ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಬಾಲಸಂಗಮ

ಅಂದು ಒಂದು ಮಹಾಸಂಗಮವಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಬಾಲಸಂಗಮವೆನಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿತ್ತು. ಭಾನುವಾರ, 29, Nov, ಕಾರ್ತಿಕ ಕೃಷ್ಣ ಚತುರ್ಥಿಯಂದು, ಕಸವನಹಳ್ಳಿಯ ಅಮೃತಾ ಸ್ಕೂಲ್ ಆಫ್ ಇಂಜಿನಿಯರಿಂಗ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ನಾನಾ ಕಡೆಯಿಂದ ಸುಮಾರು ೨೭೦ ಕುಟುಂಬದವರು, ತಮ್ಮ ೩೨೫ ಮಕ್ಕಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ಈ ಮಹಾಸಂಗಮಕ್ಕೆ ಆಗಮಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ೮:೩೦ ರಿಂದ ಶುರುವಾದ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಸಂಜೆ ಸುಮಾರು ೫ ರವರೆಗೆ ಮಕ್ಕಳ ನಾನಾ ಚಟುವಟಿಕೆಗಳಿಂದ ದಿನ ಬೆಳಗಿಸಿತ್ತು. 

ಯಾರೀ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಮತ್ತು ಕುಟುಂಬದವರು?

ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ IT ಮಿಲನದ ಕಾರ್ಯಕರ್ತರು ಕಳೆದ ಸುಮಾರು ೫ ವರುಷಗಳಿಂದ ಅವರವರ ಮನೆ ಸುತ್ತ ಮುತ್ತ, ಅಪಾರ್ಟ್ ಮೆಂಟ್ ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರತಿ ಭಾನುವಾರ ೧ ರಿಂದ ೧:೩೦ ಘಂಟೆಯ ‘ಬಾಲಭಾರತಿ’ ನಡೆಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಬಂದಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಅದು ೫ ರಿಂದ ೧೧ ರವರೆಗಿನ ಎಳೆಯ ಬಾಲಕ ಬಾಲಕಿಯರಲ್ಲಿ ಸರಳ ಭಾರತಿಯ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ ಬೆಳೆಸುವ ಒಂದು ಅಭಿಯಾನ. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರು ಅಲ್ಲಿಯ ಆಸಕ್ತ ತಂದೆ ತಾಯಂದಿರೆ. ಸುಮಾರು ೬೫ ಬಾಲಭಾರತಿಗಳು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ನಾನಾ ಕಡೆ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಅವರಿಗೆ ನೆರವಾಗಲು ಮತ್ತು ಒಂದು ಸಮನಾದ ರೀತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಯಲು ಮಾಸಪತ್ರಿಕೆ, ಒಂದು ಜಾಲತಾಣ ಎಲ್ಲವೂ IT ಮಿಲನದ ಸ್ವಯಂಸೇವಕರಿಂದಲೇ ತಯಾರಾಗಿ ಅವ್ಯಾಹತವಾಗಿ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಈ ವರುಷವು ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಬಾಲಭಾರತಿಯವರೂ ಒಂದು ಕಡೆ ಸೇರಿ ಒಂದು ದೊಡ್ಡ ರೀತಿಯ ಯಜ್ಞ ಮಾಡುವ ಮಹದಾಸೆ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸಿದರು. ಹಾಗೆ ಪ್ರಾರಂಭವಾದ ಒಂದು ಎಳೆಯಾಸೆ ೩೫ ಬಾಲಭಾರತಿಗಳು ಒಂದುಗೂಡಿ ನಡೆಸಿದ ಈ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಕ್ಕೆ ‘ಬಾಲಸಂಗಮ’ ಎನ್ನಿಸಿತು.

ಹೇಗಿತ್ತು ಈ ಮಹಾಯಜ್ಞ?

ಮೊದಲಿಗೆ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಂದ ಒಕ್ಕೊರಲಿನಿಂದ ಸುಂದರವಾಗಿ ರಾಗದಿಂದ ಏಕಾತ್ಮಥ ಸ್ತೋತ್ರ ಪಠಣ. ನಂತರದಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಂದು ಬಾಲಭಾರತಿಯವರು ತಮ್ಮ ಆಯ್ದ ಒಂದು ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ಹಬ್ಬದ ಕಲಾತ್ಮಕ ಪ್ರದರ್ಶನ ಅಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಸ್ಥಳದಲ್ಲಿ ನಾನಾ ವಸ್ತುಗಳಿಂದ ಮಾಡಿ ತೋರಿಸಿದರು. ಈ ಸ್ಪರ್ಧೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರು, ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳು, ತಂದೆತಾಯಂದಿರು ಮತ್ತು ಅಜ್ಜಿ ಅಜ್ಜಂದಿರು ಪಾಲ್ಗೊಂಡು ಒಂದು ನಿಜವಾದ ಊರ ಹಬ್ಬದ ವಾತಾವರಣ ನಿರ್ಮಿಸಿದರು. ಈ ಸ್ಪರ್ಧೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ೫ ಕೇಂದ್ರದವರಿಗೆ ಪ್ರಶಸ್ತಿ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿತು. ಯುಗಾದಿ, ಸಂಕ್ರಾಂತಿ, ದಸರಾ, ದೀಪಾವಳಿ ಮತ್ತು ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರ ದಿನ ಇವುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವುದಾದರೂ ಒಂದನ್ನು ಒಂದೊಂದು ಕೇಂದ್ರದವರು ಆರಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಮಾಡಿದರು.

ನಂತರ ನಡೆದ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಗಳು, ತಂದೆತಾಯಂದಿರಿಗೆ ಬೇರೆಯ ಬೌಧಿಕ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಮತ್ತು ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೆ ಬೇರೆಯ ಸ್ಪರ್ಧೆಗಳು ನಡೆಯಿತು. ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೆ ದೇಶಭಕ್ತಿ ಗೀತೆಯ ಸ್ಪರ್ಧೆ ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರಶ್ನೋತ್ತರ ಸ್ಪರ್ಧೆ ನಡೆಯಿತು. ಗೆದ್ದ ಕೇಂದ್ರಗಳಿಗೆ ಸೂಕ್ತ ಬಹುಮಾನಗಳು ವಿತರಣೆ ಆಯಿತು.     

ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಮೇರು ಮೆರಗು ಎನಿಸಿಕೊಂಡದ್ದು ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಏಕಾತ್ಮಥ ಸ್ತೋತ್ರದ ಪಾತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ಅನುಕರಿಸಿ ಉಡುಗೆ ತೊಡುಗೆಗಳನ್ನು ತೊಟ್ಟು ಸ್ತೋತ್ರದ ಹಿನ್ನೆಲಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ವೇದಿಕೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಸಾಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದು ಪ್ರದರ್ಶನ ನಡೆಸಿದ್ದು. ಭಾರತದ ಮಹರ್ಷಿಗಳು, ರಾಜರ್ಷಿಗಳು, ಮಹಾಮಹಿಮರು, ಭಾರತ ನಿರ್ಮಾಣಕಾರರೆಲ್ಲ ನಮ್ಮೊಂದಿಗೆ ಇರಲು ಬಂದ೦ತೆ ಇತ್ತು. ದೇವತೆಗಳು ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಆಶೀರ್ವಾದ ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಇದೆ ಎಂಬ೦ತೆ ತುಂತುರು ಹನಿ ಹಾಕಿ ಪುಷ್ಪವೃಷ್ಟಿ ಎಸಗಿದರು. ನಮ್ಮ ಸ್ವಯಂಸೇವಕರು ಸಮಯ ಪ್ರಜ್ಞೆಇಂದ ಅದರಿಂದ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಕ್ಕೆ ಧಕ್ಕೆ ಆಗದಂತೆ ನಡೆದುಕೊಂಡರು.

ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಕ್ಕೆ ಆಶೀರ್ವಚನ ನೀಡಲು, ಮಾನನೀಯ. ಮುಕುಂದ, ಅ.ಭಾ.ಸಹ ಬೌಧಿಕ ಪ್ರಮುಖರು, ಮಾನನೀಯ. ಸು. ರಾಮಣ್ಣ, ಅ.ಭಾ.ಕುಟುಂಬ ಪ್ರಬೋಧನ ಪ್ರಮುಖರು, ಇವರುಗಳು ಇದ್ದರು.  ಮಾನನೀಯ ಶ್ರೀ ಧನರಾಜ್ ಸ್ವಾಮೀಜಿ, ವಿದ್ಯಾಕೇಂದ್ರದ ಪ್ರಮುಖರು ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಆರಂಭ ಮತ್ತು ಕೊನೆಗೆ ಇದ್ದು ಮಾರ್ಗದರ್ಶನ ನೀಡಿದರು. 

Badami Travelogue – Oct 2015

The hunger to explore our beautiful Karnataka took us to Badami this Dussera holidays. Usually in KSTDC or any other travels, the places we covered are covered in 1 day. But we being lazy covered it in 5 days. 2 families – Mine and Gautham’s went by train overnight to Badami from Bangalore. Stayed in one Good resort in Badami all days and covered all places by locally hired taxi.

The entire album with detailed comments is here. Do open each photo with info to read detail of the photo and place:

https://goo.gl/photos/ZwDiCM2tqXZfixb6A

The places we covered are:

Day 1: Banashankari Temple, Kannada Hampi University Traditional Sculpture Centre, Museum, Prasanna Venkata Dasara Katte, Badami Caves

Day 2: Almatti Dam & Park, Krishna River, Yalagooreshwara temple, Koodala Sangama, Ilakal;

Day 3: Aihole, Pattadakal, Mahakoota; On the way maize fields

Day 4: Thoravi Narasimha, Bijapura Gol Gumbaz (The family returned back to Bengaluru from Bijapur)

Day 5: (Explored alone due to a function I was attending in Dharwar next day) Gadag Veeranarayana temple, Thrikuteshwara temple; Lakkundi temples and basadi;

Observe the photos of Thrikuteshwara temple and Lakkundi to appreciate the finesse in sculpture & art on each pillar, wall, and door frame. It is almost equivalent to the Hoysala style architecture.

Chalukyan History

Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole are the triple heritage centres showing the zenith of Chalukyan contribution to the posterity. While Aihole is called the Primary school, Badami as High school, Pattadakal is called the college of the Chalukyan sculptural extravaganza. Aihole is small dusty town but boasts of hundreds of temples. It was a school for artesans & architects. So you see many northern and Deccan style temples. Similar experiment with higher degree of precision is there in Pattadakal. Badami takes the cake in exquisite Cave temples.

The Chalukyan temple architecture is dotted around many towns across the length and breadth of Karnataka. It also shows decline of Jainism in Karnataka during their period or may be soon after. The kings & edicts sure show harmony and equality to all faiths. In Badami, the 4^th cave is dedicated to Jainism although at that time, their population was less than 5%. It seems like the majority political power appeasing the minority is eternal in India. However in Lakkundi I could very easily spot the Jain Basadi converted to Shiva temples. May be during their times or after. The changing faiths, local chieftains changing priorities, the local political pressures might have conceded these changes.  

Chalukyans ruled our Karnataka from 6^th to 11^th century. Their empire at the zenith of Pulikeshi II extended from Narmada River in the north till Kaveri in the South. He defeated Harshavardhana at the Narmada banks and raided Kanchi in south defeating the Pallavas of Tamil.

Karnataka being host of great sculptural heritage, Chalukyan temple architecture is second in sequence of chronology & also maturity. The first being Kadambas and Rashtrakutas developed initial temple architectures. Chalukyans took it to a greater height. The Zenith of finesse in sculpture comes in Hoysala period of 10 to 13^th cent, testimony of which you can find in Belur, Halebid and numerous towns spread across Karanataka. After the barbaric raids from Mallik Kaffar a general from Mohammad of Ghazni, the Kannadigas were crest fallen. Almost a century went by in some kind of a stoic silence. There were many smaller kings, provinces trying to maintain some sensible living. Then Vijayanagara empire came about establishment around 14^th century consolidating and reviving the Hindu Culture. Post Islamic barbarism, in no shy manner, Vijayanagara kings called themselves Hindu Surathrana, the saviors of Hinduism and called for unification of Hindu kings. And through their meticulous harmonious ruling, they created a free and fair environment for all faiths to co-exist and construct great towns, temples & architecture.

