BALANCING ALEXANDER AND A YOGI

A story heard from a ted talk took me to my own world of contemplation and urged me to write this, before we begin I would like to establish it that am a no scholar in philosophy nor politics, but a decent observer.  Balancing is an art that gives superior result to everyone, be it an individual or a country. The success of China's economy should be given to its approach in balancing traditional communist ideology in setting up capitalist institutions to grow itself as the fastest growing economy, likewise, successful or a satisfied person is one who masters this art profoundly

The story dates back to 350BC when Alexander the conqueror met a naked yogi at padmasana posture on the banks of the river Indus, present-day Pakistan. Greek called the yogi Gymnosophists.( gumnos = naked , sophists = philosopher)

Alexander the conqueror enquired about the state of his being to the yogi, to which the yogi replied that he is experiencing the nothingness from within, Alexander could not understand the meaning behind the yogi state and felt abhorrent.

Yogi after observing Alexander along with his warrior men enquired about him, to which Alexender replied that he is the great emperor the history has ever seen and is on a mission to conquer the world,
hearing this yogi laughed and felt pity for Alexender state of being

This story left me much contemplation not only of the extreme that is highlighted but also made me realize that there is no one size to fit all.

I also realized that there is an Alexander and a yogi in every one of us. Alexander the great who wants to achieve the material gains, make a name for himself, who is solely driven by a motive to establish himself at the top above the rest. He is our great Alexander who urges to conquer everything outside to him to put himself on the top

We also have a yogi who is kind, loving, compassionate primarily driven by the motive to achieve goodness for all, he is our yogi for him there is no self - attached, he urges to conquer ourself first to understand the purpose of oneself

It will be a waste of time to debate or comment which one of in us here is correct, be it Alexander or Yogi we need a right balance of these two to make our journey of life meaningful. We can't ignore Alexander as he is the one who pumps adrenaline to grow better than yesterday, at the same time we can't ignore the yogi as he is the one who adds value to our being every day

Let the almighty bless us all with a perfect calibration of  Alexander and Yogi within us

Thanks for Reading!! :)



Akshayaram Viswanathan

Ideal Leader, Virtuous Human, A Good Society- Saint Thiruvalluvar

 "To err is human, to forgive divine". said Alexanderpope an eighteenth-century English poet. Any system of government namely democracy, autocracy, aristocracy or monarchy the system of governance is based upon an image of a leader leading the society.

Leaders are humans who have a certain quality that sets them apart from the common public. what are these qualities that make us go aww on some personalities, In this blog, I have tried to find the answers for the same by referring to great Tamil saint Tiruvalluvar

   

அழுக்காறு அவாவெகுளி இன்னாச்சொல் நான்கும்
இழுக்கா இயன்றது அறம்.

( அறம் = virtuous act, அழுக்காறு = jealousy,  அவா = desires driven through five senses, வெகுளி = Anger, இன்னாச்சொல் = unpleasant words)

Instead of listing the virtues of an Ideal leader Saint Valluvar chose to list the trait that makes one unqualified, man free of these sinful traits namely jealousy, desires, anger, unpleasant words is a man of great virtue said Valluvar. Valluvar should have thought that it is important to identify the problem to eliminate it. 

A good society is in which we see a majority of people with good virtues, at times where we see religious violence, bigotry, extremist actions getting unfolded at various part of the globe, one must free himself from the  mentioned traits to not only make him virtuous but help his society become one

Let us all act on this call of a virtuous society by trying to make oneself more virtuous in every progressive day. Let's act within and create a brighter future

Thanks for reading, May he bless us all.

Akshayaram Viswanathan

LORD KRISHNA ABOUT CASTE

I would like to begin writing this article by quoting the father of our Indian constitution. "Caste is a state of mind," said Babasaheb. Both the colonial rule and Islamic invasion has left us with few inspiring leaders and has replaced the benevolence in our thinking with parsimoniousness, it is this mindset that Babasaheb is trying to abolish and thereby annihilating the entire system of caste as such

I strongly believe that Indian society and ancestors at large were more concerned with global harmony than their personal desires or greed. It seems to be a contradictory statement if we say that we were largely kind and benevolent but still followed the caste system which is a symbol of tyranny in today's standards. When contemplating this contradiction I came to observe the quote of Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita

                                                     चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं गुणकर्मविभागशः

This sloka is commonly used to criticise Gita as a text which creates unrest in society, but the explanation to caste comes from this sloka. In the opening part of the sloka, Lord Krishna admits that the four varnas were created by him when he says "चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं"
                                                          

This came as a shock when I thought why should Lord Krishna himself create such a tyrant system, but the real explanation rests in the later part of the sloka "गुणकर्मविभागशः" This part of the sloka takes us to two criteria with which Lord Krishna designate the work namely, guna—quality; karma—work, no part of this explains the intention to divide the varna by birth.

