World Peace Restoring Our Connections

Human beings are each a microcosm. Living here on Earth, we breathe the rhythms of a universe that extends infinitely above us. When resonant harmonies arise between this vast outer cosmos and the inner human cosmos, poetry is born. At one time, perhaps, all people were poets, in intimate dialogue I with nature. In Japan, the Man'yo-shu collection comprised poems written by people of all classes. And almost half of the poems are marked "poet unknown."

These poems were not written to leave behind a name. Poems and songs penned as an unstoppable outpouring of the heart take on a life of their own. They transcend the limits of nationality and time as they pass from person to person, from one heart to another.

The poetic spirit can be found in any human endeavor. It may be vibrantly active in the heart of a scientist engaged in research in the awed pursuit of truth. When the spirit of poetry lives within us, even objects do not appear as mere things; our eyes are trained on an inner spiritual reality. A flower is not just a flower. The moon is no mere clump of matter floating in the skies. Our gaze fixed on a flower or the moon, we intuitively perceive the unfathomable bonds that link us to the world.

In this sense, children are poets by nature, by birth. Treasuring and nurturing their poetic hearts, enabling them to grow, will also lead adults into realms of fresh discovery. We do not, after all, exist simply to fulfill desires. Real happiness is not found in more possessions, but through a deepening harmony with the world.

The poetic spirit has the power to "retune" and reconnect a discordant, divided world. True poets stand firm, confronting life's conflicts and complexities. Harm done to anyone, anywhere, causes agony in the poet's heart.

A poet is one who offers people words of courage and hope, seeking the perspective—one step deeper, one step higher—that makes tangible the enduring spiritual realities of our lives.

The apartheid system of racial segregation was a grave crime against humanity. In resisting and combating this evil, the keen sword of words played an important role. Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali is a South African poet who fought against the iniquities of apartheid with poetry as his weapon. He writes: "Poetry reawakens and reinforces our real, innermost strength; our spirituality. It is the force that makes us decent people, people who are filled with empathy for those in need or I pain, those suffering from injustice and other wrongs or societal ills." Nelson Mandela read Mtshali's poems in prison, drawing from them energy to continue his struggles.

The Brazilian poet Thiago de Mello, lauded as the protector of the Amazon, also endured oppression at the hands of the military government. On the wall of the cell in which he was imprisoned, he found a poem inscribed by a previous inmate: "It is dark, but I sing because the dawn will come." They were words from one of his own poems. Amid the chaos and spiritual I void that followed Japan's defeat in World War II, like many young people of my generation, I gained untold encouragement from reading Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. The overflowing freedom of his soul struck me like a bolt of empathetic lightning. Now more than ever, we need the thunderous, rousing voice of poetry. We need the poet's impassioned songs of peace, of the shared and mutually supportive existence of all things. We need to reawaken the poetic spirit within us, the youthful, vital energy and wisdom that enable us to live to the fullest. We must all be poets.

An ancient Japanese poet wrote, "Poems arise as ten thousand leaves of language from the seeds of people's hearts." Our planet is scarred and damaged, its life systems threatened with collapse. We must shade and protect Earth with "leaves of language" arising from the depths of life. Modern civilization will be healthy only when the poetic spirit regains its rightful place.

- Daisaki Ikeda, President Soka Gakkai International SGI Quaterly No 51, January 2008

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President’s Page Hate the sin, love the sinner

That is what Mahatma Gandhi preached and practiced throughout his life. He never sought revenge against any one including those who had fatally attacked him. There are several instances from his early days in South Africa. Even for the first instance when he was thrown out of train, he did not seek revenge or punishment for the persons involved; he asked for reform. On a number of occasions he was violently attacked by the white youth and by some hired hooligans from his own folks. On one instance in South Africa he fell unconscious and remained in coma for a number of days. The first thing he did on regaining consciousness was to enquire about his assailants. When he was informed that his assailants were arrested, he immediately demanded their release stating they did not do anything wrong; he took the blame for his injury on him and ensured that his assailants were released. He was compassionate towards the ‘sinners’ as he considered them the victims of their ignorance and notions. Mahatma Gandhi often insisted: ‘You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty’. In the present circumstances while we talk about need for peace in the world and continue decrying violence and terrorism related activities and fatal attacks we hardly care for bringing reforms in the hearts of those ‘terrorists’. They (‘terrorists’) are not given a chance or an opportunity to redress their anguish and hatred towards the populace who, according to them (‘terrorists’) ‘wronged’ them. Instead of understanding them and trying to quench their hatred feelings and anguish, they are being punished by more violent means. Mahatma Gandhi often said: ‘An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind’. That is what we see happening now. Can we at the least give a go to the Mahatma’s advocacy for achieving peace? I ask the leaders of the world: USA and Israel included. Recently an Australian court ordered a reduced imprisonment of 10 years for a criminal. The victim’s mother came out in the press condemning the reduced sentence saying that she was shattered that justice was not done to her deceased daughter and that the assailant would be free to walk after ten years and may harm others. I fail to understand how an enhanced punishment to the assailant would give solace or comfort to the victim or her / his relatives. Can’t we be humane and shun the tit for tat or in Mahatma Gandhi’s words an eye for an eye mentality? A ‘criminal’ may also have a family and family members. When a ‘criminal’ is punished his family member/s may suffer as well and in anguish may develop hatred for those punishing or relishing the punishment to the ‘criminal’. And if any one of them seeks revenge where do we stop? ‘Where there is love there is life’ advocated Mahatma Gandhi at all times and in all circumstances. According to Mahatma Gandhi fortunate people who have amassed wealth are trustees of the wealth in their possession which they must utilise for the benefit of the underprivileged people. The practice codes of the various religious scriptures also encourage keeping aside a proportion of one’s income for charitable causes.

Gambhir Watts President Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia

Editorial Page Current Board of Directors

Publisher & Managing Editor: Gambhir Watts

president@bhavanaustralia.org

Editorial Committee: J Rao Palagummi Catherine Knox

Rajesh Katakdhond editors@bhavanaustralia.org

Designing Team: Utkarsh Doshi

J Rao Palagummi

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Bhavan Australia - ISSN 1449 – 3551

Office Bearers :

Other directors are:

Abbas Raza Alvi; Moksha Watts

Nominees of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Worldwide:

Homi Navroji Dastur, Executive Secretary and Director General

Jagannathan Veeraraghavan, Executive Director, Delhi

Mathoor Krishnamurti, Executive Director, Bangalore

Palladam Narayana Sathanagopal, Additional Registar

P. A Ramakrishnan, Executive Vice Chairman, Puthoucode (Kerala)

President Gambhir WattsTreasurer Catherine KnoxChairman Emeritus Surendralal Mehta- President Bhavan

WorldwideCompany Secretary Sridhar Kumar Kondepudi

Articles & Focus Themes

Restoring Our Connections 2 Cultures of the World - II 25

Mahatma Gandhi’s Martyrdom Day (Report) 5 India and the Sanctuary of Freedom 39

Culture of Peace and the Indian Education System 7 Science in Ancient India 41

A Fair Go For All Australians 12 Flash Back - Rewind 44

Gita and Human Rights 15 Dimdima Childrens Section 45

An Avatar in Jewish History 17 Holy and Wise 47

Innovation Inside 23

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Interfaith Prayer Meeting.

Mahatma Gandhi’s Martyrdom Day - 30 January 2008.

The greatest apostle of peace Mahatma Gandhi observed his all religions’ prayers every day. On 30 January 1948, af-ter breaking his fast against the Hindu - Muslim riots, as he was walking towards the altar for his evening prayers a fanatic Hindu shot him dead. This was perhaps the saddest day in the history of humanity.

We at Bhavan Australia pay our humble tribute to Mahatma by commemorating this day Interfaith Prayer Meeting every since 2004. This year we organised the Interfaith Prayer Meeting at Parliament House of New South Wales on 30 January 2008. We gratefully acknowledge The Right Honourable John Aquilina MP and Leader of the House who kindly agreed to host the event. Like every year the leaders from all the major religions and a number of dignitaries graced the event and remembered Mahatma Gandhi in their speeches and prayers. These great souls include:

Hon. Sujan Chinoy Consul General of India

John Aquilina MP Leader of the House and Member of Parliament

Sister Giovanni Farquer, representing His Eminence Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney

Executive Director, Interfaith Department of the Catholic Arch Diocese of Sydney

Swami Atmeshananda, an eminent Hindu Scholar

Preacher, Vedanta Centre for Sydney

Brian White Chairman, Buddhist Council of NSW

Ikebal Adam Patel President, Australian Federation of Islamic Councils

Harmohan Singh Walia Sikh Community Leader, with Ragis (devotional singers)

Keysar Trad Director, Islamic Friendship Association of Australia

Sarkar Ali Abdi Preacher / Scholar (Shia Muslims),visiting from Canada, Bangkok, India

Jynene Helland Chair Person, Women's Federation for World Peace

Prof. Abd Malak Immediate Past President, Federation of Ethnic Communities Council of Australia

Naeem Al Gohar (Syed Shah) Head, Multifaith International Institute, based in USA and travels around the world.

Jonathan O'Dea, MP

Ted Quan Chairman, Ethnic Communities Council of NSW

Rocy Mimo Founder & Chairman - Ambrose Centre for Religious Liberty

Varanayaka President, International Society for Krishna Consciousness

Gajendra Kumar Director, Govt of India Tourist Office, Australasia

Nakul Singh Chand Regional Manager, Air India

Dharampuri and Anandi Preacher and Scholar, Yoga in Daily Life

Zafar Siddiqui & Azzam Siddiqui Community Leader and Writer

Various other Community Members

Other great souls who attended but did not speak include:

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January 2008 issue of Bhavan Australia which was devoted to Mahatma Gandhi included messages and articles from His Eminence Cardinal George Pell,Archbishop of Sydney; Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence, Senior Minister, The Great Synagogue; Swami Sridharananada, President, Vedanta Centre of Sydney; Hon. Sujan Chinoy, Consul General of India, Hon John Aquilina MP and Leader of the House; Hon. Viginia Judge, MP and Parliamentary Secretary; Dr Stuart Rees AM, Professor Emeritus and Director of Sydney Peace Foundation; H.H. Mahamandeshwar Paramhans Swami Maheshwaranada; His Grace Atmarama, Regional secretary, ISKCON Australia; Ikebal Adam Patel; Greg Johns, General Director, Sokka Gakai International; Jynene Hyland; Keysar Trad; Linda Oliveira, National president, The Theosophical Society; Rocky Mimmo and others.

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Culture of Peace and the Indian Education System Day: September 11, 1893

The occasion: Inauguration of the World Parliament of Religions in a church with the tolling of the churchbell. Among the speakers: Swami Vivekananda, who was to electrify the audience on succeeding days with his famous address to brothers and sisters. But on this inaugural day, he makes a brief statement. He calls attention to the bell that just tolled and expresses the hope that this will be the deathknell of all fanaticism, bigotry and intolerance that had made the century (19th century) the bloodiest in history.

The 20th century was bloodier with two major wars and many more in various guises. The nations of the world organised themselves first through the League of Nations and later through the United Nations expressing their determination to end the scourge of war, but failing again miserably, though some would say that there is a sign of progress in that there has been no world war, no nuclear annihilation. And what about the 21st century? It commenced with the most senseless massacre in history - The Iraqi War. Its consequences will be felt for decades to come. The highly regarded Journal Foreign Affairs has published articles by leading Democrats and Republicans contending for the 2008 Presidential elections in USA. What is remarkable is how all the candidates see terrorism, fanaticism and extremism as the major challenges ahead; some add the environmental destruction and the need for social justice and human rights, moral leadership; all stress the need for military preparedness. The UN Climate Change Report has documented the violence unleashed by man on the environment and the danger faced by men and other species. And within nations there are vivid accounts of violence against women, minorities, weaker sections of society; violence within families, economic and social exploitation leading to various disguised forms of violence, physical and mental and violence against oneself often culminating in suicides, violence against others seen in growing crimes and accidents.

It is not that men and nations have not understood the importance of non-violence. Many sages and saints have preached non-violence from the early days of man's history. In a personal discussion I had with the late Dr. Mitra, Director NCERT, some years ago, he speculated as to why Bihar, the land of Buddha and Mahavira was so violent. He felt that it is the very violence of the communities in the early days must have led to the movements led by the Buddha and Mahavira. We know how the violence of the Kalinga War led to Ashoka's propagation of non-violence. Thus the tension between

violence and non-violence continues. Hobbes and Rousseau, the great political thinkers, speculated on this tension. Hobbes thought that man was inherently a savage, a brute and a nasty animal and had to be kept under control by the power of the state. Rousseau thought that by birth man was noble but current education and civilization corrupted him requiring the external power of state to deal with him. Others have looked to religion, faith, nationality, science, culture, sports and education to regulate the aggressive nature of man and direct his energies towards positive goals. While all these human activities which we sum up as culture and ways of life have a role in civilising us, we have to delve deeper to understand the roots of violence and the best way of controlling the same, if not eliminating it altogether.

It is an old question, one that was put to Krishna by Arjuna. Why does man indulge in evil and sin as if driven by a compelling force? And Krishna replies it is due to anger (rage), and desire (passion) forms of Rajo Guna. And since Rajo Guna is in all of us, in all of existence in varying proportions, the implied recommendation is that we should cultivate the Saatwik part of our personalities to get better control of our angers and desires and The image of the chariot and chatrieer is conjured up in the Gita with the soul as the charioteer controlling the senses, organs and the emotions.

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Plato used the same metaphor in which the self (soul) is a chariot and calm, rational part of the mind holds the reins. As pointed out by Jonathan Haidt in a recent book, "Plato's charioteer had to control two horses .The horse on the right of the nobler side is. a lover of honour with modesty and self-control; companion to true glory, he needs no whip and is guided by verbal comments alone. The other horse. is companion to wild beasts and indecency and just barely yields to horse-whip and goad combined".

For Plato, some of the emotions and passions are good (for example, the love of honour) and help to pull the self in the right direction; but others are bad (for example, the appetites and lusts). The goal of Platonic education was to help the charioteer gain perfect control over the two horses. Sigmund Freud offered us a related model 2300 years later. Freud said that the mind is divided into three parts: the ego (the conscious, rational self); the super ego (the conscience, sometimes too rigid commitment to the rules of society); and the id (the desire for pleasure, lots of it, sooner rather than later). The metaphor Haidt uses when he lectures on Freud is to think of the mind as a horse and buggy (a Victorian chariot) in which the driver (the ego) struggles frantically to control a hungry, lustful and disobedient horse (the id) while the driver's father (the superego) sits in the back seat lecturing the driver on what he is doing wrong. For Freud, the goal of psycho-analysis was to escape this pitiful state by strengthening the ego, thus giving it more control over the id and more independence from the super ego.

But says Haidt, that it was during some of the larger life decisions (say about dating) that he really began to grasp the extent of his powerlessness. He would know exactly what he should do, yet, even as he was telling his friends that he would do it, a part of him was dimly aware that he was not going to. Feelings of guilt, lust, or fear were often stronger than reasoning. (On the other hand, he was quite good at lecturing friends in similar situations about what was right for them.)

The Gita appreciates the point that it is difficult to control one's mind, but says it is possible to still the mind through Abhyasa (practice) and Vairagya (abstinence). Its asks us to set divine goals and cultivate divine qualities rather than devilish goals and qualities. As one's goals are, so will one's personality and events in life will get re-shaped. The devilish seek wealth, power and conquest for its own sake. The divine seek peace and service to fellowmen and identity with nature and with God.

The Gita describes the thinking of the devilish mind in rather graphic terms. Such a mind says, "I have attained this today. I will attain even more. I have conquered this

enemy. I will vanquish even more. I am the Lord. I am powerful. I have accumulated so much wealth. I will accumulate even more. I will enjoy. I will give. Who is there equal to me? With such thoughts all the time dominating their minds, these devilish men are full of schemes and are very energetic and active. It might appear that the Gita is just describing the modern entrepreneur or businessman. In fact Gita is a description of the Asuric fits all who seek power, wealth and strength for their own sake i.e. for self-aggrandizement and not for service. The moment the concept of service appears as one's goal, wealth, power etc. get subordinated to it and the devilish power becomes divine.

