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SUNDAY
SPECIAL From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Feb 3: Visible, indeed, is the Hariparbat shrine in Srinagar, the capital city of Kashmir. But invisible is Goddess....more
Maharashtra has AHMEDABAD, Feb 3: Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel has described Maharashtra as an elder brother who stood by Gujarat in the critical.....more
Planning Commission CHENNAI, Feb 3: The Planning Commission is being revamped to cope with the changing scenario .....more |
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Noida
builders to submit LUCKNOW, Feb 3: Builders engaged in construction activities in the integrated township of Greater ......more
PM cancels visit to Japan, NEW DELHI, Feb 3: The Gujarat earthquake today forced cancellation of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s....more Former Div Com remanded PATNA, Feb 3: A former Divisional Commissioner has been remanded to judicial custody by a special vigilance....more Vast similarities in KANPUR, Feb 3: There are several similarities between last week’s earthquake.....more No scientific link between NEW DELHI, Feb 3: Dismissing myths in the aftermath of natural disasters, the World Health Organisation....more |
SUNDAY
SPECIAL From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Feb 3: Visible, indeed, is the Hariparbat shrine in Srinagar, the capital city of Kashmir. But invisible is Goddess Shaarika, who, the average Kashmiri Hindu firmly believes, resides there. Visible was Pandit Gopinath Bhan, widely known as Bhagwaan Gopinath, till he breathed his last on May 28, 1968 at Chandpora in Srinagar. But invisible was Goddess Shaarika’s vehicle, which, on one occasion, was said to have carried him to the shrine. Undoubtedly, mind-boggling revelations vis-à-vis the powers of the ‘superman’ have surfaced, calling for detailed investigations by researchers in his homeland, Kashmir. If one of the followers of Bhagwaan Gopinath talked of his ride on the back of the lion sent by Goddess Shaarika to his abode at Chandpora one night, several others have already spread several stories, verbally as well as in writing, about his olympic heights of spirituality. A mechanism has been provided by a section of the followers of the ‘superman’ to enable students of history to interpret correctly his philosophy and potency even after his death in 1968. The Jagat Guru Bhagwaan Gopinathji Charitable, Cultural and Research Foundation has come into being. According to Mr Pran Nath Kaul, the establishment is aimed at efficient coordination of spiritual activity among the "ever growing number of devotees" of Bhagwaan Gopinath. Based at Uttam Nagar in New Delhi, the Foundation, Mr Kaul said, had been dedicated to promoting peace and harmony through the study of Kashmir’s history and its rich cultural and spiritual heritage. Mr Kaul, who is regarded as the esprit de corps of the movement aimed at spreading Bhagwaan Gopinath’s message of love, peace and universal brotherhood, divulged that the Foundation sought to build and establish centres of cultural and spiritual activity which could act as its branches within India and abroad. Mr Kaul, like several other faithfuls, is thrilled by the growth in the number of the disciples of Bhagwaan Gopinath all over, especially in countries like Australia, USA, Canada, Switzerland and the UK. What is important is the need to establish, through a sustained effort, the veracity of reports of many a miracle performed by the ‘superman’ even after his death. Not long ago-in March 1997, to be precise— Prof. TN Dhar brought to the fore a few irrefutable findings about Bhagwaan Gopinath. First, all that was, and is, available is a short and in many respects a very inadequate biography by one of his devotees, Pandit SN Fotedar. Prof. Dhar, in fact, noted in his write-up carried by Patrika, a publication of Bhagwaan Gopinathji Trust: "The most striking feature of Bhagwaanji’s life is that though he lived hardly a few decades ago, when writing about people of eminence and distinction in any field was quite possible, because documenting lives had already developed into a standard literary practice, we actually know very little about him". Finding number two: The biography written by Pandit Fotedar is more of a chronicle of physical movements of the ‘superman’ in the city of Srinagar than a sustained narrative about his life. Finding number three: Bhagwaan Gopinath’s story is too prosaic and ordinary. Compared with the lives of many of the known saints, it has no fire, not striking passion, no flamboyance, which could stimulate people’s interest in him. And Prof. Dhar is quite on the mark when he argues: "In spite of sour awareness of the extraordinary spiritual powers he had and of the respect he commanded among people, we have less than adequate knowledge about his personality and the nature of his achievement". The ‘superman’ maintained links with his family. But he did not permit anyone to prevent him from sticking to his saadhana. Prof. Dhar’s yet another irrefutable finding: When Bhagwaan Gopinath concentrated on his saadhana with increasing intensity, he became more and more careless about his appearance and living style. Prof. JN Sharma, who is counted one among the most passionate devotees of the ‘superman’, has already placed himself on record as saying: "Bhagwaan Ji started with the spiritual discipline known as Panchaanga-upaasana, that is, meditating on the five deities-Ganesha, Surya, Naarayana, Shiva and Shakti. Later his idea was the Divine Mother Shaarika, whose vision he had, for the first time, at the age of 27. Gradually, he shifted to nirguna-upaasana, that is, meditating on the Supreme Reality without a form". According to Prof. Sharma, during one stage of the spiritual discipline, Bhagwaan Gopinath’s concentration "was so intense and he grew so unaware of his body that a rat nibbled a hole in a heal of his". Prof. Sharma has also stated that the ‘superman’, in his later years, took to another type of spiritual practice. He would emit vibrations from some parts of his body, for example, the knees and the intestines, and through his chillum smoking. Prof. Sharma, an accomplished scholar of English and well-versed in Sanskrit, too, has, wittingly or unwittingly, provided material for researchers by making a pointed reference to a few miracles performed by the ‘superman’. According to Prof. Sharma, Bhagcwaan Gopinath brought the dead back to life temporarily or permanently, as the situation demanded. One, to quote Prof. Sharma, Bhagwaan Gopinath asked someone (probably, Mahakaala, the god of death) to wait till the next day to revive the dead father of a girl whose marriage was being performed just then. The man came back to life, blessed the newly-wed couple, and died for good at about noon the next day. Second instance, cited by Prof. Sharma: Once, two cooked fish, chewed and swallowed by Bhagwaan Gopinath himself, were vomitted by him as two live fish, because the situation demanded that. The fish sprang into the nearby spring, and swam away! |
