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http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/indian-freedom-struggle-1857-1947/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/indian-freedom-struggle-1857-1947/#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2015 14:54:37 +0000 admin Articles Focus on http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=7473 Indian Freedom Struggle (1857-1947) In ancient times, people from all over the world were keen to come to India. The Aryans came from Central Europe and settled down in India. The Persians followed by the Iranians and Parsis immigrated to India. Then came the Moghuls and they too settled down permanently in India. Chengis Khan, […]

Indian Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)

In ancient times, people from all over the world were keen to come to India. The Aryans came from Central Europe and settled down in India. The Persians followed by the Iranians and Parsis immigrated to India. Then came the Moghuls and they too settled down permanently in India. Chengis Khan, the Mongolian, invaded and looted India many times. Alexander the Great too, came to conquer India but went back after a battle with Porus. He-en Tsang from China came in pursuit of knowledge and to visit the ancient Indian universities of Nalanda and Takshila. Columbus wanted to come to India, but instead landed on the shores of America. Vasco da Gama from Portugal came to trade his country’s goods in return for Indian species. The French came and established their colonies in India.

Lastly, the Britishers came and ruled over India for nearly 200 years. After the battle of Plassey in 1757, the British achieved political power in India. And their paramountcy was established during the tenure of Lord Dalhousie, who became the Governor- General in 1848. He annexed Punjab, Peshawar and the Pathan tribes in the north-west of India. And by 1856, the British conquest and its authority were firmly established. And while the British power gained its heights during the middle of the 19 ^th century, the discontent of the local rulers, the peasantry, the intellectuals, common masses as also of the soldiers who became unemployed due to the disbanding of the armies of various states that were annexed by the British, became widespread. This soon broke out into a revolt which assumed the dimensions of the 1857 Mutiny.

The Indian Mutiny of 1857

The conquest of India, which could be said to have begun with the Battle of Plassey (1757), was practically completed by the end of Dalhousie’s tenure in 1856. It had been by no means a smooth affair as the simmering discontent of the people manifested itself in many localized revolt during this period. However, the Mutiny of 1857, which began with a revolt of the military soldiers at Meerut, soon became widespread and posed a grave challenge to the British rule. Even though the British succeeded in crushing it within a year, it was certainly a popular revolt in which the Indian rulers, the masses and the militia participated so enthusiastically that it came to be regarded as the First War of Indian Independence.

Introduction of zamindari system by the British, where the peasants were ruined through exorbitant charges made from them by the new class of landlords. The craftsmen were destroyed by the influx of the British manufactured goods. The religion and the caste system which formed the firm foundation of the traditional Indian society was endangered by the British administration. The Indian soldiers as well as people in administration could not rise in hierarchy as the senior jobs were reserved for the Europeans. Thus, there was all-round discontent and disgust against the British rule, which burst out in a revolt by the ‘sepoys’ at Meerut whose religious sentiments were offended when they were given new cartridges greased with cow and pig fat, whose covering had to be stripped out by biting with the mouth before using them in rifles. The Hindu as well as the Muslim soldiers, who refused to use such cartridges, were arrested which resulted in a revolt by their fellow soldiers on May 9, 1857.

The rebel forces soon captured Delhi and the revolt spread to a wider area and there was uprising in almost all parts of the country. The most ferocious battles were fought in Delhi, Awadh, Rohilkhand, Bundelkhand, Allahabad, Agra, Meerut and western Bihar. The rebellious forces under the commands of Kanwar Singh in Bihar and Bakht Khan in Delhi gave a stunning blow to the British. In Kanpur, Nana Sahib was proclaimed as the Peshwa and the brave leader Tantya Tope led his troops. Rani Lakshmibai was proclaimed the ruler of Jhansi who led her troops in the heroic battles with the British. The Hindus, the Muslims, the Sikhs and all the other brave sons of India fought shoulder to shoulder to throw out the British. The revolt was controlled by the British within one year, it began from Meerut on 10 May 1857 and ended in Gwalior on 20 June 1858.

