Knowing India

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The problem with Indian history, IMHO, is faulty translation of words like Raashtra, Dharma, Sanskriti to Nation, Religion, Culture respectively. The word civilization is translated to Sabhyata. The word Sabhya literally means Decent. Sabhyata means decency. It can also mean civilized nature. But, Bhaaratiya Sabhyataa when translates as Indian decency, it becomes a dicey word to be used in historical context.

The state of being "civilized" in western sense has something to do with nobility in Indic context, and our ancestors have typically used the word "Aarya" to refer to such nobility, aristocracy. Instead, it is made up as a racial word. It is the most ridiculous thing conjured up in past century reagarding racial connotations of word Aarya. This was the most poisonous venom ever spewed in Indian psyche by anyone throughout the history. Aarya is synonymous to civilized.

An Aarya can be sabhya (Yudhishthir) or asabhya (Duryodhan), but he is Aarya (civilized, from Indian context) nonetheless.

The Sanskriti of Bhaarat has been Dharma-based. This understanding of Dharma as concept has spread outside domains of subcontinent and retreated back to the heartlands of subcontinent many times. But, subcontinent (Bhaarat) remains the heartland of Dhaarmic-Sanskriti. All Indic philosophies espouse following one's Dharma. They may or may not differ from each other in supernatural context or Moksha/Nirvana. Irrespective of different takes on moksha part of life, emphasis on Dharma remains constant in Bhaarat.

Hence, Bhaarat is an a single and continuous entity throughout space and time, from point of view of Dhaarmic Sanskriti. Emphasis on Dharma is the glue which gives Bhaarat its identity, continuity and uniformity.

In his book "The Philosophy of Civilization", Albert Schweitzer defines civilization in 1923 as -

It is the sum total of all progress made by man in every sphere of action and from every point of view in so far as the progress helps towards the spiritual perfecting of individuals as the progress of all progress.

According to wiki article on civilization, most widely used definition,

civilization is a descriptive term for a relatively complex agricultural and urban culture

Complex agriculture and urban lifestyle might be the standards applied to determine and define a civilization, but how can it be used to determine the Sabhyataa of a society is something which is beyond logical reasoning.

Rigvedic people, "supposedly", were unable to till land and lived in villages. Yet, they composed literature which is revered until today as one of most complex philosophies of world. By above mentioned definition, Rigvedic people are uncivilzed. So be it, but then how can they be termed as people without Sabhyataa, is again beyond logic.

Mis-translation and inability of the "History Re-writers" to understand the meaning of such basic terms which are so frequently used in vocabulary of Indians is the reason for such mess-ups.

From point of view of memetics, the region of earth, where people value the Dharma based meme-complex as their world-view is Bhaarat. For most of the time in history, that region has been Indian subcontinent.

This commonality offered by Sanskriti based on Dharma is the glue which identifies Bhaarat as one and continuous entity, in spite of the diversity in space and time.

In such system, the concept of nation-state with fixed inviolable boundaries and concept of religion interfering in all Dharma-Artha-Kaam-Moksha aspects of life, which are essentially segregated in Indic system, when applied without Vivek, creates a huge confusion. This is exactly what has happened, IMHO.

The real meaning of terms like Dharma, Sanskriti, Sanskaar, Sabhyataa, Raashtra etc is very well understood by common Indian people while speaking in their language. Even while speaking in English, ordinary Indian man knows exactly what he means when he uses these words. However, their English counterparts become dicey because they mean somewhat differently in European and Abrahamic context.

Hence, when Dharma is translated to Religion, the conflict begins in Indian mind. Due to power of westernized educational institution, passage of time, he starts doubting his real understanding of these terms and begins to commit the same mistakes which the original "mis-translators" committed.

What is required is re-education of Indian mind to remind them that their original understanding of these terms was right and that these Indic terms and their popular English synonyms mean different things. If this happens, slowly, people who say that there was no India before arrival of british will slowly start decreasing.

