My Mother

‘The rain drop from the sky: if it is caught in hands, it is pure enough for drinking. If it falls in a gutter, its value drops so much that it can’t be used even for washing the feet. If it falls on a hot surface, it perishes. If it falls on a lotus leaf, it shines like a pearl, and finally, if it falls on an oyster, it becomes a pearl. The drop is thesame, but its existence and worth depend on with whom it associates’.

Always be associated with people who are good at heart. This is what Swami Vivekananda said.

My mother shares her birthday with Swami Vivekananda (12 January).

Association, Sangha  and Satsang have been her  strong points. She nurtured strong bonding with all religious faiths and spiritually inclined people. I recall her association with Sathya Sai Baba, Ganapathi Sachchidanda Swamiji, Raghavendra Swami Mutt, Swami Chinmayananda, Jiddu Krishnamurthy, Mahesh Yogi and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. She was also associated with Mother’s International, Mother Teressa, CBCI and CARITAS.

She wanted to pursue medicine but life did not take that trajectory.  ‘Faith plus action becomes unstoppable,’ writes Jonathan Lockwood Hue.  So she became a qualified medical social worker and worked diligently at the Rajan Babu TB Hospital, Delhi.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  says, ‘Open your hands and the sky is in your hands.’ In order to combat and challenge the disease of tuberculosis, she initiated several rehabilitation projects. This included a creche for the children of those afflicted with this malady, a clothes stitching centre, and candle and match-making units.

She used to tell patients and their children, ‘Fear is only as deep as the mind allows.’ Thus, patients afflicted with TB, but not bed-ridden, participated in the projects. This was what she called ‘Diversionary Therapy’. The patient’s mind was diverted from the disease and recovery rate was rapid. In these endeavours, she received tremendous support from eminent people like  Shri A. Rama Rao of Khadi and Village Industries, Professor Pathak of Delhi School of Social Work, Shri A.V.K. Chaitanya,  a Trade Union leader and confidante of Shri George Fernandes, Bibi Altussalam, a veteran Congress leader, Shri Dhanraj Ojha, an RSS leader, and Bishop Remegius and Bishop Rego of the Catholic Church (CBCI and CARITAS). The mission was to serve. Religious barriers did not pose any problems. As the objective and goal were so lofty, the Universal energy ensured that those belonging to ideologies be it the left, right and centre, all collaborated with certitude.

‘The mind is not a dustbin to keep anger, hatred and jealousy in. It is the treasure box to keep love, happiness and sweet memories,’ said Swami Vivekananda. Thus, RB TB Hospital became the melting pot of all religions to forge hands and assist in the mammoth task of rehabilitation of the afflicted. The TB Hospital became a unique template for the methods adopted by doctors, para-medic staff, social workers, government bodies and NGOs, all to contribute in the rehabilitation of the patients.

Climate changes, civilizations collapse, government change and political affiliations alter and even the best possible model collapses. This is inevitable. As Buddha says, ‘The only permanent thing in life is impermanence.’ The lofty objectives were not approved by a new set of hospital administrators and the beacon of hope collapsed.

This was an  extremely traumatic for my mother and she became a patient of paroxysmal Atrial Tachycardia (PAT). This is a type of arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat). Paroxysmal means that the episode of arrhythmia originates and terminates abruptly. Atrial implies the arrhythmia starts with the atria or in the upper chambers of the heart. The tachycardia results in significant increase in the heart beat per minute. It abnormally increases the pace, like in an athlete on a treadmill. PAT significantly increases the heartbeat of an adult from the normal 60 to 100 to 130 to 230 and among infants and children it shoots up from 100 to 130 to 220 beats per minute.

It is accompanied with severe sweating, dizziness, palpitations, angina and acute breathlessness. Normally, a patient suffers from such a condition owing to emotional upheavals, physical exhaustion, deep anxiety, consumption of caffeine or alcohol.