End of the East India Company

Consequent to the failure of the Revolt of 1857 rebellion, one also saw the end of the East India Company’s rule in India and many important changes took place in the British Government’s policy towards India which sought to strengthen the British rule through winning over the Indian princes, the chiefs and the landlords. Queen Victoria’s Proclamation of November 1, 1858 declared that thereafter India would be governed by and in the name of the British Monarch through a Secretary of State.

The Governor General was given title of Viceroy, which meant the representative of the Monarch. Queen Victoria assumed the title of the Empress of India and thus gave the British Government unlimited powers to intervene in the internal affair of the Indian states. In brief, the British paramountcy over India, including the Indian States, was firmly established. The British gave their support to the loyal princes, zamindar and local chiefs but neglected the educated people and the common masses. They also promoted the other interests like those of the British merchants, industrialists, planters and civil servants. The people of India, as such, did not have any say in running the government or formulation of its policies. Consequently, people’s disgust with the British rule kept mounting, which gave rise to the birth of Indian National Movement.

The leadership of the freedom movement passed into the hands of reformists like Raja Rammohan Roy, Bankim Chandra and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. During this time, the binding psychological concept of National Unity was also forged in the fire of the struggle against a common foreign oppressor.

Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833) founded the Brahmo Samaj in 1828 which aimed at purging the society of all its evil practices. He worked for eradicating evils like sati, child marriage and purdah system, championed widow marriage and women’s education and favoured English system of education in India. It was through his effort that sati was declared a legal offence by the British.

Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) the disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, established the Ramkrishna Mission at Belur in 1897. He championed the supremacy of Vedantic philosophy. His talk at the Chicago (USA) Conference of World Religions in 1893 made the westerners realize the greatness of Hinduism for the first time.

Formation of Indian National Congress (INC)

The foundations of the Indian National Movement were laid by Suredranath Banerjee with the formation of Indian Association at Calcutta in 1876. The aim of the Association was to represent the views of the educated middle class, inspire the Indian community to take the value of united action. The Indian Association was, in a way, the forerunner of the Indian National Congress, which was founded, with the help of A.O. Hume, a retired British official. The birth of Indian National Congress (INC) in 1885 marked the entry of new educated middle-class into politics and transformed the Indian political horizon. The first session of the Indian National Congress was held in Bombay in December 1885 under the president ship of Womesh Chandra Banerjee and was attended among others by and Badr-uddin-Tyabji.

At the turn of the century, the freedom movement reached out to the common unlettered man through the launching of the “Swadeshi Movement” by leaders such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Aurobindo Ghose. The Congress session at Calcutta in 1906, presided by Dadabhai Naoroji, gave a call for attainment of ‘Swaraj’ a type of self-government elected by the people within the British Dominion, as it prevailed in Canada and Australia, which were also the parts of the British Empire.

Meanwhile, in 1909, the British Government announced certain reforms in the structure of Government in India which are known as Morley-Minto Reforms. But these reforms came as a disappointment as they did not mark any advance towards the establishment of a representative Government. The provision of special representation of the Muslim was seen as a threat to the Hindu-Muslim unity on which the strength of the National Movement rested. So, these reforms were vehemently opposed by all the leaders, including the Muslim leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Subsequently, King George V made two announcements in Delhi: firstly, the partition of Bengal, which had been effected in 1905, was annulled and, secondly, it was announced that the capital of India was to be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi.

The disgust with the reforms announced in 1909 led to the intensification of the struggle for Swaraj. While, on one side, the activists led by the great leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal waged a virtual war against the British, on the other side, the revolutionaries stepped up their violent activities There was a widespread unrest in the country. To add to the already growing discontent among the people, Rowlatt Act was passed in 1919, which empowered the Government to put people in jail without trial. This caused widespread indignation, led to massive demonstration and hartals, which the Government repressed with brutal measures like the Jaliawalla Bagh massacre, where thousand of unarmed peaceful people were gunned down on the order of General Dyer.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

Jalianwala Bagh massacre of April 13, 1919 was one of the most inhuman acts of the British rulers in India. The people of Punjab gathered on the auspicious day of Baisakhi at Jalianwala Bagh, adjacent to Golden Temple (Amritsar), to lodge their protest peacefully against persecution by the British Indian Government. General Dyer appeared suddenly with his armed police force and fired indiscriminately at innocent empty handed people leaving hundreds of people dead, including women and children.

