WholeDude – Whole Victory – Kashmir: Indian Armed Forces perform duties with commendable devotion and dedication to defend Indian Union from attacks by its enemies.
VICTORY IN THE VALLEY
WholeDude – WholeVictory – Kashmir: Lieutenant General Syed Hasnain shares his vision about the role of Indian Armed Forces in Kashmir and predicts a Victory in all its aspects.
Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain Indian Express, Wed Dec 11 2013
Define what it means before you decide what the army should do. For the first time in years, a newspaper’s leadership has thrown up a serious strategic issue for debate. Kashmir is far too complex for inexperienced minds to fully comprehend and there are so many stakeholders it confounds even those who have a semblance of an idea. In a recent article in this paper (‘Disarming Kashmir’, Indian Express, December 7,), Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta talks about victory in the 24-year standoff and the necessity of an early withdrawal of the army from Kashmir’s hinterland. We must first highlight what Gupta is seeking through this thought-provoking article. He says the army has become weary and therefore less professional, having lost soldiers in tactical operations this year. He wants the army to strengthen the LoC and de-escalate in the Valley, because Kashmiris, he says, must get a part of the “peace” dividend. He takes a dig, saying that some respected general with five tenures in the Valley had told him that, having defeated the Lashkar, the army has only been building golf courses and guest houses for the last five years. He adds that if any of these bad boys show their faces in Kashmir again, the army can come back to sort them out. He claims that the military objective in Kashmir (if any was spelt out) has been achieved and, that the UPA government has veritably introduced a concept of governance — veto power (on strategic decisions) for the army. One of the most important points Gupta makes is, “you cannot find a Kashmir settlement with Pakistan before embracing your own Kashmiris and restoring trust with them first”. On the face of it, this article evokes negatives all the way but re-reads throw up issues which need serious pondering. Unfortunately, not many are aware of the degree of intellectual analysis that the army itself has done of its role in Kashmir. It recently organised a full deliberation on the concept of victory at the Army War College, Mhow.
The first question is: have we ever enunciated an aim in Kashmir? In all these years, there never has been a clearly stated political aim given to the security forces. The informally stated military aim was stabilisation by controlling infiltration and eliminating terrorists. No one realises that in such situations, political and military aims cannot be separated. In 2011, we enunciated our own joint politico-military aim for our commanders — “integrate Jammu and Kashmir with mainstream India, politically, economically, socially and psychologically”. We were clear that eliminating terrorists was the easiest part of this war, that eliminating “terrorism” was the real challenge. I wish Gupta had faulted the army for not demanding the articulation of a politico-military aim as fighting without an aim is actually unfair. The lack of such an aim results in exactly what Gupta has done — declaring victory prematurely. Victory has to be measured against an aim, or else all kinds of versions are thrown around. We also have to measure victory against a realistic assessment of the future. Afghanistan 2014 with all its imponderables looms before us; any idea of victorious peace and subsequent actions has to be connected to it. Incidentally, I am speaking of victory as not against the people of Kashmir but for them, and against the intent of Pakistan, the separatists and terror groups.
It is essential to explain a few things to those with limited military orientation. First, Kashmir is a case of rim-land insurgency. It is not the LoC alone that needs to be strong. In the event of conventional war with Pakistan, the hinterland of Kashmir is as important as the LoC. It is here that the strategic assets exist, along with strategic arteries, which can be choked in war. Remember, in each Indo-Pak war, Pakistan has depended on the Kashmiri people to rise against us. Second, the larger number of incidents, and the loss of brave soldiers, this year should make us re-evaluate the actual military situation in the Valley. Ironically, this is least important in assessing victory. In counter-insurgency/ counter-terrorism campaigns, the answer finally lies in what the people think. Third, in all these years, no serious attempt was made to project to the Kashmiri people how and why their future lay only with India. The only agency that did this was the army. No government agency has ever put together a psychological campaign to win the confidence of the people. The army did it because it is a part of its professional responsibility and all international military counter-insurgency experience talks of winning hearts and minds (WHAM). The “hearts doctrine” articulated by the army in 2011-12 was the first strategically oriented WHAM programme in Kashmir. Separatism and radicalism run hand in hand in the Valley and it will take years of committed campaigning before these are diluted — the on and off presence of terror groups doesn’t help. Who has the capability to strategize, plan and stay committed to such a campaign but the army? To presume that the army has done its job and should hand over the responsibility to civilian agencies is absolutely correct, provided there are agencies who can take it forward to “peace”. If there is none, why rue the army’s insistence that its work must not be undone? Twenty-four years of institutional wisdom need not be sacrificed in the urgency for declaring a premature victory.
A few other observations by Gupta are designed to provoke non-intellectual minds, but they deserve a brief comment. The number of soldiers lost in negative incidents in a year is never reflective of the capability of an army fighting terrorism. Moreover, the deployment of the regular army in the hinterland is at its minimum today. The army’s Rashtriya Rifles (RR) operates in the hinterland and its soldiers never get exhausted because it has a well-thought-out relief programme. Tactical minds within the RR also rue their presence among the populace, to neutralise just a handful of terrorists each year. This really is the problem — a misunderstanding that the RR’s task is to kill terrorists alone, and not recognising that the task of a counter-insurgency force is to cement the separatist population with the mainstream. There is something else that our countrymen need to know about the RR: the professional and experienced military force is our add-on resource for conventional operations, especially now that 110 wings of Pakistan’s Frontier Corps (the country’s virtual RR) have received operational experience and modern weaponry to make them force multipliers. That is a major reason the RR cannot be disbanded or re-deployed for counter-insurgency tasks in Naxal-affected areas.
To claim victory over terror groups is premature also because the number of surrendered terrorists in the Valley (all with different shades of antipathy to the establishment) is higher than the number of terrorists in holding camps and launch pads in PoK. None of the promises (by the state government or the police) to these surrendered terrorists has been fulfilled, creating a potential resource for home terror.
Gupta’s most potent statement is, “Because its (the government’s) politics is frozen, it has introduced an unprecedented new factor in Indian policymaking: a veto for the army”. Seeking and giving professional military advice is a part of governance and on Siachen, Kashmir or Manipur, the army has offered just that. If you go by this accusation, every proposal by the army should have been accepted. In the case of Siachen, it is the trust deficit that prevents the vacation of the Saltoro Ridge; on the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990, the government almost relented but the only organisation that offered a rationale for its retention was the army. Its arguments went well beyond the ordinary, explaining just how it was balancing hard and soft power in the emerging situation and just how the AFSPA was only an umbrella to be used in an emergency. The army likes a cemented victory and celebration for the people, not a half-baked one which gives adversaries reason for glee.
The general with five tenures in Kashmir who says the army is out of a job needs to revisit Kashmir. Not a single new golf course has come up and yes, guest rooms are indeed necessary to ensure that more armchair strategists visit Kashmir to be briefed at Keran, Machel, Gurez, Uri, Sopore, Tral and Shopian, before passing judgement on their professional army. Don’t just visit Srinagar, Gulmarg and Pahalgam to make up your mind because the advice you will then proffer will never meet the professional needs of our army or that of our nation. Learn to trust your army — it is your army.
The writer Syed Ata Hasnain is a recently retired Lt. General, is a former general officer commanding of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps.
Whole Dude – Whole Fight: Special Frontier Force Defends Jammu and Kashmir Whole Dude – Whole Fight: The Supreme Ruler of Tibet cannot be chosen by any foreign government.
I am pleased to share the essay, ‘Lesson from an Unsettled Boundary’, written by Manoj Joshi (a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi) that is published in India’s national newspaper ‘The Hindu’ in its edition dated April 27, 2013 with my readers. It is not a big surprise that the boundary between India and China is not settled. It should remain undecided as India cannot reconcile with People’s Republic of China’s military occupation of Tibet. India has no border with China. There is a border dispute between Tibet and China and that is an issue that could be resolved when Special Frontier Force, the military alliance/pact between the United States, India, and Tibet accomplishes its primary mission of evicting the occupier from the Land and territories of Tibet.
Service Information:
R. Rudra Narasimham, B.Sc., M.B.B.S., Personal Numbers:MS-8466/MR-03277K. Rank: Major Branch:Army Medical Corps/Short Service Regular Commission (1969-1972); Direct Permanent Commission (1973-1984). Designation: Medical Officer. Unit: Establishment No.22 (1971-1974)/South Column,Operation Eagle (1971-1972).
Organization: Special Frontier Force
Lesson from an unsettled boundary
Manoj Joshi – The Hindu April 27, 2013
The reality is that the Line of Actual Control between India and China is notional and has not been put down on any mutually agreed map (The writer is a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi) In 1950, the Survey of India issued a map of India showing the political divisions of the new republic. While the border with Pakistan was defined as it is now, including the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir area, the borders with China were depicted differently. In the east, the McMahon Line was shown as the border, except in its eastern extremity, the Tirap subdivision, where the border was shown as “undefined.” In the Central sector of what is now Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and the eastern part of Jammu & Kashmir, including Aksai Chin, the boundary was depicted merely by a colour wash and denoted as “boundary undefined.”
Unilateral act
In March 1954, the Union Cabinet met and decided to unilaterally define the border of India with China. The colour wash was replaced by a hard-line, and the Survey of India issued a new map, which depicts the borders as we know them today. All the old maps were withdrawn and the depiction of Indian boundaries in the old way became illegal. Indeed, if you seek out the White Paper on Indian States of 1948 and 1950 in the Parliament library, you will find that the maps have been removed because they too showed the border as being “undefined” in the Central and Western sectors. What was the government up to? Did it seriously think it could get away with such a sleight of hand? Or was there a design that will become apparent when the papers of the period are declassified? Not surprisingly, the other party, the People’s Republic of China, was not amused and, in any case, there are enough copies of the old documents and maps across the world today to bring out the uncomfortable truth that the boundaries of India in these regions were unilaterally defined by the Government of India, rather than through negotiation and discussions with China. It is not as though the Chinese have a particularly good case when it comes to their western boundary in Tibet. The record shows that the Chinese empire was unclear as to its western extremities, and rejected repeated British attempts to settle the border. The problem in the Aksai Chin region was further compounded by the fact that this was an uninhabited high-altitude desert, with few markers that could decide the case in favour of one country or the other. But there was cause for the two countries to sit down and negotiate a mutually acceptable boundary. This as we know was not to be and, since then, the process has gone through needless tension and conflict. In the initial period, India’s focus was on the McMahon Line which defines the boundary with China in what is now Arunachal Pradesh. It tended to play down the issue of Aksai Chin because it was a remote area and of little strategic interest to India. But for China, the area was vital. Indeed, according to John W. Garver, it was “essential to Chinese control of western Tibet and very important to its control of all of Tibet.” In other words, in contrast to India’s legalistic and nationalistic claims over the region, for China, control over Aksai Chin had a geopolitical imperative. For this reason, it entered the area, built a road through it and undertook a policy to expand westward to ensure that the road was secure. India woke up to the issue late and when it sought to confront the Chinese through its forward policy in 1961, it was already too late. And the 1962 war only saw a further Chinese advance westward which led to almost the entire Galwan River coming under the Chinese control. We can only speculate on the causes of their present westward shift in the Daulat Beg Oldi area. But one thing is clear: the central locomotive of Chinese policy remains Tibet. Despite massive investments in the region, large numbers of Tibetans remain disaffected. No country in the world, including India, recognises Tibet as being a disputed territory yet, for two reasons. The Chinese constantly seek reassurance from New Delhi about its intentions. First, because of the past support that Tibetan separatist guerrillas got from the U.S. and India, and second, because of the presence of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile in India. Despite the massive growth of Chinese power, their insecurities remain high. In great measure, they are due to Beijing’s own heavy-handed policies and only China can resolve the issues through accommodation and compromise with its own people. But typical of governments, Beijing seeks to deflect the blame of its own shortcomings on outsiders. There could be other drivers of the tension as well. In the past five years, the Chinese have been generally assertive across their periphery and this could well be an outcome of policy decisions taken by the top military and political leadership of the country or, as some speculate, because of an inner-party conflict. Exaggerated Chinese maritime boundary claims have brought them into conflict with the ASEAN countries, principally the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia. A separate order of tension has arisen with Japan over the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea. In the case of India, an important initiative to resolve the border dispute through Special Representatives has been allowed to run aground. Another possible explanation for the Chinese behaviour could be the steps India is taking with regard to its military on its borders with China. India’s border infrastructure and military modernisation schemes have been delayed by decades. But in recent years, there have been signs that New Delhi may be getting its act together. In any case, the cumulative impact of the huge defence expenditures since 2000 is beginning to show in terms of better border connectivity and modernisation programmes. This momentum could see Indian forces’ confrontation with China become even stronger when you take into account new manpower and equipment such as mountain artillery, attack helicopters, missiles and rocket artillery. Overlapping claims Even so, it would be hazardous to speak definitively about Chinese motivations. After being lambasted by the Indian media for occupying “Indian territory,” the Chinese might be concerned about losing face with a hasty retreat. The fact of the matter is that the boundary in the region is defined merely by a notional Line of Actual Control, which is neither put down on mutually agreed maps, let alone defined in a document through clearly laid out geographical features. While both sides accept most of the LAC and respect it, there are some nine points where there are overlapping claims and both sides patrol up to the LAC, as they understand it. In such circumstances, the Chinese could well withdraw after a decent interval. This more benign interpretation of Chinese behaviour is also in tune with the statements that the new leadership in Beijing has been making. As has been noted, following his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the BRICS conference in Durban, the new supremo of China, Xi Jinping, was quoted in the Chinese media as saying that Beijing regarded its ties with New Delhi as “one of the most important bilateral relationships.” Belying the belief that the Chinese were dragging their feet on the border issue, Mr. Xi declared that the Special Representative mechanism should strive for “a fair, rational solution framework acceptable to both sides as soon as possible.” This last sentence is significant because a week earlier, he was quoted as making the standard formulation that the border problem “is a complex issue left from history and solving the issue won’t be easy.” 2013 is not 1962 and the Indian media and politicians should not behave as though it was, by needlessly raising the decibel level and trying to push the government to adopt a hawkish course on the border. But what the recent controversy does tell us is unsettled borders are not good for two neighbours because they can so easily become the cause of a conflict that neither may be seeking. (The writer is a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi)
Whole Dude – Whole FightWhole Dude – Whole FightWhole Dude-Whole Fight: Shoulder Badge, SFFWhole Dude – Whole Fight: The McMahon Line in India’s North East Frontier Agency or Arunachal Pradesh.Whole Dude – Whole Fight
GOLDEN EAGLE-OPERATION EAGLE-SPIRITUALISM-THE PAST IS NEVER DEAD: THE SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MYSELF AND THE MEN WHO PARTICIPATED IN OPERATION EAGLE IS NOT DEAD. THE SPIRITS LIVE IN MY CONSCIOUSNESS.