The transformation from Asuric to Daivik is a process. Two years later Jnana Deva was born. "Once the senses are under control, Vithal Pant, father of Jnana Deva or Jnaneshwar named his first son born in 1273 as Nivurthi which means controller or subduer of the senses. This, said Vithal Pant, is the first step towards self-realization. One receives Divine Knowledge" explained Vithal Pant. Two years later Sopan (the way) was born. "Once you have divine knowledge" said the father the path is made easy. And lastly a girl, Mukta was born -"the culmination of all three in liberation or salvation."

The Sanskrit aphorism " "means knowledge which liberates is education; it is liberation from ignorance of all kinds. Education is the process leading to that liberation. This has been the essential philosophy behind Indian education for centuries. That education naturally led to humility and non-violence, service and sacrifice. Late Shri D. P. Mandelia, a close colleague of Shri Ganshyam Das Birla has built a temple for Bharata and Hanuman at Pilani. He considered Bharata to be the perfect example of sacrifice and Hanuman as the example of service. Service and sacrifice can educate and lead our minds to higher goals. Humility and nonviolence are the natural result of such education. In a poetic way Jnaneshwar describes the mind of such a devotee. "The ideal sage does not even cross a stream for fear of breaking its serenity; he moves slowly as a crane treads the surface of the water lightly, or as a bee tenderly alighting on a lotus, lest its movements spill the pollen. He regards the very atom as a part of life and walks gently as if by compassion.

These values of humility and non-violence, sacrifice and service naturally led to respect for others, respect for others' ideas and to peace and contentment in life and to faith in God which gave strength to tide over the vicissitudes of life: education in these values was inculcated through epics, poems, stories, proverbs, family upbringing and societal examples. Respect for elders, consideration for the weak and poor and love of all

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mankind ws inherent in the education provided not to a select class but the mass of ordinary men and women in all walks of life by Tulsi Das, Surdas, Kabir, Guru Nanak and thousands of saints and sages. That made India civilised and made Mahatma Gandhi claim that India was more educated before the British came than afterwards.

With the advent of the British rule in India, schooling on Western model took over the centre-stage. This schooling was career oriented and while science and modern knowledge and skills were imparted much better, value and character education declined. Worse still, there were fewer examples of high values in society or within families. Socio-economic changes leading to nuclear families, and media influences and finally the impact of globalisation have led to what Aurobindo characterise as aggressive, rational, materialistic civilisation of the West having a growing and dominant influence on the Indian mind, within and outside of schooling. And what is the essence of this Western influence? Dr. Craig N. Shealy of International Beliefs and Values Institute of James Madison University, USA has pointed out: "The single most important lesson from the last century and the beginning of this one- is within our collective purview and relevant to a more peaceful and sustainable 21st century is the need to understand the central mediating role of beliefs and values across the entire range of human functioning, from the private and public justifications we harbour for the perpetration of violence against others, to the way we treat and regard societies, cultures and religions different from our own, to our attitude and subsequent actions vis-a-vis the protection and sustenance of planet earth".

He also points out that to address these complex and value laden issues in the 21st century universal, high quality and value-based education must become the birthright of children around the globe. He has further recommended the adoption of the following "best practices" in schooling:

1. Broaden the curricular focus beyond the strict "academic learning" in order to foster social, emotional, ethical, and cognitive competence such as the capacity for self-reflection, empathy, and tolerance for frustration. Promoting these capacities has been associated with school readiness and success.

2. Build partnerships and relationships between a school and the primary caregivers in a child's life. Abundant evidence suggests that parental involvement is vital to the success of children.

3. Comprehensive and systemic evaluation of school-based processes and systems can enhance the quality of curricular and programme offerings while illuminating

problems (e.g. bullying) that undermine effective learning and healthy development.

4. Community service and service-learning programmes are effective means of actualising and operationalising value-based education facilitating transformative processes, and allowing students and teachers real world opportunities to grapple collaboratively with issues of diversity and social justice.

In the final analysis, value-based educational process maybe as if not more important than value-based educational content. That is because "children and youth are not empty vessels into which we 'pour' sanctioned values, but are rather thinking, feeling, behaving, needing, reacting, and developing beings who carry a rich array of beliefs and values with them into the learning environment from their unique culture and context. Mechanistic and simplistic input-output models of human cognition and functioning of the "Just Say No" variety inevitably fail because they are too often predicted on the dogmatically reductonistic denial of human complexity."

In the Indian context, the NCERT's National Curriculum Framework (2005) states: "We live in an age of unprecedented levels of violence, with constant threats posed by intolerance, fanaticism, dispute and discordance. Ethical action, peace and welfare are facing new challenges. ...The space for peace education within the framework of National School Curriculum document is compellingly clear in the light of the escalating trends of, and taste for, violence globally, nationally and locally. Education is a significant dimension of the long-term process of building up peace - tolerance, justice, intercultural understanding and civic responsibility. However education as practiced in schools often promotes forms of violence, both real and symbolic. Under these circumstances, the need to reorient education and therefore the school curriculum takes priority. As a value, it cuts across all other curricular areas, and coincides with and complements the values emphasised therein. It is therefore a concern cutting across the curriculum and is the concern of all teachers".

The National Curriculum Framework goes on to examine the strategies for ethical development at different stages and the best way for achieving them, it states that the teachers should make deliberate attempts to infuse and reinforce the importance of peace-related values that are commensurate with the textual material taught in schools. For instance it suggests that teachers can take advantage of the hidden components in a lesson by using appropriate strategies to awaken positive feelings, identifying experiences worth reflecting and exploring, discovering, constructing understanding peace-related

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values. Strategies like questions, stories, anecdotes, games, experiments, discussions, dialogues, clarification of values, examples, analogies, metaphors, role playing, and simultation are helpful in promoting peace through teaching-learning. Teacher education programmes should consider introducing peace education "as an optional subject of study."

But is all this sufficient to strengthen the young minds against the culture of violence? The National Focus Group on Education for Peace states that there are "Agenda-wars in workplaces, gender-wars in homes, propaganda wars in the public space."The result? Children grow up unwittingly schooled in violence. The worst disservice to a nation is to infect the minds of its children with violence. This is done actively by indoctrinating young minds with ideologies of violence. It is also done passively by denying them integrative ideals and universal values. The citizens of tomorrow need to be empowered to choose the way of peace; lest, by default, they stray into the blind alleys of violence. "Violence literacy" threatens to become universal and again I quote from the Focus Group document." This is well articulated. But is the modern school curriculum as it is transacted and the informal learning that occurs all the time in the school and society and through media etc. conducive to peace and nonviolence?

The truth is that the education system flowing with the social changes occurring in society, promotes consumerism, careerism, competition, aggression, smartness and cleverness. Hard work and talent development are devoted to these aims. Modern education does not seek to liberate it seeks to "globalise" the students by immersing them in a scientific-materialistic-consumerist culture that pays lip service to religion and spirituality and does not instill basic values and strength of mind that goes with a spiritual bent on mind.

Study of science and humanities by themselves cannot bring about the kind of ennobling hoped for. Haidt says that this is because the self becomes the main obstacles to religious and spiritual advancement. The constant stream of trivial concerns and egocentric thoughts keeps people locked in the material and profane world, unable to perceive sacredness and divinity. This is why religions rely heavily on meditation, an effective means of quieting the chatter of self. "Many religions teach that egoistic attachments to pleasure and reputation are constant temptations to leave the path of virtue" says Haidt and adds:

"For all these reasons, the self is a problem for the ethics of divinity. The big greedy self is like a brick holding down the soul. Only by seeing the self in this way, I

believe, can one understand and even respect the moral motivations of those who want to make their society conform more closely to the particular religion they follow."

One can understand such motivation but it can also become the stepping stone to fanaticism and violence -care must be taken to promote broadmindedness and respect for other religions and beliefs, along with a spirit of humility, service and sacrifice. The development of moral and social values in education will be greatly facilitated by the establishment of social conditions where these morals and values inform the working of all institutions and individual and institutional behaviour. The United Nations has done a great deal of work in defining the nature of these social conditions. These include the charter of Human Rights, children's rights and several declarations meant to achieve a just and fair society. Business enterprises and governments have pervasive influence on social conditions. In fact, they are the leaders in building up society and transforming social conditions. If they do not create a society, which is just, which respects law and order and promotes the values, which we seek in education, the educational products will become misfits in society. If, for instance, we teach the importance of truth and honesty in education and the businessmen and government build a society of untruth and dishonesty, one of two parts of the total system has to get subordinated and transformed. We cannot talk of and develop the culture of peace in the school if the larger society is lacking in these values and the powers that be are promoting contrary values. The social conditions needed for a just society are enshrined in our Constitution. These include various rights including the right to livelihood. In our quest for becoming a global superpower and double-digit growth (a goal not enshrined in our Constitution), we should not put the constitutional ideals on the backburner. An important requirement of a just social order is the importance of equitable means for achieving just ends. It is appropriate that political parties seek to come to power, but they should constantly reflect on the means they adopt for this purpose and should have the sagacity to say 'No' to questionable, methods and means.

The New Delhi Declaration adopted at the International Ministerial Conference - (July 2003) - had enjoined all governments and civil societies to support dialogues within and among civilisations so that it becomes an effective instrument of transformation, a yardstick for peace and tolerance and a vehicle for diversity and pluralism. It also recommended that UNESCO initiate a broad-based collaboration with Member-States, Organisations of the UN system, civil societies, scientific, academic and artistic communities, private sectors and

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other partners with a view to translating the proposals, contained in the Declaration, into a concrete action.

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in the six decades of its life, in a world falling to pieces under the impact of an amoral, technological avalanche, has been steadfastly endeavouring to hold fast to the fundamental values of life and has perseveringly contributed its mite to foster these values, reintegrating them with new elements suited to modern conditions. The Bhavan recognises no antagonism between science and spirituality. It believes that they are complementary and mutually invigorating and as such while promoting modern scientific progress the Bhavan seeks to strike a synthesis between material and spiritual values.

The World Peace Centre of Maeer has similar ideals and is making a very significant contribution. Ultimately we have to turn to synthesis of science, spirituality, religion, philosophy and humanities in our educational system and individual behaviour to counterbalance the negative impacts of globalisation, excessive and aggressive materialism and consumerism that go with them.

Our saints and sages taught us a message of self-control and joys of simple living and doctrines of Dharma, Daya and Dana, the virtues of identification with one and all including Nature and the bliss of progress towards the Divine. For what did Jnaneshwar request as a reward for his wonderful and all-encompassing presentation of the Gita? "May the evil-minded drop their wickedness, and may they nurture a spirit of love and friendliness towards all”

May the rising Sun of Truth dispel the darkness of sin and all the people find fulfillment in their religious duties and in their own lives! May each receive what he yearns for within his heart and may the Saints forever bless and visit all the creatures of this world!

- J Veeraraghavan, Director Bhavan’s Delhi Kendra Bhavan’s Journal February 15 2008

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress. Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. I want freedom for the full expression of my personality. It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Where there is love there is life.

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave. The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.

To conceal ignorance is to increase it. An honest confession of it, however, gives ground for the hope that it will diminish some day or the other.

- Mahatma Gandhi

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A Fair Go For All Australians

In 2007, despite the strong economy and large budget surpluses many Australians are not enjoying a decent standard of living. Australia Fair (a Federal Government initiative) held extensive consultations in every State and Territory in 2006 to identify what the public thinks are the 10 essentials to ensure a fair go for all Australians. The Australian Council of Social Service published a report: A Fair go for all Australians: International Comparisons, 2007 10 Essen-tials.

This report releases new figures on income in Australia which show that at least one in ten Australians are living at or below the poverty line. Selective information from this report is reproduced in this article.

While Australia’s economic growth is above the OECD average Australia ranks 14th on the United Nation’s (UN) Hu-man Poverty Index.

Research featured in this 2007 report indicates that the ideal of a fair society is not one that can be achieved through the existing policy settings. While 22 out of 30 OECD nations have implemented national social inclusion or poverty strategies to share the social and economic benefits of the nation, Australia has no coordinated response to disadvan-tage. Given the persistence of joblessness, poor health and other forms of disadvantage for some Australians, such a strategy could provide a tool to strengthen communities for the future.

What is meant by fairness in Australia?

Australia Fair consultation produced a very clear consensus that the ten essentials to make Australia fair for all are: Fair Community; Fair Reconciliation; Fair Education; Fair Rights; Fair Environment; Fair Services; Fair Health Fair Welfare; Fair Housing; Fair Work

These results were then tested through telephone opinion polling which reinforced the message that the Australian community recognises ten essentials to ensure a fair go for all Australians. A follow up national surveys revealed that: 91% of Australians believe that ‘a fair go for all’ is an important Australian value; 77% believe that the gap between rich and poor in Australia is widening and 45% believe that Australia is not becoming a fairer place.

Fair Community

For overall economic measures, such as average income, Australia ranks about midway in the OECD. But for older Australians, the proportion of people living in low income households is above the OECD average

Fair Education

Australia ranks 9th out of 30 OECD countries on educational levels achieved by the adult population9, but we come in the bottom half of spending on education as a percentage of GDP.

Fair Environment

Australia compares poorly to other wealthy countries on the proportion of energy derived from renewable resources. How well Australians respond to threats to these essentials of life now will impact on future generations. Australia’s current care for the environment is critical for intergenerational fairness and for fair consumption of resources world-wide.

Fair Health

Life expectancy is among the highest in the world but adult oral health is in the bottom third of OECD nations

Fair Housing

Australia has one of highest home ownership rate in the OECD, but the highest ratio of median prices to median in-comes among the English speaking OECD countries.

Fair Reconciliation

The gap between the life expectancy of the Indigenous and non-Indigenous population is wider in Australia than it is in NZ, USA or Canada.

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Fair Welfare

Australia spends much less than the OECD average on income support (as a percentage of GDP), but has the 5th high-est proportion of people of workforce age in jobless households in the OECD.

Fair Work

Australia has an official unemployment rate below the OECD average but the value of minimum wages have only re-cently caught up with what they were worth in 1986 in real terms. When hidden unemployment (including jobless peo-ple who have become discouraged from looking for work and underemployed workers wanting to work more hours) is added to the ‘official’ unemployment rate, the number of people affected almost doubles. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that this broader measure of joblessness fell from 12.4% of the labour force in 2001 to 9.3% in 2006.

A major outstanding problem is that jobless people are increasingly drawn from the most disadvantaged groups in the labour market. Of 533,000 people on Newstart or Youth Allowance in April 2007, 306,000 (57%) were on unemploy-ment payments for over 12 months.37 Among jobless sole parents and people with disabilities on income support, over 60% have only completed a year 10 education or less. Most have not been employed for many years. International comparisons

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) defines poverty primarily as a denial of choices and opportunities for living a life one has reason to value. Lack of income is therefore far too narrow to serve as a holistic indicator. As a result, a broader measure was devised in order to capture the many, but not exhaustive, dimensions of human poverty. The Human Poverty Index (HPI) is a composite index measuring deprivations in the three basic dimensions captured by the human development index; a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living. It also captures social exclusion.

The HPI indexes the probability of not surviving to age 60, the long-term unemployment rate, the proportion of people lacking functional literacy skills and the proportion of the population below 50% of median income.

Fair Community

Key chapter points Communities in Australia vary in size, environments and the language and background of their members. Lack of services for people who suffer domestic violence, mental illness and drug misuse are problems in many communities. People with disabilities, who are poor or have low levels of education are less likely to be included in all elements of community life.

Fair Education

Key chapter points Education dramatically improves the life chances of all Australians. Children who have a disability, are from a poor background, or are Indigenous have lower levels of access to preschool education and lower levels of educational attainment at all levels from preschool to post-school education. Australia spends near the least on educa-tion of all English speaking OECD nations. Under-spend and funding cuts are particularly noted in early childhood education and post secondary school education.

Fair Environment

Key chapter points Australia hosts 10% of the Earth’s biodiversity including many unique species. While environ-mental awareness and some land/sea protection regimes have improved, Australians are large consumers of water and energy and large producers of waste and emissions. Australia has a particularly poor record on climate change, being both the largest producer of CO2 emissions per person in the OECD and one of the few developed nations to not sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Fair Health

Key chapter points Australia has relatively high life expectancy and spending on health. Indigenous Australians and people from poor backgrounds still have much lower life expectancy and poorer health. People in rural and remote ar-eas also have a shortage of doctors, dentists and other health services. Australia compares poorly with other countries in relation to Indigenous health and dental health. While smoking has lowered, obesity remains a significant health risk.

