Indian Ocean Community Uniting Nations on Path of Progress

BOOK REVIEW:
V. Sundaram I.A.S (retd.) and Praveen Shanker Pillai

Another well researched book by Dr S. Kalyanaraman, a reputed scholar and a recognized world authority on the Sarasvati River Civilization. The book cover showing a panoramic scene of a seacoast extending indefinitely onto the horizon probably represents the endless possibilities of the Indian Ocean Community.

On 22nd September 2012 at Bhopal a gathering of 450 scholars from 20 nations attending a Conference on Dharma-Dhamma made the historic Sanchi Declaration. This Declaration broadcasted the vision of Indian Ocean Community as a development powerhouse of over 2 Billion people. The Declaration coincided with the Foundation Laying Ceremony of the Sanchi Buddhist University.

The Preamble of the Declaration states as follows: Founded on Dharma-Dhamma continuum, the imperative of the Indian Ocean Community calls for new developments to meet the dangers of the world economic crisis and to realize the responsibilities, wishes and aspirations of the democratic people of the Indian Ocean.

Under the subtitle of Fundamental Responsibilities, the Declaration goes on to proclaim promotion of democracy, fundamental responsibilities, fundamental rights, freedom, equality, justice, safeguarding of cultural heritage, veneration of those ancestors who provided the firm roots of the Dharma-Dhamma civilizational continuum of the Indian Ocean Community, developmental projects for abhyudayam (emancipation) and creation of an ecologically sustainable Order.

There is also a stated aim of having a common currency called Mudra, Indian Ocean Parliament elected by universal Suffrage, Laws based on spiritual values of Dharma-Dhamma, Indian Ocean Court of Justice and an Indian Ocean Community constituting a Rashtram of federating states speaking in one voice on matters of foreign policy.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt drafted the Atlantic Charter in Newfoundland and issued it as a Joint Declaration on 14th August 1941. Both America and Britain wanted to present their unity, regarding their mutual principles and hopes for a peaceful world after the World War II. The Charter envisaged global economic cooperation and advancement of social welfare where the participants would work for a world free of want and fear. The Sanchi Declaration at Bhopal on 22nd September 2012 reminds us of the Atlantic Charter.

This book on Indian Ocean Community starts earnestly with a serious discussion of archaeological findings marking ancient maritime trade relations in the region. The pictures of Indus-valley type seals, bronze figurines, Ajanta paintings depicting horses and elephants aboard the ship carrying Prince Vijaya to Sri Lanka are illustrated here.

The Polynesian word catamaran came from the Tamil word kattumaram or “logs bound together”. There is an interesting map of the Chola Maritime Empire, their vassals in Orissa and Bengal and also the vast areas constituting the present South-East Asia culturally influenced by Dharma. In fact, the largest Vishnu Temple in the world is not in India, but in Angor Wat, Cambodia.

What is truly attractive about this book is the series of discussions centred on dharma, a word without any equivalent in English. I can’t help quoting a paragraph from this book.

“The centrality of role of elders is to declare dharma. This is mentioned in a passage in Mahabharata: 
na sa sabha yetra na santi vrddhaa,
(That is no Assembly where there are no Elders present.)
na te vrdhhaa ye na vadanti dharmam.
(Those are not Elders who do not declare Dharma! )”

Dharma is an Ordering Principle which is independent of one’s faith or methods of worship or what is understood by the term “religion”, thus providing for total freedom in the path chosen or ethical norms employed, in an eternal journey from being merely alive to becoming ennobled. Dharma is the celebration of freedom to move from Being to Becoming.

The Universal or Eternal Sanatana Dharma is an Ordering Principle and it is applicable across many facets of life. Raja-dharma is the Ordering Principle for Governance. Swa-dharma is the Ordering Principle for one’s spiritual quest. Asrama-dharma is the Ordering Principle for one’s station in life’s progress from childhood, through studentship, marital life to old age. Sreni-dharma emphasises social responsibilities of corporations, adding spiritual values to material ethos. There is also a Yuga-dharma which changes with the changes in era or epochs traversing through or transcending across vast expanses of Time.

Dharma is detailed, elucidated and elaborated with the use of the terms such as, satyam, rita, rinam, vrata to defining ethical responsibility performed in relation to social and natural phenomena.

