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Tuesday, February 5, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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Strategic convergence A limp argument The will to win |
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Electioneering, UP style
Man and the Monkey
Saints & poll: what next?
Small meals throughout day can lower cholesterol
1993, Physiology or
Medicine: ROBERTS and SHARP
Backlog of backaches doesn’t cause more aches
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Strategic convergence Any reference to “old and close ties” between two countries has become a cliché. And yet it is unavoidable to use the term when talking about India and Russia. The healthy sign is that the traditional friends are rediscovering each other like never before. The visit of Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, which is to be followed by the arrival of Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, is an important landmark in this quest for strengthening their relations. The back-to-back visits have a message not only for Pakistan, but also for the rest of the world. Russia has not only underlined its convergence with India, but has also revived the earlier proposal to forge closer cooperation between these two and China. This will not be an axis or a bloc, but an informal cooperation arrangement. This time round, China too has evinced keen interest in the proposal. Ironically, the catalyst has come from the USA. There is growing realisation that the American war on terrorism is degenerating into an attempt at gaining global hegemony. Under these circumstances, it is in the interest of all the three giants to watch their back and help each other to the extent possible. Afghanistan and Central Asia have become a hotbed of strong American leverage on a long-term basis. India, China and Russia will have to be on guard that any destabilisation in the neighbourhood does not affect their own interests. Even otherwise, the benefits that can accrue from such a regional cooperation can be tremendous. Working in tandem, the trio can take technological strides which will be an envy of even advanced countries. This alliance, or whatever else one may like to call it, will be able to influence even the EU and the USA. To that extent, it can help the unipolar world to take a trilateral shape. In the new reality, respect comes only to the country or countries that speak from a position of strength, whether singly or in a group. Look at the way the voice of the EU has become magnified after its members sunk their differences. Moreover, the economic needs of the three countries are quite similar. After the collapse of the USSR, Russia found itself in the Third World bracket. Today it knows the trials and tribulations of the developing countries first-hand. The three can not only lend a helping hand to each other but also to other countries in the region. If all goes well, they can also jointly fight some of the dubious policies of organisations like the WTO which are tilted distinctly towards the developed world. Nothing concrete has emerged so far, but perhaps because of the immense possibilities both Russia and China have been exceptionally perceptive to India's sensibilities on Kashmir and its relationship with Pakistan. |
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A limp argument Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is sour with the opposition for raising questions over impropriety in defence deals. He is actually calling for a ceasefire in the all-important crusade against corruption. He says there is an emergency-like situation what with tense border in the west. In other words, there are war clouds and it will take time for them to clear away. Until then it is essential to keep the morale of the soldiers high and incessant talk of hanky-panky will do the opposite. This logic is acceptable at the superficial level; using patriotism to sweep unsavoury things under the carpet. But there is an underside to this. One, as the Tehelka tapes proved, corruption in defence purchases predates the massing of troops along the border. Two, in-house investigations in the Air Force have brought out startling facts about purchase of spareparts not needed by the force and payment of outrageously high prices. These are part of the Delhi High Court record. Three, the buying of
aluminum coffin from a foreign maker. at several times the price a public sector undertaking was prepared to charge was indeed scandalous. Then came the decision of the Ministry of Defence to deny the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament access to the Central Vigilance Commission Report on the various defence deals during last decade. Defence Minister George Fernandes sought this inquiry to prove the government’s claim to transparency! Now it wants to hide behind the purdah of security interest. The Prime Minister must have received reports that there is no excitement among the people over the border developments. Residents in Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan and the Kutch region of Gujarat – which are within the rifle range of Pakistan soldiers – have left the homes with a sense of resignation. Elsewhere the usual euphoria over a war is totally missing. The traditional drum-beaters are either silent or lazy. There is an important lesson to be learnt from this. People will not accept the border tension as a valid reason to demand and impose a blackout on the irregular defence deals. Also, post-Tehelka, the middle class demands every defence deal to be clean and untainted; the armed forces still enjoy both popular confidence and esteem. It should not adopt the practice of the customs department. What all this means is that the Prime Minister of the country should become the prime fighter against bribe-taking anywhere, in defence deals in the first place. |
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The will to win When Nasser Hussain landed in India with a new-look cricket team both the pundits and the punters placed their bets on India winning the Test and one-day series. But the English cricket captain proved the sceptics wrong. The englishmen lost the Test series but won the respect of critics by dominating India in the drawn second and third Tests. His team did exceptionally well in the one-day series. After being 3-1 down in the six-game tournament Nasser Hussain's team displayed amazing guts and character to win the last two games to level the series. The good news for cricket buffs is that the Englishmen are not yet ready to be written off. Australia and South Africa, perhaps, play better cricket than the English. However, in Nasser Hussain they have found an inspirational captain. He is streets ahead of even the legendary Mike Brearley because he can both lead the team and bat with equal ease. Brearley was merely an inspirational leader, but a mediocre batsman. For India also there were several gains. One was the discovery of form by the Indian captain. His batting in the one-day series again established his credentials as the most exciting left-handed batsman in contemporary cricket. But the best news came dressed as a Sachin Tendulkar look-alike.
