,LAUGHTERKEEPS A MAN HEALTHY TO BEAT BACK VIRAL ATTACK

AUM LEARNING ROPES TO HAPPINESS By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM With the permission of our readers, may I say again : Happiness is a state of mind. That explains why I say it aloud every now and then: old boy, your mental make up says that you may not live long to be a Centenarian. I dismiss the idea as it is hostile to my game plan. I command myself “ Get up, get going and learn from the experience of sages of yore to imbibe that and merge with the day-to-day life of modern times The difference between the Gurukul life of yore and the life in a modern Gurukul is tremendous. In the interest of the Vedic way of life ,we may abjure a comparison between the two. Both are products of the Vedic way of life but the long gap in time and living has made them two separate entities. . Remind yourself that Happiness Is yours just for the asking. Indeed there are certain pragmatic steps that the man or a woman seeking happiness has to imbibe until It becomes his and her second nature. Let us take a look at our time table of learning basic steps that would take us to our El Dorado where one lives and learns the basic ropes with eye set on the ultimate goal; happiness. ALBERT SCHWAITZER has observed people around and lived life as a pragmatic philosopher. He says : “ Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” Happiness Is a state of mind characterized by contentment and satisfaction .Sources of happiness are diverse and unique. So are the people we come across. After having talked to men and women from different sections of the society both in India that is Bharat and abroad, it is found that certain common factors emerge. Let us take a look at them. I call those factors that lead to happiness as the Golden Nine. GOLDEN NINE Many observant friends and colleagues of mine, both in uniform and in the civil society have had an engrossing chat with me on the road that leads to citadel of happiness. I concurred with some and differed with others. Here I give a resume of what our common and combined operation and observations were. These Nine factors have been worked out and chosen after a brain-storming session. UNSHAKABLE BELIEF IN ISHWAR When I need Divine help, I pray for it. Believe me, the help was always around corner and came on time. Of course, I too never sat idle. I used to strive for a favourable solution and also pray to Param Pita Parmatma. There was a confluence of of prayer and purusharth. This kind of confluence never goes haywire.I took the first step to the rope and climbed clumsily but I did come to know the ropeway to happiness. Thus the journey that began that way refused to stop despite clumsy attempts o f second ladder of relations and friends to throw a red herring. As stated before, my wife chose to hover around me and so did the daughter. In India, that is Bharat blood i still thicker and stronger than water. Spiritualism is worth looking for as a pillar of strength. There are no rituals but the belief in the Nirakar ISHWAR who is omnipresent and sees all without being seen firms up. Here is the natural reserve of strength that a supplicant may draw from as and when the need arises. Thus when a devotee has the divine strength to fall back upon, he cannot but be Happy. POSITIVE THINKING Positive Thinking is not mere absence of NegativeThinking. When one ceases to think or act in a manner that causes pain and grief or a loss to others no more due to an act or omission of the gentleman that is, we may say that the said person has given up Negative attitude to life and sailed to the state where he or she entertains only Positive Attitude to life and letters. In this kind of frame of mind, there are no commas but full stops only. An individual with a Positive Attitude to life cannot but be happy. BE YOURSELF Natural way of life is a happy way of life. Be yourself and never try to put up a show. Please do not show off either because that show would be without naturalness. Happiness lives in a natural person but abandons a soul that shows off. An unnatural life or an unnatural act leads to punishment as they violate one law or the other. If you are your natural self, you are a happy man. LAUGHTER IS LOVELY The Reader’s Digest runs a column of jokes taken from all societies and published unedited. The jokes in their natural form are either a hit or a miss. In this case, I find that the joke was a hit and guests had gone delirious. They are all happy men and women. Laughter is a piece of evidence to prove that the man who laughs a lot is indeed a happy man. A good laughter strengthens the lungs and prevents cardio-vascular problems .Laugh a lot and effect a tremendous saving on medical bills. A healthy person is indeed a happy person. LIVE IN THE PRESENT Happiness follows one who lives in the Present. You feel the Present and you solve the problems of the Present. Those who live in the past lose touch with the Present and in due course of time become incompetent to tackle the present day crises. Those who live in the Future are invariably gripped with Fear of the Unknown. FEAR is the biggest enemy of Man. To overcome this, the VEDAS suggest chanting o a Mantra and fortifying your beliefs to make your mind ABHAY – free from fear. A fearful person can never be happy. A fearless person will always be happy. CULTIVATE CULTURE Fine Arts, Music –vocal or instrumental ,painting or forming a word picture of an event or individual are various branches of Culture. The culture has to be cultivated by an individual because it does not come on its own. In difficult times, one may paint or sing or play on a musical instrument and divert the mind from problems that cause unhappiness. When unhappiness or a tense atmosphere is taken care of, a relaxed atmosphere will replace a tense situation. Happiness will follow as a natural corrollary. HAVE HEALTHY SEX The sexual attraction draws a man and a woman close to each other. They not only admire each other but also touch gently or grope into the forbiddenzone. If both are adults, they proceed further in the privacy of a house or a garden and have sexual intercourse. That mutual act is indeed a source of joy. More of it gives more joy. So, having healthy sex between two consenting adult males in the privacy of the house is now legal as per a judgement of the Delhi High Court. Since sex is a source of joy, so go ahead and have more of it until you are happy and wish to enhance the state of sex-generated happiness no more. MAN IS WHAT HE EATS Mind is the man. The way you eat, what you eat and how much you eat will determine your mental make-up and physical body. One of the Vedic Rishis who was also a physician had recommended to both the masses and the classes all about the food intake. In anutshell,his advice was: Eat what is beneficial to mind and body. Thus healthy diet of green leafy vegetables, no red meat and over-spiced dishes,a lot of fluid and abjuring junk food was described as a source of happiness. Secondly, eat less than what your stomach can accommodate. Finally ,eat food bought with money earned by the sweat of brow and not by murdering the moneyed men. Indeed, a lot of emphasis was placed on a lean diet, a healthy diet and an honest purchase of food. Well, it is this kind of food that may be joy-generating. HEALTHY MIND IN HEALTHY BODY Right from childhood I have been hearing from the school counselors that a systematic daily exercise will keep the body fit and a mental exercise will not let mind be lethargic. Since everybody wishes to live long ,one patiently listens to the piece of advice that is repeatedly given by both the PT instructors and other teachers. However, words are not enough to see you through. Practice and practice will make a man healthy. Health and happinessare twins. A healthy man iS a happy man._________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ eMAIL:SAWANTG.CHITRANJAN@GMAIL.COM

