SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: July 2012

Shravana Krishna 13 Vik Samvat 2069. Yugabda 5114: July 16, 2012

1. FESTIVALS: Sri Krishna Janmashtami, the birth day of Bhagwan Sri Krishna, is celebrated on eighth day of Bhadra Krishna paksh, falling on August 10 this year. Born in the dungeons of Kamsa, who was out to kill him at the very moment of his birth, Sri Krishna’s life is replete with many mortal dangers which he successfully triumphed over. Sri Krishna Jayanti signifies the lighting of the spark of the Divine Power in every one of us, which spurs us on to play in this world of practical and hard realities with a sense of high spiritual purpose. Besides Bharat, Sri Krishna Janmashtami is celebrated in all the Hindu temples and homes spread over all parts of the world.

2. Upanishads to fire Sunita Williams’ spiritual odyssey in space: When Sunita Williams is thousands of miles above the earth taking a bird's eye view of the universe from her space shuttle window, she will try to understand universal truths of the Upanishads. The Bharatiya American astronaut — who will spend six months in space from July 14 — is carrying with her an English translation of one of the most important Hindu scriptures. Her father, Deepak Pandya, is hoping that the farther she goes from earth, the closer she will come to understanding her Bharatiya roots.

"The last time she went into space, I had given her a copy of the Bhagavad Gita," Pandya said. "She was full of questions when she came back. She wanted to know why it became necessary for Krishna to narrate the Gita, what were its eternal teachings, was it not possible to gain similar knowledge from other works, and many such questions. I feel that she will find some of the answers in the Upanishads."

3. Bhagavad Gita quiz contest in Pakistan: Shlokas from Bhagavad Gita reverberated in a school in Karachi, on July 1, where young Hindu boys and girls took part in a quiz contest to test their knowledge of their religion -- Sanatan Dharma. Buoyed by the success of the event, the organizers, Pakistan Hindu Seva (PHS), a welfare trust, has decided to hold such contests more often.

The competition was organized at Sancta Maria School, Gizri lane, Karachi, which is a Muslim majority area. The next Gita contest will be held at Lanchore Line, also known as mini Mumbai, which has more than 5,000 Hindu members.

4. South African teacher finds his roots in Bharat: A South African Parvesh Gangaram Hardin Parmeshwar Nepal Singh visited his ancestor’s Nimia village in Sasaram district on July 10. A great grandson of a Girmitia labourer Parmeshwar Singh, the descendant interacted with his relatives during an emotional reunion a century after the Singh Sr. had boarded South Africa-bound ship to work there as an indentured labourer on November 16, 1902. “I am overwhelmed for getting the opportunity to meet my kin,” he said.

Singh, who is based in Durban and works there as teacher thanked the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for helping him find his roots and meet his relatives during his sixth visit to Bharat.

Stating that his was a hazardous journey in search of his relatives, the South African teacher of Bharatiya origin urged the Government of Bharat to set up a mechanism which can find out the native place of the migrant people and identity their relatives to facilitate a reunion.

5. World Hindu Economic Forum: 2012: Mauritian Vice-Prime Minister, Anil Kumar Bachoo emphasized on the need to develop new economic models which are sustainable and will generate wealth for eradicating poverty, creating employment, and reducing environmental degradation, since prevalent models are collapsing across the world, leading to global political instability and increasing disparity between the rich and poor as well as leading to environmental degradation. He was inaugurating the first World Hindu Economic Forum (WHEF), which was held in Hong Kong on June 30-July 1, 2012. WHEF-2012 was attended by over 250 prominent businesspersons, industrialists, economists, bankers, international traders, and business association leaders from different countries from Europe, Asia, Africa, and Pacific region.

Dr. Subramanian Swamy former Union Minister of Commerce and Law, an alumnus and professor of the Harvard University delivered the keynote address. Prof (Dr.) Gautam Sen who taught at the London School of Economics & Political Science emphasized the need to organize Hindu economy not only for creating wealth, but also for promoting economic equity across the world and help underdeveloped countries, and communities.

Prof (Dr.) R. Vaidyanathan, Professor of Finance at IIM Bangalore elaborated on the linkages between the ongoing economic crisis in the Western world and the breakdown of the institution of family in Western societies. Subhash Thakrar, Chairman London Chamber of Commerce and Industry briefed the Forum on emerging sectors of business in current turbulent world.

The Forum also intently listened to Dr. G. Madhavan Nair, ex-chief of Indian Space Research Organisation and head of Chandrayaan (Bharat Moon Mission) on how innovations in aerospace technologies are opening up new markets, wide range of products, and economic possibilities. Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, ex-Director Centre for Developing Advanced Computing, and inventor of PARAM supercomputer made a very strong case for investing in innovation and education. The Forum has also launched Young Hindu Business Leader Forum, which will offer diverse services to aspiring entrepreneurs in areas pertaining to mentoring, capital access, training, networking. Young Hindu Business Leader Forum will hold its first meeting in Mumbai, January 2013. World Hindu Economic Forum will meet next in Bangkok in 2013.

6. 18 Chola inscriptions found in Pudukottai shrine: As many as 18 inscriptions belonging to the later Chola period, especially that of renowned Chola emperor Raja Raja, were found at a Lord Siva temple at Visalur village near Keeranur in Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu.

The Siva temple at Visalur village near Keeranur in Kulathur taluk was an early Chola edifice, attributed to the period of Parantaka I. The temple is a small ekatala structure made of granite with vimanam, ardhamandapam and mahamandapam.

The inscriptions that have come to light date back to the period of Raja Raja I, Rajendra Chola II, Kulothungachola III, and Rajathiraja besides those of some local chieftains. The inscriptions throw much light on the Chola administration in this region.

7. ‘saffron terror’ proves a conspiracy against Hindus: The reported clean chit to Lt Col Srikant Purohit, an accused in 2008 Malegaon blast, by Army’s Court of Inquiry (CoI) has exposed a deep-rooted conspiracy against Bharat, Hindus and the patriotic people of the country.

The clean chit proves beyond any doubt that the Hindu saints including Sadhvi Pragya, Swami Aseemanand and others, who were put in jails alleging their hands in some bomb blasts including the Samjhauta Express train blast, are innocent and they have falsely been implicated in all these cases. This clean chit to Purohit also puts a question mark over the hurried release of all Muslim accused, suspected to be SIMI, HuJI and LeT operatives, arrested for Malegaon blasts.

The development takes the wind out of NIA’s sails as the agency is already struggling for material evidence against Purohit and others after taking over the case from Maharashtra ATS last year and has been locked in a court battle, as yet unsuccessful, to get Purohit’s custody.

