I remember hearing from Swami that word GOD can be expanded as generation, organisation and destruction. i have faced some queation reagrdaing this at aome places. last night it was by Kita san. here is what i said;
how is something made. It is made from something else. if one is looking from the side of creation it looks like something being made but if you look from other side it is destruction. Similarly every act of creation is associated with an act of dstruction and vis a versa. So destruction and creation are not two different action but same action with different view points.
Now coming to organization or sustainance. to sustain anything something is consumed; which in other word means destroyed. as we have seen earlier destruction is another word for creation. So it is this destruction and creation at one level of understanding which sustains other level. So creation organisation and destruction are not three different act. They are differnt view to look at any act. Infact any act involves these three components.
This also leads us to understanding that Trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh are not three but one and the same.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Local controll
There was another matter raised by Hukum Deo Narayan Yadav today. it was related to village road construction. there were financial issues and also slow pace but apart from those there was another issue. It said that the consultancy for making the road was given to central agencies who did not have any idea of Geography, History or society of village. This has lead to construction of road which led to more problem than solution.
This shows that in every project there should be involvement of local bodies. It must be there in every plan. This will also make people feel the participation in national policies. They will feel the power.
This shows that in every project there should be involvement of local bodies. It must be there in every plan. This will also make people feel the participation in national policies. They will feel the power.
Chamar! Unparliamentary word?
Today Hukum Dev Narayan Yadav raised topic that there should a regiment in name of Chamar caste too. His logic was that there are nine regiments in name of different castes e.g. Rajput, Jat, Gurkha etc. His another point was that in 1942 to fight second world war Chamar regiment was raised. It was dismantled after second world war. So he questioned why it cannot be raised again.
It is very contentious issue. Once a new regiment is made in name of one caste similar voice for another caste will be raised. No government will try to burn its finger in fire. That is separate matter.
The matter of present concern was the comment of then presiding officer Smt. Girija Vyas. Before MP could start his speech he was directed to remove some of the words indicating to castist nature. It gave indication that there was something wrong said about some caste. But when I heard the complete speech there was no humiliating word against any community. During the speech he was told not to use word Chamaar. Then it occurred to me that according to officer word Chamar itself was derogatory in nature.
I know that some of the so called higher caste used to use name of so called lower caste as abusive word. Now that the time is changing and government is giving extra facility to so called lower castes. So on the paper people are encouraged to ascertain their caste. In fact when so called lower caste are being loud in ascertaining this. But at the same time it looks ruling class still considers Chamaar and other similar word as unparliamentary.
It is very contentious issue. Once a new regiment is made in name of one caste similar voice for another caste will be raised. No government will try to burn its finger in fire. That is separate matter.
The matter of present concern was the comment of then presiding officer Smt. Girija Vyas. Before MP could start his speech he was directed to remove some of the words indicating to castist nature. It gave indication that there was something wrong said about some caste. But when I heard the complete speech there was no humiliating word against any community. During the speech he was told not to use word Chamaar. Then it occurred to me that according to officer word Chamar itself was derogatory in nature.
I know that some of the so called higher caste used to use name of so called lower caste as abusive word. Now that the time is changing and government is giving extra facility to so called lower castes. So on the paper people are encouraged to ascertain their caste. In fact when so called lower caste are being loud in ascertaining this. But at the same time it looks ruling class still considers Chamaar and other similar word as unparliamentary.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Birth of a Crow
I was in Kyushu for my farewell. It was here that I announced that I shall be leaving soon. It was planned to be a one day program but ended up becoming three days program. So many things transpired and i should take them down before time erases from my memory space. Many people were recounting their memories with me. Most of those i was aware but there was one special which must mention. There is a lady who used to come from Khagoshima. It was very far from Sai center. In those days i was trying to correct pronunciation of people in Sanskrit. There was particularly problem with Ka and Kha. It was very difficult. Few of them got it with careful observation and practice. Most of them got into habit of practicing Ved Mantra at any free time of the day. This lady worked in a office and there was a tree nearby. On that crows used to perch and make loud sound, which was like ka ka. This reminded her that she should practice her pronunciation and make it better. After that when ever she heard that sound she remembered me.
It was very interesting to hear such a feeling. So i told That I am a big crow. People were amused and so was I. Later Tasaka san told me that Makino san wanted to translate and publish the conversation which i had at Kitakyushu center. I told that i did not have any objection to it but my name should be removed from it. The reason i gave was that having name serves no special purpose rather it will only keep on bloating my ego. So I suggested that my name should be replaced with Crow. It appeared that he was not convinced. So i told him story of Kagabhusundi. Divine crow who was blessed by Lord Ram and helped Garuda in getting over pride and ego by recounting stories of Lord Ram. It was liked by him. I too thought about it later and wanted to different aspects of it.
It looked very appropriate. Crow is not liked by many but it is critical part of the society. it is very versatile. It is social. It is scavenger. it is messenger. It is ugly. It is vocal. It is hard. it is ubiquitous. It is simple. It is always striving hard. In most of the story it is a fool. It represents dead and announces arrival of living.
A crow was born on this trip.
It was very interesting to hear such a feeling. So i told That I am a big crow. People were amused and so was I. Later Tasaka san told me that Makino san wanted to translate and publish the conversation which i had at Kitakyushu center. I told that i did not have any objection to it but my name should be removed from it. The reason i gave was that having name serves no special purpose rather it will only keep on bloating my ego. So I suggested that my name should be replaced with Crow. It appeared that he was not convinced. So i told him story of Kagabhusundi. Divine crow who was blessed by Lord Ram and helped Garuda in getting over pride and ego by recounting stories of Lord Ram. It was liked by him. I too thought about it later and wanted to different aspects of it.
It looked very appropriate. Crow is not liked by many but it is critical part of the society. it is very versatile. It is social. It is scavenger. it is messenger. It is ugly. It is vocal. It is hard. it is ubiquitous. It is simple. It is always striving hard. In most of the story it is a fool. It represents dead and announces arrival of living.
A crow was born on this trip.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Siddhis
I was listening to Swami Nityananda. He was talking about Siddhis which he can transfer to his disciples. H e told that effect can be seen first at psychological level then at physical level. There are many ways to attain Siddhi. In fact every spiritual way mentions these in their methods. Somehow I have not found them while my stay in Parthi. How come it was never mentioned. This left me ruminating over it.. here are what I thought about some of them
Aṇimā: literally this means reducing one's body even to the size of an atom. Such power was used by many people in past. Hanuman used it when he entered Lanka. Inmy opinion it shows humility. When we undertake an act of seva or bhajan it should make us humble. If one is able to do this, then it will be considered as achieving the siddhi of Anima.
Mahima: This means expanding one's body to an infinitely large size. This two was used by Hanuman when he confronted Sursa. That was to confront bad. But this can also be used as spiritual exercise. We we start feeling pain and pleasure of other being in our heart then it is like expanding our individual self. So as much one can feel other so much one has achieved the Mahima.
Garima: This means becoming infinitely heavy. I remember Swami told that in silent time one cannot distinguish a leaf and a stone. When wind blows dry leaves are carried away. Stone will not be shaken. So the heaviness is represented by stability in turbulent time. One who has devotion will not be troubled. More the stability more is Garima.
Laghima: It means becoming almost weightless. It seems it was the technique used by Hanuman to cross the ocean. In my meaning it is lightness. When does one feel light? When, one is happy. So being happy is represented by lightness. So a person who can maintain his happiness in all type of situation is light person. If happiness is due to some specific reason then it can come and go. But if the happiness is very much due to existence then it is Bliss. So nearer to the nature of bliss means achieving this siddhi of Laghima.
Other Siddhis are for achieving some goals. I think a devotee and a sevak don’t have to worry about them. They are conferred by God or the Master.
Aṇimā: literally this means reducing one's body even to the size of an atom. Such power was used by many people in past. Hanuman used it when he entered Lanka. Inmy opinion it shows humility. When we undertake an act of seva or bhajan it should make us humble. If one is able to do this, then it will be considered as achieving the siddhi of Anima.
Mahima: This means expanding one's body to an infinitely large size. This two was used by Hanuman when he confronted Sursa. That was to confront bad. But this can also be used as spiritual exercise. We we start feeling pain and pleasure of other being in our heart then it is like expanding our individual self. So as much one can feel other so much one has achieved the Mahima.
Garima: This means becoming infinitely heavy. I remember Swami told that in silent time one cannot distinguish a leaf and a stone. When wind blows dry leaves are carried away. Stone will not be shaken. So the heaviness is represented by stability in turbulent time. One who has devotion will not be troubled. More the stability more is Garima.
Laghima: It means becoming almost weightless. It seems it was the technique used by Hanuman to cross the ocean. In my meaning it is lightness. When does one feel light? When, one is happy. So being happy is represented by lightness. So a person who can maintain his happiness in all type of situation is light person. If happiness is due to some specific reason then it can come and go. But if the happiness is very much due to existence then it is Bliss. So nearer to the nature of bliss means achieving this siddhi of Laghima.
Other Siddhis are for achieving some goals. I think a devotee and a sevak don’t have to worry about them. They are conferred by God or the Master.
Friday, February 11, 2011
National Integration- Akabar Ilahabadi
i was listening to a talk show which was centered on statement by Tarun Vijay, where he had indicated that state of our country is similar too Egypt. This reminded me of my favorite speaker and writer Tarun Vijay. I wanted to listen as well as see him. For that the popular source is youtube.
There i saw his one of the talk show. He is source of inspiration for me. Talk shows are lop sided. so i wanted to listen to his talk. I went to another link. There he ended his speech with touching line. It is as followed.
तेरे लब पे है इराको श्यामो मिश्रो रोम चीन
लेकिन अपने ही वतन के नाम से वाकिब नहीं
सबसे पहले मर्द बन हिन्दोंस्तान के वास्ते
हिंद जाग उठे तो फिर सरे जहाँ के वास्ते
-अकबर इलाहाबादी
There i saw his one of the talk show. He is source of inspiration for me. Talk shows are lop sided. so i wanted to listen to his talk. I went to another link. There he ended his speech with touching line. It is as followed.
तेरे लब पे है इराको श्यामो मिश्रो रोम चीन
लेकिन अपने ही वतन के नाम से वाकिब नहीं
सबसे पहले मर्द बन हिन्दोंस्तान के वास्ते
हिंद जाग उठे तो फिर सरे जहाँ के वास्ते
-अकबर इलाहाबादी
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Raja Salhesh
I found some information about Raja Salhesh inthe following pages of Dr. Charu Smita Gupta
During a field study in 1992, I had visited Village Sardiha in Saharsa district in Bihar, where
living shrines of Sailhesh were seen at Saurath, Jitwarpur, Ranthi in Madhubani, Allalpalli,
Kedarabda in Darbhanga. Brambaba, Bhuiyan baba shrines in Allalpalli, Kedarabda Villages in
Darbhanga and on the outskirts of the village Chunhati in Darbhanga. Village Shishu in
Darbhanga has two living shrines of Sanichar Dehwad and Bhuiyan than, where terracotta horses
are offered as the votive offering on wish fulfillment. Than in this part of Bihar is a place of
worship of local folk deities. Different communities may have different local deities which are
worshipped by them, but for wish fulfillment members of other communities may also offer their
prayers. Sailesh has been the deity of Dushads a community from this region. Apart from the
Sailesh Shrine, there is literature and paintings on Baba Sailesh. The potter of the region make
the depicted icons of Sailesh and other folk deities on their respective vehicles. Three legends of
Sailesh, Brambaba and Bhuiyak are described here.
Salhesh than
Salhesh is associated with the humble Dushad community. No other community offers the
worship to Salhesh than.
Legend about the worshippers
Regarding the origin of the Dushads, it is believed by them that they are originally from the
kshatri caste but they were neither the warriors nor owned any fields, therefore they started
tending the pigs. They were excommunicated from the Kshatri group, for this reason by and
large the members of the community do not have any land holdings and have worked as the
laborers in the fields owned by others.The second legend about their origin is that Dushads were
the skilled thieves and since they would always cheat their masters, they could never enough
money or land.
Legend pertaining to Salhesh has described him as a king, who was wrongly accused for a crime
he did not commit. The theft for which Sailesh was accused was actually commited by another
Dushad called Chuhadmal. I observed in the field, that the informants in all the villages i.e.
Savrath, Jitwarpur, Ranthi in Madhubani felt a sense of pride while describing the part of legend
where Chuhadmal, the servant had made an underground tunnel across the wide span of the river
Ganga to carry across and hide his booty. The informant at Ranti, Shri Mahbir Chaupal told that
Chuhadmal had pledged river Ganga to offer her fatenga/podi (female goat child) along with a
charkha of gold. However, when Ganga allowed the path way, he offered just 101 hair of podi
and forgot all about charkha. Ganga was annoyed on this breach of pledge and consequently
Chuhadmal was caught for this default in pledge. The potter of village Magrauni, Madhubani
said that, since Dushad, are the thieves, they pray to Salhesh and Chuhadmal before going on any
such mission. Shri Mohan Pandit, one of the potters from the village also added that generally
the direction in which they have to go for committing the theft is decided by child of this
community, who is made to stand in front of the shrine and asked by the adults in which
direction they should go for their job. Therefore, it is very necessary for any village with large
population o Dushads to have a Salhesh than.
Legend of Salhesh
Salhesh is described as a king from Satyug. His father was Narpat Naresh (king) and mother was
Mandodari Rani (queen). He was a handsome king and had the power to disguise himself as a
parrot. So that he could wander in the forest fearlessly. He was very fond of wandering here and
there, but very pious. He could also walk on water. He lived in Mohis tha, a deeh (place) in
district Sarsa, Nepal. There was a large sarovar (pond) named Manikdah about 14 miles from
the palace. Raja Salhesh would every day go to this sarovar for bath and offer flowers to the
goddess Bhagwati in phulwari. Salhesh had two brothers Moti Ram and Bundheshwar. Salhesh
had a parrot named Heeraman, who brought him news from far and near. He traveled on an
elephant with Mangal mahavat (the elephant trainer).
The phulwari where Raja Salhesh went, was also visited by four sisters from mali community
namely Reshma, Kusuma, Dauna and Hiriya. Raja Salhesh sung anchara 12 varsh bandha (she
remained in pledge to marry him for 12 years). During one of his hunting sprees, Salhesh killed
deer, which belonged to Rajkumari Chandrawati daughter of Raja Kulheshwar of Pakaria, this
place is presently in Nepal near Phulbar. The deer had eaten away the flowers from the garden
which was tended by Kusuma, the malin. Raja Kulheshwar invited him to game of dice with the
precondition that who so ever shall loose, shall work as a chowkidar in the other’s place. Raja
Salhesh lost the game, thus he had to keep his word.
Raja Kulheshwar had a devoted and sincere paherdar Chuhadmal a Dushad, who was working
for him for 12 years. He was removed unceremoniously without receiving any salary payments
for the services he rendered. Raja Salhesh was appointed instead. This annoyed Chuhadmal to
the extent that he pledged to river Ganga to commit a theft in the palace of Raja Kulheshwar. It
is said that he dug an underground tunnel about 2 miles long from his house, in Mokama across
Ganges to the palace. He took away all the jewels of Chandrawati, undressed her and tied her to
the bed. This was done when Salhesh was the guard and Raja Kulheshwar was away. A
particular jewellery is described as hansuli, the neck ornament. Kuleshwar on his return
suspected Salhesh and thus put him behind the bar. It was very important for Salhesh to prove
his innocence to the Raja. At this juncture, the four malin sisters came to his rescue. Two of the
malin sisters, Dona and Kusuma were also the fortune teller. They guessed from their
knowledge that Chuhadmal was the actual thief. But how to catch him. The four sisters went to
Chuhadmal’s house as godana godani (making designs on body). They entered the inner
apartment of his house and saw his wife wearing the hansuli which belonged to Chandrawati.
