Ignited Minds – unleashing the power within India

By APJ Abdul Kalam

Book Review and Summary/Quotes

From the back cover:

Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power within India examines why, given all our skills, resources and talents, we, so obviously capable of being the best, settle so often for the worst. What is it that we as a nation are missing? At the heart of Ignited Minds, is the belief that the people of a nation have the power, by dint of hard work, to realise their dream of a truly good life.

Kalam takes up different issues and themes that struck him on his pilgrimage around the country as he met thousands of school children, teachers, scientists, saints and seers in the course of two years. The result is a book that motivates us to get back on the winning track and unleash the energy within a nation that hasn’t allowed itself full rein.

Purchase Ignited Minds on Amazon.


Chapter 1 – The Dream and the Message

Dream, Dream, Dream
Dreams transform into thoughts
And thoughts result in action.

SUMMARY
Spirituality must be integrated with education. Self-realisation is the focus. Each one of us must become aware of our higher self. We are links of a great past to a grand future. We should ignite our dormant inner energy and let it guide our lives. The radiance of such minds embarked on constructive endeavour will bring peace, prosperity and bliss to this notion.

Chapter 2 – Give us a Role Model

Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn’t have it in the beginning. – Mahatma Gandhi

You always give a message to dream. Tell me, why dream?

AK: “Dream, dream, dream. Dreams transform into thoughts. Thoughts result in actions. Friends, if there are no dreams, there are no revolutionary thoughts; if there are no thoughts, no actions will emanate. Hence, parents and teachers should allow their children to dream. Success always follows dreams attempted though there may be some setbacks and delays”

Which are your favourite books that you loved and which have shaped your mind?

AK: “Four books in my life have been very close to my heart. I cherish reading them. The first is Man the Unknown by Dr Alexis Carrel, a doctor-turned-philosopher and a Nobel Laureate. This book highlights how the mind and body both have to be treated in an ailment as the two are integrated. You cannot treat one and ignore the other. In particular, children who dream of becoming doctors should read the book. The will learn that the human body is not a mechanical system; it is very intelligent organism with a most intricate and sensitive feedback system. The second book, one I venerate, is Tiruvalluvar’s Thirukkural, which provides and excellent code of life. The third is Light from Many Lamps by Lillian Eichler Watson which has touched me deeply. It illuminates how we live and has been an invaluable guide to me for fifty years. And the Holy Quran is, of course, a constant companion.”

Who is our enemy? (Question by School boy in Gujarat) “Our enemy is Poverty” – an answer which came from a school girl, to whom the book is dedicated.

Ancient India was a knowledge society and a leader in many intellectual pursuits, particularly in the fields of mathematics, medicine and astronomy. A renaissance is imperative for us once again to become a knowledge superpower rather than simple providing cheap labour in areas of high technology.

SUMMARY
A nation’s wealth is the young generation of the country. When they grow up, who can be the role models? Mother, father, and elementary school teachers play a very important part as role models. When the child grows up, the role models will be national leaders of quality and integrity in every field including politics, the sciences, technology and industry.


Chapter 3 – Visionary Teachers and Scientists

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. - Goethe

Albert Einstein – “We owe a lot to the Indians who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discover could have been made”

Quoting C.V. Raman, who said in 1969 while addressing young graduates:

“I would like to tell the young men and women before me not to lose hope and courage. Success can only come to you by courageous devotion to the task lying in front of you. I can assert without fear of contradiction that the quality of the Indian mind is equal to the quality of any Teutonic, Nordic, or Anglo-Saxon mind. What we lack is perhaps courage, what we lack is perhaps driving force, which takes one anywhere. We have, I think, developed an inferiority complex. I think what is needed in India today is the destruction of that defeatist spirit. We need a spirit of victory, a spirit that will carry us to our rightful place under the sun, a spirit which can recognise that we, as inheritors of a proud civilisation, are entitled to our rightful place on this planet. It that indomitable spirit were to arise, nothing can hold us from achieving our rightful destiny.”

AK: “The one thing I have learnt after more than forty years of working in three departments is various projects and programmes is that you will succeed as a project leader as long as you remember that the project is bigger than you. When the project leader tries to make himself out to be bigger than the project, the enterprise suffers”

SUMMARY
Vision ignites the minds. India needs visionaries of the stature of J.R.D. Tatam Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan and Dr Verghese Kurien, to name a few, who can involve an entire generation in the mission-driven programmes which benefit the country as a whole.

Chapter 4 – Learning from Saints and Seers

For the society to prosper there are two important needs. They are: prosperity through wealth generation and cherishing the value system of the people. The combination of the two will make the Nation truly strong and prosperous.

Conversation with Pramukh Swami:
AK: “…what can be our vision now [since Independence]? Since the last fifty years, India has been a developing country. It means economically it is not strong, socially it is not stable, in security aspects it is not self-reliant, and that is why it is called a developing country… TIFAC (Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council) have give thought to what should be the next vision for India. How do we transform a developing country into a developed country in the next twenty years? We have identified five important areas to transform India – education and healthcare, agriculture, information and communication, infrastructure and critical technology… How do we create people with values to carry out such a big vision?”

Swamiji: “Along with these five, you need a sixth one – faith in God and developing people through spirituality. This is very important. We need to first generate a moral and spiritual atmosphere…

…the stronger the spiritual wealth, the stronger will become all other forms of wealth. We rarely provide what is really needed. We provide everything else, clothing, food, shelter, but with all this we should also provide spiritual wealth.

