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1979, by Salguru Sivaya Submmuni-
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FEBRUAij,Y, 1997
IN T E'R N AT lOoN A L
Rights: Tribals Walk Out on the UN 17
Cover Story: What a Day It Was! 22
Disputed Treasure: The Last Letters of
Mahatma Gandhi 26
Biography: How a Mahatma Lived 28
Community: Hindus Cokmize Portugal 34
Crisis: RSS Helps at Massive Air Crash 36
Reconcllation: Muslims and Hindus Work
Together in Bangladesh 52
Serving: TLC at a.school for the Blind 52
.LIFE-STYLE
Insight: :J6 Classic Hindu Icons !O
Business: McDonald's Invades India 40
Cinema: "The Makin.,g of a Mahatma" 35
Music: Rural Instrumentals and
• Spiritual Hymns on CD t7
Food: Veggie Meals on Campus 48
Art: Goddesses Maligned ·49
Trhnds: Beedies Are Smokin' in the US 49
OP1NION
Publisher's Desk: ~are the Rod
and Save the Child 6
Editorial: Religion IEvolves, Too 8
My Turn: Enough With £erand Violence 10
Letters I 14
Astrology: Gandhi's Ruling Stars 36
Healing: Midlife Crisis for Men? 44
Minister's Message: Truth Prevails 50
'"z
:;,., DIGESTS
o
" .Quj)tes A'Quips 9 Evolutions 44
'". Q~ 54
0:
11 Digital Dharma
":::< Briefly . 20
..'"
...'"
~V
o
"
India . . . ...... Rs.50 Nepal . . . . . . . Rs.BO Sri Lanka . . .. Rs.BO • COVER (clockwise): Student relaxes at a roadside stall near Ahmedabad law college; a
Malaysia ..... . . .RM5 Singapore . . .... . .S$4 Trinidad .. ... TDlB.OO woman in Rahurajpur husks rice with her feet; a sister spins yarn at MaharashtraS Vinoba
Mauritius ....... Rs.30 South Africa . US$2.95 UK . . . .. . .. £2.50 Bhave Ashram; busy street in Varanasi; a Kodava wedding in Karnataka. See pages 22-24. http-.II. . ..HlntluIlmToday.kauaLbl.ua!
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 ,
PUBLISHER'S DESK
Spare ~he Rod
and S~ve the.Child
Corporal punishment is not discipline, nor is it
an effec~ive means of guiding young ones' behavior
B Y. SAT G U R U S I V A Y A SUB RAM U N I Y A S W A M I
HERE IS NO GREATER GOOD THAN
child. Children are entrusted to
parents to be loved, guided and
_~~+n. ~+,,,.j for they are the future of
future. However, children can be
a challenge to raise up int!? good citizen-
ship. There·are many positive ways to
guide them, such as hugging, kindnessl
time spent explaining, wise direction
and setting the, exam~le of what you
want them to become. Most children
were adults not so many years ago, in
previous births. The·mind they worked
to develop through the great school of experience is.still there, as
are the results of their accomphshments and failures. 1hey have
been reborn to continue to know, to understand and to improve
themselves and '~he community they are born into. Parents can
h~lp or inhibit this process of evolution. They have a choice. . the home, into drugs, excessive alcohol
There are six chakras, or centers of consciousness, above the
muladhara chakra, which is 'the center of memory, at the base of
the spine. Above the muladhara lies the chakra of reason. Above
that is willpower. Th~re are seven chakras below the muladhara:
the first being fear, below it anger and below that jealousy. The
choice of each individual parent is to discipline the child to advance
him or her upward-into reason, willpower and divine love-"'or
dow~ward into fear, anger, distrust, jealousy and selfishness. (per-
sonffi..preservation without regard for the welfare of others).
Beating, spanking, pinching, slapping children and inflicting
upon their astral bodies the vibratiop of angry words are all sinful-
ly destructive to their spiritual unfoldment 8.!:d their future. Par-
ents who force their child to fear and hate them have lost their
chance to make him or her a better person by talking, because
they have closed the child's ears. Those who beat or pinch or hurt
or slap or whip their children pre the enemies to religion because
tli'ey are pushing the next generation-linto lower consciousness. Is
that religious society? No. Such h:ehavior is not even common in
the animal' kingdom. It's below the animal kingdom. But that is
what we face in the woild today. That helps explain why there are -
so many problems in this modern age.
Sadly, in this day and age, beating the kids is just a way of life
in many families, Nearly everyone was beaten as a child, so they
be'at their kids, and their kids will beat their kids, and those kids
will beat their kids. Older brothers will beat younger brothers.
Brothers will beat sisters. You can see what families are creating in
this endless cycle of violence: little warriors. One day a war will
come up, and it will be easy for a young person who has been
6 HINDUISM, TODAY. FE ~ RUARY , 1997
beaten without mercy to pick up a gun
and kill somebody without conscience,
and even take pleasure in doing so.
What kind of a society do we have?
In the US today, a murder is committed
every 21 minutes, an assault every 29
seconds, a rape every 5 minutes. A man
beats his wife every 12 minutes. Will
the violence ever stop? No. It can't. The
anger has to go someplace.
I recently attended a ceremony in
which criminals being released from the
Kauai jail gave testimony before leaders
of the community that they would not
repeat their crime. With tears in their
eyes, all said they had been beaten by
their familY' in early life, driven out.of
and into crime and finally jail. Each one
had the same sad story to tell.
I instruct the lay missionaries of our
fellowship: "Talk to the children., ask if
their parents beat them and then talk to
the parents. At first they will say "Oh,
once or twice." But if you persist, you
may find it's much worse than that.
Think about it, even if a cnild is only hit
once a month, that adds up to hundreds
of times over 15 or 20 years. I challenge,
child-beaters, "Would you beat some- .
body your same weight ap.d your same
height with the same anger?"'They
would say no, because that's against the
law. It's called assault. But hitting a little
kid-is that also not against the law'?
More and...tnore, it is.
In England, a 12-year-old boy who had been caned recently by
his stepfather made headlines in a human rights comt by challeng-'
ing British laws that permit parents to "use corporal punishment,
but only to ~he extent of reasonable chastisement." Happily, the
trend is away from corporal punishment in schools. Every indus-
trialized country in the world now prohibits it in school, except
the US, South AfFica, Canada and parts of Australia. In the US, 27
states have bans, with legislation under way in many mOre. USA
Today wrote in 1990: ''As millions of children acress the USA pre-
pare to g0 back to school, teachers are laying down their
weapons-the' paddles they use to dole out corporal punishment. A
teacher does best armed only with knowledge. Corporal punish-
ment is a c.rue~ and obso.lete weaJ?on." In London, in response to a
move to remstItute beatmg, teacners say they will not cane even if
lobbying by conservative MPs is sUQcessful.
I'v~ had Hindus tell me, "Slapping or caning children to make
them obey is just part of our culture." I don't think so. Hindu cul-
ture is a culture dfkindness. Hindu culture teaches ahimsa, nonin-
jury, physically, mentally and emotionally. It preaches against
himsa, hurtfulness. It may be British Christian culture-which.for
Concord and discord: The family on the left proVides intelligent
discipline. The one on the right offers only hurtful punishrnent.
• • •••• u . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .,J.......................... •••
150 years taught Hindus in India the Biblical adage, "To spare the
rod is to spoil the child"-but it's not Hindu culture to beat the
. light out of the eyes of children, to beat the trust out of them, to
beat the intelligence out of them and force them to go along with
everything in a mindless w~ and wind up doing a routine, uncre-
ative job the rest of their life, then take their built-up anger out on
their children and beat that generation down to nothingness. This
is certainly not the culture of an intelligent future.
Nor is an overly p~rmissive approach. A senior sadhu from the
Swami Nar~yana Fellowships 652-member order who visited us
recently echoed our thoughts on child-beating and emphasized
the need for firm, even stem, correction and teaching right fFom
wrong. "Parents these days fail to impart what is good and w1i.at is
not good. As a result, a vei.y crude society is being developed."
I instructed my HINDUISM TODAY editorial staff to surf the In-
ternet's World Wide Web on the subject. They discovered dozens
of agencies dedicated to preventing child-abuse and teaching non-
hurtful alternatives. The Center for Effective Discipline (CED),
for example, provides a free packet of material, including' the pam-
phlet series, How to Raise a Well-Behaved Child (Phone: 1-614- /
221-8829). For raising babies and toddlers it teaches not being
afraid to "spoil the -child," giving rewards for good behavior, dis-
tracting the child if he or she is doing something you don't like (or
removing him or her from the problem situation) and helping the
child develop good sleeping patterns. The preschooler pamphlet
advises taking time to listen, bestowing praise, setting a good ex-
ample, relating consequences to behavior, giving responsibilities
and dealing with misconduct with one minute of "time-out" (a
reflective time alone in a private room) for each year of the child's
age. The school-age edition stresses using logical consequences,
teaching children how to deal with angry feelings, taking .away
privileges when misbehavior occurs and helping youths plan bet-
ter behavior by talking with them call!lly and logically.
What, asks CED, does spanking teach children? "It m~ teach
them to hit.others who are weaker and smaller when they have
problems, ... to solve problems with violence... .Spanking often
makes children angry. It makes them feel they ar~ bad." CED also
notes that children are only likely to stop a behavior when the
spanking adult is nearby. Finally, CED reminds us, "Children
eventually get too big to spank. How will you diScipline your
teenager if spanking is the only way you deal with your child
now?" Its too late to talk then. Positive Approaches to DiScipline, a
CED booklet by K.F. McCormick, M.D. , makes a distinction that
many parents often miss. "Discipline is far more than punishment
for misbehavior. In child-raising, discipline refers to the teaching
of ethics, rules of conduct, the ability to plan, to Glefer gratification,
and to learn from experienc~.... The real goal of discipline is the
formation of an internal guide for behavior."
I advise parents: if you are guilty of beating your children,
apologize to them, show remorse and perform penance to atone.
Gain th~ir friendship back, open theif heart and never hit them
again. Open channels of communication, show affection. Even if
you never beat your children, be alert in your community of oth-
ers who do and bring them to your understanding that a happy,
secure family, as shown above, is free from violence.
Internet web sites on child abuse: e National Committee to Pre-
vent Child Abuse (best site) http://www.childabuse.orgte National
Child Rights Alliance, http://www.ai.mit.edulpeoplelellens/NCRN
ncra.html e ChildrenS Rights Froject, http://www.vix.comlmenlmitchl
crp/refl95.html e R.c.s Child Abuse Prevention Page; http://www.
dajton.netl-rculpepp/rcchildl e National Clearinghouse on Child
Abuse and Neglect Information: http://www.calihcomlnccanchl
FEBR UARY , 1997 HINDUISM TODAy '1
 \~~~, ·~ ~~~~@~~~~~~~~~>;(·~~,,:~~~~~~~~~1
,,

III"ES a IIIIPS
lions. Wrote Time, ''As we approach the third
EDITORIAL millennilim, a new generation of theologians
and lay readers confront the lust, greed, be- /

SWift,ly Evolving,F2ith
Used to be that religion remaIned static from
year to year, but all that's changing
BY THE EDITOR
MARK 1\WAIN VISITED OUR ISLAND IN 1895 HE
_ ".m"',, observed, "If you don't like the weather, just wait
ten minutes." He was right; it changes ofter:, with rain
one minute and rainbows the next. While the American
humorist was speaking of matters meteorological, he could
weU have said the same about.things theological.
Case in point: October 23rds stunningly understated announce~
ment from the Vatican that the Pope has officially, albeit tentative-
ly, accepted the Darwinian theory of evolution! It's true. At the
1996 Pontifical Academy of Sciences, a group of scientists advising
the Church on scientific matters, John Paul-II said: "[The] doctrine
of. 'evolutionism' [is] a serious hypothe~is, worthy of investigation
and iI'\-depth study equal to' that of the opposing hypothesis." In
proclaiming the century-old theory as no longer incompatible with
Christian faith; John Paul II made a lot of people happy (one 75-
year-old follower cheered," It's very encouraging for me to see the
Church coming into,the 20th century instead of backing into the
19th") and sCIentists are chortling "it's about time." Qthers find the
proclamation worrisome. Atheists may agree with the Pope, but
they are warning the faithful (OK, the unfaithful) not-to celebrate.
American Athiests News (at http://www.atheists.org) announced:
"... atheists and secularists should avoid the trap of false optiIl1ism,
b'elieving that...religiovs faith is some-
how crumbling before some inexorable
juggernaut of scientific enlightenment."
They even suggested that the Church :;:
would win big PR pciints for the move, §
and that this was its intent in makil)g ~
th~ announcement on the eve of more
proof published in the journal Science
that l!fe on Earth goes back a billion
years old, twice the accepted history.
The athiest§ skeptically said: "If any-
trayals and wonton destruction in Genesis
and declare, 'Let there be light. ", A story of
dysfunctional families and their all·too-hu-
man idiosyncrasies? From Christians, Jews
and Muslims? One British author and for-
mer nun, Karen Arm9trong, epitomized the .
reassessment when sRe noted that God is
"not some nice, cozy daddy in the sky."
Speaking of Noah and the Flood, she offered
that God is "behaving in an evil way," effec-
tively introducing mankind to the idea of
ju~tifiable genocide. Sh~ calls Noah a "dam-
aged surviver" who says nary a word about ai-l those drowning
around him, much less,Jrying to offer them a ride.
Of a sudden, religion is fashionable, and even good for business.
Publisher's Weekly was so impressed with the sales of spiritual
books in North America that it started "Religion Book Line," a
twice-monthly color listing of religious titles and reviews'. In Holly-
wood faith is red hot on the 1997 big screen, with dozens of major
movies being released on the subject that has not been popular
since the 1950s. Religion, like just about everything else, is evolv-
ing at a new paQe, requiring our greater effort to keep up. Used to
be you could count on creeds staying much the same; and, like a
Remington typewriter, once you learned them, it was ·done. Now
it's a computer era, and just when you master Mavis Beacon's typ-
ing software, a 2.0 upgrade with fifty new-fangled features arrives.
This accelerated advancement in religion is just a more obvious
part of unseen tectonic religious movements around the world in
recent years. Some are menacing to conservative religionists, as
with the growing phenomenon of fundamentalism in all faith~, in-
cluding our own. Others hold high promise, among w~ich we
countJour here: the already-mentioned unofficial treaty being
drafted between science and religion; the powerful movement to-
ward pluralism (with an equally potent protectionist backlash); the
renewal of indigenous and pagan paths
(strongest now in Europe); and the return
to complex, inclusive views of Divinity.
You may have noticed these are all move-
ments away from one toward many., away
from dissidence toward cooperation. They
reflect, it seems, the kind of thing taking
place in many nations-whether' in music,
food or biology-where diversity and its
merits are being rediscovered. What does
I this all mean for Hindus? Well, for one
"In North India ~e Hindus feel we are just non-Muslims;
, ih ,S outh Indi@ we feel we are Hindus."
New Delhi-dwelling Ram Swarup after his recent visit to Chennai
the clerk. "What about this one?" asked the forester. The clerk
replied, "T~at's an intermediate model which cuts around ten
trees." ''And this one?" asked the farmer. "That's our best model. It
should cut at least 20 trees ih an hour," said the clerk. "I'll talCe it!"
. Two days later, the farmer 'feturned and angrily complained, "This
saw is terrible. I could only cut three trees in one hour with it!"
The clerk responded, "I don't understand that. This is the best
model we cgrry. Wait a minute while I check it out." He pulled on
the rope, and the saw immediately started with a loud roa,;. "Hey,::
said the surprised farmer, "What's all that noise?" /
"Tell investors it's true, I invented a car that runs on DID YOU KNOW?
rainwater. Trouble is, the drought's lasted eight months."
Zero Is Not Nothing!
MATHEMATICIANS RANK ARITHMETIC-
"Whenever I have read any part of the Vedas, I have fe1t that some that simple scheme by which an infini-
unearthly and unknown light illuminated me. In the gre~est tude of things can be described by a few
teachings of the Vedas, there is no touch of sectarianism. It is of all symbols-"among the most important
ages,\climes and nationalities and the royal road for the attainment achievements of the human intellect."
The Hindus invented the modern system
of the Great Knowledge." Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Ameri-
along with the concept of zero, itself
can naturalist, philosopher and writer
lauded as "of the greatest importance
in the ·history of mathematics" and
An Indian entrepreneu~ in an effort to advance agricultu~e, im- of man's progress. Without noth-
ported some chainsaws for farmers. 01ile tree grower walked into a ing, there would really be
s0mething to
hardware store and asked to see them. Picking up one, he queried
about.
the clerk;, "How many trees will this one cut in one hour?" "Oh,
that one will cut about five good sized trees in an hour," replied

thing, John Paul has adroitly turned a
potential disadvantage and embarrass-
ment into a remarkable success. He
has avoided the pitfalls made by bibli-
cal literalists and creationist-funda-
mentalists who increasingly find theI?- . means that we have more friends among
selves at odds with scientific finding and the secular world." To
him, the Catholics and Protestants are locked in a battle for souls,
and the Pope's move takes his Church to the higher ground, per- .'
mitting his flock's faith to agree with what most people believe.
Now you'd thinK that was enough of a shift in world religion for
one month. But you'd be wrong. ,On October 28 Time magazine
gaVe its cover story to Genesis, a-new, ten-part television series in
which Bill Moyers gathers dozens of key religious thinkers (includ-
ing one Hindu,) to discuss the Bible's first book. Instead of somnjf-
erous Sunday School sermonizing, this eclectic group courageously
heralded their contradictory and sometimes radical views to, mil-
thing, it means. that we won't be hearing as EVERY THOUGHT IS AN ACTION. EVERYONE IN THE WORLD
much nonsense about pagan practices. For EVERY ACTION IS A DEPOSIT. IF HAS AN AUTOMATIC
another, there will be fewer and fewer who YOU BORROW FROM IT. SOONER TELLER MACHINE AND
approach Sanatana Dharma with ill-in- OR LATER YOU HAVE TO A BANK CARD.
tended arrogance ancLdisdain. It also PAY IT BACK.
other faiths who understand our long-cherished inclusive values
and seek to build bridgeSTather than burn them. J\J.st today HIN-
DUISM TOD~.Y' S editorial staff received a first-ever Divali greeting /
from the Catholic Bishop in Washington, DC.
Don't get too giddy about all this. Mark Twain was right about
the weather, but he negiected to mention that it works both ways.
If it's blue-sky sunny in Ha,waii, that too can change quickly and
visitors can end .1JP on the·beach, rain-drenched ~d miserable,
having spent their life's savings on a trip to paradise gone awry. So
if you do like the theological climate these days, wait a while. It's
changing, all the time.

