Satya Sai Baba and vAstu

Satya Sai Baba (SSB) passed away yesterday. SSB's doctors made his passage difficult with pacemakers and other life support added on - but his sharIra, whose nature it is to die and decay, had to give way. He was eighty five years old.

With anybody else, 85 can safely be considered a ripe old age. However, with Baba - the center of so much of power and opulence, any age would not be ripe enough.

A family member of Satya Sai Baba lamented that the hospital where he (SSB) was treated had "vAstu doSham"! When I read this statement - I could not make up my mind whether to laugh or to cry.

I do not wish to pontificate here - but merely want to point out the obvious. Our bodies - strong as they may be now - will eventually wither away. That is the nature of life. Whether eighty or hundred or even a hundred and ten years old - no one will live forever. It is quite amazing that this family member of SSB could not get that - in spite of the high philosophy that SSB regularly had in his lectures and speeches.

At these times, it helps to look at our purANas and itihAsa and get a grip on ourselves. Great avatAras like rAma and kRShNa gave up their bodies when it was time. Great personages like bhIShma and dharmarAja passed away too. And so did kings like shivAji and kRshNadevarAya. When they passed away however, they understood their conditions and adjusted. No illustrious personage departed kicking and weeping like a five year old.

In fact the Raghuvamsha has a phrase about this - yogenAnte tanutyajAm ("The kings of the ikShvAku dynasty gave up their bodies with yoga"). They "gave it up".

My lament is that our people are not looking at the stars in our purANic sky. They are looking at the muck and dirt - in the form of vAstu and other sick superstitions. To answer this family member - would SSB have lived forever if they had shifted him to a "vAstu" compliant hospital? Read kisA gotami's story, people!

I sometimes feel that atheism is better than this kind of belief. I read an interesting piece about SSB's and H Narasimhaiah's exchange on Outlook India here.While I do not agree with Outlook's ideology, this piece has an interesting part from the same piece that I would like to quote. [Emphases in the following paragraphs mine]

Now science seems to have been replaced by technology in the public
space. Obviously one can't speak of the values of technology as one
spoke about that of science because there aren't any. Technology is only
about application and consumption and it suits the times well. It is
ideologically neutral. I am tempted to say that as more and more
technology surrounds us, our pre-occupation with dogma and godmen has increased.

With that point to ponder, I conclude this post with my (hopefully unfounded) observation that as a society, we seem to be heading downhill - morally and spiritually - in a high powered fully featured sports car with all cylinders firing.

Callousness to cows - read this and stop drinking milk!

Fight the Good Bull Fight | OPEN Magazine

All of us (barring those lactose intolerant) consume milk and/or milk products. Soy Milk is not yet at that stage where it can replace cow's milk. It is pretty amazing that we get milk in polythene covers or cartons or cans - leading to a numbed sensitivity amongst us regarding the origin of milk. We don't care about where milk comes from and what the poor cows have to go through to give us our morning cup of coffee, tea or milk or ice cream.

India is the land of cows and cow reforms. Yet, we don't seem to think about what cows experience during their lives. Cows give milk only when they are lactating - when they have recently borne a calf. So, in the interests of the millions of milk-guzzlers, cattle are kept pregnant throughout significant parts of their lives - their "cycles" are "optimized" to generate maximum milk. Just replace "cow" with "woman" in the preceding lines and think what a revolting thought that can be. Yes, it is really *that* bad!

To add insult to injury, reproduction is now mainly via artificial insemination robbing cows and bulls of those few moments of conjugal bliss in their lives. What a wretched state we have led them to!

The article (linked at the top of this piece) talks about the "outrageous" national project for mass artificial insemination. It is a well written and informative piece.

Go-rakShaNa vEdike, Vishwa Hindu Parishat, BJP and other self-appointed cow protectors! Wake up!! Fight this injustice to the animal that you worship and use for political mileage!

Why don't well intended corporates/farmers promote milk from humanely treated cows for starters? (If nothing - it is a good business idea. I for one will pay the premium to drink milk from humanely treated cows. I am sure there are several thousands if not millions of people who agree with me.) Till then, I should probably give up milk and curd entirely...

PS: This is for those who believe in karma (pApa and puNya). kartA (the doer), kArayitA (the one who gets it done), preraka (the one who provides the encouragement) and anumodaka (the one who assents to the action) - all have shares in the results of an action - boon or sin. In this case, since milk-drinkers like me (and you) provide preraNa for the cattle farmers to generate more and more milk. In other words the likes of you, gentle reader, and me are responsible for the dire straits of the bovine world. Mankind, as a whole, is suffering the consequences of the accruing bad karma. Now, when a Tsunami looms over the horizon or you're quivering in fear in an earthquake, don't think you weren't responsible....

The IPL advertising horror

Rahul Bhattacharya: The advertising horror that is the IPL | Opinion | Cricinfo Magazine | Cricinfo.com

I love cricket and all its forms including the new - but now old - T20. I like the IPL because of what it could and still can do. Local Indian talent rubbing shoulders with international cricketers. Gilchrist, Vaas and Laxman plotting the downfall of Hayden or Tendulkar. Teams playing the game hard but walking off the field laughing as friends. These are pictures attractive in all their cricketing possibilities.

However, one has to agree with Rahul Bhattacharya, who in the thoughtful post above, laments the horror of advertising that the IPL now is. When do the brands not hit you? A level of imperviousness to all these ads and their messages is inevitable for the sanity of the TV viewer. But how can one bear a constantly operating jackhammer? Subtlety, as Rahul notes, is not something the IPL stands for. In your face ads, the crass brand posturing off every four or six, catch or dismissal, the breaks that are more strategic for the ad vendors than for the teams, all the white cabaret dancers cheerleaders (this is IPL - aren't there any cute Indian girls that can dance?) - all mark IPL for its sheer brash vulgarity.

The following statement (emphasis mine) from Rahul sums it up very well:

The highest possible figure is important because in India money is exciting and a truth.

