Shiva, Hari, God - all one and the same

My late father (1911-1993), Prof. S. S. Raghavachar of Mysore University, was a delegate and speaker at the World Conference of Religions conducted in 1963 by Prof. T.M.P. Mahadevan of Madras University. With hundreds of delegates from around the world, the conference was commemorating the birth centenary of Swami Vivekananda, who took the message to the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 that all religions basically lead to the one truth or God.

The delegates were taken for an audience with Kanchi Paramacharya at the end of the conference. While giving his benediction, Paramcharya asked the audience, "is the there any textual mention or inscription in Hinduism predating Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna  which stated that the worship of different conceptions of God all lead to the same Reality?" My father Prof. Raghavachar rose and quoted an inscription from the Belur temple in Karnataka built by Vishnuvardhana, a disciple of Sri Ramanujacharya in the 11/12th C CE, which states:

 yam shaivah samupasate shiva iti brahmeti vedantinah

bauddhah buddha iti pramanapatavah karteti naiyayikah

arhan ityatha jaina-shasana-ratah karmeti mimansakah

so yam vo vidhadhatu vanchita phalam trailokyanatho harih

It seems that Paramacharya was immensely pleased with this answer and felicitated my father.

Recently, to find out more, I dug a little into the available textual references to this shloka. I give you three excellent references:
1. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, 1926
2. H. Nakamura, 1983
3. C.P. Bhatta, 1994

Come, let us celebrate the essence of Hindu Dharma, of universality of God!

BLEXIT - time one leaves Bangalore

Unknown to the world,  a silent referendum has begun about the unlivability of Bangalore. It is called BLEXIT.

Not many know that a city which had dozens of lakes, tree-lined avenues, hardly any houses with ceiling fans, and a population nudging 30 lakhs even 25 years ago, has now become a concrete monstrosity of 150 lakh people, struggling for air, water, and movement even at a snail's pace within the city. People with seven figure salaries are struggling for hours in fancy cars as they are stuck in traffic. Some rich techies have created a parallel universe in Whitefield after replicating all the city woes there. People are zipping around for several kilometers on fancy circular NICE roads and living in god-forsaken suburbs bravely anticipating a new afterlife away from the urban snarl and sprawl. Meanwhile BLEXIT offers some hope.

Home to Godmen, Godly megabillionaires, modern badshahs of e-commerce, Bangalore can afford for these people a world suspended in the sky and offering every kind of luxury and comfort. But these super-rich still crave for Vidyarthi Bhavan Dosa and MTR Rava idli. They want to shop in malls and eat a lot of popcorn noisily watching some loud movie. That means back to the snarled-up sprawl! Schools, colleges and offices also feature in their lives and that is a problem.

So BLEXIT has a menu of five suggestions:
1. All vehicles with 2000 cc+ engines should be banned from plying on Bangalore roads.
2. All super rich should go and live 50 km outside Bangalore and manage their business.
3. All bodyshop software companies should relocate to North Karnataka.
4. All even-number private vehicles should ply only in even-numbered Christian calendar years like 2016,2018 etc. All odd number vehicles can ply only in 2017,2019 etc.
5. All those who have moved into Bangalore after 1991 from outside the state will be given a lump sum (multiple of their declared income) under BLEXIT Bhagya with an upper cap of ₹1 crore for immediately leaving the city. They should register their Aadhaar particulars at a specific website to begin the process. Time frame 31 October 2016.

If you're in favour of BLEXIT, dial this number 1-800-BLEXIT and affix the respective numbers of the options listed which you agree with.

To pee or not to pee -that's the question.

The Goethe Institut or Max Mueller Bhavan on CMH Road, Indiranagar, is an interesting place for youngsters to go and dabble in Deutsch. The place has a nice cafe and its outer walls are painted with interesting artwork with one mural prominently urging the general populace, especially men, "Do Not Pass Urine Here".

Germans are well known for their discipline and decorum in public. They address each other as Herr even when abusing each other. But this open instruction in our motherland to curb a universal habit of peeing in public calls into question a fundamental, existential freedom. Every Indian man believes that the Indian constitution guarantees the right to pee in any place and at any time in an act of total freedom. I do not know if this faith in the Indian constitution also extends to one's sense of freedom when it comes to domestic violence, but definitely, no Indian man feels compelled to curtail himself in expressing this primeval instinct of passing water.

Now, one of the reasons why malls have taken India by storm is that they feature clean toilets on most floors for that much-needed release after drinking lots of coffee, carbonated drinks and other stuff in gregarious ways,  These malls feature in general better toilets than cinemas. But elsewhere, at bus stations, street corner toilets, and inside schools and colleges, most toilets are quite dirty. The Swacch Bharat campaigns are having their due impact in many ways, but the Indian male is far from curbing his existential instinct to pee on the roadside. I have heard that even metro stations do not have toilets.

So I ask you, what is the remedy? How do we solve this issue? It is well and good that there are artistic twists at the German institute and such places in communicating the undesirability of peeing on their compound walls. But I feel we need a cultural revolution and we should make it a kind of anthem taught in schools that one should not indiscriminately pee anywhere and everywhere.

Do you have any ideas?

Gurudev introduces Chapter Seven: Knowledge and Wisdom

CHAPTER VII
Knowledge and Wisdom

The Eighteen Chapters of the Geeta, in the arrangement of their ideas, fall into three sets of six chapters each. This is the conclusion arrived at by many Geeta-students. According to them, the Geeta, being a book which re-interprets the very essence of the Vedic Law in the entire scheme of its discussions, the Divine Song expresses the Truth of the Mahavakya: "THAT THOU ART."
The Mahavakyas are four in number --- one taken from each of the four Vedas, and they form four definite pointers, all indicating the one and the same sacred Truth, which the Vedas unanimously declare. Of these "THAT THOU ART" (Tat Twam Asi) is called the "instructional message" (Upadesha Vakya). This crisp sentence summarises the entire Vedic lore and its philosophy, and therefore, voluminous commentaries are necessary to elucidate the true significance of each of these three short words.

According to some reviewers of the Geeta, the first section of the Divine Song, comprising the opening six chapters, explains the significance of the term "Thou" (Twam), in this Mahavakya. The second section, opening with the seventh chapter and concluding with the twelfth, explains the term "That" in the same declaration. From this chapter onwards, therefore, we will be gaining a true glimpse of the "goal of the spiritual science," as indicated in the Hindu cultural tradition. The last six chapters naturally express the meaning of the term "Art" (Asi) and explain the identity between That --- essence and Thou --- significance.

The previous chapter not only gave us the technique of Self-realisation through the methods of concentration and meditation, but also concluded with Krishna's own personal opinion upon who exactly was the noblest among the different seekers pursuing the different "path." According to the Lord of Vrindavana, a meditator who tries to concentrate his mind upon the Self is superior to those who strive to deny all sense enjoyment to this body (Tapaswins), or to those who make deep and learned investigations into the scriptural literature (Jnanis), or to those who have dedicated themselves to selfless service of the society (Karmis). The Flute-bearer has again tried to express his opinion as to who, among the meditators, is the most noble. It was declared in the concluding stanza of the previous chapter that of all the meditators, the one who has successfully merged his mind in the nature of the Pure Consciousness, through the path of single-pointed meditation, is the highest seeker, and the dearest to the Lord.