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Fair Housing

Key chapter points while home ownership rates remain high, Australians are in more debt and face higher house prices than much of the OECD. Homelessness and evictions leave many Australians vulnerable and services to assist these groups are strained. Indigenous housing has also been noted as inadequate and overcrowded by the UN. Australia spends relatively little on social housing compared to the rest of the OECD. The majority of Australians believe that housing is a key issue where Australia is not delivering a fair go to all.

Fair Reconciliation

Key chapter points Indigenous people are extremely disadvantaged across a wide range of indicators. Gains have been achieved by Indigenous-controlled health services, child care and education services but many of these rely on Indige-nous volunteers and face funding shortfalls to meet community needs. Life expectancy for Indigenous Australians is lower than Indigenous peoples in other OECD nations. The recent legislation grants overwhelming powers to the Fed-eral Minister to intervene in the lives and communities on Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory. The UN has raised concerns about welfare agreements, mandatory sentencing laws in some States, imprisonment of young peo-ple nationally and amendments to the Native Title Act to ensure it remains consistent with the Racial Discrimination Act.

Fair Rights

Key chapter points Treatment of people with disabilities, people in same sex relationships, Indigenous peoples and refugees and asylum seekers are a concern for the application of fair rights to all Australians. Australia is the only OECD country not to have a Bill of Rights to protect its citizens. Violence and discrimination against Muslims and people of middle Eastern appearance and the treatment of people in detention centres remain largely unaddressed by Government.

Fair Services

Key chapter points Many Australians rely on community services for help in times of need or on an ongoing basis to balance work and family responsibilities. Ageing of the population, Indigenous disadvantage and the spread of popula-tion across rural and remote communities present challenges for services in Australia. Australia has a relatively high rate of older people living at home but unmet demand exists for most service types, including care and disability ser-vices.

Fair Welfare

Payments for families, jobless and older people dominate Australian welfare. Payments are modest, some falling below the poverty line, targeted and include an increasingly complex set of rules for recipients. Australia’s mismatch between low overall unemployment but many jobless households is described by the OECD as a ‘polarisation of work’. Austra-lia has not reduced long term unemployment with the same success as European countries which generally invest more in education, training and support.

Fair Work

Key chapter points Low wage earners have experienced a slower rate of increase in earnings, less hours and more con-tract and part time work than high wage workers. Australia has relatively good minimum wages compared to other OECD nations but relatively poor rates of workforce participation among disadvantaged workers such as older Austra-lians, mothers and people with disabilities. Industrial relations changes leave these groups particularly vulnerable to further competition and job insecurity. In relation to gender equity at work, the OECD notes that the high incidence of part time work among women (about three times greater than among men) is a contributory factor to the lower profes-sional attainment of women in terms of salary and career position.

Australia and the USA are the only nations in the OECD not to offer paid maternity leave and along with the US and Denmark the only nation not to offer leave to care for sick children.

Refer to the full Report published on behalf of Australia Fair by Australian Council of Social Service, 2007. www.australaifair.org.au.

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Gita and Human Rights

Article one of the UN Declaration of Human Rights declares that all human beings should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood, as all are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Article 29(2) makes it abundantly clear that in the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the welfare in a democratic society.

Human rights, therefore, are not absolute, but are burdened with legal responsibilities, morality and public order, without which the general welfare in a democratic society cannot be accomplished. As De Tocuvielle stated, 'liberty cannot stand alone but must be paired with a companion virtue, liberty and morality; liberty and law; liberty and justice; liberty and the common good; liberty and civic responsibility'. Without the junction of these appendages, liberty gets degenerated into licence. And that is why Mahatma Gandhi in his characteristic way said, "Rights accrue automatically to him who duly performs his duties". This crucial aspect is made clear by the UN General Assembly by incorporating Article 30 in The Declaration, which declares that nothing in The Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any state, group of person, any right to engage in any activity, or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedom set forth in the Declaration.

To check the exercise of the rights and freedom and to maintain the requirements of morality, public order and welfare in a democracy, laws should necessarily be enacted and codified. Such laws can never be said to annihilate the human rights claimable by those who destroy, like and similar rights and freedoms of others. The Preamble, Part III & IV of the paramount law show that this country has adopted almost all the provisions embodied in the International Covenants recognising Human Rights. The Constitution guaranteeing these Rights has also conferred Constitutional rights on the citizens enabling them to protect and enforce these rights through Courts. In addition Human Rights Commissions have also been constituted.

Fundamental Rights, guaranteed by the Constitution work as a restraint on states from interfering with the said rights. The Constitutional laws empower the courts to protect the several facets of Human Rights. Human Rights, thus is playing a significant role in securing the accountability of persons wielding power or authority. But

enforcement of Human Rights at the instance of criminals has resulted in the destruction of many of the rights and freedom enjoyed by law abiding citizens, and the result is "life has become too easy for criminals, and too difficult for law abiding citizens." Eminent jurist Palkhivala has described the situation thus: "Our values today are drastically eroded, because too many men -with no more moral than a chocolate eclair - claim the freedom of expression and action which results inevitably in increasing the number of violent Criminals". Terrorists are frolicking about freely. Corruption is rampant. Rule of law has disappeared from the scene.

To free society from the tight embrace of these evils, to quote that eminent jurist again, "we have to strike an acceptable balance between the proper interest of society which wants criminals to be put out of harm's way and the equally proper instincts of libertarians anxious that nothing should imperil the rights of the citizen". Criminals should not be allowed to imperil the human rights of the law abiding citizens under the cover of Human Rights.

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How to accomplish this? Reduce the crime. How? One method is, increase police force. Another to pass laws and regulations. But these methods have proved ineffective and crimes are on the increase. Terrorism has set at naught Human Rights. The War fought in Afghanistan and Iran to wipe out terrorism results in the annihilation of Human Rights, because the victims are innocent people.

Biologically stated the organic evolution has dragged humanity into the present catastrophe. The situation shows that man is still in a prehuman phase, where evolution emphasised three things; organic satisfaction, numerical increase, and organic survival. To get out of this imbroglio man has to achieve a new type of evolution which is beyond the organic evolution, because you know, organic evolution has no relevance at the human level.

Modern biology has prescribed 'human evolution' to, help man to get extricated from the pre-human phase. Modern biologist Sir Julian Huxley has defined human evolution thus: "Evolution has risen from the organic to the psychosocial level". Huxley accordingly said, today man needs a new science, "a science of human possibilities" to guide the human being to that psychosocial level.

Huxley borrowed this idea from the Gita which is nothing but the "Samastha-Vedartha-Sara-Samgrahs". Swami Raganathanandaji has explained the phrase at psycho-social level thus: "This psyche must be able to expand beyond this organic system and dig affection in other psyches in society. That is love. That is compassion. That is humanist concern. You grow spiritually there by So, today's biology is slowly giving us a positive direction to human energy not merely negative; and that is the central theme of Vedanta. How to raise human being to the highest possibility, he or she is capable of? We, in India, ages ago, developed in the Upanishads a science of human

possibility.

And this is a phrase coined by Sir Julian Huxley. "Today we need a new science other than the current physical science, he has said, and he called it: "a science of human possibilities". To take the human being to that highest level of evolution, the guidance of that science is needed. When you study Vedanta, when you study The Gita, you find that they are exactly the science of human possibilities". We must remember that man cannot be made moral by police actions or Acts of Parliament.

Men who believe in human values alone can be good citizens. To appreciate human values he must have spiritual growth and not physical growth alone, which is aimed at organic satisfaction. Education is meant for this. Through education, man can unfold his spirituality lying hidden within. A person spiritually grown, automatically becomes a decent person who can live at peace with other citizens in society. The purpose of education must be the training of the mind, and not stuffing of the brain. Swamiji laments "nowhere in the world today is education of this kind, of training of the mind. Mostly, it is stuffing of the brain. And ours in India is the worst from that point of view. These lessons from the Gita, from its great Master Teacher Sri Krishna, we need very much today".

I therefore address the authorities that they start a new leaf in the field of education to help citizens to start the spiritual growth and become decent citizens who alone will be able to respect Human Rights and Human values.

Justice K.P. Radhakrishna Menon, Former Judge Kerala High Court

Bhavan’s Journal December 31 2007

Differences of opinion should never mean hostility.

It is beneath human dignity to lose one’s individuality and become a mere cog in the machine.

Once we recognize the common parent stock from which we are all sprung, we realize the basic unity of the human family, and there is no room left for enmities and unhealthy competition.

- Mahatma Gandhi

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An Avatar in Jewish History

In a free-flowing association of ideas, I am deliberately extrapolating in this essay, the creedal construct of one religious culture into another, in order to see where and whether it could possibly lead to a new insight and understanding. Avatar is an ancient and characteristically Indian concept about the divine, perceived or believed as present or manifested in cosmic happenings and historic human experiences. But such perception or belief could not have been peculiarly confined to the people of India, since all ancient people were shift-agriculturists and migrant food gatherers, cattle herders or hunters. As their whole life-style was a shifting and changing one, ideas also must have spread and changed from place to place and from one people to another. Migrations have been growing up to the present times, and we are made aware of our sharing, giving and taking, of ideas and models to and from others.

If it happens now, it could have happened in the past, even though the resistance to such cultural mixing and exchanges must have been harder and stronger then than in our days of faster globalisation. This seems implicitly to justify my hypothesis about Moses' vision of the burning bush as a biblical experiential replica of the Indian notion of avatar. But I should try to establish the hypothesis by explicit textual references. Since I take the Indian idea as the primary analogue of avatar, I should start with a classical Indian locus to illustrate my hypothesis. And I assume chapter 4 and verses 3-4 of the Bhagavad-Gita as such a classical locus. In the Mentor Book translation by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood, the verses read as follows:

When goodness grows weak, When evil increases, I make myself a body. In every age I come back To deliver the holy, To destroy the sin of the sinner, To establish righteousness.

The phrase, come back, describe the avatar in terms of a divine descent or coming down rather than a return in judgment. All renderings imply an active divine judgment and intervention in cosmic and human history.

But if I stress the metaphor of the vertical descent, the reason is its parallelism to the biblical text which I take as the secondary analogue to illustrate my hypothesis. My broad reference is to the biblical book of Exodus 3: 1-22 and well into the next chapter. The precise reference is 3: 7-8, which reads: 'And the Lord said: "I have surely seen

the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the land of the Egyptians, and to bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey "

The words, which Moses is reported to have heard, were part and parcel of what is described as a vision he had, while pasturing the flock of his Midianite father-in-law, Jethro, on Mount Sinai. That vision consisted of the wonder of a green bush aflame with fire, without however being burnt out to ashes. The meaning of the vision, in sharp contrast to what he was doing there and then, was a psychological self-disclosure of Moses' own deeper concern, with the remembrance of his oppressed people, who were like a flock, without a shepherd to lead them to greener pastures and restful waters. The voice of his ethnic conscientious identification, then, is represented in the narrative as the voice of his ethnic god.

The descent of his ethnic God then is not so much in the physical spot called Mt. Sinai, but in the chosen person of Moses. It is in his conscientious identification with his ethnically oppressed people that he feels, and they in turn recognise him, as their God's chosen instrument for their liberation. This is the meaning of his being asked to take off his shoes. He henceforth is to be the personal ground from which God's will and word would be revealed for him and his people.

The sacredness of the spot itself is due to the fact that the vision, which he experienced at that spot in his literal sheep-pasturing task, did not fail. Instead, it was poetically and metaphorically fulfilled, in his becoming the literally liberating leader of his enslaved people. The sacralisation of Sinai then consisted in the transformation of a literal reality like sheep into its metaphorically socio-

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historical meaning as a people under their own ethnic law and rulers.

Both this metaphor and the vision of the burning bush are symbols of the self-transformation within Moses himself. In experiential psychological terms, what transformed him was his emotive identification with his suffering people.

In as far as that ethnic empathy is identified as the voice of the ethnic God, Moses is ethnically recognised as empowered and qualified to invoke and speak in the name of the god of his fathers as having sent him to free them from the Pharaoh of Egypt. Though we started by considering Krishna as the primary Indian example of full and personal avatar, in applying that notion to Moses, we rediscover him as the primary biblical example of Hebrew prophets and prophecy. Such a discovery gives rise to the question, about which developed from which. In other words, was the incarnation of the divinity an older idea than prophecy and reduced to it? Or was a prophet-like figure cultural and cultic historically elevated to the status of God's own incarnation?

To most Hindus, including the scholars among them, this is perhaps a question of no practical consequence. There is within Hinduism vast scope for any socio-historical combination of idea-developments without necessarily attracting official rejection as heterodoxy. There is no personally authoritative Hindu religious office or functionary to sit in judgment on the orthodoxy or heterodoxy of any adherent. But the question becomes critical for communities of the Semitic religions, because they have a historical tradition of a teaching office and authority, which judge and discriminate between what is the right development and which was the wrong one. This does not mean that these religions are in mutual agreement with one another. Notwithstanding their mutual negations or contradictions, they are agreed on discriminating between one development and another. Each tradition tends to affirm itself as the orthodox one and the others as heretical and unorthodox.

But as divine incarnation is an accepted belief in

Christianity, the question of its inter-relatedness to prophecy is more historical-theologically significant to it than to Hinduism. The reason is that Christianity was not an offshoot of Hinduism, but of Judaism.

But it would seem to have adopted something similar to the Vaishnavite notion of the divinisation of prophetic or messianic figures as God's own descent on a particular human person. Yet it may have been preventively to ensure its own unified control over the community from getting divided by diverse forms of personalised belief that it confined the divine descent or incarnation to one and only one person in the whole of human history.

Hinduism, for its part, subscribed to the possibility and reality of several avatara purushas, by reason of which it seems so liberally unstructured in contrast. But the apparent liberalism in belief and ritual worship is hemmed in by the social control exercised by the hierarchy of the caste system, which may be seen as corresponding to the hierarchical system of social controls within Christianity.

How may we account for the different workings and results one and the same metaphor across diverse cultures? To answer this question, we must start by admitting every metaphor to be itself precisely because reality is analogously organised in ordinal classes, and not in uniquely unrelated individual identities. But diverse ethnic groups interpret the primary analogue of reality and of prophetic metaphors differently. Avatar was the primary analogue of prophecy. But the primary analogue was interpreted differently acre s the Semitic and the non-Semitic cultures.

While Judaism treated Moses as the primary analogue and ruling norm of all its succeeding prophets, Semitic Christianity, having been born out of the very persecution by its own maternal Jewish synagogue, in principle closed the line of prophetic succession, by declaring Jesus to be

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the fulfillment of all prophecy or the full and final revelation of the divine. In other words, it self contradictorily denied the typological analogue to be non-analogously unique and yet universal. I Therefore it rendered jesus incomparable I through its very exclusive adoration to him. It legitimised this process by re-interpretatively substituting the name of Yahweh with the name of Jesus, by metaphorically treating the latter as the only begotten divine son, and Yahweh of the Jews as the only begetting God and Father of Jesus Christ. Since the Jews had made Yahweh the only name by which they could be saved, the Jewish Christians made Jesus the only name which could substitute Yahweh.

Starting with their ethnic father Abraham, the Muslims connected themselves contrastively to both the Jews and the Christians by positioning Moses and Jesus as fore-runners preparing the way to their own final and definitive divine revelation in Prophet Mohammed. If the Jewish Christians metaphorically affirmed the right to their own distinct ethnic identity in substituting Yahweh with Jesus as his son, the Muslims did the same with their own identity by making Prophet Mohammed substitute the place, which the Christians had metaphorically assigned to both Jesus and the Holy Spirit promised by him. In other words, the Semitic religions are metaphorically theologised versions of sibling rivalry among the maternally diversified ethnic descendants of Abraham.

Hinduism, on its part, is comparable to Judaism before Christianity got separated from it - the older Judaism, which could count upon a succession of prophets, judges and kings, none of them effectively closing the door to the other, who could succeed them. This was how Hinduism

could, like Judaism, integrate cosmic and human history within the vision of one continuous avatar-like descent and revelation of the divine.

In the way they have done it, both Hinduism and Judaism can be said to have displayed greater logical consistency than one can claim for Christianity. I say so, because the Hindu discourse on the subject is in terms of full and perfect or imperfect avatars, while the Christian discourse is only in terms of a total and exclusive incarnation, which is identified with Jesus alone.

