April, 1994 • Volume 16, Number 4
--- ~ ..
The Hindu Family Newspaper Affirming the Dharma and Recording the Modern History of Nearly a Billion Members of a Global Religion in Renaissance
PUBLISHED MONTHL Y IN EIGHT EDITIONS: NORTH AMERICA, INDIA, UK/EUROPE, MALA YSIAIASEAN, AFRICA, INDIAN OCEAN, HINDI AND A DUTCH LANGUAGE DIGEST
Over 200 students absorb arts from sculpture
iconometry to stacking bricks for stuccoing.
Mahabalipuram's
Famed School of
Architecture & Art
In the eggshell-white beachsand and weath-
ered granite ruins were found corroded Chi-
nese, Roman and Persian coins from 20 cen-
turies past-testimony that tiny Mahabalipu-
ram, South India, was once a vital crossroads
seaport. No doubt some deistic sculpture cre-
ated from Mahabalipuram's tight-grained
granite sailed its way to dynastic China.
Traders once called the town 'Seven Pago-
das,' after seven lilliputian temples hewn
from solid rock. Today, specialty buyers and
tourists from everyland cruise the beaches
and flint-smelling shops stuffed with com-
O Please turn to page 7
Cross-Culture Parenting
By Archalla Dongre, Los Angeles
rown complexioned, Indian-born
B Benjamin Mahadev, now seven,
is nestled happily in the U.S.
home of his white adoptive fami-
ly of Gail and Albert Walton. When he was
Prof and Mrs. John Thorp with their adopted family: Megna and well, thanks to the
Anjali from Bangladesh and Jayana from India. They actively teach o Tum to page 25
the children their ancestral culture at home and special camps.
HINDUISM TODAY: 1819 Second Street, Concord, California, 94519 USA
ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED
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North America Edition
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Hindus Abandon Afghanistan
January Violence Is the Last Straw-After 10 Years of War, Virtually All 50,000
Hindus have Fled, Forsaking Businesses, Temples and Ancestral Homes
By Lavina Melwani, New York
Kandahar in Afghanistan is a small town- a
sleepy, four-bazaar town- but within its heart
it holds a burden of griefs: ten-year-old
Mukesh had been sent by his mother to the
nearest bazaar to fetch yogurt for lunch. He
never returned home alive. Caught in a sud-
den volley of cross-fire between warring fac-
tions, he was shot in the brain. His mother
never recovered from the meaningless loss of
her youngest child, and died within a few
months.
Over the past ten years, the rest of this
Hindu family have had to flee, one by one,
from their beloved homeland of Afghanistan
where they were born and brought up, and
scatter into the far comers of the world. They
are just some of the thousands of Hindu
Afghans who have seen their loved ones,
. their community and their way of life evapo-
rate before their very eyes. Such are the daily
tragedies behind the stark newspaper head-
Muslim, Hindu and Sikh refugees fleeing the Kabul war zone for Pakistan. They wait as the UN
sets up a camp for 6, 000 at Hizzarsha Dusaraka, 50 miles west of the then closed Khyber Pass.
lines of the war in Afghanistan.
The once-flourishing capital of Kabul has
been turned into a morgue as the troops of
President Burhanuddin Rabbani and the rebel Suicide Center ,
problem rate in "in-house" social dis-
eases- family crises, wife and child
fighters led by his opponent, Prime Minister abuse, etc.- Trinidad follows suit in
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, fight to the bitter end.
Indeed the last day of a recent four-day cease-
Fights for 'Life the area of suicide. Twice as many
East Indian girls kill themselves com-
fire was used by the warring factions to dig pared to other ethnic groups.
new trenches in preparation for more fighting.
As jets bomb the embattled city, which is on
In Trinidad Citing government neglect of the
problem, Dr. Hari D. Maharajh, spe-
the brink of famine, people flee the war zone By Paras Ramoutar, Trinidad cialist in psychiatry and nervous disorders,
with a handful of belongings. Thousands are Under the leadership of Pundit Rambachan, feels the NHLlSPC is timely. Statistics indi-
homeless. The key players in this endless war Hindus established the first suicide preven- cate that from 1981 to 1990, there has been
may have changed from time to time, but the tion center in the Caribbean at the EI Sorroco an astonishing 100-plus percent increase in
o Please turn to page 17 Mandir in San Juan, Trinidad. The National suicide. The rate for Trinidad and Tobago is
Hindu Lifeline/Suicide Prevention Center now 13.8 per 100,000. Suicide has become
(NHLlSPC) opened in September 1993 after the leading cause of death for young persons
four years of work to fulfill Pundit's vision
for creating "a venue where Hindus can feel
15 to 24 years of age. He says, "Each year, an
estimated 169 persons die by suicidal acts in
safe, knowing they are coming to familiar this country. An equal number are unreported
s territory." Like Canada and Malaysia, where or wrongly reported for a variety of reasons."
East Indians reportedly have the highest o Please turn to page 26
three, he took Gail's drivers' license picture
and colored it because he wanted mommy
to look like him.
Louisa, one of the four Indian daughters
adopted by Dr. Jerri Jenista, a single par-
ent, spontaneously exclaimed when she
was little, "Mom,
you must be sad be-
cause you will nev-
er be Indian."
Anecdotes like
this abound. Hun-
dreds of children,
who might have
faced a bleak future
National Hindu Lifeline/Suicide Prevention Center, EI Sorroco Mandir, San Juan, Trinidad
in an Indian or-
phanage, have been
adopted by Ameri-
can families and are
growing up not on-
ly as proud Ameri-
cans but proud of
their Indian roots as
28 •
War-torn Sri Lanka
Still Celebrates Muruga
- L--_ _ _ _ _ _-"
Nonprofit
Organization
US Postage
PAID
San Francisco, CA
])0 yow HAVE A RoOM "~11H
Permit No.1 0583
14 •
_
Illuminating the 14
Chakras within Man
A Kl1GH;N 1
 2 HINDUISM TODAY April, 1994
T
his year, 1994, designated "The Year of the Fami-
ly" by the United Nations, will soon see the release
from Vienna of a lovely little book called Family
Issues as Seen by Different Religions, which pre-
sents how the major faith traditions seek to preserve family
values in the face of modern problems. At the request of
Father Luis M. Dolan, who coordinated the UN publication,
we contributed a chapter from the Hindu perspective, with
real-life "voices" from Archana Dongre of Los Angeles and
Lavina Melwani of New York. I think you will enjoy read-
ing from it below:
How is the Hindu concept of family experienced differently
from that of other faiths ? Only in the faiths of India does
one encounter the tenet that we all experience a multitude of
families in our journey toward God. In birth after birth we
evolve, our tradition assures . In family after family we grow
and mature and learn. Thus in the Hindu family we find that
the past and the future are intricately bound together. How
intricately? We know a Sri Lankan family who is certain
that their daughter, now nine, is the father's deceased grand-
mother. In this community it is considered a very great
blessing-especially if one has the privilege of being part of
a fine, noble family-for a departed relation to be born
again into its midst. There is a profound intuition that when
relatives pass they will return, perhaps soon and perhaps in
the very same home. So everyone watches for the telltale
signs. How wonderful, the family feels, to care for grandma
as she once cared for us!
This spiritual insight into rebirth extends the family con-
cept beyond the present, binding the present to the past, and
promising further continuity with the future . Many Hindu
families are aware of such relationships. Many others will
consciously seek to be born into a particular family, know-
ing life there will be fulfilling, secure and high-minded.
Voices: When a married daughter visits her parents '
family, she is revered like a guest but showered with
love like a daughter, with blessings and all the nice
clothes as well as food the family can give. I had such
a wonderful homecoming in India after I had livedfor
many years in the West. Such a homecoming of a few
days is an emotionally gratifying, soul satisfying event
for the girl, who carries those fond memories for life.
Hinduism teaches a constellation of principles which, if
followed by husband and wife, make the bold assertion that
preserving the marriage and the integrity of the family holds
rewards that far outweigh benefits which they might expect
from separation. Hinduism teaches them the ideals of dhar-
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ach month for the past sixteen years we have filled this
E
space with our musings and meanderings, our opin-
ions, our praises of what is right about Hinduism and
critiques of what could be better. This month we step
aside to let our readers hear other voices. Thanks to Sampath
Bhoopalam, founder-president of World Hindu Foundation, Oak
Brook, Illinois, for helping assemble this quotable collection.
Precious or durable materials-gold, silver, bronze, marble,
onyx, or granite- have been used by most ancient peoples in an
attempt to immortalize their achievements. Not so, however,
with the ancient Aryans. They turned to what may seem the
most volatile and insubstantial material of all- the spoken
word- and out of this bubble of air, fashioned a monument
which, more than thirty, perhaps forty, centuries later, stands
untouched by time or the elements. For the Pyramids have been
eroded by the desert wind, the marble broken by earthquakes,
and the gold stolen by robbers, while the Veda remains, recited
daily by an unbroken chain of generations, traveling like a great
wave through the living substance of the mind.
Prof. Jean Lee Mee
There is a mighty law of life, a great principle of human evolu-
tion, a body of spiritual knowledge and experience of which
India has always been destined to be guardian, exemplar and
missionary. This is the Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Religion.
Hinduism is the one religion which impresses on mankind the
closeness of God to us and embraces in its compass all the pos-
sible means by which man can approach God.
Sri Aurobindo
Whenever I have read any part of the Vedas, I have felt that
some unearthly and unknown light illuminated me. In the great
teaching of the Vedas, there is no touch of the sectarianism. It is
He who dwells in the fire, he who dwells in the heart, he who dwells in the sun, he is One.
The man who knows this, he verily attains the Oneness of the One. KAIVALYA UPANISHAD 23
Satguru Sivaya Su1Jmmuniyaswami
1994: Year of the Fam.i!y
ma, which includes duty, selflessness, virtue and faith.
When dharma is the shared ideal of every family member-
as opposed to self-fulfillment or social-economic objec-
tives-it is easier to navigate troubled waters, easier to per-
sist in seasons of loss or lack, in times of emotional or men-
tal difficulty.
Voices: Looking back to my early years, it was the
scriptures that tied our family together. I would hear
father and grandfather chanting the Vedic mantras
together in the early hours of each day. Everyone I
know held the highest esteem for the Vedas, the very
voice of God, elders would say. I knew they were old,
and everyone said they were profound. But it was not
until I was in my teens that I really discovered the
Upanishads. Such beauty, such profoundity, such
humor and insight I had never before or since known.
I would spend hours with the texts, talking with my
parents andfriends, wondering myself how these men,
so many thousands of years ago, had gained all that
wisdom- more, it seemed to me then, than people had
today. Through the years I have seen so many families
whose lives revolve around the sacred texts. While all
honor the Vedas, for others the heart is moved by the
Gita, the epics, the Tirumurai or maybe their own
of ages, climes, and nationalities and is the royal road for the
attainment of the Great Knowledge. When I am at it, I feel that
I am under the spangled heavens of a summer night.
Henry David Thoreau
Spiritual life is the true genius of India. Those who make the
greatest appeal to the Indian mind are not the military con-
querors, not the rich merchants or the great diplomats, but the
holy sages, the rishis who embody spirituality at its finest and
purest. India's pride is that almost in every generations and in
every part of the country, from the time of her recorded history,
she has produced those holy men who embody for her all that
the country holds most dear and sacred.
S. Radhakrislman
In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevat-
ing as that of the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life;
it will be the solace of my death.
Sc/zopenhlluer
India's spirituality is undoubtedly the most versatile in the
world. Nowhere on earth has the impulse toward transcendence
found more consistent and creative expression than on the Indi-
an peninsula.
Georg Feuerstein
If I were to look over the whole world to find out the country
most richly endowed with all the wealth, power and beauty that
nature can bestow-in some parts a very paradise on earth-I
should point to India. If I were asked under what sky the human
mind has most fully developed the choicest gifts, has most
deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found
solution of some of them which well deserve the attention even
North America Edition
family guru's writings, composed only decades ago.
Whatever texts they are, it's quite clear in myexperi-
ence that sacred texts do much to bind a family
together in thought.
Then there is faith in karma. The Hindu family believes,
in its heart, that even life's difficulties are part of God's pur-
pose and the fruition of each member's past karmas. To go
through things together is natural, expected, accepted.
Breaking up, divorcing, separating-such reactions to stress
don't resolve karmas that were brought into this life to go
through. In fact, they make things worse, create new karmas
and thus further need for perhaps even more sorrowful
births. The belief in karma-the law by which our thoughts,
words and deeds reap their natural reactions-helps hold a
family together. Thus difficult experiences can be serenely
endured by the practicing Hindu. Knowing this in her heart,
a Hindu wife in Kuala Lumpur can find solace in the midst
of the death of a child. Knowing this in his heart, a Hindu
father in Bangalore can sustain periods of privation and
business failure. Each finds the strength to go on.
Voices: There is a beautiful word in the Hindi lan-
guage: shukur, which means acceptance. Sometimes
it's very hard to accept the cards life deals one, yet the
Hindu belief in the acceptance of God's will makes it
possible to bear incredible hardships. A young friend
of mine's husband went into a coma after going in for
preventive surgery. They gave him too much cholo-
form, and he never came out of the coma. He was a
young man, his children were young. In the beginning
his wife was frantic, weeping all the time. Yet her
beliefs were solid as a rock within her, gradually
calming her. It 'sfive years later, and she's picked up
the pieces of her life. Yet she never forgets to have her
pujas, her husband's picture is always there in the rit-
ual ceremonies. His presence is there in the family.
She seems to know that the soul cannot die, that his
spirit lives on. Every year on his death anniversary
we all gather for the ritual ceremonies. Everybody
feels the grief, and each religion teaches you to cope
in a different way. Her beliefin the undying soul gives
her a little solace. She constantly has the prayers and
the satsangs at home and they help her in the chang-
ing patterns of her life.
To receive information on how to obtain a copy of this
new UN book, send a note to me at Publisher's Desk, HIN-
DUISM TODAY, 107 Kaholalele Road, Kapaa, Hawaii 96746,
USA, along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
of those who have studied Plato and Kant-I should point to
India. And if I were to ask myself from what literature we here
in Europe, we who have been nurtured almost exclusively on the
thought of Greeks and Romans, and of one Semitic race, the
Jewish, may draw that corrective which is most wanted in order
to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more
universal, in fact more truly human, a life not for this life only,
but a transfigured and eternal life-again I should point to India.
Max Muller
The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a won-
derful structure; more perfect than Greek, more copious than
Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either.
Sir William Jones
What extracts from the Vedas I have read fall on me like the
light of a higher and purer luminary which describes a loftier
course through a purer stratum- free from particulars, simple,
universal.
Henry David Thoreau
In religion and culture, India is the only millionaire! There is
only one India! The land of dreams and romance. The one land
all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse,
would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the
globe combined.
Mark Twain
The Rig-Veda, the first of the Vedas, is probably the earliest
book that humanity possesses. In it we find the first outpourings
of the human mind, the glow of poetry, the rapture at nature's
loveliness and mystery.
Jawaharlal Nehru
Among all the great religions of the world there is none more
catholic, more assimilative, than the mass of beliefs which go to
make up what is popularly known as Hinduism.
W. Crooke
India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother
of Europe's languages; she was the mother of our philosophy;
mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; moth-
er, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity;
mother, through the village community, of self-government and
democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all.
Will Durant
•
 North America Edition
Hindus Join
Historic South
Africa Vote
THILLAY NAIDOO
or the first time in South Africa's history adult citi-
F zens of all races will vote in a general election this
month to elect not just a new government, but one
the people demand would have to be undeniably and in-
exorably non-racial and hopefully non-sexist. This first-
ever vote-casting exercise for the entire population will be
a strange and entirely new experience for more than 80%
of the people. After April, it will be a strange and perhaps
odd-looking South Africa. Although much of the racism
of the past has already disappeared, the new government
will have to entrench changes on a scale never seen be-
fore. People ofIndian origin-oniy four percent of the to-
tal population-have necessarily to face up to the realities
of a changed socio-political scenario. But the real and cru-
cial task they face is to know precisely how their votes
will work in the best interests of the country as a whole
and their community.
The Indian community, with Hindus making up some
sixty percent of the total, is largely apolitical. This is not
to suggest that Indians have never been involved in any
political activity. As soon as the first indentured laborers
set foot on South African soil, they had to become em-
broiled in the struggle against a simmering racial antago-
nism. The Natal Indian Congress which Mahatma Gand-
hi founded exactly one hundred years ago this year was
instrumental in provoking opposition to all forms of po-
litical oppression in the country. It was Gandhi's first
training in his experiments with truth. The Indian Con-
gress helped in some ways to set the model followed by
the African National Congress that now leads the country
in an essentially nonviolent struggle against oppression.
The culmination this year in free and fair elections for
the people as a whole is in a sense a testimony to the peo-
ple of Indian origin who have always sided with the
forces of good over evil in the land. Hindus are indeed in-
spired by their record of struggles in which many gave
their lives. Hindus believe the Deepavali festival they cel-
ebrate every year symbolizes the triumph of good over
evil. Similarly they hope this first ever general election,
will represent for all people of Indian origin precisely the
triumph that the festival symbolizes.
The Hindu stance in the election will clearly have to be
one of support for any party that represents, in a very real
sense, a willingness to fight injustice of every kind. The
Democratic Party and the rather inexperienced African
National Congress have already indicated their assurances
that the cultural values of the various communities in the
country will be respected. People within the Indian com-
munity are deeply aware that the struggle to preserve cul-
tural values will become more difficult in the context of a
growing miscellany of political and religious perspectives.
Cultural differences among all the peoples of South Africa
are an undeniable reality. South Africans across the board
would be extremely foolish to ignore them. Their value
for the long term national development will be appreciat-
ed when peace is really restored in the country.
With the strongest demands for the preservation of cul-
tural values coming from some whites and blacks, the In-
dians need have no fear that their voices will be drowned
in the maelstrom of secularism. They have a duty to en-
sure that Hindu values are preserved as much as other
cultural values are for other South Africans.
Thillay Naidoo is a lecturer in the Department of Science
of Religion at the University of Durban at Westville.
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HINDUISM TODAY is a monthly newspaper published by
Himalayan Academy, 107 Kaholalele Road , Kapaa,
Hawaii , 96746, USA. Subscriptions to the North Ameri-
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add $18 per year. For foreign air mail add $48 a year.
Please write for foreign lifetime rates. Canada rate is
Can$39 per year. Copyright © 1994 by Himalayan
Academy. ISSN#: 0896-0801.
HINDUISM TODAY'S text, photos and graphics layouts are
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by Linotron a nd Agfa imagesetters.
May God-who in the mystery of His vision and power transforms His white radiance into His many-colored creation,
from whom all things come and into whom they all return-grant us the grace ofpure vision. YAJUR VEDA, SVETASVATARA UPANISHAD 4.1
Wfiose rrurbans
Concerning the photo of the dancing
swamis before a Kali image in the
Vivekananda centers pre ad [August,
1993] you have identified them as Ra-
makrishna monks. But I know only
Swami Vivekananda used to put on a
turban. Nobody put on a turban in the
Ramakrishna Mission as a tribute to
Swamiji. Instead, the caption should
read Bharat Sevashram Sangha monks.
Swamy Vikramananda
Bharat Sevashram Sangha
Calcutta, India
V' Swami Chidananda of the Ramakr-
ishna Order confirms no Ramakrishna
monks wear turbans. However, Swami
Vivekananda's gurubhais (brother dis-
ciples) did wear turbans. The monks
shown could well be Sangha monks.
30 Years of Pen Pafing
The idea proposed by Brahmachari
Navin Raj [January, 1994] of Singapore
for a pen-pal column is wonderful. As a
high school teacher I would like to sug-
gest correspondence between my stu-
dents and any international students.
I've been writing pen pals for over 30
years. My oldest, ongoing relationship
stared in 1969 with Shun-ichi Sademot-
su of Japan. We still write. It is a great
way to promote tolerance and under-
standing.
Kevin Mann
Shoreham River High School
Shoreham, New York, 11786, USA
:femafe j{ierophants
Your article on women priests in
Trinidad [February, 1994] brings to
mind Mrs. Kamla Sharma, the first
woman priest in the US who has been
performing religious rites for 20 years.
Due to old age and bad health, she does
not perform the services now, but
would not miss an opportunity to do so
in the case of an emergency. The spirit
behind training of women pastor/priests
comes from the Arya Samaj , founded
by Swami Dayananda Saraswati in
1875. He was the champion of giving
equal rights to women on the authority
of the Vedas. By his blessings, we now
have many women priests in India as
well as abroad.
Madan Lal Gupta
Alhambra, California, USA
WorY-.9Lffirming Spirit
It was wonderful to see Sri Chinmoy
featured in your February issue. He has
been working tirelessly for many years
to promote a unifying vision of world
peace and spirituality. Many seem to
view the spiritual life as a retreat from
the world, but people like Sri Chinmoy
help us correct this misconception.
Please continue your coverage of such
active and dedicated spiritual figures .
Karen Mandel
San Francisco, California, USA
130 YS tep
We at the Saraswathi Cultural Society
wish to compliment you on the bold
step taken in publishing such a high
quality, global monthly newspaper as
HINDUISM TODAY. Our members look
forward to reading each Africa edition,
not only because of the interesting arti-
cles therein, but also due to the keen in-
H,NDU,SM TODAY was founded January 5, 1979, by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, for the following purposes: 1. To foster Hindu solidari-
ty as a "unity in diversity" among all sects and lineages; 2. To inform and inspire Hindus worldwide and people interested in Hinduism; 3. To
dispel myths, illusions and misinformation about Hinduism; 4. To protect, preserve and promote the sacred Vedas and the Hindu religion, es-
pecially the Nandinatha Sampradaya; 5. To nurture a truly spiritual Hindu renaissance. We invite our readers to share these purposes with us
by writing letters, contributing reports and articles on events, sending news clippings and encouraging others to subscribe.
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HINDUISM TODAY April, 1994 3
terest in the preservation and promotion
of Hindu religion and culture.
girls were very keen to know about his
marriage. When he told them that his
R. Singh parents were looking for a bride for
Phoenix, South Africa him, they could not believe him! He
told them he would not even look at the
:fresh .9Lir girl. If at all he wants to see the girl, he
would do so in the presence of both the
Your magazine is like a breadth of
parents. And that, too, is only for a
fresh air, bringing the wisdom and
short while. The two girls were shocked
teachings to various communities
to hear him telling that.
which have been starved of Vedic
teachings and philosophies for many
decades. Continue the good work of
In traditional Hindu marriages, the
parents of both the boy and the girl
have to say "yes" before the bride and
distributing. Also send me some sub-
scription forms to enable me to assist
the bridegroom say "yes" to the mar-
riage. Of course they seek astrological
you by getting others to subscribe to
compatibility and elderly advice before
your worth newspaper.
P. Kalkapersad
they conclude any marriage.
Ramesh Sivanathan
Port Shepstone, South Africa
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
13ralimins & 13urgers Casua[ Contact or 9{s7t
I read Vimala Thakar' s letter "Vedic
In the December, 1993 issue Dr. Tanda-
Heritage" [February, 1994] with out-
rage and would suggest she be more
careful in making broad generalizations
about "Hindus abroad." Further, to sug-
van had a column entitled AIDS-
Awareness is Prevention. I would like
to correct a piece of serious misinfor-
mation that was in the article. The Cen-
gest that religiosity is determined by
ters for Disease Control and other well-
geography is ludicrous. Firstly, not
established authorities on HIV and
AIDS have repeatedly said that AIDS
and mv are not transmitted by holding
hands or even by kissing. Your article
incorrectly stated the contrary.
I have sent a copy of Dr. Tandavan's
article to the Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention in Atlanta. I have
also sent a copy of the article to the
Whitman-Walker AIDS Clinic, which is
everybody came to the West for the
a highly respected institution in Wash-
"sole purpose of acquiring money."
ing ton, D.C. I would hope that in the
Many people immigrated for a variety
next issue of HINDUISM TODAY you will
of reasons, including persecution on the
Indian subcontinent. Secondly, not
go to great lengths to bring attention to
the correct information. To do anything
everyone is "aping and imitating non-
less would be a serious disservice to all
Indian ways of life." Not that there is
of your readers around the world.
anything inherently wrong with that:
Abhaya Thiele
there is good and bad in every culture.
Buckingham, Virginia, USA
So there are things in this culture worth
"aping" and things in Indian culture to
V' Dr. Tandavan replies: The medical
be rejected and vice versa. The fact that
evidence to support the presence of HIV
Indians abroad have maintained their
in human saliva of those infected with
religion despite being immersed in a
HIV in sufficient amounts to be infective
very different culture is a testimonial to
is undeniable. Furthermore, HIV pa-
their dedication.
tients often have oral diseases that al-
I have also lived in India, where
low (infected) blood into the saliva. It
many of the people were running off in
has also been shown that HIV appears
their blue jeans to their piano and tennis
in salivary glands, prostate and testi-
lessons and who had far more wealth
cles of infected males. This is further
than I will ever likely see! I certainly
suggestion that saliva and semen are
spent more time at the temple than they
both transmitters of the disease.
did. I also knew brahrnins who went out
It has also been shown that HIV
for hamburgers, whereas my family has
transmits through intact skin, easier if
been vegetarian despite being in a meat
there are cuts, abrasions or open
eating society for over 25 years. So, In-
wounds. This evidence is so over-
dia is not always the domicile of non-
whelming that I fail to understand why
materialistic, "true" Hindus. Let me as-
the CDC, etc., continue with the old
sure Ms. Thakar we are proudly carry-
idea that HIVIAIDS is not easy to con-
ing on Hindu traditions abroad succes-
tract. Perhaps it would sUlprise the
fully. The reality is we are no longer
reader to learn that there is growing
100% products of Indian thought. We
number of well-qualified researchers
are hybrids formed ofIndian and West-
that believe that there is no causative
ern influences. That is not necessarily
relationship between HIV and AIDS, as
bad, however. My parents have always
is defined by the CDC.
taught me that we are fortunate to be
References: Lancet, Sept. 20, 1986,
able to pick the best of both East and
pg. 694. Lancet, June 18, 1988, pg.
West. I intend to do so.
1395. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly
Ms. Kothai Kumanan
Review, May 22, 1987, Vol. 36; pg.
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada
255. Federal Register (OSHA), May 31,
More .9Lrranging 1989, pg. 223121. III International
Symposium on AIDS, Washington
D.C., 1987 No. MPI20. Advances in
May I take this opportunity to add a few
Experimental Medicine and Biology,
words to Publisher's Desk on arranged
1987, 2I6A, 553-62. IV International
marriages [January 1994]. I know of a
Symposium on AIDS, Stockholm, 1988
friend who came down to Malaysia
Vol. 2, No. 160 ibid, Vol. 2, No. 7580. V
from India. He was staying in a hotel
International Symposium on AIDS,
where two European girls were staying
Montreal, 1989, pg. 474. Proc. Soc. Ex-
to attend the same conference as my
perimental Medicine; 178, 653-655
friend. During their conversations, the
EDITOR
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PRODUCTION MANAGER Rev. Murugaswami
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 ...... .
4 HINDUISM TODAY Apnl,1994 North America Edition

