On Nov. 3, 2009, Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind issued a fatwa against the singing of Vande Mataram. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram was reportedly present at the convention.
My reactions:
1. We (a country which boasts itself to be a 21st century superpower) must decide once and for all - which rulebook is the largest democracy in the world going to follow: the 20th century constitution or the 7th century quran. Vande Mataram is recognised as the National Song and is given a status equivalent to that of the National Anthem Jana-gana-mana. (http://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_song.php). This means that the fatwa in question is indirectly defaming the nation itself. It is unconstitutional.
2. We (the only place in the world where all the 23 sects of Islam coexist, the only place where jews and parsis have not been tortured) must decide the limits of our tolerance regarding the growing intolerance of Jehadis. We have already truncated the National Song to suit them. We have compromised on the national flag and the national language. Where/when will it stop ?
3. The moderate amongst the muslims (who keep on insisting after every terrorist attack that the real Islam is not like this) must come out and do whatever it takes to correct this image of Islam being anti-India. (Thankfully a little bit is already happening: http://news.oneindia.in/2009/11/05/fatwa-issued-by-ignorants-muslim-groups.html)
4. Shri. Chidambaram has explained that he was not present while the fatwa was being issued. It's hard to believe the politicians in general, but even if we accept this, the question is what would he do if he were present - would he dare to walk out of the convention? And what action is he going to take - in the capacity of the home minister - on those deshadrohis after knowing about the fatwa?
5. Interestingly, the same convention has asked the UPA to stop appeasing the minorities.
6. So called secular parties like SP and Congress have once again attacked the so called Hindu parties like BJP for speaking up on behalf of the majority on this issue. This has a major side-effect: Politicization of Vande Mataram. All such issues of national importance have been gradually politicized and associated with parties like BJP. This gives an image that only one party is concerned about these issues and when it fails to deliver when in power, the cause is put on the back-burner forever, because the other parties won't do it, and the junta won't trust BJP anymore.
I would like to re-emphasize that the moderate muslims must decide how long are they going to be in their shells. The fundamentalists keep on issuing such fatwas by shouting इस्लाम खतरे में. The moderates maintain that their islam is not the real islam. In that case, I think the real islam (of the moderate muslims) is really खतरे में. and the onus is on them to save it. All over the world, islam has acquired an image of an intolerant, cruel, illogical religion. If the moderates want to change this image, now is the time.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्
Narakasura became evil, in association with another asura named baaNa. Drunk with power, as he knew himself to be unrivalled in prowess, he brought all the kingdoms on earth under his control .. All the devas, led by Indra went to Vishnu, to ask him to deliver them from Narakasura. Vishnu them that he will attend to this matter, when he will be incarnated as Krishna .. Narakasura launched his great weapon, sataghini (a thunderbolt) on Krishna. However, it made no impact whatsoever on Krishna. At last, when Narakasura tried to kill the Lord with a trident, Krishna beheaded him with his Sudarshana Chakra (discus) .. This day is celebrated as 'Naraka Chaturdashi' - the first day of Diwali. (Source:Wiki)
This year Diwali came about one-and-a-half-month earlier.
Y. Samuel Rajshekhara Reddy became evil, in association with other evangelists. Drunk with power, and unconditional support from Sonia-amma, he tried to bring all the kingdom of the seven-sacred-hills under his control. He even dared to take the religious conversions to the holiest of the holy hindu shrines - Tirupati. All the Hindus of Andhra, led by Pejawara-Shri and other saints, went to Vishnu. Vishnu promised them that he will attend to this matter. YSR had tried to attack the Vishnu on the hills, the great lord ended his story by smashing his helicopter against another hill.
When I honestly expressed my feelings on the ysr news, one of my friends commented that it is not our tradition to talk ill of the dead. I just wanted to state that this is definitely true with respect to political enemies and all, but on killing a demon, we have always celebrated festivals - be it Diwali (narakasura-krishna) or Dasara (ravana-rama or mahishasura-durga). Our Gods are merely fulfilling their promise they made in Geeta - "my job is threefold" : (1) परित्राणाय साधूनाम् - to save the good people (2) विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् - to eliminate the bad people (3) धर्मंसंस्थापनार्थाय- to establish the dharma !!
This year Diwali came about one-and-a-half-month earlier.
