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.

Scientific approach In search of Truth followed by ancient Indians

Ancient Indian wisdom is based on thousands of years of  efforts to find the Truth and brainstorming of several intellectuals who are experts in their own fields .

One of the accepted practices to arrive at Truth is by Mimamsa  which is similar   to-day's courts where one learned person used to be the  judge and various arguments and counter arguments used to be proposed.

In that , proposal was called " Pratipadana" which has to be supported by accepted example.
Then "pratipaksha" like opposition  of the proposals used to be made by other side.

During the discussions the honesty levels used to be so high, once convinced, the Truth they believed for the whole life used to be given up and adopt the new found knowledge.
classic example was "sri Adi Shankara" disposing all the theories of spiritual thinking of India in 10th century and applying "Advaita Philosophy" in whole of India from kashmir to Kanyakumari.

Also another beautiful aspect is that no body used force to convince others. Also conqueror  vanquishing the
defeated party is never heard in Ancient India. In fact, Sri Ram has started this tradition where he crowned
brother of Vali and Ravana after defeating them. This tradition of using force and eliminating the clan after defeating is considered barbarism. and not accepted by both parties.

Search for Truth is a life time affair and many kings have given up their kingdoms and proceeded to forest for penance in search of Truth. Also respect for Truth was exemplary.  Even if the person who proclaims Truth is from lower strata of society or even a child, it was given full weightage. Truth prevails and every thing else is secondary. Scientific because several times,  quoting Vedas and Puranas, practices like Sacrificing animals was stopped. Even women were given full freedom and rights long  before Indian history could record.
It is a democratic and purely intellectual pursuit of Truth.

Another technique to arrive at Truth used by the Ancient Indians is consensus. this was preceeded by several views each was backed up by own experience or self realisation. Once all the ideas are pooled, there sued to be brainstorming and at the end, logic and counter logic called  " Nyaya, Mimamsa and Tarka " used to the process to arrive at consensus. Some times, this consensus was difficult to arrive at or used to take a long time. But only consenus was approved. Meanwhile, the one who proposes a consensus has to explain  previous accepted theories based on the new theory. As most of the previous accepted theories were based on real expereinces, there is no way one can deny those epxereiments. In

Adi Shankara , star among the collossal of intellectuals from ancient India.

To explain to Youngsters who want to know Ancient Indian wisdom,  I  will say , "What Einstein is to Science,  Adi Shankara is to Religion and Spirituality.

How many of us know and understand :"The theory of relativity "  to know the contribution of Einstein to Science ? In short,  E= m C2  explained the relation between Energy and matter hither too thought to be different are related by Einstein. So also Relative theory puts whole universe into comparison to other which includes time also. Again this is a new concept which changed world science beyond recognition.

Coming to shri Adi Shankara, He is the proponent of  "Advaita"  philosophy  declared unity of   Humanity and Divinity,  which were hither too thought to be separate entities.  Vedas proclaimed it earlier but the proof  and convincing  is required as it is not followed , applied and realized. Not only that,  two most tested paths to Divinity ie., Devotion and Jnana( knowledge) are  unified by Adi Shankara which gave him a unique distinction of  unifying  6 different religions and establishing  " Brhma Satyam and Jagan Mithya ( means Universe is illusion and  God is Truth) . In Indian philosophy, there is no final thing. Like in Science, one has to prove all past experiments with the theory while proclaim a new theory and prove it. As a result, Indian wisdom is always questioned and always Truth prevails with new findings and old  experiments with Truth are respected. Hence Ancient Indian wisdom never condemns old theories , but refines and re-defines the Truth. This is a very complex process and masses can not understand this like we all can nto prove or disprove "Theory of relativity " though we know Einstein is a colossal figure in modern science. Unfortunately, in modern times, people who never experimented  with Truth nor experienced Truth argue for known or unknown reasons. Adi Shakara explained" Advaita theory" which is in essence Unity of creation. on similar lines, Einstein proposed "Unfed theory, but could not prove it. it remained Utopia for him till his end.
Where as sri Adi Shankara not only proved , but also lived his theory and remained as one of the most profound figures in Spiritual  history.

