Female Infanticide-Part1

Rama's Bridge

Rama’s bridge is only 3,500 years old: CRS



EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE


Posted online: Monday, February 03, 2003 at 0000 hours IST



MADURAI, FEBRUARY 2: The Adam’s bridge over Palk Strait, said to be the remains of a bridge built by Lord Rama, dates back to only 3,500 years and not 1.7 million years as claimed earlier.

A team from the Centre for Remote Sensing (CRS) of Bharathidasan University, Tiruchi, has come up with startling facts about this ‘‘bridge’’. Led by Professor S.M. Ramasamy, the team is studying the geological changes that took place along the Tamil Nadu coastline in the past 40,000 years. ..read more

Sita Sings The Blues

South India In Old Javanese And Sanskrit Inscriptions

SOUTH-INDIA IN OLD-JAVANESE AND SANSKRIT INSCRIPTIONS-by Himanshu Bhusan Sarkar
The art of writing in many places of South-East Asia is generally believed to have been derived, to use a genene term, from southern India. Epigraphists have designated this script as 'Vengi','Pallava-Grantha', but it does not necessarily mean that the script wasintroduced by the Pallavas...READ MORE

Stand On It

Black Krishna And Africa

BLACK KRISHNA,THE FIRST AFRICAN TO MEET MOTHER,WAS NAMED "KRISHNA" BY THE MOTHER.KRISHNA "PASSED AWAY IN 2000.

Relation of Auroville and Africa
The relation of Auroville and Africa started at an early stage, when the Indian Government presented the plan and concept of Auroville to the governments of the world at a UNESCO Conference in 1966. Subsequently, out of 124 countries participating in the Auroville inauguration ceremony, 37 were from Africa. As in Africa the concept of Auroville is hardly known, participation of Africans has been very limited. It is therefore important to create awareness among the African people of the need for a place like Auroville, dedicated to brotherhood, human unity and international understanding.
Connection with Auroville's founders
From Sri Aurobindo's writings, and particularly his poem entitled 'Hail to the Fallen' dedicated to Haile Selassie (Collected Poems, p 596), we see that Sri Aurobindo had great admiration and sympathy for Africa. It is also interesting to note here that the Mother was of Egyptian/African origin through her mother.
It is significant that, at the beginning of preparations for Auroville's foundation ceremony in 1968, Africa's leadership consisted of a world-level statesman and a world-level spiritual leader both of whom were the first Africans to express in writing to the Mother their support to the ideals of Auroville, - and the Mother has blessed them.
Creating awareness ..
Today the world is increasingly faced with the challenges of a rapidly changing multi-cultural society, with all its attendant problems and potentials. Certainly the African continent copes with very basic problems that mainly arise from ignorance, poverty and lack of basic education, and in order to change this situation the ideals of Auroville and the wide vision of its founders may prove to be of timely help to the African people. It appears that creating awareness of the ideal of Auroville is more necessary in Africa than in any part of the world.
Tekeste
Tekeste Kidan came as a young African Diplomat to India in the beginning of 1966, attached to the Ethiopian Embassy in New Delhi. Through his friends and through the invitation received by his Embassy to participate in the Auroville foundation ceremony in 1968, he became aware of Auroville and came to its first Anniversary celebration. Tekeste has served as an Ethiopian Diplomat from November 1959 up to August 1993. After his retirement in that year, he served for five years in Ethiopia as a social worker and is living in Auroville since 1999, where his strong will and push to get his continent more integrated in the city is widely appreciated.
An 'Africa House' in Auroville's International Zone
In order to create awareness of the ideals of Auroville among the new generation of young Africans, it was proposed that an 'Africa House' should be built in the International Zone in the area allotted to the African continent. The Africa House could accommodate African students and guests and allow them to directly experience Auroville. At the same time, the House will present Africa to the international audience of Aurovilians and visitors to Auroville's International Zone.

The main features of the Africa House would be:
a hostel intended to provide at least 35 rooms for students visiting or interning in Auroville, as well as for guests and teachers from Africa
a multi-purpose hall to be used for exhibitions, audio-visual presentations, and get-togethers
classrooms, offices and utilities,
a kitchen and dining area
a garden with tennis courts
Other objectives
to increase awareness in Africa about the dream and practical accomplishments of Auroville by exposing Africans studying in India to Auroville
to organise camps for African students in which they are introduced to Auroville's sustainable development practices, which are applicable to Africa's developmental problems
to arrange for internships and study programmes for Africans in Auroville
to have the research done by the students act as a basis for presentations on Africa, both in Auroville and in Indian and African universities
to conduct programmes to acquaint Indian and Aurovilian audiences with the glories and potential of Africa. This could be done by, for instance, conducting a sports programme in Auroville, involving African sports heroes as coaches and trainers; and by encouraging cultural exchange between Africa and Auroville in the fields of music, dance & arts through bringing exhibitions, performances, training courses, etc.
Contact: tekeste@auroville.org.in
For more information: download zip file (423 KB)
Auroville international zone - Africa section

