Revolution in Hinduism

It is said that we (Indians) as a race, can never rebel. Of course, rebelling is not the first thing that comes in the common man's mind, but there has to be a revolutionary, so this statement in a way applies to all of the human race in general. There have to be some people who put forth new ideas that instill in the people, a zeal for something new and the realization that what they were doing before is wrong.

The saying I mention in the beginning of the post is more reinforced on the outsider when they look at our current state. Rabid evangelicals spouting their foul propaganda, Maoists conducting their campaign, and scheming Islamists try to convert gullible natives to their fold one way of the other and yet knowledgeable Indians just lead their normal lives.

But Hindu history suggests that we were never so placid. In fact, we are a race which even brought arrogant Gods to their knees. The story of the lifting of the Govardhan mountain reveals this.

(link)Govardhan Puja is celebrated the day after Diwali. It is the day Lord Krishna defeated Indra, the deity of thunder and rain. As per the story, Krishna saw huge preparations for the annual offering to Lord Indra and questions his father Nanda about it. He debated with the villagers about what their 'dharma' truly was. They were farmers, they should do their duty and concentrate on farming and protection of their cattle. He continued to say that all human beings should merely do their 'karma', to the best of their ability and not pray or conduct sacrifices for natural phenomenon. The villagers were convinced by Krishna, and did not proceed with the special puja (prayer). Indra was then angered, and flooded the village. Krishna then lifted Mt Govardhan and held it up as protection to his people and cattle from the rain. Indra finally accepted defeat and recognized Krishna as supreme. This aspect of Krishna's life is mostly glossed over - but it actually set up on the basis of the 'karma' philosophy later detailed in the Bhagavat Gita.

It also represents the downfall of Indra, and a new beginning in Hindu philosophy, from a more sacrificial/ appeasement oriented worship, to a more spiritual plane of thought. This evolution of thought in Hinduism was brought about by Krishna, and therefore he has been the most important Hindu deity since then - considered an 'avatar' of the supreme. The more we look at his life story - we find him to be a great reformer of his time.

Centuries of imperialism have brought Indians back to the plane of thinking the worshippers of Indra were. All our policies are rooted in sacrifice and appeasement. Take for example, the Article 370 of Kashmir. Then comes the existence of the AIMPLB. The mere mention of it should be anathema to India that there is a parallel law in the country and hence possibly a parallel power centre? Yet it thrives and we continue to tolerate it.

More such examples abound the nation. While celebrating Govardhan Pooja, not only do we sing hymns which most of us do not understand, but the whole importance of Govardhan lifting incident is lost on us. Time we remember the spirit, and act on it in our own ways.

Happy Deepavali!!

Wishing all of our readers a very Happy Deepavali and a prosperous New Year. Our sincere apologies for the more than ever sporadic posting these days but our professional life is taking a serious toll on our creative abilities. As of now, the best we can promise is merely one post per month.

But for today, an explanation from a personal blog about the story of the five days of Deepavali.

A brief excerpt is as follows:

On this Diwali day, we light lamps to commemorate the sacred memories of those great men who lived to brighten the lives of millions of their fellow beings:

● Lord Shri Krishna around whom revolved the entire story of our great epic Mahabharat and the philosopher, who preached Karmayog through his Geeta to Arjun on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, discarded his body.

● Bhagwan, Mahavir, the Jain prophet also attained nirvana on this day.

● Swami Ramtirth, the beloved "Ram Badshah" of millions of Indians was not only born on this day and took both sanyas and samadhi on this day.

● Swami Dayanand Saraswati, founder of Arya Samaj in 1875 in Mumbai, with his superb yogic powers freed his soul from his body and mingled with divinity on this auspicious day of Diwali.

Another very interesting story about this Diwali day is from the Kathopanishad. In this story, a small boy called Nachiketa believed that Yam, the god of Death was as black as the dark night of amavasya. But when he met Yam in person he was puzzled seeing Yam's calm countenance and dignified stature. Yam explained to Nachiketa on this Diwali day of amavasya that by only passing through the darkness of death, man sees the light of highest wisdom. It is only then only his soul can escape from the bondage of his mortal frame to mingle with the Supreme Power. It was then that Nachiketa realized the importance of worldly life and significance of death. All of Nachiketa's doubts were set to rest and he whole-heartedly participated in Diwali celebrations.

Friendships in the Mahabharata.

When we look back at our scriptures, searching for common norms of friendship, we generally come across the friendship of Krishna and Sudama. Sudama, from a poor brahmin family and Krishna, a member of a ruling family, forge their ties in the ashrama of Rishi Sandipani. After their education is over, they depart, each on their own way.

Later, when Sudama is in trouble, he comes to Krishna for help. Although he is never asked for help, Shree Krishna, in return for the morsel of rice that he gets from Sudama, gives him everything that he needed.

Conclusion: Shree Krishna, the embodiment of God, the Supreme Power, takes care of a person at the lowest tide in his power, inspite of his dispensability.

Many Hindus are inspired by this story when they seek the friendship of the rich and the famous. It is no wonder, that the Indian state could also be following these lines in seeking ties with world superpowers. What is more troubling is that we are willing to set aside all our grievances to appease the person in power. As the Indian Ambassador to US says:

"Noting that the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement is strong both on symbolism and on substance, Shankar said the pact not only removed a major problem that showed and constrained bilateral relations for three decades, but has created a basis for closer relations, deeper economic ties and a more productive partnership on energy security, lessening reliance on fossil fuel and combating proliferation."

However, this lesson deals with the ideal case of friendship, where differences in power and prestige are no barrier to childhood ties. Such friendship can only be sought when the past of the person in higher power shows him to be generous and content with his position in the world. But in practice, friendships with powerful people, organizations and states are a bit murky. The involvement of ego, selfish interest, the pursuit of more power and the willingness for deceit by the person in a higher position will taint this friendship and break it. The subsequent heart break could be too much to bear.

So, what is the solution? That friendship be sought only among equals. That is the message of friendship between Drupad and Dron in the Mahabharata. Drupad is the prince of the Kingdom of Paanchal, and Dron is son of sage Bharadwaj. Both of them become friends while studying in an ashrama, the same way Krishna and Sudama meet each other. While close friends in the beginning, this friendship drifts apart when they grow up. When Dron goes to Drupad to seek help that he used to promise as a child, Drupad refuses it on the grounds that Dron is not his equal.

Conclusion: For the lesser mortals, friendship should only be had among equals. It is better to be defensive in seeking personal ties than to pine hopes on some ties you cannot achieve. The desire to change yourself to develop ties with the other person must also be avoided, for that only suits the ego of the person superior to you.

Defining power in Schindler's list: A dharmic perspective.

Schindler's list is a 1993 movie about a German businessman Oscar Schindler who goes to Krakow to take advantage of people thrust into a Jewish ghetto. He first begins to use the Jews as laborers for his factories, taking advantage of the mandated lower salaries for Jewish laborers as compared to European ones. (The laborers themselves get nothing, salary is pocketed by the SS) But when he sees what they have to undergo under his fellow Germans, he is moved and sets to right his wrongs.

There is a conversation that he holds between a German SS officer Amon Goth in the second half of the movie over a round of drinks. Goth gets drunk easily while Schindler remains sober. The following ensues:

(Goth collapses while trying to sit in a chair.. )

Schindler: Why do you drink so much? Your liver is going to explode... like a hand grenade.

Goth: You know, when I look at you.. I watch you (gasping).. you're never drunk. Oh that's .. that's real control. Control is power.. that's power.

Schindler: Is that why they fear us?

Goth: (inaudible) We kill them that is why they fear us..

