Zoroastrianism and the Vedic Culture

   

Ahura Mazda (The god of Zoroastrians).

     The Zoroastrian religion has so many comparables to the Hindu/Sanatana Dharma. So much so that one feels, Zoroastrianism is the part of the greater family of Hinduism including Jainism and Buddhism.

      The God of the Zorastrian is called "Ahura" (Closer to Asura of the Hindu Scriptures) and the enemies are called "Daeva". Probably the older days (Pre-Islamic) wars/conflict between north-west part of Bharat and Persia (now Iran) was termed as Deva-Asura battle.

      Nevertheless, Ahura sits on a thing that looks like eagle which is similar to Mahavishnu being seated on the Garuda.

Mahavishnu on the Garuda.

      The holy scripture of Zorastrians is known as Avesta. The other name of Avesta is Aveda (Sounds very close to the word "Veda").

      Other than Ahur, the Zoroastrians revere demigods or angels called as "Yazatas" (Sanskrit equivalent being Yakshas).

     The main worship ritual of the Zoroastrians is called the Yasna or the Sanskrit form "Yajna". The Yasna has three main fires that are protected and worshiped, namely:-
1. Atash Adaran
2. Atash Behram
3. Atash Dadgah

In Yajna too there are 3 fires.
1. Avahaniya
2. Garhapatya
3. Dakshina

Yasna ritual by three priests representing the three fires.

      The entire process of Yasna is similar to our rituals starting from shuddhi, inviting/invoking deity to completing the worship.
Similar to the pancha bhootas mentioned in Hinduism, Avesta mentions of 5 elements:-
1. asman (sky)
2. Zamig (earth - also Zamin in Urdu/Hindi)
3. xwarag (Fire)
4. ab/apas (Water)
5. wad (air)

      Also cattle (called as gospand equivalent to the Sanskrit "gov/go - गौ/गो) are revered in Persian texts.

The Persian Empire at its peak.

      The gahambars or the festivals they celebrate too are similar to the festivals in Hinduism.
No wonder Will Durant said, “India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all".

Spoils of Malik Kafur

Anantapadmanabha carved out in pure Gold.

Malik Kafur was a trusted General of Alauddin Khilji. He was among the most ruthless men who murdered all and sundry and plundered temples after temples. In 1311 he invaded the Pandya and other Southern Kingdoms. None of the Kings accepted to be subordinates of Alauddin Khilji. Bloody wars ensued and large scale plundering took place. It is said that Malik Khafur, after plundering the temples of Madurai and other surrounding cities and also the treasury of the Pandya King, took along with him 17,28,000 kgs of Gold, several hundreds of chests of jewellery and pearls (Estimates say about 9000 Kgs), 612 elephants, and 20,000 horses.

Representative picture of Malik Kafur

He further plundered Dwarasamudra and Warangal. In Dwarasamudra, famously known as Halebidu, he looted around 10,88,621.688 kgs of Gold (24,00,000 lbs). It is said that Kolar Gold fields was the major mine for all the surrounding states.

This I write not blindly. Marco Polo from Italy (13th Century before Malik Kafur) and Abdul Razak from Persia (15th Century after Malik Kafur's invasion), write on countless gold, jewellery, and gems that were accumulated by Bharatiyas in those times in the Vijayanagara, the Pandya and other Kingdoms. In fact, Marco Polo says, "The sons of the kings (in Bharat) do not spend the gold, jewellery, stones, and other treasures. They not only preserve it as their ancestral pride (as respect also), they build their own treasure to pass it onto the upcoming generation".

Treasures in temples of Ancient Bharat.

(No wonder we see immense treasure in temples like Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala).

#KnowHistory
#DoNotForget_DoNotForgive

Problems and the way to success!

“In a day, when you don't come across any problems - you can be sure that you are travelling in a wrong path” - so says Swami Vivekananda.

This quote may be easily misunderstood. In a sense, one may conclude that coming across problems itself is the right path. A negative connotation to this meaning is quite possible.