VEDAS ARE FOR ONE AND ALL

VEDAS ARE UNIVERSAL – FOR MANKIND –FOR MEN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. WITH A VIEW TO HIGHLIGHTING THE CENTRAL THEME, HERE IS AN ARTICE FOR YOUR READING DELLIGHT. THEREAFTER ANANDIT RAHIYE. AUM VEDAS FOR ALL By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM At the beginning of the human creation, God transmitted divine knowledge to mankind for a style of life generating health and happiness. God revealed VEDAS or Divine Knowledge to the Rishis or the sages and they passed it on without in any way discriminating between man and woman or between man and man on grounds of caste, creed or colour, The entire human race is entitled to read the Ved mantras, meditate on them and improve the quality of life. One has just to make an effort to read and meditate on the mantra and the happy results would not be far to find. One may read the original mantra compilation called samhita or go to the translation of the text and explanation or exposition in English or Hindi language. Treatises explaining meaning of the Ved mantras may be available in other languages too. Meditation on mantras leads to bliss. ``Vedo Akhilo Dharm Moolam’’ - Vedas are the roots of righteousness. When one walks on the path of righteousness one is doing one’s Dharma as a good man ought to. Who is a good man? One who is socially efficient is a good man or a woman. He or she is an achiever of right goals through right means. This Mister Right cares as much for the society as for himself. Should there be a conflict of interests between the self and the society, self must be made subservient to the society. This is what the Vedic way of life is all about. This path of social efficiency is paved with and illuminated by the Ved Mantras. The Ved Mantras always show light at the end of the tunnel and bring in optimism and become a source of inspiration to lift a man or a woman when he or she is d own in the dumps. It may also be understood that the Vedas, being divine knowledge, are considered to be infallible. Other branches of knowledge originate from this pristine source. Maharishi Swami Dayanand Saraswati, founder of the Arya Samaj, has opined that the non-Vedic works conforming to the Vedic Dharm are acceptable but the ones in conflict with the Vedic precepts are not acceptable. Ved mantras are the touchstone to decide either way. Ved mantras are cornerstones of the edifice of the Vedic Dharma. The Vedas are four in number: Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samveda and Atharvaveda. At the beginning of the creation, the Rishis in whose hearts the four Vedas, Rig, Yaju, Sama and Atharva were revealed are Agni, Vayu, Aditya and Angira respectively. Now let us take a close look at them and meditate on Ved mantras relevant to the human scenario today. The Rigveda is the Ved of Sciences. There are ten thousand five hundred eighty nine mantras spread over ten mandals or ten major cantos. With a view to understanding the spiritual import of Ved Mantras, quite a few vedic scholars of yore like Sayan and Mahidhar wrote Ved Bhashya or Vedic commentaries in simple Sanskrit. In the 19th century India a Vedic renaissance took place. Maharshi Swami Dayanand Saraswati had the distinction of being the first Rishi to write commentaries on the divineVedas both in Sanskrit and Hindi. The Vedic wisdom was unlocked and the biggest beneficiary was the common man on the street. It was a religious revolution. Unlocking the Vedic knowledge and letting the deprived segments of society reap the harvest definitely enriched quality of life of an average man. The Yajurveda comprises one thousand nine hundred seventy five mantras. Its basic emphasis is on Karmakand, correlating mantras and yajna. The mantras inspired men and women to realize God in their inner self. Mantras motivated men and women to banish the evil and imbibe the noble. Making donations for charities is one of the ways to attain nobility on the path to attain Moksha, that is liberation of soul from the bondage of repeated cycles of births and deaths. The Samaveda comprises one thousand eight hundred seventy five mantras. This is known as Upasanakand or the prayer sung for realization of the Supreme Being n one’s inner self. The word SA-AM, inter-alia, means a communion of soul with God. SA means the Almighty and AM is soul or Jeeva and SAAM is a synthesis of the two. The Atharvaveda comprises five thousand nine hundred and seventy seven mantras. It is known as the Jynankand. The mantras of Atharvaved enlighten men and women in their quest of God and help them seek Him in ``Matter or objects of this mundane world’’. The Vedas propound the philosophy of Trinity, i.e. existence of God, soul and matter before the Creation, during the Creation and after the Creation is over. The three exist as independent entities with myriad opportunities to interact. God, of course, is supreme being always and everytime. Correlating the Vedic knowledge with the mundane matters of today, one may like to take a look at the scenario of terrorism and what the Vedas have to say on the subject. Does a Vedic sanction exist against wanton killings of human beings and destruction of property with a view to terrorizing human beings? Of course it does. The Rigveda gives a definite direction to punish the killers and eulogize the warrior who wields Vajra. Punishment of the criminal killer is a must. The Rigveda defines a warrior as one who wields the invincible weapon of war, Vajra, for the common good of the society. He fights the battle with self-confidence, high morale and valour against terrorists. A Vedic warrior against terrorist has to keep himself cool, calm and collected. Let the like-minded men and women consolidate the forces of good people against the evil terrorists and eliminate them once for all. It is high time the saints wielded the Vedic Vajra and killed the sinner-killers. According to the Vedic philosophy God is One. He is without a form or shape. He is never born in this world and,therefore the question of His death or disappearance does not arise.In other words, Vedas do not subscribe to the theory of AVATAR or God coming to this world in a human form to help man. God is omnipresent, omniscient and all powerful to run this universe as per the divine laws which He too does not break or infringe. The Vedic Dharm does not subscribe to the theory of God deputing prophets to run His errands. There is a direct communication between God and man and there is no place for a middleman. That is why the treasure of Vedic knowledge made available to man through mantras does not envisage a godman who is different from a common man. It is indeed the divine right of men and women to delve deep into the Vedic realm and live a life of righteousness. Vedas lay an emphasis on the Truth.”Satyam Vad, Dharmam Char” is the epitome of the path of righteousness.It means :tell the truth and go by the principles of Dharma or the code of conduct aiming at purity in life.One may wonder if that is a pragmatic philosophy of life.Of course,it is.A path strewn with untruth and dishonesty may pay seemingly rich dividends but in actual fact these dividends are ephemeral. A short –term gain may eventually lead one into a dark abyss where one is condemned to live in pain and misery forever. The Vedic way of life takes care of life after death which is followed by a rebirth. What Samskar a soul acquires when it is embodied has its effects in the birth after death too. Vedas prescribe a clean life which pays dividends many times over. The Vedas prescribe a four-fold path to Moksha or liberation of soul from the endless cycle of birth,death and rebirth..It is DHARMA,ARTHA,KAMA and MOKSHA.As we proceed further in subsequent chapters,we shall dwell on the salient aspects of this four-fold path. For the time being one may understand that Dharma takes one on the right course of life,Artha enables one to earn wealth by the sweat of brow,kama enables one to have a high ideal to be achieved through hard work.Should a man or a woman follow this vedic path,Moksha or liberation from birth,death and rebirth will not be far to seek. Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM “UPVAN”,609,Sector 29,NOIDA-201303 INDIA Telephone 0091-120-2454622 Email upvanom@yahoo.com vedicupvan@rediffmail.com Mobile – 0091-9811173590. The above article is :VEDAS FOR ALL WRITTEN BY BRIGADIER CHITRANJAN SAWANT VSM

