OUR LIFE ON EARTH - AS PER PURANAS

The purpose of creating this blog and compiling the relevant links already posted on YouTube, is to have an easy access to the inquisitive minds interested in knowing the ancient Indian History, without distortions or concealment of facts by the leftist historians. This article is also meant for those who are devoid of basic knowledge of our thousands, if not millions of years, old ancient history, civilization, science, culture, belief, and traditions. To force upon as a superior race, British termed various books of our ancient history as myth or mythology. This also happened because of their inability to comprehend the enormous periods of time in past when ancient texts were written, or references were made there-in. Their sense of comprehension was also marred due to their religious belief of time.

As per Bible, creation occurred 6,000 years ago (https://creation.com/6000-years) and there was nothing beyond that; as such they manipulated Indian history and purposely deleted the historical facts of India beyond 6th century BCE from all modern textbooks. The stooges of British, continued following their footsteps to demean the majority belief even after the Independence, until the advent of social media and host of extremely qualified researchers and nationalist historians and their findings scientifically with

geological, astronomical and Astro-physical proof. A list of such researchers and their findings on YouTube links is given in later paragraphs.

Here the word ‘ancient’ means the civilization and knowledge prevailed thousands or hundreds of thousands ‘Before Common Era’ (BCE) (prior to the birth of Christ). In ancient India, the law of social, economic, and political governance was based on ‘Dharma’ (righteousness). Being the lone but most advanced civilization in ancient time, the practice of personal, spiritual and social restrain to contain self and the philosophy of a civilized governance was called ‘Sanatan Dharma’ (Eternal Righteousness). It is the Dharma for self-upliftment and purification of soul and were practiced as a way of life. It was the philosophy of natural and eternal way of living thousands of years back, and before the arrival of other religious or thought processes. When foreigners landed in India, they were unable to understand the philosophy of Sanatan Dharma, and to equate with their own belief, they termed it as religion by distorting its meaning, spirit, and essence. Later, in the modern time post Christ (CE or Common Era), Sanatan Dharma was termed as Hindu and its practice as Hinduism by the foreigners. 

Otherwise, the Hindu or Hinduism is not mentioned in any of our ancient or puranic books. In our ancient text books, the word Jambu Dweepa is mentioned for ancient India which comprised the land mass of Eurasia from Iran and Caspian Sea in the west to Indonesia in the east and Mongolia in the North to Sri Lanka in the south. Later, the name Bharat or Bharat Varsha came into existence about 3,500 years BCE which was coined after one the virtuous ancestors of Kuru Vansa of Mahabharat period. King Bharat was the son of King Dushyanta and Queen Shakuntala. There is an interesting story of Dushyanta and Shakuntala in the folklore, and you may read their story by clicking this link: 

(https://www.mahabharataonline.com/stories/mahabharata_story.php?id=6 ). 

There is another interesting story of King Bharat re-incarnated as Jada-Bharat and it is worth reading and knowing the virtues of our ancestors. The link is:

https://vedicfeed.com/king-bharata/.

AGE OF LIFE ON EARTH:

(As per Srimad Bhagvad Mahapuran)

It is mind boggling that how our Rishis were able to calculate the age of Earth with such accuracy hundreds and thousands of years back in time. Shrimad Bhagwat Mahapuran even goes back to the origin of universe itself by describing the age of Brahma (the creator of universe) in 2nd Skanda, 8th Chapter and the age of Earth in subsequent chapters.

As per Shrimad Bhagwat Mahapuran, the universe and the earth has been evolved into

different time periods for humans. This time period on Earth has been categorised under

Yuga, Mahayuga (or Chaturyuga), Manvanter, Kalpa, and Ahoratram.

To start with, the total time of all four Yugas (Ages) is calculated as 4,320,000 (four million, three hundred twenty thousand) of human years or 12,000 of deva or divine years and they are divided into the followings:

1. Satayuga – 1,728,000 years / 360 = 4,800 years

2. Tretayuga- 1,296,000 years / 360 = 3,600 years

3. Dwaparyuga- 864,000 years / 360 = 2,400 years

4. Kaliyuga – 432,000 years / 360 = 1,200 years

Total: 4,320,000 years / 360 = 12, 000 years (12,000 time-period has been categorised

as divine years by some later proponents which is not practical and difficult to accept. It is scientifically proven by our modern researchers, that Mahabharata war happened at the end of Dwaparyuga on 16th October 5561 BCE, which is 7,584 years from now (2023). This does not justify the divine years of 1,200 of Kaliyuga).

