Sree Narayana Guru – Greatest Advocate of Humanism

Translation of the Tribute piece written in Malayala Manorama on August 22nd 2013  by HH Pujya Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of The Art of Living. Responsibility is completely mine, for any errors in this translation from Malayalam to English. Kindly notify me for corrections. This tribute piece was written on the occasion of Birth Anniversary of the Guru (August 20th)
NaryanaGuru
Sri Narayana Guru took birth in the 19th Century for the sake of development and progress of Human race. He was a great proponent of Humanism. He was responsible for the extra-ordinary awakening in the Kerala of those days, both by his action and deed. This Great Maharshi, was responsible for bringing Advaitadarshana as means of salvation to the entire Human race, which otherwise was exclusive preserve of Scholarly debates
His effort was towards unifying and equalizing the entire human race across the world by exposing the futility and meaninglessness of differences and differences caused by Caste, family and religion. He expounded that everyone is a part of same Divine & composition of humans across the world both physically and mentally is the same. This great Guru who described Characteristics of Indivual Human as “punarnnu perum ellamo” (All that are born of sexual union of humans are same species), “Oru yoni oru aakaaram Oru bhedavum illa ithil” (One yoni – womb, one form, there is no differences between them), Manushyanam Manushyathvam (humaneness is the quality of a human being) – says primary needs of all human beings are the same. Everyone desires Food, Clothing, Health, Water & Shelter. He also made people aware of the fact that – the recognition & position earned by someone is also desired by others is good for a better world & Unending and selfish desires & acts sows the seeds of disharmony in the community.
Guru exhorted Keralites to reject discriminating people based on limited comprehension of Caste, which gave rise to differences and conflicts. His words and life was devoted to obliterate non-Dharmic thoughts and deeds of fellow human beings. He preached that “it is not other human beings who make one impure but one’s own thoughts, words and acts”. His dreamt of a humans who made understanding, love and compassion a basis of their lives
He rejected the belief that those who adapted Panchashuddhi (5 types of Cleanliness) & Panchasheela (5 practices) are the protector of generations. Instead he directed people to make unselfish nature a way of life.
While the birds and animals with its limited needs co-exist harmoniously with nature, He warned that it is dangerous when humans who destroy nature and earth to satisfy their greed.
Personal traits like purity in words, thoughts, senses, country, home etc along with community benefiting traits like Non-violence, Truth, Asteya (Non-Stealing), Fidelity, Prohibition (intoxicants) – were his dreams for realization of a Modern Kerala. Guru’s preaching that a Pure Divine thought on part of individual and family is inevitable, gave rise to a new culture of temple ritual system. Consecration of Lord Shiva temple in Aruvippuram in 1888 was a beginning of a big Revolution. It was a proclamation that God and Supreme Knowledge is birthright of everyone irrespective of caste and religion.  Guru in fact set in motion a powerful & impactful mass movement through this temple. These temples established all over became a place for a devotee to seek knowledge, skills and solace and had Educational, Library, garden and some vocational training centres associated with it.
Guru’s message Freedom via Education was an invitation for an flood of scientific thinking. Guru made people aware that rebuilding Kerala – which was then beset with ignorance, misdeeds, superstitions & poverty – was possible through education alone. His goals for Education was for creation of a Modern Kerala. Guru who encouraged an educational system with equal prominence to Malayalam, Sanskrit and English, Study of Shastras, Vocational/Technical study, Women education also set aside funds for those willing to study abroad and also set up evening schools.
According to Gurudev, final goal of every religion was the same. and those who did not realize were like the blind men who touched elephant and imagined things. Religious bigots will see nothing in other religions and also sees a separation. Guru insisted on a creation of culture of acceptance and respecting other faith to prevent religious animosity & conflict.
In those days, every word and deed were controlled based on the religion and caste they belonged to. The tenets, adaopted by other cultural and development organizations, he preached awakened & arose everyone towards strengthening of community & cultural bonding.
It was giving a shape to culture of Humanatrianism, co-existence and peace in Kerala. Every cultural and political organizatins included the teachings in their work. Kerala which benefited enormously walking the path advocated by Guru became an example for the whole world. Malayalis thus became capable of settling anywhere in the world. Malayalis rejected the caste system. Kerala became an abode religious harmony. People thus were able to reap benefits of this favorable situation .
But, this change could not be sustained by Keralites. This enviable material prosperity, especially those of middle class gave rise to commodification. Without their knowledge the culture of humanism got ejected out. Malayali community who are ever ready to accept any change, without any second thoughts or analysis adapted this commercial culture. Today we see a community that has slipped away from the path prescribed clearly by Sree Narayana Guru
This culture of excessive greed & uncontrollable commercialization changed a Malayali to an unthinking, highest polluter. Unstable family, violence against women and children, extremism, alcoholism, disrespect towards Nature & corruption and such characteristics that are against human values, reminds us of the importance of adhering to Guru’s vision.
The teachings and path of Guru, which is relevant beyond any generation is the mantra of hope. We have to be prepared to imbibe it mentally and convert it into our life-style. It is not a world devoid of natural diversity, terror or insecurity, we should leave a world more beautiful than what we enjoyed, to our future generations. Humankind should ensure that valuable gifts like smile, amicability, compassion, broadmindedness etc   that nature has bestowed on us is never forsaken. We need variety, material comfort and progress. At the same time, let us not forget to be human or humanism.

