Indian Press on PM Modi's Works for Muslim Community, Pakistan Women and China-Saudi Nuclear Pact: New Age Islam's Selection, 6 October 2020
By New Age Islam Edit
Bureau
6 October
2020
• PM Modi Has Worked For Muslim Community,
While Breaking Sway Of Vote Bank Politics
By Amin Pathan
• Pakistani Women Have Led Democracy Protests.
Can Maryam Nawaz Do It Now?
By Ayesha Ijaz Khan
• China-Saudi Nuclear Pact Can Trigger an Arms
Race in West Asia
By Adil Rasheed
• Where India Stands On Peace in Afghanistan
By Jayant Prasad
• Passage to Peace
By Swami Sandarshanananda
-----
PM Modi Has Worked For Muslim Community, While Breaking
Sway Of Vote Bank Politics
By Amin Pathan
October 6,
2020
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
-----
A
shamelessly propagated myth is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s relations
with the Muslim community are frosty at best, bitter at worst. Any contrary
opinion is treated with disdain and ridicule. Having followed this subject
closely for 20 years, I am convinced that this is the right time to break free
from the shackles of false narratives.
The project
of portraying Modi as anti-Muslim fails the test of facts. At every step in his
political and administrative career, PM Modi has done everything he can for the
welfare of the community. Yes, his style of working does not fit the
conventional approach — it provides a refreshing alternative to how empowerment
can be done without appeasement and tokenism.
It is not
widely known that Modi’s house in Vadnagar was situated in an area where there
were many Muslims. Some of his first and long-lasting friends are Muslims. When
he was the chief minister of Gujarat, the two districts whose development
indices shot up were Kutch and Bharuch. These are districts with high Muslim
populations.
Kutch,
among India’s western-most districts, was known for two things post-1947 –
“registan” and “Pakistan” (the desert and a long border with Pakistan).
Tourists would never go there. Officials would not want to serve there. But
this was until Modi became CM. After 2001, Kutch’s agriculture flourished,
industry came to the district, its coastal strengths were harnessed and it
emerged as a vibrant tourist destination.
In Bharuch,
the problem was law and order. Previous Congress governments and top Congress
leaders allowed Bharuch to deteriorate. Children who grew up in the 1980s and
’90s in Bharuch can never forget the curfews there. Such a scenario prevented
wide-scale development.
Friends in
Gujarat, both Hindus and Muslims, often tell me about the efforts Modi made to
develop key spots linked with the Muslim community. The Sarkhej Roza in
Ahmedabad witnessed massive rejuvenation and restoration works under Modi as the
CM. Modi visited the Sarkhej Roza on a few occasions, including once with
former President APJ Abdul Kalam. Working closely with the ASI, the Ahmedabad
Municipal Corporation worked hard to make the Roza and its surrounding areas
better. Heritage festivals were initiated, making the Roza a vibrant cultural
landmark in Ahmedabad. The Sidi Saiyyed Mosque also got a facelift. As PM, Modi
also took the then prime minister of Japan Shinzo Abe to the mosque.Kutch is
home to the Hajipir Dargah. Like all parts of Kutch, it faced massive
infrastructure-related problems. Modi improved local road networks, enabling
devotees to visit the Dargah.
As our PM,
Modi has time and again showed that he is a leader of the entire nation. I can
never forget PM Modi’s words at the Islamic Heritage Conference, organised in
Delhi. He said (young) Muslims should be well-versed with the Holy Quran and
the computer. His words have resonated across the community.
At the core
of his leadership is respect for human dignity. PM Modi’s single step of
abolishing the triple talaq has ensured that generations of Muslim women lead a
better life. Likewise, the decision to allow women to proceed on Haj without
mehram has been hailed a major step towards their empowerment.
PM Modi has
also developed a close bond with the Dargah Ajmer Sharif. The 188 toilets
constructed there have helped devotees, particularly women. There has been an
extensive beautification process at the Dargah, which includes the construction
of “Silver Katahra” at Astana Sharif, a new fountain and renovation of the
Nizam Gate and Akbari Masjid. Cleaning machines have been placed at the
“jhalra” at the iconic palace and a water tank with a capacity of three lakh
litres has been constructed. Besides, PM Modi has been offering “Chadar” at the Dargah of the Sufi saint
Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer Sharif for the last six years. This is
a clear reflection of his respect and obeisance to all deities and Sufi saints.
