1. FESTIVALS: Bali takes a break from the world: The resort island of Bali went quiet on March 21 as millions of residents observed Nyepi, the Balinese Hindu day of silence. For 24 hours, starting from 6 a.m. on Saturday and ending at 6 a.m. on Sunday, the usual hustle and bustle of the tourism island subsided to a hush as most islanders stayed at home in tranquility. No motorcycles or cars roamed the streets during Nyepi, with the exception of emergency ambulances. Only pecalang (traditional village guards) could be seen patrolling on foot, securing their respective villages. The entire island's gates of entry including Ngurah Rai International Airport and the three major ferry terminals ceased operations in honour of Nyepi. All broadcast media - both radio and television - went off the air too. Nyepi is a day that marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year according to the Saka lunar calendar.
The chairman of Bali's Interfaith Communication Forum (FKUB), Ida I Dewa Gede Ngurah Swasta, said Hindus celebrated the new year by observing four abstentions: amati geni (abstaining from lighting fires); amati karya (abstaining from work); amati lelungan (abstaining from traveling outside family compounds); and amati lelaguan (abstaining from entertainment). "Nyepi is a time of introspection for us, to be better people in the next year," Swasta said. --goTop
2. BHARAT RATNA CONFERRED ON ATALJI: In a rare departure from protocol, Rashtrpati Shri Pranab Mukherjee drove to former Pradhan Mantri Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s residence on March 27 to confer the honour at a simple ceremony, as the latter is ailing and has been out of public life for about eight years. The brief event took place in the presence of select dignitaries, including Upa-Rashtrapati Hamid Ansari, Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi, Griha Mantri Rajnath Singh and close family members that included his foster son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya and foster daughter Namita.
The citation read out on the occasion described Vajpayee as a statesman known for a subtle sharpness that engages, attracts and brings many together. In his six-decade-long political career, five of which were in Parliament, Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha ten times and twice to the Rajya Sabha. Prime Minister from 1998 to 2004,
After the function Modi said, “Atal’s life was dedicated to the nation, he lived and thought for the nation, every second. In India there are crores of workers like me in whose life Vajpayee is an inspiration. The upcoming generations will continue to be inspired by him. I will pray to God for this only that Bharat Ratna awardee Vajpayee’s life continues to inspire and guide us forever.” --goTop
3. DOCTOR HEDGEWAR CHARITRA IN TAMIL: Dr.Hedgewar – Vaazhkkai Varalaaru’, the Tamil translation of Nana H Palkar’s ‘Dr. Hedgewar Charitra by Vanniyarajan, was released in Chennai on the eve of his 126th Birthday on March 20. Pon Radhakrishnan, Cabinet Minister for Transport released the book and Ramagopalan of Hindu Munnani received the first copy of the book. Pon Radhakrishnan while delivering his speech highlighted on how a swayamsevak contributes for national and societal integrity. --goTop
4. 8th CHAMANLALJI MEMORIAL LECTURE on ‘Emerging Cultural Crisis in the West and Bharat's Role as the World-Guru’ under the aegis of International Centre for Cultural Studies was delivered by Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, ex Prime Minister Tibetan Government in Exile on March 27 in New Delhi. Dr. Amarjeev Lochan said that Chamanlalji was a Pracharak for 60 years. He forsook everything and giving everything to the society with some books in a bag.
Prof. Rinpoche in his keynote address said that the world is grappling today with five major problems, e.g., uncontrolled population growth, violence, destruction of environment and civilazional conflict. After elaborating the problems he suggested that the best solution to these problems lies in rejuvenating the Purushartha Chatushtaya of Bharat. He said that on the basis of authenticity of its thought and philosophies Bharat is even today capable to become Jagadguru. Eminent scholar Prof. Lokesh Chandra was the chief guest at the event while Prof Kapil Kapoor was at the chair. --goTop
5. NAVIGATIONAL SATELLITE LAUNCH PUTS 4TH FEATHER IN ISRO’S CAP: Bharat successfully put its fourth navigation satellite into orbit in copy book style on 28th March bringing the country a step closer to having its own satellite navigation system. Exactly at 5.19 pm, the rocket — the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C27) around 44 metres tall and 320 tonnes heavy — tore into the clear blue evening sky with fierce orange flames at its tail.
