How water was worshiped, preserved and kept clean in Ancient India ?

Water is not just essential for surviving, but also is one of the five elements and building blocks of living creatures. Ancient Indians knew it well and and hence they not only protected,but worshipped water.
Ganga is a name of a river ,but also a synonym for water. Ganga is worshiped as Ma ganga, means mother ganga. Thus purity and sanctity of water is maintained.  The water which was used for drinking was not used for washing clothes and washing animals. especially river water was earmarked as ghats for various purposes, like drinking , bathing etc. 

How Law and Order is maintained in ancient India ?

To-day, we see terrorism as a top news item in every corner of the globe. ISIS emerged as a global threat. Anti social elements have been creating havoc with society since the dawn of civilization. how ancient Indians tackled law and order situation.?  let us see. !  there are two school of thoughts  " how to tackle law and order". one is  a strict ,were punishment is to deter new  law and order situations and tackle existing turbulence. Other is, more lenient one not to punish and look for underlying causes and tackle the emotional aspect of it. ancient Indians looked at long term problems and started  sending the offenders out of society. it was possible, at that time as many areas are not occupied by people. there are enough forests and places outside villages, people, or some tribals used to live.  so those offenders of Law , were asked to leave  the civilized society and go out side kingdom.  never they were beheaded, u less their crime is barbaric and in human. Thus outcast people were not invited for social functions and there used to be no wedding and other relations with them, Though later on it became untouchable phenomenon, to start with , it was just social out caste. some times, if they show bravery and any noble act to help the village, they were taken back into society also. Thus physical punishment was reasonably less and emotional punishment was high. 

Ancient literature on Desert farming and environment conservation

Title : Environment Conservation in Ancient Literature Dr. V. Vijay Kumar, Additional Director Dr. Arun Kumar Roy Mahato, Scientist Mr. Raushan Kumar Raman, - by GUIDE (Gujarat Institute of Desert  Ecology )