For the
last many years, it has become fashionable among some sections to hate Narendra
Modi. My humble question to them is: When will you stop?
After 2002,
the Supreme Court of India took over most of the probes. The Nanavati
Commission was formed, there was an SIT in front of which Modi himself deposed
for hours. The findings of the Commission and the SIT are in the public domain.
Yet, there is a refusal to believe any of these findings.
There have
been many analyses of the Modi-led foreign policy but one facet that stands out
is the excellent relations with the Muslim world. Bahrain, the UAE, Palestine,
Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan have conferred on him their top honour. The crown
princes of the UAE as well as Saudi Arabia have strong personal friendships
with the PM. Can anyone forget PM Modi’s special visit to the grand mosque in
the UAE? Can we forget the PM paying obeisance at Bahadur Shah Zafar’s mazar?
Today’s
Muslims, especially the younger ones among them, are fed-up with vote-bank
politics. Vested interests took away their votes and scared them but delivered
nothing. The community wants prosperity and opportunity. It is high time the
old “shopkeepers” of vote-bank politics shut shop. In a new India, it is
aspiration and inclusion that will speak. Modi has made a start. It is up to us
to support him and nurture this great nation that has given us so much.
----
Amin
Pathan is president, Dargah Committee, Dargah Khwaja Sahab, Ajmer
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/pm-narendra-modi-muslim-community-india-vote-bank-politics-bjp-govt-6704400/
----
Pakistani Women Have Led Democracy Protests.
Can Maryam Nawaz Do It Now?
By Ayesha Ijaz Khan
5 October,
2020
A
file photo of Maryam Nawaz | @MaryamNSharif / Twitter
-----
From India
to Brazil, and the United States to Europe, a drift to authoritarianism is
derailing democracy. Divisive polarising figures occupy high offices,
challenging the very edifice on which democracies thrive. Respecting political
opponents, fair play and transparency are hallmarks of democratic tradition.
But these values are increasingly disappearing.
The
manhandling of Rahul Gandhi by Indian police on the orders of the UP chief
minister as he attempted to reach out to a Dalit rape victim’s family has been
viewed globally as an attack on India’s democracy. So has Donald Trump’s
attempt to pack the US supreme court with right-wing justices not
representative of changing American demographics, or his attempts at
discrediting mail-in ballots, endeavouring to call into question the
credibility of the November presidential election. Less talked about
internationally, but equally worrying, are the efforts of the Tories in the UK
to appoint an ex-tabloid editor known for his partisan views as head of the
BBC.
All of this
is shocking for many in established democracies but it is an unfortunate sign
of our times. So many who previously thought that the US, for instance, a
strong democracy with checks and balances and a clear separation of powers,
could survive a Trump presidency without any damage to American democratic ideals
have changed their minds. More and more Americans have begun to realise that
the politics of resistance is the need of the hour.
In
Pakistan, we have not historically had the robust democratic structure that
countries like the US, UK and even India had, but we have had our share of
democratic movements, at various junctures, to push back against dictators and
undemocratic forces. Curiously, the burden to lead these movements has often
fallen on female shoulders. From Fatima Jinnah fighting against Ayub Khan’s
dictatorial regime, to Benazir Bhutto standing firm against Ziaul Haq, it has
been Pakistani women who have been the biggest symbols of resistance to
authoritarianism. Is Maryam Nawaz up to the task?
We know
that Maryam often disagreed with the uncles in her party and was characterised
by the establishment as a hardliner pursuing ‘the politics of confrontation’.
What this really means is that she was far less willing to meet kingmakers
through back-door channels, and preferred a more above-board politics. With the
arrest of leader of the opposition Shahbaz Sharif, previously considered
conciliator-in-chief, Maryam’s stance has been vindicated.
The
question now arises — will she speak out only when the Sharif family is
politically victimised or will she also raise her voice for more marginalised
activists and politicians, the likes of the PTM, for instance? There was a time
when the Sharif brothers were simply corrupt. Now, like PTM leaders, Nawaz
Sharif has also moved into the traitor category. Will Maryam be able to reach
out beyond the Punjabi heartland to make alliances in the peripheral regions of
ex-Fata and Balochistan?
In the US,
it took the Democratic Party far too long to embrace the Black Lives Matter
movement, and include within its fold the marginalised segments of society.