The expendable rocket had a single but important luggage, the 1,425 kg IRNSS-1D- Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).
The system is similar to the global positioning system (GPS) of the US (24 satellites), Glonass of Russia (24 satellites), Galileo of Europe (27 satellites) and China’s Beidou (35 satellites). With this success, India moved closer towards joining a select group of nations possessing their own satellite navigation system. --goTop
6. NO MORE CASTEISM BUT SELF CONFIDENCE: There is no casteism in Sangha. It always tries to uproot the casteism from the society - said Dattatreya Hoswale, Akhil Bharatiya Saha-Sarakaryavah, RSS, at Chaitra Sukla Pratipada celebration at Bhubaneswar. It is the birthday of Dr Hedgewar also. But RSS never celebrates it as founder birthday rather a day as nationally and culturally important. It is the day when moon completes its rotation. Defining a Swayamsevak he said that “swayamsevak is not a coolie who used to arrange meeting and serve to others rather a self motivated, confident and patriotic personality who is endowed with lots of characteristics power within him”. The meeting was preceded by a root march of 100 swayamsevaks with in full uniform. --goTop
7. ATUL KESHAP IS US AMBASSADOR TO SRI LANKA, MALDIVES: President Barack Obama has nominated yet another Bharatiya-American, Atul Keshap, as US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives. A career member of the US Foreign Service, Keshap has been Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, assisting Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Desai Biswal, the Obama administration’s point person for South and Central Asia.
Announcing the nomination of Keshap along with three others to key posts, Obama commented: “I am honoured that these talented individuals have decided to serve our country. They bring their years of experience and expertise to this administration, and I look forward to working with them.” --goTop
8. PIO STUDENTS STEAL THE SHOW AT US SCIENCE FAIR: At least five of the 30 projects selected nationwide for the annual White House science fair during the fourth week of March were from students of Bharatiya-origin. Their high visibility and immediate relevance appeared to strike a chord with the US President as he gave a shout out to Anvita Gupta, Ruchi Pandya, and Nikhil Behari, after examining their projects and questioning them closely. "Their parents came here as immigrants and we are glad they did," Obama remarked at a time Washington is trying to craft immigration policies to attract and retain the best and the brightest among potential immigrants while keeping out those it feels will simply take away American jobs and undermine the US economy. Obama was particularly impressed by the project of Nikhil Behari, a Pennsylvania high-schooler. --goTop
9. VIETNAM’S ANCIENT HINDU CULTURE REDISCOVERED: Not far from Hoi An, is My Son, a UNESCO World Heritage site, once the location of the ancient Hindu Champa civilisation and its majestic complex of temples dedicated to Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. Originally the religious and political capital of the Champa kingdom, the complex was built around the third or fourth century AD, and traces its spiritual roots back to Hinduism. The city was forgotten with the passing of the Cham reign and for centuries sat hidden in the jungle.
Consisting of 70 ruins over 57ha, the site was rediscovered and renovated by the French in the late 1890s, but was subsequently heavily bombed during the Vietnam War, when it was found to be a hiding place for the Viet Cong. Parts of the site are gradually being reconstructed using the traditional red bricks of the original work, although some of the very early work looks clumsy. My Son is an extraordinary example of an ancient culture – and one which kept written records. The My Son site is easily accessible from Hoi An or Da Nang, on Vietnam’s south central coast, via group or private tours. --goTop
10. NRIS IN HOME RUN AS ECONOMY SURGES: The trend of Bharatiyas returning from abroad to work in Bharat has picked up pace with the recovery in the country's economy. The trend is no longer restricted to largely IT as was seen earlier. Recruitment experts say it's a more broad-based trend now encompassing sectors like banking and finance, pharma, auto, textiles and food processing.
The search for top talent coupled with high inflation in Bharat has helped to reduce the difference in compensation between Bharat and the Western countries. Foreign banks in particular are witness to this reversal of brain drain. --goTop
11. EVERYONE IN INDIA IS A HINDU: JNANPITH WINNER NEMADE: Jnanpith winner and Marathi writer Bhalchandra Nemade has said that all people in India are Hindus and even Muslims consider themselves as Hindus. He added that even the mighty Mughals thought of themselves as Hindus.