Naturally, there would be a possible doubt, in the mind of Arjuna, as to how a limited and mortal mind-and-intellect of a finite creature could ever embrace and comprehend the entire limitless Infinite. In order to remove this doubt, Krishna opens this particular chapter, with a promise that he would explain to Arjuna the entire science, both in its theoretical and speculative aspects, and clear all his possible doubts on the subject. Indeed, for exhaustiveness in treatment and thoroughness in exposition there is, perhaps, no other religious textbook that can stand a favourable comparison with the Geeta. In this sense of the term, we should appreciate the Geeta, not only as a textbook of our philosophy, but also as a literary masterpiece of beauty and erudition in the world's literature.

|| Chapter-7 ||

Sources: The Holy Geeta

June 21, 2016 Happy International Yoga Day!

Bg 6.46

tapasvibhyo ’dhiko yogī jñānibhyo ’pi mato ’dhikaḥ
karmibhyaś cādhiko yogī tasmād yogī bhavārjuna

Bg 6.47

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā
śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ sa me yukta-tamo mataḥ

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde dhyānayogo nāma shaashTodhyāyaha

Translation

46. The YOGI is thought to be superior to the ascetics, and even superior to men-of-knowledge (mere scholars); he is also superior to men-of-action; therefore (you strive to) be a YOGI, O Arjuna.

47. And among all YOGIS, he who, full of faith, with his inner-self merged in Me, worships Me, is, according to Me, the most devout.

Commentary

In order to bring out the importance of meditation among the various practices in the Science of Spiritual development, Lord Krishna is providing here a tabulated list of the various types of seekers, indicating the greatest of the whole lot. Compared with those who practise thoughtless and dull-witted physical self-denial (Tapaswins), the meditator is certainly nobler.

Nobler than those who vigorously read the scriptures and try to learn and remember their declarations (Jnanis), is the Yogi (Meditator).

There are others who strive towards the same Bright Peak of Perfection, treading along the path of selfless work (Karmis), undertaken in the world outside in a spirit of Yajna, (IV-24 to 30.) and who perform worship (Upasana) in a spirit of divine dedication. These ritualists, both in the secular and in the sacred fields of activities, believe that they can reach the Infinite Bliss through these very activities.

Krishna concludes here that a silent and quiet meditator, who struggles hard to withdraw himself from his own false identifications with his body, mind and intellect, through constant and consistent contemplation upon the nature of the Self, is ever the best.

Thus, comparing a meditator with: (a) a man of utter self-denial, (b) deep students of the scriptures, and (c) ritualists, Krishna concludes his observations that a meditator alone is the best among the whole lot, standing nearest to Truth and "THEREFORE, YOU BE A YOGI (MEDITATOR), O ARJUNA."

THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEDITATORS, EACH MEDITATING UPON A DIFFERENT POINT OF CONTEMPLATION. WHO AMONG THEM IS THEN THE BEST AND THE GREATEST MEDITATOR? LISTEN:

Whereas the previous stanza gives us a relative estimate of the different paths in spirituality, and finally declares that meditation is the best among the lot, the stanza now under review explains who exactly is the best among all the meditators. Meditation is, in the beginning at least, a deliberate act by which the seeker strives to keep his thoughts channelised into one pre-determined divine line of thinking; and this is maintained by disallowing the mind to run into dissimilar thought-channels. Meditation, therefore, must of necessity start with an effort on the part of the meditator to fix his mind upon some object of contemplation. The Art of Meditation can be classified under different types, according to the nature of the object of contemplation chosen and according to the nature of the persuasions adopted in curtailing the mind from its mad roamings.

Thus we have, in the tradition of our practices, meditations prescribed upon a symbol, on the God-principle with a form, on the teacher, on the Kundalini, on any of the great elements, or on a chosen scriptural text. Accordingly, the practitioners may be considered as followers of different kinds of meditation. The Singer of the Geeta is trying to indicate here, who exactly is to be considered as the best and the most successful meditator among the types mentioned above.

In this concluding stanza of the chapter, the Lord insists that of all the meditators, he who "WITH HIS INNER-SELF (MIND-AND-INTELLECT) MERGED IN THE SELF, AND WITH 'SHRADDHA' DEVOTES HIMSELF TO THE SELF, IS THE MOST FIRM AND STEADFAST MEDITATOR." The pregnant suggestions contained in this stanza can fill volumes, inasmuch as it is a summary of the entire Yoga Shastra. Naturally therefore, Lord Krishna dedicates the entire length of the next chapter as an annotation to this mantra-like stanza.

For the purpose of our understanding this chapter, it is sufficient for the time-being if we gather from this stanza that the essence of meditation is not so much in our attempt at integrating the mind as in the ultimate merging of the inner equipment (Antahkarana), and getting it completely sublimated in the final experience of the Self. That, this can be done only by one who does proper Bhajana upon the Self with all Shraddha, is the truth-declaration made here with a loving insistence by the Eternal Lover of the gopis.

The term Bhajana has come to gather to itself such a lot of adventitious superstitions that, as it is understood today, it means elaborate rituals, which, almost always, mean nothing to the priest, nor to the devotees who are mere onlookers of the priestly performances. Sometimes it means a lot of loud singing with noisy accompaniments, and an entire crowd roaring away on their march towards an emotional ecstasy, and often, each session ending in hysteria and exhaustion. Very rarely do they gain even a vague experience of the spiritual thrill. In the Vedantic text-books, Bhajana is "the attempt of the ego to pour itself out" in an act of devoted dedication towards the Principle of Reality, whereby the devoted personality successfully invokes the experience that lies beyond the noisy shores of the mind-intellect equipment. One who does this invocation (Bhajana) of the Self, and naturally gets himself merged in that awakening, is declared here by the teacher of the Geeta, as belonging to the highest type of meditation.

It is quite evident to every student of Vedanta that such a meditator comes to transcend all his identifications with the false matter-envelopments, and becomes, through the experience of his Real Nature, the very Self. Yet, the mouth-piece of renascent Hinduism, Lord Krishna, in his modesty and reverence for the tradition in our culture, attributes this statement in the stanza to his own personal opinion.

Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad-Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA, in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, the sixth discourse ends entitled:
THE YOGA OF MEDITATION

Nowhere else in the entire extent of the voluminous spiritual literature that we have in the Upanishads, the Brahmasutra and the Geeta (Prasthana Traya), can we find such a wealth of details, explaining not only the technique of meditation but also the possible pitfalls and how to avoid them successfully, as we have them so clearly and vividly explained here. No scripture fails to hint at the Path of Meditation, as the way to reach the highest possibilities in life, and yet, nowhere have we, among our reported and compiled heritage of sacred books, such a vivid discussion of the entire path. To a true seeker, indeed, a thorough study of the Sixth Chapter is ample direction and guidance to reach the highest through Meditation. It is therefore but proper that this chapter is put under the title: "The Yoga of Meditation."

Om Om Om Om Om

Sources: Vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Godhi Banna Sadharana Maikattu - Review

Saw this movie this evening with better half.
Anant Nag as 66 year old Venkoba Rao is an Alzheimer's patient left at a Nursing Home (Nightingale!) by his very busy careerist son. Left unattended, he wanders away. The duty doctor Sahana (Sruthi Hariharan) has developed affection for this very interesting old man full of stories and memories of how he met and wooed his late wife Pushpa in the College library. He taught his son how to sketch and have fun. But now the young man is busy chasing his dreams and has no patience with his boring Alzheimer's liability of a father.
Son Shiva and Sahana search desperately here and there for the missing dad. But Venkoba Rao has managed meanwhile to get muddled up with a gang of hired murderers while they were trying to get rid of a BBMP engineer's body after murdering him on a highway.

