Development and Dharmam

Development says bread is needed most. Dharmam of my villagers says that giving away the the last handful of rice to him who asks is most important. If one has to choose which would one choose ? Poverty of the body or poverty of the mind.

Development, and even a full stomach, seems a very small thing in the face of what they possess - the richness of soul. Is 'developing' a people, if it costs them their culture, their dharmam, worth it ?

The urban educated Indian is not an Indian in soul. The soul of India is to give when asked 'Bhavati bhiksham dehi'. Development, and even a full stomach, seems a very small thing in the face of what they possess - the richness of soul. We, the developed, are poverty-striken. And we set out to develop them, to school them ...