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The Ideals of the Kshatriya – Warrior

It is clear to Sri Krishna that Arjuna will not be swayed by philosophical considerations alone, and he therefore next turns his attention to the role and highest ideals of the warrior caste, the kshatriya, to which Arjuna belongs. The principles enunciated here speak to the entire background, training and education that Arjuna has received and if anything, they speak to a deeply-ingrained sense of nobility and chivalry that was the highest ideal of the warrior.

Arjuna should not let the sorrow of the loss of friends, family and loved-ones intervene in the high ideals that he has adopted. Sri Aurobindo explains Sri Krishna’s argument: ” ‘There is no greater good for the Kshatriya than righteous battle, and when such a battle comes to them of itself like the open gate of heaven, happy are the Kshatriyas then. If thou dost not this battle for the right, then has thou abandoned thy duty and virtue and they glory, and sin shall be they portion.’ ”

Arjuna’s despair sets forth the sin of undertaking the action. Sri Krishna counters with the sin of failure to act when the cause is just and the situation demands it. “Battle, courage, power, rule, the honour of the brave, the heaven of those who fall nobly, this is the warrior’s ideal. To lower that ideal, to allow a smirch to fall on that honour, to give the example of a hero among heroes whose action lays itself open to the reproach of cowardice and weakness and thus to lower the moral standard of mankind, is to be false to himself and to the demand of the world on its leaders and kings.”

For Arjuna is fixated on his own individual suffering, but he is the representative man of his age, and his actions provide guidance and direction to others. He has a duty to fulfill and a role to play and abandoning that would lead to confusion and a retrograde motion in society.

Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, First Series, Chapter 7, The Creed of the Aryan Fighter, pg. 60,

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Ramakrishna Paramahamsa : The Eternal Mystic

Image result for Ramakrishna as boyRamakrishna was born as Gadadhar into the Vaishnava-leaning pious brahmin family of Khudiram Chattopadhyay in 1836 in the village of Kamarpukur, now in West Bengal, India.  This was the period when India was on the threshold of complete domination by the colonial superpower Britain, as described by Swami Nikhilananda in his foreword to the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna: the old Maratha order was wilting, the East India company had decisively won the Anglo-Maratha wars, winning rule over the vast subcontinent.

Meanwhile they were setting up the capital of Imperial India in neighbouring Calcutta, in the heart of the rich province of Bengal, setting about Macaulay’s vision of producing Indians who were Indian only in colour but European by training and taste.

Graduating from the new Presidency College and other institutions of colonial power such as the various missionary run schools, young men and women had begun to abandon their traditions en-masse. Beef parties and drunken ribaldry mocking Hindu traditions were common on the streets of Calcutta. Economically, Indian industry and artisanship was being wiped out by British policies to export raw materials from India to feed Britian’s fledgling manufacturing. It seemed that the Hindu civilization that had endured over 5000 years, managing to reverse the severe onslaught by the Arabs, Turko-Mongols and Persinas would finally be over-run by the might of the colonial steam-press.

Image result for Rani Rashmoni, Dakshina KaliBut the story of Dharma, as so often, is concealed more in the footnotes, by-lanes and the distant forests of time, rather than in the external happenings. On the outskirts of the giant metropolis of Calcutta, Rani Rashmoni, the wealthy widow of the Zamindar of Janbazar, had built a majestic temple complex dedicated to the Divine Mother in the form of Dakshina Kali, after receiving a vision.

So devoted was she, that Mother had promised to be ‘awakened’ in her temple. Henceforth the Rani transferred all her wealth in a trust in Mother Kali’s name and conducted the affairs of her business and estates as the Trustee. Located on the banks of the Hooghly river and on the path to the pilgrim site of Gangasagar, the vast complex also had shrines to Lord Shiva and Krishna, besides housing facilities to host wandering sadhus, jogis, bairagis and fakirs.  In this remote temple and its jungle-like surroundings which included an old cemetery, were scripted the life and deeds of the sage which went on to storm the very foundations of the Raj.

Image result for Rani Rashmoni, Dakshina Kali
Dakshina Kali Temple

Ramakrishna, who lost his father soon after birth, grew up to be an affectionate and sensitive child loved by all, and became the support of his mother. He was fascinated by the stories of the Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism.

When was just six, he had the experience of ecstatic self-absorption or ‘Samadhi’, while walking in the paddy fields, enchanted by the beauty of the natural setting for which the fertile Ganga valley of Bengal is still famous. A few years later he attained such a deep state of Samadhi while playing the role of Shiva during the winter-time ‘jatra’ village play, that his mother got frightened and henceforth forbade him from such activities.