They enticed her into giving that hansuli for the godana she had on her body. Chuhadmal’s wife
was not aware of the theft committed by her husband, so she innocently bartered the hansuli for
the godana( the body design). Having got the proof, four sisters, went to Raja Kulshwar and thus
the real thief Chuhadmal was severely punished and Salhesh was freed of his bondage. Raja
Kulshwar felt much obliged to Kusuma, the malin but did not marry her. She however,
continued to consider him to be her husband.
As has been mentioned earlier, it is believed that Chuhadmal was caught because he did not
fulfill the promise to river Ganga of the sacrifice of 101 podi.
Regarding marriage of Salhesh, it is described that he was entrapped into marrying Phulmanti
(her name has also been given as Satyawati). She had been given a word by goddess Bhagwati
to have Salhesh as her husband (anchara bandhane ki kabula). Salhesh was once coming from
Kapadiya garh to manisautha, Phulmanti caught him forcibly in her palace as he was in the form
of the parrot Heeraman. At that time, she knew about his dual identity and since she was
determined to marry him, she kept him in the palace against her father’s wishes.
Goddess Durga told Moti Ram and Budeshwar about the captivity of their brother. They sent a
barber (Hazzam) for release of Salhesh. Hence, they themselves went and met the same fate.
Ultimately Vanaspati, the married sister of Salhesh along with her son Korikinha, came for
negotiations. Korikinha is said to have powers like Bhima. There were several
misunderstanding. The main hindrance to the marriage was Raja Hempati, father of Phulmanti,
who did not want to give his daughter in marriage to a Dushad. The matters were resolved and
Salhesh returned to Mahisautha. He is however said to have remained in brahamchara i.e. he did
not consummate his marriage and never deviated from truth (satya vachan palak)
The than of Salhesh faces east and the main celebrations are held on asad poornima( this falls in
the month of July). Every Monday and Friday in asad month are auspicious for worship. On
asad poornima there is a performance, the performer goes into trans. Shri Gangai Paswan from
Saurathi revealed that bisara (snake god) which is represented in the form of a mound is also
worshipped, with in the Salhesh shrine. Bisara amurt rakhe chche (bisara does not have iconic
form), simultaneously Soan Sati and Ratida (sati) are also worshipped. Aghoris after consuming
lot of local wine, perform the worship. Genda, Arhul, Kaner are the three kind of flowers
offered to the shrine along with milk, pan (bettle leaf) supari (arceanut) as ritual offering.
During a field study in 1992, I had visited Village Sardiha in Saharsa district in Bihar, where
living shrines of Sailhesh were seen at Saurath, Jitwarpur, Ranthi in Madhubani, Allalpalli,
Kedarabda in Darbhanga. Brambaba, Bhuiyan baba shrines in Allalpalli, Kedarabda Villages in
Darbhanga and on the outskirts of the village Chunhati in Darbhanga. Village Shishu in
Darbhanga has two living shrines of Sanichar Dehwad and Bhuiyan than, where terracotta horses
are offered as the votive offering on wish fulfillment. Than in this part of Bihar is a place of
worship of local folk deities. Different communities may have different local deities which are
worshipped by them, but for wish fulfillment members of other communities may also offer their
prayers. Sailesh has been the deity of Dushads a community from this region. Apart from the
Sailesh Shrine, there is literature and paintings on Baba Sailesh. The potter of the region make
the depicted icons of Sailesh and other folk deities on their respective vehicles. Three legends of
Sailesh, Brambaba and Bhuiyak are described here.
Salhesh than
Salhesh is associated with the humble Dushad community. No other community offers the
worship to Salhesh than.
Legend about the worshippers
Regarding the origin of the Dushads, it is believed by them that they are originally from the
kshatri caste but they were neither the warriors nor owned any fields, therefore they started
tending the pigs. They were excommunicated from the Kshatri group, for this reason by and
large the members of the community do not have any land holdings and have worked as the
laborers in the fields owned by others.The second legend about their origin is that Dushads were
the skilled thieves and since they would always cheat their masters, they could never enough
money or land.
Legend pertaining to Salhesh has described him as a king, who was wrongly accused for a crime
he did not commit. The theft for which Sailesh was accused was actually commited by another
Dushad called Chuhadmal. I observed in the field, that the informants in all the villages i.e.
Savrath, Jitwarpur, Ranthi in Madhubani felt a sense of pride while describing the part of legend
where Chuhadmal, the servant had made an underground tunnel across the wide span of the river
Ganga to carry across and hide his booty. The informant at Ranti, Shri Mahbir Chaupal told that
Chuhadmal had pledged river Ganga to offer her fatenga/podi (female goat child) along with a
charkha of gold. However, when Ganga allowed the path way, he offered just 101 hair of podi
and forgot all about charkha. Ganga was annoyed on this breach of pledge and consequently
Chuhadmal was caught for this default in pledge. The potter of village Magrauni, Madhubani
said that, since Dushad, are the thieves, they pray to Salhesh and Chuhadmal before going on any
such mission. Shri Mohan Pandit, one of the potters from the village also added that generally
the direction in which they have to go for committing the theft is decided by child of this
community, who is made to stand in front of the shrine and asked by the adults in which
direction they should go for their job. Therefore, it is very necessary for any village with large
population o Dushads to have a Salhesh than.
Legend of Salhesh
Salhesh is described as a king from Satyug. His father was Narpat Naresh (king) and mother was
Mandodari Rani (queen). He was a handsome king and had the power to disguise himself as a
parrot. So that he could wander in the forest fearlessly. He was very fond of wandering here and
there, but very pious. He could also walk on water. He lived in Mohis tha, a deeh (place) in
district Sarsa, Nepal. There was a large sarovar (pond) named Manikdah about 14 miles from
the palace. Raja Salhesh would every day go to this sarovar for bath and offer flowers to the
goddess Bhagwati in phulwari. Salhesh had two brothers Moti Ram and Bundheshwar. Salhesh
had a parrot named Heeraman, who brought him news from far and near. He traveled on an
elephant with Mangal mahavat (the elephant trainer).
The phulwari where Raja Salhesh went, was also visited by four sisters from mali community
namely Reshma, Kusuma, Dauna and Hiriya. Raja Salhesh sung anchara 12 varsh bandha (she
remained in pledge to marry him for 12 years). During one of his hunting sprees, Salhesh killed
deer, which belonged to Rajkumari Chandrawati daughter of Raja Kulheshwar of Pakaria, this
place is presently in Nepal near Phulbar. The deer had eaten away the flowers from the garden
which was tended by Kusuma, the malin. Raja Kulheshwar invited him to game of dice with the
precondition that who so ever shall loose, shall work as a chowkidar in the other’s place. Raja
Salhesh lost the game, thus he had to keep his word.
Raja Kulheshwar had a devoted and sincere paherdar Chuhadmal a Dushad, who was working
for him for 12 years. He was removed unceremoniously without receiving any salary payments
for the services he rendered. Raja Salhesh was appointed instead. This annoyed Chuhadmal to
the extent that he pledged to river Ganga to commit a theft in the palace of Raja Kulheshwar. It
is said that he dug an underground tunnel about 2 miles long from his house, in Mokama across
Ganges to the palace. He took away all the jewels of Chandrawati, undressed her and tied her to
the bed. This was done when Salhesh was the guard and Raja Kulheshwar was away. A
particular jewellery is described as hansuli, the neck ornament. Kuleshwar on his return
suspected Salhesh and thus put him behind the bar. It was very important for Salhesh to prove
his innocence to the Raja. At this juncture, the four malin sisters came to his rescue. Two of the
malin sisters, Dona and Kusuma were also the fortune teller. They guessed from their
knowledge that Chuhadmal was the actual thief. But how to catch him. The four sisters went to
Chuhadmal’s house as godana godani (making designs on body). They entered the inner
apartment of his house and saw his wife wearing the hansuli which belonged to Chandrawati.
They enticed her into giving that hansuli for the godana she had on her body. Chuhadmal’s wife
was not aware of the theft committed by her husband, so she innocently bartered the hansuli for
the godana( the body design). Having got the proof, four sisters, went to Raja Kulshwar and thus
the real thief Chuhadmal was severely punished and Salhesh was freed of his bondage. Raja
Kulshwar felt much obliged to Kusuma, the malin but did not marry her. She however,
continued to consider him to be her husband.
As has been mentioned earlier, it is believed that Chuhadmal was caught because he did not
fulfill the promise to river Ganga of the sacrifice of 101 podi.
Regarding marriage of Salhesh, it is described that he was entrapped into marrying Phulmanti
(her name has also been given as Satyawati). She had been given a word by goddess Bhagwati
to have Salhesh as her husband (anchara bandhane ki kabula). Salhesh was once coming from
Kapadiya garh to manisautha, Phulmanti caught him forcibly in her palace as he was in the form
of the parrot Heeraman. At that time, she knew about his dual identity and since she was
determined to marry him, she kept him in the palace against her father’s wishes.
Goddess Durga told Moti Ram and Budeshwar about the captivity of their brother. They sent a
barber (Hazzam) for release of Salhesh. Hence, they themselves went and met the same fate.
Ultimately Vanaspati, the married sister of Salhesh along with her son Korikinha, came for
negotiations. Korikinha is said to have powers like Bhima. There were several
misunderstanding. The main hindrance to the marriage was Raja Hempati, father of Phulmanti,
who did not want to give his daughter in marriage to a Dushad. The matters were resolved and
Salhesh returned to Mahisautha. He is however said to have remained in brahamchara i.e. he did
not consummate his marriage and never deviated from truth (satya vachan palak)
The than of Salhesh faces east and the main celebrations are held on asad poornima( this falls in
the month of July). Every Monday and Friday in asad month are auspicious for worship. On
asad poornima there is a performance, the performer goes into trans. Shri Gangai Paswan from
Saurathi revealed that bisara (snake god) which is represented in the form of a mound is also
worshipped, with in the Salhesh shrine. Bisara amurt rakhe chche (bisara does not have iconic
form), simultaneously Soan Sati and Ratida (sati) are also worshipped. Aghoris after consuming
lot of local wine, perform the worship. Genda, Arhul, Kaner are the three kind of flowers
offered to the shrine along with milk, pan (bettle leaf) supari (arceanut) as ritual offering.
History of Mithila
I was going through a blog. It was regarding Noakhali. It is very touching. In that I came across a line regarding Mithila.
It went like this
"Bhulua is now a village situated a few miles west of Noakhali town on the Lakshmipur road. According to tradition it derived its name from a scion of Raja Adi Shur of Mithila in the early 13th century."
I was suprprized to see mention of Mithila in as far as Tripura. This led me to look for history of Mithila. Wikipedia is now a days one of the common source for such knowledge. The page gave following information about Adi Shur.
Around 6th century to 9th century (Pal Dynasty)
Mithila, being part of erstwhile Bengal, was ruled by Pal Dynasty for three centuries. Pal Dynasty were followers of Buddhism.The last king of Pal Dynasty was Madanpal. Madanpal proved to be a weak king and was defeated by Adishur Samant Sen's army.
[edit] Around 9th century to 11th century (Sen Dynasty)
Sen Dynatsy were followers of Hinduism and hence people of Mithila, being followers of Hinduism, helped Samant Sen in defeating Madanpal. Mithila thus came under the rule of Sen Dynasty. Eminent scholar Vachaspati Mishra (from Village Thardhi in Madhubani district) was from this period, Sen Dynasty had five kings - Samant Sen, Hemant Sen, Vijay Sen, Vallal Sen and Laxman Sen (until the 11th century).
[edit] Around 11th century to 14th century (Deva Dynasty)
Nanya Deva defeated the last King of Sen Dynasty, Laxman Sen and became King of Bengal and thereby Mithila which till bifurcation of Bihar from bengal was a part of that State. Nanya Deva had come from west and had his first capital at Simraun Garh (Birganj).
Krnat Dynasty also had five kings namely Nanya Dev, Gang Dev, Narshingh Dev, Shakrasingh Dev and Hari Singh Dev. Of these Hari Singh Dev became the most famous. He was instrumental in initiating and implementing PANJI Prabandha system in Maithil Brahmins and Maithil Kayasthas (Karn Kayasthas). He was also great patron of art and literature. In the court of Hari Singh Dev the Royal Priest was Pt. Kameshwar Thakur the author of 'VARNA RATNAKAR', which is considered to be the first prose, an encyclopedia in any north Indian language. Pt. Kameshwar Thakur later became founder of Oinwar Dynasty.
It was very interesting to read those words so I continued. Following there was information which I could relate to.
In 1326, Firoz Shah Tughlak attacked and conquered Mithila region. The last king of Karnat Dynasty Harisingh Dev fled to Nepal. According to historian Dr. Upendra Thakur anarchy prevailed in Mithila region for next 27 years. In 1353 Firoz Shah Tughlak appointed Pt. Kameshwar Thakur as KARAD RAJA (rent paying king). Kameshwar Thakur belonged to village named Oini, which is presently in SAMASTIPUR District. The dynasty was named after the village Oini as Oinwar Dynasty. Kameshwar Thakur, being of scholarly nature, was unable to collect and pay tax to Firoz Shah Tughlak. Thus, Kameshwar Thakur was dethroned and his son, Bhogishwar Thakur was made next King of Mithila region. This dynasty was one of the few ruling dynasties of India who were Brahmins. Thereafter, the Mithila region had Kings from Brahmin caste only.
The list kings of Oinwar Dynasty is as under:
* Kameshwar Thakur
* Bhogishwar Thakur
* Ganeshwar Singh
* Kirti Singh
* Bhavesh Thakur (also known as Bhav Singh) – He was younger son of Kameshwar Thakur. Since Kirti Singh died issueless, the kingdom passed over to Bhavesh Thakur.
* Dev Singh
* Shiv Singh – He declared himself to be independent King and stopped paying taxes to Tughlak empire. Due to his decision to challenge authority of Tughlaks empire, Ibrahim Shah Tughlak attacked Mithila. In the battle, Shiv Singh was killed.
* Padma Singh – He was younger brother of Shiv Singh.
* Queen Bishwas Devi – Padma Singh died issueless at an early age. After his death, his wife Queen Bishwas Devi ruled Mithila region, but she too died soon after taking over reign of Mithila.
* Hari Singh – He was cousin of Padma Singh. Since Padma Singh died issueless, the throne passed to Hari Singh.
* Nar Singh
* Dhir Singh (ruled 1459–1480)
* Bhairav Singh (ruled 1480–1515) - He was a very popular king and initiated several development works like digging of ponds construction of roads, wells, temples, etc. He was a great patron of art and culture as well.
* Rambhadra Singh Dev
* Laxminath Singh Dev – He was the last King of OINWAR dynasty. Sikandar Lodhi attacked Mithila region in 1526 and Maharaja Laxminath Singh Dev was killed in the ensuing battle.
Shivdhara, which is the nearest Major crossroad belongs to that Shiv Singh. He must have fought at that place. We happen to be at that place at many times for purchase of all petty things.
I also got interested with mention of Raja Salhesh. He was mentined in ancient history of Mithila.
