In A Time Of Universal Deceit, Telling The Truth Becomes A Revolutionary Act. (Orwell)
ALL TRUTH PASSES THROUGH THREE STAGES; FIRST, IT IS RIDICULED, SECOND, IT IS VIOLENTLY OPPOSED, THIRD, IT IS ACCEPTED AS BEING SELF-EVIDENT.(Arthur Schopenhauer)
I WILL TELL YOU ONE THING FOR SURE. ONCE YOU GET TO THE POINT WHERE YOU ARE ACTUALLY DOING THINGS FOR TRUTH'S SAKE, THEN NOBODY CAN EVER TOUCH YOU AGAIN BECAUSE YOU ARE HARMONIZING WITH A GREATER POWER. (George Harrison)
THE WORLD ALWAYS INVISIBLY AND DANGEROUSLY REVOLVES AROUND PHILOSOPHERS.(Nietzsche)
This is the story of a donkey. A donkey who was walking along when night fell. He was not sure what his destination was and how to reach it. And what made it worse was that he could hear the sounds of wild animals in the forest, where he had been grazing all day. It was too dark for the donkey to see beyond his nose. Fear gripped the donkey as he peered into the darkness ahead to see if he could make something of it.
Just as the donkey ambled about directionless, an owl from a
treetop hooted out to him, “Buddy! You cannot see at night, but I can;
maybe I should become your guide and show you the path.” The donkey
could not have asked for anything better. He guffawed with joy and
invited the owl to sit on its back.
With the owl perched delicately
on his back, the duo made their way through the forest. The owl gave
directions, and the donkey followed them. All night, the arrangement
worked out well. They managed to avoid wild animals and see the light of
day. The sun rose as the team reached the forest's edge, and a new day
was born. In the sunlight, the donkey could see very well, but the owl
was blinded by the light.
For a few minutes, there was confusion, but
the owl, having donned the guide's hat, was reluctant to give up the
leadership role. The owl was too attached to his seat on the donkey’s
back and the power it gave him. So, even though the owl could see
nothing, he continued to give directions.
The donkey did not think
much about the arrangement that was well-suited to the night but
defective during the day. He did not realise that he could see and did
not need owl’s help navigating the forest. Even though he did not
require a visual guide now, he continued to accept the owl as his guide.
He never attempted to use his head or eyes and perceive that he could
see during the day, hence he did not need a guide. He continued to
follow the owl’s directions, which were not based on knowledge of the
path ahead.
At one point, the owl instructed the donkey to turn
left and immediately right. The donkey could see a deep, fast-moving
river down the cliff. But he was following the guide and not thinking,
so he did just as he was told. The donkey fell directly into the river
and drowned.
We learn two things from this incident. There are times
when we need guides, and no guide can be greater than the dharma guru or
the spiritual teacher. However, it does not mean we stop seeing
ourselves or examining things critically. All great seers have
encouraged us to look for the Truth ourselves. They have also said to
choose your guide after consideration.
Most ancient texts
emphasise that both the teacher and the taught should fulfil certain
qualifications. Indeed, the donkey did not have a choice during the
night. However if he was alert during the day, he would have known that
his guide was not helping him. In our lives, too, the same guide may not
work for all occasions. Hence, Mahavir said appana sachame secche –
search for the truth yourself.
Disaster Shamanism (or Apocalyptic Shamanism) in a nutshell: The Disaster Shaman recipe combines aspects of The Shadow with aspects of The Hero and then mixes in a little Trickster humility. The combination of these archetypes creates a particular flavor of nontraditional shamanism that spearheads healthy Cosmic Law into the unhealthy lawfulness that surrounds us. A Disaster Shaman is a force of nature first, a person second. They sow radical revolution in order to reap progressive evolution. Healthy balance is primary. Even if it comes at the expense of comfort and security. Disaster Shamanism (or Apocalyptic Shamanism) is the interdependent shamanic response to apocalyptic times. The primary tasks of a Disaster Shaman:
–Heal disaster situations through shamanic cosmology and ecopsychology.
–Listen to Universal Laws to discern the difference between healthy and unhealthy.
–Live moderately so that others may moderately live.
–Diagnose and heal Nature Deprivation.
–Transform weaponry into livingry.
–Bring “water” to the Wasteland.
–Rewild the overly domesticated. The Four Pillars of Disaster Shamanism:
–Eco-consciousness (The 5th Horseman of the Apocalypse)
–High humor (The Sacred Clown)
–Hero expiation (The New Hero)
–Self-overcoming (The New Oracle) 6 Signs You May Be a Disaster Shaman
1.) You heal disaster situations through shamanic cosmology and ecopsychology:
You empower the disempowered and lift the downtrodden through
shamanic reengineering. Your philanthropy is not money, necessarily, but
sacred energy. You realize as Henry David Thoreau did: “To affect the
quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.” But you do not preach.
