World Peace Panchsheel

The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence or Panchsheel are a series of agreements between the People's Republic of China and India. After the Central Chinese Government took control of Tibet, China came into increasing conflict with India. However, both nations were newly- established and interested in finding ways to avoid further conflict. Therefore in 1954 the two nations drew up the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence: 1. Mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty 2. Mutual non-aggression 3. Mutual non-interference in each other's internal affairs 4. Equality and mutual benefit 5. Peaceful co-existence The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were first put forth by Premier Zhou Enlai of China at the start of negotiations that took place in Beijing from December 1953 to April 1954 between the Delegation of the Chinese Government and the Delegation of the Indian Government on the relations between the two countries with respect to Tibet. Later, the Five Principles were formally written into the preface to the "Agreement Between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of India on Trade and Intercourse Between the Tibet Region of China and India" concluded between the two sides. Since June 1954, the Five Principles were contained in the joint communique issued by Premier Zhou Enlai of China and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India, and have been adopted in many other international documents. As norms of relations between nations, they have become widely recognized and accepted throughout the world. Despite the existence of the Panchsheel, continued differences between the two nations led to the Sino-Indian War in 1962. Indian historians have claimed the Panchsheel to be a naïve diplomatic document. Nehru's motivation was that in the absence of either the resources or a policy for defense for the Himalayan region, Indian hope seemed to rest on the premise that establishing a physiological buffer between India and the People’s Republic of China would act in place of a physical buffer zone. Thus the catch phrase of India's diplomacy with China in the 1950s was “Hindi-Chini bhai- bhai” which means, in Hindi, "Indians and Chinese are brothers" En.wikipedia.org

‘Panchsheel was a long time ago’

India and China recently marked the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Panchsheel Agreement of ’54 amidst much bonhomie. Both countries had then pledged that they would conduct their relations on the basis of “non-interference” in each other’s internal affairs and sovereign “equality”. China soon began arming and training insurgents in the Northeast, making a mockery of its pledge of “non-interference”. This interference ceased only when Deng Xiao Ping decided to end all support for communist insurgencies in Southeast Asia, including that to the Burmese Communist Party in the ’80s. The Burmese communists used to provide the logistic support for Naga and Mizo insurgents to enter China’s Yunan Province. But does China wish to treat India as an “equal” in its global diplomacy? An analysis of its nuclear policies shows that it follows a policy of “containment” of India and wishes to reduce this country to the status of a vassal state. This has been evident from the unprecedented assistance that it has provided Pakistan to enable that country to develop nuclear weapons and missiles capable of targeting Indian cities. The assistance still continues. The animus of Chinese rulers

2 towards India emerges clearly in the records of discussions between Mao and Zhou En Lai, on the one hand, and Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, on the other. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, China’s assistant foreign minister, Shen Guo Fang, responded in ’96 to allegations about the Sino-Pakistan nuclear nexus by asserting: “China ...has never transferred equipment or technology for producing nuclear weapons to any other country, nor will China do so in future”. How then did A.Q. Khan transfer to Libya the design of the nuclear weapon that China tested in October ’66, wrapped in the shopping bag of his Rawalpindi tailor? When China conducted its first nuclear test in ’64, its government solemnly announced that it would never be the first to use nuclear weapons against any country at any time and under any circumstances. With this in mind, a group of Indian strategic analysts, led by K. Subrahmanyam, asked Qian Qichen, the Chinese foreign minister, in 1988, why India and China could not sign an agreement on “no first use”. Qian then quipped that as India claimed it did not possess nuclear weapons there was no meaning in such an agreement. Around ’88, Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister decided that India would covertly go ahead and develop a nuclear arsenal. China’s stance, at that time, was that the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) was an instrument of “hegemony” and discrimination. But, in ’92, shortly after India commenced building its nuclear arsenal, China acceded to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and demanded that all others do likewise. It also diluted its pledge that it would never be the first to use nuclear weapons, stating that it applied only to states that were members of the NPT, or parties to a nuclear weapons free zone. Since India, Israel and Pakistan, were the only nuclear nations that had not signed the NPT, China’s new nuclear doctrine reserved its right to resort to the first use of nuclear weapons against India. Even as it excluded India from a “no first use” guarantee, China proposed a multilateral treaty on “no first use” of nuclear weapons in ’94 to the other four “recognised” nuclear weapons powers: USA, Russia, France and UK. On September 4, ’94, Presidents Jiang Zemin and Boris Yeltsin signed a doctrine of “no first use” by undertaking not to be the first to use nuclear weapons against each other. While the Americans rejected the Chinese proposal for “no first use”, President Clinton signed an agreement on “non-targeting” of each other’s nuclear arsenals with China, barely two weeks after India conducted its nuclear tests — in ’98. Clinton revived fears of Sino-US collusion directed against India by proclaiming that this agreement would demonstrate “mutual confidence” and “serve as a helpful counterweight” to recent nuclear tests in South Asia. Former US deputy secretary of state, Strobe Talbott, has now revealed that it was China that drafted the UN Security Council to adopt the highly condemnatory and one-sided Resolution 1172 after our tests. It is important to recall all this when analysing Natwar Singh’s perfectly straightforward proposal, that India, Pakistan and China should evolve a “common nuclear doctrine” for strategic stability in Asia. This proposal has resulted in India and Pakistan declaring that “the nuclear capabilities of each other, which are based on their national security imperatives, constitute a factor for stability”. China’s response, that came on June 29, however, confirmed that it wishes to reduce India like its other neighbours to the status of a vassal of the Middle Kingdom. Responding to a query on Natwar Singh’s proposal, its assistant foreign minister, Shen Guo Fang, pompously proclaimed: “The international community should stick to the principles in the NPT as well as the consensus reached in UN Security Council Resolution 1172.” Shen thus reaffirmed that China condemns India’s nuclear tests of 1998 and that it wants India to immediately stop its nuclear weapons programme, refrain from weaponisation, cease development of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons and halt production of all fissile material for nuclear weapons. He would also like the Security Council and the UN secretary general to have a role in addressing Indo-Pakistan issues including the “core” issue of J&K. Shen’s comments confirm that while China reserves the right to manufacture and deploy nuclear weapons, it does not want India to follow suit. This is particularly odd, given China’s role in the development and deployment of nuclear weapons and missiles by Pakistan. It is also pertinent that while the US and its G-8 partners no longer speak of Security Council Resolution 1172 (drafted by China) and broadly accept the reality that India, Pakistan and Israel possess and will retain their nuclear and missile programmes, it is China alone that categorically demands that India should accede to a treaty that it labeled as an instrument of “hegemony” for over two decades. But all this should not deter us from engaging China on issues of nuclear strategy and disarmament, or from strengthening our nuclear and missile potential, by developing missiles like the Agni 3. China, like other great powers, only respects nations that are militarily and economically strong and self-reliant. www.Indianexpress.com 29.04.04

3 President’s Page Lest we forget

Lord Mountbatten, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr Rajendra Prasad pleaded with Mahatma Gandhi, as did everybody else in the Congress, to remain in Delhi to join in the celebrations on 15 August 1947, but he politely declined. The Mahatma said his presence was needed among the suffering people of Noakhali.

On arriving in Calcutta, on his way to Noakhali he learnt that the city was once again in flames; there was recurrence of rioting and killing. He was prevailed upon to stay there for sometime and provide his proverbial healing touch. He consented on the condition that Muslims in Noakhali should guarantee the safety of Hindus in that strife-stricken district. Likewise the Hindus in Bihar had to stand as guarantors of the safety of Muslims there. Or else he would not hesitate to sacrifice his life in order to bring this about. When some Hindus told him that his sympathies lay with the Muslims, he responded with tears in his eyes: “how can you ever think like this. I am proud to be a Hindu. I have lived and will die for Hinduism. Every fibre of my being is Hindu. To say that I do not care for Hindus is the worst travesty of truth.”

The Mahatma found the fire of hate was raging everywhere and he did not know how long it would take him to extinguish it but he had to extinguish it or it would engulf both India and Pakistan. Anti-social elements had run amuck, they were destroying the very basis of civilization. Under the League Ministry Hindus were earlier massacred and then under the Congress Ministry Muslims were being done to death. The Mahatma beseeched the people of Calcutta to stop, what he called this “hot goondaism” and this senseless race of retaliation.

As the Mahatma went round the affected areas, Muslims who had been living in terror regained their confidence. Hindus responded to his call and promised to follow his advice. Shaheed Suhrawardy joined him on behalf of the League to create an atmosphere of communal harmony; Shyama Prasad Mookerjee lent his support on behalf of Hindu Mahasabha. Meanwhile in Delhi, preparations were made on a grand scale to celebrate the birth of independence.

On 15 August 1947 addressing the Constituent Assembly in its midnight session Nehru said: “On this day our first thoughts go to the architect of this freedom, the Father of our Nation, who embodying the old spirit of India, held aloft the torch of freedom and lighted up the darkness that surrounds us. We have often been unworthy followers of his and have strayed from his message, but not only we, but the succeeding generations, will remember this message and bear the imprint in their hearts of this great son of India, magnificent in his faith and strength, courage and humility. We shall never allow that torch of freedom to be blown out, however high the wind or stormy the tempest.”

The Mahatma stayed in the house of his Muslim host in Calcutta on Independence Day, fasting and spinning. There was no joy in his heart though he responded to the thousands of Hindus and Muslims who came for his darshan; it was a moving spectacle of Hindu Muslim fraternity. The next day 16 August hundreds of thousands of Hindus and Muslims attended his prayer meeting. Touched by this the Mahatma said: “…..the delirious happenings remind me of the early days of the Khilafat Movement. The fraternization then burst on the public, as a new experience. Moreover, we had then Khilafat and Swaraj as our twin goals. Today, we have nothing of the kind. We have drunk the poison of mutual hatred, and so this nectar of fraternization tastes all the sweeter and so sweetness should never wear out.” He spoke more about Hindu Muslim unity than of the birth of freedom because the new dominion was infested with the agony of partition.

As the process of inter-communal harmonization was being consolidated, news came from Pakistan that Hindus were being killed and driven out of Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi and other cities. This inflamed the crowds in Calcutta and the fragile edifice of unity that the Mahatma had built during his stay began to crumble and collapse.

4 He wrote to Patel on September 1, 1947: “I hear that conflagration has burst out at many places. What was regarded as the ‘Calcutta miracle’ has proved to be a nine days’ wonder.” Meanwhile Nehru asked him to come to Punjab where the situation had gone out of control. The Mahatma replied to Nehru at once, on 2 September 1947: “I would have started for today but for the flare-up in Calcutta. If the fury did not abate, my going to Punjab would be of no avail. I would have no self-confidence.” The Mahatma therefore stayed on in Calcutta and decided to fast unto death, hoping that what his “word in person” could not do, “my fast may do. It may touch the hearts of all the warring elements in Punjab if it does in Calcutta.”

In less than four days of his fast the attitude of people in Calcutta changed. Leaders of all political parties, religious groups, and social organisations went round the streets and asked Hindus and Muslims to give up their arms, abjure violence and pledge to restore peace. The goondas and their dadas came forward and repented for what they had done. Everyone appealed to the Mahatma to break the fast, but he said that unless mutual trust was restored he would not do so. Finally on the assurance of C Rajagopalachari who had taken over as the Governor of the province, he agreed to concede to their request if they promised him that there would never be a repetition of such a tragedy in the city. And, that they would sincerely strive for genuine change of heart and actively foster communal unity. If they were unable to give such a guarantee, the Mahatma Said he would continue fast.

In the deliberations that followed, a document pledging to work for communal unity was prepared; it was signed by all the prominent citizens; it was endorsed by the governor. The Mahatma said: “I am breaking this fast so that I might be able to do something in Punjab. I have accepted your assurance at its face value. I hope and pray I shall never have to regret it. I would certainly like to live to serve India and humanity, but I do not wish to be duped into prolonging my life.”

The transformations among Hindus and Muslims that the Mahatma brought about were indeed amazing. And that too in the face of raging violence in other parts of India and Pakistan! He was happy at the outcome because he believed that it would bring sanity among the people of not only East Bengal, but also Bihar. He proposed to take a trip to Punjab next. The League organ of Calcutta, Morning News, commented that Gandhi was ready to die so that the Muslims could live peacefully. Likewise The Times, London, wrote that what the Mahatma had achieved, several military divisions could not have accomplished. C.R., the Governor, known as Gandhi’s conscience keeper, observed, “Gandhiji has achieved many things but there has been nothing, not even independence, which is so truly wonderful, as his victory over evil in Calcutta.”

Thus having completed his mission of mercy, the greatest Apostle of Non-Violence, left for Delhi on 7 September, unaware that worse trouble awaited him in the heart of the capital of free India which he had brought into existence, by sheer grit, courage, hard work, suffering and sacrifice even if it was not in the form that he had desired.

- Inspired by Late Dr Rafiq Zakaria: Gandhi and the Break-up of India, 1999 Bhavan’s Book University

According to Mahatma Gandhi fortunate people who have amassed wealth are trustees of the wealth in their possession which they must utilise for the benefit of the underprivileged people. The practice codes of the various religious scriptures also encourage keeping aside a proportion of one’s income for charitable causes.

Gambhir Watts President Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia

5 Publisher & Managing Editor: Gambhir Watts Editorial Page [email protected] Current Board of Directors Editorial Committee: J Rao Palagummi Catherine Knox Rajesh Katakdhond Office Bearers : [email protected]

Designing Team: President Gambhir Watts Utkarsh Doshi Treasurer Catherine Knox J Rao Palagummi Chairman Emeritus Surendralal Mehta- President Bhavan Advertising: Worldwide [email protected] Company Secretary Sridhar Kumar Kondepudi

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia Suite 100 / 515 Kent Street, Other directors are: Sydney NSW 2000 Abbas Raza Alvi; Moksha Watts * The views of contributors to Bhavan Australia are not necessarily the views of Nominees of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Worldwide: Bhavan Australia or the editor. Homi Navroji Dastur, Executive Secretary and Director General *Bhavan Australia reserves the right to Jagannathan Veeraraghavan, Executive Director, Delhi edit any contributed articles and letters submitted for publication. Mathoor Krishnamurti, Executive Director, Bangalore

Copyright: all advertisements and original Palladam Narayana Sathanagopal, Additional Registar editorial material appearing remain the property of Bhavan Australia and may not be reproduced except with the written consent of the owner of the copyright. Bhavan Australia - ISSN 1449 – 3551 Articles & Focus Themes

Silent Tears & Dynamism in Indian 29 Rewriting History 7 Womanhood!

Dr. Jacob Zuma visits Bhavan 11 Vaastu Sastra, the Science of Space 32

Brand India Grand India 12 Telugu Pada Kavitha Pithamaha 36

Patanjali Yoga for our Times-II 14 De-schooling Medical Education 38

Brain Power 18 A Babylonian Tale 42

Gandhi’s Top Ten fundamentals for 22 Dimdima— Children’s Section 44 changing the World

Thoughts on Composite Culture of India 25 Flashback 46

6 Rewriting History

A report in April 2008 said that the scientists examining human genes said the Indian population is heterogeneous and consists of a mixture of Indo-European, Dravidian, Australoid and locals. Mention of Indo-European and Dravidian culture shows that these so-called scientists are not posted with the latest developments in ancient history, and continue to stick to the worn out theories of Aryan invasion and Dravidian migration to South India. It is nearly 20 years that the Aryan invasion theory has been refuted and linguistic arguments based on it rejected by historians the world over. The date of Rig-Veda has been shifted to the earliest days of human evolution after completion of the last Ice-Age before ten thousand years and man's settlement in the various parts of the world started. Discovery of dry bed of the river Saraswati in Rajasthan by Satellite in 1980 has confirmed its live period around 3000 B.C. The Rigvedic hymns mentioning its flow direct to the sea shows a still earlier period. Now recent excavations by Arehaco Department, Nagpur at Bhirdana near Hissar in its bed has disclosed a culture Harappan civilisation around 2500 B.C. This whole region exactly similar to the Harappan, but earlier by 2000 years. experienced drought conditions for over a millennium It pushes back the date to 4500 B.C. from 2000 B.C. and the Indus people had again to migrate to the Gangetic basin where they spread upto Anga and Sage Devapi mentioned in the Rigveda is Rama's ancestor Wanga by 1000 B.C. and this helps in fixing his time around 3500 B.C. The Mahabharata war took place when the river Saraswati This is in short a well-established history of the flowing through the Kamyakvana had partially dried up. It subcontinent and there is no place for intrusion of any turned west near Vinashana Tirtha and flowed through a Indo-European as suggested in the media. The report is channel called Hakra –Nara on the Indo-Pak border which based on our history constructed by scholars with certain event took place around 3000 B. C. presumptions during the last 200 years of Western influence. In 1880Max-Muellar first declared that the Rig- Thereafter the Rajasthan desert spread and the Indians had Veda must be belonging to a foreign tribe whom he called to shift to the Indus Valley where they founded the Aryans. When in 1905 they came across a people called Hittaite, known from the excavations at Bogazkoi and Hattus-as in Turkey dated to 1500 B.C., they were christened Aryans who authored the Rig-Veda around that date. In 1922 after discovery of the Indus culture with a fixed date of 2500 B.C. the Aryan story was revised to include Dravidians as original residents who fled to South India. Western scholars are not prepared to change the date of Rig-Veda even after knowing full facts about river Saraswati and Aryan invasion theory continues. However, there is one way to reconcile these divergent views by knowing full details about the Hittaites.

