A Matchless Devotee: Hanuman

Hanuman was a rare creation of rich imagination with a philosophical profoundness of sage Valmiki in the epic Ramayana. Hanuman was a matchless devotee of Sri Rama and an evolved being. He had the ability to assume any form. He was well versed in all the Shastras. He was also a skilled communicator and a sterling Brahmashchari.

Hanuman’s childhood was very interesting. Even as a child he was extraordinarily powerful and equally naughty. He once saw the rising red coloured sun. He mistook it for a fruit.   Since he was hungry, he leapt up to eat it and it proved to be fatal. He was burnt to ashes and fell on to the earth and the ocean. His ashes were gathered by various gods. His grandfather prayed the sun god to restore life to the child.  However his fragmented jaw couldn’t be rectified.

 Vali was the king of   Kishkindha and his brother Sugriva was crowned as the prince. Hanuman was a friend of ugreeva. I n one instance, when the two brothers went for hunting, Vali mistook that  Sugreeva was dead, and forcibly made Sugreeva’s wife to accept him. When Sugreeva came back, he became angry with this development and wanted to take revenge against vali and thereafter he lived with Hanuman near the ashram of the sage Matanga.

Hanuman was seated on a mountain top and was in deep meditation. An aura of holiness appeared around him. When he opened his eyes he saw the Ayodhya princes approaching the hill top. Hanuman who was in human form rushed towards Sri Rama and Lakshmana and touched their feet and introduced himself to the princes.  He  took the two princes by placing them on his two shoulders to the place where he lived.

The princes told Hanuman of their plight and the reason for searching the place where his wife was abducted by Ravana. Hanuman thought that the plight of Sugriva was the same. He asked Sri Rama to help defeat Vali and restore the kingdom of Kishkindha and his wife to Sugriva again. He also promised the princes that he would help locate the place where Ravana lived. Sri Rama killed Vali and restored Kishkindha and the wife to Sugriva.

Sampati, in the form of vulture, the elder brother of Jatayu, who resisted Ravana while he was carrying off SeethaDevi and who had given a tough fight to Ravana gave a clue about Seetha mathe. Hanuman was sent to Lnka, the kingdom of Ravana as an ambassador to release Seetha.

Sundarakanda, the most appealing part of Ramayana, describes the level of devotion and might of Hanuman.

Hanuman arrived in Lanka and met SeethaDevi and gave her the ring which Rama had given him and assured her that Rama would come and rescue her. Then when he was prowling in the city he was taken by the soldiers to Ravana. Ravana was enraged by the entry of hanuman to his kingdom. He ordered his soldiers to put a fire in Hanuman’s tail thinking that the Vanara would die because of it. But Hanuman with his tail burning went around the city and destroyed the major portion of the city and flew away to Rama to report his progress.

The preparation for the invasion of Lanka  began. The vast ocean of the Vanara army started marching towards the south. They constructed a bridge across the sea. The Vanaras carried huge rocks as if they were pebbles. The Vanara army led by Hanuman and Rama and Lakshmana entered Lanka. After a bitter war Ravana was killed and Seetha was rescued.

As long as hills and rivers exist in the world Hanuman will remain here and continue chanting Sri Rama’s name.  He proves to be the most appropriate example of  the might of faith,  which gives enormous strength  in overcoming any difficulties.

THE IRON LADY : INDIRA GANDHI

In the year 1965, after Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death (in Moscow) Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister of India. The Syndicate (a section of Congress party who were opposed to Indira) thought that they could easily manipulate Indira and occasion for that came when the Congress party had to select the presidential candidate. They met in Bengaluru (Lal Bagh Garden) and had a heated discussion with Indira.  Indira Gandhi who  opposed  the name suggested by the syndicate leaders left in a huff suddenly and flew to New Delhi.

A few tactical moves on the political chessboard took Indira Gandhi to the top level. In the same midnight she nationalised fourteen private banks. This move took everybody by surprise including the syndicate leaders. People wholeheartedly supported her.