WAS JESUS CHRTIST A MARRIED MAN?

1. AUM NEW DA VINCI CODE By Chitranjan Sawant Rejoice ye humans as a piece of evidence has come to light in the department of Religion, Harvard University, USA that Jesus was indeed a married man. Jesus loved his wife, Mary (not to be confused with his mother, Mary). Papyrusis too small to be shown around It is brittle and the ink has faded. But the text on it is interesting. It reads thus: ".....My wife she will be able to be my disciple"....and the text in Coptic continues. There are two points to be commented upon. Firstly, this is a written proof of marriage of Jesus to one named Mary( not to be mixed up with his mother) Secondly, Jesus thought that his wife would be his disciple. Thus it shows that Jesus wished his disciples number to swel up for spreading the new religion - later came to be known as Christianity. Further, it shows that there was NO BAN ON ADMITTING MARRIED WOMEN TO THE PRIESTLY CLASS. The new discovery of papyrus will give rise to a fresh DA VINCI CODE-both a book and a movie. 2. The Priests may clamour again for admitting married men and women to the priestly class. Thus the doors of the Vatican will be knocked at again. The hol y Father, the Pope, will have another controversial l issue to decide upon. 3. Indeed the old school of Christian theology may draw some comfort from the fact that the so dim writing on Papyrus is dated much after the crucifixion of Jesus. Therefore ,its reliability becomes a suspect. After his resurrection, Jesus was becoming a hero in the eyes of common man and the nobility alike. Could be that the priestly class of other religions thought that the easy way to malign Jesus would be to declare him a married man and thus deprive him of the halo of celibacy. 4. All said and done, it goes without saying that students o f Divinity have much material to do research upon. Never a dull moment before one is admitted to the covetous degree o f Doctor of Divinity.

BOLD IAF PILOT DEFIED RAHUL GANDHI

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BOLD IAF PILOT DECLINED TO FLY RAHUL GANDHI IN BAD WEATHER.WORTH EMULATING
AUM
BOLD AIR FORCE PILOT APPLAUDED
By Chitranjan Sawant
The bold Air Force pilot went by the book and refused to fly Rahul Gandhi in Assam citing bad weather. Such officers who call a spade a spade are a rarity now .The political culture of psychophancy and lack of moral courage have overwhelmed the system of governance which is seething with financial corruption .The Defence Services too stand infected by corrupt politician.
The Raksha Mantri, AK Antony who is a Congress party member and a loyalist of the Nehru-Gandhi family also tried to throw his weight of office around but the IAF officer-pilot refused to budge. In the Air Force parlance he found it too dangerous to fly VIP Cargo in the bad weather there. Thank God his service headquarters stood by his decision and did not overrule him despite political pressure.
One wonders why a non-authorised person like Rahul Gandhi was given the facility to fly in a Service chopper ?May be his party, the Congress hired it for him. Nevertheless he is obliged to observe the rule of flying. His family bonds cannot defy the IAF rules on flying. It is advisable for political persons not to tinker with the discipline and morale of Service personnel as that would not be in the interest of national defence.
History reminds us that VK Krishna Menon , the Defence Minister in 1960s had treated the fighting forces as his fiefdom and lowered the morale of the fighting man. Consequently, India had lost the war to China in 1962. Let the Indian nation not allow history to repeat itself.
It may be mentioned in the passing that some politicians misused Air Force choppers in the past and flew to their village home without paying for the hire charges. The outstanding bills stare in the face of spineless politicians who presided over the proceeding of the Rakha Mantralaya. Thus the Armed Forces are denuded of their resource by the enemy within. The enemy across the borders laughs in its sleeves and thanks the powers that be across the fence.
Julius Ceasar was aghast when his dear friend, Brutus thrust hi knife into his body and just said “ Et Too Brute”.
Email: sawantg.chitranjan@gmail.com