 The intellectual level of Adi Shankara is so high that even to-day, what he postulated is NOT fully understood by common man and require high evolved spiritual saints to ponder, debate and get explanation for it. There is only one intellectual  in spiritual India who is Buddha  who has explained Jnana yoga and touch the heights of explanation  in the last 2000 years. Other spiritual leaders  relied on  devotion and faith which saved the intellectual  labor for the people to understand their theory.

The Advaita theory of Adi Shankara is explained in two ways. one is Maya Theory  which negates all the visual world as we have to prove unseen Divinity. In other words, If I car head lights have to see the road, they can nto see inside of the car. If  we have top  see in side of the car, we can use the head lights. Our senses are designed to see outside universe  and God is not seen by  as Allah is also not seen for the same reason. So Adi Shankar used logic and proved the substance used for universe is not new as God existed before universe is created. hence  God is universe and universe is God. the reason we are not able to see it is explicitly same as  those who click photos will not be in the picture. But greatness of Adi Shankara is in living and proving the unity of world. and His super natural powers which are un paralleled though he never used them to convince others for the logic of Advaita. 

Other  way of explanation  of  "Advaita(Unity)  theory is  unity of all human beings, unity of universe which explains how one substance is seen as different substances by the vision rather than existence.
Adi Shankara re-proclaimed 4 Maha vakyas  from Vedas to sum up Advaita tehory.
"Prajananam Brhma" means knower, known and Knowledge is one and same.
Ayam Atma Brhma " means I am the Divinity as "I " alone is the seer for all. if "I " does not exist, see'er does not exist and universe is nto existing for "i".
Tatvam Asi " You are that Divinity. as what ever we see is Divinity. "Sarvam Khalvidham Brhma"
Aham Brhmasmi , I am Divinity , as who proclaims "I" is Divinity.

if I am not able to explain these 4 sentences, it is because the author is not a self realized soul.Not realizing self is by ignorance. Knowing is not getting rid of ignorance, living or seeing in real life is self realizing.

Adi Shankara  has a title of " Jagat Guru( Teacher for the whole Universe) which does not limit him to any particular religion . His principles are applicable to all religions and all human beings and whole universe.

Ancient Indian Strategy - Chanakya head and shoulders above many contemporaries

Recently, I was reading a book titled " Corporate Chanakya"  and  wondering how Chanakya's strategy  humbled " Alexander,  the Great " . History recorded that Alexander came to conquer India and went back humbled by Magadha Army which stood like an Ocean. In fact, Alexander has not done a war against Magadha army , but reached up to  Pruthviraj Chauhan who was ruling northern Punjab at that time.
In fact, Chankya's strategy was such that, Alexander has not waged war against Magadh. His soldiers were not willing to continue the war. He employed Seleucus, his major general in India and returned . No body heard about Seleucus  after wards. Alexander himself realised richness of India is not in Gold and opulence ,but in their treasure of Spirituality. There was a story of a naked fakir( actually called Sanyasi  in India) who taught Alexander "Fear" and  vairagya , means giving up all worldly attachment. 

Coming back to Chanakya, who was considered as an all time wisest of men , can easily compete
 with western intellectuals in materialistic pursuits and also uphold Indian penchant for spiritual vairagya. 
He wrote a book called"Artha sastra" which is a treatise not only on Politics , btui also on Finance. 
He created " akhand Bharat" concept of united India almost after few thousand years after  a greatest King called "Bharat" on whose name, India is formed. This Bharat was a king before Sriram which shows he must be dating back to history as far as it was recorded. Here we have to remember one thing, the Washington museum has a Golden "Vishnu" statue from India which dated about 35,000 years and it is shame on world politicians to hide this fact. Even Shiva temples in Middle east are suppressed. I saw one Shiva temple in Bahrain which dated back to 5000 years ,where a Nandi (Bull) and a traditional prakara( boundary wall) are found in suburbs. In fact, with great confidence I can tell, when several western countries were struggling with fire and wheel , India was ahead of them by thousands of years with Bhrmastra ( nuclear war heads)  and Vimana  (aeroplanes).

