12- 14 March 2010 - CiteSeerX

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12- 14 March 2010Palm Grove, Cockle Bay - Darling Harbour

- www.hol imahotsav.com.au - Ph: 1300 BHAVAN (1300 242 826)

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www. i n c r e d i b l e i n d i a . o r g

S t a t e B a n k o f I n d i a , S y d n e yw w w. s b i s y d . c o m . a u

Friday 12 March 2010 (evening)6:30 pm - 10:00 pm

- Orchestra and Bhangra Dances Saturday 13 March 201011:00 am - 5:30 pm

- Cultural Performances, Prayers, Meditation, Yoga and Ayurveda demonstrations

- 12:30 pm - Rath Yatra departs from Hyde Park (North)

- Food and Craft Stalls

Sunday 14 march 201011:00 am - 6:30 pm

- Cultural Performances

- Colour Throwing Sessions at regular intervals


b h a v a n a u s t r a l i a . o r g

Presented By

AUSTRALIA

Proudly Supported By

February 2010 Vol. 7 No. 8

Peace Through Reconciliation in Afghanistan- Graciana del Casti l lo*

NEW YORK – It may or may not be coincidental, but as US President Barack Obama’s military offensive in Afghanistan gets underway, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has at long last embarked on a serious effort at national reconciliation. The prime focus of this process is to find some means to reintegrate at least parts of the Taliban into society and into productive activities. In order to qualify for reintegration, members of the Taliban will need to lay down their weapons, renounce their connection with Al Qaeda, and agree to respect Afghan laws.

This policy change is a necessary parallel to the military action now taking place. It is also a belated recognition that the “development as usual” policies followed in Afghanistan up to now have failed. Eight years ago, Afghanistan embarked on four distinct transitions: a security transition away from violence and insecurity; a political transition toward a society based on participatory government and the rule of law; a social transition from tribal and ethnic confrontations toward national reconciliation; and an economic transition to transform a war-torn and unstable economy into a viable one in which people can make a decent and legal living.

Because economic reconstruction takes place amid this multi-pronged transition, what has been happening in Afghanistan is fundamentally different from normal development processes. The current Afghan situation reflects the failure until now to make national reconciliation – rather than optimal development policies – the bedrock priority of the government and the international community. War-torn countries that have embarked on transitions of this type since the end of the Cold War have a dismal record: roughly half revert to conflict within a few years. Of the other half, most end up highly aid-dependent – indeed an unsustainable position in the present financial context. Afghanistan has an infamous record on both grounds: it has reverted to conflict, and it is not being weaned off its high aid-dependence.

Because the main short-term challenge in any transition to peace is national reconciliation, the political objective of peace should prevail at all times over the economic or financial objective of development if the two ever clash, as they often do. Peace-related activities – particularly reintegration and other reconciliation programs – need to be given priority in budget allocations. Failure to do so has proved a major factor in countries’ relapse into war, because, in the absence of peace, there can be no sustainable development.

So success in Afghanistan demands reintegration of the Taliban. This requires careful planning, bold and innovative solutions for inducing the Taliban to give up their arms, and a commitment to “stay the course” with the right policies, possibly for many years.

But reintegration will require a carrot-and-stick approach. Incentives probably can be found to induce a large number of the rank and file to abandon the insurgency and join the Afghan armed forces or police, play a role in local politics, join the national civil service, or find agricultural or other private-sector employment. Cash payments should be minimized to immediate short-term needs, but an active policy of job creation urgently needs to be implemented.

The situation regarding Taliban commanders is, however, more problematic. The rewards will have to be larger, as they were in the case of the Salvadoran programs for FMLN commanders. In the case of Afghanistan, it may also require a sharp reduction in Taliban financing from drug-related activities, as well as targeted military operations to destroy insurgency hideouts in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Two serious problems make reconciliation in Afghanistan particularly challenging. First, the Karzai government must overcome credibility issues related to the broken promises it made in the past to former Taliban who laid down their weapons. Second, the $140 million pledged by donors at the London Conference for the Peace and Reintegration Trust Fund is blatantly insufficient for effective reintegration. To paraphrase John Maynard Keynes, the economic price of establishing peace is large, but it is indeed a good investment. That investment would save thousands of lives, and it would be a pittance compared to the hundreds of billions of dollars spent by the international community in military and peacekeeping expenditures since the so-called “war on terror” began in 2001.

*Graciana del Castillo is Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University and the author of Rebuilding

War-Torn States.Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2010.

www.project-syndicate.org

Graciana del Castillo

Presidents PageMountain from a mole!I have been watching the development of the issues related to the people of Indian heritage for past three years or so and I have my own experiences and stories including my family members’. I have written (in the President’s page in Bhavan Australia, including the most recent January 2010 issue) that racism is a global phenomenon which hasn’t spared any country not even India. My own stories (of great sufferings caused by racist behaviours) will form the key part of my future book.

But I strongly believe that the current issue of attacks on Indian students has blown way out of proportion by the Indian media. The governments in Australia are doing needs to be done. What is happening is more a law and order issue rather than a racist one. The new arrivals in large numbers with much poor educational backgrounds are causing/ being part of the current problems. It is a melting pot syndrome. The Australian civil society is not racist per se.

Women Men Different EqualThe way we live has changed dramatically over the last 35 years or so. The roles of men and women have transformed in a fast-paced social revolution but life around us has not really caught up. This revolution is unfinished and we are all paying the price. Individually we face the challenge of fitting together work, children, family and relationships. Collectively, we face the challenges of an ageing population, a 24/7 global economy and concerns about our fragmented communities.

Increasingly, ‘breadwinner dads’ and ‘stay at home mums’ are a thing of the past. Fathers today want to spend more time with their children but long working hours make this hard. Most mothers want or need to go to work, but despite their qualifications, many have to trade down pay if they want to work part-time. Also many adults, women and men, need and want to provide more support to their older relatives. But our workplaces, services and institutions are designed for an age when ‘women stayed at home’, which makes it a struggle for those trying to combine work and care

And there is inequality in other areas of our modern life. Men are still paid more than women; thousands of pregnant workers are treated unfairly and thousands of women are sexually harassed at work every year; although most of us want to work in flexible ways, many of us don’t; public policies, which could do so much to make life fairer often fail to do so; and economic and political power is still mostly held by men. And we should never forget that gender inequality still underpins life and death issues - every month seven women at killed by their partner, ex-partner or lover.

Imagine a world where any woman could walk down any street, day or night, and feel no fear of harassment or assault, and where society denounced domestic violence as so abhorrent that every home was safe. Imagine a world where girls did not merely dream of being an astronaut, a mechanic, a prime minister or a scaffolder, but said with complete confidence: “That is what I’m going to be when I grow up”.

Imagine a world where parents on their way to work or classes, or just to have some time to themselves, dropped their child off at a child-care centre in their street or workplace happy in the knowledge that their child loves going there, learns new things, and is well-fed and cared for.

Imagine a world where elderly and disabled women live independently and at home for as long as they wish because they have a guaranteed, decent income and there are plenty of community support workers to help with housework, health-care and transport.

Imagine a world where there really is equal pay, and it is decent pay so that no woman is forced by poverty into prostitution, or seeing her children go without food or new clothes, or not having the child she wants, or living with someone only because he can pay for her accommodation. Imagine a world where every woman has a real choice about whether or not to have children, unconstrained by economic or social factors, and where safe, reliable contraception is widely accessible and abortion is freely available.

Imagine a world where women, in all their individuality, love the bodies they were born with, and where women express their sexuality proudly and joyfully, without fear or favour.


Imagine a world where people, not private profits, matter - where all people’s basic needs are automatically addressed, and their hopes and dreams for a fulfilling life are valued.

The reality today …In 21st century Australia, women have supposedly achieved equal rights. Yet women still do most of the household chores and the care of children and sick, disabled or elderly relatives. The double burden that this imposes on women who also need to or want to do waged work is barely acknowledged by society.

Whether they are migrant women working 12 hours a day for $4 an hour in the suburban sweatshops of Sydney or Melbourne, or tertiary educated teachers, nurses or public servants who spends 60% of their wage on child-care fees, or unemployed single mothers on the 200,000-long public housing waiting list, or students trying to survive on Austudy / Abstudy payments, which are now 37% below the poverty line, life for most women in Australia is getting harder every day.

* Despite the introduction three decades ago of equal pay, affirmative action, equal employment opportunity and anti-discrimination legislation, women’s average weekly earnings are now only 66% of men’s - less than they were relative to men’s 10 years ago, and declining.

* The workforce participation rate of women in Australia is now lower than any comparable industrialised country, and the proportion of women with full-time and/or permanent (as opposed to casual) employment is falling. 70% of all part-time jobs are held by women, but 22% of women working part-time would like more hours. Meanwhile, 30% of male workers are working more than 50 hours a week and more than half of them would like fewer hours.

* 500,000 women who want to be in the workforce are not, 32% of them because of lack of child care. State and federal government funding for women’s services is less now than it was a decade ago, despite a steady increase in the number of women and children living below the poverty line.

* Under new tax policies, working-class women with dependent children are being penalised for going out to work - the lower a family’s income, the higher the effective tax rates faced by women who work, and this disparity actually increases with the number of children.

* A female welfare recipient with dependent children has her welfare payments cut if she partners with a man - whether or not she wants to be economically dependent on him, and whether or not he can or does support her and her children. Meanwhile, bitter post-divorce disputes over child support are endemic as working-class men struggle to support two families on declining real wages and sole mothers continue to swell the ranks of those living below the poverty line.

*Most women in prison are there because of crimes of poverty. The system fails to meet the needs of these women and their children then punishes them by putting them in an even more vulnerable situation.

* In 1996, 23% of women in marriage or de facto relationships suffered domestic violence. There are no more recent figures because the government has cut all funding for collecting them. While women’s refuges have to turn away as many women as they accommodate each night, in 2002 $10.1 million of funding allocated for domestic violence programs was diverted to pay for the National Security Public Information Campaign’s “anti-terrorism” advertisements and fridge magnets.

* The rate of sexual assaults reported to the police has increased by around 9% per year over the last few years. The most reliable recent estimates are that around 250 women are raped each day in Australia.

* As sexist images of women flourish in the mass media, eating disorders and the deaths that result from them are increasing among young women. A different future …

So is our imagined world of justice and equality for women merely an impossible dream? I don’t think so.

Inspired by: The Gender Agenda, UK and Our Agenda, Social Alliance Australia

Gambhir WattsPresident, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia

Rare Blend of Idealism and RealismAt this time of the year, thousands of members of the Bhavan’s extended family spread across the country and over the world, remember two names that are held synonymous to Bhavan and everything it stands for.

As pointed out in this column years ago, Kulapati Munshiji and Shri Ramakrishnanji were to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan what Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda are to the Ramakrishna Mission.

And the thought that strikes one is the relevance of the words and works of the two to contemporary India beset as it is by unbridled corruption, crime and terrorism. If one stood for cultural renaissance as a way conflict resolution, the other pleaded for the ‘restoration of the moral majesty of law’.

Munshiji commands an exalted place in the pantheon of builders of modern India but he was a lot more than a builder of institutions.

As our first President of the Republic, Babu Rajendra Prasad said: ‘If I have to give my evaluation of Shri Munshiji’s work, personally I would say that I bow to him for his versatility. But he is more. He is a live wire and whatever he touches or undertakes he puts new life into it and makes it a living institution’.

‘I am an odd mixture of an idealist and a realist,’ said Munshi of himself in one of his letters to Smt. Lilavati. This sums up what Munshi had been all through his life. ‘Indeed, he was a rare blend of scholar and politician, author and administrator, lawyer and prisoner, Governor and rebel, Minister and mendicant, dreamer and builder.’

Almost 30 years ago a very percipient writer wrote of Kulapati Munshi that ‘ in modern India, there are few such persons who have reconciled apparently conflicting factors, few who have synthesised the diversities, contradictions and complexities of life, yet achieved worthwhile results in every field. Although rooted in the ageless heritage of India, he has not permitted himself to be chained to it wherever it has ceased to be relevant in the context of a changing climate. In the same manner, his realistic acceptance of the posture of the present has not clipped the wings of his imagination in respect of a future which is to be the fulfillment of a great renaissance.’

Thus, the past, the present and the future are the triple strands of Munshiji’s thought and life, motivated as he has always been to conserve ‘the eternal truths inherited from the past, to adjust them to the demands of the present and weave out of both a fabric which would be an apparel of utility for the body and adornment to the soul’.

Elsewhere in this issue we carry a small write-up by a dedicated and long-time Bhavanite on Munshiji’s many-sided personality. The Bhavan parivar bows in reverential homage to his memory.

- Bhavan’s Journal February 15 2009


Interfaith Prayer Meeting 2010 7 Lala Lajpat Rai 26

New World Order India’s Competitive Edge

9 Sarojini Naidu 30

In Search of God 12 Homage to Harivansh Rai Bachchan 32

The Voyage 14 Sanskrit Education in America 35

22 Reasons to Go Vegetarian 16 The Liberal Dilemma—I 37

Mahashivratri 20 Bharatanatyam 43

Vinoba Bhave and His Understanding of Islam

22Ameliorating the Effects of Climate Change with Soil Carbon:

47

Reality Check on Reincarnations 24 Scholar Who discovered Arthashastra 53

Editorial PagePublisher & General Editor:

Gambhir [email protected]

Editorial Committee:J Rao Palagummi

Parveen [email protected]

Designing Team:Utkarsh Doshi

J Rao Palagummi

Advertising:[email protected]

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan AustraliaSuite 100 / 515 Kent Street,

Sydney NSW 2000

* The views of contributors to Bhavan Australia are not necessarily the views of

Bhavan Australia or the Editor.

*Bhavan Australia reserves the right to edit any contributed articles and

letters submitted for publication.

Copyright: all advertisements and original editorial material appearing

remain the property of Bhavan Australia and may not be reproduced

except with the written consent of the owner of the copyright.

Bhavan Australia: - ISSN 1449 – 3551

Board of Directors of

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia

Office Bearers:President Gambhir Watts

Chairman Emeritus Surendralal Mehta President, Bhavan Worldwide

Company Secretary Sridhar Kumar Kondepudi

Other Directors: Abbas Raza Alvi,

Catherine Knox,

Sridhar Kumar Kondepudi,

Moksha Watts,

Homi Navroji Dastur, Executive Secretary and Director General

Jagannathan Veeraraghavan, Executive Director, Delhi

Mathoor Krishnamurti, Executive Director, Bangaluru

Palladam Narayana Sathanagopal, Joint Director, Mumbai

Patron: Her Excellency Mrs Sujatha Singh High Commissioner of India in Australia

Honorary Life Patron: His Excellency M Ganapathi, Currently High Commissioner of India in Mauritius (Founder Member/Director of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia)

Articles & Focus ThemesCover: Demonstration of Gender Equity

Interfaith Prayer Meeting 2010Rembering Mahatma Gandhi on his 62nd Martyrdom Anniversary at Parliament House of New South Wales.

Peace Prayers were recited by the representatives of all the major faiths. The programme host Hon John Aquilina, leader of House, Hon Amanda Fazio, President Legislative Council, Hon Amit Dasguptam Consul General of India, Embasat Khan visiting from Pakistan paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi. A Gandhi King Ikeda Exhibition was on display. Peace Songs on live music were recited on Indian and European Instruments. Proceedings were conducted by Gambhir Watts, President.


Charter of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia

The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (Bhavan) is a non-profit, non-religious, non-political Non Government Organisation (NGO). Bhavan has been playing a crucial role in educational and cultural interactions in the world, holding aloft the best of Indian traditions and at the same time meeting the needs of modernity and multiculturalism. Bhavan’s ideal ‘is the whole world is but one family’ and its motto: ‘let noble thoughts come to us from all sides’.

Like Bhavan’s other centres around the world, Bhavan Australia facilitates intercultural activities and provides a forum for true understanding of Indian culture, multiculturalism and foster closer cultural ties among individuals, Governments and cultural institutions in Australia. Bhavan Australia Charter derived from its constitution is:

To advance the education of the public in:a) the cultures (both spiritual and temporal) of the world,b) literature, music, the dance, c) the arts, d) languages of the world,e) philosophies of the world.

To foster awareness of the contribution of a diversity of cultures to the continuing development of multicultural society of Australia.To foster understanding and acceptance of the cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity of the Australian people of widely diverse heritages.To edit, publish and issue books, journals and periodicals, documentaries in Sanskrit, English and other languages, to promote the objects of the Bhavan or to impart or further education as authorized.To foster and undertake research studies in the areas of interest to Bhavan and to print and publish the results of any research which is undertaken.

www.bhavanaustralia.org

The Test of Bhavan’s Right to ExistThe test of Bhavan’s right to exist is whether those who work for it in different spheres and in different places and those who study in its many institutions can develop a sense of mission as would enable them to translate the fundamental values, even in a small measure, into their individual life.

Creative vitality of a culture consists in this: whether the ‘best’ among those who belong to it, however small their number, find self-fulfilment by living up to the fundamental values of our ageless culture.

It must be realised that the history of the world is a story of men who had faith in themselves and in their mission. When an age does not produce men of such faith, its culture is on its way to extinction. The real strength of the Bhavan, therefore, would lie not so much in the number of its buildings or institutions it conducts, nor in the volume of its assets and budgets, nor even in its growing publication, cultural and educational activities. It would lie in the character, humility, selflessness and dedicated work of its devoted workers, honorary and stipendiary. They alone can release the regenerative influences, bringing into play the invisible pressure which alone can transform human nature

New World OrderIndia’s Competitive Edge

-P.N. Murthy‘The world century is beginning’—‘a new economy which defies business cycles is now in position’—‘Once again Europe and US are the twin drivers of the world economy’—‘Revolutions in finance management, manufacturing and selling are changing the rules of engagement’. ‘Their raw materials are money—Money follows ideas and money flows to money’.

‘This is an internet age; internet is a technology disrupter, which is creating tectonic shifts in the global economy’. ‘Economies like living organisms always evolve in response to challenges and opportunities. The changes can be dramatic. The path from the new economy to the 21st century economy will likely be a bumpy one. Each innovative change creates economic and social ills from recession to stock market crashes to wide spread job losses and this one won’t be different and that is the price the nation must pay to achieve the benefits of dynamic change.’

T hese are some of the statements, which we now read in the business magazines and writings by well-known businessmen

and economists. One surprising thing is that in none of these writings, India is mentioned even once.

In fact, one gets a feeling that the world business group is ignoring India because it does not make any difference either with India in the picture or without it. This is a strange situation, which we have to be content within our dealings with the global markets and in the evaluation of a new world order.

The problem is intensified, that we are not able to impress the global leaders inspite of our being the largest practising democracy, in spite of our being one of the countries with high technical education.

This contradiction seems to deserve a basic study of the problem of our place and role in the evolution of new world order and the competitive edge that we have that are to be developed to be counted as one of the future powers—if not a super power.

One thing clearly comes out from the above statement that the competitive edge of this nation is almost nothing. It looks as though we are confirming the prediction of Allwyn Toffler that developing nations may slip into permanent third world position of poverty and destitution if they do not respond to the advancing cycle of globalisation.

The Present Scenario: Asia is now the world’s most tantalising firesale. This is attributed to the fact that Asia is, where easy money, low capital productivity, huge short from borrowings, well-entrenched culture of cronyism and corruption have coalesced to bring economies to their knees.

In India, fortunately, we have good financial

institutions and a much better management than most Asian countries, but we also have a well-entrenched cronyism and deep-rooted corruption, which are eating into the vitals of this nation. Our democracy too has not yet matured to be called rule by people.

One may characterise this as a feudal democracy with all the stratification in society expressed as inadequate social justice with some of the leaders even promoting private armies. Sometimes one feels that this country is under siege when we see leaders accompanied by hordes of gunmen. One asks a question: if a leader is to be protected, how can he protect the people who follow him.

There are four macro-dimensions of consequence that make up the social space—science, technology, economy and social parameters. All these have a micro-level operation and a macro-level emergence. The interaction between the micro and the macro-level situation and context is very important for the changes that occur in any societal configuration.

The micro level implies the individual, the family, the corporation, the village, where things happen in a restricted context almost to the level of selfishness. The macro level is the state or nation or world.

Looking at the speed at which things are changing the next one or two decades can be treated as long term. In this, science as a macro dimension may or may not play a very significant role.

Technology is an extremely important dimension during this period. This is called an internet age. The information age has crystallised into a very specific worldwide technology, which is shaking the very foundations of dealings in all the areas between people, between nations, between states at all levels.


This internet has made information ubiquitous. Information is at the door of everyone. This has created a different business mode called E-commerce, or E-business. In the US, which is the most significant player in the global scenario, a new economy has emerged where information has boosted the productivity, falsifying the business cycle theory. There is a constant race between technology and education. At times, education is ahead, at times, technology is ahead.

E-commerce is an absolutely unstoppable force. In the US, it is said that it would account for 6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). E-commerce has shifted the power in the new economy to the consumer. So a new manufacturing model with corresponding organisation changes with new rules of competition, built on change is now in force.

Organisations are becoming networked across the globe demanding alertness from the senior executives. There is a need now for companies to be ‘born global’ competing on a world stage even for local business in areas like software telecommunications, health care where the companies with technologies which are already global with universal standards. Companies in these fields are sought by communities elsewhere as sources of future jobs.

Now, one can see that what happens at a local level in terms of using a PC or having an email or running a small business has macro level implications hitting the global markets. Technology being global will be rushing forward with newer and newer innovations.

Unless these are adopted at the lowest level of operations at the economy, a country cannot move forward. We might be called a software exporting country, but our share in this is very limited, not even 0.1% and that too at a low level of technology. What happens in the US hits a small vendor in our country, a student in our colleges. Coming to economy there are major components in the formation of wealth.

(a) Industry and services are wealth creating agencies.

(b) Wealth regulating agencies, the financial management agencies like the government, banks, market creating and market regulating agencies like Stock Exchange, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) etc. Here, if one wants to see the volatility in the operations of these agencies, one can see the way the stock holdings change.

