1. FESTIVALS: Varsh Pratipada, also known as Gudi Padwa falls on
Chaitra Shukla Pratipada (31 March this year) and considered as first day of
Hindu New Year. In the celestial measurements, Hindu scriptures consider it to
be the origin of the universe. Year is known by the term Yugabda. A sankalpa
taken on this day reads ‘Atha Shri Brahmane Dwitiys Parardhe Shwetavaraha kalpe
Vaivaswat Manwantare Ashtavimshati tame kali pratham charne Yugabde’ which
links the present time to the start of the universe. The year starting on March
31st will be Yuagbda 5116.
It is also remembered as the day when SriRama entered Ayodhya after his
victory over Ravana and also remembered by RSS swayamsevaks as birthday of its
founder Dr.K B Hedgewar.
2. ‘COUNTRY HAS
A HINDU IDENTITY WHICH IS OUR NATIONAL IDENTITY’: MOHAN BHAGWAT: RSS Sarasanghachalak Dr. Mohan Bhagwat has said ’Country has a Hindu
Identity which is our National Identity’, at Bhopal in a recent RSS gathering.
Dr. Bhagwat was addressing a RSS gathering, a
‘kshethra’ level baitak in which representatives from 4 pranths namely Malwa
Pranth, Madhya Bharat Pranth, Mahakoshal Pranth and Chattisgarh Pranths were
participating.
On February 23, Bhagwat would observe a
‘Pathsanchalan’ (march past) that would be taken out in various parts of the
city. Following the pathsanchalan, he would address a meeting of RSS workers at
the Model School.
3. ‘INDIA HEALTH
LINE’ LAUNCHED: A much needed social
service in socio-medical field launched now. ‘INDIA HEALTH LINE’ national
launch took place in Hyderabad
in presence of eminent specialist doctors & representatives of medical
fraternity on February 16. ‘INDIA HEALTH LINE’ is to have a National Call
Center to attend to
patients’ calls who, after seeing the neighbouring General Practitioner doctor,
want to consult specialist doctors for further advice & necessary treatment.
Launching the healthline, renowned Cancer
Surgeon, & VHP International Working President Dr Pravin Togadia said,
“There are untreated diseases only because patients after primary examination
by the doctor do not approach specialist doctors as advised. It is mainly due
to poverty, fear of increased medical expenses if some serious diseases is
detected & sometimes even ignorance. ‘INDIA HEALTH LINE’ aims at connecting
medical Fraternity with the needy & poor patients. Doctors are a part of
this great nation & the society.
The National
Call Center
number is 18602333666
Email: www.indiahealth@gmail.com
4. NHSF CELEBRATES 21ST BIRTHDAY AT LONDON PARLIAMENT: National Hindu Students’ Forum (UK) celebrated its official 21 years of
achievements on February 3rd 2014 in the Palace of Westminster London
at a reception hosted by MP Seema Malhotra. The organisation has 5,000 members
and it aims to encourage and celebrate Hindu Dharma through practice,
preserving, promoting and protecting Hindu Dharma through a variety of
sporting, spiritual and social events for their members.
A host of Labour MPs viz Sadiq khan, Keith
Vaz, Barry Gardiner, Gareth Thomas attended the reception including Leader of
the Opposition and MP for Doncaster North, Ed Miliband who commented, “I wanted
to congratulate the National Hindu Students' Forum for reaching 21 years and
come here to recognise the work you do not just for the Hindu community but for
the wider community. The Hindu community is part of the mosaic that makes our
country stronger."
Please visit www.nhsf.org.uk for more
information or contact prteam@nhsf.org.uk.
5. IS YOGA THE SECRET TO OLYMPIC GOLD?: Instead of going to Disney World after winning gold in the women's
snowboarding slopestyle event, Jamie Anderson said she'll be headed to
Wanderlust -- a yoga retreat on the North Shore of Oahu -- to celebrate.
The 23-year-old snowboarder told that she
always practices yoga. "My favorite poses are variations on the handstand
and the scorpion," she said. "You have to use your whole body, it's
physically and mentally challenging. You have to find your balance in this
uncomfortable position, so when you do it, you feel like you're really
overcoming an obstacle."