They will understand that India is not merely a nation-state... India is an idea, a concept, a phenomenon which is continuous, coherent, single throughout its expanse in space and time. It is very easy to feel her, experience her, but very difficult to grasp and understand her if one relies on faulty understanding of these basic terms.

Understanding Islamic social power-structure: Critical Appraisal of Muhammad from perspective of memetics

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Introduction

Philosophers come up with all sorts of philosophies they feel like. We have whole range of them. They are originators of memes.

The blame for misuse of ideologies and subsequent massacre of people lie on the head of kings and policy makers who utilize the suitable meme from available set of memes for gaining political mileage. Just like Constantine for life time was massacring Christians and on his death bed, accepted Christianity and started massacring Pagans. Constantine made Jesus as popular as he is today. Ashok made Buddha as popular. Without Constantine and Ashok, Jesus and Buddha were just another philosophers.

Muhammad was one of the very few originators of religious memes who patronized himself to become so successful. He did not depend upon some king. This shows that he was a successful human being. He became an authentic policy-maker of his kingdom and as I said, political policy-makers are the ones to blame primarily for misuse of the ideological memes. Muhammad being originator and implementor of Islam, gets both the accolades for being so immensely successful and criticisms for using his own philosophy for gaining political mileage.

The character was Adolf Hitler showed slightly similar trajectory. He came up with philosophy, he got power, he implemented his philosophy and became immensely popular. And later, infamous !!!

Muhammad was a man of power and always aspired to be one. He was an ambitious man. I am just looking at him as an ambitious politician and a human being, instead of divine messenger. This was not the case with Moses and Jesus as they were just another philosophers and not politicians and policy-makers. They came up with philosophy, people utilized it for their good and evil.

This "Islam in danger" mentality is the real pain in the ass for Muslims. Sadly Muslims don't recognize this. This is denotes the influence of Mullah-theocracy under whose exasperating influence lies the Muslim society, and will cause their doom in coming days.

The social power-structure

A Qazi or a Mullah controls the social matters and ascertains the "report-card" of spiritual progress of ordinary Abdul. And sad part is ordinary Abdul in India can't even think of rebelling because if he does, he will be branded as "enemy of Islam" by power-establishment and will bring "Islam in danger". Hence, Jihad against him.

"One God-One Book-One Prophet-No Pork" was so far the best definition of Islam given to me by an illiterate Thai-Muslim cleaning lady in my dormitory. This is the central dogma. Around this central dogma has developed a system in which Mullah who uses this opiate (of religion) to control masses and usurps power, himself consumed by the one. Thus, once a part of system which gives you enormous power as long as you keep ordinary Abdul frightened of divine wrath, it is an extremely seductive offer.

Ordinary Abdul is prohibited to learn Quran in his mother-tongue. He is prohibited and threatened with his life, he tries and makes his own interpretation of the book which somehow goes against this power-structure. He is forced to suspend his critical faculties in favour of faith and fear of Sky-daddy. He is actively dissuaded from free-thinking.

This power-structure is inherently linked perhaps with the nature and Chitta-Vritti of Prophet Muhammad himself. Belief in Allah is not enough to ensure the place in heaven. One has to depend upon Muhammad's favours and his influence on god to go to heaven and get 72 hoors. Thus, Muhammad made himself more powerful than Allah.

Thus, in Islam for all practical purposes, Muhammad, the Rasool, is supremely powerful figure. This is as perfect and complete as it can get. Muhammad will only talk to Allah about you if you were a true Muslim.

But who determines who the true-Muslim is and who is not, herein lies the real crux of the issue.

Historical aspects of expansion of Islamic power-structure

Muhammad made himself irreplaceable and went to Jannat. But he left behind a power-structure which was perfectly organized in otherwise dispersed pre-Islamic Arabia. Thus, this power-structure was perfected and cemented by Islamic expansion under first four Caliphs.

Interesting thing is that, the important civilizations of that age were Western-Roman, Eastern-Roman, Egyptian, Carthaginian, Persian, Indian, Chinese. Persians and Byzantines (eastern-Roman) were exhausted in long warfare with each other. Persia in particular; which also had similarly modelled monotheistic power-structure of one-main god (Ahura Mazda)-One messenger (Zarathushtra)-One book (Zend Avesta).

