Israel and Palestine Issue – What Indians Should Know

First things first:

I am not a historian. I am not a politician. I am not a peace activist or a war monger. And most importantly, I am not belonging to any of the three religions that have fought over Jerusalem over millenia – namely Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Frankly, I am indifferent to who has Jerusalem at the end, as it is NOT a holy place for me.

That makes it a lot easier and a lot less emotional. Right? Yes, I am a Hindu, a proud and practicing Hindu who is taking a look at Israel and Palestine issue from an Indian view. Don't bracket me into anything beyond this. I respect the rights of Jews to live in Israel. I respect the rights of Muslims to live in Palestine. And in real life, I have worked for long number of years with both Jews and Arab Muslims, so I kind of know the tremendous sensitivity of this topic. If the writeup does not suit your thought or understanding of the problem, then educate me, rather than bracketing me or ridiculing me. Thank you in advance!

Now that there is a lengthy preamble, let's get started. I am presenting here a series of images, taken from some well researched videos and blogs. The references to them provided at the bottom. All credits to the original researchers and documentary makers.

Where did the Israeli Jews come from?

Jews were all around the Mediterranean sea 2000 years ago, when Islam was not born. As with 20th century, they were persecuted during the first century CE too. Romans ruthlessly massacred Jews in large numbers, and if the percentage of population is computed, it may be comparable with Hitler's Nazi genocide. Jews were in today's Israel 1000s of years back. To cut the long story short, during the 20th century when Israel was created, Jews came from Germany, Poland, Russia, Africa and many other parts to their "promised homeland".

Where did the Palestinian Muslims come from?

Contrary to what many people tell us, Palestinian Muslims also came mostly from outside.

The Ottoman Turks brought many from Algeria and Circassia (former USSR) regions, as a part of their Muslim colonization agenda.

Let's cover the Palestinian (Arab) migration later when we see what Jews actually did to a desert land.

In 1875 CE for instance, there was hardly any considerable population living in the entire region of today's Israel. Only 3 lakh people lived, which was a mix of Jews, Muslims and Others.

In fact the British Consulate report from 1859 tell that Muslims did not exceed 25% of total population of Jerusalem. That clearly shows that today's Israel, including the Gaza and West Bank, were hardly Muslim populated as many propaganda tell us today.

Are Jewish feelings for Jerusalem comparable to Hindu feelings for Ayodhya?

There is similarity. For Hindus Ayodhya is a very sacred place, as the birth place of Lord Rama. But for Muslims it is just another city. Nothing is ever mentioned in any of their holy books about Ayodhya. But a conflict does go on.

The same way, for Jews, Jerusalem is a very sacred place. For Jews, it is a the place of King David and the star of David in Israel's flag is derived from him. Jerusalem is mentioned 667 times in the Bible which both Jews and Christians revere. For Muslims too it is a holy place linked to Prophet Mohammed's life history. But compared to Jews, it may not be at the same level looking at the practical aspects. For instance, Quran does not seem to have any mention of Jerusalem (al quds). Corrections welcome if this is not a fact. But the big conflict goes on.

Secondly, Jerusalem has seen its central part demolished and rebuilt many times. The most prominent one being this. 

Here is the supposed before and after scenario of Jerusalem. The temple mount that existed during the time of Jesus is gone. It is now replaced by a Dome of the rock and Al Aqsa mosque. And Jews have a painful history of this place being destroyed not just by Muslims, but Christians and others too during the past 2500 years. For Hindus such destruction of their holy temples, and mosques built over them is all too painfully evident from their long history of seeing Muslim invasions. So you can understand what a Jew must be feeling about this site.

The current situation is that Jews can't pray inside the area. They are restricted to the outer wall. The laws have kept changing, so you can research the legal sites for the latest information. In fact, this is enforced by Israeli government (yes Jews) by giving the area to Muslim Wakf board. Only Muslims have the right to prayer inside. Not even Christians are allowed prayer inside. Just like in Ayodhya (Kashi, Mathura etc. etc.), the common factor is the destruction of an existing holiest of the holy temples of a different religion, and an Islamic structure built over it or nearby. So Hindus truly understand the pain of Jews when it comes to Jerusalem. Muslims want rights on Jerusalem and Ayodhya holy spots, but won't even let non Muslims inside their holy cities like Makkah. And we hear "Israel commits apartheid" for letting Islamic Wakf board manage the holiest of the religious sites of Jews!