Schindler: They fear us because we have the power to kill arbitrarily. When a man commits a crime, we should know that if we haven't killed anybody, we feel good. When we kill him ourselves, we feel even better. That is not power though,.. that's justice. It's different than power. Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don't.

Goth: You think that's power?

(Schindler coming closer to Goth..)

Schindler: That's what the emperors had. When a man stole something, he's brought before the emperor. He throws himself on the ground and begs for mercy. He knows he's going to die. And the emperor pardons him. He's a worthless man, he lets him go.

Goth: I think you are drunk.

Schindler: That's power. That is power.

Dharmic Perspective: Two aspects of power are thus mentioned in the conversation. One aspect of power comes straight from the left brain (the logical brain). That is of control. Logically thinking, controlling a person's actions is power. And that control is maintained by a strict law and order, a top down enforcement of power. The pinnacle of the power pyramid controls the layer below it, that layer controls the succeeding layer and so on till at the bottom of the pyramid, the aam junta is controlled. The SS officer in the above conversation supports this view of power.

But, if we tweak the right brain a bit and be more creative with the interpretation of power, then there are other, more subtle, more humane and more effective ways of projecting power. That is shown in the example given by Oscar Schindler. An emperor of a kingdom has all the military might and executive control that he can have. He can execute a criminal if he wishes to. But, if the criminal has realized his blunder, and if the king releases him, there is hope that the criminal can improve. A life is saved thus, and life is precious. This is also a type of control, but of an indirect kind, which coerces the people to improve themselves rather than they being directed to from above.

This is a rare dharmic perspective that is hardly found in movies these days. Hats off to Steven Spielberg.

Organized leadership and ministerial building after elections- The way forward for India?

This post was meant for Independence day. However, owing to some amount of thought that had to go into it to make it possible and shortage of time, it has come several days late.

Before going forward with the topic, I'd like to explain the obvious benefits of an organization to do something, rather than its rules being loose and enforced by a single authority at the top.

A single authority at the top of any institution, who might/might not have any expertise in the service is in most cases a loss to the institution. (By institution, I mean something that provides service to the public for e.g.: police, fire station, etc.) Top-down administration of any institution with full authority vested in the top, even authority to change the laws of an institution means that administration is subject to whims and fancies of the person. If the man at the helm is of high dignity and a responsible person, the system will run well. On the contrary, if he is not so, the system will languish.

An organization on the other hand, has a set of rules and regulations. People once recruited follow these rules and regulations, governed by seniors who are talented persons in that particular field, or who are products of that organization itself. In an ideal organization, with no interference of vested interests and if recruits are only possible at the lower ranks, and if people who have just the right amounts of talent and intellect are recruited, than the organization runs like a mineral refining factory. Raw ingredients in the recruits are made available at the bottom, when people are not found to have prerequisites in them, they are thrown out or stagnate at one particular level, and the people who come to the topmost level of the organization would be the best (well, best at least in that particular organization). A person who has been thus prepared is fit enough to rule the organization. He knows from the very first day of his job how the institution should be run and what it lacks. Thus, there is no on the job training, and complete order in the institution.

Taking this analogy to politics, one can argue that this is the basic difference between a monarchy and a democracy. A monarchy in most cases has been the rule of a family over a people (One exception is the first Indian state established by Raja Bharata after the dasrajana (battle of ten kings) wherein the King chose his successor depending on his fitness). An amendment of the difficulty of family rule of a person not being talented enough to rule can be done by the king having many sons and imparting them training, with the best son being chosen to rule the people. But still, training some person to do something often needs harsh lessons to be imparted. This is not often done in families, since people tend to go soft on their own when they would be harsh on the others for same mistakes committed in training programs. Thus, a system of a chosen one to lead organizations thrives only on luck, in some cases it might work, in some cases it might fail. And such failures can sometimes be catastrophic for the nation, as often seen in the past.

The training to do a task, is best imparted in organizations and not in families. A system of government that is based on an organization rather than family rule is more likely to thrive. Thus, totalitarian (party rule) and democracy usually tend to do better than monarchies which might sometimes last very long, or sometimes last very short. The drawback of an organized method of rule is that a certain dogma gets attached to the system. It gets difficult to change, since change can only happen by taking a certain majority into confidence. This difficulty is absent in a monarchy when all powers are vested in the king. However the benefit is that total buffoons are weeded out at intermediate ranks in an organization, hence chances of a complete catastrophical failure in an organization is lesser than that in monarchies. One can say, that the scales get evenly balanced.

The next step after building an organization is that it should take into account the interests of all the members of the society. A fire station cannot neglect a fire in its own street while sending vehicles to extinguish fire in a far-off place. A police station cannot neglect grievances of a particular class of people. Similarly, a government must take into account the grievances of all the people in order for it to be successful. In it, a possibility lies for the failure of totalitarian type governments when it roots for the betterment of only government apparatchiks, causes organized (i.e. ordered from the top and executed at the fundamental levels to please the apparatchiks) and not organic (make incentives for progress) progress of the people it is meant to serve.

A democracy is thus far, the most progressive form of government. The basic tenet of democracy is that the people decide the leaders. The leaders then move on to form the laws and legislature. They get to rule for a limited span of time, after which they have to go back to the people for a vote. If the people are satisfied with the government, they vote it back. If not, they will vote another political party to power.

On the face of it, it all sounds a very good proposal. However, there is one fatal flaw, the over-dependence of the system on the people. Now, the onus is on the people to be aware of happenings around them in order to operate the system efficiently. Moreover, it is also needed that they be able to see through the malicious plans of the leaders and stop them in their tracks. They need to realize that in order to have long term gains, the nation has to sacrifice some short term comforts. All of the people are needed to realize Kautilya's axiom for the training disciple from the Arthashastra.

"The training disciple is the one whose intellect has the qualities of desire to learn, listening, retention, thorough understanding, reflection, rejection of false views and intentness on truth and not on any other person." Ch. 1.5.5 [1]

In summary, they need to be equipped with cutting edge awareness, think long term and place the importance of the nation above their selfish interests.

This is no mean goal. No people can be readied for the challenges of democracy at short notice. The system gets even worse when corrupt people reach the higher rungs of power. Just one jab at power by vested interests can allow them to divide the people, favoring one section over the other. People, if not sufficiently aware of this game can fall for it and vote those that particularly favor their section of the society. This effect is called vote bank politics. A non-intellectual people will not understand learned men and get thugs voted to the higher echelons of power. The thugs will in turn start a positive feedback cycle and by vote bank politics get more thugs voted to power who will shirk their responsibilities and enter politics only to enjoy the spoils of power. This cycle would continue until: 1) People revolt en masse. 2) The country is destroyed by such shenanigans.

So, if all three forms have flaws, what is the way out?

A possible solution is that leaders, after getting elected should be made to attend an organization that hones their leadership skills. It should acquaint them with the basics of human relations, interactions with industry heads, time management, planning and other similar skills that are required for efficient rule of the nation. People who are not genuine leaders will fall short of these skills and must not proceed to becoming MPs of their elected regions.

It would then be essential that instead of the top, the top few M.P.s of a region need to attend the institution, just in case the winning M.P. fails at the organization. Now, this would undoubtedly lead to some situations wherein a member of a losing party from a region gets through the organization. This could be allowed if the member is indeed a genuine ruler. Or perhaps the party based political system can be suspended so as to avoid such chaos. As of now, it really doesn't matter which party our people vote to power since alliances between the parties are decided by the 'leaders' and not the people. The people might then have to see those people as ministers of some portfolio who belong to the parties they voted out of power!