You teach by eco-conscious example, using ecopsychology as a
direct method to reintroduce the afflicted to the healing properties of
the greater cosmos, using a post-modern shamanic cosmology as a medium
for safe passage into higher realms of thinking about the human soul.
2.) You listen to nature in order to learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy:
You use a nature first culture second approach to life. You are
a space that the cosmos fashioned to feel its own grandeur, and you are
not afraid to feel the double-edged sword of that grandeur. You are a
custodian of interconnection, attuned to the paradoxical reality of the
human condition as being both god-like and animal-like, and so you
operate outside the cultural framework of right & wrong.
3.) You live moderately so that others may moderately live:
Living moderately is challenging, but you embrace the
challenge, knowing that the liberation of the soul is worth going
through any amount of hardship. Living this way upturns convention and
undermines tradition, creating a sacred space for new world-building.
And because your load is so light and you are so adept at practicing
moderation, you tend to exist on the periphery.
4.) You are skilled in diagnosing and healing nature deprivation:
You teach people how to live sustainably within their immediate
environments. You even take the concept of re-wilding to the next
level, applying it to human beings as well as non-human animals, so that
they can rediscover a sacred spirituality by getting back in touch with
Nature and the human soul.
5.) You are adept at transforming weaponry into livingry:
You realize that if moderation isn’t taught as an imperative
for a healthier world, then the volition of people will become
immoderate and militarized, and the world will therefore be unhealthy.
As a disaster shaman, you realize that times of crisis are the best
times to teach, and that teaching by non-violent, demilitarized example,
is the best method of teaching.
It will be your creative vision that will transform the
destruction inflicted by the weapons of unsustainable men into the
creative force for progressive technologies created by sustainable men.
6.) You are willing to die in order to bring water to the Wasteland:
You have the courage to rise up out of the mass-destruction of
unsustainable men and dare to become a sustainable force of nature. Art
is your medium. Creativity is your vehicle. Sacred play is your power,
and not even death can prevent your message from being translated.
As a disaster shaman, your creative play is your power. You are
neither scientist nor priest, but artist. You are Artist incarnate.
Your sacred art is like water for parched souls. And you have the
audacity to bring it to them, despite the powers-that-be. You have no
fear. For you realize that safety is an illusion and security is a
prison in an ever-changing, ever-evolving cosmos.
By Gary Z McGee, Self-inflicted Philosopher par excellence, created Self-inflicted Philosophy to serve as a chisel for the hardened beliefs within us.
Enormous change is coming, a planetary shift of consciousness, culture,
technology and society. It is called the Event which is the turning
point in the shift of the ages.
Could alien life exist in a parallel
universe? Computer simulations from two new studies suggest the idea
might not be out of this world.
Should the search for alien life in our universe come up
empty-handed, it might be worth checking in on a neighboring universe
instead.
According to a new pair of studies in the journal Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, there’s a decent chance that
life-fostering planets could exist in a parallel universe — even if
that universe were being torn apart by dark energy.
The idea that our universe is just one of many, perhaps infinite, other universes is known as the multiverse theory.
Scientists have previously thought that such parallel universes, if
they exist, would have to meet an extremely strict set of criteria to
allow for the formation of stars, galaxies and life-fostering planets
like those seen in our own universe. [5 Reasons We May Live in a Multiverse]
Dark energy
Dark energy
is a mysterious, invisible force thought to exist in the empty spaces
of our universe. You could think about it as the archnemesis of gravity;
while gravity pulls matter closer together, dark energy flings it apart
— and dark energy is winning this cosmic tug-of-war handily.
Not
only is our universe expanding, thanks to the constant, invisible push
of dark energy, but the rate of that expansion is also getting faster and faster every day.
It's thought that, as more empty space appears in the universe, even
more dark energy appears to fill it. (Dark energy is not the same as dark matter, which is an abundant, invisible form of matter thought to be responsible for some very weird gravitational phenomena around space.)
Scientists
don't know exactly what dark energy is or how it works; some think it's
an intrinsic property of space — what Einstein called the cosmological constant — while others attribute it to a fundamental force called quintessence,
with dynamic rules all its own. Others don't even agree that it exists.
But whatever it is, everyone can agree that there's a whole lot of it:
According to the best current estimates, nearly 70 percent of the
mass-energy of our universe may be made of dark energy.
Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.
