Answering Ram Gopal Verma on his querries about Ganpati

।।श्री गणेशाय नमः।।
It was heartening to see Raam Gopal Verma taking interest in Hindu scriptures and post his queries regarding Shree Ganesh on Twitter. Though many seemed agitated on RGV's choice of words, lets give him benefit of doubt and answer the questions, one by one.

RGV : The guy who couldn't save his own head from being cut , how he will save others heads is my  question? But Happy Ganpathi day to morons!
Answer : Not fair RGV Saar. Not fair! How can you give your wishes on Ganesh Chaturthi only to those belonging to your tribe! Afterall we live in a secular Nation. Anyway, I'll still answer your question. Going by yourwords its seems your idea about God 'almighty' is a being that is Immortal and Invincible. Though I wouldnt disagree, there is an extention to this idea that you seem to have missed.

Limiting God in the word 'Immortal' seems a bit immature. Immortality is an idea about those for whom a form is their limited identity, which if once destroyed can not be recovered by itself. Hence immortality is to prserve that form or even the formless identity forever. But what if one gain control over its own and other's life and death and rebirths...what if death is only a line that it can draw whenever and where ever it wishes to on the infinite playground of space, time and dimentions? Jumping from one side to the other like a game seems like fun, no? This fun can be loosely equated to sanskrit word 'leela' (लीला).
Since you are a movie maker, let me put it in way that you can relate to. If in your movie an actor dies, does he die in real life too? No, right? Also, theres always a lesson to every story. This 'leela' too is similar to a movie.

Shri Ganesh by means of this leela teaches us the kind of respect one must hold for her/his Mother, resolve and bravery. Shiva through the same leela teaches us ill effects of allowing our anger to take control over our sense.

The Elephant's head was chosen to free Airavat (Indra's Elephant) of a curse due to which it had to be born as a mortal.

Also, Elephant's head has hidden symbolism - large eara to listen to the prayers of his devotees. You may google for rest.

NB: Im writing this post from my phone hence please forgive spelling and grammatical mistakes.

- #SahuCar

Dusting off the dirt from the tradition of Rakhi

A Book that sits in shelf, inevitably gathers dust. When people stop making efforts to learn the real sense hidden in the Book and start interpreting the title on its cover by hear-say, inevitably a huge chunk of information never comes into picture. Also, you should expect a considerable amount of information to be false. Would you go by a review of any book by someone who hasn't read the book but writes the review on hearsay? Moreover, would you trust someone to tell you about the book, when that someone doesn't really want you to read the book? Whatever your answers are, I'd request you to relate this whole introduction to Hindu Traditions. Most of our traditions have changed with time, for various reasons, and now are under attack - Rakshabandhan is one of them.

Attack, you say? Yes. When a tradition with so many colourful interpretations and forms has been chopped down into a stub and then even criticised, I would say, it is under attack.

I try to recall what I learnt through my education in school about the festival and traditions of Rakshabandhan? All I remember is the story of Rajpoot Queen Karnavati who sent Rakhi to Humayun to protect Chittor from Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujrat. Humayun though set off immediately to her rescue with his troops, arrived too late. Bahadur Shah had managed to sack Queen's fortress and Rajpoot Queen along with other 13,000 women had performed Jauhar. Though a lot of historians remain skeptical about the legend, I don't dare to doubt what the school text books dictate me to believe. Yet, this is a historical account; where is the religious origin of this festival?

Going by popular belief, Rakshabandhan is a festival that (exclusively) celebrates the bond between a brother and sister; but if so, why a similar festival called 'Bhai-dooj' is also celebrated? I was also taught about Queen Draupadi tying a piece of cloth torn from her attire on Krishna's finger to stop it from bleeding. But then Draupadi was Krishna's Sakhi/Friend...isnt this another shade of this festival? Trying to find the origin of this festival, I also read about stories about Yam and Yamuna, King Bali and Lakshmi and the story about Santoshi Maa, daughter of Ganapati. All these stories strengthen the belief that it is a festival that celebrates the love between a brother and sister... and I would be happy with that too; but Wait! Why would then Pundit jee on the same day tie Raksha-sutr on the wrist of their Yajman? Why do women tie Rakhi amongst themselves?

courtesy :
Religious Basis of Hindu Beliefs By Dr. Bhojraj Dwivedi

This time I tried to concentrate on the term 'Rakshabandhan' - literally, a thread tied that would protect; and that is when I came across Devi Shachi and Indra's story. Long story short, Devi Shachi (Indra's consort), tied raksha sootra on Indra's wrist before going for war, which made him fearless and due to the effect of the Raksha-sutra, he won the war. The interesting thing to note here is that Devi Shachi is Indra's consort - this adds a new dimension to the festival of Rakshabandhan.