Four years ago, like the PTM in Pakistan, BLM was considered a radical movement
from which Democrats cautiously kept their distance, but this election cycle
the movement has been mainstreamed to the point of not only influencing
American but also European politics.
Towards the
end of Musharraf’s reign, when he failed to end corruption or dynastic politics
in Pakistan, as he had promised on taking over, a minister in his cabinet
confessed to me that, “When the establishment propped up Nawaz Sharif, it
unwittingly provided a political voice to the Punjabi trading classes, and that
base isn’t so easy to dismantle now.”
Maryam’s
support in Punjab, therefore, isn’t in question. If she wants to emerge as a
leader on the national stage, however, she will need to make unconventional
alliances and speak out for those in the peripheries, who have borne the brunt
of the establishment’s high-handedness for a lot longer than she and her family
have.
It is quite
clear that Imran Khan, another polarising and divisive world leader, is more
interested in incarcerating political opponents than delivering for the people.
But it was heartening to see that Maryam did not only call him out but also
questioned the role of other key players in the hybrid regime. The most honest
and relevant statement in her recent press conference was her acknowledgement
that it isn’t easy to resist undemocratic forces. She spoke about journalists,
judges, politicians — all being put under pressure to compromise on principled
positions.
It is a
cost that is difficult to bear and should not be asked of any citizen,
particularly not in a state that claims to follow Madina ki riyasat. Resistance
is a tall order, but resist we must.
----
Ayesha Ijaz Khan is a lawyer based in London.
https://theprint.in/opinion/pakistani-women-have-led-democracy-protests-can-maryam-nawaz-do-it-now/517212/
----
China-Saudi Nuclear Pact Can Trigger an Arms
Race In West Asia
By Adil Rasheed
5 October,
2020
File photo
of President Xi Jinping (right) with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin
Salman Al Saud, in Beijing, China | Photo: Xinhua
At a time
when the world was expecting Saudi Arabia to join the UAE and Bahrain in
normalising relations with Israel, a noted British daily published a news story
that has since raised Israeli concerns over the kingdom’s nascent nuclear
programme.
On 17
September 2020, an article in The Guardian reported that Chinese geologists
have prepared a report for Saudi Arabia — as part of their nuclear energy
cooperation agreement — which names locations having large reserves of uranium
ore in the kingdom that could be sufficient for its domestic production of
nuclear fuel.
This news
comes on the heels of an earlier Wall Street Journal report that the kingdom
has also already constructed a facility with Chinese assistance for extracting
uranium yellowcake from uranium ore, a major development in Riyadh’s avowedly
peaceful nuclear programme. The report states that the facility is being built
far away from the eastern borders close to Iran, with the help of two Chinese
companies near the Saudi city of Ula, midway between Medina and Tabuk.
The motives
of China in helping Saudi Arabia with its nuclear programme seem dubious.
Recent Chinese involvement in building Saudi nuclear capabilities comes at a
time when there is news of its major partnership with Iran (some reports say to
the tune of US$400 billion), which apart from making huge investments in the
sanctions-hit country also covers arms sale.
It is
well-known that China’s economic and geopolitical dragon rose mainly in the
shadow of West Asian wars in the 2000s, and so it is in Beijing’s interest to
keep West Asia a troubled region. By having defence cooperation with both
adversaries (Saudi Arabia and Iran) at the same time, China seems to be
burnishing a new ‘arc of crisis’ in the volatile region for its own Great Game.
By
supporting Iran when it has restarted uranium enrichment and by helping Saudi
Arabia extract and process its indigenous fissile raw material, Beijing seems
to be setting up and weaponising the two arch-rivals of the Gulf, thereby
catalysing a nuclear arms race in West Asia, so that US military is never able
to pivot effectively to China’s backyard in the Indo-Pacific.
The Saudi Yellowcake
Although
there has been no official Israeli statement in response to Saudi Arabia’s
nuclear programme-related reports, Israel Kasnett of the Jewish News Syndicate
observes: “Saudi nuclear capability, even if for peaceful purposes, could still
place the Saudis at the threshold of nuclear military capability, which has
Israel greatly concerned.” Another Israeli commentator is even wary of a
prospective UAE purchase of sophisticated weaponry from the US in the wake of
the Abraham Accords, for that might lead to the UAE receiving F-35 fighter
jets, Reaper drones and electronic warfare planes.
