Raghuram Rajan- A Ray of Hope

Reserve Bank of India has now a new head to lead the country during one of its most difficult days; Raghuram Rajan is appointed as the new governor of RBI, congratulations! The young (comparatively) man has lots of achievements as his credentials: Chief Economic Advisor of the Govt of India, former IMF economist, visiting professor to the World Bank and US Federal Reserve Board and an author of many books. His books include, Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists, Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy.

Apart from this, the appointment of Rakhuram Rajan has some more implications, according to experts. His appointment is at a time when Indian Rupee is in its historic downfall and one of his first priorities would be to manage the situation. However, his stand on the issue is that decline of the value of rupee is not a big matter as India is open to market economy. Both Raghuram and the present Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh have the same backgrounds, that of IMF and Reserve Bank. In other words, his appointment would strengthen capitalist policies of the govt.

His appointment has brought much hope in the economy, though some critics don’t see it. Since he is an idealist and often questioned the bad effects of capitalism, most people see a ray of hope. Whereas critics noted that he had been the Chief Economic Advisor of the govt when the country’s economy had witnessed much trouble, but he couldn’t do much to change the scenario, then how he can contribute anything as the RBI governor which is nothing but a bureaucratic position (of course, he argues for a limited role of RBI in economic matters). Let us hope for the best!

In between, I think BJP can also be happy in the appointment as at least one “Raghuram” is going to lead RBI, though it is not Lord Ram.

India- The Queen of Arabian Ocean and of Asia

It is time to congratulate our own defense experts and scientists who worked behind the launching of INS Vikrant.

Once again India stood with great pride among the world by launching its first indigenous aircraft carrier as only very few nations presently have been able to launch this sort of an aircraft such as the USA, the UK, Russia and France. Experts in foreign policy look with great interest this recent development in the sub-continent as the neighboring countries like China and Pakistan. It will make Pakistan in comparatively weak position, as already in the naval field India stand with confidence. However, the event has more meaning when we assess the other side, which is China’s stand in the development. China, it is said that, already seems to be worried about it. In many respects, China has an advantage over India, often playing the BIG BROTHER by crossing the border in the Indian side.
The upper hand India got in this will disturb many. Already, it has been assumed that the USA is trying to build a power bloc including Japan, Australia, and India along with. However, India would not be able to engage with the US as it will create another power bloc in the region, i.e., China and Pakistan. In other words, we are going to see much competition in the arms sector.

Watch the video here.

It is heard that Defense Minister A.K. Antony’s wife launched the aircraft carrier as the custom demands women to launch the aircraft carriers, which it is believed would bring good results. There will definitely be Ganapati Puja and other similar things before the launch. This is what we call Secularism.

Poverty Is a State of Mind- Rahul Gandhi

Previously, I have written a column on ‘using figures of speech in public speeches’, in which I noted that politicians are often targeted by the media simply because the latter do not understand, or do not want to understand the real motif behind some statements. What they do is simply taking some words used by the leaders in isolation and criticise it. Two recent examples are one made by Modi on Gujarat riot using the analogy of pets getting killed in the accident and the other one is Rahul’s infamous quote on poverty. I felt the media rushed hastily to make the statement controversial. See the captions of most newspapers, “Rahul Gandhi Mocks the Poor, says poverty is just a state of mind”. It has to be noted that media had not been invited to the event by Dalit Resource Centre (DRC) at the Gobind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute (GBPSSI). Unfortunately, the complete statement made by Mr. Rahul is not given in any of the news media, even then Times of India seems to have given a comparatively fair record of it.

'Against the backdrop of a countrywide debate on poverty, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said that "poverty comprises two elements - poverty of thought and poverty in material conditions. While there is a need to overcome poverty of thought to attain self-confidence, it's the latter which manifests in terms of food, money, education and so on," he added. "Poverty of thought has to be overcome so as to lend self-confidence to voice, leading to politics of one's own and a share in democracy and its institutions". "I understand the internal weaknesses of our prevalent system. I will try my level best to help the people, but unless and until the voice of the marginalized comes out from within, nothing can be done. People and the system will always discourage you that you cannot stand on your own feet and this in my opinion is the biggest lie," said the Congress leader. He further said, "We have to chalk out a strategy together as I do not want to develop a one-day relationship with the grassroots people...but a long-term relationship. I want to develop a relationship that is deep from within, which provides space to people to share their good and bad points. In India, the voice of the poor people is heard less and my one and only political aim is to tune my ears to the voice of the poor and the marginalized." Times of India, Aug 6, 2013, 10.51 PM IST


Simply focusing on parts of the statement, media went on criticizing Mr. Rahul. If we analyse the statement in a closer look, what he meant makes sense. He not only talked about two kinds of poverty, but also showed the understanding that “People and the system will always discourage you that you cannot stand on your own feet and this in my opinion is the biggest lie.”
What I felt is Rahul does need a good media team even if not to challenge Modi, at least not to get misunderstood by the media.

