(In)decisions

Life, as it seems, is full of contradictions.

There is a moment when you think you are right; the very next moment you have a lot of doubts about it. Seldom it happens that you have a single perception about any idea. So weak our mind is that it keeps flickering at lightening speed on every issue. You feel good now and feel bad the next moment with apparently everything the same. You are always in a state of indecisiveness. The very moment you decide something, you become circumspect and think otherwise. When will the time come when you would become stable?

But, what will we gain if at all it, the mind, becomes stable. Just that, you decide for once and forget it. Eventually, you would lose the essence of life, the ever changing life. As someone summed it up, "Chalti ka naam Gaadi", to change is life. So, if you don't change what you have fixed today, you would defeat the very purpose of life. Being faithful to life, it is our duty to be indecisive.

This may very well be the reason for someone to be so fluctuating. Well, life is not about taking a single decision. It is about going through a journey in which you take countless decisions, affecting you and your surroundings.  And the circumstances won't be the same always. The essence of one's life would be the decisions it takes in different situations.

One may say, it is the way one lives in this world and interacts with their surrounding. There is not a single person whose life is not dependent on another's and not a single person whose life doesn't affect another's. In the journey of life, we have to keep taking decisions always. To take a decision or not is also a decision that we have to take. The collection of all these decisions is the basis of our life. Our life is valued by the impact our decisions or in-decisions have on other's life.

I don't know why or how I wrote down this much and still keep writing. Might be it is because of those (in)decisions that I am taking during last half an hour or so. I would rather stop taking decisions and let life take it own course. Well, I will decide on that. Woof, that is another decision that I took just now.

And I have decided to stop boring you now. Good bye.

Happy New Year

"Wish you a happy new year." - I told my friend. It was sometime in March. He gave me a very astonishing look. He must be thinking that I have gone mad. Keeping his thoughts to himself, he told me that it was already 3 months late for the current year and 9 months early for the next year. I gave him an approving nod and told if we considered the Gregorian calendar, he was indeed correct, but not as per the Indian lunar calendar.

Actually a year corresponds to a calendar. Every calendar has got a start date, so eventually as per every calender, we would have a "Happy New Year's Day". Actually with the wide usage of Gregorian calendar in our day-to-day lives, we have almost forgotten other famous calendars that were prevalent in Bharat and with it we have also failed to appreciate the significance of these calendars. We only remember about these calendars during some festivals. Two of the most famous calendars in Bharat are the lunar calendar starting on the 1st day of the bright half of Chaitra (Chaitra Shukla Pratipada), famously known as Ugadi/Yugadi and the Solar calendar starting on Vishuba Samkranti aka Pana samkranti (mostly on April 14).

Both these calendars are part of our culture and we should try to preserve them. Unlike the Gregorian calendar, these calendars based on the movement of Moon and Sun, who in a way control nature. These calendars also tell us about the position of the various celestial bodies at different points in time. It is a pity that in the process of so-called modernisation, we are losing our own cultural heritage.

New year's day is observed on various different days at various locations in our country. We being part of a big agrarian society put a great importance on the harvest seasons. There are many places where the day after the full moon day in Pausha month (falling sometime in December-January as per Gregorian calendar) is celebrated as the new year's day, traditionally the Pausha-purnima being the last day of harvest season. Similar customs may be found at some other places too.

As for official purposes, there are academic years, financial years etc. too. So for a banker, 1st of April may very well be his "New year's day" and for someone in academics, the first day after the summer break.

Of late, there has been a frenzied hype surrounding the Gregorian new year's day, aka 1st January. It is high time that we also take note of our very own lunar new year's day Ugadi and solar new year's day Pana samkranti.

Wish you all a happy and prosperous year ahead.
(Kali Yugabda - 5112, Vikram Sambat - 2067)

Kaikeyi

In Ramayana, the great sage Valmiki portrays the characters with vivid colours. He beautifully personifies several human characteristics into a character and makes it alive in the viewers' imaginations. One such character is Kaikeyi, which intrigues me a lot. This character has become a household name in Bharat thanks to the repeated usage of it in literary works as the incarnation of jealousy. There are a good number of interesting aspects in her character that applies to each of us in today's world.