Clockwise from top down:

Near Badami Boothanatha Temple; Gadag Thrikuteshwara temple Garbagriha; Lakkundi temple;

Notice the actual door is small; The load bearing pillar and then the frame each side and atop are very wide; The carvings are intricate. Badami is Red sandstone, so less intricate; Gadag and Lakkundi are black fine stone; The carvings are exquisite;

In one temple, the door frame has 1 inch sculpture series depicting Krishna leela; You can move your fingers in the air gap; It is like Thorana of Krishna leela

 

This peacock loving pair is taken by Indian Medical Associates as their emblem	Ganda Bherunda – The 2 headed Eagle with 1 body is a royal symbol chosen by Mysore Wodeyars. In the modern world the KSRTC our state transport corporation chose this as its emblem.	You will notice many such beautiful window designs in each and every temple. There many other motifs on temple walls used for saree making, block printing.

Ancient water management: It is small, beautiful & sustainable. It serves the city even today after a dozen “centuries”!! Photo of Agasthya Thirtha serving city of Badami.	Modern day Water Management: It is just stupid,  & barbaric. It is very very large. Serves very few for few days in an year for few years. Submerges a whole lot. High maintenance, needs modern cement, power, fuel daily. Lives for 50-100 years max. Photo of Almatti dam across the mighty Krishna.

What is Heritage?

After visiting these places you will be convinced what real heritage is. Heritage is art, architecture, man made beauty blending with god made nature. In the ancient past people built heritage which serves humanity even today.

In the modern day, are we building heritage which will serve posterity? Will Manyata tech park stand tall after petrol & coal gets over in a couple of century? Or will it become like Bombay ghost mills? Will we continue to lift & pump Kaveri water from 200kms and pump to a million houses in Bangalore for a century more?  When Bangalore retires to the history of great culture, what will it retain with it? May be Lalbagh, because it has water in it! And may be few temples because Bhakti is eternal & economical!

Hope these glimpses entice you to pay a visit to understand our heritage better. These places are very friendly. Kannadigas are very warm and welcome. Whatever your language, caste, creed, religion, people make you their own. 

The God Theory in INDIA

Man came upon the earth millions of years ago. The earliest man is known to have existed on all continents. Man was there in Europe; Man existed in China; Humans dwelled in Africa; Man was there in America and he was there in India also. And everywhere he developed civilization. Man is a social animal. He needs each other to survive. Man developed society for together living. Along came the God theory. Indigenous communities everywhere developed God theory.

The most interesting and importantly most harmonious God theory was developed in India ONLY. And only in India. Nowhere else.

Lets see how.

The Pagan System

As civilization developed, man was mesmerized by Prakrithi (nature). He realized, the Prakrithi gives him the survival needs of food, water, air. Prakrithi is beautiful and challenges him to understand it better. So he grew curious. His curiousness took him to understand the world and beyond. But he was limited by his only 5 senses to know everything. So he concluded there must be some super being that must have set up this entire thing to work in beautiful harmony. His curiousness became respect and then devotion. So he worshipped that concept. And thus GOD came about in human theory.

But different communities in different places developed reverence for different forms of God. But conceiving God without form and feature became difficult. So they looked at various elements of the nature and started worshipping according to their understanding of who is superior. Sun is God. Earth is god. Mountain is God. Air is God. Fire is God. Forest is God. River is God. And so on. So different communities across the world conceived different God forms and worshipped. This is true of not only India. The Mayans, Egyptians, Greeks, aborigins & tribals across the world worshipped the nature elements as well as formless & different forms of God. This is called as Pagan system by modern day European theologists (Theology means God Theory) and early Christians.

Then came the superiority complex amongst the communities. This created conflicts amongst the communities. Conflict resolution on superiority of GOD who don’t talk, who don’t come upon calling, who don’t interact with all at once, became a complex situation for amicable resolution. So the communities fought and annihilated other community and established superiority. If community A wins over community B then the God of community A is superior over God of community B. So whoever is the political leader dictates the superiority of the God & annihilated the other community.

The Vedas, Upanishads & Puranas

But India was different. In India, great visionaries called Rishis and Maharshis understood this human tragedy well enough. They penanced. God, the Supreme Being, revealed the truth in the form of the “Vedas”.

Rishis said the social harmony is most important. Man’s duty towards another man is important. Man’s duty to Prakrithi with minimalistic living is important. Rishi’s called this as “Dharma”, the most fundamental truth for humanity. Dharma became compassion. Dharma became self-less service to the mankind and Prakrithi. Dharma was the path to Moksha – the ultimate liberation from the birth-death recycle. In western theology, obedience to one particular God is the path to Heaven. In contrast, in the Indian theology, it is the good deeds which take one to salvation irrespective of whichever God he worships.  

While Dharma became the most fundamental truth for the man, the faith in God is irreplaceable. It is natural feeling of devotion in human heart. So it was important to put theories around all different Gods for man to live in harmony. The Vedas take each god and depict as the most powerful god. All the communities believed in the Vedas as the ultimate truth. Shaiva, Vaishnava, Ganapathya, Shakthya & several other communities, all of them believe in the Vedas as the ultimate truth. The Vedas are intelligently and cryptically written for all of us to believe it says our God is the most superior of them all.

The Rishis didn’t stop at that. Because if they did, it would still result in fight for superiority. So through stories of Puranas and Upanishads, they created relation between all the Gods. So Lakshmi the Goddess of Wealth is the consort of Vishnu the Preserver of the universe; Saraswathi the goddess of knowledge is the consort of Brahma the Creater; Similarly Shiva-Parvathi; Then Ganesha-Karthikeya are sons of Shiva-Parvathi, and the list is endless.

Not only that, in various stories & ithihasa the happenings, one God worships the other. In Ramayana, Rama worships Shiva Linga in Rameswaram. In Shiva Purana, Shiva teaches Rama Nama to Parvathi in Amaranatha caves. Krishna does Vinayaka Vratha, while the worshipped Ganesha is the Scribe of the Magnum opus Mahabharatha and Bhagavatha, both being ultimate tribute to the Lord Krishna. So you will see umpteen numbers of stories where Gods interact, pay respects to each other, worship each other. It is almost as if they don’t have any qualms of superiority between them at all.

But will they not fight at all? Or will their followers not fight at all in these stories?

Narada – The Kalahapriya

Narada plays a crucial role in this harmonious set up. Interestingly he is called Kalahapriya – the trouble creator. Because, his role itself is to create conflict between Gods and their respective followers. He brings in trouble quietly in a harmonious set up. Whenever he enters you can be sure the story takes interesting turns.