It is reported that in the US, in some stocks, the holding period is just three days and the maximum is

13 months. This implies that money has acquired its own dynamics. Money flows from money.

Unless the wealth regulating agencies take prompt action there will be crashes of the stock market, uneven wealth distribution and huge losses for the industry. The difficulty in our country is the corruption that has seeped into the wealth-regulating agencies like the government and also the protecting agencies.

There is a widespread cynical indifference and neutrality in facing and tackling situational difficulties. This is what is making the progress very slow.

Any reform that is initiated at the macro level is immediately stalled by the micro level corruptive implementation. Even at the macro level, the cynical appreciation of the place of Indian economy in the global scenario is something that prevents the global players hesitant and slow to come to India.

The way the imports and exports regime is operated is an instance of mental and monetary corruption. We, somehow, seem to believe that everyone who comes to India will exploit us. We forget that, at present, the capital inflow into USA is of the order of 360 billion dollars. Some of their biggest entertainment companies are owned by foreigners. It would have been fine if this hesitation in inviting foreign capital participation has translated into increase in our productivity and our quality—then there is no problem.

Coming to the macro dimensional social parameters we seem to be stuck with a tradition which does not allow any fast change. Illiteracy being the highest, tradition rules the mind and activities of the people, change becomes difficult. The three C’s and we: Mrs Canter, the long time Editor of Harvard Business Review, identifies three C’s for the world class operations: concepts, competence

and connections implying thinkers, makers and traders. She feels that to take advantage of global opportunities with local resources, cities will have to play a big role.

In her study, she identified some cities as thinking cities, some as making cities, some as trader cities. She says that companies recruit locally for unskilled workers, nationally for high level workers and internationally for skills at the highest level. And so Business Week says that US economy will continue to depend on immigrant labour. If this is considered as a chance for India, we will continue to be where we are.

In the final analysis if we want to meet the demands of the economy or world order, head-on we have to do considerable amount of homework to understand the operation of the micro macro level feedback loops in the two major dimensions like technology and the economy. Improve our cities to take on these challenges, free ourselves from the endemic cynical attitude of monetary and mental corruption. We need to quickly take advantage of information technology to energise our people in all the above activities and make them participants as a community without seeking constant governmental support and subsidy for everything.

The people at other higher level should separate politics and governance. The wealth-creating agencies must learn to depend more and more on themselves, since they arose by themselves a powerful group and can operate as an important part of the global scenario.

If some of these things are not done consciously, information will force a revolution and the change will be devastating to the present state. Finally, our

ability to handle the tide of change must be increased and sharpened at all levels. People at the top in all areas must act as change agents and masters. The individuals at the bottom will respond if they see something for themselves. They will respond initially slowly and gradually with increasing speed.

The loop will become a gain loop. IT can help in this by forcing people to change by comparisons and contrast with the wealthy bureaucratic circuit irrelevant. Industry of all shades must develop pricing and quality by advantage through IT innovations like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)and E-commerce. Efficient utilisation of inputs will put agriculture into a market economy.

Our markets must get integrated with world markets. World Trade Organization (WTO) makes this possible. In the process many dislocations for workers and businesses will be inevitable. Cynicism is our enemy—this should be conquered. IT and internet have made the individual central to everything. He should be made to respond to change.

There are dangers on the way or the prosperity. Past must not guide us. Future must be our leader.

Two things stand out.

(a) Speed is of essence: Speed in action is a must in all spheres of consequence.

(b) Human resource and attitude: A country which has given the bench mark definition for an ideal individual ‘Sthitha Prajna’ is now groping to find its identity.

Source: Bhavan’s Journal, January 15, 2010

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia participated in Australia Day, 26 January 2010 at Darling Harbour and Hyde Park.


In Search of God-Swami Vivekananda

O’er hill and dale and mountain range,

In temple, church, and mosque,

In Vedas, Bible, Al Koran

I had searched for Thee in vain.

Like a child in the wildest forest lost

I have cried and cried alone,

‘Where art Thou gone, my God, my love?’

The echo answered, ‘gone’.

And days and nights and years then passed—

A fire was in the brain;

I knew not when day changed in night,

The heart seemed rent in twain.

I laid me down on Ganga’s shore,

Exposed to sun and rain;

With burning tears I laid the dust

And wailed with waters’ roar.

I called on all the holy names

Of every clime and creed,

‘Show me the way, in mercy, ye

Great ones who have reached the goal.’

Years then passed in bitter cry,

Each moment seemed an age,

Till one day ’midst my cries and groans

Some one seemed calling me.

A gentle soft and soothing voice

That said ‘my son’, ‘my son’,

That seemed to thrill in unison

With all the chords of my soul.

I stood on my feet and tried to find

The place the voice came from;

I searched and searched and turned to see

Round me, before, behind.

Again, again it seemed to speak—

The voice divine to me.

In rapture all my soul was hushed,

Entranced, enthralled in bliss.

A flash illumined all my soul;

The heart of my heart opened wide.

O joy, O bliss, what do I find!

My love, my love, you are here,

And you are here, my love, my all!

And I was searching Thee!

From all eternity you were there

Enthroned in majesty!

From that day forth, where ere I roam,

I feel Him standing by

O’er hill and dale, high mount and vale,

Far far away and high.

The moon’s soft light, the stars so bright,

The glorious orb of day,

He shines in them; His beauty —might—

Reflected lights are they.

The majestic morn, the melting eve,

The boundless billowy sea,

In nature’s beauty, songs of birds,

I see through them—it is He.

When dire calamity seizes me,

The heart seems weak and faint,

All nature seems to crush me down,

With laws that never bend.

Meseems I hear Thee whispering sweet,

‘My love, I am near’, ‘I am near’.

My heart gets strong. With thee, my love,

A thousand deaths no fear.

Thou speakest in the mother’s lay

That shuts the babies’ eye;

When innocent children laugh and play

I see Thee standing by.

When holy friendship shakes the hand,

He stands between them too;

He pours the nectar in mother’s kiss

And the babies’ sweet ‘mama’.

Thou wert my God with prophets old;

All creeds do come from Thee;

The Vedas, Bible, and Koran bold

Sing Thee in harmony.

‘Thou art’, ‘Thou art’ the Soul of souls

In the rushing stream of life.

‘Om Tat Sat Om.’1 Thou art my God.

My love, I am Thine, I am Thine.

1Tat Sat means that only real existence [Swamiji’s note]

Source: In Search of God and other Poems, Swami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata

“We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act.”

“You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.”

“We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.”

-Swami Vivekananda


The Voyage-Russel l Frank Atkinson*

M y first day at school is one of my earliest memories. We kids were told to form groups according to whatever religion we belonged

to. I didn’t know what I was. There was no religious indoctrination in our family. When the teacher called out ‘Church of England’, I thought that must be my religion because mum and dad came from England. I was a daft kid. When I got home that first day mum asked me what I had learnt. I said not much—I have to go back tomorrow. But I don’t remember that.

Memories are strange things. Of all the happenings in my crucial fifth year this is the only memory that comes back clear as glass. Everything else has been filtered out and deleted. There must be some significance in that.

So, once every week for years we went to the scripture class. I was very impressed with the Minister because he looked a lot like Santa Claus. Maybe I thought that he had some special presents for me. I was impressed too by the Bible stories he told and by the illustrations on big canvas rolls in gaudy colours. It was very impressionable.

He taught us the Lord’s prayer of course. We were told never to go to bed without kneeling down and saying it with our palms together. We were to finish it by praying:

If I should die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

I said these prayers every night. Even mum and dad didn’t know. It was my secret.

Being me, I did not say the prayer exactly as he wanted us to. My version was edited to accord with my private notions. Because I was being honest, I was sure the Lord would understand. Even approve. My prayer was:

Our Mother(I had seen our cat and dog give birth and fathers didn’t seem to have anything to do with anything being here. This made a lot of sense to me.)

Who art everywhere and heaven too,

Hooray for your name,

Your Kingdom is coming

Your will be done

In earth as it is in heaven,

But not your wont.

Give us this day our daily meat, veges and fruit,

(I didn’t like bread)

And forgive us all for everything

because you are glorious and powerful. Amen.

Yes, I was very impressionable; some what strange perhaps. Certainly original. Then I would get into bed and say the dying prayer. I could catch a fleeting glimpse of oceans of light booming on oceans of power before I drifted off to sleep. I thought everyone went to sleep like that.

I used to sleep so deeply it was very difficult to awaken me. When the Jap submarines entered Sydney Harbour and sunk a ship and all the sirens went off, dad couldn’t wake me. He carried me to the bath room and ran cold water on my head before I woke up. We all sat like fools under the kitchen table covered with Doonas and blankets and I went right back to sleep until I woke back in my bed next morning. That’s all I know of the whole affair.

When I was about thirteen I was sent to another school. Everything was different and I didn’t like it. The boys were rude and tough and so were the teachers. The bullies gave me hard time. One day one of the nastiest of them gave me a small box containing some pills. He held me by shirt collar and said,

‘Here yar wimp. Wanna go to heaven? Try one of these. Go on—I dare ya. Go on or I’ll belt you one’. I remembered the fat Minister and the glories of heaven

Russell Atkinson

and not be intimidated by the oaf said, ‘Heaven eh? Sounds good to me. I’ll take the lot!’ and I did.

At first I seemed to be deeply asleep for a very long time, until shadows of people I had never met came floating about me. I was in some strange place I didn’t like. The people said things that echoed and meant nothing. Then everything in the grey mist was still and quiet. Mum and dad, my brother and sister drifted by and wafted off and came drifting by again. I thought maybe I had woken up when I saw a row of glistening beds going down a long corridor and heard strange sounds that rang hollow. Tiny figures from way down the corridor sped towards me and grew huge above me and then shrank away to nothing. Everything shimmered and came and went rapidly like sunlight on ripples. Then only the space into which everything went was left. There was only nothing.

I became the earth and every smell, noses and thumbs, water and every taste, tongues and index fingers, air and every touch, skins and long fingers, fire and every

sight, eyes and ring fingers, space and every sound, ears and little fingers. I held the whole world in my hands.

Then I left all solids, liquids, gasses, light, and space behind. I went beyond the world for I had become its five-fold essences.

These words, huge and hollow, boomed throughout all flows of time, from all beginnings to all endings, thens, nows and futures. The booming filled all space from there to here to far away:-

If I should die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

I don’t know who it was, but whoever it was, he radiated nothing but pure, disinterested love and shone in silver and gold like nothing on earth could ever shine no matter how much power it consumed. Yet he was unassuming, humble and gentle. Being all love he had no need for any other power. His hands stretched

out to me. His thumbs touched distant galaxies and his little fingers touched the beginnings and endings of the milky way. ‘Come’ he said.

An ethereal ship afloat upon an ethereal sea, blown slowly along by ancient winds, the spark of awareness floated through shimmering grey mists towards distant shadows of the rising moon.

The size less spark full of faculties could see where it had left. It lay disintegrating, the organs where the faculties once dwelt now empty and falling apart, useless. Joy burgeoned like spring buds.

I sailed the boisterous sea from whence spring all bodies and knew them all from one-celled amoebas to giant whales and elephants but wasted no time there. Then I sailed the sea of sparks, flowing in and out with the breathing of the universe, now out in the miracle if creation now in the miracle of annihilation. I loved it in joy, shock and wonder and looked forward to whatever sea was next because though it was unknown I knew it would be sure to be another wonder. And it was.

I crossed the sea of sparks and sailed on past winds into the shining sea of mind where every wave and ripple was a marvellous idea and pure creative knowledge shone with the splendour of a thousand suns.

Leaving the moon shadows behind, the quickening currents sped me through ever finer tissues of light to the cool, clear heart of the sun where the God of the Cosmos chants everything into seeming to be; where great souls dwell in timeless bliss and where nothing can disturb their infinite peace for there is no time here, for time has not yet begun for it has run its course. I knew all things, for I am all things and as innocent as an egg or a full moon morning’s sea of joy, have no fear—even of ignorance. This indeed, is heaven.

*Russell Frank Atkinson was probably the first person to teach Yoga in Australia. He travelled to India in 1952 to attend the School of the Wisdom at the Theosophical headquarters in what was then Madras and then travelled extensively in the Himalayas on foot. His first book, ‘Yoga Pocket Teacher’ was published in London in 1968. Seven books have followed. His recent book, ‘A Spirituality for the 21st Century’, Published by Zeus Publications is a comprehensive study of all the schools of Vedanta.

Of all the happenings in my crucial fifth year this is the only memory that comes back clear as glass

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia is participating at the Sydney Multicultural Festival with Indian Cultural Performances by Indian Dance Centre.

Passmore ReserveCampbell Parade, Manly Vale


22 Reasons to Go Vegetarian Benefits of Vegetarian Diet

-Norine Dworkin

Your body, the planet and the animals will thank you for it.Why go vegetarian? Better yet, why not go vegetarian?

F ormer Surgeon General C. Everett Koop has said that 70 percent of all Americans are dying from diseases that are directly tied to their

eating habits. Stacks of studies confirm that a diet full of fresh fruits and vegetables, grains and soy is your best bet for living a longer, healthier and more enjoyable life. At the same time, you’re doing the planet a huge favor by helping to preserve natural resources and cutting down on pollution generated by animal agriculture. Plus, you may appreciate your wonderful meals even more knowing that no animals suffered along the way. There are literally hundreds of great reasons to switch to a plant-based diet; here are 22 of the best we’ve heard.

1 You’ll live a lot longer. Vegetarians live about seven years longer, and vegans (who eat no animal

products) about 15 years longer than meat eaters, according to a study from Loma Linda University. These findings are backed up by the China Health Project (the largest population study on diet and health to date), which found that Chinese people who eat the least amount of fat and animal products have the lowest risks of cancer, heart attack and other chronic degenerative diseases. And a British study that tracked 6,000 vegetarians and 5,000 meat eaters for 12 years found that vegetarians were 40 percent less likely to die from cancer during that time and 20 percent less likely to die from other diseases.

2 You’ll save your heart. Cardiovascular disease is still the number one killer in the United States, and

the standard American diet (SAD) that’s laden with saturated fat and cholesterol from meat and dairy is largely to blame. Children as young as age 3 who are raised on fast food and junk food show early signs of heart disease, according to the Bogalusa Heart Study done at the Louisiana State University. Cardiovascular disease is found in one in nine women aged 45 to 64 and in one in three women over 65. Heart attacks are also deadlier to the fairer sex: 53 percent of women who have heart attacks die from them, compared with 47 percent of men. Today, the average American male eating a meat-based diet has a 50 percent chance of dying from heart disease. His risk drops to 15 percent if he cuts out meat; it goes to 4 percent if he cuts out

meat, dairy and eggs. Partly responsible is the fact that fruits and vegetables are full of antioxidant nutrients that protect the heart and its arteries. Plus, produce contains no saturated fat or cholesterol. Incidentally, cholesterol levels for vegetarians are 14 percent lower than meat eaters.

3 You can put more money in your mutual fund. Replacing meat, chicken and fish with vegetables

and fruits is estimated to cut food bills by an average of $4,000 a year.

4 You’ll reduce your risk of cancer. A study in The International Journal of Cancer concluded that

red meat is strongly associated with breast cancer. The National Cancer Institute says that women who eat meat every day are nearly four times more likely to get breast cancer than those who don’t. By contrast, women who consume at least one serving of vegetables a day reduce their risk of breast cancer by 20 percent to 30 percent, according to the Harvard Nurses Health Study. Studies done at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg suggest that this is because vegetarians’ immune systems are more effective in killing off tumor cells than meat eaters’. Studies have also found a plant-based diet helps protect against prostate, colon and skin cancers.

5 You’ll add color to your plate. Meat, chicken and fish tend to come in boring shades of brown and

beige, but fruits and vegetables come in all colors of the rainbow. Disease-fighting phytochemicals are responsible for giving produce their rich, varied hues. So cooking by color is a good way to ensure you re eating a variety of naturally occurring substances that boost immunity and prevent a range of illnesses.

6 You’ll fit into your old jeans. On average, vegetarians are slimmer than meat eaters, and

when we diet, we keep the weight off up to seven years longer. That’s because diets that are higher in vegetable proteins are much lower in fat and calories than the SAD. Vegetarians are also less likely to fall victim to weight-related disorders like heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

7 You’ll give your body a spring cleaning. Giving up meat helps purge the body of

toxins (pesticides, environmental pollutants, preservatives) that overload our systems and cause illness. When people begin formal detoxification programs, their first step is to replace meats and dairy products with fruits and vegetables and juices. “These contain phytochemicals that help us detox naturally,” says Chris Clark, M.D., Medical Director of The Raj, an Ayurvedic healing center in Fairfield, Iowa, which specializes in detox programs.

8 You’ll make a strong political statement. Each day, 22 million animals are slaughtered

to support the American appetite for meat. “It’s a wonderful thing to be able to finish a delicious meal, knowing that no beings have suffered [to make it],” says Erik Marcus, author of Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating (McBooks, 1998).

9 Your meals will taste delicious. “Vegetables are endlessly interesting to cook and a joy to eat,”

says Deborah Madison, founding Chef of Greens restaurant in San Francisco and Author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (Broadway Books, 1997). “It’s an ever-changing parade of flavors and colors and textures and tastes. Everyone can enjoy them, but vegetarians are more likely to think about cooking and eating vegetables.”

10 You’ll help reduce waste and air pollution. Circle 4 Farms in Milford, Utah, which raises

2.5 million pigs every year, creates more waste than the entire city of Los Angeles. And this is just one farm. Each year, the nation’s factory farms, collectively produce 2 billion tons of manure, a substance that’s rated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as one of the country’s top 10 pollutants. And that’s not even counting the methane gas released by cows, pigs and poultry (which contributes to the greenhouse effect); the ammonia gases from urine; poison gases that emanate from manure lagoons; toxic chemicals from pesticides; and exhaust from farm equipment used to raise feed for animals.

11 Your bones will last longer. The average bone loss for a vegetarian woman at age 65 is 18

percent; for non-vegetarian women, it’s double that. Researchers attribute this to the consumption of excess protein—the average meat-eating American woman eats 144 percent over the recommended daily allowance; the average man eats 175 percent more. Excess protein interferes with the absorption and retention of calcium and actually prompts the body to excrete calcium, laying the ground for the brittle bone disease osteoporosis. Animal proteins, including milk, make the blood acidic, and to balance that condition, the body pulls calcium from bones. So rather than rely on milk for calcium, vegetarians turn to dark green

leafy vegetables, such as broccoli and legumes, which, calorie for calorie, are superior sources.

12 You’ll help reduce famine. Right now, 72 percent of all grain produced in the United

States is fed to animals raised for slaughter. It takes 15 pounds of feed to get one pound of meat. But if the grain were given directly to people, there’d be enough food to feed the entire planet. In addition, using land for animal agriculture is inefficient in terms of maximizing food production. According to the journal Soil and Water, one acre of land could produce 50,000 pounds of tomatoes, 40,000 pounds of potatoes, 30,000 pounds of carrots or just 250 pounds of beef.

13 You’ll avoid toxic chemicals. The EPA estimates that nearly 95 percent of pesticide residue in

our diet comes from meat, fish and dairy products. Fish, in particular, contain carcinogens (PCBs, DDT) and heavy metals (mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium) that cannot be removed through cooking or freezing. Meat and dairy products are also laced with steroids and hormones.

14 You’ll protect yourself from food-borne illnesses. The Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC) estimate that among Americans, there were approximately 80 million incidences of food-borne illness a year—resulting in 9,000 deaths. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, 25 percent of all chicken sold in the United States carries salmonella bacteria and, the CDC estimates, 70 percent to 90 percent of chickens contain the bacteria campy-lobacter (some strains of which are antibiotic-resistant), approximately 5 percent of cows carry the lethal strain of E. coli O157:H7 (which causes virulent diseases and death), and 30 percent of pigs slaughtered each year for food are infected with toxoplasmosis (caused by parasites). All of which leads Michael Klaper, M.D., Author of Pregnancy, Children and a Vegan Diet (Gentle World Inc., 1988), to comment, “Including animal products in your diet is like playing Russian roulette with your life.”


15 You may get rid of your back problems. “Back pain appears to begin, not in the back, but in

the arteries,” says Neil Barnard, M.D., President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and Author of Foods That Fight Pain (Harmony Books, 1998). “The degeneration of disks, for instance, which leads to nerves being pinched, starts with the arteries leading to the back.” Eating a plant-based diet keeps these arteries clear of cholesterol-causing blockages to help maintain a healthy back.

16 You’ll be more “regular.” Eating a lot of vegetables necessarily means consuming fiber,

which pushes waste out of the body. Meat contains no fiber. Studies done at Harvard and Brigham Women’s Hospital found that people who ate a high-fiber diet had a 42 percent lower risk of diverticulitis. People who eat lower on the food chain also tend to have fewer incidences of constipation, hemorrhoids and spastic colon.

17 You’ll cool those hot flashes. Plants, grains and legumes—especially soy—contain

phytoestrogens that are believed to balance fluctuating hormones, so vegetarian women tend to go through menopause with fewer complaints of sleep problems, hot flashes, fatigue, mood swings, weight gain, depression and a diminished sex drive.

18 You’ll help to bring down the national debt. We spend between $60 billion to $120 billion

annually to treat the heart disease, cancer, obesity, and food poisoning that are byproducts of a diet heavy on animal products.

19 You’ll preserve our fish population. Because of our voracious appetite for fish, 39 percent

of the oceans’ fish species are overharvested, and the Food & Agriculture Organization reports that 11 of 15 of the world’s major fishing grounds have become depleted.

20 You’ll help protect the purity of water. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of

beef, but just 25 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat. Not only is this wasteful, but it contributes to rampant water pollution. A 1997 study by the Senate Agriculture Committee found that 60 percent of American waterways were polluted, and the major reason is animal agriculture. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development lists nitrate pollution (from fertilizer and manure) as one of the most serious water-quality problems in Europe and the United States.