In 1971 Indira Gandhi had another opportunity to assert herself. She won the war against Pakistan, divided Pakistan and created Bangladesh. The media described her as ‘the Empress of India’. Mr Vajpayee, who was the leader of the then Jan Sangh party called her ‘Durga’.

During Indira Gandhi’s time the country was importing food grains from America. Indira Gandhi created an atmosphere for the growth of the agricultural sector and ushered in Green Revolution.

There was a bad patch in Indira Gandhi’s political life. To bring some semblance of discipline in the country, she imposed emergency in 1974. For the first six months everything was alright. There was peace in the country and people supported emergency. Slowly unsavoury people who were close to Indira Gandhi started taking undue advantage which resulted in emergency excesses. When emergency was lifted and the country went to polls her party Congress was defeated and she herself was defeated in the elections. The new government couldn’t survive in power for more than three years. The country went to polls once again and Congress and Indira Gandhi won the elections and she once again came to power.

Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira’s father when he was in prison during the freedom movement wrote letters to his young daughter Indira, who was around nine-ten years old.  These letters had great influence over Indira and shaped her life to be a dedicated woman in her later years. 

‘You must learn the alphabet of nature before you can read her story in her books of stone and rock’. Through these letters she was taught to observe the swirls and textures in a little pebble. Nehru taught Indira to treat nature as a book. Indira’s granddaughter Priyanka Gandhi wrote that her grandmother Indira Gandhi may have appeared as rather a serious, formidable personality but she was the warmest and a loving personality.

Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her own security guards on 31^st October, 1984. Like her father Nehru, Indira loved India and its people. Madam, today the 19^th of November is your birthday, so

‘Happy Birthday Indiraji’.

The Architect of Modern India – Jawaharlal Nehru

Within one hundred metre there should be a school for every children.                                                 Every rickshaw puller (rickshaw was a popular vehicle carrying people from place to place at that time) should know politics as much as I know.

The above statements of Jawaharlal Nehru indicates his mind. He loved children and inturn children loved him too. Nehru’s birthday 14^th November is celebrated as children’s day. Nehru was a visionary and an idealist and statesman of international stature. Nehru was also an outstanding writer. Nehru took a central role in India’s struggle for freedom from British colonial rule. Nehru was interested in all subjects and was delighted in sharing his enthusiasm with everyone.

When India attained freedom in 1947, Nehru became the first prime minister of free India. India was recognised as a backward country at that time. Nehru set out to realise his vision India. The constitution of India was adopted in 1950 and Nehru embarked ambitious programmes of economy, social and political reforms.

Nehru believed in democracy and socialism. He laid the strong foundation for the democratic India in which multi-party system was adopted. Command economy was his financial policy. He started around 245 major public sector industries. B.E.L, H.A.L, I.T.I and H.M.T were among the major industries. In the field of education, Nehru established premier institutions such as I.I.T, I.I.M, and N.I.T. he also gave adequate attention for the development of science. He established the atomic energy commission of India.

Nehru’s foreign policy Panchsheel was acclaimed as the best foreign policy by all major advanced countries in the world. Panchsheel became the basis of governance of relation between the two states.

Nehru was the only son of Motilal Nehru, a prominent advocate and Swaroopa Rani. Nehru married Kamala and had a son who lived a short life and a daughter, Indira who later became the Prime Minster of India. When Indira was young he wrote letters to her about nature, this world and this life. He instilled the love of history and naturein his daughter Indira.

Nehru’s health began to decline. The major reason for this was the betrayal of trust by China when it attacked India in 1962. Nehru died on 27^th May 1964 .His wish was expressed in his writings like this : “If any person choose to think of me then I should like them to say, this was the man who with all his mind and heart loved India and the Indians.” and the people in turn were indulgent to him and gave him their love most abundantly and extravagantly.

Nehruji, today the 14^th of November is your birthday. “Happy Birthday Chacha Nehru”!  we remember your dedication, your love for the motherland forever.