The term ‘Spiritual’ describes the nature of a relationship, a partnership, an association, a connection, or bonding between two or more living entities based upon thoughts or feelings of sympathy and understanding. When I participated in the military action called ‘Operation Eagle’ that initiated the Liberation of Bangladesh in the Chittagong Hill Tracts during 1971, I formulated a spiritual relationship with the men of my Unit. I describe ‘Spiritualism’ as the relation between a changing object and its unchanging spiritual nature. Operation Eagle is a past event but because of the unchanging nature of the spiritual relationship, I have to claim: “The past is never dead and it’s not even past.”( Nobel Laureate William Faulkner )
I am happy to speak about the kind support extended by Dr. B. V. Ramarao, PhD, IRSE(Retd) to seek recognition for my participation in Operation Eagle and I am happy to publish this letter he submitted to Dr. M. M. Pallam Raju, Honourable Union Minister of State for Defence, Raksha Rajya Mantri, Government of India:
DR. MALLIPUDI MANGAPATHI PALLAM RAJU, UNION MINISTER OF STATE FOR DEFENCE, RAKSHA RAJYA MANTRI, 108-B, SOUTH BLOCK, MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, NEW DELHI: OPERATION EAGLE – THE PAST IS NEVER DEAD.
Special Frontier Force – Operation Eagle -Gallantry Award:
RESPECTED Dr. M M PALLAM RAJU garu,
I had written to you in the past about the need to suitably honour Dr. R. Rudra Narasimham, of Army Medical Corps, who did exemplary work beyond the call of duty in the Bangla Desh War in 1971, called OPERATION EAGLE, directly handled at that time by late Prime Minister, Smt. INDIRA GANDHI.
PETITION REFERENCE: case: CABST/E/2012/00154
A brief summary is as follows:
1. Dr. R. Rudra Narasimham, served in the Special Frontier Force from 22nd September 1971 to 18th December 1974. He was posted to Headquarters Establishment Number. 22 C/O 56 APO as Medical Officer. He served under the Command of Brigadier T S Oberoi. Under a Battle Operation Plan called Operation Eagle sanctioned and approved by the Prime Minister of India and her Cabinet Secretariat, he was posted to the South Column Unit of Operation Eagle under the Command of Lieutenant Colonel B K Narayan.
2. During 1971, Operation Eagle initiated the Liberation of Bangladesh with military action in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. In a written statement, his South Column Unit Commander Lieutenant Colonel B K Narayan had stated that this doctor had displayed a great sense of devotion to duty, maturity, physical toughness, and bravery beyond call of duty during Operation Eagle for which he had recommended the doctor for a gallantry award. In his Annual Confidential Report (Officers) for the year 1971-72, Lieutenant Colonel B K Narayan had written: “A very conscientious and Tough MO who worked hard during the Bangladesh Ops. He did very well and showed Maturity, which was beyond the call of duty. I have recommended this Officer for a gallantry award for which he deserves eminently. He is physically tough and cheerful. Is a fresh entrant with less than 2 years of Service and yet he displayed capability and confidence.” This written Annual Confidential Report(Officers) was forwarded by the Office of Inspector General Special Frontier Force to Military Secretary’s Branch (Army), MS 4(CR), MoD on 13th May 1972.
3. The citation for gallantry award initiated by Lieutenant Colonel B K Narayan was duly reviewed and recommended by Brigadier T S Oberoi and Major General Sujan Singh Uban, Inspector General, Special Frontier Force. This citation recommending the gallantry award was sent to the Medical Directorate, Medical Branch, Adjutant General’s Branch, Army Headquarters. The Director of Medical Services (Army), MoD did not take any further action to obtain the sanction for the recommended award. It is not known as to why the Director of Medical Services (Army) did not forward the citation to the Military Secretary’s Branch (Army) MoD. As such it seems that the Medical Branch had blocked or prevented the sanction of gallantry award.
4. In a written testimonial given by Lieutenant General T S Oberoi PVSM VrC, General Officer in Commanding-in-Chief, Headquarters Southern Command, Pune – 411001, dated 14th February 1983, General Oberoi had stated that this doctor deserves befitting recognition for the Service he had rendered to the Nation during the time of a national crisis. The Southern Army Commander had categorically stated that the doctor was recommended for a gallantry award for display of gallant qualities in the face of the enemy.
5. The Prime Minister of India and her Cabinet Secretariat have established the eligibility criteria for grant of Service Medals, Decorations, and Awards to the participants of Operation Eagle 1971-72. This doctor is eligible to receive the gallantry award that was duly recommended by his South Column Unit Commander Lieutenant Colonel B K Narayan, and it was duly reviewed and recommended by Force Commander Brigadier T S Oberoi and approved by Major General Sujan Singh Uban, Inspector General Special Frontier Force.
6. To serve the purpose of Justice and Fairness, I would ask that this doctor should be given the gallantry award that was duly recommended following the rules and procedures established by the Prime Minister of India for her Battle Plan of Operation Eagle.
7. Particulars of the above Officer are as follows:
Dr. R. Rudra Narasimham, B.Sc., M.B.B.S., Service Number. MS-8466 Rank Lieutenant/Captain AMC/SSC, Medical Officer, South Column, Operation Eagle (1971-72), Service Number. MR-03277K Rank Captain/Major AMC/DPC Medical Officer, Headquarters Establishment No. 22 C/O 56 APO (1971-74), Directorate General of Security, Office of Inspector General Special Frontier Force, East Block V, Level IV, R. K. Puram, New Delhi – 110 022
Thanking You,
(Sd. BVRR)
Yours Faithfully,
B V Ramarao, PhD, IRSE (Retd.), Retired GM (Railways), 10, Prince Apartments, Balaji Nagar, VISAKHAPATNAM – 530 003 Tel. (0891) 2755691, eMail: rbodapati Dated 29 June 2012
Biographical Information:
R. Rudra Narasimham, Son of Shri. R. Suryanarayana Murthy,
13-92, First Cross Road, Prakasam Nagar, Rajahmundry, East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Student of Danavaipeta Municipal/Corporation High School, Rajahmundry (S.S.L.C.- MARCH/APRIL, 1961.)
SPECIAL FRONTIER FORCE. REMARKS OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL TS OBEROI PVSM VrC., GOC -in- C, HQ SOUTHERN COMMAND, PUNE.
Her Excellency Ambassador Sherry Rehman, Embassy of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 3517 International Court, NW, Washington, D.C. 20008.
Your Excellency Ambassador Sherry Rehman,
1. I am writing this letter after reciting Al-Fatihah, “The Opening”, Surah I, Fatihatu’l – Kitab, “The Opening of the Scripture of Holy Book of Quran. You would need no introduction to this Surah I, as it is the Daily Prayer, and Muslims recite this to offer Salaat or Namaaz. However, kindly permit me to quote the opening sentence and the second verse which read as follows :
Bismillahi r – rahmani r- rahim ( In the name of Allah the most Beneficent, the most Merciful )
Ar rahmani r – rahim ( The most Beneficent, the most Merciful )
2. I am writing this letter in response to the news story that stated that a Court of Law in Pakistan has sentenced Osama bin Laden’s three widows and two daughters to 45 days imprisonment or house detention for living illegally in Pakistan. This action will be followed by deportation of Osama bin Laden’s family members to their countries of origin. I want to submit to you and to the Judge of that Court of Law and other concerned officials of Pakistan’s Law Enforcement, that this punitive action is not consistent with the Daily Prayer that Muslims recite. While we all need the Mercy of the most Beneficent, and the most Merciful Being, we may have to project our prayer for Mercy in our actions towards others. In Islamic tradition and culture, wife(wives), and unmarried children are expected to live in obedience and follow the directions given by the husband/father. It is a natural principle and people of all faiths to some extent believe in the unity of family and the stewardship of family by husband/father. Any punitive action against the members of Osama bin Laden’s family for simply following the rules of tradition is unfair and is unjust. They have not displayed any intention to disobey the Laws of the Land of Pakistan and may not have indulged in any criminal or illegal act. We need to understand their action or desire to enter and live in Pakistan with the same attitude and expectation with which we address Allah as the most Beneficent, and the most Merciful. I would like to ask you and the citizens of Pakistan to act in the manner that reflects the nature of their Daily Prayer. The family members of Osama bin Laden need love, care, and comfort and may need physical and moral support to maintain their family unity after they lost the husband/father, their natural guardian. The family of Osama bin Laden may be given an opportunity to live together and if they wish and desire, they should be helped to continue their residence in Pakistan with a sense of mental peace, harmony and tranquility.
3. I define man as a spiritual being who is known from the nature of his existence seeking Peace, Harmony, and Tranquility within himself and with others in his environment and community. There are no exceptions to this spiritual nature of man. We often get mentally confused when man displays hostility, animosity, and aggressiveness in his interactions with others. Spiritualism is the potency that brings man’s essence and existence to come together to sustain his biological existence in the material, physical world. Aggression is caused by ignorance and by man’s lack of understanding of his real or true human nature. On the eve of Holy Easter, I would suggest that all of us must seek Peace, Harmony, and Tranquility in all of our actions and in our interactions with others.
4. I would also seek the favour of your assistance to extend my feelings of sympathy to the three widows and two daughters of Osama bin Laden and any of his other children and relatives. Kindly assure them that they are not alone in this world. I cannot ask Allah for the favour of His Mercy without communicating my feelings to these innocent victims and give them some comfort by sharing my thoughts and prayers for their well-being and safety.
5. I would much appreciate to hear from you and I would thank you in advance for taking action on my simple request to convey a message to this family who lost a husband or father.
Thanking You,
Yours Faithfully,
Dr. R. Rudra Narasimham, B.Sc., M.B.B.S., Ex- Number. MS-8466 Rank Lieutenant/Captain AMC/SSC, Medical Officer, South Column, Operation Eagle(1971-72), Ex- Number. MR-03277K Rank Captain/Major AMC/DPC Medical Officer, Headquarters Establishment No. 22 C/O 56 APO(1971-74), Directorate General of Security, Office of Inspector General Special Frontier Force, East Block V, Level IV, R. K. Puram, New Delhi – 110 022 http://bhavanajagat.com/
“EKAM EVA ADVITIYAM” – This statement in Sanskrit language is from Chandogya Upanishad( 6:2:1 ) and it means: “I, one alone and there is no second.” The original intent of this statement is that of seeking the unity of the Objective Reality of Man known as ‘ATMA’ ( the Individual Soul ) and the Ultimate Reality known as ‘PARAMATMA’ or Supersoul. There is no Duality between the two and there is no disunity between Man and God. However, God is not an object which is under Man’s control and the views about God are subjective opinions. I am quoting this statement to find the Unity of Man in body, mind, and soul. Man’s greatest need is not only to know the world around him but also to know himself better. Man must understand what it is to be a substance and what it is to exist. We need to establish knowledge about Man on a firm basis and the information it provides must be tested for its accuracy and consistency with external reality. Dr. William James in his book, The Principles of Psychology, has observed: “True ideas are those we can assimilate, validate, corroborate, and verify.” The separation of man into body, mind, and soul is not supported by scientific study of man.
