Inspiring Mathematician

A Must SHARE Story , Inspiring real life story of a Mathematician !!!

the person you are seeing in this picture is Anand kumar , A mathematician from Patna, Bihar, India. He developed an indomitable affection and love towards mathematics and possesses exceptional mathematical abilities. His role model is great Indian mathematician “Ramanujan”. During graduation, He submitted papers on Number Theory, which were published in Mathematical Spectrum and The Mathematical Gazette. He worked hard and dreamed of getting into one of the world’s best university “Cambridge”. And one day he got it, admission to Cambridge.
But…
Very soon he realized that his father cannot afford his education at Cambridge. He and his father searched helplessly for a sponsor all over India but nobody came up. And one day his family’s only breadwinner: his father died and his last hope of getting good education diminished. He gave up the dream of Cambridge and came back to his home in Patna, Bihar.
He would work on Mathematics during day time and would sell papads in evenings with his mother, who had started a small business from home, to support her family. He also tutored students in maths to earn extra money. Since Patna University library did not have foreign journals, for his own study, he would travel every weekend on a six-hour train journey to Varanasi, where his younger brother, learning violin under N. Rajam, had a hostel room. Thus he would spend Saturday and Sunday at the Central Library, BHU and return to Patna on Monday morning.

He rented a classroom for Rs 500 a month, and began his own institute, the Ramanujam School of Mathematics (RSM). Within the space of year, his class grew from two students to thirty-six, and after three years there were almost 500 students enrolled. Then in early 2000, when a poor student came to him seeking coaching for IIT-JEE, who couldn’t afford the annual admission fee due to poverty, Kumar was motivated to start the Super 30 program in 2003, for which he is now well-known.

Every year in August, since 2003, the Ramanujan School of Mathematics, now a trust, holds a competitive test to select 30 students for the ‘Super 30’ scheme. About 4,000 to 5,000 students appear at the test, and eventually he takes thirty intelligent students from economically backward sections which included beggars, hawkers, auto-driver’s children, tutors them, and provides study materials and lodging for a year. He prepares them for the Joint Entrance Examination for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). His mother, Jayanti Devi, cooks for the students, and his brother Pranav Kumar takes care of the management.

Out of 270 students he tutored from 2002-2011 236 students have made an admission to IIT. All of them came so poor background that their parents were Hawkers, Auto-drivers, laborer etc.
During 2003-2009, 182 students out of 210 have made it to the IITs.
In 2010, all the students of Super 30 cleared IIT JEE entrance making it a three in a row for the institution.
Anand Kumar has no financial support for Super 30 from any government as well as private agencies, and manages on the tuition fee he earns from the Ramanujam Institute. After the success of Super 30 and its growing popularity, he got many offers from the private – both national and international companies – as well as the government for financial help, but he always refused it. He wanted to sustain Super 30 through his own efforts. After three consecutive 30/30 results in 2008-2010, in 2011, 24 of the 30 students cleared IIT JEE.

Anand’s work is now well received from all over the world :

USA’s president obama read about Anand in TIME magazine and sent a special envoy to check the work done by him and offered all the assistance and Anand never accepts help irrespective of helper.

Discovery Channel broadcast a one-hour-long program on Super 30, and half a page has been devoted to Kumar in The New York Times.

Actress and ex-Miss Japan Norika Fujiwara visited Patna to make a documentary on Anand’s initiatives.

Kumar has been featured in programmes by the BBC.

He has spoken about his experiences at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.

Kumar is in the Limca Book of Records (2009) for his contribution in helping poor students crack IIT-JEE by providing them free coaching.

Time Magazine has selected mathematician Anand Kumar’s school – Super 30 – in the list of Best of Asia 2010.

Anand Kumar was awarded the S. Ramanujan Award for 2010 by the Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS) in July 2010.

