Advaita-Vaad in Ved (वेद में अद्वैत वाद- Origin of universe, Nasadiya Sukta

=Advaita-Vaad in Ved (वेद में अद्वैत वाद)====
In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna himself says that those who are devoid of proper knowledge of the real purport of the Ved and the proper method of propitiating the Almighty, are deluded by ignorance. They think that they themselves are capable of performing Vedic sacrifices, even without the help or grace of God.
~ (Sri Ramanuja's Commentary on Bhagavad Gita 15.15)
The literal meaning of Advaita has been explained by Madhusudana Saraswati as "That in which there is no two-foldness".
Shankara’s Advaita Siddhanta is not only the climax of all spiritual philosophies and the highest philosophy of ethics, but also a way of life. As the culmination of man’s metaphysical contemplation and spiritual evolution it is the natural final goal of our spiritual Sadhanas.
In fact, some of the most beautiful Upanishadic verses which Shankara has interpreted in the light of Advaita occur in the Samhita portion of the Rig Ved.

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The Nasadiya Sukta :
The famous ‘Nasadiya Sukta’ (Rig Ved 10.129) contains the most sublime depiction of Advaitic idea that was later elaborated upon in the Upanishads and expounded by the great Shankaracharya.
In this hymn all phenomena are traced to the one Principle which is beyond opposites like life and death, existence and non-existence, being and non-being, day and night, and so on. The one Reality is neither existence nor non-existence; it is beyond name and definition. The concept of maya, which explains why the perfect Reality appears as this imperfect world, has its roots in the ‘Nasadiya Sukta’.
The Brahman without attributes, the ultimate Truth, is neither Void (Shunya, as the Buddhists proclaim) characterized by Non-existence, nor the phenomenal universe (the empirical reality) characterized by Existence.
It is beyond Space-Time-Causation (देश-काल-निमित्त). The following mantra shows that there was no Space (sky) prior to creation :
नासदासीन नो सदासीत तदानीं नासीद रजो नो वयोमापरो यत |
......... Rig Ved 10.129.1
" Existence was not then, nor non-existence ; The world was not, the sky beyond was neither. "
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
The following mantra also shows that Space-Time is a part of the universe. When there was no creation, Space-Time did not exist.
This mantra negates separate ' day and night ' prior to creation. It is basically a negation of the concept of Time prior to creation :
न मर्त्युरासीदम्र्तं न तर्हि न रात्र्या अह्न आसीत्प्रकेतः |
आनीदवातं सवधया तदेकं तस्माद्धान्यन न परः किं चनास ||
......... Rig Ved 10.129.2
" Death was not then, no immortality, The night was neither separate from day, But motionless did That vibrate alone, with Its own glory one— Beyond That nothing did exist. "
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
The term 'That vibrate alone' is an implication that Brahman is not just an insentient material cause of the universe like a lump of clay is of pots etc., but it is Pure Consciousness in nature (शुद्ध चैतन्य स्वरुप).
The One Homogeneous Existence as a whole beyond all Names and Forms (नाम-रूप भेद ), i.e. without any differentiating attributes is proclaimed :
तम आसीत तमसा गूळमग्रे.अप्रकेतं सलिलं सर्वमािदम |
......... Rig Ved 10.129.3
"At first in darkness hidden darkness lay ; Undistinguished as one mass of water."
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
Then the 'Sankalpa' (divine will, the desire) of creation arose in Brahman and Non-existence (the attributeless Brahman) became Existence (the phenomenal universe) :
कामस्तदग्रे समवर्तताधि मनसो रेतः परथमं यदासीत |
सतो बन्धुमसति निरविन्दन हर्दि परतीष्याकवयो मनीषा ||
......... Rig Ved 10.129.4
" First desire rose, the primal seed of mind ; The sages have seen all this in their hearts, Shifting existence from non-existence. "
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
But how can it happen ?
This is being answered in the next mantra. Creation is the play of the ' Maya Shakti ', the inexplicable creative energy.
Brahman (the Self-sustaining principle) is the substratum (अधिष्ठान) of This creative energy :
तिरश्चीनो विततो रश्मिरेषामधः सविदासी.अ.अ.अत |
रेतोधाासन महिमान आसन सवधा अवस्तात परयतिः परस्तात ||
......... Rig Ved 10.129.5
" Creative then became the glory ; With self-sustaining principle below. And Creative Energy above. "
(Translated by Swami Vivekananda)
Here we may very well remember that Advaita is, after all, a matter of inner experience (" Anubhavaikavedyam" ; 'known through experience alone’, in the language of Shankaracharya) and not a subject for philosophical speculation.
The ‘Nasadiya Sukta’ is perhaps the most scientific description of the ultimate Reality as well as of the projection of the phenomenal world. It makes the relative and the Absolute, nature and Spirit, the twin aspects of that one Reality and shows that men of wisdom (Kavayah), who had controlled their senses, found out the ultimate cause of this world (which appears to be real) in their own hearts (Hridi) through concentrated intellects (Manisha).
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The concept of Maya :
रूपं-रूपं परतिरूपो बभूव तदस्य रूपं परतिचक्षणाय |
इन्द्रो मायाभिः पुरुरूप ईयते युक्ता हयस्य हरयःशता दश ||
............. Rig Ved 6.47.18
भावार्थ :
इन्द्रदेव मायाशक्तियों द्वारा अनेक रूप बनाकर यजमान के पास प्रकट होते हैं | इन्द्रदेव के रथ में उनकी अनेक शक्तियों के रूप में सहस्रों घोड़े युक्त हैं |
English :
" Indra, has assumed various forms, and such is his form as that which (he adopts) for his manifestation ; Indra through Maya appears as of many forms (to his many worshippers), for his horses, yoked to his chariot are a thousand. "
Indra has been identified here with the Supreme Lord, the Brahman associated with (aggregate of) Maya. Here ' Maya ' denotes the projecting power (विक्षेप शक्ति) of the Supreme Lord.' Maya ', although one, but its powers to cover the true nature of Brahman are manifold according to different Jivatmas (individual selves).
