Saturday, 9 November 2024

Sanatana Dharma Prevailed All Over The World – A Concrete Example

 Sanatana Dharma Prevailed 

All Over The World – A Concrete Example

https://ramamohanraocheruku.blogspot.com/2024/11/sanatana-dharma-prevailed-all-over.html

Unknown to many is the fact that Halloween is actually descended from the ancient Hindu worship of the god of death, Yama, and a festival called as Yamadeepam, held each year on Dhanteras day, which falls roughly in the same week as Halloween.

Since the Vedic calendar is calculated based on the moon, the exact date varies each year, between the last week of October and the first week of November. On this day every house keeps a ghee lamp outside of their front door for Yama (the god of death), and this has eventually transformed over thousands of years into the modern pumpkin jack-o’-lantern light we see today in the west.

Prior to the use of the famous orange pumpkins of today, the Celtic traditions of Ireland were to use turnips and other vegetables to make the lanterns. After carving them, they would place burning embers or a candle inside, and this was supposed to provide light for the deceased spirits to be able to return to the earth during a special time when the veil between the netherworld and earth was thin enough for them to travel – provided they had light to cross the darkness.

In the Vedic tradition, on the day of Dhanteras a sacred lamp is placed in front of the house and kept burning the entire night to please Yama, the God of death. This is also called as Yamadeepam. Following Yamadeepam (which is held on trayadashi, the 13th day of the moon), is Bhuta (“Ghost”) Chaturdashi (also called Naraka (“Hell”) Chaturdashi) where one worships the deceased forefathers. On this day one shows fire lights to guide the souls of the departed back to earth, and delivers them from hell through offering of pinda danam (spiritualized food offerings).

Traditionally special grass reeds are used to make a bonfire, and this is known as ulkahasta or ulkadana. It is believed that this giant bonfire of burning grass reeds will be visible to the spirits of the forefathers and show them the way to come back to earth to visit you.

On this particular day the two worlds become aligned, allowing communication and interaction between the living and the dead – provided they are shown light to cross the vast darkness in between the two realms. This tradition of burning grass reeds for the forefathers still exists and is followed in many villages in India, though people in the larger cities have forgotten it. You can see an example of ulkadana (burning grass reeds for the forefathers) in the video above.

A similar tradition was followed by the Celtic people during a festival known as Samhain, where giant bonfires were lit on the night of October 31st. It is believed that this festival of Samhain later evolved into the modern festival of Halloween. The importance of this festival to the spirits of the forefathers is illustrated by the fact that some Neolithic tombs in Ireland were aligned to the position of the sunrise on the morning of Samhain. During the festival of Samhain the burial mounds were opened, and offerings of food and drink were made to the spirits of the forefathers, just as we offer pinda danam (spiritual food offerings) to the forefathers on the day of Naraka Chaturdasi.

In the Christian religion on November 1st or 2nd they observe “All Souls’ Day”, wherein they pray for the departed souls of the forefathers by lighting candles on their graves and offering food. They also pray for those who are in purgatory for deliverance, similar to Naraka (“Hell”) Chaturdashi, where Hindus deliver their forefathers who may be in hell by offering them sanctified food (pinda danam) after guiding them to it with lights (ghee deepams and burning of grass reeds).

Even the use of the pumpkin and turnip has its origins in Hinduism. White ash gourd deepams (oil lamps) are a traditional offering in South Indian temples, especially for ferocious forms such as Bhairava and various goddesses. The white ash gourd is also used as a type of “bali” (animal sacrifice), offering it in the place of real animals (thereby causing no violence), with the pumpkin often being painted with the face of an asura (demon), and red sindhur smeared after cutting it to represent blood.

The ancient Vedic worship of Yama (the god of death), the forefathers, the spirits, etc., through the offering of sacred ghee lamps and bonfires of grass reeds to guide the spirits of the forefathers, has transformed through thousands of years to become the modern festival of Halloween in the west.

If we look at some of the older rituals of Halloween in various places, there have been the same customs of lighting candles and bundles of hay to guide the dead souls with light, as well as leaving plates of food for the dead relatives. These are the same customs as ulkahasta (burning jute reeds to show light), yamadeepam (keeping a ghee lamp burning in front of your house the entire night), and pinda danam (food offerings for the dead to deliver them from hell) held during the same period by Hindus going back thousands of years. All of this shows that originally in ancient times there was one spiritual culture spread throughout the entire world.

Swasti.


Monday, 21 October 2024

Pushpagiri

 Pushpagiri 

https://ramamohanraocheruku.blogspot.com/2024/10/pushpagiri.html

Pushpagiri is a temple town in Kadapa District of Andhra Pradesh.  It is just a few Kilometers away from Kadapa City.The town lies on the banks of river Penna and is famous for its ancient temples. The main attraction of Pushpagiri is the Chenna Kesava Temple, a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu, which is situated on the other side of the river Penna.

Whatever is the legend if is associated, it is now widely acknowledged that the temple of Sri Vaidyanatheswara has been in this temple complex from at least around 7th Century BCE.

