Bang Bang!!

 

Bang, Bang!! Bang , Bang!! There were gun shots reverberating all across a Non Descript town of Texas state of the United States of America. The year was 1894, and a whole Fiasco was going on in this small town . A group of hardened American cowboys and a Ochre clad, Indian Man wearing  Monk's clothes  and a Turban like an Indian Raja was at the center of this fiasco. The monk was standing on a wooden box, made to look like a Lecture pulpit, at the town center, was going on lecturing on the Highest Indian philosophy to this curious crowd of wild west folks , while these Cowboys where firing bullets at Him, like crazy. 

Lets rewind back a bit before the start of   this scene  which was straight out of a Indiana Jones movie. The Hindu monk , named Swami Vivekananda, aged 30 years, had been a sensation in America for quite sometime now. He had arrived in the USA during the Summer of 1893 as a delegate to the World Parliament of religions, to represent the Oldest religion known to Man, Hinduism. In the September of that year, He had taken the World Parliament of religions by storm with His  Earth Shattering speech on Hinduism, which catapulted Him to instant celebrity in that country. Soon, He was approached by a lecture bureau to lecture across the United States. Vivekananda had signed up with the bureau, and thus would begin a series of His whirlwind tours across the length and breadth of United States bringing the Glory that was India to the West and thus earning Him the epithet of 'The Cyclonic Monk'. As a part of the deal, He had arrived that morning to this town. He had started a soul stirring lecture on the Vedanta philosophy, where He had mentioned that the "Person who has reached the highest truth that there is nothing but One blissful Existence has gone beyond all fear". This group of cowboys was also present there when He said so,  they challenged the Monk on His words. The Swami smiled at them like an indulgent mother would smile at her Naive Child. "Ok, so lets test this on you", the trigger-happy group retorted. And before the monk knew what was happening, they started firing at Him. However the monk continued His lecture as if He wasn't even aware of what was happening around Him. The more He  dwelt on the Luminous truths that the Vedanta philosophy expounded, the more He seemed to become Radiant. There was a palpable aura of Beatitude radiating from Him which captivated these far off people who had never heard of India before. The gunshots from the cowboys  couldn't stop His brilliant talk, and finally they stopped. When after quite sometime the Swami had finished and come down from the podium, these people ran at Him , and taking His hand in theirs , shook  it with the most effervescence. "Man, You are a Right good Fellaw", they complimented the monk, who greeted them back with the greatest generosity and warmth.

The incident of that day, is an example of how a mortal can be established in the state of Abhih (Fearlessness) that the Hindu Rishis speak of. The Gist of Hinduism, as beautifully expounded by the Upanishads , is that by seeing the same Atman(Self) in every being, the Yogi goes beyond all fear. Let me end this story with a very old Vedic Hymn, that a Rishi, who probably having reached this stage proclaimed in Joyous Music to the whole Universe ,

"vedāham etaṃ puruṣaṃ mahāntam ādityavarṇaṃ tamasaḥ parastāt /

tam eva viditvāti mṛtyum eti nānyaḥ panthā vidyate 'yanāya // (Svetasvatara-Upanishad Upanishad ,3.8)

 

"I have known the Effulgent  one who is beyond all darkness ,

Knowing Him alone will you be saved from death over again,

There is no way other than  this"

Face the Brutes!!

 It was a bright morning in Kashi, the Spiritual capital of India was abuzz with life and vibrancy. From the early morning ablutions in Ma Ganga to the ringing of temple bells , the numerous sadhus roaming around its streets , Kashi was teeming with all sorts of activity. At the famed Annapurna temple of Kashi, a spectacle was going on. A young monk of robust build, and with eyes flashing like the sun had come out after Darshan of the Divine Mother, and was going out of the temple premises.  Suddenly out of nowhere a group of monkeys  started chasing him. These monkeys had made the Annapurna temple and its surrounding areas their fiefdom , people moving in and and out of it had to pay them taxes in the form of food items . They would chase the people and bully them till the taxes were extracted. Many people had suffered at their hands, and the Young monk was their prey today.

