The Revolutionaries who continues to inspire millions!

Shaheed Bhagat Singh

Shivram Rajguru

Sukhdev Thapar

Shaheed Bhagat Singh
Born : 27th Sept. 1907, Punjab.
Died: Hanged in the early hours of 23rd March 1931.
A freedom fighter, he was considered to be one of the most famous revolutionaries of the Bharatiya Independence movement. For this reason, he is often referred to as Shaheed (martyr) Bhagat Singh. At such a young age, if anyone was smiling just before being hanged to death, it was Shaheed Bhagat Singh. His uncle, Sardar Ajit Singh, as well as his father, were great freedom fighters, so Bhagat Singh grew up in a patriotic atmosphere. At an early age, Bhagat Singh started dreaming of uprooting the British empire. Never afraid of fighting during his childhood, he thought of 'growing guns in the fields', so that he could fight the British. The Ghadar Movement left a deep imprint on his mind. Kartar Singh Sarabha, hanged at the age of 19, became his hero. The massacre at Jallianwala Bagh on 13th April, 1919 drove him to Amritsar, where he kissed the earth sanctified by the martyrs' blood and brought back home a little of the soaked soil. At the age of 16, he used to wonder why so many Bharatiyas could not drive away a fistful of invaders.
In search of revolutionary groups and ideas, he met Sukhdev and Rajguru. Bhagat Singh, along with the help of Chandrashekhar Azad, formed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA). The aim of this Bharatiya revolutionary movement was now defined as not only to make Bharat independent, but also to create a socialist Bharat.
A brutal attack by the police on veteran freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai at an anti-British procession caused his death on 17th November 1928, in Lahore.
Bhagat Singh determined to avenge Lajpat Rai's death by shooting the British official responsible for the killing, Deputy Inspector General Scott. He shot down Assistant Superintendent Saunders instead, mistaking him for Scott. Then he made a dramatic escape from Lahore to Calcutta and from there to Agra, where he established a bomb factory. The British Government responded to the act by imposing severe measures like the Trades Disputes Bill. It was to protest against the passing of the Bill that he threw bombs in the Central Assembly Hall (now our Loksabha) while the Assembly was in session. The bombs did not hurt anyone, but the noise they made was loud enough to wake up an enslaved Nation from a long sleep.
After throwing the bombs, Bhagat Singh and his friend deliberately courted arrest by refusing to run away from the scene. During his trial, Bhagat Singh refused to employ any Defense counsel.
Despite great popular pressure and numerous appeals by political leaders of Bharat, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were awarded the death sentence and hanged in the early hours of 23rd March 1931. Their bodies were cremated on the bank of the Sutlej in Ferozepur. Bhagat Singh was just 23 years old at that time. Old timers say that in many places, not a single hearth fire burned that day.
The last paragraph of the leaflet that he distributed (and wrote) in the Assembly Hall said: "We are sorry that we who attach such great sanctity to human life, we who dream of a very glorious future when man will be enjoying perfect peace and full liberty, have been forced to shed human blood. But sacrifice of individuals at the altar of the Revolution will bring freedom to all, rendering exploitation of man by man impossible. Inquilab Zindabad (Long live the Revolution)."
There was a time when the very mention of the name of the young revolutionary stirred the passions of most Bharatiyas.
We pay obeisance to this invaluable son of Bharat, who is still an inspiration to millions of Bharatiyas.
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Shivram Rajguru
Shivram Hari Rajguru (1908 - 23rd March 1931) was born in an average middle-class Hindu Brahmin family at Khed in Pune District in 1908. He came to Varanasi at a very early age where he learnt Sanskrit and read the Hindu religious scriptures. He had great admiration for Shivaji and his guerilla tactics.
At Varanasi, he came in contact with revolutionaries. He joined the movement and became an active member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA). Rajguru had fearless spirit and indomitable courage. The only object of his adoration and worship was his motherland for whose liberation he considered no sacrifice too great. He was a close associate of Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh and his field of activity was UP and Punjab, with Kanpur, Agra and Lahore as his headquarters. Rajguru was a good shot and was regarded as the gunman of the party. He took part in various activities of the revolutionary movement, the most important being Saunder's murder. Chandrashekhar Azad, Shivram Rajguru, Bhagat Singh and Jai Gopal were deputed for the work. On 17th December 1928, while Saunders came out of his office and started his motor-cycle, he was shot dead in front of the police headquarters at Lahore by Rajguru.
At the time of his martyrdom, Rajguru was hardly 23 years of age.
We pay obeisance to this invaluable son of Bharat
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Sukhdev Thapar
Sukhdev Thapar (15th May 1907 - 23rd March 1931) was a Bharatiya revolutionary from Punjab.
He was an active member of the HSRA, being one of its senior most leaders. He is known to have started study circles at the National College (Lahore), in order to delve into Bharat's past as well as to scrutinise the finer aspects of world revolutionary literature. Along with Bhagat Singh and others he started Naujawan Bharat Sabha at Lahore. The main aims of this organisation were to activate the youth for freedom struggle, inculcate a rational scientific attitude, fight communalism and end the practice of untouchability.
His letter to Mahatma Gandhi written just prior to his hanging, protesting against the latter's disapproval of revolutionary tactics, throws light on the disparities between the two major schools of thought among Bharatiya freedom fighters then.
We pay obeisance to this invaluable son of Bharat.