But experts spot that in spite of all the noise, just observing the faith of devotees, one can make out who consider it more sacred.

Jews praying:

Muslims praying:

Not only that, Muslims even end up playing football and eat picnic food at this "very sacred" place.

Have you seen Muslims playing football at Makkah or Madina holy sites? For Jews, even walking over the place is painful as they consider this their holiest of the holy sites. And seeing picnic and football must be really painful.

So the documentary maker clearly sums up: 

If Jerusalem's Jewish links are so obvious, why don't Arabs accept it? 

Same reason as Indian Muslims in general don't want to give possession of Ayodhya's Ram Janmabhumi area to Hindus even after courts clearly showing that there was an ancient temple below the mosque.

And those who brave in the Arab world to tell the truth, are often hounded.
Here is an example. In this book, an essay was written by a prominent academician Sari Nusseibeh from Palestine.

All he said was that there Temple Mount is a Jewish holy site.

Within no time, he got threats. He had to go underground. So you can imagine why Arabs don't come out to speak the facts, even if they know it is truth.

What's common between India and Israel?

Israel was not exactly the case of India, as Hindus never left India ever involuntarily for most part. But Jews left Israel, went all around the world, and then came back in the 20th century.

But the common factor in the past 7 decades is losing land.. Losing lots of land proportional to their country's size. And losing land to Muslims, who don't want to live with the majority (2 nation theory)!

Was Hitler the first one to indulge in Jewish genocide?

No. Jews were systematically persecuted and murdered throughout their 1000s of years of history. Romans conquered Jerusalem and the areas around it and called it Judea, the Homeland of Jews.

 

Later, they renamed it Syria Palestina, with Jerusalem being renamed and rebuilt as Aelia Capitolina. The word Palestina (Greek originally, later Roman) may be a Biblical word, but was a sign of oppression telling Jews that they can't enter the place without facing death. Essentially Romans were the early form of Nazis for Jews. Much more ruthless in their long list of atrocities against Jews, precisely because they feared that Moses' teachings might result in rebellion by poor.

But unlike most people think today, Palestine or Filistine was never an Arab word. It was nothing to do with Islam.

Was there a Palestine “Arab” nation 100 years ago?


Historians disagree. For instance, Arab Historian Philip Hitti says, there is NO such thing as Palestine in history!

The Philistines people that Greek and Romans talked about, were NOT Arabs. They were not Muslims. Also, they lived in a very small portion of today's Israel, around Gaza. And no one knows where they disappeared during the course of history, long long before modern Israel was formed.

It all started with Ottoman Turks' Muslim colonization plan. As expert Arnold Blumberg says, Arab immigration happened during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Arnold's theory clearly is proved by the fact that there were not many people in the 19th century there. The famous Mark Twain noted in 1800s that it was a barren vast desert land, with hardly anyone living.

So how did the ancestors of today's Palestinians come to current day Israel region?

It all started in late 19th century. With persecuted Jews returning to their ancient home land in small numbers. They were very hard working and they had faced extreme oppression in European nations. So just a chance to live was great for them. They started transforming an almost vacant barren desert land into a fruitful, livable place. Look at Negev desert and other regions when they arrived to Israel.

Certainly the land does not look like a "prosperous Arab" land that they stole, as propaganda tells us today.

As Jews started working hard to turn a barren Israel into a livable and grow-able land, news quickly started spreading.

Arab Muslims started coming from all corners. It was a boom in economy and Jews needed labour help predictably. So the first part of 20th century was mostly a Jew - Muslim joint effort to rebuilt a desert region into livable country.

As you can see in Israel today, they turned a desert into relatively lush green country, with developed country standard cities! And now everyone wants that place, by "driving out Jews to the sea"!

In fact, United Nations declared that those who stayed in the Israel/Palestine area for two years before the formation of the new states, were eligible to be claimed as Palestinians! Can you believe? TWO years residency is enough. It obviously tells that there was never a centuries or millenia of residency proof from the Palestinian side, or else such a relaxed rule would never be applied.