There is a lot of documented history about the Pushpagiri Temple Complex. This is corroborated by various Puranas including the Srisaila Khanda of Skanda Purana and Sriranga Mahatmya of Garuda Purana The place was said to be mentioned in the Valmiki’s Sundarakanda chapter of Ramayana.

snake sacrifice, King Janamejaya performed a pilgrimage to the South India and in the process visited Pushpagiri. The hamlet of Chintalapatturu has an inscription in old Tamil that talk about the pilgrimage of King Janamejaya.

The kings and rich people erected many temples here as there was an ancient belief that building a temple in this place would bring them prosperity. And hence nearly hundred and one temples adorned Pushpagiri in ancient times.

About 10 kilometres from the confluence of Papagni and Pinakini rivers, there used to be an ashram of Agastya Maharishi. Sage Agastya after crossing the Vindhya mountains, vowed not to return to stop the range from growing in competition with Himalayas. While the sage himself stayed in the South, his disciples installed a Linga in the nearby place and left for the Ganges plains. The temple for the Linga came to be called after the great saint Agastya as Sri Agastheeswara Swamy temple.

also called as Pushpagiri Peetam, which is said to have been established by Aadhi Sankaracharya, a renowned Hindu Saint, to promote his philosophy of Advaita. This is only Advaita Mutt in Andhra Pradesh. Another interesting thing, Sri Jagadguru Aadi Sankaracharaya Swamy installed Sri Chakra Yantra here.

There are various Legends being told here about temple history. According to one story, When Garuda carrying Amrutham (Necter) from Indra Loka , a drop fell down and turned into a holy theertha. Power of this theertha came to know when a farmer in distress tried to suicide by jumping into this theertha and found himself turned into young man. He then made his wife and oxen to take dip in this theertha and they all regained their youth. When the news of the theertha reached Satya Loka (Braham Loka), Brahma worried about its existence and sought help from Lord Maha Vishnu and Lord Siva. Lord Siva ordered Lord Hanuman to drop a mountain on top of it. Astonishingly, the mountain started floating instead of sinking. Then Lord Vishnu and Siva clamped their feet at it’s side so that mountain will not float again. Imprints of Lord Vishnu and Siva can be seen here. The foot print of Siva became famous as Rudra Padam and Maha Vishnu as Vishnu Padam.


Another legend claims that during the time of Treta Yuga, Lord Rama worshipped Lord Vaidyanatheswara here and the flowers used in the process have accumulated so high that a flowery mound is established and hence the name Pushpagiri.


And the story of Hanuman bringing Sanjeeva mountain and a flower petal from mountain felling in to the lake here and got sanctified is also widely popular.

The temple complex covers an approximate area of 7.5 square kilometres. There is lush greenery surrounding the hamlets that include in the temple complex with crops watered from the rain as well as the river year round. Despite the hot tropical summers in the region, there is always water in the area due to the underwater level butted by the river. During the rainy season, the area is quite a sight for the beholders. The river Pinakini flows from west to east, changing its course towards the south at Pushpagiri and soon after the hamlet of Sivalapalle, the river changes its course again to travel east finally opening into the sea in Nellore District.

Pushpagiri temple complex has hundreds of  varieties of inscriptions ranging a wide range of periods. Various kings, rulers and local chieftains that ruled the area have endowed the temple complex with grants and monuments.  In the year 991 CE, Trailokya Malla Raju has noticed that the main idol of the Chennakesava Swamy temple was in a dilapidated situation and has undertaken a restoration work. An inscription to this effect is visible on the temple walls. A stepped route from the river to the temple has also been built during this time. The inscription has been written in old Kannada and Tamil scripts. In the year 1509 CE, as soon as Krishna Deva Raya was instilled on throne at Vijayanagara, he has presented the village of Chinnamachupalle to Pushpagiri Chennakesava Swamy temple A Kannada inscription to this effect has been found in the village of Chinnamachupalle


The architectural styles of the Pushpagiri temple complex range from the age of Ikshvakus to the modern chieftains that subordinated to the kings of Vijayanagara empire. To name a few, it has remnants of the past belonging to Ikshvakus, Pallavas, Cholas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Vaidumbas, Kayasthas and Vijayanagara empires.


The sculptures and carving on the outer walls are marvellous, Dancing statues with 8 hands, Sri Yoga Narasimha Swamy , Nataraja Swamy, Family of Siva with Vahanams, Bhakta Kanappa, Vishnu forms, Krishna preaching Gita to Arjuna, Mahisasura mardini,  and many more interesting carvings on the outer walls.


Long before the struggle between Shaivites and Vaishnavites started, there was a sense of communal harmony amongst the people of Cuddapah district, especially those in the Pushpagiri region, It is evident from a variety of undamaged structures in the region that have stood side by side with no vandalism instigated by the various communal philosophies. The Vaishnavaite temple of Chennakesava and the temples surrounding it are of Indranatha, Bhimeswara, Trikuteswara and Vaidyanatheswara.


The pilgrim centre brims with devotees during Sivarathri and Vaikuntha Ekadasi.