The monk was perplexed, his natural instinct was to run, and he did so. But then the monkeys started running after him, he started running even faster , and the monkeys were unrelenting. The Monk was thinking of various options , when suddenly he heard a Loud voice from behind shouting out to him, "Face the Brutes, Face them, donot run away!!". The Young monk turned around and saw an aged Monk shouting out to him. Evidently the monk had been there and seen a lot to know how these monkeys behave. "Quick, stand your ground with your staff held firm", the aged monk continued. The young monk did exactly so. He was no longer running away, he had decided to take the fight back to the adversaries. With eyes luminescent as the sun, he stood with his Staff, the symbol of Dharma that the Sanyasin carries. It was now the turn of the monkeys to twist their tails and start running. And run they did , like there was no tomorrow.

The Young unknown monk of that day would soon be the usherer of a new age of Hinduism and India. As Swami Vivekananda, He would be known as the cyclonic monk who carried the Great message of Indian Religion and Culture to the shores of the Western World, the First Hindu Missionary  to the West, who would fly the Saffron flag of Hinduism High and wide. His was not an easy task, He would be persecuted, maligned , opposed at every step by people and groups frightened by the inevitable rise of an enslaved India again. He had to face dirty rumors about His character, intentionally spread by American Christian Missionaries as well as their Indian partners, who were jealous of His immense success and popularity at the World Parliament of religions held in Chicago, US during 1893 . His coffee would be poisoned, He would be denied entry in decent hotels because of His skin color, but through all this He labored on, unrelenting and undaunted. His Love for India was far far deep than any fear of persecution. He would often quote this story to His listeners , to make them understand that no matter how tough and adverse be the situations, dont run away, "Face the brutes boldly" and they will take flight. These are his own electrifying words, that oh dear reader, we would all do good to remember.

"Face the brutes. That is a lesson for all life-face the terrible, face it boldly. Like the monkeys, the hardships of life fall back when we cease to flee before them."

~ Swami Vivekananda

God helps those who help themselves

It was the thirteenth day of the great war of Mahabharata. A teenage warrior, the great Abhimanyu, Son of the legendary Kshatriya Arjuna and nephew of Lord Shri Krishna , had been trapped in an unfair fight by a whole group of Great warriors like Dronacharya, Karna, Ashwatthama, Duryodhana. The Young boy had fought like a lion, making even the greatest warrior of the Kaurava camp look like toddlers in front of him. However, vastly outnumbered, up against Maharathis who had ditched every vestige of Dharma Yuddha or principled fighting, resorting to deception,  Abhimanyu died on the field of Kurukshetra , like the Sun setting at the end of a Long day. At the heart of it all was the King of Sindhu, the Brother in Law of the Kauravas, Jayadrath. Due to a boon that he had received after much penance from Lord Shiva, he was able to stop,just for that one day,  the rest of the great Pandavas, except Arjuna who had been led away from the main battlefield by the Samsaptakas, an ally of the Kauravas, from breaching the Wheel formation or Chakravyuh, which only Arjuna knew how to destroy.  

Arjuna returned from the day long fight, having annhilated the Samsaptakas, to a camp which was desolate like a forest singed by  forest fire. No one came out to greet the valorous Arjuna, neither his brothers, to whom he was like their vital breath,  could be seen anywhere around. With panic and unknown fear,  he entered his tent and saw the great Pandavas lying like a tree flattened by a storm. Slowly the horror unfolded in front of Arjuna in all its grotesque . Seeing the lifeless form of his beloved boy, Arjuna collapsed . It was Krishna , who had been his saviour in all things of life, who could bring him back to his feet. Sorrow in Arjuna was now transformed into seething rage, and at the spur of the moment, Arjuna wowed that Jayadratha wouldn't see the sunset of the next day, else he would enter fire and self immolate. Admist the blast of conch shells from the Pandavas camp that greeted this great Vow, Jayadratha shook in fear , he rushed to Acharya Drona and Duryodhan requesting him to allow him to flee back to Sindhudesha. But Drona , pacified him. He told him that he will make such an impregnable military formation to protect him the next day , that not even Arjuna would be able to penetrate it, and thus at the end of the day Arjuna would self immolate himself.