SPIRITUALISM – THE UNITY OF MAN IN BODY, MIND, AND SOUL – HUMAN LIFE AND HUMAN EXISTENCE BEGINS WITH CONCEPTION.
Man comes into existence from a single fertilized Egg Cell. This Man cannot be separated into two distinct entities like insentient material being and sentient spiritual being. The physical being and the conscious being are the same. The division of Man into a physical substance and a thinking substance or that of a physical body and a thinking mind is not valid as they have no independent existence of their own. The division of Man into physical body and an immortal, non-material or immaterial Soul is not also valid as the Soul is described as the vital, animating principle that is the chief characteristic of Life.
The Egg Cell is the source of Man’s Life. The Spiritual Nature of Man could be discovered and could be described from the biological properties, characteristics and nature of the corporeal substance found in the Egg Cell.
The Spiritual Nature of Man is not a mental function. The Spiritual Nature of Man could be discovered and could be described from the biological properties, characteristics and nature of Man’s corporeal substance found in the fertilized Egg Cell. This substance is Conscious. This Single Egg Cell grows, divides, develops, and builds the cells, the tissues, and the organ systems that constitute the Human Individual. The Spiritual Nature of the substance present in the Single, fertilized Egg Cell brings the functional unity of all the cells, tissues, and organ systems to establish the Physical Reality called Man.
Human Embryo Implantation at about six days after Conception. The Single, fertilized Egg Cell and the Human Embryo that develops from it is Conscious of its existence reflecting its Spiritual Nature.
About six days after Conception, the developing Human Embryo implants itself into maternal tissues by establish in an anatomical connection called Placenta. The implantation of Human Embryo does not involve any human thought and the Mother has no cortical awareness of the fact of implantation. The implantation demonstrates the Consciousness of the Human Embryo which is aware of the fact of its own existence. Spiritualism defines the internal, mutually beneficial relationship, partnership, association, and connection between the cells, tissues, and organ systems for the benefit of the Human Person who exists because of their living functions. The Subject that is born from the Single, fertilized Egg Cell is always a new, original, distinctive, unique, one of its own kind of Object that exists because of the innate Spiritual Nature of the material substance. Being born relates Man to the Subjective and Objective Realities of his biological existence. There is structural and functional unity between Man and his Body, Mind, and Soul. There is no Life, and there is no Human Existence if these entities are separated. Spiritualism is the potency that brings Man’s Essence and Man’s Existence to come together to provide Man the subjective and Objective Reality of his own biological existence in the physical, and material world. Man is not an embodied Soul and Man is a Living Soul.
Man comes into existence in the physical, material world as a new object. To know and understand the real or true Man, I seek the structural and functional Unity of Man in Body, Mind, and Soul.
MAN IS A SPIRITUAL BEING :
Man is a Spiritual Being – The Great Banyan Tree of Kolkata – Adhyatma Vidya – The Knowledge of the Spiritual Self.
The Banyan Tree offers the unusual appearance. It has roots that appear growing from its branches and the roots are located upwards and away from the ground; it has trunks and branches growing downwards apart from the normal branches that grow upwards and outwards. Because of its adventitious roots, Banyan Tree spreads to cover a wide area and lives for a long time. Knowing and understanding this Asvattha Tree is important to gain the Knowledge of Vedas, the Hindu Scriptures that reveal the Knowledge of the Spiritual Self or Adhyatma Vidya.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE BANYAN TREE :
The Hindu Scripture of The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter XV known as Purusottama Yoga speaks about the nature of the Supreme Person. It metaphorically compares the Supreme Being to the popularly known Fig Tree called Ficus benghalensis. The first verse reads as follows:Sri Bhagavan Uvacha : “Urdhva-mulam adhah-sakham Asvattham prahur avyayam, Chandamsi yasya parnani yas tam veda sa Veda vit.”The Supreme Lord Krishna said: There is a Banyan Tree which has its roots upwards and its branches down and metaphorically it is imperishable; and the Vedic hymns are its leaves. One who knows this Tree is the Knower of the Vedas( the person attains the Knowledge of the Ultimate Reality or the Supreme being). When we know the Banyan Tree and its apparent imperishable quality, we may understand the true nature of Man. Man is a spiritual being. The truth or falsity of this proposition depends on the fact of man’s having a substance that is of spiritual nature. Such a substance of spiritual kind is perceptible to the senses, is amenable to direct observation, and could be subjected to verification by experimental science. To establish the fact of man’s spiritual nature, it needs reasoning based upon scientific validity. The structure and the behavior of things contribute to their individual being and function. If man has a set of defining features based upon his structure( Human Anatomy ), function( Human Physiology ), and behavior( Human Behavioral Science ), the spiritual nature of man could be proved on theoretical and practical grounds and could be verified by scientific experiments. I am not seeking to discover a soul or spirit that could have existence independent of man’s physical being. However, it will be important to note that it is not possible to conceive of a soul or spirit if it is never associated with its human body. My purpose is that of describing the spiritual nature of human organism and of other living beings. To understand the true nature of human being, we need to ascertain the validity of Knowledge that pertains to the Spiritual Self. MAN IS A MORTAL BEING :Man’s greatest need is not only to know the world around him but also to know himself better. Man must understand what it is to be a substance and what it is to exist. Man is a physical being or thing with matter and form. The corporeal body of man is composite of two principles; matter, and form. What is called matter is potentiality, and what is called form is actuality. The corporeal substance called protoplasm becomes actuality and is recognized as a living person because of the uniqueness of its genome that operates its living functions and defines its size, shape, color, and external form or morphological appearance. However, life comes into existence only when matter or substance has the ability to acquire energy from its external environment. The human being comes to life when his corporeal substance uses its potential ability and power called ‘Nutrition’ to acquire energy and material from its environment. Life begins with fertilization, the union of sperm with egg cell, and this event called conception proceeds to develop a human being after an important event called implantation. The life journey after conception continues if there is a connection between the energy seeking embryo and its maternal energy provider. To exist means that the substance is maintaining a relationship, a partnership, a connection, or association with its source of energy. Man leads energy dependent existence deriving energy and material from nature which supports other living forms with a similar corporeal substance called protoplasm. The mortality of man must be understood as the dissolution of man’s physical form. The dissolution of living man into non-living molecules and physical elements would not alter that potentiality of protoplasm to acquire energy and material to create its own substance. Things in Nature change with Time; but what is called Nature remains unchanged even under the influence of Time. As per The Laws of Conservation of Mass and Energy as described in classical Physics, mass or energy remain constant. The potentiality of living substance to acquire energy and material to form its own kind of substance has remained unchanged or unaffected by major natural calamities and other cataclysmic events. Life forms perish and yet life continues as new life forms. During the billions of years of existence, planet Earth has experienced several minor, and major Extinction Events described in its geological history. The Science of Paleontology offers scientific evidence to support an argument based upon theoretical and practical grounds to propose that the substance called protoplasm could be eternal, immovable, immutable, and indestructible. At a fundamental level, it could be stated that man is a mortal or materialistic being who derives his physical form because of its association with an imperishable substance. During any stage of his existence, the form called man cannot be separated from the eternal nature of its substance.
Sequoia gigantea is a massive tree. A living thing has a form and has matter. We often recognize the form and give it a name. What about the “MATTER” that constitutes the substance of this Living Thing? We need to understand the ‘potentiality’ of the Matter to know the nature of the Form. The Form has no independent existence of its own. The Form lives if and only if it has Matter that is living.
WHAT IS SOUL OR SPIRIT ? :
Traditionally, man has been divided into two parts; body, and soul. In common usage, the term soul represents the immaterial aspect of a human being. Soul is further defined as that part of the individual which is considered to survive the death of the body. The term spirit is often used to describe a disembodied soul. On separation from the human body, the soul or spirit has a life of its own, a capacity for independent existence or self-subsistence which describes its immortality. THE CONCEPTIONS OF SOUL : There are a variety of conceptions about soul or spirit. Some of the traditional conceptions of soul are the following:1. Soul is the immaterial substance, form, or principle of self-motion, vitality, life force, or life in living things. The insentient body is completely distinct from the sentient soul.2. Soul describes the Doctrine of the Self, and is considered to be synonymous with the True-Self. In a human being, soul confers the Individuality and its nature of humanity.3. Soul is often described as a thinking substance and is equated with mind. The soul has knowledge of itself by reflection of its acts. The soul is the knower and it knows the physical, and mental acts of the human body where it resides.4. Soul is important to maintain, and to preserve life. Soul may not directly participate in the activities of the human body. However, the activities of the human body may have a polluting effect on soul. If the soul is tainted or contaminated by the sinful acts of the body, the soul may obtain purification by its release from the body. Some form of human effort, activity, attitude, and behavior is essential to keep the soul in its natural, pure, and perfect condition.5. The soul that has experienced the polluting effects by its association with a human body would be forced to experience perpetual reincarnation by a process called transmigration. The soul continues to reside as a prisoner in different bodies until such time it attains its original state or condition of purity and perfection.6. Soul is a transcendental or noumenal object that is real but not visible and could not be detected by human sensory perception. The human body that is visible is in fact unreal or is a product of sensory illusion. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOUL AND HUMAN BODY : Most religions and cultures speak about soul and describe it as some incorporeal or immaterial substance/principle of human life that is distinct from the body. Despite the frequent acceptance of the existence of a soul, different religions and philosophers have developed a variety of theories as to the nature of the soul and its relationship to the human body. There are divergent views about the origin of the soul, when and how it gets implanted into the human body, and the mortality or when and if the soul dies. I would like to share the view that is attributed to Lord Krishna, the avatar or reincarnation of Hindu God Lord Vishnu. ADHYATMA VIDYA – THE BHAGAVAD GITA :The word ‘vidya’ is related to acquired knowledge derived from studies. The term ‘adhyatma’ pertains to the individual soul, atma, or atman which describes the Spiritual Self. The phrase ‘Adhyatma Vidya’ could be described the Knowledge of the Spiritual Self. The legendary Indian Sage Veda Vyasa also known as Krishna Dvaipayana was the author of the epic ‘The Mahabharata'( Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty ). Veda Vyasa is recognized as the compiler of ancient Hindu texts known as Vedas. In the Book VI of Mahabharata, Lord Krishna had a conversation with Prince Arjuna while the warring parties of Pandavas, and Kauravas had assembled at the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Lord Krishna revealed His views about soul, human body and their relationship in “The Song of the Lord” known as ‘The Bhagavad Gita’. These poems of The Bhagavad Gita give a synopsis of the religious thought and experience of India through the ages. The Chapter X of The Bhagavad Gita is titled ‘Vibhuti-Vistara Yoga’ and it describes the divine or transcendental attributes of the Supreme Lord. In verse #39, the Lord claims, “I am the generating seed of all existences. There is no being, moving or unmoving( “Chara-acharam” ) that can exist without Me.” In verse #32, the Lord proclaims, “….of all the branches of Learning and Knowledge, I am the Knowledge of the Spiritual Self( “Adhyatma Vidya” ). In verse #22, the Lord describes the nature of His connection with the living beings that He has generated, “…. and in living beings, I am Consciousness( “Bhutanam asmi Chetana” ).” He had also clarified that Consciousness or Chetana as a different characteristic and has separated it from mind, intellect and sense perception. Mind is traditionally viewed as the major organ of sense perception, seat of thoughts, intellect, emotions, feelings, and self-ego. Chetana is associated with the characteristics of a living being. The Lord had also cited The Vedanta Sutra to make the distinction between the body, the soul, and the Supersoul. The Vedanta, the insights from Vedic Scriptures describe three manifestations of the Supreme Lord’s Energy. These are 1. Annamoya or dependence upon Food for existence, 2. Pranamoya or the manifestation of the living symptoms and life forms, and 3. Jnanamoya or the Knowledge of the distinction between the body the field of activity and the Knower who resides in the body. If a living being needs food for its existence, and performs its living functions in a state or condition called awareness or consciousness, it could be described as the manifestation of the Supreme Lord’s Energy. In Chapter VII titled ‘Paramahamsa Vijnana Yoga’ or Knowledge of the Ultimate Truth, in verse #9 Lord Krishna claims: “I am the life( “Jivanam” ) of all that lives.” He had demonstrated a connection between life and consciousness to describe the spiritual nature of Self. The Chapter XIII of The Bhagavad Gita titled ‘Kshetra – Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga’ deals with the dichotomy or distinction between the material body, immortal soul, and the Supersoul. It states the view that the material body is called the field of activity or Kshetra. One who knows this body, the field of activity is called the Knower of the Field or Kshetrajna. The Knower of the Field is the Owner of the body. The Supreme Lord is also the Knower of the field of activity in all bodies( verse #3 ). In this human body, there is another indwelling observer, a sanctioner, a preserver, an enjoyer, and indeed ultimate Controller called ‘Paramatama’ or Supersoul. The Supreme Lord or Paramesvaram is residing equally in all living entities( verses # 23, 27, and 28 ). Just like the Sun who illuminates the entire living world, the soul within the body illuminates the entire field of activity of the physical body by Chetana or Consciousness( verse #34 ). This view as stated suggests that consciousness is the proof or the symptom of the presence of the soul. A similar view is shared in Chapter II titled ‘Sankhya Yoga’. The imperishable or indestructible soul pervades or permeates(“tatam” ) the entire physical body( verse #7 ). What is spread all over the body? Consciousness could be described as spread over the entire body and it leads to the interpretation that the symptom of the soul’s presence is perceived as individual consciousness. The final Chapter XVIII of The Bhagavad Gita titled ‘Moksha-Opadesa Yoga’ comes to an interesting conclusion about the Single Reality that pervades all existence that is divided into innumerable forms. Verse #20 reads as follows:”Sarva bhutesu yenaikam bhavam avyayam iksate avibhaktam vibhaktesu taj jnanam viddhi Sattvikam.””Understand that Knowledge by which one undivided, imperishable( “Avyayam” )reality is seen within all diverse living entities is in the nature of goodness( Sattvikam” ). What is that undivided reality that is imperishable that connects all the diverse, living entities? THE BODY-SOUL DICHOTOMY : In the Indian tradition, the individual soul is known as Atma or Atman. The Supreme Soul or the Supersoul is known as Paramatma, Paramesvaram, or Brahman, the Ultimate Truth and the Reality.
