HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As the crackers burst and festivities abound and a new year beckons glad tidings to all, the mind reverts to old times when those that have left us were with us to share this moment of a fresh awaking to the newness of life. The midnight hour ushers us into a new beginning and bids farewell to the last lingering moments of the bygone year. It is this junction which is the transit point for the past into the future that constitutes this moment called the present, never enduring, yet, encompassing in its ephemeral embrace all our phenomenal dreams, our experience of life, that is.

The human mind conjures peculiar fancies for itself and one such is the hypnosis of numbers. When all of humanity decides to feel happy at a fixed point of time, there is concurrence of mental forces and the resulting abounding joy, however fleeting, felt in the moment. Such an occasion is the New Year when for a brief while the inner joy of the soul surfaces through the rough exterior of a jarring episode called the past year, when a flash of light streaks across the sky like an undying hope in the firmament of human aspiration, when the past is set aside as so much of mystifying misery and a new advance striven for to further the cause of a brighter morrow. Resolutions galore on inconstant minds make their stellar appearances but for a forgettable flicker and the past rolls on with its inertia for yet another orbit round the sun. The problems keep mounting as demographic demands mount and the misery of the masses sees no alleviation. The globe keeps warming up as human relations chill. A flash-point hither and a fissure of sorts thither keep peace on tenterhooks as the world inexorably seems to slide down into the ambit of a cataclysmic conflict that could consume human civilisation for good. Through all this the new year breaks through with its message of hope and joy and beckons us to celebrate the bliss beneath the sorrowful surface of things. And herein lies the hope. The spirit of man, battered and bashed but never quite utterly vanquished, battles on to bring forth victory. In this unfailing strength of the soul is coiled the course of our future evolution and our final flip to freedom.

A very happy new year to everybody!

AN ENTREATY

Let us show our feeling for people when they are alive and not shed copious tears when they are gone; let us visit them when they lie in their sick-beds suffering the agony of old age and failing health and not visit their corpses when the drama is over; let us bring a smile to their faces when time there still is and not make merry forsaking them to the care of care-givers; let us weep with them and laugh with them for they are the source of our breath and not neglect them for want of love in us; let us endure a thousand miseries to make them happy who had brought us into the world and do so even while they bless us with their presence; let us nurse them and love them and seek their love in turn that they may feel life yet worthwhile and not leave this world desolate and despairing; let us be human in every sense to bring humanity to our selves as we live close to them who are our kith and kin but are failing to cope with the physical pressures of life; above all, let us be peaceful so that our dear ones do not spend their last days seeking peace in agony without the slightest humanity in their environment to give them succour as they battle to live and to die with neither God nor man to support them. May Sri Ramakrishna give consciousness to all who are due to take care of the aged ones but fail to do so owing to character-failings! May they see the divine in these helpless beings in the evening of their lives! May the impending light of the hereafter be not clouded by looming shadow darkening into the desolate night! May they live in bliss and die in peace, loved and cared for by all they care for and not forsaken by those that are dearest to them! May Mother guide all towards goodness, a spirit of sacrifice and service for the old and the dying! Jai Thakur! Jai Ma!  

MERRY CHRISTMAS

To be conscious is to be God-conscious, you do not have to subscribe to any faith for that; to be super-conscious is to be God, you do not have to believe in anything for that. To do good to others even as one does to oneself is the sum and substance of civilisation, you do not have to be religious for that; to serve and love is the essence of humanity, you do not have to adhere to any doctrinaire creed for that. Merry Christmas to all my sisters and brothers! Let us rise above sect and nation and embrace all as our own. Let humanity prevail over all that is inhuman as we march on to a new age of enlightenment which is rational, free and fearless. May Christ bless us all on this beautiful day of his appearance on earth! Merry Christmas once again!

FREEDOM ON THE HORIZON

When a religious movement begins in violence, it continues in violence as well and eventually ends in violence. Unfortunately for non-observers of such a religion, this violence by 'divine decree' also extends to them and hundreds of millions lose their lives while the dance of death continues through the ages in the name of holy war and conversion of the infidel. Add to it geopolitics and you have the complete picture of violence and counter-violence which remains the despair of civilisations. Man ought no more to subscribe to these archaic manifestations of religiosity and must move on with a scientific temper to progress towards a higher living. Assimilation of the best of all cultures and eschewing of all that is worst in them, surely, is the way ahead and will usher in a new age of peace and enlightenment on earth. It is for progressive and liberal-minded sincere people, and not merely apologists for retrograde and regressive thinking, to take the step towards future advancement of human culture, and they must be devoid of selfish nationalistic or ideological motivations and must be inspired only by the thought of the general good of humanity.

Man is not merely the carrier of tradition, however regressive be such baggage and its vile hold on him, but is also the path-breaker, the innovator, the liberator from the captivity of tradition. Age-old senseless tribal bindings on a vast multitude that has retarded reason and circumscribed civilisation must now be sundered and a new-age ethical system evolved based on all that is sublime in human history and all that appeals to the aesthetics and sense of natural justice of the modern man. Gone are the days of segmented politics when disconnectedness owing to lack of geographical integration of the world caused localisation of culture and its concomitant exclusiveness in the realm of ideas. Such barriers in the path of the free flow of knowledge led to exclusive cultural developments in one part of the world and total ignorance about like developments in other parts. This led to supremacist tendencies and the impulse to imposition of one's own cultural variant on all other races having a different idea of truth and culture. Fanaticism, thus, was engendered in geographical isolation of races as much as by insufficient evolution of the universal idea. This was the seed of forcible conversion to one's own fold, a primitive tribal idea where the wider vision had not yet opened up and ancient barbarism coupled with fanatical attachment to a narrow ideal to set the stage for political perfidy in the name of a God as vicious as His villainous worshippers.

But their day is gone. The Enlightenment has snatched Europe away from theocratic absolutism and ushered in the epoch of reason and liberalism. Where the Middle East and its siblings across the globe still hold on to theocracies, man suffers from medieval monstrosities. A resurgence is likely, for disgruntled humanity cannot be suppressed for long, especially, in modern times when access to information about the free world will inevitably weaken the hold of tyrannical regimes on subjugated masses. Moreover, in a globalised world to stay cocooned in one's own corner, harbouring horrendous historical heresies as humanity's imperatives, for they carry the burden of archaic articulations of faith, is to invoke self-inflicted 'martyrdom' in one's noxious cause of outright obliteration of others' rights. Such an agenda will never succeed given the level of literacy and intellectual enlightenment the major part of the world has already attained. It is a lost cause for a religion that seeks political domination by perfidious means and the sooner reformation alters its moribund ways, the better its chances of a reformed survival. Else, death which it decrees on infidels will be its own lot for stagnation inevitably leads to annihilation.

All cultures have their redeeming elements whereby they gain a footing into the changing contours of a dynamic world and so must Muslims worldwide seek to do with their own inheritance. There is much that is abhorrent in the legacy of loot and conquest that they have to account for to bring about a semblance of sanity into their present predicament but there is equally a lot to cheer about in their heritage of science and technology which had built the edifice of their famed civilisation stretching from the Sahara to Spain. It is misplaced emphasis on dogma and denunciation that has ruined Islamic culture and only a reaffirmation of the vital points that had led to its erstwhile rise as a civilisation that can resurrect it once more. So long as man remains the centrepiece of the human drama, nothing can permanently prevent the progress of civilisation. It moves on with its own momentum forged out of the circumstances that engineer it.