Thus,
Azriel Bermant warns in his article published in Foreign Policy: “The United
States does not deny that the arms package has been facilitated by the
normalisation deal between Israel and the UAE, but neither the administration
of US President Donald Trump nor the Netanyahu government are willing to
acknowledge the dangers of transferring sophisticated arms to countries that
are allies today but could be enemies tomorrow.”
It is
noteworthy that the New York Times reported in early August 2020 that US
intelligence agencies are “scrutinizing” Saudi efforts to build industrial
capacity with Chinese help to produce nuclear fuel that could later be enriched
to weapons-grade level. However, the article averred that US analysts had yet
to draw firm conclusions about some of the sites under scrutiny and believed
that even if Saudi Arabia decided to pursue a military nuclear programme, it
might take many years before coming close to producing a single nuclear
warhead.
For its
part, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has published a document
that states it would help Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatory
Saudi Arabia’s efforts to develop nuclear fuel for a peaceful programme, yet it
wants the kingdom to adopt Additional Protocols so that the nuclear watchdog
could monitor its nuclear programme more effectively. “The Additional Protocol
is the standard we all want, we all aspire to,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano
Grossi stressed.
The Choice Of China
The Saudi
regime’s choice of China for assisting it in its nuclear programme has also
raised eyebrows in the international community. Saeed Ghasseminejad, a senior
Iran and financial economics adviser at the Foundation for Defence of
Democracies believes that Saudis decided to go with Chinese companies because
if the kingdom “decided to move towards military nuclear capabilities, China
and Chinese companies will be more accommodating or at least less hostile
towards such a move.”
In
addition, Saudi Arabia is unhappy about prospective US plans for a reduction in
the US naval presence in the Gulf and its greater focus on the Indo-Pacific,
which is in evidence with its recent decision to withdraw two squadrons of US
airforce and two Patriot anti-missile systems from Saudi oil facilities
(deployed last year after the 2019 drone attacks on Aramco oil refineries).
According to Dr Mordechai Cheziza of the Bar Ilan University in Israel, “The
Kingdom can no longer count on Washington’s willingness to counter Iran, and
might well have determined that it will have to deter Iran on its own.
Therefore, until the Iranian nuclear program is permanently terminated, the Saudis
will most likely keep the option open to produce their own fuel, thereby
providing a pathway to a weapon”.
Therefore,
the Kingdom is seeking to diversify its strategic foreign partnerships and has
turned to China with which it has historical relations in the security
dimension. In the late 1980s, international concerns were raised when Riyadh
had acquired 36 Chinese DF-3 (CSS-2 by NATO) nuclear-capable intermediate-range
ballistic missiles (IRBMs) and nine launchers. Then in 2014, US magazine
Newsweek reported that Saudi Arabia had acquired CSS-5 intermediate-range
ballistic missiles from China in 2007.
In fact, it
was in August 2017 (at a time when US withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal – the
JCPOA – seemed imminent) that Saudi Arabia and China agreed to cooperate on
nuclear energy projects, with the China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (CNEC)
signing an MoU with the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) to pursue further
cooperation in order to explore and assess uranium and thorium resources. The
Saudi Technology Development and Investment Company (Taqnia) subsequently
signed another MoU with CNEC to develop water desalination projects using
gas-cooled nuclear reactors.
China’s ‘Arc Of Crisis’
It is
noteworthy that China has had a dubious history in providing nuclear technology
to countries in West Asia. As far back as 1983, China secretly made an
agreement with Algeria to build a nuclear reactor. A Washington Times report
then charged China of helping “Algeria develop nuclear weapons”. It was only in
1991 that Algeria finally placed this nuclear reactor under IAEA safeguards.
It is now
feared that the Saudi acquisition of nuclear capability would draw other
regional powers such as Turkey and Egypt to join the regional nuclear race,
which might turn conflict-torn West Asia even more volatile. Last year,
maverick Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that it was unacceptable
that the international community should stop Ankara from obtaining its own
nuclear weapons, although he fell short of stating whether Turkey had plans to
obtain them. “Why we shouldn’t have nuclear warheads while others do? This, I
cannot accept,” he reportedly told his own party members in September last
year.
