jabdakhata

There has been outrage in different forms over JNU incident. Some were outraged by what they perceived to be a curbing of "freedom of expression", some expressed outrage over anti nationalist spirit displayed, and others, over what they saw Government's high handedness and "intolerance". The intellectuals, media and some political parties belong to the first and third groups. Some politicians have already expressed their solidarity with the students. I am not going to argue here whether they were right or wrong. One thing is however very evident, that in communist thought process their can be no place for Nationalism and when communism mingles with communalism, the concoction becomes deadly. JNU has always been noted for communist sympathizers, some of its professors and academics were noted for their virulent and passionate opposition to anything to deal with the greatness and glory of nation because they either perceived it to be narrow mindedness to love on...

Translated from Mahendranath Datta's "London e Vivekananda". Swamiji said in one of his lectures, that many European scholars try to explain philanthropy in different ways. Some says that people try to help others and feel compassionate about others because one thinks that the same misfortune may befall him or her. Therefore to get rid of that possibility we help others. Others say that probably one had been in the same situation in the past. By seeing the plight of another, one remembers one's own experience and therefore try to help others. Others says that if we do not help each other there will be chaos in the society. Nobody would be able to work as the cohesiveness of the society will be destroyed. No sympathy for others would imply that there is also no sympathy for me from others and hence extreme selfishness will result in not doing any work together, thus destroying the fabric of social harmony. In order to prevent that society has evolved into a syste...

Translated from "London e Vivekananda" by Mahendranath Datta Duty is driven by responsibility assigned, it can be enforced. [Duty means literally that which is due from me]. Therefore a slave has to perform its duty. A duty is duty, they say and therefore all ethical and moral person think its best to perform one's duty to the best of one's ability. In many cases duty forces one to do reprehensible acts, an acts one would not have done had one been free from sense of duty, a fact that is evident when police or other state actors perform their "duty", however heinous it may be, under order or compulsion. Many Nazis justified their act of killing Jews as "done under order", for the sake of duty. So a duty as an expression represents slavery. Swami Vivekananda in one of his lectures said that there can be different thought process espoused by the ancient Indians. There is no equivalent word of duty in Sanskrit, Kartavyam is not duty, but rather ...

This is a discourse between Vidura and Dhritarastra in Stree Parva, when the latter was much afflicted by hearing the sad news of the killings of all his sons and grandsons. Taken from Mahabharata of Krishna Dwiapyana Vyasa, translated by Kishari Mohan Ganguli, volume 7 - Stree Parva. A certain brahmana, living in the great world, found himself on one occasion in a large inaccessible forest teeming with beasts of prey. It abounded on every side with lions and other animals looking like elephants, all of which were engaged in roaring aloud. Such was the aspect of that forest that Yama himself would take fright at it. Beholding the forest, the heart of the brahmana became exceedingly agitated. His hair stood on end, and other signs of fear manifested themselves, O scorcher of foes! Entering it, he began to run hither and thither, casting his eyes on every  point of the compass for finding out somebody whose shelter he might seek.  Wishing to avoid those  terrible creatu...

Vyadha Gita was the name of an excellent piece of wisdom appearing in Mahabharata, Vana parva, that was given by a vyadha (fowler) to a Brahmin who went to learn from him as requested by a housewife.age Markandeya had narrated to Yudhisthira and other Pandavas, in front of Krishna, this story. The story also appears, albeit briefly in one of the lectures of Swami Vivekananda. The story goes like this. There was one Brahmin named Kaushika who after being well versed in Vedas acquired some special power. One day he was meditating under a tree and a crane sitting on the top of that tree and its dropping fell on the Brahmin, who instantly looked up and the crane fell dead. The Brahmin was astonished by the display of this power and also was sad that he killed a creature through his anger. He reproached himself and went to beg in a nearby village. There he begged for alms from a housewife who was busy serving her husband. she told him to wait and served her husband to her heart's cont...

