Friday, 22 August 2025

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj


 SHIVAJI IN STORIES

Chhatrapati Shivaji’s coronation is being celebrated all over the country. It may be recalled that the idea of the coronation day celebration was first mooted by Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1886 as a symbolic expression of the aspiration of the people for sustained freedom and in order to mark the beginning of New India's struggle for independence from what has been described as the rule of "the Mughals of the modern era."  The celebration, as then suggested, came off in April 1896 at Rajgarh and sought to stress the truly nationalist, revolutionary and anti-imperialist direction regarded as necessary for the struggle and to provide the new movement for Swaraj with the dynamic inspiration of a popular, national hero.  Lokmanya Tilak, who used to visit Sinhagad every year and stay there for some time to imbibe the spirit of Shivaji, firmly believed and declared that "The only consciousness which we, as a nation can proudly retain and foster ought to have its springs in Hindutva."  Hence he rightly saw and shared with his compatriots, the appropriateness of projecting the image of Shivaji as a symbol of the sublime sense of patriotism and nationalism and representative of the ideal of political emancipation.  He directed the people to adopt like Shivaji, every means including the use of arms, methods of warfare and military strategy in the fight against alien oppression. Tilak pointed out to them, on the occasion of Shivaji's coronation day celebration: "If thieves enter our house and we have no strength to drive them out, we should, without hesitation, shut them and burn them alive.  God has not conferred upon the foreigners the grant of the Kingdom of Hindusthan."

It was an image revealed in the archives of history and re-shaped out of legend and tradition.  It also served to bring Shivaji back to the modern peasant and worker as well as to convince the intelligentsia of the need for an organized fight for freedom.  There is nothing incongruous in an image of Shivaji, himself a ruler, the "Chhatrapati", serving as a source of revolutionary and anti-imperialist inspiration for a fight against foreign tyranny.  Shivaji had, in his own days, risen above narrow affiliations of caste and community, broken the shackles of class-consciousness and defended masses against all forms of exploitation.  We have it on record that he had even to fight his own kith and kin and the Jagirdars, Patils and Deshmukhs who were thriving on the inams granted by Badshahs.  It would not, therefore, be surprising to know that a revolutionary like Vasudeo Balwant Phadke, acclaimed as among the first to raise the banner of armed struggle in 1878 against British Imperialism in India, issued a manifesto in his name signing it as "Shivaji the Second."

It was Shivaji who made the people, the sons of the soil, re-awaken to a sense of unity, forged spontaneously by bonds of a time-honoured concept of nationalism.  The call for unity was in the name of "Hindavi Swaraj”, which implied free and un-hampered self-determination of a people with a heritage dating back to the ancient seers of the land and a culture moulded in the light of their vision and by the power of their penance.

Moghul conquest was the chief political feature about the time of the birth of Shivaji.  The trail of destruction, through fire and plunder, that the Moghul armies left behind, as they advanced in conquest, the religious discrimination by the Muslim rulers and the harassment to which the natives of the land, the Hindus, were subjected, all resulted in great discontent, social and religious.  Contemporary conditions grew so desperate and everyone was in such a state of helpless expectancy that all thoughts turned towards the advent of a deliverer.  The man of destiny was Shivaji, born in February 1630 in the hill-fort of Shivneri, where his mother Jija Bai had to be left for safety.  That is the setting into which we see Shivaji the Great, ushered as an infant.  

The tree of Hinduism is not really dead, that it can rise from beneath the seemingly crushing load of centuries of political bondage; that it can put forth new leaves and branches.  It can lift up its head to the skies," writes Jadunath Sarkar, in Shivaji and His Times.  He further points out that, "Intensely religious from his very boyhood by instinct and training alike, he remained all through his life abstemious, free from vice and respectful to holy men, passionately fond of hearing scripture readings and sacred stories and songs."  According to Vincent Smith, "Indeed, it is safe to affirm that his religious zeal was the most potent factor in arousing the sentiment of nationality which inspired his lowly countrymen to defy the Moghul Legions."  However, as Sarkar has rightly stressed, "Religion remained with him an ever-fresh fountain of right conduct and generosity, it did not obsess his mind nor harden him into a bigot."  By all accounts, Shivaji's personal life was marked by a superior standard of morality and deep spiritual fervour.  Here indeed was not only a warrior and administrator, but also one who was devoted as a son, attentive as a husband and a unique exemplar of duty as a father.  Historians, poets, novelists, bards and play-writes have painted the picture of this medieval India's outstanding hero in resplendent hues.  And the image of Shivaji is regarded today as a blend of history and legends.  The legend as it appeals to the modern mind is happily not divorced from history.

