Falgun Amavasya Vik Samvat 2070. Yugabda 5115: March 1, 2014
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. -GO
TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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)
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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. -GO TOP
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."
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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."
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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
-GO TOP
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 -GO TOP
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.
-GO TOP
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 Mandirr
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)
-GO TOP
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