This
quantity, for whatever reason, is in the right range to allow galaxies
to grow and foster life. It is thought that if we lived in a universe
with too much dark energy, space might expand faster than galaxies could
possibly form. Too little dark energy, and runaway gravity could cause
every galaxy to collapse in on itself before life ever had a chance to
appear.
But the question of how much dark energy is "too much" or
"too little" is a topic for debate — and it's this issue of quantity
that the authors of the new studies hoped to narrow down.
Life finds a way
Across
several experiments, an international team of researchers from England,
Australia and the Netherlands used a program called Evolution and
Assembly of Galaxies and their Environmentsto simulate the birth, life
and eventual death of various hypothetical universes. In each
simulation, the researchers adjusted the amount of dark energy present
in that universe, ranging from none to several hundred times the amount
in our own universe.
The good news: Even in universes with 300 times as much dark energy as ours, life found a way.
"Our
simulations showed that the accelerated expansion driven by dark energy
has hardly any impact on the birth of stars, and hence places for life
to arise," study co-author Pascal Elahi, a research fellow at the
University of Western Australia, said in a statement. "Even increasing dark energy many hundreds of times might not be enough to make a dead universe."
That's
good news for fans of extraterrestrial life and the multiverse theory.
But a bigger question remains: If galaxies could still thrive on so much
dark energy, why did our universe get handed such a seemingly small
amount?
"I think we should be looking for a new law of physics to
explain this strange property of our Universe," co-author Richard Bower,
a professor at Durham University's Institute for Computational
Cosmology, said in the statement.
Of course, finding new laws of physics is easier said than done.
Scientists won't give up easily — but perhaps, to hedge their bets,
they should also look for a parallel universe where some intelligent
life has already done it for them.
---
Brandon is
the space/physics editor at Live Science. His writing has appeared in
The Washington Post, Reader's Digest, CBS.com, the Richard Dawkins
Foundation website and other outlets. He holds a bachelor's degree in
creative writing from the University of Arizona, with minors in
journalism and media arts. He enjoys writing most about space,
geoscience and the mysteries of the universe.
Uttara Kanda, the 7th part of Ramayana is generally attributed to Maharshi Valmiki.
Ramayana was originally composed as itihaasa in 6 kanda (parts).
Bala Kanda of original ramayana describes Valmiki composing twenty four
thousand verses and taught them to Lava and Kusha, the sons of Rama and
Seetha. The two youngsters sing the ballad among the assemblages of
sages and saints, and win laurels. Rama on seeing the boys singing on
the streets and king’s ways of Ayodhya, brings them to his palace, and
summons all his brothers and ministers to listen to the ballad. Rama
himself is put to the turmoil, for the ballad sung by these youngsters
narrates the legend of Seetha. But he himself collecting his calm, Rama
paid his attention to listen the ‘Legend of Seetha‘ (seethaayaH charitam mahat) as Valmiki calls Ramayana.
Valmiki with observed sacred vows has rendered the entire epic in the name of ‘Ramayana‘, ‘Sublime Legend of Seetha‘ (seethaayaH charitam mahat) and ‘elimination of Ravana‘ (poulyastha vadha).
These 2 names were initially considered before Ramayana was finalized.
Towards the end of Yuddha Kanda (6th part), Valmiki descibes Rama’s
coronation as the King of Kosala Kingdom and very briefly about the
happy life of the people under his reign.
All the people were endowed with excellent characteristics. All were
engaged in virtue. Rama was engaged in the kingship thus for few tens of
years.
(Here Sahasra does not actually mean 1000, but multiple).
In the fag end slokas of Yuddha Kanda PHALA SRUTI, the result of reading Srimad Ramayana, was described.
धर्मयं यशस्यमायुष्यं राज्ञां च विजाअवहम् ||
आदिकाव्यमिदं चार्षं पुरा वाल्मीकिना कृतम् |
पठेद्यः शृणुयाल्लोके नरः पापात्प्रमुच्यते || (Yuddha Kanda 128 Sarga 107-108 Slokas)
Translation :
In this world, whoever person reads and listens to this foremost lyric
derived from the speech of a sage, which is endowed with righteousness,
conferring fame and longevity, fetching victory to kings and as written
at first by Valmiki, that person is delivered from all misfortune.
Translation :
On hearing this epic of Ramayana and all the episode of victory of
Rama, who was unweary in his actions, a person gets longevity to life.
विनायकाश्च शाम्यन्ति गृहे तिष्ठन्ति यस्य वै |
विजयेत महीं राजा प्रवासि स्वस्तिमान् भवेत् || (Yuddha Kanda 128 Sarga 116 Sloka)
Translation :
Whoever carefully listens to the epic in his house, all obstacles come
to an end. A king conquers the earth. A person staying away from home,
fares well.