The rest of the story is a bit long, as several threads have to come together rather slowly until Shiva and Sahana have developed a closeness through her sharing of all the stories she has heard from Venkoba Rao, with Shiva.
Finally all the baddies kill off each other. Venkoba has gone through everything without the least understanding their violent world. He is equally nonchalant when restored to his son. All ends happily for Shiva and Sahana. But not before one is rather bored by the meandering thugs story. Maybe the movie could have catered less to the whims of the producer who always wanted to make a murder mystery but landed up with a director keen on directing Anant Nag as an Alzheimer's patient.

Anant Nag has done brilliantly in his few parts. His humour and pitiful debility are portrayed memorably.

He tells the murderer at one point of the story, feeling pity for him as he is plotting his own escape. "They say there are two dogs in each of us. The black one, who stands for hate, violence, jealousy and revenge. The white dog stands for love, giving, peace and harmony. Who wins in their battle? Ha ha. It is simple. The one whom you give more biscuits!"

Sruthi is very good in her role. Rakshit Shetty as Siva has also done well. Sruthi's somewhat gaunt face needs getting used to, but she acts well. Best wishes to her!

And let me not forget the music. There are a few songs in Raghu Dixit style, pregnant with words of life philosophy sung to some strident guitar and drums. The songs are thrown in whenever the producer felt the movie's tempo was flagging. It seems to be a constant toss up between showing murderers or throwing in songs. Ok, that's a bit uncharitable. Anyways you get my drift I hope.

My piece in Faking News!

Hi! I got published in faking News! http://my.fakingnews.firstpost.com/2016/05/25/jayalalithaa-ends-freebies-announces-path-breaking-new-tn-scheme/

Balika Vadhu 2028

The Indian TV industry is all abuzz with excitement waiting for the new Balika Vadhu 2028,remade as a 20 year celebration of India's biggest soap that happened  a long time ago and went on with pretty much immortal characters for 3000 episodes. Set in rural Rajastan it showed gutsy women who took bullets as easily as men took bribes. The child bride syndrome was a nominal thing as stories were all about evil adults.

Now,  after 20 years, a lot has changed. Under Modi, India has become a superpower not only in software apps, but solar power and much else. And everything is once again made in India. Mud Ganeshas are no longer imported.from China. People are no longer ashamed to buy for their children pencils and pens made in India. In other words,  Made in India is as famous as Bollywood.

ISRO has invented new technologies to regenerate ground water. BARC has met India's power shortages with hybrid atomic solar power.

India's demographic dividend has given jobs  to teenagers who pass out of Medicine and Engineering as early as at 14 years. It is due to some huge innovations pioneered by HRD Ministry. Every child learns Sanskrit, Yoga and cooking to be proficient by the time they are ten.

What will be the storyline of the Balika Vadhu 2028?The director has tears of nostalgia as he answers: it will go back to the most glorious traditions of the first one. The heroine is a child bride,  married off at 8 to a doctor who is 15. The family  khaandaan is all about organic agriculture, but goons are smuggling Monsanto/Bayer GI food at one tenth the price. Thanks to India's liberal intellectuals,  everyone has full freedom to burn the Indian Flag,  shout for Kashmir's freedom, and carry India-made guns for freedom of political expression. The police are masters of investigation, but there is a lot of  criminals out there hacking bank accounts, robbing people of their gold through dubious schemes, and destroying peace.

The 15 year old doctor finds a more attractive girl of 12 online and ditches his bride. She is undaunted and sets up a women's group for the greenification of Rajasthan. Camel smugglers constantly trouble her but she has mastered martial arts and defends herself.

The script writer, like the one in 2008, is a nervous wreck. He has to produce a new kind of mayhem every week. Anandi is dead by the 2000th episode. Dadima has benefited from Baba Ramdev's rejuvenation therapy and at 120, she rides a 500 HP solar hybrid bullet motorcycle and singleghandedly defeats the camel smugglers and saves the greenification project of Rajasthan. She is nominated to  be the first woman to travel and unveil a new township on Mars in the Mangalyaan reusable space vehicle. She is asked,  as she dons her spacesuit,  what's her message for the planet back home. She says, "Everything may change, but we remain the same back home."

Gurudev introduces Chapter Six: Meditation

CHAPTER VI
Meditation

With this chapter we are coming to the close of a definite section in the scheme of thought in the Geeta. This is the opinion of some of the well-known critics and students of the Lord's Song. According to them, the eighteen chapters of the Geeta fall into three definite sections, each of six chapters, and they group themselves to expound the implications and significances of the sacred Vedic mantra "Tat Twam Asi" --- THAT THOU ART. The first six chapters together constitute an explanation of the philosophical significance indicated by the word "Thou" (Twam). In the general scheme of thought developed in that section, the contents of the sixth chapter constitute a fitting conclusion.
In Chapter II, in a language almost foreign to Arjuna, in quick strokes, Lord Krishna painted the philosophical perfection which is the theme of all the Upanishads. He concluded that chapter with a vivid and expressive picture of a Saint of perfection and mental equipoise. Naturally, the interest of a seeker is excited and he seeks to find means and methods by which he too can grow within himself and reach those diviner heights of self-control and equipoise.

The Geeta is personally and specifically addressed to Arjuna, a confused average man, at a moment when he felt completely confounded by the problem that was facing him. Naturally, the highest methods of subtle meditation, the mental drill by which one can renounce all one's preoccupations, etc., are not easy methods that can be practised with confidence. At the same time, it will not be true to say that Vedantic methods are meant only for a few; if they are immediately useful only to a few, there must be, in Vedanta, preliminary techniques by which everyone can steadily grow to become fit to enter the Hall of Perfection.

That there are graded lessons for one's spiritual unfoldment is not really understood by the modern lip-Vedantins. It is this general ignorance that has brought about the misconception in Hinduism that the study of the Vedas is the guarded preserve of some rare ones. But, Vedanta would have been an incomplete science if it did not contain Upasana methods for purifying the students' inner equipments.

Krishna, as a true teacher, understood Arjuna's mental debilities and intellectual incompetency at that particular moment to start right away upon the arduous lines of pure meditation and clear detached thinking. In order to bring him to the level of perfection, various lower methods of self-integration had to be prescribed. Thus in Chapter III we found an exhaustively scientific treatment of the "Karma Yoga" --- the Path of Action.

Activities in the outer world, however noble they may be in their motive, cannot but leave deep ulcerations and painful restlessness in the bosom of the worker. To mitigate the "reactions" of action (Karma-Phala) and as a balm to soothe the bleeding mental wounds, new methods of maintaining the mind in quietude and ease have been expounded in Chapter IV under the title "RENUNCIATION OF ACTION IN KNOWLEDGE." It is the theory of Krishna that, constantly maintaining in the mind the awareness of the Greater Principle that presides over all human endeavours, the worker can, even in the thick of activities, maintain a healthy and well-ventilated inner life.

Naturally, the limited intellect of Arjuna got extremely confused, since the teacher argued in the beginning for "action," and in the conclusion, for "the renunciation of action." In Chapter V, therefore, the "Way of Renunciation" is explained and the technique of guaranteeing to our mind immunity from reactions, even while it is engaged in activity, is explained. The "Yajna spirit" --- the spirit of dedicated activity for the benefit of the larger majority and not for any self-arrogating profit --- is the antiseptic that Krishna prescribes for a mind and intellect that are to work in the world. In Chapter IV is prescribed an unavoidable treatment for curing the mind of its own pox of painful "impressions of the past" (vasanas).

In Chapter V, the "WAY OF RENUNCIATION" is explained under two different categories, which show the two methods of achieving the same goal: renunciation of (a) our sense of agency in activities; and (b) our unintelligent anxieties arising out of our thoughtless preoccupations with the fruits-of-our-action. The chapter exhausts these two techniques and explains how, by the renunciation of agency or by the renunciation of our attachment to the fruits-of-actions, we can come to gain a release from the vasana bondages which generally shackle our personality during our activities.

One who could faithfully follow the technique so far unravelled by the Lord, should have thereby come to a condition wherein the insentient and inert mind has been stirred into a field of intense activity. A mind developed through this training, is taught to come under the intelligent will of its determined trainer, the seeker himself. The mind thus gathered and trained, is certainly a better-equipped instrument for the higher purposes of Self-contemplation and Self-unfoldment.

How this is done through the famous technique of meditation is, in a nutshell, the theme of the sixth chapter. During our discussions, we shall not stand in sheer surprise and wonderment and swallow down the ideas in the verses without dissecting, discovering, analysing and understanding every facet of each of those ideas. This chapter promises to give us all the means by which we can give up our known weaknesses and grow positively into a healthier and more potent life of virtue and strength. This technique is called meditation, which in one form or another, is the common method advocated and advised in all religions, by all prophets, at all times, in the history of man.

|| Chapter-6 ||


Source: The Holy Geeta

End of Fifth Chapter

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde karmasanyāsayogo nāma pancamodhyāyaha

Translation

Thus in the UPANISHAD of the glorious Bhagawad Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the Scripture of YOGA , in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna the fifth discourse ends entitled: 
YOGA OF TRUE RENUNCIATION. 

Om Om Om Om Om


Commentary

Chapters III and IV have described the 'Yajna' and Chapter VI will explain the Path of Meditation. Therefore, this, the fifth chapter, has been rightly named "the Yoga of Renunciation of Action." What is the spirit of renunciation, how the "Yoga of Renunciation of Action" can be practised, what would be the result of practising this way of activity in this special mental attitude, and how far that could contribute to the inward development and growth of the human personality --- all these are discussed in this chapter. In fact, Chapter V stands as a bridge between Karma Yoga and Pure Meditation. In the Vedas this subtle point in the chain of discussions is almost missing. Chapter V of the Geeta rediscovers for us this 'missing link' in the Vedic thought. I have said 'rediscovers,' and not 'deliberately created' or 'originally supplied.'


As Shankara puts it, in many places the Lord has spoken of the renunciation of all actions and at the close of the chapter, Krishna has advised Arjuna to engage in Yoga in the "performance of actions." When thus viewed, there is, in the last chapter, a perceptible inconsistency according to Arjuna. Hence the doubt with which he opens his discussion with Lord Krishna in this chapter.

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

A few favourite things

A Few Favourites

Waking up to a cool morning, fragrant
After an overnight cool shower,

Not to rabid mosquito bites
Aided by a cruel power cut.

Taking a walk on my favourite path,
Untroubled by potholes and smoke.

Listening to my favourite music or radio,
Unfazed by stupid ads and interruptions.

Browsing on my beautiful phone,
Untrammelled by the much-touted 4G.

Watching some beautiful videos,
Unencumbered by ads.

Applauding some great cricket,
Unworried by match fixing.

Eating my favourite dosa,
Unconcerned about transfat and stuff.

Putting up my feet and saying, "Thank You
Oh Lord, these are a few
Of my favourite things."
And being heard.

Hail the Guru! Unto Him our Best

Today is the Birth Centenary of Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda. I resolve that I will study and follow his Geeta teachings! May He guide me and give me strength.

Bg 5.18

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
śuni caiva śva-pāke ca paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ

Bg 5.19

ihaiva tair jitaḥ sargo yeṣāṁ sāmye sthitaṁ manaḥ
nirdoṣaṁ hi samaṁ brahma tasmād brahmaṇi te sthitāḥ

Translation

18. Sages look with an equal eye upon a BRAHMANA endowed with learning and humility, on a cow, on an elephant, and even on a dog and an outcaste.

19. Even here (in this world) , birth (everything) is overcome by those whose minds rest in equality; BRAHMAN is spotless indeed and equal; therefore they are established in BRAHMAN.

Commentary

The wise cannot but see and recognise the same presence of Divinity everywhere. The ocean has no difference in feeling for different waves. Gold cannot recognise itself as different in different pieces of ornaments. From the stand-point of mud, all mud pots are the same. Similarly, an egoless man, having recognised himself to be God, can find in no way, any distinction in the outer world of names and forms. The distinctions generally recognised, are all the distinctions of the containers. Man to man, there may be differences in form, shape and colour of the body, or the nature of the mind or the subtlety of the intellect. But as far as Life is concerned, It is the same everywhere, at all times.

Therefore, it is said in this stanza, that the Self-realised cast an equal eye on a Brahmana endowed with scholarship coupled with humility, on a cow, on an elephant, on a dog or on a pariah. Everywhere he realises the presence of the same Truth, whatever be the container.

Equal vision is the hall-mark of Realisation. The perfected cannot make distinctions based upon likes and dislikes. In and through all forms and situations, he sees the expressions of the same dynamic Truth which he experiences as his own Self.

In stanza no.19, almost a whole Scripture is indicated. In the context of the development of the theme, Lord Krishna had to show, first of all, that the Perfection, described in the previous few stanzas, is not a Godly idealism to be experienced after death, in a specialised world beyond the clouds, called the Heavens. Pauranic Hinduism and all Semitic religions promise a Heaven as the glorious goal of existence and spiritual effort. However, to an intelligent man; this promise is nothing more than a charming hallucination, and not a positive gain. Such a vague goal cannot be sufficiently encouraging to coax out of an intelligent man all his enthusiasm and sincerity.

Contrary to this vague hope, here in Vedanta, the naked truth is declared when Krishna repeats what the Rishis had earlier asserted a thousand times. It is expressly mentioned that the relative existence as a limited ego-centre can be ended, and the imperfect individual can realize himself to be the Infinite Godhead. This goal can be reached not only at a post-mortem stage, but in this very same life, here in this very body, among these very same worldly objects, and one can live in the Consciousness of God, evolving oneself from the immaturities of the deluded ego-sense.

Who is capable of gaining this ascendency in himself? What is the secret method by which this consummate self-redemption can be effectively fulfilled? The assertion that man can reach this goal in this very life is made in the first line by a detailed description of how it can be executed and practically lived. It is said that the one, "WHOSE MIND RESTS IN EVENNESS," gains the Divine tranquillity of a God-man.

Patanjali Yoga-Sutra also explains the same fact in different words. Where the thought-flow, which creates unequal and spasmodic mental fluctuations, is arrested, there the mind ends. Where the mind ends, it being the equipment through which Life expresses as a limited ego, this sense of separative existence also ends. When the ego has ended, the egocentric thraldom of samsara also ends. The ego, thus undressed of its samsaric sorrows, rediscovers itself to be nothing other than the Self Itself. Unless one comes to this mental equipoise, one is not capable of experiencing the Samattwam of the Sama-darshin described in the above stanza.

An individual who has discovered for himself a sufficient amount of tranquillity in which nothing dares disturb him any more, is certainly one who has plumbed the depths and touched the bottom. A reed on the waves will be tossed up and down by the waves, but a light-house built upon firm rocks always remains upright and changeless, allowing even the stormy waves to exhaust their anger at its feet. Krishna's argument is thus logically sound when he declares that a mortal among us, who can maintain his equanimity under all conditions as explained in the foregoing stanzas, is indeed one who has contacted the Divine and the Eternal in Himself, "HE INDEED RESTS IN Brahman."


Sources: Vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Sanskrit Bashing

(Bhagavadgita manuscript in Kangra Fort Museum)

Sanskrit bashing has become very fashionable, especially after Modi took over. Why?

1. Modi roots for all things good in our country including Sanskrit, Dharma, and Yoga.
2. A number of vocal "Hindutva" voices have become active, expressing many sensible and nonsensical ideas. 
3. Many scholars who make their living bashing Sanskrit and sporting PhDs, sense a great branding opportunity. 

People like Wendy Doniger who says Ramakrishna was a homosexual and Pollock who says Sanskrit is responsible for the Jewish Holocaust, are winning large grants and buying up mainstream media space in The Hindu, Economic Times and so on.

I thought I should place some basic facts as I know them:

1. The threat level of Sanskrit terrorism has been and will always be low, although some fellows say it is as bad as from Daesh. 
2. Sanskrit accounts for over 70% of all our vocabulary riches in most Indian languages. 
3. Reading Bhagavadgita, Adi Shankara, Kalidasa, Ramayana and Bhagavata, in my own rudimentary way, gives me wonderful insight into life and mysticism which thrills me no end. No wonder every great thinker around the world has marvelled at the wisdom of the Orient. It is ALL handed down in Sanskrit from thousands of years ago. 
4. Learning Sanskrit is a wonderful intellectual effort. It is aided by a teaching methodology which is so scientific! 
5. Those who believe in Sanskrit classics and our ancient texts should separate science fiction from science; and symbolism from history. Of course people of those ages had marvellous powers of concentration and contemplation, which could have conferred extra-sensory awareness and power on them. Even their literature would have been impossible without those insights. But it does not mean one could buy a flying machine off the shelf. You should be as savvy buying these ideas as you're while shopping on Flipkart. 

Sanskrit bashing is ugly and shows how vulnerable we are, when we swing from total ignorance of our cultural roots to some jingoistic pseudoscience claims. We better study our classics, practise Dharma, and fight when necessary all this cow-dung throwers called Sanskrit bashers.
Just as ridiculous is the idea that somebody flew around the world in 80 days in a Pushpaka
Vimana, it is crazy to say the Holocaust was caused by Sanskrit. And funding such blatant slogan mongers is truly shameful for anybody.

And how Time has changed!

I was forced to wait for over an hour with a lady relative at the waiting room of a famous Ob/Gynec specialist today. There was a TV screaming instant recipes for all kinds of snacks and eats. Obviously aimed at those few women who want to dish up nice food in the kitchen, it was a huge bore for me. And then I found a couple of mags - Time and India Today. What fascinating stuff I read! Here is a sampler:
1. A heeled shoe, all glitter, which is actually a church! Wow. What would be the fate of a modern temple to Ram? It would be shaped like a beer bottle!
2. A 100 year old writer Hermann Wouk talks about Israel and his sense of priorities...
3. Time waits for none. And none reads those heavy books anymore. So one liner summaries from War and Peace to Moby Dick!
4. The fate of cancer patients in India - 70% come too late 70% die in the first year. And a chronic shortage of specialists...

Interesting time indeed.

Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Please note that blog piece written in 2009 on Einstein’s being a Tambra was a spoof. It is a joke on the gullible readers.

The links given there are real, the story seems true but it is pure fiction.  In the beginning I thought anyone could see through my humour but later I found people believing what I had written. A Hungarian Jew even approached me to take the research further as he was searching for his roots!

I wanted to show somebody that one can say anything and publish anything and quote all kinds of evidence with no real core of truth.

Such specious arguments and fabricated truths are rife on the Internet and as they say, “Buyer Beware”!

Have a nice day.

Disclaimer

Please note that

blog piece written in 2009 on Einstein

’

s being a

Tambra was a spoof. It is a joke on the gullible readers.

The links given there are real, the story seems true but it is pure

fiction. In the beginning I thought anyone could see through my

humour but later I found people believing what I had written. A

Hungarian Jew even approached me to take the research further as

he was searching for his roots!

I wanted to show somebody that one can say anything and publ

ish

anything and quote all kinds of evidence with no real core o

f truth.

Such specious arguments and fabricated truths are rife on the

Internet and as they say,

Dz

Buyer Beware

dz

!

Have a nice day.

When Summer Cycles In

Our summer comes early.
Before the rest of India feels the heat and dust.
So much so Chennai blokes feel happy Banglore is as hot as Madras.

Summer is here when we hear the ice-cream and elanir vendors down the street.
When we see vehicles shimmer at traffic lights.
When we clear the dust off ceiling fans.
When we ask for butter milk instead of coffee.
When sabhas remember Ramanavami.
When newspapers and mailboxes talk of holidays.
When kids are seen in street corners on their way to summer camps in colourful clothes.
When power-cuts make an ugly appearance as an offset for IPL peak-loads.
When mangoes make their appearance with suspect colours and fancy prices.
When we sleep on the terrace.
When kids cycle like crazy all around.
Yes, summer cycles in here. It's fun time!

Fifth Chapter starts

Bg 5.1

arjuna uvāca
sannyāsaṁ karmaṇāṁ kṛṣṇa punar yogaṁ ca śaṁsasi
yac chreya etayor ekaṁ tan me brūhi su-niścitam



Bg 5.2

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
sannyāsaḥ karma-yogaś ca niḥśreyasa-karāv ubhau
tayos tu karma-sannyāsāt karma-yogo viśiṣyate


Translation:

Arjuna said: 1. Renunciation-of-actions, O Krishna, You praise and again YOGA --- performance-of-actions. Tell me conclusively that which is the better of the two.

The Blessed Lord said: 2. Renunciation of action and YOGA -of-action both lead to the highest bliss; but of the two , YOGA -of-action is superior to the renunciation-of-action.

Commentary Excerpts:

It is evident that Arjuna has unconsciously walked out of the neurotic confusions in his mind and has started taking a lively intellectual interest in following the arguments of his friend and beloved comrade. Action being in line with his own nature, Arjuna very joyously and almost instinctively accepts the Path of Action indicated by Lord Krishna in the two previous chapters. Arjuna, however, has not yet grown to be at complete rest with himself. To him there seems to be a repeatedly jarring note in Krishna's discourse, inasmuch as there is a constant undertone, often very clear, in which Krishna insists that renunciation of action is nobler and diviner than all Yajna-ACTIONS. Hence this enquiry.

Moreover, a patient of hysteria, even when he comes out of it, cannot immediately discover in himself a complete self-confidence. This is generally experienced by everybody. When the dreamer wakes up after a horrible dream, it takes some time for him to compose himself again to sleep. In the same manner, Arjuna, after the shattering experience of his emotional neurosis expressed in the opening stanzas of Chapter II, has not yet found his own balance to develop complete self-confidence and feel capable of discriminating and understanding rightly the learned discourses of the Divine Charioteer. The Pandava Prince concludes that Krishna is giving him a free choice between two independent ways of living --- self-less Action and renunciation of Action. He, therefore, requests Krishna to indicate to him decisively one definite path of self-perfection by which he can positively achieve his spiritual fulfilment. This chapter is spent in indicating to the children of the Vedas that these two are not two identical factors to be chosen from, nor are they a complementary pair of equal yoke-fellows.

Renunciation-of-action and full participation-in-action are two different exercises to be practised serially and not simultaneously. This theme is elaborated in this chapter.

From the very type of the question with which Arjuna approached Krishna in the opening verse of this chapter, the Lord understood the abject state of ignorance that Arjuna was in. According to Arjuna, Karma Yoga and Karma-Samnyasa-Yoga were two distinct paths which would lead the practitioner to two different goals in life.

Man is essentially prone to be inert. If left to themselves, the majority of men would demand in life only food to eat, with the least amount of exertion and plenty of idle hours. From this unproductive inertia, the first stage of man's growth is his being awakened to activity, and this is most easily and efficiently done when the individual's desires are whipped up. Thus, in the first stage of his evolution, desire-prompted activity takes man out of his mental and intellectual inertia to vigorous activity.

In the second stage of his growth, he becomes tired of the desire-motivated activities, and feels energetic when advised to spend at least a few hours in a noble field, with a spirit of dedication and service. Such activities are generally undertaken in the service of others, where the individual works with the least ego. The secret of working in this spirit of self-dedication has been already described in an earlier chapter. When an individual in this second stage of self-development works with his ego subdued, in a spirit of devotion and dedication, he comes to exhaust his vasanas. Thus unloaded, his mind and intellect develop the wings of meditation and become capable of taking longer flights into the subtle realms of joy and peace.

The third stage of development is accomplished through meditation, which will be discussed in Chapter VI. To summarise, we may say that the spiritual processes of self-evolution fall into three stages: (a) desire-prompted activity, (b) self-less dedicated activity and (c) quiet meditation. Of these, the first has already been described in the earlier two chapters. The technique of meditation will be described in the following chapter. Naturally therefore, in this chapter, we are having a discussion on how we can renounce the ego-motivated activities and learn to take to selfless, dedicated activities.

In this stanza Krishna explains that both activity and the renunciation of activity can take the individual to the highest goal. But he warns his disciple that of the two, "participation-in-action" (karma) is any day superior to the "renunciation-of-action" (karma-samnyasa). Here we must understand that Krishna is not, in any sense of the term, decrying renunciation as inferior to vigilant and vigorous activity. To say so would be parading our ignorance, or at least, a lack of understanding of what the Lord has said so far, or the spirit in which he is continuing his discourses hereafter. The Geeta is given out in the form of a conversation between Krishna, the Immortal Teacher, and a particular student facing a given problem and having some definitely known mental weaknesses and intellectual debilities, Arjuna. Essentially, here the Pandava warrior is full of vasanas and for their exhaustion he has to act in the battlefield. To those of us who are psychologically in the state of Arjuna --- and almost all of us are in that condition, suffering from the Arjuna-disease --- the treatment is activity with the least conscious selfishness. The advice given here that the "performance-of-action" is nobler than the "renunciation-of-action" is therefore to be very carefully understood.

Sources: Vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Important Shlokas: First to Fourth Chapters

Note: The hyperlinks are embedded in Shloka numbers to detailed posts

Bg 1.45

aho bata mahat pāpaṁ kartuṁ vyavasitā vayam
yad rājya-sukha-lobhena hantuṁ sva-janam udyatāḥ

Bg 1.47

sañjaya uvāca

evam uktvārjunaḥ saṅkhye rathopastha upāviśat
visṛjya sa-śaraṁ cāpaṁ śoka-saṁvigna-mānasaḥ

Translation:

45. Alas! We are involved in a great sin, in that we are prepared to kill our kinsmen, from greed for the pleasures of the kingdom.

Sanjaya said : 47. Having thus spoken in the midst of the battlefield, Arjuna sat down on the seat of the chariot, casting away his bow and arrow, with a mind distressed with sorrow.

Bg 2.50

buddhi-yukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛta-duṣkṛte
tasmād yogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam

Translation:

50. Endowed with the Wisdom of evenness-of-mind, one casts off in this life both good deeds and evil deeds; therefore, devote yourself to YOGA, Skill in action is YOGA.

Bg 2.61

tāni sarvāṇi saṁyamya yukta āsīta mat-paraḥ
vaśe hi yasyendriyāṇi tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā

Translation:

61. Having restrained them all, he should sit steadfast, intent on Me; his Wisdom is steady, whose senses are under control.

Bg 3.9

yajñārthāt karmaṇo ’nyatraloko ’yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ
tad-arthaṁ karma kaunteya mukta-saṅgaḥ samācara

Translation:

9. The World is bound by action other than those performed 'for the sake of sacrifice' ; do thou, therefore, O son of Kunti, perform action of that sake (for YAJNA ) alone, free from all attachments.

Bg 3.21

yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas tat tad evetaro janaḥ
sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute lokas tad anuvartate

Translation: 

21. Whatever a great man does, that other men also do (imitate) ; whatever he sets up as the standard, that the world (people) follows.

Bg 3.30

mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi sannyasyādhyātma-cetasā
nirāśīr nirmamo bhūtvā yudhyasva vigata-jvaraḥ

Translation:

30. Renouncing all actions in Me, with the mind centered on the Self, free from hope and egoism (ownership) , free from (mental) fever, (you) do fight!

Bg 3.37

śrī-bhagavān uvāca

kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ
mahāśano mahā-pāpmā viddhy enam iha vairiṇam

Translation:

The Blessed Lord Said: 37. It is desire, it is anger born of the "active, " all-devouring, all-sinful; know this as the foe here (in this world).

Bg 3.41

tasmāt tvam indriyāṇy ādau niyamya bharatarṣabha
pāpmānaṁ prajahi hy enaṁ jñāna-vijñāna-nāśanam

Translation:

41. Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, controlling first the senses, kill this sinful thing, the destroyer of knowledge and wisdom.

Bg 4.39

śraddhāvān labhate jñānaṁ tat-paraḥ saṁyatendriyaḥ
jñānaṁ labdhvā parāṁ śāntim acireṇādhigacchati

Translation:

39. The man who is full of faith, who is devoted to It, and who has subdued the senses, obtains (this) 'Knowledge' ; and having obtained 'Knowledge, ' ere long he goes to the Supreme Peace.

Bg 4.42

tasmād ajñāna-sambhūtaṁ hṛt-sthaṁ jñānāsinātmanaḥ
chittvainaṁ saṁśayaṁ yogam ātiṣṭhottiṣṭha bhārata

Translation:

42. Therefore with the sword-of-Knowledge, cut asunder the doubt-of-the-Self, born of 'ignorance, ' residing in your heart, and take refuge in "YOGA. " Arise, O Bharata.

Please click on the respective shloka numbers to read the detailed commentary.

Final Shlokas of Chapter 4: March 19, 2016

Bg 4.40

ajñaś cāśraddadhānaś ca saṁśayātmā vinaśyati
nāyaṁ loko ’sti na paro na sukhaṁ saṁśayātmanaḥ

Bg 4.41

yoga-sannyasta-karmāṇaṁ jñāna-sañchinna-saṁśayam
ātmavantaṁ na karmāṇi nibadhnanti dhanañ-jaya

Bg 4.42

tasmād ajñāna-sambhūtaṁ hṛt-sthaṁ jñānāsinātmanaḥ
chittvainaṁ saṁśayaṁ yogam ātiṣṭhottiṣṭha bhārata

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde jñānakarmasanyāsayogo nāma caturthodhyāyaha

Translation:

40. The ignorant, the faithless, the doubting-self goes to destruction; there is neither this world, nor the other, nor happiness for the doubter.

41. He who has renounced actions by YOGA, whose doubts are rent asunder by 'Knowledge, ' who is self-possessed, actions do not bind him, O Dhananjaya.

42. Therefore with the sword-of-Knowledge, cut asunder the doubt-of-the-Self, born of 'ignorance, ' residing in your heart, and take refuge in "YOGA. " Arise, O Bharata.

Commentary Excerpts:

In the previous verse it was said that those who had faith and knowledge would soon reach the Supreme Peace. In order to hammer this very same Truth in, Krishna is here emphasising through a negative declaration that they, who have NOT these qualities cultivated, gained and developed in them, will get themselves ultimately destroyed and completely ruined. He who has neither the "Knowledge-of-the-Self" --- if not a spiritual realisation, at least a clear intellectual understanding --- nor "the intellectual readiness to grapple with and fully understand the true import of the scriptural declarations and the words of the Masters" (Shraddha), Krishna asserts, will certainly get ruined, if he be also a 'doubting Thomas' (Samshaya-atma).

In the next line, Krishna, with all emphasis, condemns such men of endless doubts, and points out their tragedy in life. The Lord says that such men who "DOUBT THE SELF" will not find any joy or happiness ANYWHERE --- " NEITHER HERE NOR IN THE HEREAFTER." In explaining thus, the Geeta seems to express that there may be a small chance perhaps, for one who is devoid of knowledge and faith to discover some kind of a happiness in this world, here and now, but that those who are constant doubters can enjoy neither here nor there. Such men are psychologically incapable of enjoying any situation, because the doubting tendency in them will poison all their experiences. He whose teeth have become septic must constantly poison the food that he is taking; so too, those who have this tendency of doubting everything, will never be able to accommodate themselves to any situation, however perfect and just it might be. The line contains a spot of satire, almost vitriolic in its pungency, when it is directed against the intelligent sceptic.

WHEREFORE: --- FOR THIS REASON ONLY:

This being the penultimate verse in the chapter, it is a beautiful summary of all the main secrets-of-life explained at length in it. When, through the practice of Karma Yoga, we have learnt to renounce our attachments to the fruits-of-action, and yet to work on in perfect detachment --- when every doubt in us regarding the Goal-of-life has been completely removed in our own inner experiences of the nobler and the diviner in us --- as a result of the above two, the ego comes to rediscover itself to be nothing other than the Atman. Then the individual ego comes to live "POISED IN THE SELF AS THE SELF." When such an individual works, his actions can never bind him.

It is only egoistic activities motivated by our ego-centric desires that leave gross impressions on our inner personality, and thus painfully bind us to reap their reactions. With a sense of detachment and in right-knowledge, as indicated in the above scheme, when an individual has completely destroyed his ego-sense, his actions cannot bind him at all. As a dreamer, I might commit a murder in my dream, of my dream-wife, but when I awake from my dream, I shall not be punished for the crime that I seem to have committed in my dream. For, the dreamer has also ended along with the dream. The dreamer committed the murder and deserves punishment; but in the waker, the dreamer is absent. Similarly, the ego-centric actions can bind and throttle only the ego, but when the ego has become Atmavantah, meaning "POISED IN THE SELF" --- just like the dreamer when he gets poised in the waker --- the activities of the ego can no more bind the Self. The ego "POISED IN THE SELF," is the experience of the Real Self; the dreamer poised in the waker, is the waker.

THIS BEING THE WONDROUS RESULT AND THE SUPREME PROFIT THAT 'TRUE-KNOWLEDGE' CAN GIVE TO THE DELUDED, KRISHNA ADVISES ARJUNA:

In this concluding stanza the Lord's advice is precise and it is given with a loving insistence. The stanza rings with a spirit of paternal urgency felt by the Lord towards the Pandava Prince.

In the language of war, Krishna advises his warrior-friend on the battle-field, how best to live the life of dedication and perfection as advised by the Hindu Rishis from the quiet and peaceful Himalayan valleys. With the "SWORD-OF-KNOWLEDGE," Arjuna is encouraged to cut off the bonds of ignorance and 'CLEAVE ASUNDER THIS DOUBT-OF-THE-SELF LYING IN THE HEART."

The spiritual doubt is explained here as working from the heart. This may read rather strange to a modern man: doubt must come from the intellect; it cannot come from the heart.

It is the traditional belief in Vedanta that "the intellect is seated in the heart," wherein the term HEART does not mean the fleshy pumping-instrument in the human bosom. The term HEART is used here not in its physiological meaning but in its literacy usage, where HEART means "the source of all love and sympathy --- of all noble human emotions." An intellect functioning from and through an atmosphere of sympathetic love, kindly charity and such other noble qualities alone can be considered in the science of philosophy as the human reason. Therefore, when the Upanishads talk of the doubts lying crystallised in the heart, the Rishis mean the intellectual perversions in some of the seekers that make them incompetent to feel and appreciate the Vision-of-the-Soul.

These doubts can be completely annihilated only when the individual gains an intimate, subjective experience of the Self in him.

This can be achieved only by Yoga --- NOT a strange mystical process, secretly advised to a few, by mysteriously rare groups of Gurus, to be practised in the unknown dark caves of the Himalayas, living altogether a frightful life of unnatural privations. In the Geeta, the word Yoga has been forever tamed and domesticated to be with all of us, serving us faithfully at all times in our life. By the term Yoga, in this last stanza, Krishna means the "twelve techniques" which he has explained as the subjective-Yajnas.

The chapter concludes with a spirited call to Arjuna: "ARISE, O BHARATA." In the context of the Geeta, though the word may be rightly said to mean only a call to Arjuna, it is a call to every seeker --- especially to this country as a whole --- to get up and act well in the spirit of Yajna, and thereby to gain more and more inner purity, so that

through true meditation everyone of us can come to experience and gain the Supreme Peace which is the final fulfilment of evolution.

Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA , in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, the fourth discourse ends entitled:

THE YOGA OF RENUNCIATION OF ACTION IN KNOWLEDGE
Om Om Om Om Om

Sources; vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Zootopia- what I like about this 3D animated movie

I saw Zootopia twice, first with grandkids and then with better-half.

I feel the movie is a bit over the top for kids, unless they are already thinking of career choices and how to make the world a better place for everyone. And whatever your age, if you like crisp dialogue, great 3D animation (especially trains speeding amok), the American Urban Dream, and some wild adventure, you are going to fall in love with this movie.

Many hot buttons of popularity are pressed nonchalantly by Disney Studios:

1. The hero is a young, tiny, girl rabbit, Officer Judy Hopps who doen't blink when she says, "It's called a hustle, sweetheart!", with a boldness and courage belying her social stereotype-imposed self-image and dimunitive size. She pairs up with a wily, well-networked, fox who's on the bend after having been a bit of a vagabond himself. The two make a delightful pair as they take on the notorious complications of a complex urban world full of wheels within wheels of good, bad, lazy, and ugly bits all mixed up nicely. 
2. You do have spoofs of famous movie moments.
3. You have, to boot, Shakira herself appearing as a sexy gazelle, singing and dancing her way into every bison and leopard heart.
4. Animals who think, act, speak human, no, make it American dreamer, all the time.

Go watch it. and tell me what you think!

My life is a dream.

