Our Tr i bu t e t o Tr i ba l Peopl e of Eve ry Nat ion

Martin Luther King Jr Rosa Parks W.E.B Du Bois

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World PeaceWorld PeaceFollowing in Gandhi’s Wake...Following in Gandhi’s Wake...

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s life was his testament and he would have liked us to follow in his footsteps. Revered and adored by millions in his own life time, Gandhiji rarely allowed arrogance and hubris to overwhelm him. Yet he acknowledged the constant effort it took to keep the baser aspects of human nature in check. I also believe he would have wished to be remembered as a simple man, and not as a demigod removed from reality. It is important to reflect on the profound effect Gandhiji’s message of universal brotherhood and peace had on India. To the un-informed and those unfamiliar with that great country, I must say here that it is polyglot of cultures and beliefs. While a majority of its population are Hindus, but it is also composed of myriads of sects and worship a plethora of deities. India is therefore not the monocultural and monoreligious society that many like to believe; it is a rich and varied cocktail of cultures, religions, regions, languages, sects and beliefs. To this

subcontinent, Gandhiji returned from South Africa and proceeded to galvanize the country against the British Raj by advocating nonviolence and peaceful protest. It engaged the people of India like nothing had done before or since and reinforced a common sense of destiny. That India remains united nearly six decades on despite its differences and contrasts is an inspiration to us. Salman Rushdie in an essay to commemorate modern India’s golden jubilee anniversary remarked as to how tolerant it was of difference.

While Gandhiji could not prevent the creation

of Pakistan, even today India remains home to the fourth largest community of Muslims after Indonesia, Nigeria and Egypt. Given the choice, I do not believe they would emigrate to Pakistan, as India has kept faith with Gandhiji’s vision for the Republic. His devout Hinduism did not restrict him from recognizing the virtues of other faiths. Together with Jawaharlal Nehru and the other architects of modern India, Gandhiji understood the desirability

of establishing a secular state. This entity would guarantee freedom to all religions to practice as they pleased. Gandhiji knew that religion

was not a State concern but a personal choice that related to the manner in which people conducted their daily lives. In many ways this slight, stooped, bespectacled and balding figure clad in dhoti is a paradox. He was the quintessential Indian who appealed to the masses as one of them. At the same time, he was able to rise above his people and lead them become a citizen of the world. It was because of the values he championed- freedom, equality, justice, tolerance and nonviolence that leaders and heroes of our time like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Aung Sang Sui have acknowledged the influence Gandhiji has had on their perspectives.

‘If Non-VVVVioleeenceee iis thhee lawww off ouurr bbeeeiinggg, thhhe fuutturre is with wwwoomeeen. --- att ann eveeeninggg pprrraayeeerr iinnn Siimmmlaa, 1199466

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It is, I believe, one of the reasons why resistance to indenture and colonial rule in Fiji were not more violent. Happily, it appears to have imbued Indo-Fijian relations as well.

From the mid 1930s to the early 1980s, the majority of our population was formed by Fijians of Indian origin. Throughout this period, the Indo-Fijian community was insistent but not strident about their rights. But at no stage did any Indo-Fijian leader advocate violence. In a country like ours with its different cultures, faiths and people, the one virtue that is critical to our survival and well-being is tolerance and mutual respect. That was what Gandhiji stood for, and it broke his heart when the Muslim League under Mohammed Ali Jinnah refused to settle for anything less than an Islamic State carved out of India. Godse, the man who assassinated Gandhiji, was a member of a Hindu Nationalists group who considered he had compromised the interest of the Indians by agreeing to the partition of the country. What they failed to understand was that the Mahatma’s complete ease with his Indian heritage in general and Hindu faith in particular, allowed him to be so accommodating towards everyone else. His approach bespoke of a sense of security that was thoroughly grounded in the precepts of his own culture. Only then can one perceive the world around us and beyond without threat or fear. The values Godse and his like espoused were of a narrow and parochial India that defied its history - one that had absorbed the Aiyans, Mughals and many other invaders down the several millennia of its existence.

How relevant is that to us in the Republic of the Fiji Islands? We continue to struggle with partisan views. Ethnic identity persists and is reinforced by religious differences following similar patterns. In

this latter aspect, the rhetoric of exclusivity does little for nation building. Both Islam and Christianity assert the absolutist nature of their respective creeds. I have no problem with that. It is when it is pursued to distinguish, divide and separate that one has to question the motive.

The life of Gandhiji was one of discipline and service. From the beginning of his public career in South Africa to the end of his life, he remained close to ordinary people. It was one of his greatest strengths. It was as far removed from the style of the British rulers, the Mughal Emperors and the Indian Maharajas as could be possible. Gandhiji’s greatest virtue is that his life itself is a message. He could not be at this gathering were he alive today. He would say we could do better by doing something concrete for the values he stood for. That too is how I would like Gandhiji to be remembered. His message in fact is too important to be confined and remembered only on one day (October 2) of the year; we need to remember it every single day.

- Excerpted from a lecture by Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, former Vice-President of Fiji Islands.

India Perspectives January - March 2008

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Articles & Focus ThemesArticles & Focus ThemesWorld Peace - Following in Gandhi’s Wake....

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Gandhi’s Impact on American Civil Rights Movement

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Unity Through Religious Teachings 28

Education without Failure 31

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Dr Martin Luther King Address to India (All India Radio - 1959)

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Gambhir Watts

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At the heart of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence, was his belief that strength comes from righteousness, not force. Power comes from truth, not might. Victory comes from moral courage, not imposed submission. He held that means and ends are inseparable and that in fact means themselves shape ends. He believed unworthy means can never produce worthy ends.

History, both past and contemporary confirms that violence only begets violence in unending spiral, fostering hatred and revenge. Violence seeks to impose and overwhelm, which why its victories are transitory. Nonviolence seeks to engage and persuade, which is why its results are enduring.

The Gandhian practice of nonviolence took many forms, but it always required an intense engagement with the opponent. The victory that Mahatma Gandhi strove for was to win over the adversary, not to vanquish him. The dialogue that he fostered was founded on a spirit of genuine tolerance i.e. the appreciation and understanding of the “other” or “others”. He asked us to introspect, to reach out and ask to what extent are we ourselves responsible.

It is often said that Mahatma Gandhi’s times were radically removed from those we live in today. Some question the relevance of his methods in today’s fast-paced and globally interlinked world, where threats to peace, security and social harmony abound. But the essential validity of Mahatma Gandhi’s truth has not changed, because human nature itself has not changed.

Looking back if the twentieth century was the most bloody in human history, it was also the century where nonviolence saw its greatest triumphs, cutting across the boundaries of continents and faiths.

Today individuals and movements all over the world continue to develop innovative, nonviolent ways to overcome oppression, combat discrimination and build democracy. These are the successes which keep the flame of hope burning bright.

Mahatma Gandhi himself was, first and foremost, a man of action. While he was indeed a man of deep contemplation, he was also a man of galvanic energy. It is this energy that enabled him to overcome resistance arising from hostility, indifference and cynicism. It is this energy that gave him the resilience to press ahead, in spite of tremendous obstacles and tribulations. As he once said: “we must ourselves become the change we seek”.

Even as we are inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s life, let us today affirm our commitment to the Gandhian way, a commitment that is reflected in demonstrable actions and results. Let us ensure that this Day, does not get reduced to an annual ritual. Let us strive to adopt his methods to our present day challenges, with earnestness and perseverance.

CCoouuraaageee, ennnndduurraannccee,, fearlessness and above all self-sacrifice are tthheee quuualllitiesss rreeqquuiirreeddd of our leaders. – Mahatma Gandhi

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Gandhi’s Impact on American Civil Gandhi’s Impact on American Civil Rights MovementRights Movement

As the “Father of the Nation” and the leader of the Indian Independence Movement seeking to end the British Raj, Gandhi employed a revolutionary form of nonviolent resistance he called Satyagraha, which he said meant “the strength that comes from adhering to the truth.” Gandhi’s technique involved the Three Rs, the Three Ss and the Three Ts. The Three Rs stand for nonviolent Resistance, Reform and Redemption; the Three Ss stand for Simplicity, Self-suffering and Service and the Three Ts are for Truth, Tolerance and Trusteeship. This nonviolent blueprint for peace and change requires tireless adhering to the truth while incurring suffering on the self, all in an attempt to lovingly and nonviolently convert, and not coerce or conquer, the opponent.

Gandhi, who identified closely with the plight of the American Negro, had sent a message to W.E.B. Du Bois, the great American Negro scholar, editor and cofounder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Du Bois had written a letter to Gandhi in February 1929 seeking his assistance in the United States: “The

race and color problems are world-wide, and we need your help here”. When Gandhi wrote in May of that year, Du Bois published Gandhi’s reply in the NAACP’s journal:

“Let not the 12 million Negroes be ashamed of the fact that they are the grandchildren of slaves. There is no dishonour in being slaves. There is dishonour in being slave owners... Let us realize that the future is with those who would be truthful, pure and loving... Love alone binds and truth and love accrue only to the truly humble.” However, a 1924 symposium in the Crisis had explored, and then largely rejected, the idea of Gandhian - style resistance by American Negroes. But, as Du Bois’s 1929 letter attests, the idea did not die and by the 1930s, as Gandhi was making his mark as a Mahatma, American Negroes flocked to India to learn firsthand about Gandhi’s techniques and investigate whether they could be applied to the struggle for racial equality in the United States. At one such gathering in 1935, Gandhi surprised his guests by asking them to sing one of his favourite songs, “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?” (Interestingly, when King wrote of his own pilgrimage to India in 1959, he

remarked that Indians loved to hear Negro spiritual songs). After they finished the song, Gandhi made a prediction: “Perhaps it will be through the Negro that the unadulterated message of nonviolence will be delivered to the world”. King was only six at the time and oblivious of the fact that he would help make Gandhi’s prediction a historical fact more than two decades later.

In the early 1940s, when King was still in his teens, Asa Philip Randolph used the threat of a mass nonviolent march on Washington to pressure President Franklin D. Roosevelt into integrating the country’s war industries. Randolph, who was President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and a well known labor organizer, was convinced that Gandhian resistance would work in the United States. In 1947, his threat to launch another movement designed to integrate the U.S. Army “stirred not only King but thousands of young Negro college students”. Randolph was nicknamed the “American Gandhi” years before King earned that same moniker. He gave

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speeches citing Gandhi’s work in India and urged American Negroes to emulate Gandhi’s tactics of civil disobedience and noncooperation. Randolph’s desire to organize a mass protest march eventually culminated in the 1963 March on Washington where King gave his famous “I Have A Dream” speech. The March brought together more than a quarter million people, one third of whom were whites, to peacefully demonstrate for racial justice. It remains one of the largest, if not the largest, nonviolent protest gatherings in American history. No wonder that King referred to Randolph as the “Dean” of American Negroes.

But the March on Washington would not have occurred without the considerable organizational skills of Bayard Rustin, yet another Negro pilgrim to India and a passionate disciple of Gandhi. Rustin was a veteran civil rights organizer and a member of the Society of Friends* who spent time in jail for refusing to serve in the military during World War II. During the Montgomery Bus Boycott Rustin had

a profound influence on King’s turn to nonviolence as a way of life. For instance, when Rustin learned that King kept a gun under his pillow, they stayed up all night discussing and arguing what it really meant to be a nonviolent resister. In the end, King discarded the weapon (as well as his bodyguards) as Rustin and his friend and colleague Glenn Smiley convinced King of the merits of Gandhian

nonviolence, which King ultimately adopted as a philosophy of life.

Rustin was a brilliant peace activist with ties to progressive religious and civil rights organizations, most notably the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). The FOR is a liberal Christian-based group founded in England in 1914, which advocates nonviolent social

change. The CORE was founded in the United States in 1942 in part by James Farmer, one of the FOR’s Negro members. Farmer was dedicated to applying Gandhian methods to racial matters in the American South. He and the other founding members of the CORE were heavily influenced by a Gandhi disciple named Krishnalal Shridharani, whose book War Without Violence became the CORE’S “semiofficial bible”.

A.J. Muste, a well known American pacifist, visited India and even met the Mahatma in 1931. Muste, who was a founding member of the FOR, returned to the United States on a speaking tour that included stops at colleges and universities. In 1947, James Lawson, a young Negro anxious to find a way to combine his deeply held Christian

beliefs with social action, met Muste through one of Muste’s campus lectures. Lawson, who became a passionate advocate of Gandhi’s methods, joined the FOR and then served time in jail in the early 1950s as a conscientious objector refusing to be drafted into the military for the Korean War. Lawson became a Methodist minister and travelled to India as a missionary as well as a student of Gandhian

“Victorrrry atttttainnneedd byy viooolllenccee iisss ttaanntaammouuunt too defeeaaat, ffooor iitt iss mmoomeeenntarryy” - MMM.KK.. Gaanndhhi

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Satyagraha. It was in India that Lawson learned about Martin Luther King, whose nonviolent resistance had made him famous. Lawson was overjoyed and buoyed by King’s emergence. Upon his return to the United States in 1955, Lawson joined forces with King who urged him to come to the South to help promote nonviolent resistance since few were as qualified and experienced as Lawson. Consequently, Lawson helped organize crucial nonviolent movements throughout the South, especially in the State of Tennessee. He recruited and trained hundreds of nonviolent student volunteers with his spellbinding speeches that echoed Gandhian principles:

“Love is the force by which God binds man to Himself and “man to man. Such love goes to the extreme; it remains loving and forgiving even in the midst of hostility. It matches the capacity of evil to inflict suffering with an even more enduring capacity to absorb evil, all the while persisting in love... We will accept the violence and the hate, absorb it without returning it.”

In 1950, while King was studying for a Bachelor’s Degree in Divinity at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, he met Muste at another of Muste’s college speaking engagements. King listened to Muste’s lecture with interest but remained unimpressed. He even got into a heated argument with Muste. It was not until later in his studies at Crozer that King began a serious reading of Gandhi’s satyagraha. The catalyst was an electrifying sermon King attendee by yet another Negro pilgrim returning from India, Dr. Mordeca Johnson, then President of Howard University, which is a historically black college located in Washington, D.C.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. & THE MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. & THE MAHATMAMAHATMA

Galvanized by Johnson’s speech about Gandhian nonviolence, an energized King immediately went out and obtained as many books on Gandhi as he could find. He borrowed one such book from George Davis, perhaps his closest professor at Crozer. Davis was the only strict pacifist, as well as the strongest admirer of Gandhi, on the Crozer faculty. Based on King’s reading of Davis’ and other books on Gandhi, King ultimately became convinced that, when love is deployed in conjunction with nonviolent resistance, a powerful and effective transforming technique results. King may also have been attracted to Gandhi because he saw some parallels between Gandhi’s life and his own: both were people of colour struggling against a racist white power structure, both had

experienced humiliating treatment at the hands of whites on public transport,* both were subjected to personal violence (that would eventually claim their lives) and both were committed to practicing their faiths by dedicating their lives to the service of others. In his first book, Stride Toward Freedom, King chronicles his so-called “pilgrimage to nonviolence” and singles out Gandhi for high praise:

“Gandhi was probably the first person in history to lift the love ethic of Jesus above mere interaction between individuals to a powerful and effective social force on a large scale”.

