Holy Haridwar

Holy Haridwar:
"Hari-dwar literally means gate to Hari (meaning God). Hence it is holy", this is how the spiritually inclined (or challenged :-) ) Indian father introduced Haridwar to his daughter, Ganga (very "cute name" ).

They were zooming into the city of Hariwar in an air-conditioned car, hence away from the 'unwanted elements', commonly callled dust, smoke, hot air and frowned upon by all educated humans. AC could check some elemnts but who can stop light? Every moment, light takes a picture (yes, digital) of the surrounding and forces into your eyes. Ofcourse your physical eyes should be open. Let's defer talking about spiritual eye for the moment. No wonder, Ganga saw the streets full of garbage which contained plastic bags, pan-masala/namkeen pouches, news-papers, human defecations, baby-diapers, fruit peelings, etc. and yelled "eyouuuuuuuuuu". The spiritual parents, frowned, smiled, shook their head, all in the same second. "These multinationals and packaged foods and ..."

"Indian culture being the oldest and richest, Haridwar is mentioned very highly in our scriptures. Haridwar has a special place in every Indian's heart", the father continued. "It is very sacred and lots of learned Gurus have ashrams here to spread the awareness about 'our' great heritage". Now the spiritual father felt proud of himself. How effortlessly he could churn out such meaningful words and elucidate the great Indian culture. But from inside, he realized that this was nothing but the effect of cultural programs and Desi fairs he attended back in the USA, which unknowingly enriched his vocabulary. Well! we learn a lot about our culture once we go out of our place, hence confirmed his long standing viewpoint, read in some Veda commentary ofcourse.

"Then why there is so much dirt and .. and ... streets are full of garbage here. Do we REALLY respect this sacred place?", now it was Ganga's turn, thanks to american education which makes our kids so inquisitive and straight-forward. Before the father could explain further, they reached the main parking lot near "Hari-ki-Podi", the place to wash sins, a spiritual wash-basin, literally. The parking lot was all mud, since it was made up of sand and garbage scattered here and there. Where ever there was dry land, pilgrims were sitting to take respite from hot and humid weather.Now they were out of the car. AC car couldn't stop elements to hug them. Smell from rotten garbage, smoke from large number of vehicles, dusty-hot-humid air brought the american pilgrims down to earth, literally again.

The father, mother and Ganga were all thinking: "Do really God likes to live here? While all pilgrims strive to live in clean and hygeinic place, they don't even make a small effort to clean their own 'Hari-dwar', the Gate-to-God".
That night the father-mother-Ganga trio stayed with local relatives in Haridwar. The relatives made it point to state that they don't go to Haridwar to take bath because of filth and they prefer to go to Rishikesh. The relative blaimed the municipality for not keeping city clean ("and bla-bla-bla.. whatever", Ganga was thinking, you guessed right :-) ).
Next morning, the father was doing his bit, cleaning the street where they stayed that night. He thought, the garbage is thrown by us (yes), the God is ours (YES), why should I leave cleaning for the government.The bottomline: "Do I want the "Gate to God" clean or not. No ifs, no buts."

"I like India, but it is very dirty", Ganga said. "Why can't we have separate "Gate to God" from America, which is clean?". "May be no more Gate-to-God are allowed because of heavy traffic up there".

When will these kids realize the real, very real, ultimate spiritual wealth?

Note: This is a very very real story and it has reference(s) to real living beings (including humans).

पृथ्वी दिवस

--: पृथ्वी दिवस :--

आप सभी को पृथ्वी दिवस की बधाई।
आज अच्छा दिन है यह विचारने का कि हमारे पास जो कुछ है वह पृथ्वी के कारण ही है। पृथ्वी पर किसी सभ्यता-संस्कृति, अर्थ-व्यवस्था, धर्म, देश से पहले भी समुद्र, नदियाँ, तालाब, पहाड़, पेड़-पौधे, औषधियाँ, फल, उपजाऊ-भूमि, आदि थे।
आओ ! पृथ्वी की इस असीम सम्पदा को संजोयें।

आओ ! डिब्बा-बन्द पदार्थों का कम इस्तेमाल करें जिससे कचरा कम फैले। आओ ! ताज़ा फल-सब्ज़ियाँ खायें और घर में खाना बनायें।
आओ ! कम कार-स्कूटर-मोटरसाइकिल चलायें और जन-वाहनों (बस-ट्रेन) का अधिक उपयोग करें। पैदल अधिक चलें, साइकिल अधिक चलायें।
आओ ! कम बिजली खर्च करें। रात को जल्दी सोयें और सुबह जल्दी उठें।

मेरी बेटी के विद्यालय-प्रोजेक्ट के तहत हमनें कुछ पुराने कपडो़ को काटकर एक दरी ( चित्र ऊपर) बनाई है। भारतीय कस्बों में इस तरह पुराने घिसे कपड़ों-वस्तुओं से कई उपयोगी वस्तुयें बनाई जाती हैं। इस तरह के कार्यों को जीवन में अपनायें और आने वाली पीढ़ी को सिखायें।

दरी में सहयोग::::::
मेरी श्रीमती जी का: दरी का आइडिया, डिज़ाइन, बुनाई और सिलाई।
मेरा: पुराने कपड़े की करतनें काटना और बुनना।
मेरी बेटी का: बुनाई और बेसबरी से प्रतीक्षा।
मेरे बेटे का: कपड़ों की करतनों से खेलना।

एक अकेला भगवान और इतना बड़ा मकान

-- एक अकेला भगवान और इतना बड़ा मकान --
"आलीशान मन्दिर बनाने के आजकल के लेटेश्ट फ़ैशन पर"

सूखे खेत की चुभन के बीच, सोचे खड़ा नंगा किसान,
एक अकेला भगवान और इतना बड़ा मकान ।

काले धन की माया से वत्स , हुए हैं ये भव्य कल्याण,
सादा जीवन की सीख देते, थके गाँधी व गीता पुराण।

भुला दी हमने वो बात, जब ठुकराय था प्रभू ने वो दान,
जिस पर लगा था शोषण-रक्त और बेइमानी के भद्दे निशान।

भुला दी गुरुओं की सीख, सिखाती कि सब हैं एक-समान,
गरीब सेवा ही सर्वोत्तम, गरीब ही में बसते भगवान

कलियुग के दौर में भैया, ’माया’ बन पड़ी बलवान,
भक्ति उसी भक्त की छाये, जो दे सबसे मोटा दान

एक से बढ़कर एक अमीर, हो रहे दानों के कीर्तीमान,
’अहम’ की तुष्टि ने हे प्रभू, बदली परिभाषा-ए-दान

असहाय-गरीब को दे दो न्याय, दो रोटी और एक मकान,
हर समर्थ सम्हाले एक गरीब, हो जाये यह धरा महान

वरना इक दिन जागेगा वो, गरीब के अन्दर का भगवान,
घुस जायेगा, छा जायेगा, हथिया लेगा तेरी ये प्रभू-दुकान

-- हिमांशु
नोट: सिर्फ़ पंक्ति "एक अकेला भगवान और इतना बड़ा मकान", मैंने मशहूर शायर निदा फ़ाज़ली की किसी रचना में पढ़ी थी अत: साभार ले रहा हूँ।