However, the concepts about Atma or individual soul vary and Hindus belong to different schools of thought. While the concepts about individual soul are different, there is general agreement among various Indian thinkers and philosophers about the distinction between the material, insentient, and perishable human body and the immaterial, sentient, and imperishable or immortal soul. Soul is independent, and is not attached and it still requires the substance of the corporeal body. However, I am not able to draw that distinction and make that separation from the substance and its function. To describe function, I need the substance. Man lives and functions with consciousness because of the fundamental nature of the corporeal substance called protoplasm, and this substance is apparently imperishable, indestructible, and immortal. We could destroy the physical form of man and several other living forms, but man or nature and the influence of Time have not demonstrated an ability to destroy this living substance which has survived on planet Earth continuously over billions of years. Man cannot create life and man cannot destroy life. Man can only live or exist because of the spiritual nature of his corporeal substance with which he can not seek separation until the time of his death. The substance has a life of its own and continues to create new substance of its own kind and becomes visible as a living life form with a different identity or morphological appearance. Please also review my earlier post titled “Spirituality,Soul, Consciousness, and the God Connection” which is reproduced below this post.
THE STATUS OF MAN IN NATURE :
The First Book of Moses, The Old Testament Book of Genesis describes the story of Creation; in Chapter 2, verse 7, it narrates man’s creation: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
The Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, verse 27:”So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
MAN IS A CREATED BEING :
Man is a created being. Spirituality explores the connection between man and his Creator. The Trimurti at Elephanta Island Cave Temples near Mumbai, India represents God as the Creator(Brahma), the Preserver(Vishnu) and the Destroyer(Shiva).
MAN IS A SPIRITUAL BEING :
The status of man in nature describes man as a created object; a new object, one of its own kind, distinctive, and unique. The principle of Creation involves the use of inspiration and imagination as opposed to the view proposed by the Theory of Evolution. The fundamental issue is about understanding man’s status in nature. Did man come into existence by gradual changes caused by random and unguided events called genetic mutations? Or, does man actually exist in nature because of his relationship with other objects present in his living environment? What defines man’s existence? What establishes the reality of man’s physical existence? Should we focus on the changing form? Alternately, should we give attention to an unchanging relationship that is a prerequisite for the existence of all life forms? If an object cannot come into its state of existence, how could that object get a shape or form? In the context of a discussion about man’s existence in nature, I state that man is a created object, and hence man exists as a Spiritual being. The term Spirituality describes the nature of this connection between man and His Creator. Soul is the immortal part of man as distinguished from his body; it is the vital principle which moves and animates all Life. Soul may represent the essence of a human being, it could be the quality which confers individuality, humanity, and the moral nature of man. I divide man into two categories; the first category is called the ‘SELF’ which represents man as a physical, mental, and social being; and the second category is called the ‘KNOWING-SELF’ which represents man as a moral, and spiritual being. These two categories function together and the functional unity of the human person is an attribute of a neurobiological function called Consciousness. Man’s physical being is represented by a changing external or morphological appearance and while the physical Identity is constantly changing, the unchanging Individuality is supported by man’s spirituality or the nature of his constant spiritual relationship.
THE ETERNAL REALITY OF SOUL’S IMMORTALITY :
Ajanta Caves near Aurangabad, Maharashtra State, India, Fresco-type wall painting – Man’s spiritual dimension describes man’s humanity, moral nature, individuality, and Consciousness.
Religious thinkers have further defined Soul as that part of the individual which partakes of divinity. People of all races, cultures and religions would like to investigate the nature of this God-Connection as they perceive the world and the universe in which they exist as a fact of Creation. I need to find evidence that would fundamentally deny the fact of Creation.
MAN IS A SOCIAL BEING :
French philosopher Auguste Comte(1798-1857) coined the term Sociology. He believed that the scientific study of social organization would make possible a reconstitution of the social order based on principles of moral progress.
Apart from being a created Physical being, man is recognized as a Social being as he displays social instincts and social behaviors in all of his activities. A rudimentary understanding of Sociology or Theories of Social Science would clarify this matter. Social instincts and Social Behaviors are seen in all animals including bacteria. At a cellular level, the social function is called ‘Association’. Man is an association of trillions of cells. Each human organ and organ system represents an association of cells that display functional subordination to perform selective tasks. Life is just impossible without social structure and organization.
MAN IS A MORAL BEING :
Man is a Spiritual being and is endowed with Moral nature. James Tissot in his painting captures the essence of man. The Book of Matthew, Chapter 27 verses 3-5 narrate the story of Apostle Judas Iscariot and his moral failing that caused the dissolution of his biological existence-“When Judas who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said,”for I have betrayed innocent blood.” So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.”
Man is an individual who exists in a social group. At the same time, man is a Moral being, as he displays moral behavior even when he is corrupt. Man displays the ability of Repentance for his thoughts, for his actions of commission and omission. Man has the ability to admit his sins, express remorse and may often punish himself for his sinful conduct. Man experiences grief for his actions that are sinful. Man actively searches for solutions for his sinful conduct. Man cannot sustain his biological existence if he had morally failed. A famous example would be that of Apostle Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus.
MATTER, ENERGY, AND KNOWLEDGE :
Greek philosopher Aristotle had observed that corporeal substances are composite of two principles, form and matter. What is called matter is potentiality, what is called form is actuality. The totality of things have been divided in various ways. The three fundamental distinctions are 1. the distinction between the natural and the supernatural, 2. the distinction between the material and the spiritual, and 3. the distinction between the lifeless and the living. When we make the distinction animate/inanimate, living/non-living, and inorganic/organic, a question arises about the nature of that distinction. The difference, is that one of kind or degree? The Mechanistic View claims the continuity of nature in terms of the universality of purely mechanical principles. I have defined Life as ‘Knowledge in Action’. Please view the blog post at
I define Life as organization of matter with implanted supernatural Knowledge. The establishment of supernatural Knowledge in matter describes the operation of ‘God Principle’, Spirit, or Soul. Life comes into existence when matter and energy come together with the establishment of ‘God Connection’.
LIFE AND CONSCIOUSNESS :
Amoeba proteus, unicellular, protozoan organism is conscious or aware of its own state of existence. It has the abilities of Motion, Nutrition, and Reproduction. All of its living functions are goal-oriented. It responds to its environment and survives adverse environmental conditions by a process called encystment.
The basic characteristic of a Living Cell or organism is the presence of consciousness. I recognize a cell as a Living Cell if it displays functions that characterize the presence of awareness or consciousness. The Living Cell or Living Object need not be aware or conscious of the Subject who may be investigating or observing the properties of that Object. The Living Object need to be aware of its own existence and its condition called Living. Atoms and molecules display their properties and interact according to the Laws of Physics and Chemistry. Living organic molecules show individualistic behaviors under experimental conditions that could be repeated and be verified. The Living Cell is very selective and it responds in a variable manner to physical and chemical stimuli. It can communicate or send signals to other Living Cells present in its environment. It responds according to its internal condition in relation to the environment in which it exists. The interactions of non-living physical matter are not goal-oriented. The interactions of Living matter are goal-oriented and they specifically achieve the purpose of sustaining, preserving, defending, and continuing the Living functions.
MAN IS A MORTAL, PHYSICAL BEING :
Man is a mortal being who must eventually die. When Lazarus died and was laid in a tomb for four days, Jesus performed a miracle and Lazarus came back to life from death. The Book of John, Chapter 11, narrates this event. In verses 41 and 42, Jesus said,”Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit of the people who are standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me.” The risen Lazarus had eventually died.
LIFE AND DEATH IS A CONTINUOUS PROCESS :
When does Life begins? When does Life ends? Life always comes into a state of existence from a previously existing Living Cell. Life and Death is a continuous process and is recognized by the presence of Consciousness and Individuality.
When does Life begins? When does Life ends? Every Living Cell is derived from a previously existing Living Cell. Life has not experienced the final event called DEATH. Life continues its act of Living through a function called Reproduction. A given species is considered to be totally extinct only if there is no surviving member to represent that particular species. Death is a programmed event and it gives meaning to the Identity of a Living Object. The dissolution of a single Living Object should not obscure the fact that Life is a continuous process. Life continues as Living Objects get new Identities. It is very reasonable to expect that Life would continue after the death of a given Living Object. People all over the world are a witness to that simple and direct observation. During the Life-Death continuum, the connection between the Creator and the created Living Object is manifested by the biological function called awareness or consciousness. The presence of Soul is evidenced by the presence of consciousness. As long as the Soul is functioning and is united with the physical being, the presence of consciousness could be detected and could be verified.
THE SOUL AND GOD CONNECTION :
All types of Living Cells with or without nucleus represent thermodynamically unstable systems. Without a continuous input of energy a Living Cell will degrade spontaneously into a nonliving collection of molecules. Biological existence is possible because of an association or connection, or partnership between energy seeker and energy provider.
There has been no clearly defined and universally accepted metaphysical conception of the term Soul. It is a term rarely used with precise definition in philosophy, religion, or common life. In this discussion we face the problem of using words to which no definitive meaning is attached. If I make an attempt to define the word ‘God’, you may even speculate that I may belong to a new religious order. We need to come to a consensus even if an entity called ‘God’ does not exist. We need to formulate a view, a hypothetical view about Soul and test that hypothesis by countering it with a skeptical hypothesis. The Science called Physics deals with the properties, changes, interactions, etc. of matter and energy in which energy is considered to be continuous. In the ultimate analysis, matter is a representation of its energy content. The Science called Biology deals with Life and Life processes. While Life is made up of physical matter, Life processes are not explained by simple mechanistic interactions. However, I am willing to use the principles, the methods, and the tools used by Physics. Molecular Biology explains biological events by studying the molecules within cells; the molecular basis of genetics – Nucleic Acids and its relationship to energy cycling and replication. If this universe is seen as matter and energy, I would define God as the Controller of Force/Power/Energy. All living things are essentially made up of the same kind of living matter and yet they appear to be different. Life could be attributed to ONE common principle which has the ability to be simultaneously different. Each living object comes into a state of existence as a new object, as an original object, one of its own kind, unique, and distinctive. This morphological variation is an attribute of the organic molecules that establish the phenotype or the physical identity of that living organism. Physics provides those powerful tools to see the molecules and to recognize their individualistic behavior. Life comes into existence using a creative principle, and creative mechanisms that need inspiration, and imagination apart from the use of simple mechanistic laws. If Life is governed by the Law of Individuality, I would define God as a Creative Force/Power/Energy.
