स्व : the inner self

Kalam-Krupa

2015-07-31T18:24:00.000-04:00

It was Ashadhi Ekadashi. I was observing a fast, and was working on my laptop, listening to some vitthala bhajans on my headphones. As usual, I had turned off the internet on my cell phone while working, in order to avoid the seemingly unstoppable whatsapp notifications. Disconnected from the net, I was blissfully ignorant of what was happening in the rest of the world. I took a break around noon, walked around, came back, and turned on the data on my phone just for a moment. And most of my active whatsapp groups were abuzz with the news: Abdul Kalam passed away, suffered a heart attack while addressing students at IIM Shillong. I was shocked, like crores of other Indians. I searched the net; the news was confirmed. An abhanga by Tukaram Maharaj was still playing in the background: "अणुरणिया थोकडा, तुका आकाशा एवढा". Tukaram, while describing his experience of self realization, says: Though I am insignificant as an atom, I am also as vast as the skies! Dr. Kalam has left the insignificant mortal body and has become one with the परब्रह्म (parabrahma). I couldn't stop my tears from flowing down my cheeks. After a couple of minutes, as I read through the news reports, the feeling of grief was replaced by a feeling of satisfaction and inspiration. He was 83, had accomplished the highest honors in life, and was still doing what he loved the most when he left us. What more can one ask for in life - or death? It was a death befitting a true karmayogi. Om Shantih.

Over the next few days, as the obituaries and eulogies started pouring in, I started reflecting on what his role in my life has been. And I realized that his life story has been a blessing —krupa— for me (and crores of others), even though I never had a chance to meet him.

I heard his name for the first time, in late 1990s from my father, who was reading the Vision 2020 book. With the help of my maternal grandfather, who was a retired professor of political science, my father pointed out some minor error in a reference in the book and wrote to Dr. Kalam; he promptly responded acknowledging the error. After that, my father read his two other books—Wings of Fire and Ignited Minds, and started telling us about him and quoting him in his talks, in the sangha circles and outside.

"Punyaatma, punya-neta, punyaadhikari.." - I still remember - ".. if the population of all the three were to increase in our society, then India would become the jagadguru" (Ignited Minds).

Many of my friends, my father's friends and colleagues at work as well as in the sangha were introduced to Abdul Kalam's work by my father. Later, one of his colleagues, Prof. Dabir, presented Kalam's life in the form of a kirtan. In July 2002, when Dr. Kalam became the President of India, many people who had heard about him through my father called at our home to congratulate my father!

I was a highschool student when I heard about Kalam first, and being from a Marathi-medium school, reading the English Wings of Fire proved a bit tough for me. Thankfully, the Marathi translation अग्निपंख (Agnipankha) was available and is equally inspiring. When I went to college, my father gifted me Ignited Minds. During the same time, I happened to meet Dr. Mohan Bhagwat at a sangha shiksha varga near Surathkal. He asked me if I was reading any new books, and when I told him about these two, Mohan ji remarked, "Very good, his books are like our sangha baudhiks." Both these books had a great impact on me. Many incidents from Kalam's life and many quotes from his books still reverberate in my mind. I remember how he shares that the front page of the newspaper he opened on a morning in Tel Aviv was full of Israel's successful experiments with farming in the desert—a positive news, even though there was a terror attack just the previous night—it was covered on inner pages. This attitude of focusing on and highlighting our positive side, and not our problems, needs to be internalized by individuals as well as societies. His tryst with failure —when he wanted to become a pilot, went to Delhi to give the test, was ranked ninth on the list, and only the first eight were selected— is a representative scenario for every youth; the type and intensity of "failure" might vary. And what happened after that is an inspiration and a life lesson. In that disappointed, dejected state of mind he went to the Himalayas. By some divine force, he found himself at Swami Sivananda's Divine Life Society in Rushikesh. "Forget this failure, as it was essential to lead you to your destined path", Swamiji told him. The world knows that Kalam's destiny was not in flying a military aircraft, but in designing much mightier missiles for our nation. Swami Sivananda reportedly also reiterated Bhagwan Krishna's mantra: "Defeat the defeatist tendency". Kalam notes that this mantra comes to him whenever he is in trouble. I must say this incident has made a great impact on my own life and has kept me untouched by any depression or negative thoughts.

Kalam, along with Swami Vivekananda, Chhatrapati Shivaji, and of course the Sangha, continued to guide me throughout my college life, and beyond. In the year book of my final year of engineering, in the column for inspirational quotes, I noted: "For all your days prepare, And meet them ever alike; When you are the anvil, bear; When you are the hammer, strike." This is attributed to American poet Edwin Markham, but I read it in Wings of Fire first.

In January 2009, when my sister Madhura was studying to become a dentist in Nagpur, Ram Krishna Math, Pune organized a nationwide essary competition on Swami Vivekananda's message to the youth, as a part of their silver jubilee celebration. Madhura took part in it, inspired by Swamiji's life, as well as by the prospects of meeting Dr. Kalam, who, it was declared, will be the chief guest at the award ceremony. Madhura prepared well and wrote an excellent essay in Marathi that won a consolation prize. It was a moment of great pride for my entire family when she went on to the stage and recieved the award from Dr. Kalam himself. Since the event was in Maharashtra, and hers was the only Marathi essay to win a prize, the crowd cheered her with a relatively larger applause; the celebrated chief guest was sensitive enough to acknowledge it, and spoke a few words with her. (In the same visit to Pune, Madhura and our mother got a chance to briefly meet another Bharat Ratna - Pt. Bhimsen Joshi.)

Then last year, when Dr. Kalam visited Nagpur to take part in an event organized by Vijnana Bharati. He visited Smruti Mandir, the samaadhi (memorial) of Dr. Hedgewar, the founder of the RSS, and offered tributes. My father was one of the sangha karyakartas who received him at the venue.

We all know about the achievements of Dr. Kalam: his leading the missile program that developed Agni, Nag, Pruthvi; his role in India's successful nuclear tests; his vision to use the advanced technology in defense to also make low weight, easy to use equipments for physically challenged individuals; some of his decisions while at the Rashtrapati Bhavan; and of course his larger Vision 2020 for India's comprehensive development, and tireless work for inspiring the youth towards that. These are his blossoming virtures, or things that one would put in a resume; but we remember people not so much by what they achieve, but by how they behave with us, by what are called the ripening virtues. Dr. Kalam had both aplenty, and that's what makes him special. I think the memory of his last day that his colleague, Srijan Pal Singh, has shared speaks volumes about this: him asking the security guard who had to remain standing for hours about his well being, and offering some food to him, was very touching.

He lived a great life. His being a Muslim never affected crores of his "students" ever, even before or after his presidency. Unfortunately, it was brought up after his demise. "A great Muslim died on an auspicious day of Hindus in a Christian city. He maintained secularism and democracy in death too." — a message was being shared on Twitter and Whatsapp, mindlessly, like most other forwards. It's high time we learn to look beyond such token secularism constructs. Our youth, especially those who claim to take inspiration from Kalam, should be able to critically evaluate such goodie goodie but stupid messages: how does Shillong become a "Christian" city? If the answer is because it has 60% Christian population, why do the same set of people who cheered this message frown when our country with 80% Hindu population is called a Hindu Rashtra? Secularism was not something Kalam had to show off; it came naturally to him: he quoted from Gita and Thirukkural in his speeches, he routinely met spiritual leaders of all Dharmic panths and believed in their power to transform the masses—something our "secular celebrities" would scoff at, and in a true secular step, stopped the state funded iftar parties at Rashtrapati Bhavan, donating the money to orphanages instead. Anyway. The secularism debate is a separate and serious topic, and I will perhaps write about it another time, but my point here is, if we blindly follow and forward such messages, we are not applauding the real giants like Kalam, but in fact demeaning him, by reducing his real work to such tokenism.

Kalam always did and will continue to serve as an inspiration for several generations. Our job does not stop at sharing some tweets and pics about/of him for a few days, or even circulate petitions for naming universities and roads after him (Srijan Pal thinks he wouldn't have agreed with it anyways), and then get back to the same old routine. A real tribute will be if we —all of us— work towards strengthening the punyaatma, punya neta, punyaadhikari triangle he used to talk about. That is not an easy job. Each one of us should pledge to start the work from him/herself —becoming punyaatma (viruous individual)— and work on it every moment every day. As James Froude said, "You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one", and as we sing in a sangha geet:

साधना नित्य साधना, साधना अखंड साधना

saadhana - nitya saadhana, saadhana - akhanda saadhana

That's what Kalam was doing, till his last breath.

In response to an unknown frustrated med. student

2015-05-24T23:55:00.000-04:00

WhatsApp (and other social media) are a great source of being connected to your friends —old and new— and also for staying abreast of current affairs, sharing opinions, even creating opinions. It is also a platform for spreading rumors and wrong messages. Hardly anyone verifies what we get in a forwarded messages. Most people I know tend to ignore such messages — thankfully; some tend to question its veracity and a few take efforts to think through those and perhaps post a rebuttal. I am one of those few :-)

Today I received this message on our school group:
—————————————————————

Dr. Praveen Angrish----

How much does it cost to educate a medical student?

6 lakhs? 13 lakhs?

Take the budget (yearly fund) of running a medical college and divide it by the number of medical students and you will get the figure.

But is this money really spent on the students?

Let's see.

What are the things bought with this money?