Silence and Speech

Around five thousand years ago some enlightened Rishis (sages) realised Saakshatkara. In their inner mind they heard the mantras of the Vedas and the Upanishads. They were called ‘Mantra Drushtararu’ (the one who heard in their ears, the Upanishads and the Vedas). The one which is heard in the ears is called ‘Shruti’. Here lies the greatness of the ancient wisdom because the Vedas and the Upanishads were not written by any sages. The Hindu philosophy is very tough to comprehend.

The Upanishads say ‘Aatma’(self) is the ultimate reality. No word (speech) can describe Aatma. The intellectual mind cannot comprehend Aatma. It is ever spreading and omnipresent. Before words came into existence there was silence and the words were born out of silence and will die in silence. It is interesting to note that there was a friendly rivalry between speech and silence. Upanishads say words cannot describe Aatma and here words find their limitation and say it is beyond their capacity that they cannot grasp the unknown. Now the contradiction is that words have a limitation and it cannot know more. Thus words accept their failure but the awareness that there is more to know is the important factor. The word fails and wins simultaneously. This is the success of word in failure. Is this Aatma’s Leela? More importantly, words might try to describe Aatma, but silence prays.

It is strange that Aatma cannot be described by words takes the help of Aatma to succeed, this means Aatma indirectly helps the word to succeed. In the process it is more interesting to know that word becomes silent. Silence is always present whenever the word is in action, but it is not affected by word. This makes word to turn silent and get the satisfaction same as silence gets. The friendship of silence which contains no evil makes the word feel free.

This is our ancient wisdom.

MADHYAMA OF PANDAVAS - ARJUNA

Arjuna, Kunti’s third son by the grace of Devendra was a special male character in the epic Mahabharata. Arjuna mastered archery to perfection. When Arjuna as a young prince and was playing Chinni Kolu with his brothers and cousins, One of the brothers played hard and the peg fell into an abandoned well. The well was very deep. They all tried to retrieve the peg but failed. At that time a Brahmin came that way. He was Drona and he showed how to retrieve the peg from the well. The princes told this to Bhishma and also mentioned about the Brahmin. Bhishma invited Drona to the palace and made him the teacher to teach the princes archery.

Arjuna was a devoted student. He engaged himself in serving his guru. The Pandava and the Kaurava princes completed their education. Duryodhana was very jealous about his cousins and even hated them. He wanted to kill the Pandavas. He built a beautiful palace using highly inflammable materials. Vidura through his spies got this secret and secretely built a tunnel for the Pandavas to escape this tragedy. When the palace was on fire, the Pandavas, through the tunnel escaped into the forest and disguised themselves as Brahmins and lived in the forest for some time.

The Panchala king Drupada had arranged his daughter Draupadi’s Svayamwara and had set the severest test of shooting down a fish by seeing its reflection in a container filled with oil. Drupada always wanted to give his daughter Draupadi to Arjuna. He knew only Arjuna could accomplish the task. This was the reson why he arranged this nearly impossible task. He got a bow which only Arjuna could lift, and string and shoot the arrow from the bow. The princes gathered there failed to even lift the bow. Then Drupada unwillingly announced that even the Brahmins could attempt.

The Pandavas in the disguise of Brahmins encouraged Arjuna to attempt. Arjuna went around the bow once. He prostrated and prayed lord Shiva. By remembering Krishna he lifted the bow easily and fixed the string and fired. The target was broken and fell on the ground. Draupadi put the garland around his neck.

At the Kurukshetra war the Pandavas’ and the Kauravas’ armies stood face to face. Arjuna saw his teacher Drona, Bhishma and other relatives. The thought of killing them brought gloom to his mind. He thought it was a sinful act to kill his own teachers and elders.

Arjuna asked Krishna to stop the chariot and placed his Gandiva on the ground and sat downcast. Krishna understood Arjuna’s plight and said “Arjuna, this is not the time to show mercy and this is not a place for emotions.” He asked Arjuna to do his duty as a Kshatriya. “I am the doer and you only follow your Dharma”.   He displayed Vishwaroopa to Arjuna. 

The mankind should be grateful to Arjuna who was the reason for getting us  the great Bhagavadgita from the mouth of Lord Krishna himself.