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V.Senth il Kumar
Vol.38 No.5 Kartik-Margashirsh 5112 December 2010
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(Plus Rs.50/- for O utstation C heques)Yuva bharat i - 1 - 2010December
Editorial 3
4
13
17
25
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The Arrangement of
Chapters in the Gita
The Monster That IsFeasting On Us
Life of Mahakavi
Subramania Bharati
Prosperous India-7
Cultural Roots - 6
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Invocation
Yuva bharat i - 2 - 2010December
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Editorial
Yuva bharat i - 3 - Dec 2010ember
What is the force in thee? the Yaksha a sks Agni as the n arrative goes in th e
Kenopanishad. I can bu rn all things up on earth w as the reply. This burn said the
Yaksha p lacing a blad e of grass in front. Enraged by this insult, Agni app roached it w ith
all his might on ly to find ou t that he could n ot burn it! The Yaksha w as indeed a form taken byBrahman to teach the Devas w ho w ere drunk with a sense of victory that it is not they who act, but a
force in them which acts - the Devas being merely instrumental in the process. So too, in our
activities, we meet w ith small accomp lishm ents and successes. It w ill be imm ature to ascribe those
progresses to our ow n efforts, just like the Devas did .
It is an und eniable fact that p roper p lanning and execution are imp ortant. But it is equally important
to keep in mind that there is indeed a higher force which directs our energies, which delivers or
throw s aw ay. This recognition of a greater force gu iding ou r efforts is absolutely essential, in times
wh en our efforts bear fruit and even more so wh en they d on't. For w hat shall motivate us to remain in
the battle to revive our nationhood, the lost manhood of our land an d keep us striving to bring back
the glory of our forefathers?
Is it really possible to fight the corruption that has become so entrenched? Is it really possible to
sensitize our people from their almost w retched callousness to recognize the agonies of so many in
our society today? Is it really possible to bring out th at d imm ing light of Dharm ic consciousness in
our p eoples, weaning th em aw ay from an ind ulgent an d m aterialistic self-forgetfulness? The field to
work is so vast; the enemies of goodness un countab le; the resources at our d isposal, meager. What
really is it that can keep us motivated to remain and fight this war and not drop our arms and
surren der ? The intellect can search all around and find no answers for it is not the intellect that has
the answers.
Unless we recognize that we are only instru men ts of a mightier, grand er force, mere paw ns in a game
that stretches eons, we will be put through tremendous mental strain in our effort of national
reconstruction. This mighty Shakti that w e call our n ation bids us and wh en w e are called to w ork,
we w ork; wh en we are thru st into suffering, we d o and wh en w e are no longer required, we are
thrown away. This Shakti, our Mother, does not require intellectual understanding, not our money
nor comforts. She requires our faith and she will rise. Sri Aurobindo wrote She is already in our
hearts waiting to be worshipp ed sorrowful because H er children w ill not call on H er to help them.
You w ho feel her stirring w ithin you , fling off the black veil of self, break down the imprisoning w alls
of ind olence, help H er each as you feel imp elled, with you r bodies or with you r intellect or with you r
speech or w ith your p rayer and worship, each man according to his capacity.
This was the message that Sri Krishna gave Arjuna in the Gita - the recognition of a divine spirit
gu iding all our actions, giving u s victories or teaching u s through failures. This Gita Jayan ti, let us
strive to cultivate in us th is essential quality. P.Vasanth
YB-ET
Recognizing the Grander Force
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The Arrangement ofChapters in the Gita
A letter from Gand hiji
Acharya Sr i Vinoba Bhave
he Ashrama was opened in Kocherab.
Right from the beginning Vinoba hasTbeen with m e; he has d one a lot of workthat I wan ted him to do or was dear to me. Take
for example the d iscussion on the arran gementof chapters in the Gita. I asked for a litte, bu t
Vinoba gave aplenty. Let the reader
und erstand that the idea of chanting the entire
Gita in 14 days (and later in 7 days) came u p in
the Yerwada -Mand ir. I pu t my ideas before
Vinoba and asked him either to app rove them
or to correct them. In respon se, he sent me the
essay called The arrangement of the chapters
in the Gita. While placing this in front of you , I
hope those who want to meditate on the Gita
and to bring d own its teachings to their life willbenefit by it.
Mahabaleshwar,
30.5.1945.
A letter to resp ected Bapu
Respected Bapu ,
I have to reply to the points you have raised as
to what should be the weekly routine of the
stud y of the Gita. I have not forgotten the same.
But I thought, instead of sending you a short
reply, I should seize this opportunity and spell
out my views on the arrangement of the
chapters of the Gita in detail. But I could n ot do
so uptill now. Now I shou ld give sufficiently
elaborate answers to you r qu estions.
The I chapter of the Gita is the seed, it is
und erstood. But a small portion of it hasentered the II chapter. The reason is that a
special mention has to be made of the Lord's
Acharya Sr i Vinoba Bhave
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first call (II 2. 3) and of Arjun a's su rrend er to
Him (II/ 7). The Gita as such starts on II/ 11.
From then on, in the w hole of the II chapter, the
main teachings of the Gita are presented in
their en tirety, thou gh only br iefly.
1. The science of Life: The immortal
natu re of the Atman etc., the Gita calls
it the SANKHYA BUDDHI.
2. The art of Life: how to work in
equanimity the Gita calls it YOGA
BUDDHI.
3. A description of the highest ideal of
man, the teacher, in whom are
established the 'science and art of life',
(Sankhya an d Yoga) the Gita calls it
Sthita-Prajna.4. The end product of (Sthita Prajna)
'steadied awareness' Brahma
Nirvana. Once the practitioner has
reached that state, nothing remains to
be done.
Here it should be mentioned, that in all the
Samskr i t l i t e ra ture pr ior to Gi ta , the
expressions Sthita-prajna and Brahma N irvana
are not found an ywh ere. These are Gita's
original and special and innovative terms.
Devotee (Bhakta), man of wisdom (Jnani),
Yogi, liberation (Mukti), attainment of the
highest state (Paramapada prapti) not being
born again (apunara vritti)- these expression
find place in the Gita, but Gita is not the work
that men tions them for the first time. They are
not Gita's original contribu tions.
The wh ole pilgrimage was completed in short.
It is repeated in detail, from III to V chapters,
with Arjuna's questions as the pretext. Had
Arjuna not asked that qu estion w hich he p oses
in the III chapter, the whole of Gita wou ld hav e
been completed , with the II chapter. The
philosophy of life, the art and craft of life, the
ideal teacher and the final fruit, all these have
been discussed by the Lord. What else does
remain there to be said?
In the III chapter, the Lord explains the reason s
as to wh y we should (work) act. It is true that
intellect is great, but then it cannot be attained
without action. Then wh at is the way out?
Finding food for oneself (Sharirayatra), social
work, (Yajna) cleansing one's m ind (Samsid dh i)
and the w elfare of human ity (Lokasamgraha)
these are the reasons as to why a person shou ld
work, act, expressed in increasing order of
significance. You call the III chap ter the key to
the Gita. That is exactly so. If Arjuna does nottake up that question, we would have missed
the key. Because the Lord has already gone up
to Brahm a Nirvana in th e II chapter itself.
Thereafter, the IVth chapter gives us an
elaborate analysis of Karma (action). The word
Karma means the external work, actions that
come along the flow of the life-stream. It is all
right to h ave this explanation of Karma (action),
but those mental equipments that are needed to
perfom those actions with equipoise, such as
controlling one's senses, penance, self-study
and self-control can also be called Karma
(action) in a broad sense. The solid action
performed as one's Swadharma and the
ancillary Karma which cleanses one's Chitta
(mind ), this special and broad Karma, these two
go to make up the actionless (Akarma) state
finally. This is the top ic of discussion in the IVth
chapter.
Yet this actionless state appears as two fold
wh en closely studied.
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1. All actions are performed but nothing
is done (Yoga)
2. No external action is carried out but
everyth ing is achieved (Sann yasa). The
comparison, of these two types of
actionless states is the topic discussed inthe IV chapter.
'Yoga' and 'Sannyasa' are in reality one (V-3/ 4)
and the same. But perceived from the
practitioner's p oint of view, Yoga is easier th an
Sannyasa (V-6-12). That is, Sannyasa can only
be the final abod e. But Yoga, apart from being
the way, can also be the final goal, this is the
outcome. Further up , the beau tiful description
of the Poorn a Yogi or Sannyasin is given (from
V-13 to 26). The last verses 24,25,26 describethat state of Brahma Nirvana, which the Gita
says is the final camp of the Yogin or the
Sann yasin. It is to be noted tha t in these
shlokas, the expression Brahmanirvana occurs
thrice. In essence, the state that was attained in
the II chapter is reached again in V-26.