He was a precocious child and mastered the teachings at the village school or ‘tol’ rapidly, and engaged in play with children of all the castes at the local mango orchard where he would often conduct plays. In his clear-sightedness and steadfastness to truth, he would even stand up to established social convention, as in the case when he dressed up as a woman, to question the patriarchy of his family’s patron and the village head, Dharmadas Laha – when the latter discovered him in the Zenana later, he understood that restricting women was not the way to maintain ‘family honour’.

During his Upanayana or the Hindu ceremony conferring the scared thread and commencing studies, he stuck to his word and took the first ‘bhiksha’ (collection of food since students were expected to live the humble lives of mendicants) from Dhani, the blacksmith woman who had been mid-wife at his birth and also took care of him through childhood. By his teen years, Ramakrishna gained widespread respect and even reverence from the village folk at Kamarpukur.

Image result for Ramakrishna and KaliRamakrishna was thus already a mystic who was widely revered by the time he was invited to officiate as a priest in the Rani’s Kali temple, following his elder brother Ramkumar who advised the Rani on matters of worship.

In this enchanting place, Ramakrishna conducted what is the most well recorded campaign of spiritual practices that embraced the vast diversity of approaches available in the Hindu fold. In a moving episode, he first has direct vision of Ma Kali as the highest spirit and moving force behind the entire universe, as he is about to kill himself with the sickle attached to the image he worships in the shrine every day, unable to bear not seeing her for real.

Following this first and direct experience unguided by anyone, he trains under several Gurus, the chief of whom was the illustrious Bhairavi, a female tantra master who was divinely led to the Kali temple. Under the Bhairavi, Ramakrishna practiced the hoary techniques described in the 64 Shakta tantras, attaining perfection in each of them while uniquely remaining in the ‘Divya’ attitude that respects the mother aspect of the Divine. Under the guidance of Vaishnava babas, he practiced sadhanas of Sita, Hanuman and Gopala (baby Krishna). An episode of his vision of the baby Rama under the guidance of a baba of the Ramayat sect is utterly heart-melting.

Totapuri Baba.jpg
Totapuri

All this culminates in his attainment of the most difficult goal of nirvikalpa samadhi, the highest and stated goal of Advaita Vedanta where the mind is merged in absolute Brahman and the body remains in suspended animation, under the guidance of the war-like naked itinerant monk Totapuri who was perhaps from the Punjab. Ramakrishna took a mere three days to attain this height which Totapuri himself had taken over forty years to reach, and in an act of heroic mystery, he remained in this state for several months at a go.

As with others, Ramakrishna also teaches Totapuri of the necessity to acknowledge Shakti, while similarly teaching the Ramayat Baba of detachment even to spiritual ideals, and disavowing the ego of a teacher to the Bhairavi. At this time, he also welcomed his wife Sarada lovingly to his dwelling in the temple complex, invoking the Deity in her in a stirring performance of the arduous Shodasi puja described in the tantras. Sarada devi later said that the years she spent in Ramakrishna’s divinely inebriated company were full of indescribable happiness, as if someone had placed a pitcher full of bliss in her heart. Their mutually loving and understanding relationship demonstrated that a union at the level of spiritual ideals is the very foundation and basis of a satisfying marital life.

Image result for Mathurnath Biswas
Mathurnath Biswas

After twelve long and arduous years of spiritual disciplines and incomparable realizations of the truths described by the Hindu dharma, Ramakrsihna burst forth on the intellectual and elite circles of Calcutta. Already influential and wealthy members among the city’s elites who were recoiling from the spiritually vacuous and morally draining colonial ethos were flocking to him by this time. The Rani’s son-in-law and heir to her estates, Mathurnath Biswas was among the first to gauge the depth of Ramakrishna’s realizations.

The aristocrat Shambhu Charan Mullick, the Marwari businessmen from Calcutta, and many simple Hindus from various walks of life began to gravitate towards him. It was at this time that Ramakrishna also conducted unique inter-religious experiments, something that no Hindu sage has done before or after. Perhaps as if to alleviate and address the angst of the Calcutta people who were being slowly anglicized, after being battered by Islamic extremism already over several hundred years Ramakrishna sought to experience the spiritual paths in Islam and Christianity. At first, he listened to readings of the Bible by Shambhu Mullick, and in three days, he attained a vision of an angelic personality like Christ, with a voice proclaiming ‘here is the Son of Man who gave his blood to redeem all mankind’.