The most important reference to Mithila is in the Hindu epic, Ramayana where Lord Rama's wife Sita is said to have been the princess of the land, born to King Janaka, who ruled Mithila from Janakpur. Other famous kings of Mithila during ancient period are King Bhanumath, Satghumanya, Suchi, Urjnama, Satdhwya, Kriti, Anjan, Arisnami, Srutayu, Supasyu, Suryasu, Srinjay, Sourmabi, Anena, Bhimrath, Satyarath, Upangu, Upgupt, Swagat, Snanand, Subrachya, Supraswa, Subhasn, Suchurut, Susurath, Jay, Vijay, Critu, Suny, Vith Habya, Dwati, Bahulaswa, Kriti Tirtiya.
It is said that the last King of Janak Dynasty was of bad character. He was dethroned by public under leadership of Acharyas (Learned Men). Thereafter, Mithila remained without King for hundreds of years. Instead of King, a democratic system was followed were the ruler was elected by the people and the decisions were taken in a collective manner. In fact, Mithila can be said to be the first democracy of the world. This continued for several centuries till the region was attacked and conquered by Maghadan Empire.
Thereafter several dynasties such as Vajjisangh, Lichhavis, Shaishunag, Nand, Maurya, Shung, Kant, Gupta, Vardhan etc. ruled there from time to time. There was no significant ruler in Mithila after Janaks till 5th–6th century when Jaywardhan Raja Salhesh became King. He made his capital at Mahisautha-Sirha (presently in Nepal). He defended the region against attacks by Tibetans several times. Hence, he was called Shailesh (king of Mountains) from Jaywardhan which in local dialect was called Salhesh.
He is mentioned only briefly. But we find his temple in many villages. He was worshiped more among Dushadh caste. There must be some incident which elvated him to level of demigods. People worship and dance in his name. More should be searched regarding him. I remember words of Tagore. who wrote that history is not only in the throne but a greater part was in the mass. Story of throne becomes bookish history but public keeps the untold history in customs and culture.
In this process I got interested in knowing about the Panji. So I got another link
It went like this
"Bhulua is now a village situated a few miles west of Noakhali town on the Lakshmipur road. According to tradition it derived its name from a scion of Raja Adi Shur of Mithila in the early 13th century."
I was suprprized to see mention of Mithila in as far as Tripura. This led me to look for history of Mithila. Wikipedia is now a days one of the common source for such knowledge. The page gave following information about Adi Shur.
Around 6th century to 9th century (Pal Dynasty)
Mithila, being part of erstwhile Bengal, was ruled by Pal Dynasty for three centuries. Pal Dynasty were followers of Buddhism.The last king of Pal Dynasty was Madanpal. Madanpal proved to be a weak king and was defeated by Adishur Samant Sen's army.
[edit] Around 9th century to 11th century (Sen Dynasty)
Sen Dynatsy were followers of Hinduism and hence people of Mithila, being followers of Hinduism, helped Samant Sen in defeating Madanpal. Mithila thus came under the rule of Sen Dynasty. Eminent scholar Vachaspati Mishra (from Village Thardhi in Madhubani district) was from this period, Sen Dynasty had five kings - Samant Sen, Hemant Sen, Vijay Sen, Vallal Sen and Laxman Sen (until the 11th century).
[edit] Around 11th century to 14th century (Deva Dynasty)
Nanya Deva defeated the last King of Sen Dynasty, Laxman Sen and became King of Bengal and thereby Mithila which till bifurcation of Bihar from bengal was a part of that State. Nanya Deva had come from west and had his first capital at Simraun Garh (Birganj).
Krnat Dynasty also had five kings namely Nanya Dev, Gang Dev, Narshingh Dev, Shakrasingh Dev and Hari Singh Dev. Of these Hari Singh Dev became the most famous. He was instrumental in initiating and implementing PANJI Prabandha system in Maithil Brahmins and Maithil Kayasthas (Karn Kayasthas). He was also great patron of art and literature. In the court of Hari Singh Dev the Royal Priest was Pt. Kameshwar Thakur the author of 'VARNA RATNAKAR', which is considered to be the first prose, an encyclopedia in any north Indian language. Pt. Kameshwar Thakur later became founder of Oinwar Dynasty.
It was very interesting to read those words so I continued. Following there was information which I could relate to.
In 1326, Firoz Shah Tughlak attacked and conquered Mithila region. The last king of Karnat Dynasty Harisingh Dev fled to Nepal. According to historian Dr. Upendra Thakur anarchy prevailed in Mithila region for next 27 years. In 1353 Firoz Shah Tughlak appointed Pt. Kameshwar Thakur as KARAD RAJA (rent paying king). Kameshwar Thakur belonged to village named Oini, which is presently in SAMASTIPUR District. The dynasty was named after the village Oini as Oinwar Dynasty. Kameshwar Thakur, being of scholarly nature, was unable to collect and pay tax to Firoz Shah Tughlak. Thus, Kameshwar Thakur was dethroned and his son, Bhogishwar Thakur was made next King of Mithila region. This dynasty was one of the few ruling dynasties of India who were Brahmins. Thereafter, the Mithila region had Kings from Brahmin caste only.
The list kings of Oinwar Dynasty is as under:
* Kameshwar Thakur
* Bhogishwar Thakur
* Ganeshwar Singh
* Kirti Singh
* Bhavesh Thakur (also known as Bhav Singh) – He was younger son of Kameshwar Thakur. Since Kirti Singh died issueless, the kingdom passed over to Bhavesh Thakur.
* Dev Singh
* Shiv Singh – He declared himself to be independent King and stopped paying taxes to Tughlak empire. Due to his decision to challenge authority of Tughlaks empire, Ibrahim Shah Tughlak attacked Mithila. In the battle, Shiv Singh was killed.
* Padma Singh – He was younger brother of Shiv Singh.
* Queen Bishwas Devi – Padma Singh died issueless at an early age. After his death, his wife Queen Bishwas Devi ruled Mithila region, but she too died soon after taking over reign of Mithila.
* Hari Singh – He was cousin of Padma Singh. Since Padma Singh died issueless, the throne passed to Hari Singh.
* Nar Singh
* Dhir Singh (ruled 1459–1480)
* Bhairav Singh (ruled 1480–1515) - He was a very popular king and initiated several development works like digging of ponds construction of roads, wells, temples, etc. He was a great patron of art and culture as well.
* Rambhadra Singh Dev
* Laxminath Singh Dev – He was the last King of OINWAR dynasty. Sikandar Lodhi attacked Mithila region in 1526 and Maharaja Laxminath Singh Dev was killed in the ensuing battle.
Shivdhara, which is the nearest Major crossroad belongs to that Shiv Singh. He must have fought at that place. We happen to be at that place at many times for purchase of all petty things.
I also got interested with mention of Raja Salhesh. He was mentined in ancient history of Mithila.
The most important reference to Mithila is in the Hindu epic, Ramayana where Lord Rama's wife Sita is said to have been the princess of the land, born to King Janaka, who ruled Mithila from Janakpur. Other famous kings of Mithila during ancient period are King Bhanumath, Satghumanya, Suchi, Urjnama, Satdhwya, Kriti, Anjan, Arisnami, Srutayu, Supasyu, Suryasu, Srinjay, Sourmabi, Anena, Bhimrath, Satyarath, Upangu, Upgupt, Swagat, Snanand, Subrachya, Supraswa, Subhasn, Suchurut, Susurath, Jay, Vijay, Critu, Suny, Vith Habya, Dwati, Bahulaswa, Kriti Tirtiya.
It is said that the last King of Janak Dynasty was of bad character. He was dethroned by public under leadership of Acharyas (Learned Men). Thereafter, Mithila remained without King for hundreds of years. Instead of King, a democratic system was followed were the ruler was elected by the people and the decisions were taken in a collective manner. In fact, Mithila can be said to be the first democracy of the world. This continued for several centuries till the region was attacked and conquered by Maghadan Empire.
Thereafter several dynasties such as Vajjisangh, Lichhavis, Shaishunag, Nand, Maurya, Shung, Kant, Gupta, Vardhan etc. ruled there from time to time. There was no significant ruler in Mithila after Janaks till 5th–6th century when Jaywardhan Raja Salhesh became King. He made his capital at Mahisautha-Sirha (presently in Nepal). He defended the region against attacks by Tibetans several times. Hence, he was called Shailesh (king of Mountains) from Jaywardhan which in local dialect was called Salhesh.
He is mentioned only briefly. But we find his temple in many villages. He was worshiped more among Dushadh caste. There must be some incident which elvated him to level of demigods. People worship and dance in his name. More should be searched regarding him. I remember words of Tagore. who wrote that history is not only in the throne but a greater part was in the mass. Story of throne becomes bookish history but public keeps the untold history in customs and culture.
In this process I got interested in knowing about the Panji. So I got another link
Man Mohan Singh: an Analysis
Prime minister of our country is described as one who is leader of the ruling party or group. He has a cabinet of his choice to govern nation. Both of these are only on the paper. Even child on the street will say that He is not real leader. Recent cabinet reshuffle shows that he cannot even exercise his choice. From all discussion which is put forward shows. He planned to reshuffle for four month. He acts. Nothing is felt. So he says he has not yet acted and his real act will come later. We have to see how meaning full was his act and then we can assume about his future act too. If he has chosen his cabinet then he must take credit and blames for the same. It is often told that selecting cabinet is prerogative of PM. He chose Raja for telecom minister with knowledge of his wrong doing so he must take blame for the same.
The best word attributed to him is that he is honest person. By that it is meant that he has not done monitory malpractice. Since there is no evidence to counter that it can be accepted. But honesty is not the sole criteria of being PM. There are innumerable honest people in our country.
Another point being said about him as positive is that he has received praise from various country head. So he is popular among other countries many of them are rivals. That means they find him interesting. It is more suspicious. A weak leader of our nation will in interest of those nations. Apart from that we have had Nehru who wanted to improve his image among world leaders and kept on betting on Bharat in that process. It is doubted that he is doing it voluntarily.
More famously he is attributed for the economic reform. Indeed he was part of that process but the central figure of that were largely discredited Narshimha Rao, then PM. That was policy of Narsimha Rao. He picket up a bureaucrat called Mr Singh for implementation. Since Mr Singh is not a politician it was best option for him get into cabinetthrough Rajya Sabha. It is pity that he has not yet become politician. It must have been very easy for him to be elected as he is PM, though the approach would have been wrong.
The best word attributed to him is that he is honest person. By that it is meant that he has not done monitory malpractice. Since there is no evidence to counter that it can be accepted. But honesty is not the sole criteria of being PM. There are innumerable honest people in our country.
Another point being said about him as positive is that he has received praise from various country head. So he is popular among other countries many of them are rivals. That means they find him interesting. It is more suspicious. A weak leader of our nation will in interest of those nations. Apart from that we have had Nehru who wanted to improve his image among world leaders and kept on betting on Bharat in that process. It is doubted that he is doing it voluntarily.
More famously he is attributed for the economic reform. Indeed he was part of that process but the central figure of that were largely discredited Narshimha Rao, then PM. That was policy of Narsimha Rao. He picket up a bureaucrat called Mr Singh for implementation. Since Mr Singh is not a politician it was best option for him get into cabinetthrough Rajya Sabha. It is pity that he has not yet become politician. It must have been very easy for him to be elected as he is PM, though the approach would have been wrong.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Age of Aquarius
I was going through an article in The Pioneer by Manvendra Singh. He had written about Arab situation. In that he mentioned a phrase Age of Aquarius. That caught my curiosity. I went through Wikipedia and i found answer on one of those pages
I went through the page and what i could get idea is as followed
It is a physical phenomena. Viewed from earth The sun Seems to move from one constellation to another constellation to another due to the Earth`s precession movement. This seems to be of 26000 years and the Sun seems to be in one constellation for about 2610 years, there are certain disputes regarding this number.
This physical phenomena has effect on the human psychology, society and history at large. Astrologers say, and i quote from Wikipedia
Aquarius traditionally "rules" electricity, computers, flight, democracy, freedom, humanitarianism, idealists, modernization, astrology, nervous disorders, rebels and rebellion. Other keywords and ideas believed associated with Aquarius are nonconformity, philanthropy, veracity, perseverance, humanity and irresolution.
One must learn from Manavendra Singh about his way of linking various issues in very logical manner. Innovative indeed.
I went through the page and what i could get idea is as followed
It is a physical phenomena. Viewed from earth The sun Seems to move from one constellation to another constellation to another due to the Earth`s precession movement. This seems to be of 26000 years and the Sun seems to be in one constellation for about 2610 years, there are certain disputes regarding this number.
This physical phenomena has effect on the human psychology, society and history at large. Astrologers say, and i quote from Wikipedia
Aquarius traditionally "rules" electricity, computers, flight, democracy, freedom, humanitarianism, idealists, modernization, astrology, nervous disorders, rebels and rebellion. Other keywords and ideas believed associated with Aquarius are nonconformity, philanthropy, veracity, perseverance, humanity and irresolution.
One must learn from Manavendra Singh about his way of linking various issues in very logical manner. Innovative indeed.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
i read following lines in the wikipedia with the reference to Hidutwa.
...concerns were raised by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore in his essay, "The History of Bharatvarsha", in 1903. He calls the history books "nightmarish account of India". He writes that the British accounts of Indian history "throw a beam of artificial light on such a spot that in our own eyes the very profile of our country is made dark".
These inspiring lines lead me to go through that book. and here i found that book in one of the blogs.
I would like to highlight some points in this.
The history of India that we read and memorize for our examinations is really a nightmarish account of India. Some people arrive from somewhere and the pandemonium is let loose. And then it is a free-for-all: assault and counter-assault, blows and bloodletting. Father and son, brother and brother vie with each other for the throne. If one group condescends to leave, another group appears as if out of the blue; the Pathans and the Mughals, the Portuguese and the French and the English together have made this nightmare ever more complex.
But if Bharatavarsha is viewed with these passing frames of dreamlike scenes, smeared in red, overlaid on it, the real Bharatavarsha cannot be glimpsed. These histories do not answer the question, where were the people of India? As if the people of India did not exist, only those who maimed and killed alone existed.
It is not that this bloodletting and this carnage were the most important things in Bharatavarsha even in those miserable days. Despite its roar, the storm cannot be regarded as the most important event in a stormy day. In that day too, with sky overcast with dust, the most important thing for man was the flow of life and death and of happiness and sorrow that moves on in the countless village-homes, even though beclouded. But to an alien passer-by the storm is the most important thing; the cloud of dust devours everything else from his view. For he is not inside the home, he is outside. That’s why in the history narrated by the foreigners we get the accounts of the dust, of the storms, but we do not get even a word about the homes. Those histories make you feel that at that time Bharatavarsha did not exist at all; as though only the howling whirlwind of the Pathans and the Mughals holding aloft the banner of dry leaves had been moving round and round across the country from north to south and east to west.
However, while the lands of the aliens existed, there also existed the indigenous country. Otherwise, in the midst of all the turbulence, who gave birth to the likes of Kabir, Nanak, Chaitanya, and Tukaram? It was not that only Delhi and Agra existed then, there were also Kasi and Navadvipa. The current of life that was flowing then in the real Bharatavarsha, the ripples of efforts rising there and the social changes that were taking place — none of these find an account in our history textbooks.