Convenience or luxury can never be the way to excel in life. Look at the life of a moth or a butterfly for that matter! In its initial stage the caterpillar faces a lot of hurdles and troubles to survive. It lives on eating leaves. Many predators haunt it! Then it goes into a cocoon and undergoes immense pain in the metamorphosis. But what ultimately comes out is a beautiful butterfly!

All those who have excelled and accomplished something in life have also been through immensely difficult times. Look at the life of Swami Vivekananda itself. Poverty struck his house after his father expired. Many more personal tragedies and he had to leave her mother alone to serve the motherland. His personal health too has not at it's best. He suffered from various physical ailments. Yet, none bothered him. He lived on for days without any food or shelter in the extreme cold of America. He suffered lot of apathy! Yet, he emerged as a Hindu Monk being a champion of Universal brotherhood.

Further, for excelling souls, whatever and how much ever great things one does in a day, there is always a quest to do more and more great things. When one enjoys life, it flies away, and when one is sorrowful, it is one hell of a life. For those who are on the right path, the eagerness to do something more, do good, and use the time more productively is always present. It is but naturally to find obstacles on the path too excellence.

Look at the river! What turns and terrains must it cross! How many big rocks it has to face! Mountains too cannot stop the march of a river. Whatever may be the hurdles, the rivers always touch it's destination (the ocean).

Remember, “In a day, when you don't come across any problems - you can be sure that you are travelling in a wrong path”. But there is no need to get dithered by the problems. One has to face it, and face it boldly. That is way to success! I'm Swamiji's own words, “Arise, Awake, and Stop not till the goal is reached”!

#125YearsOfChicago
#SwamiVivekananda
#Quotes

Remembering Ambedkar Ji's words on the Constitution Day

On 26th November, 2017 we celebrate as Constitution Day, as this day on 1949 the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution of our country.

The fulfillment of Ambedkar's herculean efforts to draft a Constitution and his fight for equality and democracy will be successful only when we remember his valuable advice on various matters. I will quote his words on Marxism, Journalism, Gandhian Philosophy, and Islam.

1. Among other things, he condemned the communists the most. He believed the Marxism and democracy cannot live with one another.
The Communism—which is another name for the dictatorship of the Proletariat—came to Russia, it did not come as something inevitable without any kind of human effort. There was a revolution and much deliberate planning had to be done with a lot of violence and bloodshed, before it could step into Russia.
The Communists themselves admit that their theory of the State as a permanent dictatorship is a weakness in their political philosophy.
They take shelter under the plea that the State will ultimately wither away. The building up of the Communist State is an useless effort. If it
cannot be sustained except by force and if it results in anarchy when the force holding it together is withdrawn what good is the Communist State.(Parliamentary Addresses).

2. On Journalism:
Journalism in India was once a profession. It has now become a trade. It has no more moral function than the manufacture of soap. It does not regard itself as the responsible adviser of the Public. To give the news uncoloured by any motive, to present a certain view of public policy which it believes to be for the good of the community, to correct and chastise without fear all those, no matter how high, who have chosen a wrong or a barren path, is not regarded by journalism in India its first or foremost duty. (Ranade Address 1943).

3. Ambedkar always condemned Gandhi for not fighting for Daily rights and temple entry. He always said that Gandhi was always concerned with appeasing Muslims rather than fighting for equality in Hindu society.

4. On Islam:-
"Hinduism is said to divide people and in contrast Islam is said to bind people together. This is only a half-truth. For Islam divides as inexorably as it binds. Islam is a close corporation and the distinction that it makes between Muslims and non-Muslims is a very real, very positive and very alienating distinction. The brotherhood of Islam is not the universal brotherhood of man. It is brotherhood of Muslims for Muslims only. There is a fraternity, but its benefit is confined to those within that corporation. For those who are outside the corporation, there is nothing but contempt and enmity. The second defect of Islam is that it is a system of social self-government and is incompatible with local self-government, because the allegiance of a Muslim does not rest on his domicile in the country which is his but on the faith to which he belongs. To the Muslim ibi bene ibi patria [Where it is well with me, there is my country] is unthinkable. Wherever there is the rule of Islam, there is his own country. In other words, Islam can never allow a true Muslim to adopt India as his motherland and regard a Hindu as his kith and kin." (Thoughts on Pakistan).