"Study the life of Shivaji and you will find him a nation-maker, instead of a marauder, as the Europeans represent him," says Swami Vivekananda, the patriot-monk of India.  We have here endeavoured to present in the form of a narrative, marked by a certain sequence of incidents (as it moves from chapter to chapter), the whole course of Shivaji's illustrious career in a brief compass.  What we have offered here is neither just history nor just legend.  It is a blend of both, so that the legends that are narrated are rooted in facts of history.

This book is compiled from Vivekananda Kendra Patrika’s “Shivaji in Stories” published in 1975.

Wednesday, 12 March 2025

Yatras

The Issue  of Vivekananda Kendra Patrika on ‘Yatras' is a compilation of articles, essays, comments, slokas, Vedic, Upanishadic and Puranic quotations regarding the great Saadhana of pilgrimage. The Veda says that when a man is lying down, it is Kali Yuga, when a man is sitting, it is Treta Yuga, when a man is standing, it is Dwapara Yuga, and when a man is walking, it is Satya Yuga. Therefore, the Upanishads and the Vedas glorify all human movements in search of the great world of spirituality. “Charaiveti, Charaiveti” is a great Vedic Mantra. The purpose behind the great spiritual journey is this. Man is endowed with all spiritual qualities. “Tattvamasi”, says the Samaveda - You are That, the Ultimate Reality. The Samaveda says, look at the huge prapancha, the world outside in a miniature form encrypted in your heart inside. This is what we call as the Pindanda Aikya. The individual goes around the world, to find himself in the world outside. Therefore, pilgrimage is a form of self-search, seeking the inside out, and the outside in.

Why does a man go on a pilgrimage when the Ultimate Paramatman which he searches is within his own heart? The reason is, man cannot listen to himself. The ear cannot hear itself. The tongue cannot taste itself. The eye cannot see itself. In order to enable these senses, to identify the objects of the senses, these are placed in front of him as symbols. The great Rishis like saint Madusudhana Saraswathi, say, “Baktyatartham, Kalpitham, Dwaitham, Advaithat api Sundaram”. Though the Ultimate Paramatman is within you, in order to enable the senses to see Him, the mind, the intellect and the praana, we need to search for Him/ the Ultimate. It is positioned as an object.

The places of pilgrimage are sanctified by the visits of the great Rishis of the Vedas, the Puranic saints and avataara purushas, and later-day great saints. So, the pilgrim centers that a saadhaka seeks to visit are thrice-blessed either in the Vedas, the Puranas or by the avataara purushas. Every pilgrim center finds some kind of glorification in the Puranas, Vedas or in the Upanishadic scriptures. The Upanishads themselves talk about Benaras (Kashi) as the avimukta kshetra. The Puranas describe in great detail, the places of birth of avataara purushas like Ayodhya, Mathura, and the places where the Paramatman in the form of Shiva, Rudra stays; for example, Kashi, Haradwar and Ujjain. These places are the locations where God is equally, easily found. This kind of pilgrimage has been the age-old practice in India.

Perhaps, the Saadhana of spiritual journey is as old as Bharat itself. The (Tamil) Sangam poetry talks about a man going in search of God, in search of his love, a man going out for earning money, or for a war, or delivering a political message. To carry man from place to place, different yanas, the different vehicles, are also described in our scriptures. From the Rigvedic period downwards, the great ship-building industry was flourishing in India enabling man to go to different places. The carts, the elephants, the horses are also described on which man could ride and go to different places. Palkhis (palanquins) are also mentioned in the Shaastras, carrying saints and those who cannot walk. Even today pilgrims going to Amarnath or Sabarimala are being carried there by paid employees who can carry the old and disabled people up to the temple precincts. The facility of vaahanas, development of vehicles for carrying the needy pilgrims has been a great facet of development in Indian society. Once, a minister of tourism and pilgrimage development in the Delhi Govt. told us that 90% of the tourism out of which Delhi Govt earns money is only through spiritual tourism. For the Hindus, tourism means going on a pilgrimage, a Teerthasthaana or a temple. Ordinary site-seeing has grown a little now-a-days, perhaps, as a result of further developments and modern facilities.