The diverse ways, in which the Hindu-Jewish avataric divine descent and the Christian incarnation of the divine are conceived, are metaphorical justifications of different philosophical attitudes and psycho-spiritual approaches to life in the two communities. The older Hindu-Jewish attitude was one of passive openness in uncertainty and indifference to anything which could happen as providentially beyond human control.

The later Christian and the yet later Islamic attitude was one of a pro-actively aggressive faith, which was determined to make history, by proclaiming the object of its belief to be the self-justification of what they respectively professed and practiced. This may explain why Hinduism and Judaism could coexist with each other in principle, while Christianity and Islam seem able to co-exist neither with Judaism and Hinduism, nor between themselves, because they are aimed at absorbing each other.

- Ignatius Jesudasan, Bhavan’s Journal December 31 2007

Readers Write Thank you for an informative and insightful edition - as always. I however feel that another issue dedicated exclusively to Swami Vivekananda and his beliefs would have been a better idea since he seems to have been sidelined in this issue.

It was interesting to note that whatever be the religion or culture everyone of your writers agreed that Mahatma Gandhi 's beliefs stand true even 60 years after his passing away. Bapu's life is a testimony to how a single person can make a difference .The 30th January issue highlighted just how important it is to carry on the Mahatma's legacy in today's violent and uncertain world.

However one point to be noted is that most people today talk of Gandhi's ideology as if it were thing of the past.Isn't it time everyone in their own way tried to contribute to ahimsa or try and follow at least one of the beliefs of Gandhi ?-for unless a concerted effort is put in, Bapu's beliefs will certainly be a thing of the past very soon.

It is now entirely dependent on us whether we watch Bapu's legacy slowly become extinct or do we let it live on by being a little more proactive and teaching our children to be more understanding and tolerant of others- for isn't that what Gandhigiri is all about.

Warm Regards, Sucheetra Tanikelha

We would like to invite our readers to express their views on the various topics covered in the Bhavan Australia magazine. We will then publish this in Bhavan Australia.

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Women's Section Women in Australian Politics

As of 11 October 2005, there were 64 women in the Commonwealth Parliament, 27 in the Senate (Upper House) and 37 in the House of Representatives (Lower House). This brings women's participation in Parliament to 28.3% rising from 25.4% following the 1998 Federal election and 14% following the 1993 election. This rate is almost double the international average of 16% (IPU figure as at 20 September 2005). There are 40 women Members of the House of Representatives and 27 women Senators in the current Parliament – February 2008. First Women in Australian Parliaments

Although New Zealand was the first country in the world to accord the vote to women in 1893, South Australia led the world in not only enfranchising women in 1894 but also making them eligible to sit in Parliament. By 1909 all Austra-lian States and the Commonwealth had enfranchised most women (see table). Property qualifications applied initially for some upper houses. Federally, Aboriginal women (and men) were not accorded the vote until 1962 and even then enrolment provisions limited their electoral participation.

Although Australia was seen as a pioneer of women's political rights, it had the greatest time lag of all western democ-ratic countries between the eligibility of women to stand for the national legislature and their actual election to it-41 years. The sequence of women's enfranchisement in Australian legislatures was as follows:

South Australia The Constitution Amendment Bill 1894 gave women both the right to vote and to sit in Parliament.(2) Although it was the first Australian State and the first legislature in the world to give women the right to sit in Parliament, it was the last of the Australian States to elect a woman to its lower house, in 1959.

Western Australia Women won the right to vote in Western Australia, through the Constitution Acts Amendment Act 1899, but they did not win the right to sit in the State Parliament until 1920, with the passage of the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Bill. Edith Cowan (Nationalist) was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1921, becoming Australia's first woman Parliamentarian. The first time a woman was elected to the Legislative Council was in 1954.

Commonwealth Parliament With Federation in 1901 women of some States had the right to vote and others did not. The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 gave women both the right to vote in Federal elections and the right to sit in Federal Parliament. In 1943 the first women entered the Commonwealth Parliament: Dame Enid Lyons was elected to the House of Representatives and Dorothy Tangney was elected to the Senate.

New South Wales Women in New South Wales gained the right to vote through the Women's Franchise Act 1902 but did not gain the right to sit in the lower house until 1918, when the Women's Legal Status Bill was passed. The first woman was elected to the Legis-lative Assembly in 1925. Women gained the right to sit in the Legislative Council through the Constitution (Amendment) Act 1926 and were first represented in the upper house in 1931, when MLCs were appointed by the Governor, for life. The Con-stitution and Parliamentary Electorates and Elections (Amendment) Act 1978 provided for a popularly elected upper house and women were elected to the Legislative Council at its first election in 1978.

Tasmania Women gained the right to vote in 1903 with the passage of the Constitution Act Amendment Bill, but did not gain the right to sit in the State Parliament until 1921 under the Constitution Act. The first women were not elected to the House of Assem-bly until 1955, over a decade after Dame Enid Lyons was elected to the Federal Parliament. The first woman was elected to the Legislative Council in 1948.

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A Himalayan Feat

In November last yean a monumental effort by an extraordinary Indian woman went unnoticed by most of the Indian media. It was when Priyadarshini, all of 23 years old and dabbling in playback singing and advertising, set out to conquer her own limits and become the first Indian woman to complete the grueling Himalayan 100 mile stage race. Not even the elitist of athletes had been able to come to terms with one of the world's most brutal races. She did.

Months of intense and focused training went into preparing for the Himalayan 100 Mile Stage Race. My mind's been kicked off the radar with massive overwhelming new lessons and I know it'll be a while before I can find my equilibrium. June 2007 - I remember the moment distinctly - My friend Ram told me about something that completely blew my mind. A 250 km race in the desert. It wasn't so much the race that made me feel that crazy rumble in my stomach. It was so much more personal. A raging desire to overcome; to outdo; to push the limits; to redefine myself and to find someone in me I didn't know. At times, I look back and think that it was probably a really crazy idea for me to have been so confident of making the 100 Mile Stage Race; the world's most difficult 100 mile ultra marathon with a AAA rating (thankfully, I found out much later into the race). Albeit, now that it's done, it doesn't seem that crazy. It seems do-able.

The odds were all against me - this was my first ever marathon, my flat feet was always playing killjoy, I suffered from spondilitis. Also, I was coming straight from what seems like the most polluted city at sea level - Mumbai - which meant I already had the lung capacity of a chain smoker. I had trained mostly on a treadmill in Mumbai, in parks and hills at Bangalore and AR I had had little opportunity to experience different types of terrain and altitude. We had just one day to get used to the altitude and were briefed about the 'rules' of the race which in no way were allowed to be broken. The morning of the race, we were driven to Maneybhejung (6600ft) which is where the race commenced. The very first day set the difficulty level of the race to something that even the elitist of runners were not prepared for.

Queensland

The Elections Acts Amendment Act 1905 gave women the right to vote in State elections. Women received the right to sit in Parliament through the Elections Act 1915. The first woman was elected to the Queensland Parliament in 1929. The Legisla-tive Council was abolished in 1922 and had been an appointed, rather than directly elected, chamber; no women ever sat in the Council.

Victoria

Although Victoria was the first State in which a strong women's suffrage movement was organised, it was the last of the States to grant women's suffrage. Women gained the right to vote finally with the passage of the Adult Suffrage Bill 1908 but did not gain the right to sit in the State Parliament until 1923 through the Parliamentary Elections (Women Candidates) Act,again the last State to do so. The first woman was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1933, at a by-election, and no women were elected to the Legislative Council until 1979.

ACT and NT

Women were always able to vote and be represented in the Territories' elected bodies.

Source: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/1996-97/97rn55.htm

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'After a while, it's mind over body. You push yourself over the limit to uncharted territories. You struggle but survive and still keep going and then you realize you've just redefined your personal definition of the words 'limit', 'difficult' anand almost choked. I really had never seen anything that beautiful before. And I'd never felt that humbled before. I instantaneously knew why I was there. Through the day we ran through the most spectacular views of Mt. Everest, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse and Makalu - 4 of the world's 5 highest peaks! Sometimes, in a trance, I'd slip into a daze where I felt like I was running in a postcard. The cold was there, the pain was there... the fight for oxygen was there. But there was a renewed sense of strength. and reason. Days 3, 4 and 5 were quite painful. I injured my knee and it got swollen and red. My feet wouldn't fit into my shoes anymore. I had to struggle with my toe nails falling off and my feet developing blisters. I lugged my left leg along most of Day 4. On Day 5, the doctor said I should pull out of the race as I could cause some permanent damage to my knee. But I was down 83 and there was no way I was going to give up those 17. I'd crawl to the finish line, but I'd still make it. It was only a question of getting used to the pain, exploring the discomfort and making friends with it. I gave myself no other option- There was no quitting for me. There was only the finish line and I was going to get to it.

I went on to finish the 17 miles in another meditative painful trance with the help of a painkiller shot. As the miles to the Final Finish line of the race got nearer, I felt stronger and stronger. A few more steps to the finish line- a feeling of overwhelming emotion gripped me. It was nothing like I'd felt before. I felt a high and I felt invincible and yet so humbled. I wept. I couldn't wait to call my folks-1 had never missed them more. I wept again, this time like a kid- from exhaustion and a mighty sense of relief that it was finally over. But most of all, I wept because the past 5 days had made me so weak, yet so incredibly strong and it was all so sudden, I wasn't expecting it. Today, I feel like it really didn't take as much effort as I thought. Well, maybe it was really difficult, but my perception of 'difficult' before and after the race is world's apart. One message I want to pass around is - If I can do it, anyone can. I remember how I never thought I could run even a half marathon. And here I had just run the world's most challenging 100 mile ultra instead. And all it took was focus, the will to try, determination, perseverance and some guts. And you're bound to come out of it feeling that it really does get 'easier as you try harder'. I would love for my experience to motivate more people into fitness and running But more so- into pushing their limits fearlessly - in mind and body, to get to know themselves better - rediscover themselves and not succumb to everyday monotony. It's high time we got conscious about our health, fitness and our environment, before it's really too late. We really don't know how much time we have.

PriyadarshiniSource: BSENSEX Vol.1. No.6 February - March 2008

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Innovation Inside Improving learning and skills in prison can make a significant contribution to preventing crime and building a more capable society, says Fran Sainsbury. She is leading the RSA's new project, the Prison Learning Network and hopes to enlist the hlep of Fellows and citizens to create change.

The prison service met its education targets in 2006, with prisoners achieving 46,000 work skills awards and 15,000 basic skills awards. Was this a good performance, or could it have performed better, or more innovatively? The prison service is one of the largest providers of adult education in England and Wales but there is virtually no mainstream debate (or recognition) of its achievements or efficacy. Overcrowding and the severity of sentencing have dominated mainstream discussion, while issues such as education and rehabilitation have fallen by the wayside. Recent years, however, have seen a shift towards a more nuanced debate. The government's 2006 paper, Reducing Reoffending Through Skills and. Employment: Next Steps, recognised the centrality of education to tackling the cycle of deprivation and crime. The Learning and Skills Council has also been made responsible for the Offender Learning and Skills Service in an attempt to end its exclusion from mainstream education policy.

These are positive signs that debate is catching up on discussions that, until recently, have been the preserve of academics and third sector initiatives - there are some 900 charities working in prisons today. Despite this shift, questions remain over whether policy addressing education in prisons can be effectively implemented. To take two examples, the frequent movement of prisoners to mitigate overcrowding and the similarly recurrent movement of prison governors present obstacles to reform. It is in this context that the RSA is launching the Prison Learning Network, a major new project that will provide a space and resource for prison governors, prison heads of learning and skills and chief probation officers to share knowledge and develop pragmatic solutions for improving how education is provided. The principal aim of this network is not to create new policy in a vacuum, but to highlight existing innovation within the system. It is an opportunity to bring together a network of people who are working on the front line to deliver services. At the RSA we acknowledge the positive policy movements that have started to gain momentum, but we want to offer a resource for practitioners to discuss the issues, share learning and experience and pilot new solutions. The direction of die network will be driven by a series of interrelated issues.

First is the high levels of innumeracy and illiteracy and the low level of skills of offenders when they enter prison: 30% of prisoners were regular truants and 49% were excluded from education at the time of offending. More

than half of male and 72% of female prisoners had no qualifications at all when sentenced and more than two-thirds were not in training or employment at the time of offending. Education must, of course, be part of a holistic approach to rehabilitation and addressing multiple offender needs. Evidence suggests, however, that when prisoners learn and develop skills, reoffending rates are reduced. This argument for better prisoner education is strengthened when given credible examples of what works. It is estimated, for example, that basic skills learning alone can contribute to a reduction in reoffending of 12%. But the relationship between prison learning and reductions in recidivism is complex and largely determined by individual circumstances facing ex-prisoners on release, includingjob opportunities, family support, age and so on. Second is die high level of crime committed by former prisoners, with 58% of all adult prisoners and 85% of 14- to 17-year-old male prisoners re-convicted within two years of release.

Third is the associated cost. According to the government, the overall cost of the criminal justice system has risen from 2% of GDP to 2.5% over die past ten years. The cost of recorded crime by ex-prisoners to the UK taxpayer is about £1 lbn a year, a higher per capita level uian the US or any EU country. Fourth is the dramatic and well-documented increase in the UK prison population. At the time of writing, it was 81,547 (HM Prison Service Population Bulletin 16 November 2007). Since 1997, the number of prisoners in England and Wales has increased by 25,000. Previously it took nearly four decades (1958-1995) for the prison population to rise by 25,000. Despite overall crime levels falling significantly since 1995, the prison service is now characterised by higher numbers of

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people serving shorter sentences, chronic overcrowding and high prisoner mobility. Last year, the government announced a new prison-building programme that would create an additional 8,000 places by 2012. In addition, this summer the government announced that an estimated 25,500 prisoners would be given early release.

These measures will alleviate some pressure, but overcrowding is likely to persist. While Lord Carter's 2003 prison review showed that increased use of imprisonment reduced crime in the short term, it also concluded that, "there is no convincing evidence that further increases in the use of custody would significantly reduce crime". If the government is to meet its pledge of reducing re-conviction rates by 10% by 2010, prison learning and employment programmes will need to play a much bigger role. With prisons full and evidence that prison can increase the frequency and severity of offending, much more emphasis needs to be placed on doing what stops reoffending, rather than further increases in die use of custody. To this end, the RSA's Network will engage not just the prison and probation service but also academics, prison educators, employers and die voluntary sector. At the time of writing, Lord Carter was about to publish die findings of a government review assessing short-term and longer-term building plans.

In addition, there have been reports that the Ministry of Justice is to make changes to the system through which government commissions and provides correctional services. Whatever the outcomes of these processes, we cannot expect the most severe problems to disappear in the short to medium term. Increasing stability and continuity in an environment as highly pressured as the current prison service is a huge challenge and will mean addressing recruitment, training, support and pay, as well looking at further provision and addressing sentencing trends.

Rapid changes in leadership and management also present a major challenge, not just because of disruption to individual relationships with prisoners but also, crucially, to institutional programmes focused on learning and skills, including probation services and other external partnerships and networks in die community. The prison service is fighting a daily batde to find places and deal with heightened security tensions. The pressure on the current system creates time constraints that mean staff who could be offering training and support have little time for anyfhing but security considerations. This makes effective sentence planning harder and leads to problems relating to continuity and transfer of prisoner records. All these issues are important, but the challenge in the short to medium term is to find ways in which improvements can be made within this context. Where, for example, a change

in leadership at the top does not mean a loss of faidi from officers and inmates.

This is where die RSA's Prison Learning Network hopes to play an important and dynamic role. As previously stated, our primary aim is to enable prison governors, prison heads of learning and skills and chief probation officers to develop pragmatic solutions that can make a difference now. The RSA's experience through the Opening Minds project will be a vital resource and the Prison Learning Network will work closely with die education team to help build prisoners' basic capabilities and life skills. Similarly, the RSA design team will bring to bear its experience on design and public service delivery, particularly in relation to new prisons and the use of technology for prisoner learning records and providing online learning. In line with the RSA's emphasis on civic innovation, we must also pay particular attention to the effectiveness and expansion of peer-to-peer learning and the role of employers and the wider community in opening up opportunities. We will learn from the success of schemes such as 'Toe by toe', a buddy scheme in which literate inmates mentor illiterate inmates. The RSA will seek to engage the wider public and, in particular, some of the RSA's 27,000 Fellows.

