Re: [Assam] Happy Phakua !

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 08:46:23 -0800

Dear Himendra-da:

Could you tell us more about it? Is it about the nirvana of the soul? Is your book for sale?

Also, does this or any of your books talk about the soul? What exactly does hinduism say about it? Do different souls have connection to each other?

I've been reading many books on 'life after life' lately, where it says that there is an astral world where the soul goes after leaving the earth plane and lives happily before deciding to re-incarnate - which could be decades in human years. The soul comes down to the earth to acquire knowledge and then goes back to the astral plane - but to a higher level. 

That higher level could be the 'Boikuntho' (I think YajurVeda talks about it) that we hear about. Is that where one goes after they achieve Nirvana? And is Boikuntha the paradise of Krishna only, what about Shiva and the other hindu Gods?

Again, please do let me know more about your books and keep sending those interesting anecdotes that you so beautifully put. Also, please let me know of any books that might have any information on the soul - with different beliefs, and not necessarily only hinduism.

You can send me the info but I thought others might have some info and would like to chime in when they do or just would like to know.

Thank you for sending the information.

With regards,

Alpana.




 
From: "Himendra Thakur" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Rajen Barua" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
CC: "Manoj Das" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"Alpana B. Sarangapani" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"Dilip/Dil Deka" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"Indrajit Barua" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,<assam@assamnet.org>
Subject: Happy Phakua !
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 07:06:35 -0500

Dear Rajen,
 
Happy Phakua ! To you and everybody in the net!
 
Ananda is the essential core of Existence --- that's what Shri Krishna perpetuated with Holi on the Full Moon Day of the month Phalguna. Attached please find the cover-page of my latest drama NIRVANA dedicated to sat-chit-ananda. 
 
If you want to hear more about it, please contact me!
 
With love to everybody,
Himendra
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 9:29 AM
Subject: Re: Acute inferiorty complex/ Assamese IC

Himenda:
If you go to any good Bookshop in Assam and ask for the Assamese dictionary written by Sumant Chaliha (I may be wrong in his spelling of the name), they will proudly sell it to you.
Yes, I think you still need to respond with your comments to the question on Illegal Immigration (Bangladesh govt has a control switch!) and on the Assamese transliteration standards (yours vs. Priyanku's).
Rajen
 
----- Original Message -----
To: Barua25
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 10:28 PM
Subject: Re: Acute inferiorty complex/ Assamese IC

Dear Rajen,
 
Where can I find the dictionary written by Engineer Sumant Chaliha? That will be a great help.
 
If I missed replying to your questions, that must have been an oversight on my part for which I apologize. Kindly send me the questions if you do not mind. I am sorry for the inconvenience.
 
With the best wishes,
Himendra
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Barua25
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 6:04 PM
Subject: Re: Acute inferiorty complex/ Assamese IC

>I did not "drag" Assam Sahitya Sabha into it --- I sincerely believed that Assam Sahitya Sabha had some position in >this spelling problem.
 
For your information, ASS never approved any standardization of Assamese transliteration ever.  So when you ask the question, has the new system been approved by ASS, I would say, they never did even the old system. So now you know that it is not a good idea to approacj ASS for guidance. Let them live in haven with their ornamental positions.  So far Assamese spelling is concverned, our Engineer Sumant Chaliha wrote a dictionary recently which is being claimed as an athority on this.  So it is always individuals against org who actually do the work.
 
>our real priority problem is losing the land, Bangladesh swallowing Assam with the help from Assamese betrayers --->problem aggravated by the acute inferiority complex that you identified ----  this is such a huge problem that >everything else appear small.
 
Let us go with you on the above. If you really think this is the problem, then we need to address it correctly. If you remember we discussed about this problem. So far I remember, you were supposed to respond to my questions on this which you never did. That is very important so that we can go to the root of the problem.
 
>As for the spelling of my Assamese words in the net, I appeal to the netters to correct me whenever I make a >mistake. That's how I'll be able to learn the new spelling system.
 