8 HINDUISM TODAY, FEI\RUARY, 1997 FEBRUARY, 1997 HINDUISM T0DAY -9


Loving Ganesa by Satguru
Sivaya Subramuniyaswami,
at once simple, deep and
practical, teaches ever so many
w ays that Ganesas grace can be
attained by sincere devotion, song,
prayer and meditation to bring
greater harmony, contentmen£
and spirituality into ones daily life.
An 800-page illustrated resource.
$19 .95 plus shipping (US $3 .50,
Foreign $5) . Also in bookstores.
1-800-890-1008
http://www.HinduismToday.
kauai. hi. us/ashram
LOVING
~ subconsciously. All prudent people try to
GANESA
HIMALAYAN ACADEMY PUBLICATIONS
107 KAHOLALELE ROAD
KAPAA. HI 96746-9304 USA
B OOKS YOU CAN TAK E. SER I O U SLY
MY TURN
, /
Media's'Madness in
Sex and Violence
Wide exposure.to low -minded magazines,
books,'films and TV is corruptin~ our youth
BY SHYAM KUMARI AGARWAL
OES LIBERTY MEAN THE
to debase oneself
and in the process undo
the social fabric? The un-
censored and unbridled exhibi-
tionism of the lowest instincts of
human animality on the big and
small screen and in the. print
media, with.graphic illustrations
to add to the horror, is surely a
self-destructive trend. Today
most of us tolerate the wide exposure given
to sex and crime in films, TV and litera-
ture/ without effective protest. rbis silent
tolerance, even if unwilling, is a sort of
condoning and connivance. What society
tolerates today will surely overtake 'and
annihilate it tomorrow:
Would we allow strangers to force their
way into our houses, to use filthy language
and to unrobe and have sex in front of our
family?.surely not. Then how is it that the
silent and decent human majority has not,
in one righteous sweep of indignation, boy-
cotted and banned the scripts and sereen-
plays of the (ilm and TV producer-s 'a nd
porno writers who are vitiating the minds .
and hearts of yqung and old alike? How is
it that we allow our children to witness
numerous murders, rapes and vicious tor-
tures in shameless detail?
This is not a plea to curtail human liber-
ty of thought and expression. But why have
we crossed the limits? Why have we cruci~
fied decency, and why do w~ suffer this
shameless exhibitionism? We are bound to
imbibe and assimilate what we see and
hear all the time, if~not consciously, at least
protect their children from bad company,
but how is it that we allow them the bene-
fit of the worst type of company for hours
together through print and visual media'?
Crime graphs are rising with a rapidity
which is not at all baffling. Research in
many countries, stretched over many
stratas of society, has proved it
beyond any reasonab1e dou~t.
When young people from well-
to-do families, with no criminal
backgrounds and for no obvious
reasons, loot, kill, torture and
rape, it is due in no small part
to the iililuence of this expo-
sure. This modern phenomenon
has become quite prevalent.
Is the collective world con-
science dead? Even the weakest and small-
est nation of the world vigorously defends
itself against an invasion: then what is.it
that holds the mightiest and most powerful
nations and peoples on earth from putting
out of business these merchants of obsceni-
ty and gore? Is it not a fatal inertia which
is surely and steadily corrupting and de-
stroying our moral purity?
Today the intellect of modern, shallow
and consumerist readers zejects all serious
reading. The great thinkers, be they Plato
or Aristotle, Emerson or Thoreau, are not
read by the modern masses. The daily
overwhelming dose of crime and'sex in the
print and visual media has so deadened
their intellects that they want larger and
larger doses of t11e poison. While sublimat-
ing and uplifting books find no publishE;TS,
a~tronomical sums are paid for publishing
the lives and experiences of serial-killers
and scamsters.
This modern malady which has gripped
even young children of seven or eight wqo
commit murders for a kick is not so baf-
fling after alL We know its .causes, yet do
nothing to stop the decay, to stem the rot, /
which is eating away all decency from the
~uman psyche.
SADHIKA KUMAR! is a renunciate, teaching
and writing at Sri Aurobmdo International
Centre of EducaPion, in Pondicherry, India.
\~~~/.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)'~~~~~~~~~?
DIASPORA /
POP C U L T, U R E
.Michael Jacko's
India Debut
"7\ FTER CANCELLING HIS
. r-=\fIrst planned 1993 tour to
India, US p~p singer Michael Hsi Lai Temple in California
Jackson fInally made it to Mum-
bai, much to the joy of his IRdi-
an fans. He donated $1.1 mil-
RELIGIO~ / POLITJCS
lion of his packed NovemBer Whoops!
Mumbai concert (total pro-
ceeds $5.5 million) to a Shiv UDDHIST MONKS WERE
Sena job program. At the
Oberoi, Michael asked his cook
B unwittingly used to channel
money to the Democrafic Na-
Fijian Hindu lwlds smashed Siva deity in Suva's Nadera temple to keep a strict veggy menu for tional Committee (NDC) at an
his party After leaving, a full April fund-raiser at the Hsi Lai /
FIJI length mirror was found in his Temple in California, according
room enscribed with the words to reports in Time magazine
Christian Condones Attack "India, I love you. In your chil- and the Wall Street Journal.
dren I have seen the face of Strangers gave ten monks and
IJI ffiNDUS WERE OUTRAGED OVER A DIPAVALI-DAY God. You are my special love." nuns $42,200 cash, requesting
F break-in at the Soni Samaj Temple in Nadi. Several Deities
were smashed, others were stolen. Damages totaled
US$25,000. Fiji's Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, condemned
them to write checks to the
Party. In doing so they risked
the temple's tax-exempt status
the vandalism as "beastly If it was performed by any Christian by appearing to support or en-
Methodist, we are all ashamed." A second temple break-in on dorse a political candidate. The
November 14 escalated tensions. Hindus were stunned when NDC kept the money. In a sim-
Wesleyan Mission secretary, Sakeasi Butadroka, actually justi- ilar case, the NDC returned a
fied the attacks dur ing an interview with the F~i Sun: "This is $3ElO,000 contribution by Yo-
God Jehovah's way of showing nonbelievers that it is time they gesh Gandhi, founder of the
turn away from worshiping statues." He said Hindu festive ac- Gandhi Memorial International
tivity-meaning Dipavali- and work on the Sunday Sabbath, Foundation, bycause he had no
were an offense against Christianity. '1 am not at all surprised visible source of the funds.
at the recent spate of temple break-ins," he concluded. To date,
no one has been arrested, nor have other Christian leaders in TRENDS & TRADITIONS
Fiji or elsewhere issued statements rebuking Butadroka.
CROSS CULTURAL
HIST Q RY Gap- Om de Cologne?
Aryan Invasion. I~ Never Was.' THE GAP INC. , A GIANT SAN
I Francisco-based chain
"7\ CRUCIAL INTERNATIONAL Vested interests in Western store (U8$2 billion annual sales),
r-=\October historians' confer- academia protect the old theo- has launched a line of products
ence held in Atlanta, Georgia, ry, which permeates millions of with six new scents. One of
. USA, reexamined ancient Indi- books and contemporary Indi- them, "am, a simple union of
an hIstory. It resolved that "Re- an social theory. In 1995, one of sensual musk and spiritual in-
cent archaeological discoveries ijle India\; most knowledgable cense," has some Hindus in-
have fully established that there and objective historians, Shiva censed. A unisex perfume de-
was a continuous evolution of G. Bajpai, said, "the data against signed by Indian expeFt Braja
civilization on the Indian sub- the invasion~theory is specula- Mookherjee, am is used in Gap's am tea lights and soaps
continent from about 5000 BCE, I tive." After recent investigation vegetable soap, lotion, sham-
that remained uninterrupted he told HINDUISM TODAY, "I am poo, shower gel, massage oil and eau de toilette. HT's indepen-
through 1000 BCE; ...no scope now convinced. There was no dent survey thought the scents "cheap." H.M. Iyer, California,
whatsoever to support an 'Aryan invasion. I may present the said "am is sacred .... Would The Gap dare call a perfume 'Ten
invasion' theory. The term Arya findings in a new framework at Commandments' or 'Allah'? The Gap should rename its per-
in Indian literature has no racial the next World Sanskrit Con- fume; .. .not pollute a highly profound and spiritual concept."
or linguistic connotations." ference in Bangalore."
CLOCi..l VISE F ROM TOP: HINDUISM TODAY, APIwIDE WORLD PHOTOS ,
HINDUISM TODAY, HINDUISM TODAY • FEBRUARY , 1997 HINDUISM TODAY 11