Another possible problem may erupt as in such an organization may become biased and allow politicians of a particular school of thought up the ladder.

But note that such an organization is at least better than a completely unregulated process of allowing anybody to come to power after being voted by the people.

Lastly, we need to ensure that only the Prime Minister (P.M.) is from the people, while all the ministries should be turned into organizations run identical to PSUs with the leader of the organization heading the ministry rather than some elected person who has little knowledge of operating the field of which he might become the minister.

The ministerial organization must be made to have interactions with leaders in respective fields to allow for suitable acquisition of knowledge from the outside world in order to make decisions effectively. They should be given certain form of autonomy that the members of the parliament apart from the Prime Minister himself do not interfere in their operations. The ministerial organizations need to be subservient to the P.M. building organization so that the P.M. can affect changes in other ministries much easily and lobbyists for certain interests are avoided to come to helm in the ministries.

This way, current ministries can be kept out politics and function independently. As of now, while people can elect their P.M. to power, they do not elect the ministers. The former cherry-picks them to his liking and sometimes to the liking of coalition members of the winning coalition. Newer ministries are created to suit the interests of coalition members. Where is the will of the people in all of this anyway? Such chaos can also be avoided by having pre-established ministerial organizations. It would be less difficult to setup ministerial portfolios in such a situation.

Could a temporary implementation of such a system, a combination of people's will and organized political schools of thought be a solution to our decrepit democracy? Note I mention temporary because maintaining such organizations might be a huge strain on our economy if they acquire high complexity. And it would not be justified to have a permanent system in which the people's will is overruled by them, since the ultimate purpose of any government is to remain aligned with the people. But as long as the people are poor, not sufficiently literate and myopic, a temporary crutches of the kind mentioned above might just be what is needed.

To summarize pictorially, an ideal parliamentary kind of government with lesser number of political parties and in which there is no dabbling of parties into the administration would look something like the pyramid below.

Fig. 1 Ideal type of parliamentary government

When the number of political parties get too many, imagine spheres of varying sizes intersecting with levels 2 and 3 first. The system gets worse when there is a winning coalition instead of a winning party and the spheres start intersecting even at levels 4 and barely touching level 5 meaning that they get much more room to meddle at the lower levels and at least cause some chaos in the functioning of level 5. It gets unstable and might even collapse.

What I propose is that there be another stage between levels one and two that can serve to train the politicians before going further.. so as to refine the quality of politicians going ahead and dislodge the previous level 4 and create level A such that it has no connection to the legislature or any parties, and instead recruits people from professional organizations. This way, we can not only permanently (i.e. as long as the program is deemed necessary) cut off interference from the rising number of parties, but also fine tune the raucous lot from the parties that gets elected at the primary level.

Fig. 2: New kind of democracy

Note: A lot more of the detail may be needed to be developed in the above post. Need some help with the above thesis.

References:
[1] P. Radhakrishnan; Management fundamentals in Kautilya's Arthashastra- II; 2005; 16-22

The four debts of life

Rishi Kindamb explains the three debts of life, with the fourth debt explained by his wife at the end of episode 8. Buffer up to 35:00 to 38:50.

The session starts with Rishi Kindamb and Raja Pandu, Kunti and Madri.
Rishi: Life is both thirst and its quenching. Truth and falseness are the banks of the river of life. In its water is a mixture of both. But a knowing person is he who draws only righteous action from the water and doesn't allow falseness in his life.

Raja Pandu: So is this all life is? After filtering falseness in the filters of knowledge and experience, what does a person do about the truth? Does he return it to the same river?

Rishi: Oh king, I need not tell you anything. You know that after drawing truth from life, it doesn't need to be returned back. After truth is in ones hands, then a man should realize that he is a debtor. That he must fulfill his debts before dying. These are:

1) Dev rin (Money debt) 2) Rishi rin (Knowledge debt) 3) Pitru rin (Parental debt)

A man must fulfill these three debts before leaving his mortal self. And if somebody does so, life has been disrespected.

Raja Pandu: So what if somebody's fate does not allow him to fulfill these debts?

Rishi: Your adherence to duties should be more than your fear of fate, oh king. It is not as if man has never changed his fortune. To fulfill these debts, if you have to change your fortune, then a try must be made. This is because these debts are extraordinary.

1) Rishi rin: This belongs to Lord Shiva.

2) Dev rin: This belongs to Lord Vishnu.

3) Pitra rin: This belongs to Lord Brahma.

A man cannot escape from Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma.

Madri: So what are these debts?

Rishi: The first of these is Dev rin. This is fulfilled by donations. The second, Rishi rin is fulfilled by acquiring knowledge and spreading it. The third debt is Pitra rin. This is fulfilled by getting heirs/heiresses and continuing the family.

Kunti: What is the duty of a woman?

Rishi: Woman, or in other words, awareness, encouragement and joy is the earth. All the seeds of life are within her. She is the soul of married life. And this soul is born in the form of a child.

"यत्र नारियेस्तु पूजयन्ते, रमन्ते तत्र देवता ।"

Which means that wherever a woman is prayed to, the Gods are happy. Whoever disrespects a woman, is not a human. To protect a woman is the duty of a man.

(Session ends, all the four depart)

This part starts at 43: 33 and is said by the Rishi's wife.

"The earth is the mother of all living beings. When I think of this, I get sad that I haven't fulfilled the fourth debt, the debt of mother nature."

Epilogue: With turmoils aplenty in today's life, I found this section most appropriate to solve many problems in today's day and age. Hindu society today falls short of at least three of the above four parameters, donations of wealth, knowledge, getting children and caring for nature. With substantial amounts of all the four, we might just succeed in putting our nation on the right track.

Book Excerpt: "Hindu Dharma"

Stumbled upon this while reading the comments under a post by Sandeep on his blog. It's an excerpt from the forward by P.S. Mishra, former judge of the High Court of Madras of the book "Hindu Dharma" which is the English translation of two volumes of the Tamil book "Deivatthin Kural" by Sri Sri Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Mahaswamiji. Very profound I must say, and has most of the answers to the questions I raised in this post.

"Man is no different from animals," says Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada in his Sutrabhasya. "Pasvadibhiscavisesat".

Texts tell us: "Human beings and animals have the same urges. They eat and sleep and copulate and besides, the feelings of fear are common to both. What, then, is the difference between the two? It is adherence to Dharma that distinguishes human beings from animals. Without Dharma to guide him man would be no better than an animal."

"Aharanidrabhayamaithunam ca samanyametat pasubhirnaranam

Dharmo hi tesamadhiko visesah dharmena hina pasubhissamanah"

The Lord says in Bhagavad Gita: "When a man thinks of the objects of sense, attachment to them is born; from attachment arises desire; and from desire arises anger. Anger causes delusion and from delusion springs loss of memory; loss of memory leads to the destruction of the sense of discrimination; and because of the destruction of his sense of discrimination man perishes."

Dhyayato visayan pumsah sangastesu pajayate

Sangat samjayate kamah kamat krodho bhijayate

Krodhad bhavati sammohah sammohat smrtivibhramah

Smrtibhramsad buddhinaso buddhinasat pranasyati

Commenting on these two slokas of the Gita, Swami Chinmayananda says that evil develops from our wrong thinking or false imagination like a tree developing from the seed. Thought has the power to create as well as to destroy. Rightly harnessed, it can be used for constructive purposes; if misused it will be the cause of our utter destruction. When our mind constantly dwells on a "sense-object" an attachment is created for that object. When we keep thinking of this object with increasing intensity, our attachment to it becomes crystallized as burning desire for the same. But as obstacles arise to the fulfilment of this desire, the force that at first caused the desire now turns into anger.