Medicines

ECG machines

Scanners (CT /USG)

Patient beds

Wards

Operation theatres....

THE WHOLE HOSPITAL BUILDING IS ONLY FOR THE PATIENTS!

What about the teachers?

The teachers are doctors, who are engaged full time in treating the sick (outpatient work, ward rounds, operations, medico legal - court and certificate work)

Basically they just explain the techniques of diagnosis and treatment to the medico during the routine work.

Theory and seminars (pure rescuing) are rare duties for these doctors- maybe once in a week or once in a month.

But are there staff only teaching?

Yes. There are three departments which do not routinely do patient- related work routinely.

Anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology.

WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER "NON CLINICAL" DEPARTMENTS? AREN'T THEY PURELY FOR TEACHING MEDICAL STUDENTS?

Even the so called "non clinical" departments like patho and micro are full time occupied in processing blood tests, infections and tissue samples.(patient care)

So this means there are just about 45 teaching staff, four or five lecture halls, some seminar halls, couple of hostels, and an "academic section" (13 clerks) and a principal - purely involved in teaching medical students!

The students have to pay tuition fees, van fees, hostel fees- to pay for all the above mentioned "luxuries"

SO.....

A MEDICAL COLLEGE IS JUST A SUPER-SPECIALTY HOSPITAL WITH MEDICAL STUDENTS OBSERVING THE PROCEDURES.

The money spent purely on the education of a medical student is so small, because......

all the (medical college) funds are used for patients, wards, even cold rooms to store dead bodies

BUT NOT FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS!

Now go to an engineering college.... Or , go to an arts college-

Everything there-

The buildings,

The countless numbers of

Lecture halls and seminar rooms

The office sections (all of them)

The laboratories,

The playgrounds,

And the salaries of every single teacher, clerk and sweeper....

IS FOR THE STUDENTS!

ONLY FOR THE STUDENTS!

No direct community service by the teachers!

Just teach the students and go home! No other work!

What about engineering colleges?

Their precision machinery, their high tech labs, their computers...

Does the civil engineering department build houses for the poor?

Does electrical department provide lighting for the rural?

Does chemical department help in control of pollution?

Does mechanical department help repair our transport buses?

NO!

but every single medical student serves the poor and needy during house surgeoncy!

No lunch!

No dinner!

No sleep!

And after that?One year RURAL SERVICE!

Does the B Com student help government in clerical work?

Does engineering student spend a year in PWD? or electricity board?

WHY NOT?

WHY IIT STUDENTS GO TO AMERICA WITHOUT SPENDING A SINGLE MINUTE IN SERVING INDIAN POOR?

Are IIT graduates allergic to India?

Dear friend, government spends crores on education, BUT NOT FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS!

In fact, a medical student is the CHEAPEST GRADUATE produced by the government. (cheaper than even BA literature or LLB)

Spread the word. Doctor owes less to society than a BCom failed student! But still they serve you!

Your money will not compensate their sacrifices.

Respect their service to you.

That's all they want in return.

If you have a doctor friend, a doctor relative, or a doctor whom you love and respect, show your love by forwarding this message!

—————————————————————

On the outset, it might sound like a genuine concern about the situation of medical students in India, but as I read through it, I realized that the author is making a mountain out of a molehill. So I decide to rebut some of his points.

Disclaimer: I have nothing against this said Dr. Praveen Angrish, the author of the message. I don't even know who he is, and I hope he is a good doctor and all in his professional life. It's just the tone of that message which sounds as if the government and the society at large is doing some grave injustice to the medical students, which, I think, needs to be challenged.

(1) He says, ```Basically they [med. college profs] just explain the techniques of diagnosis and treatment … A MEDICAL COLLEGE IS JUST A SUPER-SPECIALTY HOSPITAL WITH MEDICAL STUDENTS OBSERVING THE PROCEDURES.```

Well, what passes as teaching in other colleges or schools is nothing more than transfer of the knowledge in books to the heads of students via the teacher. That is becoming an increasingly mechanical job, and hardly reflects the real world situation. In our jobs today, how much time/energy do we spend in learning anything this way? We’d rather read a book, watch a video or ask a colleague, right? I am sure most of our medico friends on the group - and even non medicos - will agree that they received most of such ‘learning' from their friends and in hostel rooms rather than in classrooms, e.g. learning mnemonics to remember names of chemicals.
Secondly, how many of our medico friends here would like to substitute the “observing” part of their study with pure lectures. Dr. Angrish makes it sound like doing it is useless, and only classroom teaching is important, which the medicos are not getting enough of!

(2) Coming to engineering education, he says: ```No direct community service by the teachers!```