Chanakya's credit is to come out with war as well economic sutras( principles) which are time tested .
In a sense Chanakya is a kin to Western thinking as far is strategy is considered like punishment, control and discipline is concerned , where as Indian wisdom is on compassion, non-violence and even forgiving the enemy. to an extent, the Buddhism also affected Indian thinking. But Vedic culture  is firmly based on Universal oneness and hence there is not palce for vengeance and punishment  as all creatures were considered God. 
in short, Chanakya  has integrated western and Eastern thinking which is more like to-days' world where even west accepted the fallacy of elimination and  superiority of transformation. 
Chanakya did that and he defeats Nanda dynasty and established their prime minister as advisor to Chandra Gupta which is clear case of Transformation. 

one example of Chanakya's  principle is we should not be residual enemy which means we have to completely eliminate enemy . this is like western strategy. another is King should be aware of what is happening in his kingdom for  which he has to be in disguise and roam in streets in the night to know public opinion. there are several principles written By chanakya which are compiled in "Artha Sashtra".

Ancient Indian way of Non -violent wars - Ashwamedha yaga

War is unimaginable without violence. Non-violence is the outcome of Truth realized by Ancient Indians which is based on unity of Humanity and Single source of Life which is called Paramatma. All creatures have Atma which is called Jivatma. essentially Atma is same. But when it dwells in individual creatures , it is given a name "Jivatma". other wise, it is called "Paramatma", hence violence is nothing but one is against himself. In this context, how a war can be waged against others. A very interesting way is called "Ashwametha". Unfortunately, like all Indian scriptures symbolism is missed by all western , and of course now, by  Indian readers also.  Let us understand "Ashwa" means that which moves continuously. As Horse sleeps while standing and always moves one or other part of his body to ward of flys and otehr insects, a horse also called "Ashwa". When some body says,"Ashwa, all people know they are talking about a horse. As Hinduism is about Symbols( please read my earlier blogs on Symbolism). Ashwa stands for "Mind".

Now let  us see what are the rituals for "Ashwametha".  A king brings a horse and does a puja along with his wife and then leave the "Horse" to go around the kingdom as well as outside the Kingdom. If any person is capable of defeating the king, he will capture the horse and there will be a fight and if they king is the winner , he will release the horse. other wise, horse will be captive by capturer.

if you go by the meaning of Ashwa as horse, it is physical war with or without violence. Now if horse is  mind, what you have to do is to conquer the territories by mind .That is ideological war than physical war. Long back Mao tse Tung , the Former  China chief said," India conquered China without single soldier". that is called cultural war. Holdign horse symbolically means mind control.

let us see more in details in subsequent posts.

How ancient Indian wisdom is related to Sanskrit language ?

Sanskrit and Hindu religion are linked . for that matter all ancient religions are linked to ancient languages. Holy Bible is written in Hebrew and Holy Quron is written in Old Arabic and Vedas are in Sanskrit.  Modern Indians do not know Sanskrit. By giving up Sanskrit, we not only left a scientific language which has phonetic power related to Vibrations, but also made all Hindus following rituals without knowing meaning . We do not know why we take Arghyam, why we give Arati, why we invite guests with Poornami kimbha and became robots while performing puja and no wonder self realisation is utopia not only for west and for us also. That is what Lord Shiva, taught tribal woman Parvati   how to reach God.  That is Guru Geetha. That is essentially ancient wisdom by which  humanity  could  ascend to divinity. Hindus  do not need a priest between man and God like other religions. Unless priest becomes an empty flute without ego to give us melodious music of krishna, There are allegations that  Brhamins  kept Vedas as secret  which is  NOT true as they were not taught ,but available for others like Rajas, while others were too poor to  afford education and sanskrit . Even for those who chanted without knowing Sanskrit , Vedas became  sacred texts which were worshiped than understood. Veda Vyasa and Valmiki were not B Sanskrit gives us direct knowledge of God and Vedas and Upanishads  so simple which explain God is inside every one. So a real Hindu who knows scriptures,  can never hate others . This is ancient Indian wisdom. Now you decide if we want to know God by knowing Sanskrit language or follow rituals like illiterate. I recommend to all Muslims to read Holy Quron in Arabic  read original Bible in Hebrew (not listen thru priests), If you do not understand, try to practicing and learning, not blindly listening. Every one explains in a way advantageous to him or her . Learn Sanskrit and we will not find one single sloka denouncing others , that is why India did not invade other countries though it was most prosperous till Alexander invaded . Even he accepted Ancient Indian greatness. Mera Bharst Mahan tha.  Phir mahan Banega. 