There is this Kama - Desire, Krodha - Anger, Moha – Possessiveness, Mada – Superiority complex, Mathsara – Cruel Jealousy; the 5 Doshas – deformities, in every human being. And Narada brings that out even in Gods. You might argue this is silly. How can God who is above all this have such merely humane Dosha. He will not have. But through conflict the Sathya (The Truth) & Dharma (The Righteousness) is made to win ultimately. So for that God is made to fall prey momentarily to such mundane Dosha.  Ultimately, Narada says in all stories, that to bring about the Dharma consciousness amongst the people of the earth, Gods play all these Nataka (Drama)

The Spread of Hinduism

When Hinduism with these basic tenets spread around the world, it didn’t face any resistance nor was there any conflict. Because basically it believes in Polytheism (Multiple God Theory). Every community around the world which had its own indigenous God theory was easily assimilated into Hinduism. During the BC 600 and before, under Magadha kingdom and even before, Hinduism spread westward all the way to Persia and may be beyond. Around 8^th Cent CE, under Cholas, the Hinduism spread well across most of east Asia all the way till Thailand, Cambodia and may be beyond. While it retained their indigenous faiths, rituals, it enhanced their faith rather than converting their faith. Because, Hinduism had so many Gods to compare it with their indigenous Gods to align. So the Ramayana, Mahabharata travelled far east and adopted itself to the imaginations and lifestyle, environmental settings of their own land. They brought in their elemental Gods, Nature Gods, Animal Gods, Imaginary Gods & interwoven their stories and produced some of the best mythology. The best part is it was all Harmonious. It created great temples, art, artecraft, magnificent architecture which stand till date testimony to social harmony over centuries if not millenniums.

How does Hinduism treat Godification of Historical figures?

Oh yeah! This part is amazing. It so easily creates Gods everyday in India. It adopts these new Gods also to an already existing galaxy of Gods. So it doesn’t instill fear, but harmony amongst the followers.

For example, Vithoba in North Karanataka – Maharastra region was a historical figure. There was a big following of him, based on his greatness. He became God in the eyes of the people of the region. May be some Maharishi of that time, recognized Vithoba’s greatness and compared him to Sri Krishna. So instead of imposing his God Sri Krishna as superior over their faithful god Vithoba, he called Vithoba as his God Sri Krishna only. He didn’t feel any fear of loosing his own God’s superiority. By submitting himself at the great altar of Vithoba he showed grace. And this graceful gesture positively appealed to the people of the region and took to worship Sri Krishna in Vithoba.  This resulted in the flow of many further stories, songs of devotion, dance forms, art and many other things which bring harmony to the society and to an individual.

Thirumala Venkatesha, Khandoba, Mallikarjuna, Chamundeshwari and many other Gods across the length and breadth of India are arguably historical figures who are Godified by their exemplary good deeds. The great celebrations - uthsava, jaathre, kumbha mela etc., that happen at the abode of these Gods attract lakhs of devotees cutting across region, language, caste. It has brought people together every day for many milleniums.

Many people argue India is mired in casteism, hatred, discrimination. But they don’t look at these magnificent canvases of social harmony. Alas! They look with coloured glasses only at few skirmishes which happen everyday here and there in small pockets and cry out loud that India is hopeless. Of course these need to be condemned and corrected. As every healthy man gets wounds & gets healed, our society also is exposed to such wounds often and it gets healed. It generally settles over time amicably. It always does in our country. Unlike in other countries this kind of wound spreads like cancer eating away the healthy cells.

Conflict with Monotheism

Monotheism is belief in only one God. Or the God theory which believes in only one God. Christianity and Islam follow Monotheism.

How does Hinduism take in that?

Vedas say “Ekam Sat Viprah Bahuda Vadanthi”, meaning there is only one truth, but wise call it by different names. So Hinduism accept the Gods from the religions who follow Monotheism. But do they accept us? That is not possible. Lets see few examples.

Gandhiji adapted Allah into his famous hymn – ‘Eeshwara allah thero naam’. Many Hindus recite this in various religious ceremonies. It is just as easy as that.

Kabir’s Dohe make it into the holy books of Hindus and Sikhs. It makes it into our holy temples for devotional serving. He says in his Dohe Ram and Rahim are same. Our Santha Shishunala Shareepha says Allah and Allama are same. We keep these work worth of worship at the highest altar of our Godly place and recite.

Will any Masjid dare take Ram into their holy places? It is inconceivable.

Many of our Indian philosophers have paid great tributes to Yesu & depicted him with highest reverence. In fact some compare him to Sri Krishna and have composed hymns over him. There is a Hindu temple (The largest glass temple in the world) in Kaulalampur which has Yesu also in there. It is that simple.

Will any Church have a place for Sri Krishna? It is inconceivable.

Individual Christians, Individual Muslims might adapt Hindu Gods or other Gods. But the institutions will never mend.

We cannot expect that also. Because, they follow Monotheism. But the biggest conflict comes in the faith conversion. The Monotheists are hard pressed on faith conversion as a salvation path. And that I believe is the single most reason of conflict across the world in the name of GOD!

Indian God theory is certainly the most amazing & most harmonious theory of all that I have known.

God bless me for writing this blog!!! 

What is Swathanthrya? What is Swarajya?

Swathanthrya for most Indians is an August fever.

We got freedom from the foreign rule on Aug 15th 1947. What we got is political freedom. But what it really means?  Is there a transfer of political freedom to individual freedom? What is beyond political freedom? What individual freedom means?

In India today we do not have Individual freedom largely. Rather it is not there to the extent that we had in ancient times. So what is that Individual freedom?   

People Freedom in India in the Past:

Every region is unique in India. And people in these regions have very rich natural resources. The indigenous people of that region had full freedom to utilize that in a sustainable non-polluting manner. The politics of that day gave full freedom to the communities living by those natural resources to utilize the natural resources to produce the best they could. The communities used that freedom to live happily, produce what is needed for their living and innovate. Raja Dharma protected Samaja Manava Dharma which was guided by Vedic Dharma of “Sarve Janah Sukhino Bhavathu”.

If you see we produced some of the best textile in the world. Besides the muslin cloth of Bengal, we had in each region unique variety of artistic textile produced. For example in Karnataka itself we have ilkal saree, molakalmooru saree, mysooru saree, just to name a few saree varieties only. It was all handloom and hand made.

Besides textiles, we had some of the best pearls, ruby, etc., extracted and exotic ornaments made of them. The Arabian Sea used to be called as Rathnakara. It is AAKARA of RATHNA means = Abode of Pearls.

