Everyday Geeta

December 31, 2011 A couple of days ago, I had a guest post by Jayendra on moves by prosecutors in the Russian city of Tomsk to ban the Bhagavad Geeta. The good news today is that the courts have now dismissed the case . The situation with reference to religious freedom is murky in Russia with the Russian Orthodox Church in many provinces anxiously watching the activities of other religious groups to ensure that these are do not work against the interests of the Church. There is anecdotal evidence that ISCKON has quoted to indicate that this has happened in this situation, too. The thing that galled me about the whole event was not the problems in Russia. It is the behavior that the Guardian headline indicates that shows the worst side of India's wonderful parliament. The headline is: "Bhagavad Gita trial in Russia closes Indian parliament" . The opening line in the story is: Indian politicians forced parliament to close on Monday in a protest against a Siberian trial c...

December 26, 2011 Guest post by my son, Jayendra. Comments on this blog will be emailed to him for a response In a shocking development, prosecutors in the Siberian city of Tomsk are trying to get the Geeta banned on the grounds that the Bhagavad Geeta teaches "extremist" ideals. The Geeta is in fact, the total opposite. Krishna tells Arjuna to fight because it is his duty as a kshatriya to fight for Dharma or righteousness. Arjuna does not want to fight because on the opposing side are his cousins, uncles and grandfather. Although these may appear to be valid reasons not to fight, Krishna reminds Arjuna that although war is a horrendous thing, it is required to protect those who cannot protect themselves. In a more modern example, one can look at World War II. The USA was content to not take an active role in the help and protection of its allies in Europe until they themselves were bombed. If Arjuna, as a general in the Pandava army, had run away from the war to meditate an...

December 21, 2011 On my way back to Singapore, came across the 30th anniversary issue of "The Week", the weekly news magazine published by the Malayalam Manorama group. The special edition breaks new ground for a popular Indian English magazine for its story on "Adi Shankara: Retracing a Great Journey" where they have traced the philosopher-saints ' path across India. Readers can get more info on Adi Shankara through a wonderful Chinmaya Mission book, "Shankara the Missionary" . The cover story on the main magazine features " 30 Pearls ", stories of 30 remarkable Indians who choose to be agents of change rather than accepting the status quo. I love this issue of The Week. I have tried to find links that will provide more information on these stars. In the past, I have discussed the value of Role Models in my first post on Geeta 3-21. Here are specific role models that appealed to me: Kabir Vajpeyi who has created the institution called BaLA...

December 24, 2011 Through NASA's daily photo of the Universe website , I came across a mind blowing Youtube video posted by the American Museum of Natural History Naturally, my mind drifted to Him who is the supporter of this vast, ancient Universe as seen in Geeta 8-9. कविं पुराणमनुशासितार- मणोरणीयंसमनुस्मरेद्यः | सर्वस्य धातारमचिन्त्यरूप- मादित्यवर्णं तमसः परस्तात् ||८-९|| kaviM puraaNamanushaasitaaraM aNoraNiiya.nsamanusmaredyaH . sarvasya dhaataaramachintyaruupaM aadityavarNaM tamasaH parastaat.h .. 8-9.. Whosoever, meditates upon the Omniscient, the Ancient, the Ruler (of the whole world) , minuter than the atom, the Supporter of all, of Form inconceivable, Effulgent like the Sun and beyond the darkness (of ignorance) Scientists hate it when religious seekers leverage science in support of their particular beliefs. To be fair, according to modern science, this whole Universe as it exists today is not evidence of an Intelligent Creator. However, for the spiritual seeker, a...

December 17, 2011 I have been away attending my nephew's wedding in Vadodara. Swamini Vimalanandaji had a nice piece of advice for my nephew, Manan and his bride, Rutvi. She said, "First pray for the other person, then for yourself." Huh? Are you wondering whether Śrī Kṛṣṇa actually squeezed in advice for newly-weds while teaching Arjuna n the battlefield of Kurkshetra? No, He did not. So why is this in a Geeta blog? Simple. Śrī Kṛṣṇa explicitly refers to the ideal seeker of Truth and the meditator as one who is सर्वभूतहिते रताः 'rejoices in the welfare of all beings' (verses 5-25 & 12-4). Our partner in life is the perfect test bed for developing such a mindset. One cannot seek the welfare of the world if one cannot start with the person we wake up next to every morning. Spirituality begins at home. Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

December 14, 2011 In my previous post on the Law of Karma , I highlighted Śrī Kṛṣṇa's emphatic declaration on the fact that everyone has had many lives in Geeta 2-12 and 4-5. Now, we can look at how Śrī Kṛṣṇa evolves this topic. At the end of chapter 1, Arjuna, the great Pāṇdava warrior is in a pitiable condition with a moral dilemma that can be summarized as: "I, Arjuna, am about to undertake a lot of killing which will result in untold suffering. The consequences for families and society will be endless. I, too, will incur sin in killing. Indeed, I will also incur the sin of causing the suffering of all those families who will lose their loved ones." In Geeta 2-7, Arjuna is spent after his appeal to Śrī Kṛṣṇa "Oh Kṛṣṇa, I am confused, धर्मसम्मूढचेताः. I am your disciple. Help me understand, what is good for me." Krishna breaks down Arjuna's problem to its fundamentals. Question 1: Who is this "I" who undertakes all actions and suffers the conseq...