------~
Mahavidyalaya resuscitates simple life and education in a big way
EDUCATION
Mahavidyalaya
"7\ PROJECT IN SOUTH INDIA
- "the first of it kind in the
J=\may prove to be a major
player-in the resurgence of
Vedic education for traditional
Hindu priests and pandits. The
Veda Vedantha Gurukula Ma-
Willl'JW grows 11 f eet a year
ECOLOGY
Tree Energy
~E COMMON WILLOW TREE
I properly cultivated can pro-
duce five to ten times more
wood per acre than any natural
forest. Experimental plantings
of hybrid plants by the State
University of New York are
demonstrating that, farmed on
sufficient scale, the wood is an
economical and clean-burning
alternative to oil for generating
electricity. The trees are cut
back every three years, then re-
grow rapidly from the stumps.
12 HINDUISM TODM:: FE\BRUARY, 1997
havidyalaya, under the chanc~l­
lorship of the Sankaracharya of
Sringeri, His Holiness Sri Sri Sri meditation sanctuary for reclu-
Bharati Tirtha Swamy, will be
wOFld, an institution of excel-
lence bringing together .Vedic
education and facilities for in-
teraction with modern science." Ashok Nagar, Chennai, 600
The institution seeks to "repli-
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
India's Tribal Resurgence
\ V JORKERS OF'
W Vanavasi
Kalyan Ashram
gathered in Jagad-
hari, Haryana, in
£eptember to re-
view the work and
goals of India's
largest organization
benefitting tribals.
The three-day con-
ference o(more
than 600 was
presided over by
Ashram president
Shri Jagdeo Ram Kalyan Ashram logo
Oraon. Among the
ashrams most successful efforts
is the Punargaman homecoming
program which has brought
thousands of tribals back to Hin-
duism from Christianity.
Kalyan Ashram has more than
1,000 full-time workers engaged
in 7,000 service projects across
the tribal areas of India. The 50
million tribals of India have
suffered from years of ne&lect
cate ancient Maharishi
ashrams" and is located on the
Krishna River near the remote
Venkataya forest reserve in
Guntur, Anm-a Pradesh. A kula
guru or Vedlc teacher and his
wife and family will live with
students in an austere setting
and teach a traditional curricu-
lum of basic Sanskrit, shastras,
ayurveda, astronomy, astrology
and more. Dwellings for nine
resident~ each will be built in
groups of ten around a central
welL A parishad will be three
such groups surroundin$ a
community center. The-com-
pleted 1,500-acre center will
have 16 parishads, a small hos-
pital, a research ,center, a sup-
. porting township, dairy, farm,
monastic quarters and, across
the river, a 200-acre forest
sives. The prospectus and fi-
nancial projection for the pro-
ject reveal a massive and finely
tuned plan. Contact: M.H.
Avadhani, No. 35, 7th Ave.,
083, India.
and marginaliza-
tion by established
Hindu society and
, predatory conver-
sion efforts by
Christian missions.
,The ashrams liter-
ature states, "Even
after decades of
planned develop-
ment, the forest-
dwelling vanavasi
ekes out a pitiable
existence, easy
victim to disease,
indebtedness, land
_ alienation and
exploitatiOl).. It is this voluntary
organization, having its roots in
. ' this soil of Bharat, that can sin-
cerely embrace these people as
of our own blood, rather than as
objects of sympathy or museum
pieces." Contact: Vanavasi '
Kalyan Ashram, 35, Chandlal
Sinruti, G.D. Ambekar Marg
Wadala, Mumbai, 400 03~ India.
. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: M.H. AVADHANI, B~~ ~~~~~~i
ARCHAEOLOGY
Cave DraWings
N BHIMBETKA'S CAVES OF
IMadhya Pradesh, India, over
700 rock shelters were recently
discovered. The shelters were
inhabited by man during the
Neolitlu't Age, making them
more than 10,000 years old.
Paintings found in over 500
caves are an invaluable record
of early India. They depict
hunting, dancing, music, horses,
elephant fiders, animal fights,
household scenes, bisons, tigers,
lions, elephants, deer and other
animals. In some caves, reli-
gious and ritual symbols are
found. The ancient artists used
red and white pigments, and
occasionally yellow and green.
Paintings of Bhimbetka caves
CULINARY ARTS
I
Spice Boom
USTARD, KETCHUP, SALT
M and p,epper were your ,
only choices in many American
restaurants and homes 20 year,:f
ago. But by 1994 each AI}teri-
can was consuming 2.7 pounds
' of herbs and spices, up a pound
from 10 years earlier. Sharda N.
Singh, spice store owner in Ar-
lington; Virginia, says, "Every
year you see the difference." He
now imports tons of goods each
month to satisfy the demand for
exotic, health-giving savories.
Considering, for example, that
one ounce of nutmeg will sea-
son 3,000 donuts, "tons" is truly
an incredible amount of spice!
New from Blue Dove Press...
• "This is an extraodinary Roy Eugene Davis,
account of the experience a widely -traveled teacher,
of selflessness. It points to author and direct disciple of
the heart of spiritual Paramahansa Yogananda,
practice ... "- Joseph
Goldstein, author of The
has taught in the kriya yoga
tradition for more than four
Experience of Insight decades.
• "Enlightenment, to me, Request information about
means a total annihilation of his books and classes in the
the sense of personal doer- USA, India, Europe and
ship . . . To anyone interested other countries.
in the subject, I would say,
'Read this book! "'-Ramesh Center for Spiritual Awareness
Balsekar, author of . Po. Box 7-H
Consciou.sness Speaks Lakemont, Georgia 30552
USA
• 'Tve met Suzanne, and I'm amazed at her courage and
her ability to live the life that chose her. Mystics point the Tel: 706-782-4723 • Fax 706-782-4560
way. Suzanne is living it!"-Lilias Folan, host of Lilias, http://web.infoave.net/-csainc • E-mail csainc@stc.net
Yoga and You
In India:
Collision with the Infinite by Suzanne Segal: A Master Guide to Meditation (Rs. 55)
US$14 + $3 shipping & handling. The Book of Life (Rs. 65) by Mr. Davis.
Motilal Banarsidass
To order or receive our free catalog, contact: 41 U.A., Bungalow Road
Blue Dove Press • PO Box 261611 Jawahar Nagar, Delhi 110 007
San Diego, CA 92196 USA • Offices and stores also in Patna, Bangalore, Madras,
Varanasi, Calcutta and Pune.
Tel: 800-691-1008 or 619-271-0490. Fax: 619-271-5695 If by mail, add Rs. 15 each book for postage.
E-mail: BlueDPress@aol.com
Visit Barsana Dham ...
& Shree Raseshwari Radha Rani Temple
"It is a blessed land,
blessed by Shree Swamiji."
-VISITOR FROM COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS
"Yes, Vrindaban is
in America. "
-VISITOR FROM MUMBAI, INDIA
Join the thousands who have
pilgrimaged to Barsana Dham
from around the country and
the world. Come for one of our
magnificent celebrations or a'
quiet, devotional visit, and
experience the divine atmo-
sphere of the 200 acre ashram
and the beautiful nikunj
darshan of Shree Raseshwari
Radha Rani.
I•••••••_
India through My Eyes
AS A TEENAGER BORN AND BOUGHT UP IN
~erica and currently studyin~ in India, I
find that India is a very religious place. I)e-
voted people can go to temples anytime,
anyplace, and absorb its serenity. This is a
freedom we do not enjoy in America. Al-
though many religious Indians and temples
are in America, the observer m1l}r note that
tl}ere is a "filter-out" effect no matter how
well the parents teach the kids. To join the
mainstream American society, the so-called
"melting pot" concept, something must be
compromised. ~or many, it may be their In-
dian origin. The multi-racial, multi-cultural
environment in America tends to hammer
out the edges, and one tends to "fall in line"
in America. 'The undercurrent of caste is
similar to racism we experience in America.
I don't know which is worse: walking down
the streets of America and having someone
comment on my skiJ)-color, or walking down
the streets of India' and having someone,
comment on my being a brahmin.
ARVIND CHANDRAKANTAN
CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, INDIA
/ "ramaa@giasmdOl.vsnl.netin
It's Bqtter. It's Worse.
ALTHOUGH I AM NOT HINDU BY PRACTICE,
HINDUISM TODAY is my favorite magazine,
the only one 'I persistent1y read and am not
only informed but also nourished by. I am so
grateful for all articles that evidence the
bridging of differenc6 between peoples, na-
tions, i'aces, religions, in recognition of hu-
~ity s liame needs and capacity to fulfill
them, by moving beyond !he barrier of th~
personality, through a strong spirimal focus
and genuine, unbiased service to each other.
HILECE ROSE
QUESTA, NE W MEXICO, USA
QUEL BEAU TRAVAIL! UNE REINCARNATION
dor~, resultat dune vie passee sans doute
ardue! Cest du genie! Les photos sont ravis-
santes, cest une fete! Nous meritons cela!
Nous voulons bien nons reincarner si cest
aussi joliment!
What beautiful work! [HT magazine is] A
golden reincarnation, the result of a former
life well lived, no doubt Brilliant workman-
ship. The photos are ravishing-a festival for
the eye. .We Hindus, deserved this. If we
can reincarnate as handsomely, then we
won't mind reincarnating/at all!
SHA'RAD J.S. SAHA!,
./ GUADELOUPE. WEST INDIES
"sharad@outremer.com
CONGRATULAlIfIONS ON YO~ NEW FORMAT! ;
I just saw the ~ew magazine a few hours ago
and thoroughly enjoyed going through it. It
is visually quite'stunning and much easier to
14 HINDUISM TODAY FE'BRUAR Y, 1997
..........
:GETTERS
read. I lik~d the variety of articles and par-
ticularly enjoyed your new additions such as
"Quotes and Quips" and "Digital Dharma." I
can't wait to see what your future issues have
in store for us.
SHIKHA MALAVIYA
, EDEN PRAIRIE, MINNESOTA
"saklOOOl@gold.tc.umn.edu
...
AS LONG TIME READERS OF' HINDUISM TO-
DAY we wanted to let you know how we feel
about the new format. First, the pictures are
beautiful especially the fold-out in Decem-
ber. The size is also easy to hold, articles are
professional, well written and infoflllative. It
is truly a fine publication, but I regret that
you felt it was necessary to change the for-
mer format. We very much preferred the
old newspaper format. The new... format
gives it less character, and it has become like
a small Time magazine. Perhaps this gives
the magazine more mainline stattls, but it is
less distinguished. Also the print is harder to
read, either because of the size or the glossy
paper.
BILL & TERESA WEED
, "eastwest@snowcrest.net
/ Where Are We Heading?
TODAYmE HAVE RECEIVED THE NEW ISSUE
of HINDUISM TODAY. It is wonderful. Thank
you. We wish the whole editorial team good
health, prosperity, much energy, divine pro-
tection and blessing to continue your beau-
tiful service.
ABHAYANAND
OM 'vISHWA GURU DEEP HINDU MANDIR
/
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
"ervin@castor.net.matav.hu
Update the Dictionaries
\ is most unfortunate that, the sacrifices made
HINDUS ARE PAGANS AND 'HEATHENS ...
that is, according to popular Western Eng-
lish.,dictionaries. Heathen or pagan are both
defined as "1) Those who are non-Christian,
non-JeWish and, more recently, non-Muslim.
2) irreligious; one who does not worship the
true God; an uncultivated person." These
te;ms blatantly label the major religions of
Hinduism, Bl,lddhism and Shintoism as irre-
ligious and uncivilized. In Europe, these
words referred to the rustic and' uncultured
village peoples of Middle Age Germany. The ~ Keep reqding. Things look better from
, synonyms of the Oxford Dictionary .list hea- where we stand.
then as sYnonymous with "pagan, unepJight- ,
ened, barbaric, idblaters and savage," while Letters with writer's na,n;.e, address and d~ytime
listing the ,opposite as "sophisticated, urbane phone number, shoulcd be sent to:
and cultured." I challenged the well-known
dictionaries to re-examine and cor~ect their
definitions of the words heathen and pagan.
Houghton Mifflin, Random House and Ox-
forel were thankful for the obse}vation and
said' t;hat changes are being seriously consid- Letters m,ay be edited for space and clarity and may
ered. Merriam-Webster insisted that the appear in electronic versIons of HINDUISM TODAY. •
change is not necessary because "they are " INDICATES LETTERS RECEIVED VIA E-MAIL
?
Ayurveda Holistic Center A Comprehensive Approach to Yoga••• I
.
Books by Swami Shankar ... based on the teachings of
actually used by speakers and writers of
th1}t language. The definitions are, in fact,
accurate of the words as they are actually
Purushottam Tirtha:
Yoga Vani
Instructions for the attainment
Paramhansa Yogananda
(author of Autobiography
of a Yogi).
MANDA
\lsed in English." I urge all responsible indi- of Siddhayoga during sadhana.
viduals to take appropriate actions to correct • Yoga and Meditation
postpaid: US$13.50 (USA) Retreat.
this persistent effrontery. $16.50 (Canada)
• Yoga teacher training.
PS. T HAKUR>
• Spiritual communities.
CRANSTON, RHODE ISLAND, USA Guru Bani
100 ways to attain inner peace.
• Catalog of books,
music and videos.
Enough 'Yith Comparisons How to live a spiritual life-for • Ananda's home-study
I HAVE COME ACROSS MANY A COMPARISON monks and families.
made between the various beliefs systems course in yoga and
postpaid: US$9.50 (USA) meditation.
such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, et~, $12.50 (Canada)
iIi several issues of HINDUISM TODAY ("The
DNA of Dharma," INsre:HT, December '96). I Ayurvedic Products Distributors-wholesale or retail
have not, however, been able to find a rea- For a free cassette on Mystical Music and Talks
catalog: $1.00 (free via e-mail) • Consultations. I-year call or write:
son for such a study and analysis. I find this Ayurveda Certification Courses in person or by correspon- Ananda
exercise to be confusing, not only for the dence (US mail, or e-mail).
young and newer admirers of Hinduism but 14618 Tyler Foote Rd
also for people well versed in scripture. I Nevada City, CA 95959 USA
Ayurveda Holistic Center
contend that Hinduism, unlike the other c/o Swami Narayan Tirtha Math
Tel: 916-478-7560 Extension 7025
systems of belief, could only be properly de- 82A-H Bayville Ave. Bayville, NY 11709 USA
scribed as spirituality. ~o comparison or Tel/fax: 1-516-628-8200
analysis is necessary. Ananda Home Page: http://www.ananda.org
Ask for Swami Sada Shiva Tirtha E-mail: Ananda@oro.net
BRAHM D. MISHRA E-mail: ayurvedahc@holistic.com
SUGARLAND, TEXAS, USA
Ananda, founded in 1968 by Swami Kriyananda, a
Web: httpllwww.holistic.com!listingsl11709acl.html direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, is not
Free interactive dosha self-test and articles. affiliated with $elf-Realization Fellowship.
IT MAKES ME FEEL THAT IT IS MOST UN-
fortunate to be a Hindu. Being a Hindu by
birth, religion and still not being able to
preach and propagate Hinduism in our own
country of Bharat is ridiculous. Swami
Vivekananda had said we should be proud
to call ourselves Hindus. Over the years I
think we Hindus have adopted hypocrisy.
Vedlc
We believe in one ,thing and preach some-
thing else, adopting and imit~ting others. It
Astrology
by our ancestors have gone a-begging. To-
in Paradise
day, we find ourselves under the clutches of
our own people. It is unfortunate that in March 14-17, 1997
spite of having one of the oldest civilizati0ns
and cultures, we find ourselves to be a joke.
We are heading into the 21th century with for more
pessimism rather than optimism, with un-
"certainty rather than certainty, with only lnfonnation
vacant dreams, no hope and no future. contact:
•
...
AVANISH RAJ INSTITUTE Of
"avraj@indiana.edu March 14-17, 1997 .VEDIC
KEAUHOU BE.ACH HOTEL,
ASTROLOGY
KaNA, HAWAli
~ P.O. BOX 1149,
(5 miles south of Kona
./ on the Big Island) SEDONA,
ARIZONA 86339
(510) 181-6595
Letters, HINDUISM ToDAY
107 Kaholalele Road 9 SPEAKERS, INCLUDING: to register with Visa'
KAPAA, HI, 96746-9304 USA or Mastercard call
or faxed to: (808) 822-4351
CHAKRAPANI ULLAL, DAVID fRAWLEY, DENNIS HARNESS,
CHRISTINA COLLINS, DENNIS RAHERTY, JAMES KELLEHER, 800-900-6595
or e-mailed to:
letters@HlndulsmToday.kllllal.hl.us
EDITH HATHAWAY, LINDA JOHNSEN, AND WILLIAM LEVACY
BEGINNING AND ADVANCED CLASSES
REGISTRATION fEES: (fOR MAIN SYMPOSIUM 3/14-3/16)
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 Autobiography of a Yogi
by Paramhansa Yogananda
$14.95
The verbatim reprinting of
Yogananda's original 1946 unedited
edition, with all its inherent power,
just as the great master of yoga first
presented it. A treasure for all
truthseekers!
To order or for a free catalog, call
Crystal Clarity Publishers:
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Superconsciousness
by J. Donald Walters ship and sovereignty. Take, for example, the
(Swami Kriyananda) draft's proposed article 27: "Indigenous
$10.99 peoples have the right to the restitution of
A culmination of nearly 50 years of the lands which they have traditionally
teaching the science of meditation-to owned and which have been confiscated
thousands of people worldwide, by a witpout their consent." That would logical-
leading exponent of yoga and medi- ly include large regions of the US and
tation. FUll of insight for advanced Canada. Given such ramifications, the
seekers. reluctance encountered in Geneva to grant
To order or for a free catalog, call meaningful rights was understandable.
Crystal Clarity Publishers India has the largest number of tribal peo-
1-800-424-1055 ple in the wo~d, the Adivasis, "original in-
habitants." The Adivasis characterize their
people by: "reliance on forest, ancestral land
and water bodies within the territory of the ..
community for food and other necessities,
and a distinctive culture which is communi!.
Yoga and Meditation Aids ty 0riented and gives primacy to nature." In
1994 they registered their concerns that
The hand-crafted Keeping.the tradition: Tribal folk dancers in Madhya Pradesh a.t harvest season ." the systematic assault of the state and the
meditation and yoga aids
offered by The Ananda
Collection are designed, .D'A RlyHTS
so-called mainstream cultures, together
with the loss ofland and forests, the'materi-
al base for om culture and ethos, have
crafted and distributed
from Ananda Village, a
spiritual community in
COLLECTION Tribals Take a Walk pushed the newer generations of Adivasis
into transience"-meaning ollt of the forests
and into towns and cities.
Northern California. Deforestation mayor may not cause glob-
Our products include zafu and half moon pillows, zabutons, UN declaration on rights of indigenous peoples al warming, but its immediate effect upon
meditation mats, as well as padded benches. tribals is the devastating loss of their home
·hits tough,going in Geneva discussion -I and means of livelihood. The irony of all this
For free catalog, call: 1-800-537-8766. < is that tribals are the only truly ecologically
successful people in the world, able to live
T SE EMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE Lynn Star Yellow Wood of the American In- indefinitely in an area without turning it
time-to declare a "Year of the Indige- dian Dakota tribe declared, "What has met into a wasteland. Not only do the nations of
nous Peoples" in 1993 to ·coincide with us here in Geneva is the all-too-familiar at- the worJd need to insure the ability of native
the 500th anniversary of Chr,stopher mosphere of duplicity, deceit and disrespect peoples ·to continue their traditional nfe
Columbus' arrivaI in th~ Americas. So the that we received from the invader states in style, they would do well to learn from them
UN pundits who decide such things were our homelands.I ' Then his delegation left. how to similarly live in sustainable harmony
surprised at the uproar among native Amer- The problem is not hard to identify: seri-with nature. Another !,9-eeting nex;t year will
• 0 ican Indians as to why they should be so ous political ramifications of land owner-
o again discuss the draft declaratio,n. •
honored in celebration of -an
event that led directly to the
decimation of every single Indi-
an tribe in the hemisphere. The Adivasis-India's Indigenous People
"... A very comprehensive package. With so much information as this package offers, UN responded sympathetically .
the scope for research gets widely enhanced." - B. V. Raman, ed. Astrological Magazine by declaring an entire "Decade HARAT CAN BOAST THE different from most Indians
of the ,;-Indigenous People." A largest number of the (who are a Caucasoid peo-
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The Tallest Hanuman Ever in India

For the Welfare of the World Community
The Shri Viswaroopa Panchamukha Anjaneya Swamy Foundation has started a project to
install a SHRI VISWAROOPA PANCHAMUKHA ANJANEYA, in Periyakuppam village, near
Tiruvallur, Madras, India. The idol of the Lord will have five faces - Lord Anjaneya, Lord
Veera Ugra Narasimha, Lord Pakshi Raja, Lord Lakshmi Varaha, and Lord Lakshmi
Hayagreeva. It will be 32 feet tall and sculpted in a single green Granite stone; the size will
reflect a look true to his name and stature.
The cost to complete this project is approximately one-half million US dollars, financed
entirely through the donations, gifts, sponsorship of kind hearted devotees, philanthropic
institutions, and business establishments throughout the world. Our immediate need is to
shape the stone at Hassan, Karnataka and to reduce its present 400 ton weight to a more
transportable size.
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spring of our time. Fondly called

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devotees around the world, Swamy is the
founder trustee of SHRI VISWAROOPA
technical support. Optional classical PANCHAMUKHA ANJANEYA SWA~

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For more InfonnaUon please contact:
India Dr. P.Lakshmi (91444811280)
FOUNDATION. This important project was
started with the blessings of Poojya Sri
West Mambalam Mr. Shantl N Bhardwa (44 1477 533866)
Paramacharyal, of Kanchi Kama Koti Peeta.

18 515) 472-0855 card. FREE OVERNIGHT SHIPPING Madras - 600 033 INDIA
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Mr. M.K. Sridhar (408 732 2739)
Mr. M.Nachlappan (65 7370291)
Swamiji has taken this great task upon
himself for the welfare of fellow beings on a -f9
Divine order. "

DIJE TO HIT TV AIRWAVES IN INDIA';'Om Na-
mall Shivaya," a multi-part television serial
"totally based on Lord Siva," was ready for
release in November. The ambitious work is
produced by Creative Eye Limited and di-
reeted by film actor Dheeraj Kumar. He ex-
plains, "It starts from the inceptffin of the
world according to the Hindu culture and
religion." It should get heavenly ratings.
YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, but you can let
it earn interest until you come back for it.
"Reincarnation accounts" are being set up -:
by a Liechtenstein-based firm, Prometh,
which refers to such long-range planning as
"seeet capital-for your next life." The mini-
mum investment is $130',0'0'0', and must be
claimed within 23 years of your death. And
yes, to-claim it, you must be able to'answer
some very personal .questions.
ONE-MILLION CHILDREN.ARE DEAD, injured or
displaced due to Sri Lanka's thirteen-years
of civil strife-a
quarter-million of
them under the
age of five. The
figures are from a
two-year study by
the U.K.-based
group "Save The
Children" as re- Lanka in happier times
ported to the UN.
NAVARATRI FESTIVITIES, including late-into-
{he-night garbha dancing, cannot be re-
stricted by legislation, even by the city
council of Edison, New Jersey. Civic lead-
ers in Edison, an area boasting the heaviest
concentration of Indian immigrants in the
US (20',0'0'0' families), imposed a nightly
curfew on the month-long Navaratri activi-
ties".,which annually draw 4,0'0'0' people to
an industrial park. A Federal judge ruled the
restrictions unconstitutionaf. "This is indeed
a landmark judgment, ~cknowledgingl a re-
ligious practice different from the Western-
JudeO-Christian tradition," said Vivodh Z.J.
Anand of the Indo-American Society.
K~EELING BEFORE GOD is one thing; making
the six-mile journey up the steep steps of
Tirupati temple in Andra Pradesh on one's
19tees is quite another. A 1O'-year-old devo-'
tee did it to fulfill a vow to Lord Venka-
teshwara after a prayer' was answered that
his father's knee problem be cured. The
tapas took 14-hours to complete. Devotees
of the Lord of the Seven Hills also now find Gandhi, ~ter sitting in an Indi~ bank
a rare treat as"they wend through the long
lines toward darshan of Lord Vishnu: dis-
20 iI,INDULSM TODAY F E BRUARY, 1997
plays of rarely
seen ancient and
priceless gold jew-
elry and orna-
ments gifted by
such historical fig-
ures as Sri Kr-
ishnadevaraya. Tirupatfs long queue
THE UNITED RELIGIONS INITIATIVE ("DIASPO-
RA," December, 1996), a visionary attempt
to bring the world's various and distinct re-
ligions together in a spirit of daily-coopera-
tion for the global good, "could be the
church of the Antichrist," or so posits the
arch-conservative Catholic Family News. -
Their 1O,aO'O-word article condemns the
respected initiative as a plot by commu-
nists and Masons to create a single one-
world religion and thus destroy the
Catholic Church. It attacks interfaith har-
mony as misguided New-Age syncretism
promoting a pantheistic "occult religion of
Satan." It states that the true mission of the
Catholic Church is not to bring peace to
the world, but to bring the world to their
faith. '].;hey conclude, "Only the Catholic
religion: .. can bring peace." Hmmm!
DAMN THE OPPOSITION, THE DAM IS ON. The
Obseroer newspaper reports authorities in
India will pour $4.2-billion into the Sardar
Sarovar Dam project in Madhya Pradesh to
see it completed by the year 20'0'2; this de-
spite court challenges and the outcries of
environmentalists.
"HAVE SOME PIZZA, AND BY THE WAY, now
you're a Ch,ristian." The Massachusetts De-
partment of Social Services recently re-
ceived complaints after an evening of free
pizza, games and prizes staged for 20'0'-
youn.$low-income housing residents.
Bussed to the Anchor Baptist Church, the
kids soon found the food and fun were only ,..-temple's hand-made statue of Maitreya
after the sermon and the baptisms. Two
young Asian boys, ages 12 and 9, said they
didn't know what was happening when
they were being converted from Buddhism.
The Churchs pastor says tIle parental con-'
, sent form includecd permission "to partici-
pate in all aspects of the service." Chris-
tianit1J Today rep6rts, 'f\. police investigation informa,tion about Hindu culture, religion
concluded church officials broke no crimi-
nallaws by baptizing the youths."
SOME OF GANDHI'S ASHES have beer;: re-
turned to his great -grandson, Tushar: Arun
vault;. since 1949. Heintends to scatter them PERUMAN, award-winning radio journalist
over the Ganga River. Most of the ashes
CLOCJ..."WISE F ROM TOP: CHOO DlE
~
were spread in sacred rivers of each state of
In~a after the Mahatma's death. Another
portion is kept at the Lake Shrine of the
Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles.
THERE IS NO DIRTIER JOB, but-someone has
to do it. They're called scavengers-those
who collect human excreta for disposal-
long considered the lowest work of the un-
touchables. But their champion is Dr.
Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh In/
ter national, who is dedicated to liberating
the scavengers from an "unhealthy and '
subhuman occupation."
Sulabh has developed
public toilets which
generate biogas from
waste and converts that
to electricity. They've
built 61 plants to date.
Sulabh is also saving
lives-over 50' infec- Biogas generation
tions can be trans-
ferred to humans via excreta, and "the
highest number of deaths in India are from
diarrheal diseases," according to Dr. Pathak.
IS SUGAR VEGAN? Not always. How On
Earth reports that as raw sugar is refined to
whiteness, charred animal bones are some-
times used in the purification and decol-
orization process. And by the way, brown
sugar, they report, is actually just white
sugar with molasses added.
/ the tradition of Kundalini
MONGOLIAN BUDDHISM is in renaissance. Af-
ter enduring the deaths of 110',0'0'0' monks
and the destruction of most of its 746
monasteries, Mongolia ousted communism
in 1990', and began restoring its faith. "One
of these monasteries, Erdene Khambyn, is
now being rebuilt by Dawa, the grand-
daughter of one of the executed monks," re-
ports Share International. Dawa hid the
Buddha for 60' years.,..Now it and photos of
the Dalai Lama are centerpieces 6t the re-
constructed temple.
THE US-BASED Hindu Students Council has
now formed a Community Action Netwoi k
to counter, and edu):ate people about, mis-
and institutions. ~ ontact: HSC, C6 Honey-
bee Court, Cockeysville, Maryland, 210'30',
USA, or email: jsc-can@hindunet.org
BRIEFLY is compiled from press, TV and
wire-seroice reports and edited by RAVI
at KGO in San Francisco.
SHI VARAM~ WORLD BANK, HINDUISM TODAY
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DOC U MEN
, TAR· Y you put two good pictures side
. . by side, they can enhance each
other. On the'other -hand, ifyou