21 You’ll provide a great role model for your kids. “If you set a good example and feed your

children good food, chances are they’ll live a longer and healthier life,” says Christine Beard, a certified Nutrition Educator and Author of Become a Vegetarian in 5 Easy Steps (McBooks Press, 1997). “You’re

also providing a market for vegetarian products and making it more likely that they’ll be available for the children.”

22 Going vegetarian is very easy to do. Vegetarian cooking has never been so simple.

Supermarkets carry packaged convenience foods like tofu hot dogs, veggie burgers and soy yogurt, milk and cheeses. There’s greater availability of vegetarian options in mall and arena food courts. Many more restaurants specializing in vegetarian food have opened, and others have added “veg-friendly” dishes to their menus. Even traditional fast food chains now offer salads, veggie burritos and vegetarian pizza. You’ll also find vegetarian recipes on the Internet, and bookstore shelves are loaded with cookbooks devoted to vegetarian cuisine, demonstrating ease, diversity and good taste. So rather than asking why go vegetarian, perhaps the real question is, Why haven’t you gone vegetarian?

Contributed by Govinda WattsSources:* Vegetarian Times’ Vegetarian Beginnet’s Guide (Macmillan, 1996)* 101 Reasons Why I’m a Vegetarian by Pamela Teisler-Rice (Viva Vegie Society, 1995)* Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating by Erik Marcus (McBooks Press, 1998)* 365 Good Reasons to be Vegetarian by Victor Parachin (Avery Publishing Group, 1998)* World Watch Vital Signs (W.W. Norton, 1998)* The Perfectly Contented Meat-Eater’s Guide to Vegetarianism by Mark Warren Reinhardt (Continuum, 1998)* The Vegan Sourcebook by Joanne Stepaniak, M.S., E.D. (Lowell House, 1998)Copyright: 1999 Sabot Publishing, 2000 Gale GroupThe article was published in Vegetarian Times, April, 1999.Source: http://findarticles.com

Australia India Heritage Week in KolkataThe Victoria Memorial Museum, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, Loreto College and AusHeritage (Australia’s International Network for Cultural Heritage) were partners for the four day Australia India Heritage Week, Kolkata, January 11-14, 2010.

Key activities during the week included a workshop for Museums in West Bengal and North East India at Victoria Memorial Museum, a forum & workshop on the adaptive reuse of historic buildings with Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Kolkata), evening public lectures on heritage conservation at Loreto College and visits to a number of heritage buildings. Four Australian heritage experts and a large number of Indian heritage professionals will be involved.

“Heritage is a very important aspect of society and I am very supportive of this close collaboration between Australia and India in this area. Professionals from AusHeritage, Australia’s international network for heritage services continue to work closely with Indian institutions on several projects, including workshops and training sessions” said Mr Peter Varghese, High Commissioner of Australia.

“Though Australian and Indian heritage practitioners have completed a number of projects over the last decade, this is the first joint heritage activity in Kolkata” said Mr Vinod Daniel, Chair of AusHeritage. He added that he was delighted that AusHeritage could work with three leading Indian institutions as part of the Australia India Heritage week i.e. Victoria Memorial Museum, INTACH and Loretto College in Kolkata, a city with its rich tangible and intangible heritage.

AusHeritage has also provided support for developing a new exhibition gallery at the Chhatrapati Shivaji (Prince of Wales) Museum in Mumbai in addition to working closely with several private and government Indian cultural heritage organizations including their recent October 2009 workshop for Museums in Kerala in collaboration with the Kerala Centre for Heritage Studies. It has a memorandum of understanding on cultural heritage collaboration with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).

Mr. G. M. Kapur, INTACH Convenor for Kolkata said that he was delighted with INTACH’s close working relationship with AusHeritage and that this adaptive reuse of historic buildings forum is a prime

area of interest for Kolkata. The Honourable Finance Minister for India Mr. Pranab Mukherjee conveyed his best wishes for the success of the Australia India Heritage week.

The workshop is supported by the Australia-India Council (AIC) which has also funded previous initiatives in this area. Established by the Australian Government, the AIC supports collaborative initiatives in a wide range of areas of mutual concern, including in heritage conservation.

AusHeritage is Australia’s international network for cultural heritage services. The organisation’s members include Australian universities, national collecting institutions, State galleries, libraries and museums, private architectural firms and private and government conservation services.

Vinod Daniel

Head, Cultural Heritage and Science Initiatives Branch

Chairman, AusHritage , Australian Museum


Mahashivratri-Parveen*

M ahashivaratri Festival is celebrated with devotion and religious fervor on the moonless 14th night of the new moon in

the Hindu month of Phalgun. Devotees observe fast all through the day and night of Shivaratri in honour of Lord Shiva and pay a visit to Shiva temples. Ritual bath of Shiva Lingam with milk, water, honey etc is also performed by the devotees as a part of the tradition. Many believe that Shivaratri Festival marks the wedding day of Lord Shiva and Parvati. However, according to some legends, it was on the auspicious night of Shivaratri that Lord Shiva performed the ‘Tandava’, the dance of the primal creation, preservation and destruction.

Mahashivaratri FestivalMahashivaratri Festival or the ‘The Night of Shiva’ is celebrated with devotion and religious fervor in honor of Lord Shiva, one of the deities of Hindu Trinity. Celebrating the festival of Shivaratri devotees observe day and night fast and perform ritual worship of Shivalingam to appease Lord Shiva.

Legend of MahashivratriA popular Shivratri legend stated in Linga Purana states that it was on Shivaratri that Lord Shiva manifested himself in the form of a Linga. So the day is considered to be extremely auspicious by Shiva devotees and they celebrate it as Mahashivaratri—the grand night of Shiva.

Traditions and Customs of ShivaratriVarious traditions and customs related to Shivaratri Festival are dutifully followed by the worshippers of Lord Shiva. Devotees observe strict fast in honor of Shiva, though many go on a diet of fruits and milk some do not consume even a drop of water. Devotees strongly believe that sincere worship of Lord Shiva on the auspicious day of Shivaratri, absolves a person of sins and liberates him from the cycle of birth and death. Shivaratri is considered especially auspicious for women. While married women pray for the well-being of their husbands unmarried women pray for a husband like Lord Shiva, who is regarded as the ideal husband.

To mark the Shivratri festival, devotees wake up early and take a ritual bath, preferably in river Ganga. After wearing fresh new clothes devotees visit the nearest Shiva temple to give ritual bath to the Shivalingam with milk, honey, water etc.

On Shivaratri, worship of Lord Shiva continues all

through the day and night. Every three hours priests perform ritual Pooja of Shivalingam by bathing it with milk, yoghurt, honey, ghee, sugar and water amidst the chanting of “Om Namah Shivaya” and ringing of temple bells. Nightlong vigil or Jaagran is also observed in Shiva temples where large number of devotees spend the night singing hymns and devotional songs in praise of Lord Shiva. It is only on the following morning that devotee break their fast by partaking Prasad offered to the deity.

Ritual Bath of ShivalingaFollowing the rituals prescribed in the Shiva Purana, every three hours, Shivalingam is given a special bath with milk, yoghurt, honey, sandalwood paste and rose water. Puja, meditation and chanting of ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ accompany the ritual bath. Following the bath, vermilion paste is applied on the Linga. Traditionally, leaves of a forest tree Aegle marmelos (bilwa, maredu, wood apple) are used for Shiva Pooja. Thereafter, Bilwa leaves, which have to be a stalk with three leaves, is kept on top of the Shivalinga. Ber or Jujube fruit is a special offering to the God on this day. Beetle leaves are also offered by some. Some also offer bilwa leaves in the belief that the Goddess Lakshmi resides in them. Others believe it is offered for its cooling effects on the hot-tempered deity. Many devotees also decorate the Linga with flowers and garlands and offer incense sticks and fruit.

Significance of Pooja ItemsAccording to the Shiva Purana, there is a special significance of the six essential Pooja items used in the Shiva worship.

Bathing of Shivalinga with water, milk and honey and wood apple or bel leaves added to it, represents purification of the soul. The vermilion paste applied on the Linga after the ritual bath represents virtue. Offering of fruits symbolizes longevity and gratification of desires. Burning of incense sticks yields wealth.

The lighting of the lamp symbolizes attainment of knowledge. Offering of betel leaves marks satisfaction with worldly pleasures.

All-Night Shiva WorshipWorship of Lord Shiva continues all through the night on Shivaratri Festival. Devotees stay awake all night and spend the night in Shiva temples in worship of Lord Shiva. Singing of hymns and verses in praise and devotion of Lord Shiva besides the intense chanting of ‘Om Namah Shivaya’, the mantra that is said to free people of all their sins, continue through the night on Shivaratri. Special worship of Shiva by priests continues throughout the Jaagran. During this ritual worship, Lord Shiva is offered special food made from the fruits of the season, root vegetables and coconuts. Those observing the Shivaratri Fast break their fast the next morning by consuming the Prasad offered to Shiva.

Shivaratri CelebrationsShivaratri Celebrations are marked with devotion and religious fervor. Joy is writ large on the faces of millions of Lord Shiva devotees as they start preparing for the biggest Lord Shiva festival in advance. Celebrations of Shivaratri begin with the break of the dawn on the Shivratri day and continue all though the night.

Merits of Mahashivratri VratAccording to Hindu mythology, observance of Mahashivratri Vrat with discipline helps a devotee to control the two great natural forces that afflict a man, Rajas Guna (the quality of passionate activity) and Tamas Guna (the quality of inertia). When a devotee spends an entire day in the Feet of Lord and worships with sincerity, his motion is controlled and evils like lust, anger and jealousy, born of Rajas are ignored and subdued. Besides, when a devotee observes vigil throughout the night (Jaagran) he manages to conquer the evils of Tamas Guna too. It has also been mentioned that when a devotee observes a round of worship every three hours, the Shivaratri Vrat becomes perfect.

Devotees of Lord Shiva believe Shivratri fast to be extremely auspicious and rate it equal or more than performing an Ashwamedha Yagna. Some believe that a devotee who observes a Shivaratri Fast with sincerity and utters the name of Lord Shiva with perfect devotion is absolved of all sins. Such a devotee reaches the abode of Lord Shiva and lives there happily. He is also liberated from the cycle of birth and death.

Customs and Traditions of Shivaratri FastAs a tradition, devotees who are on a strict fast on Shivaratri take bath with the water that is boiled with black sesame seeds to wash away bodily impurities. After putting on fresh new clothes, a devotee visits the nearest Lord Shiva temple to perform the ritual Shivalinga bath with milk, honey etc. While bathing the Lingam a devotee prays,

“O Lord ! I will bathe Thee with water, milk, etc. Do Thou kindly bathe me with the milk of wisdom. Do Thou kindly wash me of all my sins, so that the fire of worldliness which is scorching me may be put out once for all, so that I may be one with Thee-the One alone without a second.”

Following the sacred bath, devotee applies Haldi-kumkum on the Lingam and place a garland of white and pink lotus flowers on it. Bel leaves are also placed at the top of the Lingam.

Significance of Shivaratri in HinduismFestival of Mahashivaratri has tremendous significance in Hinduism. According to sacred scriptures, ritual worship of Lord Shiva on Shivratri festival pleases Lord Shiva the most. This fact is said to have been declared by Lord Shiva himself, when his consort Parvati asked him as to which ritual performed by his devotees pleases him the most.

Even till date, devotees of Lord Shiva perform the ritual worship of Shivratri with care and devotion.

Significance of Shivaratri for WomenMahashivratri Festival is also considered to be an extremely significant festival by women. Married and unmarried women observe fast and perform Shiva Pooja with sincerity to appease Goddess Parvati who is also regarded as ‘Gaura’—one who bestows marital bliss and long and prosperous married life. Unmarried women also pray for a husband like Lord Shiva who is regarded as the ideal husband.

*Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Source: http://www.mahashivratri.org-


Vinoba Bhave and His Understanding of Islam-Asghar Ali Engineer

A friend, Daniel Mazgaonkar gave me a Hindi copy of Vinoba Bhave’s book on Islam to see whether the Qur’anic verses and hadith have

been correctly quoted. I am reading it, particularly those portions wherein Vinoba Bhaveji has quoted Qur’anic verses and ahadith. I have yet to go through the whole text but meanwhile certain portions which I read are worth writing about.

As is well-known, Vinoba Bhave was closely associated with Gandhiji and his philosophy and as per Gandhiji’s approach, undertook land distribution among landless peasants, the land obtained from landlords on voluntary basis. This was an alternate model to state acquiring surplus land through legislation and re-distributing it among the landless.

Vinobaji knew several languages, including Arabic and that he read the Qur’an in original Arabic. His understanding of the Qur’an appears to be quite sound and his comparison of Hinduism and Islam in many places in this book is very authentic and of the same standard as that of Dara Shikoh in his Majm’ul Bahrayn (Commingling of Two Oceans—Islam and Hinduism).

This book will be quite helpful in promoting better understanding between Hindus and Muslims, a vital need today when so-called scholars academics and media analysts spread misunderstanding on the basis of very superficial knowledge of both Islam and Hinduism.

After Shikoh, Maulana Azad was a great scholar of comparative religion who, in his commentary of Qur’an, Tarjuman Al-Qur’an rendered great service to understanding the correct message of Islam and other religions including Hinduism.

After Maulana Azad, Vinobaji from amongst Hindus, has showed proper understanding of the spirit of religions including Islam. Today unfortunately scholars of all religions, project religion more to serve political needs than as religion per se, much is being written on Islam, for and against, but to serve certain political agenda. Either way the religious spirit is lost or we score some political points.

It is, therefore, necessary to retrieve the original spirit of Islam and Hinduism and project them on the basis of their religious philosophy and this can do a yeoman service to our conflict torn country. Democratic politics, having become merely a power politics, politicians put their own religion at stake. Power must be won at any cost even by rendering immense disservice to one’s own religion. Hindutvawadis

distort their own religion and Muslim extremists do the same disservice to Islam.

In the sixth chapter of his book Vinoba Bhave attempts to capture the true spirit of both Hinduism and Islam. Qur’an itself, which is divine, proclaims Muhammad as Rasulullah (Messenger of Allah).

When Vinobaji says Muhammad never claimed to take Allah’s place, he is very right. Qur’an itself describes Muhammad (PBUH) (Peace be upon Him) as ‘abduhu wa Rasuluhu’ (i.e. His servant and His messenger).

Vinobaji rightly points out that Muhammad said that he has brought no new truth but is proclaiming what the same truth as proclaimed by previous Prophets. Perhaps in this respect Hinduism comes close to Islam as it also accepts truth everywhere and the Rigveda also proclaims that truth is one but the wise call it by various names.

But then Vinobaji repeats that Muhammad Saheb only claimed that “I am merely Allah’s messenger and Allah’s servant, I am not Allah. I am there to proclaim His Message, nothing more.”

Vinoba also points out that Qur’an says that for every people there is guide (messenger. 13:7). He points to another significant verse of the Qur’an; “We do not distinguish between any of them (messengers of Allah)”. (2:136). He points out that Qur’an has given names of certain Prophets but has said there are many more Prophets all of whom not named here. Thus Islam accepts truth of all other religions.

Vinobaji says that there are many ways of ‘ibaadat (worshipping Allah). Qur’an says “For everyone there is direction in which he turns (himself), to vie with one another in good works.” (2:148). Thus one should not fight about ways of worshipping but excel each other in good works. Here I would like to refer to Nizamuddin Awliya’s story.

One day early morning he was walking along the banks of river Jamuna in Delhi when he saw some Hindu women bathing and worshipping the Sun.

He told his disciple Khusro: “O Khusro! these women are also worshipping Allah though their way is different”. Thus the Sufi saints were closer to the spirit of Qur’an as they were more spiritual in their attitude and did not take ‘ibaadat in mere technical and mechanical sense.

Vinobaji throws light in chapter five on the concept of Allah. Prophet Muhammad mainly preached the oneness of God and Vinoba refers to chapter 112 (Qui Huwallahu Ahad). Muhammad (PBUH) did not accept any form or idol or picture or even symbol of Allah. And, he says, the Prophet cannot be an incarnation (avtaar) of Allah. Then he compares this with the Indian philosophy of Advaita.

In India Vinobaji says, Brahma has been accepted as nirgun, nirakar (i.e. without attributes and without form). Islam believes, according to Vinobaji, in Allah as formless but with attributes (nirakar and sagun). Qur’an describes various attributes of Allah (sifat), but this is not fully correct as M’uatazilas and Shi’ahs believe in Allah without attributes and explain away these attributes in different way. According to M’uatazila and Shi’as any attribute makes Allah dependent and this goes against tawhid (oneness of Allah).

About idol worship Vinobaji explains its meaning and significance. This whole discussion is worth reading. He says in Hindu Shastras there is no idol worship but it has not been prohibited either. He very skillfully explains the importance of amurt Bhagwan i.e. formless God and throws light on its importance. He says worshipping an idol would mean confining God to the idol and not seeing God everywhere.

He, therefore, says if you confine God to an idol you will be deceiving yourself. But then he also explains why Hindus worship idols. He says the Hindus have made idols of different attributes of God and by worshipping these idols they worship different attributes of God. He points out that on one hand

Muslims believe in one formless God but Qur’an refers to wajhullah, yadullah (i.e. Mouth and Hands of Allah). He says these are problems of human language. You want to worship a formless God but also in terms of human language you have to use these words.

Vinobaji comes close to Mazhar Jan-i-Janan, an eighteenth century Sufi saint from Delhi who gave an opinion that Hindus are not kafirs when asked by one of his disciples. He quoted from Hindu Shastras to show that Ishwara is nirgun and nirakar in Hindu philosophy and this is the highest form of tawhid. He quotes the verse from the Qur’an that, ‘We have sent Prophet to every people’ and how can Allah not fulfill His promise in case of Indian people. He must have sent His Prophets to Hindustan also.

Then Mazhar Jan-i-Janan explains away idol worship among Hindus. He says, like Vinobaji that there is no idol worship in Hindu Shastras, but common Hindus cannot conceive of formless God and they need something concrete to worship and that is how idol worship developed among Hindus. He says idols are not Ishwara in itself but a way to Ishwara and idol worship he describes as a journey from aakar to nirankar i.e. from form to formlessness and then compares it with Sufi’s concept of Shaikh.

According to Mazhar Jan-i-Janan a sufi reaches Allah through a shaikh, a master. Shaikh cannot be Allah but a way to Allah so an idol is not Ishwara but a way to Ishwara.

Though it is not possible to attempt a full exposition of Vinoba’s explanation of idol worship in this book, it comes quite close to that of Jan-i-Janan.

Thus in Indian tradition and in Indian Islam we find

several parallels if we rise above power struggles and try to understand religions on their own ground.

Many great thinkers, Sufi saints, philosophers and religious leaders have, in their own way struggled to arrive at this truth.

Among them are Guru Nanak, Kabir, Sufi Saints like Nizamuddin Awliya, Jaan-i-Janan, Dara Shikoh and in our own times Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Vinobaji and others.

Source: Bhavan’s Journal, December 15 2009

Vinoba Bhave was closely associated with Gandhiji and his philosophy and as per Gandhiji’s approach, undertook land distribution among landless peasants, the land obtained from landlords on voluntary basis


Reality Check on Reincarnations-K.S. Ravi

As human beings we have a natural instinct to question. The urge to know surfaces at different points of time in our lives

getting subdued due to our mundane living, or restraints placed on us in our bringing up.

We cannot discuss issues on subjects like ‘Are Avatars real’, ‘Are legends real’ or ‘Does God exist’, etc. as we do not have the required seriousness.

While it is important to question, it is disastrous to do so without adequate preparedness. Without seriousness or preparedness we tend to reach the domain of cynicism and the road leads us nowhere. It requires perseverance and a thought process that is beyond the normal. Thinking out of the box helps us in thinking on issues that lie within the realm of truth. Now to deliberate on the topic whether Avatars and Legends are true depends on how one sees the issue. For people who have been brought up under a particular culture, or who have been conditioned by the influence of the surroundings, may prefer to accept Avatars to be real.

It provides them a sense of belonging, provides them security and an opportunity of being part of the masses.

Man being gregarious in nature likes to live in companionship and, therefore, has the tendency to accept the perception of the masses and does not

find the need to question it. Also, a feeling of trust, faith and belief is so intense in such individuals, that it provides a purpose and essence to their lives. They are so ingrained in the psychology of people that life becomes dull and dreary without it. Any adverse happening will be directly attributed to dilutions in such beliefs and practices.

To answer the question whether Avatars are real, it is my firm belief that the earth has been dominated by individuals/characters at different points of time. They

have contributed significantly during their times.

They have helped in removing obstacles and livelihood constraints. Such individuals/characters have been held in high esteem over several centuries. Stories have been woven around their contributions, which are available as present day literature of the past events. While the entire text cannot be dismissed, we can be sure that additions have been made to end awe and respect to characters.

Animals too have dominated the earth at different points of time. Hence, reincarnations with animal representations cannot be ruled out. Human beings have started dominating the earth after a prolonged sequence of events.

The environmental and chance factors have had a significant role in allowing different species to dominate the universe. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to believe the sequential Avatars have existed long before human race has taken over this earth. How one looks at it and how one is able to assimilate it, is to be left to the individuals who base it on their upbringing and environmental factors. Extreme faith and beliefs have had enduring benefits on the human psyche.

There are repeated examples of how human beings have been saved from disasters merely because of intense faith and beliefs. While we observe them with

People who have faith in reincarnation will accordingly mould their lives and for them Avatar is a reality. For yet others the convictions may be something different and they too will have their own way of life whether or not they have anything to do with reincarnations

awe, we have no explanations to offer to the happening of such events.

It is important to question, and question we must with the required seriousness. At the same time, we should desist from making a mockery of people having intense faith in their practices. It is my personal experience that a serious mind will not belittle any event but will appreciate things in its own perspective.