Valmiki composed Ramayana with approximately 24000 slokas in Anustup chhand (meter in sama veda music).
All parayana books end with Phala Sruti, which describe the result of reading a Sacred Text.
This phala sruti is at the end of composition, not in the middle.
If Valmiki intended to write Uttara Kanda at later stage, he would not have added phala sruti in the end of Yuddha Kanda.
The incident of Rama’s sons Kusa and Lava growing up at Valmiki
hermitage and learning to Sing Ramayana is true as it was described by
Valmiki himself at begining of Bala Kanda.
But there are many stories in Uttara Kanda, which prove that it is a Prakshipta (edited and added at later date).
To add more spice to a fictitious story, cinema and TV series have added
more drama. The scene of fight between Washerman and his wife, where he
blames Rama for bringing back seetha from lanka, does not even exist in
Uttara Kanda of Ramayana.
One
day seetha herself expresses desire to spend few days at a hermitage,
far away from city. Rama agrees to send her to Valmiki ashram next day.
Same night Rama learns from his spies (Bhadra) about people discussing
in general, how Rama could bring his wife back after she lived for 1
year in Lanka.
Seetha is sent with Lakshmana, who leaves her on the opposite bank of river Ganga in Valmiki ashram.
Seetha reaches Valmiki ashram with gifts for men and women living there.
She is pregnant at that time and is sent well prepared to stay there.
After
few days, Rama’s younger brother Satrughna decides to attack
Lavanasura, who killed their ancestor Mandhata and was ruling Madhuvan.
Satrughna, on his way reaches Valmiki hermitage and stays there for a night.
Same time, Seetha delivers twin kids. Valmiki wipes them with kusa grass (dharbha) and names with Kusa (grass root) and Lava (grass tip).
Satrughna forms city of Mathura
Satrughna offers clothes and gifts for new born kids and leaves towards Madhuvan (forest).
He kills Lavanasura, forms a new city in the name of dead asura as Madhura (Mathura) and rules for 12 years.
When he desires to visit his brother Rama, he stops at Valmiki hermitage on the way.
By this time, Kusa and Lava are 12 year old kids, who learnt to sing Ramayana.
He listens to their singing and takes them to Ayodhya, where they enter by singing it in streets.
Satrughna brings them to Rama, who listens to his own story and says Srimad ().
Kusa
and Lava stay back with Rama, who decide to perform Aswamedha Yagna
(Horse worship). Few editions and misinterpretations have tried to
conclude that Aswamedha is horse sacrifice or animal sex, just to
generate self-hatred among vedic followers.
Rama performs Aswamedha Yagna, towards the end of which Seetha is
brought back to Ayodhya, and she decides to leave permanently to Rasatala (not into the earth as shown in cinema/TV).
Many cinema and TV series tried to project fake stories such as Lava
Kusa catching the Horse and later all 4 brothers (Rama, Lakshmana,
Bharata, Satrughna) along with Hanuman fighting and losing against them!
When Satrughna knew them from valmiki ashram, how will he again fight without recognising them?
Also, how will 12 year old kids defeat warriors who killed thousands of asuras in forest and Lanka.
In later parts, Rama and Lakshmana discuss backstories of Vaali, Ravana etc.
In Sundara Kanda (5th part), Vibhishana trying to stop Ravana in
ordering killing of Hanuman, says there was no precedence, of killing
messenger.
वैरूप्याम् अन्गेषु कश अभिघातो |
मौण्ड्यम् तथा लक्ष्मण सम्निपातः |
एतान् हि दूते प्रवदन्ति दण्डान् |
वधः तु दूतस्य न नः श्रुतो अपि || (Sundara Kanda 52 Sarga 15 Sloka)
Translation :
Some of the punishments to an envoy are-deforming the limbs, striking
with a whip, shaving the head and impressing marks on the body. Indeed,
we have not heard at any time of killing a messenger.
Vibhishana
was saying just One month before Great Battle that took place in Lanka.
He was saying that till then there was no precedence of Killing a
messenger.
But, 13 th Sarga of Uttara Kanda describes about killing of the messenger of Kubera by Ravana.
This was done when Ravana occupied Lanka from Kubera and was at war with many kingdoms at his younger age.
How can Vibhishana mention that a doot (messenger) was never killed in
history. This proves that a fake incident was inserted in Uttar Ramayan
by someone later.
Fag end slokas of Yuddha Kanda described that
While Rama was ruling the kingdom, people survived for many years, with
multiple progeny, all free of illness and grief. And, old people did not
perform obsequies concerning youngsters.