8. 39 sites in Western Ghats get world heritage status: A cluster of 39 sites spread over 7,953.15 sq km in the Western Ghats will now be inscribed in the World Heritage list. These include tiger reserves, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved forests in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Kerala leads with 20 sites being inscribed in the heritage list followed by Karnataka with ten, Tamil Nadu five and Maharashtra four. In Maharashtra, the Kas plateau, the Koyna wildlife sanctuary, the Chandoli national park and the Radhanagari Wildlife sanctuary in the Sahyadri range have been given the world heritage site tag.

The decision to include the 39 sites was taken by a 21-nation panel of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) at its meeting at St Petersburg, Russia.

9. RathaJatra at Madison: RathaJatra was held at Madison, Wisconsin in USA on June 24, 2012. Madison is a small town known for a world-class University. Jagannatha Bigraha Pranapratistha was organized by American Hindu Association, Madison.

RathaJatra celebration was well planned and organized with SnanaPurnima, Netroshaba and GundichaJatra. On June 24th, Gundicha Jatra was attended by more than 250 people mostly non-Oriyas. Odia families from nearby places like Milwaukee, WI and Dubuque, IA also attended this function. Odissi and Bharatnatyam were performed in front of Ratha. Devotional songs were flowing throughout. Elaborate Prasad arrangements fitting to 56-bhog offered to the LORD were made for all devotees who attended RathaJatra. Lasis, water and watermelon were provided while Ratha was being pulled. The entire temple premise of 7 acres bore festive look with tents all over the property. BahuraJatra, the return journey took place on July 1.

10. Hindu festival IN MALAYSIA draws 50,000: More than 50,000 Hindu devotees, people of other faiths and foreign tourists, including from Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Bharat, thronged the Arulmigu Sree Maha Mariamman Devasthanam Temple for the annual week-long festival in Butterworth, Malaysia recently.

The festival started with a fire-walking ritual in Jalan Mengkuang in which more than 2,000 devotees walked across a seven-metre-long by two-metre-wide poo-kuli (fire pit). Others walked around the pit. Temple chairman, S. Partiban said the festival has been celebrated at the same place for more than 140 years.

He said in conjunction with the festival, a four-day cultural drama and stage show was held at the Dewan Sree Mariamman in Jalan Menkuang.

The silver chariot bearing the deity of Arulmigu Sree Maha Mariamman was taken on a 20km procession in the north of the town on the third day. On the fifth day, the procession went round the south of the town, covering more than 30km.

Thousands of devotees, with trays of offerings filled with fruits, flowers, incense sticks, burning camphor and perfumed joss sticks, lined the streets to offer prayers and receive blessings as the chariot passed through the town on both days.

The festival ended with the goddess being carried by devotees on a specially decorated dais to the Sree Sithi Vinayagar Temple about a kilometre away in Jalan Bagan Luar before heading back to the Arulmigu Sree Maha Mariamman Devasthanam Temple.

11. Gujarat woman milking millions in dairy den: Ramilaben Govindbhai Patel hasn't been to college. But at 43, she earns what some CEOs take home. She milks cows every day and supplies milk to a dairy co-operative. She milked Rs 1.10 crore - Rs 1,10,17,675 - net profit in 2011-12, to be precise!

At Pentarpura village in Sabarkantha district, Ramilaben's dairy farm churns out 5.55 lakh litres of milk per annum. What had started as a backyard business in 2000 is now a full-fledged family business. She is an outstanding success story of the change, the White Revolution has brought about in Amul capital. Ramilaben is an inspiration to other women in Gujarat who are the backbone of the dairy industry. Out of the total 16,117 milk societies, 2,124 are run by women. Of the 31.8 lakh members in 15 district unions, 8.2 lakh are women.

12. bharat must find a way to be an ally with China: Ratan Tata: China's overpowering economic strength is not a real concern but a way should be found by Bharat to be an ally with it, according to Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata. Describing Bharat-China relationship as "not adversarial, but it is not the best", he, however, added, "you know China has never done anything adversarial to Bharat, and Bharat, I think, has been more concerned about China's economic strength overpowering Bharat, which we really don't see".

When asked if he is worried about China, he said: "No, I am not worried. I wish we could find a way to be allies with China."

13. Resurrecting a hero - Post-Higgs Boson, SN Bose is season’s flavor: Six months ago was the birth anniversary of Satyendra Nath Bose. Five months ago was that great scientist’s death anniversary. No one then had remembered him — neither the Government nor the media nor the chattering classes who are moving around with puffed chests now after the near certain discovery of Higgs Boson, for which Bose had done some of the groundwork many decades ago. All of a sudden, even the publicity wing of the Government of Bharat has woken up and begun issuing Press statements praising Bose to the skies and calling him a “forgotten hero”. However, the Government is as responsible for this forgetfulness as anybody else. But as it is said, better late than never. Along with Albert Einstein, Bose developed the theory that describes the particle-like qualities of light and laid the foundation for quantum physics as we know it today. The Bose-Einstein Condensates referred to a new state of matter in which thousands of sub-atomic particles come together to form a single atom that behaves like a wave. Particles that followed Bose’s theory are called Bosons, and the Higgs Boson is just one kind of a Boson. No doubt, Bharatiyas are thrilled to know that the ‘B’ in Higgs Boson is derived from the Kolkata-born scientist’s last name. As a result, after decades of ignoring the exemplary life and work of Bose, they are now rediscovering him. Bose is already trending on Twitter — supposedly the most effective way to gauge popular interest in a particular topic in the age of social media—while mainstream media has dutifully expressed its annoyance at the manner in which the Bharatiya scientist was airbrushed from history on July 4 when the discovery was announced but his name was not mentioned in Geneva.

Many have also rightly pointed out that given Bose’s path-breaking research, he was a natural candidate for the Nobel Prize, and the fact that he was never given the prestigious award is “nothing less than a scandal”, as one of his students who is himself a retired physicist, pointed out recently. After all, at least ten Nobels have been given out for work that has been done in the field of particle physics based on concepts like the Bose-Einstein Condensate or the Boson. Bose should have been awarded the Nobel not for his own glory but for the sake of the award. This is not the first time that the stellar contribution of a Bharatiya scientist has been ignored by his country, his scientific community and the world at large. His namesake, Jagdish Chandra Bose, who pioneered work on radio and microwave optics, too never received his due, even though his first public demonstration of wireless signaling came before that of Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi’s, who is now credited with the invention of the telegraph. -- The Editorial, The Pioneer, July 7, 2012

14. Chinese infra for Mansarovar pilgrims: China is building a wide range of infrastructure to increase the flow of Bharatiya pilgrims visiting Mansarovar in Tibet, according to S Jaishankar, the Bharatiya ambassador in Beijing, the first envoy to visit Tibet in the past decade.