The sloka itself does not end here, as I have revealed only the first part of the sloka, let us see  what Krishna has for us in the next part


                                                  तस्य कर्तारमपि मां विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम्

This latter part of the sloka was hard to digest, hence I turned to the explanation given by prominent people, I find the great sage of Kanchi explanation to it more relatable. Lord Krishna may seem to disassociate himself from the four varna's when he says "विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम्". But in reality, Lord Krishna means that the non-doer of the actions(Karma) frees oneself from the Varna's become one in God himself.

On further reading the great sage of Kanchi I found that the non-doing of actions advocated is not to remain idle and let the time pass, but do our action as much as our duty and by only acting as an agent to that actions. This eliminates the worth attached to any action as every action is done by Lord Krishna himself and we are only the agent to those actions, and hence pride that we attach for this karma also gets eliminated as we are no more the owner of this pride.

This explanation though a lot of philosophical has enlightened me with the selflessness that we should carry in our life. Let us hope that the selflessness advocated by Lord Krishna be a guiding motive to all our actions.

Thanks for reading, let us all pray to kill our "I " within to make this globe harmonious again.

"

   

TALIBAN TALKS - A GLOBAL DISASTER IN MAKING??

With Afgan presidential election around the corner mid-July this year, the united states have announced the withdrawal of more than five thousand of the fourteen thousand troops in Afghanistan, to ease the tension of the chaotic state the United state has initiated peace talks with Taliban and believe to reach a peace deal before April 2019

Though the Taliban government in Afganistan between 1996-2001 should be largely attributed to the civil war that followed the fall of the soviet union and major involvement of Pakistan's ISI and military in training, supporting and funding Taliban from its birth. When the long civil war has devasted the country and had turned the state to penury, the Taliban government did very little or nothing for the country's growth

It is indeed that these five years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan should be described as a dark age of Asia, these five years made Afganistan a safe haven for Al-Queda, witnessed the demolition of thousand five hundred-year-old Bamiyan Buddha statue,Islamic Sharia law being followed as a state law resulted in an increase in violence, misogyny against women

Taliban also funded the appointment religions policing as a state policy primarily to forcibly impress profoundly immoral sharia law against its own women, some of the punishment given by religious police has been highlighted below to highlight the autocratic atrocity committed by the Taliban regime under the pretext of observing sharia law with a motive to bring back the times of Mohamad

In October 1996, a woman had the tip of her thumb cut off for wearing nail varnish.

In December 1996, Radio Shari’a announced that 225 Kabul women had been seized and punished for violating the sharia code of dress. The sentence was handed down by a tribunal and the women were lashed on their legs and backs for their misdemeanor

When a Taliban raid discovered a woman running an informal school in her apartment, they beat the children and threw the woman down a flight of stairs (breaking her leg) and then imprisoned her. They threatened to stone her family publicly if she refused to sign a declaration of loyalty to the Taliban and their laws.

In 1999, a mother of seven children was executed in front of 30,000 spectators in Kabul's Ghazi Sports stadium for murdering her husband (see right). She was imprisoned for three years and extensively tortured prior to the execution, yet she refused to plead her innocence in a bid to protect her daughter (reportedly the actual culprit)

All the evil things happened in the Taliban regime when the UN has objected to considering them as the official government of Afganistan. Infact Pakistan, UAE, and Saudi Arabia where the only initial countries to recognize the Taliban as the official government of Afganistan

with such a history of the irrational regime, it is highly unlikely that the promise made by the Taliban will really be kept by them, in an environment wherein no trackers have been put in place either by the UN or the United States to ensure Taliban is keeping their promise. Hence any talks with the Taliban at any point of time to be considered as a mockery of peace, unless the Taliban de-associate themselves from imposing strict Sharia law and Islamic fundamentalist ideology in the state

The recent talks held at Moscow have noticed that the demands of the Taliban have not been changed much. The peace talks resulted in the Taliban demanding the outset the current president of Afganistan, complete withdrawal of Nato troops in Afganistan, establishment of Islamic Constitution in the worn-torn country. It is also to note that the current president of Afganistan Asharg Ghani has been sidelined from the peace talks

Apart from the geopolitical advantage, Afganistan carries with its connectivity to central Asia , rational government in Afganistan will also help India to leverage upon its friendship for having greater connect to central Asia and contribute towards the greater cause of global peace. The Indian government has made a significant investment in Afganistan over the past decade like Construction of Afganistan National parliament Investing in Afgan health care etc. Having a Taliban led government in Afganistan will make India in the weaker hand to that of its counterpart
terror state Pakistan

As our doctrine of the nation once said
"The day a woman can walk freely on the roads at night, that day we can say that India has achieved independence" let us with all positivity and optimism believe that our neighboring state will get truly independent one day and prosper.