Super 30 received praise from United States President Barack Obama’s special envoy Rashad Hussain, who termed it the “best” institute in the country. Newsweek Magazine has taken note of the initiative of mathematician Anand Kumar’s Super 30 and included his school in the list of four most innovative schools in the world.
Anand Kumar has been awarded by top award of Bihar government “Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Shiksha Puraskar” November 2010.
He was awarded the Prof Yashwantrao Kelkar Yuva Puraskar 2010 by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in Bangalore.
In April 2011, Anand Kumar was selected by Europe’s magazine Focus as “one of the global personalities who have the ability to shape exceptionally talented people.

Amrut Sanjivani Mantra story (On application of mantra died person can get life again)

Inspiring story from Nigerian religious group:

There is a famous story from Mahabharat, to insist on how we should surrender whole-heartedly and accept the instructions from superiors. Indra once offended his spiritual master Brhaspati. The demons were quite submissive to their spiritual master Sukracharaya and when there was battle between devas and demons, the demons were victorious, on account of their submission to their Guru Shukracarya. When the devas found that Shukracharya was using amrta sanjeevani mantra which was bringing the dead and injured demons back to life, Brhaspati summoned his son Kacha to go and learn the mantra from Shukracarya. Kacha wholeheartedly accepted his father's instruction and kept it as his only goal. So Kacha went to other camp and offered respects to Shukracharya and told him to accept him as his disciple. Sukracharya knew that Kacha's inner motive is to learn the amrta sanjeevani mantra. So he was determined not to teach that to him, but still allowed him to stay with him. In course of time, Shukracharya's daughter, Devayani fell in love with Kacha and decided that she will marry him. The asuras did not like Kacha's presence and so they decided to kill him. They chopped him into pieces and threw all the pieces in different directions. In the evening Devayani, not finding Kacha, went to her father and said, "Father, I feel that something wrong has happened. Please use your amrta sanjeevani and bring Kacha back as I want to marry him." So to please his daughter, Shukracharya chanted the mantra and from nowhere Kacha appeared again. Kacha requested him to teach the mantra with which he brought him back. But Shukracharya refused to give it. Kacha waited patiently. 

The next time the demons took him to a faraway place to kill him. They ground his body in the grinding mortar into a nice paste and trew the paste into the ocean. Again Devayani cried and amrta sanjeevani was chanted and Kacha came back. Kacha requested Shukracharya for the mantra, but again he was denied. Kacha did not lose heart. He remembered the force and power of obedience - the potency of obedience. Next time the asuras wanted to make sure that the mantra is not used. So they killed Kacha, they chopped him up, they ground him, made him into a paste and then they took a glass of wine and they poured the powder into the wine and gave it to Sukracharya to drink. So in the evening, when Devayani asked for Kacha, Sukracharya realized that Kacha is in his stomach. But if he comes out, he will kill Shukracarya himself. Kacha spoke from within the stomach. Kacha said, "Shukracharya, I have a suggestion. You have no choice. If you want to live, you have to teach me amrta sanjeevani because when you first use amrta sanjeevani, and I come out, you will be dead. Before that if you teach me amrta snjeevani, then when you are dead, I will use amrta sanjeevani and bring you back to life." Then Shukracharya had no choice and he had to teach the mantra. Grudgingly he blessed Kacha and said, "I do not know where you learnt this trait, but by the power of your obedience to your father and spiritual master, you have literally extricated this mantra from me which even the greatest of the devatas could not learn." 

We can see Kacha has taken the instructions of his father to his heart with full surrender and so he was able to tolerate all the troubles. The result is complete success. Most of the time, we will take only those instructions which fit into our mind and intelligence and we will completely ignore those instructions which are not palatable to our mind, ego and intelligence. Arjuna surrendered with his heart to the instructions of the Lord and in the end came out successful in the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

25 Life Lessons from Ramayana

I've got another mail from Nigeria on religious topic. It's worth reading:

1. Power of Bad Association: It was a known fact in Ayodhya that Kaikeyi loved Lord Rama more than his own son Bharath, then how could she become so evil. It is by her bad association with Mantara.
2. Attachment to service & not to the position: Lord Ram was willing to become the king as a service to Maharaj Dasarath and He was also willing to go to the forest as a service to His father.
3. Mission of Life should be to vanquish the demoniac tendencies in our heart: Lord Ram’s purpose to kill the demons was fulfilled by His banishment to the forest.
4. Even extreme reversals if taken in the proper spirit will help us fulfill our mission in life: For example, Law of gravity is only in effect in the Earth’s sphere and not beyond. So also Laws of material nature act only in material consciousness not in spiritual consciousness.
5. Ram or Aaram, A test for every seeker: Citizens of Ayodhya wanted to go with Lord Ram to forest and leave behind all the comforts (Aaram) of the City Ayodhya.
6. Alertness in Spiritual Life: Lord Ram leaves Ayodhyavasis when they were asleep. If one is inattentive or lazy, one will loose taste in Bhakti.
7. (Sometimes) Saintly persons might cause pain to others not to hurt them but benefit them: Bharat disowns Kaikeyi, or Prahlad disregards Hiranyakashipu, a Doctor may cause pain (operation) to patient to cure him.
8. Goal is to please the Lord: For Bharat, he wanted to stay in the forest which was easier than to return and rule the Kingdom but he did it to please Lord Ram.
9. Lord is the Proprietor: Bhoktaram Yajna tapasam (Bhagavad Gita 5.29). Bharat was ruling the kingdom on Lord Ram’s behalf by keeping the Paduka’s on the Throne. We are only caretakers, He is the real proprietor, He can give and take away. The Caretaker acts according to the will of the owner.
10. Anybody can make a show of greatness: The reversals test us who we are. When Lakshmana cuts Surpanaka’s nose, gone was the charming form, gone was the facade and then the real ugly form manifested. One’s greatness is tested by one’s ability to tolerate provoking situations.
11. Bhakti (Sita) cannot be achieved by Deception: Ravana wanted to kidnap Sitadevi by deception, but he gets Maya-Sita at the end. Greed and lust are never satiated, they lead to arrogance and envy.
12. Attachments can creates traps and make us suffer: Marichi takes up a golden dear form to which Sitadevi developed deep attachment to have it and thus trapped Sitadevi. We should see the substance through the eyes of the scripture. Marichi was all about false promises. For example, spider web is most attractive to the fly but actually it’s a trap.
13. Maya knows our weaknesses: She can make our strength into weaknesses and take us away from the circle of instructions of great souls. Ravana uses Sitadevi’s attitude to serve great souls to disobey Lakshmana.
14. Always stand by the Right: Jatayu’s integrity. Real success is to please the Lord. Jatayu lost his life fighting for Lord Ram but achieved the purpose of Life to please the Lord. It is better to lose & win than to win & lose.
15. Patience, Determination & Enthusiasm: Example of Shabari. Long time ago, Guru had asked her to wait for Lord Ram while all other disciples and Guru himself went back to Godhead. She showed her enthusiasm by working hard everyday to clean the place, plucking flowers & fruits for the Lord. She had complete faith in the words of Guru and patiently waited with determination. The Lord reveals only when He wants.
16. Honesty, We can’t put a facade before the Lord: Hanumanji disguises when he went to meet Lord Ram. Lord knows within who we are, we have to be honest to receive the mercy of the Lord. Lord Ram didn't speak to Hanuman for four months.
17. Obstacles on the path of Bhakti: The demons who came to stop Hanuman during his jumping across the ocean. Mainaka (Gold Mountain) - temptation to seek comfort before achieving our real purpose. Simhika (Shadow catching demoness) - While striving for Bhakti, people will chastise, criticize and misunderstand us, we should have the willingness to tolerate. Surasa (Serpent): Being envious of people in higher position and try to stop their progress. This is jealousy of the mind. By devotional service, we have to devour Simhika who represents Envy.
18. Arrogance cannot understand wellwishers: The world is a mirror of our own consciousness. Ravana was thinking Mandodari was envious of Sita, but actually he was envious of Lord Ram. Ravana was thinking Vibhisana was disloyal and taking the side of Lord Ram, but he was disloyal to Kubera, his cousin brother. When we think we know, we are not willing to listen to good counsel. Spiritual progress means simplicity and humility. If they are lacking, we won’t listen thinking that we know better, that was Ravana.
19. Big or Small, we can swim the ocean of Samsara by chanting Lord Ram’s holy name: Big or Small, all the stones floated by writing Lord Ram’s name.
20. Pride or Attachment leads to loss of intelligence: dhyayato visayan pumsah (Bhagavad Gita 2.62). Every stage of this sloka was exhibited by Ravana. Loss of intelligence - Even when all his stalwart warriors including Kumbakarna, Indrajit died but he still didn’t give up.
21. Hearing about the Lord - Revival of dormant love: Lord Ram being Paramatma in the heart of everyone including Ravana could have killed him just by turning off Ravana’s heart. But the Lord and His pleasure potency Sitadevi went through this whole ordeal so that we can hear about the Lord and revive our dormant love.
22. Righteousness: Vibhishana comes to take shelter of Lord Ram, all the monkeys were against, except Hanumanji. Vibhishana was willing to be misunderstood or even chastised to surrender to the Lord.
23. Counsel and Advise in battle against Illusion: In battle against Illusion, at every stage association of devotees to put us straight without which we will fall. Lord Ram doesn’t need but takes the counsel of Vibhishana.
24. Grace of a Sadhu needed to kill demons within: Agastya muni had given a divine arrow to Lord Ram. That arrow was used by Lord Ram to kill Ravan by piercing his heart.
25. Welcoming the Lord in hearts with lamps: That is Dipavali festival. Lord Ram is welcomed back into Ayodhya with lamps. Dipavali is not just physical fire but lighting the hearts with light of Lord’s grace and process of devotional service. When heart is fully illuminated, then we can experience Lord Ram within ourself. When our love awakens, in that love, compassion for all living beings awakens. Then Ramrajya is awakened within the heart and then without (i.e. out in the world).