Bu t i m m ed i a t e l y a f t e r wa r ds , wha t i s
mentioned in 27, 28, 29 is a very important
matter. Because, in this lies, the answ er to your
questions. For an explanation, we have to take
a long jum p into the XII chapter. In my opinion,
the chap ter XII is the V chap ter expressed in th e
langu age of Bhakti, devotion. And the V
chapter is the XII chapter expressed in the
idiom of Karma (action). When w e emp loy the
language of Bhakti, the state of Sannyasa,
where one does not perform any external
action, yet achieves everything, is Nirguna-
Upasana. Nirguna Upasana is the worship of
the ON E absolute w hich is w ithout d escribable
qualities. And to perform all actions and to
remain u ntou ched by them, the Yoga-state is
Sagun a-Upasana, the worship of the Absolute
wh ich has describable qualities. The XII
chapter deals with the subject matter of
comparing these two ways of worship.
Broadly speaking, the resul ts of their
comparison are the same as those of the Vchapter. In principle, Yoga and Sannyasa are
the same, similarly Saguna and Nirguna
up asanas are the same, because both of them
take one Godwards. But if we see it from the
point of view of the practitioner, Yoga is easier
as Sagu na w orship is easier.
Withou t Yoga, Sann yasa is unattainable (V/ 6
first half). Withou t Saguna worsh ip, Nirgu na
wor ship is d ifficult to achieve (XII/ 5 latter
half). The latter half of XII/ 5 is to be comp aredto the first half of XVIII/ 11. From that on e can
understand how the same question arises
wh ether you look at the problem from Karma
point of view or from Bhakti point of view. The
answer is also the same. Sannyasa and Nirguna
worship both see the body as an obstacle. All
this analysis is for establishing the relation
between chap ter V and XII. That is why XII
chapter talks about giving up the fruits of
action, (XII/ 11, XII/ 1) and the V chapter
concludes w ith devotion (V/ 29).
Now the question is whether the comparison
between Saguna w orship and Nirgun a worship
has been d one earlier and their final evaluation
is done in the XII chapter, or does the XII
chapter take up the matter for the first time?
The answer is that the matter w hich h as been
already discussed is compared here and the
conclusions are dr aw n. With the V chapter the
main topic of the Gita has been completed.
From the VI chapter to the XVII chapter, the
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Gita teaches us the various methods of
perform ing action withou t desire for the fruits.
The XVIII chapter is the sum mar y. In between,
in the chap ters of Sadhana VI to XII compr ise
the Upasana portion of the Gita. Of these
chapters VI to VIII mainly d iscuss the worshipof Unmanifested Absolute and chapters IX to
XII mainly discuss the worship of the
Manifested Absolute. I say mainly because
the Gita does not logically discuss things
breaking them into pieces. In the discussion of
Saguna, Nirguna also enters and in the
discussion of Nirguna, Saguna is mixed up.
That is the Gita's way of looking at things.
How do chap ters VI to VIII discuss Nirgu na or
Unmanifested Absolute and how do chapters
IX to XII discuss, Saguna or ManifestedAbsolute?
Now w e have to discuss this matter. But before
that w hat is the pu rpose of the last three verses
of chapter V? The verses 27, 28 of chapter V
indicate the worship of Unmanifestedt h
Abs ol u t e and t he 29 ve r se i nd i ca t es
Manifested or Saguna worsh ip. The last verse
appears to contradict the verses 14 and 15 of
chap ter V. You have already noted th is. You
have given the explanation that will reconcile
the Saguna an d N irguna. You have mentioned
this under chap ter V-29 in you r book, Anasakti
Yoga. The point is that the last three verses of
the V chapter are like a preface to the chap ters
VI to XII which discuss the two-fold methods
of worship.
The verses 1, 3, 4 and 5 of chapter XII are useful
in understanding the Nirguna worship of the
Bhagavad Gita. According to that verse the
Gita calls Nirguna worship and worship of
Unmanifested Absolute as worship of the
Akshara, (Chapter XII verses 1, 2, 3) and as a
part of it says Sanniyamya Indriya gramam
(XII/ 4 first half) as the method. And it also
mentions that this path is more troublesome.
The worship of the Akshara should be taken to
have a dou ble meaning, a pu n. Akshara meansindestructible Brahman, that is one meaning;
Akshara also means Omkar, that is the second
meaning. Controlling One's senses and with
equanimity all aroun d this description covers
the entire VI chap ter. That is clear. The VII and
the VIII chap ters clearly men tion the w orship of
the unm anifest and th e Akshara (VII/ 24, VIII-3,
20, 21, etc.,) and the w orship of Akshara as 'OM'
is men tioned in chapter VIII/ 13. Again in
VIII/ 10, 12, the Om kara w orship d escribed in
the sixth chapter is repeated. In the VI chapter,the reply in response to Arjuna's query,
Anekajanma samsiddhi and other verses indicate
that this whole path is a difficult one. There is
also a hint that there is no necessity for getting
pan icky or to despair. But, sure, it is difficult.
This whole worship of the unmanifested
absolu te is Patanjali's Yoga Shastr a. I will give it
in short, in Patanjali's own w ords, leaving out
sutras in between but keeping their original
serial order in Yoga Sutr as.
1. This is the beginning of instruction in
Yoga (Yoga Sutr a I-1).
2. Yoga is the control of thought waves in
the m ind (Yoga Sut ra I-2).
3. Then man abides in his real nature
(Yoga Sutra I-3).
4. They are controlled by means of
practise and non-attachment (Yoga
Sutra I-12).
5. Concentration may also be attained
throu gh d evotion to Ishvara. (Yoga
Sutra I-12).
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6. The word must be repeated with
med itation upon its meaning (Yoga
Sutra I-28).
Of these, the VI chapter of the Gita discusses the
first four sutras in full, the fifth sutra isdiscussed in chap ter VII, and the sixth and th e
seventh sutr as are discussed in chapter VIII. It
should be mentioned here that through
devotion to Ishvara is not an alternative to
practise and non-attachment. Instead,
Abhyasa-Vairagya are to be linked to devotion
to Ishvara. Devotion to Ishvara mean s,
meditation on the Unm anifested Ishvara.
All these discussions on the Yoga Shastra h ave
been completed in chapter VI to VIII. Alongwith this the path of fire, and th e path of smoke,
have been m entioned in the VIII chapter in the
diction of Yoga science and there end s the VIII
chapter.
Now let us turn towards the worship of the
Manifested Absolute. The Gita's way of
worshipping the Manifested Absolute is not
opposed to the worship of the Unmanifested
Absolute. The Manifested is the light of the
Unman ifested. This worship is the famous
path of devotion described in holy books such
as Srimad Bhagav ata and Tulasi Ramayan a and
glorified by holy and saintly men . It is the topic
for discussion in Chap ters IX to XII.
The worsh ip of the Unm anifested Absolute can
be described by the term Meditation
(dhyana). The mean ing of the path of emotion
is Love. That is called the Royal path of the
know ledge. (IX/ 2) The special feature of this is
direct perception, (IX/ 2). In this only faith is
required . This is very easy for pr actising
(IX/ 2). It is not as difficult as the worship of the
Unman ifested. Only because people do not
have faith, they do not turn this way. And the
path is such that anybody can come on this,
(IX/ 3). The human form is the symbol of God.
The wor ship of tha t form is a speciality of thispath. To undervalue the hum an form is to
und ervalue God himself (IX/ 11). Having
insulted this form, Arjuna had, later to regret
his action (XI/ 41). When Arjun a attained the
special insight of devotion, he was immensely
happ y to see the human form (XI/ 51). It is true
that of all the Yajnas, tha t of wisdom is the best
Yajna, bu t those w ho are imm ersed in th e love
of God consider the Japayajna of the Lord's
name as the best (X/ 25). The Lord who
bestows w isdom on us is omnipotent (X/ 10,11). As already expressed in the V chapter,
instead o f totally controlling a ll the senses and
the mind, and all their actions, in the path of
devotion they are all offered at the feet of God
(IX/ 27). This path does not recognize the
differences of a sinful birth or a birth of merit.