People who have faith in reincarnation will accordingly mould their lives and for them Avatar is a reality. For yet others the convictions may be something different and they too will have their own way of life whether or not they have anything to do with reincarnations.

I can recount two incidents of how faith and belief have had a profound influence on their lives. A person used to go round the Tulasi plant daily before he left on work. On one fateful day he had to rush out of his house without observing his routine. He met with an accident and strongly believed that the mishap had occurred on account of overlooking his daily practice. Such instances are not rare and we have no explanations to offer.

The other relates to the faith that tribals have in Gods that protect the forest and its people. Asked whether they would be willing to settle down out of the forest with more economic benefits provided by the Government, they were categorical that the benefits and security

available in the forest far outweighed the benefits that the Government could offer. They believed that they were under the mercy of the forest God and they would invite its wrath if they moved out.

This may appear to be ridiculous to us, so it is for many of the forest youth who have ventured out of the forest on migration, but for the elder tribals the forest environment is their only world. Should we attempt to shake this faith, there can be disaster.

While trying to connect such episodes to the reality world of reincarnation, we must remember that it is not important to verify whether Avatars were real, but it is important to appreciate its influence on the believers and their psychology.

Tradition, culture and beliefs have had a profound influence on civilisations and reincarnation has to be looked at from that perspective. Influence of science, gradual wearing-off and social changes will have their contributions in the way reincarnations are going to have an influence on the society of the future.

We already know and understand that different communities believe differently, follow different practices, interpret Avatars in their own limited sense, place abundant faith on them.

We have no time to attend to these issues but have resorted to the softer version of understanding it through others. We have abundant faith in them and we are willing to go the extra mile with them. Thus, life goes on based on the assumed faith. To disturb it is a disaster in this make-believe world. Only a few can traverse beyond the reach of the ordinary.

Whether Avatar is real or unreal will remain unanswered. People who realise it, or understand it, do not feel the necessity of explaining it. They have already gone beyond the ordinary of the rat-race world. Let us allow the volcano to remain dormant to avoid any disaster on mankind.

We have very few people who can be Jonathan Livingston Seagull, who soared away from the mundane living of the group fighting only for food, never to return again for the reason that his efforts had paved the way for a realised soul.

Source: Bhavan’s Journal, December 31, 2009


Lala Lajpat Rai-T.K. Rama Rao

A great national leader who came to be called the ‘Lion of Punjab’ worked tirelessly to improve education, promote unity among Hindus and reform society. His clarion call and glorious life inspired the nation. The Lathis of the servants of British imperialism cruelly cut his life short.

I t was the evening of October 30, 1928. Standing on the platform at a crowded public meeting in Lahore City, a

person known as the ‘Lion of Punjab’, said in an inspiring voice:

“Every blow on our bodies this afternoon is like a nail driven into the coffin of British imperialism.”

Terrible blows had battered the chest and the body of the great man who made that stirring speech. The humiliation inflicted by the high-handedness of the British was more painful than the wounds.

On the morning of the seventeenth day after this, the great revolutionary died. Onward along the path he had trodden his followers marched towards freedom.

The great leader cut down by the high-handedness of the then imperialist Punjab Government was Lala Lajpat Rai.

An Intelligent StudentThe great patriot Lala Lajpat Rai was born on 28th January 1865 in Dhudika village of Ferozepur District of Punjab Province. His father Lala Radha Kishan was an Urdu teacher in a Government school. He belonged to the family of Agarwals, a family noted for its love of freedom and self-respect. Although illiterate, Lajpat Rai’s mother Gulab Devi was an ideal Hindu woman. It was from her that Lalaji imbibed patriotic sentiments.

Lalaji was a very intelligent pupil. He won scholarships. Poverty and sickness stood in the way of his higher education. He passed the Entrance Examination of the Calcutta University in first class in 1880. The same year he also passed the Entrance Examination of Punjab University. Afterwards he joined the Lahore Government College. At the same time he studied law. Because of the poverty of the family his education was interrupted for two years.

The Dawn of IdealsThe two years spent in Lahore were important in Lalaji’s life. As he read the history of the past glory of India and the biographies of her great sons, the boy

shed tears. The love of freedom and the keen desire to serve the country took root in him at that time. During those days the Arya Samaj founded by Swami Dayananda Saraswati was dynamic in social service. It was a time when enthusiastic Punjabi youths were attracted by the progressive ideals and reformist plans of the Arya Samaj. Lalaji was then hardly sixteen when he joined the Arya Samaj in 1882 and his life of social service began. Patriotism was kindled. The idea took root in his mind that the chains of Indian slavery should be broken.

The LawyerHaving passed the first examination in law in 1883 Lalaji could practice as a muktiar (a minor lawyer). He had also to bear the burden of running the family. At the age of 18 Lalaji practiced in the court and later he commenced practice as a lawyer in Punjab.

The Beginning of Public Service

After the death of Swami Dayananda, Lalaji with his associates toiled to develop the Anglo-Vedic College. Most of his time was given to Arya Samaj activities. Working ceaselessly he set up branches of the Arya Samaj. He built up educational institutions.

To the Political Sphere

In 1888, still a lawyer, he entered politics. The Indian National Congress was fighting for the country’s

freedom. Realizing the dire need for freedom, Lalaji joined the Congress as a freedom fighter. In the Congress session at Allahabad, when Lalaji arrived with eighty delegates from Punjab, he received a tumultuous welcome. His heroic speech in Urdu there had a great effect on the Congress leaders. Lala was a young man of 23 years. His fame spread quickly in Congress.

In Lahore

After qualifying to practice as an advocate in the Punjab High Court, he settled down in Lahore in 1892. The Congress session of 1893 was held at Lahore. The first Indian to become a Member of the British

Parliament, Dadabhai Naoroji, was the President of the session. Lalaji served as an enthusiastic volunteer. He worked like a bee. There was no time for rest. When he was immersed in Congress work there was a split in the Arya Samaj. Lalaji gave a new shape to the D.A.V. College.

Lightning in his Pen

Lalaji was not merely an outstanding politician but also an able writer. The biographies he wrote in Urdu are memorable. He wrote the biographies of the patriots Mazzini and Garibaldi who unified Italy. He also wrote outstanding books about Indian great men Shivaji, Sri Krishna and Dayananda Saraswati. The books on Mazzini and Shivaji contained passages, which encouraged people to fight for freedom. So the Government even thought of arresting Lalaji.

The Servant of the Suffering

The sense of service shown by Lalaji and his devoted endeavor to help the poor, the downtrodden and those in difficulties bestowed lustre on his multifarious exertions. A terrible famine struck the Central Provinces in 1896. The draught shook people. No one can forget the part played by Lalaji at the time. Lalaji began a movement to help the orphans. He saved 250 orphan children from Jabalpur, Bilaspur and other districts, brought them to Punjab and admitted them to the orphanages of the Arya Samaj. In 1899 a worse famine struck Punjab, Rajasthan, Kathiawad and Central Provinces. Again Lalaji led the movement by the Arya Samaj to save helpless children.

It was a trying time for him. He organized an extraordinary movement. Not only were 2,000 helpless persons saved but they were also provided with food, clothing, education and employment. In 1905 an

occasion arose for Lalaji to dive deeper into another matter. There was an earthquake in Kangra district resulting in enormous loss of life and property. The Arya Samaj of Lahore set up a relief committee, As its secretary Lalaji toured Punjab province extensively and collected money for the committee. His service to the people at that time was unforgettable.

Visit to England

The same year general elections were being held in England, the Indian National Congress decided to send two representatives to acquaint the public with conditions in India. Lajpat Rai and Gopal Krishna Gokhale were the two representatives. When they returned from their visit to England, thousands of people welcomed them at the Lahore railway station. Students unhitched the horses and they pulled the carriage.

During his tour of England Lalaji told the people there about the conditions in India during the British rule. More than this, his reading of the situation was important. It become clear to him that Indians alone could mould their future and for that purpose, the Government should be in their hands. He resolved that India should undertake the fight for freedom, the use of articles made in India and boycott of foreign goods. He put forth these views at the 1907 Congress session held in Surat City.

Government’s Wrath

1907 witnessed a high-water mark in the adventurous life of Lalaji. That was a time of revolution when the winds of change were blowing across the country; new ideas and a new zest moved the people. There were riots in Lahore and Rawalpindi. In Meerut preparations were being made to observe the fiftieth anniversary of the first fight for freedom (1857). Peasants were upset on account of the proposal of the Government to increase the water rates in Punjab. It was a grievous crime in the eyes of the Government that Lalaji and certain other persons supported the riots.

Without any reason Lalaji and Ajit Singh (a relative of the great patriot Bhagat Singh) were deported to Mandalay in Burma.

People all over the country opposed the unjust action of the Government. Tilak wrote in the newspaper ‘Kesari’—“if the British rulers act like the Russian Czars, the people of India will have to react as the people of Russia did.” Government had to bow to the vigorous protests of the people. Government realized that the deportation order was improper and illegal; it brought Lalaji to Lahore on November 18 and set him free.

The love of freedom and the keen desire to serve the country took root in him at that time


In other Countries

Lalaji left for England in April 1914 with the Congress delegation as a representative of Punjab. He had planned to be there for six months. But because of the outbreak of the First World War, he had to change his plans. It did not seem wise to return then. It was likely the British would keep him in detention for a long period. Lalaji went from England to America. His visit to America was a voluntary exile. In America he made a number of speeches about India and conditions of life in this country. He wrote a number of books. As part of the effort to develop the Indian agitation he established the Indian Home Rule League in New York. How could there be dearth of work for the Indian hero in America? He set up the ‘India Information Bureau’. He started a journal ‘Young India’ and gave a fillip to the movement. He himself edited the paper. The paper expounded the Indian culture and explained in detail the necessity for Indian freedom. It attracted the attention of everybody. The circulation increased. Through this paper it became possible for not only Indians but also Americans and people of other countries to understand the aims and objects of Lalaji and to sympathize with India’s aims. The movement gained support. While in America he wrote two books: ‘Arya Samaj’ and ‘England’s Debt to India’. His life in America was not bed of roses. He himself cooked his food. He earned money for his living by writing books and articles.

While in America, Lalaji found time to visit Japan. In both the countries he made friendship and won the sympathy of influential people. He conducted himself in such a way that both countries came to trust him. Thus he made a name for himself. At the end of the great War in 1919 he wanted to return to India. The British Government would not give him a passport. In India in Jalianwalla Bagh of Amritsar, British soldiers fired on helpless Indians at a public meeting. Lajpat Rai got news of the dreadful massacre even when he was in New York. He was eager to join his countrymen.

The Non-Cooperation Movement

Lalaji brought about a revolution in the attitudes of the people of England and America towards India. He returned in India in 1920. Lokamanya Tilak, Jinnah and Shrimati Annie Besant accorded a heroic welcome to him. Welcome Addresses were presented to him in Bombay, Delhi and Lahore. He was elected as the President of the special session of the Congress held in September 1920.

Next year Mahatma Gandhi started the Non-Cooperation Movement. The movement gained momentum in the country. Lalaji jumped into the agitation with his bosom friend, the revolutionary Ajit Singh. In response to Lalaji’s stirring call, the whole of Punjab Province joined the movement. The agitation

shook the firm foundations of the Government. Government schools and colleges were boycotted. Work in courts and offices came to a halt. The people were firmly united against imperialism. Lalaji himself started a national school in Lahore. Tilak opened a political science institution. Thus enthusiastic youths found guidance. Lalaji undertook a whirlwind tour of Punjab for ten days for that purpose and collected nine lakh rupees. Full of reverence for him, people contributed money enthusiastically.

In Prison

Lajpat Rai’s organizing ability and heroic speeches were inspiring. Government was finding it difficult to face the intense Non-Cooperation Movement growing day by day. All over the country there were agitation and hartals and the rulers were shaken. Lalaji became a dangerous person in the eyes of the Government. In December 1921 Lalaji was arrested. He was sentenced to 18 months’ rigorous imprisonment. Because of the people’s protest and the pleadings by lawyers he was released after two months. But was arrested again and tried for another offence. He was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for two years.

While in jail he fell ill and his health deteriorated. When the public learnt this vigorous agitation was started throughout the country for his release. Government released him. Lalaji went to Solan to improve his health.

The Simon Commission

In 1927 the British Government wanted a report on political reforms in India and on amending the Government of India Act. So it appointed a commission. The commission consisted of Sir John Simon and six other members. All of them were members of the British Parliament. There was not a single Indian as member. The people of India rose as one man against this step. Under Lalaji’s leadership, it was resolved to boycott the Simon Commission.

Imperialism Strikes

The 30th of October 1928 was an evil day in India’s political history. The Simon Commission was expected to arrive in Lahore on that day. The rulers had taken precautions to prevent a public protest. Prohibitory orders were enforced. Lalaji was ill that day. Still he led the procession to protest against the. Commission. When the Simon Commission arrived, on one side there where traitors to welcome them. On another side the revolutionaries demonstrated against the Commission. In the protest march youths staged a tremendous show. A hartal was observed that day; there was a sea of black flags. Thousands and thousands of hearts and voices shouted “Simon, go back!” The Lion of Punjab, Lala Lajpat Rai, led the procession. When the trains reached the station, the cry “Simon,

go back!” hit the sky. Police security arrangements crumbled. The crowd was so thick that movement was impossible. The Police charged with their Lathis (stout sticks). The blood of innocent people began to flow. Lalaji’s friends Sukhdev, Yashpal, Bhagavati Charan and others surrounded him, in order to protect him. Police saw Lalaji and his bodyguards and stepped ahead to beat the bodyguards. A Police officer named Sanders came forward to do the job. The Police Lathis rained blows on Lalaji—on the head and all over the body. Lalaji realized this incident would lead to conflict and a bloodbath. He told the huge crowd of revolutionary youths: “Leave this place”. The crowd dispersed.

The same evening there was a mammoth public meeting. The despicable action of the Police was severely condemned and the Simon Commission was boycotted. Police Deputy Superintendent Neal was present at the meeting. Lalaji turned to Neal and said in English so that he could understand him: “The blows, which fell on me today, are the last nails driven into the coffin of British Imperialism.”

One word from Lajpat Rai to the youths would have been enough; they would have let loose rivers of blood. But Lalaji practiced non-violence strictly. The country had to restrain its anger. In the very week of the incident Lalaji attended the All-India Congress Committee and all-party meetings. He grew weak and returned to Lahore.

Lalaji fell ill and died of a heart attack on 17th November 1928. The whole of India knew that his death was a result of the Lathi blows. A deliberate murder by the Police!

More than a lakh of people took up in his funeral procession.

Country did not Forget

The movement did not abate though Lalaji died. In fact it acquired a new vigor. The Congress Party began the no-tax campaign. Punjab could not forget Lalaji’s death. To avenge the cowardly attack on their beloved leader, the people of Punjab rose in fierce revolt. The young revolutionary Bhagat Singh murdered the Police officer Sanders, mainly responsible for the attack on Lalaji, in a dreadful manner. This happened on December 17, exactly one month after Lalaji’s death. Next year the British sentenced Bhagat Singh to death.

The Lion of Punjab

The lesson which the Lion of Punjab Lala Lajpat Rai taught the country was to be brave. To the Indians in the chains of slavery his message was “Begging or prayer” cannot bring freedom. You can win it only through struggle and sacrifice.” Because throughout his life he fought fearlessly, he was called the Lion of

Punjab. The sacrifice of his life was like a warrior’s death in battle.

A Multifaceted Diamond

Lala Lajpat Rai, the martyr was a store-house of many good qualities. Efficiency, tireless industry and patriotism gave lustre to his personality. He was friendly. For the sake of his country he won a large number of friends both in India and abroad. From the platform he spoke for hours eloquently. His speeches were fiery and galvanizing. People heard him spellbound and his words opened their eyes. He was indeed a lion among men.

He was a brilliant man and he was devoted, in body and mind, to the cause of education. The D.A.V. College, the National College, the Tilak School of Politics and others are living monuments to his patriotism. His service in the field of journalism was no less valuable. He founded the Urdu weekly Vande Mataram and the English weekly ‘The People’—and both maintained high standards. In the field of commerce too, he will be remembered forever. It was Lalaji who established the Punjab National Bank and the Lakshmi Insurance Company. As a member of the Arya Samaj he worked incessantly. He fought against Untouchability. When Gandhiji started the ‘Harijan Sevak Sangh’ he worked for it. He was like a father to the orphans. He was responsible for starting numerous orphanages in the country. The Gulab Devi Hospital and the Servants of People Society are living monuments to the memory of that great man.

Lalaji was one of those who sowed the seeds of socialism in India. He was in the vanguard of labor organization. He founded the ‘All-India Trade Union Congress’ and was himself its President. He started an organized effort to improve the conditions of the working class. He pleaded that a part of the profits of an industry should be given to the workmen.

The people of India were in chains, and they had to be aroused. They had to be organized. Lalaji was the symbol of the power, which did this. As Mahatma Gandhi said: “So long as the sun shines in the Indian sky, persons like Lalaji will not die.”

Lajpat Rai once said:

“If I had the power to influence Indian journals, I would have the following headlines printed in bold letters on the first page:

Milk for the infants

Food for the adults

Education for all”.

Source: www.freeindia.org


Sarojini Naidu

O f all the heroines of India, Mrs Sarojinidevi Naidu’s name is at the top. Not only that, but she was truly one of the jewels of the world.

Being one of the most famous heroines of the 20th century, her birthday is celebrated as “Women’s Day”.

Sarojinidevi was a great Patriot, Politician, Orator and Administrator. She had an integrated personality and could mesmerize audiences with her pure honesty and patriotism. She was a life-long freedom fighter, social worker, ideal housewife and Poet.

Birth of a PoetessShe was born on February 13, 1879 in Hyderabad. Her father, Dr Aghornath Chattopadhyaya, was the founder of Nizam College of Hyderabad and a Scientist. He was the first Member of the Indian National Congress in Hyderabad. For his socio-political activities, Aghornath was dismissed from his position as Principal. Her mother, Mrs Varasundari, was a Bengali poetess. Sarojinidevi inherited qualities from both her father and mother.

Young Sarojini was a very bright and proud girl. Her father aspired for her to become a Mathematician or Scientist, but she loved poetry from a very early age. Once she was working on an algebra problem, and when she couldn’t find the solution she decided to take a break, and in the same book she wrote her first inspired poetry. She got so enthused by this that she wrote “The Lady of the Lake”, a poem 1300 lines long. When her father saw that she was more interested in Poetry than Mathematics or Science, he decided to encourage her. With her father’s support, she wrote the play “Maher Muneer” in the Persian language. Dr Chattopadhyaya distributed some copies among his friends and sent one copy to the Nawab of Hyderabad. Reading a beautiful play written by a young girl, the Nizam was very impressed. The college gave her a scholarship to study abroad. At the age of 16 she got admitted to King’s College of England. There she met famous laureates of the time and prominent English Authors like Arthur Simon and Edmond Gausse. It was Gausse who asked Sarojini Naidu to write on the Indian themes like great mountains, rivers, temples, social milieu etc.

MarriageDuring her stay in England, Sarojini met Dr Govind Naidu from southern India. After finishing her studies at the age of 19, she got married to him during the time when inter-caste marriages were not allowed. Her father was a progressive thinking person, and he did not care what others said. Her marriage was a very

happy one.

The Arena of PoetryHer major contribution was also in the field of poetry. Her poetry had beautiful words that could also be sung. Soon she got recognition as the “Bul Bule Hind” when her collection of poems was published in 1905 under the title “Golden Threshold”. After that, she published two other collections of poems—“The Bird of Time” and “The Broken Wings”. In 1918, “Feast of Youth” was published. Later, “The Magic Tree”, “The Wizard Mask” and “A Treasury of Poems” were published. Mahashree Arvind, Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru were among the thousands of admirers of her work. Her poems had English words, but an Indian soul.

Towards Freedom StruggleOne day she met Gopal Krishna Gokhale. He asked her to use her poetry and her beautiful words to rejuvenate the spirit of Independence in the hearts of villagers. He asked her to use her talent to free Mother India.

Sarojini Naidu during 1915, travelled all over India and delivered speeches on welfare of youth, dignity of labor, women’s emancipation and nationalism. In 1916, she took up the cause of the indigo workers of Champaran in the western district of Bihar. Then in 1916, she met Mahatma Gandhi, and she totally directed her energy to the fight for freedom. She would roam around the country like a General of the Army and pour enthusiasm among the hearts of Indians. The independence of India became the heart and soul of her work.

In March 1919, the British government passed the Rowlatt Act by which the possession of seditious

documents was deemed illegal. Mahatma Gandhi organized the Non-Cooperation Movement to protest and Naidu was the first to join the movement. Besides, Sarojini Naidu also actively campaigned for the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, the Khilafat Issue, the Sabarmati Pact, the Satyagraha Pledge and the Civil Disobedience Movement.

As a freedom fighter Sarojini was imprisoned many times. On one instance she was troubled by fever and frequent attacks of diarrhoea. It appeared as though the authorities might consider releasing her on health grounds. But it was the time of Bapu’s impending 21-day fast and she would not leave the prison at such a juncture. When the fast came, she took upon the responsibility of regulating the stream of visitors who were allowed to see Gandhiji and cutting short interviews as soon as she saw signs of fatigue in Bapu. Sarojini described Gandhi as: “A little man with shaven head, seated on the floor on a black prison blanket and eating a messy meal of squashed tomatoes and olive oil out of a wooden prison bowl”. She was greatly devoted to Bapu. After Bapu’s release from prison a collection was made for the setting up of a memorial to Kasturba Gandhi, who had passed away in detention. It was Sarojini Naidu who presented the purse to Bapu. She presented to Gandhiji, Rs 31 lakhs collected from all over India on behalf of the

Collection Committee, at a mammoth public meet-ing held at Chowpatty on Bapu’s 75th birthday. It was with this money that Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust was set up by Bapu for the service of women and children in the villages. The activities of the Trust comprised health, education, welfare, training for income-generating activities and building up among village women awareness of their potential strength and making them conscious of the rights given to them by the Constitution of Free India. In 1919, she went to England as a member of the all-India Home Rule Deputation. In January 1924, she was one of the two delegates of the Indian National Congress Party to attend the East African Indian Congress. In 1925, she was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress Party. In 1925, she chaired the summit of Congress in Kanpur. In 1928, she came to the USA with the message of the non-violence movement from Gandhiji. When in 1930, Gandhiji was arrested for a protest, she took the helms of his movement. In 1931, she participated in the Round Table Summit, along with Gandhiji and Pundit Madan Mohan Malaviyaji. In 1942, she was arrested during the “Quit India” protest and stayed in jail for 21 months with Gandhiji.

