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INDIA
Asian Voice - Saturday 2nd July 2011
18 royal families of Saurashtra hail CM Modi Eighteen royal families of Saurashtra region in Gujarat has hailed chief minister Narendra Modi for the development work he has carried out while Kesridevsinh Zala, 28, yuvraj of erstwhile princely state of Wankaner in Rajkot district, has joined BJP in the presence of Mr Modi. The yuvraj’s father Digvijaysinh Zala has been a Congress leader and was a Union environment minister. However, he is not active in politics since the past few years. The felicitation memento describes various schemes and works
Narendra Modi.” Gohil said, “Royal families have been pro-people in their rule and have provided best examples of development.” “This is the first time that the chief minister and royals from the princely states from across the region got together. Modi’s work has been inspirational for many and is model one,” said Digvijaysinh Zala. "Modi has been doing a good job and under his able leadership the state has achieved new heights of progress," said Kesridevsinh Zala. Modi welcomed Zala
carried out by the Modi government and praises him for Vibrant Gujarat summits. It says that “people want you (Modi) to be a prime minister and we wish you to achieve this as you are a rajpurush”. While welcoming Modi, Shivbhadrasinhji Gohil of erstwhile princely state of Bhavnagar, described the definition of ‘kshatriya’ and said, “I would say that in my opinion, there are two kshatriyas by their karma. One was Sardar Vallabhabhai Patel and the other is
to BJP and said times were changing and the youth has a major role to play. “In 1947, all the princely states handed over their ‘raj’ to the nation and their contribution is unmatched,” Modi said. “I am impressed by the development work being carried out under the leadership of Mr Modi. I want to ensure that the people of Wankaner too benefit from this development activity,” Kesridevsinh Zala said. His joining active politics is being seen as a sig-
nificant development as far as the erstwhile princely states of Saurashtra is concerned. Observers say this will have little impact on electoral politics in the region. Much has transformed in the past two decades with changing socio-economic and caste equations in Saurashtra, they opine. Members of the princely states in the region have been mostly with the Congress or have remained independents. Mandhantasinh Jadeja, yuvaraj of the erstwhile state of Rajkot, and Satyajit Khachar, scion of the royal family of Jasdan, are active BJP members. Mandhantasinh Jadeja’s father Manoharsinh Jadeja was Cabinet minister in the Congress government in Gujarat. Zala was schooled at Rajkumar College in Rajkot and graduated from the United Kingdom. He is engaged in the family business since 2007 after his return to Wankaner. “I am active in my native place and keen to solve local problems. People approach us with varied issues and I want to help them,” he said. Asked if he would contest elections in future, he said, “My focus is to work for the betterment of public.” Many members of the princely states were in the past elected to the state assembly and had also served as ministers. However, in the recent past no member from the royal families belonging to Saurashtra had held any significant post.
Surat boy wins global space Olympiad India has topped in the global space Olympiad which was held to mark the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight by Yuri Gagarin: the credit for this goes not to a rocket engineer but a 19-year-
old third year mechanical engineering student from Surat, Siddharth Kalra. The competition, which saw the participation of nearly 50,000 space-crazy youngsters from different countries, was organized
Cartoon: Jami
Ra m md bi illio ev ’s l Sa -- lion nt h tr Sai ya ill ’s io n
Somebody help, please. Our son after graduating with MBA, now wants to be a SADHU !!!
by the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, Unesco, the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Mumbai and another organization known as Rossotrudnichestvo. Surat forms a part of the Mumbai-Russian diplomatic zone. Siddharth, who is studying at Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, said the test had three rounds consisting of objective and subjective questions in maths, physics and space sciences. For the third round, the candidates had to submit a proposal for a spacerelated project and Siddharth’s dissertation was about the development of astronautics and space exploration in the next 50 years. “About 20 of us were chosen from the initial rounds and we gave our presentations at the Russian Centre For Science and Culture in Paris. Our examiners were six astronauts from Europe and Russia, including Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to fly in space,” Siddharth said.