Swami Vivekananda's letter to a boy in Alwar has often cited by various sources, esp. the organizations that help others - "Be good and do good, that is the essence of all religions." Swamiji said this in specific context, to a boy who was interested in spiritual life and yet who was groping in darkness. It was person specific and was not general. A spiritual giant like Vivekananda knew very well that religion and spirituality extends far beyond the Western popular notion of being good and doing good. Those are good values no doubt for the beginners, but with certain advancement, being good and doing good does not seem to suffice. Being good does not ensure mental peace, doing good does not conquer ego and doing good with an eye on results is counter  productive. Worldview accepts everything with a utility. If there is utility then the action is accepted, else it is rejected. Without utility there is no meaning or significance attached to the action. Of course from a ...

Imagine riding a boat with many holes. You are aware of the holes. Some holes are bigger and some are smaller. Water enters through these holes and may lead to critical conditions for the boat, depending on degree of water entered. Therefore some holes may need greater attention while others less. That's what project management as a profession is all about. Being aware that there are holes is called risk management. When water enters through one or more holes they are called issues. It is important that we know which holes need plug in in order to keep the boat floating. Else it may sink at any moment. We also need to be aware of the existence of the holes. Unless we know that there are holes we won't be able to identify the source of the water entering the boat which may tilt and sink it. Being aware of the holes and the tactics and strategies adopted to plug these holes so that the boat does not sink is the essence of project management. 

Mahendranath Dutta, who was swami Vivekananda's own brother, has given a very vivid description of Swami Vivekananda's stay in London in 1896. During this time for sometime Mahendranath as well as Swami Saradananda stayed with Vivekananda in a rented house along with Goodwin, and the experience of living so closely with Vivekananda has been recorded succinctly. we therefore not only get the greatness of Vivekananda as a towering and blazing spirituality personified, but also his human side, his jokes, his childish pranks and above all his kindness and compassion towards all fellow beings. The lectures or the parlour talks went unrecorded for some reason and probably was recorded by Goodwin but a lot of documents were lost after Goodwin's death. Hence many of these lectures, esp. the ones on science and spirituality, have not been found. So it is a treat to read them in the book by Mahendranath, where he has presented these lectures in summary form and also have provided...

The mother Durga had made a proclamation in Durga Saptashati. She said to the gods, " Ittham yada yada vadha danavottha bhavishwati tada tadarvatiraham kariswami arisamsayam " - Whenever and wherever evil forces raise their heads and create obstacles, then and there I appear and destroy them. This is similar to the famous and oft repeated verses in Gita - "yada yada hi dharmasya..." Durga is found as reference in many ancient texts and elsewhere around the world. In Cyprus there was an ancient goddess names Virgo whose image depicted a female riding a lion and killing a demon. It is believed that Egyptian goddesses like Isis have their origin in the worship of eternal feminine. The same goes with Astarte or Ishtar who was the goddess of fertility and was worshiped but almost all ancient races like Assyrians, Egyptians, Phoenicians and had lion as one of the symbols. Scholars argue that the worship of the goddess arose from worshiping mother earth for a bountiful ...

The social diseases that are prevalent in India, the conflicts, the wrong doings, the corruption among Government officials, the collusion of mafias with ruling class, the flagrant violation of the laws by the high and mighty, the abysmal lack of concern for others and selfishness, bending of rules, adopting shortcuts in every sphere, right from road traffic to governance, the shortsightedness of leaders, the apathy towards fellow beings, to name a few, lead us one to question the very basis of the theory of development. Are we really developing as a nation or are we going backwards? The entire debate around development revolves round economic development and progress made on the social developments - the human development in terms of access to healthcare, education and utilities. However when we look into a country on the path of development, it seems that the human development and economic development are but secondary. The first and foremost in this respect is development in t...

There are obviously some vested interests who are taking advantage of the publicity received by Netaji in the wake of the demand for classifying the files about him to resolve the mystery associated with his disappearance. Some have tried to portray him as a Japanese stooge, while others complain that he was "enamoured by Hitler" and therefore "sided with the Nazis". Some try to portray him as a fascist dictator who (contrary to popular perception) would have established a ruthless regime of dictatorship and Nehruvian socialism had saved India from such an eventuality. By censoring him therefore Gandhiji and the Congress did a favour to the nation is what these writers would want us to believe. Needless to say that their attempts are at best feeble and weak and at worst pathetic attempts to depict isolated events and speeches as the whole of Netaji and thereby justify all the injustice meted out to him by Congress. Not only Nehru, but even Patel was anti Subhas as...