7 journey to the other world. It is the study of these artifacts spread all over the ancient world that gives an idea of their lifestyle. The Hittaite soon learnt to write with Sumerian scripts on clay bricks fired and preserved. Thousands of such bricks are found in excavations which have been read and understood. They ruled the Middle East for four centuries after which the empire split into small states. A section took to forming Israel and another settled in Lebanon, cut down the cedar trees and prepared huge ships which they carried on to the Mediterranean sea and became famous as Phonecian traders. A third section settled in Tuscony province, north of Rome in Italy, became famous as After the Ice Age, man came out of his hiding places in Etrusians whose art and architecture became the1 mountain caves and started exploring his surroundings. In foundation of Greek and Latin culture. Central Asia he found huge grasslands around the Caspian The fourth section travelled east and settled in the valley Sea, with various animals useful for his livelihood. He of river Swat, north of Peshawar. They have been domesticated them, formed herds and led them to green mentioned subsequently by the Iranian Emperor in 550 pastures from place to place, thus giving rise to a nomadic B.C. Excavation in a cave in this area in 1969 revealed way of life. They were called Scythians or Shakas. Their single and mixed burials with or without funeral along descendents are still seen in TV. Serials on people from Kirgiz, Kosak and Azer-Baizan. Europeans never entered this Scythian territory or their harsh Neolithic life. They had settled at better places around the Mediterranean Sea, took to farming and led a settled life forming villages and towns. So the nomads from Central Asia always felt attracted towards this civilised world and took chances to join them. Around 2000 B.C. a section of the Scythians from the Caspian Sea entered east Turkey and formed settlements which developed into city states and further into the Hittaite empire with Hattusas as its capital in 1500 B.C. It had a clash with the neighbouring state of Mittani and in their treaty both mentioned salutation to the Indian gods, Indra, Varun, Mithra and Nasatya which showed their link with India. The Scythians around the Caspian Sea have been described by Hirodotus and other Greek authors as a strong people with tall sturdy build up, red colour, blue eyes and blonde features. Their Neolithic Nomadic style was extremely primitive. Men had long beards, often in fighting killed their enemies and proudly used their skulls as drinking cups. They used long leather coats and were expert horse riders. Their women were equally ferocious and were called Amazons. However, their urge for a settled life helped them to overcome these defects and mix with the civilised world. It was their habit to worship the dead ancestors, and build memorials containing articles useful for his

8 with several tombs on surrounding hill slopes. It confirms megalithic practice of cave burial which was carried to other parts of India. It is known as Gundhar grave culture. Due to adverse climate the people from the Indus Valley had been travelling east and settling in the Gangetic plains from 1000 B.C. The Scythians also shifted to a region beyond the river Sharayu, cut down Mahavana on Nepal border and established a Shakya Japapada, 16 such states becoming famous by 600 B.C. Excavation at Kapilavastu and the surrounding region have disclosed Megalithic B and R ware and iron bits showing presence of Shakyas. They travelled south, crossed the mighty Dandakaranya forest and established Asmaka Janapada on the banks of river to shift to safer places. They travelled through Rajasthan, Wainaganga where their megalithic graves are located Malwa and Vidarbha to the Nagpur region where they today. already had a colony. This journey with horses and elephants marching in Their Megalitic circles are found at Dausa, Alwar and procession has been depicted on the walls of various caves caves near Shamgarh and Salbardi on this journey. The in Madhya Pradesh. It has been depicted on the walls of tradition of burial in stone circles and caves was carried to various caves in Madhya Pradesh. It has been described in the Nagpur region. detail in my book. The Scythians on the Nepal border prospered to grow into The 600 B.C. was a revolutionary period. Methods for a population of 60,000 families as mentioned by Buddha extracting iron were perfected after attempts for several Ghosha. They had friendly states of Kosala on the west centuries. Iron implements, tools and weapons were with king Prasenadi educated at Takshasheela and available everywhere. It increased the striking power of Magadha with king Bimbisar who spread his empire upto man increasing wars and aggressions. Religious preachers Anga on the east. Both were related to each other and also such as Zaratusta, the Buddha, Mahaveera and Confucious to other kings at Ujjain, Mathura, Kashi and Kaushambi. were trying to pacify the people by introducing new laws All of them belonged to the Kshatriya class ... separate for social behaviour. So also, the Hindu thinkers at from the Shakyas. Both followed the Hindu religion. Takshasheela laid down rules in Brahmanas and On such a peaceful background arrived Prince Gautama Aranyakas for social well-being. Especially they formed preaching a totally different thought. Existence of God the Atharvaveda which incorporated all primitive beliefs, doubtful, Yagnas were useless; human soul did not exist; worships and practices of the local tribes like the Shakyas. family ties and belief in rebirth was meaningless; and Internal evidence shows that the book was authored adopt Sanyas, preach Ahimsa to achieve Nirvana that is around 600 B.C. It prescribes the use of plants and herbs the final escape from this painful world full of sorrow. for treatment of several diseases, remedies against Even though the Buddha preached a new way he had not sorcerers, ghosts and evil forces. It adopted local dress for prescribed any duties. One had simply to leave old ties the newly formed images. Sun wore long boots, Shankara and embrace freedom which, those loaded with duties and with tied hair used dear skin and snake to tie around. social responsibilities found attractive. People ran away Ganesha had an elephant mask. leaving their families destitute. Princes killed relatives to By 600 B.C. the Hittaite lordship over the Middle East acquire power. Nobody questioned them. came to an end when the Iranians rose in arms and When the Buddha was alive, Ajatshatru, son of Bimbisara established an empire under king Xirus. It extended from captured his throne and starved him to death while in Egypt in the west to the Indus on the east. Scythians in the captivity in 493 B.C. He also destroyed the Shakyas when Swat Valley were naturally shaken by this defeat and had

9 they opposed. He was shameless enough to approach the and other places. It permitted a rider to use both his hands Buddha and beg his pardon and excuse for his deeds. free while using the sword, bow and other weapons as this Thereafter in 485 B.C. Viddabha, son of Prasenadi was a great advantage for a cavalry attack. dismissed him and massacred Shakyas en-masse when With such attack, 21 Kshatriya kings in north India were they opposed. Thus the Buddha died a brokenhearted overpowered swiftly by Parashurama who encouraged his person with only one disciple Ananda on his last journey. followers to settle in various places of their choice. Taking advantage of the new situation, Ajatshatru called Successors of Ajatshatru were dismissed by the people for the first Buddhist conference where all Kshatriya kings and a pro-Hindu Nanda dynasty ruled Magadha for the adopted Buddhism, and naturally neglected their defence. next century. Thereafter Ajatshatru attacked them separately and The first ruler Mahapadmananda was described as established the Magadha Empire in 475 B.C. The Shakyas powerful as Ram Jamadgnya which shows he was could not find any safety in the new regime and shifted en considered as an incarnation from around 450 B.C. The masse to their brothers in Asmaka Janapada in South and Puranas edited after 200 A.D. changed the whole story. further travelled upto Kerala leaving behind Kapilavastu Earlier numerals and figures were expressed by alphabets. where Mahayana grew forever. A Yuga in Mahabharata comprised of a thousand years King Sahasrarjuna of Maheshwara on Narmada became only. Puranas changed it to lakhs of years. Jamadagni's bold enough to march south to Mahur and destroy the story was changed. He doubted chastity of his wife, cursed Ashrama of Sage Jamadagni and kill him. This gave birth his children, blessed Parashurama to be a Chiranjeevi, to a warrior who taught a lesson to all the Kshatriya placed him in Dwaparayuga, declared him to be converts in the North. He was lord Parashurama. annihilator of Kshatriyas 21 times, made him appear in Parashurama's character is misunderstood most in our Ramayana and Mahabharata. mythology. His real story has been narrated in Mahabharata. His deeds placed him among the ten This is, in short, the real story behind the Aryan invasion. incarnations of Vishnu and stories created to glorify him. It is slow immigration in known history by shaka, Yavana, They are included in the puranas edited after 200 A.D. Pallava and China, noted in Manusmriti and other ancient Renuka was daughter of King Prasenjit, thus a Kshatriya records. Parashurama not only settled these people as per by birth. Jamadagni, one of the authors of Atharvaveda, their choice in more than 100 places but also provided has been a Mega Brahmin from Takshasheela. They must them with rules through Atharvaveda, and Grihyasutras have migrated to south with others and settled at Mahur which regulated a person's life from birth to death, used where Parashurama's birth took place around 500 B.C. even today. This finished the anarchy introduced by the Buddhist thoughts and Hindu ideas prospered. No Around 475 B.C. the king of Maheshwar, with neo- European blood was introduced in this land. Our blue eyes Buddhist enthusiasm attacked and killed Jamadagni, and blonde features belong to Central Asia. which might have upset the fresh refugees in Asmaka. Parashurama was a young leader at the time. His scythian followers were expert horse riders. They used stirrups P. N. Phadke, Bhavan’s Journal, 30 June 2008 which have been found during excavations at Junapani

“At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striv- ing and the grandeur of her success and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength.” “We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?”

- Jawaharlal Nehru on the eve of India’s Independence Day

10 Dr. Jacob G. Zuma visits Bhavan HQ Dr. Jacob G. Zuma, President of the African National Congress of the Republic of South Africa visited Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Gandhi Institute of Computer Education and Information Technology, which offers free Computer Education to educated unemployed youth belonging to the weaker sections of our society on Wednesday, June 11, 2008. Shri Murli S. Deora, Hon'ble Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Vice President of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Vice Chairman of Bhavan's Gandhi Institute, welcomed him and members of his delegation. Shri Murli Deora explained how the Institute was set up to Traditional welcome to Hon Dr Jacob G. Zuma

through Information Technology which has greatly benefited India. He thanked Shri Murli Deora for his offer. Dr. Zuma distributed Certificates to the pass-out students of the Gandhi Computer Institute. Shri Kirtidev Munshi, Honorary Secretary of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and grandson of Kulapati Dr. K. M. Munshi, founder of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, offered floral tributes to Dr. Zuma on behalf of Bhavan. Shri H. N. Dastur, Executive Secretary of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan offered Dr. Zuma a set of Bhavan's publications. Dr Zuma at the Bhavan’s Gandhi Institute of Computer The 52nd edition of Bhavan's Mahabharata, and 47th Education and Information Technology (India) with Shri edition of Ramayana, authored by C. Rajagopalachari, Murli Deora, Vice President, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (India) have also been presented to Dr. Zuma. The circulation of Ramayana and Mahabharata crossed over 12.25 lakh copies and the demand is increasing day-by-day. Prof. S. help the poor with free Computer Education, offered to set A. Upadhyaya, Director, Bhavan's Department of Sanskrit up a Centre in Durban to provide free Computer Education and Post-Graduate Studies offered a vote of thanks. Shri to the educated unemployed in South Africa. Rupen Doshi conducted the proceedings. Hon'ble Dr. Zuma explained that he knew the value of education because he could not get one till his father died Bhavan’s Journal, July 15 2008 and had to struggle hard to educate himself. He said that young people in his country have to be empowered

Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa

Mohandas Gandhi had come to South Africa in May 1893 on a professional visit as a lawyer. As he was about to leave South Africa in 1894, after the completion of his legal work, he noticed in the papers a reference to this Bill. On his pointing out to his compatriots, most of whom were uneducated, the implications of this Bill for them, they induced him to stay and help them. The work of seeking redress from this and other grievances of the Indians in South Africa kept him in that country for over 21 years, i.e., till 1914.

11 Brand India. Grand India Six Brand Mantras you can't afford to overlook

the Indian consumer or whether they remain valueless. Today, India is a sought after markets for brands and Lux soap benefits the Indian consumer through its promise consumers by companies from around the world. India's of beauty; Jet Airways and King Fisher airlines benefit the width, depth and frequency of consumption has made it an Indian consumer through superior service quality and all able and desirable brand market. Welcome to Brand India. time travel, while Dettol benefits the consumer through Grand India. the promise of hygiene. Brands, whether service brands or 1. Brands means trust product brands, do well as long as they benefit the consumer. The secret of powerful branding and a Many people are curious about the importance of a brand. successful business is to understand the unique need of the Why do brands matter? How do brands change the value consumer and to satisfy them through your brand. and the fortune of companies? Well, my answer to this is through my first Brand Mantra, “Brand are built on India is unique in the sense that a consumer enjoys Vishwas and Atmavishwas” watching both the latest Hollywood film as well as the latest Bollywood flick. This is because the appetite of Brands mean trust. Brands are built on a combination of Indian consumer is very large. Indians look for variety, the faith of consumers and the self confidence of the but at the same time are loyal to brands that satisfy their Brand Marketers. Brands matter a lot because they specific needs. To understand Indian consumers, you need represent the perceived value that the consumers pay for to live in India and not try to undertake marketing through and from which they benefit. Brands are strong intangible a remote control located elsewhere. A few years ago, not assets that actually determine the growth of the company, many people would have considered India and Indian both in terms of top-line and bottom line. Brands which consumers to be willing to pay for bottled drinking water. create demand are well accepted and easier to sell and Today, people are happy to pay and bag brands like have a better price realization. Brand commodities have a Bisleri, Himalayan and even Evian priced much higher longer life. Brands are truly a part of our daily Indian than the rest. The Indian consumer, who is using his lives, and neither companies nor consumers can be apart Mercedes for office travel and for parties, may also be from them. This is a 'Brand' new world and a 'Grand' new using the trusted Maruti to send the household maharaj India. A recent Samsika study showed that the average (cook) to do grocery shopping. India has a wide range of Indian consumes about 44 brands in a day right from the needs, which means there is also a great opportunity for time he gets up, has a bath, breakfasts, travels to office, the wide range of brands to grow. Even a panipuri offering works, comes back home and relaxes. This denotes a great (also called 'Golgappa' or 'Pucka' in other parts of the opportunity for brand building that can make companies country) is branded at Elco market and sold at Rs. 35 a increase then-wealth and also enhance the well being of plate. It could be luxury brand or it could be a general consumers. brand, there is a market in India for each segment. India 2. Brands love India. India loves Brands truly loves Brands. Brands truly love India.