Ramayana- A Way to Attain Moksha

Difference between Adhyatma Ramayana and Valmiki Ramayana

The events in the Adhyatma Ramayana unfold itself through the narration of Lord Shiva to Sri Parvati. All major characters are incarnations of gods and goddesses contrary to Valmiki Ramayana; Rama as the incarnation of Para Brahma, Sita as Yoga Maya, Lakshman as Adi Shesha. Rama shows his ‘viswaroop’ (his real image) to Kausalya in Adhyatma Ramayana version. Narada visits Sri Ram before his coronation function arranged by Dasaradha to remind him of his real mission on Earth. Another noteworthy change is that as per Adhyatma Ramayana, the real reason behind Mandhara’s gossiping against Rama is to make a way to Rama’s ‘vanavasa’. It is depicted as Goddess Saraswathi makes Mandhara and Kaikeyi for this purpose. The story of Sage Valmiki being a barbaric thief in his prior life is an interpretation seen only in Adhyatma Ramayana, not in Valmiki Ramayana. The most important deviation is that Ravana really didn’t kidnap Sita, but Maya Sita only, an illusion created by the goddess. In other words, Rama questioning the chastity of Sita after the killing of Ravana has been justified by the poet here. In Adhyatma Ramayana, we could see Rama worshipping Lord Shiva before his mission to kill Ravana, maybe a development to satisfy the Shiva tradition also. These additions along with the events in the real Ramayana confirm author’s intention of telling the story of Rama, the ultimate god.
Adhyatma Ramayana is divided into several sections named ‘kanda’, as,

Bala Kanda
Ayodhya Kanda
Aranya Kanda
Kishkinda Kanda
Sundara Kanda
Yuddha Kanda and
Uttara Kanda

Bala Kanda
Sri Rama! Rama! Rama! Sri Ramachandra! Jaya
Sri Rama! Rama! Rama! Sri Ramabhadra! Jaya
Sri Rama! Rama! Rama! Sitabhirama! Rama
Sri Rama! Rama! Rama! Lokabhirama! Jaya
Sri Rama! Rama! Rama! Ravananthaka! Jaya
Sri Rama! Mama hridi ramatham Rama! Rama!
Sri Raghavaatmaarama! Sri Rama! Ramavata!
Sri Rama ramaneeya vigraha! Namosthuthe!

Ezhuthachan begins his great epic work by worshipping all his gods and teachers. Most critiques try to find out clues for the background of the poet from these lines. Then, he discusses the advantages of reading, and listening to the life-story of Rama. Those who read Ramayana every day and even listening to the very name of Rama will sure to get ‘mukthi’ or ‘moksha’. The story develops through the conversation between Lord Shiva and Goddess Uma.

Goddess Uma requests Lord Shiva to talk about the story of Rama and the importance of listening to the story of it. She says ‘Rama’ is the most precious name in the world, so she needs to tell the story so that she will get to know the ultimate truth. Lord Shiva narrates the story of Rama in a nutshell to Uma and then asks her to reveal the ‘Rama Tatva (the real idea or truth behind Rama to Hanuman, the devotee of Rama.

Rama Tatva
Rama is the one and only one Para Brahma. He has no qualities, emotions, birth, decay or death. He is omnipotent, omnipresent, god of all gods, witness of everything. You need to know this is Rama."

“Many Ramayanas”- Questioning the homogenous interpretations of the text

A.K. Ramanujan wrote his “Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation” to foreground different versions of the story of Rama. As I did not read the particular text, I cannot clearly say the nature of the work to invite much criticism from the Hindutva ideologues. As far as traditional knowledge is concerned, there are three sources for studying Ramayana: Valmiki Ramayana, Jaina Ramayana and Buddha Ramayana.

Valmiki Ramayana
Valmiki Ramayana is the composition by Sage Valmiki. It is believed that Valmiki conceived Rama as a good human being only, not as god. Besides, the story of Valmiki being a barbarous thief in his “Poorvasrama” as envisaged in Adhyatma Ramayana cannot be seen in the version of Valmiki. This version is propagated in Adhyatma Ramayana, an ancient Sanskrit text written by Ramananda. It has been discussed in the ancient wisdom that there were “many books of Ramayana” by Lord Brahma itself, which were equal to the four Vedas. However, human beings find it difficult to learn all these as there are a lot of books. Therefore, Lord Brahma asked Sage Valmiki to compose a simple version of it for the common man to get familiarized with. As Valmiki got enlightened by reciting the Rama mantra, Lord Brahma thought Valmiki would be the appropriate person to do so. Sage Valmiki got the help of Sage Narada in the composition work.

The story behind composing Ramayana is that Valmiki saw two love birds being shot by a hunter when they were exchanging their love. The sage composed the Ramayana from the “soka (sorrow)” of seeing this. “Manishada pratishtatum samagah sashvatisamah yat krouncha mithunadekam sokam avadhim kama mohitam.” This is the first utterance of the sage. Later, there were many other adaptations to this book based on the work of Sage Valmiki in which Adhyatma Ramayana is the most famous.

Buddha Ramayana or Dasaradha
It comes in the series of Jataka Tales, we can see one version of Ramayana. In the Buddha Ramayana, Rama and Sita are siblings who left their land to protect themselves from the evil doings of the step-mother. Most of the characters in the Valmiki Ramayana is not get their place in this version. Not much literary value is given to this version by critics.

Jain Ramayana
As per Jain Ramayana, Rama is not the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, but a follower of Jainism. Besides, in some versions, Sita is the daughter of Ravana. In Sanghadasa's Jaina version of Ramayana of the 5th century BCE, Sita, entitledVasudevahindi, is born as daughter of Ravana. According to this version, astrologers predict that first child of Vidyadhara Maya (Ravana's wife) will destroy his lineage. That's why Ravana abandons her and orders the infant to be buried in a distant land where she is later discovered and adopted by Janka.( Wiki).