The meaning Of The Cross

You know that I am in contact with a few Ethiopians (I think it's the country that has remained the most Christian all over the earth). There's a boy who's a secretary in the embassy in Delhi (Ethiopia's embassy), and he's quite taken, quite, and then ... (laughing) it was his birthday two days ago, and he came with a gift .... Something in wood (in ebony), big like this, with my photo on one side, Sri Aurobindo's photo on the other side, and in between ... a silver cross. And on the cross, at the junction of the two branches, there was on one side my symbol, and on the other side, Sri Aurobindo's symbol .... What's in his head?! ...
Horrible!
And naturally, as soon as I saw him, he put that on my knees .... It was big like this. <497>
As soon as I saw him, it instantly came (gesture of massive descent), like that, like an answer to the will to transform Christianity And it was so powerful, there was such a powerful vibration that I felt it was BEING done ....
The cross is the symbol of transformation, you know: Matter (transversal gesture) penetrated by the Spirit; and the junction is the transformation. A tremendous Force came, like that, for this cross to become truly ... the flower of transformation.
But I didn't tell him anything! And he himself doesn't know, I mean, he never thought about it, it's instinctively that he did that.
He wrote to the Emperor about Auroville, and there was a reply Did I show it to you? (Mother looks for a piece of paper) It's all the way at the bottom ....
"I have written to my Emperor Haile Selassie I, about Auroville International Township aim, and Ethiopia to be the second country to support this idea. He has written me a good letter. In his letter he has appreciated and admired your work very much. I wish you to bless him for peace of mind, good health to live long-peace for his people."
They don't commit themselves too much! Anyway, there's a goodwill.
(Mother puts the letter near her, under a pile of files)
I keep all that near me because it keeps the contact.

THE AGENDA,DECEMBER 31,1969

Eco Friendly SoleRebels

Ethiopian cobbler creating African Nike with tyres, fabricEthiopian shoemaker Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu sees her eco-friendly "SoleRebels" brand of footwear, made of recycled tyres and traditional woven fabric, as Africa’s answer to Nike.
In her workshop in Addis Ababa’s Zenabework neighbourhood, a constant patter and the stench of glue fill the air as 40 cobblers hammer, trim tyres and stitch fabric to make the zero carbon emission footwear.
Launched in 2005, the SoleRebels brand features trainers, sandals and other trendy open shoes which are sold in the United States and Europe. It also provides livelihoods to at least 75 suppliers.
"For a long time, used tyres have been used here to make traditional sandals, so I decided to take the idea and develop it in Ethiopian traditional factories using organic cotton and local leather," the 30 year-old entrepreneur said.
The brand gets its name from the type of footwear favoured by Ethiopian rebel fighters in the country’s recent troubled past...read more

Ugly Truth-Soundgarden

Soundgarden - Ugly Truth Mp3

Lack Of Receptivity

January 28, 1964
(The following conversation between Mother and a Bengali
disciple, B., was not tape-recorded but only noted from
memory in English:)

(B.) I am going to Calcutta. There they will ask me one question regarding the present situation - communal riots.[[It may be recalled that at the time a continuous flood of Hindu refugees from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was pouring into Bengal, sparking off numerous reprisals against the Muslim communities there. ]] What is the solution?
The solution is, of course, the change of consciousness. I know those other people [in Pakistan] behaved badly, like animals - even animals are better than human beings - but if people here also do the same, they would be playing in the hands of the forces that make people do evil and would only strengthen the hold of these forces. Retaliation like this is no remedy.
(B.) People there feel frustrated, they see no remedy, do not know which way to go, whom to look up to. They are going the wrong way, following the wrong lead. Isn't the division of the country responsible for much of these troubles?
Yes, division of religion, of country, of interest! If people felt like brothers - not brothers who quarrel but brothers conscious of their common origin ...
(B.) When are you coming?.i.40;
Don't be under the illusion that I am not there. I am there, the force, the consciousness are there, but there is no receptivity. During the Chinese trouble, I was in those places in the front, concretely, but I am sorry to say that the only people who were receptive were the Chinese. The impulsion to come forward disappeared. That is receptivity. No one knew why they

withdrew! On the Indian side a few were touched and
they told me of terrible conditions.