निर्दस्युरभवल्लोको नानर्थः कन् चिदस्पृशत् |
न च स्म वृद्धा बालानां प्रेतकार्याणि कुर्वते || (Yuddha Kanda 128 Sarga 100 Sloka)
Translation :
The world was bereft of thieves and robberies. No one felt worthless
nor did old people perform obsequies concerning youngsters.
Any father performing last rites of his kids is considered as lack of
dharma in kingdom. Valmiki Ramayana says that no such incident happened.
But Uttara Kanda of Ramayana (73 – 76 sargas) mentions an incident where
a Brahmin walks in with his dead son and blames Rama for lack of
‘Dharma’ in his rule.
Upon premature death of his son, the bereaved father carried his body to
the gate of Rama’s court, and placing it there, cried aloud and
bitterly reproached Sri Rama for the death of his son, saying that it
must be the consequence of some sin committed within his realm, and that
the king himself was guilty if he did not punish it; and finally
threatened to end his life there by sitting on a dharana (hunger-strike)
against Sri Rama unless his son was restored to life.
Sri Rama thereupon consulted his council of eight learned Rishis, and
Narada amongst them told him that some Sudra among his subjects must
have been performing Tapasya (ascetic exercises), and thereby going
against Dharma !
His ministers and rishis conclude that only Brahmins have right to do tapasya and any Soodra doing it will cause such adharma.
Rama goes out in his Vimana and finds a sudra named Sambooka, who was doing tapasya while hanging upside down from a tree.
Rama enquires about his details and then beheads him!
This
incident was inserted at later date, when someone wanted to create
self-hate among vedic practitioners and convert them into some other
faith.
Manu Smriti 2.136 states that one earns respect due to wealth, company,
age, actions and knowledge in increasing order. There is no mention of
family, gotra, caste, lineage and other non-factors to demand or earn
respect.
Manu Smriti 10.65 asserts that Brahmin can become Shudra and Shudra can
become Brahmin. Similarly Kshtariyas and Vaishyas can also change their
Varnas.
So, varna was not constant that stays till end of life. One can change
varnas by their actions. There are many who did tapasya irrespective of
their birth.
Even asuras did tapasya and got boons.
To add more spice to his story, the writer even inserted that once
Sambooka was beheaded at a distant place down south, the dead Brahman
boy in distant Ayodhya began to breathe again ! Such a miracle was not
even imagined by cinema writers.
To add further, gods rained flowers on the king from their joy at his
having prevented a Shudra from gaining admission to their celestial
abode through the power of the Tapasya which he had no right to perform.
But, animals, insects, reptiles could attain higher abodes and even salvation (SriKalaHasti), whereas a human is unfit to do so.
There are multiple names given to children born from parents of
different varnas. Brahmin father – Kshatriya mother gives birth to suta
(who writes and maintain books).
Vaisya father – sudra mother gives birth to karaNa.
Dasaratha was cursed by one rishi, whose karaNa kid died due to his
arrow. If king Dasaratha had rights to kill a non-brahmin for doing
tapasya, then curse would be invalid.
But he took the curse and felt sorry for his actions.
This incident proves that any varna born can do tapasya.
Sabari was a tribal lady, who became an anchoress and was performing tapasya in anticipation to meet Rama.
This Sambooka story was just inserted to create differences and self
hatred, which can help in internal division and religious conversions.
In the same way, Rama did not get ‘Brahma Hatya Patakam‘ by killing Ravana.
This Ravana was born to a rishi Visravasa and unmarried kshatriya lady
Kaikasi. He took up ruling a kingdom like his maternal relatives.
So he was concluded to be a Kshatriya ruler.
In Mahabharata, Vidura was born to rishi Vyasa and a maid. He was
neither treated as a brahmin, nor as kshatriya, but only as a servant by
his brothers.
He was made minister/advisor for his knowledge.
Same way, Paandu and Dhritarashtra were considered kshatriyas because of
their mothers, but their biological father Vyasa was never considered.
Rama installed a Siva Linga at Rameswaram before commencing the war. If there was ‘Brahma Hatya Dosha‘,
he would have immediately installed one more in Lanka or on the way.
But he never did and was in a hurry to reach Nandigrama to prevent
Bharata from committing suicide after completion of 14 years.
In
Mahabharata, 272-289 Sections of Vana Parva, the story of Sri Rama was
narrated to Yuddhistara by Sage Markandeya. Though the story contains
minor variations compared to the story told in the Srimad Ramayana,
those episodes describe the story of Sri Rama in full.
However, the sage Markandeya ends the story of Sri Rama in 289 Section
of Vana Parva of Mahabharata with the coronation of Sri Rama as the king
of Kosala Kingdom. No mention was made therein the story of UTTARA
KANDA !