But our real ties are with the Bharatavarsha that lies outside our textbooks. If the history of this tie for a substantially long period gets lost, our soul loses its anchorage. After all, we are no weeds or parasitical plants in India. Over many hundreds of years, it is our roots, hundreds and thousands of them, that have occupied the very heart of Bharatavarsha. But, unfortunately, we are obliged to learn a brand of history that makes our children forget this very fact. It appears as if we are nobody in India; as if those who came from outside alone matter.
From which quarter can we derive our life-sustenance when we learn that our tie with our own country is so insignificant? In such a situation we feel no hitch whatsoever in installing others’ countries in place of our own. We become incapable of feeling a mortifying sense of shame at the indignity of Bharatavarsha. We effortlessly keep on saying that we did not have anything worth the name in the past and thus for everything, from food and clothing to conduct and behaviour, we now have to beg from foreigners.
Fortunate countries find the everlasting image of their land in their own history. It is history that serves as the introduction to one’s own country during one’s childhood itself. In our case it is just the opposite thing that happens: it is the history of our country that has kept our own land obscured to us. From the invasion of Mahmud to the arrogant imperial declaration of Lord Curzon, all the historical annals till yesterday, are only a mass of strange mist for Bharatavarsha. These accounts do not give clarity to our vision of our motherland. In fact, these only serve to cloud it. These accounts throw a beam of artificial light on such a spot that in our own eyes the very profile of our country is made dark. And in that darkness the illumination of the pleasure chamber of the Nawab makes the dancing girl’s diamond ornaments gleam and the purple froth of the wineglass of the Badshah appears as the bloodshot sleepless eyes of excess and dissipation. In that darkness our ancient temples cover their heads and the peaks of the tombs of Sultans’ sweethearts fashioned in white marble and embellished with gorgeous craftsmanship haughtily bid to kiss the world of stars. The sound of galloping horses, the trumpet of elephants, the clang of weapons, the wavy grey of the vast array of army camps, the velvet covers flashing golden rays, the foamy bubble-shaped domes of masjids, the eerie hush of that abode of mystery — the inner apartments of the royal palaces with eunuch guards keeping vigil over them — the ensemble of all these strange sounds and colours and sentiments produce an enormous magical world in that darkness. What is the point in calling this the history of Bharatavarsha? All these have kept the Indian ancient text of eternal and beatific value (punyamantra) covered within the jacket of an Arabian-nights romance. Nobody any longer opens that book; and our children commit to memory every line of the Arabian-nights romance. And later, on the eve of its dissolution, as the Mughal Empire lay dying, it signalled the beginning of a spate of deception, treachery and murder, as though among a group of vultures coming from afar and descending on the crematorium. Is an account of this too the real history of Bharatavarsha? And then began the English rule with its five-yearly divisions like the crisscross houses on the chessboard. Bharatavarsha is even smaller there. In fact, the only difference it has with the chessboard is that here houses are not evenly distributed between black and white; here ninety percent are only white. For the sake of just a morsel of food we are now buying everything, from good governance to good legal system to good education, from a huge “Whiteway Ledle Store”. All other shops are now closed. It may be that from courts to commerce, everything relating to this concern is “good”, but in a corner of its clerical office the space assigned to Bharatavarsha is awfully small.
The superstition that history has to be similar in all countries must be abandoned. The person who has become hardboiled after going through the biography of Rothschilde, while dealing with the life of Christ is likely call for his account books and office diary. And if he fails to find them then he will form a very poor opinion of Christ and would say: “A fellow who was not worth even a nickel, how come he can have a biography?” Similarly, those who give up all hope of Indian history because they fail to find the royal genealogies and accounts of the conquests and defeats in the “Indian official record room” and say, “How can there be any history when there is no politics?” are like people who look for aubergine in paddy fields. And when they do not find it there, in their frustration they refuse to count paddy as a variety of grains at all. All fields do not yield the same crop. One who knows this and thus looks for the proper crop in the proper field is a truly wise person.
An examination of Christ’s account book may lead one to a poor opinion of him, but when one inquires into other aspects of his life the account books become utterly irrelevant. Similarly, if we view from a special perspective with the full knowledge that in matters of politics Bharatavarsha has been deficient, this deficiency cannot be dismissed as of no consequence. By not viewing Bharatavarsha from Bharatavarsha’s own perspective, since our very childhood we learn to demean her and in consequence we get demeaned ourselves. An English boy knows that his ancestors won many wars, conquered many lands and did extensive trade and commerce: he too wants to be an heir to the glory of war, of wealth, of success in commerce. We learn that our ancestors did not conquer other countries and did not extend trade and commerce: to make just this fact known is the very purpose of the history of India. What our ancestors did we do not know; therefore we also do not know what we ought to aim for. Therefore we have to imitate others. Whom should we blame for this? The way we get our education since our very childhood, with every passing day we get increasingly alienated from our own country till a sense of rebellion against the land of our birth overtakes our mind.
Even the educated people in our country are often dismayed and are found asking every now and then, “What do you mean by our country? What distinctive attitude marks it out? Where is that located now? Where was it located before?” We cannot have answers to these merely by raising questions. Because the issue is so subtle and so vast it cannot be comprehended through mere arguments. Neither the English nor the French, or for that matter, the natives of any country can answer in one word the question: what is the distinctive attitude of one’s own country or where is the real location of its spirit? Like the life inside the body this spirit is a directly perceptible reality. And like life, it is extremely difficult to fathom it through logical definitions. Since the very childhood it enters our being through diverse avenues in diverse forms; and it finds passage into our knowledge, our love, our imagination. With its wonderful powers it unobtrusively fashions us; it does not allow the growth of a barrier separating our past from the present. It is by the grace of it that we are not delimited, we are not atomized. How can we give expression in a few words of logical precision to this primordial and hidden spirit endowed with wonderful vigour, in order to satisfy the sceptic inquirer?
What is the chief significance of Bharatavarsha? If a precise answer to this question is sought, the answer is available. And the history of Bharatavarsha upholds that answer. We find that a single objective has always been motivating Bharatavarsha. This objective has been to establish unity among diversity, to make various paths move towards one goal, to experience the One-in-many as the innermost reality, to pursue with total certitude that supreme principle of inner unity which runs through the differences. It has also been her endeavour to achieve these without destroying the distinctions that appear in the external world.
The ability to perceive this oneness in diversity and to strive to extend unity are the native characteristics of Bharatavarsha. It is this quality that has made her indifferent to political glory. For, it is the mode of conflict that forms the basis of political achievements. Those who do not wholeheartedly regard others as truly outsiders cannot accept the achievement of political glory as the supreme goal of life. The urge that impels one to establish oneself against others is the foundation of political achievement. And the endeavour to form communion with others, and the effort to harmonize divergences and contradictions within one’s own fold are the basis of ethical and social advancement. The kind of unity that the European civilization has opted for is discord-centred; the kind of unity that Bharatavarshiya civilization has opted for is concord-centred. Although the noose of discord that the political unity of European kind wears around its neck is able to keep it arrayed in a tight pull against others, it is unable to provide harmony to its own self. And because of this, the antagonism and distance between man and man, between rulers and the ruled, between the rich and the poor are constantly kept alive. It is not that these various sections carry in harmony the whole society together with their distinctive roles in their respective spheres. In fact, they remain mutually antagonistic. The constant and ever alert effort of each section is to try its utmost to prevent the increase of power of other groups. Where everybody is thus engaged in pressing and jostling, equilibrium of power is not possible. There, numerical strength acquires ascendancy over excellence and collective accumulation of wealth from commerce overwhelms the householders’ savings. Thus the social equilibrium is lost. And in an attempt to keep these mutually antagonistic and repugnant parts somehow cobbled together, the government keeps on enacting law after law. This is inevitable; for, when discord is the seed, the harvest too would only be discord. The well-nourished and luxuriant thing that is seen in between is only the sprightly and strong tree bearing the fruit of discord.
Bharatavarsha has endeavoured to knit together in ties of relationships diverse elements, even if these elements are disparate. Where there are real differences, it is only by ordering the differences and assigning the differences to their proper places and by reining them in that unity can be really achieved. Merely enacting a law to the effect that henceforth everybody is united does not bring about unity. The only way to knit together in ties of relationships those who cannot be unified is to distribute them over different areas of special preserves. If the incompatibles are artificially forced into a unity, through force again they split. And the break-up is accompanied by shattering events. Bharatavarsha knew the secrets of integration. The French Revolution had the haughtiness to think that it would wipe off all differences among men with blood. But it has produced the very opposite results. In Europe, the rulers and the ruled, the wealthy and the common people, all the repositories of power, are gradually becoming fiercely antagonistic to each other. The goal of Bharatavarsha too had been to tie everybody in a bond of unity; but the method she adopted was different. Bharatavarsha tried to delimit and demarcate each of the antagonistic and competitive forces of the society and make the body-social fit for both functional unity as well as diversities of occupations. She did not allow conflict and disorder to remain ever active by giving room to constant attempts at overstepping the area of one’s own rights. She has not made the duties and works, the home and the hearth and everything else subject to a terrible vortex of sullied directionlessness by driving all the energy of the society to the single path of twenty-four-hour fierce competition. To discover the heart of unity and to achieve integration and to secure the space for attaining the ultimate fulfilment and liberation in peace and stability were the quests of Bharatavarsha.
Providence has pulled in diverse people onto the lap of Bharatavarsha. Since antiquity Bharatavarsha has been provided with the opportunity to put into practice the special talent her people were endowed with. Bharatavarsha has forever been engaged in constructing with varied material the foundation of a unifying civilization. And a unified civilization is the highest goal of all human civilizations. She has not driven away anybody as alien, she has not expelled anybody as inferior, she has not scorned anything as odd. Bharatavarsha has adopted all, accepted everybody. And when so much is accepted, it becomes necessary to establish one’s own code and fix regulation over the assorted collections. It is not possible to leave them unrestrained like animals fighting each other. They have to be appropriately distributed into separate autonomous divisions while keeping them bound on a fundamental principle of unity. The component might have come from outside but the arrangement and the fundamental idea behind it were Bharatavarsha’s own. Europe wants to make the society safe by driving away the strangers, by decimating them. Specimen of this behaviour can be seen even now in America, in Australia, in New Zealand, in the Cape Colony. The reason for this is that they lack a proper sense of cohesion within their own social fabric. They have not been able to give appropriate places to the various communities of their own and many a limbs of their own societies have become burdensome to them. In such a situation where would they find room for outsiders? Where one’s own relatives are ready to create trouble, there the outsiders would never be offered hospitality. A society that has order and has a principle of unity and where everybody has one’s own demarcated place and rights, only in such a society is it easy to accommodate others as one’s own. There are two ways of dealing with others: either by thrashing and killing and driving them away and thus making one’s own society and civilization safe or by providing them proper places in one’s own system and by disciplining them with one’s own customs. While Europe by adopting the former method has kept alive its antagonism to the whole world and remaining ever ready to strike, Bharatavarsha by adopting the latter method has been trying slowly and gradually to make everybody her own. If Dharma deserves reverence, if Dharma is regarded as the highest ideal of human civilization, then the superiority of the method of Bharatavarsha has to be accepted.
It needs talent to make outsiders one’s own. The ability to enter others’ beings and the magic power of making the stranger completely one’s own, these are the qualities native to genius. That genius we find in Bharatavarsha. Bharatavarsha has unhesitatingly entered other’s beings, and has effortlessly accepted things from others. Bharatavarsha was not frightened at the sight of what is termed by foreigners as idolatry and did not sneer at it. Bharatavarsha has adopted even grotesque elements from communities like the Sabara, Pulinda, Vyadha, etc., and has infused her own philosophy into these elements and has given expression to her spirituality through them. Bharatavarsha has not discarded anything and has made everyone her own after accepting him or her.
Not only in social organization, but also in the area of faith and belief we notice the same trend of the building of unity and harmony. The effort to establish harmony between knowledge, action and devotion that we see in the Gita is a trait that belongs especially to Bharatavarsha. It is impossible to translate into Indian language the expression called “religion” that exists in Europe, for within the domain of faith Bharatavarsha has resisted the dividing of the mind. Our intellect, our belief, our conduct, all that we hold dear in this world and in the next, all of these together constitute our Dharma. Bharatavarsha has not divided the faith into the pigeonholes of “everyday use” and “formal occasions”. For example, the life-force that courses through various limbs of the body like hands, feet, head, stomach, etc., is really the same entity and is not divisible as the life in hand, the life in feet, and so on. Similarly, Bharatavarsha did not slice the Dharma into various pieces like the Dharma of belief, the Dharma of conduct, the Dharma of Sunday, the Dharma of other six days, the Dharma of the Church, the Dharma of the home, etc. The Dharma of Bharatavarsha is the Dharma of the entire society. It has its roots struck into the earth while its head soars into the sky. Bharatavarsha has not looked upon the roots and the top as disjoined parts. Bharatavarsha has looked upon Dharma as one magnificent tree stretching from the earth to the heavens and covering the entire life of man.
Amongst the civilizations of the world Bharatavarsha stands as an ideal of the endeavour to unify the diverse. Her history will bear this out. Amidst many travails and obstacles, fortunes and misfortunes Bharatavarsha has been seeking to experience the One in the universe as well as in one’s own soul and to place that One in the variegated, to discover that One through knowledge, to establish that One through action, to internalize that One through love, to exemplify that One through one’s own life. When through the study of her history we would be able to realize this everlasting spirit of Bharata, then the rupture of our present with the past will disappear.
...concerns were raised by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore in his essay, "The History of Bharatvarsha", in 1903. He calls the history books "nightmarish account of India". He writes that the British accounts of Indian history "throw a beam of artificial light on such a spot that in our own eyes the very profile of our country is made dark".
These inspiring lines lead me to go through that book. and here i found that book in one of the blogs.
I would like to highlight some points in this.
The history of India that we read and memorize for our examinations is really a nightmarish account of India. Some people arrive from somewhere and the pandemonium is let loose. And then it is a free-for-all: assault and counter-assault, blows and bloodletting. Father and son, brother and brother vie with each other for the throne. If one group condescends to leave, another group appears as if out of the blue; the Pathans and the Mughals, the Portuguese and the French and the English together have made this nightmare ever more complex.
But if Bharatavarsha is viewed with these passing frames of dreamlike scenes, smeared in red, overlaid on it, the real Bharatavarsha cannot be glimpsed. These histories do not answer the question, where were the people of India? As if the people of India did not exist, only those who maimed and killed alone existed.
It is not that this bloodletting and this carnage were the most important things in Bharatavarsha even in those miserable days. Despite its roar, the storm cannot be regarded as the most important event in a stormy day. In that day too, with sky overcast with dust, the most important thing for man was the flow of life and death and of happiness and sorrow that moves on in the countless village-homes, even though beclouded. But to an alien passer-by the storm is the most important thing; the cloud of dust devours everything else from his view. For he is not inside the home, he is outside. That’s why in the history narrated by the foreigners we get the accounts of the dust, of the storms, but we do not get even a word about the homes. Those histories make you feel that at that time Bharatavarsha did not exist at all; as though only the howling whirlwind of the Pathans and the Mughals holding aloft the banner of dry leaves had been moving round and round across the country from north to south and east to west.
However, while the lands of the aliens existed, there also existed the indigenous country. Otherwise, in the midst of all the turbulence, who gave birth to the likes of Kabir, Nanak, Chaitanya, and Tukaram? It was not that only Delhi and Agra existed then, there were also Kasi and Navadvipa. The current of life that was flowing then in the real Bharatavarsha, the ripples of efforts rising there and the social changes that were taking place — none of these find an account in our history textbooks.