While Dharma is an Ordering Principle, Rashtram is Dharma in action. Rashtram is the path to achieve a fundamental component of Dharma: abhyudayam (emancipation). Thus Rashtram has a wider connotation than the word ‘Nation’. The Indian Ocean Community is slated to be a Rashtram of several nations rooted in Dharma. People united in Dharma form Rashtram. If Rashtram is the soul, Country is the body and the State is the protective robe. Swami Vivekananda had predicted that modern science and education would break down barriers between nations and prepare the ground for the fulfilment of the age-old Vedic dream of one united world.

In Jaina thought Dharma and Adharma are viewed as principle of motion and rest. Adharma is sloth, stupor and laziness of body and mind. An analogy is given of a bird which falls when the motion of its wings ceases. Similarly a man falls when he ceases to perform according to Dharma. The FALL OF MAN is not from acquiring KNOWLEDGE OF LIFE (as viewed by Abrahamic faiths) but from failing to acquire the KNOWLEDGE OF DHARMA and failing to act on that KNOWLEDGE OF DHARMA.

Human Rights flow from ceaseless performance of Dharma. Dharma is opposed to the statism of caste rigidity, slyly aided and abetted by the Communist Parties of all hues and overtly encouraged by the Sonia Congress Party and its mischievous derivatives of caste-based parties like the DMK, BSP, SP etc for electoral gains.

Students of Sanskrit Language and Hindu scriptures would benefit from the detailed description in this book of the Vedic concepts of Dharmam, Satyam, sacrifice, Pravritti, Nivritti, Sangraam, Shraeni-Dharma (pg 175) and Rashtram.

Areas of South East Asia which were ruled by Srivijaya Empire in Sumatra, Majapahit Empire of Java, Bali and parts of Philippine archipelago, Funan Kingdom of Cambodia, Khmer Empire of Indochina, Langkasuka Kingdom, Gangga Negara and Old Keda in Malay Peninsula and Champa Kingdom of Central Vietnam were influenced by Hindu merchants who brought purohits as advisors. The civilization of India influenced languages, scripts, calendars, legends and other artistic aspects of the peoples and nations of South East Asia. Central and South East Asia became flourishing centres of Indian culture and regarded India as holy land while they were seldom subjects to the regime of any Indian King.

Traitorous Communist ideologues and their treacherous collaborators, the “Eminent Historians” who love to hate Hinduism and who always denigrate the achievements of the ancient Hindus ought to read this book and be enlightened about the civilizational influence of Hinduism which did not depend, unlike the Arabs or Europeans, either on treachery or on military means to spread culture and commerce.

Indian students of history have become deracinated, enervated and inoculated with inferiority complex by reading NCERT school history books, which are distorted by Communist toxicity. By reading this inspiring book, they would feel a sense of elation and quiet pride at the monumental, surviving and thriving cultural bridges built by their Hindu ancestors with other nations like Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Tibet, Mongolia and Japan.

Borobudur, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a 9th Century Mahayana Buddhist monument in Magelang, Central Java.
Jonggrang is a 9th Century Hindu Trimurthi Temple, built by the Sanjaya Hindu Kings of 7th-8th Century, 18 Kilometres East of Yogyakarta in Java island.

In Prambanan Temple complex there were 240 Temples.

The Indonesia Rupiah features Lord Ganesha.

Krishna-Arjuna statue adorns Jakarta Main Square in Indonesia.

There is a massive statue of Ghatotkacha near the Ngurah Rai (or Denpasar) International Airport at Bali.

Lord Ganesha is on the logo of the Bandung Institute of Technology.

There is a long list of Ganesha Temples in Sri Lanka and South East Asia.
Malay and Bhasa Indonesia borrows abundantly from Sandkrit language. Their cities are named after Indian cities like Ayodhya, lavapuri, Kanchanapuri, Chandrapuri, Vishnulok, Simhapura, Jayakarta. Their rivers are addressed reverentially as Mae (Ma).The long and broad river flowing from Himalaya through China, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia is called Mae Ganga or Maekong.

Official mascot of Indonesia’s Military Intelligence is Hanuman who in Ramayana traced Sita Devi. Indonesian Airline is proudly named Garuda.

Such an expression of pride in Indic culture would be abhorrent to the Mughal-Catholic Sonia Congress traitors and criminals and would be immediately branded by them as “Communal” and attacked by the Marxists, Mullahs and Missionaries in “Secular” clothing and by the paid and kept journalistic prostitutes of Mainstream English Media, both print and electronic!

