The Bhagavadgita has a very cool and unsentimental approach to death.  In chapter two, Sri Krishna tells Arjuna - “For one who is born death is assured; for one who dies rebirth is assured; therefore, for what is inevitable, you should not grieve”.  However, human relations are not as simple as this advice may sound.  In life we go through multiple experiences with varying degree of intimacy.  The husband and wife relationship is the closest physically, emotionally and spiritually, in a way symbolizing the union of male and female as in the unique figure of Shiva Ardhanarishwara.  Recently my wife departed during the 60th year of our marriage.  Having wedded when we were teenagers, we virtually grew up together and had become an integral part of each other’s lives.  As I watched my elder son light the funeral pyre, it struck me sharply that fire defined our relationship 60 years apart.  We were married by walking seven times around sacred fire, which was, as it were, witness to the union.  This time again fire was present and witnessed her departure.

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In the Vedic tradition, fire has always been held to be sacred, and Sri Aurobindo calls his translation of the Vedic verses ‘Hymns to the Sacred Fire’.  In the Vedas themselves there are many hymns directed towards Agni which was considered to be the interlocutor between the human and the divine, and which, through the Yagna, conveyed human aspirations to the higher power.  In several western civilizations also fire has occupied a very special place.  We may recall how the brave Prometheus brought down the fire from heaven to humanity, for which the jealous Gods have punished him with eternal torment and torture.  Also, the Zoroastrians still have their fire temples.  The discovery of fire by early humans in fact marked a major milestone in the evolution of human civilization.

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With its dual quality - benign as well as destructive - fire was always cherished.  To quote a Vedic hymn to Agni from the Rigveda:

“Virtuous Agni, we set thee, a Sage, around us as a fort, thee triumphant in thy colour, day by day, destroyer of the treacherous foe.  Through Agni man finds prosperity, nourishment from day to day, glory and greatest pride in heroes.  To thee, Agni, dispeller of night, we come with prayer day by day, offering thee our obesience.” (Rigveda VI.44)

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Shiva Nataraja carries the fire in one of his hands and is often depicted dancing within a fiery nimbus.  The famous Isha Upanishad closes with the verse - “O Agni, lead us by the fair path that we may reap the good we have sown.  Thou knowest all our deeds.  Lord, destroy all crooked going sin in us.  We salute Thee with our words again and again.”

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Let us also keep in mind that the outer fire is but a symbol of the spiritual flame that burns in the deepest recesses of our hearts, whether or not we are aware of it, and that fanning the spiritual spark into the blazing fire of divine realization is the true, deeper purpose of our existence in this time life dimension.  However, there are lower dimensions of fire also, as in the insatiable desire for worldly possessions, or negative aspects such as emotionally disturbing manifestations of anger and revenge.   Robert Frost has a small but evocative prose entitled Fire & Ice.  It goes like this -

Some say the world will end in fire
some say in ice.
From what i’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
Though if it had to perish twice
I think I know enough of hate
to say that for destruction ice
is also great and would suffice.

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On our decision as to which dimension of fire we choose, will depend the contours of our inner life.

Lord Shiva, one of whose appellations is Mahakaleshwar, the Great God of Death, has decreed that my beloved wife Yasho should move on in the sixtieth year of our marriage. We wedded as teenagers and virtually grew up together. It has been a unique blessing for me to have partaken of her love, generosity and compassion. She departed surrounded by her loving family including all six grandchildren. While we mourn her passing, we wish to celebrate her vibrant and luminous life as will her numerous friends and well-wishers around the world. As the Upanishad says “May her journey into light be auspicious”.

Karan Singh

I have been following the U.S. Presidential Elections now for exactly 60 years. In 1948, as a boy, I was in a New York hospital during the Truman/Dewey’s election, and in Washington for President Truman’s inaugural parade in January 1949. Since then I have followed each American election with much interest. This year’s one has, by far, been the most exciting and one of the most historic in American history. That a man of African descent, Barrak Husein Obama, could overwhelmingly win the election to the highest office in the United States is itself an astounding event, given the appalling history of cruelty and discrimination against blacks for centuries.