Y. Samuel Rajshekhara Reddy became evil, in association with other evangelists. Drunk with power, and unconditional support from Sonia-amma, he tried to bring all the kingdom of the seven-sacred-hills under his control. He even dared to take the religious conversions to the holiest of the holy hindu shrines - Tirupati. All the Hindus of Andhra, led by Pejawara-Shri and other saints, went to Vishnu. Vishnu promised them that he will attend to this matter. YSR had tried to attack the Vishnu on the hills, the great lord ended his story by smashing his helicopter against another hill.
When I honestly expressed my feelings on the ysr news, one of my friends commented that it is not our tradition to talk ill of the dead. I just wanted to state that this is definitely true with respect to political enemies and all, but on killing a demon, we have always celebrated festivals - be it Diwali (narakasura-krishna) or Dasara (ravana-rama or mahishasura-durga). Our Gods are merely fulfilling their promise they made in Geeta - "my job is threefold" : (1) परित्राणाय साधूनाम् - to save the good people (2) विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् - to eliminate the bad people (3) धर्मंसंस्थापनार्थाय- to establish the dharma !!
Friday, August 14, 2009
अखंड भारत संकल्प दिवस !
गत कुछ शताब्दियो से हो रहे सतत आक्रमणों में हमने गांधार (अफगानिस्थान), ब्रह्मदेश (म्यानमार), सिंध-प. पंजाब (पाकिस्तान), पू. बंगाल (बांग्लादेश), त्रिविष्टप (तिब्बत) ये अपने मातृभू के अंग खोकर उसे अपंग बना दिया है ।
अपने देश का क्षेत्रफल ५५,६२,८२८ वर्ग-किमी से घट कर ३२,८७,२४० वर्ग-किमी हो गया है । अर्थात अपना ४०% प्रतिशत भूभाग हमने गँवाया है ।
जहाँ-जहाँ हिन्दू घटा, वहाँ-वहाँ देश कटा है ।
जो-जो भूभाग हमने खोया है, वह राष्ट्र विघातक गतिविधियों में सक्रीय हुआ है ।
क्या इसी क्षत-विक्षत भारत के लिये ही हमारे पूर्वजो ने अपने प्राण गँवाये थे ?
अपने राष्ट्रगान में हम गाते है – ’पंजाब सिंध गुजरात मराठा द्राविड उत्कल वंग’ । कहाँ है यह सिंध? कहाँ है आधा पंजाब और आधा बंगाल ? क्या वहाँ भी यही राष्ट्रगान गाते है ?
१९४७ में अधिकांश जनता अखण्ड भारत चाहती थी, फिर भी क्यो हुआ विभाजन ? - तुष्टिकरण की नीति के कारण !! यह कारण तो आज भी विद्यमान है !! तो क्या फिर से विभाजन होगा ?
भारत अखंड करना है । अपने वीर क्रान्तिकारियों का बलिदान व्यर्थ नहीं गँवाना है ।
भारत फिर से अखण्ड होता है, तो अनेक समस्याए अपने आप हल हो जाएँगी
अपना सुरक्षा पर वार्षिक खर्च रु. ९०,००० करोड़ है । इसम बडी बचत होगी ।
काश्मीर, पूर्वांचल आदि उग्रवाद-ग्रस्त स्थान पर पयर्टन व्यवसाय की वृद्धि होगी |
हम सभी अपने सच्ची सांस्कृतिक विरासत का अंग बनकर सही अर्थ में भारत को वैभवशाली बना पायेंगे ।
तो आईये ! इस स्वतन्त्रता दिवस की पूवर्संध्या में सकल्प ले –
हम उस समर्थ, सशक्त, संगठित, अखण्ड भारत का पुनः निर्माण करेंगे !!
॥ भारतमाता की जय ॥
अपने देश का क्षेत्रफल ५५,६२,८२८ वर्ग-किमी से घट कर ३२,८७,२४० वर्ग-किमी हो गया है । अर्थात अपना ४०% प्रतिशत भूभाग हमने गँवाया है ।
जहाँ-जहाँ हिन्दू घटा, वहाँ-वहाँ देश कटा है ।
जो-जो भूभाग हमने खोया है, वह राष्ट्र विघातक गतिविधियों में सक्रीय हुआ है ।
क्या इसी क्षत-विक्षत भारत के लिये ही हमारे पूर्वजो ने अपने प्राण गँवाये थे ?
