Salute to the Indian Army

The colossal loss  in the State of Uttrakhand in India due to torrential rains and Nature's fury and the spectacular efforts of our Army in the rescue operations deserve all praise from the bottom of our hearts. Very Proud of my Country's Army. 

THE GANGA ACTION PARIWAR AT PARMARTH NIEKTAN

Parmarth Niketan is a revered Ashram in Rishikesh and thousands of people visit it every year from all over the world. Parmarth Niketan is dedicated to the welfare of all and has to its credit various activities of charitable nature together with huge social obligation being discharged by the Ashram for the welfare of the society as a whole. Under the stewardship of its President Swami Chidanand Saraswati a wonderful mission for “Clean Ganga”, “Green Ganga” has been undertaken and a Ganga Action Pariwar (GAP) has been formed and which was formally inaugurated on 04th April 2010 by the hands of his H.H. Dalai lama in the presence of an august gathering. GAP is a family of professionals, engineers, scientists, activists, spiritual leaders, environmental specialists and such other various people of the society. The mission of Ganga Action Pariwar is – (1) Restore a free flowing and pristine Ganga; (2) Safeguard all rivers and natural and undisrupted flow; (3) To make river clean enough for safe drinking water by completely separating river water from all liquid wastes, solid wastes, and eventually from all treated waste water; (4) to provide responsible and sustainable solutions and action based plans that ensure that our future generations inherit the best planet we can give them. (5) To include all people in the common cause of restoring Ganga regardless of race, gender, cast, creed, economic status or nationality. A beautiful brochure of Ganga Action Plan which was presented to me during my recent visit to Parmarth Niektan carries Golden Words from illustrious personalities of our country for the need to restore Ganga, which I quote as under:- “The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India’s age long culture and civilization, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga.” – Jawaharlal Nehru, First Prime Minister of India. “The Ganges is a symbol of our prosperity, our culture, our heritage, our civilization, our philosophies…We have to see that Ganga does not remain just a symbol, but it should be such a symbol that will become a part of our everyday life and become a part of the future of India and make India strong.” – Former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. “Going forward, it is my dream to see that Ganga becomes free of pollution all along its course, right from Gangotri to Ganga Sagar, the place in West Bengal, where it merges into the ocean…I have no doubt that a combined determined and sustained effort to society and the state would restore the Holy Ganga to this pristine purity. It may take decades to fully reach this objective, but it is a maha yagya (mega mission) worth undertaking. Indeed, it should be our long term goal to make all the rivers, lakes and water bodies in India pollution free. After all, they are not only the lifeline of our country’s development, but also the symbols and sustainers of India’s ancient and proud civilization” – Shri L.K. Advani. “The movement to save the Ganga and its ‘nirmal’ (clean) and ‘aviral’ (uninterrupted) flow is not just a movement to save a river…If the Ganga lives, India lives. If the Ganga dies, India dies.” – Dr. Vandana Shiva, Director of Navdanya and renowned environmental activist and scientist. Now, I would like to add that as per the constitutional scheme contained in Article 48-A of the Constitution of India it is the obligation of the state to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wild life of the country which according to my humble view is wide enough mandate even to protect the natural resources of our country and which clearly includes the protection of the rivers of our country. One of the major works being carried out by Parmarth Niketan Ashram at Rishikesh is creating “Awareness”. People’s participation for the success of any mission is a necessity and without the cooperation of the citizens of the country it is not possible for the state alone to carry out its obligation effectively. I am strengthened on this point by the fact that Article 51-A (g) of the Constitution of India casts a fundamental duty of every citizen of India :- to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life and to have compassion to leaving creature. Similarly Article 51-A (f) provides have a fundamental duty to every citizen of India to value preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture. Needless to add that Holy River Ganga as aptly stated by former Prime Minister of India, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru “Ganga is a symbol of India’s age long culture and civilization”. While going through the various literature on the mission of “Clean Ganga”, “Green Ganga” being carried out by Parmarth Niketan, I came across some simple suggestions for us all and which is worth sharing with each one who is reading this article and that is what- I humbly plead to all the readers “Each One Reach Ten” meaning thereby that at each individual level we must encourage and educate our family , friends and community members to get involved to protect our environment and as summarized by the (GAP) Prevent disposal of solid wastes in the rivers, prevent harmful non bio-degradable materials such as polythene from entering the river and instead opt for ecofriendly alternatives promoting conscious use of water; installation of proper toilets and sewerage systems with alternative plant based management for elimination of wastes; planting trees and other greenery to restore the land and rejuvenate the natural environment. I have committed myself to this cause to the best of my ability of ensuring a “Clean Ganga”, “Green Ganga” and also for several rivers of our country which needs and which must be protected. So I request each reader to join me in this movement so that we can ensure a much better world to our future generation. *******

