ಸಜೀವ ಸ್ಮೃತಿ

                 ಸಜೀವ ಸ್ಮೃತಿ
         ಭ್ರಷ್ಟಾಚಾರ ನೀರ ಮೇಲಣ ಗುಳ್ಳೆ
         ಇದರಡಿಯಲಿ ಕಾವಿ ಖಾದಿ
         ಹಾಕುತ್ತ ಕೇಕೆ ಶಿಳ್ಳೆ ಹೊಡೆಯುತ್ತಿರುವವು
         ದೇಶದ ಕೊಳ್ಳೆ, ಹರ್ಷಗೊಂಡು ಕೊಡವಿತಾವುದೋ
         ಕಾಲದ (ಮನು)ಸ್ಮೃತಿಯೊಂದು ಇಜಿಪ್ತಿನ ಮಮ್ಮಿಯಂತೆ
         ತನ್ನ ಮೂಗಿನೊಳ್ಳೆ, ಇನ್ನೂ ಬದುಕಿರುವುದನು ಖಾತರಿ ಮಾಡಿತು
         ಅಯ್ಯೋ ಶ್ರೀ ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯನ ಆರ್ತನಾದ ಕೇಳದಾಯಿತು

           

Ekalavya still missing the opportunity

Caste Pyramid shall break further

Kurukshetra missed one of great talents, this talent could have sat at one corner and finished whole Kurukshetra war and sent home either of pandavas or kauravas in less than a day depending on for which group he fought for. This talent was the impeccable Ekalavya who had mastered all alone the art of "Shabdavedi" which Arjuna could not at the highest level. For Ekalavya the environment was conducive as his opponents were cruel wild fauna that moved at great speed. This clearly stresses on need of diverse representation.The town bred Arjuna could not develop this art for whatever reason or maybe, The Great Master Dhrona thought this was not necessary.

    Ultimately caste system played its role and unlike Karna, Ekalavya did not get support. Dhrona forced Ekalavya to remain in forest by taking his thumb away.  This is a clear case of talent not meeting opportunity (which happens to be what the IPL swears by).

    In Modern India, such incidents of talent missing opportunity are witnessed almost daily, creating many such Ekalavya's. Equality has embraced the suppressed class only on paper but in reality, equality in the economic and social plane is yet to be seen. Poorest of the poor belong to backward communities. In the social plane they continue to be ostracised. Reservation offered some sort of respite to this class. If at all Modern India is shining as claimed by BJP Govt a decade ago, is because of active involvement of dalits and women, otherwise it is impossible only for upper caste to contribute in service industry including technology, by the sheer lack of their numbers and the sheer vastness of our nation in comparison. For a brief period it seemed like suppressed class had some breathing room in the form of Reservation. But somehow the "RSS mentality" has crept in among many of us who previously sympathised members of this class devoid of their rights. Whereas Reservation should stand for Equality, "RSS Mentality" has floated a new theory about reservation which all these days seemed to mean Equal representation.

    a) Reservation is for people who cannot afford education etc i.e. based on income or for people who are not talented as such".b) In addition Private firms deny reservation saying quality etc...

    Let us see the above points and discuss the attitude of private firms which seem to resound the Rightist definition of Reservation. When they receive resumes we expect them not to be prejudiced.  After all these private companies boast themselves representing equality including gender. Unfortunately the below study by Dr Thorat in 2005 shows the social discrimination in hiring although no candidate had mentioned explicitly his religion or caste.

    In the first major correspondence study in India, Thorat and Attewell, sent out exactly identical resumes to private companies, both domestic and MNCs, in response to newspaper advertisements in New Delhi [TOI and Hindustan times] during 2005-06. The only difference in the resumes was the easily identifiable names of applicants: Hindu upper caste, Hindu Dalit and Muslims. The study revealed significant differences in call-backs between Hindu upper castes and the other two categories. In sum, both models [logistical regression model based on adaptive Gauss-Hermite quadrature algorithm]   yielded consistent findings that job applicants with a Dalit or Muslim name were on average significantly less likely to have a positive application outcome than equivalently-qualified persons with a high caste Hindu name.

  These findings are confirmed by Siddique (2009) in a study of Chennai. She additionally tests for the interaction between caste and gender and finds that the lowest call-backs are received by Dalit women.

