Tat Tvam Asi | तत्त्वमसि

The Bhagavad Gita never asks you to ‘believe’ or to ‘be a believer’. Gita asks you to “criticize” it and thereby, to understand and absorb the knowledge presented within. That single fact in itself differentiates it from other holy books and makes it incomparable. Instead of deceiving you to ‘believe’ in a God, Gita asks you to search for the divine by yourself. The endeavor ‘should’ be out of one’s own will, ‘never’ subject to compulsion. That’s why you don’t find a person who was ‘compelled’ to read the Gita. The desire should come from within. We are not claiming that the other holy books are wrong, nor are we questioning their existence. The point we make is that all ‘beliefs’ are rooted in ignorance. All beliefs are blind. When you board a plane, you ‘believe’ that the pilot knows how to fly it. You believe. Wasn't that belief blind? Same is the case with all beliefs. This ignorance leads human lives into darkness and misery. The Gita exists in order to unite the human...

On the very first day of the war, Duryodhana went to his mother Gandhari for her blessings. Keeping her palm on his forehead, the words Gandhari uttered were not विजयी भव:  [vijayee bhava] may you win but यतो धर्मस्ततो जयः [yato dharmastato jaya ] may dharma win Despite hearing the stories of her sons being killed one by one, and that of Duryodhana nearing a defeat, her words never changed, not even once during those 18 long days of war. Though his mother never blessed 'him' to win, Duryodhana too never left for battle without her blessings. Such pious mothers who  insist that may dharma win,  despite knowing their blessings would win the world for their sons and the ideal sons who never refuse to bow to such mothers, are the true children of Bharat Mata.  Hari Om!

Questions: 1. Do Hindus have a religion? A. Yes, the eternal, immortal and universal Sanatana Dharma (same as Hindu Dharma). 2. Who established Hinduism? A. God, the Almighty – “Sat-chit-ananda-swarupa”. 3. Is there a single holy book for Hindus? A. Yes, the Vedas – the source of all worldly knowledge. No religion on earth preaches the dignity of humanity in such a lofty strain as Hinduism, and no religion on earth treads upon the necks of the poor and the low in such a fashion as Hinduism.                                            - Swami  Vivekananda ( on 20 August 1893 in a letter to  Alasinga Perumal ). Now, let’s see a few important Hindu scriptures: Vedas (4) - The first and the foremost. There are 4 Vedas:  Rigveda Yajurveda Samaveda Atharvaveda Each Veda is divided on two bases:  ...

Namaste Sada Vatsale (Sanskrit: नमस्ते सदा वत्सले) is Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's prayer. This prayer is in Sanskrit except last line which is in Hindi. It is compulsory to sing this prayer in all programs of Sangh. It was written by Shri Narhar Narayan Bhide, a Sanskrit professor in guidance of Dr. K. B. Hedgewar and Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar. नमस्ते सदा वत्सले मातृभूमे, त्वया हिन्दुभूमे सुखं वर्धितोहम् ।  महामङ्गले पुण्यभूमे त्वदर्थे, पतत्वेष कायो नमस्ते नमस्ते ।।१।।  प्रभो शक्तिमन् हिन्दुराष्ट्राङ्गभूता, इमे सादरं त्वां नमामो वयम् | त्वदीयाय कार्याय बध्दा कटीयं, शुभामाशिषं देहि तत्पूर्तये || अजय्यां च विश्वस्य देहीश शक्तिं, सुशीलं जगद्येन नम्रं भवेत् | श्रुतं चैव यत्कण्टकाकीर्ण मार्गं, स्वयं स्वीकृतं नः सुगं कारयेत् ।।१।।  समुत्कर्षनिःश्रेयसस्यैकमुग्रं परं साधनं नाम वीरव्रतम् तदन्तः स्फुरत्वक्षया ध्येयनिष्ठा हृदन्तः प्रजागर्तु तीव्रानिशम् । विजेत्री च नः संहता कार्यशक्तिर् विधायास्य धर्मस्य सं...

"Tryst with Destiny" was a speech delivered by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, to the Indian Constituent Assembly in The Parliament, on the eve of India's Independence, towards midnight on 15 August 1947. The full speech: Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.   It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity. At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest and trackless centuries which are filled with her striving and the grandeur of h...

The one great problem, apart from many other political and economic issues of a very complicated nature is the moral degradation into which the men in the Congress circles have fallen. I cannot say much about the other provinces, but in my province, conditions are very deplorable. The taste of political power has turned their heads... The factions in the Congress circles, the money-making activities of several of the MLAs and MLCs and the weakness of the ministers have been creating a rebellious spirit among the people at large. The people have begun to say that the British government was much better and they are even cursing Congress. Given above is an excerpt from a letter received by Mahatma Gandhi from a veteran Andhra Congressman Konda Venkatappayya. The times when the Congressmen who were expected to be the torchbearers for our nascent nation, turned their heads at the conceit of power and retarded the growth of our motherland, is indeed a dark phase in the history of Bha...