Since World War II, I have been keeping Kali[[Kali: the warrior aspect of the supreme Mother. ]] quiet, but she is restless! Times are critical, anything may happen. If people will only give up their ego!
(B.) I shall suggest a simpler way - to turn to you.
Perhaps the time has come to tell what I have told you. You may talk if an occasion arises. Keep your faith and go like a warrior.
@

Bengal Divided:Hindu Communalism And Partition.1931-1947 By Joya Chatterji

United Bengal Movement

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

Sart Chandra Bose

United Bengal Movement a political proposal to solve the communal question on the eve of the termination of British rule in India. In April-May 1947 it became clear that the Partition of India was ineviatable. huseyn shaheed suhrawardy, the Premier of the province of Bengal, formally launched his idea of a sovereign state for undivided Bengal. Almost simultaneously sarat chandra bose came forward with his proposal for a Sovereign Socialist Republic of Bengal. There had been differences of opinion between Suhrawardy and Sarat Bose regarding the sovereign status of Bengal, but the primary motive of both of them was to resist the partition of the province. While the former wanted a completely independent state for united Bengal outside the union of India, the latter visualised Bengal to be a sovereign socialist republic within the Indian union. ..READ MORE

Bangladesh Past And Present By Salahuddin Ahmed

United Bengal United India

Home
Indian move to establish United India through United Bengal

Khodeza Begum
Some activities prejudicial to national independence and territorial integrity of Bangladesh have drawn the attention of all conscious persons. A demand has been raised to establish an undivided sub-continent by holding a press conference at a restaurant in Dhaka on December 29, 1991 .'Upamahadesh Punorujjibon Andolon' (movement for revival of the sub-continent) is the name of this outfit. In an Iftar party hosted by them, the speakers delivered speech at a seminar held in Dhaka on 31 December, 1991 . In that seminar a Congress scholar who came from India commented that none but Zinnah is responsible for partition of India. His speech resounded to imbibe new thoughts rejecting the two-nation theory. Afterwards a cover story was published in the weekly Bichinta regarding movement for revival of sub-continent. In an interview given by a leader of this outfit indicated that they want to go back to pre August-1947 scenario. It may be mentioned here that a brochure was also published named 'Ashamprodaik Upamohadesher Ishtehar'(communiqué of non-communal sub-continent). In this communiqué, it was proposed to place defence, currency and some other subject under the disposal of the centre. The map of India was printed on the cover page of this booklet where the present countries were not clearly shown. Leaflet containing the movement for revival of sub-continent were circulated simultaneously. A similar seminar was held in Dhaka titled 'new urge in the field of South Asian regional co-operation'. World Peace Council and its Bangladesh chapter arranged this seminar. The political high-ups of the country participated in the seminar. It was decided that the agenda of the discussion will be focussed on 'South Asian regional co-operation. But Congress Leader Mayaram Surgeon and others delivered speech on united India. Mayaram said, 'Why can't we establish united Indian state of pre-1947 scenario? We did not want separation. We are separated by the British design on the basis of religion. But now it is proved that division on the basis of religion can not exist. We want to return to pre-partition India'...READ MORE+

The Brain Of India

SECTION SIX
THE BRAIN OF INDIA

THE time has perhaps come for the Indian mind, long preoccupied with political and economic issues, for a widening of its horizon. Such a widening is especially necessary for Bengal.
The Bengali has always led and still leads the higher thought of India, because he has eminently the gifts which are most needed for the new race that has to arise. He has the emotion and imagination which is open to the great inspirations, the mighty heart-stirring ideas that move humanity when a great step forward has to be taken. He has the invaluable gift of thinking with the heart. He has, too, a subtle brain which is able with in certain limits to catch shades of meaning and delicacies of thought, both those the logic grasps and those which escape the mere logical intellect. Above all, he has in a greater degree than other races the yet undeveloped faculty of direct knowledge, latent in humanity and now to be evolved, which is above reason and imagination, the faculty which in Sri Ramakrishna, the supreme outcome of the race, dispensed with education and commanded any knowledge he desired easily and divinely. It is a faculty which now works irregularly in humanity, unrecognised and confused by the interference of the imagination, of the limited reason and of the old associations or samskāras stored in the memory of the race and the individual. It cannot be made a recognised and habitual agent except by the discipline which the ancient Indian sages formulated in the science of Yoga. But certain races have the function more evolved or more ready for evolution than the generality of mankind, and it is these that will lead in the future evolution. In addition, the race has a mighty will-power which comes from the long worship of Shakti and practice of the Tantra that has been a part of our culture for many centuries. No other people could have revolutionised its whole national character in a few years as Bengal has done. The Bengali has always worshipped the Divine Energy in her most terrible as well as in her most beautiful aspects; whether as the Beautiful or
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the Terrible Mother he has never shrunk from her whether in fear or in awe. When the divine force flowed into him he has never feared to yield himself up to it and follow the infinite prompting, careless whither it led. As a reward he has become the most perfect ādhāra of Shakti, the most capable and swiftly sensitive and responsive receptacle of the Infinite Will and Energy the world now holds. Recently that Will and Energy has rushed into him and has been lifting him to the level of his future mission and destiny. He has now to learn the secret of drawing the Mother of Strength into himself and holding her there in a secure possession. That is why we have pointed to a religious and a spiritual awakening as the next necessity and the next in evitable development...READ MORE

source:Works Of Sri Aurobindo > English > The Harmony Of Virtue Volume-03

Bengali And French

Rabindranath Tagore

Jean Racine

These thoughts about the genius of French occurred to me because it seemed to me that there was a marked analogy in this respect between French and Bengali. Certainly it would not be quite' correct to say that the evolution of the Bengali language was slow and steady like that of French. At least one upheaval, a revolution, has taken place on its coming into contact with Europe; under its influence our language and literature have taken a turn that is almost an about-turn. But this revolution was not caused by a single person. Dante and Homer are the creators, origina­tors or the peerless presiding deities of Italian and Greek respectively. Properly speaking Tagore may not be classed

