The following is an excerpt from the book Glimpses of Hindu Genius, by Ravi Kumar.
An interesting development is taking place these days: Many foreigners have taken inspirations from Bhagwad Gita and they are putting their efforts to promote it. Once upon a time we were fighting our battles all alone. But now with these educated and resourceful persons joining Hindu forces, our strength has increased. Every time someone utters uncharitable remarks on India or Hinduism, Francois Gautier (the French journalist based in India) gives a fitting reply. Some of our people have been sold out to the foreign media. But Francois Gautier is there. Koenraad Elst and Michel Danino are there. They are a special breed of people who have been inspired by Hindu philosophy and Hindu way of life.
Former Canadian Prime Minister Martin Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, Prime Minister of Canada, had another predicament. He said, “America is in cold war with Russia and all those who support Russia. India is a supporter of Russia and therefore, I, as a prime minister of Canada, a good friend of America, cannot go to India. Therefore I am not going to contest next election. For, as long as I am Prime minister, I cannot visit India”. When asked why he was so desperate to visit India, he replied, “Two of my sisters, Margaret and Katherine have become Hindus. They are serving their spiritual master in Himalayas. Margaret has already become Madhurima and she is a sanyasinee there. I asked her to return to Canada. But she said, “I have taken Diksha. I have to be here for some more years. Till I complete my course I cannot return. So it is better you come to Bharat”. I want to meet my sisters. I have to go to India. I cannot go there as prime minister of Canada and so I am refraining from contesting the next elections”.
Whenever Swami Chinmayananda went to Bahrain, the family members of Sheikh arranged special discourses exclusive for them in the palace premises. Mrs. Anwar Sadat of Egypt comes to Mount Abu, Bharat regularly to specialize on meditation and spread the same globally. World’s richest industrialists Alan Ford and Rockefeller are active members of ISKCON and have donated a large part of their wealth and properties for the propagation of Hinduism. Alan Ford got married in Sydney in a typical Hindu style sporting a white dhoti. His wedding video is being circulated to stress the point that happy married life is possible only by following Vedic principles.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
Before China’s Premier Wen Jiabao left for India in April, 2005, China’s state-controlled media, such as the People’s Daily, had highlighted his terming of the impending visit to India “historic” and emphasised Wen’s recitation of a Sanskrit shloka from the Upanishads “Aum Sahana Vavatu …” to call for closer ties.
On Feb 20, 2006, French First Lady Bernadette Chirac packed her bags and quietly left for Varanasi on a spiritual journey, while her husband was busy discussing the finer points of bilateral relations with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “She is spiritually inclined and greatly interested in Indian art and culture. The trip will bring India closer to her,” added a French diplomat.
Former French First Lady Bernadette Chirac
Singer Britney Spears is seeking spiritual guidance in a bid to become a better mother to her four-month-old son.
Amid chants of Sanskrit prayers on a bright and sunny morning, some 2,300 students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) received their graduate and undergraduate degrees in Cambridge in June 2005. “May we come together for a common purpose - common be our prayer, common our goal,” “May the one and the same divine reality lead us. May we be granted clear understanding and the courage to pursue the goals of social justice, non-violence, harmony and peace,” “Peace. Peace. Peace be unto all.” so said Swami Tyagananda, the institution’s Hindu chaplain at the institution’s 139th commencement exercise.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki
On 6th Sept, 2003, President of the Republic of South Africa Thabo Mbeki, addressing the Durban university students, said, “Through our actions together, all the people of South Africa will be able to live up to the wise words from the Rig Veda:
Come together, talk together,
Let our minds be in harmony.
Common be our prayer,
Common be our end,
Common be our purpose,
Common be our deliberations,
Common be our desires,
United be our hearts,
United be our intentions,
Perfect be the union among us.
(10 - 191:2)
David Frawley and Stephen Knapp are very learned scholars of Vedic lore. They are also well versed in the Western art of impressive writing. When Goh Chek Tong, the prime minister of Singapore, addressed the joint session of Senators of USA in 2003 he dwelt on the economic and political importance of Bharat.