Today we brawl against global warming, climate change and desertification and there are many scientific studies, debates and conferences organised on the above subjects nationally and internationally. Are they new subjects? Do our ancestors known about these issues? The answer lies in Vedas, Upanishads and ancient literatures. Real science consists of an objective pursuit of truth through observation and experimentation. Traditional Yoga and Vedanta also has its goal as the objective pursuit of truth. But it aims at the supreme truth – which is the eternal – that truth which never changes. Ancient treasures of vast knowledge reveal a full cognizance of the undesirable effects of environmental degradation, whether caused by natural factors or human activities. There are four major Vedas 'the Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva recognized the importance environment and maintenance of the seasons' cycles that are likely to get altered due to the climate change owing to inappropriate human actions. It is remarkable that the people in Vedic times regarded Nature and the environment in a holistic manner and revered each of its constituents and entities by carefully preserving them.
Rig Veda enumerated many environmental issues during 2500 and 1500BC. The author narrated the striking balance between the Sky, Earth and Space and its sustainable management. He mentioned that the Sky as father, Earth as mother and Space as son. The universe consisting of this three is like a family and any kind of damage done to any one of these three throws the universe out of balance. This Vedic prayer appeals to the protection of the environment.
Rig Veda also emphasised on the importance river bank stabilization and stated that “Don’t uproot nourishing trees along river course. Others would die consequently”.
Rig Veda draw attention to over utilization of natural resources and stressed that “One should take from rivers, mines, mountains and seas what is useful and according to one’s need and without injuring them, for if one fails to do so earth begins to tremble”.
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Rig Veda highlighted the importance of Plants and herbs and its conservation. It mentioned that “Plants and herbs destroy poisons”. “Some herbs purify air”. “The fragrance of Gugul purifies the air and cure diseases”.
Asvatha (Ficus religiosa, commonly called Peepal) is an abode of the deities because it always emits oxygen. The Botanical Survey of India has identified 150 species of trees and herbs including Peepal which are pollution fighters.
Yajur Veda says “No person should kill animals helpful to all – bullocks in agriculture, cow gives milk”. “Ocean is a treasure and it should be protected”. “Do not harm or cut tree”. “Do not poison the atmosphere”.
Ancient Indians even predicted about the global warming. “earth provides surface for vegetation which controls the heat build up. The herbs and plants having union with sun rays provides congenial atmosphere for the life to survive”. The reality is, green plant use carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, “natural sink” and reducing warming effect. Absorbs solar radiation, and give water vapour in the process of transpiration. The combined effect makes the environment cool and congenial for survival of all life.
Upanishads (1500-600BC), compared Tree with Human beings. It describes human hairs as leaves, skin as external bark, blood as sap, flesh as wood, strong bones as core of wood, soft bone as pith of wood. These enlighten that trees are treated as important as human beings.
Puranic Literature (4th Century AD) says that “One who plants a Peepal, One Neem, One Banyan, Two Pomogranates, Two Orange, Five Mango, and Ten Flowering Plants or Creepers shall never go to Hell”. This highlights the importance of horticulture development.
Rig Veda states the importance of conservation of water as “Apsu ataha amritang apsu bhesaj”. It means water contains all minerals and medicinal properties; therefore, it is essential to maintain the purity and cleanness of water.
Atharva Veda also highlights the importance of water “Varsena bhumi prithavi brita brita sano dadhatu bhadraya priye dhamini dhamini”. It meant that the livingness of the land and its greenness is maintained by water balance. Water has also main role in the maintenance for the livingness of the environment in which all the living beings survive with joy and prosperity.
Islam (Quran) highlights the brilliance of God’s creation and responsibilities of human beings to preserve what God has created. Responsibility is more than a legal obligation. Mankind only has a guardianship over God’s heaven and earth”.
Buddhism highlighted the importance of trees and water. “Tree is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and value and makes no demand for its sustenance”. “Water is the main object of the universe, life giver to all beings, purity must be never be profaned by any means water must never be misused”.
Jainism - Philosophy by Lord Mahavira “The desire for happiness is the source of unhappiness, and rejection of all desires is the way to freedom from all sufferings”. It has a significant Environmental Overtones. “Desire” to achieve material happiness of luxuries in life – develop a culture of “over consumerism” in the human society and to satisfy his demands mankind is “over
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exploiting” the finite and scarce natural resources of earth leading to serious environmental degradation by way of deforestation, desertification, pollution, and waste generation.
Timely action to protect the environment is also highlighted. “If the hole in the keel of vessel sailing in the ocean is not closed in time, water would enter and drown the entire passenger. But if the hole is plugged timely the passengers would reach their destination safely”. The vessel is the “earth”, the passengers are the “human beings”, and the hole is the destructions made in the “sky”, on the earth and oceans. Sikhism says that “God created nature with plant, animal, air, water and land for human use. Man does not have the right to destroy what he cannot create”. Environmental concerns also reported among Rulers of India. Emperor Ashoka has carried out plantation of trees, declared certain areas for animals which are like today’s sanctuary and first Emperor to construct dams. This was followed by Tughlag, Baber, Sher Shah, Ahber, Jahangir and Shahjahan done lot for land and water conservations. Wildlife conservation and protection is not a new phenomenon. During ancient times the animals were kept as the vehicle or vāhana of God and Goddesses which is often called the deity's mount.
Kodiyar Mathaji with Mugger crocodile, Durga with the lion, Ganesha with the mouse, Indra with the elephant, Kartikya with the peacock, Lakshmi with the owl, Saraswati with the swan or the peacock, Shakti with the bull, Shani with the crow, Shiva with the bull , Varuna with seven swans, Vayu - a thousand horses , Vishnu with the eagle and Adi Shesha with the serpent are some of the examples. Through religious way the animals and birds were protected.
Environmental problems are always interrelated. Man who was a part of nature has become apart from the nature and is exploiting nature with the help of potent technology at his command. Policy and planning have focussed more on solving a problem rather than creating a long-term opportunities. It is also important to note that often solution to one problem actually creates another problem, therefore, policy and planning should be on sound scientific footings.
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Why India would not invade other countries ?

Why India would not invade other countries ?
Why other countries did  not invade India till as late as Moguls ? 