Impetus and impediment both work out their respective roles in advancing or retarding human evolution. Accordingly, civilisation proceeds along an undulated terrain, going up and down in phases. Materialism and spiritualism in inverse relation work on the collective mind of man. Thus, the rise of materialism lowers the spiritual consciousness of man and the rise of spiritualism reduces his materialistic tendencies. An optimal proportion of the twain is conducive for human welfare and the various forces at work in the world resolve out karma to leave the residuum of their action as imprints on human civilisation fashioning and refashioning it. Movements arise out of historical necessities and the demands of evolution and movements wane likewise. There is an energy to it all that determines the course of things and when the last ounce of input work has been spent, death seizes the movement despite desperate attempts to resuscitate it. Such is the state of fanatical ideologies in this age of science and reason. Despite frenetic fanning up of fratricidal violence --- for all of humanity in enlightened vision is but a single family (vasudhaiva kutumbakam) ---, fanatical faiths are in their death throes which they mistake to be martyrdom but which in essence is their obliteration from the face of this beautiful earth they have marred for far too long a period, sinking in civilisation and the possibilities of man to rise beyond what prophecy decrees.

We stand on the crossroads of a new beginning with infinite possibilities opening up before the enlightened vision. No God, no prophet this time will come in the way of the awakened future man, no faith thrust upon the human soul shall retard its progress to freedom. We stand on the edge of a boundless sea of inquiry and investigation, both external and internal, and we remain free to accept or reject our findings in the light of reason and realisation but never again on the basis of arbitrary assumptions or autocratic assertions which stunt the soul of man. If faith there must be, let faith be in the spirit of man to challenge the delusion that is Nature. Let man arise at last from his bondage to God, prophet, messiah and brother man, and let him take his fate finally into his own hands and, so, fashion his destiny as he will, no more governed by a malevolent God, no more subject to divine decree of dubious origin, but a free man with the freedom to choose and to reject what his conscience decrees, what his consciousness ordains.

IF WORDS COULD MOVE

We should feel compassion for all, just a little bit, so that life becomes more bearable, a happier and a sunnier place this world becomes.

Misogyny is ingrained in the sharia and ought not to be entertained in our democracy for it violates the basic spirit of individual freedom and equality of the sexes.

The West should give up its greed for gold and eschew connections with terrorist States like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. International relations of Western nations ought not to supersede basic Western principles of liberalism and democracy which these Islamic States openly flout.

China must be checked now by America in its unbridled supremacist tendencies in South Asia, else, the free world will pay a heavy price for such latitude in the not-so-distant future.

Too much is made of Islamophobia. It is time to reverse the narrative and take radical Islam to account for its perpetration of terror across the world.

The demon of the human heart cannot be obliterated for it is a biological impossibility. What remains though within the realm of sociological possibility is the suppression of circumstances that call forth the demon to express itself in violent terms. The unlikely victory of liberalism over dogmatism may bring about the requisite change but evolution through education and experience works its way out in its own sweet time. So, perilous though the journey be through the present, a vigilant patience is the only way out.

Of what avail is piety if not directed to the service of one's fellow being? Here we talk of a life after death --- heaven, hell, nirvana, et al --- and here we allow our brethren to suffer the miseries of want and privation that make life on earth hell itself when we fully possess the power to ameliorate their condition. Let our deeds make us spiritual, not our vocations, and certainly not our pretensions to piety.

The man of truth is the man of power but how hard it is to find truthfulness in word, intent, motivation, aspiration and discernment. Rare indeed is the man of truth; verily is he centred in his Self that strays not into the falsity of appearance.

India must gather power through mass education of her population and the entitlement of her children to proper nourishment of the body and the mind. The common culture of the land is that of the Vedas and that will hold the nation through if its humanistic principles are well applied by the government. The rest will be achieved by the inventive genius of the children, for in ability or in intelligence they are second to none in the world.

A national narrative ought to be there in India that will make all Indians consciously proud of their heritage, confident about their future possibilities and secure in their affiliation to the nation as an enlightened citizenry.    

WITH HOPES OF A FUTURE UNION ... 1

We had fought for the complete independence of our motherland from British imperialism but what we got in return was a truncated landmass amidst the horrific chaos of Partition in which a million were massacred and tens of millions uprooted from their homeland overnight for which so many suffer even today. The effort for independence was a combined one in which all of India sank in their ploughshare and no one except the perfidious British had envisaged that it would lead to the eventuality of partitioning of the country. When in the thirties the concept of Pakistan was first voiced by adventurist Muslim students in British universities, few thought that it would actually materialise considering the vast popularity of Gandhi and the overwhelming public support the Congress enjoyed. However, the Indian leaders had discounted the secessionist forces that could be triggered by narrow religious nationalism and with the departing British fanning the flames of these secessionists, historical imperatives saw to India's doom in 1947 what has otherwise been but hailed as her liberation. Gandhi watched in stupefied silence the partition proceedings as Jinnah, Nehru and the British made common cause to destroy the body of the motherland. Nehru had, thus, managed to prevent the balkanisation of India and Jinnah triumphed in creating the first modern Islamic State which would be the source of all future trouble for the world and far more for India. What the British got out of the bargain was the creation of inimical neighbouring States which would keep the Anglo-American hold on the subcontinent post World War II. But what did India get in the bargain? Amputation of her limbs? Debilitation of her emerging sovereign power? Destruction of her integration? Impairment of her future progress? Self-oblivion of her future generations? Distortion of her history? I leave you to reflect on these before embarking on future deliberations on these contentious issues that so consume my mind. Jai Hind! Jai Akhanda Bharat!   

LIVE FRUGAL, GIVE MORE, SERVE THE POOR

When I hear of the hardship of the poor and experience at first-hand their economic privation, I feel that we as a nation ought to live a more frugal life to help these less fortunate ones survive the ordeal of all-encompassing poverty that afflicts them, reducing them to mere beasts of burden. All wastage of effort, energy and resources must be assiduously avoided if we are to collectively rise as a nation whose citizens are happily provided for with the basic means for healthy living.

Imagine living perennially on the borderline of destitution and, in contrast, contemplate as well the abominable wastage of wealth by the rich and the upper middle classes in the pursuit of their pleasures of life. Could we not do something about it, each one of us, to ameliorate the privation of the poor, these divinities whose labour produces the wealth of the world but who are deprived ever of their fair share of the fruits of their labour? Of what avail is piety if it be not productive in human terms, if it be indifferent to the tyranny of the times when capital rules conscience out of the human equation?

Those that pride themselves in being labelled devotees must take up cudgels now to redress the situation that is going noxious by the day as billions get ground to the dust by the increasing number of billionaires who care not for the tears of the tormented that suffer the yoke of servitude to humour the leisure of their merciless masters. It is time now to act and no more merely analyse and interpret and delay action thereof. If tears must flow, let them flow from our eyes in sympathy and in love for our hapless brethren so that we may assume responsibility for their befallen fate and take effective action to wipe out their tears and bring a smile on their faces. 