While Gandhi’s emphasis on loving your enemy fits nicely with King’s Christian beliefs, Gandhi showed King the practical effects of loving the opponent. Invoking St. Augustine’s injunction to hate the sin, but love the sinner, King built on Gandhi’s notion of courageous love. He observed that Gandhi’s idea of love did not mean passive non-resistance to evil but rather an active resistance to evil that was nonviolent and infused with the loving notion that suffering would be incurred but not inflicted:

“As I delved deeper into the philosophy of Gandhi my skepticism concerning the power of love gradually diminished and I came to see for the first time that the Christian doctrine of love operating through the Gandhian method of nonviolence was one of the most potent weapons available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.” King was intoxicated by Gandhi’s successes in India and found Gandhian principles of truth, love and self-sacrifice appealing. In Gandhi, King found a doctrine for seeking justice

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that was consistent not only with his Christian beliefs, but that also reinforced his American sense of political, constitutional and legal rights. At first, however, King’s interest was purely academic. He was not convinced that Gandhi’s method of resistance would work on a mass level in the American context. Rather, he thought that Gandhi’s techniques would only work on an individual level and that they were ill-suited for a mass movement that might lead to real freedom and equality for America’s Negroes. After all, he reasoned at the time, Gandhi led a resistance movement of Indians that constituted the vast majority of the population of India, where the white British rulers were an alien power who were noticeably in the minority. American Negroes, on the other hand, constituted the minority population in the United States, roughly 10 to 12 percent. Moreover, King felt that Gandhi’s style of resistance found a receptive audience not only among the British rulers in India, but also among the British masses and elites in England. King was doubtful that such a form of resistance would work against the violence-prone segregationists in the South who would lynch a Negro just for looking at a white woman. However, King’s experience in Montgomery, Alabama, together with his own pilgrimage to India, permanently changed his views on Gandhian nonviolence.

MONTGOMERY & INDIA CHANGE MONTGOMERY & INDIA CHANGE KINGKING

In 1954, as King was finishing his doctorate in Theology at Boston University, he accepted a job as head pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, which was for a short time the capital of the Confederacy during the American Civil War. It had a large Negro community which suffered daily humiliations at the hands of whites. Montgomery’s public bus system is a case in point. Negroes were forced to sit at the back of the bus and then had to give up their seat if a white person wanted to sit down. The bus drivers, who were all whites, required Negro riders to pay at the front of the bus and then enter through the rear entrance. Sometimes, the bus drivers would pull away after the rider paid but before he or she had a chance to board in the rear. The daily indignities Negroes suffered on Montgomery’s buses were magnified several times over by other humiliations and indignities Negroes endured at the hands of Montgomery’s racist white power structure.

But in 1954, when a quiet, dignified woman named Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give her seat to a white man, Montgomery’s Negro population had had enough. Through their ministers and churches, the Negro community organized a city-wide boycott of Montgomery’s buses. They chose Martin Luther King, Jr. as the leader of their newly formed Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) in part because he was new to Montgomery and hence was not affiliated with one political faction or another. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was King’s first foray into public life and it thrust him onto the national and international stage as the moral leader of the United States.

At first Gandhi’s influence in Montgomery was minor. The Bus Boycott was not overtly organized as a Gandhian nonviolent resistance movement. Although King admired Gandhi, he admitted to a colleague that he did not know how to apply Gandhi’s methods and principles. But after a white librarian wrote a letter to the Montgomery Advertiser comparing the bus boycott with Gandhi’s actions in India, Gandhi’s influence on the movement in Montgomery began to grow. As King said, Gandhi’s name and his concept of nonviolent resistance became well known throughout Montgomery where people who had never before heard his name were now discussing the “little brown saint of India” with a degree of familiarity. Even the media began comparing the protesters in Montgomeiy to Gandhi

Rosa Parks who sparked the American Civil Rights Movement

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and the bankrupt white power structure in Alabama to the moribund British Raj in India. As the boycott wore on, King “plunged ever deeper” into Gandhian tactics and principles. Reminiscent of Gandhi, King believed that what he was doing in Montgomery represented “a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love”. He told the gatherings stories of how Gandhi fashioned peaceful, nonviolent resistance to bring the mighty British Empire to an end in India. He was quick to point out, however, that “I went to Gandhi through Jesus” so as to reinforce the Christian underpinnings of the movement. King said that Montgomery “did more to clarify my thinking on the question of nonviolence than all the books that I had read”. As such, King was converted to the ideal — he was not born a Gandhian. While Gandhi saw the beauty in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount and adapted it to the Indian context, King saw the beauty in Satyagraha and grafted it to his American audience by emphasizing Gandhi’s common parallels to Jesus Christ and Christian doctrine. King even paid homage to Gandhi by naming a new civil rights organization after him. The Gandhi Society for Human Rights was King’s open acknowledgement of Gandhi’s impact on the Civil Rights Movement.

After a successful conclusion to the Montgomery Bus Boycott (and after convalescing from being

seriously wounded in an assassination attempt), King traveled to India with his wife, Coretta Scott King, and good friend Professor Lawrence Reddick. King’s trip to India proved to be a defining experience for him as it “consummated his conversion to nonviolence”. He had long wished to visit India, but his schedule did not permit it until February and March, 1959- Upon his arrival as an official guest of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, King said that, “To other countries I may go as a tourist, but to India I come as a pilgrim”. King’s trip to India was a spiritual retreat designed to further immerse him in Gandhian ideals. He met with Gandhian activists from all over the country. King was singularly impressed by several things that he often spoke about upon his return to the United States. He remarked at how Indians and Britons seemingly treated each other equally and showed no outward sense of hatred towards one another. He attributed that to Gandhi’s emphasis on nonviolence and love towards the opponent. King also admired how India’s leaders “placed their moral power behind their law” in passing legislation on behalf of India’s dispossessed. He marveled at how, “From the Prime Minister,

down to the village councilman” everyone spoke out against Untouchability. He witnessed Nehru repeatedly condemn Untouchability while promoting the idea of national atonement. King returned to the United States calling on President Eisenhower, and later President Johnson, to do likewise insofar as America’s depressed classes - its poor, its people of color - were concerned. He saw in the Indian Government’s behavior an attitude and model by which the United States Government could help cure America’s social ills. Indeed, it was India, and not just Mahatma Gandhi, that served King as an example of how to repair the fabric of a torn society. King’s trip to India left him more convinced than ever that nonviolent resistance was the most potent weapon available to oppressed people all over the world. King earned the nickname the “American Gandhi” and it is interesting that King himself, one of the greatest leaders in American history, considered Mohandas Gandhi, “by all standards of measurement... one of the half dozen greatest men in world history”. To be sure, King’s actions in the Civil Rights Movement are reminiscent of Gandhian techniques. Boycotts, marches, letter-writing, and even public fasts, are all evidence of Gandhi’s life and work in the American Civil Rights Movement. But King’s courageous decision, which did not come lightly, to court repeated jail sentences is perhaps one of his greatest manifestations of Gandhian-style

W.E.B. Du Bois

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nonviolence. Like Gandhi, King had no sadistic desire to be jailed. He was well aware of the abuses Negroes suffered in southern jail cells. But King told his followers to go to jail much like Gandhi did: with a cheery air. Like Gandhi, he urged them to accept their prison sentence by transforming the prison “from a dungeon of shame to a haven of freedom and human dignity”. Also like Gandhi, King came to see jail as a liberating experience. It was in jail that Gandhi was exposed to Henry David Thoreau’s essay on civil disobedience that so moved him and confirmed in him his own nonviolent journey. And it was in jail that King wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” the most famous treatise of the Civil Rights Movement, which he scratched out on bits and scraps of smuggled paper over several days of solitary confinement. The Letter echoed Gandhian themes of truth, justice, self-sacrifice and nonviolence. For instance, in the Letter, King implicitly acknowledged his debt to Gandhi when he wrote, “I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.”

But it was not only Gandhian tactics or methods that found an eager recipient in King’s leadership of the Civil Rights Movement: Gandhian principles too were at play. It was a recurrent theme in King’s speeches and writings. He frequently quoted

Gandhi’s statement that if rivers of blood had to flow before Negroes won their freedom, it had to be their own blood and not that of their white opponents. Perhaps even more importantly, Gandhi’s love ethic found a receptive audience in King as he preached and spoke about his dream for America, building what he liked to call the beloved community. In such a community, King proclaimed in his famous “I Have A Dream” speech, people would be “judged by the content of their character and not by the colour of their skin.” Observe Gandhi’s influence on King’s opposition to the Vietnam War, which risked losing President Johnson’s and other Negro leaders’ support. They urged him to avoid discussing the war but King refused to yield. In one of his most famous statements, he argued that “justice is indivisible: injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” King also shared Gandhi’s views regarding cowardice and repeated Gandhi’s argument that, if given the choice between cowardice and using violence to defend yourself, it is better to choose violence. In a 1965 interview, King confirmed his views on this subject when he said, “As much as I deplore violence, there is one evil that is worse than violence and that is cowardice”. For both King and Gandhi, showing courage was more important than rejecting violence.

Finally, King shared with Gandhi an amazing ability

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to communicate powerful symbols with purposeful action. They both had a knack for dramatizing, in stark and vivid imagery, the injustices that their people suffered. Both identified with the poor and worked tirelessly on their behalf. They lived like the poor, Gandhi in primitive rural huts, King in tenements in the Chicago ghetto. They travelled like the poor, Gandhi by third class rail or by bare feet, King by bus or by mule. They dressed like the poor, Gandhi in his simple white loincloth, King in his signature farmers’ overalls. They worked like the poor, Gandhi toiling in the hot fields or at his spinning wheel, King bending down during the harvest with migrant farm laborers. Both were able to use powerful symbols that resonated within their respective political cultures. Gandhi’s Salt March, for instance, struck a chord deep in the psyche of average Indians throughout the country. For his part, King was able to harness both Christian doctrine as well as American constitutionalism in such a way that both whites and blacks found appealing. King credited the nonviolent resistance of the Civil Rights Movement as the crucial tool in getting Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and then the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In both cases, we see the practical value of Gandhi’s high-minded, spiritually infused form of social and political resistance.

But where did King’s methods deviate from Gandhi’s? After all, King was no carbon copy of Gandhi. For instance, King and most others in the vanguard of the Civil Rights Movement, did not find attractive, or necessary, Gandhi’s asceticism. Even though he could have lived ostentatiously, King lived in a modest home, drove a modest car and generally eschewed the trappings of fame and fortune. However, he did not share Gandhi’s commitment to self-abnegation, including Gandhi’s

strict vegetarianism or Gandhi’s celibacy. Indeed, King admitted to a rather healthy appetite and confessed a weakness for barbecue.

King also differed from Gandhi insofar as the ends to which he employed Gandhian techniques. Gandhi used noncooperation and civil disobedience to bring an end to British rule in India. He urged his followers not to cooperate with British authorities in any way since he considered the British Raj evil. In contrast, King used the

same techniques not to bring an end to a governing system, but to reform it and make it live up to its own democratic promises and ideals. King was the quintessential American patriot who believed in American exceptionalism and who saw the United States as a guiding light for other countries. As such, he was highly invested in American constitutional government. His nonviolence, therefore, sought the inclusion of Negro citizens into the full promise and dream of American democracy and society. Finally, King differed from Gandhi regarding the role of the government in uplifting the people. While Gandhi was adamant about teaching villagers to be self-sufficient, King insisted that the Federal Government play a central role in helping provide housing, education and employment to America’s oppressed Negro population.

IS GANDHI RELEVANT IN THE IS GANDHI RELEVANT IN THE UNITED STATES TODAY?UNITED STATES TODAY?

King said that Gandhi’s revolution in India was based on hope and love. He said that the Civil Rights Movement in America expressed the same emphasis as “we maintained the hope while transforming the hate of traditional revolutions into positive nonviolent power”. King sought to provide that hope through the aforementioned Gandhi Society for Human Rights, which served as a fund raising and nonviolent activist organization in the Civil Rights Movement. Although this organization is now defunct, Gandhi’s doctrine of hope and love in the United States did not die with King when he was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. Today African-American civil rights activists, such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton, give

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

latent attribution to Gandhi as they bring hope to African-Americans and risk arrest while engaging in nonviolent resistance campaigns. Even when he ran for President in the 1980s, Jackson asked his audience to “Keep Hope Alive!”

Moreover, there is evidence all around the country of the Mahatma’s continued relevance in the United States. In 2000, Time Magazine named Gandhi its runner-up “Person of the Century.” Time’s winner, Albeit Einstein, was a great admirer of Gandhi who believed that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of their time. In 1986, Gene Sharp, a well known American scholar of nonviolent resistance, founded the Harvard-affiliated Albert Einstein Program on Nonviolent Sanctions, which is now called the Albert Einstein Institution and is dedicated to researching and advancing the practice of nonviolent resistance. The United States is host to Gandhi centers, Gandhi libraries, Gandhi memorials, Gandhi conferences and Gandhi publications which promote the Gandhian ideals of love, truth and nonviolence. Here we will name just a few for illustrative purposes. The Gandhi Memorial Foundation, for instance, was established in 1959 and in 1976 it opened the Gandhi Memorial Center just outside Washington, D.C. According to the Center’s website (gandhimc.org), the purpose of the Center is to “disseminate and represent the philosophy, ideal, life, service and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi as well as the cultural heritage of India.” In 2000, Morehouse College, King’s alma mater, opened the Gandhi Center for Reconciliation, which is adjacent to the King Chapel. Of course, the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia, is a monument to Kingian and Gandhian nonviolence. And the A.J. Muste Institute in New York City promotes Gandhian-style nonviolent resistance and reconciliation.

Furthermore, there are Gandhi conferences that bring both practitioners and scholars together to exchange ideas on how to promote Gandhian solutions to a wide slew of global problems, ranging from nuclear weapons to terrorism to war. At one such conference in Memphis, Tennessee, in October, 2007, more than 750 scholars, practitioners and students attended seminars and workshops on Gandhian and Kingian nonviolence. There are also Gandhi memorials and celebrations in America’s public spaces that commemorate the life and work of the Mahatma and call us to ever work toward the Gandhian ideal. The Gandhi Library in Houston, Texas, preserves and promotes Gandhi’s legacy in Southeastern Texas. Each October, the Gandhi Library sponsors a citywide event called “A Thousand Lights for

Peace,” which commemorates the Mahatma’s birthday. Houston’s Mayor Bill White, who is a strong advocate of Gandhian nonviolence, as well as Members of the U.S. Congress, regularly attend this event, which draws more than a thousand celebrants. Finally, and perhaps of greatest and most lasting significance, there remain mass movements in the United States that, whether consciously or unconsciously, model their activism after Gandhi and King’s nonviolent ideals and tactics. The most recent example of this occurred in September 2007 when tens of thousands of Americans marched in the tiny town of Jena, Louisiana, to protest what many considered racist and unjust treatment of six African-American high school students. Racial tension at the high school culminated in a fight with some whites being suspended from school while six blacks were charged with attempted murder. The mass protest for the so-called “Jena Six” attracted white and black demonstrators as well as leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, including the Revs. Jackson and Sharpton. True to the spirit of Gandhi and King, the mass protest remained nonviolent and surely played a hand in pressuring the district attorney to reduce the charges against the African-American students. Even though movements such as the Jena Six may not be overtly Gandhian, they surely pay homage to the spirit and practice of the Mahatma as they remain nonviolent while seeking to correct racial injustice. Gandhi and King’s legacy can therefore be seen as a sort of kidney operating on the American body politic as it cleanses racial injustice and other social impurities much like a kidney must continually cleanse our blood: most of us are unaware of its existence, but we could not survive without it.

- Michael J. Nojeim, Phd, a teacher at the Prairie View A&M University, India Perspectives January - March 2008

Americans are marking the annual public holiday in memory of black civil rights leader Martin Luther King - on the eve of Barack Obama’s inauguration.

The US president-elect helped to decorate a community project in Washington in memory of Dr King, who was assassinated in 1968. Mr Obama paid tribute to Dr King and urged Americans to work together in “renewing the promise of this nation”.

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

Message from Stepan Kerkyasharian

Chair

Communnity Relations Commission

In these days of international tension and warfare, frequently fuelled by religious and racial hatred,

the world needs a person of inspiration like Mahatma Ghandi, to straddle these divides - someone

who can stand between those who fight for dominance or for territory or simply to harm those they

do not like.

Prayer is a great leveller and equaliser and a powerful force for unity.

I congratulate the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan for organising the Interfaith Prayer Meeting on the

occasion of Mahatma Ghandi’s Martyrdom Day.

It seems to me that people who pray together, whatever their formal religious ties, are people who

will always be able to work together, especially in the cause of peace and harmony.

Those who are gathering at the New South Wales Parliament on January 30 are such people. The

event will draw them together in these good causes, under the inspiration of Mahatma Ghandi.

This event not only marks an extraordinary life but it represents a very timely opportunity to pray

for world peace.