Nemade, who was at the centre of a controversy for his remarks that Salman Rushdie’s works lacked literary merit, also said that in order to “save the society from the clutches of missionaries” primary education should include such things that make a child and parent understand that there is a lot of difference between Indian education and missionary education.
In a detailed interview in the latest issue of Panchjanya , Nemade said the increasing influence of English is “very dangerous and aggressive”. “The form of English language is monstrous and its grammar – which swallows other languages and diversities – is scary,” Nemade told.
Asserting that only Hindu culture can keep people united — since it does not discriminate between people — the Marathi author also observed, “All the people here are Hindus. Even Muslims consider themselves as Hindus. The likes of Akbar and Aurangzeb used to consider themselves as Hindus.” He added that the wedge between the Hindus and Muslims was engineered by the British.
The writer, who once accused Rushdie and V S Naipaul of “pandering to the West,” also took on the subsequent inclusion of the word “secularism” in the Preamble of the Constitution. “I am vehemently against the word secular, its definition and its thought. I should be allowed to live in a culture in which I lived earlier. I urge the intellectuals to not cloak us in foreign words,” Nemade said in the interview.
On RSS’s recent resolution on making the mother tongue the medium of primary education, Nemade called it a matter of pleasure and said he would even “publicize it if possible”. --goTop
12. GTU ANNOUNCES NEW MA OPTIONS IN HINDU STUDIES AND INTER-RELIGIOUS STUDIES: The Graduate Theological Union has introduced new degree options in Hindu Studies and Interreligious Studies for its Master of Arts program, and has extended the application deadline through July 1, 2015, for students seeking to enroll in these programs for the Fall 2015 semester.
The Master of Arts with an area of concentration in Hindu Studies will be offered in connection with the GTU’s newly established Hindu Studies Initiative. The primary foci for the program will be the study of Hindu philosophy of religion, theology, art, and sacred texts; Hinduism and world engagement in consideration of its historical and cultural contexts; and the interrelationships of Hinduism with other Indic Dharma faiths—particularly Jainism and Indian Buddhism. In accordance with the interreligious environment of the GTU, the Hindu ethos will be studied in dialogue with other religious traditions, in order to deepen understanding and relationships amongst cultures and faiths while honoring the distinctiveness of each religion. With this new degree option, the GTU becomes one of the first masters programs in North America with a clear focus on Hindu Philosophy of Religion and Theology (which integrates art and music), as well as engaged Hinduism. --goTop
13. BHARAT BUILDING SOME OF ADOBE’S BIGGEST PRODUCTS: Shantanu Narayen has led Adobe as CEO since 2007. Bharat accounts for a fourth of Adobe's global employee strength. Bharat, he says, has done a great job for the company. "It's innovating, not just doing grunt stuff." Adobe's Creative Cloud, which includes cloud and mobile versions of its favourite apps like Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere Pro, was expected at launch to have 4 million subscribers by 2015 end. Narayen says the company has "dramatically over-achieved on this." The current estimate is that the number will touch 5.9 million.
Narayen was born in Mumbai and grew up in Hyderabad. He graduated in electronics engineering from Osmania University in 1984 and went to the US for a Masters in computer science. He worked in Apple, Silicon Graphics and two startups, before joining Adobe in 1998. In 2011, US president Barack Obama had appointed him as a member of his management advisory board. --goTop
14. INDIA INC GIFTS RS 1K CR TO PM’S SWACHH PLAN: Responding to PM Narendra Modi's call, India Inc has jumped onto the Swachh Bharat bandwagon earmarking over Rs 1,000 crore towards the clean India project, analysts' estimates show. Major corporate houses such as L&T, DLF, Vedanta, Bharti, TCS, Ambuja Cements, Toyota Kirloskar, Maruti, Tata Motors, Coca Cola, Dabur, Reciktt Benckiser, Aditya Birla Group, Adani, Biocon, Infosys, TVS and many others have joined the effort by committing budgets for projects linked to Swachh Bharat. These projects vary from building toilets in distant villages, running workshops to bring in behavioral changes, waste management to water hygiene and sanitation. While most of these projects are funded under their corporate social responsibility (CSR) heads, there are also some that are partly funded through CSR or are designed as public private partnerships. Apart from private firms, public sector companies are also nudged into making significant investments in such projects. Most public sector companies like Coal India, ONGC, OIL, IOC and GAIL have earmarked funds for projects aligned with the idea of Swachch Bharat Abhiyan. --goTop
15. RESOLUTION FOR DIWALI STAMP INTRODUCED IN US SENATE: Two influential American lawmakers have introduced a resolution in the US Senate calling on the US Postal Service to issue a postal stamp to commemorate the festival of Diwali. "This commemorative stamp is an important recognition of the significance of Diwali to more than three million Indian- Americans and one billion Indians worldwide," said Senator Mark Warner, Co-Chair of Senate Indian Caucus, who introduced the legislation along with Senator John Cornyn. "A stamp commemorating Diwali is a significant and meaningful way to honor the importance of the festival of lights to so many Indian-Americans, both in Texas and across the country," Cornyn said. The US Postal Service has issued similar stamps for other popular religious celebrations in the US such as Christmas, Eid, Kwanzaa and Hannukah. --goTop
16. SAINA BECOMES 1ST BHARATIYA WOMEN TO TOP WORLD BADMINTON RANKING: The badminton champion Saina Nehwal made Bharat proud once again after attaining the No.1 position in world badminton ranking. On 28th March Saina won against Marin in the India Open Super Series 2015 semifinal.