Genghis Khan! Just why would history’s foremost looter, invader, pillager spare India?

When Genghis Khan’s Mongol armies were running rampant, Islamic refugees found shelter in India, during the reign of Iltutmish. In 1221, Khwarezm-Shah and other Persian refugees, sought refuge in India, across the Indus into the Punjab, India, from Genghis Khan’s Mongol armies ?

History of  India was not kept properly by westerners. It is a long history of India which was intertwined with its spiritual pursuit which kept some records in puranas. But we have to understand political structure as well as spiritual beliefs which kept India not only invincible but also not eyeing outside India for occupation. 

Past : 

Let us start with one of the famous Kings of India Sri Ram who has gone as far as Sri lanka to conquer Ravana. After defeating Ravana, Sri Ram gave the kingdom to Ravana's brother Vibhishan and returning to his country. he did the same after defeating Vali and gave the kingdom to Vali's  brother Sugriva.  That is the tradition of India not occupying other countries. 

Additionally India was most advanced and rich country in the world,  and hence there was no point in invading poorer countries and places where rivers and fertile land is not present. British wanted to visit India as it was richest country at that time. Columbus instead of reaching India reached America and called it India and and named the residents as Indians.  As chinese Mao Tse tung said" India without moving an inch, invaded china and dominated their culture for hundreds of years. so is south east Asian countries,
Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. 

 Present : 

India defeated Pakistan and occupied present bangladesh, but never occupied it for long and helped them declare independence .

so the orri and  Poonch which then Indian Prime Minister gave back to Pakistan. Even Kashmir's King agreed to join India than Pakistan . However, India always kept their special status though it was part of India as per constitution. This can be compared with hina who occupied Tibet which  has historically connected to India and India never occupied it though all the Himalayan kingdoms like Bhutan, Nepal are dependent on India not only for economics but also for military suport. India never occupied these buffer countries which are not even a fraction of smallest state of India. 

Hinduism is Unique and how it is different from other world religions

There is an understandable  ignorance in the world about other religions  as we always hear and know more about our own religion and have less time spent on others. With less knowledge, it is difficult to comment and also come to right conclusions.  Hinduism is one of the oldest religions and as many records are not available, it is difficult to check and cross check the facts . that is the reason, Hinduism is unique in the sense, even own religion people do not know much  though  some facts are available which we will discuss in this blog.

It is the only religion, even name of the religion is given to it by other people. In reality , there is no Hindu name for the religion, as some people still call it a way of life , rather than a religion. The word "Hindu" is an acronym for "Sindhu" which is a river beyond which Arabs and other Persian peninsula people were referring to a group of  people. When many Indians were travelling for trade to signify Indians, they were referred to as people beyond Sindhu.(river). As pronunciation of "Sindh"  is difficult, perhaps some Arabs started pronouncing as "Hind". in sanskrit , "Sindhu means water which refers to river "Sindhu" which  is a mighty river at that time.  With the confusion on the name, Hindu religion is also shrouded with other myths.
if Hinduism is monolithic  or not. Even many Hindus believe, it is NOT monolithic. That is due to the fact, the vast majority of Hindus were illiterates. Education was free , but given to only  a fraction of people who are NOT supposed to amass wealth ,but live on alms given by society.But they are supposed to protect the Knowledge, which they did to an extent as all old Indian Wisdom in the form of Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana and Mahabharata and  Puranas are protected till date though script was not available. Purely division of labor was reason for the castes. But like any system it was misused and abused, though main purpose of keeping knowledge alive is fulfilled.  However as knowledge is not distributed among all members , like science it is confined to scientists, Truth about the religion is confined to a small group of people.

