INDIA YESTERDAY

The slogan behind the mini bus states “My India is Great”.
But is it?
Well look at these statistics and judge for yourself.
But before patting youself on the back, just think.
This achievement is inspite of a pack of corrupt, blood thirsty politicians.
Just imagine where India would have been if we had good honest politicians who loved their motherland

This is a three part article on India, YESTERDAY, TODAY and TOMORROW


Science of Yoga
“…The science of yoga was born in an age when mankind as a whole was more enlightened, and could easily grasp truths for which our most advanced thinkers are still grasping.”
The science of yoga meditation had been taught by the ancient, sages, gurus, yogis, through oral tradition for thousands of years, they were finally put to Sanskrit by Patanjali in 500 b.c.
“…It is because the groping for these truths has begun again that great yogis have reintroduced this ancient science to humanity at large.”
Pre-eminent among them, even today, are the sages of the Himalayas.
Today, the word yoga is much used and much misunderstood these days,
reduced from its knowledge on the control of the conscious to that of the control of the body.

Indians of note

Rabindranath Tagore,
Poet and writer of India’s national anthem and Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913,
(18611941):
"Oneness amongst men, the advancement of unity in diversity – this has been the core religion of India.“

Swami Vivekananda,
(1863-1902):
“I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance.
We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true.
I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth.
I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny.
I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation.
I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: ‘As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.’ ”

Sri Aurobindo,
(1872-1950):
“…Like the majority of educated Indians, I have passively accepted without examination, the conclusion of European scholarship.”
“…That we turn always the few distinct truths and the symbols or the particular discipline of a religion into a hard and fast dogmas, is a sign that as yet we are only infants in the spiritual knowledge and are yet far from the science of the Infinite.”
"...The mind is not the highest possible power of consciousness; for mind is not in possession of Truth, but only its ignorant seeker.”

Mahatma Gandhi
(1869-1948):
Gandhi was once asked what he thought about Western Civilization. His response was: "I think it would be a good idea.”
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.“
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
“The only devils in this world are those running around inside our own hearts, and that is where all our battles should be fought.”
“If all Christians acted like Christ, the whole world would be Christian.”
“Woman, I hold, is the personification of self-sacrifice, but unfortunately today she does not realize what tremendous advantage she has over man.”
“Indians, will stagger humanity without shedding a drop of blood.”
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”

Guru Tegh Bahadur
(1621-1675):
The Kashmiri Brahmins, who were being persecuted by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, seeked the council of Guru Tegh Bahadur. The 9th guru of the Sikhs upon hearing of the Brahmins predicament, responded:
“Unless a holy man lays down his head for the sake of the poor Brahmins, there is no hope for their escape from imperial tyranny.”, his young son reminded him “Revered father, who would be better equipped for this than yourself?”
During Guru Tegh Bahadur’s subsequent imprisonment by Aurangzeb, he spoke out:
“Hinduism may not be my faith, …but I would fight for the right of all Hindus to live with honour and practice their faith according to their own rites…. “
“All men are created by God and therefore must be free to worship in any manner they like. I neither convert others by force, nor submit to force, to change my faith.”
The enraged Aurangzeb, upon realising Guru Tegh Bahadur would not convert to Islam, ordered his public beheading by the sword.
His body was left in the dust as no one dared to pick up the body for fear of the emperors reprisal.

Sir C.V. Raman, (1888 – 1970)
1930 - Nobel Laureate in Physics for work on scattering of light and Raman effect.
Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose, (1858 – 1937)
USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless-radio communication was Professor Jagdish Chandra Bose and not Guglielmo Marconi.

Satyendranath Bose, (1894-1974)
Indian Physicist, who solved one of the mysteries of quantum mechanics, showing that in the quantum world some particles are indistinguishable. His collaborations with Albert Einstein led to a new branch on statistical mechanics know commonly known as the “Einstein-Bose” statistics.

Srinivasa Ramanujam,(1887 – 1920):
Great Indian Mathematician, whose interest from academics at Trinity, College, Cambridge, led him to collaborate there and postulate and prove well over 3,542 theorems.

Amartya Sen, (b-1933):
1998 - The Nobel Prize for Economics for his redefining work on ethical welfare economics. Currently residing as Lamont University Professor Emeritus at Harvard, after stepping down from the prestigious post of Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Subramanyan Chandrasekhar, (1910-1995):
1983 Nobel Laureate in Physics. His many contributions to physics, on the structure and evolution of stars including rotational figures of equilibrium, stellar interiors, black holes, radiative transfer, hydromagnetic stability, stellar dynamics.

Har Gobind Khorana, (b-1922 ):
1968 - Nobel Laureate in Medicine for work on interpretation of the genetic code . Currently residing as professor at MIT.

Civilized Past
India
India never invaded any country in her last 10,000 years of history.
It is the only society in the world which has never known slavery.
India was the richest country on Earth until the time of the British in the early 17th Century
Robert Clive’s personal wealth amassed from the blunder of Bengal during 1750’s was estimated at around £401,102
It has been estimated that the total amount of treasure that the British looted from India had already reached £1,000,000,000 (£1Billion) by 1901.
Taking into consideration interest rates and inflation this would be worth close to $1,000,000,000,000 ($1Trillion) in real-terms today.

Vedic Civilization
Indus & Saraswati Civilizations
Rise of Jainism and Buddhism
Mauryan Period
Golden Age of Indian Arts & Sciences
Muslim Invasions
The Mughal Empire
Portuguese Invasion
The British East-India Company
The British Empire
India's Freedom Struggle
Independence
Modern India 2020 Vision

A Brief History of Time

India
* India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
* Aryabhatta was the first to explain spherical shape, size ,diameter, rotation and correct speed of Earth in 499 AD.
* The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. Students from all over the World studied more than 60 subjects.
* The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
* Sanskrit is considered the mother of all higher languages. Sanskrit is the most precise, and therefore suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
* Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
* Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in civilization.
* Christopher Columbus was attracted India's wealth and was looking for route to India when he discovered the American continent by mistake.
* The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The word ‘Navigation’ is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.
* In Siddhanta Siromani (Bhuvanakosam 6) Bhaskaracharya II described about gravity of earth about 400 years before Sir Isaac Newton. He also had some clear notions on differential calculus, and the Theory of Continued Fraction.

Languages of India
Hindi
Sanskrit
Tamil
Gujarati
Urdu
Punjabi
Malayalam
Bengali
Marathi
Konkani
Kannada
Assamese
Telegu
Oriya
Rajasthani

Vedic Philosophy
The Vedas are the oldest written text on our planet today. They date back to the beginning of Indian civilization and are the earliest literary records of the human mind.
They have been passed through oral tradition for over 10,000 years, and
first appeared in written form between 2500 - 5,000 years ago.
Veda means “Knowledge” in Sanskrit.

The Ancient Vedic Hymns
Rig Veda - Knowledge of Hymns, 10,859 verses
“There is only one truth, only men describe it in different ways.“
Yajur Veda - Knowledge of Liturgy, 3,988 verses
Sama Veda - Knowledge of Classical Music, 1,549 verses
Ayur Veda - Knowledge of Medicine, over 100,000 verses
Upanishads
Jyotisha – Astrology and Astronomy.
Kalpa – Rituals and Legal matters.
Siksha – Phonetics.
Aitareya – Creation of the Universe, Man and Evolution.
Chandogya – Reincarnation, Soul.
Kaushitaki – Karma.
Kena – Austerity, Work, and Restraint.
Dharnur Veda – Science of Archery and War.
Mundaka – Discipline, Faith and warning of Ignorance.
Sulba Sutra – Knowledge of Mathematics
Yoga Sutra - Knowledge of Meditation
Kama Sutra - Knowledge of Love and Sex

Sanskrit
Sanskrit was the classical language of India, older than Hebrew and Latin.
It is the oldest, most scientific, systematic language in the world. It became the language of all cultured people in India and in the countries that were influenced by India.
Sanskrit literally means “refined” or “perfected”

Mathematical and Scientific Discoveries by Ancient Indian
* Theory of Continued Fraction was discovered by Bhaskaracharya II.
* Indians discovered Arithmetic and Geometric progression. Arithmetic progression is explained in Yajurveda.
* Govindaswamin discovered Newton Gauss Interpolation formula about 1800 years before Newton.
* Vateswaracharya discovered Newton Gauss Backward Interpolation formula about 1000 years before Newton.
* Parameswaracharya discovered Lhuiler’s formula about 400 years before Lhuiler.

There have been many more men whose contribution to mankind has been immeasurable. Space does not allow me to mention all of them . And there are others who were great in their own rights but were not recognized in their lifetime. My deepest respect to all those unknown great faces.