Sage who dispelled ignorance

“Dispel ignorance and spread knowledge.” That was the call given by Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati, a sage, social reformer, thinker and erudite scholar of Vedas.
Swami Dayanand, whose birth anniversary falls today, had launched a relentless crusade against against beliefs which were opposed to Vedic teachings and were primarily responsible for India’s decantation. This created many enemies, and repeated attacks were done on his life .
It was the fifth time when he was poisoned. Though, Dayanand had come to realise that his end was near, he was at peace with himself and did not betray any feeling of anguish or agony.
He did not anoint any successor because he did not want that any sect started in his name and people start worshipping him. A true yogi, he had the power to time his death. On Diwali day, he gave up his mortal body.
His devotees assembled at different places.
Knowing that the Maharishi’s mission was to remove ignorance, superstitious beliefs and other social evils, a decision was taken to establish schools in all parts of the country to impart education by upholding the values and teachings of the Vedas.
While Lala Lajpat Rai, Lala Hans Raj and Guru Datt Vidyarthi planted the seeds of Dayanand Anglo Vedic( DAV) institutions, others like Swami Shardhand initiated work for setting up of Gurukuls and Arya schools, both for girls and boys.
Today, there are about 2000 DAV and Arya institutions in the country where millions of boys and girls are taking education with a tinge of Vedic values. This is a true tribute to this selfless Sanyasi about whom Rishi Aurbindo had said, “I see many great men sitting on various mountains of the Himalyas, but the mountain on which Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati is sitting is the highest.”
A befitting tribute to a man who led the Indian renaissance!

Anil Kumble heads the pack of best Ten in last fifty years of Indian Cricket

I have been following Indian cricket since 1960. Without any prejudice I feel that the 10 best Indian cricketers of last 50 years are (1) Anil Kumble with 600 wickets- he has given more victories to India than any other player (2) Kapil Dev, his +5000 runs and 434 wickets are enough to support it but to me he is a batting all-rounder whose potential as a batsman was not used fully. His capability as a fast bowler gave confidence to Indian selectors for the first time that pacers could also contribute in the Indian playing elevens. (3) Sunil Gavaskar, the first Indian opener to face fast bowlers confidently and it gave a new image to the Indian side and instilled confidence in other Indian batsmen who followed him. (4) Sachin Tendulkar elegant, graceful who could continue for 20 long years as India's best batsman, ofcourse more venerated in India than abroad (5) Virender Sehbagh -only batsman who created scare in the minds of bowlers all over the globe and was looked with awe everywhere, super batsman when in elements (6) B.S. Chandershekhar he bowled many decisive spells to give India victories against invincible opponents like Illingworth's England(7) Vishwanath /Laxman-both are equally good (8) B.S. Bedi the first spinner to command respect every where (9) Rahul Dravid -with his batting he gave India more victories or saved more tests then any other batsman(10) M.S. Dhoni-a stumper, who is very consistent bat also always rises to the occasion.



But the only players who probably can walk in to all time best worlds eleven are Gavaskar or Tendulkar.

Government on a holiday

Mr. Badal's fondness for declaring holidays on the silliest of the excuse is very old. He is in the look out for such occasions rather than the ways to improve the health of the state's economy. But, what really hurts that he has no heart to visualize the discomforts and problems his this passion brings to the common man. We all know that nothing moves without the permissions from the govt. departments. Just imagine the plight of the people who in this bone chilling winter start from their places like Ferojpur, Amritsar and Bhatind in the morning so that they reach the concerned dept at chandigarh on time to be informed after reaching that holiday was declared. Plight of education in govt. schools hardly needs to be penned and the solution lies in making schools functional as Manpreet Badal said but our CM doesn't want to pay any heed. What is the use of that hospital where doctor is not available and what is the point in appointing doctors when they will not be allowed to work by creating holiday culture. Govt. is simply incresing expenditure at the expense of tax payers who are now fed up. Take the case of last seven days-Satuday, Sunday and monday were holidays, Tuesday working and again Wednesday holiday. Just imagine the plight of the patient who is taking treatment in the govt. hospital or goes to health centre for the delivery of child.