Once the planned facilities are created, the number of pilgrims and visitors from Bharat to Tibet is expected to rise from the 14,000 seen last year. China has indicated it will improve traditional rest places, which are viewed by some pilgrims as old Hindu temples, in Kailash area. The government is also planning to upgrade existing guest-houses into hotels, improve road and transportation facilities in both the Kailash and Mansarovar areas. It may also relax visa and permit controls to allow more visitors to Mansarovar to extend their journey to other Tibetan areas like Lhasa..

15. More bharatiyas get global role in Yahoo rejig: Yahoo's reorganization over the past year has raised Bharat's strategic position in the company's global operations.

Bharat now has six senior executives with global roles, up from one a year ago, Shouvick Mukherjee, CEO of Yahoo India R&D, said. He himself is now also leading consumer platforms for Yahoo globally. These platforms include the core content platform, social platform, mobile monetization platform and localization platform. Hari Vasudev is VP of connections, the area that focuses on connecting the company's 700 million users and includes search, email, the Flickr photo-sharing service, and the question-and-answer feature. Amit Dayal heads global engineering for the marketplace (commerce) properties such as auto, real estate, small business, travel and shopping.

Anindo Roy, who moved to Yahoo recently from Fair Issac India, leads engineering for many regional and global media products such as the Yahoo homepage, news, finance and cricket. Suresh Hosakoppal leads the complete end-to-end operations of Yahoo products and the underlying infrastructure that spans the globe, ensuring that sites are always up and available. Ashish Vikram drives the advertising and data solutions, providing essential data and analytics to maximize value for Yahoo and its users.

Bharat has been a critical part of Yahoo's R&D work for several years. The Bangalore centre has accounted for over 20% of the company's patent filings. It has 2,000 employees, a sixth of Yahoo's global workforce of 12,000.

16. BJP calls on PM to save Ganga, Dhari Devi temple: As part of its Save Ganga campaign, a high-level delegation of the BJP on July 7 met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention in saving the ancient Dhari Devi shrine in Uttarakhand that is facing threat of submergence in Srinagar Dam in Garhwal. The leaders — including LK Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Uma Bharati — told the PM that the BJP was not opposed to the several hydro-electric and other development projects along the Ganga but was opposed to measures that lead to extinction of the river’s ecology and cultural-spiritual heritage along its banks.

Dhari Devi is situated on the banks of river Alaknanda, at a distance of about 15 km from Srinagar (Pauri Garhwal) on the Srinagar-Badrinath highway. Perched atop a 20-metre-high rock, the temple attracts tens of thousands of devotees on their way to Badrinath.

17. BUDDHIST Sammelan in Delhi: Dharma Sanskrit Sangam organised a Buddhist Sammelan in Delhi on July 1. Addressing the gathering, the RSS National Executive Member Indresh Kumar said the Buddhism shows the way to eradicate corruption, untouchability, terrorism, separatism and restore peace in the society. He said China killed 12 lakh Buddhists to capture Tibet and the statutes of Buddha were razed in Bamiyan. RSS was in forefront to condemn these acts and demanded immediate restoration of the statutes.

18. Reject interlocutors' report on Kashmir in toto: Advani: Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, a BJP think tank, on July 10 organised a function on the occasion of Mookerjee's 111th birth anniversary. The veteran BJP leader LK Advani said that what the three interlocutors' report had suggested was against national interest, so much so that for the first time they had used the word Pakistan-Administered Kashmir (PAK) instead of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) which is against the Constitution and hurts the Bharatiya position. He said this report should be rejected completely.

He also felicitated Manju Mookerjee, the grand daughter of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, saying that it was a great occasion that his grand daughter, who is herself a social activist in Pune, is here to share her memories about her grand father.

Tarun Vijay, Director of the Foundation said that Manju Mookerji and her husband Biman Mookerji have lived the ideals of their grand father, who is the source of inspiration to all the workers in BJP.

19. Nation rejects interlocutors’ report: The entire nation has rejected the interlocutors’ report on Jammu & Kashmir in one voice. Various social, religious and cultural organisations of the country joined the nationwide protest on July 6, the birth anniversary of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee who had sacrificed his life for saving Jammu & Kashmir. Burning the copies of interlocutors report at some places the protestors warned in clear words that no attempt to tamper with the integrity of J&K would be tolerated.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Jammu Kashmir Study Centre, Jammu Kashmir Bachao Manch and several other like minded organisations extended full support to the protest. In Karnataka the protest was held on July 6 in front of Town Hall, Bangalore. In Agra region of Uttar Pradesh the protest was organised on July 6 while in Meerut it was organised on July 8. In Jaipur, the protest meeting was organised at Bari Chaupad on July 6.

The protest in Delhi will be organised on July 16.

The awareness campaign against interlocutors’ report had basically begun on June 23, the martyrdom day of Dr Mookerjee, by organising seminars and symposiums all over the country. Till now seminars have been organised in all the major metro cities including Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, etc.

20. EIGHT BHARATIYA COMPANIES RISE IN FORTUNE 500 LIST: Seven Bharatiya, three state-run and four private, firms have ascended in the list of world's 500 largest companies compiled by Fortune magazine. With an annual revenue of $86,016 million, Indian Oil is now on the 83rd spot up from 98th last year and Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited ($76,119 million), has risen to 99^th position from previous year's 134. Bharat Petroleum with the revenues to the tune of $44,582 million has gone to 225^th place from 272^nd last year, Hindustan Petroleum ($38,885 million) to 267^th from 336^th, SBI (36,950 million) to 285^th from 292^nd, Tata Motors ($34,575 million) to 314^th from 359^th, and ONGC (30,746 million) to 357^th from 361^st. The eighth, Tata Steel ($27,739 million) has come to 401^st position from the 370^th last year. The list also features Citigroup and Arcelor Mittal, led by people with Bharatiya roots.

21. DOCS GROW EYE CELLS IN LAB: There is new hope for millions of people suffering from irreversible blindness due to retinal degeneration or damage. Scientists at Chennai-based Sankara Nethralaya say retinal cells grown from the remains of eyes donated for corneal transplant can be used to correct blindness and retina degeneration. The scientists said they drew pigment cells from the iris (circular structure in the eye) and ciliary (circumferential tissue) from the donated eyes after the cornea was removed. When these cells were cultured in a Petri dish and mixed with growth factors, it produced more cells.

22. Fun, knowledge chug along: A thousand girls from across 36 Delhi University colleges set-off for a train journey to five destinations in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Kartanaka in a unique educational train journey.

The journed of Gyanodaya Express, the educational train with 940 students and 80-odd teachers will take the students to Ahmedabad, Wardha, Mumbai, Goa and Bangalore and educate them about Navy and dockyards, Sabarmati Ashram and non violence, ISRO and new technologies — all aiming to broaden their learning horizons. This train jouney will be a unique experience and a great way of learning about the country.

The train is equipped with a library comprising 400 titles. Students can also access internet on laptops though wi-fi. The journey is a fine balance of fun-filled learning experience since the students will also be engaged in project works during the journey — they can choose from 100 projects divided into science and humanities.