Many genuine and sincere person have certainly rued the rampant corruption and commercialization prevailing in organized religions - be in Hinduism, Islam, Christianity or for that matter any other major or minor religious sects. We witness it in temples, mosques and churches, witness the degradation of the priestly classes who serve mammon with both hands and probably some of us feel saddened by the state. However this degradation is a continuous and evolving process. It is always there and in some form or the other. In Bible it has been narrated how Jesus blasted the "shop keepers" and drove them away from the Jewish temple. What he meant was deeply significant, that in spirituality there is no give and take - shop keeping or trading. One cannot sell religion or buy it from God. Therefore the organized religion which has become a force to satiate material desires does not belong to the realm of spirituality or religion. There is a beautiful story narrated by Girish Chandr...

So we see a continuous evolution and development to suit the needs of the age. There never was a period which did not contribute to the cycle of spiritual evolution. The rich tradition of Rig Veda was still there. The Upanishadas ensured that the needs of the jnanis were taken care of and they upheld the tradition of Rig Veda by simply replacing the various names with one single name – the impersonal Brahman who manifests as Personal God or Iswara and who holds sway over the world using the force called Maya. Maya is also identified with Prakrti, the eternal nature and all natural forces. So the devas of Rig Veda become various Mayik phenomenon. Puranas evolved around the personal gods and divine incarnations and they also contained the Itihasa or history of the human race – genealogy of kings. Although in effect Puranas gave rise to sects but they catered to the spiritual needs of almost every section of the society, but their main source of inspiration has always been the Vedas – ...

It is not clear how Rig Vedic age transitioned into the Puranic age. Purana and Mahabharata goes hand in hand as both were composed by Krishna Dwaipayana (Vyasa). There are many Puranic stories in Mahabharata, albeit in some changed forms. This may be because the Puranic stories in their present forms have been told and retold by many sages and at some point there many have been inadvertent changes in the main story. However the basic theme remains the same, for instance the story of Indra and Vritra or the story of ocean churning. The story of Indra and Vritra goes back to Rig Veda. Even Mahabharata invokes Rig Veda in certain places like the hymns recited by Utanka to Indra or Upamanyu to Aswins. Even though in Mahabharata the Rig Vedic gods have undergone a transformation as Indra, Varuna, Agni, Rudra, Soma, Aswins, Maruts, Parjanya, Pushana are all there but some of them have been relegated to the status of Adityas and Vishnu and Rudra as Shiva or Mahadeva had come to the forefro...

There was a small piece of news the other day that one prominent Indian IT Company is donating $35 mn to Carnegie Mellon University. That set me thinking, why do Indian corporates donate to US universities who obviously have more resources, than to Indian universities and institutes? Even if these universities have better infrastructures for doing research, isn’t it more apt for an Indian company to invest in human capital and research in its own country than in foreign lands? The reason however is not hard to find. It is the eternal principle of satisfying one’s master and to give something in order to get some favors. Indian IT industry is already plagued with problems of having to grapple with accusations ranging from sending people unethically on wrong visas to following unfair employment practices and they will have to try all means to satisfy the policy makers in US so that they return the favors. Indian industry is adopting such clandestine measures in order to gain foothold i...

This is a tribute to Dr. Kalam. Coming from a very humble background he rose into prominence thus giving credence to Swamiji's assertion to Raja of Khetri Ajit Singh that life is the enfoldment and development of being under circumstances trying to press it down. His life story is now known to all Indians and is a source of inspiration to many. he has been glorified by many and strangely, has been vilified by a few as well, though he did nothing to deserve that. But sadly, this is India and there are always a section who would take great delight in vilifying greatness. even when he passed away a section of media and intellectuals gave almost the same attention to him, if not less, as to a terrorist who was hanged the following day. Some of them even went to extent for pleading for the terrorist's life for the sake of Dr. Kalam, strange as it may seem. Some of them did a lot of endeavour to highlight his religion, forgetting that fundamentalists actually don't like him muc...

