AUM
AMERICA AND ISRAEL ON COLLISON COURSE
By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
Unbelievable but true it is that the United States of America and Israel are not bosom friends any more. The closeness that the two countries experienced since the birth of the only Jewish state in the world in the late 1940s on cessation of hostilities in World War II is conspicuous by its absence now. The change in the very warm and friendly relationship between the two countries is a direct result of the new Middle-East policy formulated by President Barack Obama. He extended his hand of friendship to the Muslim community to end the confrontation between the major Christian but secular state, USA and the Arab-Muslim countries of the Middle-East. Obama’s idea was to have bon-homie, peace and prosperity in the conflict region so that America does not have to do Policing time and again. Of course making peace overtures to the Islamic countries of the region did not go well with Israel as it hurt its vital interests.
The Jewish community in the United States, especially in the New York state is sizeable in numbers and economic prosperity and thereby exercises political influence. The changed Mid-East policy of USA has not gone well with the Jewish-Americans. The general perception is that Obama has shown this tilt towards Muslim interests because of his own Islamic background. Isn’t it a fact that his biological and real father is a practising Muslim from Kenya and was introduced as such at the Presidential inauguration ceremony in Washington DC. Further, Barack Obama spent the impressionable period of his life in Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim country. Perhaps that explains the tilt towards Islam in the new foreign policy of USA being promoted byBarack Obama now.
CONFLICT AREAS
The eye of the Islamic world is presently focussed on the manner and method that USA will adopt to implement the new foreign policy of keeping both Israel and Palestine on board in the formation of a new full fledged State with economically viable and militarily defensible borders. The real clash of political interest between Israel and Palestine starts here. America wants to create a new state of Palestine with boundaries that existed prior to the 1967 war between Arabs and Israel that the former lost. Under no circumstances is Israel prepared to cede the territory to Arabs that it had won in the 1967 Arab-Israel war of six days. Benjamin Netanyahu, the present Prime Minister of Israel has already declared the new boundaries of Israel, as proposed by America, as indefensible. The Palestinians wish to have Jerusalem as their capital whereas the Israelis already have the ancient city as their symbolic capital. Jerusalem is dear to heart of Muslims, Christians, and now Jews too. Eventually Jerusalem may turn out to be the main bone of contention. So, one may say that fruits will belong to the man who nurtured the plants and helped them grow into trees.
PERSONAL EQUATIONS
In a round of negotiations,it is the final word that matters. Likewise, it is the Supreme Court that will be the final arbiter of thousands of feet, hands and mouths to feed. Americans were cool, calm and collected when the chips were down and it was a matter of life and death. The Americanshad cheese in their custody what they wanted most.
Sri Benjamin Netanyah, PrimeMinister of the youngest powerful State of the world, Benjamin Netanyahu may find no reception organised for him because of some misunderstanding among the major negotiating powers. In the last two years, that is since Obama became the President of the United States, the relationship between Benjamin Netanyahu, Youngish looking President of the United States do not enjoy a close friendly relationship, what to say of being bosom friends where they can boast of breaking bread together when they move out of the negotiation room. Since the two Prime Ministers have come to the negotiation tables more to poke fun at each other and peep into his private life, if any. Even the Prime Minister of the youngest baby on the world stage has blessed the ongoing talks but did not display own car keys. While discussing the matters of state, it is the tiny tot that draws your attention and leaves the rest to the world community to work on the ticklish state.
In any case it is well known from day one that Barack Obama and Benyamin Netanyahuare not warm to each other. They are barely on nodding terms and hate to look into apple of the eye or find out what the grand child is doing. Even a beginner of military psychology will say that how can they negotiate since the bandage helps commence conversation. It would not be inappropriate for the Prime Minister of country X to say Hello to the Prime Minister of country Y so that there is some thaw in the otherwise cold conversation that had failed to commence.
NO SILVER LINING
The dark clouds are in abundance. There is no silver lining, though. If the doctors do that, the hospital building will collapse. It is said that mere touch of human beings who are blessed with holistic healing will go a long way in making or unmaking of a real hospital.
As of now, leaders of important countries of the world feel cheated on being left out. It is not the food that matters, it is the fact of being seen at the negotiating table that matters. After all it is the human society where one upmanship will remain in currency. It is applicable to men and women of all professions and this kind of politico-social mixing gives the prime minister or any other minister that all important aura that all of us crave for.
Benyamin Netanyahu has already rejected the call of Barack Obama to make the boundaries that existed in 1967 as the base for the negotiation to take off. He has reiterated that those boundaries for Israel are indefensible and, therefore, will render the State of Israel vulnerable even to feeble attacks of one-man army of some unimportant Islamist terror outfit. It appears that the situation will be back to square one and all concerned will go home for a homely reunion with own folks.
