नीलाभ

Take a bow, Dr. Sowell!

अद्भुत भाषाशिल्प; अनन्य वाक्य-संयोजन; अप्रतिम कथ्य!

One word: disappointing.

A brilliant exposition of Hindu Rashtra: what it is, and why it is needed.

The appendix at the end with a collection of pertinent thoughts by Sri Aurobindo is icing on the proverbial cake.

A collection of many short essays which collectively explain the essence of Sanātana Hindū Dharma through the lens of ‘Advaita Vedānta' (one of the most prominent schools of Hinduism). The jargon is also translated and elaborated repeatedly for the uninitiated.

At the end of the book, a few mantras are taken as example so as to make the darśana (~philosophy) even clearer to the reader.

All in all the book presents a very readable discourse for the curious.

At the very outset, even at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, I cannot help but to declare that this is an extraordinary peice of work by Shri Sanjay ji which will surely be read and re-read by the generations to come.

Against the backdrop of nullification of Art. 370 enactment of the CAA, the book connects events around the time of Partition to the current scenario of our nation, and puts everything into perspective, just like blocks in a puzzle.
It also deals with history of JK (the exiles, the accession, Sheikh the Maharaja, and much more).
The appendices contain various legal documents as a ready reference.

One must read this book to understand the Islamic doctrine(s), how it affects and controls the mindset of the masses through practices such as ‘taqlid', and through which innumerable wounds have incessantly been inflicted onto the rāṣṭra of Bhāratvarṣa. How the same doctrine, seemingly packaged in a new container, is ready to do it all over again; that is, unless we wake up, read the proverbial ‘writing on the wall' and call the bluff.

My praṇāms to Sanjay ji for his vision to see, interconnect and produce this eye-opening document.

गोमान्त (गोवा) में पुर्तगाली-शासन की क्रूरता पर संक्षिप्त ऐतिहासिक उपन्यास जो पूज्य श्री सावरकर द्वारा अण्डमान कारागर में रचित मूल मराठी काव्य का हिन्दी गद्य रूपान्तरण है।

भाषाई लालित्य, ऐतिहासिक कथ्य, दार्शनिक माणिक्य इत्यादि तत्त्वों के समागम से यह ग्रन्थ अत्यन्त पठनीय बन पड़ा है।

पुस्तक में सन्त निनामी बाबा के चरित्र में पाठकों को हमारे प्यारे ‘महात्मा' का स्पष्ट रूपक देखने को मिलेगा, जो न केवल बेहद रोचक अपितु प्रासङ्गिक भी है।

Neat little booklet by Śrī Koenraad Elst (published 1992) about the demographic problem, its root in Islamic doctrine, the impending doom which seems inevitable at present, and the possible solution(s), if any.

द्रुपद-दुहिता कृष्णा के दृष्टिकोण से महाभारत कथा का सिंहावलोकन करता हुआ एक लघु-उपन्यास, जो अत्यन्त मधुर व लालित्यपूर्ण परिष्कृत हिन्दी में रचित है। परमादरणीय श्री सीताराम जी का यह रूप भी दर्शनीय है। सुधीजनों इसे पढ़कर अवश्य आह्लादित होंगे।

First things first, calling this a book is a long stretch by any standard, as I took me not more than 20 minutes to complete it; so a long essay it is. Hence, hereinafter in this review, ‘essay' may be construed as ‘book'.

The essay does a very superfluous reading of the history of J&K and you hardly get anything of substance. Many things have been portrayed rather conversely to what actually happened. A prime example is the role of Maharaja Hari Singh, who, for some reason, is the most misunderstood man in this whole saga.

