Because I am A Swayamsewak

Queen Elizabeth was once counselled by her advisors to act on the protestants and she replied "I will not punish anybody for his belief. I will only punish somebody for breaking the law".

The Hindu way of life has been very clear about freedom and independence from any kind of preconditionings and dogmas. The beauty of the Hindu thought has been the assimilation of all. Although, it has not been stated in the holy scriptures, but the evolution of Hindu thought has been so subtly manipulated by our forefathers, that growth and freedom became the inevitable consequences of the way hinduism was practiced. One of the central pillars of this evolution has been the emphasis on ‘individual consciousness’, rather then ‘collective cosciousness’. The Hindu way of life has been accommodative, instructive and thereby protective of any new thought that has found roots in human consciousness.

Before Buddha, the vedantic philosophy ruled the life in India. When the masses didn’t find answers to their miseries in the contemporary thought, they turned to Buddha for their salvation and thus a whole new chapter in hindu consciousness was instituted. The acceptance of Buddha and his beliefs against the shortcomings of the practice of Vedanta philosophy, was a unique gift of the hindu mindset, which allowed the new thought to initiate, prosper and take roots in the hindu thought and, thereby, infuse it with new blood,and purge it of its social ills. The same flow of acceptance continued is the 7th century with the mission of Adi Shankaracharya, albeit with contradicting results. This time it was the Vedanta philosophy with new wings of ‘advaita’ and the talent of Shankar to take on Buddhism and its attending ills. Subsequently, the flowering of Kabir, Meera, Nanak and the rest of the Bhakti movement has been a continuous journey of innovation, acceptance and imbibing of new thoughts and philosophies into the Hindu thought. Even alien religions like ‘Islam’ were understood and mutated very sympathetically by the Hindu way of thought. One cant imagine the poverty of the literary world, if there were no Urdu language, urdu poetry and Sufi way of thought and living.
The point is that our forefathers realized that each person in unique in this existence, and if given the right nurturing and direction, in this uniqueness lies the possibilty of emergence of new thought which will be beneficial to humanity at large.

Those who are opposing the celebration of valentines day and threatening young couples with dire consequences, are attacking the very spine of the hindu thought. If we want to continue prospering and progressing as a hindu way of life, this should be totally unacceptable to us.

Shifting from the pedestal of the philosophico- intellectual reasoning, let us go on to a socio-geo-political analysis, as to why this opposition to the celebrations of events like valentines day, will be counter productive to the interests of the very hinduism that these activists are out to protect.
The self proclaimed protectors of hinduism and its culture should realize that historically,we hindus, have been a free society, ready to experiment with new social arrangements and thereby trying the human imagination to the limits. How else would one explain that we have counted Draupadi, the wife of 5 kings, as a ‘mahanari’ and not as a cheap social aberration. The concept of free will was understood, accepted, and utilized by our ancestors more comprehensively then us. When we attack our own children in the name of protecting our culture, it is a complete misunderstanding of the free will granted to us by the grand hindu thought, and very paradoxically, it is a pathetic replica of other monolithic religions, where religion controls every social aspect of a man’s life. We should not fall prey to this, simply because hindu thought is alien to such an association where the ‘pundit’ is supposed to guide us in every aspect of life. The greatest victory of Hindu thought lies in the segregation of a routine social life from the church. If we were to be inspired by religions where the priests rule the roost whose interests are we serving ,ours or theirs ?
Secondly, when the whole world has turned a sympathetic ear to the suffering of Indians at the hands of Islamic terrorism, and Pakistan is under tremendous pressure to act on its own Frankensteins, meaningless vandalism and moral policing against our own children is grossly mistimed and ill advised. If these protectors of Hinduism have so much adrenaline rushing up their veins, let it be utilised in protecting our faith from the external threat, which is far more serious, than flexing their muscles on college going teenagers.
A way of life as diverse as hinduism will always have a multi dimensional outcome. We never had one god, one book, or one prophet to seek our answers, so, through 10,000 years of the journey of ‘Sanatana Dharm’ we have not crystallized a core of thought, around which to gather the masses. To that extent hinduism has been the greatest experiment on earth to have survived the passage of time and yet remain intact as a way of life,never coming out with a single social or religious dictat to the ordinary person on the street.. We as hindus have the onus on us to protect this way of life. The obstruction to teenagers celebrating valentines day is an attempt to crystallize a way of thought for moral and social conduct, which is bound to fail, because it is against the basic requisites of the Hindu way of thinking.