UPVAN 609, Sector 29, Noida – 201303, INDIA. Mobile : 0091-9811173590.
Email – upvanom@yahoo.com and sawantg.chitranjan@gmail.com
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
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Friday, April 29, 2011
IMPEACHMENT IMPOSSIBLE IN INDIA
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chitranjan sawant
•
chitranjan sawant
AUM.
IMPEACHMENT IMPOSSIBLE IN INDIA
By Chitranjan Sawant
Chief Justice of India knows very well that BHRASHTACHAR or Corruption of the worst order is eating into the vitals of India,that is Bharat. The three pillars of democracy - legislature, executive and judiciary have failed to stop corrupt practices from one part or from all parts collectively or severally.
There are a number of checks and balances in the judiciary to see that corruption is kept at bay. In good old days there was no corruption in higher judiciary. Corruption had touched only the periphery of the lower judiciary, mostly the ministerial staff. The judges were, like Caesar's wife, above suspicion. The judges were not only well paid but also had no inclination to come in contact with touts, munshis or other suspicious characters who indulged in this sort of dubious game. The judges did not accept bribe that could influence judicial decisions. By and large, honesty prevailed in the temple of justice.
GODDESS OF JUSTICE WENT BLIND
The goddess of justice has a piece of black cloth tied over her eyes so that she does not see either the plaintiff or the defendant or the witnesses and is, therefore, not influenced by any party to the litigation. She is not blind though and has clear cut legal perception. She lets justice be done and also seen to be done.
Unfortunately there was a sudden flood of recruitment of judicial officers and judicial magistrates when the Executive and Judiciary were separated as per the constitutional directives. The judicial officers were recruited on such a large scale that the quality of judgements and ethics could not but suffer. Corruption of all sorts made big inroads into the judiciary. Since all concerned gained notoriety for receiving their shares of the bribe, there was no one to entertain a complaint against corruption. Members of the judicial system were thick as thieves because they were all beneficiaries of the corrupt system as stated earlier.
IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGES
The higher judiciary had been above board all along until the Executive meddled with the appointment of judges and had their own favourites appointed as judges of high courts and the Supreme Court of India to get favourable judgements in cases of political nature. In the cases where the Constitutional Law was involved, it was important for the government of the day in New Delhi to see that the Judiciary did not upset the political applecart. Indira Gandhi was a trail blazer and the first one to have the Supreme Court judges superceded to get her own man selected as the chief justice of India. The downhill run started from there and no one could stop this roll down.
If judgements could be influenced by prime minister and other central ministers, then they could be bought by other litigants too. The big business houses and tycoons were not far behind in buying the judiciary unashamedly. Judges too had a free run in making money and asking litigants for favours of sorts like receiving an air conditioner or other accessories of computers or sleek laptops.In one case when the police raided the house of a businessman, it found a case file along with a draft judgement that the judge himself had given to the client in lieu of a small monetary gain.It goes without saying that the hon’ble high court judge had dictated the judgement that went in favour of the businessman-client from whose house the police had recovered all sorts of contraband goods and the case file of the high court concerned. Judiciary was put to shame.
The Chief Justice of an important high court had spent public money in buying presents and gifts for his daughter's wedding and was caught accepting financial favours from the rich clients. He was not only removed from the bench deciding judicial cases but was also subjected to impeachment proceedings in the Indian Parliament. It was a foolproof case against the sitting chief justice and he was sure to be impeached successfully.
Lo and behold! the Congress party in Parliament decided, under the leadership of late Rajiv Gandhi, to abstain from voting on the motion of impeachment. The motion fell as the requisite number of votes in favour of impeachment could not be cast owing to abstention of the Congress members.
Thus a dishonest judge saved himself from the first impeachment despite overwhelming and unassailable evidence against him. Corruption at a high level was condoned by those who were at the helm of affairs of the Indian National Congress leading to gross miscarriage of justice. The counsels, advocates, litigants and passers by – they all take interest in such cases of miscarriage of jusice and ask themselves whether they will get justice in their own pending cases in an atmosphere where corruption is rampant. Moreover, if the said chief justice of the high court was let off on a technical point because a political party chose to refrain from participating in the voting system, what would happen to corrupt judges of the higher judiciary in future.
Who will bell the cat, even if a bell has been procured? None, my lord, none.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
#comment-form Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
#comment-form
Please read my comments already given and publish them as you wish. Thanks.
Please read my comments already given and publish them as you wish. Thanks.