Total of above Four Yugas or Chaturyugas is called Mahayuga. Therefore, 1 Mahayuga is 4,320,000 (Four million three hundred twenty thousand) years.

Now the Puranas further goes back into time and explains that 71 such Mahayugas is called 1 Manvanter. Therefore, mathematically, 1 Manvanter should be 4,320,000 years X 71 = 306,720,000 (Three hundred six million, seven hundred twenty thousand) years.

As per the modern science and the search engine Google, the age of Earth is 4.57 billion years and Google also says that the age of earth according to Hinduism is about 4.32 billion years.

In 1788, after many years of geological study, James Hutton, one of the great pioneers of geology, wrote the following about the age of Earth: The result, therefore, of our present enquiry is, that we find no vestige of a beginning — no prospect of an end.[1] Of course he wasn’t exactly correct, there was a beginning and there will be an end to Earth, but what he was trying to express is that geological time is so vast that we humans, who typically live for less than a century, have no means of appreciating how much geological time there is. Hutton didn’t even try to assign an age to Earth, but we now know that it is approximately 4,570 million years old. Using the scientific notation for geological time, that is 4,570 Ma (for mega annum or “millions of years”) or 4.57 Ga (for giga annum or billions of years). More recent dates can be expressed in ka (kilo annum); for example, the last cycle of glaciation ended at approximately 11.7 ka or 11,700 years ago. (https://opentextbc.ca/geology/chapter/1-6-geological-time/)

This is very close to the calculation of the age of earth described in Purana. In order to prove the the number of 4.32 billion years mentioned in Purana, we must divide 4.32 billion years by 71 Mahayuga consisting of 4 Yugas (or Mahayuga of 4,320,000 years) in each Mahayuga and 14 such Manvanters.

Therefore,

4,320,000 (4.32 million years) of each Mahayuga X 71 Mahayuga (or 1 Manvanter) = 306,720,000 (306.7 million years) X 6 Manvanters = 1,840,320,000 years (One billion, eight hundred forty million and three hundred twenty thousand years) or 1.84 billion years.

Now as per the Puranas – We are in 7th Manvater (Vaivasvat Manvanter). Therefore, to get the total numbers of years from the First Manvanter ruled by the First Manu to now, we will have to add the years of Satyuga, Tretayuga, Dwaparyuga and 7,584 years of current Kaliyuga (As per the modern research, Mahabharata war in Dwaparyuga, happened 5,561 years BCE or 7,584 years from now (year 2023 AD)) of 7th Manvanter, into the total of 6 Manvanters already passed. The mathematical calculation is as follows:

1,840,320,000 (Total of 6 Manvanters) + 1,728,000 years passed (Satayuga of 7th Manvanter) + 1,296,000 years passed (Trateyuga of 7th Manvanter ) + 864,000 years passed (Dwaparyuga of 7th Manvanter) + 7,584 years (Kaliyuga currently running) = 1,844,215,584 (1.844 billion years). 

Puranas also say that total cycle of One Kalpa is 14 Manvanter and thereafter the Parlaya (Deluge) comes to destroy everything on earth. We have already calculated the number of years for 6 Manvanters, therefore we will have to add into this number of years for 8 Manvanters to get the total number of years for 14 Manvanters. It also says that there is a transition period (Sandhi Kaal) of 1,728,000 years between each Manvanter. Therefore, total of 14 Sandhi Kaal is 24,192,000 years.

1,840,320,000/6 X 14 (Manvanters) = 4,294,080,000 + 24,192,000 years (Sandhi Kaal) = 4,318,272,000 (4.32 billion) years or 1 Kalpa.

Amazingly, the above number of 4.32 billion years as mentioned in Puranas almost tallies with the modern western research estimate of 4.57 billion years. We must also consider some margin of errors in modern estimation.

Name of 14 Manvantaras, their respective Manu and seven Rishis are

mentioned in Puranas:

Puranas have not only mentioned and calculated on to the current period of Manvanters but also predicted the remaining 7 Manvanters in future, their names and the Manu (Chief of the human race) and names of Seven Sages who are going to sire the human race. (For your info, Our Gotras, tells the name of Rishis who sired us in the current Manvanter such as Vasistha Gotra, Kashyap Gotra, Balmiki Gotra, Vishwamitra Gotra, Bharadwaj Gotra etc.)