Brands have big opportunities in India, in fact very big 3. Brand Trends. Brand Friends opportunities to prove their top-line and bottom-line and The latest trend in brand building is to bring the consumer be strong wealth creators for the economy. My second closer to brands and the brands closer to the consumer. In Brand Mantra here is, “If consumer wins benefit, fact, the latest branding trend is to make brands look like company wins profit” friends, whether it be the iPod , a PVR, a Cinemax, a India has over 5,700 towns, 6, 38,000 villages; and has 15 Gamier, a pair of Levis jeans, a pair of Nike shoes or even languages on its 100 Rupee note. India also has a rich and Parachute oil- one hour champi. All brands are trying to diverse culture, a strong peaceful position value and the come closer to consumers or make consumers come closer readiness to accept changes and improve the quality of to them. My third brand mantra is, “Brands must have a life. Indian consumers have become world class personality and avoid generality” consumers and they want world class modern services in When brands are pesonalised and stand for core values the form of Brands. It does not matter whether the brands that meet the needs of the consumer, they will succeed. are international or national brands, local or regional Another growing trend is brands not only offering brands; what does matter is whether these brands satisfy products and services, but people as well. In products or

12 services, you have a brand and then you build the new brand from scratch. After all, a bad product or a personality. However, in the case of people, you first have bad service cannot make a good brand. a personality and then you build the brand. Brands like 5. Some brands grow. Some brands are slow Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachhan, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Kareena Kapoor, Akshay Why is it that some brands do very well and grow, Kumar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are personality brands whereas others decline? Why is it that consumers love that command a high value and price. some brands while they dislike, hate or are indifferent to 4. Brand. Rebrand? Disband? others? Quite simply put, the brands that are disliked or don't matter are the ones that do not meet the tangible and Many a time, the brand marketer suffers brand fatigue and intangible needs of consumers. An Indian customer may wants to change the style of the brand even though the love having a McDonald's burger or a Dominoes pizza at consumer is still very happy with the original brand. The one point of time, while at another time he may love going focus should be to build brands through a proper brand to a Kamat's restaurant and have a dosa or an utthapa. strategy, rather than keep making changes as per the These brands meet the needs of the consumer. Whether whims and fancies of the brand marketer. watching NDTV, or while watching a movie at a PVR, the consumer enjoys consuming these brands and therefore A good international example is Coke being changed and these brands would grow, while other brands will be slow. then brought back as the 'Classic Coke'. A recent Indian Many a time, brands become lazy or become arrogant. example is the Air India logo being changed, only to be Hence, they start declining, become slow and eventually brought back in desperation. In both cases, rebranding was fade out. My fifth Brand Mantra is, “Be humble or you not required. My fourth Brand Mantra is, “In Brand Building, be persistent, be insistent, be consistent.” will tumble”. Brands that are slowing and declining are doing so because they are not able to connect with people. If you have got your brand strategy right, including your However, brands that connect with them, even for a short brand naamkaran, the Brand Segmentation and the Brand period of time, can see tremendous growth. Nokia, which positioning, and you are meeting the existing needs of has become Rs 15,000 consumers, then continue and build the same brand even crore company, and the country's largest multinational stronger. brand, came to India just a little over a decade ago. Make However, there are some cases where rebranding is your brand grow. Don't let it be slow on the uptake! required, as for instance in the cases below. 6. Future of Brands in India 1) If there is an acquisition of the brand or a merger. For example : The Orange to Hutch to Vodafone My sixth Brand Mantra is, “The future of brand is bright, experience and the latest example of Slice Mangola are if your brand is right” In India, your brand can grow if good examples of being persistent without losing the you are a responsible brand and practice corporate social goodwill of the current brand. responsibility. Whisper sanitary napkins did extremely well by being a responsible brand. Your brand's future 2) There could also be the need for change in either will be bright if it is relevant and is able to adapt to the the size or the shape or the colour of the logo, while changing needs of the Indian consumer. Brand building in keeping the name in order to make it more India has so far gone through an evolutionary process and contemporary. Godrej, Ceat and Shoppers Stop are is now ready to go through a revolutionary process. In my great examples of this. opinion good brand building not only leads to a healthy It is also quite possible that the brand launch did not and long life for the brand but could also make a great take place well and for that a new launch may be brand immortal. Three Cheers to brand building in India. required. In this case, it is better to disband the brand, go back to the drawing board and build an absolutely Source : Jagdeep Kapoor, BSENSEX, June-July 2008

Leadership is not magnetic personality—that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not "making friends and influencing people"—that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations Peter F. Drucker .

13 Patanjali Yoga For Our Times – II

losing in the battles, a simple peasant girl, Jeanne of Arc, illiterate but a devout Catholic, was inspired to lead the French troops to a momentous victory. She put new life into a dispirited army and routed the invader. Breaking the siege of Orleans in ten days, Jeanne rescued Orleans from the English (April 1429) and got Charles VII crowned as the King of France on July 17, 1429. Later on, the English and their French collaborators, burned her at the stake, as a heretic, on May 31, 1431. Such was Joan of Arc (1412-1431), cannonisedas saint by the Pope in 1920. Hasn't Swami Ram Tirth pointed out a century ago: "It is strange, very strange, that people want to rob each other, as for worldly wealth, but as for higher wealth (spiritual, religious riches), when they are presented with it, they want to kill their donors!" Rishi Patanjali of second century B.C. summarised the ancient Indian yogic practices and traditions in his "Yoga This has happened throughout the ages, all over the world. Sutra", comprising 51 sutras in Samadhi pada, 55 in Thus the path of truth has come to mean "as difficult as Sadhana Pada, 55 in Vibhuti Pada, and 34 in Kaivalya walking on razer's edge", “\Ǔ ’ȡšȡĭ” " Why truth has pada, in all 195 sutras. to be associated with violence? Why this crucifixion? th In yogic parlance, what is practised is understood, mere Chengiz Khan, the 13 century Mongol conqueror, used intellectual understanding has no significance at all. The to say: "My greatest joy is to shed my enemies' blood and true spirit of Patanjali Yoga has to be understood, not by wring tears from their women-folk", an example of the ordinary consciousness of day-to-day usage. What is demonic pleasure. called mystical or religious experience, is a direct non- On the other hand, ancient India had Raja Shibi, who intellectual experience of reality, when one is most while in an occasional forest retreat, one day, saw a bird, a intensely alive. victim of a hunter's arrow, falling in front of him. With his Such understanding comes in a flash of inspiration, as it first aid, the king revived the bird back to life. happened to a proletariat or burgeoise, alike throughout By that time the hunter reached the spot and demanded the the ages. James Naylor (1618-1660), for example, was bird, his game. The king refused. The hunter insisted the ploughing his fields, when suddenly, in a timeless bird as his food. moment, his religious mission in life, was revealed to him. He carried out his preaching in the midst of bigoted Facing a dilemma, Raja Shibi, then offered the hunter, religious orthodoxy and despite the British Parliament's flesh from his thigh, equal to the bird's weight. Such was cruel persecution inflicted on him. ancient Indian empathy, a risk in an era of cruel Mongol and Tartar invasions. Raymond Lull (1235-1314), a Spaniard, son of the Governor of MajorlaLwas. in his youth, a reckless Now don't expect the supreme reality or the unknown, to philanderer. At I the age of 30, he had a vision of Jesus be partial to Raja Shibi for his exceptional goodness and Christ, which profoundly transformed him. prejudiced toward Chengiz Khan, for his senseless cruelty. Don't! How does one know? History tells us that. These Thenceforth, for the rest of his life, he dedicated himself contrasting behaviours are products of different to the apostolic mission of preaching Christianity, even to physiological and psychological processes in man, the Muslims. In 1314, when he was 80, the enraged exposed as he is to environmental uncertainties. Muslims of Bourgie (in modern Algeria) stoned him to death, for his affrontery in preaching Christianity to the Strange as it may seen, complications in human behaviour followers of Islam. multiply, with the advent of advanced civilisation, which instils in us, a sense of T ness, individuality, which During the hundred years war between England and separates one from the surrounding environment. This France (1337-1453), when the French were repeatedly

14 individuality, though necessary for secular developments in the society, ends up as a breeding ground of psychological complexities, as one noticed it in Paul Valery's life, referred to above. Here in mundane affairs, violence that ends up in deaths, concerns us. However, the Upanishadic mataphysician tells us that, with total, uncompromising denial of individuality, "death gets us not, instead, death turns out to be our very essence," as pointed out in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: 1;2;7. “Ȱ“Ȳ ˜×Ǚ ™ǕšȡܓȪǓ, ŰיǕšè™ȡטȡ —Ǔ This is what, implied in J. Krishnamurti's statement: "In 'ending', there is the possibility of something 'new' coining." The body physiology craves to continue endlessly. This recalcitrant craving is now met with a psychological urge of dying from moment to moment. When a wave-crest meets a wave-trough, the movement is stalled and there is stillness. In the very process of human birth both creative and annihilative, constructive and destructive processes are in operation simultaneously. To fertilise one ovum, nature needs only one sperm and the rest of the millions of disadvantages. This is the life of the mind which certainly sperms die soon after. Can this violence be avoided? has limitations. Nature seems so wasteful. Violence happens to be a part of life. Such factual knowledge is useful to worldly-wise persons with commitments in society. However, a seeker of truth It seems in that existential essence, 'asuratva' (Titanic is not content with mere biological survival, like for destructivity) of Chenghiz Khan and 'devatva' (angelic example, Aurobindo was qualified in the I.C.S. during the constructivity) of Raja Shibi, coexist. The unknown has pre-Independence era and Swami Ram Tirth, during his scant sympathy for the continuance or welfare of isolated pre-monastic life, was brilliant professor of mathematics. individuals. Raja Shibi is an example of human perfection. But they were not interested in bread-winning professions. Nature destroys what it has perfected. But the aborigines Their quest was for the life of the spirit of Tasmania, for example, killed by the European immigrants and Raja Shibi are polar opposites, the former Aurobindo's magnum opus, 'Life Divine' and his epic at the lowest rung of the evolutionary ladder and the latter, poem "Savitri", are the products of the identification with on the highest. Extremes outwardly look alike. spiritual thought-waves When the thought-waves are completely stilled, spontaneously, one lives in divinity. The essence of Patanjali Yoga is summarised in the first That was the state of divine consciousness in which three sutras: Ramana Maharshi lived, throughout his later life. ™Ȫ‚ȡǔÍĮƣ ĭǕǒƣ Ǔ“šȪ’ ‘ȡ ġƵ èǾ”ȯŒèȡ“˜ A spiritual person has direct contacts with life, without ĭǒƣ ȡèܙǓ˜šğ interference of either social indoctrination or inherited tendencies. A quitened mind rests in silence. Silence with "Restraining the ceaseless activity of the mind is Yoga. sense of responsibility toward oneself and others, makes When the thought -waves are stilled, the existential one serene. This serenity may outwardly appear as a essence rests in its true nature. Otherwise, one identifies mental state tinged with sadness to worldly persons, used oneself with the ever-changing modifications of the mind- to hilarity and jubilation, but it isn't. Serenity knocks at stuff." (Patanjali Yoga Sutras: 2 to 4). the door of the Unknown. Normally, one responds to life through the screen of ™Ȫ ’ǕȡǔŽ ”ǐš×™Ï™ \’Ǖ˜ ”ǐšŸȯȯ @ thought-waves ('vritties'). These 'vritties' meet life, the ’ǕȡǔŽ è™ “æ™ȲǓ \’Ǖ˜ “çӘȯ A subjectivity differing from person to person, again, "Those who neglecting worthy eternal values, cling to the depending on the situational advantages and

15 transcient, mundane objects, to such worldlings, the their hopes, that is what history is, i.e., coordinated human evanescent are already lost and their opportunity to seek ambition and action." ("The Human Web": McNeill & out the Eternal, is also lost." McNeill, 2003). This precisely is the Tao of the materialist Western civilisation. The British organisation, Prudential's findings compel us to look back and find out where we have gone wrong. If What the 'wise' Easterners did is, instead of attempting to gratification of the biological cravings is the chief alter their conditions, they altered or rather modified their motivating force in our lives, there is a worth-heeding hopes and ambitions, and thus arrived at the ultimate goal warning from the Nobel Laureate French writer, Samuel of life, early. That is what Patanjali Yoga is. And the Beckett (1906-1989): "We are all born mad, some remain Westerners are still panting, pursuing their material goals, so." which are endless. However, it is true that both together - the material and spiritual pursuits contribute to the "Life began with simple sameness and after thousands of wholeness of life. years of progressive civilisation, arrived at complex - Ramdas, Bhavan’s Journal June 30 2008 sameness. Human ambition to alter one's condition to match one's hopes, is the motivating force, behind this elaborate process of growth. What people hoped for both in material and spiritual realms and how they pursued

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16 The Consul General of India Shri Sujan R. Chinoy, accompanied by Consul Y.V.Dayal visited Coffs Harbour/Woolgoolga on 22-23 July 2008

Woolgoolga is inhabited by Sikhs who comprise approximately 50% of the local population. It has one of the oldest concentrations of Indians in Australia. Some of the Sikhs belong to the fourth generation of immigrants. Many have grown up in Australia but retain a strong Sikh cultural identity. The place is famous for its banana cultivation started by Sikh migrants some 100 years ago. As such, the majority of the banana plantations in the area are owned by members of the Sikh community. They also cultivate blueberries, oranges and vegetables. Apart from visiting some of the banana plantations and homesteads, Consul General Sujan Chinoy and Consul Dayal also visited: (a) Guru Nanak Sikh Temple (b) First Guru Nanak Sikh Temple in Australia ( c) Anand Eshar Educational Centre At all the three venues, the Consul General received overwhelming warmth of reception. In the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple, the office-bearers honoured the Consul General with a ‘Saropa’ and also presented him with a memento. At all the three places, several members of the community gathered to welcome the Consul General. The Consul General paid his respects and obeisance at both the Gurudwaras and at the Anand Eshar Education Centre. Subsequently, members of the two Gurudwaras hosted a joint dinner for the Consul General at the Bowling Club of Woolgoolga. In his address, the CG appreciated the contributions made by the Sikh community in India and abroad. He also spoke of the growing linkages between the two countries in trade and investment and other fields. Following his address, a Question and Answer session was also held to brief attendees about the CGI’s functions, its consular and trade services, the outsourcing of visa and passport services as well as the benefits of the OCI Scheme. On 23 July, 2008, the Consul General called on Coffs Harbour Mayor Keith Rhodes and the General Manager Stephen Sawtell of the Coffs Harbour City Council. The meeting was also attended by their Financial Advisor and the Community Relations Officer. During the meeting, both the Mayor and the General Manager praised the local Sikh community as hard-working and enterprising in nature. The Mayor informed the Consul General that the City Council was trying to provide better infrastructure facilities in the vicinity of the Gurudwaras and the educational centre. He also informed the Consul General that the Sikh community had always been most forthcoming and generous in providing assistance to the needy, including local homeless people. The Consul General and Consul Dayal also separately met members of the Sikh community who wished to apply for OCI but were not familiar with online/internet facilities. They were given personal assistance in filing their OCI and passport applications online. This gesture was also deeply appreciated by the community.

- Consulate General of India, Sydney

17 Brain power How do we cope with the complexity of the modem world and foster local and global solidarity in the face of diversity and individualism? Solutions to these challenges will come from our growing desire to shape our neurological processes, says Jonathan Carr-West

Anxiety and progress often go hand in hand. We feel as though the world we have shaped is constantly surging beyond our capacity to understand it; that, in pursuing progress, we have created forces we cannot make sense of and which lie beyond our control. This anxiety is not new: over the past 250 years, the RSA has striven both to be an agent of progress and to make sense of the world around us. However, the modern world presents particular anxieties. These are manifested as a generalised discomfort and as a reaction to specific political challenges such as climate change, mass migration or social cohesion. These challenges are characterised by their complexity, scale and unpredictability and rising to them will require a combination of skills. We will need to understand them fully and clearly; we must have the imagination to find solutions to them and the skills - as well as the political and social will - to drive and implement change. We should not be complacent. History shows us that societies unable to appreciate the challenges they face, or lacking the abilities or readiness to address them, can be destroyed. But we should not despair: if the challenges we face are of their time, so too are the potential responses to them. The RSA is embarking on a major project based on the belief that a set of solutions is emerging that revolves around our growing knowledge about the brain and our More importantly, Gould showed that neurogenesis is desire to shape our neurological processes. Advances in directly affected by the external environment and that neuroscience and insights into human psychology from stressful environments prohibit neurogenesis and damage disciplines such as behavioural economics and social the brain, but that these effects can be reversed by a psychology could help us to think about how we rise to change in conditions. This new knowledge has radical and the challenges. In the past 20 or 30 years, we have learned controversial implications for how we think about poverty a lot about the way in which the mind works and its and equality of opportunity. Meanwhile, psychologist physical underpinnings in the brain. We are beginning to James Flynn, as he argued in the last edition of this understand how specific mental processes relate to the journal, believes that, given the right environment, our physical architecture of the brain (as in the famously brains can increase their cognitive capacity. Over many enlarged hippocampi of London taxi drivers) and how years his work has documented what is now known as the those physical structures are changed by new learning and 'Flynn effect': the massive growth of IQ scores from one experiences. Groundbreaking work by professor of generation to another. Flynn believes that these gains are psychology, Elizabeth Gould at Princeton University, has based upon real improvements in certain cognitive skills, demonstrated the existence of neurogenesis (the creation particularly the use of logic, abstraction and the of new neurons) in the brain of adult primates, where it hypothetical to solve problems. had previously been a central tenet of neuroscience that occurred only before, and immediately after, birth.