Anderson credits yoga practice with helping her stay physically and mentally
strong, and she's not the only one who feels that way in Sochi. In fact, we discovered so many
Olympians-cum-yogis that if the United States Yoga Federation ever succeeds in
making yoga asana, or posture yoga, an official Olympic sport, we'll most
likely see some cross-sport competitors.
6. AMMA REJECTS
CHARGES, SAYS MUTT IS OPEN BOOK: Spiritual
leader Mata Amritanandamayi, fondly referred to as Amma by her disciples, has
rejected the allegations leveled against her and her Ashram, the Mata
Amritanandamayi Mutt at Amritapuri, in Kerala’s Kollam district, by one of her
former disciples by saying, “My Mutt is an open book.”
Addressing disciples at the Brahmasthana
Mahotsavam at Puthur in Palakkad , Amma said that the recent controversies were
being propagated by certain forces which were trying to create problems by
whipping up religious sentiments. She said that the Mutt had nothing to hide
and that it had been giving financial details to the authorities every year.
Amma’s statement came in the context of the
controversies spreading through Kerala about the Mutt on Facebook and other
social networks on Holy Hell: A Memoir of Faith, Devotion and Pure Madness, a
book written by Australia-born Gail Tredwell aka Gayatri, who had served at the
Mutt till 15 years ago as a disciple of the Mata.
7. BEYOND THE
GHETTO: Supreme court ruling on minorities adopting kids via secular law is
welcome - The Supreme Court’s ruling, stating personal
law can’t prohibit Muslims and other minority faith members from adopting
children under the secular Jevenile Justice Act, is a positive move forward.
Like the Special Marriage Act, this ruling emphasizes the growing flexibility
of secular legal recourses communities administered by religious laws can have.
This is a judicious step towards a uniform civil code enjoined by directive
principles in India’s
Constitution, whereby all citizens enjoy the same rights. And this makes
individual lives richer, permitting these to be fuller with possibilities of
joy – not starker by orthodox limitations on the same.
India’s
lack of a uniform civil code relates to the tensions of our newly-free polity. India’s first
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru faced stiff resistance – including from
conservative Congressmen such as first President Rajendra Prasad – when he
mooted reforms for religious laws. Driven by conviction, Nehru pushed through
the Hindu Code Bills.
But he lacked the confidence to push similar
reforms – re-reshaping marriage, dowry, inheritance, adoption andother spheres
of life – for many minority groups. Partition’s inheritance of unease steered
Nehru away from presenting minorities with modernity, permitting them to be
internally governed by customary internal laws instead.
The result hasn’t been happy. Given the
imbalance in key laws majoritarian critics have a field day knocking the
state’s ‘pseudo-secularism’. But such critics overlook how different laws
governing crucial zones of personal life meant the deprivation of minority
women’s rights. Facing disputes, the polity has been famously infirm. In the
Shah Bano case, where the Supreme Court ruled a Muslim divorcee was entitled to
alimony, the ruling was overturned by Rajiv Gandhi responding to pressures from
orthodox men’s organisations.
But modernizing voices within minority groups
are speaking up today. The restriction on adopting children has been challenged
by a Muslim woman while moves to bar female worshippers from entering Sufi
shrine sanctums have been countered my Muslim’s women’s groups. With its
ruling, the Supreme Court has given greater access to empowerment and happiness
for minority groups while highlighting the deeply humanitarian act of adoption,
enriching the lives of abandoned children along with those longing to love a child
themselves. All human beings must have the right to lead fuller, not narrower,
lives. Young and modern voices within the Muslim community are saying this.
It’s high time India’s
polity hears them. (Editorial,
Times of India 21 Feb 2014)
8. SEWA MELBOURNE
FUNDRAISING: In response to the appeal made
by Sewa International (Bharat) for fundraising towards a computer center in
Uttarakhand, Sewa (Melbourne) arranged a fund raising event on Sunday, the 23rd
February at Annual Street Festival of Clayton. Funds were raised through two
activities i.e., hand painting (Hena) with the help of lady Sewa volunteers and
sale of cold drinks with the help of male Sewa volunteers.
