The Rise of A Yogi!!

With Yogi Adithyanath we have another great leader coming up from the ground to contend for PM of our country after Modi’s era. They are proving there is no dearth of leadership based on Ideology. These are not coming from the Dynasty. But they are coming purely based on the ideology that has held India together since many millennia. And that ideology is of selflessly servicing the society. That ideology is that of helping the downtrodden and ready to become a King from an Ascetic to clean the system. That ideology is to stand up against corruption, lawlessness. It takes a lot of courage to stand up against the lawlessness & cleanse it. You have to take it head on and face the consequences.

Yogi is charged as having his own small army and running a parallel system. How can he bring back law enforcement according to the constitution?

He has built a group of selflessly serving youth organization called Hindu Yuva Vahini. He does support & works for VHP. He is calling for joining hands across all religions and caste to build an iconic temple for Sri Ram in its original place where it was destroyed by the marauders 5 centuries back.

He & his group do respect the Law of the Land. But the Police, the Law enforcement agencies do not have independence & strength in implementing the law & order. They are weakened by the goondas running the Jungle Raj in UP till now. The goondas run their own business of extortion, abduction, threat and terror. When normal hard working people are under threat, and police are reduced inefficient, there is not law & order.

The volunteers with good intention serve the tribals, labourers, and downtrodden people. They set up healthcare units. They help in getting government schemes, ration card to these people. They help in getting children education through government system. These enable and empower the downtrodden. They become empowered & raise questions and rights against the extortionists & goondas who contract these labourers to high profile industrialists, large farmer, estate owners. This creates clashes and police reduce to be spectators as they are under threat of suspension from the powerful people running the politics of the area. These clashes are reported by outsiders as goonda wars. But the stakeholders are the normal people who know who is in support of them. Democracy gives them an opportunity to voice their support silently and through secret ballot.

So through the good service works and taking head on violently when and where required on to the law breakers, Yogi has emerged the people choice over the years. Now with the peoples stupendous mandate and the state machinery at his hands, it is a double edged sword. He has to deliver. And he has a huge state machinery to turn around to service the people. It is chance. But it is a very big responsibility. Peoples expectations are stupendously high.

What guarantee he will reinstate law & order? Will he give freedom to Police to act by the books of Law?

This is a hypothetical question. Answer lies in the ideology through which he has come elected. It is based on Hindutva Ideology. Hinduism says: “Sarve Janah Sukhino Bhavanthu”; “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”. Now as an election slogan they have adopted is the same “Sabka Saath; Sabka Vikas”.

But this is basically answered looking back on our history. In the Mughal’s period, the law keepers perpetrated atrocities targeting the Hindus. They all went to their Guru – Guru Arjan Singh the 7^th Guru of the Sikh order. He took up the lawful route to raise the question of atrocities committed by the armies on the normal citizens. But the law keeper Jahangir promptly followed Islamic ideology to behead him.

Next the same kind of atrocities continued. When the Kashimiri Pandits were given ultimatum to convert to Islam by Aurangzeb, they approached their Guru – Guru Tegh Bahadur. He took up their cause to take up legal fight with the Mughal Emperor. True to his religious diktat, he promptly jailed him and later beheaded him.

This meaningless legal route and getting beheaded was not really helping the normal faithful people of the country who looked up to their Guru for some peace. So Guru Gobind Singh the 10^th Sikh Guru started a Khalsa movement. He called for selfless sacrificing group of volunteers to form the army. And this army fought for the political dominance. Thus a saint became a political head of the people. A saint picked up sword for restoring peace. He gained independence of many areas seceding from the Mughal Empire. And in his areas, based on the ideology of equality to all, he maintained peace and prosperity to all including the Muslims. When he restored peace, the same officers, takedars, killedars, who were running the administration of the country in local areas continued. But, now with much more confidence in the law enforcement due to independence given to them to follow the written principles. When principles run the country, the whims and fancies of individuals do not confuse and change course of the country. It will follow predictable principles in letter and spirit.

Same is the case with the Raise of Shivaji. He rebelled against the lawlessness under the Bahmani Sultans. He appealed to the Mughal Aurangazeb to reconcile. But he promptly put him in jail. Shivaji made a miraculous escape and installed himself as the Chatrapati. Under his rule, there was benevolence. The normal people wished his era to continue for long. The peace returned. Law was implemented in letter and spirit with independence of interference by the powerful.

These people were principled. Their principles were strongly hinged on Rama and Krishna’s Ideology. Rama and Krishna themselves lived this ideology of fighting demons for protecting the rights of the common man. And in our India, this will keep repeating. The bad is always there in the society and rises often. The bad people are there in Hindus, Muslims or any other sect. When the bad rises slowly, the good becomes weak and silent. But soon, the good will emerge again and rise against the bad and re-establish. This is India. All our Heroes are keepers of Good. Good means selfless service to the humanity. And all our stories end with Jaya. Vijaya of Good over Evil.

This is not the case of just one leader/party overthrowing another. In the examples of Mamata Bannerjee overthrowing CPM rule; or in Kerala one time Left comes to power, another time UDF comes to power; similarly in Karnataka one time BJP or JD and one time Cong comes to power; But the common man is still getting exploited. In these examples, the ideology is not based on giving freedom & rights to the common man. But it was about just yanking power for self. 

For example in West Bengal, with the CPM overthrow by Mamata everyone expected a cleaner governance. But the common man who was shaved off his earnings by hafta, goondaism, extortion etc., still faces the same. He has not got independence to do business and keep his earnings as per law. Because the power struggle was not based on ideology of transferring power to the common man. But it was just yanking power for self. 

