insaan kahan hain?

kaun batayein kisse poochein
sab to hain insaan kahan hain
aisa kyon hain wasie kyon hain
ye sab kuch hai kaisa kyon hain
aaj bhi kal ke jaisa kyon hain

kaun batayein kisse poochein
sab to hain insaan kahan hain

jale hue ye ghar kiske hain
kate hue ye sar kiske hain
naaze aur khanjar kiske hain?
ye khooni manzar kiske hain?

kaun batayein kisse poochein
sab to hain insaan kahan hain


kaun batayein kisse poochein
sab to hain insaan kahan hain

dharam kahan imaan kahan?
kuda kahan bagwan kahan
are sach poocho to insaan kahan?
mera pyaara hindustaan kahan hai

kaun batayein kisse poochein
sab to hain insaan kahan hain

********************************************

madir bhi le lo
masjid bhi le lo
magar tum hamare
laho se na khelo

mandir se gar jo
khuda hai nadardad
aur masjidion mein
nahin hai jo ishwar
to phir aadmi ke liye dharm kya hai
jahan aadmi ke liye uthne hain khanjar

khuda ko bhi le lo
ishwar ko bhi le lo
tum ram le lo
babar bhi le lo

kaun bataayein kisse poochein
sab to hain insaan kahan hai

neeraj

gopal daas neeraj has the skill to do
romantic poetry in colloquial language
this is a flimy lyric touching the heights of
imagery

shokhiyon mein ghola jaaye phulon ka shabad
usme phir milai jaaye thodi si sharaab
hoga jo nasha tayyar wo pyaar hai

view the gif for the complete song
(incidentally the ISB coder has made an error-the lyrics penned by neeraj)

bacchan

another great poem bacchan
-courtesy jaya

rummi

"One went to the door of the Beloved and
knocked. A voice asked, 'Who is there?'
He answered, 'It is I.'

The voice said, 'There is no room for Me and Thee.'
The door was shut.

After a year of solitude and deprivation he returned and knocked.
A voice from within asked, 'Who is there?'
The man said, 'It is Thee.'
The door was opened for him."



-- Jelaluddin Rumi


*************************************************************************

In your light I learn how to love.

In your beauty, how to make poems.

You dance inside my chest,

where no one sees you,

but sometimes I do,

and that sight becomes this art.

****************************************************************
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.
*****************************************************************

how very close

is your soul with mine

i know for sure

everything you think

goes through my mind



i am with you

now and doomsday

not like a host

caring for you

at a feast alone



with you i am happy

all the times

the time i offer my life

or the time

you gift me your love



offering my life

is a profitable venture

each life i give

you pay in turn

a hundred lives again



in this house

there are a thousand

dead and still souls

making you stay

as this will be yours



a handful of earth

cries aloud

i used to be hair or

i used to be bones



and just the moment

when you are all confused

leaps forth a voice

hold me close

i'm love and

i'm always yours

***********************************************************************

Never be without rememberance of Him,
for His rememberance
gives strength and wings
to the bird of the Spirit.
If that objective of yours
is fully realized, that is
"Light upon Light"...

...But at the very least, by
practicing God's rememberance
your inner being
will be illuminated
little by little and
you will achieve
some measure of detachment
from the world.

-- Jelaluddin Rumi

************************************************************

bhvanyashtakam

ETERNITY IN AN HOUR

ETERNITY IN AN HOUR

To see a World in a grain of sand,
And a Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour....

The bat that flits at close of eve
Has left the brain that won't believe.
The owl that calls upon the night
Speaks the unbeliever's fright....

Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine;
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine....

Every tear from every eye
Becomes a babe in Eternity....

The bleat, the bark, bellow, and roar
Are waves that beat on Heaven's shore....

He who doubts from what he sees
Will ne'er believe, do what you please.
If the Sun and Moon should doubt,
They'd immediately go out....

God appears, and God is Light,
To those poor souls who dwell in Night;
But does a Human Form display
To those who dwell in realms of Day.

WILLIAM BLAKE

Narsi Mehta

i think must have either heard or hopefully appreciated the famous song vaishnav jan to
here are some tit bits about its lyrcist
Narsi Mehta
Considered to be the foremost poet-saint of Gujarat, Narsi Mehta's (A.D. 1414-1480) songs (padas) are full of devotion of Lord Krsna. They describe in a most vivid and passionate manner the early life of Krsna, his love-play with the Gopis of Gokula and the basic philosophy of early bhakti cult. Narsi Mehta's style is both simple and moving, and consequently the impact of his songs can still be felt in the villages of Saurashtra (Gujarat) where they have become part of the folk tradition.

"Besides being a poet, devotee and saint, Narsi Mehta was also a social reformer. Though born as an orthodox Nagar Brahmin, he was one of the strongest critics of the caste system and its evils. His naturally sensitive and loving nature revolted against the treatment of untouchables by his castemen. Narsi knew no caste distinctions; he looked upon all human beings as the children of Hari (Harijana).

"A hundred songs, representative of Narsi Mehta's philosophy, social message and the portrayal of love-play between Radha and Krsna (Radha-Krsna lila) are for the first time translated into simple and direct English verse." (jacket)

ek purana mausam lauta

Ek Purana Mausam lauta,
yaad bhari purvayee bhi

Aisa to kam hota hai,
who bhi ho tanhayee bhi

yadaon ki bauchaaron se,
jab palken bheegnelagti hain
kitni saundhi lagti hai tab
maji ki ruswai bhi

Ek Purana Mausam lauta,
yaad bhari purvayee bhi

Do do shaklen dikhtee hain
is bahke se aaine mein
Mere saath chala aaya hai
aapka ek saudayee bhi

badal ko ghirte dekha hai

अमल धवल गिरि के शिखरों पर,
बादल को घिरते देखा है।
छोटे-छोटे मोती जैसे
उसके शीतल तुहिन कणों को,
मानसरोवर के उन स्वर्णिम
कमलों पर गिरते देखा है,
बादल को घिरते देखा है।

तुंग हिमालय के कंधों पर
छोटी बड़ी कई झीलें हैं,
उनके श्यामल नील सलिल में
समतल देशों ले आ-आकर
पावस की उमस से आकुल
तिक्त-मधुर बिसतंतु खोजते
हंसों को तिरते देखा है।
बादल को घिरते देखा है।

ऋतु वसंत का सुप्रभात था
मंद-मंद था अनिल बह रहा
बालारुण की मृदु किरणें थीं
अगल-बगल स्वर्णाभ शिखर थे
एक-दूसरे से विरहित हो
अलग-अलग रहकर ही जिनको
सारी रात बितानी होती,
निशा-काल से चिर-अभिशापित
बेबस उस चकवा-चकई का
बंद हुआ क्रंदन, फिर उनमें
उस महान् सरवर के तीरे
शैवालों की हरी दरी पर
प्रणय-कलह छिड़ते देखा है।
बादल को घिरते देखा है।

दुर्गम बर्फानी घाटी में
शत-सहस्र फुट ऊँचाई पर
अलख नाभि से उठने वाले
निज के ही उन्मादक परिमल-
के पीछे धावित हो-होकर
तरल-तरुण कस्तूरी मृग को
अपने पर चिढ़ते देखा है,
बादल को घिरते देखा है।

कहाँ गय धनपति कुबेर वह
कहाँ गई उसकी वह अलका
नहीं ठिकाना कालिदास के
व्योम-प्रवाही गंगाजल का,
ढूँढ़ा बहुत किन्तु लगा क्या
मेघदूत का पता कहीं पर,
कौन बताए वह छायामय
बरस पड़ा होगा न यहीं पर,
जाने दो वह कवि-कल्पित था,
मैंने तो भीषण जाड़ों में
नभ-चुंबी कैलाश शीर्ष पर,
महामेघ को झंझानिल से
गरज-गरज भिड़ते देखा है,
बादल को घिरते देखा है।

शत-शत निर्झर-निर्झरणी कल
मुखरित देवदारु कनन में,
शोणित धवल भोज पत्रों से
छाई हुई कुटी के भीतर,
रंग-बिरंगे और सुगंधित
फूलों की कुंतल को साजे,
इंद्रनील की माला डाले
शंख-सरीखे सुघड़ गलों में,
कानों में कुवलय लटकाए,
शतदल लाल कमल वेणी में,
रजत-रचित मणि खचित कलामय
पान पात्र द्राक्षासव पूरित
रखे सामने अपने-अपने
लोहित चंदन की त्रिपटी पर,
नरम निदाग बाल कस्तूरी
मृगछालों पर पलथी मारे
मदिरारुण आखों वाले उन
उन्मद किन्नर-किन्नरियों की
मृदुल मनोरम अँगुलियों को
वंशी पर फिरते देखा है।
बादल को घिरते देखा है।

courtsey jaya jha

raskhan

धुरि भरे अति सोहत स्याम जू, तैसी बनी सिर सुंदर चोटी।
खेलत खात फिरैं अँगना, पग पैंजनी बाजति, पीरी कछोटी॥
वा छबि को रसखान बिलोकत, वारत काम कला निधि कोटी।
काग के भाग बड़े सजनी, हरि हाथ सों लै गयो माखन रोटी॥

a million thanks to bagru for reminding me of this

nirvan shatkam

a gem by shakara was written when his was age eight!

Mano Buddhi-ahankaara Chithaani Naaham
Na Cha Shrotra Jihve Na Cha Ghraana Netre
Na Cha Vyoma Bhoomir Na Tejo Na Vaayuhu
Chidaananda Roopah Shivoham Shivoham

I am not the mind, intellect, ego, or memory.
(the 4 aspects of Antah Karanaas)
Nor am I the ears, tongue, nose, eyes (and skin)
(the 5 organs of perception)
I am not the space, earth, fire, air (and water)-
(the 5 great elements)
I am pure Knowledge and Bliss.
I am the self spiritual joy of pure
Consciousness Shiva, Shivoham, Shivoham.

Na Cha Praana Samjno Na Vai Pancha Vaayuhu
Na Va Sapta Dhaatur Na Va Pancha Koshah
Na Vaak Paani Paadau Na Chopastha Paayuh
Chidaananda Roopah Shivoham Shivoham

I am not the Praana,
I am not the 5 vital airs.
I am not indeed the 7 materials,
Surely not the 5 sheaths,
Not the organ of speech, nor
hand, nor leg,
And not the genital organ, nor the anus.
I am of the nature of pure Knowledge and Bliss. I am Shiva, the most
Auspicious, I am Shiva.

Na Me Dvesha Raagau Na Me Lobha Mohau
Mado Naiva Me Naiva Maatsarya Bhaavah
Na Dharmo Na Chaartho Na Kaamo Na Mokshah
Chidaananda Roopah Shivoham Shivoham

I have neither hatred nor liking,
I have neither greed nor delusion,
I have indeed neither pride
nor jealousy,
I have no duty (to perform),
nor any wealth (to acquire),
I have no craving (for pleasure),
I am not being bound (for
liberation),
I am of the nature of Pure
Consciousness and Bliss,
I am all Auspiciousness,
I am Shiva.