Monday, December 13, 2010
VEDIC WORKSHOP AT KERALA
Kerala Arya Prathinidhi Sabha is conducting a study camp on 25 Dec 2010 at Vidyadhiraja Vidya Bhawan, Aluva. Apart from study classes there will be a Commemorative function on late Acharya Narendra Bhooshan ji and observing the Martyrdom day of immortal Arya Missionary Swamy Shradhanand. Shri. KV Madanan (Vice President of VHP), Shri. Raju Poonjar (President, Kerala Arya Prathinidhi Sabha), Shri. Radhakrishna Vaidik, Shri. Arun Kumar Trivedi (Secretary, Arya Samaj Bangalore), etc. will take classes on different Vedic topics. All are cordially invited
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
HOMAGE TO ARYA MISSIONARY ACHARYA NARENDRA BHOOSHAN
Noted Vedic scholar and Arya Missionary Acharya Narendra Bhooshan passed away at 6.40 am on 16 Nov 2010 in Kochi. On his demise Aryan world has lost an exemplary scholar and propagator of vedic ideals.
Acharya ji was born on 22 May 1937 at Chengannur in Kerala. He got academic education from Kallissery High School and NSS College Changanassery. Later on he obtained Vidyarathna, Vidya Bhooshan, Acharya degrees from Arya Samaj Gurukul at Hissar in Haryana. After his Gurukul studies he devoted his life for propagation of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswathi’s ideals in Kerala. He continued the unfinished vedic propagation works of earlier Arya Missionaries of Kerala like Pandit Veda Bandhu Sharma and Swamy Parameswarananda ((formerly known as Sadhuseelan Parameshwaran Pillai in his purva ashram). He almost single handedly prevented the outflow from Hinduism to Christianity/Islam in southern Kerala and conducted many shudhi (re-conversions) works. He also took an active role during 1975 emergency period as a part of Bharathiya Jan Sangh to bring back democracy and served Jail sentence. He started the first ever Malaylam vedic journal named ‘Arshanadam’ from Chengannur. This magazine made a tremendous social impact in Kerala. The Agnihothram and other vedic yagyas got popularity among general public with his vibrant articles in this journal and other literary works. With the quoting from vedic literatures he defended the sanathan dharma i.e. present day Hinduism from the onslaught of its adversaries.
He has to his credit a large number of books - translations, commentary and his original works. His contribution for propagating the ideals of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswathi and his literatures moulded many youngsters to select the path shown by Rishi Dayanand in Kerala. The contribution of Swamy Dayananda Saraswathy and Aryasamaj were made familiar to the people of Kerala mainly through Acharya's translated work of "Sathyartha Prakasham" and Veda Paryadanam which were originally written in Hindi.
Major Works : Some of his major works are appended below :-
1. Chathurveda Samhitha
2. Commentaries on all major Upanishads.
3. Translation of Geetha Rahasyam of Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak.
4. Translation of Sathyartha Prakasam and Rigvedadi Bhashya bhoomika (Veda Paryadanam) of Maharshi Dayanand.
5. Translation of Justice Ganga Prasad Upadhyaya's book ‘Origin of Religion’.
6. Translation of Swamy Sathyapathi Parivrajaka's "Yogameemamsa"
7. Purooravasum Urvasiyum.
8. Devathakalude Vaidika Sankalpam.
9. Veda Geethamrutham.
10. Yogeswaranaya Sree Krishnan.
11. Mathavum Yukthiyum
12. Vaidika Sahithya Charithram.
13. Achara Bhanu.
14. Paralokavum Punarjanmavum.
Awards and Honours
Acharya Narendra Bhooshan was also the recipient of many awards and recognitions. The Arya Samaj Centenary puraskar 1983, Maharshi Dayanand Puraskar both from Ajmeer, the Vedopadesha Puraskar Bombay in 1992 presented by the then President of India, Dr Gyani Zail Singh, are a few to name. The first Amrita Keerthi Puraskaram (award) was also bestowed to Acharya Narendra Bhooshan. He was among the panel of scholars to prepare the History of Vedic literature in 1988 for the Kerala Sahitya Academy. This work was published by the Academy in 1991. He also served as a member in the selection committee for Academy Award of Kerala Sahitya Academy. He was entrusted by the Kerala state language institute to prepare the history of the three reformation movements of 19th Century, the Arya Samaj, the Brahma Samaj and Prarthana Samaj.
Let us take inspiration from his work and continue the Veda Prachar. This will be the great tributes to the departed soul. Pranaam to the departed soul!
Om krinvantho vishwamaryam!
