I am planning to post a series of articles on some interesting information ,facts,,stories from the Mahabharata.
Mahabharata By Rajaji
The source is the Mahabharata by Veda Vyasa in Sanskrit,
I have tried to understand it with my limited knowledge of Sanskrit and Tamil and from a host of references ,mainly from Sri Maharishi Veda Vyasarin Mahabharata Parvangal( Sri Mahabharata Parvaas by Maharishi Veda Vyasa, Translation by E.Srinivasachariar,Sri.M.V.Ramanujachaariar of Kumbakonam and by Sri Ganapahy Sastrigal,The Guru of Kanchi Maha Periyavar,Karunkulam Krishna Sastrigal and A. Venkatesachariar, published by Sri Chakra Publications, Urappakkam ,Chennai)
For the present i Ma quoting relevant portions from the Adi Parva, which I am currently studying.
Corrections and suggestions from authentic sources are welcome to make the posts more authentic.
Now onto the post.
Indians are accused of not possessing an authentic History.
The accusations are from the West and the self-styled Anglophiles and the Liberals(!?) from India.
History is what one chooses to write or more accurately what one chooses to believe in.
What is the History that the West believes in?
Thucydides,Xenophon,Plato,GM Trevelyan,Macaulay, or Winston Churchill?
Or is it the Bible,the reformation literature attributed to so many?
No body saw Socrates, Plato,writing the History as they saw it.
We have books, works attributed to them by the others and we believe in them.
The same applies to the Bible, which is essentially a collection of fables with few facts thrown in.
And mind you, one must remember that the Bible was compiled, not composed or written three hundred years after the death of Christ by Emperor Constantine to keep his Empire intact.
Please read my posts on this filed under Christianity.
And people know the motive behind Macaulay’ History once you look at his speeches in the British Parliament about the introduction of English as the medium of instruction in India, his general attitude to Indians, the Natives as they were /are called and his suggestions to handle the Natives of India.
Compare this with the view of Warren Hastings about Indian Culture.
Hastings was of the view that the Indian Culture and History was very rich!
As to Churchill, well one knows what his attitude towards the Natives and the Independence of India/Indians are.
Yet we believe in their versions of History!
One forgets that the Indian Culture is more ancient and there are records,
The criticism is that they are not in the written form.
Does it mean that what ever some one says is untrue and what is written is true?
To West in close Relatives Home(like In Laws,brothers are considered to be of the same house hold even if they live separately, where as sister is considered to belong to another Household),
So because of the Heat Current passes from The East to The West.
The Right side of this current(North) creates Positive Current.
And The Left side (South), the Negative Current.
Human Body. specifically the Red Corpuscles have Iron and hey have the properties of being made into a Magnet.
Head has Positive Current while the Feet , Negative Current.
When one sleeps with one’s Head in the North, Feet pointing out at the South we go against the Natural flow of Current and Magnetism and we will be disturbed in Sleep and Health is likely to be hit.
When you sleep with head pointing out to South and Feet to North, you will be in Harmony with the Natural Flow of Current in The Earth’s ElectroMagnetic Field.
Many Indians ,especially the younger generation including and especially my son, is never tired of telling me how bad India is and how good, orderly and Citizens are in the US and Europe.
I have agreed to the extent that India is corrupt and needs a Clean up and at the same time The West is not a Puritan either.
If the scams in India are in crores of Indian Rupees it is in Millions of US Dollars and Pound Sterling abroad.
This post is an eye opener for those who praise the citizens abroad for their Dutiful citizenship.
You dot evaluate a culture by mere standing in Queues and cleanliness on the road.
I have my brother’s Grand son living in Sweden for quite a few years now.
He used to tell me how responsible and helpful the Swedes are in helping out citizens in need of Government assistance, be it a form filling even.
Yes .
I agreed and informed him that he would find, in the course of time, how corrupt and morally decaying a Society Sweden is in terms of personal Life style and how it ruins family life over there.
Now,though he still appreciates the good things over there, he has realized that a Culture needs to be evaluated on the over all aspects of Life.
Having said this,let me add that if only we develop the Industriousness, attention to Detail, Public Spirit and responsible citizenship…!
The following information is not to justify our corrupt practices but to point out that the West is decaying excepting in a material comforts which is contributing to it s decay.
Corruption
“Tax evasion poses an acute challenge to developing and developed countries. From 2000 to 2010, illicit financial flows deprived developing countries of US$5.86 trillion. Tax evasion is not a victimless crime – for people in the developing world, the consequences of tax evasion can be a matter of life and death. If developing countries could recover this untaxed wealth, it could mobilise enormous resources for improving their public services and their citizens’ lives.
The new Eurodad report “Secret structures, hidden crimes” finds that the hidden ownership of companies and other legal structures facilitates tax evasion, corruption and related crimes. It outlines the different ways that individuals abuse companies, trusts and other vehicles in order to evade taxes.