Remember always before quoting Ambedkar's views on Hinduism, all these views of his on Marxism, Journalism, Islam, and Gandhi must also be remembered.

Democracy can live only by protecting democratic forces and by defeating forces that seek to defeat democracy. I further think, a true tribute to Ambedkar on this Constitution Day will be by remembering his words!

#ConstitutionDay
#Ambedkar
#Democracy

Modi and Gandhi: A comparitive analysis of implementaion of Constructive Programme; Modi's success and Congresses failure

    

     As I finished reading "Constructive Programme" of MK Gandhi, I feel more so than ever that Modi ji is more Gandhian than any Congressi. If you just glance through the contents of the "Constructive Programme", these are the very same programmes that Modi Ji is implementing with different names and nomenclatures.

1. Khadi and village sanity was the priority areas for Gandhi ji. Modi ji has always been pushing for Khadi and under the Swatch Bharat Mission the Gandhian idea of Village Sanitation and Health & Hygiene takes forefront.

2. In so far as Communal Unity is concerned, Modi ji has done all that he can to please the minorities (at least in words). Gandhi Ji stressed on the need for "Hindu Muslim Unity" (Although he turned a blind eye to the Khilafat & Mopla/Mapilla Massacres; the current case needs no explanation).

3. Women empowerment is another area Gandhi Ji stressed upon. "Beti Bachao – Beti Padao ",” Mudra and various other schemes are but a remake of Gandhian thoughts.

4. Kisan: Now I will not agree that Agriculture is in the ideal state in our country now. Traditional natural farming is always the best and this Government is doing all that it needs to finish organic farming and establish mechanised, genetically engineered farming. Yet, Modi Ji is doing all that he can for the welfare of the farmers. The idea of “Krishi Bima Yojana”, “Krishi Sinchai Yojana”, etc is farmer friendly.

5. Adivasis: Although Gandhi ji's idea of "Adavasis" is pathetic, this thought on service of Adavasis is being followed tooth and nail by this Government. Many Tribal Welfare schemes have been launched under the leadership of Modi ji.

6. Economic Equality: Through Jan Dhan Yojana, Tax reforms, war on black money, all that Modi Ji is trying to do is to curb economic inequality.

7. Language policy: Gandhi ji voiced for equal importance and nurturing of local languages with Hindi being the central/National Language. The current Government under Modi Ji’s leadership is following the very same lines of Gandhi ji.

8. Education & Students" Gandhi ji's priority on education and students is the last in his Constructive Programme. Hence, we also see that Education is the last priority under Modi Ji's leadership. These are the words of Gandhi ji in his constructive programme, "I have reserved the students for the last". Also the beginning thoughts on education are a bit negative. Although education is last in priority, under this Government too, if there is any last moment big time reform, expect it from the educational sector.

Modi Ji is, in fact, bringing into force/reality the Gandhian Philosophy that Congress failed to implement all these years. Gandhi Ji himself mentions in each chapter of his Constructive Programme that Congress has failed to implement his thoughts and ideas! Even today this fact remains.

The only difference between the Gandhian Philosophy and that of Modi ji, that I see, is in the “Non-Violent approach” when it comes to “National Sovereignty”. Gandhi Ji compromised “National Sovereignty” for the principles of “Non-Violence” and “Communal Unity” (When he agreed to the partition of Undivided Bharat on Communal lines). There is definitely a stark difference here! Modi ji will always keep “Sovereignty and National Interests” above other smaller ideals and principles.
 