Egypt was decadent. Carthinigians were ideologically stagnated for some time. Byzantines were strong because they had new influx of ideas from all over the world Istanbul being on silk-route, had access to traders, technologies and most importantly ideas from China, India, Persia, Israel, Greece and Rome. Thus, it took time for Islam to overcome Byzantines.

The biggest losers in the expanding power-structure of Islam were Persians and Egyptians; Persians in particular. The soft-monotheism of Zoroastrian Persia could not counter the hard and perfected monotheism of Islam. The military might of Persia was already weakened due to Byzantine wars. Hence Persia crumbled. Yet, time and again, Persia, unlike egypt, has shown that its old civilization is not dead yet. The memory is still very much alive in subconscious minds of Persians. The most glaring example of this is the persistent popularity of "Shahnama" by "Firdowsi" in Persia for over a thousand years now.

Bhaarat or India, OTOH, was a different ball game for Islam. Arabs could not conquer any part of region which was under influence of Indic civilization for at-least 250 years since their first raid on Sindh in 640 AD. Until 711 AD, there were many successive waves which were thoroughly repelled. Muhd bin Qasim successfully ventured into Sindh. However, arabs were gradually replaced by Sumer Rajputs in Sindh. Battle of Rajasthan completely nullified any Islamic influence in subcontinent for almost 300 years.

Interestingly, Afghanistan resisted Islamization for 250 years after fall and Islamization of Persia. The most interesting thing, worth noting is that central Asia (turkmenistan, Khazak, tajikistan etc) was conquered and Islamized about centure before Gaandhar and Afghanistan was. And within 20 years of fall of afghanistan, the Islamic raids started on Gaandhar and Kekay. This shows the influence and resilience of Indic civilization.

The Islamic expansion in India was primarily Central-Asian. Central Asian tribal mentality has been eternal enemy of Indic civilization since Rigvedic days and battle of ten kings. This mentality was always invasive towards throughout the history. Just that after Islamization, this tendency became more rabid and malignant. Destructive, it always was. But ideologically inferior and barbaric than Indic civilization.

But, this was not new to Bhaarat and Indic civilization was accustomed to assimilating new tribes, people, ideas and memes from central asia and perfectly Indianize them. Scythians, Kushans, Huns, Yavans and many others are glaring examples of this fact. The central asian variant of Islam too was gradually on verge of Indianization. Dara-Shikoh was the primary example of this co-synthesis of new Indianized traditions. The turning point in Indian Islam came with advent of Aurangzeb in 17th century. Herein, lies the place of Aurangzeb, and hence Shivaji, in Indian history. The defeat of Dara was IMHO one of the most tragic incidence in Indian history. Without Aurangzeb, there would have been a perfectly Indian variant of Islam.

Propagation

Propagation of Islam is in fact propagation of Mullah-based social power-structure associated with it.

Sufis played a major role, yes. But once Islam was established, they found themselves enlisted as Kaafirs along with other Kaafirs. Any established monolithic power-structure does not like influx of new ideas. Rather it wants controlled influx of new ideas. They prefer standardisation and mass-production over innovation. This ensures efficient execution of power-machinery.

Even where Sufis introduced their abstract free-thinking ideas, this free-thinking was standardised and all anomalies were removed by forcible imposition and dominance of Deobandi Islam, which is now followed by Wahabi Islam. Wahabism is so far the most efficiently standardised school of Islam with maximum devotion of followers towards Qazi-Mullah power structure and minimum anomalies. Anomalies are looked upon as abnormalities and are violently uprooted. They follow the literal meaning of the book.