Acharya ji was born on 22 May 1937 at Chengannur in Kerala. He got academic education from Kallissery High School and NSS College Changanassery. Later on he obtained Vidyarathna, Vidya Bhooshan, Acharya degrees from Arya Samaj Gurukul at Hissar in Haryana. After his Gurukul studies he devoted his life for propagation of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswathi’s ideals in Kerala. He continued the unfinished vedic propagation works of earlier Arya Missionaries of Kerala like Pandit Veda Bandhu Sharma and Swamy Parameswarananda ((formerly known as Sadhuseelan Parameshwaran Pillai in his purva ashram). He almost single handedly prevented the outflow from Hinduism to Christianity/Islam in southern Kerala and conducted many shudhi (re-conversions) works. He also took an active role during 1975 emergency period as a part of Bharathiya Jan Sangh to bring back democracy and served Jail sentence. He started the first ever Malaylam vedic journal named ‘Arshanadam’ from Chengannur. This magazine made a tremendous social impact in Kerala. The Agnihothram and other vedic yagyas got popularity among general public with his vibrant articles in this journal and other literary works. With the quoting from vedic literatures he defended the sanathan dharma i.e. present day Hinduism from the onslaught of its adversaries.
He has to his credit a large number of books - translations, commentary and his original works. His contribution for propagating the ideals of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswathi and his literatures moulded many youngsters to select the path shown by Rishi Dayanand in Kerala. The contribution of Swamy Dayananda Saraswathy and Aryasamaj were made familiar to the people of Kerala mainly through Acharya's translated work of "Sathyartha Prakasham" and Veda Paryadanam which were originally written in Hindi.
Major Works : Some of his major works are appended below :-
1. Chathurveda Samhitha
2. Commentaries on all major Upanishads.
3. Translation of Geetha Rahasyam of Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak.
4. Translation of Sathyartha Prakasam and Rigvedadi Bhashya bhoomika (Veda Paryadanam) of Maharshi Dayanand.
5. Translation of Justice Ganga Prasad Upadhyaya's book ‘Origin of Religion’.
6. Translation of Swamy Sathyapathi Parivrajaka's "Yogameemamsa"
7. Purooravasum Urvasiyum.
8. Devathakalude Vaidika Sankalpam.
9. Veda Geethamrutham.
10. Yogeswaranaya Sree Krishnan.
11. Mathavum Yukthiyum
12. Vaidika Sahithya Charithram.
13. Achara Bhanu.
14. Paralokavum Punarjanmavum.
Awards and Honours
Acharya Narendra Bhooshan was also the recipient of many awards and recognitions. The Arya Samaj Centenary puraskar 1983, Maharshi Dayanand Puraskar both from Ajmeer, the Vedopadesha Puraskar Bombay in 1992 presented by the then President of India, Dr Gyani Zail Singh, are a few to name. The first Amrita Keerthi Puraskaram (award) was also bestowed to Acharya Narendra Bhooshan. He was among the panel of scholars to prepare the History of Vedic literature in 1988 for the Kerala Sahitya Academy. This work was published by the Academy in 1991. He also served as a member in the selection committee for Academy Award of Kerala Sahitya Academy. He was entrusted by the Kerala state language institute to prepare the history of the three reformation movements of 19th Century, the Arya Samaj, the Brahma Samaj and Prarthana Samaj.
Let us take inspiration from his work and continue the Veda Prachar. This will be the great tributes to the departed soul. Pranaam to the departed soul!
Om krinvantho vishwamaryam!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
PATHIK FROM PESHAWAR
PATHIK FROM PESHAWAR COURTED MARTYRDOM
By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
The Vedic world knows him as Pundit Lekh Ram, Arya Musafir. Once he made up his mind that the Vedic Dharm was the first and the last word to guide human behaviour from A to Z, there was no going back on it. He was a man of determination and possessed perseverance. Once the goal was set, he left no stone unturned to reach there. He was a clear headed man who knew how to determine what the aim was and once the aim was set, maintenance of aim was no problem to him. There was no deviation from the aim and it had to be achieved, come what may. Of course, he had to tread on the toes of others but he did not mind it. If others did, he would say – I don’t care. Pt Lekh Ram had a many-faceted personality but the overriding element was principles, precepts and preaching of the Vedas based Dharma as propounded by Maharishi Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the great religious and social reformer of the 19th century India.
DEVELOPMENT OF LEKH RAM : MAN AND MISSION
Born in 1858 in Saidpur in district Jhelum, now in Pakistan, he inherited knowledge of languages and the unparalleled spirit of “Giving” and not Grabbing from the soil and tradition of the village. Just to quote one example, Lala Dewan Chand, the great Arya philanthropist and martyred freedom fighter, Khushiram Ji were also born and brought up in Saidpur. Pt Lekh ram was initially named as Lekh Raj but later in his writings he preferred the name Lekh Ram.
Pt Lekh Ram had had a taste of various sects of Hinduism and teachings of Guru Nanak Dev until he found his moorings in the teachings of the Vedic Dharm after he have had a number of meetings with Swami Dayanand Saraswati at Ajmer on 17 May 1881. Under a false notion, Lekh Ram Ji used to consider himself as Brahm but after a meaningful exchange of views with Swami Dayanand Saraswati, he became a votary of the Vedic Trinity. Now he knew that he was a Jeevatma and Parmatma as well as prakriti were separate and different entities.