December 9, 2011 I have posted about the implications of the trend in which parents buy fancy stuff for their infants . In that post, I had this quote "Technology is also playing its part - with nearly one fifth of parents of children aged 0-4 years having bought a television for their baby's bedroom, rising to 28% of parents of children aged 15-24" from a BBC report on the buying habits of parents. That was depressing but the paper " Strangers in our Homes "by Dr Susan Johnson (link below) shows that researchers and academics have caught on and are actively recommending "no TV". Fortunately, even a mainstream body like the American Academy of Pediatrics now agrees as seen in this page, " Toddlers and TV " on their website. The page goes so far as to say, "Any positive effect of television on infants and toddlers is still open to question, but the benefits of parent-child interactions are proven. Under age two, talking, singing, reading...

December 6, 2011 - Geeta Jayanti It was June 25th 1993. We went to the hosts' home to pay respects to Pujya Gurudev . He had generously agreed to bless us at our wedding on June 27th. He was in his wheelchair, feet covered with warm shawls, even thought it was a nice June day in Princeton, New Jersey. As is usually the case, there were several people there to see him. One such was the secretary to the board of directors at a Hindu temple. He asked Gurudev to please agree to be present at the kumbhabhishekam (consecration ceremony for a Hindu temple) that was coming shortly. Gurudev gently declined it saying (not an exact quote): "I have told Him that in all these years, I have witnessed several such events. Nowadays, I can't go anywhere without a wheelchair. I have told Him, I will not go to Him in a wheelchair. If He wants me, He can come and get me." 18 years later, I recalled this incident when I heard verse 2-46. यावानर्थ उदपाने सर्वतः सम्प्लुतोदके | तावान्सर्वे...

December 6, 2011 , Geeta Jayanti In my previous birthday post , I missed paying tribute to the greatest thing for me, Mother Geeta herself. I will simply quote the author of the Gita Dyanam on the beauty of the text. Shloka 7 is a prayer on behalf of all seekers: पाराशर्यवच:सरोजममलं गीतार्थगंधोतकटं नानाख्यानककेसरं हरिकथा संबोधनाबोधिताम् । लोके सज्जनषट्पदैरहरहः पेपीयमानं मुदा भूयाद् भारतपंकजं कलिमलप्रध्वंसिन:श्रेयसे ।। ७ ।। pArASharyachaHsarojamamalaM gItArthagandhotkaTaM nAnAkhyAnakakesaraM harikathA sambodhanAbodhitam.h | loke sajjanashhaTpadairaharahaH pepIyamAnaM mudA bhUyAd.h bhAratapaMkajaM kalimalaH pradhvaMsinashreyase || H H Swami Sivanandaji's translation reads as follows: May this lotus of the Mahabharata, born in the lake of the words of Vyasa, sweet with the fragrance of the meaning of the Gita, with many stories as its stamens, fully opened by the discourses of Hari, the destroyer of the sins of Kali, and drunk joyously by the bees of good men in the world, be...

December 6, 2011 , Geeta Jayanti I launched this blog a year ago on Geeta Jayanti day that also happened to be Vaikuntha Ekadashi. On this first birthday, I recall with gratitude those who set me on this path of study: My mother: Having studied at the National School in Chennai, she was fortunate to have seen great Indian leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Shri Chakravarti Rajagopalachari visit the school. With that early inspiration and in that atmosphere, she learnt Hindi and Samskritam. She loved to chant and that has rubbed off on me. Karma Yoga was in her blood. Nirmala Aunty, the Balavihar sevika who inspired hundreds of Balavihar children in Chembur where I spent my early years. Through the wondrous institution of the Balavihar, she taught Geeta chanting, took children to listen to Gurudev, and instilled a value for seva in those she taught Of course, Pujya Gurudev . More than anything, this blog is an imperfect reflection of what I gained through Him and the teachers...

November 24, 2011 Suddenly Karma is everywhere. A search on Youtube alone indicates that there are 343,000 videos, the same on Google indicates that there are 256 million entries that have something to do with karma. Pop culture entries include songs by Alicia Keys, John Lennon and Black Eyes Peas (bad language alert!) . There is even a car company in California, Fisker Automotive that makes a luxury car named Karma . Honestly, what goes for Karma in pop culture feels like moonshine instead of the divine soma that the ancient rishis prescribed for Yagnas. For one, most of the references still are within the context of a one-life world view. For most people who were brought up outside the Eastern traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Tao, Sikhism, etc) do not comprehend this whole story that we are not limited to this one life. The Bhagavad Geeta is a great source to comprehend this theory. First, Śrī Kṛṣṇa's emphatic declaration in chapter 2-12: न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं ने...