On February 19 every year,
India lays aside all its differences to celebrate the birth anniversary
of the great Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. To commemorate this day, Left, Right and 'Thoda sa' Centre brings you a post
written by a guest author, Ms Poonam Nakade. She graciously accepted our request
to pen a few lines on this immortal personality, who has carved an everlasting
niche for himself in the pages of Indian history. Over to Poonam --
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is venerated as God in Maharashtra. While we celebrate his 391st birth anniversary today, I would like to share one of his stories that had impressed me as a girl and continues to impress me as a woman. Having been born and educated in Maharashtra, studying in detail about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was inevitable. It is a well-known fact that he was a great warrior, administrator, and leader but he was also a very sensitive human being. There are many stories that reveal this side of Maharaj that are not known outside of Maharashtra. Today, I would like to share one such story that made the first strong impact on my mind. It was a story narrated by our Marathi teacher. The immense respect that our teacher had for Maharaj eventually led her to recite “ashich aamuchi aai asti sundar rupmati....”(had my mother been as beautiful as you are...). Though she was teaching a lesson on "Hirkarni Buruj", she recounted a totally unrelated story that I repeat here.
The story was about an attack carried out by the Maratha army on the fortress of Kalyan to defeat the custodian of the fort, Ahmed, who was committing unmentionable atrocities on his Hindu subjects. The Maratha army not only seized the fort but also captured some prisoners of war that included the subedaar and his family.
The news of the Maratha victory and the captives spread like wildfire. Next day, the common people thronged the court hoping to see Maharaj heap insults on the captives. Consequently, the father-son duo was presented in chains before a crowded darbar, with the subjects filling up every available inch of space in the common hall, and even spilling out into the corridors outside. People craned their necks to see what fate would befall the hapless prisoners of war. Maharaj issued immediate orders for their release from bondage. Then Abaaji Sondev, a commander in the siege of Kalyan, stepped up to the throne and brought it to Maharaj’s attention that there had been one more arrest. When asked to produce the captive in court without delay, the commanders led the Subedaar's daughter-in-law into the darbar and presented her before Maharaj. A deathly hush descended over the crowds surging to get a better look at the lady being led to the throne in chains. She was famed for her beauty throughout the land.
Completely taken aback at this unprecedented move on the part of his chieftains, Maharaj lowered his eyes for a few moments. With his eyes still lowered, he asked his commander as to what action was expected to be taken.
The chieftain replied in a loud tone, made bold with emphasis, “Maharaj, she should be kept in the natyashaala (the dancing girls’ quarters), as this is the practice followed by the Mughals with any women taken captive in war.” A ripple of assent ran through the audience hanging on to his every word.
A young boy dressed up as Shivaji Maharaj
All eyes were now on Maharaj. “Abaaji Sondev,” he said, loudly and clearly, deliberating on every word as he spoke, “I want to let it be known that I don’t believe in the principle of ‘an eye for an eye.’ I cannot disregard humanity and make laws that perpetuate injustice, merely because our enemies believe in doing so.”
His righteous words and dignified demeanour gave the captive woman the courage to look up at him. The silent entreaty was not lost on Maharaj. He looked at her for an instant and then turned away, uttering the words that I remember to this day -- “had my mother have been as beautiful as you are, I too would have been handsome.” He ordered Abaaji to escort the Subedaar, his son and daughter-in-law to their home forthwith, and to see to it that the lady was extended the same courtesies as would have been extended to Jijamata.
This story is just one of the many examples which demonstrate that Shivaji Maharaj was not only a great
warrior, administrator, and a great leader of men, but also a ruler immensely respectful of women and acknowledged their contribution towards the building of a just and honourable society andthence, a just and honourable
state.
It is this human side of Shivaji Maharaj that never fails to stir my heart every time I recollect the story. Here was a
battle-hardened warrior so feared by all his enemies, but loved and held in high regard by all his subjects who have continued to keep him on a pedestal at par with God for generations.
Whether we know him as the “Father of the Indian Navy” or a warrior king skilled in guerilla warfare, his sensitive side always makes me proud to be his descendant.
Will we ever see another like him?
Perhaps when Time turns a full circle, and Satyug comes round again.