Origin of Sanskrit is not from humans and that is why it called "Deva Bhasha" meaning language of Gods.  It is the only language which is like  computer language very scientific and akin to binary language which makes it only language which is liek machine language which can be understood by even computers also.  while otehr languages are phonetic, Sanskrit is "derived" language". What is derived language? The meaning of a word is same as the name of the word. for example, if we say "Vishnu", which corresponds to the Hindu God Vishnu, which corresponds to the quality of Vishnu , which is "Sarva Vyapakatha" ( spread through out of universe.) . so also several words which explain  meaning for words built in the  meaning of every word. It is better and preferable to read the scritures in Sanskrit as this way , we can never looses the meaning of there words. 

Calculations in Ancient Indian texts - distance between Sun and Earth

Introduction:
In vedas, there is  mention about the location of God,which is fully explained in Purusha suktam, which my father used to explain me daily. in fact, this is repeated in all temples during main Puja, Abhishekam and in Yagnas and Homams which are Hindu rituals. However no body is either NOT bothered to know or not believing or not knowing it. . That is what is called "maya"
(illusion) where ignorance over takes Knowledge, not in one person, in several groups of people as our "eye" is external or vision is external NOT internal. let us see simple calculations in Hanuman Chalisa, a hymn or prayer to Lord Hanuman.. 

Ref: Hanuman Chalisa  :
"Yug sahastra yojan per Bhanu!
Leelyo taahi madhur phal janu!!
 
1 Yug = 12000 years
1 Sahastra = 1000
1 Yojan = 8 Miles
 
Yug x Sahastra x Yojan = par Bhanu
12000 x 1000 x 8 miles = 96000000 miles
 
1 mile = 1.6kms
 
96000000 miles = 96000000 x 1.6kms =
1536000000 kms to Sun
 
NASA has said that, it is the exact distance between Earth and Sun (Bhanu).
Which proves Hanuman ji did jump from Earth till Sun, thinking it as a sweet fruit (Madhur phal)...
 
It is really interesting how accurate and meaningful our ancient scriptures are...
Unfortunately barely it is recognized, interpreted accurately or realized by anyone in today's time

Indian Caste system- misunderstanding

Every body questions ancient Indian wisdom and caste system in India.

There was no proof or history where one caste killed another caste person by stating caste alone as a reason.

Kshatriyas married Brhamins.Brhmins married kshatriyas.

Kshatriyas married all castes.

Sahnatanu married fisher woman  and children ruled india . that is the story fo mahabahrata.

Yayati , kshatriya married Devayani( daughter of Shukra charya, Brhamin)

Vasishta married “Arundhaati “ , who is shudra lady.

However, castes are respecting each others thinking and life style and priority of their lives.

It is by “Guna”, Varna is defined.  I call it priority or value system.

Brahmins pripority is knowledge, especially spiritual knowledge.

Kshatriya’s prinority is protecting people and land.

Vuasya’s priority is agriculture and trade and making money for sthe society.

Shudras are working force , that means employees, like us.

Now read, western phiolosophy, who heavily criticize Hindu caste sytem.

Very Interesting facts!!!

You know the Latin Catholic will not enter to Syrian Catholic Church,

These two will not enter to Marthoma church,

These three will not enter to Penthacost church,

These four will not enter to Salvation Army church,

These five will not enter to 7th day Adventist church,

These six will not enter to Orthodox Church,

These seven will not enter to Jacobite church.........

Like this, it appears there are 146 castes in Kerala alone for Christianity; each will never share their churches for Christians!

