The Hidden Hindu

by Akshat Gupta

‘Aghoris believe that everyone is born an Aghori. A newborn child doesn’t distinguish between his faeces, dirt and toys and plays with everything. It starts distinguishing among them only after its parents and society tell it to do so. As the child grows up and makes choices on a materialistic basis, only then does she or he lose the traits of an Aghori.

A wise man comes out of a difficult time wiser than before. Dr Batra is a wise man indeed,

‘Old age frightens man like a tiger. Diseases strike the body like enemies. Life drips down as water from a broken pot. Yet people think of harming others. They do not realize that they are transitory.

That was where, in 1708 he was visited by, and became a disciple of, Guru Gobind Singh, who gave him the new name of Banda Singh Bahadur. Equipped with the blessings and authority of Guru Gobind Singh, he assembled a fighting force and led the struggle against the Mughal emperor. After establishing his authority in Punjab, Banda Singh Bahadur abolished the zamindari system and granted property rights to the tillers of the land. In 1715, Banda Singh Bahadur was captured from the Gurdas Nangal fort and put in an iron cage. The remaining Sikhs from his troop were captured and chained. The Sikhs were brought to Delhi in a procession with 780 Sikh prisoners, 2,000 Sikh heads hung on spears and 700 cartloads of slaughtered Sikh heads to terrorize the population. They were put in the Delhi fort and pressurized to give up their faith and become Muslims. On their firm refusal, all of them were ordered to be executed. Every day, 100 Sikhs were brought out of the fort and murdered in public, which went on for around seven days. The Mughals could hardly contain their joy while the Sikhs showed no sign of dejection or humiliation. Instead, they sang their sacred hymns; none feared death or gave up their faith. The Sikh Sardars were subjected to tortures in front of Banda Bahadur before being executed. Their heads were then impaled on spears and arranged in a circle around Banda, who was now squatting on the ground. He was then given a short sword and ordered to kill his own son, Ajai S...

Then pieces of flesh were cut from the body and thrown at Banda’s face. His liver was removed and thrust into Banda Singh’s mouth. The father sat through all this without any signs of emotion. His powers of endurance were to be tested still further. The executioner then stepped forward and thrust the point of his dagger into Banda’s right eye, pulling out the eyeball. He then pulled out the other eyeball. Banda sat through all this as still as a rock. His face gave no twitch of pain. The cruel devil then took his sword and slashed off Banda’s left foot, then both his arms. But Banda’s features were still calm as if he was at peace with his creator. Finally, they tore off his flesh with red-hot pincers, and there being nothing else left in their book of tortures, they cut his body up into a hundred pieces, and were satisfied.’

‘According to Srimad Bhagavatam, one of the earliest known texts describing the yugas, the duration of the Satya yuga equals 4,800 years of the demigods; Treta yuga equals 3,600 years, Dwapara yuga equals 2,400 years; and the Kali yuga is 1,200 years of the demigods. One year of the demigods is equal to 360 years of the human beings. These four yugas follow a timeline ratio of 4:3:2:1. The duration of the yugas is therefore: 4,000 + 400 + 400 = 4,800 divine years (= 17,28,000 human years) = 1 Satya yuga 3,000 + 300 + 300 = 3,600 divine years (= 12,96,000 human years) = 1 Treta yuga 2,000 + 200 + 200 = 2,400 divine years (= 8,64,000 human years) = 1 Dwapara yuga 1,000 + 100 + 100 = 1,200 divine years (= 4,32,000 human years) = 1 Kali yuga

‘In Satya yuga, the fight was between two worlds: Deva loka (pertaining to the world of the gods) and Asura loka (pertaining to the world of demons.) Asura loka, being evil, was a different world.

‘Now, where is the evil in Kali yuga? It is inside us. Both good and evil live within us. The battle is within us. Who will emerge victorious? Who will dominate the other, our inner goodness or the evil within?’

‘The other immortals are: King Bali. After the arrogance of Asura king Mahabali, he was crushed by the Vamana avatar of Lord Vishnu and was sent to live in Patal loka. But Bali was allowed to come to earth once a year. That day is celebrated as Onam in Kerala.

‘Ved Vyas, the writer of Mahabharata. Ved Vyas is also immortal. ‘Kripacharya, the guru of the Kauravas and Pandavas. ‘And lastly, Lord Hanuman, the immortal who protects his devotee in Kali yuga.’

‘Sushruta Samhita is an important classic Sanskrit text on surgeries by Sushruta, and is one of the three foundational texts of Ayurveda. It has been divided into two parts— Purva Tantra and Uttar Tantra—in 184 chapters containing the description of 1,120 ailments, sixty-four preparations from mineral resources and fifty-seven preparations based on animal sources.’

‘Dhanvantari is regarded as the almighty of all the branches of medicine. There is a voluminous glossary in Dhanvantari Nighantu, the most ancient text available in its field.

‘We worship Dhanvantari for good health, especially on the occasion of Dhanteras (one of the days that is counted as part of the festival of Diwali in Hinduism), which is considered the birthday of Dhanvantari,‘ Abhilash narrated.