We are currently in 7th Manvantara ruled by Vaivasvata Manu also known as Sraddhadeva or Satyavrata Manu.

1. Swayambhu Manu – Atri, Angiras, Pulaha, Pulastya, Kratu, Marichi, Vasihistha

(Swayambhu Manu was the husband of Satrupa and father of Sati and also called Daksha Prajapati)

2. Swarochisha Manu – Urja, Stambha, Prana, Vata, Prishva, Niraya and Parivan

3. Auttami Manu – Kaukundhi, Kurundi, Dalaya, Sankha, Pravahita, Mita and Sammita

4. Tapasa Manu – Jyotirdhama, Prithu, Kavya, Chaitra, Agni, Vanaka and Pivara

5. Raivata Manu- Hirannyaroma, Vedasri, Urdhabahu, Vedabahu, Sudhama, Parjanya, and Mahamuni

6. Chakshusha Manu – Sumedha, Viraja, Havishman, Uttar, Madhu, Sahishnu, and Atinama.

7. Vaivasvata Manu – Vashistha, Kashyapa, Atri, Jamdagni, Gautama, Vishwamitra

and Bharadwaja.

8. Savarni Manu – Diptimat, Galava, Parshurama, Kripa, Drauni or Ashwathama, Vyasa and Rishyasringa

9. Daksha Savarni Manu – Savana, Dyutimat, Bhavya, Vasu, Medhatithi, Jyotishman, and Satya

10. Brahma Savarni Manu – Havishman, Sukriti, Satya, Apammurtti, Nabhaga, Apratimaujas, and Satyaketu

11. Dharma Savarni Manu – Nischara, Agnitejas, Vapushman, Vishnu, Aruni, Havishman, and Anagha

12. Rudra Savarni Manu – Tapaswi, Sutapas, Tapomurti, Taporati, Tapodhriti, Tapodyuti, and Tapodhana.

13. Deva Savarni Manu – Nirmoha, Tatwadershin, Nishprakampa, Nirutsuka, Dhritimat,

Avyaya,and Sutapas

14. Indra Savarni Manu – Agnibhshu, Suchi, Aukra, Magadha, Gridhra, Yukta and Ajita.

POINTS TO PONDER:

1. As per the Purans, Sati was the daughter of the first Manu - Swayambhu Manu in

the current Kalpa (named as Shri Sweta Varah Kalpa) and first Manvanter. She was

married to Lord Shiva. Therefore, we can calculate the time of existence of Lord

Shiva on this planet.

2. Upanishadas and Puranas have mentioned many stories of ancient events such as

churning of ocean, birth of Hiranyaksha, Hiranyakashyapu, (They were dvarapals (sentry

or gatekeepers) at the gate of Vaikuntha in their past life and their name was Jai & Vijay - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaya-Vijaya ), Bhakt Prahlada, King Dhruva,

Vishwamitra, Markandeye rishi, Gautam rishi etc. Their related events must have

happened hundreds of thousands and may be millions of years ago. Due to the loss of

time keeping records and burning of ancient manuscripts kept in ancient University

Libraries such as Nalanda, Takshashila, Vikramshila,Valabhi, Odantapuri and Jagaddala, it is hard to date the events or difficult to determine these events – when they happened

and in which Kalpa or Manvanters out of past 6 Manvanters and 3 yugas of current

Manvanter (6 Manvanters = 426 Mahayuga + 3 Yugas = 1,707 Yugas). Therefore, we may get confused with the happening of events due to their overlapping in different

Manvanters.

3. Due to the descriptions of planetary position mentioned in Ramayan, Mahabharat

and Puranas and their astronomical calculations, modern researchers have been able

to date the time of events of Ramayana and Mahabharat which is very recent. The

most modern computer simulation of NASA cannot go back in time to check

astronomical positions and accuracy of events more than 70,000 or 80,000 years back in

time.

4. It’s mean historical events mentioned in our Puranas cannot be verified by modern

computers, because no modern computers in the world can go back in time and

see the astronomical positions in sky to verify the puranic events mentioned in

the current Chaturyuga of Vaivasvat Manvanter. Modern researchers were able to

verify the astronomical facts or positioning of stars and constellations in the sky as

mentioned in Ramayana which happened at the end of Tretayuga or between 5677 –

5577 BCE which means about 7,000 years from now. Modern computers of NASA

cannot see beyond the end of Tretayuga, as such no events happened during the

beginning or middle of Tretayuga and during Satayuga could be scientifically verified.