Swami Chinmayananda further observes that anyone whose intellect is in the grip of anger becomes deluded and loses his sense of discrimination since he is also deprived of his memory. A man who is the victim of anger is capable of doing anything, forgetful of himself and his relationship with other people. Sri Sankaracharaya observes in this connection that a deluded fool will fight even with revered persons like his own parents and preceptors, forgetting his indebtedness to them.

Says Socrates: "The noblest of all investigations... is what man should be and what he should pursue". And Samuel Taylor Coleridge observes: "If man is not rising upward to be an angel, he is sinking downward to be a devil. He cannot stop at the beast."

It is perhaps because of his understanding of the instincts of man and the need for human actions to be inspired by dharma that the famous poet Nilakantha Diksita said: "If, even after being born a man, one does not have any sense of discrimination, it would be better for such a one to be born an animal since animals are not subject to the law that controls the senses."

Our rishis knew that "all except God will perish". Man with his capacity for discrimination must be able to grasp the truth that the Atman is not different from the Bhraman. The Atman has neither a beginning nor an end. Every individual goes through a succession of births and, determined by his karma, either sinks further and further down or rises further and further up. But in life after life the Atman remains untainted.

There is a difference of opinion even among the learned as to the meaning of the word "dharma". The word is derived from "dhr" to uphold, sustain or nourish. The seers often use it in close association with "rta" and "satya". Sri Vidyaranya defines rta as the mental perception and realization of God. The Taithriya Upanishad also uses it with "satya" and "dharma". It exhorts students to speak the truth and practise dharma ("Satya vada"; "Dharmam chara"). According to Sankara Bhagavatpada, satya means speaking the truth and dharma means translating it (Satya) into action.

"Satyamiti yathasastrarthata sa eva anusthiyamanah dharmanama bhavati."

In this connection, the explanation given by Sri.K.Balasubramania Aiyar is relevant:: "An analysis of the significance of these three words (rta, satya and dharma) brings out clearly to us the fundamental basis of dharma as the ideal for an individual. While rta denotes the mental perception and realization of truth and satya denotes the exact true expression in words of the truth as perceived by the mind, dharma is the observance, in the conduct of life, of truth. In fact, dharma is the way of life which translates into action the truth perceived by the man of insight as expressed by him truly. In short, rta is truth in thought, satya is truth in words and dhrama is truth in deed."

To right-thinking people "dharma" and "satya" are interchangeable words and their goal is --- as it has always been --- to rise higher so as to realize Him who alone is the Truth. For them there is no pursuit higher than that of practising truth in thought, word and deed.

"Bhutahitam" is Sri Sankarcharya's answer to the question ( that he himself raise), "Kim Satyam ?" It means that truth (or truthfulness) is what is spoken for the well-being of all living beings. To the question,"Ko dharmah?", his answer is "Abhimato yah sistanam nija kulinam". It means that dharma is that which is determined by the elders and by learned people.

Of the four purusharthas or aims of life, dharma is always mentioned first, artha second, karma third and moksha last. The four stanzas of the Mahabharata that together go by the name of "Bharata-Savitri" contain these profound truths: Dharma is eternal but neither happiness nor sorrow is eternal; the Atman is everlasting but not that which embodies it; and from dharma arise artha and kama. They also contain Vedavyasa's lamentation: "With uplifted arms I cry but no one listens to me, 'From dharma spring artha and kama. Why is dharma then not practised?' "

Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada observes that even the wise and the learned, even men who have a vision of the exceeding subtle Atman, are overpowered by tamas and do not understand it even though clearly explained in various texts.

The Reality is perceived by one who has sraddha or faith which, according to the saints, is acceptance of the truth as proclaimed by the scriptures and as taught by the guru. By following the reasoning of the sastras and the path shown by the guru the bonds of avidya are broken and one becomes aware of the Atman. One's own experience obtained through one-pointed meditation of the Truth is another means to achieve the same goal. These moments are indeed blessed, the moments during which the Truth dawns on us as we receive instruction from our guru and as we gain wisdom that is supported by the authority of the scriptures. Yes, these indeed are moments of bliss when the senses are quietened and the mind is firmly fixed on the Atman. Thus dharma, to be precise Veda Dharma, has been and is essential for man to become a real man.

According to Sri Chandarsekharendra Saraswati, the Mahaswami, dharma is our only protection. In this book, the Great Acharya recounts all that we need to know about dharma and presents in an integrated form the various systems of thought that have flourished in this country. "The Vedas", Sri Mahaswami affirms, "represent the lofty principle that it is the one Truth that is envisaged as all that we perceive."

The discourses that make up this book are remarkable for their simple and enchanting style. The most complex of ideas are explained with such lucidity as to make them comprehensible to the ordinary reader. Sri Mahaswami deals not only with the wisdom of the Samhita part of Vedas and with other scriptural matters, he takes in his stride even modern scientific concepts like those of time and space. It is all at once so wide-ranging and so profound that we bow our heads in reverence to the Great Master of our time, the Sage of Kamakoti Pitha. His approach shows that he has no doubts in his mind, no hesitation in affirming the truths in the Vedas and sastras.

Raj Dharma

Buffer upto 27:50 and watch till end.

Some lines on Dharma from Bhishma's address to Yudhisthir in the 94th episode of Mahabharata by B.R. Chopra.

".. Oh warrior, oh king, I am a defeated warrior and a defeated citizen. And from me, you should learn what a good warrior and citizen should not do. Vidur told me many times, that I should not honor the throne of Hastinapur. Instead, I should remain dutiful to Hastinapur. For if Hastinapur is not around, there will be no throne. Nothing is larger than the nation. No father, no son, no promise. My promises took me away from the interests of the nation. Yet, I kept them, and allowed the nation to go waste. My devotion to my promises made me a traitor. You are now seeing a traitor on this bed of arrows. I am the reason for the division of Hastinapur, the wax house accident, Draupadi's vastra haran and my beloved Arjun has thus nailed me to the ground for my sins. Every arrow is telling me, every wound is telling me, to recognize this land. You forgot it to see an image of your father?

Oh son, I am that Kshatriya who lived as a slave of my promises. With me, this chapter of disrespect for my motherland will also cease to exist. Oh son, on these white clothes of mine, there will be the blot of my pride. And this blot is so strong, that no penance from me will wash that. So son, do not ever make a promise that separates you from your nation. And if you did that, you will end up on a similar bed of arrows. Because when a Devavrata blocks the path of the nation, there will be an Arjun to slay him. This is the core essence of politics. Oh son, there is no interest of a king that is bigger than the interests of the nation. And if you think there is such an interest, then you too have trodded away from the path of Raj Dharma.

The country is not for the king, the king is for the country. And that king is never lucky for the nation, that blames his past for his nation's economic and social handicaps. If history has given you a weak socio-economic structure, then improve it! Change it! Because the past itself hasn't stood up to the challenges of the present. Because if the past were healthy, and if it had the strength to take the nation on the path of progress, then there would have been no change. And listen to this carefully oh son, the challenge of a nation's agility is that womankind is respected. The nation's borders are as respectful as a mother's clothes. Protect them with all vigor.

Vasudeva: Tell them something about Dharma and Rajdharma too Pitamah.

.. Dharma is not confined to rites and rituals. It is a balance of your duties and others' rights. Thus, you must follow Dharma. Raj Dharma (Dharma towards your nation) is the same. But a king's duties are more than that of a citizen's. If a situation calls for the partition of a nation, then call for war, but never partition the nation. Can you five brothers cut your mother into five and distribute amongst yourselves? If not, then how can you divide the motherland? I have committed this sin. Which is why I'm telling this. To delay war, I even agreed to the partition of the nation. Do not fall for this move Yudhisthir. Now I'm tired Vasudeva and won't say anything more..."

