General Knowledge Questions

Read the passage carefully and select the best answer to each question out of the given four alternatives.

What is Gandhian philosophy? It is the religious and social ideas adopted and developed by Gandhi, first during his period in South Africa from 1893 to 1914, and later of course in India. These ideas have been further developed by later "Gandhians", most notably, in India by, Vinoba Bhave and Jayaprakash Narayan. Outside of India some of the work of, for example, Martin Luther King Jr. can also be viewed in this light. Understanding the universe to be an organic whole, the philosophy exists on several planes - the spiritual or religious, moral, political, economic, social, individual and collective. The spiritual or religious element, and God, is at its core. Human nature is regarded as fundamentally virtuous. All individuals are believed to be capable of high moral development, and of reform. The twin cardinal principles of Gandhi's thought are truth and nonviolence. It should be remembered that the English word "truth" is an imperfect translation of the Sanskrit, "satya", and "non-violence", an even more imperfect translation of "ahimsa". Derived from "sat" - "that which exists" - "satya" contains a dimension of meaning not usually associated by English speakers with the word "truth". There are other variations, too, which we need not go into here. For Gandhi, truth is the relative truth of truthfulness in word and deed, and the absolute truth - the Ultimate Reality. This ultimate truth is God (as God is also Truth) and morality - the moral laws and code - its basis. Ahimsa, far from meaning mere peacefulness or the absence of overt violence, is understood by Gandhi to denote active love - the pole opposite of violence, or "Himsa", in every sense. The ultimate station Gandhi assigns non violence stems from two main points. First, if according to the Divine Reality all life is one, then all violence committed towards another is violence towards oneself, towards the collective, whole self, and thus "self"-destructive and counter to the universal law of life, which is love. Second, Gandhi believed that ahimsa is the most powerful force in existence. Had himsa been superior to ahimsa, humankind would long ago have succeeded in destroying itself. The human race certainly could not have progressed as far as it has, even if universal justice remains far off the horizon. From both viewpoints, non violence or love is regarded as the highest law of humankind.

According to Gandhiji, truth complies to which of the following?

In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and select the correct answer for the given blank out of the four alternatives.

To know ______ reality, the powers of the mind need to be turned back upon itself. With concentration, the mind can ______ its innermost secrets, just as the darkest places reveal their secrets to the penetrating rays of light. We can then ______ soul truths, whether life exists for five minutes or for ______, and whether there is a God. To go beyond the mind and our present reality, we need to use the mind itself as a tool. Patanjali, in his Hatha Yoga Pradipika, stated, “Yoga is the ______ of the modifications of the mind.”

We can then ______ soul truths

Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and click the button corresponding to it.

Ants have been living on the earth for more than 100 million years and can be found almost anywhere on the planet. It is estimated that there are about 20000 different species of ants. For this reason ants have been called Earth's most successful species. If you watch ants for any length of time you will see that they really do communicate with each other and very effectively too. Ants communicate by touching each other with their antennae. Ants also use chemicals called pheromones to leave scent trails for other ants to follow. Ants build many different types of homes. Many ants build simple little mounds out of dirt or sand. Other ants use small sticks mixed with dirt and sand to make a stronger mound that offers protection from rain. Western Harvester ants make a small mound on top, but then tunnels up to 15 feet straight down to hibernate during winter. Ant mounds consist of many chambers connected by tunnels. Different chambers are used for nurseries, food storage, and resting places for the worker ants. Some ants live in wood like termites. Army ants don't make a home at all but travel in a large groups searching for food. Ants are social insects which means they live in large colonies or groups. Some colonies consist of millions of ants. There are three types of ants in each species, the queen, the sterile female workers and males. The male ants only serve one purpose, to mate with future queen ants and do not live very long. The queen grows to adulthood, mates, and then spends rest of her life laying eggs. A colony may have only one queen, or there may be many queens depending on the species. Ants go through four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa and adult.

What kind of homes do the army of ants build ?

In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and select the correct answer for the given blank out of the four alternatives.

For a minute, dispel all the mental images and stereotypes; ______________ the jargon of 'opening up,' 'flow,' 'nidra,' and 'balance'. Focus _______ what you need for your body. ___________ you aren't sure, begin here — with just one asana. It's one of the basic ones ___________ I lead every class with. You can do it as a stand-alone piece ____________ begin with it when you're at the gym.

stand-alone piece ____________ begin with it when you're at the gym.

‘Altitude sickness’ is caused at high altitude due to

The sentences given with blanks are to be filled with an appropriate word(s). Four alternatives are suggested for each question. For each question,choose the correct alternative and click the button corresponding to it.

He ________ the low pay

In terms of environmental studies, CER refers to

Slow-growing large coloured patches on the bark of trees are the examples of symbiotic life forms called ______.