin Laden in this task. These Jihadists fought against Russia and ultimately bankrupted Russia. In 1991, CIA controlled Yeltsin became President of Russia.

CIA then sent the Mujahideen to Chechnya, where an Soviet Arab oil pipeline sent Baku's oil to Europe. USA wanted a different pipeline that was controlled by USA and European oil companies. USA caused a coup in Azerbaijan (whose capital is Baku) and set up a pro-America rulers. These rulers then routed the Baku's oil to Turkey. So Russia lost control over this pipeline. At that time, Russia was a financial wreck and therefore in no shape to oppose this. This was the CIA-Muslim Brotherhood project in Chechnya.
CIA then used Muslim Brotherhood terrorists to create in Iran an terror squad called ISIS (Islamic state in Iraq and Syria). ISIS is a terrorist proxy army of USA.

The Middle east was run by three groups: Egypt's El Mubarak, Syria's Al-Assad family and Saudi Arabia. Mubarak was destroyed by USA using the Arab Spring revolution. Then USA put a Muslim Brotherhood puppet government in Egypt. Now, Syria has a stabilizing role in Middle East. Multiple religions live peacefully in Syria. Also, Syria is important Geo-politically. In 2009-2010, Iran was in negotiation with Syria to build the Iran Iraq pipeline. This would bring Iranian oil to Europe. Qatar (another USA puppet) wants Saudi Arabian oil to go to Europe via Syria. Al-Assad decided to continue his relations with Russia and permit Iran Iraq pipeline through Syria. Al-Assad did not want close relationship with USA.

As soon as Assad decided not to support USA pipeline, all hell broke loose in Syria. Saudi and Qatar financed terrorists to create havoc in Syria. Assad is a thorn in USA path. Russia has a military base in Syria and so Russia decided to support Assad. Russia was destroying terrorists in Syria. Then a false flag of Paris bombing occurred. This allowed Western countries to counter Russia's attack and support terrorists in Syria.

Now, Russia and China are supporting Assad. The Western counties are violating international agreements by supporting terrorists in Syria.
ISIS is getting financed because of oil through Turkey. So Turkey is supporting Western regions and shooting down Russian airplanes near its border.

So the Syrian war will continue till one of the sides is defeated. On one side we have China, Russia and Assad. On the the other side we have ISIS (Muslim Brotherhood), Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Western nations.

Why have a Guru?

Some people call a living person as their Guru; some call a book as their Guru; some a dead person; and so on.

I don't have a Guru. I think that we can learn from a living person, a book, a dead person's actions, a tree, a bird, a stone, etc. So why limit ourself to one person or one book?

So, in other words, I have many Gurus. I try to learn from everyone I meet. Today, we are meeting. Have a good day, Guruji!

Why I don't read (Hindu) Scriptures anymore?

I have spent many years reading many Hindu scriptures like Bhagwad Gita, Upanishads, Vivekchoodamani, etc. Now, I don't read them anymore for the following reasons:

1. Hindu scriptures are written in Sanskrit, which is a difficult language for me. So after reading the Sanskrit verse, I have read the translation. Here lies the first problem. Different experts interpret the same Sanskrit verse in distinct ways. So which one is true?
2. Even if most experts interpret a Sanskrit verse in similar way, how do we know that the statement is true. The scriptures say, "Because it is said in scriptures"; so the proof of scriptures being true is the statement in Scriptures itself. This is like saying, "I am speaking the truth, because I say so." No intelligent person should accept this reason as valid.
3. Some statements in Scriptures are obviously false. The commentators try to hide the flaws by interpreting the words in a different way than actual e.g. Bhagwad Gita says, "Among Karma yoga and Sanyasa yoga, Karma yoga is better." Now how can one path be suitable for everyone?
4. What is the guarantee that the scriptures is true? In Bhagwad Gita, Krishna shows his Vishwaroopa to Arjuna. Why did no one else on the battlefield see the same? Was it just a hallucination for Arjuna? If yes, then what is the guarantee that remaining Bhagwad Gita is valuable.
5. Most people, who quote scriptures, are egoistic and arrogant. Their actions totally differ from words. They quote specific verses to show off or manipulate others.