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with them. But just as Shakespeare may be said to have led the English language across the border or as Tolstoy made the Russian language join hands with the wide world or as Virgil and Goethe imparted a fresh life and bloom, a fuller awakening of the soul of poetry, to Latin and to German, so too is Tagore the paramount and versatile poetic genius of Bengal who made the Bengali language transcend its parochial character. I think that Tagore has in many ways the title and position of a Racine amongst us. There is a special quality, a music and rhythm, a fine sensibility of the inner soul of Bengal. Its uniqueness is in its heart; a sweet ecstasy, an intoxicating magic which Chandidas was the first to bring out in its poignant purity and which has been nourished by Bankim, has attained the full mani­festation of maturity, variety, intensity and perfection in Rabindranath. Here too an aspect of supreme elegance is found. Bengali, like French, has a natural ease of flow. Madhusudan took up another line and sought to bring in an austere and masculine element - à la Corneille. Some among the modern writers are endeavouring to revive that line and naturalise it; even then the soft elegance, the lyric grace so natural to the language has attained almost its acme in Tagore. To be sure, among us Tagore is the one without a second...READ FULL TEXT HERE

The Mother On languages

Languages

To unite East and West, to give the best of one to the other and make a true synthesis, a university will be established for all kinds of studies. Our school will form a nucleus of that university.
In our school I have put French as the medium of instruction. One of the reasons is that French is the cultural language of the world. The children can learn the Indian languages at a later stage. If more stress is laid upon Indian languages at present, then the natural tendency of the Indian mind will be to fall back upon the ancient literature, culture and religion. You know very well that we realise the value of ancient Indian things, but we are here to create something new, to bring down something that will be quite fresh for the earth. In this endeavour, if your mind is tied down to the ancient things, then it will refuse to go forward. The study of the past has its place, but it must not hamper the work for the future.

Should French be considered as a special language, to bring the children into contact first with you and then with a certain vibration of beauty?

Something like that.
All I can say is that we are considered to be one of the best – perhaps the very best – school in India for teaching French and I think it would be a good thing to deserve this appreciation.
In my relations with the children here, I always speak to them in French.
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Why should science be taught in French?

There are many reasons of which the deeper ones you ought to know in your heart without needing to be told.
Among the exterior ones I can say that French, being a very precise language, is better for Science than English which is far superior for poetry.
There are also a few practical reasons among which is the fact, for all those who will have to earn their living when they are grown up, that all those who know French thoroughly well have most easily found employment.
Blessings.
9 February 1969

French is indeed the most precise and clearest language. But from the spiritual point of view it is not true that French is the best language to use; for English has a suppleness, a fluidity which French does not have, and this suppleness is indispensable for not deforming what is vaster and more comprehensive in the experience than what mental expression can formulate.
January 1950

(Concerning translation)

Bonté = Kindness and goodwill Bienveillance is to see the good side of everything. It is not mere optimism which closes its eyes from bad. It is rather a psychic vision which sees the Good everywhere.
There are many words which cannot be translated. Sri Aurobindo's humour and irony cannot be translated into French. English humour when translated into French sounds stupid and flat; French humour when translated into English becomes cruel
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and meaningless. These two languages seem to be so similar and yet their genius is quite apart.
4 July 1956
I shall send you the book [Prières et Méditations] tomorrow; but you must study grammar well if you want to understand what you read.
20 June 1932
Where should I learn good French style?

It is taught in advanced grammar courses, and there are also special books. One of the principal rules of style is that in a prose passage one should not use “I” except when it is absolutely impossible to avoid it, and in any case one should never begin two consecutive sentences with “I”. This gives you an idea of what you must do to give some style to your daily report!
20 July 1933
French must be written with simplicity and clarity.
29 September 1933
French gains by being written with simplicity and clarity; an accumulation of complicated images always renders the style pretentious.

My dear little smile,
You are absolutely right, and I don't see why, instead of reading interesting things, you should start doing boring exercises.
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To learn a language one must read, read, read – and talk as much as one can.
With all my love.
10 July 1935

I want to resume my study of French, particularly for speaking. Can I have some hints?

The best is to speak… courageously at every opportunity.

Mother, will You tell me the names of some good writers I could read?

If it is to learn French you should take a textbook of French literature to study and read one or two books by each author mentioned in the textbook, beginning at the beginning, that is, with the earliest authors.
22 September 1936

If You like, I will take one book that appeals to me and another from the earliest authors, as You advised me.

I did not say that you should read only the earliest authors; I said you should read one or two books by each author mentioned in the literature course, beginning with the earliest ones.
24 September 1936
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Mother, I have started to read French books – S has given me a list.

