Happy Krishna Janmashtami & some Krishna temple history

Happy Krishna Janmashtami everyone.

Krishna has reiterated in the Bhagavath Gita us that we're not our body or mind or ego or intellect. We are the soul. Everything else is an artificial material attachment. That includes even attachment to religion. However, it is also important to uphold Dharma, which will help us on the path of enlightenment. But doing so as a duty, for doing the right thing at any point of time, without any attachment.

Several Vaishnavites believe in Saranagathi (everything is left to God to handle) and in Nama Sankirtana (chanting the holy name of God-Japam). However, is that sufficient? Let us look at some history of some popular Krishna temples.

• The Krishna Mathura (Dehra Kesu Rai/Kesava Deo) temple was destroyed, rebuilt & destroyed multiple times, by Mahmud Ghazni, Sikander Lodhi, Aurangzeb & Nadir Shah. Aurangzeb built a mosque at the site of the original temple, broke the temple vigraham to pieces & buried it under the Nawab Begum Sahib mosque.
• The Pandaripur Pandurangan temple was destroyed by Muhammad bin Tughlaq. The Pandurangan vigraham was saved prior to demolition.
• The Vrindavan Krishna temple was destroyed by Aurangzeb. It was rebuilt later.
• The Krishna Dwaraka temple was destroyed, rebuilt & destroyed multiple times, by Mohammad Shah, Mahmud Begada & British Colonel Donovan.
• The Krishna Puri temple was destroyed, rebuilt & destroyed multiple times, by Raktabahu, Illias Shah, Feroz Shah Tughlaq, Allauddin Hussain Shah, Kalapahara, Sulaiman Karrani, Hasim Khan, Jagirdar Kesodasmaru serving under Hasim Khan, Kalyan Mall, Mukarram Khan serving under Jahangir, Mirza Ahmed Beg,  Amir Mutaquad Khan alias Mirza Makki, Amir Fateh Khan, Aurangzeb & Muhammad Taqi Khan.
• In the Kovil Ozhuvu annals of Srirangam, Malik Kafur & Ughluk Khan destroyed the temple & massacred the civilians, who put up a valiant resistance against a trained army. There was no worship happening there for decades. The vigraham was rescued prior to demolition by devotees.
• The Shrinath Vigraha used to reside at Govardhana which was demolished by Aurangzeb. The vigraham was rescued by devotees before the demolition.
• The then famous Jagannath Rai temple and surrounding temples in Udaipur was demolished by Aurangzeb. The vigrahams were broken and buried under the steps of the Jama Masjid.
• The Krishna vigraham from Guruvayoor was moved by devotees to Ambalapuzha by attacks prior to a planned attack by Tipu Sultan. It was to return only after Tipu Sultan's reign ended. In a separate incident, the temple was looted and destroyed by the Dutch Christian colonists.
• Post independence, the Indian central government & state governments have been systematically using temple wealth for government & political party needs, since only Hindu temples are under the control of the government. This won't end without a struggle.

And a piece of a recent attack during Janmashtami.

• Swami Lakshmananda and his disciples was murdered by Christians associated with the Indian National Congress, Biju Janata Dal & World Vision India on Krishna Janmashtami for efforts preventing conversion to Christianity of the locals. This was to spark Hindu-Christian riots.

I'm certain that at least some devotees were practicing Namasankirtana & Saranagathi amongst all the victims here. Clearly, they are insufficient against barbaric & intolerant forces.

Light in the partition darkness

Happy Indian Independence Day.

Here's another personal partition story that I heard over a decade back. There is a restaurant called Komala Vilas, Sunnyvale which serves Tamil Brahmin food. There was a Tamil Muslim friend who used to help out there. This is the story that he heard. In Lahore in British colonial India, a lot of Tamil Hindus used to work there. It was a thriving multi-cultural city. One of them was a Tamil Brahmin lady, who now aged, was working in Komala Vilas.

After partition, all hell broke loose in Lahore. Hindu & Sikh minorities were systematically targeted in newly formed Jinnah's Pakistan. This lady had a Muslim lady friend. This Muslim lady's husband was a fanatic. During the carnage, she provided shelter to to the Hindu lady friend in her own house. And kept it a secret from her husband, steering her family away from the room where she was sheltered. And even fed her vegetarian food in secret. And she managed to escape to India after the carnage.

I always wondered. How did this woman manage to summon up so much courage to shelter someone in secret against her own husband? How would she even live with that man? Culturally, in those days, people would typically marry for life. Even if one spouse was grossly imperfect, they would still stick to the institution of marriage.