THE PLIGHT OF WOMEN, A SHAME FOR THE NATION

Half of the 550000 villages in India have no toilet facilities for women. They have to perform the task in open fields and that is possible only pre-dawn and post-dusk. Village roads run between the fields and the hapless women including young girls have to defecate close to the edge of the roads for fear of abduction or molestation which frequently is the case anyhow. When vehicles run along these roads in the dark, their headlights alert these girls who then, half-done with their toilet activity, are forced to stand up to hide their shame. I am sadly reminded of the plight of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi who underwent a like physical trauma at Dakshineshwar where she had to get through her daily proceedings at 3 a.m. and then after dusk when the temple precincts would be empty. This prolonged wait to get the opportunity to respond to Nature's call led in later life to her suffering from agonising colic pain. This is just an instance, and a very potent one too, for the Central Government to take cognisance of and thereon adopt effective measures to address the problem. The Hindu tradition holds woman in the highest esteem and beholds her as the embodiment of the Divine Mother. Here we see how both the Divine Mother Sri Sarada Devi and her children have been subjected to inhuman conditions of sanitation and even after 69 years of independence the situation is so appalling. Are we a civilised nation when we allow such indignity to be heaped on our women who are our mothers, our sisters, our daughters? It is time to redress the situation, else we should hide our faces in shame instead of vaunting as a global economic power for the size of the economy does not determine the character of a nation so much as the living quality of its inhabitants. India, arise and act. 

TWO RESPONSES TO COMMENTS ON MY ESSAY ON KARMA YOGA 7

I appreciate your concern for the maintenance of the purity of scientific discussion but this was my way of looking at a specific feature of Karma Yoga using certain scientific models, entirely a personal way with no proselytising on either religion or science intended by way of doing it. Thanks for reading my essay, however flawed it may have appeared to your esteemed estimation, and gratitude for your valued comment thereof.

Thanks for the narrative and it beautifully brings out the ideal of detachment in attachment as in the case of this selfless service of the soldier for his dying friend even at the cost of his own life. Such acts of courage and sacrifice uphold the principle of Karma Yoga better than any amount of pulpit preaching on it.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

Is moderate extremism possible? That is decidedly a contradiction in terms and can never be. So also is moderate fascism, moderate Nazism, moderate communism or moderate jihad an oxymoron. The September 11 attacks in New York have shaken up the American people like never before but a far worse fate had befallen India on account of this nefarious religious bigotry that tore India up on the eve of independence and gave us a truncated landmass by way of gift of freedom. Gone with the wind was Nankana Sahib, seat of Sikhism, gone were Harappa and Mohenjodaro, seats of the Indus Valley Civilisation and gone was the Gangetic delta to Pakistan which was founded on the basis of Islamic fundamentalism. The worst sufferers of Islamic persecution in history have been the Hindus. 80 million Hindus have perished at the hand s of Islamic invaders over the protracted period of their occupation in India. The Hindus numbered 600 million at the time they were first conquered by the Muslims and by the time Muslim rule ended in India they were reduced to a mere 200 million. The decrease in numbers was because of widespread forced conversion to Islam and also because many of the lower castes among the Hindus to escape Brahmanical tyranny converted to Islam. But primarily it was a case of religious coercion that did the Hindus the worst damage. Tens of thousands of their temples were razed to the ground and mosques raised in their place. The temple wealth was looted, images desecrated and the Hindu gods merely kept watching for what else could they have done. The Buddhist university of Nalanda was destroyed by the Muslim invaders and all that was glorious of Indian culture went into hibernation. The Hindus withdrew increasingly into rigid caste mode as their survival mechanism and a long night fell over the once sunlit nation of Bharat. But the Muslims did not end there with their brand of fanatical religion wreaking havoc in the holy land of Bharat. When it was time for the British to depart, they carved out two huge chunks of landmass on either side of India to separate as a Muslim State. Thus, was Muhammad Bin Qasim's conquest of India, Ghazwa-e-Hind, finally fulfilled in a big way as the infidel Hindu had to suffer heavy losses to the rising State of Islam. Since then Pakistan has been carrying on the age-old agenda of the Muslim invaders, that of waging constant war on India, jihad as it is called in Islamic terminology. Will their stance towards India ever change? Not till India flexes her muscles for strength is the only language barbarians understand. A civilised approach to a barbarous proposition is bound to boomerang and it is meet that we do not make the same error as Mahatma Gandhi did with the British. The Islamic ideology is world-domination through conversion and imposition of sharia and towards that end tens of thousands of fidayeens (suicide bombers) are ever willing to give up their lives to honour their scriptural injunction and attain instant transference to Paradise where beautiful virgins are waiting on them to serve their vital needs. This is irrationality at its worst and no amount of logical persuasion will work against this supposed divine commandment that has taken root in their psyche through systematic indoctrination from childhood in theological schools. The only solution is to wage war against these war-mongers and destroy this evil called Islamic terrorism that has plagued the world for the last 1400 years. The enemy has to be identified, named and eliminated. Else, worse days are ahead as mass immigration of Muslims into Europe form Asia and Africa, high fertility rates of the immigrant Muslim populations resulting in marked demographic changes across Europe and a declared agenda of global jihad by a huge network of Islamic terrorist organisations threaten to take the world back to the dark medieval age whence this political ideology sprang in the first place. The battle lines are drawn, now the ensuing struggle will see either the victory of freedom and enlightenment or the emergence of a barbarous cult of medieval monstrosity masquerading as religion. Upon our ideological and political resistance lies the well-being of the future of the human race. Many a time in the past we have fallen prey to fanatical forces which have, to quote Vivekananda, 'sent civilisations to despair'. Must we repeat the same mistake of the past or will we be wise this time and take effective action to combat fanaticism and uproot it from its very base? The choice is ours and the consequence we shall have to manfully bear either for good or for ill. The enemy is tough and uncompromising for they have 'divine commandment' to carry out while on our side are the human forces of reason and civilisation. The war is to be fought not merely on the ground but in the ideological realm too. And this enemy of civilisation must be defeated and destroyed for good so that the march of human progress remains unimpeded for a very long time to come for who knows when again counter-civilisation culture will be thrown up to disturb the equilibrium of things?    

WHEN YOU SING YOU BEGIN WITH 'DO-RE-MI'

Many years ago, in fact over three decades now, a friend told me that an acquaintance of his had sought discipleship with Ustad Sagiruddin Khan. This young lady in her early twenties had learnt Hindustani classical vocal music from an earlier Guru for over ten years and had now embarked upon further expanding her repertoire in the genre in which she wished to excel. Ustadji asked her pointblank to sing the 'Sa' and then sing the basic ascending and descending series (Arohan and Avarohan) of the musical octave once for his satisfaction. The young lady felt highly offended at this but did not quite exhibit her displeasure and proceeded to sing as directed. Ustadji heard attentively and then said, "Beti, aap ko pehele kuch din sargam riyaz karna hoga, uske baad hi raga sangeet ki taalim shuru hoga." ("My daughter, you will have to practise for some time the basic notes of the octave before you are fit to be trained in raga music.") The young lady was completely flabbergasted by this and did not know what to say but grudgingly began her tutelage under the maestro from scratch. Her ego got badly bruised and all her pretensions to musical expertise that she had harboured in her mind earlier vaporised like mist before the morning sun.