So far as the net is concerned, nobody here claim to be an authority. Nobody is saying you are wrong. In fact we are all trying to evolve a standardization system of transliteration of the Assamese phonetics. Frankly speaking we found that the existing system, if there is one, is no good for Assamese. So we are on our own.  We look forward to your positive contribution. In fact we can start with Priyankus transliteration and yours. Now that we all know where we are, would you like to comment on this whether you think yours is correct or Priyanku's. I think that will be a good starting point.
 
Rajen
 
 
----- Original Message -----
To: Barua25
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 2:27 PM
Subject: Re: Acute inferiorty complex/ Assamese IC

Dear Rajen,
 
I did not reject Priyanku's way of writing" --- what happened was that I could not find his material in my computer and I rewrote it to save time --- and my spellings came out to be as bad as what Phulda (Jnanananda Sharma Pathak --- we call him by his nickname "Phulda") did with the old style of spelling in his article in the Assam Tribune today !!
 
I did not "drag" Assam Sahitya Sabha into it --- I sincerely believed that Assam Sahitya Sabha had some position in this spelling problem. As for me, I'll go by whatever people ask me to do on these kind of matters --- so far as I am concerned, our real prority problem is losing the land, Bangladesh swallowing Assam with the help from Assamese betrayers --- problem aggravated by the acute inferiority complex that you identified ----  this is such a huge problem that everything else appear small.
 
As for the spelling of my Assamese words in the net, I appeal to the netters to correct me whenever I make a mistake. That's how I'll be able to learn the new spelling system.
 
With love to everybody,
Himendra  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and changed to Sanskrit transliteration which we will still like to hear from you
----- Original Message -----
From: Barua25
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 2:53 PM
Subject: Re: Acute inferiorty complex/ Assamese IC

Dear Himenda:
Thanks for your response. I was holding not to respond to you based on Ram's comments because I did not know if agree to his view. As I can see now, your reason for his Sanskritization was unintentional. That leaves room for our future discussion on the subject in a rational manner. I am sure we can discuss this separately later.
 
Regarding the Assamese transliteration, if you will remember, the question arose only because you changed the Priyankus transliteration while quoting him:
 
Priyanku wrote: Dex matho eta dharona, thikonar xex xari...,
You wrote:        Desh matho eta dharana, thikanar shesh shari
and asked him to expalin.
We are still trying to figure out why you rejected Priyanku's way of writing and changed to Sanskrit transliteration which we will still like to hear from you.
 
Please donot try to drag ASS into this business which is not theirs. I don't know if you know it or not, during the last 70 years, ASS has been a completely non productive organization so far any contribution to the Assamese language or even the unity of the Assamese is concerned. It has not contributed anything either in standarding the  Assamese spellings or standardizing the Roman transliteration etc.  Now ex ASS President is wrongly claiming the word ASSAM is a British coin word which it is not. He also is claiming that the letter S can represent the Assanese guttural X sound which it does not. ASS even shy away from coming up a good definition of the Assamese.  I think ASS has turned into an intellectually defunct org and the highest epitome of Assamese IC. So do you really believe that anybody can expect anything effective from ASS. In my opinion, ASS is a highly politicized ornamental org just for its name which has actually dividing the Assamese community into Tai-Ahom, Bodo, Tiwa etc. Whatever contribution is being made to the Assamese language and literature during the last 70 years, is being made due to individual contributions of some dedicated people who are determined to stay outside ASS (I mean people like Bhabendra Nath Saikia etc). Also you probably know the ongoing debate for the proper Roman script spelling of the word for (O+DontiyoXO+MO) = OXOM. Have you so far seen any contribution from ASS at all on the subject? 
 
In view of above, if you are honest to yourself and want to really make any contribution to the land of your birth, please donot try to name these big sounding organizations. Do it on your own like so many Assamese people who have done before without getting into official sanctions of ASS. Otherwise if you too are after just for the name, please go ahead, the netters will understand your position.
 
