Margshirsha Krishna 9, Vik. Samvat 2071. Yugabda 5116: November 16, 2014


- 1. FESTIVALS: Datta Jayanti 2. PM TELLS YOUTH TO MAKE LIFE 'SARTHAK'
3. TUMKURU SANT SAMMELAN PLEDGES TO END UNTOUCHABILITY AND CASTEISM 4.   KALAM FOR BHARAT-CHINA JOINT SPACE COLLABORATION
5.  SHAKHA ADDS VALUES IN A CITIZEN’S LIFE 6.   BHARAT'S UN RESOLUTION ON YOGA GETS RECORD BACKING OF 130 COUNTRIES
7.  SRILANKA GOVT APPRECIATES HSS RELIEF WORK 8.  LOST JAIN TEXT ON BHARATIYA PHILOSPHY RECONSTRUCTED
9.   6TH WORLD AYURVEDA CONGRESS AT DELHI 10. CUBA AIMING TO INTRODUCE AYURVEDA IN MEDICAL CARE, CURRICULUM
11.   AGNI-II TEST-FIRED FOR FULL 2,000-KM STRIKE RANGE 12.  YOUNG SCIENTIST PRIZE TO SAHIL DOSHI
13.  FOUR BHARATIYA-AMERICAN WOMEN WIN ELECTIONS 14. HINDU ENCYCLOPAEDIA IS ‘GREAT CONTRIBUTION TO HUMANITY’
15. BHARATIYA-ORIGIN POLITICIAN KEITH VAZ NAMED AS 'LABOUR MP OF THE YEAR' 16.   5TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AND GATHERING OF ELDERS
17. CONCESSIONS FOR REFUGEES FROM PAKISTAN, AFGHANISTAN 18. K SURYANARAYANA RAO TURNS 90
19. HINDUS IN BANGLADESH SPEAK OUT AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS 20. OLDEST PAINTINGS OF BHARATIYA FACES FOUND IN AJANTA
21. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas & Visitors FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Articles:

ON RAISING HINDU AMERICANS IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN

INDIA IS CHANGING, AND FASTER THAN WE THINK


1. FESTIVALS: Datta Jayanti, also known as Dattatreya Jayanti, falls on Margshirsha Poornima corresponding to December 6 this year. Dattatreya, the son of the sage Atri and his wife Anasuya, is considered a form of the triad of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. The festival is mainly celebrated in Maharashtra. Devotees worship Dattatreya with flowers, incense, lamps and camphor. They also meditate on his image, read and recite ‘gurucharitra’ and pray to Dattatreya with a vow to follow in his footsteps. -- goTop

 

2. PM TELLS YOUTH TO MAKE LIFE 'SARTHAK': Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked the life and struggle of RSS ideologue Eknath Ranade to urge the youth to make their life meaningful rather than be just successful.

"Eknath Ranade attached more importance to make life meaningful rather than being simply successful. That should be our strive in life," he said. Modi said Ranade's vision should inspire in creation of a Bharat that is both "bhavya" (prosperous) and "divya" (spiritual). Modi was launching, at Vigyan Bhawan, the birth centenary celebrations of Ranade that will begin from November 19. He added that Ranade played a "very significant role during the Emergency". "I am delighted to be here. Eknathji remains an inspiration ever since my childhood. Also got to work with him," the PM said, lauding his perfectionist skills and noting that none in the Sangh Parivar can match him in this aspect.  -- goTop
 

3. TUMKURU SANT SAMMELAN PLEDGES TO END UNTOUCHABILITY AND CASTEISM: With a clear message to stop religious conversion and pledge to end social evils like untouchability and casteism within Hindu Society, the 2-day historic Sant Sammelan on November 11-12, organized by Vishwa Hindu Parishad as a part of its golden jubilee celebrations, concluded in Tumakuru Karnataka.  The sammelan was ianugurated by Sri Dr Shivakumar Swamiji of Siddaganga Matha along with RSS Sarasanghachalak Dr. Mohan Bhagwat.

“Some forces of the world want to divide Hindu society.  Such forces took away our own people. …We need to show a mirror which reflects the unity to each Hindu. Such a task can be effectively undertaken by sants and swamis of Hindu society,” said Dr. Bhagwat. 
The Sammelan passed resolution on 5 major issues of socio-religious significance:-
1. Complete ban on export of cattle meat in Bharat. Govt should not give licence to new cow slaughter houses in Bharat. 2.  Declare Cow as ‘National Animal of Bharat’ and make Bharat ‘a nation free from cow slaughtering’. 3. To implement Uniform Civil Code. 4. Legal measures to stop religious conversions. 5. Demand to central govt to withdraw “Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill 2014.
Over 600 swamijis and dharmacharyas participated in the sammelan including Sri Vishwesha Theertha Swamiji of Pejawara Matha Udupi, Sri Nirmalanathananda Swamiji of Adichunchanagiri Matha, Sri Sri Ravishankar of Art of Living, VHP’s International Secretary Champat Rai and other prominent saints.   -- goTop
 

4.   KALAM FOR BHARAT-CHINA JOINT SPACE COLLABORATION: 83-year-old APJ Abdul Kalam, former Rashtrapati, became a rare Bharatiya leader to take up teaching assignment in a Chinese university after he was formally conferred the title of Honorary Professor by the Peking University, one of the oldest Chinese universities. Kalam delivered three lectures in the University. Firstly he spoke on "Sustained development system and creative leadership" on November 5 to a group of students drawn from different disciplines. Two other lectures of Dr. Kalam were on ‘Terrestrial Solar Power’ and ‘Sustainable Development System and Creative Leadership’ on November 6 and 7 respectively.

Dr. Kalam was formally invited to teach at the University by its Chairman Zhu Shanlu when he visited China for the first time in 2012.  -- goTop
 

5.  SHAKHA ADDS VALUES IN A CITIZEN’S LIFE: RSS Sarsanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat called upon the youth to join Sangh shakha if they want to understand the Sangh and its work. “There is no other organisation similar to the Sangh in the world. There is a certain perspective and inquisitiveness required to understand the Sangh which is working towards organising the Hindu society,” said Shri Bhagwat interacting with the youth at Yuva Sankalp Shivir in Agra on November 3.

He said there can be no Hindu without Bharat and there is no Bharat without Hindus. Bharat is not the name of the land but it’s a place where the Bharatiyas reside. The character and tradition of Bharat is Hindutva. We need to maintain the decorum in the society to stay united.  -- goTop
 

6.   BHARAT'S UN RESOLUTION ON YOGA GETS RECORD BACKING OF 130 COUNTRIES: In an overwhelming response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for commemorating an International Day of Yoga, about 130 countries have joined as co-sponsors to a Bharat-led UN General Assembly resolution recognising yoga's benefits.