In Yogi's case, it is similar to the Ideological wars of Guru Gobind Singh, Shivaji, Rama & Krishna. The power struggle is not for self but to give the power to the common people to lead normal life and remove threats from the bad elements. The bad elements to be under threat by the state Police who will be given independence to implement law by the books independent of nepotism. 

Is Violence necessary to overthrow an authoritarian rule? How then Gandhiji could win through legal, non-violent, peaceful persistent battle? He never picked up a gun.

It is the British narrative. Their propaganda mechanism is emphatic almost flawless. People even today think British rule was benevolent and argue and write about it. Even today, British believe they uplifted the Indians. Many Indians think the same. Their propaganda is such strong that it may seem impossible for us to master and defeat them in that.

British atrocities are unparalleled. Shashi Tharoor in his recent books & hugely popular talks going viral in social media, writes they were as bad if not worse than the Germans in killing people except they don’t burn them and keep their records and then claim it. British are polished in killing through policies & not keeping a count of it.

The protests against their misrule was raising. They handled the protesters with iron hand. The likes of Tilak was jailed for long in distant Mandalay; Subhash Bose was jailed in Mandalay in Burma for long term; He was later house arrested; He finally escaped out of the country in disguise; Veer Savarkar was chained and put in distant Andaman in a dungeon.

But to the world British claimed their rule was democratic. They needed Congress to represent people. They listened to people through Congress. Gandhiji was a perfect leader for them. He was a mass leader. He connected well with people of all class and caste. People thronged to him because he could connect well with them. He talked people’s ground level problems like untouchability, illiteracy, water, employment in villages through khadi gramodyog etc., He created a mass movement, mass appeal; He was a true leader of the masses.

At the same time he was not hard on British. He launched Non-Cooperation movement in 1930. There was a minor clash in a village called Chauri Chaura in UP. British chided him, why he is turning violent? Does he have any control over the crowd? He immediately called off the nation wide non-cooperation movement. So in future, whenever Gandhiji was jailed for any reason by the courts, British authority released him on pretext of health or any other silly reason, in less than an year to come to mingle with the masses. Their propaganda was to respect Democracy and respect Gandhiji.

Then the whole world plunged into the WWII. Gandhiji opposed India to join. But nevertheless British pulled India into it. Nethaji Subhash used this opportunity, took the reins of INA and stormed towards British India with Japan’s assistance to free India from British. This rattled the Congress who was considering a safe option of taking over the India’s reins after British or continuing under them. So Gandhiji called for Quit India. Till now, Gandhiji being non-violent calling for non-cooperation, suddenly turned violent calling Quit India. He had written in Hind-Swaraj in 1900s and I agree with him that British need not quit. They are welcome to assimilate as any others from all the world who have assimilated in India as long as they live peacefully and democratically. But now in 1942, he suddenly took a U turn on non-violence. During Quit India movement, many violent outbursts happened across the country. Several Police stations, rail stations, post offices were burnt in outburst. It did not move Gandhiji. It reminded British of the 1857 horrors of the War of Independence. They are smart. They said we’ll give independence. But how? They raked up the issue of Muslims demand for a separate state. They told Gandhiji that Jinnah is adamant. They released Gandhiji from jail to go and negotiate with Jinnah. Gandhiji’s mission diverted. British mission accomplished. (Referenced from ‘India Wins Freedom’ by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad)

So it is a British narrative, that India got Independence through Non-Violence. It is questionable. That narrative is well carried forward by the Congress. It is a good narrative for primary education & it should stay there. But for adults & college education, it should evolve more deeply questioning.

Gandhiji stood for Non-Violence. But Non-Violence alone did not bring Independence. So he also ultimately authorized violence for Independence through a strong slogan – Do or Die.

Gandhiji definitely deserves to be the Father of our Nation purely for bringing about the mass movement and awareness about Independence movement amongst the masses & eradicating social evils. He is also an icon of Non-Violence. We need such icon for a peace loving nation like ours. But we should not forget so many other leaders who architected the Independence movement for us. 

This article is not an endorsement of violence. Violence is wrong. But when the ruler rules by violence perpetrated on the normal hard working people, only Non-Violence will not help to restore peace. Somebody needs to fight 'Do or Die'. The good people should openly support if possible or at least secretly support through secret ballot. 

Europeans formula to dominate the world

Europeans started exploring the sea routes all over the world around 15^th, 16^th century. Then they over threw all forms of civilization, tribes in America and Australia by their brutal force. Some remnants of the old civilization and tribes remain completely confined and controlled in those continents today. The original inhabitants of these continents are confined in areas “ranges”. They are completely relegated as just museum pieces. They have nothing of their own country, constitution, leaders, and ruling. They are at mercy of the occupied Europeans completely.

In Asia and Africa also Europeans took political power. They controlled for most part of 18^th and 19^th century. Their greed to control earthly resources all over the world created conflict and flared up into 2 major world wars in the 20^th century. It was centered in Europe but spread to include others due to their Imperialistic ruling all the world. After 2^nd world war by 1945, they realized their own people are suffering due to fight for perishable and limited resources. Also India exemplified, concerted synchronized “Indian National movement” by both armed resistance and non-violent mass movement. The Indian Independence in 1947 triggered a series of successful ‘National Independence Movement’ across the Asia and Africa. Today almost all countries across Asia and Africa are politically Independent. They have their own leaders governing. They have their own constitution, laws, property rights and controls over their resources.

In spite of this political independence, the Europeans dominance is still persistent and in fact increasing in all countries in all spheres of life. It is an important study for sociologists and economists to delve. Firstly all the universities, institutions, think tanks & intellectual lot are modernized. That means westernized or Europeanized. And these institutions will carry forward the legacy of European intellect. In this article we’ll just scrape the top surface of their deep rooted dominance.