This was an epic act of the native Hindu genius showing that perhaps Christianity could be envisioned as a possible bhakti path centered around the person of Christ.  This episode was a blow to the fanatic missionaries, and showed that contrary to their propaganda, it was not necessary to practice a militantly exclusive spirituality to gain access to the Truth that Christ had so famously said will set one free. Later Ramakrishna took initiation into a mantra from the Sufi Govinda Rai, and is said to have rapidly had an experience of God with attributes, the end goal of Sufi Islamic sadhanas.

These experiments showed that the framework of Hindu spirituality, centered around the seeking for a direct experience of the spiritual essence of all existence, was broad enough to accommodate even the traditions originating from outside India. These experiences of Ramakrishna bolstered and completely rejuvenated the battered psyche of Hindu Bengal and indeed across all of India and provided the basis for a new line of spiritually centered national unity, a concept that was later adopted by the pan-Indian independence movement.

Image result for Keshab Chandra Sen
Keshab Chandra Sen

In an act of spiritual inspiration, one day Ramakrishna visited Keshab Chandra Sen, the savant who headed the Brahmo Samaj, a Christian-leaning reformist Hindu movement that had captivated the educated elites and middle classes of Calcutta. That first meeting, where Ramakrishna spontaneously appeared before and clarified doubts raging in in him, was to completely transform Keshab.

Henceforth, he met Ramakrishna dozens of times, in the company of his many followers – sometimes on steamer boats on the Ganga, sometimes at spiritual gatherings at his home and at Brahmo meetings at others.

Ramakrishna’s rustic message pregnant with the native Hindu spiritual ethos backed by the sheer power of realization scandalized the anglicized members of the Samaj, so much as to cause a split, with a sizable section of the educated members completely adopting him.

This was to be a defining moment – with them, came the masses of Calcutta youths hitherto lost and numb before the glitz of the Raj. Prominent citizens such as Balaram Bose, Mahendranath Gupta, Ramachandra Dutta, Adhar Sen, Mnomohan Mittra, Sivanath Sastr, Ishan Mukhopadhya and Durgacharan Nag slowly overcame their inhibitions and skepticism and accepted Ramakrishna as their Guru.

Image result for Binodini
Binodini

There also followed the epic conversion of the Bohemian stalwart of modern Bengali Theatre, Girish Chandra Ghosh, who was a tormented soul riven between his upbringing and the rationalism of the time. Ramakrishna’s selflessly loving interactions with the sometimes repulsive and acerbic Girish mesmerized the literary, artistic and musical circles of Calcutta.

Female artistes such as Binodini became his ardent devotees, and to this day Ramakrishna is considered the patron saint of Bengali performing arts. As his fame spread, students from colleges and even women of aristocratic families sought refuge in Ramakrishna’s spiritual wisdom. Thus came Narendranath Dutta, Rakhal Chandra Ghosh, Baburam Ghosh, Sarat Chandra Chakravarty, Taraknath Ghoshal, Kali Prasad Chandra and several others, who banded together under the gentle and nourishing guidance of Ramakrishna at the Dakshineshwar temple.

Ramakrishna’s disciples included the whole breadth of Bengali Hindu society, including all classes and castes, and members of both sexes. Prominent female disciples included Golap Ma, Gauri Ma and Yogin Ma. The storm unleashed by his teachings gathered winds that were to later emerge as the Bengal renaissance, nucleus of the nascent Indian independence movement.

Related imageLike Buddha before, Ramakrishna did not take a dogmatic theological position, and rather encouraged the development of innate spiritual tendencies among aspirants, prescribing paths and techniques suited to their own temperaments. In Ramakrishna’s view, ‘God is with form, without form, and besides who knows what else’ – a vision that aptly captures at once the depth and diversity of Hindu spiritual traditions.

Direct experience was to him more important than dry debate and analysis, and by his own example, dancing to songs in praise of the divine at the public Harisbha’s and other events, Ramakrishna brought vibrancy and colour to the otherwise dulled spiritual atmosphere of anglicized Victorian Bengal. ‘Bhakti mixed with Jnana’ as prescribed by Narada, was his own preferred path and he converted many a skeptic including a vigorously doubting Naren into ardent devotees of Kali.

Ramakrishna also did not discriminate on the basis of caste or birth or sex to initiate someone into the spiritual path, taking in all those who he judged had the potential to ‘storm the gates of the divine’ as he himself had done before. His approach to teaching his disciples was revolutionary for his times, for he allowed them to completely cross-examine and test him, while delivering lessons in fables as much as through practical life episodes.