The draft resolution for an 'International Day of Yoga' was prepared by Bharat and informal consultations were convened last month by the Bharatiya mission in the UN General Assembly where views on the topic were expressed by other delegations.
The draft resolution, known as the 'L Document,' was finalised with 130 countries co-sponsoring it, an all-time record for a resolution of such kind.
The resolution would proclaim June 21 as the 'International Day of Yoga'.
Several Asian, European and Latin American countries and nearly 60 per cent of African nations are the co-sponsors of the resolution.  -- goTop
 

7.  SRILANKA GOVT APPRECIATES HSS RELIEF WORK: Kosalandha Meeriapeththa, an estate village in Uva province of Sri Lanka was badly affected by landslide on October 29. About 1,055 men and women including 162 children were displaced to a relief camp in Poonagala School after the landslide. At present, the camp is managed by Ministry of disaster management with the help of Army.

Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) Sri Lanka volunteers in many districts immediately planned to collect the essential material to help the affected. A group of karyakarthas travelled from Colombo to the affected village to assess the ground reality and planned to work in the relief camp.Within a day, swayamsevaks collected materials worth Rs 20 lakhs. Only swayamsevaks and sevikas are working inside the relief camp other than the government officials and the Army.  -- goTop
 

8.  LOST JAIN TEXT ON BHARATIYA PHILOSPHY RECONSTRUCTED: Dwadasharnayachakra - a fifth century AD Jain treatise on comparative Bharatiya philosophy reported lost some 1,300 years ago has been painstakingly 'resurrected' by experts with the help of commentaries and critiques of that era. It took 30 years for the team led by Muni Jambuvijaya in Ahmedabad to recreate the Sanskrit scripture for the students of Darshan Shastra, the study of Bharatiya and comparative religious philosophies dating back to 4th and 5th centuries AD.

The muni learnt 14 languages - including Tibetan, German and French, apart from the classical Bharatiya languages of Pali, Prakrit and Ardhamagdhi - to harness critical references from that era.
Jitendra Shah, the director of the LD Institute of Indology, who pursued a doctoral thesis on Dwadasharnayachakra, said that the book commands significance due to its content. "Acharya Mallavadi, a fifth century AD monk, had written the book as the outcome of his study of all religious thoughts and philosophies," said Shah.  -- goTop
 

9.   6TH WORLD AYURVEDA CONGRESS AT DELHI: “Ayurveda can acquire global recognition, like yoga, if it is presented in the right spirit and recognized as a way of life,” stressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 6th World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) and Arogya Expo organized in New Delhi by the AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) department under the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, in collaboration with the World Ayurveda Foundation (WAF) and the Delhi government on 6-10 November.

"The biggest challenge for promoting Ayurveda is finding physicians who are completely committed to Ayurveda. Unless practitioners believe in it fully they will not be able to convince the patients," he added.A disease can be cured by Allopathy, but if a person adopts Ayurveda, he can protect himself against various infections and lifestyle diseases for life.  -- goTop
 

10. CUBA AIMING TO INTRODUCE AYURVEDA IN MEDICAL CARE, CURRICULUM: Natalia Marzoa Silva, a biologist at the state-owned Finlay Institute in Havana and representing Cuba at the 6th World Ayurveda Congress in New Delhi said: "In Cuba, we have all the tools for treating diseases, but we have to improve the preventive system further." 

"We want to introduce Ayurveda in our country to prevent diseases. India can teach us about medicinal plants to fight diseases such as cancer and diabetes. We have the same plants in Cuba, but we don't know how to use them," she said, adding, a bilateral collaboration could create an understanding of the use of medicinal plants.  -- goTop
 

11.   AGNI-II TEST-FIRED FOR FULL 2,000-KM STRIKE RANGE: Bharat test-fired the nuclear weapon-capable Agni-II ballistic missile for its full strike range of 2,000 km from Wheeler Island off the Odisha Coast on 9th November. The 20-metre-tall Agni-II zoomed to an altitude of 600 km and began its descent before splashing near its pre-designated impact point in the Bay of Bengal with “two-digit accuracy.”

The exercise was carried out as regular user training under the supervision of missile scientists from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which designed and developed the weapon system. The two-stage missile has been inducted for military use and can carry a one-tonne payload.
Terming Agni-II a workhorse, the official said the overall mission objectives were met precisely. The navigation, guidance and control aspects of this class of missile were proven once again.  -- goTop
 

12.  YOUNG SCIENTIST PRIZE TO SAHIL DOSHI: Sahil Doshi, 14 year-old boy from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US has won the award for his innovative eco-friendly battery design. He was awarded $25,000 and named young America's 'top young scientist'. He also won an adventure trip to Costa Rica. Doshi, a pupil from Upper St. Clair School District’s Upper St. Clair High School, competed with nine other finalists on Nov 3 to win the coveted prize. Determined to help 1.2 billion people worldwide who lack access to electricity and the rising levels of toxic air pollution, Doshi created an energy storage device named 'PolluCell'. 'PolluCell' converts carbon dioxide into electricity and lowers harmful greenhouse gases while offering power for household use.The competition gave the finalists an opportunity to work directly with 3M scientists.  -- goTop

 

13.  FOUR BHARATIYA-AMERICAN WOMEN WIN ELECTIONS: The four Bharatiya American women who vied for the US House of Representatives, won their polls comfortably to make the community proud. South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley trounced her Democrat challenger Vincent Sheheen by a mammoth margin, to get another four years in office. In California, Kamala Harris, 50, was re-elected as Attorney General. In Washington State, the Democrat Pramila Jayapal was elected to the State Senate seat from the 37th Legislative District in her debut bid; becoming the first Bharatiya- American to be elected to the state legislature.The Democrat Aruna Miller retained her District 15 legislative seat for the second time in Maryland.  -- goTop

 

14. HINDU ENCYCLOPAEDIA IS ‘GREAT CONTRIBUTION TO HUMANITY’: British Prime Minister David Cameron termed the Encyclopaedia of Hinduism as a ‘great contribution to humanity’, adding that he is going to make use of this compilation. “This encyclopaedia is a great contribution to humanity. I love the saying, ‘Let all noble thoughts come from all directions’. I am going to use this. This is beautiful,” said Prime Minister Cameron, while launching the 11 volume encyclopaedia , produced by the India Heritage Research Foundation, in UK at a Diwali party on October 28.The event took place at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster.  -- goTop

 

15. BHARATIYA-ORIGIN POLITICIAN KEITH VAZ NAMED AS 'LABOUR MP OF THE YEAR':Bharatiya-origin British politician Keith Vaz has been named as the Labour MP of the year 2014 for his valuable work for under-represented, deprived and minority sections of the country."I am honoured to have been chosen for this award. In my constituency of Leicester East, I work with individuals and groups of all backgrounds, faiths and races. For all groups to be better represented in Parliament, and the wider political process, is a positive and necessary aim in our multicultural society," Vaz said

Speaker John Bercow announced the Patchwork Foundation MPs of the Year 2014 at Speakers House Nov 6, for those who have represented and worked with underrepresented, deprived and minority communities across the country  -- goTop
 

16.   5TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AND GATHERING OF ELDERS will be held at Mysuru – Karnataka from 31st January – 5th February 2015. The theme of the conference will beUniversal Wellbeing – Sustaining Nature, Culture and Communities.