In 2012, The suspension bridge of 285 metres length and 2.50 metres width, estimated to cost Rs. 5 crore, was approved by the State government under the Heritage Tourism Circuit programme from Sri Kamakshi Vaidyanatha Swamy temple on the banks of Pennar river to Sri Lakshmi Chennakesava Swamy temple on the other bank. But we can clearly see that there is no sign of any work of it with is very shameful.

SWASTI.


Monday, 19 August 2024

A tribute to my wife

A Tribute to My Wife

https://ramamohanraocheruku.blogspot.com/2024/08/a-tribute-to-my-wife.html


 This is the feeling from the core of my heart about my WIFE

(Try To Read If You Find Time and don't be carried away by my jokes)

I am the body she is the soul

Who plays main role my life as a whole

She is my wife

For my miseries she is the knife

She rules over me without commanding armies

She can wound and heart me without swords and arms

But she loves me to the core and on me showers it more and more

Her smile is a boon and weep is a typhoon

I can't bear her tiff but titter

She is my everlasting spring weather

Spell bound I stare at her face

That always glows in innocent grace

She is the fret of my guitar

Guiding me to press the string of life

To give sweet sound reminding me the raport

And only shrill noise without such support

She is the source of water and light

For my garden to my delight

She craved for my progress and prosperity

Always and all along with the almighty

She is not a lady of shapes and curves

And never makes sudden swerves

How can I equate her with a lean Lilly

She is my rose actually

Taking me out of the den

And making me enjoy the fragrance of the garden

Like light to the sun and flight to the bird

Let me be the meaning of her every word

I promise and swear to God above

I adore her always with my pure love

Nothing she asked except children

For which I took twenty years to run

To her I gave grief and agony

In lieu of jewels and money 

Still she loves and lives for me

Even in dreams I was never her enemy

children are her priority 

I come under minority

But never she shows any superiority

She is a  lady with all veracity 

She loves all and loved by all

They help at her beck and call

She is, she is my guarding wall

If she not there I will spall (breaking into pieces)

From her I draw all the yare (liveliness)

Without her my life is a night mare

Here or there, for that matter any where

With her I want a berth to share

CHERUKU RAMA MOHAN RAO

Tuesday, 6 August 2024

 

THIS IS HOW WE HAVE TO BE

 

THIS IS HOW YOU HAVE TO BE

https://ramamohanraocheruku.blogspot.com/2024/08/this-is-how-we-have-to-be-this-is-how.html

Please read carefully and relate with our life....you may enjoy more...

1) Heavy rains remind us of challenges in life. Never ask for a lighter rain. Just pray for a better umbrella.That is attitude.

2) When flood comes, fish eat ants & when flood recedes, ants eat fish.Only time matters. Just hold on, God gives opportunity to everyone!...

3) Life is not about finding the right person, but creating the right relationship, it's not how we care in the beginning, but how much we care till ending.

4) Some people always throw stones in your path. It depends on you what you make with them, Wall or Bridge? Remember you are the architect of your life.

5) Every problem has (n+1) solutions, where n is the number of solutions that you have tried and 1 is that you have not tried. That’s life.

6) It is not important to hold all the good cards in life. But it’s important how well you play with the cards which you hold.

7) Often when we lose all hope & think this is the end, God smiles from above and says, `Relax dear it’s just a bend. Not the end'. Have Faith and have a successful life.

😎 When you feel sad, to cheer up just go to the mirror and say, `Damn I am really so cute` and you will overcome your sadness. But don’t make this a habit because liars go to hell.

9) One of the basic differences between God and human is, God gives, gives and forgives. But human gets, gets, gets and forgets. Be thankful in life!

10) Only two types of persons are happy in this world. First is Mad and second is Child. Be Mad to achieve what you desire and be a Child to enjoy what you have achieved.

 

Swasti.

Thursday, 4 July 2024

 

KARMA - ACTION

 https://ramamohanraocheruku.blogspot.com/2024/07/karma-action-spare-little-time-and.html

Spare a little time and think for a while about action(Karma). Don't you feel that 'Action' is the insignia of life. Can you think of a fraction of a second yourself abstaining from any sort of action? Impossible. For that matter even remaining static is also an 'action'.

We can compare action with water of a perennial 'Ganga' river which will not laze till culminates into the sea. No impediments,no hindrances, no hurdles can stop its floe till it reaches its destination viz. the sea. So many impurities join with it. Still it remains pure. It has a purpose and it will not rest till it attains its resolution or commitment. That should be the attitude. The more the brisk your the more perfection you get in your action.

Having come into the world with somany 'Vasanas' and various permutations and combination of 'Trigunas(Satwa,Rajas,Tamas)'

we are destined to do our KARMAS good or bad. The control and concentration of our MANAS can help us move in the right direction. This can be attained by YOGA(Not the one on which we spend thousands or lakhs of rupees for want of health,beauty or tranquility.) It is a sincere effort to connect 'Self' to God.

Instead if you want remain as water in a pond with less action or no action, sooner or later you will become filthy,dirty coupled with foul smell. A stagnant water personifies inert, static or actionless person who is useful neither to himself nor to the society.