Na Punyam Na Paapam Na Saukhyam Na Dukham
Na Mantro Na Teertham Na Vedo Na Yajnaha
Aham Bhojanam Naiva Bhojyam Na Bhoktaa
Chidaananda Roopah Shivoham Shivoham

I have neither virtue nor vice,
nor pleasure, nor pain,
nor the sacred chant of
mantras nor pilgrimage,
nor the scriptures,
nor the sacrificial rituals,
I am neither the act of enjoying,
nor the enjoyable object,
nor the enjoyer,
I am pure Knowledge and Bliss,
I am shiva, the
Auspiciousness itself.

Na Me Mrityu Shankaa Na Me Jaati Bhedah
Pita Naiva Me Naiva Maataa Na Janma
Na Bandhur Na Mitram Gurur Naiva Shishyah
Chidaananda Roopah Shivoham Shivoham

I have no fear of death,
nor have I any distinction
of Caste,
I have neither father,
nor mother, nor even birth,
nor relation, nor friend,
no teacher, no disciple,
I am pure Knowledge and Bliss,
I am all Auspiciousness,
I am Shiva.

Aham Nirvikalpo Niraakaara Roopaha
Vibhur Vyaapya Sarvatra Sarvendriyaanaam
Sadaa Me Samatvam Na Muktir Na Bandhah
Chidaananda Roopah Shivoham Shivoham

I am devoid of dualities,
and I am formless,
I exist everywhere,
pervading all the senses,
always I am the same,
I have neither freedom nor
bondage,
I am pure Knowledge and Bliss,
I am Auspiciousness,
I am Shiva.

jindagii

this one is to Dr.(soon to be)prakash :

Ab tho kuch apni tabiyat bhi juda lagti hai
Saans letha hoon to zakhmon ko hawa lagti hai

Kabhi raazi to kabhi mujhse khafa lagti hai
Zindagi too hi bata tu meri kya lagti hai?"

Najane kyun tera milkar bichadna yaad aata hai
main ro padtha hoon jab guzraa zamana yaad aata hai

Main aksar dekh kar shaanon ko apne rone lagta hoon
mujhe jab pyaar se sar tera rakhna yaad aata hai

Koi jab muskurata hai to dil par chot lagti hai
wo aanchal men tera jab muskurana yaad aata hai

nahin bhoola hoon main ab tak tujhe wo bhool ne wale
bata tujh ko bhi kya mera fasana yaad aata hai

Teri tasveer ko bas dekh the hi bewafa mujh ko
mujhe wo pyaar ka mausam suhana yaad aata hai

julm e ulfat

another great one from sahir

Jurm-e-Ulfat Pe Hummein Loog Saza Detay Hein
Kaisey Nadaan Hein, Sholoun Ko Hawa Detay Hein

Hum Se Deewaney Kahien Tarq-e-Wafa Kartey Hein
Jaan Jaaye Kay Rahey Baat Nibbha Detay Hein

Aap Doulat Kay Tarazu Mein Dilloun Ko Toulein
Hum Mohabbat Se Mohabbat Ka Sila Detay Hein

Takht Kya Cheez Hai Aur Lal-o-Juahir Kya Hein
Ishq Waley Tou Khudai Bhi Lutta Detay Hein

Hum Ney Dil Dey Bhi Diya, Ehad-e-Wafa Lay Bhi Liya
Aap Ab Shouq Se Dey Lein Jo Saza Detay Hein

Poet: Sahir Ludhiyanvi

Culture, culture on the wall

what better way to restart blogging...than by this post
and no wonder it comes from one of my teachers

Culture, culture on the wall...

SHIV VISVANATHAN


CULTURE is a word that quakes and trembles today. People in their forties and fifties are worried about it. They talk of culture as if it has caught a cold, gone tubercular or just attended a biopsy. I love the fear and trembling model of culture. It smacks of nostalgia. It reminds me of my grandfather.

My grandfather oozed high culture and wrote a book on the ‘Grammar of South Indian Music’ that would have made any Calvinist or Brahmo happy. He had trained his yawns to emanate as ragas and when he yawned at night, children knew it was time to hide. He willed his grandchildren his prized stradivarius. Not one of them accepted the offer and I believe a pair of mice eventually lived happily in it.

It was not the ‘strad’ we objected to, it was my grandfather. But in my mind both were intertwined: the classical power and that whiff of authoritarianism. This culture was what you did in drawing rooms. It was exquisite, fragile, well-behaved, even a shade brahmanic. It was official and it reprimanded all those who read comic books. I loved comics and Shakespeare. I would recite reams of Macbeth, but Donald Duck and Tom and Jerry were characters from my midsummer night’s dream.

References to culture sounded sonorous. I still remember President Radhakrishnan defining the purpose of culture as ‘to educate, to entertain and to elevate the spirit of man.’ It was only later that I discovered that culture was anything you did and thought. It was not just an anthropological definition for tribal societies but for the tribal in me. I found it tremendously liberating to have Shakespeare and Mad Magazine cheek by jowl. But I must admit that this classic notion of culture had strengths. Officially, it was painful but domestically it was fun. Culture was something everyday from the rangoli or kollam you did (no one went to finishing school), the food you cooked (Tarla Dalal would have been a non-event), to the music you learnt. You just grew with it. It blended with religion, ritual, food and festival. I still remember Bismillah insisting his shehnai didn’t sound right till it had the flavour of kebabs in it. Maybe this culture was horribly gendered. Remember it was a world where boys did science and girls home-science. The icons were clear-cut – Tagore, Ravi Shankar, MS, DK, Balasaraswati, Semangudi.

There were no special music critics. Every consumer was his own discerning critic, citing chapter and verse from earlier performances. The folklore of music was as refined as that of cricket. Every performance of MS had its followers, its lore as detailed and obsessive as that of cricket. I can still hear my father talking of the first time MS sang as a young girl at a marriage festival. He was assigned the task of bringing her to the pandal.

Culture like politics was consensual and culture like the Indian National Congress had its greats. One knew them, lived them, recognized them and respected them. The nadaswaram at the temple, the Nehru cap, Hamlet, the Conjeevaram sari, the veena and the sitars – each had its immaculate, iconic place. There were minor disturbances. The nouveau riche still entered at the wrong time and clapped at the wrong places. These were minor irritants becoming jokes which were passed again and again like the story of the socialite who asked the scientist C.V. Raman, ‘Believe you have something to do with diamonds?’ True it was also elitist. We were ecstatic about Bharatnatyam after Rukmini Arundale had poured antiseptic on it and we knew little about the mythic power of Terrukoothu.

Today all this sounds like nostalgia but remember nostalgia is a particular kind of ritual. It mourns that which isn’t fully dead. It is not death that nostalgia mourns but demographic decline. But nostalgia also kills because it refuses to recognize and understand the new. When it hears the new raga of Iliya Raja, it mourns for the lost record of Pattamal. Nostalgia is not the grief for the old but the dirge for the new which in turn is tone deaf to its grief. Talk nostalgically of T.N. Krishnan’s first music academy performance and the new generation belts out ‘Who wants yesterday’s newspaper?’





In some ways, there are strange similarities between the classical culture and the Congress. Both of them were happily contradictory and encouraged mixed and parallel economies. You went to the Gwalior festival, listened to Lata Mangeshkar, and vibed with Ellington and the Beatles. They were rituals for separate places and you also had coping rituals. You were dismissive about Hindi movies but could not resist seeing them a fourth time. Nargis and Madhubala were still pristine faces. Filmfare dismissed them but you merely went to see what the excitement was about or you justified it by saying Vyjanthi had classical Bharatnatyam training. Or you saw Sholay for the eighth time to see how Sippy had imitated Kurosawa. A few ritual japams to Kurosawa excused your enthusiasm for a tall, young star with a classical baritone. But even there one asked, wasn’t he Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s son and hadn’t he acted in the Shakespeare society plays?





The classical culture had its own theory of violence. The Mahabharata was the paradigm but it was the attitude of spectators rather than warriors that was relevant. Sanjaya more than Karna or Arjuna was the hero, the first detached commentator.

The old ‘culture’ lost to a new consensus, which was more open and tolerant. No one today can ignore the democratic role of the Hindi movie. Dismissed for years as populist, sentimental, surreal, fraudulent, imitative, the Hindi movie offered the first real frame for cultural democracy. It merged classical and folk, it stole from Hollywood and yet made fun of the English. It upheld law and order but realized that love went beyond it. It upheld the myths of upward mobility. It recognized the intellectual death of village and the power of the city long before our social scientists and politicians. It was the classical upholder of ethnic identity and yet defended the citizenship of Amar, Akbar and Anthony.

In fact it was the newspaper, the English ones, that were both elitist and official. The newspaper as landscape protected official frames and categories. For example, The Hindu was the greatest exponent of Science, State and Nation. Science was central; the folk arts were confined to Sunday supplements. The Hindi movie editorialized from a plurality of perspectives. Its theory of doubles would accommodate the dualisms of urban/rural, criminal/legal, official/unofficial but the newspaper through the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s reflected the statist consensus committed to modernization, nationalism and security.

The English newspaper was the official mask while the Hindi movie played the happy unconscious ready to engage with any contradiction. Laughed at, laughable, it represented the cultural consensus of a democratizing society when the brahmanic idea of culture was turning repressive and arid. What was utterly fascinating was the Hindi movies’ approach to violence. It saw violence as a ritual of culture, as a consequence of the feud, an act of revenge. Hindi movies never took class violence seriously. Marxism was a poor theory of revenge, a poor narrative about the recovery of honour. Secondly, by ritualising violence it controlled it, like the stylized fight or the ritual closure as the police arrive on the scene.





But even the Hindi movie with its Roberts and Amitabhs, its Latas and Burmans was incapable of coping with the emerging global paradigm. The work of Rahman or Rakesh Roshan were desperate innovative leaps which show that the consensus is broken, that the NRI has taken over from the Indian citizen. The myth of the diaspora, the story of successful Indian migrants winning prizes at everything from banking exams and spelling bees to science quizzes reflects the end of the Hindi movie as consensus. The Hindi movie is a celebration of nostalgia. The innovations of Ghai and Desai can no longer provide the mythic consensus that democracy and mobility need.

I feel the Hindi movie will collapse like the Indian Congress. It can no longer provide something for everybody. Its constituency will fragment like the Congress – the Dalits, Muslims, OBCs each finding their own form of political entertainment. The cinema theatre will be a thing of the past and it will be put to better use in other real estate exercises. Maybe as a video centre, cybercafe, a fast food joint or even a pool table. Today’s cinema audiences will split into a series of entertainment constituencies. The A.R. Rahmans and Rajiv Menons will have to produce designer movies for separate niches.

Just as the magazine trade is niching into separate readerships, the movie world also will also fragment. The India Today equivalent of the movie will be difficult to invent. The mythic power of the Hindi movies will be taken over by soap opera TV, stage shows as happenings, cricket matches. What we now face is a world where neither elite culture, nor mass culture nor folk culture is alive and thriving.





Neither classical culture or cinematic culture have a paradigm for the emerging violence. It is the relation between the new kitsch and violence that we must understand. Violence here offers no resolution or redemption. It cumulates in a fragmented form without ritual control. Let us also be clear that this is not the violence of fascism. It is fragmentary violence that cumulates geologically and behaves tectonically. It is a violence hidden by our boyscout sentimentality or security management concepts.