This dharm a is open to all castes. Because, here
only love is important (IX/ 32). Daily service,
daily prayer and festival this is the nature of
this path (IX/ 14, X/ 9, XI/ 36). To prostrate, to
be hu mble is to be the greatest (IX/ 14, 34,
XI/ 36, 37, 39, 40 etc.,). When we comp are the
word dharmya of shloka (IX/ 2) with th e word
dharmyamritam of (XII/ 20) and th e word
faithless (IX/ 3) with the word faithful of
(XII/ 20) we under stand all this. That is, the
topic that is completed in the XII chapter has
already begu n in the IX chapter.
This nectar of dh arm a (XII/ 20) stands for the
signs of a d evotee as extolled in th e XII chap ter,
but it also indicates the nectar of dharma
described from chapter IX to XII. With this
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word deathless compare the word death
mentioned in chapter IX/ 3. In the same way
the last verse of the IX chapter is the last verse
of the XI chapter also. The word Evam
mentioned in XII/ 1 aims at both these verses.
That should be un derstood. I am not goinginto d etails. To be shor t, the chap ters X, XI, XII
can in no way be separa ted from the IX chapter.
The IX chapter is in the p lace of a mo ther an d
the X, XI chap ters are its children. When in
XI/ 4 Arjuna says that my confusion goes
away, he is thinking of the IX chapter only.
The highest secret, spiritual knowledge
(XI/ 1) is the Royal knowledge an d the Royal
secret of the IX chap ter. Chapters VI to VIII
describe the worship of the Unmanifested
Absolute and the chapters IX to XII describethe path of devotion. If we w ere to comp are
these two, they are like OMKARA and
RAMANAMA.
With this, I have almost fully answered your
main qu estion. In order to comp lete the topic, I
ad d a little more. The chap ters XIII, XIV, XV
mark the path of wisdom. We know that the
path of devotion is different from the path of
wisdom . Still, the Gita has linked devotion
even to wisd om. See My devotee (XIII/ 8,
XIV/ 26, XV/ 19). But this path is different
from the worship of the Unmanifested
Absolute. The main method is med itation, in
the worship of the Unmanifested Absolute.
Love is the main method in the path of
devotion. And analysis and d iscrimination are
the main methods in the path of wisdom. The
path of meditation, is mainly that of Patan jali.
The path of devotion is mainly the Vaishnava
(and Saiva) tradition. And the path of wisdom
is the intellectual and the Vedan tic path . See
Vedantakrit (XV/ 15). After describing the
path of wisdom, the Gita has essentially been
conclud ed. [Thu s (ends) the secret scriptu re].
The verse XV/ 20 mean s the XV chap ter, true,
bu t it also stands for the en tire book of the Gita
recited so far. That is my notion. The word
scripture (Shastra) is employed for the firsttime in the Gita. And later the same word
occur s at the end of the chapter XVI, and again
at beginn ing the chapter XVII.
Further up , I consider chapter XVI and XVII as
annexures in which the entire social science of
the Gita is described . Its social science is
f ounded upon t he good behav i ou r o f
individuals. That is, their good though t
(Chapter XVI) and their good actions namely,
the sacrifice, the gifts, and the penance (Chap terXVII). These two chapter s are the follow-up of
the IX chap ter. The XVI chap ter is an extension
of IX/ 12, 13. The link betw een the XVII and the
XVI chapters is seen in the question posed by
Arjuna in XVII/ 1. but apart from that, this
chapter is also a clarification of the path of
devotion and its chief characteristics as
presented in chapter IX/ 27.
Whatever you eat means the proper food
(aahar) of the XVIII chap ter.
Whatever you sacrifice is the Yajna of the
XVII chap ter.
Whatever you give is the Dana of the XVII
chapter.
Whatever penance you p erform is the Tapa
of the XVII chapter.
Offer it to me means the Om Tatsat of the
XVII chap ter.
The essence of the path of devotion is the ru le of
surrender and offering. But surrend er does not
mean offering whatever comes your way. The
pure and the sattwikalone are fit to be offered to
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God, that is the meaning of the XVII chapter.
From the ashram's point of view the XVII
chapter is called t he Yoga of the p rogram mes.
That is the name I give: Get up in the morn ing
and pray (faith), (Shraddha) afterwards take
some food (ahar) later on go out to performservice, ('Yajna' Dana, Tapa) and at last offer all
of them at th e feet of God (Om Tat Sat).
After all this, the XVIII chapter is a summary
and a pointer to all the discussion. The first five
chapters which discuss the main issues of the
Gita, also form the starting point of the XVIII
chapter.
And its conclusion is the description of all the
tools and the most important of this namely thepath of devotion as described in chapter IX.
IX/ 1 and IX/ 34 should be read together and
then read XVIII/ 64 and 65. The IX chapter has
got an importan t place in the Gita. That chap ter
is dear to the saints. Jnan eshw ara breathed his
last chanting the IX chapter. This chapter
comes runn ing to aid w omen, sudras, etc.,. The
pinn acle of the path of devotion is expressed in
that chap ter. On listening to this chapter,
Arjuna was wonderstruck with happiness,
(X/ 1). That is why the Lord on his own starts,
the X chapter. Shloka XI/ 1 says that Arjuna's
confusion end ed because of that. The XII
chapter is the final seal on the greatness of the
IX chap ter. The XVI and th e XVII chap ters are
extensions of that chap ter. The conclud ing
XVIII chapter is a repetition re-expression, of
the IX chap ter.
In this, I have, only in short, p resented m y ideas
on the arrangement of the chapters of the Gita.
In the discussion above the answers to your
questions are available. The topics of the first
five chapters and VI chapter are totally
different. If we want to link the VI chapter w ith
the V chapter because they are all tools for the
attainment of equanimity, samatva even then
there is a loss of direction. It w ill give the
impress ion tha t asana, pranayama, and
pratyahara are the only tools to the attainm ent of
equ anim ity. It is not desirable. Really,
equan imity is the central point of the Bhagav adGita through all the paths and tools this is the
goal that the Gita sets itself. For examp le, the
discrimination (Viveka) described in the XIII
chapter also aims at the Samatva. (XIII/ 27, 28).
Therefore it is not prop er to link the VI chap ter
with the V chapter. I have been saying earlier
that it will not fit into the ideas of the XII
chapter. The worship of the Unm anifested
Absolute is also only a worship . In that also a
sort of devotion is inbuilt. In this way, VI, VII
and VII chap ters also contain a little or more of
the path of devotion. But w hat we call the path
of devotion proper starts from the XI chapter.
The expression tu in Idamtu of the XI/ 1 is
especially m eant for d elinking of the IX chapter
Yuva bharat i - 10 - Dec 2010ember
The Gita cer tainly does not advocate war ; w hat it advocates is the active and
selfless defence of dharma. If sincerely followed, its teaching could have altered
the course of human history. It can yet alter the course of Indian history."
Maharishi Aurob indo
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from th e VIII chapter.
I have told you every thing in brief. Now I give you the weekly routine of the stud y of the Gita
with the reasons.
Friday Chapters 1-2 Steady intellect (Sthirabuddhi) the
wh ole pilgrimage in short.
Saturday Chapters 3-4-5 Action without desire, for the fruits of
action (Nishkama Karma)
Sunday Chapters 6-7-8 The path of meditation (Dhyana Marga --
Worship of the Unm anifested Absolute)
Monday Chapters 9-10-11-12 The path of devotion (Bhakti Marga the
worship of the Manifested Absolute
unop posed to the Un manifested Absolute)
Tuesday Chapters 13-14-15 The path of wisdom (analysis and
discrimination Vichar an d Viveka)
Wednesday Chapters 16-17 The healthy attitudes (along with the
proper action)
Thursday Chapter 18 Tyaga (Giving up)
Wardha, Pranams of Vinoba
16.6.1934
(This article, including the letter by Gandhiji is a translation of a section from Vinobaji' sGitai
Chintanika Sarva Seva Sangh Prakashan Rajghat, Varanasi, 221001 June 1981).
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When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created thisuniverse everything else seems so superfluous." ~ Albert Einstein
"The Bhagavad-Gita has a profound influence on the spirit of mankind
by its devotion to God which is manifested by act ions." ~ Dr. AlbertSchweizer
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ain is an important phenomenon in
living th ings. It alerts the organ ism to aP dysfunction or a disorder in the organsand creates a necessity whereby the organism
looks to set things right, thereby rem oving the
cause of pain. What function pain performs in
the body, anger performs in society say
evolutionary biologists. Anger evolved in
social animals as a mechanism whereby
individual elements that do not follow the
ways that is most ben eficial to the entire group
are singled out and are forced to fall in line,
instead of chasing high er individu al benefits at
the cost of the grou p's ben efit. The loss of these
abilities will mean that th e organism is neither
able to iden tify the flaws in its own system n or
neu tralize the effects of those that threaten the
collective well-being in pursuit of their
individua l benefits.
