The Ugly, The Bad and The Good

I am not narrating here the 1966 Italian/Spanish epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood.

September 11th, 2001 very familiar as 9/11 ramped up the fight against terrorism when US government declared the WAR ON TERROR. Post attacks the then president of US George W. Bush addressing the nation said

"Good evening. Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. ... Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror. The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our country is strong. ... America has stood down enemies before and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world. Thank you. Good night. And God bless America" [Full transcript can be read here]

Following the events that happened on 9/11, US and its allies launched a massive WAR ON TERROR to dismantle Al-Qaeda [responsible for the terror 9/11 attacks in US]  and ending its use of Afghanistan as a base for terrorist operations. Since then US armed forces have searched for the mastermind of 9/11 attacks Osama Bin Laden.

In 1996, six years before the 9/11 attacks happened, Osama Bin Laden had written what he calls a fatwa [is a religious opinion concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar] titled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places". In the fatwa he starts saying

"Praise be to Allah, we seek His help and ask for his pardon. we take refuge in Allah from our wrongs and bad deeds. Who ever been guided by Allah will not be misled, and who ever has been misled, he will never be guided. I bear witness that there is no God except Allah-no associates with Him- and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and messenger. ... It should not be hidden from you that the people of Islam had suffered from aggression, iniquity and injustice imposed on them by the Zionist-Crusaders alliance and their collaborators; to the extent that the Muslims blood became the cheapest and their wealth as loot in the hands of the enemies. Their blood was spilled in Palestine and Iraq. The horrifying pictures of the massacre of Qana, in Lebanon are still fresh in our memory. Massacres in Tajakestan, Burma, Cashmere, Assam, Philippine, Fatani, Ogadin, Somalia, Erithria, Chechnia and in Bosnia-Herzegovina took place, massacres that send shivers in the body and shake the conscience. All of this and the world watch and hear, and not only didn't respond to these atrocities, but also with a clear conspiracy between the USA and its' allies and under the cover of the iniquitous United Nations, the dispossessed people were even prevented from obtaining arms to defend themselves. ... " [Full transcript can be read here]

The US and its allied forces have searched round the clock for the man who issued the above fatwa and today after 10 years of WAR ON TERROR they killed him in the very middle of Pakistan where he was happily taking shelter. 

Obama the president of US, addressing the Nation confirmed the death of Osama. 

"Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history. ... On September 11, 2001, in our time of grief, the American people came together. We offered our neighbors a hand, and we offered the wounded our blood. We reaffirmed our ties to each other, and our love of community and country. On that day, no matter where we came from, what God we prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were united as one American family. We were also united in our resolve to protect our nation and to bring those who committed this vicious attack to justice. ... And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al QaedaUnited States is not -- and never will be -- at war with Islam. I've made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity. ... The American people did not choose this fight. It came to our shores, and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens ...

The cause of securing our country is not complete. But tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it's the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place. Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. May God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America."

Truly a President's speech. [Full extract can be read here]

As I attentively heard the speech of Obama, I recalled another country which was suffering terror at a magnitude which stands highlighted and incomparable to 9/11. It is our very own country India. Each of those words which Obama spoke, resonated the killings of million of Indians in my mind. It took 10 years for US to give justice to the 3000 innocent human beings who were killed in 9/11 attacks. It has taken more than 60 years and it is still counting for our country to give justice to countless Indians who have lost lives because of Terror.

I was just thinking why is their such lethargy?, why is there so much negligence?, why are our minds not concerned about the deaths of fellow citizens?, why is there no such rigorous action to curb terrorism? As always we do not have any specific answers to these questions!

Indians have always believed in the Eternal justice given by GOD. The justice given by human beings is temporal. It is that eternal justice which should give us the inspiration to answer some of the above questions. The WAR ON EVIL is not over but it repeats until eternal justice prevails ...