The conference will explore how the current era of globalization is influencing inequality, politics, religious freedom and propagating borderless Nations.
It will bring together the leaders and scholars of 100+ living ancient cultures. This event will be focused on sharing insights on how to leverage the current globalization trend, access technology tools and build leadership capability within communities to ensure universal wellbeing in the twenty-first century and beyond. Pl visit www.iccsglobal.org for more information.  -- goTop
 

17. CONCESSIONS FOR REFUGEES FROM PAKISTAN, AFGHANISTAN: Bharatiya Government on 13th November announced a number of concessions for Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan and Afghanistan as part of which it also introduced relaxations in the procedure for granting them Bharatiya citizenship. Home minister Rajnath Singh approved a proposal for manual acceptance of applications for granting of Bharatiya citizenship to those who entered Bharat prior to 31 December, 2009. The children of such refugees, who entered Bharat on the basis of their parents’ passport, can apply without passport for the grant of Bharatiya citizenship after the regularisation of their stay in Bharat. In case of children of such persons born in Bharat, they can also apply without passport for grant of citizenship after regularisation of their stay in the country. There are about 400 Pakistani Hindu refugee settlements in cities like Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Jaipur. Many Sikh refugees live in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. There are about one lakh minority community refugees from Pakistan and Afghanistan living in Bharat.  -- goTop

 

18. K SURYANARAYANA RAO TURNS 90: Veteran RSS Pracharak Kru Suryanarayana Rao, popularly known as ‘Suruji’ turned 90 this year. RSS Karnataka greeted this legendary icon of Sangh work in a simple function held at Sri Shankar Matha premises, Shankarapuram, Bengaluru on 5th November. In a function held later in the evening, Pejawar Matha’s Vishwesha Theertha swamiji met and greeted Suruji on his 90th Birthday, and called Suruji as ‘Bheeshmacharya’ in his address.

Suryanarayana Rao, born in 1924, became RSS swayamsevak in 1942 and pracharak in 1946 after his graduation in B Sc Mathematics. He held various responsibilities including Tamilnadu Pranth Pracharak, Dakshin kshetra pracharak and Akhil Bharatiya Seva Pramukh of RSS giving a new dimension for Seva activities of RSS. He has visited countries like USA, Trinidad, Canada, England, during this period.  -- goTop
 

19. HINDUS IN BANGLADESH SPEAK OUT AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: Human rights organizations in Bangladesh have forcefully demanded an independent and neutral investigation into incidents of repression on the minorities. Seeking justice for the victims, the organizations demanded that the attackers be brought to book.

Bangladesh Minority Watch (BDMW) and Bangladesh Center for Human Rights and Development (BCHRD) with the collaboration of Global Human Rights Defense (GHRD) jointly published “Human Rights Report of Religious Minorities-2014” at a press conference on 7th November at Dhaka. Minority victims from various parts of Bangladesh appeared at the Conference Hall and expressed their experiences of sufferings.
“Stop this injustice. Punish those who launched barbaric attacks against people of the minority communities across the country from 2001 to 2014,” BDMW president Rabindra Ghosh urged the government.  -- goTop
 

20. OLDEST PAINTINGS OF BHARATIYA FACES FOUND IN AJANTA: In March earlier this year, historian and writer William Dalrymple, the author of White Mughals, The Last Mughal, and City of Djinns, visited the famed Ajanta caves with his wife. They wandered into two lesser-known caves in the 31-cave complex — numbers 9 and 10.

"I saw these extraordinary but unfamiliar paintings. I couldn't recall having seen their photographs anywhere, in any books on Ajanta," recalled Dalrymple during a talk organized by the Tasveer Foundation. "Although badly damaged, I could make out that these paintings were in a different style from the better known Ajanta paintings — more realistic and humanistic." "This pre-dates everything in Indian art. These are the oldest faces of Indians in existence," said Dalrymple, while pointing to slides showing visual representations of the Jataka tales, which formed the main subject matter of these paintings. The faces are full of vigour and expression, and each face is individually delineated, the historian pointed out.
"The most marvellous thing is, you still see these faces, these same features, and sometimes even the same designs in jewellery and dress, even today in western India. But the people represented here — though we don't know if the anonymous artists painted them from life or imagination — lived two millennia ago."  -- goTop
 

21. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas: Shri Suresh ji Soni, sahsarkaryavaha will tour countries in South East Asia including Thailand in December. Shri Saumitar Gokhale, samyojak Vishwa Vibhag, Dr.Ram Vaidya sah samyojak arrived in Bharat to attend World Hindu Congress. Shri Ravikumar, sah samyojak returned from his tour to Australia. Visitors: Amrit Mittal – USA  -- goTop

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith. – Billy Graham.  -- goTop