This meeting between Rishivar and Punditji was of great significance to the Arya Samaj. The Arya Samaj got a committed writer of Life of Dayanand Saraswati, his life and thought based on interviews with people who had met the great reformer. Pundit Lekh Ram had started his mission of collection of authentic material to write the biography of Rishivar on 11 December 1888, five years after the Rishi’s untimely and sad demise. Pt Lekh Ram took great care that fact and fiction did not intermingle and finally gave the Arya Samaj a biography of its founder that is par excellence. It was a biography based on interviews recorded at the spot where events had taken place. Obviously, Pt Lekh Ram travelled a lot all over the place where Swami Dayanand had gone, lectured, written his memorable treatises and faced worldly problems generated by jealousy, superstitions and miscalculations.
In the scheme of collection of facts and holding interviews, Pt Lekh Ram did not ignore his mission of teaching and preaching tenets of the Vedic Dharm. He did a fine balancing act between writing of biography and delivering of Vedic sermons. The latter was done at his own cost lest the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Lahore took it as an infringement of its financial guidelines. Pandit Ji chose to forego the Dakshina for the period he was not collecting facts for the biography and delivering sermons instead.
Another facet of Pandit Ji’s personality emerged during these extensive travels. He became a consummate writer of Travelogues in the Urdu language, possibly the first one. The essays on travel were published under the caption “Safarnama”. Sadly, not much has survived of that unique piece of literature. Here I am reminded of Lord Francis Bacon, the famous essayist of the English language, who wrote a line “Travel makes a man perfect”, and this perfection could be discerned in the travels and writings of Pt Lekh Ram.
Pt Lekh Ram had a close relationship with Peshawar, the capital city of the North-Western Frontier Province NWFP). He was posted there as a sergeant in the Police Dept but did not let his profession interfere with his Vedic Dharm. When things came to a pass, he preferred to resign from the government service rather than let the profession have better of him. As an Arya Samajist he did not let low cast men be looked down upon. Once when he was posted in a police station where the Station House Officer was a Muslim Pathan and an orderly was a Mazahabi Sikh (of low caste), he made it a point to shake hands with him to obliterate casteism. This used to happen much to the chagrin of the Thanedar Saheb who was a great believer in his high caste. Pandit Ji used to do Namaste to others as he believed in the Aryan way of greetings. However, soon the dept and the Vedic missionary parted ways when he hung up his police uniform for good. It may, however, be mentioned that while in the police service he published and edited a weekly named, Dharmopadesh. Later he was the editor of Arya Gazette that carved a niche in the world of journalism. While collecting material for Swami Ji’s biography, he published a timely weekly called Arya Vijay.
Pt Lekh Ram was always available to the new generation for advice and guidance. ‘TEHRIR AND TAQREER’, THAT IS WRITING AND DELIVERING SERMONS MUST NEVER CEASE – that was his counselling to all Arya Samajists. Indeed writing new articles or books meant an intensive study of the subject and thus the preachers who deliver the sermon will be knowledgeable. It should be an ongoing process in this Arya Samaj movement so that the mission of Swami Dayanand Saraswati touches new heights day after day.
Pt Lekh Ram Ji used to do self study and also some writing whenever he got time off the work as a Vedic missionary. One late evening as he was busy writing, oil in the lamp was exhausted. Shops were closed. So he walked along the railway line to the Kothi of Mahatma Munshi Ram as enough light was available in his Dewankhana. Thus he achieved the intended target of writing for that evening. Man with a mission knew how to achieve the aim surmounting problems, both major and minor.
Pt Lekh Ram was the moving spirit behind the Arya Samaj, Peshawar, now in Pakistan. He collected funds to have an impressive building erected as the epicentre of the Ved prachar activities. The impressive Arya Samaj bhawan had a pride of place among religious institutions of Peshawar.
The city of Pathans, both Hindus and Muslims, had influenced the dress code of Pundit Lekh Ram. He would wear a tight pyjama, a shirt, a waist coat and a turban tied in the typical frontier style. While talking of dress code, I must make a mention of an incident in Jullundur. Pt Lekh Ram was staying with Mahatma Munshi Ram and the latter had started wearing a Dhoti by then as a pracharak. One day Pt Lekh Ram told him “Lalaji, you are an energetic man and a tireless worker of the Arya Samaj. It is a loose-fitting wear of the slovenly easterners and does not befit us”. Mahatma Munshi Ram just laughed it away. The writer of these lines is fond of tying a Dhoti as a pracharak, be it a visit to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, a travel to Tibet or addressing a gathering of cadets. My Indian dress earned me a new name, “Dhoti Wale Brigadier Saheb”. I am with Mahatma Munshi Ram on this point and not with Pundit lekh Ram. No disrespect meant to him; I revere him.
