Random Thoughts - Pattabhi Sitaraman

On this independence day, let me take a look at what is happening in the country.  The intelligentsia is divided along political fault line into two camps; one the perceived right wing and HIndu supporters and the other the perceived left of center and secular. The secular brigade is going around crying hoarse that the right wing fringe elements are a danger to the society and it gets a tacit support from the ruling party.  For every ill that is befalling the country, the secular brigade has made it a point to blame the ruling party in general and the prime minister in particular.  The recent nose diving of the rupee against USD has also been blamed squarely on the policies of the government and inept handling of the currency and economy by the PM.  It is apparent that they seem to forget the Indian currency is no longer insulated from the global tremors in the financial and currency markets.  With the Turkish Currency falling by almost 70% in a few weeks and the Turkish economy on t

There had been any number of attacks on the religion followed by majority in the country in past three to four thousand years. First there was Budhism and later Jainism both of which were offshoots of the majority religion in the country. Though the religions were started by deeply religious people of Hindu faith, they propagated religions which were more towards salvation through the path of bakthi and self realisation than through the route of rituals which was becoming more and more pronounced in the years following the the great war of Mahabharatha.  It took the caliber and intelligence of a person like Adhi Shankara to lift the religion from the abysmal low it had fallen and remove the cob-webs associated with the religion.  Though he started spreading the concept of Advaitha (non duality) during his early years, in his later years (of the total 32 years he remained in the mortal body) he sang to spread the Bakthi path to salvation.  This is amply illustrated in his immortal son