AGE OF UNIVERSE:

The Mahapuran also explains that 1 Kalpa (Day) + 1 Kalpa (night) is called Ahoratram. Therefore, 1 Ahoratram is 4,294,080,000 years of Kalpa X 2 = 8,588,160,000 (Eight billion, five hundred eighty-eight million and one hundred sixty thousand) years.

360 Ahoratram = 1 years of Brahma. Total Life of Brahma is 100 years or 311 trillion, 40 billion years, which can be considered as the age of the Universe.

Our science is still in infancy and may not be able to apprehend such detailed calculation. It may not be also understood by school or university education or research but only by reading and logically understanding the ancient scriptures and self reasoning.

Modern Research Vs Puranic Calculations:

The life on earth started evolving in the beginning of Satayuga (may be in the initial few million years) which must have encompassed the stone age, the bronze age and the evolution of human beings as Java Man or Pithecanthropus Erectus as per the modern researches. Google also confirms that by way of carbon dating of oldest fossils discovered, Java Man (Pithecanthropus Erectus) came into existence in about 2 million years back.

As per Wikipedia, the earliest human fossil of Java Man (Homo erectus) discovered in 1891-92 was carbon dated and estimated to be for the period between 700,000 and 2,000,000 (Two million). This estimation has a range of 1.3 million years as margin of errors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Man

T

he German paleontologist Koenigswald in 1936, has estimated the carbon dated time of Homo Erectus as 1.8 million to 141,000 years BCE (before common era). Again, the margin of error is 1,659,000 (1.7 million) years.

https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=4058

Therefore, the carbon dating of earliest fossils found for determining their age may be 2.5 million years BCE or more.

CALCULATION OF ORIGIN OF HUMANS AS PER PURANAS:

Now as per the puranic calculation, if we are in 7th Manvanter of Vaivasvata Manu (the earliest and the most civilized human in this Manvanter), and each Manvanter in past had 71 Mahayuga consisting of 4 Chaturyugas. Each Manvanter had their own Manu (the first civilized ruler) and Sapta Rishis (Seven Sages) who sired humans in particular Manvanter. The names of past 6 Manvanters, their Manu and the names of different seven sages are mentioned in Puranas. The names of future Manvanters up to 14 Manvanters, their Manu and Rishis are also mentioned therein.

To co-relate the puranic calculations of Chatur Yugas and modern calculation of 2 million years of Homo Erectus, we must take the total years of Tretayuga (1,296,000), Dwaparyuga (864,000) and about 7,584 years of Kaliyuga in current Manvanter, then the total becomes 2,170,584 (2.17 million) years. If we also add about 235,000 years of later part of Satayuga (closer to Tretayuga) then the total would be about 2, 405,584 years (2.4 million years). Since the margin of errors in carbon dating of earliest fossils of homo erectus modern scientists is 1.3 to 1.7 million years as mentioned in above paras, we can safely say that it may also have the carbon dating of 2.4 million years. This time frame mentioned in Puranas matches with the modern time frame calculated based on carbon dating of Homo Erectus.

The earlier part of 1,493,000 (out of 1,728,000 total time of Satayuga (minus) its later part of 235,000 of Satayuga) may be assigned to the initial evolvement of homo erectus in stone age and bronze age etc or we may term this period as transition period for progression into modern man.

Furthermore, if we divide 235,000 years of Satayuga (later parts of Satayuga which is closer to Tretayuga) by 100 years of human age, then we get about 2,350 generations of

humans forming an orderly society and kingdoms in Satayuga and then moving towards

initial time frame of Tretayuga and so on.

In recent time, some extensive researchers like Dr. Nilesh Nilkanth Oak, Dr. Subhas Kak, Dr. Raj Vedam and Vedveer Arya, dug into the ancient Indian civilization by using geological, archaeological, archaeogenetic, astronomical science, bio genetics and ancient texts in Sanskrit to uncover the truth and debunked the false and untrue narrative created by the leftist writers and perverted British scholars and their henchmen.

