Unknown Books and Texts

As I read and write on history and historical themes, I am always amazed and in awe of the people of the past, who did so much, gained some recognition in their lifetime, and now are hardly remembered. Perhaps they were as brilliant as those who remain famous today, but for some reason, they are not known to the same extent.

There are artists, musicians, leaders, prophets, and of course, writers. And there are books. I will be writing on some of these books from India to make them better known.

Right now I am writing something more on the Manimekhalai, an epic in Tamil. It has a Buddhist theme, but also tells us a lot about women in early south India. There is already a partial summary of it in this blog, but I am improving on it, and analysing some aspects of the book.

Sri Aurobindo--The hidden forces of life

The hidden forces of life is another selection by A.S. Dalal. Here Sri Aurobindo and The Mother discuss universal forces that can be accessed if one knows how. There are also discussions on astrology, karma, forces within the individual, and occult forces, as well as on hidden worlds, evolutionary forces, and helpful spiritual forces.
It is certainly a book worth studying.
A few quotes:
'The only free will in the world is the one divine will, of which nature is the executrix.' [p.21]
'As the evolution proceeds, nature begins slowly and tentatively to manifest our occult parts.' [p.46]
'The forces and beings of the vital world have a great influence on human beings.'[p.142]

Short Stories

Six of my short stories now available on Kindle. If you don't have a kindle, the Kindle app can be downloaded on any device.

www.amazon.com/dp/B016GQVNOS

The first paragraphs are given below:

The Library

A thousand years later they will excavate a mound and as they dig, slowly, carefully, lifting the bricks of crumbled buildings, they will find the skeletons of six people who seem to have died sitting, covered in dust; and when they take some of this dust in a test tube and analyse it in their laboratories, they will learn it is the dust of books. To make the excavation report factual and interesting they will attempt to reconstruct the situation but they will not quite succeed.
This is how it was, every day, for many years, before it all ended, in those days before computers, before photo-copiers.
There is a heavy table in the room, piled high with books. Some of the books are two hundred years old or more. There are thirteen chairs around the table. Six are always occupied, the remaining seven only now and then. The six are permanent ---the seven transitory.
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As Below So Above

My story begins with a nightmare. One night I dreamt I went to heaven.
It was like this. I had died in my sleep, and I was happy. After all, the life I had was not worth living. I did have a few momentary regrets about my young wife and two-year-old son, but as I rode upwards, light as a cloud, I soon forgot them. I was eager to start my new life.
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Paper Toys

Last evening I visited Ward Number 28 again, the Orthopaedic Ward for women, in Janvadi Hospital. More than thirty years have passed, though I had planned so often to go there. Life somehow takes one in different directions, one becomes abstracted, self-absorbed. As I stood in the doorway, and looked into the dimly lit room, the women groaning, legs strung up in traction, the years fell away, and I realised why I had come. It was all long ago, but what I had seen then in Ward Number 28, had touched my heart, the memories had never faded. I looked back into the distance, reliving the days and nights I had spent there.
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Jahanara
Jahanara was the most beautiful name she could think of. It wasn’t her real name, but she had chosen it for herself. Its the name she wanted to die with. In about three months Jahanara aimed to be dead, covered in flowers, her face pale and beautiful, her hair washed and straight. Yes, she will be dead, she thought, Jahanara will be dead. She had planned her death and looked forward to it, as much as she looked forward to life. For she was not sick. She was thin and tanned, brown from sitting in the sun so much. When she woke every morning she felt a strength flowing through her. She would let that feeling travel through her body as she stretched and moved. She felt so well, so full of health.
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The Frogs
Once again, I was alotted a new place to stay. It had two small rooms with low, ill-fitting asbestos ceilings under tin roofs, and a bathroom and kitchen without the ceilings, the tin roofs propped up by shaky, termite-ridden rafters. The floor was perpetually damp with seepage from the ground, and there were cracks everywhere, which let in a wide variety of insects and creatures.
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The beautiful one
It was a magical afternoon, a gentle sunlight filtered through the clouds, the grass so green. What was that ahead? A bunch of crows cawing loudly and diving at something on the grass. As I moved closer, I saw it was a young cobra, so lithe, so fresh, almost shining with newness, though it was already a foot-and-a-half long. Its head was raised, protecting itself against the crows, who swooped and then darted out of reach. It was so beautiful, the marks on its small head so perfect, that instinctively I went up to it and shooed the crows away as I stood over its head. Above my feet the raised head turned and looked at me, as a protective, almost motherly feeling rose in me, and we gazed at each other. And then she moved onwards, the beautiful snake, and I stood guard till she had found shelter in a heap of stones. The crows cawed angrily.
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To read more:

www.amazon.com/dp/B016GQVNOS

Extracts from Snow Fu by Hsieh Hui-Lien

Many years ago while doing research I found this poem in a journal, and wrote down part of it. Today it must be available on the net, but I reproduce what I noted down at the time.