His non-dogmatic and flexible spirituality recognized and admitted every genuine aspiration for the divine, expressed in whatever manner and form, from orthodox Vedic worship, to heterodox tantric and non-Indian practices. ‘Vyakulata’ or earnest and passionate seeking for the divine was for him, the first and highest necessity of spiritual life. Through his experiences he had cut through the cobwebs that had accumulated over the vast and varied spiritual paths of the Hindu traditions.

Image result for swami vivekananda
Vivekananda

His arduous spiritual practices and ceaseless engagement with ever increasing flow of disciples and devotees took a toll on Ramakrishna’s health, and in mid-1880’s he developed what was perhaps a cancer of the throat. The brief years of his severe illness brought together his disciples into a closely-knit community bonded in their common quest for the direct experience of the divine.

Soon after his passing away in 1886, his younger disciples renounced the world and took Sanyas, as per the wishes of Ramakrishna, led by Narendranath (later famous as Vivekananda) on Christmas eve at a fire ceremony at Bauram’s ancestral home in Antpur.

Gathering together as a monastic community, the young Sanyasis undertook severe austerities, while several of them including Naren also travelled across the country as initerant mendicants. Several years later, Naren was to take the West by storm by his opening address to the first parliament of world religions in America. Now known as Vivekananda, he also established the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, with an aim to make Hinduism ‘a strong missionary religion’ and promote the brand of direct spirituality espoused by his Guru.

In a series of stirring speeches delivered all across the cities on his path from his landing from America at Colombo to the Himalayan retreat of Almora, Vivekananda outlined his grand vision for a spiritual and material rejuvenation of India and Hinduism at large. His points on the basic unity of Hindu traditions and practical spirituality as outlined in these speeches, are still relevant. Vivekananda also produced classical translations of the foundational texts of Yoga-Vedanta in the form of his books on the four Yogas, which have since influenced generations of seekers across the world.

Image result for ramakrishna statueLong before he attained fame, Ramakrishna had already been declared an Avatar, by several assemblies of traditional scholars, the most famous of which was the vigorus debate between Pandits Gauri and Vaishnavacharan held under the supervision of Mathurnath and the Bhairavi, perhaps in the 1850’s at Dakshineshwar. In Ramakrishna, India discovered herself, and he was certainly one of modern India’s first ‘God-men’, rooted in tradition yet modern in his outlook, co-eval with perhaps Shirdi Sai Baba on India’s western shores. 

Ramakrishna’s life, experiences and ministry produced a intense churning among the youths of Calcutta and India at large, and after many hundred years, India’s sacred heritage now became the talking point among the common masses.

The themes of God, spirituality, the essence of life, absolute reality, causation and incarnation continue to be discussed today in India and all over the world. What were considered settled theological debates on topics such as image-worship, plurality of the Godhead and the exclusivity of revelation, have now rightly become topics for ardent reflection. Among the Gurus of modern India, Ramakrishna is unique not just for his multi-faceted personality and realization, but also for the fact he created a clear succession plan indicating ‘Naren will teach’, identifying the leader of his movement after him.

Succession is an issue that has caused the most number of schisms and bloodshed as seen in the history of the Christian Church and Islam, as well as among the recent Guru movements across the world. On his deathbed, Ramakrishna revealed to Vivekananda, ‘He who was Rama, he who was Krishna, is Ramakrishna in this body. And this, not in your Vedantic sense’ – those immortal words continue to echo through our skeptic times, and perhaps hold the key as Vivekananda himself later proclaimed, to the rejuvenation of humankind.

Endnote: It was the winter of 2006 – as snow capped everything in sight, a group of about 30 seekers gathered in a retreat center in the remote German village of Bindweide, around a diminutive but charismatic Hindu swami from India. In snapping cold, the wooden house with spacious halls that was located in an otherwise desolate snowy settings, came alive with the vibrancy of the quest. Some, seeking through their cooking, others in cleaning the house and surroundings, while yet others by volunteering at the shrine. The eclectic group drew upon many nationalities: ethnic Indians mingled with Germans, Swiss, British, Canadians and Americans.

The damp early hours resonated with readings from the Guru Stotram and the Gita, while the calm mornings and sleepy afternoons saw readings from ancient Vedantic texts and Vedantic readings of the Bible. Many wept for joy at the evening meditations. This is the first of what is now the annual December retreat at the newest center of the global monastic Order that now has over two dozen branches in the US, and dozens of centers all across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Over 100 years since it’s founding by the legendary guru Vivekananda who famously brought Yoga to the West, the Ramakrishna Mission continues to grow and touch people’s lives.

