“ Shivji, Maharaniji,” said the purohit, “has restored the child; it must be yours so to bring him up, that he may not one day wish that he had perished in the Mother Ganges.”
“It
shall be my charge,” said the Maharani engulfing the baby boy with her arms
with joy at his unexpected deliverance. And she went to her Shiva
From Chapter II - The Ballad of Zeenat and Yogeshwar
Zeenat
related the story of an astronomer asking a saint to reveal God to him, then
and there. The saint put a counter question whether he could show him the stars
and planets in daytime. Hence, to have vision of God, the mind should be
illumined. Yogi explained to the unborn child the necessity of temples and
idols. While a television station transmits music or news in the form of
electromagnetic waves, to get them reconverted into images and sound a receiver
is needed. Likewise the idols act as powerful medium to make us feel “feel” the
divinity. God is our constant companion and we should cultivate devotion, which
will be antidote for all ills....
Their
bliss came from believing and living along the lines of Kabir’s sayings:
Stop putting hope in others.
When the river flows through your own yard,
How can you die of thirst?
The Jogi cries: “Gorakh Gorakh!”
The Hindu utters the name of Ram,
The Mussalman repeats: “God is one!”
But the Lord of Kabir Pervades all.
The best place to look for God is “in
the heart of your heart.”
From Chapter III - Early Education of Kameshwar Singh
From
the moment he was born, Kameshwar’s soul felt heavy because he was carrying the
weight of all he had lived, loved, and learned in his past incarnations. Chief
among them was his inability to put in practice his spiritual convictions that
resulted in a tragedy. Now he was determined to work through that issue to
lighten the load and let his soul evolve. Divesting himself of what no longer
served him - unwarranted fear, the inability to feel empathy, and self-limiting
behaviors – was one of the many challenges he faced in this lifetime. While
some issues he faced were easier to deal with because they were the final
remains of residue from a past life, spiritual issues offered greater
challenges because he had to work through them throughout this lifetime...
Because
the knowledge that shaped his life now onwards was the philosophy of Vedanta; what follows is a bird’s eye view of that philosophy.
The
ultimate reality with reference to human life is known as atman and to that of
the world as Brahman-the great one. Duty decently and disinterestedly performed
and meditation carried on with devotion leading to Jnana, the knowledge and
constant consciousness of the Supreme Being, constitute the ethical scheme of
the practical aspects of the philosophy of Vedanta. The supreme end of life is
the realization of Brahman and this is possible in this present existence
itself, one who has achieved this is known as Jivan-mukta. The individual soul,
which is eternal, goes through countless series of lives till it is freed from
the fetters of physical embodiment.
Several
virtues, antecedent to the commencement of the inquiry into meaningfulness of
life, include truthfulness, non-violence, non-possession, non-covetousness and
faith in values-sraddha, and must be inculcated.
Celibacy,
also included in these virtues, was in direct contradiction to the message from
God to Prophet Muhammad as revealed in Sura 33, verse 50. “O Prophet! We have made lawful to you your wives to whom you have paid their dowers; and
those whom your right hand possesses
out of the prisoners of war whom Allah has assigned to you; and daughters of
paternal uncles and aunts, and daughters of your maternal uncles and aunts, who
migrated (from Makkah) with you; and any believing woman who dedicates her soul
to the Prophet if the Prophet wishes to wed; - this only for you, and not for believers
(at large); We know that We have appointed for them as to their wives and the
captives whom their right hand possess; - in order that there should be no
difficulty for you. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful”. Happily, Kam
was more in agreement with Koran on this point than with the Vedanta teaching
of celibacy.
From Chapter IV - First Love
One
morning they, together with Aryan and Prakash drove to
Kam
journeyed to Kolkota, took a flight to Guhawati, drove up to Shillong, flew to
Bagdogra and took the toy train to
From Chapter V - Teachings of Sankara and Ramanna
First destination that Kam selected for his tour in quest
for spiritual knowledge was Jagganath Puri in Orissa. Here he learnt from commentaries on
Taittiriya Upanishad what Hindus were. “He who respects and reveres the noble
and ethical values of life, who lives in self-control, whose mission in life is
to end the animal in him and regain the
And how does such a Hindu live? Whether in the kingly robes
of might and power or in the rags of poor man, starving and suffering, he is
the king of the situation, a Lord of circumstances, a master of himself and a
ruler of everybody. Unattached to any place or person he roams about on the face
of the globe expecting nothing, demanding nothing, wanting nothing, desiring
nothing, singing the song of his own joy. Reveling in his own inward
experiences of transcendental bliss and consummate fulfillment, he sits at one
place or roams about as his fancy dictates.
The fundamental principle of Shankara’s teaching is that the pure, innermost “Self” is the ultimate reality. This Self (which must not be confused with the “ego”) is a spiritual kernel of the same kind as Brahman or Godhead, the ultimate reality. When a man overcomes ignorance, and grasps intuitively that the Universe is merely an external phenomenon, and realizes the identity between the Self and Brahman, he becomes a “liberated” soul, waiting only for his final liberation from the body by death. The Self is said to be of the nature of pure consciousness and pure bliss...
Maharishi beautifully narrated the delights of God-consciousness. One who has tasted the bliss of companionship of God will seek only more of it. Initially the dominant cause for the devotion itself is the satisfaction of desires for things of the world. Gradually love of God, for the highest, for bliss without end, takes its place. Those whose hearts are turned God ward, as the magnetic needle to the north, can never lose their bearing as they sail the stormy ocean of desire.
From Chapter VI - Spirituality, Music, Flying, and Military Thinking
Napoleon
saw when and where to fight in a sudden flash of insight or coup d’oeil that
is the rapid discovery of a truth which to the ordinary mind is not visible at
all or only becomes so after long examination and reflection. You must expect
the unexpected through presence of mind, for war is indeed nothing but a great
conquest over the unexpected. He himself wrote: “The fact was that I was not a
master of my actions, because I was not as insane as to attempt to bend events
to conform to my policies. On the contrary, I bent my policies to accord with
the unforeseen shape of the events”. Kam recalled visiting Les Invalides in
From Chapter VII - Escape of a War Journalist
As
the Indian Army mounted the search for Kam the Pakistanis became aware of the
value of their booty and whisked Kam to Muzzeferabad in Pak-held
From Chapter VIII - One Wedding and two Funerals
It was an astonishing turn of events. Varsha was a beautiful, intelligent, wealthy woman who, through the death of her father and her previous husband commanded a considerable fortune and was also the heiress of the Garg Empire. Varsha loved him as no one had before. She loved him so much it would kill her. She loved him to the point that she considered making love to him was a form of worship. He was happy, he was madly happy, because he had suddenly, unexpectedly, and without having done anything to deserve it attained what he always desired, the infinite love of a good woman compared to which all the earth with all its continents and all its oceans is nothing. Yet he did not feel any bondage in the relationship.
From Chapter IX - A New Politician in Uttar Pradesh
Cleaning of the
Ganges and ghats of
Kam explained to
his opponents, “First, there are millions of people living along the river who
suffer from the effect of pollution. People are literally dying every day from
cholera and other waterborne diseases," he said. "Second, the river
is an important religious symbol, and its cleanliness holds tremendous
spiritual meaning for hundreds of millions of people. Third, it's important for
the image of the country of
From Chapter X - Prime Servant of India
With the help of
the greatest technical and social scientists in the Country, a series of
coal-fired power plants that could capture and store the carbon dioxide they
produced, rather then releasing carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, were built.
Almost eighty percent of the energy was obtained from the new nuclear plants
that were built with foolproof measures to avoid accidents. The automobile
industry further improved the fuel efficiency by using hybrid fuels. Solar and
wind energy was tapped all over the Country to replace fossil fuels.
Deforestation was reversed by new land-management strategies and financial
incentives.
With the
exploitation of solar and wind energy, food production went up and the prices
came down. The
Population
stabilization was achieved by a determined investment in girls’ education – all
education for them was free – to promote a rapid and voluntary reduction in
birth rates. Poorest of the poor were put above survival levels for the market
forces to lift them further, to market driven prosperity.
In achieving all this Kam displayed great kindness, justice, intelligence, patience, universal love, devotion to duty and cooperation with his colleagues and opposition politicians. His popularity soared.
From Chapter XI - Divine Verses
During
his next foray to Kurukshetra Kam got the inspiration that God had desired
divine verses from the Quran to be extracted and presented to Muslims as a
modified Quran for the 21st Century. What follows are those verses
that were to be retained in the Quran.
Surah 3 - Al Imran. 14. Beautified for men is the love of things they covet;
women, children, much of gold and silver (wealth), branded beautiful horses,
cattle and well-tilled land. This is the pleasure of the present world's life;
but Allâh has the excellent return (
Surah 6 - Al Anam 52.
And
turn not away those who invoke their Lord, morning and afternoon seeking His
Face. You are accountable for them in nothing, and they are accountable
for you in nothing, that you may turn them away, and thus become of the Zâlimûn
(unjust).
108.
And
insult not those whom they (disbelievers) worship besides Allâh, lest they
insult Allâh wrongfully without knowledge. Thus We have made fairseeming to each people its own doings; then to
their Lord is their return and He shall then inform them of all that they used
to do.
10. Younus.[10:41] If they reject you, then say, "I have my works, and you have your works. You are innocent of anything I do, and I am innocent of anything you do."
[10:99] Had your Lord willed, all the people on earth would have believed. Do you want to force the people to become believers?
[29:64] - Al-ankaboot. This worldly life is no more than vanity and play,
109-
The Disbelievers (Al-Kaaferoon) [109:1] Say,
"O you disbelievers. [109:2] "I do not worship what you
worship. [109:3] "Nor do you
worship what I worship. [109:4] "Nor will I ever worship what you
worship. [109:5] "Nor will you ever worship what I worship. [109:6]
"To you is your religion, and to me is my religion.
Peter the
Venerable had recounted in 1142 ( J.P.Migne (ed.) Patrologia Latina (1844-64) Vol. 189, Col.671; “I therefore approached
specialists in the Arabic language, from which comes the deadly poison which
has infected half the world, and I persuaded them – by pleas and by offering
payment – to translate from Arabic into Latin the origin, life and laws of that
damned soul (Muhammad) which is called the Koran … in order that the
translation should be completely accurate, and in order that no detail should
escape us through the deceit, I added a Saracen to the team of Christian
translators. It is mentioned in the History in Quotations by M.J. Cohen and
John Major that the great abbey of