18 A greater understanding basic 'hard-wiring' of our minds: the physical architecture of our brains and the sort of mental processes to which it In addition to understanding more about how our brains gives rise. Increasingly, we understand the relationship work physically, we are also developing a better between Neuro physiological processes and our ideas, understanding of the ways in which people actually beliefs and knowledge about the world. We know more behave, even when we are not certain about the neural about how our neural processes are changed by our processes involved. Much recent work in economics, experiences and environment throughout our psychology and sociology moves away from a theory- based account of human behaviour, towards sophisticated lives and have gained deeper insights into the relationship predictive models of how people actually behave. between cultural systems, social norms and the external Examples of this include psychologist Daniel Kahneman's factors that shape our thinking and behaviour. Nobel Prize-winning 'prospect' theory that models actual While we understand more about how each of these areas behaviour rather than optimal choices when people make interacts with the others, we do not yet have a consistent decisions about risks. Likewise, sociologist Robert theoretical model of what we might call a neurological Cialdini's work in social psychology provides us with a dialectic. By that, we mean an account of how the fixed more sophisticated account of how persuasion works in structures of the brain, neurological processes and external changing our beliefs and behaviour, while psychologist influences combine to shape the way we think. This is a Dan Gilbert provides a compelling analysis of how we significant prize, because grasping how this dialectic predict future happiness poorly but post-rationalise our works is the first step towards being able to influence it. choices. Of course, we are far from such an understanding, and These analyses of individual motivation are matched by a there remains much more that we don't know about how greater understanding of the sort of predictive laws that our brains work. But we do know enough to be able to apply to large-scale collective phenomena. For example, reflect meaningfully upon our cognitive processes and to American economist Thomas Schelling's dynamic take seriously the idea that we may be able to intervene models of segregation, which show how small preferences deliberately to shape them. For the RSA, two distinct but about not wanting to live in a minority can aggregate to related fields of enquiry arise from this. One is around the create totally segregated communities. This kind of work public policy implications of what we already know about is already finding its way into public policy. For example, how cognitive processes work. The other is around how recent changes in UK policy in relation to blood donation new knowledge about brain function helps us to predict and post-16 education that require people to opt out, are and even form the way we think about the world. partly informed by the growing influence of libertarian paternalism. In this, the state seeks to accommodate Some elements of this cognitive science have been idiosyncrasies of human psychology, such as the way we popularised, as evidenced by the success of 'Mind Gym' discount future benefit, by providing structural incentives and brain training games. However, there has not yet been to make more 'rational' choices without overriding the a consistent attempt to build an overarching intellectual absolute freedom to choose not to. framework that allows public interpretation and Thinking and behaviour application of its insights. This should concern anyone with an interest in progress and the fulfilment of human Overall, we have more knowledge about the plasticity of potential. The box below gives an example of how our the brain and its ability to reorder neural pathways in understanding of the physiological processes has enabled response to experience. We are starting to understand how change. this plasticity is affected by external environments and how to manipulate and control it to improve (or at least Public health to the perfect athlete strengthen) our cognitive abilities. We also know more Although people have always had a broad understanding about how and why individuals and societies behave as of how comparatively healthy particular environments they do. But there are still missing links in our knowledge were, it was only in the 19th century, as we began to that prevent us from applying what we do know as understand in reasonably precise terms how and why systematically and beneficially as we might. Moreover, things such as contaminated water, insanitary conditions while beginning to influence policy in some areas, this and air pollution impacted on physical health, that we field remains largely an academic discourse and is not were able to achieve real progress on public health. subject to wider public debate. Moreover, our ideas about physical health do not simply We are beginning to form ideas about what constitutes the involve fixing problems: we have a broadly shared idea of

19 what a healthy body is and what we need to do in order to what we are able to think: what relationships and have one (there are of course important debates around causalities we can conceive, what problems we can see the edges of this). This understanding has become more and what solutions we can imagine. Our mental models of sophisticated as our knowledge of physiology has grown - the world also include the sets of habits, social norms and though we are still a long way from consensus, as unconscious influences that shape our behaviour. The constantly changing health recommendations remind us. impact of these models can be profound. In his book Collapse, the evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond has We have always known how to improve the body's shown how the cognitive paradigms of societies such as performance: by running a lot, for example, you will the Easter Islanders, the Maya or the Greenland Norse become better at running. But as we have come to prevented them from recognising and responding to understand more about the physiological processes environmental challenges and ultimately led to their involved, we have been able to devise more sophisticated complete destruction. training regimes that increase performance to previously unimaginable levels. Do we have the mental models we need to meet the challenges of our time? In a world in which everything We may not yet be at the point where modern happens at once, we will need to reconceptualise notions neuroscience is able to deliver an understanding of the of space and time, of linearity and of cause and effect. brain that would enable comparable shifts in relation to None of these challenges can be addressed by individuals our neurological processes. And even if it could, there acting alone. We live in a global, interconnected world in remains a host of questions about the ethics of such which our levels of social, economic and environmental interventions. Nonetheless, it is clear that thinking about interdependence are greater than ever. At the same time, how to improve the cognitive abilities of individuals and our mental models of social solidarity and collective our collective ability to conceptualise the world will be agency - the nation state, the geographical community, the crucial in tackling many of the challenges we face in the pic to name a few - have not kept pace with this 21st century. interdependence. We must rethink social relations and It has a direct bearing on contemporary policy debates, find new ways of organising ourselves collectively in including, but not limited to, education, mental frailty in response to the challenges and opportunities of our age. the elderly, equality of opportunity, wellbeing and Our growing knowledge about our brains and our ability contentment. Applying a real knowledge of the to intervene in our own neural processes may offer us an neurological processes involved would make these unprecedented opportunity to shape our behaviours interventions more effective. For example, how does what (conscious and unconscious) and to rise to current we know about neural adaptability in old age help us to challenges. This potential will remain unfulfilled unless think about the way in which we organise residential care we can develop a cogent and accessible framework for the elderly? Or how do new insights into the impact of (bringing together science, social science, ethics, public external environments on neurogenesis help us to deliver policy) through which the wider public can understand, early years childcare policies? interpret, debate and exploit these possibilities. Understanding the way in which our neural processes Developing this framework is the aspiration behind the interact with the way in which we think about the world is RSA's ambitious new project. crucial because the challenges of our era require us, above Noam Chomsky once divided the things we do not know all, to deal with complexity. If we are to find ways to into problems and mysteries. Drawing on this distinction, mitigate or adapt to climate change, to live effectively in the cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker claims that increasingly diverse societies or prosper within a "dozens of mysteries of the mind, from mental images to globalised economy, we will need certain key cognitive romantic love, have recently been upgraded from skills. We will have to process vast quantities of mysteries to problems". Perhaps so, but if we want to information where little or nothing is certain and where prosper and be happy in the world that our minds have authority is a far more fluid concept than ever before. We made, they may be problems with which we must all will need to be able to analyse and make predictions about engage. increasingly complex feedback mechanisms and have the flexibility to adjust rapidly when these predictions prove inaccurate. RSA Journal, Summer 2008 Courtesy Gambhir Watts, FRSA More fundamentally, rising to these challenges may require us to evolve new mental models of the world. We know that these models matter because they determine

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Gandhi’s Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World create even more problems and conflicts in your life and You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an world. ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” “The difference between what we 2. You are in control do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.” “If I had no sense of “Nobody can hurt me without my permission.” What you humour, I would long ago have committed suicide.” feel and how you react to something is always up to you. Mahatma Gandhi needs no long introduction. Everyone There may be a “normal” or a common way to react to knows about the man who lead the Indian people to different things. But that’s mostly just all it is. You can independence from British rule in 1947. choose your own thoughts, reactions and emotions to pretty much everything. You don’t have to freak out, So let’s just move on to some of my favourite tips from overreact of even react in a negative way. Perhaps not Mahatma Gandhi. every time or instantly. Sometimes a knee-jerk reaction 1. Change yourself just goes off. Or an old thought habit kicks in. And as you realize that no-one outside “You must be the change of yourself can actually you want to see in the control how you feel you world.” “As human beings, can start to incorporate this our greatness lies not so thinking into your daily life much in being able to and develop it as a thought remake the world - that is habit. A habit that you can the myth of the atomic age - grow stronger and stronger as in being able to remake over time. Doing this makes ourselves.” If you change life a whole lot easier and yourself you will change more pleasurable. your world. If you change 3. Forgive and let it go how you think then you will change how you feel and “The weak can never what actions you take. And forgive. Forgiveness is the so the world around you attribute of the strong.” “An will change. Not only eye for eye only ends up because you are now making the whole world viewing your environment blind.” Fighting evil with through new lenses of evil won’t help anyone. And thoughts and emotions but as said in the previous tip, also because the change you always choose how to within can allow you to react to something. When take action in ways you you can incorporate such a wouldn’t have or maybe thought habit more and even have thought about more into your life then you while stuck in your old can react in a way that is thought patterns. And the more useful to you and others. You realize that forgiving problem with changing your outer world without changing and letting go of the past will do you and the people in yourself is that you will still be you when you reach that your world a great service. And spending your time in change you have strived for. You will still have your some negative memory won’t help you after you have flaws, anger, negativity, self-sabotaging tendencies etc. learned the lessons you can learn from that experience. intact. And so in this new situation you will still not find You’ll probably just cause yourself more suffering and what you hoped for since your mind is still seeping with paralyze yourself from taking action in this present that negative stuff. And if you get more without having moment. If you don’t forgive then you let the past and some insight into and distance from your ego it may grow another person to control how you feel. By forgiving you more powerful. Since your ego loves to divide things, to release yourself from those bonds. And then you can focus find enemies and to create separation it may start to try to

22 totally on, for instance, the next point. they are. And I think it’s important to remember that we 4. Without action you aren’t going anywhere are all human and prone to make mistakes. Holding people to unreasonable standards will only create more “An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of unnecessary conflicts in your world and negativity within preaching.” Without taking action very little will be done. you. It’s also important to remember this to avoid falling However, taking action can be hard and difficult. There into the pretty useless habit of beating yourself up over can be much inner resistance. And so you may resort to mistakes that you have made. And instead be able to see preaching, as Gandhi says. Or reading and studying with clarity where you went wrong and what you can learn endlessly. And feeling like you are moving forward. But from your mistake. And then try again. getting little or no practical results in real life. So, to 7. Persist really get where you want to go and to really understand yourself and your world you need to practice. Books can “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they mostly just bring you knowledge. You have to take action fight you, then you win.” Be persistent. In time the and translate that knowledge into results and opposition around you will fade and fall away. And your understanding. You can check out a few effective tips to inner resistance and self-sabotaging tendencies that want overcome this problem in How to Take More Action: 9 to hold you back and keep you like you have always been Powerful Tips. Or you can move on to the next point for will grow weaker. Find what you really like to do. Then more on the best tip for taking more action that I have you’ll find the inner motivation to keep going, going and found so far. going. You can also find a lot of useful tips on how keep 5. Take care of this moment your motivation up in How to Get Out of a Motivational Slump and 25 Simple Ways to Motivate Yourself. One “I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with reason Gandhi was so successful with his method of non- taking care of the present. God has given me no control violence was because he and his followers were so over the moment following.” The best way that I have persistent. They just didn’t give up. Success or victory found to overcome the inner resistance that often stops us will seldom come as quickly as you would have liked it to. from taking action is to stay in the present as much as I think one of the reasons people don’t get what they want possible and to be accepting. Why? Well, when you are in is simply because they give up too soon. The time they the present moment you don’t worry about the next think an achievement will require isn’t the same amount moment that you can’t control anyway. And the resistance of time it usually takes to achieve that goal. This faulty to action that comes from you imagining negative future belief partly comes from the world we live in. A world consequences - or reflecting on past failures - of your full of magic pill solutions where advertising continually actions loses its power. And so it becomes easier to both promises us that we can lose a lot of weight or earn a ton take action and to keep your focus on this moment and of money in just 30 days. You can read more about this in perform better. Have a look at 8 Ways to Return to the One Big Mistake a Whole Lot of People Make. Finally, Present Moment for tips on how quickly step into the now. one useful tip to keep your persistence going is to listen to And remember that reconnecting with and staying in the Gandhi’s third quote in this article and keep a sense of now is a mental habit - a sort of muscle - that you grow. humor. It can lighten things up at the toughest of times. Over time it becomes more powerful and makes it easier 8. See the good in people and help them to slip into the present moment. 6. Everyone is human “I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults “I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any of others.” “Man becomes great exactly in the degree in other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.” “I enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.” “It suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is means getting along with people.” There is pretty much healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken always something good in people. And things that may not and the wisest might err.” When you start to make myths be so good. But you can choose what things to focus on. out of people – even though they may have produced And if you want improvement then focusing on the good extraordinary results – you run the risk of becoming in people is a useful choice. It also makes life easier for disconnected from them. You can start to feel like you you as your world and relationships become more pleasant could never achieve similar things that they did because and positive. And when you see the good in people it they are so very different. So it’s important to keep in becomes easier to motivate yourself to be of service to mind that everyone is just a human being no matter who them. By being of service to other people, by giving them

23 value you not only make their lives better. Over time you tend to get what you give. And the people you help may feel more inclined to help other people. And so you, together, create an upward spiral of positive change that grows and becomes stronger. By strengthening your social skills you can become a more influential person and make this upward spiral even stronger. A few articles that may provide you with useful advice in that department are Do You Make These 10 Mistakes in a Conversation? and Dale Carnegie’s Top 10 Tips for Improving Your Social Skills. Or you can just move on to the next tip. 9. Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” “Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.” I think that one of the best tips for improving your social skills is to behave in a congruent manner and communicate in an authentic way. People seem to really like authentic communication. And there is much inner enjoyment to be found when your thoughts, words and actions are aligned. You feel powerful and good about yourself. When words and thoughts are aligned then that shows through in your communication. Because now you have your voice tonality and body language – some say they are over 90 percent of communication – in alignment with your words. With these channels in alignment people tend to really listen to what you’re saying. You are communicating without incongruency, mixed messages or perhaps a sort of phoniness. Also, if your actions aren’t in alignment with what you’re communicating then you start to hurt your own belief in what you can do. And other people’s belief in you too. 10. Continue to grow and evolve

”Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.” You can pretty much always improve your skills, habits or re-evaluate your evaluations. You can gain deeper understanding of yourself and the world. Sure, you may look inconsistent or like you don’t know what you are doing from time to time. You may have trouble to act congruently or to communicate authentically. But if you don’t then you will, as Gandhi says, drive yourself into a false position. A place where you try to uphold or cling to your old views to appear consistent while you realise within that something is wrong. It’s not a fun place to be. To choose to grow and evolve is a happier and more useful path to take.