Pt Lekh Ram was always there where he was needed most. Whenever he heard that a Hindu or a group of Hindus were about to convert to Islam or Christianity, he would rush to that spot to convince them not to cross over. More often than not he was successful in his mission. It is said that once he was going on a similar mission to a mofussil town but entrained in an express train that did not stop there, so Punditji just leaped out of the train as it slowed a little at the platform. Although he was hurt but he reached his destination on time and his mission of retaining a group of Hindus in the family fold was a great success. The veracity of this story stands confirmed by independent sources of the time.
CLASH WITH QADIANIS
A major part of Pt Lekh Ram’s time and energy was spent in countering the Ahmedias and their Head, Mirza Ghulam Ahmed Qadiani, who were always out to attack the Hindus in general and the Arya Samajists in particular. In retrospect one may say that the Ahmedias who clashed with the Hindus on behalf of the Muslims, were not considered to be true Muslims. In Pakistan the Ahmediyas are listed as non-Muslims. What a shame for the Mirza, who deputed a man to assassinate Pt lekh Ram, to be called a non-Muslim. The Ahmedias are hounded out by Sunnis all over the place. And it was one of them who lived with Pt Lekh Ram and dined with him expressing a wish to be converted a Vedic Dharmi. The drama was staged by that wretched fellow for a few days and one night he surreptitiously plunged his long knife into his abdomen. Pt Lekh Ram became a martyr in the cause of the Vedic Dharm on 6 March1897 at a young age of 39 years. The Mirza unashamedly owned having plotted this heinous crime of murder in cold blood.
Lahore was shocked. The Hindus and Sikha mourned Pt Lekh Ram’s assassination in thousands. The Arya Samajists of all shades displayed a rare sense of unity at the cremation ground in Lahore. Lakshmi Devi Ji, the widow of Pt lekh Ram who had the bliss of marital life for just four years, took a pledge to continue working for the cause that her husband had died for. She donated the entire money of his life insurance to the cause of the Vedic Dharm. She made this sacrifice notwithstanding the advice of many well wishers like Mahatma Munshi Ram to save some money for a rainy day. She was so inspired by the martyrdom and Vedic ideals of her late husband that she wished to donate every paisa that she had and did so. Later, at one of the convocation ceremonies of the Gurukul Kangri, Haridwar , venerable Lakshmi Devi Ji donated all her gold and jewellery for the flagship of the Vedic Shiksha. Her sacrifice and the martyrdom of her husband bore fruits in various activities of the Arya Samaj and the Gurukul. Of the money donated by her, a Foundation for education of brilliant but poor students was established. We are proud to narrate that the first beneficiary of this munificence was a young boy from Saharanpur who was transformed into an illustrious Vedic scholar. The world knows him as Pt Budh Dev Ji Vedalankar, later known as Swami Samarpananand Ji.
Swami Shraddhanand Ji, among others, had paid glowing tribute to the martyred Pt Lekh Ram thus: He was a DHARMVIR AND A KARMVIR. Indeed a fearless fighter for the cause of the Vedic Dharm. He was a true believer in Param Pita Parmatma and the Lord loved him.
Pundit Lekh Ram is a torch bearer removing darkness for others. His martyrdom inspired other Aryas to follow into his footsteps. Swami Shraddhanand, Mahashay Rajpal and many others of the Hyderabad satyagrah attained martyrdom for the cause of the Vedic Dharm. Indeed they walked fearlessly on the path of martyrdom for the Vedic Dharm paved by Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati himself.
UPVAN 609, Sector 29, Noida – 201303. INDIA. Mobile : 0091-9811173590.
Email : upvanom@yahoo.com sawantg.chitranjan@gmail.com
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By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
The Vedic world knows him as Pundit Lekh Ram, Arya Musafir. Once he made up his mind that the Vedic Dharm was the first and the last word to guide human behaviour from A to Z, there was no going back on it. He was a man of determination and possessed perseverance. Once the goal was set, he left no stone unturned to reach there. He was a clear headed man who knew how to determine what the aim was and once the aim was set, maintenance of aim was no problem to him. There was no deviation from the aim and it had to be achieved, come what may. Of course, he had to tread on the toes of others but he did not mind it. If others did, he would say – I don’t care. Pt Lekh Ram had a many-faceted personality but the overriding element was principles, precepts and preaching of the Vedas based Dharma as propounded by Maharishi Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the great religious and social reformer of the 19th century India.