Politically, it has been the misfortunes of this country that Hindus could never be mobilised into a pressure group (vote bank) to realize their social security. The moral police should realise that they have very poorly prioritized their job in the service of hinduism. A very hostile neighbour to our west, a not so hostile neighbour to the east, a very powerful, vigilant adversary to our north and an irritant in the south .We are living in one of the most dangerous regions of the world and it doesnt require an Einstien to guess as to who is the target of these hostile neighbours. At this crucial juncture, when we should have the larger picture in our vision, we are busy formulating dictates to our teenagers as to what dress code to have in civic life and whether holding hands in a public place amounts to blasphemy.. It shows a complete bankrupcy of thought in our threat assessment of the whole geo-political situation in the subcontinent.
By opposing a meaningless issue,like the valentine’s day, we are only creating one more issue to drive a wedge in the already fragment hindu polity. This will be utilized by the political opponents of the hindu movement. We will unnecessarily alienate a section of our youth and simultaneously, be strengthening the ideological opponents of the hindu movement.
It is not that the mindless aping of western festivals and values is to be approved of. There is no doubt that a way of life and culture alien to the land should be opposed, but there are other, better institutions to take care of that aspect, then outright hooliganism and resorting to violent means on helpless citizens. The hindu leadership should be more responsible and imaginative in their response to this subtle bending of minds of our youth towards western values.. The family, teachers and society at large are by far, most potent, effective and honourable ways to make our youth realize the futility of these empty gestures, like gyrating to loud music and yielding to lust at an immature age.


Now, to summarise the opposition to the self proclaimed soul saviours of hinduism-
i) The moral policing is against the basic ethos of Hindu way of life. Our forefathers gifted us an independent thought, it is our duty to pass it on as such to our next generation. Nobody gives us the right to interfere with the natural growth of human consciousnesss, however well meaning it might appear to us. Forces of life are larger then forces of prejudices and biases.
ii) When our cities are being blasted at free will at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists, the real threat to our culture and way of life is from without, not within.
iii) With general elections round the corner, and the margins of victory getting narrower every time, it is sad that the hindu movement is so hopelessly divided. All energies should be focused on integrating people around a central pillar of hindu polity, instead of alienating our own people on worthless issues.
iv) Whom are we targeting ? the middle class and the upper middle class. These are the very people who provided the intellectual backbone to the growth of the hindu movement. Continuing harassment of the middle class might end up being the last nail in the coffin of the hindu movement.

When we were children, going to shakhas used to be fun. It was about playing games, making friends, laughing & singing. In our youth it was about camaraderie. We would have passionate discussions about serving our mother land and every morning we would be moved to tears while singing ‘Namaste Sada Vatsale Matri Bhumi’, in the shadow of the saffron triangle. There were problems and issues of enormous magnitude, yet there was hope within in our hearts. I still go to the shakha ,and now,sadly, we are a confused lot. We don’t know where we are heading, we don’t know whom to blame for the complete loss of direction.


As Buddha said "when you don’t find a way, go to the beginning". Yes, there is no direction, no leadership worth the name, no priorities and no rewards. The road to salvation is nowhere in sight. But, when I go back to the beginning, it slowly dawns upon me that my hinduism teaches me to let the flow of life go on uninterrupted. As long a somebody is not going against the law of the land, what is to fear ? He or she has full right to live a life of his / her choice. Nobody gives me the right to encroach upon the this fundamental gift of life. I may or may not join the celebrations of valentines day but I will not myself and not let others disrupt any one else’s celebrations, because I AM A SWAYAM SEWAK… VANDE MATARAM..