HOWEVER, THE TWO GREAT HINDU EPICS, RAMAYANA AND MAHABHARATA ALONG WITH THE TEACHING OF THE GREAT MASTER GAUTAMA BUDDHA ENCAPSULATE THE DHARMA-DHAMMA VALUE SYSTEM OF SOUTH EAST ASIA.

This book has several anecdotes of the reverence shown by the Indonesian leaders for Hindu scriptures and of the large participation of Thai, Malay and Chinese people in Hindu religious festivals. Swami Vivekananda’s teachings were an inspiration to the freedom fighters in Malaysia and Indonesia. The heroic saga of Chatrapati Shivaji Majharaj was an inspiration for the Vietcong guerrilla fighters from 1955 to 1975.

Students of Buddhism would benefit from the detailed discussion on the Theravada denomination of Buddhism and the vicissitudes of Baudha Dhamma History in Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand.

The book moves abruptly into economic affairs of the region. Just as OECD and European Coal and Steel Commission preceded the Formation of European Community, the book holds out the hope that the formation of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission is a harbinger of the Indian Ocean Community. THE BOOK SAYS THAT INDIAN OCEAN NATIONS FREE FROM COLONIAL DOMINATION EMERGES AS A GLOBAL ECONOMIC POWER.

Now my question is what is colonial domination? Is colonial domination to be restricted to European colonial domination or should it also include the equally debilitating Arab colonial domination? Yes, Islam, under the cover of a religion is nothing but Arab colonial domination.

The Quran is written in Arabic language for the Arab people. Allah selected only Arabic Language for transmitting his message. He appointed an Arab man as the Prophet of Islam, Allah’s House (Kaaba) is located in Arab land, and all Muslims pray toward that House. The Arab Imperialist ideology of Islam, which mandates the surrender to Allah also entails the surrender to Arabia. The Islamists put Islam above their own country due to the fact that Arab Nationalism is interwoven with Islam. Muslims view local nationalism a challenge to Islam and a crime against Islam. By embracing Islam, Non-Arabs automatically become mental slave of the Arabs. Non-Arab Muslim countries are colonies of Arabia and suppliers of foot soldiers of Islam.

While Dharma stands for motion and change, the Quran by rejecting any change, dictatorial force imposed a divinely-ordained Arab blueprint on Muslim societies. Devout Muslims see change as an affront to the Quran. Change-resisting Islam is therefore scripturally opposed to Change-embracing Dharma.

Ceaseless performance of Dharma leads to Human Rights, but Arab Imperialism tolerates only Islamic Rights and repudiates all-encompassing Human Rights by prescribing a descending order of rights to Muslims, Dhimmis, Kaffirs, Women and Slaves.

Abhyudayam (emancipation), Loka-Hitam (general welfare), Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu (may, all the people of the world be happy) are concepts arising from Dharma-Dhamma. Arab Imperialism’s Universal Brotherhood restricts itself only to Muslims and definitely excludes non-Muslims, the much hated infidels. "The infidels should not think that they can get away from us. Prepare against them whatever arms and weaponry you can muster so that you may terrorize them." [Qur’an 8:59] To quote the prominent London Imam and Islamic theologian Abu Hamza al-Masri, "There is no liquid loved by Allah more than the liquid of blood…. Whether you do it by the lamb, or you do it by a Christian, you do it by a Jew, or you do it by any other enemies of Allah."

The author quotes the revered Dhammapada on page 122: “Hatreds never ceases through hatred, but through love alone they cease.” Preaching love to herbivorous antelopes will never save them from blood-thirsty wolves. This is the Law of Nature and this is also the History of 800 years of unprovoked Genocidal Muslim Jihad against the peace-loving Hindus of India.

Only Sangha-Shakti, defensive-offensive capabilities, a ready willingness to use offensive capabilities and a fearsome reputation arising from a consistent and persistent use of offensive capabilities can save civilized people from their blood-thirsty enemies! The history of Han/Chinese Imperialist offensive actions and Soviet Russian offensive actions against the Muslims points to this ground reality!!

The concept of the Indian Ocean Community modelled on the European Community carries with it, unfortunately, a very severe theoretical flaw. The countries constituting the European Community are all Christian nations – Catholic or Protestant. There are no Muslim-majority countries in it.

The proposed Indian Ocean Community based on Dharma should exclude those countries ruled by Arab Imperialism, Judeo-Roman Imperialism or Communist Imperialism. These Imperialist ideologies are inimical to Dharma.