This is what happens when a people are denied so much. Being told by all and sundry that poverty is the ideal for fifty plus years, people got fed up. The reality of money just is way too attractive for people not to ignore it. Everybody wants money and loves to flaunt it. Gone are those days when people would have liked to be modest. But the then
popular culture had made it cool to be poor and idealistic - the hero would be young, brave and poor while the heroine would be baDe bAp kI bigDi hui beTi - who would then get a lesson on ideals and social equality and ideals would reign in the end. 

Now, the hero and heroine meet in an airport on their way to Switzerland for a vacation. The only thing in their way is their fathers being business competitors. The end of the movie would be a business deal (win-win, of course!).

This change has been drastic- I've seen it in a little less than twenty years. This is thirst for money on steroids. Just like a hungry man ogling a rich food spread - imagine what would happen when he is allowed to eat it. I suppose this will have to settle down. America too has in your face consumerism - but people are used to it. We will get used to it too, hopefully. But when?

IPL is merely one of a million other things that are of the truth, by the truth and for the truth. The truth here - not a truth - being money.

India's $10 "laptop" - a media circus?

Why India's $10 Laptop is a Load of Hype | Technomix | Fast Company

I hate to tell "I told you so" for this - but this merely confirms my suspicion that the device would be far from a laptop. 500Rs is too low a price to get any decent "computer" (unless subsidized by long term contracts etc.,) and this device is not by any standards a laptop.

This "laptop" word associated with the device seems to be a hyped-up concoction of some clueless Indian media-person and less probably, some government busybody. I am quite sure folks in IISc and IIT-M would shudder to call this a laptop.

Of course, any "thing" can be a laptop - a book, a hard drive, or even a child. After all, it sits on top of your lap, right?

The only unfortunate thing is that this enterprise, worthy as it is, got all the publicity for the wrong reasons and now, instead of being appreciated it is called "Load of Hype", "massive exaggeration" and "downgraded by reality" among other things.

I wonder who called it a laptop - Indian media does have a fancy for hyperbole and this may be just it. Indian media seriously needs to tone down its hyperbole, sensationalism and shrillness factor. Anybody from Indian MSM reading this?

Nepal's Pashupatinath and de-culturing

Nepal priests to conduct worship at Pashupatinath-South Asia-World-The Times of India

Nepal was the only country in the world that proclaimed Hindu Dharma as its state religion. Soon after Prachanda and his cohorts took up power in Nepal, one of the first things they did was to remove the word "Hindu" from the country's constitution. Hindus the world over felt a twinge of discomfort when they read about it (this blogger included).

Karl Marx had this to say about religion, amongst other things - "It is the opium of the people." Whether his view was more nuanced than what this quote implies is a different topic. But as far as his followers are concerned, this statement pretty much sums it up. Religion and pre-communist tradition are something that have to be shunned. Atheism, nay, a form of nihilism and communism go together, that way.

Back to Nepal, the Pashupatinath temple is a very old and sacred centre of religion. Legend has it that Sri Shankaracharya instituted worship in this temple and appointed a lineage of priests (called ravals) from Karnataka. This tradition has gone on for centuries. When monarchy reigned in Nepal, Hindus and Hindu institutions flourished. That the pontiffs of the Kanchi Matha were held in high esteem by the king of Nepal is well known.

Communists, completely supported by the Chinese, started their activities within Nepal long ago. With bloodshed and rivalry within the royal family, their ascent to power accelerated. And finally, Prachanda got democratically elected as the prime minister. He belongs to the Communist Party (Maoist) of Nepal. The fact that he owes much to China can be seen from the name of his party as well as by his act of traveling first to China instead of India, as was the norm. The cold shoulder to India is quite evident here. It may not be long before Indian citizens need a passport and visa to visit Nepal, just like everybody else. India might need to worry about open borders with Nepal - but that is a separate issue.

The ascension to power by Prachanda was marked by the abolition of monarchy. Beginning with that, a systematic change of traditions instituted by the royal family has started. The change of the rawals is but a marker in the process of this "deculturing".

Monolithic religion-ideologies such as Islam, Communism and Christianity have one thing common amongst them. Wherever one of these has risen to power, the clock on history and culture is reset - as if there was no history and culture in these lands before the advent of these ideologies. Pakistan is an example in point. Textbooks are full of glorification of everything Islamic and condemnation of all else. Two generations of readers of such text books are all it takes to obliterate a country's indigenous traditions. Harappa is still in Pakistan, but from those textbooks, its achievements pale in front of those of a Ghauri or a Ghaznavi as Mohenjodaro et al were pre-Islamic sites and therefore jAhil. Mao's cultural revolution is similar.

A similar effort seems to be afoot in Nepal. Textbooks will, in all likelihood, be the next target if not already targeted. And it will be decreed in them that Nepal was under continued oppression till they were "liberated" by Chairman Mao's ideology, whose able representative is Chairman Prachanda. Whatever good remains will be credited to the new ideology and all things bad will be cast as the relics of a forgettable past.

The following quote by an American author sums it up quite well -
“Only when the war propaganda of the victors is entered into the history books of the vanquished, (and this is also believed by succeeding generations), only then will our reeducation have succeeded”

Terror in the ministry

UPA proud of my Karkare remark: Antulay

Now that we have terror everywhere, it makes sense to consult the dictionary to understand what the actual meaning of the word is. The Merriam-Webster's online dictionary has this to say:

Terror
1 : a state of intense fear
2 a: one that inspires fear : scourge
   b: a frightening aspect terrors of invasion>
   c: a cause of anxiety : worry
   d: an appalling person or thing

Looking at this definition, the perpetrators of the horrific Mumbai carnage were not terrorists to the UPA government as it was neither fear inspiring - given that Rahul Gandhi, the heir-apparent, partied all night when commandos were still engaged at the Taj. It was neither appalling nor a cause of anxiety. Apparently, our honourable PM did not lose sleep over this as much as he lost over the condition of a mother of a bomber. Even if the nation was terrorized, the UPA government was probably not.

However, the current event is terror inspiring to the UPA. Abdul Rahman Antulay is a terror not only to his party comrades, but also to his co-religionists and all Indians.

By his parrot-like repetition of an ill-conceived conspiracy theory the likes of which are often repeated (recall the canard of a CIA-Zionist plot of 9/11 that is claimed as gospel truth in a large part of the Muslim world), Abdul Rahman might have endeared himself to Islamist fanatics and the sensationalizing aspect of Pakistani media - but has become a political hot potato now.