Bhagwan in Gita says:

na hi kascit ksanam api

jatu tisthaty akarma-krt

karyate hy avasah karma

sarvah prakrti-jair gunaih (Chapter3- Shloka5)

All men are forced to act helplessly according to the impulses born of the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment.

Hence let us dedicate to do good.

 

Swasti.

Saturday, 8 June 2024

Maha Nirvanatantra On Duties Of Parents Towards Children

 

Duties towards Parents, children, and things in general (MAHANIRVANATANTRA)

https://ramamohanraocheruku.blogspot.com/2024/06/duties-towards-parents-children-and.html

No one should retire from the world who has an old father or mother, a devoted and chaste wife, or young and helpless children (8:17).

He who becomes an ascetic, leaving mothers, fathers, infant children, wives, agnates and cognates, is guilty of a great sin (8:18).AGNATES: Relations whose chain of relationship to the propositus  (A person to whom descendants are commonly related.) can be traced uninterruptedly through males. in other words: Agnates is a relation, who is related to the deceased wholly through MALES. For Example: son, Son's son, Son's son's son, son's daughter, farther's mother. there must be a male in the start of each line of relation. Hence, it will be held as Agnates. COGNATES: The relations in which , when a person id related with the deceased through one or more female link, the relation is said to be as COGNATES. For Example: daughter's son, sister's son, sister's daughter.

He who  without first satisfying the need of his own parents and relatives and make them mendicants, is as good as owning  the sins of killing his father and mother, a woman, and a Brahmana (8:19).

A householder should not tell an untruth, or practice deceit, and should ever be engaged in the worship of the Devatas and guests (8:24).

Regarding his father and mother as two visible incarnate deities, he should ever and by every means in his power serve them (8:25).

According to their requirements, one should offer seats, beds, clothes, drink, and food to mother and father. They should always be spoken to in a gentle voice, and their children’s demeanour should ever be agreeable to them. The good son who ever obeys the behests of his mother and father hallows the family (8:28-8:29).

If one desires one’s own welfare, all arrogance, mockery, threats, and angry words should be avoided in the parents’ presence (8:30).

The son who is obedient to his parents should, out of reverence to them, bow to them and stand up when he sees them, and should not take his seat without their permission (8:31).

Even if the vital breath (Prana) were to reach his throat, the householder should not eat without first feeding his mother, father, son, wife, guest, and brother (8:33).

*The man who, to the deprivation of his elders and equals, fills his own belly is despised in this world, and goes to Hell in the next (8:34).

*The householder should cherish his wife, educate his children, and support his kinsmen and friends. This is the supreme eternal duty (8:35).

The body is nourished by the mother. It originates from the father. The kinsmen, out of love, teach. The man, therefore, who forsakes them is indeed vile (8:36).

For their sake should a hundred pains be undergone. With all one’s ability they should be pleased. This is the eternal duty (8:37).

These are all things to read keeping mind and sole on it. Hence read thoroughly and then click a like if you like.

Tomorrow we will consider the duties of the householder towards wife,children, and things in general

 

Swasti.

Sunday, 19 May 2024

GRAVITY

 


GRAVITY

https://ramamohanraocheruku.blogspot.com/2024/05/gravity-one-of-countrys-leading.html

One of the country’s leading scientists and former ISRO chairman, G Madhavan Nair, today propounded the theory that some shlokas in the Vedas mention the presence of water on the moon, and that astronomy experts like Aryabhatta knew about gravitational force much before Issac Newton.

The 71-year-old Padma Vibhushan awardee said the Indian Vedas and ancient scriptures also had information on metallurgy, algebra, astronomy, maths, architecture and astrology way before the western world knew about them.

Speaking at an international conference on Vedas, he however, added that the information in vedas was in a “condensed format”, which he said made it difficult for modern science to accept it.

“Some shlokas in one of the Vedas say that there is water on the moon but no one believed it. Through our Chandrayaan mission, we could establish that and we were the first ones to find that out,” Mr Nair said, adding that everything in the Vedas could not be understood as they were in chaste Sanskrit.

He also talked very highly about fifth century astronomer-mathematician Aryabhatta, saying, “We are really proud that Aryabhatta and Bhaskara have done extensive work on planetary work (sic) and exploration of outer planets. It was one of the challenging fields,” said Mr Nair.

“Even for Chandrayaan, the equation of Aryabhatta was used. Even the (knowledge of) gravitational field… Newton found it some 1500 years later… the knowledge existing (in our scriptures),” he added.

Mr Nair, who was ISRO chairman from 2003 to 2009, also claimed geometry was used to make calculations for building cities during the Harappan civilisation and that the Pythagorean theorem also existed since the Vedic period.

Mr Nair’s come against the backdrop of many BJP leaders talking about ancient Indian scriptures having scientific information, including on plastic surgery and aero-dynamics.

“The Vedas had a lot of information in the field of space and atomic energy. We were fine until 600 BC. Then came the time of invasions till Independence. Since then, we are growing. We deciphered the atoms for peaceful use,” Mr Nair said.

While serving in ISRO, Mr Nair had made significant contributions to the development of multi-stage satellite launch vehicles.