It is very important to note again. There was hardly 3,00,000 total population in the entire country of Israel 140 years ago. The region of Israel (Gaza and West Bank included) that we know today has well over a Crore people (Israel 80 lakh, Palestine 40 lakh). This was almost all migration of people, both Jewish and Arab. Comparatively the next door Jordan, in spite of being 4 times bigger in land size than Israel + Palestine, is only 60 lakhs or so. That shows how a desert was reclaimed by hard working people in the past 100 years in Israel. And you will be astonished to learn more on how Jews from India, particularly Maharashtra and Kerala, went to Israel and transformed the country side with revolutionary new farming methods.
 
Do Muslims recognize the right to exist for Israel?

You might have heard “From the river to the sea... Palestine will be free”. This is Hamas' favourite line being repeated from "liberal" American college campuses to Indian street protests. Indian "seculars"and communists love singing this as you can see off late. It's called Palestinian solidarity movement. But in reality it is a soft call for genocide of Jewish people of Israel. The river here is Jordan river which separates Israel from Jordan. The sea is Mediterranean.

The song essentially means, push all Jews to the sea (drive them out) and "liberate" Palestine. And gullible Hindus in India suck up to this propaganda after seeing bloody and gory images of civilian deaths. But they rarely understand the history behind this, as well as what would happen to them, if the "freedom" happens in West Asia. Radical Islamists are 100% clear in their mind. Today they are talking of Israel. Tomorrow, they would talk of all "Muslim land", which for them does not matter if it was Hindu or Buddhist or Jain or Sikh lands for centuries. Pakistan happened the same way. Bangladesh happened. Jammu and Kashmir Hindu ethnic cleansing happened. It's just spreading. It's very dangerous to support such "solidarity" calls without understanding what the hard core Muslims actually think of Israel's right to exist. Here is a glimpse of "tolerance" towards Jews shown by radical Muslims.

Hamas - Government in Palestine today. As a coincidence, his name as "Zahar" in it!

"driving Jews into sea" is not some dream of "Zionist" propaganda. It's been repeated umpteen times by the very top decision makers for Palestinian people.

And their big financial and military supporters in Iran.

And the TV sermons Palestinians are dished out day in and day out about USA, the closest friend of Israel.

Statement of Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt, which helped shape opinion of today's Palestinian leaders.

The list is very long. From North Africa to Arabian peninsula to central Asia to South Asia to South East Asia, the list of those who just don't want Jews in Israel is endless. And the same guys scream "apartheid", "intolerance", "genocide" etc. at the drop of every topi. See the hypocrisy?


Do Jews recognize the right to exist for Palestine and Arab nations?

Yes. It's the exact opposite of how Muslims behave. Israel has 21% Muslims, mostly Arabs.

For instance, Seif el-Din el-Zubi was the Arab member of Israel's very first Knesset (parliament). 

Arabs live throughout Israel. In some places, constituting over 50%. Just like in India (where 15% Muslim population), Muslims enjoy citizenship rights in Israel (some don't opt for it, but just take passport), representation in democracy, representation in parliament and all kinds of rights. Note again, this is not about Gaza or West Bank (grey in the image below). This is about Israel!

And most importantly, No Jewish leader gives parliament speeches to drive Arabs into sea in Saudi Arabia or Egypt or Jordan. They have problems with terrorism and that's the right of every nation to address when your own survival is questioned. Jews have put restrictions on Arabs as you can expect from any majority whose existence itself is questioned in violent means. But they do not say no right for Jordan or Syria or Egypt to exist.

This is a very big difference. Israel wants to live with Arabs as neighbours. Israel wants to live with Arabs as citizen! But Arabs don't even let Jews live in their countries. Arabs want to push Jews into sea and clear the "occupation", forgetting that Arabs in Palestine are also mostly migrants from other countries!


Did PLO claim Gaza and West Bank in 1964 as a part of “liberation” goal?

PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization, was in forefront for decades to liberate Palestine from Jewish control. Very interestingly, when PLO formed its charter in 1964 (Article 24), before the 6 day war of Israel with Egypt and other Arab nations, there was NO mention of Judea and Samaria (today's West Bank), and Gaza to be "liberated"! Guess why? Because the Gaza was under Egyptian control and the West Bank was under Jordanian control. So the whole "liberation" of Palestinians from foreign control was not the priority as long as the occupier is a Muslim :)

There's a lot more in this Francisco Gil-White's book, based on which the quoted documentaries here were made.