After the First World War (1914-1918), Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became the undisputed leader of the Congress. During this struggle, Mahatma Gandhi had developed the novel technique of non-violent agitation, which he called ‘Satyagraha’, loosely translated as ‘moral domination’. Gandhi, himself a devout Hindu, also espoused a total moral philosophy of tolerance, brotherhood of all religions, non-violence (ahimsa) and of simple living. With this, new leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose also emerged on the scene and advocated the adoption of complete independence as the goal of the National Movement.

The Non-Cooperation Movement

The Non-Cooperation Movement was pitched in under leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress from September 1920 to February 1922, marking a new awakening in the Indian Independence Movement. After a series of events including the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, Gandhiji realised that there was no prospect of getting any fair treatment at the hands of British, so he planned to withdraw the nation’s co-operation from the British Government, thus launching the Non-Cooperation Movement and thereby marring the administrative set up of the country. This movement was a great success as it got massive encouragement to millions of Indians. This movement almost shook the British authorities.

Simon Commission

The Non-cooperation movement failed. Therefore there was a lull in political activities. The Simon Commission was sent to India in 1927 by the British Government to suggest further reforms in the structure of Indian Government. The Commission did not include any Indian member and the Government showed no intention of accepting the demand for Swaraj. Therefore, it sparked a wave of protests all over the country and the Congress as well as the Muslim League gave a call to boycott it under the leadership of Lala Lajpat Rai. The crowds were lathi charged and Lala Lajpat Rai, also called Sher-e-Punjab (Lion of Punjab) died of the blows received in an agitation.

Civil Disobedience Movement

Mahatma Gandhi led the Civil Disobedience Movement that was launched in the Congress Session of December 1929. The aim of this movement was a complete disobedience of the orders of the British Government. During this movement it was decided that India would celebrate 26 ^th January as Independence Day all over the country. On 26 ^th January 1930, meetings were held all over the country and the Congress tricolour was hoisted. The British Government tried to repress the movement and resorted to brutal firing, killing hundreds of people. Thousands were arrested along with Gandhiji and Jawaharlal Nehru. But the movement spread to all the four corners of the country Following this, Round Table Conferences were arranged by the British and Gandhiji attended the second Round Table Conference at London. But nothing came out of the conference and the Civil Disobedience Movement was revived.

During this time, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were arrested on the charges of throwing a bomb in the Central Assembly Hall (which is now Lok Sabha) in Delhi, to demonstrate against the autocratic alien rule. They were hanged to death on March 23, 1931.

Quit India Movement

In August 1942, Gandhiji started the ‘Quit India Movement’ and decided to launch a mass civil disobedience movement ‘Do or Die’ call to force the British to leave India. The movement was followed, nonetheless, by large-scale violence directed at railway stations, telegraph offices, government buildings, and other emblems and institutions of colonial rule. There were widespread acts of sabotage, and the government held Gandhi responsible for these acts of violence, suggesting that they were a deliberate act of Congress policy. However, all the prominent leaders were arrested, the Congress was banned and the police and army were brought out to suppress the movement.

Meanwhile, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who stealthily ran away from the British detention in Calcutta, reached foreign lands and organized the Indian National Army (INA) to overthrow the British from India.

The Second World War broke out in September of 1939 and without consulting the Indian leaders, India was declared a warring state (on behalf of the British) by the Governor General. Subhash Chandra Bose, with the help of Japan, preceded fighting the British forces and not only freed Andaman and Nicobar Islands from the Britishers but also entered the north-eastern border of India. But in 1945 Japan was defeated and Netaji proceeded from Japan through an aeroplane to a place of safety but met with an accident and it was given out that he died in that air-crash itself.

“Give me blood and I shall give you freedom” – was one of the most popular statements made by him, where he urges the people of India to join him in his freedom movement.