Understand Human

I've seen good note on FB, Felt worth sharing it:

Psychologists Say
1) If A Person Laughs Too Much, Even At Stupid Things, He Is Lonely Deep Inside.

2) If A Person Sleeps A Lot, He Is Sad.

3) If A Person Speaks Less, But Speaks Fast, He Keeps Secrets.

4) If Some One Can't Cry, He Is Weak.

5) If Some One Eats In An Abnormal Manner, He Is Tensed.

6) If Some One Cries On Little Things, He Is Innocent & Soft-Hearted.

7) If Some One Becomes Angry Over Silly Or Petty (Small) Things, It Means He Needs Love...

Stochastic Probability Theory - Pregnant Deer Scenario

Lovely theory share with me. I'm sharing for all.

Consider this scenario: In a remote forest, a pregnant deer is about to give birth to a baby. It finds a remote grass field near by a fierce river and slowly goes there thinking it would be safe. As she moves slowly, she gets labor pain, at the same moment, dark clouds gather around that area and lightning starts a forest fire. Turning left she sees a hunter who is aiming an arrow from a distance. As she tries to move towards right, she pots a hungry lion approaching towards her.

Stochastic Probability Theory - Pregnant Deer Scenario
What can the pregnant deer do ….as she is already under labor pain ?


What do you think will happen?

·        Will the deer survive ?

·        Will it give birth to a fawn ?

·        Will the fawn survive ? or

·        Will everything be burnt by the forest fire ?

That particular moment ?

Can the Deer go left ? – Hunter’s arrow is pointing

Can she go right ? – Hungry male lion approaching

Can she move up ? – Forest fire

Can she move down ? – Fierce river

Answer: She does nothing. She just focuses on giving birth to a new LIFE.
The sequence of events that happens at that fraction of a second (moment) are as follows:
In a spur of MOMENT …a lightning strikes (already it is cloudy ) and blinds the eyes of the Hunter. At that MOMENT, he releases the arrow missing and zipping past the deer. At that MOMENT the arrow hits and injures the lion badly. At that MOMENT, it starts to rain heavily and puts out the forest fire. At that next MOMENT, the deer gives birth to a healthy fawn.