The actions
of China in spreading nuclear technology to feuding countries of West Asia
could not only spur a regional nuclear arms race but also allow nuclear assets
to fall into the hands of radical non-state actors. As an aspiring global
superpower, China clearly needs to play a more mature and responsible role in
upholding international peace and security.
----
Adil
Rasheed is Research Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence
Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. Views are personal.
https://theprint.in/opinion/china-saudi-nuclear-pact-can-trigger-an-arms-race-in-west-asia/516781/
----
Where India Stands On Peace In Afghanistan
By Jayant Prasad
Oct 05,
2020
A
significant minority in India’s policy circles questions what India has gained
from its reconstruction activities in Afghanistan. India has earned (back)
goodwill and traction with Afghans from all parts of the country. Before
Taliban rule in Afghanistan, India had an exiguous presence in the minds of
Afghans, who felt that India had turned away from them. They now know that
India wants Afghans to stand on their own feet and make their own decisions.
They know India is working for a sovereign, united, and peaceful Afghanistan.
They believe in the commonalities between Indian and Afghan objectives, and
that India will celebrate Afghan successes.
India’s
effort to rebuild Afghanistan goes beyond financial support or constructing the
Afghan parliament, a dam on the Hari Rud River, transmission lines and a power
station to bring electricity to Kabul, and Small Development Projects for
education and health. India has contributed to building institutions,
developing human resources, training Afghan public officials and providing the
country with a new generation of educated and skilled workers.
The Taliban
gained ground in parts of Afghanistan not because they are “smart” and “tough”
as Donald Trump believes, but because of American mismanagement, Afghan
incapacity, and support to the Taliban from the Pakistan army. Afghanistan’s
defence minister, Asadullah Khalid, told me several years ago, when he was
Kandahar’s governor: “It is not that the Taliban are strong, it is that we are
weak.” The Taliban profile is disproportionate to its gains on the ground.
Many in
Pakistan insinuate that India is sabotaging the Doha negotiations because India
would not like Afghanistan and Pakistan to have good relations. Far from it.
Unlike Pakistan, which fears harmonious ties between India and Afghanistan,
India would be quite content with friendship between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
After all, the same families, clans and tribes straddle the two sides of their
long and porous frontiers. That said, India would be content if, irrespective
of relations between Islamabad and Kabul, the Afghan people and government were
free to decide the kind of relationships they should have with other countries,
including India.
Does India
have reasons to worry about the peace deal concluded between the United States
(US) and the Taliban and a future peace deal between the Taliban and the Afghan
government? Not if all Afghans agree that the peace deal safeguards their interests.
Not if they can preserve the gains made in Afghanistan since 2001. All parties,
including the Taliban, should feel assured that they will have India’s support
if they acted independently.
India is,
therefore, just right in lining up behind Afghanistan, with the external
affairs minister participating in the September 12 inaugural of the Doha
inter-Afghan negotiations. It is not to suggest that India has now warmed to
the Taliban but to underline that India has no reservations in interacting with
the Taliban if the Afghan government has none. With Doha, India has ended the
erstwhile ambiguity in its policy. India is willing to engage with any party
committed to peace and stability in Afghanistan. The invite to India was an
acknowledgement that India has vital interests in Afghanistan. While Iran’s
foreign minister, Jawad Zarif, did not participate because of the presence of
the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, a way must be found to involve Iran in
the Afghan peace process, which will receive a blow should there be a flare-up
between Iran and the US.
Abdullah
Abdullah, Chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation
will be in Delhi from Tuesday to consult with India’s top leadership, seeking a
reiteration of India’s support for the peace process.
India has
supported efforts to bring inclusive peace to Afghanistan by advising leaders
of different ethnicities to work in cohesion with others for peace and
nation-building. India favours the social and political reintegration of those
who give up their physical and ideological association with terrorist groups
and networks, resile from violence, and embrace pluralism and democracy. India
opposes the political accommodation of individuals, groups or Islamist entities
associated with the al-Qaeda, the Daesh, and their associates since this will
subvert the nascent Afghan democracy, undermine human rights, and destroy
emerging Afghan institutions. A subverted Afghanistan in the hands of terrorist
networks will be a catastrophe for India, the region and the world. The
restoration of status-quo-ante in Afghanistan could also lead to the
unravelling of the state system in neighbouring Pakistan — a matter of deep
concern.