As the story goes, the great king of Solar dynasty, Dasaratha decided to crown his eldest son, Rama as the 'Yuvaraja' - the crown prince. Hastily, Dasaratha decided a day when Bharata, Kaikeyi's only son, was away at his maternal uncles' city, thus unable to attend the event. On the day of coronation, Manthara the head maid-servant at Kaikeyi's palace, counselled Kaikeyi with the evil idea of making Bharata the king and banishing Rama from Ayodhya. Kaikeyi succumbed after some time and by virtue of some promises granted to her by the king, succeeded in getting the wishes fulfilled and thereafter created a place for herself as the 'Lady of Jealousy'. Bharata, for whom Kaikeyi earned the infamy, disowned her and surrendered the kingdom back to Rama.

If we go through the earlier chapters of Ramayana, we don't find any blemish on Kaikeyi's character. She is shown loving Rama more than Bharata. There are references in Ramayana where she tells that Rama being the eldest of all deserves to be loved more. Then what happened that corrupted the mind of such a noble lady?

The very seed of jealousy was planted in her heart by Manthara, her closest aid. Manthara, being a native of Bharata's maternal city had greater affinity for Bharata than for Rama. It is quite natural that a servant would do everything that she thinks would benefit her master, though some short-sighted narrow-minded persons fail to see what their master desires. So upon hearing that Rama would be crowned, Manthara came running to Kaikeyi to inform her and to persuade her to put a blockade in this.

As Manthara came telling that Rama was going to be anointed, Kaikeyi was very happy. She had a pure heart till then which rejoiced when heard good about Rama. Even as Manthara was telling how bad it would be when Rama became the king, Kaikeyi was getting happier every time Manthara was telling - "Rama would be the new king". She was filtering out all the useless talk and was solely absorbed in the pleasure of the good news. This was because Kaikeyi loved Rama whole-hearted. This applies to divine worship also. If we have absolute confidence on the Almighty, we would always see his benevolent love in every situation - good or bad - we pass through.

At the same time, when our trust and confidence on a person goes down, we feel that the person might betray us anytime; and Manthara-like counselling aids to that feeling. When Manthara told Kaikeyi that the king had conspired to keep Bharata out of Ayodhya during the coronation and that Bharata's life was in danger, Kaikeyi had the fear setting in. Many a times we fail to see the actual motive and begin judging based on the perceived situations. Even in case of doubt that can be cleared by active discussion we fail to do so and arrive at hasty conclusions. Kaikeyi being the most adorable wife of Dasaratha could have easily spoken to him, but she instead chose to be persuaded and misguided. We fail to see what wrong we might be doing at the current moment for our sight gets veiled through confusions and mistrust. We many times fall into similar traps only to repent later.

Finally what good did Kaikeyi do? Through her actions, whole of the world disliked her and her own son, for whose sake she was dishonoured, disowned her.

There is also an altogether different viewpoint to this whole episode. Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, was reigning havoc in the world. Everyone was very afraid of him. The gods and the sages, worshiped Lord Vishnu to get rid of him and He assured them that He would kill Ravana when He would be born as the prince of Ayodhya, Rama. Rama being an incarnation in human form had to follow the principles of human life and set precedents as an ideal human being. A situation had to be created where he would be going through the hardships of life creating examples for common people to follow. For this reason, we remember Rama - the "Purusha Uttamam" - when we pass through some hardships and take courage and guidance from Him. For the avataar of Rama to succeed, the purest in heart, the noble queen of Dasaratha, Kaikeyi had to become the instrument to twist Rama's journey through to the forests of Chitrakoota and Panchavati. To save the world, Kaikeyi had to sacrifice all her glory.

Valentine's Day

I woke up yesterday morning to the tunes of the Rangoli on DD National channel. The host started the show announcing that it was the day of love as it was Valentine's day. Then as the show went on, she narrated the 'significance' of the day and what lovers ought to do on this day. As the day progressed, there was more and more of Valentine coming up everywhere - news channels, TV shows, restaurants, gift-stores, shops - literally everywhere. It was as if there was nothing that could stay unmoved by the charm of this day. There were live shows where couples were made out of strangers and there were some where couples were forced to do some crazy stuffs for each other.

During bed-time, after all the Valentine affair, I fell into some sort of contemplation. "What after all is this day about? Is it actually a day for love or there is something more it hides? Is it about people in love or by people who want to gain something else out of it?