Partition of India and Pakistan

At the conclusion of the Second World War, the Labour Party, under Prime Minister Clement Richard Attlee, came to power in Britain. The Labour Party was largely sympathetic towards Indian people for freedom. A Cabinet Mission was sent to India in March 1946, which after a careful study of the Indian political scenario, proposed the formation of an interim Government and convening of a Constituent Assembly comprising members elected by the provincial legislatures and nominees of the Indian states. An interim Government was formed headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. However, the Muslim League refused to participate in the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly and pressed for the separate state for Pakistan. Lord Mountbatten, the Viceroy of India, presented a plan for the division of India into India and Pakistan, and the Indian leaders had no choice but to accept the division, as the Muslim League was adamant.

Thus, India became free at the stroke of midnight, on August 14, 1947. (Since then, every year India celebrates its Independence Day on 15 ^th August). Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minster of free India and continued his term till 1964. Giving voice to the sentiments of the nation, Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said,

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we will redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance…. We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again.

Earlier, a Constituent Assembly was formed in July 1946, to frame the Constitution of India and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected its President. The Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26 ^th November 1949. On January 26, 1950, the Constitution was came into force and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected the first President of India.

Courtesy : http://www.archive.india.gov.in

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/parable-of-the-boy-and-the-candle-swami-sivananda/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/parable-of-the-boy-and-the-candle-swami-sivananda/#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2015 14:46:37 +0000 admin Short Stories http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=7471 The father and his little son are sitting in a dark room. The son asks: .Father, I am afraid of this darkness. How can we remove it?. . Light the candle, son.. The boy lights the candle. . Ah, now the darkness is gone, is it not Father?.. Yes, son,. replies the father. The son […]

The father and his little son are sitting in a dark room.

The son asks: .Father, I am afraid of this darkness. How can we remove it?. .

Light the candle, son..

The boy lights the candle. .

Ah, now the darkness is gone, is it not Father?..

Yes, son,. replies the father.

The son blows out the candle..

Oh, it is again dark, father. I am afraid…

Light the candle, son..

The boy lights the candle again. .

Ah, now the darkness is gone..

This way he lights and blows off the candle several times.

Then the father tells him: .Son, so long as there is darkness, you should keep the candle burning. If you blow it off, the darkness will envelop you once again. But when the sun rises, you need the candle no more. Then you get light throughout the day from this supreme light of the universe..

Similarly, the disciple approaches the Guru for instruction on Yoga and receives the Diksha. The disciple practises Sadhana for a little while and gets a little spiritual progress. Satisfied that he has attained the Supreme and conquered Maya, he stops the Sadhana. Darkness envelops him again! This goes on..Yoga comes and goes..till he learns to be steadfast in his Sadhana. Thus he keeps the darkness of Maya away till the Sun of Atma-Jnana arises in him. With the rise of the Sun of Supreme Wisdom, the darkness of ignorance vanishes forever, and he basks in the sunshine of Sahaja Samadhi.

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/when-the-mind-is-in-the-present-moment-swami-chinmayananda/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/when-the-mind-is-in-the-present-moment-swami-chinmayananda/#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2015 14:36:27 +0000 admin Articles http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=7469 When the mind drops its perceptions of sense objects and stops identification with its thought dances, at that stage in meditation, the mind is no-mind. When thoughts rush out in their mad fury to hug objects of pleasure, they are called extrovert thoughts, and to quiet these is the sacred function of the path of […]

When the mind drops its perceptions of sense objects and stops identification with its thought dances, at that stage in meditation, the mind is no-mind. When thoughts rush out in their mad fury to hug objects of pleasure, they are called extrovert thoughts, and to quiet these is the sacred function of the path of meditation. When these outgoing thoughts are eliminated, the resulting condition of the mind is known as the no-thought state of highest mediation.

Thoughts gush in to flood the mind with angry bursts of self-riotous compulsions mainly from two sources: the past and the future. Some thoughts stem from the past, dragging along with them memories of the good and bad done in the days gone by. These confuse the individual with regrets and sorrows, joys and pleasures raised by his memory from the stinking tombs of the past, forcing him to relive the dead past in the fragrant moments of the present.