They can and have declared non-Wahabis as Kuffars. But so far, no Deobandi or Barelvi or Sufi or Shia or ahmediya or Bahai people have dared to declare Wahabism as Kufr and un-Islamic. The power structure, along with separation of Abdul and Ayesha from ability to think rationally, gives propagation of Deobandi and Wahabi forms of Islam maximum mileage. Most of others are already enlisted as Kaafirs and are on target list of suicide bombers eager to meet their 72 in paradise. This is because, deep down, every Mullah knows, that he cannot defeat the Wahabi interpretation of Quran as Non-Islamic unless Quran is reformed, which is not allowed. Hence it seems that deobandis will have to merge in with Wahabis or become as fanatic as Wahabis.

The cycle initiated for grabbing and then cementing a lucrative position in the power-structure (Qazi/Mullah) initiated by Prophet Muhammad ends in Wahabization of Islam.

Concluding observations

Finally, it can said that, evolution and adaptation is fact of life which every replicating entity has to accept. And that evolution is best suited for the survival of a replicating entity or meme, when it is in harmony with surrounding or if it forces its surrounding to be in harmony with self.

Islam, when initiated, introduced much needed standardisation in otherwise free-thinking and dispersed Arabs. Standardization helps in efficient survival where resources are scarce and cost of living in terms of energy is high. Civilizations like India where resources are abundant and cost of living in terms of energy is ridiculously low, are better off being free-thinking and non-standardised because it is best suited for progress of mankind. Violent suppression of critical faculties of certain section of people leads to dissatisfaction between free-thinkers (Indic people) and standardised products (Sunni Muslims of Deobandi and Wahabi schools in particular) and hence leads to conflict.

Once ordinary Ayesha (common muslim woman) is emancipated from clutches of Qazi/Mullah based power-structure, the demise of this power-structure won't be far behind. It will be matter of one or two generations that this power-structure will meet its 72. Once Ayesha is emancipated, she will free Abduls as well. Because it is woman who holds the string of cradle and hence entire civilization.

Indian Civilization - Part 2 - Sapta Sindhu, Bhaarat, Hindutva and Secularism

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(continued from Part 1)

Hindutva literally means Indian-ness. The core of India and Indianness is found in Vedas which is allegiance towards land of Sapta-Sindhu and culture and civilization of Sapta-Sindhu. The definition which Veer Savarkar gives for the word Hindu is 

आसिंधु सिन्धु पर्यन्ता यस्य भारत भूमिका l पितृभू पुण्यभू च एव स वै हिन्दुरिती स्मृतः ll

- One who refers to the Indian subcontinent as Bhaarat and considers Bhaarat as his fatherland (or motherland) and most revered land (Punyabhoomi) is a Hindu.

This concept of revered land has its origin in the term of "Sapta-Sindhu" which is widely cited in Vedic and post-Vedic literature.

This concept and high reverence of Sapta-Sindhu is central concept of Vedic literature. The most interesting part of Bhaaratiya civilization is the process in which the radius of this Sapta-Sindhu region increased and expanded with time.

The original Sapta-Sindhu region in early hymns of Rigveda comprises of 5 rivers of Punjab, Saraswati(in Rajasthan) and Kubha (Kabul) river in NWFP. This land is glorified as Sapta-Sindhu. The dwellers of this land are Arya people who are pure, rich, righteous and civilized men on earth who are Kavis (poets) composing beautiful literature and performing grand Yagnas to please their mighty Devas.

In later Rigveda, in nadi-stuti sukta of 10th mandala, the Sapta-Sindhu region includes Ganga and Yamuna as well. Thus, now, this idea of Sapta-Sindhu, its culture and civilzation comprised of entire north Indian plains, from Bengal to NWFP.

In Puranic times post Rigveda, new Sapta-Sindhu concept became popular with time. This is seen in famous verse

गंगेच यमुनेचैव गोदावरी सरस्वती l नर्मदे सिन्धु कावेरी जलेस्मिन सन्निधिम कुरु  ll

Now, Sapta-Sindhu includes the region of Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswati, Narmada, Sindhu and Kaveri. Basically, entire Indian subcontinent. Interestingly, the rivers west of Sindhu were no longer considered as part of Sapta Sindhu region. This expansion has to be seen with its connection with shift from Indra to Trinity elaborated in Part-1 of this series.