Though the official rankings will be out only later, the 25-year-old Bharatiya has been assured of her ascent to the top thanks to Marin's loss in the last-four stage. Although Prakash Padukone was the first Bharatiya to attain that 1st rank but Saina will be the first women to achieve highest position for the sport. The London Olympic bronze-medallist has won a staggering 14 international titles in her glorious career, and most recently she became the first Bharatiya woman to make the finals of the prestigious All England Championships in Manchester. --goTop
17. MANGALYAAN WILL CONTINUE ORBITING MARS FOR SIX MORE MONTHS : Mangalyaan — the country's first spacecraft to Mars completed its six-month mission on March 24, but is expected to orbit around Mars for another six months even after its assignment duration of six months expires.
ISRO chairman Dr Kiran Kumar told that the six month mission would technically end next week. "The spacecraft will remain operational even after that as there is no fuel constraint. This will help us delve deeper into the seasons and climate on Mars. We have been able to capture some beautiful images of Mars and have got ample data. Analysis of the data is being done and once this is final, it will be made public," Kumar said. --goTop
18. FREE YOGA CLASSES FOR 31 LAKH GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND THEIR FAMILIES: Yoga classes will be held for central government employees and their dependants across the country from April onwards.
The sessions will be held all days except Sundays or gazetted holidays at Grih Kalyan Kendra, Samaj Sadan in association with Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga in Delhi.
"No registration or training fees will be charged," it said. There are about 31 lakh central government employees working across the country.
The DoPT is also organising a two-day workshop for senior bureaucrats to help them learn stress management techniques. --goTop
19. MUMBAI TO SOON GET 11 LAKH NEW HOUSES: Mumbai is soon to witness around eleven lakh new houses with seven lakh in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) alone, the Maharashtra government has declared.
According to state Housing Minister, Prakash Mehta's claim to the Legislative Assembly, 50 percent of the total number of these houses will get completed in the next five years.
"The government could bring down the number of the cessed buildings in the city to 16,000 from 19,000 few years ago", said Mehta. --goTop
20. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravaas: Shri Saumitra Gokhale, samyojak Vishwa Vibhag reached Australia after his pravas to Japan. Dr.Sadanand Sapre, sahsamyojak will leave for South Africa, Uganda and Kenya. Visitors: Dr. Neeta Maharaj, Mahipal – South Africa, Ma Dr. Balmukund Bhala – UK, Jagdish Sehwani - USA --
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love… and then we return home. – Aboriginal Proverb --goTop
JAI SHREE RAM
TRUTH MUST BE UPHELD
Dr (Mrs) Hilda Raja
Intro: Recently former cop Julio Ribeiro joined the bandwagon of minority insecurity under Modi government. A Christian lady posed a rebuttal through her blog to the same.
I read Mr Julio Ribeiro’s ‘I feel I am on a hit list’ (The Indian Express dated March 16, 2015) I did not react immediately because I wanted to let it sink and see if there was any foundation in what he stated. To me the whole accusation of his seems to have no foundation. As with Julio Ribeiro, my ancestry also can be traced to Hinduism. While he agrees on this the question arises why we are Christians today. How did it happen? What kind of inducement-allurement and what strategy of proselytisation were used those days for my ancestors to become Christians?