Are the medical teachers doing community service or research? Do they not publish papers out of what they do with their patients? Same happens with the engineering colleges. (Yes, I agree, with the sudden boom in the number of eng. colleges over last few years, you won’t see research happening everywhere, but that is a different problem altogether.) Moreover, if the med. colleges don’t have the easy patient inflow, when and where are our medical students going to get to do the practicals of various diseases and conditions they need to be ready with when they step out with the MBBS degree?
When my cousin got an admit from a med. college in Karnataka, his father, himself a physician in Delhi, went to the college and took a look at the OPD first. Only when he saw how diverse and rural it was, he was satisfied and put his son in.

```Does the civil engineering department build houses for the poor?```
The civil eng. department of my college NIT Surathkal had the most sophisticated labs in that region and the entire soil testing for Konkan Railway was done there. Similar domain based and need centric work is done in all the labs all the time.

(3) On the rural internship/bond:
I agree it’s not the best system, but at the same time, one cannot ignore the fact that rural India really needs good medical services which we -as a society- are not able to provide at present. One year bond was a stop-gap arrangement to take care of a part of that problem. Of course, mandating people to do something they don’t like never works in the long term, and I hope a better solution emerges soon.

(4) ```In fact, a medical student is the CHEAPEST GRADUATE produced by the government. (cheaper than even BA literature or LLB)```
Now that statement needs some hard data to back it up, but let me just put into perspective how cheap we all are, when compared to some developed countries. HSBC produced a report in 2014, where they ranked the USA the third costliest place wrt college fees. Their average per year cost is $36,564. This is a loaded figure, since there are so many different factors; let’s take a simplistic one - in state fees for public schools with 4 year undergrad program: $18,943/year. Multiply it by 4, you get $75,772, and convert it to rupees, you get Rs. 45,46,320. How much did we pay for our education? I’d say less than Rs. 4,00,000, on average. Edu. loan is one of the fastest growing debts in US, which has increased by 63% in last decade, by some estimates.

(5) ```Doctor owes less to society than a BCom failed student!```
I think we all owe a lot more than we realize. Let’s not trivialize it by crude comparisons.

***
Having said that, I don’t mean to belittle the struggle our med. students have to go through. Med. edu. has hundreds of problems, and they need to be addressed seriously. But such messages over-simplify things, which does not work for anyone. It is becoming an increasingly tough job to become a doctor, let alone to be a good one. I just hope they don’t get all frustrated by the end of it, and start hating everyone else :-)

Please don't RIP it

2015-05-02T12:17:00.000-04:00

In the world of 140-character twitter, it is but natural to use various acronyms or shorthands to express our feelings – happy or sad. LoL, TC, GN are now a part of common vocabulary of many of my friends – and mine too. Another such acronym which keeps popping up, though –thankfully– not as frequently as the others, is RIP. Of course it is not a digital-age acronym, and has been appearing on headstones for centuries. When the news of a celebrity passing hits the twitteratti, it transforms itself into a hashtag and dominates the digital landscape for some time, crossing the region-religion boundaries. Many of my friends use it – almost as a habit – without realizing that its roots lie deep in that part of the Abrahamic theology (the basis of Christianity, Judaism and Islam) which is not compatible with the Dharmic philosophy.

Rest In Peace (RIP) indicates resting of the departed soul, and begets the question: for how long, and for what purpose? The answer is: till the end of the world, for the judgement on the dead person's conduct in life, i.e., being sent to either an eternal hell or heaven. The day of judgement (qayamat in Islam) will see the resurrection of the dead, when the bodies from the graveyards will be brought back to life and everyone's deeds will be read out and judged. This, by the way, is the reason for burial as against cremation in Hinduism.

Hindus pray for the departing life's sadgati, meaning a good (sad-/sat-) passage (gati) of the aatman – from this life to another. Note: gati is antonymous to rest. There is no concept of eternal hell or heaven either. The aatman spends a brief period in the hell or heaven based on its paapa-punya, and then assumes another life form according to the karma-phala. Note: while sin is the English word for paapa, there is no equivalent of punya in Abrahamic theology – and hence English.
Karma and reincarnation are central to Dharmic philosophy; almost all Dharmic religions are in sync with it. Abrahamic religions are not. They cannot be. To believe in reincarnation will remove the exclusivity of Jesus, and will empower a Christian with the potential of attaining moksha via his/her own karma, instead of the dogmatic belief in one prophet's abilities to wash his/her sins.

If you believe you can uplift yourself — please don't RIP it!

Then what is a concise, twitter-friendly way of expressing our grief?
I would go for Om Shanti. It signifies the peaceful passage of the aatman, and is 100% Hindu.

Veer Vivekananda

2012-04-03T23:47:00.001-04:00

Following is an inspiring Marathi song about Swami Vivekananda.
I heard this song for the first time in January at the National Yuva Varg, Houston.
This song was created in 1963, as a part of Swamiji's birth centenary celebrations.
Next year is his 150th birth anniversary. Remembering the song again.

हे वीर विवेकानंद ! हे वीर विवेकानंद !
हे वीर विवेकानंद हिंदुयशमूर्ती
हे युवकप्रवर तू युवहृदयांची स्फूर्ती ।। ध्रु ।।

दास्यात पाहूनी विश्वधर्मजननी ही
तू क्षुब्ध सिंहसा व्याकुळ अंतर्यामी
मुक्तीचा तिचिया ध्यास तुला दिनराती ।। १ ।।

शतआघातांनी कुंठित-मूर्छित झाली
ही हिंदुचेतना फिरुनी तू चेतविली
तिज उन्नत-मस्तक निर्भय केले जगती ।। २ ।।

स्मरतात तुझे ते घनगर्जितसे शब्द
मन वज्र हवे अन् मनगट ते पोलाद
जग जिंकायाची ईर्ष्या दाटो चित्ती ।। ३ ।।

तव अमृतवाणी हाक देत आम्हांते
हे अतुलबलस्वी करू हिंदुराष्ट्राते
युवशक्ती हवी मज कार्यचरणपुरुषार्थी ।। ४ ।।

जी जीवनपुष्पे सतेज नवरक्ताची
स्थापावा त्यांनी धर्म आत्म अर्पूनी
त्यानेच अर्चना होत राष्ट्रदेवाची ।। ५ ।।

Rajiv Gandhi is the President of India

2011-02-05T15:42:00.003-05:00

A 'model' comes for the audition for 'MTV Rodies'. He is exuding ignorance. He says Ayodhya is the place where the Mahabharata war took place, and Rajiv Gandhi is the President of India. (No kidding. Check for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8BFzoR5b2w)

Probably everyone is laughing at him. But who is really responsible for this sorry state ? I wouldn't blame him alone (And he is not a lone example, mind you. He represents a small but influential set of the society).

I, for a moment, can understand if someone with little or no education is unaware of these things (I actually mean opportunity of education). But the fact that an English speaking, well-off youngster is so ignorant clearly speaks of some serious lacunae in our socio-educational system. He was provided with the right background and opportunity to learn these things, but their importance was not impressed upon him. He could get away with not knowing them while in school, and the smugness on his face showed that he hardly cares about them even today.

It is the collective responsibility of us - those who know, and know that they know, and care about what they know - to create an environment where the others would also at least care to know.

...

Just a night before I came across this video, I got to spend some quality time with a group of youngsters, who probably lie at the other end of the youth spectrum with respect to awareness and the desire for awareness.

We had an intense group discussion session, and like any discussion amongst peers, it often digressed from the main thread, touching the skies of hypothetical situations here and delving into the oceans of philosophy there, but mainly centered around this theme:

- one of the major problems of our country is mindlessly mimicking the west
- this mainly emerges out of enormous ignorance of our own culture
- no 'saviour' will come and change this situation for us: we have to do it
ourselves.

...

When I said, 'It is the collective responsibility of us to create a good environment', by 'us' I essentially meant these and countless such youth across the nation, who, well, can !

Slogans

2011-01-05T13:40:00.004-05:00

Conservation of the eco-system is turning out to be more challenging than ever. In time-management lingo, it is both important and urgent.

Many NGOs, government departments etc are using catchy slogans to emphasize the importance of saving water, electricity and other resources.

A sure way of attracting people towards any movement is to use catchy one-liners, phrases or slogans that carry the essence of the problem and appeal the audience on a very personal level.

Recently heard a couple of such slogans which are bound to bind the youth to the movement (source unknown):
1. "ped ke upar prem karo, ped ke neeche nahi"
2. "How would you feel if someone just turned you on and left? ... Save Electricity!"

I am sure you will definitely think twice before leaving a fan/light/tap on after reading this...

चहास्तोत्रम्

2010-02-18T00:09:00.007-05:00

आमचे परम मित्र श्री. निनाद साने यांनी नुकतेच मला एक महाबलशाली 'चहास्तोत्र' पाठविले. त्या स्तोत्राची महत्ता लगेचच पटल्याने त्या स्तोत्राचे रचयित्यास मनोमन नमन केले. तेव्हा श्रीवागीश्वरीने प्रसन्न होऊन अस्मादिकांकडून त्या स्तोत्राची फलश्रुती लिहून घेतली. आमच्या या कृतीचा वाचक सुहास्यवदनाने स्वीकार करतील, असा विश्वास आहे.
ते स्तोत्र व फलश्रुती येथे देत आहे. सर्वांनी लवकरात लवकर हे स्तोत्र कंठस्थ करून त्याचे विधिवत् पठण करावे व चहामृत-रूपी फलाची प्राप्ती करून घ्यावी, ही नम्र विनंती.

विद्यार्थी लभते डिप्-डिप्, धनार्थी लभते फुकट् |
आरोग्यार्थी-कृते गवती, मधुमेही शुगरफ्री मधुर् || १‌ ||
चहास्तोत्रम् महासिद्धम् प्रातर्नित्यम् पठन्ति ये |
न तद्-कृते दिनारम्भम् विना-चाहं युगे युगे || २ ||
सायं-प्रातः पठेन्यस्तु, लभेत् सदा आसाम-चहा |
त्रिसंध्यं यः पठेत् चापः, इच्छाचाही तु सः भवेत् || ३ ||
भावार्थ‌:
१. विद्यार्थ्याला डिप्-डिप् चहा, पैशाची चिन्ता करणार्याला फुकट, चांगल्या आरोग्याची कामना करणाऱ्याला गवती चहा, तर मधुमेही मनुष्याला शुगरफ्री साखरेचा पण गोड चहा, या स्तोत्राच्या पठणाने मिळतो.
२. हे महासिद्ध असे चहास्तोत्र जे रोज सकाळी म्हणतील, अनेकानेक युगांपर्यंत त्यांचा दिनारंभ चहाविना होणार नाही (रोज सकाळी उठल्यावर चहा नक्की मिळेल).