Sapta-Sindhu is the term which gave birth to the word "Hindu". The Civilization of Sapta-Sindhu was referred to as Hapta-Hindu by Persians and other outsiders. The people of this region and culture, the Sapta-Saindhavas were referred to as hapta-Haindavas by Persians and other outsiders. All these terms are found in Zend Avesta of Zoroastrians.

In all its context, Sapta-Sindhu has been the homeland of Sapta-Saindhavas (Bhaaratiyas). This has been the Punya-Bhoomi (revered land) of them. This has been the Pitrubhoomi and Matrubhoomi for them. 

Thus, the very concept and identity of India or Bhaarat originated from land of seven legendary rivers and expands with the same. The concept of Bhaarat was Punjab and adjacent areas during Vedic war of ten kings where Sudas is a king of Bhaarata and Sapta Sindhu. The concept of Bhaarat in Vishnupuran was same as pan-subcontinental identity of Sapta-Sindhu.

One more defining feature which was preserved all throughout the history of our civilization is the sense of supremacy of Arya over Anaarya people. The famous quotation of कृण्वन्तो विश्वं आर्यम (lets make the whole world "Arya" or civilized) denotes the same fact. Vedic memes did that, by extending the status of "civilized/Aarya" to all the residents of Indian subcontinent who accepted the Dharmic way of life. The land of "Arya/civilized" automatically became Sapta-Sindhu and hence Bhaarat. Howmuchever it is denied, this identity of civilized Arya people and barbaric Anaarya people still exists, with different names and in subtle forms in the subconscious psyches of Indian population.

Owing to this, sadly, Muslims and Christians are still considered as Anaarya and Mlenchha by certain section of orthodox Indic people. Same is true about certain section of Muslim population as well which propounded and propagated two-nation theory, which resulted in partition of India in 1947. This exclusivity perhaps worked in medieval times, for good or for evil, with Muslims and Christians of foreign origin. Indian Muslims and Indian Christians, especially in post independence era, are as much Indians as Indian Non-Abrahamics are. Hence, this strategy needs to be changed and updated.

The concept of Arya needs to be extended to IM and IC who understand, appreciate and follow the concept of Dharma and delineate and differentiate their personal faiths of attaining Moksha from pursuit of Dharma-Artha-Kaama in day-to-day life. This differentiation is of utmost importance in Indian context. Separation of Dharma and Moksha is the true definition of secularism in Indian context. 

This origin and the true meaning of the terms "Dharma" and "Arya" and identities of "Sapta-Sindhu", "Bhaarat" should be explained thoroughly to every single resident of Indian subcontinent. This will generate an enormous selective pressure on Indianization and assimilation of Abrahamic memes into mainstream Indic society.

Just like followers of Abrahamic ideologies should Indianize themselves, the followers of Indic ideologies must increase their inclusiveness and expand their idea of Sapta-Sindhu once again. Christians and Muslims in India will be able to retain their Christianity and Islam as personal paths of achieving Moksha/Salvation without letting it interfere with their pursuits of Dharma-Artha-Kaama of daily life in society.

If this happens, who knows, perhaps Tigris, Euphrates and Jordan rivers will become part of Sapta-Sindhu 500 years from now.....

Indian Civilization - Part 1 - Importance of Dharma

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The concept of Dharma is the core concept of Indian civilization. The attribution of religious connotations to the term "Dharma" has generated enormous confusion and hence conflict not only amongst Hindus, but also Indians.

1. I ask to stop using the word "Hindu" as it is more geographical than religious. Ever since religious connotations have been given to this original geographical word, the fractures in Indic society have widened. Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs have problems with word "hindu" because it has been artificially constructed and imbibed upon minds of people as the one in same league as Islam or christianity.

2. The fact that Conglomerate of Indic paths is not as crystalline as Abrahamic ones, gives us an added advantage in Bhaarat, if the correct understanding of Dharma is shown.

3. A revolution happened in India about 2200-2300 years ago. Around the times prior to Mauryas, the influence of Indra and his Vedic deities started declining and there was an emergence of Puranic trinity of Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh in Indic society. This, IMHO, was one of the biggest revolution in India which enabled the unification of all the animist religions of India into one civilizational and cultural glue.