DEVELOPMENT OF LEKH RAM : MAN AND MISSION
Born in 1858 in Saidpur in district Jhelum, now in Pakistan, he inherited knowledge of languages and the unparalleled spirit of “Giving” and not Grabbing from the soil and tradition of the village. Just to quote one example, Lala Dewan Chand, the great Arya philanthropist and martyred freedom fighter, Khushiram Ji were also born and brought up in Saidpur. Pt Lekh ram was initially named as Lekh Raj but later in his writings he preferred the name Lekh Ram.
Pt Lekh Ram had had a taste of various sects of Hinduism and teachings of Guru Nanak Dev until he found his moorings in the teachings of the Vedic Dharm after he have had a number of meetings with Swami Dayanand Saraswati at Ajmer on 17 May 1881. Under a false notion, Lekh Ram Ji used to consider himself as Brahm but after a meaningful exchange of views with Swami Dayanand Saraswati, he became a votary of the Vedic Trinity. Now he knew that he was a Jeevatma and Parmatma as well as prakriti were separate and different entities.
This meeting between Rishivar and Punditji was of great significance to the Arya Samaj. The Arya Samaj got a committed writer of Life of Dayanand Saraswati, his life and thought based on interviews with people who had met the great reformer. Pundit Lekh Ram had started his mission of collection of authentic material to write the biography of Rishivar on 11 December 1888, five years after the Rishi’s untimely and sad demise. Pt Lekh Ram took great care that fact and fiction did not intermingle and finally gave the Arya Samaj a biography of its founder that is par excellence. It was a biography based on interviews recorded at the spot where events had taken place. Obviously, Pt Lekh Ram travelled a lot all over the place where Swami Dayanand had gone, lectured, written his memorable treatises and faced worldly problems generated by jealousy, superstitions and miscalculations.
In the scheme of collection of facts and holding interviews, Pt Lekh Ram did not ignore his mission of teaching and preaching tenets of the Vedic Dharm. He did a fine balancing act between writing of biography and delivering of Vedic sermons. The latter was done at his own cost lest the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Lahore took it as an infringement of its financial guidelines. Pandit Ji chose to forego the Dakshina for the period he was not collecting facts for the biography and delivering sermons instead.
Another facet of Pandit Ji’s personality emerged during these extensive travels. He became a consummate writer of Travelogues in the Urdu language, possibly the first one. The essays on travel were published under the caption “Safarnama”. Sadly, not much has survived of that unique piece of literature. Here I am reminded of Lord Francis Bacon, the famous essayist of the English language, who wrote a line “Travel makes a man perfect”, and this perfection could be discerned in the travels and writings of Pt Lekh Ram.
Pt Lekh Ram had a close relationship with Peshawar, the capital city of the North-Western Frontier Province NWFP). He was posted there as a sergeant in the Police Dept but did not let his profession interfere with his Vedic Dharm. When things came to a pass, he preferred to resign from the government service rather than let the profession have better of him. As an Arya Samajist he did not let low cast men be looked down upon. Once when he was posted in a police station where the Station House Officer was a Muslim Pathan and an orderly was a Mazahabi Sikh (of low caste), he made it a point to shake hands with him to obliterate casteism. This used to happen much to the chagrin of the Thanedar Saheb who was a great believer in his high caste. Pandit Ji used to do Namaste to others as he believed in the Aryan way of greetings. However, soon the dept and the Vedic missionary parted ways when he hung up his police uniform for good. It may, however, be mentioned that while in the police service he published and edited a weekly named, Dharmopadesh. Later he was the editor of Arya Gazette that carved a niche in the world of journalism. While collecting material for Swami Ji’s biography, he published a timely weekly called Arya Vijay.
Pt Lekh Ram was always available to the new generation for advice and guidance. ‘TEHRIR AND TAQREER’, THAT IS WRITING AND DELIVERING SERMONS MUST NEVER CEASE – that was his counselling to all Arya Samajists. Indeed writing new articles or books meant an intensive study of the subject and thus the preachers who deliver the sermon will be knowledgeable. It should be an ongoing process in this Arya Samaj movement so that the mission of Swami Dayanand Saraswati touches new heights day after day.
Pt Lekh Ram Ji used to do self study and also some writing whenever he got time off the work as a Vedic missionary. One late evening as he was busy writing, oil in the lamp was exhausted. Shops were closed. So he walked along the railway line to the Kothi of Mahatma Munshi Ram as enough light was available in his Dewankhana. Thus he achieved the intended target of writing for that evening. Man with a mission knew how to achieve the aim surmounting problems, both major and minor.
Pt Lekh Ram was the moving spirit behind the Arya Samaj, Peshawar, now in Pakistan. He collected funds to have an impressive building erected as the epicentre of the Ved prachar activities. The impressive Arya Samaj bhawan had a pride of place among religious institutions of Peshawar.