Bhavishya Puran mentions :
सर्व रोगापशमनं सर्वाशुभविनाशनम् ।
सत्कृत्कृते नाब्दमेकं येनरक्षा कृता भवेत्॥
Raksha-sutr worn on Shravani Poornima is the destroyer of all diseases and inauspicious activities. By wearing it in a proper manner once a year a man remains protected for the whole year.

With all these different stories, What I could conclude is that the festival is basically about Rakshasutra tied by a wife to her husband, a Pundit to Yajman, a sister to her brother and even amongst women to bless the other with courage and invisibility so that She/He could in turn protect others. With the arrival of Mughal hordes, Rakshabandhan inspired men to fearlessly fight to defend their women. Though the other vibrant hues of this festival are still practiced, Bollywood with is obvious lack of knowledge of cultural values picked up and romanticised only the bond between Brother and sister. 

I have only attempted in this article to brush away the dust from a small volume of a mammoth set of books called Sanatan Dharma and I am sure I'm still missing a few aspects here. The best way to conclude is with a few words from a respected elder, who first pointed out the hidden truths - 

"The Indian mythology is an endless ocean. You will draw only as much water from it as the size of your bucket (mental and spiritual pre-requisites) and if your bucket is placed bottoms up, even if the whole ocean is poured over it, you won't get a single drop out of it."

a girl tying Rakshasutra to her Mother

The real culprits of Meerut Gang Rape

A 20-year-old Girl who taught Hindi and English in the Sarawa village madarsa in Kharkhauda area, In her complaint alleged that the village pradhan Nawabkhan, madarsa official Sannaullah and a few of their aides took her to the madarsa of Dautai village of Hapur district on July 30, a day after Eid. There she was gang-raped, compelled to convert and her name was also allegedly changed. They then took her to Muzaffarnagar where she was kept in confinement. 

Going by the rumors, there are more girls trapped and the atrocities don't stop at what you have read. (use your fertile imaginations) When the News Media has turned a blind eye on the whole issue, rumors are the only source of information. Obviously, this media blackout exists in order to maintain the sensitive 'communal harmony' of the state and Nation. The very same intellectuals that tirelessly have been making riotous noise on every platform for the protection of our secular ideals have suddenly disappeared. 

There is much more to this case than what meets the eye. I penetrate into deeper layers of the sequence and find the two Muslim Men NOT responsible for the act. I quote Mulayam Singh on this,"Boys make mistakes." Yes, you read this right. The fault lies somewhere else. Where? Let us use the art of logical deduction and find out the answer.

Lets start with the question, what if the venue was an Ashram? Oh wait, that sounds familiar. yes, Asaram! They ran media trial on him for months! Also, I recall Nirbhaya's case when one of the Rapists name, Raam Singh, was also dragged into a question, while one accused's name never came out. I'm sure, the readers can see what I'm pointing at. Just a few days back when a Shiv Sena MLA tried to force feed the substandard quality food to the one who served it to make his point, Media ran the news 24x7. I can site many such examples. Why selective outrage by media and intellectuals? Skewed Secularism? 

Now that we have established that the media is biased, let us try to find what caused it. 

Remember the violence witnessed by Mumbai, Patna and other cities by 'Peaceful' protesters who marched out chanting slogans in protest of violence against Rohingya Muslims in some other country...in Myanmar? Remember people out on roads holding placards about saving Gaza and shouting slogans against Israel? I'm sure you do. 

Now, remember People shouting slogans protesting against injustice on Kashmiri Pundits? Remember people on streets marching to support IPS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal? Remember people in other parts of India marching in support of Bodos and against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants? Remember outrage against Jove Jihad? No, you dont. Right? Why? because Hindus never went out and marched for themselves. Hindus 

have taken the lesson of Secularism and all its skewed interpretations too seriously and tried to avoid every issue that involves another community's members as perpetrators. Sure, they may march out with candles when they are sure that there is not any 'communal' angle to it. I am yet to see an angry Hindu mob that comes out marching on road shouting slogans, let alone harm public property for something that concerns exclusively their own kind. You might feel inclined to point out the Ayodhya issue, but those were the times when Yusuk Khan was known as Dilip Kumar and the difference in population of the Majority and 'the' minority was huge, since most migrated to Pakistan. 

Crux of the matter is if you want Media to pay heed, go violent. If you chose to use peaceful means like courts and expect the government to do everything for you, know that the media will turn a blind eye. 

So, in the end who do I find are the real culprits? Not the perpetrators, not the media, not even the government... the burden of responsibility for this situation is on every Hindu who in his enthusiasm to maintain a secular image turned a blind eye to issues relating to her/his community that cried for attention. 

This was rape, twice, on - 1. The Girl's body. 2. The victim's religion. 

The perpetrators knew well that they would go unpunished for both the offences. They knew well that the media will look the other way if caught. All this was possible because Hindus have burdened themselves with pseudo-Secular ideals... which in essence are communal...communal against their own community. 

There is a silence in the flock of News channels... faint cries of outraged few demand justice. If the justice is not served, take it down, we are heading towards a storm.