The future is the other source of our thoughts. We are often flown upon the wings of our mind’s fancy and imagination to a world of dreams — where we are made to shudder at the future possibilities of failure, tremble in hopes of successes, and swoon in the expectation of total losses or large profits.

The past is made up of dead moments and to unearth the buried moments is to live with the dead. We do so when we waste our energies in unproductive and wasteful regrets over things we have already committed. The more we remember them those very vasanas are getting more deeply fixed into our personality structure.

When we are not engaging ourselves with the negative preoccupation of entertaining the regrets of the past, we are wandering in the fairy castles of our fancied future, peopled with ugly fears, horrid dreams, unnerving hopes, and perhaps, a thousand impossible expectations.

In short, when our minds are not rattled by the perception of objects, let us not thereby conclude that we have quieted our thoughts. Often, it is not so. The mind, when it is not engaged in the worldly objects that are right in front of it, can choose its own private fields of agitation by dragging up the buried corpses of a diseased past or by bringing up vivid pictures of a tragic hopelessness as the sure possibility of the immediate future! In either case the mind of the individual at meditation can get sadly disturbed.

Therefore, the rishis advise us: “Moment to moment engage the outgoing mind to live in the present. Completely reject the past. Renounce the future totally. Then, in such a bosom, the agitated mind shall reach the state of mindlessness.” This state of mind is called no-mind.

The content of the present moment, divorced from all relationships with the past and future, is the absolute fullness of the Infinite. Eternity is experienced at the sacred depth of the present moment. To live in the present, independent of the past and the future, is to experience samadhi, the revealing culmination of meditation. Seek it yourself. Nobody can give it to anyone else. Each will have to reach there all by himself, in himself, with no other vehicle than himself. (August 3 is Sadhana Day. Swami Chinmayananda, founder of Chinmaya Mission, took mahasamadhi on this day in 1993).

Courtesy : http://www.speakingtree.in

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/yoga-of-synthesis-by-swami-sivananda/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/yoga-of-synthesis-by-swami-sivananda/#comments Sun, 12 Jul 2015 05:28:32 +0000 admin Articles http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=7463 The mind has three defects, namely, impurity, tossing and veil of ignorance. The impurities could be removed by the practice of Karma Yoga and selfless service; the tossing by devotion and chanting; ignorance by the practice of Jnana Yoga, that is, inquiry, analysis, service and meditation. Then Self-realisation is possible.    Action, emotion and intelligence […]

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/keyword-is-compassion-by-h-h-dalai-lama/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/keyword-is-compassion-by-h-h-dalai-lama/#comments Sun, 12 Jul 2015 05:26:07 +0000 admin Articles http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=7461 How do we develop concern for others and for ourselves? Analyse and make comparisons, and then develop a conviction for change. You could start by analysing the value of negative feelings or ill-feeling towards others. Then you can consider what that means to you and how you feel about yourself.    Then probe the value […]

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/such-indeed-is-maya-parable-of-sri-ramakrishna/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/such-indeed-is-maya-parable-of-sri-ramakrishna/#comments Sun, 12 Jul 2015 05:14:46 +0000 admin Short Stories http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=7455 ONCE Narada besought the Lord of the universe, “Lord, show me that Maya of Thine which can make the impossible possible.” The Lord nodded assent. Subsequently the Lord one day set out on a travel with Narada. After going some distance, He felt very thirsty and fatigued. So He sat down and told Narada, “Narada, […]

ONCE Narada besought the Lord of the universe, “Lord, show me that Maya of Thine which can make the impossible possible.” The Lord nodded assent. Subsequently the Lord one day set out on a travel with Narada. After going some distance, He felt very thirsty and fatigued. So He sat down and told Narada, “Narada, I feel much thirsty; please get me a little water from somewhere.” Narada at once ran in search of water. Finding no water nearby, he went far from the place and saw a river at a great distance. When he approached the river, he saw a most charming young lady sitting there, and was at once captivated by her beauty. As soon as Narada went near her, she began to address him in sweet words, and ere long, both fell in love with each other. Narada then married her, and settled down as a householder. In course of time he had a number of children by her. And while he was thus living happily with his wife and children, there came a pestilence in the country. Death began to collect its toll from every place. Then Narada proposed to abandon the place and go somewhere else. His wife acceded to it, and they both came out of their house leading their children by the hand. But no sooner did they come to the bridge to cross the river than there came a terrible flood, and in the rush of water, all their children were swept away one after another, and at last the wife too was drowned. Overwhelmed with grief at his bereavement, Narada sat down on the bank and began to weep piteously. Just then the Lord appeared before him, saying, “O Narada, where is the water? And why are you weeping?” The sight of the Lord startled the sage, and then he understood everything. He exclaimed, “Lord, my obeisance to Thee, and my obeisance also to Thy wonderful Maya!”