Killing of Hindu Leaders in TN/Kerala: Signs of a Malignant Social Tumor

Shocking!!! 16 Hindu Organizations Leaders (Hindu Munnani and BJP) have been brutally assasinated in Tamil Nadu over a period of 18 months

I was returning from my annual Pilgrimage to Shabarimala and had just passed Salem station by Kanyakumari-Bangalore Express, when I got a SMS from a friend from Coimbatore with the shocking news that Sri V Ramesh, General Secretary of Tamil Nadu Bharateeya Janata Party has been brutally murdered by “Jihadi Goondas”

20TH_RAMESH_PHOTO_1524004g
Martyr – Auditor Ramesh Gen Secretary of TN-BJP

In an incident earlier this month (On July 1st) Sri S. Vellaiyappan, Tamil Nadu State Secretary of the Hindu Munnani, was hacked and bludgeoned to death in Vellore. It is not a coincidence that he recently led a protest against take over of Jalakanteswarar Temple by the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department.

Sri Vellaiappan (Right)
Sri Vellaiappan (Right)

There are 14 other incidents during the past 18 months and many more across the state border in neighbouring Kerala. If someone thinks it is my attempt to communalize so be it. But let it be known that this based on confirmed news even from the Official sources from Tamil Nadu. With signs so clearly pointing towards such forces, I have no qualms in mentioning that rogue elements in the Muslim community have systematically targeted these leaders with active connivance of local authorities in carrying out their sinister acts.

(I am not naive or retarded to believe that there are been no complicity of local authorities in these issues nor am I stupid to see these assassinations as isolated incidents of crime)

When Sri Ramesh (Popularly known as Auditor Ramesh) became the 16th person to be martyred in a state (Check below for links of  various reports of other leaders Killed systematically) it did raise hackles of many and we cannot help but note with alarm, that there are some organized forces with vested interests, obviously Anti-National ones, working in a well orchestrated and determined manner. Proper impartial investigations in all probability reveal that this could well be  part of “Balkanize India” program of European/ American Conversion Factories with active connivance of UPA (Check my tweet link below)

What should raise our suspicions even further  is that these leaders of organizations whose presence or influence is negligible in these states (It is apparently not, with benefit of hindsight) which only makes it even more baffling. Check @emanin‘s tweet below.

Remember, Kashmir issue started off supposedly as isolated incidents till such time the malaise was so deeply set and before long ethnic cleansing happened. The separatists and terrorist had their roots firmly entrenched and is now bleeding the nation. Unflinching desire of “The Family” to hold on to powers by hook or crook, even if the country has to be dismembered ensured that Army was let loose to fight with their hands tied at their back. As some wise man said, Kerala/TN is headed Kashmir way (in the same sequence). We need to build up pressure on the Authorities to tackle this menace in all earnest and bring the culprits to book – most importantly the Masterminds. Unless we uproot the Masterminds (including those of Italian Origins here), whoever it is, a malignant tumour would relapse. We cannot afford this and….

NO! WE WON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO BHARAT AGAIN. 

||VANDE MATARAM||

Reports of  Assassinations & Attacks:

Senior BJP leader S Pugazhendhi (52) was hacked to death near the Nagapattinam police station while he was on his morning walk – July 11th 2012

Dr V Arvind Reddy (38), the BJP State Medical Wing Secretary and Indian Medical Association (IMA) Vellore Branch President, was murdered in front of the diabetic clinic owned by him. – October 23rd 2012

K. Murugan (45), former BJP municipal councillor, was returning home for lunch when the gang hurled pipe bombs and hacked him to death in broad daylight in the Paramakudi main bazaar – March 19th 2013

55-year-old Nambu alias Kuttainambu, secretary of the Hindu Munnani’s Rameswaram unit, was found dead with injuries in the head and chest caused by a boulder – July 7th 2013