What is most shocking that ruling partner BJP rushes to make protest if any of their powers are curtailed but are silent on all matters directly related with governance. When it comes to governance we never expected Akalis to perform but it is the BJP which has disappointed the people.



Five days week is ok but let us allow the offices and the institutions to work for five days by not allowing closures on working days. What is most shocking that at least 10 times in a year offices are closed for half day to enable the employees to attend religious rallies?

Point is that if they are really so devout why can't they take leave and why are only govt. employees perceived to be religious. Are ninety percent others in the unorganized sector bereft of religious feelings. This is the most important issue which BJP should take up otherwise they are out from Panjab for ever as they are from the centre..



I request Tribune to continue to highlighting this issue till our law makers in Punjab come to realize people's concern. If media wants it can really force law makers

Why delay in controlling the price of Sugar ?

The way things have gone give the impression that the Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was sitting on the control panel. When pressure became unbearable he took the steps and prices came down by 20% i.e. rs 10 per Kg. not something small for an Indian household. He could have taken the step of importing raw sugar much earlier. Why were the prices allowed to spiral from Rs 16 per Kg to Rs 50 per kg in a span of three months? When we all know Sharad Pawar’s stake in Maharashtra sugar lobby is very high, fingers of suspicion automatically rise.

Mr. Gavaskar, We too have little islands in India

Last month while pronouncing his judgment on the CEAT player of the week, Indian’s legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar stirred the hornet’s nest with his remarks that Mahela Jayawardene is a world class batsman who gets little credit because he comes from the little island of Sri Lanka. If he had been an Australian or English batsman then he’d have been talked about as being another Bradman.

Gavaskar while sympathizing with Mahela conveniently forgot that it was happening in his own country too. The burning example is Rahul Dravid who completed 11000 runs in 135 tests while Tendulkar took 139 tests. Both have same test averages. Dravid has won countless tests for India with his innings which can’t be said about Tendulkar. But despite this Dravid’s place in the team comes for debate while Tendulkar is a super star and icon. Dravid despite having performed well with bat in Sri Lanka and the Champions trophy was not considered for a series against Australia on the pretext of his advancing age though he is younger to Tendulkar. When we talk about the best cricketer country has produced I think no body has better credentials than Kumble who with his 600 wickets has won more tests for India than any other player, but his name rarely figures.
Likewise no body other than Sehwag deserves to be rated as the super batting Star because of his his super heroics with bat.

Question is -are we fair and pragmatic while evaluating our own icons? Most of the times our experts go overboard and are seen swaying with media hype. We conveniently ignore Ponting who is running neck to neck with Tendulkar with better average and strike rate not to forget he achieved this while shouldering the additional burden of captaincy. We have the gumption of bracketing Tendulkar with Bradman whose test average of 99.9 is almost double that of Tendulkar. Look at our audaciousness we ignore greats like Sir Garfield Sobers who scored 8300 runs in 93 test matches at an average of 58.5, when minnows like Bangle Desh and Zimbabwe were not around. One should not forget that Sobers always batted lower in the batting order and it makes a big difference when it comes to accumulating runs. Top four batsmen are always at advantage. Those who have seen Sobers batting will vouch that when it comes to grace, courage, elegance, style and above all the ability to stand in crises very few could match him. I still remember his last appearance in Mumbai’s Bra brome stadium in 1967 series. Great and enigmatic Chandra had run through the top batting order and the Indian fans had started sniffing their first win against mighty West Indies but the way he hit out the spinners and took West Indies to victory spoke of his capabilities. This is the hall mark of the genius and this factor is much above the aggregate of runs or wickets. How Kapil with 434 in 131 tests could be rated higher of Sir Richard Hadlee with 432 in 86 tests.

It is important that logic and pragmatism and not the emotions cloud our judgment when we evaluate our icons. I liked the way Border evaluated Tendulkar-“We had Viv Richards and Greg Cheppel, then we had Tendulkar and Lara and now we have Ponting. Selecting one will mean being unfair to others.”

Mr. Gavaskar, Origin has little significance if it is a special talent. Sobers, Viv Richards, Akram, Imran Murli, Hadlee, Malcom Marshal and even you are admired, respected and awed universally though none is from from Australia and England. Likewise, players like Adam Gilchrist, Ponting, Macgrath and shane warne are revered universally because of their special talent and not owing to their Australian origin.

Spiraling Stress pushing kids to depression

It hardly needs to be stressed that those kids who miss the parenting by their mothers miss something which has no substitute. This has to be understood by the parents. Cars, bigger flats all can be purchased later in the life but not the time mother should have spent with her child. Today when majority of jobs are in private sector who like our Govt. can’t be generous to the females, an idea can be examined to have half day job with 50% salary with two shift working.

This will increase employment also. Not all women at all the times work for money.

“If there is a God------“

Countless such instances come before us when the people are seen linking their faith in God to some magic like happenings in their lives. Instances of people in deep distress mumbling before God in temples, Churches, Mosques and other places of worship “If you are really there then save my-----------.” are encountered very often. Why should God’s powers and existence be put to test and who are we to test Him?



In other words we expect God to create a miracle to bring a realization in all atheists that He really exists and has the powers which no body else has as many demon kings were seen doing in various mythological epics.



Sometimes back I had read the story of a pilot who came out from a certain death in a plane crash while his companions numbering about five were killed. This incident changed him from an atheist to a believer in God. To me it is a flawed perception of god. That pilot should have put this question to him why his companions all of whom probably were not atheists like him were killed. Why did God choose to save him only and not others? This can lead to some flawed conclusions –First, God is not kind to those who accept his existence but is kind to them who do not accept his existences. Second, God wants to prove his existence to those who don’t believe him with his miracle like act.



Death or an escape from death is the part of law of karma and it has nothing to do with God’s existence. Fact is that He is a creator as well as destroyer. Everything what he creates undergoes a change like the flowing river which ultimately loses its identity after submerging in to a sea. Same is true of a man and other living creatures they take birth undergo a constant change and then death takes them away. After death what form the soul takes depends upon its karma. If God starts prolonging the life of those who start praying to Him seeing death approaching them then probable no body will die simply because every creature wants to live as long as it is possible and this universe will be like a pond with still water which emanates foul smell



In Mahabharata after losing all her hundred sons when Gandhari was inconsolably weeping with all her wrath directed against Krishna whom she considered to be the cause of her family’s annihilation. Krishna approached her and said “Mother you shouldn’t weep. Death is a natural law. One who is born will die. When and how he dies all depends upon his karma. No body who is born can escape this law of karma. The heinous acts of your sons could invite only self-destruction and nothing else. I don’t come in to picture at all. Even with all my powers I could not have saved them” This message of Krishna resonates what Vedas speak about law of karma. One should always constantly work to improve the quality of his present and future karma but if he think that by prayer or good karma he can escape the punishment of his past bad karma, he is wrong. Vedic philosophy is very clear, one will reap the fruit of his actions and there is no way to escape the resultant reaction. No doubt our good karma will get good reward in future in this life or next life.



The truth is that this Universe by itself shadows forth his greatness and existence. All of us working together can not create one tree and even if it looked like a tree it won’t grow. Those who love nature can only realize what a great creator he is. It has not been possible to count the type of birds and animals that exist and existed at any time. This planet is abode to billions but no two have same looks and habits. Behold the wonderful organization of the body! Even the most learned are wonderstruck with it. One day the same body becomes limp and all functions come to stand still and we pronounce that man is dead. If you dissect that body nothing physical will be seen missing but all the time that physical was functional due to a force called God or Cosmic force or anything else one may like to name. Then look at the myriads of earths, suns, moons and other heavenly bodies. Even the best machines and mechanisms designed by a man develop snag but what He has designed are flawless since millenniums. The longest day and the longest night come exactly after a year and a leap year never gave a miss and comes after every fourth year. All these things around us are not happening accidentally. Hence certainly there is a creative force behind us and His existence doesn’t need to be put to test as we generally do in distress by linking it with the survival of our near and dear ones.