January 2007

Birth-Death Cycle

Punarapi Jananam, Punarapi Maranam

Punarapi Jananeejathare Sayanam.             

Man is born again and again and again.

Birth is followed by death.

Adi Shankara, Bhaja Govindam.

 Birth and death are two illusory scenes

In the drama of this world:

Really no one is born, no one dies,

No one comes, no one goes.

It is Maya's jugglery, It is play of the mind;

Brahman alone exists.

There is birth for the body alone,

Five elements combine to form the body;

The Atman is birthless and deathless;

Death is casting off the physical sheath.

It is like deep sleep; Birth is like waking from sleep;/

Be not afraid of death, O Ram! Life is continuous.

The flower may fade but the fragrance floats;

The body may disintegrate,

But the immortal fragrance of the soul Always will remain.

Learn to discriminate The Real from the unreal;

Think always of the Infinite

That is birthless and deathless.

Transcend Maya and Moha,

Go beyond three Gunas,

Give up attachment for the body.

Free yourself from birth and death

And merge in the Immortal Essence.

Upanishads

April 2007

India in 1835 – A proposal from LORD MACAULAY to British Parliament

 

 

 

          AN EXCERPT FROM LORD MACAULAY’S ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT, 2 FEBRUARY, 1835

          “I have travelled across the length and breadth  of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief, such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than  their own, they will lose their selfesteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.”

Courtesy: Dignity Dialogue, February 2007

July 2007

Karma Doctrine

Why do bad things happen even to good people? Why is there so much suffering in the world?

      "Suffering is not punishment but the prize of fellowship. It is an accompaniment of all creative endeavour"; "Suffering takes us to the centre of things and away from trivialities of life".

      The doctrine of karma offers a satisfactory solution to the riddle of suffering. According to it, God's creative act is in conformity with the law of karma. Though He is omnipotent, and can violate the law of karma, he does not do so because that would be inconsistent with His moral nature and violative of the principle of natural justice.

      The Mundaka Upanishad explains creation with the allegory of different seeds sown in the earth. Just as sown seeds yield according to their kind, different plants and trees in turn yield different kinds of fruits and medicines. Just as the earth does not in any way interfere in the process of the growth of each seed, God also puts human beings in different positions according to their nature and karmas. God is not responsible for the evil, suffering and pain. Evil as well as good, are the outcome of one's own karmas of three types: Sanchita karmas, accumulated actions (from past lives as well as in this life) whose fruits have yet to be reaped; Prarabdha karmas, the karmas which have started yielding results; and Agami karmas, the future actions. Of these it is possible to avoid the consequences of Sanchita karmas and abstain from Agami karmas through religious practices and sadhana. But one cannot escape the consequences of Prarabdha  karmas which have become operative. We have to live with the negative or positive outcome of these karmas. We alone, and not God, are responsible for the outcome.

 

- Ashok Vohra

October 2007

I Love India

           I love India as the birthplace of the highest and best of all religions, as the country that has the grandest mountains, the Himalayas, the country where the homes are simple, where domestic happiness is most to be found, and where the women unselfishly, unobtrusively, ungrudgingly serve the dear ones from early morn to dewy eve.

           India, is above all others, the land of great women. Wherever we turn, whether history or literature, we are met on every hand by those figures, whose strength She mothered and recognized, while She keeps their memory eternally sacred.

          I believe that India is one, indissoluble, National unity is built on the common home, the common interest and the common love. I believe that the strength which spoke in the Vedas and Upanishads, in the making of religions and empires, in the learning of scholars, and the meditation of the saints, is born once more amongst us, its name today is NATIONALITY.  I believe that the present of India is deep-rooted in her past, and that before her, shines a glorious future.

           O! nationality, come thou to me as joy of sorrow, as honour or as shame! Make me thine own!!

                                                                         -  Sister Nivedita

Courtesy: Yuva Bharati, October 2006

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