Media: The good, passionate and the ugly

In chapter 14, Shri Krishna speaks of there being three modes of nature, very akin to our concepts of good, bad and ugly. Except that bad is replaced by passion. Whether passionate actions are good or bad, we leave it to future post. To summarize them in one verse,
17:

सत्त्वत संजायते जनानाम
रजसो लोभा एव च
प्रमदा-मोहु तमसो
भवतो ’जनानाम एव च |

"From the mode of goodness, real knowledge develops; from the mode of passion, greed develops; and from the mode of ignorance develop foolishness, madness and illusion."

Media is a fourth pillar of any nation. As such, its purpose is fulfilled only when it emanates true knowledge of happenings in the outside world, while remaining detached from giving opinions. This is because facts are very sacred in our day-to-day life. Opinions are free, (i.e. in a nation based on basic freedoms). One can either be biased, or be thoughtful of the other. However, a matter of concern for a rational mind would be when opinions are arrived at with incomplete knowledge. This is obviously more important in democracies, since people need basic knowledge of the system and the participants in it in order to be able to make choices of candidates.

Fig. The hammer of judgement should be struck by the people, not the media.

But as everything in the world, the media is not perfect. There are sections that cater to certain lobbies. Then there are other sections that focus on petty things when more important things are around. To the knowledgeable reader, viewing this could be quite entertaining or sometimes, discomforting.

However, the common man out of distrust for the system generally buys their message hook, line and sinker. When people, out of laziness or limitations of time stop their questioning or confrontationist attitude, the society lapses back into dogma or superstition. We have been there once, perhaps many times, and we have faced the consequences.

Without classifying them, I'm quoting three articles from the Indian press:

1) In this connection, I have only three points to raise. First, those who call themselves the champions of human and women’s rights take pride in forcing Muslim women to abandon the burqa which is a clear infringement of an individual’s freedom to wear what one wants to. When some women are allowed to wear skin-showing outfits, why should others be disparaged when they want to cover their body? The writer forgets that individual choice of dressing should not come under the purview of law.

2) The Indo-Pak Joint Statement issued after PM Manmohan Singh met Pak PM Gilani in Sharm-al-Sheik (Egypt) has created ripples of controversy across the nation. Supposedly, India agreed tode-link Indo-Pak dialogue from the latter's action against terrorism in the Joint Statement. There is also a mention of unrest in Balochistan in it.

3) "He wanted to be the first pop star in space so badly. He had to be first. He knew it wouldn't only be history-making, it would be history-shattering," said Jackson's close friend Uri Geller.

I leave it up to you to classify them according to your bent of mind.

Is there anything like "absolute dharma"?

Some basic questions people following dharmic rules, rooting for a dharmic state and having problems with our present state of affairs should engage in are:

Q 1.: How do we define dharma?

Q 2.: Is Dharma something that is radically different from the natural state of the world?

Q 3.: If that is the case, why do we strive for it, when we know that things have a tendency to revert to their natural state sooner or later?

My concept of dharma, perhaps still in its infancy, is something called righteousness. For me, among other things, it should prompt the powerful to not only let the meek survive, but to also assist them in their survival.

A system in which the powerful allow a way for the weak? Is that feasible? Because, nature does not allow such a system. It is vicious competition in nature, one species besting another. The weak have no place out there. Ours seems meant to be a place where the bigger fish eats the medium fish, the medium fish eats the smaller fish and so on.

So, is a system feasible, which staples the ability of the strong, while allows the weak to grow? Isn't it natural for the strong to gobble the weak? For how long can man made to resist his natural animal instincts? Perhaps just as long as the nation has a powerful triumvirate of legislative, executive and judiciary forces. With the absence of these three, how long can people remain dharmic?

The one argument that is laid against the above question is that in nature, one species always supports its own kind. There is never violence in one species, which is what we see in Homo Sapiens. But on a closer look, we might be proved wrong.

If this is a temporary endeavour, why should we put so much of effort into it as writing miles and miles of scriptures and spending more time teaching and even more time spreading it? Why not let the rules of nature prevail?

And say, even if we achieve such a system, how far should we go? Do the forces of dharma have to be on a constant vigil for adharma in the society? Finally:

Q 4.:Is there anything like "absolute dharma"? When can we sit down and relax, that we have created the best society? Is life a constant war?

I would appreciate your reply to the above questions.

The Science of Gayatri Mantra

Since we are in the process of discovering Hindu philosophies rationally, I advise viewing of the following video.

Mantra

ॐ भुर्भावास्वः तत्सवितुर्वर्नियम ।
भर्गोदेवस्य धीमहि धियोयोनः प्रचोदयात ।

Transliteration:

Aum Bhurbhavasvaha Tatsaviturvaraniyam,
Bhargodevasya Dhimahi Dhiyoyonaha prachodayat.

Translation:

We meditate on the glory of the Creator, who has created the Universe, who is worthy of worship, who is the embodiment of knowledge and light, who is remover of all sin and ignorance. May he enlighten our intellect.

Along with several uses of sound in warfare and use in Raaga Dipak and Raaga Malhar, there is a lot of explanation on how the sounds of the Gayatri Mantra activate our endocrine glands. A must watch not only for people who are already into things like accupressure/accupuncture but for the general populace as well.

Yaksha Prashna

From episode 55 of Mahabharat by B.R. Chopra

Buffer up to 24:00 and watch till 30:00

Only in Hindi for now, so my apologies. Some of the questions are as follows:

Question No. 1:Yaksha questioned: Who makesthe sun to rise and ascend in the skies? Who moves around the Sun? Who makes the sun set in the horizons? What is the true nature of the Sun and where is the sun established?

Yudhisthira answered: Brahma makes the sun rise and ascend. The Gods perambulate about the Sun. The Dharm sets the Sun. Truth is the actual Sun and the Sun is established in truth only.

Question No. 2: How can one become a 'Shrotriya'? How can one attain greatness? What is man's second companion? How does one become become intelligent?

Yudhisthira replied: The study (Adhyana) of the Vedas makes one a 'Shrotriya'. One can achieve greatness by penance and perseverance. Patience is one's second companion. Service to old and wise men renders one intelligent.

Question No. 3: Yaksha enquired: What instills 'divinity' in Brahmins? What is the quality of virtuousity in a Brahmin? What is the humanlike quality of a Brahmin? What is the conduct akin to a non-virtuous person in a Brahmin?

Yudhisthira replied: The self-study (Swadhyana) of the Vedas is divinity in a Brahmin. Penance is the quality like a virtuous person in a Brahhmin. Death is human-like quality in a Brahmin. Criticising others is conduct in a Brahmin like a non-virtuous person.

Question No. 4: Yaksha asked: What instills 'divinity' in Kshatriyas? What is the quality of virtuousity in a Kshatriya? What is the humanlike quality of a Kshatriya? What is the conduct akin to a non-virtuous person in a Kshatriya?

Yudhisthira replied: The art of archery is the divinity in a Kshatriya. Oblation is Kshatriya's quality of virtuousity in Kshatriya. Fear is his humanly quality. Abandoning people are under protection of Kshatriya is his conduct like a non-virtuous person in Kshatriya.

Question No. 5 the Yaksha asked: What is that thing which is like a Mantra in the performance of oblations (Yajnya)? Who is the performer of rites and ceremonies during Yajnya? Who accepts the offerings and oblations of a Yajnya? What is that which even a Yajnya can not transgress?