In divine light By Rajen Vakil
The Transformation of Nala
We saw how Nala (in the guise of Bahuka), Rituparna and Varshneya set out for Vidharbha after hearing that Damayanti was to remarry. On the way Bahuka stopped to rest the horses. Rituparna was in a hurry to reach Vidharbha as he was excited at the prospect of marrying Damayanti, and so asked Bahuka not to stop. Bahuka did not listen to him as the horses needed rest. They stopped near a Balearic tree. The Balearic has many uses in Ayurveda. In addition to its unmatched medicinal value, it also has symbolic religious and spiritual values. On the seventh day of the new moon, Hindus worship the Balearic tree and keep parts of the roots of this tree in their safe. It is believed that this helps increase their wealth, thus we see it is connected with Kali or counting. Pointing to the tree, Rituparna told Bahuka that he could tell the exact number of leaves on each branch of the tree, and also the number of leaves on the ground. Bahuka doubted him saying this was impossible unless the tree was talking to Rituparna. So then Rituparna told him the amount on one of the branches. Bahuka started counting the leaves. The king told him that we do
not have time to waste, but Bahuka went on counting and found the number was the same that Rituparna had said. Bahuka told him that he would like to have this secret knowledge and in return would give him the knowledge of speed and horses. Rituparna agreed and gave Nala the secrets of counting and the dice. The minute Nala acquired this knowledge Kali could no longer stay in his body. He immediately came out quivering in pain. Only Bahuka could see him. Nala was very angry with Kali as it was because of him that he had fallen into this deep suffering. He was about to curse him when Kali begged him not to. He told him that he had already been burning inside of him for long because of Karkotaka’s poison. Kali told Nala that if he did not curse him, then he would increase
his fame and also pledged that in the ages to come whosoever read the story of Nala and Damayanti, or told this story to others, would be free of pain and that happiness and prosperity would follow them. Saying these words, Kali entered the Balearic tree to rest there for a while. Man has two higher faculties, higher emotions and higher thinking. We have seen that in Nala the higher emotional faculty had already opened and because of this, he was able to marry the power called Damayanti but to hold on to this power the seeker should know that both the higher thinking and higher emotional parts of the psychic nature should be developed. Rituparna had this higher thinking faculty which is symbolised by his mastery over counting and knowledge of dice. To open the higher thinking centre, Nala had to go through a period of preparation which is depicted in the suffering he endures. Now Nala’s psychic nature is fully developed and his higher faculties are active. The author can be reached by emailing 3srb@live.com (Edited by Chintu Gandhi) (to be countinued next week)
All past articles on the Mahabharata can be accessed from http://epaper.asianvoice.com or from http://www.3stepbreath.com/mahabharata.html
Som Yagya being organized in London UK-Indians will have the privilege to witness the grandeur of 5000 year-old Som Yagya with the blessings of Aacharya Goswami Shri Gokulotsavji Maharaj at Harrow, west London soon. The Yagya will be performed in a grant form with exact Vedic principles and standards as those performed in India. For its cultural value, in 2008 UNESCO inscribed it in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The Som Yagya, a divine and rare Vedic Vishnu Yagya will be conducted under the guidance of Aacharya Goswami Vrajotsavji, being ‘Yajamana”, the purest and the best worshipper and his wife “Yajamana”, they has already conducted a large number of such Yagyas in India and ascends from the esteemed lineage of Jagadguru Aacharya Shri Mahaprabhuji. Prior to the Yagya, there is a long period of fasting and other austerities that the Yajamana and Brahmins must undertake. A Som Yagya is important for the immediate atmosphere and environ-
ment.Vanaspati used as ahuti in the Yagya remove pollution, the bacteria and virus residing in the ground, water, light and air gets destroyed. The flames of Yagya have a positive impact on our mind and calms the body. There is a great significance of the number 17 in Som Yagya, as 17 is a symbol of Lord Vishnu. There are 17 priests as Yagya officiators, 17 varieties of dakshinas (offering to priests), 17 renderings of the shastras and 17 stotra renderings. Som Yagya has a very important significance to Pushtimarg Vaishnavas. The divine arrival of Jagadguru Aacharya Shri Mahaprabhuji, in Champaranya, was the fruit of the boon granted to his ancestors. Importance of Donations (Bhiksha) in the Som Yagya The wealth of King Bali was impure, so his Yagya was also impure, so, to make this Yagya pious, Lord Vaman accepted the wealth of King Bali and made this wealth pure. It’s the earnest duty of the public to participate in
arrangement of various manoraths and benefit in the Som Yagya with their physical, mental and financial means. Do not donate any physical items without prior arrangement, always ensure that you obtain a receipt for all donations. For women, please note that during the menstrual period, you should not come to the Som Yagya for 5 days. Contact the Som Yagya committee to register your interest. Venue for the Som Yagya is Zoom Leisure, Kodak Sports Ground, Harrow View, Harrow, HA2 6QQ. List of Organising Committee members for contacts: Pravinbhai Jatania 07775 710400, Sangitaben Ladha 07773 766546 , Rohitbhai Morjaria 07770 536026, Sanjaybhai Morzaria 07932 623852, Manjobhai Pankhania 07966 842254, Deenaben Radia 07958 122634, Vijeshbhai Saujani 07932 617325 Organised by Utsav Sangeet, 55 Sefton Avenue, Harrow, HA3 5JP. Registered Charity No: 1137951