For more information on how this assimilation occurred, please follow this link where I have shared my views on this issue.

5. The shift from Indra-based Vedic deities which were essentially warriors, to family oriented Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva-Devi ensured the universal acceptance of the core values of Vedas all across the subcontinent without much clashes with local religions. This created the civilizational glue in first place. If Indra-Agni-Varuna still reigned and worshipped supreme, there would never have been a pan-Indian civilization.

6. The point to be noted is, Indra et al are much more exclusivists than Vishnu et al. The worshippers of Indra in Rigveda are violently intolerant towards Panis, Dasyus and other non-Arya (Anaarya) tribes. With society becoming agrarian, a set of more benign and inclusive deities was required. This requirement was fulfilled by promotion of Vishnu-Shiva to higher pedastle and demotion of Indra-Agni-Varuna to subordinate pedastle.

7. In all this process, the core Vedic values, ideals, philosophies like Saamkhya, Yoga, Vedanta, Nyaya, Mimamsa, Vedas, Smritis, the Jain literature, the Bauddha literature was preserved and propagated throughout the subcontinent and beyond. Although the deeper values remained confined to classes. This is but natural.. Very few people in society have propensity to think about higher truth in life or in other words Moksha/Nirvana. Most of us are more pre-occupied with daily routine, in other words, our Dharma, Artha and Kaama.

8. This shows us that identity is a continuous process.. It is always in making and never completely made. 

9. Today, Bhaarat and Bhaaratiya civilization needs to make one more leap like this, to accommodate the exclusivist Abrahamic civilization.

10. We cannot deal with this by being more exclusive than them and yet maintain the cultural glue. This is proven by the fact that the problems in Indian subcontinent have arisen and increased ever since this illusive and exclusive identity of "Hinduism" was created by the british. This not only divided Indic society even more, but also forced Indic society to play the game on the strengths of Abrahamic memes.

11. Abrahamic memes and ideals thrive on mutually exclusive identity. This is the strength of Abrahamic memes, and this exactly is the weakness of Abrahamic memes. Playing on the strength of rival is usually detrimental to one's existence unless one is more efficient in those utilization of those strength than the rival.

12. Now, Indic civilization has two options. 

a) to play on the strengths of Abrahamic memes and defeat them. This can be ensured by Indic civilization becoming more violently exclusivists and proselytizers than Abrahamic memes. Which in turn is possible by reverting back to Indra-based Vedic system of warlord deities who destroy the non-aryans and consume Soma and compose esoteric literature. This is very powerful option and if utilized efficiently, can be helpful in tackling the Islam and Christianity in India. This system is primarily fueled by similar faith towards Indra et al and similar attitude of supremacy and disgust towards non-aryans as Abrahamics have towards non-believers. The idea that Indra is with the person in his quest of destroying non-aryans is a very strong idea and extremely potent one just like the ones in Abrahamic texts where God/Allah is with the believer in his quest of vanquishing Non-believer.

Disadvantages of this system is that it will disrupt the already glued Indian civilization to its very core. Unless the status of being a pure "Aarya" is extended to all non-abrahamic Indics, it is impossible to maintain the glued civilization together. Even if the neo-Vedics end up destroying the forces and citadels of neo-Vritra asura with the help of mighty Indra, they will end up alienating most of the Non-Vedic and Non-Arya Indian population and undo whatever efforts were taken by philosophers and sages throughout the history to glue entire subcontinent in one thread of civilizational commonality. 

b) The second option in front of Indic civilization is to play on its on strength which is apparently the dire weakness of the opposing Abrahamic meme. The point to be noted is, after our shift to more inclusive deities, our sphere of influence extended from Central Asia to South-east Asia. The maximum extent of Indo-sphere was achieved owing to accommodative inclusiveness. The strength of this glued Bhaaratiya civilization is Unity in diversity. Inherent Advaita in apparent Dvaita. The thing about this approach is that it is ever dynamic. Yet, it is at equilibrium with core values. Shift from Religion and Nation centric socio-politics of Europe to Dharma and Raashtra centric socio-politics of Bhaarat is what is required to bring in. The strength of our system is allegiance towards one's Dharma irrespective of personal faith or conviction. Personal faiths are subject to evolution and change. Dharma is not.