Indian society today seems to have lost the
faculties of sensing pain or being angered. So
much so that we just don't care about what is
happ ening to us. We hear about it every day, we
encounter it practically everywhere and even
then, there simply isn't anybody taking any
effort to even reduce it, forget eliminating it.
What else can we be talking about but
corruption?
There were times when bribes were paid to
government officials, usually inspectors of
various departm ents, to not carry out their duty
and turn a blind eye to flouted norm s. While this
is almost a norm today, the disease has grown so
much that people are now being asked for
bribes to even carry out their d uty. Every point
of contact with almost any department of the
state is a pain-point where brutes and greedy
thugs hassle and harass the common m an. From
issuing birth certificates to death certificates
and everything in between, every table that a
Srinivasa Desikan
The Monster That Is Feasting On Us
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document passes through demands a bribe.
Such a d escription m ight be uncharitable to the
honest folk, albeit in a miniscule minority, that
still exist within these systems. But w hen t hey
can put up with the kind of scumbags and
ridiculous nonsense that goes on in theirdepartm ents, we believe this remark w on't hurt
them too much and they'd be prepared to pu t
up with this too.
Such a p athetic cond ition is no sur prise, we can
say. What else can we expect when a d isease is
not addressed? It will continue to grow and
feed itself on the organism w ith the d isease. The
real surp rise, and the most p ainful one, is that
there is no repulsion, not even a sense of disgu st
at this condition. It has almost become
normative that people expect to be asked for
bribes and worse, people are prepared to pay
bribes for every documen t that is cleared, every
stamp th at is ever p ut on pap er. Just a cursory
glance at the new spapers tod ay reveals the how
insensitive we hav e become. A crore used to be
an amount that made people look in awe not
too long ago. The amounts involved in the
scams today are in the jaw-dropp ing range of
lakhs of crores. But even w ith all this, where is
the outrage?
But w hat can w e do? We are so few and they
are so many What can a powerless few do
against such powerful men and women who
have connections in all the top places? These
are the common excuses we hear in almost
every discussion on the topic of corruption.
These are true and undeniable facts, which
need no further p roof than the fact that man y of
the whistleblowers end up getting killed
irrespective of whether the killer can be
identified and pu nished or n ot. But th is cannotbe perm itted to become the end of the road . So
these excuses are valid, but th ey remain excuses
nonetheless. These are just superficial cover-
up s that are given by people wh o do not w ant to
act.
What is the instrum ent or force that can be u sed
against the corrupt? An example can be found
in the way a village responds when there is
indeed outrage. Recently in Tamilnadu, a cab-driver kidnapped, raped and killed a 10 year
old schoolgirl. The villagers refused to admit
him into the village. This tool shame and
social boycott is one that has been used for
centuries to punish those who stray from the
righteous path. Let's take this simple test on
ourselves. Consider for a moment how we
would react to friends or relatives who have
committed a m urder and how w e would react
to friends or relatives who take bribes. From a
random survey among my fr iends, thedifference between th ese two w as nearly 100%.
We can't expect it to be very different in the
larger society either.
The very fact that most of us don't even bother if
one of our ow n friends or relatives takes a bribe
is proof that we as a society never really
considered acting against corruption. We must
make sure that we instil in ou rselves and others
a sense of du ty and rectitud e that simply does
not tolerate taking the easy way out. If I lose
respect and acceptability from my peers, my
relatives and my community, the material
benefit that is gained out of corrupt behaviour
will be outw eighed. This is the only practicable
way to even attemp t to fix this cancer. This will
cover practically everything in its scope,
starting from jumping the red lights at signals
to having to work with large contracts in
govern men t offices. This is a monu men tal task,
not becau se of the scale, but because it involves
a change in ou r attitudes. We have to u nlearnthe current attitud es in ou r mind wh ere success
in any means is applaud ed and entrench in our
psyche tha t the means is as essential as the end s.
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We should be ready to forgo the small benefits
in ease of getting things the w rong w ay to be
able to leave a living society to our children.
Even the slightest laxity in this will mean the
same mon ster will be revived again wh ich w ill
feast on our society to its death . This year when
we celebrate our Rashtra Chintana Parva, let us
spare some time to think about this and vow to
cleanse our hom es and neighbourhoods of this
disease of corrup tion.
Yuva bharat i - 16 - Dec 2010ember
"The Bhagavad-Gita is the most systematic statement of spiritualevolution of endowing value to mankind. It is one of the most clear andcomprehensive summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed;hence its enduring value is subject not only to India but to all ofhumanity." ~ Aldous Huxley
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i Subramanian, affectionately called
Subb iah w as born on December 11, 1882
Sto Sri Chinnasam i Iyer and Smt.Lakshm i
Amm al. Subbiah lost his mother when he was
five. A young Subb iah, a prod igy composed
verses to the pleasant surp rise of man y learned
peop le. In 1893, when he was eleven, the
scholars of the Ettayapuram state decorated
him w ith the title 'Bharati'. Between 1894 and
1897, he was a student of Hindu College,
Tirun elveli. In Jun e 1897, he ma rried
Chellammal who had just completed seven
years. In 1908, he lost his father and slipped
into a state of shock. Subbiah decided to move
out to Benares at the behest of his aunt Smt.
Kuppu Ammal.
In 1902, at the University of Allahabad, he
achieved mastery in Sanskrit and Hindi and
qua lified himself in the 'Pravesh' examination.
He started sporting his favourite moustache
and turban.
After the completion of his university
edu cation, he returned to Ettayapu ram. The
king granted h im a job in his court. Subb iah
was quite unimpressed. He started composing
his verses. His first poem w as published in a
magazine 'Viveka Bhanu' in Madurai.
In August 1904, he joined the Sethupathy HighSchool, Madurai as a temporary Tamil Pandit.
Soon he moved to Chennai and joined the
'Swadesamitran' as an Assistant Editor in
November, 1904. Sri Subram ania Iyer, the
editor, was his men tor. He became the editor of
' Chakravardhini ' , a m o n t h l y m a g a z i n e
simultaneously.
The British divided the Bengal and the social
reformer Bhara ti turned out to become a p olitical
activist with two translations of Bakim Chan dr aChattopadhya's Vande M ataram. After attend ing
the Kasi Congress, on his way back, he met Sister
Nivedi ta , the ardent devotee of Swami
Vivekananda an d believed her to be his 'Gnana
Guru'.
In Apr il 1906, Bhara ti assum ed responsibility as
the ed itor of 'India', a weekly. He was fortunate
to be the friend of Shri N.Tirumalachari, Sri
M a n d a y a m S . S r i n i v a s a c h a r i , S h r i S .
Doraiswami Iyengar, and Shri V.Chakkarai
Chetti. Shri Bipin Chand ra Pal, a great patr iot
visited Chennai in 1906. An English weekly,
'Bala Bharatha' commenced its pu blication in the
Life of MahakaviSubramania Bharati
A Great Saga of the Warrior Poet with a National Mission
and a Universal Vision
Sqn. Ldr. Dr. P. Ramani
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same year.
In April 1907, the famous Congress meet was
held at Surat. Subram ania Bharati was
attracted by Bala Gangadhar Tilak's mantra
'Freedom is my Birthright' and extendedspon taneou s sup port to Tilak. Bhara ti led a
team of young congressmen along with
V.O.Chidam baram Pillai and Mand ayam
Srinivasachari. There was a big division in the
Con gress Part y. Bha rati me t Sri Bala
Gangadhar Tilak, Sri Aurobindo and Sri Lala
Lajpat Rai, the giants of the freedom m ovemen t
but always considered extremists.
In 1907, a political opponent of Bharati Sri
V.Krishnaswami Iyengar w ho w as a m oderatewas touched by the fervent appeal of the
patriotic songs of Bharati, printed three songs
in four pages and distributed them free to all
the peop le with patriotic fervou r.
In 1908, the patriots who were considered
extremists celebrated the 'Swarajya Day' un der
the leadership of Subramania Bharati at
Chennai , under the l eadersh ip of Sr i
V.O.Chidam baram Pillai, Sri Subram ania Siva
and Sri Padmanabha Iyengar at Thoothukudi.