A, DaY,.in the
put two wrong pictures togeth-
er, they can kill each other."
The cinematographic effort
first manifested in a two-hour
Indian edition, India 24 Hours,
that aired on Doordar~han TV,
January 26, 1996, with warm

Liftler'ln ·
reviews. A 56-minute US ver-
sion, also titled A Day in the Life On the other side of the le~s: Raghu Rai (left) and
of India, [see sidebar, pg. 24] is Michael Tobias, whose cap reads, "Akimsa"
scheduled to air in the US
sometime in 1997. The film details some of cles the t~am had to overcome, "Coordinat- --:
-\ the making of the book as the photogra: ing the project was very difficult in view of
pbers explain their artistry on location. the fact that there are n() cellular phone~.
The dream team: These are influential Yml cannot reach people on the road, so
Eighteen photographers traverse Bharat work~, to be sure, but Rai scheduling and logistics were awkward.
to. capture her spirit in pictures ~d Jon film . deems the production itself to -Locations like Ladakh and Arunachal
be more significant thaJil. the Pradesh posed difficulties due to extreme
product. "For me, the biggest cold and the remote, mountainous' region.
fulfillment was that a team of Photographers got frustrated and fell ill in
By ARCHANA DONGRE, Los ANGELES, Indian photographe'rs col- these far-out locati0ns. But despite all this,
AND RAJIV MALIK, NEW DELI-II .
.,'11~ lectively participated to the project went without a nitch."

...
1 .
BE DAWN, EARr.y FEBRUARY:
. 1995, a team of 18 Indian photog-

,.
departed Delhi and
~ith 50 rolls of film
each to reach the remote corners
../
L.
,N DI.<>~
.' t .• -

~e<>
"-
~'O
\~
.' ()e
New
make this project a suc- This helps to explain why it actually took
cess," Rai assessed. 100 hours to photograph 'a mere 24 hours
"The greatest problem worth of India. Rai attests that even 100
we have in Hindustan is h~urs is too little time, "I would have asked
that each o:t;Le keElPs to for ten days and assigned the job to fifty
and isolated corridors of India. Hand
picked. for their 'world-class artistry, (~ himself. We do net pool our photographers. India is a wondrous nation.
resources. We are not work- To truly capture it can take a few eenturies,
they crisscrossed the subcontinent to cap-
Rannof i ing together. Today, this is the let alone a few days." Tobias concurred, of-
ture the people and poignancy .of locatiop.s spirit of Bharat. Whenever a fering, "India: is too complex, too vast- with
that haa been scouted and researched for "xiii;r'"
project like this comes, we ap- the modern and the most ancient coexist-
three months. Four days later,. .35,000 pho- pear to the West as if we are ing side by side. This country has the great-
tographs were submitted. In addition, video Face it: Diarrwnd c!1-tters' work is inspected a lifeless people. But here, the est diversity in the world. How can you do
and film crews numbering 200 followed the in Surat, Gujarat, noted for precious stones achievement was our collec- it justice in just 24 hours?" '
photographers in an attempf to preserve the tive participation and work as Why then call it '1\ Day in the Life?" Rai
fleeting moments in moving pictures. This from 35,000-culling the bestrfrom the best. a team." explains the concep("Even A pay in the
impressive effort spa}Vnecl a beautiful book The .result of the year-long - editing Life of America was not done in
and a fantastic documentary film, both with process was the large book, India 24 Hours, 24 hours. What it means is that
Eastern and Western editions. / published in India by MapiniGrantha in you have to portray how a day
Michael Tobias, a! Los An-- ' 1995. In 199.6, Harper in the nation begins and how it
geles:based, 40-something Collins bought the F'lghts to ~ comes to aJil. end." And this 'is
authl9r, film actor, ecologist publish it in the US. Collins: the unique and intrigti.fng fea-
and historian, was the prime ep.ition is the just 'released, A ture of the book. The opening
mot>ivator ,in the photo- Day in the Life of India, the pages portray sunrise and early
graphic effort. He also newest in the prestigious morning. Paging through the .
wrote the text, and pr9- Day in the .Life ph0tojour.- scenes take§.. you progressively
duced and directed the nalistic series by Harper through Indias noontime~after­
video. He worked hand in Collins Publishers, San noon, sunset and evening. The
hand with Raghu Rai, dis- Francisco. vhe" book is a pic- film follows the same pattern.
tmguished Indian photogra-- 'tographic, phpto-journalistic Bharat in the balance: As the
pher, to choose the team attempt to conveX. the rip- reader pores through the book's
members and help them de- ples, rhythms, ebbs and beautiful photographs, accom-
termine their themes. To- flows of everyday life in Not as bad as it looks: K.erala's young dancers practice panied by' adequate captions
bias recounts, ';My ,specific Bharat. One hundred elo- Peekaboo: ExPensive paper is re- face and 'body rrwvements for up to 8 years . indicati:Q.g thorough research,
instruction to each photog- ' Riding high: Family in Ned quent, timeless images (a r;laced by slates in Rajasthan one notices a strong bias to-
rapher was to hold utmost Ghand's {';.arden, Punjab few are reproduced here an<;l vignette: Great f!,bddess Ganga Though at the core of the project, Tobias ward the rural and tribal faces. Village
re~ect for the subjeet and on the coyer) capture the about 80 more pages of Tobias' te~t. . 1.~UJfllJ!l'\m sweet sounds ojflute at sunset was reluctant to highlight his own partici- scenes and the environs of the indigenous
environment they are shooting-for the qui- sublimity in the mundane-from the most t30th Tobias and Rai seem to prefer the pation. Instead, he said, "Some of the key people, the Adivasis, peer out from numer-
et dignity of every jiva involved-and not to ancient village tFaditions to the maddening Indian edition, as Rai described', "The fmal er than those I had selected. Cer- people'were Kirit Mehta, who is something ous pages. Despite a few shots of skyscrap-
modify anything, to capture unobtrusively pUlsations/of her modefn cities. The Collins editing by the publisher- [Collins] diluted tain 'piCtures I wanted used large like the Ted Turner of India, and Parul ers, a modern mother and t hild or a mod-
the ordinary." Together, Tobias and Rai had edition is stuFlIling at 14 x 10 inches, but the the effect I wanted to produce throughout were used small, so their impact is Shah. They are driven, dedicated and bril- el beside a car here and there, the middle
the arduous task -of selecting 200 photos Indian edition has more photographs and the book. The publisher added pictures oth- not as great. .Editing is like magic. If liant." He also detailed a few of the obsta- class is conspicuously absent. Western pho-

.
CLOC~SE
22 F ~ BRUARY ,
COURTESY Ji,ARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS. FROM TOP:
HINDUISM TODA,Y 1997 s. PAUL (MARlffiT AND "I:RIBESMAN); NITIN RAI; MGHU RAI;
MAHENDRA SINH; RAJESH YOM; YOG JOY
,
FEBRUARY, 1997 HI' NDUISM TODAY 23

tographers {illd journalists are
often accused of foeusing their
lenses on eit!ller stark poverty .
or palatial grandeur. In this pro-
ject, where /the photographers
were all Indian, why cl,o we not
see their sensitivities and sensi-
bilities capturing the images of
India's middle class?
HINDUiSM TODAY asked Tobias
and Ral, but neither ~ne felt
that India was slighted in the
photo-editing process. "There
are 150 million middle-class
people in India, yersus 710 mil- Folk dan'cers: In traditional Punjabi fashion near Ludhiana tewn
lion in rural areas," 'fubias ex-
plained. "We were looking for urtcliche, fore the ultimate and timeless value of a -darshan of life and nature, you view the
timeless images, like a living time capsule. book ,that delivers India t~ your fr.ont door. Almighty. He is in each one of us."
We ~ould not cover every corner. The boo1$: For ~ai, A Day in the Life presents the dar-
reveals the way people live, unencumbered shan, sacred sight, of India. '''I}le philoso-
by any definition. It is riot a scholarly thesis,
but a mirror of the way things
are. We had to use subjective,
artistic, poetic criteria."
Rai was more specific, "The
only parameter for the selec-
-\
tion of the photographer was
that his work should have
freshness and iIftrinsi\ strength.
They were given suggestions, •
but we allowed t!hem the·free-
dom to select their assignment.
We told thein to shoot what-
ever touched their imagination, .
or which they thought was im-
portant. In thi~ way, you can
expect the best out of that per-
son. In choosing the photo-
graphs the only criterion was
merit. It was not based on any
religion, but simply the results
of intuitive, creative people
and what they found to be
powerful moments/'
Also manifest in both book
and -tilm is an absence of im-
ages of Hindu temples and rit-
ual worshipl. The devout Hin-
du will no doubt notice this. . cate of lJ:..himsa, non-violence.
But Rai himself contends, "It is
wrong to say that Hinduism
has not been properly repre-
sented." While Tobias cour~­
tered our challenge, "Hin-
duism is inherent in numerous
images. There are Sadhus from
. the Kumbhamela, glimpses of
Varanasi and tl)e banks of
Ganga, people in a Mathura
temple, and a ,window from '
th1:l Swaminarayan Temple in
Bhuj, western Gujarat."
Bharat darShan: In the end',
Raghu Rai offer.s a deeper per-
spective on the merit of these
weighty works, bringing to the
24 HINDUISM TOD il.¥ F ~ BRUARY,
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"Wealth that is acquired by proper means
I:
Producer Michael Tobias pres~nts Bharat to the world • 116 E 28 St, New York, NY 10016 • Tel: 212-683-7447 in a manner that harms none
will yield both virtue and happiness."- Tirukural
• I
-Bringing India a Step Closer-
NDIA HOLDS A MAGICAL
I charm for Michael Tobias,
who has peImed 21 books
and has written, directed
and produced more than 100
films in 50 plus countries of
the world. About A Day in the
Life of India, he admitted, "It'
is my personal love letter to
the country--the friendliest
country in the world." He uses
expressions like "inexpressibly
/ lyrical:' and "abundantly poet-
ic" when talking of India. He
has made some 25 trip~ there,
first as a teenager. He has
close Indian friendships, f91-
low~ Jainism and is an advo- For joy? Not! These Kerala martial artist~ jumped for Nitin Rai.
,
Although the present pro- started fighting because it was viduals and lifestyles of the .
duction was difficult, at ,best, a custom in the wedding that Gonds and Bhils. of MadhYii
Tobias/unreservedly declared, was being filmed. But our Pradesh; the Todas of South
"I have made over liJ 100 filIns photographer got scared. He India; the ntral communities
1P"ound the world, but despite thought they were fighting 6f Coorg; Thar desert, Ra-
its problems, this was by far with hi:m...:Also, the people put jasthan; Arunachal Pradesh
the most wonderful, most heaps of dead rats in his je€p and the fishing communities
joyous I have experi~nced." .. because they were transport- of Keralas backwaters.
Whea asked exactly what ing those for sale." This is one Tobias' future holds a ?pec-
the challenges were, Tobias photo we will not miss. ulative endeavor, "I would
quickly recalled, "Our camera- Tobias' own bac~groUnd as like to do a book about.every
men got sick and frost-bitten. a s'cholar of anthropology , state in India. The country
Dealing with Indian accents explains his intimate portrayal has been a photographer's
for international audiences of Adivasis and rural commu- dream ever since photogra-
posed stubborn difficulties. In /nities. Especially in the film, phy was deveI0ped." If any-
Arunachal Pradesh two'groups you see close-ups of the indi- one can do it, surely it is he.
1997
DISPUTED TREASURE
. Though no ohe knew it at the time, Dr.
Gandhi's Last letters'
. Acharya Veylanswamt, H.E. Dr. L.M.
A satchel of papers, brittle and yellow with age, surfaces' after 48 years, is almost ·
auctioned for millions in Lqndon: then gifted to India by Saiva Siddhanta Church
HO WOULD HAVE GUESSED
that while HINDUISM To-
H . __ . _ DAY'S staff toiled to gather
T. "... ·~''"'' ..,_ news of the Hindu world we
would ourselves become the
subject of one of the biggest
stories to hit the Indian and
UK media, broadcast daily for weeks? Yet,
there we were in London on a frigid Fri-
day afternoon, November 24, surrounded
by highly-paid British solicitors and repre-
sentatives of the UK's oldest auctioneer,
Phillips, seated beside India's senior-most
diplomat, His Excellency Dr. L.M. Singhvi,
at a massive mahogany table at India
House, facing three teams of news camera-
men and dozens of reporters who were
there to get the lowdown· on the final dis-
pensation of the h0tly-disputed Last Pa-
pers of Mahatma Gandhi. Whoa! Let's
start at the beginning.
First, a journalistic disclosure. The we in
this story is Saiva Siddhanta Church (SSC),
ORe of the US's leading Hindu institutions
for over four decades, and the brother cor-
poration of Himalayan Academy, publisher
of HINDUISM TODAY. They share the same
stewards, the same I]lonastic staff and the
same headquarters in Hawaii, and were
both founded by our publisher, Eatguru
Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. We are deeply
involved in the story that follows.
It all began on October 2, 1869, in Gu-
jarat, India, with the birth of Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi, a shy and unremark-
able boy who recounted of his childhood:
"The fact that I recollect nothing more of
those days than having learnt, in company
with other boys, to call our teacher all
kinds of names, would strongly suggest that
my intellect must have been sluggish, and
my memory raw." That bookis~ boy, who
feared ghosts and all social interaction,
would change the world, free India, inspire
spiritually-motivated social change among
millions and become, in the end, Father of
India and patrol) saint of nonvi0lence and
compassion. Sluggish, indeed!
Fast-forwarding a few frames: the boy
married at thitteen, graduated high school
(barely), entered college (failing every class
and dropping out), went to London at 18 to
study law for three years, became a barris-
26 HIND U ISM TODA..Y' F l\BRUARY , 1997
decided to give his collection to the Iraivan
Temple project.
On January 9, 1996, the two met for the
Settll!J11ent team: I to r, Shirley Brookes
(SSC attorney), Thon~unatha, Easlim Katir,
Singhvi, John Parsons (Phillips officer), Mrs.
. Meanwhile, the auctioneers changed
Singhvi, Mark Chapman (Navajivan attor-
ney ), Mrs. Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the
Deputy High Commissioner, and lJ1', Nan-
daktf]7Ul-r (UK Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan:;.
ter, returned the next day to Bharat, failed The stockpile was stashed in a trunk for first time. Subramuniyaswami was leading
in law, took a clerical job at a Muslim firm decades. In the '80s Mr. Kalyan¥U exhibit- a pilgrimage to South India's temples and,
in South Afrjca, returned 21 years:'Iater to . ed and published a few, gave some as pre- following his 70th Jayanthi celebrations
India, campaigned for the harijans, started sents and corresponded, more than once, held at Chidambaram, had halted in Chen-
an ashram and, press, jOined the struggle with the National Archive of India, inviting nai. Mr,l(alyanam came and made his gift,
for Independence, spearheaded his nation's them to Madras to take charge of his aging hopeful' that it might "fetch as much as
successful noncooperation movement, fast- trove. They never came, and they n~ver Rs.lOO,OOO (U5$3,500) in London." , Everyone was growing giddy.
ed nearly to death to bring peace, brokered m.entioned Gandhi's will to him. Kalyanam Mr. Easan Katir,.a SSC/member and UK
with others the departure of Britain and told HINDUISM TODAY, "They didn't evetJ, investment manager, was appOinted by Mr.
was assassinated on Tanuary 30, 1948. have the courtesy to acknowledge JIlY of- Kalyanam as agent to sell the papers in
At Gandhi's side that afternoon when a fer." The NAI says it did write him in 1990 London and give all proceeds to Sse. Katir ,
Hindu fanatic's three gun . shots brought and 1991, l)ut the letters never arrived. So must have intuited their value, for he de-
him down was his 27-year-old secretary, he started corresponding with Sotheby's, cided to hand carry them on his flight.
Mr. Venkataraman Kalyanam. Hours later the London auctioneers, . who expressed Back in London, Katir received instruc-
the dutiful amanuensis returned to his of- mild interest, asking for samples. I tions from Subramuniyaswami to visit the
fice to take charge of bundles of papers Before that happened, Mr. Kalyanam Indian High Commissioner, whom the swa-
and notebooks remaining under his care. came to know of Satguru Sivaya Subramu- mi had met at the 1993 Chicago Parliament
The 450 documents, all hand-scribed in hiyaswami, first through Mauritian attor- . of Worlds' Religions. The two have high re-
English, had their source, curiously, in si- ney, Manon Mardemootoo, and later through gard for each other. Subramuniyaswami
lence. Gandhi had taken a vow of mauna, Suoramuniyaswami's publications, includ- knew Dr. Singhvi would want to know
not speaking even a word, on Mondays. All ing HINDUISM TODAY. Liking the swami's about so weighty a matter, so in March 'he
communications and correspondence were, articulation of Sanatana Dharma and phoned the Higll Commissioner to share
on those days, written down. Without his charmed by the white-granite temple be- news of the find, then asked Katir to visit
vow, these flapers would not exist today. ing built on a Pacific island, Mr. Kalyanam his home to amplify the details.
Singhvi was shocked by the idea of the pa-
pers' being sold on· the open market. This
was his nations treasure, not a commodity
to be peddled. He vowed to himself in that
moment to return the letters to India.
from Sotheby's to Phillips, a 200-year-old
company with impeccflble credentials. Un-
der the month-long scrutiny of Felix Pryor,
Phillip's manuscripts consultant, th~ scrib-
blings revealed their identity 'and worth.
Pryor was the first to sense
how the final six months of
Gandhi's dramatic life were
chronicled here. He deci-
phered the handwriting and
put the works in chronolgical
order 'and historical context.
He told the press: "It is diffi-
cult to ov.er-emphasize the im-
portance of this archive. 'It is
quite extraordinary that some-
thing so central to the 20th
century should pop up like this
in its unadulterated form in
the house of one of his disci-
ples. It is the last act of an in-
credible drama and bears com-
parison in importap.ce with ~he
". Churchill papers." .
, Phillips was thrilled. This
was the kind of extraordinary
item an auction house lives for.
The date was set, November
14. They dubbed the collection
"The Last Papers of Mahatma
Gandhi," published a compre-
hensive 96-page catalog and
invited the world to bring their
checkbooks. But this was no.t
for the faint of heart. The col-
lection was initially valued at U5$290,000.
Word spread and, as the press began to
headline the story in 'India and the UK, the
numbers climbed. A top appraiser was
hired ~ho put the value at U5$900,000.
Phillips hlpped expectations to U5$1,600,000.
Stop the auction: Everyone except Dr.
Singhvi, wh.o WflS working frantically (for
25 days straight, he later admitted) on all
fronts to halt the sale. He ·first suggested
nominal compensation for the papers, but
the Church declined, firm in its ownership
and unaware of any other claims. The
High Commissioner then reached out
. across the world, informing Indian leaders
of the pending sale. To them it was almost
sacrilegious that the writings had endJ d up
at Phillips and that money, more than, they
could afford, would determine their next
owner' (though historians say Gandhi him-
self usee;!. to charge Rs.5 for his autograph,
which went toward Harijan relief). This
was part of the countrys soul and journey to
FEBRUARY , 1997
/
Catalog cover: Auctioneer's exhibit of per-
sonal writings, w ith one letter inset
freedom, Indians avowed: and must never
be sold, definitely not to the West.
Aware that the clock was ticking, officials
and citizens foc used all efforts on the for-
mer owner. In Chennai, Mr. Kalyanam's life
turned upside-down. The 75-year-old wid-
ower lives in a simple home on Rs.500 a
month, does his own cooking, housekeep-
ing and gardening, and walks everywhere,
neither owning nor riding in a car. Starting
in August his secluded life vanished. The
press camped in his living room, moving in
and out all day long through the door with
its motto above, "Work is Worship." He was
followed by unwanted security guards
everywhere he went, and claims his phone
was tapped. Officials flew in from Delhi to
court him, the BBC interviewed him for
hours on end, and he took calls from high-
ly-placed Indian officials in the UK and
South Africa. The pressure mounted. An
old friend, Mr. N. Ram, editor of the pres-
ti~ous national Frontline magazine (which .
ran a 16-page cover stor;y on the saga, No-
vember 29) was enlisted by the goverhment
to change Kalyanams mind. Mr. Ram spent
days beseeching his friend to relent, calling
upon his patriotic loyalties and warning of
dire consequences in court.
Mr. Kalyanam brav~y stood his ground
as political, media and legal arm-twisting
mounted. He was i,nterrogated, sued and
threatened with jail. Finding himself be-
tween the rock of his word to SSC and the
hard places provided by ardent officials, he
waffled for weeks. Finally, on November 7
the beleaguered fighter relented, signing
papers asking the auction to be cancelled.
Still, Phillips and SSC went forward, con-
vinced that Mr. Kalyanam had title when
HI' NDUISM TODAY 27
he made h\s gift, and thar the BIOGRAPHY
, erecting his statue and conducting lavish
collection was no longer his to celebrations at a time when many people
control or revoke. Even now, Mr. _
Kalyanam claims ownershIp, ar-
guing the papers were meant to
Duty's Tasks:- were homeless and starVing. After the
prayer, Gandhi had a stroll for half an hour
with VIPs having an appointment. He re-