For peace
in Afghanistan, there should be an immediate ceasefire. “Reduced violence” that
is being promoted as an interim measure will not be enough, as the Taliban has
continued with its attempts at targeted assassinations and bombings. A
ceasefire must be followed by the cessation of sanctuary, sustenance and
support to the Haqqani Network, the military arm of the Taliban most closely
linked to the Pakistan army, and other like-minded terrorist groups.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/where-india-stands-on-peace-in-afghanistan-opinion/story-gAYLu0YkvPYEOy3PyqTYkN.html
-----
Passage to Peace
By Swami
Sandarshanananda
October 6,
2020
We have no
idea regarding the antiquity of Yoga. The popular belief is that it has come to
us from God Himself. All we can say about Yoga is this that it has arrived
through gurushisya parampara (teacher-student tradition) from time immemorial.
Swami Vivekananda says: “Yoga can only be safely learnt by direct contact with
a teacher.” It is therefore a Gurumukhi vidya. That it is extant for such a
long time is proof of the fact that it is ever relevant and essential for our
peaceful survival, especially the Yoga of Meditation (dhyanayoga).
Traditionally,
Yoga of Meditation is non-theistic. One of its greatest exponents is Kapila.
Basing Kapila, Patanjali gives his Yoga Sutras. Unlike Kapila, he, however,
introduces God though as an aid for practicing concentration. His is the most
popular work today. Vyasa (not the composer of Mahabharata) writes a rich
commentary on it. Swamiji also writes one in English for the modern man.
Gita
highlights the importance of Yoga in numerous ways. There are thought-provoking
discussions on Yoga all over its text. Sri Krishna urges Arjuna to become a
yogi and teaches him Yoga of Meditation for achieving the highest good. Impact
of Shraddha on a practitioner of Yoga is tremendous. The word Shraddha is not
translatable. It is defined as an unfaltering faith in the words of teacher.
Vyasa says like an affectionate mother it intimately protects and raises a
yogi.
Yoga, in a
word, is concentration of mind. When the mind gets extremely concentrated it
becomes supremely subtle and powerful to be able to realise the Self within.
Realising the Self, it gets rid of the notion of the unreal puny self, to which
it ignorantly clings and brings sufferings unnecessarily. “Wonderful is the
nature of the Self,” says the preceptor of the Self.
Buddha
practises Yoga of Meditation meticulously and conquers his puny self. In
consequence, he attains the eternal Self. He follows the dictum, “Let a man be
lifted up by his own self.” During his meditation he conducts a rigorous search
into his puny self and at last discovers its falsehood. He observes that it
doesn’t have any real existence at all, hence denies its existence altogether.
His search, as Sri Ramakrishna has said, is like peeling an onion from its
outer most covering in order to look for its core content and see a naught in
the end. He, accordingly, puts forth his idea of anatta. But all he actually
does is that he controls his mind and meditates to experience the ever-blissful
Self in place of that puny self which causes him suffering like a mirage in the
desert.
Buddha
learns the technique of Yoga from an expert yogi at the outset of his
peripatetic life. He in turn uses it with due expertise for the purpose of his
meditation. So, his teachings are akin to the teachings of those ancient Yogis
who teach to be free from dukha. The legend has it that Buddha relentlessly
dances for seven days in ecstatic joy after achieving nibbana. The beatific
smile on his face in his Mathura school sculptures is indeed a reflection of
his perpetual blissfulness.
Buddha
gives us a perfect posture for Yoga of Meditation. From his statues one could
perceive what ought to be a perfect asana, firm yet relaxed and suitable for
prolonged squatting. We come across the same in a photograph of Swamiji as
well.
Gita
defines Yoga as: “That in which the mind, restrained by concentration, rests
quiescent; that in which, seeing the Self through the self, one rejoices in
one’s own Self.” Thus, control of mind is its key. Therefore, we must have a
clear understanding of the nature of mind first. An impure mind is not fit for
the practice of Yoga.
Impurity of
mind comes basically from kama (lust), krodha (anger) and lobha (greed).
Krishna exhorts Arjuna to leave them, should he wish to become a yogi. Vyasa
ramifies mind in its five conditions, namely, mudha (inert), kshipta
(agitated), vikshipta (scattered), ekagra (one-pointed) and niruddha
(absorbed/locked). The first two are not congenial to Yoga. The third one is
when mind settles on a thing but shortly and then slips away. Yogi starts from
here, trying to bring it back again and again in order to hold it on his chosen
aspect within.
He does it
till he is able to fix his mind on it for a long time. The more he resolutely
endeavours the more his mind gets calm to be one-pointed. This onepointed mind,
sticking to his chosen aspect, gradually loses the idea of time. His mind
ripening in this position becomes absorbed and ultimately realises oneness with
it. His outer consciousness now takes leave of him. As a result, he finally
gains Samadhi. The yogi then realizes an omnipresent formless (nirakara) Self.
His mind loses its individual identity in this state of direct perception
(pratyakshanubhuti). So Swamiji remarks: “The whole theory of Yoga is to go
beyond the mind.” Yogi now “rejoices in the Self and is satisfied with the Self
and is content in the Self alone”. He sees “the Self in all beings, and all
beings in the Self”, for he is “established in Yoga”. The goal of Yoga isn’t
achieved by giving short shrift to practice and non-attachment. For its
accomplishment abhyasa (practice) and vairagya (nonattachment) should go hand
in hand. Sankaracharya says, “Abhyasa, practice, consists in the repetition of
the same kind of thought, uninterrupted by any contrary thought, with regard to
the aspect of concentration.” Vairagya, says Patanjali, “comes to those who
have given up their thirst after objects (vishaya), either seen or heard”.
Swamiji tells us: “Non-attachment is the basis of all the Yogas.” The slightest
trace of attachment to worldly enjoyment remaining, Yoga remains a far cry,
says Sri Ramakrishna. Therefore, renunciation is its hallmark. “When the
well-controlled mind rests in the Self alone free from longing for objects,
then is one said to have attained Yoga,” tells the Gita.
Pranayama
is synonymous with Yoga. Prana is the vital energy which sustains life. It has
five modifications depending on its five different functions. Namely, prana
controls breath, apana carries down unassimilated food; samana carries
nutrition all over the body; vyana pervades the entire body; and udana ejects
the content of the stomach. Pranayama generally means control of prana in order
to have control over the body. However, in the case of Yoga of Meditation “all
the objects of the senses, as also all the actions of the body, together with
the functions of the prana, are dissolved in meditation, made one-pointed by
discriminative wisdom.” Hence there is no need to go separately through any exercise
for pranayama in it.
But then
there are certain truths about which its aspirant must stay on the alert while
practising. For example, “Yoga is not for him who eats too much nor for him who
eats too little. It is not for him… who sleeps too much nor for him who sleeps
too little.” Krishna teaches: “For him who is temperate in his food and
recreation, temperate in his exertion at work, temperate in sleep and waking,
Yoga puts an end to all (his) sorrows.”
This
resembles the Middle Path preached by Buddha. Middle Path is the net result of
Buddha’s experiment with himself. He begins adopting extreme austerity and
finds it obstructive to meditation. It weakens his body and mind, without the
help of which Yoga is impossible. He next tries afresh, taking in food in just
the quantity needed to maintain his body and mind sound and strong for pursuing
a proper practice.
There is a
scripture which compares Yoga with a fire that consumes ignorance and purifies
knowledge for obtaining Nirvana directly. It says Lord is pleased with one who
combines both Yoga and knowledge in him. It concludes: “Yoga is divided into
two parts. One is called Abhava, and the other, Mhahayoga. Where one’s self is
meditated upon as zero, and bereft of quality, that is called Abhava.
That in which
one sees the self as full of bliss and bereft of all impurities, one with God,
is called Mahayoga. The Yogi, by each one, reaches his Self. …the excellent
Mahayoga in which the Yogi finds himself and the whole universe as God. This is
the highest of all Yogas.” Yoga of Meditation is a passage that takes us out of
our sufferings definitely. It extinguishes all our miseries and puts us in a
state of undying peace and tranquillity. Its necessity in this stressful world
is inexorable.
-----
Swami Sandarshanananda is with the Ramakrishna
Mission, Narendrapur
https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/passage-to-peace-1502928007.html
----
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African
Muslim News, Arab
World News, South
Asia News, Indian Muslim
News, World
Muslim News, Women
in Islam, Islamic
Feminism, Arab
Women, Women
In Arab, Islamophobia
in America, Muslim
Women in West, Islam
Women and Feminism