The diamond extraction & gold ornaments were all innovations of India. Art and craft on Ivory, Animal Horns showed the artistic exuberance of an artisan. The animal leather produced some of the best musical drums to be played at temples and in concerts, besides the foot wear and bags.

The metallurgy in India was very advanced. The Darpana which means mirror used to be made out of many alloys of metals. There is one such famous mirror in a Kerala temple which even today stands testimony giving 99% perfect reflection better than some of our best glass mirrors of today. In front of Kutub Minar in Delhi there stands an iron based alloy still not rusted after several centuries of weather conditions. Look at the beautiful gold, silver ornaments decorating our Gods across the country. Look at the gold based Tanajavuru paintings staying impeccable even today after centuries in some of our people’s homes.

The politics of that day gave full freedom to the indigenous community to experiment with the resources they had to produce the best they could. There was no political compulsion to produce for export. The politics was not economy centric. But it was clearly people centric. It was people freedom centric. They could produce what they could to sustain their living. When people were given freedom to produce what they could, they always produced the best and more.

There was no uprising against slavery, the type we hear in the west during that contemporary time. The large temples, exquisite sculpture were produced by not chained & mimed slaves. But it was produced by the free willing artisans. The cultural freedom was explicit in India during those days. They were fed well by free India. Construction of such gracious temples indicate Prosperity. Its sustenance over milleniums indicate Peace.

There was no Land Acquisition bill. There are so many legislations available to read from various kingdoms, dynasties, but we don’t come across such acquisition of properties against people’s will. (There are educated & graduate Indians today who truly believe there was no Law, Legislation, Rule, Order, Justice, and Judicial system in Ancient India. There is a belief that British gifted all of this to us. But that is unfortunate of our secular education system). Some of the Tamilnadu temples like Tiruvannamalai, Srirangam, Madhurai etc., are so large, that one parikrama (circumference) is about couple of dozen kilometers. The entire city is inside the temple premise. Where was land acquisition problem? We do not hear of it in any sculpture nor ballads, writings, drama available from that era.

What is People Freedom in India Today?

Today India is ruled from one center place call New Delhi. For them India is measured by GDP & GNP. They also give first priority to some foreign agencies ranking India in economy based ease of doing business, mining, ecology clearance for a polluting industry etc., Economy is central to policy making. Not the people freedom.

For example, India is the largest exporter of Undies, Banians and variety of undergarments; It also exports, towels, carpets, T-shirts, shirts, trousers etc., The design for which comes from foreign companies who buy these clothes for consumption in their countries. All of this is produced from few thousand or lakh work force in Thirupur in Tamilnadu. That’s it. Compare it with ancient India producing top class exclusive textile which cannot be produced by anyone else in the world. Because it was Kaushala (artistry) of artesans. And how many of them? Millions, spread across India in very village, town, north south east and west.

Similarly ore export. Simply extract the ore and push it across the world. Do it in rapid & rampant way destroying forests, mountains, bloodying the rivers. Are we mad? We could have given freedom to people living there to extract and give it in small chunks for India’s consumption. Why export? In Vijayanagara era & going back to BC, that’s how the records say, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Kolar, Bellary were rich in Gold, Iron, Copper, several minerals; and extraction & processing used to happen in sustainable way as a cottage industry. With such people freedom our Cholas built formidable large ships sailed across the ocean to spread harmonious Hindu culture in far eastern countries which stand testimony even today in Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand etc., .

If we give people freedom they will come up with technology even to develop world class Submarines & War ships. But with no people freedom, Ford, Toyota are coming in hordes to destroy our city living by excessive personal luxury cars production; Our rural environment also is destroyed. What are we achieving? GDP. With that what can we achieve? The ‘Haves’ will have luxury cars, the ‘Have Nots’ will lose their ancestral dwelling, land, water & migrate to city slums.

So Swathanthrya today for Middleclass educated is: eat what you like, live however you like, get any job you can get to work like a donkey and earn some money to party like hell.

For the not so privileged rest of India, Swathanthrya is a dream.

Is all Inclusive better life possible in India?

As I have understood India of the past and the present, if we become Agri based country, it is possible. It gives a lot of freedom to achieve all inclusive decent living & become a great economy too. That’s how ancient India was. 90% of India was Agri based. In agriculture, for a land owner it gives work for almost 150-200 days in an year. And for a landless agri dependent labour it gives about 90-100 days labour. It gives them enough grains to sustain themselves through the year and trade or export the grains also. Rest of the days they can use to freely explore what can be done from the resources they have around. And also to build bridges, canals, drainage, road, temples, tanks, lakes, desilting etc., That is what is Swarajya. Ruling and developing their locality and giving back to the nation. Not the way today it is happening like Central government is giving grains to people through PDS.

And entertainment can be localized to develop local culture. That’s how some of our classical languages, their literature survived for centuries. For example, in Kannada not only the colloquial ballads but some of the Raja Asthana’s classical literature like Ranna’s Gada Yuddha, Kumaravyasa Bharatha passed on from generation to generation from around 8^th century till 20^th century. It was a good pastime to recite & dramatize it in every village. Everybody was an artist. For 12 centuries it remained on people’s lips & actions. Now it is in records. Closed shut.

Can we become Agri based country at all in future? It is a dream. It requires change of education, mending the minds.

• ·         Firstly the rural people should exercise their rights over their land and water.
• ·         Then policy makers have to heed to them. Make policies to protect India, its people, its resources
• ·         The urban middle class have to understand righteous way of living.

All this is possible, by not our generation itself. It will take many generations. But in our generation we have to change our education. It should be India pride based. It should teach local culture, local history, local heroes, pride in protecting locality. It should teach a child what is freedom. How to excise it in righteous way of protecting others right to live, protect environment, strengthen society. 

India’s Glorious Past. How relevant it is today?

The recent Shashi Tharoor’s speech at right time at right place hit social media big way. It raised lot of debates and articles. I for one became a fan of it and was swept by its revelations in the aftermath. Here it is for reference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7CW7S0zxv4

One offshoot of that debate is also on India’s glorious past. And how relevant it is for us today?

Did India Really have a glorious past?

India was a fascinating land. It was a dream land for the foreigners.

During Maurya, Kushana and Gupta period, it reached the zenith of its glory. Post those periods it saw many ups and downs through many invasions. But it still held its world leadership at least on the economics & trade front till the Mughal’s period. The greatest decline for India is obviously during British period. The greatest damage done by the British is to impoverish the common man economically and intellectually.