Two interesting letters, originally written in Sanskrit, have been preserved in China. One of these was written in 654 A.C. by an Indian Buddhist scholar, Sthavira Prajnadeva, to Hsuan-Tsang. After greeting and news about common friends and their literary work, he proceeds to say:   "We are sending you a pair of white cloths to show that we are not forgetful. The road is long, so do not mind the smallness of the present. We wish you may accept it. As regards the Sutras and Shastras which you may require please send us a list. We will copy them and send them to you." Hsuan-Tsang in his reply says:  "I learnt from an ambassador who recently came back from India that the great teacher Shilabhadra was no more. This news overwhelmed me with grief that knew no bounds. Among the Sutras and Shastras that I, Hsuan-Tsang, had brought with me I have already translated the Yogacharyabhumi-Shastra and other works, in all thirty volumes. I should humbly let you know that wh...

The former Kerala cadre IPS officer, spy-master and the current National Security Adviser Shri Ajit Kumar Doval is one of the most talked-about people online and offline. Here, we will share a few stories from his meticulous and daring career: Doval was one of three negotiators along with diplomat Vivek Katju and C D Sahay, intelligence officer of the R&AW, who negotiated the release of passengers from IC-814 flight that was hijacked to Kandahar in 1999. [4] Uniquely, Doval has the experience of being involved in the termination of all 15 hijackings of Indian Airlines aircraft from 1971–1999.  During the Mizo National Front (MNF) insurgency, Doval as a field operative won over six of rebel leader Laldenga 's seven commanders and broke his hold over his private army. He spent long periods of time incognito with the Mizo National Army in the Arakan in Burma and inside Chinese territory .  In Punjab he was behind the rescue of Romanian diplomat Liviu Radu. H...

Read this gallant article by Dushyant Chauhan, a young blogger. He wrote this article as an answer on Quora to the slow Islamization of Bollywood. Citing this and some of his other answers, he was banned from Quora. Many such eminent Quorans met the same fate on the forum, their depiction of bare truth being branded as communalism. Does the world end with you Mr.Adam D'Angelo? It doesn't.  Now brace yourself readers for his answer: Lets us start with the Bollywood era around 30–40 years back when Manoj Kumar was producing stellar patriotic movies like “Purab aur Pashcim”. These movies projected India and the Hindu culture in a very very positive light. In this era one could easily see devotional songs to Hindu gods being a part of the movies with Bhajans being not uncommon. You do not see much negative portrayal of Hinduism nor any criticism.  We need to see this very interesting scenario of two very very famous Indian celebrities in this era. One is a male named Yus...

"Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot."                                                            - George Harrison (Beatles guitarist) What was it that forced late George Harrison, NFL player Ricky Williams, comedian Russell Brand, Hollywood actress Julia Roberts and the like to drop dogmatic religions? The reason is simple:  सत्यमेव जयते   [Satyameva Jayate] "Truth alone triumphs" Read a brilliant article by Maria Wirth, a German Hindu about the difference between the Hindu Dharma and mere "belief systems":  Occasionally I noticed that in western publications Hinduism was missing when religions were listed. Buddhism was there without fail, but its mother so to speak, was being ignored. What could be the reason? About one billion human beings are Hindus. Hinduism is alive and vibrant. Ther...

Following the Kurukshetra war, Tarpan Vidhi (rites of passage) were performed for all the dead heroes. Kunti then requested her remaining five sons to perform the rites for Karna as well. When they protested, saying he was a charioteer, she revealed the truth of his birth. The brothers were shocked to find that they had committed fratricide. Karna’s sons too had been killed by the Pandavas. Yudhishtira, the eldest, born to the Lord of Dharma, in particular, was furious with his mother and laid a curse upon all women that they should never thereafter be able to keep a secret. The great Mahabharata!

The article by Khushwant Singh: I have only two words for Justice G.T. Nanavati's inquiry report on the butchery of Sikhs 21 years ago: utter garbage. I have the report in hand, all 349 pages, plus the Action Taken Report  presented by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government in Parliament on August 8. I thought it would take a whole day or two to go through it. It took only a couple of hours because it is largely based on what transpired in zones of different police stations and long lists of names which meant nothing to me. There are broad hints about the involvement of Congress leaders like H.K.L. Bhagat, Jagdish Tytler, Dharam Dass Shastri and Sajjan Kumar. He gives them the benefit of the doubt and suggests yet another inquiry commission to look into the charges against them. Yet another commission? For God's sake, is he serious? To say the least, I was deeply disappointed with the whole thing. But the game of shirking responsibility was to attain higher levels! ...

The last speech of Nathuram Vinayak Godse, the assassin of M K Gandhi: Born in a devotional Brahmin family, I instinctively came to revere Hindu religion, Hindu history and Hindu culture. I had, therefore, been intensely proud of Hinduism as a whole. As I grew up I developed a tendency to free thinking unfettered by any superstitious allegiance to any isms, political or religious. That is why I worked actively for the eradication of untouchability and the caste system based on birth alone. I openly joined anti-caste movements and maintained that all Hindus were of equal status as to rights, social and religious and should be considered high or low on merit alone and not through the accident of birth in a particular caste or profession. I used publicly to take part in organized anti-caste dinners in which thousands of Hindus, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Chamars and Bhangis participated. We broke the caste rules and dined in the company of each other. I have read the speeches and...