spot_img

HinduPost is the voice of Hindus. Support us. Protect Dharma

Will you help us hit our goal?

spot_img
Hindu Post is the voice of Hindus. Support us. Protect Dharma
22 C
Sringeri
Monday, June 30, 2025
Home Blog Page 3569

Veer Savarkar: Bharat’s timeless hero

1
Veer Savarkar

The disgraceful recent Facebook attack on the nationalist hero Veer Savarkar by the Congress Party raises serious questions about its descent into moral bankruptcy and political shambles under its current leadership. The shocking Congress assault suggests that it may have been infiltrated by foreign interests seeking to poison Bharat, by assailing its sense of self. It is unthinkable that Indira Gandhi, who was hailed as Durga by L. K. Advani after her historic display of courage and honour in liberating Bangladesh, would have allowed such attempts to undermine the foundations of the nation’s self identity.

Congress post insulting Veer Savarkar
Congress’ Facebook post labelling Veer Savarkar as a ‘traitor’

Abusing a nation’s idea of its self is an old stratagem that colonialists and imperialists routinely use to undermine its sense of self and its pride. And Congress behaviour since the accession of a foreign-born ruler and utterly corrupt associated family suggests something truly sinister is afoot. Its heir apparent had slyly denounced Bharat’s Hindu people to the US ambassador as the real terrorists, and his intimate advisers have lined up to exonerate Pakistani terrorists, suggesting the Batla House and Ishrat Jahan encounters were staged and apparently assenting that the unprecedented 26/11 murderous assault on Mumbai was the handiwork of Hindus.

Unsurprisingly, today’s Congress heroes are the pathetic Kanhaiya Kumar and the profoundly anti-national academic Nivedita Menon, calling for the dismemberment of Bharat. Most shocking of all, Congress failed to understand the seriousness of the abuse at JNU of the most sacred of Hindu deities, the goddess Durga, as a whore. Compared to such egregious animus towards the very foundations of Hindu Dharma and the nationhood of Bharat’s people the sordid attack on Savarkar’s reputation is, as they say, small beer indeed.

Oxbridge degrees are apparently no longer quite what they used to be, though the Nehru family bahu acquired proficiency in English in a dubious one-room Cambridge attic providing the basics for waitressing! But a Cambridge MPhil doesn’t seem to amount to much either nowadays, but the college was headed, during Rahul’s supposed sojourn, by a pompous Bharatiya self promoter, not quite the real thing perhaps! Of course Oxbridge and other British academic institutions now stand accused of anti-Semitism, and hostility to Hindus barely lurks below the surface. Defenders of stoning to death were given a platform at Oxford, but Dr Subramaniam Swamy, Rajiv Malhotra and I were declined the opportunity to talk about the Bharatiya economy! The PM of Bharat was turned away by Cambridge.

Real academic training teaches how to read documents and understand their underlying significance and meaning. The plea for his early release, penned by Veer Savarkar to the British authorities, is a pro forma statement that is in the standard form of words for such an endeavour, though Savarkar’s one has an exaggerated tone suggestive of sarcasm and mockery! In fact, the great revolutionary martyr Sachindranath Sanyal had given similar undertakings to the British authorities and Sanyal felt that Savarkar’s plea was refused because he was considered a particular danger for civil peace in Maharashtra. Sanyal himself promptly reneged on the undertakings he had given to attain his own freedom and suffered imprisonment for life once again shortly.

In any case, of necessity, the technical legal prerequisite of such pleas by Savarkar and Sanyal was an affirmation of peaceful conduct in the future and loyalty to the established power, which they had to provide and did. But there was nothing compromising in the political calculation of such appeals for clemency since it was well understood that for nationalist leaders to languish in prison was the least productive outcome for the freedom struggle. There is nothing of any significance in Savarkar’s plea for early release that can be used to libel this great man. His record of unceasing struggle for his country and civilisation has become a source of pride and inspiration for subsequent generations. His puny and ignorant detractors will also be remembered, but only for their trenchant mediocrity and gross criminality.

In his plea for early release Savarkar seems to be accepting, on the face of it, Gandhi’s view that the British were to be ejected from Bharat peacefully. Ironically, the statement of Bhagat Singh used by Congress in the Facebook libel to demonise Savarkar, by attempting to use the fates of two of Bharat’s greatest heroes against the other, proposed the violent alternative of Subhas Bose that Gandhi and Nehru disavowed. These half wits also seem to be clueless of the harsh conditions of Savarkar’s incarceration and the prospect of his wasteful death without emerging to play any role in the nation’s freedom and building he had spent his entire life striving for, as even Mahatma Gandhi had recognised. Instead of the personal gratification of supposed reputational integrity Savarkar chose the politically wise path of attempting to gain freedom to serve the motherland.