Violence in the city is like fragments in film, but the city overall is an unfilmable film. The forms of violence juxtapose each other. There is the communal riot, rape, incest, disaster, displacement, the sheer survival of slum. No myth holds all of them; only kitsch can and does and kitsch is debased myth. What we face are a new cast of characters – fundamentalists with MBAs, terrorists in finance capital, diasporic revivalists, paramilitary cultural groups, NGOs and mercenaries, cops applying draconian laws along with the incendiarism of unemployed youth and Ph.D plugged to cyberspace. It has a boyscout adolescence. Kitsch celebrates the new violence of the city struggling under old myths. The statistics are there in cyberspace but the cyber relief stops there. Westside Story in Hindi or Kung-fu rituals or even older cinematic criminality has little to say about this violence. There is no theory, no frame holding it.





The fragmentation one sees, the transit subcultures, the desperate hybridizations are all a part of this anomie. Filmi space was a whole that cyberspace as a mindset has broken. We face today an insurrection of constituencies without a powerful mythic consensus. The fragment is all and the fragment is celebrated as a totalizing icon till the next release. Central to the recovery is a new imagination for the city that must work for the new idea of culture to work. Hybridized or hyphenated music, the cybercages are all transient experiments. The city will have to invent varieties of cultural entertainment as homes will get smaller, transport more difficult, energy more expensive. The city will be caught between boredom and violence and our cultures have no response to this urban violence.

Nostalgia, religion, shuffling of cultures, rise of new sects or fascist cadres might provide alternatives to the movie and the newspaper. At a time when we need consensus most, the newspaper, the Congress and the Hindi movie will fail us. Our belief that Indian civilization will digest this new invasion, will add to the crisis. Maybe involvement in violence or authoritarianism will provide new forms of involvement.

It is this wider picture rather than the idiocies of Gulshan Kumar, TOI supplements, music mixes, empty socialites, the idiocy of fashion shows, that frightens one. The transit cultures of today have no answer to this cultural anomie while living off it.

Madhu Kishwar

tho i dont complete agree with madhu kishwar .. i must mention that she has a remarkable way of putting things accross when it comes to indian culture.

for those who dont know she is w/o lord swaraj paul .. they got married few months ago :)
WOMEN OF VISION
The Unfailing Power Of Female Fidelity
Lord Rama's tragic treatment of his chaste wife Sita show women which men to avoid
By Madhu Kishwar

I grew up thinking that Sita, heroine of the Ramayana, was a slavish wife without a mind of her own who deserved the shabby treatment of her husband, Lord Ram. It took me a long time to understand that it is not Indian women's masochism which makes Sita appear an appealing role model. It is her supreme loyalty, combined with her dignified refusal to go through the humiliation of a second fire ordeal. She makes Ram appear so uncouth and unreasonable that this one injustice has not been forgiven all these centuries.

During Ramanand Sagar's "Ramayan" telecast on TV, as the episode approached when Sita's fidelity was to be tested with an agnipariksha (fire ordeal), the serial makers were flooded in advance with so many letters protesting the depiction of Sita going through the agnipariksha that he had to deviate from his text and show a mock agnipariksha, with the TV Ram making it clear that he did not doubt Sita's chastity. Clearly, Ram's injustice to Sita hung so heavily on the collective conscience of Indians that they willingly demanded even a sacred text be altered.

I witnessed the power of Sita's story to move men's hearts in Maharashtra. I was working on the Lakshmi Mukti program to persuade peasants of the organization, Shetkari Sangathana, to empower women by voluntarily transferring a portion of the family land in the name of the wife. During our campaign, Sangathana leader Sharad Joshi pointed out to men how their wives toil for them selflessly, how crucial their wives' labor and care is for the well-being of the family. He would ask his audience: "But how do we men treat our Lakshmi's? [Sita is an incarnation of Lakshmi]. Often no better than Ram treated Sita! When Ram was banished for 14 years Sita could have stayed back, but she insisted, 'Wherever goes Ram, there goes Sita. My place is by your side.' She suffered numerous privations for him joyfully. Though Ram's enemy, Ravan, respected her chastity when she was captured by him, and did not violate Sita against her wishes, her own husband subjected her to the cruel humiliation of agnipariksha to prove her chastity. Even fire could not touch her. But on their return to his kingdom, at the mere hint of a slanderous remark by a laundryman, Ram asks Lakshman to take away Sita and leave her in a forest without explanation. Maharani (Great Queen) Sita became a beggar overnight because her husband turned against her. It did not occur to him to tell his subjects, 'If Sita is not good enough to be your queen, then my place is by her side. I cannot stay here either.' He left her destitute even while she was pregnant with his children."

Joshi told his audience that the purpose of the Lakshmi Mukti program was to see that no modern-day Sita would ever have to suffer the fate of Ram's Sita, left without anything to call her own. By transferring land to their wives, they were paying off "a long overdue debt." In village after village I would see men reduced to tears listening to Sita's story. In 15 months more than 613 villages carried out the Lakshmi Mukti program of land transfer to wives celebrating the occasion as though it were a festival. Men felt good atoning for the wrongdoing of Ram. An additional two thousand villages volunteered to accept the Lakshmi Mukti Program, but the leadership somehow lost momentum.

People will say approvingly, "He is a Ram-like son or a Ram-like brother or a Ram-like king," but almost never say in approval, "He is a Ram-like husband." Women do not wish a Ram-like husband, even while they wish to be as loyal as Sita. Likewise, no woman wants a Krishna or a Vishnu, for Krishna is seen as a Casanova who kept many women dangling after him. Women often pray for a Krishna-like child, but almost never pray that they get a
Krishna type husband.

Siva alone of all the Gods is considered the most desirable type of husband. Unmarried women fast on Mondays praying to Siva that He bless them with Parvati's good fortune. Why? Because Siva is single minded in his devotion to Parvati. He has no eye for any other woman. When she immolates herself as Sati to protest her father's insult of her husband, Siva is ready to burn down the whole world and rests only after he has brought her back to life. She carries tremendous influence in his activities, a companion and advisor rather than a servile wife. They are our mythology's most celebrated and happy couple, representing perfect joy in togetherness, including in their sexual union. Yet, Parvati had not been able to seduce him with her physical charm. She did rigorous austerities to win him.

Why do women want a Siva-like husband and not a Krishna or Ram? At the heart of this choice is the awareness that women's well-being requires a stable family and a man who will act responsibly towards his wife and his children. Most women shudder at the prospect of being a single parent, like Sita. Nor do they want to be a wife like Rukmini, who is forever waiting for her husband, who is too busy with his various dalliances. For a stable family life, sexual loyalty and restraint are a pre-condition. Even while preaching its virtue to women, most men have found it hard to live by those norms. And women have had a hard time trying to hold men to it by making their own lives examples to be emulated in this respect. Some succeed partially, some well, some not at all. But most keep trying because they know if they give up or take to the ways of men, there is little possibility of finding an emotionally stable family life for themselves and their children.

MADHU KISHWAR, 47, New Delhi, editor of Manushi, India's leading magazine on human issues, especially women right's, is an erudite activist in the effort to raise up the qualify of life in India.

Vali and Sri Ram: an esoteric explanation

Consider the episode where Sri Ram, after being hidden Himself behind a tree shoots the monkey king Vali, while Vali was engaged in a fight with his brother Sugreeva. This episode has a deep mystical significance.

Vali, the immoral and vicious brother represents Lust, the lower nature of man. Sugreeva, the moral and virtuous brother represents man’s higher and nobler nature.

Vali had earned through austerity a boon by which half the strength of his enemy was transferred to him as soon as an enemy confronted him in a battle. Similarly the power of lust becomes invulnerable the moment man comes in direct contact with the object of lust. The sense objects overpower man and they leave him a helpless victim of temptation. To avoid this, and to overcome successfully the disastrous influence of the sense objects, man has to stay away physically from the objects in the initial stages i.e. before he gains an absolute hold and control over them. So long as man remains in the midst of sense objects and tries to exercise his self control over those objects, he can never be successful since the power of the sense objects is almost invincible.

To indicate this great truth, Sri Ram is described as hiding behind a tree i.e. physically keeping away from Vali, and shooting him from a distance.

Sri Ram’s bow and arrows symbolise his preparedness and strength to maintain peace, and justice, both within and without. Sri Ram is the ideal of "aggressive goodness" as opposed to "weak and passive goodness". He stands for righteousness. He opposes and destroys all that is unrighteous.

Adhyatma Ramayana

samundar: Vaseem Barelvi Saheb

finally back from that long hiatus
here is something i am sure u all will like
by Vaseem Barelvi Saheb,

******************
Kya dukh hai samundar ko bataa bhi nahin sakta
Aansoo ki taraha aankh mein aa bhi nahin sakta!

Tu choRh raha hai to khata is mein teri kya
Har Shakhs mera saath nibha bhi nahin sakta!

Lagaa ke dekh le jo bhi hisaab aata ho
Mujhe ghata ke wo ginti mein rah nahin sakta!

Vaise to ek aansoo hi bahakar mujhe le jaaye
Aise koi Toofan hilaa bhi nahin sakta!

excerpt from kamayani

For some sweet, endearing moments
read kaamyaani, i have given an excerpt of the poem.
kamaayani is considered the greatest creative height after tulsi's ramcharitmanas
in Hindi litreature

haappy reading :-)

"हाँ, ठीक, परन्तु बताओगी मेरे जीवन का पथ क्या है?
इस निविड़ निशा में संसृति की आलोकमयी रेखा क्या है?
यह आज समझ तो पाई हूँ मैं दुर्बलता में नारी हूँ,
अवयव की सुन्दर कोमलता लेकर मैं सबसे हारी हूँ।
पर मन भी क्यों इतना ढीला अपने ही होता जाता है,
घनश्याम-खंड-सी आँखों में क्यों सहसा जल भर आता है?
सर्वस्व-समर्पण करने की विश्वास-महा-तरु-छाया में,
चुपचाप पड़ी रहने की क्यों ममता जगती हैं माया में?
छायापथ में तारक-द्युति सी झिलमिल करने की मधु-लीला,
अभिनय करती क्यों इस मन में कोमल निरीहता श्रम-शीला?
निस्संबल होकर तिरती हूँ इस मानस की गहराई में,
चाहती नहीं जागरण कभी सपने की इस सुघराई में।
नारी जीवन की चित्र यही क्या? विकल रंग भर देती हो,
अस्फुट रेखा की सीमा में आकार कला को देती हो।
रुकती हूँ और ठहरती हूँ पर सोच-विचार न कर सकती,
पगली-सी कोई अंतर में बैठी जैसे अनुदित बकती।
मैं जभी तोलने का करती उपचार स्वयं तुल जाती हूँ,
भुजलता फँसा कर नर-तरु से झूले-सी झोंके खाती हूँ।
इस अर्पण में कुछ और नहीं केवल उत्सर्ग छलकता है,
मैं दे दूँ और न फिर कुछ लूँ, इतना ही सरल झलकता है।
"क्या कहती हो ठहरो नारी! संकल्प-अश्रु जल से अपने -
तुम दान कर चुकी पहले ही जीवन के सोने-से सपने।
नारी! तुम केवल श्रद्धा हो विश्वास-रजत-नग पगतल में,
पीयूष-स्रोत बहा करो जीवन के सुंदर समतल में।
देवों की विजय, दानवों की हारों का होता युद्ध रहा,
संघर्ष सदा उर-अंतर में जीवित रह नित्य-विरुद्ध रहा।
आँसू से भींगे अंचल पर मन का सब कुछ रखना होगा -
तुमको अपनी स्मित रेखा से यह संधिपत्र लिखना होगा।"
- जयशंकर प्रसाद

dinkar: samar sesh hai

How can i neglect dinkar one of my favoraties.
the grand old man of chayya vad.
read this excerpt of his famous poem to undersand why Dinkar
is immortal in Hindi poetry.