“As a scientist, I would say that the computations evolved those days were really fantastic. The Vedanga Jyotisa (one of the earliest books on astronomy) is one of the texts, which is evolved in 1400 BC… this is all recorded,” he said.

“These are the fundamental findings which the Western world did not have any knowledge of. The only drawback was this information was condensed to bullet form and the modern science does not accept this. And to read the Vedas, one must also know Sanskrit,” Mr Nair added.

Swasti,

Friday, 10 May 2024

Sin of Being Born a King

 

Sin of Being Born a King

https://ramamohanraocheruku.blogspot.com/2024/05/sin-of-being-born-king.html

Once the Maharaja of Mysore visited the Ashram. He would not visit Bhagavan in the Hall and asked for a private interview. We were perplexed, for Bhagavan never allowed such a thing. Whatever had to be said was said in public, by letter, or in the mind. Finally, it was decided to bring the Maharaja in when Bhagavan was having his bath. The Maharaja entered the bathroom and we were all standing outside. Trays and trays of costly presents and all kinds of sweets and dainties were offered at Bhagavan's feet. For ten minutes the Maharaja just stood looking and then prostrated before Bhagavan. Tears flowing from his eyes actually made Bhagavan's feet wet. He sobbed for some time and went away.

A few days later the Maharani of Travancore also came to the Ashram. When Bhagavan was sitting alone in the dining hall after lunch, I asked him: "The Maharani was here. What did she do?"

"She asked many questions and went away."

"And the Maharaja of Mysore?"

"Oh, he is a ripe fruit," said Bhagavan, and with great feeling he re-enacted the scene. We could almost see the Maharaja's eagerness, his humility and sadness. The Maharaja had told him: "They made me a Maharaja and bound me to a throne. For the sin of being born a king I lost the chance of sitting at your feet and serving in your glorious presence. I cannot stay here and I do not hope to come again. Only these few minutes are mine. I can only pray for your grace."

Swasti.

 

 

Friday, 2 February 2024

Inclusivity _ Hindu phobia

 

 

Inclusivity _ Hindu phobia

Inspired by Sri   Sreemoy Talukdar

https://ramamohanraocheruku.blogspot.com/2024/02/inclusivity-hindu-phobia.html

When the prime minister spoke of 22 January not as a date on a calendar but ‘Nava Kalachakra’ (the origin of a new time cycle) in his address after the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of Ram Lalla, he set the tone for an epochal shift in India’s journey to modernity. This is a seismic shift.

The Ram Mandir at Ayodhya marks the formal end to India’s somnambulist existence forced by the post-colonial ‘idea of India’ that Hindus must devalue their faith, curb all overt expressions and refrain from cultural nationalism to keep the compact with the minorities, especially Muslims, who faced no such restrictions. It was the reflexive response of a defeated people who justified their defeatist mindset with moral posturing.

The suppression of Hindu pride and heritage as a necessary condition for nation-buildingthat formed the core of Nehruvian consensuscould be an elitist construct imposed from the top by leaders far removed from the people they represent, or the long-term trauma caused by the destruction of a civilization and the intergenerational wounds of repeated invasions, layers of cruelty, brutal wars, colonialism, and Partition.

Whatever the framing, it deadened the nation’s soul. As VS Naipaul wrote in a 1997 article for India Today, “What happened (Arab and Turkic invasions of India) from 1000 A.D. on, really, is such a wound that it is almost impossible to face. Certain wounds are so bad that they can’t be written about. You deal with that kind of pain by hiding from it. You retreat from reality.”

With the return of Prabhu Shri Ram, a lightning rod for a simultaneous civilizational, cultural, and religious revival, that defeatism is now over. The chakra of ‘Amrit Kaal’ now rolls towards a reinvigorated civilisational state where the arc won’t demand temporal, religious and cultural deracination from its majority population but a modernity compatible and comfortable with India’s core Hindu identity.

With the building of the glorious Ram Mandir at the birthplace of Ram Lalla and Pratishtha (instillation) of Pran (life) into the murti, we have a new tryst with destiny where voices ‘from the below’, as subaltern studies would frame it, have finally forced decolonisation of the Hindu mind and the decolonisation of the Hindu civilisation, leading to contemporaneous India reconnecting with the Sanatan idea of Bharatvarsh.

And this transformation, as Narendra Modi described on Monday, will take place under the aegis of Prabhu Shri Ram who stands not just as the symbol of the awakening of Hindu consciousness and the liberation of Bharat from centuries of ‘slave mentality’, but also as a marker for nation-building and good governance. As he said, Prabhu Shri Ram isn’t the problem, but the solution.

In this Bharat which arises from the churn and the turn of the ‘kaalchakra’, Hindus take pride, sagacity and inspiration from their past as legatees of a high civilization and replace their passivity with reaffirmation of their religiosity and nationalism.

They are no longer ashamed, fearful or guilt-tripped to cry Jai Shri Ram, or Siyavar Ramchandra Ki Jai and announce the fact that their Gods are not remote figures to be prayed to and feared from a distance but devatas who lie at the centre stage of our lives, on different planes of consciousness, and move at ease between the philosophical abstraction and intellectualism of the Vedas and Vedantas as well as the mundane routines of existence through nitya (daily) pujas, sadhanas, and rituals.