Courtesy Ameerali Jumabhoy, Singapore

I want for India complete independence in the full English sense of that English term. Independence means voluntary restraints and discipline, voluntary acceptance of the rule of law. Complete independence does not mean arrogant isolation or a superior disdain for all help. When the real independence comes to India, the Congress and the League will be nowhere unless they represent the real opinion of the country. - Mahatma Gandhi

24 Thoughts on Composite Culture of India

came into existence within the framework of pre-existent India saw wave after wave of outsiders and invaders from Dravidian and Aryan cultures and the Hindu or Buddhist beginning of history. Only those who are known as cultures cannot be imagined without their pre-existent adivasis or aboriginals and Dravidians are known to be cultures. Also, when these religions spread to areas other original inhabitants of India. The Dravidian culture may than that of their origin, they imbibed, assimilated and not have had composite character as also the aboriginal integrated elements of cultures already existing in those one which was essentially a folk culture. areas. The Aryan culture that begins with Aryan invasion is the Buddhism spread to various countries like Sri Lanka, dawn of composite culture in India. A section of scholars China, Thailand, Tibet, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan and so maintain that Aryans were original inhabitants and never on. This gave rise to syncretic cultures in Thailand, Sri came from outside. However, most noted historians and Lanka, China, Cambodia and Tibet. The Buddhist culture scholars do not subscribe to this view and maintain that in India cannot be same as Buddhist culture of Tibet or Aryans came from outside. I propose to deal with Buddhist culture of Japan. All these cultures are different composite culture which came into existence with the though Buddhism is a common factor among them. invasion Similarly Islam also spread to many areas far away from of various Muslim dynasties in Sultanate as well as Arabia, the land of its origin. It spread from Indonesia in Mughal period. Preceding these Muslim dynasties, were South East Asia to Algeria in North Africa. many others like Sakias, Huns and Greeks and all of them Though Islam is a common factor, yet the indigenous left their imprints on our culture. cultures of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, It is difficult to trace their influences now as they India, Iran, Central Asia, Egypt, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia constitute the remotest past. and Algeria, China, Turkey and Eastern Europe gave rise However, influences of Turks, Tughlaks, Khiljis, Lodis to numerous cultures different from each other. If religion and especially Moghuls have been very well recorded and were the only factor all these cultures would not differ. continue to be part of our culture. But in our mutual In India its existence for almost a thousand years gave rise animosities we deliberately ignore these influences or to Indo-Islamic culture which in northern India is also even try to reduce our culture to a monolithic one or pure called by various names like Ganga-Jamni tehzib (culture one. It is well-known that all communal as well as bigoted of the region between the rivers Ganga and Jamuna) or elements try to project a 'pure' culture. They emphasise a Mili-juli tahzib (syncretic culture) or Sanjhi virasat pure Hindu or pure Islamic culture. In other words, we (composite heritage). Though these terms mainly refer to communalise our culture as we communalise our politics. north Indian culture, composite culture is not essential When we say pure Hindu or Islamic culture we imply that restricted to north India. India is a land of many cultures. culture is a product of religion and nothing else. This is Culture includes art and architecture, language, poetry, not true. Religion undoubtedly is an important influence music, paintings, dances, draperies, food habits, customs, but not the only one. traditions and some religious, especially spiritual Religion is, among others, one of the factors in giving practices. After years of composite traditions coming into birth to a culture. Culture, in fact, is a product of several existence it becomes so assimilated that we consider it factors like customs, traditions, weather, locally available part of our original culture. Only scholars know its materials, geographical conditions and so on. A religion composite nature. may appear within the frame of a pre-existent culture. And The discourse about composite culture is also deeply then religious teachings may deeply influence that pre- influenced by political needs. The communal forces want existent culture and refashion it in its own way. For to deny the existence of syncretism or composite nature of example, Islam appeared within culture and those who promote national integration and the frame of pre-existing Arab culture and subsequently communal harmony, try to develop a composite discourse remoulded that culture in its own way. But what we call for our culture as it helps bringing communities together. 'Islamic culture' cannot be thought of without Arab culture This composite discourse becomes a great political need of its time. in India which is so diverse and in the process of nation Similarly what we call 'Hindu' culture or Buddhist culture building fusion of various communities and harmony

25 among them becomes very necessary. Our liberation from Islam, has described some of these rituals. On the annual British rule would not have been possible without day the idol is washed with sandal paste and on urs Sufi bringing various communities, especially Hindus and saint's grave is washed with the paste after bringing it in a Muslims together. procession along with a chador. Thus even during our freedom struggle communal forces It is interesting to note that in Mahim, Mumbai, the police were emphasising our separate communal identities. inspector (generally a Hindu) carries the Chador in a thali Today in contemporary India communal forces have on his head and offers it to the grave of Sufi saint coined slogan of 'one nation, one culture and one Makhdum Mahimi. language'. Such an approach denies the rich diversity of Again in Mumbai there are Hindu, Muslim and Christian India and our composite heritage. Thus, it is in the interest shrines where people of all religions go and pay their of our unity to emphasise and re-emphasise the syncretic respects. Three shrines like Haji Ali, Siddhi Vinayak nature of our heritage to draw people together. temple and Mahim and Mount Mary churches are such History should not be distorted either way - to divide shrines. Ajmersharif also attracts, along with other shrines people as also to unite people. History should be written like Nizamuddin Awliya in Delhi and Baba Gesudaraz in rising above all religious, political or cultural needs. Gulbargasharif attract large number of non-Muslims. Those who tamper with then-past would tamper with their Sindh (now in Pakistan) and Kashmir have strong Sufi future as well. traditions and in both these regions Hindus have been Islamic ritual practices influenced indigenous Hindu highly influenced by Sufis. In united Punjab too, apart practices and vice versa. Many scholars have pointed out from Baba Farid, Bullehshah, Makhdumshah Inayat and that Satya Narayan Katha which is widely prevalent in others were highly respected by non-Muslims as well. northern India today came into existence by imitating In Sindh, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai was extremely popular Muslim practice of public narration of Prophet's life story among Hindus, apart from Muslims. Shah is a great especially in Bengal and subsequently it spread to other symbol of Sindhi culture and personality. His poetic parts of north India. works have been collected in Risalo which is as popular Similarly several Sufi rituals, practices and beliefs, have among Hindu Sindhis as among Muslim Sindhis. All deep imprint on indigenous practices. The noted German Sindhis sing verses from Risalo; with great devotion. Shah scholar Gruhnbalm thinks that the Sufi doctrine of fana' fi Abdul Latif is, indeed part of our great composite Allah (annihilation in Allah) is the result of Hindu heritage. doctrine of samadhi in which a person annihilates himself Kashmir is another region where Sufis helped create in Ishwara, the ultimate being. Many Sufi saints like Baba syncretic culture. No one can think of Kashmir without Farid of Punjab, Sheikh Mohammad of Maharashtra and mentioning Nundrishi (Sufi Nuruddin is popularly known others wrote in local languages like Punjabi or Marathi. as Nundrishi in This made them much more acceptable among the local Kashmir) and the populace. Shaivite saint Baba Farid is highly respected by Sikhs as his Punjabi Lalded. verses have been included in the Adi Granth Sahib. Though Nuruddin The Punjab University has established a Baba Farid Chair was Muslim and and a lot of work on Sufism is done through this Lalded a Shaivite department. Sikh Gurus had great regard for Sufi saints. Hindu, both When the foundation stone for Har Mandir was being laid, shared a very the Sikh Guru, Arjan Dev, insisted that Mian Mir, the Sufi close relationship saint of Lahore would be the one to lay the foundation of mother and stone. He came and laid the foundation stone of Har son and both are Mandir. highly respected by all Kashmiris Sufis showed respect for Hindu religion and indigenous irrespective of practices. Many rituals during the urs (death anniversary) religion. Both of a Sufi saint have been borrowed by local Hindu have left deep customs. imprint on the Khwaja Hasan Nizami, in his book Fatimi D 'awat-e- culture of

26 Kashmir. Both Kashmiri and Sindhi cultures, despite Ghalib who wrote in the nineteenth century wrote a poem political divisions, remain highly syncretic even after in Persian on Benaras and named it Kaa'ba-e-Hindustan partition. (chiragh-e-Dair) in which he showers praises on the Hindu holy place of worship. He says that even the grass of Amir Khusro, a great poet close to Nizamuddin Awliya, Benaras is like a garden and its dust like the essence of the great Sufi saint from Delhi, was himself a Sufi and has soul (jawher). Ghalib says further in this colourful city of made very seminal contribution to composite culture of temples, bahar (spring) remains permanent and never north India. His father had come to India from Uzbekistan changes. In all seasons it always remains like a paradise. and Khusro was born in India. His father married a local Muslim woman. Thus he was both an Uzbek and an Ghalib had stayed in Benaras for a few days while going Indian. from Delhi to Calcutta and he fell in love with this holy city. He composed poems in Persian and dohas in Hindi which were on the lips of people. He was very proud of being an Similarly Nazir Akbarabadi wrote several poems Indian and wrote an article on India in which he compares celebrating Hindu festivals. His poems are in simple India with other countries and proves India's superiority, Hindustani. Many Sufis wrote popular songs on Holi, the its flora and fauna and maintains that India is unparalleled festival of colour. An impressive programme based on in its beauty. these songs was presented at the Nehru Centre, Mumbai written by Shamim Tariq, an Urdu writer and journalist. Khusro was also a musician and invented some musical instruments like sitar which is in fact sah tar (three Also Holi, Dasehra and Diwali were officially celebrated strings) as there are three strings in this instrument. in Mughal Darbars with great pomp and pageantry. On Khusro invented qawwali, a genre of poetry, which is Diwali day, Moghul princesses would go to distribute sung in accompaniment with harmonium and tabla at Sufi saris to poor Hindu women and Red fort was decorated mausoleums. Khusro was close to Nizamuddin and wrote with lamps and it was known as jashn-e-chiraghan (i.e. a dirge on his death in Brij which is highly popular even festival of lamps). Both Nauroz(Central Asian festival) today. Urdu language itself is the great symbol of our and Diwali were celebrated in a grand manner. composite culture. It was born by mixing of different communities like Turks, Hindus, Indian Muslims and others. It was spoken by people in the Bazaar and never became court language except towards the end of the Moghul period. Urdu is a mixture of local Indian dialects like Brijbhasha, Haryanvi, Maithili, Purbi, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, etc. Towards the end of the Moghul period it became the language of ruling class and was spoken by people of all communities and it never was the language of Muslims alone as it is projected today. Urdu produced great Hindu poets, storywriters and novelists during the freedom struggle as well as in earlier period. Among story writers and novelists in Urdu, Premchand is a well-known name. He wrote volumes of short stories and acquired legendry fame through his Urdu fiction. Krishanchand, Rejindra Singh Bedi, Ramlal, Maniktala, Jogendra Paul and several others are well-known fiction writers in Urdu. Similarly Brijnarayan Chakbast, Anandnarayan Mulla, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Jagannath Azad, Pandit Zutshi Gulzar, Kalidas Gupta Raza, Pandit Ratan Nath Sarshar, Daya Shankar Naseem, Fikr Tausvi, Belraj Menra and others are good poets. Firaq Gorakhpuri carved out his own niche after Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Thus Urdu was and is the most significant symbol of our composite heritage.

27 Both the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata were architecture which can be seen in Hindu temples as well translated into Persian and Arabic and were beautifully as in structures constructed by Muslim kings, emperors calligraphed. I have seen a copy of Ramayana and nawabs. Adilshahi structures are an excellent example calligraphed in Arabic script and bound with golden of composite architecture in Bijapur which was the centre margins like the Qur'an in the Alwar Museum. It is said of Adilshahi rule. Ibrahim Adilshah, popularly known as there are 60 different Persian and Arabic translations of Jagatguru, was a scholar of Sanskrit language and wrote Ramayana and Mahabharata. poetry in Kannada as well as in Persian and Deccani Urdu. Golgumbad, counted among the wonders of the world is a Dara Shikoh, son of Shah Jahan, who was appointed mausoleum of Ibrahim Adilshah and his wife and its successor to the throne of India but lost to Aurangzeb in architecture is a good example of our composite the battle of Samugarh, translated Upanishad into Persian architecture. One finds the idol of Lord Ganesha in one of and named it Sirr-e-Akbar (The Great Mystery). Dara the forts built during Adilshahi rule near Kolhapur. Shikoh had mastered the Sanskrit language by spending a few years in Benaras with well-known scholars. He was of Muslims enriched Indian classical music through their the opinion that the concept of tawheedi (oneness of God) own contribution. Dhrupad and Khayal are their was found in Upanishad after Qur'an. The handwritten contribution in manuscript of Sirr-e-Akbar prepared by Dara Shikoh Indian classical music. Khusro also invented some ragas. himself is in the library of Darul Musannifin, Azamgarh There have been several Muslim gharanas (schools) which and it was shown to me by its Director. Dara Shikoh made rich contribution to Indian classical music. Tansen begins with Bismilliah al-Rehman al-Rahim on the left was one of the greatest musician during the medieval side and Ganesha namaha on the right with a small figure times. In our own times Bade Gulam Ali Khan, Ustad of Ganesha. Dara Shikoh wrote his magnum opus, Bismillah Khan, Zakir Husain, they are all great Majma'-ul-Bahrayn i.e. Mingling of Two Oceans (i.e. musicians. Hinduism and Islam). He compares the teachings of the two religions and concludes that difference is of language Thus we see that India has a rich tradition of composite (one is in Sanskrit and the other in Arabic), not of content. culture. It is time we project this rich culture, calling it Hinduism and Islam have remarkable similarities in terms ganga-jamni tahzib, sanjhi wirasat or by any other name. of contents and he discusses all the theological terms of the two religions and draws this conclusion. Asghar Ali Engineer Muslims and Hindus made rich contributions in music, Bhavan’s Journal, July 15, 2008 paintings and architecture evolving a composite

Who Are Aborigines?

Aborigines are Australia's indigenous people. Recent government statistics counted approximately 400,000 aboriginal people, or about 2% of Australia's total population. Australian Aborigines migrated from somewhere in Asia at least 30,000 years ago. Though they comprise 500–600 distinct groups, aboriginal people possess some unifying links. Among these are strong spiritual beliefs that tie them to the land; a tribal culture of storytelling and art; and, like other indigenous populations, a difficult colonial history. "The Dreamtime"

Aboriginal spirituality entails a close relationship between humans and the land. Aborigines call the beginning of the world the "Dreaming," or "Dreamtime." In the "Dreamtime," aboriginal "Ancestors" rose from below the earth to form various parts of nature including animal species, bodies of water, and the sky. Unlike other religions, however, aboriginal belief does not place the human species apart from or on a higher level than nature. Aborigines believe some of the Ancestors metamorphosed into nature (as in rock formations or rivers), where they remain spiritually alive.

28 Silent Tears & Dynamism in Indian Womanhood! What a dutiful wife should be in the spirit expounded by Sanatoria Dharma is portrayed in extenso not only in epics and stories but find their virtuous replicas in most Indian homes. Ramayana presents two cases of venerable ladies far apart in conduct and outlook from each other. Senior Queen Kausalya comes to mind initially since she was ignored by her spouse because of his infatuation for Kaikeyi. The two sides of the coin, viz., the nobility of the former in sharp contrast to the aggressive covetousness of the latter are accurately delineated by the king himself. Says he, "Whenever Kausalya has attended on me like a maid, like a friend, like a wife, like a sister and like a mother, she, ever desirous of my good alone, bore my favourite son and spoke to please me." And he regrets, though belatedly, 'Though she deserved brides to eligible spouses at weddings. Sita has, in fact, considerate treatment, she got none at my hands only on been a goddess and supreme model of a devout but your (Kaikeyi's) account.' And this unfortunate neglect enlightened wife for emulation. But, with her legacy, this finds its confirmation when the eminent lady herself spouse of the greatest hero mankind has ever identified confesses at long last to her dear son on the eve of his could assert and present the legality of the case of a departure to the forest. Says she: dutiful wife unlike Queen Kausalya who diluted her oppressive feelings in silent tears. "If you had not been born, I should certainly not have felt greater distress than my present predicament by being Janaka commended her as a 'partner' and when occasions childless. Dear Rama, no auspicious event has been demanded, Sita asserts the rights and merits of being a witnessed by me so far nor any happiness derived out of talented and competent partner, be it for pleasure or pain, the eminence of my husband. For seventeen years I had fear or anger. When Rama, conscious of harsh and been swallowing harsh life in expectation of an end to my dangerous life in forests, did not like to subject her to it misery." and tried to dissuade her from accompanying him, she would not condescend to remain a sleeping partner She had suppressed misery deep in her heart and one enjoying the pleasures of palace life. Once a partner, comes across several such icons frequently in real life. always a partner, she insisted. She confronts him with Perhaps this tribe is dominant among women. convincing arguments why he should take her with him The other model presents an equally solemn picture of thus: chaste virtues but with a difference. Few could ever find "Other relations experience the fruits of their own karma. any blemish or flaw in their duty-conscious wedded But, the wife alone shares the varying fortunes of her camaraderie. For the best specimen of the second husband. Know that the husband alone is ever the one category, one need not stray outside Ramayana since the recourse for woman. The evils of forest life you mention exalted Devi Sita is there. Her graduation certificate are indeed merits. I shall go in front of you with the bow, comes from none other than Raja-Rishi Janaka, who if necessary, crushing the grass and thorns. I shall never vouches for her exalted conduct while offering her as cause distress to you. I shall accompany my husband who bride to Sri Rama: is God to me without any doubt." "My daughter Sita shall be partner in the performance of The purest ray of a heroine of all Bharatiya virtues, she all duties will ever be faithful, of exalted merit and shall floors him finally with a thrust that silences him, perhaps ever follow thee like a shadow." The world has smiling inwardly. acknowledged the absolute truth of this statement, which has become, in fact, the popular mode to recommend good "What will my respected father think of you, the embodiment of manliness when you behave like a