Another insertion in Uttara Kanda is Dog-Brahmin story.
One day a bleeding dog walks into Rama’s court and complains that a monk
named Sarvardhasiddha hit him on head without any reason.
Brahmin monk is called upon, who says that he did not get any Bhiksha
(alms) since morning, so hit the dog on his way in frustration.
Rama asks Vasishta, Kasyapa, Angirasa, Bhrigu, Kutsa etc rishis in his
court and they conclude that brahmin should not be punished.
Dog asks Rama to appoint Sarvardhasiddha as Kulapati (head of a shrine/mutt) in Kalanjar.
Minister think this not a punishment but promotion to that brahmin.
Dog concludes that it held similar post in its past life.
Dog says : “After performing daily pooja activities, donating to servants, feeding the guests, i used to eat.
Also i used to protect the money of organization (Mutt) sincerely.
If a honest mutt owner like me becomes dog in next life, imagine what
can an impatient and angry man like sarvardhasiddha become in his next
life.
This is the punishment i want for him.
If you want someone and their next 7 generations to suffer, give them ownership of a mutt of temple maintenance duty”
This is also a forced insertion, as the story conflicts with Ramarajya.
Valmiki describes that nobody felt hungry and food was always available to everyone under the rule of Rama.
Then how can a brahmin sanyasi get frustrated for lack of food and hit a dog?
Also the concept of mutt, maintenance of mutt or peetham, kulapati etc started during Adi Sankaracharya era, when he formed mutts in different directions of country.
He did so when Buddhism was at peak and most kings were converted.
To preserve vedas and vedic lifestyle, he started 4 mutts in 4
directions (Sringeri, Dwaraka, Puri, Badrinath) and gave 1 veda each to
follow.
Prior to kaliyuga, the concept of building temples everywhere was
non-existent. Idol worship was very much limited durin Treta yuga as
most of them worshipped at home.
As Sankaracharya went against Buddhism and
tried to re-establish vedic religion, buddhists or jain monks must have
inserted this dog-monk-mutt story to create self hatred among brahmins.
The concept of sanyasi was very rare as most rishis were married in those days.
And no sanyasi was allowed to stay at one place for more than a night.
He was supposed to wander and not own or maintain any organizations.
This bhikshu (begging monk) were frequently seen after many turned to buddhism and became lazy.
Everyone thought that just by becoming a monk, one would get free food and kingdom would take care of them.
Sankaracharya was against it as created more lazy people, kings started
appeasement of one religion followers and this created imbalance in
society.
If everyone begs, who is going to cultivate and produce food ?
So he tried to re-establish vedic varna system, where everyone is guranteed work as per their skill and also food.
Some jealous buddhist monk must have inserted this story to make brahmins hate themselves and also others hate them.
Till date, such fake stories are used by abrahamic religions and atheists to spread differences between hindus and convert them.
Similarly
stupid stories like conflict between Owl and Eagle are inserted to
prove that Rama had solved such silly issues to become famous.
Eagle claims a nest which he built when humans started inhabiting earth.
Owl claims that it built when Trees started growing on earth.
Rama concludes that nest belongs to owl as Trees grew before humans were born.
Why do they need a king like Rama to solve a simple question. Even a school kid can answer this.
Yuddha Kanda describes one incident where Rama sends Vaali’s son Angada as messenger to Ravana, just before begining of war.
Angada goes to Ravana’s court and announces himself but Ravana without
recognizing his father’s name, asks his men to capture Angada.
Uttara Kanda describes a story where Vaali grabs Ravana and performs
sandhya vandanam in 4 different oceans. Ravana is atonished by Vaali’s
strength and asks him to be his friend.
If Ravana knows Vaali as a stronger man and a friend already, why would he not recognize when Angada takes his father’s name ?
Ramayana travelled towards east but there is no uttara kanda in Thailand or Indonesian Ramayana.
It travelled towards west and distorted versions with Lava-Kusa capturing the horse.
An ancient painting found in Italian home showing Lav and Kusa driving away a captured royal sacrificial horse (Aswamedha Yaga) belonging to their father Rama.
This is ascribed to brothers Remus and Ramulus, which are latter-day variations of the Hindu name Rama.
Bhadrachala Ramadasu
(Kancharla Gopanna) who lived during 1620-1680 CE, was arrested by
Abdullah Qutb Shah in 1662 CE and released by Tana Shah in 1674 CE.
Tyagaraja composed a song in early 19th century which made popular a
story that Lord Rama and Lakshmana came to Tanashah as Ramoji and
Lakshmoji at midnight to pay dues and release Ramadasu.