Each student must read a book from the library and by the end of the journey they will have to produce a review of the same, along with a group project.

23. Girls’ strength reaches 100 at IIM-B: For the first time in the history of IIM, Bangalore, 100 women have managed to get admission in the 2012-2014 batch. Although the fairer sex constitutes only 26% of the total class strength of 377, this is a commendable achievement because the institute had been striving to improve its gender ratio for the last three years.

“Internationally, the percentage of women in good management schools is 40-50%. We are still way behind. But this is a small step and we will strive to improve it gradually,” Prof M Jayadev, Admission Chairman, said.

Describing this as a great step towards improving gender balance, an alumni of IIM Bangalore said: "When I was studying, there were around 10-15 girls on the campus. I am very sure the increase in the number of girls will bring more diversity on the campus.”

While IIM Ahmedabad has this year admitted 64 students (16.8%) 51 girls (11%) have got admission in the two-year programme of IIM Calcutta.

24. Redwood City council meeting opens with Hindu invocation: Rajen Zed from Reno, on July 9, delivered what is believed to be the city's first invocation that combined scriptures spoken in Sanskrit, the classic language of Bharat and Hinduism, woven with English translations.

Wearing saffron-colored attire, Zed sprinkled a few drops of holy water from the river Ganges around the podium before the three-minute prayer in the Redwood City Council in California.

Among his petitions, he urged the council to "Act selflessly without any thought of personal profit. ... Do your work with the welfare of others always in mind."

City Council Mayor, Alicia Aguirre said that Zed's prayer "was a wonderful experience."

25. DRDO and ISRO working on cutting cost of access to space: Kalam: Inaugurating a six-day Space Festival 2012 at Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, on July 9, former Rashtrapati APJ Abdul Kalam said smart designing of the material being used for solar power plant and reducing the weight of the solar panel from 20 kg / KW to less than one kg /KW would aid in bringing down the cost of the space solar power installation to reasonable limits within the near future.

The festival, said to be the first of its kind in the country to create awareness among students about space science, is being jointly organised by the varsity, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology (TNSCST). T.S. Sridhar, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Government of Tamil Nadu, T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Bharat, and representatives of the participating scientific organisation, besides school students, were present.

26. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas: For the first time Vishwa Vibhag is organizing its Sangh Shiksha Varg 2nd year (VSSV2012 2nd year) training camp for Swyamsevaks in Trinidad this year in the month of July-August. For this varg Akhil Bharatiya adhikaris from Bharat including Ma. Sarkaryawah Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi, Sah-Sarkaryawah Shri Kannanji, Bauddhik Pramukh Shri Bhagaihji and vishwa vibhag adhikaris are traveling to Port of Spain in this fortnight. Visitors: Shri B. S. Deshmukh from Japan; Shri Sukhdev from U.S.A.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Faith is the one essential thing. God exists. He is very near us. Through faith alone one sees Him. – Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa.

JAI SHREE RAM

Why Bharat needs an elected Prime Minister

Yashwant Sinha

I am astonished at the speed with which some people, who never tired of singing praises of Pranab Mukherjee earlier, have started denigrating him no sooner than he turned his back on the Ministry of Finance.

I am even more astonished at the touching faith that these people have placed in the prime minister, who has temporarily taken charge of the finance ministry, to turn the economic situation around. It is being projected as if an era has ended and a new era is about to begin. It is also being made out as if Pranab Mukherjee alone was responsible for the policy paralysis in the government. Nothing could be more erroneous.

What is the relationship between the prime minister and the finance minister? How is the budget prepared? How are other economic policy decisions taken in government? The only person outside the finance ministry that the finance minister takes into confidence about his budgetary proposals is the prime minister.

So, between the finance minister and the prime minister, at least four-five meetings take place to discuss the budget. In these meetings, the PM and FM discuss the general approach to the budget in the context of the prevailing economic situation, the detailed expenditure proposals, the detailed revenue proposals, the fiscal and revenue deficits, and finally, the budget speech. Every proposal that the FM includes in the budget is approved by the prime minister. Every word of the budget speech is seen and approved by him.

If the prime minister himself is a former finance minister, who has not only presented five budgets but has spent his whole life in the finance ministry, the RBI and the Planning Commission, the depth of his interest in and understanding of the budget can be easily imagined. The same applies to all major policy pronouncements made by the finance minister separately from the budget during the course of the year.

Was this arrangement followed when Pranab Mukherjee was the finance minister? If not, will the prime minister explain why it was not followed? And, if it was, then is it right for the prime minister to distance himself today from the decisions of Pranab Mukherjee? The malaise which afflicts the UPA government runs deeper than merely the relationship between Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee.

In May 2004, when Sonia Gandhi appointed Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister of Bharat, a section of the media went to town praising the new arrangement.

We were told that Sonia Gandhi would look after politics and Manmohan Singh would look after governance; that never before in the history of independent Bharat had this kind of out-of-the-box arrangement been tried before; that given Sonia Gandhi's mastery of politics and Manmohan Singh's mastery of government this arrangement was bound to work wonders for Bharat.

For a while, these predictions seemed to come true when the economy was booming and the country was moving forward. Now, this arrangement has come unstuck. It has failed because it was flawed ab initio. The Constitution of Bharat envisages that the prime minister will not merely be the head of government but also the tallest leader of his party.

The distinction between politics and governance is untenable. If it was not so, then the Cabinet Secretary could easily have been designated as prime minister and he would have ruled in the company of other secretaries. The whole system of accountability of the government to Parliament and its collective responsibility is predicated upon the prime minister being both the leader of the government as well as of the people of Bharat.

Such a prime minister alone can exercise total authority of his office. If the authority is split between the prime minister and the leader of his party - who is also the chairperson of UPA and NAC - clearly we are dealing with a severely handicapped prime minister. This flaw has been further compounded by the fact that though in the last eight years we have had two general elections, Manmohan Singh has not contested either.

This is why he was described as the 'unelected' prime minister by The Economist in a recent article. If being unelected is such a virtue, then why has the Constitution of Bharat provided for a directly elected Lok Sabha and why have so many of us wasted our time and energy contesting elections?

The answer is simple. Contesting elections, nursing a constituency, keeping in daily touch with the people, roaming from village to village and tackling problems at the grassroots give one an insight and experience which is unparalleled and which no textbook can teach.

I was an IAS officer for over 24 years, worked in the field as well as the secretariat but would like to assert that the rich experience I gained from dealing with the people as an elected representative is something I could not have acquired anywhere else. When did the prime minister last visit a village?

It is true that the Constitution of Bharat does not prescribe that the prime minister should be an elected member of the Lok Sabha. I wish it had. But the established convention of the Constitution is that the prime minister, even if he is a member of the upper House, should seek the first opportunity to get elected to the Lok Sabha.