I saw my mother suffering from this condition on several  occasions and being admitted to the ICU. It was a distressing and disturbing sight. While it is not a life-threatening affliction, it certainly disorients the psychology and attitudes of the patient. During her suffering we saw her clutching on to her rosary as a life saver, while we prayed fervently for her recovery.

She was administered medication but it worked only to an extent. The real help came in the form of a pentagon-shaped talisman. That is through Siddha Healing, Pranic Healing, the ten-day Vipassana Course and the Part 1 and Part 2 of the Art of Living courses.

This is the  unique, amazing  and scientific power of the  breath. Breathing techniques, meditation, medication and proper diet changed the trajectory ofthe life of the patient and brought back the mojo in her life.

‘When you take a breath in, let it become your meditation that all the suffering of all the beings in the world is riding on that incoming breath and reaching your heart, and see a miracle happen,’ says Osho.

She has retired now but continues with her Sadhana unfailingly. Senior citizens, those in pain and agony and even the able-bodied should undertake the  courses mentioned.

Swami Vivekananda took Yoga to America and spread the Ramakrishna Mission. He was the Arjuna of Shri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa. My mother imbibed the trait of service to mankind by reading extensively about Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda and almighty God blessed her with a  robust and an intrepid mind.

YAANA / GAANA / DHYAANA

YAANA / GAANA / DHYAANA

Gurudev has often said that these are the 3  pillars of Transformation.

A world that embraces meditative music/dance/drama/literature/painting/sculpture/craft/photography/cinema is a world that is peaceful and dedicated to human values.

Art of Living Academy of Performing Arts (ALAP) is proud to be launching a wonderful new project -  taking Meditative Art to every corner of this planet. ALAP needs angels to be the torchbearers of a revolution to create a  humane and peaceful planet through sound/color/image/motion/word. ALAP needs YOU.  As artists/teachers/organizers/social media angels/however you wish. ALAP sewa is always fun - full of song/color/dance.

Lets make the world one single orchestra playing an eternal harmony of Creativity and Humanity.

EPISTLE

To our dearest parents

Rashid and I are celebrating the New Year in a house boat as shadows lengthen on the Dal Lake where we pen our finals thoughts. We understand, despite a modern outlook and liberal values, our families, religions and countries may not approve of our relationship.

Today, despite the gizmos, the global village is on the cusp of ultra–nationalism, where an ‘exit mode’ from our cherished values is on the menu card. Rashid remarked wryly that nationalism and ultra-nationalism need to be served on the platter and perhaps could have been priced at a universal currency.

Meanwhile, the two of us are caught in crossfire between a group of ultras and the Indian army. Terrorists are spraying bullets all over the place and slicing the throats of those who do not profess faith in an organized religion. The Indian army with the wherewithal at their disposal has achieved success by overpowering the militants. I gasp for breath and now write with blood stained hands as my life too is ebbing…….Rashid lies beside me sporting a beatific smile on his face. He has met his maker. I will meet mine in a few moments……

Deepest Regards,

Simran and Rashid

With no access to email, Simran from Rajouri, wrote this poignant letter addressed to her parents as well as Rashid’s. She had been pursuing Masters in English from Oxford University and Rashid from Rawalpindi was majoring in Business Administration from Cambridge. They met during an exchange programme, fell in love and were planning to get married much to the chagrin of their parents.

Photocopies of the letter along with the coffins were handed over to the distraught parents by a compassionate civil servant.

‘Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high…,

Into that heaven of freedom, my father let my country awake….’ wrote Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore several decades ago. The clarion call was not just seeking emancipation from the foreign yoke but freedom from rigid thoughts, which constrain the passage of visionary thought process in the apertures of our minds.

Love and compassion are two words which seem to have lost their relevance in this frenetic paced world which is now determined by indoctrination of a set of ideas and ideologies, xenophobia, religious and spiritual exclusiveness, ossified thinking patterns, a clash of civilizations, ego-centric attitudes, abhorrent dogmas, the ‘I, Me and Myself’ syndrome, the rapacious desire of man to garner more.

Economic problem of shortages, concentration of wealth in the hands of a few have taken a religious connotation adding to the woes of people like Simran, Rashid and millions of others.