Global and Local

One concept which Europeans have conveniently used to dominate the world is – Global Vs Local. By terming something as local they belittle it. Generally they market their ideas as anything European is Global. All others are local.

The local things are considered as not job generators and economically unviable. So it is relegated as last resort for poor performers in academics. For example: Study of language, study of art & architecture, study of water management, study of local economics, local administration & governance, local medicine, local food & agricultural practices etc., Everything is relegated as backward now.

Medicine & Medical Science

For example, the Tulsi leaves, Curry leaves are miraculous medicinal plants. But they are local perishable medicine. So no global market, no big industry, no money circulation etc., but if you extract chemical out of it, add preservative chemical, package it as tonic or tablet then it becomes globally marketable. Then it takes the global status. Money cycle will be there. Economics counter will be there. So Globalization means money cycle. Money cycle means measurable economics.

But anything locally grown and consumed doesn’t create an economic cycle. So these local things will stay relevant still due to the passion of the general people. But the Government, administration doesn’t fancy it. Now, only after Independence Ayurveda is studied as Science. There are institutes, degrees, universities in Ayurveda studying it as medicinal science. But still government support for chemical Pharma industry, Pharma institutes, degrees, medical degrees aligned with allopathic medicine is dominant. Because there are global players in that. It has global industries with global markets. The research funded by Government in this rather destructive science can be diverted to more harmonious science for people friendly areas. But they don’t; because, it is not global. It doesn’t attract money by Global standards.

Even in cold countries and continents like Europe, America there are medicinal plants and other means to handle medicinal needs. But there is not enough focus and research. They are also relegated as local, tribal etc., by vested interests.

Administration & Finance of Local Resources

In pre-british era we had Rama Rajya conceptualized by all Kings all over India which was more of “Grama Swarajya”. The administration was local. The financials were completely localized. There was no Central loan, state loan, World Bank loan for tank building, road building. They had to manage their own resources. Because they had rights over their land, forest, river etc., Kings were asking what people wanted and let them use it if it was in their territory. For example Chitradurga, Bellary, Kolara are rich in minerals. They were rich then also, and are rich now also. During that time, the locals made their own rules of how to extract gold, aluminum, iron etc.,. They had caste based professions for these work. The communities had access and rights to these resources accordingly. There was local demand and market for them to extract, manufacture and sell. The locals made their own guild, community, rules, regulations, etc., King approved their self-made rules. If the King was cruel and levied wrong rules and taxes, then people used to revolt and depose him with their own leader who gives equal rights to all communities.

Today, if a locality is rich in minerals, it belongs to some state or central government. They don’t give it to locals. They auction & contract it through complex tender and other underhand means to ‘Individuals’. The giver of land doesn’t have any local interest; the taker doesn’t have any local people’s interest. Both have money as the only common interest. So with an Iron hand they handle local unrest through police, paramilitary etc., they extract local resource and export globally. Then it will be considered Globally acceptable norms of the trade and manufacturing. The ‘Individuals’ involved become rich leaving the locals lurching for rights & basic needs.

Manufacturing by large destructive Industrial means is considered Global. Mining & Mineral extraction by large earth mover machines is considered as Global standard.

In the ancient India metallurgy was far superiorly developed. Large scale metal & alloy manufacturing & export are recorded in history studying Silk routes. This was made possible by people’s guild’s, communities etc., And also it was due to people’s ant like culture of working together contributing small ways for a big cause together. So they could construct large edifices, bridges, tanks, dams, forts & temples. Also they could export quality metals. It was harmonious and people friendly. Now it is completely ignored due to Globalization in which Individual interests over rule people’s interests.

Tribal, Local, Regional, Colloquial, Dialect, Cult etc.,

The above are some of the words to describe anything indigenous, locally developed culture, science, methods, processes or theories by the Modern educationists and Intellectuals.

By describing such they would put a stop for any further studies, interests or investments in those areas. By these descriptive words they would give a special emotional status, putting it on a pedestal and putting away from the common living.

So in every area the European stamped Global standards & processes over rule the local way of dealing things. We can observe this in Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Economics, Sociology, Legislation, Judiciary, Philosophy etc., In every one of these areas there is rich heritage which can harmoniously meet People’s needs. We just have to find our roots and enhance it.

But unfortunately we are in this vicious Globalization cycle. This helps some individual entrepreneurs, business men to become exorbitantly rich. It will widen the gap between the rich and the poor. Those rich will influence Government & Politics. And ultimately they even influence institutions, research, by pumping money further into destructive science and engineering rather than harmonious science, philosophy etc.,. And they in turn stamp Global markets, Global economy, Global markets, Multi-National Companies only as the savior of any country.

So that’s how today we, which means, the entire world’s all sovereign countries are under the grip of European (neo-American) idea of Globalization. This will further the “Money” (economic) Interests of those few ‘Individuals’ & MNC s.

However it is detrimental for the people of the countries. It is high time now, the people across countries lead by India to drive another Independence Movement to find their roots in every area for harmonious people oriented theories and practices. 

Hindu Philosophy is Karma Theory Based; Not God Based

Swami Vivekananda famously said in the Chicago Parliament of all Religions “We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true”.

In Hinduism we worship millions of Gods. And we accept all religions as true religions.

So what binds us Hindus together?

What binds Hindus together is the sense of Dharma. Dharma simply according to Swamiji is “Be Good and Do Good”. In simple terms, a good deed is one which does Good to many & harms less and is done with deep devotion & love towards the almighty. What is a good deed is the deeper subject of Dharma. And Vendantha is a deep study of explaining Dharma.