SATYARTH PRAKASH NOW PUBLISHED IN MANY LANGUAGES

AUM
SATYARTH PRAKASH PUBLISHED IN MANY LANGUAGES
By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
1875 was indeed an important year in the historical calendar of the great socio-religious movement that made an impact on the Mankind across the seven seas. The Arya Samaj was founded in Bombay, now Mumbai, on a Saturday afternoon in Kakarwadi residential area in the presence of no less a person than Swami Dayanand Saraswati. One hundred members were enrolled and the process of electing office bearers was absolutely democratic. Despite members beseeching the great Swami to become the Pradhan or the President of the Arya Samaj, the ascetic declined and remained firm on his decision.
Swami Dayanand Saraswati was following word for word, letter by letter what he had written in his magnum opus, the Satyarth Prakash, First Edition comprising twelve chapters ,a few months earlier in 1974 that saw the light of the day in print in the year 1975. The science of governance and the art of war were dealt with in Samullas sixth or chapter sixth,based on Manusmriti and now Swami Dayanand Saraswati was emulating what the Vedic Aryans had practised in running their Ganrajyas. The Satyarth Prakash, First Edition, was published in the Hindi language and Devnagari script.
The Seer from Gujarat could see the distant future and surmise that the Hindi language would be the lingua franca of all Indians in times to come. How right was he. The constitution of India promulgated on 26 January 1950 enshrined the Hindi language in Devnagari script as the National language as well as the official language. The Arya Samaj has all along been using Hindi as its language of prachar-prasar and day to day work. The second edition of the Satyarth Prakash comprising fourteen chapters and an annexure spelling out the beliefs of its writer was ready in 1883 but was published in 1884. Thus both the first and second editions of the Satyarth Prakash were rendered in Hindi.

LANGUAGE EDITIONS GALORE
The impact of the Satyarth Prakash was indeed tremendous in the North-western India. The Arya Samaj followed suit and enveloped the undivided Punjab of the British India. Lahore was the capital and it was there in the gardens of Dr Rahim Khan that Swami Dayanand himself led the forward march of Ved prachar and founded the Arya Samaj in 1877. Urdu was the official language of the undivided Punjab and there was no way but to publish the Urdu edition. Mahashay Rajpal, a fearless publisher of later period who championed the cause of freedom to publish was in the forefront of furthering the cause of the Ved prachar. Defending his right to publish what he wished to, Mahashay Rajpal became a martyr but upheld the right to publish till his last breath.
The Urdu edition of the Satyarth Prakash reached every Hindu home and the enlightened Muslims and Christians, not forgetting Sikhs wished to lay their hands on the revolutionary book and read it from their own angles. Satyarth Prakash was sold like hot cakes in the undivided Punjab and was instrumental in attracting the youth to the portals of the Arya Samaj. Even at the risk of being accused of repetitive writings ( King of Repetitions as a blood relative calls me but I don’t care), I must mention that it was an Urdu edition of Satyarth Prakash that had entered the portals of our house via the battlefields of France and Flanders in the First World War where my grand uncle had fought shoulder to shoulder with soldiers of the British Empire against the Germans and Turks. The entire thought process of the Sawant family was changed by the Urdu edition of the Satyarth Prakash and we never looked back. VEDIC was the creed from the Garbhadhan sanskar to the Antim sanskar, then to now. The future is bright too. An old edition in Urdu adorns our bookshelf even now. It feels outnumbered by the Hindi books, though. New lords, new laws, I guess !
The Gujarati edition, I am told, is quite popular in India and abroad. Of course, I have not seen one, reading is a different question altogether. Our Gujarati compatriots travel all over the world and those who happen to be under the wings of the Arya Samaj do not forget to pack a Gujarati edition of the Satyarth Prakash along with other essential items of travel.
GERMANS ARE COMING
World War One and World War two were dominated by the German armies in the initial stages. Europe was indeed scared of the German panzers rolling over their home and hearth. German engineering and German soldiering made a name for themselves. Of course, they lost both the wars, that is another story.
Satyarth Prakash in German language also made news in the Arya Samaj circles. Not many Aryas had heard of it before. Nor had I. The other day I was channel surfing looking for some fresh raw material about the Arya Samaj that I could work on and develop into a modest article for an International Arya Maha Sammelan but not much exiting material came into my ken. Sheer waste of time that channel surfing was, so I thought.
Lo and behold! If Mohammad does not go to the mountain, the mountain comes to Mohammet – so goe an old saying in English language. The Internet searhed, identified and fished for me the entire Satyarth Prakash in the German language. Amazing, I thought and my joy knew no bounds. I was bouncing like a ball. I even shrieked the way Archimedes had done when he discovered a theory in Science and came out of the bath in the nude. I behaved in a saner manner. However, my loud exclamation of pristine joy on finding Satyarth Prakash in the German language brought the family scurrying to my study to know what it was all about. They were rather disappointed as our perceptions differed. They stayed back for celebrations on this discovery because our daughter and son-in-law are based in Berlin and would find the book useful to be read aloud to other German friends on Sundays.
Dayanand Saraswati – His Life and Ideas- by JTF Jordens, a former professor in the National Australian University, was borrowed from me by my son-in-law, Krishna Dev Ji and he found it so interesting and informative that he wants to have more Vedic literature to keep by his bedside to read every night. I E-mailed to him Satyarth Prakash in the German language and he found it so illuminating that he made copies and gave to his parents and uncle-aunty. The result of the Prachar is positive.
If Germans come, can the Chinese be far behind? Keats, the Romantic poet of England would please forgive me for twisting his eternal lines. I just could not resist. Of course, I was talking about the Chinese edition of the Satyarth Prakash. I had seen a copy on the shelf of the Savadeshik Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Dayanand Bhawan, Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi in happier days when Arya Samajists were happy to meet each other and compare notes. It was written in the old scriptof the Chinese language before the Communist party came to power, renamed their country as People’s Republic of China and simplified the sript so much that it is Greek to the older generation. Anyway, the rest of the world has no option but to accept what the Beijing government decrees about the mainland. Taiwan iss a different story but it matters little as it has no seat in the United Nations either.
The new language and the script are called Putung Hua or the People’s language. In China everything is done for the people but that may be for names sake. The rea beneficiaries are the big bosses of the ruling communistparty. May be, we talk about that later. Now the point at issue is presenting the Satyarth Prakash to the Chinese masses in the Chinese language in simplified script.Of course, a study in depth is required to assess the people’s requirement in China, availability of good translators who know both Chinese culture and Vedic Dharm, the cost involved and soon. Indeed assessing cost effectiveness is the most important point.
ONWARD MARCH
Our predecessors in the Arya Samaj did a lot in having the Satyarth Prakash translated in different languages. It is now our duty to see that we move forward and carry the lighted torch to be passed on to the youth of the new generation of Aryas to make the mission of Dayanand Saraswati a success. With the meagre means available to us, we have to ensure that we spend less and get more in return. Giving away Satyarth Prakash to students in olden days was considered to be a good policy. May be, it holds water even today. So, we have to identify our target, zero in over there and finally make a kill.
May I suggest that the Aryan leaders at the helm of affairs have a preliminary exchange of views on the subject. It may be thrown open to a larger gathering of Aryas where all pros and cons are taken into account. When the decision is made by the senior leaders of the Arya Samaj, the bugle may be sounded and we march forward non-stop until we reach our destination.
UPVAN 609, Sector 29, NOIDA -201303, INDIA. Mobile : 0-9811173590.
Email : upvanom@yahoo.com or sawantg.chitranjan@gmail.com