The unification of science and spirituality will be essential to take benefit of science and technology to mankind. In 1911, Sri Aurobindo wrote in the Song of Humanity: “A time will come when the Indian mind will shake off the darkness that has fallen upon it, cease to think or hold opinions at second and third hand and reassert its right to judge and enquire with perfect freedom into the meaning of its own culture and tradition.”

Rig Veda: ‘Aano bhadrah kratavo yenthu vishwathaha’ – ‘Let noble thoughts come to us from everyside’

SUMMARY
Our spiritual wisdom has been our strength. We survived as a nation the onslaughts of invaders and the numbing effects of colonialism. We have also learnt to adjust to the rifts and divisions in our own society. But in the process of all adjustment, we also lowered our aims and expectations. We must regain our broad outlook and draw upon our heritage and wisdom to enrich our lives. The fact that we advance technologically does not preclude spiritual development. We need to home-grow our own model of development based on our inherent strengths.

Chapter 5 – Patriotism beyond Politics and Religion

I do not care for liberation, I would rather go to a hundred thousand hells, ‘doing good to others (silently) like the spring’, this is my religion. – Swami Vivekananda

For great men, religion is a way of making friends; small people make religion a fighting tool.

I call to my people to rise to greatness. It is a call to all Indians to rise to their highest capabilities. What are the forces which lead to the rise or fall of nations? And what are the factors which go to make nations strong? Three factors are invariably found in a strong nation: a collective pride in its achievements, unity and the ability for combined action… all nations which have risen to greatness have been characterised by a sense of mission. It is because our sense of mission has weakened that we have ceased to be true to our culture and ourselves.

SUMMARY
There are success stories among failures. There is hope among chaos, promise among problems. We are one billion people with multiple faiths and ideologies. In the absence of a national vision, cracks at the seam keep surfacing and make us vulnerable. There is a need to reinforce this seam and amalgamate us into one national forum.

Chapter 6 – The Knowledge Society

Wisdom is a weapon to ward off destruction; It is an inner fortress which enemies cannot destroy. – Thirukkural 421 (200 BC)

Maharishi Patanjali said in the Yogasutra, “When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”

That is something addressed to all of us. It is the people of a nation who make it great. By their effort, the people in turn become important citizens of their great country. Ignited minds are the most powerful resource on earth, and the one billion minds of our nation are indeed a great power waiting to be tapped.

SUMMARY
Ancient India was a knowledge society that contributed a great deal to civilisation. We need to recover that status and become a knowledge power. We must learn from our mistakes to achieve a better standard of life. A developed India will supplant a spirit of defeat with the spirit of victory.

Chapter 7 – Getting the Forces Together

Determine that things can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way. – Abraham Lincoln

SUMMARY
We need to adapt the implementation of our programmes and policies into a mission mode to succeed. Progress cannot be swift and far-reaching if the path is full of potholes. The abundant national resources, human and material, remain to be fully utilised.

Chapter 8 – Building a New State

If I were to look over the whole world to find out the country most richly endowed with all the wealth, power and beauty that nature can bestow – in some parts a very paradise on earth – I should point to India. – F Max Muller

…the upshot is that India is poor as a nation in spite of its enormous wealth because it does not focus on value addition, be it in the mineral or biodiversity products or even grain or fish. (AK sites example of beryllium metal)

I realised then that if something is at stake, the human mind gets ignited and working capacity gets enhanced manifold. Challenges throw up opportunities… start risking your own position for a mission. Either I deliver or I go. With effort and perseverance you will succeed. There is always a risk involved when we venture into something new. After all, the process of birth itself is a risky affair. But then the infant starts breathing … and life follows, with all its hopes and aspirations. Breathe in thoughts of success and you will be a success.

SUMMARY
The way to development is through purposeful activity. The young especially have to be guided properly, so that their lives find a proper direction and their creativity is allowed to flower. To facilitate this, certain educational reforms must be initiated.

With regard to improving the pace of development, Centre-state efforts should be coordinated in a few key areas and efforts across sectors and organisations integrated and taken up in a mission mode. The mindset must change, showing a willingness to take pragmatic risks. Success will follow.


Chapter 9 – To My Countrymen

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high,
Where knowledge is free,
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments…
My father, let my country awake.
- Rabindranath Tagore

What I have tried to tell you in this book is that we must be aware of our higher self and view ourselves as citizens of a developed nation. We are a great civilisation and each one of us born here must trust in the wisdom of this civilisation. Our scriptures tell us that there is no barrier between us and the world, that we are the world just as the world is in us. It is for you to put yourself in tune with the music of the universe.

Students should get ready to transform India into a developed nation. Ignite your minds and think big.

A teacher once said, “Give me a five-year old child. After seven years, no God or Devil will be able to change the child.’ Will all teachers be such gurus?

And to God the Almighty! Make my people sweat. Let their toil create many more Agnis that can annihilate evil. Let my country prosper in peace. Let my people live in harmony. Let me go to dust as a proud citizen of India, to rise again and rejoice in its glory.

Song of Youth:

Other books by Abdul Kalam:
Wings of Fire - Amazon
India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium - Amazon

Websites:

www.abdulkalam.com - Abdul Kalam's official homepage - check out "Billion Beats" e-paper
www.indiavision2020.org - This site is meant for discussing strategies for building a strong India by 2020, the vision of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam ; and for creating an awareness about India's Vision 2020.