Tattva

Namaste,

As always, with each new month comes a new edition of Tattva. An important festival falls in this month-Hindu Sanghatan Diwas, or Hindu Unity Day. This day marks the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji, the 17th century Hindu king who defeated the invading Moghul rulers and established an ideal kingdom. This day reminds us that unity is strength.

As many will remember, last September to mark the first anniversary of Tattva, we released a special print edition of the magazine. This September, we will be printing another edition to mark the second anniversary. If you are interested in contributing to the second anniversary issue, please e-mail tattva-editor@hinduyuva.org. Ways you can help: write an article, help edit articles, suggest topics for articles, help with the formatting of the magazine, and encourage your friends to contribute to contribute to Tattva.

Please visit http://www.hinduyuva.org/tattva-blog/2008/06 to read the June 2008 edition of Tattva.

This is the second of a 3-part series on Sowmya Ranganathan’s Kailash Yatra, a journey that was a life-changing experience for her. She was 15 years old at the time that she embarked on this 18-day yatra. Below, Sowmya shares her diary account of the pilgrimage. To read Part 1, please visit http://www.hinduyuva.org/tattva-blog/2008/05/kailash-yatra/

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Chhatrapati Shivaji was the 17th century Hindu King who inspired and organized the native people for the fight against the Moguls and five Sultanats (Shahas) –foreign invaders who had conquered Bharat to loot its wealth and intellect and to destroy its ancient culture and civilization.  After 36 years of fighting, Shivaji established the ideal kingdom with rule of law, a Hindu kingdom, rather than a kingdom under his own name.  His coronation as a king took place in 1674 A.D. on the Jyeshtha Shukla Trayodashi (13th day of the bright half of Jyeshtha Maasa) day at Raigarh in Maharashtra. His kingdom was known as “Hindavi Swaraja” (Sovereign Hindu State). Shivaji set an example for all Hindus that they belong to the same faith and should be a united force. His coronation day is therefore celebrated as Hindu Sangathan Diwas (Hindu Unity Day). In 2008 this day falls on June 15th. Read the rest of this entry »

Hinduism accepts and advocates evolution. I look upon Dharma as the ethos that promotes social evolution. I depend upon the Taittiriya Upanishad, the concept of the Dahshavatara or ten incarnations of God, and the Gita, to explain evolution according to the Hindu beliefs. We shall discuss these below.
 
Hindu evolution is different from Darwinian evolution. Darwinian version has two derivative postulates, natural selection and survival of the fittest. According to the first postulate, environment or circumstance decides which species survive under a given set of conditions. Thus, white, snow-covered ground favored the survival of white minnows. They became less visible to predators. When the snow turned blackish with coal ash after industrial revolution, the environment favored the gray-colored bird. Intra- and inter- species competition is implied in the second postulate, namely, survival of the fittest. Hinduism rejects this postulate. Read the rest of this entry »

Hard it is
To pierce that veil divine of various shows
Which hideth Me; yet they who worship Me
Pierce it and pass beyond.                        
Verse 14 Ch VII

Maya and Illusion
The word Maya is generally used to denote the divine veil. But the theory of Maya forms one of the pillars of the Gita. It means it has no absolute existence. It exists only in relation to my mind, to your mind and to the mind of everyone else. With every breath, every impulse of our heart asks us to be selfish. At the same time, there is some power beyond us which says that it is unselfishness alone which is good.

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Introduction: If God is an integral part of any ideology that governs the human mind, then we need not worry about problems like global warming. This small article is to provoke some thoughts in the readers’ minds about the effects of Christianity, Islam, Capitalism, and Socialism on global warming. It is not an argument. It is a humble suggestion to scientists and those who are genuinely concerned about global warming to study Hinduism and other ideologies from this point of view.  This is an excerpt of an article from http://www.hindujagruti.org/ from Dr. Durgesh Samant (Spokesperson, Hindu Janajaguti Samiti). Read the rest of this entry »