Prabhu Iyer

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Video : Ancient Hindu Warrior Mace Training

The fiercest warriors Alexandra the Great  faced in all his campaigns were up against Hindu mace warriors

Looking for a new workout? How about one that was used by Hindu warriors over 2,000 years ago and still used by Pehlwani wrestlers today?

The gada, or heavy mace, was the weapon of choice of Hindu soldiers as well as the Hindu deity Hanuman, an who can lift mountains with a single hand. According to the book Encyclopedia of Indian Physical Culture, warriors during the Puranic age would engage in mace training early in the morning along with wrestling, archery, and swordsmanship. Besides dueling one another with gadas, warriors would swing heavier versions — usually made with a bamboo stick with a heavy stone at one end — behind their backs in order to strengthen their backs, chests, shoulders, forearms, and fingers. Because of their rigorous physical and tactical training, Hindu warriors were some of the fiercest of the ancient world.

Today, the gada is used primarily by Pehlwani wrestlers in northern India and southern Pakistan. The most famous gada afficionado was the Great Gama ), the only undefeated Pehlwani wrestler in history. By the looks of it, his mustache also trained with a gada. That thing is a beast!

While the Indian Club enjoyed popular use among Western exercise enthusiasts as early as the 19th century, gada training for some reason didn’t catch on until very recently. Mixed martial artists in the West have taken up heavy mace training as a way to strengthen the muscles involved with throwing opponents to the mat. Functional fitness and natural movement practitioners have also taken to mace training because it provides such an amazing full-body workout.

If you’re ready to harness your inner Hindu warrior, read on. BelowMr. Know Your Lifts showcases six different exercises that you can perform with a heavy mace.

Mace Grip Basics

mace workout how to grip basics

To make an exercise harder, grip both hands near the end of the handle. To make exercises easier, move at least one hand closer to the weighted end.

360

steel mace 360 workout how to diagram illustration

The 360 has been used by Hindu warriors and Pehlwani wrestlers for ages. It works the shoulders, chest, back, and forearms. Begin by holding the mace directly in front of you with your hands gripped closely together at the end of the handle. If your left hand is above your right hand, you’re going to push the mace ball over your right shoulder. The mace ball should swing behind your back. When it reaches your left shoulder, pull the mace over your left shoulder so that the mace is once again directly in front of you. Repeat several times. Switch up your hands so that your right hand is above your left, and push the mace ball over your left shoulder. Repeat swinging the mace in this direction several times.

To see this exercise in action, check out this video of Diesel Crew’s Jedd Johnson performing the 360.

Barbarian Squat

steel mace barbarian squat workout how to diagram illustration

The Barbarian Squat is a great full-body exercise. You’re working your upper as well as your lower body in a single movement. Begin in a standing position with the mace behind your neck. Start lowering your body into a squatting position while simultaneously bringing the mace to the front. You’ve successfully completed the exercise if you’re in a full squat and the mace is in front of you. Return to your starting position by standing while simultaneously bringing the mace back to its original position. Repeat.

Dynamic Curl

steel mace curl workout how to diagram illustration

The Dynamic Curl works the forearms and biceps.

Hold the mace with a mixed grip — one hand overhand and one underhand — with the hand near the mace ball-end holding the handle with an underhand grip. Lift the ball end with the hand closest to the mace ball. When the ball reaches the middle of the arc, switch your hands up by sliding the hand that was near the ball down towards the end of the handle and bringing the hand that was near the handle up closer to the ball end. When you’ve finished, the ball end should be on your other side and your mixed grip should be reversed — the hand that was originally overhand should be underhand; the hand that was originally underhand should now be overhand. Swing the mace back and forth like this for several repetitions.

Spear Stab

steel mace spear stab workout how to diagram illustration

Hold the mace like you would a spear. Thrust as if you were an ancient Pauravaian warrior stabbing an a member of Alexander the Great’s Macedonian army in the Battle of the Hydaspes River. The closer both hands are to the handle, the more difficult this exercise will be. Switch up your hands and your stance to work the other side of your body.

Grave Digger

steel mace grave digger workout how to diagram illustration

It’s time to bury all those imaginary Macedonian soldiers you just killed. Hold the mace like you would a shovel and pretend like you’re digging a hole in the ground with the mace ball. Repeat for several repetitions. Switch up your hands to work the other side of your body.