We are confident that engaging the public and Fellows will help break down the barriers and deliver practical outcomes, with more employers getting involved. There are reasons here to be optimistic. Even incremental improvements in the delivery of prisoner learning and skills could have knock-on effects on the wider community. Plus, when it comes to offenders, research funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation found that public attitudes -while often contradictory - were less punitive than received wisdom assumes. Many people think that prison, at best, does not prevent crime and, at worst, leaves offenders worse off and more likely to commit crimes on release. We will be working closely with organisations such as the Prisoners' Education Trust, which has done much to win backing for more effective education, as well as direcdy supporting individual prisoners. A key aim of the RSA network is to find the most persuasive evidence and to engage citizens in a dialogue. This needs to be not just about why the current system is failing prisoners and the public, but about how a more effective system could build a safer society.

Fran Sainsbury, RSA Journal December 2007 Fran Sainsbury has joined the RSA as project director of the

prison Learning network from the Prime Ministers (UK) strategy Unit.

Courtesy Gambhir Watts FRSA

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Festivals of the World- II

The first installment on cultures of the world was published in issue 5.5 /5.6 November- December, 2007 in which we covered Christmas, Diwali/Deepaval, Gurupuralos (Sikh Festival) Ramadan and Melbourne Cup. The Third and final installments will be published in issue 5.9 March, 2008 and 5.10 April, 2008 .

Australia

Festivals have become ubiquitous in Australia, with hundreds held each year. Some are as small as the community-based Apollo Bay Music Festival and Thirroul Seaside & Arts Festival, while others afford the opportunity to bring international performers to Australian audiences and showcase Australian works, such as the Falls Festival and Woodford Folk Festival.

Each capital city has a festival. Major festivals are: Sydney Festival (January)

Each year the Sydney Festival offers a rich and diverse program spanning all art forms including dance, theatre, music, visual arts, film, forums and large scale free outdoor events. For three weeks in January the Festival hosts around 80 events involving upwards of 500 artists from Australia and abroad. In any given year, it makes use of most of the main theatres across the breadth of the city and also has a commitment to the presentation of quality, large-scale outdoor events such as the iconic Domain Series. National Multicultural Festival, Canberra (February)

The National Multicultural Festival is held over two weeks and features the very best in local, national and international music, dance, food and creative arts. Festival favorites include the Food and Dance Spectacular, the

Greek Glendi, Carnivale, the International Concert and the Pacific Islander Showcase. The Festival Fringe complements the mainstream Festival, and provides a full-on week of zany entertainment. Perth International Arts Festival (February)

Perth International Arts Festival - women artists in the APY Lands. Image courtesy of Wayward Bus and Ku Arts.

The Perth International Arts Festival is the oldest annual international multi-arts festival in the southern hemisphere and is Western Australia's premier cultural event. The first Perth Festival was in 1953 and it now offers the people of Western Australia some of the best international and contemporary drama, theatre, music, film, visual arts, street arts, literature, comedy and free community events. Some other events on the program include the Contemporary Culture program and the Perth Visual Arts Festival. As well as these, there are other satellite festivals surrounding the main festival which itself offers more than 30 Australian premieres. The Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) presented the Western Australian Indigenous Arts Showcase (WAIAS) involved over 90 Indigenous singers, songwriters, musicians, actors and comedians from all over the state. Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts (March)

The Adelaide Festival of Arts has created a strong tradition of innovation since 1960 inspiring celebration and presenting diverse art from across Australia and around the world. Held in the warm South Australian autumn in every 'even' year, this is a large-scale multi-arts event of extraordinary richness and diversity. Ten Days on the Island, Tasmania (March)

Tasmania’s flagship celebration of island arts and culture,

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Ten Days on the Island, boasts a multitude of events in 50 locations across the island. Events and activities range across all types of music, dance, visual arts, theatre, literature, food and film. Individual artists and companies come from all corners of the globe, and a number of local artists also take part. Brisbane Festival (July)

Brisbane Festival is Brisbane 's foremost international multi-arts festival, offering an outstanding program of theatre, dance, music, opera, multimedia, and free community events for the residents of Brisbane and its visitors. Held every two years, it endeavors to include the entire community in its program of activities by having intellectual rigor, international artistic credibility and an extremely broad grass-roots support base. Consequently,

Brisbane Festival is about a lot more than just putting on shows, it encourages engagement and participation from everyone in the greater community across our great city, country and the globe. Darwin Festival (August)

Yilila, winners of 2006 NT Indigenous Music Awards. Photograph courtesy of Yilila.

The Darwin Festival is a celebration of the city's uniqueness, celebrating our multicultural community, youthful energy, tropical climate and our great lifestyle. The cultural program provides a feast of local, national and international performances to excite, inspire and entertain. It includes opera, cabaret, dance, music, film, comedy, the visual arts and workshops - incorporating music and dance from Indigenous, Indonesian and Pacific Island communities. There is also a strong visual arts component, with traditional land owners guiding visitors through the many galleries exhibiting Indigenous art. Melbourne International Arts Festival (October)

Melbourne International Arts Festival has a reputation for presenting unique international and Australian events in the fields of dance, theatre, music, visual arts, multimedia, free and outdoor events over 17 days each October. First staged in 1986 under the direction of composer Gian Carlo Menotti it became the third in the Spoleto Festival series - joining Spoleto, Italy, and Charleston, United States. Melbourne's Spoleto Festival changed its name to the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts in 1990. In 2003, the Festival was renamed Melbourne International Arts Festival.

Independent festivals

Major independent national festivals include:

Chinese New Year (February)

The Chinese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. The New Year begins on the first day of the Chinese calendar, which usually falls in February, and the festivities continue for 15 days. During Chinese New Year celebrations, people wear red clothes; give children 'lucky money' in red envelopes and set off firecrackers. Chinese New Year ends with the lantern festival, where people hang decorated lanterns in temples and carry lanterns to an evening parade under the light of the full moon. The highlight of the lantern festival is often the dragon dance. The dragon can stretch over 30 meters long and is typically made of silk, paper and bamboo. In Sydney, more than 500,000 people crowd the streets to celebrate the Lunar New Year and all things Chinese.

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (February)

From a protest rally to one of the world's largest gay and lesbian festivals, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has come a long way. In 1978, a group of 1,000 people marched down Oxford Street to mark International Gay Solidarity Day. The one-off event resulted in violent clashes with police and a determination to do it all again the following year and Mardi Gras was born. The event has continued to transform, adding an arts festival in 1983, and grown to attract an audience of hundreds of thousands of participants from all over the world. The Festival forms a huge celebration and reflection on gay and lesbian life. WOMADelaide (March)

Over three days, WOMADelaide runs six outdoor stages featuring performances and intimate workshops by around 35 groups from over 20 countries. It also presents a KidZone, visual arts and street theatre programs, and an amazing Global Village of 100 arts, crafts, international cuisine and educational display stalls and three bars. The magical ambience of WOMADelaide is indescribably

lush; thousands of people of all ages bliss out as they enjoy the sounds of the planet while catching up with friends in the sunshine, lazing under the trees, shopping, eating, drinking and having fun with their family. National Folk Festival, Canberra (April)

Klezmeritis in performance. Photo courtesy of the Kingston Arts Centre. Held over the Easter weekend in Canberra every year, the National Folk Festival draws together people from all around Australia and the world. They come to share in the songs, dances, tunes and verse that have flowed through the ages from many communities into Australian folk culture. The festival includes over 100 concerts, poetry and storytelling sessions, various dance classes running all day, a kids program and of course lots of different food options. Camping is available and many people spend the whole five days and nights at the festival. Dreaming Festival, Woodford (June)

The Dreaming is a vibrant, exciting and a valuable destination where local, national and international audiences look forward to their annual ceremony time along with the most comprehensive showcase of Indigenous arts from across the country and around the world. This three day and four night festival will have performing arts venues, bars, Ceremony grounds, traditional healing, galleries, rituals, campfire story circles and a mass of stalls, workshop avenue and food outlets. Presented by the Queensland Folk Federation, the program features film and literature components, performing arts, new media and digital technologies, food and wine fare, comedy, ceremony, exhibitions, performance artists, physical theatre, visual arts, craft workshops, music program, street performers, musicals and a youth program. Revelation Independent Film Festival (July)

The Revelation Independent Film Festival (RIFF) has always maintained a high focus on documentary. The festival's history has seen the screening of a wide array of contemporary and archival documentaries including Oscar nominated pieces, progressive works from the international scene and works from the international underground are represented in the Festival. Woodford Folk Festival (December)

The Woodford Folk Festival is an event of international standing. Held over six days and six nights it presents more than 2000 performers and 400 events with concerts, dances, workshops, forums, street theatre, writers' panels, film festival, comedy sessions, acoustic jams, social dialogue and debate, an entire children's festival, art and craft workshops, late night cabarets and special events including a spectacular fire event. The Festival features

the cream of Australian performers and a gathering of special international guests.

Theme-based festivals

There are also other major national festivals based on themes such as film, jazz, music, folk, digital media and writer’s festivals. Melbourne Cup

This festival was covered in part 1 Easter in Australia

Easter commemorates the resurrection (return to life) of Jesus Christ following his death by crucifixion. It is the most significant event of the Christian calendar. The Christian churches began Easter celebrations about 300 years after the death of Jesus Christ, however pagan Spring equinox festivals associated with birth, the renewal of life, fertility and sunrise date back long before Christianity. Many of the present day customs of Easter have their origins in these festivals. The date on which Easter falls varies from year to year. Religious observance

The Christian churches in Australia observe the Easter Christian Calendar which begins with Shrove Tuesday, some forty days before Easter, and ends with Whitsun (or Pentecost) which is 50 days after Easter Sunday. Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus and is a day of mourning in church. During Good Friday services Christians meditate on Jesus's suffering and on his last words spoken from the cross: 'Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.' (New English Bible, Luke 22; 34). Easter Sunday is the commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Churches are usually filled with flowers and the celebrations include the singing of special hymns.

Easter traditions

Pancake Day Pancakes became associated with Shrove Tuesday because they were a dish that could use up perishable foodstuffs such as eggs, fats and milk, with just the addition of flour, prior to the beginning of the 40 days of fasting during Lent. Many Australian groups and communities make and share pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. Selling pancakes to raise money for charity is also a popular activity.

Hot Cross Buns Hot Cross Buns are sweet, spiced buns made with dried fruit and leavened with yeast. A cross, the symbol of Christ, is placed on top of the buns, either with pastry or a simple mixture of flour and water. The buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday, however in Australia they are available in bakeries and stores many weeks before Easter. A recent variation on the traditional fruit bun has become popular in Australia. A chocolate version is made with the same spiced mixture, but cocoa is added to the dough and chocolate chips replace the dried fruit.

Easter Eggs Eggs, symbolising new life, have long been associated with the Easter festival. Chocolate Easter eggs, along with other forms of confectionary specially manufactured for Easter, have become a favourite part of Easter in Australia. In the lead up to Easter, many organisations take the opportunity to raise funds by selling tickets in raffles for baskets of Easter eggs. Community groups organise Easter egg hunts for children in parks and recreational areas. Easter eggs are traditionally eaten on Easter Sunday, however stores start stocking Easter treats well before the Easter holiday period.

The Easter Bunny Early on Easter Sunday morning, the Easter Bunny 'delivers' chocolate Easter eggs to children in Australia, as he does in many parts of the world. The rabbit and the hare have long been associated with fertility, and have therefore been associated with spring and spring festivals. The rabbit as a symbol of Easter seems to have originated in Germany where it was first recorded in writings in the 16th century. The first edible Easter bunnies, made from sugared pastry, were made in Germany in the 19th century. The Easter Bilby Rabbits are an introduced species in Australia and are unpopular because of the damage they do to the land. In 1991 a campaign was started by the Anti-Rabbit Research Foundation to replace the Easter Bunny with the Easter Bilby (an endangered species). Author Jenny Bright wrote a children's story called Burra Nimu the Easter Bilby to support the campaign.

The Easter holiday in Australia

The four-day 'weekend' In addition to its religious

significance, Easter in Australia is enjoyed as a four-day holiday weekend starting on Good Friday and ending on Easter Monday. This extra long weekend is an opportunity for Australians to take a mini-holiday, or get together with family and friends. Easter often coincides with school holidays, so many people with school aged children incorporate Easter into a longer family holiday. Easter is the busiest time for domestic air travel in the Australia, and a very popular time for gatherings such as weddings and christenings.

Sydney Royal Easter Show: The Sydney Royal Easter Show is Australia 's largest annual event and celebrates all everything from our bush heritage to the vitality of city life. It takes place annually at Sydney Olympic Park over a two week period which includes the Easter long weekend. The Show is part of the long tradition of agricultural shows that are held in towns and cities across Australia. At these shows, rural and farming communities showcase their livestock and produce, and exhibitors, organisations and companies provide people in urban areas with a glimpse of rural life. Shows are also a time for competition, spectacle and entertainment. The Sydney Royal Easter Show includes the Sydney Royal Rodeo, and the visitors to the show can enjoy the latest on offer in the way of extreme rides and attractions.

Festivals There are many festivals held over the Easter holiday in Australia. Performers and audiences travel long distances to attend music festivals as diverse as the National Folk Festival in Canberra, the East Coast International Blues & Roots Festival at Byron Bay in northern New South Wales, and the Australian Gospel Music Festival in Toowoomba in Queensland. There are also festivals with a more local or regional nature such as the Bendigo Easter Festival, in Victoria, and the Ulladulla Blessing of the Fleet Festival on the New South Wales south coast.

China

Spring Festival

Held on the first day of each year of the lunar calendar and lasting for weeks, the spring festival is regarded by the Chinese people as the grandest and most important annual festival, similar to Christmas Day for Occidental people. Originating during the Shang Dynasty (16th - 11th century BC), the Spring Festival, which celebrates family reunion, is full of rich and colorful activities, and new hopes with the advent of spring and flowers blossoming. People from different regions and different ethnic groups celebrate it in their unique ways.

Spring Festival Traditions: During the period from the 23rd day of the previous lunar month to the event, every

family does a thorough house cleaning and purchases enough food, including fish, meat, roasted nuts and seeds, all kinds of candies and fruits, etc, for the festival period. Also, new clothes must be bought, especially for children. Red scrolls with complementary poetic couplets, one line on each side of the gate, are pasted at every gate. The Chinese character 'Fu' is pasted on the center of the door and paper-cut pictures adorn windows. Everyone looks forward eagerly to the New Year.

On New Year's Eve, no matter where one is, every member will try his best to come back to enjoy the family reunion feast in which jiaozi in north China and niangao (a kind of sticky rice cake) in the south are the indispensable foods. Family members chat or watch special TV programs all night. To show respect for their ancestors, some families burn incense and prepare delicious food at home. Fireworks are set continuously, among which the midnight blasts are the most thunderous.

On the first day of Spring Festival, wearing their new clothes, people visit relatives and friends to extend New Year's greetings and invite them to visit. Next, people begin to visit their distant relatives. In cities and suburbs, colorful activities include Temple Fairs, Yangge dancing, and lion and dragon dancing.

The Spring Festival lasts until the Lantern Festival begins fifteen days later marking the end of the Chinese New Year. It is celebrated by Chinese people at home and abroad. Everyone immerses in the festive atmosphere, and exchanges wishes for a good harvest year.

Important Customs and Activities: Various customs and activities are handed down by Chinese people such as pasting Spring Festival scrolls, the character 'Fu', paper-cuts pictures, displaying firecrackers and fireworks, paying New Year visits and eating jiaozi.

Pasting Spring Festival Scrolls, Character 'Fu', and

Paper-Cut Pictures : Originating during the Song dynasty (960 - 1279) and continuing through the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644), creating spring scrolls or couplets is a special literary form characterized by concise, ingenious sentences to express people's wishes. A few days before the Spring Festival, people paste red scrolls with complementary poetic couplets with one line on each side of the gate to add festive atmosphere.

Pasting the Chinese Character 'Fu' is also a popular custom. Because 'Fu' in Chinese means 'Good Luck' or 'Happiness', by pasting this character on the center of the door, people show great hope to be happy. Nowadays, people like to paste it backward, for this means 'Fu' has come. Many beautiful design variations on the character 'Fu' can be found in markets and shopping malls.