SATYARTH PRAKASH NOW PUBLISHED IN MANY LANGUAGES

AUM
SATYARTH PRAKASH PUBLISHED IN MANY LANGUAGES
By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
1875 was indeed an important year in the historical calendar of the great socio-religious movement that made an impact on the Mankind across the seven seas. The Arya Samaj was founded in Bombay, now Mumbai, on a Saturday afternoon in Kakarwadi residential area in the presence of no less a person than Swami Dayanand Saraswati. One hundred members were enrolled and the process of electing office bearers was absolutely democratic. Despite members beseeching the great Swami to become the Pradhan or the President of the Arya Samaj, the ascetic declined and remained firm on his decision.
Swami Dayanand Saraswati was following word for word, letter by letter what he had written in his magnum opus, the Satyarth Prakash, First Edition comprising twelve chapters ,a few months earlier in 1974 that saw the light of the day in print in the year 1975. The science of governance and the art of war were dealt with in Samullas sixth or chapter sixth,based on Manusmriti and now Swami Dayanand Saraswati was emulating what the Vedic Aryans had practised in running their Ganrajyas. The Satyarth Prakash, First Edition, was published in the Hindi language and Devnagari script.
The Seer from Gujarat could see the distant future and surmise that the Hindi language would be the lingua franca of all Indians in times to come. How right was he. The constitution of India promulgated on 26 January 1950 enshrined the Hindi language in Devnagari script as the National language as well as the official language. The Arya Samaj has all along been using Hindi as its language of prachar-prasar and day to day work. The second edition of the Satyarth Prakash comprising fourteen chapters and an annexure spelling out the beliefs of its writer was ready in 1883 but was published in 1884. Thus both the first and second editions of the Satyarth Prakash were rendered in Hindi.