Sewa is also participating in Annual Australia
Clean Up Day on 2nd March, which will be attended by Mayor, Monash City Council
and local Councillor.
9. BHARAT’S
$1.3MN HELP TO DISASTER-HIT ISLANDS: Bharat has contributed over US $ one million to St Vincent and the Grenadines,
Saint Lucia, and Commonwealth of Dominica towards disaster relief assistance in
the aftermath of flash floods that struck these islands in December last year.
Permanent Representative of Bharat to the UN
Ambassador Asoke Mukerji handed over the contributions of USD 500,000 each to
the Permanent Missions of St Vincent and Grenadines and St Lucia to the UN, and USD 300,000 to the Commonwealth of Dominica. The flash floods had struck
the three Caribbean islands and resulted in
the deaths of 15 people.
10. NO FORCE IN
THE WORLD CAN TAKE ARUNACHAL FROM US: MODI: BJP
prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on February 22 countered China's
frequent claims over Arunachal Pradesh, saying no force in the world could take
the state from Bharat.
"It is because of the brave martyrs of
the state that the Eastern frontier of the country is safe. Times are changing
now and China
must change its attitude towards Arunachal Pradesh. I am here to assure you
that no force in the world can take Arunachal Pradesh from Bharat," Modi
said at a massive public rally in the state's Pasighat town.
At the Silchar rally, the BJP leader assured
that if his party comes to power in the general elections, it would resolve the
burning issues like illegal infiltration from Bangladesh, Hindu refugees and
'D' (disenfranchised/doubtful) voters within 60 months.
11. COURSES
FROM 3 IITS, IISC ARE IN GLOBAL TOP 50: Four Bharatiya
universities, including the IITs at Delhi
and Mumbai, are among the global top 50 in at least one of the 30 disciplines
covered under the QS World University Rankings by Subject.
IIT-Delhi achieved the country's highest
position, ranking 42nd in electrical engineering. IIT-Bombay was 49th in
electrical engineering and 50th in civil engineering, IIT-Madras 49th in civil
engineering and the Indian Institute of Science 46th in materials science.
The five life sciences disciplines feature
only two Bbharatiya institutions, while Bharat draws a blank in six of the
eight social sciences disciplines. The exceptions are statistics, in which five
Bharatiya institutions feature, and politics, in which Jawaharlal Nehru
University appears in the
101-150 grouping.
All round, IIT-B emerges as the top
institution with four of its courses making it to the rankings.
On the other hand, the lack of world-renowned Bharatiya
programmes in arts, humanities and social sciences continues to be a concern,
Sowter said. "The latest QS rankings highlight the excellence of the
specialist Bharatiya institutions in the STEM (science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics) area and also identifies the need to improve the
global competitiveness of our universities, in particular the large and
comprehensive institutions," said Mohandas Pai, chairman, ICAA — Indian
Centre for Assessment & Accreditation.
12. NRI FINDS
SOLUTION TO ORGAN PRESERVATION WOES: .Dr Hemant
Thatte, a senior cardiovascular surgeon at Harvard University
worked out a 21-chemical solution that could preserve a donated organ for up to
a week before a transplant.
Preliminary studies have shown that hearts
stored in SOMAH solution (as the new preservative is called after the Sanskrit
name for the elixir of immortality) for 24 hours can be resuscitated without
medicines as against other solutions that allow for only four hours. In studies
conducted on pigs, the solution has been effective in preserving tissues for up
to a week.
13. PIO
DEVELOPS CHEAP PAPER TEST TO DETECT CANCER: A Bharatiya
-American scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has
developed a cheap, simple, paper test that can detect cancer, circumventing
expensive approaches such as mammograms and colonoscopy.
The diagnostic, which works much like a
pregnancy test, could reveal within minutes, based on a urine sample, whether a
person has cancer, The star at the center of this breakthrough is MIT professor
and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Sangeeta Bhatia, already a
star in the US
scientific firmament. The US
born Bhatia explained that the paper test essentially relies on nanoparticles
that interact with tumor proteins called proteases, each of which can trigger
release of hundreds of biomarkers that are then easily detectable in a
patient's urine.