Life is a condition that describes Synchronized Existence, the synchronization of activities, the connection between energy dependent life functions and its Source of Power.
A majority of these life forms that we know and have studied, have synchronized their state of existence with an event that produces alternating periods of light and darkness while that source of light is not being turned ‘on’ and ‘off’. Rather we are forced to experience the effects of an illusion. Sunrise and Sunset is the reality that governs a majority of Biological Rhythms that control the life processes. Illusion is the necessary condition for the biological existence of Life. If Earth’s rotational spin generates this illusion, God uses Force/Power/Energy to cause illusion. In the universe that exists today, to the extent we have verified; there are no two identical celestial objects that exhibit the same rotational spin. In this context, it may be said that the Force/Power/Energy called God has created Earth to provide a home to the life forms that He has created as Individuals. These life forms have the ability called reproduction and yet lack the ability of producing two identical new objects. Sexual or Asexual reproduction always results in the production of new Individuals which could be easily verified by using the Biometric Identification Technology. Even the clones, sharing identical genomes, in reality exist as individuals. This Individuality when investigated by the tools supplied by Physics, it is discovered that the organic molecules behave as Individuals and man is not able to modify that behavior. Under the same experimental conditions, the molecules behave as individuals. When we examine the nature of this biological existence, it indicates that life processes are supported by the provision of energy from an external source. The Living Cell is a thermodynamically unstable system. This means that without a continuous input of energy a Living Cell will degrade spontaneously into a nonliving collection of molecules. This lack of energy independence would direct us to define God as the Power/Force/Energy which delivers Compassion/Mercy/Grace which helps energy acquisition by energy dependent living organisms. Life forms on planet Earth exist depending upon an extraterrestrial source of energy or Cosmic Power/Force/Energy. Life exists because of its ability called ‘Association’. The act of associating, the state of being associated; the companionship, the fellowship, and the partnership is the defining feature of the State or Condition, or Act of Living. Association or partnership between energy seeker and energy provider could be described as God-Connection. Organisms that are single do not live as single cells but develop association with other single cells to form distinct Colonies. Organisms that are multicellular represent an organization of individual cells that are associated having common interests, purposes, sensations, etc., Since association has a purpose, in the context of biological existence, the association or connection, or partnership between the energy seeker, and the energy provider is a meaningful event and not a simple, mechanical, physical event governed by the Laws of Interactions between Matter and Energy. There are Four Fundamental Interactions and they do not regulate or define this Interaction between Living matter and the Cosmic Force/Power/Energy. Living matter uses and exploits energy in a creative manner to build organic molecules and to break down organic molecules. The life processes are very similar and yet the results are totally different. While using energy mostly following a similar metabolic pathway, each organism supports its identity and individuality.
WHO HAS ESTABLISHED THE CONNECTION BETWEEN AUTOTROPHS AND HETEROTROPHS? The creative mechanism to trap Solar Energy describes implanted Knowledge to formulate the connection between autotrophs and heterotrophs.
In mitochondria, many substances(food) are oxidized and ATP, the energy-storing chemical of the Cell is produced. The most important equations for living things are mutually inverse. Respiration of humans, and Cellular Respiration represents the reverse of Photosynthesis.
SOUL AND DEATH :
The idea of ‘Soul’ always comes in the context of Death. If man is immortal, we will not be spending our time and energy discussing to verify the existence of an immortal principle. The human subject has a limited life span and it arouses a sense of curiosity about the existence of something that could defy Death. I am trying to define the word ‘Soul’ in a manner to promote an understanding that ‘Soul’ is immortal if we look at man as an Association of individual living cells. We need to establish the Identity of that Individual for whose purpose or interest this Association of Individual living cells exists. If we think of Death as a final event, it is not supported by factual evidence. In this Association, death is a daily event. We simply fail to acknowledge this daily event as there is an immortal principle that is escaping this death experience. The Individual thinks that he is alive and sustains his Individuality without getting overwhelmed by the dying process that is continuous. While the human organism is changing its external appearance and identity all the time, the Individuality survives if ‘Soul’ the vital, or operating immortal principle is functioning. The issue or question about ‘transmigration’ of Soul would not arise if every living organism exists strictly as an Individual with an Individuality. As stated before,man has no choice and he must always exist as an Individual even when we use Reproductive Genetic Engineering Technology to produce identical clones with the same genome. The dissolution of matter may not change the Law of Conservation of Energy. If Soul is defined as the God Connection that gives the ability of energy acquisition, the Soul when removed from a physical object to which it has given Individuality, would operate as per the commands of the Controller of Force/Power/Energy. It provides the possibility of carrying the impressions of a previous state of existence into a new state of existence with a new identity and Individuality. During the life span of a given Individual, an association of cells in which death is a daily event, Soul is a continuous principle as its purpose and interest is to maintain Individuality of that Individual.
SOUL AND THE LIVING CELL :
I define man as a physical, mental, social, moral, and spiritual being as I define the term ‘health’ as the physical, mental, social, moral, and spiritual well-being of the man in his environment and community and not merely as absence of disease. This definition of ‘health’ would help me to provide ‘comprehensive health care’ in my role as a Primary Care physician. Specialists and Super specialists provide health care in specific areas involving an organ or an organ system.
Jean Paul Sartre had stated that Nothingness(Non-thing or Neant) is a condition of not having Being and yet it is supported by Being. Nothingness comes into the world by the Being-for-itself. The Conscious Knowing-Self or the Essence of man is preceded by the Subjective Reality of physical Existence.
I attach my ideas to some ideas expressed by others. Sartre is a well-known person. He had won the Nobel Prize for literature but declined to accept it. I may not totally agree with him and his views about consciousness. He had stated his view in a manner that people can easily understand. He makes a distinction between objective things and human consciousness. He claims that consciousness is a ‘non-thing'(‘neant’ or nothingness ) and its reality consists in standing back from things and taking a point of view on them. Because consciousness is a non-thing, it does not have any of the causal involvements that things have with other things. If you stand before a mirror, the reflection exists only if it is supported by the presence of a physical being or thing. If the physical thing is taken away, the reflected image is gone but the reflective surface retains its ability to reflect the images of things.
THE BIOLOGICAL MEMBRANE AND CONSCIOUSNESS :
The Biological Membrane is not a simple physical barrier separating the Living Cell from its environment. The Protoplasm or Cytoplasm, the Living Matter uses its Biological Membrane with a sense of awareness or consciousness which recognizes the fact of its existence and the fact of something present in its environment.
In a Living Cell, consciousness reflects its external environment and its internal condition or internal environment. The Living Cell knows, it is aware of its state, fact, and act of its Living. The Living Cell makes contact with its environment by using a cell membrane, a biological membrane, or a bio-membrane. If you carefully look at some of the functions of this membrane, you would discern that the Living Cell has consciousness or awareness of these functions. The Biological Membrane behaves in a conscious manner and it is not a simple, physical barrier between the Protoplasm, the Living Substance and its environment. If the term ‘soul’ describes a vital principle, or a source of Knowledge, it provides the information with which these functions could be performed. Some molecules and ions can freely move across this Bio-membrane and some are actively pumped in or out of the Cell that involves expenditure of energy. The Living Cell has the ability to recognize the condition of its nucleus, if the DNA is damaged, the Cell can initiate a process and cause its own dissolution.
Red Blood Cells display functional subordination to serve the purpose of the Whole Organism. Functional differentiation, and Functional Unity are important to support the existence of the Subject or Individual who is in reality an association of trillions of cells.
In multicellular organism, the consciousness works both at the level of each individual cell and to establish the functioning of the organism as an individual unit. Without functional unity, the organism cannot maintain its biological existence. Cell differentiation is the process by which the individual cells use adaptation to perform specific tasks. Red Blood Cells perform specific tasks.
THE NEURO-BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF CONSCIOUSNESS :
Reticular Formation of Brain Stem has connections with almost all other parts of the Central Nervous System and it helps to coordinate and integrate actions of different parts of the CNS. It is important for Behavioral Arousal, and the Capacity for Consciousness.
In the human Brain Stem, several neurons, and nuclei which are in an area called Reticular Formation are functionally adapted to compose the contents of human consciousness. The Reticular Formation gives the Capacity for Consciousness. The contents of this consciousness are read in the cortical areas of the cerebral hemispheres and described as Cortical awareness. Most philosophers, most of the psychologists, and several of the religious thinkers pay attention to this Cortical awareness and describe that as human consciousness. We tend to ignore the fact that there would be no Cortical awareness unless there is a Capacity for Consciousness. Most recently, the surgeons had removed the complete left cerebral hemisphere from a child to stop convulsive seizures. The child is alive, fully conscious, and hopefully would continue to live in future with some neurological deficits. Just like the human heart which has four different muscular chambers and each has a function of its own; we need to understand consciousness by knowing its components. We need to use separate terms to distinguish these different components. There would be confusion if a term is used without attaching a specific meaning. Cortical awareness is important and is very interesting and yet man can exist and survive with minimal cortical awareness. We have seen children with severe degrees of mental retardation, and they can keep their biological existence if they retain the ability to Compose Consciousness. I want to designate the upper Brain Stem as the Seat of Consciousness and the word consciousness itself must describe the functions of the Brain Stem which are most important for man’s biological existence. A man is clinically dead in the absence of these Brain Stem functions involved in the Capacity of Consciousness. In Clinical Medicine, the term conscious is often used to measure the degree of Arousal or Cortical awareness and hence this subject matter would remain confusing for a long time. If a subject is unconscious, I would not issue a ‘death certificate’. In Clinical Medicine, the term used is ‘Brain Death’ and when Brain Death is diagnosed, the human person for all practical purposes is dead. I would suggest that we must use the term ‘Unconscious’ specifically to indicate the Brain Death which is diagnosed by testing the Brain Stem Reflexes. If the human person is viewed as a single physical thing or object, the integration of functions is achieved at the Brain Stem( Reticular Formation), and he maintains his individuality throughout his physical existence only when this part of the brain is functioning. If you like the term individual soul or Jeeva Atma, its existence is a reflection of this function. To see a reflection, we need two things; the physical object and a reflective surface. The quality of reflecting objects may depend upon presence of Knowledge. It is not known if this particular kind of knowledge exists as organic molecules; however, it is very well understood that most of the knowledge to perform a variety of biological functions is contained in organic molecules and the most well-known group of these organic molecules are known as DNA. There are Viruses which can function with RNA. Hence, there is still a possibility of finding organic molecules that could be associated with the functional ability called consciousness, awareness, cognition, recognition, responsiveness, perception, memory, intelligence, and association. The most important aspect of ‘association’ is ‘God Connection’ and without this function of ‘association’ man cannot keep his biological existence.
Consciousness is awareness of existence, the facts that relate to the state or condition of existence. Behavioral Arousal and Cortical awareness of thoughts, feelings, and sensations is an important component of total Biological Existence.
IDENTITY AND INDIVIDUALITY :
The Eternal Reality of Soul’s Immortality is described in The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter II, verse 12. Lord Krishna spoke to the Pandava Prince Arjuna :”Na tv evaham jatu nasam na tvam neme JanadhipaH;Na chaiva na bhavisyamaH, sarve vayam ataH param.” For each of us our Individuality existed in the past and our Individuality will continue in the future without interruption. Certainly, never at any time did I not exist, nor you, nor all these Kings and certainly never shall we cease to exist in the future.
The issue of spirituality, the nature of Soul and consciousness must be explored in the context of arriving at an understanding of man’s Identity and Individuality. If man is viewed as an association of trillions of cells, we need to know the Identity of that Subject who lives because of the functions of the trillions of cells. The purpose of consciousness at cellular level is to foster functional unity of the multicellular organism and to establish it as an Individual. In a multicellular organism, cells have short lives as individuals. The Subject or the whole organism has a life span of its own and it has effects on individual cells. Multicellularity is accompanied by adaptive subordination of all cells to the requirements of the organism as a whole. To achieve proper numerical balance between functionally related cell groups, the death of many cells is necessary for other cells to reach maturity. This programmed cell death plays an important role in embryological development. Such programmed cell death events are essential if the organism as a whole is to develop its normal final form. Waves of genetically driven cell deaths are critical to the proper modeling of organs and organ systems. We need to know and understand that death of cells is a must to establish the Identity and to sustain the Individuality of the human being. The dying process helps man to understand his Individuality. The Individuality is preserved while death is a daily event at the cellular level. The phenotype or the morphological appearance of the human Subject undergoes constant change during the Life journey and yet the Individuality remains unchanged. We recognize the death of this human Subject when his Soul departs from his body. Soul may be stated as an entity which is regarded as being immortal or spiritual part of the person. The Spirit of a dead person generally refers to a principle separate from the body and leading an existence of its own. If Soul is viewed as a Non-thing or Nothingness, it comes into the world of existence by entering the physical being at its conception which becomes conscious or aware of its existence. This consciousness has also existed in a previously existing Living Egg Cell which is the Mother of Life, Energy, and Knowledge. Consciousness by its very nature is immortal, it is eternal, and it has no birth or death. We recognize the arrival and departure of the new product during the Life-Death continuum where the Individuality is unaffected by the changes that are caused by the powerful influence of Time.
