The Story of Two Narendras

On January 12th, 1863, Narendra Nath Dutta was born who later came to be known as Swami Vivekanand. He lived the life of a Bikshu (living on alms) and established the Ramakrishna Mutt. He travelled the length and breadth of India and later around the world to spread the ancient wisdom of India, Advaita. Anyone having any interest in Indian philosophy will come across his name and has an entire library full of works by him. He was the founder of Vedanta Societies in the West to further the unique message of a pluralistic yet universal experience of "God". He ensured that every Indian understood the core essence of Hinduism and adhere to its precepts and regain the pride of being Indian. This contributed at a subtle level to make British Rule distasteful to many Indians and the Freedom Struggle caught more momentum.

17th September, 1950, saw another Narendra to be born in Gujarat. He is better known as Modi, currently in the run for the prime ministership of India. He left his home to be a sanyasi, but his demand from his mother that he return made him live a quasi sanyasi life without officially taking on the monks' order.  He travelled across the country (mostly Northern India and the Himalayas) and learned to live the simple life of a bikshu (managing on alms). All his speeches and work in Gujarat as Chief Minister shows him to be a "systems" guy, working out systemic processes that ensure the smooth functioning of government based on the ancient precept of Raja dharma that all administration is for the well-being of all citizens. He is notorious in the media and gets written up or described as a Hitler in spite of all evidence that shows a strong support by people from all walks of life who see him to be a practical solution to India's current mess of graft and scams that have left one family's fortune burgeoning (with a few of their cronies' gaining monetarily too) leaving a large chunk of Indians in a position to collect "dole", in the name of the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. He envisions an India that is strong and proud to take its place amongst the council of nations strengthened by her economic progress.

History will decide the fate of this second Narendra, but it cannot be denied that they have both certainly lived up to their names of being a "King amongst Men" Nar (man)- indra (King).

Baisakhi and Jaya

Today is Baisakhi, the New Year for the Punjabis- the start of their month of Baisakh (based on the star Vishakha on which this month's full moon will fall). It is also the New year for Assamese, Bengalis, Oriyas, Keralites and Tamils. All of us have our own names in our own languages to mark the New Year. For the Vedic calendar based on Kaliyug calculations, it is the start of the 5116th year of Kali and the year is called Jaya, one of the "demons" who guarded the entrance to Vaikuntha (the abode of Vishnu). His brother Vijaya was the year preceding this that ends today.

In Hindu calendar, the names of the years cycle around for every 60 years. The names are those of "demons", a poor translation for Asuras (those who were not Sura ie good). As a child I asked why they were named after Asuras. Pat came the answer- time goes by and gets destroyed, likewise, the attributes that these Asuras are defined with, if we have such attributes in us, we offer it as an "ahuthi"- offering into time to be removed from us.

May this year of Jaya which also means Victory, bring much needed victory to the people of India from a corrupt government towards a healthy rate of economic growth and better socioeconomic standards.