Dr Stepan Kerkyasharian AM

Chair

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

Ramakrishna Sarada Vedanta Society of NSW Inc.Registered Charity C.C 22963

15 January, 2009

Message for the Special Mahatma Gandhi Issue of the Bhavan Australia’s magazine.

Pravrajika Ajayaprana Mataji

Mahatma Gandhi was not only the apostle of freedom for India, but the symbol and ideal of courage, fearlessness, self-confi dence and implicit faith in God, which are the Vedanti c ideals that India has been nourishing throughout the ages.

Renunciati on and service are the two aspects of the mott o of the Ramakrishna Order as given by Swami Vivekananda. Gandhiji personifi ed them in his personal life and exemplifi ed them in his politi cal acti viti es.

May the young people of India and the world in general be open-minded and understanding enough to learn from Gandhiji’s life and equip themselves to be strong enough to face the challenges of today’s troubled world.

P.O Box 817, Strathfi eld NSW 2135 AustraliaVedanta Hall, 15 Liverpool Road, Croydon NSW 2132Phone: 61 2 9745 4320Fax: 61 2 9715 2082Email: vedantasyd@idx.com.auWebsite: www.srisaradamath.org

Arise! Awake! Stop not till the goal is reached!

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

Message from Greg JohnsMessage from Greg JohnsGeneral DirectorGeneral Director

Soka Gakkai International AustraliaSoka Gakkai International Australia

“The American civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a student of Gandhi’s philosophy. He declared that a person whose spirit is in turmoil cannot truly practice nonviolence. It was my hope that the light of India—a country known in the East since ancient times as “the land of moonlight”—would help spread the spirit of peace, much as the cool beams of the moon bring soothing relief from the maddening heat of the day. From a healed, peaceful heart, humility is born; from humility, a willingness to listen to others is born; from a willingness to listen to others, mutual understanding is born; and from mutual understanding, a peaceful society will be born.” “The Courage of Nonviolence” from The World is Yours to Change [From the book One by One by Dr Daisaku Ikeda]

I congratulate Bhavan for promoting and spreading the peaceful philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi has been a monumental influence on the modern world, one of the few philosophers to reach internationally the common people and inspire some sense of hope. His struggle was courageous and profound. In spite of the great cause he espoused his struggle was essentially one of solitude. Few could appreciate or enact his ideals, his behaviour was the very essence of his belief and this was a wall too high for many to climb.

“Gandhi was alone.

The more earnestly he pursued his religious beliefs, the deeper his love for humanity grew. This love made it all the more impossible for him to ignore the political realities that shaped people’s lives. At the same time, contact with these political realities strengthened his conviction that nothing is more essential than the love for humanity that religious faith can inspire.

This placed him, however, in the position of being denounced by both religious figures, who saw his involvement in the sullied realm of politics as driven by personal ambition, and political leaders, who called him ignorant and naïve.

Because he walked the middle way, the true path of humanity that seeks to reconcile apparent contradictions, his beliefs and actions appeared biased to those at the extremes.” [Ibid.]

In this age when humanity still suffers from the same sense of hopelessness and division that drove Gandhi to such heights of humanism, it remains the common people’s task to bring to life the spirit of this great thinker and leader. Some are excited by the winds of change being ushered by the youthful leadership appearing across the globe even in the super powers. However, the promotion of truly human values, Gandhian thought, can never be achieved through power or politics alone. How then can we remain hopeful knowing the truth that political reformation has never delivered the peace that the globe continues to cry out for?

Every great leader possessed only their own actions, thoughts and words in revealing their ideals and message. Perhaps the legacy is not the physical manifestation of his behaviour as a model for all but the spirit to create his own expression of hope for humanity within the environment in which he lived. Each country, city, neighbourhood, family and individual has their own unique expression. It is unrealistic to expect every human to conform to a certain behaviour or expression. Therefore it is necessary to adopt the spirit and not simply try to copy the unique expression of those like Gandhi.

In memory of this great human perhaps we can strive to bring hope into our daily interaction by simply listening to others with our heart and opening a new possibility, creating a starting point for us to bring the spirit of Gandhi into our daily life gradually, purposefully and with the conviction that we all have a part to play in the transformation from conflict to peace.

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Radio Address to IndiaDr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Radio Address to IndiaAll India Radio - March, 1959All India Radio - March, 1959

Leaders in and out of government, organizations, particularly the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi and the Quaker Center,

and many homes and families have done their utmost to make our short stay both pleasant and instructive. We have learned a lot. We are not rash enough to presume that we know India, vast subcontinent with all of its people, problems, contrasts and achievements; however, since we have been asked about our impressions, we venture one or two generalizations. First we think that the spirit of Gandhi is much stronger today than some people believe. That is not only the direct and indirect influence of his comrades and associates, but also the organized efforts that are being made to preserve the Mahatma’s letters and other writings, the pictures, monuments, the work of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi and the movement led by the sainted Vinoba Bhave. These are but a few examples of the way Gandhiji will be permanently enshrined in the hearts of the people of India. Moreover, many governmental officials who do not follow Gandhi literally apply his spirit to domestic and international problems.

Secondly, I wish to make a plea to the people and government of India. The issue of world peace is so critical, that I feel compelled to offer a suggestion that came to me during the course of our conversations with Vinoba Bhave. The peace-loving peoples of the world have not yet succeeded in persuading my own country, America, and Soviet Russia to eliminate fear and disarm themselves. Unfortunately, as yet America and the Soviet Union have not shown the faith and moral courage to do this. Vinobaji has said that India, or any other nation that has the faith and moral courage, could disarm itself tomorrow, even unilaterally. It may be that, just as India had to take the lead and show the world that national independence could be achieved non-violently, so India may have to take the lead and call for universal disarmament. And if no other nation will join her immediately, India may declare itself for disarmament unilaterally. Such an act of courage would be a great demonstration of the spirit of the Mahatma, and would be the greatest stimulus to the rest of the world to do likewise. Moreover, any nation that would take such a brave step would automatically draw to itself the support of the multitudes of the earth, so

“.....MMMannyy yeaaars aaagooo, wwwhhhennn Abbrrahhammm LLiiinnccolnn wasss shhoot ––– aanndd iinncidddenttaalllyy, hhhee wwass sshooott forrr thhhee saaameee reaaasonn tthhat

MMMaahhaatmmma GGGanddhhi wwwaass shhoot ffooor; nnaammellyy, ffforr coommmmmittinnng ttthhhe ccrimmme ooof wwaannttinngg

too hheaaalll thheee wwoouunnddss of aaa diivviideed nnaatiooon....””” - MMMaarrtinnn Littthherr KKiinngg

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

that any would-be aggressor would be discouraged from risking the wrath of mankind. May I also say that, since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of non-violent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. In a real sense, Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation.

Many years ago, when Abraham Lincoln was shot – and incidentally, he was shot for the same reason that Mahatma Gandhi was shot for; namely, for committing the crime of wanting to heal the wounds of a divided nation. And when he was shot, Secretary Stanton stood by the dead body of the great leader and said these words: “now, he belongs to the ages.” And in a real sense, we can say the same thing about Mahatma Gandhi, and even in stronger terms: “now, he belongs to the ages.” And if this age is to survive, it must follow the way of love and non-violence that he so nobly illustrated in his life. Mahatma Gandhi may well be God’s appeal to this generation, a generation drifting again to its doom. And this eternal appeal is in the form of a warning: they that live by the sword shall perish by the sword. We must come to see in the world today that what he taught, and his method throughout, reveals to us that there is an alternative to violence, and that if we fail to follow this we will perish in our individual and in our collective lives. For in a day when Sputniks and explorers dash through outer space and guided ballistic missiles are carving highways of death through the stratosphere, no nation can win a war. Today we no longer have a choice between violence and non-violence; it is either non-violence, or non-existence.

- Source : Consulate General of India, Chicago chicago.indianconsulate.com

Courtesy Phillip Claxton

“TTTToddayy weee no llonnnggeerr hhaavee aa cchhoiicce bbbetwweeennn viiooleeenceee

anndd nnonnn-vioooleennccee;; ittt is eeeiiithherr nnonnn-vioooleennccee,, oorr nooon-

eexxxissteennnce””” - MMMarrttinn LLLitthher KKKinngg

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

Guru Gobind Singh (A.D. 1666 - 1708)Guru Gobind Singh (A.D. 1666 - 1708)

uru Gobind Singh, the last Sikh prophet, was among the most dynamic figures of Indian history. He was one of the greatest and charismatic personalities of

all times. He fought throughout his life for human freedom and stood for secularism and democratic principles, and pleaded for man’s inalienable rights. Guru Gobind Singh throughout his life worked for the uplift of the downtrodden people of the entire mass of humanity, irrespective of their caste,

religion, race or sect. He stood for secularism and never performed a single act which was parochial in character. He always used the words Hindustan and Hindustanis in his writings. He stood for national unity and emotional integration of the Indian people. The democratic institutions created by him about three centuries ago are the shining lighthouses, showing new path to the human race having faith in the democratic ideals. The Guru created

the Khalsa, transferring sovereignty to the poor and downtrodden ef this country, so that they might remember in the days to come that there was in history, too, a Guru by the name of Gobind Singh.

Guru Gobind Singh was born at Patna on December 22, 1666. This was the time when the nation’s honour and prestige was at its lowest ebb. The morale of the people was very low. They were groaning under pain and agony. The Guru worked tirelessly for the restoration of this lost honour. He came into this world with a special mission. He was sent by the Lord to perform certain duties for the emancipation of mankind. The Guru has himself explained the mission, which the Lord desired him to fulfil :

““II haavee ccheerrishheed ttheeeee ass my sson AAndd mmaaade theeee too exxteendd mmmy reeliggiionn Goo andd sppreeadd mmmmy NNNameee thheeree AAnnd fofoorbiidd thhhe wwworlldd froom eevvil acctts.”” Anddd daaggainn ::

““II hhavvee ccoomee inntoo thhiis wworlldd, Too spprreaddd drigghtteoouusneeess eeeveerrywwhherree, ToTo desstrroyy the evill ddooerss annd ssinnner s, uuunddeerstaandd yye hooly mmmen,, I wwaas bbornnn in thhiis wwworrlld TTo hheelp ggooood anddd dflfloourrish,, to ssaveee saainntsss Annnd too uprrooott alll tyrrrantsss frfroom thhiss woorldd..”

- BBaachhittaaar NNNatakkkk

The child was named Gobind Das. He spent the first five or six years of his life at Patna. Then the family

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

was called to Anandpur by Guru Tegh Bahadur, who had earlier reached there. He kept himself busy in games and spent his mornings and evenings m meditation. He was the son of the spiritual ruler of the Sikhs—Guru Tegh Bahadur, Sacha Padshah, the True King. His mother and grandmother were universally respected and revered. Gobind learnt Punjabi, Sanskrit and Persian. Special training was given to him in horsemanship and in the use of weapons.

When Gobind was hardly nine years old, Guru Tegh Bahadur was martyred at the altar of dharma. After his martyrdom, Guru Gobind Singh shouldered all the responsibilities left on his young shoulders.

He was formally installed on the gaddi on Vaisakh I, 1733 B.S. The people of India had realised that the bigoted ruler of Hindustan was soulless and, if they wanted to lead an honourable life, resistance was necessary. The Sikhs were in a very precarious position. There was dissension within the ranks of the Sikhs and dangers threatened them from outside too. The very existance of Sikh-ism was in danger and some drastic steps were needed to save it. The need for unity among the Sikhs was most vital. Several conflicting forces had to be organised and synthesised under one banner. Guru devoted himself to literary activities, pmioso-phic awakening and spiritual enlightenment of the people. He stuck to Guru Tegh Bahadur’s dictum, ‘fear no one and strike fear in no one.’ He followed this principle in letter and spirit. In 1685 or roundabout, the Guru left Anandpur and came to stay at Paonta Sahib. This he did at the invitation of Raja Medni Prakash, the ruler of Nahan.

The Guru took steps to develop Paonta. He continued composing verses in the pleasant environments and salubrious climate of Paonta, Cold breeze from Yamuna refreshed his mind and with every passing day he started devoting more and more time to reading and writing. The Guru used to rise in the early hours of the morning, take his bath and read

Japji. He then walked along the bank of the river. His purpose in creating literature was to infuse new spirit into his followers and to steel their hearts against all injustice and tyranny. Here at Paonta, Pir Buddhu Shah met the Guru and offered him the services of 500 Pathans for his army though they deserted him later. Then peace was broken; the Hill rajas marched towards Paonta Sahib. A bloodly battle was fought at Bhangani. .The Sikhs fought with courage and determination, and their patriotic fervour carried the day and victory was Guru’s. Now the Guru became much stronger and very powerful. The battle was a great event in the history of Punjab. It set the ball rolling for a major clash between the Guru and the Mughals and the Hill rajas. The battle also gave

the Guru an opportunity to understand the real character of his people. Wicked and unreliable persons who had joined the Guru’s ranks simply for loot were weeded out. After the victory, the Guru returned to Anandpur and immediately restored Anandpur to its previous glory. Aurangzeb’s policy of persecution of Hindus and other non-Muslims made people rally round him.

Two years later, the Mughal forces attacked the rulers of Kangra and Bilaspur as they did not pay tribute to the Emperor. They sought Guru’s help who readily agreed. A fierce battle was fought at Nadaun in 1687. The imperial forces were defeated. The Guru stayed

at Nadaun for about a week enjoying the splendour and beauty of the place by the bank of the river Beas and then left for Anandpur.

The Emperor was sore at the Guru’s victories. Upset, he sent Prince Muzzam, who later came to be known as Bahadur Shah, with a large army to attack the Guru and arrest him. When the Prince reached Punjab, he was requested by Bhai Nand Lai Goya not to harm the Guru who was innocent; instead he should punish the persons who were trying to harm him. The Prince thereafter did not attack the Guru. Thus, after Muzzam’s expedition, the Guru got some respite to mature his future plans. He had worked among the people of the semi-independent

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

states of the Shivaliks and tried to rouse them to a sense of national unity, but soon he discovered that, being steeped in superstition and outdated ideas of religion, they could not rise above their caste and racial prejudices. Sometimes they would make common cause with the enemy and combine even against the Guru who was their deliverer. Political reforms must be preceded by a general renaissance and religious awakening. He, therefore, resolved to break the old shackles with greater precision than had been done before and reorganise society on the basis of common belief and common aspirations.

The period of peace was utilised by the Guru for creative activities. He wrote philosophical works of a high order such as Akal Ustat and Gyan Pra-bodh.

The Guru came into this world with a special mission. He was sent by the Lord to perform certain duties for the emancipation of mankind. In the year 1699, a day before the first of Vaisakh, a large number of men, women and children had collected at Anandpur. The Guru created here the new order of the Khalsa. Charanpahul was replaced by Khande-Ka-Amrit. This nectar with steel, the Divine Word, and Guru’s spirit dissolved in it, brought a miraculous change in the person who partook of it. The Guru declared “Let all embrace one creed and obliterate differences of religions. Let the four Hindu castes, who have different rules for the guidance, abandon them all, adopt the one form of adoration and become brothers. Let none deem himself superior to another. Let men of four castes receive my baptism, eat out of one dish, and feel no disgust or contempt for one another.”

The Guru abolished all distinctions of caste, creed and sex, and integrated his people into one homogenous fraternity. He introduced a new ideology but it was not a departure from the old ideals preached by Guru Nanak and his successors. Sikhism in essence remained the same as ordained by Guru Nanak.

The abolition of caste distinctions was not relished by high caste Hindus. Mingling of low caste persons in all the congregations perturbed the Brahmins. The fire of hatred against the Guru smouldered in their hearts and a sort of revolt grew against him. Peace was broken again. The Hill rajas hatched a conspiracy to distroy the Guru’s power and attacked him many times. The final assault was made inl704 when the combined forces of the Mughals and the Hill rajas attacked Anandpur. The Governors of Sirhind, Lahore and Multan took part in the campaign. The Sikhs fought valiantly. The Guru told his disciples

that a brave death on the battlefield for saving the dharma was preferable to dying a coward’s death. The Guru said :

““GGraannt uunntoo mmee thhhis bbboonn, OOO Loordd II mmaay nnevveerr bbee deebbarrrredd ffrfroom pperffformminggg good ddeeedds..