Paper-cut is a famous Chinese traditional craft. During Spring Festival, people paste favorite paper cuts on windows not only for decoration and appreciation but also for delivering hope.

Paying New Year Visits: Paying New Year visits is a special way for people to express good wishes to each other. On the first day of the festival, in ancient times younger people had to salute the elderly by kowtowing; today they salute them by offering good wishes. In response, the older generation gives money wrapped in red paper. People also drop in at friends' houses, greeting one another with 'Happy New Year'. Recently, greetings sent by telephone or e-mail have become popular.

Eating Jiaozi: The indispensable food during spring festival is jiaozi. Made with flour and stuffed with different fillings, Jiaozi is usually eaten on New Year's Eve. Because its shape resembles the Chinese Yuanbao (a kind of money used in ancient times), eating jiaozi means wealth in the coming year. Also because different symbols for luck can be wrapped in them, great hope can be expressed. People wrap coins, candy, peanuts, or chestnuts in the jiaozi. People who eat one will be blessed with receiving different wishes, such as a coin for wealth, candy for sweet life, peanuts for health and longevity, and chestnuts for vigor.

Taboos: With good wishes cherished, people usually avoid unlucky behaviors during Spring Festival. Words like bad, dead, kill, ill, ache, etc. are not uttered because people think bad things may happen if they say these words, and the whole year would be terrible. In addition, one should be careful when holding plates, cups and other fragile items. The jar holding rice must be full, and sweeping the floor is also strongly discouraged. In addition, hair cutting should be avoided until the second day of the second lunar month. Other taboos differ in different regions.

Lantern Festival

Falling on the 15th day of the first lunar month, Lantern Festival is the first significant festival after Spring Festival, so called because the most important activity during the night of the event is watching lanterns. And because every household eats yuanxiao (a rice ball stuffed with different fillings) on that day, it is called Yuan Xiao Festival. For its rich and colorful activities, it is regarded as the most recreational among all the Chinese festivals and a festival for appreciating the bright full moon, and family reunion.

With a history of over 2,000 years, various traditional customs and activities are held during Lantern Festival that appeal to people of different ages, including watching lanterns and fireworks, guessing lantern riddles, performing folk dances, and eating yuanxiao.

One of the important activities of the event is watching lanterns. During the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), Buddhism flourished in China. So in order to popularize Buddhism, one of the emperors gave an order to light lanterns in the imperial palace to worship and show respect for Buddha on the 15th day of the first lunar month. During the Tang (618 - 907), Song (960 - 1279), Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1644 - 1911) dynasties,

lighting lanterns became a tradition for Chinese people.

Today, when the Lantern Festival comes, red lanterns can be seen in the street, in each house, and store. In the parks, lanterns of various shapes and types attract countless visitors. Visitors marvel that various lanterns so vividly demonstrate traditional Chinese folklore.

Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar (the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year), and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes together.

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar (usually around mid- or late-September in the Gregorian calendar), a date that parallels the Autumn Equinox of the solar calendar. This is the ideal time, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.

The custom of celebrating the moon (Chinese: 月亮; pinyin: yuèliang) for both theHan Chinese and minority nationalities, can be traced as far back as the ancient Xia Dynasty and Shang Dynasty of China (20th century BC-1060s BC). In the Zhou Dynasty (1066 BCE-221 BCE), the people celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival to worship the moon

The practice became very prevalent in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) that people enjoyed and worshipped the full

moon. In the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), however, people started making round moon cakes (Chinese: 月饼; pinyin: yuèbǐng), as gifts to their relatives in expression of their best wishes of family reunion. At night, they came out to watch the full moon to celebrate the festival. Since the Ming (1368-1644), and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911), the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival celebration has become very popular.

For thousands of years, the Chinese people have related the vicissitudes of life to changes of the moon as it waxes and wanes; joy and sorrow, parting and reunion. Because the full moon is round and symbolizes reunion, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the festival of reunion. All family members try to get together on this special day. Those who can not return home watch the bright moonlight and feel deep longing for their loved ones. Today, festivities centered about the Mid-Autumn Festival are more varied. After a family reunion dinner, many people like to go out to attend special performances in parks or on public squares.

People in different parts of China have different ways to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. In Guangzhou in South China, a huge lantern show is a big attraction for local citizens. Thousands of differently shaped lanterns are lit, forming a fantastic contrast with the bright moonlight. In East China's Zhejiang Province, watching the flood tide of the Qian Tang River during the Mid-Autumn Festival is not only a must for local people, but also an attraction for those from other parts of the country. The ebb and flow of tides coincide with the waxing and waning of the moon as it exerts a strong gravitational pull. In mid autumn, the sun, earth and moon send out strong gravitational forces upon the seas. The out of the Qian tang River is shaped like a bugle. So the flood tide which forms at the narrow mouth is particularly impressive. Spectators crowd on the river bank, watching the roaring waves. At its peak, the tide rises as high as three and a half meters.

Egypt

Festival time in Egypt finds everyone outdoors, following processions in the streets, strolling along the Nile, or filling the parks and gardens. Vendors sell snacks and refreshing drinks, and the crowds eagerly pay court to itinerant performances. Wrestlers, dancers and singers all put on open-air shows, happily collecting coins at the end of the performance. A favourite diversion is the mock-battle called El-Tahtib: two men, armed with stout reed staffs, face each other and walk in a circle while swinging the staffs above their heads. It looks like a courtly dance,

but each combatant is tingling with alertness, waiting for the opportunity to take a swing at his opponent. A split-second of inattention by one player, and the heavy staff of the other speeds down. But there's time to parry, and the two weapons meet with a resounding thwack. With equally-matched players. El Tahtib becomes a graceful ceremony of smooth movements and mutual respect. A wily old master takes on a young and inexperienced hot-blood, and the blows fall thick and fast. Strength and agility are less important than experience and alertness , and the old man always ends up teaching the novice a few fine tricks.

In Upper Egypt, Nubian folklore and music is very different from the Arabic folklore of Cairo and the Delta. Nubians have their own languages (though most speak Arabic as well), and traditional Nubian music sounds surprisingly Far Eastern in its tonalities and rhythms. All Egyptians are united in the celebration of major Islamic and traditional festivals. The National spring Festival, shemen-Nessim, comes on the Monday following Coptic Easter. It's an excuse for everyone to get outdoors or into boats on the Nile in order to obey an old legend. "He who sniffs the first spring zephyr", so it goes, "will have good health all year". Another major holiday is Muliden-Nabi, the Prophet's Birthday, when a mammoth procession winds through Cairo's streets, imitated by smaller ones in other cities.

Ramadan is a period of 30 days in the ninth month of the Moslem lunar calendar. During this time, all good Moslems observe strict fasting between the hours of sunrise and sunset. The rules are strict: no food or drink, no smoking or even licking a stamp beginning at first light. Working hours are also reduced. The fast is broken at sunset, and special dishes fill the feast tables for the early evening breakfast meal or iftar. Children pregnant

women, travellers and the infirm are exempted from the fast, and everyone else takes advantage of shorter working hours for the convenience of non-Moslem visitors though many stop serving alcoholic drinks, At the end of the holy month comes Ramadan Bairam (Eid el Fitr). The three-day celebration is marked by gifts, greeting cards and visits to friends. Perhaps the most sacred of Moslem festivals, Qurban Bairam (Eid el-Adha) comes in the middle of the month of Zu'i-Hegga, when many Moslems make the Hajj, or pilgrimages, to Mecca. The four-day feast commemorates the biblical near sacrifice by Abraham of his son, and Moslem families relive the moment by sacrificing a ram. After the ritual slaughter according to Koranic law, the meat is cooked and a feast is prepared for family and friends, with a generous portion going to the poor.

August used to be a time of elaborate festivals in Cairo. As the waters of the Nile rose in the annual flood, Nilometres all along the river would be checked and rechecked, and the readings sent off to Cairo by messenger. When the water level reached a certain point, all the canals would be unblocked and the precious water would surge deep into the fields carrying valuable silt to replenish the soil. Now that the Aswan High Dam controls the Nile's flow at an even level all year round, the August festivals have only the faintest echo of their former gaiety and importance. The Cairo film festival was first organized in 1977 and proved a great success. Many countries bring their award-winning films to be shown at some of the best hotels at specific times during one week. The festival is generally held in November. Prophet Mohammed's Birth Anniversary

The birthday of the founder of Islam is celebrated with great enthusiasm and joy in all Muslims country through out the world. This event of Egypt is held in the month of May and is celebrated with parades. Offering sweets and clothes is a main ritual associated with this festival. Pharaonic Wedding

This festival is the symbol of ancient civilization of Egypt and is held celebrated in the month of November. This festival is considered as an auspicious day for marriages. Couples visit to Karnak Temple and get married there. Abu El Haggag Moulid

This Egypt festival is dedicated to the patron saint of Luxor-Abu el Haggag. Horseracing, dance, music and drum playing are the high points of this Egyptian festival. Wafaa Al Nil

This festival is dedicated to the symbol of Egypt-the Nile River. It is among one of the ancient festivals of Egypt. In

the present scenario painting competitions, sessions of poetry, seminars and music concerts are the highlight of this September month festival. Abu Simbel Festival

This Festival of Egypt is associated with the ancient temple of Egypt-Abu Simbel and highlights the ancient traditional rituals of Egypt. This festival is held on 22nd February. Shem al Nessim

Another traditional festival, which marked the arrival of spring in Egypt and is celebrated throughout Egypt on the Monday in month of April after Coptic Easter. The Art Festival

A week long festival held from 24th-31st August. This festival is said to be the greatest art festival of Arab world. Inspite of these festivals one most major event of Egypt is Ramadan or Ramzan as called in some countries. Fasting, the fourth pillar of Islam is also called as Ramadan. It is considered as the most blessed and spiritually beneficial month of the Islamic year. Eid al Adhha

This religious event begins about 70 days after the end of Ramadan and is dedicated to Abraham's sacrifice of a sheep in place of his son. This event lasts for four days.

Japan

Festivals are countless in Japan. They are both happening at the local levels (matsuri) and some are celebrated through out the country. Most festivals are held annually and celebrate the shrine's deity or a seasonal or historical event. Some festivals are held over several days. Some of the national wide festivals are Hina-Matsuri (Doll Festival) on March 3rd, Hana-Matsuri (Floral Festival) on April 8th Tanabata (Star Festival) on July 7th, O-Bon (Lantern Festival) during July 13th – 15th and Shichi-Go-San (Children's Shrine-Visiting Day) on November 15th.

Matsuri involves the processions ceremony, in which the local shrine's kami (Shinto deity) is carried through the town in mikoshi (palanquins). It is the only time of the year when the kami leaves the shrine to be carried around town. Many festivals also feature decorated floats (dashi), which are pulled through the town, accompanied by drum and flute music by the people sitting on the floats. Every festival has its own characteristics. While some festivals are calm and meditative, many are energetic and noisy. Hina-Matsuri (Doll Festival) on March 3rd

This is a festive event held on March 3rd when hina ningyo dolls are decorated in homes where there are

daughters. It is also called Momo-no-Sekku (Peach Festival). Displayed on a tiered doll-stand are gorgeous hina ningyo dolls together with miniature articles and furniture. And offerings of diamond-shaped rice cakes, sweet and peach blossoms are made to accompany prayers for the healthy growth and happy future of the daughters. There is also the custom of cooking clams and short-necked clams, these dishes decorate the doll-stand and are served as a special dinner for this feast. Hana-Matsuri (Floral Festival) on April 8th

Hana-Matsuri refers to the memorial service performed at temples throughout Japan to celebrate the birth of Buddha on April 8th. It is formally called Kanbutsue. On this day, small buildings decorated with flowers are made at temples and a tanjobustu (baby Buddha figurine) is placed inside. This figurine is sprinkled by worshippers using a ladle with ama-cha, which is a beverage made by soaking tealeaves in hot water. Some people take this ama-cha home and drink it as holy water. Tanabata (Star Festival)

This is an annual celebration of the stars. According to a legend, the two stars, Vega and Altair, separated lovers, are allowed to meet each other across the Milky Way only once a year on the evening of July 7th. At this festival, prayers are also offered so that young girls will improve in calligraphy and handicraft. The custom is to set up leafed bamboo branches in the garden, and people write poems, words or wishes on tanzaku or long strips of colorful paper which they tie on the bamboo leaves. O-Bon (Lantern Festival)

O-Bon is a Buddhist ceremony for welcoming back and appeasing the souls of our ancestors. The formal name of this festival is Ura-Bon. Depending on the region, the Bon Festival may be held one month later, during August 13th-15th. Generally, a mukaebi fire is lit in front of the

gate early on the evening of the 13th to receive the souls of the ancestors. At the same time, a Buddhist priest chants sutras in front of the Shoryodana or 'Shelf of Souls,' where offerings of fruit and vegetables are placed. On the evening of the 16th, an okuribi fire is lit to see off the souls of the ancestors. Shichi-Go-San (Children's Shrine-Visiting Day

This is a ceremonial visit paid by parents and children to their tutelary shrines to offer gratitude for the healthy growth of the children. Celebrations are carried out on November 15th for boys who reach the age of 3 or 5, or for girls who turn 3 or 7 years old. The custom is for the children to dress in their best clothes and to carry Chitose-ame which are long thin candy sticks colored in red and white, believed to bring good luck. Hi matsuri (Fire festivals)

The famous Fire festivals (hi matsuri) are held in various seasons all over Japan. In Fire festivals, People carry torches at night. At Fire Rituals, talismans are consecrated and old talismans burned in a sacred fire inside a hall or a large sacred bonfire outside. Sometimes at the end, ascetics and laymen alike walk through the hot embers. Most temples dedicated to the deity Fudo Myo-O have a fire ritual on the 28 of each month, the memorial day of Fudo Myo-O and special first and last rituals of the year, on December (osame Fudo) and January (hatsu Fudo).

Korea

Lunar New Year

Koreans celebrate the Lunar New Year. Seol is, along with “Chusok", one of the two most important holidays in Korea.

"Sut dal kum mum" is New Year's Eve in Korean and on that night nobody is supposed to sleep. It's the so called "je yah". There was a belief that if someone slept on that night, the eyebrows would turn white. That was the reason why the light was on at every room, the "maru" and even in the kitchen. This was done to receive the New Year’s Day with awakened eyes and brightness. During the New Year's eve day people perform an overall cleaning, brushing off old dust. In the evening they heat water and take a bath. They also burn bamboo sticks to cast off every single house demon. The common belief is that with the sound of the exploding bamboo's knots, the demons get scared and run away. At night, as a sign of appreciation, people greet the family's elders and if there is a "sadang" at home they present an offering there. It's the ceremony of the last day of the year.

New Year’s Day is called "seol" or "seol ral". "Seol"

means 'to be careful', and some says that it means sadness. Others say that "seol" derives from "nat seol da", which means to be unfamiliar. New Years's day can be called "Won Dan", "Won Il", and “Shin Won", which are words of Chinese origin. It's also called "jung wol cho harut nal". "Jung wol" means 'January'. "Cho", 'the first', "harut nal", 'first day'.

Preparing for “chesa”, the offering to ancestors are important tasks for Korean women. "Ttok", "garettok", fried meats are prepared from the previous day. The room must be spotless cleaned first, and then a screen and a table altar are placed in the room. The placement of the food has a certain order. The difference is that instead of rice, as in any other "chesa", "seolnal", "ttokuk" is on the offering table. These offerings in holidays are called "chare" because it is served with liquors and teas.

After "chare" is over, "sebe" takes place, which is the first greeting to the elders of the year. Later the family has breakfast with the food from the offering table and visits elder relatives and neighbors. The people who receive these greetings prepare a table of foods. Food and liquors are served to adults and children are given candies or money and best wishes for everybody. The reason why they give money to the children is to teach them to save money. In the past it was to buy eggs and grow chickens, sell them and buy a calf. When the calf would grow to be a cow you would sell it later to buy lands to cultivate After that people visit the tombs of their ancestors.

Popular games and activities include kite flying; yut game, top-spinning, snow sliding, etc. are the usual entertainment during New Year’s festival. However, yut game is probably the most popular among them. Yut is one of the traditional Korean games that can be played anywhere. It's especially popular on New Year's Day. It is customary to play this game from New Year's day until

January 15, called Daeborum. Other unique traditions of the New Year’s festival are “Bok jo ri”, the story of Yakwanggy, and fortune telling practice.