Splitting Wood

steel mace 360 splitting wood how to diagram illustration

You’ll need a tire for this one. Just pretend like you’re splitting wood like a lumberjack. Start off with your non-dominant hand near the butt of the handle and your dominant hand placed near the mace’s head. Bring the mace head above your head. Swing down. As you swing, slide your dominant hand down the shaft of the mace for extra power. Switch up your hand placement to work the different sides of your body. Art of Manliness

Illustrations by Ted Slampyak
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/04/23/train-like-an-ancient-hindu-warrior-the-steel-mace-workout/

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Dharma Himsa Tathaiva Cha – Swami Chinmayananda

Ahimsa paramo dharmaha, dharma himsa tathaiva cha » Non-violence is the greatest dharma, so too is all righteous violence. – Mahabharata

Image result for Swami Chinmayananda artPersonally, I am no advocate of violence. But violence, too, has its rightful place in life, life does not preclude death. The average Indian has been moulded into a particular national mentality of quixotic tolerance. His attitude is shaped into its distinct pattern by the ideologies and moralities preached in our national literature. And no single work in our classics has gained such a wide influence on our people as the Bhagawad Gita: and in, this century, no other single message had such a universal appeal to our countrymen as the single line, Ahimsa paramo Dharmah or “Non-violence is the greatest Dharma.”

This line in its over-emphasis, has sapped both initiative and energy in our millions, and, instead of making us all irresistible moral giants, we have been reduced to poltroons and cowards. And banking on this cowardly resignation of the majority, a handful of fanatics have been perpetrating crimes which even the most barbarous cave dwellers would have avenged. To clothe our weaknesses, we attribute to them glorious names and purposefully persuade ourselves to believe that they are brilliant ideologists!

Let us for a moment go to the original sacred verse and investigate the significances of the moral precept: Ahimsa paramo Dharmah. This is the opening line of a stanza [in the Mahabharata], and the very next line reads: Dharma himsa tathaiva cha. “So too is all righteous violence.” Indeed, non-violence is the supreme policy to be adopted by man to foster enduring peace in the world; but there are certain dire moments in the life of individuals, as of nations, when we will have to meet force with force in order that justice be done.

To every individual his mother, wife and children are the nearest dependants and to guard their honour and life is the unavoidable first moral duty of each head of the family. This is an obligation whether the victim be a member of the majority or of the minority class within a country, province or city.

By the over-emphasis laid on non-violence we have come to witness the pathetic situation of today, when thousands, in cowardly fear take to precipitate flight, leaving their innocent children to be butchered and their unarmed helpless women to be dishonoured or converted or killed. Under the cloak of glorified non-violence, an entire nation of cowards fly from their homes, when a small sect of fanatic barbarians boldly stalk in and out of their open undefended thresholds to kill, to rape, and to loot. When will we learn to fully to interpret   our   Vedas, Scriptures  and Upanishads? If only we all learn that dharma-himsa is equally noble as ahimsa.

To me it seems that the only solution for the day’s internal chaos is to bring home to the people the significance of the much neglected teaching of dharma-himsa. As it is, a misled and over-excited minority in the country has the sole monopoly of violence; and non-violence is a dangerous folly. However ideal a moral precept may be, so long as, in a society, innocent children, to be butchered dishonoured and tortured, while the youth of the land is made to watch dispassionately the hellish scene, are we to conclude that either the idea is a dangerous one, or that we have not rightly understood the full meaning of the precept.

Under the present available scheme of chaos in this country, when under the planned instigation of a few power blind, reckless men, a minority community is rendered into a murderous gang of fanatics, it is the duty of the majority to win back the erring thousands. The cure depends upon the disease; the potency of the medicine is decided upon the virulence of the illness. Today when looting, arson and rape are the dharma of a few, it is rank cowardice for the many to suffer the tyranny of the unprovoked violence in meek submission. In the battlefield, when violence is rampant, it is the dharma of everyone to meet that maniacal violence with determined, restrained, violence not only in self-defence but also to convince the aggressive vicious few that it rarely pays to be violent.

Swami Chinmayananda

Reference http://www.hindupedia.com/en/Ahimsa_Paramo_Dharma

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Video : India is The Only Ancient Continuing Civilization By Amish Tripathi

Author Amish Tripathi Explaining Why Ancient India Survived while most others ended up in a museum


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The Myth of “1000 Years of Hindu Slavery”

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Video : Indian Clubs | Training at Suria Akhara

Training at Suria Akhara

This video is a collection of training footage recorded at Suria Akhara, Varanasi, India.