Kancharla Gopanna (Telugu : కంచర్ల గోపన్న), populaly known as
Bhadrachala Ramadasu was born in Nelakondapalli village of Khammam
district (erstwhile Hyderabad State and present Telangana).
He was the nephew of the Madanna and Akkanna brothers who were ministers at the court of both Abdullah Qutb Shah and his successor son-in-law Abul Hasan Qutb Shah (Tana Shah) of the Qutb Shahi Dynasty in Golconda.
Gopanna was hired as the Tehsildar of Palvancha Taluk around 1660 CE by
Abdullah Qutb Shah, who ruled Golconda during 1626–1672 CE.
According to Valmiki Ramayana, in the Treta Yuga, Rama (avatar of the
god Vishnu), along with his wife Seetha and brother Lakshmana, stayed in
the Dandaka forest (present Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra,
Chattisgarh) as a part of their fourteen-year exile.
Legend has it that the son of Meru and Menaka, Bhadra, performed
penances towards Rama here and Rama appeared to him at this place along
with Seetha and Lakshmana.
During mid 17th century CE, Pokala Dhammakka, a tribal woman living in
Bhadrareddypalem, found the central icon of Rama in an anthill. She
dissolved the anthill using the water from the Godavari River. With the
help of the villagers, Dhammakka constructed a mandapam (hall) and
offered prayers to the deities.
Following Abdullah Qutb Shah’s orders, Gopanna enforced the Jaziya tax, a
penalty designed to make Hindus pay for not adopting Islam. Observing
the dilapidated state of the temple, Gopanna decided to build a temple
for the deity by raising donations.
In the initial attempt, Gopanna received harsh criticism from the local Hindus for enforcing the tax.
Dejected by numerous rebuffs, Gopanna decided to use a portion of the
tax collected to build the temple and face the consequences.
Abdullah Qutb Shah (1626-1672 CE)
The temple was built by Gopanna in 1662 CE with a cost of nearly six lakh varahas (coins).
Abdullah Qutb Shah summoned upon Gopanna, who had no proper answer for misusing kingdom’s funds.
He was thrown into jail to teach a lesson to others who try to misuse government funds.
Akkanaa and Madanna tried to convince the ruler, but he was firm on setting an example to everyone.
Gopanna, during his fund raising, charities and temple building was
named as ‘Ramadasu’ (Servant of Rama) by by Kabirdas, a Muslim saint who
was impressed with his work and devotion.
Ramadasu remained in Golconda jail during 1662-1674 CE.
During his regime, Abdullah Qutub Shah encouraged poets from all languages.
After Aurangzeb took control of Hyderabad during his father Shah Jahan’s
regime, Abdullah Qutb Shah was restricted within Golconda fort.
After multiple negotiations, Abdullah’s daughter was married to Aurangzeb‘s
eldest son, Muhammad Sultan Mirza in 1656 CE. She was his first wife,
and so the chances of her progeny becoming Mughal emperor were great.
However, it did not happen as Auragzeb jailed his own son for supporting aurangzen’s elder brother Shah Shuja.
Sultan Mirza died in jail later.
Tana Shah (Abul Hasan Qutb Shah or Tanishah) (1672-1686 CE)
Abul
Hasan was a distant relative of Abdullah Qutb Shah and was never
focussed on education or learning warfare since his childhood.
He was leading a luxurious life at Golconda palace. At the age of 14, in
a drunk state, he misbehaved with queen and was kicked out of palace.
He had nowhere to go, so joined a sufi saint Shahraz Qattal.
Shahraz let Abul Hasan stay with him, where Abul used to sing sufi songs everyday.
Moved by his sweet voice, innocent face and devotion at teenage, Shahraz named him as Tana Shah (Child Saint).
When Abul Hasan was in his 20s, Shahraz Qattal thought of blessing him
with a luxurious life for serving his all through these years.
Shahraz proposed Abul Hasan’s marriage with Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah’s 3rd daughter, for which Abdullah could not refuse.
As his son-in-law Sultan Mirza (Aurangzeb’s son) died in Jail, Abdullah Qutb Shah was looking for heir.
Abdullah had 3 daughter and his 2nd son-in-law Nizamuddin was from Mecca.
He wanted to get complete grip over Golconda and tried to get his aide
Sayyed Ahmed to marry Abdullah Qutb Shah’s 3rd daughter. Engagement was
also performed.
But after that, Sayyed Ahmed started behaving independently, which was
not liked by Nizamuddin, who tried to cancel the engagement.
On the marriage day, Sayyed Ahmed was replaced on horse by Abul Hasan.
Sayyed Ahmed ran away to Aurangzeb and married his Subedar of Bengal, Mir Jumla II’s daughter to settle there.