The author mentions that the Maharaja was torn between joining Bharat & Pakistan. This is not true! Maha. Hari Singh pretty much wanted to merge with Bharat long before the Paki attack took place. It was Nehru who declined his proposal saying that he was not the true representative of the populace of J&K but Sh. Abdullah was. Later, Viceroy Mountbatten personally travelled to J&K to convince him to join Pakistan! The British never wanted J&K to be merged with Bharat due to its geopolitical importance to counter the erstwhile Soviet Union. Both of these moves - by Nehru & Mountbatten - made Hari Singh suspicious, and he because of that he held back as Aug 15 neared. The author's tilt here is most probably because of over-reliance on the work of Mr. AJ Noorani, who is probably the last man one should read if one were looking for authentic history of J&K. I would suggest the author to read the biography of Maharaja Hari Singh written by Dr. Kuldeep Chandra Agnihotri.

Another contentious topic here is the question: “Why Article 370 had to be introduced in the OG Constitution?” Here we come across another much celebrated myth that it was supposedly there because “J&K was promised autonomy and a special status” through negotiations. This, again, is not true at all!

Reality is this: The state of J&K singed exactly the same Instrument of Accession as any other princely state (which the author duly mentions), which is full & final and there's no going back as far as the accession is concerned. Art 306 (later numbered 370) had to be introduced because there was an extraordinary situation created by the invasion of Pakistan and the situation further aggrieved when Nehru in his “wisdom” (rolls eyes) decided to take it to the UN, that too under Charter VI (‘Pacific Settlement of Disputes) instead of Charter VII (‘Action with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace and Acts of Aggression'). This meant that we ourselves had granted our legally acceded land as “disputed”, and left our sovereignty to the outcome of a UN Resolution (which was never acted upon by Pakistan, but that's an entirely different discussion). Clearly, these chain of events tied our hands. Since J&K was now ‘disputed', there was no way we could have applied our federal Constitution there, so Art 306 (370) was introduced at the last moment on 17 Oct 1949 (last meeting of Constituent Assembly) as a ‘Temporary' & ‘Transient' provision, till the matter is resolved as per the UN resolution. One should read the transcript of Constituent Assembly debate of that day to understand this.

This shows that J&K was treated in a peculiar manner then, not because the promise of some especial autonomy was made to the Maharaja, Abdullah or anyone; but due to the sole reason of the internationalisation of the matter. Since, Pakistan has acted against the UN resolution, that resolution stands invalidated and the ‘dispute' is no longer there. As the dispute is no longer there, there was no need of Art. 370 and a separate constitution, flag etc. for J&K. Any claim that J&K has, or ever had, some unique place among the Indian states is absurd and has no truth in it. All that the Modi govt. did, is to bring parity among the states, and that is how it was always supposed to be. What was done on Aug 5, 2019, should have been done decades ago.

The last part that deals with the (il)legality of Art. 35(A) is good. The author, however, does not mention the legal process through which Art. 370 & 35(A) were neutralised.

अद्भुत पुस्तक! यदि आप कौमनष्टों (कम्युनिस्टों) के चरित्र से अपरिचित हैं, तो यह पुस्तक निःसन्देह आपके लिए पठनीय है; परन्तु यदि आपको लगता है कि आप ‘कौमनष्ट' चरित्र से भली-भाँति परिचित हैं तब भी आपको यह पुस्तक अवश्य पढ़नी चाहिए क्योंकि जब आप इसे पढ़ेंगे तो आपको पता चलेगा कि आप जितना सोचते थे, बल्कि आपकी सोच की जो पराकाष्ठा है, ये कम्युनिस्ट उससे भी कहीं अधिक नीच और अधम हैं।

पिछला पूरा अनुच्छेद एक बार पुनः पढ़ जाइए, केवल ‘कम्युनिस्ट' के स्थान पर ‘नेहरू' रख दीजिए; फिर भी वह अक्षरशः सत्य होगा।

यह पुस्तक तीन खण्डों की शृंखला का प्रथम खण्ड है, पर इसी एक खण्ड में इतने तथ्य व कथ्य हैं कि किसी नेत्रहीन की भी आँखें खुल जाएँ! इस पुस्तक को पढ़िए, पढ़ाइए, बाँटिए; येन-केन-प्रकारेण यह सुनिश्चित कीजिए कि यह पुस्तक देश के हर युवा की आँखों के समक्ष आ जाये, जिससे ‘कौमनष्टों' का यह गिद्ध-गिरोह हमारे राष्ट्र पर पुनः कभी अपनी वक्र-दृष्टि ना डाल सके। जय हिन्द!