As per the research work of Nilesh Nilkanth Oak, Indian ancient history can be tracked back in time of 17,000 years with geological and astronomical proof.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tsyzrDg2n4

Later he published another video of 40,000 years of Unbroken Hindu civilization.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnNJr_0TxuI

Dr. Subhash Kak, a theoretical physicist and historian has also debunked many myths and researched on Indian civilization and its ancient history. You may listen his talk for better understanding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwcRP-QgbFI

Story of Ancient India – From Deep South to North – Dr. Raj Vedam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSX4-DKUpn0

Indian Civilization: The Untold Story- Dr. Raj Vedam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bsyi4zYHP0

Vedveer Arya has been able to trach back up to 100,000 of years of ancient India from Manu to Mahabharat and the link is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FIyk-wH1C0

You must listen Mr. Vedveer Arya who is a civil servant and Joint Secretary with Indian Account Services, a Sanskrit scholar and chronologist and historian. He has debunked many lies of western historians and chronologists. He has also tried to calculate the exact time up to the rule of first Manu and Prajapati about 14,500 BCE or 16,500 (divine years) from today. He has also tried to throw lights in correcting the flawed chronology of Indian History propagated by the

leftist historians: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMnjAVokiwA

The Chronology of India: from Manu to Mahabharata- Vedveer Arya

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FIyk-wH1C0

SANKALPA MANTRA IN SANSKRIT:

Now to our surprise, most of us have been reciting the name of yuga, manvantars, kalpas and the entire period of time frame since the formation of earth or universe, before starting every major puja (prayer) by the priests or in temple, home or elsewhere by way of ‘Sankalpa’ performed by the priest or pandit ji. Most of us, never broke our head to understand the meaning of the mantras recited in Sanskrit language. If you try to understand it by translating them into your mother tongue, then you will know what we are talking about here. In fact, the hyms are the code for informing the deity or the divine about our current position on earth like a GPS system, about ourselves - who are we, our name, gotras, nakshatra we are born in etc.

If we translate the Sankalpa in English then we find that it includes full geographical description of place (jambu dweep madhyavartini (old name of India between seven continents) where puja is being performed, part of the year, month, part of the day, date, time, name of Kalpa (Shri Sweta Varah Kalpa - the first of the 30 Kalpas according to Matsya Puran), Manvanter (Vaivasvat Manvantare), Astha vimsathi thithame (18,000 Kalpas has been now completed), Kaliyuga – tat Pratham charne (first quarter of Kaliyuga), name of town/city, on the equator, south of meru mountain, in the land of Bharat, name of Samvatsare (year), Daksinaayane or Uttraayane (position of sun), name of current season, Shukla Paksha or Krishna Paksha (waxing or wanning period of moon), Din (day of week) etc. etc. 

The Sankalpa Mantra in Sanskrit is pasted hereunder for your reference.

परार्धे एकपञ्चाशत्तमे वर्षे प्रथममासे प्रथमपक्षे प्रथमदिवसे द्वात्रिंशत्कल्पानां मध्ये अष्टमे श्रीश्वेतबाराहकल्पे स्वायम्भुवादिमन्वतराणां मध्ये सप्तमे वैवस्वतमन्वन्तरेकृत-त्रोता-द्वापर- कलिसंज्ञानां चतुर्युगानां मध्ये वर्तमाने अष्टाविंशतितमे कलियुगे तत्प्रथमचरणे तथापञ्चाशत्कोटियोजनविस्तीर्ण-भूमण्डलान्तर्गतसप्तद्वीपमध्यवर्तिनि जम्बूद्वीपे तत्रापि श्रीगङ्गादिसरिद्भिः पाविते परम-पवित्रे भारतवर्षेआर्यावर्तान्तर्गतकाशी-कुरुक्षेत्र-पुष्कर-प्रयागादि-नाना-तीर्थयुक्त कर्मभूमौ मध्यरेखाया मध्ये अमुक दिग्भागे अमुकक्षेत्रे ब्रह्मावर्तादमुकदिग्भागा- वस्थितेऽमुकजनपदेतज्जनपदान्तर्गते अमुकग्रामे श्रीगङ्गायमुनयोरमुकदिग्भागे श्रीनर्मदाया अमुकप्रदेशे देवब्राह्माणानां सन्निधौ श्रीमन्नृपतिवीरविक्रमादित्य-समयतोऽमुक संख्यापरिमितेप्रवर्तमानवत्सरे प्रभवादिषष्ठिसम्वत्सराणां मध्ये अमुकनाम सम्वत्सरे, अमुकायने, अमुकगोले, अमुकऋतौ, अमुकमासे, अमुकपक्षे, अमुकतिथौ, अमुकवासरे, यथांशकलग्नमुहूर्तनक्षत्रायोगकरणान्वित.अमुकराशिस्थिते श्रीसूर्ये, अमुकराशिस्थिते चन्द्रे, अमुकराशिस्थे देवगुरौ, शेषेषु ग्रहेषु यथायथाराशिस्थानस्थितेषु, सत्सु एवंग्रहगुणविशिष्टेऽस्मिन्शुभक्षणे अमुकगोत्रोऽमुकशर्म्मा वर्मा-गुप्त-दास सपत्नीकोऽहं श्रीअमुकदेवताप्रीत्यर्थम् अमुककामनया ब्राह्मणद्वारा कृतस्यामुकमन्त्रपुरश्चरणस्यसङ्गतासिद्धîर्थ- ममुकसंख्यया परिमितजपदशांश-होम-तद्दशांशतर्पण-तद्दशांश-ब्राह्मण-भोजन रूपं कर्म करिष्ये।