The city of Pathans, both Hindus and Muslims, had influenced the dress code of Pundit Lekh Ram. He would wear a tight pyjama, a shirt, a waist coat and a turban tied in the typical frontier style. While talking of dress code, I must make a mention of an incident in Jullundur. Pt Lekh Ram was staying with Mahatma Munshi Ram and the latter had started wearing a Dhoti by then as a pracharak. One day Pt Lekh Ram told him “Lalaji, you are an energetic man and a tireless worker of the Arya Samaj. It is a loose-fitting wear of the slovenly easterners and does not befit us”. Mahatma Munshi Ram just laughed it away. The writer of these lines is fond of tying a Dhoti as a pracharak, be it a visit to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, a travel to Tibet or addressing a gathering of cadets. My Indian dress earned me a new name, “Dhoti Wale Brigadier Saheb”. I am with Mahatma Munshi Ram on this point and not with Pundit lekh Ram. No disrespect meant to him; I revere him.
Pt Lekh Ram was always there where he was needed most. Whenever he heard that a Hindu or a group of Hindus were about to convert to Islam or Christianity, he would rush to that spot to convince them not to cross over. More often than not he was successful in his mission. It is said that once he was going on a similar mission to a mofussil town but entrained in an express train that did not stop there, so Punditji just leaped out of the train as it slowed a little at the platform. Although he was hurt but he reached his destination on time and his mission of retaining a group of Hindus in the family fold was a great success. The veracity of this story stands confirmed by independent sources of the time.
CLASH WITH QADIANIS
A major part of Pt Lekh Ram’s time and energy was spent in countering the Ahmedias and their Head, Mirza Ghulam Ahmed Qadiani, who were always out to attack the Hindus in general and the Arya Samajists in particular. In retrospect one may say that the Ahmedias who clashed with the Hindus on behalf of the Muslims, were not considered to be true Muslims. In Pakistan the Ahmediyas are listed as non-Muslims. What a shame for the Mirza, who deputed a man to assassinate Pt lekh Ram, to be called a non-Muslim. The Ahmedias are hounded out by Sunnis all over the place. And it was one of them who lived with Pt Lekh Ram and dined with him expressing a wish to be converted a Vedic Dharmi. The drama was staged by that wretched fellow for a few days and one night he surreptitiously plunged his long knife into his abdomen. Pt Lekh Ram became a martyr in the cause of the Vedic Dharm on 6 March1897 at a young age of 39 years. The Mirza unashamedly owned having plotted this heinous crime of murder in cold blood.
Lahore was shocked. The Hindus and Sikha mourned Pt Lekh Ram’s assassination in thousands. The Arya Samajists of all shades displayed a rare sense of unity at the cremation ground in Lahore. Lakshmi Devi Ji, the widow of Pt lekh Ram who had the bliss of marital life for just four years, took a pledge to continue working for the cause that her husband had died for. She donated the entire money of his life insurance to the cause of the Vedic Dharm. She made this sacrifice notwithstanding the advice of many well wishers like Mahatma Munshi Ram to save some money for a rainy day. She was so inspired by the martyrdom and Vedic ideals of her late husband that she wished to donate every paisa that she had and did so. Later, at one of the convocation ceremonies of the Gurukul Kangri, Haridwar , venerable Lakshmi Devi Ji donated all her gold and jewellery for the flagship of the Vedic Shiksha. Her sacrifice and the martyrdom of her husband bore fruits in various activities of the Arya Samaj and the Gurukul. Of the money donated by her, a Foundation for education of brilliant but poor students was established. We are proud to narrate that the first beneficiary of this munificence was a young boy from Saharanpur who was transformed into an illustrious Vedic scholar. The world knows him as Pt Budh Dev Ji Vedalankar, later known as Swami Samarpananand Ji.
Swami Shraddhanand Ji, among others, had paid glowing tribute to the martyred Pt Lekh Ram thus: He was a DHARMVIR AND A KARMVIR. Indeed a fearless fighter for the cause of the Vedic Dharm. He was a true believer in Param Pita Parmatma and the Lord loved him.
Pundit Lekh Ram is a torch bearer removing darkness for others. His martyrdom inspired other Aryas to follow into his footsteps. Swami Shraddhanand, Mahashay Rajpal and many others of the Hyderabad satyagrah attained martyrdom for the cause of the Vedic Dharm. Indeed they walked fearlessly on the path of martyrdom for the Vedic Dharm paved by Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati himself.
UPVAN 609, Sector 29, Noida – 201303. INDIA. Mobile : 0091-9811173590.
Email : upvanom@yahoo.com sawantg.chitranjan@gmail.com
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