That is why "Adi Shankara" re-established the Truth and untied all 6 religions and earned a name as " shanmarag Stapana acharya" means, established   6 routes to God > subsequently, Madhva Acharya Ramanjucharya and Chaitanya Maha Prabhu argued and established the finer points of Truth. Thus the acharyas( teachers of religion) are clear ,but evolution of Hindu religion is not known to all its members leave alone the knowledge , they do not even know if they have to worship which deity. hence majority started worshipping all deities. Though in theory, all are different paths to God, . there is no compulsion to follow another path , when we are already progressing in one path. In fact, that  culture of accepting other's path is the reason why Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists are very comfortable in India than in any other country. In fact, India  has  largest population of Muslims and they are safe here as no Hindu , Except very few extremists who are present in Muslims also and cause problems every where they are present.

having established that God is unique in the whole universe, Hindus are more poised to accept world religions than any single religion in the world. However this fact did not come out clearly as Hindus who are un-educated people keep arguing while learned keep accepting other religions. Remember, Dalai Lama came to India as refugee NOT even a single Hindu objected to it. . Similarly several  muslims from pakistan came to India and Hindus never complained though Pakistan had problem in explaining why Hindus want to leave Pakistan.

Hinduism is the only religion who do nto have a prophet or a single person who can claim His/her supremacy over religion. hence, any Baba  is encouraged to speak his mind, spread his word, fidn his path and even influence, propagate his path. Thus more religions liek Osho's keep coming up and unlike Americans or other countries, in India , who  are predominantly Hindus never objected to out siders, especially religions.

Another unique nature of Hindu religion is that it is evolutionary. How it keeps changing ? each individual is respected for his honesty, method and Truth which he/she realsied about himself/herslef  is listened to by learned. If convinced, they incoporate the fact in the religion.

Few tousands years back, Kapila maharshi propsoed " Sankhya " philosophy which propsoed man is not made up of physical things or the 5 elements . it is was readily acepted and inscoporated. Kanada proposed Atomic theory and iis taken into Hindu philosophy and that philosophy is very nearer to present day Atomic science,. subsequently "Advaita theory" which is based on illusion of world and permanence of Brhman is well received after tough arguments by all learned people from Kerala to Kashmir.

There are four prmanas or standards used in discussions, before arriving at Truth.

1. Pratyksha - direct understanding or explanation.
2. Anumana- Hypothetical way as first proposal and them proving it.
3. .Aitihya - Historical sequence. ( similar to to-day's literature survey in thesis)
4. Shabda- By sound. that is jsut by listening the sound. it is like voting by Voice.
above all, the honesty with which people argued was exemplary as it is for the establishing Truth. many times, people with great mystic powers and super natural powers used them to convince others. For example, Sri Ramanaja  showed his Yoga Shakti to go into the sanctum and sanctorium to install shanku and Chakra( conch and shell) on Tirupati balaji Murthy ( idols) to establish Vaishnavite method of worship.
So also Shankaracharya could fly over night to a different place to argue with a dying saint to counter" IDol Worship). . Shankara established transcendental form of worship .Krishna Chaitanya prabhu also took the devotional path, and transcendental service.

The uniqueness of Hindu religion is the evolution of religion which is not the case in any other religion.
Evolution means not denying the past but improving over the past. Thus  religion is kept fresh always while keeping the continuity. That is the main reason, youth of to-day are not able to crack the logic of Hindu religion , while other religions as people get more educated, they are questioning the old theories.

another unique feature of Hindu religion is that it includes the atheists also . sage Charvaka , proposed a theory who lived as contemporary to Sri rama who has  more temples dedicated to Him has accepted Charwaka to continue his practice of worship. Lord ShiRam himself never declared His Avatarhood , but people accepted Him as one incarnation of Vishnu. The religion is so complicated and accommodative, Jain religion is stated from  Hinduism,  where King Rishibha deva renounced his  kingdom and went to forests in pursuit of Truth and found a new path which is now followed as Jainism. The more we discuss about Hinduism, the more we get convinced that it is "Santahana Dhrma" meaning, oldest way of  Righteous  living.

Thanks to the liberal principles of Hinduism, India is home for almost all religions which are existing in the world and when Persians ( now Iran)  s asked the old faithfuls to evacuate the country due to the advent of Islam, they came to India and still now pursuing their religion and they are called "Parsis" who are one of the most prosperous communities in India.

what more we need to talk about Uniqueness of Hindu religion ?