14. RASHTRA SEVIKA SAMITI CALLS FOR A STRONG CENTRE: Rashtra Sevika Samiti calls upon sevikas to beware of self-proclaimed
‘anarchists’ as well as naxalites. Both
of them are wreckers of the system, the Samiti points out. The Samiti, therefore, feels that a strong
Central authority should emerge in the country—this was the idea of a
resolution passed by Rashtra Sevika Samiti at its Akhila Bharitya Karyakarini
and Pratinidhi Sabha Mandal Bitak held at Coimbatore
from February 7 to February 9. The
Samiti also took a dig at Government of Bharat for opposing a Supreme Court
order upholding Section 377 which declares that unnatural sexual relationships
are an offence. The Coimbatore meet was attended by Pramuk
Sanchalika Shantha Akka and Pramukh Karyavahika Seetha Akka.
15. DESIGN OF WORLD'S FIRST THORIUM BASED NUCLEAR REACTOR IS READY: The design of World's first
Thorium based nuclear reactor is ready. It is the latest Bharatiya design for a
next-generation nuclear reactor that will burn thorium as its fuel ore.
The design is being developed at Bhabha Atomic
Research Centre (BARC), in Mumbai, and aims to meet the objectives of using
thorium fuel cycles for commercial power generation.
The AHWR is a vertical pressure tube type
reactor cooled by boiling light water under natural circulation. The unique
feature of this design is a large tank of water on top of the primary
containment of vessel, called the gravity-driven water pool (GDWP).
Dr R K Sinha, chairman, Atomic Energy
Commission, said, "This reactor could function without an operator for 120
days."
16. SWAMINARAYAN TEMPLE REPLACES QUEEN’S PROPERTY: The Maninagar-based Shree Swaminarayan Gadi Sansthan is all set to
redevelop McNicholas House, a heritage property, into a modern temple in the
Kingsbury borough of London
by August this year.
The temple, constructed at a cost of £20
million by London-based support group Shree Swaminarayan Siddhant Sajivan
Mandal is being developed on land once owned by the Queen of England.
“The pran-pratistha ceremony for the temple
will take place in August," said Swami Bhagwatpriyadasji, a religious
leader of the community.
17. ISRO TAKES ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT: Bharat's hopes of sending humans on a spaceflight to demonstrate its
technological advancement is moving in the right direction with ISRO starting
the instrumentation process in a crew module structure.
ISRO which had announced that it will test the
crew module and escape systems on a Geo-synchronous Launch Vehicle-MK III
(GSLV-MK III) during 2014-15, has already obtained its first 'crew module
structural assembly'.
A senior official from the space agency said:
"The structure is in Thiruvananthapuram and our team has begun the process
of instrumentation, likely to be completed in four to six weeks."
18. BHAGAT
SINGH’S HOUSE IN PAKISTAN TO GET RS 80 MN FOR RESTORATION: Legendary Bharatiya freedom fighter Bhagat Singh’s ancestral house,
school and his village in Punjab Province in Pakistan will be restored for Rs
80 million. “We have allocated Rs 80 million for restoration of the house and school of Bharatiya Independence war hero Bhagat
Singh. The amount will also be spent for the upliftment of Singh’s village,
where clean drinking water is not available and drainage system is in a bad
shape,” Faisalabad District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal told PTI.
Mengal said that people in Faisalabad
“take pride in the fact that Bhagat Singh was the son of their soil” and want
the place to be known as “the town of Bhagat
Singh”. The celebrated revolutionary was born
September 28, 1907 at Bangay village, Jaranwala Tehsil in the Faisalabad
(then Lyallpur) district of the Province.
Singh’s village, Bangay, some 150 kilometres from Lahore, would also become a tourist
attraction for people, especially Bharatiyas, once his house is restored by
this year end, he added.
19. VHP HAS NO
POLITICAL AGENDA: TOGADIA: Stating that they were
not backing any political party or individual, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
International Working President Pravin Togadia has asked people to vote for
candidates with a clean slate and stature in Lok Sabha elections.
"VHP has no political agenda and the
organisation is not supporting anyone. We are with those who are credible and
committed to protect the interests of millions of Hindus," he said.