Swami Chidanand

Swami Chidanand during the Ganga Aarti as mentioned in the post below.

MY MEETING WITH HIS HOLINESS SWAMI CHIDNAND SARASWATI

It was the evening of June 13th 2013, on our way back from the Neelkanth Mahadev Temple; about 40 Kms from Rishikesh, we stopped over at Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Rishikesh, the person at the office advised me to stay back till the “Ganga Aarti” held at about 6.30 PM each day preceded by recital of Hanuman Chalisa and Bhajan by the President of Parmarth Niketan, His Holiness Swami Chidanand Saraswati. We adhered to his advice and we sat on a platform opposite the Parmarth Niketan, on which is mounted a majestic statue of Lord Shiva (about 10 ft high statue) (The mighty Ganga was virtually overflowing it on 16th , 17th June,2013 after very heavy rains which hit the State of Uttarakhand and was seen all over on TV and News). Sharp at 6.30 PM Swamiji arrived on the banks of River Ganga and started reciting the revered Hanuman Chalisa in a most splendid manner a kind of which I had never heard ever before. The crowd of about 800 – 1000 people on the banks of Ganga, with lovely breeze blowing were spell bound by the recital. The Bhajan was followed by the most melodious and spectacular Ganga Aarti. Just before the Ganga Aarti, Swamiji in a most humble manner spoke to the people about their duty towards environment protection; encouraged all present to give importance to tree plantation and above all save the Holy River Ganga from incessant pollution. He spoke from the Heart, immediately I felt motivated to meet him. As the wish of God Almighty would have it ; the moment I introduced myself to Swamiji, there was a connect and he invited me along with my family to his serene Vatika where an interaction of about half an hour with him was most satisfying. Here was a noble soul committed to the cause of mankind, practically advised people to worship their God, but to be equally conscious of their obligation towards the society; themselves and the environment and the world as a whole. We had Prasad at the Parmarth Niketan that evening and Swamiji affectionately wanted me again the next evening at the Aarti but with a bigger role to take Sankalp for the cause of save the River Ganga Campaign. As willed I had a splendid experience the next evening again with Swamiji, received the Rudraksh Plant from him and had the occasion to speak to several hundred people present on the banks of our Holy and Mighty River Ganga. An experience always to be cherished. Jai Gange !!!

My Visit to Parmarth Niketan Rishkesh

I am humbled to be facilitated by His Holi ness Swami Chidanand Saraswati, the President of the Parmarth Niketan Ashram , Rishikesh and my address to about 800 people crowd on save the River Ganga campaign !!!

Conserve Water Please

If you made a sphere of all Earth’s water, how big would it be? http://earthsky.org/earth/if-you-made-a-sphere-of-all-earths-water-how-big-would-it-be

Cricketing Corruption

The recent fixing scandal in the game of cricket (IPL OF 2013), the current affair catching all media attention ; is a huge blot on our National character. A game which is our National identity in sports for over decades and which has produced so many National hero's  and cricketing icons, being brought to shame like this is a great disappointment.  Hopefully some tough measures will be taken for change for the better before it is forgotten as yet another scam.