"Bok jo ri"? Literally a strainer ("jori") that brings blessings. It is a tool used to clean the rice from small stones or straw particles. People used to buy Bok Jo RI very early in the morning of New Year's Day and hang it up on the wall. It is to pick up happiness in the New Year as one does with rice grains. In the past street vendors of would yell, announcing the bok jo ri. The person who first hears his voice calls him. The house owner should not go out of the front door. The vendor comes in and then they buy the Bok jo ri the earlier the better since they will receive more blessings. The vendor must have been considered a person who brings blessings. Nowadays it is difficult to find "bok jo ris" in Korea. It's a pity that on "seolnal" we cannot hear the voice of "bok jo ri" vendors. People just buy Bok jo ris from stores.

The story of Yakwanggy: As part of the customs of seolnal there is a story of Yakwanggy. The Yakwangy comes to the human world on the night of seolnal after some wandering. If he finds shoes that fit in his feet he

will take them and run away. If one loses the shoes this way it means bad luck for all that year. That is the reason adults and children take all their shoes and put them inside the house and the attic. So the Yakwangy will not take them away. There is a good remedy to cast off the Yakwangy. Turn off the light and keep the shoes inside and hang up a sift at the wall of the internal patio or above the laundry rope. Yakwangy will look for the shoes and he will discover the sift. "What's that? What is it? Why does it have so many eyes?" He thinks that the holes are eyes. "Wow! So many eyes (holes). I don't know how many they are. All right. Let's count them. Let's see how many they are." Yakwangy starts counting and soon he forgets the number and starts all over again and again. He forgets about stealing shoes and keeps counting the entire night. At dawn when the birds sing he runs away. This is a story to send the children to bed early on Seolnal since they must be very tired with no sleep from the eve of New Year's day.

Fortune telling: From ancient times in Korea there is a tradition to go to a fortune-teller at the beginning of the year. Tojong bigyeol is a book where the fortune-teller consults when he/she has the date of birth of the interested person. The author of Tojong bigyel is Tojong Lee Ji Ham (1517-1578), an eccentric person, from Chosun dynasty.

He was a descendant of a loyal subject of the end of Koryo Dynasty named Mok Eun Lee Saek. He was an expert in diverse family arts. He drew the attention of people for his strange walking. After studying the human condition he came to write this book. Obviously he was turned away by the Confucianist yang ban society. But among the commoners his book was widely known until the present days. Not for the belief in it, but rather for fun.

First it was by elders who read Chinese characters who would tell the fortune of family members. Somehow later on people began charging for this service and individuals did this as a way of earning a living.

At the beginning of the year a lot of elders sit with their books on the street. There are fortune-teller will also tell about the past, present and future and judge over the misfortunes and happiness, different from Tojong bigyel. They calculate with calculating sticks based on the Book of Changes. Blind people did this. The reason was that because of social circumstances in the past in Korea blind people did not have access to jobs.

Despite the not so good reputation of the people who work in this field because it is considered mere superstitious ordinary people. People today well into the high logical thinking recur to fortune-tellers regardless of its credibility because they do not know what the future will bring. That might be the reason why now we have even

computer fortune teller Fortune tellers were on the street from Nam San to Seoul station but after some urban planning project they are now in Miari. They call themselves Destiny Philosophers, magical arts, conditions have changed radically, people fall under their commercialism and the old innocent aspect is not available any more.

Chusok: Chusok, also known as the Korean hanksgiving, is held on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. Chusok means a great day in the middle of August. It occurs during the harvest season. Thus, Korean families take this time to thank their ancestors for providing them with rice and fruits. Chuseok originates from Gabae started during the reign of the third king of the kingdom of Silla (57 BC - AD 935), when it was a month-long weaving contest between two teams. Come the day of Gabae, the team that had woven more cloth had won and was treated to a feast by the losing team. In modern South Korea, on Chuseok there is a mass exodus of Koreans returning to their hometowns to pay respects to the spirits of one's ancestors. People perform ancestral worship rituals early in the morning. They often visit the tombs of their immediate ancestors to trim plants and clean the area around the tomb, and offer food, drink, and crops to their ancestors. Harvest crops are attributed to the blessing of ancestors.

The celebration starts on the night before Chusok and ends on the day after the holiday. Thus, many Korean families take three days off from work to get together with family and friends.

The celebration starts with a family get-together at which rice cakes called "Songphyun" are served. These special rice cakes are made of rice, beans, sesame seeds, and chestnuts. Then the family pays respect to ancestors by

visiting their tombs and offering them rice and fruits. In the evening, children wear their favorite hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) and dance under the bright moon in a large circle. They play games and sing songs. A variety of folk games are played on Chuseok, but these vary from region to region. A lion dance is performed in the north-west, a tug of war in Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces. Other regions hold wrestling and archery contests. For all games, in all regions, a Nongak band performs.

Russia

Baltai

Baltai is a festival among Mordvin people, especially from Tatarstan. The name of the holiday means Feast of Honey (from Tatar words bal - honey and tuy - feast). Baltai is hold in the first Sunday after the Whitsunday and means the beginning of mowing time. The main traditions are the decorating of bear with birch leaves and round dance Grushinsky festival

An annual Russian bard songs festival, from 1968 takes places near city of Samara, on Mastryk lakes. (Valeri Grushin, in whose memory the festival is named was a student who died during backcountry trip saving his drowning friends). Every year, there are tens and hundreds of thousands of people who love bard songs coming to the Grushinsky festival. During the times of USSR, the formal oversight of the festival was performed by VLKSM. From the late 1990s, the festival began to become commercialized and lost its orientation to the bard songs. Sabantuy

Sabantuy is a Tatar and Idel-Uralian summer festival, that dates back to the Volga Bulgarian epoch. At first Sabantuy was a festival of farmers in rural areas, but it later became a national holiday and now is widely celebrated in the cities. In 2007, Kazan Sabantuy was celebrated on June 23. Scarlet Sails

The Scarlet Sails celebration in St. Petersburg, Russia is the most massive and famous public event during the White Nights Festival. The tradition is highly popular for spectacular fireworks, numerous music concerts, and a massive water-show including battle among tens of boats full of pirates on the waters of Neva river. The Scarlet Sails show celebrating the end of school year 2007 was attended by more than one million people: "Scarlet Sails" celebration in St. Petersburg

This tradition began here after the end of WWII, when several Leningrad schools united to selebrate the ending of a school year in connection with symbolism of the popular children's book "Scarlet sails" by Alexander Grin. At the first celebration a boat with scarlet sails was sailing along the English Embankment and the Admiralty Embankment towards the Winter Palace. Although it was designed to update the rusty revolutionary propaganda, the "Scarlet Sails" tradition eventually evolved into a massive demonstration of freedom from "schools and rules" and became the most popular public event ever since, celebrating the ending of school year annually.

Crowds of about one million people are treated to a wide variety of free entertainment provided by the city of St. Petersburg. Entertainment also includes appearances by popular rock stars, as well as St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, ballet, and other classical acts, performing on several stages simultaneously during the days of he event.

The show also includes a series of large-scale events on the waters of Neva river, such as rowing and motorboat races, and a massive battle with pirates culminating with appearance of a tall ship sporting spectacular "Scarlet sails." The show has been always the essential part of the White Nights celebration.

The popularity of both the book and the tradition was boosted after the 1961 release of the movie titled "Alye parusa" ("Scarlet sails" in English). White Nights Festival

The White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia is an annual international cultural event. The White Nights Festival consists of a series of classical ballet, opera and music events and includes performances by Russian dancers, singers, musicians and actors, as well as famous international guest stars. The Scarlet Sails celebration is the culmination of the White Nights season, the largest public event anywhere in Russia with the annual estimated attendance about one million people, most of whom are students from hundreds of schools and colleges, both local and international.

The White Nights Festival is officially organised under the egis of the Saint Petersburg City Administration. The festival officially begins in May with the "Stars of the White Nights" at Mariinsky Theatre and ends in July of each year. However, many performances in connection with the White Nights Festival may often take place before and after the actual White Nights timeframe. Cosmonaut Day - April 12

Russia is extremely proud of its history of space exploration. Cosmonaut Day in April celebrates Yuri Gagarin's space flight in 1961. Like Russia's celebration of Sputnik's 50th Anniversary, Cosmonaut Day is marked with special ceremonies and events.

Spain

Spanish Festivals were mostly of religious kind for a prolonged period, but at present the scenario has changed a lot, in fact the religious essence has gone backstage, as the other seasonal Spain festivities has replaced them. Spanish festivals are of various types and it varies region to region, though there are some traditional common-to-all festivals at Spain too. Some of the most popular Spanish festivals of different seasons are as follows

Spanish festivals of January month – ‘Reyes Magos' is a traditional festival of Spain held on 6th of January, from the night before presents are distributed among the little children. Bands, Floats and dancers perform on the streets of all major Spanish City-Streets.

In February Spanish festivals like ‘Santa Cruz de Tenerife' carnival takes place. This is a special festival o canary island. The time of this particular festival is in the second week of February, the natives enjoy their heart participating in the fancy-dress parades and musical performances.

March is again a great time of Spanish festival like ‘Fallas de San Jose' during spring time. The interesting most part of this festival is the night-time parade.

In April Spanish Festivals like ‘Fiesta de Moros y Cristianos', is celebrated across Spain, also popular as the Moors and Christians.

May is a gala time for ‘Holy Cross day'. In these Spanish festivals the rural villages of Spain are beautifully decorated with lots of colorful flowers, and various processions are out to rejoice on the streets.

Other seasons also have their significances and popular festivals in Spain. Below is the list of such famous Spanish festivals, The pagan festival of Hogueras de San Juan

The popular festival of San Juan (known locally as "Fogueres de Sant Joan") takes place throughout the province of Valencia as well as Spain as a whole. Of pagan origin, it is celebrated traditionally on the night of the summer solstice with the burning of great bonfires and

with firework displays. During the day there are processions and cavalcades while at night, homemade model castles (“els bous”) are ceremoniously torched. In the old days, the people would burn unwanted items of rubbish and furniture on this occasion. But these days’ things are more sophisticated, with effigies of politicians and parodies of tourists meeting their fate in the flames. There is much good humored merriment and a certain amount of fire-leaping by the youth of the town La Tomatina, Buñol

An event which began in the 1940s as a bit of friendly banter between friends has grown into the world's biggest food-throwing party, with around 20,000 people flinging 90,000 pounds of tomatoes. The actual "battle" falls on the day of the town's patron saint and is the culmination of a week's build-up of festivities, including parades, feasts, fireworks and street parties. The night before the battle, the streets of the medieval centre serve up sizzling dishes with a tomato theme, a scene-setter for that which follows. Come the morning, shopkeepers have boarded up their stores by the time the trucks roll in to town, laden with ripe tomatoes. Inspectors check that everything is in order before diving for cover as the tomato-slinging begins – and continues until every last tomato has been hurled and turned to mush. Anything that moves will be pelted. Among the few simple rules is one which requires that each tomato should be squished a bit before throwing, so as to avoid injury. At the end of the event, participants adjourn to the riverside where showers are available to start the clean-up process.

The following sources were used to compile this article :

http://www.travelchinaguide.com http://www.clickasia.co.kr

http://web-japan.org http://www.worldeventsguide.com

www.mapsofworld.com www.mapsofworld.com

http://www.ireland.com http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au

http://www.egyptmelody.com

India and the Sanctuary of Freedom

"To endeavour to understand and describe the India of today would be the task of a brave man". - Jawaharla Nehru

Never - to - be - forgotten India is a phrase coined by Swami Ranganathananda of Ramakrishna Math, to denote the masses, rather the weaker sections of the people who have suffered oppression for thousands of years at the hands of the rich for whose welfare alone Governments existed. The Never -to-be -forgotten India consists of the Adivasis, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the Untouchables, the Backward Classes, the weaklings among the so-called forward class, all living in penury. These people living such a primitive life were more akin to domesticated animals destined to do the donkey work of their masters or the rich: And therefore the stroke of the midnight hour on 14 - 15th August, 1947, they did not hear. So much so the then Government had the added responsibility of waking them up from their slavish attitude to freedom. Free India had to set up a new social and economic order, where life of contradictions are taboo and denial of equality condemned.

The Preamble to the Constitution, therefore, pledges to secure to the Haves and Have-nots, the Narayanas and Daridra Narayanas, "Justice, social, economic and political, liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, equality of status and opportunity and to promote among them all fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual". The resoluteness to work out these objectives, reiterated in the Directive Principles, was very much visible in the first phase of The Republic. But the determination did not last long, because the political leaders and politician - turned administrators, the former crazy about power and the latter who had tasted power, adopting any means to retain power, became slaves to the vice of selfishness, self-centredness and corruption. It is an irony that these political leaders who were all by-words for selfless service during the fight for freedom, after independence became repositories of selfishness and corruption. They hardly had time to think of the welfare of the masses, fated to live the primitive life in free India.

This was the period when the country was getting ready for the first general election. Every politician, particularly Congressmen, was concerned with getting a ticket to contest election. Durgadas in his book, From Curzon to Nehru and After, which, according to Zakir Hussain, former President of India, gives a historical panorama, spreading from the fledgling years of the freedom movementfrom Tilak to Gandhi and Nehru, and the years that followed August 15, 1947, the "watershed of Indian History" has recorded the political history of the period

thus: "With Patel gone and Prasad elevated to Presidentship, Nehru became all-powerful. He had learnt two lessons from his brushes with Patel and Tandon. He must have, as Home Minister and Defence Minister, only those who are unquestionably loyal to him and as Congress Party President one subservient to his will".

Congressmen knew that unless one was in the good books of Nehru, he could not come to power, in the absence of which he was a nonentity. Therefore, there was a rush for Congress tickets. See how picturesquely Durgadas has described this situation: "As was natural, many candidates made allegations of corruption, immorality and black marketing against their rivals. A committee was appointed to screen applications and the slogan was, "Let us give Nehru the five hundred men he wants and five years, and leave the rest to him. The Congress won the general election, and that gave birth to a new phase in India's political life, namely, the emergence on top, of courtiers, sycophants and hangers on. When I asked Azad to comment on this development, he said: "We are still feudal, but what has distressed me is that many good persons have been denied tickets because the trusted courtiers labelled them as anti-Nehru".

The courtiers, sycophants and hangers-on placed their interests above the interests of the nation. Many Congress leaders, who could not approve this new phase in the political life, left the Congress and formed new parties. The result was the sturdy growth of nepotism, favouritism and corruption-the arch enemies of democracy. The elected Government led by Nehru, thus got stuck in the cobweb of the making of sycophants and hangers on. The

Jawaharlal Nehru & Mahatma Gandhi

39

consequences were disastrous. The elected Communist Government in Kerala was unceremoniously dismissed on the recommendation of sycophants and hangers on, on the corridors of power. This action made an indelible blot on the fabric of the fledgling democracy. The administration slowly and steadily fell into the hands of sycophants and

courtiers, who never believed in the welfare of the common people, the foremost condition to build up a new live India in the place of the decadent India, according to Swami Vivekananda.

The Swamiji exhorted: "Let New India arise out of the peasants' cottage grasping the plough, out of the huts of the fishermen, the cobbler and the sweeper. Let her spring from the grocers' shop, from beside the oven of the fritter seller." The Mahatma endorsed this view. But, alas! His followers instead, exploited the poor masses for their own aggrandisement. An assessment of the progress of Free India after 37 years of freedom, is succinctly stated by Swami Ranganathanandaji thus: "But today after achieving independence, the magnitude of self-centredness that has come to many among our upper classes, the dead life that has come to them, is amazing. The result is the problem-ridden India, which we live in today. Everything is chaotic. After 37 years of freedom we have transformed India into a hell". This situation speaks the truth about the attention of the ruling class. In the tight grip of sycophants and hangers-on, never had turned to the never. to - be forgotten India, i.e., the poor. The context demands quoting the Marxist dictum: "The ruling ideas of an age are the ideas of its ruling class".