Each century produced one outstanding President, George Washington in the eighteenth, Abraham Lincoln in the nineteenth and Franklin Roosevelt in the twentieth. Will Obama be the one in the twentyfirst? Here is a man who comes across not only as an eloquent and mesmerizing speaker but as one possessing maturity, compassion and steadfastness. I was particularly impressed that at the height of the battle he took fortyeight hours off to visit his dying grandmother in Hawaii.  His campaigns, first against Hillary Clinton within the Democratic Party and then with Senator McCain were a model of how such exercises should be organized.  Obama never once lost his temper or raised his voice, and reacted with amazing grace to the often vicious attacks and smear campaigns of the opposite camp. Apart from the racial aspect, which has for so long bedeviled America, there are some other aspects of this campaign that are of special interest.

Firstly, although Senator Obama comfortably outspent his opponent, his funds have been mostly made up of small donations from a very large number of people. Unfortunately in India we have not adopted this practice, as a result of which huge funds for our elections are far from transparent. Indeed this whole question of funding our elections is one that needs closer attention. The Election Commission has tried to make some improvements, but they do not seem to have demonstrably changed the situation on the ground. Perhaps the Obama model could be attempted in India also.

Another point that impressed me was the manner in which, for two whole months, both the candidates crisscrossed the country, speaking directly to people from all walks of life, addressing huge public meetings as well as small Town Hall and village square gatherings. This requires each candidate to answer questions and to spell out clearly the policies that they intend to adopt. Here again, while our MLAs do go virtually from door to door, senior leaders from all parties are confined to large public meetings where they cannot be directly questioned. Perhaps a series of television debates could help fill this gap.

Senator Obama represents a major transition in American leadership in terms of demography, race and public participation. The President of the United States is the most powerful man in the world, and therefore to see a person of such caliber being elected in these very troubled times is a matter of satisfaction far beyond the boundaries of his own country. Without going in the specifics of Indo-US relations, which will need a separate in-depth analysis, it is worth noting that as a key player in the emerging global society India has a vested interest in the U.S. projecting a progressive and visionary leadership. Obama’s pro-poor, inclusive agenda is in line with our own approach, as is the pattern of a mixed economy that is emerging from the debris of the global financial meltdown.

I recall the thrill that my generation felt when Kennedy was elected President way back in 1960. I was attending a Governors’ Conference at Rashtrapati Bhavan when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru got a message and made the announcement. Now, almost half a century later, there is again a thrill of anticipation and hope generated by Obama’s victory as the President of the second largest democracy in the world. With Indo-American relations having strengthened over the years, including a strategic relationship, one can look forward to a new dimension in which our two nations could together become a major force for peace and harmony in a troubled world. An aggressive unipolarity must give way to a more inclusive and enlightened paradigm that can effectively meet the challenges of climate change, global warming, terrorism and poverty elimination that are faced by the emerging global society.

On behalf of the Temple of Understanding, an international Interfaith organization of which I am Chairman, and on my own behalf, I strongly condemn the recent incidents of violence by organizations that claim a Muslim or Hindu name but act in a barbaric fashion. Attacks upon defenseless churches, burning and raping are a disgrace to a religion that prides itself on its long history of tolerance and non-violence, and terrorist attacks around the country which target innocent citizens and created a general sense of insecurity are the negation of religious or spiritual values.

Stern measures by the State and Central Governments are needed to quell such activities and bring the guilty to book. If, in fact, literature is being circulated denigrating and insulting Hindu deities then action on that front also needs to be taken urgently under the law.

We fervently appeal to all right-thinking citizens, regardless of their religious or caste affiliations, to rally in condemning all such activities that sully the fair name of Indian culture and bring our great civilization into disrepute around the world.

 Dr. Karan Singh
9th September, 2008