But our real ties are with the Bharatavarsha that lies outside our textbooks. If the history of this tie for a substantially long period gets lost, our soul loses its anchorage. After all, we are no weeds or parasitical plants in India. Over many hundreds of years, it is our roots, hundreds and thousands of them, that have occupied the very heart of Bharatavarsha. But, unfortunately, we are obliged to learn a brand of history that makes our children forget this very fact. It appears as if we are nobody in India; as if those who came from outside alone matter.
From which quarter can we derive our life-sustenance when we learn that our tie with our own country is so insignificant? In such a situation we feel no hitch whatsoever in installing others’ countries in place of our own. We become incapable of feeling a mortifying sense of shame at the indignity of Bharatavarsha. We effortlessly keep on saying that we did not have anything worth the name in the past and thus for everything, from food and clothing to conduct and behaviour, we now have to beg from foreigners.
Fortunate countries find the everlasting image of their land in their own history. It is history that serves as the introduction to one’s own country during one’s childhood itself. In our case it is just the opposite thing that happens: it is the history of our country that has kept our own land obscured to us. From the invasion of Mahmud to the arrogant imperial declaration of Lord Curzon, all the historical annals till yesterday, are only a mass of strange mist for Bharatavarsha. These accounts do not give clarity to our vision of our motherland. In fact, these only serve to cloud it. These accounts throw a beam of artificial light on such a spot that in our own eyes the very profile of our country is made dark. And in that darkness the illumination of the pleasure chamber of the Nawab makes the dancing girl’s diamond ornaments gleam and the purple froth of the wineglass of the Badshah appears as the bloodshot sleepless eyes of excess and dissipation. In that darkness our ancient temples cover their heads and the peaks of the tombs of Sultans’ sweethearts fashioned in white marble and embellished with gorgeous craftsmanship haughtily bid to kiss the world of stars. The sound of galloping horses, the trumpet of elephants, the clang of weapons, the wavy grey of the vast array of army camps, the velvet covers flashing golden rays, the foamy bubble-shaped domes of masjids, the eerie hush of that abode of mystery — the inner apartments of the royal palaces with eunuch guards keeping vigil over them — the ensemble of all these strange sounds and colours and sentiments produce an enormous magical world in that darkness. What is the point in calling this the history of Bharatavarsha? All these have kept the Indian ancient text of eternal and beatific value (punyamantra) covered within the jacket of an Arabian-nights romance. Nobody any longer opens that book; and our children commit to memory every line of the Arabian-nights romance. And later, on the eve of its dissolution, as the Mughal Empire lay dying, it signalled the beginning of a spate of deception, treachery and murder, as though among a group of vultures coming from afar and descending on the crematorium. Is an account of this too the real history of Bharatavarsha? And then began the English rule with its five-yearly divisions like the crisscross houses on the chessboard. Bharatavarsha is even smaller there. In fact, the only difference it has with the chessboard is that here houses are not evenly distributed between black and white; here ninety percent are only white. For the sake of just a morsel of food we are now buying everything, from good governance to good legal system to good education, from a huge “Whiteway Ledle Store”. All other shops are now closed. It may be that from courts to commerce, everything relating to this concern is “good”, but in a corner of its clerical office the space assigned to Bharatavarsha is awfully small.
The superstition that history has to be similar in all countries must be abandoned. The person who has become hardboiled after going through the biography of Rothschilde, while dealing with the life of Christ is likely call for his account books and office diary. And if he fails to find them then he will form a very poor opinion of Christ and would say: “A fellow who was not worth even a nickel, how come he can have a biography?” Similarly, those who give up all hope of Indian history because they fail to find the royal genealogies and accounts of the conquests and defeats in the “Indian official record room” and say, “How can there be any history when there is no politics?” are like people who look for aubergine in paddy fields. And when they do not find it there, in their frustration they refuse to count paddy as a variety of grains at all. All fields do not yield the same crop. One who knows this and thus looks for the proper crop in the proper field is a truly wise person.
An examination of Christ’s account book may lead one to a poor opinion of him, but when one inquires into other aspects of his life the account books become utterly irrelevant. Similarly, if we view from a special perspective with the full knowledge that in matters of politics Bharatavarsha has been deficient, this deficiency cannot be dismissed as of no consequence. By not viewing Bharatavarsha from Bharatavarsha’s own perspective, since our very childhood we learn to demean her and in consequence we get demeaned ourselves. An English boy knows that his ancestors won many wars, conquered many lands and did extensive trade and commerce: he too wants to be an heir to the glory of war, of wealth, of success in commerce. We learn that our ancestors did not conquer other countries and did not extend trade and commerce: to make just this fact known is the very purpose of the history of India. What our ancestors did we do not know; therefore we also do not know what we ought to aim for. Therefore we have to imitate others. Whom should we blame for this? The way we get our education since our very childhood, with every passing day we get increasingly alienated from our own country till a sense of rebellion against the land of our birth overtakes our mind.
Even the educated people in our country are often dismayed and are found asking every now and then, “What do you mean by our country? What distinctive attitude marks it out? Where is that located now? Where was it located before?” We cannot have answers to these merely by raising questions. Because the issue is so subtle and so vast it cannot be comprehended through mere arguments. Neither the English nor the French, or for that matter, the natives of any country can answer in one word the question: what is the distinctive attitude of one’s own country or where is the real location of its spirit? Like the life inside the body this spirit is a directly perceptible reality. And like life, it is extremely difficult to fathom it through logical definitions. Since the very childhood it enters our being through diverse avenues in diverse forms; and it finds passage into our knowledge, our love, our imagination. With its wonderful powers it unobtrusively fashions us; it does not allow the growth of a barrier separating our past from the present. It is by the grace of it that we are not delimited, we are not atomized. How can we give expression in a few words of logical precision to this primordial and hidden spirit endowed with wonderful vigour, in order to satisfy the sceptic inquirer?
What is the chief significance of Bharatavarsha? If a precise answer to this question is sought, the answer is available. And the history of Bharatavarsha upholds that answer. We find that a single objective has always been motivating Bharatavarsha. This objective has been to establish unity among diversity, to make various paths move towards one goal, to experience the One-in-many as the innermost reality, to pursue with total certitude that supreme principle of inner unity which runs through the differences. It has also been her endeavour to achieve these without destroying the distinctions that appear in the external world.
The ability to perceive this oneness in diversity and to strive to extend unity are the native characteristics of Bharatavarsha. It is this quality that has made her indifferent to political glory. For, it is the mode of conflict that forms the basis of political achievements. Those who do not wholeheartedly regard others as truly outsiders cannot accept the achievement of political glory as the supreme goal of life. The urge that impels one to establish oneself against others is the foundation of political achievement. And the endeavour to form communion with others, and the effort to harmonize divergences and contradictions within one’s own fold are the basis of ethical and social advancement. The kind of unity that the European civilization has opted for is discord-centred; the kind of unity that Bharatavarshiya civilization has opted for is concord-centred. Although the noose of discord that the political unity of European kind wears around its neck is able to keep it arrayed in a tight pull against others, it is unable to provide harmony to its own self. And because of this, the antagonism and distance between man and man, between rulers and the ruled, between the rich and the poor are constantly kept alive. It is not that these various sections carry in harmony the whole society together with their distinctive roles in their respective spheres. In fact, they remain mutually antagonistic. The constant and ever alert effort of each section is to try its utmost to prevent the increase of power of other groups. Where everybody is thus engaged in pressing and jostling, equilibrium of power is not possible. There, numerical strength acquires ascendancy over excellence and collective accumulation of wealth from commerce overwhelms the householders’ savings. Thus the social equilibrium is lost. And in an attempt to keep these mutually antagonistic and repugnant parts somehow cobbled together, the government keeps on enacting law after law. This is inevitable; for, when discord is the seed, the harvest too would only be discord. The well-nourished and luxuriant thing that is seen in between is only the sprightly and strong tree bearing the fruit of discord.
Bharatavarsha has endeavoured to knit together in ties of relationships diverse elements, even if these elements are disparate. Where there are real differences, it is only by ordering the differences and assigning the differences to their proper places and by reining them in that unity can be really achieved. Merely enacting a law to the effect that henceforth everybody is united does not bring about unity. The only way to knit together in ties of relationships those who cannot be unified is to distribute them over different areas of special preserves. If the incompatibles are artificially forced into a unity, through force again they split. And the break-up is accompanied by shattering events. Bharatavarsha knew the secrets of integration. The French Revolution had the haughtiness to think that it would wipe off all differences among men with blood. But it has produced the very opposite results. In Europe, the rulers and the ruled, the wealthy and the common people, all the repositories of power, are gradually becoming fiercely antagonistic to each other. The goal of Bharatavarsha too had been to tie everybody in a bond of unity; but the method she adopted was different. Bharatavarsha tried to delimit and demarcate each of the antagonistic and competitive forces of the society and make the body-social fit for both functional unity as well as diversities of occupations. She did not allow conflict and disorder to remain ever active by giving room to constant attempts at overstepping the area of one’s own rights. She has not made the duties and works, the home and the hearth and everything else subject to a terrible vortex of sullied directionlessness by driving all the energy of the society to the single path of twenty-four-hour fierce competition. To discover the heart of unity and to achieve integration and to secure the space for attaining the ultimate fulfilment and liberation in peace and stability were the quests of Bharatavarsha.
Providence has pulled in diverse people onto the lap of Bharatavarsha. Since antiquity Bharatavarsha has been provided with the opportunity to put into practice the special talent her people were endowed with. Bharatavarsha has forever been engaged in constructing with varied material the foundation of a unifying civilization. And a unified civilization is the highest goal of all human civilizations. She has not driven away anybody as alien, she has not expelled anybody as inferior, she has not scorned anything as odd. Bharatavarsha has adopted all, accepted everybody. And when so much is accepted, it becomes necessary to establish one’s own code and fix regulation over the assorted collections. It is not possible to leave them unrestrained like animals fighting each other. They have to be appropriately distributed into separate autonomous divisions while keeping them bound on a fundamental principle of unity. The component might have come from outside but the arrangement and the fundamental idea behind it were Bharatavarsha’s own. Europe wants to make the society safe by driving away the strangers, by decimating them. Specimen of this behaviour can be seen even now in America, in Australia, in New Zealand, in the Cape Colony. The reason for this is that they lack a proper sense of cohesion within their own social fabric. They have not been able to give appropriate places to the various communities of their own and many a limbs of their own societies have become burdensome to them. In such a situation where would they find room for outsiders? Where one’s own relatives are ready to create trouble, there the outsiders would never be offered hospitality. A society that has order and has a principle of unity and where everybody has one’s own demarcated place and rights, only in such a society is it easy to accommodate others as one’s own. There are two ways of dealing with others: either by thrashing and killing and driving them away and thus making one’s own society and civilization safe or by providing them proper places in one’s own system and by disciplining them with one’s own customs. While Europe by adopting the former method has kept alive its antagonism to the whole world and remaining ever ready to strike, Bharatavarsha by adopting the latter method has been trying slowly and gradually to make everybody her own. If Dharma deserves reverence, if Dharma is regarded as the highest ideal of human civilization, then the superiority of the method of Bharatavarsha has to be accepted.
It needs talent to make outsiders one’s own. The ability to enter others’ beings and the magic power of making the stranger completely one’s own, these are the qualities native to genius. That genius we find in Bharatavarsha. Bharatavarsha has unhesitatingly entered other’s beings, and has effortlessly accepted things from others. Bharatavarsha was not frightened at the sight of what is termed by foreigners as idolatry and did not sneer at it. Bharatavarsha has adopted even grotesque elements from communities like the Sabara, Pulinda, Vyadha, etc., and has infused her own philosophy into these elements and has given expression to her spirituality through them. Bharatavarsha has not discarded anything and has made everyone her own after accepting him or her.
Not only in social organization, but also in the area of faith and belief we notice the same trend of the building of unity and harmony. The effort to establish harmony between knowledge, action and devotion that we see in the Gita is a trait that belongs especially to Bharatavarsha. It is impossible to translate into Indian language the expression called “religion” that exists in Europe, for within the domain of faith Bharatavarsha has resisted the dividing of the mind. Our intellect, our belief, our conduct, all that we hold dear in this world and in the next, all of these together constitute our Dharma. Bharatavarsha has not divided the faith into the pigeonholes of “everyday use” and “formal occasions”. For example, the life-force that courses through various limbs of the body like hands, feet, head, stomach, etc., is really the same entity and is not divisible as the life in hand, the life in feet, and so on. Similarly, Bharatavarsha did not slice the Dharma into various pieces like the Dharma of belief, the Dharma of conduct, the Dharma of Sunday, the Dharma of other six days, the Dharma of the Church, the Dharma of the home, etc. The Dharma of Bharatavarsha is the Dharma of the entire society. It has its roots struck into the earth while its head soars into the sky. Bharatavarsha has not looked upon the roots and the top as disjoined parts. Bharatavarsha has looked upon Dharma as one magnificent tree stretching from the earth to the heavens and covering the entire life of man.
Amongst the civilizations of the world Bharatavarsha stands as an ideal of the endeavour to unify the diverse. Her history will bear this out. Amidst many travails and obstacles, fortunes and misfortunes Bharatavarsha has been seeking to experience the One in the universe as well as in one’s own soul and to place that One in the variegated, to discover that One through knowledge, to establish that One through action, to internalize that One through love, to exemplify that One through one’s own life. When through the study of her history we would be able to realize this everlasting spirit of Bharata, then the rupture of our present with the past will disappear.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Technology and developement
There is a report by Government regarding hazard of mobile usage.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mobiles-pose-health-risk-says-govt-panel/articleshow/7415288.cms
This is not strange to me. About a month back there was report of falling birds. I had written an article about that. it should be looked in context. What happened to those birds in US can happen elsewhere too.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mobiles-pose-health-risk-says-govt-panel/articleshow/7415288.cms
This is not strange to me. About a month back there was report of falling birds. I had written an article about that. it should be looked in context. What happened to those birds in US can happen elsewhere too.
V Sreedharan: A Case to Follow
I have found a news report in The Indian express.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kerala-official-found-hanging-had-blown-whistle-on-corruption/745537/1
This appears to be another typical case of killing a whistle blower. Other news sources also reported this.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kerala-Witness-in-corruption-case-hang-self-with-2-kids/articleshow/7364061.cms
It seems Govt has agreed to CBI probe but i think it should be court monitored probe, otherwise we dont think any thing worthwhile will come out.
Another link of One India news there was some more information.
http://news.oneindia.in/2011/02/02/pleafor-cbi-probe-into-saseendrans-and-childrensdeath-aid0126.html
High lights are as following with sources in parenthesis)
There is death reported. (IE, OI and TOI)
Police Reported it as suicide. (detailed by TOI)
Relatives talk of pressure from police (OI)
Postmortem indicate he was killed. Further investigation needed. (IE)
He had resigned from PSU. (IE)
He had retracted allegation against officials. (IE)
He had leveled allegations against his company officials. He complained of threat confirmed by his wife. (IE and OI)
The PSU was going in loss for past many years. There were links to the IUML party.
Toady (Feb 8th) I find another development in the case reported in The Pioneer.
http://dailypioneer.com/316157/Kerala-wants-CBI-to-probe-ex-PSU-man-kids%E2%80%99-death.html
Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Monday told the State Assembly that the Government would demand a CBI probe into the mysterious death of Saseendran (45), former company secretary of public sector Malabar Cements Limited (MCL) and whistleblower on corruption in the company, and his kids Vivek (10) and Vyas (8).