The later history of free India tells yet another truth that the political parties, mushrooming every now and then, were and are even now, more concerned with, and interested in, retaining the dynastic rule made possible by sycophants and hangers-on, the parasites on the Government; or as and when possible help a dynasty to take over the administration. This mode of administration is anathema to a democrat, who firmly believes that only a bipolar parliament can accomplish the objective sought to be achieved by our Constitution, namely, a welfare state and an egalitarian society. The carrot and stick approach adopted by the dynastic Governments both at the centre and states, or the coalition Governments formed by

political parties propagating opposing ideologies, towards the weaker section of citizens, has made most of them to remain where they were when we won freedom. To crown it all, we are facing the fiendish problems contributed by institutionalised corruption .

Another reason for this situation is because the Governments failed to follow the science of True Economics while implementing developmental schemes. What is True Economics is defined by Mahatma Gandhi: "True Economics, stands for social justice, it promotes the good of all, equally including the weakest, and is indispensable for decent life." Instead, the Governments followed the dismal science of economics which "inculcates Mammon worship, and enables the strong to amass wealth at the expense of the weak". This spells death to the poor. In this process the poor therefore have become poorer and the rich, richer. The poor thus have been compelled to take refuge in the kingdom of Yama Raja either by committing suicide or allowing to be exterminated by remaining at places like Nandigram. This process is at its zenith now. Sanctuary of freedom therefore is a far cry from the never - to be - forgotten India even after sixty years of independence.

A Samaritan would say that the masses have been shifted from the yoke of imperialism to the yoke of dynastic Governments or coalition Governments. The tryst with destiny of the never -to-be -forgotten India thus will remain a speck on the horizon till the present forms of Governments, i.e. dynastic or coalition, which have institutionalised corruption, are substituted by a clean two-party system of Governments envisaged under our Constitution. To conclude: "The foreign analysis leads to the conclusion that if the present Constitution has to function satisfactorily, the condition precedent namely, a two-party system has to be adopted by either ordinary law or by the amendment of the Constitution." Ivor Jennings

K.P. Radhakrishna Menon, Bhavan’s Jourrnal February 15 2008.

Balgangadhar Tilak

Sardar Patel

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Science in Ancient India A few years ago, when I was visiting South Africa, in Durban, I had a meeting with the iron lady of African freedom struggle, Fatima Meer, who was an associate of Nelson Mandela during their epic freedom efforts. She asked me what I was doing, and I told her I study cosmology and astrophysics. She asked me if I had studied Indian cosmology, described so vividly in various Puranas, and other ancient Indian texts. She then told me how impressed she was with some of those ideas and descriptions and asked me if any of those concepts could be tested and described from a modern scientific perspective.

While I had no immediate answer for her, she certainly had a point well made, and the questions she raised still stay in my mind. While it is exciting to believe that India had already, in her impressive past, discovered all the modern sciences available to us today, when you actually try to figure out exactly what all was discovered in India in terms of concrete scientific achievements, it is never an easy task. One is hampered by the lack of precise references, and only some general information is available. Trying to figure out the exact scientific achievements of ancient India is not an easy task. However, a lot of evidence is available to proclaim that we must have indeed made remarkable achievements in various sciences in our long and hoary past. Much study and effort is required to achieve important results.

My effort is to raise questions and hints, with some comments, which are of importance. That may spur us to initiate serious researches into this topic from various dimensions, leading to further details and data. Let me start with the questions and my answers:

Were great scientific discoveries made in ancient India?

From the information we have this looks possible. When we study ancient Indian literature such as the Vedas, Upanishads and epics, we are impressed at the enormous intellectual heights which have been achieved and expressed in these creations. The highest order of logic and the finest display of reasoning marked those who created these treasures of timeless wisdom and knowledge. What has survived now in ancient Indian literature, gives strong evidence of the great intuitive power and mental abilities of our ancestors. I am trying to make a case for undertaking intensive researches in Ancient Indian Sciences and what we exactly achieved scientifically in ancient India.

Did ancient India make great progress in mathematics?

Fortunately, this is one area where one can make some statements with definiteness. Research has been done on the development of mathematics in ancient Indian texts and it is found that books such as Taittiriya Samhita, Satapatha Brahmana, and Yajur and Atharva-Veda, Rg-Veda plus additional Samhitas do contain many mathematical works and references. There was a need to determine the correct times for Vedic ceremonies and an accurate construction of altars was required, which apparently led to the development of astronomy and geometry.

Several topics discussed here include use of geometric shapes, including triangles, rectangles, squares, trapezia and circles. There have been discussions on equivalence through numbers and area. Equivalence led to the problem of squaring the circle and vice-versa, and early forms of Pythagoras theorem were also discussed.

Subsequently, the works of many mathematicians such as Aryabhatta, Bramhagupta, Bhaskaracharya, Varahamihira, Shridhara etc have become known and studied. These researchers studied several different topics, mainly related to astronomy and geometry.

For example, the mathematical verses of the Aryabhatta cover some of the following topics in arithmetic, such as method of inversion, various arithmetical operators which include the cube and cube roots, which probably

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originated in Aryabhata's work. The 'new' operations of square root also originated with his work, it is believed. Again, in algebra, he discussed topics such as: Formulae for finding the sum of several types of series: 'Rules for finding the number of terms of an arithmetical progression': Rule of three - improvement on Bakshali Manuscript; Rules for solving examples on interest -which led to the quadratic equation. It also appears clear that Aryabhatta knew the solution of a quadratic equation. He appears to have used trigonometry in the modern sense for the first time.

In addition to important contributions to all the main areas of mathematics, Indian scholars were responsible for the creation, and refinement of the current decimal place value system of numeration, including the number zero, without which higher mathematics and modern science would not be possible. Indian scholars made vast contributions to the field of mathematical astronomy and as a result contributed mightily to the developments of arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry and secondarily geometry (although this topic was well developed by the Greeks) and combinatorics. Perhaps most remarkable were developments in the fields of infinite series expansions of trigonometric expressions and differential calculus.

Surpassing all these achievements was the development of decimal numeration and the place value system, which stand together as the most remarkable developments in the history of mathematics, and one of the foremost developments in the history of humankind. The decimal place value system allowed mathematics to be developed

in ways that simply would not have been possible otherwise. It also allowed numbers to be used more extensively and by many more people than ever before. Again, very large numbers have been named and used in ancient Indian literature. For example, we have prayutam (million, 106), arbuda (billion, 109), and shanku (trillion, 1013). Likewise, it goes on to "Padma", "Mahapadma", "Kharva", "Nikharva", and "Parardha" which is 100,00,00,00,00,00,00,000, i.e. seventeen zeros after 1.

This number system goes much higher, and the point is, only if they were using it somewhere, they would have created it all. It also shows that they were fully aware of the concept of powers of ten.

* Could one name some other areas where we can say with confidence that ancient India did make considerable progress, and which is also vindicated by modern scientific discoveries?

Much progress was made in ancient India in the science of the mind. The Yoga traditions and related disciplines developed in ancient India are a clear evidence of that. All our knowledge is generated, perceived and created through mind and the senses, as they perceive Nature. The modern scientists are certainly aware of our limitations towards understanding the universe through the means of sense perception, and the finite process of intellectual thinking. The subject of cosmology which deals with the origin and evolution of the universe, tells us vividly how small and insignificant we are when compared to the vastness of the cosmos. The story of the blind men and the elephant, illustrates the fact that frequently people tend to understand only a tiny portion of reality, and then they extrapolate various dogmas from that, while claiming only his is the correct version. As the British astronomer, Sir Arthur Eddington, pointed out:

"Man in his search for knowledge of the universe is like a potato bug in the hold of a ship trying to fathom from the ship's motion the nature of the sea".

Thus, there is apparently a limit to how far logical thinking and human intellect could go. The ancients must have realised, however, that unlike other instruments of knowledge, it is possible to extend the limits of mind enormously, and that the mind could be the most powerful instrument of all. The various Yoga disciplines are the means to develop and enhance the capacity of the mind, and to take it to higher stages and planes. While strengthening the mind, the body is also healed, and made disease-free.

The mind-body relationship, as espoused by the yoga philosophy, is being increasingly validated by today's medical science. While it is nobody's claim that ancient

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Indians knew everything in this regard, it goes beyond doubt that much can be learned by the modern man by means of a study of ancient Indian sciences.

There are also examples such as Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of medicine, astronomy, Jyotir Vigyan -that is the science of celestial bodies, and such others. There is good evidence that the art of ship-building and navigation were well developed in ancient India. The magnificent temples that stand today in India tell us about the architecture and civil engineering of those times, and of course about the fine arts of the day. It appears that the earliest recorded use of copper ware in India has been around 3000 B.C. Apparently, the earliest documented observation of smelting of metals in India is by Greek historians in the 4th century B.C.

Why should one bother to study Ancient Indian Sciences in this modern age when science and technology are making amazing progress?

The important point to bear in mind is, there is absolutely no reason to think that today mankind has reached its highest peak of knowledge! It is plausible that there could have been higher advancements in the past, or will be in future. We must have an open mind both about our past and future. There could not be anything better than a careful study of ancient Indian traditions and sciences in its broadest sense, because that can provide us with important and beneficial hints for the future.

If we made great scientific discoveries in ancient India, then why so little is known about them? Why have we been so bad at documenting and preserving?

We have done rather poorly in documenting any discoveries, that were made in ancient India. Practically little evidence survives on what ancient Indian science had achieved. It is also possible that much literature, evidence and knowledge were destroyed during the invasions India faced in the past few centuries. It also has to do with a certain attitude that we Indians have on life as a whole. For example, I was talking with an eminent Sanskrit scholar a few years ago about the possibility that ancient India had great scientific traditions, and if so, what we could do to find and preserve that. He told me that, of course, many such sciences have developed (and vanished) in ancient India. He said, this is an ongoing phenomenon, and it is like the ash on fire. There are times when the fire is hidden under the ashes, but then a breeze just blows away the ashes, and the fire again picks up and shines bright! Similarly, he pointed out, such sciences emerge and vanish in time. He then added, "that which is eternal does not vanish and is never destroyed" and so I should not get disturbed about preserving Indian sciences

and not be allowed to be forgotten.

Do we have some specific examples of possible scientific advances in ancient India?

I mention below a few points which may be considered as such examples. Such cases again require further investigation. The Loha Stambha, which is made of a non-rusting alloy, at the Kutub Minar site in Delhi gives an idea of the well-developed level of metallurgy of those earlier times. A well-developed architectural knowledge has been used in several large temples. Knowledge of various acoustic effects is used again in construction of some temple halls and forts (e.g. Golconda Fort near Hyderabad). There was apparently a well-developed system of war science existing in ancient India, as can be inferred from several different references. Recently I had been to a fort near Ramtek, at Nagpur, excavated in recent decades. While it was hot outside, some of the interiors were so designed as to preserve a pleasing and cool atmosphere, even in the absence of trees. Some principles of optics are seen to be in operation at the Virupaksha temple.

Is Jyotisha (astrology) a science?

Based on discussions with some eminent Sanskrit scholars, I understand that Jyotisha has two parts. One is the mathematical part, or Ganit, which I think is fairly accurate. The other is Falit, or prediction part, and that depends much on intuition and guesswork, and is generally not regarded as scientific. Finally, I would like to end with a word of caution. Even if we did make a good scientific progress in the past, we must save ourselves from the danger of being complacent and self congratulatory. While it may be good to be proud of our heritage, we should certainly not overdo it. I was just looking sometime ago at the science textbook of my daughter, and saw a picture of a Brahmin with a shaved head, and a choti at the back, and below the picture it was written, "Kanada Rishi", who discovered atoms. It may be alright to give pictures of a Newton or Raman, Rutherford or Einstein in a textbook, because we have definite information on the persons who lived in the recent past. But to give a picture of Kanada Rishi, on whom we have no information as to how and when he actually lived, what he really looked like and so on, can clearly cause misconception. In my view, such attitudes do not produce any benefit to our cause. What is needed is serious attention and research into the various aspects of ancient India literature so that we could bring out some gems out of this ocean of Indian wisdom, and use it towards the greater benefit of mankind.

- Pankaj S Joshi, - Scientist, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. Bhavan’s Journal February 15 2008

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The Mahatma's Service to Mankind

Rajendra Prasad

Mahatma Gandhi did not set out to evolve a philosophy of life or formulate a system of beliefs or ideals. He had probably neither the inclination nor the time to do so. He had, however, firm faith in truth and ahimsa and the practical application of these to problems which confronted him constituted his teachings and philosophy. There was hardly any aspect of life in India which he did not influence and fashion according to his own pattern, beginning with the small details of individual life regarding food, dress, daily occupation, right up to big social problems which had, for centuries, become a part of life - not only unbreakable but also sacrosanct -like the caste system and untouchability. His views appeared to be startlingly fresh, unhampered by tradition or prevalent custom. So also his methods of dealing with problems, big and small, were no less novel and apparently unconvincing, but ultimately successful.

What Life Has Taught Me

Dr. C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar

The Temple Entry Proclamation ultimately secured for me the friendship of Gandhiji though under peculiar circumstances. Along with Dr. Besant, I had the misfortune to differ from Gandhiji when he started his campaign of boycott and non-co-operation; but in spite of our political differences, we remained friends. In this respect, the late Sardar Patel resembled Gandhiji to a large extent. He fought me hard in politics; but, as Shri K. M. Munshi points out in his recent book, "THE END OF AN ERA", he was essentially friendly to me and he invited me to stay in his house by way of a friendly gesture notwithstanding political differences. I may enumerate other significant aspects of a fairly checkered and variegated existence but I hope enough has been chronicled to demonstrate that no small part of the discipline of life consists in interpreting aright the lessons and warnings conveyed to us by destiny and in the acquisition of a prayerful trust in Providence.

Question Box

Answers by K. M. Munshi Shri A. Sadananda Pai, Bangalore

Q: What are the practical methods of developing national character and is there any institution in the country which works with that aim?

A: National character is built up by:

(i) Sense of national unity and loyalty to its tradition.

(ii) Emotional awareness of the nation's thought and collective achievements.

(iii) Great men whose memory inspires the pattern of conduct and provides and shapes the national ways of life.

(iv) Collective resistance offered from time to time to disruptive forces.

(v) The will of enlightened individuals to become and remain a nation.

The whole purpose of the Constitution of India, the governmental activities, the universities and the educational system are calculated to develop national character after this pattern. The literature and scholarship in the country also have been contributing to the making of national character.

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Bhavan’s Children Section

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Holy & Wise

The Test of Bhavan’s Right to Exist

The test of Bhavan's right to exist is whether those who work for it in different spheres and in different places and those who study in its many institutions can develop a sense of mission as would enable them to translate the fundamental values, even in a small measure, into their individual life.

Creative vitality of a culture consists in this: whether the ‘best’ among those who belong to it, however small their number, find self-fulfilment by living up to the fundamental values of our ageless culture.

It must be realised that the history of the world is a story of men who had faith in themselves and in their mission. When an age does not produce men of such faith, its culture is on its way to extinction. The real strength of the Bhavan, therefore, would lie not so much in the number of its buildings or institutions it conducts, nor in the volume of its assets and budgets, nor even in its growing publication, cultural and educational activities. It would lie in the character, humility, selflessness and dedicated work of its devoted workers, honorary and stipendiary. They alone can release the regenerative influences, bringing into play the invisible pressure which alone can transform human nature

Kulpativani - Voice of Kulpati - Bhavan’s Founder

Beauty - It’s Many Faces

Beauty and joy can never be divorced from each other. A thing of beauty gives unfading joy. Where there is no joy, there is no beauty. An architect expresses beauty through stone; a poet through words; a man of culture through manners; a 'bhakta' through his emotions; and when we see these things, we feel more of ourselves than we were. The hunger for beauty-beauty in words, in colour and in stone, in life and in character-has no transient limitations set up by different ages, races or countries. It is not given to everyone to satisfy this hunger. The capacity to satisfy the hunger for beauty cannot be given by law, or public opinion, or the votes of men, or by ingenuity of artifice. But the man to whom this capacity is given has but one law-to enjoy beauty, to create beauty and to impart to others such a vision of it as he can. The tree, the cloud, the flower, and stream which give us this mysterious satisfaction are but magic symbols of the beauty that lies within. It is there, real, insistent, undeniable. It is a symbol of reality. If once the spirit of beauty is captured, the gates of life Divine are opened and not even death can close them.

Vinay Swayam tap hai aur wah Aabhyantar tap hone se sreshta Dharm hita hai Humility is itself a penance andwhen Internalised, it becomes the highest Dharma - Jain saying

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everyone, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty that the person who has nothing to eat. - Mother Teresa

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