समर शेष है

वह सँसार जहाँ तक पहुँची अब तक नहीँ किरण है
जहाँ क्षितिज है शून्य, अभी तक अँबर तिमिर वरण है |
देख जहाँ क द्रश्य आज भी अन्तस्थल हिलता है
माँ को लज्ज वसन और शिशु को न क्षीर मिलता है

पूज रहा है जहाँ चकित हो जन जन देख अकाज
सात वर्ष हो गये राह मेँ अटका कहाँ स्वराज ?

अटका कहाँ स्वराज ? बोल दिल्ली! तु क्या कह्ती है?
तू रानी बन गयी वेदना जनता क्योँ सहती है ?
सबके भाग्य दबा रखे हैँ किसने अपने कर में ?
उतरी थी जो विभा, हुइ बंदनी बता किस घर में

समर शेष है यह प्रकाश बंदीग्रह से छूटेगा,
और नहीँ तो तुझ पर पापिनी! महावज्र टूटेगा

समर शेष है उस स्वराज को सत्य बनाना होगा
जिसका है ये न्यास उसे सत्वर पहुँचाना होगा
धारा के मग में अनेक जो पर्वत खडे हुए हैँ
गंगा का पथ रोक इन्द्र के गज जो अडे हुए हैं

कह दो उनसे झुके अगर तो जग मे यश पाएंगे
अडे रहे अगर तो ऐरावत पत्तों से बह जाऐंगे

समर शेष है जनगंगा को खुल कर लह राने दो
शिखरों को डूबने और मुकुटों को बह जाने दो
पथरीली ऊँची जमीन है? तो उस को तोडेंगे
समतल पीटे बिना समर कि भूमी नहिं छोडेंगे

समर शेष है चलो ज्योतियों के बरसाते तीर
खण्ड खण्ड हो गिरे विषमता की काली जंजीर

समर शेष है, अभी मनुज भक्षी हुंकार रहे हैं |
गांधी का पी रुधिर जवाहर पर फुंकार रहे हैं |
समर शेष है, अहंकार इनका हरना बाकी है,
वृक को दंतहीन, अहि को निर्विष करना बाकी है |

समर शेष है, शपथ धर्म की लाना है वह काल
विचरें अभय देश में गांधी और जवाहर लाल

तिमिर पुत्र ये दस्यु कहीं कोइ दुष्काण्ड रचें ना !
सावधान हो खडी देश भर में गांधी की सेना |
बलि देकर भी बलि! स्नेह का यह मृदु व्रत साधो रे|
मंदिर औ मस्जिद दोनो पर एक तार बांधो रे |

समर शेष है नहिं पाप का भागी केवल व्याघ्र ,
जो तटस्थ हैं उनका भि समय लिखेगा अपराध |

sumitra nanadan pant

विजय

'उत्तरा' से

मैं चिर श्रद्धा लेकर आई
वह साध बनी प्रिय परिचय में,
मैं भक्ति हृदय में भर लाई,
वह प्रीति बनी उर परिणय में।

जिज्ञासा से था आकुल मन
वह मिटी, हुई कब तन्मय मैं,
विश्वास माँगती थी प्रतिक्षण
आधार पा गई निश्चय मैं !

प्राणों की तृष्णा हुई लीन
स्वप्नों के गोपन संचय में
संशय भय मोह विषाद हीन
लज्जा करुणा में निर्भय मैं !

लज्जा जाने कब बनी मान,
अधिकार मिला कब अनुनय में
पूजन आराधन बने गान
कैसे, कब? करती विस्मय मैं !

उर करुणा के हित था कातर
सम्मान पा गई अक्षय मैं,
पापों अभिशापों की थी घर
वरदान बनी मंगलमय मैं !

बाधा-विरोध अनुकूल बने
Aतर्चेतन अरुणोदय में,
पथ भूल विहँस मृदु फूल बने
मैं विजयी प्रिय, तेरी जय में।



- सुमित्रानंदन पंत

dono or prem palta hai: mathili sharan gupt

maithli sahran gupt was the ambassador of khadi boli.
he chose khadi boli for his creations as against the popular
braj bhasha.
his famous compostions like 'nar ho na niraah karo man ko'
and 'mujhe phool mat maro' took nation by storm in those days

i present one of my much loved and very
poignant poem.

read it carefully and if posssible over and over again
to fathom the emotive and poetic depths depicted.

दोनो ओर प्रेम पलता है -

दोनो ओर प्रेम पलता है
सखि पतँग भी जलता है
हा दीपक भी जलता है

सीस हिला कर दीपक कह्ता
बन्धु वृथा हि तू क्योँ दह्ता है
पर पतँग पड के ही रह्ता
कितनी विव्हलता है
-दोनो ओर प्रेम पलता है

बचकर हाय पतँग मरे क्या?
प्रणय छोड कर प्राण धरे क्या?
जले नहीँ तो मरा करेँ क्या ?
क्या ये असफ़लता है ?

--दोनो ओर प्रेम पलता है

कह्ता है पतँग मन मारे
तुम महान पर मैँ लघु प्यारे
क्या न मरण भी हाथ हमारे?
शरण किसे छलता है
--दोनो ओर प्रेम पलता है

दीपक के जलने मे आली
फिर भी है जीवन की लाली
किन्तु पतँग कि भाग्य लिपी काली
किसका वश चलता है ?
--दोनो ओर प्रेम पलता है

जगती वणिग्वृत्ति है रखती
उसे चाह्ती जिसेसे चखती
काम नही परिणाम निरखती
मुझे ही खलता है

दोनो ओर प्रेम पलता है
सखि पतँग भी जलता है
हा दीपक भी जलता है

sahir:mast najar

another one from sahir ludhiyanavi
dedicate this post to bhaaluu
(i never wanted to use the alias).
:)

तुम्हारी मस्त नज़र अगर इधर नहीं होती
नशे में चूर फ़िज़ा इस कदर नहीं होती
तुम्हीं को देखने की दिल में आरज़ूएं हैं
तम्हारे आगे ही और ऊँची नज़र नहीं होती
ख़्हफ़ा न होना अगर बड़ के थाम लूँ दामन
ये दिल फ़रेब ख़्हता जान कर नहीं होती
तुम्हारे आने तलक हम को होश रहता है
फिर उसके बाद हमें कुछ ख़्हबर नहीं होती
-साहिर

'सुख का गोरी' sukh kaa gori

what i like about salim ahemad 'jakhmi' is his robert forst like
style of saying complex things in simple words.
his language very simple,neither high flying hindi or urdu

presenting his very famous composition 'सुख का गोरी '
read the later satnzaas very carefully.


सुख का गोरी नाम न लेना
दुख हि दुख है गाँव मे,
प्रीत का काँटा मन मे चुभेगा
खेत का काँटा पाँव मे १

देख मुसाफ़िर मित्र खडे हैँ
छतरी ताने गावोँ मे,
पीपल बरगद नीम बुलायेँ
हाथ हिला कर छाँव मे २

माटी के हम दीप जरा से
ज्योत हमारी कितनी देर,
घात मे बाहर घोर अँधेरे
घुस आये कुटियाओँ मे ३

साँस खटकती फाँस के जैसी
पल भर मन को चैन नहीँ ,
नीरस नीरस जीवन सारा
आग लगे आशाओँ मे ४

कृष्ण की पूजा श्याम कि भक्ति
मुरली-धर की मतवाली ,
राधा जैसे भाग हैँ किसके
बिन ब्याही कन्याओँ मे ५

इस युग के बेढब लोगोँ से
क्या ढब की बत करे कोई,
चतुराइ से चिन्ता मे फसेँ हैँ
बुद्धि से बाधाओँ मे ६

तन का तिनका जीवन तट पर
कबतक 'जख्मी' ठहरेगा
लहर लहर मे छीना झपटी
होड लगी घटनाओँ मे ७

-वसुधा से साभार

adrash prem-bacchan

apart from madhushaala for which hari vansh rai bachhan is
renouned.
bacchan has also composed some very touching poems.
presenting one such piece of beautifull poetry: adarsh prem

for viewing hindi font
kindly chnage encoding of ur browser to unicode(UTF)for IE users this can be done by going to View-> Encoding-> UTF-8

in case ur browser doesnt support unicode the intrans is coming soon

आदर्श प्रेम
प्यार किसी को करना लेकिन
कह्कर उसे बताना क्या
अपने को अर्पण करना पर
और को अपनाना क्या

गुण का ग्राहक बनना लेकिन
गाकर उसे सुनाना क्या
मन के कल्पित भावोँ से
औरोँ को भ्रम मे लाना क्या

ले लेना सुगन्ध सुमनोँ की
तोड उन्हेँ मुरझाना क्या
प्रेम हार पहनाना लेकिन
प्रेम पाश फैलाना क्या
note the last stanza

त्याग अँक मे पले प्रेम शिशु
उनमे स्वार्थ बताना क्या
देकर ह्रिदय ह्रिदय पाने की
आशा व्यर्थ लगाना क्या
-बच्चन

life: khalil gibran

when it comes to free verse and philosophy
no one does it better than gibran
the undermentioned post bears a testimony to the fact

I said to my friend:
"See her leaning over his arm?
Yesterday she leaned over my arm."
And he said:
"Tomorrow she will lean over mine."

And I said:
"See her sitting at his side;
And yesterday she sat at my side."
And he said:
"Tomorrow she will sit at mine."

And I said:
"Don't you see her drinking from his cup?
And yesterday she sipped from mine."
And he said:
"Tomorrow she will drink from mine."

And I said:
"Look how she glances at him with eyes full of Love!
and with just such love, yesterday she glanced at me."
And he said:
"Tomorrow she will glance at me, likewise."

And I said:
"Listen to her whispering songs of love in his ears;
And yesterday she whispered the same songs in mine."
And he said:
"Tomorrow she will whisper them in mine."

And I said:
"Look at her embracing him; and yesterday she embraced me."
And he said:
"Tomorrow she will lie in my arms."