Heroine of WomenAfter independence she became the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. She was the first woman Governor. She was a woman of a great country, with such a great heritage in which Sitamata, Draupadi, Savitri and Damayanti were born. Their purity, courage, determination and self-confidence were the foundation of her own character and personality. She was responsible for awakening the women of India. She brought them out of the kitchen. She travelled from state to state, city after city and asked for the rights of the women. She re-established self-esteem within the women of India.

The Final JourneySarojini Naidu led a strenuous and hectic life. She travelled all over India and carried India’s message to the USA and other countries. After Gandhiji’s assassination Sarojini Naidu’s health began to deteriorate. She had high blood pressure and respiratory trouble. Her condition worsened and on 2 March 1949, at Lucknow, she passed away into eternal sleep. The Government of Uttar Pradesh paid his final tribute to Sarojini in these words. “A brilliant Orator, a great Poetess, a person endowed with unusual charm and sense of humor as well as oratory, administrative skills and popular leadership”.

India lost her beloved child, her “Bulbul.” Nevertheless, her name will always be in the golden history of India as an inspiring poet and a brave freedom fighter.

Source: www.mapsofindia.com, www.liveindia.com, www.culturalindia.net, www.indianetzone.com

She had an integrated personality and could mesmerize audiences with her pure honesty and patriotism


Homage to Harivansh Rai BachchanBachchan Sandhya

-Homi Navroji Dastur*

F or the connoisseurs of art, culture, literature and music, it was once-in-a-lifetime experience—sublime and unforgettable, incredible and

spiritually enlightening.

The occasion was the celebrations of the 102nd Birth Anniversary of the great Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Mumbai on November 28, 2009. It was called Bachchan Sandhya. Present were Harivansh Raiji’s elder son Amitabh, daughter-in-law Jaya, younger son Ajitabh, grandson Abhishek, grand daughter-in-law Aishwarya and grand daughters Shweta, Namrata and Naina.

Present in the Bhavan’s auditorium were eminent personalities from the world of culture, literature, drama, film, industry, etc. as also the common citizens of Mumbai.

The Bhavan was very particular that the common man, whose love for literature and culture sustains the arts, literature and performing arts and the artistes, was given adequate representation in the auditorium. Thousands of people who could not find a place in the auditorium lined the roads leading to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. The Bhavan’s building was artistically decorated with white roses and green leaves. The historic stage of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan had a backdrop of a captivating portrait of Harivansh Raiji in the middle. On one side was the name and logo of Bhavan.

On the other, Harivansh Raiji’s immortal words:

Mitti ka tan

Masti ka man

Kshan bhar Jeevan

...... Mera Parichay

Bachchan Sandhya was conducted by eminent Hindi poetess and litterateur, Smt Pushpa Bharati, who is an acknowledged authority on Harivansh Raiji’s poetry and who is very dear and close to the Bachchan-family

as also to the Bhavan’s Family.

Amitabhji and Pushpaji together created a beautiful, enchanting image of Harivansh Raiji the poet and Harivansh Raiji the man. Amitabhji’s recitation and singing of his father’s poems was enthralling and spell binding. Pushpaji’s performance was sublime and wonderful.

The programme began with Sarva Dharma Prayers by Vivek Chatterjee and Rimmi Chopra and lighting of lamp. Amitabhji, Pushpaji and every member of the Bachchan family were welcomed with bouquets of flowers.

The glow, the warmth, the beauty and the ecstasy of that splendid, magical evening belonged to both Amitabhji

and Pushpaji. Their jugalbandhi was breathtaking.

The Bhavan’s President Shri Surendralalji Mehta, in chaste Hindi, welcomed the Bachchan family, Pushpaji and the audience. He thanked Amitabhji and the Bachchan family for having accepted the Bhavan’s invitation to celebrate the great Harivansh Raiji’s poetry with the Bachchan Sandhya. It was, he said, not merely an occasion

to remember a great poet. It was also an attempt to live again one glorious age of Hindi poetry. He congratulated the Editor of the Bhavan’s Hindi Monthly, Shri Vishwanath Sachdev for having brought out a special issue on Harivansh Raiji. It was not only a homage to that creative genius but also a serious attempt to understand the poet and his poetry.

Shri Surendralalji gave a glimpse of the Bhavan’s philosophy and work and explained how through various activities it strives to protect and promote the cultural, educational, literary and spiritual heritage of India as also to remain relevant to and in step with the changing times. He spoke of the relationship of his family with Harivansh Raiji from their days in Allahabad, where his late father (Shri Girdharilalji, who was Munshiji’s comrade and Bhavan’s President) was closely connected with the cultural and literary traditions. He recalled a beautiful evening when Harivansh Raiji had come to their residence in Kolkata and enchanted the family and friends with recitation of his inimitable poems. “It’s memory is one of the most precious possessions of my life”, he said.

Shri Surendralalji said that Harivansh Raiji was such a great poet that though Madhushala was a fabulously creative work, Harivansh Raiji’s many other poems, were equally good and even better. He once again expressed his deep sense of gratitude to the Bachchan family and Pushpaji and said that the Bhavan was feeling proud and happy to felicitate and honour Amitabhji.

Shri Amitabhji was presented with a shawl and a beautiful

memento by Shri Surendralal Mehta and Bhavan’s Executive Secretary, Shri Homi Dastur amidst thunderous applause. Shri Vishwanath Sachdev, an eminent name in the fields of Journalism and Hindi Literature, spoke about Harivansh Raiji’s glorious contribution to the world of literature and the various activities of Bhavan.

Shri Amitabhji released an elegant volume of the English translation of Harivansh Raiji’s Madhushala which was illustrated beautifully by his niece Namrata Bachchan, daughter of Ajitabhji. Responding to his felicitation, Amitabhji expressed his sense of gratitude to the Bhavan for honouring him and for organising Bachchan Sandhya.

He recalled how two years ago, the Bhavan’s USA Centre had celebrated his father’s Centenary in New York where he had recited Harivansh Raiji’s poems.

Expressing his admiration for Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Amitabhji paid tribute to the Bhavan’s immense contribution to the literary and cultural life of our nation. He said that the special issue of the Bhavan’s Navneet on Harivansh Raiji was so good that he has kept it along with Babuji’s personal books.

He expressed his faith that in the times to come the relationship between Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Bachchan family would become more intimate and fruitful.

Eminent Gujarati poet and Bhavan’s Advisor,


Performing Arts, Shri Anil Joshi proposed a vote of thanks. Neha Sharad compered the programme with creative brilliance and great dignity. She created a beautiful bridge between the audience, the programme participants and the poetry of Harivansh Raiji. Her compering was in itself a piece of creative art. After the formal function, Smt Pushpa Bharati took over and through her the great creator of Madhushala started capturing the hearts and minds of a culturally and literary alert and sensitive audience. Pushpaji with her amazingly splendid virtuosity started creating a lustrous image of Harivansh Raiji the man, the poet, a loving father and husband, a creative genius and a

compassionate human being.

Amitabhji started his recitation with Akelepan Ka Bal Pahechano. Then came Harivansh Raiji’s virtual challenge to God:

Main Sukh Par Sukhma Par Reeza, Iski Mujko Laaj Nahin Hai

Jisne Kaliyon Ke Adharon Par Ras Rakkha, Pahele Sharmae.

With his inimitably deep resonant and haunting voice, Amitabhji at once captivated the audience lifting it to a great height of ecstasy. He once again proved that even recitation of poetry, when in the hands of a truly great artiste, can climb the highest peak of beauty and excellence.

Then came the music. With the famous Viju Shah and his team in attendance, Amitabhji sang lines from Madhushala. The audience once again realised what a good singer he is. He also recited several other poems and sang two of them in folk tunes. It was sheer beauty and indescribable joy. It was the evening of Id-Ul-Zua which also brought the celebrations of Deepavali and Christmas in the Bhavan’s auditorium: Din Ko Holi Raat Deevali, Roj Manati Madhushala. Smt Jaya Bachchan recited Jo Beet Gayi So Baat Gayi. Amitabhji and Jayaji together recited: Tum Gaa Do Mera Gaan Amar Ho Jaye.

Actor Aashutosh Rana brilliantly presented Daitya Ki Den. Abhishek, Aishwarya, Shweta, Namrata and Naina, too, one by one recited brief poems of Harivansh Raiji.

In between, Pushpaji was making Harivansh Raiji and Tejiji alive on the stage with her vivid portrayal

and mastery over the subject. At the end of the function, the entire audience rose to its feet and gave a long, rapturous ovation to Amitabhji and Pushpaji. Undoubtedly the Bachchan Sandhya raised the level of human sensitivity and empathy of every member of the audience.

A fantastic feature of the programme was the rapport, the harmony and the rhythm between Pushpaji and Amitabhji which was wonderful, heart-warming and at times, breathtaking. It reached the ultimate height of beauty and excellence because Bachchan Sandhya was dominated by Harivansh Raiji. Amitabhji and Pushpaji just remained the melodious instruments to bring alive Harivansh Rai, the man and the poet. It was the Word of Harivansh Raiji which was celebrated that beautiful enchanting evening.

Our scriptures say: Shabda Brahman. The Word was truly the supreme Brahman. The first verse of the Gospel of St John in the Bible says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.

Source: Bhavan’s Journal, January 15, 2010

Sanskrit Education in America-Sonya Davey

The Sanskrit language is of a wonderful structure, more perfect than Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either.

- Sir William Jones, Third Address to the Asiatic Society of Bengal

S anskrit education in America was started in 1841 by Sanskrit Professor Edward Elbridge Salisbury at Yale University. Within a couple of

years, Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University adopted Sanskrit programmes, later followed by Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago, University of California, University of Michigan, and University of Minnesota.

At that time, a fascination with Sanskrit was primarily burgeoned by American Orientalists and Sanskritists, who considered Sanskrit study significant due to its role in classical or Indo-European comparative philology.

Today, Sanskrit education in America not only focuses on Sanskrit through a linguistic perspective, but as a pathway to understand the rich literature, history, religion, and the various aspects of Indian culture.

Prof Deven Patel, a scholar of Sanskrit language and literature, who teaches at the South Asian Studies Department at University of Pennsylvania, finds that the benefits of learning Sanskrit and its literature are “immeasurable”.

He states, “Sanskrit gives you access to another dimension of thought—I would say a unique way of seeing life and the world—and thus complements the perspectives one may get in studying the arts and sciences through other language channels.”

Sanskrit can serve as means to understand Ayurveda (traditional medicine of India); Vedic mathematics; historical linguistics; yoga and meditation; and Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophies. The mere longevity of Sanskrit as a language, allows for it to encompass most areas of human knowledge and experience (ranging from music, theatre, agriculture, political science, astronomy to mathematics).

Patel concludes, “When one learns Sanskrit well, one participates in a world that is both familiar in many ways and yet totally unfamiliar. My own growth as a scholar and a person is deeply indebted to the study of Sanskrit and that is why I have chosen to devote a significant part of my life to learning it more deeply and teaching it to others.”

Sanskrit students in America span various

cultural backgrounds. Prof Uma Saini of the Johns Hopkins University has taught Sanskrit to students from Korea, China and Iran. She said that the students from Iran were fascinated how close Sanskrit is to the Iranian languages.

The language is highly inflected, has a rich derivational morphology, and is well described by the Indian linguistic tradition. Studying it clarifies one’s understanding of language in general, allows one to learn any other language more easily and to learn grammar well, even of one’s first language. Learning grammar helps to clarify one’s thoughts and to express them clearly. Close reading of texts in Sanskrit (or any ancient language) helps one develop analytic reasoning and clear expression.”

Currently, there are about 25 universities in America and Canada that offer Sanskrit courses. Columbia has nearly four hundred Sanskrit manuscripts in its Rare Book Library collection.

Prof Somdev Vasudeva of Columbia said that he would encourage Sanskrit scholars to work on primary sources, which mean not only printed texts but also manuscripts.

He said, “The reason is simple. For the whole of classical Greek, there are about 30,000 manuscripts. For Sanskrit, we estimate around 30 million manuscripts of which less than half a per cent have been published. So what is out there, no one can even fathom; it is a factor of a thousand times more than the whole classical Greek.”

The good news, according to Vasudeva, is that more


students in America are getting interested in Sanskrit and one can pick up a field in Sanskrit and be a world specialist in three or four years.

At the University of Pennsylvania, coursework includes reading the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchatantra and are introduced to the Vedas, Purana, Shastra, and Darshana. From the beginner class, a speaking component is incorporated into the classes. At the advanced level, students read texts such as Raghuvamsha, Uttaramacarita, Ishaavaasya Upanishad with Shankara Bhashya, and Yogasura with commentaries.

Prof Larry McCrea of Cornell said, “Sanskrit opens a whole new intellectual world. Studying Sanskrit is an extraordinary opportunity.” He said that the study of Sanskrit in America is in its infancy and added, “It is as if Shakespeare or Kant had been forgotten and you were discovering them, and there were only fifty or hundred people in the world who were studying these things. Sanskrit is an exciting field to be a part of. There is a lot of room for expansion.”

Harvard University is the only university in America that has a completely separate Sanskrit and Indian Studies Department. The Department holds Sanskrit

and Indian Studies Lecture Series during fall and spring. The Department also offers concentration credit for study abroad programmes. Harvard has a Mahabharata Reading Group that meets on a weekly basis. The University of Chicago encourages students learning Sanskrit to participate in a study abroad programme with Pune University.

Rutgers has an undergraduate minor in South Asian Studies with a concentration in Sanskrit. It also has a Study Abroad programme at St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi, India.

Princeton has recently incorporated Sanskrit into its curriculum. While Stanford does not have a full-fledged Sanskrit department, Prof Fred Porta said, “Sanskrit is very important to me as a scholar, and every term I teach at least one beginning and one advanced class. Last term I taught four Sanskrit classes in beginning. I teach Ramayana, Sankara’s Gita Bhasya in Advanced, Asvaghosa’s Buddhacarita in Buddhist studies, and finally Niya Prakrit. So there is always Sanskrit here, even though it is not a

full programme. There are also about 5–10 Professors here who know and use Sanskrit.”

Regarding the similarities between Latin and Sanskrit, Porta said, “These languages are all related, as are there poetries and cultures. For Latin and Sanskrit, some of the parallels are obvious like mother and father and dues and deva, but others are less obvious like pasyati and specio, which mean “see” (where Sanskrit has dropped the initial s) or gacchati and venio, which mean “come” (which involves an old sound called ‘labial-velar’ that can come out as different things in different languages).

A gift of $5 million from Rohini and Nandan Nilekani and a leadership gift from Dinakar Singh have enabled Yale to catalyse the Yale India Initiative, which includes Yale’s South Asian Studies Council that has built up the Yale’s course offerings on India and South Asia, including language offerings in Sanskrit. The South Asian Studies Council awards several fellowships every year to fund post-doctoral fellows, undergraduate and graduate students.

Prof Ashwini Deo of Yale said, “Sanskrit requires a deep understanding of the grammar before you can even begin to appreciate the Sanskrit literature. The connection between Indo-European grammar and Sanskrit has been very strong at Yale. That characterises what is so special about the Sanskrit education at Yale.”

Prof Phyllis Granoff of Yale said that “our Sanskrit programme is really taking off. This year we hired two young scholars, both of whom will contribute to the Sanskrit teaching.” Prof David Brick recently joined Yale and teaches first and second year Sanskrit and a graduate seminar. He said that his first year Sanskrit class has 8 students and revival of Sanskrit is quickly taking place at Yale.

Viewing the adoption of Sanskrit into various university curriculums as an example, Sanskrit has made great strides in American education. Prof Patel believes that “it is a challenging course of study, but if there is a good teacher and a conducive environment the language can be learned joyfully and meaningfully.”

Prof Scharf’s advice for promoting Sanskrit education is—“take a lesson from the revival of Hebrew in Israel: use it. Recognise that to preserve Indian heritage, one must preserve the languages of its expression and transmission. Teach it to the young.” Attempts to incorporate Sanskrit into primary and secondary level education, particularly as a spoken language, will greatly increase the prevalence of Sanskrit studies in America and India, thereby creating a stronger cultural bond between them.


Sanskrit can serve as means to understand Ayurveda (traditional medicine of India); Vedic mathematics; historical linguistics; yoga and meditation; and Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophies

The Liberal Dilemma -1Richness of Tradition Lost in Politics of Faith

-Gurcharan Das*

A few months ago the confident and handsome friend of our son gave a telling reply to a visiting Englishwoman in Khan Market in

Delhi. “I am a Hindu, but...... ” , he said, and went into a winding reply about his beliefs. He hastily added that he was an Indian first. It was a perfectly honest answer, and any other person might have given a similar one about Islam or Christianity. But I sensed an unhappy defensiveness—the ‘but’ betrayed that he might be ashamed of being Hindu.

This happened two weeks after I got a call from one of Delhi’s best private schools, asking me to speak to its students. “Oh good!” I replied on the phone. “I have been reading the Mahabharata, and in that case I shall speak about dharma and the moral dilemmas in the epic.”

The Principal’s horrified reaction was, “Oh don’t, please! There are important secularists on our governing board, and I don’t want controversy about teaching religion.”

“But surely the Mahabharata is a literary epic”, I protested, “And dharma is about right and wrong”. But my remonstration was to no avail. She was adamant and scared.

As I think about these two incidents, I ask myself, why should these two highly successful, young professionals be embarrassed of their heritage? Something seems to have clearly gone wrong. Modern, liberal Indians, and those at the helm of our private and public enterprises, may not have any use for their past, and they will abdicate our wonderful traditions to the narrow, closed minds of fanatical Hindu nationalists. This is due to ignorance.

Our children do not grow up reading our ancient classics in school or college with a critical mind as works of literature and philosophy as young Americans read the Western classics in their first year of college as part of their “core curriculum”. Some acquire from

their grandmothers or older relatives, who tell them stories from the epics and the Puranas. They read the tales in Amar Chitra Katha or watch them in serials on television.

If Italian children can proudly read Dante’s Divine Comedy in school, or English children can read Milton, and Greek children the Iliad, why should “secularist” Indians be ambivalent about the Mahabharata? Indeed, English children also read the King James Bible as a text in school, “text” is the operative word, for they are encouraged to read it and interrogate it.

So, why then should our epics be “untouchable” for a sensitive, modern and liberal school Principal? Mahabharata has lots of Gods in it, and Krishna, who is up to all manner of devious activity. But so are Dante, Milton, and Homer filled with God or Gods, and if the Italians, the English and the Greeks may read the texts of their heritage, why not Indians?

In India, I blame Hindutva nationalists who have appropriated our culture and tradition and made it a political agenda. But equally, I blame many of our secularists who behave no better than fundamentalists in their callous antipathy to tradition.

We ought to view Hindutva’s rise in the context of religious revivalism with a political bent around the world.

The challenge before modern, Indians today is essentially the same. It is the one that Rammohan Roy faced in the early 19th century and Mahatma Gandhi

So, why then should our epics be “untouchable” for a sensitive, modern and liberal school Principal? Mahabharata has lots of Gods in it, and Krishna, who is up to all manner of devious activity


in the early 20th century: How to grow up mentally healthy, integrated Indians? How do we combine liberal modernity with traditions in order to fully realise our potential?

As a liberal and secular Hindu, I oppose the entry of religion into the public domain, and its mingling with government or public school education. I appreciate the “wall’ which both the US and our own founding fathers built. I admire France and Turkey which seem to have the strongest “walls”. But what does one do when the great literary classics of one’s country are “religious” or “semi-religious”?

Many Indians regard our great Sanskrit classics as religious texts. They are religious, we are committed by our “wall” to keep them out of our schools.

Unless our children are exposed to the Sanskrit classics and unless these are “discussed” in a secular environment, our children will grow up impoverished.

Something has gone wrong with contemporary Indian education when our most influential schools churn out deracinated products, who know little about their own culture but a great deal about the West.

There are some in India who think that the answer lies in providing compulsory knowledge of all religions, and this will engender, what Emperor Ashoka called, a “respect for all creeds”. But this too is a dangerous path. For how do you teach religion without worrying about some teacher somewhere who will wittingly or unwittingly denigrate or hurt the sensitivities of some follower of the religion being taught? And before you realise it, you will have a riot on your hands. So, we do have a genuine moral dilemma here, a dharmasamkata or dharmavikalpa. I was born a Hindu, had a normal Hindu upbringing, and like many in the middle class I went to an English medium school that gave me a “modern education”. Both my grandfathers belonged to the Arya Samaj, a reformist sect of Hinduism that came up in 19th century . It advocated a return to the Vedas, a diminished role for Brahmins and vigorous social reform of the caste system among other social evils.

My father, however, decided to take a different path. When he was studying to be an Engineer, he was drawn to a kindly Guru, who taught him the power and

glory of direct union with God through meditation. The Guru would quote from Kabir, Nanak, Rumi, and Mirabai, and was a Radhasoami Sant in the syncretic Bhakti tradition.

The striking thing about growing up Hindu was a chaotic atmosphere of tolerance in our home in Lyallpur. My grandmother would visit the Sikh gurdwara on Mondays and Wednesdays and a Hindu temple on Tuesdays and Thursdays; she saved Saturdays and Sundays for discourses of holy men, including Muslim pirs, who were forever visiting our town. In between she made time for lots of Arya Samaj ceremonies.