~ ~ q; qf.; q Rf e1 'afftf 3l:q It tpHI ISadguru Sant Keshav~_das I

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Wandering through the forests and

\\ ~\ OGA V i\~l The first book on Vedanta farmlands, a Critic stopped to take a
rest under the shade of a fruiting berry
\ \.~' ".. ''''''' I", ,I", ...,"'; ••" .,.,
"t f,-;!~\..<IIlool::l"
and spiritual Ayurveda tree. Growing nearby, the vines of a
watermelon crept low upon the
ground. Three large melons, dappled
By Swami Shankar Purushottam Tirtha, gold and green by the sun, lay ripen-
disciple of ing among the leaves of the vine.
Shankaracharya Bharati Krishna Tirtha, As the Critic prepared to settle back
whom Vogananda brought to America. against the trunk of the tree, he
glanced around. Though seeing the
bounty, he began his usual carping
Topics: initiation, kundalinishakti, speech.
'What did I tell you? If God was so
sadhana experiences,
., mantras,
perfect, why did He make a puny little
ethics and much more. vine, which can barely support itself
Ask for Swami Sada Shiva Tirtha Book: postpaid: us$13.50 bear fruit this size?" He gestured
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he sen iormost Acharya of Sri Kanchi the Scheme of Thing.s is like that-

T Kamakoti Sankara Math, His Holi-

ness Sri chandrasekharendra Saraswa-
ti Swamigal attained Mahasamadhi on Jan-
uary 8, 1994. The centenary celebration of
his birth will be celebrated on May 20, 1994.
By any reckoning, Kanchi Periyava or the
'Sage of Kanchi' as He was universally
adored, is a unique phenomenon of not only
His times but of all times and His centenary
birthday will thus be a milestone in the story
of mankind in its onward march to Self-real-
isation, God-realization here and now.
Sri Mahalakshmi Mathrubutheswarar
Trust is so named after the noble lady Sri Shriramacharitamansa. Tulsidas. Motilal
compact $12 deluxe ed. $28
Mahalakshmi, mother of the Sage of Kanchi
and it is the endeavour of this Trust to con-
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struct a Satabdhi (Centenary) Mani Manda-
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achievements of the Acharya. This Satabdhi
Mani Mandapam, consisting of 151 pillars
of granite stone, will portray the life of Para-
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The main aim of this Trust is to promote
the ideals for which the Sage of Kanchi has
dedicated His whole life such as 1) protec-
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three berries matured. Shaken gently
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6 HINDUISM TODAY April,1994 North America Edition

VEDIC ASTROLOGY
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Quong has studied with samadhi, August 3,1993. Swami Tejomayananda and other swamis and brah-
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 North America Edition
mon sculpture and curios. Street
urchins hustle soapstone knockoffs
to gullible tourists. Long-dead
urchins probably sold cheapies to
mous son Ganapathy who navigat-
ed the institution into its present
eminence and size. He remained its
head for close to three decades till
HINDUISM TODAY 1994 7
likely to out perform one
from a family with no archi-
tectural or sculpting back-
ground, he quickly noted his
colleague, 35-year-old Kr-
ishnan Palani, who is a son
of a farmer. "He is a crack
embosser and engraver of
metals," says Boopathy.
Pal ani says, "I haven't had
any formal qualification.
Began at 13 as a hack help-
ing a stone mason engaged
in building the temple tower
at Tiruvanmiyur."
re girls frowned

Roman and Persian sailors.
But somewhere in back of shops
or inside a home's courtyard
teenage tyros of sculpture are
chinking away at stone, perfecting
the art they are studying at college,
and earning a few hundred rupees
during their weekend or vacation
time. They are students at the Gov-
ernment College of Architecture
and Sculpture, a modest collection
of modern-style buildings and
open-sided work areas. The college
facade doesn't reflect the ancient
architecture taught within. This is
where the good stuff-the rare, big,
skill-kissed sculpture--comes from.
And where 220 boys from ages 13
and up polish their minds and
hands with iconometry, granite en-
gineering, chisel wielding, figure
painting and a hundred other facets
of the temple arts, along with acad-
emics. And it's free for those who
make it in, mostly sons of artisan
families . The government provides
everything "from pencils and
erasers on up," says K.S . Shan-
mugam, the college principal. He
tells us the school offers degrees in
temple architecture, temple paint-
ing and sculpture-stone, wood,
stucco and metal. The 3-year de-
gree course includes music and
dance, philosophy, Sanskrit litera-
ture, art aesthetics, history of Hindu
architecture and arts and temple
conservation. Fifteen graduate each
year with a B.Sc. degree. They usu-
ally join the studio/shops of estab-
lished stapathis, master architect
/sculptors, turning out high quality
work on a pricey commission basis.
A
his retirement in 1988. Ganapathy
upon with ham- he Japanese have flicked out their trading tentacles to the gran-
says, "There is a bright future for
mer and chisel in ite bedrock ofMahabalipurarn, offering big yen for granite that
this institution. The alumni are do-
their hands? will be carved into Shinto and Buddhist tombstones or ve-
ing well with regular jobs, with oc-
Sivakumar observes, "It neered onto skyscrapers back in Japan. While most of the carv-
casional opportunities for indepen-
isn't so. Only they happen ing is hand-executed, the Japanese employ sophisticated cut-
dent designing and executing."
to prefer painting. They fan- ting and polishing machines and computer-aided-design to get
C. Harikrishnan, 25, a graduate
cy it as a hobby. They take an edge on competitors. Hindu stapathis in India are also dab-
says that "Even as students in the
to Tanjore gold leaf painting bling in techno-sculpting, but most are shy of letting hand work go entirely in
diploma classes, boys acquire
with studding of the flashy favor of machine work. Woodworking in Mahabalipuram was given a techno-
enough proficiency to design and
gems thrown in and also logical boost a hundred years ago by the British who wanted more and better
carve busts. Depending on their
modern glass painting. Even export: objects d'art:. World class temple architect V. Ganapathy Stapathi ob-
ability, these novices earn some
many society girls evince serves on stone, "Machines can't give the finish human hands do. We don't
Rs.200 for what they can produce
interest in this and practice turn our back on modern equipment. It'd be myopic and retrogressive. But
in a holiday of 2-3 days."
it as a hobby." there are areas in the Hindu art of making images which demand the feel of
When asked about the demands
School principal Shan- God-given hands. The proboscis of Ganapati and the serrated jaws of Vishnu
for seats in the institution, the
mugam proudly relates one as the Lion/man avatar defy polishing machines." But one alumnus of the
school principal K.S. Shanmugam
of the current projects the Government College of Architecture and Sculpture uses technology exten-
says, "There is tremendous compe-
college is engaged in: "We sively. Rangaswami Stapathy has developed a thriving studio that specializes
tition for the pre-diploma-the first
are creating a horse pillar in computer design and machine-polished statues and granite blocks. In par-
two-year program." So far the
hall consisting of forty ticular demand are his interior decor items: domes, flower pots and pillars. If
school has not admitted any student
equestrian warriors to be pure granite temple building becomes popular in the global Hindu communi-
from outside India. Tamil is com-
erected in Kotiswaram, ty, the protean power and visual accuracy of computer depiction of design
pulsory. There is no bar against for-
Jaffna, in Sri Lanka. When would enable clients to custom select features of their future edifice while
eign students. "But no one has ap-
it is ready, it will be taken to watching a three-dimensional image
proached us yet," says Shan-
Sri Lanka and assembled on screen.
mugam. Though the majority of ap-
prentices are Hindus, there are sev- there."
eral Christians studying. A hostel is V. Ganapathy Stapathi
under construction and is expected says that traditional housing
to be ready in two years. architecture has not been
adopted into the college's
oopathy Stapathy, 52, is curriculum. He says, "The
B in charge of the Metal
Section concerning metal
sculpture, which was be-
gun in 1978. He recalls, "They
scouted me out and brought me
Western mode of building
architecture made great
strides in India on account
of institutional training. But
to lead a simple, happy, con-
over here. I felt flattered when they tented life for the poor and
told me 'If you aren't joining, we middle class-those house
are closing the section. ", He had patterns are yet to develop.
undergone intense training in Only Indian tradition can of-
Swamimalai, a famous center for fer solutions. But the
bronze icon production. passage is blocked.
S.K. Sivakumar, 28, a diploma This school can play
holder from the school, is the son of a role only if the pub-

I
n 1957 the school began sim-
ply as a roughshod workyard
that lathed out marvelous
pieces while trying to purify
and propagate the old technology to
a new generation. Vaidyanatha
Stapathi, father of V. Ganapathy
Stapathi, the internationally ac-
claimed Hindu temple architect
sculpture, was the first head of this
school. The elder architect held the
post for three years-till 1961-
when he was succeeded by his fa-
a diamond cutter. He works in the
thriving workshop of Nagaraja
Stapathy in Madras. In a fascinat-
ing process he is molding a meru
(mountain-like structure) made of a
blend of five metals into shape.
Sivakumar says he averages about
US$100 a month. When a good pro-
ject rolls in, he can bring home
US$300 for one month. But other
months can be lean. When asked if a
student from an artisan family is
lic is taught to be dis-
enamored of the
flashy West and reori-
ent themselves to the
simple but beautiful
life pattern of their
forebearers. "
Reported by
Gowri Shankar,
Madras Clockwise from top left of page: woodworking class; brushing the style of South Indian
painting; applying coatings to a stucco Ardhanarisvara (half-malelhalf-female).

