Friday, May 06, 2005
Begining of the end of the Kanchi drama?
Just as the Kanchi Shankaracharya's arrest that stunned the nation was getting sidelined in due course, comes the TN High Court's ruling that the Goondas Act on the "accused" was applied "mechanically, without application of mind". I remember my father's comments when the Goondas Act was applied on Sri Sundaresan Iyer that itz ridiculous to call a 70+ year old person a goonda. This just confirmed my doubts on Jayalalithaa having ulterior motives in the whole drama. Hopefully this is the first step in setting the record straight.
However, as I had mused in another blog, who will take to task the police for hoasting cases with improper intentions? Who will bell the cat???
The Hereafter is far better for you than this first.
-Holy Kuran
Just as the Kanchi Shankaracharya's arrest that stunned the nation was getting sidelined in due course, comes the TN High Court's ruling that the Goondas Act on the "accused" was applied "mechanically, without application of mind". I remember my father's comments when the Goondas Act was applied on Sri Sundaresan Iyer that itz ridiculous to call a 70+ year old person a goonda. This just confirmed my doubts on Jayalalithaa having ulterior motives in the whole drama. Hopefully this is the first step in setting the record straight.
However, as I had mused in another blog, who will take to task the police for hoasting cases with improper intentions? Who will bell the cat???
The Hereafter is far better for you than this first.
-Holy Kuran
Monday, May 02, 2005
Tibetans and vegetarianism
I had mused in one of my previous blogs on the Dalai Lama's non-vegetarian lifestyle. The Dalai Lama has his own excuses for eating meat, however unconvincing they are!
I came across what came closest as a reason why so many Tibetans are non-vegetarians. In the book Aghora II: Kundalini, Swami Vimalananda mentions that the mantra "OM MANI PADME HUM" chanted by the Tibetans "inflames the fire in their bodies. This is good for them because they live in a cold country and have very little food to eat, so a strong internal fire keeps them warm. Those who have plenty of food available to them however tend to develop an obsessive desire for food."
There are some Tibetan sites, and - I would extrapolate - preachers too, that propagate chanting the mantra to counter balance the karma involved in eating meat. From Vimalananda's prespective, this does not seem very valid. But then as Vimalananda says, Tibetans probably are "not perfected yogis".
Talking of the Aghora series of books, this is a good read if not anything else just for curioisity purpose. Aghora III: The Law Of Karma however is a must for everyone. It is a very practical and reading it makes one aware of how to lead a life with minimal self-identifying karma.
He works best who works without any motive, neither for money, nor for fame, nor for anything else.
I had mused in one of my previous blogs on the Dalai Lama's non-vegetarian lifestyle. The Dalai Lama has his own excuses for eating meat, however unconvincing they are!
I came across what came closest as a reason why so many Tibetans are non-vegetarians. In the book Aghora II: Kundalini, Swami Vimalananda mentions that the mantra "OM MANI PADME HUM" chanted by the Tibetans "inflames the fire in their bodies. This is good for them because they live in a cold country and have very little food to eat, so a strong internal fire keeps them warm. Those who have plenty of food available to them however tend to develop an obsessive desire for food."
There are some Tibetan sites, and - I would extrapolate - preachers too, that propagate chanting the mantra to counter balance the karma involved in eating meat. From Vimalananda's prespective, this does not seem very valid. But then as Vimalananda says, Tibetans probably are "not perfected yogis".
Talking of the Aghora series of books, this is a good read if not anything else just for curioisity purpose. Aghora III: The Law Of Karma however is a must for everyone. It is a very practical and reading it makes one aware of how to lead a life with minimal self-identifying karma.
He works best who works without any motive, neither for money, nor for fame, nor for anything else.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Secular mourning in secular India
The secular Indian govt run by the secular Congress party and supported by the ultra-secular Left wasted no time in declaring a 3-day state mourning in India to mourn the death of Pope John Paul. It of course is a different matter that the Christian US, although run by an ultra-conservative Republican, did not need a state mourning. The hurry with which the Govt announced the decision of state mourning without giving a thought and without any consulation was apparent by the one day interval in between the 3 days as a foreign dignitory was visiting India and his tour couldn't be cancelled! Obviously, the babus know who is the person they need to please and how they can please her!
Contrast this to the mourning of the Swami Ranganathananda. The contribution of the Ramakrishna Mission to the Indian society is unparallelled. It is one of the few missions that has remained uncorrupted inspite of growing in strength. Not just does the activities cut across all sections of the Hindu society, it also cuts across all barriers of religion.