अपने राष्ट्रगान में हम गाते है – ’पंजाब सिंध गुजरात मराठा द्राविड उत्कल वंग’ । कहाँ है यह सिंध? कहाँ है आधा पंजाब और आधा बंगाल ? क्या वहाँ भी यही राष्ट्रगान गाते है ?
१९४७ में अधिकांश जनता अखण्ड भारत चाहती थी, फिर भी क्यो हुआ विभाजन ? - तुष्टिकरण की नीति के कारण !! यह कारण तो आज भी विद्यमान है !! तो क्या फिर से विभाजन होगा ?
भारत अखंड करना है । अपने वीर क्रान्तिकारियों का बलिदान व्यर्थ नहीं गँवाना है ।
भारत फिर से अखण्ड होता है, तो अनेक समस्याए अपने आप हल हो जाएँगी
अपना सुरक्षा पर वार्षिक खर्च रु. ९०,००० करोड़ है । इसम बडी बचत होगी ।
काश्मीर, पूर्वांचल आदि उग्रवाद-ग्रस्त स्थान पर पयर्टन व्यवसाय की वृद्धि होगी |
हम सभी अपने सच्ची सांस्कृतिक विरासत का अंग बनकर सही अर्थ में भारत को वैभवशाली बना पायेंगे ।
तो आईये ! इस स्वतन्त्रता दिवस की पूवर्संध्या में सकल्प ले –
हम उस समर्थ, सशक्त, संगठित, अखण्ड भारत का पुनः निर्माण करेंगे !!
॥ भारतमाता की जय ॥
Thursday, May 28, 2009
अनादि मी अनंत मी ..
Today is the 126th birth anniversary of one of the greatest of Mother India's sons - Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
Most of us know him for his participation in the freedom struggle: his work as a student in Pune, with "Abhinav-Bharat" and as a member of India House in England; inspiring Madan Lal Dhingra to assassinate Curzon Wyllie; heroic escape from the boat near Marseilles, France; his famous court case and the double life-imprisonment; life in Andaman; and all.
Many know him for working to remove social evils of untouchability by opening Patita-Pavana temples, and cafes for the Hindus of all castes.
And of course there are his eternal poems.
Let's look at one of his poems: "अनादि मी अनंत मी .."
It reminds us that the basic rasa in Savarkar's poetry was the veer-rasa.
The background of this poem is thus: Savarkar was kept in the solitary confinement at the infamous Cellular jail in Andamans. The treatment given to the prisoners was inhuman. To further torture him mentally, the jailor had given him a special cell. It was all dark and cold, with a small window. And the only scene visible from that window was of the gallows. The jailor was trying to tell Savarkar that only way out of here is through death. Notwithstanding any of these, his veer soul sang out :
अनादि मी अनंत मी अवध्य मी भला |
मारिल रिपु जगति असा कवण जन्मला ||ध्रु||
I have no beginning, no end. I cannot be killed. That enemy who would kill me is not yet born
अट्टहास करित जाई धर्मधारणी
मृत्युसीच गाठ घालू मी घुसे रणी
I shall enter the war field with a mighty laughter.
I shall enter the war field to fight the death itself.
अग्नि जाळी मजसी ना खड्ग छेदितो
भिउनी मला भ्याड मृत्यु पळत सुटतो
The fire cannot burn me, the sword cannot cut me.
The coward death runs away at my sight.
खुळा रिपु तया स्वये
मृत्युच्याच भीतीने भिववु मजसी ये ||१||
And this foolish enemy is trying to scare me by the fear of death !!
लोटी हिंस्र सिंहाच्या पंजरी मला
नम्र दाससम चाटिल तो पदांगुला
If you push me into the cage of a fierce lion, he will start licking my feat, like a slave.
कल्लोळी ज्वालांच्या फेकशी जरी
हटुनी भवति रचिल शीत सुप्रभावती
If you throw me in the flames of fire, they themselves will move away and a cool radiance will encircle me.