It is good that you read a lot of French, that will teach you how to write.
7 April 1969

Today I took class E5 and we continued the reading and explanation of Words of the Mother. Although I am constantly pointing to the beauty of the language with which Words is written, I am also conscious that I am putting more emphasis on the explanation than on the teaching of English.

It is quite all right because it obliges them to think in English which is the best way to learn a language.
2 May 1946

X has asked Your guidance in a difficulty concerning the education of his two young sons. He has put one of them in an Italian missionary school in Bombay where the medium of instruction is English and he also intends to put the other one in the same school shortly. But now, because of the current controversy about the language problem in India, he is feeling puzzled because he finds it difficult to decide whether it is good to give education to his children through the medium of English or whether it should be done through the mother tongue, i.e.
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The mother tongue is all right. But for those who want to do higher studies, the English is indispensable.
Blessings.
3 November 1967

At present many of our Higher Course students do not know sufficiently well any one language in which they could express their thoughts and feelings adequately and sensitively. Is this required or not, Mother? And if so, which language should they learn? Should it be a common or international language1 or their vernacular?

If only one language is known this is better.

From the point of utility some of our students do not want to learn classical Hindi.

Teach both, the true language and what it has become – that will be very interesting indeed – and more than anything else can cure them of the habit of speaking bad Hindi.

Do you want me to continue teaching Hindi in spite of the apathy of the students?

Continue without hesitation.…
Amrita says that the situation of his Tamil class is much

1Mother underlined these words and drew an arrow to them from her answer, thus indicating her preference.
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worse than that of the Hindi one. He says that he will continue even if the students come no more – he will teach to himself!
30 September 1959
Hindi is good only for those who belong to a Hindi-speaking province. Sanskrit is good for all Indians.

I have the deepest respect for Indian languages and continue to study Sanskrit when I have time.

The Sanskrit ought to be the national language of India.
Blessings.
19 April 1971

On certain issues where You and Sri Aurobindo have given direct answers, we (Sri Aurobindo's Action) are also specific, as for instance… on the language issue where You have said for the country that (1) the regional language should be the medium of instruction, (2) Sanskrit should be the national language, and (3) English should be the international language.
Are we correct in giving these replies to such questions?

Yes.
Blessings.
4 October 1971
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(Languages to be studied in Auroville)1

(1) Tamil
(2) French
(3) Simplified Sanskrit to replace Hindi as the language of India
(4) English as the international language.
15 December 1970
Page – 225

The Roots Of Man's Language

WORD-FORMATION
from
Material for a full Philological Reconstruction ofthe old Aryabhasha from which the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages are derived.

Word Formation

THE language of man is not framed on earth, but in heaven, as indeed are all things that the earth-soul uses in this mortal journey. By the threefold energy of eternal truth, manifesting force and sustaining delight everything is created as a type in the world of ideas, the mahat of the ancients, in the principle of self-manifest and perfectly arranged knowledge, it is diversely developed by the more discursive but less sure-footed agencies of intellectual mind. Imagination hunts after new variations, memory and association corrupt, analogy perverts, sensation, emotion, pleasure seize violent and partial satisfaction. Hence, change, decay, death, rebirth, — the law of the world. All this takes place in the descent into the world of mind and the world of matter. Therefore mankind has one original language based on certain eternal types of sound, developed by certain laws of rhythmic variation, perfectly harmonious and symmetrical in its structure and evolution. This is the devabhāṣā and is spoken in the Satyayuga. Then it suffers change, detrition, collapse. Innumerable languages, dialects, vernaculars are born. The guardians of the sacred language attempt always to bring back the early purity, but even they cannot do it; they reconstruct it from time to time, compromise with the new tendencies, preserve something of the skeleton, lose the flesh, blood, sinew, much of the force and spirit. This reconstructed language they call Sanskrit; all else Prakrit.
The backbone of the skeleton is composed of the roots of the original language that survive; the rest is the various principles of word-formation. Accordingly in the languages of the world which are nearest to the old secret language, the ancient Aryan languages, there is one common element, the roots, the elemental word-formations from the roots and so much of the original significance as survives variety of mental development playing on different lines and to different purposes. The object of this treatise is to provide a reasoned basis, built up on the
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facts of the old languages, Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, German, Celtic, Tamil, Persian, Arabic, for a partial reconstruction, not of the original devabhāṣā, but of the latest forms commonly original to the variations in these languages. I shall take the four languages, Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and Tamil first, to build up my scheme and then support it by the four other tongues. I omit all argument and handling of possible objections, because the object of this work is suggestive and constructive only, not apologetic. When the whole scheme is stated and has been worked out on a more comprehensive scale than is possible in the limits I have here set myself, the time will come for debate. Over an uncompleted exegesis, it would be premature.
I shall first indicate the principle on which the roots of the devabhāṣā were formed. All Shabda (vāk) as it manifests out of the ākāśa by the force of mātariśvan, the great active and creative energy, and is put in its place in the flux of formed things (apas) carries with it certain definite significances (artha). These are determined by the elements through which it has passed. Śabda appears in the ākāśa, travels through vāyu, the second element in which sparśa is the vibration; by the vibrations of sparśa, it creates in tejas, the third element, certain forms, and so arrives into being with these three characteristics, first, certain contactual vibrations, secondly, a particular kind of tejas or force, thirdly, a particular form. These determine the bhāva or general sensation it creates in the mind and from that sensation develop its various precise meanings according to the form which it is used to create.
Page – 506