Diur~al DA
iary
be discarded. He sa)js Gandhi tired to bed at 9PM unless some very impor-
himself saw them in the of£ice tant work held him up, which was rare.
and asked why they Ql1d not Gandhi received ' nearly 75 letters and
been tossed out. In Indian law, telegrams every day from allover the globe.
lawyers tell, items thrown away His secret<lry tells of One of my duties was t'b peruse these letters
become the property of those and use my discretion in placing before him
who garner'them. In fact, expert Gandhi's strict routine all such correspondence which I considered
auction solicitors in the UK had necessary for his attention. Most of the let-
told Subramuniyaswami there ters were in English. Ten percent were in
was a solid case, advising, "We ANDHI'S DAY BEGAN AT 3:30AM SHARP. Hindi, Urdu and other Indian languages. A
may lose the battle to stop the ,When I was With him, in 1947, the few were-in German, Italian or French.
auction, but we will likely win 78-year-old got up by himself, requir- Gandhi laid great stress on economy. All .
the war for title." ing 1'10 alarm to rise at that early hour, correspondence that was not considered es-
Where there's a will: As part of and woke up his associates who slept in the ' sential for preservation was converted into
the suit against Mr. Kalyanam, ., same room. His work spot also se~ved as his writing pads of different sizes, and the blank
Gandhi's will, written in 1940 'o.," bed. He never used a table, chair or cot. He page on the reverse was used by all'ofus for
and giving over his writings and "'z., denied to himself all such comforts that the writing. Similarly, envelopes were slit open
possessions to the Navajivan Trust, poor in India could not afford. He gave up and converted into writing pads. It was on
surfaced. The Trust, which de- ':>:"
<
clothing and put on only a loincloth. He re- such one-side-used paper that Gandhi
rives its major income frorp. copy- .' Bound for fame: Singvhi shows off the boxed papers mained bare chested most of the time, using wrote the letters and articles I had saved.
rights it holds of the Mahatma's a shawl only ih cold weather. . The public work Gandhi was engaged in
works, had kept the will in a cabinet in over to His Excellency by Phillips. In the He sat cross-legged on fhe floor on a thick required him to visit various parts of India.
Ahmedabad, forgotten until October. It end, the Navajivan Trust bestowed the pa- cotton mattress with a pillow at the back to His two grandnieces, myself, a lady doctor
was faxed to Hawaii on November 7 from pers on the government of India. recline upon. Foreign visitors who were not apd a senior secretary were his constant
Chennai. As ; oon as Subramuniyaswami {\. triumphant DIo Singhvi spoke, of his used to squatting on the floor were offered companions. We accompanied him in all his
saw the probated will, he concluded that joy in being able to return Gandhi's hand- chaii'S to sit. They would always decline, ...lI:'" travels.-None of us stayed in any hotel.
Gandhi would have wanted his papers to written works to India, "where they will ' preferring to sit on the floor while convers- >-
~
For long distances we traveled by train in
remain in India. That fax changed every- form an important part of our national her- ing with Gandhi. ...'" the third class (now abolished). Since thiFd
thing. He gathered his 25 monks, telling itage. The legacy of Mahatma Gandhi In front of Gandhi was a small portable 'D" class was always overcrowded with travelers
them that while SSC owned the papers, ti- should not become an article of com- desk containing stationery and important 8L---.2..~"""'-' 1l!!:M_~ from the lowest strata of society, the railway
tle was being,disputed, and Gahdhi's intent merce." Aware of tIle Hindu Church's sac- con:espond~nce requiring his personal at- , . At work, 1942: Gandhi on his mat which served as sleeping place, office and reception area administration placed a full third -class com-
was more important than legal rights. From rifice of the pFecious works, he gave thanks tention. On top of the desk was a replica of . partment at Gandhi's disposal in which we
this day, he said, they must "surrender our to all the parties for their high-minded ef- the three monkeys, to remind that one English, Hindi and Gujarati. speech. ·It usually centered round the im- alone traveled.
papers and work with Dr. Sihghvi to return foits to base the settlement not on legal should not speak, hear or see evil. By his He had his half-hour morning constitu- portant political developments of the 9.ay, Gandhi's travel plans wFre Widely publi-
them to India." He instructed them to fax claims but "on reconciliati0n and moral side there was a spittoon, a bottle of water, tional at about 6AM, resting his hands OB the and Gandhi informed the listeners of his cized in the press, and so huge crowds of ad-
this decision to Dr. ,Singhvi, and told two principles; ideals that form the essence of a basin for a face wash aJ;!.,d a t0wel. shoulders of his two , grandnieces who discussions with VIPs. When there was mirers would throng railway stations to have
monks to fly to Lon'tion immediately. the Mahatmas message to mankind." Prayer, according to Gandhi, was- the key walked on either side. T,hese two girls looked nothing particular to be conveyed, Gandhi his darshan. Crowds contributed cash and
Acharya Veylanswami, the Orders senior- Back in Hawaii, Subramuniyas'wami was of the morning and the bolt of the evening. after his personal comforts and needs/such dwelt on sadly neglected subjects like sani- gifts in 'kind liberally fo Gandhi. All these
most sannyasin, 54, and Sadhaka Thondu- gratified. "It's a win-win situation. Our Thus, after his morning ablutiog, he com- as sewing him food at the right time, brush- were accepted and kept, in the
natha, a Sri Lankan monk, arrived in Lon- temple must.be built with funds that come menced his day's work \Yith prayer recited ing his dentures, giving him a massage, compartment. By the time we
don -Wovember 10. JOined by Easan Katir, f[<om the heart, and not from conflict 0F by us from all major religions. This took helping--in his bath, shaving, etc. After the reached the final destination, the
they met with all parties to the entangle- confusion. Wit~ donors in 39 nations, the about half an hour. He then had his first morning stroll, he stretched himself for half- compartment was full of hand-
ment and, within a week, the auction was project will not be affected. Everyone in- meal of the day-;-a large tumbler full of hot an-hour for a body massage with mustard' spun clotl), food, etc., which were
cancelled and a settlement reached. Not volved, in my mind, is a hero, especially water mixed with a tahllespoon of hone)j oil mixed with lemon juice. That ove'r, he given to- local . welfare organizai
only did SSC renounce th~ proceeds of the Dr. Singhvi and Mr. Kalyanam." He might ,He then perused the correspondence had a hot-water bath and got ready by 9AM tions.
auction it halted, it had to cover Phillip's also have mentioned that SSC benefited placed before him. He observed silen~ for his lunch which consisted of saltless veg- Gandhi made a vast tract of do-
expenses to the tune of US$32,000. Sympa- iIl?Jllensely from the global news coverage every Monday. On these days he kept him- etable soup, boiled vegetables, thin wheat nated land in Wardha, central In-
thetic to SSC's plight, anQIlymous UK which spread awareness of its Hawaiian self fully engrossed in replying to letters and . pancakes and goats milk. Even w~ile eating, dia, his headquarters. He n~ed
donors arranged for half the sum to Be giv- temple project to tens of millions. writing artfcles in his own hand in Engli§h, he met VIPs. At HAM he again had a short it Si vagram, "service vmage." He
en, by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, ,(or Phillip's The irony remains that none of..this could Hindi or his mother tongue, Gujarati. We nap, then resumed writing or meeting visi- intended to make it a model self-
catalog and special bookbinding costs. have happened if the collection had not avoided granting any appointments for visi- tors. He had fresh fruit juice at 2PM and contained township, -India's lead-
On Friday, November 22, Dr. Singhvi left India" for no one there wanted it until tors on this day. If Gandhi had anything td then spun cotton for half im hour. He then ing industrialist, Mr. Birla, placed /
called a press copference at India House, Phillips and SSC brought it into the lime- convey to me or anyone else, he wrote the lay down on the mattress as one of the girls huge funds at the disposal of
the London embassy. The yellowed, post- light. Only when its untrivial value in the message on a slip of-paper. applied a wet mud pack on his s'tomach. At Gandhi. A number of people from
card-sized lette;-s in the indepeI)derrce West was established did India work for its , On other days of the week, it wa~'my duty 5PM he had his dinner, which was the same ' different walks of lif~ offered
le~der's sprawling handwriting had been return. The high regard for Mahatma to sit by his side after the early-morning as hiS- lunch. He sustained himselr on this tation and cleanliness, the need to preserve their services to Gandhi. Among them were
inserted into oversized albums placed in Gandhi, held by those in the UK, b0th prayer and take instructions. I typed in bland food for years. I never saw him take cornnlUnal harmony, the evils of racing, bet-· expert doctors, agriculturists.and craftsmen./
three brown boxes on a massive mahogany British and Indian, played a key role in the English whatever was dictated to'me. He ap- salt/ spices or sweets at any time. ting, smoking, drinking, etc. 'He also took the They lived with Gandhi in mud huts with
table. Before whirring cameras, the settle- circuitous 'route the Last Papers of Gandhi proved and signed letters before dispatch. Soon thereafter he held his evening prayer opportunity fn these discourses to have a thatched roofs. Free boarding and lodging
ment was signed, payments made to Phil- took to reach-their natural and BOW secure His articles were always published first in in public. A large number of people came to dig at the Indian Government for their "ex- was all they received for their services.. ;
lips and the papers, a gift from SSC, turned home in an l'ndian museum. --.J his weekly Hanjan .. This was brought out in participate, anxious to hear his post-prayer travagance and 'frivolous public expense" in . By V KALYANAM, Chennai

28 HINDUISM TODA.Y F E( BRUARY , 1997

'\ FEBRUARY, 1997 HINDUISM rODAY 29
 . .
~
-- A"'housewife in Tamil N,.aou completes a symbol-rich, mandala-
like design, called kola'!!L to beautify and protect the home
Padma is the lotus
flower, Nelumbo nu-
cifera, perfection of
beauty, associated
with Deities and the
chakras, especially
the 1,000-petaled
sahasrara. Rooted in
the mud, its blossom is a promise of purity
and unfoldment. Aum.

~
Dhvaja, "flag," is the Nandi is Lord Siva's
orange or red banner mount, or vahana.
flown above temples, This huge white
at festivals and in pro- bull with a black
cessions. It is a symbol tail, whose name
of victory, signal to all means "joyful," is
that "Sanatana Dhar- diSciplined animali-
ma shall prevail." Its ty kneeling at Siva's
color betokens the sun's feet, the ideal devotee, the pure joy and
life-giving glow. Aum. strength of Saiva Dharma. Aum.