Unlike Julio Ribeiro I do not feel threatened—neither do I fear that I am on a hit list and I feel very much an Indian no matter who says what. The point to note is that the Catholic Church to which Julio Ribeiro and I belong has a parampara (tradition) of a persecution mania. This is because we have inherited and are born through persecution. Not by the Hindus but by the Dutch, the Portuguese, the French and the English. This is precisely why though Julio Ribeiro acquiescence that his DNA if tested, it will not differ markedly from Mohan Bhagwat’s. The same can be said of our Hindu ancestors. Then, what happened down the line?
We must agree that there was persecution, forced conversion by the conquerors. It was a question of torture and death to which the Hindu ancestors were subjected to. This is not fairy tales but recorded history when thousands of temples were destroyed, houses were ransacked and people were brutalised. Those who indulged in these human rights violations were treated as saints by the Vatican and raised to sainthood. But now we raise a hue and cry against ‘Ghar Wapsi’. What was good for one is not good for another. It is not though these were in the hoary past. Even today most of the NGOs do indulge in this proselytisation. I wish the government of India ban all foreign funds. If China can develop without such NGOs and the foreign funds why should India not?
I must bring the Vatican’s mindset in this context because it is relevant. When it comes to conversion it will go the extra mile. Look at what it indulged in during the regime of Pius XII. He did not hesitate to join hands with Hitler who attacked Yugoslavia. Hitler partitioned the country into the Catholic Croatia and the Orthodox Serbia.
Then followed a massive ethnic cleansing under the cloak of the ‘Aryanisation’ process, which separated the Jews, Serbs as undesirables. These were deported to concentration camps. Children were not spared. The ethnic cleansing was done by the open support of the clergy, priests and nuns supervised and Vatican followed the ‘omerta’ and looked the other way. Special death camps were set up for children.
Several commandants and officers at these death camps were Catholic priests. Francisan monks supervised the mass execution. This ethnic cleansing thus had the blessings of Vatican. There were monetary gains for the Vatican from the Holocaust in Croatia. In the certificate of conversion which was sold for a few hundred of dinars, the Vatican netted millions. Vatican was well informed and yet the Pope maintained silence. In fact not a single member of the clergy was held accountable, though the commandants of the death camps were priests. After the war, Archbishop Stepinak was arrested for war crimes by the Yugoslav government. Puis XII excommunicated everyone who had taken part in the trial. Later the Archbishop was presented as the champion of religious freedom! It is interesting that in 1998 Pope John II travelled to the Republic of Croatia to announce the beatification of Archbishop Stepinak.
It must be noted that the Vatican abetted and colluded with Mussolini and Hitler in all their brutality. It stood to gain both in terms of power and money. Yet we often hear the word ‘Fascist’ being thrown against the BJP and the saffron brigade. This is part of the Christian parampara of the Catholic Church to which Julio Ribeiro and I belong to. Yet we are scandalised by the ‘Ghar Wapsi. What about the inquisitions held in India— in Goa? With so much of baggage how can we point a finger at others—to the saffron groups—and then pretend that we are being victimised and discriminated? All rapes are abominable and need to be condemned in the strongest terms. But why only the rape of the nun—be it in Odisha and now in West Bengal—be internationalised? Why and how can the Vatican interfere and want to send a delegation?
In a population of nearly one and a quarter billion — human rights violations and inhuman acts are bound to happen. These need to be severely put down not politicised. It is the NGOs which create a kind of phobia. Foreign funds flow and towards this they organise dharnas and rallies. Any violation and discrimination is being attributed to the Modi’s government. But then these things had not suddenly surfaced. There is a long gestation period of discrimination—of injecting a fear psychosis. The politicians have communalised the communities.
India is known for its secularism—it is not because the Constitution made it secular. Even before the Constitution the Hindus welcomed all religions. Butchery and compulsion and forced conversion were introduced and followed by the Dutch, the Portuguese, the French and the English. Earlier the basic tenet followed by the inhabitants of this great country was Sanatan Dharma. Even today that is the guide and the dictum. I am 78 and thought it is time to speak out. The ordinary people like me are happy and content — feel no persecution or discrimination and are not on the hit list. Even if we are, truth cannot be hidden. In fact it was the Church which had crucified TRUTH and continues to do so. Perhaps there may be aberrations to this. It must not be forgotten that Julio Ribeiro was hounded by a minority community for the alleged human rights violations in Punjab. It was not the Hindus who were behind it.