LANGUAGE EDITIONS GALORE
The impact of the Satyarth Prakash was indeed tremendous in the North-western India. The Arya Samaj followed suit and enveloped the undivided Punjab of the British India. Lahore was the capital and it was there in the gardens of Dr Rahim Khan that Swami Dayanand himself led the forward march of Ved prachar and founded the Arya Samaj in 1877. Urdu was the official language of the undivided Punjab and there was no way but to publish the Urdu edition. Mahashay Rajpal, a fearless publisher of later period who championed the cause of freedom to publish was in the forefront of furthering the cause of the Ved prachar. Defending his right to publish what he wished to, Mahashay Rajpal became a martyr but upheld the right to publish till his last breath.
The Urdu edition of the Satyarth Prakash reached every Hindu home and the enlightened Muslims and Christians, not forgetting Sikhs wished to lay their hands on the revolutionary book and read it from their own angles. Satyarth Prakash was sold like hot cakes in the undivided Punjab and was instrumental in attracting the youth to the portals of the Arya Samaj. Even at the risk of being accused of repetitive writings ( King of Repetitions as a blood relative calls me but I don’t care), I must mention that it was an Urdu edition of Satyarth Prakash that had entered the portals of our house via the battlefields of France and Flanders in the First World War where my grand uncle had fought shoulder to shoulder with soldiers of the British Empire against the Germans and Turks. The entire thought process of the Sawant family was changed by the Urdu edition of the Satyarth Prakash and we never looked back. VEDIC was the creed from the Garbhadhan sanskar to the Antim sanskar, then to now. The future is bright too. An old edition in Urdu adorns our bookshelf even now. It feels outnumbered by the Hindi books, though. New lords, new laws, I guess !
The Gujarati edition, I am told, is quite popular in India and abroad. Of course, I have not seen one, reading is a different question altogether. Our Gujarati compatriots travel all over the world and those who happen to be under the wings of the Arya Samaj do not forget to pack a Gujarati edition of the Satyarth Prakash along with other essential items of travel.
GERMANS ARE COMING
World War One and World War two were dominated by the German armies in the initial stages. Europe was indeed scared of the German panzers rolling over their home and hearth. German engineering and German soldiering made a name for themselves. Of course, they lost both the wars, that is another story.
Satyarth Prakash in German language also made news in the Arya Samaj circles. Not many Aryas had heard of it before. Nor had I. The other day I was channel surfing looking for some fresh raw material about the Arya Samaj that I could work on and develop into a modest article for an International Arya Maha Sammelan but not much exiting material came into my ken. Sheer waste of time that channel surfing was, so I thought.
Lo and behold! If Mohammad does not go to the mountain, the mountain comes to Mohammet – so goe an old saying in English language. The Internet searhed, identified and fished for me the entire Satyarth Prakash in the German language. Amazing, I thought and my joy knew no bounds. I was bouncing like a ball. I even shrieked the way Archimedes had done when he discovered a theory in Science and came out of the bath in the nude. I behaved in a saner manner. However, my loud exclamation of pristine joy on finding Satyarth Prakash in the German language brought the family scurrying to my study to know what it was all about. They were rather disappointed as our perceptions differed. They stayed back for celebrations on this discovery because our daughter and son-in-law are based in Berlin and would find the book useful to be read aloud to other German friends on Sundays.
Dayanand Saraswati – His Life and Ideas- by JTF Jordens, a former professor in the National Australian University, was borrowed from me by my son-in-law, Krishna Dev Ji and he found it so interesting and informative that he wants to have more Vedic literature to keep by his bedside to read every night. I E-mailed to him Satyarth Prakash in the German language and he found it so illuminating that he made copies and gave to his parents and uncle-aunty. The result of the Prachar is positive.
If Germans come, can the Chinese be far behind? Keats, the Romantic poet of England would please forgive me for twisting his eternal lines. I just could not resist. Of course, I was talking about the Chinese edition of the Satyarth Prakash. I had seen a copy on the shelf of the Savadeshik Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Dayanand Bhawan, Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi in happier days when Arya Samajists were happy to meet each other and compare notes. It was written in the old scriptof the Chinese language before the Communist party came to power, renamed their country as People’s Republic of China and simplified the sript so much that it is Greek to the older generation. Anyway, the rest of the world has no option but to accept what the Beijing government decrees about the mainland. Taiwan iss a different story but it matters little as it has no seat in the United Nations either.
The new language and the script are called Putung Hua or the People’s language. In China everything is done for the people but that may be for names sake. The rea beneficiaries are the big bosses of the ruling communistparty. May be, we talk about that later. Now the point at issue is presenting the Satyarth Prakash to the Chinese masses in the Chinese language in simplified script.Of course, a study in depth is required to assess the people’s requirement in China, availability of good translators who know both Chinese culture and Vedic Dharm, the cost involved and soon. Indeed assessing cost effectiveness is the most important point.
ONWARD MARCH
Our predecessors in the Arya Samaj did a lot in having the Satyarth Prakash translated in different languages. It is now our duty to see that we move forward and carry the lighted torch to be passed on to the youth of the new generation of Aryas to make the mission of Dayanand Saraswati a success. With the meagre means available to us, we have to ensure that we spend less and get more in return. Giving away Satyarth Prakash to students in olden days was considered to be a good policy. May be, it holds water even today. So, we have to identify our target, zero in over there and finally make a kill.
May I suggest that the Aryan leaders at the helm of affairs have a preliminary exchange of views on the subject. It may be thrown open to a larger gathering of Aryas where all pros and cons are taken into account. When the decision is made by the senior leaders of the Arya Samaj, the bugle may be sounded and we march forward non-stop until we reach our destination.
UPVAN 609, Sector 29, NOIDA -201303, INDIA. Mobile : 0-9811173590.
Email : upvanom@yahoo.com or sawantg.chitranjan@gmail.com

SATYARTH PRAKASH A CATALYST FOR RENAISSANCE

AUM

SATYARTH PRAKASH A CATALYST OF VEDIC RENAISSANCE

By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM

France and Flanders of 1914. The First World War between Germany, Turkey and nations under their influence were on one side; England, France, their allies and colonies were in the opposite camp. Indeed the result was known to both the belligerent camps even before the battles were fought and lost by the German soldiers and their friendly nations.