The war of the fourteenth day began, with Arjuna and the Pandavas supremely confident of a victory. True to his words, Dronacharya had formed a complex massive military formation with a combination of Shakatvyuha(Cartwheel shaped), followed by a PadmaVyuha(Lotus shaped) at the middle of the Vyuha and finally a Suchivyuha (needle shaped)Vyuha at the innermost core. Along with six mighty warriors, One lakh cavalry, Sixty thousand chariots, Fourteen thousand elephants, Twenty thousand infantry, spread over a distance of nearly 48 miles and a width of nearly 20 miles. "Not even the Devas can come in and attack you oh Jayadratha, what to speak of Arjuna?", Drona thundered.But then , on a magnificient chariot yoked to seven white Horses , charioted by Vasudeva Himself, Arjuna arrived at the gates of the Vyuha. And now started a storm of arrows from Arjuna's legendary Gandiva. Arjuna was like Yama, the Lord of death today. When he strung his bow, when he took out arrows,and  when he shot them, none could understand. The only indication that Arjuna was shooting arrows was the fact that every arrow found its mark , and soon the outer covering of the Vyuha was pulverised. Now Arjuna slowly started breaking into the inner layers of the Vyuha. Maharathis, who had gathered together on the previous day to kill a unarmed Abhimanyu, were tossed around by Arjuna. Dushasan, Duryodhan, Karna , Kripacharya, and even the great Drona were made short work of. And the heart of the formation Jayadratha trembled in the fear of death, as he saw Arjuna slowly coming within his sight.  All day mighty battles raged on all sides, mostly Arjuna and his brothers ravished whoever or whatever  came  to oppose them.

However, there was something which worried even the Great Arjuna. He was looking up towards the sky again and again to follow the path of the Sun God. His own chariot was racing against the chariot of Surya Deva, with whom Arjuna was Vying today in Brilliance. The more he proceeded towards Jayadratha, the more it seemed to him that he was protected by an ocean of Soldiers, and more the footsteps of the approaching evening.He looked with terpidation at  his Friend and Charioteer, Krishna , who is  the Soul and innermost indweller of all beings. Krishna, who was extremely worried for Arjuna after he  took the rash vow, now decided to intervene. Arjuna had tried everything in his superhuman power to bring down Jayadratha,  had now resigned himself to the protection of the Lord, the ultimate friend and refuge of all. And the Lord, who loves His devotees even more than His own self, gave Him Succor. Yogeshwar Krishna, the Lord of Yoga and all Yogis, now invoked His Insurmountable Yoga Shakti and cast His Maya on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra. Suddenly there was darkness all around, and the sun got hidden from Mortal view. There was a hush silence all around, as if the end of times had come. The silence was broken by a uncouth laughter, that of Jayadratha, who had errupted in joy at this turn of events. He was soon followed by the whiole host of Kaurava warriors and their army. "Oh Arjuna, now  self immolate yourself, the sun has set, and Jayadratha Lives, " they bayed for his blood. Throwing all caution to the wind, Jayadratha came out from the protective layer that Drona had so meticulously created from him, and he came towards Arjuna like a moth towards the Fire, with his myriads of taunts,and loads of abuses. "Hurry up Arjuna, don't get dejected, here comes Jaydratha. The sun has not set, I have just cast my Maya over it all, shoot one arrow after another, take off his head from his body, and ensure that the head falls on the lap of his father , who is practicing austerities in a hermitage near this battlefield", the sonorous voice of Krishna, now ringing through the din and commotion of evil all around, like a ray of light through all darkness. And sure enough, Mayadhish Govinda, just withdrew His Maya, and the sun came out spreading its last rays over all. "There, there is the Sun , oh Partha, and Lo , there is Jayadratha", Vasudeva pointed out both , to Arjuna and to the entire host of warriors, stunned by this miracle. Jayadratha, sweating with fear ran, he ran with all his might, but shining crescent shaped arrows from Arjuna's immortal Bow Gandiva raced towards him, bringing the message of death for him. The Severed head fell on the father's lap and fell on the ground. The father's head burst open and split into a thousand parts. Krishna knew that the father had the boon from Lord Shiva, that whoever makes the son's head fall on Earth , would have his own head exploded, and thus He had advised Arjun thus. The Lord had  protected his beloved Bhakta once again.

"Intense Self effort is a prerequisite for God's grace."