Vishwa
Samvad Kendra, Chennai
PANCHAAMRITAM
252
Pancha
is five in Samskritam, Amritam is nectar
Poornima / Kali Yugaabda 5114
/ Nandana thai 13 (January 26, 2013)
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ONE
The
internet is a little more than two decades old, and it has been fashioned
largely in the United States. So do the startlingly old Hinduism and the
exceedingly young make for strange bedfellows? Or might one well argue the extreme
opposite, namely that the internet and Hinduism exist in a marriage that
appears to have been made in heaven? As is commonly known,
Hinduism is a highly decentralized faith. Unlike Muslims and Christians,
Hindus do not uniformly adhere to the precepts of a single book. Hinduism has
neither a historical founder nor a Mecca; and its Shankaracharyas represent
competing schools of authority. Only Hinduism can match the internet's
playfulness: the religion's proverbial "33 crore " gods and goddesses,
a testimony to the intrinsically decentered and polyphonic nature of the
faith, find correspondence in the world wide web's billion points of origin,
intersection, and dispersal. Furthermore, the aspiration to create linkages
across Hindu groups worldwide and create something of global Hindu
consciousness, has a fundamental relationship to India's ascendancy as an
'emerging economy' Hindus have been particularly conscientious in
mobilizing members of the perceived Hindu community through the internet. From
a report by Shri Vinay Lal in THE TIMES OF INDIA 20th January, 2013.
TWO
The
onset of margazhi sees the elderly of Chennai step out of their homes,
sabha-hopping and soaking in the music and dance. In fact, a few concerts /
performances in the city are attended almost exclusively by senior citizens.
Yet, when Sanjay Dattatri, who runs the Old Is Gold store in Adyar,
visited sabhas, he found that very few of them were
wheelchair-friendly. Sanjay wrote to over 15 Sabhas offering free wheelchair
service to the elderly. “This is the only time of the year when senior
citizens have something to look forward to culturally, and it is ironic that
there are so little facilities geared to making this comfortable for them,”
says Sanjay. He is also in talks with wheelchair companies about expanding
this idea to other areas. (For details, call 96770-87612); Sanjay’s
e-portal: www.oldisgoldstore.com . Based on a
report by Smt Lakshmi Krupa in THE HINDU, December 15, 2012. (Idea:
Shri Raghuram)
THREE
Former
Supreme Court Justice Honorable K T Thomas has to say about RSS and the
government’s smearing campaign to tarnish its image. He said that he admired
the discipline exhibited by RSS whose mission is to protect the national
security. He observed that during Emergency Period (1975-77), RSS was “the
only nonpolitical organization which worked fearlessly in subterranean sector
… the result, that this country, Bharath, could be liberated from the pangs
of a dictatorship. We owe very much to this organization for sacrificing many
lives and many of the pleasures of life for the purpose of regaining what our
leaders have gained this country, mainly the fundamental rights of this
country.” He said “I find many instances of official activities
governmental and political where security is given less prominence than vote
bank, I am really disturbed. That is a matter on which the country should
stand unanimously and uniformly with strident voice declare that we will not
tolerate.” He continued by saying that, “I am a great admirer of this
organization. The discipline exhibited everywhere and even today the manner
in which the flowers are offered gave me the real impression that the
discipline is given the real impetus to your working and performances.
Discipline is needed for a nation. Discipline is a fundamental thing for the
growth of the nation. Whichever nation has progressed, you will see that
where discipline has been inculcated in the citizens. In that matter, RSS is
a model to me also.”
FOUR
For
more than six decades Raja Ram Tiwari has been helping those who were lost in
the Mela crowd find their families and rejoin them. , Tiwari started this
voluntary service at the 1946 Magh mela, which happens at Sangam every year
between the 12-yearly Kumbhs and Ardh-Kumbhs. The 86-year-old man, was
trained as an advocate. Umesh Chand Tiwari, the 38-year-old shopkeeper from
Allahabad son of Tiwari, now continues the service. The records Tiwari
has maintained since show he helped some 870 men and women find their near
and dear ones in 1946. Then a few friends joined him from Jabalpur in Madhya
Pradesh and the bureau got organised into the Bharat Seva Dal. It’s one
essential service at the fair that the government has left to the care of
Tiwari’s team of volunteers. They get just the space, the tents, electricity
and water from the administration. The rest of the money is cobbled up from
well-wishers. Tiwari helped find a illiterate dumb woman find her family by
observing her act of pointing to a green tree. Green is Hari in Hindi. Tiwari
got the clue and announced the name over public address system several times.
That brought the husband to the Lost and Found tent of Tiwari. Based on a
report in THE HINDU, January 19, 2013. (Idea: Shri N. Satagopan)
FIVE
The
great sarod master Khan Saheb Allauddin Khan (1862-1972) WAS BORNIN EAST
BENGAL (now Bangala Desh). He was associated with Amritlal Dutta, a close
relative of Swami Vivekananda. He lived in Maihar, Madhya Pradesh and was
engaged in Sangeet saadhana foer years. Even at an advanced age, he used to
walk everyday all the way from his house ‘Madhina Bhavan’ to mother
Shri Saradhamba temple atop a hill and immerse in sangeet sadhana there. “Do
you know, Saradamba nurtured me with the milk of Her divine grace just
as a cat would do to her kitten?” the
Khan, known as Baba, said once to Smt Karunamayi, a student of one of his
disciples.. He gave his daughter the name Annapoorna, who later married the
renowned Sitar artiste Pandit Ravi Shankar. (The year 2012 was the 150th
birthday year of Allauddin Khan).
Based
on an article by Smt Prema Nandakumar in DINAMANI, December 11, 1998.
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