29 woman? While with you, it is heaven to me but without "That which is entirely in my control, viz., my heart is you, it is hell." always firmly fixed on you. As for my body, (referring to Ravana carrying her to Lanka) which was beyond my Here Sita is grandiloquent unlike mother Kausalya and control, take note that I was powerless." takes on the spirit of Devi Durga. That she is of a totally different mould, wherein her beauteous normal conduct She has another weighty and sharp, hard-hitting but shields the vibrancy of her chastity comes up for brilliant refined point in her chaste armoury, which when fired, portrayal when Sri Lanka War is over. Rama hastens to fixes her dear spouse. send his sweet and passionate greetings to her through "If you had renounced me then by a direct message Hanuman. through Hanuman, my life too would have been ipso facto "Good news, dear! How fortunate you are alive when renounced by me then. That would have averted colossal victory is with us. Be consoled; be free from anxiety. I afflictions and heavy loses to both sides." was actually sleepless in my resolve to recover you, dear. Having presented her case audaciously, the supreme lady I am deputing Vibhishana to escort you tome". of action calls Lakshman, With Sita before him, Rama (for her own good, as "O, son of Sumitra, prepare the funeral pyre for me. I shall Dasaratha consoles her later), strangely taking a defiant enter it." stand tells her in the most shocking mode: "How can I take you back who has been disgraced by Ravana by Kausalya and Sita, mother and spouse in the same royal looking at you with tainted eyes. I have no desire for you. house, how different have they been. Both soft, tender, You may go wherever you like." solicitous, righteous and all that is of the noblest elements of air and fire. And yet? In those dreary days in the history Modesty, inherited legacy and majesty can ill digest such of Bharat, how many of our dear women could have risen unbridled affront. Inherent nobility and inherited majesty to adopt the course, the daughter of Mithila chose? But of thought, speech and action in Sita assert themselves in where were Rama-s then to shield and salvage their her grandiloquent retort. "O hero! Why resort to becoming reputation? words like a common man to a common woman? I'm not as you would think of me. I swear by my character. By the May women gather inspiration and will power from the conduct of some low women, suspect not the whole sex! illustrious life of Sita of our Bharat! Swayed by anger, you have, like any low man, presumably seen only womanhood in me!" And she Bhavan’s Journal, May 15, 2008 proceeds to expound what is the eternal law in matters of sex thus. Anoushka Shankar Performs at the Opera House Anoushka Shankar is known as a Sitar Star for the 21st Century. She is the beuatiful, supremely talented daughter of legendry sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. She recently played at the Sydney Opera House on 14 June 2008. Her performance was excellent. From the time Anoushka played her first note to the last, the impact was mesmerising. Even those among the audience exposed to this genre of music for the first time will agree that the mix of fast and slow beats is ideal for the fusion style that Anoushka plays. Like an artist splashing her brush across the canvas. It was a “one night only” concert. And what a night it was, with Anoushka Shankar, leaving her maiden mark at the Sydney Opera House.

30 sBs Documentary - Once Bitten This two-part series will tell the personal and intimate stories of couples as they negotiate the social, cultural and familial complexities of love the second-time around.

Circe Films and Caravan Productions in association with SBS Television (Australia), Maori Television Services (New Zealand), Film Finance Corporation and New Zealand On Air are looking for people to tell their stories in a new benchmark documentary series Once Bitten. This two-part series will tell the personal and intimate stories of couples as they negotiate the social, cultural and familial complexities of love the second-time around. A co-production between New Zealand and Australia this will be a significant exploration of a social phenomenon that reveals the issues and realities of relationships and family life today through a window of culture. Janette Howe, writer and co-producer says “Families and relationships are a melting pot of familial and cultural obligations. In Once Bitten we will gain new insights about culture and identity and how this plays out in our everyday lives. A second-time round relationship comes with ‘baggage’ and new challenges: blended families, step-families, cross-cultural marriages, and extended families for example, which all raise the stakes in love. There is often no cultural or social road-map for how it will play out because couples are rewriting the rules. “Once Bitten will look deep into ordinary family life to find extraordinary stories. How people are surviving and making their second or third-time round relationship work (or not). We will draw from the wider community and across two countries to find compelling stories, which highlight different issues and cultural perspectives. Stories from diverse cultures: such as Maori, Asian, Jewish, Indian, Arabic, Aboriginal and European Australian and New Zealanders, will show how culture and family bring us together – or can tear us apart.” The producers want to hear from multicultural couples and families in a second or more-time round relationship, who believe that sharing their story – the joys, the complications, the pitfalls, the lessons learned – will give others an insight into family life today. What is the face of the Australian and New Zealand family today? Is your family the size of a football team on the weekend? Is your second-time around relationship or marriage a break away from culture or family – or a return? Is your extended family harder to deal with than your immediate family? Do you have a significant event coming up: moving in together – moving out, a wedding, a baby, moving house?

Filming starts in August 2008.

For further information and media interviews contact: Tamara Bodenham, Zoe Turner or Kate Breen at Circe Films [email protected] or call 03 9525 8486

We request our readers to participate in this project - Gambhir Watts

31 Vaastu Shastra, the Science of Space

Vaastu Shastra talks about architecture in its broadest sense -buildings, religious and secular, town planning, laying out gardens, making of roads, bridges, tanks, drains, moats and even furniture and conveyances. Also called Vaastu Vidya, it is both an art and science and covers orientation, identifying the cardinal directions with the help of a Sanku or gnomon, selection of site, testing of soil for fitness and creating fertility, planning and designing, etc. Temples, palaces and other buildings of the ancients were not just pieces of beauty but of unrivalled architectural lavishness born out of understanding of both the physical and metaphysical aspects of construction. Vaastu can be defined as planning the 'Vastu' or creation. It is a science that interfaces the celestial energies with the terrestrial energies to make man a compatible part of nature. An ideal plan of a house takes into consideration its surroundings in terms of topography, water sources and areas, sanitary lines, electrical (transformers, etc. Likewise the planning the conveyance and Paryanka includes not only beds and of a layout or city takes into consideration its region of couches but also furniture. location and the relevant needs of the residents without compromising on its proximity to similar layouts or cities. Brahma created the world and asked King Prithu to maintain the earth by planning landscapes, cities, Vaastu Shastra lays down norms to give strength by its countries and continents. Being a warrior, King Prithu was emphasis on soil testing, its fertility, the foundation or the not able to accomplish this task. He was a Bhupathi, not a bhumilamba, the base above the foundation or the Sthapathi. He went to Brahma and told him of his adhisthana and the structure on it. As an art, Vaastu inability. Goddess earth too went to Brahma. The great considers the building as a living organism of beauty and Viswakarma was summoned and the task was entrusted to harmony in which the resident forgets himself in a world him. Viswakarma with the help of his four sons designed of beauty. the beautiful world we now live in. The sthapathi is required to know the topography of the The Vaastu Acharya or the Sthapathi is said to have land and its surroundings. The survey of the land and site, certain attributes that make him successful. the examination of soil for its five aspects - sound, touch, smell, colour and taste to ascertain its suitability or fitness Knowledge of the science for construction. Porous and loose soil is unfit and The acharya should have the knowledge of the site avoided. planning and its layout, the buildings and gardens, parks The scope of Vaastu Shastra as understood by the ancient and landscaping, knowledge of the marmas and acharyas is very broad. mahamarmas of and general awareness of jyotisha and ganitha. Dharaa Harmayaadi Yaanam cha Paryankadi chaturvidham Practical application of this knowledge

Dharaa is the earth on which comes any construction, He should be able to adapt the ancient principles to Harmya includes buildings, roads and gardens, Yaana is modern needs and changes in human habitation.

32 Prajna or personal insight and creative intuition

Based on the nature of habitation, the acharya should be able to optimise positive aspects and minimise the negatives. Sheela or character

The acharya should have high moral character and not be susceptible to anger, envy, jealousy, greed, attachment and confusion. He is then able to excel in his work. While modern architects tend to look at the site and buildings on it as physical objects of strength and beauty, ancient masters gave equal importance to the metaphysical aspects of a structure. The selection of a site was based on soil conditions, elevations and depressions, fertility of the soil, colour, taste and fragrance. Orientation received importance and perhaps the identification of the eashanya sector for devagriha and agneya sector for the pakashala was based on their knowledge of the importance of solar energies for human survival. The ancients' knowledge of the known energies apart from However, angular orientations are not permitted. The the unknown energies and their awareness of the natural ancients were aware of the powerful monsoon winds that phenomena like cyclones and earthquakes that could cause bring in heavy rains. havoc and misery can be appreciated by us when we try to The nine module plan referred to as Peeta Mandala understand why they talked about: identifies the placement of the primary elements. The x Central courtyards primary elements that are all around the globe, therefore, have an important part to play in Vaastu Shastra. The x Sleeping positions energies generated by the primary elements get activated x Lightning rods on temple tops in an enclosed area and the concept of Vaastu Purusha Mandala is derived. Deep foundations to the level of hard rock and water: They talked about the foundation going deep as ardha Vaastu Purusha is the universal essence from whom all kaya, kaya and anjali. originate. The image of the cosmic man as he is called is synonymous with the sital plan. When a plan is laid out Deep and strong foundations are the hallmark of the based on the metaphysical Vaastu Purusha, a mandala is stability of a structure that can withstand the energy forces created that identifies his head to the northeast, legs and of natural disasters. The Adhisthana or base over the lower half of his body to the southwest, right arm to the foundation on which comes the super structure: Seepage southeast and his left arm to the northwest. or flooding of natural water due to rains or cyclones is prevented. A simple understanding that the northeast or the head of Vaastu Purusha relates to the clean or lighter area, the The non-habitable paisacha zone in an area. Construction southwest or the lower part of his body relates to stability on one-ninth of the site along the boundary is kept free and strength and the southeast or the right arm and the from any construction: Today's engineers tell us when an northwest or the left arm of Vaastu Purusha relates to earthquake takes place the tremors that run below the movement will make even a novice understand the simple earth can cause less havoc if the buildings are separated rules of Vaastu Shastra. The Vaastu Purusha lying prone by a distance. on the site with his face down is held by 45 deities, 32 Orientation based on cardinal directions are permitted on outer deities, 12 inner deities : and one in the center. all the four directions - north, east, south and west. Offerings are made to these deities and to the four corner

33 outer female deities (or energies) referred to as Charaki in streets run north to south or east to west. With the the northeast, Vidari in the southeast, Putana in the intersection of these streets, the city is divided into southwest and Paparakshasi in the northwest. The Vastu different blocks of residences, habitation being based on Purusha mandala is identified as a symbolic form of the vritthi or profession. cosmos. We find an extensive arrangement of drainages. Buildings Generally speaking, placement of doors on all sides is have been discovered at different strata built of burnt permitted. bricks. Houses with central courtyards to allow air and Poorva Dware Sukhadam | light to the rooms on different floor levels have been Pashchima Dware found. Houses had terraces or plinths sufficiently high and Pushtivardanam || strong to resist the floods that annually menaced the city Uttara Dware Dhanadam | of Mohenjo Daro. Yaamyam Dware Mokshadam || Temples were built as a group of enclosures. A temple East door for comfort or happiness, West door for material generally consisted of five enclosures or Pancha Prakaras. growth and prosperity, Some like the Srirangam temple has seven enclosures. We find these days people speaking about pyramids and their North for wealth and prosperity and South for liberation. power in giving happiness to mankind. The ancients were Ancient texts recommend entering the house in clockwise very much aware of the powers of the pyramid when they direction. Based on this a general recommendation will be talked about shikaras above the sanctum sanctorum or the to go in for west and north oriented sites. Orientation and garbha gudi. placement of mahadwaras can also be based on one's While we drew energy from the cosmos into the central Janma Rasi. For instance, south and east are compatible shrine for creating divinity, the Egyptians drew cosmic for Kumbha, Meena and Mesha. South and west are energy through their pyramids to preserve the bodies of compatible for Vrishabha, Mithuna and Kataka. North and the pharaoh kings who they considered as divine. Ancient west are compatible for Simha, Kanya and Thula. North temples of India, particularly in Kerala have iron or and east to Vrischika, Dhanus and Makara. copper rods at the tops. We also find that the ancients Astrological works identify planetary rulerships for the wore mindulies or the metallic cells of gold, silver or iron angular and cardinal directions. Mercury is the lord of on the diseased parts of the body and the seats they used north, Jupiter - northeast, Sun - east, Venus - southeast, were made of silk, wool, kusa grass, deer and tiger skin. Mars - south, Rahu - southwest, Saturn - west and Moon - This clearly tells us that they were much aware of the northwest. modern principles of electricity. The temple rods acted as grounding of electricity, the mindulies were like the Habitation can generally be earmarked as follows: modern electrical belts that are used for health purposes North, West and Northwest for girls and women; South, and the seats acted as insulation from the earth energies. East and Southeast for boys and men; East and Northeast - elderly and invalid people, South and Southwest for people with responsibilities of either running the The Central and State Governments may establish household or business. University chairs in these Indian sciences and make every Indian, reach out globally and tell the world about our Summing up, Vaastu Shastra is the science of architecture great sciences. The science of Vaastu is a great boon to handed down to us on a platter. The palaces and temples the modern world. of India bear testimony to the marvellous engineering skill and architectural wizardry of the ancient sthapatis. The The city development boards of Bangalore, Chennai, monumental caves of Ellora and Ajanta make us feel that Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta and other cities can certainly it is a work of divinity and not of the mortals. contribute to the happiness of the citizens by designing or remodelling not only their layouts but also the government Looking back at Mohenjo Daro and Harappa civilisations buildings and the cities' infrastructure on the principles of of India, we have mention of dwelling houses, public Vaastu Shastra. baths, and temples with a central room that has a deity or Niranjan Babu, Bhavan’s Journal, June 30, 2008 emblem, enclosures around this central room and a high point or shikara above this. The main thoroughfares or

34 Opening Minds conference gets educators talking

An audience of leading educators, teachers and principals attended a recent conference to explore further ways of developing the Opening Minds initiative. Opening Minds is at the forefront of curriculum innovation, creating new ways of learning and making it more relevant to the demands of the 21st century. Held at the RSA House in London, the conference was themed around the assessment of the Opening Minds competences and it brought together a variety of perspectives on this problematic issue. "The conference followed the underlying philosophy of Opening Minds: that there is no one solution to any problem in education, so it was used as a platform for discussion rather than an attempt to provide definitive answers," said Louise Thomas, education researcher at the RSA. "It allowed schools to voice their ideas and their current practices around assessment or any other issues and to share them with other schools." The conference was led by guest speakers Michael Gernon, RSATipton Academy principal; Paul Hammond, deputy head of the Oasis Academy; and Mick Waters, director of curriculum of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. The contribution of Waters had particular resonance in the debate, He said: "The aims of the curriculum are that young people should become successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens. "For this type of framework to be effective, it is essential that schools and colleges personalise the way they work with them in order to best meet the needs of their learners and broader communities." So what lies ahead on the Opening Minds agenda? Thomas said: "We are developing Opening Minds further through the Future Schools Network, a scheme looking at innovation in the whole school, not just the curriculum. Schools will be looking at the relationship between teachers and learners and between schools and the community."

RSA Journal, Summer 2008 Courtesy Gambhir Watts FRSA World Youth Pilgrims join Sydney multi-faith leaders in prayers for peace Several dozen World Youth Day pilgrims prayed for global peace and social justice at a gathering at Sydney University organised by the Community Relations Commission on Wednesday. Prayers were offered by representatives of the Baha’I, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, Sikh and Zoroastrian faith groups. At the conclusion of the prayers, the whole gathering read, in unison, an affirmation which ended with the words: “May we work for the day when all of humanity may praise creation in their own way united in love and respect for each other”. The Chair of the Commission, Stepan Kerkyasharian, said the pilgrims who attended had “expressed their delight at being invited to participate in such a unique multi-faith event happening in the midst of the Catholic oriented World Youth Day. “The pilgrims who had come from several different countries said they had never experienced such a moving multi-faith gathering in their home countries”, he said.