To the question on inter-community relations in such an India, the answer is clear. A nation that emerges from such a praxis exercised by its majority population won’t be at war with itself, but, as the prime minister pointed out, it will be a nation which is “samarth, saksham, divya and bhavya (capable, empowered, divine and grand)” because the tolerance that western nation-states aspire for in the name of ‘secularism’ is baked into the pluralistic Indic faiths that together form the mosaic of Hinduism. Ram Rajya, or the ideal that Bharat aspires for, is inclusive and sees unity in diversitythe eternal nature of Sanatan dharma.

A state where the majority of its people are dharmic is naturally inclusive. This is not a blank assertion. At a moment of great significance and joy for the majority Hindu population that has been made to wait for five centuries to see their Ram Lalla return at his birthplace, Prime Minister Modi and RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat sent out messages of pragmatism, humility, inclusiveness, and nation-building.

The prime minister reminded us that “today’s occasion is not only a moment of celebration; it is also a moment of realisation of the maturity of Indian society. This is not only an opportunity of victory but also of humility.”

The prime minister then sought to define what Ram means for Bharat and how the divinity of Prabhu Shri Ram shapes the ethos of this civilization. He started by saying that “the construction of this temple of Ramlalla is also a symbol of peace, patience, mutual harmony and coordination of Indian society. We are seeing that this construction is not giving birth to any fire, but to energy. The Ram mandir has inspired every section of society to move forward on the path of a bright future. Ram is not fire, Ram is energy. Ram is not a dispute; Ram is a solution. Ram is not just ours; Ram belongs to everyone. Ram is not only present, Ram is eternal.”

The reconstruction of Ram Mandir, once destroyed by the sword of a fenatic invader, is also a reconstruction and reimagining of the new ‘idea of India.’ In a breathtaking bit of oratory, Modi said, “Ram is the faith of India, Ram is the foundation of India. Ram is the idea of India; Ram is the law of India. Ram is the consciousness of India; Ram is the thinking of India. Ram is India’s esteem; Ram is India’s glory. Ram is flow, Ram is effect. There is Ram neeti, Ram is eternal, and continuity. Ram is vibhuvivid, all-pervasive, the world, the universal soul. Hence, when Ram is revered, its impact does not last for years or even centuries. It lasts till the world exists.”

He urged the Indians to “take a pledge that we will dedicate every moment of our lives to nation building. Our worship of Lord Shri Ram should be special. It should rise above the self.” There can hardly be a message more inclusive.

Before the prime minister came to the podium, the RSS chief struck a note of caution amid the collective euphoria when he said, “in Ram Rajya, we will have to stop fighting over petty issues. We must move forward with truth, compassion, wisdom, discipline, and charity. Ram Rajya will come by giving up greed and by staying disciplined.”

Now, imagine for a moment the magnitude of the occasion and the solemn messages sent by two of the most powerful leaders in India. There are ample historical evidences of Mughal emperor Babur’s deliberate vandalism, who erected the Babri mosque over the remnants of a Hindu temple that formed one of the most sacred sites for Hindusthe birthplace for Ram Lalla. In fact, Babur didn’t want to hide his ‘feat’.

Historians such as Meenakshi Jain have painstakingly provided archival references and historical accounts in her book ‘The Battle For Rama’ (Case of the Temple at Ayodhya), that Babri mosque was built over Ram’s janmasthan, which gave the mosque its moniker Masjid-i-Janmasthan.

These are indisputable facts. Far from seeking to conceal these realities, the Muslim invaders sought to make it a public spectacle to humiliate the Hindus by desecrating the sanctity of their holiest sites. It was a celebratory move, a mark of authority and domination for the invaders and subjugation for the Hindu population who were defeated and coerced into silence, stopped from praying at the site where their deity was born. A hypothetical equivalent could be Hindu invaders destroying the holiest of Muslim sites and erecting a temple on that spot. We all know, of course, that no such thing has ever happened.

As Naipaul had once said in an interview for Outlook, the vandalisms “speak of the triumph of the faith, the destruction of idols and temples, the loot, the carting away of the local people as slaves, so cheap and numerous that they were being sold for a few rupees. The architectural evidencethe absence of Hindu monuments in the northis convincing enough. This conquest was unlike any other that had gone before. There are no Hindu records of this period. Defeated people never write their history. The victors write the history. The victors were Muslims. For people on the other side, it is a period of darkness.”

How did the Hindus react? In the culmination of a struggle that lasted nearly 500 years, the Hindus waged a legal battle to reconstruct a temple at the site where the mosque stood as a mark of their slavery, dishonour and betrayal of faith. Once independent and post-Partition, they could have simply built a temple with an administrative decree, as Erdogan did while demolishing the museum at Hagia Sophia and converting it into a mosque at the stroke of a pen.