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone Training at Suria Akhara for allowing me to record this video footage during your training. Most of the video was recorded early in the morning, the temperature on the day was between 28 and 30 degrees celsius, with very high humidity at around 80%, in other words, stinking hot.

Training at Suria Akhara 12
Suria Akhara
Suria Akhara – Varanasi – India

The visit to Suria Akhara started as a passenger on the back of a motorbike, weaving through the tiny streets and alleyways of Varanasi.  On arrival we had to squeeze past a cow tethered to a wall before walking through the gates, I have to say that I would have never have found this place without the local knowledge of my guide Prakash Sahani who had arranged for the members of Suria Akhara to put on a display of traditional exercises.

Nagota

All the members of the akhara were dressed in the traditional cotton nagota, the colour predominately red in honour of the God of strength Hanuman.  It has to be said that some previous visitors have laughed on seeing the nagota,  which is to my mind very disrespectful considering that this is the customary and traditional dress code inside the confines of the akhara.  It goes without saying that it is also customary to remove your shoes on entry, luckily Prakash had warned me and I arrived wearing sandals that could be removed easily.  The beaten earth inside the akhara has a very nice feel to it.

Training

The training was already in progress as we arrived, so on asking Prakash to take photographs I switched my video camera on and began filming.  The workouts consisted of gada, hand nal, head nal, dumbbells and jodi clubs.  Followed by a display of body weight exercises.  Finally I had a quick tour around the buildings a was shown the ceremonial jori clubs that are used during jori competitions and festivals.

Best Training Footage

The following videos contain some of the best training footage I recorded in Varanasi, and has inspired me to return next year for the Cobra festival, which features the swinging of the ceremonial jori clubs mentioned earlier.  Although I am not a wrestler I do train with clubs and gada mace, and found the events on this day awe inspiring.

This video is about my visit to Suria Akhara in Varanasi. It starts with a quick motorbike drive to the location, which would have been difficult to find without local knowledge. You will see gada-mace swinging, both one and two-handed. Dumbells, heavy Jori Clubs, hand and neck Nal and a selection of traditional body weight exercises.

Highlights from a Dumbell and Gada Competition held during the Gandhi Festival in Varanasi.
The Dumbells are swung in an alternate motion across the front of the body, the arm has to straighten on the downward path before the weight is pulled up.

Indian Jori Clubs at Suria Akhara are large, tall and bulky, the height often reaching mid chest, roughly the same length as a Gada.Have you ever wondered how the JORI Clubs are loaded onto the shoulders?

At  Kaali Baari Akhara
Demonstrations of three Jori Club swing styles, and two Gada swing styles by Gyanshankul Singh.

British Army

It would seem logical that the British Army were impressed on seeing the local Pahlevans training with clubs and gada. By all accounts all the athletes were very well developed, especially in the shoulders and back.

Maybe a creative army physical training instructor modified the Indian Jori Clubs by shortening them to roughly 22″ inches. In doing so they developed a new and very effective training system. The newly created clubs were then put to good use in drilling troops, building upper body strength with particular focus on carrying arms.

Inward Swings good

Many Pahlevans tried swinging Indian Clubs that I had brought with me from Australia, and many performed inward circles without much difficulty, which stands to reason as both Jori and gada are both inward movements. What was surprising was that none of them could swing in an outward movement, no doubt with time and instruction outward swings could have been mastered.

Barbell Press and Squat

Training at Suria Akhara 01

 

 

Dumbbell traditional exercise used in competitions

 

Indian Club try outs, using two pairs of my clubs.
Training at Suria Akhara 03

 

 

Gar Nal (stone neck ring)

 

Parallel Bars

Training at Suria Akhara 06

 

 

Rope Climbing

 

 

 

 

 

 


By Paul Taras Wolkowinski

Read the blog:-http://www.indianclubs.com.au/2170/tr…

Video:- http://youtu.be/qWQCrYk3Rjc
Website:- www.indianclubs.com.au

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Sacred Weapons

Weapon Worship in India

There is an interesting cultural element of worshipping weapons in India. It is called Shastra Puja or Ayudha Puja, which literally means weapon worship. It takes place during an Indian religious annual festival in September. The celebration is dedicated to the Goddess Durga. During this event, people decorate their weapons with flowers and some religious ornaments and pray to them. This is also some sort of an act of gratitude and appreciation of the weapons and the protection they provide.