I could not recall any celebration of Valentine's day in any time before late 90's. There used to be a saint called Valentine in the 15th century somewhere in Europe and there was some related story saying how he went on to officiate the marriage between two love-struck couples. But he was long forgotten. Sometime in late 90's, during the onset of 'Branding' era, he was suddenly made alive. Actually anything in the name of love can be very easily sold. This I have observed even in Hindi movies also - almost 99% of all movies ever made revolve around the basic theory of love. Thus took birth 'Valentine's day'. It started with greeting cards and accessory gifts. I would give Archies and Hallmarks a lot of credit in immortalizing Valentine. The targeted market was the youth who had the desire and ability to spend in the name of love. The youth in turn reciprocated with competitive buying, each trying to outdo the other lover in the amount of money spent in buying gifts. This love fever was to infect the ascetics too. Those who never had the guts/wish to go after the people from other planet were forced to fall into line saying it was the custom with this day and thus this day started becoming the universal day to propose love (to ...) and with it, for some other ugly affairs also.

The potential of this market was slowly tapped by other industries also. Restaurants making exotic arrangements (and of course at higher prices) for this day, gift-stores luring people to buy more and more expensive gifts (as the competition is very tough out there) and many more. The television media was not be left alone, all TV shows, be it news, reality shows, Saas-bahu serials, got into this. The ever-uncreative news-channels also used this avenue to create stories for quite a good number days. Such elaborate was the coverage of some news-channels that it would leave you with the impression that the world didn't exist outside Valentine's day celebrations.

With such corporate trap, I can hardly see anything beyond Valentine on Feb 14.

Responsibility

Responsibility. It is something that we always try to run away from. Time and again, we boast of being able to do a lot of things. We find a lot of problems and deficiencies in the system. We have a lot of suggestions to put action to. We want things to be done in a different way or rather in our way. But when it comes to get into action, when we are required to implement our own ideas, we try to get away from it. The reason, we are afraid of owning up the responsibility.

If we divide the word responsibility, it would mean the 'ability to respond'. On further thought, we may say it is the 'ability to respond to an event in a positive manner so as to fulfil the expectations caused by it'. So owning up the responsibility of some task would mean to respond to all the requirements till the completion of the task.

But the question still remains, why do we fear to own up the responsibility? One obvious reason to me is the fear of failure. We always have our ego in front of us and it gets badly hurt when we fail and thus we never want to fail. Somehow not to fail is more dearer to us that success itself. We may spend whole our life boasting that we have never failed, only to realize that we have never had the exhilarating experience of success. Another reason would be the unfair criticism from other people who don't take up any responsibility either. There are a bunch of people who would shy away from all their responsibilities, yet won't lose a single instance to demonize a failed case. These I would say are the ones who add to our fear of failure. If in our society every sincere effort is appreciated, no matter whether it bears fruit or not, people would be less reluctant to own up responsibility.

If we are not the actor, let us not be the head-less critic also. Let's be responsible.

Secular thoughts !!!

Interesting psychology indeed. When under pressure from all the political parties the PM surrenders to the demands of the terrorists, someone calls him "Soft on terror". At the same time, when every section of the society demands for the execution of a terrorist, the same person defends the terrorist. I believe if you have the guts to say NDA "Soft on terror", then you ought to say the present government "insensitive to terror". 

 

It is said that life imprisonment is better punishment than capital punishment in case of Afzal Guru, may be for Afzal but definitely not for the country. Were you not mentioning about Kandahar just now? What was Kandahar for? Do you want Afzal to be alive so that another Kandahar happens? 

And that too, it is the SC verdict. The clemency process is a democratic right, so it can very well be executed. But putting the case under red files and defending the inexplicable delay in processing the same is betrayal to the nation. When SC can establish fast track court to complete the proceedings, can the government not take some guidance from it? 

In India, we have got a great affinity towards some terms whose meaning I don't know if we understand. One such hallowed term is SECULARISM. This term applies to Hindus only. When a Hindu says something about Hindus, he is termed as fanatic; and someone who blasts Hindus and Hindu culture, he is termed as a secular. I know, I must have been branded as a fanatic by now, but still then I will continue.  

Babri structure demolition has been a talk of politicians since long. There are people in India who say that not a single temple in India was demolished during Mughal rule, and there are many more who believe them. People should visit Kashi (Vishwanath temple) and Mathura (Krishna temple) to see the truth. Half of the temple is demolished and the mosque is built. It was a deliberate attempt of the Mughals so that Hindus surrender to them even to pay a visit to the God. There has been a lot of proof also that Babri structure was built on the ruins of demolished temple. People talk so much about this demolition, but would you accept if someone comes to your home and destroys the "Tulasi Mandap" at your home? 