The gross criminality of the Congress party is not just about the astounding theft of national resources that virtually destroyed Bharat’s economy. It also pertains to the evidence, as yet unpunished, of violations of Bharat’s Constitution in subverting parliament and the office of prime minister. The President of the Congress, having failed to seize the highest political office of the land by subterfuge because the nation’s titular head blocked her path, created an alternative structure in a so called National Advisory Council that dared to supplant the Government of Bharat. Indeed the Congress President and her handpicked prime minister should have faced summary arrest for abuse of office, nay treason, for allowing prime ministerial files to be handed over to her. This woman still leads the wretched Congress! And these people dare attack Veer Savarkar?

A pocket of intense Muslim presence and growth in Uttar Pradesh

5
Muslim presence and growth in UP Demographic Assault Meerut Attack Mob Lynch 26/11 Hindus Assaulted Muslim mobilization

There is a large and densely populated pocket of Muslim dominance in West UP.  This pocket comprises eight districts in the northwest part of UP and the adjoining district of Hardwar in Uttarakhand; it accommodates 30 percent of the Muslims of UP and nearly half of the Muslims of Uttarakhand. Total number of Muslims in this pocket is 1.23 crore, which is more than the number of Muslims in Assam and is comparable to Maharashtra.

‘Buddha In A Traffic Jam’ Exposes Left Fascism on University Campuses

2
Buddha In a Traffic Jam at jadavpur

A campus screening of director Vivek Agnihotri’s ‘Buddha In A Traffic Jam’ at Jadavpur University, West Bengal, was disrupted due to protests and violence by leftist student groups. This comes after the film was earlier denied permission to be screened by JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) faculty, but students screened it in an open arena of the university on March 18th 2016. Both incidents combined demonstrate the choke hold that the left/psuedo-secular forces have on the academic space in this country, and the intellectual tyranny which non-left creative minds regularly face.

Inspired by Agnihotri’s own life, “Buddha In A Traffic Jam” deals with corruption and Maoism in a business school. The film features actors Anupam Kher, Mahie Gill, Aanchal Dwivedi, Pallavi Joshi, Arunoday Singh and Vivek Vaswani. In the words of the director – “The film probes and exposes Naxal-NGO-Academia nexus and delves deep into the theme of ‘intellectual terrorism’ which I believe is a developing threat to our great country.  This film gives a solution – how we can find real “azaadi” from the middlemen and hence corruption.”

Students affiliated to Left-leaning organisation FETSU resorted to sloganeering and brandished posters saying “ABVP go back”, “RSS go back”, “Down with Fascism”, “Say No to Brahmanism” as Agnihotri’s vehicle approached the Jadavpur University campus for the screening.

Jadavpur Protests
Banner by leftists students claiming ‘Buddha In A Traffic Jam’ promotes “Brahmanism”

These are a few tweets put out by Vivek Agnihotri during the mayhem unleashed by leftist students. Agnihotri’s shoulder was injured, and students from the film organizing team were assaulted –

As per this news report –

“The screening, organised by a group backed by the RSS student wing ABVP, was scheduled at the varsity’s Triguna Sen auditorium, but the university’s alumni association cancelled the screening on Friday morning citing poll code violation. Despite the protests and cancellation, an open-air screening was held in the varsity’s football grounds close to the auditorium. However, the varsity’s assistant registrar came and requested the showing be stopped, said Agnihotri.

“We started the screening and I asked the leader of the protest to have a cup of tea with me. Then the assistant registrar came from somewhere and asked us to stop the screening. I don’t know what kind of a university it is, they can’t even decide whether the film can be shown or not shown,” Agnihotri told IANS.

Asked on why there were protests against his film, he said: “Because for the first time in 70 years somebody has dared to expose the Naxal-academia-intellectuals-media nexus.”

But the protesting students said: “Preaching divisiveness and Hindu fundamentalism should not be allowed on the campus.”

Accusing some of the organisers of molesting female students, the FETSU members allegedly beat up some ABVP supporters and confined four of them to the administrative building.

Later, BJP’s actress-turned-leader Rupa Ganguly filed a complaint at the Jadavpur police station that four of those invited for the screening of the award-winning film were beaten up and wrongly confined on a false accusation.