After Jinnah called for "Direct Action", violence broke out against the Bengali Hindus in then undivided Bengal. Later, reprisal violence broken out against the Muslims. This was the time when Gandhi, a religious Hindu himself, would lament that it would be better if religion hadn't come to the world. Understandable, since attachment to religion had provoked this violence. Gandhi worked very hard to quell the violence. Some Hindus told him that they would like to defend the Muslims from the reprisal violence. However, they didn't want to meekly die using non-violence (Ahimsa). They asked if they could use violence in self-defense and in defense of the others. Gandhi surprisingly agreed & justified it as well. This is the only instance that I know of when he realized that Ahimsa wouldn't always work & shelved it. Many Hindus did die protecting the Muslims in the reprisal violence.

Even in the times of greatest darkness, it is clear that some souls across all faiths can transcend the darkness and do what's right. This post is a small homage to those great souls.

The last train station master of pre-independence Lahore

Happy Indian Independence day.

A few years back, I was chatting with a distant relative. To my surprise, his father was the last train station master of Lahore in pre-independence undivided India. He had a very interesting personal partition story.

Lahore is an ancient city founded by Lava, the son of Rama, originally called LavaPuri. A neighboring city, Kasur (originally called Kushavati?), is an ancient city founded by Lava's brother, Kusha. In Lahore, in the Shah Qila, is a temple to Lava. In undivided pre-independent India, Lahore was a thriving city with lots of immigrants with multiple cultures.

When partition was announced, the last train station master of Lahore, anticipating trouble, sent his family to India. He stayed on performing his duties. Then, partition actually happened. There were rumors circulating that Hindus & Sikhs would be killed in Lahore. He was worried. He went home.

To his utter surprise, he found that a Mohammedan family had moved into his home. He was told by them that his house was no longer his but theirs. There was no more room for Hindus in Lahore. He should leave for his own safety. He then purchased an air ticket to India. But there was one more night to stay. And no house to stay. Hotels were not safe. What to do?

He consulted with a Mohammedan family, who were well known to him & were friends. (Interestingly, this aged gentleman who was the station master's son, who told me the details, would use the word Mohammedan rather than Muslim. I'll use the same terms in this post as he did.) They advised him to stay in a barn in their house. (I wonder why they didn't ask him to stay in their house itself. Were they simply not hospitable enough? Or were they worried that they would be targeted if they housed a Hindu?)

The next day morning, he thought that maybe he should dress up as a Mohammedan. The family who sheltered him advised against it. It would be fairly easy for any local to identify him as a Hindu, who was disguising himself. And he could become a specific target. He decided against disguising himself.

He booked a Tonga (horse drawn carriage) to the airport. It was just him riding. But a Mohammedan stopped the Tonga. He got on. He simply started taking personal things of the station master. Took his coat. Took his bag. Took his wallet. Took out the cash, pocketed it. Took out the air ticket. Tore it. Threw it in the gutter. Threw his wallet into the gutter. Then, stopped and left.

He stopped the Tonga. Picked up his wallet from the gutter. And his torn air ticket. Reached the airport. Fortunately, he was allowed to fly. And reached safe to his family in India.

History records that unfortunately, others weren't so lucky. Lahore was to erupt in brutal religious violence. Minorities attempting to flee Jinnah's Pakistan's Lahore via a train were brutally assaulted & murdered. A train packed full of bodies reached Amritsar, Punjab, India. This was to result in brutal religious reprisal violence. And resulted in the largest forced human migration and one of the largest body counts in recorded history.

We are now running out of folks who can talk about personal stories of partition. If anyone knows any forgotten undocumented voice of this event, please do record them for posterity.

The veils of the soul

In reality, who am I? Am I my body? Or am I my mind? Or am I something else?

 The Upanishads teach that our true nature is the self (Jivaatma). The soul has veils that prevents us from realizing our true nature. What are these veils?

First, we've the material world full of sense objects surrounding us.

Next come the five organs of action (Karma Indriyas) of our own body. These are speech, hands, legs, reproductive & excretory organs.

Next come the sense organs (Jnana Indriyas). These comprise sight, smell, taste, hearing & touch. The Jnana Indriyas are more subtle than the Karma Indriyas, which makes them more powerful. For instance if you see or smell something good, the senses can make you walk to the source & examine it.

Next comes the mind (Manas), which is also called the Antha Karana (inner organ). The mind is more subtle than the sense organs, which makes it more powerful. The mind can control the sense organs and make them do what it wants to do. The mind is restless in nature and always seeks new experiences. For instance, it can decide that it wants to watch a movie or travel somewhere and make you do that. The mind makes us believe that the mind is the true I. The mind will never take responsibility for its actions & if an action goes wrong, it can make us feel guilty. When you satisfy a craving of the mind, it will calm down for a short bit and then move on to the next desire. It will never be satisfied.

Next comes the intellect (Buddhi). Whenever the mind becomes calm, the intellect becomes active. Whenever the intellect is active, that is the time when a human is capable of great accomplishment. For anyone to solve a very tough problem, the mind calms down its restless nature and the intellect comes into play. Or a sportsperson might say that he's in the zone, meaning his restless mind calmed down and his powerful intellect took over the game. The intellect is more subtle than the mind, which makes it more powerful.

After the intellect comes the ego (Aham), which gives the sense of I. My name is Rama. My profession is engineering. I'm a female. I'm Chinese. This is my family. This is my culture. This is my country. All these associations with "I" comes from the ego. The ego is more subtle than the intellect, which makes it more powerful.

Next comes Avyaktam, which is your formless self, which is your state during dreamless sleep (Sushupthi). Remove the subtle material nature of Avyaktam and you get your Jivatma.

Do you have to believe this? Absolutely not. Then, how can I determine if this is true? Through meditation (Dhyana), which is the seventh limb (anga) of Ashtaanga Yoga, you can determine whether this is true yourself. This is considered akin to peeling your own internal onion, layer by layer.

It is we who have created the veils of desire on our own soul. And it is only we who can start removing the veils. And this can happen only through the efforts of meditation.

Find out who you truly are. Find out your own true nature. And you shall know the truth. So say the Upanishads and the great saints of this world.

The six glimpses of the truth

As a high level summary, there are six darshanas of Hinduism, called Shad-Darshanas (glimpse of truth) or Shan-Margams (paths), which accept different Pramaanams (ways of acquiring knowledge).

1. The Nyaya न्याय Darshana of Gautama Medatithi, Father of logic: Logic, justice, rule or method of reasoning.
2. The Vaiseshika वैशेषिक Darshana of Kanada कणाद Kasyapa, Father of Atomism: Everything in the material world is comprised of a small indivisible particle (paramaanu: atoms).
3. The Sankhya सांख्य Darshana of Kapila Kardama: Father of empirism: Everything is Purusha {spirit} & Prakriti {the material world}.
4. The Yoga Darshana of Patanjali: The practice by which Samkya can be realized. Remove Prakriti through Yoga, realize Purusha. Patanjali's Ashtaanga Yoga {8-limbed Yoga} is a key text. Asanaas {postures} are one of the limbs of Yoga.
5. The Mimamsa मीमांसा Darshana of Jaimini (also called Purva-Mimasa): The Jivatma are separate from the supreme {Paramatma} & should serve the divine. Many traditions of Bhakthi (devotion) Yoga fall under Purva Mimasa.
6. The Vedanta वेदान्त Darshana of Badarayana (also called Uttara-Mimamsa): Everything will merge with the supreme. Advaita (non-duality: all is one) is a tradition that follows Uttara Mimamsa.

More philosophers/logicians:

1. Charvaka-Atheism
2. Tura Kavaseya-Early founder of Advaita
3. Dignaga & Dharmakirti-Rigorous Baudhas
4. Ganesa Upadhyay-Advanced Neo-Logic
5. Akṣapāda Gautama-Father of both deduction & induction
6. Pracetasa Manu-Earliest teacher of political philosophy
7. Visnugupta Kautilya-Father of Economic thought
8. Pāṇini Dākṣīputra-Father of linguistics
9. Nāgārjuna-Creator of tetra valued logic
10. Bhartṛhari-Sphoṭa theory of sound

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyaya

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaisheshika

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samkhya

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_(philosophy)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%ABm%C4%81%E1%B9%83s%C4%81

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedanta
https://twitter.com/JoeAgneya/status/1123312560219066370 

The symbolism behind Shiva

There are countless Shiva stories in the Puranas. In one story, Shiva burns Kama (the God of love) with the fire of his third eye. In another, Shiva saves Rishi Markandeya by destroying Kala (time implying death). What is the meaning behind these stories?

Kama means desire. In contemporary terms, it means sexual desire, but the original meaning is just desire. Taking the more contemporary meaning, it causes birth. Taking the original meaning of just desire, Hinduism teaches us that we have chosen to come to the material world because we have unfulfilled material desires. Multi-layered in meaning, desire causes birth.

Kala means time. It is also known as the great destroyer and one that destroys all. All that is born has to die. It is only a matter of time.

How do you, who has a body, permanently escape the material world without returning? You have to escape the cycle of birth and death (Samsaara).

Shiva is symbolically shown as the one who destroys both desire (implying birth) and time (implying death), who can redeem you from the material life.

Another interesting aspect of Shiva is that he is known as the destroyer (in the Trinity behind creator, preserver & destroyer). What is destroyed? Shiva is represented as the Sahasraara Chakra in your body, at the top of the head where the soul (Jivaatma) resides. After strenuous efforts in deep meditation, when the Kundalini is awakened and risen through the Chakras, when the Kundalini reaches the Sahasraara Chakra, material life as we know it is over. All material desires are overcome, and the physical body is dead, with no requirement to return to the material world. Shiva is the destroyer of your material desires and material body.

Reference:
Upanyasam by Sri Muralidhara Swamigal