Unjust Laws of tyrannies may restrain or regulate men’s words and govern their actions. The machinery of propaganda may pack their minds with falsehoods and deny them truth for many generations of time. But the eternal soul of man thus held in trance or held frozen in a long night can be awakened by a spark coming from God-knows-where and in a moment the whole structures of lies and oppression is on trial for its life.

Peoples in bondage need never despair. Let them hope and trust in Dharma and in the genius of mankind. It is not in the power of worldly forces to alter the main elements of human nature or restrict the infinite variety of forms in which the soul and genius of the human race can and will express itself.

The proposed Indian Ocean Community based on Dharma should include only those countries ruled by laws based on Dharma. It may also include those countries whose closest outlets are Indian Ocean ports, such as the landlocked Nepal and Bhutan which are still governed by laws based on Dharma. When Tibet becomes free, Tibet may also be welcomed to this grouping.

The Dharma-Dhamma based Indian Ocean Community could have a network of Railways, Roadways and Shipping for facilitating and promoting intra-regional trade and tourism. The Community could have a Customs, Banking and Postal Union and they could also co-operate in maritime security and search for deep sea minerals including hydro-carbons. The accelerator-cum-multiplier effects of the upward surge in investment in multiple areas arising from informed economic co-operation among the Indian Ocean Community are going to be phenomenal and far-reaching, initiating a soaring crescendo of development, opening out to millions and millions of people of the Indian Ocean Community, infinite opportunities for a fuller and richer life.

This book has an interesting discussion on how the proposed Indian Ocean Community Rashtram ought to be governed. When INDIA, the single most important constituent of the proposed Indian Ocean Community is not run by laws based on Dharma-Dhamma, then, where is the question of the larger Indian Ocean Community being a people living under a single imperium derived from a single source - Dharma?

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, an accomplished writer, Hindu thinker and the only Indian Governor-General of India had this to say: “The fate of a nation is doomed if corruption poisons its life in every sphere, as most people feel and complain that it does today in our land. ... public activities are poisoned with this fatal poison, and the process is so widely prevalent that people seem reconciled to it. Democracy is disclosing itself as a puppet dancing to the pull of money-strings.”

The book admits the stark reality that the various Commissions appointed by the Government of India have failed to recognize and act upon the serious threats faced by the Rashtram on the key issues of integrity and security caused by the threats to the polity by criminalizing corrupt practices. The colonial loot of unprecedented dimensions from India has been worsted by the post-colonial loot by the Nehru-Gandhi Family. One conservative estimate by Director of Central Bureau of Investigation puts it at a staggering USD 500 Billion! This is how Sonia Gandhi (born Antonia Edvige Albina Maino) the Italian-born President of the Indian National Congress Party became the fourth richest politician of the world with an estimate USD 18 Billion in wealth, despite having no known sources of income.

India’s problems arise because we have forgotten Dharma. Excessive reliance on Roman jurisprudence without a corresponding emphasis on social responsibility, enjoined by Dharma, has resulted in a Judiciary centred on Law and Lawyers and not resting on Equity and Natural Justice. Litigation drags on endlessly with the poor and weak suffering horrendous injustice. The judicial process has to be streamlined to render quick justice at low cost. For the people to have faith in orderly governance, the Judiciary needs to uphold Justice and not merely uphold Law. Justice has to be rendered and be seen to be rendered.

The Indian State cannot be based on imported ideologies. A Secular or panth nirapeksh Constitution has to be replaced with a new Constitution based on Raja-dharma. The much-reviled Manu, the law-giver of Krita Yuga and author of Manusmiriti wrote as follows: “Just as the Mother Earth gives support to all living beings, a King must give support to all without any discrimination”.

What do we have in India? We have a Congress Prime Minister, Muslim terrorist-appeasing Dhimmi Manmohan “a man ki asha” Singh who declared in December 2006 that Muslims shall have first claim on the resources of India. Raja-dharma which protects the people who adhere to Dharma and punishes the wicked should be the basis of the rewritten Indian Constitution. For this we need a new Constitution and a Second Republic replacing the present Weimar-type anarchic, oppressive, inequitable, “secular”, socialist, nonaligned and maligned Republic of India.

Bhaarat, a nation named after the redoubtable Emperor Bharat who was famed for rigorously implementing Raja-dharma, must be ruled by Laws based on Dharma. Such a Bhaarat will stride rapidly to peace and prosperity. We have seen a beginning in Gujarat. Let us hope this emphasis on Dharma will spread to the rest of India and from there onward to the Greater India that is the Indian Ocean Community.