Through good deeds you perform in your given life, you earn Punya and bad deeds give you Paapa. This is the simple Karma Theory. There is a famous Samskrutha Sookthi to say the same: “Paropakaraya Punyaya; Parapeedanaya Paapaya”. Which means doing good to others earn Punya and troubling others earns you Paapa.

According to the Hinduism, the Jeevathma (soul) inside the body is deathless. The Jeevathma gets the body to perform Karma. The Jeevathma takes many births in different bodies. Through performing Punya Karma in each birth it goes on becoming higher soul nearing the ultimate God & attaining moksha a state of no more re-births on the mortal earth. This is just a basic of Vedantha. Vedantha is very deep and wide further. Different philosophies emerge from this basic theory.

So Hinduism is very much based on the Karma theory. And different Gods according to different people’s faith only play an aid in doing good to all & earn Punya.

Why then in India we still have separate religions when we accept all in our bosom?

Hindus accept all religions as true doesn’t mean, western religions accept KARMA theory. Most of the western religions are “GOD based” religions and not “Deed based” religions. So they consider religions are different based on the GOD they worship. 

Here is how in a 2 by 2 matrix we can depict the Hindu philosophy and Western philosophy of journey of the human soul beyond the earthly life. In the Hindu philosophy of cycles of rebirth, the soul through the body has to earn “Punya” to get freed from the cycle of rebirths and attain salvation (Moksha). But in the western philosophy the soul simple goes to heaven or hell based on the God the human being worships.

Why then some India’s Indigenous Religions consider themselves separate from Hinduism? Viz., Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs etc.,?

All the Indian origin religions lay most emphasis on the Karma theory & not on GOD theory. They also believe in rebirth & salvation through Good deeds. But the main difference is they don’t accept Vedas as ultimate truth, although they take several theories from it. And they lay overemphasis on those core theories, and does not appreciate the need for diversity in Dharma & Karma.

For example, in Jains, they lay over emphasis on Ahimsa(Non-Violence). So they don’t perform Kshatra dharma. Because it hurts other beings. For them, even performing agricultural activities is considered sin, as it overturns soil killing many organisms. So mostly the Jains are in trade only.

For example, Buddhists lay over emphasis on Thyaga (renunciation) & sanyasashrama & bhiksha (seeking alms). This Hindus believe will weaken the society due to low emphasis on economic activities.

In Hinduism, there is Chatur-Ashrama and Chatur-Varna. Every individual has to perform both. All the Indian religions are offshoots of Sanatana Dharma. But these offshoots don’t comply to these Varna and Ashrama theory in full. A very brief of these is given here:

Chatur-Ashrama:

• Brahmacharya – Child going through the learning of the life aspects, Dharma, Shastra, Itihasa etc.,
• Gruhastha – The family rearing, economic activity to sustain family
• Vanaprastha or Sanyasa – Teaching post learning and gaining immense life experience
• Vruddhashrama – Preparing to leave the body & performing penance

Chatur-Varna:

1. Brahmana- Wondering about the world; Learning the philosophy, science behind it. Understanding Dharma & Karma to lead society in righteous way
2. Kshatra – Protecting Dharma, fighting evil. It may call for punishing, killing the evil doers
3. Vaishya – Harnessing the god gifted resources for the well being of the entire society
4. Shoodra – Doing everyday chores, cleaning activities;

Over the centuries, in Hinduism, the communities performing primary activities aligned to one of these Varnas became Jatis (castes). They lived harmoniously for several centuries. But the society drew line of rigidity of untouchability amongst these Jatis often.  But Indians being very open minded and freedom lovers, got themselves uplifted through continuous reforms in the society through Saints like Sankaracharya, Basavanna, Guru Nanak, Chaitanya etc., There came a reformer in every region almost every century to set right the rigid caste system. Even today we have several faults in our society & several saints working through the society to unite people and remove the fault lines.

Why then are conflicts, violence, and intolerance still in India?

In India we have several natural fault lines based on caste, creed, language, region etc,.  So it leads to eruption of violence & conflicts often. But these are short lived and incidents here & there. Immediately the more mature Hindu saints, strong community leaders intervene and bring peace between the warring communities. We have plenty of Utsavs, Melas, Celebrations, in every region that the differences are diluted and communities reconcile soon & join hands in peace. For example, Jallikattu is one classic example which binds all castes together. Onam boat races bring people of all castes together for a peaceful sporty competition. Like this every region has plenty of events to bring people together in life’s colourful celebration spirit.

But intolerance is something different. It is permanent. It is preached. It is religion based. And it is God based.

The religious duty of the follower determines the Intolerance, Tolerance & Acceptance of different gods in the communities as pictured below:

As depicted before the western religions which are God based, spread in India today, are the Intolerant religions.

The preacher of an intolerant religion energizes the follower to convert from one god faith to the other god faith. This is religious duty of the follower of that religion.

It may be a religious duty to that religion follower. But the Hindus must understand that the faith conversion is a social evil. It destroys the social fabric of harmony. It must be resisted and opposed. It erases the local deities & culture. It removes self-esteem, pride of their race, region, saints, heroes & their locality. The foreign soil becomes pious but their mother land becomes bland.

In Hindus, there is nothing called faith conversion. It is only faith enhancement. If a new saint comes, we don’t convert, but we worship him also. He also doesn’t advise us to discard our current god and convert our faith to the new god he proposes. That’s why you see a Sai Baba follower doesn’t stop going to a Vithoba temple or a Sadguru’s Shishya doesn’t stop visiting Thirumala temple.