And the trio were arrested and remanded to
custody. Bhara ti app eared as a witness in the
trial. In 1908, Bhar ati pu blished his first
poetical collections 'Swadesa Gitangal'. The
government seized the copies of 'India' a
newsp aper p ublished by its editor Bharati and
issued an arrest warrant against him. Bharati
escaped th e arrest and reached Pud uchery. Sri
Kuvalai Kannan met him an d looked after him.
Between 1908 and 1910, Bharati continued to
pu blish 'India' and exposed th e British misrule.
As the newspaper turned out to be very
popular among the masses, the British
preven ted its entry to other pa rts of India. The
publication of 'India' was thus effectively
crippled by the British raj.
The beginning of 1909 marked the p ublication
of second p oetical collections of Bhar ati entitled
'Janm a Boomi'.
In 1910, Bharati's popular daily newspaper
'Vijaya', a weekly magazine 'Suryodayam ', Bala
Bharatha, English weekly and 'Karma Yogi', a
monthly magazine ceased to app ear. His
proposal to launch Chitravali', an English and
Tamil Cartoon new spap er failed to take off.
In April 1920, Mandayam Srinivasachari and
Subramania Bharati arranged the visit of Sri
Aurobindo to Pud uchery. They planned
extensively for the execution of extensiveresearch of the ved ic literature.
In November 1910, Bharati published his
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'Kanavu', a biographical sketch in verse in his
compilation ' Madha Mani Vachagam'. V.V.S.
Iyer joined Bhara ti in h is political mission.
In 1911, Sri Vanchi Nathan shot Collector Ash
dead and killed himself to escape from theBritish police. The patr iots were hou nd ed.
The followers of poet Bharati soared in
nu mber. How ever, there were efforts made to
evacuate the p atriots from the French territory,
Puducherry.
The year 1912 marked the translation of the
Bhagavad Gita and the publication of the
famous 'Kannan Paattu', Kuyil Pattu and
Panchali Sabatham Part I. Betw een 1913 and
1914, he was contributing to Sri SubramaniaSiva's magazine 'Gnana Bhanu'. H is book
Madha Mani Vachagam was published at
Na tal, South Africa. The World War I broke out
consequently, the patriots of Puducherry were
threatened.
In 1917, Parali S.Nellaiyappar, a patriot
pu blished the Kannan Paattu at Chenn ai. In
1918, Nellaiyappar published the patriotic
songs of Bharati as folk songs.
Bharati got tired of his life at Puducherry and
decided to move out on November 20, 1918.
As he entered Cud dalore, he was arrested and
reman ded to custody. After 34 days of
imprisonment, he w as released as there was no
case pending against him. He decided to go to
Kadayam to meet his wife.
He spent 2 years in Kadayam between 1918
and 1920. He visited Tiruvananthapuram,
Ettayapuram, Karaikudi, Kaanadukaathan
and other places. He wanted to be friendly
with the king of Ettayapu ram but in vain. He
wanted to seek a nomination for the Nobel
prize. Perhaps the Nobel Committee was not
fortunate to confer this honour on Bharati.
In March 1919, he visited Chennai and met
Maha tma Gan dh i in Rajaji's hou se.
In December 1920, he joined Swadesamitran, as
the assistant editor once again. Bharati
contributed a num ber of articles. In Augu st
1921, he was p ushed by the temp le elephant at
S r i P a r t h a s a r a t h y S w a m i Te m p l e ,
Tiruvallikkeni. H is friend Kuvalai Kannan
managed to save him. Bharati fell ill out of a
severe shock.
In September 1921, though he recoveredcompletely from the illness, he perhaps could
not get ou t of the shock he suffered.
On September 11, 1921, almost close to
mid night, Bharati left his m ortal coil to reach the
lotus feet of the Almighty.
Mahakavi Bharati was a great hum anist. He
was fond of humanity and was desirous of
establishing a w orld ord er free from ignorance,
dirt, poverty, disease, terror and horror,
divisions, injustice and lies. He wanted to
liberate the human ity from the w orld of untruth
and adharm a. An analysis of his writings
should p rove that Bharati looked forward to the
dawn of a 'Sathya Yuga '. Bhara ti's mission was
not only to liberate our nation but h e wan ted to
create a world full of wa rmth , love, comp assion
and a d eep u nderstanding.
Is Bharati not a warrior poet with a national
mission an d a u niversal vision?
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PROSPEROUS INDIA 7
P.KanagasabapathiP.Kanagasabapathi
ncient India was n ot contented w ith
devising and practising superiorA economic and social systems forachieving material prosperity and secured life
for her citizens. Continu ous efforts were mad e
by th e society to explore d ifferent fields, w hich
resulted in constant improvements based on
additional inputs and fresh knowledge. As a
result , the society was driven towards
perfection in different w alks of life. On the on e
hand , the newer ideas led to the development
of innovations and new practices that resulted
in more efficient methods of functioning. On
the other hand, new insights and thought
processes led to contributions of highest
intellectual output. Many such practices and
contributions were truly pioneering and far
ahead of their times.
For one who is not adequately aware of the
backgroun d an d greatn ess of the country, it will
be hard to believe that so many d evelopments
had been taking place over man y centuries in
diverse a reas of human activity. It is accepted
that the Indus-Saraswathy Civilization is one
of the most planned urban settlements of the
earliest period s in the wor ld. It is surp rising to
know that there were private bathrooms in
many houses even du ring those periods. There
were also large scale sanitary sewerage and
water systems, along with common bath and
storage facilities. It only shows the advanced
nature of urban life that existed about five
thousand years ago. Moreover the inhabitants
of the civilization had knowledge of several
fields.
The contemporary Indian gets a feeling that
ancient India added value to all the activities
Contributions of the highest order
made India remain powerful
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Acharya Shusruta
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with wh ich it was connected. Agriculture was
the m ajor econom ic activity in the earlier days.
We could see the use of sophisticated
t echn i ques and advanced m anagem en t
systems w hen w e study the agricultural history
of India. Experts note that irrigation was
developed as early as around 4500 BCE.
Artificial reservoirs dating back to 3000 BCE
were in existence at Girnar. It is learnt that th ere
were the early canal irrigation systems from
aroun d 2800 BCE. All these developmen ts led
to the increased agricultur al outpu t resulting in
the economic prosperity and overall well-being
of the peop le.
When the mod ern mind s look at the India of the
earlier years, wh at surp rises us apart from the
economic prosperity an d th e social systems, is
the list of contributions and achievements inintellectual spheres. All over the world we
study how the great empires concentrated on
wealth, power and enjoyment, though in the
process some of them have also made a few
contributions. But Ind ia's outp ut, in different
spheres of life , remains extraordinar y by any
standards in the h istory of mankind.
Five thousand years ago, India could explain
the nature and principles of the soul, primal
matter and its creation. Acharya Kapila, born
around 3000 BCE and founded the Sankhya
school of thought in the ancient Indian
ph ilosoph y, was a pioneer in this field. He
m a d e e x t r a s e n s o r y o b s e r v a t i o n s a n d
revelations on the secrets of creation. His
outstan ding contributions in the field of cosmic
studies have mad e the world recognize him as
the father of cosmology. Indians were the
earliest to specialize in soph isticated fields su ch
as shipping and aviation involving higher
technologies. Acharya Bharadw aj, who lived
about 2800 years ago, had in his work Yantra
Sarvasa mad e outstand ing discoveries in space
science. He explained different techniques to
make flying m achines invisible to escape from
the eyes of the others, to listen to conversations
taking place in another plane and to see what
was hap pening in other planes.
In the medical field, India developed ad vanced
techniques in highly specialized areas such asplastic surgery and anesthesia, and Indians
were the p ioneers in amp utation, caesarian an d
cranial surgeries. Shusrut Samhita of Shusruta,
who lived around 600 BCE, is the first ever
work d escribing the surgical procedures and is
considered the encycloped ia of surgery. He
had explained the details of 300 types of
operations and described a num ber of stitching
method s. He had used 125 surgical
instruments for operations and performed
advan ced surgeries includ ing the restoration of
damaged n oses. A giant in the field of med ical
science, he is respected as the father of plastic
surgery. Indians realized th e impor tance of diet
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Acharya Kapila
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and activities for the mind and body of the
individual and the relationship between
spirituality and physical health in the earlier
days. Charaka (600 BCE) explained the
concepts re la t ing to human ana tomy,
embryology, pharmacology and diseases suchas diabetes and tuberculosis. He described the
medicinal qualities of one lakh herbal plants.
His prescription of the ethical charter for the
medical practitioners was much before the
Hipp ocratic Oath.