Bhagavadgeeta, Chaper 4, Verse 7 and Verse 8

yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthaanam adharmasya
tadaatmanam srjamy aham

Whenever there is decline of Dharma (righteousness).. and rise of Adharma (unrighteousness);To protect the virtuous..to destroy the wicked and to re-establish Dharma,I manifest myself, oh decedent of Bharata

paritraanaaya sadhunaam vinaashaaya cha dushkrritaam dharmasamsthaapanaarthaaya sambhavaami yuge yuge..

For the protection of the devotees and the annihilation of the miscreants and to fully establish the righteousness, I appear million after million...

An Ideal Offering

I was recently going through a series of articles being put on the website of Sringeri Mutt (www.sringeri.net) under a section called Upadesha Lahari. It contains translations, audio, video of lectures of current and former Jagadgurus of Sringeri Mutt. The articles published there are really good and meant for common men who are interested in spiritual elevation.

Here I summarize one of those articles which is a translation of Anuraga Bhashanam (lecture on devotion) delivered by Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamiji at Kapaleeshwara Temple in Chennai during his Vijaya Yatra in 1986

To worship God (Bhagavan) and thereby become the recipient of His Grace is what has been traditionally regarded for thousands of years as an ideal to aspired for. It is our responsibility to keep up that tradition.

यस्याहुरागमविद: परिपूर्णशक्ते-

रंशे कियत्यपि निविष्टममुं प्रपञ्चम् ।

तस्मै तमालरुचिभासुरकन्धराय

नारायणीसहचराय नम: शिवाय ॥

Sri Shankara has conveyed much about how Iswara should be worshiped. Normally, when we visit a temple, we do not go empty-handed; we take some offerings with us for Ishwara. What is the most fitting offering to Bhagavan? The reply given by Sri Sankara in the form of a prayer to Ishwara is quite interesting.

“O, Lord, what shall I offer You? What competence do I possess for offering anything to You? What is the object not possessed by You which I can give You?”

Offering gold, gift of money, modern articles, cool sandal wood paste etc to God is not appropriate. Bhagavatpada analyzed all these options and came to a conclusion.

“O, Lord, I am not competent to offer anything to You. However, there is an object, which I am going to dedicate to You. It is my mind.”

Many raise the objection, “It is not possible to offer the mind to Ishwara. If the mind were to be an external object, we could take it and place it at His feet. But it is not so. We cannot physically handle the mind. How then can we dedicate our minds to Ishwara?” The answer is, “By keeping Ishwara in our minds at all times”. The import is that a person must ever engage himself in thinking of Ishwara. He should not entertain any other thought in his mind.

Is it possible to achieve such a mental state?

In Lord Krishna’s time, the Gopis were ever contemplating on Him. We read in the Bhagavata that the minds of the Gopis did not think of anything or anyone, but the Lord. A devotee has composed a beautiful verse about the condition of the Gopis.

विक्रेतुकामा किल गोपबाला मुरारिपादार्पितचित्तवृत्ति: ।

दध्यादिकं मोहवशादवोचद्गोविन्द दामोदरमाधवेति ॥

The Gopis earned their living by selling milk and curds. In order to attract the attention of people to the items the Gopis had to loudly utter, “Milk! Curds!”. Instead, the Gopis shouted, “O, Govinda! O, Damodara! O, Madhava!” and so on. They set out to sell milk and curds but as their minds were ever engaged in the thought of the Lord, the words “milk” and “curds” did not come out of their mouth. They were uttering the names of the Lord.

God will accept whatever one offers to Him if one’s mind is ever engaged in thinking of Him.

Bhagavan has declared in the Gita:

पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति ।

तदहं भक्त्युपहृतमश्रामि प्रयतात्मन: ॥

“I will accept whatever one offers Me with true devotion.”

Though it is only the knowledge of the Self which leads to liberation, a person who is not competent to tread the path of knowledge should worship Ishwara with devotion. What, indeed, will be the fate of a person who lacks the competence and the opportunity to directly get the knowledge of the Self and yet does not tread the path of devotion?

सा त्वस्मिन्परमप्रेमरूपा ॥

So say the Sastras. One must direct one’s attention exclusively to the Lord; such a state of mind is termed as devotion.