Earlier, of course, people worshiped the bows, arrows, swords and other weapons of the time. Since the firearms were introduced, gained popularity and pretty much replaced the old types of weapons, they became a part of this ritual. Today this celebration has even widened its meaning and people start to worship any tool which they use to make a living: cars, hand tools, machinery etc.

For some tribes like Kodava people, weapon worshipping is especially important. Weapons had a central role in their culture for centuries. These people are avid proponents of firearm ownership. They educate their children from the very young age to respect the gun and understand the responsibilities and benefits associated with owning a firearm. It is interesting to see an example of an old culture giving so much importance of responsible ownership of firearms and appreciating the role that weapons played during the history of mankind.

Below is a selection of images gathered all over the internet showing the weapon worship ritual in various parts of India.



The Fire Arm Blog

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Chhatrapati Shivaji Memorial: All you want to know about statue to be inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi

Despite the political hullabaloo, there are many fascinating things about the statue, so here’s all you want to know about the memorial

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to lay the foundation for Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial in Arabian sea, which has got the worldwide fame even before the commencement of its construction. If sources are to be believed, the memorial is designed to be taller than the iconic ‘Statue of Liberty’. Though there is a political chaos over the statue but its establishment is inevitable. “I am honoured to be getting the opportunity to perform the Bhoomipujan of Shiv Smarak,” PM said.  Despite the political hullabaloo, there are many fascinating things about the statue, so here’s all you want to know about the memorial.

-The proposed height of the statue is 309-feet, as per PTI and the iconic ‘Statue of Liberty’ stands with total 305-feet, 6 inches

– The site is a rocky outcrop, roughly 1.5 km from the Raj Bhavan shore.

The total cost of the project is Rs 3,600 crore which would be completed in two phases, with Rs 2,500 crore of the total amount to be spent in the first phase. Completion of the monument is expected by 2019.

– A 15-hectare island at off Mumbai coast has been chosen to build the memorial, and of the total height 60 per cent would be the height of Shivaji’s statue.

Beyond this project, the Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government had taken up the preservation of forts built by the legendary 17th Century king.

Though it is not less than a ‘dream project’ for both State and Centre government but it was once pointed out that it will violate the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms, which does not allow construction up to 500 meters from High Tide Line or HTL along the banks of rivers, backwater and estuaries.

Financial Express

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Martial Arts Origins Sacred Weapons Videos

Video : Acing Silambam in a Saree

Most urban, young women today see the saree as a dress for special occasions. Compared to modern attire, the saree is rather restricting and limits one’s movements. Not to mention how difficult it is to get a perfect drape if you are a novice! But this video uploaded by Aishwarya Manivannan on National Handloom Day (August 7) might just change your mind about the versatility of the six-yard wonder and all that you can do wearing one. Silambam, for starters.

Watch Aishwarya rock the saree while performing this traditional martial art from Tamil Nadu:

‘Silambam’ or ‘Silambattam’ comes from the Tamil words ‘silam’ (hill) and ‘perambu’ (bamboo). The type of bamboo used to perform Silambam comes from the Kurinji hills in South India and the martial art is named after it.

Silambam is so ancient that it finds mention even in Sangam literature such as the ‘Silapathikaram’ and others, dating its origins to as far back as the 2nd century BC.

According to tradition, sage Agastya was on his way to Vellimalai, when he began a discussion on Hindu philosophy with a fellow traveller, an old man, who was really Lord Muruga in disguise. The old man taught the sage kundalini yoga and other techniques of controlling and channelizing energy in the body. Agastya practised these techniques and later compiled the learnings in three palm leaves. The basis for Silambam is said to have come from these compilations.

Other martial arts that are popular in South India, like Kalari payattu, Kuthu Varisai and Vaalveechu, are considered to be offshoots of Silambam.

The Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu has recognized Silambam as a sport and has introduced it in school education.

There are many varieties of Silambam and the ones that are in vogue currently are ‘Por Silambam’ (warfare), ‘Silambattam’ (folk dance) and ‘Potti Silambam’ (sport). Apart from the traditional stick that is used to perform this martial art, practitioners also use weapons like deer horns, spears, swords and small knives.

Silambam is making a come-back these days in cities as a novel way for fitness freaks to get a solid work-out. It’s said to be a great calorie burner that improves blood circulation and heart function, while shaping the body and relieving the mind of stress and fatigue. Saree or yoga pants, traditional or modern, if you’re looking to shed some pounds, Silambam might just be your answer!

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