SOURCE:SRI AUROBINDO HYMNS TO THE MYSTIC FIRE;CHAPTER 11;WORDS

origin of language(wikipedia)

mythical origins of language

origin of language

The Foundations Of the Psycological Theory

"My first contact with Vedic thought came indirectly while pursuing certain lines of self-development in the way of Indian Yoga, which, without my knowing it, were spontaneously con- verging towards the ancient and now unfrequented paths followed by our forefathers. At this time there began to arise in my mind an arrangement of symbolic names attached to certain psychological experiences which had begun to regularise themselves ; and among them there came the figures of three female energies, Ila, Saraswati, Sarama, representing severally three out of the four faculties of the intuitive reason, — revelation, inspiration and intuition. Two of these names were not well known to me as names of Vedic goddesses, but were connected rather with the current Hindu religion or with old Puranic legend, Saraswati, goddess of learning and Ila, mother of the Lunar dynasty. But Sarama was familiar enough. I was unable, however, to establish any connection between the figure that rose in my mind and the Vedic hound of heaven, who was associated in my memory with the Argive Helen and represented only an image of the physical Dawn entering in its pursuit of the vanished herds of Light into the cave of the Powers of darkness. When once the clue is found, the clue of the physical Light imaging the subjective, it is easy to see that the hound of heaven may be the intuition entering into the dark caverns of the subconscious mind to prepare the delivery and outflashing of the bright illuminations of knowledge which have there been imprisoned. But the clue was wanting and I was obliged to suppose an identity of name without any identity of the symbol.

It was my stay in Southern India which first seriously turned my thoughts to the Veda. Two observations that were forced on my mind gave a serious shock to my second-hand belief in the racial division between Northern Aryans and Southern Dravidians. The distinction had always rested for me on a supposed difference between the physical types of Aryan and Dravidian and a more definite incompatibility between the northern Sanskritic and the southern non-Sanskritic tongues. I knew indeed of the later theories which suppose that a single homogeneous race, Dravidian or Indo-Afghan, inhabits the Indian peninsula; but hitherto I had not attached much importance to these speculations. I could not, however, be long in Southern India without being impressed by the general recurrence of northern or "Aryan" types in the Tamil race. Wherever I turned, I seemed to recognise with a startling distinctness, not only among the Brahmins but in all castes and classes, the old familiar faces, features, figures of my friends of Maharashtra, Gujerat, Hindustan, even, though this similarity was less widely spread, of my own province Bengal. The impression I received was as if an army of all the tribes of the North had descended on the South and submerged any previous populations that may have occupied it. A general impression of a Southern type survived, but it was impossible to fix it rigidly while studying the physiognomy of individuals. And in the end I could not but perceive that whatever admixtures might have taken place, whatever regional differences might have been evolved, there remains, behind all variations, a unity of physical as well as of cultural type¹throughout India. For the rest, this is a conclusion to which ethnological speculation² itself has an increasing tendency.

But what then of the sharp distinction between Aryan and Dravidian races created by the philologists ? It disappears. If at all an Aryan invasion is admitted, we have either to suppose that it flooded India and determined the physical type of the

¹I prefer not to use the term race, for race is a thing much more obscure and difficult to determine than is usually imagined. In dealing with it the trenchant distinctions current in the popular mind are wholly out of place.
²Always supposing that ethnological speculations have at all any validity. The only firm basis of ethnology is the theory of the hereditary invariability of the human skull which is now being challenged. If it disappears, the whole science disappears with it.
Page – 35
people, with whatever modifications, or that it was the incursion of small bands of a less civilised race who melted away into the original population. We have then to suppose that entering a vast peninsula occupied by a civilised people, builders of great cities, extensive traders, not without mental and spiritual culture, they were yet able to impose on them their own language, religion, ideas and manners. Such a miracle would be just possible if the invaders possessed a very highly organised language, a greater force of creative mind and a more dynamic religious form and spirit.

READ THE FULL TEXT HERE

Meluhha And Agastya:Alpha And Omega Of the Indus script

By Iravatham Mahadevan
Indus Research centre,Roja Muthiah Research Library,Chennai,India

READ THE FULL SCRIPT HERE

RMRL

Agastya In tamil land

agastya in tamil land

Only The Divine Knows

December 15, 1971

I sent you this note, can it be used for something?
Yes, Mother, certainly.

"Difficult periods come on earth to compel men to overcome their small personal egoism and to turn exclusively to the Divine for help and light. The wisdom of men is ignorant. Only the Divine knows."