Success: The story of Krishna and Karna

Whenever life throws up difficulties and people scorn, we must remember the story of Krishna and Karna. Both Karna and Krishna faced immense difficulties and hardships since childhood. But one was influenced by the circumstances and the other strides the sea of life with a strong ship of will power. Once was without passionate and the other was filled with compassion. 

Karna and Krishna both did not see their real parents through the childhood. Both did not get the rightful opportunity of being Kings. Karna faced caste/class oppression. Krishna opposition within his community (the yadavas). There was a time when Krishna was declared a thief and an outcaste. He was constantly instigated by both Kouravas and Pandavas. Although Krishna helped Draupadi, she was upset that he couldn't stop all the bad things that happened to her, even though he is omniscient. 

Karna choose Duryodhan, the path of material pleasures. He sought the shelter of pleasures of life to suppress his depression. In the first case, Krishna was never depressed. Krishna chose the path of compassion. He was compassionate to all. Even till the last moment he talked of treatise with the Kouravas (during the war). 

Kunti, Gandhari, Draupadi, and finally his beloved friend Arjun all had their complains for Krishna.

Karna listened through his ears (sense perception). Krishna listened through the heart. 

People

 Say they drink because they are upset in life. So did Karna. He said Duryodhan is his friend because he gave him some solace in life. 

Now the choice in life is always open! Whether to succumb to situations of life and choose the path of pleasure? Or show love and compassion to others to do away with the hardships of life. Pleasures lead to more troubles than solve problems!  Love, compassion, and sacrifice leads to well being! One was killed (and become a villain although he had good qualities and was highly talented), and the other become the God!

Incarnation

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत । 

अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥४-७॥ 

परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् । 

धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥४-८॥

These two shlokas from the Gita are very popular. There is often a misconception that the God sitting somewhere up in the heavens will descend on the earth when evil raises in the society, to crush adharma and establish dharma.

This much is clear, Gita has a lot of aphorisms which have a hidden meaning; or one many say each shloka can be understood in a different. Today I found a different meaning to these popular shlokas.

It is the nature of human being to be lazy. Lazy in the sense, there is always a pull to be cushioned in the comfort zone. As "alasya" (tamasic power / laziness) increases, life becomes more and more disturbing. The 4 purusharthas fail and moksha (liberation) among them is a remote possibility. 

Unless a stick is used, the body is not ready for the run. Unless discipline is imposed, the mind is not ready to focus or direct itself for productive work. 

Likewise, even in a society people ignore the evils and get adjusted to it. People react or think of a solution only when the problems or evils are no longer bearable. 

Whenever there have been peaks of evils/problems in the society, we see a man or a group that rise to the occasion, having witnessed the lows and tough situations of the time.

Chanakya came during the time of misrule of the Nandas and infighting among Kingdoms. Veda Vyasa came to enlighten us when the Bharatiya knowledge treasure seemed to become tough to digest for the masses. Swami Vivekananda came when the entire population of the country had lost their self confidence/belief. So essentially when dharma is becoming less, there emerges man to reset the equation. Or in other words, that avatar can be any one of us, who having witnessed the fall in Dharma and ill-treatment of wise/good people by the evil ones, who rises to the occasion to fulfill the needs of the society or humanity. 

Essentially it is the same consciousness that emerges from within that can be seen among great personalities who sacrifice their entire lives to establish Dharma, and protect the good from the evil. This strife of Dharma over adharma, good over evil happens every yuga/century. The one who strives for it becomes the avatar.

On the Philosophy of Education

         

        Swami ji has spoken extensively, inter alia, about education. His most famous words on Education are thus – “Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man. Knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside; it is all inside”.

These are powerful words of Swami ji. Also his clarity on this concept is very much quintessential among the scholars and people of his time and even today it remains so. Sometimes the concept of knowledge within and knowledge without may sound strange. Everybody learns from what they see outside, or what they learn from the learned! How is it that one learns or gains knowledge from within? What is that perfection existent already in man? This I shall explain clearly through my experience of learning music.