His wayward comment about Karkare's death not being at the hands of terrorists is not only irresponsible but also downright malicious. In an exercise that Goebbels would have been proud of, a Pakistani channel and Abdul Rahman mutually reinforced one another. Now each will have the other's word as evidence. How convenient!

If we look back at the events that transpired, we had a few people, incidentally Hindus, investigated in the Malegaon blasts. The fact that the Indian media took this up with undisguised glee and projected this as the Hindu counterpart of the global threat of Islamic terrorism is indeed deplorable.

When the Mumbai events unfolded, the world saw the unprecedented horror occurring before it. Even so, Somini Sengupta in the New York Times in her report of the Mumbai events had to have a footnote on "Hindu Terrorism" - which, even if this Sadhvi character is proved to have committed, would amount to less than a drop in the whole Arabian sea.

I read somewhere that India now is a dubious statistic of being the second worst terror-affected country after Iraq (which is under civil war!) in the last five years. How much of this loss is due to "Hindu" terror?

When I read Somini Sengupta's piece that mentioned this "Hindu" terror in the same piece in her Mumbai report - as the events were transpiring - I squirmed in my seat. What blatantly misleading information was being fed here! Luckily, due to more sensible media houses in the west - who were on the ground and not dependent on their Indian agencies, the extent of the damage as well as clear information on the origin of the perpetrators was conveyed to the world.

The public has a short term memory. Three weeks later, people are just normal - of course - we don't want people to continue to be terrorized. Politicians are back to their quibbling ways. However, several common people have been really shaken by the events and they are taking to the streets in protest.

There are welcome changes occurring too - though I don't know how many of these will be effective in the long run. The first one is the refusal of the Waqf body to conduct an Islamic burial for the slain terrorists. Till now, all slain terrorists, be it in Akshardham or in J&K were apparently handed over to some Islamic body which would then bury them in Indian soil. Now this will not happen. I am so glad that the Muslim community has come out in strong protest.

The second one - in smaller measure - is the red gun salute given by Naxalites in memory of the Mumbai victims. This was unprecedented. If the trained Naxalites were to fight the LeT-types... I continue to dream.

The third one is the support - diplomatic and logistic - that India is getting (finally!) from the US, UK and Israel. Not that this was not done earlier - but there is a feeling of increased solidarity against terror.

Fourth, new guidelines about crisis coverage have been instituted by the news broadcast association. This should hopefully trickle down to lessened sensationalism in other spheres as well.

Fifth, a national body to counter terror, curiously labeled NIA (they liked the CIA acronym?) has been set up. This should hopefully increase intelligence dissemination among government agencies.

Coming back to Antulay and the UPA, I would at least hope that the UPA has enough sense to boot him out of the party and make him a political pariah. But this could be a double-game by the UPA. By retaining Antulay, it can retain the vote bank of insecure minorities while pandering to the majority at large by effecting ineffective changes such as mere legislations and ministerial resignations. Why am I such a cynic?

Whatever happens, I hope the haunting images of smoke billowing out of the Taj and of that gun-toting criminal walking through the CST looking for his next kill never fail to awaken righteous indignation amongst all Indians.

Who do you believe?

We had the Tehelka sting operation a few days ago that apparently "proved" the complicity of Narendra Modi's government in the 2002 Gujarat riots. You can find posts about it here and here. The posts pointed to by the links in the previous sentence take Tehelka's sting to be true. I too was much disturbed on seeing statements from some violent people "stung" by Tehelka. And though I don't like Tehelka for their generally sensationalist stance, this story seemed to hard not believe in.

And now, you have several people doubting the "expose". You can look for the basis of the doubt with some relevant links here and here.

Each side has plenty of points to prove its case. Now the question is - who do you believe? In other words, what is the truth? I, for one, am stumped.

I feel that the English media in India are unscrupulous mercenary agents, pandering sometimes to even anti-India interests. But the freedom of media is important for any democracy. How can anybody guarantee this precious freedom without the people themselves being informed? And how can people get informed without significant help from the media? People watch channels of their choice which will continue to feed their viewers what the channels feel fit to telecast. And this will lead to groups of people completely at loggerheads with each other as they feel that their take on any incident is the "right" one and the "other" side simply doesn't "know".

Imagine the leftists - smiling knowing condescending smiles at the great unwashed brute "rightists" and seeing them as animals. At the same time, imagine people from say, the sangh-parivar glaring at leftists, seeing them as traitors that have no respect for the country's Hindu traditions and as a group of trouble-makers that wants everybody to stay in poverty for their selfish political gains. Think of any two such groups. The disagreement between them is just too much for any reconciliation. It is as if these people came from enemy countries.

Can there be a middle ground at all?

"Insulting" tricolour?

Team India in a legal tangle for 'insulting' tricolour - News - News - Indiatimes Cricket

Some guys have no work at all! This legal luminary from Kanpur has found it fit to file suit against the entire Indian team for what he considers as an insult to the National flag.

What should be then done with our tricolour? Use it to wrap dead politicians? Or dead soldiers? I have the greatest respect for our soldiers - but going by Mr. Lawman, how can your country's flag be used to wrap something dead? Is that OK?

People always complain that Indians are not patriotic as people of other countries. But how can you be expected to show your patriotism if it is not with your nation's flag? The team won a world cup and they shouldn't celebrate with their country's flag? Give me a break! And all those laws that prevent people from gesturing with it! I think our government should relax quite a bit.

Let people fly flags from their homes a la USA. I agree burning flags is bad - but people should be allowed a healthy happy celebration with their flag. After all, Dhoni and co identified themselves with the country and that is why they deserve to celebrate with it.

The flag represents the country that is supposed to be like a mother. Don't children play with their mothers? Don't they hug them when they're happy? If these government guys were allowed to make laws, they would even outlaw a child from hugging its mom.

Our government has plenty of arcane laws that need to be changed and very urgently. Otherwise we will continue to have these attention mongers file suit at the drop of a hat or at the flutter of a flag.