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/environmental-ethos-in-vedic-times-by-kamla-nath-sharma/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/environmental-ethos-in-vedic-times-by-kamla-nath-sharma/#comments Sat, 13 Jun 2015 15:12:36 +0000 admin Articles http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=7435 Today, the natural resources of the earth are being mindlessly exploited globally far beyond need, resulting in a poor state of their regeneration and causing irreversible damage to the planet. This year’s World Environment Day theme – ‘Seven billion dreams. One planet. Consume with care.’ —  therefore, is highly relevant.  Starting from space, a Vedic mantra, […]

Today, the natural resources of the earth are being mindlessly exploited globally far beyond need, resulting in a poor state of their regeneration and causing irreversible damage to the planet. This year’s World Environment Day theme – ‘Seven billion dreams. One planet. Consume with care.’ —  therefore, is highly relevant.

Starting from space, a Vedic mantra, ‘prithivy apah tejah vayuh akashat’ depicts sequential primal appearance of the five basic gross substances, called ‘panch mahabhuta’ — namely, space, air, fire or energy, water and earth — from which all universal matter is created.

Water has enjoyed the highest social and religious status in ancient Indic culture. Prayers in all four main vedas, refer to water as nectar, honey, source of life, protector of earth and environment, cleanser of sins, generator of prosperity, and ambrosia. Sages in Yajurveda pray thus: “O Water, thou art the reservoir of welfare and propriety, sustain us to become strong. We look up to thee to be blessed by thy kind ambrosia on this earth.  O water, we approach thee to get rid of our sins”.  Rivers were considered divine and worshipped as goddesses and people were ordained to use their life-sustaining waters most judiciously and with greatest reverence.

Today, we have lost sight of the fact that the resources are finite. Of all of earth’s water, only 0.007% is accessible for human use. Today, globally more than 1.1 billion people have inadequate availability of water.

In vedic cosmology, Prithvi or earth symbolises material base as mother and the Dyaus, upper sky or heaven, symbolises the unmanifested immortal source as father, which together and between them, provide paryavaran, the environment.

An Atharva Veda hymn says, ‘Mata bhoomih putroham prithivyaah’, reminding us of our responsibility not only towards our motherland but also to Planet Earth. The mantra refers to earth differently as ‘bhoomi’ and ‘prithvi’ implying that while my motherland is my mother, I am also a child of Planet Earth.

TheYajurveda addresses Prithvi as a guardian, praised for being benevolent to humankind, and is prayed to for continued protection: ‘O Earth! Fill up your broad heart with the vital healing air, waters and flora. May the benevolent life-giving air circulate for a bountiful Earth’. Another prayer says, ‘Pleasant be you to us, O Earth, without a thorn be our habitation. May your development grant us bliss and sustenance’.

In hymns of the Rig Veda, seers seek blessings of the sun and wish every part of the earth to be prosperous and mountains, waters, and rivers to be propitious. The importance of vital healing air, fresh unpolluted waters and healthy flora on earth was recognised and wished for in the hymns of the Atharva Veda.

Nature and its seasons are governed by cosmic laws of integration and balance, called ‘Rit’ in the vedas. Keeping an eye on Rit, human activities can be directed  to global sustainable development. A hymn of the Yajur Veda says, ‘O learned people, fully realise your conduct towards different objects of the universe’. But, in today’s world we are misusing scientific and technological breakthroughs to indiscreetly and greedily exploit natural resources, thereby causing imbalances that make it difficult to maintain natural harmony.