    Yes if it was not for law which said anyone can enter a temple, the suppressed class would still be not allowed into temples. And, despite the law, these incidents still prevail (as mentioned earlier these laws are on paper). Thus reservation introduced as a law is justifiable in this sense. It seems castism has a very deep impact on Indian society which fundamentally is tuned to differentiate, so private firms and citizens with upper-caste elitist mentality should not differentiate people.

 We should understand that "Reservation means equal representation", if at all it was not this case, Ambedkar had two action points

    a) Instead of Buddhism he could have converted into Christian or Muslim, international funds would have swept India. But he did not do this, as he was aware of the consequences.
    b) Or he could have pleaded Europe, America and Rich kings to raise funds for the upliftment of suppressed class.

    So Reservation does not only mean upliftment, but also equal opportunity. No doubt IIM follows policy of recruiting people from different streams arts, commerce, science, applied science and also sports. No doubt Suppressed talent deals with Hardship daily unlike fellow upper-caste, this attitude of dealing hardship  with ease in addition to diverse representation can show the way to India.

PS
    www.dalitstudies.org.in/download/wp/0901.pdf,  Urban Labour Market Discrimination Sukhadeo Thorat, Paul Attewell and Firdaus Fatima Rizvi. Thanks to shivsundar (charvaka coloumnist) and dalitstudies.org and from those websites where i have picked the images.

later interpolation into Gita - religious hegemony

yajna Can result inf glob warming and fill pockets of ruthwika

I got the below shloka in a email.this is the classic example of  Religious hegemony where in a particular class[Here priestly class]  enforce their thoughts on society, this is bigger sin because it is done at intellectual level, an intellectual  betrayal . This below shloka supports the school of though which says Bhagawad geetha originally had around 75 shlokas, over a period of time priestly class modified to their advantage with numerous interpolations and subtle verses along with superstitious belief. Hence we see that the best of the best interpreters[Likes of Vivekananda/Aurobindo/Tagore etc] of Hindu scriptures condemn certain aspects of Hinduism. This shloka declares clearly that Rain is produced only when a yajna is performed, which cannot be because even before 5000 years even before this yajna was born, it rained. What ever may be the interpretation of yajna, again here the orthodox will interpret this in philosophical way , but in practice we have to call the priest who does a yajna .., priests gets money and we get rain fall (?), we all know the scientific reason for rainfall. Hence modern thinkers always challenged do  a yajna and bring rains in Thar desert etc.
The reason behind this is to force the people to think in terms of shastric tradition and hence certain class will get benefited with the money earned after performing such yajnas.     Bhagavad Gita As It Is - Chapter 3 Text 14
annad bhavanti bhutani
parjanyad anna-sambhavah
yajnad bhavati parjanyo
yajnah karma-samudbhavah annat--from grains; bhavanti--grow; bhutani--the material bodies; parianyat--from rains; anna--of food grains; sambhavah--production; yajnat--from the performance of sacrifice; bhavati--becomes possible; parjanyah--rain; yajnah--performance of yajna; karma--prescribed duties; samudbhavah--born of.

TRANSLATION All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rains. Rains are produced by performance of yajna [sacrifice], and yajna is born of prescribed duties.

Actual Process that defines rain

PURPORT

Ambedkar-vivekananda-Education of masses

If there is one Man who would have embraced Ambedkar and made him sit in his heart it is none other than Vivekananda.

Every upper caste curses Dr B R Ambedkar with all possible bad words, now after reading the below quotations of vivekananda, they will do the same thing to vivekananda also....

If there is inequality in nature, still there must be equal chance for all — or if greater for some and for some less — the weaker should be given more chance than the strong.