I sshoouuldd hhavvee nno ffeear oof thhe eeennemmyy wwhenn II ggoo ttoo thhhe bbaattlleffieeldd

AAnnd vvicttorryy bbee ccerrttainnly oon mmmyy siidde TThhere iss bbuut oonne ddeesiiree iinn mmy hhhearrrt Thhat III mayy aalwwaayss siinngg HHHis pprraiisess, AAnnd wwheeen thhe fffiinal timmee commes II shhalll ddiee ffigghhttinng oon thhe bbatttllee fiieeld..””

The fighting continued for a long time. The Imperial viceroys were surprised at the tenacity of the Sikhs. After a certain day’s fighting, it was complained to the Guru that a Sikh, Kanahiya by name, had been serving water and rendering first aid not only to the Sikhs but to the wounded enemy soldiers too. The Guru called Kanahiya and enquired from him if it was true. The humble devotee of the Guru replied that he had been serving all those who fell on the battlefield. “My eyes could not distinguish between Sikh and enemy soldiers, as I saw Guru’s face in every one.” The Guru blessed him and told his Sikhs that Kanahiya had truly understood his mission. The enemy forces suffered heavy losses but succeeded in laying siege to the Anandgarh fort. The Sikhs continued fighting courageously with God’s Name on their lips. The fight went on for several months.

Inside the fort, provisions ran short and the Sikhs had to face stravation, but their sprit remained undaunted. The position worsened day by day. At last, a suggestion was made to the Guru to evacuate the fort. The Guru did not agree. A few Sikhs lost heart, wrote a letter of renunciation and left the fort.

Finally, it became inevitable for the Guru to leave the fort as there were no more provisions lei’t. The Guru left the fort in December 1704. The Mughal forces were in hot psrsuit. While crossing the Sirsa stream, the Guru’s family was separated from him. Only the two elder sons and a batch of devotees remained with him. .They all reached Chamkaur. Here another battle ensued.

At last, Guru Gobind Singh reached south-east Punjab. From Dina the Guru wrote a historical letter to Aurangzeb called Zafamama. When the Guru reached Khidrana, now known as Muketsar, the Imperial forces again attacked him.

After the battle the Guru reached Talwandi Sabo,

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peace was restored and for sometime, the old atmosphere of Anandpur was created. The Guru bestowed namdan on thousands of people who had gathered there.

Guru Gobind Singh now decided to proceed towards the south to meet Aurangzeb who had sent messengers inviting him to come to the Dec-can. When the Guru reached Baghaur in Rajas-than, he heard the news of the death of the Emperor and returned to Delhi. At this point Prince Mauzzam sought Guru’s help in the battle of succession to which the Guru readily agreed.

Bahadur Shah received Guru Gobind Singh with great honour and presented him, in token of his gratitude and reverence, a Khillat.

In early September 1708, Guru Gobind Singh reached Nanded on the bank of Godavari. Here he met Banda Bahadur, converted him to his faith, and sent him along with some of his leading devotees to Punjab to punish the wrong-doers.

One day, while the Guru was addressing a big congregation, a Pathan came and bowed his head in reverence. When the Guru reached his camp, the Pathan stabbed him and the’day of destiny came. Guru Gobind Singh left his mortal coil on October 7, 1708. His last injunctions to the Sikhs were : “He who wishes to behold the Guru, let him search the holy Granth. The Guru will dwell with the Khalsa, be firm and faithful ; wherever five Sikhs are assembled together there will I also be present.” He bestowed Guruship on Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

Thus, at the age of forty-two,Guru Gobind Singh was immortalised. Throughout his life, he struggled against religious intolerance and oppression of the downtrodden. He did not fight for capturing any land or wordly power. He had many Muslim followers. People of different faiths, castes and creeds were attracted to the Guru as he taught that all men were equal and that only outer forms differed, the fundamental truth remained the same. He said :

““TThee sammme GGGood ddweells iin tthhe teempplle anndd tthhee MMMosqquue

TThhe HHHinduuss wwwoorshhip HHHim annddd thhee MMusllimm pprraayy tooo Hiimm

HHHumaan bbeeinnggss arree aaall oonee thoouughh oof f diivverrssee fofoorms

GGGodss, deemmoonnss, Yakkkshaas annd tthhhe mmiinstrrells ddiiviinnee TThhe MMussllimmss aandd Hinnnduss aarrre aalll oonne Immmbiibbee thhhey thhe innffluueenncee of eeenvironnsss theyy inhhaabiit..

SSiimillaar eyeyees, eearrss, bbodyy thheeey hhaavee TTheeyy aarree mmadee off eeartthh, aiirr, firre aand wwateer allikke AAlllaahh aannd AAbekkhh aarree tthe nnammmes oof thhhe saammee oone WWWhoommm aaddorre thhe hhoolyly Puurranaas, anddd Quurrann AAlll aarre ooff thhhe saamee fformmm AAnddd onne inn theeeir mmakkinng

- AAkaal UUsstaat

The Guru was not only the ‘beau ideal’ of the Punjabis,he stood for the whole humanity, irres- pective of their caste, religion, sect or race, they stood for secularism and never performed a single act which was parochial in character. He used the words Hindustan and Hindustanis in his writings and not Punjabis. He fought battles and sacrificed his all for the honour of the entire nation. He was the ‘beau’ of all the Indians inhabiting the subcontinent. He stood for national unity and emotional integration of the Indian people. The democratic institutions created by him three centuries ago are the shining lighthouses showing new paths to the human race having faith in democratic ideals. The Guru created the Khalsa, transferring sovereignty to the poor and oppressed of our country, so that they might remember in the days to come that there was in history, too, a Guru by the name of Gobind Singh who taught ideals of democracy, secularism, brotherhood and unity of mankind. He left footprints for posterity to follow-not to surrender to tyranny and injustice, come what may. He turned the sect of saints and martyrs gradually into a band of bold and courageous warriors. The Sikh movement reached its highest fulfilment under Guru Gobind Singh.

- Hand Book on Sikhism, Surinder Singh Johar, Published by Vivek Publishing Company, Delhi

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The Origin of Vedanta Societies in AmericaThe Origin of Vedanta Societies in AmericaThe exchange of thought with the best minds of America that Swami Vivekananda was gaining was formative for his future work. Through these contacts, he could feel the pulse of the American people and clothe his ideas in their current terminology. He began to fully realise why Sri Ramakrishna had sent him to America. Vivekananda wrote to his fellow disciple, Swami Brahmananda,

There is no certainty about my going back to India. I shall have to lead a wandering life there also, as I am doing here. But here one lives in the company of scholars, and there, in the company of fools. . . My intention is to do something permanent here, and with that object I am working day by day. I am every day gaining the confidence of the American people’. . . . My ideas are international and not Indian alone.

Vivekananda wrote to Sara that he arrived safely in New York and that his student, Leon Landsberg, who had been attending the classes in New York and Greenacre, met him at the depot. Dr. Lewis Janes and several gentlemen from the Ethical Culture Association also went to meet him. For a time, the Swami lived as a guest of Dr. Guernsey in his Fifth Avenue house and lectured in the rented rooms at 54 West 33 Street. Fifth Avenue is, even today, one of the most posh of addresses and Thirty-third Street, one of the poorest.

Leon Landsberg, who stayed in the rented rooms and worked as the Swami’s secretary, answering his letters, was a young journalist on the staff of The New York Tribune, ‘with curly hair and the eyes of a fanatic’ Landsberg, who was acquainted with Sara from New York and Greenacre, wrote to Sara soon after the Swami’s arrival in New York:

The Swami tells me, that, thanks to your kindness, he is most delighted with the success he had in Boston. I am most happy to learn that you intend coining to our city. I am sure that good work can be done here provided that enthusiastic men and women, who like you, are eager to spread spiritual knowledge, take hold of the movement. You can rely on me to do everything in my power to help you carrying out your plans.

The meaningful interaction resulting from Swami Vivekananda’s talks at Harvard in October, and at The Cambridge Conferences in December l894» gave Sara the idea that her ‘son’ was growing into

an excellent teacher. She accepted him as her guru, in spite of his still having, what she considered, some rough edges on his personality. She assumed she could change her growing boy into a proper gentleman. He had warned her that he was a rough diamond and he was proud of it. He said, ‘He who has to make his own way in life is a little rough, he has not much time to be smooth and suave and polite.’ He had an ideal to carry out and no compromise was the watchword.

He later wrote, ‘Every day I feel I have no duty to do; I am always in eternal rest and peace. It is He that works. We are only the instruments.’4 He objected to having any ‘work;’ since he was free of any duty, being a monk. He had only a ‘message,’ he insisted.

He admired the American method of having an organisation; yet he wanted to train individuals who would be free to teach in their own way. He needed money to carry out his message; but as he himself would not touch it, an organisation with lay

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administrators, Secretary, Treasurer, and so on, could do that. He would not be a part of an administration. Sara was eager to help him make contacts with people who could help him financially and would have the broad intellect to carry the standard of his lofty universal ideas. There were other women who would have liked to help him, but none were as determined as Sara, nor as responsible. From her troubled home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she continued to sponsor his talks in New York.

Sarraa’s HHaaapleeesss Daaugghhtterr

It was a year since Olea’s marriage to Henry Vaughan. Sara’s father was on his deathbed. Sara’s daughter

was pregnant and her marriage was breaking up. Sara wrote about it:

Henry’s health was much impaired as I noticed after the marriage. ... I did not imagine her [Olea] unhappy only very anxious and concerned about his state of health. I saw that my daughter was then approaching motherhood and found this was most welcome to her.

Sara added a note: ‘My own interpretation concerning Henry’s health was that his sense of protection and honour were hurt that I was doing more for Olea than he received from his family.’ Sara had given her daughter permission to will the $25,000

she had given her at marriage in a note from her grandfather, who gave her 6% interest on the same, her Norwegian home, etc. Sara’s account of Olea’s misfortune in spite of fortune continued:

Shortly after, as I was to be absent in New York, I asked Mrs. S. [Shapleigh] to stay in Cambridge in my house, closed for the summer, with my care-taker, for the purpose of going to take Olea to drive daily. On my return, I found my daughter seriously ill in my home, by orders of the doctor, who feared, I was told, that the child was already dead in the womb: No sign of life for three days.

Henry had the measles and Olea, against the

Doctor’s orders, nursed him, climbing the stairs often. As a result, From the spirited girl who believed in freedom and responsible womanhood she had developed the extreme, as is usual of such qualities, of personal devotion to Henry, and was punctilious towards his family as their praise indicated. Her time and efforts were entirely given to Henry and their home. I saw her seldom, and knew none of the details of her personal married life.

I fancied that I noticed that H.’s manner was neither as respectful or tender as I was accustomed to expect of him, and that his visits

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made her unhappy, followed by a kind of terror. and I felt that all was wrong. Mrs. S. finally told me O. was unhappy. I could only fulfil the courtesies of my place and carefully keep out of the situation, since complaints could be carried to so ill a patient desiring motherhood. At the end of six weeks, if I recall rightly, I. left for Mrs. S.’s home in the country The child was born. It came to my knowledge gradually after the birth of my grandchild, that He had not only been gravely ill from the moment of his marriage but [such] cruelty to had accompanied it, that she had given up hope of becoming a mother.

Eventually, Sara, with the aid of Olea’s doctors, helped her daughter to file a legal appeal for a divorce. Olea was seriously ill between the third week of May and the middle of June, l895 during which time she went to stay with her mother in Cambridge. Then she went to her old home at West Lebanon, Maine, and there she remained until a few weeks after the birth of her child.

Some time after Sara’s father’s death, Sara could make brief trips to New York to hear the Swami’s lectures. Emma Thursby, living in New York, was able to do much that Sara could not do in person for the Swami, but Emma’s family was suffering from a financial crisis. Sara hoped that she could help both the Swami and Emma by staging a benefit lecture by the Swami combined with a concert by Emma at the Plymouth Church. Sara wrote to its minister, Mr. Lyman Abbott, on January 19, 1895 to convince him to give his permission for it. She wrote:

Miss Emma Thursby writes me that she has spoken to you and others of Plymouth Church, about having the Hindu monk, Swami Vivekananda, speak there. ...

As a teacher of agnostics and inspirer in the truly religious and spiritual life, we have found him while he was my guest for five weeks, of infinite help. The promise would seem to be given him of being one to do a very important work for his own country since his love of science, scholarship, his reform spirit as to non-essentials and clear convictions as to the verities are remarkable. He is still young, thirty-three years of age. His experience in the United States has been and will be of great good to him.

Miss Thursby herself is just now in a position of care and uncertainty. Her investments are either uncertain or returning very little. In her last letter she tells me that her brothers have lost six years of work and three thousand in money by the land

frost in Florida which killed their trees. She cares for her family and it is her loss.

I know how often Plymouth Church has asked Emma Thursby’s aid, and I believe many of its members love her. It occurs to me, if you think best, that it would be a good time for them to offer her a benefit. She could thus herself ask the Swami to speak and fill out the programme with music by herself and others. I write to you of this without her knowledge of course. . . .

I am perhaps the only friend to whom she mentions her cares and financial difficulties. ‘

Sara sent along with the letter some newspaper reports of Vivekananda’s growing fame in his own country that he had sent her. They were full of pride in the success of his oratorical genius. The benefit concert was a great success.

- Saint Sara, The Life of Sara Chapman Bull, The American Mother of Swami Vivekananda.

Author : Pravrajika Prabuddhaprana

Sarah Chapman Bull

The American Mother of Swami Vivekananda

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

Unity Through Religious TeachingUnity Through Religious Teaching

or democracy, all secularists agree, secularism is a must and unity in diversity, in countries like India, is possible only through secular polity. Religion, in a

secular democracy should be at best, a private affair and religion should have no role as far as politics and affairs of state are concerned. Nehruites maintained that schools supported by the government should not teach religion, education should be strictly secular.

Gandhians had a different viewpoint from this. Gandhians do not de-emphasise religion while supporting secularism and secular democracy. They believe in promoting religious values with a proviso that one should respect all religions equally. There are those who reject

religion altogether and for them secularism means atheism and religion, for them, should have no role in any sphere of public life. Thus there are different shades of secularism, i.e. Nehruvian, Gandhian and atheistic. It appears none of these models seems to be succeeding. Nehruvian model should have been more successful as it partly meets the Gandhian approach and partly the atheistic. The way the political class is behaving, i.e. only interested in power, not in principles and values, it failed as it neither remained Nehruvian in spirit nor Gandhian, much less atheistic. In a traditional society like India, Gandhian model should have had greater chances of success but even Gandhians did not follow Gandhian principles, and though they did not oppose them, they never practised them.

My friend Prakash Narain is passionately advocating the revival of religious values and spirit in modern India, the religion of tolerance and compassion. I wonder at his efforts at this age (he is more than 90 years old) to infuse true spirit of religion, especially Hinduism, among people and revive brotherly and sisterly relations between Hindus and Muslims. He wants religion to be taught in schools so that people develop truly the spirit of humanity. He is against atheistic secularism and wants his message to reach large number of people. He has written a book whose tentative title is Indian Heritage -Oneness in Masses of Hindus and Muslims through Vedanta, Vahdat and Vivayka. He tried his best to get the book published but did not succeed. He has now put it online and wants Hindu and Muslim masses to read it. He

lives in New Jersey, USA and corresponds with me through e-mail. We met once briefly in New Jersey. I found him quite sincere and enthusiastic. He is sincerely engaged in promoting his mission. He approached a many people seeking support for his project and still continues to do so. I fully endorse the spirit of his efforts and it is of immense value today in contemporary India where communalism is being injected in public life.