Since hearing from my friend about this episode I have often wondered why Ustad Sagiruddin Khan, such a renowned sarangi player had been so exacting in his admission of his disciple that day. Was she not capable of doing the basics with ease after having already undergone musical training for over a decade? Was it necessary to put her through this unnecessary ordeal? The answer has never been so clear as now when I hear so many so-called Ustads and Pandits of Hindustani classical music not knowing how to sing to tune, how to apply the Shadaj (Sa) in the manner it would please the connoisseur, how to economise their taankaari (singing combination notes in a series) and their inordinate meandering of notes or how to manifest the mood of a raga, and this inefficiency of performance they foolishly attempt to hide by delectable body language, unnecessary smiles and exchanges of glances with the percussionist, short lectures on the ragas they are about to sing and by elaborate apparel and mannerisms to boot, but the public cannot be fooled by such ceremonials for long and quickly sift the grain from the chaff, rejecting the pretender sooner or later from the pedestal they had put him onto. This is by no means an indictment against all Ustads and Pandits, some of whom honourably command the respect and even reverence of the audience by their stellar performances. But this is an observation on today's pretenders to this art of Hindustani classical music in general. Most of the performers quickly wish to climb the ladder of success without adequate preparation and devoid of the credentials for doing so. Even well-trained voices lack in musical depth --- for they essentially lack in depth of personality --- as also musical creativity and power of improvisation along lines of aesthetic economy that is so very essential for anyone to be a good performer of this genre. In such a scenario where the quick buck must be earned, the quick recognition to be received at the cost of quality of rendition, the standard of classical music is going down by the day and it does not at all augur well for the future despite some politically correct musical maestros voicing opinion to the contrary. Such stalwarts claim that more and more young people are flocking to the classical concerts and more are learning the art on which basis they pronounce the future of classical music to be quite healthy. But there are other more perceptive and fearless maestros like Pandit Ravi Shankar who are much more despondent about the declining standard of classical music and are somewhat resigned as to its fate.

It is not good enough to learn and practise music even for years on end but one must have a degree of genuine musical talent to begin with if one is to raise the bar in performance of this classical art. Mere drilling, sheer diligence is not enough. One must have it in one, this element of aesthetics, poetry, lyricism, musicality of the soul, if one is to proceed towards perfection of performance, advance towards excellence in exposition of one's art. It is a decadent age we are living in, unduly fast for the stilling of the mind necessary for mastery of classical music. The student of this art must battle against the tide of the times which tends to restlessness of the soul and pacify his spirit in the sublimity of 'sur' (melody), 'tala' (beat) and 'laya' (rhythm). He must devote a lifetime to the pursuit of perfection, the striking of the golden mean of the 'Shadaj' (Sa) or the 'Gandhar' (Ga), the middling of the 'Madhyam' (Ma), the perfect pitching of the 'Pancham' (Pa), the dhyan (meditation) on the 'Dhaivat' (Dha), the differentiation of shrutis of the 'Rishabh' (Re) or the 'Nishad' (Ni), and, above all, the awakening of the resonance between the rendition of notes and the environs, the soul of the audience beginning with the singer himself. May Mother Saraswati bless aspirant souls with the life of music that Ustad Sagiruddin Khan Sahib's exhortation to all to work at rudiments may not go in vain! Jai Ma!  

MUSIC OR MEDIOCRITY?

The decline in the standard of performance in all forms of music, most glaringly in classical music, is owing to the lack of sustained practice (sadhanaa) under a Guru with no eye towards gaining a quick footing in the commercial world whereby cheap fame and easy money may be earned. This is fundamentally the problem of the age. In this world of advertisement and commerce people are increasingly getting allured by money and cheap popularity and do not quite have the patience or the foresight to practice music to perfection before assuming the stage of performance. The result is but obvious --- shallow performance with no grip on the mood of the raga nor sufficient voice control. Add to this the frivolity of the age and you get the classical performer dishing out cheap popular music masquerading as raga music. Greater attention is paid to public relations work than to sadhanaa and an equal amount of energy goes into dressing up gaudily as in the case of an eminent sarod player who, long past his prime, now vainly tries to hold on to public imagination through good looks and better apparel than through striking the right notes to one's satisfaction. If this is the example that is being set before the aspiring artistes then one may never safely ask youngsters to emulate the great ones for risk of picking up the wrong elements. Anyhow the scene is pretty bad today and it will need the emergence of another Allauddin Khan to rescue classical music from its mire. Till then it seems we are doomed to hearing mediocre nonsense as pristine raga music and must shower accolades on those that have no clue to raga-roop (the mood or the form of the raga) and merely send forth myriads of combination of notes which neither carry the import of the raga nor do they impress the soul of the audience for such performance is geared to the ear of the listener, not to his soul. Who will save us from this predicament? One way could be to include classical music in our school curriculum right from the primary level under expert trainers. Later at a higher level, sifting of talent may be done to separate the grain from the chaff. These selected ones will then have to be put under proper music Gurus for attainment of musical heights. Music schools, colleges and universities must be opened entirely for this purpose along with the general musical training in general schools and here admission ought to be reserved only for talented individuals to maintain the standard of the training imparted. Perhaps, these are wild ideas difficult to execute in the current scenario but they are worth the try. Else, dark days are ahead of us in the world of Hindustani classical music for we are soon going to forget what it was to be a classical artiste worth the salt. With fond hopes I look forward to some new talent emerging from the melee of mediocrity who will take the stream of Hindustani classical music towards its source whence it had sprung as the supreme path towards God-realisation. Jai Ma Saraswati!

THE HOUR FLITS BY

The Centenary Year of Swami Gahanananda is passing by. Are we who are the disciples of the Swami going to allow it to pass without making a significant impact in our lives? I know, numbers are but numbers and spread their charm over children caught up in their maze and many a wiseacre will say that we ought not to bother too much about these silly things like centenary and the like that keep coming up now and then, rather we ought to remember that we have more important things to attend to in our lives like our routine duties to our families and selves. But a saner attitude to adopt would be to utilise this grand occasion to transform our lives and give them a spiritual direction, a new orientation of selfless living and service where egotism does not hold centre-stage and collective well-being is paramount in our estimation. To be a spiritual preceptor is an onerous task but to be a disciple is an even greater discipline for while the Guru is an adept, the disciple is a novice who is groping his way through the maze of life. Is it not incumbent on the disciple to do the utmost for his Guru and is it asking too much of him to make the occasion of the Centenary Year of his Guru an event worthy of remembrance which will serve his whole life as an inspirational memory and guide him well through the vicissitudes of life? Here is a point to ponder as to what we may yet do to celebrate this momentous moment in our lives for the hour is not yet up and the sails are on high wind, the grace of the guru in full flow awaiting just the opportune moment to touch our lives yet again and send us careering towards our divine end. How we will respond to the requirements of the hour will largely be the indicator of our spiritual attitude, our devotion to the one that gave us spiritual life and will determine the future course of our movement towards the eventual end where the Guru and God are one. With fond hopes that these lines will strike sympathetic chords in many an aspirant soul and impel them on to affirmative action, I end this appeal with goodwill to all and invoking on all the blessings of Gurudev at this propitious hour. Jai Gurudev! Jai Thakur!