Bharatiya Janata Party leaders staged a demonstration at the police station and then rushed to the university.

“We have come to take the four of our invitees safely home. They have been beaten up. They are in a bad condition. We will wait for ten minutes. And then our people will take one minute to climb the gates and enter the campus,” said BJP leader Debasree Chowdhury.”

Another piece by Sreemoy Talukdar explains why this film is being protested so vehemently by the illiberal forces which have ruled the roost over Bharat’s academic spaces since Independence –

“There are two parts to the development that took place in Kolkata’s Jadavpur University on Friday over the screening of Vivek Agnihotri’s film Buddha In A Traffic Jam.

One, it is the regressive Left’s one of the most blatant displays of intellectual tyranny. Two, it is also a manifestation of the turf war that is taking place right now between the Right, which has political power but lacks the intellectual heft and Left, which shall not cede an inch of space from the last vestiges of its still considerable power — the citadels of illiberalism that our Universities have become.

Both are inextricably linked but I shall come to the second point in a bit.

First let us focus attention on the neat way in which the totalitarian Left has managed to sell itself as the “liberal voice” in India. It has done so by appropriating the century-old struggle of liberal thinking and exploiting that for the political purpose of stifling criticism of its fascist ways. The Left has successfully turned the rules of liberal thinking over its head.

This seems almost a Houdini act. How did the Left get away by such blatant subversion? This became possible because it tightly controls the supply line of thought.

Economist Sanjeev Sanyal has written in a recent column: “Ethnic cleansing of all non-Left thinkers since the 1950s…the result of the systematic cleansing was that there were no non-Left academics remaining in the social sciences field in India by the early 1990s.”

So the rules of the game are clear. The Left can stop screening of movies, label false charges, censure thoughts, ban books, kick authors out of India and yet if anyone accuses them of intolerance, the accusers are charged with intolerance instead.

In the political sphere, the Left has inflicted blood-curdling violence on its opposition. In West Bengal alone, political murders when it was at the helm for over three decades run well over 55000.

The Left can call for an Afzal Guru to emerge from every home, but Baba Ramdev has no right to address students in JNU. The Left can screen Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai, but when Buddha In A Traffic Jam is sought to be screened (with due permission, mind you) the movie is first denied consent and then even the unofficial screening is disrupted.

“We feel if such propaganda is allowed there will be fascist mobilisation within the campus,” said a protester at JU.

So a film (It is doubtful whether they have even bothered to watch it) becomes a propaganda when it fails to conform with the Left’s doctrine. And how to prevent a movie from triggering ‘fascist mobilization within campus’? By denying it permission, taking away its director Vivek Agnihotri’s freedom of expression. But for this skullduggery, the Left won’t be called fascists though. No sir! They are living embodiments of free-thinking in India.”

Over the last 18 months, events at different universities and colleges across the nation like JNU, FTII, Hyderabad Central University, IIT-Chennai, TISS, Jadavpur University etc have shown how the social sciences & arts space in Bharat has been completely captured by the left-secular nexus, who are extremely intolerant of any opposing view. And now that students opposed to their ideology are asking for an equal opportunity to express their views, the leftists are screaming ‘Intolerance Rising’, ‘Militarization of Campuses’ and what not. As the earlier piece says –

“It can be safely said that this won’t be the last time such turf wars in our Universities shall take place. And it also won’t be the last time that our social commentators and civil society shall indulge in selective applications of their principles of free speech.”

Incidentally, Jadavpur University had earlier witnessed ‘protest marches‘ in solidarity with JNU students (Kanhaiya Kumar and others) accused of sedition charges. These marches had seen demands such as freedom for Kashmir, Manipur and Nagaland, and supporting Afzal Guru, the Hurriyat Conference and the extremist SAR Geelani.

Listen here to the hard-hitting speech delivered by Vivek Agnihotri before screening of his film ‘Buddha In A Traffic Jam’ at JNU. The film releases on 13 May 2016.

Mewar Chronicles- Rana Kumbha

1
Rana Kumbha

In continuation of my series on Mewar, I examine the rise of the Sisodias, and the advent of the Ranas.

In my previous post, I had taken a look at the early history of Mewar, and how Bappa Rawal, played a role in the founding of the kingdom. Post Bappa Rawal, not much is really known about the successive rulers, though there was Bhatribhat I, who formed a loose confederation of sorts with other Rajput rulers. The last ruler Allat Singh was forced to move to Ahar, in the mid 10th century, abandoning Chittorgarh. Ahar now located in the Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh, served as the capital of the Gehlot rulers from 971 ACE to 1172 ACE. However constant Muslim invasions, meant the last ruler at Ahar, Kshem Singh had to move his capital to Dungarpur in Rajasthan.