My grandfather used to jest that she would also have called in at the Muslim mosque in her busy schedule had they allowed her in. But my more practical uncle thought that she was merely taking out enough insurance, in the manner of Pascal, and someone up there might hear her.

Despite this religious background, I grew up agnostic, which a luxury of being Hindu. I have a liberal attitude that is a mixture of skepticism and sympathy towards my tradition. I have also come to believe that our most cherished ends in life are not political. Religion is one of these and it gets demeaned when it enters public life.

Hence, religion and the state must be kept separate, and to believe this is be secular. I have a mild distaste for the sort of nationalism that can so quickly become chauvinism.

I think it must have been difficult for my Hindu ancestors in the Punjab, who did not have the living memory of a political heritage of their own. Having lived under non-Hindu rulers since the 13th century, they must have thought of political life as filled with deprivation and fear. After Muslims had come the Sikh kingdom of Ranjit Singh.

With its collapse around 1850 came the powerful British, with Christian missionaries in tow. Hence, three powerful, professedly egalitarian and proselytising religions surrounded them—Islam, Sikhism and Christianity. No wonder, they were eager to receive Dayananda Saraswati when he came to the Punjab in 1877. And not surprisingly, he succeeded beyond his dreams in establishing the Arya Samaj in the Punjab.

All human beings need local roots, an identity, and a link with a unique identifiable past. A writer needs it even more, I think, because a writer aspires to speak universally about life.

In the spring of 2002, I decided to take an academic holiday. My wife thought it a strange resolve. She was familiar with our usual holidays, when we armed ourselves with hats, and blue and green guides, and

There are some in India who think that the answer lies in providing compulsory knowledge of all religions, and this will engender, what Emperor Ashoka called, a “respect for all creeds”

trudged up and down over piles of temple stones in places like Khajuraho or Ankor Wat.

But she was puzzled by an ‘academic holiday’. I explained to her that in college I had read Aristotle, Euripides, Dante, Marx and other classics of western civilisation, but I had always yearned to read the Indian classics and had never had the chance. The closest I had come was Professor Ingalls’ difficult Sanskrit class at Harvard when I was an undergraduate.

So, now forty years later, I wished to read the texts of classical India, if not in the original, at least with a scholar of Sanskrit. It was my Proustian search for lost time in order to reclaim my tradition, appropriately in the vanaprastha ashrama of my life.

Somewhat to my annoyance, my “academic holiday” became the subject of animated discussion at a dinner party in Delhi the following week. Our hostess was famous in Delhi’s society for cultivating the famous and the powerful. She had ignored us for years but this had changed in the past two years, and we had become regulars at her brilliant dinners.

I thought her friendly but my wife reminded me that her warmth was in direct proportion to my recent success as a columnist and writer. She always introduced me as ‘an old friend’. But I don’t think she had a clue about what the word meant.

“So, what is this I hear about you wanting to go away to read Sanskrit texts?” she suddenly turned to me accusingly.

“But tell us, what books you are planning to read?” asked a Diplomat casually, as though he were referring to the latest features in a Korean dishwasher in Khan Market.

I admitted somewhat reluctantly that I had been thinking of texts like the Mahabharata, the Manusmriti, the Kathopanishad ...

“Good lord, man!” he exclaimed. “You haven’t turned Hindutva, have you?”

I asked myself, what sort of secularism have we created in our country that has appropriated my claim to my intellectual heritage?

I found it disturbing that I had to fear the intolerance of my ‘secular friends’, who seemed to identify any association with Hinduism or its culture as a political act. The pain did not go away easily, even though I realised that it was a pain shared by others.

I was reminded of a casual remark by a westernised woman in Chennai during the launch of my book, The Elephant Paradigm. She mentioned that she had always visited the Shiva temple near her home, but lately she had begun to hide this from those among her friends who proclaimed that they were ‘secular’. She

feared they might pounce on her, quick to brand her extremist or superstitious.

When I was growing up in post-Independence India in the 1950s and 1960s, the word ‘conservative’ was a term of abuse in the vocabulary of most Indian intellectuals. We passionately believed in Nehru’s dream of a modern and just India. We likened his midnight speech at Independence about our ‘Tryst with destiny’ to Wordsworths’ famous lines on the French Revolution: “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive”.

I have tried to capture this mood at some length in my book, India Unbound. We laughed at Rajaji and Masani, who founded the conservative Swatantra Party in the late 1950s, and even dismissed Sardar Patel, who was the second most powerful man in India at Independence, after Nehru. Charles James Fox had laughed at Edmund Burke in the same way. Like many Englishmen of his day, Fox thought the revolution in France was an immensely liberating step forward, saying that it was the greatest event that ever happened in the world. In denouncing the French revolution, Burke was not expressing an opinion popular among thinking Englishmen; he was going against the tide.

To be a conservative in Nehru’s India was the same. It meant that one was on the side of age against youth, the past against the future, authority against innovation, and spontaneity against life.

Now, more than fifty years later, it is the old progressives who have become ‘old’, who look back nostalgically to a socialist past. They condemn too hastily the young of today, painting them uniformly in the colours of greed.

(To be Concluded)

*Renowned management expert and commentator at a conference at the University of Chicago: “India: Implementing Plularism and Democracy” on November, 11–13, 2005.


To be a conservative in Nehru’s India was the same. It meant that one was on the side of age against youth, the past against the future, authority against innovation, and spontaneity against life.


Cricket and mysticism make riveting readingKersi Meher-Homji reviews a book with a difference

H owzaaaaat! by Ravi Balakrishnan and Neal Whittle, Littlerock (Australia), 2009. 237 pages. Price $25 (including postage and

packing). Available from www.littlerock.com.au

Books on cricket flood the market but Howzaaaaat! is a different kind of publication. And it is one of the few books I would describe as impossible to put down. As the title suggests it is hugely appealing. The cover has a statue of Ganesha on a cricket ball with a pertinent quote: “Sometimes ordinary people do the most extraordinary things…”

It is a work of fiction where the authors combine cricket with spirituality, stark realism with flights of fancy. The characters are believable with two having supernatural powers, Tabetha, a good ‘witch’ and Agbar, the magical healer. It is a semi-autobiographical book seen through the eyes

of a 12 year-old boy Ravi Balakrishnan - born in India who had spent his childhood in London and migrated to Sydney in 2001. Indians settled in Australia will relate to Ravi’s story. An inspiring novel, its message is: Never ever give up. The first part describes Ravi’s initiation to Sydney, encountering a racist bully in school neutralized by an inspirational headmaster. The book leaps to life when his gregarious, cricket crazy uncle Sanjay (with his three dogs named after famous cricketers ‘Sunny’ Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and ‘Warney’) makes his appearance. There is a touch of humour when Sunny, the dog, watches cricket avidly on TV and growls angrily whenever Steve Waugh is on the screen. The incredible 2001 Kolkata Test (when India wins despite being 274 runs behind on first innings thanks to an amazing 376 runs stand between VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid) is described in detail as watched on TV by Sanjay, Ravi and Sunny, the dog.

Sanjay, a past cricketer with a penchant for hitting sixes, takes him to the Saturday Markets in Sydney and introduces him to the psychic Tabetha.

Ravi is selected in his school’s cricket team and scores a century in Bowral, thanks to Sanjay’s coaching and a ‘magical’ bat presented to him by Tabetha.

Then the emphasis turns to the September 11,

2001 tragedy in USA “with aeroplanes flying into skyscrapers, of people jumping out of burning buildings to their deaths, of troubled souls looking for loved ones among the rubble”, as told movingly by the school headmaster Mr. Watson. The speech has a message as pertinent today as it had in 2001, as indeed it will have 50 years from now. The highlight of the speech was, “Through deeds, your deeds, the words of Mahatma Gandhi, of Martin Luther King, of Nelson Mandela will never be lost through the actions of the ignorant, the violent, the angry, the racist.” Mr. Watson lives by the school’s motto: Facta, non verba, Latin for Deeds, not words. He also believes in making the impossible possible. Part II of the novel takes a different turn, a twist from realism to the supernatural with inexplicable checkpoints. Ravi develops a rare blood disorder which no doctor in Australia can diagnose. His parents are helpless but Uncle Sanjay just cannot sit passively doing nothing. So he takes matters in his own hands and rushes Ravi to India in search of Agbar, the mystical super healer. What happens when Ravi meets Agbar is beyond the scope of this review.

Besides, revealing it will spoil the climax.

I read the book in two sittings. This is the authors’ first novel but it will not be their last, judging from their easy to read style. A sequel of the book is in the pipeline. “How did you get the idea to write this book?” I asked author Neal Whittle.

“When delivering my 67-year-old mother’s eulogy, I inadvertently became reacquainted with one ability I had: a good imagination with an ability to tell a story”, he replied. “I was working in IT for Neverfail Springwater then and just stopped working and started writing this novel. I sold an investment unit to keep me going financially. “I wrote this first as a film script but got nowhere with it and decided that the only way the story could be ‘heard’ was to write it as a book”, he added. “After the book was published I was invited back at Neverfail.”

The reader not only ‘hears’ the book but ‘sees’ the action when reading it. The later part of Howzaaaaat! is so stunningly enchanting and mystically sensational that a movie could easily be made of it. I can visualize it in 3D!

JK: Prophet of 20th Century-Jahnabi Deka

You are the world, the neighbour, the friend, the so-called enemy. If you would understand, you must first understand yourself, for in you is the root of all understanding. In you is the beginning and the end. If you are very clear, if you are inwardly light unto yourself, you will never follow anyone. - J. Krishnamurti

T he mansion of philosophical heritage is greatly indebted to the incredible contributions of Jiddu Krishnamurti. He was born on May

12, 1895, in Mandanapalle in the Chittor District of Andhra Pradesh, and was the eighth child of his parents. The then President of the Theosophical Society, Dr Annie Besant, took him away to England for his education which, she thought, would form a corner stone in shaping Krishnamurti as a spiritual leader. In a historic speech in 1929, he explained why religious organisations cannot lead man to Truth.

He declared: “I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever. Truth being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organised; nor should any organisation be formed to lead or coerce people along any particular path”. Truth, for him, is dynamic and living. Truth has no path, because no fixity and deadly element is there in Truth. “ ..... the moment you follow someone, you cease to follow Truth.”

This quotation of Krishnamurti depicts a neat picture of ‘Truth’. A similar tone of Mahatma Gandhi here is—“Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.”

Intellectual dissection cannot help one to attain the ‘Truth’. Truth is introspective; it is a matter of self-realisation, no foreign element can dare make us realise, ‘What is Truth’, it is totally inward to one’s own self. Krishnamurti made an 18-part series of hour-long videotapes with Dr Allen W. Anderson, a Professor of religious studies and literature at the University of California in San Diego. Their discussion brought into light such topics as knowledge, transformation, education, human relationship, responsibility, love, death and religion and many such philosophical ideas. In 1984, Krishnamurti used a tape recorder to keep a diary of his observations, published in “Krishnamurti to Himself’; he speaks about enduring beauty of the earth, the immortality of killing animals etc.

Commenting on the oneness of human beings, Jiddu declares: “You may call yourself Hindu or Muslim or Christian or whatever you like, but consciously, inwardly, you are just like the rest of the world.”

This is the core teaching of Krishnamurti. Irrespective of caste, creed, and religion we are the same human being. No difference can be drawn between two human beings.

However, the milieu of one person makes him different from the others emotionally, mentally, morally and financially. The inmost ‘manness’ is the same in all human beings. Here the question arises: ‘What makes a man different from the other sentient beings?’ The answer is the ‘responsibility’ bestowed upon a man by man himself which makes him proud to be called a rational man. Man is responsible for what he does; he is responsible for his thinking and this makes man an animal accompanied by reason.

Thus the concept of responsibility plays a pivotal role in man. In spite of being endowed with the pride of man as a ‘rational animal’, the same cruelty, the unculturedness nowadays, becomes a habitual mark of man.

Krishnamurti deeply observes it and proclaims, “We are both violent and peaceful. We have achieved progress from cart to jet plane externally, but man has not at all changed on the psychic plane.”

In his work, “Education and the Significance of Life”, Krishnamurti writes: “We may be highly educated, but if we are without deep


integration of thought and feeling, our lives are incomplete, contradictory and torn with many fears; and as long as education does not cultivate an integrated outlook on life, it has very little significance.” Education eliminates man’s narrow egoistic attitude and cultivates an altruistic humanitarian attitude and simultaneously an integral approach to life.

“Intelligence is the capacity to perceive the essential, this is; and to awaken this capacity, in oneself and in others, is education.”

The eighth chapter of the book, “Education,” and titled “Art, Beauty and Creation” where he draws our attention to the concept of art and creativeness.

Creativeness, Krishnamurti holds, doesn’t have any place where there is conflict. Education should show us the path to face problems and to get out of these problems too. We should never take the attitude of an escapist to get rid of the problems. Rather, we should face the hurdles of life with positive enthusiasm and valour.

“Art divorced from life has no great significance. When art is separate from our daily living, when there is a gap between our instinctual life and our efforts on canvas, in marble or in words, then art becomes merely an expression of our superficial desire to escape from the reality. To bridge this gap is very arduous, especially for those who are gifted and technically proficient; but it is only when the gap is bridged that our

life becomes integrated and art an integral expression of ourselves.”

Krishnamurti always had in mind a relentless effort to make art a part of our day-to-day life.

Creative happiness, for Krishnamurti, is an “inward richness, “which has its germ not anywhere outside, but has its roots within us.

And most importantly Krishnamurti gave a heart-touching glance at the concept of ‘meditation.’ He begins by saying that the beauty of meditation lies in the fact that it is that art in life which cannot be learnt from anybody.

Meditation demands intense attention. Nobody can teach us how to be attentive. This is the state of mind where all our psychological hurts, accumulated fears, anxiety, loneliness, despair, sorrow gradually vanish and mind ultimately reaches ‘happiness’ which has a deep sense of meaning. Thus being replete with such deep philosophical insightful thoughts, Krishnamurti can rightly be identified as a Prophet of the twentieth century with the claim of transforming this universe into a land where there will be no chaos, no avarice anymore.

His profound thoughts will serve as useful antidotes to the evil powers found in society. He preached these ideas to root out these evils from society and thus let us march towards that aim which Jiddu Krishnamurti himself dreamt of.


The Hon Kristina Keneally MP, Premier of New South Wales hosted a roundtable Meeting of Indian Community Leaders on 10 February 2010 at Governor Macquarie Tower, Sydney to discuss the issues related to the people of Indian Origin. A report on NSW Government Initiatives on International Education 2010 was released.

Bharatanatyam-Aruna Subbiah*

Divine and beautiful…traditional and contemporary…rigid and flexible…aesthetic and colourful…subtle and dramatic…timeless and classic….welcome to the world of Bharatanatyam…

T he most popular of the ancient Indian classical dance styles, Bharatanatyam is an artform greatly appreciated the world over today. Its

antiquity is established in the age-old Rig Vedas, where ‘Usha’, the dawn is described as a danseuse. The Mohenjodaro artifact of the ‘dancing girl’ traces Indian dance to the pre-Aryan civilization.

Dating back to the age of the epics as well, there are references to dance in Ramayana (Sundara Kandam), Mahabharata (where Arjuna taught dancing to the Virata princess Uttara), Kalidasa’s Malavikagnimitra, Kumarasambhavam and the acclaimed Silappadhikaram of the Sangam period (which has a description of Madhavi’s dance).

There are several mythological stories as well that describe the origin of Indian dance and lord Shiva-Nataraja as the cosmic dancer or the Raas Leela of lord Krishna with his gopis is beyond imagination…

In India, as any form of art is offered as worship, dance, music, sculptures, icons, paintings and frescoes all found expressions in the magnificent temples of India like Tanjore, Chidambaram, Amaravathi, Sittanavasal, Dharasuram, Mahabalipuram, Belur and Halebid and the caves of Ajantha and Ellora besides several other shrines. And the various artforms took inspiration from each other…

The art of Bharatanatyam has traversed time from being a temple ritual to a form of entertainment and now acclaimed and respected as a divine traditional dance form of India. Known as Koothu, Sadir or Chinnamelam in olden times in Tamil Nadu, the artform attained the name of Bharatanatyam about seven decades ago. Contributing to the revival and popularization of Bharatanatyam were two great personalities E. Krishna Iyer and Rukmini Devi.

The theoretical knowledge of Bharatanatyam is found in various treatises and texts like Bharata’s Natya Sastra (400 B.C.–400 A.D.), Nandikeswara’s Abhinaya Darpana, Bharatarnava, Bharatakosham, Dasarupaka, Nrittaratnavali, Mahabharatha Choodamani among many other texts.

The following is just the gateway to the whole world of Bharatanatyam…

Nritta and Nritya

There are two main divisions in Bharatanatyam, comprising Nritta and Nritya.

Nritta refers to rhythmic dance where the movements are purely decorative and do not convey any meaning. The dancer creates varied patterns of movements and poses that are aesthetically beautiful. While the movements don’t mean anything they do to reflect the emotional significance of the theme presented.

Nritya refers to a combination of rhythmic dance and the interpretative dance, described as abhinaya where thoughts, ideas and emotions are conveyed and stories are told through facial expressions and hand gestures.

AdavusNritta patterns are based on ‘Adavus’ which are the basic dance units. A dance step comprising a posture or a stance, a hand gesture, and a co-ordinated movement of the head, eyes, the whole body, hands, legs and the feet striking, ultimately exuding the joy of the whole movement is called an ‘Adavu’.

In Bharatanatyam, the half-sit posture is called the ‘Araimandi’, and it is the first and the basic stance to be imbibed by a student learning this art. This posture is highly significant and ‘Adavus’ executed in the ‘araimandi’ posture underline the essence of the artform.

There are various types of adavus grouped together in different series and performed to different rhythmic syllables. Starting with the ‘Thatta Adavu’ which is executed by the feet striking the floor to a specific rhythm, with the hands in the ‘Natyaramba’ position (Stretched out with ‘Pathaka’ hand gesture), the movements become more complex as they progress through the various series, involving graceful bends, stretching the legs, swinging the body, jumps, different usages of the heels and toes, full-sit postures, swaying movements, turns, sliding movements and walk…all practiced in three speeds and mastered to be powerful in execution, yet appear pleasing and effortless.

While performing the adavus, the dancer creates beautiful imageries of geometric patterns like straight lines, arcs, circles, squares, triangles and so on through the various movements. It is these visual patterns that highlight the beauty of Bharatanatyam.

The different adavus are woven together to form beautiful sequences called korvais set to different melodies (swara patterns) or jathis set to different rhythmic syllables (sollu-kattu) in a particular time measure (tala).


AbhinayaThe language of communication through facial expressions, gestures and actions is called abhinaya. Regarded as an interesting and the most important aspect of Bharatanatyam, it is through abhinaya that thoughts and emotions are conveyed and stories are narrated by the dancer.

It takes years of experience to master the art of abhinaya…to attain a natural flow of facial expressions and a spontaneous usage of gestures.

There are four types of abhinaya described by the ancient texts on Bharatanatyam:

Aangika, Vaachika, Aaaharya and Saathvika.

Aangika Abhinaya refers to the art of communication with the limbs, through the movements of the various parts of the body including head, eyes, eyebrows, neck, hand gestures and feet positions among others. Treatises like Natyashastra, Abhinaya Darpana and Bharatarnava have codified the various movements with specific names and usages for each gesture.

Hand gestures are called as ‘Hasthas’. The Abhinaya Darpana, an ancient text describes the various hand gestures as ‘Asamyutha Hasthas’ (single hand gestures) and ‘Samyutha Hasthas’ (double hand gestures). For example, the hastha ‘Alapadma’ is used to denote a lotus, moon, beautiful, a container among many other usages.

Vaachika Abhinaya refers to communication through words from prose, poetry, literature etc., The lyrics of the songs rendered by the vocalist and performed by the dancer form the ‘Vaachika Abhinaya’.

Aaharya Abhinaya refers to all that is communicated through stage-décor, make-up and attire which attribute to the aesthetics of the dance performance. Each piece of the traditional jewellery worn by a Bharatanatyam dancer has a special significance. For example the ‘salangai’ (bells or anklets) besides creating the beautiful sounds as the feet tap are also said to protect the ankles of the dancer. The costumes usually made from silk (though these days they are made from other fabrics as well) are stitched in various designs, maintaining the comfort, dignity and beauty of the whole dance presentation.

Saathvika Abhinaya refers to the expression of emotions and thoughts. Considered probably as the crux of the art of Bharatanatyam, ‘Saathvika Abhinaya’ leads to the creation of ‘Rasa’ (enjoyment, rapport and an experience of satisfaction) in the audience. It is essential to have ‘bhava’ (feeling or emotion) which when communicated by a skillful artiste creates the ‘Rasa’ in the viewer. The ultimate aim of the art of dance is to achieve this aesthetic relish.

The themes portrayed in Bharatanatyam reflect and revolve around the ‘Navarasa’ or nine types of sentiments which are conveyed through the various dance compositions. The ‘Navarasa’ include Shringara (love), Haasya (laughter), Karuna (compassion), Roudra (anger), Veera (courage), Bhayanaka (fear), Bheebatsa (disgust), Adbhuta (wonder) and Shaantha (peace).

Nevertheless, it is also to be understood that emotions, feelings and sentiments can never have boundaries or have numbers attributed to them and it is a combination and interplay of various sentiments that evoke ‘bhava’ and ‘rasa’.

While performing abhinaya, the dancer understands the meaning of each word, every line and the entire verse, experiences the underlying emotion of the verse and then interprets it through facial expressions and gestures. Here, the unique quality of Bharatanatyam is that this interpretation is marked by restraint, grace and suggestiveness.