The famous American woman historian Barbara Tuchman (1912-1989) wrote as follows about the revolutionary impact of books on human culture and civilization: “Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Without books, the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are agents of change, windows on the world, ‘lighthouses’ (as a poet said) ‘erected in the sea of time’. They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.” Dr Kalyanaraman’s revolutionary book on the Indian Ocean Community will serve as a potent and powerful agent of change in the Indian Ocean Littoral States.

This book is available on amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Indian-Ocean-Community-Uniting-progress/dp/0982897154

GURU VANDANA

Guru is one of the thousand 'naamams' in the Vishnu Sahasra-Naamam.
Verse 23 says this:
गुरुर्गुरुतामो धाम सत्य सत्यपराक्रम I
निमिषो निमिष स्रग्वी वाचस्पतिरुधाराधीः II
"gurur gurutamo dhaama satya satya-paraakrama
nimisho nimisha sragvi vachas-patir udaaradheehi"

Guru or Mahaa Vishnu is worthy of our worship.

Guru Vandana is an aacharam derived from Sanatana Dharma.
"aachara prabhavo dharma, dharmasya prabhu achyuta".

Guru Vandana is not flattery of our cane-wielding, stern, grim, be-spectacled primary school teacher, as this writer had believed when he was very very young and, needless to add, very very foolish!

"gurur Brahma gurur Vishnu gurur devo Maheshwara,
guruh sakshat para-brahma, tamsai shree guruvae namaha"

Guru Vandana is to honour the entire 'guru parampara' of maata, our mother, pita, our father, guru who taught us in schools colleges and in our professions, the guru parampara, the gurus whom we have seen and from whom we have learnt, and even the gurus of earlier generations who are unknown to us but who are nevertheless integral to the sacred guru-parampara, all the way to 'parama-daivam' or Mahaa Vishnu.

We honour
 maata or janani the mother who is of course our first guru
 jagat-maata, Parvati Devi
We honour
 Pitaa or the father is the second guru.
 Jagat-pita, Mahaa-Dev.

Honour is due to our teachers in schools and colleges and to our trainers in our profession or vocation. They are the gurus whom we have seen .

Then there are the gurus whom we have not seen but of whom we have heard and from whom we have learnt through their actions and teachings.
We honour our kula guru of our respective communities.
In the Ayurveda medical profession, we know of the gurus Charaka and Shushruta whose guru parampara derives from Guru Dhanvantari whose guru is Mahaa Vishnu.
In the Siddha medical system, the guru parampara begins with Agastya Muni whose guru is Mahaa-Dev.
There are two schools of ancient architects and builders, one begins with Vishwakarma, the architect of Devas, whose guru is Mahaa Vishnu and the other begins with Mayaa, the engineer-in-chief of the Asuras, whose guru is Mahaa-Dev.

We honour
 Deva-guru Brihaspati,
 Asura-guru Shukra-acharya,
 Kapila-acharya who propounded Sankhya philosophy,
 Shankara-acharya who expounded the Advaita Vedanta,
 Madhva-acharya who expounded the Dvaita Vedanta,
 Ramanuja-acharya who expounded the Vishistadvaita Vedanta and
 Bhagavaan Sri Krishna, Mahaa Vishnu's poorna-avataram
  who gave us Sreemad Bhagavad Gita to guide us in the right living,
 Guru Sandeepani, the guru of Bhagavaan Sri Krishna
 Bhagawan Parashurama, the guru of Guru Sandeepani
 Maharshi Veda Vyaasa, who taught us about
life, deeds and teachings of Bhagavaan Sri Krishna
  and who compiled the MahaaBhaarata, Vedas, Upanishads etc.
 Bhagavaan Sri Raam, the maryaada purushottam,
  who through his life example taught us how to live righteously,
 Brahma-Rishi Vashishta, the kula guru of Bhagavaan Sri Raam,
 Brahma-Rishi Vishwamitra, another guru of Bhagavaan Sri Raam,
 Maharshi Valmiki who taught us Raamaayanam,
  the story of Bhagavaan Sri Raam,

 The Sapta Rishis,
  Atri, Angiras, Agastya, Gautama, Bhrigu, Kashyapa and Vashishta, the gurus of Maharshi Valmiki.