As a forest, from the standpoint of the units that compose it, may be designated as a number of trees, and as a reservoir from the same point of view may be spoken of as quantities of water, so also ignorance when denoting separate units is spoken of as many.
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The Realisation of Brahman :
The well-known ‘Devi Sukta’ (Rig Ved 10.125) is another striking example of a Samhita mantra depicting Advaitic experience.
The word " चिकितुषी " in the third mantra of this sukta is explained by Sayana as :
"cikitushi yatsakshat kartavyam param barhma tajnatavati svatmatya sakshat krtavati "
" She (the rishi) had known or realized as her own Self the supreme Brahman, that which must be realized. "
In this sukta, realising her identity with Brahman, Vaak who is the daughter of Rishi Ambhrina, says :
अहं रुद्रेभिर्वसुभिश्चराम्यहमादित्यैरुतविश्वदेवैः |
अहं मित्रावरुणोभा बिभर्म्यहमिन्द्राग्नीहमश्विनोभा ||
............. Rig Ved 10.125.1
" I move with Rudras and Vasus, I walk with the Sun and other deities, I esteem mithra, varuna And Indra, fire and the Aswini devas. "
अहं मनुरभवं सूर्यश्चाहं कक्षीवाँ ऋषिरस्मि विप्रः।
अहं कुत्समार्जुनेयं न्यृञ्जेऽहं कविरुशना पश्यता मा॥
............... Rig Ved 4:26:1
" I was Manu and I was Surya; I am the wise rishi Kaksivan ; I have befriended Kutsha, the son of Arjuni ; I am the far-seeing Usana ; behold me. "
This mantra attributed to sage Vamdev : the sage uttered the verse and the following two verses, while yet in the womb, knowledge of Brahman being generated in him, and enabling him to identify himself with universal existence; through the eye of supreme truth I am everything.
Innumerable mantras of the Rig Ved Samhita have been explained by Sayanacharya in an exclusively Advaitic sense.
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The Identity of Jiva and Brahman :
Some mantras of the ‘Purusha Sukta’ (which occurs in the Shukla Yajur Ved as well) are interpreted even by Sayanacharya in Advaitic terms.
Sayana commenting on the mantra beginning with :
परि द्यावापृथिवी यन्ति सद्यः परि लोकान् परि दिशः परि सुवः
~ Shukla Yajur Ved 32.12
" Having gone swiftly round the earth and heaven, around the worlds, around the sky, around the quarters",
Acharya Sayana states :
"Here the nature of jiva is Brahman."
~ (Sayanacharya's commentary on Shukla Yajur Ved 32.12)
Similarly, the Krishna Yajur Ved Samhita too is full of mantras which have an Advaitic content. The Tandya Brahmana and the Samavidhana of the Sama Ved are equally rich in Advaitic ideas. So also the Atharva Ved.
For example, the following mantra traditionally associated with the Mundak Upanishad (3.1.1) is found in the Rig Ved as well :
दवा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वर्क्षं परि षस्वजाते |
तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं सवाद्वत्त्यनश्नन्नन्यो अभि चाकशीति ||
........... Rig Ved 1.164.20
" Two birds that are ever associated and have similar names, cling to the same tree. Of these, one eats the fruits of divergent tastes, and the other looks on without eating. "
The mantra brings out the essence of Advaita philosophy and the identity of jiva and Brahman. The bird on the lower branch is the jiva and the one sitting on the upper branch of the tree as witness, without eating fruits, is God Himself.This mantra shows that though its philosophical and logical perfection is reached in Upanishadic literature, the origin of Advaita philosophy is, in fact, to be found in the Rig Ved Samhita itself.
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The Conditioned and Supreme Brahman :
One of the most striking depictions of the relation between the macrocosm and the microcosm, the absolute and the relative, the ultimate cause and its effect : Karana Brahman and Karya Brahman (कार्य ब्रह्म एवं कारण ब्रह्म) and the assertion that both are, in reality, infinite, full and perfect, occurs towards the end of the Shukla Yajur Ved Samhita in the Shanti mantra for the Ishavasya Upanishad beginning with :
‘ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं .....‘
" That (supreme Brahman) is infinite, and this (conditioned Brahman) is infinite. "
The above mantra occurs also in Brihadaranyak Upanishad 5.1.1.(see Shankaracharya's commentary).
Several portions of the Shukla Yajur Ved Samhita (for instance, the ‘Rudradhyaya’) contain ideas that are strikingly Advaitic in content and form.
The Rig Ved gives a great message in the first mantra of the thirteenth Sukta of the tenth mandala. This is perhaps the most forceful expression of man’s divinity and immortality found in the whole of Vedic literature. It runs as follows:
युजे वां बरह्म पूर्व्यं नमोभिर्वि शलोक एतु पथ्येवसूरेः |
शर्ण्वन्तु विश्वे अम्र्तस्य पुत्रा आ ये धामानिदिव्यानि तस्थुः ||
........... Rig Ved 10.13.1
" O my sense organs and their presiding deities, I salute you (that is, I merge you all with the eternal Brahman through meditation). May this hymn of praise spread everywhere through the medium of the wise. May you all, children of immortal Bliss, and all those living in the bright (divine) worlds, listen to me ! "
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The word Brahman or Brāhmaņa occurs more than a hundred times in the Rig-Ved. In only one place, the Purusha Sūkta occurring in the tenth mandala, uses the term Brāhmaņa to signify an order.
Again, Brahman of the Rig-Ved is not the Brahman, Para Brahman of the Upanishads, the highest principle of Existence. Rig-Ved uses the words "tad ekam", "That one," param (beyond), "Ekam Sat" (one reality) to signify the principle of Para Brahman or “The one without a second" of the Upanishads.
Brahman is used in the Rig Ved as term for a high divinity or as another name for Agni :
असादि वर्तो वह्निराजगन्वानग्निर्ब्रह्मा नर्षदने विधर्ता |
दयौश्च यं पर्थिवी वाव्र्धाते आ यं होता यजति विश्ववारम ||
......... Rig Ved 7.7.5
“He has come, chosen bearer, and is seated in man's home, Brahman, Agni, the Supporter, He whom both Heaven and Earth exalt and strengthen whom, Giver of all boons, the Hotar worships ."
The term Brahman is also used to represent the spoken word. Brahman acquires the meaning of unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality in the Upanishads.
" Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