 
JAI SHREE RAM
ON RAISING HINDU AMERICANS IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN
Chandruacharya
As a first generation American who grew up in India, it seems counter-intuitive, at first, to be writing about growing up Hindu in America. Reflecting on my experience as a parent raising two Hindu American teens, though, a 19-year old and a 13-year old, I feel emboldened to put ‘pen to paper’ and share my thoughts.
Interacting with Hindu kids growing up in America today, I find that they primarily identify as Americans. They share and cherish American core values and have American role models from various walks of life. Whether it is music, sport, or dance, mainstream American culture is a powerful glue that brings people together, breaking down the barriers that divide. Nonetheless, every individual wears secondary identities based on such criteria as gender, ethnicity, religion and race.
Hindu kids too have nagging questions about their roots, questions like:  Who is a Hindu? and What is our identity?
Immigrants in a New Home
Most first-generation Indian Americans reach the shores of this bountiful country in pursuit of the great American Dream. Many have advanced degrees in fields such as computer science, medicine, and biotechnology and find their skills and experience much sought after in the techno-commercial market place here. I immigrated to America from India in 2002 as an information technology professional, and my family came shortly thereafter. The suburbs of Detroit, Michigan welcomed us with traditional Midwestern warmth. I felt at home the moment I arrived in this new land, surrounded by the majestic great lakes.
About 2.7 million Hindu Americans, mostly of South Asian descent, live in America today. Second-generation Hindu Americans, growing up in the late 90s and the early 2000s, found the overall environment encouraging, allowing them to pursue a career of choice as equals. This has been particularly true where the Hindu population is highly concentrated in socially diverse states  such as California, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. The environment is not always welcoming, though. In some regions Hindu Americans feel that they are “polemically tolerated,” in others they are simply “accepted,” while in a city like Detroit the diversity they bring the community is “celebrated.”
wedding
Prior to the 90s, Hindu children growing up in America faced more of an identity crisis. Parents were busy adjusting to the new land, pursuing careers, and establishing themselves. The younger generation seldom had opportunities to learn about tradition, faith, and culture. However, as the community stabilized itself financially, the second generation started making its mark in everything from spelling bee contests to corporate boardrooms in Silicon Valley. This was a great leap from earlier media-driven stereotypes of taxi drivers and 7/11 shop owners. A new confidence about our future developed, and a yearning was born for ways to draw inspiration from our rich cultural past and establish a distinct Hindu American identity.
The Heart of the Matter
A major challenge faced by Hindu American parents is conveying the essence of Hinduism to their kids. For many in the West, especially those in the Abrahamic traditions, faith and worship are an integral part of religion. For them, “religion” includes an inherent emphasis on adhering to the belief systems proposed by the founders of their respective traditions. Regular community worship each week tends to be embraced.
By contrast, Hinduism is an ancient pluralistic civilizational framework that is based on freedom of faith rather than faith itself. The uniqueness of the framework is that every individual has absolute liberty in choosing a path of worship and adopting or rejecting a belief system. Hindu civilization is held together by two profound philosophical concepts : Vasudeva Kutumbakam (the entire Universe is my family) and Sarva Panth Samabhava (equal respect for all faiths). Accordingly, Hindu civilization has played a motherly role in ensuring that various Dharmic faiths that emerged from the civilization flourished unhindered and co-existed with respect and admiration. For an adult it might not be difficult to grasp the subtle difference between a civilizational framework that nurtures freedom of faith versus a religion based on theology and community worship, but try explaining that to a nine-year-old!
As a Hindu parent, I have to create explanations my kids can understand. I tell them to think about Hinduism as a way of life where “everyone lives in a community with a common shared backyard. Within each household, members privately practice their faith of choice. And when they all come out, sharing their backyard, the boundaries are invisible and insignificant.” Clearly this is not a religion where  adherents live in fenced houses in exclusive gated communities.
I came up with a simple poem to explain our identity:
WE ARE HINDU AMERICANS!
All are equal and all are free, all are part of our family.
We care for the weak and share when we eat,
We fold our hands and greet when we meet…
Namaste! Namaste! Namaste!
When it is right, we have no fear,
To show our might, we never fight.
We talk of peace, we have no foes,
We are friends of trees and nature as a whole.
We share our joy and love every life,
Be it the soul of a man or a tiny mole.
Yoga for the body and Gita for the mind,
For Black, Brown, Yellow, White, every shade and kind.
Respect for age is never hard to find,
We are a people that only try to bind.
WE ARE HINDU AMERICANS!
Reforging an Identity
Today we see a conscious effort in the Hindu American community to get connected with its roots. From Yoga classes to Bollywood actors, from classical dancers to spiritual gurus, every sort of cultural ambassador is in demand. Socio-cultural organizations such as Balavihaar and Balagokulam have gained popularity in temples, and youngsters are actively attending South Asian culture and language classes. Organizations like Hindu Students Council and Hindu Yuva are mushrooming on college campuses, and Hindu American youth are connecting with their roots in a more confident and assertive manner.
In America as in India, Hindu festivals play an important role in propagating our key values – living in harmony with Mother Nature and living up to our roles and responsibilities towards family, society at large, and the whole human family. Important festivals are celebrated in America with vigor and traditional fashion. The most popular is Diwali, which hails the triumph of good over evil. In recent times Hindus have  become actively engaged during Diwali in contributing to the wider community through service projects such as food drives for shelters and highway-cleanup projects.
Hindu American engagement in the interfaith community is also showing an increase. More and more Hindus feel the urge to demystify Hindu values and concepts to the world, promoting the importance of including the diverse voices of wisdom from Dharmic and indigenous sources in the ongoing story of religion in America.http://chandruacharya.wordpress.com/2014/11/07/growing-up-hindu-in-america/   -- goTop

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INDIA IS CHANGING, AND FASTER THAN WE THINK
Stewart beck
Two months after leaving India as Canada’s High Commissioner, I returned two weeks ago as part of British Columbia Premier Christy Clark’s official delegation to the country.
Stepping out into the hot and humid Delhi night, everything looked the same but there was certainly a sense of change in the air: everyone from taxi drivers, to business people and politicians seem to feel a new confidence that India can now move forward. In his first 100 days in office, new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to have changed the attitude and outlook of the world’s second-most populous nation.
Coinciding with the Premier’s visit was a delegation of federal representatives, including Foreign Affairs and International Trade Ministers John Baird and Ed Fast, who were there to reinforce Canada’s commitment to strengthening ties with India’s new government. The success of the concurrent delegations was an excellent example of how Canada can capitalize on some of its constitutional similarities with India – in this case, the devolution of power over issues such as education and national-resource management to the provinces – in order to improve relations for Canada as a whole.
Our ministers had the opportunity to sit down with the prime minister: Mr. Baird extended an official invitation for Mr. Modi to visit Canada, and Mr. Fast raised the pending Canada-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the negotiations for which have been continuing since 2010. For his part, Mr. Modi noted that he was looking forward to meeting Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the G20 Summit in Brisbane, scheduled to begin Dec. 1.
With the CEPA negotiations now having gone through eight rounds, and an unsigned FIPA, India-watchers in Canada have had little reason to anticipate any formalized deepening of ties. But India is changing, and it is happening faster than we think.
Over the last four years in India, I saw little, if any, change. The second UPA government under Manmohan Singh was sclerotic, bumping from one scandal to another starting with the Commonwealth Games in 2010. This left the country, its people and its businesses with little hope and enormously frustrated by a corrupt environment, lagging job growth and a government incapable of providing services for its citizens.
Mr. Modi was elected as prime minister with a mandate to make things happen. From my own experience in dealing with Mr. Modi, he is prepared, direct and looking for results and accountability, rare attributes in an Indian politician. His past record as chief minister of Gujarat demonstrates what he is capable of: his policies and approach attracted the most foreign investment of all Indian States, including major Canadian investments by Bombardier and McCain’s.
In the past 100 days, Mr. Modi has made some dramatic international maneuvers, including securing sizeable infrastructure funding commitments from Japan and China and building new security arrangements with the United States. Domestically, he moved forward on introducing land and labour reforms, and with the drop in crude oil prices, he has been able to reduce fuel subsidies. This will further improve India’s investment environment, and with a declining current account deficit he will have more room to take bolder reform measures.
This change in attitude and level of confidence was clearly evident in the meetings Ms. Clark had with her counterparts. There was a strong commitment to securing long-term gas supplies based on current and future investments in British Columbia and meetings with steel industry executives opened many Canadian eyes to the staggering growth planned in the economy. Steel manufacturing capacity will grow to 300 million tons by 2025, which, alone will mean that India will need to import at least 150 million tons of coking coal to meet the demand.
Mr. Modi’s most significant challenge will be providing the necessary skills to employ the one million people entering the work force every month for the next 15 years (more than 50 per cent of India’s population is under the age of 25). The Premier was able to present solutions to this challenge, including how the proper Canadian accreditations delivered through joint programming in India can solve some of the skill shortages facing the province.
Opportunities abound in India and even more so now that there is a newfound optimism and energy. Canada is uniquely placed to become a priority country for India. We engaged early with Mr. Modi when other western countries were reticent; we are colonial cousins and share a similar constitutional framework; and we have a vibrant diaspora that cares about India’s future place in world. As Mr. Harper meets with Mr. Modi for the first time later this year in Australia, and we look ahead to a possible official visit next year, the time is ripe for Canada and India to grow in closer partnership together.
(Stewart Beck is president and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada  and  was Canada’s High Commissioner to India.)  -- goTop