Jisha & Champa: 2 More Victims of ‘Secular Progressivism’?

1

Two recent brutal rapes & murders – one in Kerala and the other in Assam – have again reignited the debate on women’s safety across Bharat.

On April 28, Jisha, a Dalit law student in Perumbavoor in Kerala was brutally raped and murdered in her own house. The post-mortem showed that her internal organs were severely damaged and she received over 30 wounds to her body. “The incident occurred inside her house, neighbours had seen the victim around 1 pm. So it might have happened after that. Police were informed after her mother saw the body around 8 pm. As of now we have not got any evidence (pointing to an accused). It is an area where lot of migrant labourers reside, so we are extending our enquiry to them too,” Perumbavoor DySP Anil Kumar told media outlets.

On April 29, 20 year old Champa Chetri from Margherita, Assam was raped and then murdered. She was abducted & raped while returning from the beauty parlor she was apprenticing at, after which her body was thrown into a river. All Assam Gorkha Student’s Union, Margherita protested against the heinous crime and demanded justice in the face of an apathetic administration.

Jisha & Champa : Victims of Rape and Murder
20 year old Champa – picture released by her family to spread awareness. Image Courtesy: Darjeeling Times

All the usual factors in play whenever such gruesome crimes occur can be seen here too – the relatively muted coverage by Delhi based channels (especially of the Assam case), women’s rights activists blaming ‘inherent patriarchy’ of Bharatiya society for rape, political parties indulging in the usual blame game, human rights activists & liberals (both from the West and Bharat) condemning Hindu society for ‘traditional oppression of women and lower castes’.

But what all the noise glosses over are some incontrovertible facts – 1.) The most effective weapon in the fight against any crime, including sexual crimes against women, is good governance and effective policing. 2.) There is a growing risk to our law & order caused by unchecked demographic change and illegal immigration. 3.) Social values have eroded due to rampant objectification of women in Bollywood and popular culture.

An objective and hard look at each of these factors gives rise to conclusions which are mostly unacceptable to our liberal-secular-progressive brigade, and hence don’t get discussed.

Effective Policing – An Integral Element of Good Governance

Law & order is a state subject – what this means is that every police force in the country is controlled by the respective State Government. While there is a need for deep rooted police reforms in Bharat to develop a modern, agile and more autonomous police force, it is still possible to provide effective policing in the current framework. What is needed is the political will & sense of accountability to the people. A cursory appraisal of law & order situation in various states of Bharat shows that West Bengal, UP, Bihar, Assam are the worst states in terms of law & order – not counting for Maoist violence in places like Chattisgarh and Jharkhand – and that Kerala is the one black spot in an otherwise better governed South Bharat.

The conclusions are obvious for those without ideological blinkers – the so-called secular, progressive parties which rule the states of West Bengal, UP, Bihar, Assam & Kerala provide the worst governance in critical areas like law & order, infrastructure, economic development. On the other hand, talk to locals and they will tell you the vastly improved governance and comparatively better law & order situation that states like Gujarat and MP have witnessed under successive BJP governments. Dig deeper to ask why BJP provides better governance compared to ‘secular’ alternatives in the form of Congress or its clones (SP, JDU, NCP etc) – the answer is RSS. It is the RSS culture of connecting with people at the grass roots, of their top brass living simple and disciplined lives, and the ideology of Hindutva which unites Hindu samaj, that has seeped into BJP and makes its Governments far more accountable to the people. Unlike BJP, the ‘secular’ parties come to power through fragile coalitions or by pandering to fragmented and disjointed voting blocs like Yadavs, OBCs, Muslims etc. Hence whatever little accountability a ‘secular’ Government has is to the specific voting block it relies on – the mayhem unleashed by Islamists in West Bengal and UP is testament to how this kind of politics plays havoc with law & order.

Of course, judiciary needs to pull up its socks as well – even the Jyoti Singh/Nirbhaya case which we were told was ‘fast-tracked’ is dragging on in the Supreme Court – SC has stayed the death penalty for the 4 accused, and refused to block the release of the ‘juvenile’ perpetrator Afroz who walked free in December 2015.