When a particular line of a song is elaborated either with varied ways of interpreting the meaning with different expressions and gestures or by depicting stories that relate to the theme of the line, it is called as ‘Sanchari Bhava’. And this elaboration marked by creativity and spontaneity highlights the abhinaya prowess of an artiste.

Various life experiences, inspiration from nature, extensive research, reading of literature, an understanding of varied artforms and a keen observation of performances by experienced artistes help to hone the skills in abhinaya.

Margam—The Format of a Bharatanatyam RecitalA programme of Bharatanatyam is said to have attained its present format about 200 years ago in Tanjore in South India. Earlier, the dance numbers of a Bharatanatyam recital are believed to have existed with different names and forms, several centuries ago.

The concert format called as the ‘Margam’ (which also means path) was designed by the renowned court musicians the Thanjavur Quartette—Chinniah, Ponniah, Sivanandam and Vadivelu. The ‘Margam’ format beautifully showcases a logical sequence of the various facets of Bharatanatyam.

In a ‘Margam’ the opening number is an invocatory piece paying obeisance to the Almighty and the audience. There are varieties of opening numbers which include the ‘Melapraapthi’, ‘Thodaya Mangalam’ (an auspicious opening), ‘Pushpanjali’ (offering with flowers) and ‘Alarippu’ (blossoming and giving joy). Commencing with slow movements of the neck, shoulders, hands and then the whole body, the ‘Alarippu’ is a nice warm-up, also suggesting a slow blossoming of the dance performance.

The second dance number is traditionally a ‘Jatiswaram’, which is based purely on nritta and features rhythmic dance sequences (korvais) set to swaras or musical notes. It showcases the beauty of the visual geometry of Bharatanatyam, but does not interpret any meaning.

The third piece is the ‘Shabdam’, where abhinaya is used to interpret the meaning of a song. Set to a combination of ragas (ragamalika or different melodies) and to beats of seven (misrachapu tala), the shabdam is usually in praise of a deity. Sometimes, a ‘Kauthuvam’ which is a hymn may be performed in the place of a Shabdam.

The most important, captivating, demanding and the longest piece of a Bharatanatyam recital is the ‘Varnam’. The word ‘Varna’ itself can be interpreted as form, colour, picture and description.

The varnam has an equal measure of all the aspects of Bharatanatyam, bringing out the essence of nritta and abhinaya.

The varnam has two divisions—‘Purvanga’ (first half which has ‘theermanams’—rhythmic sequences followed by ‘abhinaya’ for each line of the song and ‘mukthayi swara’ or ‘chitta swara’ melodic patterns followed by abhinaya) and the ‘Uttaranga’ (second half which begins with a brisk ‘Ettugadai jathi’ followed by ‘Charana Swaras’ or ‘Ettugadai Swaras’ and the abhinaya for each line of the song that follows). The tempo is slow in the first half, builds up in the second half and reaches a crescendo at the end, leaving the dancer and the audience with a fulfilling sense of joy.

The varnam is usually themed on ‘Shringara’ (romantic love) or ‘bhakti’ (devotion).

After the varnam, there is a certain calmness and performed in a slow tempo is the ‘Padam’. A love lyric or a song of devotion, the ‘padam’ is a beautiful piece, highly stylized, subtle and dignified, and is

abhinaya oriented.

Following the padam is a ‘Javali’, a piece adapting a lighter and peppy style, earthly and colloquial and themed on ‘Shringara’.

Performed at the end of a Bharatanatyam recital is the ‘Thillana’ a joyous dance number. Based on nritta and faster in tempo, the thillana has beautiful adavu patterns woven together, with a short verse in praise of a deity.

The ‘Mangalam’ or a ‘Shloka’ is presented as an auspicious conclusion for the recital and the dancer pays obeisance yet again to God and thanks the audience for their presence.

Music for BharatanatyamThe compositions of the Bharatanatyam repertoire are traditionally based on Carnatic music. Hence it is the system of ragas (the melodic aspect) and talas (time measure) that is the base and the lifeline of Bharatanatyam…

The raga and the tala of a music composition reflect the mood of the theme portrayed through dance. And the traditional lyrics are in Indian languages, mostly in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

Today, we do find compositions in all the other Indian languages or even music from other countries being interpreted in Bharatanatyam, according to the imagination and creative expression of various artistes.

Some of the great composers whose compositions are often presented in Bharatanatyam are Jayadeva, Annamacharya, Arunagirinathar, Purandaradasa, Kshetrayya, Narayana Thirtha, Sarangapani, Muthu Thandavar, Pattabhiramayya, Uthukadu Venkatasubbiyer, the Trinity (Thyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshithar, Syama Sastri), Arunachala Kavirayar, Maharaja Swati Tirunal, Gopalakrishna Bharati, Ghanam Krishna Iyer, Tanjore Quartette, Ramaswami Sivan, Papanasam Sivan, Subramanya Bharathi, Ambujam Krishna, Vidwan Madurai N. Krishnan, Dr M. Balamuralikrishna and Lalgudi G. Jayaraman.

An orchestra for a Bharatanatyam recital usually comprises the vocal, nattuvangam (cymbals), mridangam, violin, veena, flute and tambura. These days, a variety of other instruments are also used. The accompanying musicians are seated on the right side of the dancer on the stage. In today’s high-tech world we also find pre-recorded music played from CDs backstage. However, a spontaneous interaction between a seasoned dancer, the vocalist and the musicians, which is seen when there is a live orchestra, has its own charm…


Themes and Social RelevanceAny form of art…music, dance, painting, sculpture and even literature reflects the society we live in, at a given period of time. And Bharatanatyam too which is thousands of years old, traditionally belongs to a context of time and place where it originated from. In olden days, since the temple was the seat of art and culture and since the arts were patronized by the Kings, most of the traditional compositions are in praise of a deity or a King. They are mostly devotional or themed on Shringara (love) and addressed to the deity or patron.

While discussing themes, it is important to understand the concept of ‘Nayaka’ (hero) and ‘Nayika’(heroine) which forms an integral part of Bharatanatyam. Texts on dance speak of the various states of the heroine (popularly the ‘Ashtanayika’ or the eight states) in relation to the hero. Since most of the traditional compositions are themed on the love of the heroine for her lord, the nayaka-nayika bhava receives much contemplation while learning the art. And with the emotion of love being so powerful, overwhelming and universal, compositions themed on ‘Shringara’ continue to be a popular choice.

On the other hand, considering that Bharatanatyam is a form of worship, the experience of presenting compositions themed on ‘bhakti’ or devotion is relished by many.

Over the years, with research and the inspiration to create new productions, several Bharatanatyam artistes have worked on a variety of themes drawn from the treasure trove of Indian epics, literature, puranas, mythological stories and poetry besides having new compositions created to suit the changing interests of the audience today.

While originally Bharatanatyam is presented as a solo performance, it is now also being showcased as group productions, with lighting and theatrical effects, elaborate costumes and adapting a more dramatic style.

Constantly Evolving…A topic often discussed in Bharatanatyam is about the style or the bani an artiste practises. The most popularly known traditional styles include the Pandanallur, Tanjore, Vazhuvoor and Melattur. The names refer to the places where Bharatanatyam was taught by nattuvanars in olden times. While the basics are the same, the variations in the styles are seen in the way an adavu may be performed. Over the years, these styles have also been developed and adapted by the senior practitioners and teachers of Bharatanatyam, one among them being the Kalakshetra style, developed by Rukmini Devi.

With changing times, Bharatanatyam as an artform has also evolved, rather is constantly evolving…from themes, music, attire, new variations of adavus to teaching methods, new choreography, different venues of performances, collaborations with other artistic styles, media relations and public relations activities pursued by artistes…several new dimensions are being added everyday…

The magnificence of this art is such that while its traditional format or presentation has attained more value and richness today, it still embraces newness and a constant flow of change. And it is the artistes who practise, nurture and pursue it with a passion and responsibility that keep this beautiful dance of Bharatanatyam alive…

* Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Silambam, Sydney

www.silambam.wordpress.com / www.arunasubbiah.com

Refrences:

Prof Sudharani Raghupathy, ‘Laghu Bharatham—Vol. I, II, III’, Shree Bharatalaya, 1995–1999.

Dr V. Raghavan, ‘Splendours of Indian Dance’, Dr V. Raghavan Centre for Performing Arts, 2004.

Ameliorating the Effects of Climate Change with Soil Carbon:

Increasing Soil Carbon, Crop Productivity and Farm Profitability-Andre Leu*

IntroductionClimate change is one of the major issues affecting all of us on our planet. Experts expect that it will have a negative effect on our food supply due to more frequent adverse weather events leading to increasing crop failures. The security of our food supply concerns all of us.

It is possible to have farming systems that sequester more atmospheric greenhouse gases than they emit and help reverse the cause of climate change. These farming systems are also more resilient in the weather extremes of floods and droughts that are predicted as part of global warming. Scientific studies show that by increasing soil carbon, farming systems can have significantly less nutrient and pesticide runoff. This is particularly important where our agricultural activities are affecting the water quality in sensitive area such as the Great Barrier Reef. The latest report from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority states: “Water quality in the Great Barrier Reef is principally affected by land-based activities in its adjacent catchments, including vegetation modification, grazing, agriculture, urban development, industrial development and aquaculture. Nutrients, sediments and pesticides are the pollutants of most concern for the health of the Great Barrier Reef.” (Prange, J. et al., 2007)

One of the central tenets of organic farming is to improve soil health and productivity by increasing organic matter (carbon) levels, particularly humus. Organic systems have higher yields than conventional farming systems in weather extremes such as floods and droughts. (Drinkwater, L.E., Wagoner, P. & Sarrantonio, M. 1998, Welsh, R. 1999)

Systems Use Water More EfficientlyResearch shows that organic systems use water more efficiently due to better soil structure and higher levels of humus. (Lotter 2003, Pimentel 2005) ‘Soil water held in the crop root zone was measured and shown to be consistently higher by a statistically significant margin in the organic plots than the conventional plots, due to the higher organic matter content in the organic treated soils’ (Lotter 2003).

The open structure allows rain water to quickly penetrate the soil, resulting in less water loss from run off. ‘The exceptional water capture capability of the organic treatments stood out during the torrential downpours during hurricane Floyd in September of 1999. The organic systems captured about twice as much water as the CNV [conventional] treatment during that two day event’ (Lotter 2003).

Humus stores 20 times its weight in water so that rain and irrigation water is not lost through leaching or evaporation (Handrek 1990, Stevenson 1998, Handrek and Black 2002). It is stored in the soil for later use by the plants (Drinkwater 1998, Zimmer 2000, Mader 2002). One consistent piece of information coming from many studies is that organic agriculture performs better than conventional agriculture in adverse weather events, such as droughts (Drinkwater, L.E., Wagoner, P. & Sarrantonio, M. 1998, Welsh, R. 1999, Lotter 2003, Pimentel 2005).

Erosion and Soil LossSoil loss and erosion from farming systems is a major concern around the world (MA Report 2005, Prange, J. et al., 2007). Comparison studies have shown that organic systems have less soil loss due to the better soil health (Reganold, et al., 1987, Reganold, et al., 2001, Mader, et al., 2002, Pimentel 2005).

Nitrogen LossThe use of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers is responsible for one of the major greenhouse gases (nitrous oxide) and for the leaching of water-soluble forms of nitrogen causing pollution in aquatic systems. There is a growing body of data showing that organic systems are far more efficient in using nitrogen, resulting in much lower levels of greenhouse gases and soluble leachates. This is due to the soil carbon, particularly the humus fraction binding onto the nitrogen molecules and ions. (Mader, et al., 2002)

Greenhouse Gas AbatementVery importantly organic agriculture can help reverse climate change. Published peer review scientific studies in North America and Europe show that best practice organic agriculture emits less greenhouse


gases than conventional agriculture and the carbon sequestration from increasing soil organic matter leads to a net reduction in greenhouse gases. (Drinkwater, L.E., Wagoner, P. & Sarrantonio, M. 1998, Mader, P. et al., 2002, Pimentel, D. 2005, Reganold, J.P., et al., 2001)

Organic agriculture helps to reduce greenhouse gases by converting atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) into soil organic matter. Some forms of conventional agriculture have caused a massive decline in soil organic matter, due to oxidizing organic carbon by incorrect tillage, the overuse of nitrogen fertilizers and from topsoil loss through wind and water erosion.

How do Farming Systems Increase Soil Carbon?The correct farming techniques can sequester carbon into the soil and reverse the greenhouse gases created by Agriculture. The processes to increase soil carbon can be divided into three steps:

(1) Use plants to grow soil carbon

(2) Use microorganisms to convert soil carbon into stable forms

(3) Avoid farming techniques that destroy soil carbon.

Why is Carbon Important to Productive Farming?Soil carbon is one of the most neglected yet most important factors in soil fertility, disease control, water efficiency and farm productivity. Humus and its related acids are significantly important forms of carbon.

Benefits of Humus Humus improves Nutrient AvailabilityStores 90 to 95% of the nitrogen in the soil, 15 to 80% of phosphorus and 50 to 20% of sulphur in the soil.

› Has many sites that hold minerals and consequently dramatically increases the soils TEC (The amount of plant available nutrients that the soil can store).

› Stores cations, such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and all trace elements.

› Prevents nutrient leaching by holding them.

› Organic acids (humic, fulvic, ulmic and others) help make minerals available by dissolving locked up minerals.

› Prevents mineral ions from being locked up.

› Encourages a range of microbes that make locked up minerals available to plants.

› Helps to neutralise the pH.

› Buffers the soil from strong changes in pH.

Humus improves Soil Structure

› Promotes good soil structure which creates soil spaces for air and water.

› Assists with good/strong ped formation.

› Encourages macro organisms (ie earthworms and beetles etc) that form pores in the soil.

Humus Directly assists Plants:

› The spaces allow microorganisms to turn the nitrogen in the air into nitrate and ammonia.

› Soil carbon dioxide contained in these air spaces increases plant growth.

› Helps plant and microbial growth through growth stimulating compounds.

› Helps root growth, by making it easy for roots to travel through the soil.

Humus improves Soil Water Relationships:

› The open structure increases rain absorption.

› Decreases water loss from run off.

› Humus molecules soak up to 20 times their weight in water.

› It is stored in the soil for later use by the plants.

› Improved ped formation helps the soil stay well drained. (Handrek 1990, Zimmer 2000)

Use Plants to grow Soil CarbonThe most economical and effective way to increase soil carbon is to grow it. Plants get between 95 and 98% of their minerals from the air and water. In the chemical composition of an average plant, Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen account for over 95% of the minerals. The remaining 5% or less comes from the soil. These minerals are combined using the energy of the sun via photosynthesis to produce the carbon based compounds that plants need to grow and reproduce.

The Carbon Gift—How Plants Increase Soil CarbonAbout 30–60% of the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbed by plants is deposited into the soil as organic matter in the form of bud sheaths that protect the delicate root tips and as a range of other root excretions. These complex carbon compounds contain the complete range of minerals used by plants and are one of the ways that minerals are distributed throughout the topsoil. They feed billions of microbes—actinomycetes, bacteria and fungi that

are beneficial to plants. Greatest concentrations of microorganisms are found close to the roots of plants. This important area is called the Rhizosphere. These organisms perform a wide range of functions from helping to make soil minerals bio available to protecting plants from disease. Plant roots put many tonnes of complex carbon molecules and bio available minerals per hectare into the soil every year and are a very important part of the process of forming topsoils and good soil structure. So well managed plants can put more bio available nutrients into the soil than they remove from it. Also the nutrients they put into the soil are some of the most important to the crop, to beneficial organisms and to the structure and fertility of the soil.

Managing Weeds to increase Soil CarbonIf we prevent the weeds from choking our crop, especially from getting the important sunlight, they can be increasing the fertility and health of the soil and actually helping our crop, rather than hindering it. If the weeds are managed properly, and their residues are allowed to return to the soil, their nutrient removal from the soil is zero. In fact, as they are adding between 30% to 60% of the organic compounds they create through photosynthesis into the soil they are increasing soil fertility. Studies of weed fallows and the microorganisms that they feed, show that they help with increasing the bioavailability of the minerals that are locked into the soil. Soil tests show an increase in soil fertility after weed fallows and when plants are grown as green manures. It is one of the reasons why ground cover fallows restore soil health. They return tonnes of carbon into the soil, feed the microorganisms that make nutrients bio available and reduce soil pathogens. The important thing is to ensure that the soil has adequate levels of all the minerals and moisture necessary for growth and that the weed management practices allow the

crop to be the dominant plants.

Techniques where weeds are cut down, pulled or grazed and so that their residues will return to the soil will feed the crop. Cutting and grazing plants will result in significant percentages of roots being shed off so that the weed or cover crop plants can re-establish an equilibrium between their leaf and root areas. These cast off roots not only add carbon and feed the soil microorganisms, they release nutrients to the crop and significantly lower nutrient and water competition. This addition of nutrients encourages the crop roots to grow deeper in the soil, below the weed roots resulting in larger crop root systems and better access to water and soil nutrients. These techniques, actually increase the efficiency of the farm surface area capturing sunlight and using photosynthesis to make the carbon based molecules that eventually result in the fertile soils that feed our plants. It is the nutrients that we lose off farm, either through selling the crop, through soil leaching or erosion that need to be replaced every year. Good fertilisation should always ensure that our soil has the optimum level of all the necessary minerals. If we do not replace the minerals that we remove from our soil when we sell our crop, we are mining our soil and running it down.

One of the reasons why good organic farmers notice that weeds do not become a problem in their systems is because they ensure they have excellent soil nutrition and health by using weed management techniques that build up the soil. The process becomes one of effective


weed management rather than weed eradication. One of the problems with herbicides is that by killing the ground cover plants, they stop the food supply that feeds these beneficials thereby lowering the count of beneficial species. Consequently soil borne pathogens like Phytophthora and Fusarium can take over, as the species that kept them under control are significantly reduced.

Use Microorganisms to convert Soil Carbon into Stable FormsThe stable forms of soil carbon such as humus and glomalin are manufactured by microorganisms. (Ingham 2003) They convert the carbon compounds that are readily oxidised into CO2 into stable polymers that can last thousands of years in the soil. (Handrek 1990)

Some of the current conventional farming techniques result in the soil carbon deposited by plant roots being oxidised and converted back into in carbon dioxide. This is the reason why soil organic matter (carbon) levels continue to decline in these farming systems. The other significant depositories of carbon are the soil organisms. Research shows that they form a considerable percentage of soil carbon. It is essential to manage the soil to maintain high levels of soil organisms. Also it is essential that farming techniques stimulate the species of soil microorganisms that create stable carbons, rather than stimulating the species that consume carbon and convert it into CO2.

Creating Stable CarbonThe process of making composts uses microbes to build humus and other stable carbons. The microorganisms that create compost continue working in the soil after compost applications, converting the carbon gifted by plants roots into stable forms. Regular applications of compost and/or compost teas will inoculate the soil with beneficial organisms that build humus and other long lasting carbon polymers. Over time these species will predominate over the species that chew up carbon into CO2. Regular applications of composts and/or compost tea also increase the number and diversity of species living in the soil biomass. This ensures that a significant proportion of soil carbon is stored in living species that will make minerals plant available and protect the health of the plants.

CompostGood quality compost is one of the most important ways to improve soil. It is very important to understand that compost is a lot more than a fertilizer. Compost contains humus, humic acids and most importantly a large number of beneficial microorganisms, that have a major role in the process of building healthy soils.

Benefits of Composts

Humus

› Adds humus and organic matter to the soil.

› Inoculates soil with humus building microorganisms.

› Improves soil structure to allow better infiltration of air and water.

› Humus stores 20 times it weight in water and significantly increases the capacity of soil to store water.

Nutrients

› Mineral Nutrients

› Organic based nutrients

› Contains a complete range of nutrients

› Slow release

› Does not leach into aquatic environment.

Beneficial Micro-Organisms

Supplies a large range of beneficial fungi, bacteria and other useful species

› Suppresses soil pathogens

› Fixes nitrogen

› Increases soil carbon

› Release of locked up soil minerals

› Detoxifies poisons

› Feeds plants and soil life

› Builds soil structure.

Avoid Farming Techniques that destroy Soil CarbonThe continuous application of carbon as composts, manures, mulches and via plant growth will not increase soil carbon levels if farming practices destroy soil carbon. The following are some of the practices that result in a decline in carbon and alternatives that prevent this loss.

Reduce Nitrogen ApplicationsSynthetic nitrogen fertilisers are one of the major causes of the decline of soil carbon. This is because it stimulates a range of bacteria that feed on nitrogen and carbon to form amino acids for their growth and reproduction. These bacteria have a Carbon to Nitrogen ratio of around 30 to 1. In other words every ton of nitrogen applied results in the bacteria consuming 30 tons of carbon. The quick addition of these nitrogen fertilisers causes the nitrogen feeding

bacteria to rapidly multiply, consuming the soil carbon to build their cells. This process results in the stable forms being consumed causing a decline in the soil carbon levels. The best analogy is money in a bank. The addition of the large doses of nitrogen fertiliser is the equivalent of a large withdrawal. Freshly deposited carbon compounds tend to readily oxidise into CO2 unless they are converted into more stable forms. Stable forms of carbon take time to form. In many cases it requires years to rebuild the bank of stable carbon back to the previous levels. Ensuring that a carbon source is included with nitrogen fertilisers protects the soil carbon bank, as the microbes will use the added carbon, rather than degrading the stable soil carbon. Composts, animal manures, green manures and legumes are good examples of carbon based nitrogen sources.

Carbon Eaters rather than Carbon BuildersThe use of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers changes the soil biota to favour microorganisms that consume carbon, rather than the species that build humus and other stable forms of carbon. By stimulating high levels of species that consume soil carbon, the carbon never gets to increase and usually continues to slowly decline. The use of composts with microorganisms that build stable carbons will see soil carbon levels increase if the farm avoids practices that destroy soil carbon.