Former Singaporean Prime Minister Gok Chek Tong
BKS Iyengar has many trained Arab yoga experts who start their yoga classes in Arab countries with a prayer to Rishi Patanjali. Many Chinese disciples of Swami Satchitananda (himself a disciple of Swami Shivananda) in Hong Kong propagate yoga, meditation and Hindu bhajans to Chinese people. Over 10% people in US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand practice yog and meditation. Some churches have started teaching yog and meditation to attract followers. Similarly over 10% in the advanced countries are practicing vegetarianism which too has its origin in Bharat. Kellogg is a leading company that makes several vegetarian snacks and breakfast items. Hindi films are also attracting several thousand viewers around the world for their family values, cultural songs and dances and eye catching Indian dresses. Satya Sai Baba, Mata Amritananda, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Dalai Lama attract millions of western devotees to their philosophical discourses and bhajan sessions.
Eric Miller (emiller@sas.upenn.edu), is a Ph.D. candidate in Folklore in the University of Pennsylvania, USA. His dissertation is on Tamil children’s songs and games and language learning. To conduct research on the ancient Tamil epic Silappathikaram (the Epic of the Anklet), he walked in the footsteps of Kannagi – from Poompuhar to Madurai to the western mountains. Writing about Silappathikaram, Eric says that, “all of the political leaders of the world should know the story of Kannagi and of the Pandian king, Nedunchezhiyan. For the great hero of the Silappathikaram – after Kannagi - is the Pandian king. He punished himself when he realized he had made a mistake. Such self-punishment by leaders is a tradition in India – another example being the king Manuneedhi Cholan, who punished his son for killing a calf. This tradition is one reason that
India is a moral leader of the world.”
Sanskrit in your pocket
The Clay Sanskrit Library, an ambitious project, initiated by John Clay of USA, has introduced Classical Sanskrit literature to a wide international readership. This literature combines great beauty, enormous variety, and more than three thousand years of continuous Hindu history and development.
The new Clay Sanskrit Library makes everything easier: the Sanskrit text, written in familiar Roman letters, faces the English translation, and the convenient pocket size is both elegant and practical. Two dozens volumes of a projected 100 titles have been printed. These include 30 volumes devoted to Mahabharat, Kalidas’s great plays, Abhigyanashakuntala, or The Recognition of Shakuntala and Meghadoot or Messenger Poems, What ten young men did by Dandin, Love lyrics by Bharatrihari, Much ado about Religion by Jayanta Bhatta and The Emperor of the Sorcerers by Budhaswamin.
Forty-five leading scholars from ten countries are cooperating to produce fresh new translations that combine readability and accuracy. The first fifteen titles appeared in 2005, co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation. Nine volumes were published in 2006. They will be followed by six more in 2007. Within the next four years the Clay Sanskrit Library will grow to about a hundred titles. The selection will focus on drama, poetry and novels, together with the famous epics Ramayan and Mahabharat.
German poet Goethe
The great German poet Goethe was struck by the beauty of Kalidasa’s verse and enthused, “if you want heaven and earth contained in one name, I say Shakuntala and all is spoken. Goethe put into his play, Faust, a prologue similar to the one in Shakuntala, in which a director and an actress mull over what to play for an audience of ‘sophisticated spectators’, before deciding on a play with a plot ‘devised by Kalidas’.
Besides Kalidasa, The CSL thus will bring to the English speaking reader many other delights like the earthy verse of Bharatrihari, the pungent satire of Jayanta Bhatta and the roving narratives of Dandin among others. All these writers belong properly not only to Indian literature but also to world literature.
So, from small tools we Hindus have acquired great resources. Now Hindus are asserting themselves more openly. Seventy years back, a prominent person of this country Motilal Nehru said, “I am a Hindu. I am ashamed of it. I am a Hindu because of the crimes committed by me in my previous birth. His illustrious son Jawaharlal Nehru said, “I am a Hindu by accident of birth.” But things have changed later. Whenever Indira Gandhi had a problem, she used to go to Tirupati temple or she would go rushing to Kanchipuram, to get the blessings of Paramacharya. Her son Rajiv Gandhi, released the election manifesto in the 1990s not from Delhi but from Ayodhya.
Source
Kumar, Ravi. “From Limited Tools to Greater Resources.” Glimpses of Hindu
Genius. New Delhi: Suruchi Prakashan, 2007. 112-116. Print.