And I said:
"What a strange woman she is!!"
And he said:
"She is life!"
-- Khalil Gibran

courtsey:babhy

farewell

the moment is finally here: again from one of my favoraites sahir
जीवन के सफ़र मेँ राही
मिलते हैँ बिछड जाने को
और दे जाते हैँ यादेँ
तनहाई मे तडपाने को

ये रूप की दौलत वाले
कब सुनते हैँ दिल के नाले
तकदीर न बस मे डाले
इनके किसी दीवाने को

जो इनकी नजर से ख़ेले
दुख पाये मुसीबत झेले
फिरते हैँ ये सब अलबले
दिल ले के मुकर जाने को

दिल ले के दगा देते हैँ
एक रोग लगा देते हैँ
हँस हँस के जला देते हैँ
ये हुस्न के परवाने को

अब साथ न गुजरेँगे हम
लेकिन ये फ़िजा रातोँ की
दौहराया करेगी हरदम
इस प्यार के अफ़साने को

-जीवन के सफ़र मेँ राही
मिलते हैँ बिचड जाने को
और दे जाते हैँ यादेँ
तनहाई मे तडपाने को

(for those who dont have XP(unicode support) the itrans version will do the needfull)

ITRANS:

jiivan ke safar me.n raahii,
milate hai.n bichha.D jaane ko
aur de jaate hai.n yaade.n,
tanahaaii me.n ta.Dapaane ko


ye ruup kii daulata vaale,
kab sunate hai.n dil ke naale
taqadiir na bas me.n Daale,
inake kisii diivaane ko


jo inakii nazar se khele,
dukh paae musiibat jhele
phirate hai.n ye sab alabele,
dil leke mukar jaane ko

dil leke dagaa dete hai.n,
ik rog lagaa dete hai.n
ha.Ns ha.Ns ke jalaa dete hai.n,
ye husn ke paravaane ko


ab saath na guzare.nge ham,
lekin ye fizaa raato.n kii
doharaayaa karegii haradam,
is pyaar ke afasaane ko

jiivan ke safar me.n raahii,
milate hai.n bichha.D jaane ko
aur de jaate hai.n yaade.n,
tanahaaii me.n ta.Dapaane ko

हिमाद्रि तुँग श्रिंग सी

one of my much loved poem: by none other than jaisha.nkar parasad

हिमद्रि तुँग श्रगँ से
प्रबुद्ध शुद्ध भाराती
स्व्यँ प्रभा समुज्ज्वला
स्वतन्त्रता पुकारती

अमर्त्य वीर पुत्र हो
द्र्ढ प्रतिग्य सोच लो
प्रशस्त पुन्य पन्थ है
बढे चलो बढे चलो !

असँख्य किर्ति रश्मियाँ
विकीर्ण दिव्य दाह सी
सपूत मातृभूमी के
रुको न शूर साहसी

अराति सैन्य सीन्धु मेँ
सुबाडबग्नि से जलो
प्रवीर हो जयी बनो
बडे चलो बदे चलो

sankhya coffee

In the six systems of Indian philosophy I am particularly impressed by the ‘sankhya’ marg. Sankya was propounded by Kapil Muni(the same kapil whom Krishna in gita eulogizes and says amongst the devrishis I am narad maong the siddhas I am kapil….)
Sankya is a logical methodology of reaching conclusions on metaphysical subjects.

I present a sankhyified explanation of recent incident.

Amit, I and gabber were on our late night stroll and to kill time we decided to have cup of coffee. No choice comes with a responsibility. Here the responsibility was the plastic cup.
The choice however also leads to further choices and amit and I made the choice of keeping the cup in our hand till we find a suitable place to dispose that off. Gabbar however had a different preference, very Indian as he is, he threw the cup immediately, Amit blasted off: “I did’nt expect this from you”.

Contritely gabber said, I am sorry but there isn’t a waste bin anywhere. To which amit retorted what do u think lies ten steps ahead of you. Gabbar was crestfallen. He shot back with the excuse that the cup was sticky and to hold that stick plastic is nasty and blah blah blah.

I finally cud’nt bear this blabber. Took gabbars side and said you should do what you want to do. Gabbar exploded u mean u support littering?
This was the last thing I meant. I said if that’s what u inferred so be
You identify yourselves with the body so the sticky cup becomes troublesome, if your consciousness grows and you identify yourselves with the campus then the campus will become ur abode and then the sticky cup will no longer be thrown aside but will find its fated place courtesy u.
You should really do what you want to do but first you should find who are you?

‘Kasyam koham kut aaytam
Ka main janani ko main tatam’
-from Bhaj Govindam

Who I am where have I come from
Who is my mother who is my fathere


-ashu

shankara

I personally feel that like ...
Mathematics which sits at the top of all sciences
advaita sits at the top of all philosophy...

I mean though advaita is very vast... very subtle ... very ticklish....
the philosophy 'as it is' .... is very pervasive and holistic... i mean u can include everything .....

It is like the general theory of relativity which gives an all encompassing
view of the GREAT INDIAN CULTURE
.
U can include the "pushti marg" and the "dviata" and "suddhadvaita" easily as special
cases of advaita... just like Newton’s laws became special cases of Einstein’s theory..

Now no advaita story is complete if we ignore its main exponent.. SHANKARCHRYA aka Shankara aka Sankara (English version)....


Here is a good primer on the veteran....



Introduction

No historical person has exercised a deeper and stronger influence on Indian thought and intellect and on spiritual life than Sri Adi Sankaracharya (788 – 820 A D). Indian philosophy, culture, poetry, humanism, art, literature etc., even today, reveal the impact of his teachings. In particular, he left indelible marks on the religious map of India.
As a philosopher, a poet, a reformer, an organizer, a teacher, an integrator, and an interpreter and so on, Adi Sankara is the sublime prophet of an epoch and thus rightly deserves to be called 'Jagadguru' ('Universal Preceptor').
Sankara's Life in Brief
The success and glory of life of Adi Sankara is sung in one sloka
“Ashta varshe chaturveedi
Dvaadasae sarva saastravit,
Shodasee kritavaan bhaashyam
Dvaatrimsee munirabhyagaat.”
meaning,
“At eight, a master of four Vedas
At twelve, a professor of all sastras,
At sixteen, an interpreter and commentator
At thirty two, a great sage.”


Adi Sankara was born to the blessed couple of Siva guru and Aryamba, in Kalady in Kerala state, India. He had mastered the Vedas and sastras at the age of eight. After taking sannyasa from his master Govinda Bhagavatpada on the banks of the river Narmada, Sankara went to Kasi and then to Badri where he wrote Bhashyas at the guru's bidding. Then, he traveled to all parts of India, spreading the gospel of Advaita Sidhanta. He established four monastic centers at the four corners of India and entrusted them to the care of monks noted for their intellect, character and vision. With his immense knowledge and forceful arguments, he was able to win over adherents of different schools and sects. He upheld the Sanatana Dharma, whose tenets are eternal and universal.
His Literary Accomplishments Sankara's great writings, all in Sanskrit, consist of major philosophical commentaries and other works, as well as minor works such as hymns for a common man.

1. Major works on Philosophy

Of all the works, Sankara's commentaries (or Bhashyas) on the Prastanaa traya (trilogy of works) are considered to be very great and important in the realm of philosophy.
They include Bhaashya on
Brahma sutras (called Nyaaya Prastaana)
Ten Principal Upanishads (called Sruti Prastaana)
Gaudapada Kaarikas (called Smriti Prastaana)
Bhagavad-Gita, Vishnu Purana and Sanatsujatiya.

2. Minor works on Philosophy

Sankara wrote many Prakaranas (minor works), such as
Viveka Chudamani, with nearly 600 slokas, stands foremost.
Upadesa Saahasri, with 675 verses, is well known for vedantic topics
Aparokshanubhuti is composed of 147 stanzas dealing with yoga processes
Vaakya vritti gives the meaning of Mahavaakya, namely Tat Tvam Asi
Panchikarana deals with the process by which the five subtle elements combine to form gross elements and the material world
Svaatma Prakaasika, in 98 verses, explains the nature and characteristics of the soul which is distinct from the body
Prasnothara Rathnamaalika, just like any handbook, gives short questions and answers on the soul
Atma Bodha, another simpler work, is a basic for a seeker to start with
And some other minor, but valued works on philosophy, such as Tattva Bodha, Atma-Anatma Viveka, Prabodha Sudhakara, Brahmagnanavalli, Swaatma Nirupana
Other similar hymns are Maya Panchakam, Sadhana Panchakam, Vignana Nauka, Nirvana Panchakam, Nirvana Shatkam Kaupina panchakam etc.
Dakshina Murty Stotra
Sankara composed the immortal hymn, Dakshina Murty Stotra, in ten stanzas, which is a masterpiece. It inculcates the highest devotion to the Divine being as the guru of gurus. It provides a text for the students to learn the fundamental truth of Advaita Vedanta.
Manisha Panchakam
It is another important metrical Prakarana, in five stanzas, explaining the principles of Advaita Vedanta.

3. Works of Devotion (stotras)

Though Sankara expounds the concept of Nirguna Brahma (without attributes), he advocates 'Devotion' (bhakti) towards a Saguna Brahma (with attributes), which when ripened leads to the knowledge of Nirguna Brahma. Further, he did not only believe in the efficiency of bhakti in the realization of Brahma, but also actually composed a large number of hymns (or stotras) in praise of many deities, in different contexts.
Kanakadhaara stavam is a famous work in praise of Goddess Lakshmi.
Sarada Bhujanga prayaataashtakam, in 8 verses, is in praise of Sringeri Saradaamba.
Siva paadaadi kesaanta varnamala stotra is a beautiful hymn on Siva.
Lakshmi Narasimha karaavalamba stotra, in 12 stanzas, is a full surrender to Lord Narasimha.
Siva bhujanga stotram and Vishnu bhujanga stotram are composed to ensure happiness to his mother.
In Veda saara Siva stotram, a vital doctrine of Advaita is introduced in the shortest framework of 7 stanzas.
Charpata Panjarika Stotram (Dvaadasa Manjarika stotram)
In this, (popularly known as Bhaja Govinda stotram), Sankara shows in touching words and with apt examples, how an average
man can embark on his spiritual endeavor.
Two highly potent prayers, Soundarya Lahari and Sivaananda Lahari, each of 100 stanzas, are unfathomably deep in spirit and thought and are expressions of his proficiency in poetry.