Rudra N. Rebbapragada/ R. Rudra Narasimham, B.Sc., M.B.B.S.,
The Vitruvian Man c. 1492. The painting by Leonardo da Vinci displays the spirit of scientific inquiry. We must know the distinction between Human Nature and Human Behavior.
What is man? The motivation for asking this question comes from a statement expressed in Sanskrit language : “Sarvesham Swastir Bhavatu”, which seeks the well-being of all humans, of all races, of all religions, of all cultures, and of all nations. Our efforts to support the well-being of man would be affected by our understanding the ‘real’ or ‘true’ nature of man. I recognize that man exists with the following five forms, 1. the Physical Being as described by Human Anatomy, Human Physiology and other Medical Sciences, the human being in health and sickness, 2. the Mental Being, the intellect and emotional aspects as described by Psychology and Psychiatry, 3. the Social Being as described by Social Sciences, 4. the Moral Being as described by Morals and Ethics, the power of discernment used by man to make the distinction between good and evil, and right and wrong, and 5. the Spiritual Being as described by the spiritual nature of man’s corporeal substance that develops and builds the cells, the tissues, the organs, and the organ systems of the human body. While most religious and philosophical traditions explore spirituality by understanding human thoughts, and feelings, I try to know this spiritual aspect of human nature by observing the functional behavior that is displayed in the interactions of cells, tissues, and organs that constitute the human organism. If man is viewed as a multicellular organism, human behavior must be observed in the biotic interactions of cells, tissues, and organs because of whose functions man lives in the world. The five aspects of man contribute to the five kinds of behavior of man; the physical, mental, social, moral, and spiritual behavior. A muscle cell displays the behavior of contraction in response to a stimulus and it is able to contract because of its contractile nature which gives it the power of contracting.
In my view, Spiritualism is the human nature that gives the man the power or ability to perform his living functions and display his characteristic behaviors like feeding, breathing and reproduction. I remind my readers to be very careful to make the distinction between Human Nature and Human Behavior. For example, the power of Nutrition described by Human Physiology is not the same as the eating behavior that manifests as the problem of obesity.
Human Behavior and Environment:
Whole Dude – Whole Behavior: Burrhus Frederick Skinner (1904 – 1990), Professor of Psychology at Harvard University (1948 – 1974) proposes that the empirical study of human behavior is the only way to arrive at a true theory of human nature. He had published several books, The Behavior of Organisms:An Experimental Analysis (1938), Science and Human Behavior (1953), and Verbal Behavior (1957).Whole Dude – Whole Behavior: The relationship between Man and Nature (Environment) that conditions human behavior.
B. F. Skinner studied behavior and the environmental causes of behavior mediated through conditioning mechanisms. In his opinion, all behavior is a function of environmental variables. He proposed a thesis of Universal Determinism, and thinks that every human event including all human choices has a set of preceding environmental causes.
In the Indian tradition, the Bhagavad Gita also explains the relation between human behavior and environment or ‘Prakriti’. Chapter XIV, verse 5 states : “Sattvam, rajas, tama iti gunah prakriti sambhavah”, the modes of human behavior such as Sattva (the mode of goodness), Rajas (the mode of passion), and Tamas (the mode of ignorance) are generated by the interactions between human body and the environment in which he lives.
Whole Dude – Whole Behavior: A thing comprises of two categories, 1. Matter, and 2. Form. Behavior pertains to the actions performed by the Form and Nature pertains to the material nature of Matter, the Living Matter or the corporeal substance.
At the same time, Indian tradition makes a very clear distinction between true human nature and the three modes of human behavior. The real, or true man is described by the spiritual characteristic of human nature. The Bhagavad Gita in Chapter XVIII, verse 20 claims that all living entities share a single reality even while they are divided into innumerable forms (Sarva bhutesu yenaikam bhavam avyayam iksate) and directs us to recognize that spiritual nature as the true reality that is common among different living forms. B.F. Skinner paid attention to the external causes or influences that generate or modify human behavior and has totally avoided the study of innate or inner cause of behavior. He did not give any importance to the role of heredity in human behavior. This internal influence on an organism’s behavior is not directly observable and an experimenter cannot manipulate such internal influences to conduct experimental studies of behavior. Skinner’s findings about external influences and environmental conditioning mechanisms explain several aspects of human behavior but they do not explain the relationship between human behavior and human existence. To understand human existence, we have to learn about the nature of man’s substance and the behavior of the cells, tissues, and organs that provide the structural and functional basis of the human organism.
Man is a very complex living organism that shows structural differentiation and the functional organization of various tissues and organ systems. The specialized functions of tissues and organs is possible because of the functional subordination of the cells to the requirements of the organism as a whole. In other words, the specialized functions of tissues and organs could be described as ‘altruistic’ behavior, a behavior that promotes the well-being and appears to favor the individual’s chances of survival and reproduction. Man may exhibit behavior under the influence of environment and may act in the modes of behavior such as goodness (Sattva), passion (Rajas), or ignorance (Tamas), but his existence is made possible by his innate human nature which acts as an internal influence and determines the characteristics of the biotic interactions between the cells, the tissues, and organs of his own body.
Whole Dude – Whole Behavior: The integration of Structure and Function describes the Spiritual Basis for Health and Human Existence. By knowing the structure and function of the Red Blood Cell or Erythrocyte, we can establish the facts of Blood Circulation, the reason for the structure of the Heart and Lungs, their motions and their relation to each other and their relation to the Human Being who exists as an Individual with Individuality.
Tibet Awareness – Uprising in the Land of Rising Sun
WHOLE CHALLENGE: UPRISING IN THE LAND OF RISING SUN (1959) AND UPRISING IN MY HEART (1962)
I am happy to share the Guest Column titled ‘Dragon’s Familiar Dance’ published in India Today, November 07, 2011. Brahma Chellaney, the author of this article is Professor of Strategic Studies at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi.
The word uprising describes the action of rising up and specifically it means an outbreak against a ruler or power or the act of revolt. Tibetans witnessed an Uprising in the Land of Rising Sun. Tibetans are conscious of the fact of the flight of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to India to lead a life in exile. I am conscious of the fact of Communist China’s attack on India during 1962. Communist China’s brutal aggression provoked an uprising in my heart. It has stirred me, it caused an intense swelling of emotions and it gave birth to a desire to resist Communist China as best as possible. Tibetans and myself have experienced similar emotions and feelings and share a common desire to resist Communist China and the threat it imposed upon our consciousness. During 1962, I was a young student at Giriraj Government Arts College, Nizamabad, Nizamabad District, Telangana, India. The students of Giriraj College spontaneously reacted to China’s attack and expressed their sense of resentment. We joined hands and walked on the City streets to express our Unity and Solidarity to defend India. This desire to oppose Communist China helped me to find an opportunity to join the ranks of Indian Army. On completion of my Basic Medical Officers Command Training Course (BMOC 20/70 ) at Officers Training School, Army Medical Corps Centre, Lucknow, and professional training at Military Hospital Ambala, during my first military assignment, I joined others who share my desire to fight the Red Dragon. We all know that it is a Challenge that needs preparation. While getting trained to gain the ability to move upwards to face the enemy, some people have fallen down. They have fallen with a desire still living in their hearts.
My consciousness is aware of this desire for Freedom and it keeps the Spirits alive in the form of a desire to resist the enemy and to end the illegal occupation of the Land of Rising Sun. The desire to resist your enemy causes feelings of sorrow or dukha like all other human desires. But, the condition called Freedom is not a desire. Freedom is the natural state or condition of human beings and military occupation is a violation or transgression of this natural condition of human existence. There is no choice other than that of revolting against occupation. So, we have accepted the desire to revolt against the enemy seeking the Compassion of Buddha to uplift us from the feelings of sorrow or Dukha.
Whole Challenge: The Red Dragon’s Lust for Global Supremacy poses a great danger to Freedom and Democracy all over the world.
With the 50th anniversary of the 1962 invasion approaching, history is in danger of repeating itself.
Brahma Chellaney The writer is professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi GUEST COLUMN India Today, November 7, 2011
As the 50th anniversary of China’s invasion approaches, history is in danger of repeating itself, with Chinese military pressures and aggressive designs against India not only mirroring the pre-1962 war situation but also extending to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the oceans around India. China’s expanding axis of evil with Pakistan, including a new troop presence in PoK, heightens India’s vulnerability in Jammu and Kashmir, even as India has beefed up its defences in Arunachal Pradesh. By muscling up to India, what is China seeking to achieve? The present situation, ominously, is no different in several key aspects from the one that prevailed in the run-up to the 1962 war. ● The aim of “Mao’s India war” in 1962, as Harvard scholar Roderick MacFarquhar has called it, was largely political: to cut India to size by demolishing what it represented—a democratic alternative to China’s autocracy. The swiftness and force with which Mao Zedong defeated India helped discredit the Indian model, boost China’s international image, and consolidate Mao’s internal power. The return of the China-India pairing decades later riles Beijing. ● Just as the Dalai Lama’s flight to India in 1959 set the stage for the Chinese military attack, the exiled Tibetan leader today has become a bigger challenge for China than ever. The continuing security clampdown across the Tibetan plateau since the March 2008 Tibetan uprising parallels the harsh Chinese crackdown in Tibet during 1959-62. ● The prevailing pattern of cross-frontier incursions and other border incidents is no different from the situation that led up to the 1962 war. Yet, India is repeating the same mistake by playing down the Chinese intrusions. Gratuitously stretching the truth, Indian officials say the incursions are the result of differing perceptions about the line of control. But which side has refused to define the line of control? It speaks for itself that China hasn’t offered this excuse. The fact is that Chinese forces are intruding even into Utttarakhand—the only sector where the line of control has been clarified by an exchange of maps—and into Sikkim, whose 206-km border with Tibet is recognized by Beijing. ● The 1962 war occurred against the backdrop of China instigating and arming insurgents in India’s northeast. Although such Chinese activities ceased after Mao’s death, China has come full circle today, with Chinese-made arms increasingly flowing into guerrilla ranks in northeast India via Burmese front organisations. In fact, Pakistan-based terrorists targeting India also rely on Chinese arms. ● China’s pre-1962 psychological war is returning. In recent years, Beijing has employed its state-run media and nationalistic websites to warn of another armed conflict. It is a throwback to the coarse rhetoric China had used in its build-up to the 1962 war. Its People’s Daily, for example, has warned India to weigh “the consequences of a potential confrontation with China.” China merrily builds strategic projects in an internationally disputed area like Pak Occupied Kashmir but responds with crude threats when others explore just for oil in the South China Sea. ● Just as India in the early 1960s retreated to a defensive position in the border negotiations after having undermined its leverage through a formal acceptance of the “Tibet region of China,” the spotlight now is on China’s revived Tibet-linked claim to Arunachal rather than on the core issue, Tibet itself. India, with its focus on process than results, has remained locked in continuous border negotiations with China since 1981—the longest and the most-fruitless process between any two nations post-Second World War. This process has only aided China’s containment-with-engagement strategy. ● In the same way that India under Nehru unwittingly created the context to embolden Beijing to wage aggression, New Delhi is again staring at the consequences of a mismanagement of relations. The more China’s trade surplus with India has swelled—jumping from $2 billion in 2002 to more than $30 billion now—the greater has been its condescension toward India. To make matters worse, the insidious, V.K. Krishna Menon-style shadow has returned to haunt Indian defence management and policy. India has never had more clueless defence and foreign ministers or a weaker Prime Minister with a credibility problem than it does today. In fact, as it aims to mould a Sino-centric Asia, China is hinting that its real geopolitical contest is more with India than with the distant United States. The countries around India have become battlegrounds for China’s moves to encircle India. From a military invasion in 1962 and a subsequent cartographic aggression, China is moving towards a hydrological aggression and a multipronged strategic squeeze of India. China’s damming of rivers flowing from Tibet to India are highlighting Indian vulnerability on the water front even before India has plugged its disadvantage on the nuclear front by building a credible but minimal deterrent. Whether Beijing actually sets out to teach India “the final lesson” by launching a 1962-style attack will depend on several factors. They include India’s domestic political situation, its defence preparedness, and the availability for China of a propitious international timing of the type the Cuban missile crisis provided in 1962. If India does not want to be caught napping again, it has to come out of the present political paralysis and inject greater realism into its China policy, which today bears a close resemblance to a studied imitation of an ostrich burying its head in the sand. (c) India Today.