Reincarnation and Rebirth, Hinduism view world is accepting now

Reincarnation: The Eastern View

By RICHARD SMOLEY

Reincarnation has become an increasingly popular doctrine in the West. For example, polls taken in the US over the past couple of decades have shown that between 20 and 28 percent of the population believe in it. The figures for western Europe are similar.
What explains the appeal of an idea that until recently was the province of a few occultists and eccentrics? Some of it can be explained by the appeal of Asian religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, to which reincarnation has always been integral. But this does not explain much: you could turn the argument around and say that Hinduism and Buddhism are so appealing because they teach reincarnation.
The allure of the doctrine is easy to see, particularly when it is weighed against the conventional Christian view of heaven and hell. The latter is hard to defend in the light of any real sense of cosmic justice. It holds that the deeds of an individual’s life on earth will bring upon him either eternal reward or eternal damnation. And this is hard to swallow. Even the greatest monsters of history, no matter how many evil acts they committed, committed only a finite number of acts. How can even these extreme cases merit an infinite series of punishments?
By contrast, the doctrine of reincarnation, along with the closely associated doctrine of karma, holds that evil acts do entail retribution – but only in proportion to the act. The punishment suits the crime. Nor do good deeds done in a single life win the individual an infinite life of bliss, merely a limited number of auspicious future lives.
The idea of reincarnation has also spread because of the specific form in which it has been disseminated. Many of the ideas about reincarnation in New Age and other sectors of alternative spirituality can be traced back to the influence of Theosophy. During the 136 years of its history, the Theosophical Society, always a tiny organisation (worldwide membership in 2008 was under 21,000), has been influential out of all proportion to its numbers.
The Theosophical view of reincarnation is fundamentally an optimistic one. There is a purpose to these nearly endless cycles of birth and death. It is the education of consciousness. The Self descends into the darkness of materiality through a process known as involution. Then it begins to reascend, through a process known as evolution. This is not the evolution of the Darwinists, which is essentially a blind and meaningless process. Rather it is a carefully structured series of lessons in identifying with, and then detaching oneself, from the material world. Each separate incarnation is a tiny phase of this process.
Thus the trajectory of the journey of each human soul is an upward one. An evil or misspent life is only a delay or setback in a process that is ultimately going in a positive direction in any event.
When it’s stated this way, one immediately sees why this idea is so appealing. Far more than the conventional Christian view – or the secular materialist view, which holds that death is final and nothing survives the body’s demise – the evolutionary picture of reincarnation speaks to the current age, with its deeply rooted belief in progress.
This view of reincarnation, pioneered by the Theosophists, differs in some major ways from the pictures given by Hinduism and Buddhism. These portray the soul’s progress not as an ascent upward, where success is ultimately guaranteed no matter how many setbacks take place along the way, but as a merciless whirligig from which the only recourse is to escape. Indeed, they teach that we have lived through this cycle a virtually endless number of times already. In the Hindu Katha Upanishad, Death says:

The passing-on [i.e., death] is not clear to him who is childish,

Heedless, deluded with the delusion of wealth,

Thinking “This is the world! There is no other!” –

Again and again he comes under my control.