Akshayaram Viswanathan

LORD SIVA THE DESTROYER- A PARADOX

Trimurti is a concept well known in Hindu religion where the deity namely, Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Siva are worshiped as creator, protector and destroyer of all life forms respectively. The Trimurti sculpture in Elephanta caves is an example of belief ancient India had in the Trimuthi concept.

Elephanta caves, Maharashtra 

The Trimurthi is an unique concept which can be viewed as a doctrine in the post vedic period. When there were different religious views that created a divide on basis of deity of their worship namely Shaktism, Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Sauram. Trimurthi concept unified people of different views together.

Commendable question that arises is what does Lord Shiva as a destroyer of life forms have to do with unification of these various views?.

The search for the answer to this question made me write this article, Lord Shiva who has been branded a destroyer of life form has been a proven unifier rather than a destroyer in ancient India.

Notice Shiva Jotirlinga in various part of India.

An interesting fact to note here is that ancient India had so many rulers and so many across many dynasties who were constantly fighting among themselves for land and power.

Ancient Indian dynastic

Lord Shiva became the unifying factor among these different dynasties and acted as a common factor of identity for various people who lived in ancient India. It was believed that Lord Shiva was the ruler of the land and its people. The King who was considered the representative of Lord Shiva. It is in this one common factor that many came together and Identified themselves as a member of one nation, though ruled by different rulers. It is also for this same reason the foreign invaders identified India as one single nation though ruled by different rulers.

Another question that shook me off is- When having temple of one deity is not common only to Shiva, then why should Lord Shiva be a unifier?. But it is only Lord Shiva our ancestors accepted as a common ruler and a destroyer of bad karma. Be it Adi Shankara or Sri Appaya Dikshita who were the most adored scholars of their times who preached that no deity is supreme and every deity is unique, went to Kedarnath and Chidambaram respectively for attaining moksha. 

Saint Manika Vasakar penned this down in Tiru Vasagam by saying "Thenaadu udaya Sivane Pootri, En naattavarkum iraivaa potri."      

Meaning of these famous lines is that "I praise the lord who is the eternal truth and I praise the lord who is ruler of every land."

It is true that immortal country like India will astonish us in every possible way, be it her culture, her religion or her people, it is only when we try to learn her we can fall in love with her. 

Thanks for reading. Jai Hind. 

Akshayaram Viswanathan

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity are the three golden words that sparked and crafted the history of the world for the past four hundred years. It is highly unjust if the three golden words are viewed just as any other word printed in a book which brings inconsequential results. Lets see the bloodshed and Holocaust crafted by these  ideas by looking back at historical facts.

Ideas of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity most commonly attributed to a liberal ideals by a vast majority of the common public and media, but the ideas have a deep rooted birth in the imperialism, nepotism. The argument though hard to digest a few historical facts quoted can help. 

Two major revolution that no middle school history books leaves uncovered are American and French revolution. French revolution followed the American uprising to the ideals of  Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. There are various attributes and motives to consider in both the revolutions.

American revolution which lasted for almost two decades  is mostly studied as a series of events from imposing of stamp taxes which imposed a special stamp for every news paper, postal cards circulated in America, passing of numerous intolerable acts by the British parliament which restricted town meetings and allowed royal governors to host British soldiers in common citizen home , Boston tea party to declaration of independence and signing Treaty of Paris. The American revolution though resulted as a revolution majorly aimed at the ending of colonial rule for their oppressive regime, the ideals of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity was not actually established after crafting the Declaration of Independence(DOI). The Civil war which rose after a century, majority of the slaves supporting the British empire in the American revolution and the famous line DOI which says "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."  Declaration of Independence by itself  a clear example that gender, race discrimination and Slavery remained undefeated by American revolution and Liberty, Equality, Fraternity was not the end result of revolution. Wealthy nobles and Clergy who owned huge property ended up paying no taxes for their wealth and a powerful position in newly formed federal government and bicameral Congress that represented the senate became the ultimate beneficiary of American revolution.

 

Ironically, throughout the revolution France was under Monarch rule and a major ally of  American forces against colonial British empire which itself was a monarch in the first place. Funding the American revolution to counter global hegemony of British colonial empire by Louis XVI  lead to his own assassination.

