Karma -The Inseparable

This is a story from Agama Sutras Buddha's early sermons:
Once there was a man who had four wives. The man grew old and became ill. When he was dying he felt lonely and asked his first wife whom he loved the most to accompany him to life after death. He asked her “My beloved wife I took care of you each day throughout my life .Now I'm going to die, will you come to wherever I go after death?"
He thought the answer would be a yes but it wasn't she replied “My dear, I know you took great care of me and you are going to die now it's time for both of us two separate. Goodbye"
Listening to this he was shocked but then he called his second wife for whom he was always worried as he could have easily lost her but managed to stick with her till the very end. He asked her the same question and she replied "You loved me because of your own selfishness then how can I follow you in death"
After first and second wife he called his third wife and asked the same question but she replied with tears in her eyes "My love, I’m sad that you will die but can accompany you till graveyard not in your death"
Now only his four wife was left who he never cared about he was sure that she will deny his offer but due to fear of loneliness he dared to ask her and to his pleasant surprise she replied "My dear, I can never be separated from you i will come with you wherever you go after your death"
Buddha then explains the story:
The first wife is your body of whom you daily take care but as you die your body is burnt to ashes.
The second wife is your material possession, fame and wealth. You fear of it being lost but ultimately after your death you are going to lose it.
The third wife is your relative they can grieve at your death but even they will leave you at graveyard.
The fourth wife is your Karma of whom you never take care in your whole life but that's the only thing that will accompany you.
Moral: We can't separated from our Karma

Sanatandharma and modern philosophy of religion

Sanatandharma is by far the most complex and most easy religion to understand due to its flexibility though in vedic times it was set of rules or laws that governed universe modern rigidity has transformed it into a "Relgion".

You may be a Theist or atheist, monotheist or polytheist,  sanyaasi or materialist  you are accepted in sanatandharma this makes it very confusing for its followers of different philosophies and hence very complex but this is the very reason which makes it even more easy to follow not depending on which philosophy of Religion you follow you will still be governed by an "eternal law"(Sanatandharama).Now let us discuss how modern philosophies of religion are considered in Sanatandharma.

First of all the most contentious in "modern Hinduism" atheism let me take a verse from Rig Veda to discuss this philosophy:   "truly? Who can here declare it? Whence it was born, whence is this emanation. By the emanation of this the gods only latter [came to be].Who then knows whence it has arisen? Whence this emanation hath arisen, whether [god] disposed it, or whether he did not. Only he who is its overseer in the highest heaven knows. [He only knows]or perhaps  he does not know"   this verse is clear agnosticism if not atheism where he ask certain questions and doubts about god. Even amongst the six darshanams of Sanatan philosophy Samkhya is clearly atheistic and is based on innate interdependence of purush(man) and prakruti even carvaka system of nastika(heterodox) schools were not only materialistic but also atheistic.

Now we move to the theistic, monotheistic and polytheistic views which are what now mostly forms present Hindu religion. For an outsider sanatandharma is polytheistic religion where they pray about 33 crore deities but only a true follower knows that it deeply monotheistic as in Santandharam's philosophy each form of living or non living is worshipped as forms of god. A verse from RigVeda clearly states as:

Indraṃ mitraṃ varuṇamaghnimāhuratho divyaḥ sa suparṇo gharutmān, ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadantyaghniṃ yamaṃ mātariśvānamāhuḥ

"They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutmān.To what is one, sages give many a title they call it Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan."   

Sanatandharma is also deeply pantheistic the reason which makes it monotheistic system is the same reason which makes it pantheistic that is a belief that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent God. Considering rivers, forests, animals, mountains, mother earth and trees as sacred this oneness with nature makes it deeply pantheistic.  Amongst the six darshanams sakhaya and yoga are based on the thoughts of innate and independent realities 1) consciousness itself (Purusha)   2) primordial materiality (Prakriti).Adaivata Vedantism taught about atman (true self; human soul) is indistinct from Brahman (the unknown reality of everything) and hence Adi-Shankara who consolidated vedantism sixth darshanam of sanatan philosophy said those who know the truth are the only brahmins rest all are shudra.

At last we will discuss sanyaas and materialism sanyaas is the stage of renunciation as said by lord Krishna in Bhagvad Gita:"The giving up of activities that are based on material desire is what great learned men call the renounced order of life [sannyas]. And giving up the results of all activities is what the wise call renunciation [tyaga]" Hence Sanyaas is developing vairag from the worldly life and is considered necessary for moksha. Now even there are certain school of thoughts who defend materialism very strongly the most vociferous among them is carvaka school of Nastika(heterodoxy). Carvaka system believed that there was nothing wrong in enjoying pleasure as it decreases your pain and carvaka considered austerity and rejecting pleasure as foolish.