JK Rowling sends Dumbledore out of the closet

Most fans applaud Rowling's outing of Dumbledore | Lifestyle | Living | Reuters

When I saw the news, rather, when this news was thrust in front of me, I felt weird. This is probably one of the most bizarre moments I've come across. Media channels across the world are giving so much attention to the sexual orientation of a fictional character. I'd seen Jay Leno joke about Teletubbies being gay and all that - but if Rowling has to say this with a straight face, I suppose it speaks much of the times we live in.

I'm personally indifferent to these things. What a person does in his/her privacy is none of my business - is how I look at it. But in popular discourse (movies, sitcoms and the like) homosexuals are seen as different people, or people with some disability or something like that. I don't know if I've come across any gay person knowingly during my life in the US or in India for that matter) but that's probably because I was/am too indifferent (or clueless - depending on how you look at it) towards this "special characteristic". Most people are just people to me.

Rather than wonder about why Rowling did it, we have to look at the media response to this comment. What if Rowling had said instead, that Dumbledore had had a love affair with Minerva McGonagall? Would it have been as news worthy?

I have a theory on why Rowling said whatever she said. She probably watched Gandalf - the originally famous wizard on the Lord of the Rings, admirably played in the movie trilogy by Ian McKellen - who is known to be gay. And so, when she wrote her seventh book, she unconsciously or consciously modeled Dumbledore after the real life Gandalf. Anyway, that is just my theory!

There have been people who have liked this statement from Rowling. And some who have not. I think that the statement was completely unnecessary. If she hadn't made that statement, I wouldn't have to write this post!

Bus burning episode - appalling!

Setu issue: Chennai-bound bus set on fire, 2 killed-India-The Times of India

This comes as a black mark to Bangalore. This is an appalling incident and needs to be condemned in the strongest words.

When I read this news item first thing in the morning, I felt really bad because of so many things. The first thing is of course that people were killed. The second is that they got killed for absolutely no fault of theirs. It is really heartbreaking to see two unsuspecting people wanting to wake up in Chennai the next morning burnt to death like this. I hope the law takes its proper course in the matter. May rAma grant peace to the departed souls.

The apparent reason for this incident as shown by the newspaper (and suspected by people) is Karunanidhi's nonsensical speech questioning rAma's historicity. A few people got disgruntled enough to go burn a bus (and 2 people in the process) and pelt stones at Karunanidhi's daughter's home.

If these people (the bus-burners and stone-pelters) were real supporters of the rAma-setu cause and of rAma, they couldn't have jeopardized their case any better than by indulging in such an atrocity.

The cause of the setu was getting so much positive press and the government had begun to look like it had all its calculations wrong. People sitting on the ideological fence were veering towards supporting the setu. But now, because of the actions of a few thoughtless people, popular opinion may shift elsewhere. The importance of popular opinion in such a cause cannot be overstated.

In fact, the anti-setu group is probably feeling good about this as even they couldn't have done anything better to bolster their case. Do we smell the fishy odor of conspiracy here?

Another question: Were the two incidents co-ordinated or separate?

Anyway, as they say in Kannada - "ella kaShTakkU shanaishchara kAraNa" (Lord Shani/Saturn is the reason for all difficulties), the "Sangh Parivar" name is a name that has been used quite vocally as the source for all troubles. Just ask the Communists!

Height of nonsense - Rama is not historical!

Centre denies existence of Rama or Ramayana-India-The Times of India

"Rama is not a historical character"

I've been doing "Whoa!" too many times since last week. But I can't check myself from doing it as each time, it comes out involuntarily. But this time, it is very serious.

The characters of rAma and sItA (and several others from the rAmayaNa) have left an indelible imprint on the Indian psyche for millenia. Temples celebrating them across the length and breadth of the country are ample proof for this. Works that are off-shoots of the vAlmIki rAmayaNa have occurred in almost all Indian languages. Why, the kannada poet kumAra vyAsa laments that "the serpent bearing the earth struggles with the weight of poets retelling the rAmayaNa"! There are several works which describe actual places associated with the rAmayaNa. For example, kAlidAsa (at least a couple of millenia old) narrates in his meghadUta that "his yakSha lived near the waters that were rendered holy by that fact that sItA, the daughter of Janaka took bath in them" (janaka-tanayA-snAnapuNyodakeShu).

While classical and folk literature is replete with the references to the characters of the rAmAyaNa, our countrymen over the years adore and respect rAma. "rAmarAjya" - they say when they want to describe an ideal kingdom.

rAmeshwaram, dhanuShkoDi and Lanka are real places and they are all steeped in legend.

Consciously or not, all Indians are affected by Rama's character. So, if somebody asks about the historicity of such a character, isn't it right to exhibit righteous indignation?

Did vAlmIki the "Adi Kavi" (first poet) compose the rAmayaNa out of thin air, so to speak? He specifically states that he based his work on a real king.

Anyway, what makes a character historical? If Rama is not a historical person of flesh and blood, he is a historical Ideal that is much stronger than anybody could have ever been with just flesh and blood. So for me and a billion Hindus across the world, Rama is more historical and real than several people who are alive.

What the government has done by its statement is dangerous and irresponsible. The Government is moving in uncharted waters. Never before has an
Indian Government, AFAIK, gone blatantly on record making such a statement.

Just consider the equivalent of this statement in other religions. It is like saying "there is no historical record to incontrovertibly prove the existence of several Biblical characters such as Adam, Isaac, Moses and even Jesus". What will the Christians/Jews and even Muslims feel if they are subjected to such a statement? What if the Government says that the "Genesis in the Bible is bogus as there is no "historical record" to prove that God created the world in seven days?" Will the Roman Catholic at the helm of affairs allow such statements to be made at all?

The sentiment of the Hindus in the face of such a statement is not only one of pain and anguish but one of offense. "How dare you!" will be the reaction of several people.

Why does the government repeatedly snub the majority by making such offensive statements?

The Rama setu is a symbol of what Rama stood for. It may or may not be man made - but who cares? It is the belief of a billion people that it was built by Rama. That should be sufficient. I am normally not for activism for anything but this action is taking it too far. I feel incensed enough to take part in a protest march.