~ ~~ap C
Ganesha is the Lord Swastika is the Vata, the banyan
of Obstacles and symbol of auspi- tree, Ficus indicus,
Ruler of Dharma. ciousness and symbolizes Hindu-
Seated upon His good fortune-lit- ,,'fu.:.i'\l>_~-:I. ism, which
Endearing images emboding intuitions of the spirit throne, He guides erally "It is well." branches out in
our karmas through The right-angled all directions,
adorn Hindu art, architecture and iconography creating and remov- arms of this ancient draws from many
ing obstacles from sun sign denote the roots, spreads shade
our path. We seek His permission and indirect way that Divinity is apprehended: far and wide, yet stems from one great trunk.
YMBOLS ADORN OUR WORLD AND MIND AT EVERY TURN- tools for invoking invisible cosmic beings and shaping the forces of blessings in every undertaking. Aum. by intuition and not by intellect. Aum. Siva as Silent Sage sits beneath it. Aum.
in our spiritual, social and political experience. A ring or nature. Thus, to conjure power, a medieval alchemist would enclose
golden pendant serves to silently attest to and st~engthen himself in a magic circle (a worldwide symbol) filled with geomet-
wedded love. On a mountainous road in any country, a sign ric pictograms symbolizing astral plane realities. ~ " "jt 't ' l ~
a truck silhouette on a steeply angled line warns drivers
of dropping grades ahead. The red cross signals aid and com-
Today, as in prehistoric epochs, religious symbols often draw on
nature forces. The sun flares into prominence among these symbols,
-~,-
=e-=
.{I'Yil.l.' 'IIi( ....'Jr·
~
Gopuras are the
~~
Sri Chakra yantra
ar;('51 T:4 i§tJ
Kalachakra,
'(.I:\il.~' li i(('(lr·
fort in crises. Golden arches tell the vegan to beware. Among appearing in a spectrum of motifs across cultures from Mexico to il,+YI.r\ il :<~f\I.I.'\ towering stone gate- is central to Shakta "wheel, or circle, of
the best known symbols in the world are the simple numerals: 0, 1, Mongolia. Hinduism developed dozens of solar symbols, including ways through
'~f\O:"f.\I.! (i+:I"I:+,I.\ worship and medi- time," is the symbol
2,. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. They originated in ancient India as charac- the swastika and the wheel of the sun, adopted by the Buddhists as '~f\'(:.. NI1iifw:+.f\ which pilgrims en- tation. Often ren- of perfect creation,
ters of the Brahmi script. Now and then, historic images or happen- their eight-spoked dharma wheel. i:~fw:..t:\illl (i':W:U> ter the South Indi- dered in three di- of the cycles of ex-
ings are supercharged into symbols. The awesome mushroom cloud Hinduism has amassed a range of didactic icons from thousands
of the atom bomb will forever represent the terrifying specter of nu- of years back. Coins found in the Indus Valley have carried the sym-
il ll il ifilll ll ll : an temple. Richly
ornamented with
mensions in stone
or metal, its nine
istence. Time and
space are inter-
clear destruction. bols of the cow and of the yogi seated in meditation across a 6,000- myriad sculptures interlocking trian- woven, and eight
It is humanity's sacred symbols, its icons of Divinity and Reality, year corridor of time. Many images from the Vedic age have become of the divine pantheon, their tiers symbol- gles represent Siva-ShaktH; multidimen- spokes mark the directions, each ruled by a
that wield the greatest power to inform and transform conscious- popular motifs in Kashmiri carpets and Chidambaram saris. These ize the several planes of existence. Aum. sional manifestations. Aum. Deity and having a unique quality. Aum.
ness. Taoists gazing upon a yin-yang symbol, Navaho Indians deli- serve, Significantly, to identify and distinguish members of a sect or
cately pouring a feather symbol in a sand painting, Muslims em- community. The simple red dot worn on the forehead of many .de-
broidering the crescent moon and star, Tibetan Buddhists vout Hindus is both the mark of our dharmic heritage and the per-
contemplating an intricate mandala, Christians kneeling before the sonal reminder to all who wear it that we must see things not only 1JU1q if.o ~ ~
cross, Hindus meditating upon the Aum, Pagans parading the ankh with our physical eyes, but with the mind's eye, the Third Eye. . Pranava Aum is the Gaja is the ele- Shikhara is the
at Stonehenge-all these images, and hundreds more, communicate India's adepts and seers have excelled at symbolic imagery, trans- root mantra and phant, king of massive stone su-
cosmic belief structures and function as gateways to inner truths. forming mudras (hand gestures) into instantly recognized emblems soundless sound beasts and sign of perstructure which
To the societies of prehistory (ca. 7000-4000 BeE), living fully in and transmitters of a Deity's power or a particular frequency of en- from which all cre- royalty and power. rises above the
the raw splendor and power of nature, symbols and icons represent- ergy. Each accoutrement of the dozens of Deities in the Hindu pan- ation issues forth. He is Indra's mount, cave-like sacred
ed supernatural states and beings-as they still do for us today. A theon conveys a cosmic function, force or capacity. Today, this an- It is associated with denoting the do- sanctuaries of tem-
stylized image of a snake coiled around the top of a clay vase com- cient magic is carried forward in a multitude of ways, from the Lord Ganesha. Its minion of Heaven's ples in North India.
municated a complex and abstract idea. Anthropologist Marija temple priests invocation to the Indian housewife's drawing of mul- three syllables King. In larger Hin- It is a living model
Gimbutas interprets it as cosmic life force and regeneration. ti-colored designs, called kolams or rangoli, on the ground as auspi- stand at the beginning and end of every du temples and elaborate festive pageantry of Mount Meru, the center of the universe
Wielded by mystic priests, or shamans, symbols serve as psychic cious auguries, household blessings and greetings. sacred verse, every human act. Aum. there is always a noble elephant. Aum. where the Gods themselves reside. Aum.

30 HINDUISM TODAY FEBRUARY , 1997 FEBRUARY , 1997 HINDUISM TODAY 31

 ~ql('('tU{ "'11lT
Dipastambha, the Naga, the cobra, is
standing oil lamp, a symbol of kun-
symbolizes the dis- dalini power, cos-
pelling of ignorance mic energy coiled
and awakening of and slumbering
the divine light within man. It in-
within us. Its soft spires seekers to
glow illumines the overcome misdeeds
temple or shrine room, keeping the atmos- and suffering by lifting the serpent power
phere pure and serene. Aum. up the spine into God Realization. Aum.
"1e,(113I
Nataraja is Siva as cpsor
"King of Darice." ~ Lord Krishna is one ~
Carved in stone or Amra, the pleasing of the most beloved Kalasha, a husked
caste in bronze, His paisley design, is Gods of the Hindu coconut circled by
ananda tandava, the modeled after a pantheon. The em- five mango leaves
fierce ballet of bliss, mango and associ- bodiment of loving on a pot, is used in
dances the cosmos ated with Lord closeness, shown here puja to represent
into and out of exis- Ganesha. Mangos as a playful child, he is any God, especially
tence within the fiery are the sweetest of best known as the Lord Ganesha.
arch of flames denot- fruits, symbolizing Supreme Personage Breaking a coconut
ing consciousness. auspiciousness and the happy fulfillment of of the epic Maha- before His shrine is the ego's shattering to
Aum. legitimate worldly desires. Aum. bharata. Aum. reveal the sweet fruit inside. Aum.

5W ~Iqf&tw ~ ~ ~
Mudras are hand Sivalinga is the an- Shankha, the wa- Urdhoopundra is Shri paduka, the BiZva is the bael
gestures employed cient mark or sym- ter-born conch, the royal mark sacred sandals tree. Its fruit, flow-
in sacred dance and bol of God. This el- symbolizes the ori- upon the forehead worn by saints, ers and leaves are
puja to focus the liptical stone is a gin of existence, of Vaishnavites. sages and satgurus, all sacred to Siva,
mind on abstract formless form beto- which evolves in 1Wo white lines are symbolize the pre- Liberation's sum-
matters and to kening Parasiva, spiraling spheres. VIshnus foot print ceptors holy feet, mit. Planting ABgle
charge the body I ~~~~~~ That which can In ancient days it resting upon a lotus which are the marmelos trees
with spiritual pow- ~ never be described signaled battle's vic- base. The red rep- source of his grace. around home or
er. This is chinmudra, the gesture of real- or portrayed. The pitha, pedestal, repre- tory. In the Lords hands it is our protection resents Lakshmi. Thus, the Lords lowest Prostrating before him, we humbly touch temple is sanctifying, as is worshiping a
ization, reflection and silent teaching. Aum. sents Siva's manifest Parashakti. Aum. from evil, sounding the sacred "Aum." part is worshiped on our highest. Aum. his feet for release from worldliness. Aum. Linga with bilva leaves and water. Aum.

~.
l~ta is the no- ~~ ~ ~
Trishula, Siva's tri- Chandra is the Shula, Lord Muru- Go, the cow, is a Ankusha, the goad
dent carried by Hi- ble red rooster who moon, ruler of the ganS holy lance, is symbol of the earth, held in Lord Gane-
malayan yogis, is heralds each watery realms and His protective pow- the nourisher, the sha's right hand, is
the royal scepter of dawn, calling all of emotion, testing er, our safeguard in ever-giving, unde- used to remove
the Saiva Dharma. to awake and place of migrating adversity. Its tip is manding provider. obstacles from
Its triple prongs be- arise. He is a sym- souls. Surya is the wide, long and Th the Hindu, all dharma's path. It is
token desire, action bol of the im- sun, ruler of intel- sharp, signifying in- animals are sacred, the force by which
and wisdom; ida, minence of spiritual lect, source of cisive discrimina- and we acknowl- all wrongful things
pingala'and sushumna; and the gunas- unfoldment and wisdom. As a fighting truth. One is pingala and lights the day; tion and spiritual knowledg~, which must edge this reverence of life in our special are repelled from us, the sharp prod
sattva, rajas and tamas. Aum. cock, he crows from Lord Skanda's battIe the other is ida and lights the night. Aum. be broad, deep and penetrating. Aum. affection for the gentle cow. Aum. which spurs the dullards onward. Aum.
flag. Aum.
..
~. ~ ~$ ~ i?#'I 0 1S(i5
-...0 ~
Thlsi is the holy Shatkona, "six- Rudraksha seeds, lHkona, the trian- Kamandalu, the Mushika is Lord
basilplant,Ocimum pointed star," is two Eleocarpus gani- gle, is a symbol of water vessel, is car- Ganesha's mount,
sanctum, sacred to interlocking trian- trus, are prized as God Siva which, ried by the Hindu the mouse, tradi-
Vaishnavites. Prayer gles; the upper the compassionate like the Sivalinga, monastic. It sym- tionally associated
beads are made stands for Siva, pu- tears Lord Siva denotes His Ab- bolizes his Simple, with abundance in
from its wood or rusha and fire, the shed for mankinds solute Being. It self-contained life, family life. Under
smooth seeds, and lower for Shakti, suffering. Saivites represents the ele- his freedom from cover of darkness,
~==~..;,.;;;;:== prakriti and water. wear malas of them ment fire and por- worldly needs, his seldom visible yet
the shrub is wor-
shiped in the home as Lakshmi, bringing Their union gives birth to.Sanatkumara, always as a symbol of Gods love, chanting trays the process of spiritual ascent and constant sadhana and tapas, and his oath always at work, Mushika is like Gods un-
prosperity, protection and long life. Aum. whose sacred number is six. Aum. on each bead, '~ Namah Sivaya." Liberation spoken of in scripture. Aum. to seek God everywhere. Aum. seen grace in our lives. Aum.

32 HINDU I S M TODAY FE BR UARY , 19 97 F E BRUA R Y , 1 997 HINDU I SM TOD AY 33

EUROPE ' Religion and culture are paramount con- C I N E M K..
cerns, but present conditions also require

Hin,dus' contending with society's more mundane

'·Making .of the ~Mahatma'
difficulties. K!).ntilql Jamnadas, president of
the <;omunidade, head of Portugal} largest
baked goods factor.y, DanCake, and the I

Colonize moving force behind the project, spoke with

Lisbon
Major center nears
completion in Portugal
'Ix KILOMETERS FROM THE LISBON
city center sits Paco du Lumiar. Once
home to Portugal's kings, it is now a
small enclave of modest houses near
the airport. Yet, the Comunidade Hindu de
Portugal, an organization founded in 1982, is
restoring some of the region's grandeur, In-
dian style, by forging a temple complex tout"-
ea amorig the, largest outside Indial The
massive gray columns of the unfinished
colossus now herald what is to become a
cultural citadei for Portugal's Hindus and a
center of social service fOf all.
History reyeals a hidd'en irony here. Cen-
turies ago, the Portuguese were imperious
conquerors. Their forays into Ip.dia and Sri
Lanka 'focused significantly on destroying
Hindu edifices [see sidebar beLow]' But Hin-
dvism survived, and Hindus are rebuilding
their temples around the world-even in Por-
tugal, the land of their would-be conqueror.
Like many European nations, Portugal is
Gandhi's way: A tribute unveiled by Mario Soares (right), preSident of Portugal in 1993
adjusting to the arrival of immigrants from
former colonies. In 1974, after ilie Portuguese
Revolution, the AfriQan colony of Mozam-
bique became an ip.dependent natipn. Be-
tween 1977 and 1980, much of the large Hin-
du community there emigrated to Portugal.
Mostly of Indian descent, they jOined with
emigre~ from other former Portuguese terri-
tories, 'Such as Daman and Diu in Western
India. Sharing the languages' Portuguese and
Gujarati, they· banded together to preserve
their Indian and Hindu inheritance.
Hitesh Ramniklal, a 31~year-old manage-
ment consultant, recalls, "My fathe; helped
start the Comunid~de with only five or six
other frunilies." Now it's 8,000 strong. Ram-
niklal still feels closeness to India, despite the
fact it was his great-grandfather who long ago
left ,Bharat for Mo:z;ambique, and his fat~er
who emigrated to Lisbon in 1975. Ramniklal
was just 11 years old then. He regrets that his
generation has failed to study Gujarati,
though he himself is fluent. However, he hap-
pily report~ that recently the Comunidade
convinced the Lisbon education ministry to
teach Gujarati in three public schools on Sat-
urdays. The program ;;erves approximately
120 children.
circumspection about these obstacles. "We
face several day-to-day problems, and the
past held many more. Due to the compre-
hension and help of the Por- .,-
tUgD,yse government, we have
· slowly overcome them."
Privatiom One case in point
centers on shantytowns in and
around major Portuguese cities.
These are primarily occupied by
new immigrants from former
colonies, some Hindu. The Lis-
bon city.-council has vowed to pro-
vide housing for these inhabitants
by the year 2000. However, a re-
cent poll reveals that 43% of resi-
dents from Lisbon and ;I?orto, the
nation's largest cities, are 'averse to
having their apartment buildings
earmarked for such housing. , Rajit Kapur, 'a film and theater
When asked if the Hindu den-
izens' of the shantytowns would
· be provided for, Jw,nnadas con-
ceded, "Tlj.is is a difficult issue,
because there is no specific solu-
tion." But he expressed confi-
dence that Lisbon would success-
fully 'meet their goal. He also ·has
faith that the Comunidade will
be able to aid its 'memIfers who
are faced· with discrimination.
Jamnadas . stressed that these
. . are goals the Comunidade is not
prepared to contend with toaay.
The group is still in a formative In the making: Gandhi (Rajit Kapur) and Kasturba (Pallavi Joshi)
Benegal's film depicts Gandhi's metamorphosis
from shy bru:rister to independence leader
\
tiI\late story. It is concerned
with so much that had to change
in Gandhi before he became the
Mahatma." The film documents /
Gandhi's 21 years in South
Africa,. from/ age 19, and the
changes' which came over this
anglicized, London-trained bar-
rister as he encountered the
racial discrimination and bias of
the colonials first hand. There
are stirring scenes where Gand-
hi stands up for exploited inden-
tured laborers llnd builds up
their awareness of their rights.
actor from Mumbai, gives a
strong performance as Gandhi,
and Pallavi Joshi, who has 42
teleserials to her credit, wonder-
fully portrays his wife Kastura.
Viewers may be surprised to see
Gandhi's quiet, subdued spouse
played as a strong and vocal
woman. Benegal explains, "Peo-
ple get the impression that she
was a doormat, but she was very
much he:;) own person, and a
strong-willed wom~. She got
him to change his views, and he
became a strong supporter of

Portugal's Failed Assault on Hinduism dominance by the rulers of the

OSITIONED ON THE
southwestern rim of the
European continent,
Portugal is a small country,
34,170 square miles, roughJy
equivalent in size to USA's In-
diana, but its influence in
Asian histery has been dramat-
ic and, in some eases, devastat-
ing. One of the oldest nations
in Europe, it began its colonial,
Catholic-inspired crusade in
1297. Its many conquests in-
cluded India and Sri Lanka.
The Portuguese promulgated
Catholicism wherever they
landed, largely by denigrating
the beliefs and desecrating and
destroying tihe buildings and
icons of the "heathens." Hindu
rebel state of Sitawaka, the
state, and many objectives have
yet to be realized, he said. "Once we have
completed our complex," he asserted, "the
independent women." The film
is shot i n the area where Gandhi actually
Portuguese effectively con- HILE THE WORLD THINKS OF GAN- lived one hundred years ago, inclu,ding llls
devotees suffered trolled the southwest ooastal facilities and services offered to our Hindu as the sainted man in kh"adi loin- old house on Loop Street.
painfully, as the Por- region. They a1so managed to men anp women, or anyone else for that mat- leaning on a cane, there is an- South Africa's president, His Excellency
tuguese methodically snuff out the last Tamil king- ter, will be greatly increased." , Gandhi-a painfully shy young Nelson Manuela, a follower of Gandhian
ravaged their temples dom ever to rule Jaffua as an Despite encumbrances, job 'training pro- man struggling to formulate his ideas, the philosophy, was deeply moved by the pro- .
in India and Sri Lan- independent state. The fur- grams sponsored by the European Commu- man before he became the Mahatma. This is duction: "I am glad that-our youth will see
ka and undermined tuguese' Roman Cath.olicism nity are offered at tIre complex and are open the Mohandas K. Gandhi documented in this film. It will show them the depth from
the faith of many enjoyed a special relationship to Indians and Portuguese alike. For the "The Making o{the Mahatma," a collabora- which our struggle grew and the sacrifices
through coercive, cal- with the ruling p@wers. Con- past five years, the group has organized a tion of National Film Development Corpo- t;hat were made by people protesting against
cuated conversion. 'Verts to Catiho1icism under the blood drive in conjunction with the Por- ration of India and the SABC of South what was done to us in the past."
An Insight Guides Portuguese gained a privileged tuguese Blood Institution. And the 70-per- Africa. This film about Gandhi's experi- Etching Gandhi with all his faults and
book on Sri Lanka status." The effects of this dom- cent completed complex is already host to . ments wit}{.truth and nonviolence in colo- foibles makes him mor7 accessible as a role
Gritiques the impact of ination still linger in Sri Lanka religious festivals and events.. nial South Africa was' produced in India and model than the haloed,'saihtly father ·of the
Algeria In a room strewn with ardlitectural blue- . South Africa. It is based on the book Ap- nation who could dQ no wrong. This young
Portugal's presence and India, especially in Goa.
there, "European ambi- Southwest Europe: POrlfugal is at left In succeeding centuries, prints, Jamnadas ventured that the temple prentices"hip of a Mahatma by Fatima Meer Gandhi, wllO had failed many, many times
tions arrived with the PortugaJ:s powers steadily · will be finished by the end of 1997. "If more and directed by one of. India's most re~ect- before, struggles with his very human temp-
Portuguese early in the 16th intruded in the affairs of the diminished. Now, though a people gave, we'd be done a little sooner," he ed directors, Shyam Beriegal. . tations and fears. It shows how an ordinary
century. They were more inter- coastal regions. By 1600, after member of the European Free laughed. They have good reasoll to finish next "The Making of the Mahatma" premiered man rose to extraordinary heights, becom-
ested in controlling the islands converting some of the Sin- Trade Association and NATO, year, as Lisbon is scheduled to host Expo '98 in November at New York's Guild 'Theater. ing the leader of lOO,OOO people in a South
commerce than in absorbing its halese royalty to Catholicism it remains one of the poorest celebrating the SoOth anniversary of Vasco The filTI;t intentionally lacks the panoramic African satyagraha, a war ~ithout violence,
territory. In the process, fuey and breaking a strong bid for countries in Western Europe. da Gama's voyage to India. -..I proportions and epic scale of Attenboroughs the prelude to his emancipation of the sub-
I ANGELA STARITA, New York "Gandhi." Benegal says, "This is a more in- continent's 350 million Indians. -..I
I

34 HINDUISM TODAY R~BRUARY, 1997 FEBRUARY , 1997 H I'NDUISM TODAY 35

 Peace Y~na in Puttaparthi, India The Ayurvedic Institute
ASTROLOGY A Yajna will be held in
Puttaparthi, Jan 16-Feb 2,
Dr. Vasant Lad, Ayurvedic
Physician and Director of the
,
1997, for national integra- Institute, with visiting faculty,

Mahatma Gandhi's
, \ , .
tion and the general well-
being of ~he Indian
people. 108 Pandits will
offer the Ayurvedic Studies
Program, seminars and pri-
vate consultations.