A special police team was presently investigating the deaths and the Government’s move would silence the Congress-led Opposition UDF which had been demanding a CBI probe all this while. Several leaders of the UDF had alleged that the key suspect in the incident had connections with leaders of the ruling CPI(M).
Replying to a submission from CPI(M) member M Chandran, the Minister said that the Government was favouring a CBI probe into the incident as there was mystery behind it and it was necessary to remove all doubts. Saseendran and his two children were found dead at their residence in Palakkad on the night of January 24.
Saseendran’s wife Tina had last week approached the Kerala High Court seeking CBI probe into the deaths. Following this, the special investigation team had initiated cases against industrialist VM Radhakrishnan, who was also a contractor with MCL, company managing director Sundara Moorthy and his personal secretary Suryanarayanan for incitement to suicide.
However, Tina in her petition in the High Court and her letter to the Chief Minister said that the crime of the trio was of a worse nature. According to her, the three, especially Radhakrishnan, used to threaten Saseendran that they would not let the family live in peace ever since he had written a letter to the Chief Minister on the corruption in MCL.
Saseendran had written to the Chief Minister in September last but he resigned from the company the following month, allegedly due to harassment from the people behind the corruption. Tina said that the trio used to issue threats to Saseendran saying that they would force him to commit suicide along with all the family members.
Industrialist Radhakrishnan and Suryanarayanan on Monday filed applications for anticipatory bail with the District and Sessions Court, Palakkad through their counsels. Radhakrishnan was reportedly absconding after various organizations demanded his immediate arrest.
When Tina leveled allegations against Radhakrishnan in connection with the death of her husband and kids, he had responded by saying that Saseendran had committed suicide due to her harassment. Radhakrishnan, who runs several bars and other businesses, is known to be a close associate of leaders of both the ruling CPI(M) and the Opposition UDF. There are even allegations that Radhakrishnan is running benami businesses for leaders from both camps.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kerala-official-found-hanging-had-blown-whistle-on-corruption/745537/1
This appears to be another typical case of killing a whistle blower. Other news sources also reported this.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kerala-Witness-in-corruption-case-hang-self-with-2-kids/articleshow/7364061.cms
It seems Govt has agreed to CBI probe but i think it should be court monitored probe, otherwise we dont think any thing worthwhile will come out.
Another link of One India news there was some more information.
http://news.oneindia.in/2011/02/02/pleafor-cbi-probe-into-saseendrans-and-childrensdeath-aid0126.html
High lights are as following with sources in parenthesis)
There is death reported. (IE, OI and TOI)
Police Reported it as suicide. (detailed by TOI)
Relatives talk of pressure from police (OI)
Postmortem indicate he was killed. Further investigation needed. (IE)
He had resigned from PSU. (IE)
He had retracted allegation against officials. (IE)
He had leveled allegations against his company officials. He complained of threat confirmed by his wife. (IE and OI)
The PSU was going in loss for past many years. There were links to the IUML party.
Toady (Feb 8th) I find another development in the case reported in The Pioneer.
http://dailypioneer.com/316157/Kerala-wants-CBI-to-probe-ex-PSU-man-kids%E2%80%99-death.html
Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Monday told the State Assembly that the Government would demand a CBI probe into the mysterious death of Saseendran (45), former company secretary of public sector Malabar Cements Limited (MCL) and whistleblower on corruption in the company, and his kids Vivek (10) and Vyas (8).
A special police team was presently investigating the deaths and the Government’s move would silence the Congress-led Opposition UDF which had been demanding a CBI probe all this while. Several leaders of the UDF had alleged that the key suspect in the incident had connections with leaders of the ruling CPI(M).
Replying to a submission from CPI(M) member M Chandran, the Minister said that the Government was favouring a CBI probe into the incident as there was mystery behind it and it was necessary to remove all doubts. Saseendran and his two children were found dead at their residence in Palakkad on the night of January 24.
Saseendran’s wife Tina had last week approached the Kerala High Court seeking CBI probe into the deaths. Following this, the special investigation team had initiated cases against industrialist VM Radhakrishnan, who was also a contractor with MCL, company managing director Sundara Moorthy and his personal secretary Suryanarayanan for incitement to suicide.
However, Tina in her petition in the High Court and her letter to the Chief Minister said that the crime of the trio was of a worse nature. According to her, the three, especially Radhakrishnan, used to threaten Saseendran that they would not let the family live in peace ever since he had written a letter to the Chief Minister on the corruption in MCL.
Saseendran had written to the Chief Minister in September last but he resigned from the company the following month, allegedly due to harassment from the people behind the corruption. Tina said that the trio used to issue threats to Saseendran saying that they would force him to commit suicide along with all the family members.
Industrialist Radhakrishnan and Suryanarayanan on Monday filed applications for anticipatory bail with the District and Sessions Court, Palakkad through their counsels. Radhakrishnan was reportedly absconding after various organizations demanded his immediate arrest.
When Tina leveled allegations against Radhakrishnan in connection with the death of her husband and kids, he had responded by saying that Saseendran had committed suicide due to her harassment. Radhakrishnan, who runs several bars and other businesses, is known to be a close associate of leaders of both the ruling CPI(M) and the Opposition UDF. There are even allegations that Radhakrishnan is running benami businesses for leaders from both camps.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
My suggestion to revival of BJP in Bengal
There are few serious points to note for advancement if Bengal.
1. There should be a visible leader to lead the group. Without that there will not be much to expect. There are Modi is Gujrat, Raman in Chattisgarh, Chauhan in MP and Yeddurappa in Karnataka. Who is in Bengal? A person who has say at national level and strong in regional level will the ideal.
2. Identity should be established through some known figure. Subhas Chandra Bose should be the ideal for this. There is no denial that he had caught imagination of nation. He still pulls string of hearts. Contribution of Shyama Prasad Mukherji should be known to the people. People should feel proud of the past.
3. Bengali intellectuals, for whom Bengal is famous for, from all over the nation, who are in support of ideology should start writing. They hold power to the head.
4. Mamta is undeniable force in this poll. Her image should be made clear. She is partner is profit and stranger in the loss. Being a cabinet minister she is entitled to defend moves of government. She can has left NDA and may leave UPA too when opportunity arrives. They are political outfits so it will be accepted, but her association with Maoist now and dissociation from them after formation of government will not be tolerated similarly. Party cadre and the state machinery will have to bear the brunt of present patronage. So the support of out come is not much different from what is situation now. People should be made aware of the alternative ideology available to them.
1. There should be a visible leader to lead the group. Without that there will not be much to expect. There are Modi is Gujrat, Raman in Chattisgarh, Chauhan in MP and Yeddurappa in Karnataka. Who is in Bengal? A person who has say at national level and strong in regional level will the ideal.
2. Identity should be established through some known figure. Subhas Chandra Bose should be the ideal for this. There is no denial that he had caught imagination of nation. He still pulls string of hearts. Contribution of Shyama Prasad Mukherji should be known to the people. People should feel proud of the past.
3. Bengali intellectuals, for whom Bengal is famous for, from all over the nation, who are in support of ideology should start writing. They hold power to the head.
4. Mamta is undeniable force in this poll. Her image should be made clear. She is partner is profit and stranger in the loss. Being a cabinet minister she is entitled to defend moves of government. She can has left NDA and may leave UPA too when opportunity arrives. They are political outfits so it will be accepted, but her association with Maoist now and dissociation from them after formation of government will not be tolerated similarly. Party cadre and the state machinery will have to bear the brunt of present patronage. So the support of out come is not much different from what is situation now. People should be made aware of the alternative ideology available to them.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
New looks at Agni pariksha
I was listening to the incident of Agni pariksha of Mother Sita after her coming out of Lanka.
I was thinking of a different way of looking at the matter. Lord Rama was going to become King of Ayodhya. By the same virtue Sita would become queen. It is too be understood that there were different set of Dharma for Rakshasa people and humans. MotherSita should be considered as the one who had been taken as prisoner in the enemy camp. When a soldier is taken a prisoner of war there are chances that he may change change his alliance during that period of confinement. when they return they cannot join the rank so easily. they have to pass certain test. Soldier understand that procedure. Now the question can be asked will that same rule apply for Mother Sita. Lord was very strict with his own people when it came to following of Dharma. He did not listen to the lament of his father and even words of elders which were comingin his way of following Dharma. Later it is shown that just to uphold Dharma he did not spare Mother Sita, who was carrying twins, and ordered her to move away from palace. So the Agni Pariksha should be seen as the one of following the Dharma of an army commander receieving people from enemy camp.
People may think that Agni pariksha is too harsh a test. But the way conversation is goes on in that context nobody tells that Ram wants to kill Mother Sita. This makes it appear that it was one of the very severe kind of test reserved for proving integrity of character. That must have been other example regarding that in those time. Like Narco test or lie ditector test which are carried out in present day.
Question was not that Ram believed Her or not. It must have been like affidavit produced before society for purity of character.
That is what i can understand from understanding of present day.
I was thinking of a different way of looking at the matter. Lord Rama was going to become King of Ayodhya. By the same virtue Sita would become queen. It is too be understood that there were different set of Dharma for Rakshasa people and humans. MotherSita should be considered as the one who had been taken as prisoner in the enemy camp. When a soldier is taken a prisoner of war there are chances that he may change change his alliance during that period of confinement. when they return they cannot join the rank so easily. they have to pass certain test. Soldier understand that procedure. Now the question can be asked will that same rule apply for Mother Sita. Lord was very strict with his own people when it came to following of Dharma. He did not listen to the lament of his father and even words of elders which were comingin his way of following Dharma. Later it is shown that just to uphold Dharma he did not spare Mother Sita, who was carrying twins, and ordered her to move away from palace. So the Agni Pariksha should be seen as the one of following the Dharma of an army commander receieving people from enemy camp.
People may think that Agni pariksha is too harsh a test. But the way conversation is goes on in that context nobody tells that Ram wants to kill Mother Sita. This makes it appear that it was one of the very severe kind of test reserved for proving integrity of character. That must have been other example regarding that in those time. Like Narco test or lie ditector test which are carried out in present day.
Question was not that Ram believed Her or not. It must have been like affidavit produced before society for purity of character.
That is what i can understand from understanding of present day.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Making of a Leader
What would I do if I become prime minister- one of the essay topics given to the students of Primary schools. At the time when even the meaning of country is limited to few imaginary inputs, nothing much is expected other than killing some imaginary ghost and building Utopian place to live. It is not the topic in high schools or even colleges due to dawning of awareness regarding reality of multiple faces of problems. Three people can try to solve problem, the scholar, an experiences and person with divine intuition. Their efficiency is also in the same order. The first can be logically satisfying, second is of emotionally liking and third is of silent spiritual approval. I think Rahul Gandhi is deprived of all these. It is very easy to understand that it easy to get in the leadership saddle of congress party and by that virtue one can get the power to rule nation too but that does not ensure that he is capable of handling problems. People praise Rajiv Gandhi at many occasions. It is not merely because his widow is having the real power now. It is often told that he has very lofty ideal for ushering the nation in new millennium.. If one is praised for having lofty ideals then the children should the first among them because they present some of the unsullied dreams among human being.he did not have practical solution for any problem. He told that there is corruption, as if nobody new about it. there was hardly anything noticeable done to reduce it. rather he sank under the burden of Bofors. Though he was born in a political family he did not know how to take political decisions. That resulted in decimation of his party after getting highest ever mandate, which could be attributed only to the death of his mother. Again congress could come in power because he passed away. Congress should ever be thankful to P V Narashimha Rao, one political man who rode the country through troubled times. It must be to his credit to bring in Manmohan Singh as finance minister who stirred economy away from the socialism policy. Socialism should be should be advice government not lead economy. Manmohan Singh is a good administrator or wise advisor but that does not make him a inspirational leader or even firm decision maker. Even the best of the tailor with finest of the stitching ability cannot be conferred role of surgeon to stitch a wound. Finance ministry is not all about running government. But in present day society where money is only which matters this logic will never go across. So the Singh is still a King. He thinks silence is the best response to every question because when ever he opens his mouth it seems he is not on the same page even with his own men. He could not bring consensus even in group of three leaving one hurt- the case of appointment of CVC is very clear. He put his reputation on the issues like Nuclear bill. Since at that time congress did not have any other alternative to him it became duty of the party to find support for him though party was not very much in favour of it. Country watched how the number was managed. It was alleged that money and the immunity to criminal cases were offered in exchange to number. Numbers have always been managed but depends how how it is done.
He has got into habit of defending which appears indefensible. He allows government to speak in many contradicting voices and continuously shifting highlights from one to another depriving space even for any sane voice.
Every time it is told that he is a great economists. As if that is the criteria to be the prime minister of the country. But the worse is what awaits in future. It is being told that he has to give way to the scion of the Gandhi family. Preparation is going one. There has been many attempts to show his potential. He was given charge of Bihar election. Congress was decimated there. Knowing that he cannot do anything much in Gujrat he was not even fielded in local body election. There was a chance in Karnataka but the fear of bringing more bad name made party manager keeping him away from local bodies election even from there.
Then it was decided that he will make a new brigade for the future of the party. Looks like it was decided that it is better to tap potential in education institute where student start making up their mind. That made him go to the universities but here again he proved himself to be a bog flop, it was told that he god drubbing in Bihar and Gujrat. Strategy was changed and it was decided that he will not interact with press and conferences became closed door interaction. It foiled the very purpose as only previous hardcore members could attend. Detail of such interaction was never made public. What was fed to media can me thought as careful exercise of the media cell of the party. It was being said that even question during those session were sponsored. The results were seen when elections were held. NSUI lost it ground. His managers may give many reason for these failure but it cannot be doubted that the party is waiting for one success story to unfurl its Rahul flag. Somehow it is not happening. YSR of Andhra was a catalyst in securing the central stage for Congress but now there is no YSR may be there will not be the same Andhra too when there is next election held. One by one constituencies are slipping away. Now hopes are being placed on W Bengal and Kerela. Both of them will benefit congress but by default of change which will come from removal of communist government. There is no doubt that Rahul will be fielded to corner glory for whatever the party can gather.
Leaders should get opportunity to prove them at lower levels first. It will help them gain confidence to achieve something higher and also instill confidence in the public about his ability. Without such exercise every step of Mr Rahul will appear to be a sentence int hat essay of that primary school student who has been told to write essay about becoming prime minister.
He has got into habit of defending which appears indefensible. He allows government to speak in many contradicting voices and continuously shifting highlights from one to another depriving space even for any sane voice.
Every time it is told that he is a great economists. As if that is the criteria to be the prime minister of the country. But the worse is what awaits in future. It is being told that he has to give way to the scion of the Gandhi family. Preparation is going one. There has been many attempts to show his potential. He was given charge of Bihar election. Congress was decimated there. Knowing that he cannot do anything much in Gujrat he was not even fielded in local body election. There was a chance in Karnataka but the fear of bringing more bad name made party manager keeping him away from local bodies election even from there.
Then it was decided that he will make a new brigade for the future of the party. Looks like it was decided that it is better to tap potential in education institute where student start making up their mind. That made him go to the universities but here again he proved himself to be a bog flop, it was told that he god drubbing in Bihar and Gujrat. Strategy was changed and it was decided that he will not interact with press and conferences became closed door interaction. It foiled the very purpose as only previous hardcore members could attend. Detail of such interaction was never made public. What was fed to media can me thought as careful exercise of the media cell of the party. It was being said that even question during those session were sponsored. The results were seen when elections were held. NSUI lost it ground. His managers may give many reason for these failure but it cannot be doubted that the party is waiting for one success story to unfurl its Rahul flag. Somehow it is not happening. YSR of Andhra was a catalyst in securing the central stage for Congress but now there is no YSR may be there will not be the same Andhra too when there is next election held. One by one constituencies are slipping away. Now hopes are being placed on W Bengal and Kerela. Both of them will benefit congress but by default of change which will come from removal of communist government. There is no doubt that Rahul will be fielded to corner glory for whatever the party can gather.