Now this is height of hypocrisy. There is this government (Rajiv Gandhi, 1988) that opens the gates of Ayodhya temple so that general public can pray at the Ayodhya Ramlala temple. Then again there is this government (current one) that files an affidavit saying that Ram didn't exist so there is no way Ram built the setu. 

Regarding Amarnath jatra, nothing needs to be mentioned as it is still fresh in everyone's mind. People can't be fooled by saying Congress didn't create any impediments. Might be not actively, but did nothing to help the yatris too. 

RSS seems to be the worst understood organization in the country. Rather than commenting from outside, it is better to have a close view and then putting forth your idea. If you talk about Gandhiji, he is considered as pratah-smaraniya (pious, whom we should remember every day) by RSS. RSS never supported the killing of Mahatma nor was it involved with it anyway? 

What resemblance does present day congress have with INC that fought in part for the freedom for the country? The current generation Congress does not have the right to claim credit for Independence. The freedom fighters joined various other political parties and they all must be given due credit. Even it was Gandhiji's vision that INC should be dissolved post-Independence and new political parties by formed to govern the country. 

The founder of RSS, Sri Hedgewar was also a member of INC and he worked with Krantikaris also. His vision was not limited to the independence but to make Bharat strong enough so that such conditions of foreign invasion never happens again. Thousands of Swayamsevaks (RSS men) participated in the various movements through INC too. During time of partition, it was the Swayamsevaks who sacrificed their lives so that lakhs of Hindus have a safe passage to Bharat. 

Whenever there is any opportunity to serve the nation, you will find the swayamsevaks standing in the front line; be it supplying food and medicines to army jawans (1962 China war) or helping flood affected people in remotest areas or protecting the interests of the Vanavasis, RSS men have jumped in to help. Just that these people don't believe in publicity for their work, it does not mean they be branded otherwise. 

Before closing, I would raise one last point. Laxmanandaji and four of his disciples were brutally killed on 23rd August, but there was no news. When the mobs retaliated and one lady was killed, it was national news. Are we dumb not to see anything?

Won't go any further. There is a lot to talk, not enough space here. 

Comments are most welcome.

 

Shubamastu.

Strength of unity - Dasahara

Dasahara is one of the greatest festivals observed in India. Students value it more as it they get an entire fortnight of holiday during this time. And same for the people working in different corporate offices as they get leave to visit their home. Happy time for all :)

Dasahara is a very imporatant day for Hindus; on this day Maa Durga killed Mahishashura as well as Sri Ram killed the demon Ravana. Mahishashura (Buffalo demon) had got boon from Brahma, the Creator and had become unconquerable. No power in this world was any match for him. It was impossible for any individual or group of devas to defeat him. To fight with the demon, all the gods put their powers together. Thus Maa Durga was born and she fought with Mahishashura for nine days and nine nights. On the tenth day, she finally killed the demon.
On Vijaya Dashami, after worshipping goddess Durga, Sri Ram fought with Ravana and killed him. It was a victory of the virtue over devil, a victory of truth over treachery. Sri Ram took the help of the vanaras, who as individuals were no match for the mighty demon kingdom, but when got together destroyed them from the root.

Both of these incidents have certain aspects in common.
- Every individual can contribute towards the fight against evil, no matter how weak he is as an individual and how powerful the evil is.
- When individuals pledge all their power for a single cause, they can do wonders. The power can be physical (tana), intellectual (mana) and financial (dhana) in nature.
- When the cause backed by virtue and truthfulness and is against the evils, there is no way they can fail.

These are all fine. But what do they convey under current situation? We don't have any demons with big horns on head or with ten heads. When we talk about demons, we generally conceive a picture of an ugly looking beast with couple of horns (or may be many more) and so on. Just that in the present day world, we don't come across such creatures doesn't mean that the world has gotten rid of them. It is not the looks that make a demon, it is the character, behaviour that distinguishes a demon from others. In the present day context, the demon has a lot many manifestations. It exists in the society in the form of corruption, dishonesty, separatism, terrorism, greed, lust and many more. It is this demon that can destroy all the value system in our society.

To fight against these demons, we as individuals have to be alert and pledge all our power in defeating them. It is high time that we all Indians pledge our tana-mana-dhana to make Bharat Mata strong to fight against those devils.

Bharat Mata ki Jay.