India - a highly developed nation in an advanced state of decay

The Indus Valley Civilization existed along the Indus River in present-day Pakistan. The Mohenjo-daro ruins pictured above were once the center of this ancient society.

"India is not, as people keep calling it, an underdeveloped country, but rather, in the context of its history and cultural heritage, a highly developed one in an advanced state of decay."

- Shashi Tharoor.

Off late my reading interests have been floating around Indian authors, for I can relate to what they are saying and also partly a way to experience home away from home.A couple of months ago I read "The Great Indian Novel", "Riot" and a couple of more books by Shashi Tharoor. And the above quote is from one of his books. (FYI the Gov of India has endorsed Shashi Tharoor's candidature for the post of the U N Secretary General.)

I find this view on India very refreshing. I like it for it comes from an Indian at the highest post serving an international body like the UN. I agree on most parts of this message but I have my own doubts.

There is no doubt on how advanced India was in almost every field. There were legends like Aryabhata, Sustruta, Charaka who pioneered in science. Let me quote one of the examples on how informed and advanced science was in ancient India. If you have read the Mahabharatha, Bhisma one of the prominent characters was supposed to a well known medico of his times. He coined the term "Hridaya" for heart. This is in Sanskrit. Let us split the word to its roots to understand what it means.

Hridaya = hrith + da + ya
Hrith- comes from the root aaharati, meaning to gather.
da - from the verb dadati , meaning to give
ya - from yapi, meaning to split.

Hridaya means something that gathers (blood), splits (impure from the pure blood) and gives it back to all the organs. This was known to the western world in the late 16th century when William Harvey discovered it.

Hmm alls well India was a great nation, now my doubt on the last part advanced stage of decay. There were other great nations which had great pasts. Italy, France most of the central and western Europe with cultures as old as the Indian subcontinent. Why is that we see decay only in India?

- My ideas on why India to appear in a later blog....(I am too lazy to write anymore)
(ahh may be that is one reason - too lazy to pass on ideas :) )

Hare Krishna Hare Rama

Nara janma bandaga nalige irovaga krishna yanabarade...
(when blessed with human life , while you can still speak chant krishna)
Krishnana nenedare kashta ondhistilla krishna yanabarade....
(chanting krishna would free you from all problems .. chant krishna)
-Sri Purandhara daasaru

I read vedas speak of bhakti (devotion). I am talking about my experience with bhajana sampradaya, bhakti by means of devotional songs and music. I touch on no particulars of gods or any supernatural power, all I am trying to say is what my senses felt and what mind sensed. The need to write this..well.... today I visited the local ISKCON center.

My today’s visit reminded me of my very first visits to the ISKCON temple as a young kid of say 7 or 8 years. The very idea of the songs and rhythmic accompaniment of the dhols(percussion instruments) with synchronized movement of the devotees up and down the platform in front of the deities singing in perfect unison, all this would amuse me. Then all this was mere part of an evening outing my maternal uncle would take all the kids at home (when we visited Bangalore during our summer holidays). Today when I saw the same set up again I wondered what soothes human mind, as part of the physical set up and not something metaphysical.

Here are few of my observations, As I mentioned earlier the songs had great rhythm and were loud... I could hear nothing but what was being sung around me.....that isolated me from all the sounds of the outside world. The deities were beautifully decorated with flowers so my eyes could see beautiful colors.. And the place was filled with fragrance of flowers ..... Finally to complete the experience there was great food served so that hunger would not distract me.

All the senses were channelized so that they were running in an isolated mode from the outer world.....and hence the mind which is the processor of all these inputs was in isolation too.