Criticising the formation of Minority
Development Corporation by the UPA with a financial allocation of Rs 700 crore,
he question its propriety and said that the majority population (Hindus) is
deprived of such privileges.
20. SIKH
AWARDED FOR VOLUNTEER SERVICE IN SINGAPORE:
An 82-year-old Sikh Sujan Singh has been honoured
for his outstanding volunteer service in Singapore. On February 22, he received
the Ministry of Social and Family Development Volunteers Awards for helping
some 60 boys, mostly involved in petty crimes such as theft.
Singh, a retired teacher, had one of the
longest serving volunteer probation careers. He served for 42 years. "Trust
is crucial. You cannot succeed as a probation officer if they (the boys) or
their parents don't trust you," Singh was quoted as saying by The Straits
Times.
"I stuck on with this (volunteering work)
because I believe that human beings are basically good. This is one way I can
help in society," said the Malaysia-born Singh, whose parents arrived in Malaya in the early 1930s.
21. HOMAGE TO DEENDAYALJI ON
MARTYRDOM DAY: Rich tribute was paid to Pt. Deendayal
Upadhyaya on his martyrdom day on February 11. Functions were organised across
the country. Veteran BJP leader Shri LK Advani paid tribute at the BJP head
office in Delhi.
RSS Sahsarkaryavah Shri Suresh Soni paid tribute at a function held at
Deendayal Research Institute in Delhi.
Shri Suresh Soni highlighted three aspects of
Deendayalji’s life—individual, ideologue and conduct. He also spoke about the
integral humanism and said this kind of economic thinking suits the nation even
today. At Pt. Deendayalji’s birth place in Nangla Chandrabhan, Mathura, a three day event was organised from
February 9 to 11. At the event free dental and health camps were also
organised.
22. BLOOD DONATION CAMP ON SRI GURUJI JAYANTI AND
BIRTH CENTENARY OF YADAVA RAO JOSHI: Rashtreeya
Svayamsevak Sangh’s Govidaraja Nagar unit in Bangalore, in association with of
Rashtrotthana Blood bank, Yadava Seva Samiti Sheshadripuram and Nachiketa
Manovikasa Kendra Vijayanagar, organized the blood donation camp on the
occasion of RSS’s second Sarasanghachalak Golwalkar Guruji’s 108th birthday
(25th February) and birth centenary year of Shri Yadava Rao Joshi.
The annual blood donation camp on the occasion
of Guruji’s birthday, being organized since 2006, was held on 23rd February
2014 at the premises of Nachiketa Manovikasa Kendra, a school for mentally
challenged kids.
Well known dentist Dr. Girija inaugurated the
function and explained the importance of blood donation. Vijayanagar Bhag Vyavastha Pramukh Shri Subramanya narrated
the inspirational life of Pa. Pu. Guruji and Shri Yadava Rao Joshi and
elaborated the Seva activities in Sangh. Shri Ishwar of Rashtrotthana Blood
bank gave an introductory account of Rashtrotthana Raktanidhi and also apprised
on the benefits of donating blood.
23. “UNEASY
NEIGHBOURS: INDIA AND CHINA AFTER FIFTY YEARS OF THE WAR”: New book “Uneasy Neighbours: India
and China
after Fifty Years of the War” by RSS functionary Ram Madhav is available in
market.
Interested persons can get copies from India
Foundation office at discounted prices.
Mail ID is: mail@indiafoundation.in
“This book deals with the history of the 1962
War and highlights Bharat’s failure to understand its neighbor well. Bharat
continues to suffer from same deficiency as she continues to tread the perilous
path that it had tread before the war. This book proposes that the two countries
remain fierce competitors and hence it is imperative for Bharat to understand
the thinking, tactics and tantrums of her ‘Uneasy Neighbour’ China” said Ram
Madhav in an interaction to www.samvada.org
24. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas: Dr. Ram
Vaidya sahsamyojak Vishwa Vibhag arrived in Bharat for ABPS baithak. Visitors:
Brahma Rattan Agarawal, Abhinav Dwiwedi – USA,
Keshav Agnihotri – Canada
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Leave past memories
behind and aim for reaching the stateless state of cosmic harmony. That alone
will extinguish the need to worry over what goes on in the mind throughout the
course of day and night. – Prasna Upanishad.