३. जो सकाळ-संध्याकाळ पठण करेल, त्याला सदैव आसाम चहा मिळेल. जो चाप (= चहा पिणारा) दिवसातून तीन वेळा हे स्तोत्र म्हणेल, तो 'इच्छाचाही' (=इच्छा करताच चहा प्राप्त करणारा) बनेल.

Khan you answer these questions ?

2010-02-14T00:31:00.004-05:00

Craze of movies and cricket in India (it's not much different in other countries, either) is at such a level that we idolize a good performer, and forget to keep his personal life and screen-/field-life separate. Both the fans and bashers end up loving/attacking their movie/game based on their opinion of the person.

The reason I am writing all this is, currently Shah Rukh Khan is under criticism for his comments about Pakistan and a political party has decided to take out their anger on his movie, My Name is Khan.
I distaste their way of protests, but I am equally apprehensive of his fans blindly ignoring the actual issue, saying "Yeh shivsena waalo ko to bahaana chahiye rada karne ko.." Although their way may be wrong, the issue can't be just ignored.

Various questions are raised about SRK's comments on Pakistan and related issues in recent times. Most of them are summarized in a long-but-a-well-written open-letter by Arindam Bandyopadhyay at http://www.blogs.ivarta.com/Open-letter-Mr-Shahrukh-Khan-SRK/blog-348.htm.

I hope Mr. Khan answers these questions soon, so that we can make a well-informed opinion about this great actor, but probably an irresponsible 'idol'.

---

PS: As shivsena started attacking theaters, Maharashtra government deployed several of its policemen to guard them. Then the blasts in Pune, killing 9 innocent people, occurred. Some gtalk/orkut/facebook/buzz comments said:
1. When 40 Police person will protect one movie theater and 13K police will protect one Rajkumar then why we are so much surprised about Pune bomb blast! It's almost expected.
2. Deputy CM:-We had intelligence report about the possible terror attacks'. (Haaaa..Ha..I guess, they must have read it as 'theatre' attacks)

खारवेल: सुनीतिमान् !

2010-02-12T12:26:00.001-05:00

देशाच्या खऱ्या शत्रूला विसरून स्वकीयांशीच लढणाऱ्या स्वार्थी, अ-दूरदर्शी राजनेत्यांना सुनीतिमान् खारवेल राजाचे स्मरण सद्बुद्धी देवो.

लोकसत्ता १० फेब्रुवारी
"कथासार"
खरा शत्रू कोण ?
http://www.loksatta.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46477:2010-02-09-15-05-46&catid=61:2009-07-20-04-02-48&Itemid=74#JOSC_TOP

मगध देशाचा राजा सम्राट अशोकने कलिंग देशावर स्वारी करून कलिंगवासीयांचा पराभव केला. या युद्धात कलिंग देशाचे अतोनात नुकसान झाले. त्यामुळे कलिंगवासीयांमध्ये मगध साम्राज्याविषयी विलक्षण चीड निर्माण झाली. कालांतराने कलिंग देशावर खारवेल नावाचा राजा सत्तेवर आला. तो अतिशय पराक्रमी होता. मगध साम्राज्याला धडा शिकविण्यासाठी तो अतिशय उत्सुक होता. त्याप्रमाणे त्याने संपूर्ण तयारी करून मगध देशावर आक्रमण करायचे ठरविले. मात्र त्याचवेळी त्याला कळले की, ग्रीकचा राजा डेमेट्रीअस हादेखील प्रचंड सेना घेऊन मगध देशावर स्वारी करणार आहे. एका दृष्टीने खारवेलाला अनुकूल ठरणारी अशीच ही गोष्ट होती. परंतु खारवेलने अधिक विचार केला असता त्याच्या असे निदर्शनास आले की, शेवटी ग्रीकचा राजा डेमेट्रीअस हा परकीय आहे आणि मगधचा राजा आपलाच देशबांधव आहे आणि आपला देशबांधव हा शत्रू असला तरी त्याच्या पराभवासाठी परकीय शत्रूला मदत करणे उचित ठरणार नाही.
इकडे राजा डेमेट्रीअसलाही खारवेल मगध देशावर स्वारी करणार असल्याचे वृत्त समजले होते. एका बाजूने खारवेल व दुसऱ्या बाजूने आपण चाल करून गेलो तर मगध देशाचा लगेचच पाडाव होईल, अशी स्वप्ने डेमेट्रीअस पाहत होता.
परंतु खारवेलने आपला निर्णय ऐनवेळी बदलला व मगध देशावर स्वारी करण्याऐवजी तो डेमेट्रीअस राजावरच चालून गेला. डेमेट्रीअसला हे जेव्हा कळले की, खारवेल आपला आधीचा निर्णय बदलून आपल्यावरच चाल करून येत आहे तेव्हा तो घाबरला. कारण त्याला खारवेलचा पराक्रम माहीत होता आणि तो अक्षरश: भारतातून पळून गेला. त्यानंतर कोणत्याही ग्रीक राजाने भारताकडे वाकडी नजर केली नाही. त्याला कारणीभूत ठरले खारवेलचे देशप्रेम. ‘खरा शत्रू’ कोण हे खारवेलने वेळीच ओळखल्यामुळे परकीय शत्रूपासून मगध राज्याचे संरक्षण झाले.

Islam Khatare Me !!

2009-11-05T01:08:00.005-05:00

On Nov. 3, 2009, Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind issued a fatwa against the singing of Vande Mataram. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram was reportedly present at the convention.
My reactions:
1. We (a country which boasts itself to be a 21st century superpower) must decide once and for all - which rulebook is the largest democracy in the world going to follow: the 20th century constitution or the 7th century quran. Vande Mataram is recognised as the National Song and is given a status equivalent to that of the National Anthem Jana-gana-mana. (http://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_song.php). This means that the fatwa in question is indirectly defaming the nation itself. It is unconstitutional.
2. We (the only place in the world where all the 23 sects of Islam coexist, the only place where jews and parsis have not been tortured) must decide the limits of our tolerance regarding the growing intolerance of Jehadis. We have already truncated the National Song to suit them. We have compromised on the national flag and the national language. Where/when will it stop ?
3. The moderate amongst the muslims (who keep on insisting after every terrorist attack that the real Islam is not like this) must come out and do whatever it takes to correct this image of Islam being anti-India. (Thankfully a little bit is already happening: http://news.oneindia.in/2009/11/05/fatwa-issued-by-ignorants-muslim-groups.html)
4. Shri. Chidambaram has explained that he was not present while the fatwa was being issued. It's hard to believe the politicians in general, but even if we accept this, the question is what would he do if he were present - would he dare to walk out of the convention? And what action is he going to take - in the capacity of the home minister - on those deshadrohis after knowing about the fatwa?
5. Interestingly, the same convention has asked the UPA to stop appeasing the minorities.
6. So called secular parties like SP and Congress have once again attacked the so called Hindu parties like BJP for speaking up on behalf of the majority on this issue. This has a major side-effect: Politicization of Vande Mataram. All such issues of national importance have been gradually politicized and associated with parties like BJP. This gives an image that only one party is concerned about these issues and when it fails to deliver when in power, the cause is put on the back-burner forever, because the other parties won't do it, and the junta won't trust BJP anymore.

I would like to re-emphasize that the moderate muslims must decide how long are they going to be in their shells. The fundamentalists keep on issuing such fatwas by shouting इस्लाम खतरे में. The moderates maintain that their islam is not the real islam. In that case, I think the real islam (of the moderate muslims) is really खतरे में. and the onus is on them to save it. All over the world, islam has acquired an image of an intolerant, cruel, illogical religion. If the moderates want to change this image, now is the time.

विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्

2009-09-04T08:32:00.007-04:00

Narakasura became evil, in association with another asura named baaNa. Drunk with power, as he knew himself to be unrivalled in prowess, he brought all the kingdoms on earth under his control .. All the devas, led by Indra went to Vishnu, to ask him to deliver them from Narakasura. Vishnu them that he will attend to this matter, when he will be incarnated as Krishna .. Narakasura launched his great weapon, sataghini (a thunderbolt) on Krishna. However, it made no impact whatsoever on Krishna. At last, when Narakasura tried to kill the Lord with a trident, Krishna beheaded him with his Sudarshana Chakra (discus) .. This day is celebrated as 'Naraka Chaturdashi' - the first day of Diwali. (Source:Wiki)

This year Diwali came about one-and-a-half-month earlier.
Y. Samuel Rajshekhara Reddy became evil, in association with other evangelists. Drunk with power, and unconditional support from Sonia-amma, he tried to bring all the kingdom of the seven-sacred-hills under his control. He even dared to take the religious conversions to the holiest of the holy hindu shrines - Tirupati. All the Hindus of Andhra, led by Pejawara-Shri and other saints, went to Vishnu. Vishnu promised them that he will attend to this matter. YSR had tried to attack the Vishnu on the hills, the great lord ended his story by smashing his helicopter against another hill.

When I honestly expressed my feelings on the ysr news, one of my friends commented that it is not our tradition to talk ill of the dead. I just wanted to state that this is definitely true with respect to political enemies and all, but on killing a demon, we have always celebrated festivals - be it Diwali (narakasura-krishna) or Dasara (ravana-rama or mahishasura-durga). Our Gods are merely fulfilling their promise they made in Geeta - "my job is threefold" : (1) परित्राणाय साधूनाम् - to save the good people (2) विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् - to eliminate the bad people (3) धर्मंसंस्थापनार्थाय- to establish the dharma !!

अखंड भारत संकल्प दिवस !

2009-08-14T07:32:00.001-04:00

गत कुछ शताब्दियो से हो रहे सतत आक्रमणों में हमने गांधार (अफगानिस्थान), ब्रह्मदेश (म्यानमार), सिंध-प. पंजाब (पाकिस्तान), पू. बंगाल (बांग्लादेश), त्रिविष्टप (तिब्बत) ये अपने मातृभू के अंग खोकर उसे अपंग बना दिया है ।

अपने देश का क्षेत्रफल ५५,६२,८२८ वर्ग-किमी से घट कर ३२,८७,२४० वर्ग-किमी हो गया है । अर्थात अपना ४०% प्रतिशत भूभाग हमने गँवाया है ।

जहाँ-जहाँ हिन्दू घटा, वहाँ-वहाँ देश कटा है ।

जो-जो भूभाग हमने खोया है, वह राष्ट्र विघातक गतिविधियों में सक्रीय हुआ है ।

क्या इसी क्षत-विक्षत भारत के लिये ही हमारे पूर्वजो ने अपने प्राण गँवाये थे ?

अपने राष्ट्रगान में हम गाते है – ’पंजाब सिंध गुजरात मराठा द्राविड उत्कल वंग’ । कहाँ है यह सिंध? कहाँ है आधा पंजाब और आधा बंगाल ? क्या वहाँ भी यही राष्ट्रगान गाते है ?

१९४७ में अधिकांश जनता अखण्ड भारत चाहती थी, फिर भी क्यो हुआ विभाजन ? - तुष्टिकरण की नीति के कारण !! यह कारण तो आज भी विद्यमान है !! तो क्या फिर से विभाजन होगा ?

भारत अखंड करना है । अपने वीर क्रान्तिकारियों का बलिदान व्यर्थ नहीं गँवाना है ।

भारत फिर से अखण्ड होता है, तो अनेक समस्याए अपने आप हल हो जाएँगी
अपना सुरक्षा पर वार्षिक खर्च रु. ९०,००० करोड़ है । इसम बडी बचत होगी ।
काश्मीर, पूर्वांचल आदि उग्रवाद-ग्रस्त स्थान पर पयर्टन व्यवसाय की वृद्धि होगी |

हम सभी अपने सच्ची सांस्कृतिक विरासत का अंग बनकर सही अर्थ में भारत को वैभवशाली बना पायेंगे ।

तो आईये ! इस स्वतन्त्रता दिवस की पूवर्संध्या में सकल्प ले –

हम उस समर्थ, सशक्त, संगठित, अखण्ड भारत का पुनः निर्माण करेंगे !!

॥ भारतमाता की जय ॥

अनादि मी अनंत मी ..

2009-05-28T01:53:00.011-04:00

