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...