Abul Hasan (Tana Shah) got married in 1660 CE and while he was back into
the palace, his old habits of alchoholism and musical/dance concerts
restarted.
This made many administrators get close to him.
He used his wife’s money to buy few soldiers and form a private army.
When Abdullah Qutb Shah was sick in 1672 CE, Tana Shah went to see him, but was stopped at entrace by Nizamuddin’s soldiers.
He complained to his close aide and commander-in-chief Sayyed Muzaffar, who arrested Nizamuddin and threw him in jail.
Without knowledge of all these developments, Abdullah Qutb Shah died in
same year, which made Abul Hasan as default heir to the Golconda
kingdom.
How Tana Shah became Tanishah
Tana Shah (Child
Saint), now started ruling Golconda from 1672 CE and due to his brought
up with sufi saint Shahraz Qattal, he was tolerant of all religions.
He donated 14 Jagirs to his sufi guru, which were rejected.
He promoted everyone who helped him reach this position.
Army chief Sayyed Muzaffar was made Prime Minister. One more commander
inside fort, Moosa Khan who helped him with inside news, was made as
army chief.
Sayyed Muzaffar had 2 secretaries in his office and they were Akkanna, Madanna.
When French attacked an island in Pulicat Lake (border of Andhra-Tamil Nadu), a local commander, Tupaki Krishna defeated them.
He also captured Santhome fort (present Mylapore, Chennai).
French, while negotiating about release of their fort, attacked Golconda’s ships and destroyed them.
Moosa Khan attacked them with huge army.
Muzaffar expected Moosa Khan to become a threat for his position. He
called Moosa Khan back to Hyderabad abruptly and auditioned funds spent
on this war.
Moosa khan got angry and attacked Muzaffar’s house.
Upon complaint of Muzaffar, Tana Shah got Moosa Khan arrested. This made Muzaffar think that Sultan is under his control.
When Muzaffar tried to advise Tana Shah about controlling expenses etc, differences erupted between them.
To control Muzaffar, Tana Shah promoted Madanna as Revenue Minister.
Madanna worked effienciently and earned sultan’s appraisal.
After few months, Sultan revealed about Muzaffar’s reality in court and removed him from prime minister post.
Instead of hanging him, he was sent as representative to a small
province. Madanna was promoted as Prime Minister and his brother Akkanna
was made Revenue Minister.
As Prime Minister, Madanna repoened mines and increased revenue.
Earlier, few zamindars were auctioning areas for collecting taxes.
Later, they used to collect extra taxes and harrass farmers,
businessmen.
Akkanna and Madanna abolished this system and appointed revenue collectors with fixed tax percentage system.
They also increased army strength to six lakh soldiers.
In next 2 years, they gained respect of people and sultan.
Due to good administration, Tana Shah was called as Tanishah (benevolent
ruler). This Tanishah/Tanashah is wrongly interpreted as dictator these
days.
His successors continued the title of Tanishah.
In 1674 CE, they proposed to Tana Shah to released their nephew Gopanna,
who was in Jail for 12 years and promised to pay those 6 lakh Varahas
he spent for building Bhadrachalam Temple in 1662 CE along with
interest.
Benevolent Sutan (Tanishah) agreed for this proposal as Ramadasu never tried to escape jail and almost became a saint by singing bhajans about Lord Rama.
In 1674 CE, Akkanna and Madanna paid his debt and got him released.
RamaTanka Gold Coins given to Tana Shah are still in display at Bhadrachalam Temple.
Ramadasu was not in a position to think about how this happened. He lived in Bhadrachalam for another 6 years and died.
Already muslims in golconda court were unhappy with a hindu Madanna
becoming prime minister. So, it is possible that Ramoji, Lakshmoji story
was created to convince both Ramadasu and others.
The same story was shown in cinema and other media.
In early 19th century, Tyagaraja composed a kriti (song) Kshirasagara Sayana, and told this Ramoji, Lakshmoji story in the stanza Dhirudau Ramadasuni Bandhamu.
But people assume that Tanishah is one person and he jailed Gopanna for
misuse of funds and later had darshan of Rama and Lakshmana in the form
of Ramoji, Lakshmoji.
How will two strange youngsters enter a king’s palace under tight security at midnight, pay huge money and disappear !!
In the bhakti movement, history, dates and names were ignored.
Akkanna, Madanna
were secretaries to prime minister during Abdullah Qutb Shah rule and
their position only helped Gopanna get a post as Palvancha Tahsildar.
Only after they gained respect and faith of next Sultan Abul Hasan Qutub
Shah (Tana Shah), and after Madanna became his prime minister, they
could dare to ask for Ramadasu release.