Illegal Immigration and Demographic Change

Unchecked illegal immigration from Bangladesh and the unnaturally high Muslim growth rate in specific pockets like the Eastern belt (parts of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam), Western UP, Kerala etc  have already been covered on HinduPost. The threat posed by these developments to internal and external security of the nation is real – a month long stay in some of the worst affected districts like Burdwan, Muzaffarnagar or Malappuram will explain why to the genuinely neutral observer.

But of course, this topic is completely taboo for the mainstream media discourse, and no social scientist has yet deemed it fit to study the correlation between this demographic change and crime. Especially when it comes to West Bengal, the secular liberal impulse is to completely suppress the news as was done to the brutal rape and murder of minor Hindu girl Twinkle in Jamuria, West Bengal.

Erosion of social values

When it comes to women’s safety, few will argue that women in Gujarat are the safest despite the alleged ‘regressive, communal, patriarchal’ nature of Gujarati society. Is it possible that the close knit nature of Gujarati society rooted in its traditional Hindu ethos, stress on family/society rather than just individual desires, and devout worship of the feminine divine such as Ma Ashapura or Ma Durga during Navratri has something to do with this?

Can we deny the impact on young minds of a morally decrepit Bollywood where crude objectification of women in the form of ‘item songs’ featuring leading actresses is now the new mainstream? Or TV ‘entertainment’ where stand-up comics on supposedly family shows crack double meaning jokes? Or when the largest selling English daily(tabloid?) Times of India puts this ‘story‘ on the front page?  But of course, any calls for these mediums of popular culture to introspect and modify their content is met with howls of protest over censorship, attack on FoE (Freedom of Expression), cultural fascism, regressive lumpenism etc etc. And any talk of introducing Yoga or value education in schools to empower young minds to deal with their emotions and the sexual imagery being bombarded on them 24×7 is labelled as ‘saffronization’ of education.

So it is for ordinary citizens to take up the task of spreading awareness on respect for women, equip society with the tools to fight this menace, and make the right political choices ignoring the secular liberal elites who will just lead you up the garden path.

(Disclaimer: This article represents the opinions of the Author, and the Author is responsible for ensuring the factual veracity of the content. HinduPost will not be responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information, contained herein.)

 

And the Lies Continue on Gujarat 2002

1
Gujarat 2002 Sabarmati Express

The Gujarat riots of 2002 must be the most discussed event in Bharat’s post-independece history. And most of the coverage in mainstream media is full of half-truths, misinformation and outright propaganda. The way channels like NDTV, IBN etc and newspapers like Indian Express, The Hindu, Times of India etc repeatedly twisted news related to the burning of Sabarmati Express in Godhra on 27 Feb, 2002, and subsequent riots that broke out in large parts of Gujarat is well documented.

क्यों आस्था आधारित पंथ धार्मिक नहीं हैं

0
पंथ religions

अब्राहमिक पंथ (रिलिजन),  विशेष रूप से ईसाईयत और इस्लाम ऐसे पंथ हैं जिनमें आस्था पर प्रश्न नहीं किया जा सकता उनका विश्वास है कि इन आस्थाओं को स्वीकार करने पर ही उद्धार होता है और स्वर्ग में जाने का अधिकार भी मिलता है उनका प्रमुख कार्य दूसरों को अपने पंथ में परिवर्तन करना है, जिसके लिए वे अनेक प्रकार से प्रभावित करना, लोभ-लालच या भय का प्रयोग करते है

ऐतिहासिक रूप से, ईसाईयत और इस्लाम पंथ के प्रचार के लिए तरह तरह के भय- जैसे ईश्वर का डर, फ़तवा, जिहाद व दण्ड का उपयोग हुआ है। आधुनिक पंथनिर्पेक्ष(सेकुलरवादी) देशों में भय का प्रयोग अप्रत्यक्ष रूप से ही सही, पर होता अवश्य है, और पंथ परिवर्तन की उद्देश्य पूर्ति के लिए जनहित और सामाजिक हित के कार्यों के  मुखौटे का प्रयोग होता है।

आस्था आधारित पंथ का उद्देश्य अपने भीतर के ईश्वरीय की अनुभूति करना नहीं होता बल्कि उसमें किसी उद्धारक, पैगम्बर, ग्रन्थ या संप्रदाय को महत्व दिया जाता है ईश्वर सम्पूर्ण आस्था का विषय होता है, उस पर न तो प्रश्न किया जा सकता है, न उसकी प्रमाणिकता पर प्रश्न किये जा सकते हैं और न ही आंतरिक अवलोकन किया जा सकता है भारत में अस्तित्व में आई ‘धार्मिक’ परम्पराएं बहुत अलग हैं । ये ज्ञान आधारित हैं, न कि आस्था आधारित। यहाँ ज्ञान नाम, आकार या संख्या का बाहरी ज्ञान नहीं है, बल्कि यह आन्तरिक आत्मज्ञान और अस्तित्व की एकता की समझ है