Yes,V irendra Sehwag showed that he was here to stay unlike so many promising youngsters who faded away after making grand entries in international cricket. Even the most critical eye gets confused about who-is-who when Tendulkar and Sehwag are at the crease together. Dinesh Mongia who plays for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy and the Haryana wicket-keeper Ajay Ratra too are likely to serve Indian cricket with distinction. Who could have imagined an Indian XI without Rahul Dravid and V. V. S. Laxman? Most of the new faces indeed showed a lot of promise. However, Indian cricket coach needs to be reminded that he is virtually being paid a king's ransom for removing the known weaknesses of the team. For instance, it does not know how to remove the tail. Take just the Mumbai game that England won by 5 runs - they won the Kanpur tie by 2 runs. The way M. Trescothick and Nasser Hussain were playing England were in sight of putting an impossible target of 350 plus for victory. But then the wily Harbhajan struck and England were reduced to 174 for 7. Yet they managed to post a challenging score of 255. Wright will have to work very hard to make India realise the importance of finishing the tail and not giving too many runs in the slog overs. He must also make them believe that chasing any score, big or small, is possible with the kind of talent now on display. Can he do it? |
Electioneering, UP style Politicians are an unholy lot! They take a “holier than thou attitude” on anything and everything — be it religion or riots, scums or scams. All are bhaktas of power and fanatics when it comes to protecting their power bases. After all, Indian politics for the past two decades has been all about religion. A dhandha at its sizzling best, camouflaged in the secular and communal mode of vote-bank politics. At the drop of a hat, political rhetoric whips popular sentiments into divisive forces of faith and creed, the majority-minority syndrome to keep their vote-counters ringing. Nothing stands testimony to this better than the “jihad” unleashed over Ayodhya. It doesn’t matter that the culprit is the “fundamentalist” Vishwa Hindu Parishad, an affiliate of the Sangh Parivar. Politicians of all hues and colour are once again caught in the vortex of raging fervour of religious sentiments. Who would have thought that a centuries-old non-descript structure would change the course of contemporary politics from 1989, when the saffron brigade played its Hindutva card. Since then all have tried to make political capital out of it to suit their electoral ends. If the “communal” parties recite the holy scriptures at an election time, the “secular” players hide behind the coat-tails of the judiciary or suffer from an acute bout of minority syndrome! The elections to four state Assemblies and byelections to six Lok Sabha and as many Assembly seats across the country this month are no different. Wherein the BJP has converted its battle for retaining its UP gaddi into a battle for Ayodhya. The timing and the petty histrionics displayed by the VHP chief, Mr Ashok Singhal, to go ahead with the decision to start construction of the Ram temple on March 12 give a lie to Prime Minister Vajpayee’s reported threat to resign, followed by his promise to ask his Law Minister to check the legal and constitutional aspects of handing over 47 acres of land around the disputed site to the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas. Also to find out if the proceedings at the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court could be expedited before the VHP’s deadline or a negotiated settlement reached before that date. Mr Vajpayee himself would try to build a “national consensus” on the issue. The Prime Minister’s stand was whole-heartedly supported by the senior BJP leadership. Party President Krishnamurthy minced no words by publicly stating that the BJP stood firmly by the NDA’s National Agenda for governance. However, he added a rider: we will not touch Ayodhya till 2004 when the BJP’s commitment to the NDA could come to an end. In other words, the BJP leadership wants to run with the hare and hunt with the hound. At one level, it is trying to placate its allies and on the other it is trying to cash in on the temple movement and the Hindu vote-bank. These developments raise two moot points. One, the timing of the VHP’s Ayodhya song with renewed vigour. Two, Ayodhya’s importance for the BJP in its electoral fight for UP. Take the first point. Why is it that come election time the Sangh Parivar’s cahoots raise the ante on Ayodhya? Since 1989 the story has been the same. Starting with Mr L.K. Advani’s Rath Yatra, which took the monument out of its religious context and gave it a potent political thrust, while the VHP and the Bajrang Dal equated it with nationalism and described it as the core of Indian consciousness. Predictably, the Hindutva card catapulted the BJP from two MPs in 1984 to 91 MPs in 1991 with the BJP’s graph steadily going up with every consecutive election, both at the Centre and in the states. Today it has 173 MPs in the Lok Sabha and lords over UP. Each time the party’s success has been thanks to the shriller and strident notes of the Sangh Parivar’s drumbeater VHP on Ayodhya pre-election, only to lie low once the poll is over. Remember, the Parishad had promised to start temple construction just a few months before any election. It did this in the 1997 UP Assembly election and emerged as the single largest party. During the 1999 Lok Sabha poll, it reiterated its promise to start temple construction by 2000. Once Mr Vajpayee was firmly ensconced in the Prime Minister’s gaddi, the VHP decided to defer its temple construction decision by a year. In 2001 it once again deferred its deadline of March 3 to March 12 this year, about three weeks after the last ballot for UP will have been cast on February 21. Predictably, given the Sangh Parivar’s history, this time too the VHP may break its promise. Already, the VHP has softened its stand. From Mr Vishnu Dalmia’s statement that “the temple is our priority, not the government’s stability”, to Mr Singhal’s utterance on Monday last that “we understand the Prime Minister’s political compulsions, we only wanted him to remove the obstacles before the temple construction after March 12.” Note from “on March 12” it has become “after March 12”. Adding: “We will continue to have meaningful dialogue with the Centre till March 12,” forgetting that just two days earlier it ruled out any further negotiations with the Centre. Significantly, the Sangh Parivar’s fountainhead RSS chief Sudarshan has already indicated that the sants may put off their plan, if the Prime Minister is able to convince them of the government’s sincerity in resolving the issue. “The sants have not set any deadline for constructing the temple”, asserted he at the Karnataka regional conclave of the RSS last week, adding that “the clouds of war are looming over the country, which require everybody’s undivided attention.” For the BJP, Ayodhya is a symbol of its do-or-die battle for retaining power in UP. For a defeat at the hustings could have grave ramifications for it at the Centre. Not only would this undermine its moral authority and credibility for leading the NDA government at the Centre, but it could also sound the death knell of its political survival. Its rise as the single largest party has primarily been by playing the Hindutva card and pandering to the majority Hindu vote-bank. Having attained its peak on the coat-tails of the Ayodhya movement, its downswing started the day the structure was demolished. True, the BJP’s numerical strength increased to touch 173 MPs in the Lok Sabha, making it the single largest party in the House. Nevertheless, in terms of popular vote percentage, its popularity showed a drop. While the Congress won 30 per cent popular vote with merely 113 MPs, the BJP got 28 per cent of the votes polled with 173 seats. With the election to four state Assemblies not far away, the saffron brigade is definitely going to find the going tough. The upper caste Hindus are beginning to get disillusioned, and many are even thinking of going back to the Congress. Today, to sustain this success, the BJP needs to sell another dream. What better than religion, where its expertise lies. Its desperation is understandable. Uttar Pradesh, its home base where it won its largest chunk of Lok Sabha seats, is shaky. The party’s performance in the panchayat polls and the byelections to the state Assembly last year was dismal, to say the least, holding out ominous portends for the future. To arrest this trend, it hopes Bhagwan Ram would oblige. The same holds true of the Congress. Ram and Rahim have been reduced to election cut-outs. Tossed around like a football in the Hindu and Muslim electoral playground of paramount importance is the goal, no matter what it takes. What of the future? All sane elements must seek to depoliticise the Ayodhya issue. There is no easy way out of hard decisions. The issue should be settled mutually once and for all. It must not be bequeathed to the next generation as a continuing blood feud. Clearly, our leaders want to attain political nirvana through divisible spiritual morality. But then what about India’s
moksha? |
Man and the Monkey Till I visited Jakhoo temple in Shimla early this December, I had only known that in every man there was a monkey. But what happened with me on that day completely changed my perception of things at least with regard to the rhesus ancestors of us the homo sapiens. We were then climbing the flight of steps to Jakhoo from Sanjoli side. Parallelly runs a steep pathway for those who might like to avoid the steps. The temple is seated right on the highest hill and is known for the monkey brigade being stationed there since the times people have been thronging the temple site. We were cautious not to carry polybags etc, which are a natural temptation for the monkeys to pounce upon or snatch by deceit employing the screeching sound produced with a grinny opening of the mouth, which we normally call a Geedar-bhabkee — or just an idle threat. All the monkeys around were then their usual naughty selves. Shrieking. Chasing. Hanging upside down. Mimicking. Scratching. Frightening those who could be frightened and avoiding those who should be avoided as per their known monkey sense. And once in a while engaging in that popular sport for which they are known to be putting their descendants, with their own tails devolved into their frames (if you believe Charles Darwin), to embarrassment, discomfort and inconvenience. We were four of us. Two guests from London, who in fact had wished to visit Jakhoo, being ardent believers in the might of Lord Hanuman. Monkeys then acquire a natural right to be present there that too in large numbers like the Vanar-Sena. Since I had visited the place earlier also, so I doubled as a guide too. I was leading the group and heading towards the sanctum sanctorum when the inevitable happened. I felt a kind of pulling of the jacket from behind and some creatures crouched up my waist on to the shoulders. In less than a couple of seconds it all happened and I realised, only after being informed that a monkey had taken away my sunglasses. My guests had gifted the imported brand to me the previous day only. Quite helpless and sheepish, I looked at the monkey. He was there at a safe distance, holding the black blinders in his jaws. He looked to be careful enough not to damage them though. The monkey appeared to be a teenager. Neither still growing up nor grown up. Appropriate stuff suicide attackers are known to be made up of. When we were all gazing at the monkey in bewilderment, with the sunglasses clutched by the arm in the mouth, some onlookers had good fun at my cost. In the meanwhile there appeared a man on the scene, who later turned out to be a mediator, who suggested I offer some roasted gram to the monkey, in exchange of which he might give up his “claims’ to the snatched glasses and he went on to inform that there were a couple of “mischievous” monkeys at Jakhoo who play such pranks very often. Left with no option than to toe the line, I took some gram from another visitor standing close by and with the stuff placed on my extended palm to the monkey, I tried to strike a deal. Quite surprisingly the monkey, as if, beckoned me towards a particular direction. And exactly, I realised later, towards the man who was himself a hawker selling roasted gram for five rupees per packet. And who had suggested the gram offer idea. When negotiations were going on between the monkey and me, the hawker reappeared on the scene with a packet of grams. And at the same time, seeking a confirmation from us that we shall pay him afterwards (of course), he insisted he only would himself be able to click the deal with the monkey who might still not oblige and walk away with the offer as also the booty if we made the offer. Once again we had to surrender but I started suspecting a design and a trap. The hawker approached the monkey and threw up in the air the packet which was grabbed by the latter, simultaneously releasing his jaws and allowing the sunglasses to land in the hands of the hawker, like a very well taken catch. Every thing happened with a masterly dexterity exhibited both by the monkey and the man and I got my blinders back. All through our return journey, I kept wondering whether or not the man and the monkey were hands in glove with each other? Whether or not it was merely a coincidence? Whether or not the hawker had really trained a couple of the rhesuses. Whether or not I should call the monkeys mercenaries and the man “master of ceremonies”? And above all, whether or not there is a man too in the head of a monkey? |
Saints & poll: what next? Two aspects of the ensuing assembly elections, especially in UP, have ominous political portends. While Atal Behari Vajpayee’s VHP dilemma is bound to re-emerge in a more complicated context after a different government takes charge in Lucknow, the election scenario itself is turning to be a full dress rehearsal for crude display of post-poll political opportunism marked by the worst kind of bargaining and horse-trading. Even the political parties and candidates are boldly proclaiming at public rallies that they would certainly use the hung situation to bargain for more benefits for their electors. This writer heard it in many places in UP. In the past, even the most reckless independent would not dare to make such preposterous claims. Now those like Mayawati are seeking votes to give her enough MLAs so that she could strike a better deal with other parties in the event of political uncertainties. The minor parties and rebel candidates are freely seeking similar pre-poll endorsement of floor crossings. UP’s tragedy has been that nobody even talks of a single-party majority and political stability. The political discourse invariably centres on the possible permutations and combinations. These apparently exclude any Congress or Samajwadi Party tie-up with the BJP. Mayawati’s first priority is a post-poll arrangement with the Congress if that gives her a working majority. An alliance with the BJP or Mulayam Singh Yadav is her last option. She, perhaps rightly, thinks that if arithmetic fails a Congresss-Mulayam coalition, the BSP (with its record of opportunist coalitions) has the best chance of ruling UP in 2002. If what one sees on the surface is indeed real, nothing can be ruled out in UP. Even a near majority for a Congress-Mulayam combination. Similar is the case with the BSP and the BJP. In all such cases, those like Ajit Singh’s party and various tiny groups will be readily available for the winning side. Curiously, political parties, by and large, seem to have given a boost to prospective defectors by distributing tickets without the least consideration of loyalty and integrity. Party managers pooh-pooh the “one-third” safeguard. This year’s poll-eve defection in UP has also been a trend setter. Rebel candidates were there always. They had at times hurriedly formed a separate party. This time what strikes one most has been the utterly promiscuous manner in which those denied candidature were honoured by other parties with their own tickets. The BJP and the SP have been the worst hit. No one bothers about the ideology, loyalty or commitment. The long suspension lists being issued by the main parties reveal the spread of personalised politics to the constituency levels. So far this has been confined to provincial politics. If this is the pre-election trend, one can well imagine what happens later. The UP elections also expose the contradictions in the worst form between the proclaimed character of the sectarian parties and their compulsions of wresting an electoral majority. The BJP, BSP and Mulayam have made special efforts to woo the other caste and religious groups. The BSP, whose slogan has been “tilak, teraju, talvar-inko maaro jute char” (beat up Brahmin, Bania and Thakur), has about 90 upper caste candidates and Muslims each. Unlike earlier, Mayawati asserts that hers is a party of “all” castes, something which the expediencies of power forced on the exclusivist parties. The other aspect — the VHP’s revived Ayodhya agitation — has now turned out to be a stunning upset for the ruling party. The year-long VHP programme was charted out as part of the two-track strategy to win the UP elections. Under this plan, the ruling party was to persist with its mandir-not-on agenda theme while the VHP would consolidate the vote-bank of the faithfuls. The 'filmy’-style appearance of men in robes and carefully crafted religious rituals were all designed to reach its peak just in time for the UP elections. But politics has its own unpredictable course. Often even the best strategies boomerang. When the robs and trishuls failed to impress the TV-weary onlookers, the VHP ‘saints’ attributed it to the non-cooperation by the Vajpayee-controlled party machinery. This was not really so because many senior central leaders and local workers had whole-heartedly tried to mobilise crowds for the ‘saints’. True, lack of official patronage did affect the build-up. However, there are other reasons for the public apathy. If anxious crowds had waited for hours for Advani’s rath, it was then seen as a showdown with the governments at the Centre and in states. It is no more so. The VHP leaders also failed to take the right cue from Sushma Swaraj’s dictum that one cannot encash the same cheque twice. Finally, when the VHP roadshow lost its electoral utility, the entire BJP developed cold feet. To be fair, Vajpayee’s managers had made earnest efforts to please the VHP sadhus without disturbing the coalition. At one stage, it looked the NDA allies had fell for the trap. It was to be done at the quietly called meeting of the partners to endorse the referring of the dispute to the law ministry headed by a BJP minister. Even the notice for the meeting looked like an invitation for a private talk with the Prime Minister. Leader of a secular group was even persuaded to put forth the suggestion. But the whole plan collapsed when Chandrababu Naidu came out with strong condemnation of any official move to depart from the NDA’s known position on the dispute. This forced the DMK, already under siege from the state’s large minorities, to oppose the move. However, the great socialists and old Janata splinters within the coalition had still behaved well. Later Om Prakash Chautala too resented the move but it was due to his electoral problems with the local BJP unit. Apparently, the angry ‘sadhus’ took the Prime Minister’s failed plan too as a trick to isolate them further. Though unreported, some men in robs did allege so at their public rally in Delhi. They condemned Advani and ridiculed Vajpayee for their "double talk" and lack of ‘Ram bhakti’. Acharya Dharmendra even alluded to the knee operation of Vajpayee and attributed it to his ‘weak-kneed’ policy. The sarcasm was so scathing that the VHP audience applauded the ‘saints’ whenever they attacked Vajpayee. What had added to the misfired strategy to kindle Hindutva spirit during the poll was the BJP leaders’ official silence on the ‘saints’ outbursts against the Prime Minister. In UP, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and Kalyan Singh are using it to best effect at the election rallies. The ruling party ‘s present discomfiture apart, there is little doubt that Vajpayee is going to be the winner. In the course of each confrontation during the past three years, he has been able to silence every RSS enthusiast, including its supreme boss. However, the next stage of the VHP battle is going to be more complex. When it outlives the BJP’s electoral objective, the burden of coping with the VHP‘s post-Shivaratri deadline challenge will fall on the new government in UP. If it turns out to be a non-BJP arrangement, the ‘saints’ are sure to push it to the brink. While the Centre will continue to stick to the legalistic position, the tricky part of law and order will fall on the state government leading to lots of mutual
mudslingings. |
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Small meals throughout day can lower cholesterol A new British study suggests that small meals throughout the day help lower cholesterol levels. Munich-published medical journal Aerztliche Praxis printed the findings which conclude that the link is valid regardless of age, weight, drinking or smoking habits or physical condition. A possible explanation, say the researchers, is that the body goes into “energy-save mode’’ when less food is consumed, the net result of which is that fewer fats and cholesterol are broken down. The medical records of around 15,000 people aged 45 to 75 were examined at Cambridge University for the survey.
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Backlog of backaches doesn’t cause more aches Is the niggling back pain back? One of the most common ailments that distress most now-a-days may not be from the risk factors that are generally thought to be the root of the problem. A new study finds that common risk factors such as previous back pain and work-related injuries are not the only reason for disc degeneration. In a research conducted in Switzerland, analysts evaluated 41 patients who were initially free of back pain for evidence of disc degeneration in their lower backs. Five years later, 41 per cent of those patients had developed disc degeneration despite the lack of earlier back pain. In addition, none of the classic risk factors commonly associated with back pain, including heavy lifting, carrying and bending, were shown to significantly increase disc degeneration either. The study, one of the first to focus on patients without a history of back pain, did isolate three significant risk factors for disc degeneration, the presence of disc herniation, lack of sports activities, and night shift work. Although these reasons are, for the most part, not readily explainable, the researchers do concede that the risk of disc degeneration is most likely affected by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. And, perhaps more importantly, it appears as if work-related risk factors for back pain may not be the same as those for disc degeneration. The researchers feel, “This could lead researchers to reconsider the current concept that certain occupational risk factors have a detrimental effect on the integrity of the intervertebral disc and subsequent LBP development”.
ANI Remote-controlled plane to hunt for fugitives A pilotless spy plane may soon join the hunt for fugitives like Osama bin Laden, the man thought to have masterminded the September 11 terrorist attacks. A cross between a flying saucer and a helicopter, the disc-shaped SiMiCon Rotor Craft (SRC) looks like something out of the cult space series Star Trek, New Scientist magazine reports. Pilotless aircraft were deployed during the Afghan conflict, greatly reducing casualties in the US Air Force and ground troops on both reconnaissance and attack missions. Normal uninhabited aerial vehicles, or UAVs, have big drawbacks: they need a runway, they are slow and they cannot hover.
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Guard well, O man your share of immortality, that you may reach old age without mishap. Spirit and life I now impart to you! Do not vanish into shadow and darkness! Do not perish. Go forth, .... into the light of the living. I draw you towards a life of a hundred autumns. Releasing you from the bonds of death and malediction I stretch forth your life thread into the distant future. From the wind I have taken your breath, from the sun your eye-sight. I strengthen your heart in you, consolidate your limbs. I adjure you to speak with tongue free from stammering. With the breath that dwells in creatures of two legs or four, I blow upon you as one blows on a fire just kindled. To you, O Death, to your sight and your breath, I pay homage. — Jivatam jyotir abhyehi. Atharvaveda, VIII, 2:1-4 *** Water, verily is greater than food. Therefore, when there are no good rains, the living beings are afraid that food will be scarce. But when there are good rains, the living beings are happy (thinking) there will be much food. It is water in its different forms which is the earth, the atmosphere, heaven, the mountains, Gods and men, animals and birds, grass and trees, wild beasts, works, flies and ants. All these forms are only water. Meditate on water. He who meditates on water as Brahman, he obtains all desires and becomes fulfilled. His freedom will extend to the limits of the realm of water, he who meditates on water as Brahman or the Absolute. — Chhandogya Upanishad, VII. 10,1-2 |
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