When any one starts learning music, especially the classical music, the Guru begins from teaching what is called as the “Shruti”. It is said that when the Shruti is set, it is like a good foundation for the rest of the musical life. After one perfects Shruti, he is introduced to the Swaras (notes) and their various combinations in different rhythms. In the next stage one learns ragas or sets of different notes. After Ragam, one learns different songs, and other thongs like Raga expansion, notation usage in songs, etc. But real music starts after this. After the mastery in Shruti, ragam, tanam, pallavi, etc, one is ready to create music for himself. One composes Swaras, ragas, songs, and experiences the joy of creating music by himself. It is just like growing a plant. You have to put the seed under the soil, nurture it, and water it, and the plant automatically grows. Nothing else needs to be done. It all happens by itself. You only have to water and put manure to it from time to time. Even music is such. The knowledge is already within; you only need Swaras, Ragam, etc as steps in climbing the ladder. One can also make the leap or the jump, if one has the skills to perceive the knowledge from what one experiences in life. The sapta Swaras (seven swaras - sa ri ga ma pa da ni) are there in this existence whether or not you know it. The knowledge is already there. Education is a means to manifest that perfection.

Further, Swami ji says, “Bring light to the ignorant, and more light to the educated. For vanities of the education of our times are tremendous”. Here he warns us of the ill-effects of wrong education. Mark Twain says thus, “If you do not read the newspaper, you are uninformed. But if you read the newspaper you are misinformed”. So what kind of education one gets is also of equal importance as is the need to get education! If the direction to seek is within, you cannot seek it without. On another occasion Swami ji says “Character Building” is the end (goal) of education and “Shraddha” its means. By devotion, dedication, and perseverance, one seeks the knowledge from within. Whatever one seeks without is just some help; like the nurturing of the plant.

An anniversary to remember: Happy Demonetization Day

Many of the husbands forget to wish their wives on their birthday or marriage anniversary. Well, I need not explain any further as to what the reactions will be every time they forget their wives birthday or their marriage anniversary or what providence has got for them! But I am sure many men will never forget this anniversary and a special birthday of demonetization in the history of Bharat. 

It has been a year since demonetization and those who are in support of it are celebrating the anniversary of “Anti Black Money Day” and those opposing the same are celebrating an anniversary of “Black Day”. Whatever it may be, one year has elapsed since a historic decision on withdrawing legal tender to Rs.500/- and Rs.1000/- notes was taken by the Central Government.

            Many people said that they are happy that they did not lose rupee in demonetization scheme. Among them there are two kinds of people:-

1. The Honest tax payer who felt proud for the first time to declare that he has nothing to fear and boost to boost of his honesty.
2. The tax evaders who helplessly had to show that they lost nothing, else they would lose their face along with their money.

      Why is the demonetization or the withdrawal of legal tender of high currency notes in Bharat a historical decision? First of all, the high value currency notes that were demonetized formed around 86% of the money in circulation at the time of demonetization.

Now in a country:

•  of the population to the tune of 1.25 Billion,
• with a psych to deal only in liquid cash,
• with 22% of the population below the poverty line, and
• with a criminal-political nexus and colluded circles of opulent tax evasive population, 

even the thought of flushing out 86% of the money in circulation is a devil’s dream. The decision was gutsy, and no doubt in that. 

There are number of statistics going through as regards to the success and failure of demonetization. One of the leading arguments for the failure of demonetization is that 99% of the scrapped currency was back. This either meant that RBI data on money printed and money in circulation was wrong, or almost all the scrapped currencies came back to the system. With 99% coming back to the system 2 major disadvantages are seen:

1. As of now, the so called tax evaders and fake currency dealers/owners have been able to sneak in their money into the system.
2.  The Central Government lost of the major dividend that it might have gained from RBI due to the shortfall in receipt of withdrawn currency notes.

“Look at the kind of people opposing demonetization. This will prove that demonetization was a correct move” – this is a reasonable logic, but not sufficient. Lakhs of people should in long lines for hours and wasted their so called previous time just to deposit their ‘own hard earned money’ into bank accounts! After 1 year, we do not see any arrests or any media news of big time corrupt politician or businessman being caught for hoarding black money or tax evasion. Was it worth the sacrifice? We shall see it!

Before making an ephemeral study of 1 year of demonetization, let us see some data for the past 1-3 years.

GOI Statistical Ministry Data (Rs. In Billion)

Year	Growth at 2011-12 prices			Growth at current prices
GDP	GVA	GNI	NNI	GDP	GVA	GNI	NNI
2016-17	7.11	6.67	7.17	7.24	11.52	10.43	11.60	11.61
2015-16	7.93	7.83	7.93	7.96	9.99	8.56	10.00	10.24
2014-15	7.18	6.94	7.25	7.17	10.65	10.65	10.72	10.71
2013-14	6.54	6.21	6.46	6.16	12.97	12.61	12.89	12.90
2012-13	5.48	5.45	5.17	4.59	13.86	13.55	13.52	13.28

BSE DATA

S&P BSE SENSEX Data

Date	Index
08/11/2017	27591.14
30/11/2017	26,652.81
08/11/2017	33,218.81

SBI Data

Interest Rate Chart

Type of Loan	2015	2016	2017
Base Rate (RBI)	6.75%	6.25%	6.00%
Auto Loan	9.30%	9.75%	8.95%
Student Loan	14.05%	11.15%	10.325%
Personal Loan (On Avg.)	15%	14.025%	13.00%
Home Loan	9.30%	9.40%	8.45%
Overdraft	17.55%	16.65%	13.40%

 

Note: 

1.  On occasions where a range of interest rates are given for different schemes within the loan category, the average rate of interest on all loans of that category are taken.
2.  The Interest on demand and time deposits with Bank also reduce with the decreasing Bank Rates and lending Rates. Decrease in deposit rates are not recorded here.

Inflation Data in Bharat

Type of Data	2015	2016	2017
Consumer Price Index (CPI)	5.88%	4.97%	2.07%

GDP Data (RBI) [Rs. In Billions] (RBI Data)

Type of Data	2014-2015	2015-2016	2016-2017
Per Capita GDP	89796	98225	106641

Exchange Rate Data

Month	INR/USD
November 2015	66.462
November 2016	68.598
November 2017	65.075

            

 Some of the other Government data include increase in Tax compliance (Both Tax payments and returns), increase in digital transactions, etc. Interest data like reduction in stone pelting by 75% in Kashmir, and more 20% reduction in Naxal activity post demonetization was noted. The striking off of the names of around 2,24,000 shell companies (dummy companies) was definitely another good move. The free movement of dirty cash in the system and their conversion into clean money through investment in shell companies came to dead end.

            In my view, the most surprising, if not alarming, data released by the Central Government is that- ‘a mere 0.00011% of the population deposited around 33% of the total currency in the country. This data clearly shows how badly the past Government’s governed this country and favoured only a select few people to keep their nexus going. The conniving middle men lost their business post demonetization. 

            Under the Black Money Declaration Scheme announced by the Government of Bharat, around Rs 65,25,00,00,00,000/- of black money was declared post demonetization. There is no doubt that tax compliance and tax receipts of government have increased post demonetization. 

Innumerable number of data sets may be given, and countless arguments can be made on both sides of the case. Yet, the impact this move has had on our economy cannot be ignored. Many economists have opined that Bharat will benefit richly in the long run due to demonetization, and that the short term benefits are minimal in comparison to the long run benefits. Whether or not demonetization was a success, it proved one thing for sure, the people of Bharat will support any move, act, or decision that they believe is with good intent and shall do good to the Nation, even if they have to sacrifice many personal things. And why not? This Nation has seen exemplary examples of sacrifices in impeccable personalities.