And in one of the Buddha’s discourses we read, “What, monks, do you think is more: the water in the Four Great Oceans or the tears, which you have shed when roving, wandering, lamenting and weeping while on this long way, because you received what you hated and did not receive what you loved?”
The fundamental cause of this cycle of rebirths, in both Hinduism and Buddhism, is ignorance or heedlessness. The remedy is enlightenment, which (in Hindu terms) leads to moksha or release, or (in Buddhist terms) to nirvana, or cessation. For the rest of this article, let us focus specifically on Buddhism.
One of the most elaborate pictures of the cycle of births and deaths can be found in the Tibetan Buddhist Wheel of Birth and Death. While the symbolism of this wheel is too intricate to describe in full here, one thing it depicts is the six realms of existence, three of which are bad, three of which are comparatively good. The three good realms are those of the gods, the asuras or demigods, and humans. The three bad realms are hell, the realm of the pretas or hungry ghosts, and the realm of animals.
Beings are drawn to the hell realms through acts of violence and cruelty. As in Christian teaching, these are places of unimaginable suffering. The thirteenth-century Tibetan sage Longchenpa writes:

All the tears you have shed would be more (than the water) in the four oceans,

And the amount of molten metal, foul blood, and excrements

You have consumed when your mind had become a denizen of hell or a spirit [i.e., a preta]

Would not be matched by the rivers flowing to the end of the world.

Longchenpa again emphasises the circularity of this process: his description of hell is not a warning of future punishment, but a reminder to the aspirant of what he has already undergone during many lifetimes in the immeasurable past. Buddhist teaching differs from that of Christianity by saying that since karma is finite, the suffering of hell beings and pretas, though enormous, is finite as well.
The animal realm is less painful than the worlds of the hell beings and hungry ghosts but scarcely more desirable. Humans are drawn there by bestial behaviour – by obsession with food or sex, the cravings that we share with the animals. While animals do not suffer continually, they too are beset with pain and grief. Moreover, they do not have the mental capacity to achieve liberation, “not realising the natural misery of their state,” as Longchenpa puts it.
The human realm, although it too is characterised by suffering, is the most auspicious. Buddhist texts emphasise the rarity and preciousness of a human birth. The sage Nagarjuna writes:

More difficult is it to rise
from birth as animal to man,

Than for the turtle blind to see
the yoke upon the ocean drift;

Therefore, do you being a man
practice Dhamma [the Buddhist teaching] and gain its fruits.

Here lies the advantage of being born into the human realm. Individuals here are not so deeply immersed in suffering as they are in the realms of hell beings and hungry ghosts. Nor are they in such favourable circumstances as the gods, who enjoy so much pleasure and delight that they have no interest in liberation, or even the demigods, who have relatively enjoyable circumstances but are tormented by the jealousy of the gods, with whom they wage continual warfare. The human existence is an intermediate one, where beings are endowed with enough intelligence to follow the path to liberation but not so intoxicated with pleasure that they have no interest in it.
Note that the gods and demigods, though their lives are pleasant compared to ours, are not immortal. Eventually their good karma is exhausted and they fall down into less favourable realms. This goes on endlessly. In one traditional text, a sage who is asked about the power and strength of Indra, king of the gods, points to a line of ants marching on the ground and says, “Each of those ants has been an Indra.”
It would be mistaken, however, to conclude from all this that Buddhism is at its core a pessimistic, world-denying doctrine, as many have done. The German scholar of Buddhism Hans Wolfgang Schumann observes, “To assume that in their present life more than a few advanced seekers are able to conquer craving and ignorance would be to overrate man. Most men will need a long time, a whole series of rebirths in which by good deeds they gradually work themselves upward to better forms of existence. Finally, however, everyone will obtain an embodiment of such great ethical possibilities that he can destroy craving and ignorance in himself and escape the compulsion for further rebirth. It is regarded as certain that all who strive for emancipation will gain it sometime or other.”
Schumann is referring to the attitude of the Theravada (“way of the elders”), one of the two primary divisions of Buddhism. The other sector, known as the Mahayana (or “great vehicle”), which includes such lines as Tibetan Buddhism and Zen, moves still further in a universalistic direction. It encourages its adherents to strive, not for nirvana per se, but for the condition of the bodhisattva – one who renounces or rather postpones enlightenment to work on behalf of the illumination of all sentient beings. In short, both sectors of the Buddhist tradition are ultimately positive in nature. If they do not teach evolution as such, they nevertheless hold that the gates of mercy are infinite and will eventually accommodate all beings, no matter how far they may seem from their goal.
SOURCES
Robert Ernest Hume, ed. and trans., The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1931.
Klaus K. Klostermaier, A Survey of Hinduism, 3d ed., Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 2007.
Longchenpa, Kindly Bent to Ease Us, Part One: Mind, Translated by Herbert V. Guenther, Berkeley, California: Dharma Publishing, 1975.
Hans Wolfgang Schumann, Buddhism: An Outline of Its Teaching and Schools, Translated by Georg Feuerstein, Wheaton, Illinois: Quest, 1974.
newdawnmagazine.com