Kartik Shukla 9, Vik. Samvat 2071. Yugabda 5116: November 1, 2014


It is celebrated as Dhanu Yatra - a colourful festival related to Bhagwan Krishna's visit to Mathura,  at Bargarh, Odisha. Different acts of puranic descriptions are performed at specific locations and the spectators move from place to place with the action to follow the performance. During this festival the Bhagwan Krishna is offered sweetened rice flakes which are specially prepared in a Conical shape.
Dhanu is also name of the month in the Malayalam Calendar. Women celebrate Thiruvathira in this month. Thiruvathira is supposed to be the birthday of Bhagwan Shiva. Married women and girls do 'upavasa' (fasting) on that day, and sing and dance. Girls pray to Lord Shiva to get a good husband while married women pray for the longevity of their husbands. -- Go Top
 

2.  1.6 LAKH SEVA PROJECTS RUN BY RSS: “Seva – Service is an integral part of sangh work and it was natural that sangh workers came forward to help fllod affected people in Jammu and Kasmir” said RSS sarkaryavaha Bhayya ji Joshi at the press meet on 20th October at Lucknow where a 3-day meeting of its Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari mandal was held. He added that over 1.6 lakh service projects are being run by swayamsevaks all over the country in rural, tribal and urban slum areas. Replying to a question on the issue of Ram mandir, he said, “Ram Temple exists in Ayodhya and people worship there daily. The only issue is to make it a grand temple. As the matter is in the Supreme Court, hence, the Centre should try to remove the hurdle and fulfil the promise made to the people during the elections,” He claimed that more than 1.25 lakh youth have joined the organisation last year.  -- Go Top

 

3. BHARAT LAUNCHES THIRD NAVIGATION SATELLITE: Bharat’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C26) lifted off with aplomb from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota at 1.32 a.m. on 16th October and precisely put the Bharatiya navigation satellite, IRNSS-1C into its perfect, pre-designated orbit. This was the 28th successful launch of the Indian Space Research Organisation.

The IRNSS-1C, the third of the seven navigation satellites in the Indian Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), has wide-ranging applications in terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation. From vehicle tracking to fleet management and from disaster management to mapping, the satellite extends services to its clients.
The IRNSS-C1 carried two types of payloads, one for transmitting navigation service signals to the users and another consisting of a C-band transponder to facilitate Cube Retro Reflectors for laser ranging.
The first two satellites in the series, IRNSS 1A and IRNSS 1B were launched from Sriharikota on July 1 2013 and April 4 this year respectively.  -- Go Top
 

4. NANAJI BROUGHT INTEGRAL HUMANISM IN ACTION:  “Nanaji’s thinking was out of box, he always tried to do something extra, beyond his given responsibility. Whatever he did he did with some value addition. He always insisted on ‘self-sufficiency’ approach. Optimum utilisation of local resources was the basis of his vision. He perfectly blended universal science with local technologies,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi while releasing a book on Nanaji Deshmukh in New Delhi on October 11, the 98th birth anniversary of Nanaji.

RSS Sahsarkaryavah Shri Dattatreya Hosabale, veteran Sangh Pracharak Shri Madan Das, DRI president Shri Virendrajeet Singh and general secretary of DRI Shri Bharat Pathak also shared the dais. Many distinguished personalities including RSS Sarkaryavah Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi, former deputy Prime Minister Shri LK Advani, Governor of Guajrat Prof. Omprakash Kohli, etc were present at the jam-packed Vigyan Bhavan.
Speaking on the occasion Dattatreya Hosabale said, Nanaji brought ‘Integral Humanism’ propounded by Deendayalji in action. “When people are looking for models of development on Bharatiya values the one created by Nanaji are the living examples.   -- Go Top
 

5. BHARATIYAS CELEBRATE DESI FESTIVALS IN DENMARK: Vijayadashmi was celebrated by Bharatiyas in Copenhagen on September 28 in a traditional way, thanks to the efforts put in by members of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS)-Denmark. The most interesting part of these celebrations was the play: Ramleela. Done with very few props, the characters were able to convey Lord Rama's story to the audience.

"The programme was designed for all age groups and involved a drawing contest based on Ramayana characters and a discussion on the main characters of Ramayana. There were 15 people in the play and we spent more than four weekends preparing for it," said Hemant Dubey, one of the active members of HSS-Denmark.
Dattatreya Hosabale, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's joint general secretary, had travelled to Copenhagen from Bharat to attend the Vijayadashmi celebrations. "He spoke on the significance of Vijayadashmi as well as key learnings from Ramayana for an hour, before ending it with a moral for the children. 
Apart from this event, many other events were also organized by different Bharatiya communities. Bharatiya Mandir in Copenhagen organised Ravana Dahan, where a small effigy of Ravana was burnt to ashes. The Gujarati community played Garba at another event on September 27. The Bengalis organised Durga Puja on a grand scale. On October 4, the newly formed Telangana Association of Denmark also celebrated Dasara and Telangana state's biggest festival, Bathukamma.   -- Go Top 
 

6.   MILLENNIUM ANNIVERSARY OF THE CORONATION OF CHOLA KING RAJENDRA  I:

The 1000th year of coronation of renowned King Rajendra I of the famous Chola Dynasty of Bharat is a matter of great pride and inspiration to all of us. Crowned in 10I4 CE, King Rajendra I had his rule extending not only from the banks of river Ganga to the whole of Southern Bharat but also up-to Sri Lanka, Lakshadweep, Maldives, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. By virtue of his well managed administration and a well organized military, trade, commerce, art, culture, architecture and sculpture flourished under his reign in this entire region.
Literature and pursuit of knowledge also flourished in his times and several books and volumes were written, both in Sanskrit and Tamil. During his rule, several grand temples and Stupas were constructed in Bharat, Sri Lanka and South East Asia which stand testimony to our living cultural heritage. It is testified from his Charter comprising 21 Copper Inscriptions with his royal insignia written in both Sanskrit and Tamil and paying obeisance at the very beginning to Lord Vishnu which are kept by Leiden University of Netherlands.
At the time of Mahmud Ghazni’s attack on our north-western frontier and the turmoil of Euro-Arab conflict, King Rajendra I provided stable rule to ensure peace, prosperity and unhindered trade in the entire South East Asian Region to Bharatiyas, especially Tamil traders and their trade associations. He also established diplomatic Mission in China to promote trade.
He also set up a University for study of Vedas and other disciplines at Ennayirum. Besides ensuring political stability, in order to promote cultural unity and emotional integrity he sent his General Aryan Rajrajan to bring holy water of Ganga, ceremonially received it, mixed it with Kaveri waters and built a grand lake due to which he came to be known as  Gangai Konda Cholan  [i.e. Chola who brought Ganga].
Remembering such glorious period of our history will be inspirational to the people in the work for national resurgence. All the people of Bharat including Swyamasevaks are called upon to remind Bharat and the world about the achievement of the Chola king Rajendra for providing benign rule with all round progress in such a vast area and to ensure their support as well as participation in all the events related to this incidence.
(Statement by RSS sarkaryavaha Bhayya ji Joshi on the eve of meeting of  ABKM at Lucknow )  -- Go Top
 

7. DUBAI-BASED BHARATIYA-ORIGIN EYE SURGEON HONOURED IN LONDON: Dr. Vinod Gauba, Dubai-based Bharatiya-origin doctor has been conferred the prestigious Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman for his contributions to healthcare. Dr. Gauba, 36, who has worked with the less fortunate and visually impaired, was presented with the award earlier this month by Baroness Verma at the House of Lords in London. He was awarded for his pioneering role in the field of ophthalmology.

 'Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman' is presented to 20 recipients selected from over 30 million Non-Resident Indians or people of Indian origin for exceptional achievements in various fields.
"With Dubai fast becoming the Middle Eastern healthcare hub, we are proud to possess a premier level of expertise and technology in the UAE, attracting patients not only from the region but from all across the globe," Gauba said. He is based at Dubai Healthcare City, a multi-specialty surgery centre for providing specialized eye care.  -- Go Top
 

8. STATE DEPARTMENT CELEBRATES DIWALI AS GLOBAL AFFAIR: Bharatiya tapestries, silver lamps, and traditional delicacies adorned the Benjamin Franklin State Dining Room as Secretary John Kerry inaugurated the U.S. Department of State's annual Diwali celebration. He lit a diya while a Hindu priest from the Sri Shiva Vishnu Temple (SSVT) of Maryland sang Vedic hymns amidst hundreds of well-wishers, including senior administration officials, Ambassadors, and community leaders. "As we celebrate Diwali this evening, we also hail the accomplishments of the many hundreds of thousands of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, and Jain Americans who live now all across our country in every community," said Secretary Kerry. "And we honor their faith and their traditions, and the indispensable contributions that they make every single day to our prosperity, to our freedom, and to our culture - to this new chapter of American history that they are helping to write." Kerry was joined on stage by Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Ambassador of Bharat, who highlighted the joyous festivities taking place around the world.

On 20th October 2014, Prime Minister David Cameron warmly welcomed British Hindu community leaders and sevaks to his residence at 10 Downing Street, with the blessing "Shubh Diwali".  At the annual Downing Street Diwali celebration, he spoke of the valuable contribution of the British Hindu community to British life, in terms of the four purusharthas (human purposes) and he spoke of the vital contribution that the Hindu philosophy of reverence for Light, encapsulated in the Diwali celebrations, had for all people of all faiths and he wished the British Hindu community prosperity and happiness.  -- Go Top
 

9.  BHARAT TO BUILD 1800-KM HIGHWAY ALONG CHINA BORDER IN ARUNACHAL: To counter China, Bharat is all set to embark on an ambitious road project along the McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh. The proposed Indo-China frontier highway  will run parallel along the China border and will be 1,800 km long.

The proposed highway will pass through Tawang, East Kameng, Upper Subansiri, West Siang, Upper Siang, Dibang Valley, Hawai and Vijaynagar in the bordering areas. The Government has already relaxed environmental clearances for border area projects. “ The construction of the road will be a huge challenge considering the rough and hostile terrain, mostly snow-fed, through which it would pass, and will be the biggest single infrastructure project in the history of Bharat with an estimated cost of over Rs 40,000 crore,” Rijiju said in Itanagar.  -- Go Top
 

10.  BHARAT IGNORES CHINA'S FROWN, OFFERS DEFENCE BOOST TO VIETNAM: Bharat took a decisive step towards countering China's assertive poweron 28th October by committing to help Vietnam's defence modernization, a move that will resonate unpleasantly in Beijing.

After his meeting with visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Bharatiya PM Narendra Modi said , "Our defence cooperation with Vietnam is among our most important ones. India  remains committed to the modernization of Vietnam's defence and security forces. This will include expansion of our training programme, which is already very substantial, joint-exercises and cooperation in defence equipment. We will quickly operationalise the $100 million line of credit that will enable Vietnam acquire new naval vessels from India."
For the first time, Bharat sent clear signals that it may be willing to sell the Brahmos short range cruise missiles to Vietnam, a long-standing demand by Hanoi. The previous Bharatiya government was a little hesitant, citing reservations by Russia (which is a co-developer).  -- Go Top
 

11. MASSIVE RELIEF AND RESCUE OPERATION BY SWAYAMSEVAKS IN CYCLONE HIT AP: The cyclone Hudhud severely hit three districts of Andhra Pradesh, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. Although, the north-east monsoon affects every year the coastal areas of Bay of Bengal during October-November, this year the devastation is huge. Visakhapatnam is the worst hit city.

RSS swayamsevaks started relief and rescue operation on October 12 itself by cutting the trees fallen across the streets and clearing the garbage to facilitate the movement of people and the vehicles. RSS with its several associated organisations like Jana Samkshema Samithi, Sewa Bharati, ABVP, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bharatiya Vidya Kendram Educational institutions, etc, plunged into service activities from the moment they could came out of their houses.
BVK College became the centre of activity for receiving the material and disbursing to several destinations. Nearly 1,000 volunteers were engaged in the 24 hours run activity. More than one lakh water packets, 25,000 milk packets, several packets of food, bread and biscuits had been distributed in nearly 50 localities far and near in the city. Similar supplies were sent to villages of the district including the coastal fishermen villages. Several dignitaries like Minister Shri Ravella Kishore Babu, Shri Manikyala Rao, Sri Vishnu Kumar Raju MLA, Dr K Hari Babu MP, RDO and others visited the affected areas.   -- Go Top     
 

12.  RSS VOLUNTEERS CLEAN MOSQUE IN CYCLONE AFFECTED VISAKHAPATNAM: Volunteers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cleaned mosques in Visakhapatnam, after cyclone Hudhud left behind a trail of destruction when it hit the region last week.

Coordinator of Visakhapatnam region of RSS, Ram Bahadur, said that the political leaders in the country had created a wrong perception that RSS is against Muslims and Christians.
The volunteers were seen using electric saws to cut trees that were fallen inside the mosque complex. They were also cleaning the floors and removing broken glasses that were scattered everywhere. A volunteer of RSS, Kurmit Kaur, said they were merely being human.  -- Go Top
 

13.  WIDOWS PERFORM LAKSHMI PUJA AT KUDROLI TEMPLE: A large number of widows were allowed on 22nd October to perform Lakshmi Pooja (workship) on the occasion of Deepavali in the Kudroli Sri Gokarnanatheshwara Temple – established in the city by social reformer Narayana Guru and renovated by Senior Congress Leader B. Janardhana Poojary. Allowing widows to do the pooja is among a string of measures taken by the temple aimed at social reformation. The temple has, earlier appointed widows, a couple of them from Dalit communities, as priests.