‘MY’ religion, ‘MY’ country, ‘MY’ ideology, ‘MY’ traditions, ‘MY’ customs are at an exalted position as against ‘OURS’.

The pristine beauty of simplicity and goodness has been sacrificed at the altar of crass commercialization and distortion of history.

The goal posts have altered today; freedom of thought has hibernated in dreary deserts of stultified thinking. ‘Aa No Bhadra Kratvo Yantu Vishwataha’- let noble thoughts come from all directions, is what the Rig Veda says. But with the erection of artificial boundaries it is well-nigh impossible for noble thoughts to permeate into our lives or societies.

It is indeed enigmatic and unfortunate that in the present age of technology, concepts and metaphors such as rationalism, multiple culturalism, inclusiveness, democratic traditions and tolerance have been hijacked by agent-provocateurs and groups of ultra-nationalists whose agenda is merely to disrupt harmony and perpetrate wanton killings in the name of rabid ideology.

These groups are positively not a happy, joyous and radiant people, but a breed that live miserable lives, trying to fatten their coffers, by red flagging existing mores of the society and masquerading their identity.

They are children of a bloody revolution, distorted by history and partition whose only ideology is spewing venom and destroying the harmonious values embedded hitherto in society.

The boisterousness and rambunctiousness in the minds of perpetrators of these grisly ideologies and those of their blindfolded followers can be countered by spreading the message of peace, compassion and love as was done by the Buddha, Adi Shankara, Jesus, the Prophet Mohammed, Lord Krishna and H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar among others. All these epochal personalities enunciated the principles of universal brotherhood against demonic forces of bigotry and violence.

A poet-statesman once famously remarked that we can change our friends but cannot alter our geographical boundaries. Seventy one years have been a witness to three major wars between India and Pakistan. We are also a witness to the incursion in Kargil, Operation Parakram, innumerable skirmishes and the surgical strike across the Line of Control by India.

Will the children born today in India and Pakistan, seventy one years from now witness a similar frostiness in relationship between the two countries, where Simran and Rashid are separated by narrow sectarian walls?  Or perhaps fear from a possible nuclear holocaust? The sagacity and maturity of the political, military and intelligence agencies is at stake. Or else more letters and coffins will knock at the doors of hapless parents.

GANDHIAN STRATEGY AND ESTABLISHMENT OF PEACE: INDIA AT 71

 On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s 70th birthday Albert Einstein was to say, ‘Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in flesh and blood walked upon this Earth.’

Indian political and social firmament in the twentieth century was populated with several iconic figures, but none commanded the respect or were adorned with the aura of Mahatma Gandhi. It is reckoned that for aeons no personality will ever be able to capture the imagination as the Mahatma did.

Why is that so? Perhaps, it is because of his simplicity, obduracy and brutal honesty. Which political figure discusses his sex life in public with such candour? None. Political and public figures masquerade their personal lives to maintain their Teflon coat.

In the age of subjugation and apartheid, it would have required tremendous courage, resolve and pluck for Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to travel by a first-class compartment on the train to Pretoria. And after he was ejected from the train at Pietermaritzburg, he displayed remarkable fortitude and audacity to stay the entire night at the station in a waiting hall. The seeds of Satyagraha were sown in his intrepid mind that chilly winter night, on June the 7th 1893.

Gandhian strategy entailed political right and self-government ought to develop gradually in a series of progressive stages. He maintained liberalism and never cut the umbilical cord with the potentate (the British rulers).

The politics of Gandhiji were all embracing. It was a struggle against the policy of Divide-et-impera adopted by the British, a combat against the orthodoxy and prevalent social evils; negotiate with the masters to seek redressal of issues confronting the masses. As non-violence was his credo, it was important to adopt the tactic of mass action as against mass insurrection. He was staunchly inimical to class struggle, violent upheavals and continuously strove for resolution through parleys and dialogue. Violent thoughts and aggression were inimical to his strategy as he appreciated the brutality of the British forces. Thus, he singularly gave up the Civil Disobedience movement following the burning of the police post at Chauri Chaura, where 22 policemen were killed.