Has anyone fought for Palestinian rights in Jordan?
(80% area of 1922 Palestine Mandate)

Absolutely not. For Indians, particularly Hindus and Sikhs, this will remind their plight in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, and later in the Kashmir valley within Indian part of Jammu and Kashmir.The claims, the terrorism, the systematic ethnic cleansing of Hindus and Sikhs. It's all too familiar.

And whenever you hear "Azaadi" or freedom in Kashmir, it's usually the small portion of Jammu Kashmir state in Indian control. No one ever talks of the more than 50% of original Jammu and Kashmir that is under Pakistan and China's occupation!

Here is a starting point. This is the map heavily circulated by anti  Israel groups across the world, showing how Israeli Jews have "oppressed" Palestinian Muslims by pushing them to a smaller region. Green in here is supposed to be Palestinian Arab areas.

But the reality is that the 1946 map to start with is completely inaccurate. It's plain propaganda without any factual basis. There was never a state of Palestine in 1946, even remotely looking like what the anti Jew gangs show.

This was the Ottoman Turk empire prior to World war 1. This collapsed after the World War 1. As you can see they had huge tracks of land, including the Muslim holy cities of Makkah and Madina. Yes, Turks controlled the Islamic holy cities, and not Arabs till about 100 years ago. There was a huge battle of Makkah in 1916 when the local Hashemite Sharif of Makkah, rebelled against the Ottoman Turk Muslims, for which he took help from European Christians like British. It was the beginning of the end of the Ottoman Empire and it was the beginning of a Hashemite kingdom whose capital was Makkah. Gradually it expanded northward. This battle left deep scars on the Middle East. Arab states came under strong European influence. Many people in India still don't know that this was a war between Arabs and Turks, both being Muslims, in which the Arabs took help from Christians of Europe.

Today's Israel is just about 20% of the Palestine Mandate of 1922, that the winners of World War 1 formulated (legal document) to be under League of Nation (UN then) control till the countries are stable enough to rule themselves. Even within that 20% marked as Palestine, nearly 20% of the overall land belongs to Muslims today. So Jews are in just around 15% of the 1922 map of greater Palestine or Palestine Mandate! But they are the only "occupiers" per all propaganda, which never talks of Hashemite Jordanian rule on the rest.

Look closely again. This is from a different source. Along with Israel becoming a new nation, Jordan became an independent sovereign state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. The key here is to note Hashemite. They are a very tiny minority Arab tribe, from Prophet Mohammed's great grand father's lineage, ruling majority Palestinians in Jordan. By any conservative estimate, more than half of Jordan is Palestinian. But rulers are not Palestinians!

No Muslim is questioning loudly.. "Is Jordan the Hashemite-occupied Palestine?". It's worth reminding again that Jordan is 80% of the Palestine Mandate from 1922, but it does not have any great population at all. It's population is just 35% more than the densely packed West Bank plus Gaza population. If the United Nations gave 80% land of Palestinians (going by Arab argument) to Jordan, why is not letting Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank live in the larger country of Jordan?

Also, why is there no movement to "liberate" Palestine under Hashemite control, which is 4 times the area of Israel? Tough to answer. Right? Now you know why this can be compared with the sparely populated Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, which no one tries to "liberate" from the predominantly Punjabi Muslim rule?

Did Arabs sell land to Jews in 1920-40 period?

This is one other aspect that no one talks about. Jews when they came to Israel from all around the world, they were allowed inside the territory, but did not have much land. They bought land from many locals living there, whoever they might be. And in fact, Arabs sold lot of land at exorbitant prices to Jews then. In the 1937 Peel Commission setup by Britain to probe into the land deals in today's Israel, Haj Amin al-Husseini, one of the founding fathers of Palestinian Arab nationalistic movement, told Laurie Hammond that large amount of land were sold, willingly, by Arabs for money to the Jews. In fact, historians say that his own family collected large amounts of land from smaller owners at throw away price, and sold them to Jews at very high prices. Familiar Land Mafia anyone?

