Matrubhumi – 5 (Repeat)

Jana Gana Mana Adhinayak Jay He, Bharat Bhagya Vidhaata,

Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, Maratha, Dravid, Utkal, Banga,

Vindhya, Himachal, Yamuna, Ganga, Uchchal Jaladhi Taranga,

Tav Shubh Naame Jaage,

Tav Shubh Ashish Maage,

Gaahe Tav Jay Gatha,

Jana Gana Mang-daayak Jay He, Bharat Bhagya Vidhaata,

Jay He, Jay He, Jay He,

Jay Jay Jay He…

Every Indian knows that this is the National Anthem. It resonates the feelings of the great poet Rabindranath Tagore. Rather Tagore resonates the feeling of every Indian through his words. Our modern founding fathers have offered their respect to Tagore by choosing the above words as the anthem.I personally feel as if Tagore is calling up the common man of India as the Bharat Bhagya Vidhaata. And the common man is the one who is asking Mother India for Her blessings and wants to sing Her praise.

At the same time I was compelled, that Bharat has a huge philosophical and spiritual background in the form of Veda’s and the Rishi’s and having a history of more than 10000 years old, to lookout for some thought which would have guided the mankind of Aryavarta. Found many and there must be many more than what I found. But the one’s that touch me personally are two.

1. The Mantrapushpanjali offered at the end of every Aarti

2. The Vedic prayer asking for different class of people and all types of wealth and rains for India’s prosperity.

Let’s begin with the Mantrapushpanjali. It says thus:

ॐ यज्ञेन यज्ञमयजन्त देवास्तानि धर्माणि प्रथमान्यासन् | ते ह नाकं महिमानः सचन्त यत्र पूर्वे साध्याः सन्ति देवाः || 1 ||

ॐ राजाधिराजाय प्रसह्यसाहिने नमो वयं वैश्रवणाय कुर्महे | स मे कामान्कामकामाय मह्यम् कामेश्वरो वैश्रवणो ददातु | कुबेराय वैश्रवणाय महाराजाय नमः || 2 ||

ॐ स्वस्ति| साम्राज्यं भौज्यं स्वाराज्यं वैराज्यं पारमेष्ठ्यं राज्यं महाराज्यमाधिपत्यमयं समंतपर्यायी स्यात्सार्वभौमः सार्वायुष आंतादापरार्धात्पृथिव्यै समुद्रपर्यंताया एकराळिति || 3 ||

तदप्येषः श्लोको ऽभिगीतो |मरुतः परिवेष्टारो मरुत्तस्यावसन् गृहे | आविक्षितस्य कामप्रेर्विश्वे देवाः सभासद इति || 4 ||

My readers after reading this you must have realised that we all have recited or atleast heard being recited after the ‘Aarti’ during Ganeshotsav or Navratri or any pooja at home. It’s an invocation to Kuber, the God of Wealth and also remembers ‘Marut‘ and ‘Avikshit‘. It also makes a note of different types of kingdoms in India ranging from “Samrajyam” to “Maharajyam” which needs an independent blog to be explained.

For me its an ode for a single country. It says “पृथिव्यै समुद्रपर्यंताया एकराळिति” (meaning the land,consisting all the different types of kingdoms, till the ocean is all one).

From the very existence of the Veda’s, Rigved and Atharvaved both have the 1st hymn in them. The second hymn is from the Taitreya Aaranyak and the third and forth hymn from Aitreya Brahman. So from this we know that even years ago, our rishis have nurtured an idea of a single country. We have been repeating it year after year without even thinking what the hymn means. And then, we say that India as a country came into existence in 1947. Our secular historians and government appointed historians have always overlooked the above mantra. The question is Why?

The sad part about history of India is that we always get left leaning historians and right leaning historians but never factual historians. These so called historians have dented the Indian pride in all possible ways, making us aware to different thoughts around the world, but ours. Again I need to caution my reader that am not against any good thought and I believe any good thought can rise in any part of the world and so our (Rishi’s) clarion call is “आ नो भद्रा: क्रतवो यन्तु विश्वत:” – Let all the noble thoughts come to me from all the directions. But the fact is that we lack good historians who will write for the sake of India and to serve India.

History in Hindi has a synonym ‘इतिहास’. इति + हास means ‘this is how it has been’. And true to its meaning our historians have never tried to cover anything. Be it Pandavas were born of the Devas or Dhritrashtra, Pandu and Vidur were born by ‘niyog’ with Ved Vyas. Yudhisthir was good human but had a weak point of playing dice which led to many problems not only in his life but also his brothers, but Vyas Muni has not hidden this part. One can cite many instances from our history. But again Ramayan and Mahabharat, Ram and Krishna are mythology!!! We Indians truly need to understand our roots by finding them and studying them independently.

Back to our topic of One India, United India. This Mantrapushpanjali has been imbibed in our lives in a way that by the time a child grows up, he knows it by heart. But the problem is who will explain it to him as even the ones who are making him recite do not know its meaning! Right now I just want to convey that Bharat is united in letter and spirit from the day She has come into existence.

The second the Vedic prayer asking for everything possible for the growth of a nation.

ॐ आ ब्रह्मन् ब्राह्मणो ब्रह्मवर्चसी जायताम्

आस्मिन् राष्ट्रे राजन्यः इषव्य: शूर महारथो जायताम्

दोग्ध्री धेनुर्वोढानड्वानाशुः सप्तिः

पुरन्धिर्योषा जिष्णू रथेष्ठाः

सभेयो युवास्य यजमानस्य वीरो जायताम्।।

निकामे निकामे नःपर्जन्यो वर्षतु

फलिन्यो न औषधयः पच्यन्तां

योगक्षेमो नः कल्पताम् ॥

I feel that this is the most apt prayer for a nation. It could have been our national anthem too.

Have you heard it before?

What does it mean?

What have our Rishi’s asked for?

Is it applicable even today?

I leave these questions for my blog to be written tomorrow…