श्री मद्भगवद्गीता की उपेक्षा

कहने को तो हम स्वयं को हिंदू धर्मावलम्बी कहते हैं तथा रात दिन हम गीता की दुहाई देते हैं, पर हम में से कितने लोगों ने पूरी गीता को पढ़ा है? ज्यादा से ज्यादा बाप दादाओं के मुंह से तथा सीरिअल्स में बॉलीवुड की फिल्मों के मध्यम से एक ही श्लोक हमें ज्ञात है। करमन्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन , परन्तु इस श्लोक को गीता समझ लेना ऐसा ही है जैसे सागर में से एक लोटा पानी निकाल कर उसे ही सागर समझ लेना। असली सागर तो हमसे चूक ही गया है , उसकी और तो हमने पीठ ही कर ली है।


Aldous Huxley, a very profound British author's views on the Geeta go as follows"The Bhagwat geeta is the most systematic statement of spiritual evolution of endowing value to the mankind।it is one the most clear and comprehensive summaries ofperennial philosophies ever revealed, hence, it's enduring value is subject not only to India but to mankind as a whole."

दुःख की समझ

सही मायनों में धार्मिक व्यक्ति का जन्म इसी आत्म अनुसन्धान से होता है की मेरे दुःख के लिए कोई और नहीं मैं स्वयं ही जिम्मेदार हूँ। जब तक हम समाज , रिश्तेदारों या व्यवस्था को दोष देते रहेंगे, हमारे दुःख से कोई छुटकारा सम्भव नहीं है। साम्यवाद कहता है की हमारे दुःख के लिए समाज जिम्मेदार है, लेकिन अफ़सोस समाज बदल भी जाए तो भी व्यक्ति दुखी ही रहता है , कितने समाज बदले, कितनी व्यवस्थाएं आईं और गईं, पर सारा जगत अंधकार में क्यूँ है? हम दुखी इसलिए हैं क्यूंकि दुःख हमारी दृष्टि में है,न की दूसरे व्यक्ति में। जब तक यह बात हमारे ह्रदय में पूरी तरह से नहीं उतर जाती तब तक मनुष्य दुखी ही रहेगा।

Jaswant Singh: Durga Das Rathore of the BJP

One of the founding fathers of the Hindu nationalist movement, Jaswant Singh has been shown the door out of the party which he had built with his own hands.

He has been 'expelled' by people who are far below him in intellect, vision and commitment to the party and the nation.As they say-' Jealousy is the only tribute mediocrity can pay to genius'.

During Aurangzeb's rule in Delhi, the state of Jodhpur underwent a lot of turmoil, and Aurangzeb thought it was the right time to annex and merge Jodhpur into the mughal kingdom.It was the sheer valour and intellect of Veer Durga Das Rathore that protected the state from Aurangzeb. The most awe inspiring aspect of this story is the selfless service of Veer Durga Das for the sake of the loyalty to motherland and the royal family of Jodhpur.

Unlike other small minded rajputs who colluded with mughals to conspire and eliminate their own kith and kin, Durga Das had the vision and the courage to resist Aurangzeb for no selfish gains. He installed Ajit singh ,the son of Jaswant singh to the throne of Jodhpur and protected him all his life.

But, sadly, as has been the history of Rajputs and other Hindu kings of our motherland, with time, yes men and selfish 'well wishers' of Ajit singh instigated him against Veer Durga Das . Such was the commitment of Veer Durga das to the cause of loyalty ,that insipte of being capable of eliminating Ajit Singh and himself becoming the king of Jodhpur, he chose to live upto his honor and left his janmabhoomi and karmabhoomi to lead a life of anonymity.

