Religious conversion... A reality check !

India the land of the most ancient knowledge , Vedas faces a dilemma of spate of religious conversion issues and related problems and consequences. Nature has probably blessed India with its treasures in open hands and I don't see any other part of the world is so blessed in so many aspects. Vedas were born,transcended by listening and memorising,written,translated and the knowledge was spread by Indians far and wide. Upanishads were lived here as the way of life. We were blessed with Aryabhattas much before Greece excelled in Maths, God had gifted us Charak and Shushrut much before modern medicine flourished in western world ! Not long ago India was blessed to have Chanakya, probably the greatest political and economic expert of all times . So in short India was always a great land of true knowledge and diversity. It naurished humanity at her breast and civilizations in her cradle and truely became great for its unique geographical as well as spiritual blessings. It had great rulers from Ashoka to Akbar, scholars from Birbal to Tenali. Even today we are as respectful to Dalai lama as to Nelson Mandela,as to Barrack Obama to Shinzo Abe all alike... Kabir , born to parents of one religion ,brought up by parents of another religion is revered by one and all. So who gets converted and who can convert whom ? Thinking further I have already said dharma is eternal and universal and religion is a mere way of doing/living/following some rituals in a particular way by a segment of society. So clearly no can change anyone's dharma as dharma itself is unchangeable. And by forcing or coaxing one may be sent to temple or mosque or church but can not convert a man to a machine. History says two Mughal rulers who almost ruled India for a century i.e.Akbar 47 years and Aurangzeb 50 years had extremely diverse results. Akbar though had to put a great struggle to be where he placed himself and India , was accepted as the greatest ruler because of his universal policies and especially his deeper understanding of religion and dharma and his respect for people of other faiths and he will be in our heart for his contribution of "Din-i-lahi'  meaning 'the religion of God ' and his indomitable love for talent and truth. At the same time Aurangzeb though an equally able general and strong ruler miserably failed and died fighting a lonely battle because of his wrong notions and phanaticism.He might have been successful in forcefully converting people to follow a particular faith but utterly failed to impress them,resulting devastation in the following time and a ruined India which slowly and steadily slipped into British rule and lost not only its independence but also the moral strength. If today we repeat similar mistake and slip in to slumber we will again go back to basics. So,it is prudent and wise not to be illusioned by myths and misgivings and promote another wrong in the name of rectifying one.If the economically weaker ones ,the socially looked down ones really are getting converted I am sure they are not looking for a better God in a Church than in a temple. But they are looking for a better life,an equal opportunity and an environment where no one tells them not to enter a religious place or not stand or sit in the same row for prayer. That's the area to be addressed. Even today foreigners are not allowed in our temples and the so called care takers of God do whatever malpractices they can to bias/cheat/influence the so called devotees who foolishly/selfishly and happily fall prey in their hands in the name of being religious. If we can really convert something let us convert ignorance to knowledge, darkness to light and ,myths to truth and poverty to prosperity.
If we need to change we need to change our mindset,our behaviour and improve our logic of doing  something and not bother whether one  goes to temple or Mosque or Church to pray.
When I read the biography of Dr.Ambedkar ,I got a real glimpse of his hardship,his aspirations,his vision and his contribution and the depth of  his frustration till end. I hope a majority of you will agree with me when you know him deeper ,and will feel such a learned scholar ,a man who gathered dust and sweat to reach where he reached and did such a wonderful job for the country can not be frustrated in vain. In the last few years of his life he,a born Hindu practised Buddhisim as he was suffocated with so called Hindu society restrictions and negligence. So the story could be same for many more even today. Though the division of the society to 4 sections started in early Vedic age aiming to make the functions discrete and easy for people,it really never meant to overstate or understate any duty/work or make any section superior/inferior to the other. In later Vedic age the true sense got diluted leaving monopoly to some sections and leading to pitiable conditions of some other sections resulting in  breakage in harmony,social stability ,  rebellion, frustration, reservation and convenient advantage to the vote bank policies and mockery of dance of democracy of the great country ! So we need to stick to the essence and not the loose over reaction to the issue. Let's all pray..Tamasoma jyotirgamaya.. Asatoma sadgamaya...

Dharma/Religion....Our contemporary understanding...A bird's eye view...

        Dharma,the eternal word is/was/will with all it's humility and benevolence will make sense to the sensibles ! But a large majority of the society is terribly unaware of its true meaning/sense/logic and has a biased understanding of it and really really misinterprets its spirit...

