Chanakya: the pioneer of political theory and economics of the world two thousand years ago
Chānakya (350--283 BCE) was an adviser to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta. He was a teacher in Taxila University, an ancient centre of learning, and was responsible for the creation of Mauryan empire, the first & largest-till-date of its kind on the Indian subcontinent. He has been considered as the pioneer of the field of economics and political science.
Two books are attributed to Chanakya: Arthashastra and Neetishastra which is also known as Chanakya Niti. The Arthashastra discusses monetary and fiscal policies, welfare, international relations, and war strategies in detail. Neetishastra is a treatise on the ideal way of life, and shows Chanakya's in-depth study of the Indian way of life. Chanakya also developed Neeti-Sutras (aphorisms - pithy sentences) that tell people how they should behave. Of these well-known 455 sutras, about 216 refer to raaja-neeti (the do's and don'ts of running a kingdom).
Educational significance of the Shanti Paath of the Upanishads
The 'Peace chant' reads:
Om, Sahanavavatu; sah nau bhunaktu; saha viryam karavavahai; Tejaswinavadhitamastu; ma vidvisavahai. Om shantih, shantih, shantih.
`Om. May Brahman (the one divine Self in all) protect us both (student and teacher); may Brahman nourish us both; may we both acquire energy (by this education); may we not hate each other. Om. Peace, Peace, Peace.'
This peace invocation contains many beautiful sentiments which have inspired Indian education-secular and religious-for a few thousand years.
Teacher and student engaged in the pursuit of knowledge and excellence of character is education
The invocation expresses the idea of education as the achievement of knowledge and excellence of character in the context of a harmonious relationship between teacher and student. The giving and receiving of knowledge, leading to the making of man, depends on the stimulus of such teacher-student relationship. The teacher gives and the student receives, not only ideas and information, but inspiration as well. In all the true education, teacher and student are not mere individuals, but personalities. Education, according to the Indian sages, is the lighting of one lamp from another lamp.
'May we acquire energy' says the verse. Every step in education helps man to reach out to newer and newer energy resources within him. All energy is within man, says Vedanta. But they lie in deeper and deeper layers. 'Atmana vindate viryam'- `By the knowledge of the Atman, man gets infinite energy,' says the Kena Upanisad. Education helps man to secure access to the greater and greater energy resources within him. An uneducated rustic youth, timid and helpless, changes, through a few years in school, into a youth with a measure of fearlessness and self-confidence. His education continued further, helps that youth to develop a sense of his own individual identity.
It is this Rising to the status of the individuality from the state of the pre-individual mass man that gives man the capacity to take independent decisions, the courage to stand by them and take the consequences, and the ability to deal with the world, and his position in it, as a mature human being. This psychic maturity is one of the important criteria of education; and it comes only from an education that trains the mind and not merely stuff the brain
The mental immaturity of a large number of people world-wide is a big problem. It is here that the failure of many education systems is writ large. It does not impart that psychological maturity to many.Swami Vivekananda referred to all such as Moustached Babies! They are physically very mature, but mentally they are like babies- dependent, weak, demanding, and bereft of the sense of personal dignity and responsibility. . They have not developed that human energy resource that can identify human problems and rise above them themselves and take their society also with them.
Behind these immature traits in all such people lies the lack of that luminosity or enlightenment which the Upanisads present as the second fruit of true education as mentioned in the peace chant.: Tejasvinau Adhitam Astu - `may we be enlightened by this study, by this education'.
This is the significance of knowledge being compared to light. The logo or the emblem of our society depicts books plus Jnana-Dipa, the light of knowledge. The Upanisads describe the Atman, the Self, as Jnana-svarup or Chit-svarup, of the very nature of knowledge, of the very nature of consciousness. All awakening to knowledge, to consciousness, is, therefore, the manifestation of the Atman, in varying degrees.
This spiritual growth into personality is what twentieth-century biology calls the psycho-social evolution of man. It is man rising above organic evolution, to the spiritual and cultural levels.
This is what Swami Vivekananda calls Man-Making Education.
Thank you Mudra for nice enlightment about education. I see the the good reason for guru, realized guru need, ofcause not in this today so called 'civilization'.
could not resist to post this
To dear Ravindra
From the Bhagavad-gita we learn about the spiritual world and the means to go there.
"After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection."—Bhagavad-gita 8.15
Krishna says, "Anyone who comes to Me . . ." Krishna is everywhere, but still, He has His abode. The difference between Krishna and the ordinary living being is that we can be at one place only but Krishna can be in all places.