This convention has been violated with impunity. Instead of protesting against it, the intellectual class has actually applauded it. I have nothing against Manmohan Singh personally. My grievance is against those who constantly overrate him. The crisis in Bharat today is not merely an economic crisis. It is a crisis of leadership in the UPA. The Prime Minister of Bharat cannot be a bureaucrat. He/she has to be an elected or electable leader of the people. Authority is not bestowed merely by the post one occupies, but is acquired through qualities of leadership. (The writer is a former finance minister) — The Economic Times, July 6, 2012.

Ashad Shukla 12 Vik Samvat 2069. Yugabda 5114: July 1, 2012

1. FESTIVALS: Ashadh Amavasya or the 'No Moon Day' of month Ashadh (June 19 as per Uttar Bharat and July 19 as per Dakshin Bharat calendar) is a very auspicious day when Deepa Puja is performed. On this day, people clean and decorate their houses and sanctify a 'Chourang' i.e. a table with decoration and rangoli (kolam) designs around it. All the deepas are placed on the table and lit to perform pooja. In Andhra Pradesh, it is known as Chukkal Amavasya (Gauri Puja is performed) and in Karnataka it is called Bhima Amavasya.

Deepa Puja is dedicated to the deity of one's choice i.e. Ishta Devata and to Pancha Maha Bhootas (five primordial elements – Air, Water, Fire, Sky and the Earth). In some cases, devotees dedicate Deepa Puja to the Goddess Lakshmi, Goddess Parvati or Goddess Saraswati.

On this day, all the diyas are lit once again in the evening and placed around the house just like Diwali Puja. It is believed that the radiations of the light of the diyas drive out all the evil and bad powers and welcome new brightness into their life.

sangha/samiti news: bharat

2. HUGE INCREASE IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL BASE OF RSS - KARNATAKA SOUTH: The overall organizational base of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, South Unit, Karnataka has been witnessing a steady addition in its numbers. The annual report released recently by RSS says that the figures of January 2011 showed a total number of 2597 Shakhas in 1698 places under the RSS Karnaaka Dakshin Prant ( 13 southern districts of Karnataka state); however, the estimate taken in 2012 shows a remarkable increase in the Shakha number, taking it to 2715, at 1788 places.

Taking into account the Sangha Shiksha Vargs, the 20 day long training camps of RSS Cadres, the statistics reveal participation by a total of 1248 new Swayamsevaks in the current year, who have acquired sangh training. In 13 districts a total number of 29 Prathamik Shiksha Varg (7 day training camp) were held, where training has been imparted to as many as 3709 new Swayamsevaks.

The Seva Vibhag of RSS Dakshin Pranth has organized 6898 different Seva activities at 2434 places. Jalabharatati, a project dedicated towards the creation of awareness on water conservation has published 2 major books on ‘Rain Water Harvesting’ and ‘100 ways of Water Conservation’. In connection with this, special workshop on water conservation was conducted at 36 places, where 1950 students, 305 teachers and 907 farmers participated.

3. Rashtra Sevika Samiti organised 35 camps: “There are so many women at top posts today but it has not benefited the women. The country should be in the hands of the sensitive people whether they are men or women,” Pramilatai Medhe, Pramukha Sanchalika, Rashtra Sevika Samiti said addressing 225 participants seviksa in taining camp of four prants (Kashi, Awadh, Goraksh and Kanpur) in Kanpur from May 27 to June 14. Rashtra Sevika Samiti has organised 35 training camps this year across the country. About 5,000 activists have been trained in these camps.

4. Rashtrotthana Blood Bank tops: As far as total number of blood collected and transfused is concerned, Rashtrotthana Rakta Nidhi (Blood Bank) at Chamarajpet - Bangalore is the number one blood bank of the state of Karnataka. Rashtrotthana Parishat is a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh initiative for social reforms in Karnataka.

Established 18 years ago, Rashtrotthana Rakta Nidhi (Blood Bank) has collected blood from a total of 1, 75,073 blood donors. The collected blood has been given to 1, 31,593 patients. Rest of the blood was processed for PCV collections, serum separations etc. The total units of blood collected till March 2012 is 2, 89,321.

5. Sant Uchchadhikar Samiti: Senior saints of the country have demanded a concrete action plan for ensuring free and minimum flow in the Ganga. They told the Central government to enact a law in the Monsoon Session of the Parliament to this effect, failing which, they warned, they would be compelled to launch a decisive battle for the Ganga. The saints issued this warning at the Sant Uchchadhikar Samiti meeting of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad held in Haridwar from June 19 to 20. About a hundred senior saints from different parts of the country including Shankaracharya Swami Vasudevananda Saraswati, Pejawar Swami Vishvesh Teertha, Swami Rambhadracharya, Swami Ramdharacharya, attended the meeting. Shri Ashok Singhal, VHP working President Dr Pravin Togadia, general secretary Champat Rai, general secretary Shri Dinesh Chandra and others also attended the meeting.

sangha news: overseas

6. Sydney Ved Pathshala: More than 650 people experienced pleasance when Vedic chanting and Sanskrit poems resonated their minds as the Sydney Ved Pathshala celebrated its fourth anniversary on 17 June. The anniversary celebrations culminated with brilliant cultural performances in Vedic chanting, Sanskrit skits and poems, and depictions of the Hindu epics, Ramayana & Mahabharata. More than 150 children, 90 Youth, and Adult showcased their talents on the occasion.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad National General Secretary Akila Ramarathinam and her team of 55 voluntary teacher conduct Sanskrit classes in over 55 schools and more than 6,000 children in Australia, are getting benefit out of this project. Akila Ramarathinam said that VHP is satisfying community demand for Vedic chanting, Hindu scripture and Sanskrit classes, and is uniting Hindus and the Australian community. VHP has 150 volunteers working every week and 40 youth volunteers as one of the biggest volunteer organization in Australia. Sydney Veda Patasala was started in 2008 under the guidance of Swami Vigyananand. This is the first Veda Pathasala outside Bharat.

CULTURAL NEWS: bharat

7. RATH YATRA: Annual Rath Yatra Utsav began at Jagannathpuri on June 21 with the pulling of the chariots of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra repectively known as Nandighosh, Taladhwaja and Padmadhwaja, by lakhs of devotees, including many from abroad. The chariots reached their destination, Gundicha temple on June 22. The festival ends nine days later when the deities make their way back home to the Jagannath temple.

The Rathyatra was also held in other cities of Bharat like Kanpur, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Ranchi, etc. and also in many parts of the world.

8. Amarnath Yatra begins: Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra was among the first batch of pilgrims and participated in the “pratham darshan and pooja” to the holy cave shrine of Shri Amarnath in the Kashmir which commenced on June 25. The yatra commenced simultaneously from traditional and longer Pahalgam and shorter but treacherous Baltal routes. The pilgrims began their journey from both the Baltal and Nunwan base camps. The yatra will conclude on Raksha Bandhan on August 2, 2012.