USTAD BADAL KHAN, A MUSICIAN ABOVE ALL

Ustad Badal Khan, music Guru of Pandit Bhishmadev Chattopadhyay, was once asked the following question: "Ustadji, what is your religion?" (Ustadji, aap kis mazhab ke hnay?) The venerable maestro instantly replied: "Babu, I am neither a Hindu nor a Muslim, I am but a musician, nothing more." (Babu, mein na Hindu hnu na hi Mussalman; mein toh sirf gayawiaa hnu.) This statement aptly sums up the character of Hindustani classical music and its syncretic tradition and culture. Truly has this Hindu-Muslim cultural fusion been possible in the realm of Hindustani classical music and dance like nowhere else so well in India's rich cultural heritage. The Hindu musical maestros (Pandits) are seen singing to the Prophet of Islam and his followers such as this bandish (song): 'Aaley Nabi ke aulaad Ali par' set in Raag Yaman Kalyan while Muslim maestros (Ustads) are seen singing this bandish in Raag Kedar: 'Kaanhaa re, Nanda-nandana' with effusion of love and devotion. The Kathak style of North Indian classical dancing is a perfect illustration of this cultural fusion of the two great streams, Hinduism and Islam, where Krishna is exhorted and worshipped in a dance style that has incorporated Muslim manners and Hindu mores in a lucid harmonic way. More evidence there is of this harmony of hearts in the world of art and architecture as is quite natural for any evolved culture that has diverse elements in its midst in such copious measure out of which it must fashion the form and fulfilment of its fundamental theme.

All this is there in tangible terms even today as the possible solution to fanatical conflict that seems to have possessed the mind of the modern man in no way better than the medieval messiahs who had begun it. The beauty of this land of Bharat is this that, however it may be persecuted and punished for its superior culture and philosophy by barbarous marauders, it yet fuses the best elements of the incoming culture to modify and enhance its own and so emerge triumphant, stronger and richer, and with the resulting undying vitality. Despite persecution of the Hindus by the Muslims invaders and rulers on an unparalleled scale over the protracted period of a millenium when 80 million Hindus were butchered and tens of thousands of their holy temples razed to the ground, when Hindus by the millions were converted by force to Islam and those that resisted were taxed, tormented and tyrannised, the Muslim intruders gradually got absorbed into the body politic of India and their culture was absorbed in the Hindu culture as well to give rise to this beautiful fusion which is the Indo-Islamic culture.

Ustad Badal Khan's utterance must be seen in the right light to be able to appreciate that Hindustani classical music and dance hods a key to future fusion of the Indian race through the apparent divisions extant today and is indicative of a possible wider harmony in the sub-continent through the channels of art and culture. Future humanity will have to be facilitated with the tools of tolerance and acceptance and unity through the fostering of culture that cuts through barriers of race, clime or time, and in this Hindustani classical music may play a seminal role.

The life of the Ustad must be studied while mastering his inimitable bandishes (songs) so that we get a view of the inner workings of the mind of a maestro and the deeper urges in it that fashions his outlook on life. Suffice it to say that these floral tributes at the altar of the motherland make India the civilisation it is although we must never forget the horrors perpetrated on the Hindus by Muslim cohorts in the name of spreading Islamic civilisation. But we must move ahead and not brood over past abuses and injustices alone for we have much to account for ourselves the way we have treated our Shudra brethren for ages and the outcasts and untouchables who we have reduced to beasts of burden till now they have started asserting their power in a democracy where numbers count more than anything else and we have no recourse but to restore them their fundamental human rights which we have trampled upon for millenia. Now millions of them are taking to aggressive modes and methods to make their voices heard and society, so long used to taking cognisance of them as so much sub-human garbage, is veering round to give them their due share in the affairs of the State. All said and done, India is rising out of the chaos of the times and the confusion of caste, creed and corruption a single nation with its eternal theme: Ekam sad vipra bahudhaa vadanti (Truth is one, sages speak of it variously).

The national music is harmony in discord, a contradiction in terms when seen superficially but quite compatible when viewed in depth. The waves chaotically beat the surface of the ocean but the waters are more tranquil below. So with the life-force of a nation. The disparate elements are dispersed on the surface, the unifying force is within. In the light of the Atman may be envisioned the future citadel of the nation rising, fusing great masses of conflicting currents among the Hindus and the Muslims and blending them into a mighty synthesis of head and heart in which may we remember the tiny contribution, perhaps, of that forgotten musician, Ustad Badal Khan, who lived 104 years of dedicated service to the cause of melody and harmony and the stringing together of the various moods of man in the phrases of his compositions which we are enthralled to hear in the voice of his protege Bhishmadev Chattopadhyay. Our prostrations at the feet of the venerable Ustad and his mercurial disciple. May Mother Saraswati bless all! Jai Ma!          

HINDUISM REVISITED ... 1

How can irrationality masquerade itself as religion and, if so, how can such religion be the source of divine wisdom? How long must man remain in this hypnotic spell of myths and miracles, messiahs and messengers who hold no clue to scientific understanding of reality nor can testify to any substantive truth about life and nature? The Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism holds the key. The Vedas are the authentic body of divine revelations which do not contradict reason and yet transcend it which is what spiritual truth ought to do, never in collision with empirical evidence yet going beyond the sensory world to the subtle and the causal worlds. Interestingly and quite astonishingly, the Hindu sages had intuitively accurately estimated the age of the universe at 15.6 billion years which, in the words of physicist Carl Sagan, is the scientifically estimated age as well. This, in contrast to the Judeo-Christian tradition of the estimate being a few thousand years, makes for amusing reading as much as it makes us stand in awe of the great Hindu rishis of yore.

AN EXHORTATION TO MY BRETHREN

The Hindus must love each other, abolish caste divisions, absorb what is best in their culture, stop being apologetic about their religion and station in life, not indulge in petty jealousies that weaken the community, study their scriptures, maintain their temples well, show solidarity among themselves, read up their past history, their achievements and failings, their glories and sufferings, and, so doing, rise once more a rejuvenated race to show the way to the world and save civilisation.

LOVE, PEACE AND THE HUMAN CONDITION

Is peace possible in an ideology-driven world where medieval theology holds the human soul to ransom?

Sometimes appeasement becomes the seed of violence and must not be allowed room if peace is to be attained on a firmer basis.

So long as the Abrahamic religions hold onto their doctrinaire bigotry, peace on earth is a far cry. Add to it the political ideologies vying for supremacy and the gain for gold among nations and you have a perfect scenario for world peace, do you not?

The man of strength is the man of peace if he is the man of wisdom as well. How rare is wisdom to power conjoined!

Where the heart has been stilled and conscience stifled in leaders of men, how can well-being for the masses be achieved?

The sum and substance of humanity is manifestation of the heart. Where the head runs in conflict with the heart, follow the heart.

There must be virility in living, manhood in endeavour and strength in achievement before one becomes ready to renounce, steady in embracing the life of the mendicant monk with neither home nor hearth nor company to console.

The existence of God can never be proved by logic. He has to be experienced, realised in the self before doubts are dispelled and the angularities of perception resolved unto rectitude of vision.