But over the centuries the Indian Christians or Muslims have erased their family deities & cultures from their families.  They do not tolerate any other faith mixing up in their families. This is by & large. Of course few exceptions here & there can be found.

Local connect to the GRAND NARRATION of Hinduism

In the western religion, since there is one God and one Prophet or incarnation, One holy place in the world, only that part of the world is sacred land. All other land is bland to be only exploited for pleasure.

In Hinduism, it is different. When Swami Vivekananda lands in India from his successful overseas travel, he pours handful of sand on his head. He famously says ‘Every grain of soil of Bharath is Sacred’.

How every locality has a powerful goddess or a god and yet they belong to the grand narration of Bharata? Yet they are all related & not creating ethnic animosity? Who made this grand narration of Bharata?

Our Rishis travelled across our land. They lived with every tribe atop hills, by the side of rivers, towns and villages. Everywhere they found an indigenous powerful deity. The Rishis paid full respect and did penance in front the deity. This built trust & confidence amongst the locals that their deity is most powerful in the world as a seer from another land pays so much respect. The Rishi then tells, that 'this deity is nothing but my deity only. I worship her in another name. I have seen her incarnation in many other places'. Thus Madhurai Meenakshi becomes Mysore Chamundeshwari becomes Kolluru Mookambika becomes Kolkata Kali Devi becomes Jammu’s Vaishno Devi. Thus a grand narration of 58 Shakthi Sthala s are culturally, devotionally connected. Similarly Chaturdhama. Similarly Dwadasha Jyothirlinga. And the list in innumerable.

Similarly our Ramayana, Mahabharata are Grand History of our Nation. And every corner of India has a story related to Hanuman, Bheema, Rama, Krishna etc., In Devarayanadurga, you will see a small fountain made by Lakshmana for Rama to put his Nama called Namada Chilume. Near Thirthahalli you will see a Bheemana katte to bring water nearer to Draupadi’s hut!! Then there is Mauritius which is nothing but the body mass of Mareecha thrown away into the ocean by Rama! When Ramayana spread throughout Thailand, Indonesia, Malaya, Combodia etc., you can hear the narration of Hanuman crossing the local river there also! So the locals feel proud of their river, land, mountain and its sacredness!   

The visionary Rishis have connected the Great Grand Bharatha in an astonishingly peaceful, beautiful way. Thus every land has a very powerful deity. It encouraged people to become very proud of their deity and very indigenous local culture built around that deity.

Yet that Local Culture doesn’t remain local creating ethnic conflicts. But, it connects to the GRAND NARRATION of Bharata in a very peaceful & beautiful way.

Contrast this with the western philosophers & prophets. They didn’t respect local indigenous culture to make them feel proud. For example, in Islam, Prophet Mohammed launched Jihad (Peaceful & Violent) against the local Idol worshipers and Nature worshipers calling them Kaafirs. Similarly the Bible describes the Indigenous European culture as Pagan Systems and calls it derogatory. So the followers of these religions focus more on conversion of the faith from one to the other creating conflict in minds of the followers. The conflict in mind translates to violence outward. Love of people, love of local culture becomes secondary & spread of some foreign culture becomes primary for them.  

Many educated Indians believe it is the British who united India. It is such a stupidity. They divided India. They divided us by religion. They divided us by caste. They divided us by language. Every which way they made us feel guilty of ourselves. They called us chaotic, idiotic. What a pity some of us still believe them?  

It is time for us now to celebrate local culture, respecting and connecting to the entire world’s culture. We must together join hands and defeat the divisive forces. Only India can show the way. For that we must believe in ourselves and have great pride of our diversity showcasing a great unity. 

Davanagere has Tourism Potential too

The photos are on Google Album:

https://goo.gl/photos/qkbQdBNx9tZZBnWi8

Not many people count Davanagere in their tourist circuit. India is filled with tourism potential everywhere, but not well tapped in. Also domestic tourists are not even considered into any administrative planning. It would be good to develop all districts to attract people from other districts and market it as a tourist destination rather than putting up a stall in Delhi or some foreign country only for some specific spots. Only foreigners don’t generate jobs & revenue for us. We have to do it for ourselves. And we are a billion plus to do it.

Also with the flip flop of industries, their unreliability, new avenues have to be found. May be the new avenues are old architectural wonders, natural wonders calling for tourism. Besides may be revival of ooru jathre, habba, theru etc., calling for traditional local religious tourism. It in turn develops small agriculturists & market access for them too. This region especially has many lingayat & many independent shrines and attracts pilgrims for special occasions round the year.

For example, Dandeli was major paper mill town, now it attracts adventure & nature lovers. Same is for HariHara which was a major industrial town, now it is back to being a major temple town. Davanagere had major textile mills closed down, now back to being a major trade & educational Centre. The industries are short lived as they suck up nature fast and dry up. They are short lived, makes few people rich for short time & then it moves to another place. Whereas, cultural extravaganza lives on and on forever. It lives harmoniously with the nature. It develops peace in Human nature, calming the society.

Our Trip:

We first stopped by my friend Badarish’s factory. It was a good educational visit for kids to know about machines, tools, techniques and engineering works. The job requires unskilled laborers and are paid daily wage. So in this day of demonetization I asked if his business not impacted. He says not a bit impacted. Surprising but true.

We visited Kondajji Kere. It is a beautiful very large lake just about 20kms from Davanagere atop a hill. Kondajji Basappa is a famous leader who popularized Scoutes & guides in schools and has built a beautiful hiking area there. So there is a memorial to him there. That’s it. Nothing else is there. No boat ride, no park, no maintenance. Nobody to care. It has a good potential to become like a Nandi hills for Bangaloreans. The road to the place is also in bad condition. But well tree lined. So for cyclists, holiday joggers it could be good if developed and taken care.