He abhorred violence and any form of killing was an anathema to him. This cardinal principle perhaps may have been implanted in his fertile mindthrough his Jain-Hindu upbringing. However, he was deeply catholic in his temperament and for him there was hardly any difference between various religious professed and practised by the denizens of this country.

As he appreciated divisive forces at work, Bapu devised his political philosophy, techniques and programmes to encompass all forces and different sections of the society. He rejected communism and the Marxian ideology as he was a practising Hindu and a firm believer in religion and spirituality. To him religion was not an opium of the masses. Hindu- Muslim unity was extremely close to his heart and he was tragically felled by the bullets of an assassin while trying to maintain communal harmony.

The potent weapon of Satyagraha which achieved astonishing success in South Africa had convinced his robust mind that all sections of the society could join hands and embark upon the freedom struggle in unison. In his arsenal was the Direct Action, Satyagraha and Civil Disobedience which he pioneered in the Champaran.

The imagery of Gandhiji was to establish a direct contact with the masses. The apparel worn by him was similar to those worn by the toiling masses. He cast away the British stitched clothes and exhorted people of India to participate in mass bonfires of alien and foreign goods. The template and cornerstone of his political and social philosophy became establishment of Ram Rajya (not the euphuism for a Hindu state but as an ideal and egalitarian society) through the 3 Ss- Swaraj, Satyagraha and Swadeshi.

Likewise, non-violence, non-cooperation and civil disobedience were a three-pronged tactic he unleashed from his arsenal. In the magazine of his armoury were also the twin missiles of truth and fasting. This was a comprehensive positive mind-set of the Mahatma to achieve the desired goals of political and social emancipation of an enslaved India.

However, he was a disillusioned man when Pandit Nehru spoke those immortal lines, ‘At the stroke of midnight as the whole world sleeps …’ He was deeply anguished with the partitioning of the country. He shed a few tears in solitude and wiped some more at Noakhali, that fateful night …

It would be interesting to mention that there were two occasions when the Mahatma did not undertake a fast. One, to stave off the capital punishment awarded to Bhagat Singh and others and secondly when the country was partitioned. Even the Mahatma realised the futility of undertaking such an exercise under the prevalent circumstances.

In the ultimate analysis Gandhiji gave the nationalist struggle a deeper connotation and meaning. His strategy, philosophy, technique proved efficacious in approach and nature. More importantly, it fired the imagination of several leaders across the world to wage a struggle  for civil liberty; be it Martin Luther King Jr, Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Barrack Obama, and more recently in India- Anna Hazare.

GANDHIAN STRATEGY AND ESTABLISHMENT OF PEACE: INDIA AT 71

On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s 70th birthday Albert Einstein was to say, ‘Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in flesh and blood walked upon this Earth.’

Indian political and social firmament in the twentieth century was populated with several iconic figures, but none commanded the respect or were adorned with the aura of Mahatma Gandhi. It is reckoned that for aeons no personality will ever be able to capture the imagination as the Mahatma did.

Why is that so? Perhaps, it is because of his simplicity, obduracy and brutal honesty. Which political figure discusses his sex life in public with such candour? None. Political and public figures masquerade their personal lives to maintain their Teflon coat.

In the age of subjugation and apartheid, it would have required tremendous courage, resolve and pluck for Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to travel by a first-class compartment on the train to Pretoria. And after he was ejected from the train at Pietermaritzburg, he displayed remarkable fortitude and audacity to stay the entire night at the station in a waiting hall. The seeds of Satyagraha were sown in his intrepid mind that chilly winter night, on June the 7th 1893.

Gandhian strategy entailed political right and self-government ought to develop gradually in a series of progressive stages. He maintained liberalism and never cut the umbilical cord with the potentate (the British rulers).