Swami Vivekananda put it neatly – That Indian civilization developed by the inner exploration and Greek civilization by exploring outer world.

During those bygone era of “Poorna Swarajya”, through inner exploration, Indian’s produced some of the best theories from Artha Shastra to Kama Shastra; from Natya Shastra to Vyakarana Shastra and many others. All of these travelled across oceans and through land to Europeans. Some of the exotic exports included motifs on Ivory, Sandalwood, Mehegony, Gold, Silver and many other alloys. These depicted fascinating creatures which were unnatural to foreigners. The lions, tigers, peacocks, elephants are some of the animals & the pepal, banyan trees were magnificient flora to fathom for foreigners. The Indians ‘had and even now have’ so much to explore within India, within a locality. The number of unique diverse species in a 100 Sq KM in Europe is equivalent to 100 Sq ft in Sahyadri ranges.

The famous spices travelled through the seas, attracting westerners by its aroma. The art, literature like Panchatantra, Jataka tales travelled through the Arabian lands to the western countries. Kavya, Meemamsa, Vedanta flourished unhindered under the royal tutelage.  

When it comes to science and mathematics, the Indians were masters at it. They explored moon, sun, the planets, comets without sending satellites. By inner exploration, through meditation itself they reached stars and understood how they worked. When Aryabhatta was calculating earth’s diameter using its shadow on Moon during Chandra Grahana (Lunar Eclipse), Europeans didn’t have scientific temper to even ponder whether earth is round or flat.

One cannot ignore the contributions from Indians for the basic Arithmetic, Algebra & Geometry. In the below interview Dr. Alok Kumar gives glimpse of European thinkers giving due credit to Indian contributions in their productions. http://aseema.net.in/ancient-sciences-and-voices-of-knowledge-an-interview-with-dr-alok-kumar/. But the later day Imperialist Europeans and the famous educators, Macaulay & Co., discarded it to suppress the Indian’s pride.  

The advancement in metallurgy and Ayurveda are depicted by live examples even today. Thanks to our freedom now, Ayurveda is being revived in a big way now.

In every aspect, India fascinated the world. When the Europeans being “outer explorers” mastered navy, they set out first to see India. There was rush to reach India. Portugese set out. Spanish set out. Dutch did not fall back. When they rocked something outside their land on ocean, they called it India and its people as Indians. That’s how the Native Americans are now called Indians!! :)

Why Then We Lost Intellectual Freedom?

We lost political freedom first. We lost it through treachery, extreme cruelty. When we were making gun powder to blast rock to construct forts and temples, Europeans invented canons by which they can use gun powder to destruct the constructions. When they used that to even kill humans; that was a cruelty the Indians had never heard or seen of. The British started their military campaign by 1700’s and within few decades they were rulers for half of India and subsequently got hold of entire India.

During the 1800’s there was debate by British on how best to loot India keeping in view of the raising nationalism of Indians. The Sepoy Mutiny they termed, they knew was not just a mutiny but a great upraising of Nationalism. The various contingents across barracks were meeting for bhajans, dharmic utsavs, chapatti utsav etc., and did this greatly coordinated upraising across the country. This shook the British very much.

They had to at least corrupt the intellectuals, village henchmen, royals to somehow rule them very well. They took away the economic freedom through various measures of loot. They enforced cash crops production only for export to England, destroyed handloom industry, etc.,

For intellectuals, they said government jobs are for those who pass English schooling. They successfully killed Indigenous education which was Inner exploratory, art, craft, language, dharma, Vedanta development. The rajahs who were patronizing these were given diktat to stop it. They corrupted the thinking of the average educated Indian, that what is important is material success. And for that it is important to become good in accountancy, tax collection. That’s it. Maths and English required for that is sufficient. No more science, maths was encouraged beyond some basics.

They couldn’t tolerate Sir M Visweswaraya eligible to head the public works department in Mumbai Government, they shunted him out. They put so many hurdles for him to start Iron & Steel factory in Bhadravathi; KRS dam would have remained dream but for his grit to take on their hegemony. Even he was of the opinion in the end that we cannot self-rule ourselves. We need dominion status. Thank god our political leaders fought for full freedom & got it.

Should we revive our Intellectual Freedom? If So Why?

We ultimately became intellectual slaves. To this day we continue teaching even our Independent sons and daughters, what British put in text books during their hay day. The lies of Aryan Invasion theory, European superiority in science, maths, engineering is still being taught. Everything we read today is through the European view only. The science of destruction, the engineering of fast exploitation of earth resources is considered as true development. Research and development in aids, flu, cancer goes on forever with billions spent and not really addressing the causes of it. The economics of stock trade, loan based banking system, is considered as ultimate developmental formula. Almost every Nobel awardee in economics is just a formula tweaker in some trading exchange. False trading is true trading!! Did it solve poverty? Contrary.

But is there a better solution?

We must revive our Intellectual freedom. The solution is to understand and accept firstly, that India had a glorious past. And not ignore or discard it. And then delve deeper into that. Understand why was it glorious? What was the education system? What was the Raja Dharma (Political system)? What was the freedom at individual level? How was the Self-rule at grass root level? Were these contributors for its glory?

The solution lies in taking our great ancient tradition and marrying it to the present day technological advancement. Firstly we must bring in education which teaches our children PRIDE in our culture, civilization, tradition & heritage. Then automatically they’ll bring glory to India and hence to the world.

May be the British designed our education to suppress India’s pride. Or May be they followed their pride in educating their children about their scientists and heroes. And since India was their colony, they passed the same heroes to us also. But since we are free now, should we not put our scientists and philosophers in our kids’ education? Would it be looked at as removal of Copernicus and introduction of Bhaskaracharya? Or would it be looked at just introduction of our scientists in our education? Did Europeans try to teach their kids whether Japanese or Indians found out early that Earth was round? Or did they just want to teach their kids who amongst their civilization found the first truth to raise pride of scientific temper in their kids?

We must recognize that we cannot isolate Science, Mathematics from that of Sociology, Politics and ultimately Spirituality. All of them are intertwined in the real sense. We must revive that thought process and induct it into our system of education and administration. Then we can claim back our world leadership without attacking other civilizations but by spreading through peaceful means.

I think International Yoga Day is also one small step in that direction!! :)

Why People Become Poor?