                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                              Suman Saran Sinha

                                                                      February 22nd, 2023

HORNET'S NEST - POLITICS OF RELIGIOUS CONVERSION

These days’ lots of discussion and resentments are being expressed on the politics of religious conversion taking place in India. In fact this topic was also echoed in the four walls of the Indian parliament. Media is also agog with this topic and trying to represent views of different sects of people although it shows their biasness towards the majority which is obvious and apparent. This topic has been further aggravated by the release of a new film called PK and it is being seen as a calculated ploy to throttle the belief system of the majority Hindus in India.    

Social media is also filled with discussions on the topic and it seems that majority of people are confused with Hindu religion and its background. People are mincing words with half knowledge and without credible answers for a common man to understand the cause of their discussion. Therefore instead of participating in lunatic debates, I thought of writing this article and hope to clear some of the misunderstanding people have about one of the oldest belief system of the world. Before discussing on the current developments, it is pertinent to describe the background of this belief system which is called Hinduism.

In my previous articles, I have already quoted the words of great philosopher and economist Karl Marx that the “Religion is the opium of man” as such this issue cannot be discussed with a large segment of people under intoxication of the religious ‘opium’.  Only healthy, unbiased and awakened minds have the capabilities to think and analyze the rationale behind certain happenings in the world. There is also a proverb that the ‘Rome was not built in a day’ and it means that whatever we see today religiously, culturally or socially has a historical background of thousands of years, and unless we go to the root causes of its current build up, any argument or analysis would be foolish and futile.

Therefore under the backdrop of above, I will like to describe scenarios and why a large segment of people are confused as far as Hindu religion is concerned. On social media, this debate is being conducted without historical base, hence the confusion. Therefore it requires some clarifications before harping on the topic.

1.   When a painter starts painting on a canvass, it is always White and as the time progresses, different color starts being added to give it a texture and feel.  The story of humans and their belief system has similarity of a canvass and ‘Time’ is the painter which starts putting its strokes over a large span of time. Thus the portrait of Hindu way of life (religion) which we see today has the history of thousands of year in making.

The origin of Sanatan Dharma is unknown as it was a part of early evolution of humans on planet earth. While evolving, human race was exposed to the nature for the shelter, growing food and saving their lives from disease and calamity. It was a matter of survival for them to keep the fury of nature under control. It is also the nature of humans to respect or bow down or pray to supreme and powerful. Hence in order to keep those natural forces under control (this is what they thought that time) they started performing certain rites and rituals and gave forms and names to those forces so that they are able to recognize and invoke them while performing those rituals. 

In order to maintain a civilized society in early days certain rules were also propagated based on natural experiences and that is how Sanatan Dharma (Sanatan means Eternal which has no beginning or end and Dharma came from the root word “Dhri” means to hold together) came into existence. Dharma in English language means “Righteousness” and has no connotations with a particular religion as it was the dictum's to be followed by people with righteousness in a civilized and orderly society.

2.   The Vedas and especially the Rig Veda describes the importance of these natural forces with their names and how to invoke them. It was nothing to do with Hindu or Hindu religion as the term ‘Hindu’ was given much later by early visitors to recognize people living on the bank of Indus River having the  earliest civilization called ‘Indus Valley Civilization’ (3300 to 1300 BCE or 3315 to 5315 years from now).  The Indus Valley Civilization was the most developed civilization of its time. Therefore, Hindu or Hinduism was never a religion but a way of life. People feared wrong doings and respected natural forces and hence worshipped them by giving human forms so that they are able to correlate themselves with the natural Gods.