His Poetic Prowess

Sankara was well aware that commentaries on the Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita etc., required basic knowledge, great skill and effort on the part of the reader. So, for the benefit of the layman, he created a large number of simple hymns (stotras) on various forms of the Lord such as Siva, Vishnu, Ambika, Ganesha and many other gods.
1. Rhythmic Poetry
Sankara amalgamated philosophy into poetry and the outcome was metrical, rhythmical and musical hymns.
To name a few stotras, we have
Ganesha Pancharatna stotram “Mudaakaraatha modakam….” Shatpadi stotram “Avinayampanaya vishno damaya…” Uma Maheswara stotram “Namah Sivaabhyaam navayouvvanaabhyaam” Annapurnaashtakam “Nityaanandakari varaabhayakari...” Sivaananda Lahari “Kalaabhyaam chudaalankrita sasi kalaabhyaam” Mahishaasura Mardini stotram “Ayigiri nandini nandita modini...”
Some of the hymns are quite simple, like
Siva Panchaakshari stotram “Nagendra haraaya trilochanaaya...”
Lingashtakam “Brahma murari suraarchita lingam...”
Some of the hymns are not that simple, for example,
Dakshinamurty stotram “Visvam Darpana drisyamaana nagari tulyam…” Or Soundarya Lahari “Sivassaktyayukto yadi bhavati sakta prabhavithum...”
2. Ultimate in Devotion
Sankara's degree of devotion to Lord is great and surrender to Him is ultimate. This fact is disclosed in many of his hymns, for example, in 'Siva Maanasa puja', the last two slokas are
1. “Atma tvam Girija matih… Sambho! Tavaaraadhanam.” [1]
Meaning of the sloka
“My self is Sambhu (yourself); my intellect is Girija; my vital breaths are your attendants; my body is your temple of residence; my enjoying the objects of senses is your worship; my sleep is the state of meditation; all movement with the pair of feet is doing pradakshina to you and all my words are your praises. O Sambhu! Whatever I do is entirely an act of worshipping you.”
2. “Karacharana … Maha Deva Sambho!” [2]
Meaning of the sloka
“Ocean of Mercy! Forgive me all this fault-done and yet to be done, committed by hands, feet or done vocally, physically and by actions through the faculties of hearing, seeing and thinking (mentally). Faults may also arise from not doing prescribed duties and by doing prohibited actions.”
3. Imagery
The beauty of the images in his works, decorated by the figure of speech, developed by the poet-author creates high levels of joy and enlightenment in the readers and seekers. For instance, the 61st sloka of Sivaananda Lahari describes the gradual ascendance of the state of devotion, by giving impressive examples.
“Ankolam nija-bija ….. sada saa bhaktirityuchyate” [3]
Meaning of the sloka
“That state of mind is called 'Bhakti', wherein all movements of thought go automatically to the lotus feet of the Lord and stick to them forever just as the seed of the ankola tree (on falling) gravitates to the parent tree, the iron needle to the magnetic stone, the devoted wife to her husband, the creeper to the tree and the river to the ocean.”
A great synthesizer
Adi Sankara, with his knowledge as his companion, was able to command the emotion of intellectuals as well as the masses. He was able to gather the scattered people and raised their spiritual and cultural energies by revolutionizing their philosophical thinking.
The greatest service rendered by the great Acharya was to establish four 'Amnaayas' in the four directions for the task of preaching preserving and protecting the values of Sanatana Dharma. He founded four monastic centers (Peethas).
Puri in east – Rig Veda (Pragnaanam Brahma as Mahaa Vaakya)
Sringeri in south – Yajur Veda (Aham Brahmaasmi)
Dvaaraka in west – Sama Veda (Tat Tvam Asi)
Badrinath in north – Atharva Veda (Ayamaatma Brahma)
Adi Sankara entrusted the above centers to the care of great monks, namely, Hastaamalakaachaarya, Suresvaraachaarya, Padmapaadaachaarya and Totakaachaarya, who have their traditional successors even now.
Thus, he made a lasting and permanent arrangement for propagation and synthesis of religion.

A National Integrator

No single individual has done in India more for national integration than Adi Sankara. Adi Sankara traveled all over India, propagating and unifying the spiritual outlook of the people. Through discussions, debates and compositions, he was able to win the hearts of the people. The unifying force, namely, Sanskrit language helped national integration become all the more effective. In those times, there were innumerable groups and classes, each in conflict with the other. Socially, the country was divided into different creeds and sects. Sankara brought back the Vedas and taught Vedanta which teaches that there is but one existence and that is God. He convinced his followers of various sects and rationalized the practices of the chief cults.
He founded 'Shanmataas' (six modes of purified forms of worship) to satisfy the spiritual and religious practices of diversified Hindus of the country and unify them. They are 1. Saiva; 2. Vaishnava; 3. Saakta; 4. Soura; 5. Gaanapatya; and 6. Skaanda (Subrahmanya). Accordingly, he recommended the practice of 'Panchaayatana Puja' wherein the five major five deities of Vedas, namely, Surya, Ambika, Vishnu, Ganapati and Siva [4] are worshipped by making one's chosen deity the main focus in the center (i.e., as per a chosen order of arrangement of the deities on the same platform). The sixth deity, Shanmukha, is worshipped in the form of 'Yagneswara' (Fire) in the daily rituals (through Agnihotra). This method of worship avoids the deliberate elevation of any one deity over the other.
“His greatness lies in the fact that he gathered up scattered cultural and spiritual energies of the people and raised the voltage tenfold,” mentions Swami Ranganathananda of Sri Ramakrishna Mission.
“He revised Hinduism by reforming the Buddhist elements in Gaudapada Kaarika and gave them a vedantic character …which represents a turning point,” says Prof. Sengakee Mayada, an eminent indologist in Japan.

A Great Yogi

Adi Sankara's life on earth had been a miracle. Within a short span of 32 years, he traveled throughout the length and breadth of the country, three times, establishing a marvelous philosophy. Surely, he should have had an inner yogic life, by which it was possible for him to achieve so many great things. His exposition, titled 'Vivarana', on Vyasa's commentary on the famous Patanjali Yoga Sutras throws light on the Acharya's perception on Yoga. His work, 'Yogataravali' reveals many secrets of the yoga sastra.

His Message

Adi Sankara was universal in his outlook. He was kind. His message was meant, not for Hindus alone, but for all mankind. Through his eminent works he drives the man to carve out a personality.
To quote a few slokas from his works,
1. In Charpata Panjarikaa Stotram, (Bhaja Govindam), Sankara advises that suffering is a part of this endless cycle of births and deaths.
“Punarapi jananam… .paahi murare” [5]
Meaning of the sloka
“Birth unceasing, death unceasing!
Ever to pass through a mother's womb,
Hard to cross is the world's wide ocean
Lord! Redeem me through thy mercy.”

2. In Sivaaparaadha Kshamaapana Stotra (15th sloka), he cautions that equipment of joy in human life is highly temporary.
“Ayurnasyati… rakshaadhuna” [6]
Meaning of the sloka
“Day by day, life ebbs away before our eyes as we look on; youthfulness declines; days passed do never return; time devours worlds; wealth is fickle like the ripple on the wavelets of water; life is fleeing like lightning. Therefore, oh Lord! Protect now with your grace; seeking refuge in you.”
3. In 'Upadesa Panchakam' he ordains the way of leading a purposeful life.
“Vedo nityamadhiyataam… vinirgamyataam” [7]
Meaning of the sloka
“Study the Veda everyday; do properly Karma prescribed therein (rituals, at least the nitya karmas); by the performance of those karmas, worship the Lord; abandon attachment to desire-driven action; wash away the accumulated sins; reflect on the defects of happiness derived from samsaaric existence; be firm in desiring the Self (in realization); quickly leave your house (i.e. take to sannyaasa)
Based on many of his works, great scholars have summarized his message as follows:
Realize that everything around you, including your wealth and your family, are all evanescent. Too much attachment would result in diverting your mind from what is eternal.
You have to learn to renounce the thought of reward for what you are doing.
Moral preparation should be a part of the life and that is achieved through universal compassion and love.
You long for liberation. Life is the school to educate you for the eternal life.

His Philosophy

Usually, the doctrine of Advaita is formulated in the famous sloka of Sankara,
“Slokaardhena pravakshyami Yaduktaih grandha kotibhih; Brahma satyam, Jaganmithyaa, Jivo brahmaiva naa parah!”
Meaning of the sloka
“What has been told in countless number of books is being said in one half a sloka. Brahman is Satyam (Truth); world is Mithya (apparent); the individual soul (jeeva or atman) is none other than the Infinite Brahman.”
The last part of the above sloka is more significant and it is briefly explained thus:
“By analyzing the three states of experience, namely, waking, dreaming and deep sleep, Sankara exposed the relative nature of the world. The three states of consciousness are superimposed into a fourth transcendental state known as 'turiya'. Then the individual soul realizes that he/she is none other than the Infinite Brahman.”
Sankara established that the above realization is the supreme truth of the Advaita. Advaita is the non-dual reality of Brahman in which atman (the individual soul) and Brahman are identified absolutely.
Adi Sankara's mission was to propagate the Advaita Philosophy, which is, in a nutshell, as follows.
“The world of manifestation and multiplicity that we see is not real in itself. It seems real only because of 'ignorance' (or Avidya). To be caught in it is bondage. To get over Avidya, works (karma) are in vain. They only bind us to the endless chain of cause and effect and to the unreal process of 'Samsaara'. Only wisdom can remove ignorance. (Path of Jnaana is superior). Wisdom consists in conviction that Brahma alone is real. The individual self and the Brahman are identical. When this is realized, the ego is dissolved. We are back to perfect joy and blessedness. Reality is 'Brahman is one without a second.' ”
The manifold nature of the phenomenal world and its ultimate unity is symbolized by AUM, the most sacred syllable of Hindus.

Advaita and Modern Science

Sankara's views on the nature of reality have a striking resemblance with the advanced theories of modern science.
Students of Physics are aware of the implications of the uncertainty principle, which states that, “It is impossible to specify precisely and simultaneously, the values of both members of particular pairs of physical variables that describe the behavior of an atomic system.” The principle includes that the knowledge, which occurs in pairs, namely, position and time, energy and time and action and time is affected. Uncertainty relations are constituents of knowledge at the ordinary levels of experience. Once this concept that they occur in pairs is got over, the uncertainty relations do not come into the picture at all. Sankara proposed in his Advaita theory that the limitations of ordinary knowledge vanish when one transcends the idea of opposites or pairs and then there is a direct perception out of intuition.
In modern science, the outside world is deeply affected by the position and time of the observer. The special theory of relativity claims differences relative to the position and time of different observers.
Sankara was the foremost who denied the separate existence of subject and object. He made the statement that in the highest reaches of knowledge the distinction between subject and object disappears.
Sankara says that the universe which the person sees is only that which he thinks he sees... Sankara does not deny the existence of an objective universe. He asserts that it is the sense of perception that makes the difference between one observer and the other. If a person transcends the boundary of ordinary perception, then the question of an objective existence other than pure consciousness does not arise. Then the process of seeing (observation), the seer (subject) and the seen (object) have no independent existence and this is the highest goal which every human being should try to reach.

Conclusion

The books and articles written on Adi Sankara are enough to make a whole library. Many thinkers and seekers have been meditating upon life, philosophy, and the works of Adi Sankara.
Sankara has been a source of inspiration to many of the leaders of modern times too.
In 'The Discovery of India', Jawaharlal Nehru has said of him, “Sankara was a man of amazing energy and vast activity.” Nehru expresses that Sankara was no escapist returning into his shell or into a corner of the forest.
Dr S. Radhakrishnan has said,
“Sankaracharya is one of the immortals of India's cultural history. ... His originality was in reinterpreting the great Indian tradition.”
N. A. Palkiwala, an eminent jurist, writes,
“Whole generations have come and gone, empires have flourished and vanished, but Sankaracharya's empire of the spirit survives. And so long as his great spirit abides with our people, there is hope for the future greatness of our country.
Adi Sankara is the greatest expression and true meaning of a world teacher in philosophy, religion and culture.”
Adi Sankara is Jagadguru par excellence.