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Maharashtra has stood by
Gujarat like AHMEDABAD, Feb 3: Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel has described Maharashtra as an elder brother who stood by Gujarat in the critical period following the devastating earthquake. "Maharashtra has supported Gujarat like an elder brother," Mr Patel told his visiting Maharashtra counterpart Vilasrao Deshmukh here yesterday and thanked Maharashtra for its help in the rescue and relief operations in this quake-devastated state. Mr Deshmukh was accompanied by his wife Vaishali, Revenue Minister Ashok Chavan, Minister of State for Home Kripashankar Singh and Principal Secretary Jonny Joseph. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Govindrao Adik was also present. He also reviewed the ongoing relief works undertaken by the Maharashtra Government. Ahmedabad Mayor Himmatbhai also lauded the efforts of the Maharashtra Government towards the relief operations. The Chief Minister’s delegation also visited the Pradesh Congress office in Ahmedabad and appraised the Congress workers about the work being done by the Maharashtra Government. Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel was present. (UNI) |
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Planning Commission being revamped: Pant CHENNAI, Feb 3: The Planning Commission is being revamped to cope with the changing scenario of economic reforms and India’s transition into a market economy, Deputy Chairman of the Commission K C Pant said today. "Not only are we reviewing our planning methodologies, but also the organisational structure and skill requirements of the commission, he said while inaugurating a seminar here on "Planning in India: Retrospect and Prospect". Pant said the commission had already hired the assistance of a professional consultancy agency for designing and managing this transition adding "very soon you will see a revamped and revitalised Planning Commission, which will have all the attributes necessary to cope with the demands of planning for an open, market-oriented economy". Coming years hold several challenges especially in the wake of massive but volatile international capital inflows into the country, he said adding the country had to meet the same through a suitable evolution of the development strategy. "Such an evolution essentially requires a strong and technically competent planning system", he said adding that it was crucial that the country succeed in strengthening its planning system at the earliest to meet the challenging requirements of the future. Justifying the role and relevance of a central Planning Commission in a federal system like India’s, Pant said even in an opened up economy there was need for sectoral forecasts for investment planning which was essential in a growing economy and it could be carried out only by a central planning agency. He said investment planning in the sense of working out the investment requirements of different sectors of the economy in order to ensure inter-sectoral consistency would continue to be valid and would be so until such time as India became a surplus country and the importance of public investment diminished significantly. Pant said in a federal set-up, evolving a shared vision and shared commitment to national objectives and development strategy not only in the Government at all levels, but also among other economic agents could not be discounted. A central planning agency was all the more relevant in a dynamically evolving world where conditions change continuously warranting a consistent and pro-active development strategy, he said. "This can only be done through a central planning system which tracks emerging trends both in the international and domestic economies, analyses the opportunities and dangers, and indicates the direction for policy change" he added.(PTI) |
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Noida builders to submit certificate of safe seismicity LUCKNOW, Feb 3: Builders engaged in construction activities in the integrated township of Greater Noida will now have to submit a certificate of ‘safe seismicity’ so as to ensure that such buildings could withstand the pressure of earthquakes. The devastating earthquake in Gujarat and the huge damage to the buildings there has made us wiser now, Chief Executive Officer, Greater Noida, Brijesh Kumar, told reporters here. It will be a pre-condition for every builder to submit a certificate that such buildings were safe seismically, he said. He said there were no high rise buildings in Greater Noida and various specifications of structural designing were already being followed. But in the wake of the Gujarat earthquake, the authorities have decided to strictly follow such specifications by making it a binding on the part of builders, Kumar added. He said nearly 80 per cent of the available land in the first phase of development had been alloted to the industrial units and for residential purposes. (PTI) |
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No scientific link between cadavers, epidemic: WHO NEW DELHI, Feb 3: Dismissing myths in the aftermath of natural disasters, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said communicable diseases do not usually occur after earthquakes but epidemic risk factors were rupture of water sanitation, interruption of public health services such as immunisation and lack of control vectors like mosquitoes and rodents. Usual post-disaster sanitation measures, combined with the strengthening of disease surveillance system, were sufficient for controlling transmission of epidemic-prone diseases, a 1999 who report, after the Turkey quake, said. It said the health hazard associated with bodies was negligible and the contamination may occur in very limited cases when the cadavers are in contact with the water system and transmit gastro-enteritis. "A relationship between cadavers and epidemics has never been scientifically demonstrated or reported. However, scientific arguments cannot override the cultural obligation to take care of bodies and the mental health consequences that open mass graves and uncollected bodies produce on population," it said. However, in the case of cholera, cadavers usually do not interfere with transmission of the disease, it said, adding hygienic measures and control of water-quality for survivors are essential for controlling the transmission of cholera. (PTI) |
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