WHOLE CHALLENGE – FREEDOM IN THE LAND OF RISING SUN: FREE TIBET. IF NOT NOW, WHEN?
When you breathe in smoke that comes from the end of a lit cigarette, cigar, or pipe ( often described as ‘sidestream smoke‘ ), or when you breathe in smoke that is exhaled by a smoker(often described as ‘mainstream smoke’ ), you are exposed to the risk of secondhand smoke. You will be inhaling almost the same amount of chemicals as the smoker breathes in. Tobbaco smoke contains more than 4,000 different chemical compounds, and more than 50 of them are known to cause Cancer. Some of these known carcinogens are Hydrogen Cyanide, Benzene, Formaldehyde, and Carbon monoxide. Involuntary or passive smoking can kill. There is no amount of exposure to secondhand smoke that is considered as a safe level of exposure. The more secondhand smoke that you breathe in, the more your health risk increases. Secondhand smoke exposure causes nearly 50,000 deaths per year in adult nonsmokers in the United States. 3,000 deaths are from Lung Cancer, and 46,000 deaths are from heart disease. Nonsmokers increase their risk of developing Lung Cancer by 20% to 30%, and heart disease by 25% to 30% when they are exposed to secondhand smoke. The risks of Breast Cancer and Cervical Cancer and other types of Cancer are also higher. Women who are exposed to secondhand smoke face a 69% higher risk of heart disease and a 56% higher risk of Stroke than those who are not exposed to smoke. Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of secondhand smoke because of their bodies are still growing and they breathe at a faster rate than adults. The effects of smoking can be very significant especially for those who live or work with a smoker. In reality, most of the smoke from a burning cigarette doesn’t get sucked down into smoker’s lungs- it simply escapes into the air where it can be inhaled by anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby. Living under the shadow of a great person may give some benefits, protection, and a sense of security. But, life under the shadow of secondhand smoke is a prescription for death. There was such an unfortunate victim who had lived under the shadow of a great leader known as Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Qaid-e-Azam, the great leader and founder of Pakistan. What is the risk of Living under the Shadow of a great leader?
Jinnah, Indian Muslim politician was the founder and first Governor General of Pakistan (1947-1948). His parents arranged for an early marriage for him before he left for England at the age of 16. While in London, Jinnah suffered the loss of his wife and mother. In 1895, at the age of 19, he was called o the Bar on completion of his formal studies to become a barrister. He had supported the election of Dadabhai Naoroji, a Parsi leader, a leading Indian nationalist who ran for the English Parliamnet. Naoroji became the first Indian to sit in the British House of Commons. In 1896, Jinnah returned to Karachi and then moved to Bombay to start his legal practice. He met Ruttenbai, the daughter of Dinshaw Petit, a Bombay Parsi millionaire. Jinnah had married this young and beautiful lady over tremendous opposition from her parents and others. The great love and the marriage withered and proved to be an unhappy union. The stress imposed by exposure to secondhand smoke was not known and was not recognized those days. Jinnah’s addiction to Tobacco and the price paid by his wife describe the other side of Jinnah which many people in Pakistan and India tend to ignore.
The Other side of Mohammed Ali Jinnah :
Jinnah, a great leader with a simple addiction to Tobacco.
This young and beautiful lady had great feelings of love for Jinnah and those tender feelings withered while she had lived under the Shadow of Secondhand Smoke.
I would like to share the very interesting and powerful story about the life of Ruttenbai who had lived under the shadow of Mohammed Ali Jinnah . Unfortunatley, this story posted below my post fails to mention the nature of cancer that had killed this beautiful lady at such an young age. I am very sure about the nature of her illness. She died of Lung Cancer. She developed Cancer because of inhaling tobacco smoke and it is a very well recognized risk factor now. Secondhand Tobacco smoke kills people and even now the chances of survival are not good. I had personally witnessed a similar case and had narrated that story at my Home page of BhavanaJagat and the story is titled ‘Living Under the Shadow – A Prescription for Death’. A young, beautiful lady, the first wife of Chief of Army Staff (under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi), General K S Sundarji ( who is well-known for Operation Blue Star ) died of Lung Cancer in Army Hospital, New Delhi during 1978. The connection between smoking and Lung Cancer was well understood but at that time the risk of Lung Cancer due to Secondhand Tobacco Smoke was not properly recognized.
The Chief of Army Staff, General Krishnaswamy Sundarrajan, PVSM - I had served under his Command while he was the General Officer Commanding of the First Armoured Division during 1976 to 1978. His first wife, Padma Sundarji had lived her life under the shadow of Secondhand Smoke.
More than 61 years have passed since the death of founder of Pakistan , Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. But even today, nothing about Jinnah seems ordinary —not his legal career, politics, personal life, his legacy and even the property he left behind.
The great South Asian intellectual Eqbal Ahmed once described Jinnah as an enigma of modern history. His aristocratic English lifestyle, Victorian manners, and secular outlook rendered him a most unlikely leader of India ’s Muslims. Yet, he led them to separate statehood, creating history, and in Saad R. Khairi’s apt phrase, “altering geography”.
Much has been written about Jinnah’s legal career, politics, his role as a founder of Pakistan and his vision, but even today, very little is known about Jinnah’s personal life. This was probably because Jinnah never had time to write a diary or an autobiography and whatever little he wrote was formal and matter of fact. For most of his life, he remained reserved, taciturn and secretive. He wrote his will in May, 1939, but it was only after his death that Liaquat Ali Khan, his close associate and the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, came to know that he was its trustee and executor.
His only child, Dina Wadia, has hardly ever spoken about her father in public. So furious was Jinnah with Dina that he disowned her after she married a Parsi man against his wishes, and yet he left two lacs for her in his will. Akbar Ahmed’s movie Jinnah had just ten to fifteen minutes on Jinnah’s personal life, which are nowhere near enough.
Life Under The Shadow – Ruttie in Jinnah’s Shadow
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Jinnah’s first wife, fourteen year old Emibai from Paneli village, died just eight months after he left for London at age sixteen in 1892, to join Graham’s Shipping and Trading Company, which conducted business with his father in Karachi. It was a forced marriage, as Jinnah’s mother was afraid that if he went to England , he might end up marrying an English girl. He barely knew Emibai.
Jinnah’s second marriage with the most beautiful girl of Bombay – Ruttie: The Flower of Bombay – was like a fairy tale. It began in the summer of 1916 in Darjeeling or “Town of the Thunderbolt” (how appropriate considering what was to happen there).
Jinnah had established himself as a lawyer and a politician by then and had become friends with Sir Dinshaw Maneckjee Petit, the son of one of the richest and most devoutly orthodox Parsis of the 19th century.
The Petit`s chateau overlooked Mount Everest and it was there Jinnah met his only daughter Ruttenbai Petit or Ruttie as she was popularly called. Merely sixteen at that time, Ruttie was a charming young girl. Stanley Wolpert writes in Jinnah of Pakistan :“Precociously bright, gifted in every art, beautiful in every way. As she matured, all of her talents, gifts and beauty were magnified in so delightful and unaffected a manner that she seemed a fairy princess”.
A dazzling beauty and full of life, Ruttie had exquisite taste and affable manners. Quick-witted, she was easily one of the best dressed and most popular women among the elitist circles of Bombay . She was intellectually far more mature than other girls of her age, with diverse interests ranging from poetry (Oscar Wilde being her favorite, whom she often recited) to politics. Her large collection of books, which remained in Jinnah’s possession after her death, reflected her deep interest in poetry, literature, history, occultism, mysticism and sorcery. She was an excellent horse-rider. She attended all public meetings and was inspired by Annie Besant’s Home Rule League.
A fierce supporter of India for Indians, Ruttie was once asked about rumors of Jinnah’s possible knighthood and whether she would like to be Lady Jinnah. She snapped that she would rather be separated from her husband than take on an English title.
Jinnah on the other hand also had a special interest in acting and in Shakespeare’s dramas. While in London , he had acted in some Shakespearean plays and even considered seriously taking up acting as a profession. It was his dream to play Romeo at The Globe in London . Khwaja Razi Haider thinks it was probably Jinnah’s deep interest in Shakespeare that gave him insight into the intricacies of the human character, which he was to use for grasping the essentials of Indian politics. Jinnah was thirty-nine and Ruttie sixteen, but the age difference proved no obstacle in their love. Love has no logic.
He was enamored by her beauty and charm and she was awe- struck by “Jay”, as she called him. Jinnah asked Sir Dinshaw for Ruttie’s hand in marriage, who became furious and refused. Jinnah repeatedly pleaded his case but Dinshaw never gave in, as Jinnah had a different faith and he was more than twice Ruttie’s age. Their friendship ended and Dinshaw forbade Ruttie from meeting Jinnah while she lived in his house. He even got a court injunction restraining Jinnah from meeting her (a pity no biographer has yet traced the court papers).
The couple continued to meet secretly, and patiently waited for two years until February 1918 when Ruttie turned eighteen, and was free to marry. She walked out of her parental home to which she was never to return, and converted to Islam at Bombay ’s Jamia Mosque, under the Muslim Shiite doctrine, on April 18, 1918.
The very next day, Jinnah and Ruttie got married in a quiet ceremony at Jinnah’s Malabar Hill house in Bombay . Located in a most highly-priced area today, with Maharashtra’s Chief Minister as its next-door neighbor, Jinnah House remains a dispute between India , Pakistan and Dina Wadia. Jinnah owned another house at 10 Aurangzeb Road , Delhi , which he sold just before Partition for Rs 3 lacs. The Dutch Ambassador to India lives there now. The Raja Sahib of Mahmudabad, who signed as Jinnah’s witness, and a few other friends, attended the wedding. Maulana Muhammad Hasan Najafi was Ruttie’s witness. Jinnah presented the wedding ring to Ruttie, a gift from Raja Sahab, and paid Rs 125,000 as haq mehr . Nobody from Ruttie’s family attended the wedding. Interestingly, the Nikah Nama stated “Ruttenbai” as the bride’s name instead of Marium, her Islamic name. The honeymoon was first at Raja Sahab’s Nainitaal mansion, and then at the Maidens Hotel, a magnificent property just beyond the Red Fort.
Quaid’s Nikahnama
Quaid’s house in Bombay
Gandhi’s grandson Raj Mohan Gandhi writes about the wedding in his book Understanding the Muslim Mind: “For the first time in his life, a girl had absorbed Jinnah’s emotions. Living for sometime now in a large but somber Malabar Hill house, bowing to ladies (on occasional parties) and praising their sarees but otherwise keeping a distance from them, (he) fell in love with Ruttenbai. Joy and laughter entered Jinnah’s life. The Malabar Hill house became brighter.’ She presented him with a daughter, Dina. But, ‘Alas the happiness was not destined to last; Sarojni’s veiled prediction of trouble came true”.
Sarojni Naidu was a huge admirer of Jinnah, wrote several poems and prose pieces on him, and many historians believe she was in love with him.
She wrote this about the wedding in a letter to Sir Syed’s son, Syed Mahmud: “So Jinnah has at last plucked the Blue Flower of his desire. It was all very sudden and caused terrible agitation and anger among the Parsis; but I think the child has made far bigger sacrifices than she yet realises. Jinnah is worth it all – he loves her; the one really human and genuine emotion of his reserved and self-centred nature. And he will make her happy.”
The first few years of the marriage were a dream for Ruttie and Jinnah, the happiest time of their lives. They traveled across India , Europe and North America together. Ruttie watched with a great sense of pride the feverish political activity of her husband. She would be seen in the visitors’ gallery when Jinnah was due to speak, accompanied him to the High Court, and even attended the Nagpur session of the Congress in December 1920.
According to Wolpert: “They were a head- turning couple; he in his elegant suits, stitched in London , she with her long, flowing hair decked in flowers. There was no limit to their joy and satisfaction at that time. Their only woe was Ruttie’s complete isolation and ostracism from her family.”
Kanji Dwarkadas, a veteran leader of Congress and a close friend of the couple, who looked after Ruttie during her last days, wrote in his book Ruttie Jinnah: The story of a great friendship: “For Jinnah, who was not generous in many matters, no expense was too great to satisfy the extravagant claims of the baronet’s spoilt child. During a visit to Kashmir , she spent Rs 50,000 in refurnishing the boathouse and Jinnah gladly paid all the bills. He treated her wonderfully well, and paid without a murmur all the bills necessitated by the luxurious life she led.Ruttie’s fabulous beauty, spontaneous wit, and immense charm have been praised to the neglect of her serious interests.”