Leaders should get opportunity to prove them at lower levels first. It will help them gain confidence to achieve something higher and also instill confidence in the public about his ability. Without such exercise every step of Mr Rahul will appear to be a sentence int hat essay of that primary school student who has been told to write essay about becoming prime minister.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Links for Bhaarateeya sanskriti
There is a nice site, http://ancientindians.net. It appears to be some what unbiased and putting facts in one place. To me, sometimes it appeared to oversimplification to avoid what cannot be understood. Still there does not seems to be an agenda driven site.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Chat Pooja and Skand Shasti
I was going through website of Swami Nityananda. There was one video clip in which one USA priest explaining about Skand Shashti. There were many things which were not known to me about Kartikeya. Two of them I should mention here. First, there were the names which I did not understand i.e. Sarvan( because he was born in the forest of reeds), Karthikeya (Lady Krithika associated with Nakshatra Krithika or just because it was month of Karthik). Then about the story of his birth. First time I read about birth of Karthika was from Kumar Sambhavam, a glorified composition of Kalidasa. Like his another composition Abhijnana Sakuntalam, there is lot of poetic imagination involved in that story. Since, it has very high literary value it became very popular among westerners. Most of the present day Bhaarateeya have habit of learning their history from westerners. It was natural for westerners to rely more on the imagination of an poet, which was more suited for their mission to portrait History of Bharat in perverted manner, than on the more revered Puranic sources. I would like to mention the difference some where else. I should not forget the main thought process which initiated this piece. It struck me when he told that Skand Shashti is celebrated six days after Diwali. Six days after Diwali were the key words. I remembered this was the count for Chat Puja. So I got interested in that story. After that I thought of knowing little more about the Chat Pooja. There is an impressive Wikipedia link for chat festival.
I would not like to repeat them again here as they can be followed by clicking the link. What I came to me was reaffirmation about culture Bharat.I would like to share few of them here.
1. There is similar theme going around in different form. It becomes Chat pooja in North and Skand Shashti in south. Both are associated with Sun. Chat is directly worship of The Sun and Karthikeya, the presiding deity of the Skanda Shashti has Yantra with solar base, which can be noticed in another video in the same site in another video clip in the same site.
2. Every action has different aspects associated to it. First and most apparent is cultural aspect. In this case Chat Puja carries with itself and identification of Bihari people. Skand Shasthi will be associated with Tamil people. Then is ritualistic aspect, which is preserved by the adherent devotees even when they don’t understand it. I don’t know anything about the Skand Shasthi directly, but neither do I know much about Chat Puja. That does not stop me from mentioning what I observed. Ladies fast religiously during these days. I have seen that from generation to generation they meticulously carry out smallest detail of the Puja. In any of the festival of Bharat what cannot be forgotten is the social aspect. People share the Prasad (offerings) with relatives and neighbors. So there is exchange of material and feelings. This creates bond and keeps them strong. Then there is philosophical aspect.. This is for the intellectuals to indulge in and newer interpretation keeps coming. Then there is spiritual aspect, which interlinks all of them together.
This reminds me of one of the teacher who had impressed me during school days, Mr Padmanabhan at JNV Adilabad. We used to discuss a lot. Mind it, I was just in class tenth at that time. And our topic used to be very serious, sometimes philosophical religious. But he initiated in some sort of healthy discussion and discussion. I also improved my English due to him to some extent. Once I asked him how he developed good command over English. (Remember that at time somebody speaking in fluent English was a matter of achievement for us. No need to ask who was that us. Us were the students, who had migrated from JNV Darbhanga). He told that because he had command over his mother language, (which was Tamil). That left me thinking that to have command over any other language one must have command over his or her own mother language. This learning helps in learning everything else properly. I think I will have to write a little about him also else where. Before I digress from my present topic, I saw similarity in what I learnt at that time about language and now about these festivals, Chat and Skand Shasti. I feel that if one understands ones own culture properly one can better understand other culture and even see connections and similarities between them, specially in context of Bharat.
I would not like to repeat them again here as they can be followed by clicking the link. What I came to me was reaffirmation about culture Bharat.I would like to share few of them here.
1. There is similar theme going around in different form. It becomes Chat pooja in North and Skand Shashti in south. Both are associated with Sun. Chat is directly worship of The Sun and Karthikeya, the presiding deity of the Skanda Shashti has Yantra with solar base, which can be noticed in another video in the same site in another video clip in the same site.
2. Every action has different aspects associated to it. First and most apparent is cultural aspect. In this case Chat Puja carries with itself and identification of Bihari people. Skand Shasthi will be associated with Tamil people. Then is ritualistic aspect, which is preserved by the adherent devotees even when they don’t understand it. I don’t know anything about the Skand Shasthi directly, but neither do I know much about Chat Puja. That does not stop me from mentioning what I observed. Ladies fast religiously during these days. I have seen that from generation to generation they meticulously carry out smallest detail of the Puja. In any of the festival of Bharat what cannot be forgotten is the social aspect. People share the Prasad (offerings) with relatives and neighbors. So there is exchange of material and feelings. This creates bond and keeps them strong. Then there is philosophical aspect.. This is for the intellectuals to indulge in and newer interpretation keeps coming. Then there is spiritual aspect, which interlinks all of them together.
This reminds me of one of the teacher who had impressed me during school days, Mr Padmanabhan at JNV Adilabad. We used to discuss a lot. Mind it, I was just in class tenth at that time. And our topic used to be very serious, sometimes philosophical religious. But he initiated in some sort of healthy discussion and discussion. I also improved my English due to him to some extent. Once I asked him how he developed good command over English. (Remember that at time somebody speaking in fluent English was a matter of achievement for us. No need to ask who was that us. Us were the students, who had migrated from JNV Darbhanga). He told that because he had command over his mother language, (which was Tamil). That left me thinking that to have command over any other language one must have command over his or her own mother language. This learning helps in learning everything else properly. I think I will have to write a little about him also else where. Before I digress from my present topic, I saw similarity in what I learnt at that time about language and now about these festivals, Chat and Skand Shasti. I feel that if one understands ones own culture properly one can better understand other culture and even see connections and similarities between them, specially in context of Bharat.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Karpatri Ji Maharaj
Karpatri ji Maharaj. Let me try to remember where did this stream of thought started. Not very clear now. May be it will come later or it might have been lost forever. So somewhere while going through internet I came across this name. Instantly, what came to my mind was words of my youngest uncle, lovely called Chota Chacha. When I used to appear like giving lecture on religious topic he would call me Karpatri ji maharaj. I thought all the time that it was a name cooked up by him and never took that seriously. It must be because I never heard that name from anybody else. So when I got the name again while going through internet I thought that there must be something behind it. so I search a bit about it.
It seems he was a great orator with religious dialogue. There is one link in Wikipedia, but that is very limited. I got another link from blogspot of some Jagadanand (http://jagadanandadas.blogspot.com/2008/06/swami-karpatriji.html), who claimed himself to be achintya-bhedabheda-vadi.
There are few facts which I came across. He was a man of wisdom, an authority on advaita and specialized on mayavad. He must have been a very respected person in Varanasi. I see that there are some educational institute in his name. nothing unusual many religious leaders have invested in education of society at large. It also appeared that he was critic of Iskon and in return was at their aim too. He was a great and popular Harikatha proponent
Few things I found very interesting and I feel like quoting them here.
“Karpatriji explores the commentaries for each verse, and won't put a verse down until he has explored every alleyway, every nook and cranny of interpretation possible, whether it comes from the Gaudiyas, the Vallabhis, or any other sampradaya.”
“His language is just shaped through and through by the language of the Bhagavata. Entire phrases that slip from his tongue with such natural ease, names of Krishna—he won’t just say “Krishna,” but “Shyamasundar Madana-mohana Paramananda-kanda Sri Krishna” or instead of Radha, he will say “Hladini Shakti Svarupini, Mahabhava svarupini Vrishabhanu-nandini Sri Radha.”
“It is really interesting how he uses language. He is basing everything on the tikas, he is repeating the Sanskrit over and over again. Not only the Sanskrit of the verse, but the Sanskrit of the tika as well. He then translates into a moe sophisticated Sanskritized Hindi, following with the more familiar language, repeated his translation over and over until he gets that sentence just right, until he gets that full idea . It does not sound like he is struggling at all, just that with each repetition it becomes more full and complete. Then he goes into the vyakhya. Then he will bring in other verses or citations from other scriptures--Gita, Ramacharita Manasa, or some other text, tell an entire story. Or some nice asvadya verse which he will do something similar with.
Then as he completes the interpretation of one section of the original verse, he will repeat the entire verse, or just the same one or two lines and start in on another vyakhya of the same words or phrases. The end result is that by the time you have listened to the whole five hours of discussion of one verse, it is beating away like a drum in your head.”
I should not miss the meaning of the name Karpatri which means he held a bowl (patra) in his hand (kara). I got few more sites dealing about him. (http://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/IHD007) here I came to know that he was active even in political field and was in active opposition to RSS. That was an interesting point for me.
And finally since Chote Chacha also used this tells that he was very much know widely and denoted certain quality.
It seems he was a great orator with religious dialogue. There is one link in Wikipedia, but that is very limited. I got another link from blogspot of some Jagadanand (http://jagadanandadas.blogspot.com/2008/06/swami-karpatriji.html), who claimed himself to be achintya-bhedabheda-vadi.
There are few facts which I came across. He was a man of wisdom, an authority on advaita and specialized on mayavad. He must have been a very respected person in Varanasi. I see that there are some educational institute in his name. nothing unusual many religious leaders have invested in education of society at large. It also appeared that he was critic of Iskon and in return was at their aim too. He was a great and popular Harikatha proponent
Few things I found very interesting and I feel like quoting them here.
“Karpatriji explores the commentaries for each verse, and won't put a verse down until he has explored every alleyway, every nook and cranny of interpretation possible, whether it comes from the Gaudiyas, the Vallabhis, or any other sampradaya.”
“His language is just shaped through and through by the language of the Bhagavata. Entire phrases that slip from his tongue with such natural ease, names of Krishna—he won’t just say “Krishna,” but “Shyamasundar Madana-mohana Paramananda-kanda Sri Krishna” or instead of Radha, he will say “Hladini Shakti Svarupini, Mahabhava svarupini Vrishabhanu-nandini Sri Radha.”
“It is really interesting how he uses language. He is basing everything on the tikas, he is repeating the Sanskrit over and over again. Not only the Sanskrit of the verse, but the Sanskrit of the tika as well. He then translates into a moe sophisticated Sanskritized Hindi, following with the more familiar language, repeated his translation over and over until he gets that sentence just right, until he gets that full idea . It does not sound like he is struggling at all, just that with each repetition it becomes more full and complete. Then he goes into the vyakhya. Then he will bring in other verses or citations from other scriptures--Gita, Ramacharita Manasa, or some other text, tell an entire story. Or some nice asvadya verse which he will do something similar with.
Then as he completes the interpretation of one section of the original verse, he will repeat the entire verse, or just the same one or two lines and start in on another vyakhya of the same words or phrases. The end result is that by the time you have listened to the whole five hours of discussion of one verse, it is beating away like a drum in your head.”
I should not miss the meaning of the name Karpatri which means he held a bowl (patra) in his hand (kara). I got few more sites dealing about him. (http://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/IHD007) here I came to know that he was active even in political field and was in active opposition to RSS. That was an interesting point for me.
And finally since Chote Chacha also used this tells that he was very much know widely and denoted certain quality.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
A bhajan touching mermory
There was a bhajan which I heard in Radio Sai Global Harmony. It goes like this. It reminded me of Mr Babban Pathak, Bihar state sevadal convener befor e which who had for longtime associated with Sri Sathya Sai Samiti Darbhanga. Why it reminded me of him is that this bhajan I did not hear anybody, other than him, singing this bhajan. The bhajan is below.
Sai Sathya palana
Baba Sathya palana
Hey Shirdipuri vasa Sai sarvesha
Hey Parthipuri vasa hey Shirdipuri vasa sarvesha Sathya palana.
Sai Sathya palana
Akhila nivasa jaya Rishikesha
Mangala kar paavan purusha
Hey Shirdipuri vasa Sai sarvesha
Hey Parthipuri vasa hey Shirdipuri vasa sarvesha Sathya palana.
Sai Sathya palana
Baba Sathya palana
Hey Shirdipuri vasa Sai sarvesha
Hey Parthipuri vasa hey Shirdipuri vasa sarvesha Sathya palana.
Sai Sathya palana
Akhila nivasa jaya Rishikesha
Mangala kar paavan purusha
Hey Shirdipuri vasa Sai sarvesha
Hey Parthipuri vasa hey Shirdipuri vasa sarvesha Sathya palana.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Skewed Vision
There was a news in Times of India (6/1/11) . It seems there was a case of some humiliation of tribal lady. In their judgment, judges mentioned that act of Dronachaarya was shameful. To quote them:
"This was a shameful act on the part of Dronacharya. He had not even taught Eklavya, so what right had he to demand 'guru dakshina', and that too of the right thumb of Eklavya so that the latter may not become a better archer that his favourite pupil Arjun?"
It looked very funny that judges sit on passing judgment with very skewed vision. He saw there not about the student disciple but tribal and non tribal struggle. I am very interested in going through the responses too. Sometimes they area very interesting. Here are some of them.
So when the judges are convicting pedophiles or forceful marriages of minor girls, I suppose they will also denounce Muhammed's actions as shameful and exploitative amounting to kidnap and rape? (by Sarath, Sydney)
What Dronacharya asked was a punishment for piracy (in current terms) committed by Eklavya...why is SC blind on this aspect? ( by KD, Oz)
"This was a shameful act on the part of Dronacharya. He had not even taught Eklavya, so what right had he to demand 'guru dakshina', and that too of the right thumb of Eklavya so that the latter may not become a better archer that his favourite pupil Arjun?"
It looked very funny that judges sit on passing judgment with very skewed vision. He saw there not about the student disciple but tribal and non tribal struggle. I am very interested in going through the responses too. Sometimes they area very interesting. Here are some of them.
So when the judges are convicting pedophiles or forceful marriages of minor girls, I suppose they will also denounce Muhammed's actions as shameful and exploitative amounting to kidnap and rape? (by Sarath, Sydney)
What Dronacharya asked was a punishment for piracy (in current terms) committed by Eklavya...why is SC blind on this aspect? ( by KD, Oz)
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Falling Birds
I was reading novel named Kafka Along the Shore a weird novel mixing location time and level of consciousness. There were many weird things in those pages. So much so that weird became a normalcy. One of them was fishes and leeches falling from the sky. Yes fishes and leaches indeed. It was a piece of fiction so it was well taken.
I do remember grand mother telling that fishes fall from sky. That was not a fiction but fact according to her. Many seem to have corroborated her. It was not at all surprising to her. It had reason. I remember the story she told while mentioning this fact.
Sinners go to holy rivers and wash their sin. River becomes loaded with sin. So a person asked river how it gets rids of it. River replied, “I transfer these sins to ocean. It mighty and can absorb that easily.”