And what exactly was the contribution of Pope John Paul II to India? Urging an "harvest of faith" in India standing on Indian soil on the occassion of one of the most holy festivals of India, the Deepavali?
PS: Found it interesting that inspite of India's 3-day state mourning, India found no mention in CNN's list of heads of state who mourned the Pope's death. Itz another matter that our close friend and ally Mr. Musharraf found a mentioned there!
The new religion says that he is an atheist who does not believe in himself.
The secular Indian govt run by the secular Congress party and supported by the ultra-secular Left wasted no time in declaring a 3-day state mourning in India to mourn the death of Pope John Paul. It of course is a different matter that the Christian US, although run by an ultra-conservative Republican, did not need a state mourning. The hurry with which the Govt announced the decision of state mourning without giving a thought and without any consulation was apparent by the one day interval in between the 3 days as a foreign dignitory was visiting India and his tour couldn't be cancelled! Obviously, the babus know who is the person they need to please and how they can please her!
Contrast this to the mourning of the Swami Ranganathananda. The contribution of the Ramakrishna Mission to the Indian society is unparallelled. It is one of the few missions that has remained uncorrupted inspite of growing in strength. Not just does the activities cut across all sections of the Hindu society, it also cuts across all barriers of religion.
And what exactly was the contribution of Pope John Paul II to India? Urging an "harvest of faith" in India standing on Indian soil on the occassion of one of the most holy festivals of India, the Deepavali?
PS: Found it interesting that inspite of India's 3-day state mourning, India found no mention in CNN's list of heads of state who mourned the Pope's death. Itz another matter that our close friend and ally Mr. Musharraf found a mentioned there!
The new religion says that he is an atheist who does not believe in himself.
Lalu and his kulhars
As soon as he took over as the Railway Minister in the Manmohan Singh Govt, the alwayz-in-news Mr.Lalu decided that Railways will start serving in clay pots (kulhar, in Hindi) instead of plastic cups. And of course, media initially went ga-ga over the "environmentally friendly" measure. It took a Maneka Gandhi to put the idea in true perspective. As it turns out, the policy ended up where it logicaly could - on paper. An year down the line, PTI has found out that the policy just is not sustainable. Does Mr. Lalu have humility to accept it? It wont be a surprise if tomorrow he will come up with a boisterous and "son-of-the-soil" type defence of his policy, and further reiteration of the commitment of railways to "environment friendly and poor man friendly" measures and some high visibility raids to ensure adherence.
Railway ministry has alwayz been a favorite porfolio of politicians.....for the obvious reason that the scope to "serve" their local constituency/state is highest. No wonder Ram Vilas Paswan and Lalu had a bitter fight to get the railway berth. I guess except Mamta Bannerjee, very few people in recent times did a honet job in running the railway ministry.
This been the case, it probably is time to change the handling of the railway ministry. The railway ministry can be made exclusively available for Rajya Sabha members, or a Railway tribunal consisting of a professional group be given the charge of making policy decisions. Let us hope the Manmohan Singh ministry makes a "disruptive change" in the working of the railway ministry.
Neither seek nor avoid, take what comes.
As soon as he took over as the Railway Minister in the Manmohan Singh Govt, the alwayz-in-news Mr.Lalu decided that Railways will start serving in clay pots (kulhar, in Hindi) instead of plastic cups. And of course, media initially went ga-ga over the "environmentally friendly" measure. It took a Maneka Gandhi to put the idea in true perspective. As it turns out, the policy ended up where it logicaly could - on paper. An year down the line, PTI has found out that the policy just is not sustainable. Does Mr. Lalu have humility to accept it? It wont be a surprise if tomorrow he will come up with a boisterous and "son-of-the-soil" type defence of his policy, and further reiteration of the commitment of railways to "environment friendly and poor man friendly" measures and some high visibility raids to ensure adherence.
Railway ministry has alwayz been a favorite porfolio of politicians.....for the obvious reason that the scope to "serve" their local constituency/state is highest. No wonder Ram Vilas Paswan and Lalu had a bitter fight to get the railway berth. I guess except Mamta Bannerjee, very few people in recent times did a honet job in running the railway ministry.
This been the case, it probably is time to change the handling of the railway ministry. The railway ministry can be made exclusively available for Rajya Sabha members, or a Railway tribunal consisting of a professional group be given the charge of making policy decisions. Let us hope the Manmohan Singh ministry makes a "disruptive change" in the working of the railway ministry.
Neither seek nor avoid, take what comes.
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