‘The year approaching its close,
The season getting dark
Cold winds gathering
Gloomy clouds clustering.

The Prince of Liang was not cheerful
As he strolled in Rabbit garden—
So he set out fine wine,
Called for his friends to come…’

……………………..

‘How could integrity be my name,
How could purity be my virtue?
With the clouds I ascend and descend,
On the wind I flutter and fall.
Encountering objects I diffuse over their images,
On the earth I spread over its form.
Blank according to what I meet,
Foul following another’s sullying,
My hear is wild and free—
Whay should I worry, why hustle and bustle?’

Sri Aurobindo--Growing Within

Growing Within by A.S.Dalal

This is another in the series on Sri Aurobindo by A. S. Dalal. Quoting from Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, the book points out that the individual first has to develop, the ego has to be fully formed. An evolution of consciousness takes place, as life develops from matter, from mineral, to plant, to animals and finally human beings. Mind develops in humans, and this is the beginning of higher development and growth. After the separate ego has been established, the next step is to transcend it. Sri Aurobindo writes, 'It is not that the ego, the body, the personal mind disappear, but one feels them as only a small part of oneself.' The limits vanish, as one increasingly becomes a part of cosmic consciousness.
There is a lot more in this book that is worth reading and studying.

Books reveal the person behind them

'Everything is contained potentially', said The Mother [p.93,the Powers Within] and went on to say that if one read a book by Sri Aurobindo, one could attain much more than what was in the book, as it was a representation of the person who wrote it, of all the knowledge of the person.
This must be true of every book one reads.

Sri Aurobindo--Powers Within

Powers Within, by A.S. DALAL
Sri Aurobindo has great ideas, but is quite difficult to comprehend, which is probably why he is not commonly quoted. His ideas certainly deserve to be better known.
A series of books by A.S. Dalal have helped in making him more accessible. In all the books A.S. takes up a topic, searches through Sri Aurobindo and The Mother's voluminous writings, and puts together passages on that topic. Quotes from Sri Aurobindo are complemented by the Mother's simpler explanations.
This book has a lot to offer, and deserves to be studied. It looks at latent powers, and how they can be developed and used.
'Mind can suspend or change earth's concrete law', says Sri Aurobindo.

New dates for the Ramayana?

Pondering over a news item:
Rama was born on 10 January 5114 BCE.
Hanuman met Sita in the Ashok Vatika on 12 September 5076 BCE.
The Mahabharata war started on 13 September 3139 BCE.
This is what 'The Institute of Scientific Research' says. Similar dates have been provided earlier, but how does it co-relate with archaeology?
After intensive research on the Vedas, using all available sources I found the earliest possible date for the Rig Veda would be 4000 BCE, and of course it could be later.
No single source is sufficient for trying to establish an approximate date.

Mani Shankar Aiyar's new book

A collection of articles, Mani Shankar Aiyar's new book, Achhe Din, ha ha, was released in Dehradun on the 18th August. The event turned into a Congress programme, and many left before the end. There was not enough analysis of the book. The book however, is worth reading, mainly because of Mani Shankar's knowledge of history and his comparisons of events of today with those in the past. At the same time, it is a commentary on the political events of the last year, from his own point of view. 'It is not an objective account', he said himself, at the start of the event.