Even though Ruttie was much younger than Jinnah, she made him a very happy man. They had no separate existence and Jinnah found her a great source of inspiration.
He resigned from the Orient Club where he used to play chess and billiards. He was so deeply in love with Ruttie that he would return from the law courts on time each day and talk to her for hours on end.
Unfortunately, their happiness was short- lived and the marriage started to crack after 1922-3. What caused the ruination of the Jinnah-Ruttie marriage? Was it Jinnah’s busy political life and his inability to give enough time to Ruttie, their age difference, or their incompatibility of temperaments? He was cold, introverted and domineering. She was young, extroverted, glamorous. There is no clear answer but the fact remains that Ruttie and Jinnah still loved each other despite the rift in their marriage.
It is evident in every letter Ruttie wrote during that period, and every book written on their relationship. She moved to London with Dina in 1922 and from there too, her heart was still set on her life with Jinnah.
She wrote in a letter to Kanji in India :“And just one thing more – go and see Jinnah and tell me how he is – he has a habit of overworking himself and now that I am not there to tease and bother him, he will be worse than ever.”
After her return, the couple tried one more time to save their failing marriage and took a five-month tour to Europe and North America together. But the rift grew and by January 1928 they were virtually separated, when Ruttie became seriously ill with cancer. Shortly before her death, she wrote a letter to Jinnah from Marseilles , France where she had gone for treatment. It turned out to be her last letter to him (larger view of original hand-written letter with typed text here
Life Under The Shadow – Ruttie’s Letter to Jinnah
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S. S. Rajputana,
Marseilles 5 Oct 1928 Darling – thank you for all you have done. If ever in my bearing your once tuned senses found any irritability or unkindness – be assured that in my heart there was place only for a great tenderness and a greater pain – a pain my love without hurt. When one has been as near to the reality of Life (which after all is Death) as I have been dearest, one only remembers the beautiful and tender moments and all the rest becomes a half veiled mist of unrealities. Try and remember me beloved as the flower you plucked and not the flower you tread upon.
I have suffered much sweetheart because I have loved much. The measure of my agony has been in accord to the measure of my love. Darling I love you – I love you – and had I loved you just a little less I might have remained with you – only after one has created a very beautiful blossom one does not drag it through the mire. The higher you set your ideal the lower it falls.
I have loved you my darling as it is given to few men to be loved. I only beseech you that the tragedy which commenced in love should also end with it.
Darling Goodnight and Goodbye Ruttie
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It is a pity that none of the letters that Jinnah wrote to Ruttie have ever been made public. M.C. Chagla, a former Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court and a diplomat at the UN, has described the last days of Ruttie and Jinnah’s marriage in his book “Roses in December”. Chagla knew the couple very well, as he assisted Jinnah at his chambers during that time. He idealized Jinnah but severed all ties when he began working on the idea of an independent state for the Muslims of India. He writes: By 1927, Ruttie and Jinnah had virtually separated. Ruttie’s health deteriorated rapidly in the years after they returned from their final trip together. Ruttie lived at the Taj Hotel in Bombay, almost a recluse as she became more and more bed-ridden. Kanji continued to be her constant companion. By February 18, 1929 she had become so weak that all she could manage to say to him was a request to look after her cats.Two days later, Ruttie Petit Jinnah died. It was her 29th birthday. She was buried on February 22 in Bombay according to Muslim rites. Jinnah sat like a statue throughout the funeral but when asked to throw earth on the grave, he broke down and wept. That was the only time when I found Jinnah betraying some shadow of human weakness. It’s not a well publicised fact that as a young student in England it had been one of Jinnah’s dreams to play Romeo at The Globe. It is a strange twist of fate that a love story that started like a fairy tale ended as a haunting tragedy to rival any of Shakespeare’s dramas.”
The second time Jinnah ever broke down was in August 1947 when he visited Ruttie’s grave one last time before leaving for Pakistan . The architect of Pakistan paid a high price for Partition by leaving two of his most beloved possessions on ‘the other’ side of the border, the Jinnah House on Malabar Hill where he had the happiest moments of his life, and his beloved wife Ruttie who remains buried in Bombay. Jinnah left India in August 1947, never to return again, but he left behind a piece of his heart in a little grave in a cemetery in Bombay .
The science of acoustics deals with the nature, properties, generation, propagation, and reception of sound waves. Sound is defined as a vibration, a mechanical disturbance from a state of equilibrium that propagates by wave motion through an elastic medium. In gases, and liquids, sound propagates as longitudinal, compression waves. In solids, sound propagates as transverse, shear waves. Sound waves behave in many ways as light waves do. Sound is a form of energy like light. Light is an electromagnetic wave. Unlike light, sound cannot exist in a vacuum. Acoustics is important in fields of speech and hearing, the production of music, in warfare, in research, in exploration, in medical diagnosis and therapy. Sonar is an acronym for sound navigation and ranging. Sonar is used in detection and location of submerged objects like submarines by using acoustical echo. Ultrasonics describe the study of all sound like waves whose frequency is above the range of normal human hearing. Ultrasound is widely used in industry and in medicine. Pulses of ultrasound could be used to shatter kidney stones and gall stones. Ultrasonic drills and saws are useful in surgery and dentistry. Ultrasonic transducers have come to be widely used in medical imaging and have become a common diagnostic tool in pregnancy and for screening medical conditions that affect children. The technique of studying heart motions by ultrasonic means is known as echocardiography. In modern life we use sound energy in several creative ways.
We encounter a great variety of sounds in our daily life. All natural phenomena such as thunder, rain, waterfall, surf, and gusts of wind generate their unique sounds which could be pleasing aswellas frightening. Across animal kingdom, sound is used for detecting danger, navigation, predation, communication, and also for relaxation. Animals possess special structures for production and reception of sounds. The sounds produced could be mechanical or vocal. The special vocal organs could also produce speech and song. Mammals can also produce sounds with parts of the body that are specialized for other purposes. We can produce sound by tapping the floor or by clapping the hands. Many animals are highly vocal and can produce species-specific sounds. By understanding the sound reception mechanisms used by animals, we can also protect ourselves. Snakes have no reception for sounds propagated through air as they do not have external ears. But they recognize the sound vibrations that are propagated through ground. Snakes often bite when they are stressed. During Operation Eagle 1971 in Chittagong Hill Tracts, the War of Bangladesh Liberation, I had allowed a large group of snakes to move under my legs by remaining still and not provoking them with any attempt to move. I had trained soldiers to protect themselves from snake bites. For example, we can easily alert others by shouting and announcing the presence of a snake while standing still and get help to avoid snake bite. Humans have developed Culture and technology such as radio, telephone, and music that allows them to generate, record, transmit, and broadcast sounds. We should further explore the potential uses for sound energy. In ancient India, thoughts were propagated from person to person using the ‘oral tradition’ which involves the use of sound energy as a tool of human communication.
THE BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF SOUND
A sudden, loud sound could disorient a person. High intensity sounds and exposure to noise could cause irritation, anxiety, fear, sleep deprivation, stress-reaction, and hearing loss. It could also cause permanent damage to the sense organs of hearing. High-order explosives produce a supersonic high pressure blast wave that could cause severe primary blast injuries in several organs like brain and lungs. Humans appreciate the value of sound as a tool for obtaining relaxation, rejuvenation of spirit and for mental amusement and entertainment. The soothing effects of sound can provide us mental comfort, help in the healing and recovery process. Indian traditions claim that sound could be used as a medicine and the sound could exert medicinal effects taking advantage of the mind-body connection. Sound undoubtedly can affect our physiological responses to stress. Sound could act like a stressor and as a stress reducer.
THE MYSTICAL EFFECTS OF SOUND
A ‘mantra’ can be defined as a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of creating transformation. The vocal sounds of the ‘mantra’ have inherent meaning independent of the understanding of the person uttering them. The incantor need not know the meaning of the words employed and it makes no difference to the mantric action. When we take prescribed medications, most of us do not understand the chemical formulas of the active ingredients and the pharmacological basis for their medicinal action. The vocal sounds of ‘mantra’ could still work even when we do not know the reason as to how it works. Many of the modern medications are derived from plants, herbs, and compounds that were traditionally used for curing illness. Indian tradition advocates the efficacy of vocal sounds in providing relief from physical problems that afflict us. In Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 7, verse 8, Lord Krishna states that He is the light of the sun and the moon, and that He is the sound in ether. Light energy, and sound energy are aspects of the various energy manifestations of an Eternal, Original,and Primeval Person described as ‘PURUSHA’, the LORD God Creator. Our earthly existence is made possible by our Cosmic Connection with the material energies that we exploit to sustain and support our living functions.. Sound is a unique natural phenomenon of our earthly existence and because of its uniqueness it could be described as a creative energy. In the entire universe that we know and have explored, planet Earth is the only place where sound is generated, sound is propagated, and sound is recognized by living entites with anatomical organs and structures that are designed for that purpose.
THE ATTRIBUTES OF ‘KALI YUGA’ – THE AGE OF STRESS :
A person with a well-integrated personality acquires high resistance against stress and will be able to react healthily while confronting unwholesome life situations.
The Sanskrit word ‘KALI’ means fermented or contaminated water. While fresh water contributes to good health, and vitality, polluted water would induce stress and strain and leads to illness that manifests as strife, discord, quarrel, or contention. One of the attributes of Kali Yuga is the importance attached to wealth acquisition. Money and acquisition of money have become significant “STRESSORS” in our lives. Money related problems are among top concerns playing a role in anxious or depressed moods. As avarice, greed, and wrath have become common, there is no contentment, nor discernment, and nor mental composure. As men are tormented by worries, the use of prescription drugs such as tranquilizers has become very common. Various methods have been developed to cope with psychogenic or internal stress including the use of psychotherapy. Unhealthy coping of stress is leading people to activities such as smoking, drinking, gambling, compulsive eating, and the use of mood altering drugs and chemical substances. Such unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with stress can trigger more conflicts both at home and in the society.
AN ‘ELIXIR’ TO DESTROY THE POLLUTING EFFECTS OF STRESS
The creative power of sound could be used to counteract the contaminating influence of the age of KALI. The sixteen words of the HARE RAMA Mantra is first attested in the ‘Kali santaranopanisad'( KALI SANTARANA UPANISHAD) which is associated with the Krishna Yajur Veda. Creator Brahma had instructed sage Narada about the efficacy of this Mantra. The mere uttering of the words of HARI, RAMA, and KRISHNA is enough. A person does not require a Guru or a teacher to instruct the mantra. No fee is expected to obtain the knowledge of this mantra. A person is not expected to change his religion or observe any specific religious rituals as a part of using the mantra. There is no set time, or duration for repeating the words of the mantra. The words could be used individually or the precedence of the words could be rearranged. All the words are of a great potency.A person requires no previous qualification or training to use the mantra. There are no rites of initiation. It is unlike the practice of YOGA or MEDITATION. The person need not be in a temple or any other secluded place. The mantra could be used while fully engaged in the routine activities of life. The words could be repeated either out loud, softly to oneself, or internally within the mind. The mind hears the sounds of the words irrespective of the manner used to utter them. The Upanishad further states :
“Iti sodasakam namnam
Kali-kalmasa-nasanam
natah parataropayah
Sarva- Vedesu drsyate.”
The sixteen words of ‘HARE RAMA MAHA MANTRA’ are especially meant for counteracting the polluting effects of the ageof KALI. After searching through all the Vedic literature, one cannot find a better method.
I am not surprised to read about the mystical effects of sounds that could transform our lives and protect us from STRESS. I had personal experience of withstanding the physical stress imposed by sun’s scorching heat in the open deserts during military exercises. We had used nothing more than a little shade provided by thorny bushes or the camouflage net that we use to conceal our presence. The shade would at the most reduce the heat by a couple of degrees and yet the psychological relief it provides us so immense and it enables us to resist heat the entire day. I spent time in evaluating people and witness their ability to withstand a great variety of physical, chemical, biotic, and environmental stressors. The sixteen words of Hare Krishna Mantra have the potential to destroy the evil effects of stress by increasing our stress tolerance, by inducing stress resistance and protect our biological existence. Kindly review a related blog post about Stress.
Excerpt: The article condemns a cartoon illustration of a decapitated Buddha, published in The Ann Arbor News on October 3, 2007, describing it as offensive and tasteless. The author asserts that the image serves no purpose other than to offend followers of Lord Gautama Buddha.
The cartoon picture of decapitated Buddha that was published in The Ann Arbor News on Wednesday, October 3, 2007 is plainly disgusting and is clearly an insult. It serves no purpose other than to hurt the feelings of people who respect Lord Gautama Buddha.
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