Dear Hitler, my friend

During my varied trip around the streets and back alleys of Mumbai today, one of the highlights on my "grand tour" of the city was Gandhi's Mumbai home, which now houses a modest museum to the father of modern India.

The more that I am learning about Gandhi, and the longer (only two days so far) that I am in India, especially Mumbai, the more I am simply in awe of the man. In the hallways of the home are various pictures of Gandhi with some of India's and the world's most powerful people of the time and he is always there in his khadi loincloth and wrap, smiling serenely while enormous world events were unfolding. However, this did not mean that Gandhi was not one to act, and boldly at that.

In one of the main rooms, there was a display board with two letters, one to President Roosevelt, and the other to Adolf Hitler, the latter is dated July 23, 1939, and is addressed to "Dear friend,".

Now, Gandhi was anything but chums with Der Führer, but he did not let his personal agenda stand in the way of his message, and one of Gandhi's quotes highlighted at the museum (and on t-shirts outside of the caves of Elephanta) was "My life is my message."

In the letter, Gandhi appeals to Hitler's conscience by saying that "[i]t is quite clear that you are today the one person in the world who can prevent a war which may reduce humanity to the savage state. Must you pay that price for an object however worthy it may appear to you to be?"

Less than six weeks later, Germany invades Poland, determining the course of humanity's reduction to savagery for quite some time.

Gandhi signed the letter, "I remain, Your sincere friend"

If it were not Gandhi, you would think that was the work of a madman. However, knowing that Gandhi drew his inspiration from the Gita, it is not hard to comprehend.

In my hotel room, there is a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, so I opened it to the following verses, which I found appropriate for Gandhi's letter.

When the lessons of history are forgotten, or ignored..

dhyãyato vishayãn pumsah

sangas teshupajãyate

sangãt sañjãyate kãmah

kãmãt krodho 'bhijãyate

krodhãd bhavati sammohah

sammohãt smrti-vibhramah

smrit-bhramshãd buddhi-nãsho

buddhi-nãshãt pranashyati

When focused intently upon sensory objects,

An attachment to them grows in one, and

From such attachment develops lustful greed, and

From such lust, anger comes about.

From anger, utter delusion takes hold, and

From delusion, the bewilderment of the memory.

When memory is thoroughly distorted, intelligence is lost, and

When intelligence is lost, one drowns in the material.

To Be, or Not to Be, or Neither

The Vedas are full of puzzles, riddles, chants, spells, incantations, paeans, stories, myths and legends, with no apparent cohesion whatsoever. They are frustrating at best for the person who is seeking clarity in logic. Perhaps the most famous, or infamous examples is the so-called "Hymn to Creation" which sums up the nebulous nature of the Universe's secrets rather (un)clearly. Hope you enjoy this new translation of mine.

Namaste

nāsadāsīn no sadāsīt tadānīṃ nāsīd rajo no vyomāparo yat |

kimāvarīvaḥ kuha kasya śarmannambhaḥ kimāsīd ghahanaṃ ghabhīram ||

na mṛtyurāsīdamṛtaṃ na tarhi na rātryā ahna āsītpraketaḥ |

ānīdavātaṃ svadhayā tadekaṃ tasmāddhānyan na paraḥ kiṃ canāsa ||

tama āsīt tamasā ghūḷamaghre.apraketaṃ salilaṃ sarvamāidam |

tuchyenābhvapihitaṃ yadāsīt tapasastanmahinājāyataikam ||

kāmastadaghre samavartatādhi manaso retaḥ prathamaṃ yadāsīt |

sato bandhumasati niravindan hṛdi pratīṣyākavayo manīṣā ||

tiraścīno vitato raśmireṣāmadhaḥ svidāsī.a.a.at |

retodhāāsan mahimāna āsan svadhā avastāt prayatiḥ parastāt ||

ko addhā veda ka iha pra vocat kuta ājātā kuta iyaṃvisṛṣṭiḥ |

arvāgh devā asya visarjanenāthā ko veda yataābabhūva ||

iyaṃ visṛṣṭiryata ābabhūva yadi vā dadhe yadi vā na |

yo asyādhyakṣaḥ parame vyoman so aṅgha veda yadi vā naveda ||

Neither was there be-ing, nor non be-ing, no heaven, nor space beyond/

What shrouded it? and Where? What provided refuge? Was there water, water without depth?//

Neither was there Death, nor Immortality. No sign, no division between night and day./

That One Be-ing, without breath, breathed by its own, and distinct from this, was no-thing at all//

There was Darkness, which concealed Everything as undivided Chaos./

All that there was, was void and without form, and through the thermal power, the One was born.//

Desire came next. Desire, the primordial seed and germ of the Spirit./

Thoughtful Sages, led by their heart, found the kindred spirit of the be-ing with the non-being.//

Their discerning line extended across; though What was above it then, and What below?/

There were begetters, there were great forces, action here and energy further on//

Who truly knows and who here can proclaim it, from whence it was born and from whence comes the creation?/

The Gods are younger than this world's creation. Who, then, knows from whence it first came to Be?//

That One, the first origin of this creation, perhaps he formed it all, perhaps not,/

Whose eye governs this world in the highest heaven, verily he knows, or, perhaps he knows not.//

Stairway to Heaven

The nature of Hinduism is elusive at best. It is perhaps the most inclusive religious system in the history of human beings in that it incorporates aspects of every other religious system that it comes into contact with. This is not to say that it says that all religions are "the same," a gross oversimplification and common misconception when "white guys like me" try to approach Hinduism and/or any other religious branch of thought from India.

At some point, somewhat exasperated by this inclusive nature, the urban legend goes that the British Raj needed to have a "bible" of sorts, something to pin down the protean religion. The Bhagavad Gita was apparently selected.

Bhagavad Gita itself literally means, "The song of the Lord/Divine One," but in itself is not a discreet text, despite being treated as such, but is rather merely a very small portion of the much, much larger Mahabharata, which means "the Great Epic/Event/Story." However, the Gita (as it is usually called and is the past passive participle of the verb "gai" <<to sing>>) has served its purpose and has come down through the recent centuries earmarked as the "Hindu Bible."

It was a source of inspiration for Gandhi, who made his own Gujarati translation and purportedly read it each day, as well as being the source of poetic inspiration for many writers, Western and Eastern, Northern and Southern, over the years.

The story is in media res of the great battle between the related families, the Pandavas and the Kauruvas.

Arjuna, a warrior prince of the Pandavas, has viewed the battlefield of Kurukshetra and is disheartened and lays down his bow and arrow dejectedly, lamenting to his charioteer, who is none other than the Lord Krishna, that he cannot fight his own flesh and blood, merely for honor.

After some deliberation, Arjuna refuses to fight, thus introducing the Gita's dilemma and prompting the response of Krishna, which comprises the remaining chapters of the Gita.

Weighing the choice between being responsible for killing one of his cousins or friends or being slain unarmed by one of them, Arjuna believes that he prefers the latter. The despondent words of Arjuna set up one of the most influential discourses on the need for us to act in the face of the greatest dilemmas that we face in life, exposing the illusive duality of the Desires of the Self and the Will of the Universe.

Aho bata mahat papam

kartum vyavasita vayam

yad rajyasukhalobhena

hantum svajanam udyatah

yadi mam apratikaram

ashastram shastrapanayah

dhartarashtra rane hanyus

tan me ksematram bharet

Alas, woe is me, 

We are fated to execute such great evil

Standing prepared to kill our own kin

For the greed of royal pleasures.

Should the armed Sons of Dhritarashtra

Strike me down in battle,

Unarmed and unresisting,

Such would be the greater serenity for me.