It came imperiously.
What wants Peace and Harmony was in me and....[[Mother is alluding to the Bangladesh war. Mother's note was probably written in reference to that war. ]] I was feeling a sort of pressure, and that came. It came imperatively -- plain, imperative. Without that, men would never have progressed -- they would never progress.
(silence)
That war is very absorbing.
The war?
Yes, it's day and night, day and night....
Unfortunately you get the impression that in the west [the western front with Pakistan, i.e., Kashmir and Rajasthan], they don't want to do anything. Indira has declared that India had absolutely no interest in the breakup of Pakistan: "Not at all interested."[[Mrs. Gandhi stated that India has nothing against Pakistan. The government and people of India are not at all interested in the breakup of Pakistan." (The Hindu, 11 December 1971) ]] They just want to liberate Bangladesh and that's all.
(Mother sits absorbed for a very long time)
There's nothing?
No, it's late, Mother.
What time is it?
Twenty-two past eleven.
Twenty-two past ten.
No, twenty-two past eleven!
Oh!...
This war is.... I am busy all the time, all the time.
We get letters from the front; several generals and high-ranking officers say they feel my presence all the time. And it's true, I am busy all the time.
Did they tell you that the Americans are there with their "nuclear ship"?
They're not there yet, it seems. It's not quite sure -- they've sent it, but it's not quite sure.[["Not sure" that they will go as far as Bangladesh to help the retreating Pakistani army. ]]
They're completely mad.
Yes, that would be a disaster.
They're mad -- and stupid.
Yes. That president should be toppled.[[Watergate will break out six months later, on June 17, 1972. ]]
Oh, yes! Yes.
The one they want to put in his place is a friend of India. But no one likes that ... [Nixon], only a minority supports him -- not everyone.
They should just ... (gesture of sweeping clean).
Can't you arrange that?
(Mother laughs a lot)
... I am constantly busy.

Akashe helan Diye Pahar Ghumaiy Ooi

Andal

Vishnucitta discovering Andal. Scultpure above the tulasi garden in Srivilliputtur

Andal
THE VAISHNAVA POETESS

PREOCCUPIED from the earliest times with divine knowledge and religious aspiration the Indian mind has turned all forms of human life and emotion and all the phenomena of the universe into symbols and means by which the embodied soul may strive after and grasp the Supreme. Indian devotion has especially seized upon the most intimate human relations and made them stepping-stones to the supra-human. God the Guru, God the Master, God the Friend, God the Mother, God the Child, God the Self, each of these experiences - for to us these are more than merely ideas, - it has carried to its extreme possibilities. But none of them has it pursued, embraced, sung with a more exultant passion of intimate realisation than the yearning for God the Lover, God the Beloved. It would seem as if this passionate human symbol were the natural culminating- point for the mounting flame of the soul's devotion: for it is found wherever that devotion has entered into the most secret shrine of the inner temple. We meet it in Islamic poetry; certain experiences of the Christian mystics repeat the forms and images with which we are familiar in the East, but usually with a certain timorousness foreign to the Eastern temperament. For the devotee who has once had this intense experience it is that which admits to the most profound and hidden mystery of the universe; for him the heart has the key of the last secret. The work of a great Bengali poet has recently reintroduced this idea to the European mind, which has so much lost the memory of its old religious traditions as to welcome and wonder at it as a novel form of mystic self-expression. On the contrary it is ancient enough, like all things natural and eternal in the human soul. In Bengal a whole period of national poetry has been dominated by this single strain and it has inspired a religion and a philosophy. And in the Vaishnavism of the far South, in the songs of the Tamil Alwars we find it again in another form,
Page - 371
giving a powerful and original turn to the images of our old classic poetry; for there it has been sung out by the rapt heart of a woman to the Heart of the Universe. The Tamil word, Alwar, means one who has drowned, lost himself in the sea of the divine being. Among these canonised saints of Southern Vaishnavism ranks Vishnuchitta, Yogin and poet, of Villipattan in the land of the Pandyas. He is termed Perialwar, The Great Alwar. A tradition, which we need not believe, places him in the ninety-eighth year of the Kaliyuga. But these divine singers are ancient enough, since they precede the great saint and philosopher Ramanuja whose personality and teaching were the last flower of the long-growing Vaishnava tradition. Since his time Southern Vaishnavism has been a fixed creed and a system rather than a creator of new spiritual greatnesses. The poetess Andal was the foster-daughter of Vishnuchitta, found by him, it is said, a new-born child under the sacred Tulsi-plant. We know little of Andal except what we can gather from a few legends, some of them richly beautiful and symbolic. Most of Vishnuchitta's poems have the infancy and boyhood of Krishna for their subject. Andal, brought up in that atmosphere, cast into the mould of her life what her foster-father had sung in inspired hymns. Her own poetry - we may suppose that she passed early into the Light towards which she yearned, for it is small in bulk, - is entirely occupied with her passion for the divine Being. It is said that she went through a symbolic marriage with Sri Ranganatha, Vishnu in his temple at Srirangam, and disappeared into the image of her Lord. This tradition probably conceals some actual fact, for Andal's marriage with the Lord is still celebrated annually with considerable pomp and ceremony.
Page - 372..source:works of sri aurobindo/the hour of GOD volume17

more on Aandal

India Is A Functioning Anarchy-Part4

NEW DELHI, India -- The distinguished economist John Kenneth Galbraith, who served here as American ambassador, once described the country as "functioning anarchy".