Who is the friend of humanity? The one with magnanimity of spirit, largeness of heart, broadness of conception, the energy and enterprise to conduce to the well-being of all and, above all, the one committed to the integration of humanity into a single family allowing for differences and divergences, distinctions and differentiation.

A word of concern for one so often conduces to the welfare of all, for in the microcosm is the similar structure of the macrocosm drawn. Uniformity is in the nature of things at the very basis and this leads to sympathetic waves affecting the lives of all proceeding though from the unit life first. So also is the word of love, the caress of concern, the peaceful prayer that draws in the whole of humanity in its ambit and lends to it a colour that lights up the lives of all.

IN DEFENCE OF THE MARTYRS AND IN ALLIANCE WITH THEM

The assassination of the perpetrators of State crime by patriots like Kshudiram, Prafulla Chaki, Madanlal Dhingra, Udham Singh, Bhagat Singh and the like was the radical consequence of the anger of the Indians suffering the torment of barbarous British tyranny. It was in character distinct from mass movement for national liberation which the Gandhian movement eminently was and this is a well-recognised fact, but it was by no means revolutionary adventurism as may be implied from the oft-quoted but unsubstantiated Leninist stance then in relation to brother Aleksandr's attempt to assassinate the then Tsar Alexander III, for it was the precursor to later developments along violent revolutionary lines on a much more widespread basis, earliest of which being that of the Balasore armed struggle of Bagha Jatin and his comrades (1915) followed by the Chittagong Armoury Raid (1930) and finally, the last war of Indian independence fought by the INA led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose which eventually dealt the death-blow to the British empire and brought it to its knees liberating India and leading, thereby, to the liberation of a host of colonised countries.

Manhood as evident in extreme nationalism of the day need not be denigrated as mere selective public killing for it violates the spirit of freedom-seeking as enshrined in the endeavour of these valorous souls who in exalted, intrepid mood carried out the executions when justice there was none in the occupying imperial system pretending to render the rule of law which it had usurped in the first place. The so-called terrorist outfits like Anushilan Samity and Jugantar through these assassinations made the environs so hot for the British that they had to hurry off in panic to the safer resort of New Delhi before extremist organisations like the Hindustan Republican Association hit them hard again making them scurry for cover under dubious legislation facilitating barbarous treatment of the natives that reduced the children of the gods to beasts of burden. Gandhi's seminal work of mass mobilisation along the unique line of non-violent struggle has been hailed the world over as the legitimate mode of struggle for an unarmed people against titanic State power in opposition but does in no way dim the lustre of the selfless sacrifice of the martyrs who carried the bullet to its rightful destination and sent a shudder through the heart of the oppressive recipient of it all. Rather, these singular acts of courage and conviction shone like beacons in the path of the masses who were in no way constitutionally capable of such daring but, nonetheless, sought inspiration from the self-sacrifice of these virile youths. That Gandhi organised the masses successfully to give cohesion and direction to the freedom movement can in no way be doubted but it remains to be seen when it will be that the citizens of free India in vast numbers read the true history of independent India perceptively to give the recognition that is due to the builders of their freedom, violent, non-violent et al. Till then, passing superficial judgement on the revolutionaries of hallowed memory not only does them the gravest injustice but is a pointer to the calamitous cowardice that has overcome the land fabled for kshatriya valour, the Bharat that exhorted Arjuna to take up arms in the Battle of Kurukshetra with the flaming words of that prince of patriots, Krishna,"Cast off this unmanliness and mean faintness of spirit and arise in battle, O scorcher of thy enemies."

In the Second World War the countries under Nazi occupation frequently resorted to sabotage and other resistance activities to disrupt the smooth functioning of the Nazi forces. Such activity was not aimed at winning the war but did go a long way in helping the Allied Powers deal the Germans the death-blow in battle. Resistance is a natural and an essential part of the struggle for freedom of an occupied people and is looked upon with pride in virile European races and not cast aspersions upon as in hapless India that has forgotten its martial past when it was dharma to resist evil through armed uprising.

The same detractors of violent revolution including Gandhi quote copiously from the Bhagavad Geeta to uphold their non-violent principles while torturing the text of the scripture beyond recognition to suit their pseudo-philosophical ends. That Vivekananda was clearly in favour of a violent revolution wherever it might have been necessary but was also equally aware of the limitations of a totally disarmed people striving to strike off the colonial fetters using violence makes for contrasting interpretations of what he might have espoused for India had he lived on to see India suffer worse ignominies at the hands of the British. From his own statements we may infer conflicting emotions and an equal support for both violence and non-violence as the dual means of liberation of the motherland. There are copious quotes of Vivekananda which may be adduced to bear his broad sympathies for the national cause using both methods and, therefore, it will be limiting the Swami if one cites any of these as being Swamiji's specific stand on the liberation movement however well one may prop up the case by citing holy instances as being suggestive of the veracity of one's proposition. Sister Nivedita had taken up her own stand on the issue and so had the venerable disciples of Ramakrishna on the same although conflict of interest had somewhat pitted them on opposite sides of the fence, never in spirit but only in concrete socio-political terms, and rightly so, for the Ramakrishna Mission in its nascent state had to be protected from the ire of the British masters and also because the entire focus of the Mission from its inception was strictly spiritual, and exclusively so, irrespective of the fact that its founder, Swami Vivekananda, was so volcanic a personality that he often erupted against the iniquities of the times and urged concrete action against the British government, even violent action as was aptly articulated by his words to Bal Gangadhar Tilak,"What the country needs today is a bomb." To therefore suggest that Vivekananda's position was against indiscriminate bomb-throwing takes the discussion off its former focus and makes it an exercise in frivolity, for who ever suggested in the first place that a thinker of Vivekananda's stature would chalk out a terrorist agenda by way of the modus operandi for national liberation? But does it, therefore, in any way prove that he would have been in favour of the debilitating stance of the Mahatma right till the end of the freedom struggle that effectively precipitated the partition of the motherland? Would he not have severely upbraided any such attempt at inducing passivity into the people to the extent that they would forget to rightfully take up arms against an oppressive regime the like of which history has few parallels to offer? Would the magnanimous messiah have thus spoken disparagingly of the very souls he had inspired with his flaming words, thunderbolts that had sent hundreds to the gallows smilingly and hundreds of thousands to terrible confinement and banishment with a heart full of love and a soul full of sacrifice for the motherland so dear to them that nothing could dare deter their resolve to free her off her shackles even if the direst consequences awaited them in every step of the way? No, no, he was too vast a soul himself, too complex for ordinary understanding, too valorous for cowards to comprehend but easy of access to the valiant ones that bled for the motherland, freed her and then were banished a second time by their future children who broke off umbilical links from their illustrious predecessors. Now, if banished they stand in so many estimations, banished stands Vivekananda in solidarity with them. Jai Hind!             

A SECOND REJOINDER OUT OF A SENSE OF SHEER DISMAY

It is a shame that India's bravest patriots have been thus maligned by free India's sons who breathe the air of freedom born of the ruddy drops spilled from the hearts of these fairest flowers of humanity who were our martyrs. No wonder we as a nation are in this despicable state with so many perfidious elements daring to blur the memory of the most valorous of men born to this motherland of ours. Swami Vivekananda has hardly been understood by those that attempt to malign the memory of our heroes but for whom this nation would have perpetually gone on enduring effeminate bondage.