JAI SHREE RAM
BALI - PROFOUNDLY INTIMATE
Indonesia- Our Cultural Cousin
Shyam
Parande
Swami
Veda Bharati of Himalayan Institute, Dehradun, was invited to teach Vedic
science by the Balinese a decade earlier or so, he conducted classes and his
comment while returning is illustrative. He writes, “When I was called to Bali it was to teach and preach the Vedic teachings. But
I came back with a humble realisation that I have to learn more from Bali than I can actually teach them.” This article from
Swami Veda Bharati was sent by a friend and reading that while travelling to Bali helped me a lot in understating the Balinese Hindu
Dharma, culture and the society.
Representing
International Centre for Cultural Studies, I visited Bali first fortnight of
October 2013 and I realised that there cannot be a different opinion on Bali
other than what Swami Veda Bharti has stated about the native Hindu society and
culture than what most visitors to Bali from Bharat have mentioned.
Accompanied
by Prof Amarjiva Lochan I travelled to Bali, East Java, Sumatra, West Java and Jakarta, all of them being part of Indonesia- a
country comprising of 13,500 islands. There are many lessons for Bharatiya
Hindus provided we have an open receiving mind and try to understand the
culture of the Island. There might be many
issues on which Bharatiya Hindus might feel differently and worth criticism but
there are many that we need to learn.
There
are two most important factors for consideration. One of the most impressive
factors of this insight is preservation of the culture of Bali, despite being
part of a Muslim country and secondly being the most favoured tourist
destination globally, attracting tourists from the West and Australia. The
challenge is two folds and yet they preserved the tradition. The Hindu society
of Bali has undauntedly shoved off the
influence of western life and welcomed the tourists while regaling them with
paramount hospitality, not compromising on their own culture. The history of
Bali, of course, is replete with valour and courage for protecting this Island from the avalanche of invaders.
First
impact of the Balinese society that any visitor cannot deny is the aesthetic
sense of this community aided by the serenity of the nature. Bestowed by rich
flora and fauna, the visitor is impressed by every little thing that one
visualises or experiences, be it the architecture or arts or performing arts
and music or pleasing decorations or charming flower pots or alluring food
served on the table or the colourful attire they dress, Bali fascinates
strikingly. Aesthetic is all over there, whatever they do. I became a great
admirer of this society since I visited the island.
Bali
is proud of its cultural heritage that they boast of the Vedic descent and that
all the schools in Bali teach tradition of
Vedic Rishis like Markandeya, Bharadwaja, Agastya and so on.
It takes a lot of contemplation for a visitor
like me to understand that the Balinese Hindu students learn these names and
their achievements as History -Puranas- and not as fables or mythology. This
makes a Hindu visitor from Bharat ponder about the history lessons that are
taught in Bharat as Bharatiyas are the legitimate inheritors of the great Vedic
knowledge and yet are deprived by the establishment while in a Muslim country
like Indonesia
this is most precious. Certainly, there are many more things that provoke a
Hindu like me from Bharat for introspection. This makes every Balinese proud of
being a Hindu and a Balinese and an Indonesian.
Most
of the people we met, except for the official meetings, were proudly sporting
the traditional wear like dhoti and the exquisite Balinese cap. Entering a
Mandir without the traditional attire is prohibited and all the temporal
traditions are followed precisely.
Entry
to Balinese Hindu Mandirs is allowed to people who wear Dhoti and the Balinese
cap that is simple but lovely. All the rituals in the Mandirs are followed
without dilution and people have patience to sit and participate in all rituals
that many times are time consuming- no short cuts allowed.
Pretentions
like being modern made Bharatiya Hindu society sacrifice many precious
traditions and this realisation occurs to every visitor from Bharat, provided
the visitor tries to understand the prominent features of Balinese Hindu
Dharma. One of the most prominent traditions is that of the ‘Lontar’ what we
call ‘Talpatra’.
This
is probably the only community world over which is struggling to preserve the
ancient tradition of writing on the palm leaves and bamboo skin. Lontar is a
part of the syllabus for students studying Hindu Dharma at undergraduate level.