Agastya, an ancient guru

Agastya is a guru of very ancient times, referred to in the the Rig Veda, Atharva Veda, Brahmanas and Aranyakas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas, and other texts.
Agastya was rather short, and has been described as ‘dwarfish’. He was said to have been born from a pitcher, into which the gods Mitra and Varuna dropped their semen, when they saw the beautiful apsara, Urvashi. Thus he was known as Kumbhayoni (born in a pitcher) or Maitravaruni. He was the brother of Vasishtha, who was born at the same time in a similar way. Agastya was very learned, well versed in the VEDAS, and in the use of various magical weapons. Though he was an ascetic, he finally married, as he was told only those with sons who could perform their ancestral rites, could enter heaven. Out of the essence of all living beings, he created a beautiful girl named Lopamudra, and gave her as a daughter to the king of Vidarbha. It was this Lopamudra, whom he later married. They had a son named Dridhasyu, also called Idmavaha, who chanted the Vedas at birth. There are many stories about how Agastya went to south India and remains there still.
Agastya is the traditional author of various texts, including the Agastya Gita which forms part of the Varaha Purana, the Agastya Samhita in the Skanda Purana, and the Dvaidha-Nirnaya Tantra. In south India, he is known as Agattiyar, and mentioned in Sangam literature. There are several other Agattiyars, the most well-known being one of the Tamil siddhas.
The Matsya Purana states that he who worships Agastya, rules over the entire world (M.61.44-55). The Theosophical society of India included him in their mystical hierarchy and believe he exists and takes care of India even today. [summarized from Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide].

Sri Aurobindo

[I am reducing the number of blogs I have; this post was earlier in another blog]

Sri Aurobindo ( Aurobindo Ghose) was born at Kolkata (Calcutta) in India on 15 August 1872, but at the age of seven, was sent to England to study. Returning to India as a young man in 1893, he worked for some time in the state of Baroda, but gradually got involved in the Freedom Movement against the British, who ruled most of India at this time. He had already begun certain Yoga practices, and when in prison for his actions in the struggle for freedom (1908), he received a divine revelation. He left British India and entered the small territory of Pondicherry in south India, which was then under the French. Here he could not be pursued by British authorities, and giving up politics he founded an ashram, and developed his own philosophy.
His basic philosophy is what he called Integral Yoga. The aim of this, according to him, is ‘to enter into a higher Truth-Consciousness or Divine Supramental Consciousness in which action and creation are the expression not of ignorance and imperfection, but of the Truth, the Light, the divine Ananda (bliss).’ He did not prescribe any fixed method for this, but suggest various ways to make oneself receptive and open to receive the divine, including surrender and devotion, meditation, and the watching of one’s actions.
The divine has to be brought down into the whole being, including the cells of the body.
He believed in the evolution of the human life and mind towards an ultimate spirituality and an increasing universality. The light and power of the spirit, also called by him, the ‘Supermind’, presiding over human evolution could transform human consciousness and remould life on earth. He was joined in his ashram in 1920 by ‘The Mother’, a Frenchwoman named Mirra Richard. While the Mother ran the ashram, Aurobindo remained in seclusion, reading, studying ancient texts and writing.
His philosophical works include The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, TheIntegral Yoga, the epic Savitri, a poem with 24,000 lines and several other works, as well as commentaries on all the major ancient texts.
In these works he questioned many traditional concepts of Indian philopsophy, including the commonly accepted views of the world as Maya or illusion, and of Karma. He believed that the world is a real manifestation of the divine, and should not be seen as unreal. The concept of karma implies that all aspects of existence depend on the workings of universal energy. However, it is not a simple law of reward and punishment as is commonly perceived, but something extremely complex.
He stated that no religion revealed the whole Truth. He said, ‘ The Divine Truth is greater than any religion or creed or scripture or idea or philosophy.’ Though he had made a deep study of Hindu texts, as he developed his philosophy, he ceased to identify with Hinduism. He wrote, ‘The Ashram has nothing to do with Hindu religion or culture or any religion or nationality. The Truth of the Divine which is the spiritual reality behind all religions and the descent of the supramental which is not known to any religion, are the sole things which will be the foundation of the work of the future’.
After his death in 1950, the Mother continued to run the ashram and later set up Auroville, an international city near the ashram.

Insurance policies

Attempting to compare car insurance policies online--a prominent site claims to provide comparative prices. But before providing any information it requires, my name, email, mobile number and marital status! Can't see any sense in this, and decided to stick to the original insurer who just requires the car number.

Can a cow sit for an exam?

Well why not? Cows are intelligent--and divine.
Evidently, according to news reports, the media was waiting for the cow to turn up, at the Government Degree College at Bemina [Jammu and Kashmir].
Rashid Bhat said he only wanted to expose the flaws in the system, when he registered Kaachir Gaaw (Brown Cow), son of Gura Dand (Red Bull) for an examination!