Today is the 126th birth anniversary of one of the greatest of Mother India's sons - Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Most of us know him for his participation in the freedom struggle: his work as a student in Pune, with "Abhinav-Bharat" and as a member of India House in England; inspiring Madan Lal Dhingra to assassinate Curzon Wyllie; heroic escape from the boat near Marseilles, France; his famous court case and the double life-imprisonment; life in Andaman; and all.
Many know him for working to remove social evils of untouchability by opening Patita-Pavana temples, and cafes for the Hindus of all castes.
And of course there are his eternal poems.

Let's look at one of his poems: "अनादि मी अनंत मी .."
It reminds us that the basic rasa in Savarkar's poetry was the veer-rasa.

The background of this poem is thus: Savarkar was kept in the solitary confinement at the infamous Cellular jail in Andamans. The treatment given to the prisoners was inhuman. To further torture him mentally, the jailor had given him a special cell. It was all dark and cold, with a small window. And the only scene visible from that window was of the gallows. The jailor was trying to tell Savarkar that only way out of here is through death. Notwithstanding any of these, his veer soul sang out :

अनादि मी अनंत मी अवध्य मी भला |
मारिल रिपु जगति असा कवण जन्मला ||ध्रु||

I have no beginning, no end. I cannot be killed. That enemy who would kill me is not yet born

अट्टहास करित जाई धर्मधारणी
मृत्युसीच गाठ घालू मी घुसे रणी

I shall enter the war field with a mighty laughter.
I shall enter the war field to fight the death itself.

अग्नि जाळी मजसी ना खड्ग छेदितो
भिउनी मला भ्याड मृत्यु पळत सुटतो

The fire cannot burn me, the sword cannot cut me.
The coward death runs away at my sight.

खुळा रिपु तया स्वये
मृत्युच्याच भीतीने भिववु मजसी ये ||१||

And this foolish enemy is trying to scare me by the fear of death !!

लोटी हिंस्र सिंहाच्या पंजरी मला
नम्र दाससम चाटिल तो पदांगुला

If you push me into the cage of a fierce lion, he will start licking my feat, like a slave.

कल्लोळी ज्वालांच्या फेकशी जरी
हटुनी भवति रचिल शीत सुप्रभावती

If you throw me in the flames of fire, they themselves will move away and a cool radiance will encircle me.

आण तुझ्या तोफाना क्रूर सैन्य ते
यंत्र तंत्र शस्त्र अस्त्र आग ओकते

Bring on your cannons, your fierce army, machinary, technology, or fire-throwing weapons -

हलाहला त्रिनेत्र तो
मी तुम्हासी तैसाची गिळुनी जिरवितो ||२||

Just like the trinetra (Lord Shiva) swallowed the deadly poison halaahala, I shall swallow you up and crush your arrogance.

...

On the birth anniversary of the veer, I pray to the God to give me the strength to be a veer like him in all the situations, to be as dedicated to the cause as he always was.

...

There have been so many politically motivated attempts to malign the name of this veer, even after independence. But he and his sacrifice has swallowed up the enemy and crushed their arrogance again and again.
His work, his fame is definitely अनंत.
And मारिल रिपु जगति असा कवण जन्मला ?
Where is the enemy who can kill the Savarkar-Spirit ?

...

स्वातंत्र्यवीर विनायक दामोदर सावरकर की जय !!
भारतमाता की जय !!

PS: The translation provided is based on my tiny knowledge. Kindly give liberal comments wherever a modification is required.

What is Dharma ?

2009-01-07T12:19:00.008-05:00

I was posed this question in response to my recent posting 'Gita Jayanti'.
Actually, I don't consider myself to possess even the slightest authority to answer this question.
But since the question came from a good friend, Aditya Joshi (who is the author of a very creative blog himself), I thought I should share what little I have learned/heard/read about dharma here.
Since this page is open to the entire world, let's hope some learned person shall read this some day and throw more light on it, so that both Aditya and I are benefited.

In the posti on gItA, I had written at one place: "... dharma (not to be confused with religion) ..."
And this is what prompted Aditya to ask :

What is 'Dharma' in Gita if not religion?
Is it 'Duty'?
How is it different from 'Karma'?
Or is it that 'Dharma' is the ideally expected 'Karma'?

We can actually remove the clause 'in Gita' from the first question.
Because, nowhere in the traditional wisdom has the word dharma been used to mean religion (at least until the Muslim invasions in the medieval era).

Dharma does not mean religion
1.
The 18-day war between Kauravas and Pandavas is also referred to as dharma-yuddha.
If dharma meant religion, was the religion of Kauravas different from that of Pandavas ?

2.
धर्म-शाला, धर्मार्थ दवाखाना, राज-धर्म, पुत्र-धर्म, शेजार-धर्म (मराठी), धर्मसंकट
(dharma-shaalaa, dharmaartha-davaakhaanaa, raaja-dharma, putra-dharma, shejaara-dharma, dharma-samkata)
These words are used so commonly in day-to-day life, that one probably overlooks the use of the word dharma in them. But does dharma-shaalaa mean a religious school ? Or does raaja-dharma mean the religion of the king ?

3.
अग्नि का धर्म है उष्णता । - the dharma of fire is heat.
Is 'heat' a religion ? Definitely not !

Thus it is clear that dharma does not mean religion.
In fact, English (and many western languages) does not have a word that can completely and entirely convey the meaning of dharma.
This is because the concept of dharma itself is not known in the west.
Dharma is not a single special case, though.
There is no पुण्यम् (punyam) in English, either (although there is पापम् (paapam). This may be due to the concept that all humans are a result of the 'original sin' commited by Adam and Eve - as against the Indian concept 'अमृतस्य पुत्राः वयम्' - अथर्ववेद, meaning we are the sons of immortality).

The concept of dharma is a speciality of the Hindu philosophy (you may call it Indian, or Oriental philosophy, it's one and the same) .
It is common to Jainism, Budhism, Sikhism, Taoism and all the lesser-/better-known philosophical schools of the east.

Anyway.

So dharma does not have a parallel in English.
But does religion have a parallel in samskrut ?
Yes. It is called पन्थः (panthah) or मतम् (matam).
One can see words like जैनमत (jain-mata), बौद्धमत (bauddha-mata), मतान्तरण (mataantarana = religious conversion) being commonly used in many Indian languages.
Unfortunately, in Marathi, it's almost always जैनधर्म, बौद्धधर्म, धर्मांतरण.

So religion is pantha or mata. Fine.

But what is dharma ?

The two definitions of dharma

1.
The first one says -

धारणात् धर्मः इत्याहुः (Krishna in Mahabharata - 12.110.11)
[ dhAraNAt dharmaH ityAhuH ]

dharma is that concept, by virtue of which all the elements are held together.

This is a very clear and simple definition indeed.
In fact, if we look at the etymology of the word dharma, it emerges from the samskrut root धृ (dhru) meaning 'to hold'.

For example, raaja-dharma. That is what is holding the raajaa and the prajaa.
The moment the king deviates from his raaja-dharma, he ceases to be a raajaa.
(In fact, the traditional pledge a king had to take at his coronation was "This bhoomi is my wife from now on, and the people living on it, my children. I shall take care of them as a father would of his children. And if I ever fail in doing so, my raaja-purohita shall punish me with his dharma-danda")

2.
The other definition is -
यतोऽभ्युदयनिःश्रेयससिद्धिः स धर्मः ।
[yatobhyudayanihshreyasasiddhih sa dharmah]

dharma is the one through which both अभ्युदय (abhyudaya) and निःश्रेयस (nihshreyasa) are achieved.

What is this abhyudaya and nihshreyasa ?
In the simplest terms, it means this-worldly and other-worldly goals, respectively.

Other(?) interpretations
One can also find explanations of the word dharma given as:

righteous duty : putra-dharma = a son's duty towards his parents
nature (स्वभाव) : अग्नि का धर्म है उष्णता ।
natural laws : even contemporary literature sometimes refers to 'nature-call' as निसर्गधर्म
etc.

Conclusion
This is all I know about dharma.
I am afraid I have added to Aditya's confusion, instead of reducing it.
The reason is I am myself a bit confused about the exact meaning of dharma.

That's why I put a question mark in the last subsection's title.
I am not sure if these are other interpretations or they simply follow from the two definitions we discussed.
If a son does not fulfill his righteous duty, he is no longer a son for his parents, and also, his other-worldly record is bound to go down.
Heat is the thing by virtue of which fire holds to be fire, and without it, it ceases to be fire.
And if one does not attend to nature calls, this-worldly goals are definitely not going to be achieved due to ill-health.

Sometimes I feel dharma is all of these things and also something more.

PS: We shall discuss karma very soon

Resuming the blog ...

2009-01-01T15:01:00.003-05:00

Due to the exams and the month-long-vacations I was away from the net. Many thoughts that should have been posted during this period are piled up by now. Am posting those by editing 'date' field to the date on which I should have posted each of those. This is just to maintain relevance in case I refer to these posts in future.
..
The biggest event of this duration was obviously the 26-nov terror attack on Bharat in Mumbai.
A lot has been said/written/discussed by many experts already.
Hence I thought it better to summarize my thoughts on it in this post itself instead of posting a separate one.
As we all agree that the problem this incident highlighted is a deeper one. But going to its root makes it clear that the real crisis is the same as is being faced in many other cases - from corruption to cultural degradation (quoting from a speech by Dr Mohan ji Bhagwat, RSS Sara-Karyavah, in Nagpur in 2005-06) :

Crisis of Identity
Crisis of Credibility
Crisis of Character

Identifying these crises and overcoming them is sufficient to solve all the problems.
More clarification might be needed on this, but let's leave it for the reader's own chintan for the time being.

As far as accusing the political leaders is concerned (which is the general tone these days), I think we just need to take a look at our history.
We need leaders like Srikrishna, Chanakya and Shivaji - three of the greatest statesmen the nation has ever produced.
They always held a national outlook, were selfless souls, delivered what they promised, and were beyond the three crises mentioned.
But one should also notice that they didn't fall from sky - they were produced by this soil, this society. Period.

Asia's greatest MEGAPLAY

2008-12-25T12:30:00.006-05:00

Today we watched Asia's greatest, world's second largest, megaplay - जाणता राजा.
It is based on the life of the greatest Hindu warrior, leader, statesman and icon Shivaji Maharaj.
"Jaanata Raja" is being performed in Nagpur from 18th to 28th December this year.
It has a cast of about 300 artists. Only the key roles are fixed and artists for other roles are chosen from the local talent pool. The show is full of colours and the acts with horses and elephants receive an obvious thunder of applause.