The person went to ocean and asked, “O Mighty Ocean, you must have accumulated sins over the ages. It must be quite a burden for you. How do you manage that?”
“I pass them to Indra,” replied the ocean. So the man went to Indra and asked what he does with the amount of sin which he receives.
“I send them back to world in form of fishes in rain, those who eat them bear with sin,” Indra said in the concluding remarks.
The sin cycle was complete so the story ended. But it is starting point of the thought. Sin is indeed coming back to us in vey weird ways. Raining fishes may be solid form of sin that also includes that rain water itself is polluted with our combined sins. And that reminds me of the passage in Anandvalli of Taitareeyopnishat. It says that yajna form cloud, cloud form rain, rain forms vegetation, vegetation forms food and food forms man. So the man is formed of yajna. But we know that cloud is formed from sea. So, how the cloud is formed from yajna? That indicates that clouds have two components. One is physical and another is subtle. Sin is a part of that subtle component. What does yajna do? It sends positive vibration and makes the cloud pure and the cycle continues. So what happens when yajna is not done? The sin comes along with the rain water and enters our cycle.
Why I am telling all these. There was a news that birds are dying in mass. They are falling dead. That rules out epidemic disease. Any such reason would make birds weak and weak bird would not take to flight. Surely there are no terrorist birds who plot against each other like human do. It must be some external force: man made or natural. Let us take both of them one by one. We know that urbanization did not kill so much of birds but surely digital waves have made some changes in environment. Birds have left city in search of safer habitat. They are very sensitive to environment and can sense the change much better than human, who only understands severe reaction and sometimes refuses to understand even that. There have seen some theories being put up for these too. Some weapon of mass destruction is being experimented, may be high frequency weapon. If that is the case we should wait for a stronger wave to come when few of us will be falling down even without realizing anything.
There is another theory which is being put that is of climatic change, like change in magnetic field of earth or the effect of solar spot. We don’t have much control over them. But still we have to ready for them. There have been many predictions about 2011 and 2012. This looks like just glimpse of what can happen. We surely need preparation. The prediction also tells that people with spiritual support system can ride through it.
The news of birds falling will soon be forgotten as they will be over taken by some more sensational news item but it should not make us stop thinking, because it is not the question of some TRP but our own existence.
Remember: birds fell dead in mass when the year started. Who will be the next?
I do remember grand mother telling that fishes fall from sky. That was not a fiction but fact according to her. Many seem to have corroborated her. It was not at all surprising to her. It had reason. I remember the story she told while mentioning this fact.
Sinners go to holy rivers and wash their sin. River becomes loaded with sin. So a person asked river how it gets rids of it. River replied, “I transfer these sins to ocean. It mighty and can absorb that easily.”
The person went to ocean and asked, “O Mighty Ocean, you must have accumulated sins over the ages. It must be quite a burden for you. How do you manage that?”
“I pass them to Indra,” replied the ocean. So the man went to Indra and asked what he does with the amount of sin which he receives.
“I send them back to world in form of fishes in rain, those who eat them bear with sin,” Indra said in the concluding remarks.
The sin cycle was complete so the story ended. But it is starting point of the thought. Sin is indeed coming back to us in vey weird ways. Raining fishes may be solid form of sin that also includes that rain water itself is polluted with our combined sins. And that reminds me of the passage in Anandvalli of Taitareeyopnishat. It says that yajna form cloud, cloud form rain, rain forms vegetation, vegetation forms food and food forms man. So the man is formed of yajna. But we know that cloud is formed from sea. So, how the cloud is formed from yajna? That indicates that clouds have two components. One is physical and another is subtle. Sin is a part of that subtle component. What does yajna do? It sends positive vibration and makes the cloud pure and the cycle continues. So what happens when yajna is not done? The sin comes along with the rain water and enters our cycle.
Why I am telling all these. There was a news that birds are dying in mass. They are falling dead. That rules out epidemic disease. Any such reason would make birds weak and weak bird would not take to flight. Surely there are no terrorist birds who plot against each other like human do. It must be some external force: man made or natural. Let us take both of them one by one. We know that urbanization did not kill so much of birds but surely digital waves have made some changes in environment. Birds have left city in search of safer habitat. They are very sensitive to environment and can sense the change much better than human, who only understands severe reaction and sometimes refuses to understand even that. There have seen some theories being put up for these too. Some weapon of mass destruction is being experimented, may be high frequency weapon. If that is the case we should wait for a stronger wave to come when few of us will be falling down even without realizing anything.
There is another theory which is being put that is of climatic change, like change in magnetic field of earth or the effect of solar spot. We don’t have much control over them. But still we have to ready for them. There have been many predictions about 2011 and 2012. This looks like just glimpse of what can happen. We surely need preparation. The prediction also tells that people with spiritual support system can ride through it.
The news of birds falling will soon be forgotten as they will be over taken by some more sensational news item but it should not make us stop thinking, because it is not the question of some TRP but our own existence.
Remember: birds fell dead in mass when the year started. Who will be the next?
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Through Newspapers
I remember going through the pages of ‘Aryavarta’ every morning delivered by an old man. It was reserved for father, who would go through it. It had a characteristic feature which I still remember is the way the letter A was written I could never understand that because it was not the way it was taught to us. It was having pa letter and appendages added below it. Later father told that it is old way of writing. There was another feature of the newspaper that was about typesetting. Letter would be above and below the line and sometimes we had to face a missing word. In such case we had to imagine what the word would have been. That was not a big problem as those were not the days of sensitization and reading between the lines. Media was not very powerful, many of them toeing the line of government and few trying to stick their neck out. My going through newspaper was merely to improve my reading capability. I remember reading it to mother while she was busy with house hold chorus. The pages were having some patches of padded printing. I did not notice but someday it was stopped. I did not see that news paper on the stand even longer.
I think it was replaced by Navabharat for sometime but soon it was replaced by an English daily The Times of India. It was mainly to inculcate English reading among children. It was changed for reason very funny. Neighbors could not share English daily and there was a Vaidyaji (Ayurvedic practitioner) could not enjoy read it. So we changed back to Hindi. Father was still getting TOI and was very found of cutting some important pieces. He would bring and show to us to inspire. By the time I was in Navodya, I regularly used to read news paper which was clamped on the wooden plank. Then the interest was in keeping the general knowledge updated. I should not forget mention of Praveen Kumar Jha who had photographic memory and was one of the stars in GK quizzes. His company drove me pick up the bits and pieces of news paper. That time we had craze of accumulation those information because we had a paper called general knowledge. I can concentrate on that in some other post.
Then I came to JNV Adilabad. For the first time I was introduced to The Hindu. Its style attracted me a lot. I became a regular visitor to reading room where newspaper would be there. I read it mainly to improve my English I remember keenly going through the section of Open Page supplement which came on every Tuesday which had some new words defined. The interest was kept alive due to interaction with Padmanabhan sir.
Then I landed in Puttaparthi. Here only The Hindu was allowed because it was only descent newspaper which could cross the censor the censor board unharmed. Times of India always carried some obscenity. There I became critical reader of Science and technology supplement which came on Thursday. I started keeping cutting of those pages. I don’t know if I again went through them. But I used those cutting to while I made some project. I remember I dumped them in dustbin when I left school. During that period or may be later I got interested in a seris of article which appeared on Harappa civilization. It was nice debate which I always looked forward. It had two sides one represented by Dr Rajaram and David Frawly and there was professor of Sanskrit on other side.
I must mention a little about it because it shaped my thinking and even sharpened my analyzing power. Rajaram and Frawly were of opinion that Indian culture is a continuous and self evolving. They supported the rich tradition of India. They did not fail to mention that the history which is being taught is flawed and needs to be based on scientific facts and non contradicting logic. The other was by Michael Witzel who was of opinion similar to the Aryan invasanists. While I saw the logic going in the article of formers I saw personal attack going in the one of later. I learnt to see through the words. With my opinion I would fall under so called hindutvaaavadis.
Most of the student would take the words of The Hindu for granted but I could feel the bias in articles and its regular columnists. Most of them hailing from JNU and congress stable. Extraordinary proportion of space was provided to leftist ideologues. It was confirmed when I grew up further.
In graduation day I saw another paper coming that was Deccan Herald published from Bangalore but I felt it did not have much weight. It was during my third year that my elder brother subscribed to Outlook magazine. There too I felt bias o editorial to wards congress policies. There I read article of Balbir Punj. It was not that he was not biased. I understood it when I saw his affiliations he was Rajyasabha MP belonging to BJP. That was the alternative source of opinion. There were few more spoke out. Though I did not find any to my satisfaction but I understood that none should be taken as the face value. There is always some hidden agenda. All the shouting and hooliganism is performed by only low level workers the one who moves high maintains very clean appearance.
I must not forget to mention about The Economic Times. It is from the publisher of TOI but it but has different flavor. I think the difference was because its main focus was on economic issues. So it ended up nearer to neutrality. I am not aware of its bias in economic matters.
Till then my new paper exposure was limited to one or maximum two. As it was costing money and time to subscribe while I was still studying. Then I landed in NCL. From there the internet edition of newspaper became available and I had opportunity to go through various new papers and compare them. I came to know of other source like Rediff.com where I had opened my mail. Then The Hindustan time, Navabharat Times (Hindi) and later Dainik Jagaran also included in that. Among weeklies Outlook was only freely available.
Recently there was lot of flurry due to 2G spectrum deals. Every news channel and news papers were trying to show that what they have is exclusive. But it looked like something was wrong. Something was going on for two years and suddenly so much is known. It did not follow logic. I was going through Outlook edition when Vinod Mehta (Editor) wrote the credit should be given to a correspondent of The Pioneer. That was the day I opened site of The Pioneer and there was no looking back.
What I loved is it has pure news. Not much of advertisement. Not much of links here and there. It is not that it is not biased it has a tilt towards BJP and the editor himself is MP on BJP ticket. But they don’t lie about their bias. They respect Bharateeyata, which I too respect a lot. They talked logic. I admired them even in talk shows. They did not go personal. I will be specially admiring Swapan Dasgupta. His cool and calm composure added to his unique voice. I don’t know if he ever looses cool.
Looks like I have found what I was searching. I would have loved this news paper to devote some more space to literature and art. I think its circulation is very low compare to many other but I feel comfortable. Not that I have stopped reading other news papers but I know I will get what I want in editions of The Pioneer. I read its journey through years and passage from one hand to another. I hope it will grow further in Making of Bharat.
Then I came across another news papers in Hindi that is Prabhat Khabar. It has internet edition which is not regularly updated but its editorial looked very impressive. It appears that there is a thinking man with vision behind those words.
I think it was replaced by Navabharat for sometime but soon it was replaced by an English daily The Times of India. It was mainly to inculcate English reading among children. It was changed for reason very funny. Neighbors could not share English daily and there was a Vaidyaji (Ayurvedic practitioner) could not enjoy read it. So we changed back to Hindi. Father was still getting TOI and was very found of cutting some important pieces. He would bring and show to us to inspire. By the time I was in Navodya, I regularly used to read news paper which was clamped on the wooden plank. Then the interest was in keeping the general knowledge updated. I should not forget mention of Praveen Kumar Jha who had photographic memory and was one of the stars in GK quizzes. His company drove me pick up the bits and pieces of news paper. That time we had craze of accumulation those information because we had a paper called general knowledge. I can concentrate on that in some other post.
Then I came to JNV Adilabad. For the first time I was introduced to The Hindu. Its style attracted me a lot. I became a regular visitor to reading room where newspaper would be there. I read it mainly to improve my English I remember keenly going through the section of Open Page supplement which came on every Tuesday which had some new words defined. The interest was kept alive due to interaction with Padmanabhan sir.
Then I landed in Puttaparthi. Here only The Hindu was allowed because it was only descent newspaper which could cross the censor the censor board unharmed. Times of India always carried some obscenity. There I became critical reader of Science and technology supplement which came on Thursday. I started keeping cutting of those pages. I don’t know if I again went through them. But I used those cutting to while I made some project. I remember I dumped them in dustbin when I left school. During that period or may be later I got interested in a seris of article which appeared on Harappa civilization. It was nice debate which I always looked forward. It had two sides one represented by Dr Rajaram and David Frawly and there was professor of Sanskrit on other side.
I must mention a little about it because it shaped my thinking and even sharpened my analyzing power. Rajaram and Frawly were of opinion that Indian culture is a continuous and self evolving. They supported the rich tradition of India. They did not fail to mention that the history which is being taught is flawed and needs to be based on scientific facts and non contradicting logic. The other was by Michael Witzel who was of opinion similar to the Aryan invasanists. While I saw the logic going in the article of formers I saw personal attack going in the one of later. I learnt to see through the words. With my opinion I would fall under so called hindutvaaavadis.
Most of the student would take the words of The Hindu for granted but I could feel the bias in articles and its regular columnists. Most of them hailing from JNU and congress stable. Extraordinary proportion of space was provided to leftist ideologues. It was confirmed when I grew up further.
In graduation day I saw another paper coming that was Deccan Herald published from Bangalore but I felt it did not have much weight. It was during my third year that my elder brother subscribed to Outlook magazine. There too I felt bias o editorial to wards congress policies. There I read article of Balbir Punj. It was not that he was not biased. I understood it when I saw his affiliations he was Rajyasabha MP belonging to BJP. That was the alternative source of opinion. There were few more spoke out. Though I did not find any to my satisfaction but I understood that none should be taken as the face value. There is always some hidden agenda. All the shouting and hooliganism is performed by only low level workers the one who moves high maintains very clean appearance.
I must not forget to mention about The Economic Times. It is from the publisher of TOI but it but has different flavor. I think the difference was because its main focus was on economic issues. So it ended up nearer to neutrality. I am not aware of its bias in economic matters.
Till then my new paper exposure was limited to one or maximum two. As it was costing money and time to subscribe while I was still studying. Then I landed in NCL. From there the internet edition of newspaper became available and I had opportunity to go through various new papers and compare them. I came to know of other source like Rediff.com where I had opened my mail. Then The Hindustan time, Navabharat Times (Hindi) and later Dainik Jagaran also included in that. Among weeklies Outlook was only freely available.
Recently there was lot of flurry due to 2G spectrum deals. Every news channel and news papers were trying to show that what they have is exclusive. But it looked like something was wrong. Something was going on for two years and suddenly so much is known. It did not follow logic. I was going through Outlook edition when Vinod Mehta (Editor) wrote the credit should be given to a correspondent of The Pioneer. That was the day I opened site of The Pioneer and there was no looking back.
What I loved is it has pure news. Not much of advertisement. Not much of links here and there. It is not that it is not biased it has a tilt towards BJP and the editor himself is MP on BJP ticket. But they don’t lie about their bias. They respect Bharateeyata, which I too respect a lot. They talked logic. I admired them even in talk shows. They did not go personal. I will be specially admiring Swapan Dasgupta. His cool and calm composure added to his unique voice. I don’t know if he ever looses cool.
Looks like I have found what I was searching. I would have loved this news paper to devote some more space to literature and art. I think its circulation is very low compare to many other but I feel comfortable. Not that I have stopped reading other news papers but I know I will get what I want in editions of The Pioneer. I read its journey through years and passage from one hand to another. I hope it will grow further in Making of Bharat.
Then I came across another news papers in Hindi that is Prabhat Khabar. It has internet edition which is not regularly updated but its editorial looked very impressive. It appears that there is a thinking man with vision behind those words.
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