Life, by :the Stars

participate. We seek gen-
erous contributions for Yearly Curriculum:
this worthy cause. Make checks payable to: Sri Shirdi Sai • I: Introduction to philosophy,
Baba Temple, 1449 Abers Creek Rd., Monroeville, ~A 15146- theory and systems (Fall).
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Jupiter shap~d life-and death ORISIS • Correspondence Course by
Dr. Robert Svoboda, Ayurvedic Physician
BY CHAKRAPAN ~I ' ULLAL
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AHATMA GANDHI IS. flected by the Libra planetS'
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considered by many
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(Venus, Mars and Mer-
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poise, balance an~ stability.
Saturn is a planet of dis-
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which gave him the extraor- 2nd-house placement, Sat- RSS worker Rajesh Jangi told Reuters News Open: Tues-Fri 1l:30am-7pm, Sat llam-7pm, Sun 12-6pm
dinary strength, power and urn brought the idea of Service at the site of India's worst-ever avia-
singularity of purpose nec- fasting as well as ahimsa tion disaster. A Saudi Arabian Airlines 747
essary to make him ,a " Mantra am:: Created by Sa- (nonviolence). This config- taking off from Delhi airport had collided
leader of masses. Addition- raja Nagarathnam by writ- uration was the seed for his with an arriving Kazakhstan Airlines cargo
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the ruler of Libra, creating malavi« yoga . conjunct Rahu ana. in angle house (square more clues. Delhi air controllers warned A sampling from our catalog:
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liant mind. FUrther, Venus is occupying the would have, brought insanity to the person. RSS (Rashtriya Sevak Sangh) volunteers, The Beginning. Shakunthala • advice on business,
constellation of expansive, benevolent However, here, because the Moon is occu- with saffron headbands, were among the Jagannathan. pap. US$17.00 finance and legal matters
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 'We are going to strengthen His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupiida.

Hinduism in our area. Our orphan-

age children are good in studies

Opening day: Hindu holy man enjo~s a sip at Delhi's new McDonald's restaurant

B U S-1 N E S S
Life Comes From Life
and leading a religious-centered

life. The gurukulam is playing a

vital role in preseNing and main-
taining our Hindu identity." These
McDonald's .Deli in'Delhi
The: granddaddy of fast-food chains arrive~
in .India with a mutton '~Maharaja Mac"
HE BEEFCAKE AT THE MISS WORLD
"Almost everyone in the world is under
the false impression that life is born
from matter. Life does not come from
matter. Matter is generated from life. Science is
based on an incorrect theory, therefore people
are suffering. When these mistaken modern
scientific theories are corrected, people will
dian city, as they do in other nations.
The Institute, headed by Srila Prabhupada's
disciple Dr. T.D. Singh, hosted the "Second
world Congress for the Synthesis of Science
and Religion;' in Calcutta, January 9-12, 1997.
A thousand participants, including leading
scholars and several Nobel laureates, met to
explore and highlight areas of commonality

are hard times for Sri Lankan
children. Please give freely to
the Endowment Fund for the
Tirunavakkarasu Nayanar
Gurukulam in Batticaloa.
1-800-890-1008 Ext. 235
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HHE.html
ENO'OWMENTS
HINDU HERITAGE ENDOWMENT
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KAPAA. HI 96746 -9304 USA
INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF HINDUISM
I
become happy..." between scientific knowledge and Vedic
beauty contest in Bangalore is getting a McDonald's is no stranger to controversy,
lot more press, but the opening of a beef- and tne strangest of all its skirmishes is cur- These remarks were made by His Divine wisdom.
free McDonald's in Delhi may portend rently taking place} n London. There it has Grace A.c. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Dr. Richard Thompson and Michael Cremo
rm equal onslaught to Indias culture and been mired in a multi-million-dollar, three-
founder-ilcilrya of the International Society for are also Prabhupada's disciples. As authors of
economy. Conceding to hotly debated Hindu year libel suit-the longest in' Englands his-
sensibilities, the Delhi franchise is the first tory-against two penniless environmental Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), in 1973. the internationally acclaimed book Forbidden
of McDonalds 20,000 restaurants in 95 activists, Dave Morris and Helen Steel. They Prabhupada taught the Bhagavad-gUil's Archeology, they were featured on NBC's prim~
countries to not sell beef. By carefully posi- attracted the wrath of the $24-billion giant
tioning itself as '10cally owned" (fifty per- by handing out a leaflet, "Wl;1'.lt's Wrcmg conclusion that the world belongs to the time special The Mysterious Origins of Man
cent anyway, by Indian real estate magnate with McDonald's," accusing the corporation Supreme Lord, SrI Krishna. Although this hosted by Charlton Heston. Their controversial
Vikram Bakshi) and by using local products, (with 580 UK outlets) of abusing its work- world is temporary, everything in it should be book has challenged the scientific community
it oPened without the opposition suffered by ers, producing unhealthy food and destroy-
rivals Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chick- ..-ing "vast areas of the Central American used in His service. to rethink popular theories of evolution, thus
e~. McDonald's invented for India a "Ma- 'rainforest to raise its peef." Morris and Steel Thus, while Prabhupada condemned the opening the door for a scientific explanation of
haraja Mac" ,made from mutton (no consid- represent themselves; McDonafd's head
atheistic conclusions of some speculative life that includes God.
eration for sheep sensibilities) and a lawyer charges £2,000 a day. "It's one thing
deep-fried vegetable patty-ba ed Mac for to sell junk food and quite another to pro- sciences, he urged scientists to apply their No other Indian in modern times has had
veget~ians. McDonald's expects to open 20 mote it as being nutritious," states Morris. genius to understanding God. In 1974, he such a worldwide spiritual influence as Srila
India outlets in the next three years. He is especially upset that much of "the
Why aoes India need McDonald's? Bharat company's yearly J1.5-billion advertising
established the Bhaktivedanta Institute, an Prabhupada. Over the past year, people of many
already has local "fast food" on every street budget is ·aimed at children, who ·company' autonomous research foundation, to promote faiths and traditions have been celebrating the
corner. The answer seems to be the same as research found s,trongly influence parents' the study of consciousness within the centennial of his birth. You are invited to join us .
why Indi~ needs American MTV, American restaurant choices. The trial has turned into
soap operas and .American-style beauty an embarrassing series of revelations about
framework of contemporary science. in saluting the life and work of this great soul.
pageants. Once McDonalds, P(zza Hut, McDonald's, many supported by their own
KFC and others establish themselves in In- executives and experts. Stockholders are -'
di~ many regional restaurants 'will be put aBhast at both the expense and the negative Thanks to Srila Prabhupada ...
out qf business-a phenomenon suffered all publicity, especially on the internet-httJ'>://
over the world. A time will come when www.mcspotlight.orglcase/-being generat- Scientists are Studying the Vedas to Better Understand Life.
those golden arches will dominate every In- ed by the trial, and urge a settlement. :11ii:i,
For more information call ISKCON Communications at: (301) 299-9707 (USA).
11
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Not just something that happens to women,
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RE YOU A MAN 45 YEARS
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and drab color,:;? Havp you been tempted to ing intimacY"retirement and of being fired
buy a flashy new sportscar recently, per-
haps a red Jaguar or Mercedes Benz? Or
d}l you say to yourself, "It is not my fault
that I cannot respond intimately anymore.
It must be my wife. Maybe I should take on
a mistress." F1nally, do you tend to blame
others for all of these changes?
If you fit this picture, you may be pass-
ing_through male menQpause, .known in the however, this is clianging as the East be-
US as andropause and in Europe as viro-
paU$e. Symptoms during this ch:mging
time'in life include a defintte, although
slight, change in physical and mental atti-
tudes toward sex. Usually there is no hor-
monal cause to explain this midlife crises,
as men remain fertile into late life. Normal-
ly there is no decrease in the male .
hormone, testosterone, although a slow
abatement may develop, usually after age
65. However, the anxiety that is felt during
this period of natural readjustment to life
and its demands may nor'pnly be traumatic dharrhic path can aid in diminishing or
but catastrophic. Since most men take
pride in their virility, fitness and physical
prowess, it is truly a shock when they dis-
cover they are not as agile or adaptive as
they once weJ-e. ' .
Retirement may become a real problem.
If work is no longer there to take up active
I
44 :tf.INDULsM TODAY FEBRUARY , 1997
;'
time, and it has not been re-
placed with other tasks,)ife
may seem tedious and useless.
A man's self-esteem can be
threatened, making him defen-
sive and miserable. He ~ay
experience high stress levels for
the first time in his life, which
may result in complications,
such as alcohol abuse or per-
haps even drugs, ./
Primarily andropause occurs among
white-collar men who have high goals,
perhaps higher than their life's achieve-
ments. Frequent thoughts of getting old
and fears of death, loss of confidence dur-
from his job CaI\ amp1ify the stress. If that
weren't enollgh, psychological changes can
provoke a fear oflosing physical and men-
tid stability.
The more a man is "me" oriented, the
more likely he is to have symptoms of an-
dropause. It is far more common in the
West than in calmer Oriental cultures;
comes m'ore Westernized. Not ~l men
pass;.!hrough this andropause, and it is
possible to prevent the occurrence alto-
ge,t her by consciously adopting more real-
istic goals. Treatment of andropause is
primarily psyghological and philosophical.
Controversial hormone replacement thera-
py is not recommended: Simplf recog-
nizing and understanding it as a syndrome
. may in itself decrease the severity of
sympto~s. Male menopause is very real
and can be serious, but adhering to a
even 'bypassing the experience.
DR. TANDAVAN, 76, retired nuclea( physi-
cian and hospital staff presidenti lives in
Chtpago, where he specializes in alternative
healing arts. Visit his home page at the
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 MUSIC

SACRED Rural. Ragas

ANTHOLOGY Sound a
THE VEDIC EXPERIENCE Revival
I .
For centuries, the West has enjoyed beautiful trans-
New recordIngs give
lations of the Upanisnads, known as the Vedanta,
village music spry spirit
"end" or "culmination, " of the Vedas. But, alas, the
other three major parts of the world's oldest scrip- OYFpL SIMPLICITY, QUIET SOLITUDE ,
ture have, as a rblle, been poorly rendered. We at natural majesty. These impressions of In- In Kashmir: Bhajan Sopori (right) dreams of boating on Val Lake
dia's idyllic countryside coalesce vibrant
Himalayan Academy <could l'iIardly believe our eyes and lasting memories in the minds of use of electronics is barely noticeable. But tee." But his offer-
wilen we stumbled on this thoughtful anthology of
ot.
those. who had their beginnings there. The this is no fault. The exquisite character this ing to' his guru,
music springing forth from these lands is recording is the unique and perfect union of Feel thE! Divine (71 /
the Samhitas, Brahmanas, Nal1yakas, Upanishads plainly termed "folk m1JSic." But this phrase these four musicians and their distinctive in- minutes, Saisaa, Switzer-
does not evoke the sophistication and depth struments- Ronu Majumdar, bamboo flute; land), has much to commend.Four-
ar::td other rnajGlri se:ri~tures. TIli.s Vedic epipf-iany tells of the recordings now being made by Indias Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Indian guitar; Tarun teen energetic instrumental bhajans burst
youthful maestros. They are breathing life Bhattacharya, santoor and Sabir Khan, tabla. forth from this disc. Electro'nics are used pru-
ttle story of the rhythms of nature, history and man. into new sounds on compact disc, turning The crystalline recording conveys each nu- d~ntly, and Western idioms only become ob-
Translation and commentary are the work of the bril- village melodies into modern masterpieces. ance of the musieians, who "Seek to under- trusive on a few tracks. This is a must-have for
For santoor (Indjan hammered dulcimer) stand and interpret the variou§ mood,s and Hindus, and a should-have for others. It is a
liant renaissance thinker; Raimon Panikkar. It is the wizard Bh1;ljan Sopori, childhood memories rhythms of- nature in its kaleidoseopic glory." buoyant finale to our journey through wor-
fueled a digital "symphony." Kashmir (53 They have triumphed-naturally. shipful music made modern. . ..,.;
fruit of twelve years of sadnana on the banks of the
~
, •.. Gan9,.a in Varanasi, liv.ing above a Siva temf1?le, be-
minutes, Multisync Trends, Inc., New Jersey, Admittedly, VS. Giretheren cannot com-
US$7.50) is by far the most successful contem- pete with the marketing and production of ST~T~~;;rE~!;~~~7~~~~5:~~~~c~~>~:iTc~~~
porary Indian music recording to date. So- the companies just mentioned. He is, accord- .;11 ROSEDALE AVENUE , BRAMPTON , ONTAlIJO L6x 1 "4
tween 1964 and 1976. Scholar-s GOnsider it perhaps . d h al b d f him I b d CANADA · SAISAA, V.S. GIRETHEREN, OBERBURG STRASSE 39,
pori's santoor ri es UpOI) an et ere e 0 ing to . , 'Just a simp e Satya Sai Ba a evo- C H-34 °O BURGDORF, SWITZERLAND
traditional Indian' instnfments, _'_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
his most signifiGant C0l1tr:ibution to the literary welrld.
blended seamlessly with elec-
tronic synthesizers-and rhythm.
Othitrs who have attempted such Melodious Mantras vast storehouse of
yogic and tantric
a synthesis have only adulterated knowledge. It con-
Chapters on: 4. Fall and c>ec:ay the music- neither being wholly HE UPANISHADS ARE Tirumantiram (67 tains the mystical
Indian, nor musical. often referred to as the minutes, Indu Musik, essence of raja and
1. Dawn and Birth s. Sopori keeps the music sim- "Song of the Sel£" While Chennai, [Madras1has ~ siddha yoga, and
ple, but also elegant and ~ner­ they have been chanted what the Upanishads i the fundamental
2. Germination and Growth 6. getic. No doubt, his years of ex- countless ways, have you ever do not-Seerkali ~ doctrines of the 28
3. Blossoming and Fullness perienc,.e and extensive Indian actually heard them sung? We Govindarajan'S lyrical ~ '--..,.....,_--''-----' Saiva Siddhanta
and Wes tern classical training have not. The Tirumant iram, digital rendering. It's Agamas. It has been
imbued his sensitivity. But So- on the other hand, is an an- not rap-it's rhapsodic. published in many books, but
pori attributes the inspiration cient Tamil scripture no less This Tirumantiram is a rere- this CD is the only place we
elsewhere, "The present sym- profound and illuminative lease of a previous analog know offor you to hear it. But
phony is a product of my mem- than the Upanishads. Now, recording sung by the late beware, its all in Tamil!
ories of Kashmir. It corresponds Govindarajan and accompa- The second track is another
to the seven colors of the rain- Collaborators: Tirumular (book nied by the archetypal Tamil treasure from the Tirumurai,
HIMAlAYAN ACADEMY PUBUCATIONS Moti/al Banarsidass, Delhi, 1994, smythe sewn, cloth bound, bow I saw over the silver moun-below ) and GoVindarajan devotional orchestra. The slightly more tuneful than the
tain range as a child. It express- ~ "":::;c;;.....-::-:-::;zr;-=::----r.~_yr._-r:1 quality of the recording and Tirumantiram. It is Saint Sam-
107 KAHOlALELE ROAD 5 112" x 8 1IT, 1,000 pages. US$35.00 + slh $3.50 in US;
KAPAA. HI 96746-9304 USA
es the various moods of this ~ .,
c mix are not up to modern bandar's Kolarupathikam,
$7.00 outside US. Tel: 1-800-890-1008, ext. 238 land, which are reflected in the ; standards, but singer and po- Tamil songs on the effects of
BO OKS YO U CA N TAKE, SERI O U SLY
Outside US: 1-808-822-3012, ext. 238; Fax: 1-808-822-4351 musical compositions of this a: etic sacred verses prevail. planets, stars, disease and other
. paradise on earth." Kashmir ~ The Tirumantiram, "Holy seeming adversities. Each
heralds what modern Indian in- : Incantation," is the Nandi- verse ends with, 'i\ll bring
strumental music may become, ~ natha Sampradayas oldest good luck to Siva's devotees!"
Advertisement sponsored by: Rainbow Windows, Deva Katir and family, Kapaa, Hawaii, USA; Guhan Sivalingam and family, Klang. Somewhat less venturesome ~ Tamil scripture, written ca INDU E LECTRONICS , MADRAS; PRINCE'S
Selangor, Malaysia; Modern Textile Sari Shop. Renghen Family, Mahebourg. Mauritius; S. K. Moorghen and family. Beau Bassin. were the coteri~ who created <
l1
200 BCE by Rishi Tirumular. It MUSI C SERV1CE; SIN'GAPORE AND p&c
SH.AtlKAR AND CO. , 23 1 NORTHBOLT ROAD,
Mauritius; Param Electric. Easvan Param and family, Concord. California. USA. Song of Nature (7l minutes, OMI , ~ is the earliest Tirumurai, and a SOUTH HARROW, ENGLAND.