Ancient Indic philosophy always wished for everyone to be happy and free from ailments, ‘Sarve bhavantu sukhinah, sarve santu niraamayaah’ – Let everyone be well and happy —  and pleaded for an all-inclusive holistic development on the planet for harmony, ‘Saa no bhoomirvardhayad vardhamaanaa’ as in the ‘Bhumi Sukta’ of Atharva Veda.

(The writer is chairman, AquaWisdom and was formerly secretary, International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), New Delhi).

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/internation-yoga-day-common-protocol/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/internation-yoga-day-common-protocol/#comments Sat, 13 Jun 2015 15:10:32 +0000 admin Videos http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=7433

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/sadhgurus-message-for-international-yoga-day/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/sadhgurus-message-for-international-yoga-day/#comments Sat, 13 Jun 2015 15:08:00 +0000 admin Articles http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=7432 The United Nations has declared that June 21 will be celebrated every year as International Yoga Day. The resolution was co-sponsored by 175 of the 193 member nations, and was so popular that it did not have to go for a vote and was adopted by an acclamation. Here is Sadhguru’s message on this important […]

The United Nations has declared that June 21 will be celebrated every year as International Yoga Day. The resolution was co-sponsored by 175 of the 193 member nations, and was so popular that it did not have to go for a vote and was adopted by an acclamation.

Here is Sadhguru’s message on this important event.

Yoga is the exploration of the very mechanics of life. It predates all religion and opened the possibility of raising a human being beyond limitations set by nature, if willing to strive. Making the science of Yoga available in the purest form is the responsibility of this generation. This science of inner development, wellbeing and liberation is the greatest gift for future generations. Congratulations to the Prime Minister for having initiated the process for declaring June 21 International Yoga Day.

International Yoga Day is Crucial

The word “yoga” literally means union. Yoga does not mean twisting of body, tying limbs into knots, holding of breath or doing some other circus. The word “yoga” means, in one’s experience, everything has become one. It is a system of raising human ability to perceive, to enhance individual human beings to realise their ultimate nature. Yoga is the most profound exploration of the very mechanics of life.

International Yoga Day is coming at a crucial time. The yogic science is of utmost significance now, like never before. Today we have tremendous tools of science and technology, enough to make or break the world. It is very important that we have an inner sense and awareness of life, that we experience every other being as a part of ourselves. Otherwise, our pursuit of wellbeing will destroy all.

If a certain population in the world experiences this, if a certain percentage of the world truly becomes meditative, definitely the quality of the world will change. Particularly if the leadership in the world experiences the unity or the yoga of life, there will be a dramatic change in the way the world will function. For all the problems of humanity, the solution is in enlarging one’s perception of life, from individuality to universality. The declaration of International Yoga Day is a significant step in this direction, and can have a ripple-effect across the planet.

Acknowledging yoga in this way will be immensely beneficial, particularly for the youth. Nowadays, a lot of young people are taking to yoga because it is usually the youth in the world who have a passion for truth. Youth is humanity in the making. Because they are in the making, they can shape themselves in whichever manner they want. If only youth are taught to handle themselves with a little more consciousness, then they are a great possibility. Otherwise, youth can be very compulsive. If they become a little more conscious, we have a great future for humanity and also the environment around us.

International Yoga Day & June 21

Ecology and human consciousness cannot be separated. The first fundamental fact of looking inward is always to see that you are naturally very much a part of everything around you. But now the problem is we are always trying to look at life in pieces – and that will never work. Only because human beings have become insensitive, we have to talk today about saving the world, which is a silly idea because it is we who are protected by Mother Earth, not the other way round! None of this would be necessary if human beings understood that, whether we like it or not, we are reverberating as a part of this existence.

Yoga is an essential science to bring this understanding and experience. This knowledge was transmitted thousands of years ago by the first yogi or Adiyogi. On the day of the summer solstice, Adiyogi turned south and first set his eyes on the Saptarishis or Seven Sages, who were his first disciples to carry the science of yoga to many parts of the world. It is wonderful that June 21 marks this momentous event in the history of humanity.