My son asked me this simple question recently. I answered that uneducated are poor. But I’m not convinced about that answer myself. It triggered a bit more thought.

There is enough in this world for everyone to live happily. But when we grab others livelihood they become poor. For that governance is needed to protect independence of livelihood of everyone.

People become poor because they lose their livelihood. Why they lose their livelihood? Because of two reasons: 1. Other people exploit their livelihood. 2. They don’t fight to retain their livelihood.

I had a good friend as my roommate during my college days. I used to try ending our heated argument saying, ‘ದೇವರು ನಿನ್ನ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ಇಟ್ಟಿರಲಿ’ meaning ‘Let god keep you well’. He used to quip, God always keeps me well but it is you guys who make me miserable!

So the point is people only make people poor. Not the situation or god! Thats the simple truth. 

What is Livelihood?

But do all people in the world have livelihood? Yes. Human civilization developed everywhere across the globe in all continents and places. They developed indigenous way of living. They developed societies. Social life begets diverse profession making one depend upon another. For example, farmer produces grains by tilling land. For tilling the land cow, cart and tools are required. Blacksmith produces tools from metal. Miner produces metal. Herdsman grows cows. Carpenter produces cart from wood & metal. Wood cutter cuts wood. So the cycle goes on like these making professions to develop. And for each profession, unique natural resource is required. That is what their livelihood is. When they lose their livelihood they become poor.

Gandhiji famously said the world is sufficient to meet every man’s needs; But not sufficient to meet his greed.

So as the society develops through professions depending upon each other the conflicts for natural resources also arise. So to resolve conflicts, society develops rules. For governing rules, a governor is established. That is what government is.

The government should ideally balance the needs of all people of different professions and ensure livelihood is maintained for all. That is what Raja Dharma is. 

What is Poor?

This is a more fundamental question. Is poor means, one who has no money? Yes in the urban sense. Yes in the modern way of life and civilization. Money buys the people water, food, shelter, electricity, entertainment, medicine etc., which are basic survival needs. 

But in the rural parlance the money exchange is very less. They eat what they grow. Drink fresh water off streams, ponds. Their transportation is on legs or by bullock cart which are very cheap. There are several tribes which live in deep woods, atop mountains and in Andaman Islands which are untouched by modern civilization. In most cases they are even untouched by diseases and ailments. Or even if they come across diseases they have indigenous natural therapy from rich resources surrounding them. They are living happily. They are not really poor. They are rich with natural resources.

If they lose their natural resources upon which their livelihood is dependent, then they become poor. Poor means those who are deprived of food, water, shelter & security.

Are there really poor even today? Yes there are plenty. We need to look a bit on recent history then look at modern day to assess the reason behind why people are continuously becoming poor.

Why do they lose their livelihood? History:

The people lose their livelihood when people in power over exploit their natural resources depriving the people’s livelihood. Raja Dharma fails to produce security to these people & their livelihood.

In Ancient India, Raja always had a Dharma guru for advising him for social harmony. In many cases, Dharma Guru used to be of different religion than Raja. But still they followed Sarva Dharma Samanvaya. That’s how the livelihood of every profession was maintained. The conflict that arouse from over exploitation of natural resources by one profession affected another profession. And that is where Dharma preached self-control, contentment for social harmony. The self-rule was there at the village level. The Grama Swarajya was the Rama Rajya.

India was a rich country even till the Moghul period. There was independence and freedom at the grass root level. The period of over exploitation started with the British. They started governing at grass root level. They governed what farmer produced. They sanctioned farmer to produce cotton & indigo in large scale. They needed raw material for cloth industries in Manchester.

Similarly large scale mono cropping of Poppy seeds, tea, coffee, rubber was imposed. The government would procure only those. Village henchmen became their slaves and were made corrupt. Bringing in Zamindari they imposed restrictions on village independence. 

Further weavers lost their livelihood as industry produced cheap cloth got dumped on the market. Metal tool makers lost livelihood. Artisans lost their livelihood as their benefactors the Rajahs lost their kingdoms. The cycle of losing livelihood continued.

The natural need for large scale production and distribution necessitated massive transportation. It needed further iron, steel, and aluminum. For the first time India saw intruding onto the destruction of large scale mountains and forests. The tribal life was disturbed and large scale livelihood loss was ensued.

The British along with other European imperialists were on a spree during 1800s & 1900s to exploit the whole of earth. The gun point diplomacy ensured large scale amassing of wealth in arms and ammunitions. This sparked 2 world wars on large scale destruction. All the material wealth looted from India & elsewhere was drained off thus. During this time India was made to starve. Not one but 3 great famines India had to endure under the Queen’s ruling. The Plague, Bengal famine and famine across the Deccan killed more people than the world wars directly did.

The Exploitation Continues: Present day:

The era of foreign rule and foreign exploitation is ended now. But do we have self-rule? The era of foreign rule has ended, but not the exploitation. Why? Because, someone took up central ruling at India level by negotiating with the leaving foreigners and the self-rule is not transferred to the grass root level. There is no Grama Swarajya. Large scale mono cropping is still encouraged. Procurement of produce, storage, transportation and distribution is still being done by central and state governments. So the people are the mercy of the governments for basic necessities like food, clothing.

The urban clusters have become parasites on the rural environs. The metro transportation, electricity consumption, packaged food culture, bottled water, piped water, luxury & lazy life in urban culture demands very high natural resource exploitation. Tons of plastic waste produced by cities is becoming battleground in the outskirts where it is dumping ground.

Rapid and rampant migrations from rural are joining the apartments and slums in cities. The packed population has lost the sense of space. There is existential struggle in the urban space. The hygiene, water & space are necessities which have become luxury for them, making them very poor. Food somehow they do get. There is lot of wastage which gets spilled over in cities from rich to the poor.

Where Lies The Solution?

The Solution lies in governance shifting prominence from meeting urban luxury demands to rural sustenance demands. Grama Swarajya is the only solution for sustenance and poverty elevation. Yes there will be some hit on the urban living luxuries. The basic necessities like Electricity, transportation itself will become costly once the rural demands for decent living are met. So it has to be taken slowly and gradually.It will become costly but not inaccessible. 

The first and foremost is to begin protecting rural environment. For example if a River (Ganga or Thunga) is polluted, ship out the polluting factories to china or elsewhere. Or implement stringent pollution controls. Then simple products like plastic bottle, tetra pack, bulb, wire, paper, pencil will start becoming costly. Fertilizers, pesticides production will be out of the country. Consumption will become costly and will come down. Cars, bikes will become luxury only available for rich and government officials. So the reverse migration to rural for livelihood will start. The country and earth will be able to take that easily, as earth can provide plenty to man in the nature.