Prakash Narain’s efforts are like those of Darashikoh in the 17th century India. Darashikoh who was appointed heir apparent by Emperor Shahjahan wrote a book Majma ‘ul Bahrayn (Co-mingling of Hinduism and Islam) and tried to show that Hinduism and Islam are complimentary and not contradictory to each other. Since he was himself a scholar of Sanskrit and of Hinduism in addition to that of Islam, he compared teachings of both the religions to prove his point. He also translated Upanishads into Persian and called it Sirr-e-Akbar. He would have proved a great boon for India had he succeeded to the throne of India. Prakash Narain who is making herculean efforts to promote unity between Hindus and Muslims in contemporary

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India, may not be scholar of Islam as Darashikoh was of Hinduism, but he had the benefit of studying under a Muslim teacher during the fifties of last century and certainly imbibed the true spirit of Islam and learnt Urdu and Persian as students those days had to learn. That infused into him the right spirit of Hindu-Muslim unity. That partly explains his passionate commitment to his project.

He complains that Nehruvian secularists banned study of religion is schools and thus deprived Hindu students of knowledge of true Hindu religious spirit. But, on the other hand, Muslims showed the wisdom of teaching their children Islam through network of madrasas. Hindus, on the other hand, in their enthusiasm for ‘secular’ education, closed down all their pathashalas and deprived their children of religious education. Prakash Narain, therefore, advocates that Hindus also be given chance of studying their religion in schools and thus chance to imbibe the true spirit of their religion which in turn would help strengthen the spirit of Hindu-Muslim unity. I think he says so under the strong influence of his vision of religion as a means of strengthening Hindu-Muslim relations. But even if Hindu religious studies are introduced, the real question is who will control them? Will they be controlled by noble souls like Prakash Narains or those who want to promote Hindu-Muslim animosity through misuse of religion?

Is religion, as rationalists often maintain a source of conflict? Or a resource for peace as persons like Prakash Narain feel? I have my doubts that given the contemporary situation in India where majoritarian rather than democratic ethos prevail, thanks to communalisation of politics, teaching of religion would indeed help. Had it been so, Gandhism would not have failed. Most of the Gandhian institutions, though not communalised, have been Hinduised completely loosing Gandhian spirit of equal respect for all religions.

The RSS today has much greater control over most of the educational institutions, in many cases even over professional institutions than the governments. What Prakash Narain says was advocated by profound Gandhians like Pandit Sunderlal and Bishambarnath Pande whom I had the privilege to know and had worked for several years for promoting communal harmony. Both Pandit Sunderlal and Bishambarnathji were profound scholars of Islam along with Hinduism. Both were passionate and committed to Hindu-Muslim unity. Unfortunately, they could not produce any other Sunderlal or Bishambarnath as Muslims could not produce another Maulana

Azad or Zakir Husain. Both Maulana Azad and Zakir Husain were soaked in Islamic tradition and yet were great champions of Hindu-Muslim unity. As Sunderlal and Bishmbarnath had imbibed the best of Hinduism, its tolerance, its universality, Azad and Zakir Husain too represented the best in Islamic values. Today, as Prakash Narain would agree with me, religion is being used to promote political benefits and such politicised religion can never represent the best of its tradition. But one may argue, and rightly so, that Nehruvian secularism too lost its real spirit and secularism itself has been reduced to ‘psuedo-secularism (though I am not using it in the sense in which L.K.Advani of BJP uses it). Indeed, secularism, too, has lost its secular spirit. Secularism, like religion, itself has been ‘politicised’ in the wrong sense.

In this age of globalisation and consumerism, to talk of values and principles, is to be outdated. Today’s generation is achievement-oriented and is obsessed with achieving whatever be the cost. Our education system is itself part of the problem rather than part of a solution. The education system infuses conformism, on the one hand, and competitiveness on the other. Education system, if it has to be really education in the true sense, must create a critical rather than conforming mind and spirit of cooperation and compassion rather than competition. In this achievement-oriented age who will think of values like compassion and cooperation? Prakash Narain can succeed in his objective only if our education system is transformed and is used to promote the best values in religion. His Vedantic vision can come into being only when our politicians first change their own vision and accept vision of persons like Gandhi or Azad or Pandit Sunderlal or Prakash Narain himself.

I would now like to throw light on what Prakash Narain believes could help promote Hindu-Muslim unity in India. Prakash Narain is a devout Gandhian. He writes in Author’s Note: “My above experience made this book necessary to reach Mahatma Gandhi’s spiritual India of 400 million (now over a billion) of eight religions that alone can save India. Mahatma Gandhi’s India secured us freedom. We must get rid of our avivaykee and bideshi (i.e. unwise and foreign-oriented) mind in just three years. We can start replacing this with a powerful vivaykee mind as that of Mahatma Gandhi by the defined and detailed strategy in chapter 5 of this book.” What the author means by vivaykee mind is wise spiritual mind based on Vedic values and well aware of spiritual heritage of India. He considers Nehruvian model

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of secularism as bideshi and Gandhian secularism as swadeshi (of Indian origin).Nehru according to Prakash Narain was under Western influence and he preferred Western model of secularism over Indian model and hence was avivekiya and must be rejected.

Prakash Narain is also a fervent advocate of religious education for Hindu children in schools of which they are being deprived of in independent India. According to him it is necessary to teach Hindu children Vedic teachings to empower and spiritualise their minds. Many would agree that our education needs more spiritual content in the form of values so that we can produce students with strong foundation of values like tolerance, respect for other faiths, proud of Indian composite spiritual heritage, truth and compassion for fellow human beings. These values can be imparted through the teaching of one or also through comparative religion to inculcate respect for other faiths as all religions stress more or less same values.

Our education system is more reason than wisdom oriented. We must relate our reason to our values and collective spiritual heritage and in a way it amounts to marry Nehruvian model to Gandhian one.

The very essence of this book is unity of all religions, a theme so necessary for our polarised country today. We are more divided along religious lines as never before, thanks to sectarian politics, being pursued by a section of politicians with great gusto. Apart from DaraShikoh referred to above, Maulana Azad devoted the first volume of his commentary of Qur’an to the theme of unity of religion (Wahdat-e-Din). Prakash Narain has made similar attempt from a Hindu scriptural point of view. I think the most valuable part of the book is chapter four in which the author discusses commonalities between Tulsidas Ramayana and the Qur’an. It is quite a detailed chapter. The purpose of the chapter in the author’s own words: “This chapter is based on the search in the Holy Qur’an for quotations that accord with the basic in Sanatana Dharma for understanding and mutual respect between Hindus and Muslims.”

He makes a significant observation which will help dispel many misunderstandings. He says, “With these handy definitions we realise that Dharma is roohaneeyat or spirituality and not religion. Religion includes rituals, individual, family and social regulations, customs and visible practices. These have no bearing upon roohaneeyat (spirituality) in our religion. Religion is mazhab not roohaneeyat alone. Maulana Azad, too, makes a distinction between

Deen and Shari’ah which differs from religion to religion since Shari ‘ah . depends on cultural values and practices, customs and traditions. I do not know whether Prakash Narain has read Maulana Azad or not , but he too draws similar conclusion and makes a distinction between Dharma and religion. Dharma, according to him, is pure roohaneeyat. If one develops this kind of understanding we can greatly reduce our differences and easily build bridges between polarised religious communities in India. It is not only the question of reading this book. It is important to read this book along with the Maulana’s volume on wahdat-e-Deen. If read together they can really be much more effective. But even more important is to refashion school syllabi on these lines. In these days of hate politics it is increasingly important to read such works which try to build religious unity on the basis of religious scriptures. This work was done in medieval ages by Sufi and Bhakti saints and they greatly succeeded in building bridges across religions. They also richly contributed towards our composite culture. What we need is to re-emphasise these efforts. An attempt is being made through our constitutional secularism but it is not enough. Constitution is after all a legal document based on certain modern fundamental rights.

We also need to supplement these efforts through promoting spiritual values as our people are soaked in religious practices and traditions. We need to make multi¬dimensional efforts to keep our people united. After all our democratic polity is competitive and in multi-religious countries like India, religion provides the fault line of division and competition takes place along this fault line. In a secular democracy, religious and cultural diversity should provide enriching public experience but political competitiveness has reduced it (diversity) to our weakness rather than our strength. However, books like these are usually written in English and reach only a few chosen people whereas there is a great need to make them available in Hindi, Urdu and other Indian languages so that they have much wider reach. That is however, another problem. What is important for me is that still we have people like Prakash Narain around who can try passionately to promote unity among the people of diverse faiths.

- Asghar Ali Engineer, Bhavan’s Journal 31 Decem-ber 2008

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Education without failure?Education without failure?

ince the millennium there has been much discussion on what schools need to do to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

The increased pace of change in society and the economy, the global nature of many so called ‘wicked’ issues concerned with eradicating social exclusion and creating a fairer society, and the need for interdisciplinary solutions to these matters have been cited as examples of why schools need to behave differently in the future.

The recently announced RSA Charter for Education in the 21st Century epitomises this widely held belief in the need for change, especially in secondary schools, and there are already several initiatives devoted to this end - not least the government’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

Together with Mike Tomlinson, I co-chair one such partnership, the 21st Century Learning Alliance, which in June presented its first school awards at the National College of School Leadership ‘Seizing Success’ conference in Birmingham. Schools were invited to illustrate 21st-century characteristics in their use of time and space, their teaching and learning methods or their deployment of people and resources and the curriculum.

Next year we hope this award scheme will include a debate on what is arguably the most important, if elusive, issue of all: that, given the advances in the use of information and communication technologies and our improved knowledge of how the brain works and children learn, it ought to be possible to eliminate failure in education. The correlation of school failure with subsequent predisposition to crime, homelessness and ill-health mean that it is certainly a debate worth having.

Admittedly such an approach runs the risk of being criticised as ignoring the needs of those who gain most and excel at school,

those whom the government has recently identified as the ‘gifted and talented’. But it is our partnership’s contention that this very identification has ensured that their needs are in no danger of being overlooked. Indeed, we shall argue that when

schools have to make hard choices - for example, about which teachers teach which children - their needs are promoted at the expense of the group we are identifying as gaining the least from school.

First, however, it is necessary to set out what we mean by failure and how it might be measured. The moral argument for trying to minimise failure and optimise individual educational success was well expressed by William Temple whose words powerfully affected R A Butler in the production of the 1944 Education Act:

‘Are you going to treat a man as he is with many of his tastes warped, with his powers largely crushed or as he might become with his faculties fully developed? Are you going to treat a man as he is or as he might be? Morality requires that you should treat him as might be, as he has it in him to become; business on the other hand requires . that you should treat him as he is. Raising what he is to what he might be is the work of education.

‘And so you can have no justice at the basis of your social life until education has done its full work ... and you cannot have political freedom any more than you can have moral freedom until people’s powers have been developed. Nor can there be individual freedom, for the simple reason that over and over again we find men with a cause which is just (who) are unable to state it in a way which might enable it to prevail... there exists a mental form of slavery quite as real as any economic form. We are pledged to destroy it... if you want human liberty you must have educated people.’

To this moral imperative for successful education - which is not emphasised as much now as it was in the optimism of the post-war period of reconstruction - can be added an economic one. Not merely does education add to the individual’s chances of financial advantage, there is a general political consensus that ever-higher standards of education and training are now necessary for countries to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing and technologically driven world.

Advanceessss in ttechhhhnnooloogggy annnd oouur uunndddeerssstanndddinngg off hhoow childrreeen leeearnnn shhouulld eeennnabblllee uuus tooo elliiminnnatee ffaaiiluurree

innnn eduuucatttiiionn, ssaays PPProofffeessssoor TTTimmm Brrriighhoousse

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

For any individual to lead a fulfilling life as a contributing citizen it is arguable that he/she needs to be able to tighten an argument and/or to hone a skill that will bring him or her financial and other reward. Both have prospects that are economic and if you succeed at only one, then you at least need to be able to seek the help of someone who has a different skill, rather in the way that the philosopher and the plumber need to respect each other and their mutual interdependence. Thirdly, in addition to these two moral and economic imperatives, there is a cultural one, and this is of benefit to both the individual and society collectively: we owe it to our future citizens to ensure they are initiated into the essential culture of a society and are capable of shaping its development. Lastly, society expects its schools to reinforce those values such as honesty and truth that are the bedrock of most societies’ moral norms. It is really against these three - the moral, economic and cultural -purposes that we should measure educational success or failure. It is interesting to note that the very idea and understanding of ‘failure’ varies from country to country. There are, for example, languages that have no word for failure except in relation to an absence of success: it is as though their language implies simply a postponement of success. In that sense, of course, failure is inevitable and not harmful.

I am not talking of trying to eliminate the sort of failure that arises when an individual or group fails to understand a concept

or demonstrate a skill and is then prompted to more endeavour, which leads ultimately to success. Frequently that sort of failure is a useful part of learning. It allows the learner to see exactly what he/she has to do to overcome the difficulty and embark with a clear map of the next few steps on the journey of learning. This attitude is thankfully much more pervasive in schools now than it has ever been and many are cleverly using the London Olympics of 2012 to boost its relevance to their current set of pupils. After all, every athlete who fails to reach or surpass their ‘personal best’ is spurred on by this sort of failure to make adjustments and become ever better.

But to complicate matters, the appetite for competition varies according to self-confidence and the capacity to cope with a comparative lack of success. The judgement about the extent to which the individual is exposed to this sort of competition is inevitably in the hands of teachers, parents and peer group. Get it right and the individual’s and society’s

recognition of what is possible is extended; get it wrong and both are damaged.

This last point reaches the heart of the matter. Repeated failure can become so embedded that it convinces the individual or group that it is impossible ever to be successful. Researchers say that it is very apparent in young children aged seven or eight when some of them perceive they are falling behind their contemporaries in learning to read - a capability they see as clearly very highly valued by their teachers, their parents and the more successful members of their peer group. They start to see themselves as ‘failures’ in every other sphere of highly valued activity and perform accordingly. Repeated failure becoming collectively embedded can be seen every week in the performances of consistently ineffective sports teams as their ‘heads go down’ and their self-confidence becomes so low that they lack the psychological strength to break the habit of losing. Unsuccessful schools are like this. It is this sort of failure that the educational system could do without. So let us consider ways in which we could reduce, if not eliminate, this sort of ‘unnecessary failure’.

One final point needs to be underlined: we are sometimes reluctant or unknowing heirs to the expectations of our ancestors. In this respect it’s worth noting that we have been preoccupied with - and in a sense dependent on - failure for centuries. In 1803 the Bishop of London noted that some thought that ‘it was safer for the Church and State to allow the poorer classes to remain in that state of ignorance in which God had originally placed them’. Robert Lowe, the architect of the notorious Revised Code following the 1870 Education Act, said: ‘We must give the lower classes just sufficient education to give them that sense of awe for higher education which the leaders of the nation demand.’

More recently, if the 11-plus didn’t ‘fail’ you, then O-level would; and if you surmounted that hurdle and even A-level standard, you could regard yourself as a failure if you didn’t get a first from Oxford or Cambridge. Even then, there was the real test of the Ph.D ahead. Such observations may be fanciful but they convey our inherited predisposition to find failure as a means of identifying success.

The emphasis on academic attainment as the main means of establishing an individual pupil’s or school’s success is well noted and sometimes contested as being at the expense of other sorts of achievement. Certainly OFSTED inspections and the publication of exam league tables, for example, encourage

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schools to focus on a few key measurements such as five or more higher GCSE grades including English and Maths, with the probable result that the school gives disproportionate attention to those pupils at the borderline of this measure at the expense of others who are unlikely to achieve that level. And they, of course, are the very pupils who are already at risk of experiencing that embedded sense of failure we want to avoid.

The more narrowly and normatively pupil and school success is drawn, the more likely it is that there will be embedded failure for some. Therefore the way we decide to measure school success is important if we wish to be serious in eliminating self-fulfilling failure. Included in a more desirable and wider definition of schools’ success might be the way schools and their pupils can demonstrate improvements in:

• participation and average performance rates in various sports

• annual ‘health fitness’ measures

• participation in a wide range of arts activities (music, for example)

• participation in pupil activities and experiences (including day

visits and residential as well as extended curriculum studies)

• staff professional development activities

• staff and pupil absence rates

• defined student leadership and management opportunities

• pupil voluntary contribution to the well-being of the local community

• encouragement of opportunities for family learning

One final piece of evidence a society and school serious about reducing unnecessary failure might consider is the regular collection of the views of pupils, staff and parents through the use of attitudinal surveys.

