Please don't RIP it

In the world of 140-character twitter, it is but natural to use various acronyms or shorthands to express our feelings – happy or sad. LoL, TC, GN are now a part of common vocabulary of many of my friends – and mine too. Another such acronym which keeps popping up, though –thankfully– not as frequently as the others, is RIP. Of course it is not a digital-age acronym, and has been appearing on headstones for centuries. When the news of a celebrity passing hits the twitteratti, it transforms itself into a hashtag and dominates the digital landscape for some time, crossing the region-religion boundaries. Many of my friends use it – almost as a habit – without realizing that its roots lie deep in that part of the Abrahamic theology (the basis of Christianity, Judaism and Islam) which is not compatible with the Dharmic philosophy.

Rest In Peace (RIP) indicates resting of the departed soul, and begets the question: for how long, and for what purpose? The answer is: till the end of the world, for the judgement on the dead person's conduct in life, i.e., being sent to either an eternal hell or heaven. The day of judgement (qayamat in Islam) will see the resurrection of the dead, when the bodies from the graveyards will be brought back to life and everyone's deeds will be read out and judged. This, by the way, is the reason for burial as against cremation in Hinduism.

Hindus pray for the departing life's sadgati, meaning a good (sad-/sat-) passage (gati) of the aatman – from this life to another. Note: gati is antonymous to rest. There is no concept of eternal hell or heaven either. The aatman spends a brief period in the hell or heaven based on its paapa-punya, and then assumes another life form according to the karma-phala. Note: while sin is the English word for paapa, there is no equivalent of punya in Abrahamic theology – and hence English.
Karma and reincarnation are central to Dharmic philosophy; almost all Dharmic religions are in sync with it. Abrahamic religions are not. They cannot be. To believe in reincarnation will remove the exclusivity of Jesus, and will empower a Christian with the potential of attaining moksha via his/her own karma, instead of the dogmatic belief in one prophet's abilities to wash his/her sins.

If you believe you can uplift yourself — please don't RIP it!

Then what is a concise, twitter-friendly way of expressing our grief?
I would go for Om Shanti. It signifies the peaceful passage of the aatman, and is 100% Hindu.

Veer Vivekananda

Following is an inspiring Marathi song about Swami Vivekananda.
I heard this song for the first time in January at the National Yuva Varg, Houston.
This song was created in 1963, as a part of Swamiji's birth centenary celebrations.
Next year is his 150th birth anniversary. Remembering the song again.



हे वीर विवेकानंद ! हे वीर विवेकानंद !
हे वीर विवेकानंद हिंदुयशमूर्ती
हे युवकप्रवर तू युवहृदयांची स्फूर्ती ।। ध्रु ।।

दास्यात पाहूनी विश्वधर्मजननी ही
तू क्षुब्ध सिंहसा व्याकुळ अंतर्यामी
मुक्तीचा तिचिया ध्यास तुला दिनराती ।। १ ।।

शतआघातांनी कुंठित-मूर्छित झाली
ही हिंदुचेतना फिरुनी तू चेतविली
तिज उन्नत-मस्तक निर्भय केले जगती ।। २ ।।

स्मरतात तुझे ते घनगर्जितसे शब्द
मन वज्र हवे अन् मनगट ते पोलाद
जग जिंकायाची ईर्ष्या दाटो चित्ती ।। ३ ।।

तव अमृतवाणी हाक देत आम्हांते
हे अतुलबलस्वी करू हिंदुराष्ट्राते
युवशक्ती हवी मज कार्यचरणपुरुषार्थी ।। ४ ।।

जी जीवनपुष्पे सतेज नवरक्ताची
स्थापावा त्यांनी धर्म आत्म अर्पूनी
त्यानेच अर्चना होत राष्ट्रदेवाची ।। ५ ।।

Rajiv Gandhi is the President of India

A 'model' comes for the audition for 'MTV Rodies'. He is exuding ignorance. He says Ayodhya is the place where the Mahabharata war took place, and Rajiv Gandhi is the President of India. (No kidding. Check for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8BFzoR5b2w)

Probably everyone is laughing at him. But who is really responsible for this sorry state ? I wouldn't blame him alone (And he is not a lone example, mind you. He represents a small but influential set of the society).

I, for a moment, can understand if someone with little or no education is unaware of these things (I actually mean opportunity of education). But the fact that an English speaking, well-off youngster is so ignorant clearly speaks of some serious lacunae in our socio-educational system. He was provided with the right background and opportunity to learn these things, but their importance was not impressed upon him. He could get away with not knowing them while in school, and the smugness on his face showed that he hardly cares about them even today.