In other words, a Brahmin is not so much in need of education as a Chandâla. If the son of a Brahmin needs one teacher, that of a Chandala needs ten. For greater help must be given to him whom nature has not endowed with an acute intellect from birth. It is a madman who carries coals to Newcastle. The poor, the downtrodden, the ignorant, let these be your God. [ C.W.. VI.319 ]

Well then, my plans are, therefore, to reach these masses of India. Suppose you start schools all over India for the poor, still you cannot educate them. How can you? The boy of four years would better go to the plough or to work, than to your school. He cannot go to your school. It is impossible. Self-preservation is the first instinct. But if the mountain does not go to Mohammed, then Mohammed can come to the mountain. Why should not education go from door to door, say I. If a ploughman's boy cannot come to education, why not meet him at the plough, at the factory, just wherever he is? Go along with him, like his shadow. But there are these hundreds and thousands of monks, educating the people on the spiritual plane; why not let these men do the same work on the intellectual plane? Why should they not talk to the masses a little about history — about many

things? The ears are the best educators. [ C..Vol.VIII.P-88&89]
Courtesy [ I have copied the images from Internet, thanks to those who put them ]

Down Fall of India

RSS is one organisation which is spreading false message to people of India by saying the reasons for downfall of India are

a) Forcible conversion.

b) Foreign invasion and thus weakening of cultural values.

c) They often quote past prosperity and try to fuel hatred among the young minds

d) Hindu supremacy, one nation, one leader is the only solution to problems of India

Let us see all the above points under the below quotations

Conversion:

Vivekananda gives below reasons for mass conversion in India

"The Mohammedan conquest of India came as salvation to the down-trodden, to the poor. That is why one-fifth of our people have become Mohammedans. It was not sword that did it all. It would be the height. Of madness to think it was all the work of sword and fire. And one-fifth-one half-of your Madras people will become Christians if you do not take care. Was there ever a sillier before in the world than what I saw in Malabar country? The poor Pariah is not allowed to pass through the same street as the high-caste man, but if he changes his name to a hodgepodge English name, it is all right; or to a Mohammedan name, it is all right"

I have seen many of educated pampered software engineers changing team or company just because their Manager has passed a humiliating remark.Under this light we have to see, if at all a humiliated ill-treated outcaste Hindu gets converted to another religion for paltry some rupees 5000 to 10,000 then the entire onus lies on us.

Retardation in progress:

 It is very obvious that any country whose 85% population is uneducated and is in the state of misery. Then that country is also in bad shape. Such was the state of our Country India. Its the failure of education reaching masses one of the primary reasons. A misquoted chaturvarna and selfish priestly class ensured non brahmins remain uneducated for 1000's of years..

"I believe in helping the miserable. I consider that the great national sin is the neglect of the masses, and that is one of the causes of our downfall" [ Swami vivekananda ]

Philosophical degradation of Inida:

One of the pioneers of modern kannada literature and stalwart Sri A R krishna Shastry writes [reason for philosophical degradation of Inida... ]

"We just tried to trash the theories[advaita,dvaita,vishistadvaita] of each other and failed to perceive the beauty lying in each of the theories that existed in hindu scriptures.There by we failed to do a further constructive study of the same"

 Thus theories formed some time in 7th century itself were praised and not even followed, they led to the philosophical downfall of India This is how we lost the edge, and people of west came to the same conclusion that shankara had come(in 7th century) in the eyes of Immanuel kant. Alas Vivekananda had to write a letter to Max Muller " it was not kant, but it was shankara who discovered it first".
Such unscientific blind devotion was the mindset of learned class; Now west is also able to comprehend shankara both by reading Indian scriptures and through their own scientific quest, hence India is lagging behind now both in philosophy and science as well. Priestly class is happy performing rituals, so what they are the brilliant race, children of those 7 rishis, yes they are the brain behind the present India.

 Hindu supremacy:

There are various  hindu scriptures, these are the same scriptures that motivated Gandhji, vivekananda in a positive direction. But the same scriptures have motivated RSS in a wrong way. Never did Gandhi or Vivekananda spoke about Hindu supremacy, they always felt a need for religious harmony.

Now the religious scriptures that RSS believes in are shastras mainly, mind you they are not Upanishads. Shastras foster principles like misquoted legacy chaturvarna, Brahmin is the highest etc. Although every caste is allowed to join RSS, internally they spread the same thoughts in the name of hindutva. Alas quotes of Vivekananda and Bhagat singh are entirely ignored by RSS

 

No man is born to any religion; he has a religion in his own soul. let there be as many religions as there are human beings.

    [ Swami vivekananda ]

Bhagath singh clearly says we cannot build a nation in the name of religion. He discusses in detail the problems faced etc in one of his last essays written just before he was hung.

 If at all India is growing upwards, it is now, a quarry workers daughter can join a premier Law institute.

Mundaka upanishad & ritual

Here lets analyze what we can infer from couple of verses from mundaka updanishad.