- Courtesy Warren Duncan, Media Officer, Community Relations Commission for a Multicultural NSW

35 Telugu Pada Kavitha Pithamaha father Narayana Suri The 600th birth anniversary celebrations of Saint-poet and mother Annamayya, started on May 9, 2007, under the auspices of Lakkamamba TTD as the poet was born on Vaishakha Poornima of belonged to Sarvadhari year of the Hindu calendar, corresponding to Nandavarika 9th May, 1408 of the Christian era. The Tirupati Tirumala Brahmin sub-sect, Devastanams (TTD) which initiated a special of Asvalayana Sutra Annamacharya Project in 1978 celebrated the 6th birth and Bharadwaja centenary of the saint poet in a befitting manner, gothra, were throughout the year. followers of It culminated with the installation of a 108 ft. statue of the Regvedic rituals. saint poet on May 22, 2008 at Tallapaka, the poet's Annamayya's great, birthplace, 90 km from the temple town of Tirupati near great ancestors Rajampet in Cuddpah district. Tallapaka, which is being originally hailed developed by TTD as a center for devotional music and a from Varanasi. In tourist destination in the style of Startford-upon-Avon, to the 10th century, carry forward the spiritual legacy of the saint-poet, was there was a big the venue for a four-day festival this May was the first famine in Varanasi concerted initiative to make the composer's 32,000 and scores of scholars migrated to sankeertanams (devotional songs) in praise of Lord Southern India to eke out a living with their scholarship. Venkateswara (Balaji) popular. Braving the heat of the Some of them settled in a place called Nandavaram, a Rayalaseema belt, about 600 artistes, led by noted small princely state in Andhra Pradesh, which was then vocalists P. B. Srinivas and Shobha Raju, Classical ruled by King Nanda. The immigrants of that place were musicians like Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, eminent dancers called Nandavariks. As the story goes, Annamayya's like Vempati China Satyam, Padma Subramanyam, parents visited Tirumala, seeking the God's blessings for a Shobhana and Manju Bhargavi, instrumentaists like child. Their desire was fulfilled in due course and the Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan (Violin), Yella Venkateswara child was named Annamayya. Annamayya was believed to Rao (Mridangam), singers like Garimella Balakrishna be the incarnation of Lord Venkateswara's Nandaka or Prasad, Dwaram Lakshmi, Jyothirmayee Chowdhary and sword. From his childhood Annamayya was an ardent Hyderabad Sisters gave evocative performances leaving devotee of Govinda and was immersed in his thoughts. the 30,000 strong audience spellbound. Once when Annamayya was eight years, he dreamt of Annamacharya or Annamayya as he is popularly known, Alamelumanga, and immediately travelled to Tirumala on the mystic saint of the 15th century, is the earliest known foot without eating anything for days together and musician of South India, who composed lyrics—called swooned on midway while climbing through the seven Sankeertanas in praise of the deity of the Seven Hills, hills. The story goes that Alamelumanga appeared in the Lord Venkateswara of Tirumala, set them to music and form of an old lady, gave him food and advised him to sang them during his lifetime, till his death in 1503. An walk to the top of the seven hills barefoot, leaving the ardent devotee of Lord Venkateswara, Annamayya's life sandals behind. Annamayya followed the Devi's advice was spread over a period of 95 years. It was through his and on his way up the hills he instantly composed 100 grandson's (Chinathirumalaraya known as Chinnanna), poems (shataka) in praise of Alamelu, known as Dwipada work that we come to know about the life and Mangabikasatakam. Visiting the Lord and other deities at work of the great saint composer. Annamacharya (1408- Tirumala, he sang several songs in praise of the Lord, and 1503) was a Telugu poet and musician widely regarded as composed the Venkatesa Shatakam. While taking rest the Telugu Pada Kavitha Pitamaha (grand old sire of after visiting the Lord and praising him through his 100 simple poetry), a title given by his grandson in his poemswhich later became the Venkatesa Shatakam, a 'dwipada' work. Saint by name Ghana Vishnu visited Annamayya and Though there is still some controversy regarding the exact converted him into Srivaishnava sect, as per the date of his birth, it is believed that Annamayya was born instructions given to the saint by the Lord in his dream the in the Telugu calendar year of Sarvadhari on Vaishaka previous night Ekadasi. Thus, Annamayya became Poornima (Visakha Star), (corresponding to May 9,1408) Annamacharya. in village Tallapaka in Cuddapah district. Annamayya's

36 On learning this, Annamayya's mother rushed to Tirumala centuries. However, in 1922, about 2500 copper plates and pleaded with her son to come back home. At the comprising about 14,000 Sankeertanas and a few other instance of the Muni, he returned home with his mother. works were found hidden in a rock built cell in the Though not much is known of his early life, Annamayya Venkateswara temple at Tirumala in a small room underwent a formal course in traditional education and opposite the Hundi. Annamayya sang only for the pleasure thereafter set forth to visit sacred places. Annamayya was of the Almighty and to convey the message for the a disciple of Sathagopa Yogi and completed his vedic upliftment of mankind, unmindful of materialistic gains. studies under his tutelage. After fully digesting Valmiki He considered his compositions as floral offerings to the Ramayana, Annamayya recreated the story of Rama in Lord of the Seven Hills. Sankeertanas, which became very popular. The people These poems, praise the Lord, and describe Annamayya's around praised his talents, which spread far and wide. love for the Lord, his arguments and quarrels with the Annamayya was helping his brother and his family in Lord at times and ultimately surrenders himself to the farming and allied activities. Forced by elders, Lord. From the work of Chinnanna (Annamayya's Annamayya accepted a householder's life and under grandson), it is noticed that when Annamayya was in his compelling circumstances, married two brides 90s, Karnataka's saint poet Purandaradasa, who was 70 Thirumalamma and Akkalamma. However, marriage was years younger to Annamayya, having heard about the no hindrance in his pursuit of the divine. miracles of Annamayya visited him and paid his respects Having come to know the greatness and the spiritual by calling him the incarnation of Lord Venkateswara and power of Annamacharya, King Saluva Narasingaraya, who his Sankeertanas sacred hymns. Annamayya's was ruling Tanguturu in Andhra Pradesh, offered him the compositions can be categorised under two heads: respectable position of GURU (Teacher) in his royal Adhyatma Sankeertanas—which are essentially court. Annamayya agreed with the request and stayed in a devotional, with detachment, containing moral, social and palatial house near Keshava Temple at Tanguturu. The spiritual values. The second category, are: Sringara King grew in stature and power over the years and Sankeertanas—which are expressions of romantic feelings subsequently moved his capital to Penugonda in Rayala to Lord, composed in Madhura Bhakti style/metre. Seema and invited Annamacharya to Penugonda, which he According to literary critics, that out of the available did. After a while, one day Annamacharya sang a song in Annamayya lyrics there are 1526 Sringara Sankeertanas the tradition of Madhura Bhakti on the request of the and 2209 Adhyatma Sankeertanas. Besides these, King. Highly impressed, the King asked him to sing a Annamacharya composed Twelve Shatakas, Sringara similar composition on himself which Annamayya Manjari in Dwipada, Venkateswara Mahatyam, Dwipada refused, saying that he can only sing the glory of the Lord Ramayana, etc. His works are mainly in Telugu, though he and not a human. With this, the King's ego got hurt and wrote in Sanskrit also. Annamayya's wife, Thimmakka enraged by the incident, chained the saint with shackles was also a great poetess and has written Subhadra and imprisoned him. Annamacharya sang a song thinking Kalyanam, and is considered as the first Telugu poetess. of Lord Venkateswra with agony. The spiritual power of Tirumala Tirupati Devastanams (TTD) has been his song resulted in the chains getting broken. Thereafter, succeeded to preserve the rich heritage of Annamayya's the King asked Annamayya's pardon and requested him to compositions through the Annamayya Special Project, stay on in his court. which came into existence with the appointment of Mrs. However, advising the King that he should not insult the Shobha Raju, an eminent singer, as the first project chief. devotees of the Lord like this, Annamayya left for TTD has consecrated Annamayya statue at two places one Tirumala to propagate his philosophy and the glory of the in Annamayya Mandiram located at the Annamayya Lord through his Sankeertanas. It is during this period that Project Office premises at Tirupathi and the second at his Annamayya composed Sringara Manjari in praise of the birthplace, Tallapaka. Mrs. Shobha Raju, has devoted her Lord. life for the propagation of Annamayya's Sankeertanas and she was the first artiste of TTD to be appointed for the An ardent devotee of Lord Venkateswara, during his propagation of Annamayya's Sankeertanas. She has been lifetime of 95 years, Annamayya composed and sang over preparing for an ambitious project to start a music 32,000 Sankeertanas (devotional songs) dedicated to Lord university in memory of the great saint poet. Venkateswara. Annamayya wrote the Sankeertanas on palm leaves, and later, his son Thirumalacharya got them engraved on copper plates. Presently, only 14,000 of the V. Krishna Moorthy, Bhavan’s Journal, July 31, 2008 Sankeertanas are available. For some unknown reason, the works of Annamayya could not be traced for three

37 De-schooling Medical Education "Students are schooled to mistake medical treatment for health care, social work for the improvement in community life, police protection for safety, military poise for national security, and the rat race for productive work." - Ivan Illich

Wise people learn from their own mistakes; wiser people from the mistakes of others. Indians being the wisest of the lot should learn from the mistakes that the western audits have discovered in our present modern medical interventions and in the scientific basis of modern medicine. Ever since the first three medical colleges were set up by the East India Company in 1857, based on Macaulay's ideas, we promoted rote learning. There are exceptions, though. Mediocrity is competing with others, while excellence is competing with oneself, the latter being absent in our system. We punished original thinking and failed to create thinking, humane doctors. We have been pushing students into parallel coaching institutions before they get into medical schools to rote learn the premedical subjects to pass the "so called" entrance tests, again throttling their thinking capacity. Aptitude of the entrants to become pure science, is being dinned into the students' head with a healers is never tested. The earlier this system dies the top heavy curriculum which leaves much to be desired, better for us, as our entire education system was intended resulting in the student having no choice but to rote learn to make us rote learning robots of western thoughts. The the textbook stuff to the exclusion of real learning of following extract from the speech of Thomas Babington medicine on the bedside. Macaulay in the House of Commons on the February 2, The basic doctor does not need such detailed instructions 1835 says it all. "I have travelled across the length and in sub-specialties that we teach now. Basic doctor needs to breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a be a humane healer with adequate basic knowledge of the beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this subject, mainly the fundamentals of clinical medicine with country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, some principles of surgery. The basic doctor also needs to that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, know that there are possibilities to help the patient out unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is with the modern medical boundaries in alternate systems her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I that have been in existence for centuries, where there are propose that we replace her old and ancient education scientifically proven healing methods. The present system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is curriculum does not allow that laxity, while in the west foreien and English is good and greater than their own, teaching alternate medicine is mandatory for the basic they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture doctor. and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation. "(Italics mine) The conventional research in medicine is only a statistical What ails our present medical education? research; there is no hard science in that area. We have been using the wrong mathematical basis for research in The MBBS degree that was introduced by the London medicine. We have been predicting the unpredictable University syllabus of 1857, continues even after 60 years future of humans by routinely screening the apparently of political independence with minor tinkering here and healthy and declaring them to be unwell while time there. The course is overburdened with information and evolution in any dynamic system depends on the total the student is left with very little time to study sick human initial knowledge of the organism. Routine screening, at beings where the student should get all his education. best, could measure only a few parameters of the body. Bedside medicine, the core of medical education, is dead Audits now show that all kinds of screening measures in the present scenario. have resulted in misery for mankind while helping the medical and drug industry to earn plenty of profits. We The faulty theory, based on statistical science, and not have been trying to medicalise the whole population.

38 Almost 90% of the population, by the age 40, will have at medicine could take advantage to scientifically fathom the least one "so called" risk factor qualifying for drug mind, which does not reside in the brain alone, but, does therapy. With the drugs that we have for this purpose and so in every human body cell at its sub-atomic level. With the recent expose of the nefarious designs of the drug the understanding of the mind better patient care could be companies, the future of mankind looks really bleak planned. unless we quickly deschool medical education. Medical education of the future must have two clear cut David Eddy, professor of cardiac surgery at Stanford, has compartments-first four year course, after class 12, to come up with a soft ware called Archimedesmodel, which train a basic family physician. And another slot of four is a virtual human body with all its physiology, where one years for those that expect to specialise after the first can test to audit interventions of any kind. This has course. thrown up shocking data that most of what we have been The second slot comes after a couple of years of practice doing has done more harm to mankind than good. Medical as a family doctor, preferably in a remote village. One science needs to change from its time honored reliance on does not become a specialist at the end of second four conventional science of linearity to that of the new science year course, though, s/he gets his license to be trained as a based on consciousness, non-linearity and CHAOS, a specialist after the second four year certification based futuristic science in the making. I have been working on mostly on, an on going on the job evaluation but not based the non-linear functioning of the heart for the last three on an end year examination of rote learning and decades and have come up with excellent data about a information recall. Real skill is learnt after one gets a very good new diagnostic and prognostic test in HRV license to be a specialist. A good surgeon is one who (heart rate variability) which will eliminate most of the knows how to operate, a better surgeon is one who knows common mistakes that are made on the surface ECG when to operate and the best is the one that knows when where scalar measures are used to derive vector analysis! NOT to operate. At that last stage only one becomes a true Sad demise of humane bedside medicine specialist.

Medicine had been practised on the bedside, from time Undergraduate course immemorial until the first clinic: then came the hospital. It The first four years are all done on the bedside, most of it is only in the last 50 odd years that medicine started riding in the community where the true phase of diseases is seen. piggyback on technology which has now resulted in The present big teaching hospitals delude the student to medicalising the whole population. believe that the filtered patient population of the tertiary Doctors have succeeded in making the population believe care teaching hospital is the true incidence in society. The that health depends on medical intervention alone; while common minor illness syndromes that form the bulk of the the truth is that the health of the society does not depend disease load on a given day with significant sick on doctors and hospitals. absenteeism in the industry are excluded from the teaching hospitals. The new system, "problem based In fact, recent audits have shown, in a fourteen learning," will encourage better interaction between the industrialised countries study, that those countries with a teacher and the taught with both having equal curiosity to higher doctor-patient ratio and bigger bed strength had learn in a new atmosphere. The student is exposed to worse health status of the population and shorter life patients from day one in any medical school. Very little of expectancy! While trillions of dollars had been spent in human anatomy, except the bare minimum, need be taught the last quarter of a century in the west for medical at this stage along with solving each patient's problems. intervention only 3% of the life expectancy increase has That is what makes the teacher as curious as the student. been attributed to medical interventions including The teacher will have to learn these subjects along with vaccinations. Rest of the improvement came from his/her pupils. nutrition, sanitation, education, better mode of living and affluence. In depth study of the relevant pre and para clinical subjects are taught in the second four year course only for Medical education in the future must be totally changed those that hope to become specialists. Investigation for the good of patients and doctors as well. Change is life reports and their genesis are all learnt along with the and change is the heart of true science. Science could problem on hand. At the end of the four years, a student be defined as "making models, mostly mathematical will have been exposed to the whole spectrum of illnesses. constructs, which with verbal jargon are supposed to The student gets better trained in the common illnesses work." that are commoner than one thinks they are. With the understanding of consciousness in physics,

39 Another lacuna in the present system is that the student Those who fail the examination will have one more does not get exposed to true public health needs, the chance after three months to resit the examination. Failure health of the public. Clean drinking water supply, for the second time will disqualify the student from going nutritious food, overall sanitation systems like toilets for further unless he does the first year work again before re- every house, economic empowerment of poor women, sitting the examination. educating the girl child in the villages up to, at least, the The last three years are spent for hands-on experience. age 20 to reduce the fertility rate, avoiding the deadly Every student must be employed by the institution on a carbon monoxide-laden cooking smoke from coming into reasonable salary for maintenance in a residential capacity the village houses, necessity to let the villagers use the with staff quarters. Those that do not make the grade in mosquito nets, importance of taking care of the specially certain difficult specialties could be eliminated by yearly enriched diet for the pregnant mothers to avoid still births evaluation in addition to the ongoing evaluation based as also to avoid the killer diseases in the child in its later both day-today performance and the log book details of life, judicious vaccinations using safe vaccines, disaster the work that the candidate has done. This will ensure that management systems for remote villages, dangers of the final year has much less crowd of students for the rest alcohol and tobacco use, and the importance of poverty as to get better hands on experience. Those that get thrown the mother of most illnesses. The need to teach patients to out of the pyramid in one specialty could try another be tranquil for better health need to be stressed in the specialty by sitting a simple entrance test for that new course of four years to make the end product a responsible specialty when there is a vacancy. The job evaluation citizen of the community in which s/he lives. Inkling into done by the teachers could be counter-checked by a senior pharmaco-economics would teach the future doctor to be censor who has not supervised the candidate. There could parsimonious in prescribing drugs and ordering tests at the be designated senior specialists to do the job in their own behest of the industry. region. When the basic family doctor qualifies after four years This system will eliminate most of the corruption that study she/he could be interned with a good family goes on despite all the rules in the field of postgraduate physician for a year to follow the footsteps. Second year education today. It might also bring out better quality could be spent as a family doctor in a village. At the end specialists to be further trained either in the country or of all these six years, the student gets registered to be a abroad if they so wish. This would also bring respect to specialist family physician in his/her own right to be let Indian PG degrees as there will be uniformity of standards loose on the public. The watch dog bodies that are built across the country with identical evaluation. A student into the Indian system like the MCI etc. could be made to with minimal training for six years should make an ideal keep a careful watch on the ethical and moral standards of family physician. medical practice in the country rather than breathing down the necks of medical schools as it happens now. Education of doctors by drug companies, through the "so called" conferences could be put to an end as most of They could have an exit examination to screen the good them are used to buy favours from doctors by the drug from the bad doctors that have passed out of the colleges, companies. Out of the thousands of delegates only a few rather than measuring the class room size and the staff bio will attend the "scientific lectures" while the rest, along data as it is done today. Bad institutions will die a natural with their families, would be enjoying a well paid holiday death if the majority of their graduates do not make their at the cost of the drug companies. grade in the exit examination. Education institutions will then depend on the buyers market. Medical education in India is crying for reforms. We need Post-graduate course to first educate society about the ills of the present system and then introduce a more relevant and a humane All the good medical schools and the larger well staffed educational system that, will bring out good human beings hospitals could be selected to train post-graduates if they who are adequately trained to "cure rarely, comfort mostly have the necessary infrastructure. Any basic doctor that but console always". wishes to train as a specialist should first qualify to get a junior position job in the above mentioned institutions for - B.M. Hegde, Bhavan’s Journal, July 31, 2008 a year. At the end of that year he/ she will sit an on line, all India entrance examination to join the next three years of pyramidal growth as a specialist in those institutions that have adequate educational and patient material infrastructure.