LOST TEXTILE INDUSTRY OF ANCIENT INDIA

Lost Textile Village "Mahua Dabar" back on Map
Mahua Dabar, a long buried small town in Basti district of Awadh in modern Uttar Pradesh, India. This town was destroyed and its refugee Bengali weavers were massacred by the British Raj during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
An archaeology seminar that drew delegates from across the country and abroad was told that Mahua Dabar — a village in modern-day Basti, Uttar Pradesh, where weavers from Bengal had migrated early in the 19th century — was indeed a textile hub before the British razed it to the ground. [1]
The British had chopped off their forefathers’ thumbs in Bengal a generation ago, so the weavers of Mahua Dabar in Awadh cut off a few British heads during the turmoil of 1857. Erased from the face of the earth by the British Raj’s revenge, this lost town has been found again thanks to one man’s effort. All that Abdul Latif Ansari, 65, had to go by was a tattered, hand-drawn, two-century-old map and family lore about how his forefathers had suffered twice in British hands. It was enough to keep bringing the Mumbai businessman to Basti, eastern Uttar Pradesh, for 14 years to search out his ancestral home, lost in the mists of time for a century and a half.

In March–April during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the inhabitants of Mahua Dabar intercepted a boat carrying six British soldiers. These soldiers were surrounded and killed by the descendents of amputated weavers of Mahua Dabar who had been persecuted by the British. On June 20, 1857 the British 12th Irregular Horse Cavalry surrounded the town, slaughtered all the inhabitants and set the houses on fire. The town was razed to the ground and only farming was allowed. The tilling of the land destroyed all ruins of the destroyed town. Mahua Dabar, a town of 5,000 persons, completely disappeared from history and geography. [2] The forgotten hero of this event was ‪#‎Jafar_Ali‬.
First, Mahua Dabar was burnt to ashes. But some of the residents had left behind all they had, buried in the ground whatever money, ornaments and tools they had, and fled. They thought they would come back and settle down once things had cooled down [3]. The chopping of thumbs of the weavers were associated with this region as well to destroy the local weaving industry. The British ordered that the burnt and collapsed walls of the houses should be levelled and the land should be used for farming, so that the place might yield revenue which should be deposited regularly in the British treasury. In this way, the place, where weaving, dyeing and printing of cloth was done, which had single-storeyed and double storied houses, markets, schools, mosques with tall minarets, was brought under the plough and no trace of the township remained and the name ‪#‎MahuaDabar‬ disappeared also from the maps.
The excavation done in early 2014, followed a nod from the Archaeological Survey of India after a panel of historians set up by the state government came out with a report in 2007 that said the village had once existed. In the paper, Excavations at Mahua Dabar, Kumar said: “Evidences from three trenches excavated there included charred soil, burnt items of private homes, discovery of a well … and two outlets from the well…. These outlets were for getting fresh water from the well for dying and printing fabrics.” [1,2] The weavers of Mahua Dabar had settled there after fleeing Bengal to escape a British crackdown at a time British textile industry was reaping the fruits of the industrial revolution and the head start given by its inventors. He said the layer of soil recovered from the outlet indicate it was in use for discharging the wastewater after dying and printing fabrics. “The finding of the debris and the evidence of wastewater collection from the well show that water from the well was not used for drinking purposes.”
The second-generation ‪#‎weavers‬ (who flew from Bengal), had learnt their skills from their forefathers, helped the village Mahua Dabar grow into a textile hub, that was before the 1857 massacre. The village was part of the district map of 1831, but since 1861, it has found no mention in government maps. After the villagers fled, Mahua Dabar ceased to be a revenue village. All that existed was a small river, manorama, a mosque and some mounds. “A wall 30-35ft high, a stretch of land along that wall with traces of burnt articles and traces of burnt soil have been found from the excavation site.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHMWSjv21X8
The search for the wiped-out village was launched by a descendant of one of the weaver families. Mohammad Latif Ansari’s family had fled Mahua Dabar to first Lucknow and then to Mumbai. Ansari, 62, started his search after getting hold of some family documents. He then contacted some of the other descendants of the weaver families scattered all over the country. In 1993, he urged the state government to set up a committee of historians. In its 2007 report, the committee recommended that the area be excavated. “The excavations have unearthed a chapter of history that links directly to contemporary history,” a senior BHU archaeologist said.
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Notes and References:
[1] http://www.telegraphindia.com/…/j…/nation/story_13374094.jsp
[2] http://www.telegraphindia.com/…/atleisure/story_10221665.jsp
[3] Charles ball, Ibid, P. 399-401; Col. G.B. Malleson, Ibid, P. 401; John W.kaye and Col. G.B. Malleson, Ibid. P. 269
[4] http://hi.bharatdiscovery.org/india/महुआ_डाबर
[5] http://mahuadabar.org.p.in.hostingprod.com/discovery_of_mah…
[6] http://www.openthemagazine.com/emag/2010-08-07
[7] http://mahuadabar.org.p.in.hostingprod.com/in_the_press