HEALING A Traveler's Simple First Aid Kit

It is wise for all travelers to carry a
first aid kit for possible injuries or
mishaps while away. The easiest
first aid kit to carry is a homeopath-
ic one. These are readily available
in homeopathic pharmacies, many
health food stores and from homeo-
pathic manufacturers. They usually
consist of six to eight remedies and
an accompanying booklet explain-
ing the use of the remedies. The
idea of taking homeopathic reme-
dies is foreign to many people, and
they approach it with some degree
of fear and disbelief. I can assure
you that these remedies are won-
derful when the proper one is used.
I would recommend the follow-
ing remedies for a small but power-
ful kit. All of the remedies are pre-
pared homeopathically and many
potencies are available. The rule of
By
Doctor
Tandavan
thumb in this discipline is that the
more acute the trauma or disease
the higher the potency needed. The
beauty of these remedies is that if
you have not chosen the correct
one, no harm is done and another
can be tried. The remedies usually
come in the form of a pill, which is
not swallowed but allowed to dis-
solve under or on the tongue.
Aenica-6x and/or 200c or any
potency available-is the first rem-
edy of choice in injuries, especially
when some shock is attached and
there is painful swelling of the soft
tissues. In severe cases the remedy
may be used every 15 min-
utes until there is some re-
lief. The symptoms are that
the patient feels very sore
and achy. There may be
bleeding. He feels better ly-
ing down with the head low-
er. He usually feels better when
warm; however, cold on contact
may give some relief to the aching
of the injured spot:. He also wants
to be left alone.
A combination remedy called
traumeel can be tried if aenica
does not give relief with an hour or
two. It is a combination of several
other remedies that are used in in-
juries with slightly different symp-
tom complexes.
Bryonia is used when the injury
develops slowly with swelling and
pain. If there is no desire to move
or be touched because of exacerba-
tion of the pain and if the area is red
and hot, bryonia should be used.
Hypericum is used when nerves
are injured or areas are crushed
where many nerves exist. It is most
often used in finger and toe injuries
or for the sharp nerve type pain that
follows falling on the tail bone.
Ledum is the remedy of prefer-
ence where the area is black and
blue, e.g., a black eye, or for a
bruise discoloration that does not
tend to go away. Ledum is also
used in insect bites.
Apis is the remedy of choice for
bee stings and other insect bites.
The symptoms are a red hot feeling
and swelling around the bite. It
feels better when a cold compress
is applied but is aggravated by
heat. If the skin feels cold around
the bite, then ledum is used.
Arsenicum alba is preferred for
diarrhea and symptoms related to
food poisoning or over indulgence.
There is always a feeling of hope-
lessness about these patient, and
they desire warm drinks. If neces-
sary, the diarrhea can be controlled
by the allopathic drug Immodium.
However, if there is blood in the
stool, see a physician at once.
Next month we will consider a
few other simple travel needs.
Dr. Devananda Tandavan, MD, is a
member of the American Medical
Association, the International Col-
lege of Surgeons, the Society of Nu-
clear Medicine, the American Fed-
eration of Astrologers, the Interna-
tional Reiki Association, the Inter-
national Center of Homeopathy-
and more. Send your questions to
Hinduism Today, 107 Kaholalele
Road, Kapaa, Hawaii, 96746 USA.

Daily the sacrifice is spread. Daily the sacrifice is completed. Daily it unites the worshiper to heaven.
Daily by sacrifice to heaven he ascends. SUKLA YAJUR VEDA, SATAPATHA BRAHMANA 9.4.4.15
I
......
1
8 HINDUISM TODAY ..... April, 1994 North America Edition

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Designed and Taught by Sri Swami Dayananda Saraswati

In the GITA you will find yourself;

The self hitherto unknown but sought after,
The self that is strangely missed and searched for,
The self that you love to be, that you are.
-Swami Dayananda
Call LAL MOTWANI or BRENDAN KELLY at 516-921-0542,
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Drawing from a number of texts, including the

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 Not1h American Edition
This month we set aside most of our longer re-
views in order to share with readers an addition-
al two dozen or so titles received which will be
useful resources for families and researchers
THE GARDEN OF LIFE,
IGa'roen of Life IAn Introduction to the the
Healing Plants of India, by
Naveen Patnaik, hb., 194
pages, US$35.00, Published by
Doubleday, 1540 Broadway, New
York, New York 10036
"h· tt.lTJ()~1JQt.;
10 Tf)r IIlA tl,.;~ I'tA~ rs (.If INI:)lA
Naveen Patnaik has created
,,,'" '' "'W' " I an outstanding work of art in
The Garden of Life. Rarely does one see the care
and effort that Patnaik has brought to this work,
a year-and-a-half commission from Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis, senior editor at Doubleday.
Not pretending to be an exhaustive text on
Ayurvedic herbs, The Garden of Life introduces
the reader to 70 varieties of healing plants with
one page of text per plant and one full-page color
illustration. Plants are grouped in five sections:
Sacred, Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Aro-
matic. It is difficult to just thumb through the
pages because, inevitably, the eye is slowed
down and caught by the unusually fine quality of
the illustrations. At first, one presumes that these
are borrowed reproductions of Rajput miniatures.
From the credits in the back, one learns that each
painting was individually commissioned by Pat-
naik from eight contemporary artists, represent-
ing a cross-section of Indian art that includes
Jaipur, Bikaner, Pahari, Delhi and the Chola
styles of South India. In most cases the artists are
themselves a living extension of a long family
tradition of classical miniature painting. (In
Japan, artists such as these would be revered and
supported as National Treasures.) The heart leaps
to realize that this tradition has not been lost, but
is patiently maintained by a dedicated few who,
in their secreted studios, are still producing mas-
terpieces. Patnaik has discovered them and we
must encourage him to show us more.
THE HINDU VISION: Forms of the Form-
less, by Alistair Shearer, pb., 96 pages, US$15.95,
Thames and Hudson, 500 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10110
Distributed by W. W. Norton & Co.
Alistair Shearer has given us an exceptionally fme
volume combining excellence in graphics with an
astute and very informative text. Page after page
of photographs of sculpture, paintings, people and
rituals delight the eye as the author explores the
symbolism of Hindu art and ritual, the creative
process in the Hindu artist and the scriptural and
spiritual foundation of all Hindu art forms. Copi-
ous quotes from an exhaustive array of scriptures
give the reader genuine insights, rather than sec-
ond-hand opinion, although the author's interpre-
tations are also quite profound.
LIVING AT THE SOURCE, Yoga Teachings
of Vivekananda, edited by Ann Myren &
Dorothy Madison, pb., 153 pages, US$12.00,
Shambhala Publications, HortiCll/tural Hall, 300 Mas-
sac/Illsetts Ave., Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Living at the Source is a beautifully crafted com-
pilation of writings selected from eight volumes
of the The Complete Works of Swami Vivekanan-
da. Some fifty Vedantins worked to select these
inspiring writings that best represent and suc-
cinctly state the teachings and philosophy of
Swami Vivekananda. Sample chapter titles are:
"Who Am I?, The Intense Desire to be Free,
Training the Mind for Wisdom, and Flowers and
Thunderbolts." The reader may browse freely
throughout the book to find the message that he
is looking for at the moment. Here is a beauty
from "Keeping Your Balance," "I know full well
how good it is for one's worldly prospects to be
sweet. I do everything to be sweet, but when it
comes to a horrible compromise with the truth
within, then I stop." Gorgeously printed and
bound in the Shambhala Dragon Editions style.
SADHUS, India's Mystic Holy Men, by Dolf
Hartsuiker, pb., 128 pages, US$19.95, Inner Tradi-
tions, One Park Street, Rochester, Vermont 05767
Sadhus is a fascinating collection of more than
100 spectacular color photographs of this potent
tradition, together with text and detailed photo
identifications. For 20 years the author has been a
frequent traveller and resident of India and esti-
mates that there are from four to five million of
these mystics and ascetics, though surprisingly,
no one until now has systematically photograph-
ed them. A sadhu mayor may not be a yogi or a
sannyasin. They typically have no fixed abode
and travel unattached from place to place, attract-
ed to India's remote and inaccessible places, such
as the Himalayas. The author gives equal cover-
age to Saivite sadhus and Vaishnavite sadhus,
following with an excellent chapter on "The
Life" of sadbus. Parents are advised that there are
The powerful man should give to one in straits; let him consider the road that lies ahead! Riches
revolve just like a chariot's wheels, coming to one man now, then to another. RI~ VEDA 10.117.5
many photograIths of naked sadhus, some en-
gaged in rather bizarre practives. Others may dis-
agree with philosophical interpretations in the
text. Yet, through the photographs alone, this
work makes an important and positive contribu-
tion toward revealing India's rich, vast and mys-
terious religious diversity.
r - -- -- - - - " MYSTICISM OF THE
MAHABHARATA, Insight
into the Subtle Mysteries
and Profound Wisdom of
this Ancient Scripture, by
Swami Jyotirmayananda,
pb., 268 pages, US$9.95, Yoga
Research Foundation, 6111 S. W.
,0...", c' ~· ,_ r """ T , 74th Ave., South Miami, FL, 33143
Lovers of the Mahabharata will have to have this
excellent work as a companion guide for one of
India's best-read classics. Swami Jyotirrnayanan-
da unravels, story after story, the mystical mean-
ings that lie in so many layers beyond the obvi-
ous. An example, (after the game of dice) "The
insulting of Draupadi and her miraculous rescue
in the royal court also has profound spiritual
meaning. The five Pandavas represent the indi-
vidual soul (Arjuna) in association with fourfold
self-effort towards the primary values of life:
dharma, artha, kama and moksha. Draupadi is
the personification of intellect, who is deeply in-
volved with these five, as if married to them.
There comes a time in everyone's life when intel-
lect realizes that it cannot depend upon anything
that is known in the world, that all its supports
are feeble. In those significant moments, one re-
alizes that one must rely only on his own spiritu-
al strength and divine grace. That is what hap-
pened in the royal court when Dushasana was
harassing Draupadi , and she realized that she
could not be protected by anyone other than Kr-
ishna. Then God manifests in miraculous ways."
SONIC THEOLOGY, Hin-
duism and Sacred Sound, by
Guy L. Beck, Phd., M., 290
Hinduism and
Sacred Sound
I . .
pages, University of South Carolilla
Press, ColumbIa, South Carolllla, USA
Nowhere in religion is sound
so revered, so elevated, so
hyGuyL.1lcck I
ubiquitous and so mystical as
' - -_ _ _ _--1. in India's spirituality. This it
the first book to focus potently on sacred sound in
Hinduism. Sacred Sound is an exposition of the
Hindu concept of Nada-Brahman as researched in
the Vedas, Indian philosophies of language, Nada
Yoga as found in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, the
Yoga -Upanishads, the Nath Yogis, Hatha Yoga,
Indian Music, Sakta Tantra, Saivism and Vaish-
navism. Beck is well trained in both Western and
Indian classical music and has spent much time in
India. A scholarly, thorough piece of writing.
INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION, by Rashmi
Sharma, pb., 52 pages US$4.95, Vidya Books, P.O.
Box 7788, Berkeley, CA. 94707-0788.
Part of a series of ten well-written booklets, each
an informative contribution to those wishing a
brief overview of the history of India from earli-
est days to the present. An invaluable aid to edu-
cators and Hindus raising their children outside
India who have to contend with the dearth of ed-
ucational material on India and inaccurate depic-
tions of Indian history and Hinduism. Each book-
let comes with a teacher's guide. Other titles are:
Buddha, Ashoka, Hinduism, Ramayana, The
Spread of Islam to India, British Colonial Rule in
India, Mahatma Gandhi, Architects of Modem
India, Post Independence India. Recommended.
HINDUISM SIMPLIFIED, For Youths Grow-
ing up in the Western Environment, by Gan-
gadhar Choudhary, pb., 27 pages, Distrib. by G.
Chaudhary, 9604 Linfield Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242
Hinduism Simplified is a small pamphlet that pre-
sents an overall picture of Hinduism by answer-
ing some frequently asked questions such as
HINDUISM TODAY
"How do Hindus view God?" "To a Hindu, what
is dharma and why do we believe in reincarna-
tion?" "Why so many gods and goddesses?"
"What is Yoga, and what are the sacred rites and
festivals of Hinduism, etc.?"
CREATIVE VISUALIZATION, Use the pow-
er of your imagination to create what you
want in your life, by Shakti Gawain, pb., 152
pages, US$8.95 New World Library, 58 Paul Drive, San
Rafael, CA 94903
Creative Visualization is the art of using mental
imagery and affirmation to produce positive
changes in your life. It contains meditations and
techniques that can become part of your everyday
routine. Over a million copies sold.
CHILDREN IN
BRITAIN, by Robert Jackson
and Eleanor Nesbitt, pb., 228
£15.95, Trentham Books
Ltd., Westview House, 734 London
Road, Oakhill, Stoke-an-Trent, Staf-
England ST4 5NP
The challenges Hindu children
, . . . . ::..:- face in Britain. Solutions, con-
- ! ,
clusions and reflections.
FUNDAMENTALS OF VEDIC ASTROLO-
GY, Vedic Astrologer's Handbook I, by Bepin
Behari, pb., 280 pages, US$11.95 and PLANETS
IN THE SIGNS AND HOUSES, Vedic Astro-
loger's Handbook fl, by Bepin Behari, pb., 256
pages, US$11.95, Passage Press, Morson Publ., P.O. Box
21713, Salt Loke City, Utah 84121. Good resource on
Hindu astrology.
HINDUISM AND ECOLOGY, Seeds of
Truth, by Ranc/wr Prime, pb., 118 pages, US$
Cassell Publishers Ltd., Villiers House, 41147 Strand, London
WC2N 5JE, England
Environmental values of the Hindu tradition. A
well done Vaishnava viewpoint.
WISDOM OF THE ANCIENT SEERS,
Mantras of the Rig Veda, by David Frawley
pb., 274 pages, US$14.95, Passage Press, Morson Pub-
lishing, P.O. Box 21713, Salt Lake City, Utah 84121 and
BEYOND THE MIND, by David Frawley, pb.,
171 pages, US$12.95, Same publisher.
Well-known and respected as a Vedacharya,
Frawley now gives us his personal reflections
and insights.
ASPECTS, In Vedic Astrology, by Pandit
Gopesh Kumar Ojha and Pandit Ashutosh
Ojha, pb., 179 pages, US$13.95, Passage Press, Mor-
SOn Publishing, P.O. Box 21713, Salt Loke City UT 84121
Resource on planet conjunctions and aspects.
INDIA: Facing the Twenty-First Century, by
Barbara Crossette, hb., 176 pages, US$22.95 , In-
diQl/Q University Press, 601 North Morton Street, Blooming-
ton, Indiana, 47404-3797
A Western journalist provides an overview of In-
dia for the first-time traveler: Daily realities, po-
litical history, challenges of international rela-
tions, culture and religious diversities.
INDIA: MYSTIC, COMPLEX AND REAL,
An Interpretation of E.M. Forster's A Passage
to India, by Adwaita P. Ganguly, hb., 390 pages,
Rs300, Motilal Banarsidass, Bungalow Rd., Jawa!/Qr Nagar,
Delhi 110 007, India
"Most studies of this work have been written
from a Western viewpoint, thus assuming, almost
unconsciously, that the central questions concern
the English characters who appear in the novel.
Beginning from the Indian questions that haunt
the novel, Dr. Ganguly shows what happens if
one reads the novel with them at its center."
PORTRAIT OF INDIA, by Ved Mehta, pb.,
544 pages, US$18.50, Yale University Press, 92A Yale
Station, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
Reprint of the 1970 edition, Portrait of India pre-
April,1994 9
sents Ved Mehta's impressions of his native land,
his first-hand report on India's villages and cities,
its religions, politics and wars, its poets, philoso-
phers, maharajas and priests. Ved Mehta, born in
India and educated in the U.S. and England, has
been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1961 .
LIVING WITH KUNDALINI, The Autobiog-
raphy of Gopi Krishna, edited by Leslie. Shep-
ard, pb., 401 pages, US$18.00, Shambllala Publica-
tions, Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Ave., Boston,
Massachusetts 02115
The extraordinary first-person account of spiritu-
al awakening. Gopi Krishna (1903-1984) was an
ordinary Indian householder who experienced the
awakening of the spiritual force known as kun-
dalini at the age of thirty-four.
FOUNDERS OF INDIA'S CIVILIZATION,
The Lives of Ten Great Pre-Buddha Men of
India, by P.L. Bhargava, pb., 122 pages,
US$12.00, Asian Humanities Press, P.O. Box 3523, Fre-
mont, CA 94539
An introduction to the lives and contributions of
ten great personalities who existed before the
Buddha and formed the core of ancient India's
civilization. They are Bharata, Visvarnitra, Para-
surama, Sudas, Bhagiratha, Rama, Vyasa, Krish-
na, Janamejaya and Valmiki.
YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI, by Archie
J. Bahm, pb., 162 pages, US$12.00, Asian Humani-
ties Press, P.O. Box 3523, Fremont, CA 94539
The sutras of Patanjali presented in clear, simple
language, with a succinct comment on each. The
author shows that the beauty and psychological
insight of yogic thought is available to everyone.
BASIC LESSONS ON INDIA'S WISDOM, by
Swami Muni Narayana Prasad, pb., 109 pages,
Rs30, Narayana Gurukula, Srinivasapuram P.O., Varkala,
Kerala, India 695 145
This book is written with the intention of educat-
ing the young generation of Indians living
abroad. Even the youngsters of India, in their
pursuit of modern education, have lost their es-
sential touch with the mainstream of Indian spir-
ituality. This book tries to fill this gap.
SITA'S KITCHEN, A Testi-
mony of Faith and Inquiry,
by Ramachandra Gandhi,
pb., 127 pages, US$12.95, State
University of New York Press, State
University Plaza, Albany, New York
12246
A fictional exploration of an
old Buddhist story which de-
• .",.' <un '.-' '''''.7l
bates the honor of spiritual traditions. Its rela-
tionship to recent events at Ayodhya becomes an
overlay. Intricate reading.
WAYS OF YOGA, by Gurani Anjali, pb., 87
pages, US$10.95, Vajra Printing & Publishing of YAA, 49
Forrest Place Amityville, NY 11701
Ways of Yoga is a unique book that describes the
path to human liberation in a simple style. Using
both a conversational and meditational tone, the
book describes joyful freedom in action, change,
sacrifice, work, love and relationship.
POWER IN TEMPLES, A New Look
Through Modern Science, by Srikant, pb., 156
pages, us $9.00 (including postage,) Published by
Integral Books, Ayodhya, Payyanur, Kerala, 670307, India
An analysis of the mystical significance of Hin-
du temples and how they work to benefit man.
Inspiring and thought-provoking to the religious-
minded, the scientist, the agnostic and the atheist.
THE UNSTRUCK BELL, Powerful New
Strategies for Using a Mantram, by Eknath
Easwaran, pb., 223 pages, US$13.95, Nilgiri Press,
Box 256, Tomales, Califomia 94971
Eknath Easwaran presents this traditional prac-
tice of mantra for use today to thrive under
stress, beat depression, harness negative emo-
tions like anger and fear, be reminded daily of a
higher power within, and to regain our natural
energy, confidence and control.
IS THE VEDA DIVINE REVELATION? In-
dus Valley and the Veda, by Sundar Raj, pb.,
118 pages, Rs·90, Affiliated East-West Press Pvt. Ltd.,
Sathya Complex, 111, General Patters Road, Madras 600 002
In the present work, the author seeks to deter-
mine whether the Veda is divine revelation or
whether it derives from the religious culture of
the Indus Valley. He has connected the Indus Val-
ley figurines and seal pictures with specific vers-
es of the Rig and Atharva Veda, and he also
demonstrates that many of these figures are ex-
actly what appear in later Hinduism.
By Deva Rajan, California
I
i
J
 ""'-
10 HINDUISM TODAY April, 1994 North America Edition