Yudhisthira replied: 'Breath' is like a Mantra in the performance of rites. 'Mind' is the performer of all rites in the course of Yajnya. Only Shlokas of the Vedas rucha or the richa accept oblation. The Yajnya can not surpass nor transgress the richas.

Question No. 6 the Yaksha asked: What is the most wonderful thing?

Yudhisthir replied: The most amazing thing is that even though every day one sees countless living entities dying, he still acts and thinks as if he will live forever.

Although some of the questions are now obsolete, most of them are worth considering for spiritual enlightenment.

Politics from Mahabharat

Time (Samay) says this after Shree Krishna kidnaps Rukmini and her brother does diddly squat to prevent Him..

"When politics is fatally infected by corruption, then it changes nature. Definitions begin to change. Loyalty is no longer to the nation, but towards the King. Whoever is not a yesman, is an opponent. If truth is against the king, then it is no longer the truth. In this environment, the importance of bribes increases, and politics wants to buy everyone within its reach.The meaning of loyalty, friendship and other words like these change.

The same happened in Hastinapur. After Yudhishthir was made crown prince, there was no silence. Shakuni and Duryodhan were burning with vengeance. Dhritharashtra was going through the same feelings too. And he was giving opportunities to Shakuni to continue these fires of vengeance.

Duryodhan opens up the state treasury. It is unfortunate that inspite of Yudhishthir being made crown prince, Duryodhan is given control of the state treasury. And the latter was to use it to diminish Yudhisthir's popularity. He was buying those who could change the people's mind. Loyalties were being bought. Opponents were being bribed. Dhritarashtra too was plotting against Yudhisthira."

No prizes for guessing who is who today.. Although comparing the characters exactly is a bit far-fetched.

CAPEEM victory

A small victory for a cause we endorse:

PRESS RELEASE
Los Angeles
June 8, 2009

California Parents for the Equalization of Educational Materials (CAPEEM) and officials of the California Department of Education and the State Board of Education came to an agreement to settle the lawsuit that was filed in the United States District Court of Eastern District of California in 2006. CAPEEM had challenged the process by which religious claims were incorporated into the textbooks used by public school students, as well as some of the religious claims, themselves, which had made their way into those texts.

Believing that its points had been clearly understood by the defendants, CAPEEM opted not to prolong the litigation. The State entered into negotiations with CAPEEM and agreed to pay CAPEEM $175,000 in exchange for a voluntary dismissal of the lawsuit.

CAPEEM looks forward to participating in a review process free from biases, and to work with the State to approve textbooks that do not favor or disfavor any religious doctrines.

For more information contact:
Arvind Kumar (646) 594-4397 arvind@capeem.org http://www.capeem.org
CAPEEM is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization with tax ID 56-2565521. If you do not wish to receive updates from CAPEEM, please reply to this email with the word 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.

Check Nizzal Yoddha's (a.k.a. Rajeev Srinivasan's take on this (link)). An excerpt is as follows:

"It should also be replicated in india with a solid legal entity. there are many opportunities to challenge the state and other actors on unconstitutionality and legality. Some random recent examples:

1. The prime minister, sworn to uphold the constitution, violated its equal-rights clauses (this should be an impeachable offense) by saying that one group of people should have greater rights than others

2. An award-winning NGO was found to have fabricated witness statements, thus tampering with witnesses (a major offense) and thus rendering any related trial a mistrial, not to mention libelous and defamatory statements should result in large punitive damages

3. The speaker of the last parliament, sworn to neutrality, said he could not vote with a particular party. this should be an impeachable offense

4. The same speaker belittled and ignored what appeared to be a major vote-buying scam during a no-confidence motion, where it appeared people were bribed with large amounts: a felony. however, the same speaker pursued a misdemeanor with great enthusiasm, again suggesting bias."

The point of using scriptures.

Many visitors to this blog have often asked us, what is the need to use scriptures to understand things.

This post is meant to answer that.

Well, I do feel that is waste of human intellect, that he needs to be taught morals by someone and not learn them on his own through life experiences or follow some ideals due to personal foresight into matters of life.

On the other hand, religious scriptures are a set of codes penned down thousands of years ago. That something written so long ago should be used in today's life is another insult on human intellect. It obviously implies that mankind is not capable of thinking, that a fear of a powerful sentient being should be instilled in him to do what is good and stall from what is bad.

The objective of the blog thus seems to promote a religious theocracy.

However, that is not our intention. Most religious scriptures contain basic behavioral concepts, for example promoting a modest living, to abstain from lust, anger and greed, so on and so forth. It would be useful if the scriptures are used to generate a common concept of a good, desirable life and all the attributes necessary for it. They should be used to generate ideas of an ideal society. It is then unto us to protect it by all means, even if that means breaking the rules of Dharma for a while, for the ultimate purpose of Dharma should be the betterment and welfare of humanity in its entirety. With the focus on the goal, we should remain free from deciding the means to achieve it. And these means are decided upon by the time which we are living in, not by scriptures. Cultures world over that use the scriptures to decide the means, would stagnate.

Though started from a point of generating strength for Karmasura's personal problems, this is the new intention of the blog. To be.. among countless others out there, the ones to understand the scriptures, and use them for the welfare and upbringing of humanity.

As said in Chapter 2: 46

यवन अर्थ उदपाने
सर्वतः सम्प्लुतोदके
तवं सर्वेषु वेदेसू
ब्रह्मनास्य विजानतः |

"All purposes served by a small well can at once be served by a great reservoir of water. Similarly, all the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows the purpose behind them."

Although I've not read the Vedas, the purpose of the blog should be the same as that.

Quota System: A promise in the way of justice

After many long years, I've started re-exploring the Mahabharata by B.R. Chopra, hoping to get more insights into the intellect and knowledge of our ancestors and their understanding of social issues. And in the very first episode, I felt that I had an experience I needed to share.

Maharaj Santanu of the Bharata clan sees Ganga in a beautiful womanly form and proposes her to marry him. In reply, goddess Ganga asks a promise from him, that he will not stop her in whatever she does.

The promise is granted, and we all know what happens then. One by one, seven sons of Santanu are drowned in the Ganges. Santanu is worried and rushes to his Prime Minister as to what to do. The latter says then:

"Any promise that comes in the way of justice is a curse. You can do nothing but to live it."

We see a similar event in the Ramayana when Kaikeya saves Raja Dashratha's life and is granted a promise to ask whatever she wants.. the result is the expulsion of Ram from Ayodhya.

Today.. we have several such situations when our promises come in the way of justice. The quota system as implemented in India today is one such example.

The purpose of this system was alleviation of the people of the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes. There was a consensus that there were tribes of people that were oppressed under the infamous 'caste system' of India at the time of India's independence. As a result, the constitution of India granted 15% and 7.5% vacancies in educational institutions and jobs in the public sector. This was meant only for 5 years and the end of that period, the situation was to be reviewed. Not only have the following governments extended this period, they have also failed to review the situation and have also extended the vacancies for other sections of the society.

So does this mean that the vacancies were not applied adequately? Or did the number of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes increased all of a sudden after independence when instead they should have fallen. Thankfully, the SC had imposed a limit on the quota sytem to 50% and so, it has generally not risen beyond that limit. But why was the limit imposed at 50% and why was it not kept at the initial 15% and 7.5% as mentioned above?

Without going into the details of the quota debate, some quick points that have to be made regarding the systems are as follows:

1. Implementation of the quota system would perpetuate the caste system instead of abolishing it.
2. Political vote bank imperatives will lead to the extention of the quota system to other sections of the society.
3. Scams will float to register an upper caste as a lower caste.
4. Would other religions also not ask for a reservation for its own poor and backward castes?