Thus, first task is to imbibe the true meaning of the term "Dharma" in the minds of people along with the supreme emphasis on following it. 

Dharma is not equal to Religion. 

This has to be thoroughly and deeply imbibed on the mind of every single person in Bhaarat. Once personal faith is delineated and detached from core concept of Dharma, then it will sound death-knell to the exclusive character of Abrahamic religions. This will begin the process of assimilation.

This approach will change the "Hinduism" as it is today. But it should be noted that "Hinduism" is anyways an artificial construct. It was not the same 200 years ago and won't be the same 200 years hence. 

In Bhaaratiya civilization, change is the only constant. Things which do not change, go extinct. Abrahamic memes in India have to follow this.

(to be concluded in part two)

Warning of Krishna (कृष्ण की चेतावनी) by Ramdhari Singh "Dinkar"

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मैत्री की राह दिखाने को 

सबको सुमार्ग पे लाने को 

दुर्योधन को समझाने को 

भीषण विध्वंस बचाने को  

भगवान् हस्तिनापुर आये 

पांडव का संदेसा लाये  

"हो न्याय अगर तो आधा दो 

और उसमे भी यदि बाधा हो 

तो दे दो केवल पांच ग्राम 

रखों अपनी धरती तमाम  

हम वही ख़ुशी से खाएँगे

परिजन पर असि न उठाएंगे" ( असि - Asi - Arms/Weapons)  

दुर्योधन वह भी दे न सका 

आशीष समाज की ले न सका 

उल्टे हरी को बांधने चला 

जो था असाध्य साधने चला  

जब नाश मनुज पर आता हैं (मनुज - Manuj - Descendents of manu, mankind) 

पहले विवेक मर जाता हैं  

हरी ने भीषण हुंकार किया

अपना स्वरुप विस्तार किया

डगमग डगमग दिग्गज डोले 

भगवान् कुपित होकर बोले  

"ज़ंजीर बढा अब साध मुझे 

हाँ हाँ दुर्योधन बाँध मुझे 

ये देख गगन मुझमे लय हैं 

ये देख पवन मुझमे लय हैं 

मुझमे विलीन झंकार सकल 

मुझमे लय हैं संसार सकल  

अमरत्व फूलता हैं मुझमे 

संसार झूलता हैं मुझमे  

उदयाचल मेरे दीप्त भाल 

भूमंडल वक्षस्थल विशाल 

भुज परिधि बांध को घेरे हैं (परिधि - circumference of universe) 

मैनाक मेरु पग मेरे हैं (मैनाक मेरु - legendary mountains in Indian mythology)

दीप्ते जो ग्रह नक्षत्र निकर 

सब हैं मेरे मुख के अन्दर  

दृक हो तो दृश्य अखंड देख

मुझमे सारा ब्रह्माण्ड देख 

चराचर जीव जग क्षर-अक्षर 

नश्वर मनुष्य सृजाती अमर  

शत कोटि सूर्य शत कोटि चन्द्र 

शत कोटि सरित्सर सिन्धु मंद्र  

शत कोटि ब्रह्मा विष्णु महेश 

शत कोटि जलपति जिष्णु धनेश (जिष्णु - Jishnu - Victorious)

शत कोटि रुद्र शत कोटि काल 

शत कोटि दंड धर लोकपाल  

ज़ंजीर बढा कर साध इन्हें 

हाँ हाँ दुर्योधन बाँध इन्हें  

भूतल अतल पाताल देख 

गत और अनागत काल देख 

यह देख जगत का आदि सृजन 

यह देख महाभारत का रण  

मृतकों से पटी हुई भू हैं 

पहचान कहाँ इसमें तू हैं !!!  