Reduce Herbicides, Pesticides and FungicidesUse of biocides (Herbicides, Pesticides and Fungicides) causes a decline in beneficial microorganisms. These chemicals cause a significant decline in the beneficial microorganisms that build humus, suppress diseases and make nutrients available to plants. Many of the herbicides and fungicides have been shown to kill off beneficial soil fungi. (Ingham 2003) These types of fungi have been shown to suppress diseases, increase nutrient uptake (particularly phosphorus) and form glomalin. Glomalin is a stable carbon polymer that forms long strings that work like reinforcing rods in the soil. They form a significant role in building a good soil structure that is resistant to erosion and compaction. The structure facilitates good aeration and water infiltration. Avoiding the use of toxic chemicals is an important part of the process of developing healthy soils that are teeming with the beneficial species that will build the stable forms of carbon.

Use Correct Tillage MethodsTillage is one of the oldest and most effective

methods to prepare planting beds and to control weeds. Unfortunately it is also one of the most abused methods resulting in soil loss, damage to the soil structure and carbon loss through oxidation when used incorrectly. It is important that tillage does not destroy soil structure by pulverising or smearing the soil peds. Farmers should be aware of the concept of good soil ‘tilth’. This is soil that is friable with a crumbly structure. Not a fine powder or large clumps. Both of these are indicators of poor structure and soil health. These conditions will increase the oxidation of organic matter turning it into CO2. Tillage should be done only when the soil has the correct moisture. Too wet and it smears and compresses. Too dry and it turns to dust and powder. Both of these effects result in long term soil damage that will reduce yields, increase susceptibility to pests and diseases, increase water and wind erosion and increase production costs. Tillage should be done at the correct speeds so that the soil cracks and separates around the peds leaving them in tack, rather than smashing or smearing the peds by travelling too fast. Good ped structure ensures that the soil is less prone to erosion. Deep tillage using rippers or chisel ploughs that result in minimal surface disturbance while opening up the subsoils to allow better aeration and water infiltration, are the preferred options. This will allow plant roots to grow deeper into the soil ensuring better nutrient and water uptake and greater carbon deposition. Minimal surface disturbance ensures that the soil is less prone to erosion and oxidation thereby reducing or preventing carbon loss.

Control Weeds without Soil DamageA large range of tillage methods can be used to control weeds in crops without damaging the soil and losing carbon. Various spring tynes, some types of harrows, star weeders, knives and brushes can be used to pull out young weeds with only minimal soil disturbance. Rotary hoes are very effective however this should be kept shallow at around 25 mm to avoid destroying the soil structure. The fine 25 mm layer of soil on the top acts as a mulch to suppress weed seeds when they germinate and conserves the deeper soil moisture and carbon. This ensures that carbon isn’t lost through oxidation in the bulk of the topsoil.The same principles of very shallow cultivation should also apply with cutter bars, knives etc when weeding. There are several cultivators with guidance systems, including GPS systems that ensure precision accuracy for controlling weeds. These can be set up with a wide range of implements and can be purchased in sizes suitable for small horticultural to large broadacre farms.


Avoid ErosionErosion is one significant ways that soil carbon is lost. The top few centimetres of soil is the area richest in carbon. When this thin layer of soil is lost due to rain or wind, the carbon is lost as well.

Avoid Burning StubblePractices such as burning stubble should be avoided. Burning creates greenhouses gases as well as exposing the soil to damage from erosion and oxidation.

Encourage Vegetation CoverVegetation cover is the best way to prevent soil and carbon loss. Effective management tools such as grazing or mowing can achieve better long term results.

Bare Soils should be avoided as much as PossibleBare soils lose organic matter through oxidation, the killing of microorganisms and through wind and rain erosion. Cultivated soils should be planted with a cover crop as quickly as possible. The cover crop will protect the soil from damage and add carbon and other nutrients as it grows. The correct choice of species can increase soil nitrogen, conserve soil moisture through mulching and suppress weeds by out competing them.

ConclusionEffective management of soil carbon not only reduces greenhouse gases by sequestrating carbon, the increase in soil carbon will increase the profitability of the farm by increasing soil fertility, increasing beneficial species, suppressing diseases, increasing water retention, improving drainage and aeration and increasing crop yields.References:Carson, R. (1962), Silent Spring, Penguin Books, New York, USA 1962.Cox, C. (2002), Glyphosate (Roundup) Journal of Pesticide Reform, Fall 1998, Vol. 18, No. 3 Updated 01-2002, Northwest Coalition Against Pesticides, Eugene, Oregon.Drinkwater, L.E., Wagoner, P. & Sarrantonio, M. (1998), Legume-based cropping systems have reduced carbon and nitrogen losses. Nature 396, 262–265 (1998).FAO (2003), Organic Agriculture: the Challenge of Sustaining Food Production while Enhancing Biodiversity, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.Handrek, K. (1990), Organic Matter and Soils, CSIRO, Australia, 1979, reprinted 1990.

Handrek, K. and Black, N. (2002), Growing Media for Ornamental Plants and Turf, UNSW Press, Sydney 2002.

Ingham, E. (2003), Repairing the Soil Foodweb, Proceedings of the Inaugural Queensland Organic Conference, Organic Producers Association of Queensland, 2003, PO Box 800, Mossman, Qld 4873.

Jones, C.E. (2006), Balancing the Greenhouse Equation—Part IV, Potential for high returns from more soil carbon, Australian Farm Journal, February 2006, pp. 55–58.

Mader, P. et al., (2002), Soil fertility and biodiversity in organic farming. Science, Vol 296

MA Report (2005), Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report, The United Nations Environment Programme March 2005.

Pimentel, D. et al. (2005), Environmental, Energetic and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems, Bioscience (Vol. 55:7), July 2005.

Prange, J. et al., (2007), Great Barrier Reef Water Quality Protection Plan, Annual Marine Monitoring Report, Reporting on data available from December 2004 to April 2006, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority 2007 ISSN 1832 - 9225.

Randerson, J., (2004), Organic Farming Increases Biodiversity, New Scientist, Oct 2004.

Reganold, J., Elliott, L. and Unger, Y., (1987), Long-term effects of organic and conventional farming on soil erosion, Nature 330, 370–372 (26 November 1987); doi:10.1038/330370a0.

Reganold, J., Glover, J., Andrews, P., and Hinman, H., (2001), Sustainability of three apple production systems. Nature 410, 926-930 (19 April 2001) | doi: 10.1038/35073574.

Rodale, (2003), Farm Systems Trial, The Rodale Institute 611 Siegfriedale Road Kutztown, PA 19530-9320 USA.

The Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting,

http://www.greenhouse.crc.org.au/reducing%5Fgreenhouse/bmp.cfm

Tilman, D., (2001), Science, April 9, 2001.

Welsh, R. (1999), Henry, A. Wallace Institute, The Economics of Organic Grain and Soybean Production in the Midwestern United States, Policy Studies Report No. 13, May 1999.

Stevenson, J., (1998), Humus Chemistry in Soil Chemistry p148 Wiley Pub. NY 1998.

Zimmer, G.F. (2000), The Biological Farmer. Acres USA, Austin Texas, 2000.

*Chair, Organic Federation of Australia

R. ShamashastryScholar Who discovered Arthashastra

-B.M.N. Murthy

T ill about the dawn of the 20th century there was a misconception in the Western world that everything in ancient India was moved

by otherworldly considerations, the society ignorant of statecraft, social affairs and administration. The turning point which removed this misconception, was the discovery of Kautilya’s ‘Arthashastra’ in Sanskrit. Though written 2,400 years earlier, the classic work was discovered as late as the 20th century. The singular credit for this discovery goes to Dr Rudrapatnam Shamashastry of Mysore who not only discovered the manuscript but heralded a new era in Indian administration and statecraft.

The history of ancient India pertaining to the 4th century BC, shows that it was Kautilya, also known as Vishnugupta or Chanakya, who overthrew the ruling Nanda dynasty and annointed Chandragupta Maurya as the King. Kautilya was a student of the Taxila University (then called Takshashila and now in Pakistan), the very first university to be founded in the world as early as in 700 B.C. He later taught in the same university for about four years.

It was this Kautilya who wrote ‘Arthashastra’ which is a monumental treatise on administration and civic affairs. This comprehensive work, must have been written some time between 321–296 BC.

It is a practical guide not only on running governmental organisations but also a work that deals with duties of Kings, Ministers, local officials, methods of diplomacy etc including ways and means of defeating an enemy. Encyclopedic in its coverage many scholars have wondered how one head could carry such a vast knowledge.

Among the libraries and research institutions in the country which preserve rare palm leaf manuscripts, the Mysore Oriental Library (now called the Oriental Research Institute) is well-known.

In 1891 the then Maharaja of Mysore State wanted

to celebrate the golden jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen Victoria’s accession to the British throne in a grand style and got a beautiful building built with a blend of classical architectural styles and named it Victoria Jubilee Institute. This is the same building in which the Oriental Library has been functioning for more than a century. It was here that the manuscript of Kautilya’s Arthashastra was first discovered. This library had a librarian named Rudrapatnam Shamashastry during 1905. Shastry hailed from a place known as Rudrapatnam on the banks of river Kaveri and was born in a Sankethi Brahmin family and in a community known for Vedic learning.

Even at a young age, Shastry showed a remarkable skill in learning the Vedas, the Upanishads and other sacred lore. Before he was forty, he had mastered most of the Vedas, the Vedangas, Classical Sanskrit, German, French and a few more foreign languages. In addition, he had learnt how to decipher several Oriental scripts.

The singular credit for this discovery goes to Dr Rudrapatnam Shamashastry of Mysore who not only discovered the manuscript but heralded a new era in Indian administration and statecraft


Shastry was a devoted and sincere librarian in the Oriental Library. Even though the job of dealing with ancient manuscripts, most of which in torn conditions and quite dusty, was difficult, risky and monotonous, he was dedicated to his job and took pleasure in his work. One day, sometime in 1905, he picked up some palm leaf manuscripts and on keen examination, was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was ‘Arthashastra’ of Kautilya. Examining it from several angles, Shastry was convinced that it was a genuine work of Kautilya.

In his introduction to the book written in 1909, Shastry says that he was convinced beyond doubt that Kautilya’s genuine work was a literary classic of the ancient world. It did not take long for the discovery to get publicity. Rudrapatnam Shamashastry became a celebrity. Scholars and academicians the world over started congratulating him for having ushered in a new era in Indian administration and statecraft by discovering Kautilya’s masterpiece. Eminent educationists and historians of the day literally vied with each other in inviting Shamashastry to their universities, honouring him and getting the benefit of the new discovery.

Shamashastry met Mahatma Gandhi in 1927 when he was camping at the Nandi Hills and presented him with a copy of ‘Arthashastra’. Gandhiji was immensely

pleased with his rare contribution to Indian polity and congratulated him. Rabindranath Tagore was all praise for the new discovery. The Washington University awarded a Doctorate to Shastry and the Royal Asiatic Society its Fellowship. The Government of India gave him the title ‘Mahamahopadhyaya’ , a rare and coveted honour to an Oriental scholar.

Dr Asutosh Mukherji, the renowned educationist of the 20th century and five times Vice Chancellor of the Calcutta University, invited Shamashastry to deliver a series of ten lectures in 1919 under the auspices of the Calcutta University.

These lectures under the title ‘Evolution of Indian Polity,’ were subsequently published in Mysore under the title, ‘Kautilya’s Arthashastra’, with an introduction by British Historian J.F. Fleet. Fleet says: “We are, and shall always remain, under a great obligation to Shamashastry for the most important addition to our means of studying the General History of ancient India”.

The Maharaja of Mysore once visited Germany for delivering a talk at the invitation of a German institution. After the lecture, a German gentleman approached His Highness and asked “Your Majesty, are you the Maharaja of Mysore where lives Dr Shamashastry, the discoverer of Arthashastra?” The Maharaja was pleasantly pleased that one of his own subjects was well-known in far off Germany.

On his return, he sent for Dr Shamashastry and said: “In Mysore State we are the Maharaja and you are the subject. But in Germany, you are the Master and people recognise us by Your name and fame”. The Maharaja awarded him with the title, “Arthashastra Visharada’ during the Dasara celebrations of 1926.

Shamashastry who passed away in 1944 was an extremely simple man with deep religious habits. Humility was his hallmark and he was always ready to help youngsters to come up in life. Western scholars had always argued that ancient India had learnt the art of administration from the Greeks ever since they came into contact with Greeks with the invasion of Alexander. But Shamashastry had proved them all wrong with his discovery of Arthashastra and showed how even the British had adopted some of the features contained in the treatise for their administration.

On the occasion of the Centenary Year (2009) of the publication of Kautilya’s Arthashastra, let us salute this discoverer of the 20th century, Dr Rudrapatnam Shamashastry!


Bhavan’s Children Section7.7 January 2010

Vishnu Creates the UniversesDespite the joy of the spiritual world, from time to time some residents want to leave. The Lord begs them to stay. Some souls, however, insist on leaving his service. Lord Vishnu reluctantly agrees, thinking, “Even I, powerful as I am, cannot interfere with their free choice. They want a world where they can be the centre of attention, and can be served and worshipped just like me. They want to be happy in this way. Finding this impossible, they will eventually return to their happy home. But now I shall create the material world to fulfil their selfish desires.”

First, in one corner of the spiritual sky, Vishnu creates a dark cloud. Then, he takes the colossal form of Maha Vishnu, lying there in meditation, as if soundly asleep. As he slowly exhales, countless universes pour out of his body, like streams of massive bubbles.

Did you know? The Vedas say that as Vishnu breathes in, the material universes re-enter his gigantic body. They last for trillions of years. For Maha Vishnu, however, they exist for less time than his one breath! We all experience time differently. For some people it passes quickly, for others more slowly. Even for ourselves, it changes. When we are happy it flies by, but when we are bored or miserable it seems never-ending.

The Birth of BrahmaAfter creating the universes, Lord Vishnu entered each one by dividing himself into many forms. In our universe, he filled the bottom half with a vast ocean. Krishna’s brother, Balarama, arrived from the spiritual world in a form called Shesha, a thousand-headed serpent who floated on the water. Vishnu enjoyed himself while lying on Shesha (just as we relax on a boat as it bobs on the sea).

From Vishnu’s navel sprouted a lotus flower. Swaying gently back and forth, it reached up into the universal sky. In the centre of its silk petals sat a four-headed being, called Brahma. Perched on top of the lotus, Brahma peered out into the darkness. Where was he? How had he got here? What should he do? Confused and afraid, he closed his eyes and began to meditate, hoping to find answers within himself. After what seemed like ages, he at last heard the sweet sound of a flute. Within his heart, he saw the beautiful form of Krishna, who began to speak.

“Brahma, I have created you as the engineer of this universe. Under my guidance, you will construct the worlds. Listen, as I tell you how.” Enchanted by Krishna’s words, Brahma listened with great attention.

Source: Creation: A Story from Ancient India, Rasamandala Das, ISKCON Education Services, pp 14–17, Contd: Next Issue


From Bhavan’s Journal Dec 15 1959. Reprinted in Bhavan’s Journal Dec 15 2009

Good Fortune and MisfortuneH.H. Jagadguru Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati

All created beings long for good fortune but do not know the means of acquiring it. And what man does not know Sastras seek to teach. When you come to think of it, good fortune or happiness is not a matter for joy at all, for it is but the expending process of our reserve punya, and unless you reimburse it by following the sastraic path, the reserve will dry up sooner than later. It might be argued that not all men following sastraic injuctions are happy or fortunate. True. Human life is a mixture of joy and sorrow, fortune and misfortune, contingent on the nature of each man’s past karma.

The Criterion of Optimum PopulationDr Arnold Toynbee

All human beings agree, as a matter of course, that the improvement of mankind’s health is an objective that ought to be pursued actively by the governments and the public alike. Whatever our objective may be, either in the field of population or in the field of nutrition, we shall do well to remind ourselves again that agreement and cooperation among governments will not be enough to bring the objective within mankind’s reach. This means that the political part of our task is only the beginning of it. Beyond that, there is an educational task. This will take time, since the gospel has to be preached to the whole of mankind, and a great majority of mankind is still fast bound by the bonds of ignorance and habit.

Is Astrology Irrational?Sri Aurobindo

Astrology considers all life circumstances to be Karma, mostly predetermined or indicated in the graph of the stars. Astrology, under certain intellectual attitude, might appear as childish superstition. Certain astrologers might be quacks or charlatans who seek to please their clients rather than predict by scientific rules and perhaps most of their predictions can go wrong. But the failure of doctors to heal diseases proves nothing against the science of medicine. The fundamental question is on planetary influences upon earth and its creatures. There is nothing essentially irrational in the idea that in this solar system, so closely linked together, there may be mutual influences of all the planets upon each other.

Grassroots of DemocracyJayaprakash Narayan

We have seen how from Cairo to Djakarta political systems based on some sort of a Constitution, some sort of a party system, some sort of a Parliament of Assembly have been brushed aside by dictators or military leaders who happen to appear on the scene. And, therefore, some of us in this country feel that the grassroots of democracy are as much, if not much more, important than the formal institutions of democracy such as Constitutions, legislatures, parties. Gandhiji wanted to build a new democratic India from below. And, therefore, he talked of the Gram Rajya and the Nagara Rajya. Unless every citizen or most of the citizens in the country realise the responsibilities of democracy and have the capacity to look after themselves, our democracy will remain always in danger. The final guarantee of democracy is the people themselves.

The world’s largesT core banking sysTem ToTal asseTs of aUd 374 bn, india’s gobal bank wiTh 89 offices in 32 coUnTries spanning all Time zones, commands nearly one-foUrTh of banking in an economy larger Than aUsTralia, markeT maker for indian rUpee exchange raTe, a bank UnToUched by global sUbprime crisis, bUsiness increased by aUd 77.69 bn, prime beneficiary of “flighT To qUaliTy, groUp profiT Up 68.11% in an enVironmenT of collapsing global banking, comforT of goVernmenT of india ownership, highly capiTalized bank, capiTal raTio aT 14.12%, Toxic asseTs aT a negligible 1.76% as on 31.3.2009, connecTing aUsTralia To india, “aTTracTiVe raTes for deposiTs”, finesT rUpee raTes in The markeT, rUpee markeT maker insTanT crediT To oVer 15,000 branches worlwide, The oldesT indian commercial bank, proViding banking since 1806, same day crediT To oVer 35000 oTher bank branches bank wiTh 84 offices in 32 coUnTries spanning all Time zones, markeT maker for indian rUpee exchange raTe,he world’s largesT core banking sysTem ToTal asseTs of aUd 374 bn, india’s gobal bank wiTh 89 offices in 32 coUnTries spanning all Time zones, commands nearly one-foUrTh of banking in an economy larger Than aUsTralia, markeT maker for indian rUpee exchange raTe, a bank UnToUched by global sUbprime crisis, bUsiness increased by aUd 77.69 bn, prime beneficiary of “flighT To qUaliTy, groUp profiT Up 68.11% in an enVironmenT of collapsing global banking, comforT of goVernmenT of india ownership, highly capiTalized bank, capiTal raTio aT 14.12%, Toxic asseTs aT a negligible 1.76% as on 31.3.2009, connecTing aUsTralia To india, “aTTracTiVe raTes for deposiTs”, finesT rUpee raTes in The markeT, rUpee markeT maker insTanT crediT To oVer 15,000 branches worlwide, The oldesT indian commercial bank, proViding banking since 1806,

same day crediT To oVer 35000 oTher bank branches bank wiTh 84 offices in

32 coUnTries spanning all Time zones, markeT maker for indian rUpee exchange raTe,he world’s largesT core banking sysTem ToTal asseTs of aUd 374 bn, india’s gobal bank wiTh 89 offices in 32 coUnTries spanning all Time zones, commands nearly one-foUrTh of banking in an economy larger Than aUsTralia, markeT maker for indian rUpee exchange raTe, a bank UnToUched by global sUbprime crisis, bUsiness increased by aUd 77.69 bn, prime beneficiary of “flighT To qUaliTy, groUp profiT Up 68.11% in an enVironmenT of collapsing global banking, comforT of goVernmenT of india ownership, highly capiTalized bank, capiTal raTio aT 14.12%, Toxic asseTs aT a negligible 1.76% as on 31.3.2009, connecTing aUsTralia To

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Holy & WiseEkam Sdvipra Bahudha Vadanti - That is one whom the learned call differently - Vedanta

God Looks After Us: God is with us and looks after us as if He had no other care besides. How this happens, I do not know, That it does happen, I do know. Those who have faith have all their cares lifted from off their shoulders. - Mahatma Gandhi

What the nation wants is pluck and scientific genius. We want a great spirit, tremendous energy and boundless enthusuasm - Golden Words of Swami Vivekananda

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” - Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. - Confucius

Dr K.M. MunshiFounder Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Yoga shows the way to GodYoga is what brings a living contact with God. At the same time, it does not imply a remote, silent or uplifted life. It is life as it is, a struggle, a battlefield. The central purpose of Yoga was to transform our superficial way of living into a deep and wide consciousness; to convert our fragmentary experiences into an inner and outer experience harmoniously integrated; to transform our Hitlerite ego into the universal spirit of Buddha and Ramakrishna; to transmute ordinary life into a life in God. As experience grew, I found that if Yoga means anything at all, my ordinary life has to be transformed by conscious effort into a life which can ultimately lead me to discover God in me.

Sri Krishna says, the only purpose of life is to live in God while discharging whatever tasks come before you; Mam aveshyasi Kaunteya. It is true; it is the only purpose of life. It is for this purpose only that the physical body has been endowed with the mind, the conscience and the fundamental aspirations.Yoga provides a rapid, conscious self-directed evolution. It is through it that, if I am a true aspirant, I can bypass this slow and confused growth, liberate the spirit and arm it with a superpersonal force. But Yoga does not stop there. Once the purposive evolution of Yoga begins, it grows into an all-embracing effort to realise God not only in one life but in order that a higher race of men is developed on earth.

TM

12- 14 March 2010Palm Grove, Cockle Bay - Darling Harbour

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