40 Apology and reparation for the Fiji girmitiyas and their descendants private and public expressions, they began informing the For several centuries the British basked in the glory of world about the atrocities that were committed by the colonizing many parts of the world. One often reads on Europeans in the name of progress and development. They the pages of British world history that at that stage in this talked about how their tremendous increase in wealth and so called glorious period, sun never set in the British power was directly linked with the annihilation, slavery Empire. As a child and living as a British subject in its and exploitation of the countries that they reduced to third former colony of Fiji, I too marveled at the achievements world status. of the British. Now, after having lived in Britain for fifteen years and studied how and why the British, along It is well know fact that India, before the invasion of the with other European countries, ruled rest of the world, I French and the British, was considered the richest nation. no longer marvel them. I now know that behind their Some two hundred years later, it was reduced to one of the colonial successes lay the blood and sweat of many poorest nations, described by westerners as a nation of millions of ordinary people from Africa, Asia, the ‘beggars and snake charmers’. Today, just sixty years Americas, Australia, New Zealand and other oceanic after her independence, India is marching towards being a nations including Fiji, Trinidad and Mauritius. The super power and perhaps a return towards her previous process of annihilation of indigenous people, enslavement glory before the European domination and exploitation. of millions of people of color and subhuman treatment of Unfortunately, many parts of the African countries from those who were transported to the colonies have been where her children were transported as slaves are still regarded by many scholars and political activists as the struggling to recover. The few surviving original greatest cases of human rights violation is the history of landowners where the slaves were taken are still living on humanity since history can be recalled. This began from reserved lands and may never recover. In Australia, the the time Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas in original landowners are still trying to recover, first from 1492 and lasted till the Indian indenture system was near annihilation from the British and later from the abolished in Fiji and other colonies in 1916. In this period infamous saga of the stolen generation. One hopes that the millions of the original land owners were apology by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is the unceremoniously murdered in the Americas, Australia and start of the reparation process that will uplift the original New Zealand and their lands appropriated by the landowners of Australia to the same level of living, Europeans. Having taken out the local inhabitants from emotionally and physically, as enjoyed by the descendants the equation of their economic expansions, the Europeans of the invaders, the transported labourers and the enslaved and transported millions of peoples form Africa subsequent migrant communities. The respected apology to provide labor in the Americas. In Australia’s case, they by Kevin Rudd rekindled the desire among some Indo- transported their own ‘undesirables’ to provide labor. Fijians to reinvestigate the question and apology on behalf After the abolition of African slavery in 1834, millions of of the indentured Indians who were transported to Fiji to peoples from Asia, mainly from India, was transported to provide labour to the European plantation owners there. provide labor in the colonies. 25,000 returned to India, but 35,000 were prevented from The European history is mainly silent about this aspect of returning to India by the Europeans to ensure continued their colonial expansion, quite content to boast about their labour supply to the plantations and sugar mills in Fiji . glorious achievements. On the other hand, the stories of Out of this concern www.girmitunited.org website was those who suffered in the hands of the Europeans were born. One of the main aims of this website is to seek out kept away from their history books, literature and other views of the people of Indian origin in the Indian Diaspora forms of documentation. It was not until these countries and in India about their views on apology and reparation were liberated from the colonial clutches of the Europeans for the Fiji girmitiyas and their descendants. I hope to in the form of independence that post-colonial writers make a case for this apology and reparation and bring to from the third world countries began researching into the you various thoughts on this issue in subsequent issues. past and reconstructing the truth about their ancestors that For now I request you to make your thoughts on this lay buried under the European lies and deceits for several subject known to us by writing to me via centuries. So it is only from around middle of the [email protected] or by visiting. twentieth century that people of the so called third world began discovering the most grotesque forms of human Satish Rai, www.girmitunited.org; rights violations that were committed against their ancestors. Slowly through books, films and other forms of

41 A Babylonian Tale going to Arkad to learn any people think "simple" means easy to about finance, rather do. This is wrong. Completely and totally than ask him for a loan wrong. Just take a look at getting up in the or a gift. This is akin to morning and going for a walk every day. M Rich Dad Poor Dad - Though it sounds simple, many of us find the "everyday" where Robert Kiyosaki really difficult, is it not? starts by saying that it Similarly those who know that "I should save 10% of my is not about earning salary, but do not" are in that category. If you wish to money, but about learn about the simple things in personal finance, a book learning money you cannot miss is "The Richest Man in Babylon" by management. Once you George S Clason. learn money management you know This book is a guide to financial understanding. It offers how to earn, spend and insights into how to get money, keep money and make invest. your surpluses work for you. The book takes us to Babylon, the place where the basic principles of finance Start Thy Purse to were first established. Babylon became the wealthiest city Fattening of the ancient world because its citizens were the richest Learn about financial people of their time. They appreciated the value of money. planning if you do not They practised sound financial principles in acquiring already know it. If a friend has amassed a lot of wealth, money, keeping money and making their money work learn from him - ask him for his time to teach, do not ask harder. him for a loan or a gift! Simple lessons like "For each 10 Historically, Babylon was a rich place famous for its coins you earn, spend only nine", work to this day and treasures of gold and jewels. One naturally pictures such a age. wealthy city as located in a suitable setting of tropical Control Thy Expenditures luxury, surrounded by rich natural resources of forests and mines. Such was not the case. It was located beside the Budget your expenses that you may have coins to pay for Euphrates River, in a flat, arid valley. Babylon is an your necessities, pay for your enjoyments and gratify your outstanding example of man's ability to achieve the worthwhile desires without spending more than nine- greatest objectives, using whatever available means at his tenths of your earnings. Know the difference between disposal. All of the resources supporting this large city wants, needs and luxuries. were man-developed. All of its riches were man-made. Make Thy Gold Multiply Seven Cures for a Lean Purse: Put each coin to labour so that it may reproduce its kind. The book starts as "Lo, money is plentiful for those who Translating this into today's world it means "pay yourself understand the simple rules of its acquisition." first" invest the 10 percent of your money before you start 1. Start thy purse to fattening spending it! 2. Control thy expenditures Guard Thy Treasures from Loss

3. Make thy gold multiply Guard your treasures from loss by investing only where 4. Guard thy treasures from loss the principal is safe, where it may be reclaimed if you desire so, and where you will not fail to collect a fair 5. Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment rental. He says that safety of principal is more important 6. Insure a future income than the return that you get on the investment. In modern language we may say this as "return of money is more 7. Increase thy ability to earn important than return on money". Losses arise from The essence of the book is in the first chapter. Kobbi and making investments which you do not understand - like Bansir, two poor people go to meet Arkad. Arkad is a with friends and relatives who are incompetent. It actually friend of both Kobbi and Bansir - but very rich. It is nice means you should create a portfolio and protect it from to see George start the book with both these poor men interest rate risk, market risk, volatility risk, inflation risk,

42 and you get a real return. Life and property insurance cult classic. The brevity and simplicity of the book can be could also be used as tools for "guarding thy treasures deceiving as it is a powerful little book, with a powerful from loss." message that can change lives. It is only 160 pages long, Make of Thy Dwelling a Profitable Investment but a dynamite of a book and a very well read book. It is arguably the first book on financial planning - for people It may sound a little old fashioned (and arguable) - George who bother to read and implement the Babylonian says "own your house" - this may or may not be a wisdom. financially correct argument today. However, there is no George Samuel Clason first published the stories within denying that owning a home is surely an Indian dream and the "Richest Man in Babylon" book as separate pamphlets all of us hope to own our first homes at least. Socially and for the finance industry. They became such a success that economically, the "own" house is very close to heart. the best stories were made into a book. Countless readers Insure a Future Income have been helped by these timeless parables of Babylon. Its fabulous presentation style has ensured its popularity. Provide in advance for the needs of your growing age and the needs of your family. Well this is perhaps one of the We in India are of course, going the American way in the earliest pitches for a pension plan! When you cannot earn way we spend. However, reading this greatest of all - because of old age, illness, disease or any other reason, inspirational works on the subject of thrift, financial you should have created a source of income other than planning and personal wealth will surely inspire you to your "working" income. In fact this is the essence of learn about financial planning, budget for your expenses, "financial freedom" - by the age of say, 40, you should guard against lending to friends and relatives, owning have created an unearned income stream which is equal to, your home, investing in a pension plan, taking term life or greater than, your expenses. This creation of "net- insurance, increasing your ability to earn, creating a cash worth" is what gives you the courage to tell your boss "I flow independent of your job, and then using all these am retiring tomorrow"! The Richest Man In Babylon was techniques to become seriously rich and not live from one first published way back in 1926. Since then, it has sold EMI to the next. more than two million copies and has become a financial BSENSEX, June-July 2008

DID YOU KNOW EXHIBITION At World Youth Day 2008

The Community Relations Commission for a Multicultural NSW (CRC) hold from time to time Did You know? Exhibition to promote cultural awareness and harmony through an understanding of migration experience in Australia. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia Bhavan Australia’s stall showcasing India at the World Youth participated to showcase the Indian community in Day exhibition organised by Community Relations Australia during the World Youth Day 2008 at The Commission at the Australian Museum Terrace Room, Australian Museum from 15 - 17 July 2008.

43 Bhavan’s Children Section

44 45 From Bhavan’s Journal July 13 1958. Reprinted in Bhavan’s Journal June 15 2008

Sanskrit is a World Force Kakasaheb Kalelkar

Philologists the world over have come to realise the importance of Sanskrit, particularly its most perfect scientific study of grammar and structure. Psychologists and philosophers, too, are paying greater attention to Sanskrit for the great treasure-house of knowledge it contains, epitomising the intellectual activities of the Aryan mind. It is rather curious that Sanskrit should have been called the "Deva-bhasha" or the language of the gods, when history shows that Sanskrit is the result of conscious efforts of the Aryans to fuse many original Prakrit dialects into a polished speech. The very name Sanskrit means polished speech; this is sufficient to prove that Sanskrit was something like a successful Esperanto in the heyday of Aryan culture. Even the Dravidian languages of the South are greatly influenced by Sanskrit, and we may not be surprised if some day it is discovered that those Dravidian languages also belong to the Sanskrit family, not only so far as their vocabulary is concerned but also in their essential structure.

Sound the Conch-Shell of Fearlessness Swami Ananda Acharya

If we look back to the dawn of cosmic history we see a species of radiant beings whom we may call gods. Through a gradual growth of fear, based on mutual inequality, they became in time divided into multitudinous species of what we may call demi-gods, and ultimately man came and continued the tradition of fear. The life-process began with the largest forms but through the operation of fear they are becoming ever smaller and smaller. From fear arises imagination; imagination produces organism. , Let us return by the path of kindness, goodwill and mercy to our original deva-hood of glory. Let us give the alms of abhaya to every human being, animal and tree. Only by man's free, charitable gift of non-fear to all forms of organic life can this evolution of degeneration and diminishing be checked.

What Life Has Taught Me S. S. Vasan

Looking back on a fairly eventful career, I have come to realise, more and more, that life is largely like a game of cards - success or failure is not entirely a matter of fate or fortune, nor is it entirely the result of personal initiative or the lack of it. There is a mixture of both luck and pluck, in varying proportions. Education of the Child Swami Sivananda

The parents must be extraordinarily careful in dealing with boys or girls of eleven to fifteen years old. Kindly do not forget that only if you are ethical, moral and spiritual, your children will also become so. If you neglect the fundamental virtues of life, your children will imitate you and become worst materialists.

46 Holy & Wise /HWQREOHWKRXJKWVFRPHWRXVIURPHYHU\VLGH5LJYHGD,,

Mookam karoti vaachaalam, Pangum Langayate girim Yatkrupa tam aham vande, Paramananda Madhavam I worship that Blissful Lord Krishna, whose grace would make a dumb man eloquent in speech and enable the lame to scale mountain - Gita Dhyana Sloka If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shabby furniture, let us be more ashamed of shaddy ideas and shabby philosophies - Albert Einstein Kulpativani - Voice of Kulpati - Bhavan’s Founder India's River of No Return

India is the land of Mother Ganga. I have seen Ganga in her many moods. I have seen her where her two arms, Padma and Bhagirathi, rush to meet the sea as she flows turbid, vast and steamer-laden under the bridge of Hoogly. Only when you travel on the banks of the Alaknanda to reach Badrinath do you realise how the Ganga is worshipped both by God and man; why classical literature calls her divine; why centuries have admired, adored and worshipped her as the purifier of the world. Most of us know the myths from old literature which have invested her with a sanctity which no other natural phenomenon in the world enjoys. She rises from the toe of Vishnu; flows through the land of the Moon; falls on the top of Meru and spreads in four quarters of the earth. In her southward course she falls near Badrinath in three streams-Ganga, Lakshmi and Sarasvati. Puranas tell us how, as the daughter of the Himalayas, she is the elder sister of Parvati, Shiva's consort; and is Shiva's might herself; how, at the urgent entreaties of Bhagirath, she fell on the wild locks of Shiva and became Bhagirathi; and how, flowing into the plains, she was swallowed by Rishi Janhu only to come out of his ears as Janhavi; and how, in order to secure salvation for Bhagirath's sixty thousand uncles, burnt to death by a curse, she fell into the Bay of Bengal to become Purity herself. Her name itself has saving power. "Whoever utters her name, even at a distance of a hundred yojanas, is freed from all sins and goes to Vishnulok (Heaven).

The Test of Bhavan’s Right to Exist The test of Bhavan's right to exist is whether those who work for it in different spheres and in different places and those who study in its many institutions can develop a sense of mission as would enable them to translate the fundamental values, even in a small measure, into their individual life. Creative vitality of a culture consists in this: whether the ‘best’ among those who belong to it, however small their number, find self-fulfilment by living up to the fundamental values of our ageless culture. It must be realised that the history of the world is a story of men who had faith in themselves and in their mission. When an age does not produce men of such faith, its culture is on its way to extinction. The real strength of the Bhavan, therefore, would lie not so much in the number of its buildings or institutions it conducts, nor in the volume of its assets and budgets, nor even in its growing publication, cultural and educational activities. It would lie in the character, humility, selflessness and dedicated work of its devoted workers, honorary and stipendiary. They alone can release the regenerative influences, bringing into play the invisible pressure which alone can transform human nature

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