India und erstood an d explained the principles
relating to atoms and molecules paving way
for the development of the atomic theory.
Western historians acknow ledge that Kanad
(600 BCE) and other Indian scholars as the
global masters in this field. One can go on
c o n t i n u o u s l y m e n t i o n i n g a b o u t t h e
intellectual contributions of ancient India, as
there are too num erous and encompass several
fields. But what is important is that these
contributions have helped people living in
parts of the world enorm ously to further their
knowledge and unders tanding re la t ing
d i f f e r e n t f i e l d s o f a c t i v i t i e s . T h e s e
contributions have also helped the world to
move forward and make progress at a faster
speed in d ifferent disciplines. Speaking of just
o n e a s p e c t I n d i a ' s c o n t r i b u t i o n t o
mathematics, the noted scientist Einstein
mentioned: We owe a lot to Indians, who
taught us how to count, without which no
worthwhile scientific discovery could have
been m ad e . The r e a r e m any m or e
contributions even in th e field of mathem atics.
Of all the contributions of India, several
thinkers and scholars all over the world
proclaim that the thou ghts and inputs relating
to life, its purpose, approach towards life and
humanity as the most important ones.
Nowh ere in the world has the hum an mind and
life so thoroughly discussed and analyzed in
detail as in India of the ancient periods.
Beginning from the earliest texts of India
namely the Vedas, many of the monumental
works such as the Upanishads and the
Bhagavad Gita concentrate on the meaning an d
pu rpose of life and th e various issues connected
with it. These thoughts have made Indians
unique in their thinking and life in India far
superior than the rest of the world.
The intellectual achievements of India had
enabled the country to emerge and remain as a
pow erful nation in two w ays. One was to make
advancements in different fields such as
mathematics, medicine, science, technology,
architecture w hich in tu rn h elped the country to
grow further an d richer. The other was to m ake
citizens more matured and better human
beings, families and societies more vibran t and
peaceful. As a result, India grew and rem ained
a pow erful nation in a state of prosp erity and
inner p eace - with continuou s efforts toward s
perfection in d ifferent sph eres of life.
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Albert Einstein
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f the four Purusharthas extolled by ou r
shas t ras , Dharma i s the mos tO important. It is the foundation of allthe other purusharthas. One cannot attain
moksha w ithout living according to Dharm a.
Any pursuit ofArtha an d Kama which is not
compliant with Dharma is rejected by the
shastras as not conducive to individual andsocial well-being.
Prof. Kapil Kapoor, an eminent academician,
calls Dharma as the one-word unwritten
constitution of India! Millions of people in
India perhaps would have never read the
constitution but they abide by its guiding
principles consciously and un consciously. This
is because a d harm ic sense is inbu ilt into u s by
virtue of being born inBharatavarsha.
The word Dh arma is defined as Dharayate iti
Dharmaha - that which supports or holds
together is Dharma. The Rishis observed the
universe and intui t ively perceived the
presence of a subtle and cosmic intelligence
which pervades this universe and keeps it in
motion. This cosmic order or balance is called
'Rita' in the Vedas. This cosmic order or Ritam
app lied to h um an life and society is Dharma.
Like a layer of cement which holds a wall of
bricks together, Dharma keeps the society
together. Dharma guid es us about how we canlead a meaningful and fulfilling life without
violating or disrup ting the cosmic order.
Even an illiterate person in India will
un derstand the concept of Dharma and th e need
to living according to dharmic principles. For
examp le, you can often hear a beggar asking for
alms by uttering Dharmam Sei (perform you r
dharma). Or a person who suffers injustice
wou ld exclaim Idu Dharmam Illai (this is not
dh arm a). This is because the two g reat epics of
India, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata hav e
instilled deeply, a positive appreciation for
dh armic values in the m asses.
Dharma The One Word Unwritten
Constitution of India Pramod Kumar
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CULTURAL ROOTS-6
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In the Ramayana, Lord Rama is described as
Dha r m a pe r s on i f i ed ( Ramo Vigrahavan
Dharmaha). The trials and tribulations of Lord
Rama and his impeccable character and
conduct even the midst of the most severe
crises, continues to inspire generation aftergeneration of d harma loving Ind ians.
In the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna shows the
way through his brilliant exposition and
practice of Dharm a in difficult situations. Lord
Krishna 's exploi ts const i tute the most
magn ificent treatise on Dharm a wh ich he later
impa rts to Arjun a in the form of the Bhagav ad
Gita.
He exhorts Arjuna to perform his dharm a as a
kshatriya and not to turn away from thebattlefield out of m isplaced compassion for his
adharmic Kaurava brothers. He instructs
Arjuna tha t living according to one's swadharma
is conducive to well-being in every way and
blindly following another's dharma is ridden
with fear. In yet another verse, he p roclaims, I
am that Kama which is not against Dharma,
meaning that the pursuit of happiness,
pleasures and fulfilment shou ld be w ithin the
bounds of dharma.
For the benefit of the common m an w ho might
find it difficult to comp rehend the subtleties of
Dharma, many great Rishis composed the
Dhar ma Shastras w hich simplify the practice of
Dharma in our everyday life and provide us
with a code of conduct. Well-known amongst
them is the much maligned Manu dharma
shastra which has been poorly und erstood and
distorted by m odern scholarship blinkered by
the poison of narrow ideologies like feminism
and commun ism.
It is because of this immense emphasis placed
on values of Dharm a, that the average citizen of
India continues to be a law abiding citizen. In
fact, the contrast is striking the crime rate in
urban India is always significantly higher than
in rural India. The English educated elite who
have lost their dharmic moorings are more
vulnerable to corruption and other unethical
pitfalls than the so-called illiterate people whoare nonetheless wiser and more mature in
practical life. The noted columnist Shri
Gurumurthy often points out how few police
stations there are in rural India compared to
urban India. The average Indian citizen is law
abiding n ot merely out of the fear of the law or
the police. In fact, often we p rotect our d harm ic
values despite them!
Take for example, the small village called
Ettimadai in Coimbatore where I have been
living for the pa st seven years. I am yet to hear of
cases of murder, rape, extortion or kidnappings
here. Just 20 km aw ay, in the heart of the city, the
ruckus of modern life and the evils accompany
the new lifestyle, become g laring in contrast.
It is this und erstanding and practice of Dharma
that has made our culture Sanatana (timeless).
The Urdu poet Iqbal exclaims:
Yunan-o-Misra-Ruma sab mit gaye jahan se
Ab tak magar hai baqi namo-nisan hamara
Kuchh bat hai ki hasti mitati nahin hamari
Sadiyon raha hai dusman daur-i-zaman hamara
The poet says that whereas the ancient
civilizations of Greece, Egyp t and Rome have all
d i sappeared f rom th i s wor ld , there i s
'something' in our civilization which has
withstood these onslaughts.
It is this adherence to Dharma which has
preserved our civilizational identity. Dharmo
Rakshiti Rakshitaha. The one who protects
Dharma shall in turn be p rotected.
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n the 'Battle of Jhelum' a large majority of
Alexander 's cavalry was killed. AlexanderIrealized that if he continued fighting, hewou ld be completely routed and ruined. He
requested Pu rushottam imp loringly to stop the
battle. Purush ottam true to our Bharatiya
t rad i t ion d id not k i l l Alexander who
surrendered on the battle-field. After that both
of them signed a treaty. After that treaty,Purush ottam freed the territories occup ied by
Alexander in the previous wars and annexed
those territories to his kingd om.
Contrary to what happened in history Arrian
writes, Alexander first asked the king of
Takshasila (Taxila is Greek) to negotiate the
t e r m s o f t r e a t y w i t h P u r u s h o t t a m .
Purushottam wanted to kill this traitor but
somehow he escaped .
Justin writes about the initial stages of the
battle, As the battle began Purushottam
ordered h is soldiers to attack the Greeks. Later
Purushottam asked the Greek soldiers to let
their leader fight him alone and avoid lot of
bloodshed . Alexand er did not agree to this
proposal and attacked Puru shottam's army. In
the first assault itself his horses w ere was killed.
He fell down heavily wound ed on the ground .
His soldiers rushed in to rescue him and wafted
him aw ay to a safe place.