The effort to bring the spiritual process to the world, and particularly to those individuals who have a big influence upon the rest of the world, has been on for a long time. Ashtavakra enlightened Janaka around eight thousand years ago. Krishna’s whole life’s mission was to marry the spiritual process and the political process. Krishna not only worked with kings, he also established over a thousand ashrams across the northern plains of India.

International Yoga Day: Looking Inwards

Yoga essentially means that in search of wellbeing, you don’t look up. Because if you look up, you will hallucinate, you will start imagining things which are not in your experience. And above all, you do not know which is up and which is down. In the last hundred and fifty years, most of humanity looked up, and a small segment looked out – gathering wealth and building palaces. But today, a large part of humanity is looking out instead of up. If we look out for human wellbeing, we will destroy the very basis of our existence, which is what we are doing. We have different names for this – ecological problems, global warming, climate change – but human beings are just looking out in pursuit of wellbeing. That is all it is. The only ultimate solution, and the only way human beings will truly know wellbeing, is by turning inward. This is what yoga means. Not up, not out, but in. The only way out is in.

For some time, we have been working with political, economic and academic leaders because they have a certain amount of influence over the wellbeing and lives of others. About eleven years ago, in our Wholeness Program, somebody said, “Sadhguru, all this is great but what about the country? What about the nation?” So I said, “We have a list of two thousand people who can make a difference for this country. You get me these two thousand people, you will see that a wonderful change will happen.” During these years, I think we have touched around forty percent of these two thousand people. They are making a quiet change.

And now, a situation has come where the leaders of nations are speaking about yoga. Not just in India, but in the highest international body – the United Nations. Two minutes of our Prime Minister’s speech at the UN was about yoga. Seven minutes of his interaction with the President of the United States was about yoga. This has never happened before. One hundred and seventy-five out of one hundred and ninety-three countries pitched behind the resolution to be passed for International Yoga Day on June 21.

International Yoga Day: Making an Impact

We definitely want to do something for International Yoga Day that will make a big impact on the planet. We want to offer simple yoga to the world that every human being can do. Something that gets people in tune immediately and brings a certain harmony to the system. From there, we can offer more and more elaborate forms of yoga. We are looking at about one hundred locations where large-scale yoga programs will happen from morning until evening. You can volunteer at these locations or you can do your own thing somewhere else. And if do your own thing, we will equip you with a simple video. You can at least make sure ten different people learn some form of simple yoga on that day – after one, five or seven minutes of yoga, a subtle transformative process will begin.

International Yoga Day means the whole world should do some type of yoga. Let us make it happen!

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/where-is-god/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/where-is-god/#comments Sat, 13 Jun 2015 14:52:34 +0000 admin Short Stories http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=7416   Once upon a time, a monk wearing the ochre robe chanced to enter a village full of atheists. He fell in with a gang of defiant youth who challenged him to show them that the God, whom he was adoring, actually existed. He said he could, but before doing so, he asked for a […]

Once upon a time, a monk wearing the ochre robe chanced to enter a village full of atheists. He fell in with a gang of defiant youth who challenged him to show them that the God, whom he was adoring, actually existed. He said he could, but before doing so, he asked for a cup of milk. When the milk was placed before him, he did not drink it. He sat looking at it, long and silently with increasing curiosity. The youths became impatient. Their clamour became insistent.

The monk told them, “Wait a minute. I am told that there is butter in milk. I must say this cup does not have it, for I do not see any of it, however hard I look into it!” The fellows laughed at his innocence and said, “Silly man! Don’t rush to such absurd conclusions. Milk has butter in every drop. That is what makes it so nourishing. If you must see it as a separate, concrete entity, you have to boil the milk, cool it, add sour curd, and wait for some hours for it to curdle, then churn it and roll the butter that floats into a ball.”

“Ah,” said the monk, “that makes my task of showing you God much easier! God is in everything, every being and atom of the Universe. It is because of this that they exist and we can cognize them and enjoy them. To see Him as a concrete entity, you have to follow a prescribed procedure, earnestly, strictly, and sincerely. Then at the end of it all, you can experience His Grace and His Glory.”