SATYARTH PRAKASH OR THE LIGHT OF TRUTH, a magnum opus of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati, that had made godmen, false prophets, magicians masquerading as Mahants of many a centre of religion run for their money made a debut in the battle fields of France and Flanders among the Indian soldiers who hailed from the North India.
Satyarth Prakash was distributed by some soldiers free of cost. One copy in the Urdu language was offered to my grand uncle and he accepted it with thanks. On cessation of hostilities and signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the bayonets were put back in scabbards, swords were sheathed and bullets returned to bandoliers. The newly introduced Tanks of the Allied powers was recalled to factories for additional trials The short service commissioned officers were given the option to go home or join one of the para-military forces, jawans and enlisted men made a beeline to their pre-war professions.
My grand uncle, R.L. Sawant returned to his parent department with that prized copy of the Satyarth Prakash in his towed luggage.

The book brought Renaissance in the life of our rural oriented family. Learning Vedic Thought was the new craze. The outward changes were brought about and the whole family, including women folk, were overjoyed in being consulted by men folk while decisions of far reaching importance were being made. The prefix “Munshi”before the
surname, Sawant, was replaced by the new-fangled name, Mahashay. Many men and women liked it and loved to wear it on their sleeves. Rituals that smacked of some superstitious beliefs were given a go bye. The SANSKARS, sixteen of them, prescribed by Swami Dayanand Saraswati were now observed with a zeal and gusto unknown heretofore. Every effort was made to distance the Sawants from the traditional rituals and
old superstitions. The neo-Aryas of the younger generation were more enthusiastic than the original Aryas of the pre-historic age. Be that as it may, a complete make over of the Sawant family and many more families of that ilk was undergone willingly, painlessly and with aplomb. One had to see it to believe that the wave of the Vedic
Renaissance was around. Believe you me, one single book of 730 odd pages had done it. Named the Satyarth Prakash or Light of the Truth, the book was a masterpiece of the Vedic Philosophy of Life and also dealt with sundry subjects like Education, Marriages, Extinction of life that is Death, Rebirth, Death again and the cycle that has to be broken or sublimated in order to attain MOKSHA or liberation from that cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

THE BOOK THAT WAS

Not many men and women are aware of the fact that Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati wrote the book with the same name twice. His enemies in the realm of religion went out of their way to ensure that what came out of the printing press was not the same thing as what had been fed to the machines.

1875 – an important year indeed in the history of the Arya Samaj. That year the Arya Samaj was founded at Kakadwadi in Bombay, now Mumbai. The same year the First Edition of the Satyarth Prakash was published and lapped by the common man. Despite the printer’s devil, the book came as a welcome relief to Hindu man and women who were under attack from the Christian padre and the Muslim mullah. Preachers of the
India-oriented faiths were not at all kind to the Aryas and a war of words at short notice always sprang up to the delight of the imported Padre and the Fez cap wearing bearded Mullah or the English speaking padre who spared no opportunity to make a swipe at the sexy stories of the Bhagwat Puran. Preaching the new concept eulogised in the Vedas
was a hard nut to crack. Nevertheless the life went along at a place and a pace that hurt none but did not please anyone.

The First Edition of the Satyarth Prakash written in 1874 but published in 1875 contained grave errors. The 13th chapter dealing with the Christianity and the 14th chapter dealing with the anomalies of Islam were left out of the Satyarth Prakash by the printers. Some
whispers suggested that it was so devised so that the Christians and the Muslims are not annoyed. Swami Dayanand Saraswati noticed these grave errors and did not let them pass as Printer’s Devil. The great Sanyasi used to sit or stand in the centre with the script writers squatting around and penning down what the Rishivar dictated. Some of these pundits who were paid daily, surreptitiously interpolated and wrote on their own what the SANYASI had not dictated at all. At one place, the paid writers wrote sentences supporting meat eating. This had to be deleted before the 1883 edition of the Satyarth Prakash saw light of the day. There were a number of spelling mistakes too that could not be corrected before the First Edition was put on the shelf for sale.

Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati was a bold man. He did not want to let the erroneous edition remain in the market for sale. He recalled all of them. He withdrew the Edition from the booksellers in toto to be revised and published afresh. The Swami did that before his sad demise in 1883. He himself corrected all the mistakes but the corrected
edition could be marketed only after his death on 30th October 1883. Prof JTF Jordens of the University of Australia, a prolific writer on Dayanand Saraswati and Swami Shraddhanand Saraswati was pained at the interpolations and condemned the wrong-doers. He wrote that the First Edition was not available in the book market now.

Thus the mischief mongers had limited access to the First Edition and the extent of the
damage to the reputation of Swami Ji was thus contained. Let us leave it at that and explore other avenues where praise for the Second Edition is available. Let us examine that Edition that was published after the demise of Swami Dayanand Saraswati.

THE PRESENT EDITION

Taking the second edition of the Satyarth Prakash as it is, one finds that the order of chapters and their contents have been left undisturbed. The spelling mistakes have been, by and large, attended to.

There are no glaring mistakes and the Satyarth Prakash, Fifth Edition, is acceptable to the Aryan word. The chapters criticizing Christianity and Islam have been made an indivisible part of the book.When Swami Dayanand Saraswati included some material, good or bad, who are we to delete the same. In the eye of a good Arya Samajist, an attempt in that direction will indeed be an exercise in futility. It must be abandoned forthwith.

DEFENDING THE BOOK

•Since 1883, the book in question has been coming under attack off and on. On the one hand the Muslim diehard and on the other hand filing court cases to ban the book in perpetuity has borne no result for them. Attempts to launch a series of violent episodes against the bookseller, M/S Rajpal and Sons came to a naught. A horse may be brought to water but it cannot be forced to drink it. The advocates of other religions have filed legal cases against the publishers and promoters of the English edition of the Satyarth Prakash. One is glad to note that the riff-raffs who did this to gain cheap publicity have failed miserably.Now there is no case pending against the Arya Samaj or the Satyarth Prakash in any court of law.