\fp ~ ~ 41i4lfq
IC~I~ 'YC>G~
The original" authentic Kriya Yoga of Babaji Maharajl
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qIfqrf DHARMA M'ARGA
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r~ f~ l~ ~ r.., ,,:-

IT'S NOT A TOPIC YOU WILL EVER LEARN IN SCHOOL, NOR IS IT LIKELY TO BE PART OF A SOUL- Similarly those living in the instinctive con-
sciousness of the lower seven chakras seek
SEARCHING CONFABULATION AROUND THE OFFICE COFFEE MACHINE. YET THE CHAKRAS ARE OF out and maliciously interact with one an-
PROFOUND IMPORTANCE TO THOSE SERIOUSLY EXPLORING THE NATURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS- other as they accumulate karma and veil
THEIR OWN SPIRITUAL QUEST, A FRIEND'S UNCOMMON PERCEPTIONS OR THE EXPANDING MIND the soul's natural light and goodness.
OF AN ENTIRE HUMAN RACE. To MAKE UP FOR THE DEFICIT, AND TO MAKE THIS HIGHLY
Beyond India's Borders
ESOTERIC SUBJECT APPROACHABLE FOR THOSE NOT HAVING THE TIME TO LEARN SANSKRIT OR Knowledge of the chakras so exhaustively
TREK TO A LOFTY HIMALAYAN CAVE, THE HINDUISM TODAY STAFF HAS ASSEMBLED IN THE recorded by India's yogis, permeates Hindu
NEXT FOUR PAGES THE SIMPLIFIED ESSENTIALS OF THESE MYSTERIOUS CENTERS WITHIN YOU. culture, its dance tradition and its sacred ar-
chitecture. The Hindu temple is segmented
he modern Hindu renaissance figure intellect, we are aware in the astral body, Though each individual is generally aware to mirror the human body's seven chakra

T
. Swami Vivekananda was also a great
yogi. One day at 1,000 Island Park,
USA, outside a summer cottage, buttoned
not the physical body. When a wave of and consciously functioning in one or two
boundless love surges from within, we are of the first three higher centers, all the
accessing the intuitive and soul sheaths. chakras are awake and playing important
design. Beyond India, this knowledge was
inspirational to the flowering of tantric Ti-
betan Buddhism. In Tibet, manipadma
"jeweled lotus," is the name of the ma-
up in a quaint trench coat, he shared some Hindu, Chinese Taoist and Tibetan Bud- roles at the deepest levels of the soul. As
of India's deepest mysticism with a small dhist scriptures refer to an electrical human we flow our energy, our awareness, nipura chakra enshrined in the mantra Om
group of Western ladies: "The sun and infrastructure of 72,000 sukshma prana through them, our experience of reality is Mani Padme Hum. Buddha called his first
moon currents [the pingala and ida] bring nadis or "subtle channels of vital force." The totally colored by their vibration. Most peo- sermon Dhammachakkappavattana Sut-
energy to all parts of the body. While med- Shiva Samhita lists fourteen major cur- ple who gather together are flowing taoChakka is the Pali word for chakra.
itating at the Baranagore Math, I saw the rents. Of these, three are the super infor- through the same chakra, or several of "Turning the Wheel ofTruth" can also be
nerves, ida and pingala. The surplus energy mation highways-ida, pingala and them collectively. Those eager to cogitate, interpreted as spinning the higher chakras.
is stored at certain points, plexuses, along sushumna-running interwoven around debate, argue, prove and persuade are pre- Chakralnadi knowledge has surfaced in
the spinal column commonly known as and within, respectively, the spinal cord. dominantly in the reason chakra and eas- every society that nurtured a mystical tra-
Where the nadis most intensely converge, ily befriend one another. Those who live in dition. "The chakra unmistakably appears
yogis have pinpointed the chakras- the intuitional heart-chakra energies asso- in the religious art of the three Americas,"
88,000 according to the most extensive yo- ciate naturally. Each group harmonizes like notes metaphysical scholar Manley P. Hall.
gic explorations. two shades of one color or two swaras of The Mayan God Quetzalcoatl is often por-
The most important are the seven above the same raga, classifying themselves by trayed with a plumage around his head to
the base of the spine-muladhara, svad- the spiritual caste system of the chakras. represent the emanating rays of the sahas-
ishthana, manipura, anahata, vishuddha, rara. In Polynesia, the Hawaiians con-
ajna and sahasrara-and seven below structed seven temples on the island of
that come into power in the Kali Yuga- Kauai representing each of the chakras
atala, vitala, sutala, tala tala, rasa tala, ma- along a trail called Ku-a-moo, "spine of the
hatala and patala. As giant electrical trans- dragon," (sushumna nadi) from the ocean
formers govern and regulate the flow and to a central volcanic peak. Mystical Sikh, Sufi
dispersion of power through a community, and Christian sects each possess chakra-
so do these whirlpools of light receive, fil- nadi teachings. The Chinese acupuncture
ter, focus and funnel the vital life force, system is completely based on this knowl-
nerve centers. A third, the sushumna, is a prana, that flows through us from the edge. By releasing obstructions in the flow
very fine, very brilliant thread, a living pas- Source of Life. of chi, or vital prana, that runs through the
sage through the spinal cord, through Though of gross form, the body main- nadis, illness conditions are treated and
which we have to make the kundalini rise. tains a connection to each of the chakras averted.
The yogi is able not only to feel them but through nerve ganglia along the spinal Literature on chakras, our inner bodies
actually see them." cord and in the cranium. But unlike these and their make-up continues to proliferate
Chakras, or "plexuses of consciousness," physical nerves, which are measured in mil- in a Hindu context and in other cultural and
form the major nerve ganglia of an extra- limeters, the subtle nerve and the chakras ideological frameworks. The self-healing
ordinary circuitry of nadis, energy channels are measured by vibration, similar to AM, FM, movement has logged onto chakra know-
that link together our animal body with our short-wave radio frequencies. Although re- ledge, and more and more mainstream al-
subtler bodies and their higher functions gionalized to various parts of each sheath, lopathic medical practitioners are finding
such as intelligence and love. It is because or body, the chakras are more accurately themselves referring to "that other nervous
of these chakras and nadis that our five regions of mind power-vast fields of col- system." As cognizance of the chakras
koshas,"sheaths"-function so smoothly lective, related and interrelated thought grows, not only will people better compre-
and integrally as a one organism and realms, like vast cities, or energy fields, or hend their own mental/emotional orienta-
awareness can move through all bodies, like portals of consciousness. tion and be inspired by higher portals of
I
transiting from physical to emotional, to in- From the base muladhara to the crown perception, but also finally fathom how
tuition to spiritual, instantaneously. In com- sahasrara, each of the seven higher chakras someone could kill another, or how a soul
puter language, these chakras could be governs an aspect ofthe inner man-mem- could forgive and still love a murderer.
considered cosmic network hubs and the ory, reason, willpower, cognition, love, divine Before exploring the intricacies of the
nadis as mUlti-gigabyte-per-second optical sight and superconsciousness. When int chakras in our color poster of the month, we
fiber wiring. Except, this wiring extends in- wardly perceived, these centers are vividly offer this engaging observation by the Ger-
side and outside the computer. colorful and can be heard. The seven lower man linguist and Indologist Max Muller
Our five "sheaths," koshas -physical, vi- chakras are fear and lust; raging anger; re- [1823-1900]: "But if it seems strange to you
tal/pranic, emotional/mental, intuitive/ taliatory jealousy; prolonged mental confu- that the old Indian philosophers should have
cognitive and superconscious-are not sion; selfishness; absence of conscience; and known more about the soul than Greeks or
disjointed, but beautifully and inextricably murder and malicious violence. These con- medieval or modern philosophers, let us re-
interlocked like layers of an onion. Each on·e stitute the lower or hellish world, called member that however much the telescopes
is encased by the next subtler as they func- Naraka or patala. for observing the stars of heaven have been
tion together in daily consciousness. For ex- Chakras do not awaken, in the sense of improved, the observatories of the soul have
ample, when we feel the embarrassing hot being a seed, dormant until germinated. remained much the same."
flush of anger or riveting cool current of the They are already awake in everyone.
The Kundalini Shakti, which has the brilliance of lightning and is composed of three gunas, after piercing the lustrous abode of Siva situated in the midst
of eternal bliss and divine nectar, having the brilliance of a million moons and suns, returns to her resting place, muladhara.-SARADATILAKA, VERSE 67
1.• SAHASRARA· ~~~r~
Illumination, Godliness. The spiritual mountaintop, pinnacle of light, energy and conscious-
ness. Aham Brahmasmi, "I am That," is unveiled. Here liberated ones abide in communion with
the Self. Meaning: "thousand-petaled." location: top of the cranium. Deity: guru within. Shakti:
Mahashakti. Color: gold. Petals: 1,008. Plexus: pituitary. Planet; Neptune. World: Satyalaka.

2 -. AJNA amrr
Divine sight. Sensitives and clairvoyants reside in the pastel petals of this refined realm of
being with access to many levels of superconsciousness and inner worlds of light. Meaning:
"command center." location: between the eyebrows. Deity: Ardhanarishvara. Shakti: Hakini.
Col9r: lavend~r. Vehicle: swan. Petals: two\. Plexus: c~.vernous. Plapet: Uranus. World: Tapploka.

J ~. VISHUDDHA . ., ~
Divine love. Here, limitless love wells up, a vision of all souls as brothers and sisters and all
things as sacred. Selfless souls, exceptional artists and mystical poets reside here. Meaning:
"pure." location: throat. Deity: Panchavaktra Shiva. Shakti: Shakini. Color: smokey purple/blue.
Vehicle: peacock. Petals: sixteen. Plexus: pharyngeal. Planet: Saturn. World: Janaloka.

4'· ANAHATA 31~I~(1

Direct cognition. Those who reach this realm, with their d~licate, penetrating insight into
many fields of activity and knowrng are mankind's guides, counselors, mentors and problem
solvers. Meaning: "unsullied." location: heart. Deity: Rudra Shiva. Shakti: Kakini. Color:
smokey green. Vehicle: deer. Petals: twelve. Plexus: cardiac. Planet: Jupiter. World: Maharloka.

5 • MANIPURA 'tfOlq\(
C'-.
Willpower. This is the hub of willpower. Accomplished men and women perform at high lev-
els mentally and physically when living in this center of energy, discipline and endurance.
Meaning: "Jewelled city." Location: navel area. Deity: Rudra Shiva. Shakti: lakini. Color: yellow-
amber. Vehicle: ram. Petals: ten. Plexus: solar. Planet: Mars. World: Maharloka-Svarloka.

6· .. SVADISHTHANA
Reason. Home of intellect. Educated people work through this center of logic and analysis. Great
minds have mastered it. It is the pundit's dwelling place and the pragmatist's refuge. Meaning:
"on~'s own pl~ce." Location: lower abdomen. Deity: V.ishnu. Shakti: Rakini. ~olor: reddish or-
ange. Vehicle: crocodile. Petals: six. Plexus: hypogastric. Planet: Venus. World: Bhuvarloka.

7 • MULADHARA ~
Memory-time-space. The abode of memory, the foundation of all human knowledge,
this center is alsQ the seat of our basic instincts of survival, sexuality and others. Meaning:
"foundation.".Location: base of spine. Deity: Ganesha and Brahma. Shakti: Dakini. Color: red.
Vehicle: elephant. Petals: four. Plexus: sacral or pelvic. Planet: Mercury. World: Bhuloka.

• ATAtA
8Fear and ~
lust. As awareness slips below the muladhara into fear, indecision stymies ambition
pnd a licentious lifestyle dulls the pranic sheath. Meaning: "without bottom." World: Put.

9 • VITALA ""
(Cf('f('?
Raging anger. Dark red-black streaks emblazen the aura when awareness enters this furnace
of instinctive fire and then injures others. Meaning: "region of the lost." World: Avichi.

10· SUTALA (-iC1~

'-0
Retaliatory jealousy. Wanting what others have and preoccupation with what one is not
gnaws at the mind, instilling ill-will. Meaning: "great lower region." World: Sanhata.

11 • TAlATAlA d~Jct(I'J
Prolonged confusion. Perversions replace natural joys. Negative karmas compound, and stiffen
the flow of awareness. Reason warps. Meaning: "under the bottom leveL" World: Tamisra.

12 • RASATALA ~~H1~
Selfishness. An imprisoning veil of "me" and "mine" blinds the natural instinct to care for
others. Every action is for personal gain. Meaning: "lower region of moisture." World: Rijisha.

13 • MAHATALA 'f~1(1~
Consciencelessness. Blindness to higher impulses prevails. Guilt, compunction, even fear) are
foreign. Criminality is life. Meaning: "greatest lower region." World: Kudmala.

14··PATALA qltll<:?
Malice and murder. A virtual hell of hate, hurting, killing for its own sake without remorse.
Reason rarely reaches this region. Meanlng~ "Iower region of wickedness." World: Kakola.

In the space outside the spinal column, on the left and the right, are the two nadis, Ida (moon, feminine) and Pingala (sun, masculine). The Nadi Sushumna, is in the middle. The
Sushumna extends from the middle of the kanda to the head. The Vajra inside her extends from the procreative organ to the head. - SHAT-CHAKRA-NIRUPANA VERSE 1
- he chakras are great force centers or nerve gan- ANAHATA SAHASRARA

T glia in the physical body, the astral body and the

body of the soul. Chakra is a Sanskrit word mean-
ing "wheel," as these are spinning circles of energy and
Anahata, the center of perception and insight, is often
referred to as "the lotus of the heart." Its 12 "petals"
imply that the faculty of cognition can be expressed
The seventh center, at the top of the head, is called the
crown chakra. According to the ancient mystics, it gov-
erns 1,008 aspects or attributes of the soul, body. These
regions of mind power. The muladhara, the foundation in twelve distinct ways or through as many masks or personae are transparent, a crystal-clear white light
or "root center" at the base of the spine, govern$ memo- personae. People abiding her.e are generally well-bal'- ever present, shining through the circumference of the
ry. Above it are six chakras which control reason, willpow-anced, content at;ld self-contained. Even when in day- golden, soul body. Here the soul dissolves even bliss-
er, cognitionr divine love, divine sight and illumination. to-day life they become involved in the seemingly frac- ful visions of light and is immersed in pure space, pure
The muladhara, the divine seat of Lord Ganesha, is~ the tured parts, they are able to look through it all and un- awareness, pure being. Within the sahasrara is the
dividing point between human nature and instinctive, derstand-as though looking into a box and seeing Brahmarandhra, or "door of God," an aperture in the
animal ryature. Beloll,f this center, seven more c;hakras th~ inside, the outside, the top and the bottom ,al! at sushumna nadi Fhrough which kundalini enters in
exist, located between the coccyx and the heels, making the same time. They have a deep understanding of NirvikaJpa samadhi and the truely pure spirit escapes
141n all. Sometimes they are said to be situated along human nature, which brings effortless tolerance and the body at death. We open naturally into the .crown
the proverbial tail, for they reign over the realm of ani-an innate ability to help others, to resolve conflicts and chakra between ages 42 and 49. Often when people
mal instincts. It is little-known that the chakras define confusions. Between ages 21 and 28, perceptions deep- get older, if they have not learned to sustain con-
our maturing as humans. Until age 7, we are mastering en and understanding matures for those who enter sciousness in the higher chakras, they start to drop in
memory, learning languagg. From 7-14 we explore (ea- this chakra. But many people do not. Instead, they re- consciousness, returning to reason and trying to un-
son, always asking IIWhy?" From 14-,21 willpower aDd gre-S5 to bull-in-the-china-shop consciousness, cra,sh- derstand why all the things that happened to them in
striving come into play, and so on up the spine. ing their W'9Y through the world, still asking why, rea- their lifetime happened as they did. They get stuck in
soning things out and recording it in memory patterns the muladhara and spend years just remembering the
MULADHARA . which they repeat again year after year after year. But, past, reliving old experiences, good and bad alike. But
This is the memory center, located at the base of the if awareness is mature and full, having incarnated many, more mature souls rightly fullfilllife's two final stages:
spine, creating a consciousness of time through the many times, and well-trained all through youth, the senior advisor and religious solitaire. They utilize their
powers of memory. Whenever we go back in our mem- soul' proceeds smoothly into anahata consciQusness. golden years to manifest higher-chakra faculties of
ory patterns, we are using the forces of the muladhara. love, light, inner vision and God Realization through
It has four petals or aspects, one of which governs service, sadhana,.pilgrimage, worship and meditation.
memories of past lives. The other three contain the
compiled memory patterns and interrelated karmas The Seven Sub-Muladhara'Regions
of this life. This chakra is associated al'so with human
qualities of individuality, egoism, physicality (il'lClud- ATALA: The first lower chakra, located in the hips, gov-
ing sexuality), materialism and dominance. A person erns the state of mind called fear, which is truly a bot-
lives predominantly in this chakra during the first seven tomles·s abyss. Someone in this consciousness fears
years of life, acquiring language skills, relationships death, fears life, even fears God and other people. This
and cultural ways. center is also the home of lust and promiscuity.