It argues that better information about who owns and controls these companies and other set-ups is key to bringing trillions of dollars of offshore wealth back into the tax net and helping to prevent capital flight in the future.
It argues that all forms of tax evasion can be more effectively fought where they are recognized as a “predicate offence” of money laundering as this makes it a criminal offence to help someone to hide and shift tax-evaded money. For some countries tax evasion is already a predicate offence, but only in a limited set of circumstances”…
According Oxfam, tax evasion by
individuals costs developing countries
US$124 billion. Christian Aid has found that,
even using a very conservative estimate,
developing countries lose the equivalent of
US$160 billion per year to tax evasion by
multinational companies using false invoicing
and blatant transfer mispricing. If this sum
were channelled to developing countries’
budgets, with allocation unchanged it
would be enough to save the lives of 1,000
children every day. Over the past decades,
tax evasion by individuals has led to the
accumulation of US$21–32 trillion of untaxed
offshore wealth, according to recent research
by the Tax Justice Network (TJN). About
25-30% of this (US$5.3–9.6 trillion) is from
developing countries.
Money laundering is the process of
concealing the source of money obtained
by illegal means. It can be easier to hide
tax-evaded income because, unlike other
criminal proceeds, the money generally
comes from a legitimate source initially. This
money only becomes illegal later on, when
the full amount of tax due is not paid. This
generally involves the taxpayer concealing
or under-declaring their income. Tax evasion
and money laundering therefore go hand”..
Hidden ownership facilitates
corruption and crime
Beneficial ownership transparency would
also help address illicit capital flight, which
cost developing countries an estimated
US$859 billion in 2010. These flows comprise
proceeds of corruption, crime and tax
evasion. The United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime (UNODOC) estimated the total
value of money laundering to be around
US$2.1 trillion in 2009 – equivalent to 3.6% of global GDP.
The UN and World Bank STAR (Stolen Asset
Recovery Initiative) published some 150
corruption cases involving hidden ownership
of a corporate vehicle either to launder
money or as part of the initial scam. Global
Witness has produced a number of case
studies on corrupt officials laundering their
money abroad, while researchers have found
that sub-Saharan Africa has lost US$700
billion to illicit capital flight since 1970,
dwarfing its outstanding debt of US$175
billion. Corruption could also be curbed with
strong AML rules.
Hidden ownership masks
accountability for human rights and
environmental violations
When a human rights violation takes place,
those affected can find it difficult to take
a case to court if the parent company or
management further up the ownership chain
cannot be identified. The same goes for
environmental violations.”…
Use of complex structures to
circumvent financial regulation
Before the financial crisis, many banks
used complex and even illegal structures to
hide losses that would later be bailed out
by taxpayers. UK bank Northern Rock did
this using an investment vehicle based in
Guernsey registered in the name of a real
charity, without the charity’s knowledge. If
ownership information was made publically
available online people and organisations
would be able to check if their identity was
being abused in this way.
Tax avoidance
Greater organisational transparency and
beneficial ownership disclosure would
make it easier to understand aggressive tax
planning and avoidance schemes that exploit
legal loopholes when transactions take
place between jurisdictions with different
rules. Many of these schemes exist in a
contested grey area between what is legal
and illegal. One telling example of the impact
of tax avoidance in developing countries
is ActionAid’s case study of UK brewing
giant SABMiller.”
The proof is here as to who guzzle energy and contribute to Global Pollution.
Irony is that these countries and the EU are taxing the countries like India under the guise of carbon Tax!
India is pondering to hit back.
Hope it does.
Story:
Britain and Europe at Night.
Light show: An image of the U.S. from space highlighting the staggering light pollution, especially on the east coast, in Houston, Texas, and San Francisco and Los Angeles on the west coastIn darkness: Third World countries in Africa barely register any light at night in contrast to the West, apart from an amazing trail of light from Cairo running down the Nile in EgyptGlobal view: A satellite picture of the energy waste in the West and darkness in the rest of world showing how much more energy the rich world uses than other areas
At night, London is a burning bright spot, consuming enough energy to power Ireland with its light show.
But as these stunning images from space show, we in the West are guilty of wasting energy and polluting light on a staggering scale.
Each year London consumes 150 thousand gigawatt hours of energy, equal to the consumption of nations such as Portugal and Greece.
Campaigners have warned that 50 per cent of the UK’s population cannot see many stars because the night skies are ‘saturated’ with light pollution.
The pictures created by scientist Felix Pharand-DeschÍnes using data gathered by satellites highlight the contrast between the first and third world.
They show Egypt’s densely populated River Nile as it scorches a path through the darkness of Northern Africa while Japan is wall-to-wall light.
America shines brightly, but south of its border the countries are almost lightless and in central Asia, India and Australia barely any light is registered.
You must be logged in to post a comment.