We were amased to be witness to Lontar writing in skilled beautiful
handwriting, first carved on the palm leaf and then filled in with ink- a
spotless writing. An amasing experience it was. Every student is supposed to
write the Dharmik lessons on Lontar for preserving his lessons for a lifetime
this being sacred to them.
While
performing religious poojas, everyone reads from the Lontars that they have
written and preserved, and not the printed books like others. Ramayana Kakavin
(Balinese Ramayana Granth) is very much valued for a family and is preserved by
consecrating the Lontar Ramayana written by a family member and used for the
Ramayana discourse or for the ‘Paath’.
We
probably are the noisiest country in the world with highest level of noise
pollution while Bali has the least noise
pollution, a visitor experiences. The Balinese Hindu community celebrates a
festival called Nyepi Day in total silence, no traffic including air traffic,
no offices, no work, no vehicles, no TV, no entertainment, least possible
movement on roads, everyone busy contemplating on what he or she did last year
and planning the next year that too in total silence sitting at home, of
course, worshiping the ‘Ishtadevata’ by maintaining ‘mauna’ (silence). It is
just unbelievable for someone from Bharatiya society, where honking is ‘safety’
and the young motor cyclists scream your ear dead on the road.
Trikala
Sandhya is another aspect of Bali that cannot
be missed. Every student performs trikala sandhya and chants Gayatri Mantra
thrice a day, as this is part of the curriculum. Many radio stations in Bali broadcast Trikala Sandhya three times every day.
We
had an opportunity to visit a family that had lost a young son. Despite
mourning the adornment for the funeral was so rich and the gathering of relatives
and friends for days together was indeed huge. Whole village or town joins the
funeral procession and mourning and shares the grief. Death in Bali, I could not stop myself thinking, is charming
celebration.
For
centuries together Balinese Hindu Dharma, Balinese Buddhism and Baliyaga, the
traditional Balinese religion that exists since pre-Hindu, pre-Buddha times,
live together in harmony and even participate in each other’s festivals,
sharing the spiritualism. Shaivism and Buddhism living together without a
tussle or a murmur is exactly what every other society would love to live like
and Bali basks in that glory.
However,
contemporary Bali is concerned about fast demographic degradation of the Island with Hindu population going down from 94 per cent
to 84 per cent in a decade or so. The Hindu intellectuals of Bali
express this concern in no uncertain terms. Bali being the most sought after
tourist destination world over, the serene beeches, natural green carpet
bedecked with diverse flowers, matched by exotic floral designs and splendid
architecture donning tiled roofs, and the most outstanding factor – Balinese
people with their incessant hospitality and smiling faces, attracts tourism and
this pulls in investors from other parts of Indonesia, bringing in more and
more Muslims creating demographic alteration. This worries them a lot. The
contemporary challenge before the Balinese Hindu community is how to preserve
the tradition that they and ancestors have so fondly preserved.
Balinese
Hindu Society is facing huge internal challenges also, the severest,
considering that this is emerging from within the society itself. Balinese
Hindu society had been living on the island for centuries together and the
dormant internal schisms are trying to raise their heads. This society fought
back valiantly keeping the external forces away, preserving their tradition and
faith and were victorious, for centuries together. However, the differences
based on rites, rituals and sects are dividing the society- like sectarian
ones. This society will have to rise above all such differences for the
glorious future.
Well,
I will not hesitate to mention here that interaction with Bharatiya Hindus
worries the Balinese many a times. Various religious organisations and sects
from Bharat, without understanding the Balinese Hindu Dharma, comment in
various ways and try altering them to match ‘us’ and this is a threat in itself
that is experienced by the Balinese. Bharatiya Hindu will have to understand
that the ritual part is just superficial and belittling these would only
distance the Balinese from Bharatiya and not bring them closer. Appreciating
Balinese Hindus for their bravery and courage in preserving their tradition and
culture will encourage the society and bring them closer to Bharat. This will
be the best contribution of Bharatiya Hindu society to Bali,
I feel strongly. (Shyam Parande is Asia Zone coordinator of International Center for Cultural Studies. The Organiser
Weekly, March 2, 2014)