From Ancient Indian Scientific Knowledge Forum

Ancient Tamil inscription in EGYPT

A broken storage jar with inscriptions in Tamil Brahmi script (written in a combination of Tamil and the Brahmi script) has been excavated at Quseir-al-Qadim, an ancient port with a Roman settlement on the Red Sea coast of Egypt.
This Tamil Brahmi script has been dated to first century B.C. One expert described this as an “exciting discovery.” The same inscription is incised twice on the opposite sides of the jar. The inscription reads paanai oRi, that is, pot (suspended) in... a rope net. An archaeological team belonging to the University of Southampton in the U.K., comprising Prof. D. Peacock and Dr. L. Blue, who recently re-opened excavations at Quseir-al-Qadim in Egypt, discovered a fragmentary pottery vessel with inscriptions.

Iravatham Mahadevan, a specialist in Tamil epigraphy, has confirmed that the inscription on the jar is in Tamil written in the Tamil Brahmi script of about first century B.C. Dr. Roberta Tomber, a pottery specialist at the British Museum, London, identified the fragmentary vessel as a storage jar made in India. In deciphering the inscription, he has had the benefit of expert advice from Prof. Y. Subbarayalu of the French Institute of Pondicherry, Prof. K. Rajan of Central University, Puducherry and Prof. V. Selvakumar, Tamil University, Thanjavur.
According to Mr. Mahadevan, the inscription is quite legible and reads: paanai oRi, that is, ‘pot (suspended in) a rope net.’ The Tamil word uRi, which means rope network to suspend pots has the cognate oRi in Parji, a central Dravidian language, Mr. Mahadevan said. Still nearer, Kannada has oTTi, probably from an earlier oRRi with the same meaning.
These discoveries provided material evidence to corroborate the literary accounts by classical Western authors and the Tamil Sangam poets about the flourishing trade between the South Indian states and Rome (via the Red Sea ports) in the early centuries. India has said to be mastered in Sea Navigation and Vasco-Da-Gama also came from Africa to India with the help of an Indian merchant whose ship was much bigger than Vasco crews.
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Source: http://apps.ifpindia.org/Press-2007.html

Ramayana and RAM in many parts of world

Ramayana and Cultural Fusion in Various Countries
Depending on the methods of counting, as many as three hundred [1,2] versions of the Indian epic poem, the Ramayana, are known to exist. The oldest version is generally recognized to be the Sanskrit version attributed to the sage Valmiki. The story of Ramayana, particularly, travelled beyond our shores, and became highly indigenous with various elements of the tale changing suitably to match the local cultural ethos. A year-long exhibition in Singapore on the mythological-cum-historical text, ‘Ramayana Revisited – A tale of love & adventure', at the Peranakan Museum, ignited the exploration of the role the story plays as a cultural unifier for the Asian region.
The Ramayana has spread to many Asian countries outside of India, including Burma, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, China etc. The original Valmiki version has been adapted or translated into various regional languages, which have often been marked more or less by plot twists and thematic adaptations.
The following are some of the versions of the Ramayana that have emerged outside India:

 • Burma (Myanmar) - Yama Zatdaw
• Cambodia - Reamker
• Java, Indonesia - Kakawin Ramayana
• Kingdom of Lan Na - Phommachak
• Laos - Phra Lak Phra Lam
• Malaysia - Hikayat Seri Rama & Hikayat Maharaja Wana
• Nepal - The Nepal Bhasa version called Siddhi Ramayan was written by Mahakavi Siddhidas Mahaju Amatya during Nepal Bhasa renaissance era and the Khas language (later called "Nepali") version of Bhanubhaktako Ramayan by Bhanubhakta Acharya marked the first epic written in the language.
• Philippines - Maharadia Lawana & Darangen of Mindanao
• Tai Lü language - Langka Sip Hor
• Thailand - Ramakien
In Japan, with the spread of Buddhism it came to be known as Ramaenna or Ramaensho, in which the story/character of Hanuman was ignored. In one other variant, Suwa engi no koto written in the fourteenth century, the protagonist, Koga Saburo Yorikata, is the youngest son whose exile is caused by his brothers. In another variant called Bontenkoku, Tamawaka (Rama) is a flute player who escapes with his abducted wife Himegini (Sita) while her captor King Baramon (Ravana) is away for hunting. Other Ramayana-derived stories in Japan including Kifune no honji, Onzoshi shimawatari and Bukkigun, have also demonstrated a deep convergence between the characters of Rama and Ravana. [3,7]
In China, the earliest known telling of Ramayana is found in the Buddhist text, Liudu ji jing. Significantly, and unlike in Japan, the impact of Ramayana on Chinese society arguably was responsible for the creation of a popular fictional monkey king's character, Sun Wukong (Hanuman), in a sixteenth century novel Xiyou ji. We also find characters with the names of Dasharatha, Rama and Lakshmana in a fifth century Chinese text, Shishewang yuan. The Dai ethnic group of south-western Yunnan province also know the story as Lanka Xihe (Ten heads of Lanka). The epic also spread to Tibet and Mongolia through Buddhism, with a notable variant being that it is Bharata, and not Lakshmana, who accompanies Rama in exile. [3]
A Ramayanic scene found painted in ancient ‪#‎Italian‬ houses discovered in archaeological excavations. Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra, wives of the aged king Dasharath sharing the divine fertility potion to beget illustrious sons. The Dasharath legend is also part of ancient Egyptian lore. All this shows that countries of Europe and Africa followed Vedic dharma in ancient times. [5] Rama-Seeta-Lakshmana walking through the forest in the order described in the Ramayana, a scene delineated in ancient Italian homes. Italian archaeologists express bewilderment at these paintings because they are unaware that ancient Europe including Italy practiced Hinduism. [6]
The Ramayana, as it is called “The Grand Epic of Vedic World”, imparts instruction in every aspect of life – in upright behaviour in the world by its code of conduct, in cultural refinement by its literary beauties, in spiritual endeavour by its undercurrent of Upanishadic affluence. A study of Ramayana cleanses the mind and heart of its impurities and sins and makes the earthly existence pleasant and peaceful and at the same time overcomes the obstacles that bar the progress towards attaining the Supreme Lord. It is rightly said in the opening of Ramayana Mahakavya “As long as the rivers and mountains continue in this world the story of Ramayana will last”. How else can anybody summarise the greatness of the epic?
Ramayana was even followed my ancient Mexican tribes and Ancient Iranians. Italy was once Vedic civilization...Shivlings were unearthed during excavation there too. Some say Vatican got its name from Sanskrit word Vaatika
Divided by Boundaries, United by Ramayana
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Notes:
[1] Camille Bulcke, Ramkatha: Utpatti aur Vikās (The Rāma story: Original and development), Prayāg: Hindī Pariṣad Prakāśan, 1950.
[2] A. K. Ramanujan, "Three hundred Rāmāyaṇas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation", in Paula Richman (ed.), Many Rāmāyaṇas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia, Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1991, p. 48, note 3.
[3] http://www.thehindu.com/…/ramayanas-reto…/article2909774.ece
[4] http://www.stephen-knapp.com/photographic_evidence_of_vedic…
[5] http://www.stephen-knapp.com/art_photos_twlevethirteen.htm
[6] http://www.stephen-knapp.com/art_photo_eleven.htm
[7] http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2012/05/13/spe03.asp
[8] http://in.rbth.com/…/when_the_ramayana_hit_the_russian_stag…

CONCH, SHANKH

Conch is known as shankh in Sanskrit,means “Conch holding sacred water”. Shankha is the outer covering of a giant sea snail biologically called as “Turbinella pyrum” and found  in the Indian Ocean.  Conch Shell, made of calcium and magnesium, is very hard, strong and shiny.

Shankh-A sacred symbol
Shankha is the royal emblem of Travancore. The shape of India resembles conch.  Sacred city of Puri well known for Rath yatra is known as “Shankha Kshetra”, meaning “Place of Conches”, referring to the abundance of conch shells found in the adjacent ocean.In Greek culture, Conch shells adorned with pearls were offered to express the feelings of sex, love and marriage. 

How blowing conch creates conscious morphogenetic fields?
Some scientific experiments have revealed the formation of vibratory patterns in conches found only in Indian Ocean. This conch is of species Turbinella pyrum of family ‘Turbinellidae’.
Vedas says “Foundation of all creation is the morphogenetic consciousness field (Brahman) created by ‘OM’ sound waves”. 

Blowing a conch perfectly would result in the formation of scalar waves that would enter your body to create conscious morphogenetic fields. Spiritual effect of the sound waves is not heard by ears but felt by heart. This spiritual effect of echoing sound waves stimulates the electrons within each of trillions internal cells to stimulate the hormonal glands and spiraling chakras.  

Blowing Conch produces AUM sound
Conch resonate the AUM sound. This is why it is placed on all temples and blew in all religious ceremonies be it marriage, sacrifice, house warming etc. When Lord Krishna blew his conch before the start of Mahabharata war, the whole world trembled in fear as they listened to the thundering sound emanating from the conch.  

Morphogenetic consciousness field of lord Krishna conch
Sound from the conch blew by lord Krishna just before the start of Mahabharata war striked terror among the kaurava warriors. The mesmerizing sound waves were heard all around the world. With his blowing of conch, Lord Krishna announced the victory of good over evil. According to vaishnavism, conch when blown, produces the primeval sound that creates this universe with five elements: water, fire, air, earth and ether.
Shankh signifies the natural vibration of earth which gets magnified on entering the curved layering on conch shells.
To blow a conch, your back must be erect else the resulting sound would not produce the desire effect inside your body due to non formation of morphogenetic fields. Raise your neck up and bend it slightly backward.