Bagali Kalleshwara

Generally most places I have visited in Karnataka have dozens of Hoysala temples. But Davanagere seems poor in number of Hoysala architecture. Apart from Hari Hareshwara temple in Harihara I guess this is the only one nearby. This one is very rich and will make up for it. It has 64 very beautifully carved pillars typical of Hoysala style. Some of the pillars have deities’ carvings in exquisite detail. It is very cool inside the temple with large expanse of field surrounding the temple. The temple has hardly any visitors. Locals hardly know it. Some tourists from Bangalore like us come often. ASI maintains it. Some independent writers have put up some internet coverage of the temple.

Nearby to Harapanahalli there is another beautiful ancient Venkateshwara temple in Thimmalapura.

Kanthesha, Branthesha, Shantesha

This is a major religious tourist attraction in this area. This is especially a pilgrimage circuit for Madhwa Brahmins. The 3 Anjaneya temples are located some 50kms from each other in a circuit. It is believed to gain great Punya to get all 3 Anjaneya darshana in one day between Sunrise to Sunset.

Sathenahalli Shantesha is believed to give peace of mind.

Shikaripura Branthesha is believed to remove our ignorance.

Kadaramandalagi Kanthesha gives boon to devotees of their desires.

Besides we visited Kaginele. It is the place of the great Haridasa Kanakadasa of Vijayanagara period a contemporary of Purandara dasa. Kaginele Aadikeshava is his Ishta devatha (personal deity). He has given a great treasure of Haridasa Sahitya in the Ankitha nama of Kaginele Adikeshava. His poems are simple & known for cryptic inner meanings to be extracted by knowing the depth of philosophy.

Hosa Ritti is another piligrimage centre we visited on the banks of Varada river which is a tributary to Thungabhadra. It is a serene atmosphere in this remote village. We get blessings from 2 moola brundavanastha yathigalu from Raghavendra Swami mutt order here.

The 3 Anjaneya temples have very rich heritage & history. During British period as it happened all over India, the temple's land properties were taken over by the Government. But still our powerful Anjaneya has created a boon for the locals there. People from all classes and communities have something special connection with the powerful deity here. All the communities are involved in the contribution & development of the temples. The committees are working independently from Government or any individual holdings. The main deity Pooja is performed by Brahmins and Non-Brahmins together.

This is a typical representation of rural India. I have seen this everywhere. The devotional faith has harmonized and brought people together. All across India, these powerful deities are binding communities together and celebrating the beauty and the bounty.

It is a pity that the educated urban class, media, politicians and our text books depict India as divided and chaotic. However the rich culture, harmonious society is living by itself very peacefully unmindful of all the bad picture India’s rulers & educated class give to the world. Why do they not visit places and see for themselves? Why some people take pride in depicting India in bad light?

Santhebennur Honda & Shanti Sagara

Shanti Sagara is also called Sule Kere. Because it is constructed by a Sule (Courtesan or a Royal Prostitute) by name Shantavva. This is one of Asia’s largest man-made lake. You cannot see the end. You can stand on the ridge and understand the topography of the area to appreciate why a lake is natural there. But constructing bund along and making it a controlled tank with 5 sluice gates for overflow and irrigation is a marvelous effort. And that too by a courtesan for the benefit of the people!! What sacrifice, what forethought. All around the place, the fields are very green. Mostly they grow areca. The ground water table should be very good throughout the year to give that kind of greenery all around.  

Again the tourism infrastructure is pathetic. Not even a view point. There is a dilapidated locked rest house. No board about the tank. Nobody to explain anything there. There were few visitors from Bhadravathi & we were there. That means the local tourism potential is very high. But nobody to care. It can easily be made a very attractive picnic spot with information Centre.

Santhebennur Honda is just a few kms from Shanti Sagara. It is a very beautiful step well. Very unique in Karnataka. Green fresh water with full of life. Large and small fish in plenty. We spotted a tortoise at the ridge. Very neatly maintained by ASI. Again it is all internet based information. Nobody to explain. Board is there from ASI to give small info. The locals don’t know much. All visitors are mostly from Bangalore due to internet info gathering. The dome shaped monument in the centre of the pond is actually a lotus mahal in Hindu architecture build by a palegara by name Hanumanthappa nayaka. Later days it changed hands to the Bahamani sultans and local subedars. There is no religious significance so nobody knows much about the place. It is a good place to visit.

Also near to Shanti Sagara there is a place called Punya Sthala near Basava Patna. We missed it. But it can be a good place to visit too.

Why Bengal became Muslim Country?

This question is very much eating my head for very long time. I tried finding root cause of this from many angles. As I explore the answer, I may sound a bit prejudiced against the Bengalis. But it is a complex question and not an easy answer to find.

Firstly why this question at all?

India was attacked on the North Western gates and most of those regions became Muslim majority over many centuries. Later most of the Deccan was ruled by Bahamanis, North was ruled by the Mughals, and east by the Nawabs. But still most of India was Hindu Majority due its inherent nature of freedom loving people and fighting spirit of the people for freedom. But Bengal being Far East of India became Muslim Majority. How? Why?

The Punjabis, Pathans, Jats bore the brunt of maximum onslaught of Islam aggressors. Over many decades, many of the provinces on the western front of India lost out. Then while the cunning British left the country, they vivisected the nation on religious lines and left most of the Punjab, North-Western Frontier & Sindh in the hands of the brutes to convert the rest of the people to Islam.