SVADISHTHANA VITALA: Here anger predominates, and burning re-

Once the ability to remember has been established, sentment. Anger comes from despair, confusion, frus-
the natural consequence is reason, and from reason tration or lack of understanding. People in the con-
evolves the intellect. Reason is the manipulation of sciousness ofthis (;hakra, centered in the thighs, are
memorized information. We categorize it, edit it, re- always wrathful, mad at the world, even angry at God.
arrange it and store the results. People in this chakra
research, explore and wonder, "Why ?Why? Why?" They Anahata chakra yan/ra diagram .by Horish lahari, from Chakras. /lu/}/ished byDestiny Books: SUTALA: This chakra, found in the knees, governs jeal- -.
propose theories and formuJa.te reasonable explana- ousy, wanting what one can't have. Jealousy is a feel-
tions. They often form a rigid intellectual mind based VISHUDDHA ing of inadequacy, inferiority and helplessness. Peo-
upon opinionated knowledge and accumulated mem- Universal or divine love is the faculty expressed by the ple in sutala consciousness covet everything, often deny
ory, reinforced by habit patterns ofthe instinctive mind. vishuddha chakra. Whenever people feel filled with in- the existence of God and are contentiously combative.
It is in this chakra that the majority of people live, think, expressible love for and kinship with all mankind, all
worry, and travel on the astral-plane. We open natural- creatures large and small, they are vibrating within TALATALA: Prolonged confused thinking dominates
Iyinto this chakra-of asking why and learning how to vishuddha. When deeply immersed in this state, there here, giving rise to instinctive willfulness: to get rather
think-between age 8 and 14. This center controls the is no consciousness of being a person with emotions, than give, to push others around and pursue material-
muladhara, as does each progress.ively higher center no consciousness of thoughts. One is just being the istic advancement over all else. Greed and deceit prevail
control all chakras that He below it. That is the taw. light or being fully aware of himself as radiant force in thisdog-eat-dog state of mind, centered in the calves.
flowing through all' form. He sometimes sees light
MANIPURA throughout the entirety of his body. The exceptional RASATALA: This chakra of the ankles is the true home
The third -chakra is represented in the central nervous soul who reSides fully in this center, usually between of the animal nature. Unmitigated selfishness prevails,
system by the solar plexus, where all nerves merge to the ages of28 and 35, is able'for the first time to with- of seeing to thewell-being of "number one" first. The
form the "second brain./I Depending on how the en- draw awareness totally into the spine, into sushumna, suffering of others is of no concern. Jealousy, anger
ergy is flowing, the forces ofwillpower from this chakra the central spiritual current. Ultimately, he realizes that and fear are intense, even high, states of consciousness•.
add poxver either to worldly consciousness through the inner being is nothing but the reanty of himself.
the first two centers or to spiritua·1consciousness MAH~TALA: This is the realm. of (onsciencelessness,
through the fourth and fifth centers. When awareness AJNA or inner blindness to the effect of one's actions, of neg-
is confined to the realms of memory, reason and ag- The sixth force center is called ajno, or the third eye, ativity and deep depression. Those living in this chakra
gressive willpower, men and women are instinctive in the center of divine sight, direct cong;ti'On. Of its two of the feet steal .freely, taking what they justify as theirs
nature. They are qui'ck to react and retaliate, quick to "petals" or facets, one is the ability to look into the anyway, feeling that "the world owes them a living."
have their feelings hurt and quick to pursue the qm- lower worlds or states of mind,and the other i's the per-
quest of others while fearing their own defeat-In these ception of the higher wodds, or spiritual states, of con- 'ATALA: Here, 'in the soles of the feet, is the abode of <
states of mind, the ego r~ses to its greatest prominence, sciousness. It, therefore, is the connecting link, allow- desthlCtiveness, revenge, murder for the sake of mur-
and emotional experiences are extremely intense. ing the awakened soul to relate the highest con- der, torture, hatred expressed by harming the proper-
Young adults, from '14 to 21, discover willpower, will- sciousness to the lowest if! a unified vision. We open ties, minds, emotions and bodies of others. Malice reigns
fulness and individuality as this chakra unfolds. naturally into this chakra between ages 35 and 42. supreme. Reason seldom reaches this state of mind.

Here in anahata dwells Kakini, who in color is yellow like new lightning, exhilarated and auspicious;
.-
three-eyed and the benefactress of all. - SHAT CHAKRA-NIRUPANA, VERSI;)3

16 HINDUISM TODAY
f the spinal channel is likened to an elevator, the
chakras are the various floors in the body-build-
ing. In any building, the basement is usually dark
and enclosed, the first floor busy with activity and
the penthouse refined, offering a wide view of the
city below. Similarly in man. The darker states of
mind become reality when we live on the lower
floors; the mental-emotional
realms engage us while we
inhabit the main floors of the
building; and the divine, su-
perconscious regions are the
experience for those who
have reached the supernal up-
per stOlies. God, the landlord,
may prefer the penthouse, but
His presence permeates the
whole building.
The first floor, the mulad-
hara chakra, should be
viewed as our friend not an-
tagonist. Though "basic," the forces of this "root chakra"
are not negative. Used positively by the higher centers, the
powers of time, memory and potent sex energy are trans-
muted into the very fuel that propels the kundalini up the
spinal climb and into the head. Similarly, the mature lotus
blossom cannot, in wisdom, criticze the muddy roots far
below which, after all, sustain its very life.
One assumption of the chakra system is that man is com-
plete, containing within himself the whole. As the mod-
em siddha Baba Muktananda said, "You are the entire uni-
verse. You are in all, and all is in you. Sun, moon and stars
revolve within you." Everything is within man: fear and
superstition when consciousness falls toward the feet, in-
spiration and illumination when it rises above the head.
Religion is not just the final climb to the summit, it is the
entire journey from bottom to top.
URE
The senses should be controlled by will inside the
hrit, eight-petalled lotus inside the heart chakra.
-Svetasvatara Upanishad 2.8
Having worshiped mentally in
all the chakras, with unwaver-
ing mind, he should repeat the
Ajapa-gayatri... Then he
should meditate on the kundali-
ni as moving upwards and
~~'
downwards, as making a tour
of the six chakras, placed in
three and a half coils.
-Garuda Purana
Here in the adhara chakra,
muladhara, dwells Dakini by
name. Her four arms shine
with beauty and her eyes are
brilliant red. She is resplendent
like the lustre of many suns ris-
ing at one and the same time.
- Satchakra-Nirupana, Verse 7
Unto kundalini fire across
chakras six and in two-petalled
center (ajna) ended; the sacred
fire engulfed worlds seven en-
tire, from top to bottom un intermittent. Those who
witnessed it have indeed gained all riches great.
- Tirumantiram 1040
I seized the thief of
my vital airs, and
controlled my breath.
When by concentra-
tion of my thoughts I
brought the prana
under my control, I
made my body like a
blazing coaL The six
paths [chakras] I
traversed and gained
the seventh and then
did I, Lalla, reach
the place of
illumination.
-Lalla, Kashrniri
~
She [kundalini J is beautiful as a chain of lightning and fine as a lotus fibre, and shines in the minds of the sages. She is extremely subtle,
the awakener of pure knowledge, the embodiment of bliss, whose true nature is pure consciousness. " SATCAKRA- NIRUPANA V.3
......
April,1994
ranscendence
The aggressive/intellectual current, pin-
gala, is masculine, mental in nature and
represented by the the color blue. The
passive/physical current is feminine,
material in nature. This current is
rose/pink, or red. The third white
current, sushumna, is spiritual in na-
ture and flows directly through the
spine and into the head. It is the
channel for pure spiritual ener-
ies that flood into the body,
through the spine and out
into the 6,000 miles of nerve
currents. Depending on the na-
ture and dharma of each indi-
vidual, this pure energy general-
ly expresses itself as predomi-
nantly physical or intellectual, pas-
sive or aggessive. However, in the
sannyasin or sannyasini, the monk or
nun, the two forces are so precisely
balanced that neither is dominant and
one therefore lives almost totally in
the sushumna. The renunciate is
neither male nor female, but a being capable of all modes of expres-
sion. Within the family, the man is predominantly in the masculine
current and the woman is predominantly in the feminine current.
When they are harmonious and have awakened enough knowledge
of the relation of their forces to balance them, then both naturally
flow into the spiritual current and radiate as spiritual beings. Chil-
dren born of such couples come into earthly life through the deeper
chakras and tend to be highly evolved and well-balanced.
One of several meanings iconographically represented in the half-
male and half-female image of Siva, Ardhanarishvara (pictured
above) is this perfect balancing of the feminine and masculine forces
so that the spiritual current predominates.
North America Edition
JOURNEYS WITHIN
r:'_, ,Ii, eel ,""'0-,- i1iH+=S:_OS£I'., .. ',_. " ,.'*"_ ."_ !"!,, ; _'.,' •. , "._
GOPI KRISHNA: (1903-1984) Eminent Kashmiri yogi,
author, a state official and social servant who was mar-
ried with four children.
I distinctly felt an incomparably blissful sensation in all
my nerves moving from the tips of fingers and toes and
other parts of the trunk and limbs towards the spine,
where, concentrated and intensified, it mounted upwards
with a still more exquisitely pleasant feeling to pour into
the upper region of the brain a rapturous and exhilarat-
ing stream of a rare radiating nerve secretion, exceeding
many times in intensity that most pleasurable of bodily
sensations, the orgasm, which marks the climax of sex-
ual union. Although linked to the body and surround-
ings I had expanded in an indescribable manner into a
titanic personality, conscious from within of an imme-
diate and direct contact with an intensely conscious uni-
verse, a wonderful inexpressible immanence all around
me. My body, the chair I was sitting on, the table in front
of me, the room, the lawn outside and the space beyond
including the earth and sky appeared to be, most amaz-
ingly, mere phantoms in this real, interpenetrating and
all-pervasive ocean of existence which seemed to be si-
multaneously unbounded, stretching out immeasurably
in all directions. From this marvellous point the entire
existence, of which my body and its surroundings were
a part, poured out like radiations as if a reflection as vast
as my conception of the cosmos were thrown out upon
infinity by a projector no bigger than a pinpoint. The
shoreless ocean of consciousness in which I was nowim-
mersed appeared infinitely large and infinitely small at
the same time, measureless, without form or size, noth-
ing and yet everything.
(Excerpt from his book Kundalini)
HIROSHI MOTOYAMA: (1925- )Founderofthe Institute
for Religious Psychology, Tokyo, author and head Shinto
priest ofTamamitsu Shrine, Tokyo.
One of the practices I performed regularly in my initial
program of discipline is a Taoist form called Shoshuten,
a method of purifying sushumna by the circulation of en-
ergy in the upper part of the body, which is done by rais-
ing the kundalini shakti along the sushumna to the top of
the head and letting it fall to the ajna chakra during in-
halation. While I was doing Shoshuten, I could see the
inside of the sushumna, the sahasrara and two or three
other chakras shining. After I had practiced yoga for six
months a year, a shining golden light began to enter and
leave my body through the top of my head and I felt as if
the top of my head protruded ten to twenty centimeters.
In the astral, but not the physical dimension, I saw what
looked like the head of Buddha, shimmering purple and
blue, resting on the top of my own head. There was a
golden white light flowing in and out through the gate at
the top of the Buddha's crown. Gradually I lost the sen-
sation of my body, but I held a clear awareness of con-
sciousness of super-consciousness. I was able to hear a
powerful, but very tender, Voice resounding through the
universe. Then I experienced a truly indescribable state,
in which my entire spiritual existence became totally im-
mersed within an extraordinary calmness. After some
time, I descended, following the same path, and returned
to my body through the gate at the top of my head.
(Excerpt from his book Theories of the Chakras)
C. W. LEADBEATER (1854-1934) clairvoyant, author
and well-renowned Western authority on chakras.
The chakras, or force centers, are points of connection at
which energy flows from one vehicle or body of a man to
another. Anyone who possesses a slight degree of clair-
voyance may easily see them. When quite undeveloped,
they appear as small circles about two inches in diameter,
glowing dully in the ordinary man; but when awakened
and vivified, they are seen as blazing, coruscating
whirlpools, much increased in size, and resembling minia-
ture suns. We sometimes speak of them as roughly corre-
sponding to certain physical organs; in reality, they show
themselves at the surface of the etheric double, which
projects slightly beyond the outline of the dense body. If
we imagine ourselves to be looking straight down into a
the bell of a flower of the convolvulus type, we shall get
some idea of the general appearance of a chakra. The stalk
of the flower in each springs from a point in the spine,
so another view might show the spine as a central stem,
from which flowers shoot forth at intervals, showing the
opening of their bells at the surface of the etheric body.
The centers are in operation in everyone, although in
the undeveloped person they are usually in comparatively
sluggish motion. The seventh centre, the coronal [sahas-
rara1at the top of the head, is, when stirred into full ac-
tivity, the most resplendent of all, full of indescribable
chromatic effects and vibrating with almost inconceiv-
able rapidity. It is described in Indian books as thousand-
petalled, and really this is not very far from the truth, the
number of the radiations of its primary force in the out-
er circle being 960. In addition to this, it has a feature
which is possessed by none of the other chakras-a sort
of subsidiary central whirlpool of gleaming white flushed
with gold in its heart.
(Excerpt from his book The Chakras)
 North America Edition
Afghan Hindus Scatter
As War Grinds on
real victims have always remained
the Afghan people.
The War With no Winners
Like pawns in a high-powered chess
game, the Afghans-Sunni and Shi-
ite Muslim, Hindu and Sikh alike-
have watched helplessly as homes,
businesses, places of worship and
even lives have been snuffed out by
bombs and bayonets. As Afghans,
the Hindus suffer with the rest of the grounds. Hindus .started using the
population. But as minorities in an
Islamic country, they are placed in
double jeopardy. When Babri Mas-
jid was destroyed in India by fanati-
cal Hindus at a Vishwa Hindu Pari-
shad rally in December, 1992, some
radical Muslim Afghans seemed to
forget that Hindu Afghans were
their countrymen, and burnt and
looted their temples in Kabul, Kan-
dahar and Jalalabad in retaliation.
The once-thriving Hindu com-
munity in Afghanistan which num-
bered 40,000 has now dwindled in
some parts to a paltry three families.cause had been religious intolerance.
Manu Lal, a young Hindu who es-
caped from Afghanistan into Pak-
istan and then took refuge in the
U.S., recalls the golden days of Hin- three Hindu families. He points out
duism in Afghanistan: "Indians have
been there for thousands of years.
My great-grandfather was born in
Afghanistan. Even in a small town
like Kandahar, we had 5,000 Hin-
dus, and many beautiful temples.
There were temples to Shiv Parvati,
Devi Mata, Satyanarayan and also
many gurudwaras. There were four
big gurudwaras which even people
from India came to see."
Indeed, many Hindus point out
that Afghani~tan was originally a
Hindu country, and that 99 percent
of the Hindu Afghans were born
there. A statue of Buddha has stood quite a lot of the property there, al-
in Kabul for more than 2,000 years
and a mountain is named Asha Mai,
after a Hindu goddess. Madan Ku-
mar (his name has been changed to
protect his family still in Afghani-
stan), a Hindu Afghan who fled to
the U.S . nine years ago, observes:
"We have lived in Afghanistan for
generations-why should anyone
question our nationality? So it is the
religious differences which are be-
ing attacked."
From Page One
Hindu temples and Sikh gurudwaras
have been attacked by rockets and
bombs, some the casualty of war,
and some of religious intolerance.
About two years ago the ancient
Mata Asha Mai Temple in Kabul, to
which the local Hindus had devoted
a lot of time and money, was hit by
rockets. A new building erected in
the surroundings has also been dam-
aged, as have the Hindu cremation
gurudwara grounds for their crema-
tions, until the gurudwara was also
struck.
Last January Barnett Rubin, Di-
rector of Central Asian Studies at
Columbia University, visited Af-
ghanistan as part of a delegation sent
by the International League for Hu-
man Rights, the New York-based or-
ganization which has consultation
status with the United Nations. He
visited Jalalabad, where Hindu tem-
ples and Sikh gUludwaras had been
destroyed, to investigate whether the
The city, which before the war had
4,000 Sikhs and 800-900 Hindus,
now has just 50 Sikh families and
that while Hindus and Sikhs, like all
the communities in Afghanistan,
have suffered tremendously due to
the war, these two communities have
suffered most profoundly due to the
destruction of Babri Masjid.
Says Rubin: "According to the
Hindus and Sikhs in Jalalabad, their
places of worship were undisturbed
throughout the war. However, after
the destruction of Babri Masjid,
there was an emotional reaction on
the part 9f some of the people there,
and they attacked both the mandir
and the gurudwara and destroyed
though nobody was injured."
Roopchand, a Hindu trader and
community leader, explained that
over 2,000 carpets and other valu-
ables which had been endowed to
the temple and which were stored in
the basement were burnt or looted.
The Shurra of the town later
apologized to the Sikhs on realizing
that they had nothing to do with the
destruction of the Babri Masjid.
Comments Rubin, "Of course, the
Top to bottom: Map of Afghanistan.
Hindu wedding in Afghanistan in bet-
ter times. Distraught Hindus at the
Mata Asha Mai temple in Kapul in
1992. Refugees in Delhi: two genera-
tions in a new land-one with sweet
memories of a lost land; the other not
destined to see his homeland.
alternate route is overland through
Pakistan, but Pakistan will not issue
transit visas unless they already
have visas to India. Since there are
no distinguishing marks to separate
them from other Afghans, who do
not require visas, Hindus do slip
into Pakistan without visas. Howev-
er, the situation is fraught with dan-
ger if their Hindu identity is discov-
ered. Sikhs, because of their turbans
and beards, have an even harder
time entering Pakistan without a
visa. Rubin observes, "There is
HINDUISM TODAY
Afghan Hindus in Delhi
While those who have stayed be-
hind struggle with food short-
ages, bombs and a ravaged econ-
omy, those who have managed to
escape struggle to start a new life
in new places. According to HIN-
DUISM TODAY correspondent in
New Delhi, Rajiv Malik, a large
number of refugees have sought
asylum in the capital and adja-
cent cities. The wealthy ones
have settled down in the posh
colonies of New Delhi like Laj-
pat Nagar and Defence Colony.
Others have purchased homes in
middle-class areas East and West
Delhi. While Delhi has attracted
the Sikh Afghans, many Hindus
have settled in Faridabad, an in-
dustrial township in the neigh-
boring state of Haryana.
Tek Chand Sarin, 66, is a Hin-
du refugee from Kabul who came
to India eight months ago and is
living with his family in Farid-
abad, in a middle-class neighbor-
hood. Sarin, an active member of
the Democratic Party during the
early 80's, believes that Hindus
were still happy and prosperous
during the period the Russians
were in Afghanistan. He noted,
"Even after the Russians left Af-
ghanistan, the Hindus faced no
problem during the regimes of
Babrak Karmal and Dr. Najibul-
lah. I remember when Dr. Na-
jibullah was in India, Prime Min-
ister Rajiv Gandhi checked up
with him about the position of
Hindus in his country. To this the
Afghan premier's reply was,
'Hindus of Afghanistan are our
own people, and I will ensure
that they face no problem in my
country. II'
Sarin believes the real prob-
lems of the Hindus began when
the leftists and fundamentalists
came to the forefront in 1992. He
says, "Three members of an in-
fluential family of Hindus were
brutally murdered by Muslim
fundamentalists after which it be-
came abundantly clear that Hin-
dus were no longer secure in Af-
ghanistan."
He recalls the big backlash af-
ter the Ayodhya incident, with
temples and gurudwaras being
April,1994 17
...
attacked: "There was also an at-
tempt to burn the Holy Granth in
one of the gurudwaras. But the
fact is that the exodus of Hindus
had started much before it. Nev-
ertheless, after Ayodhya the feel-
ing of insecurity gripped the
minds of Hindus in a big way as
even their women were insulted."
Sarin and other Hindu leaders
had also met with Afghan Presi-
dent Rabbani to discuss their
concerns. He, however, offered
no assurances and that itself
showed that times had changed.
Says Sarin, "There were lots of
cases of kidnapping and looting
and the situation was going from
bad to worse."
Sarin, who had given an inter-
view to BBC on the violence
faced by Hindus in Afghanistan,
found certain cases registered
against him and finally felt com-
pelled to leave the country. While
in Afghanistan, he had been a
member of the managing com-
mittee of Mata Asha Mai temple.
He turned over the charge of the
2500-year-old temple to the Unit-
ed Nations force, which set up an
office in the temple building. At
the same time, he found many
temples and gurudwaras were
controlled by militia who were
using them as storehouses for
arms and rockets.
The journey into India via
Pakistan was a rocky one. Sarin
told HINDUISM TODAY, "We were
harassed along the way. At many
places we had to pay money to
avoid inconvenience and harass-
ment. Though I myself had no
problem, many of my co-passen-
gers were asked to shell out Rs .