आण तुझ्या तोफाना क्रूर सैन्य ते
यंत्र तंत्र शस्त्र अस्त्र आग ओकते
Bring on your cannons, your fierce army, machinary, technology, or fire-throwing weapons -
हलाहला त्रिनेत्र तो
मी तुम्हासी तैसाची गिळुनी जिरवितो ||२||
Just like the trinetra (Lord Shiva) swallowed the deadly poison halaahala, I shall swallow you up and crush your arrogance.
...
On the birth anniversary of the veer, I pray to the God to give me the strength to be a veer like him in all the situations, to be as dedicated to the cause as he always was.
...
There have been so many politically motivated attempts to malign the name of this veer, even after independence. But he and his sacrifice has swallowed up the enemy and crushed their arrogance again and again.
His work, his fame is definitely अनंत.
And मारिल रिपु जगति असा कवण जन्मला ?
Where is the enemy who can kill the Savarkar-Spirit ?
...
स्वातंत्र्यवीर विनायक दामोदर सावरकर की जय !!
भारतमाता की जय !!
PS: The translation provided is based on my tiny knowledge. Kindly give liberal comments wherever a modification is required.
Most of us know him for his participation in the freedom struggle: his work as a student in Pune, with "Abhinav-Bharat" and as a member of India House in England; inspiring Madan Lal Dhingra to assassinate Curzon Wyllie; heroic escape from the boat near Marseilles, France; his famous court case and the double life-imprisonment; life in Andaman; and all.
Many know him for working to remove social evils of untouchability by opening Patita-Pavana temples, and cafes for the Hindus of all castes.
And of course there are his eternal poems.
Let's look at one of his poems: "अनादि मी अनंत मी .."
It reminds us that the basic rasa in Savarkar's poetry was the veer-rasa.
The background of this poem is thus: Savarkar was kept in the solitary confinement at the infamous Cellular jail in Andamans. The treatment given to the prisoners was inhuman. To further torture him mentally, the jailor had given him a special cell. It was all dark and cold, with a small window. And the only scene visible from that window was of the gallows. The jailor was trying to tell Savarkar that only way out of here is through death. Notwithstanding any of these, his veer soul sang out :
अनादि मी अनंत मी अवध्य मी भला |
मारिल रिपु जगति असा कवण जन्मला ||ध्रु||
I have no beginning, no end. I cannot be killed. That enemy who would kill me is not yet born
अट्टहास करित जाई धर्मधारणी
मृत्युसीच गाठ घालू मी घुसे रणी
I shall enter the war field with a mighty laughter.
I shall enter the war field to fight the death itself.
अग्नि जाळी मजसी ना खड्ग छेदितो
भिउनी मला भ्याड मृत्यु पळत सुटतो
The fire cannot burn me, the sword cannot cut me.
The coward death runs away at my sight.
खुळा रिपु तया स्वये
मृत्युच्याच भीतीने भिववु मजसी ये ||१||
And this foolish enemy is trying to scare me by the fear of death !!
लोटी हिंस्र सिंहाच्या पंजरी मला
नम्र दाससम चाटिल तो पदांगुला
If you push me into the cage of a fierce lion, he will start licking my feat, like a slave.
कल्लोळी ज्वालांच्या फेकशी जरी
हटुनी भवति रचिल शीत सुप्रभावती
If you throw me in the flames of fire, they themselves will move away and a cool radiance will encircle me.
आण तुझ्या तोफाना क्रूर सैन्य ते
यंत्र तंत्र शस्त्र अस्त्र आग ओकते
Bring on your cannons, your fierce army, machinary, technology, or fire-throwing weapons -
हलाहला त्रिनेत्र तो
मी तुम्हासी तैसाची गिळुनी जिरवितो ||२||
Just like the trinetra (Lord Shiva) swallowed the deadly poison halaahala, I shall swallow you up and crush your arrogance.
...
On the birth anniversary of the veer, I pray to the God to give me the strength to be a veer like him in all the situations, to be as dedicated to the cause as he always was.
...
There have been so many politically motivated attempts to malign the name of this veer, even after independence. But he and his sacrifice has swallowed up the enemy and crushed their arrogance again and again.
His work, his fame is definitely अनंत.
And मारिल रिपु जगति असा कवण जन्मला ?
Where is the enemy who can kill the Savarkar-Spirit ?
...
स्वातंत्र्यवीर विनायक दामोदर सावरकर की जय !!