It is the collective responsibility of us - those who know, and know that they know, and care about what they know - to create an environment where the others would also at least care to know.

...

Just a night before I came across this video, I got to spend some quality time with a group of youngsters, who probably lie at the other end of the youth spectrum with respect to awareness and the desire for awareness.

We had an intense group discussion session, and like any discussion amongst peers, it often digressed from the main thread, touching the skies of hypothetical situations here and delving into the oceans of philosophy there, but mainly centered around this theme:

- one of the major problems of our country is mindlessly mimicking the west
- this mainly emerges out of enormous ignorance of our own culture
- no 'saviour' will come and change this situation for us: we have to do it
ourselves.

...

When I said, 'It is the collective responsibility of us to create a good environment', by 'us' I essentially meant these and countless such youth across the nation, who, well, can !

Slogans

Conservation of the eco-system is turning out to be more challenging than ever. In time-management lingo, it is both important and urgent.

Many NGOs, government departments etc are using catchy slogans to emphasize the importance of saving water, electricity and other resources.

A sure way of attracting people towards any movement is to use catchy one-liners, phrases or slogans that carry the essence of the problem and appeal the audience on a very personal level.

Recently heard a couple of such slogans which are bound to bind the youth to the movement (source unknown):
1. "ped ke upar prem karo, ped ke neeche nahi"
2. "How would you feel if someone just turned you on and left? ... Save Electricity!"

I am sure you will definitely think twice before leaving a fan/light/tap on after reading this...

चहास्तोत्रम्

आमचे परम मित्र श्री. निनाद साने यांनी नुकतेच मला एक महाबलशाली 'चहास्तोत्र' पाठविले. त्या स्तोत्राची महत्ता लगेचच पटल्याने त्या स्तोत्राचे रचयित्यास मनोमन नमन केले. तेव्हा श्रीवागीश्वरीने प्रसन्न होऊन अस्मादिकांकडून त्या स्तोत्राची फलश्रुती लिहून घेतली. आमच्या या कृतीचा वाचक सुहास्यवदनाने स्वीकार करतील, असा विश्वास आहे.
ते स्तोत्र व फलश्रुती येथे देत आहे. सर्वांनी लवकरात लवकर हे स्तोत्र कंठस्थ करून त्याचे विधिवत् पठण करावे व चहामृत-रूपी फलाची प्राप्ती करून घ्यावी, ही नम्र विनंती.








विद्यार्थी लभते डिप्-डिप्, धनार्थी लभते फुकट् |
आरोग्यार्थी-कृते गवती, मधुमेही शुगरफ्री मधुर् || १‌ ||
चहास्तोत्रम् महासिद्धम् प्रातर्नित्यम् पठन्ति ये |
न तद्-कृते दिनारम्भम् विना-चाहं युगे युगे || २ ||
सायं-प्रातः पठेन्यस्तु, लभेत् सदा आसाम-चहा |
त्रिसंध्यं यः पठेत् चापः, इच्छाचाही तु सः भवेत् || ३ ||
भावार्थ‌:
१. विद्यार्थ्याला डिप्-डिप् चहा, पैशाची चिन्ता करणार्याला फुकट, चांगल्या आरोग्याची कामना करणाऱ्याला गवती चहा, तर मधुमेही मनुष्याला शुगरफ्री साखरेचा पण गोड चहा, या स्तोत्राच्या पठणाने मिळतो.
२. हे महासिद्ध असे चहास्तोत्र जे रोज सकाळी म्हणतील, अनेकानेक युगांपर्यंत त्यांचा दिनारंभ चहाविना होणार नाही (रोज सकाळी उठल्यावर चहा नक्की मिळेल).
३. जो सकाळ-संध्याकाळ पठण करेल, त्याला सदैव आसाम चहा मिळेल. जो चाप (= चहा पिणारा) दिवसातून तीन वेळा हे स्तोत्र म्हणेल, तो 'इच्छाचाही' (=इच्छा करताच चहा प्राप्त करणारा) बनेल.

Khan you answer these questions ?

Craze of movies and cricket in India (it's not much different in other countries, either) is at such a level that we idolize a good performer, and forget to keep his personal life and screen-/field-life separate. Both the fans and bashers end up loving/attacking their movie/game based on their opinion of the person.