So what did you think of Poonam’s
stirring post? Don’t forget to leave your much-awaited comments in the section
below, and as always, do share, subscribe and follow us.
About Poonam:
In spite of being busy with the family commitments and
almost in love with all of it, I still grab some time for myself. Teaching Math gives me the necessary adrenaline rush and words, the coveted peace. Every time
I pen down a quote, poem or an article it leaves me with heartfelt satisfaction.
Words and thoughts are my most loved toys to dwell with.
A lot of people think Math and creativity don't go hand in
hand. Maybe. But they definitely are the best of both the worlds for me.
Disclaimer: This article is a reader contribution and all views and opinions in the article are those of the writer alone. Other readers who may be interested in contributing to this blog may mail their articles with a short biography and a profile pic to left.right.tcenter@gmail.com. The right to publication rests with the blog owners.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone –
and love, always!
In my second novel, The Tainted Communion, Rudraaksh engraves a wooden plaque for Meera with a couplet from Sant Kabir:
Akath Kahani Prem Ki, Kuch Kahi Na Jaye
Goonge Keri Sarkara, Baithe Muskaaye
For eons, poets and musicians
have indulged in myriad expressions of love. Yet, Sant Kabir chose ‘a mute man eating
sweets’ to represent this intangible feeling that cannot really be put into
words. It’s the metaphor that appealed to me the most too. Because, as they say
- Maano to Bhagwaan, na Maano to Pashaan – so,
is love. Its only definition and comparison is to itself, that applies to and is felt by the one who experiences it. So as people differ, the definition and comparison differ and the experience differs too.
Ravindra Jain’s masterpiece - Ek Radha, Ek Meera – from Raj Kapoor’s
last directorial venture, Ram Teri Ganga
Maili (1985),captures thissubjectivity beautifully. Much like the
juxtaposition of a myth with present-day realities in the film’s theme, the
song pits Radha (Krishna’s mythical consort) against Meera (the 16th-century
mystical poet-saint-devotee of Krishna from Rajasthan). Leaving that dichotomy aside, let’s focus
on the symbolism, on this Valentine’s Day, to understand
love a little differently.
एकराधाएकमीरा, दोनोंनेश्यामकोचाहा
अंतरक्यादोनोंकीचाहमेंबोलो
एकप्रेमदीवानीएकदरसदीवानी
There is a Radha,
and there is a Meera; both desired Krishna
Can you
differentiate between their desires?
One longs for
His love, one longs for the sight of Him
To each his own. Radha is emblematic of love (prem) and Meera of devotion (bhakti). In a restricted context, the
former symbolises an equal relationship between two entities; the latter, the
aspiring of an inferior towards something superior. One passion, the other
surrender. Will it then be fair to say that Radha’s love was devoid of devotion
and Meera’s devotion devoid of love? No, because love and devotion are
different stages of the same emotion. At best, one paves way for the other and
both lead to the same goal – Krishna. This is the jivatma aspiring for the paramatma
– in its own unique way.
राधानेमधुबनमेंढूँढा, मीरानेमनमेंपाया
राधाजिसेखोबैठीवोगोविन्दमीराहाथबिकआया
एकमुरलीएकपायल, एकपगलीएकघायल
अंतरक्यादोनोंकीप्रीतमेंबोलो
एकसूरतलुभानीएकमूरतलुभानी
एकप्रेमदीवानीएकदरसदीवानी
Radha searched
for Him in Madhuban, Meera discovered Him in her heart
The one Radha
loses, loses Himself to Meera
One is the flute
on his lips, the other his anklet
One has lost her mind in
love, the other is wounded
Can you
differentiate between their affection?
One is smitten
by the beauty of his face, one is smitten by the beauty of his idol
One longs for
His love, one longs for the sight of Him
Radha, Krishna’s childhood sweetheart, was His companion
in rasa lila in the groves and bowers of Madhuban. Every time
He played His flute, she lost sense of time, space, and self, and ran to Him. Quite
like Shiv (Supreme Consciousness) and Shakti (Power) or Purush-Prakriti, Radha (Lakshmi) isinseparable and indistinguishable from Krishna (Vishnu) and
vice-versa. Yet, she lets him go to Mathura, never to see him again, and lives
out her human avatar as someone
else’s wife. She loses her beloved, as the world perceives it, but only she
knows the ultimate truth. This is her source of strength that keeps her devoted
to and one with Krishna spiritually despite the physical separation - Atma Tu Radhika Tasya (Radha, you are
His soul).