An interesting development is taking place these days: Many foreigners have taken inspirations from Bhagwad Gita and they are putting their efforts to promote it. Once upon a time we were fighting our battles all alone. But now with these educated and resourceful persons joining Hindu forces, our strength has increased. Every time someone utters uncharitable remarks on India or Hinduism, Francois Gautier (the French journalist based in India) gives a fitting reply. Some of our people have been sold out to the foreign media. But Francois Gautier is there. Koenraad Elst and Michel Danino are there. They are a special breed of people who have been inspired by Hindu philosophy and Hindu way of life.
Former Canadian Prime Minister Martin Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, Prime Minister of Canada, had another predicament. He said, “America is in cold war with Russia and all those who support Russia. India is a supporter of Russia and therefore, I, as a prime minister of Canada, a good friend of America, cannot go to India. Therefore I am not going to contest next election. For, as long as I am Prime minister, I cannot visit India”. When asked why he was so desperate to visit India, he replied, “Two of my sisters, Margaret and Katherine have become Hindus. They are serving their spiritual master in Himalayas. Margaret has already become Madhurima and she is a sanyasinee there. I asked her to return to Canada. But she said, “I have taken Diksha. I have to be here for some more years. Till I complete my course I cannot return. So it is better you come to Bharat”. I want to meet my sisters. I have to go to India. I cannot go there as prime minister of Canada and so I am refraining from contesting the next elections”.
Whenever Swami Chinmayananda went to Bahrain, the family members of Sheikh arranged special discourses exclusive for them in the palace premises. Mrs. Anwar Sadat of Egypt comes to Mount Abu, Bharat regularly to specialize on meditation and spread the same globally. World’s richest industrialists Alan Ford and Rockefeller are active members of ISKCON and have donated a large part of their wealth and properties for the propagation of Hinduism. Alan Ford got married in Sydney in a typical Hindu style sporting a white dhoti. His wedding video is being circulated to stress the point that happy married life is possible only by following Vedic principles.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
Before China’s Premier Wen Jiabao left for India in April, 2005, China’s state-controlled media, such as the People’s Daily, had highlighted his terming of the impending visit to India “historic” and emphasised Wen’s recitation of a Sanskrit shloka from the Upanishads “Aum Sahana Vavatu …” to call for closer ties.
On Feb 20, 2006, French First Lady Bernadette Chirac packed her bags and quietly left for Varanasi on a spiritual journey, while her husband was busy discussing the finer points of bilateral relations with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “She is spiritually inclined and greatly interested in Indian art and culture. The trip will bring India closer to her,” added a French diplomat.
Former French First Lady Bernadette Chirac
Singer Britney Spears is seeking spiritual guidance in a bid to become a better mother to her four-month-old son.
Amid chants of Sanskrit prayers on a bright and sunny morning, some 2,300 students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) received their graduate and undergraduate degrees in Cambridge in June 2005. “May we come together for a common purpose - common be our prayer, common our goal,” “May the one and the same divine reality lead us. May we be granted clear understanding and the courage to pursue the goals of social justice, non-violence, harmony and peace,” “Peace. Peace. Peace be unto all.” so said Swami Tyagananda, the institution’s Hindu chaplain at the institution’s 139th commencement exercise.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki
On 6th Sept, 2003, President of the Republic of South Africa Thabo Mbeki, addressing the Durban university students, said, “Through our actions together, all the people of South Africa will be able to live up to the wise words from the Rig Veda:
Come together, talk together,
Let our minds be in harmony.
Common be our prayer,
Common be our end,
Common be our purpose,
Common be our deliberations,
Common be our desires,
United be our hearts,
United be our intentions,
Perfect be the union among us.
(10 - 191:2)
David Frawley and Stephen Knapp are very learned scholars of Vedic lore. They are also well versed in the Western art of impressive writing. When Goh Chek Tong, the prime minister of Singapore, addressed the joint session of Senators of USA in 2003 he dwelt on the economic and political importance of Bharat.