The politics of Gandhiji were all embracing. It was a struggle against the policy of Divide-et-impera adopted by the British, a combat against the orthodoxy and prevalent social evils; negotiate with the masters to seek redressal of issues confronting the masses. As non-violence was his credo, it was important to adopt the tactic of mass action as against mass insurrection. He was staunchly inimical to class struggle, violent upheavals and continuously strove for resolution through parleys and dialogue. Violent thoughts and aggression were inimical to his strategy as he appreciated the brutality of the British forces. Thus, he singularly gave up the Civil Disobedience movement following the burning of the police post at Chauri Chaura, where 22 policemen were killed.

He abhorred violence and any form of killing was an anathema to him. This cardinal principle perhaps may have been implanted in his fertile mindthrough his Jain-Hindu upbringing. However, he was deeply catholic in his temperament and for him there was hardly any difference between various religious professed and practised by the denizens of this country.

As he appreciated divisive forces at work, Bapu devised his political philosophy, techniques and programmes to encompass all forces and different sections of the society. He rejected communism and the Marxian ideology as he was a practising Hindu and a firm believer in religion and spirituality. To him religion was not an opium of the masses. Hindu- Muslim unity was extremely close to his heart and he was tragically felled by the bullets of an assassin while trying to maintain communal harmony.

The potent weapon of Satyagraha which achieved astonishing success in South Africa had convinced his robust mind that all sections of the society could join hands and embark upon the freedom struggle in unison. In his arsenal was the Direct Action, Satyagraha and Civil Disobedience which he pioneered in the Champaran.

The imagery of Gandhiji was to establish a direct contact with the masses. The apparel worn by him was similar to those worn by the toiling masses. He cast away the British stitched clothes and exhorted people of India to participate in mass bonfires of alien and foreign goods. The template and cornerstone of his political and social philosophy became establishment of Ram Rajya (not the euphuism for a Hindu state but as an ideal and egalitarian society) through the 3 Ss- Swaraj, Satyagraha and Swadeshi.

Likewise, non-violence, non-cooperation and civil disobedience were a three-pronged tactic he unleashed from his arsenal. In the magazine of his armoury were also the twin missiles of truth and fasting. This was a comprehensive positive mind-set of the Mahatma to achieve the desired goals of political and social emancipation of an enslaved India.

However, he was a disillusioned man when Pandit Nehru spoke those immortal lines, ‘At the stroke of midnight as the whole world sleeps …’ He was deeply anguished with the partitioning of the country. He shed a few tears in solitude and wiped some more at Noakhali, that fateful night …

It would be interesting to mention that there were two occasions when the Mahatma did not undertake a fast. One, to stave off the capital punishment awarded to Bhagat Singh and others and secondly when the country was partitioned. Even the Mahatma realised the futility of undertaking such an exercise under the prevalent circumstances.

In the ultimate analysis Gandhiji gave the nationalist struggle a deeper connotation and meaning. His strategy, philosophy, technique proved efficacious in approach and nature. More importantly, it fired the imagination of several leaders across the world to wage a struggle  for civil liberty; be it Martin Luther King Jr, Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Barrack Obama, and more recently in India- Anna Hazare.

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Barely thirty years of age, rose a young monk from India on the 11 September 1893 at Chicago, where his baritone voice thus resonated, ‘Sisters and Brothers of America. It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks of the world; I thank you in the name in the name of the mother of all religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects…’.

These were the talismanic words and thoughts of Swami Vivekananda, the intrepid evangelist. Born Narendranath in Calcutta (now Kolkata) on 12 January 1863 he lived barely thirty-nine years. A few years prior to the memorable speech made in Chicago the mind of the Swami was gripped with fear as he could barely speak.

However, his unwavering surrender to his Guru Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa metamorphosed his personality into a mettlesome one. And he provided the audacity of hope to those suffering in the tenebrosity of caste, creed and other predilections.

Pt Nehru observed that, ‘Swami Vivekananda came as a tonic to the depressed and demoralised Hindu mind and gave it the self-reliance and some roots in the past.’

The dynamic and resplendent personality of Swami Vivekananda was representative of the socio-political-cultural-religious renaissance which occurred in the second half of 19th century India. The Gods were kind to Bengal as illuminated minds like those of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidya Sagar, Keshub Chandra Sen and several others dotted the landscape.

