Sad day for the music world

Jagjit Singh dies at age 70




Thanks to my brother-in-law for locating this video.

Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power

Namaste, 

I discovered the book Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power by Robert D. Kaplan through updates from the Asia Society.  Its premise is that the locus of power will shift from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to the Indian Ocean.  America will have to share power in the Indian Ocean.  Monsoon also regards China's maritime ambitions as benign, which is nonsense.

These opinions are actually superfluous to the book itself, which focuses on the author's travels to countries in the Indian Ocean region.  While I read the book from cover to cover, I have to say that I was turned off after Chapter 6, The Troubled Rise of Gujarat.  The author describes the Muslims who burned Hindu pilgrims alive at Godhra as "victims of taunts."  Who, then, were the Hindus pilgrims, many of whom were women and children, if not victims?   It reminded me of the reporting of Rajiv Chandrasekharan (now National Editor of the Washington Post), which was tantamount to blaming the victims.

Kaplan also ponders, is Narendra Modi a fascist?  Kaplan ultimately comes down on the side that Modi is not a fascist, but calls him the "most dangerous politician in India."  He also says that Modi suffered setbacks when the BJP did poorly in polls.  This is not true.  Modi continues to be popular, and those who live outside Gujarat see the good governance that he has provided to Gujarat and would like for him to become PM.

I would like to point out that Breaking India reported on a seminar hosted by Asia Society on, Is India Becoming a Fascist State?   No wonder Asia Society promoted Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power.

Jana Gana Mana

Namaste,

Yet another overwrought version of Jana Gana Mana, featuring well-known singers and instrumentalists. The extreme close-ups are annoying.  Still I choke up. It is like a prayer.

The Silent Indian National Anthem

Namaste,

You've seen the video of A.R. Rahman's overwrought production of Jana Gana Mana and the video of the little child's word-perfect rendition of Jana Gana Mana. Now watch as hearing-impaired children sign Jana Gana Mana. I choked up.   

Happy Republic Day.

The Life of Sri Aurobindo by A.B. Purani

Namaste,

Sri Aurobindo lived an amazing life. He was a scholar of Greek classics at Cambridge, college professor, revolutionary and nationalist, and a mystic. He left behind a prodigious output of writing, which was cataloged in the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library (SABCL), published by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.



Until I read The Life of Sri Aurobindo by A.B. Purani, I thought that his life could be neatly organized by his various careers and places of residence. Sri Aurobindo began his revolutionary activities at Cambridge, continued them through his tenure in Baroda and his stay in Calcutta, and effectively ended them when he departed to Pondicherry. Even after his withdrawal from politics in 1920, he continued to write cogently about worldly affairs. His sadhana साधना began as long ago as his stay in Baroda (1893-1906), intensified when he was imprisoned in Alipor jail, and culminated in Pondicherry. His life could not be as neatly compartmentalized as I had thought.

Through reading The Life of Sri Aurobindo, I also began to understand why his writings are so difficult to read. Jeffery Paine, author of Father India, told me that Sri Aurobindo ultimately wrote for himself. After I read the book, I came to believe that the problem is that Sri Aurobindo was trying to articulate in words and intellectualize mystical experience. He acknowledged,

What I write usually helps only the mind and that too very little, for people really do not understand what I write …

Another problem is that Sri Aurobindo invented new vocabulary. His levels of consciousness, for example, seem to correspond to the koshas कोश or sheaths of the individual.

I drew inspiration from Sri Aurobindo’s vision for India, Asia, and the world, which he wrote for the occasion of India’s independence, August 15, 1947, which was also his birthday. Other readers will find The Life of Sri Aurobindo revelatory and inspiring.