अम्बर का कुंतल जाल देख 

पद के नीचे पाताल देख 

मुट्ठी में तीनो काल देख 

मेरा स्वरुप विकराल देख  

सब जन्म मुझिसे पाते हैं 

फिर लौट मुझिमे आते हैं  

जिव्हा से कढ़ती ज्वाल सघन 

साँसों से पाता जन्म पवन 

पड़ जाती मेरी दृष्टि जिधर 

हंसने लगती हैं सृष्टि उधर  

मैं जभी मूंदता हूँ लोचन 

छा जाता चारों ओर मरण  

बाँधने मुझे तो आया हैं 

ज़ंजीर बड़ी क्या लाया हैं ?? 

यदि मुझे बांधना चाहे मन 

तो पहले बाँध अनंत गगन  

शुन्य को साध न सकता हैं 

वह मुझे बाँध कब सकता हैं ???  

हित-वचन नहीं तुने माना 

मैत्री का मूल्य न पहचाना 

तो ले अब मैं भी जाता हूँ 

अंतिम संकल्प सुनाता हूँ  

याचना नहीं अब रण होगा 

जीवन जय या की मरण होगा  

टकराएंगे नक्षत्र निकर 

बरसेगी भू पर वन्ही प्रखर (वन्ही - Wanhi - Fire) 

फन शेषनाग का डोलेगा 

विकराल काल मूंह खोलेगा  

दुर्योधन रण ऐसा होगा 

फिर कभी नहीं जैसा होगा  

भाई पर भाई टूटेंगे 

विष बाण बूँद से छूटेंगे 

सौभाग्य मनुज के फूटेंगे 

वायस शृगाल सुख लूटेंगे   (शृगाल - Shrigaal - Fox, Hyena)

आखिर तू भूशायी होगा 

हिंसा का परदायी होगा"  

थी सभा सन्न सब लोग डरे 

चुप थे या थे बेहोश पड़े 

केवल दो नर ना अघटे थे 

धृतराष्ट्र विदुर सुख पाते थे  

कर जोड़ खड़े प्रमुदित निर्भय 

दोनों पुकारते थे जय जय ......

- कृष्ण की चेतावनी (Warning of Krishna), from epic रश्मिरथी (rashmi-rathi - Charioteer of light) by the legendary poet रामधारी सिंह "दिनकर"....

This is one of the supreme moments in the life of Krishna and is only epitomized by his monumental failure on this very moment. In this moment of his life, Krishna reaches a monumental and divine heights (other moment being discourse of Geeta, of course). He became famous for rising so high in life on such occasions, but tragically, although he became known, respected and feared, he failed on his primary objective, that was to avert the disastrous war. Krishna used all his knowledge, his powers, his skills of persuasion to avert the war in this episode of Mahabharat. But, all his efforts proved to be utter failure in changing the heart of Duryodhan and averting the disaster. 

He even revealed to the world for the first time that he is God himself and has come upon the earth to uplift the righteous. But even this proved ineffectual in persuading Duryodhan to see the reason. And most tragic part of his life is that he was accused of not doing enough to avert the war by Gaandhari (mother of Duryodhan) after the war ended. Gaandhari cursed him that he will suffer the same fate as she and her family suffered, that is living long enough to see the self-destruction of his own family and clan and city.

This curse fructified 36 years after the war, when his entire clan killed in a civil war. All his brothers, children and rest of his kin killed each other after consuming too much of alcohol. Krishna lived to see everyone in his family whom he so dearly loved, killing off each other. 

And few days later, Krishna was mistakenly shot by an old hunter's arrow while resting and meditating in forest. Krishna died alone in jungle, with none of his family and loved ones around and alive, in perfect state of equianimity and bliss. His job on this earth was over !!! :-)

** About the poem -This is one of the famous poems in Hindi literature.Widely cited and quoted by literati and common man alike.

Most infamously, याचना नहीं अब रण होगा, जीवन जय या की मरण होगा -this particular line from this poem was quoted by Pravin Mahajan, before murdering his brother Pramod Mahajan. What followed thereafter is seen in the subsequent lines of the poem.