The last point of the above has already bore fruit as Syed Shahbuddin has made a demand of muslim reservations. Would it not be naive to assume that all other religions will not make a demand for their reservations? Would this not also leave a gaping hole in our armour against other evils as proselytism since people can do both, convert to another religion and acquire backward caste status to avail the benefits of the quota system? Where will the buck stop?

Instead we the people of India should propose:

1. That people be evaluated on the basis of their talent and potential for the post they aspire to and not on the basis of their birth.
2. If at all the government wants to support the poor, they should support them with economic incentives, scholarships, etc. instead of affirmative action.
3. If there are any reasons that this cannot be implemented (such as corruption, red tape, etc), we should attack those problems and not shy away from them and implement coward measures as these, since some of these have become general Indian problems.

(Note: Discussing funding issues for some of the above programs is outside the scope of this blog. I will link this post to a post I will make on another blog of mine)

Like the other two cases, the quota system as implemented in India is a promise that comes in the way of justice. The justice that is deserved by the people who toil hard irrespective of the status that has been conferred upon him by birth. Today's India lags behind many other countries in terms of science and technology. Besides, there would surely be many other fields which we will lag behind because of slacking in standards of quality. Who knows how many Aryabhattas, Bhaskaracharyas, Kalidases, Ramanujans, C.V. Ramans we missed because of this system?

Time to uproot this system that is allowing the caste system to thrive and make promises not in the way of justice, but of justice.

Awards - Are they always justified?

For all its merits, there are some flaws of globalization, which has generally meant that we gulp down what is put forth by the West.

Now, it is indeed a fact that the Anglo Saxon group has coveted the world and it has been a harbinger of technology and progress. Pax Americana, the current era under which we live right now has given us such technological progress that it has dramatically improved human life all over the place. Those of us who have been able to derive benefits from this have moved ahead in our personal lives.

But this has been at a great cost to local cultures and civilizations. The places where the above mentioned group has gone to have had to face tremendous loss of lives and fortune to get this 'manna' of civilization from the West. And in places where they have not been able to destroy local cultures, the locals have had their minds subverted to being subservient to the West forever. People view their culture as lowly and , and anything made in the West is treated to be heavenly and divine.

Something similar happens in the awards category. While we all know that awards are meant for hard work and achievements, there is an often unseen dimension to awards. That they can also be given by propagandists of a cause, or an image.

And so, in India, while people may give back awards from the government as below:

“I have a great deal of respect for the Sahitya Akademi, for the members of this year's Jury and for many of the writers who have received these awards in the past. But to register my protest and reaffirm my disagreement — indeed my absolute disgust — with these policies of the Indian Government, I must refuse to accept the 2005 Sahtiya Akademi Award”, Arundhati said in a statement here.
“These essays written between 1998 and 2001 are deeply critical of some of the major policies of the Indian State”, she said. The main area of her disgreement included the government policies of constructing big dams, persuing nuclear weapons, increasing militarisation and economic liberalisation."

which may or may not be for a just cause, people do not think twice before accepting awards from western governments or institutions.

For an example of how this propaganda takes place, have a look at the winner of the 10th annual Jonathan Mann Award. A yet ambiguous case still pends against him and yet he gets 22 Nobel Prize winners demanding his release.

But when there are situations wherein somebody from outside the West deserving prizes, there have been complete denial of felicitations. Events related to the Nobel Prize, and in India's case, when great scientists of India - Jagdish Chandra Bose and Satyendra Nath Bose are such cases.

And now, we have slumdog millionaire. Nobody in India needs to be reminded of slums. Poverty is endemic in many places in the country, even the rich might not be able to avoid the sight of slums as they may have to go by them on their way to work. If people had to generate awareness, one trip outside would suffice. The plea for slumdog apologists that it is the beacon of truth and enlightenment is pure baloney.

And if we are thinking that slumdog is a slang for a person from the slums and is a commonly used word, then we are wrong. The word does not exist, at least in this dictionary. It is but a hangover of us being called dogs by natives of the nation that might not even have existed when India was at its zenith. For them, we are still what we are 60 years ago. In this day and age, inspite of sections of the Indian society having started to march ahead, we seem to have no right to dream, no right to look up and no right to relieve ourselves of our troubles even temporarily by demanding a feel good movie. We need to be kicked and punched and thrown back into the same hole, that is what the white man seems to be saying. Even a woman of a newly turned middle class family would try to hide her ugliness, if any. Why not mother India?

In the midst of all this insistence of truth and disregard for fallacies in entertainment, we forget that that is what entertainment stands for, so that we can have a getaway for a while from our daily troubles, and live in dreamworld for a certain time. What else can be the purpose of producing movies as 'Transformers', 'Superman', 'The Matrix', etc? Why of course it is to be in fantasy land for a short while. Who would watch a movie to be reminded of the facts of life? And that too to be reminded of poverty? Is it then entertainment at all?

I have not seen the movie, so I can't say more. What appalls me is that our own people have fallen for the trap, and allowing this portrayal of poverty in India to win acclaim and getting back Oscars. And although many a common Indian has raised his voice against it, but since we are not part of the movie, our word will not be accepted. Instead of allowing the contrarians some space, voices against the movie have been dismissed by a member of the star cast as being jealous or worse, childish.

As a solution to this, we must regain the virtues of desireless action, that just might be enable us to do our duties with utmost devotion and have no desire for awards. And this would also enable us to see through designs of such 'awards'.

We need to be situated in, as the Lord would say - "transcendental consciousness"
Chapter 2 55
श्री-भगवान उवाचा
प्रजाती यदा कमान
सरवन पर्थ मनो-गतान
अत्मन्य एवात्माना तुस्तः
स्थित-प्रज्नस तदोच्यते।
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: O Partha, when a man gives up all varieties of desire for sense gratification, which arise from mental concoction, and when his mind, thus purified, finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness."

which may enable us to see through ill motives of others.

This is in no way to imply that people who brought back Oscars for the movie had actually worked with intentions of Oscars in mind. They might have worked with full dedication to their profession too. We have no right to cast doubts on their intentions. But, on announcement of the awards, they should be conscious of the fact that not all awards are meant for hard work, some are meant to spread propaganda and to further selfish interests too.

Unlike the two Boses mentioned above, who often chose not to patent inventions believing that science is for the benefit of all, hence believing in Indian ideals of desireless action, can we imagine people of India today denying Western awards? When an Indian patriot made a search over google about this, he was dismayed with what Google threw up. Even Google, does not believe that Indians can deny Western Awards. Check the screen shot below.

The day we Indians refuse to accept a Western award would be, at least for me.. a day to hold my head high.

Is Maya polytheistic or monotheistic?

Somebody asked this question on www.ask.com. I wonder what he/she meant by it.

Theism by definition is a belief in God.

The prefix poly or mono depends on how many Gods you believe in.

Maya means illusions or ignorance.

So, is there any relation between theism and maya? I do not see any but if there is any, I am open to answers and opinion. Let's flag off a discussion on this topic.

Republic Day Week Special - 3: Fulfilling our fundamental duties

(I request readers to have a breeze past the last two posts to get a better idea on this one)

Ok.. so we come to the last post in the series, i.e. of this festival season.

Now, I will connect once again the quotes from the Gita to the content of the last two posts properly. Well, the point I intended to make was that renunciation, of all kinds is essential for the performance of any kind of duties. For example, in order for you to respect your parents and be able to follow them at all times, you must renounce your ego. In order to effectively learn something with your teacher, you must renounce the urge to belittle your teacher whenever he/she makes a mistake, considering themselves as human as you are. The list of things to renounce thus continues.