In our life, it is our MOMENT of CHOICE and we all have to deal with such negative thoughts from all sides always. Some thoughts are so powerful they overpower us and make us clueless. Let us not decide anything in a hurry. Let us think of ourselves as the pregnant deer with the ultimate happy ending. Anything can happen in a MOMENT in this life. 

 

If you are religious, superstitious, atheist, agnostic… or whatever… you can attribute this MOMENT as Divine intervention, faith, sudden luck, chance (serendipity), coincidence… or a simple  ‘don’t know’. We all feel the same. But, whatever one may call it, I would see the priority of the deer in that given moment was to give birth to a baby because...LIFE IS PRECIOUS.

Hence, whether you are deer or a human, KEEP THAT FAITH AND HOPE WITHIN YOU ALWAYS.

Makar Sankranti - Real story with 11 shloka of Bhishma Pitamah

I got this mail from one of the religious mailers:

Makar Sankranti is an important Hindu festival which marks the transition of the sun from Dakshinayan (Tropic of Capricorn) to Uttarayan (Tropic of Cancer), where the sun begins to move towards the northern hemisphere marking the beginning of summer. This therefore indicates the start of an auspicious phase. In Gujarat, this festival is also known as Uttarayan.

On this auspicious festival, it is described in the Shrimad Bhagavat that Shri Bhishmaji, who was lying on a bed of arrows in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, declared his intent to leave the mortal body. At the time, he devotedly performed a divine stuti (prayer) of Shri Krishna, who stood in front of him to bless him with his grace.

Let us all understand the meaning of this prayer, Shri Bhishma Stuti,

Iti matirupakalpita vitrishna bhagavati satvata pungave vibhumni,
Svasukhamupagate kvachidvihartum prakritimupeyushi yadbhavapravahah.

Shri Bhishmaji says, “O Krishna, I am the father of an unmarried girl, lying on a deathbed. I am worried that I still haven’t married my daughter.” Everyone present was surprised to hear that Shri Bhishmaji has a daughter despite having taken an oath of celibacy. Shri Bhishmaji continued to describe that this unmarried daughter is his mind.

Our mind is not single; it is attached to wealth, name and people. Shri Bhishmaji claims that his mind is single and he would like to wed it to Shri Krishna. Shri Krishna asked, “Have you asked your daughter if she likes me and agrees?”

Shri Bhishmaji replied, “Yes, she likes you, as who is more handsome compared to you in this world?”

Tribuvanakamanam tamalavarnam ravikaragauravarambaram dadhane,
Vapuralakakulavritananabjam vijayasakhe ratirastu me anavadya.

Shri Bhishmaji tells Lord Krishna that your complexion is dark like that of a bay leaf; you wear a pitambar which is as bright and yellow as the sun; your beautiful, black and curly hair dances on your face... O dear friend of Parth, let my love for you increasingly grow.

However, which girl would marry a man who is handsome but not brave? My mind has donedarshan of your bravery in the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

Yudhi turagarajovidhumravishvak kachalulitashramavaryalamkritasye
Mama nishitasharairvibhidyamana tvachi vilasatkavache astu Krishna atma

Your body was covered with dust spread from the running of horses, your forehead decorated with drops of sweat from the effort of riding the chariot and your armour was pierced with my arrows; my mind is attached to such admirable bravery of yours.

What if one is handsome and courageous but without a good temperament? Your nature is so simple!

Sapadi sakhivacho nishamya madhye nijaparayorbalayo ratham niveshya
Sthitavati parasainikayurakshna hritvati partha sakhe ratirmamastu.

Arjun commanded you in Kurukshetra to take his chariot in the middle of the two armies. This was not a request, it was a command. You laughingly replied, “Yes definitely Parth.” And Indeed you did so. O Prabhu, Hari, dear friend of Parth, who took away the age of the Kaurava army merely with your looks, let my love for you grow.

A girl likes a husband who is handsome, brave and has a good nature whereby he does as he is told. My mind-like daughter, in addition, has also seen how wise you are.

Vyavahita prithanamukham nirikshya svajanavadhadvimukhasya doshabuddhya
Kumatimaharadatmavidyaya yashcharanaratih paramsya tasya me astu.

