About the Author
Shri P. Ramalingam retired as an Executive Director from Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board. After graduating in Electrical & Mechanical Engineering from the Banaras Hindu University, he had been actively interested in general studies as well. He prepared an Instructional Resource package on Electric Supply' under the Continuing Education Project UPDATE for the Indian Society for Technical Education, New Delhi. He is widely travelled and has presented papers at National Technical Seminars. He represented India as a delegate at an International Conference of CIGRE (Paris) on Power Distribution in Developing Countries at DAKAR and presented a paper.
His continuing interest in the youth of this country prompted him to write this book, a collection of Footprints, Handprints and Fingerprints of personalities and Imprints on the Sands of Time so as to promote Human Understanding -- HISTORY THROUGH PERSONALITIES.
Foreword
There is a planet called Earth in a solar system (astronomy now tells us that there are innumerable solar systems) of the universe. An animal species called a human converts this earth into 'the world' by inter-acting intensively with it and by changing it to make it more habitable and comfortable. For this purpose, he builds houses, villages, cities, water supply systems, roads, bridges, dams, canals, huge factories, rockets, satellites and host of other things. He is thus the creator of the world, although the earth may have been created by the God as some religious people believe or may have come into being as a result of the Big Bang, a natural phenomenon that occurred billions of years ago, as some astrophysicists, theories. Yet the famous biologist Char- les Darwin would like us to believe that this creator of the world, the human species is itself the result of an extremely gradual natural process of evolution from a tiny creature like "Amoeba". In that sense, the human beings are themselves the product of this earth. Most of the world religions also hold that human beings are composed of certain elements of the earth and they ultimately go back to the same earth from where they come. For instance, according to Hinduism the body is composed of 'Panchatatva' (five elements). Both Christianity and Islam see the origin and end of the body in the earth. While the body may be conceived as the product of the earth both by scientists and scriptures, the indomitable spirit of the human being continues to be a phenomenon to marvel at. The origin and end, if any, of this spirit, is still a mystery despite the highly advanced stage of scientific knowledge today. The religions, particularly, Hinduism, considers the soul (Atma) as inseparable from and a part of the Supreme God (Paramatma), ultimate salvation consisting of the fusion of Atma in Paramatma. Christianity also preaches nurturing of the soul to enable one to live in the kingdom of God. This spirit, this soul of the human is beyond the earth and is the creator of 'the world' and since the soul is only a manifestation of the Supreme God, it is the same thing as saying that He created the world. In all human beings there is manifestation of the God. In some it is a little more pronounced. These great personalities are those who shape the world, who provide direction to the world.
Preface
Human Understanding, Human Rights and Human Freedom are the bed-rock of peace, progress and prosperity of the peoples of the world. The Copenhagen Summit was a landmark with United Nations effort to focus on these. The participation by several heads of governments have proved their commitment.
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