Then, because of the variety of experiences, tremendous amount of literature has grown around the concept of pilgrimage. For example, Vivekananda Kendra Patrika brought out a volume years ago, titled ‘The Pilgrim Centers of India’. About each temple, there are books about how the pilgrim centers attract yatris. Coming to Itihasas, Rama’s great pilgrimage, from Ayodhya to Mithila to marry Sita and then coming back to Ayodhya, and then going to Lanka to kill Ravana was the very purpose of his Avataara. Then, how Rama journeyed from Ayodhya to Srilanka and how he returned by Pushpaka Vimana back to his capital Ayodhya have all been described in great detail. Maps have been produced and descriptions were made on what are the important places that Rama visited while going from Ayodhya to Mithila, Mithila to Ayodhya, Ayodhya to Srilanka, and Srilanka to Ayodhya again. That gives an idea of the geographic extent of India in those times. Following in the footsteps of Sri Rama, the Pancha Pandavas also went on pilgrimage. Similarly, in the Mahabharata, the Pancha Pandavas go on pilgrimage on two occasions. When they are in the Vanavaasa tenure, one of the Panchapandavas lives with Draupadi and the other four brothers go out as pilgrims. These pilgrimages are described in great detail. Then, Dharmaputra, Bheema, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva have established a number of temples, from Gokarnam to Kedarnath to Kanyakumari. The pilgrim centers where the Pancha Pandavas have established Shivalingas, have been described in the Puraanas, and more in the Sthala-puraanas. When Dharmaputra was to be coronated as Chakravarti, he performed Rajasuya Yajna. Then, the four Pandavas, Bheema, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva branched out to different parts of India, to earn money and collect wealth and tributes from the titular kings for the proposed Rajasuya Yajna of Dharmaputra. This also has been described in detail in the Mahabharata. All the travelogues make up a great wealth of pilgrim(age) literature. Then, following these sanctified routes, the great Rishis wandered from place to place preaching the message of Sanatana Dharma.

For example, in the year 2025 Jan. 14th to Feb. 26th there is going to be / there was a Mahakumbh in Prayag. Mahakumbh occurs once in 144 years. What happens when the Mahakumbh takes place? The great Rishis and saints who perform tapasya in the Himalayas, always stay in very great heights where snow does not melt; they come down once in twelve years, reach Prayag and stay in great tents and huge camps. And then pilgrims from all over the country reach Prayag. There, for 45 days, the kalpavasis, the pilgrims who come to Prayag, stay and get instructions on different aspects of Sanatana Dharma from the Himalayan saints. It will be about Vedas, it can be about spiritual saadhana, it can be about Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, it can be about different Shaastras, different types of Pranayama, herbal treatments, Ayurveda, grammar and so many other topics. Every subject, which the Vedas cover is discussed by the Himalayan saints for the benefit of the pilgrims who gather in Prayag from all over the country and all over the world. This is a kind of spiritual parliament. Such spiritual parliaments are being held once in every twelve years at Prayagraj. Countless number of pilgrims return home from the Mela refreshed and spiritually rejuvenated.

In the Kumbakonam Mahamakam, in the Tamil month of Maasi in the Maka Nakshatra (Feb-Mar.), pilgrims come and take bath where all the saptateerthas converge. “Gangecha Yamunechaiva Godavari Saraswati Narmade Sindhu Cauveri jalesmin sannidhim kuru”. All the teerthas conjoin at the Mahamakam temple pond and people take a dip there. And similarly, in the Rivers Tamiraparani, Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, and Narmada, in every 144 years a Pushkara (holy assembly) is held. These are very sacred days even for the rivers themselves. People from all over the world come there to take bath in the rivers, and they get purified. Therefore, pilgrimage made to get purified of one’s past sins, or spiritually elevated, is a very very important saadhana for any common man of Hindu faith.

There is a Puranic story. Once, Parvati asked Shiva, “Is it true that when a man takes bath in Ganga during the Kumbhamela, he is purified of all his sins? If that is so, then the whole creation will come to a standstill. All the people will take bath in Ganga, and the creation will end because everybody will be absolved of all his/her sins and go to Swarga or attain Moksha, or whatever he wants”. Then Paramasiva laughed and they both descended on earth. Paramasiva was lying down as an old man and Parvati was sitting by his side. Then Paramasiva pretends that he is dead. Parvati weeps. People who came to take bath in Kumbhamela asked the woman, “Ma, why are you weeping?”. Parvati said, “My husband is dead. Whoever has not committed any sin, brings out a handful of Ganga water and pours it in his mouth, he will come back alive”. Everybody said, “Oh I am a sinner, I cannot save your husband, I cannot be of any use to you” and turned away. At last, there came a very ordinary man. He said, “Oh, I might have committed so many sins, but whatever be the kind of sinner one is, if he takes bath in Ganga, all his sins will be nullified.” Saying this, this young man, goes and takes a dip in the Ganga, brings a handful of water and pours it in the mouth of Lord Shiva, who was laying there in the manner of a corpse. Then Paramasiva comes alive and tells Parvati, “See, this is the only man who believes that the Ganga purifies man of his sins. So, it is simply not that you take bath in the Ganga, it is the question of your intense belief, that Ganga purifies your sins”. The number of such pilgrims who come to Mahaamakam will be in crores. But how many are really believing that a bath in Kumbhmela will absolve the man of his sins is what is to be seen. There is a great stress on shraddha, when you go to a pilgrim center or a place of Mela like the Kumbhmela. The history of Kumbhmela is also very important. The same story applies to Mahaamakam in Kumbakonam also, in the South.