So all those who scream "occupation" by Jews, forget the simple fact that a lot of land owned by Jews today were legally bought by them by paying exorbitant prices. As we have seen earlier they were barren desert land in most cases, so Arab land owners (and others) made lot of profit. Now that the lands have been transformed into fantastic livable pieces, their descendants scream "occupation".

And soon, the same Arabs went to war with Jews. Hypocrisy anyone? First sell the land and the "liberate" the same!

Even some Arabs know that the whole Palestinian identity is a political and tactical weapon against Zionism, and not truly for any "freedom" of Palestinian Arabs. There are so many Arab nations and they hold on to 100s of times the Gaza land if they really want to settle this matter.

As Nathan Weinstock says, the hyper nationalist propaganda of Palestinians now is more of a racket.

What was India's contribution towards liberating Israel from Ottoman Turks?

We should know this really well. Haifa in Israel was liberated from Turks by Indians. Communists who formulated school books totally eliminated India's contribution in World war 1 and 2.

The bravery of soldiers from Karnataka, Telangana and Rajasthan helped liberate Haifa, the port city of Israel from Ottoman Turks' occupation of 400 years. Israel remembers this great help from India in 1918. Indian army celebrates Haifa day.

Teen Murti Bhavan in New Delhi is precisely for one soldier each from Mysore, Hyderabad and Jodhpur.

But we are not taught about this bravery in schools. In fact, this was the LAST time a horse mounted lancer brigade won against machine guns and tanks!

What to do next for Indians, particularly Hindus? 


In summary, India helped create Israel. Indian soldiers (Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims - yes Muslims also) have given up their lives right from Haifa port capture in 1918. India and Israel both are democracies surrounded by hostile neighbours. India and Israel both have the same Islamic radicals as common enemy. The common enemy (in the form of ISIS, Hamas, Hizbollah, Lashkar e Taiba, Indian Mujahideen, Taliban, Al Qaeda et al) is always dreaming to destroy these nations for its well stated goal of occupying their lands. India gains nothing by supporting the radical Islam of Hamas which openly uses terrorism for its survival. Unlike India, Israel crushes terrorism via violent backlash. This is an area tough for many Indians to accept as they are used to sending dossiers to enemies who indulge in terrorism on Indians. India gains everything from technology to business to cultural survival in the long run, by partnering with Israel. Yes, the Israel where mostly Jews live and Palestine where (only) Muslims live. The borders are already drawn. The countries are in place. India must certainly work towards the welfare of Palestinian Muslim civilians who are caught now between the cross fire of Israeli army and Hamas rockets. But do not forget the long history and the RIGHT of existence of Jews in their holy land.


There is a way out of this conflict. But the way out is not by "pushing the Jews to the sea" as Hamas radicals and their sympathisers preach. Hope this long essay has given enough pointers to understand where we have come from, and how Indians should start working towards the Israel Palestine conflict resolution.

Share your thoughts please.

References: 

What is Palestine? Who are the Palestinians? 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9ReF4UUa4E

Is Jerusalem a holier place for Jews or Muslims?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU9CauJP4Pg

The Palestinian Wall of Lies - False Palestinian propaganda exposed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc9v5gLXP4w

India's role in liberating Israel from Ottoman Turks:
http://haifa-history.blogspot.in/2010/09/haifa-day-in-indian-army-memory-for.html

Live Humbly... There Are People Fighting Tougher Battles Than You..

Shared by friend Ajith today..  A real story... If you have been the software industry, this will appeal to you a lot more deeper.

A conversation between a passenger and Software Engineer in Shatabdi Train. If you read it till the end, you will not only thank me and the person who shared this with me, but you will see life in a whole different way!



Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man.. Even the plush comfort of the Air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdi express could not cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and was still not entitled to Air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin person, it was the savings in time. As PM, he had so many things to do!!

He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.

'Are you from the software industry sir,' 

the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop. Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.

'You people have brought so much advancement to the country, Sir. Today everything is getting computerized. '

'Thanks,' 

smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stockily built like a sportsman... .. He looked simple and strangely out of place in that little lap of luxury like a small town boy in a prep school. He probably was a railway sportsman making the most of his free traveling pass.

'You people always amaze me,' 

the man continued, 

'You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside.'

Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naiveness demanded reasoning not anger. 

'It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it.'

For a moment, he was tempted to explain the entire Software Development Life cycle but restrained himself to a single statement. 

'It is complex, very complex.'

'It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid,' 

came the reply.

This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence crept into his so far affable, persuasive tone.

'Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in. Indians have such a narrow concept of hard work. Just because we sit in an air-conditioned office, does not mean our brows do not sweat. You exercise the muscle; we exercise the mind and believe me that is no less taxing.'

He could see, he had the man where he wanted, and it was time to drive home the point.

 'Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centers across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single database, at a time concurrently; data integrity, locking, data security. Do you Understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?'

The man was awestruck; quite like a child at a planetarium. This was something big and beyond his imagination. 

'You design and code such things.'

'I used to,' 

Vivek paused for effect, 

'but now I am the Project Manager.'

'Oh!'

sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over,

'so your life is easy now.'

This was like the last straw for Vivek. He retorted, 

'Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder. Responsibility only brings more work. Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I do not do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality'.

He continued, 

'To tell you about the pressures, there is the customer at one end, always changing his requirements, the user at the other wanting something else, and your boss, always expecting you to have finished it yesterday.'

Vivek paused in his diatribe, his belligerence fading with Self-realization. What he had said, was not merely the outburst of a wronged man, it was the truth. And one need not get angry while defending the truth.

'My friend,' 

he concluded triumphantly, 

'you don't know what it is to be in the Line of Fire'.

The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization.

When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek.

'I know sir,..... I know what it is to be in the Line of Fire......'

He was staring blankly, as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time.

'There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom. In the morning when we finally hoisted the tri-colour at the top only 4 of us were alive.'

'You are a...?'

'I am Subedar Sushant from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a soft assignment. But, tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier.On the dawn of that capture, one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain sahib refused me permission and went ahead himself.

He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded... ....his own personal safety came last, always and every time.'

'He was killed as he shielded and brought that injured soldier into the bunker. Every morning thereafter, as we stood guard, I could see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir....I know, what it is to be in the Line of Fire.'

Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of how to respond. Abruptly, he switched off the laptop. It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a Word document in the presence of a man for whom valour and duty was a daily part of life; valour and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epic heroes.

The train slowed down as it pulled into the station, and Subedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight.

 'It was nice meeting you sir.'

Vivek fumbled with the handshake.

This hand... had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger, and hoisted the tri-colour. Suddenly, as if by impulse, he stood up at attention and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute....

It was the least he felt he could do for the country.

PS : The incident he narrated during the capture of Peak 4875 is a true-life incident during the Kargil war. Capt. Batra sacrificed his life while trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. For this and various other acts of bravery, he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra, the nation's highest military award.

Live humbly, there are great people around us, let us learn!

EVERYONE U MEET IS FIGHTING A HARD BATTLE !

Do You Know About Ancient India's Scientific Heritage?

Today, a friend on Facebook shared this video of Khurshed Batliwala, Director of World Alliance for Youth Empowerment.  He was speaking at Ruia College, Mumbai.

I knew a bit about him, nicknamed "Bawa". But this video blew me off.. It had amazing amount of examples from ancient Bharat (India) that was hard core scientific. And Bawa being a faculty member of the Art of Living, under Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's guidance, his smiling way fo communicating was more captivating.

Technology of Spirituality

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9aR_xfm-gE

Earth is round/spherical: Ancient Hindus knew that the earth was round, long before Europeans theorized the same. If you look at Varaha avatara (Vishnu's 3rd avatara among the 10 major ones), the varaha or boar is lifting a round or spherical earth.. Not a flat earth!

Varaha Avarata: Pic from allhindugodgoddess.blogspot

No wonder the Sanskrit name for Geography is Bhu-Gola (Bhu = Earch, Gola = round/spherical) from time immemorial! Outside India, even today some religions and cults are believing that earth is flat, due to their books. Now contrast that with the scientific temper of Hindus.

Also, the Sanskrit word for our world is called Jagat (the one which moves) knowing fully well that the earth is moving all the time!

Indians knew about Antares twin star system: Nearly 5,000 to 7,000 years ago ancient Indians could recognize the 15th brightest object in the sky, the Antares twin star system.