Ancient War Techniques- Matsya yantra

In Mahabharata,   two unique war techniques were explained. one was Padma Vyuha which we tried to explain in previous blogs. Other one is Matshayantra. King Drupadh  designed Matshayantra as a condition to  break to be eligible to marry Daupathi. many kings could not even try that while some knew how difficult it was. only Krishna and Karna knew how to crack the  Matshayantra. Karna was denied the try as he was not eligible to marry a queen. Krishna did not try it. Arjuna could easily hit the fish and won the accolodes. 

What is the speciality of Matshayantra ? one has to see in the reflection of the fish in the water below  and hit at the top , where a fish is rotating on a wheel . In the beginning it  looks fine , but  as the fish is rotating, the speed of the rotation and speed of the arrow has to be estimated and which is what we do,   when ever a moving target is hit.  Fish is most difficult to catach , when it is moving, even in normal water. even wehn we catch it, it slips. that is why we use net to catch it. now this is when  we see the fish directly in the water. Arjuna has to see the reflection of fish and as light shines on the gills of the fish , fish looks like a "lightening" and hitting it is real tough. it requires, 

first best imagination, perfect control and expertise of  shooting and a bove all great concentration. This skill was useful to Arjuna, when he kept Saindhaava's head floating in the air and guided it to the old sanyasi , ( father of Saindhava) doing penance in Samnathaka Pnchakam at far away place  for which Arjuna used Pasupathy Ashtra. Here during Draupathi  swayam varam, he was young and less experienced.  .

Freedom vs Emotional control in Ancient Indian Scriptures

To-day, where ever we see, we hear Freedom, one has to be free, frank and fearless.
True! but how freedom is viewed by Ancient Indians who felt" yama" and "Niayama " or self control ?
Freedom is misunderstood by many as a wise quip " my freedom ends at  other person's freedom starts".
it is like international waters where two countries are close, the 200 odd miles free  sea line doed nto apply.
if two countries like India and Pakistan are closer by 30 miles near Cutch, both get 15 miles each. If some one  wants s to apply 200 miles free sea space , it leads to clash or war.coming to Freedom, Ancient Indian wisdom was very clear "Freedom to  do what ?" if one wants   to do "Adhrma", it is  not freedom , it is anarchy. if one wants to lie, as long as it effects no body, it comes under freedom, but if it is a wrong witness in the court, it is not freedom,but against "justice". This is missed out in modern world>"what constitutes Freedom". Ancient scriptures were clear, choice is clear, but freedom is do "right". or in other words, one is free not to donate or do charity. But not free to hurt any abody. This shows highest level of wisdom.
to-day Terrorism is opposite of it. What right one has to go and bomb in another country or community ? in fact, it is misuse of Freedom". if  to-day's world follows "Ancient Indian Wisdom", one has no choice to do wrong.

Now Ancient Indian wisdom nicely called it " samskara" or called " Reformation or Transformation.
if one is civilized, he/she will follow the rules of universal law or humanitarian consideration. if not, he is called " mlecha" or barbarian. Hence for an animal or Barbarian, the rule us to treat them like an animal.
That is the reason SriRama killed "Vali" from behind the tree. Those who take brother's wife as their own are not considered civilised or "Samskara". Hence freedom is granted to people who follow normal and universal humanitarian  laws. What are they ? be kind to all creatures not just  Human beings.

When one is angry, he/she is not in control of self. but those who show patience, are appreciated .
public humiliation or public shouting and expression of anger, passion are considered " animal instincts".
Hecne, the people in general used to be soft and civilised. Non- Violence used to be the order.
logic and arguments, ( memamsa) used to order of the day, not hurting and violence.
Freedom is respected and rules and customs are followed. Who ever does not want to follow, used to leave the place and live far off. some intentionally, some by law. Either case, groups and communities never resort to punishment or beheading etc, unless it was  msut. Even war used to be as per "Dharma" or strict rules.

Freedom was valued but understood only as a personal issue not a group issue. As group head used to decided community issues. you  have a right to question, but ultimately if one does not want to follow, he has to be out of the community. The rules are strict, but punishments used to be just expelling than eliminating.
More than Freedom, self control was given higher importance.