Thursday, December 14, 2006

Eureka, Kanfusion is not a blogspot but a blobspot, like the big blobs scored by our cricket icons.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Religious tolerance

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am posting this with a great sense of urgency and apprehension.
 The other day I found in my mailbox some literature which was directed against a Religion other than Hinduism.
 Please be patient to understand my views on the matter. It is quite alright to be proud of our great heritage which is without any parallel in human history.
 But the hallmark of a Brahmin is tolerance. We are Protected by Brahmatejo Balam and not Kshaatra tendencies and lower approaches.
Remember the battle between Vasishta and Viswamitra.

 Remember the concluding parts of Rigveda- Samgachadhwam, samvadhadhwam..etc., .(See the Aikamatya Sooktham.)

 Whosoever and wherever anybody pays respects to God in any way, the worship is accepted by Parmatma, Lord Krishna.


Let us view with respect our Muslim brethren doing Namaz five times a day extolling the glory of Allah(His name be praised always) or our Christian brothers taking part in their Holy Mass.
 They are also 
worshiping the same Almighty, whom we already call through thousands of names. 


If religious fanatics have perpetrated great injury to humanity in the name of Faith, it was because, and only because, they misinterpreted the Holy contents of their own great Religions. 

We may condemn such acts but we should not show disrespect to the other Faiths and the rights of our fellow human beings to follow their faiths. 

 Sarva Deva Namaskarah Kesavam Prathi Gacchathi.

 Remember what we chant at the beginning of every session of Gayathri Chanting. 
Namo Brahmanya Devaya Goh Brahmana Hitaya Cha, Jagat hitaya KRISHNAYA Sri Govindaya Namo Namah. 

 This Krishna was not a Brahmin, He is actually  a cowherd boy when He took His human form.
 If we have to learn toleration we need turn to no one other than Lord Krishna since Samadarsitwam is writ large in the teachings of His Gita. 


 Let us be aggressive in furthering our religious and cultural values but there should not be any place for rancour.

Let maturity and tolerance prevail in our thoughts and action.
Fraternally yours KVA

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Vande Matharam


My dear Brothers and sisters

I quote Sir Walter Scott below

Breathes there the man with soul so dead

Who never to himself hath said, 

This is my own, my native land!

Whose heart hath ne’er within him burned, 

As home his footsteps he hath turned

From wandering on a foreign strand! 

If such there breathe, go, mark him well; 

For him no minstrel raptures swell; 

High though his titles, proud his name, 

Boundless his wealth as wish can claim

Despite those titles, power, and pelf, 

The wretch, concentred all in self,

Living, shall forfeit fair renown, 

And, doubly dying, shall go down

To the vile dust from whence he sprung, 

Unwept, unhonored , and unsung.

Sir Walter Scott


Watching the controversy over singing of Vandhe Matharam, I am reminded of the above immortal words of Sir Walter Scott.
 I fail to understand how singing of the song in praise of our Mother, Mother India can hurt any sentiment of any of our brothers? 
With the limited knowledge of Islam I cannot believe that the believers of Allah (may His Exalted name always be praised) could find any inconsistency in this issue.
 They are our own brothers being nurtured by the same Sindhu, Ganga and Kaveri, sharing the same heaven-like landscape and the mother is never partial in showering her immeasurable bounties to any of her children, let them profess a multitude of philosophies and follow different lifestyles. 

A landmark in the history of the great song in praise of our Mother India


Mother, I bow to thee! Rich with thy hurrying streams, bright with orchard gleams, Cool with thy winds of delight, Dark fields waving Mother of might, Mother free. 

Glory of moonlight dreams, Over thy branches and lordly streams, Clad in thy blossoming trees, Mother, giver of ease Laughing low and sweet! Mother I kiss thy feet, Speaker sweet and low! Mother, to thee I bow. 

The glory of Vandhe Matharam By Bankim Chandra Chatterjea

Is being celebrated and there is a call that this song should be sung by one and all on 7th September.