3.   As the society evolved, people who mastered the hymns to invoke these natural Gods were called Brahmins. Therefore Brahmins have an association with the mind and intellect.  It had nothing to do with the caste or creed but with the human knowledge and education. In modern terms - all those who are educated and use their intellect to understand the worldly affairs are Brahmins.

4.   There is another proverb- “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”. In order to maintain superiority of their knowledge over less knowledgeable people Brahmins become arrogant and they developed superiority complex over others. They also restricted the use of their sacred text books as a result they were largely confined to them. During the course of time the gulf between educated Brahmins and non-educated mass comprised of Kshetriyas, Vaishya and Sudras started growing. Being a warrior class Kshetriyas gained advantage in ruling the land and hence connived with Brahmins for getting the knowledge of scriptures. Businesses and trading of goods and services were managed by Vaishyas hence they controlled money and were affluent. Those who could not be educated or fight wars or do trading were left to do the menial jobs and were treated with disgrace in society and called Sudras.

5.   Vedas and Srimad Bhagwadgita two important Hindu scriptures have no mention of the caste system. Lord Shri Krishna has already described types of people in the world having the qualities of Brahmin, Khsetriya, Vaisya and Sudra. In Srimad Bhagwadgita he has elaborately described these qualities. Therefore anybody can fall under these qualities irrespective of their birth. Since most of the sacred texts were written in Sanskrit language and the knowledge of this language remained in few hands, as a result rulers and pundits exploited the situation by distorting the meanings of sacred texts in their favour. Therefore as far the Hindu sacred books are concerned they do not differentiate between people simply because of their birth.

6.   Buddhism was the first religion which gave shelter and hopes to religiously and socially suppress people. This was the reason that Buddhism became popular in India and remained a dominant religion from 6^th century BC to 700 AD.

7.  Hinduism was never a religion but a way of life with open ended commitments towards it. It means that if a person is born in a Hindu family can remain Hindu, even if the person does not worship or do not believe in Hindu Gods or do not go to temple even once in his life time.  This way of life also provides the flexibility of prayer which one can perform either in a temple or home or forest or in one’s heart and mind. Hindus accepted the believers and non believers equally as long as they follow the way of life which is righteousness in thought and action, truthfulness, compassion, non violence not only towards people but also towards plants and animals, respect towards each other, sacrifice for other’s happiness, helping poor and needy etc.

8.   Until AD 312, Romans also believed in all types of gods and goddesses such as Jupiter (Master of all Gods), Juno (Wife of Jupiter and goddess of women and fertility), Mars (The God of war), Venus (Goddess of love & beauty), Minerva (Goddess of wisdom and learning), Neptune (God of Sea), Ceres (Goddess of harvest), Vulcan (God of the underworld), Diana (Goddess of hunting), Bacchus (God of wine and partying), Mercury (Messenger of the Gods), Vesta (Goddess of the hearth and home) etc. Pictures and statues of all theses Gods and Goddesses can be seen in Rome even today. Their belief system was switched from different gods and goddesses to Christianity by the Emperor Constantine in the year AD 312 when he won an important battle under the belief of his dream about the Christ.

9.    Therefore modern Europe also believed in idol worship of their gods and goddesses until 1703 years back from now. Now the film PK makes a mockery of the idol worship and Hindu’s belief in different Gods and Goddesses. They have failed to understand that these idols represent the very essence of our life and they help us in balancing the outside and inner world of ours. For example the Varun- the God of air not only represents the air in the environment but also the life source which we breathe constantly. Agni- the fire God represents the vital source for our survival and the energy inside our body. Indra- the rain God again a vital source for our survival. Our body also contains three fourth of water in the blood and by religious practices, a Hindu try to balance the outside as well as the inside corresponding sources of energy.

10. Hindu’s do not get deterred by believing in several gods and goddesses as they believe that they are manifestations of the same God. Hence literally they worship the same God through different means. They also accept gods of other religions as manifestations and messengers of the same god. This is the reason that in Vedanta Society established by Swami Vivekananda there is a picture of Christ to who we all pray. In their closing chats they also pay reverence to Isha (the Christ) and Moosa (the prophet Mohammed).