  Not long ago I also didn't have much clarity of what it really stands for and was never intrigued by its meaning as it  probably  had never interfered much in my personal life. Certainly had a sense of doubt about its common interpretation but had not tried much to think deeper or understand better.Fortunately in recent past got the chance to  understand it far better and learn deeper and it made a lot of sense to me,so I  thought of sharing my learning... may be it will help someone to get the real sense of it leaving the myth/misconception to others to clarify and convince themselves as time progresses....

    In my contemporary knowledge I always had seen,heard,felt and experienced larger society often using Dharma and Religion as synonyms of a single concept.But really it is not true.It may be just used in everyday life like that but deeply they are different entities.I am afraid there is an exact word in English dictionary for the sankrit word 'Dharma''.Religeon is at best can be understood as a particular way of doing things/observing rituals or celebrating festivals by a particular faction/group of society.It might have incorporated some of the principles of Dharma also.But the nearest words interpreting the true meaning of Dharma to me is nature. For example Fire's  'dharma' is to burn,Wind's 'dharma' is to blow ,Water'r 'dharma' is to flow...so on and so forth.The Sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening.It's Sun's Dharma/nature.'Dharma'is universal law.It is eternal,all pervasive. Religion is devided into many 'isms' depending on following certain ways of life/rituals and beliefs.But 'dharma', is the natural law/the justice/the truth and it is universal.Someone may see his God in a temple,the other one in Mosque,3rd one in church,Gurudwara and some one may know God is in every being.So they can interpret them as Hindu,Muslim,Jain,Boudh,Ishai,Bahaian,Parsi and so on.But Dharma is same for all. Best way to understand Dharma is to see,observe,appreciate and be grateful to Nature.When there is rain it does not discriminate between Hindu city/Muslim city/Christian city.There is no Zorastrian fire or Jain Fire.So Dharma is Dharma only.It has no 'ism' as it's suffix.When Srikrishna teaches Arjun in Gita  He utters 'Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata...Abhyuthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srijamy aham...Paritranaya sadhunam,vinashayacha dushkritan sambhavami yuge yuge..'  He never said Hindu dharmasya/Boudha dharmasya/Ishai dharmasya...

                So where did we get confused/lost our way..lost the meaning,interpretation of dharma and started fighting on someones or others beliefs and notions.Buddha never told he is Buddhist,Mahavir never told he is Jain/Krishna /Ram never told they follow Hinduism.They all stood for what is right,what is just,what is natural.The God/the creater/the protector is certainly not confined in a Mosque/a church/a temple/a fire temple or a gurudwara.  I believe there is someone,some supreme power who makes and protects us as logically/scientificall I can't get the answers to so many things which not only man can not make,but can not think,imagine,interpret and comprehend even.That's my belief in God/Allah/Jesus/Zorastra/Nanak/ Ram/Krishna/Shiv whatever you feel calling Him..God can be He or She .But God is primarily in our heart/in our soul and Dharma resides in our conscience/the inner sense.No rituals/followings/fasts/religious fanfare can alter the eternal Dharma .It's only our beliefs.Fair enough.We can have our beliefs but as long as it does not harm someone else.How much shlokas we read/how many gallons of milk we pour on a piece of stone we can not make it float on water nor our rituals/fasts/yagnas can never drown few droplets of oil in water...That's their nature.That's true dharma..eternal,all pervasive and was/is and will live till the universe exists...Let's think deeper...Let's see the light of Dharma not the shadow of religious interpretation of a great concept...Satyamev Jayate..

18th Feb 2015

Can I do it? Can we do it ? ?? Yes I probably can and we certainly can...