Children are in school for only 15% of their waking time between birth and 16; the balance (85%) is spent in the home or community — and here children find themselves in very different circumstances.

Some are fortunate to be immersed in a supportive culture with clear and well-judged expectations. These children feel good about themselves; at an early age they play, hear music, are listened to

encouragingly and bear witness to countless stories intended for them. Their lives and confidence are enriched by taking part in new experiences. In short, at every turn they are surrounded by a positive, aspirational role model.

Other children, however, come from homes where some or all of these things are absent. In some they face apathy or even violence from parents or carers who have lost hope and are simply not ‘good enough’, as psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim would have put it. These children are surrounded by what we might call negative, or at best neutral, aspirational role models.

Furthermore, in the teenage years and sometimes earlier, they are frequently in a culture beyond the school and home where they spend time in a community characterised by sporadic violence, crime and drugs and where it is especially difficult to grow the resilience needed to avoid becoming ensnared.

A school’s organisational practices - such as vertical or year-group teaching; setting or streaming; formative or normative assessment and marking; use of language; a regime of rewards and sanctions - all have a positive or negative impact on individual pupils. A school may be successful for many, some or few pupils. Existing evidence is that schools are less successful with children from apparently disadvantaged backgrounds, but that a few schools do buck that trend.

What the 21st Century Learning Alliance has done so far is to set out a series of statements for schools to consider and, in doing so, ask themselves whether a particular answer is more or less likely to cause embedded failure among those youngsters most at risk. For example, most secondary schools, in adopting a fortnightly timetable ‘to fit it all in’, admit that in establishing priority criteria they start with the sixth form, proceed to the higher-grade GCSE sets, ensure that Year 9 have good teachers and end with Year 7 ‘making do’ at the end of the process. Yet they would also subscribe to the desirability tor any Year / pupil to encounter eight teachers at most. With the exception of schools that have adopted the RSA ‘Opening Minds’ programme, schools often have Year 7 pupils encountering 16 to 20 different teachers during their fortnightly timetable.

In the same way, schools face real choices in elevating the needs of some pupils over those of others when they decide on ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ banding. The examples are myriad and we have set out some of them on the website: www.21stcenturylearningalliance.

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

com. My hope is that we can broaden the debate and establish a list of, say, half a dozen essential school organisational practices and so reduce the sort of embedded failure identified in this paper. In my view, the list would definitely include:

• ‘vertical’ as well as ‘horizontal’ pupil groupings,

• more team and less individual activity, assessment and tasks

• guaranteed residential experiences

The debate about what practices harbour embedded failure is surely one worth having. As the RSA Education Charter states, all young people need

the support to enjoy success, no matter where their talents lie and irrespective of their background. This debate should also provoke a simultaneous consideration of government practices which, at a system level, have a similar potential to diminish or increase the likelihood of embedded failure, the reduction of which is surely the country’s top priority for the 21st century.

- Professor Tim Brighouse, former London Schools Commissioner & Co-chair 21 Century Learning Alliance.

RSA Journal Autumn Issue 2008.

Coutesy Gambhir Watts FRSA

Bhavan’s Swami Prakashananda Ayurveda Research CentreBhavan’s Swami Prakashananda Ayurveda Research CentreCancer Research And ServicesCancer Research And Services

Bhavan’s SPARC faculty has a unique background in cancer research and care. A cancer complementary clinic was ongoing for several years. The major interest has been in the mechanisms of spontaneous regression of cancer and the anticancer role of medicinal plants and biological products. Indian Council of Medical Research, Gopalji Trust and Go-Vigyan Bharati supported basic and applied research in cancer. Recently the Department of Biotechnology has supported a study with turmeric (Curcuma longa) in cancer of uterine cervix. Palliative studies in terminal cancer patients were conducted at Shanti-Avedna Ashram, Bandra.

Fig 6: Improvement of symptoms in terminally ill cancer patients while on treatment

Burning (n=16)

0% 19%

81%

Pain (n=29)

10%

31%59%

Depression (n=18)

22%

17%61%

Anorexia (n=18)

0% 28%

72%

Constipation (n=20)

30%

5%65%

Swelling (n=19)

0%

58%

42%

Good relief Moderate relief No relief

“Snakes can only grow by bursting their skin. Moulting has to be painful process, and should it fail the snake would die. Mankind also grows by now and then bursting its outgrown skin of antiquated ideas, thinking and institutions”.

- Albert Szent –Györgyi

NYT, March 29, 1978.

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

CLINIC WITH PANCHAKARMA FACILITIES AND CLINIC WITH PANCHAKARMA FACILITIES AND AYURVEDIC DISPENSARYAYURVEDIC DISPENSARY

Panchakarma and Ayurvedic dispensary have been an integral part of AIMD activities right from the inception of Bhavan’s SPARC. The activity was located initially at Lotus hospital campus at Juhu upto 1997 and now it has been shifted to Andheri Bhavan’s campus since then. Selected Ayurvedic medicines (40-50 formulations) are made available for dispensing. Panchakarma facilities like vamana, virechana, nasya, basti, raktamokshana along with the classical purvakarma (i.e. snehan & swedana) and paschatkarma (diet & behavioral regime) are advised in selected and suitable patients.

The primary objective of the clinic is to provide state of the art clinical services and to create robust experiential database. Besides a comprehensive clinical case record form for regular OPD patients, special case record form for each panchakarma modality is maintained.

As an outcome of this experiential clinical data a poster presentation was made in recently held 2nd World Ayurved Congress 2006 at Pune on ‘Nasyakarma- an observational study’.

The salient findings over the years of study are:

a. Curcuma longa has cancer-preventive activity and regresses oral precancerous lesions. In animals, cancer of the breast could be prevented with curcuma longa. Currently, the studies in cervical cancer are ongoing.

b. In terminally ill cancer patients, a special Ayurvedic formulation (Bilwaprash) provided a significant improvement in the quality of life and symptoms like constipation, nausea etc. (Figure 6)

c. The spontaneous regression of cancer is putatively due to the level of anticancer substance (ACS) suddenly rising in the blood and tissues.

ACS induces necrosis/apoptosis of the cancer cells. ACS gets excreted in urine and has a low threshold value of renal transport. Remarkable and long-term regressions have been reported with autourine therapy and Tinospora cordifolia. Cow’s urine is being investigated for ACS (Spontaneous or induced regression of cancer: A novel research strategy for Ayurvidya. Ancient Science of Life, 22(3); 75-83: 2003).

Gastro-intestinal

RespiratoryTract

Skin

Bones & Joints

Miscellenious

Fig 11: Number of patients registered (From April 2005-March2006)

In this ambulant care clinic patients with diverse clinical conditions particularly of long-term chronic ailments such as chronic sinusitis, chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, acid–peptic disorders, chronic colitis/constipation, inflammatory/irritable bowel disorders, skin disorders etc come for consultation and treatment Chart (Fig 11) above

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

Yoga To Help Overcome Depression Yoga To Help Overcome Depression - Sevapuri Hurst, President of Yoga in Daily Life, Australia- Sevapuri Hurst, President of Yoga in Daily Life, Australia

Stress and anxiety are precursors to depression and their symptoms can be addressed through the practices of yoga.

What is Stress?

Stress is the reaction to any internal or external stimuli that cause the activation of he fight or flight mechanism (sympathetic nervous system) – that can be helpful, but when it happens continually, over very small incidents and is never given an opportunity to release, then stress starts to impact negatively on our bodies and minds, e.g. financial problems, health and family problems, work related stress.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is when there is so much stress that we feel unable to cope anymore, we have fearful thoughts and physical reactions, these are the same as stress but more exasperated like a pounding heart, sweating, nauseous and breathlessness.

What is Depression?

We all get sad for lots of reasons: disappointment, grief, losing something valuable, missing out on a job, break up of a relationship. Sad is a normal reaction and we get over it mostly with a good nights sleep, or having a talk with a friend or with time. Depression is this sadness but it is more persistent and can last for weeks, months or even years. It affects not only how we feel, but the way that we think and behave. It is not something we can just get over or snap out of. Depression affects our total wellness and our motivation. Depression can arise from hormonal disturbances, imbalances of the pituitary gland, thyroid gland and reproductive hormones. Reactive depression arises from environmental stresses and anxiety in life of the person. Stress and anxiety can lead drug induced depression - sedatives, anti anxiety drugs, antipsychotic drugs, stimulants, alcohol, appetite suppressant drugs and other.

Yoga Management

Yoga techniques are an aid and adjunct to any therapy, complimentary medicine or ongoing treatment. Yoga is not an alternative to medication, psychologist or counselor support, in fact, if feeling depressed, see a doctor, as depression can often be part of another illness. Asanas and pranayama concentrate on building up physical and vital energy levels, with a flexible body follows a more flexible mind. In Level 3 of the Yoga in Daily Life System there is a strong focus the bring balance of dynamic movement

to renew energy levels, encourage deeper breathing and lift the spirits complimented by movements that tone and maintain the endocrine glands and the nervous system that communicates with these glands. Asanas include forward and back bending, sideways bending and inverted postures. Balancing asanas are explored in Level 3 essential to skillfully strengthen the body by building muscle mass and bone density. They have a strong calming effect on the mind; develop mental focus and a high level of self confidence and concentration. Following asanas practice of Nadi Shodhana pranayama to regulate the nervous system, alleviate stress and depression, quietening thoughts and emotions and bring inner balance. Self Inquiry Meditation Level 3 develops Visualisation, Observation of Feelings, Analysing Relationships with Fellow Humans, Discovering Your Own Moods and Awakening a Sense of Inner Freedom.

The key elements in helping us understand and overcome stress, anxiety and depression are:

Physical Health

Helping ourselves through periods of stress, anxiety and depression by practicing asanas, releasing tension, stimulating organs and glands, cultivating an understanding of our physical and mental state of being.

Mental Health

Meditation and breathing techniques help observe thought patterns and habits, calm the body and mind, aid in focusing and concentration, balance the nervous system and encourage positive thinking.

Social Health

Staying active, walking in nature, making plans and follow them through.

Spiritual Health

Develop spiritually with a daily Yoga practice which creates a life affirming ritual; finding acceptance and non attachment and knowing that everything changes.

- Yoga in Daily Life the System - Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

SPEECH BY HER EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA, SPEECH BY HER EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA, SHRIMATI PRATIBHA DEVISINGH PATIL, TO THE NATION ON THE SHRIMATI PRATIBHA DEVISINGH PATIL, TO THE NATION ON THE

EVE OF 60TH REPUBLIC DAY OF INDIAEVE OF 60TH REPUBLIC DAY OF INDIA

My Dear Fellow Citizens,

Tomorrow, we will be celebrating our 60th Republic Day. I extend my good wishes to our citizens from all walks of life, living in the country and overseas. I convey my special greetings to the members of our Armed Forces and Paramilitary Forces who guard our frontiers on land, sea and air. I also extend my greetings to the Central and State level police forces, including our internal security forces. Today is also an occasion to pay homage to those who laid down their lives for the safety and security of the nation. We owe a deep gratitude to them.

For six decades we have been a democratic republic and have been guided by the principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. The 60th milestone is marked with the many successes that we have achieved in different fields, and a host of issues that need our attention. We can look at our achievements with justifiable pride and focus on our shortcomings with a spirit of resolve. It is the manner in which we address the challenges we face that will determine the destiny towards which our nation is steered.

We have witnessed, in the last one year, major events in the financial and security scenario both at the global and the national level - terrorism and violence, natural disasters, volatility in oil and food prices, and a global economic slowdown. These tested the inherent structures and systems for dealing with emergent situations, throwing up challenges of addressing inadequacies and highlighting the need to reinforce monitoring and response mechanisms.

In the terrorist attacks in our cities and in different States many innocent lives were lost. The concerted and well planned attacks in Mumbai stand out as an example of a ruthless operation undertaken to damage the confidence of India. The nation was outraged. However, contrary to what the terrorists had hoped, the

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

event saw the emergence of a unified and strong voice from India. The elections that were held after the Mumbai attacks to the Legislative Assemblies of some of our States, including Jammu and Kashmir saw a large voter turnout, reaffirming the faith of the people of India in a democratic polity. Unity is our greatest strength. It is that unique amalgam which transforms the over one billion individuals of the country into an over one billion strong resolve of one nation. It is this unity which has seen us through difficult times and is what we must preserve as we seek to fulfill our national ambitions and goals.

One of the priority tasks faced by us is to secure the nation against terrorist and fundamentalist elements. Government has put in place a new agency to deal with terrorist threats and has also brought in legislative changes. A determined, coordinated and concerted approach by all agencies to tackle this menace would be necessary. Our security personnel can be confident that every citizen of India is with them as they take action to safeguard our borders and secure our safety and security within the country. I call on fellow citizens and the media to be a part of this security network. This entails responsible behaviour in which we are aware of our surroundings, and do not inadvertently create an atmosphere of fear or insecurity.

Our Constitution is our charter of democracy and of the rights of the people. Individual freedom and dignity is guaranteed under the fundamental rights included in the Constitution. Universal franchise has given to the citizens the right to determine their political choices. The development process itself is becoming an increasingly participatory activity. The Right to Information Act provides citizens a channel to seek accountability in governance. All this places the citizen at the centre, in terms of the recipient of the benefits of the growth of the nation and as also the key player in shaping the growth process. For success to be achieved each one has to play his or her part. Gandhiji used to emphasize that, “it is in this spirit that each one of us should act.” I am confident that all citizens will perform their duties towards the nation in accordance with the wise words of the Father of our Nation. Hard work, grit, determination and perseverance of its population are the brick and mortar of nation building, which itself is a complex task. I mention this because at times, cynical views have been expressed, ignoring that it was the will and sacrifice of our people that defeated a mighty colonial power and there is no reason to doubt, that with determination and dedication we will become a mighty nation.

I believe each one of us is a proud Indian, willing to work for the nation but the question is how do we bring about unison in our efforts? It cannot be through the following of a narrow agenda. We cannot give in to regional, sectarian or caste considerations. These concepts militate against the very principles we chose to follow when we began our journey as a free nation. All Indians, undoubtedly, have many identities but with an underlying common identity of being Indian. We may hail from one region but belong to a different caste or religion or speak a different language, but that cannot dilute our Indian identity. That identity in essence means a civilizational ethos of a shared experience of living together in harmony through generations, in a milieu of great diversity but in a spirit of tolerance and forbearance, that flows from our basic belief of unity. The incidents of violence by one community against another can have no place in a pluralistic society. I appeal to my fellow citizens to vow that they would fight divisive agendas and work for an India in which our first identity is Indian and, only thereafter, our other descriptions follow.

My fellow citizens,

The slowdown of the global economy, triggered by the actions of some credit and banking institutions has resulted in a crisis of confidence all around. The need for strengthening oversight mechanisms for financial institutions and for rules which are clear, transparent and uniformly applied is being acutely felt. Some companies that over-extended or functioned in an unethical manner have caused losses to shareholders. Such incidents profile the need for stronger corporate governance. There must be clear principles of accountability when such losses take place. The richness of a few cannot be at the cost of depriving others of their due. The traditional Indian ethics emphasized saving wisely, investing productively and not borrowing more than the capacity to repay. These hold valuable lessons for the business world. As Governments take necessary domestic measures to ensure that financial institutions and companies adhere strictly to high standards and conduct, it should be accompanied with greater international co-operation so that there is coordinated action in this regard. The need for having an inclusive international financial architecture cannot be over emphasized. India will bring to the global discussions considerable weightage and meaningful contribution for a more credible and viable financial structure. The instances of financial imprudence, which can put global welfare at jeopardy, cannot be allowed to happen again.

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

India has been impacted by the global environment. However, our economy has the fundamental strength and resilience to remain on course for economic growth. The global financial crisis can be an opportunity to reinforce the structures of our domestic economy. Government has announced monetary and fiscal stimulus packages to increase liquidity in the market and encourage investments. We have a very large domestic market and by increasing the purchasing power capacity of all sections of society, our economic development can be stimulated. We could even be one of the nations who can act as an engine to help revive the global economy.