Post Script: Last week, I bought a Kannada translation of the vAlmIki-rAmAyaNa. I am also reading shrI rAmayaNa darshanam by Kuvempu (A profound and beautiful poetic work, I wish to add). Several friends and relatives I know are reading various versions of the rAmAyaNa. This is not because of any rAma setu stuff but just out of interest. When Rama is thus alive in the hearts of his devotees, how can the Government say he is not historical? Anyway, do we care if he is historical or not?

Geeta as a dharmashAstra?

Govt, legal experts react against HC observation on Geeta - Newindpress.com

Yesterday, a judge of the Allahabad High Court recommended making the gItA the National DharmashAstra. Now all and sundry are reacting to this. While the Mullahs and Marxists are reacting as expected, I (and lots of people) consider the judge's observation inaccurate.

Why? Just pick up any copy of the Geeta and read to the end of each of its eighteen chapters. At the conclusion of each chapter, you have a statement that goes somewhat like this:

"Om tatsaditi mahAbhArate saMhitAyAM vaiyAsikyAm bhIShmaparvaNi shrImadbhagavadgItAsu-upaniShatsu brahmavidyAyAm yogashAstre shrI-kRiShNArjuna-samvAde arjuna-viShAda-yogo nAma prathamo.adhyAyaH"

It roughly translates to "Thus concludes the nth chapter of the Auspicious Divine gItA-upaniShat that is the Supreme Knowledge of brahman and is a treatise on yoga, that occurs in the bhIShma-parva of the mahAbhArata as a dialogue between shrI kRiShNa and arjuna"

You see the yogashAstre highlighted in the above quote. yoga comes from the root yuj that means to yoke or join. In this case, the joining refers to the jIvAtmA and paramAtmA. In other words, the geeta is a mokSha-shAstra. That is why brahmavidyAyAm is also highlighted.

dharma and mokSha are the first and last puruShArthas. While the fruition of dharma can be termed mokSha, both of them are not the same. So, how can a shAstra pertaining to one be another?

While the judge's motive might be good, he should have termed it better. His inaccurate statement might have just provided fodder to those gleeful Marx-influenced who will now show that Hindu Dharma's defenders don't know what they are defending.

URA: ‘Not one single intellectual among the right’ (via Churumuri and Hindu)

‘Not one single intellectual among the right’ « churumuri

Whoa!! I don't know what to say!

URA must have had a pretty strong stimulant to make this statement. But then again, probably not. Look at the things this person does to stay in the news. He is intelligent enough to know that such a statement will be looked at by several newspapers. And he wants to do it just because now, he will get to stay in the news!

A question to Dr. URA. What is right? What is the Left? Can you just draw that fine line? Intellectuals (the real ones) will probably not subscribe completely to the left or the right.

He says:

The right wing failed in developing the thinking process that is pluralistic in nature.

What about the Left (according to Dr. URA's definition)? Pol Pot, Mao and Stalin are truly models of the pluralistic thinking process.

Dr. URA is entitled to his opinion. He can like what he likes. The "Left forces" will continue to develop "intellectuals" and "fine literary works" while they bomb police stations and kill people. Surely "unbridled", right?

With such daily news items from URS, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw will not have to ask "URA who?". It is a different thing that she might now say "URA?! Bah!".

What's in a number and other rambling thoughts

The title of this post may be misleading. This is not about mathematical numbers. In fact, mathematical numbers have a lot in them. This is about those "non-mathematical" ones; though numbers have to be inherently mathematical.

Also, this is not about numbers that have their place in nature. I agree that 365 (give and take a couple of days) days make a year and around 9 months is the human gestation period. But my post is not about that.

My post is about man-made numbers and whether we really need to attach so much importance to them. For example, the papers in Bangalore today scream - that this is one day in a thousand years that has 7'O clock, 7 minutes, 7 seconds, 7th day of the 7th month of the year 2007 and it turned out to be a saptami (7th day) in the Indian lunar calendar as well. And so, this is a great day and so on. In fact, last year we did have 6:06:06 6th June 2006. And next year will have a bunch of 8s and so on till 2012.

Now for a different take on it. 2007 is the year according to the Christian calendar. According to the Muslim calendar, this year is numbered something else. And in our Hindu calendar, it is sarvajit samvatsara and the number of the year in vikrama samvat is something else. What would happen if you calculate your date according to any other calendar? Would this headline be still valuable? And what if you measured your time in something like "radians" instead of hours and minutes? Are we mistaking things for units in which they are measured?

Then, you have the other one. Celebrities all over India wanted to get the Taj Mahal in the seven wonders of the world. Now my question to the organizers is : Why seven wonders? Why not 6? What did the other poor numbers like 11 do? Why not say, 35 or 53? Why is 7 any special?

For a number to be special to me, it has to have some counterpart in nature, a counterpart in something that is not man-made. "pi" is one such number. "e" is one such constant. "c" is another one. "h" is yet another. The number 15 as the period in days of our moon's waxing/waning cycle is another number. Two such cycles make a month. A year is fine as it signifies one revolution of the earth around the sun.

But Top Seven and Top 10 and Top 50 or Top 100 seem to be just made up.  What are the organizers trying to convey? That if the Taj Mahal is in the top 7, it is good and that otherwise, it is not? What if the Taj gets the 8th position? Will it stop being as attractive? In the seven wonders case, it looks like people are just having a good time promoting the Taj Mahal and all - which is fine, but is the hype justified?

Next you have the make or break numbers - ranks in education. The ranks themselves are fine, because they just correspond to the indices of a set of sorted marks. But ranks have notions of superiority and inferiority associated with them. The first ranker is somehow perceived as "superior" to the second and so on. But the examinations try to measure ability in a particular field. Rank and ability may not correlate well enough. The first ranker will be better than the ten thousandth one. But the fifth ranker may actually have more ability than the first ranker. But how else would you measure ability? It is an imperfect measuring system, but unavoidable, I feel.

Hierarchy is in our world whether we like it or not. Equality, the politically correct notion, does not have a natural counterpart. Ranks and numbers and our fascination for those reinforce this notion. Isn't it just easier in a limited period of time to see the "7 wonders of the world" rather than make the ranking ourselves? It is just that in these things, we trust the judgment of our fellow beings. We do that implicitly in other things anyway.