भारतमाता की जय !!
PS: The translation provided is based on my tiny knowledge. Kindly give liberal comments wherever a modification is required.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
What is Dharma ?
I was posed this question in response to my recent posting 'Gita Jayanti'.
Actually, I don't consider myself to possess even the slightest authority to answer this question.
But since the question came from a good friend, Aditya Joshi (who is the author of a very creative blog himself), I thought I should share what little I have learned/heard/read about dharma here.
Since this page is open to the entire world, let's hope some learned person shall read this some day and throw more light on it, so that both Aditya and I are benefited.
In the posti on gItA, I had written at one place: "... dharma (not to be confused with religion) ..."
And this is what prompted Aditya to ask :
What is 'Dharma' in Gita if not religion?
Is it 'Duty'?
How is it different from 'Karma'?
Or is it that 'Dharma' is the ideally expected 'Karma'?
We can actually remove the clause 'in Gita' from the first question.
Because, nowhere in the traditional wisdom has the word dharma been used to mean religion (at least until the Muslim invasions in the medieval era).
Dharma does not mean religion
1.
The 18-day war between Kauravas and Pandavas is also referred to as dharma-yuddha.
If dharma meant religion, was the religion of Kauravas different from that of Pandavas ?
2.
धर्म-शाला, धर्मार्थ दवाखाना, राज-धर्म, पुत्र-धर्म, शेजार-धर्म (मराठी), धर्मसंकट
(dharma-shaalaa, dharmaartha-davaakhaanaa, raaja-dharma, putra-dharma, shejaara-dharma, dharma-samkata)
These words are used so commonly in day-to-day life, that one probably overlooks the use of the word dharma in them. But does dharma-shaalaa mean a religious school ? Or does raaja-dharma mean the religion of the king ?
3.
अग्नि का धर्म है उष्णता । - the dharma of fire is heat.
Is 'heat' a religion ? Definitely not !
Thus it is clear that dharma does not mean religion.
In fact, English (and many western languages) does not have a word that can completely and entirely convey the meaning of dharma.
This is because the concept of dharma itself is not known in the west.
Dharma is not a single special case, though.
There is no पुण्यम् (punyam) in English, either (although there is पापम् (paapam). This may be due to the concept that all humans are a result of the 'original sin' commited by Adam and Eve - as against the Indian concept 'अमृतस्य पुत्राः वयम्' - अथर्ववेद, meaning we are the sons of immortality).
The concept of dharma is a speciality of the Hindu philosophy (you may call it Indian, or Oriental philosophy, it's one and the same) .
It is common to Jainism, Budhism, Sikhism, Taoism and all the lesser-/better-known philosophical schools of the east.
Anyway.
So dharma does not have a parallel in English.
But does religion have a parallel in samskrut ?
Yes. It is called पन्थः (panthah) or मतम् (matam).
One can see words like जैनमत (jain-mata), बौद्धमत (bauddha-mata), मतान्तरण (mataantarana = religious conversion) being commonly used in many Indian languages.
Unfortunately, in Marathi, it's almost always जैनधर्म, बौद्धधर्म, धर्मांतरण.
So religion is pantha or mata. Fine.
But what is dharma ?
The two definitions of dharma
1.
The first one says -
धारणात् धर्मः इत्याहुः (Krishna in Mahabharata - 12.110.11)
[ dhAraNAt dharmaH ityAhuH ]
dharma is that concept, by virtue of which all the elements are held together.
This is a very clear and simple definition indeed.
In fact, if we look at the etymology of the word dharma, it emerges from the samskrut root धृ (dhru) meaning 'to hold'.
For example, raaja-dharma. That is what is holding the raajaa and the prajaa.
The moment the king deviates from his raaja-dharma, he ceases to be a raajaa.
(In fact, the traditional pledge a king had to take at his coronation was "This bhoomi is my wife from now on, and the people living on it, my children. I shall take care of them as a father would of his children. And if I ever fail in doing so, my raaja-purohita shall punish me with his dharma-danda")
2.
The other definition is -
यतोऽभ्युदयनिःश्रेयससिद्धिः स धर्मः ।
[yatobhyudayanihshreyasasiddhih sa dharmah]
dharma is the one through which both अभ्युदय (abhyudaya) and निःश्रेयस (nihshreyasa) are achieved.