Music, Ontario, $15.00). Their

FEBRUARY , 1 9 97 H I'ND U I S M TODAY 47


"One God, One World" will be
<chiseled in many languages into
the white granite <ceiling of Ifaivan
Temple, Americas first all-stone
traditional Siva temple. In 1991
a small village was created
in Bangal~re, India, for 1GO
c::raftsmen and their families who
are hand-carving the Ira ivan temple
to be shipped to the Garden Island
of Kauai. Call or visit our web
site for more details.
1-808-639-8886
http://www.Hindl!'JismT0day.
Kauai.hi.us/aslrlrarn/lraivan.htrnl
"ONE GOD,
ONE WORLD"
SAN MARGA IRAIVAN TEMPLE
107 KAHOLALELE ROAD,
KAPAA, f,il 96746-9304 USA
A TEMPLE BUILT TO LAST 1,000 YEARS
LIFES' TYLES
Veggi~: Norm in the Dorm
...
Students shun meat at elite Americ,a n college
Vegi~ bastion: ,Stu4ents pay $21,000 per year.to attend the 40-acre liberal arts college
HILE VEGETARIANISM IS NO LONG-
er an aberration in America, at
Sarah Lawrence College in Bronx-
ville, New YOFk, it's actual!!' become
the norm. Meatless meals have been offered
for almost 25 year:s, and college officials es-
timate that c}.ITrently 60 percent of h s more '
than 1,300 students are vegetarian.
How did Sarqh Lawrence find itself on
the cutting edge of the US vegetarian move-
ment? "Our students are incredibly aware of
the new information comil)g out, and they
were reading that it's healfhier to eat fess
meat," answered Micheal Rengers, food ser-
vice administrator. "The cotlege tends to
draw independent-minded _students who
.know what they want.and how ta.:ask for it."
Rengers himself has been a vegan, a veg-
etarian wbo eschews even dairy products,
for six years. After kicking the smoking
habit, he started to put on weight, and was
encouraged by the fact that vegans he met
were never overweight. He also figured that
the best way to understand the studeFlts'
needs was to try their diet. "I felt terrific," he
said, "and fhey loved .it.'~
According t{) Ray Mulligan, whose compa-
ny provides meals at Lawrence and nearby
Bard College, "nightsh,ade vegans" at Bard
are now asking for food offerings wlthout
root vegetables, such as o~ons and potatoes.
Student Gregory Marin was originally
motivated by environmental qoncerns when
he eliminated meat from his diet !hree years
ago. "I was reading about the inefficiency
and waste of using meat over plant products.
When I became a vegan, it was because of
a growing concern for animals." Marin now
eschews wearing leather as welL
,'Tve been a vegetarian all my life, except
for four years," said Ivy Quinn, a gradua~
student. "I want to experience everyt.hing in
life," joked Quinn, in explaining her stint as
a meat-eater. "I wanted to see what it was
like on the other side, but it wasn't any f~n,
and I didn't feel good!" .-
While the depth of vegetarian culture at'
Sarah Lawrence (70 percent girls) may be
unusual, it is indicative of a larger shift in at-
titudes toward food that has occurred in the
last 25 years on American campuses. Re-
cently, Duke University and the University
of California at Berkeley began serving
more vegetarian dishes in response to in-
creasing student and faculty demands. . .
By Maryell~n La Bosco, New York
- --- - - ---- -------.-~-------
ART
Hussain Offers
An Apology "
Furor over Sar~swati
DREW IT TWENTY YEARS A'CO,
I
.. and no one seemed to mind~ But when
ichar magazine in Bhopal recently
published it in an article entitled, "Is
this man a painter or a butCher?" Maqbool
Fida Hussain found himself in the center of
a storm. At issue was his sensuous nude
drawing of Goddess Saraswati in which She
is seated-near a lotus and peacock and with
a vina discreetly placed across Her lap. Irate
Hindus demanded an apology, and Bajrang
Dal cadres trashed Hussain's exhibit in
Ahmedabad, destroyirlg 16 works. A few
years ago Hussain, a Muslim, came under
fire for other nude paintings of Goddesses
and of the Mahabharata's Draupadi.
Press reports are contradictory as to Hus-
sain'slreaction. On the one hand, India Mail
. (UK) said the artis~ issued a publi'G apology,
- "If any of lJlY works has hurt the sentiments
of some, which is not at all deliberate or in-
tentional, I feel sorry and apologize." The
same week India Today quptes him mock-
ing, "Were these people asleep for 20 years?
This kind of thing is dangerous. Tpey are
stupid. I can laugh at ·{hem. The matter
should go to the high court to establish what
is art"and w4at is obscenity. My countrymen
don't understaFld their own culture."
The Sliiv Sena, - who
hold political sway in
Mumbai, are consideF-
ing legal action. "If
Salman Rushdie can be
censored for Satanic
Verses [which was
banned in India], the
• ~ majority community, too
~ .can seek action against
~ Mr. Hussain," said a par-
~ ty spokesperson. Iqbal
:. Masud, writing in the
~ Tirnes of India, strongly
: defended the banning of
~ Satanic Verses, over
~ which th~re were dead-
~ ly riots ir(lndia. Critical
Hussain, age 81
.j
of Hussain, M wrote, "I
find the erotic depiction
of Saraswati distasteful and the argument of
its defenders-that Hindus hav~ been sensu-
ous throughout history-greatly flawed.
Hussain has alw~ys thrived on sensational-
ism to remain in the public ey.e, which is
tasteless and dangemus." . ..
I
hand smoke" has led to smoking
bans in public .places, offices
and factories. FUrther. regula-
tion could raise the price of cig-
arettes and cut their availability.
There are more prqbleins. In
1996 tobac€o giant Brown and
Williamson became the first to
lose in a smoking-death case
and was ordered to pay
$750,000 in damages to the sur-
. viXi'ng spouse. Hundreds more
.:
o" law.suits are pending. Fourteen
f-o
l(
states are suing tobacco compa-
~
nies to recover billions.of dollars "
""z spent treating ailing smokers in
~L-____~~____~__~~__~~~~__~____~ public-health'Programs.
New craze: They are a poor man's smoke in India Sensing a losing fight', tobacco
companies have turned to the
TRENDS East. According to the World
Health Organization, smoking in
Beedies, a,New. developed nations fell 10% from
1970 to 1994, while in developing
nations it rose 67%. One factory
i
American Fad in England is in'&easing its ca-
pacity from 11 billion cigarettes
a year to 48 billion (50% ofIn-
dia's total production). Almost
But smoking overall decliries all are destined for the Far East,
which the Wall Street Journal
in fac..e of serious' health risks called "the fastest growing and
most lucrative tobacco' market."
Just as President Clinton aFl-
HEN THE MARLBORO MAN MOVED nounced severe restrictions on tobacco ad-
W
to India: who would have guessed vertising (especially protecting minors), In-
that "Ganesha Beedies" would' in- dian tobacco firms were fighting Delhi city's
vade America in revenge? Strange but anti-smoking law, which would be the first
true, those most low-caste of cigarettes are in India to ban smoking in public places and
the latest American college fad. A beedi, at prohibit advertising. India's tobaq:o compa-
half the diameter of American cigarettes, is nies respOli.ded by cl~ing "twi~ting of sci-
. made of Indian tobacco hand-rolled in entific evidence" about the hazards of smok-
ebony leaves. They sell for $2.50 to $3.00 for ing. But all legal battles have proven tobacco
a pack of twen;y (about a dollar of which is companies have known for years of smok-
taxes). That's pricey for a product that sells ings great health risks, and suppressed the
for one rupee.-three US cents-in India, information in their quest for profit.s~ ~
but is in line with US-brand cigarette prices.
What:s the appeal? Suresh Ralap'ati, an
NRI ana tobacco scientist of the US Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (the 'f\TF,"
which regulates cigarettes), ventured, "Per-
haps the fact that they look like joints [illegal
'marijuana cigarettes] interests the young
people." There's also the nicotine. A'ccording
to Time magazine, which reported on the
fad in its October issue, Indian tobacco has
, 8 percent nfcotine, compared to one or two
percent in American cigarettes. The nico-
-tine gives beedies quite a punch, but they
are not itlegal under US standards.
That may change shortly, for there is a
strong push on to have nicotine declared an
addictive drug. Such a declaration would
move furi~diction over cigarettes trom the
ATF to' the Food and Drug Administration
and put nicotine in the same category as Tobacco target: Marketing is now focused on
heroin and cocrune. Concern about "second- peoples, including tribals, outside the West
F E,B R UAR Y , 1997 Hl'NDUISM TODAY 49

MINISTER'S MESSAGE
Saty~rheva)ayate~
rrfuth Preva i Is
The Hindu way adheres to the high priI?-ciples
of yoga, tolerance, nonviolence·and truth
BY SRI LA SRI SWAMI ' BUA MAHARAJ
HAT IS HINDUISM AND WHO IS A HINDU? HINDUISM
W is not a hodgepodge of different beliefs and practices
as some believe. Hinduism extols the five cardinal
principles of nonviolence, truthfulness, noncovetous~
ness, continence and nonpossessiveness. It proclaims that one
be very selective about the food one eats, the thoughts one
holds, the actions one does and the company one keeps. Any-
one and everyone can be a Hindu, bUll not everyone is. True
liberalism, supreme magnanimity and unstinting forgiveness
are evidenced only in Hinduism, not in any other religion in
the world. It does not accept those practices which are self-
ish, morally degrading, violent and hurtfuL Hinduism is a
beautiful way of liv~ng and loving God. A true Hindu does
not take God's name in vain. He practices what he preaches. Hin-
duism is the religion of humanity. Those who embrace,Hinduism
must embrace humanity, and those who embrace hurrpmity must
be humane. Inhumanity in any form is anti-Hindu. One who up-
hGllds these humanistic values is a Hindu.
Viveka, the power of discerhment or discrimination, is an essen-
tial practice of Hinduism. Hinduism does not embrace all beliefs
and practices. It only -embraces those beliefs and practices that are Supreme Self or you can say, it is the total understanding of one's
in harmony with truth and righteousness, that are conducive to
well-being. It does illlt embrace practices harmful to the body,
mind and spirit. Hinduism embiac~s universality. It does not em-
brace dogma and ignorance, Hinduism is unique. It is not a man-
mad~ religion. Really, it is not a religion at all, though it incl~des
reli!Qous practices and beli'efs. It is an eternal way of life, a way of
living in eternity, that is why it is called the Sanatana Dharma.,
One cannot live in eternity if one is engrossed in man-made
images and gro~s unreality. When a human Qves in the figments of of the Hindu religion, the message of true faitkJ., the message of }Vis-
his imagination, he is unable to grasp the meaning of this life and
does not know how to face death. Few people really live a whole
life. Most are mortally wounded by their own ego, and they never
live to realize the truth. Most people only live to realize the dreams sence of the Hindu religion. God save the world! Peace be unto you!!
of'their ego, and that is why they live, and die in helL
When one is defrauded by miQd or ego, he will not hesitate to
defraud others. Unfortunately, this is the condition of many of
today'~ ministers, gurus, swamis and sannyasins. Few have the
eyes to see or the .ears to hear. They are too busy looking outside
themselves for recognition and. only want to listen to those who
praise them. Saiutly persons speaking on'spirituality, God and
rehgion often talk about the patllless traveled or not traveled at
all. But the way of the Hindu is to look within, recognize God, the
Parabrahman: the Absolute, shIning in his own heart. He
welcomes criticism, realizing he can learn much from the observa- Indo-American Yoga-Vedanta SOCiety, New York, USA. In Novem-
tions of others.
50 HINDUISM TODA-Y F~ BRUARY , 1997
ike an exceptional diamond,
Religion is not a path to Godhead or to
Godhood, but only a code of conduct with-
out which there would b~ nothing but
chaos in society. Beliefs are not paths. The
Kingdom of God is a pathless land, a land
of no paths! But today everyone wants to
L spiritual truths are often at their
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This rare gem of a book with
categorize everything: Hindu, Moslem, childrens' stories for adults is
Christian, Buddhist, Atheist, Taoist, etc.
Like pigeons living in little holes, people
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never realize their essence. They never
a must for every Hindu home.
grasp the substance, because they are so Written with gentle warmth, humor
preoccupied with the shadow.
There is no such thing as a Jewish soul, a and wisdom, Enlightening Tales as
Muslim soul, a Christian soul or a Hindu Told by Sri Swami Satchidananda
soul. "fhere is no such'thing as a male soul
..Qr a female souL There is no such thing as· a presents 47 short fables, each with a
white-skinned soul or black-skinned soul.
Soul fs not qualified by the qualities of the I deep inner truth and richly
body and mind. The soul is free from the
gunas, the qualities and characteristics ,of
illustrated. Available from
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of the mind and body do not resemble the
nature of the Annan (soul). People imagine
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To be a Hindu, really, means to be your-
self This is the crux of the problem. We do not really understand
ourselves, and that is why there is so much conflict and suffering
in the world. Hinduism teaches us about our real nature, our dhar-
ma. HinduiSm embodies all those p,actices, precepts and tradi-
tions that help us understand our real nature and be ourselves.
And, so, the essence Of Hinduism is revealed in yoga. In fact, the
aim of all religious diSciplines is yoga or union, of the self with the
Enlightening Tales
As Told by Sri Swami Satchidananda
self and being one's Self When we live in that Ab'solute Being, we
realize our own eternity and are liberated from an selfish states. Published by Integral Yoga Publications
In the Gita, Lord Krishna advises Arjuna, "Be a yogi." He does Available through Himalayan Academy Publications
not say be a Saivite or be a Vaishnavite. Let us practice the quali- 107 Kaholalele Road, Kapaa, HI 96746-9304 USA Sri Swa:mi Satchidananda
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little Krishna dolls, let us make our lives worthy of His Presence in 118 pages, PlJlMrback, 1S full-cDIDr, full-/IBIB flldput IIluBtratIDns. ISBII 6-981040-U-9. Price -'fR.9S OncludllB UN).
our hearfs by imbibing His ways in our actions. Let us follow the
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Peac~. Hail Hinduism!!! Hurrah, ye Hindu world!!!! Om shanti!!!!! '.
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~1 BASHUDEB DHAR, BANGLADESH
THE AUGUST 4 INAUGURATION OF
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celebrations, Bangl~desn Prime Min-
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racy/ It was' a welcome .gesture for the
eleven-million-strong Hindu community
wlich has seen all too much injustice,
At the same time, in the nation's capital of
Dhaka, minister fot- religious affairs Mou-
lana Mohammad Nurul Islam inaugurated
celebrations at the historic Dhakeswari
Temple, whose Goddess is ,egarded as the
city's presiding DeiFy. The Janmashtami
pt ocession, honoring the birthday of Lord
Krishna, then paraded into the, streets with
enthusil;istic devotees of all ages dancing and
singing religious songs, People streamed out
onto streets and balconies to glimpse the
colorful procession, w ith, its portraits of Kr-
ishna and displays of His activities.
On the second da!, of celebr;ations, the
state minister tor land, Rashed Mosharraf,
appealed to the devotees, "We have to create
ll:/ congellial atmosphere where minorities
would be assured of equal rights and privi-
leges," Humayun Rashid- Chowdhury, the
The day of Janmashtami is a ~ ~Tgitaf24-track music/C!t.'Q.Q1c.", ston~ng
national public holiday, second oVeLah~}Olley in our state-ot:'tfie:art on Kauar(Produced fDil'e,tJJIIW,oW)lW.
in importance only to the Mus- rE1cor~.stutliO.
lim's Maharram festival. News- ~ , ~'~4vclphics, 3D & .
papers publislied editorials,
while radio and television aired
multi~dia, \dey ktop ishing and
special programs, The day's packagiH~Slgn.
events included Krishna aba- [::.- Scripting, om,,,,u,nraphy,
han, puja, recitation from the directing, editing, original mUSical
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The procession from Dha-
keswari dates back to 1902, It Call for a free catalog & information
was . stopped in 1948 due to
widespread communal distur-
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the Goddess was looted in what
was thEm East Pakistan, The Celebrations: Prime Minister at Janmashtami (top );
procession resumed in 1989. rebuilt Dhakeswari Temple seroes minority Hindus' "
In October 1990 the temple
complex was again attacked by communal ment promises to rebuild Dhakeswari went
forces, They . destroyed the shrines, plun- unfulfilled, so last year devotees personally
dered the properties and set fire to the \ saw to the temple's repair and ~he establish-
Deities, This was prior to the violent after- ment of a new Deity. Buddhists, Christians
math of Ayodhya in December, 1992, when and Hindus alike have called for a declara-
th'ousands of Hindu temples in Bangladesh tion of bhakeswari as Bangla~esh's national
were damaged or destroyed. Initial govern- temple. wJ

SERVING the children breakfast From teachers simply would not

Bangalore's Blind School
FIRS'F VISITED SRI SRI SRI
Balagangadharanatha -
swami's sohool for the blind
on my maiden trip to India
Ameriea. It was clear from the
start the teaohers and aunties
were already doing a
fine job of taking care Sharing: Nees'ha with new friends
then on everyone gradually
learned to trust and accept us,
The days were long, and we
learned how to serve 500
meals a day without the bene-
fit of refrigeration, American
believe the daily responsibili-
ties of their Indian counter-
parts, Neesha spent many
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ing the girls' hair, Not speak-
ing Kannada, there were
awkward moments at first, but ach deity is exquisitely crafted, cast in metal, and gilded in 24 karat gold, Clothing and

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in 1993, I was so taken by the
beautiful, bright faces of the
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awhile, I returned in January,
1996, accompanied. by 15-year-
ala Neesha Alahan from
Hawaii, USA, ready to help in
any way we could, Apparently
there had n(i)t been many vol-
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and certainly none from
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At '(!lre-d.awn
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singing Sanskrit bhajanas.
Two weeks later we left the
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52 HiNDUISM TODAY FE'BRUARY , 1997 53

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MAITR~ UPANISHAD 6.34