கடந்த 12 மாதங்களில் பாரதிய ஜனதா கட்சி மற்றும் இந்து அமைப்புகளைச் சேர்ந்த நிர்வாகிகள் 6 பேர் கொலை செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளனர். 3 பேர் படுகாயம் அடைந்து உயிர் பிழைத்துள்ளனர். இத்தாக்குதல் திட்டமிட்டவை என்றும், இதை மாநில அரசு தடுக்கத் தவறிவிட்டதாகவும் கூறியுள்ள பாஜக, ஜூலை 22-ஆம் தேதி தமிழகம் முழுவதிலும் முழுஅடைப்புப் போராட்டத்துக்கு அழைப்பு விடுத்துள்ளது. Dinamani reports: Atleast 6 Leaders killed recently and 3 maimed for life – 21st July 2013 Editorial

And Brutal Attacks

M R Gandhi, BJP’s state executive member, was out on his morning walk when the four youths who followed him on two motorcycles, waylaid and attacked him with sharp-edged weapons

Ananda Kumar, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary & brother of Mettupalayam Municipal Chairman Sathish Kumar,  a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), intercepted and hacked by a gang of five or six persons near Nadur Kumarapuram – Nov 6th 2012

A bottle filled with petrol was thrown at a residential apartment complex in Ukkadam here, housing the residence of Indu Makkal Katchi (IMK) founder-president Arjun Sampath – 13th April 2013

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Majority or Minority

Travelling back to my erstwhile Karmabhoomi, Chennai was a great experience – it was a mixture of experiences. 5th Anniversary celebrations of a local Information Centre of Art of Living that would remain etched in my minds for a long long time, meeting a whole lot of friends, a giant leap on my career front were the highs. The lows had to follow to prove the universal law “Opposite Values Co-Exist” true and what a low these were.

Check this Editorial of “The Hindu” on 03rd October 2007

http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/03/stories/2007100353901000.htm

The All-knowing moral guardian in the Editor sits in Judgement while he says that Judges sometimes speak too much while this was exactly what was being done by this Editorial. While it is nobody’s case that Supreme Court Judge may or may not have over-reacted, even the parchment called “The Hindu” also speaks even more many a times. And speak worse .

Sample the examples, 2 instances are cited to buttress their hackneyed argument and not surprisingly both were related to BJP and clearly anti-majority. No one in this country calls and gets away with Bandhs and hartals more than communists in Kerala and this does not seem to find any attention to this Secularist Editor. While the people of Kerala have accepted bandhs/hartal as normal as their ablutions, quoting a single instance, read this

For example, in recent years the Bharatiya Janata Party and the saffron brigade have called for, conducted, and got away with several attempted bandhs. A case in point is the August 27, 2007 Hyderabad bandh protesting against the terror strike at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat. And what about other forms of protest actions? Will the Supreme Court rule on what kind of constitutional animal is a ‘rail roko,’ of the kind the BJP State unit staged in Hyderabad in September 2007 against the Sethusamudram project? Does it fall under the definition of a general strike or a hartal or a bandh? Is it constitutional? As political leaders have observed, the logical consequence of the Supreme Court’s unevenly implemented ban on bandhs will be a ban on all protest actions and the right to strike. If that happens, the highest court in the land will itself be responsible for the trampling on fundamental rights that its 1998 judgment warns against.”

So much for the unbiased reporting from the secularists of this great nation. Even worse, to prop up their mindless opinion, the whole lot of “Letters to the Editors” were filled with letters agains the Supreme Court Judgement, supposedly written by readers. Their funders apparently wanted to convey some message through this SECULAR MEDIA HOUSE. The anti-majority tirade resembles the Newhouses of China – only difference being that they are enslaved by the Party and in case of this great Newspaper by their Foreign Funders (I am sure it needs no mention as to which organization funds their operations and writes their editorials). Way to Go!!! At this rate, I am sure The Hindu will need to hire staff to write “Letters to the Editors” since readers are bound to move away from them in the absence of objectivity. Knowing the media industry from within, I know a thing or two about what I just wrote here. The only insitition that this citizenry of this great nation can safely bet on are the Courts and taking potshots should not be tolerated. Oh yes!!! Mr. Ram My faith in God more specifically Lord Ram has gone infinitely high – despite creeps of your kind (remember when you went into hiding apprehending arrest, so much for your bravery) this great Nation survived and would survive – I cant find a logical explanation apart from assuming some supernatural stuff is at play here. Do you need any more proof than this?

“The Hindu” is anything but Hindu. Jai Hind!!!

The picture is the one taken during a vacation that we took to Kerala (Holiday is a norm in this place, thanks to the hartals and bandhs)