Gandhi : Father of the Nation? - XI

Christianity in a different light

Face behind the mask - I

Christians do not believe in many Gods; Author Maanoj Rakhit has a look at some of their books and passages which preach hatred and intolerance - invariably, the word of their Lord(!) In a short series, here we present an excerpt from his article.
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* Matthew 10:34 - Think not that I have come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword.
10:35 - For I have come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against the mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
10:36 - And a man's foe shall be they of his own household. He that is not with me is against me.
* Luke 14.26 : If any man came to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
* Deuteronomy 12:2 - Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their Gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and every green tree.
* Deuteronomy 13 - Idolators to be put to death.
* Deuteronomy 32:24 - They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
* Numbers 31:17 - Now therefore kill every male among little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
31:18 - But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
* Isaiah 13:16 - Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled and their wives ravished (raped).
* Nahum 1:2 - God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
* Exodus 23:24 - Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.
* Exodus 34:13 - But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves.
34:14 - For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, is a jealous God.

HINDU TEMPLES

What Happened to them?- XI

A need to face the Truth

The article "Hideaway Communalism" is unusual. It discusses a question which has been a taboo and speaks on it with a frankness rare among Indian intellectuals.
Similarly, in his articles "The Tip of An Iceberg" and "In the Name of Religion" (Reproduced in the last 3 Issues of 'Sanatan Prabhat') Sita Ram Goel brings to the subject unequalled research and discusses it in a larger historical perspective.
In the history of Islam, iconoclasm and razing other peoples' temples are not aberrations - stray acts of zealous but misguided rulers - but are central to the faith. They derive their justification and validity from the Quranic Revelation and the Prophet's Sunna or practice. It is another matter though that these could not always be implemented in their full theological rigour due to many unfavourable circumstances - an exigency for which Islamic theology makes ample provisions.

Early Islam
Shrines and idols of the unbelievers began to be destroyed during the Prophet's own time and, indeed, at his own behest. Sirat-un-Nabi, the first pious biography of the Prophet, tells us how during the earliest days of Islam, young men at Medina influenced by Islamic teachings repeatedly crept into a house every night and carried its idol and "threw it on its face into a cesspit."
However, desecration and destruction began in earnest when Mecca was conquered. Ali was chosen to destroy the idols at Ka'ba which, we are told, he did mounting on the shoulders of the Prophet. Umar was chosen for destroying the pictures on the walls of the shrine. After this, as Tarikh-i-Tabari tells us, raiding parties were sent in all directions to destroy the images of deities held in special veneration by different tribes including the images of al-Manat, al-Lat and al-Uzza, intercessories of the Satanic Verses. Sa'd was sent to destroy the shrine of al-Manat, the deity of the tribes of Aus and Khazraj. When the shrine of al-Lat was invaded, its devotees resisted. But finding themselves overpowered, they surrendered and became Muslims. The women-worsh-ippers wept to see how their deity was "Deserted by Her servants, Who did not show enough manliness in defending Her."It seems the tradition belongs to the very early period of Islam when at least, on the popular level, Christians and Muslims were mistaken for each other. For, both shared a common outlook, both indulged in forced conversions and both destroyed shrines belonging to others.

Semitic Revelation
The fact is that the Revelation of the Prophet of Islam does not stand alone. It is rooted in the older Judaic Revelation from which Christianity also derives. The two Revelations differ in some particulars but they have important similarities. The God of both is exclusive and brooks no rivals, no partner. He demands exclusive loyalty and commands that his followers would "worship no other God." But though so demanding in their worship, he does not make himself known to them directly. On the other hand, he communicates his will to them indirectly through a favourite messenger or prophet, or a special incarnation.
This God is so different from God in other religious traditions. For example, in Hindu tradition, a God is not exclusive. He lives in friendliness with other Gods. In fact, "other" Gods are His own manifestations. In this tradition, He also has no rigid form and is conceived in widely different ways: plurally, singly, monisti-cally. He also recognises no single favourite intermediary but reveals Himself to all who approach Him with devotion and in wisdom. No Semitic protocol here. The Hindu tradition also accords fullest freedom of worship. Not only every one has a right to worship his God in his own way but every God is also entitled to the worship of His own devotees. Freedom indeed, both for men as well as for Gods. It was on this principle that early Christians enjoyed their freedom of worship.