Veer Durga Das died a lonely man on the banks of Kshipra river in Ujjain.But he lives on forever in our hearts. There is a saying about him in the rural folk of Marwar-Mayee ehra poot jan jehara DURGADAS, baandh mundaso rakhiyo bin thambe aakash. (O Mother, give birth to a son like Durga Das, who stopped the flooding dam of the moghul army single handedly).

History never forgets or forbids her true sons and soldiers.Ajit Singh was and never will be given even a footnote in the history of Rajasthan , but Veer Durga Das has been immortalised in our heart and minds till there is a single self respecting Indian living on this earth.

One can't help noticing the glaring metaphorical similarity between Jaswant Singh and Veer Durga Das.

During the transition of the erstwhile Jansangh to Bhartiya Janata Party, he was one of the first intellectuals to join and subsequently help the growth of the party. The luminous others being, Smt.Vijaya Raje Scindhia, Sh.L.K.Adwani, Sh A.B. Vajpaye, and Sh.Sikandar Bakht. It was the immense ground work and foresight of these stalwarts that saw BJP leap from a mere two MPs in 1984 to triple digit in 1991.

With his grace and wisdom, it would have been pretty easy for him to join the Congress and catapult to immediate fame at least in the state of Rajasthan. Instead, he chose to remain committed to his beliefs and ideology of soft hindutva centric nationalism, and resisted the congress,tooth and nail.

He was one of the main constituents of the think tank of the BJP and it's subsequent rise to power in New Delhi as the axis of the NDA. It was upto Jaswant Singh to placate mercurial allies like Mrs.Jayalalitha and retain her with the NDA during the entire 5 year rule of NDA. A job he lived upto with utmost sincerity.

But the most signifant contribution of Jaswant singh was during his tenure as the foreign minister.Not only the party, but the entire nation will always be indebted to him for his remarkable service to our motherland. After Pokhran 2 , USA had gone mad with India and Mr. Bill Clinton publicly snubbed India and her leaders. It was left to him to explain India's viewpoint to the world.A job he did with utmost dedication and clinical precision.

Post independence, Indian diplomacy has been largely about sheepish submissions and a lot of loud but futile chest beating around empty and meaningless issues of Panchseela and non alignment in the international fora, courtsey the hollow and irrelevant policies of the erstwhile Congress leaders.It was the single handed commitment of Jaswant Singh to give a razor sharp finesse to Indian diplomatic manouvering. It was he who criss-crossed the globe on innumerous overt and covert visits to the US and European countries to make the western leadership see light on the necessity of India acquiring the status of a nuclear weapons state.

It was a very daunting task , considering the likes of a tough Bill Clinton, the matter of fact Mrs. Madeline Albright, and all the tough upper lipped US establishment. One can't forget how Jaswant Singh constantly engaged the US under secretary, Mr. Strobe Talbott , which went a long way in clearing away the haze surrounding Pokhran 2 and subsequent Indo-Pak relations.

This nation will never be able to thank him enuff for the great service he has done to the nation by changing the working style of a very babu minded indian diplomacy and for the frist time in Indian history, entirely new perspective he was able to give to the whole defence and geo political scenario of the subcontinent to the western world.A perspective based entirely on the supreme premise of safe gaurding national interests, with a measured aloofness from lecturing vague idiocies to the rest of the world.

It was the ground work initiated by Jaswant Singh that led to the ultimate signing of the nuclear deal between India and the US, though , in our glorious Indian tradition, a grateful reference to him has been entirely ommitted by the narcisstic Congress.

His stint as the Finance minister was also remarkable and he gave innovative ideas to the financial world and , thru his policies India was able to sustain a growth rate howering around 8-9 % .It was with his consent and support that white elephants like Balco were sold and turned into profit making units.

Now, coming to the point of his expulsion from the BJP. The proceedings in the BJP are the direct consequences of a very static philosophy and a tired leadership. The party and it's followers seem to be stuck in a time warp, hence the complete disconnect from it's core constituency and also the general masses.


Anyone with the slightest of knowledge of Indian history will understand that the real villian of partition was not Jinnah alone, but the British along with Mr. Nehru and Mr.Gandhi.Jinnah was a secular, intellectual and a patriot of undivided India, albiet , a lil over ambitious.It wud have served our country immensely to have him as the first Prime minister of this country.Considering the prevelant socio political scenario of the preindependence era, what could have gone against Mr.Jinnah for being the P.M. of India, except his religion of birth? The bogey of a civil war raised by Mr.Nehru led to a situation where Mr. Jinnah had to step back from the contest of the Prime ministership of this nation. In his frustration, for being out manouvred by the 'secualr leaders' of the congress, Jinnah fell back on Muslim League and gifted us with Pakistan.




This is the 21st century. The era of rapid mass communication. A small incident on the Valentine's day,in a Mangalore cafe got so much publicity that it shook the whole establishment. The Middle class watched that incident repeatedly on the T.V. and the BJP lost the general elections. The BJP has expelled one of it's tallest leaders for expressing vews on a subject.The middle class is watching again.All the hope and talk of BJP's resurgence shud be laid to rest if this is how you treat your own leaders,who have a viewpoint different then yours.The hallmark of a civilisation is individual consciousness , and liberty to pursue and blossom that consciousness. The BJP has attempted to strangulate a voice.This is nothing but blind mimicry of the Congress culture. The congress doesn't tolerate anything against the family, and the BJP doesn't tolerate anything against it's 'philosophy' .Sad congruence of values, indeed!


Since Jaswant Singh had sent a copy of the book to Mr.Adwani himself , before it's release, it is obvious that per se Adwani has no objection to this book of Jaswant.(Adwani himself had commented on the secular outlook of Jinnah in Karachi and had to resign from the presidentship of the party). Though Adwani does seem helpless to have stopped Jaswant's expulsion from the party.






We hindus are cursed to have such a myopic leadership. The expulsion of Jaswant Singh can not damage him. He is already beyond the insults of such trivial nature. He has proved his loyalty , intellect, and valour like a true warrior of the motherland and the party in thier times of need. He is the one to have stood test of time and test of public scrutiny.

Those in the BJP who are gloating over his expulsion and those who have silently witnessed it ,will have to answer the people of this country , as to what wrong did Jaswant Singh commit by holding a viewpoint. We are all free souls in a free country.As long as it does not infringe on someone else's freedom and it is not against law, we can hold whatever opinion we want.

Jaswant singh will ride into the sunset a lonely man, but the tragedy will not be his, the tragedy will be of the Hindu cause and nationalism. If this is the way we treat our loyal warriors, then the whole cause of hindu nationalsim is doomed. Jaswant Singh was one of the few intellectuals who could have articulated and presented the convoluted concept of Hindutva to the rest of the world. Expelling him from the BJP , will be one of the major nails in the coffin of the experiment of Hindutva.


Durga Das Rathore chose to quit his motherland when his loyalty was doubted. So will an honourable man like Jaswant Singh .The biggest loser in this game of conciet and deciet will be the BJP itself. Durga Das Rathore lives on forever in our memory . So will Jaswant Singh , for anyone who has the intelligence to understand his immense contribution to the nation and the party.

Both of them epitomise these lively words---

"Loyalty , above all else,except, honour."




Dr.Omendra Ratnu Director,
Ratnu E.N.T.Hospital, Jaipur.

History is littered with wars everybody thought would never happen!

While watching the 60th year celebrations of the Chinese Republic and the subsequent provocations of China viz. a viz. her border disputes with India, I was struck with these lines. We as a nation have gone into a massive amnesia when confroning China. We have completely obliterated the insult of the 1962 aggression from our psyche and the subsequent occupation of the Indian territory.

If we think that we can humor the Chinese by our mumbo jumbo of Ahimsa and world peace, I guess we are definitely living in a fool's paradise ! They are a very ruthless society , who did not hesitate to slaughter thier own young ones for the larger interests of thier nation, in case we have forgotten the bloodbath carried out at the Tian an Mein square. I have no doubt whatsoever in my mind that China will eventually use it's military power against India. When and how is just a matter of detail.

What is our preparedness? This is the part that will definitely send chills down our spines. The Chinese test our patience by staking thier claim on Arunachal Pradesh, without doubt an integral part of India , and , what does our establishment do? We hold press conferences in some dimly lit room of the South block , addressed by a Sarkari nominee, that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India. Wow! What a revelation! Are these guys talking to themselves? Is this the protocol to carry out international diplomacy? And we have given our whole foreign policy drafting in their incompetent hands !

What does the political establishment do? Our nominated P.M. throws his angry fist in the air and reaffirms to the nation that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India. Another reaffirmation from a gentleman! What more can we stupid indians expect from an honourable person? Anyway, Is China listening? They couldn't care less. I can literally see then laughing their pants off in Beijing on this comedy show of international diplomacy by the cretins of the present government establishment. But no, no , the story is not yet over ! More to come from our appointed P.M. He has very valiantly flown to the U. S and he has managed to somehow get the shoulder of the almighty Mr. Barak Obama to lean on and cry foul about the misdeeds of China. It's another matter that the American economy has got so interwoven with the Chinese economy that Mr. Obama could hardly raise voice about American interests , leave apart advocating some leniency on India!

We may delude ourselves into thinking that everything is hunky dowry between India and China, but the glaring truth is that China considers us as an adversary. The sooner we realise and get onto a preparatory mode to neutralise any overt or covert threat from China the better it will be for our health and survival as a nation. We have already paid a heavy price for misjudging China in 1962 , under the 'brilliant' leadership of Mr. Nehru. Sadly, even today, it is his progeny at the helm of the affairs and the same ostrich attitude remains the guiding principle of a lost nation.

It is one thing to be impressed by the colourful pictures of an overtly aggresive neighbour, quite another to analyse the threat it poses to us as a nation.A eunuchoid leadership, a kleptocratic governence, a pseudo moralistic philosophy and a pussilanimous attitude : quite a recipe for disaster!

Those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it. I sound paranoid? Let time answer that question.... ......

Awakening is not an end in itself , but means to an unknown end।This is the problem!Our conditioned minds see every pursuit in terms of reward and punishment, or gain and loss. We humans have lost the virtue of doing things for doing sake.There is always an incentive. The desire to grab that incentive turns a joyous journey to a painful and tense conflict.Existence doesn't work like this. Everything around us is happening without any reason. Life simply is! Howsoever hard we might try to rationalise it. So, firstly, awakening can not be a tense hammering on us, rather it is a smooth dawn of realisation of small pleasures and joys of day to day life।
And thank 'God' , there is no end to awakening। It wud have been so boring that every Buddha, every Krishna, every Muhammad, every Christ wud have immediately committed suicide on becoming realised souls।

For example, when Jesus is being crucified, he looks up the sky and utters"oh father you have deserted me". but, the next second, as his consciousness soars he realises his mistake, bows his head in surrender and utters"thy will be done". that is the moment he becums Christ. An awakened soul becums more awakened .
Same is a story in Ramkrishna Paramhansa's life. He was a realised soul ,in constant conversation with Maa Kaali. In the later years of his life he went into Vedantic sadhana and had to cut through that very same Kaali in his meditation.When he came out of his meditation , on being asked by his teacher Totapuri ,Paramhansa said "The last barrier has fallen".
Even he had barriers to overcome.so, I guess it is all about our evolutionary level.The spiritual world is a voyage to the unknown with very unpredicatble path and results.Since the quest is infinite, the journey can not have finite parameters too.