Economic development serves a social purpose when it is for the welfare of the people. It is our effort to work towards providing education, health and better living conditions for the poorest of the poor and the weakest of the weak. We have made progress in the last 60 years but our task is not yet completed. We have to continue our efforts if we are to achieve the goal that we have set for ourselves to become a developed country.

We are seeking to address inequities in the growth process through an inclusive approach that brings within its ambit all regions and all peoples. This assumes even greater importance in these difficult days of economic stress. Economic opportunities should also be accessible in the remotest areas. We should expedite development of our basic infrastructure in the country, including in the North Eastern region. The poor and the disadvantaged people need to be drawn into circles of growth, to avoid their alienation from the mainstream. Welfare and development schemes implemented in earnest can bring about tangible difference to the lives of the people. Development partners, working with the utmost commitment and without the taint of corruption, can be the agents of change. Improvement in the human development parameters is important to create a productive work force and an enriched society. It is Gross Domestic Product along with welfare of the people that are the twin pillars of a progressive nation.

Rural development can be a very effective vehicle for spreading the benefits of balanced growth. The global spike in the price of food grains last year, and the resultant fears of shortages and hunger, carries the message that the nation must, at all times, be focused on its agriculture sector and food sufficiency. Improvement of agriculture through better and scientific agricultural techniques would contribute to the food security of the country. We have a rich heritage of agricultural practices like land use, cropping patterns and use of manure. We can also appropriately use this reservoir of traditional knowledge in our agriculture sector. Locating food processing industries close to our rural areas can, while avoiding tremendous losses in agricultural produce, be useful for generating employment options for our rural youth. By strengthening our agriculture economy, we can bring about the upgradation in this sector, and also create internal economic demand, through enhanced incomes of the farmers. Thus our agriculture sector can act as a catalyst for stronger and sustainable growth.

Many countries of the world have greatly benefited from their forests. Similarly, we must look at better management of our forests, which have a wide diversity of flora and fauna including medicinal plants. They can be important in generating social, economic and environmental benefits for the country. We have adopted legislation for recognizing habitation and occupation rights of forest dwellers. It is important to build their capacity for undertaking forest based enterprises in a manner that while they use forest resources they preserve forest health and conserve its wild-life and bio-diversity.

My fellow citizens,

On the social welfare agenda, I would like to highlight two groups that constitute a major part of our population -youth and women. India is a young nation from a demographic point of view. The youth represent the hope for the future and are an invaluable asset to the nation. Their hopes and aspirations for growth and prosperity are indeed the aspirations of the nation itself. Productive employment generation prospects can be created through skill development and vocational training. I call on our youth to take advantage of opportunities that are available to them. In addition to self- development, they must pledge to abjure violence and work for the welfare of humanity. I would be amiss if I did not mention the laurels that the youth have brought to the nation in the field of sports in the recent past. The Olympics in Beijing last year saw medals being won by Indians. This, alongwith the commendable performances at various sporting events around the world, is significant. They, perhaps, signal that we are at the beginning of a more fulfilling era in international sports. A focus on providing facilities and encouragement to our young

t e g oba eco o y.

Economic developmmeeeeent serves a a sosossss cial purpose when it is for the welfare of the people. It is our effort towork towards provididiiiingngngngngngngg education, hehehealalallallththththththth aaaa andndndndndndn better living conditions for the poorest of the poor and theweakest of the weak. WWWWeee eeeee have made progress iiiiinnn n the last 60 years but our task is not yet completed. We haveto continue our effortss s s if we are to achieve tttttthhhhhehhh goal that we have set for ourselves to become a developedcountry.

We are seeking to addresssss sss inequities in ttththe growth process through an inclusive approach that bringswithin its ambit all regioonnnnsnnn and all peooooopples. This assumes even greater importance in these difficult daysof economic stress. Ecoononononno omic opportuninininiinitititititt ese should also be accessible in the remotest areas. We shouldexpedite developmentntnttntntnt of our basic infrastrucucucuccuucccctutututtttutttttututtt rererererer i in n the country, including in the North Eastern region.The poor and the dddddddiiiisadvantaged people need to be ddddddrarararararrawnwnw i into circles of growth, to avoid thheieir alalalalalllieieieeieieiennannn tionfrom the mmainsnsssstrtrtrtrtrttream. Welfare and development schemes impmpmppppplelemented in earnest cac n brinngg g gg gg aaba out tangngngnggngibbledifferenennnnncccec to the lives of the people. Development partners, wworororrorrorkikikkkkk ngggg wwititthhh h h h h the utttmomomomoomoosstststststst commitment annnnnnndd withouuuut t the taint of corruption, ccananananaan bbb bbee eee ththththhe ee agents of change. Improvement in the human developopppmmeeentparamettters is important to ccccrerererrr atatte e e e aa a a pprprprp odododododucucucuuctitititit vevve wwwwworo k force and an enriched society. It is Grosss D D DDomesticProduct aalala ong with welfaaaarererereereer ooooffff f ththhhhe e pepepepepeoppppllel ttttthhhhah t t tt ararareeee e thththhthhhhhe e eee twin pillars of a progressive nation.

RRuRuuralll dddevelopment can n nnn bebebeee a aa vererrrery y y y y efefefefeffefefefefectctctctc ivivvvvee e e e vevevevevehihiiiiclclclclc e fofoor r rr sppppprer ading the benefits of balanced growthhh. The globalspppikiii e in the price of foooododododod g g g graininininins s s s s lalalalalaststststst yy yyyeaeaeaeaear,r,r,r,r, a aaaandndndndnd t t tt thehehehehe rrrr reeesulllltatatatat nnntntnt fears of shortages and hunger, carrieieeess the messagethaaaat the nation must, aataa aaall ttttimimimimimesesesese , ,,, bebebebebeb ff f ffococococususususededededed oooo oonnn n n itititititssss agririiiricuuuulture sector and food sufficiency.. Improvement ofagriririr culture through beeettttttererere aa andndndnd s sssciciciciienenenenentitititit ffifificc c agagagaggririririricucucucucultltltl urrruraaallal tt tecececcechnhnnniques would contribute to ththhhthhhhhthheee foff ooood security of thecounnntrtrt y. We have a ricccch hhehehheririririritattatagegegegege o o o of f f f agagagagagririririricucucuuultltltltlturururururalalalalal p pp p praactctctctcticiciceeeees llllike land use, , crcropoppppipipp ngnggg p pppaatatatterns anand use of manure.We cann a allso aaaappropriaaaata ellllly y y usususususe thththththisisisisis rrrrresesesese ererererervovovovovoiriririr o o ooof f trtrtrtrtradadadddiiitititiooooonnal knowleeeeddddge in our agriculture sector. Locating food processsiininnnng industririririries cc lololooose t t t t o o ooououourrr rurururururaaaaall ll l arrreaeeaeeass ss s caaaann,nn while avovovooiiding tremendous losses in agriculturalproduce, be uuuuseful for gennnerereereeeee atatatinininii g g g emmmmmployo memmemm nttt o o oppptptptioioioioooonnnnsn for ourr r rrruuural youth. By strengthening our agricultureeconomy, we can bring abouuuuuttttt thttt e ee upupupupupgrgrgrgrgradadadadadatatatata iiiioi n n n ininininin this sectctctctor, and also create internal economic demand,through enhannnnced incomes of the faff rmrmrmmmerererersss. TTT Thus our agaggggggrriririculture sector can act as a catalyst for stronger andsustainable grrooooowoo th.

Many countrieeeesessese of the world have greatlyyyy bbbbbbbeenenenenenenenefefefefefited from their forests. Similarly, we must look at bettermanagement of ffff ouooo r forests, which haveeee e a wide diversity of flora and fauna including medicinal plants.They can be impoooooooortr ant in generating socciiiiial, economic and environmental benefits for the country. We haveadopted legislatioonnnn nnn for recognizing habbbiiiibitation and occupation rights of forest dwellers. It is important tobuild their capacityyyyyyy f or undertaking foreesssst based enterprises in a manner that while they use forest resourcesthey preserve foressttttttttt h ealth and conservvvvevevevve its wild-life and bio-diversity.

My fellow citizens,

On the social welfaree agenda, I wowowowooooouuululu d like to highlight two groups that constitute a major part of ourpopulation -youth and d woww men. IInnnnndndnn ia is a young nation from a demographic point of view. The youthrepresent the hope for thheheheheehehe futururururrrrreeee and are an invaluable asset to the nation. Their hopes and aspirations forgrowth and prosperity are iiininininindddddeed the aspirations of the nation itself. Productive employment generation

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

sportspersons is necessary.

As the first woman President of India, there is a natural empathy that I have for the women of our country. I am conscious about the constraints and difficulties that they face in realizing their full potential. Their empowerment is necessary and that can only come through education and economic development. A woman has a right to live with dignity and a right to be an equal citizen of the country. I have set up a Committee of Governors, to suggest steps to move forward rapidly on the agenda of gender equality. Government has introduced gender budgeting. It should be adopted by every Ministry, every Department and all State Governments for promoting gender equality. These initiatives alongwith other efforts to make women effective partners in our national life, should converge into a national mission for empowerment of women. Self Help Groups have proved to be effective vehicles for the economic transformation of women. It should be our endeavour to bring every eligible woman under the cover of a Self Help Group for her economic empowerment. We also need to address the gender bias prevalent in our society which has resulted in social malpractices like female foeticide, dowry, child marriage and other evils. With a view to make society sensitive towards the girl child, the “National Girl Child Day” will be celebrated on 24th January, from this year onwards. Civil society and the media can also play a very important role in changing mindsets and I call upon them to do so with drive and commitment.

Malnutrition among women and high infant mortality are intrinsically linked to affordable medical facilities reaching the common man. Growth in the country should get reflected in reducing malnutrition. Programmes like the National Rural Health Mission require the medical fraternity to come forward in larger numbers to serve humanity in the highest traditions of that noble profession. Older people require medical care, which should be catered for alongwith their other welfare needs, including security.

Fellow citizens,

Technology plays a very important role in the progress of mankind. Its use in improving communication systems is evident. Scientists are exploring new frontiers in the medical field. The launch of Chandrayaan-I has made every Indian proud. Our efforts at collaborating with the international community to reap the benefits of technology for the welfare of the nation continue apace. The concluding of the nuclear civil cooperation agreement has made India a participant in the international regime for nuclear energy. Moreover, its finalization was an expression of confidence by the international community in India. We will make every effort to augment and diversify our energy options. Technology should be used to counter terrorist threats to the nation. We should be far ahead of the terrorists who are increasingly using sophisticated technology to carry out their violent agenda.

As a responsible nation, the conduct of our foreign relations since independence has been to promote peace and development. We are, however, located in a region which harbors the epicenter of terrorism. We have been victims of terrorism over the last two decades. The international community must take decisive and united action against terrorism, which poses a grave threat to the stability of the world. No country can afford to take an ambivalent attitude in this fight. Arguments that terrorism is being perpetuated by independent actors are self-defeating and cannot be accepted. Countries must own up their responsibilities as must the international community in defeating terrorism.

I conclude with an appeal to all citizens to bring forth their very best to serve the nation. India has the privilege of being a great civilization; today, it is the world’s largest democracy and its people have the commitment to fulfill the promise of it being a great nation. I quote a line from a known Hindi poet, to describe our wish for the nation:

As our tri-colour flutters high in the sky tomorrow, let each one of us take a pledge to bring glory to India and take our country to its destination of becoming a great nation that stands for human values.

Jai Hind.

has introduced gender budgggetetini g. It should be adopted by every Ministry, every Department and all StateGovernments for prrrooomomomomo oting geeeendndnnnn er equality. These initiatives alongwith other efforts to make womeneffective partners in ououououououour rr national lifififfffife,e, shohooooululuululululdddd dd coccc nverge into a national mission for empowerment of women.Self Help Groups have ppppprpppppp oved to be effective vvvvvvvehicles for the economic transformation of women. It should be our endeavour to brbrbrrrrrring every eligible woomomommoo an under the cover of a Self Help Group for her economicempowerment. We alsoooooo need to address theeeeeee gg gender bias prevalent in our society which has resulted in socialmalpractices like femaalellelelelele f oeticide, dowryyyy,y,y,yyyyyyy child marriage and other evils. With a view to make societysensitive towards the girl cccccchhih ld, the “Natttta ioioioiooioionnal Girl Child Day” will be celebrated on 24th January, from thisyear onwards. Civil socieeeeeety and the meeeeeedidddd a can also play a very important role in changing mindsets and Icall upon them to do ssooo o o o with drive and commmmmmmmimmmmm tment.

Malnutrition amonnngngngnng women and high infant morttatataatttality are intrinsically linked to affordable memememm dicalfacilities reachhinininnnnnggggg the common man. Growth in the country yyy shsss ould get reflected in reducingnggggggg m lllalnutrrrriitiiii ion.Programmmmmmmmmm esessssss llll like the National Rural Health Mission require ththhhhththeeee e ee mem dical ffrfrfrfrfrfr taterer iiniiininnitytytytyytyty ttt tt oooooo o ccome forward iiiiiinn nnlargerr nn mumbbebersrs t to o seservr ee hhhumama iinityty ii in nn hththththththeeeee hihihih hghghesestt trtr dadadiititiioionsns o offf hththatat nn bbbobbobllllele pproroffefessssiioion.n OO Oldldlderer p peo lplple e rereqquuiiiiiri emedicaaall care, which should bbbbeeeee catetetetet rerererr d dd d d fofofooor rr r r alalaaalonnnngwgwgwgwwith their other welfare needs, including securittyy.y.y.

Fellow citititi izens,

TTTeTechnology plays a veerereree yyy yy imimimmpopopop rtrtrtrtrtananananant tttt rororororoleleeele i iiin n n n n thththththe e e e e prprprogogogogogrreeressssssss of mankind. Its use in improving commmmmunicationsyyystss ems is evident. Scccccieeentntntisii ts aaaaarerererere e e ee expxpxpxpplololololoriririrringngngngng n nnneweweweww fff ffrontntntieieieerssss in the medical field. The launch offf CC CChhandrayaan-Ihaaas made every Indiaaaan n nnn prpp oudd.d.dd OO O OOururururur e e e eefffffffforororortstststss a a aaattttt cocococollllllaborrrrataaaa iiini g with the international commuuuunity to reap thebennenenefits of technologggygyg ff ffor theheheee www wwelelelelelfafafafafarererere o o o off f f f thththththeeee e nanananation ccccononnntinue apace. The concludininnnnnng ofofoo ttthe nuclear civilcoopppereree ation n n agagagaggreemennnnt hhhahahass maaadedededede II IIIndndndndndiaiaiaiaia aaaaa p p pppararararartitititit cicicicicipapapapapant iii iin nn thththhhe ee ee iinternationaaalll rerereregigigigimememm f fforororor nnn nuclear energy. Moreover,its finalilizatioonnn was ann nnn exexxxexprprpreessisiisisiononononon o o oo off ff f cococococonfnfnfnfnfidididididenenenenncecc bb bbby y y thththeeee e internatiooonnal community in India. We will makeevery effort ttttooo augment ttt annnd d d ddddid veveveeerrrsr ifififififyy ouououur rrr r enenennneree gygyyyy o o ooopttttp iioii ns. Technonononollogy should be used to counter terrorist threats to thheeeeee nation. We shshshssss ouuuuuldldld b b beee ee faaarr ahahahhheaeaeadd d ofofofo ttttttthhhhhehhh terrooririririsstststss who are increasingly using sophisticated technology tooo carry out their viviviivivioloooo ennnntttt t agagagaggeeenenenddadadada.

As a responsiiibbiibbllle natiiion, thhhe conddduct offf our ffforeeiiigigigigigigiggnnnn n relations since independence has been to promotepeace and devvveeevvelopment. We are, however, locateeeedddddd dd dd in a region which harbors the epicenter of terrorism. Wehave been victcttttttimimiiiii s of terrorism over the laaaastststststststt tttttt twwwo decades. The international community must take decisiveand united actiooooooooonn nnn against terrorism, whihiiiihiiich poses a grave threat to the stability of the world. No countrycan afford to takkekekeeeeke an ambivalent attitudddddddde in this fight. Arguments that terrorism is being perpetuated byindependent actorsrsrsrssssrss are self-defeating annnnnndd cannot be accepted. Countries must own up their responsibilitiesas must the internaaattttaa ional community inn defeating terrorism.