धार्मिक परम्पराएं आस्थाओं पर बल नहीं देतीं, बल्कि हमें आत्मचेतना पर विचार करने के लिए प्रेरित करती हैं। यह परम सत्य, सामूहिक आस्थाओं से नहीं बल्कि केवल स्वयं के प्रयासों से अर्जित किया जा सकता है इसका मार्ग हर एक के लिए अलग होता है धार्मिक परम्पराओं और विज्ञान में ज्ञान अर्जित करने की पद्धतियों में बहुत सी समानताएं हैं इसीलिए हिन्दू या बुद्ध धर्म को ‘पंथ’ कहना भ्रामक होगा

विश्व में आज आस्था आधारित पंथों का वर्चस्व है, ये पंथ सामूहिक विमर्श को अध्यात्म से हटा कर आस्था के विषयों पर लाना चाहते हैं यही कारण है कि आस्था आधारित पंथों के सम्मेलनों (interfaith conferences) का आयोजन किया जाता है, ऐसे समारोहों में पहले ही आस्थाओं और मान्यताओं को पंथ (religion) की परिभाषा के रूप में स्वीकार किया जाता है, जिससे अब्राहमिक परम्पराओं और उनके विचारों को एक प्रकार से अनुचित लाभ मिलता है   

धर्म, आस्था और पंथ

आज भारतीय प्रसंग में ‘धर्म’ शब्द का प्रयोग साधारणतः पंथ (religion) के रूप में किया जाता है परन्तु आस्था आधारित पंथ को ‘धर्म’ कहना उतना ही भ्रामक होगा जितना कि धार्मिक परम्पराओं को ‘पंथ’ कहना

धर्म सार्वभौमिक सत्य पर आधारित है, न कि आस्था और मान्यताओं पर धर्म का आरंभ ही प्राकृतिक शक्ति से होता है अग्नि का धर्म उसका ताप और दहन का गुण है अग्नि की ज्वलनशक्ति धारणा या आस्था पर निर्भर नहीं करती परन्तु यह अनुभव करने का विषय है भगवान आपको अग्नि में हाथ डालने पर दण्डित नहीं करता, आप केवल अग्नि की हानिकारक प्राकृतिक क्षमता का अनुभव करते हैं

धर्म आध्यात्मिक स्तर तक जाता है, जिस स्तर पर इसकी जड़ें कर्म के नियम से जुडी हैं, जो कि हमारे कार्य और उसके परिणामों के बीच का सम्बन्ध है  कर्म का नियम ईश्वर की आज्ञा पर निर्भर नहीं करता बल्कि ये प्रकृति के नियम और मन कैसे काम करता है, उसको दर्शाता है

हमारे विचारों और कार्यों का परिणाम स्वाभाविक रूप से उनमें निहित गुणों पर आधारित होता है, बिल्कुल वैसा जैसे प्राकृतिक शक्तियों में होता है उदाहरण के लिए क्रोधित होने का परिणाम हिंसक और विनाशकारी हो सकता है कर्म का कोई दण्ड नहीं होता बल्कि उन बलों का स्वाभाविक परिणाम होता है जिन्हें हम खुद पैदा करते हैं कर्म के नियम को समझने से हम अपने जीवन के प्रति उत्तरदायी और अपने कर्मों के लिए ज्यादा सचेत हो जाते हैं

आस्था धर्म नहीं है

आस्था आधारित पंथ धर्म नहीं हैं, न ही सार्वभौमिक सत्य के सिद्धांत हैं यीशु ईश्वर का एक मात्र पुत्र है या मुहम्मद अंतिम पैगंबर है यह किसी समुदाय विशेष के लिए आस्था का विषय हैं, न कि धार्मिक सिद्धान्त, जो हर व्यक्ति और हर समय के लिए वैध हो

आस्था आधारित पंथ तर्कहीन मान्यताओं के लिए प्रेरित करते हैं ईसाईयत में, कौमार्य गर्भधारण, क्रॉस पर  जीजस के रक्त से समस्त मानवता का उद्धार होना, स्वर्ग या नर्क के लिए निर्णायक दिन पर मृतकों का जीवित होना जैसी बातों में आस्था होना आवश्यक है हम इन आस्थाओं को धर्म नहीं कह सकते