But the most happening event is the coronation of Shivaji Maharaj.
The presentation, the sound effects, the fireworks - the entire ambiance takes you three centuries back and you tell yourself that this is how the real rAjyAbhiSheka must have taken place - this is how the world must have looked when the first Hindu simhAsana came to existence after centuries of Islamic invasion.

The play - as the title goes - is more about Shivaji the ruler, than Shivaji the warrior. Hence there is more emphasis on events like -

a patil being punished for misbehaving with a widow
hundis full of jewels found while constructing a fort, being deposited to the treasury by the workers - and their refusal to take prizes for this act
Shivaji's letter to his officers on how an ideal administrator should behave with citizens
Shivaji punishing his own maternal uncle for corruption
Aurangzeb's speech before his courtsman why it is difficult to defeat Shivaji (because of his good administration and people's faith on him) ... etc

The well known battle-events of Pratapgadh (Afzalkhan defeated), Paawan Khind (Bajiprabhu Deshpande's martyrdom), Lal Killa (attack on Shaistekhan), Kondhana (Tanhaji's martyrdom) etc find relatively lesser share.

The day we went to watch the megaplay witnessed a turn-out of 19200 spectators. People from neighboring districts of Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh had come to Nagpur to watch the show.
Many schools had organised free or discounted passes for their students.
One could find people who have watched the megaplay every time it visited Nagpur.
"Jaanata Raja" is more than a play for lakhs and lakhs of people here.

The megaplay is written by "Shivashahir" Babasaheb Purandare, who is a phenomenon in himself. If there is a single man who deserves the credit for taking Shivaji to every home in Maharashtra, it's him. He has been doing this one job tirelessly throughout his life (of 86 years now). That's what is called one man - one life - one mission.
Incidently yesterday (Dec 24) was his 86th birth annivarsary.
राजमान्य राजश्री शिवशाहिर श्रीयुत बळवंत मोरेश्वर तथा बाबासाहेब पुरंदरे यांना मानाचा मुजरा ...

Could the timing be more apt for recollecting the life and times of Shivaji Maharaj ?
The nation is yet to emerge from the shadows of nov-26 terror attacks..
If Shivaji cannot inspire us at such a moment, then who can ?

Note: The picture in this post is taken from "Flickr" (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2240/2219271152_3cc6265b7d.jpg?v=0)

Gita Jayanti

2008-12-09T00:30:00.002-05:00

मार्गशीर्ष शुद्ध एकादशी (mArgaSIrSha Suddha ekAdaSI) was the day on which Lord Krishna told the bhagavad-gItA to Arjuna on the battlefields of Kurukshetra. The day is celebrated as गीता जयंती (gItA-jayantI) all over the world.
This year it falls on Dec-9.
I have been fortunate enough to have heard/read a little bit about gItA in last few years.
A good orator with some depth of understanding in gItA can possibly go on unfolding the beauty of this devine song for hours together, but some one of my stature should only quote some of the observations etc made by them.

1.
gItA holds the entire dharma (not to be confused with religion).
Its first sholka starts with ध dha:
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः । (1.1)

And the last one ends with म ma:
यत्र योगेश्वरः कृष्णो यत्र पर्थो धनुर्धरः ।
तत्र श्रीर्विजयो भूतिर्ध्रुवा नीतिर्मतिर्मम ॥ (18.78)

2.
It is a relatively very small text (only 700 shlokas-18 chapters), but has attracted many philosophers for many a thousand years, who keep on interpreting the text as it suits themselves - right from Adi Shankara to Mahatma Gandhi and beyond. Lokamanya Tilak interpreted it as the karmayoga, Gandhiji as the anAsakti-yoga. But the gItA herself is both and beyond the both.

3.
Today's engineers and enterprenuers are looking for the seeds of management in it.
While in Bengaluru, my friend's roommate was asking about it - she was told that gItA can teach her management. When I was asked, I said that I see the best way to manage your activities being told in a single shloka :
यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोसि ददासि यत् ।
यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम् ॥ (9.27)
Meaning - Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, and whatever austerities you perform - do that, O Son of Kunti, as offerings to me !

What better motivation for doing each of your tasks in the best possible manner, than that of offering it to the Almighty ?

4.
Is gItA the best book on psychology/psychotherapy ?
Of course yes.
These two shlokas summarize the very chain of how one loses his/her own mental health:
ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंसः सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते ।
सन्ङ्गात्संजायते काम: कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते ॥
क्रोधाद्भवति संमोह: संमोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रम: ।
स्मृतिभ्रंशाद्बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति ॥ 2.62-63
Meaning - While concentrating on the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment desire develops, and from that (due to non-fulfilment) anger arises. From anger arises complete delusion, and from that, bewilderement of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost. And losing intelligence, one perishes.

5.
And psychotherapy?
Again, yes.
gItA starts with Arjuna in a state of a shock - limbs quivering and mouth drying up. (सीदन्ति मम गात्राणि मुखं च परिशुष्यति । - 1.28)
And ends with him stating that "I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to Your instructions" (स्थितोऽस्मि गतसन्देह: करिष्ये वचनं तव ॥ - 18.73)

But this change is not easy to bring. At times Krishna shows him the carrot - you shall reach heaven if you die or else rule the earth if you win (हतो वा प्राप्स्यसि स्वर्गं जित्वा वा भोक्ष्यसे महीम् । - 2.37). And at other times the stick - by showing the Vishwaroopa, looking at which Arjuna says he is disturbed with fear (भयेन च प्रव्यथितं मनो मे । - 11.45)
At times Krishna discusses the eternity of the AtmA to dissuade Arjuna from the concept of killing and sin of killing (नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः - 2.23).
At other times he simply tells him as a friend to 'be a man and fight' (क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः - 2.3)

Most interesting is his reaction after Arjuna is convinced and is ready for the war.
After telling entire gItA, Krishna says - deliberate on this fully, and then do what you wish to do (विमृश्यैतदशेषेण यथेच्छसि तथा कुरु ॥ - 18.63)
Is this not the best way of motivating someone ?
Instead of simply ordering him to do what he should, Krishna increased Arjuna's level of understanding, removed any doubts he had, and then asked him to behave according to his conscience.

...
Thus, gItA is like the holy river of Ganga. How much of its water one carries back home depends on the capacity of the container s/he carries ...

Paying homages to Dr. Ambedkar

2008-12-06T12:30:00.002-05:00

December 6 is the death anniversary of Bharata Ratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the main architect of our constitution.
He had to face a very hard childhood due to one of the most sinful practice of those days - untouchability. Still, he worked hard to acquire best possible education (he was awarded PhD by Columbia University in 1927), and more importantly, used it for the upliftment of the deprived and the poor.
Looking at the hurdles he overcame to complete his education makes me feel ashamed if I crib about not getting some small facilities which I think I "deserve".
He was a true nationalist leader, and led the masses through peaceful agitations like Mahad satyagraha.
He was the finance minister of the first cabinet of Independent India.
He lived in a palace-like bunglow during his last years.
But his own stay used to be in a small room towards the end of the palace. Explaining this, he used to say, the glamour of the palace is to emphasise on my brothers that even an untouchable like them can achieve all this wealth by acquiring education; but my heart has no peace in this wealth. It is satisfied in the Baba's kuti. [Ref. Deepastambha (Marathi), Prof. Shivajirao Bhosale]

Let's pay homage to this great soul who showed a path of education and equality to the nation.

Amarnath Andolan : An Inspiring movement

2008-10-10T13:00:00.016-04:00

Shri Amarnath Yatra is one of the most sacred pilgrimages of the Hindus.
The yatra to the cave temple, situated at an altitude of 3,888 m in the Himalayas, housing a mysterious ice-linga, has a history of many a centuries[1].
The route is open only four moths in a year and the peak time is June to August. Prior registration is required with the authorities, keeping in view the hardships the route demands [2]. Still, about 400,000 pilgrims go on the 45-day yatra for the darshan of Bholenath, paying entirely for the pilgrimage from their own pockets [3], unlike the government subsidized Haj yatra [4].

Background:
The climatic conditions are quite hostile and there was a growing demand that the J&K state government should take more initiative to provide facilities to the pilgrims. In 2002, J&K assembly okayed the constitution of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).
The governor of J&K is the de-facto chairman of the Board.

Some land near Baltal in the valley was being used for temparory arrangements of the pilgrims every year. It would take a few weeks, prior to the commencement of the yatra, to set up the facilities (shelter, arrangements for food, water and toilets etc) and equal duration to dessemble the temparoty structures after the yatra. Thus, in effect, the land was being occupied for about 4 months every year, and the cost of assembling-dessembling the "temparory" structures was being incurred.
The SASB then asked the government why not to have some permanant arrangements for the pilgrims? And after a series of dialogs and discussions (usual sarkari way of doing things), the state government of the Congress-PDP alliance, decided on May 26, 2008 that the to transfer 100 acres (0.40 km²) of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) out of the total land area of 15,520.3 km² (5,992.4 sq mi) in the main Kashmir valley to set up temporary shelters and facilities for the Hindu pilgrims.

Let me remind you here that the PDP led by Mufti Mohammad Syed, which later withdrew from the government, leading to its fall, had several cabinet ministers who were part of the decision making process.

Mufti Dances to Jihadis' tunes:
But they switched sides at the first hints of the jihadi separatists from the valley protesting the land transfer.