So may be Julio Ribeiro has some deep seated fear within him. But then to generalise this personal fear into the whole fabric of the Indian populace is too farfetched.
I want to appeal to the Modi government to ban all foreign funds inflow into this country. We should be able to manage with what we have. Why take a begging bowl to other countries and disrupt the peace within? If other countries can manage, so can us.
I would like to mention about the good works done and which are being done by nuns. But then they have enormous assets. When the foreign invaders left this country they turned over all their land and houses to the churches. As if these are their grandfathers’ possessions. By all legal rights these should have been turned over to the government of India. So the Churches had at their disposal land and finances to start with. There is no accountability.
Look at the Minority Education Institutions which run on their own rules and regulations. Why did the Constitution founders submit to such a request and enshrine it in the Constitution? Is that not discrimination? I have studied from LKG to PG in Minority Institutions. Later I was a faculty member in one of the elite colleges in Chennai. I know how they function. The least said about them the better.
Yes, good work they do, but there is no denying that it comes with a price. Money flows into Vatican. There is wealth beyond measure in these Church allied institutions and in churches. So when Mammon triumphs, where is the TRUTH? The same lenses must be used to scrutinise Mother Teresa’s work in India.
(The writer is a Vadodara based blogger and writes her views at: https://hildaraja.wordpress.com/) --goTop
BEING HINDU IS A TRIUMPH OF SURVIVAL
Vamsee Juluri
You are an achievement. You may not fully know why just yet. But you have probably felt, in some quiet way, the fact that you belong to something significant that has come before you in history. You might not always know how to express that feeling, but you know that it inspires you, and elevates you.
You belong to the one civilisation that still stands much as it once did even after all these thousands of years of human history; thousands of years of wars, conquest, pillage, subjugation, desecration and devastation, thousands of years of supposed progress that have given us a world today that runs on brutal violence against nature, life and the planet itself.
You belong to a civilisation that is still standing, but surrounded as it were, by a mess, in India and across the whole world, of environmental devastation, cultural confusion, ethical indifference, and economic insecurity.
But still, it stands. Still, there is hope. For a civilisation is not just buildings and machines, but its people, their thoughts and their culture. It is a way of knowing the world, a way of giving meaning and value to the contents of life.
It is a resource, most of all, for living intelligently. It is a form of culture, an expression of sensibility, a way of harmonising science, philosophy, and ethics in a people’s every thought, word and deed. You can call it a religion, a way of life, or a civilisation; you can call it what you will, but no word will suffice. A billion people on this earth still call God by the same names that people did thousands of years ago. What exists on this earth unchanged for so long? What religion exists on this earth for that long, when so many people have distorted religion and dragged it down from being about love and freedom to being about hatred, coercion and war?
Hinduism could have been wiped out a long time ago. But it wasn’t. You are here. You still adore and worship your Ganesha, your Hanuman, your Shiva, Vishnu, Lakshmi and Parvati, and Rama and Krishna and Subramanya. You still have your name as did your forefathers. And you are able to deal as a friend and equal today with people of many faiths and races. It is an accomplishment unlike any other. It is not a boast but a fact. Your culture’s existence is a triumph of survival. Your existence is a triumph of survival.
What does it really mean to be Hindu today? In you, in your life, is something that should be studied, preserved, and revered like a work of art in a museum. It may be all messy and mixed up, with good and not so good sensibilities, like how you can see Krishna in an exquisite ancient sculpture and also in a crude animation form. Hindu civilisation is like that, all mixed up. But still, its greatest and most sublime elements are still here, and they are in you. These must not be worn lightly.
You must remember. We came from a world of wisdom we can barely fathom in today’s terms. And we are here, still.
We belong to a moment in history when Hinduism is beginning to wake up. If not from a long slumber, then at least a long silence. We did not speak to the world and to ourselves, as Hindus, in a very long time....We did not ask, until the present generation came of age really, that provocative question: what does it really mean to be Hindu today? (From the new book, ‘Rearming Hinduism’ published by Westland, Times of India, March 26, 2015 ) --goTop
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