English Talk | Sanatana Dharma - Past Present Future | By Sri Dushyanth Sridhar & Sri J Sai Deepak

Summary

Highlights

• Dushyanth Sridhar emphasizes the universality and relevance of Sanatana Dharma in modern times. 🌍
• J Sai Deepak shares insights from the legal front, particularly his role in the Sabarimala case. ⚖️
• Importance of traditional languages like Sanskrit and Tamil in understanding ancient texts. 📖
• The dynamics of balancing modernity with traditional practices were discussed. 🕰️
• Effective advocacy for Sanatana Dharma requires contemporary tools and understanding. 🛠️
• Speakers urge to focus on the younger generation for the future continuity of Dharma. 👶
• The historical struggles faced by Hindu culture are a guide for current strategies. 🗺️
• Combining cultural values with professional excellence can lead to effective Dharma advocacy. 🎯

Key Takeaways

• Sanatana Dharma encompasses a diversity of paths that must be respected. 🧘‍♂️
• Understanding and practicing one's Swadharma is crucial for cultural preservation. 🙏
• Languages are a bridge to accessing deeper knowledge and should be celebrated. 🌐
• Younger generations need relatable resources to connect with cultural roots. 🌱
• The legal battles for religious freedom, like the Sabarimala case, are pivotal. ⚖️
• Cultural revival requires both grassroots involvement and strategic advocacy. 🚀
• Historical context helps in understanding modern challenges to Dharma. 📜
• Unity in facing challenges and opposition is essential for survival. 🤝

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Lakshmira forgiven In a chapter titled 'Lakshmira forgiven,' the focus is on the character Lakshmira experiencing forgiveness. The content suggests an important emotional or narrative moment centered around forgiveness, possibly involving resolution or reconciliation.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Blessings of Paramatma Sripati The chapter 'Blessings of Paramatma Sripati' likely discusses the divine blessings bestowed by Paramatma Sripati. It may explore themes of spirituality, grace, and the impact of these blessings on individuals. The chapter could include narratives or descriptions of how devotees experience and perceive these blessings, helping to guide them in their spiritual journey.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Difference of this lecture The chapter explores the significance of the speaker's 32nd lecture at a renowned festival in a place referred to as 'bhagyan nagari.' It highlights the speaker's long-standing involvement in the festival since 2012, capturing a sense of tradition and honor associated with the event.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Introduction and purpose of the talk The chapter introduces the lecture, noting its distinction as it is delivered in Anglaba hasha and with the speaker standing, deviating from the traditional seated format. It mentions the festival being named after Sri.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Role of hunters in Sanatana Dharma The chapter titled 'Role of hunters in Sanatana Dharma' begins with a contemplation on Lord Rama, referred to as Prabhu Shri Ramachandra. The speaker mentions a ritualistic invocation (shank tanam) to set the stage for a discourse, drawing a parallel to a modern 'insta collab' where one simply needs to say 'Ram'. This hints at the idea of invoking the name of Lord Rama as a powerful and complete act, suggesting a deeper exploration of dharma through simplicity and remembrance.
• 04:00 - 06:00: Guhā's introduction and friendship with Rama In this chapter, we are introduced to Guhā, who is a key figure in the story. The chapter details the initial meeting and interaction between Guhā and Rama, showcasing the foundation of their friendship. Although the transcript provided is incomplete and isolated in terms of dialogue, we can infer the significance of Guhā in the narrative and his eventual bond with Rama as a theme of this chapter.
• 06:00 - 08:00: Kirata depiction in Mahabharata The chapter titled 'Kirata depiction in Mahabharata' potentially discusses various themes and narratives associated with the Kirata people as depicted in the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata. The Kiratas are often characterized in mythology as mountain-dwelling tribes. This chapter might explore their cultural significance, their interactions with other characters in the epic, and possibly their role in the broader narrative, such as alliances, conflicts, or mythological symbolism.
• 08:00 - 10:00: Questionable traditions and customs This chapter explores various traditions and customs that may be considered questionable or controversial. It delves into the cultural, social, or ethical implications of these practices. The applause indicates either a public discussion, debate, or presentation on this subject, emphasizing the differing viewpoints and possible societal impact.
• 10:00 - 12:00: Common questions and understanding of dharma The chapter discusses the concept of dharma, which is often explored through common questions and interpretations. It begins with a reference to a grand and eternal civilization, hinted at by the mention of 'raven' and 'music'. The narrative likely delves into the philosophical and spiritual underpinnings of dharma as it relates to this idealized civilization. The aim is to understand how dharma shapes beliefs, ethical systems, and the enduring nature of civilizations.
• 12:00 - 16:00: Respect for all languages in Sanatana Dharma This chapter delves into the essence of Sanatana Dharma, emphasizing respect for all languages. During a discourse from the Shri Mahabharatam, Vasa highlights individuals who are proficient in 'karmakandum.' The narrative underlines the inclusiveness and reverence within the spiritual practices, suggesting that Sanatana Dharma appreciates and acknowledges the significance of diverse linguistic expressions within its rituals and teachings.
• 16:00 - 19:00: Cultural richness and importance of languages The chapter titled 'Cultural richness and importance of languages' begins with a universal acknowledgment of the verses attributed to Krishna, highlighting the ancient teachings known as sanatana dharma, given to us by purvaara surakam. The chapter further delves into the divine aspect of Bhagavan and Sri Vishnu, emphasizing the timeless nature of Vishnu, who embodies the past, present, and future.
• 19:00 - 21:00: Role of music and arts in Sanatana Dharma The chapter discusses the role of music and arts in Sanatana Dharma, emphasizing the importance and influence these elements have within the tradition. The conversation is framed from a future perspective, taking into account modern considerations and the views of contemporary astikas (believers) in bhagyanagari (a term referring to a region or city known for devotion). It invites insights and opinions, particularly in the context of evolving cultural dynamics.
• 21:00 - 23:00: Preservation and respect for traditions The chapter delves into the significance of hunters, specifically the Kiratas, within Sanatana Dharma, highlighting an often overlooked aspect of this ancient tradition. It explores their roles and contributions, suggesting a nuanced understanding of their place in history.
• 23:00 - 25:00: Critical analysis of traditional characters The chapter delves into a critical analysis of traditional characters, focusing on the narrative event when Rama leaves Ayodhya. Sitha insists on joining Rama despite his suggestion that she should stay back, reassuring her that 14 years will pass quickly and they will meet again. Sitha's insistence leads to a poignant dialogue between Rama and Sitha, highlighting her determination and the deep bond between them as described by Valmiki.
• 25:00 - 29:00: Questioning and understanding Krishna's stories The chapter delves into the decision-making process of Sitha, as she debates whether to join a journey alongside her partner. Despite being persuaded to stay due to potential discomforts, she advocates for herself, expressing a desire to accompany him. Her reasoning is based on the presence of numerous 'mothers in law' at the current location, making the journey with him appear to be the better option. This illustrates her determination and ability to make firm decisions despite external pressures.
• 29:00 - 33:00: Importance and process of shraavanam The chapter discusses the importance and process of 'shraavanam', a concept in some traditions that emphasizes listening and absorbing sacred knowledge. It sets the context with a scenario possibly involving the journey or activities of characters, one of whom might be Rama, and mentions the geographical or symbolic setting of Vatsadesha. Details are not fully clear due to partial transcript, but it seems to involve themes of dedication, service, and perhaps spiritual devotion.
• 33:00 - 35:00: Spreading knowledge through modern means In this chapter titled 'Spreading knowledge through modern means', the narrative involves the introduction of a character named Guha. Sitha meets Guha through another character, Rama, highlighting that Rama was already acquainted with Guha. The introduction itself seems repetitive, suggesting a rhetorical or narrative technique. Additionally, the chapter references an anecdote grounded in shastric facts, including a remark or vakya ('Vavakim') pertaining to a Raja or king's duties or actions, though the specifics remain incomplete in the provided text.
• 35:00 - 38:00: Preservation of family's cultural roots The chapter focuses on the cultural and traditional aspects of a tribal community, highlighting the role of yagya, a key figure who is frequently invited to significant events like the yam festival. Gua's father, another respected member of the community, is also mentioned, emphasizing the social structure and traditions that bind the family to their cultural roots. The importance of yam in their cultural practices is underscored, along with the rituals and celebrations associated with it, symbolizing the preservation of cultural identity and heritage.
• 38:00 - 40:00: Simplifying and preserving rituals The chapter discusses the theme of simplifying and preserving rituals, focusing on the relationships between different characters in the narrative. It highlights the enduring friendship between the chief of the hunters community, known as Goa's father, and a character named Sharata. This friendship extended to their next generation, emphasizing the continuity of bonds across time. When Rama was under the guidance of Vasishta, a significant association was noted with Parabakotand, a figure who wrote about Rama's friendship with Goa, showcasing the role of the hunters community. The chapter also touches upon an event involving Arjuna, although the description is incomplete.
• 40:00 - 46:00: Temple visits and spiritual practice In this chapter, the narrative revolves around the concept of 'tapas' or spiritual austerity in the Vanaparva (Book of the Forest) segment of the Shri Mahabharatam. It is mentioned that Mahadeva (another name for Lord Shiva) was propitiated and he appeared in the form of a 'Kir'. This section includes a reference to a beautiful verse, but the summary does not go into detail about the verse or the concept of 'Kir'. The text also implies a discussion about dressing up, but does not specify the context or details.
• 46:00 - 55:00: Misinterpretation of traditional terms and customs In this chapter, the narrator discusses the misinterpretation of traditional terms and customs within the Shabara community. A specific incident involving a man from the community is highlighted. This man wanted an instant costume and used solidified mad jalam from the mastaka of Ganesha, alongside plucked peacock feathers, to create it. The narrator reflects on how snippets of such narratives could lead to misunderstandings or even legal challenges.
• 55:00 - 60:00: Criticism of contemporary attitudes towards dharma This chapter delves into the criticism of the prevalent views on dharma in contemporary society. The narrative starts with a peacock as a metaphorical vehicle, suggesting a connection to traditional beliefs and practices rooted by the Ganges' nourishing banks. The imagery of the kirat (tribal hunter) and kirati (his consort) highlights a blend of rustic simplicity and beauty derived from nature, embodied in the cultural ambiance of Kerala. This contrast serves as a backdrop to the critique of modern dharma perceptions, which may lack such integration with natural and traditional ethos.
• 60:00 - 65:00: Legal and historical challenges of Sanatana Dharma The chapter discusses the legal and historical challenges faced by Sanatana Dharma. It includes examples such as the worship of the Sun born to Shiva in the form of Kirata. The speaker shares personal experiences of being questioned about various aspects of Sanatana Dharma during lectures. This includes questions about why certain figures, like Dasharatha, had multiple marriages, highlighting the ongoing curiosity and scrutiny around these historical and religious narratives.
• 65:00 - 73:00: Sabarimala case study and legal insights This chapter delves into the legal insights and case study surrounding the Sabarimala issue. The speaker reflects on the need for permission in religious contexts, citing the Ramayan as a source. The discussion emphasizes the importance of addressing questions related to societal classes, specifically referring to kiratas and sudra jadi. This indicates a focus on legal and cultural dialogues regarding inclusion and traditional practices.
• 73:00 - 78:00: Public perception and community challenges The chapter titled 'Public perception and community challenges' discusses the theme of purusha as found in the Vedas, particularly focusing on its representation in the Krishna Yajurveda. It highlights the significance of the purusha sutuka mantra and its connection to the mahanarayana upanishad. The chapter touches upon recurring questions and standard debates associated with these topics, suggesting ongoing public discourse and challenges in understanding or interpreting these spiritual texts.
• 78:00 - 85:00: Reflections on electoral and religious challenges The chapter reflects on the challenges faced in the electoral and religious realms. It begins by suggesting a mantra that symbolizes a solution, referred to as 'adishta.' The text humorously compares different regional media channels, noting a preference for Telugu channels over Tamil ones.
• 85:00 - 87:00: Advocating for deeper understanding of dharma In this chapter titled 'Advocating for deeper understanding of dharma', the speaker discusses the interpretations of the Vedas by various commentators from the past millennium. These commentators, particularly five notable ones, have consistently refrained from asserting the superiority of one perspective over others. The emphasis is on promoting a deeper and more balanced understanding of dharma through the lens of these interpretations.
• 87:00 - 92:00: Role of English and education in dharmic revival The chapter examines the role of English language and education in revitalizing Dharmic traditions. It highlights the absence of a hierarchy within these efforts according to a line in the transcript and references an example where Rama protected the yagya of Vishvamitra, suggesting the significance of preserving cultural and educational practices.
• 92:00 - 105:00: Challenges faced by Brahmins and Hindu community The chapter discusses the time when Rama protected the Yagya conducted by Vishwamitra. It clarifies that the protection happened on the last day of the six-day Yagya, contradicting the idea that it was the first day. The chapter appears to address the challenges or misunderstandings faced by the Brahmins or Hindu community regarding this event, potentially touching on technical or interpretational aspects of the Ramayana.
• 105:00 - 117:00: National identity and revivalist challenges The chapter discusses the concept of samskrum and its influence on the man. It highlights the traditional approach of describing body structure from toe to head, as opposed to head to toe. The chapter also commemorates the contributions made by Maha Acharas from the sudra jati, emphasizing their significant role.
• 117:00 - 130:00: Conclusion on unity and defense of tradition The chapter discusses the symbolism found in Vishaynava temples concerning the shatari, a crown-like structure placed on the head of devotees. The shatari represents the feet of the deity, Bhagavad, and includes symbols of the Sudra Jati associated with Namarvar. Additionally, it refers to the sandals of Namar and the depiction of Maduri, related to the Brahmanati caste. The chapter appears to delve into the cultural traditions and caste representations reflected in temple practices.

English Talk | Sanatana Dharma - Past Present Future | By Sri Dushyanth Sridhar & Sri J Sai Deepak Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Lakmiara. forgiven.
• 00:30 - 01:00 Namaste with the abundant blessings of
• 01:00 - 01:30 Paramatma Shriapati. This is my 32nd lecture in this very premises and uh indeed a moment of suhagyam to have been a part of this famed festival of this bhagyan nagari and u right since 2012 till about
• 01:30 - 02:00 2023 I've been speaking and uh this lecture is different because this is in Anglaba hasha and uh second I'm standing uh generally we are seated and it goes in the traditional form before I even start speaking I thought since this festival is named after Sri
• 02:00 - 02:30 Rama it is named after prabhushi ramachandra. So even before I speak I thought I'll do a small shank tanam uh to give myself a feel that I'm doing a praachanam the only thing that it's it's like the insta collab where you'll just have to say Ram that's all not the one don't take the name of
• 02:30 - 03:00 the one who's seated somewhere in the mount road so this is dasharatama [Applause] [Music] [Music] Huh? Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign
• 03:00 - 03:30 speech. [Music] [Applause]
• 03:30 - 04:00 for forina. [Applause]
• 04:00 - 04:30 [Music] raven a beautiful perpetual eternal civilization.
• 04:30 - 05:00 This is a vanam from Shri Mahabharatam where Vasa says those of them who are adept in karmakandum those of them who are adept in karmakandom
• 05:00 - 05:30 And they all unanimously state [Music] Krishnamatam. The verses as stated by Krishna. Whatever has been given to us by purvaara surakam is sanatana dharma. So that being the topic of the day there is an arma for Bhagavan and Sri Vishnu sahasam vishnua prahu the one who is the past the one who is the present the one who
• 05:30 - 06:00 is the future so sanatana dharma has been asked to be discussed in that perspective so um a few pointers which I what is that Twitter language I am ho in my humble opinion in which I uh uh wish to submit in the presence of so many astikas of this bhagyanagari is one for a very long time we have always wanted to understand the role of the
• 06:00 - 06:30 hunters the kiratas in sanatana dharma one lessernown fact or probably not so noticed fact is the role of gua
• 06:30 - 07:00 inje. When Rama leaves Aayodhya, Sitha joins him. He initially suggests asks Sitha you stay back 14 years will go just like this the world is small let's keep meeting again after 14 years I'll come and meet you Sitha still insisted that she should join him there's a beautiful conversation sambadam that walmiki states between prahu rama and
• 07:00 - 07:30 sitha at one point in time he starts convincing no you don't come you won't have all these comforts there. So I will go and come. She she has a valid point. She says see if I come with you, I'll come with you. Here there are so many mothers in law. So the better option is to join you. So I'll come so I will join you and then Lakina does.
• 07:30 - 08:00 [Applause] I shall do all possible services to you. them start when they reach the outskirts of Vatsadesha which is shrinking. Rama
• 08:00 - 08:30 ends up meeting Guha and he introduces Sitha to Guha which essentially means Rama knew of Guha is somebody has to introduce Guha to Rama. How does this introduction happen? He says this is Guha my friend Guha this is my friend Guha. The anecdote that is given is based on shastric facts. There is a Vavakim which says if a Raja has to perform a
• 08:30 - 09:00 yagya the one who has to be one of the most invited guests for the yam is the head of the tribal community. So Gua's father was invited when [Applause] performed pasam says so very much Gua's
• 09:00 - 09:30 father was a part of that yagna this friendship that lasted between the chief of the hunters community who is Goa's father and the sharata continued to the next generation as well when Rama was under the tutilage of vasishta when he had to go to the forest parabakotand one of the greatest yatis in the last century mentioned in his book that Rama friended he became very good friends with gua so the role of the hunters community second when Arjuna was doing
• 09:30 - 10:00 tapas in the vanaparva of shri mahabharatam it is said that he propitiated mahadeva and mahadeva appeared in the form of a kir with his here is a beautiful verse. How did they dress up as uh the
• 10:00 - 10:30 lady of the Shabara community? As the man of the Shabara community, it seems he wanted instant costume. So he took the solidified mad jalam that comes from the mastaka of the elephant which is Ganesha plucked two three feathers of the peacock which he just pluck the feathers now you know somebody will take this 10 seconds what I've spoken and then they'll file one case putting it so he plucked those feathers of the
• 10:30 - 11:00 peacock attached it to his cab and then took the leaves of the trees that were by the banks Ganga adon as the kirat and kirati with a beautiful. So they came as a kata and the three but the beauty is in Kerala. So there is a practice of
• 11:00 - 11:30 worshiing the sunborn to Shiva in the form of kirata. So why am I giving such examples of kandapana or of karata shv shiva coming as karata is when see I have my own problems I give lecture practically every day somewhere or the other there will be a slew of questions the moment I give a email id why did he do this why did he do that but still I have to answer why did dasharata marry so many people he didn't
• 11:30 - 12:00 ask my permission you see I am no advocate for dasha I have to tell you what Ramayan states. If at all you have chance of going to saram or vikuntam you have to ask him there not ask me but nevertheless. So these are the questions that come with respect to the kiratas with respect to the sudra jadi. It is very important to address
• 12:00 - 12:30 In all the Vedas you find purusha. The number of mantras may differ and the purusha sutuka that is being recited today is the version that is found in the Krishna yajurvedam. It begins with sahasi risha purushaha and goes on till the uttanuakam that is taken from mahanaray and opanisha. Here comes the big question every debate that we go this question standard it will be there. So we have to
• 12:30 - 13:00 buy heart the answer and go. The next mantra is this is the mantra. This is called adishta in vam dishta vidhihi is an illustration. Now immediately when I go especially I think Telugu channels are better when I go to the Tamil channels
• 13:00 - 13:30 I'll be bombarded see the there are five commentators to the Vedas especially the pushup the five commentators not born uh in the 19th or 20th century I'm talking in the last thousand years none None of them ever ever say that one is superior
• 13:30 - 14:00 and the other is inferior. There is not one line found there. When we describe rangata we do remember there is a rule here. When the essence ofam comes as says Rama protected the yagya of vishuvitra
• 14:00 - 14:30 mahashi. When did he protect? He says he protected the head of the yagya. Head is the first portion. Now as per Ramayan six days the yagnya was performed by vishuvitra and the last day is when Rama protects the yagny from maricha and subahu. So the last day is the sixth day not the first day last day but Batri says makashirai the head why it's a technical point in
• 14:30 - 15:00 samskrum is pulling for the man when you describe the body structure you have to go toe to head you cannot go so the head becomes the last so sixth day becomes the So to commemorate the contribution made by Maha Acharas from the sudra jati even
• 15:00 - 15:30 today when you go to a temple adhering to a vishaynava there is a crownlike structure placed on your head. It is called shatari. That shatari represents the two feet in the sandals represent that of Bhagavad and the structure below represents Namarvar of the Sudra Jati and when you go to Namarvar Sanudi the sandals are of Namar and below is Maduri who's of Brahmanati. So this representation
• 15:30 - 16:00 of so to commemorate the contribution of Swami Namar of the sudra jati who came from the beautiful lotuslike feet of Bhagavan all of them hold chhatari on their head. So if you look into the description given of the sudras, there is one particular line in tantraartika
• 16:00 - 16:30 where the acharia says in tantraartika that there was one period where here and there you will see people from all the four varnas who were ruling a region. It was not only restricted to thehatrias. So these are all subtle points that we need to make note of. But where is the problem? Here is where I'll describe four terms. One is pama. Second is pramata. Third is pramman. Fourth is pramyam. Pa is real knowledge. True
• 16:30 - 17:00 unaloyed blemishless knowledge is Brahma. That person who is a recipient of the pama. The one in whom the knowledge settles is called pramata. But how will the knowledge come to us? It has to come through a medium. That source of knowledge is called pramman. Through that pramman you realize the object of your knowledge that is prome. So the problem is not with prana. We have knowledge. The problem is not with pramata. There are
• 17:00 - 17:30 so many people who aspire for that pram. Who are pramatas. The problem comes with us in understanding pramman. The books for that what happens? Sanatana dharma in its core objective gives a lot of space for people to question. There is no doubt. So the question will also survive and we'll get the answer and the person who has asked the question will also survive. So there are two aspects to it. You can ask and you can survive. Now this loophole should not be misused by
• 17:30 - 18:00 many. That is why Krishna [Applause] says you've been asking me questions and look at the place where he asks. See all these days he was extremely vigilant about fighting the koravas. But when he reaches the battlefield he says Krishna go keep the chariot in the middle of the field. And then Krishna does it whatever he says and then he asks a question. What is his question? Should I fight the
• 18:00 - 18:30 people who are standing opposite me or not? They are all blood relatives. So, so he says this blood and that blood is the same blood. Now Krishna should have simply invoked and said look into my eyes and start
• 18:30 - 19:00 fighting. He didn't do that. He started explaining karma yoga yoga bi yoga. Arjuna forgot what he asked. So 700 shlokas. Then Arjuna said finally I should fight right. I will do. See the beauty is even there it is Arjuna Arjun. Shrimatam is a beautiful conversation between Walmiki Maharishi and Narada. Shrimat Bhagavatam is a conversation between Shukabham and
• 19:00 - 19:30 Parikhit. Shri Mahabharatam is a conversation between Vishampayana and Janea. Vishnap Puranam is a conversation between Maitraa and Parasarmahi. Vishnuam is a set of questions asked [Applause] by six questions he asks and the answers come in the form of the compendium of thousand names which is Vishnu Sasra Nam given by Bishma that two on the bed of arrows.
• 19:30 - 20:00 See my grandmother used to be excellent in making a south Indian delicacy. It is called Okay, now I'll get back to the recipe. So, it's amazing and whenever you have a
• 20:00 - 20:30 long travel, generally people in traditional families end up making this delicacy. So, my grandmother, my maternal grandmother was extremely good at it. Leaving all those days where they where she was suffering from good health, when she chooses to be in the ICU, I go and ask her, "Please tell me the recipe of maka kurbul." When Bhishma is the one who is the overlived surviving Dumbledore of those days, Arjuna managed to miss all those days
• 20:30 - 21:00 and when he was on the bed of arrows he end up asking those questions. So Vishnu sasam is a set of questions and answers. Same is the case with Bhagavad Gita. Every scripture that we have has questions and answers. So today with respect to pramam we have a lot of questions that come in the minds of especially the gen Z I don't know what is the generation after that all the parents grandparents you know some of them they are extremely worried they they say you know such questions are
• 21:00 - 21:30 asked and we don't have answers to those questions some of them take pride in telling so list of questions many see you can keep ticking Those portions where you also have felt these questions are valid. Why did Dasharata perform? Why did he desire sons and not daughters? Alia but asks who? Why he wanted only beta not? Why it
• 21:30 - 22:00 is? Second when uh uh as per the traditional sources Rama was married at the age of 12, Sitha was married at the age of six. This is what we have been told by our purvacharas. There is no doubt there. Now why why did she get married? So see this is where we need to read scripture to better ourselves as a jvatma. We'll apply all the current day
• 22:00 - 22:30 rules then. Second, third did Rama check with Urmila if it was fine to take Lakshina to the forest. See, she was happy. Did you check with Urmila? You know that that has to go to a baritone when you ask the question. Next as they went to the forest why did
• 22:30 - 23:00 Lakshana humiliate Shupanaka he shouldn't have done that what can I do so all these questions will come next comes Agni parikha see the moment we all think the premise itself we is sitha is a very weak woman she needs somebody to fight as an advocate then we are wrong sitha is very bold if you look into the moola rama walmiki rahayam and rama says you don't have to come. She
• 23:00 - 23:30 says, "It is a grave mistake for my father, the king of Mitila, to have gotten me married to a man who's in the disguise, a woman in the disguise of a man." Then Rama says, "Come with me." Extremely well spoken. She doesn't need an advocate. That is why it is very important to understand the circumstances that led to Agniparika. Even before she was abducted when they heard the first AI trained voice because
• 23:30 - 24:00 that Maricha cried in the voice of Rama right hakita said Lakshman go oh she used to speak Hindi see they didn't have this concept of t-shirt Hindiad and all of that they would have spoken so yeah So she said Laxshman then Laxman said see Ma you've been living to with Rama
• 24:00 - 24:30 for so many years together nothing would have struck him you know he's anahasa but then she says if even if I've commanded and you're not going it simply means that you've been waiting for this long to initiate a relationship with me there are three verses in arya this comes comes as a struck in a smelting furnace and strikes the years of
• 24:30 - 25:00 Lakana the words that were like trident. Then Lakina leaves that place he sheds tears and goes. That is when Rama recognizes towards the end of yudhakandam though she's my beloved though she's my ardhangini he's my sadhmacharini as an administrator if someone hurts the other person without
• 25:00 - 25:30 any facts malign the character she should be taught a lesson and to those rules he puts the same blame on sitha and then the agniparika happens so agniparika is not a test of chi sitha's chastity Please read because there is a deep panyam which he states in Shrimat Ramayan. So all these questions. Now shift focus to Bhagavatam. Bhagavatam focus is very
• 25:30 - 26:00 simple. How did Draadi marry so many men at one point in time? Right? Second, why did Krishna marry so many women? Is it right? When I go on a December 31st night to have some fun time, my mother stops. Whereas Krishna danced in the middle of the night. We all celebrate that Rasaka. Why all these questions come? Now when these questions come, my earnest request is how do we
• 26:00 - 26:30 handle those questions? Why am I bringing all these questions is now my only worry is this this five minutes that I've spoken right this will become viral. Now they won't listen for the reply that I give. See it is very very important that we let people ask questions. If you have these questions feel free to ask. But Krishna says through a sadhachara you can get
• 26:30 - 27:00 the quintessential knowledge answers to all these questions. All these questions have been answered in the famed commentaries to the original works of Shrimat Rama Shri Mahabharatam by Maheshwarata Koshik Govindra by um Tilaka all these acharas have answered but the problem is most of these commentaries are in samskarabhasha and today the biggest challenge that we face today is our
• 27:00 - 27:30 knowledge of samskaram is very low or very little. How do we bridge this gap? This is where I would urge a lot of the youngsters to reach out to the traditional matas like shingeri, kanchi, aoboam, and madwasay matas to learn the nuances of these grantas and take it across the cities because expecting the entire population to now master samskaram and then learn it is a bit tough. But here comes another problem.
• 27:30 - 28:00 The moment I say these works are in samskirtum, you have to listen. You know this portion will be handled mishandled by a few people who have been fighting for the language cause. Right now there is always a debate says vanta language be any. The content of what you speak and whom you extol is what is more important. There is no bhasha which is called a superior bhasha. There is no bhasha which is
• 28:00 - 28:30 called an inferior bhasha. bhasha learn all languages I I do not know I'm not going to talk about the new education policy what are its benefits that is not my role as a praanakarta my only request to the all of you a cutting across ages communities gender is with respect to sanatana dharma with respect to hindu matam learning as many languages is only going to open your doors for brahman
• 28:30 - 29:00 Hanuha if you learn marathi the abhangs of tukaram namdev nyaneshwar is like a beautiful fruit that is dipped in amratam that comes to your hands your your palm when you learn tam when you learn tam the ra of t that's very important when you learn the ra of t along with its nuances I'm sure you will relish the verses of the arvas and the
• 29:00 - 29:30 nay in matter all of them have sung with such great devotion. I know it is how many of you can't speak Tamil. Let this video get circulated. I would urge all of you to learn Tamil and Samskaram because this is called ubaya vantam. You have to learn both these languages to get the nuances of the
• 29:30 - 30:00 language. So learn marathi, learn Canada, learn Telugu. Do not listen to those people who keep fighting in the name of languages. This is a big disservice that they do. Do not fall into this trap. All our purvacharas were polygots and if you were a polygot you were celebrated, you were rewarded. Don't we know that Shri Naramharo who hails from this Telugu speaking region the earthwel prime minister was very well adept in so many languages we are
• 30:00 - 30:30 very proud say 750 years back I know eight languages this has been that land so I do not know what monetary benefit it is going to give how it will help that is not my concern in bi it is very important to learn languages that is why traditionally espec Especially a karnataka sanita shastria sangeita concert will have kitis of all
• 30:30 - 31:00 languages. You will have thiagaraja compositions. Yes. The irony is very many compositions are in beautiful telugu. Most of the musicians are tamar speaking. So we will not know where to split. There is a problem there. That is why bhashagyanam is very important because when you start understanding telugu as a bhasha I'm not praising this language just because I'm in secondra wherever I go I'm extremely proud of such a beautiful language called telugu
• 31:00 - 31:30 because it feels as if every word of this language has been dipped in maduram and has been strung together the poet says Beautiful tiagara's verses amuktamalya. So many works that we have bequeathed are in Telugu. So Telugu bhasha is so beautiful Canada. So every language so do not fall
• 31:30 - 32:00 into this trap because our acharas have never stated that one language is inferior because they will try to spin this narrative that you think samskirtum is a dvabhasha you think samskirtum is superior just because it's called dvabhasha it doesn't mean it is superior we say in sastraam all these are creations They all form an integral part
• 32:00 - 32:30 of so there is no one language which is superior or inferior learn as many languages. Now that I've touched karnatic music in the last 15 20 years there has been a very very orchestrated attack to separate shastria sangeam from shastrram and bhi. It is an irony sanatana dharma says
• 32:30 - 33:00 at one point in time just through striking the right nadam you can get mokam it is called nado sudharasa nada so many kis that invoke nadam it is called shjam the first s gives rise to the next set of six swas every kiti of all our acharas
• 33:00 - 33:30 Invoke anata. It is a namaskar. It is a sadhana and in the last 15 years you know this is a very very stepbystep made narrative. How will the narrative begin? You know all the acharas previously used to dota namaskar and they used to sing. The first narrative will be see I don't think kambuji is related to sanatana dharma alone. You can it's an emotion. First they'll
• 33:30 - 34:00 tell you then you'll nod your head then uh then they'll say uh kamas and everything. It's just an expression you know and you know I still remember in one of my classes scintillate scintillate you minuscule asteroid in the vast expanse of the splendid sky. This is twinkle twinkle little star. Okay. So when you use such words and with that tone and with that accent you know people will say and they'll start nodding their head. So now kamboji has been separated
• 34:00 - 34:30 from shastria sangeita. Second the vagarasi will be celebrated will be separated they'll say thiagaraja celebrated that inner energy slowly paramatma will become energy momentum mass acceleration because you can't use when you use words like paramatma and bhagavan you're very low you have to use words like that energy that mass that momentum all what all we have missed in our physics lessons we have to do it here then that energy has
• 34:30 - 35:00 to be celebrated ated. So Rama has been replaced with the word energy. Then slowly they'll say why should we use the same tune to celebrate Rama? We can use that to celebrate the one who garlanded Rama with the chapel mala. That will be the third narrative. This this will slowly take away the bi element. Whereas very clear you'll be technically right. You
• 35:00 - 35:30 may get some titles but it doesn't really translate into sincerity towards that vagara nor to that Ishta devata. So if at all there are there'll be many practitioners of shastria sangeam and natyam nata is no different nata will also be a part of that. Please when you when your children are learning these art forms, when your grandchildren are going to learn or already learning these art forms, please
• 35:30 - 36:00 tell them if they don't believe, let them not learn. It's okay. Just because you don't learn shastria, you're not you're not excommunicated or you're no nowhere a low life. You've just chosen not to learn. But when you've chosen to learn shastria, please do not entertain statements like I don't believe in Rama. Rama is I don't don't. This is wrong. This is the biggest injustice. Shastriam or natam is a part of sanatana dharma. Do not be supportive
• 36:00 - 36:30 of those actions which say that this is different. This is an art form. This is an emotion. It can be an art form. But in shastria bi is an essential element. This is very important. Next after this bhasha gyanam has come. Next we have to deal with writing with no intent to hurt any
• 36:30 - 37:00 author any writer. Somehow we have mastered the art in the last 20 years to look at Rama from Rahana's perspective. I failed to understand Rahana. He will only justify abduction. He will say what I've done is right. Why should you look through the eyes of Rahana? Somehow again I'm I'm not hurting any author. They have the right to express. But this is going to cause
• 37:00 - 37:30 extreme damage. See let's take this one character called Karna. I've been telling in all my lectures we have made a hero out of him. He has lost 14 yudas in Shri Mahabharatam 14 South Africa and he is the one who suggests who tells Shakuni and Ducha Duryodhana when Draadi who has been dragged to the
• 37:30 - 38:00 sabha mantapam vastraatam how does it matter if she stays with the piece of cloth or without who gives our karna surya karan idea. But today we have come to a situation where karna of Shri Mahabharatam if you read the work is a very jealous person. He may have been generous but he was
• 38:00 - 38:30 very jealous. There are three four very strong instances till karna parva that suggests he was very jealous. He was not that great a warrior that he was supposed to be. Yes, he was generous. Yes, during his early days, he did have sufferings. He went through sufferings. So, we need to accept the character as is rather than making them a victim then making a hero out of that victim. All this needs to be avoided.
• 38:30 - 39:00 Next when it comes to the other aspect of certain other questions when it comes to sanatana dharma Krishna Krishna becomes a major topic of discussion because there is one instance in Mahabharatam when this little boy who has been protected by Krishna is born to utra there is absolutely Absolutely no
• 39:00 - 39:30 moment in the newly born child. The mother is extremely worried if the child is living or dead. That is when an ethereal voice an asharvakim says if a person who has observed brahacharam if a person who has spoken only the truth you have to suffice both the conditions. If he or she touches this child this child shall come back to life. Now there were many rishies who were gathered in that very spot and they were worried. See if they touch and it
• 39:30 - 40:00 doesn't come back to life then there is a problem. So they said today is chitra porami today my wow is not to touch. The only person who was left in that huge crowd was Krishna. Two conditions he should have been a brahmacharium. He should have practiced brahmacharium and he must have spoken only the truth.
• 40:00 - 40:30 says, "If at all you make a laundry list of all lies that can be uttered by a person, Krishna will tick all. house it was ration bookman Krishna Satya Krishna everybody if they were in Tam they'll get thousand rupees and how is he practicing brahmacharam
• 40:30 - 41:00 but you know what Krishna does he takes the child onto his hands and he says if I have practiced brahmacharam and if I have spoken only the truth Let this boy come back to life. It was a parika that this child gave to Krishna. Parikhat parikhit. He gave parika to Krishna. He was parikhit. So this boy survived. How? Because there is a nuance
• 41:00 - 41:30 in shastra. Even if you are a grahasta, you're married with family with children on certain days that the shastra says refrain from a relationship. If you observe those days, then you still practice brahmacharium despite being a grahasta. And when he said that I've spoken only the truth what what is the big thing that we all know the next door kami and panka jam mommy came and said you have stolen my butter and Krishna said I have not stolen pankam mom's butter correct
• 41:30 - 42:00 because pankajam mom is his creation pankajami's backyard is his creation the cow is his creation the one who has made the cow lactate is him the one who has converted the c milk to curds is him the one who has the form of the butter is him So he didn't steal mommy's butter. So he didn't lie. So this is the explanation given by the commentator. Let this boy come back to
• 42:00 - 42:30 life. It is very important for us to keep listening. If at all there is one takeaway point that you want to note shanam listen as much as possible listening shanam there is nothing that can equal shraanam so many acharas you take a language teluguh bhashal you have got the great shaganti kotishwaru samed shmuka sharma so many acharas from the days of shashimalachara what great mahas this
• 42:30 - 43:00 land is produced how much how beautifully they speak If at all I can understand little Telugu and if at all I can speak Telugu it is just because I've been listening to them. Such beautiful is the language and so beautiful are their lectures. Listen if you're a Tamil speaking Astika you've got plenty of options. Brahmachri sundarumar my acharia kunakar achara from the days of singalipur pura manantra madikita so many acharas have
• 43:00 - 43:30 spoken listening you can never substitute because shrabanam is very important when hay brahalada goes to the ashram of shanda and amka and returns his father asks because the teacher says I cannot handle your son anymore we wanted to teach him hina
• 43:30 - 44:00 All this we wanted to do but this boy ended up converting all the existing boys there. Those boys started feeling that he was a better tutor than us. So we wanted to give thanks with returns. They come and give back. Prahalada. The father Hanybu was that way good. He said see I had invested so much money in your education. What did you learn till now? The boy says father I heard the first aspect of
• 44:00 - 44:30 pristine biam listening. How should the art of speaking about Rama mean? Thiagaraja says when you listen to Rama you should get goosebumps. It seems [Music]
• 44:30 - 45:00 You should get goosebumps when someone says Rama that second you should have tears. That is the extent to which bi should go within us. Shraanam no substitute for shraanam. And where should begin? If there are prospect parents here, grandparents who are expecting
• 45:00 - 45:30 grandchildren, it should begin in the mothers expecting mothers. And expecting mothers should keep listening because it is only the one who would
• 45:30 - 46:00 have listened to lines of Mahabharatam and Rama when he or she was in their mother's womb will later have the saagyam to be a part of This beautiful festival every year we are all Garbash Shrimmans. Our mothers would have surely listened to Sahasama or Rama. One day shraan there is no substitute for shanam. Then
• 46:00 - 46:30 partyam whatever we listen we need to spread the word. This is very important. I request in all my traditional prahachanams when astikas come you note cert not note down certain points take four points takeaways from the lecture four points type it out in WhatsApp and WhatsApp like the messengers acharas in those days it will take to your children your grandchildren and they may read how
• 46:30 - 47:00 will you know they have read it turns blue right you you will know. So surely you'll know. So please whatever today you have listened imagine take those two points share that on WhatsApp. It is very important that every astika becomes a dharma. Everyone is a dharma here. Never ever outsource your swadharma to others.
• 47:00 - 47:30 Thousand years back this is a line I will translate thousand years back the commentator [Applause] says means doing it seems you will hire one person you will say I'll pay you 20 rupees do on my behalf you have to do you are a dharma
• 47:30 - 48:00 pracharaka maybe some of you may feel you are not able to articulate so Well speaking write it down. If you are good in writing articles please write articles in leading dailies. We need support. Do not outsource it to a select few. It is wrong. We have to listen. We have to take the message. If you have four points you tell this way. Only if you read the messages that I send every day you can partake in my
• 48:00 - 48:30 property. We go see the irony is I'll be very blunt that situation should change when elderly parents they attain siddhi taprai immediately I'll get a meal swami my parents lines they heard you in kimatur all this I am their daughter I've come to bharat desam my parents have attained vikunta praarati we performed all
• 48:30 - 49:00 Danteshi uh there was a beautiful Kashimala 32 sovereigns that we have split amongst the daughters. Uh there was a plot for my father that we have gotten. Rama and Austakam is there that we wanted to give it to you. This is the state. Now imagine my problem. I give 250 lectures a year. Every day I'll get a shawl like this
• 49:00 - 49:30 with the shawls that I have today if draati cries for help. I will [Applause] give sha. See the irony is parents should also make sure that your children I'm not asking you to coax them but don't get into this habit of you know I I don't want to interfere in their personal
• 49:30 - 50:00 space let them decide they will not decide you tell them clearly that our kulata is this you have to go once a year to this temple. This is nothing wrong. If parents don't say this, oh personal space, I don't know where we have got. See, I'm not that old. I still don't remember 20 years back this words like personal space. Let's give that space to them. Nothing. Suddenly this personal space has come. When they
• 50:00 - 50:30 partake in your property, why should they leave the Rama and a pushakam behind? It is very important. And one more thing, these are all subtle things in kithanam. I'm sure there are elderly people here. Keep your puja room as simple as possible. Don't complicate it for your children as well. 108 photos, 250 vigrahams. Why were we see today we get
• 50:30 - 51:00 portraits so easily. 150 200 years before where were there so many paintings? People were just having a simple aradhanam every day. Keep your aradhanam very simple and pristine vishno thinking of bhavan. See it we have come to that extent where besides participating in or rendering discourses traditional
• 51:00 - 51:30 discourses praanam upasams the way we call it in Tamil when I'm a part of these public events if there is a great acharia or a great person elderly person it's a habit in us our acharas have said you have to fall at their feet I am told in many of the events by the organizers don't fall sir it will give a wrong notion because today we have started construing falling at somebody else's feet as being
• 51:30 - 52:00 slaveam when Rajasuya was being conducted by Yudhishta in Indra Krishna was asked what work will you want to do Krishna said whoever comes to your house I shall fall at their feet and do pasanam Krishna did the jagaria did it acham simple Simple aspect when I spoke about pramman when promeam comes the object of reference we go to a das tanam we do archana and in
• 52:00 - 52:30 the last 20 years you buy that 20 rupee 30 rupee archa ticket and you go the priest the vady are there the purohita we'll ask you for your nakhatra you'll go not one second our concentration is on that archa we don't know what happens What happened? What happened in between? When we go to a dasam, we
• 52:30 - 53:00 should have the thought that we are going to the astanam of paramatma. We should be well prepared for that. If the temple says this is the dress code, you have to follow. don't file cases as says there are so many. So our thought of course related to temple I have to tell you one question that Gen Z will ask you keep telling
• 53:00 - 53:30 that God is everywhere he's omnisient and omnipresent so why should I go to a temple CE whichever tone you ask the answer is very simple okay when you ride a bicycle there is air in that tube suddenly one day you realize that The bicycle is not working well because there's no air in the tube. No, you're telling, "Hey, Vu." You're looking at Wu, you are there
• 53:30 - 54:00 everywhere. Get inside my tube. It won't go. You need a pump. Your manual process to bring that vu into the tube. Agamastram says though Bhagavan is omnisient, omniresent, he's there everywhere. proved this. He exemplified this. All this is true. But Agamashastram says we as
• 54:00 - 54:30 primitive mortals and jvatmas do not have the ability to realize that paramatma who serve vyapin everywhere within us. So thereby we request Veda mantras to kindly request Bhagavan who servy to get inside that particular morti. So temple worship is to realize our disadvantage. It doesn't mean Bhagavan is conditioned there attached to this there'll be you know some research scholars during the Vic times
• 54:30 - 55:00 there was no such worship of deities. It came only during Ramana times. No, clearly says it describes the form of Bhagavan head to toe. [Applause]
• 55:00 - 55:30 Says clearly there is a reference. Ramayana says when Rama was asked to go on a sojourn to the forest for 14 years the residents of Aayodha went to different temples. There is a reference again do not fall into the aspect that temples were not present. It's a new creation. It tries you know people we I will do it from the same place itself. Why should we fight for temples? God is there everywhere. Yeah. All this is easily
• 55:30 - 56:00 wrong. Vishno in the Tamil channels they will begin with the word. I say immediately because namaskar has a deeper meaning. Mama is mine. Mama this atma is not mine. It is
• 56:00 - 56:30 that of paramatma along with that namaha you do that particular mudra you do namaskar mudra prasadini there is a deeper meaning that's all there is nothing no grudge for the word vakam there is no special love for the word namaskarum this word has a deeper meaning so namaskcaram who teaches this namaskcarams right if you type the word thanks immediately those two hands come you can choose that hand color also
• 56:30 - 57:00 Again this word has been misconstrued. Chastam says jatma is subservient to paramatma friendship at again bi is beautiful pristine in the last 20 years I'm sure there are elderly people here suddenly there is a commercialization of dharma
• 57:00 - 57:30 you do this you get That karma theory doesn't work that way. Only through sufferings we can wash our karma. Until and unless we realize this we will fall into that trap. Of course you can do abhishakam to bhagavan. Why? Because you enjoy seeing the abhishakam. You can do archa. Why b shastram doesn't state that if you do this alone you will get this extreme concentration on
• 57:30 - 58:00 parharam should come down. Jotisha shastram is an angam of sanatana dharma. No doubt it is one of the angas. But every morning looking to kumbashi and minarashi is going to spoil us. See do your swadharma first. If you have been asked to do syanam do that whatever comes you have to bear. This is dharmic knowledge. But the moment I say this you know 50 people will walk away. I have to tell
• 58:00 - 58:30 Kumbarashi today your lucky number is seven. So why bring that down? Now when I've spoken about all of this there is also an other aspect that we need to take cognizance of holier than thou attitude. Suppose a youngster a young boy you know he's doing some Ramanama what should we do we should say
• 58:30 - 59:00 very good you're doing so well fine wear a doti and say it he will wear a doti next day you have not worn your where is your brahmucha put it properly by the time we try correcting that boy that boy becomes he will he will join one of the people in the Chennai region slowly we are making See it is very important that you do your swadharma. Don't keep finding faults in somebody else's practice. That
• 59:00 - 59:30 is very important because that child out of great peer pressure is trying to get out and trying to do whatever little he or she can encourage that encouragement will surely go a long way. Suppose there are youngsters coming for my discourse. What is my duty to do what to say what is there in Ramayana and whatever purvaas have said. Now I start commenting about the hair of the woman. I start commenting about the dress of the youngsters. Wrong. And if at all you
• 59:30 - 60:00 wish to convey for a nice purpose say it in a way that it doesn't hurt the other person. What you say and how you say both matter. Next we have this other problem. I wouldn't say a problem a challenge. Sanatana dharma has three big branches in a tree. One is sham. Second is vaynavam. Third is largely shaktum. The other kumaram gapatam will come within these branches. Each of these are very well grown branches of the
• 60:00 - 60:30 tree. They have their own set of scriptures all rooted in Vedas. There is no doubt. But though we practice I may practice vaynavam and other astika may practice sham. Let us go in our paths without belittling the other. It is very important to understand there are wonderful occasions in our puranas and in our agamas where there is a
• 60:30 - 61:00 beautiful amalgamation where both vayishnavam and sham come together. You go to chidarakam one place you stand you can see goindraa the other place is when you read says inundum returns from lanka burning certain parts of lanka wmiki says he
• 61:00 - 61:30 burnt lanka like how Mahadeva burnta In a work that has Rama, you have a reference to Shiva. So we need to learn to respect each other's path. Same is the case with three branches Adwam, Vishta, Adwam and Dwight. Each of the acharas adishankar bhagavaduja madhawara who came from three neighboring states at different points in time have worked very hard to
• 61:30 - 62:00 bring in and cherish the roots of sanatana dharma. No one acharia is greater than the other. If we follow one particular achara that acharia spadhhati we have to follow without belittling the other acharia. See this widely spread tree of sanata with sham shakamishtam is what will give us shade. This sudden love for amalgamation
• 62:00 - 62:30 bringing all of them together like GST. Why can't we have one book s one tree then you'll have one big coconut tree without any shade? It has to be a largely grown tree. When Paramachara the great sage of Kanchi Chandra Shikharendra Saraspati was asked why do we have so many matams? Paramachara beautifully said if you're a farmer and you till your land and you sew seeds you will not sew all your seeds in one place. You'll just spread them out. Out of 100 seeds 50 will germinate. 50 will not. Similarly are these parts. Do not
• 62:30 - 63:00 ever think of bringing all of them together. The followers can start respecting each other. Don't be little. So that is another aspect. Now with respect to this holier than thou attitude, my only request is do not ever keep belittling the future generations. That's very important. They are so important to us that even speakers like us who are praachartas, we
• 63:00 - 63:30 have to you know I have to watch never have I ever fourth season to relate to Dvi Vishuakumar because I have to bring references that they can understand piranhas and itas the beauty is only unless and until they are relatable to the current day it will never impress the children. So it's very important that we bring in that aspect and um every part of sanatana dharma is
• 63:30 - 64:00 extremely important every language is important every jati is important and finally doing swadharma whatever you've been practicing pitra karma which is shadam for your ancestors going to yourta kuladvata doing your swadharma is very important because every person is a pracharaka Sadra dharma. My only request to the all of you present is when we practice vadma in a way which is
• 64:00 - 64:30 bringing us humility in us surely you will become the role model for others that says Krishna and Shrimat Shrimat Bhagavat Gita. So you will become the person who's a role model. So this stage has been of a great inspiration to speakers like us and I'm extremely indebted to this festival for giving me the space. In a traditional south Indian food you have I'm sure there'll be uh
• 64:30 - 65:00 aikas of uttar bharatam as well. You must have come across there is a certain delicacy called koram. So that is the first one that comes in the list. Then when you need clarity paramachara used to state after korumbul comes rasam and then comes the sweet and then comes the curd rice. The sweet is the pasum. Curd rice is curd rice. Now now the beauty is raayan begins with
• 65:00 - 65:30 pasum. has curd rice says shukabam and shrimmed bhagavatam. My part of the speech was like and rasam. You will now be served with pasum and masala kabalam
• 65:30 - 66:00 by a great human being an astika who through his various activities does his little kinchitkaram for dharma. Uh I'm extremely proud to have Shri Sai Deepak in this forum and uh there are very many friends of mine, very many family members who
• 66:00 - 66:30 keep waiting for his next video. He's such a beautiful speaker and uh more than being a speaker, he makes a lot of us think. That is very important. We all become thinkers. Of course we have to execute it later. So uh I'm extremely proud because when Krishna entered Matura, what is the biggest happiness that the citizens of Matura had? They said our person is back to our town. So
• 66:30 - 67:00 uh he's he's an asset of your Bhagya and uh I would love the MC to introduce Simha Kalyana Shrimat Vantaura as told in Ithas and by Alvas was well quoted and strongly presented by Sri Dushan Sridar. Our heartfelt thanks to him. Now we invite Sri Sai
• 67:00 - 67:30 Deepak Aar to share his thoughts with us on Sanatana Dharma. Thank you. Participate in this event. I think he's been after me for the last 2 years the same way that we are after judges for dates. So thank you. Thanks to his kind invitation, I've managed to hear such a fantastic speech by Dushin Shrar. A huge round of
• 67:30 - 68:00 applause for what he's just done that it is possible for people who subscribe to tradition to straddle the worlds of tradition and modernity. I think he is an example of it where he's able to reach out to audiences of different shades and hues and he's able to serve them swadanar depending on what they can
• 68:00 - 68:30 consume and I say this with the deepest of humility he's not made it easy for me to follow his act today so I was actually racking my brains as to what am I supposed to speak on especially on Shriram Ramy because a lot of things have been going on and I'm sure people have been following the recent unsavory developments in the state of Tamil Nad the kind of dialogues and the kind of statements that have been issued with respect to sanatana dharma I'll start with a a small but
• 68:30 - 69:00 pertinent clarification and then I'll proceed to what I have to share with no disrespect to people who are activists or who operate in the mold of activists I must say that I am not an activist and I will never be one. I am not a social activist under any circumstances. I am a mercenary, ruthless commercial litigator and I will die one who also hopes to contribute to his
• 69:00 - 69:30 dharmic cleanings to the best of his professional capabilities without compromising on his professional standing for two reasons. The forum that I operate in requires me to operate in the mold of a litigator first and not a Hindu first. That is unfortunately my professional reality. So if I have to be taken seriously by the forum in which I practice and my core competence being litigation, I must be a lawyer's lawyer first before I become a Hindu.
• 69:30 - 70:00 Unfortunately, that is my that is my situation. Over the last one and a half to two years, I have taken a serious backseat in delivering public lectures or in being part of public engagements for multiple reasons. One, I did not want to launch the third book for the reason that I didn't want people to write me off as a litigator. Two, I had to secure a few professional
• 70:00 - 70:30 goals to take Gandhi in my hand before I can continue my work. That had to happen because I am tired of asking Hindus and Hindu moneybacks to start contributing to Hindu causes. I thought I might as well uh make a beginning and in the process perhaps present a workable model for people to follow because not everybody can be a duchan who chooses to make this a full-time
• 70:30 - 71:00 job. So if I have to reach out to the youngsters of my generation and the next generation, I have to present a model which strikes a balance between dharma and ara at the same time. For I was beginning to wonder whether these engagements have borne any kind of fruit. I was actually questioning the validity or the utility of it because I genuinely felt they were futile for multiple reasons.
• 71:00 - 71:30 Because each time you go to these platforms, the one thing that it does is that it starts creating a cult around you and the focus moves away from the message to the messenger. But the messenger is equally important because at the end of the day people need an embodiment or a personification of the message in order
• 71:30 - 72:00 for them to relate to the message in the first place. So the messenger is equally important. I don't deny that whatsoever. But as much as I say this without any sense of false modesty because I'm anything but a modest or humble person is that personality cults will be the end of sanatana dharma. If we do not focus on the message that is being presented and act on it. One of the best things that has happened today through Dushin Srther is that he has
• 72:00 - 72:30 managed to straddle the heights of esoterica in terms of philosophical thought and has reduced it to very specific takeaways that you can follow and take back to your children which is the audience which is the battleground. Take it from me when I say this. The battleground is not the people in their 30s or 40s. The battleground is the next generation. And that's the crucial battleground that all of us are fighting for. Because that headsp space is the one that is most muddled and confused
• 72:30 - 73:00 and brainwashed with absolutely no access to resources which they can trust. And while they may be your children, the reality of their lives is peer pressure. the reality of lives of their lives is acceptance in their circles. So when people ask me why do you feel the need to speak in English if your fundamental message is that of decolonization because I'm trying to hope to bring them from pasta to idli through English and gradually pull
• 73:00 - 73:30 them in this particular direction so that I say you've heard me now hear Dushian srar I'll draw from some of the things that he's presented because the advantage of going second after someone like him is that he presents a wealth of let's say foundation materials which I can use as building blocks for my talk. I'll touch a slightly sensitive topic and I'm assuming because this happens to be an adult audience, you've come here with the with the assumed risk
• 73:30 - 74:00 of being offended. One of the best points that Sridhar made how would you prefer to be addressed danta? Okay, I'll I'll say the shrar is respect for different paths. I fundamentally come from a family that subscribes to kanchi mata and in my generation I haven't seen too many people who follow the rules of that particular mutin anyway whether it comes to nitakarma or anything else for
• 74:00 - 74:30 that matter and everybody has excuses to offer. Now these people where the apple has fallen far away from the tree will find it very difficult to swallow the rigorous anusham of traditional matas. They're not ready for it because what has happened over generations is the loss of ability to observe anusham. That is the single biggest loss. So if you try to take them back to
• 74:30 - 75:00 the core in its analoyed version, they're not ready for it. They will either rebel or they will be indifferent or they will give up saying this is an ideal which I can't subscribe to. I will not be able to live it on a daily basis. So such people end up getting attracted to certain anglicized let's say seekers or anglicized I won't use the word godmen but let's say anglicized gurus or acharas for that
• 75:00 - 75:30 matter which gives them a fairly relatable starting point after a point you cannot pull them in in this particular direction through force you will have to leave it to near and destiny in the hope that if it is written they will find their path from that person to the core. Ultimately the reason why I have come to this conclusion is the magnitude of the problem is such that if we try to tackle the problem on our own we will be
• 75:30 - 76:00 disheartened and whatever little we can do we won't be able to do even that because we'll ask ourselves what is the point I don't seem to be able to make a dent. problem is such it is so multifaceted it's across sectors you will lose hope and hope is the only thing that sustains us and I've said this often Hindus of all the people and sanatinis of all the people do not have the option of being hopeless given the kind of problems we have so I would request all parumparayic and traditional
• 76:00 - 76:30 platforms to understand that nonparumpa platforms have a certain utility and functionality at this particular point in time and if they have happened they must have happened because universe has a certain plan in mind and when the audience is right or let's say when the audience is ready for the message to be consumed in its most analoyed form that too will happen that too will happen because the best thing about sanatana dharma is that as much as it
• 76:30 - 77:00 believes in suadhma and karma it also believes that sometimes the universe produces a certain tectonic effect, a certain organic effect which will upset or multiply all your plans in ways that you never thought possible. How many people have heard of my experience in handling the Sabriala case previously? Okay. Have you heard of how it actually
• 77:00 - 77:30 came to happen? I'll narrate that story and I'll give you a simple example because I'll use that incident as an example of my own journey so that you know how far I have come in my own learning and how little I know even today and second what are the challenges of presenting our story before a so-called secular forum such as the constitutional body such as the Supreme Court. So I'll try and connect both aspects. 2016 is when I went independent as a
• 77:30 - 78:00 litigator after 8 years of practice in a law firm. My four my fundamental areas of practice have been constitutional law but more than that commercial areas such as intellectual property and competition law. I was 30 when I went independent in 2016. In in my right senses, if I had been someone who was representing the cause of Sabria, I wouldn't have engaged a SaiPak to argue the matter before the Supreme Court before a constitution bench. I wouldn't have done that for two
• 78:00 - 78:30 reasons. One, the Supreme Court is an extremely impatient forum because it does not have the time. Matters are thrown out like this. And when people ask why do you need face value? Because face value gets you the time to make your point. There's a decent chance I may make the point better than someone else. But since I am not a familiar face, the forum has no patience to listen to me. And therefore, you need senior councils to make the point. So what we do is that we make a senior council of
• 78:30 - 79:00 standing stand up to start making the broad points and then we start firing arrows from behind. So he'll be the first council, he'll be the priady and we'll be thear. loves her Indian point in the hope that if he forgets a point then we chip in three it's such a sensitive matter involving an institution of such great importance if I succeed people will say but if I fail people will ask who is
• 79:00 - 79:30 that idiot who trusted a youngster to deliver the job or deliver the goods so it was not easy four in such matters trust me when I say this the Supreme Court is a fish market because you'll have a bevy and a host and a slew of councils shouting over each other trying to make the point. It's not an easy forum to operate in. So a forum which is already struggling to give space to established senior councils has no reason to give space to a 30-year-old who is still a
• 79:30 - 80:00 non-ity as far as that forum is concerned. I may have been an expert when it comes to my areas but I'm still not an expert for the Supreme Court to take me seriously at the age of 13, 2016 and 18. Now here is where whether you call it coincidence, chance, destiny, providence, whichever way you see it, this is how it plays itself out. So this organization called people for dharma was looking for people who could represent them free of charge. They didn't have the money. Proono is
• 80:00 - 80:30 what we call it. That's the respectable Latin name that you give for someone who doesn't have practice. So they were looking for someone who could represent them. an anonymous person on Twitter and trust me when I say this I swear on Shiramama it was not me some other person recommended my name saying if you want someone to fight this battle free of charge and do it passionately go to Sahibak and I had no clue who this gentleman was I met him much later I didn't even know it was a man or a
• 80:30 - 81:00 woman and that told me that in my profession there is always someone watching what you do and in general I think in life that's a lesson whether you think someone's watching you or not there is always someone was watching your actions. So this happens in 2016. We go before the Supreme Court. It was then before only three judges. It hadn't traveled to five judges directly. It was before three judges. Out of the three judges, one of them was a Christian. The predecessor bench. A Christian clearly said this
• 81:00 - 81:30 issue should not be before the Supreme Court under any circumstances. And he was a Christian from Kerala. saying how is a petition being filed with respect to such an important matter before the Supreme Court. The clarity with which a Kerala Christian objected to the petition being filed with respect to Sabila even Hindus did not have it. This is what happened. I'm trying to point to the fact as Zant pointed out that the problem is less outside and more within. So when this happened, we got a a small window of 4 to 5 minutes to basically
• 81:30 - 82:00 explain why this institution had to be protected and there was no need for judicial interference so on and so forth. Then that matter goes to a five judge bench. Now when the matter travels from the three judge bench to the five judge bench by that time two years have passed. I was 30. I became 32 and on a daily basis the five judge bench was taking up multiple matters and weekly we were we were being asked to finish hearings. So the arguments on um decriminalization of homosexuality section 377 happened just before us and
• 82:00 - 82:30 after us happened the arguments on decriminalization of adultery. Imagine what a situation to be in. Sabriela is caught between 377 and adultery. That is the sequence in which the hearings happened. And we are wondering okay what is the mentality of the bench going to be. So when matters of this nature come up before the Supreme Court people like me have only two options. sit before the Supreme Court on a daily basis to watch their body language to see how are they treating these matters
• 82:30 - 83:00 or go and make your daily living through commercial matters. But if you do this, the court will not take you seriously because the court will only give an opportunity to those who have shown the patience to stay there throughout the hearing to watch the matter by giving up their commercial matters. So over a period of about 10 to 15 days, I gave up all my commercial briefings and I sat before the Supreme Court just to see how is this bench going to react? What kind of questions are we supposed to expect? Because law is not a science. It is an art in that particular sense because there is
• 83:00 - 83:30 subject matter knowledge. But the second soft aspect which which is the crucial component is human psychology. If there are two people or two kinds of professionals who are fantastic at leading people, it's doctors and lawyers. And you'll see a different glow. One will be a positive glow, the other will be a negative glow. One is white and the other is dark. So our job was to read the bench because the same composition almost continued through these hearings. We prepared our matters. We
• 83:30 - 84:00 prepared our arguments. We had a basic script. We were absolutely ready and we thought okay I think we are on top of this particular matter. Let's see what what needs to be done. 17th of um July is when the matter starts. 2018 the matter starts before the constitution bench of five judges. Every day we come back thinking poe po nar goinda it's over because the slant of the bench is negative at the
• 84:00 - 84:30 outset because constitutional matters are fought less in court and they are fought more in the court of public opinion and judges don't live in igloos or in islands they live in the society. Therefore, sometimes, unfortunately, it so happens that public opinion and daily headlines have an impact on how they think and how they perceive matters. So, as much as you're expected to prepare for the matter on merits, you're also trying to prepare to address the question of optics so that nobody
• 84:30 - 85:00 thinks that he's writing a misogynistic judgment. Nobody thinks that he's writing a judgment that is anti-women or a patriarchal judgment because nobody wants those tags these days. It's worse because the moment you use this tag professionally, you are excommunicated from a few circles. Opportunities are lost and you remain a person who is completely outside the pale of accept accepted circles and you don't get opportunities whatsoever. So nobody wants to touch it at all. It is a hot potato. While we were doing this
• 85:00 - 85:30 uh I was trying to restructure the argument entirely. a non- lawyer, a member of the team, a young boy who was in his 20ies by the name of Tarun Dhaga basically stepped up and asked this question as we were preparing and we were discussing this matter and he was a member of the people for dharma. Sir, why don't you argue the question of the privacy of the dity? If devotees have rights, doesn't the dity himself have rights?
• 85:30 - 86:00 I I was almost open to dismissing that argument saying what a stupid argument how is this even possible but fortunately my experience in the profession told me that sometimes non- lawyers have certain ideas and it becomes the job of the lawyer to build a legal argument around that idea because clients actually have fantastic ideas because they are running the business they just don't know how to fit it legally so it becomes the job of the lawyer to fit that particular proposition legally so I did some research and I
• 86:00 - 86:30 said companies have fundamental rights. They are not even natural persons. In the eyes of the devotey, the deity is a natural person. He exists or she exists. Therefore, why shouldn't the dity have rights now? Because it happens to be a team of believers. Somebody did a da prashnam. Someone who was actually doing sastap pri ended up doing a dva prashnam to
• 86:30 - 87:00 find out whether this is the strategy to be followed because the matter is so important. Astrology cannot be left out of the equation. They push cannot be left out of the equation. You have to take every chance available because you have to cover as many bases as possible. If you're representing his cause there are no there's practically nothing that you can leave to chance altogether. Dva pashnam basically said ask him to start with my rights of brahmachara. [Music] ask him to start with that. So the
• 87:00 - 87:30 script that we had put together, we had to turn it on its head fully and make this the centerpiece of the argument. Now the problem is I'm a lawyer and my legal strategy is based on daam. How do I do this? And I have to make sense not just to my client which is people for dharma which may endorse that particular
• 87:30 - 88:00 opinion but if I end up misfiring in court the community itself will pounce on me saying what did this boy do in court? What is this fictitious argument and what is this argument that he presented in court? I was operating under that kind of pressure and trust me when I say this after the first negative verdict the ones who said aha oh ho were the first ones to pounce on me which also tells me never survive on the applause that you get from social
• 88:00 - 88:30 media because social media is a fickle creature and I told myself you will neither make me nor break me I will do what I think is right your validation is secondary to me because at the end of the day I have to answer this question to myself to my own conscience and whether I'm doing justice to my professional competence and can I justify this decision on the annuals of professionalism that's it can I justify this decision to a lawyer who
• 88:30 - 89:00 is not a believer and who is a hardcore atheist can I make this argument to him because the forum is not a believer's forum you may be a believer the cause may be of religion but the forum is not of a believer's forum so you have to find a way to try and make that argument. Now it so happens that there was a host of people arguing before me. The stalwarts such as K Parasan um then Shri Abishek Manus Singhi appeared for the Traur Devas Swam board a host of
• 89:00 - 89:30 people. So 17th of July onwards arguments start by the time it comes to our side on the 24th of July we are being told by the bench that is our side we'll get just one more day which is 26th of August and after that by 12 that is 1:00 on 26th of August our right to submit will be closed they said you'll have all of you will have to finish your arguments by this time so on the 24th of August
• 89:30 - 90:00 I jump up suddenly because I'm a non- entity in the Supreme Court at least at that point. Today that's no more the case. Touchwood by the grace of God. I had to make sure that I throw in the handkerchief in this unreserved compartment and say this seat is mine because you see this is time allocation. So I had to say my lord women from the other side have been heard. I happen to represent women from this side because apart from people for dharma I was also representing women who were supporting the temple's tradition. So I said if you
• 90:00 - 90:30 hear their side you also have to hear the side of those people those women who who are in favor of the tradition. That makes absolute sense because it's not as if all women want to enter that particular temple. There are people who represent this cause. So don't make this to be a feminist cause. It may be a feminist cause but it's certainly not the cause of women. There's a difference. So therefore once I said this for some reason the chief justice then okay I'll give you five minutes. I'll give you 5 minutes on the next date. Now, because it's 5 minutes in the
• 90:30 - 91:00 Supreme Court, 5 minutes is a lot. 5 minutes is literally do or die. Your case can be made in 5 minutes or it can be broken in 30 seconds. So, I ended up reaching the court early on that day and I sat in the front row because in the Supreme Court hierarchy works. There is a certain jatiha there. Seniors will get the first row. Non- seniors will not get to sit there. That's how it works. So I just decided to sit there and I said okay I'll be shameless today. If somebody asks me to get up I'll say I came first.
• 91:00 - 91:30 So I just sat there and before me three more people had to make their arguments. She senior advocate Mr. W Giri who was representing the Tantri of uh the Sabriala temple. Mr. Radha Krishna who was representing the Pandalam royal family. Then justice Ram Morti was representing an Amayaka's version from our side saying that he's the friend of this side because each side had been given a friend by the court saying they will
• 91:30 - 92:00 represent the legal position from each side. The court sits at 10:30 10:30 11:30 the court rises for lunch at 1:00. We were supposed to finish our arguments by 1:00 and I'm given only 5 minutes. 12:30 12:45 I had my heart in my mouth 12:55 the bench is rising I had to get up and say me promise me 5 minutes he said okay what's
• 92:00 - 92:30 your argument so I said mil there can be no taxation without representation that is the fundamental principle of the Boston tea party of American independence if the dity can be sued the daty has the rights to sue as Well, if cases can be filed against the deity as the owner of the temple and as the owner of the property of the temple, then certainly the deity has certain rights to be asserted in law. They have
• 92:30 - 93:00 asserted certain rights. These people are asserting certain rights but nobody has asked whether the dity has rights. So this is what we call the hook line like the hook step and dance. This is the hook line. Basically this is the bait. So what you do is that if you have 25 bullets to fire, you choose the best possible bullet in your arguments and you use all your let's say years of experience to say what argument will get the attention of the bench so that I survive that 5 minute period. That's it.
• 93:00 - 93:30 So what we had done my team and I we had prepared our arguments in such a way a script for 5 minutes, a script for 20 minutes, a script for half an hour, a script for 45 minutes, a script for 1 hour, a script for 2 and a half hours. That was we had different scripts for different time limits because you never know what you're going to get because it's a matter of chance altogether. So once I said this the chief justice confers with the parci judge who was present at that point Mr. Nariman. Both of them talked to each other. Then he says you after lunch 20
• 93:30 - 94:00 minutes. I said okay foot in the door. Foot in the [Music] door. So he said 20 minutes. So then there's a flurry of activity and my juniors are telling me the other side is running like headless chickens because they never anticipated this argument. If I'm trying to tell you that they were running like headless chickens, it is not to put down my opposition. They were
• 94:00 - 94:30 brilliant councils. I don't need to be good at the expense of calling others idiots. Okay? If I'm good, I'm good. But they were equally good. And they represented their cause passionately, which is one thing that we Hindus have to learn. I've learned the best of lessons from the left, not from the [Music] right. when it comes to representing our causes, shamelessly I have learned it from them
• 94:30 - 95:00 because because most of us come from middle- class families. So I said okay now let's work together work on this 20-minut script but then I told them we will not exhaust our our submissions in 20 minutes. We will make submissions such a way that the bench will be forced to ask questions because when questions are asked the clock stops. The moment the bench starts asking questions that means the clock
• 95:00 - 95:30 has stopped. You are taking my time. What am I supposed to do? So I said this 20 minute we have to pry it open under any circumstances. So we started making submissions. So, the court assembles at 2:00 post lunch. 2 2:30 3:30 3:45 4:15. It has gone beyond the script that I was ready for. I threw everything
• 95:30 - 96:00 possible at the bench. The only thing that was left was the kitchen sink, the proverbial kitchen sink. Now when you're doing this since law is not just a question of knowledge it's also a question of human psychology you have to identify who is friendly and who is not you have to find out who is more aminable and recipient and who is more receiving of your point of view. Find out find out find out. That is why the week spent before watching the hearings
• 96:00 - 96:30 help because trying to find out who has what bent of mind. Which way is the needle moving? Because when people run down my profession, I'm trying to tell them you don't know what we go through. We are dealing with the most nonlinear entity known to humankind, which is the human brain. You have no idea whatsoever because a lawyer fundamentally is capable of representing both sides. That is what he's expected to do because you never know which side of the case will will be offered to you to represent. You'll have to be ready for both. So
• 96:30 - 97:00 fundamentally, most of us are Geminis regardless of our zodiac signs. Two-faced people, Janu idiots. Okay. And by the way, generation means Janus is the name of a Greek god with two faces. So we had to find our entry points. So it's like Abimmanu trying to find the entry point into the chakra to see what is the weakest possible door that you can pry open. We found out two things. Of all the people on the bench, the lady on the
• 97:00 - 97:30 bench was in favor of the temple. which is to say sometimes men can be more feminist than women themselves because that tells them no I'm on your side I'm on your side God knows what their ulterior motives are but that's what they keep saying I'm on your side I'm on your side and when we started presenting the material we said okay let's assume and
• 97:30 - 98:00 presume that we are going to lose in this round because Because the one thing that a lawyer has to prepare is that if he's losing, start laying the time bombs for the next stage. Make sure that somebody makes a mistake one way or another. Or you present an argument that is worthy of a second consideration. Ask any trial lawyer, he'll tell you if he knows that he's losing before the trial judge, he's starting preparation for the appeal during the course of arguments
• 98:00 - 98:30 itself. So what do we have to do? we have to try and present certain arguments. We knew that at least one member would listen to us not for not because there was any special affection to the cause but because first principle questions were being asked which is does the person who has filed this petition seeking entry into this temple profess faith in the dity in the first place? Do you have faith in order for you to say that I have a right of entry because this is not a cinema hall. This is not a park. In fact, even in cinema
• 98:30 - 99:00 halls, you'll have to subscribe to certain rules. You can sit at home and watch television and throw popcorn on each other. Try doing this in a cinema hall because your right ends where the other person's nose begins. Therefore, the rights of others who were actually watching the movie along with you will also have to be respected. Similarly, it is not your right alone but the rights of other astikas as well who are trying to enter the particular temple saying we have come to this place because we subscribe to a particular tradition, a certain
• 99:00 - 99:30 faith system, a certain anushanum that cannot be violated. So these fundamental questions were finally being asked. Fortunately when the lady on the men started asking these questions, we started seeing a ray of hope. When the verdict came out, the day before the verdict, I I went to the Sabrina temple and Nayapa temple in um in Delhi because I was not sure how I was going to react for two reasons. Once my arguments were done, I
• 99:30 - 100:00 was asked by the members of the bench, if you want, you can take one more day, continue to argue. I was supposed to be given only 5 minutes. I'd argued for over 2 and 1/2 hours. They said, go ahead and make further arguments if you want. I said, "I've said everything that I wanted to. I have nothing more to say." That was the end of it from my end. All I wanted to do was go and sit in a temple and say, "Thank you for the opportunity." That's
• 100:00 - 100:30 it. From 26th of July 2018 when I made my arguments before the court until 28th of September 2018 when the verdict was actually pronounced by the first bench. Everywhere people were constantly appreciating the arguments. I should have been happy but I was worried because this jantu called social media when it'll turn around depending on the verdict. You don't know you have no idea. And I said I'm still making my
• 100:30 - 101:00 bones in the profession as a young litigator. I don't want to be a one movie wonder. Which is why I constantly tell people don't constantly talk about my sabura arguments because the temple is not my professional calling card. it was a case and I will leave it at that. I don't need to constantly mention it. I'm grateful for the opportunity but I'll never milk it for my publicity. I've stopped using that altogether in my introductions and as part of my bios one because you should not do it and second I'm more than that. That's the second reason. Now the pressure is constantly building
• 101:00 - 101:30 multiple talks are I mean in limitations are coming people are asking me to deliver lectures on this subject and that subject without realizing I am not an expert on the Vedas. I am not an expert on religion. I am not an expert on dharma. I am good at my subject. And what I'm fundamentally good at is connecting the dots between diverse subjects. If I have to present an argument in electronics, can I become as good as an electronics engineer overnight for me to present the case in court? No. I will understand the logical structure and deliver it in court. That's it. That's my job. And I have to
• 101:30 - 102:00 make sure that the script that I deliver is relatable to a person who is not an expert in the same subject. How do I explain electronics to someone who's a BCOM LLB? I'll have to find ways to simplify it. That's where my primary strength is. And as the day comes closer, when we know that the day of pronouncement is coming closer, I went to the court and I was I mean I went to the temple and I was wondering I don't know what's going to happen. One is of course the the tal of the case. Second is my own
• 102:00 - 102:30 tal because I don't know how all of this is going to backfire on me whatsoever. Next day I'm standing in court. While the verdict is being pronounced, I realize that it's against us. I thought I'd get angry. My hope was I would get angry, disappointed. But I was actually smiling widely like a cheshire cat. You know why? I've said this before. I'll repeat it once more for abundant consumption. Angry people are easier to unite.
• 102:30 - 103:00 The attack on this institution will open the doors for greater sanatini awareness and ask yourself if that hasn't happened the verdict of [Applause] sabreal and the seeds of the argument that we laid and swed in that case which is the rights of the deity guess which judgment it gets upheld in later Ramjan bhumi because the rights of a deity and
• 103:00 - 103:30 the eternity of a deity, the eternity of Aketra, the importance of pranapishta, all the submissions that we made in the Sabriala case came back to be upheld in the Supreme Court which gave us hope saying okay now a constitution bench has agreed with the principle of what we said. Now here's where I'll take you back in time. This is a nonlinear presentation. It's like a Maratnam movie for all practical purposes. So when I came to Delhi in 2009 after law school and I set up I started working for a law firm. I
• 103:30 - 104:00 started dividing my time for my proono commitments, my tarmic commitments. I was brought on board for research on the Aayodhya case which was then pending before the Alabad High Court and I had made notes and I had been given a specific topic to research on. You know what was the topic? Rights of the dity 2009 I start writing this note on the
• 104:00 - 104:30 research for rights of a dity the dvatas give me an opportunity to make that argument in 2016 and 2018 that argument gets rejected in the first round through a 4-1 verdict then gets upheld in the Raman bhumi case finally in 2019 19 I think 9th of November 2019 by the time you're done you realize idiot you've just been an instrument you're a
• 104:30 - 105:00 nobody and therefore personality cults are useless you are a nimitam and nothing beyond you realize that with time over and over again and once that happened you realize Okay, now that this verdict has been delivered for one, what do we do? There is a mass awakening across the country. People who have not heard of
• 105:00 - 105:30 Saburim Malawa or Ayapa in any part of the country have started talking about it. Campuses are a go and a fire with discussions on the particular subject. 55 review petitions get filed. And here's why this was so crucial. From 1954 onwards, the Supreme Court has been following a certain doctrine called the essential religious practices doctrine wherein the Supreme Court will apparently decide which practice of which temple is essential for which
• 105:30 - 106:00 temple. People who are not trained in the subject. It's almost as if not just a urologist speaking on gynecology, an ethnologist speaking on gynecology, it which is even worse. One has got no MBBS degree to speak on the subject at all. I'll come back to the meta point after this. It led to nine questions being framed by the Supreme Court finally asking itself, are we even qualified to speak on [Applause] religion? Do we have the training to ask
• 106:00 - 106:30 what is the essential religious practice of a particular temple? Much more than the tantri or the male santi of the temple, who are we to speak on it? This journey is slow, excruciatingly slow and painful. But I've realized every kick at the door makes a difference. Two lessons. Hindus have a weak heart and they are terrible at willpower
• 106:30 - 107:00 collectively. They are fantastic at willpower individually. So after that verdict everybody is doing vidwa. Yes you must but unite and act which is what the left does brilliantly. Sabrial proved that the community can rally around a cause and that across the board they can step up and make themselves count. That
• 107:00 - 107:30 happened. Second, no defeat is permanent until you accept its permanence. And this is particularly true of the legal fraternity. And that is the confidence with which the other side operates which says we will build the disputed structure once again. That is what they keep saying when we come to power. The confidence which the other side has with respect to what was consecrated on the 22nd of January 2024. They derive the confidence that
• 107:30 - 108:00 time is a cycle kala chakrum. So someday or another we will have our shot again at building the disputed structure. That is the confidence that they have. We don't have that confidence. Three, as much as you need to know the subject or you have you need to have subject matter expertise in a particular area. The one thing that Hindus are
• 108:00 - 108:30 terrible at and I say this with a lot of experience having done this job for close to 9 years now is that we're very bad at reading the room. Our strategies in terms of PR and optics are absolutely astoundingly, how do I put it? I I have no other words to say, but low IQ. Our sense of strategy, our sense of priorities are all over the place. We are keen to celebrate every
• 108:30 - 109:00 small victory instead of asking what does this lead to to the next step. Whether we like it or not, time has put this pressure on every Hindu to become an advocate of the Hindu cause to become a lawyer for the cause of sanatana dharma. So I agree that we must become praraks but we must become extremely smart people who know how to operate these spaces. You know why?
• 109:00 - 109:30 Whenever there is a sensitive issue which shows some other group in poor light, the one thing I've noticed is that the entire community goes silent altogether because nobody wants to comment on it. Nobody has this disease which is uniquely Hindu called the foot in the mouth disease. They go completely silent. Nobody wants to talk about it. Whereas we are masters at washing our dirty linen in public.
• 109:30 - 110:00 And we must realize particularly when there are people who are waiting to watch us fall and fight within among ourselves either we know how to zip it when it's not necessary or evolve mechanisms of internal conflict resolution as opposed to airing it in public. So one thing that Dian says which I completely agree with is respect all the parts and leave it to
• 110:00 - 110:30 the dvatas to decide which is good for who. If you do not have that maturity and pakum, at least find a way to fight within closed doors as opposed to doing it on social media because what you do has a consequence for all of us. An individual's mistake can cost the community. If I had fumbled in court, it would have cost the community. Operate with that degree of
• 110:30 - 111:00 responsibility and awareness. Three, I make this humble request to the platform and the organizers here. You seem to have a captive audience and a loyal audience and an athican audience which has faith in tradition still. So kindly take this suggestion in the right spirit. The time for speeches is
• 111:00 - 111:30 over which is one of the reasons I have decided that either I will act in court or I will write a book so that it stands the test of time one way or another. So either I fight the battle in court or I fight the battle of scholarship through books. Otherwise, what it is going to do is that most of us seem to be behaving like soda bottles. None of these speeches are
• 111:30 - 112:00 meant to make you feel good. They are meant to incite some action, elicit some response, a concrete response. I saw a lot of people coming out of movie theaters crying profusely after watching which movie? Chava. You should ask yourself only one question after watching that movie. How many of us are willing to go through
• 112:00 - 112:30 that kind of torture before we convert? And two, with what fortitude and willpower our ancestors withtood similar to torture for us to continue being Hindus and have we done justice to that? And do we have the very same willpower and commitment? And therefore, I'll repeat what I've said before. My arguments at least got reported in newspapers and I I benefited professionally from it and I
• 112:30 - 113:00 have no problems admitting it. But what about the unnamed diksha observing swamies who withtood the laty blows in sabriala from the police when they were trying to obstruct people from violating the sanctity of the space. So recognize them. Three, most people seem to be operating under the belief over the last 11 years and I use 11 years for a particular
• 113:00 - 113:30 reason since 2014 that electoral victories and material development and prosperity will protect sanatana dharma. No, it will not because prosperous Hindus become dehinduized faster than prosperous Muslims and Christians. [Applause] The speed with which we give up our roots and we alienate our identity is mindboggling. Don't hurl this J called
• 113:30 - 114:00 rice bags as others because rice bags are being produced by the Hindu community. [Music] Four, my own assessment when I finished writing the second book was if the first kilafhat movement ended in 1924 and within less than 23 years we saw a partition of bhat on religious lines in 1947. It is my genuine belief and when I wrote the book I was connecting the past and the present and indicating the
• 114:00 - 114:30 future is that we are living in the age of kilafhat 2.0 O and my assumption and my assessment previously was another 24 years. I think we are looking at less than two decades, 15 years at best wherein once more we will be faced with the very same question that we faced barely two or three generations ago in between 1937 and 1946 because Pakistan was not born in 1947. Its birth
• 114:30 - 115:00 started in the 1930s. It became a reality in 1946. That's it. So when you look at these problems, how do you connect that with what Dant has said? Has he said something that is esoteric, that is ideal, that is not practical, that is not workable. If you want to know what you're fighting for, practice what he said. If you don't practice what he said,
• 115:00 - 115:30 you're really fighting for nothing because you're fighting for the continuity of that tradition of truly sanatana dharma to be able to pass it on to the next generation. So you have two challenges. Practice your swadharma which is a battle within and deal with the challenges outside. Do not run away from them. Now a lot of people write to me asking how do I do this? How do I do this? How do I do this? All I can say is
• 115:30 - 116:00 I am in no position to give you career counseling. I it is not my job. If you were serious about a particular goal, would you not do the research to find out how do I contribute to a particular cause? Please do it. If you don't do it, I unfortunately I don't wish to be
• 116:00 - 116:30 the dooms u let's say the the doomsday sayer here. I don't wish to be the guy who's who's being a wet blanket here. The ability to even host these sabhas where you find these spaces to congregate and talk about our issues even that will shrink rapidly and we are not looking at a timeline which is far out in the future. It is a fairly foreseeable timeline in the near future. Invest heavily in Hinduizing
• 116:30 - 117:00 your family before you think you can become saviors of the Hindu community. It is not difficult to lead materially prosperous lives and simultaneously doing justice to your dharmic obligations. Dant is an example of it and I have tried to do both for only one reason to show that you don't need to be a jolach who is constantly asking for contribution saying dhmat you don't need to do
• 117:00 - 117:30 that perhaps the time for bsha is still not there or it's still not come we leave that to people who are truly vedis who are truly following the the path of the veda most of us are usurper brahmans or usurper whatever we are because we are freeloaders of the efforts of the previous generation to put it in the language of Kanchi Mahabara that somebody has managed to pedal the cycle right to the summit and from there it becomes easy because the slope is downward and therefore we have
• 117:30 - 118:00 benefited from the efforts and the the nitarma of several generations which has helped our brains which has helped our the the power of vak our memories and whatnot and that will not last more than a generation if nitakarma is not revived. left. I have been a lapsed Brahman for the better part of my life and my behavior is less of a Brahman, more of a chhatria. Whether it's good or bad, only the gods
• 118:00 - 118:30 know. Even making these statements will invite cast jibes at me from different places. The fall of the Hindu society since 1857 is the fall of the duja and nobody else. If the duja is revived, the faith in that is revived. You have a core corpus of people who are willing to fight for that particular identity for
• 118:30 - 119:00 the rest of their lives and they will pass on the bet on to the next generation. Otherwise, I know of several people what is this during the August time when you have to that's when you suddenly revive your
• 119:00 - 119:30 your vows of being a Brahman or whatever it is. I'll part with one controversial statement and I'll close it at that. The secularization and desanatanization of the Hindu community started in 1835. Titam started where they were absolutely clear. Rob the Hindu of his Nityakarma
• 119:30 - 120:00 and you will rob him of his Hindu identity in about three generations. And they successfully proved it right because one of the first things that they did after the revolt of 1857 was to introduce employment rules which require you to cut the shikha or to not support the vibhuti in office spaces and you will see eos of that in modern office spaces till date. The reason is just as um I think the Yankees is the
• 120:00 - 120:30 nickname given to American soldiers and Johnny's is the name given to Brits. You know what was the name for soldiers of the British Indian Army? Pandes. Why Pandai? Because the Brahmans of Bengal and Uttar Pradesh would join heavily. They were the ones who constituted the British Indian Army. Which is why when they gave those cartridges the revolt took place at such I mean with such ferocity. Before that, a littleknown mutiny took place in Welor for the very same reasons because Christian missionaries were busy spreading
• 120:30 - 121:00 pamphlets trying to convert Hindu forces or Hindu members of the British Indian army. That is when the British man decided I have to do two things outwardly don't touch religion but gradually pushed towards secularization by putting in place certain rules which requires them to abandon nitakarma on a daily basis. 1857 we are in 2025. Ask yourself if that experiment has not been proven successfully. My answer is a
• 121:00 - 121:30 yes. Therefore when Maha Prava says until the Brahman goes back to the village and reestablishes the practice there is no hope for revival of sanatana dharma. I stand by it except that I would add my own two little contributions to it. You must find a way to revive those traditions and at the same time you must confidently fight the modern world in a language that it understands which is English. Do not give up
• 121:30 - 122:00 English. Do not give up English under any circumstances. I know this is a counterintuitive suggestion. Until your children become comfortable receiving this very message in an Indian or an Indic language, English is my calling card. And I have absolutely no qualms making that statement. I will do so unabashedly because I know of hardcore communist students who have become
• 122:00 - 122:30 hardcore Hindutwite students after listening and reading to these books and lectures. And the tipping point or the turning point I have to say this only for one reason not for self-edification but to tell you that change is possible. Do not give up on this generation under any circumstances. Give them the right material in the right way and say it with conviction and practice it and show it through your own conduct. They will
• 122:30 - 123:00 listen. What they will not put up with is hypocrisy. that there is a huge slip between the cup and the lip that they will not tolerate. I myself am capable of saying it. So why will they not say it? So there are two aspects for Hindu survival or sanatana survival. Sanatana dharma may survive but question has always been whether it will survive in bhat. Remember that because sanatana
• 123:00 - 123:30 dharma because it's sanatana dharma will find a way to survive elsewhere. Russians are waiting, Germans are waiting, everybody is waiting. They'll all take it up because they understand the value better than us. Whether it will survive in the land of its origin is the biggest question. It's as good or as bad. Asking will nature survive because of climate change. Nature will always survive. Because one will come, heat reset and the job is done. The ice age will start and everything will start. So you're not trying to protect nature, you're trying to protect yourself. That
• 123:30 - 124:00 is the same thing with sanatana dharma because sanatanha and prratiti cannot be separated. Therefore the rules are more or less the same. Three never ever outsource sanatana interest to any political party altogether ever. Use them to get the job done. But don't
• 124:00 - 124:30 blindly trust anyone. Until the job is done, it is not done. And we are far from getting it done. We have inherited problems of at least 200 years if not more. And the reason why I say 200 years is we managed to keep our way of life alive under the peril of the sword. But what ultimately we crumbled and buck buckled under is the power of the
• 124:30 - 125:00 pen and that investment is far more pernicious and longlasting which is what we are trying to counter through our limited contributions. So please make sure that you ask hard uncomfortable questions of anyone who is in power who claims to bat for Hindu interest. Encourage them for sure without a doubt. Make sure that your cause is politically incentivized for their survival. So much so that they work on it because they know there's a word bank to be catered
• 125:00 - 125:30 to. But do not stop pushing the envelope. Do not let anybody operate under a savior complex until we are truly saved. So there's a very popular saying in Maharashtra the it it translates to
• 125:30 - 126:00 Because the more you celebrate a saiipak or a dushan shrar, you're piling on us as opposed to giving us more support. The problems are too much for us to handle on our own. And this is not a statement of weakness. It's a statement of fact. We need more people who can join this particular yagna. We need more what do they call it? What is this twig samid? We need more for this yagna.
• 126:00 - 126:30 At the very least, what we are capable of doing is to kick the door open and keep it open for others to enter. But if there's nobody else to enter, what are we doing? I am jobless. And what are you? You decide. either get fresh faces or get
• 126:30 - 127:00 sharper issues and use this platform to come out with hardcore resolutions which can be actioned upon so that you follow up and ask what have we addressed at least locally for the community to benefit from. Since I'm a hard-nosed litigator, I'm bringing that particular sharpness and that ruthlessness to bear on this particular question. How have we pushed the envelope? How have we made a change? If there is no impact which is tangible.
• 127:00 - 127:30 All of it is nothing but bluster and guff and smoke. So when you walk out of this place, take a few salams and stick to them. Even if it's one or two, Duchant has given you a few. From the perspective of tradition, I'm trying to give you a different flavor but a connected flavor in terms of the larger challenges at hand for the community. They are not connected. They are two sides of the same coin. Because as long as these problems
• 127:30 - 128:00 fester, the way of life that duchant is trying to live will find it difficult to find oxygen. People like us are merely gatekeepers hoping that this tsunami will not eat up those who are doing bijaka through Vedina. We are only gatekeepers but the actual work is being done by them. A lot of people end up
• 128:00 - 128:30 asking if they have to do everything. What are you doing? They're struggling without brides. They're struggling without support for goshalas. We would prefer a California as opposed to someone in. And we want to come here and
• 128:30 - 129:00 see. Pardon me. They are the true civilizational destitutes. because they are doing what the civilization expects of them without getting anything in return except for ridicule even from their own competitives and
• 129:00 - 129:30 co-religionists. We are civilizational amnesiacs not destitutes because so we don't have the right to do this opari whatsoever. So kindly do not forget that those of us sitting in this audience are materially more let's say better off compared to those people. If I have to contribute to a cause I will go by what the Veda says go
• 129:30 - 130:00 brahana it's a straightforward suggestion that's it that's where the calculation ends for me. We are all be knows he knows are Hindus in name only. beos are Brahman as in name only whoever they are. So I would prefer to support that core as much as possible because that core is constantly being ridiculed through social media, through articles, through movies,
• 130:00 - 130:30 through journals every day. Previously I used to think twice before using the word Brahman or uttering the word Brahman. I have stopped being let's say abashed about it. I will use the word on a daily basis wherever I get an opportunity because that identity has been under attack alongside the Russian revolution because the worst form of pernicious anti-hindu
• 130:30 - 131:00 anti-barat agenda that we have seen is the drevenous agenda which started alongside the Russian revolution in bhat and from that day on it's been going on and that absolute let's say snake pit has managed to spill over from Tamil Nad into Andra into Telangana and Karnataka. It is the fastest growing cancer and virus much more than any other separatist movement that wields the AK-47.
• 131:00 - 131:30 Ultimately Sri Rama represents the protection or let's say he represents the epitome of the guardian of sanatana dharma because he lived by it. He swore by it and he could wield the sword for it. While people are busy looking for management lessons in Shri Rama, the fundamental thing that he stands for is
• 131:30 - 132:00 protection of sanatana dharma. So try not to come out with books on how Ramayan is relevant from a management perspective. All that nonsense is not needed. We don't need that. Have the guts to support tradition on the terms of tradition in the language of tradition without trying to dilute the message. Watch anyone from the other communities defend the worst of their practices and they do so with such conviction that
• 132:00 - 132:30 they literally get away with murder. And here we can't even defend basic practices in the language of the practices. We feel the need to constantly use secularism, liberalism and progressivism as synonyms to defend even tradition. That is the saddest part of it that you're trying to retrofit these Protestant values into sanatana dharma and the vic age. Shame on us. Do you need the support of Protestant Christian theology to defend Sanatana Dharma? That is what is happening. We
• 132:30 - 133:00 are inclusive. We are broad-minded. We fundamentally question the premise that all of us may be equal in the eyes of God. But at the Vaharika level, there is a difference. You can't even get to make that statement with confidence. You can't even make that statement today. You've lost the ability to speak the truth in the language in which it must be spoken which is unvarnished straightforward bullet. Rediscover your ability to speak
• 133:00 - 133:30 the truth about your religion. That is the day you will have the guts to defend it. If you can't even vocalize it, you can't defend it. Find the spine to get the lips to move in the right direction. The hands will move in the right direction. [Applause]