Meera is married to a Rajput crown prince, but considers
Krishna as her husband. She practices severe austerities, flouts all social
conventions, writes and sings passionate songs of devotion, but remains steadfast on her path until the very end. To the
world, she gains nothing tangible, rather loses everything. But so
strong is her knowledge of the truth that nothing can veer her off course.
Both Radha and Meera are tormented by viraha or pangs of separation but it’s a pain they rejoice in equally. They are equally
constant in their attachment that cannot be defined or understood in worldly or
material terms. Ultimately, Krishna is equally accessible to both.
(Pic credit: Pinterest/Pin by Amita, saved to Krishna paintings)
मीराकेप्रभुगिरिधरनागर, राधाकेमनमोहन
राधानितश्रृंगारकरे, औरमीराबनगयीजोगन
एकरानीएकदासी, दोनोंहरिप्रेमकीप्यासी
अंतरक्यादोनोंकीतृप्तिमेंबोलो
एकजीतनमानीएकहारनमानी
एकप्रेमदीवानीएकदरसदीवानी
He is Meera’s
Giridhar Nagar, and Radha’s Manmohan
Radha adorns
herself with ornaments while Meera relinquishes all and becomes a hermitess
One is His queen,
the other His minion; both thirst for Hari’s love
Can you
differentiate between their satiation?
One does not
accept victory; the other does not accept defeat
One longs for
His love, one longs for the sight of Him
This is my favourite part of the song! Despite the stark
differentiation, here, Meera and Radha exchange places. If one looks deep, one realises that this verse applies to both the women.
Meera worships Krishna as Giridhar Nagar – the one who lifted the mountain (symbolising steadfastness of truth/faith against challenges). To Radha, He is Manmohan – the one who pleases or enchants the heart.Challenge and enchantment are interwoven
in the myth of Radha as well as the history of Meera.
Radha is a milkmaid, but being the source of Krishna’s rasa (his pleasure potency), she does everything that pleases Him and
becomes the queen of His heart. She is not only devoted to Him but is also the
object of His devotion. Despite this, she does not accept her victory. She lets
him go. According to a legend, years later, when Krishna falls sick and the only
prescribed cure is the smearing of the dust of somebody's feet on His forehead, it is Radha who comes forth, thereby sacrificing years of tapasya and her chance of attaining moksha andtrapping herself in the karmic cycle. It is not an easy choice,
but to the true lover, it comes easily. By losing, she wins.
Meera is factually a queen, but she surrenders everything,
including her self, to please Krishna. She gives up her royal privileges and
luxuries, defies social norms, challenges Rajput patriarchy, escapes
assassination attempts, and asserts her right to worship and live for Krishna.
Despite all the challenges, she does not accept defeat. Her choices are no less
difficult but she makes them easily. In her striving to win Krishna, she loses
all.
Hence, the lover and the devotee are equally enamoured of the
beloved but they attain Him in their own different ways. One’s adornment is as
appealing to God as the other’s asceticism because He does not distinguish
between the paths, only the sanctity and intensity of feeling – and there is no
distinction there between Radha and Meera – prem
and bhakti.
(Pic credit: Pinterest/Pin by ModAine SPIRITisTree)
Devotion is the principal way to love God (or anything else); and
without true love, true devotion is not possible. When Meera
(according to legends) merges with Krishna’s idol she dissolves into Radha too
who is already a part of Krishna. Bhakti and prem become interchangeable.
Krishna, Radha and Meera – the worshipped/loved and the
worshipper/lover, and the act of worshipping/loving itself - are therefore one
and the same. It’s an example we can all learn from today. As Sant Kabir says in
another couplet,
योगी जंगम जीवड़ा सनियासी दरवेश |
बिना प्रेम पहुँचे नहीं दुरलभ सतिगुरु देश |
No yogi, living being, ascetic, or mendicant (sufi) has
ever reached God’s unattainable abode without love. And such love demands complete
surrender of body, mind, and self (ego) – in other words, it demands true devotion. This is
the path of Radha, and the path of Meera.