On the Bengal side however, most regions were already converted. There wasn’t so much resistance, mass migration across the divided Bengal as we hear about it on the Punjab side. Why? Did they accept the division without a fuss? It was the Bengal Division in 1905 which gave rise to a great revolution nationwide. It brought entire nation together with such force, that British had to withdraw that division then. But in 1947, the division happened with least resistance. How & Why?

Is there a lack of Devotion in Common Bengali?

Bengal has given great leaders to our nation. Bengal was the hot bed of revolution during the British oppression. Vande Mataram originated from there. Great spiritual leaders like Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Pramahamsa came in Bengal. Great political leaders like Arabindo Ghosh, Nethaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Bipin Chandra Pal came to the forefront. Literary genius like Bankima Chandra, Eeshwar Chandra Vidya Sagar ignited the minds of the people. They aroused Nationalism amongst many million Indians. Then what happened? Look at today’s leaders they have!!!!

I wonder if the leaders were left with no followers. Is there a lack of following there? Does the common man show indifference when a great leader arises in Bengal? Is there a lack of devotion? Is there a lack of common-conscience of recognizing a good man and following him? Is there inhibition to follow a good man? Is it below self-esteem and dignity to follow anyone?

Two reasons why I ponder on these questions.

One: Mocking Culture: Most Bengali friends I have come across are mockers of the world. They mock at PM, CM, all political leaders, all religious leaders, all religions, all people around them, all rituals, festivals. Few exceptions are there. But generally they take high pride in mocking at the world at large. A commoner doesn’t have any personal following. There is no personal Guru. It is considered retrograde to fall at feet of anyone. When a good-man comes across a common Bengali will be the first to doubt his goodness.

These are absolutely my very personal opinion with some limited exposure to a common Bengali. But reading in great deal of Swami Vivekananda, Arabindo Ghosh & Nethaji, I sincerely wish to be proven wrong in my reading a common Bengali.

Two: Lack of devotion in a common Bengali. Swami Vivekananda started Ramakrishna Mutt in Kolkata. Today we see more of those mutts in Karnataka and Tamilnadu than in Bengal. Why? Is there a lack of following by the common man there? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu started Krishna Bhakti movement in Bengal. It has gone on to great heights throughout the world branched by ISKCON. The world is following, but Bengal has lost it. Very few mutts & temples by his followers dot the Bengal now.

Elsewhere:

A similar Bhakti movement based on Bhagavatha philosophy started by Vaishnavaites in Karnataka around the same period. It lead to Haridasa Sahithya, Karnataka Sangeetha, Bharata Natyam etc., There are more than 2 dozen mutts of Vaishnava order which are carrying on those philosophies like Raghavendra Swami Mutt, Udupi Ashta Mutts etc., The followers are common people like us. For example in Bangalore alone there are more than 50 Raghavendra Swami Mutts. Who is building them & sustaining them? What drives these people? When a good Swamiji comes across, we follow with utmost devotion with no inhibition. There are a lot of Lingayat Mutts, Shaiva Mutts dotted all over the Deccan. There is a great following with deep devotion by the common people. Highly educated people with Modern education also follow with deep devotion. Some of us call it blind following, stupidity etc., but that doesn’t deter a follower who sees a great devotion in the righteousness.

When a Sri Sri Ravishankar comes across, there is a great following. Some call him fraud. But the people who follow him are undeterred, just put their head down and involve in great services launched by him towards Lake Rejuvenation, River Cleaning, Heritage revival, Medical & educational services, Philosophical research, Bhakti movement etc.,

So when a good man comes across there is a good “number” of people following to construct the nation under his guidance across India. All anti-social activities like faith conversion, drugs, alcoholism automatically get sidelined.

But that kind of devotion seems to be lacking in Bengal amongst common man. A sense of righteousness is lacking amongst the common people in Bengal. When a good-man comes across, people show indifference in Bengal. So they get Didi kind of leaders “left” with and they happily loathe about them.

How do the converted react in different parts of India?

There is a deeply researched book on the spread of Islam in India by K.S. Lal. He says, the upper caste people who got converted first in the Bengal region in early periods, did more damage by their hegemony. The poor were left with no choice but to adopt Islam. Swami Vivekananda seeing this famously said “A converted Muslim is not just a loss to the Hindu but an enemy to the Hindu”

KS Lal further compares, that in South in many places, the upper caste converts under threat, didn’t enforce further conversions and they suffered in silos. In some cases, they even returned to their parent faith after the aggressor went away.

Unflinching Love of Language of Bengali

One thing that holds them all together is their Language. Their love of the language is unflinching. While we in Karnataka struggle to retain Kannada as a language in schools, Bengalis don’t find it so hard. In fact their Bangladesh independence movement from Pakistan was led by the love of their language itself.

I just wish the great nation of Sonar Bangla returns to its past glory. And the common man develops a great devotion to the right good-man who always comes across every decade in every region. 

Veer Savarkar – A Hero – Forced to forget by academicians

Veer Savarkar is India’s son and a great hero who struggled for India’s freedom. Indian academicans have forced students to forget him. He doesn’t find any mention in textbooks. The unfortunate politics played on one of the heroic sons of our soil is despicable.

In our recent visit to Andamans evoked lot of interest in this great Hero. The Port Blair reverberates with his memoirs. They have rightly named the international airport after him. The cellular jail where he was confined for over a decade is now made a national memorial and a world heritage. The cell where he was kept is revered and a favorite place of visit for many tourists who throng there. The light & sound show and the stories by the guide do justice to his sacrifice. The Andamans is now visited by many in thousands from mainland India. So it is good that the average Indian gets to enliven harsh, real stories of freedom struggle by many of our great heroes which are otherwise untold by our modern day Academicians.