It's the rich and the burgeoning middle class who complain about that anarchy, who work themselves into a lather about delayed flights, dead telephones, airconditioners that don't cool because there's no electricity, and dry taps.

But recently India scored two remarkable administrative triumphs which show that it's the poor, not the prosperous who are willing to do something about the anarchy...read+

India Is A Functioning Anarchy- Part3

India Is A Functioning Anarchy-Part2

June 26, 1971
It seems war is inevitable.
Inevitable?
They're expecting it to break out any day.... America has sent shiploads of arms to Pakistan; so before declaring war, the Indian government wants to ask America to stop their shipments to Pakistan and recall the ships on the high seas.[[America as a matter of course refused -- and sent three or four more shiploads of arms a few days later. ]]
They're waiting for that, and when that is settled, they'll declare war. I am informed almost directly.
But you yourself, what do you see?
(Mother goes within)
It's very mixed. I mean the Forces on one side and the Opposition on the other are not clear-cut -- it's not like that. Pakistan is fully in falsehood, but even there.... It's mixed, very mixed.
India too.
The Force is clearly working in favor of India, that I see, but.... What did you mean?
I meant that India too is as much in the falsehood as Pakistan.
But of course! That's just the trouble. Not so much.
Not so much, no.
Not so much.
Indira has just ... (this will give you an idea), Indira has sent me word through J., the governor, to tell me that if I have something to tell her I can do it through the governor, in a double envelope, because some people [from the Ashram] are telling her lies in my name, so ... she's starting to be on her guard.
(silence)
It's a mess, you know.
They're terribly afraid of famine.
And we can barely contain that invasion.[[The invasion of refugees from Bangladesh, with an epidemic of cholera. ]] We must be very, very, very careful.
(Mother goes within)
You have nothing to ask?
I have the feeling I'm in the midst of a complete demolition.
(Mother goes within for a long time)
I have nothing to say.
(Mother goes back within, then Satprem draws away and Sujata comes up to Mother)
(Sujata:) Mother, when you look within the way you are now, what do you see?
(after a silence)
It's extremely mixed. Precisely the sensation that there isn't a clear-cut delineation between truth on one side and falsehood on the other, that it's all a mishmash.
I have the feeling that things are held like this (gesture of being immobilized under pressure): it is willed that Sri Aurobindo's Centenary takes place -- if there were a war, it would be difficult. In Delhi, they were thinking the war would break out within a week -- they had said that, again yesterday they told me it's imminent. And at the same time there is something which goes like this (same gesture of immobilizing pressure) to keep things in this uncertain state so that Sri Aurobindo's Centenary may have its full development -- so I see that mixture of things. The feeling is that the Centenary is the major event, while at the same time the outer consciousness says that if there is war, it will be the end of the Centenary. There you are, that's how it is. So I don't see anything precise because things are like that, all intertwined.... If I see something clearly, naturally I'll say so, but now I don't. It's mixed up, all mixed up -- completely mixed up. And there is an insistence on us, a pressure on us to be primarily concerned with the Centenary, for that to be our primary preoccupation; not to take current events too much into account, you know. That's what I see -- not so interesting! (Mother laughs)
(Sujata:) But Mother, shouldn't the problem of India and Pakistan in fact be settled for the Centenary?
That's what I was hoping for.
(Sujata:) Yes, Mother.
But nothing stands out. It would be marvelous, but....
Although to tell the truth, I am more and more absorbed with being a completely limpid transmitter than with knowing -- I don't care about knowing: just being as limpid as possible so that, at least in one place, That may manifest without too much opposition. That's all.
We must be patient.
Not be anxious to know. One must be more eager to be an unobstructing intermediary than to know -- you understand? It's more important to keep the atmosphere as limpid and transparent as possible, more important than to know in advance what's going to happen. That's my position.

India is A Functioning Anarchy-Part1

John Kenneth Galbraith

Modern India has forgotten Galbraith, but during the 1960s and 1970s he was almost a household name, recalls India’s Business Standard. He had served as the US ambassador to India during John F Kennedy’s presidency, and as his friend, he gave India access of the kind it has never enjoyed. As JFK’s friend, he enjoyed access here as well, and could drop in on Jawaharlal Nehru almost at will. As he has recorded in his Ambassador’s Journal, the two had long chats and clearly enjoyed each other’s company. Ever the master of the bon mot, he dubbed India a ‘functioning anarchy‘. He remained India’s friend till the end.