The protest was based on illogical arguments of "changing the demography of the valley" (this coming from a community which is responsible for throwing 350,000 Kashmiri Pandits out of their homes!!) and
"ecological imbalance" (allegedly arising from occupying 0.01% of the total land mass!!) [5].

These protests were not peaceful at all, and pelting stones at our Army and burning our national flag and chantings of "Pakistan Zindabad" soon became common on Kashmir streets.

PDP, fearing loss of votes, withdrew from the government.
The Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has been a Union minster more than once and AICC general secretary 9 times [6] - a national level leader, I mean - chose to bow to the separatists' pressure rather than stick to the nationalist decision his cabinet had taken, and revoked the order of transferring the land to the SASB (July 1, 2008). Interestingly, SASB members, the custodians of the Yatra and all the arrangements, were not even consulted, which actually was a legal requirement.

Hindus react:
This understandably resulted in dissatisfaction among the Hindu pilgrims and peaceful protests started all over India.
The Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (AYSS), Jammu led the protests.

On one hand, one is ashamed at the fact that Hindus have to resort to a 61-day protest to get 0.40 sq.km of land for arrangements at a pilgrimage, but on the other, there is a feeling of self-confidence that Hindus won't take it lying down any more. This is the greatest message of this Andolan.

Initially, the agitation started with usual things like marching to and registering protests at the collector-offices, conducting awareness rallies, getting people involved, etc.
But there was no sign of any consideration from the government, and the need was felt that the pitch needs to be raised so that the Hindu voice falls on the deaf government's ears. A call for Bharat-Bandh on July 3 was given, and the whole nation came to a stand-still.
The movement on the Jammu-Srinagar highway was also affected and separatists and the media suddenly started declaring that Jammu has resorted to "economic blockade" of the Kashmir valley. Media went on showing the long queues of trucks laden with goods along the highway, which was a result of a few hours of rasta-roko and eventually got cleared up within hours.

Muslims support the Hindu cause:
Meanwhile, various Muslim organisations like the Muslim Front, Jammu Kashmir Muslim Federation and Gujjar and Bakkarwal Muslim groups, extended full support to the AYSS, as their bread and butter depends on tourism, and the yatra being one of the biggest source of income for them [7].

The first Balidaan:
The movement was in its ninth day. Seeing that there was no positive outcome, one Shri Kuldeep Dogra came to the venue, recited a poem there, and in his three minutes address said –"This movement now needs sacrifice and I shall sacrifice my life."
Saying this he sat down and immediately fell down with a bang.
Seeing froth coming out of his mouth, it was revealed that he had taken 'sulfaz' and before he could be admitted in the hospital, he had already become a martyr on the way [8].

The situation became tense. Army was deployed in Jammu.
Still, the agitation continued.
People would come out in thousands, carrying the tricolor and shouting "Bam-Bam Bhole", "Bharat Mata Ki Jay".
Army men would say, "how can we fire at those carrying the tricolor?"

The government called an all-party meeting to resolve the issue - some signs of hopes.
But the PDP chose to stay away, and the agitation continued.

The terrorists tried their usual ways to deter the movement [9], but to no success. Hindus were determined to fight for Bholenath's land.

Meanwhile, in the valley:
Separatists continued the "Jammu forcing economic blockade of Kashmir" rumor, even though the government clarified that the supply to the valley is normal [10].
A group of fruit-growers, led by the separatists, declared that they will cross the LoC to trade their goods in Muzaffarabad, PoK.
They were shouting 'Kashmir ki mandi - Rawalpindi', 'Seb toh sirf bahana hain, Rawalpindi jaana hain' .
They marched towards the LoC on August 11, and the police had to open fire, in which Sheikh Abdul Aziz, a leader of All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) was killed [11].
This angered the mob, which was apparently not expecting the Indian law enforcement agencies to stop them from crossing the LoC leading to an international problem, and more violence started in the valley. Police and army were attacked and India and its symbols abused, and Pakistan and its symbols hailed [12].
Our secular government wanted the Pakistanis breeding on our soil to be a part of the peace process, and their leaders were openly and shamelessly asking 'Why object to Islamic rule in Kashmir?' [13].

A curfew was imposed all over the J&K [14].
But the brave people of Jammu found out ways to register their protests in spite of the curfew.
They would spend the day in their homes, "guarded" by the army, and come out at the evenings. It would appear that everyone is taking an evening stroll. But everyone would walk to a pre-decided spot, usually the nearest chauraha, shout slogans, set an effigy on fire, and before any army/police-man is able to reach the spot, everyone would be back in home, the protest registered !

The independece day:
The pictures speak for themselves [15]:

In Kashmir

In Jammu

The Jail-Bharo Andolan:
A massive Jail-Bharo andolan was carried out throughout the nation, from 12th to 21st of August. A liberty was given to all the provinces to decide upon their convenient dates during this period and register protests by courting arrests.
If we take a look at the figures of Jammu itself, we can gauge the uniqueness of this movement.
Jammu has a population of 56 lakhs of which 16 lakhs are Muslims. From the rest of the Hindu society 2 lakh 21 thousand men came on foot and voluntarily courted arrest.
On the 19th, 1 lakh 74 thousand women came out of their homes and got arrested.
When asked for their names, every one of them replied 'Parvati', husband's name? – 'Shiva', address? – Baltal, Kashmir.
Perhaps this was the biggest turn up of our 'matri-shakti' in the history of world.
The third day was for the children.
1 lakh 12 thousand children between the age of 5 to 15 years courted arrest.
No mother or grand-mother expressed any concern about what will happen to the children in case of any stampede.
None of the children thought what would happen to their future career.
In the jail when asked for the name, the reply was 'Ganapati', mother's name? –'Parvati', father's name? –'Shiva', residence? – Baltal, Kashmir.
(Apart from Jammu, some 5.25 lakh people offered themselves to get arrested at 6120 places.The highlight was men of high status who generally do not come out of their homes also participated in support of this movement.) [16]

The governments of India and J&K state should actually have taken this opportunity to push a nationalist movement in the troubled state and utilize it to demolish all the separatist voices in the valley.
But the leaders, not able to rise above the appeasement politics and vote-bank strategies, failed the nation once again.

The Victory:
After witnessing this roudra-roop of Hindu-samaj, the government understood the gravity of the situation, and the depth at which the Hindu-sentiment is associated with the issue.
It took up the dialogue with the AYSS, and the two parties came to an agreement [17].
The government agreed that "certain decisions of the state government relating to the Yatra created misunderstandings which led to controversy and agitation and loss of many precious live".
The government also agreed that "The Board shall use the aforesaid land for the duration of the Yatra (including the period of making the required arrangements and winding up of the same) for the purpose of user by various service providers according to its needs and priorities.The aforesaid land shall be used according to the Board's requirements, from time to time", meeting the Samiti's original and only demand.

With this, the Samiti withdrew the agitation, and the 61-day struggle ended with the victory.

Thus, the Hindus steered one of the most important movements in the history of independent India through the troubled waters of separatist-pressure, minority-favoring leaders, international-pressures and even terrorist attacks.

The story of this movement will be written with golden letters in the history.

This youtube video is a nice summary of the sangharsh by the samiti:
Shri Amarnath Movement 4 - Tandava.

Time has come for the awakened Hindu Society to take inspiration from this movement, and to shed its image of being docile, always prone to be bullied and attacked by others.
We never go to attack anybody but if anybody attacks, in self-defense we should never hesitate to resist.

Bam-Bam-Bhole !!
Bharat Mata Ki Jay !!

References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarnath_temple
2. http://www.amarnathyatra.org
3. http://www.liveindia.com/amarnath/form.html
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_civil_code#Subsidies
5. http://www.blogs.ivarta.com/india-usa-blog-column149.htm
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghulam_Nabi_Azad
7. http://specials.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/27sld3.htm
8. http://kashmirblogs.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/suicide-by-a-patrioticand-his-last-peomamarnath-issue/
9. http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jul/02jk.htm?zcc=rl
10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarnath_land_transfer_controversy#Government_position
11. http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/11jk.htm
12. http://specials.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/19slid1.htm
13. http://specials.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/25sd1.htm
14. http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/11jk3.htm
15. http://jammuburning.wordpress.com/tag/15th-august-in-kashmir/
16. RSS Sarsanghachalak K S Sudarshan's address (Vijayadashami, Nagpur 5-oct-08)
17. http://rediff.co.in/news/2008/aug/31amar2.htm

The simple Mahatma

2008-10-02T13:43:00.004-04:00

"Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth". [Ref1]

That's what the last century's most celebrated scientist said about the century's simplest person, who gave a simple solution to all the problems - Mahatma Gandhi.

The world is celebrating his 139th birth anniversary today.

I think Gandhiji was a modern-day ऋषी.
ऋषीs aren't the bearded old hermits, they were the ones who created the Vedas.
They wrote the ऋचा. So they are called ऋषी.ऋचा is the smallest unit of ऋग्वेद. [Wiki]