Then there are the hundreds of thousands of gurus of whom we have not heard, but who are nevertheless worthy of our obeisance and ultimately we honour the guru of all gurus, the quintessence of all the qualities of a guru and repository of all wisdom "gurutamao dhaama" Lakshmi-Pati, Mahaa Vishnu.

In the military the chain of command is the guru parampara and it is to be obeyed without question. In the civilian life the office hierarchy is the guru parampara and it is to be honoured and obeyed. At home the elders constitute the guru parampara who are to be respected and obeyed. Just as we honour and obey the gurus, they in turn treat us with affection and compassion and bestow upon us the blessings of their knowledge and wisdom.

In educational institutions the day starts with the chanting of Guru Vandana is followed by Vinayaka Stuti and Saraswati Vandana to invoke the blessings of the Lord Ganapathi, the Remover of Obstacles, and of Goddess Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning. We recite Guru Vandana to seek benedictions, to think the right thoughts, to say the right words, to do the right deeds, so that we may perform our 'swadharma' and acquire fame and various types of fortunes in this world and in the next. Sanatana Dharma requires that we perform Guru Vandana at the start every day that we may be rightly guided in our tasks which we aim to accomplish to perfection.

It is sad to note that most caste-based organizations do not start their meetings with Guru Vandana followed by Vinayaka Stuti. This explains why they are loosing their spiritual moorings and ceasing to command the respect of their adherents.


VERSES OF GURU VANDANA
with their meanings:

अखण्ड मण्डलाकारं व्याप्तंयेन चराचरं।
तत्पदं दर्शितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरुवे नमः॥
Salutation to the noble Guru, who has made it possible to realise the state which pervades the entire cosmos, everything animate and inanimate.

अज्ञान तिमिरान्धस्य ज्ञानाञ्जन शलाकया।
चक्षुरुन्मीलितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥
Salutation to the noble Guru, who has opened the eyes blinded by darkness of ignorance with the collyrium-stick of knowledge.

गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः ।
गुरु साक्षात परंब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥
Salutation to the noble Guru, who is Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara, the direct Parabrahma, the Supreme Reality.

स्थावरं जंगमं व्याप्तं यत्किंचित्स चराचरम् ।
तत्पदं दर्शितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥
Salutation to the noble Guru, who has made it possible to realise Him, by whom all that is - sentient and insentient, movable and immovable is pervaded.

चिन्मयं व्यापियत्सर्वं त्रैलोक्यं सचराचरम् ।
तत्पदं दर्शितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥

Salutation to the noble Guru, who has made it possible to realise Him pervades everything, sentient and insentient, in all three worlds.

सर्वश्रुति शिरोरत्न विराजित पदाम्बुजः ।
वेदान्ताम्बुज सूर्योयः तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥
Salutation to the noble Guru, whose lotus feet are radiant with (the luster of) the crest jewel of all Srutis and who is the sun that causes the Vendanta Lotus (knowledge) to blossom.

चैतन्यः शाश्वतःशान्तो व्योमातीतो निरंजनः ।
बिन्दुनाद कलातीतः तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥
Salutation to the noble Guru,who is the ever effulgent, eternal, peaceful,
beyond space, immaculate, and beyond the manifest and unmanifest.

ज्ञानशक्ति समारूढः तत्त्वमाला विभूषितः ।भुक्ति मुक्ति प्रदाता च तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥
Salutation to that noble Guru, who is established in the power of knowledge,adorned with the garland of various principles and is the bestower of prosperity and liberation.
अनेकजन्म संप्राप्त कर्मबन्ध विदाहिने ।
आत्मज्ञान प्रदानेन तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥
Salutation to the noble Guru, who by bestowing the knowledge of the Self burns up the bondage created by accumulated actions of innumerable births.

शोषणं भवसिन्धोश्च ज्ञापणं सारसंपदः ।
गुरोः पादोदकं सम्यक् तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥
Salutation to the noble Guru, by sitting at whose feet, the ocean of transmigration, endless sorrows is completely dried up and the Supreme wealth is revealed.

न गुरोरधिकं तत्त्वं न गुरोरधिकं तपः ।
तत्त्वज्ञानात्परं नास्ति तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥
Salutation to the noble Guru, beyond whom there is no higher truth, there is no higher penance and there is nothing higher attainable than the true knowledge.