When Arjun was surrounded with infatuation of his relatives on the Kaurava army in Kurukshetra, he began to sweat, felt dizzy, dropped his bow, sat down and said, “Keshav, I will not fight.” At that time, to take away Arjun’s infatuation and delusion of his mind, you sang the Gita in Kurukshetra. Let me develop love in the divine feet of such a singer of Gita.

What if one has all the above qualities but no love? Such a marriage would fail. Where there is love, one thinks of the other’s happiness. You thought of my happiness and thus to keep my oath true, O Damodar, you broke your oath!

Svanigamapahaya matpratigna mritamadhikartumahavapluto rathasthah,
Dhritarathacharano abhyayachchalatguh haririva hantumibham gatottariyah.

Shitavishikhahatovishirnadamshah kshatajaparipluta atatayino me,
Prasabhamabhisasara madvadhartham sa bhavatu me bhagavan gatirmukundah.

When Shri Bhishmaji started piercing Arjun’s body with his arrows, defeated, Arjun hid behind Shri Krishna. Shri Krishna was angry and his eyes became red. Angrily, he got out of his chariot, while his outer garment dropped, lifted the wheel of a broken chariot from the ground and ran like a lion would after a deer to kill Shri Bhishmaji and protect Arjun. Shri Bhishmaji dropped his weapons at this point and laughed as Shri Krishna had broken his oath of not using a weapon in the battle. Shri Bhishmaji began to shed tears of love while performing Shri Krishna’s divine prayer.

This prayer is composed of 11 shlokas. One shloka signifies presenting all one’s possessions to God thereby freeing oneself of attachments; another shloka represents presenting oneself to God thus taking away one’s ego and the rest of the nine shlokasrepresent the 9 types of bhakti (devotion) to unite oneself with God.

At the end, Shri Bhishmaji said, “O Krishna, I seek your refuge having left all the worldly attachments. I am tired of the continuous circle of life and death. Let me rest at your divine feet.” Thereafter, he concentrated his senses and mind into Shri Krishna, united with Shri Krishna and left the mortal body at the auspicious time of Uttarayan.

HOW CAN A GOD EXIST AND ALLOW SO MUCH SUFFERING AND EVIL IN THE WORLD AROUND US?

This Que. & Ans. I received from Nigeria Religious Society, Worth reading it.

Answer : Every kind, gentle hearted person is moved by and would want to help alleviate the suffering, miseries of others. Naturally, when such see so much suffering as a part of our daily lives, all over the world, many kind hearted people would ask, “Is there a God in control? How can He allow such atrocities to happen in the material world?” Faced with never ending miseries some people conclude that 

(i) If there is a God up there, then He is a cruel God or
(ii) There is no God, as there seems to be no one caring for the sufferings of the people or answering their prayers of relief.

Both these conclusions are wrong. There is a Supreme Creator and Controller of the universe and He is all-good.

People sometimes wonder, “If everything was created by God and there is so much evil in this world, then did God created evil?”

Yes, God created everything. He is the Supreme Creator.

Eg. God can be compared to the sun. Just like the sun is full of light, God is also full of pure goodness.

Does the sun create the shadows? When we face the sun, we see only light and brightness. When we face away from the sun we see darkness and our shadows. Thus, the sun is the ultimate or the remote cause of the shadow. The immediate cause is the person who is standing in the way and is facing away from the sun. Darkness cannot exist in the sun. Only when we face away from the sun we see darkness.

We can understand the principle of God and evil in the same manner.
Does God create evil? When we face God, we only see pure goodness and love. When we face away from God then we see evil and suffering. Thus God is the ultimate or the remote cause of evil. The immediate cause of evil are the people who face away from God and create evil, just like the people who face away from the sun create shadows.

Evil does not exist in God, just like darkness does not exist in the sun. It is wrong to think that God is bad or evil and therefore, He creates evil miseries in this world. God is always good and He always wishes us well. When we choose to face away from His grace, then we invite the evil of dark miseries in this world and in our life. Therefore, every sane man, woman and child must use all their human energies and resources to reconnect back with God to create a permanent solution to all problems in life.