The reason I am writing all this is, currently Shah Rukh Khan is under criticism for his comments about Pakistan and a political party has decided to take out their anger on his movie, My Name is Khan.
I distaste their way of protests, but I am equally apprehensive of his fans blindly ignoring the actual issue, saying "Yeh shivsena waalo ko to bahaana chahiye rada karne ko.." Although their way may be wrong, the issue can't be just ignored.

Various questions are raised about SRK's comments on Pakistan and related issues in recent times. Most of them are summarized in a long-but-a-well-written open-letter by Arindam Bandyopadhyay at http://www.blogs.ivarta.com/Open-letter-Mr-Shahrukh-Khan-SRK/blog-348.htm.

I hope Mr. Khan answers these questions soon, so that we can make a well-informed opinion about this great actor, but probably an irresponsible 'idol'.

---

PS: As shivsena started attacking theaters, Maharashtra government deployed several of its policemen to guard them. Then the blasts in Pune, killing 9 innocent people, occurred. Some gtalk/orkut/facebook/buzz comments said:
1. When 40 Police person will protect one movie theater and 13K police will protect one Rajkumar then why we are so much surprised about Pune bomb blast! It's almost expected.
2. Deputy CM:-We had intelligence report about the possible terror attacks'. (Haaaa..Ha..I guess, they must have read it as 'theatre' attacks)

खारवेल: सुनीतिमान् !

देशाच्या खऱ्या शत्रूला विसरून स्वकीयांशीच लढणाऱ्या स्वार्थी, अ-दूरदर्शी राजनेत्यांना सुनीतिमान् खारवेल राजाचे स्मरण सद्बुद्धी देवो.

लोकसत्ता १० फेब्रुवारी
"कथासार"
खरा शत्रू कोण ?
http://www.loksatta.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46477:2010-02-09-15-05-46&catid=61:2009-07-20-04-02-48&Itemid=74#JOSC_TOP


मगध देशाचा राजा सम्राट अशोकने कलिंग देशावर स्वारी करून कलिंगवासीयांचा पराभव केला. या युद्धात कलिंग देशाचे अतोनात नुकसान झाले. त्यामुळे कलिंगवासीयांमध्ये मगध साम्राज्याविषयी विलक्षण चीड निर्माण झाली. कालांतराने कलिंग देशावर खारवेल नावाचा राजा सत्तेवर आला. तो अतिशय पराक्रमी होता. मगध साम्राज्याला धडा शिकविण्यासाठी तो अतिशय उत्सुक होता. त्याप्रमाणे त्याने संपूर्ण तयारी करून मगध देशावर आक्रमण करायचे ठरविले. मात्र त्याचवेळी त्याला कळले की, ग्रीकचा राजा डेमेट्रीअस हादेखील प्रचंड सेना घेऊन मगध देशावर स्वारी करणार आहे. एका दृष्टीने खारवेलाला अनुकूल ठरणारी अशीच ही गोष्ट होती. परंतु खारवेलने अधिक विचार केला असता त्याच्या असे निदर्शनास आले की, शेवटी ग्रीकचा राजा डेमेट्रीअस हा परकीय आहे आणि मगधचा राजा आपलाच देशबांधव आहे आणि आपला देशबांधव हा शत्रू असला तरी त्याच्या पराभवासाठी परकीय शत्रूला मदत करणे उचित ठरणार नाही.
इकडे राजा डेमेट्रीअसलाही खारवेल मगध देशावर स्वारी करणार असल्याचे वृत्त समजले होते. एका बाजूने खारवेल व दुसऱ्या बाजूने आपण चाल करून गेलो तर मगध देशाचा लगेचच पाडाव होईल, अशी स्वप्ने डेमेट्रीअस पाहत होता.
परंतु खारवेलने आपला निर्णय ऐनवेळी बदलला व मगध देशावर स्वारी करण्याऐवजी तो डेमेट्रीअस राजावरच चालून गेला. डेमेट्रीअसला हे जेव्हा कळले की, खारवेल आपला आधीचा निर्णय बदलून आपल्यावरच चाल करून येत आहे तेव्हा तो घाबरला. कारण त्याला खारवेलचा पराक्रम माहीत होता आणि तो अक्षरश: भारतातून पळून गेला. त्यानंतर कोणत्याही ग्रीक राजाने भारताकडे वाकडी नजर केली नाही. त्याला कारणीभूत ठरले खारवेलचे देशप्रेम. ‘खरा शत्रू’ कोण हे खारवेलने वेळीच ओळखल्यामुळे परकीय शत्रूपासून मगध राज्याचे संरक्षण झाले.