9. MUSLIM RASHTRIYA MANCH CAMP: “Muslims in Bharat have not come from outside but belong to this country and are an inseparable part of the national life of this country like the Hindus”, observed K S Sudarshan, former Sarsanghchalak of RSS in Pushkar, Ajmer on June 26, at the 11th National Training Camp of Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM). Delving into the historical beginning of Muslim Rashtriya Manch a decade ago the former RSS Chief said that he had asked former President of All India Imam Council Maulana Jameel Iliyasi as to why the Muslims considered themselves as ‘minority’ when they belonged to this society and country as much as the Hindus. MRM National Convener Mohd Afzal, co-convener and incharge of the camp Abbas Ali Bohra, Chhattisgarh Waqf Board Chairman Salim Ashrafi and former national convener of MRM Salavat Khan were present on the dais. The thre-day event was attended by over 200 activists from 25 states.

CULTURAL NEWS: OVERSEAS

10. CHARIOT FESTIVAL IN ALABAMA: Rath Yatra was celebrated in Harvest city of US on 24^th June in which former ambassador Pramathesh Rath, along with Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks and Ravi Nath Sharma, a philosopher from Bharat were guests of honor. To the clamour of gongs, conch shell, trumpets, cymbals, tambourines and ghanti, devotees and visitors helped carry the wooden images of Lord Jagannath along with his brother and sister deities from the main temple of the Hindu Cultural Centre of North Alabama to the annexe building.

11. Swat Buddha gets facelift: Thanks to the efforts of Luca Olivieri and his partner Italian archaeologists, the 6-meter-tall image near the town of Jahanabad is getting a facelift, and many other archaeological treasures in the scenic Swat Valley are being excavated and preserved.

Hard-line Muslims have a history of targeting Buddhist, Hindu and other religious sites they consider heretical to Islam. Six months before the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, the Taliban shocked the world by dynamiting a pair of 1,500-year-old Buddhist statues in central Afghanistan.

The Jahanabad Buddha, etched high on a huge rock face in the 6th or 7th century, is one of the largest such carvings in South Asia. It was attacked in the fall of 2007 when the Pakistani Taliban swarmed across the scenic Swat Valley.

ACHIEVEMENTS

12. in Naxal heartland: In a first, as many as 149 students from Naxal-hit areas of Chhattisgarh have cleared the AIEEE while two have cleared the IIT entrance exam this year. Most of them hail from tribal BPL families. They are all a part of the first batch of students of Prayas, a residential school-cum-coaching institute for boys set up by the state tribal welfare department in Raipur in 2010.

“At least 50 will be selected for NITs, while the remaining will find seats in IIITs. If we keep producing similar results, the face of Naxal areas will change in five years,” said hostel superintendent Sripati Azgar. “They will go back with stories of academic success, pushing others to take the same route.”

13. BHARATIYA-American named US varsity VC: Mitra Dutta, a distinguished Bharatiya-American engineer-physicist, who has studied at Guwahati and Delhi universities, has been named vice chancellor for research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dutta, a former senior executive with the US Army Research Office, has served as interim vice chancellor at one of America's leading research universities since January, overseeing a research enterprise with annual expenditures of more than $340 million.

Announcing her appointment, Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares said: "Her distinguished record as a researcher, administrator and teacher make her the ideal choice to take on this vital role."

14. Handicrafts in Kutch: “Sewa International and Sewa Bharati are among the few who have continued serving the affected after the devastating earthquake of 2001 and this is the indication of their commitment and perseverance”, exclaimed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi while inaugurating the Sewa International Design & Development Centre, in Jiapar Village, Kutch, Gujarat on June 21. The centre is already serving more than 400 women drawn from 16 villages, from a nearby rented location. More than 7000 people gathered for the inaugural function with women in dominant number.

Narendra Modi said in his typical style in Gujarati “mane yad chne das varas pahelan meyn Narayanpur nu lokarpan karyun hatu” (I very well remember that I had inaugurated this village Narayanpur a decade earlier). He did not miss to pay homage to the founder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Dr. Hedgewar by offering flowers and reminding people of his contribution to nation building activity. Chairman Sewa International Jai Prakash welcomed the guests while Ramesh Bhai Mehta elaborated the Sewa International activity in Kutch post rehabilitation.

15. ASSAM GIRL TO CARRY OLYMPIC TORCH: A class X student from Assam will represent Bharat at the Olympic Torch Relay in London. Pinky Karmakar from Barbaruah in Assam's Dibrugarh district will be among the torchbearers from 20 countries at the relay in Nottinghamshire on June 28.

"I'm very excited. Only exceptionally talented people get such opportunities. I am honoured that I was chosen to represent my country," said 17-year-old Pinky.

Pinky's mother works as a tea-plucker and father is a painter in a Dibrugarh tea estate. In the evenings, Pinky teaches about 40 women, including her mother, in the tea garden. She also talks to elders at village meetings on social issues, including child marriage, alcoholism and adult literacy.

OTHER NEWS STORIES: OVERSEAS

19. THOUSANDS PERFORM YOGA AT TIMES SQUARE TO WELCOME SUMMER:

Thousands of New Yorkers converged at the popular and crowded Times Square in sweltering heat to celebrate the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, by rolling out their yoga mats and performing the ancient Bharatiya art for over 12 hours.

The Times Square Alliance hosted the 10th edition of the 'Solstice in Times Square' on June 21 , holding free 'Mind Over Madness' yoga classes and transforming one of the world's most popular tourist and commercial destinations into a yoga village to celebrate the arrival of summer.

Four free yoga classes from 7:30 am to 8:30 pm (local time) were organised for New Yorkers who braved record temperature levels of about 33 degree Celsius to find their "inner peace and tranquillity." The event also included one-on-one yoga instructions and free giveaways for participants. The event was broadcast on some of the giant LED screens that are a characteristic feature at Times Square.

20. BHARATIYA Americans fund Hindu studies chair in US University: Bharatiya American organisation has made a contribution of US$ 3.24 million to establish Swami Vivekananda Visiting Faculty and Dharma Civilisation Foundation Chair in Hindu Studies at a prestigious US university in California. This is the first chair of Hindu studies in the US funded by the Bharatiya American community and will be established at the University of South California (USC) School Of Religion with funds from the Dharma Civilisation Foundation. The Los Angeles based Dharma Civilisation Foundation aims to fund studies of the Bharatiya civilisation, focusing on Hinduism, Buddhism, Jain and Sikh religions. The objective is to promote Dharma education through research scholarship, degree courses and endowed chairs.