Sangita wrote y'day her thought responding to my view on "my country.. Whose responsibility it is anyway'.She agreed with me but has a grievance about freebies and tax collection system application in our country. With due respect to her point I feel its worth giving the issue a deeper thought and discuss it further to analyse what the real situation is and what we need to know,consider,change and do about it.Here goes my thought. Yes ,we the so called middle class generally have a grievance of paying taxes truthfully and the lower and higher economy order just escape. Our list of grievances just does not stop there.when our children don't get a seat by competition we conveniently blame the reservation system, when we get a transfer we get up to fight against discrimination, when we don't get jobs,we think our talent is a waste in this country and the degrees we have acquired with our sweat and turmoil is not recognized... And the endless list goes on..Saying yes to all this which might have been my grievances as well till few years back,but today I will prefer to think,analyse,act and promote slightly differently because I learnt whatever little we see and think are certainly true but not the whole truth and we really don't stand up and do the right thing when they confront us,our comfort and safety. Most of us really don't have the courage to stand to the reality so why not feel blessed in the given situation if we can't take the risks associated with the change we want to bring and really stand up to our conviction even when things don't favor us !
Often we travel long to perform duties and at times get difficult situations to deal with and we get frustrated and more so when someone gets favour not to travel and perform such duty.But when i look around I see the station is full of desperate youths standing in line for not less than 5 hours and I don't know in how many multiples of the few seats available in the general compartment to get in. I think of them,my frustration turns to a blessing and grievances of an honest tax payer turns to gratitude of getting a decent berth while million s of country men can not afford to buy a second class ticket in a train for 40 hrs journey and stand and squeeze and not having scope for even nature's call ! Really a scene which can move anyone! Are all these youth not talented to be educated enough or earn enough to stay in a 2 room house, have enough to pay for basic needs of life ? Will I or will we not want a decent life,clean air,water,basic education for our children and other fellow Indians ? For that u and I need to contribute and the most logical way is various tax structure. So we should feel good about paying taxes honestly as others have contributed so much sacrifices for our upbringing, our education, the decent lifestyle we have and the money we proudly earn. Is it all ours only ? I am sure not. The lady who works for me at home,the workers who help to run our institutions, collect our garbage are not less important and deserve equal opportunity like us to be eligible to be tax payer...Coming to high economic segment, we don't exactly have economic knowledge to assess their tax. But if at all they are evading tax why the middle class not exposing them ? How many of us stand by someone who dares to take on that ? How many of will contribute for clean politics and governance and really have the guts to stand up to take the step at least on personal level? Let us not bribe someone to get undue things done for selfish motives even knowing the deserving ones are left.Let us fund political movements by voting right people and small little contributions of few thousand rupees which is white and gives us legitimate rights to ask why they resort to corruption and all back channel routes .Till then let's be happy with God's grace for the honest lot,contribute a bit of reverence to the vast majority of less fortunate ones and building and supporting a legacy of honesty,efficacy and non corruption. I am sure they are the different angles of the same agenda... Together we can.. Let's try...

17th Feb 2015

Where did the magic word of love vanish in the jungle of hatred,cruelty, gruesome killing of innocent journos/pilots /people, rapes and rubbery on the streets... ? Disturbing news of killings,beheading of fellow humans in the morning overshadowing achievements of drones delivering things ,supersonic jet planes,high speed trains,universal connectivity,Olympic medals and chandrayan success story to name a few ! Khalil Gibran wrote

The king,the ass and I
Tomorrow we all will die
The king for power,the ass for hunger
And I for love !
Amidst the negativities in the soaring human mind,my heart was longing for a peaceful, loving humanity around, a dream I wish to be planted in every soul..

Jesus Christ died smiling on the cross forgiving the perpetrators and living for ages for love for mankind,Buddha left the cozi kingdom to search the remedy for human misery and lit the candle for kindness forever,so also prophet Mohd,Nanak,Mahavir and Krishna the ultimate power on earth.In recent world history not long ago humanity witnessed the power of love exercised by Gandhiji defeating the mighty Britishers without a single arm/ammunition not even ever using harsh words and died for the love for peace..So it's a point to ponder?Why so much of unrest ? I know nature rewards and punishes immediately when we even have good and bad thoughts. To my mind it comes, there might be issues beyond our comprehension ,beyond imagination and while trying to carry out hasty reactions the world powers,the thinkers and intellectual mass should find the root of such barbaric act by fellow humans and with Patience and love try to address the issue.Hatred only will bring more hatred and more heads will be down this side or that..and that's a jolt to peace and trauma to mother earth.But at the end if the perpetrators are reasonably found to be unreasonable , the formula for Rajdharma depicted by the great sage Vyasdev of counselling-ordering and punishing can be used to bring peace and safety on the world... A timely step may prevent the earth from suffering a self inflicted tragedy which can never be compensated in millenniums to come...ohm Shanti...ohm shanti...