flee to the U.S. Relative newcomers,

2500 [US$75] to get the passport
stamped by Pakistani officials."

each other in social gatherings orga-

I
The Hindus were mostly prosper- Hindus in Jalalabad had absolutely some kind of religious discrimina- the hardworking family is starting nized on religious festivals like Di- 1
ous merchants, dealing in clothes, nothing to do with that too but I'm tion on the part of the Pakistani au- from scratch. wali and Holi. \
dry fruits, pharmaceuticals, currency afraid there's a kind of tribal men- thorities since they don't allow Hin- Madan Kumar has been luckier If you ask Madan Kumar what he
exchange and Indian tea and spices. tality still which is that when mem- du or Sikh Afghans to go into Pak- than most refugees: he came into the misses the most about a peaceful
This may have hardened resentment bers of a certain group harm your istan without a visa while other U.S. nine years ago as a profession- pre-war Afghanistan, he says, "The
amongst the Muslim Afghans. Says group, then you take vengeance on Afghans are allowed to do so." al and managed to make a good liv- peace itself. That was a time when
Kumar, "Although some Hindus that group. So they did not apolo- So as the once-beautiful, rugged ing for himself. The scars, however, people were innocent, when there
have been so powerful that they gize to the Hindus." country of Afghanistan slowly dis- remain. Asked if he experienced any wasn't much dushmani (enmity).
have even controlled the exchange Rubin and his team interviewed integrates, those who can escape, trage4ies while fleeing, he says, There was little religious intolerance.
market [looted and burned in the the three remaining Hindu families do. Many Hindus and Sikhs have "That in itself is a tragedy- being Hindus and Muslims were friends.
January fightin], there were thou- in Jalalabad and also visited the 850- fled to safety in India, Germany and forced to leave the country where They were a God-fearing people,
sands of Hindus living in the slums. year-old mandir which is a mazaar the U.S. Those who stay behind, as you were born and raised. You es- living in peace. People have lost the
Overall, though, Hindus have done or pilgrimage place of the Bhakti one Hindu pointed out, are either tablish links throughout your life culture they had for centuries. Some-
well, and that makes them a very saint Mathuradas. According to the too poor or too greedy. Indeed, con- and all of a sudden you're cut-off. thing has been lost in this war, and it
visible minority and an easy prey for Hindus, it was visited by people of trary to the stereotypes of all Hindus Not all the families have been able cannot be found again."
opportunistic forces who are looking all faiths since it was a combined being rich traders, there are many to re-unite. It would not be an exag- As the guns of war continue their
for unstable situations." Bhakti-Sufi shrine. But as Rubin struggling there who have no way of geration if I told you that for the first maniac destruction of Afghanistan,
Manu Lal recalls, "While Kanda- points out, "All the religions have paying passage out of war-torn Af- five years every single night I had it seems a certainty that the Hindu
har had more Hindus, Jalalabad [just become more fundamentalized now, ghanistan. Rubin says, ''There are nightmares about the war. I thought population will have vanished when
on the Afghan side of Khyber Pass], so they are more separate." The Hin- no wealthy Hindus in Jalalabad. If I was back in Afghanistan." the smoke clears. The ageless Asha
which had once been partly con- dus told the delegation that the de- they are wealthy, they are not living A sizeable number of refugees Mai Mountain, the 2,000-year-old
trolled by Ranjit Singh, had a large struction of the temple was not a in J alalabad." have joined family members in Ger- Buddha, and the Mathuradas Tem-
population of Sikhs. The capital city mass movement and that they do not While the majority have found many. The U.S. has a small commu- ple may still stand, but there will be
of Kabul had a big temple which suffer continuing harassment. The refuge in India, a small number nity of Hindu and Sikh Afghan refu- no worshippers. Generations of Hin-
had a Hindu school and taught reli- delegation, however, found plenty of have landed up in America. Manu gees, totalling about 500-600 peo- du Afghans will grow up on foreign
gious scriptures and Hindi. In those human rights violations. Rubin says, Lal, whose young brother was killed ple, or about 150 families. About shores without knowing their land.
days Hindus were very safe because "Obviously burning or looting of in the bazaar crossfire and whose two years back they formed an Indi- As Madan Kumar sadly admits: "If
they were treated like honored temples and gurudwaras is an exam- mother died from the trauma of her an Afghan Organization, which has I go there, I will feel a stranger. That
guests." Kumar acknowledges that ple of religious intolerance" son's death, fled to Pakistan and its main office in New York and a circle of friends and family has
though there may have been some then to the U.S., to escape compul- branch in Maryland. Since many of completely vanished. A piece of
religious bigotry, generally Muslims No Easy Way Out sory induction into the Afghan these refugees fled with just the shirt land means to you as much because
and Hindus lived in mutual respect With the capital of Kabul totally army. Another brother, who was in on their backs, they have few pos- of social relations bound to it. If
and friendship. Not any more. swallowed in the fighting, Hindus the army, was paralyzed during war- sessions or mementos of their life in you've lost all connections, you go
can no longer get visas from the fare. Yet another brother, forced into Afghanistan. They have just the to that country in what hope, to
Temple Destruction consulate there or fly to Delhi. The the army at age 14, managed to also memories and they~share these with know whom?" •

Borne along and defiled by the stream of qualities, unsteady, wavering, bewildered, full of desire, distracted, one goes on into the state of self-conceit. In
thinking, "This is I" and "That is mine" one binds himself with himself, as does a bird with a snare. KRISHNA YAJUR VEDA, MAITREYA UPANISHAD 3.2

"'

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 North America Edition HINDUISM TODAY April,1994 19

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20 HINDUISM TODAY April,1994 North America Edition

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 .........

24 HINDUISM TODAY April,1994 North America Edition

OM BHOOR BHUVAHA SWAHA TATSAVITUR VARENIYAM BHARGO DEVASYA DHEEMAHI DHIYO YO NAHA PRACHODAYAT
RAJA VA YAGYANAM YADASHWAMEDHAH (ASHWAMEDH YAGYA IS SUPREME AMONGST ALL YAGNAS) - SHATPATH 13/2/1/1

GAYATRI PARIWAR YUGNIRMAN

UNDER THE AUSPICES OF ALL WORLD GAYATRI PARIWAR
-
SHANTI KUNJ, HARDWAR, u.P., INDIA

YlIG NrIlMAN

YUGDRASTA PUBLIC
NAGAR INVITATION
(POLO CLUB)
3N541 BLOOMINGDALE RD. AND
GLENDALE HEIGHTS
FREE
[CHICAGO]
ILLINOIS, 60139, U.S.A. PARTICIPATION
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ALL AMERICA ~
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GRAND HISTORIC ASHWA MEDHA

KUNDI GAYATRI MAHAYAGNA
YAGNA
1008
y
&
MAGNANIMOUS DISPLAY OF INDIAN CULTURE IN A UNPRECEDENTED FESTIVAL FOR
UNIVERSAL PEACE, HARMONY AND CULTURAL DEVEWPMENT OF HUMANITY

OPENING CEREMONY ON FRIDAY EVENING JULY 29,

SATURDAY JULY 30, SUNDAY JULY 31, 1994
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
What is Ashwamedha Yagna? -
00
ndia cannot afford to neglect her heritage. Her faults
and shortcomings are there, to be sure. But consider
Ashwamedha is a spiritual experiment performed to disseminate the _ her boundless treasures of knowledge and wisdom,
1 divine teachings of Indian culture, which certainly will become world the beauty of her continuity and the wonder of her
tenacity in holding together a society for more than 7,000
culture in a decade.
years-these are too precious to lose.
Ritual is the heart of the world's most ancient text, the Vedas.
Ashwamedha is associated with 1008 kundi gayatri mahayagna for

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2 purification of the subtler atmosphere and re.storation of ecological
balance.
ASHWA denotes evil instincts prevailing in the society and MEDHA
3 denotes the process of uprooting these.
This ritual is performed to awaken the hidden talent of society by
4 stimulating collective consciousness of the whole humankind.
>f
Through this spiritual discipline each unit of society is motivated to
5 observe penance and sacrifice for the betterment of humanity.
Ashwamedha helps in enhancing will power of the masses to get rid
6 of bad habits, drug & alcohol addiction and also encourages to adopt
good virtues so as to become a better man in society.
Ashwamedha is a magnanimous display of the harmonious, compre-
7 hensive aspect of Indian culture, through the teachings of which one
can find all the solutions to today's problems.
The performance of Ashwamedha Anushthan helps in bringing the
And though, for various reasons, ritual diminished over the
past 2000 years, still it remained the heart of Indian culture,
and the ancient Vedic ritual tradition endured, with a tenacity
and continuity unmatched in any other culture-anywhere.
It is not possible today to reactivate the ancient Ashwamed-
ha, nor would it be desirable, really. The complexity of it (it
took a full year to complete), the awsome wealth spent,
animal scarifice and taboos (women were not allowed to recite
the mantras) ... these are not for our time. But we do see this
ritual in a contemporary format today-performed and
enjoyed by thousands of men and women of all castes and
creeds, chanting together the divine Gayatri Mantra in
unisson. This mantra is a precious treasure, a most potent
force for good. And it is now available to fill all ears and
restore all hearts.
Some see in the Ashwamedha a "revival of Brahmanism."
Fine. Brahmanism in ancient India always represented and
embodied knowledge and wisdom. Let it be revived.
Hundred of thousands or millions of souls participating in
these grand ceremonies are the expression of the regeneration
of modern Hinduism. It is religious teaching which can cure
the ills of our age. Every religion teaches that is is tyaga, or
sacrifice, which gives the power to resist the effects of evil.
Now, through fine rituals, millions may gain this power and

.."
8 crime and violence rate down in near and distant areas. use it in wisdom.
The Ashwamedha offers to the world Karma Yoga, or the
Ashwamedha is performed to unite the whole of society, nations, con- Yoga of perfected action, or being. AUM.
9 tinents and the globe together so as to progress towards a bright
future of the whole ecosystem and global community. For further information:
• Kusum or Chandra Patel, 8413 W North Terrace, Niles, IL 60714
~ Ashwamedha signifies sacred offerings to the sun god so as to be en- Tel: 708-692-6036; Tel/Fax: 708-692-7712
10 dowed with divine virtues of solar consciousness. • Shankar Prasad Bhatt: 708-457-8229
• Daxa Gajjar: 312-478-6616
 North America Edition HINDUISM TODAY April,1994 25
~.

camp photo to the left, for example, there are sidebar below]. Meeting on the printed page
22 Indian girls and 9 boys. was not enough, so the idea of a culture camp,
The families face what Gail calls the "ob- "Hands Around the World" evolved. The cul-
vious appearance of adoption, but build a pro- ture camp, now in its seventh year, meets for
tective castle for the child at home." Most one week annually in July. Each day for five
painful are thoughtless racist remarks, such as hours children share music, dance, games ,
a friend who greeted Gail in a supermarket crafts, food and guests from diverse cultures.
and commented on Ben, "He's getting lighter Gail, as president of "Hands around the
[in color] ." Her response-"Oh darn, you World," listed the camp's four guiding pur-
caught me putting bleach in his bath water"- poses: 1) To learn to balance a healthy pride
hid her outrage. "You can't answer silly or in one's self and one's heritage with respect
rude questions with anger," she explained, for other's feelings and appreciation of their
"You have to do it with humor. And they nev- heritage. 2) To enhance self-esteem as a mem-
er asked me again." Outsiders seem to be un- ber of one's birth culture, one's adoptive fam-
aware that Indians are also Caucasians, and ily and the community of the world. 3) To em-
therefore of the same "race" as themselves. brace all cultures by inviting others to devel-
op a curriculum and join hands around the
Creating an Indian Identity world. 4) To support all participants of camp
Adopted children get a strong Indian identity in discovering their identity while having fun.
within their American set up. The Thorp fam- Another camp, called the Spice Rack Cul-
Judy Thorp coordinated this culture camp in Grand Rapids, Michigan in June 1992. Some of ily does puppet shows on Ramayana, and the ture Camp is held every summer. The tenth
the children bring their friends and American siblings to learn about South Asia. 20-minute show is shown in many schools. one took place in Dayton, Ohio, in June '93.
They read books by Tagore. "We want to put Over 200 adults and children from 18 states at-
Parents Work to Instill Pride in before children great role models that are Indi-
ans. They need to know that Indians like Ra-
tended the camp, involving themselves in pro-
jects and activities relating to Indian culture,
bindranath Tagore won Nobel Prizes. In the and creating an Indian village scene. Even
Their Adopted Indian Children American society they see white teachers, doc-
tors, principals. They need to know that brown-
some grandparents attended the camp.
Gail explained that adopting parents do not
From Page One skinned people are very successful profession- attempt to raise the children as Hindus (or
als too ." Many adoptive parents consciously Muslims). Rather the children follow the
yet another way mainstream America will de- of them-two grandmothers, a grandfather, took in Indian children because of their strik- Christian, Jewish or non-denominational faith
velop an understanding of Indian culture and four uncles, six aunts, three cousins-dote ing features and their lovingness and bright- of their new parents. For this reason, they do
religion, a step toward building interracial har- and cherish her brown-skinned daughters. The ness . Thorp said, "We work so hard to incul- not send the children to camps run by Hindu
mony and foster good will in a society that re- girls read Ramayana, stories of today's Indian cate Indian culture among the children, that in temples, as they are too "heavily religious,"
mains plagued with racial hatred and conflict. families, visit the local Indian bazaar and at- the process, parents become half Indians." according to Gail. However, Hindu organiza-
Hundreds of American families around the tend Indian holiday celebrations. The family is Catholic, and they attend the tions such as the Swaminarayan temple in
country who have adopted Indian children For John and Judy Thorp of Big Rapids, church every Sunday. But they also make the Michigan have provided much welcome as-
have welcomed not only the children, but their Michigan, the Indian subcontinent came first girls familiar with the Hindu and Muslim reli- sistance. Indeed, there are probably many
unique heritage into their homes. They are in their lives and then the children. John, a gions. They have a Krishna idol and Ganesha ways Hindu organizations could help these
working hard to inculcate in the young ones a cultural anthropologist, did his PhD disserta- picture in their home. They have visited many families raise their Indian children.
pride about India, and a healthy self-esteem tion on Bangladesh, and the couple lived there Hindu temples and are working on a special The culture camps are just one of the ac-
about who they are, from their looks to the for four years. They could see the devastation program in cooperation with Vivekananda tivities that enrich the lives of these admirable
deep core of culture. About 600 Indian chil- due to war and cyclones and the many kids Monastery in Ganges, Michigan. "Paths are families. In all their day-to-day life, they are
dren are adopted into United States every year. who needed homes . Later, they adopted two many, but God is one," they believe. making a selfless, deliberate and conscious ef-
girls from Bangladesh (Megna now 13, and HINDUISM TODAY also came across a Hin- forts to make their children aware of their glo-
Creating the Home Environment Anjali now 10) and one (Jayana, 10) from In- du couple from Pennsylvania, who wish to re- rious heritage. Hindu families and organiza-
The Walton's son Ben is showing a deep in- dia. They were adopted when they were in- main anonymous. They have adopted an Indi- tion should take the opportunity to help in
terest in classical Indian dance kathak, and his fants and toddler respectively. "With us the an girl. Strong in their faith, they adopted a whatever way we can. •
family has encouraged him to take formal family food is Indian food, the children love child to clear karma. The wife had two abor-
lessons. He actually performs quite well and Indian snacks," Thorp told HINDUISM TODAY. tions prior to giving birth to their first child.
has entertained before 200 people. The fami- As for clothes, "They feel very dressed up Later on she felt badly about it, and to cleanse
ly reads several books about India and Indi- when they wear salwaar kameez. " the karma, almost as an antidote, sought a
ans, and Indian crafts adorn their home. Al- The Thorps are typical of "middle-middle beautiful Indian little girl who miraculously (~~NNI~(j'I'I~NS
though the family is Mormon Christian, and class" U.S. families with incomes around came into their life and became the object of _ . at Cl"ldren From hdIo 8< !he indian SOJbcontlnent
Ben is raised as a Christian, they have visited US$50 ,000/year, who can afford to adopt a their love even before they adopted her.
Hindu and Jain temples, and Ben can identify child, a procedure that can easily cost $9,000. When Gail, a homemaker and active
the Gods. "When I grow up, I want to marry a It can take up to a year to adopt a child from Newsletters and Culture Camps community volunteer, and Albert, an
brown girl and have brown babies," Ben says. India, and Indian law prohibits parents seeing Gail Walton started publishing her Connec- electrical engineer, adopted infant Ben as
Ben's classmates told him he was lucky to or choosing the child. It is a telling note on In- tions newsletter a few months after her infant their third child in 1986 (their two adopt-
be an Indian after Gail taught an informative dian society that three or four times more girls son arrived from Calcutta, to help other par- ed daughters are American-born), they
and interesting lesson about India consisting of are available for adoption than boys. In the ents like herself raise a child from India [see wanted to learn a lot about India and
food, crafts, fairly tales and animal stories to share that with their boy in his growing
his pre-kindergarten class. She told HINDUISM years. Since she could not find a whole
TODAY, "I feel enriched by bringing an Indian lot that addressed the particular needs of