Perhaps one can trace it  back to several  anatomical events ­-influence of Christian Missionaries, the establishment of the East India Company, the failed mutiny, work of the evangelicals to emancipate Indian women living under  woeful conditions, abolition of Sati in particular, rise of Brahmo Samaj , the catholic contribution of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the spread of western education in Bengal and not the least the establishment of the Calcutta Presidency led to the proliferation of individuals blessed with such elastic and fertile minds.

Narendranath’s early struggle in coursing for jobs where he was unsuccessful made him sceptical and scornful of the rigmarole of daily existence. His personality transfigured radically upon meeting Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.  It is widely believed that the mystic saint transmitted his spiritual powers to Swami Vivekananda which evolved the latter’s personality in no uncertain measure.

Like Ananda was to Buddha, St Paul to Jesus, Swamiji became the torch bearer to carry forward the legacy of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He went on to establish the Ramakrishna Mission in the year 1897; an institution which has provided yeoman service to the country, not only spreading the knowledge of Vedanta but also serving mankind selflessly.

The clairvoyant saint and his obedient tutee were bound by one cardinal principle. This was service or Seva to mankind. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa staunchly advocated that religion is not meant for empty bellies and his favourite disciple too endorsed that God could be discovered only by serving man.

One can reckon that they borrowed the concept and tradition of service from Islam and Christianity as Hindu religion, however esoteric and established it may have been did not lay prominence on attendance or service.

Swami Vivekananda like the Buddha comes across as a powerful reader of the human mind by adopting less of a visceral approach to attend to the muddles and complications confronting humans.

He goes on to say, ‘We are what our thoughts have made us; so, take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live, they travel far.’

Swami Vivekananda was full of vitality and zest, infinite dynamism, high prana and energy levels. He scorned at inertia, antipathetic thoughts and a passive or ho-hum approach to life. Many a time to encourage hardiness he even approved of certain traits present in the tyrant Chengis Khan and the military acumen of Napoléon.

As an itinerant monk, he traversed the entire country and several parts of the world extensively. His schedule was packed with intense meditation and spreading the gospel of Vedanta. He wrote at length -books, articles poems, critiques, appraisals- and delivered intense lectures and discourses. He was a man possessed, with little time for rest in order to fire the imagination of people in general and the youth in particular.

Swami Vivekananda was markedly influenced by the characters of Sita, Savitri and Damayanti of Hindu mythology. He was thrilled with their contribution to Indian womanhood, which he believed was a living embodiment of Universal Motherhood.

The undaunted Seva warrior trained in Vedanta and deeply spiritual, fumed at inertia. He exhorted his fellow monks and others to cast away the Bhagvad Gita and play football instead. He aspired for muscular minds and bodies. He once famously remarked, ‘I want men whose muscles are of iron and nerves made of steel, and who possess minds wrought from thunder.’

Swami Vivekananda was razor sharp and he was fully abreast of the latest political currents of socialism, anarchism and nihilism sweeping across the globe. The minds of the youth of Congress who were fervently participating in the Swadeshi movement were ignited by the philosophy and approach of the fearless Swami. So much so, Pandit Nehru was compelled to draw a parallel between Swami Vivekananda’s brand of socialism and the old Vedanta.

The indomitable Swami was on the forefront of the cultural and spiritual renaissance of the country. His mind was unsettled with the prevailing poverty, caste system and the social mores of the times. He dreamt of contemporary India rising from the huts of the impoverished peasantry, cobblers, fishermen and other deprived sections of the society.

However, what really stood out in his personality was the pristine quality of humility. His modesty made him accessible to all. And he never appropriated the movement. He was very clear in his mind that after him, several more Vivekanandas would arise to serve the motherland and each one of them would be greater than him.

There may be many who would try to appropriate his contribution to India today, but would appear weak mimics.

Romain Rolland the renowned philosopher has aptly written, ‘If this man is not a god-man, who else?’