But we need to protect our boarders and India. Else China & Pakistan again attack and we loose our independence again. So defense equipment, nuclear technology, road, railways need to be there. The sacrifice for that will again come from rural environment. And people need to be compensated by the government. But since the human capital will be rich & independent, the government will be rich and they’ll afford to do that. Like we say in previous blogs on how Shivaji, Rana Pratap built formidable forts from the tribals and rurals. 

The Nationalism: Indian View & Western View

Interestingly the word Nationalism doesn’t incite the same fervor in Western and Indian culture.

In India Nationalism is same as Patriotism. It raises the feeling of passion for everything that is Indian. The raise of Indian nationalism is a standard subject of Independence struggle in India. Swami Vivekananda raised the nationalism feeling amongst the masses cutting across caste, creed & religion. All Indian leaders including Gandhiji followed it by uniting the masses for a common cause of Freedom from British rule.

In the western world especially in the Europe the word Nationalism brings forth antagonism & fear. It is best described by the famous French President Charles de Gaule: “Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; Nationalism when hate for people other than your own comes first”. This phrase ‘own people’ is who? Is it by Language? Or culture? Or religion? Or profession?

Pride and Passion

In India, we regard all people as ‘our own people’ with a kind prayer ‘Sarve Janah Sukhino Bhavanthu’. Our nationalist leaders incited pride amongst the masses about themselves and their forefathers and their past. They understood the truth of nature and its inherent diversity. While keeping the pride about themselves and their culture, they developed passion for appreciating their neighbor’s & others philosophy, culture, diversity. That is what made Bharatha (India). They never tried to kill diversity. They found unity in the fundamental truth of diversity. This pride & passion is what is the reason for so much diversity thriving in Bharatha.

Pride and Prejudice

Pride is called Abhimana in most Indian languages. Prejudice is Durabhimana. Prejudice is feeling of superior race over all others.

In the west, the pride is prominently followed by prejudice against the ‘others’. The Nationalism is like uniting people based on something common with hatred to others uncommon to them. Who are others? That definition of ‘others’ can be based on anything. It can be based on language, culture, profession, religion etc., So for one reason or the other, people attack people & kill them mercilessly.

The tribal systems living in harmony with nature are completely wiped out. The natives of America are slaughtered. Pagan system of nature worship is eliminated. Several languages are extinct. Civilizations like Egyptians, Mayans are listless. Crusades, inquests, holocaust are the hall mark of Pride & Prejudice in the west. And they came and taught us, that India had thousands of kings quarrelling & fighting each other, they came to unite us! What an irony? And we believe it?!

The world has seen 2 recent world wars originating in Europe and sucking the entire world in itself. Why? The imperialists from this region started amassing arms and ammunition by looting rich Asian, African countries to show off their pride. Their prejudice could not be contained beyond the spark and exploded with world wars.

Same is the case with the current ongoing Middle East religious conflicts. It started slowly somewhere and rapidly sucking in all neighboring nations and people from all over European nations are joining their holy war!!

Dividing India by sowing Hatred

There are various forces working in India with short term political motives to divide India. The Dravida Kazhagam movement in Tamilnadu, Ahinda movement in Karnataka are classic examples of dividing the innocent society by instilling the fear and inciting resentment. They are made to feel that somebody within India is suppressing them. They are made to feel they are the oppressed society and there is a need to rise against the oppressors.

Added to that, there is a lot of foreign funded missionaries and NGO s working relentlessly towards inciting this feeling and dividing the society. Rajiv Malhotra’s book ‘Breaking India’ is a well-researched book on this subject. It delves deep into this subject dispassionately, leading to find who funds these organizations and why?

There are student organizations in universities, institutions raising divisions amongst the student communities on these lines. Their focus is taken away from academics in premium institutes like IIT Madras. Similar incidents of inciting hatred through student organizations are happening routinely in north Indian institutes too.

There are professors, self-proclaimed intellectuals preaching hatred and animosity towards Sanskrit, Vedas, Bhagavad Gita etc., Their presumption is that it is all Brahminical and upper cast hegemony. Opening research and studies on these is considered as imposing Brahminical culture over all. It is such a pity our students are falling prey to such propaganda. These texts are universal. Bhagavad Gita is told by Sri Krishna who was a Yadava, to Arjuna who was a Kshatriya and written by Veda Vyasa whose birth is in lower caste. So where comes Brahminical hegemony here? Dr. BR Ambedkar, the harbinger of the backward classes studied extensively the Sanskrit texts and vehemently fought to make it the National Language. Using his name his followers today are going in opposite direction. Why? Just for the sake of opposing a certain culture. This is leading to hatred. The Sanskrit language is immensely vast and has a mine of knowledge. The entire Bachelor degree studies of Ayurveda Medicine are based on Ancient Sanskrit texts. It is a pity that British created submissive intellectuals in us; they called Sanskrit as a dead language and removed it from primary education. Before them it was a common language across the length and breadth of India. It united India. British successfully broke India.

Hinduism, Hindu texts, are like Open Source technology. You take it and utilize it for individual and societal benefits. If you are not convinced about a part or a section of the text creating harmony, then discard it or interpret it for the good of the society. We have lost a lot by ignoring these magnificent texts already. We should revive it for the good of the society and not create hegemony.

Continuing the ancient tradition of India, the modern Swamiji’s, Ashrams like Shirdi Sai, Maatha Amruthananda Mayi, Ramakrishna Mission etc., are following Vedic texts to spread the love of humanity, love of god, intense faith towards your Ishta Devatha. Not all of them are Brahmins. None of them are imposing it. They are not spreading any animosity to English or international languages or local languages. Rather they are imbibing it. All are welcome. It is the pure language of love that binds people. Swami Vivekananda was not a Brahmin who said “Save Samskrutha and Save Samskruthi”.

I strongly believe those who spread pure Love and Harmony will find all Indian languages, sacred texts with equal love and embrace them, enhance and spread them for the good of the society. I wish and prey in god, that our government institutions, its heads, professors, students shun hatred and embrace pure love towards knowledge & intellect.

Let there be revival of our Golden past for our Golden future. Let there be opposition and debates with love for people & society at the core. Let there be Nationalism fervor with love for the people irrespective of their diversity at the core.