Mundaka 1.1.5	Mundaka 1.2.7[sacrifice has to be understood as homa, yajna,havana and not as  act of losing or surrendering ]
[Sanskrit] tatrapara , rgvedo yajurvedah samavedo atharvavedah siksa kalpo vyakaranam niruktam chando jyotisam iti. Atha para yayatad aksaram adhigam yate	Plava hy ete adrdha yajnarupa astadas oktam avaram yesu karma etat sreyo ye'bhinandanti mudha jara-mytyum e punar evapi yanti
[English] of these the [apara]lower consists of the study of Rg-Veda,yajurvedam ,sama veda, Atharva veda, phonetics, the code ofrituals, grammar, etymology, metrics and astronomy. Now the higher knowledge is that by which the imperishable is attained.[para]	[ Here the author of Mundaka takes those to task who are busy all the time doing sacrificial rituals and feels he is doing highest good] Verily they are frail rafts-these sacrifices with their eighteen members, on which such inferior work(devoid of knowledge) rests. The fools, who acclaim this as the highest good, certainly fall again and again into the domain of old age and death

 Thus we come to know that there are 2 kinds of knowledge apara[rituals and astronomy chiefly] para [ science of spirituality ]. Author of Mundaka wants to convey that para is the one that takes us to highest and not the apara. If somebody is trying to fool you by claiming with the techniques of astronomy and rituals he shall help you reach highest do not believe in him. Infact he calls such people fools.

  I preach only the Upanishads. If you look, you will find that I have never quoted  

 anything but the Upanishads.[Vivekananda]

 After reading these two mundakas we understand why vivekananda has high regards to upanishads. Now i understand tagore's  words "Upanishads are jnana yagna which guided people who were suffering from the blow of rituals".

Upanishads questioned the authenticity of people who claimed rituals etc as supreme and redefined the progress of universe  setting the path towards deciphering truth. No doubt historians say Upanishads and other theories about soul during that time gave rise to new religions like Jainism and Buddhism. Intention of Mundaka author is definitely not to degrade rituals and sacrifices. But to caution us the real truth is something else. [In fact author says rituals are good in verses appearing between 1.1.5 and 1.2.7. But stresses that they do not help us other than enjoying heavenly pleasure once the effect depreciates such people sink down. Thus people who are busy in performing rituals ignoring para  rise and fall continuously.]

Although Masters of Upanishads do not subscribe to different worlds, they use terms e.g heaven etc to mean luxury but at the same time remain generous by not defying theories lurking around heaven, indra, apsara... Modern mind almost has unanimously accepted that the different worlds that come across in hindu scriptures are just diff states of mind or human elevation. Also over time we have come across phrases like "jeena yaha, marna yahan iske siva jana kaha",  "A lie amounts to hell, truth amounts to heaven". Alas priestly class are spreading fear of hell and forcing people to perform rituals, but they never expose us to truth.

who are these eighteen members:

  Generally yagas  involve 16 priests, wife and husband are required.  Mundaka says such sacrifices/ritual are futile.

Preistly class has fallen and breaking their own rules too...

  Recently Sriman Yeddi X CM of karnataka performed Vajapeya yaga, as he has no wife, shobha karandlage sat next to him and completed the yaga. To perform this yaga wife is must according to rules, for earning money priestly class has gone to this extent of breaking their own rules.

 

Conclusion:

 Would Lord Rama have approved rituals in today’s scenario?

a) The Apara knowledge also has grown over time, the physical science has shown that burning anything becomes carbon.

b) With so much hunger around, throwing rice bits, clothe pieces, wooden pieces into fire is unjustifiable, that too when man has gone to the extent of saying save every drop of water..  it’s a sin to do this.

d) Rituals  promoted by priestly class are substandard in nature which promises material desires mostly.
Can you believe to do the same yaga different priests take different remuneration.
e) When priestly class can break their own rules such as "crossing sea"[ that was considered to be sin a century ago] and performing rituals violating rules to aid growth of corrupt politicians e.g. kumaraswamy and yeddi for the sake of money.

 Why can’t they change a ritual from a costly affair to just a simple recitation of mantras. Will any priest come forward and do it. Alas which fool will cut the branch on which he is sitting? Who would block the source of income i.e. coming so easily?

If at all LokaKalyana/welfare of this world is the justification of the rituals as claimed in broader sense, then behaviour of priestly class is not helping.

courtesy:  [ Mundaka upanishad by swami sarvananda , Ramakrishna Mutt] whom i have referred to pick the mundaka verses

Progress of Rama

In this blog, we see there is a transition from Dutiful Rama->thoughtful->scientific and morally correct Rama which is essentially the progress of society, humanity and thus universe.


Ramayana is one epic which is rewritten by many Greats belonging to different times, here i try to discuss with you 2 authors along side original specifically concentrated on a UttarakhaNda story about shambooka a shudra tapaswi/muni. The part of Ramayana after victory over Ravana/ "Rama's later life" is the UttarakhaNda, some of the stories appearing in original have forced authors to question and do a reconstruction.


Let’s see how each of the below author 's have seen this story in their plays and modifications adapted with passing time...
a) valmiki [Ramayana, Uttara khanda, sanskrit ] b) Bhavabhuti [ Uttararamacharitha,8th century, sanskrit] c) kuvempu writes play "Shudra tapaswi" [ kannada, 20th century]. Read the table in order (original,bhavabhuti, kuvempu) to appreciate the transition

Original story (*passed under) in the name of Valmiki	Bhavabuthi renders the heart of real Rama who is thoughtful	Kuvempu gives a meaningful reconstruction to shambooka episode
-) This incident takes place after abandoning of seeta by rama. -) Worried aged vehement Brahmin brings his dead son To rama's palace and accuses him of a dosha, a reason for his son's  premature death. -) while Rama is discussing this issue with ministers, Narada appears and concludes adharma has happened in his kingdom, because a shudra is performing penance[Tapas] permissible only for the higher castes. -) Rama goes down south to dandaka, finds Shambooka asks his caste[varna],by the time he completes uttering "shudra' Rama removes the sword strikes his head and  kills him. -) All the Gods and Goddesses witnessing this dutiful act of Rama,  praise and shower flower on Rama	-) Story is almost same as original but at the end moment when Rama has to go to panchavati to kill the shudra muni in discharge of his duty, outward calm is maintained but while killing feels great pain in his heart knowing it is wrong, he does it just to satisfy the Shasta’s and his people , just as he abandoned seeta for the sake of satisfying his people. This glimpse into the mind of Rama is a staggering revelation. It shows Rama is not only Dutiful but at the same time thoughtful and worried if he is doing right thing. Still Shambooka loses his life	-) Rama becomes a true advaitist here and asks what is wrong if shudra practices penance, Brahmin gets into the argument with Rama citing Shastras which say shudra cannot perform penance. -) Rama says listen to your heart, why we ought to refer to Shastras, all humans are equal. -) But Still Rama has to be dutiful, so he tries a brahmastra, but pious effect of shambookas penance calms the bramhastra. -) Brahmastra changes direction & starts following the Brahmin, Brahmin runs for his life and says Hey Rama i agree with you for doing good deeds there is no need of shastric approval we need to be thoughtful and logical.

(Ending in Kuvempu's shudra tapaswi: Rama seeing the transformed Brahmin nullifies the bramhastra. Father, child, shambooka non face death. Greatness is Brahmin undergoes a realisation, nobody dies and all is well.)

Transition of Rama:  Dutiful -> Thoughtful ->  (Dutiful, Thouhtful, scientific and moral)

Rama is becoming Rama [ Last chapter of Ramayana is yet to be written, more we learn, more Rama becomes the Rama ].
Thus Bhavabhuti to some extent, and Kuvempu have introduced bold innovation and recreated Ramakatha in a new form transforming it into a moving human story. With such stands Modern writers like tagore, kuvempu etc stand tall.

Later Propoganada Insertion
  Many conclude that stories such as Ekalavya, shambooka, abandoning seeta etc are a result of later additions to the original Ramayana and are passed under the name of Valmiki inorder to tag shastras as supreme and society needs to adhere to shastras by looking down lower caste people not allowing them to study, do penance etc.... So conscious efforts are made be later authors time and again.  We have to correct ourselves and go forward.


Further Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shambuka#Later_propaganda_insertion
http://pustak.org/home.php?bookid=12
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Shambuka

Courtesy: To all those authors whom i have referred to write this article.