THE BUDDHA

‘Who ever sees me sees the teaching,’said the Buddha. Siddhartha was the son of King Suddhodana of the Sakya dynasty and Maya Devi. Maya passed away soon (exactly a week) after the birth of her son and he was then raised by the father and Prajapati, the sister of Maya.

The story of Buddha’s birth is enveloped by portents of his extraordinary greatness. He would not be just a king of the Sakya dynasty but the emperor of the world, prophesised Asita the sagacious one. Canki, the chief priest of Sakya dynasty was perhaps too scared of King Suddhodana that he exhorted the ruler to encumber free movement of the young one so that he was not to be a witness to any misery.

It is also believed when Maya Devi was pregnant she dreamt of giving birth to a white bull-elephant with six tusks. As per tradition the white elephant signified the mount of Indra, the king of Gods and also the displacement of any impediments. Elephant is also an attribute of Lord Ganesha (son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati). Elephant in Buddhism signifies serenity, stolidity and power.

It is believed that the king and foster mother did not have any conjugal relationship. Siddhartha transformed into Monk Gautama and then into Buddha the Awakened or the Enlightened One. It is a remarkable journey of this unique personality, who perhaps can be called as the greatest psychologist ever to set his feet on the planet.

Siddhartha, Gautama or Buddha choose whatever you may call veritably pealed the human mind like one peals an onion and analysed as to why man suffers and then enunciated and unravelled the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path to provide succour to the distraught human mind.

Upon awakening, or realising the eternal truth, Buddha the ‘awakened’, the ‘enlightened’ or ‘the compassionate one’ gave his first sermon at Sarnath to a small group of five disciples.

Buddhism along with Jainism, the Charvaka philosophy were among sixty-two heterodox sects that struck roots in India when Aryanism/ Brahmanism / Hinduism became highly ecclesiastical and orthodox and was unable to provide solutions to the day to day muddles of the citizenry of that period.

Buddhism is not based on the belief or precept in God, nor does it have a set credo, creed, a central papal authority or a universally accepted scripture. This aspect is quite similar to the pantheon of Hinduism, except where the seeker believes in the Holy Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh along with their consorts.

Buddha was perhaps the first to lay emphasis on the formation of associations or Sanghas. With the passage of time, Sanghas have mushroomed in multitudes across the world.

Be it Rotarians, Free Masons, the Alcoholics Anonymous or any charitable or philanthropic organisation, the concept is that of the formation of a Sangha.  In the Sangha, members share their problems, do soul searching and seek to redress their set of problems and misadventures in life.

Another lasting contribution of Buddhism has been a recognisable symbol called the Stupa. The Stupa also refers to the summit. Sacred relics of Buddha and his principle disciples have been discovered in these summits (during the ancient times and the texts) referred to also symbolise burial mounds.

‘The only permanent thing in life is impermanence,’ said the clairvoyant Buddha and over a period of time Buddhism branched off into Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana (the thunderbolt), the Tibetan and Zen Buddhism. Buddhism too became exclusive in its approach and attitude quite like Hinduism and left the shores of the country. The death knell of Buddhism was inflicted by Adi Shankara (the founder of Advaita philosophy of Hinduism) through his well thought out, scholarly and esoteric debates.

In the current day of strife, Buddhism is re-emerging as a philosophy, a way of life with several celebrities endorsing it and the common folk attempting to practice it through the emphasis on mindful breathing, observation of the self, meditation and the techniques of Vipassana. The cardinal truism is laying stress on positivity and efficacious thoughts.

‘In order to carry a positive action, we must develop here a positive vision,’ says H.H. The Dalai Lama.

He was born two thousand five hundred years back at Kapilvastu. Today Siddhartha is once again being rediscovered. The Wheel of Karma, the cyclical Karmic cycle and the synodic pattern of valleys and peaks never ebb. Buddha’s noteworthy contribution to humanity is compassion. Compassion is truck loads are required as a palliative where several truckloads of militants and misguided individuals are inflicting enormous damage to humanity.