11. Now due to its flexible concept, all the visitors who came to India in the garb of visitors or traders or invaders converted the fence sitters (those who were illiterates or oppressed) into Christianity or in Islam. Those who were converted to these two religions could not understand the difference between the religion and the way of life; between freedom of thought and action and the bondage and compulsion of the holy books of other religions. People were forced to be converted in to other religions due to the poverty and the helplessness.

12. The religious conversion became a disease in India which continued unabated even after the independence of the country by promoting and sheltering missionaries, madarsas and NGO’s. Until now nobody objected these conversions and no press or media debated on the topic. Now because a small segment of non hindus were being converted back to their original belief, there is so much of hue and cry and media is not tired of organizing debates on the national channels. This demonstrates the biasness of our leaders, intelligentsia and media towards their own belief system and unfurls duplicity of their character and motives.

I do understand that if a person is hungry then a loaf of bread is more important for him then which caste or religion he belongs to or going to adopt. It does not make a difference to people in switching their religious allegiance if they are assured of bread and butter. However motives for helping to poor and destitute by the mercenaries and NGO’s needs to be evaluated and assessed on merit.

I do not promote or endorse religious conversion of any type and India should pass a strict and enforceable anti-conversion law to stop this menace. If anybody wants to go for religious conversion then due diligence must take place in understanding the cause leading to such decisions.

My intention is not to create a debate on religions of the world but to clarify certain points which is relevant today and what is happening in India.

Your comment on the topic is very much solicited and I wish you a very happy New 2015.

Suman Saran Sinha, CMC

Toronto, Canada.

SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAN (CLEAN INDIAN CAMPAIGN)

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' (Clean India Campaign)

I admire the astuteness of the honourable prime minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi in paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary by announcing Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' (Clean India Campaign). There cannot be a better opportunity in starting the campaign and creating a sense of cleanliness on the occasion. Clean India campaign will not only raise the issue of our living style but also the way we pollute the society and the environment. Cleanliness is a mindset which relates to our internal and external environment. if we do not know how to live clean at home or outside then it reflects on our personality and thought process. The way dirt makes the environment dirty the same way living dirty pollutes our personality and negativity surrounds us. Therefore the clarion call of the Prime Minister is bound to make a dent on our living style while making the nation clean and breathable.

However the campaign of Swachh Bharat (Clean India) will not be successful in its essence and spirit unless the government creates a support structure for maintaining the cleanliness and bring necessary legislations for its enforcement in long term. If necessary steps are not taken then people will make this campaign one day event and after that they will embark upon their normal routine of polluting their surroundings from the next day.

Therefore I will suggest the following steps to be taken by the government to make it effective, permanent and a way of life. This will not only keep our towns and cities clean but it will also generate billions of dollar of business for the related industries.

1. Provide a garbage box and a blue box for recyclable materials to every household in India and teach them how to use them for the best result. NGO's can be involved to educate people,

2. Every restaurants, eatery and paan shop should have garbage box outside of their establishment otherwise their license should be cancelled or they should be forced to shut down their business operation.

3. No hawkers should be allowed to sell food products on the street without a garbage box and they should be directed for disposing the same at designated places.

4. Ward Councillors in every municipality should be responsible in maintaining cleanliness in their ward. In case of their laxity they should be penalized and fined for not taking care of their ward. If any cost is incurred in cleaning their ward then they should be responsible to pay off the cost.

5. Tenders may be issued for allotment of areas to private companies for collection of garbage and delivering them to Waste to Energy Plants / Bio-Gas Plants OR Waste to Energy Plants should be allocated areas for collection of garbage.

6. Tenders may be also issued to private companies for collection of recyclable materials and delivering them to recycle plants. 100% cost of garbage boxes and recycle boxes should be recovered from such tenders.

7. Legislation should be passed to punish individual households and businesses if they do not follow the guidelines.

8. Legislation should be passed to make every business mandatory to keep garbage and recycle box in or around their premises.

9. People caught on camera for throwing garbage on the street or public places should be arrested or fined heavily.

10. Elementary and middle Schools should introduce courses related to environment and cleanliness.

Advantages:

1. Recycle industry will get a shot in the arm and in the process tons of plastics, papers, wood, metal, glass etc will be recovered for re-use.

2. Electricity generated from the Waste to Energy Plants will provide energy to thousands of home.

3. Employment opportunity to thousands of people in collection and delivery of waste and in the power plants.

4. Employment opportunity to thousands of people in the plastic industry for the manufacturing, and supply of garbage and recycle boxes.