मन्नाथः श्रीजगन्नाथः माद् गुरु श्री जगत् गुरु ।
मदात्मा सर्वभूतात्मा तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥
Salutation to the noble Guru, who is my Lord and the Lord of the Universe, my Teacher and the Teacher of the Universe, who is the Self in me and the Self in all beings.

गुरुः आदि अनादि च गुरुः परम दैवतम् ।
गुरोः परतरं नास्ति तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥
Salutation to the noble Guru, who is both the beginning and beginningless, who is the Supreme Deity than whom there is none superior.

त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव, त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव ।
त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणं त्वमेव, त्वमेव सर्वं मम देव देव ॥
(Oh Guru!) You are my mother and father; you are my brother and companion; you alone are knowledge and wealth. O Lord, you are everything to me.

For the verses and meanings of Guru Vandana I have relied for most part on
http://samskrutam.com/samskrit/sanskrit-texts/guru-shloka.aspx .

SPOKEN SANSKRIT

Samskrita Bharati is a non-Government, non-profit organisation working to revive and popularise the use of Sanskrit or Samskritam, the Language of our National Ethos in daily communication. Samskrita Bharati is committed to the exposition of the richness and beauty of Samskritam and its relevance to the modern world. Propagated and popularised by the itinerant Rishi-Munis, Samskritam was a pan-Indian language in Vedic time. Due to an efflux of time it gave way to spoken dialects in various parts of Bharat. Samskrita Bharati is spearheading the ‘Spoken Samskritam’ movement in our country and abroad.The organisation teaches functional language for day-to-day conversation. Spearheaded by a team of selfless and dedicated volunteers, Samskrita Bharati conducts various programmes aimed at enabling people from all sections of society to discover the joy of speaking Samskritam, providing a glimpse into the scientific heritage and spiritual wisdom embodied in Samskrit literature and highlighting the need to preserve this ancient cultural and spiritual heritage of our land.

Pundit Chamu Krishna Sastry, a Sanskrit Scholar from Tirupati Sanskrit College along with his 5 friends after graduated in Sanskrit came up with a unique methodology of teaching spoken Sanskrit through ‘Speak Samskritam’ course with 10 day capsule classes of 2 hour duration. Within a short span of time this methodology became a trailblazer in the field of teaching Sanskritam. This Speak Samskritam Movement took off in 1981 from Bangalore city and the rapid spread of Spoken Samskritam classes all over the country paved the way to establish "Samskrita Bharati" - a national level organization in New Delhi in 1995. Lot of Simple Sanskrit books, tapes and CDs for learn practical conversations tools in Samskritam at various levels are developed systematically to allow new speakers to effectively use Samskritam for conversations in a span of mere ten days.

I would like to mention here a Times of India report by Kushala, dated 13 August 2005:

This is regarding a quaint, sleepy hamlet named Mathoor in Karnataka, situated a little over 4 kms away from the hustle-bustle of the district headquarters, Shimoga,. Samskritam is the vernacular of a majority of the 5,000 residents of Mathoor Village.

Mathoor was known as a center of learning for Sanskritam and Vedic studies from time immemorial. Mathoor’s Sanskrit-speaking habit got a further boost when Pejawar mutt Pontiff Vishvesha Theertha visited the place in 1982, and christened it 'the Sanskrit village’. Here, the study of the language begins from the Montessori level, where kids are taught rhymes and told stories in Sanskrit — even Chandamama comics are printed in Sanskrit. While Sanskrit is a compulsory subject in school, teachers and students even talk to each other in this language. At times, the whole village seems like a pathashala — with everybody, greeting each other with 'Hari Om’ (hello) and 'Katham asthi?’ (How are you?).

Sanskrit has been the language of India's soul. A well-known western scholar has described it as the Mother of all languages. Our ancient Indian sages called it the Language of the gods, "Devabhasha". While it is a Pracheena Bhaasha or ancient language, it is also the Saamskritaka Bhaasha, or the language of our culture. Nobody can truly understand and appreciate the spirit of Indian culture, if he does not know the Sanskrit language. Sri Aurobindo, while speaking of the importance of the Sanskrit language for India, says: “It is of the utmost value to a nation, a human group-soul to preserve its language and make it a strong and living cultural instrument. A nation, race or people that loses its language cannot live its whole life or real life.”