Take a deep breath, fill your lungs with air and divert all your concentration towards blowing of the conch. This is very necessary as the shankh is blown in a single breath.

Close your eyes and bring in the positive devotional attitude by removing all negative thoughts from the mind. Now blow the conch from low pitch to high pitch in a single breath as long as possible. 
Musical Notes of shankh Sonorous blissful effect of the conch sound waves is mentioned even in the sikh religious book Gurbani as “Sankhan ki dhun ghantan ki kar phulan ki barkha barkhavae ", meaning “The conch and the bell produce blissful sounds”

Conch is also used as a musical instrument in Indian classical dance.

Group of Hindu priests blowing Turbinella pyrum conch


How shankh is used in religious ceremonies?
Shankha has been in use in Indian culture since time unknown.
Beginning of any ritual is marked by 3 times blowing of conch to reduce the negative energies in the environment.  Use of conch is written in every Hindu religious book like Vedas, puranas and bhagavad gita. Shankh is blown in every Hindu religious ceremony be it bhoomi pujan, marriage, house warming ceremony, thread wearing ceremony etc. Water is poured from shankh to bath the deity and the objects that are used in ceremonial rituals before the start and end of the festival or sacrifice. Water poured from conch is as sacred as water of the river ganga.

The Shanka verse recited in pooja is:

"Shankham chandrakadaivatwam kukshouvaruna daivatam
prusthe prajapatirdaiva mugre ganga saraswati
Pruthivyam yani teerthani vasudevasyachagyaya
Shankhe tisthanti viprendra tasmat shankham prapoojyayet"

According to Tantric belief, the shankha keeps away evil spirits and saves one from calamities. Following is the verse that is chanted to do so
"Shankha Madyesthitam Thoyam Brahma Hatyadhikam Daheth
Anga Lagnam Manushyanam Mruthyu Samsara Bheshajam"

Commercial use of conch
When hundreds of conch is blown together in a particular pattern, energy produced from the resulting vibrations heals the ozone layer and reduce environmental pollution.  

Shankh is used in the cure of diseases One can hear the gentle ocean waves on holding a perfect shaped conch near the ear.
Shankha bhasma- Ayurvedic medicine
Ash produced by burning conches is used as an ayurvedic remedy to cure several diseases. This ash called as ‘Shankha bhasma’ is produced by burning the conch shell after soaking it in lime juice for few hours. Since the ash has high amount of minerals like iron, calcium, and magnesium, it effectively cures digestive and antacid diseases. Shankha bhasma when mixed in correct proportion with tamarind, ammonium chloride, asafetida, aconite, mercury, pepper, ginger and some other ayurvedic herbs is use in the cure of dyspepsia. This medicine is called as Shankavati in ayurveda. 
 Conch is worshipped as 
Twam puraa saagarot pannaha
Vishnunaa vidhrutahakare
Devaischa poojitha sarvaihi 
Panchjanya namostu te
Translation:
Salutations to Panchajanya
the conch born of the ocean
Held in the hand of Lord Vishnu
and worshipped by all devaas
Healing properties of conch
  1)    Conch is effectively used in the cure of cholera and plague like diseases.
2)    Water stored in conch has high concentration of sulphur and calcium. Person who struggles to speak or has speech disorder must drink conch water regularly.
3)    Skin diseases are cured by missing conch water in bucket of water used for bathing.
4)    Mix conch water (kept for 8+ hours) with rose water for shining black hair.
5)    Conch water kept for 12+ hours can cure stomach pain and intestinal problems. Make sure your stomach is empty before you drink conch water.
6)    Rub conch surface on face to remove wrinkles, black patches and dark circles. This would additionally instill a glowing face.
7)    Cow milk stored in conch is used for the purification of the house.
8)    Conch vibrations act a sterilizer that destroys harmful viruses and bacteria’s in the environment. Effect of conch was proved by Nobel Prize winner Indian scientist ‘Jagdish Chandra Bose’.

10)    Playing shankh is equal to doing yogic exercises that saves us from deadly diseases like BP, heart attack etc.Tuberculosis, Asthma, Influenza, Liver, Spleen diseases will be eradicated echoing conch.
11)    Inner structure of conch is spiral and curved. And as we know, DNA is also spirally shaped. Conch waves helps in repairing damaged DNA.
      12)    Sound waves of shankh destroy the negative energies from the atmosphere. So, conch is blown in houses to remove the influence of negative energies and evil spirits.
13)    According to VASTU SHASTRA, Keeping a skahnkh in puja room removes all the Vaastu dosh of your house.
    
 

Note: Images used on this website are either a production of Bhaktivedanta Book Trust(http://www.krishna.com), Iskcon Foundation or were found in google search under "Free to use and share" fom www.mallstuff,com