Here a brief life history of Veer Savarkar is given, so that it generates more interest in the reader to read more about him, about more people like him & what they lived and sacrificed their life for?

A Brief Life History of Veer Savarkar:

Veer Savarkar during his student days was a great follower of Balagangadhar Tilak. He ardently participated in the Ganesha Utsav in the localities drawing a great force of youth. He supported and garnered many people in protests called for burning foreign clothes as called by Tilak. He had formed a great student force to support the freedom movement called by the leaders of the Congress during those times. He was instrumental in creating a student union “Mithra Mela” which was working towards aiding the Freedom movement by the leaders of India.

Subsequently he travelled to England with the blessings of Tilak. Soon in the heart of England he formed a student & youth union called ‘Abhinava Bharatha’. The sole aim was to unite the Indian students coming there to study. Most were going back to work under British to help them loot our own nation. So it was essential to instill a sense of patriotism amongst them & when the time comes to create a great united resistance to the British diktat, all these patriotic Government servants will be a great aid.

British spies had very strict eyes on his activities all the time. Many times they clamped on ‘India House’ where most of the revolutionary activities were happening. Savarkar believed in armed resistance. So he published life history of Mazzini in a book. His publications were clamped by the administration. Still somehow they were published in India and had a great demand going out of sale in student circles.

The success of these publications encouraged him for further writing. He picked up the subject of 1857 Freedom Struggle by Indians. Till then it was termed derogatively as ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ by the British. But it was more than a Sipoy Mutiny. Royals, artisans, peasants, house holders, apart from Sepoys where fully involved. In fact it was a well-planned revolt which erupted suddenly across all provinces at a time. How could that be possible if it was just a sipoy mutiny? It was a well-orchestrated multi-pronged, leadership driven concerted armed resistance by freedom loving people of the country. That is why it went on for more than a year. And it shook the British crown. Savarkar studied all materials from British libraries and compiled the story very well. The news of this publication rattled the British. It was banned even before it was published. Then Savarkar himself wrote a strong letter to London Times on the Government act of curtailing the freedom of expression. That got published and London Times also supported his question to the Government. Again through many difficulties, the work got published in France where British supremacy was not there. It used to get shipped to India under other book wraps. It became a great inspirational book for Indian revolutionaries. Bhagat Singh and Chandrasekhar Azad during their struggle re-published this book to draw inspiration amongst the youth. The book is very good even for today’s reading. Savarkar brings out the unity & sacrifice amongst the Muslims and Hindus in this 1857 Freedom War. He opens up thread by thread how British yanked away the freedom from the Royals, village level, and agricultural freedom. Economics, trade, everything fell prey to their hegemony of single minded loot.

  

During these times, Madan Lal Dingra killed a cruel British officer in London itself. He was from Abhinava Bharatha. He went to the British gallows and so did many back in India by that time from the ignite that had sparked. British arrested Savarkar and deported him back to India by sea.

Before leaving the British shores, he hatched a plan to escape in France. The police sensed trouble so while they were nearing the French, Marcelles shores, they decided not to dock up there and diverted to proceed straight. Madam Cama and Hardayal were expecting Savarkar on the shores but got to know his ship is not coming to the shores at all. But brave Savarkar, escaped through the toilet window hole of the ship, directly fell into the sea and swam for many kilometers in the harsh sea waters till he came on shores in Marcelles. But to his bad luck British had chased him and clamped him before he escaped taking refuge under French police.

All his efforts and his friends’ plans failed his freedom. Upon landing in India, the magistrate slapped two 25 years harsh imprisonment in solitary confinement in Anandaman Cellular Jail. One or 2 year sentences in Andaman itself was very harsh inhuman treatment. But 50 years of sentence was the longest and harshest sentence one could get. While in the cellular jail he inspired many fellow cell mates to revolt against inhuman treatment meted out the political prisoners. His concerted inspirational efforts pushed the British to send a senior official for negotiations. The political prisoners won some relaxations from these efforts but were still confined in harsh conditions. In the meantime, Savarkar found it worthless to rot in this jail far away from the mainland. So he wrote many mercy petitions to the British. They drew strict conditions for his release and released to the main land after a decade.

Since his release, he was confined in the hills of Ratnagiri in Bombay province. Strict vigilance was put up on his activities. While being confined there, Veer Savarkar, worked hard towards removal of untouchability amongst the villagers. He constructed a temple of Ram called ‘Pathitha Pavana Mandira’ where the Harijans were the priests and were served food together with all. Savarkar stood very firm and inspired all sections of the society to unite and fight out all bad social practices. During this time, he published his 10,000 lines poems he had created while in Cellular jail. He had written these on the jail walls and by hearted it as the Jailer used to paint it off to prevent future cell mates to get inspired by the words of the poems. Today his poems are still inspiring us.

Subhash Chandra Bose during his presidentship of Congress touring all India, met Savarkar too. It is recorded that Savarkar advised him to take up armed struggle against British. The world war raging around that time and Rash Behari Bose having founded the Indian National Army in Japan was awaiting a great revolutionary leader like Nethaji to come aboard and assume leadership. It is worth noting that when Japan occupied the Andaman Islands in 1943 to 45, Nethaji assuming the leadership of INA negotiated with Japan to free up the Andaman islands and give administration control over to the INA. So hence the first freedom flag of the tricolor of India fluttered on the shores of the Andamans even before the British gave us freedom in 1947!! Subhash paying respects to the Indian leaders’ decision had kept INA flag as tri-colour with Charaka in the center!!

  

Savarkar lived his full life and gave up his life in 1966 at 83 years age. 

It is our duty to remember such heroes who struggled their life for our freedom & respect. Jai Hind.