ATTACK IS BEST FORM OF DEFENCE

Before the advent of the Arya Samaj and the aggressive spirit inculcated into the Aryas through the reading, research and meditation on the principles of Defence enunciated in the sixth chapter of the Satyarth Prakash that puts forth Raj Dharm for both Raja and Praja,an average Hindu was always on the defensive and bore the verbal attack of followers of other religions rather meekly. This emboldened them beyond imagination and a shieldless Hindu cowered. However, the battle situation underwent a dramatic change with the publication of the Satyarth Prakash First Edition in 1875 followed by
a more comprehensive edition containing 14 chapters unlike the First Edition that had only 12 chapters. The 1883 edition taught not only the Arya Samajists but also he-men of the dormant Hindu Samaj how to defend self, the family and the Hindu Dharma from the brutal onslaught of proselytising religions like Islam and Christianity.

The Arya Samaj, emboldened by the teachings of the Satyarth Prakash and personal example set by Maharishi Swami Dayanand Saraswati launched the Shuddhi movement and welcomed converts from other faiths with open arms. The recorded history bears witness to the fact that the writer of the Satyarth Prakash, Dayanand Saraswati Swami had motivated two Muslim men in Dehra Dun and Lucknow to convert to the Vedic Dharm which they did. Indeed in later years it was Shraddhanand Sanyasi, founder of the Gurukul Kangri, who brought back to the Vedic Dharma thousands of Muslim Malkana Rajputs and changed the scenario of religious conversations completely. The Aryas led the remaining Hindu community to develop a bold approach to life and launch attacks on
those who were known pre-dators in the human society.

The Hindus in general, led by the Arya Samajists, could now walk erect holding their heads high. And, pray, why not? All human beings have a right to live with honour and pay back the attacker in the same coins It is quite understandable that the new bold attitude to living life by votaries of the Vedic Dharma gave a jolt to the non-Hindus. I shall dismiss the complaints of non-Hindus by saying that the Thought and Action generated by the writings of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati in the Satyarth Prakash were the need of the hour. The magnum opus of the Aryas gave them and the rest of the Hindu samaj a place of honour under the firmament. They learnt how to be physically fit,mentally alert and spiritually robust to face any adverse situation, repulse any attack and assimilate any men and women of other faiths into the Vedic Dharma.

I have no reason to complain if the non-Hindus launched court cases galoreagainst the Satyarth Prakash. They thought that if the source of moral strength of the Hindus was eliminated legally, their new-found freedom of Dharma would die a pre-mature death. How mistaken they were who seek sustenance from Heaven Four and Heaven Seven, that is Christians and Muslims respectively, because the make-believe world does not preserve, protect and defend the humanity living in the real world of today. Some pacifists among the Hindus are of the opinion that we should live and let live. Fine. But how far removed they are from the hard realities of the 21st century The leaders of the Muslim community in India, especially in Kerala have launched a movement called
Love-Jihad.Their game plan is to entice the Hindu girls in their impressionable period of life, forcibly convert them to Islam and marry the Islamic way for form’s sake. Abandon them later or sell them into the flesh trade. No less a person than Justice Shankaran Nair, a sitting judge of the Kerala High Court, drew the attention of the govt to these nefarious activities and ordered the Police to investigate such cases and arrest the men indulging in marital fraud. It is here that the Satyarth Prakash is needed to be taught and the girls must be enlightened about the Vedic way of life and also how lowly life women who convert to Islam live. Pastors, priests, bishops and arch-bishops are on the war path of conversion in India that is Bharat.Their aim is to have as large a flock of Christians as possible to make the Shephard as happy as possible At whose cost will their flock increase?

Obviousy at the cost of the Hindu community. Therefore, the Aryas who read the Satyarth Prakash and follow the advice of the Rishivar in preserving, protecting and defending the Vedic Dharm believers from numerous attacks in all types of sweetened schemes must now become Pro-Active. Let us not wait for the proslytising priests to go into remote hamlets, villages, tribal habitats and then launch a counter offensive to ward off their nefarious schemes. It is the duty of Dayanand’s disciples to remain alert all the time and not let a situation arise where we lose our brethren and sisters to the flock of
Christ. Here again, it is the Satyarth Prakash that will come to our rescue to counter the false propaganda of Christian priests and not let our kith and kin go astray. In the grim situation today when the Hindu society is under surreptitious attack through stealth agencies that the Satyarth Prakash is needed by both the Purohit and plain Aryas. We must possess a personal copy each of the Satyarth Prakash printed and published in
a language that we are comfortable in.

Likewise, it is our religious obligation to freely give away copies of the Satyarth Prakash to people who cannot afford to buy themselves. Some copies of the Satyarth Prakash in English or Hindi or any other relevant language may be given away to students graduating from colleges. Even if ten per cent graduates read the Satyarth Prakash, our aim will be achieved. Let us make a beginning in this regard sometime somewhere. Let that sometime be NOW. If we make a beginning now, we will reach the destination and achieve our aim sooner than later. Indeed, Maharishi
Dayanand Saraswati’s Satyarth Prakash has been the catalyst for the Vedic Renaissance and the entire Mankind has been the beneficiary.

Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
UPVAN 609, Sector29, NOIDA -201303 INDIA
Mobile: 0091-9811173590

Email: upvanom@yahoo.com or sawantg.chitranjan@gmail.com