Antares or Arundhati-Vasishta twin stars - pic from azurewebsites.net

This system was called Jeshta (in Sanskrit meaning the biggest, oldest or eldest). Now science shows us that it is the biggest start. 40,000 times or more bigger than earth. In fact, this Antares was wedded into Indian tradition deeply. This 2 stars system was named Arundhati and Vasishta stars. After marriage in south India, husband and wife should go out and look at these 2 stars after wedding's night!

And this particular Twin star system is unique. Both stars circle around each other, instead of hte usual one star revolving the other. So symbolically how a perfect marriage should be, was demonstrated by ancient Hindus 5000+ years ago, using a star system, that too a perfect one in twin rotation form, without any modern telescope!

Amazing Metallurgy of India: Many of us would have seen the iron pillar in front of the Qutub Minar in Dilli. That's over 1000 years old and still not rusted in spite of empires changing, weather changing and severe pollution of the capital city.

Kollur Mookambika temple's iron pillar. Pic: Flickr

Similarly, the Kollur Mookambika temple's iron pillar in coastal Karnataka, where it rains 6 to 8 months in a year, at a very high 750 cm level per year, has not rusted in over 2000 years! And this was built by tribals of the region, and not some well known architects of the 1st millennium BCE.

Production of Zinc in ancient India: India had the sole knowledge of Zinc production for nearly 4000 years during our human history. This is because Zinc is very tricky. When you heat the ore, at
997 degree C it melts, but at 1000'C it vaporizes. So you have only 3 degree window to pull the Zinc out, after heating up the ore. This must have been very difficult for pre-modern humans. But ancient Indians found a technique. They heated it from the top, with an ice bath below to collect that molten liquid. China stole this technique from India after 4000 years. Then British (William Champion) stole this from the Chinese in 1543 CE.

Value of Pi: Then Bawa shows a shloka in Sanskrit on Lord Krishna. It looks like a simple one starting with Gopibhagya ...

Then he explains the Katapayadi Samkhya (number system), using which, this simple 2 liner gives us the value of Pi into 30 decimal places!! 3.1415....

A Gujarati guided Vasco da Gama to India: We all have learnt that Europeans found naval route to India through Vasco da Gama. There's even a place in Goa today named after him. But Bawa explains the actual "finder". Portuguese wanted to to India. But it was not Vasco who discovered India. The story is in Vasco's own journal in Lisbon. Columbus and Vasco were the first to search India. Christopher went in the opposite direction and found Americas. Called the natives there Indians.

Vasco went in the right direction. He had the biggest ship available at that time in Europe. He reached Cape of Good Hope the tip of Africa, without venturing too far from the coast all along. But then he had to sail over a massive Indian ocean. There he met a Gujarati. Kanha was a trader from Gujarat. Kanha's ships were 12 times the size of Vasco's ships!! His ships escorted Vasco's ships to Goa in India. We never heard of this in our text books. In fact, ancient India's naval technology needs lot of research.

In summary: The amount of knowledge India had was phenomenal. 5 to 10,000 years ago itself when Europe was in pre-civilization mode. But how did they acquire so much knowledge?

Because ALL our scientists were saints! Our scientists did Yoga, Pranayama and did meditation.
They could focus mind into smallest of the things and farthest of the things. Basis of science is spirituality. This wealth of India was systematically destroyed by foreigners. They rewrote our history. Made Indians of the 20th century ashamed of their own culture. They broke the education system and traditions.

So what is this Technology of Spirituality?
A human has 3 Gunas: Tamas (brings sleep), Rajas (ability to act), Sattwa (Rajas and Tamas are balanced). Learn to meditate to keep Sattwa in place throughout the year. Balance Rajas and tamas, and increase sattwa. Spirituality is not about renouncing. For example, Narayana is the God of knowledge. Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth. And they are married to each other!

To succeed in this world, soft skills are far more important than the core domain expertise. But more than 90% of the money, time and effort is going into acquiring domain expertise. Exactly opposite of what's needed! That's the main reason India has become a country of crores of unemployable educated people.

Get back to roots. Learn to meditate. Learn to increase Sattwa guna. You will start understanding how our ancient scientists excelled so well in so many amazing technologies!

Thanks Bawa for this lecture :)