बलिदानी-शिरोमणि सरदार श्रीभगतसिंह के पत्रों व लेखों का सङ्कलन है यह, पुस्तक जो सर्वथा पठनीय बन पड़ती है।

Great book! Its central theme is that the world around us is changing rapidly and the rate of the change is exponentially accelerating (much like our universe) and soon enough we could find ourselves either to be an entirely new species and become immortal by one way or another, or become extinct altogether, wiped by an ‘efficient' ASI (artificial super intelligence) which no longer regards us as useful. In short, the author believes that ‘singularity' is upon us and we should be ready (if that's even possible).

The book starts with a brief historical narrative about the evolution of life & then of technology. Then it goes on to discuss in some detail about AI and its nature, nano-technology, genetics, artificial intelligence, blockchain and the power of data etc., and how all of these combined are going to radically transform our lives for better or for worse. The author explores the likely impact on different areas of our day to day life vis-à-vis health, finance, jobs, sex & relationships, privacy, ethics etc. and tries to show what the future may look like after things such as bio-engineering, artifcial selection through DNA manipulation, happiness pills, AI life-partners become commonplace. He argues that as we move towards transhumanism, new Gods will replace the older ones and ‘dataism' is most likely going to be our new religion (the Yuval Noah Harari argument).

There is also a small chapter about Maths, its conspicuous relationship with arts, and its magical ability to recognise patterns even at the most unlikely of places. The age old debate of “does math objectively exist, or is it a human creation?” is also discussed.

The book, due to its nature, briefly touches upon various scientific as well as philosophical concepts such as the dual nature of sub-atomic particles, quantum entanglement, Fermi's paradox, origin of our consciousness, the nature of reality (are we living in a simulation? Or in a holographic projection?), Advaita Vedānta etc.; and this makes it an even more interesting read. Quotes from renowned personalities like Bertrand Russel, Roger Penrose, Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Adux Huxley, Erwin Schrödinger also add to the fun.

All in all, if you are a curious being you will definitely like this book.

जैसा कि शीर्षक से इङ्गित है, यह पुस्तक डॉ. अम्बेडकर की रचना “शूद्र कौन थे” की समीक्षा व प्रत्युत्तर है। लेखक डॉ. अम्बेडकर द्वारा प्रतिपादित थीसिस को तथ्यों व प्रमाणों की कसौटी पर तौलने का प्रयास करता है तथा पुस्तक के दूसरे भाग में अपनी एण्टीथीसिस भी देता है।

यह पुस्तक सम्भवतः डॉ. अम्बेडकर की किसी रचना के समग्र अवलोकन व आलोचनात्मक समीक्षा के उद्देश्य से किया गया अपनी तरह का प्रथम प्रयास है, अतएव पाठक को एक एक नया परिप्रेक्ष्य देती है तथा और भी पठनीय बन पड़ती है।

दुर्भाग्यवश सम्पादन की अनेक त्रुटियाँ रह गयी हैं, जिन्हें आगामी संस्करण में प्रकाशक को अवश्य सुधारना चाहिए।

हिन्दुत्व व हिन्दू राष्ट्रवाद के सिद्धान्तों पर इससे उत्कृष्ट पुस्तक कदाचित् ही अन्य होगी। यदि कहा जाये कि प्रस्तुत लघु ग्रंथ में श्री सावरकर ने “गागर में सागर” भरने का कार्य किया है, तो यह कथन किञ्चित् मात्र भी अतिश्योक्ति न होगा।

ई० १९३७ में रचित यह ग्रंथ सर्वप्रथम ‘हिन्दू' व ‘हिन्दुत्व', इन शब्दों को अकाट्य रूप से परिभाषित करते हुए रूढ़िवादी जाति-व्यवस्था व अस्पृश्यता के उन्मूलन, संख्याबल के महत्त्व व एतदर्थ शुद्धि-आन्दोलन की आवश्यकता, आत्यन्तिक अहिंसावाद की विद्रूपता के सत्य इत्यादि चिर-प्रासंगिक विषयों पर प्रकाश डालता है; साथ ही साथ उल्लिखित समस्याओं के समीचीन हल हेतु रूपरेखा प्रस्तुत कर मार्गदर्शिका का अत्यावश्यक कार्य भी करता है।

मेरे अनुसार तो, यह पुस्तक ही नहीं अपितु स्वातन्त्र्यवीर श्री सावरकर कृत सम्पूर्ण साहित्य राष्ट्र की अमूल्य निधि है। इन पुस्तकों को प्रत्येक राष्ट्रभक्त को न केवल पढ़ना-पढ़ाना चाहिए प्रत्युत् इनमें उल्लिखित बातों का अनुसरण कर राष्ट्रहितार्थ यज्ञ में आहूति भी अवश्य देनी चाहिए।

This work by Sita Ram ji was first published in 1983. And no wonder the scenario still remains the same, if not gotten worse!

The author begins the book by describing the current (1983) situation. He laments about the state of Hindu Society and how it has been perverted over the years by the out-of-context quoting of vedic sayings such as “Ekam Sat Viprā: Bahudhā Vadanti” or the farce Gandhian concept of “Sarvadharma Samabhāva”.

He then goes on to show the “clear-as-daylight” difference between Sanātana Dharma & the Prophetic Creeds. He traces the history of origin of both Christianity & Islam to show that they are rather imperialist ideologies instead of religions. He says and I quote:

”

A very brief, yet a brilliant piece of work by Shri Sita Ram Goel ji exposing the sheer skullduggery of our beloved “eminent historians”.

The book is divided into three sections:

1. The Marxist Historians
2. The Big Lie
3. Questionnaire for the Marxist Professors

In the first two parts, by taking up Rāmajanmabhūmi and Kr̥ṣṇajanmabhūmi as prime examples, Sita Ram ji shows how the Left historians (whom he says are not ‘Marxist' but rather ‘Stalinist' by approach, hence the title) have distorted facts and fudged the entire narrative to suit their agenda.

The author opines that whenever Left historians have to defend Islamic iconoclasm & the destruction of various Hindu (Buddhists & Jains included) temples, they give the following two apologetic arguments:

1. Islamic rules did not do it due to the mandate of their religion or theology; but for sheer financial purpose.

2. Hindūs (Sanātanīs) have also destroyed various Buddhist & Jain temples.

Sita Ram ji argues with facts and logic that both of these arguments are not only misleading but are blatant lies.

In the third part he puts up a questionnaire to these historians, which contains 8 pointed and straightforward questions. Sita Ram ji mentiones that he had even written a letter (questionnaire attahced) to the queen of the cabal: Romila Thapar, but she -of course- refused to engage, and suggested him to “begin reading her works, for a start”. Sita Ram ji, anyway, goes on to annihilate her case point by point.

This book, as well as all the other works of Shri Sita Ram Goel ji, must be read and distributed by the Hindūs!

This is an absolute masterpiece!

Very brief yet a profound piece of work by Nithin Sridhar ji on mahātmya of Bhagavāna Śrī Dakṣiṇamūrti, based primarily on Upaniṣadas and the writing of Ādi Guru Śrī Śaṅkarācārya.

This is a seminal work by Vivek Agnihotri ji. As ‘eye-opening' as anything could get. An absolute must read for every one of us, especially for the young generation, regardless of the ideology one may generally subscribe to.

Also do watch the film “Buddha in a traffic jam”.