My life is a dream. Everything around me has that airy fairy quality, like a diaphanous cloth has been draped on everything, or perhaps around my face. When people talk, it sounds like a distant whisper from disembodied souls crying my name as if they seek some liberating miracle from me. When vehicles pass me, it is as if I am sitting in a Dolby 8 track theatre with a bad electrical system, with all sounds somewhat iffy. When I eat food, it has a TV Realityshow quality, with some master chef fooling me to take a bite of his wondrous creation. Everything around me,  my home, my office, rain, sun, everything is like a large screen immersive projection.
The only thing real, tangible, palpable, responsive, true, actual, definite, bold and beautiful, totally believable, is my world of Facebook,  Twitter and WhatsApp.  People are at last real. Images speak to me. And I can do a true soul-to-soul conversation, with every ONE of my contacts. Even laugh at their jokes. Worse, at their silly dresses and hairdos. And when I share my life with everyone, with photos, videos, and stories, life at last makes sense to me. As THE REAL THING. NO DREAM HERE.

Mother Nature speaking!

Julia Roberts, the actress who has given us so many memorable performances, speaks in this video as the voice of Mother Nature, for Conservation International.
Here is the script of Julia's words:
“ Some call me Nature. Others call me Mother Nature. I've been here for over four and a half billion years: twenty-two thousand five hundred times longer than you.
I don’t really need people. But people need me.
Yes, your future depends on me.
When I thrive, you thrive. When I falter, you falter.Or worse.
But I've been here for aeons.
I have fed species greater than you. And I have starved species greater than you.
My oceans, my soil, my flowing streams, my forests, they all can take you or leave you.
How you chose to live each day, whether you regard or disregard me, doesn't really matter to me.
One way, or the other, your actions will determine your fate. Not mine.
I am Nature. I will go on. I am prepared to evolve. Are you?”

My first reactions: breathtaking visuals, very hard-hitting dialogue, in the famous manner of a Julia who doesn't mince words. Right now, she sounds ominous. She is telling me, or us, that we had better start mending our ways. Let's not overestimate ourselves or our powers. Mother Nature will go on, whether we mess up our existence or not.

A bit intimidating. Nature with a capital N.

As someone who has sought answers in the Bhagavad Gita all the time, let me see how this relates to what Bhagavan Krishna (God) says in the Gita, in the context of man and nature.

What Krishna says sounds quite different, at least in a literal sense, from the words of Mother Nature in this video. But in the end it all connects in a wholesome way, in the circle of life. How?

 I give below selected verses from the English translation from Swami Chinmayananda's The Holy Geeta (each quote is numbered as "chapter.verse"). The words are spoken by the Lord.

13.20. Know that Nature and Spirit are both without beginning; and know you also that all modifications and qualities are born of Nature. *** Creation is an eternal process***
9.10. Under Me as her Supervisor, Nature produces the moving and the unmoving; because of this, the world revolves.
7.4. Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, egoism --- these are My eight-fold Nature.
7.5. This is the "lower" Nature; different from it, know thou, My "Higher" Nature, the very Life-element or Spirit, by which this world is upheld. ***this implies that Consciousness is all-pervading and represents the eternal Spirit which exists in all Nature and is yet beyond it ***
7.6. Know that these (Nature and Spirit), are the womb of all beings. So I am the source and dissolution of the whole universe *** man has only the autonomy to change only a few things, but not the big picture ***
7.8. I am the juice/taste in water, I am the light in the moon and the sun; I am the syllable OM in all the Vedas, sound in ether, and virility in men; *** it is not a random design without purpose ***
7.9. I am the sweet fragrance in earth and the brilliance in fire, the life in all beings, and I am austerity in the austere. *** Here austerity means giving more to life than taking from life, the basis of man's responsibility ***
3.14. From food come forth beings; from rain food is produced; from sacrifice (meaning work done according to one's nature, but with an attitude of doing good for all creation) arises rain, and sacrifice is born of action. *** the circle of life ***
3.12. The "Devas" (demigods governing the forces of nature), nourished by the sacrifice, will give you the desired objects. " Indeed he who enjoys objects, given by the Devas , without offering (in return) to them, is verily a thief. *** Man's duty to creation ***
3.20. Janaka (a famously wise king) and others attained perfection verily by action only: therefore you should perform action, even with a view to conserving all this creation. *** the word is Loka Samgraha in Sanskrit, exactly same as global conservation! I give at the end a beautiful explanation of this term by a well-known author in this area, S. P. Agarwal.
13.21. In the production of the effect and the cause, Nature is said to be the cause; in the experience of pleasure and pain, Spirit is said to be the cause. *** Consciousness or Spirit in man ***
13.22. The Spirit, seated in Nature, experiences the qualities born of Nature; attachment to the qualities is the cause of his birth in good and evil wombs. ***the principle of the individual Self and its karma leading to rebirth ***
13.23. The supreme Spirit in this body is also called the Spectator, the Permitter, the Supporter, the Enjoyer, the great Lord and the Supreme Self.  *** Definition of God and how God is always an enabler and motivator, yet giving each creature a degree of autonomy ***
13.24. He who thus knows the Spirit and Nature together with the qualities, in whatsoever condition he may be, he is not born again. *** Concept of wisdom leading to liberation, or Buddha and Nirvana!***

So in summary, the Gita talks of Nature as encompassing all creation including man. Nature revolves, evolves, dissolves and is reborn. It is an eternal cycle of change. Man, by his very nature, is part of this circle of life, and he has to recognise how connected he is. He has to give to life, or nature, willingly, in a spirit of sacrifice or worship. In that spirit, nature is nourished, he is nourished in turn. God has planted the seed of life, the seed of evolution, and the seed of a higher nature or godliness in all creation, which manifests itself as "giving". Knowledge of this truth confers on everyone of us the grace of well-being, and leads us towards the liberation of the spirit. At the same time, this knowledge makes us act responsibly, supporting the circle of life.

Two questions remain. In the video, it is said that when Nature falters, man falters even more. Secondly, man can either destroy himself, or save himself. In the Gita, instead of making it a Man vs. Nature discussion, the Lord tells us that we have the power to save ourselves, or destroy ourselves, through our choices and actions:

6.5. Let a man lift himself by his own Self alone, and let him not lower himself; for, this Self alone is the friend of oneself, and this Self is the enemy of oneself.
6.6. The Self is the friend of the self for him who has conquered himself by the Self, but to the unconquered self, the Self stands in the position of an enemy like the (external) foe.

In these two verses, the Self is to be understood to be the same as the Spirit, separate from the ego. The self (no capital) is the ego. Conquering himself means becoming wise and owning responsibility.

God exists in Nature. God exists in man. God guides in our evolution. And just as Mother Nature speaks to us, God speaks to us through Nature, all the time. We just have to listen to Nature. And feel Nature. And give to Nature.

Hari Om!

Explanation of Lokasamgraha

You can read the original Bhagavad Gita with Swami Chinmayananda's translation online, here.
You can but the book here.

A Comparison Table (click here to read the Excel sheet)

Definition of India or Bharat

There is much discussion of who first called this country we now call India, as one country. Who invented "India"? Someone jokingly said the other day that India is believed to have been created by Jawaharlal Nehru in his "Discovery of India".

I did some research, after hearing the mention of Vishnu Purana. This scripture is dated variously from 3rd century BC to 7C CE.

Here is a mention of our country there:

Its translation, done by Mr. Wilson, is as follows:

THE country that lies north of the ocean, and south of the snowy mountains, is called Bhárata, for there dwelt the descendants of Bharata. It is nine thousand leagues in extent, and is the land of works, in consequence of which men go to heaven, or obtain emancipation.

These verses are in chapter 3 of section 2. The scan is from the publication of a work of Sanskrit translation by one Sri Vishnuchittar in the 20th century. See the front page. This book is available on the Internet.

The translation of the Vishnu Purana in 1840 was done by Mr. Wilson, and that book too is available on the Internet.