Former Singaporean Prime Minister Gok Chek Tong
BKS Iyengar has many trained Arab yoga experts who start their yoga classes in Arab countries with a prayer to Rishi Patanjali. Many Chinese disciples of Swami Satchitananda (himself a disciple of Swami Shivananda) in Hong Kong propagate yoga, meditation and Hindu bhajans to Chinese people. Over 10% people in US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand practice yog and meditation. Some churches have started teaching yog and meditation to attract followers. Similarly over 10% in the advanced countries are practicing vegetarianism which too has its origin in Bharat. Kellogg is a leading company that makes several vegetarian snacks and breakfast items. Hindi films are also attracting several thousand viewers around the world for their family values, cultural songs and dances and eye catching Indian dresses. Satya Sai Baba, Mata Amritananda, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Dalai Lama attract millions of western devotees to their philosophical discourses and bhajan sessions.
Eric Miller (emiller@sas.upenn.edu), is a Ph.D. candidate in Folklore in the University of Pennsylvania, USA. His dissertation is on Tamil children’s songs and games and language learning. To conduct research on the ancient Tamil epic Silappathikaram (the Epic of the Anklet), he walked in the footsteps of Kannagi – from Poompuhar to Madurai to the western mountains. Writing about Silappathikaram, Eric says that, “all of the political leaders of the world should know the story of Kannagi and of the Pandian king, Nedunchezhiyan. For the great hero of the Silappathikaram – after Kannagi - is the Pandian king. He punished himself when he realized he had made a mistake. Such self-punishment by leaders is a tradition in India – another example being the king Manuneedhi Cholan, who punished his son for killing a calf. This tradition is one reason that
India is a moral leader of the world.”
Sanskrit in your pocket
The Clay Sanskrit Library, an ambitious project, initiated by John Clay of USA, has introduced Classical Sanskrit literature to a wide international readership. This literature combines great beauty, enormous variety, and more than three thousand years of continuous Hindu history and development.
The new Clay Sanskrit Library makes everything easier: the Sanskrit text, written in familiar Roman letters, faces the English translation, and the convenient pocket size is both elegant and practical. Two dozens volumes of a projected 100 titles have been printed. These include 30 volumes devoted to Mahabharat, Kalidas’s great plays, Abhigyanashakuntala, or The Recognition of Shakuntala and Meghadoot or Messenger Poems, What ten young men did by Dandin, Love lyrics by Bharatrihari, Much ado about Religion by Jayanta Bhatta and The Emperor of the Sorcerers by Budhaswamin.
Forty-five leading scholars from ten countries are cooperating to produce fresh new translations that combine readability and accuracy. The first fifteen titles appeared in 2005, co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation. Nine volumes were published in 2006. They will be followed by six more in 2007. Within the next four years the Clay Sanskrit Library will grow to about a hundred titles. The selection will focus on drama, poetry and novels, together with the famous epics Ramayan and Mahabharat.
German poet Goethe
The great German poet Goethe was struck by the beauty of Kalidasa’s verse and enthused, “if you want heaven and earth contained in one name, I say Shakuntala and all is spoken. Goethe put into his play, Faust, a prologue similar to the one in Shakuntala, in which a director and an actress mull over what to play for an audience of ‘sophisticated spectators’, before deciding on a play with a plot ‘devised by Kalidas’.
Besides Kalidasa, The CSL thus will bring to the English speaking reader many other delights like the earthy verse of Bharatrihari, the pungent satire of Jayanta Bhatta and the roving narratives of Dandin among others. All these writers belong properly not only to Indian literature but also to world literature.
So, from small tools we Hindus have acquired great resources. Now Hindus are asserting themselves more openly. Seventy years back, a prominent person of this country Motilal Nehru said, “I am a Hindu. I am ashamed of it. I am a Hindu because of the crimes committed by me in my previous birth. His illustrious son Jawaharlal Nehru said, “I am a Hindu by accident of birth.” But things have changed later. Whenever Indira Gandhi had a problem, she used to go to Tirupati temple or she would go rushing to Kanchipuram, to get the blessings of Paramacharya. Her son Rajiv Gandhi, released the election manifesto in the 1990s not from Delhi but from Ayodhya.
Source
Kumar, Ravi. “From Limited Tools to Greater Resources.” Glimpses of Hindu
Genius. New Delhi: Suruchi Prakashan, 2007. 112-116. Print.