This is santanadharma where there is an argument and a counter argument one may not agree but this is what makes it special as it has an agreement of disagreement governed by an eternal law and that is why even today it can accommodate all the philosophies of modern religion. 

Karna - An Enigma

Karna is by far the most discussed character in Mahabharat was he an Antihero or a hero  , who was better Arjuna or Karna ,Was he right or wrong in siding Durryodhana are the question that strike one when he reads about the legendary warrior.

Let's begin by Karna the warrior who was a better him or Arjuna here I will consider Virata parva where Arjuna defeated all the mighty warriors but on contrary we have to take in mind Karna parva where he defeated all the Pandavas and Arjuna was saved by sunset,Krishma himself and PavanPutra in form of dhavaj on his chariot.But when one considers Virata yuddh one should also consider that Karna never used Vijay Dhanush of Parshuram other than war of Kurukshetra which always gave an edge to Arjuna empowered with Gandiva.So,I would cite other example which could make it a lot more clear during war of Kurukshetra Arjuna's each blow took Karna 10 steps back while Karna's blow could move Arjuna's chariot  just one step back but with lord himself and Pavanputra on same chariot such a feat was for no normal warrior he was of the same class as Arjuna I would say a notch higher.

Now,we should move to character Karna a hero or anti-hero everyone knows about Karna the Dhanveer he who knew Dharma like Dharmaraj Yudhistir himself as once said by Krishna but there were certain flaw also in him especially supporting Duryodhana in Draupadi's chirharan , Killing Abhimanyu in a cowardly manner though Draupadi herself insulted him by calling him sutputra during swayamvar but these two are considered primary reason for his fall.Still these were small compared to his good deeds hence for me he is both hero as well as anti-hero.

Finally whether he should have sided Durryodhana, when whole of society and even his mother who gave him birth rejected him and his talent for being a lower caste it was Durryodhana who gave him the status and made him Angaraj and earned his loyalty for lifetime.But the last days before war were interesting where Krishna makes him aware of the truth of his birth this creates in him soft corner for his brothers Krishna asks him to join Pandavas but Karna declines it as it would be unethical to leave Durryodhana in such trying situation he also knew that if Yuddhistir comes to know that Karna is his elder brother he will give Indraprastha's throne to him and Karna being loyal to Durryodhana will give it instead to him which will be victory of Adharma,hence in this complex situation he had no other option but to fight for Durryodhana.

Indeed Karna's life was an enigma.

Women abuse : We need a societal change

As per UN reports 1/3 of women in this world are abused sexually,physically and mentally every girl must have heard when brother does something adventurous and gets a pat from the family but for her if she is a partner in that deed some elder would warn her "oye ladki jatt he apni had na bhul".

Rapes are common in human history women were always the part of treasure that was plundered from the subjugated country as of they were mere objects.

As per UN reports as much as 40 million fetuses are aborted in India alone and is as rapid in China if not more even occurs in Pakistan to a little less extent.It is always surprising that sometimes the mother want a "male heir" for her family more than the male participant to increase her status in the family(appalling I must say).

Misogyny is as old as the human history itself an easy example is the language you speak each and every language(at least the most spoken)are misogynistic and the language of the liberals English is more misogynistic than the South-Asian ones.

Rape of Delhi led to a movement across the country for the crimes against women,but still the crimes against the women are on rise why?the answer is the heterogeneous nature of our society where a few selected have all access to the development and growth story of the nation.

Does this justify the abuse?no but leads you all to analyze that it's not the law enforcement that is the solution it's just an immediate remedy,the real solution is to change the society as it has been since the beginning of the time.

65 jaichands of modern India

Historically we all know who Jaichand was a sore loser who became a traitor being envious of fame and valor of Prithviraj Chauhan, he sided with the invaders and the country lost its brave son as said rightly “history repeats itself” same was the case with Mir Man Singh who Rajputs still remember as Akbar’s general who the patriot Maha Rana Pratap fought in Haldhighati.

Again the history has repeated itself 65 Mps of Indian parliament have written to a foreign president, the president of United States of America to not give visa to a three time elected and four time chief minister of the state of Gujarat of India who has been under scrutiny of Indian law and relentlessly abused in MSM for 2002 riots of Gujarat yet has come clean in it.