The text from the Gita I highlighted opens with Arjuna asking Shri Krishna about the purpose of renunciation by the Sanyasis. As per Shri Krishna, there are two doctrines associated with renunciation. 1) Sanyasa - which is the renunciation of activities that are based on material desire, and 2) Tyaga - which is the renunciation of all activities.

By His opinion, there are some activities, namely charity, sacrifice, and penance must never be given up, but they should be pursued and that should be done without any desire for the goal. (For this doctrine, refer to this post) But infact, they should be pursued as a sense of duty. And that duty has always to be adhered to, without any sense of attachment towards material goals. Only then would we be able to enjoy the true pleasure of renunciation.

Charity, sacrifice and penance,.. these are the qualities that will enable us to fulfill our duties even today. While the world has changed a lot in terms of the sciences, man's baser instincts remain essentially the same. In fact, we have become even more carnal in our desires, but I will leave that for a future post.

Getting back to the fundamental duties enshrined in the constitution, I wish to say that in order for us to fulfill our fundamental duties, we need to renounce:

1) Our petty problems with regard to language, religion, caste and regional issues and come together to forge a unique pan Indian identity. With today's means of education and media, we can make it the most powerful the nation has ever seen in quite a long time.

2) Our greed for money. No other solution comes to mind for the rampant corruption we see in our system. The amount lost in scams just keeps growing every time a new one comes up. This must not be tolerated.

3) Our skills at procrastination. Yes, the bed, the home and the carress of the loved ones are very comfortable indeed. But there is more to life than that. We must develop an attitute of proactivity in life, getting things done on time. We're not to be here forever, we have a limited time to do what we're sent here to do, and we must act with a sense of urgency.

4) Our affinity towards anything foreign. We must learn to respect homegrown or self produced goods and services more than foreign goods. The 'Swadeshi' movement of our freedom struggle needs to be rejuvenated. This will in turn, lead us to respect our composite culture, and as the emphasis is laid on home products, would also lead to in-house scientific research and advancement of science and technology in the country.

5) Our disregard for cleanliness outside our homes, understand the shortcomings of the nation in appointing cleaners for every nook and cranny of the country and take it onto ourselves, to preserve hygiene. Once this is done in the villages, the towns and the cities, the campaign must be taken to the industrial centers and we must have environmental preservation schemes implemented.

6) Our ability to accept anything reported in the Media as satya (truth), all the while forgetting that realizing satya is for us to do ourselves by toil and sweat. Nobody will hand down truth on a platter down to you and if it is happening, then there must be something wrong. Let not psychological/philosophical inclinations delude you into believing something is true. A statement must be accepted only if proof is provided, and even if proof is provided, we must develop a questioning attitude towards it. Nothing should surpass the hammer of our reasoning, and the anvil of truth unscathed.

7) Our affinity for piecemeal measures towards attaining success, and then getting into a state of complacency. We must be resolute in demanding the perfect accomplishment of our goals and only then should we rest. Swami Vivekananda said "Rise and stop not till thy goal is reached!"

It is thus evident that "Tyaga" is not of essence right now, for we still have a lot to do. "Sanyasa" is what is required, an abrogation of material desires, and alligning our minds to our duties, adhering to them till the very last breath.

With this, it is time to depart. Let us make a resolution this Republic day, that we will strive to fulfill our duties to the maximum, and aid India/Bharat/Hindusthan in re-achieving its glorious past.

"JAI HIND!"

Republic Day Week Special: A recap of our fundamental duties -2

This is in continuation from the last post I made on the fundamental duties in the Indian constitution. I have set the background of the post with a few quotes of the Gita describing acts of renounciation, which is very essential for us to achieve our duties. While that is to be discussed in a succeding post, we still have to make a record of our other duties, apart from the three discussed previously.

4. To defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so.

If we look at national service narrowly in terms of militarily aiding the nation in times of war, I have no doubt we still have many nationalist minded people who are willing to selfless come to the succor of our nation. But when will people start aiding the government in public service projects? When are we even going to start paying taxes lawfully? (Check this article out for more info). Isn't that also a form a national service? Thus, much needs to be done in the real meaning of 'national service'.

5. To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.

Apart from sporadic incidents of violence, (although, casualties are indeed large) we should say that there is ample religious, linguistic and regional unity. Few cogs are still rusty though. It remains to be seen if we can stop the rot in time or not. Women too are far well treated these days as compared to some nations.

6. To value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture.

Of all the duties, these has been taken the least seriously. The fad for globalization that has spread across the Indian youth has given a serious beating to our culture. Take a simple example of clothing. Just a couple of generations ago, Indian men and women were wearing traditional dresses. Now, even the poorest of the poor have switched to wearing shirts and pants.

Yet there are some good efforts made in this regard. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activities in this regard are one example. For one, check out their mission statement. Also consider their social activity, this time from a more creditable site that most of you would agree with. That of course would be but a small list of the institution's achievements.

7. To protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures.

Last heard, tiger population in India was dwindling and has reached a mere 1411. We have mixed results for the lion (link) whose population now stands at 359 while in 1907 it was a mere 13. That was when the Nawab of Junagadh stepped in to protect the lion. A rare case of a royal caring for wildlife. As far as people's movements in terms of natural environment are concerned, the Chipko movement comes to mind (a good link on the history of the movement). Yet, much more needs to be done for the cleanliness of our rivers. Perhaps revival of our ancient ethics wherein we regarded all elements of nature as holy is the order of the day over here.

8. To develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.

This has been developed to a certain extent. In post independence India, much progress in space and nuclear field has been made, thanks to scientists Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and Dr. Homi Bhabha respectively. The green revolution in India is another scientific achievement, and the victory of ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) is a legend. And so was the white revolution in India important for generating milk sufficiency. The flourishing of the spirit of inquiry and reform would be evident from the growing number of engineering and college students in India. It is but normal to assume that with college education spreading, there is a greater chance of this spirit being established in India on a larger scale.

But this has come at a cost about us missing out on rediscovering whatever scientific progress was made in ancient India. Sanskrit education has not been patronised to understand the scriptures, and we have not picked up from where we last departed from science in our scriptures. Our ancestors might have done this only after heavy aggressions from our North-West. We have to pick the stones up again and build the fort afresh. We need to apply our 'scientific temper' in this field.

9. To safeguard public property and to abjure violence.

Public property has been in a state of disrepair since quite some time. Venture out in the world and you will see what is the status of the same abroad. We should feel bad that anything with the epithet of 'public' in India has got an unclean image among Indians. From bus stops, to train stops, lack of hygiene is appalling. In this field, the work of Sulabh Sauchalaya requires special mention. We must start considering hygiene first in the reorganising of our public properties, for it seems it is viewed as a measure of comfort and not as a measure of promoting health.

Other things too need to be considered for public property. Protection from acts of rioting, terrorism, etc. would in turn partly solve the second part of this duty.

10. To strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement.

When it comes to striving in excellence in individual activity, we second none. But a lot has to be done in terms of striving towards achieving collective activity. Team spirit lags in India, which could be a reason why fields like Indian sports are stagnating. On the other hand, individual sports like chess, badminton, tennis, golf, etc. have done much better in comparison to team sports in India.

On the whole, while there are some good stories that are worth mentioning, we still need to do a lot to realise our fundamental duties. I sign off this post right now and will return another time, most likely before the 26th of Jan with a few suggestions on how to reform India.