आस्था और तीन गुण

धार्मिक परम्पराओं में श्रद्धा का महत्व समझा गया है, प्रायः श्रद्धा का अनुवाद आस्था किया जाता है, जो समर्पण और भक्ति को दर्शाता है। परन्तु श्रद्धा सृष्टि की सारी रचनाओं की तरह तीन गुणों से प्रभावित होती है, वो तीन गुण हैं सात्त्विक, राजसिक और तामसिक श्रीमद् भगवद गीता और अन्य हिन्दू ग्रन्थ इन तीन गुणों का विस्तार में विश्लेषण/परीक्षण करते हैं

जो सार्वभौमिक है उसमें आस्था होना, सत्य में आस्था होना, या सभी प्राणियों में दिव्यता की उपस्थिति में आस्था होना, जो निःस्वार्थ और शांतिपूर्ण हो, जिसका स्वभाव ज्योतिर्मयी हो, संतुलित और बुद्धिमत्ता पूर्ण हो, वही सात्त्विक है

वो आस्था जो अहंकारी हो, केवल किसी एक व्यक्ति या समूह के लिए हो, जिसका उपयोग शक्ति अर्जित करने के लिए हो, ऐसी आस्था रजस  के अस्थिर गुणों को दर्शाती है, जो आक्रामक, गर्व से पूर्ण, भावुक और उत्तेजित होती है वह आस्था जो अपने व्यवहार में या प्रचार करने के लिये घृणा और हिंसा के लिए प्ररित करे वह तामसिक , अंधी या अंधकारमयी हो जाती है 

यह आवश्यक नहीं है की एकेश्वरवाद (एक ईश्वर में आस्था) सात्त्विक  ही हो, भावनात्मक आस्था और एकमेवता में विश्वास रजस को बढ़ावा देता है लोगों का पंथ परिवर्तन और अपनी आस्था के लिए विश्व पर अधिकार पाने की इच्छा रखना निश्तिच ही राजसिक है और यह आक्रामकता व अहंकार दर्शाता है, न कि एकमेवता (एक होने) के उच्चतम सत्य को

रजस गुण ऊर्जा और प्रबल भावावेश देता है, अव्यावहारिक महत्वाकांक्षाओं की ओर आकर्षित करता है, गहन चेतना की और जाने से रोकता है  यह आसानी से ‘तमस’ और हिंसा की और ले जा सकता है

विवेक की आवश्यकता

धर्म आस्था और विश्वास पर निर्भर नहीं करता, बल्कि प्रत्यक्ष बोध और सही-गलत देख पाने, या विवेक  पर निर्भर करता है ऐसा गहन विवेक केवल आस्था, विश्वास और मन की कल्पनाओं को सत्य के रूप में स्वीकार नहीं कर सकता इसके लिए अपने मस्तिष्क और अपने अहम् से ही प्रश्न करने होते हैं, समस्त माया  जाल को भेदना होता है

मानव का सबसे बड़ा धर्म अपनी चेतना को समय, स्थान और कर्म  की सीमाओं से परे ले जाकर स्वतंत्र करना है यह आस्था आधारित विश्वास नहीं है बल्कि यह योग और ध्यान की सहायता से अध्यात्म का अनुभव है

पंथ और अध्यात्म पर विचार-विमर्श करते समय हमें शब्दों पर पूरी तरह से स्पष्टता होनी चाहिए, जिससे शब्दों के अनुचित अनुवाद को रोका जा सके, आस्था आधारित पंथ को धर्म से बराबर करके नहीं देखा जा सकता और धर्म को आस्था के स्तर तक नीचे नहीं ले जाया जा सकता

आस्था पर्याप्त नहीं है; आस्था पर प्रश्न उठने ही चाहिये और उसका महत्व उच्चतर चेतना के आतंरिक अनुभवों से ज्यादा नहीं हो सकता है, नहीं तो आस्था एक रूकावट और एक बोझ बन सकती है विश्व के इतिहास में और आज भी विश्व भर में अनियंत्रित होते संघर्ष इसी को प्रमाणित करते हैं  प्रतिस्पर्धा में लगी सेनाएं और उग्रवादी संगठन पूरी लगन और समर्पण के साथ अपनी आस्था के वर्चस्व के लिए काम कर रहे है, परन्तु धर्म के सम्मान के लिए नहीं

(अनिल मोटवानी तथा वीरेंद्र सिंह का हिंदी अनुवाद के लिए आभार)

AAP and the Art of Advertisements Disguised as News

0
AAP Advertisements disguised as news AAP buying media silence

The murky world of Bharat’s ‘secular’ politics & mainstream media never ceases to surprise – just when you think they have hit rock bottom, they manage to sink further! Over the last decade we have got used to full page ads replacing the traditional front page of daily newspapers, content being dumbed down for easy consumption of the urban yuppie, and lines between editorial and marketing departments getting totally blurred. We even got used to advertorials – an advertisement in the form of editorial content – making their appearance in supplements like city news, education, jobs etc.