"Chosen" People
The other side of the coin of a "Jealous God" is the concept of a "Chosen People" or a Church or Ummah. The chosen God has a chosen people (and even his chosen enemies). Both assist each other. While their God helps the believers in fighting their neighbours, the believers help their God in fighting his rival-Gods. It is common for men and women everywhere to invoke the help of their Gods in their various undertakings, big or small. But the God of the believers also calls upon them to fight for his greater glory, to fight his enemies and to extend his dominion on the earth. In short, they are to become his swordsmen and salesmen, his "witnesses", his martyrs and Ghazis. They must fight not only their unbelieving neighbours but also, even more specifically, their (neighbours') Gods. For these Gods are not only the Gods of their enemies, but they are also the enemies of their God, which is even worse.

(To be continued)
(Condensed from: Hindu Temples - What happened to them?; By Sitaram Goel & others. Published by: Voice of India, New Delhi)

The Purpose Of Life

1. Introduction
We often hear people ask, "What is the meaning of life?" or "Why are we born on this Earth?" In most cases, we have our own agenda on what our purpose in life is. However, from a spiritual perspective, there are two generic reasons which define the purpose of our lives at the most basic level. They are:
To complete the give-and-take account we have with various people.
To make spiritual progress with the final aim of merging into God and therefore getting out of the cycle of birth and death.

2. Completing our give-and-take account
Over many lifetimes, we accumulate many give-and-take accounts that are a direct result of our deeds and actions. The accounts may be positive or negative, depending on the positive or negative nature of our actions. As a rule of thumb, in the current era, approximately 65% of our lives are destined (not within our control) and 35% of our lives are governed by our own freewill. All major events in our life e.g. birth, marriage, major illnesses, accidents, death etc. are by and large destined. The happiness and pain that we give and receive from loved ones and acquaintances are by and large simply a case of prior give-and-take accounts directing the way relationships unravel and play out. (Please see the diagram 'A' below.)

Arise Arjun! -V

Akbar, the Great? or Akbar, the slaughterer?

Akbar Jalaalu'd-Din Muhammad Paadshaah Ghazi
"Akbar Jalaalu'd-Din Muhammad (1542-1605), Mogul Emperor of Bhaarat-Varsh from 1556-1605, known as Akbar the Great. Akbar expanded the Mogul empire to incorporate northern Bhaarat-Varsh and established an efficient but enlightened administration." - The New Oxford Dictionary of English.

"And black cows, to the number of 200, to which they pay boundless respect, and actually worship, and present to the temple, which they look upon as an asylum, and let loose there, were killed by the Mussalmaan…(Akbar) through their zeal and intense hatred of idolatry they filled their shoes full of blood and threw it on the doors and walls of the temple…" - Muntakhabu't-Tawarikh

So we now know how great people work. Is it not interesting that Akbar of whom we read so many laurels in our history books happened to have carried the honorable Islamic title of Ghazi, which he could only have acquired by slaying Hindus with his own hands and particularly Hindu priests? As his historian records, he got 200 cows killed and had cow blood filled shoes thrown at Hindu temples.

What else does true history say?
Starting with Al-Biladhuri who wrote in Arabic in the second half of the ninth century, and coming down to Syed Mahmudul Hasan who wrote in English in the fourth decade of the twentieth, Sitaram Goel has cited from 80 histories spanning a period of more than 1,200 years.
His citations mention 61 kings, 63 military commanders and 14 Sufis who destroyed Hindu temples in 154 localities, big and small, spread from Khurasan in the West to Tripura in the East, and from Transoxiana in the North to Tamil Naadu in the South, over a period of 1,100 years. In most cases the destruction of temples was followed by erection of mosques, Madarsaas and khanquahs, etc., on the temple sites and, frequently, with temple materials.
Allah was thanked every time for enabling the iconoclast concerned to render service to the religion of Muhammad by means of this pious performance. (Sitaram Goel, Hindu Temples: What happened to them? Vol. II - The Islamic Evidence) - Maanoj Rakhit