The Hindus waited patiently for centuries, and when an uprising from the below flattened the mosque, they waited some more for the legal verdict to come their way. It is difficult to think of any country which has over 80% Christians or Muslims battling it out at the judicial halls, citing evidence after evidence, with its political class looking to stall a verdict at every opportunity, to earn the legal right to pray to their deity at their own homeland. The verdict that eventually swung it in favour of Hindus also ruled that a new mosque would be built at a land nearby. If this isn’t fairness, what is? If this isn’t tolerance, what is?

It is difficult to reconcile this reality with the disgraceful propaganda being projected by the western media outlets such as the New York Times, CNN or Guardian that have come out with alarmist takes reeking of bad faith arguments and blatant falsehoods that would have put even Joseph Goebbels or Chinese state media to shame.

Written in censorious tones, these articles cast doubt on indisputable facts, challenge every Hindu assertion as dubious, make a mockery of the Supreme Court verdict, and paint Muslims as the perennial victims crying out for justice under the yoke of a dictatorial Hindu nationalist regime that is dragging India back to the middle ages.

The articles are too many to be shared here, and too ridiculous to be individually rebutted. Every sham trope is used to denigrate Indians and their democratic choices, and a painstaking effort is made to portray the Hindus as a savage race with stereotypical, racist imagery thrown inthe “dirt poor natives”, gullible and stupid, led by deceitful godmen and power-hungry leaders.

Such is the folly of the West that it finds fault with Hindus for the “crime” of looking at its past with pride. The root of this folly lies in the otherisation of the Pagan way of living, looking at this country, this civilization as one that needs to be “saved and brought into the light”.

This casting of Hinduism as a barbaric, antediluvian, primaeval faith that is unfit for modern civilization, whose people must be rescued from themselves, is not explicitly stated but the subtext is clear in each of these piecesrevealing monotheistic imperialism that cannot quite fathom the rise of a proud, Pagan civilization that worships strange gods, animals, stones and trees. All the progress of semiconductor microchips and F35 stealth fighter jets cannot mask the subliminal colonial impulse. But not for long.

The West will eventually realise that Bharat’s rise will be on its own terms, and nothing like the West. It won’t resemble the malevolent, resentful, aggressive revanchism of China, but it won’t be a western appendage either.

In due course of time, Bharat will establish its own praxis, an order based on the rule it creates, and to truly understand Bharat, the West will need to get rid of its glasses. The West will need to show the humility and curiosity of a student. And since Bharat is a democracy and unencumbered by the language barrier that makes China a dark, brooding, opaque power, our rise will be cacophonous, chaotic and yet transparent.

There will be pushbacks to insidious narratives, framing that seeks to exploit its fault lines will be called out. Decoloniality will have to be redefined. Dogs may bark, but can not stop the Elephant from the mejestic walk.

Swasthi.

 

Thursday, 4 January 2024

INAUGURATION OF RAM MANDIR IN AYODHYA

 

INAUGURATION OF RAM MANDIR IN AYODHYA


https://ramamohanraocheruku.blogspot.com/2024/01/inauguration-of-ram-mandir-in-ayodhya.html

The Ram Mandir movement wasn’t just a movement for any temple. It was a struggle for a temple at Janmabhoomi of Lord Ram, who is India’s identity. Over 3.7 lakh sacrificed their lives for this movement. Then there were years of court cases. … When the legal battle was won, it was decided that a grand temple be built in Ayodhya. It was also decided that the Ram Temple shouldn’t be built by the government or any businessman, (but by the people of India. Srirama is the soul'Tof Bharat. He is the only SARVABHOUMA meaning 'The emperor of the entire Globe'.

As January 22 approaches, an unprecedented fervour grips the nation as we prepare for the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. While all the competitive politics surrounding it, especially in an election year, is inevitable and also insignificant for several of us, a confident expression of hope and faith for a multitude of common Indians who have no overt political or ideological tilts is unmissable.

It is truly an epochal moment when the soul of a civilisation long suppressed seems to be finally finding utterance 75 years after the nation found that voice. Mass prayers and lighting of lamps across temples in cities and villages, marathon chanting sprees, people placing earthen lamps in front of their homes to commemorate the return of Ram from his exileeveryone being that proverbial squirrel that did its tiny bit in building Ram’s ambitious bridge to Lanka.

For the longest time, a Hindu was called upon to look at herself with sheer apologia, and made to believe that we were a rootless civilisation that ran merely on a sterile codification of laws. Every other community in India could proudly wear its identity and faith on their sleeve. But for a Hindu to do so was deemed regressive and communal.

Hindus are hammered with hysterical harangues of them having a disaggregated faith that did not believe in congregationtheir teerth yatras and shahi snaans notwithstanding. Hence their expression of their faith had to be muted. After all, making the minorities comfortable was the only goal of Indian secularism as was perversely practiced. This belief has received a massive jolt with the upcoming inauguration.

Much is known now about the history of the Ayodhya case itself. It is a testimony of 500 years of dogged resilience that Hindus showed to reclaim one of their holiest spaces. Foreign travellers and British administrators, from William Finch, Thomas Herbert, Joseph Tieffenthaler, Robert Montgomery Martin and several others recounted how, despite its destruction by Babar, the shrine received the quiet adoration of devout Hindus.