17th Feb 2015

My country... Whose responsibility it is anyway ???
Months back sometime I expressed my unhappiness about my country's current situation and Mayuri wrote back..Swadhin,India is a great country or else why from Britishers to Portuguese, From Mohd Ghori to Mohd Ghazani,from Babar to Huenshang will be attracted to it ?' I clarified my stand 'Yes Mayuri ,I agree ,India is a great country but I don't have the same feeling about Indians amongst whom I am also one'.But as we are advancing in age and our maturity takes centre stage amongst all other parameters I feel we Indians have lot to learn,lot to contribute to our great country and can not,I repeat can not expect to have cozy evenings in balcony leaving the responsibility of the country's present and future on someone else's shoulder and dream of miracles..Long back I read one article by Mr.Manoj Das where he describes one incident in Japan. One night while travelling he notices a group of people peacefully standing in a queue and while enquiring why are they standing there at night a Japanese citizen replies 'we are protesting for some of our grievances' He asks 'at night ?' They reply 'Yes,sir, the day is for the country .we can't afford to use it for protest. So we protest at night.' That's the kind of patriotism which will take our country to a greater height not a mob vandalizing institutions, authorities, breaking all records of decibels while so called grievances are expressed in our country. Leaving private company offices we find in Government set ups work culture is extremely shabby ,I again say this Bombay being one of the best places in India where even the ladies doing our household work have far more ethical standards of work than in other parts of the country.What I want to say 'can we all diligently, religiously work for 8 hours a day for the work/duty /country we are entrusted with?If yes,then 21st century is ours,no one can take the glory from us if each of us follow only 2 principles in life.. Honesty and Hard work.Now coming to the other side of the coin. The PM,the CMs,the parliamentarians,the legislators and administrators...what should we expect from them ? In my small little mind I dream my leader to have the same ingredient like me,like us honesty and hard work.I expect him to be fair in his dealings. I want him to be honest to the core that he can't think of doing anything wrong for the country and people. Like the media and opposition alike I don't want my country men to ask day in and out..'How will you,by what hours dead line will you give people 20000 litre water/day or 50 % power tariff cut ? ' I just think how foolish are we when even we ask such questions. Power and water or the country's finances and resources are no ones pocket money to be given. It is all ours. I don't have the foolish idea of a miracle man producing them by magic. But as a loyal citizen I expect my leader not to take an extra bucket of water to his house till the water is distributed equally to all the people. I expect him to pay his power,water and restaurant bills, education bills like all citizens , that's what it is meant to be to bring real change..not miracles I suppose... So u and I,me and they matter...Let's sparea thought,spare a moment...!

16th Feb 2015


Why are we so eager to give our verdict to someone or something quickly ? Why are we so impatient to write,scetch,opine,judge an event ,a person without looking anything in and around it and what bothers me is the way we knowingly/unknowingly ridicule/criticise/malign something or someone in such a way which is not only painful for that person ,organisations/event ,it is detrimental for the society and humanity at large.Why at the first place I am in the morning giving a deep thought and writing on this mass impatience and judgement ? Some reports in the media both in social and mainstream always bothers me because in the name of freedom some people go overboard. It is not only unprofessional, but unethical, inhumane and harmful. In a moment of glory for people like me who love righteousness and the country's every galore to the core it is a moment of happiness but its humbling. It's not right to ridicule and enjoy someone 's defeat.I saw some disturbing scetches of India-Pakistan cricket victory-loss which bothered me to write few lines.Win/loss are two sides of a coin.Like birth and death it is basic to every game.We are Democratic but need to be matured. Will u love if we lose and someone ridicules us? Why so overboard in praise and criticism. There are volatile minds everywhere. So let us restrain ourselves not to showcase our creative genius to ridicule someone.Be happy in your victory. But it's not wise to celebrate someone's loss.Only people with narrow mind/narrow vision resort to such methods.We as the matured and wise billion plus vibrant democracy don't need to stoop down so low to provocate someone and not realise our mistake thinking that we have freedom to anything and all our acts are golden and I am sure not have the heart to take a failure from Indian team just as another game and life is full of ups and downs.Probably my message is equanimity and balance in life will surely take us to new heights not knee jerk reaction and arrogance. Let's be strong from within,outer fanfare just doesn't last long.Have a wonderful day ahead!

15th Feb 2015

Just read the article in facebook showing a picture of Mr.Kejriwal being blessed by his mother when he is leaving for the swearing in and she blessing her 'go and serve the people selflessly.' It reminded me a beautiful poem read in school in Odia literature 'Gandharira ashirvada' meaning Mother Gandhari's blessing.She as a mother obviously wishes and blesses her children as that's the primary duty of a mother but as a great lady she was standing every step on the side of righteousness says 'Jaa bira rane deuchhi melani nakara dukha bhaya, akshya heu punya jagate dharmara heu jaya.'meaning 'my dear brave sons,go to the war with the blessings without fear and grief,but let the virtues be immortal and let only right (dharma)win'. And here when the mother's blessings and dharma both are and should be on Arvind's side I am sure amidst scepticism, cynicism,age old power and money play,amidst high unfair exaggerated expectations and criticism, bad and good times coming and going he will come virtuous, brighter and leave a trail for the generations to follow . If we look inside the history and the scriptures alike there have been extraordinary people who have travelled a path less travelled by and have not followed a conventional path rather they have lead where there were none and left a trail. This is what my inner sense tells me today.Time will be the best judge.My heartfelt wishes and prayer for the country and him.Jai Hind !