What is this abhyudaya and nihshreyasa ?
In the simplest terms, it means this-worldly and other-worldly goals, respectively.
Other(?) interpretations
One can also find explanations of the word dharma given as:
This is all I know about dharma.
I am afraid I have added to Aditya's confusion, instead of reducing it.
The reason is I am myself a bit confused about the exact meaning of dharma.
That's why I put a question mark in the last subsection's title.
I am not sure if these are other interpretations or they simply follow from the two definitions we discussed.
If a son does not fulfill his righteous duty, he is no longer a son for his parents, and also, his other-worldly record is bound to go down.
Heat is the thing by virtue of which fire holds to be fire, and without it, it ceases to be fire.
And if one does not attend to nature calls, this-worldly goals are definitely not going to be achieved due to ill-health.
Sometimes I feel dharma is all of these things and also something more.
PS: We shall discuss karma very soon
Actually, I don't consider myself to possess even the slightest authority to answer this question.
But since the question came from a good friend, Aditya Joshi (who is the author of a very creative blog himself), I thought I should share what little I have learned/heard/read about dharma here.
Since this page is open to the entire world, let's hope some learned person shall read this some day and throw more light on it, so that both Aditya and I are benefited.
In the posti on gItA, I had written at one place: "... dharma (not to be confused with religion) ..."
And this is what prompted Aditya to ask :
What is 'Dharma' in Gita if not religion?
Is it 'Duty'?
How is it different from 'Karma'?
Or is it that 'Dharma' is the ideally expected 'Karma'?
We can actually remove the clause 'in Gita' from the first question.
Because, nowhere in the traditional wisdom has the word dharma been used to mean religion (at least until the Muslim invasions in the medieval era).
Dharma does not mean religion
1.
The 18-day war between Kauravas and Pandavas is also referred to as dharma-yuddha.
If dharma meant religion, was the religion of Kauravas different from that of Pandavas ?
2.
धर्म-शाला, धर्मार्थ दवाखाना, राज-धर्म, पुत्र-धर्म, शेजार-धर्म (मराठी), धर्मसंकट
(dharma-shaalaa, dharmaartha-davaakhaanaa, raaja-dharma, putra-dharma, shejaara-dharma, dharma-samkata)
These words are used so commonly in day-to-day life, that one probably overlooks the use of the word dharma in them. But does dharma-shaalaa mean a religious school ? Or does raaja-dharma mean the religion of the king ?
3.
अग्नि का धर्म है उष्णता । - the dharma of fire is heat.
Is 'heat' a religion ? Definitely not !
Thus it is clear that dharma does not mean religion.
In fact, English (and many western languages) does not have a word that can completely and entirely convey the meaning of dharma.
This is because the concept of dharma itself is not known in the west.
Dharma is not a single special case, though.
There is no पुण्यम् (punyam) in English, either (although there is पापम् (paapam). This may be due to the concept that all humans are a result of the 'original sin' commited by Adam and Eve - as against the Indian concept 'अमृतस्य पुत्राः वयम्' - अथर्ववेद, meaning we are the sons of immortality).
The concept of dharma is a speciality of the Hindu philosophy (you may call it Indian, or Oriental philosophy, it's one and the same) .
It is common to Jainism, Budhism, Sikhism, Taoism and all the lesser-/better-known philosophical schools of the east.
Anyway.
So dharma does not have a parallel in English.
But does religion have a parallel in samskrut ?
Yes. It is called पन्थः (panthah) or मतम् (matam).
One can see words like जैनमत (jain-mata), बौद्धमत (bauddha-mata), मतान्तरण (mataantarana = religious conversion) being commonly used in many Indian languages.
Unfortunately, in Marathi, it's almost always जैनधर्म, बौद्धधर्म, धर्मांतरण.
So religion is pantha or mata. Fine.
But what is dharma ?
The two definitions of dharma
1.
The first one says -
धारणात् धर्मः इत्याहुः (Krishna in Mahabharata - 12.110.11)
[ dhAraNAt dharmaH ityAhuH ]
dharma is that concept, by virtue of which all the elements are held together.
This is a very clear and simple definition indeed.