~
child and Indian culture into my home, and I an American adoptive parent of an Indi-
have served India through my work." an child, she started a quarterly newslet-
Dr. Jerri Jenista, a specialist in infectious ter, Connections, to connect families who 1
disease, was 29 when she first adopted Louisa, have children from India and the Indian
then a tiny infant and now 11 years old. Then subcontinent and to assist them in raising
she went on to adopt Rohina, now 10, a spe- their Indian children with good self-es-
cial-needs child with cerebral palsy and con- teem about who they are.
fined to wheel chair. Her third one, Annika, 9, Connections, since its debut summer
is very bright and Julia, 8, is gifted, too. "India of 1987, has grown into a vital network-
was one of the few countries who could let ing tool. Its 30-odd pages are chock-full
single parents adopt," said Jenista. "The adop- of vital information about the Indian chil- ",-,

tion of my children has brought India into the dren, interesting stories about the Hindu
lives of five generations of my family, and also religion, mythology and customs and
to countless relatives, neighbors, friends and myriad columns. It now reaches four-
school children," she said. hundred families in all U.S. states plus
The Jenistas are enthusiastic about Indian Above left: The 1993 culture camp of "Hands around the world. " The 6 year olds are doing four other countries.
classical dance, learn bharata natyam and at- the "horse dance, " while the 7-year olds provide the music. Above right: Six-year-old Ben- The columns are children-focused as
tend all the dance concerts in Ann Arbor, Mi- jamin Walton has taken kathak lessons for 18 months. Below left: Jayana Roopa Thorp pre- well as parent-focused. Children's Trea-
chigan. They also go to all the SPICMACAY pares to celebrate Diwali in her Michigan home. Below middle: Megna Thorp, from Dhaka, sures contains stories and poems written
-<
programs which are aimed at developing an Bangladesh in her favorite 1ndian outfit at afamily Christmas party. Below right: The Jenista by children, giving them pride to see
appreciation of Indian music and culture Family, Annika 7, Rohina 9, Louisa 9, Julia 7 and mother Jerri, a physician. their "byline," while a column written by
among college youth. Indian dress, music, a medical doctor and psychologist an-
books and food (among other international swers specific issues. The newsletter also
foods) are common in the household. The fam- includes information on places of Indian
ily dream is to take a joint vacation in India. cultural enrichment, customs and tradi-
Dr. Jenista goes to India every year due to tion, video and book reviews , recipes,
~
her work with children's diseases, and has de- children's photos and adoption informa-
veloped deep friendships in Calcutta. "Before, tion. "Connections has brought us close
I was an Italian American. Now, I am an Ital- like an extended family, also developed a
ian Bengali American," she quips. meaningful place for children to relate to
Another single mother from Eastern Unit-
ed States, who wants to remain anonymous,
was 40 when she adopted her first Indian
girl- the second came soon after. A high
other Indian children growing up in
American families," Gail shares.
Address: 1417 Miner Street, Arlington
Heights, lllinois, 60004, USA. Subscrip-
..
school teacher, she calls them "my miracle tion (quarterly) US$14lyear; outside
daughters" and a dream come true. Her ex- US$18lyear (in US currency).
tended family lives in the same town and all

Of one heart and mind I make you, devoid of hate. Love one another as a cow loves the calf she has borne. Let the son be courteous to his f ather, ~"
of one mind with his mother. Let the wife speak words that are gentle and sweet to her husband. ATHARVA V EDA 3.30.1-2
--

26 HINDUISM TODAY
...
Indian Girls Have
Highest Suicide Rate
From Page One
Dr. Maharajh says the causes of suicide
and attempted suicide in Trinidad and Toba-
go are lover' s quarrels, interpersonal prob-
lems, cultural rigidity, marginalization, eth-
nic disadvantages, poverty, unemployment
and family depression. "Alcoholism and drug
abuse are also major contributory factors. Im-
itation suicide or copy-cat suicide has been of
recent interest provoked by images in the
media and their impact on life styles. A study
of the effects of mass media news stories on
suicide has demonstrated that publicized mod-
els do indeed affect the suicide rate, particu-
larly among young people. This deadly dis-
order has not received the attention, research
effort or educational thrust afforded so many
other disorders, despite the fact that recogni-
tion of risk population and intervention can
save thousands oflives. Why has the govern-
ment been dragging its feet on this major so-
cial problem?" he challenged.
Dr. Maharajh feels that suicide is a na-
tional dilemma which has destroyed some of
Trinidad's most vital young people in the
prime of life. He said that there are definite
ethnic differences, and all the evidence indi-
cates that young East Indian females are more
likely to attempt suicide than any other group.
There were no difference between African
and East Indian males, while the ratio of East
Indian females to African females was 2 to
1.NHL/SPC Hindus are now meeting the
challenge of this social problem. Pundit Ram-
baran said that this is an intersectoral effort
with pundits, doctors and social workers.
NHL/SPC has 24 full-time counselors who
have undergone 60 hours of training and offer
counseling an average of 30 times per day. He
~
added that it costs in excess of US$3,61O per
month to run the center, the bulk of which
comes from grants, donations and other ser-
vice organizations like the Foundation for En-
lightenment and Enriched Living (FEEL) and
drug companies.
......
April,1994 North America Edition
and do nothing about them. The response is
very, very good. Many of our calls are not
existence. "Hinduism teaches that those who
commit suicide are not following the dictum
only people with suicidal tendencies, but peo- of their religion. God has given life and no
ple who want prayers said for them, or who
want advice on different aspects of human life
one must take it away , but Him," he said.
"Man has been pre-ordained for a special as-
Dr. John Bharath, Public Relations Officer or who wish to speak to a priest. We thought signment on earth. Failure to execute that as-
of the center, former member of Parliament, it would be very apt if we opened a suicide signment through the short cut method of sui-
said that approximately 500 persons are given prevention and counseling center in a Hindu cide will mean that that individual would have
counselled every month, since the center temple, where a Hindu can feel safe in com- to come back on earth through lower forms of
came into being last September. "I cannot ing to a religious organization they are famil- life," Pundit Tiwari said. In support of
venture to say how many of them would have iar with and see familiar faces-for example NHL/SPC he added, "This is a commendable
committed suicide, but what I can say is that their family priest, like myself. We don't treat and an historic effort that deserves the support
the majority of them came back to us ex- only Hindus or Indians. We treat people of of all men of goodwill who know and love
pressing deep satisfaction and gratitude for every creed and every culture." life." He said that the Edinburgh Hindu Tem-
putting back into their minds and hearts a Vishnu Rambaran , center manager, says ple is looking at a similar project to ease the
sense of self-worth, love, a caring disposition NHLlSPC is non-profit, non-governmental heavy burden of the EI Socorro Mandir.
and human dignity once again." Davan and serves the public, regardless of ethnic, so- Dr. Maharajh told HINDUISM TODAY, "The
Ramkisson, a beneficiary of the center, said cial, cultural and religious persuasions. Cen- psychologically weak and emotionally dis-
that because of rl_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _-, ter activities include a national lifeline service, turbed in our society are in need of support
the assistance he walk-in center for suicide prevention, free dis- and counselling in a similar manner as Arju-
received, "I am na who lost control at Kurukshetra and was
putting my life DOM~~!~:u\J unwilling to do his duty. He needed guidance
back into order." from Lord Krishna, the protector. The chang-
Zina Atwaroo, ing role of the pundit today emphasizes work
counselor, re- (karma yoga), devotion (upasana) and know-
ports that she ledge (inana). Under the spiritual guidance of
ST. VINCENT AND Q
has had "to talk THE GRENADINES a
Pundit Rambachan, members of the NHL/SPC
to some people have discussed the despair, frustration and
who came to our Caribbean hopelessness individuals felt for themselves
center for hours
Sea st. George's (J and their families in our society."
to assure them By all accounts the National Hindu Life-
that their prob- c::::D San Jua line/Suicide Prevention Center, San Juan,
----------=
lems are just mundane ones Trinidad, has successfully integrated temple
and that with proper and activities with social service, which reminds
VENEZUELA
careful parental guidance one of an ancient inscription to be found on
their problems would be South America the walls of a Karnataka temple of the Kala-
solved." Dr. Hari D. Maharajh, one of many who serve at NHUSPC, San mukha sect: "a place devoted to the obser-
Dr. Bharath said that Juan, Trinidad, the Caribbean 's first suicide prevention center. vances of Saiva saints leading perpetually the
when Pundit Rambachan life of celibate religious students, a place for
discussed the idea with him he immediately tribution of groceries, food and clothing, free the quiet study offour Vedas, .. .the Yoga Sas-
embraced it because, "some people in the In- medical service, legal advice and spiritual tras and the other kinds of learning, a place
dian community are not comfortable going counselling. "We also attend to problems re- where food is always given to the poor, the
out and talking over their problems with peo- lating to drug abuse, crisis in marriages, rape helpless and to mendicants and all beg-
ple or organizations they do not know com- and incest, teenage pregnancy, delinquent and gars, ... a place where many helpless sick peo-
prehensi vel y." difficult children and family values," Ram- ple are harbored and treated, a place of assur-
"The Hindu woman is very apprehensive baran said. ance of safety for all living creatures.
when it comes to speaking about her family Pundit Ramesh Tiwari, President of the
problems or difficulties in her marriage," says Edinburgh Hindu Temple, feels that anyone
Pundit Rambachan. "She may prefer to stay who attempts or actually commits suicide is
in her home and pine away with her problems throwing away the better part of their human

INEMfSU,j.jUSRIEFI alam into Hindi.

HER MAJESTY, QUEEN Elizabeth

DAMMING OF THE NARMADA
river has been halted, for now. The
Save Narmada Campaign says work
on the massive construction project
was halted by Environment Minister
Kamal Nath. The World Bank also
favored halting the project because
of environmental and health con-
....,
cerns and the failure to resettle trib-
als who were to have been flooded
out of their homeland by the Sardar
Sarovar Project.
YOGA TEACHERS IN THE CZECH
Republic of Europe are required to
pass rigorous governmental certifi-
cation and are evaluated on yoga
practice, explanations, conception of
lessons and speaking ability. "For
getting the Class 2 certificate one
had to have minimal six years of ex-
perience as a yoga teacher," writes
Savitri Devi in Yoga Life.
NINE LIFE TERMS-in fact 281
years in prison. That is the sentence
,» . handed down to 19-year-old Jona-
than Doody for the murder of six
Buddhist monks, an elderly nun and
two male followers at a Buddhist
temple west of Phoenix, Arizona .
Doody must serve at least 25 years
for each of the nine 1991 killings
made during a robbery. The long-un-
~ AIDS IN INDIA is doubling-the
solved case caused a sensation in
Thailand, home of the sect.
MAURITIUS' FIRST INDIAN immi-
grant, Sooroop Sirdar, and 35 other
,. indentured laborers were honored by
the governments of both Mauritius
and India at the site of their landing,
Apravasi Ghat in Port Louis , 159
years after the fact. "Let us pay
homage to the 450,000 men, women
and children who transited at this
very place over 90 years. Let us re-
member their gratitude, their deter-
mination, endurance and resilience,"
said Minister for Arts and Culture,
the Honorable Mukeshwar Choonee.
TELEVISION'S TOLL on India's
youth includes an increase in absen-
teeism from schools and a decrease
in test scores. "All the programs they
watched had to do with entertain-
ment rather than education or gener-
al knowledge," said Sister Ida of a
New Delhi convent after studying her
class-8 students. S.L. Jain of Ma-
havir Senior Model School and sec-
retary of the Forum of Public School,
said of TV, "It is causing passivity
among children, and thereby physi-
cal and mental retardation."
THE PEOPLE OF INDIA project, a
monumental 43-volume national se-
ries, is expected to be completed by
the end of 1994. Launched in 1985,
PIO "was to generate a brief, de-
scriptive anthropological profile of all
the communities of India, studying
the impact on them of change and
the development process, and the
linkages that bring them together."
Contact: Vedams Books Internation-
al, 12A111 W.E . Area, Post Box
2674, New Delhi 110005, India.
COMPUTER TRANSLATION of
Kannada to Hindi is being accom-
plished through new linguistic soft-
ware called "Anusarak." Developed
at the Indian Institute of Technology
in Kanpur, Anusarak is a marriage of
high-technology and the principles of
the Sanskrit grammarian Panini,
which produces translation based on
30,000 root words, a mapping of
word groups and their grammatical
features. Plans include programs for
translating Tamil, Telegu and Malay-
of England, listened to the concerns
of-and paid high honors to-British
Hindus at a Buckingham Palace lun-
cheon with Hasmukh Velji Shah of
the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Reports
say Her Majesty the Queen specifi-
cally mentioned Hindu parental love,
family respect and character build-
ing, noting that the crime rate among
Hindu youth was Britain's lowest.
VENERABLE VINAYAKA, the ele-
phant-faced Lord of Obstacles and
Guardian of Dharma, is venerated in
China, too, and has been since at
least 531 CEo A low-relief image of
Ganesh carved in stone at the tem-
ple Kung-hsien shows Him seated
cross-legged with the inscription
"Spirit King of Elephants."
WORSHIP OF LORD Jagannath
and tourism are being forced to mix
on the Orissa seacoast. A seven-day
festival was held to promote the
beaches of Puri for domestic and for-
eign tourists. Lord Jagannath is said
to visit the sea every fortnight. Pil-
grims therefore consider the ocean
an extension of the temple . The
faithful charge that commercializa-
tion of the area is a sacrilege. Envi-
ronmentalists fear the exploitation of
a forest reserve and sanctuary. The
Orissa government says tourism is
the economic stimulant the state
needs for employment and growth.
question is, how quickly? 242 cases
in 1992; 522 cases in 1993. The
World Health Organization estimates
there are now 1.6-million HIV-posi-
tive people in India, nearly all of
whom will eventually develop the
fatal disease. The National AIDS
Control Organization believes that
actually seven million Indian people
between ages 18-40 carry HIV. Ish-
war Gillada, founder of NACO, esti-
mates that if infection rates continue
unabated, 30 to 50 million HIV cases
by the year 2000 will make India the
world's most infected nation. Others
estimate five million by the turn of
the century. Seventy percent of HIV
transmission is through heterosexu-
al contact, yet AIDS education is op-
posed by conservative school teach-
ers uncomfortable with frank and ex-
plicit sex-related information.
MUSLIMS IN INDIA appear to be
voting as their own interests dictate,
not their religious leadership. As-
sembly elections in Uttar Pradesh
produced a significant vote not only
against the BJP, but against their
own Shah Imam of Delhi's Jama
Masjid, Syed Abdullah Bukhari. An-
alysts say this indicates a rejection
of the politics of confrontation and is
part of a general trend of Hindus and
Muslims in India to re-establish
peaceful relations between the com-
munities. "The main concern of the
Muslims is security. And they realize
that the best way to ensure that is to
become part of the secular main-
stream ," said Tariq Anwar of the
Congress(l) Minorities Cell.
THE CONFEDERATION OF Indian
Organizations says a single-visa
system, allowing travel throughout
the emerging European Union by
June of 1996, could impact Indians
living in Britain on Indian passports.
"They could become officially sec-
ond class citizens in Europe ," said
CIO's Tara Mukherjee. India had
sought easier access to the EU, but
Germany and France, facing rising
opposition to foreigners, are pushing
stricter immigration rules. "It's basi-
cally bad news," said immigrant ad-
vocate Claude Moraes.
HINDU TREASURES attracted
thousands to the British Museum in
London for an exhibition entitled
"Deities & Devotion: the Arts of Hin-
duism." Among the displays, a 40-
foot 17th-century woven silk from
Assam depicting scenes from the life
of Krishna and incarnations of Vish-
nu, as well as statues of the 63
Nayamnars, or saints, of Saivism.
THE ONLY KNOWN COpy of the
quintessential astrological scripture
Bhrigu Samhita, written 5,000 years
ago by the sage Bhrigu, is a delicate
and closely-guarded 500-year-old
manuscript owned by the Bhrigus of
Hoshiarpur, Punjab. It was discov-
ered in 1923 by Des Raj, grandfa-
ther of the current generation of
Bhrigu Shastris. The astrological
treatise, though incomplete, was au-
thenticated by Pandit Pali Ram of
Amritsar. Other scholars doubt its
authenticity. Nonetheless, the Bhri-
gus have 500 to 1,000 horoscopes
pending at any given moment, and
have built a family empire from the
manuscript.
E-MAILING TO INDIA? Check out
aXcess. Business India Magazine
launched the E-mail service and of-
fers software, training and telephone
support. Only Bombay and Delhi are
served now, but expansion is
planned into Calcutta and Banga-
lore. Contact: Poonam Kaul , Busi-
ness India Information Technology
Limited , Post Bag #25, Safdarjung
Enclave, New Delhi , 110029, India.
NICOTINE MAY BE declared an ad-
dicting drug by the US Food and
Drug Administration. This extraodi-
nary change of policy could result on
a ban on cigarettes in America. The
FDA has cited evidence that tabac-
co companies intend for people to
become addicted to nitotine, and in
some cases increase the amount of
nicotine for that purpose, according
to FDA commissioner David Kessler.
The Associated Press states, "That
addictive quality, and the intent,
could put nicotine under the legal de-
finition of a drug that the FDA is re-
quired to regulate."