First of all look at the list 

Independent Mp Mohammad Adeeb, the person behind this as per the words of Mr. Adeeb almost 30 from rajyasabha and 20 from loksabha were signatories of this letter but approximately 30 Mps are denying signing any such letter now we have two situation :

 1)      Mps haven’t signed the letter and Mr. Adeeb should be tried for forgery

 2)      The honorable Mps have signed the letter and don’t have the guts to accept in front of nation

In both the cases there is a design, a campaign that has now continued for more than a decade against a single individual Mr. Modi the chief Minister of Gujarat and one of prime ministerial candidates of country but the man has answered his critics through his action.

Question is not whether Mr. Modi will be a PM or not, the question is will we let these pseudo seculars continue in the same way as they have under the veil of secularism today the modern day Chauhan demands an answer and the public in no second voice should reply:”chuke mat chauhan”.  

Afzal Guru's hanging:Impact on Kashmir

Afzal Guru the prime accused of December 2001's parliament attacks was hangedon feb 9th 2013.As expected the national media and politicians welcomed the hanging of the dreaded terrorist but just after the hanging the curfew was imposed in most parts of the valley.So,a major question remains will the hanging of Guru lead to same events that unfolded after the hanging of Maqbool Butt.

Maqbool Butt was co-founder of JKLF.He was charged for murder of an Indian intelligence officer and  was sentenced to death for the crime.Butt was hanged on feb 11,1984.

Hanging of butt influenced the alienated youth of Kashmir to join armed militant group for armed struggle against Indian state which continued for three decades.

Kashmir has seen relative peace for past few years,tourism is back in valley,trade has started but one should never forget that peace is fragile in valley still a change in attitude can be seen in the youth and especially in the attitude of separatist,apart from Syed Ali Shah Geelani no major separatist leader has pro-militant inclination most of them are willing to negotiate with  the government of India.

The kashmiri youth of 2013 can't be compared to that of 1984 but major moves should be   made for assimilation of  them in main stream of the country as they are the prime targets of militant groups.

Hanging of Guru is also seen as an change in the way the judicial mechanism and political class of the country moves towards curbing terrorism.Hanging of Guru is the second hanging in past few months which is significant for a country that hanged only one person in past decade.But this stand will be legitimized if terrorist killers of former PM Rajiv Gandhi,CM of Punjab Beant Singh will be dealt with same manner,which also will be an answer to people who see a particular religion or colour in terrorism.

Afzal Guru's hanging show tough stance of Indian state towards terrorism but one should cautiously monitor the situation in Kashmir and make sure that youth of Kashmir doesn't alienate which can fuel militancy.

The Unknown Thermopylae

Every one who knows the Greek war history,knows about a battle fought by 300 Spartans under Leonidas the battle which was a major reason for defeat of mighty Persian army in battle of Plataea and ended the invasion of Greece by Persian yes I m taking about battle of Thermopylae.Battle of Thermopylae where the valor and patriotism of a few warriors changed the course of whole battle.

But,few know about a battle which was fought during 1962 Sino-Indian war the battle against all odds by 123 men of C-Company of 13 Kumaon all Ahir regiment of Indian army : the battle of Rezang La.Rezang La was at 16000 feet from sea-level and had major set back of intervening feature that blocked the artillery support for the soldiers.Rezang La was of strategic importance to Chinese as it would open them to Chushul  valley and rest of Ladakh also there was an airstrip nearby in chushul valley  they had already acquired most of the portion of Aksai Chin.

Chinese had a plan in place but major Shaitan Singh the commander of  Kumaon Regiment had his own plan.He and his men were determined to fight till the last breath of their life.While they were ill equipped and outnumbered they used the heights to their advantage.As soon as Chinese attacked,the LMG of Indian forces became a death machine for the Chinese caused heavy causality,the first attack by Chineese was decimated but they soon regrouped and attacked and the Indian side fought valiantly this heavy cross fire continued,four attacks of Chinese were destroyed but there was also heavy casualty on the Indian side.Chineese now pushed for a final attack on the Indian post and the Indian soldiers decided for a final hand to hand combat after fierce fights Chineese were finally victorious.

Chinnese faced heavy casualties they lost 1300 men and the Kumaon regiment lost 114 of its 123 gallant men including the regiment commander major Shaitan Singh who was latter given PVC for his gallantry.Due to the heavy loss of men Chineese  declared a unilateral cease-fire.

The battle of Rezang La showed unparalleled show of gallantry by the Ahir regiment but for incompetence of the political class the battle is never discussed as it is a part of a lost war.This unknown battle is today just a memoir in certain books and war documentaries.