In fact, if we look at the etymology of the word dharma, it emerges from the samskrut root धृ (dhru) meaning 'to hold'.
For example, raaja-dharma. That is what is holding the raajaa and the prajaa.
The moment the king deviates from his raaja-dharma, he ceases to be a raajaa.
(In fact, the traditional pledge a king had to take at his coronation was "This bhoomi is my wife from now on, and the people living on it, my children. I shall take care of them as a father would of his children. And if I ever fail in doing so, my raaja-purohita shall punish me with his dharma-danda")
2.
The other definition is -
यतोऽभ्युदयनिःश्रेयससिद्धिः स धर्मः ।
[yatobhyudayanihshreyasasiddhih sa dharmah]
dharma is the one through which both अभ्युदय (abhyudaya) and निःश्रेयस (nihshreyasa) are achieved.
What is this abhyudaya and nihshreyasa ?
In the simplest terms, it means this-worldly and other-worldly goals, respectively.
Other(?) interpretations
One can also find explanations of the word dharma given as:
- righteous duty : putra-dharma = a son's duty towards his parents
- nature (स्वभाव) : अग्नि का धर्म है उष्णता ।
- natural laws : even contemporary literature sometimes refers to 'nature-call' as निसर्गधर्म
- etc.
This is all I know about dharma.
I am afraid I have added to Aditya's confusion, instead of reducing it.
The reason is I am myself a bit confused about the exact meaning of dharma.
That's why I put a question mark in the last subsection's title.
I am not sure if these are other interpretations or they simply follow from the two definitions we discussed.
If a son does not fulfill his righteous duty, he is no longer a son for his parents, and also, his other-worldly record is bound to go down.
Heat is the thing by virtue of which fire holds to be fire, and without it, it ceases to be fire.
And if one does not attend to nature calls, this-worldly goals are definitely not going to be achieved due to ill-health.
Sometimes I feel dharma is all of these things and also something more.
PS: We shall discuss karma very soon
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Resuming the blog ...
Due to the exams and the month-long-vacations I was away from the net. Many thoughts that should have been posted during this period are piled up by now. Am posting those by editing 'date' field to the date on which I should have posted each of those. This is just to maintain relevance in case I refer to these posts in future.
..
The biggest event of this duration was obviously the 26-nov terror attack on Bharat in Mumbai.
A lot has been said/written/discussed by many experts already.
Hence I thought it better to summarize my thoughts on it in this post itself instead of posting a separate one.
As we all agree that the problem this incident highlighted is a deeper one. But going to its root makes it clear that the real crisis is the same as is being faced in many other cases - from corruption to cultural degradation (quoting from a speech by Dr Mohan ji Bhagwat, RSS Sara-Karyavah, in Nagpur in 2005-06) :
More clarification might be needed on this, but let's leave it for the reader's own chintan for the time being.
As far as accusing the political leaders is concerned (which is the general tone these days), I think we just need to take a look at our history.
We need leaders like Srikrishna, Chanakya and Shivaji - three of the greatest statesmen the nation has ever produced.
They always held a national outlook, were selfless souls, delivered what they promised, and were beyond the three crises mentioned.
But one should also notice that they didn't fall from sky - they were produced by this soil, this society. Period.
..
The biggest event of this duration was obviously the 26-nov terror attack on Bharat in Mumbai.
A lot has been said/written/discussed by many experts already.
Hence I thought it better to summarize my thoughts on it in this post itself instead of posting a separate one.
As we all agree that the problem this incident highlighted is a deeper one. But going to its root makes it clear that the real crisis is the same as is being faced in many other cases - from corruption to cultural degradation (quoting from a speech by Dr Mohan ji Bhagwat, RSS Sara-Karyavah, in Nagpur in 2005-06) :
- Crisis of Identity
- Crisis of Credibility
- Crisis of Character
More clarification might be needed on this, but let's leave it for the reader's own chintan for the time being.
As far as accusing the political leaders is concerned (which is the general tone these days), I think we just need to take a look at our history.
We need leaders like Srikrishna, Chanakya and Shivaji - three of the greatest statesmen the nation has ever produced.
They always held a national outlook, were selfless souls, delivered what they promised, and were beyond the three crises mentioned.
But one should also notice that they didn't fall from sky - they were produced by this soil, this society. Period.
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