The versatile literary creations in the Sanskrit language have evoked a deep sense of awe and wonder among scholars of the world. All the profound spiritual wisdom of India embodied in our ancient scriptures like Vedas, Upanishadas,Bhagawat Gita, Puranas and Shastras are expressed in the Sanskrit language. No wonder great Indian sages like Sri Aurobindo and Swami Vivekananda viewed Sanskrit language as the most perfect medium for expressing spiritual and philosophical ideas. But interestingly, even some of the modern scientists in the high-tech field of computers, have discovered that Sanskrit is the best language for the latest generation of Artificial Intelligence machine-systems.

Now let us hear from Jawaharlal Nehru. “The past has gone and the present is with us and we work for the future. But I have no doubt that whatever the shape the future may take, one of the biggest, the strongest, and the most powerful and the most valued of our legacies, will be the Sanskrit language.”

India’s contribution to various branches of knowledge and wisdom was denied in the past by the British as well as many Indian historians working under the British Raj and British influence. But why has this attitude not changed even after
independence? With the introduction of Macaulay system of education in 1835 the enslavement of the Indian mind began and it continues to be so even today --- even after 63 years of our partitioned independence.

”Secularists” take note. Jawaharlal Nehru who had the highest regards for Sanskrit language was not an adherent of the Sangh Parivar, which they greatly fear and hate. Macaulay’s offsprings, the “Convent-educated secular” Hindus who out of their deep-seated inferiority-complex try to deride anything to do with India’s hoary traditions, call Sanskrit a dead language. Let these slave-minded “secular” ignoramuses realise that the Jews, after Israel became independent, revived and popularized their ancient language Hebrew. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858-1922) highly regarded as the “reviver of the Hebrew language” was the first to float the idea of reviving Hebrew. He published articles in newspapers on the topic and then initiated and participated in the project which came to be known as the Ben Yehuda Dictionary. He worked tirelessly to raise awareness about Hebrew revival while fighting against its opponents.

Dr Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (1877-1947), son of a Sri Lankan Tamil aristocrat and his English wife, was a scientist by training and outlook. He believed that we will never get the strength to build a great enduring nation by solely engaging in material pursuits. He emphatically stated thus: “The weakness of our national movement lay in the fact that WE DID NOT LOVE INDIA. We loved the suburban England of that time. We loved the bourgeois prosperity, which we hoped would be established when we had learned enough science and forgotten enough art to successfully compete with Europe in a commercial war conducted on its present lines. It is not thus that nations are made.”

In the India of 1910 we were under British Rule and culturally we were the slaves of England and the West. In the India of today though we may be politically free, yet we continue to be cultural slaves of the Christian West.The warning given by Dr Ananda Coomaraswamy in these days of globalisation is as relevant as it was in the days of British India and Western Imperialism

Modern Hebrew, now revived and revitalized by Jewish patriots, is now widely spoken in Israel. Chamu Krishna Shastry says: "Popularising Sanskrit is far easier. It is the mother of almost all Indian languages and up to 60 per cent of the words in the other languages come from Sanskrit."

Language revitalization is being carried for several languages abroad often without official support. But the Government of India came out with a notification in 2000 declaring Sravana Pournima day as “SAMSKRITA DINAM” throughout the country. RASHTRIYA SANSKRIT SANSTHAN is a (DEEMED UNIVERSITY) established under the Ministry of Human Resources Development administers the Scheme for the Development of Sanskrit Education.

In Tamil Nadu, the Samskrita Bharati, has been working for the cause of propagation of Samskritam for more than two decades. Its activists state with pride that the local people’s response to their efforts has been very positive and encouraging despite the fact that native Tamil language had originated independent of Samskritam.

The credo of Samskrita Bharati could be summed up as follows:

To understand the greatness of our National Samskriti, revival of Samskritam is imperative.
For all Bharatheeyas it is easy to speak in Samskrit as most their mother tongues are derived from Samskritam.
Samskritam is not the exclusive preserve of any community and all Bharateeyas could learn to speak Samskritam fluently.
Samskritam should be a vibrant and widely spoken language.
Samskrita Bhasha is best suited to unite our country.

Dr. R. Ramachandran is the Secretary of Samskrita Bharati Tamilnadu.

e-mail :samskritabharatichn@yahoo.com

Sri Chattampi Swamikal - A few pictures

Today is September 21, 2009. The day also marks the end of the first three days of Navratri, especially in South India. The first three days of Navratri is here dedicated to Goddess Durga. The next three days are dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi.

Let me start my blog on this auspicious day with the blessings of the kula guru of the Nair Community of Kerala, the Maha Siddhar Sri Chattampi Swami.