21. Christianity down, Hinduism up in Australia: Christianity remained the most commonly reported religion in Australia, with 61.1 per cent of the population in 2011 - a decline from 63.9 per cent in 2006. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the most common non-Christian religions in 2011 were Buddhism (2.5 per cent of the population), Islam (2.2 per cent) and Hinduism (1.3 per cent). "Of these, Hinduism had experienced the fastest growth since 2006, increasing from 148,130 to 275,534, followed by Islam from 340,394 to 476,291 and Buddhism from 418,749 to 528,977," the census reported.

22. Punjabi second only to English in Britain: Punjabi is the most commonly spoken language among one million children who do not speak English as a first language in the UK. According to figures released, which were part of an official census of schools taken in January, other widely spoken languages are Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Somali, Polish, Arabic, Portuguese, Turkish and Tamil. A separate analysis released earlier this year showed how children who speak English as their first language are now a minority in more than 1,600 English schools.

23. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas: Shri Saumitra Gokhale – samyojak Vishwa Vibhag finished his tour to Suriname and Guyana to reach Trinidad. Shri Ravikumar – sahsamyojak is on a tour to USA and Trinidad. Dr.Ram Vaidya-sahsamyojak would also tour Trinidad. Shri Shyam Parande, secretary Sewa International will be in HongKong in 1^st week of July. Visitors: Anshul Agrawal & family - USA, Praveen Dhir – USA, Kitty Nawani – Thailand.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: 'Do not believe in a thing because you have read about it in a book. Do not believe in a thing because another man has said it was true. Do not believe in words because they are hallowed by tradition. Find out the truth for yourself. Reason it out. That is realization.' - Swami Vivekanand

JAI SHREE RAM

Impression of a USA Shiksharthi: Tritya Varsh 2012

Imagine going into a varg not knowing anyone, where everyone is speaking in sentences that range from Hindi to Oriya to Malayalam, where the average temperature during the daytime is around 115 degrees farenheit, and where there is a huge open ground where the Smriti Mandir—a memorial to Doctorji and Guruji—are there before you. Thus began tritiya varsh.

Tritiya Varsh was different than all other camps I attended. It was inspirational, and in some ways also very challenging. With 1007 people in the varg, ranging from farmers to bus conductors to lawyers to students to teachers as well as doctors, it was indeed a unique setting. In my gana itself there were people from Punjab, Delhi, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, Orissa, and Rajasthan. Ganas were divided based on your aicchik Vishay (you had to choose one of Danda Yudha, Niyudha, and Ashtanga yoga—all other vishays such as danda, samata, yogasan were common), and there were 45 ganas in total. My gana had 24 people, and interestingly one of them was a fisherman who had never gone to school in his life. His name was Chitti Babu—he only spoke telugu and little bit of tamil, so he barely talked most of the time even though as a gana our nivaas was in the same room. He would simply smile when people in our gana would shout his name in a friendly way to attempt to communicate with him.

One thing I found with him, as well as the farmers and people from agricultural background was that they are extremely simple.

Their motivation in Sangh is not based primarily on an intellectual understanding of Hindutva or Sangh ideology, but simply on a deep feeling of desh bhakti towards Bharat mata. It was very refreshing to see such simplicity and devotion in them.

As part of the varg we visited Doctorji’s home as well. We saw the swing (jhula) where he used to sit, the balcony where he would walk back and forth thinking about Sangh, as well as the rooms where the baithaks were held (and where they decided to actually start Sangh). The home had an atmosphere of peace and silence, and one could feel that Sangh simply was a natural expression of Doctorji’s being.

One challenge for me was simply being able to explain how shakha is in the USA is and how it is different from shakha in India (many were also quite shocked to know how much it costs to travel from US to India !). Talking that much isn’t my specialty, but one gets used to it J. Even the food was very simple with daal, rice, roti, buttermilk and some subji. Interestingly the bhojan vibhag used to have to make approximately 7000 rotis every day to feed the swayamsevaks at varg! And not only that, most of the work in vyavastha was done by kishore swayamsevaks (middle/high school students)! The energy that they put in each and every day was absolutely amazing to see.

On a different note, with regards to charcha/baudhik there were some topics that were difficult to relate to coming from a vishwa vibhag perspective. In addition, being from USA was both a blessing and a challenge. There were some who had preconceived notions of what life is like in the USA, although through time and some long conversations those misconceptions did clear up.

Overall the experience was truly special and life changing. One interesting thing I noted that swayamsevaks in Bharat are used to dealing with conflict virtually all the time. I heard stories of events in Kerala from some of the malayalee swayamsevaks in my gana (interestingly I became the translator for the malayalee swayamsevaks and the Hindi-speaking swayamsevaks) and how they dealt with conflicts with communists. Many face various challenges socially due to caste and other social problems in society. In some of the charcha sessions some of them also shared how they successfully dealt with these problems using the strength of shakha. In that way the ability of swayamsevaks to LITERALLY dive into action to handle such issues is extraordinary.

Although there were many many more experiences I could share, suffice it to say that tritiya varsh is like living a whole life in Sangh Shiksha Varg. For 30 days I honestly had no idea what was happening in the outside world. You will see Sangh then truly from a global perspective, both from Bharat as well as from a Vishwa Vibhag point of view. And of course on a lighter note, the 30 days will surely make you lighter as well!

How Fatherhood Has Made Me a Better Hindu

Vineet Chander

A popular narrative in the Bhagavata Purana, one of Hinduism's most beloved and venerated wisdom texts, involves a king who meets a forest-dwelling sage. The sage's peaceful demeanor and obvious contentment, even amidst apparent poverty, astound the king. "Who is your guru?" the king asks, eager to know where the sage learned in such a way. In response, the sage enumerates a list of 24 gurus -- a list of unlikely sources of wisdom that even includes natural phenomenon, and animals -- each of whom demonstrated to the sage a valuable lesson that he incorporated into his spiritual practice. Of course, the numerical list is merely illustrative; for one who is eager to learn, the sage explains, the world is filled with countless teachers. Though most of us tend to think of gurus in a strictly singular sense, and while many Hindus do accept one particular guru as their primary spiritual guide or mentor, they are also encouraged to learn from others. Indeed, Hinduism holds that anyone -- and ultimately, everyone -- can be a part of our spiritual growth if we can develop the ability to see them in that way.

I have had to remind myself of that principle, and of the story of the sage and his 24 gurus, as I've played the role of a father to my daughter, Shruti Sara, for the past three years. At certain times, bogged down by the seemingly mundane aspects of child rearing, it has been hard to discern the spiritual dimension. At others, though, the presence of the Divine has been palpable and awesome.

Has being a father helped me to be a better Hindu?