IN RESPONSE TO A COMMENT BY A VENERABLE ONE

But Gandhi's repudiation of violence as a necessary instrument in State policy did lead to India's capitulation in the Indo-China War of 1962 as also it led to Partition. Had he listened to saner voices of militant nationalism at the right time, Jinnah's perfidy would not have won the day and amputated India. Gandhi is not greater than India and it is his weak policy of appeasement that led to the creation of Pakistan. A virile leader ought not to capitulate under pressure and bring about the motherland's destruction like this. What Pakistan's creation has thereafter done to India need not be recounted. No one is bringing Gandhi to disrepute but historical narratives ought to take a dispassionate view of things and not get over-affected by personal admiration of otherwise venerable personalities. No one is taking Gandhi's greatness away but as Swami Vivekananda had himself blamed the Buddha for India's future debilitation owing to over-emphasis on non-violence among other things, despite his adoration of the Tathagata and his acceptance of him as the first great democratiser of the Indian civilisation, so also did Gandhi's fascination for non-violence at all costs led to India's downfall. If this had happened to any other country worth the salt, such a stance of non-violent posturing would not have been taken up by most. It is a lack of strong blood in us that prompts us to continue to harp on in this way despite the motherland bleeding like anything. Moreover, Gandhi was in strong variance to Vivekananda's virile stance of necessary violence and Sister Nivedita's too. The leonine Swami had advocated to Tilak the necessity of making a bomb to drive out the British from India. He had famously said, ''What India needs today is a bomb.'' International politics necessitates pragmatism and not impractical idealism carried to the extreme as was the wont of Gandhi for which India has been suffering for over seven decades.

DAWN CALLS, AWAKE!

The Hindu space is shrinking by the day and it is time we start aggressively proselytising our philosophy if we are to survive as a race.

All Hindus must read the four yogas of Vivekananda to get a clear understanding of the religion of their forefathers. Then read the Geeta.

The weakness of Gandhi and his impractical application of non-violence which led to Partition is also now the cause of global terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

The Jews are a very intelligent race and it is worthwhile for India to cultivate friendship with Israel. Also, China is not to be trusted at all. Hence, Japan is a far better option for alliance in trade and bilateral relations. Japan will eventually balance China in Asian affairs and so must India.

Swami Vivekananda spent his best years in America for he must have envisioned a great future of humanity emanating from there. India must repose faith in the rishi and build up a strong relation of friendship with USA.

SANGEETACHARYA AJOY SINHA ROY

Like Annapurna Devi, Ajoy Sinha Roy also stayed away from the public limelight and spent his days disseminating the musical knowledge he had received from his Guru Ustad Allauddin Khan, among his disciples. Pandit Ajoy Sinha Roy's virtuosity far outstripped pecuniary considerations or those of attainment of flimsy fame that pass with time like ripples on water-surface and he passed his private hours after the daily ritual of office-work in contemplation of the moods of the ragas which then flowed out from the strings of his sitar in tearful torrents. Those were rare days when as a child I was witness to the evening sessions he had with his disciples as I sat spell-bound listening to the melodic streams that filled the air in his small music room and engulfed me with it, a harmony of sounds I was not yet groomed to comprehend in any depth but which touched the blossoming soul of a boy in bud.

The maestro was seated on a carpet on the floor of his room with students holding their sitars sitting in front of him and I, barely ten years old, seated in a corner witnessing the proceedings. The atmosphere, I remember, was strangely unfamiliar to the commonplace circumstance I was used to and seemed to me even then to be of an exalted kind I could not understand. This was my first acquaintance with Hindustani classical music which deepened over the years when I started taking lessons later from the doyen. Those that were learning from him that day saw the best in him for he was at the height of his powers although living as a musical recluse and it surely has not served the best interests of Hindustani classical music by sidelining deliberately such a towering genius to serve the vested interests of mediocrity masked as musician of repute. This inability of the connoisseurs of music to bring the reticent Ajoy Sinha Roy to the limelight, this neglect of genius, this self-serving attitude of even those musicians who learned from him to earn eminence in the world of instrumental music has harmed the cause of Indian music irreparably, as much of what he had mastered from his own master Ustad Allauddin Khan was thus lost to posterity. Only two audio recordings of his are available to the public which were recorded when he was very advanced in age and had lost much of health and musical touch but which still reveal some of the golden moments of his musical life.

True art compromises not. So it was that Ajoy Sinha Roy never compromised with life for cheap popularity or gain but stuck to his sadhana lifelong, that of attainment of musical perfection. He was on the panel of experts of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy and was respected by the musical legends of the age like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pandit Nikhi Banerjee and revered alike by a host of others. He remained lifelong a musical virtuoso who avoided the glitter of the world but preferred instead to immerse himself in his pursuit of musical excellence and the dissemination of his vast musical knowledge among worthy recipients. Like Annapurna Devi at the other end of the spectrum, Sangeetacharya Ajoy Sinha Roy was a musical mystic who soared above the melee of the musical market and emerged a triumphant soul, tranquil, self-absorbed and in union with his own higher self that sought expression through melodic outpourings and the transfusion of musical blood into his disciples. But unlike many in his musical fraternity this genial man was but purely a musician and had no marketing propensities in him at all. And that aptly sums up his personality.

He is gone from our midst. His name like his musical ripples is merging in the immensity of space-time. Yet, his music resounds in the corridors of my mind, careering me on to that eventual end, the seeking of harmony with the instruments that compose the symphony of life. My prostrations at the lotus feet of my musical Guru! 

HE LEADS WITH LIGHT, O HE LEADS WITH LOVE

What is it that makes a person inspirational? He has a vision and he has a mission. And his mission is to fulfil his vision. He cuts across barriers to relate to the whole of humanity; for him there no man-made boundaries that separate humanity into segments segregated, no ideological antipathies that isolate him from the rest of humanity, and, above all, no malicious agenda lies with him to achieve ends that are vicious. He dreams big for he is a visionary, he acts big for his spirit cannot be contained within small limits and his sympathies are large, nay, universal in scope for he has embraced the whole of humanity within his heart. Such a one carries an electric ideal within his bosom and it is this ideal that keeps him on, going ever forward towards the achievement of his goal, the fulfilment of his mission.

His ideas are so well-spelt out, his ideals so lofty, his activation of his programmes so energetic and his faith in his own self so infectious that he spontaneously draws people towards him and his cause, and thus his movement begins. But first, a great preparation is necessary for all this, the foundation of character and personality must be built and courage of conviction which will carry the mission forward. This is austerity, spiritual or secular matters not, for all effort directed towards a higher cause, be it spiritual self-realisation or secular self-building, essentially gravitates to the formation of an integrated personality which will be the springboard for effective thought and action in one's bid for achievement of one's goals.

The one who will inspire must have a personal magnetism, an electric aura about him that will carry the day. He must be a born leader and not a leader manufactured out of mundane matter on whom directorship is thrust. Leadership must come natural to him even as ideas fermenting foremost in his brain must set the agenda for his programmes. Moreover, he must be above all pettiness and must ever remain detached form his followers even as he is thick and thin with them in the execution of his programmes. He must be one with them and he must be separate from them, such should be his extraordinary powers of attachment and detachment at will. Intellectually, he must be convinced that the contentious issues of the day need resolution and he will have to play a pivotal role in solving many a knotty problem, such should be his sense of responsibility towards the world.