In this context, my brothers and sisters, if a situation arises in our great country that the fiats of the Government should govern the chanting of this glorious song, it is only the sign of the degradation of our own belief in the brotherhood amongst us, the Indians. So there should not be any compulsion. Let the response be voluntary, spontaneous.

Nobody need tell his brother to sing in praise of the mother. Let enlightenment and brotherhood prevail. Let us not vilify anyone on this issue. If we do this, we will be belittling the glory of our Mother. 

Let us remember 
Bharathi, who said “Vadhe Matharam enpom --- and continued to say “Onru pattal undu vaazhvu… 
and Vallathol “Bharathamennathu kettalabhimaan poorithamaakenamantharangam…’’ 
and Iqbal “Saare Jahan Se Achaa Hindustan Hamaaraa….”

Sunday, July 09, 2006

kanfusion

I am a brahmin-
That  takes away all my privileges. 

I am a taxman-and taxmen are supposed to make money for themselves in this country instead of serving the Revenue, but I cannot do that: therefore my status among peers is that of a fool and a joker who does not know how to live: 

I read books on taxation to keep updated-this gives me the aura of a bookworm and a snob; God I would have left this labyrynthine profession if I can earn my livelihood in any other way

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Krishna the eternal God


KRISHNA NEE BEGANE BAARO.....
“Whenever there is a setback to righteousness, whenever evil takes the upper hand, I manifest myself to ensure that the man treading the path of virtue is protected and he who tries to perpetuate hatred and destruction is punished”
You have given this solemn promise in Bagavat Gita, Krishna. I call You “Krishna”, my Lord , because that was the first name through you were introduced to me as the Supreme Spirit. You have thousands of names and You are the source of all that is good and sublime. My own brothers and sisters call You by many other names. You are the Jesus, You are the Allah, You are the Ahura Mazda, You are the Jehovah and..... What You are not?

You are the embodiment of the Spirit of unity and brotherhood. You appear as the eminent physician when we are suffering from illness, You appear before us as food when we are hungry, and You provide us with all that we require.
Objective in outlook, as we are supposed to be, we interpret all the phenomena in nature through the language of science. We are right in doing so in our own humble way. There is order and safety in this universe. As mere interpreters and often mere speculators we know that You are the moving force who creates maintain and if it is Your enlightened will, cause destruction, perhaps to create and bring things in a better order.
Your abode is everywhere. In search of Your supreme seat some seers pondered in Upanishads, “ In His presence, the sun does not shed his light, nor the moon and stars do have any power, what to talk of the fire-He is the storehouse of all energy and all others reflect some infinitesimally small part of His energy and pretend to be self resplendent . You are manifesting Yourself in the smallest energy photon or the tiny subatomic particle and at the same time You are the Virat Purusha who encompasses the entire Universe in your macroscopic form.

You manifested Yourself as Jesus two millennia ago, to show us the right path, to spread the message of peace and fraternity amongst us, Your flock. You took upon yourself all the sins we had committed and to expiate our sins, You adorned the thorny crown and mounted the Cross and performed the Supreme Sacrifice, and resurrected Yourself on the third day. You gave us your own flesh and blood, which symbolises our daily bread and wine.

You gave enlightenment to the Prophet, who waged the Holy War to save the semi-barbarian desert-dwellers from superstitions and religious practices opposed to reason and decency and show them the only right way of life--living in Universal Brotherhood.

You have declared unequivocally in Gita that wherever there is greatness, welfare, splendour or righteous power, there one can see a tiny speck of Your glorious manifestation . You said that You were abiding in the poorest of the poor and lowliest of the low.
Oh Krishna, it is time that You come out of Your hiding place--wherever You are-- and set the clock right once again. We, all of us, are Your own children and in that way, brothers and sisters, in spite of professing faith in different religions, talking different tongues, and claiming different racial origins or nationalities. However such differences have perpetuated themselves and created barriers, often insurmountably hostile, amongst ourselves. Even the blood of your dearest sons like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. and many other martyrs, have not succeeded in quenching the thirst of the demoness of hatred and sectarianism. Many more enlightened souls who profess brotherhood and peace are likely to face martyrdom because the eyes of Your children are becoming blind to reason.