Devotion is not a path meant only for common folk. It is not as if the wealthy ones need not be devoted. All are equal from the standpoint of Ishwara. It will be a grave sin if one were to think that one need not bow down to Ishwara just because one is affluent.

Please read the complete translation of the Bhashanam at the following link

http://www.sringeri.net/2011/01/22/upadesha-lahari/an-ideal-offering.htm

Twenty Five days and Three celestial puzzles

December 22^nd 2010, I was at my home wearing a sweater, covering myself with a blanket standing on the terrace of my house gazing at zillions of stars over my head trying to solve three celestial puzzles that looked to be posed by GOD over the next 25 days.

DECEMBER 22^nd 2010

December 22^nd, a special day of astronomical significance generally not known to many except if you have some interest in astronomy or sky gazing. It is the day when the people in the higher latitudes (Europe, Russia, North China, North America, Canada etc. ) experience the shortest day and the longest night. This day is referred to as the winter solstice. If you are thinking why will there be a shortest day, then you have landed on the right page to understand that.

Earth has an axial tilt of 23.45 degrees. The winter solstice occurs when the earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun. It is because of this axial tilt, the northern hemisphere will have winter and the southern hemisphere has summer and vice versa. The same axial tilt will cause the shortest day and longest night in northern hemisphere AND longest day and shortest night in southern hemisphere on this day. 

One interesting question that might arise in your mind is why is it called Winter solstice even though southern hemisphere is enjoying its summer! Astronomical events are recorded w.r.t Coordinated Universal Time(UTC) which in essence is Greenwich Mean Time(GMT). Since Greenwich is in northern hemisphere, winter/summer solstice is named after the season that occurs in northern hemisphere.

JANUARY 4^th 2011

Ten days after the solstice, into the new decade on January 4^th 2011, partial solar eclipse was observed in Middle East countries like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, UAE (United Arab Emirates), Qatar, Bahrain, Riyadh, etc. We have studied since school days that a solar eclipse occurs, when moon comes in between the sun and the earth i.e. All the three heavenly bodies stand in a single line. I want to share couple of interesting facts about eclipses which most people might not know. The orbit of the moon around the earth is tilted at an angle of 5.14 degrees from the plane of earth's rotation around the sun. The orbit of the moon intersects the earth's orbital plane at two points called the ascending node and descending node. When the moon is at either of these two points, the eclipse(solar/lunar) will occur. In Indian astronomy the ascending node is the all famous RAHU and the descending node is the all famous KETU.

Another interesting fact is that these nodes(rahu/ketu) are not static. They are regressing in the clockwise direction. This is because the oribit of the moon around the Earth is wobbling. It is because of the regressing, the eclipses do not occur periodically at a particular date every year.

JANUARY 15^th 2011

Mostly known in India as Makara Sankranthi, Pongal, Bhogi etc, this day has been celebrated from the past 6000 years. It marks the beginning of the Uttarayana(travel to north).

Throughout the year if you keep recording the position of the sun w.r.t distant constellations which generally is the zodiac constellations, we can observe that the sun keeps moving from one zodiacal constellation to another which is seen as sun's background. The day when sun enters a new constellation, it is called a sankramana. Similarly on January 15^th the sun enters the constellation of capricorn(makara), hence it is called the makara sankramana or sankranthi.

In this screen captured from stellarium, we can see the sun entering the Capricornus(makara) constellation

The zodiac belt which consists of 12 constellations circling the earth, through which the sun takes its yearly path appears to be tilted at an angle of 23.45 degrees because of the earths axial tilt as said in the beginning of the article. 

 (left)The zodiac symbols, (right)the zodiac belt tilted at an angle of 23.45 degrees from the orbital plane of the earth

The sun as it moves across the zodiac will have to take an ascending path and then the descending path. It is on January 15^th the Sun starts its ascending path with respect to the zodiac i.e. its travel towards north and hence called the beginning of Uttarayana.

Next time when you look up at the sky, hope you will not miss anymore puzzles...