They gave us all the knowledge (Veda means knowledge).

Over the period of time, we started forgetting it.
Then the modern ऋषीs came and re-established the values in the society.

Gandhiji, aptly called महात्मा (the great soul), re-established the two most sacred and most forgotten values in the Kaliyug - सत्य and अहिंसा (truth and non-violence).

One initially thinks that the Mahatma and his ways are cowardly.
But if you really try to follow what he told, you will see that it needs the topmost level of inner strength to follow सत्य and अहिंसा the way the Mahatma did.

Of course like every other mortal, the Mahatma had some faults.
And I also believe that the nation at large is today suffering because of some of the decisions he took decades ago.
But, I nevertheless maintain that had everyone of us followed the Mahatma's words in our daily and personal lives, things would have been much better.
Even now I think that if we make it a point to save ourselves (individually) from the Seven Social Sins, we shall have very less to complain about.
Some of my old friends reading this will be surprised today.
I have not been a pro-Gandhi person until recently.
I used to think the same way most of the Indian youth does.Reading the Seven Social Sins changed it.
Amongst them, the second one : Wealth Without Work
The nation was historically known for श्रम - hardwork.
The majority of the populace was dependent on agriculture and related vocations.
Some other classes of the society were responsible for education and governance.
No one would sit and eat.
Everyone was working hard to earn his bread and butter, and still the country as a whole, was prosperous.
Britishers changed it all.
Their way of education has created a mentality that doing physical work is subordinate to clerical type of jobs.
There is such a massive flow of population from villages to cities - just for "easy money".
Gandhiji's Bharat is the Bharat of villages. [Look : Gram Swaraj]
If we want that Bharat, we need to understand and stay clear of this social sin.

The third social sin: Pleasure without Conscience, is leading the entire world towards the path of self-destruction today.
Some older ऋषी said in the ईशावास्योपनिषद (Ishavasyopanishad):

ईशावास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किं च जगत्यां जगत् ।
तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृध कस्य स्विद् धनम् ॥

Meaning: All these is God's abode whatever place is there in this universe; Enjoy it with detached mind and do not be greedy.
And this ऋषी said : "The earth provides for everyone's need not everyone's greed "

Just like the old ऋषी s the Mahatma has given so many things to us.
We are now left with decoding it, trying to put them in today's perspective and enjoying the happiness from following them.

May we get the strength he had to stand up at every occasion in his life for सत्य and अहिंसा.

Marathi Manus in Danger - A propaganda

2008-09-18T02:49:00.009-04:00

I recently got a Power-Point Presentation describing how there are virtually no Marathi people in the top bodies of central as well as state governments.

I have converted it to pdf and am uploading it here.

There is some Marathi text in the document, and for the benefit of those who don't understand Marathi, all of that is roughly translated to : "Maharashtrians are systematically kept away from Important Positions... There is no Maharashtrian in any decision making positions…etc. etc"

I don't object to the data given in the document : it is true that there aren't many IAS/IPS officers from Maharashtra.
But I cannot and will not accept that this is because there is some League of North-Indians who are conspiring to keep Marathi Manus out of the top-jobs.

Page-18 of the document throws up a series of comments/questions like this one:
Why Indian governers have to be Reddy and Raanganathan?
I think almost all the states have been getting non-resident governors (at least) since last few years.
Here is a complete list of CMs and governors of Indian states.
Just a random look at it tells us that

In the north:

Chandigarh has a South-Indian Governor : Shri E.S.L. Narasimhan (South)
Bihar - Shri R S Gavai (Marathi)
Himachal Pradesh - Shri Justice Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje (Retd.) (Marathi)
Rajasthan had a Maharashtrian Governor : Smt. Pratibhatai Patil, who is now the President

In the south:

Karnataka - Shri Rameshwar Thakur (north)
Andhra Pradesh had a Maharashtrian Governor : Shri. Sushil Kumar Shinde, who is now a Union Minister

In the east:

Nagaland - Shri K. Sankaranarayan (South-Indian)
Orissa - Shri Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare (Marathi)

In the west:

Maharashtra & Goa - Shri S.C. Jamir (North-East) - note he is not reddy or ranganathan
Gujarat - Shri Naval Kishore Sharma

Then there is this thing about Not having any Maharashtrian in decision making posts.
I think the answer lies in the fact that an average educated Marathi youth is not so enthusiastic about preparing for IAS as much as he is about preparing for GRE/Toefel.
Bihar is producing maximum number of IAS officers in the country. So they will have people in key-posts.

Maharashtrians have had a good representation in other few departments, though.
Please have a look at this list.
Of course there are many more names to be added to it - Vikram Pandit (CEO citibank group) is immediately coming to my mind.
...

Well, what really bothers me is the statement : Maarthi people must unite and fight against this injustice!!!
Maharashtra is considered as one of the progressive states.
Marathi Manus is considered honest, faithful, well-cultured, and in general well-off.
If such people decide to fight then what will those states who really have a life-and-death situation at their hands do?
Prosperous states like Maharashtra must stand up and help the other weaker states.
Is anyone aware of the ground realities in J&K or the north-east?
The total no. of engineering colleges in J&K is 8, whereas the list of engineering colleges in MH runs for 8 pages.
Thousands of students from these states come to the other parts of our country for better education, better infrastructure, better life.
What will they do if we start "fighting against the injustice"?

And what is bothering me even further is Page-19: photos of Chhatrapati Shivaji, Lokmanya Tilak, Mahatma Phule, Dr. Ambedkar and Rajguru, and lines underneath asking whether the sacrifice they made was for Delhi? (ie. for the benefit of North Indians?)
It really pains when propagandists use revered figures like these to try prove their point.
They are actually diminishing the stature of these truly national figures.
They are restricting these great people to Maharashtra,
Let me remind those who are creating such documents that Shivaji did not fight for a piece of land in Western Maharashtra, he fought for the principles of freedom.
Lokmanya Tilak was not a leader of Maharashtra, he was the Father of Indian Unrest.
Phule and Ambedkar fought against the discrimination in the name of humanity, not regionalism.
And Rajguru kissed the noose in Lahore, miles away from Maharashtra, but a part of India, his motherland.
...

In the end, I just want to mention that, there will be a few who might have had not-so-good experience at the hands of some riksha/sabji-walla-"bhaiyya" in Mumbai/Pune and may not totally agree with me.
But please have a look at Page-21 of the document, saying नाहीतर स्वतंत्र महाराष्ट्र देश तयार करावा लागेल !!!
(otherwise a separate country "Maharashtra" will have to be created)
This clearly is the height of madness and any amount of support to this propaganda will mean a support to such a horrible idea.
So I request all of you not to support this in any form.

...
Finally, it is not a Raj (as in secret - pun intended) who is behind this propaganda, and I sincerely hope that this madness will fade away soon. Those notorious politicians behind this don't really have any constructive agenda, and hence are behind this propaganda.
BTW, I am a Marathi Manus myself, and wouldn't mind supporting the demand for signboards in Marathi, but I have a doubt: If I paint my shop's signboard "Delhi Durbar" in Hindi: "दिल्ली दरबार", can it be distinguished from the Marathi "दिल्ली दरबार" , given that the script is same ?

I also believe that

Maharashtrians from other parts of the state are equally responsible for crowding of Mumbai as is any North/South Indian.
Identifying and deporting illegal migrants from Bangladesh/Pakistan should take a much higher priority. And young, energetic politicians should utilize their time and energy in issues like these than regional-rhetoric.

गणेशोत्सव : The Festival of Lord Ganesha

2008-09-03T05:47:00.005-04:00

Ganeshotsava is the biggest festival celebrated in Maharashtra today.
It is a 10-day long festival in which the entire Hindu society is swept by the wave of bhakti towards their beloved god - Ganesha, the god of wisdom, the god who rescues you from troubles (विघ्नहर्ता- vighnaharta), the god who bestows happiness on you (सुखकर्ता - sukhakarta)

The festival starting today, the fourth day of new moon of the sixth month of Hindu lunar calendar (भाद्रपद शुद्ध चतुर्थी - bhadrapada shuddha chaturthi) assumed this form since 1893, when Lokamanya Tilak made a revolution by transforming this private Hindu festival into a public national festival.

The religion part of Hindu Dharma has always been a personal affair - restricted to the devotee and the divine. But the need of the hour was that the whole populace come together to fight the Britishers. How was this to be achieved in a country like India, where people are so religious ? "Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav" and "Shivajayanti" was Tilakji's answer. This was probably the first attempt to organize the Hindus in the modern history.

Today, Ganeshotsava is known as the festival of Maharashtra, but is celebrated all over the world. May be the fact that Ganesha has been worshiped beyond India since long, has helped this festival become global.

The Ganeshotsava is a huge economic system in itself.
Thousands of craftsmen, electricians, carpenters, sound-system-wallas, and many other daily-wage workers consider this festival as their harvesting time of the year. In the short span of 15-20 days, they earn equivalent of what they would during 3-4 months of regular work.
Ganesha comes as the god of prosperity for them.
This also tells us how religion is related to a common man's life - not only in a spiritual manner, but also in a materialistic one.

Well, there's actually a lot one can say about Ganeshotsava, but this much, I guess, is enough for now.
So may the god of wisdom bless you.
Let's take a look at the symbolism in the idol of Ganesha before we depart: