Abhimanyu (अभिमन्यु) is a hero in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. He was the son of Arjuna and Subhadra, the half-sister of Lord Krishna. Abhimanyu spent his childhood in Dwaraka, his mother’s city. He was trained by his great warrior father Arjuna and brought up under the guidance of Lord Krishna. He fought bravely in the epic war of Mahabharata and single-handedly destroyed many warriors from the Kaurava forces.
Pt. Upadhyaya (September 25, 1916 - February 11, 1968) is well known for his idea of INTEGRAL HUMANISM - the concept which is deeply embedded in Indian Psyche. While he was a student at Sanatan Dharma College, Kanpur, he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1937. He dedicated himself to full-time work in the RSS from 1942. Deendayal Upadhyaya was a man of soaring idealism and had a tremendous capacity for organisation. He started a monthly Rashtra Dharma, a weekly Panchajanya and a daily Swadesh. In the field of politics and economics, he was pragmatic and down to earth. He visualized for India a decentralized polity and self-reliant economy with the village as the base. Read the rest of this entry »
Materialistic pleasures were never the goals of Hindus. People used to be satisfied with what they had and within what they had, used to help others. Their hearts were filled with pure love, friendship and bhakti. The story of Sudaama, the best friend of Lord Krishna, stands as an outstanding example for this.
Sudaama and Krishna Bhagavan were good friends. The friendship started at their gurukulam with Shri Saandeepa. As always duty takes more priority than everything. Hence, after completing their studies they had to part. However, neither Krishna nor Sudaama could forget each other. Sudaama, knowing who Krishna really was, also had true devotion for him. Sudaama never was interested in earning lot of money or other such aihikechchas. Once after many years, not able to bear the separation from Krishna anymore, sets off to meet Krishna.
“Here was the pride of India, the man whom the English had moved heaven and earth to bring to Cambridge” - says Robert Kanigel, the author of the book “The man who knew Infinity”.
He was talking about a towering mathematical figure, Srinvasa Ramanujan. Ramanujan was a self-taught mathematical prodigy from the small town of Kumbakonam in southern India. Despite being from a poor family, Ramanujan carved a niche for himself in the world of mathematics through sheer persistence and belief in his ability. Lack of formal training did not prevent him from reaching the highest echelons of the mathematical world of his times, Trinity college - Cambridge University.
Rani Lakshmi Bai, the queen of the Maratha-ruled princely state of Jhansi in North India, was one of the great women of the 1857 war of independence, and a symbol of resistance to British rule in India. She was born sometime around 1828 at Kashi and died on 17th June 1858 at Gwalior.
Paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkritham
Dharma sansthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge (Gita 4:8)
[For the upliftment of the good and virtuous, for the destruction of evil, for the re-establishment of natural laws, I will come in every age.]
So goes the well-known verse from the Bhagavad-Gita. The popular connotation of this verse is that the divine promised to manifest as an extra-ordinary life form to protect the good and destroy evil. I’d like to think that it means the divine will manifest in ordinary life forms to take up the extra-ordinary deed of confronting evil whenever there is threat to the good. This is especially true about the Hindu dharma and Hindus. Read the rest of this entry »
No one knows the complexities of divine play. Inscrutable are the ways of the Lord that only a few can understand; others call it fate. Such a life-shattering event occurred in the life of Narendra when he had passed his degree course in the college. Everything was going smoothly for him at home and at Dakshineswar, when his father suddenly died of massive heart attack. The liberal attorney, Vishwanath Dutta, although outwardly appeared well off, was in severe debt. His unusual generosity and carelessness in handling money-matters had put him in a situation where nothing was left as savings. The debtors took away their share, leaving the bereaved family in utter poverty and want. Narendra’s uncles also shied away in this hour of crisis and, instead of helping him, they also took their share and kept aloof.
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