The consequence of French revolution lies only in the aftermath of it, after the failed attempt of Louis XVI family to Netherlands and his assassination. Tennis court oath for the formation of new constitution by the third estate, formation of new national assembly to over throw the regime, Storming of Baseline in search of weapon lead to fear and tension among peasants on one side and an angry mob using gherao technique to take revenge on their land lords and fulfilling their personal desires.

 

Decade long revolution resulted in creating the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen propagated by its famous line  "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.", but the very same line even allowed that social discrimination can be founded for general good. Revolution also resulted in creating political vacuum which only resulted in much bigger blood shed and dictatorship.

Rise of Maximilien Robespierre to the committee of public safety started a reign of terror, any enemy to the revolution was guillotined off their head leading to the rough estimated victim count of forty thousand of which more than eighty percent of them belonging to Third Estate . Noble classes joined  National assembly which sold its land and announced church officials as state officials, this further offended poor peasants who were supposed to be reason for revolution in the first place.

Condition further worsened  when ruling convention feared against Robesphierre uprising and executed him, this further lead to another political vacuum filled by Napoleon Bonaparte who was originally an army general and whose main goal was to conquer and win Britain and Russia leading to more dictatorial rule. Napoleon is known for nepotism and favoritism by crowning his own family members in his conquered lands.

 

Ideals of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity has a long history drenched in blood shed and a bad holocaust. Though the patriarchal, dynastic and dictatorial condition still existed in both the places even after the revolution, it kept its mark on many posterity which paved way and fueled momentum in the society for evolving into a global consortium cherishing the true ideals of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.    

   

Akshayaram Viswanathan

MUST READ TALE OF MAHISMATI EMPIRE

We are living in a land filled with mystical, mythological and historical  stories, Vikramaditya and Vedhal, Tenaliraman, Akbar and Birbal the list is endless, setting these stories aside we also have astonishing ithi-hasas (which translates to thus happen in Sanskrit) like Ramayana, Mahabharata originally written by Sage Valmiki and Sage Vyasa respectively, some may argue here that Mahabarat was technically written by Lord Vinayak.

Our land is an Immortal land for a reason, the ancient cultures of the Central, South and North Americans, Celts, Nordics, Mesopotamian s and many others are largely extinct.But ancient Indian culture stubbornly refuses to die despite of repetitive violent and intellectual attacks though there may be many reasons attributed by many eminent scholars, the sole lies in engineering our culture, ithi-hasa and puranas to mend with evolution.

Tales of Lord Rama or Lord Krishna are being told not by one, but many. which is a unique feature to the majority population of our land, for instance there is not one author for Ramayana, the original Ramayana written by Sage Valmiki, was again written by Tulasidas ji in 16th century, penned by Poet Kambar in Tamil language by 12th century, the personification of  Sita is different in all three texts. Keeping in mind the time difference of these authors the characteristic feature differs.

The craze for Bahubali film can be attributed to the craze of the 1980s Ramyana television series that changed the communal and political mind set of the country. India built by left liberal mindset changed communally, politically into center right. Demolition of disputed structure made the pink lotus to blossom ,reason for the political party founded by Syama Prasad ji rolling into power can be majorly attributed to the 1980s Ramayana serial which had a dynamic impact on Indian viewers.

The Bahubali tale too had an impact of Indian viewers which is evident by the numbers generated by the film. The tale of Mahismati penned by Annand Nelakandan is a prequel to the Bahubali series has a same ingredients compared to Ramayana of 1980s.

Annand Nelakandan understood the the essence of ithi hasa of our land and have further mended it to the present day generation. Various characters and ideas are engineered to  leave the readers contemplated, characters like Skandasa is very much relatable to present prime minister Modi.

Characters and dialogues are powerful that it may leave an impact until the next book in the trio series arrives, the personification of the protagonist character Sivagami in an invincible trait sets the entire tale interesting and involving. Kattapa's loyalty to Mahismati empire reasoned in the book, gives an added honor badge to the author.

Some strong dialogues spoken by characters that left me perplexed.

"Enemy is not the one to hate, but enmity and cause of it" 

"Eyes should either have fire or fear, but the sight to see all that God holds dear"

"it is easy to find fault, protest and rebel, but it is difficult to change things inch by inch by being part of system"

Overall the tale of Sivagami and Mahismati is a very good read, a modern day mythology and a future ithi hasa.

Many thanks to SS. Rajamouli ji for making modern day Valmiki penning down a future ithi hasa for many many  posterity. 

Akshayaram Viswanathan