When we see two things as different, we begin seeing hierarchy. We can't just see two things and not have an implicit hierarchy formed in our mind. Dvaita philosophy - expounded by shrI madhva, in fact, declares 5 types of differences to be Absolute. Difference between God and the soul, difference between souls, difference between God and inanimate matter, difference between souls and inanimate matter and finally the difference between inanimate matter itself. And with a multitude of souls, Dvaita has a hierarchy of deities with Hari (Lord VishNu) being at the peak.

But who is it that sees the difference? We claim to know the world - but we just know what our senses and intellect tell us. The perceiver is still not "known". What does it mean for the knower to know oneself? This is the domain of several of our philosophies and not all of them are in agreement. Buddhism says there is no abiding soul. Advaita says that the soul is the same as the world and God. Dualist schools (most of the others including mainstream Abrahamic religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam, our dvaita and vishiShTAdvaita) say that there is a Supreme Spirit called God and that It and the individual soul are different.

Isn't it strange that we don't know who we are, but, like in this post, ponder about the world and what we see?

Manmohan Singh getting senile?

Trim fat salaries of CEOs: PM-India-The Times of India

Or so it seems, at least from this news link. Sorry.. this is a pure rant and had to get it out of my system. If you are not keen on rants, please skip this post.

I thought the Indira Gandhi era was over. But our PM probably has inhaled a lot of gas generated by his leftist comrades and he has started mouthing nonsense such as this. To extend this argument further, we have tall people and short people, right? So because short people see tall people as taller than themselves, they may feel the inequity and so it may also lead to social unrest between the short and tall groups. So what do you do, cut the heads off of tall people or prescribe drugs to not increase height!

If you see the idiocy here, I am sure you can see the idiocy in Manmohan Singh's argument.

It is not like these CEOs get these salaries for free. They have burdens to bear too! And, it is not like they don't pay taxes!

"Make hay while the sun shines" goes the old adage. These CEOs are doing exactly that. When their industries end, they will not be making so much money anyway.

BTW, as the article clearly says, isn't this completely opposite to what the former finance minister stood for?

He has begun with CEOs now. But where will he stop? As long as people don't make loads of legal money, the black economy will thrive. And this is the cause for the divide in India. Not CEOs earning "fat salaries". These CEOs earn a lot of money - but it is all white!! Every paise there is accounted for.

Mr. PM, try to focus on how the tax money gets disbursed. Try stopping flow of money to the black economy. Stop all your fodder scams and have the nerve to throw such people out of that cabinet.

Of course, he won't do that because those things are difficult. So, what does he do? Something that comes easy to him - teaching and sermonizing.

CII - please stop inviting these people to your meetings. You have enough trouble already and you want suggestions like these to get media attention?

Bah!

Rama Setu: The curious case of a nation's government trying to destroy its own national heritage

In the last couple of months, there has been a big hue and cry about the Government of India going ahead with the construction of a canal by cutting through the middle of Rama Setu - a bridge like formation between India and Sri Lanka.

This bridge has been celebrated as the bridge constructed by Lord Rama to get his army to Sri Lanka to rescue his kidnapped wife Sita. Check the link below for a wonderful podcast by Dr. S. Kalyaranaraman on why this Sethusamudram canal project should be done differently. This podcast discusses scientific, environmental, religious and historical aspects of the Rama Setu. The thesis is that Setusamudram canal, if it cuts through Rama Setu can have disastrous results for the coasts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Please visit the podcast below and get educated on the Rama Setu issue.
http://poduniversal.blogspot.com/2007/05/adams-bridge-also-known-as-ramar-bridge.html

The funny thing is that this bridge - known as Rama Setu for a long time - was renamed as Adam's bridge by the British and our maps in school still refer to them as Adam's bridge and Adam's peak. Why?

While I can understand why the British behaved as they did, I can't understand why the DMK and its allies - who are after all our compatriots, derive perverse pleasure in maligning the Hindu religion and its monuments,beliefs and personages. In fact, DMK leaders secretly involve themselves in Hindu rituals! Why this facade of hatred?

The other interesting thing is that a study shows that the Rama Setu is apparently man-made (more information in the podcast). I use the word 'apparently' as I don't seem to fully believe that a bridge of that length and especially of that age could be man-made. But the study is beginning to appear more and more convincing to me.

A better development in this matter is that Hindu leaders across the country are rising against this onslaught against one of their symbols. The Jagadguru of the Sringeri Shankara maTha Sri Sri bhAratI tIrtha swAminaH has himself spoken in this regard. Known for his complete non-involvement in matters even remotely political, Sri swAmIji has now issued statements voicing great concern about possible damage to rAma setu.

The UPA government might continue with its project - but not without some very stiff opposition.

PS: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE watch and listen to that podcast and pass it on to your friends to educate them about this matter. Thanks to Dr. S. Kalyanaraman for such a painstaking analysis and lucid explanation of the matter for lay people such as myself.

Infantile India: an editorial from the Times of India

LEADER ARTICLE: Infantile India-Editorial-OPINION-The Times of India

In a very well written piece, Jug Suraiya has brilliantly analyzed the reactions of several members of the Indian public. Some of his observations are spot on. But generalizing this to a national and civilizational level is probably stretching it a bit too far.

I tend to agree with his characterization of the typical Indian fan.

"..Many of the most demonstrative of Indian fans would be hard put to distinguish between off-spin and leg-spin. What the Indian fan is looking for is the adrenaline rush of winning, never mind the hows and whys.(Divine intervention is also seen as a legitimate source of victory: on Sunday night/Monday morning, prayers were being offered that Bermuda triumph over Bangladesh, thus enabling India to effect a back-door entry into the Super Eight.)"

He makes a jump after this point. He says that instant gratification without due effort marks most of India. He compares this behavior to :

The child wants a treat, an ice cream, and it wants it now. Not after it has earned the treat, by completing its homework or fulfilling some other form of compensatory obligation, but right now. And if it is denied the immediate gratification of its desire it will resort to the non-rational, magical behaviour of a tantrum: a wordless shriek of outrage which precludes any possibility of argument or negotiation.