In our lives
too, whatever it is that we aspire for – a
person, an ideal, a thing, a goal, and even God – this is the only path to attain it.
So, which do you think is greater, love or devotion or an indefinable mix of both? Do let us know in the comments section. And as always, do like, share, follow and subscribe to leftrightthodasacenter.blogspot.com
For a Bengali, to write about Rabindranath Tagore and Subhas Chandra Bose is perhaps the most difficult thing. These iconic
personalities (despite, and because of their differences), for ages, much like the
Ganges River, have fed and nurtured the consciousness and ideologies of Bengal and Bengalis. It becomes
even more relevant to remember them in today’s times amidst raging debates and political discourse that
are – in more ways than one – redefining our religious understanding and values
and confusing them with spirituality and dogma.
Reserving Tagore for another post, I am dedicating this one to the Man whose 125th birth anniversary the nation celebrates today - Subhas Chandra Bose, our very own Netaji.
Much has been said and written
about his controversial life and death already. I’m not going to reiterate all
that. Because if life is a mosaic of colours, emotions, and adventures, Netaji
is the quintessence of it. He is also, and more so, as he titled his unfinished
autobiography, An Indian Pilgrim.
Yes, not a politician, a leader,
a war hero – but a pilgrim. And in
every sense of the word.
He was the man who truly chose
the road not taken, leaving home, forsaking stability and luxury to undertake
hardship and suffering in the pursuit of a greater goal; the man who worshipped
at the altar of Bharat Mata with the
same ardent passion with which he imbibed the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita (his literary companion
until the very end), Shankaracharya,
Sri Aurobindoand Swami Vivekananda; the man
who lived by the mantra of the Rig Veda - आत्मनोमोक्षार्थम्जगत्हितायच–
bridging the gap between self-realisation and social welfare, praticising yoga
and taking his school and collegemates to various religious sites and gurus, tending to people afflicted by
the then-dreaded cholera, and feeling “like a criminal” at the sight of a
beggar outside his home. He was the man who worshipped Durga and Kali and meditated at the Ramakrishna Mission in Singapore even while leading his army from the
front. The man who believed Hinduism is the thread binding the immense
diversity of his holy motherland without being blind to the shortcomings of the religion. He wrote essays on materialism only to see if someone could prove him wrong through logic and evidence, fought for his friends' right to idol worship, was moved to tears by a touching piece of music, and protected and inspired his female comrades with the instincts of a father. A man of reason and emotion, of generosity and incomparable bravery. As he described himself in a letter to his friend, Dilip Kumar Roy (March 5, 1933) - "I am sometimes a Shaiva, sometimes a Shakta and sometimes a Vaishnava."
Very little is said, however, about Netaji’s philosophy, his spirituality. The reasons are not far to seek. He hated bigotry. He hated the use and abuse of religion through public display.
He didn’t see the need to speak of the God he believed in when he could live Him
through his life as an Indian.
That
was Netaji’s religion. And this was his India. His brand of ‘secularism’ didn’t
promote non-committal uniformity, where differences cannot be spoken of and a blinkered, strait-laced point of view is adopted at convenience, to disregard and blame the past. Instead, he believed
in acknowledging and respecting differences in order to rise above and make the best of them. His men, and women (Rani of Jhansi Regiment with many Tamil recruits) – Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians – dined together before marching to the battlefield to lay down their lives for
their beloved Bharat Mata. They were
proof of an overarching, true ‘unity’ – distinctive ‘individuals’ acting
as ‘one human being' to fulfill the one noble cause that all of them believed in.
In
an era when world-changing ideologies were just coming into their own– anti-colonialism,
fascism, Nazism, socialism, and communism (with the true nature and full implications of some of them unknown still) – he stood as a patriot, a nationalist, whose nation extended beyond the borders of a country -- to embrace the world.
There may be contradictions in this, but few saw India as he did – an India in the context of the world.
We can debate over his political strategies (including what is often misconstrued as appeasement), the diplomatic alliances
he formed, the people he had to trust to help him during crises, but we cannot
deny the purity of the vision he was chasing. For in the context of the difficult
time he lived in and the Herculean challenges he had to conquer, he had devoted
his heart, mind, and soul to that one vision – to which he ultimately sacrificed
his life willingly, and with complete faith. He dreamt of a balanced India,
where not only women and minorities would be empowered to be equals but where all religions coexisted in harmony and in mutual respect, where industrialization led to material progress
and an appreciation of diversity and distinctive ideologies to spiritual
progress. It was his "desire that every man and woman of the country and the entire nation may, in every respect, realize Truth. In this quest, in this Sadhana, political freedom is only a means." That is how he referred to his path, as his sadhana to accomplish national freedom and ultimately attain "complete fulfillment in personal and national life."
We
are a free nation today – with the freedom of speech, the freedom to proclaim,
the freedom to criticise, the freedom to dissent and be devout, but have we
achieved Netaji’s ideal of freedom? Sadly, no. When liberty
and libertines rule, true emancipation is only a dream that silent pilgrims
dream of – where there is no need to defend or attack; where one can live one's God through his/her life, carrying forward the message of karmayogis - uniting bhakti and shakti – as their pilgrim hero did.
"The pages of Indian history teem with the undying examples of martyrs who suffered and died for the sake of their religious beliefs. They died so that India may live. And in spite of our misery and degradation, India still lives. She lives because her soul is immortal - her soul is immortal because she believes in religion...
...From the ashes of the dead past India is again rising phoenix-like to take her place among the free nations of the world, so that she may deliver her message, the message of the spirit, and thereby fulfill her mission on earth. India lives today because she still has a mission unfulfilled."
(Letter to the Chief Secretary of the erstwhile Govt. of Burma Through The Superintendent of Jails, Mandalay, dated February 16, 1926)
(Pic Credit: Netaji Research Bureau, Calcutta/Wikipedia)
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On January 12 every
year, we celebrate the birth anniversaries of two great Indians whose lives
were spent in shaping the history of our country and how it is perceived
globally.One of them, Swami
Vivekananda, was a spiritual leader who took Indian religion and philosophy to
the western world; the other, Rajmata Jijabai popularly known as Jijau,
was the mother of Chhatrapati Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha empire,
widely credited with having inculcated in him the concept of Swaraj (self-rule).
Although separated by
over 200 years, there were certain common ideals that they lived up to
during their lifetimes. Today, leftrightthodasacenterattempts to
go off the beaten track to trace these commonalities which Indians, indeed the
whole world, can take inspiration from even today.
In the words
of Swami Vivekananda himself, “Take up one idea.
Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it and live in that idea.
Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea
and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success and that is
the way to success and that is the way great spiritual giants are produced.”
Vivekananda’s Absolute was a person’s own higher self; he
believed that to labour for the upliftment of humanity was the noblest endeavour.
All living beings were an embodiment of God, therefore one served God when one
served humanity. Well-versed in the Hindu scriptures, he stressed on the
universal and humanistic rather than their ideological and dogmatic aspects. He
dedicated his entire life to infuse this belief into Hindu thought. He played a
leading role in reviving Hinduism as a unifying force in creating the concept of Indian nationalism as a means
of fighting the British. He would go on to introduce Hinduism to the world at
the Parliament of the World Religions in Chicago in 1893, referring to the
western audiences in his famous speech as his “sisters and brothers of America.”
But it was in his efforts to spread the
message of the Bhagvad Geeta, revive Hinduism, address social issues and
fight the injustice of colonialism that his one idea transcended the hundreds
of years between him and Jijamata, perfectly matching her belief in Swaraj.
Jijamata, the widow of Shahaji Bhonsle, lived and breathed her
husband’s legacy, of unifying Indians through their belief in the Geeta,
in the Epics, to establish a righteous nation where there was no injustice. She
brought up her son Shivba on this one idea to the total exclusion of all
else, like Vivekananda advocated hundreds of years later. It was her upbringing, her firm, unshakeable
belief in religion as a means of service of the less fortunate and securing the
rights that they were denied, that sowed the seeds of the great Maratha empire
under the banner of her son, Chhatrapati Shivaji who challenged the mighty Mughals on the one hand and the rising power of the
British, even after Shivaji was no more.
Let us not forget what they spent their entire lives to set
out before us….again the words of Vivekananda “We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we
wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now
has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever
we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to
know how to act."
So
what did you think of this post? Do let us know in the comment section below!