But in what must be a first – the AAP Government in Delhi has started inserting advertisements disguised as news in the main newspaper itself! This “fake news” features content that looks like a typical news story, but in reality, is literally just content written by the Delhi Government Public Relations department praising, from different angles, whatever policy decision AAP wants to highlight. This is a new low for our media & politics – “Newspapers printing full page, several pages, sponsored content with same typeface, format, font size as regular news – conning readers.”

On 1 May, this is what appeared in different city editions of the ‘largest selling English daily’ in Bharat –

Ads disguised as news
Well disguised advertorial praising AAP Government inserted in TOI on 1 May

Many readers might easily mistake this advertisement for real news (is Press Council of India listening?). The text on the top right corner says “Consumer Connect Initiative”. So is this an initiative by TOI to connect with its readers, or the AAP Government trying to connect with its ‘consumers’ (otherwise known as voters)? The only give away (for the perceptive reader) is the blatant plugging of current AAP talking points – 1.) Private non-minority schools are out to fleece parents and should be taken over by the Government, 2.) App-based taxis are out to fleece consumers and fail the AAP government’s pet Odd-Even scheme. There is an extremely strong case to counter AAP’s populist stands on these two issues, but that is beyond the scope of this article & should be addressed separately.


Imagine the Government of Mizoram advertising some mundane policy decision like state school fees regulation in a newspaper’s Jaipur edition. Or Tamil Nadu Government planting ads about some traffic/pollution management scheme introduced in Chennai, in various newspaper edititions across Bharat. Sounds incredible, right? After all, why waster local taxpayer’s money (all Government ad programs are run using the tax money collected from citizens) in tom-tomming a prematurely claimed local governance ‘achievement’ to unaffected citizens sitting in another part of the country? Please note: its costs extra money to place an ad in different city editions of a national newspaper. Especially when you are running a first term Government that is just 1 year old, and which has endured more twists and turns than a saas-bahu sopa opera? Lets take a quick look at the various cities where the AAP Delhi Government is targeting it ads/paid content –


What explains this naked desperation to stay in the news 24×7? Yes, good PR (Public Relations) is important, but every good PR professional will tell you that the base of a good PR campaign is a solid body of work with verifiable results. Those living in Delhi or NCR (National Capital Region including Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad etc), such as this writer, will tell you that even the insanely hyped ‘Odd-Even scheme’ has had mixed results, and is very much a work in progress. One gets the distinct impression that AAP is a party obsessed with optics – the bulk of AAP’s energy is invested in the front end work of perception management, with the back-end work of thoughtful planning and diligent execution being more of an after-thought. Whatever happened to the idea of ‘let your work speak for itself’?

Judicial Reforms in Bharat- A Common Man’s Perspective

1
Centre and supreme court

“The US Supreme Court decides about nine cases in a year sitting together while its Indian counterpart handles over 2,600. India had about 19,000 judges, which was ‘grossly inadequate’ for a country of over a billion which had seen an explosion in litigation.” The above words are expressed by CJI T.S.Thakur at a joint conference of chief ministers and high court chief justices in New Delhi on 24th April, 2016. According to National Judicial Data Grid there are 2,19,09,846 cases pending before District Courts across the country as on 4th May, 2016. !!!  Out of this nearly 75 Lakh are civil cases and criminal cases are around 1.44 Crore.

Mewar Chronicles- The beginning

1
Insignia of Mewar

In less than a week from now, on May 9th we celebrate the birth anniversary of the legendary Maharana Pratap.  A warrior whose name has become a synonym for bravery, courage, and a fiercely independent spirit. When other Rajput rulers were surrendering to the Mughal emperor Akbar, there was one man who refused to do so. Today we really do not know the names of those who surrendered to Akbar, but we still remember the one man, who did not. Rana Pratap, the hero who took on the mighty Mughal Army, at Haldighati, and who gave them no peace till his death. This post is however not about Rana Pratap, it is about the region called Mewar, and the proud citadel of Chittorgarh.