It is at this point that he begins to generalize this. He takes this to denote the gain-without-pain attitude that is to be seen as a mark of infantilism or lack of maturation. For his data point, he brings in the examples of Singur and Nandigram and chastises the CPM for getting "fixated on reviving the state's moribund manufacturing sector".

But he has a point. In the system of democracy, where a party can garner votes only by promising and trying to implement such populist measures, both people and politicians look forward to getting something done just like that. But this definitely does not gel with real Indian civilization. For example, there is this famous subhAShita -

"gacchatpipIlikA yAti yojanAni shatAnyapi |
agacChan vainateyo.api padamekam na gacChati ||"

which says that even an ant that is moving can cover hundreds of miles, but even the king of birds, vainateya (garuDa), if he is unmoving, does not cover even a foot.This particular verse, known by several people, indicates the preferred behavior over the non-preferred. Indian civilization has always been for "necessary deferring of gratification" which Jug Suraiya holds to be a sign of "maturation".(I definitely agree with him on this).

When Jug Suraiya says that this infantilism is not compatible with "a republic that lays claim (emphases mine) to ancient civilisational values", it looks like he is actually saying that India just is laying claim to but doesn't really possess ancient values. I don't agree with that. Stupid people have been born at all times. The act of a few stupid people can cause big things. The following image from thinkgeek.com says it all





But as in this picture, stupid people are few. The vast majority of India doesn't care about things such as cricket. They have themselves to take care of.

On the ignominious Indian exit from the World Cup

I've been reading news reports over how Dravid, Tendulkar, Sreesanth and others were weeping upon exiting the world cup at such an early stage.



Poor Sreesanth could never play - but why were Dravid and Tendulkar weeping? They very well had it in them to change the course of the match. They should have knuckled down and played. I know the defeat can be sad, but what is the point of weeping? Or, could that be because of the loss of their potential financial benefits? I have high regard for both Dravid and Tendulkar. On their day, they can easily take an attack apart - but they couldn't do anything against Mortaza and the gentle left arm spin of Bangladesh, who got badly mauled by the SriLankans later. Why did they weep?



And also, our guys were heroes at home. They defeated Sri Lanka at home so easily when it didn't matter and now when it really mattered, they couldn't do much.



So much for the fancy coaching from the great Greg Chappell. Tom Moody, who initially interviewed for the position of Indian coach, must be laughing at the Indian Board. When John Wright could succeed with almost the same team, why couldn't Greg?



I, for one, was sick of his almost stupid experimenting with the batting order. Those things just didn't pay! India should have had a more conventional coach who got his team playing cricket rather than football during practice!



And Dravid -- though he is a good player, he is quite a lousy captain. He insisted upon Uthappa - and contributed to the demise of India in the world cup. A solid opening partnership could have saved India the blushes against Bangladesh and also against Sri Lanka. Uthappa shouldn't have opened at all. He could have been put through his paces in some other tournament. By relying far too much on a debutant, India dug its own grave.



Anyway, I am sick and tired of watching spineless performances by the Indian team. I actually now look forward to Sri Lanka and New Zealand who are the dark horses in this tournament. Now, I can watch the game for its own sake without extra patriotic feelings.

AvaraNa by SL Bhyrappa: an eye-opener?

AvaraNa is a term used in Vedantic and Buddhist literature to denote that aspect of nescience (avidyA) that obscures all things. This word has been used with the same intention by SL Bhyrappa as the title of his latest novel.

AvaraNa - the novel has created history in the Kannada publishing industry. No other recent book has been sold out as soon as this book. Even before this book was formally released, eager readers awaiting Bhyrappa's latest novel bought all copies from book stores leaving people like me without the latest book. However, I was able to procure a copy directly from the publisher - Sahitya Bhandara. Needless to say, I then devoured the book in less than two days, in spite of hectic work. After all, isn't this the latest book written by the knowledgeable philosopher-novelist Bhyrappa?

The Kannada publishing industry is much bewailed these days. But Bhyrappa's books buck the trend and most of them have gone on to multiple editions.

This book is probably the most controversial that Bhyrappa has written. It deals with the relationship between Hinduism and Islam which, as everybody knows, can be termed tenuous at best.

Most of Bhyrappa's novels are based in and around a few districts of Karnataka or have characters that are from that region. He feels that this is essential in order for him to get into the mind of the character and maintain realism at the same time. Another feature of his novels is the strong female character. Both of these can be found in AvaraNa as well.

I will try not to give too many spoilers in this post - but AvaraNa is a book that can be read even if one knows its full gist. This is because it is not a regular novel. Anyway, for those who haven't read AvaraNa yet and want to do so, this is the point to decide if you want to continue reading this post or not.

Before I start delving into the book, I will try to explain why I have written this post about a Kannada book in English. I saw some reviews of AvaraNa in English on the Net. One review, especially, has compared AvaraNa to the Da Vinci Code. Let me just say that the effort is like comparing apples to oranges. But, as a result of that review, this book has become famous in non-Kannada circles as well. I wish to give a different perspective to the interested non-Kannadiga as well and that is why I am typing this post up in English.

The book begins with the protagonist, Razia, contemplating the ruins of Hampi. She, a screenplay writer, and her husband Amir, commissioned by the government, are in Hampi to make a documentary. The ruins of Hampi move Razia, who by birth is a Hindu - Lakshmi, so much that she continues to study more about it. Significantly, Lakshmi's introspection is also prodded by the destruction of the controversial masjid at Ayodhya - which she comes to hear about.

The story moves through a recollection by Razia on the circumstances of her marriage and simultaneous conversion to Islam. Lakshmi, clouded by love and a heady socialist euphoria that prevailed in that age, does not pay much importance to her symbolic conversion to Islam. Her inter-religious marriage makes her an icon in society for feminism as well as freedom from religious dogma. Her father, a staunch Gandhian, does not like his daughter getting married to a Muslim and disowns her and several years pass. Her father passes away and she visits her village in a long time. Razia/Lakshmi sees a library full of books on history that were read by her father and digs deep into them.

The matter that she discovers in the books causes an epiphany in her. She begins to read those even more and realizes that there has been a systematic pulling the wool over the eyes of society. She writes a very interesting novel - which forms the parallel track of AvaraNa also - to express her understanding. She opposes the system that is creating an AvaraNa to prevent society's understanding of the truth.