Instead of reading scriptures, now I use my own intelligence to decide. It is more difficult, but the results are more satisfying.

Why are people bored?

There are 3 primary reasons that people get bored.

1. Lack of opportunity
   A person living in Libya will have lack of opportunities because Libya was bombed and it has lacks infrastructure. So even intelligent people will tend to get bored.
2. Lack of courage
   Opportunities exist but the person has a lack of courage. The person constantly postpones doing things by giving excuses e.g. today its raining, it is too difficult, etc. At the end of life, the person usually repents having achieved little in life.
3. Lack of connection
   Person lacks passion. There is a general lack of connection with people around. We are social animals. The idea of a James Bond working individually against an organization, is usually a myth in real life. The people around us determine our success. If people around us think of us a failure, then it is likely that we will fail. We cannot achieve anything significant without the people around us cheering us on.

If we are facing, "Lack of Opportunity", then we should consider changing the country/place. If we are facing "Lack of courage", then we need to convince ourselves that the activity is not that difficult; and take small steps towards our goal. If we are facing "Lack of connection", then either change the people around you or CHANGE the people around you. Then, say goodbye to boredom.

The cycle of terrorism

The following is an infinite cycle
A) Bombs are dropped on a country.
B) The economy of the country is destroyed. There is no education for children; no jobs for young and no care for old.
C) People take to terrorism.
D) Terrorist strike in countries that had supported bomb drops on their country.
E) Go to Step A.

The Crash Course of Chris Matenson

In the crash course, Chris Matenson says during the next 20 years,

• Our currency supply
• Our fuel consumption
• Our use of environmental resources

cannot keep growing exponentially.

I agree with almost everything Chris says in this course, but in his entire course Chris fails to consider "human ingenuousness". There is no limit to the imagination of human mind e.g. Maybe during the next 20 years, humans will

1. come with a Thorium generator, that can power entire cities.
2. come up with cars that run on hydrogen, which is produced from water.

etc.

Humans can and will continue to evolve e.g. most humans can easily reduce their calorie consumption by half and still survive. Most humans can work harder and increase dramatically their production. Education is spreading via the Internet. Today, in developing world, a person with Internet access can have the same knowledge as a person studying in developed world.

The next 20 years will be different from the last 20 years, as Chris says. But, the change need not be for worse. It can be change for better.

Significance of Diwali

Diwali is a festival celebrated in India. People burn crackers, wear new clothes and eat sweets. What is the significance of Diwali?

We are burdened with thoughts about the past. These thoughts can be regrets about our past actions, unfair treatment meted to us by others, etc.These thoughts act as a huge weight chained to our feet. They stop us from performing our best in the present moment.

Diwali signifies burning the past like crackers. We will no more repent our split milk, in past. Of course, we will learn from the past, but there is no point is continuous replay of past in our minds.
Diwali signifies staring fresh with new clothes. Now we are ready to face our current challenges with mental vigour.
With this attitude, sweet success will be ours.

Burn the past, start afresh and live in sweetness. Happy Diwali.

Why did BJP lose in Bihar?

Different people give different reasons for BJP's defeat e.g.

• BJP is a Hindu party and there are many Muslims in Bihar.
• Nitish is better than Modi for leadership.
• etc

In my opinion, all the above reasons may have some impact but they did not play a decisive role. The real reason that BJP lost is that BJP had promised more development as compared to Congress, etc. But they have failed to keep their promise at national level e.g. As soon as Bihar's election were over

• Petrol and Diesel prices were hiked.
• Service tax was hiked.
• Duties on Gold were not reduced during the festival season.

Development means falling prices, which leads to higher consumption. More taxes, rising prices, etc all lead to falling consumption and fall in rate of development.

Why would people vote for a party that has been the cause of rising prices for many months?