Full version of slokas
[1] “Atma tvam Girija matih, sahacharaah praanaah, sariram griham,
Pujaa te vishayopa bhoga rachanaa, nidraa samaadhih stitih,
Sanchaarah padayoh pradakshina vidhih, stotrani sarvaa giro,
Yadyat karma karomi tattadakhilam Sambho! tavaaraadhanam”.
[2]“Karacharana kritamvaakkaajam karmajamva,
Sravana nayanamjamva maanasamva aparaadham,
Vihitamahitamva sarvametat kshamasva,
Jaya jaya karunaabde Sri Maha Deva Sambho!”
[3] “Ankolam nija-bija santatih ayasaantopalam suchika
Sadhvi naija-vibhum lataa kshitiruham sindhuh sarid vallabham
Prapnotiha yatha tatha pasupateh paadaaravindadvayam
Chetovrittih upetya tishtati sada saa bhaktirityuchyate”
[4]Adityamambikaam Vishnum Gananaatham Maheswaram
Panchaayatana pujartham kalpayedvijasathamah
[5] “Punarapi jananam punarapi maranam,
Punarapi janani jatharae sayanam
Iha samsare bahudustaare
Kripayaa paare paahi muraare.
[6] Ayurnasyati pasyataam pratidinam yaati kshayam youvvanam
Pratyaayaanti gataah punarna divasaah, kaalo jagadbhakshakah
Lakshmistoya taranga bhangi chapalaa, vidyutchalam jivitam
Tasmaanmaam saranaagatam karunayaa tvam raksha rakshaadhuna.
[7] “Vedo nityamadhiyataam taduditam karma svanushthiyataam
Teneshasya vidhiliyataamachitih kaamaye matishtyajyataam
Paapaughah paridhuuyataam bhavasukhe dosho anusandhiliyataam
Atmechha vyavasilyataam nijagrihaattuurnam vinirgamyataam”

bend it like beckhem never did

Perhaps the most ubiquitous and tantalizing entity in this world is life, which incidentally is also is the most intriguing thing. Furthermore, it is omnipresent. From the vast expanses of space to the deepest, unfathomable oceans, it exists…forever. As Shakespeare held it, ‘Counter positives in turn give positives.’ every end is a new beginning. Likewise, one life gives rise to another life, thereby proclaiming the divine vision – a vision of eternity.
We are not prattling about the “divine” as understood by ‘Christians’, ‘Hindus’, ‘Moslems’ etc. We are talking about a divine who is green in trees, blue in sky, red in rose, colorless in water and hazel in your eyes. This divinity is ‘no where’ yet ‘now here’ i.e. it depends on your perspective. Our divine is natural & NOT supernatural and when you submerge yourself in the natural you enter the realm of supernatural; for whatever you call supernatural, finally has a natural manifestation & a natural meaning. What do you think? The most conspicuous materialization of this ‘supernatural’ or the ‘infinite’ is Man.
As the Vedas put it,
‘prakruti’ has only existence,
‘manushya’ has consciousness as well as existence, while
‘parmatma’ has consciousness, existence as well as bliss.
This is why we all strive to achieve the ‘Parmatma’. Yet, ‘however great God might be, he cannot be greater than you, for it’s your imagination that created Him’. So lets uncork your imagination & bottle your common sense, for to imagine the unimaginable is the zenith of imagination.
When asked to think of an Energy source, what comes to your mind in an instant? A battery? Or perhaps an internal combustion engine. Some of you may have drifted to the notions of water, fire, earth, air & sky as sources of energy. Is that all? There are sources beyond these – the Divinity & Man. What we are talking about is not completely insane. Can you walk up a wall? Why not? The laws of physics prevent you from doing so or do they? After all what we understand & fear to be true, we call theories & what we observe & neglect as it is beyond our explanation, we call Laws. In fact, Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone & more fragile than a rose. What we mean to say is that man himself creates limits for himself. It won’t take you much to think of someone who can calculate faster than a machine. How was it possible? Simply because they knew that man can never be second to any of his own creations. One day probably, a ‘man-like’ creature shall sit across a table with a human being & emote. Whatever happens, it shall never excel a man. Man is limitless while machines have limits. And, we claim here that the only limitless thing that a man can bring into being is … Another MAN. Do not all these demonstrate the presence of the divinity in Man? The powers are out there for the grabs…if only you dare to tread.
To sum it up we’d like to revert to a spiritual view… “The only important thing is to realize Divine Life and to help others realize it by manifesting it in everyday happenings. To penetrate into the essence of all being and significance and to release the fragrance of that inner attainment for the guidance and benefit of others -- by expressing, in the world of forms, truth, love, purity, and beauty -- this is the sole game that has intrinsic and absolute worth. All other happenings, incidents, and attainments in themselves can have no lasting importance.” – Meher Baba, Complete Discourses, page 200.
So, plunge into the divine, free your mind & break all the barriers.
Wishing you Bon Voyage,
With warm regards,
Ashutosh Ghildiyal & Parth Awasthi (II Year)

curruption :i lie therefore i am

picture of M. Visvesveraya the great engineer who thought character building and dam building were similar activities. He would have broken the heart of our contractors, who would have laughed to hear that he carried two fountain pens, one strictly for the office, the other for personal use. The other delightful foil for him was the customs officer who has just been nabbed by the CBI for corruption. Someshwar Mishra also believed in character building. In fact he was arrested soon after be administered the oath of honesty to new customs officers. Mishra is part of a virus sweeping India, a malaise called dishonesty.

Is dishonesty a fault, or a cultural trait?


Earlier, politicians had to respect honesty even if they were personally dishonest. That hypocrisy was necessary because a sense of the norm had to sustained. But what this did was hide the tensions one lives. In fact, to many, dishonesty is a survival tactic. A young man goes out for a date and lies to his parents who are circa 19th century. A housewife lies about the budget to save some money from her alcoholic husband. You lie at office as a form of resistance against your boss. Dishonesty is too wide a word and covers too much. But the real dishonesty is the way we lie to ourselves. Men lie to themselves as to how they feel about women. The great Indian family is held by the glue of dishonesty. The British made hypocrisy a national trait but Indians made dishonesty into an art form. We lie to ourselves because there are too many selves to confront.

Corruption is a pathology, but dishonesty is something polluting. It marks our everydayness. I lie therefore I am. It is difficult to be honest about dishonesty. I see it as outside me. Every politician, bureaucrat, parent, school principal does. We must begin by seeing it as a part of ourselves that we find so difficult to construct. Our identity crisis comes not from nationhood, caste, religion but from constructing our personal self.

Part of our tragedy is that our models of life are too exemplary. Gandhi’s one temptation to lie is the stuff of history. Visvesveraya’s honesty is like an alien public act, a governmental performance. He writes about honesty as if it is a policy document. Dishonesty is not about a public self, it is personal, intimate and this we (males in particular) find difficult to confront. How do we confess that few of us have grown up? How do we tell our children about bribes we paid, or our acts of cowardice? We lie to sustain the unbearable self. But when we lie, we can live with the everydayness of our self.

Dishonesty begins with excuses, postponements. It is a rubric for the messiness of what India is. The best thing to do is to portray it on our flag, confess it in our diaries. Confronting, it without condemning it, would be an interesting start. It would make us less inventive but maybe we need to invent other directions. Dishonesty should not be seen as interesting fiction but as something boring, glaring, huge, everyday like socialist realism. Then may be something new, unexpected might happen. Not that economics will change but our relations to our children and the women in our lives might. It could be the most liberating thing we could look forward too. Maybe we should try it in homeopathic doses. The impact might be allopathic. We have nothing to lose but our current selves.

north east: manipur

Last week, a friend of mine asked me: "What do you think of the problem in the north-east?" Let us begin with the obvious. The north-east is a colonial construct. The very act of labelling distances it. The plurality of places, spaces, memories, ecologies we call Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Bodoland, Assam gets homogenised into a flatness of north-east.


We have increasingly orientalised ourselves after Independence. Once we homo-genise, once we orientalise, we behave as if we colonise. And the three together create what sociologists call the self-fulfilling prophecy. What is familiar through, say, the People of India survey is behaviourally reproduced by attributing strangeness. Manipur is more distant than Madison. Do we even think of the difference between Hindu Manipur and Christian Mizoram?

An integral part of India is read as an item of foreign policy. And people respond in turn by saying "go back Indian army". Of course there is insurgency there and the insidious fingers of the ISI. But is ISI the marker to a problem or are we as a democracy going to wrest it from ISI and redefine it for ourselves? The youth of these societies are already part of the Indian and global mainstream. They are prominent in every educational institution both in their ability to be westernised and yet retain their separate indivi-dual identities. When the PM, sensitive though he is, says we have to retrain bureaucrats for the north-east, he might be falling into the same stereotypical traps.

There is a second part of the story. My late colleague Giri Deshingkar was a defence expert with a heart. He knew that statistics could bleed. Giri once talked to us about a problem of law and order and not as he emphasised a ‘law and order’ problem. For instance, the atrocity of Assam Rifles or the insurgent violence, the agitations could be read as a problem of law and order.

The problem of law and order dealt with the paramilitarisation of our society. Deshingkar observed that India as a society has over a million paramilitary forces outside the army. Many are equipped like army units and yet function for internal order and control. He talked of a decade when almost all the awards for gallantry the army got, were for action against our own people. What then happens to the idea of civil rights and people’s security? In that sense women’s protests against the rape and murder of Manorama Devi by Assam Rifles is something that concerns us all. How do we stop the paramilitarisation and brutalisation of our society?

I am not ignoring the problem of terro-rism and insurgency. It is commonsense that terrorist groups, whatever their
inaugural acts of liberation, gradually degenerate to fat-cat tax collection agencies. The monstrous jugalbandi between terrorism and paramilitarisation literally asphy-xiates democracy in a society. When atrocities like terrorism and rape are met with silence, then protest must be genuinely creative to break through the crust of complicity and silence. That is what the nude protest in front of Kangla Fort achieved. It demands a response beyond questions of rights, feminist propriety, security or the other cliches of the "north-east problem".

What do we do as ordinary citizens and concerned Indians? Do we leave it to the experts — retired ministry officials, security denizens and exiled politicians desperate to make a comeback? How do we respond to the Manipur in each of us? There is in each Indian a part that wants to secede and another which desperately clings to the idea of India. Each of us wants to be separate and Indian — Tamil and Indian, Gujarati and Indian, Sikh and Indian. The term ‘and’ is crucial for Indian identity. The minute we guillotine it terrorism is born. But more, since media is so central, do we restrict it to the visual spectacle of protest of the women or do we demand to hear voices, discourses from Manipur and not from Delhi? Sometimes one feels it is Delhi that has seceded from the rest of India. Can we insist on a newspaper panchayat where citizens can demand the news, voices, views they want so that Manipur gets more
space than the socialites on page 3? A newspaper panchayat allows conversations across states between people. Let Manipuris speak for themselves and let India don a hearing aid and listen to these voices. If protest is a scream of pain let us insist on hearing it without experts as middlemen brokering the idea of Manipur. We have to decide whether Manipur is only an issue for the state or an idea for civil society.

