The Dharma Dispatch

The Vedic Basis of the Manusmriti Explained by DVG in 14 Postulates -- DVG's crystal-clear explanation of the Vedic philosophy is unparalleled for its simplicity and logical flow. Manusmriti derives is authority from the Veda. Delinking it from these Vedic roots has precisely what has caused such damage and confusion about the Manusmriti.   At the core, the Manusmriti prescribes both individual and institutional disciplines. They are disciplines for the mind and the senses as well as for the body. These exercises in taming the ego are the central purposes of Manu.    -- Do read the extraordinary piece in full! 🛕🕉🪔📑🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/the-vedic-basis-of-the-manusmriti-explained-by-dvg-in-14-postulates

Cover Page and blurb

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The Manusmriti Special Series: DVG’s Guide to Understanding the Manusmriti   This is the first episode of a new series on correctly understanding the Manusmriti, drawn from D.V. Gundappa's brilliant treatise titled The Code of Manu. --- DVG’s treatise on the Manusmriti is perhaps the clearest, simplest and the most accessible to the proverbial common man. Here is an excerpt from it:   The Manusmriti is an authoritative sourcebook of Hinduism on its practical side. It is the oldest systematic treatise known to the world on the ethics of community living and the science of social organization.   The Smrti of Manu derives its title to respect from its being a complement to the Veda. The two are indeed but one book, the Veda enunciating the philosophy and Manu prescribing the discipline. The Veda maybe described as the substantive and the Manusmrti as the adjectival part of the Hindu law of life. --- Read the whole brilliant essay! 🛕🪔🕉🙏📑 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/the-manusmriti-special-series-dvgs-guide-to-understanding-the-manusmriti

Walking with the Colossus: A Tribute to the Himalayan Spirit of Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa   My heartfelt tribute to the Indian literary colossus, Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa, on the occasion of receiving the Padma Bhushan award. -- I've jotted down some of my enriching experiences of interacting with Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa, one of the towering litterateurs of Indian literature.   I regard Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa as a devout cultural savant and a national treasure whose true value is yet to be fully comprehended. In all my conversations with him, I have sensed his deep and abiding concern about Bharatavarsha's irreplaceable and grand spiritual heritage that continues to suffer erosion beyond belief, an erosion that hurtles on at a rapid pace.    Just as how the Ganga is not merely a river, Dr. Bhyrappa’s body of work is not merely literature but has transcended literature.   -- Do read the full piece! 🛕🪔🕉🙏📑   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/a-tribute-to-dr-sl-bhyrappa-the-transformation-of-a-himalayan-spirit-into-a-national-treasure

Since T M Krishna has opened his mouth again, let's remind him who he really is: a Musical Urban Naxal. https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/t-m-krishna-the-musical-urban-naxal

The Liars School of the BBC   The history of the BBC shows that it was always a propaganda arm of the colonial British Government and that its anti-India propaganda dates back to its founding days. --- IN THE GARB OF A DOCUMENTARY, THE BBC has attempted to launch a jihad against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And it has failed spectacularly.   The rise of India and the expansion of its footprint across the globe under Modi’s premiership is a phenomenal story for a more fundamental reason: this expansion has been  bloodless, non-aggressive and largely non-confrontational.    Since its inception until today, the BBC has regarded India as a subject country. Who or what gave it the right to meddle in our internal affairs?   The BBC documentary-jihad stems from the accursed Abrahamic mindset. The “documentary” targets Narendra Modi because deep down, the BBC views India as a Hindu majority country headed by a leader who wears his Hindu Dharma unapologetically.   Propaganda factories like the BBC derive their confidence to make such “documentaries” maligning an elected Prime Minister of an independent nation from a section of Indians. This is how the BBC got away for several decades with the most egregious propaganda against India — the number of traitors per square feet, especially in the Indian academia and media, made its job a breeze.  -- Read the full piece! 📑💪🛕📑   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-liars-school-of-the-bbc

A Frankenstein’s monster to British: How Surendranath Banerjee transformed Congress into a nationalist organisation -- My latest column for Firstpost 📑📖🙏 https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/frankensteins-monster-to-british-how-surendranath-banerjee-transformed-congress-into-a-nationalist-organisation-12028812.html

[SUNDAY READING] Art begets the artist. So profoundly impactful is the Belur Chennakeshava Temple that DVG was stirred to write a collection of verses titled Antahpurageete, a lyrical exploration of the artistic nuances of its sculptures. -- Do read 🕉️🚩 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/a-brief-history-of-the-breathtaking-belur-chennakeshava-temple

The Romila Thapar Saga: All the Oxygen of the World Won’t Revive a Fossil -- Romila Thapar & Co became irrelevant in their own lifetimes. They met their Waterloo at Ayodhya. In a way, they had invited their own doom. Their reckless and prolonged falsification of our history stood on the sand-pillar of confidence that lulled them to believe that their political patronage and protection would last forever.    Over the last decade, the Left has almost totally given up writing history or engaging in historical research. A tangential proof for this lies in a straightforward question: how many in the contemporary Left ecosystem openly identify themselves as Marxists?    Romila Thapar's distortion of Indian history was motivated by her unswerving devotion to Marxism. Like the brainwashed Jihadi who actually believes that 72 succulent, young virgins are awaiting his triumphant entry into Jannat. Romila was a True Believer who eventually became a failed Marxist Ghazi. -- Read the whole piece! 📑🛕🙏📖   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-romila-thapar-saga-all-the-oxygen-of-the-world-wont-revive-a-fossil

The Story of Manasa Devi the Naga Goddess of Bhagirathi   Read this unknown folktale of Manasa Devi, the snake-goddess worshipped in the Bhagirathi-Hooghly region about a century ago. --- Hindu folklore is how the Itihasa and Purana were localised, adapted and repurposed. Just as how Bharatavarsha is the largest global repository of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, it is also the world’s largest treasure-trove of folklore.   Just as how the dialect and cuisine of Bharatavarsha changes roughly after 90 kilometres in any given region, there is an inexhaustible reservoir of Hindu folklore measured for example, in clusters of villages located in an average area of 50 kilometres.    As we were digging through the archives at The Dharma Dispatch, we unearthed this precious gem of a story. As recently as a century ago, it was wildly popular along the rustic interiors of the Hooghly-Bhagirathi stretch. Among other things, this folktale was apparently linked to the sanctity of banana.   The Naga-Devata named Manasa Devi was obliquely invoked to bolster this sanctity.  Here’s her story.  🛕🕉🪔🐍  https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/the-story-of-manasa-devi-the-naga-goddess-of-bhagirathi

The Superhuman Diet and Demonic Workout Regime of Pehlwan Gobar Goho ---   Do read this rare anecdote describing the diet and workout routine of the fabled pehlwan, Gobar Goho or Gobar Guha or Jatindra Charan Guha as witnessed by the editor of a British magazine in Edinburgh.   Gobar Babu’s grandfather, Ambika Charan Guha's celebrated disciples include Swami Vivekananda and Bagha Jatin.   Goho Gobar is only 20 years of age, but what a terror of a young giant he is! Just like a great big boy with sparkling intelligent eyes—a boy to whom life is full of joy and beauty, because he is so strong and glories in his strength.    No English food will he touch: everything has to be cooked by his own servants. His food comprises fowls and plenty of butter, and he is very fond of almonds crushed and cooked with sugar and water. He is an absolute teetotaler.   I saw him training and I wonder how many of our British strong men will be able to keep pace with him. He also is a very strong, tall, and stout man of simple habits. India has reasons to be proud of such strong men as he. -- Read the whole brilliant story! 💪💪🛕🕉📑 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/the-superhuman-diet-and-demonic-workout-regime-of-pehlwan-gobar-goho

A party of Europeans: How Congress was formed to halt a repeat of 1857. My latest column in Firstpost. https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/a-party-of-europeans-how-congress-was-formed-to-halt-a-repeat-of-1857-11969272.html

The Andha Master of Varanasi and Sri Sri Naga Baba's Exposition of Nama-Yoga --- Read the highly evocative story of Andha Master, a self-realised Mahatma who lived in Varanasi. His name was Veni Madhav Mukhopadhyaya. This sadhu was completely blind and he had crossed eighty. He had come to Kashi early in his youth and had settled there ever since. He had been born in an extremely prosperous family and had acquired an elite education. He was born in a village near Hooghly. He had lost his eyesight in childhood due to a severe attack of smallpox. This incident made him renounce worldly life, brought him all the way to Kashi and had made him spend the rest of his life in the sanctuary of Kashi Visvanath’s feet.    He stays in the Pandey Haveli Mohalla ensconced in the Bengali Ṭōlā. Till the very end of his ennobling life, he remained in the same house. Each day in his house, he would gather small boys and girls living in his gulley and teach them some lessons. This took care of his food and clothing. He never needed anything else. It earned him the fond moniker “Andha Master” (Blind Master) from the citizens of Kashi.   -- Do read this evocative story and teach it to your children. 🕉🛕🪔   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/the-andha-master-of-varanasi-and-sri-sri-naga-babas-exposition-of-nama-yoga

In the Company of Sadhus: Sri Sri Naga Baba, the Digambara Sadhu of Varanasi ---   We begin a series documenting the exalted spiritual lives of unknown Sadhus and Sanyasis of Bharatavarsha. They did not leave behind any school or sect or an inheritance of exclusivity. They were Sadhakas in the most profound sense of the term.    The first Sadhu profiled here was known as Sri Sri Naga Baba, a Digambara who wandered about the Varanasi ghats. He permanently lived on the ghats of the Ganga and never moved into the city.   Babaji had another specialty. He never ate any food. In fact, he admitted to this in his own words saying, “in my present state, food has no use to me.”  When he takes his sacred ablutions in the purifying waters of the Ganga, he removes his intestines and washes them and puts them back into his body. There have been numerous eyewitnesses to this incredible scene. -- Writing this has been a sanctifying experience for me. Hope you find it useful and elevating! Do read and share. 🙏🕉🛕🪔🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/in-the-company-of-sadhus-sri-sri-naga-baba-the-digambara-sadhu-of-varanasi

Phoney Western Indices as Tools for Recolonising Bharatavarsha   Creating fake indexes and misleading journalistic reportage about India is just the latest avatar of the biased colonial discourse emanating from the West for over three centuries. --   The colonial West affixed a permanent badge of international disrepute to this great civilisational nation as being peopled with a dark, regressive, unscientific, superstitious and barbaric culture. Thus, colonising it was the only means of civilising and uplifting it.     This biased narrative till date, is at the root of a majority of such “indices,” “reports,” and journalistic reportage emanating from the West. In the backdrop of this prolonged history, since when has the Western media and its political class ever been friendly to India? The answer: never.   The French anthropologist, Alfred Sauvy invented a econo-racist term, "third world country" and applied it to India. It quickly became a weapon of war in the postcolonial period.  We need to recall how Hollywood movies like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Octopussy and Slumdog Millionaire depicted India. These were political and not cinematic depictions by any definition. -- Read the whole piece! 📑🙏📝💪 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/phoney-western-indices-as-tools-for-recolonising-bharatavarsha

I had a fun conversation with Sanjay Dixit on the parallels between the Mughal and the Nehru dynasty. Do tune in! 😊🙏 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCwm4FTG168

The Wages of Civilisational Amnesia: What the Tragic Fate of the Prahladapuri Temple Teaches us   The Sanatana sacred annals tell us that the glorious Bhagavata, Prahlada built a temple for Narasimha Swami in Moolasthana. It was eponymously titled as the Prahladapuri temple and withstood the Islamic ravages of the ages. All the way till 1992. According to some traditions, the Holika Dahan festival originated at Prahladapuri.    The history of the Prahladapuri temple is sickeningly similar to the tragic history of all Hindu temples in Pakistan. However, the same history is also an eminent testimony to the piety and the indomitable spirit of resistance that ordinary Hindus showed in safeguarding the Prahladapuri temple for almost a millennium under oppressive conditions.    After 1818, Maharaja Ranjit Singh converted the Sufi, Shumsi Tabreezi’s dargah in Multan to a Gurudwara. In Ranjit Singh's regime, there was no public namaz, the Eid and the Mohurum processions passed silently; the Allaho Akbar of the Muslim priest was never heard. -- Read the first episode of a new blockbuster series! 🛕🕉📑💥🙏🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/the-wages-of-civilisational-amnesia-what-the-tragic-fate-of-the-prahladapuri-temple-teaches-us