Wonderful!!!

One Christ, One Bible, One Jehovah....!!! 

Christians fought not among religions lines, but among countries for the rule.

It is created by rulers.

Yes, there were no fights among Indian religions, NOR among castes.

Of course, There were fights between Veera vaishanvas and Veera saivas in 1200- 1400. Ad.

Which was very short and restricted to South India.

Earlier, Shri Adi Shankaracharya improved  understanding between six sects of Hinduism. That is why he is called

“ snamata sthapana” ( established 6 religion sects in Hinduism) . In reality, there is no HINDUISM, as we have Sanatana Dharma, old religion.

We accepted all religions and decalred ”Buddha”  and Rishibha( jain originator)  as incarnation fo Vishnu.

Only politicians get votes among lines of castes. They divided people on castes.

There is only one class, Rich and Poor. They fight .But it is Rich who win.

Because, they divide and rule others.

It is not British, nor congress, who ever rules, he divides and rules.

When British tried to rule india, they thought there were not enough religions who fight in India

As Jains, Busshists  were not  fighting  with Hindus .

So they said, Sikhs are different religion. Even they never fought with Hindus

except under  Congress rule.

So castism was thought as dividing factor. Even that was not mentioned a single time as

Vaisya  caste Gandhi was leading others. He also called “sudras who are not part of  four Hindu caste system ” as panchama (Harijan) > how that caste was created as they were “untouchables”

Not because of caste, but as they were not sent out like British sent out crimilnals to Australia.

There was only one punishment called” desha bahishkarana”) sendng out of country.

These people had a choice to go to neighboring country.but many never went ,but stayed in outskirts of the city and were dependent on kingdom for survival. Many compassionate people fed them.But

They were not having citizenship. Thus they became a bid creed. Please do nto confuse them with

Tribals as tribal’s have their own customs and they never allowed any one in their group.

Westerners never had patience nor understood Ancient Indian culture ,but started criticizing castes

And multi God system, which shows we tolerate others ,But DO NOT ELIMINATE OTHERS

LIKE  Americans eliminated ”Red Indians” and Europeans eliminated “Nomads”.

In conclusion, Indian caste system was meant to be good for work classification. Subsequently, some un wanted elements or practices might have crept in, but on the whole, understanding

And mututal trust and co-operation if cultivated, society will benefit than aboloishing

Castes which will create more  confusion.

Any system can be a problem, instead of abolishing, it has to be resurrected.

Caste systems gives easy living as valvue system is different castes while “ justice “is same for all.

Pl. give your comments on “Ancient Indian system- Caste system”.

Athentication of Ancient Indian wisdom

The problem with Ancient Indian wisdom is that we do nto have authentic wisdom. Vedas are not published nor have author. so is knowledge of many fields. so we have to come out with a different way of authentication. for eg. we can not patent ideas,but prove with present methods or testing tools. our ancient Indian wisdom is by concepts. present  knowledge is by proof. our ancestors left the wisdom of a man to take it or leave it. he did nto bother to prove. pl. read my blog on the same title. this leaves us only two choices.one commenting on concept. or proposing new concept. how is it authenticated. God knows ! or self realization. thus Indian wisdom is most democratic. western wisdom is also coming to the same point. but right now, it is still hierarchical. so what is the problem with this ? any body can propose or publish and innocent people get misguided. in other words, there is a confusion. Even Dvaita, Advaita and Vishist-advaita gurus have not cleared he doubts and we are following all three.
so how do we document is a problem.   hence two essential principles. one source. second comment. eg. source. sage Vashishta : comment" Rajasekhar . now Vasishta has not documented nor other is no authentic document. there will be several Vashishta texts. Second one "comment is required as we have to realise and confirm. then only publish as  it becomes relevant for us. Take Ayurveda. we have several medicines. now which one we will use it? so Ayurveda universities have to publish book and give ref. and authentication. we will use it as ref.though they may not have patent, others can not use it without published or authenticated source.this will bring Ancient Indian Wisdom into a science. till then it is "mythology" copy right. P.B. Rajasekhar - blog Ancient Indian Wisdom.