From the efforts of the Marathas and Nihang Sikhs to numerous litigations that went on in British courts since 1858, the desire to consecrate a grand Ram temple here is not a recent phenomenon. The wealth of literary, historical and legal proofs, as also archaeological evidence that emerged through the Archaeological Survey adds further credence. That it was always called Masjid-e-Janamsthan and not Babri Masjid was a further giveaway as to whose birthplace it was commemorating.

Rest Next..

INAUGURATION OF RAM MANDIR IN AYODHYA - 2

Before we enter into the second episode let us come to know these facts.

When Bollywood music composer and lyricist Ravindra Jain sang ‘Sawa rupaiya de de re bhaiya Ram Shila ke naam ka, Ram ke ghar me lag jayega patthar tere naam ka’ (Contribute Rs1.25 for Ram Shila, a brick in your name will get added to the House of Ram) in the 1980s, little would he have imagined that the whole of India would come together to construct the Ram Mandir 40 years later.

Sex workers in Maharashtra’s Ghatkopar came forward and contributed liberally. Beggars gave away their day’s earnings. Elderly people, some in their 90s and living frugally, gave away chunks of their meagre pensions. Kinnar Samaj hijras participated with gusto. An Adivasi woman borrowed Rs 11 from her neighbour and gave that away.

Leave all the controversies that are flying round as bees around jaggery.

 Hindus had to wait patiently for five centuries and, even after freedom, go through tortuous legal processes to get back what was rightfully theirs. Today, when that cherished dream is being realised, we are asked not to celebrate it too much. In a way, the Ayodhya consecration demolishes for good this very warped Nehruvian idea of India where the ancient had to be eased out and replaced with a new India that had a tenuous connection with its past at best.

The Somnath flashpoint was a case in point where Nehru frowned on the exercise as being Hindu-revivalist and one that would affect his government’s secular image abroad. He even prevailed upon President Rajendra Prasad not to participate in the inauguration. Nehru would have rather restored and given the temple away to the ASI than reinstall the jyotirlinga.

The past was good to be appreciated as a fossilised museum piece, but never as a living tradition. Consequently, Hindu holy sites, especially in North Indiabe it Ayodhya, Kashi, Vrindavan, Prayag, Gaya or Mathuralanguished in utter squalor with no significant infrastructure, sanitation or tourism facilities.

Rest Next…….

INAUGURATION OF RAM MANDIR IN AYODHYA 3 (Last episode)

The biggest irony is that the same ‘secular’ state has no qualms in controlling only Hindu temples and educational institutions. Governments of just 10 states control more than 1,10,000 temples, with the Tamil Nadu temple trusts owning 4,78,000 acres of temple land and controlling 36,425 temples and 56 mutts. All other minority institutions have the rights to own and manage their religious and educational institutions in a secular India. Draconian laws like the Places of Worship Act of 1991 prevents Hindus from even seeking peaceful, legal reclaim of what has been forcibly snatched from them. Which justice-abiding democracy in the world would have such provisions?

Even in Muslim countries, mosques are routinely displaced for mundane needs like widening roads or laying railway lines. But in India, the albatross of secularism always rests on Hindu shoulders. Appropriating the resources of Hindu institutions does not compromise constitutional moralities, but the prime minister inaugurating an iconic temple shatters the ever-fragile warp and weft of our secularism.

The Ayodhya inauguration is also a blow to the pernicious role played by ideologically-driven historians who blatantly lied in court and got away with no repercussions. As K.K. Muhammad, former regional director of ASI, who was part of the Ayodhya survey, reveals that these dubious historians brainwashed the Muslim community, which was conciliatory initially, and instilled false hopes that they would manufacture evidence in their favour.

Unsubstantiated propaganda was passed off as history in several cases, including Kashi Vishwanath, by Congressmen such as Pattabhi Sitaramayya or Bishambhar Nath Pande. Marxist historians such as Gargi Chakravartty and K.N. Panikkar claimed Aurangzeb destroyed the temple not of his own will, but on the advice of Hindu rajas who were outraged by priests molesting the Rani of Kutch. Demonise the Brahmin, undermine Hindu faith, whitewash and act as apologists for Islamic bigots was a clear pattern of Nehruvian secular historiography. This stands delegitimised today.

For a meta-civilisational hero like Ram, who inspires adulation and reverence across nations, be it Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia or Thailand; where art forms, murals, dance dramas are inspired by his life story, to not have a grand temple at his believed birthplace was a national shame. This is being rectified now.

Here is  an exerpt taken from Indian Express:

At the height of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, V.S. Naipaul saw it as “a new, historical awakening” of “Indians becoming alive to their history” and “beginning to understand that there has been a great vandalising of India”. On this momentous occasion, when Ram returns to his birth town from a 500-year exile, commentators looking at this in juvenile binaries of temple versus employment or BJP vs non-BJP are infantilising this genuine civilisational renaissance. India has long slipped from the iron fists of Nehruvians and their assorted elite clubs of courtiers. To wake up to this reality will do them all a tonne of good The New Indian Express, 2 January 2023.

SWASTHI.