Careful Concealing of th e Facts and
Events of the War
It was W.W.Tarn who distorted the fateful
events of the war. Though he wrote that
Alexander was victorious, had to agree to
Alexander's losses in the battle of Jhelum . His
losses in the war w ere carefully concealed. But
there was a conclusive proof of the desperate
natu re of the warpar ticularly of the battle of
the elephantsthe stampede that occurred
when the elephants crushed the skulls of the
Al ex ander Th e Inv ad erChapter II
The Real History of What Happenedin the Battle of Jhelum
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Greek soldiers fleeing in fear terrified by the
charging elephan ts. The psychological effects
of this was evident on the minds of General
especially that of Seleucus wh o ceded a w hole
province to obtain war elephants as a special
wing o f the army.
Alexander's horse 'Bucephala' died in this
Jhelum battle. And Nicaea, Alexander's
General and right-hand man an d h is constant
companion too died in this battle. To reverse
historical facts a coin was struck (minted) to
commemorate the battle showing Alexander
pu rsuing Purushottam's eleph ant whereas the
reverse was the historical fact. The avow ed
aim of all these biased an d partisan w riters was
to u se every form of resource material to falsifyand distort historical facts availing every
possible frau du lent method to make it look like
an historical truth and to justify it even on
fragile groun ds. And again continuing the lie
he writes: Puru shottam wh o had fought to the
last and was wounded, rode leisurely off his
huge elephant. And then he surrendered to
Alexander etc.
Arrian says, 'he (Purushottam surrendered
himself to a friend by name Meroes, an old
fr iend of his , who has been sent by
Alexander and Alexand er 'app ealed to him
(Puru shottam ) not to sacrifice his life in vain'.
All these distorted versions reveal that
Alexander was decisively defeated and his
cavalry, the mainstay of his army was routed.
For,
a) Alexander's losses in the battle-field
were carefully concealed.
By wh om?
By the Greek wr iters.
Later writers stepp ed into their shoes.
b ) Alexander pu r s ued Pu r usho tt am ' s
elephant, his horse died and he fell
dow n on the ground . He was seriously
wounded, his General Nicaea died.
Alexander did not come alone, he led
his cavalry attacking the elephants ofPuru shottam. Most of them were
seriously wounded and in disarray.
That his cavalry was trounced is
confirmed by his late campaigns as a
subsidiary ally of Pu rushottam.
c) Purushottam wounded, rode leisurely
on his huge elephanta strange
statement indeed. No king or General
defeated and pursued by the victors
moves leisurely and then, how an d to
whom he surrendered?
Surrendered because Alexander, who was
seriously injured app ealed to Pu rushottam to
surrender and he surrendered to his Hind u old
f r iend Meroes . Even a sen t imenta l
melodrama by a poor amateur dram atist would
realize that it is not at all convincing.
Alexander was defeated, his army, particularly
his cavalry, the mainstay of his strength was
trounced and he had to seek for treaty and he
had to agree for a treaty almost to take down of
subsid iary alliance is illustrated by four facts.
The Fifth Battle of Sangala and M alli
1. His two mi li ta ry campaignsthe
Sangala and Mallishow his cavalry
force redu ced to a minimal position. In
Sangala battle he used cavalry in a
much reduced rate and in Mallihis
last desperate campaign ruining him
totallyhe could not press and bring
the cavalry to the war-front at all and he
himself had to lead the forces on foot!Yuva bharat i - 33 - Dec 2010ember
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World conqueror lead ing forces on
foot! A real histor ical tragedy
enacted on the world stage!
2. Whatever territories he had gained
so far had to be added to the
kingdom of Puru shottam. Soldiersof Greek forces suffered an d d ied in
hun dreds. Alexander fought
battles in the end like a defeated
general. In Sangala battle, near
Amritsar, Alexander lost h und reds
of soldiers and 1200 were injured
s e r i o u s l y . A l e x a n d e r l o s t
everything in this war and all the
gains went to Purushottam.
3. AbhisareshKing of Rajouri and
Bhimbas did not come to meetAlexander in spite of his severe
threats; on the contr ary, Alexand er
had to accept all his excuses and
recognized him as king in his
kingdom. Abhisaresh was not a
pow erful king. He realized that
Alexander, after the Jhelum battle
was reduced to be bound by a
s u b s i d i a r y a l l i a n c e w i t h
Purushottam, the victor in that
war.
4. Alexander and Greek soldiers were
taking on Sangala and Malli
campaigns at the battle-fields, but
the soldiers of Puru shottam a s if as
per terms, formed the garrison at
the rear, instead of the Greeks.
Purushottam has appropriated
whatever Alexander could have
gained and th at could not be done
without h aving terms accorded in
the treaty.
5. It is quite illogical, and nowh ere in
the w orld it has ever been a reality, that
the victor 'a conqueror of the world' h as
engaged himself in fierce battle to let
the kingdoms and lands acquired by
such battles to be annexed by the
conquered and hum bled king.
It is, hence, evident that Alexander decisively
defeated in the battle of Jhelum (Hydasped)
had to agree for such a term wh ile accepting the
treaty of subsid iary alliance.
The story that Purushottam, brought before
Alexand er, was asked 'what kind of treatment
he wished for, replied as a king should have,
etc.' shou ld be read in reverse form. Alexander
replied so when he was brought beforePurushottam and when Purushottam asked
how he should be treated. This is a
monumental example of how a historical fact
can be distorted, perverted, fabricated and
falsified and wh at happ ened w as a reversal of
role exactly the opposite of what has been
wr itten in the history text-books. Alexander
had meted out cruel treatment to his earlier
enem ies. Basu s of Bactria fough t w ith
Alexander to defend his people's freedom.
Arrian states 'when Basus w as brought before
Alexander as a prisoner, Alexander said his
servants to whip him and then cut his nose and
ears. He then killed him. Many Persian
generals were brutally killed then by him. The
fate of Purushottam would have been no
different had Alexand er won . I t was
Purushottam following Bharatiya tradition of
ethics, agreed to have treaty instead of
beheading Alexand er.
The above five points stand vindicated by the
following observation p ursuing the narrations
of Curtius and Arrian.
(to be continued)Yuva bharat i - 34 - Dec 2010ember
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Sister Nivedita Who Gave
Her All to India-2
Anirban GangulyInbetween the Coming and Going!
he ap pearance of Swam i Vivekananda
at the Parliament of Religions flaminglyTestablished the fact that the 'spiritualideas' for w hich India stood w as to be no longer
a defensive stance but one that would
aggressively invade the 'm aterialised m entality
of the Occident' wrote Sri Aurobindo whileevaluating the event's contribution to the
revival, preservation and consolidation of
1India's religious-cultura l l ife. Swamiji's
ascending the stage at the world gathering at
Chicago mitigated the 'weight of the religious
a s s a u l t f r o m E u r o p e ' a n d m a s s i v e l y
contributed to the movem ent for the revival of
Hinduism by re-establishing it as an 'evolving,2
a secure, triumphant and self-assertive power.
These happ ened because Swamiji spoke 'not in
a tone of submission and apology but with a
refreshing boldn ess and confidence which were3
unkn own of Ind ia's spokesmen. The result was
'spectacular.' Sister N ivedita, easily one of th e
foremost bhsyakraof Swamiji's thou ghts and
actions strikingly summ ed u p the result of his
address, when she wrote, 'Of the Swami's
address before the Parliament of Religions, it
may be said that w hen he began to speak it wasof the religious ideas of the H indu s, but w hen
4he ended, Hinduism had been created.
Undertaking a historical review of Swamiji's
l ife the celebrated nationalist historian
R.C.Majumd ar felt the event to be 'godsend not
only to his [Swami Vivekananda 's] countr y but5
to the world at large. It was a decisive mom ent
in the history of the personality wh o worked it
out, in the h istory of the nation and civilisation
that prod uced him and of course, in the h istory
of mankind w hich henceforth took a new turn
in the defining of civilisational relations and
exchanges as in the realm of the mind and spirit.
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It was after such a watershed event and
following Swamiji's ascent in the Western
firmam ent as a gu iding star of the Spirit that the
dynamic teacher and seeker Margaret Noble
(Sister Nived ita) met the 'H indu Yogi' one cold
November afternoon in a London West-enddrawing room in 1895. A meeting that would
not only red irect Margaret's life but w ould also
announ ce a new d irection to Swamiji's work for
India.
Towards the end of his life, Swamiji once
referred to 'three tremendou s up heavals in h is
whole life' the first brought him to his Master
Sri Ramakrishn a, 'the second , sent him to the
U.S.A., and the third , the last and greatest of all,6
was his work in Ind ia after his return. It was in
this 'last and greatest of all [upheavals]' his
work in India that Margaret was to throw
herself body and soul. She was to emerge as one
of its foun ding pillars. The initial meeting then
was a period of inner assessment, the Master
displaying the deeper plan and the seeker's
soul gradua l ly warming up to i t and
responding. Recalling this meeting in 1895, a
decade later, Sister Nivedita could still see
herself retaining the essence of the divinely
imposing spiritual, mental and physicalpresence of her Master. This first encounter had
given her enough to remember and ponder.