In a certain superficial sense, the answer is no. As much of a joy as Shruti has been, and continues to be, she has also dramatically uprooted our lives. My wife and I have had to severely reduce our involvement at our local temples, and cut back on seva (service) that we can perform there. Attending festivals and holiday observances have become less about honoring the deities being celebrated, and more about juggling diaper bags and car seats or managing temper tantrums and picky eating. Meanwhile, at home the situation has scarcely been better. Regimented practice and worship have taken a backseat to keeping up with a toddler's largely spontaneous and unpredictable needs. Being woken up in the middle of the night by a crying child has rendered early morning meditation a near impossibility. Our home altar, once diligently maintained as our family's dedicated sacred space, now suffers from bouts of neglect or only sporadic tending to -- an abandoned shrine amid the ruins, a temple besieged by Mickey Mouse plush toys and Dora the Explorer dolls. And Ami and I have sometimes felt like relics as well -- ridiculously exhausted versions of our pre-parental selves, clutching our wooden japa beads and trying to focus on our prayers, but fighting a losing battle against sleep and distraction instead.

And yet, on a deeper level -- on a level, perhaps, that invokes the spirit of the sage and his 24 gurus -- my first three years of fatherhood have taught me a great deal about what it means to be a person of faith, and have forced to evaluate and re-evaluate how I wish to live out my spiritual path, my Dharma. Being a father has been a blessing in my life, yes, but it has also been a catalyst for my spiritual development in a way that I've never experienced before. In this sense, Shruti has not only helped me to be a better Hindu; she has helped me to re-define what being a Hindu is all about.

She challenges me to separate the essential from the ritual.

I remember being struck by this idea one day when I was attempting to perform sandhya vandanam, a form of worship that many Hindus perform at set times every day. I sat with closed eyes, trying to concentrate on the prayers, when I felt a slight tugging on my janoi, three sacred threads Hindu priests wear looped over the torso, meant to symbolize purity in thought, word and deed. I looked down to see Shruti -- only a few months old at the time -- crawling into my lap and gripping the three consecrated cords in her tiny hands; suddenly, she bit down on the threads and began chewing on them! Whether a plea for attention or simply a consequence of teething, the incident seemed a fitting metaphor for Shruti's attitude toward ritual and principle. While orthodox Hindus might be horrified by the thought of a baby teething on items that must be kept ritually clean, it may help to remind us what those items are supposed to symbolize for us in the first place. If we become so focused on the ritual that we cannot recognize purity and innocence in the form of a child, might we not be missing the forest for the trees?

As she has grown older, Shruti's own blossoming devotion has brought this idea of essence and ritual home for me. She insists on offering her own stick of incense at the altar each day. She dutifully and devotionally twirls the unlit stick of incense before the sacred images while reciting her own simple prayers; afterward, Ami or I light the incense and allow it to burn out in a holder a safe distance away. To some, the whole thing might seem like nothing more than a game of make-believe. From my vantage point, though, I see a profound spiritual exchange take place. For those few moments, Shruti's eyes are keenly focused on the altar, her attention seems fixed, her heart is open and her mind is captivated. That she is not deterred by the fact that the incense is unlit when she offers it just underscores this; it is almost as if she intuitively understands that the scent is meant exclusively for the benefit of the Divine -- and he certainly accepts it, and the love with which it is offered, with or without the act of striking a match.

In her own way, she has tapped into the simple essence of this practice in a way that I still struggle to. For all my technical proficiency and adherence to complex ritual, I am humbled and inspired by her simple devotion. She teaches me how to see with wonder, and hear with my heart.

It is amazing to see Shruti discover something or hear something new. Her eyes grow wide, her cheeks become flush, her speech quickens and her voice gets higher. There is not a trace of cynicism or a hint of taking anything for granted. The underlying fears and doubts that often plague us, even as we are being blessed with wonderful or profound experiences, are conspicuous by their absence.

This is obvious in the way Shruti approaches the stories we tell her from sacred texts and Hindu folk traditions. She has an insatiable appetite for these stories -- "Tell me Ramayana stories," she often demands of me as I'm trying to change her into her pajamas -- that seems to only grow with each re-telling. This amazes us. For her, these aren't mere fairy tales to entertain her as she drifts off to sleep. They are living statements of truth, as real and meaningful to her as my literal descriptions of what I did at work earlier that day. When we describe Hanuman leaping across an ocean or Lord Krishna lifting a mountain, she accepts it with a simple and grateful heart and allows herself to be fully delighted by it.

I know that realists will likely dismiss this, and critics may even fault us for filling our daughter's head with "superstition." Frankly, the cynical side of me is also tempted to write it off as childish innocence that will fade away when the real world comes crashing in. But Shruti has taught me that I don't have to give in to the cynicism. If Shruti can be delighted by Krishna lifting a mountain, then why can't I? And if I truly believe that he is the cause of all causes, the one who created the mountains in the first place, shouldn't I see life itself as just as much of a miracle and source of wonder?

In teaching me to hear more with my heart, Shruti has radically transformed the way I approach my own faith. I am beginning to realize that, ultimately it is less important whether my intellect can prove that the stories in the texts are literally true or not. What is critically important is that there is Truth there, and that it has the potential to deeply touch my soul if I can approach it with a sense of child-like wonder and gratitude.

She inspires me to be better.

"True victory is not being better than another," a Hindu aphorism advises us, "but in being better than your previous self." As a father, I've come to realize that the joy of parenthood is inextricably tied to the loving burden of responsibility. My words, actions, and even consciousness are no longer my own -- they are now part of the subtle and explicit reality I am creating for Shruti. She is a constant observer and student, and the words I speak and things I do are creating impressions in her world. Hindu philosophy calls these impressions samskaras and considers them the building blocks of spiritual development.

I was given a wake-up call on this front when Shruti began speaking. I found myself slightly embarrassed to hear my own words coming out of her mouth. I started to notice her picking up on other things -- my inflections, or speech patterns, or phrases I just uttered by habit. Soon she was also imitating the way I sat, the way I slammed doors, even the way I lazily scrolled through my iPhone at the dinner table.

One day she picked up my meditation beads, adopted the exact posture that I had been sitting in, and began to mimic my chanting. It was as sobering as it was endearing. She is watching. She is learning. I have been blessed with a beautiful and precious gift, but I have also been entrusted with a serious responsibility. The Bhagavata Purana, the same text that described the sage and his 24 teachers that I referenced earlier, has strong words of caution for parents. "One should not become a mother or father," the text says, "if one is not prepared to help their children achieve liberation." If I want to be a Hindu father, or a father who lives his life based on Dharma, I have to take that advice seriously. I have to constantly strive to be better than my previous self.

Shruti Sara helps to remind me to strive, even -- especially -- when it is hard and seems hopeless. She gives me the most elegant reason to try. I am certainly far from perfect, but in sincerely trying to share my love and guidance with her, perhaps I can give her a tiny glimpse into the love and protection of the Divine, the perfect parent of us all. (Writer is Coordinator for Hindu Hindu Life, Princeton University.) Huff Post 17 June 2012.

SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN