ambaprasad_sc

Dear Jahnava Nitai Das,

I would like to know more about the facts you mentioned, the different ways of reaching this state (meditation/mantra upasane,Clearing our own mental contaminations and expanding the focus by increasing our concentration).

Best regards

Ambaprasad SC

How well do we know about it?

I have always wondered who is the "adhinayak" and

"bharat bhagya vidhata", whose praise we are singing.

I thought may be God! Our current National Anthem

"Jana Gana Mana" is sung throughout the

country. Did you know the following about our national

anthem? I didn't.

To begin with, India's national anthem, Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka,

was written by Rabindranath Tagore in honor of King George V and the

Queen of England when they visited India in 1919. To

honor their visit Pundit Motilal Nehru had the five

stanzas included, which are in praise of the King and

Queen.(And most of us think it is in the praise of our

great motherland!!!) In the original Bengali verses

only those provinces that were under British rule,

i.e. Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat,Maratha .. etc.

were mentioned. None of the princely states were

recognized which are integral parts of India now -

Kashmir,Rajasthan, Andhra, Mysore, Tamilnadu (old

Karnatak) or Kerala. Neither the Indian ocean nor the

Arabian Sea were included, since they were directly

under Portuguese rule at that time. The Jana Gana

Mana Adhinayaka implies that King George V is the lord

of the masses and Bharata Bhagya Vidhata is "the

bestower of good fortune".

Following is a translation

of the five stanzas which glorify the King:

1st stanza (Indian)People wake up remembering your

good name and ask for your blessings and they sing

your glories.

2nd stanza Around your throne people of all

religions come and give their love and anxiously wait

to hear your kind words.

3rd stanza Praise to the King for being the

charioteer, for leading the ancient travelers beyond

misery.

4th stanza Drowned in the deep ignorance and

suffering, poverty stricken, unconscious country?

waiting for the wink of your eye and your mother's

(the Queen's) true protection.

5th stanza In your compassionate plans, the sleeping

Bharat (India) will wake up. We bow down to your feet

O' Queen, and glory to Rajeshwara (the King).

This whole poem does not indicate any love for the

Motherland but depicts a bleak picture. When you sing

Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka, whom are you glorifying?

Certainly not the Motherland. Is it God who is praised

here? The poem does not indicate that. It is time now

to understand the original purpose and the implication

of this, rather than blindly singing as has been done

the past fifty years. Nehru chose the present

National anthem as opposed to Vande Mataram because

he thought that it would be easier for the band to

play. It was an absurd reason. But today, for that

matter, bands have advanced in technical skills

and they can very well play any music. So they can

as well play Vande Mataram, which is a far better

composition in praise of our dear Motherland -India.

Wake up, it's high time! Vande Mataram should be our

National Anthem.