So where from these gods Indra, Mitra Varuna came in Rig veda and what happened to them afterwards? Swami Vivekananda provides the answer in a much more convincing way. The spiritual knowledge of India and the Rishis also went through an evolution and the distinction of Sruti or revelations and smriti or book of customs have to be kept in mind. Puranas, Mahabharata, Ramayana etc. are smritis while Vedas are Srutis or revelations. SV says that in the beginning man looked upon nature with awe and reverence and tried to search for the supreme being in the natural and visible universe, in external nature. But after many futile searches they found that the macrocosm and microcosm are in reality the same. The supreme being who is in the nature is also within and thus arose the knowledge of Vedanta. So in the beginning forces of nature were looked upon as the manifestations of God's power through nature and thereby through them the Almighty Himself was worshipped. Indra, Mitra, Var...

I have often wondered that if our ancient chronicles are true then how can there be such a wide divergence between Vedas and Puranas as per the interpretation of Western savants and their desi followers, esp. if the chronicler of both are Veda Vyasa. Then either all our ancient texts are false or fundamental interpretations are grossly incorrect. Vedas are mostly considered to be nature worship by a group of marauding invaders who thrust upon an alien culture on a native population whom they labelled as Dasyus or Dasas and themselves as Arya or noble. Puranas and Mahabharata Ramayana are largely considered to be mythologies though off late there are some scholars who grudgingly admits that after all "some portions" of these stories may be true though largely they are figments of imaginations of wonderfully fertile brains. After a careful deliberation and study I would like to contend that there is no discontinuity from Vedas to Puranas, and the divergences among the scrip...

On a lighter vain, this is a good piece of article from Washington Post.  I have often wondered through my interaction with Americans as to how much self centred a Nation can be. The ignorance of most of the Americans about affairs in other parts of the world is appalling. Most of them are totally ignorant about world history. One supposedly educated American once asked me which came to India first - Hinduism or Buddhism. So it is no wonder that American media and its followers British and European media would exaggerate every other incident occurring in the rest of the world and downplay the incidents in their own turf. They would still like to view the world with the attitude of "I am holier than thou", forgetting that most of the ills plaguing the world today were creations of an erstwhile imperial Europe and its ruthless exploitation of the world's riches for its own selfish gains. Americans have their world view through the prism of their own media and hence of...

A team which performs well consistently has two ingredients which are absolutely critical - love and respect for each other. Respect is the highest quality and most essential for success on a long term. However love and respect does not come easily. It is rare to find a team where every team member is bound to every other by these twin bonds. There may be few members who share mutual affections, but others may not. In a large and complex team, esp. one which is spread over diverse locations rather than collocated, the lack of these ingredients are palpable. This is because over longer distances and among many members, it is very difficult to develop trust, let alone respect and love. However in smaller teams which are collocated, it is easier to develop respect and trust and through social interactions some bonds of love as well. It is to be noted that the love and respect shared by even most intimate friends are not selfless, but there are some selfish interests. So shared goal fo...

Swami Vivekananda was quite impressed with one quality of the West - the power of organization. He saw that much of West's material progress and success is driven by this power. An organization run efficiently can bring in much more progress than that can happen when there are only individual entrepreneurs. He saw that Indian history is full of individual successes, esp. in trade and commerce. Vaniks or Vaishyas have been able to lead trade initiatives individually, but there were no organized, monolithic trade blocks or entities which could employ a large number of people in a sustainable venture. However one person had truly understood the power of organization in ancient times and had developed an organization which was vastly superior - Lord Buddha and his sangha. But after Buddha, the spirit of organization was lost and Swamiji wanted to revitalize that. He jokingly remarked to Ms. Lyon in America that he had one of his greatest "temptations" in America. When being...

The twin pillars of Selfless work and renunciation are further elaborated in subsequent chapters. In the 6th chapter called dhyana yoga the point of equality of the two paths of yoga and renunciation are further emphasized as Gita claims that true sannyas or renunciation is renunciation of false ego in the form of fruits of work. Work one must, but one should give up false senses of ownership and fruits thereof. The greatest peace is derived from work where no sense of ownership is attached as attachment and aversion are causes of all miseries in this world. Therefore a true Yogi and a sannyasin never takes to inaction, nor does he resort to attachment to the action. Then this chapter leads an aspirant step by step to that highest goal and also assures them that even if they fail in achieving the highest aim, all is not lost, because good work is always rewarded and one normally strives for perfection over many births. Each successive birth and attempt towards perfection propels one ...