We all know the story that Devas and Asuras churned the ocean of milk with the help of Vasuki snake and Mantara mountain to get Amrita. Lord Narayana also came in the form of tortoise (Koorma avatara) to support the Mantara mountain. There were number of divine things like Uchchaisravas, the divine horse, Kalpataru, Jewel etc. emerged. Finally Lakshmi came and then Dhanvantri comes with a pot of Amrita. Then devas and asuras fought for it and Narayana in the form of Mohini, cleverly deprived the asuras of the Devaamrita and gave it all to the devas who were all restored to their original glory. That Amrita kumbha fell at a number of places. There are legendary stories, puranic instances which say that where the Kumbha fell, is the place of Kumbhamela or the place of Mahamaka. When the amrita kumbha fell near Kumbakonam, the places where the coconut, the mango leaves and the sacred thread from the Kumbha fell, became the places of pilgrimage around Kumbakonam in Tamilnadu. Thus, such pilgrim centers have got the touch of amrita, the heavenly ambrosia.  Whenever you go to such great pilgrim centers, you will find some such puranic stories, which authenticate the holiness of these places. Therefore, the yatras to Kumbhmela and the teertasthaanas link the soil of India, the air of India, the water of India, the space of India, the energy of India, the Panchaboothas of India to the puraanas and God Himself. Each teerthasthana has got a great sanctity. These pilgrims are doubly blessed because, the common man goes there to remove his sins and the saints go there to remove the sins of the teerthaas themselves, thus replenishing their sanctity.

And then, to sanctify these places, our ancients have built great temples in these places. For example, in the birth place of Dasharatha Rama, Ayodhya, a great temple has been built. Then in Puri Jagannath a great temple is built. In Ujjain, a Shiva temple is built. In the great Hrishikesh, where the Ganga descend from the Himalayas to the plains, a great temple is built. And then in Rameshwaram, where Sri Rama is said to have worshipped Shiva, a great temple is built. There are the seven Mokshapuris.  These are the places which confer Moksha on people who go there. And there are the Char Dhams in the four corners of India, namely, Rameshwaram, Puri, Dwaraka and Badrinath. These are also places which confer Moksha on the pilgrims. There has been a continuous tradition of thousands of years, of pilgrims going on specific occasions to these pilgrim centers to purify themselves.  Pilgrimages are inextricably interwoven with India’s spiritual culture.

If a metaphor could be used, life itself is a pilgrimage.  Pilgrimages are great opportunities for self-exploration, and to connect oneself with the higher levels of existence, thereby seeking fulfilment in one’s life.  This issue of Vivekananda Kendra Patrika has ‘Yatra’ as its central theme.  In the preceding passages, some puranic stories have been briefly recollected, paving the way for the rest of the journey, yatra, as could be covered within the limits of this volume. Here, yatra has been taken in its spiritual sense, as a kind of saadhana, or a mission in ones’ life, and not a mere pleasant tour or holidaying trips as is often the spirit in sabbaticals. 

An individual’s life itself is a yatra.  From the tiny tots to the aged, life is a yatra, a constant progress towards higher goals, culminating in Self-realization.  This idea has been brought out in the light of the Kendra Prayer in one of the articles titled dhyeya maargaanu yatra.  This volume seeks to celebrate the glory of yatra in a spiritual perspective.  Great unifiers of the nation like Sri Adi Shankara and other great teachers have immensely contributed to the sacredness of teerthayatras through their own examples.  Hence the tradition continues with its unflagging spirit. Yatras could be in quest of spiritual knowledge.  They could be in fulfilment of vows.  They could be undertaken as a kind of traditional sacred practice.  They have been an unshakeable unifying force in our country. Travelling through the length and breadth of the country, Swami Vivekananda internalized the essential India which is nothing but spiritual to the core, and he called himself a Condensed India.  Such was his identity with the country.  

This volume discusses the concept of yatra in an impressive manner with contributions from very knowledgeable persons.  Reading this issue itself, we hope, will give the reader the experience of performing an exhilarating and spiritually elevating pilgrimage.  All said and done, much remains to be said.  Nevertheless, what is contained in this volume, it is hoped, will claim its own worth as a sumptuous fare on the subject.  

                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                         N. Krishnamoorti