Around 2,000 widows from Mangalore and other parts of the state participated in the programme. They were brought into the temple in a procession accompanied by beating of drums and other musical instruments.
Indira, Lakshmi and Chandravati, the three priests at the temple, performed Lakshmi Pooja that was witnessed by the large number of widows gathered in the temple. After the pooja, widows were allowed to perform ‘Aarati’. The women priests sat along with idols of presiding deity on the silver chariot that was taken around sanctum sactorum by these women three times.
This is not the first time widows have been involved in the rituals. The temple believes in “One caste one religion one god” philosophy advocated by Narayana Guru. Three years ago a large number of widows performed Chandika Homa and poojas of Nava Durga idols during the Navaratri.  -- Go Top
 

14. BHAGINI NIVEDITA SEWA NYAS DONATES RICKSHAWS TO PAK HINDUS: Bhagini Nivedita Sewa Nyas Delhi, on 11th October provided cycle rickshaws and other basic necessary things to the Hindus who came from Pakistan. Apart from it, 25 families who came recently from Pakistan were provided with various household things like clothes, mattress, etc. Speaking on the occasion, general secretary of the Nyas Shri Mahavir Prasad Gupta assured the Hindus coming from Pakistan every possible help till they are granted citizenship in Bharat. He also applauded the support of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bharat Vikas Parishad and many other organisations which have been helping the Nyas in this endeavour.  -- Go Top

 

15.   MALAYSIAN HINDUS CALL TO SAVE CENTURY-OLD VIVEKANANDA ASHRAM: An organization of Hindus in Malaysia Hindraf recently urged the National Heritage Department of Malaysian Government to take immediate steps to protect the Swami Vivekananda Ashram at Jalan Tun Sambanthan, in Brickfields.

The century-old ashram has been earmarked for major redevelopment that will see a 23-storey residential tower with 264 units and an eight-storey car park built at the site. “Hindraf strongly urge the National Heritage Department steps in to object on the proposed development to protect and preserve this cultural heritage as part of the rich Malaysian heritage,” said its chief P. Waytha Moorthy.
The statue and the ashram were built by the Jaffna Tamil immigrants in 1904 in honour of Swami Vivekananda, who visited Malaya in 1893.  -- Go Top
 

16. BHARATIYA ARMY’S EASTERN COMMAND TURNS 94: Army's biggest operational command - the Eastern Command - responsible for military operations along the international borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Nepal, turned 94 on 31st Oct.

The Eastern Command will continue to strive for "unparalleled professional competence to ensure the highest standards of operational readiness", Lt. Gen. M.M.S. Rai, general officer commanding-in-chief, said on the occasion at its headquarters at Fort William Kolkata.
The Eastern Command was formed Nov 1, 1920, with its summer headquarters in Nainital and winter headquarters in Lucknow. The command was designated as Eastern Army in April 1942, and its headquarters moved to Barrackpore. The Eastern Command theatre consists of three distinct geographical regions - the mountainous sectors of Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in the north, the jungle-clad hill tracts of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya in the east and the south, and the plains of Assam and Bengal.
Field Marshal S.H.F.J. Manekshaw, who led the Bharatiya Army to victory in 1971 was one of Eastern Command's illustrious commanders. Besides the current army chief, Gen. Dalbir Singh and his predecessors Gen. Bikram Singh and Gen. V.K. Singh, others who have headed the Eastern Command are Gen. P.P. Kumaramanglam, Gen. A.S. Vaidya Gen. V.N. Sharma, all of whom rose to army chief.  -- Go Top
 

17. NATIONWIDE BLOOD DONATION CAMP OF VHP: 1 LAKH UNITS COLLECTED: In an overwhelming response to nationwide blood donation camp of VHP on 2nd November , thousands of youth donated blood across Bharat, crossing a collection of a total of 100,000 units of blood across the nation. The blood donation drive was organised by VHP and its youth wing Bajarangadal to commemorate the Golden Jubilee year of Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

VHP Chief Dr Pravin Togadia inaugurated VHP blood donation drive at Karolbagh of New Delhi. ‘In Karnataka 62 blood donation camps were held in which nearly 6000 units of blood collected’, said VHP leader Gopal Nagarakatte.  -- Go Top
 

18. BHARATIYA COP WINS UN’S   FEMALE PEACEKEEPER AWARD: A Bharatiya police inspector has been named recipient of a prestigious international female peacekeeper award by the UN's police division for her "exceptional achievements" in her duty with the UN mission in Afghanistan.  

Inspector Shakti Devi of the Jammu & Kashmir Police, currently deployed in the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), has been awarded the International Female Police Peacekeeper Award 2014. 
Devi has been honoured for her "exceptional achievements" in leading the establishment of Women Police Councils in several parts of Afghanistan. She has also contributed to the improvement of the status of female police and has effectively helped the police of Afghanistan move towards achieving their goals of fully adopting democratic principles of policing. 
The award was delivered during the International Association of Women Police (IAWP) conference held earlier this month in Winnipeg, Canada.  -- Go Top
 

19.  BHARAT - BORN SCIENTIST AWARDED WORLD FOOD PRIZE:  Bharat -born Mexican scientist Sanjaya Rajaram has been presented with the prestigious World Food Prize 2014 for his agricultural research that led to a remarkable increase in world wheat production building on the successes of the Green Revolution. "It is a collective achievement, rather than that of a single person," Rajaram told while accepting the award at the Iowa State University in USA. The award "honours the innovative spirit of farmers", he said adding that "without their contributions, my research wouldn't have been possible".

By crossing winter and spring wheat varieties -- which were distinct gene pools that had been isolated from one another for hundreds of years -- he created wheat varieties that are disease- and stress-resistant and adaptable to diverse geographical regions and climates. In 2007, Norman Borlaug called Rajaram "the greatest present-day wheat scientist in the world". Borlaug is known as the father of the Green Revolution.  -- Go Top
 

20.  SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas: Shri Ravikumar, sah samyojak Vishwa Vibhag, is on a tour to Australia. Shyam Parande, secretary Sewa International is on a short tour to Mauritius. Shri Saumitra Gokhale, samyojak Vishwa Vibhag, Dr. Ram Vaidya, sah samyojak & Ravikumar would reach Bharat on the occasion of World Hindu Congress in November. Visitors: Vikram Sharma – USA, Nicola Brown – UK  -- Go Top

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Sandalwood perfumes even the axe that hurls it down! The more we rub sandalwood against a stone, the more its fragrance spreads. Burn it, and it wafts its glory through the entire neighbourhood. Such is the enchanting beauty of forgiveness in life. – Swami Chinmayananda  -- Go Top

