AWAKENINGS

Prelude: Sage Uddalaka Aruni’s discourse with his son Svetaketu in Chandogya Upanishad gives an insight into the knowing of ultimate truth and the real Self. Svetaketu: Supreme Being is said to be nameless and formless? How can I know this principle? Uddalaka Aruni: Son, you might have seen many earthen pots of many forms having different names. There are also gold and steel articles of different forms and names. When you crush them, you will get the essence of the articles like clay, gold and steel. Though the forms and names are lost, the essence of the articles is revealed as clay, gold or steel. That revelation as to the nature of the mud or metals is the ultimate truth. Form and names are immaterial to know the Reality, which is the Supreme Being. Svetaketu: Father, you had told me about the non-living things. How about living things like human beings, animals and insects? Uddalaka Aruni: A man, a tiger or a fly is having different names and forms. But, when it dies, it loses its...

Introduction: Brihadaranya Upanishad meaning ‘Big Forest’ is a longest upanishad. It can reasonably be called as Yajnavalka’s Upanishad because many of the concepts and principles explained in this upanishad are as enunciated by the sage Yajnavalka. The dialogues about Creations, Brahman, Self, Birth, Death, Meditation, Gunas and Salvations are enunciated in this upanishad and symbolisms are very much evident therein. Yajnavalka’s dialogues with his consort Maitreyi and also with Gargi Vachaknavi, a woman saint in the court of Janaka are full of wisdom. The theories of DA(see below) and Neti, Neti (Not this, Not this -ariving at the Truth by negation) are also in this Upanishad. A few of these wonderful and lasting wisdom will be dealt with in a manner so that everyone could understand the in-depth meaning of these principles. In this article, the theory of ‘DA’ is explained. The two letters ‘DA’ denote Damyatta (Control pertaining to Devas), Datta (Charity pertaining to Men) and Dayad...

THREE Rs: Requests, Recommendations, Reactions and Remedies: Requests: The COBRA which stands for Combat Battalion for Resolute Action was formed to tackle the well armed and organized Naxal groups with 10000 strong men geared for guerilla warfare with latest equipments and outfits. The force had made demands, among other things, for the special reinforced helmets of 1000 as the initial supply for the force to the Home Ministry recently. Recommendations: The Home Ministry, on considering their requests, had restricted the supply just to 10 helmets only. The stand taken by the home ministry was based on the presumption that only ‘leaders’ needed the specially toughened helmets rather than all 900 personnel in a battalion. The Ministry had justified their stand on the view that personnel ‘leading’ an operation were more vulnerable to enemy fire as they tended to stand out and that Maoist groups were adept at spotting commanders to target them. The ministry had reiterated that there was...

Harvest No.2: Pope Benedict XVI’s Speech On Islamic Terrorism Late Pope Paul John II had advocated the massive campaign to convert Hindus into Christianity during his visit to India on the 9th November 1999 – the eve of Deepavali Festival and the present Pope Benedict XVI had chosen 12th September 2006 – the worst day of 9/11 for U.S. - one day after the terror attack of Twin Towers in New York to speak at West Germany about Islamic terrorism perhaps to harvest Muslims as converts. But his speech had immediately evoked widespread revolt throughout the Muslim world, which made Pope to tender regret and then even he had to apologize for his speech. Pope would not speak oft hand and his speech would have normally been gone through various stages with his experts and advisories who were supposed to approve the same. Yet, Pope had to retrace his words and forced to tender an apology, which is very rare. It is universally held that there is no violence approved by any religious sects. It is ...