The story-within-a-story technique is not new to Indian literature. The Panchatantra is full of these, for example. But a parallel track is interesting and it is probably Bhyrappa's first attempt at this. It comes off very well, I should say. The story that Lakshmi writes in AvaraNa is simultaneously metaphorical and historical. Set in the mid-Mughal period, several historical aspects like the destruction of the Vishvanatha temple at Kashi by Aurangzeb are described in the parallel track. The characters in the parallel story mirror Lakshmi's story to a certain extent and also current Indian/Hindu society. This story is the best part of AvaraNa and I won't add any spoilers to that here.

This parallel track seems to be a continuation in the voice of "sArtha" - Bhyrappa's earlier historical novel. The only change is that the voice, in the case of "AvaraNa", has been emasculated - literally. That voice can be taken to be the voice of Hindu Dharma declining because of the assaults it endured. The description of several events in the parallel track is chilling.

Razia/Lakshmi faces lot of opposition from her in-laws who are staunch Muslims when she does not follow several Islamic customs - Hijab, for instance. Her son, who is raised by her in-laws, has a complete Islamic upbringing. She finds out that the religion of her in-laws does not confer freedom and peace upon its adherents. There are several parts of the novel that describe Islamic customs in detail and in that aspect, this book is more of a documentary than a novel.

An interesting aspect is that whenever the Prophet (PBUH) is mentioned in the book, it is suffixed by a ("sa") (which is the original Arabic for the PBUH acronym that is seen whenever that name is mentioned - such as earlier in this sentence).

The "AvaraNa" that Lakshmi/Razia faces is brought out well. For instance, she attends a conference on text book writing that is quite reminiscent of the "detoxification" effort of our honorable government. None of the professors in that meeting is able to answer Lakshmi in argument and yet, her points never go well with the establishment. It is as if they are unable to see the evident truth that is in front of their eyes - which is what AvaraNa really is.

A piece about AvaraNa can never be complete without mention of Prof. Shastri's character. This is a character that has tasted the wonderful benefits of being a celebrity Socialist in India. This smooth talking educationist has shades of several real well-known personalities in him. I won't mention who it is - but it will be pretty evident for anyone who reads the book. Shastri is the one who persuades Lakshmi to take up Islam as an act of rebellion against "oppressive Hinduism". Prof. Shastri has the wonderful ability of reinterpreting any event of history in that communistic light - in terms of oppressors and the oppressed, much similar to that of several of our comrades. For instance, he interprets Hampi's ruins as due to Shaiva-VaishNava clashes instead of Islamic Iconoclasm. He epitomizes the class of left leaning intellectuals that have sold their conscience to the establishment in return for the favors it bestows upon them. Of course, he is not an honest man as well.

The novel ends with Lakshmi/Razia trying to publish her novel, to find it banned by the government. A consoling part of the novel is that Amir, Razia's husband realizes what his wife has been fighting for and gets ready to help her. A list of books read by Razia/Lakshmi can be found at the end of the book and it also serves as a bibliography - something that is unheard of for a novel. Bhyrappa has resorted to this to defend the book from possible bans. His logic is the same as his character's. If his book is banned, then each and every book in the list at the end of the book might also need to be banned.

The book is wonderfully informative and is cause for deep introspection. Bhyrappa has forever argued for relationships between communities to be based on a strong foundation of truth rather than systemic misinformation. It is no different in this book. Though Islam has come in for rough treatment, to put it mildly, there are some parts that cause a person to pause and think for a while. For instance, a Hindu character is told that his gods are not as powerful as Allah for they could not protect their own abodes from destruction at the hands of Allah's men. Having seen temples at Somnath, Varanasi and Mathura destroyed, won't any Hindu feel demoralized? That argument about the relative power of gods, though childish, can provoke some serious thought.

Amir, though born and brought up a Muslim, sees his wife's plight and sides with her at the end of the book. In my mind, this also shows that Bhyrappa is still an optimist. People may deride Bhyrappa for being an anti-Islamic person after they read this book. But they can never say that he is anti-human. Bhyrappa seems to believe that this fundamental human quality will triumph over any religious dogma.

Bhyrappa, in my opinion, has been a bit simplistic in several parts in the novel. For instance, Shastri's wife is a staunch British Catholic and wants her daughter to grow up as one. But, just think of it. A British woman who can marry an Indian against her parent's wishes doesn't look like she can be as rigid as portrayed in the book. Certain situations in the novel look artificially set up, as if they were there just for a theological discussion waiting to happen. And finally, I don't know if any writer can escape this - but a few characters and situations in AvaraNa seemed like callbacks to older works of Bhyrappa.

Though most of the facts related in the book were already known by me and some of the books in the bibliography had already been read by me, this book's worth, IMO, is in the literary presentation. The parallel track, the imagery - for instance, that of a cow whose calf has been tied up elsewhere (there are several other examples if one cares to read deeply) , the language, the situations and the character development are all outstanding.

However, superficial readers of the book might feel a strong feeling against Islam, which is certainly NOT Bhyrappa's intent. But he definitely wants to discuss "minority-ism" in India. This is similar to the spirit in which he wrote against Girish Karnad's glorification of Tipu Sultan as a national hero. But because of all this, it may not go down too well with the government.

My only hope is that this does not lead to some more mindless violence and yet another idiotic book ban.

If you haven't read it yet, please do. Sahitya Bhandara's Bangalore number is 2287-7618.

Some foreign companies need to be blocked: NSC

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/feb/16nsc.htm

Hear! Hear! Finally, the Indian government is acting properly. Useless principles of Panchsheel are luckily not being followed by our intelligence establishment.

We know what happened when scores of Indians were made to chant "Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai" naively! Such companies that might compromise national security should never be allowed! We should not end up creating a situation as depicted in the popular Kannada proverb- "rAtri kanDa bAvige hagalu biddarante".

I really did not know that the PLO owned a stake in Orascom (the Egyptian telecom company) and that Orascom was the biggest telecom operator in Pakistan. This is definitely a "hagalu kanDa bAvi"!!