Good article Colonel Sahib. A few thoughts for all of us to ponder:-
The article seems to highlight the following :
- 1 - The message of the Gita is great and still relevant - 2 - This has been attested by many distinguished people including foreigners - 3 - Some people question the existence of the Rama & Krishna - 4 - Hence, they question the relevance of the Gita and our cultural heritage
Perhaps we should divorce the historical authenticity of the events depicted in the Mahabharata, from the relevance of the philosophy of the Gita.
Does it really matter whether the events depicted in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata actually occurred ? What these foreigners were attesting to was the relevance of the philosophy contained in the Gita, not its historical authenticity.
Let us, for the sake of argument, say that these events did not take place and that the epics were the outpourings of great rishis, who wanted to convey philosophical insights in the garb of a story. If this be true, one can only marvel at the deep understanding of and acumen of these rishis. This only further underlines the timeless relevance of the message. =============================
RE:The Relevance of Gita
by Sameer on Aug 19, 2006 06:50 PM Permalink
Dear brother, who explained that Indians were never united?> You surely read in a history book or in a newspaper/magazine... ever wondered, who its authors could be? 'eminent' marxists? So, what to expect from them?
So, brother, before believing their trash, also have a look at the other way and then decide which to believe. This is the kind of self hatred and seld misinformation, which is harmful for Indians.
This is interesting. The Indian history we learnt in our school says that, the present geopgraphical India was a collection of small small fighting countries throughout history. Even Mahabharatha, and Ramayana are based on frictions between blood-related people.
So what's so great about Indian culture?. It is the same as any other culture in the world.
Like Lord Macaulay said, Indians might have been rich before, but they were never united, and it is same even today.
Indian culture get appreciated abroad, but not in every sense. It has several extemist perspectives, like many other cultures in the world, which no one would approve of.
RE:Supreme Indian culture!!!
by Tejas on Aug 17, 2006 06:29 PM Permalink
Colonel has never used the word Supreme or claimed it to be Supreme.So your argument does not stand.Moreover Colonel is just trying to make us remember that there a great many heritages in form of Written Bibles & incidences which should help us to strike a pragmatic balance between the essence of our Culture & today's geo-political situation.Please note that he says "This obviously does not mean wholesale rejection or going back in time,but merely that we accept the foreign with open eyes and confidence in our own worth".Its boosting self-worth & esteem.No culture can claim to be Perfect.So there may be some problems but you can't negate the Corpus de Major its due for some ancillary events.
I share most of the sentiments that you have described in your column. If people could just get over the fact that Hinduism is not the cause for most of the misgivings (that have been wrongly attributed to it), we will realize that it has so much more to offer (I believe this is true for most religions!) and Gita is one such immortal piece. If everyone lived by the Gita-there would be no need to go in search of a "heaven"
On 15th August 1947, when the newborn India was 0 days old, we had our 1st independence day. That day we completed 0 years, and entered the 1st year of Independence. So, the calculation should be 1947-1946=1. Similarly, 2006-1946=60.
We have "completed" 59 years of Independence, and celebrated 60th Independence Day. And have entered into 60th year of Independence.
(Dont apply here the calculations you do to find out your age on your every birthday).
Dear Sir, I am an acute admirer of your articles, and columns on Rediff.com in general. This piece of article (Why this I-Day is doubly special ) too is a well-timed and well-written text. It is inspiring, and motivating too.
Your mention about the NASA photograph of Ramasetu raised my curiosity, and I Googled for it. There were few articles supporting the claims mentioned by you, and I was very excited, my Hindu religious feelings got boosted. But there also were few websites calling it an HOAX.
I feel a need of a balanced authentic approach to our existence, our religion, it's history and teachings. We need to link it to the findings of evolution theory, and other facts proven by Science so far. And then this new fact-based history, philosophy & knowledge of Hinduism & Indian Civilization should be taught and distributed in the masses. That will empower us, and make us confident.
I look forward to a day when a bunch of proud Hindu religious people, who are scientists by profession, coming together to rewrite the history and science is unfolding, so we will get answers to any unanswered questions.
A good acrticle written with right spirit. In our country everything about our great past history is politicised. This is the irony of our country. The british rulers succeded to create a slave & leftist mindset by polluting our education system.
And if few things still remain unknown, then that's Okay. Science is unfolding, and we will get answers to those unanswered questions. But then let both the parties abstain from making propaganda of their versions of answers.
I truly appreciate, and liked very much, your analogy of seeing Lord Krishna as "An extraordinary Indian" who was "a warrior, philosopher, musician, statesman, author and a great lover, all rolled into one." Now this is something we can have faith in, without keeping a chance for any doubts by anyone. With this view we don't need to prove that both the legends "physically" existed, and also we will not feel helpless and like 'losing ground under our feet', if the Leftist unite to prove that stories mentioned in The Ramayana & The Mahabharata were "mere" epics.
(And the latest 3 prophets of that same chain have created the youngest 3 religions in the world; they also see Buddha as one from the same chain.)
Coming back to the Ramasetu, I feel a need of a balanced authentic approach to our existence, our religion, it's history and teachings. We need to link it to the findings of evolution theory, and other facts proven by Science so far. And then this new fact-based history, philosophy & knowledge of Hinduism & Indian Civilization should be taught and distributed in the masses. That will empower us, and make us confident. And we will have solid trustworthy answers to all the doubts raised by fellow-religions about the validity of our religion. (We should abstain from any Propaganda, as it causes more harm to the religion than any good. Because if it is revealed as a HOAX, then the followers get confused, and it harms to religion at its roots.)
I look forward to a day when a bunch of proud Hindu religious people, who are scientists by profession, coming together to rewrite the history which will not offend either "Hindu-nationalists" or the "Leftist".