JAI SHREE RAM
RENDEZVOUS WITH A VISIONARY
Asim Kumar Mitra
I just cannot remember the day. But I can definitely recall that on that day Eknathji (Shri Eknath Ranade) was coming to Kolkata from Chennai by a morning flight. I went to the airport to receive him. We were heading towards Vivekananda Kendra Karyalaya. All of a sudden Eknathji asked me, “What do you think? What should I do now?”
So sudden was the question, I was taken aback. If a giant personality like Eknathji asks such a question to a most junior worker like me what should I say? I had no answer for a moment. Then I thought when Eknathji was assigned the work of Vivekananda Memorial, he was Sarkaryavah of RSS and as a Sangh swayamsevak we have been missing him. So much so, the time before the country (1971 or 1972) was also bad so I said we hardly can afford to miss you any more from the Sangh work.
It was my honest and spontaneous reply. As a seasoned ‘karyakarta’, Eknathji immediately read my mind and started explaining the situation. By that time the first phase of the work of Vivekananda Memorial work was over and the then President of India VV Giri had inaugurated the grand memorial of Swami Vivekananda. In a way, the job assigned by Shri Guruji to Eknathi was successfully done. Now, puting forward a question to one and all of his acquaintances was obvious. What is the purpose of setting up of a temple? Should it not become a centre of activities to fulfill the ideal of ‘Serve people, serve God’?
Answer was there in the question itself. But a junior person like me failed to understand that. Because my mind was swayed by the idea that RSS is doing this job. The idea of comprehensive upliftment of the society is very much there in the fabric of RSS ideology and its work. Why then a separate organisation is at all necessary? Then Eknathji went on at length to give me a piece of his mind. I was not quite convinced. Confusion about this was prevailed in my mind for quite some time. Then I had gone through a report of Eknathji’s lecture on this very subject at Bangalore and I was totally convinced by listening his point of view. Let me quote some portions of that lecture. He said:
“Some people ask, ‘Could this stone-structure alone be a fitting memorial to that great patriot saint?’ To them I may humbly say that I myself have never been much of a believer in merely putting stone upon stone. The real urge in the Committee workers, including me, to work out the present memorial-plan springs forth from their faith and confidence that this granite structure would not only be an abiding source of great inspiration to posterity, but should also provide a nucleus a round which, over a period, great activities which the Swamiji preached and envisaged would spring up.
“Kanyakumari is a place, which may be considered as great symbol of purity and unity. It is a meeting point of three oceans. If the Sangam at Prayag is sacred because of the mingling of the holy waters of the three sacred rivers, this holy spot is a Mahasangam where the waters of the Ganga and Sindhu, Narmada and Goda, Krishna and Kaveri ultimately meet in the form of those three oceans the Gangasagar, the Sindhusagar and Hindu Mahasagar.
The place is, in a way, a meeting point of the East and the West also Standing at the topering end of our country, at Kanyakumari we can notice the disc of the sun rising from the sea in the East and taking a dip in the sea in the West.”
“It is again the meeting point of the North and the South. The Goddess Kanya stands there at the southern most tip of our land, with a garland in Her hand to meet Her Lord, Shiva, whose abode is in Kailash, in the regions of the northernmost Himalayas.
“What a unique symbol of unity and purity! I have faith and confidence that the great memorial that is taking shape at that holy spot will, in times to come, generate a powerful current of Swamiji’s thought and will envelop the entire country.”
This lecture of Eknathji led me to understand him from altogether a different angle. His vision was so clear at the same time so down to earth as people of Bharat were eager to accept without any hesitation and time has proved its perfectibility. I was associated with the construction of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial at the very initial stage i.e. from 1963 to 1970. I visited Kanyakumari in the year 1963 as Eknathji wanted me to go there to get first hand experience.
Eknathji used to tell one thing that the idea of setting up of a memorial for Vivekananda would be successful only when mass participation in the construction work was assured. He said, through one-rupee coupons money should be collected so that even a poor man could participate in this Mahayajna. Mrs. Kamal Basu, wife of late Jyoti Basu, former Marxist chief minister of West Bengal, collected more that eleven thousand rupees by selling One-Rupee Coupons and deposited them to Vivekananda Rock Memorial Fund.
Eknathji was a perfectionist. When the question of constructing the bronze statue came he had engaged almost all the famous and renowned sculptors of the country. While engaging them he did not give any undertaking as to whose sculpture would be set up at the memorial temple on the rock. He only said the committee which was assigned to do this work selects the statue to be set up there at the Shilamandir. In Calcutta, he engaged Shri Debi Prasad Roychoudhury who was world famous sculptor and whose sculptures of Gandhiji or Freedom Movement of India were set up there in Calcutta, Delhi, Patna and many other places. Eknathji asked me to regularly visit the house of Shri Roychoudhury to watch the progress of the work and report it to Eknathji. Whenever I went to his house, Shri Rouchoudhury used tell me, “It was a mystery that I had accepted the proposal put forward to me by Eknathji. You know this proposal itself was derogatory for me as it had put me on the same rank of other general sculptors, which I was not. But Shri Ranade must have some kind of spiritual power by which he influenced me.” The fact remained that the statue made by him was not put up at the Shilamandir at Kanyakumari. But it was placed somewhere else and in that case Eknathji abided by the condition of contract rules.
Eknathji had faced two almost insurmountable hurdles. Those hurdles were put up by (1) Prof. Humayun Kabir, Central Cultural Affairs minister and (2) Shri Bhaktavatsalam, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Both were very tough personalities. How Eknathji managed those two guys is an interesting history. Recently, some 4/5 months back at a meeting held at Chhatubabur Rsjbati, retired Justice Shyamal Sen of Calcutta High Court, while mentioning the role of Chpalakanta Bhattacharya, former editor of ‘Ananda Bazar Patrika’ and Congress MP said Chapalababu was of great help to Shri Eknath Ranade in collecting signatures of Members of Parliament in support of constructing the grand temple of Swami Vivekananda at the rock at Kanyakumari. Eknathji was in Calcutta at that time to organise opposition against the comment of Humayun Kabir as “temple on the Rock would spoil the scenic beauty”.
Swami Sambuddhananda was the General Secretary of Ramakrishna Mission at that time. He asked Debu Maharaj who was looking after the press section of the Mission to accompany with Eknathji and help him out in this campaign. The Press of Calcutta had given all out support to the cause of Vivekananda Temple at Kanyakumari.
In Calcutta the sentiment about Swami Vivekananda was tremendous. But the work started by the Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari under the leadership of Shri Eknathji was unknown to them. At the same time Eknathji himself was also not so much acquainted with the prominent personalities of Bengal. Hence he chalked out a unique programme of writing personal letters to all those important personalities regularly apprising them of progress of the work at Kanyakumari.
Apart from this, every time he came to Calcutta he used to meet the chief minister, Mayor of Calcutta, sometimes the Governor of Bengal and the leaders of different political parties and social organizations. Personalities like the great historian Dr. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, Speaker of state assembly Keshav Chandra Basu, Principal Dr. Amiya Kumar Majumdar, Bharat Maharaj of Belur Math and several other Swamijis of Ramakrishna Mission etc. Before his visit to Calcutta, every time he used to write letters to all those expressing his desire to meet them.
I know these things because as Calcutta Representative Eknathji used to keep me informed by sending copies of those letters to me. I am fortunate enough to get to work with such a visionary as a representative in Kolkata.
(This year is the birth centenary of Eknathji Ranade. The writer is Kolkata based senior journalist)  -- Go Top