I conclude with an aaaaaaappeal to all citizzzzzzzeeeeens to bring forth their very best to serve the nation. India has theprivilege of being a ggggggggggrer at civilizationnnnnn;nnn today, it is the world’s largest democracy and its people have thecommitment to fulfill l tthe promise ofofofofofofoff it being a great nation. I quote a line from a known Hindi poet, todescribe our wish for tthththhhthhhhhe nation:

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

First Woman Governor General of Australia: First Woman Governor General of Australia: Her Excellency Quentin BryceHer Excellency Quentin Bryce

TTTheee EEaarrllyyy LLiifeee offf QQQQueentiinn BBBrryyyce:

Quentin Bryce was born on 23 December 1942, in Brisbane, as the second of four daughters. Her parents, Norman Strachan and Naida Wetzel, had taken up residence at Ilfracombe in 1940. Her father was a manager of the local wool–scour. Her mother was employed as a school teacher before marrying Strachan, and Quentin Bryce – along with all of the children in her family – was home-schooled.

Her family left the area in 1949, initially relocating to Launceston in Tasmania, where they remained for approximately a year. Returning to Queensland, her family moved to Belmont, where her father was engaged to open a new wool–scour. It was when living in Belmont that she attended the Camp Hill State School, and it was there that she first met her future husband, Michael Bryce.

During the period that they were residing in Belmont, her father purchased a property near Tenterfield in New South Wales, where he took up sheep farming. In 1956 Quentin Bryce started attending boarding school at Moreton Bay College, Wynnum, Brisbane, while her parents managed “a couple of stations out west”.

Upon graduating from high school she undertook studies at the University of Queensland; initially enrolling in a social work and arts degree, but transferring to Law in her third year at the institution. She graduated from the university with a Bachelor of Arts in 1962 and Bachelor of Laws in 1965. In 1965, she was one of the first women to be admitted to the Queensland bar, although she has never practised professionally.

PPPerrsoonnaalll lliffee ooof QQQuuuuennttinn BBrryyccee

She married Michael Bryce, Adjunct Professor Michael Bryce in 1964 and together they have two daughters, three sons, and five grandchildren. Professor Bryce is an Adjunct Professor of Design at the Queensland College of Art (Griffith University), the School of Design and Architecture at the University of Canberra, and the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales.

Professional Life of Ms. Bryce

After spending some time in London, Bryce returned to Australia and accepted a part-time tutoring position at the T. C. Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland in 1968, thus becoming the first woman to be appointed to the faculty. In 1969 she was took up a lecturing position at the law school, and she continued to teach at the university until 1983

In 1978 the Fraser government formed the National Women’s Advisory Council, and Bryce was “vaulted to prominence” with her appointment to the council, taking on the role of convener in 1982. In 1984 she became the first director of the Queensland Women’s Information Service under the umbrella of the Office of the Status of Women, and was appointed as the “women’s representative on the National Committee on Discrimination in Employment and Occupation”. Then in 1987 she became the Queensland director of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC).

Over a five-year period (1988-1993) Bryce served as Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner during the time of the Hawke Labor government. The period was noted as being one of “galloping legal reform” for the rights of women. Ms. Bryce

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

became the founding chair and chief executive officer of the National Childcare Accreditation Council, where she remained for three years, before changing direction between 1997 and 2003 when she became the principal and chief executive officer of The Women’s College within the University of Sydney, New South Wales.

In other roles, Bryce has been the chair of the National Breast Cancer Advisory Council and sat on the Australian Women’s Cricket Board, and has been a member of organizations such as the YWCA, the Australian Children’s Television Foundation and the Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital.

MMs.. BBrryyccee, GGoovverrrnooor ooof QQuuueeennnssllaand

In 2003, on the recommendation of the Premier Peter Beattie, Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, appointed her Governor of Queensland, the second woman to occupy the position. Bryce’s stint at Government House was not always peaceful, but she continued to be a “highly respected figure” during her time as Governor. She was appointed Governor-General, and she was succeeded as Queensland Governor on 29 July 2008 by Penelope Wensley

Governor-General of Australia

On 13 April 2008 it was announced that, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the Queen had approved her appointment as the next Governor-General of Australia. Across all political spectrums the decision was unequivocally accepted.

From the wider community, Patricia Edgar described Bryce’s selection as an “inspired choice”; while Jill Singer in the Herald Sun stated that the decision signalled “an important about face for Australia”.

Honours

1988 - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for • service to the community, particularly to women and children

2000 - Australian Sports Medal for services to • women’s cricket

2003 - Companion of the Order of Australia • (AC)

2003 - Dame of the Order of St John of • Jerusalem

- Source: Wikipedia, The free encyclopedia, net

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

From Bhavan’s Journal October 5 1958Reprinted in Bhavan’s Journal October 15 2008

Wonderful Vision of the Mother Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

“Greatly afflicted with the thought that I might never have Mother’s vision, I was dying of despair. Agonised, I thought, there was then no use in living this life. My eyes suddenly fell upon the sword that was there in the Mother’s temple. I made up my mind to put an end to my life with it that very moment. Like one mad, I ran and caught hold of it, when suddenly I had the wonderful vision of the Mother and fell down unconscious”.”I did not know what happened then in the external world -how that day and the next slipped away. But, in my heart of hearts, there was flowing a current of intense bliss, never experienced before, and I had the immediate knowledge of the light, that was Mother”. The Master said that at the time of his first vision he saw a conscious sea of light. But what about the Divine Mother’s form consisting of pure consciousness only - the form of Hers with boons and ‘freedom from fear’ in Her hands?Did the Master then have the vision of that form also in that sea of light? It appears that he had. For, as soon as he had the slightest external consciousness at the time of his first vision, he, we are told, uttered repeatedly the word ‘Mother’ in a plaintive voice.

Way to Abiding Happiness - Gurudev Tagore

Man’s abiding happiness is not in getting anything but in giving himself up to what is greater than himself, to ideas which are larger than his individual life, the idea of his country, of humanity of God. They make it easier for him to part with all that he has, not excepting his life. His existence is miserable and sordid till he finds some great idea which can truly claim his all, which can release him from all attachment to his belongings. Buddha and Jesus, and all our great prophets, represent such great ideas. They hold before us opportunities for surrendering our all.

In Search of New Standards & Values - Jawaharlal Nehru

There is such a thing as a national culture with its deep roots in the nation’s soils and in its history. To uproot a nation is to destroy the soul of that nation which made it a living entity through the ages. This is particularly true of a country like India, whose roots go deep down and whose thought has enriched her and given her strength to overcome disaster and survive even the dangers that success brings.

21st Foundation Day Celebrations - Shri K. M. Munshi’s Address

Before we consider “What Gandhiji would have expected us to do”, we must clear our mind of one thing: Gandhiji’s fundamental approach to all situations which was dictated by Truth, Non¬violence and faith in God. Such was Gandhiji’s allegiance to Truth that once he wrote to me: “I once thought that God was Truth. Now I know that Truth is God.” His faith in God also was unshakable. “I believe in God much more than I believe in the fact that you and I are alive and I am speaking to you”, he once said. At the same time, Gandhiji’s was a fresh and receptive mind till the end. In his appraisal of a situation, he never allowed pre-conceptions to overshadow his judgment. Never did he deal with a situation except with great responsiveness. Again, never did he allow his reactions to swerve from the orbit of his fundamentals.

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

Mahmood KhanMahmood KhanComposer, performer and recording artist Mahmood Khan will share his songs and performances with the multicultural audiences Australia has to offer in a concert at the Sydney Opera House on March 14th.

Mahmood Khan represents an exclusive rare breed of singer/songwriters to emerge out of Asia who amongst extreme difficulties kept their Art alive and dedicated a lifetime to celebrate the resilience and adaptability of the human spirit. An experienced sound engineer, producer, writer, lyricist and performer, he has pioneered the fusion sound and has continually brought hope to his niche listeners around the world with his spiritual pop oriented songwriting and philosophy.

Born in Pakistan to parents who migrated from India after the 1947 war, he wrote songs at an early age. He moved to Los Angeles and started off as an assistant sound engineer in at a company that was a hub for R&B, Rap, Hip Hop and Funk genres. Jam power productions led by visionary Tom Berry was based in Northridge, California and was home to producers Chuckii Booker, Livio Harris, Damon Thomas, Budd Ford and Ronni Van among many others. His first break in LA came when his song won the Los Angeles Songwriters Showcase song competition setting him up with a gig with veteran music producer George Tobin.

In the Indian Sub Continent region where original singer/ songwriters are extremely rare Mahmood’s love for original songs was kept alive and inspired by writers such as Barry Gibb, Michael Omartian, Paul Simon, Aziz Mian Qawal, John Denver, Stevie Wonder and David Foster and Arif Mardin. Many singers all over the world have recorded his songs notably Nusrat fateh Ali Khan who collaborated on album ‘Only one’ Internationally released in 1997 and recently 30 Australian independent artists recorded his composition for a charity song for The Red Cross . Local artists involved with Project Down Under include Amanda Easton and Tania Murray who co-wrote the lyrics with Khan, as well as Jo Elms, Yolanda Thomas, Evelyn Duprai, Snez, Melanie Griffiths and Ellen Arthur to perform on the song, which will also include a beautiful Sitar solo performed by Rosie Henshaw He was also commissioned by the Government of Pakistan to compose for the 9th SAf (South Asian Games) games opening and closing ceremonies and was also supported by Alliance Francaise in his struggling years.

A master musician he can develop different sounds for his songs by fusing exotic instruments while keeping the American Funk song formation as the foundation, original melodies and lyrics as the soul and South American inspired gypsy guitars as the bed.

Mahmood believes the combination of his music and the onstage chemistry between the players will make a once-in-a-lifetime concert performance. “It is both exciting and humbling that considering my geographic disposition I get the opportunity to play at the Sydney Opera House” he said. “There are some amazing moments we captured on film while shooting the documentary ‘Journey of a sound’ of the events which have been nothing short of miracles leading up to the concert”.

MMaahhmooooddd KKKhhhaannn FFFunnkk LLiivee MMMarccch 1144thhh 220000999 - 88 PPMMM

CCooooncceerrt HHHalll - SSSyyddnneeeyy OOOpeerraa HHoousssse

2RRRuuleess MMMediiiaCCCConntttacttt: ZZsoolltt Naaagy 0042224444004433337 - 222ruulleesmmeeddia@@@@gmail.com

Bhavan’s Children SectionBhavan’s Children Section6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

There was a lion who feared nothing except the crowing of cocks. A chill would go down his spine whenever he heard a cock crowing. One day he confessed his fear to the elephant, who was greatly amused. “How can the crowing of a cock hurt you?” he asked the lion. “Think about it!” Just then a mosquito began circling the elephant’s head, frightening him out of his wits. “If it gets into my ear I’m doomed!” he shrieked, flailing at the insect with his trunk.Now it was the lion’s turn to feel amused. MMoraaal: If wwee cccooulldd see ouurr feeaarss aas oothhheers see them we wooulldd rreeallisee tthhatt mooostt offf ouurr ffears mmmaake no sense!

TThhee PPooower of a rumourA hare resting under a banyan tree had a premonition of doom. “What would happen to me if the earth were to break up?” he wondered. Suddenly, there was a ‘thud’ followed by a rumbling sound.“It’s happened,” thought the hare, “the earth’s breaking up!”

He jumped up and ran. “Why are you running?” asked a hare who crossed his path. “The earth’s breaking up!” shouted the hare. “You’d better run too.” The second hare ran so fast he overtook the first. “The earth’s breaking up, the earth’s breaking up!” he shouted to other hares he passed. Soon thousands of hares were scampering through the forest. Other animals got caught up in the panic. The word spread from mouth to mouth, and soon everyone knew: the earth was breaking up. It was not long before the whole jungle was on the move. Reptiles, insects, birds

and four-footed animals fled in wild disorder, and their cries of terror filled the air.

A lion standing on a hillock, saw the animals coming and wondered what was going on. He hastened down and positioning himself in front of the horde called for it to stop. His commanding presence stemmed the rising tide of panic among the animals. “The earth is breaking up!” shrieked a parrot, alighting on a rock near him.

“Who says so?” “I heard it from the monkeys.” The monkeys said they had heard it from the tigers, who said their informants were the elephants, who gave the buffaloes as their source.When the hares were finally implicated they pointed one to another until the one who had started it all was identified. “What makes you think the earth is breaking up?” the lion asked him. “I heard it cracking with my own ears, sire,” squeaked the hare, trembling in fear. The lion investigated the sound the hare had heard and found that it had been caused by a large coconut falling from a tree. It had landed on a pile of rocks, causing a minor landslide. “Go back to your homes,” said the lion to the animals who had been running away, and who were now looking very foolish. “The earth’s safe. Next time, check a rumour before acting on it.”

- Source: www.dimdima.com

www.incredibleindia.orgIndia Tourism Sydney, Level 5, Glass House 135 King Street,Sydney 2000 Ph +61 2 9221 9555info@indiatourism.com.au

“I want all the cultures of all lands to be blown “I want all the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I about my house as freely as possible. But I

refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”~ Mahatma Gandhi ~~ Mahatma Gandhi ~

6.6 / 6.7 January 2009

Holy & WiseHoly & WiseLet noble thoughts come to us from every side - Rigveda, I-89-ILet noble thoughts come to us from every side - Rigveda, I-89-I

The Test of Bhavan’s Right to ExistThe Test of Bhavan’s Right to Exist

The test of Bhavan’s right to exist is whether those who work for it in different spheres and in different places and those who study in its many institutions can develop a sense of mission as would enable them to translate the fundamental values, even in a small measure, into their individual life.

Creative vitality of a culture consists in this: whether the ‘best’ among those who belong to it, however small their number, find self-fulfilment by living up to the fundamental values of our ageless culture.

It must be realised that the history of the world is a story of men who had faith in themselves and in their mission. When an age does not produce men of such faith, its culture is on its way to extinction. The real strength of the Bhavan, therefore, would lie not so much in the number of its buildings or institutions it conducts, nor in the volume of its assets and budgets, nor even in its growing publication, cultural and educational activities. It would lie in the character, humility, selflessness and dedicated work of its devoted workers, honorary and stipendiary. They alone can release the regenerative influences, bringing into play the invisible pressure which alone can transform human nature

KulapativaniA Many Faceted Mind

Few people have an idea of Rajaji’s many-sided interests. Years ago, at Tiruchengodu, I heard him discourse on the ways of the bees. In between political battles, I have seen him reading Shakespeare and Dickens. An important book on politics or economics finds him an ardent reader. He would write on the ‘Raman-Effect,” carry on a campaign against B.C.G. and discuss with you, if he is free, the medical treatment for lumbago with almost professional precision.

In a few weeks, he could produce a remarkable lecture on India culture or sum up the quintessence of the Upanishads or the Bhagava Gita with masterly brevity.

Rajaji is a master stylist. His style is self-restrained, chaste beautiful and at times biblical. He has the sure literary touch. He can make subtle distinctions and at a moment’s notice, use appropriate words in appropriate contexts. His short stories are inimitable. His English summaries of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana have classical touch. Rajaji feels very strongly that democracy can only be saved if strong Opposition Party comes into existence.

Truth is always greater than formulae but as Albert J Schweitzer has said: “It is the fate of every truth to be the object of ridicule when it is first proclaimed.”

Rajaji has always been the embodiment of the democratic conscience of the people of India

Never do enmities cease by hating in this world, bbut hatred ceases by love. This is the eternal law

- Dhammapada -l-5-Buddhavachan

Hating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat -Harry Emrson Fosdick

Virtue is preserved by truthfulness, learning by application. beatuy by cleanliness and lineage by good conduct -Vidira Neeti

Honour thy father and thy mother - Ten Commandments from the The Bible.

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3 - 5 April ‘09Tumbalong Park, Chinese Gardens

Forecourt and Amphitheater

Darling Harbour