He who, dwelling in all things, yet is other than all things, whom all things do not know, whose body all things are, who controls all things
from within-He is your soul, the Inner Controller, the Immortal. SUKLA YAJUR VEDA, BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD 3.7.15
 North America Edition HINDUISM TODAY April,1994 27

yogic system. This complex system

Middle East countries to grant resident as the US-produced Reader 's Digest
Hindus the right to peIform religious have published in India for years,
Praise for Indonesia ceremonies, construct temples and cre- there is a law on the books since 1955
At WHF Meeting mate their dead. Contact: World Hindu which forbids foreign-owned newspa-
Federation, P.O. Box 405, Pashupati pers from being published in India.
The Nepal-based World Hindu Feder- Kshetra, Kathmandu, Nepal. The 40-year-old law was made at a
ation met in January in the holy city of time when, according to lndia Moni-
Banares, India, to discuss the status of tor, "India believed that the sole aim
Hindus worldwide. Delegates praised Foreign Publications of western media was to praise west-
Indonesia as an Islamic country that
has given Hindus their rights and
Want into India ern civilizations and rundown the
Third World"-a charge not without a
achieved and maintained cordial rela- Court cases and government orders basis in fact.
tions between the two communities. have created a confusing scenario for The obvious comparison being
Delegates decided to send a mis- several newspapers and magazines in- made is to the sudden electronic intro-
sion to the UN and various human- cluding London's Financial Times and duction of Star TV and the BBC-de-
rights organizations to register their the US newsweekly Time magazine, livered by satellite and without gov-
concern for attacks against Hindus in who want government permission to ernment controL Is it practical to
Bangladesh, and the failure of many print in India. While publications such maintain one standard for the print
media and another for TV? is the
question being raised.
TR END 5 to WATe H Indian magazines and newspapers
are concerned about possible compe-
tition for advertising dollars and read-
» a er loyalty. Time magazine already has
20,000 subscribers who pay a premi-
um for the Singapore-printed edition.
An editi.on with a lower price could be
much more successful. India has the
world's third-largest English-speaking
population, after the USA and Britain,
and is an attractive market for many
western publications.
At the moment, an Allahabad court
order has stopped some of the at-
tempts to print foreign papers in India,
balance from fees, investments, sales,
etc. Education consumed 64% of the
income, medical 17%, rural develop-
ment 6% and 13% "general."
In a desperate legal move in 1985,
the RK Mission invoked protective
clauses of the Indian constitution by
declaring themselves to be a non-Hin-
du, minority religion. This prevented
the takeover of their West Bengal
schools by the state's communist gov-
. ernment. Such a takeover, had it hap-
pened across India, would have elimi-
nated almost half of their income and
more than half of their activities. In
fact, most of the members and 900-
plus monastics acknowledge with pride
their Hinduness and teach it with vigor.
Electronic Device to
Measure Breath
T.R. Ramachandran of Madras has
proposed the creation of an electronic
device to detect and analyze the hu-
man breath according to the ancient
1993 Interfaith Conference
Staged at Bangalore, India
--
categorizes the in-breath and out-
breath through the nostrils according
to the time of day, day of week, phase
of the moon and "velocity," meaning
the distance the air is expelled from
the nose.
According to Mr. Ramachandran,
The breath is expelled from one nos-
tril, then the other in a four-hour cy-
cle. For example, the first two hours
of the day the breath comes out
through the right nostril, then from the
left for two hours. During each two-
hour period the natural elements influ-
ence the breath in the order of ether,
air, fire, water and earth for varying
amounts of time. For example, the
earth element is predominant the last
36 minutes. The velocity of the earth
breath is twelve inches, it is golden in
color with a sweet taste in the throat.
He recommends the creation of an
electronic wrist watch programmed
with the date and time, new and full
....
moon, sunrise and sunset. The object
of the system is to set off an alarm
when the breath is not following the
natural order of elements, timings or
nostril which leads to emotional,
physical and spiritual difficulties.
Control of these same factors is the
object of the pranayama practiced by
yogis. Address: 50, Sannathi Street,
Kaladipet, Madras, 600 019, India.
_ CA. i :;,& :;::;wnw

uman Devastation of
2nd Most Intelligent Species
The systematic murder of two mil-
lion whales and seven million dol-
phins for human consumption since
1950 is a secret shame. Next to
homo sapiens, cetaceans (whales,
dolphins, porpoises) are Earth's
most intelligent species, and in
many ways its most sensory sensi-
tive. The majority of cetaceans talk
through a wide range of sounds and
whales communicate over oceanic
distances through long, song-like
vocalizations. The black-and-white
orca killer whales (actually, they are
dolphins) so popular at Sea World
parks are accustomed to a continual
bath of richly textured sound. Yet,
ifornia and Kauai, Hawaii, will gen-
erate low frequency blasts at 200
decibels for 20 minutes every 4 1/2
hours over several years. Human
hearing is damaged at over 120
decibels. Logarithmically, 200 deci-
bels is 10 million times the force of
120 decibels. Imagine being in an
auditorium with 10 trillion vinas
playing the lowest pa string. Instant
brain melt down. The 70-Hz (hu-
mans can hear down to 20 Hz)
screams rip 12,000 miles through
entire oceans, and are supposed to
measure global ocean warming
(sound travels faster in warmer wa-
ter) . The sound booms will espe-
but the matter is in constant flux and
awaits further government decisions.
The Vast Empire of
The RK Mission
Though every Hindu is familiar with
the Ramakrishna Mission, few may
grasp its truly vast collective pro-
grams. The well-known RK Mission
was founded in 1897 by Swami Vive-
kananda. It had grown by the 1990's
to include 130 branches in 13 coun-
tries, including 97 in India. Here is a
summary from their 1991 General Re-
port for the year 1990-199l.
On the medical front, the Mission
ran 14 hospitals to treat 60,000 in-pa-
tients and two million out-patients, 84
out-patient dispensaries treating two
and one-half million patients and 22
mobile dispensaries which treated an-
other million, mostly in rural and trib-
al areas. They trained 500 nurses at
five training centers. Total medical
S
ome 600 people pmtic-
ipated in the Sarva-
Dharma -Sammelana
conference at Bangalore, In-
dia, in August, 1993. It was
not a gathering for speeches,
"
but a meeting of those ac-
tively involved in interfaith
work, locally or nationally.
There were too few Muslims........... - ur: = 5~""'" -
and Jews, only a handful from Eastern
Europe, Latin America and Africa; but
particularly good support came from
Japan and Korea. Everyone came togeth-
er for morning and evening prayer and for
the opening and closing ceremonies. It
was significant of the seriousness with
which the times of prayer and meditation
were taken that most people came on
time. During the days, participants divid- I""!!"~~
ed into three programs: 1) intense group
discussion to assess present global inter-
faith work; 2) visiting many places of Top: Governor General of
worship to learn and experience the spiri- Karnataka lights inaugural
tuality practiced by them; 3) workshops lamp. Bottom: Rev. Bray-
on specific problem areas, and human brooke talking with Dr. Shiva-
\
rights and 'the global ethic.'

in captivity at Sea World, the orcas
swim in acoustical vacuums in
small pools, are routinely deprived
of food as a means of control, and
most have developed ulcers. Over
half of Sea World's fleet of28 orcas
have died in captivity. They nor-
mally live one hundred years.
With captivity as a cruel, short
life, and the oceans a vast hunting
ground, another science-engineered
force is about to terrorize the help-
less cetaceans: sound. Two speak-
ers dropped deep off of central Cal-
cially impact deep-diving whales .
No studies were done on the pro-
ject's hazards to cetaceans. The
project scientists say they will con-
duct studies during the program,
but environmental experts state
even the first blast could reduce
hearing or entirely deafen whales
for which no hearing data exists .
The blasts could also disrupt the
whales' long-range acoustic com-
munication network. Many clima-
tologists question how well this
measuring method will work.
expenditures were US$2.5 million.
Outlay for education was $7 mil-
lion for 800 schools and colleges with
110,000 students. Programs for rural
and tribal welfare work cost $700,000
in 1990. These programs taught sani-
tation and cleanliness awareness, agri-
culture methods, literacy and more.
The audited balance sheet provided
for Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math,
which appears to include all the Indian
centers, lists total assets as $24 mil-
lion. The 1990 income of $12 million
came 10% from donations, 41 % from
government grants for schools and the
I
murthy Mahaswamiji.
In the weeks after the destruction of the
Muslim memorial at Ayodhya, some said it was pointless and dangerous to
hold an inteIfaith conference in India. In fact, it helped to demonstrate that
the great majority of both the leaders and the faithful of all communities in
India reject violence and extremism and seek to live in harmony.
Some people were surprised that there was no closing declaration, but
awareness of religion'S checkered record encouraged a mood of penitence
and humility. At the closing ceremony, time was given for each participant
to make a new personal commitment. It is by sharing the experience of
friendships which cross boundaries and by inviting others to make that ex-
perience their own that the sense of human unity which the conference pro-
claimed will become a reality.
By Rev. Marcus Braybrooke, England
"
Chair of the World Congress of Faiths

~ ~[fj)cQ]O@ [F°DO .
Tamil Saint Succumbs Nadi's $1,000,000 Temple
The 112-foot high Buddha was Renowned as a modern Tamil A stunning Agamic tem- I --
completed 3 years ago, but its saint, Thirumuruga Kirupananda pIe is soon to open in

opening ceremonies were just
held, as a road for busloads of 171,-:-:- " £""''''' '\
the Buddhist faithful had to be
completed to access it. Costing I~ · ~
US$8.8 million, the icon is'
made of 202 bronze plates cast
in China and weighs 250 tons.
The statue was planned 20
years ago for Hong Kong's
then remote Lantau island. But
now the completed Buddha
looks down upon the sprawling
construction site of the city's
new airport on Lantau.
..
Variyar attained mahasamadhi on Nadi, Fiji. The gigantic
November 7, 1993 while on edifice undertaken by the
board an airplane flying back to India Sanmarga Ikya
India. Variyar, born in 1906, had Sangam is a replacement
.<K.~, . , memorized over ten thousand for the Society's first rus-
songs by the time he reached age tic temple built in 1926.
13. In his teens he learned San- The temple has received
skrit and assiduously assimilated support both locally and
Meykandar's pluralistic Saiva globally, including inter-
Siddhanta philosophy. By age 17 I ,......
he was already giving public
')II national donations and
free services. Ten priests
•
speeches. The Muruga bhaktar enchanted audiences with from India will perform
fluid oration and homespun explanations. He benefited the temple-empowering
many temple renovation and building projects. rituals.

Instill in us a wholesome, happy mind with goodwill and understanding. Then shall we ever delight in Your friendship like cows
who gladly rejoice in meadows green. This is my joyful message. RIG VEDA 10.25.1
,......
......
r 28 HINDUISM TODAY
,,,.:
ar, among the harshest
W
-
and most unforgiving of
human experiences, is all
too frequently fueled by religious ri-
valry. Yet all the religions, in their
own context, apart from conflict-
ridden encounters, are a source of
solace, assurance and spiritual safe-
ty to millions caught innocently in
the hostilities. One extraordinary
example of the human spirit reach-
ing beyond the ephemeral toward
the eternal happens each year at
Nallur's Kandaswamy Kovil.
There, only a few miles from battle-
fields where the Sri Lanka war is
being waged, Hindus gathered by
the thousands in August to worship
Lord Karttikeya at Jaffna's foremost
temple. The temple's 25-day annual
festival is the country's biggest Hin-
du celebration. Even Jaffna Tamils
in other parts of the world observe
this time. Religious fervor was
".
strong despite the bitter, ten-year se-
cessionist struggle by the Tamils,
who are mostly Hindus, against the
majority Singhalese, who are most-
ly Buddhist. The war has claimed
18,000 lives since 1983.
Devotees thronged to the temple
from miles around, creating mas-
sive traffic jams of bicycles and the
few vehicles able to run on the
kerosene/vegetable oil mix used in
place of unavailable gasoline or
diesel. The Tigers-who run
Jaffna's civil administration-pro-
vided traffic control. Many devo-
tees carry kavadi, a penance-pro-
voking practice. A kavadi is a dec-
orated arch with two milk pots to
be offered in the worship. Many
carriers also pierce their body with
small silver spears or hooks.
... Rolling around the temple on the
hot sand is also a common austeri-
ty.
Fifty temple priests conduct dif-
ferent activities on each of the 25
...
",.
induism actually
crossed the Great
Wall of China in
the Tang dynasty
(618-971CE) when
- members of the
Tang royalty prac-
ticed the Hindu
faith and a Hindu monastery was
established at Guang. The Chinese
aristrocacy used to wear white ash
on their foreheads like Saivite Hin-
•• dus [photo top right-taken from a
Chinese vaseJ. Three Hindu monas-
teries and several temples were
erected during the North Song dy-
nasty, but were later destroyed in a
civil war. At the port town of Quan-
shou a highly venerated Buddhist
...,..., deity statue has been identified as a
.......
April, 1994 North America Edition
days, beginning with the flag rais-
ing through a series of very elabo-
rate chariot processions to the final
"water cutting" ceremony to im-
merse the deities and mark the fes-
tival's end.
Nallur is the best run temple in
Sri Lanka. Pujas are always on time
to the minute, and temple grounds
and buildings are immaculate.
Many Hindu and even Muslim -t
saints are associated with this tem-
ple. Nallur has so far escaped the
bombings that have destroyed many
Hindu temples. It has been held for
centuries in sacred trust by a single
mudaliar (kshatriya) family.
Jaffna has had no electricity
since 1990. Many goods, such as
batteries, candles and even toys and
chocolates, are prohibited from im-
port. The Sri Lanka government
sends three shiploads of food week-
ly to the North. It is given out for
free at refugee camps, or sold at re-
duced rates at government stores.
However, it is not enough. Food re-
mains scarce, and prices of ordi-
nary commodities are 20 times that
of Colombo, if available at all.
In January of 1994 it was esti- Above: Thousands of devotees in front of Nallur Kandaswamy Temple on the 24th day of the annual festival.
mated only 450,000 remained in Below left: The main chariot is taken around the temple on the 23th day. Below right: The festival on the
Jaffna of the pre-war, 1981 popula-
tion of 831,000. Four hundred peo-
ple daily leave the North through
18th day, the entire edifice for Lord Muruga and his consorts is made offlowers. Photos taken 1992 festival.
(
Vavunia military checkpoint; only
200 return. From the Colombo air-
port, 200 Tamils fly to other coun-
tries while only 75 return each day.
Government officials estimate
125,000 have fled to India, and
more than 200,000 to the West.
The high-spirited devotees were
ecstatic at the end of Nallur's annu-
al festival. While the ravages and
bombs of war have taken lives,
homes, businesses and even dam-
aged many temples, faith and the
enduring hope it provides has not
been destroyed. •
prise and material comfort are on was not crowded. (bonzai) plants. Sometimes a hall
the mind of every urban individual. I like Chinese temples. Many of or two are given to exhibitions of
Siva Dakshinamurthi. Children But what has also happened is that them have a combination of pur- Chinese artwork and handicrafts. In
wear the red 'pottu' during certain religion is on the upsurge. It isn't poses. There, the locals gather to huge cities like Shanghai and
festivals [see above photo J. Preety banned anymore. A worshipper pray, to linger, to socialize, to find a Guangzhou, such centers of wor-
Sengupta writes this brief report on doesn't face punishment now, and quiet reprieve. These are clean, ship provide a necessary escape
her experience of spiritual China. many closed temple doors are final- cool and quiet places. There are from the chaos of the new, ambi-
By Preety Sengupta
My boat was moving fast down the
Yangtze River. The city of Chong-
ging was left behind, hidden in
ly flung open.
In Wuhan I was taken to the
Guiyan Temple, which was a com-
plex of prayer halls. Only local
worshippers come here and, re-
shrubs, flowers and artistic pemjim
®@~D[?)1f
tious world of China.
[P@~~
morning fog. On the shore, sudden- freshingly, I did not find any Mail to: 1819 Second St. Concord, CA, 9451'9, USA
ly, I saw a small shrine. Although I tourists. In one room was the God-
could not see whose image it was, I
did see several oil lamps burning in
dess of Fertility, a deity with a
"dangerous blessing" for the Chi-
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mainland China ten years ago and planning was strictly and merciless- Name: _______________________________________________________ ~-
the current one, a lot of water has ly enforced upon urban Chinese, Address: ________________________________________________________
gushed on in the mighty Yangtze the doors to this goddess were City: State: Zip:._ _ _ __
River. Whole ideologies and closed, and nobody dared pray to To subscribe by phone in USA cali: 1-800/822- 1008.
lifestyles have changed. Free enter- Her. The day I was there, this room