NavDharmyug

A great Guru, a master, a true Teacher needs no defense. He is not running a shop which needs defending. But a real Guru represents something bigger than his person. A real Guru holds within him knowledge distilled across the centuries. That is why he will be attacked, that is why he needs to be defended. A Learned master will not hand you over stale, second-hand knowledge. He will equip you with an ability to find your own facts, test your own truths, so you could breath in a free air and find for yourself the invigorating fragrance of truth. Truth comes in various forms and hues. What is true for me, may not be true for "Not-me". Indian philosophy for centuries has searched the truth thus. A true teacher will not set up a Dera and tell you the rules to follow. He will set you free. He will tell you " This is my way. What is your way ?" and will also tell you that there is nothing called " The Way ". A true teacher will not set himself on a pulp...

This is the second part of the series that I am trying to put together, trying to get a glimpse inside the Ancient History of our nation- India. As I write this, I am much troubled by the politically tweaked, hollow history taught to us which haunts us as the citizens of this great land which has been the northern star to the world that for a long time walked in the wilderness during the dark ages, while the Sun, that the Aryans would call Savitr or Surya  ,  had already dawned on this land. This land which had not only discovered speech and language, as the celebrated fulcrum on which civilized mind rested (called Vach by the Vedic Aryans); but had already started on a journey of spiritual and philosophical journey, which the West would join only several thousand years later.  There were disputes around Aryan Invasion Theory. Some objected to my post which hinted to the same, although I had mentioned under due protest against the term 'Invasion' a much mislea...

I am in Pune. There are rains. Rains came to Delhi and passed it by. I too ran off to Pune. I do not know why. There is such a severe stench of mendacity in the air which settles around this time of the year. A pretense of significance of my life in other lives around me, a pretense of significance of my life, in its own solitude.  The city, which is always green and lush,  is violently green today. The airfield, the roads, the buildings- are all clean and washed and shiny. I did catch some drizzle outside the airport. Just a slight drizzle, failing miserably to clean the cobwebs on my soul. A soul that has aged years in last year. I finished Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre on the flight.  The novel is a philosophical story wrapped around the search and eventual futility of existential meaning. I am always contemplative around the birthday (this I wrote last birthday - Why I Hate Birthdays? )  . This birthday is even worse. While people claim that Forties is the...

Avishi: The Vishpala of Rig Veda Pages: 388 My Rating: 5/5 Genre: Mythological Fiction Amazon Link: Click HERE I am a poor reader. Not that I read slow, or read less. I think, oftentimes, that I read too much for my own good. I read many books, in parallel, at the same time, picking one and dropping another and then going back to the earlier one.  In every book, there are some moment of lapses of laziness, some bored silliness, intermittent, while we wait for that moment which could pull us back from our dreary journey from one page to another. I usually find hard sailing through such moments, and then move from one book to another- an very unfaithful reader. There are very few books which hold me by my ears, not letting me move a bit, one way or other. I would fold the book and close the eyes, in between, but then, in those moments, I would be transitioning into a world created in the book, and not escaping it.  This book by Saiswaroopa Iyer is one such boo...

हे मातृवत् वसुंधरा।   हे सप्तसिंधु की धरा।। भरत की सिंह-गर्जना सुलक्षणा सुदर्शना।  शिव की योग-दृष्टि तुम  प्रथम रचित सृष्टि तुम।  हो भूमि तुम अशोक की  हो वत्सला त्रिलोक की।  हो शून्य तुम, अनंत तुम  ग्रीष्म तुम, वसन्त तुम।  सागर का जो विस्तार है  सो राष्ट्र का आधार है।  उत्तर में हिम प्राचीर है  निर्भय अविचल वीर है।   विंध्य की सुप्त -श्रंखला  ज्यों सुंदरी की मेखला।  पश्चिम का प्रखर प्रताप हो  पूरब से उठी आलाप हो  आज़ाद का अभिमान तुम  बिस्मिल की अक्खड़ शान तुम।  सुभाष का बलिदान तुम , एक अनवरत अभियान तुम।  माता तुम्ही में प्राण हैं  श्रद्धा हो तुम, विश्वास तुम।  निर्भीक तुमको सौंप दूँ  मांगो जो अंतिम श्वास तुम।  जो शीश भी तुम मांग लो  संशय ना लूँ मन में ज़रा।   हे मातृवत वसुंधरा।  हे सप्त-सिंधु की धरा।।          - साकेत Click the Link below for the Audi...

I “Every record had been destroyed or falsified, every book re-written, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered…..Nothing exists excepts an endless present in which the Party is always right.” – George Orwell, 1984 . Ancient Geography of India: Sir Alexander Cunningham, 1870 Introduction :           The history of India has been manipulated and sullied similarly. So much so that even as Indians, we have forgotten our proud History as Indians and what we do remember is so full of remorse, so dense with defeat that instead of pride in being the descendants of one of longest-living, continuous train of civilization in the world, in spite of centuries of ruthless oppression, still surviving with a named identity, we are ashamed, embarrassed and confused. We are educated on propagandist history, which tells little and judges more, leaving us muddled, embarrassed and often fract...