A few years ago when the earthquake struck Gujarat, people from every part of India rushed to help. They came with the little they had, but ready to share. An atrocity is like a social earthquake. When people protest atrocities in Manipur do we remain silent or do we remember that each gift demands a return? Silence magnifies the terror and brutality of an atrocity. Worse, we have to decide whether the only way to discover some parts of India is either through a tourist folder or an atrocity narrative. The first destroys the sacred geography of India and the second demeans our democratic imagination. Let us sustain the Manipur in all us. One hopes that the prime minister’s visit inaugurates a small beginning in this reciprocity of decency and conversation

Sigmund Freud Theoretical position on forgetfulness and comments on GN Devy’s view on that theory to interpret Indian culture

Replied Lord supreme," Many births of mine have passed away, so were yours. I am aware of all those births, but O Parantapa, you are not aware of them.
Gita: 4:5
“To err is human; to forgive is divine” the age-old adage when looked at form the standpoint of the aforementioned verse gets slightly modified to: “To forget is human; to remember is divine”.
The above verse bears testimony to the fact that the idea of amnesia is fundamental to Indian religion. Moreover amnesia at an innate level is human.
Memory is considered a great virtue and better memory is largely related to success, understanding and intellect. We have books and tutorial classes teaching how to remember and “win friends and impress people”. Memory is thus considered a very crucial component of accomplishment in academia, business, polity and all conventional walks of life. The ability to forget however is also an important virtue and if nature were not generous enough in endowing us with it we would have had a completely different life on this planet.
Amnesia is generally of two types:
1. Antero-grade amnesia - inability to remember events beginning with the onset of the injury; essentially, severely decreased ability to learn.
2. Retrograde amnesia - loss of memory for events preceding the injury.
What we consider amnesia in this essay would be primarily retrograde amnesia.
THE AMNESIA

Dr Ganesh Devy tried to give a historical explanation to the crisis in Indian Literary tradition. He observed that there existed a void in our intellectual recollection of our medieval times and he tried to fathom the underlying reasons for the same. He observed that though India had large number of culturally rich languages, there was a marked absence of literary criticism in the prevalent languages. It is quite ludicrous that languages, which had been into existence since early thirteenth century and have produced quality works in literature, had not developed literary criticism even in the crudest forms. The impact of colonialism brings with itself a new image and new eye of looking at one self and cultural amnesia.

Our acceptance of west, as our rulers has created psychological frameworks, which have led us to believe that West is superior to East. Colonial experience thus produces a tendency in colonized, which tries to ape the colonizer and win their approval. Certain sections of society are better at embracing this change and this in Indian context can be explained by rise of Pareses of Bombay, Brahmins of Pune and Bhadralok of Calcutta who heartily embraced foreign education and rose to higher echelons within the British Government. This also gave rise to Nationalistic sentiments against the colonizer and thus colonization as a process creates turbulence in every cultural system. Under influence of the aforementioned the Classical India became glorious and modern India progressive and the intermediate a period of continuous vulgarization (Dark Age).

LINGUAL HISTORY OF INDIA

Regrettably all these turned into a historiographical convention and is now accepted as the undisputed principle of Indian history. Devy argues that such misleading historiography will lead to bogus theories explaining Indian literary position.

Ancient Indian Heritage:
Sanskrit as a language had an illustrious past of great literary scholars and grammarians and this period extended right from Vyas 4 BC to Bhoj 11 AD. This tradition of creative literature helped Sanskrit in becoming an extremely sophisticated system of literary thought. Sanskrit had a glorious tradition of scholars commenting on language, linguistics, metrics, style, diction, drama, dance, theatre, metaphor, symbol and diction, genre and sociology of literature and so on. These theories were incorporated in the Indian educational system and taught y scholars and brooded upon by scholars.

A scholar named Rajshekhar had identified nine elements criticism in his Kavyamimsa
1. Sutra – idea in prose
2. Karika – idea in verse
3. Vyakhya - elucidation
4. Vritti - illustration
5. Bhasya - commentary
6. Tika - assessment
7. Mimsa - analysis
8. Samiksha - review
9. Sastra – theory of literature related to other field of knowledge.

Which shows how deep and sophisticated were then prevalent literary tradtions.



Islamic Invasion:
Other languages based on Sanskrit had the benefit of inheriting the rich literary tradition of Sanskrit. The emergence of bhasa tradition in India coincided with the Islamic invasion. This also helped in further enriching the bhasa tradition bringing with it new styles of prose, poetry. The rise of shayri and Khusros devotional style of poetry are living testimonies to this fact.

The British Period:
The rise of British in eighteenth century furthered the cultural and political interference in the social fabric. The British decided that it was their historic duty to educate India though it was based on the odd idea of civilizing the less civilized race. With this came the introduction of English language in Indian education scenario. A striking mention here is that at that point no university in Europe considered English fit for academic discourse.

The introduction of English education brought with it new concepts like sovereignty, liberty and they found their way into Indian literary sensibility. The violent intrusion of alien literary pressure brought with itself a cultural amnesia which made an average Indian incapable of tracing his tradition backwards beyond mid-nineteenth century. Colonialism created cultural demoralization and false sense of shame in the minds of colonized about their own history and traditions. It must be noted that the aim of British was not to educate Indians to become their cultural equals. It was just to make Indians them useful to the empire.

The crisis can be explained by the picture:

Sanskrit Theories --------------------------------------------------------à Western Theory
VOID

Several distinguished Indian scholars have commented and tried to understand this phenomenon. Ashis Nandy has elucidated it using the man woman relationship where the colonized or the woman tries to imitate man and ends up becoming neither (androgynous). In harbouring the illusion of access to the western thought the Indian intellectual seeks to endorse his self image by the colonial rule, and, thereby chooses self deception. The renowned play Abhigyan Shakuntalam by Kalidasa provides an effective metaphor to understand this. The Sankuntala (colonized) who is secretly married to Dusyanta (colonizer) is not taken back to Dusyanta’s abode and when Sakuntala turn up at his palace Dusynata fails to recognize her and she fails to prove her identity. Thus Sakuntala is neither accepted by her husband nor by her foster father. This alludes to the colonial nature of encounter between colonizer and colonized and loss of memory of colonized.




PSYCHE OF AMNESIA

The Indian critic feels a false emotional proximity to western and Sanskrit ideas while he tends to repress the bhasa tradition to repress the colonial side to colonial side of colonial experience. We need to note that western influence came with the colonizing British and prior to that India was alien to the western ideas. Thus western ideas can be seen as an external bud grafted on the Indian literary fabric. The bhasas on the other hand have developed from Sanskrit language and thus have assimilated Indian culture and traditions . The bhasa tradition must be seen in the same cultural continuity ignoring these would oddly fragment Indian culture and falsely dichotomize the great Indian literary tradition.


The current affiliation of cultural amnesia is compounded by the traditional Indian anxiety over the loss of memory. It is of course idle to speculate if amnesia has been a constant malaise of Indian psyche. It would be also idle to speculate if the longevity of Indian culture (parampara) has any direct connection with the anxiety. The most interesting example is the method of learning rote (oral tradition of India) which is still used in this age of printing technology. The Indian obsession with committing things to memory and considering memory sacred is well known ( smriti is another name of upnishads). Indians have considered memory as power which is independent of intelligence. The two components of learning are regarded as

Medha ---- Intellect
Smiriti------- Memory

In Changodaya Upnishad memory is described as a revereable faculty which is fundamental to human existence. It is said that memory allows one to think, reason, recognize. Coomaraswamy the veteran Indian thinker argues that memory is kind of latent knowledge and that by implication amnesia is a given condition of human mind. His explanation of amnesia is that memory transcends space and time and while entering this life soul enters these limits and loses memory. The argument is based on the metaphysical assumption of an all knowing soul or self or Purusa as being a priori reality. Memory and Amnesia is Commaraswamy’s opinion become symbolic interpretations of ‘an omniscient self’, and ‘the contingent ego’ respectively. The contingent ego must which is human go must learn as a child to.

One of the finest western thinkers in the area of psychoanalysis and amnesia was Sigmund Freud. Freud's first hypothesis was that the largest part of our mental lives consists of processes–thoughts, wishes, impulses, ideas, desires, images, and associations–that are unconscious. When we examine consciousness, it turns out to be full of discontinuities, inconsistencies, and gaps. The key to a successful treatment is the recovery of blocked memory. In fact the kind of illness with which Freud is concerned can be defined in terms of a selective blockage and leakage of memory. In the course of a person's development, certain forbidden desires and traumatic experiences become sealed off from conscious awareness, but leak through in the form of painful symptoms. Suppressed by the conscious part of the mind, they come back to haunt the body: this is what Freud calls the return of the repressed. "Psychoanalysis is a technique that allows dark meanings and irrational motivations to rise to the surface of conscious awareness. They can then be taken into account; they can be influenced by other considerations; and they become less liable to disrupt human life in violent and incomprehensible ways" (Jonathan Lear).

Freud notion of amnesia was that early childhood memories, particularly sexual ones, were too frightening and distasteful to the child to be preserved as such. Instead these emotional early memories required filtering from conscious awareness, and so took the form of more innocuous and seemingly inconsequential "screen memories". A major difficulty that arises in considering Freud's account, as a complete analysis of the phenomenon is that not all reported early memories are emotionally neutral or concerned with trivialities. Memories of troubling experiences from early childhood appear to be no less common than negative memories from adulthood. In their excellent review articles Pillemer and White (1989, White and Pillemer, 1979) point out that in this, as in many things, Freud was multi-voiced. In addition to his 'screen' or 'blockade' model he also proposed a 'selective reconstruction' model. The general premise of this 'selective reconstruction' model was that the inaccessibility of early childhood memories was due to a disjunction between the earliest and later modes of processing information. Modern theoretical accounts of infantile amnesia are more in line with the selective reconstruction than the blockade model.

Amnesia is related to as understood by experimental psychology to violent unconscious repression of memory. In his Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Sigmund Freud claims that there exists a definite relationship between the loss of memory and the nature of memory lost. This relationship can be merely superficial or complicated and profound. On the basis of this relationship Freud presents the typology of what he calls the concealment of memory.

To quote Freud:

I particularly emphasized a peculiarity in the temporal relation between concealing memory and the contents of memory concealed by it The context of concealing memory in that example belonged to the first years of childhood while the thoughts represented by it, which remained practically unconscious, belonged to a later period of the individual in question. I called this form of displacement a retro active or regressive one. Perhaps more often one finds the reverse relation that is an indifferent impression of the most remote period becomes a concealing memory in consciousness which simply owes its existence to an association with an earlier experience against whose direct reproduction there is resistances. We would call these encroaching or interposing concealing memories. What most concerns the memory lies here chronologically beyond the concealing memory.

Freud’s concept can be used in cultural context. The idea of concealing memory can be extended to mean that cultural amnesia is an inevitable consequence of colonialism. It is caused when dominant culture or its constituent features are branded inferior by a dominating culture and are accepted as being such by the subject culture. If this amnesia destroys the native perception of the immediate past it also helps as a strategy to preserve the self respect of the dominating culture as well as to win approval from the dominating culture.

In the words on MN Srinivas: In India westernization has brought with it a regressive tendency of Sanskritization in the sense of reviving a distant past and representing the immediate past.