The very word 'world' brings to sharp focus the required commitment of our inspirational figure for the whole of humanity as such and not merely for any particular country or community, race or religion, gender or group. The good of man in totality must be his concern and not any specialised segment of humankind. His universal ideas coupled with his broad sympathies will win him the loyalty of millions even as his radical ideas and programmes will enrage others committed to cultural conservatism and archaic absolutism. Undaunted though he will move on following his grand idea of the transformation of the human condition, drawing his flock towards him by his force of personality and strength of character. Then a movement builds up and the idea spreads like wild fire catching others in its ambit, consuming mass ignorance in its conflagration and purifying human society with a new wave of enlightenment suited to the times, yet rooted in eternity. Such a world-leader appears from time to time whenever virtue subsides and vice reigns, says the Geeta, and he resets the fine balance of life by adjusting its forces, giving humankind an altered vision of its career and destiny through the prism of higher understanding and illumination. He raises, ennobles and deifies life even as he opens up the floodgates of freedom and immortality for man to enter into the 'kingdom of heaven'. He lends the movement the tinge of his own personality but what he gives utterance to is the pristine philosophy of the spirit of man in his onward journey towards truth and enlightenment. The heaven that he preaches is no material place but a realm of pure idea, a freedom zone entirely separate from all material contamination, an ethereal level of detachment from all that is sense-bound and mundane, a transcendental plane beyond the pale of the senses.

Such then is our inspirational leader, a continent, cultured and cultivated personality with a sweep of vision and precision of insight that can see through to the heart of things, the myriad maladies that afflict human society and can remedy the evils with the force of his personality and the strength of his character. He is a seer who has plumbed the depths of truth right to its very roots and has constructed a bridge of ideas that can carry man from his earthly nightmare to his delight at dawn. Enlightened he stands as a beacon in this ocean of ignorance to guide fallen and faltering man through the tempestuous tides to the tranquil shore of peace and light. He is born with a mission, lives for the mission and upon fulfilment of his mission, leaves this terrestrial turbulence for his higher habitat, transforming modes and mores, methods and means, hopes and aspirations here on earth, lending all his unblemished selfless love, giving life a sublime, divine direction. There is a periodicity in his advent but unfailingly he comes to save civilisation from impending disaster whenever the inertia of the ages threatens humanity with calamitous consequences. He brings forth a flood of spiritual energy which revitalises society and lends it added life. Thus the saga goes on unending in the undulating cycle of human evolution.      

THE LAMENTABLE DECADENCE OF RABINDRA SANGEET ... 2

It hardly does justice to Rabindra Sangeet when it is sung by artistes who have not undergone a thorough training for a protracted period of time in Hindustani classical music. The rendition, in the absence of sufficient grooming in classical music, remains weak and faltering, and the spirit of the sublime songs of Tagore assumes a curious flavour of debilitating sensuality and decadent spirituality, both of which were not the intended responses, surely, the composer would have aspired to have evoked in his audience. The performance of the singer either raises the bar for the song or lowers it --- this has been the standard accepted position regarding the estimation of the aesthetics of a composition for long. What becomes of greater moment, however, when it comes to Tagore's songs is that the extreme pliability of the compositions makes for its easy perversion in the hands of incompetent singers devoid of the lofty spirit of the composer. Tagore degenerated is dangerous for it represents a formidable force for infatuation of the unsuspecting and the unaware with the subtle charms of life, the influence penetrating right down to the subliminal levels of consciousness, holding the heart and the mind of the victim in its paralysing power, altering character and motivations for good. These are not wild aspersions cast at the premier poet of the age in India but are well-studied responses of an astute observer of modern musical trends and their unwholesome effect on the blossoming buds of the day. Over-sensitisation of the tender side of the human heart weakens the personality of a person and progressively enslaves him to the ephemeral elements of life. Rather, what we as a nation need today is the forthright presentation of Tagore full of the vital force of youth and excellence and not the paralysing perfidy of promiscuous prospects. Let Tagore awaken the surpassing sublimity of the Self and not, by misrepresentation, the meaner elements of the moribund mind. May he, who was the toast of an entire nation and the emblem of peace and humanity across the wide world as he circuited through its connections crossing continents, awake in us continence and a sense of artistic responsibility towards the preservation of culture and not its perversion through moral insufficiency and aesthetic inadequacy! As a social commentator it becomes the duty of this essayist to send in a word of caution to the practitioners of this beautiful genre that is Rabindra Sangeet that it may retain its pristine purity through its effective rendition at the hands of seasoned singers trained in the 'gharana' and 'parampara' of Hindustani classical music which is its seed form, and so serve its artistic end which is the raising of human consciousness and not its perversion into decadence of a debilitating kind. May sanity prevail and with it a sense of 'sadhana' which is the soul of music that seeks expression in any musical form worth the call, so much more in such a genre as Rabindra Sangeet which calls for the best in a musician's repertoire!

GAHANANANDA --- A GLANCE 2

Swami Gahanananda was a rare combination of intense activity and absolute calm. These opposite attributes merged in him to make him the truly complete man, the harmony of contrary forces in transcendental realisation which was natural to him. He had extraordinary self-control and never allowed anger overpower him even in the midst of the direst of inciting circumstances. His intrepid being executed action with grace and consummate skill, raising hardly a stir in the environs. His tranquil personality epitomised the monk in him while his herculean efforts to expand the work-base of the Mission was a pointer to his devotion to the cyclonic monk he idolised and whose inspiration he bore from his early youth to his Presidency. Blessed indeed are those who were spiritually initiated by him for personages such as Swami Gahanananda are rare and rarer are the occasions when the floodgates of their divine mercy are thrown open. Jai Gurudev!

THE TRUE GOD IS MAN, THE ONLY GOD, MAN IN ESSENCE

Is it possible for man to rise above religious distinctions and affirm his humanity? If so, the world has a future, else, disaster will follow.

The Nobel Prize is being devalued by the day and it augurs not well for the culture of the world which is evidently in sharp decline. Cause for alarm.

If there is any God in the universe at all, it is you. Do you realise who you are? None to worship, none to be worshipped by, just blissfully, consciously, fearlessly exist. Om!

Superstition breeds in fear --- fear of death, fear of the unknown, and fear breeds in ignorance of who you are. Just shed all superstition, all superimposition and be free. Know yourself to be the one God you worship in fear, by way of duty, by cultural imposition and out of love that knows no logic. Boundless you are, infinite you are, not merely as servants of the Lord but as the Lord Himself.

If to be human is great, to be divine is greater. But, that you are already, only its conscious affirmation waits, its assertion is pending.

Which God can save thee, O mighty Lord of all universes, O Supreme Being who the gods worship as Man? No wonder the Avatar is human and all gods and goddesses adorn human form as well. Man, thou art the end-point of divinity and thou art its source as well. God is thy projection, thyself made manifest, thy highest superstition, and beyond that lie thee in thy spiritual majesty. This is the essence of all of philosophy, all of religion or science.