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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The Myth of “1000 Years of Hindu Slavery”

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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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Following the government’s assertion that the legendary Kohinoor diamond could not be brought back as it was ‘gifted’ to the British, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday expressed his disappointment over the stand of the ruling dispensation and said that he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the facts of the diamond’s transaction from India to Britain.

“The first production of the Kohinoor was during the Kakatiya dynasty, which was in Warangal and this was taken out from the Guntur mines. It was later taken over by the Mughals, who put it in the peacock throne, then it went to Abdali then to his opponents and then to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. When he was getting sick and he knew that he may die, he wrote his will and bequeathed the diamond to Jagannath Mandir. That’s final. You can’t change that,” Swamy told ANI.

Expressing his frustration at the law officers of the government, he said that he was ashamed of them for claiming that this was a ‘gift’ to the British when the truth was miles away from it.

Throwing light on the history of the diamond’s transaction, Swamy added that Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s 13-year-old son Dilip Singh had a British tutor.

“When the young prince was about to meet Queen Victoria, he was told that he would have to present her a grand gift, which is when he gave the diamond. However, he regretted what he did as he grew older,” said Swamy.

“All this is recorded in the book of our High Commission in London. The book is titled Exile. The Prime Minister should tell the Additional General and the Solicitor General to compulsorily read that book first and then file a new affidavit,” Swamy said.

The government yesterday told the Supreme Court that as per the Ministry of Culture, India should not stake a claim to the famed Kohinoor diamond as “it was neither stolen nor forcibly taken away”.

Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the government, said this was the stand of the Culture Ministry.

Chief Justice T.S. Thakur asked the Centre if it wants the case to be dismissed as they would face a problem in the future when putting forward any legitimate claim.

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to file a detailed reply within six weeks.

Following the furore by the government’s assertion, Union Minister of State for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said that only the Centre can act on the issue of the Kohinoor diamond.

“According to the guidelines, the Central Government can take steps on things that were gifted or procured by the British before independence. Expert opinion on this regard will be taken at an appropriate time,” he told ANI.

The diamond is now part of the glittering purple-velvet Queen Mother’s Crown in the Tower of London. For years, the politicians and others in India and in the UK have said the diamond was seized after the British annexed Punjab. The gem was once the largest diamond in the world and is twice the size of the Hope Diamond. – DNA, 19 April 2016

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“I have no objections to historians writing Akbar The Great. But why not Pratap The Great? The valour and sacrifice that the Maharana demonstrated in the Mewar region was equally impressive and he should be accorded more respect and dignity,” he said while unveiling a statue of Pratap at the Collectorate campus in Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh district on Sunday.

“I personally consider Maharana Pratap as great,” he said eulogizing the Mewar king who was defeated by Akbar in the historic Battle of Haldighati. “History should be presented in correct light. Pratap must be introduced as great for the next generations,” Singh said.

He pointed out that Pratap’s patriotism and the sacrifices he made should be highlighted and this would work as inspiration for the country.

“The guerrilla warfare that the Maharana had waged against the Mughals became an inspiration for freedom fighters like Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh and even Chhatrapati Shivaji and Banda Bairagi,” he said. Singh said the Maharana was not king of a particular caste or community but fought for his country and people from all walks supported him.

“Virtues of Maharana Pratap have become more relevant in today’s world,” he said. He further said that there are several accounts in Indian history that should be modified and corrected. “I congratulate the Rajasthan government for introducing a chapter on Maharana Pratap and I assure that I will take up with the HRD ministry to introduce a similar chapter in CBSE and ICSC syllabus too,” Singh said.

Singh referred to Nobel laureate VS Naipaul’s book ‘India: A Wounded Civilisation’ and said, “Naipaul has observed that he found India the only country in the world where history written by foreign historians is taught in textbooks. Indian historians should heed to Naipaul and take measures in right earnest.”

Singh assured that the Centre would encourage celebration of Pratap’s forthcoming 475th birth anniversary in a big way.

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His reward: Threats of action from the very officials who are perhaps at fault for the lights going out in Shivaji’s ex-capital near Mahad.

Gavali, not to be cowed down, has asked officials and even Devendra Fadnavis, who is likely to become chief minister soon, to probe why the lights had gone out and fix responsibility. “I was shocked to learn that one of the most important forts of Maharashtra did not have power for the last 10 days even as all of us celebrated Diwali. I found out that ASI had not paid four power bills.”

For Gavali’s generosity, the Archaeological Survey of India, tasked with maintaining 300 monuments in the state, including the fort, is mulling legal action against him for interfering in its work. “How can a private resident pay the government bills of ASI? I will have to inquire about this and take action against this man (Gavali),” said Jitendra Nath, the superintending archaeologist of ASI (Mumbai Circle), when TOI contacted him.

“If the ASI wants to take legal action against me, they are welcome to do so. I wasted no time in paying the bills as this fort is the pride of the state and the entire nation. I have also asked state government officials, the Raigad district collectorate and the CM-in-waiting Devendra Fadnavis to probe and take strong action against all those responsible for the power cut at this famous fort which also houses the ‘samadhi’ of Chhatrapati Shivaji,” said Gavali.

“This is not really an issue, I have been informed lights were there at the fort. It is likely that during the monsoons, some of the lights may have stopped working. I will have to officially find out about this matter at Raigad,” the ASI official said.

“I have asked the zilla parishad officials and the power company to restore the halogen lights set up at Raigad Fort. We are inquiring how the power was cut to the fort,” said Raigad collector Sumant Bhange.

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Ramanujan conducted his mathematical research alone and without formal training, yet made extraordinary contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions. This man had one of the best mathematical minds of all time.In 1913, a twenty-five-year-old Indian clerk with no formal education wrote a letter to G.H. Hardy, then widely acknowledged as the premier English mathematician of his time. Srinivasa Ramanujan begged Hardy’s opinion regarding several ideas he had about numbers. Hardy realized that the letter was a work of genius.Thus began one of the most productive and unusual scientific collaborations in history, that of an English don and an impoverished Hindu genius whose like has never been seen again. Hardy arranged for Ramanujan to sail for England, leaving behind his wife and other in Madras. Ramanujan’s isolation from his family and the intensity of his work eventually took their toll, and within seven years of leaving India he was dead. For Hardy the collaboration with Ramanujan was “the one truly romantic incident of my life.”

Robert Kanigel’s achievement is not simply to make Ramanujan’s science accessible, but to show the pleasure, the excitement, and the love of numbers that inspired it. Here is a life and a life’s work that resound a century later.
A mathematical genius who ascribed his brilliance to a personal relationship with a Hindu Goddess. He saw the divine in the dance of numbers. 

The inexhaustible Ramanujan was an observant Hindu, adept at dream interpretation and astrology. His work was marked by bold leaps and gut feelings. Growing up he had learned to worship Namagiri, the consort of the lion god Narasimha. Ramanujan believed that he existed to serve as Namagiri´s champion – Hindu Goddess of creativity.  In real life Ramanujan told people that Namagiri visited him in his dreams and wrote equations on his tongue.

Ramanujan could never explain to G H Hardy how he arrived at his deep insights in mathematical terms; but he did say many of his discoveries came to him in dreams, from the goddess Namakkal, and that he had a morning ritual of awakening and writing them down.

He was intensely religious. He often united mathematics and spirituality together. He felt, for example, that zero represented Absolute Reality, and that infinity represented the many manifestations of that Reality. Ramanujan felt that each mathematical discovery was a step closer to understanding the spiritual universe. He once told a friend, “An equation for me has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of God.”

While growing up, he lived the life of a traditional Brahmin with his forehead shaved and wearing a topknot. He often prayed to his family Deity, the Goddess Namagiri of Namakkal, and followed Her advice. Namakkal is also called as “Namagiri”. He pilgrimaged all over Tamil Nadu. He quoted the Vedas, interpreted dreams and was regarded by his friends to be a mystic. Throughout his life, Ramanujan worshiped at the Sarangapani Vishnu temple in Kumbakonam.

Srinivasa Ramanujan was a brilliant mathematician, who helped pave the way towards today’s digital age, but died of malnutrition and illness in 1920, aged just 32.

The film, which is being directed by Matt Brown, is based on Robert Kanigel’s biography.

Film Shooting at Cambridge

 

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I

The illustrious Raja Raja Chola, is well known for his patronage of the arts, his vast conquests, and his tremendous temple building campaign. The famous Brihadeesvara temple, which recently turned a thousand years old, was consecrated by Raja Raja for Mahadeva.

This dilapidated samadhi of the Chola king is not an exception. Across India, we find similar examples that showcase the modern Hindu’s insouciant attitude towards the pitiful condition of historical structures that preserve the memory of our ancestors’ heroism and sacrifices.

The samadhi mandirs of Baji Rao, Hemu, and many others suffer from the same indifference. The cruel twist in this story is the ridiculous deification by modern Hindus of personalities who have been dedicated to the destruction of Hindus. Sonia Gandhi and Mayawati, both have opulent temples dedicated to them by their sycophantic followers. Then there are the temples devoted to the Tendulkars, Bacchans, and Kushboos of our country. In this age of Kali, the bull of morality stands on one leg. And so, the memory of the great Chola is relegated to such an ignoble fate.

Below part of Raja Raja Chola’s Legacy

1000 years ago, Raja Raja Chola did exactly that. Going down in the history of India as one of the greatest kings, he expanded the Chola kingdom over the whole of South India, Kalinga and Sri Lanka, his reign is considered the golden period of the Chola Dynasty. To commemorate the great achievements of his kingdom, he set out to leave behind a mark of his kingdom’s supremacy, something that told generations to come what a mighty and great dynasty ruled over the land. The culmination of that thought was the Brihadeeswara Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva at the then capital of the Chola kingdom, Thanjav

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