STORY: AN ATHEIST CHALLENGES GOD TO APPEAR.There was once an atheist who went to a small town to “save the believers” from having blind faith in the existence of God. He went to the centre of the town, climbed on the main-square and announced, “My dear villagers, at 6pm to day, I am going to challenge God to appear today. Let us see whether God appears before us to prove His existence, otherwise we shall all give up our blind faith in this so-called Supernatural entity called God.”
The news quickly spread all over the town and at 6pm there was a huge gathering at the town square to see how God would respond to the challenge of this atheist. Sharp on time, the atheist started his discourse. Raving and ranting at the top of his voice, he was preaching how there is so much superstition in society and how science has made so much advancement, so everyone should give up the backward and aboriginal ideas about the existence of God.
After a few minutes, he stopped and then shouted his challenge, “Today, in front of all the towns folk, I openly challenge God to show Himself to us, if He exists. I will count from 10 to 0 and if He exists then let Him come personally and strike me down with a thunderbolt!” Gathering more energy, he shouted at greater decibels, “Today I will give up my life at the hands of God, or I will prove that belief in God is simply a superstition of the aboriginals!”
There was pin drop silence in the audience. Knowing that he had captured the attention of the people, the atheist slowly started counting from 10… 9… 8… 7… Then he looked up towards the sky for an indication to see if anyone was coming. Again with great dramatic pathos he slowly started counting 6… 5… 4… 3… Again he looked up into the sky and shouted his challenge, “If there is a God up there, or anywhere, I challenge you to appear, otherwise your bluff will be exposed and we will know that you don’t exist!”
As he started his countdown again, the townsfolk waited with baited breath to see what will happen. The atheist became even more slow, 2…. 1…. and finally 0! What happened? Nothing. The atheist was overjoyed. Thumping his hand on his fist, he proclaimed, “See, I told you. There is no God. If there were a God, He would have heard my challenge and come to strike me down with His thunderbolt. It is all simply superstition. We must all collectively clean ourselves from this misconception.”
At that time, an elderly pious gentleman came up to the atheist and spoke to him. He said, “My dear child, you should learn to see this situation in the correct perspective. Are you thinking that because God failed to come and strike you down, therefore, he doesn’t exist? Please tell me, which loving father will come with a weapon to strike down his rebellious child, simply to prove that he exists? The very fact that God did not beat you, proves that there above is a eternally loving and forgiving Father!”
Thus, when people rebel against God, they become implicated in impious lives, evil and misdirected civilization full of suffering. God, like a merciful parent is always trying to bring the lost souls back to His loving fold and offer them complete protection from real problems of life. It is said when we take one step towards God, He takes ten steps towards us. The question is when are we taking our baby steps toward Him?

New Year Wish with Good thoughts

Best wishes for the year 2013 to all of you. May god bless you and all your good dream comes true. I got some good thoughts on New year, attaching here for all of us. Mahavir Swami's (Jain's 24 Tirthankar) advise.

Sree Guru Charitra - Entire Book on Dattatreya - English Version -

I've copy paste different chapters in separate Blog post. Secondly in those attachments there were 10 chapters in English and balance in Hindi. Lastly there were few words, which were coming in English or Marathi, rather then following single trend. So I felt it will not provide full interest in reading the entire book.

Hence Finally I've searched again English entire book in one go. Which can be easily assessable by clicking following links (or copy paste on your web address).

http://nlshirdisai.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/shri-guru-charitra-in-english.pdf

I'm sorry for inconvenience cause to those who already tried to check my various blogs. I've removed 6 blog pages for that.