Krishna's abode in the transcendental kingdom is called Goloka Vrindavana. The city in India named Vrindavan, where I have come from, is called Bhauma Vrindavan, which means the same Goloka Vrindavana descended to earth. Just as Krishna descends to earth out of His own internal potency, His dhama, or His abode—Vrindavana dhama—also descends. In other words, when Krishna descends to earth He manifests Himself in that particular land. Therefore that land, Vrindavan, is sacred.
Krishna has His own abode in the spiritual world. And Krishna says, "Anyone who comes to My abode is not born again in the material world, which is full of threefold miseries." Such a person is called a mahatma. Perhaps you have heard this word. Our leader Gandhi was known as Mahatma, but mahatma is not the title of a politician. Mahatma means the first-class Krishna conscious person who is eligible to enter the abode of Krishna. He is called a mahatma.
We should use all the facilities we have as human beings to become a mahatma, or become eligible to enter the kingdom of Krishna. Because if we can do that, then for us there will be no more birth in the material world, which is full of threefold miseries. We have several times discussed what these threefold miseries are, but every one of you knows that, some way or other, we are in a miserable condition, either pertaining to the mind, the body, some natural disturbance, or from friends or animals. There is always some kind of misery inflicted upon us. That is the situation of the material world.
Krishna says that this world is a place where you cannot avoid these miseries. It is meant for that. Unless the miseries are there, you cannot come to Krishna consciousness. They are an impetus and help to elevate you to Krishna consciousness. An intelligent person thinks, "I do not want miseries, but the miseries are inflicted upon me by force." Nobody wants miseries. Then he should ask, "Why are these miseries inflicted upon me by force?" Unfortunately, the modern civilization sets this question aside: "Oh, let me suffer. Let me cover suffering by intoxication." You see? But as soon as the intoxication is over, again I am at the same point. That is not the solution.
You cannot solve the misery of your life by artificial intoxication. You have to solve it by Krishna consciousness. If you always remain in Krishna consciousness, then gradually you'll develop spiritually and you will be able to quit your material body in Krishna consciousness. Then immediately you'll be transferred to the planet where Krishna is. That is the process. And if you can attain that situation, that is perfection. That is the highest perfection of life, samsiddhim paramam.
The Desire for Other Planets People may inquire, "Well, you say that to enter the planet of Krishna is the highest perfection, but we are trying to enter the moon. Is that not perfection?"
The tendency to enter the higher planets is always there in the human mind. The living entity is called sarva-ga—he wants to travel everywhere. That is his nature. Sometimes you Americans go to India or Europe. You cannot stay stagnant at a place. So the tendency to try to enter the moon is not a new thing. Whether by yoga or some other process, everyone is trying to enter the higher planets.
The universe is divided into fourteen planetary systems, fourteen divisions. We are in a middle planetary system. Lord Krishna says, abrahma-bhuvanal lokah . . . : "What to speak of the moon or the sun or Venus, if you even enter into the highest planet, Brahmaloka, still the repetition of birth and death is there." Now, say I'll live eighty years. Now I am seventy-one. So after nine years I'll have to change this body. No one can stay here by some scientific process. That is not allowed. You have to change your body. Just as you change your old dress, you have to change your old body and enter a new body.
We have information from the Bhagavad-gita and other Vedic literature that all planets are full of living entities. Don't think that we are here on the earth and all other planets are vacant. From your experience you can see that no place on earth is vacant, without living entities. Even if you dig into the earth, you'll find some worms. Go deep into the water, and you'll find some living entities. In the air you'll find so many living entities. So how can you conclude that other planets are without living entities? They are all full of living entities.
Krishna says, "My dear Arjuna, if you enter even the highest planet, still you'll have to accept the repetition of birth and death. You cannot get rid of it." But He also says, "If you reach My planet, then you haven't got to come back to this miserable material world. There will be no rebirth. You'll get your eternal life."
The Duty of Human Life We should be very serious about this problem—how to get our eternal life, full of bliss and knowledge. That is the duty of human life. People have forgotten the aim of life. They do not know that their self-interest is to get eternal, blissful life in the spiritual planets. Why have they forgotten? They have been entrapped by the material attraction of skyscrapers and big factories and political activities. Such persons should know, "However many skyscrapers I may make, I'll not be allowed to live here. I'll have to leave, and I do not know where I am going."
We should not spoil our energy to build skyscrapers. We should employ our energy to elevate ourselves to Krishna consciousness so that after leaving the material body we can enter the spiritual planets.
Krishna consciousness is the necessity of life. It is not a religious formula or some spiritual recreation. No. It is the most important thing we should imbibe in our life. Krishna is stressing this point again and again.
The Srimad-Bhagavatam describes other planets. Many yogis and philosophers aim at being elevated to the higher planets by their yogic process. Why? Because the facilities of life in the higher planets are better than on this planet. The duration of life, the enjoyment, the amenities—everything is better, thousands of times better. So people think, "I shall go to the heavenly planets, or to this or that planet."
The Bhagavad-gita gives a nice description of the highest planet of this universe, Brahmaloka, the planet of Lord Brahma. Twelve hours there equal 4.3 billion of our years. Lord Brahma lives one hundred years of that time scale—trillions of our years. But even there, after living trillions of years, you'll have to die. Death is there. Unless you go to the spiritual planets, there is no escape from death.
When each of Brahma days is finished, the lower planetary systems become covered in water. There is devastation. And when Brahma wakes up, then creation begins again. That is the law of creation. During Brahma's daytime of twelve hours, this material manifestation of planets is seen. But when there is nighttime, all these planetary systems become submerged in a devastation of water. That is the nature of the material world. When the planetary systems become submerged in water, all living entities die.
Three fourths of this planet is covered with water. One day there will be no water, simply land. Lord Krishna says, "But, My dear Arjuna, beyond this place of 'sometimes appearing, sometimes disappearing' is another nature."
The Source for Spiritual Information Just take this information from Bhagavad-gita. We cannot calculate the length and breadth of this universe, but there are millions and millions of universes like this within the material world. Above the material world is another sky, called the spiritual sky. In that sky the planets are all eternal. And there life is eternal also.
This material manifestation is only one fourth of the whole manifestation, both spiritual and material. You'll find in the Bhagavad-gita (10.42), ekamshena sthito jagat. Ekamsha means one fourth. This material manifestation is one fourth of the total. The three-fourths part is beyond this material sky. The material manifestation has a ball-like covering. After penetrating that covering millions and millions of miles away, you can enter the spiritual sky.
You have experience of the material nature. Similarly, there is another, spiritual nature. Here also you have experience of the material nature and the spiritual nature. How is that? You yourself are a combination of matter and spirit. You are yourself spirit, and as long as you are within the body, within matter, it is moving. As soon as you are out of the body, it is as good as stone. So you can perceive here, within yourself, what is matter and what is spirit.
There is a spiritual world. There are two natures, the material nature and the spiritual nature. The spiritual nature is called the superior nature, and the material nature is called the inferior nature. Beyond the material nature, there is spirit, the superior nature. We get this information from the Bhagavad-gita, Seventh Chapter.
Now, it is not possible to understand these things by experiments. With telescopes you can see millions and millions of stars, but you cannot approach them. Your senses are so insufficient that you cannot approach them. Just try to understand how incapable you are. Don't try to understand God and God's kingdom by experiments. That is foolishness. It is not possible. You have to understand by hearing Bhagavad-gita. There is no other way. For example, you cannot understand who is your father by experimental knowledge. You have to simply believe your mother. Similarly, you have to believe the Bhagavad-gita. Then you can get all this information.
Realized Knowledge There is no possibility of getting this knowledge by experiment. But if you become advanced in Krishna consciousness, you'll realize it. I am firmly convinced about what I am speaking. I am not blindly speaking. This knowledge will be revealed to you. If you stick to Krishna consciousness, you'll actually understand this knowledge: "Yes, there is God. There is a spiritual kingdom, and I have to go there. I must prepare myself to go there."
These are all practical things. If you take up Krishna consciousness, you'll understand all these practical things, and the whole problem of your life will be solved.
Thank you very much.
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhuapada
_________________ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
Krishna's name means All attractive. He is the most attractive, of everything our souls seek. He is Personality of Godhead.
Lord himself incarnated as Krishna 5000 year ago to remind our lost souls who we really are. All we need to purify ourselves, to dearly love with all our hearts Him and Krishna's Love will pour "like rainy season Monsoon" with His Love upon us.
That's a great article Devakas, very well written. I love the analogies.... the One turning the potter's wheel....electricity. Very clever ways to help us understand Krishna in relation to the material world.
It is pity to watch and understand how today science is tosted. Big Bang assumption is one of the biggest error science has to deal with today. Their mind is trying to become god and trying to be able to create as god can. Human beings do not know that they are souls in a yantra-machine- body. Self realization is corrupted by those minds who do not know who they are and what mind is.
Instead of serving to god-creator with their talents, every thought, word or action they use their ego mind in crazyness to lie and cheat others. Their mura is accepted by those who do not know that soul is particle of god in an image of god personality. Soul knows that and seeks to connect back to his personal qualities and powers. To find god's particle they apply their physics. How they are serving humans by puting in powerty others they use wealth of others to build absurd machines (CERN). Humans accept this mura and it works for those who does not know that matter, body is not their true identity. Often spiritual meaning is applied to matter. Then people are completely confused. Then we have questions how god looks like or claims that I saw god. Soul is like image of god by personality, but it is nothing to do with physical body or subtle body-mind speculations of creation. By not knowing that and realizing that, human mind tries to serve self - self gratification, it means to satisfy their senses, their mind, emotions (roses and blood) and all egoistic desires. Bigger ego goes craaaazy to push their ideas by any means, using Crist misinterpreted teachings, they do not believe in god, they do not live by teachings, they do not understand him and they cheat and lie, they create their own gods and being those mind criminals they tell others insane things like: 'I am' or 'emerging' consciousness from matter, just believe in yourself as body, create consiousness from body, genes are they key, emotions creates consciousness, mind creates consciousness and here you go we have those 'creators' equiped with their assumptions, their imagination. They say Imagine and Image IT and become. They expand their bodily sense imaginations and try to transform to some other dimentions. No intelect here. People follow blindly. They say we create, they say we create our destiny, they say imagine there was a lonely chicken and he was bored and he had this or that desire to create. They have no idea about Universe creation, gravity, fields or waves. They speculate by imagination or assumption. They say imagine box where creation starts (crazy mentality videos), they put god in a box? They are still crazy with expansion. God is everywhere and everything. But because it is hard to contemplate we assume there was Big Bang. God consciousness never can be stopped by our bird's intelect. However Big Bang theory means they stopped creation in their linear thinking and measured it to their time, assumed that it is begining, start and called it start of creation. They are trying hard, very hard They say they know gravity, but they do not know how to deal with it. So they admit they actually do not know it. They try to apply variables to their formulas and their every discovery like quasars requires a new variable. They are using their imagination and their theory of expansion, they accept that their mind should expand to create also. They can not accept that they are not gods. When they need to push it they say 'assume that', no proof. By assuming we are not going towards truth. Period. By assuming they try to imagine their or humanity destination, they expand their imagination in believe that destiny can be reached and they 'imagine' how. By not realizing who we are we are not going anywhere, we just create not happy world. As Vidya Moksha said 'scientists kill planet'. I see science today biggest destroyers of planet and human consciousness.
When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous
This documentary tells the story about life of Adi Shankaracharya - the founder of the non-duality (Advaita Vedanta).The first and only Indian movie to be made in Sanskrit This movie is a delicious summary of spiritual wealth from India called Sanathan Dharma, or Vedic tradition, the root of today's Hinduism.
The knowledge found within the Bhagavad-Gita is incomparable as it gives specific information regarding the purpose of human existence, the immortality of the soul and our eternal relationship with God. This information applies to each and every one of us without exception. Without realization of our divine relationship with the God it is impossible to establish our eternal relationship with Him. This divine relationship is our natural constitutional position and every human beings birthright.
There are three paths which lead directly to establishing a relationship with God. According to the authority of Bhagavad-Gita these paths have been designated as the yoga of perfect actions, the yoga of perfect devotion and the yoga of perfect knowledge. These three paths with great care and attention have been fully explained in the Bhagavad-Gita which comprises chapters 23 through 40 in the Bhishma-Parva section of Mahabharata.
The Bhagavad-Gita consists of 18 chapters. Each chapter is called a yoga. Yoga is the science of the individual consciousness attaining communion with the Ultimate Consciousness. So each chapter is a highly specialized yoga revealing the path of attaining realization of the Ultimate Truth. The first six chapters have been classified as the Karma Yoga section as they mainly deal with the science of the individual consciousness attaining communion with the Ultimate Consciousness through actions. These chapters are:
Chapter 1 : Visada Yoga Chapter 2 : Sankhya Yoga Chapter 3 : Karma Yoga Chapter 4 : Jnana Yoga Chapter 5 : Karma Vairagya Yoga Chapter 6 : Abhyasa Yoga The middle six chapters have been designated as the Bhakti Yoga section as they principally are pertaining with the science of the individual consciousness attaning communion with the Ultimate Consciousness by the path of devotion.
Chapter 7 : Paramahamsa Vijnana Yoga Chapter 8 : Aksara-Parabrahman Yoga Chapter 9 : Raja-Vidya-Guhya Yoga Chapter 10 : Vibhuti-Vistara-Yoga Chapter 11 : Visvarupa-Darsana Yoga Chapter 12 : Bhakti Yoga The final six chapters are regarded as the Jnana Yoga section as they are primarily concerned with the science of the individual consciousness attaining communion with the Ultimate Consciousness through the intellect.
Chapter 13 : Ksetra-Ksetrajna Vibhaga Yoga Chapter 14 : Gunatraya-Vibhaga Yoga Chapter 15 : Purusottama Yoga Chapter 16 : Daivasura-Sampad-Vibhaga Yoga Chapter 17 : Sraddhatraya-Vibhaga Yoga Chapter 18 : Moksa-Opadesa Yoga Lord Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-Gita on the battlefield of Kuruksetra in 3102 B.C.; just prior to the commencement of the Mahabharata war. This date corresponds to 1700 years before Moses, 2500 years before Buddha, 3000 years before Jesus and 3800 years before Mohammed. So first and foremost it should be clearly understood that the eternal knowledge of the Bhagavad-Gita has not been influenced by Buddhism, Christianity, Hebrewism or Islam; for these religions did not exist at that time and were established milleniums later.
That proof of the date 3102 B.C. can be verified by any knowledgeable indologist in India based on the fact that this was the year when the Pandava King Yudhisthira ascended the throne and was coronated as emperor of the Earth. Also according to the Aihole inscription of Pulakesin II, the Battle of Kuruksetra took place in 3102 B.C. with Lord Krishna reciting the Bhagavad-Gita before its commencement. As well precise information of the positions of the constellation at the commencement of the Battle of Kuruksetra have been given in the great historical epic Mahabharata itself, which is based on the 26,920 year astronomical cycle known as the precession of the equinoxes which is the time it takes our solar system to revolve around the central sun.
But who exactly is Lord Krishna? Is He Narayana? Is He Vishnu? Is He Vasudeva as referred to in the Taittirya Aranyaka 10.1. 6 ? In the Bhagavad-Gita the Supreme Lord Krishna is addressed by Arjuna with 41 different names. Some of these names are Acyuta, Bhagavan, Govinda, Hari, Isvara, Janardana, Kesava, Madhava, Purusottama and Yogesvara as well as Vasudeva and Vishnu. Although Lord Krishna possesses unlimited names due to His unlimited attributes and potencies it should be clearly understood that the Krishna who is so wonderfully presented in the Puranas is one and the same Krishna who spoke the Bhagavad-Gita and is so marvelously glorified in the Mahabharata.
It should be understood that the Bhagavad-Gita is the very essence of Mahabharata. The Bhagavad-Gita literally translates as the Song of God! It was originally revealed in the classical language of Sanskrit spoken on the Indian sub-continent. It was first translated into English in 1785 by Charles Wilkins. It was translated into Latin in 1823 by Schlegel, into German in 1826 by Von Humbolt, into French in 1846 by Lassens and into Greek in 1848 by Galanos. By now it has been translated into all the major languages of the world such as Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Hebrew, Portugese, Arabic, Hindi and Bengali.
Rasa wrote: Interesting experiment. It shows two things. 1) There is a great need out there for spiritual knowledge. People are searching for the Absolute Truth. They need to know who they are and were they are going. 2) Because that knowledge is not available in schools and universities people are being easily misled and exploited. Even though the Vedas are being studied in the western universities since the end of 18th century they are being interpreted in many ways. The renaissance of 19Th. century German philosophy was influenced by the Vedas. Now we have sanskrit departments and Vedic studies almost in every university in the world. And just a decade ago various universities started to have expert professors who truly can explain the purpose of the Vedas. And these are people who actually practice the science, have the results and can teach by example. Vedas worn us not to judge the guru by externals like: being indian, having a beard, etc. The basic requirements of a genuine guru are given by the 15th century saint Srila Rupa Goswami in his book Sri Upadesamrita as follows:
vāco vegaḿ manasaḥ krodha-vegaḿ jihvā-vegam udaropastha-vegam etān vegān yo viṣaheta dhīraḥ sarvām apīmāḿ pṛthivīḿ sa śiṣyāt
(TRANSLATION: A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind's demands, the actions of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals is qualified to make disciples all over the world.