Like the sculptor sculpting at first in the inner
sight the image to be manifested later in
physical form, Margaret too spend the interval
between the first and second meetings in
absorbing an d giving inn er shap e to the 'Yogi's'
uttered words and professed vision. She
described the essence of all that she absorbed
and remembered from those first encounters
thus, 'first, the breadth of his religiousculture; second, the great intellectual newness
and interest of thought he had brought to us;
and thirdly, the fact that h is call was sounded in
the name of that which was strongest and
finest, and was not in any way dependent on7
the meaner elements in m an.
The first reactions, how ever, to what the Swami
was saying w as defiant and accusatory; 'It was8
not new was what the group said w hile taking
leave after the session. But the one whom the
word s were meant to deeply move toward s the
goal had already begun to stir. Margaret,
pondering as ever on the Swami's exposition
began to feel 'that it was not only u ngenerous,
[but] it was also unjust, to dismiss the
message of a new mind and strange culture.'
Margaret realised that she had never before
faced or heard a 'thinker [like Swamiji] who in
one short hou r had been able to express all that
[she] had hitherto regarded as highest and9
best. But her continuous quest up till now had
also grad ually awakened in Margaret a spirit of
scepticism' wh ich h owever d isplayed no trace
of negation but which perhaps constantly
pu shed her toward s trying to discover the10
deeper Truth un derlying a stated vision. In the
interactions she was one of those who actively
engaged Swam i j i , a s k i ng h i m p r ec i s e11
philosophical questions and stating positions.
Swamiji, the Master, the all-seeing Teacher,allowed and encouraged these leaps of the
mind in effect reflecting the respon ses of the
soul to his words. The Eastern religious
traditions had no p lace for hierarchy ord ained
dicta and bulls, the whole process of self-
discovery, of realisation and seeking within it
was dialogic, it was argumentative in the real
sense of the term. And Swamiji, integrally
representing that tradition, welcomed the
engaging audience and in i t especially
Margaret. 'Let none regret', he once exclaimedreferring to th is scepticism of Margaret's, 'that
they were difficult to convince! I fought my
Master for six long years, with th e result that I
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know every inch of the way! Every inch of the12
way! Margaret too candidly described her
attitude towards the Master's teachings and
word s as she had then heard them, 'I stud ied
his teaching sufficiently to become convinced
of its coherence, but never till I had hadexperiences that authenticated them , did I
inwardly cast in my lot with the final13
justification of the things he came to say.
Above all Margaret was d eeply impressed by
the 'personality of the speaker' [because] he
'spoke with a sense of conviction born of
realisation wh ich even an unbeliever could n ot14
deny.'
Swamiji's work in London w as picking up; his
word s had begun stirring the depths of a cross-
section. By mid November he wrote to a
disciple in Madras that his work in England
'[was] really splendid' and that 'Bands and
bands come and I have no room for so man y, so15
they squat on the floor, ladies and all.' This
was corroborated by a correspondent of a d aily
jour nal who atten ded the lectures of Swamiji, '
it is indeed a rare sight', he recorded, ' to see
some of the most fashionable ladies in London
seated on the floor cross-leggedfor want of
chairs, listening w ith all the Bhakti of an Ind ian16chela [disciple] towards his gur u.' Amid st the
adulation and acceptance the fire-words
remained intact, the representative of a
ph ysically conquered race was unsh ackling its
pow er of thought and vision, the London Daily
Chron icle glimpsing som e of that fire wrote of
'Vivekananda the popular Hindu monk'
denouncing 'our commercial prosperity, our
bloody wars, and our religious intolerance,
[and] declaring that at such a price the mild
Hindu would have none of our vaunted17
civilisation.' Margaret as Sister N ivedita later
was to disp lay just su ch a fire in her d efence of
India's people, civilisation and religion. In a
long interview to the influential liberal paper18
the Westminster Gazette Swamiji succinctly
stated his goal, 'I propou nd a ph ilosophy w hich
can serve as a basis to every possible religious
system in the world, and my attitude towards
all of them is one of extreme sympathy myteaching is antagonistic towards none. I direct
my attention to the individual, to make him
strong, to teach him that he himself is divine,
and I call upon men to make themselves19
conscious of this divinity with in.' 'That is
really the ideal conscious or un conscious of20
every religion.'
This then was the effect of Swam iji's first visit to
London, this is what Margaret witnessed, and
by th e time Swamiji's first visit to city came to anend, Margaret was ready to address him as
'Master' and hav ing recognised the 'heroic fibre
of the man' she inw ardly desired to m ake herself
'the servant of his love for his own people.' It21
was, as she said, her obeisance to his character.
The love for his own people had always moved
Swamiji and generated a perpetual restlessness
in his being. The extent of his love for his people
and the amount of thought and energy he
expended in trying to organise his work for their
uplift also made Swamiji sear their collectivefaults and national shor tcomings. Sitting in far-
off London the seat of the empire, his mind
raced on the w ork to be done an d th e obstacles
to be overcom e collectively for its effectivity. In ath
letter dated N ovember 13 1895 he tellingly
observed, 'It is not at all in our nature to do a
work conjointly. It is to this that our miserable
condition is due. He who knows how to obey
know s how to command . Learn obedience first.
Am ong these Western nations, with such a high
spirit of ind ependen ce, the spirit of obedience isequa lly strong. We are all of us self-imp ortant
which never produces any work. Great
enterprise, boundless courage, tremendous
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energy, and , above all, perfect obedience these
are the only traits that lead to individu al and22
national regeneration'
Thus between the coming and the going
Swamiji's trip to London in 1895 and again in
1896 Margaret perhaps prepared herself just
along these lines, developing 'boundless
courage', 'tremendous energy' and 'perfect
obedience' traits that w ould enable her one d ay
to plunge in the task of regeneration of a
country and a p eople that she was to un ite with.
References
Sri Aurobindo, The Renaissance in India andOther Essays on Indian Culture, (Pondicherry: Sri
ndAurobindo Ashram, 2 imp, 2002)Ibid.Atindra Nath Bose, Swami Vivekananda inStudies in the Bengal Renaissance (Kolkata:
rdNational Council of Education, Bengal, 3 reviseded., 2002).
stSister Nivedita's Introduction to the 1 Volume ofSwami Vivekananda's Complete Works (Kolkata:
thAdvaita Ashrama, 27 imp, 2009).R.C.Majumdar, Swami Vivekananda A
Historical Review, (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama,
2nd ed., 1999).Ibid.Sister Nivedita, The Master as I Saw Him being
pages from the Life of the Swami Vivekananda,(London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1910).Ibid.Ibid.Lizelle Reymond, The Dedicated A Biography
of Sister Nivedita, (New York: The John DayCompany, 1953).Ibid.The Master as I Saw Him, op.cit.Ibid.Pravrajika Atmaprana, Sister Nivedita of
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, (Kolkata: Sisterth
Nivedita Girls' School, 6 ed., 2007).The Life of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern
and Western Disciples, Vol.2 (Kolkata: Advaitath
Ashrama, 5 imp., 2008).Ibid.
Ibid.A London based liberal newspaper publishedbetween 1893 and 1928.The Life of Swami Vivekananda by His Easternand Western Disciples, op.cit.Marie Louise Burke, Swami Vivekananda in the
West New Discoveries The World Teacher,nd
Vol.3 (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 2 reprint,2000).The Master as I Saw Him, op.cit.Letters of Swami Vivekananda, (Kolkata: Advaita
thAshrama, 16 imp. 2007).
Yuva bharat i - 40 - Dec 2010ember
"The Bhagavad-Gita is a true scripture of the human race a living creation rather than abook, with a new message for every age and a new meaning for every civilization." ~Rishi Aurobindo
"The idea that man is like unto an inverted tree seems to have been current in by goneages. The link with Vedic conceptions is provided by Plato in his Timaeus in which itstates..." behold we are not an earthly but a heavenly plant." ~ Carl Jung
"In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy ofthe Bhagavad-Gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literatureseems puny and trivial." ~ Henry David Thoreau
"The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of lifes wisdomwhich enables philosophy to blossom into religion." ~ Herman Hesse
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