Datta Sampraday

Datta Upasana has been known since ancient times.  However, Narsinh Saraswati (1378-1458 AD) promoted it in the early part of 15th century. Datta Upasana became popular and grown into a cult form known as Datta Sampraday.  It's presence is mostly seen in Maharashtra and some parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. During Muslim regimes, Datta Sampraday flourished. It was taken as a unifying factor of Shaiva and Vaishnava traditions as well as Hindus and Muslims too. Granths : 'Tripura Rahasya', 'Datta Prabodh' and 'Datta Mahatmya'. The 'Guru-Charitra'  brought out by Saraswati Gangadhar in 1535 is a very popular Granth even till date. Mother-tongue of Saraswati Gangadhar was Kannada but he composed 52 Adhyays with 7491 Ovis in Marathi. Besides praise of Dattatrey Avatar, the Guru Charitra highlights the works of Datta Sampraday founders Shripad Shrivallabh and Narsinh Saraswati. Teaching :  The Guru Charitra especially does not give space to the 'Vedant' and 'Kriya-Shunya' Bhakti.   Rather it advocates to make best use of material life (Aihik Jeevan) to attain Moksha under guidance of a Guru.  It impresses that our body is momentary (a-shashvat), therefore one should attain 'chitta-shuddhi' through 'good karmas' so long the body is healthy and strong.  'Paduka Poojan' is preferred over an idol  worship. Influence of Datta Upasana is seen on Nath Sampraday's adoption of 'Guru Parampara' and 'Yog Sadhana' to attain 'param-pad' and hailing Dattatrey as Avadhoot Yogi.  Mahanubhav Sampraday adopted and popularized 'Ek-Mukhi' and 'Chaturbhuj' Datta.  Varkari Sampraday too extolled Dattatrey Yogis.  Chaitanya Sampraday and Anand Sampraday idolised  Dattatrey as Guru.

Gurus: Shripad Shrivallabh (14 th century AD): Born at Pithur, he is held as Maha Purush and first Avatar of Dattatreya. Narsinh Saraswati (1378-1458) : Born at Lad Karanje in Vidarbha as Shaligam Dev Madhav Kale. Taken Sanyas. Prapogated Datta Upasana. Stayed at Amarapur (Narsobachi Wadi), Audumbar, Gangapur. There is reference in some Granthas about his meeting with the Muslim King of Bedar, Allauddin (Second).  Manik Prabhu (1817-1865) : Born at Ladvanti and then settled down at Humanapur (later known as Manikpur) in 1845. Popularised upasana through 'sangeet maifils'. His following was from Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Jains, Boudhs and Lingayats and his group was known as 'Sakalmat' Sampraday.  Vasudevanand Saraswati (1854-1914) : Born at Mangaon in Ratnagiri as Vasudev Ganesh Tembe. Known as great Datta upasak and prolific Granth-kar. Akkalkote Swami (Samadhi-1878 AD) : Little known is about his previous life. Came to  Akkolkote (Solapur) in 1857 and started propagating Datta Upasana. Among his disciples are Nrisimha Saraswati of Alandi, Balappa Maharaj, Shankar Mahaarj, Vishnubuva Brahmachari.

Places: Mahur : Has oldest Temple of Ek-Mukhi Datta, built in 1219 AD on a mountain by one Mahant Mukund Bharati. Mahur  is also a Shakti-Peeth of Goddess Renuka and also a major centre of Mahanubhav Sampraday. Pithapur : Birth place of Shripad Shrivallabh. Yatra on Datta Jayanti held. Lad Karanja : Birth place of Narsinh Saraswati.  Audumbar : Narsinh Saraswati had stayed there. Now his Padukas are kept.  Narsinh Wadi (Narsobachi Wadi) : Narsinh Saraswati had stayed there. Considered Jagrit Sthan. Ganagapur : Narsinh Saraswati had stayed there & performed Anushthans on the confluence of Bhima and Amarja rivers. Considered Jagrit Sthan. Nasik : Known for popular Ek-Mukhi Datta Temple. Considered as Prati-Ganagapur. Akkalkote : Akkalkote Swami's Mutt. Now his Padukas are kept in the temple. Chaul : Known for Popular Datta Temple.  Maniknagar : Manik Prabhu Had stayed there.

Granths/ Books:   'Guru-Charitra' , 'Tripura Rahasya', 'Datta Prabodh', 'Datta Mahatmya' etc Entire Book on C=Guru Charitra: