Narendra Modi Uvach : Dear Barack , Indian people love you, and your warships too ! 

New Delhi . Narendra Modi , of course, did not say this . But his Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar,  apparently, did say . Has he exceeded his brief . Modi owes it to  nation to clear government's position regarding proposed logistics agreement with the United States. It is an existential question for Asia and Indian /Chinese civilization. Too much is at stake .

India- US logistics agreement : beginning of end of "Asian century" ?

Same Prayer at Dawn for Mahatma Gandhi and Narendra Modi 


Varanasi. It only strengthens "Gandhi credentials" of our man in parliament , as the senior and junior Gujarati recite same prayer at dawn, almost a century apart.  During a re-look on collected works of the Mahatma, in connection with Bharat Mata temple of Varanasi, I was struck by this revelation .
 The Mahatma in his inaugural speech (October 26, 1936)  said-  As I was asked to perform the opening ceremony in the morning, and as I listened to the chanting of the Vedic mantras, I thought of a verse in our morning prayer which we have been repeating now for 20 years: ‘Mother Earth, Spouse of Vishnu, ocean-clad and mountain-breasted, I bow to Thee. Forgive me the touch of my feet.’ 
Modi as a swayamsevak and pracharak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been reciting these mantras as a part of pratahsmaran.
When the Mahatma included these mantras in his dawn prayer , RSS  was not even founded !

कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मिः करमध्ये सरस्वति ।
करमूले तु गोविन्दः प्रभाते करदर्शनम् ॥

karaagre vasate lakshmiiH karamadhye sarasvatii .
karamuule tu govindaH prabhaate karadarshanaM ..

 . The front part of the hands (the finger tips) are ascribed to Goddess Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth, the middle part (the palm proper) to Goddess Saraswati - the Goddess of learning and the root (the part of of hand near the wrist) to Govinda (God). Therefore, every morning, one should have a respectful look at one's hand which symbolizes honest labor.
समुद्रवसने देवि पर्वतस्तनमण्डले ।
विष्णुपत्नि नमस्तुभ्यं पादस्पर्शं क्षमस्वमे ॥

samudravasane devi parvatastanamaNDale .
vishhNupatni namastubhyaM paadasparshaM kshamasva me .

O! Mother Earth, who has the ocean as clothes and mountains and forests on her body, who is the wife of Lord Vishnu, I bow to you. Please forgive me for touching you with my feet.

Worth celebrating ; " sahasra purna chandra darshan " anniversary of varanasi's Bharat Mata temple

Is Narendra Modi listening?

Our man in parliament understands what  " sahasra purna chandra darshan "  is. In fact last year he reminded federal bank's officials that RBI's 80th anniversary is actually " sahasra purna chandra darshan ". Bankers, back on their desks must have counted the years, numbers of "full moon" (purnimas) since 1935.
Now in Varanasi the same significant event is waiting to be celebrated as national festival. Bharat Mata Temple's 80th installation anniversary.

In Narendra Modi's Varanasi  "Bharat Mata Temple" Weeps in Neglect 

Mother India has just saw "sahasra purn chandra darshan" lying uncared in a deserted complex in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Varanasi. 80 years ago, Mahatma Gandhi inaugurated "Temple of Bharat Mata" on October 26, 1936. Thus the mother is 80 years old having witnessed 1000 purnimas, a very special occasion in one's life. It is certainly very special as the 1.25 billion sons and daughters, in these days, are engaged in a fierce debate whether to chant  "Bharat Mata Ki Jay "
Well known nationalist Shiv prasad Gupt , who started famous  Hindi newspaper Aaj, was the builder of this unique temple, having  a map of Greater India carved on marble  in the main hall of the temple. During his Japan visit he saw a similar memorial there and decided to build a shrine in the glory of Mother India. Mahatma Gandhi happily accepted the invitation to inaugurate this national monument. 
Introductory material about the temple say that copies of holy books of all religions, Gita, Quran, Bible etc were placed  in the foundation of the temple.
Mahatma in his inaugural speech said, " Everyone who loved Mother India was welcome to the shrine to offer his or her worship according to his or her light and capacity."
Light in the period of blackouts!

Varanasi somewhat clean but chaotic as ever

Cleanliness is not a Banarasi charactistics but we can still tolerate it . This time, after a gap of 4 months- from deepavali to holi, in my home universe, I noticed  some visible signs of cleanliness on the roads and streets and galis. It did not impress me but this the price we have to pay for electing an MP, so obsessed with cleanliness and designer cloths.
Other day, from the press gallery of Rajya Sabha , I heard our member of Parliament cautioning fellow lawmakers that people will inquire about the cleanliness status of their cities/towns. He said his constituency is almost at the end of cleanliness index- perhaps 75th in total 78 places. He said I will  have to answer to people (Banarasis). He is certainly wrong on this count. No Banarasi, of worth, will complain about garbage and filth. We have much more important and deep issues to worry about. We would simply say- keep your cleanliness to yourself along with your sartorial vulgarity.
And don't argue with us about the metaphysical dimensions of this issue. In the meantime just recite a few lines of  Tomas Transtromer -
We got ready and showed our home. 
The visitor thought: you live well. 
The slum must be inside you. 
( no need to say - visitor was from Varanasi) 

Narendra Modi : The Messenger of Majuli 

Even an election win in Assam can not match the significance of Prime Minster Narendra Modi's Majuli visit . Majuli, the sacred island amidst great Brahmaputra is just like Braj Kshetra of northern India. One can not believe that no Prime Minister ever visited this holy land over decades before . This abode of Vaishnava tradition was and is instrumental in shaping the spiritual environment of Assam and to some extent of north east as a whole.
It is neither sad nor shocking that Dr Manmohan Singh, who represented and still representing Assam in the upper house of Parliament, never thought it appropriate to visit this sacred island.  In fact, his cultural ignorance was his asset which assured his occupation of Prime Minister ship of this great country for 10 years yes, one whole decade . Fortunately India survived his PMship. But, what about Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru or Indira Gandhi? It is natural for someone to  believe that Indiraji must have visited Majuli.
Majuli, like my own Varanasi, is witnessing and epoch making kayakalp. And no wonder that Majuli and Varanasi have a common messenger. Narendra Modi is blessed by being elected as a member of Parliament from Varanasi and Majuli will soon have Sarbananda Sonowal as her representative in the state assembly. Hope they would keep their tryst with destiny.