Please don't worry about me being influenced by Chandan. We are all too matured to be influenced by anybody. We have our own strong views. Please take it that when I write something, it is coming from my heart with 100 honesty and sincereity and conviction. These questions are coming from me, and I hope you will respond with same honesty and sincereity
Thanks
Rajen
 
 
---- Original Message -----
To: Barua25
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 12:37 PM
Subject: Acute inferiorty complex

Dear Rajen,

 

I am a little late in replying to your letter ---once again --- I hope you will not mind. I had to work on another deadline somewhere else. I also had to attend a friend’s family who ran into a bereavement.

 

I am sorry I made mistakes in the spellings --- in fact, I do not know the new “Assamese phonetics in Roman script” ---- I wrote what I knew, just like what respected Jnanananda Sharma Pathak wrote in the Assam Tribune today in his beautiful article “Mystical Yearnings” about the late Parbotiprasad Barua --- it is difficult to get rid of old habits you grow up with! 

 

If the  “Assamese phonetics in Roman script” has been accepted by Asom Sahitya Sabha, Guwahati University, Dibrugarh University and other authorities, there should be some books [kindly inform me]  from which I could learn the new spelling system.

 

Even then, I may still make a mistake. Please do not be influenced by Chandan Mahanta’s foul suspicion that “Himenda’s attempts to Sanskritize Oxomiya words and phrases demonstrates his own insecurity and inferiority complex as an Oxomiya -- driving him to Sanskritized versions of words and phrases. He even writes 'desh', as in deshotkoi', etc.” I do not know how the netters will digest Chandan Mahanta’s brickbats like “Did Lasit Borphukan speak Sanskrit?”

 

As for my spelling mistakes, I appeal to the netters to please correct me whenever you find an error.

 

The subject of my letter to you was the huge concern that you so appropriately pointed out in the net on March 5 about the “Acute Inferiority Complex of  the Assamese ” --- [I did not know that this was discussed in the net before] --- this is now overshadowed by another discussion of Sanskritization, which is opposed by many netters.

 

Under the main topic of the “Acute Inferiority Complex of  the Assamese ” , I was appealing to the netters to discuss these two slogans:

 

(1) Dex matho eta dharona, thikonar xex xari -------by Priyanku Sharma

(2) Dexotkoi mwmai dangor nohoy --------------------- by Lasit Borphukan

 

The #2 was uttered by Lasit in the heat of a battle, but it became a slogan later on.  I agree with you that “Let us leave it a historical fact and let us try to utilize this fact to the advantage of the future of the Assamese.”

 

About the #1 above, I thank you for clarifying that “Priyanku's quote will be : A country is nothing an idea which is only required to use as a last phrase in one's address.  In fact I like this poetic (Omor Khyam type) quote, and I can write volumes in support of this poetic or philosophical statement.”

 

I also thank Dilip Deka for his clarification “The proper translation would be, "Country is just a concept, the last line of a street address." 

 

Those who feel bound to the borders of a country also accept the borders of village, city, state, and province. Do these borders mean anything? It is nothing but an attempt to keep out those who are not like you and that is demented.

Looking at the positive side, national or regional pride, and the diversity associated with it add color to life. If the whole world adopts one way say american way of life and its culture, life itself would become dull.”

 

In #2 above, dex (the country) is held above family relations, whereas in #1, dex (the country) is degraded to something which is only required to use as a last phrase in one's address  or to something that will be just  "the last line of a street address." 

 

This idea appeals to young people as it did to the “flower children” of the 1960s who talked about the “Those who feel bound to the borders of a country also accept the borders of village, city, state, and province. Do these borders mean anything?” In the 1960s,  growing in the aftermath of the Second World War where 30 million people died, growing under the shadow of the Korea War and Vietnam War, young people revolted and took that line of thinking. 

 

I request the netters to discuss whether #2 is an _expression_ of "Positive Self-confidence", whereas the #1 opens a door to “Acute Inferiority Complex of  the Assamese ”.

 

With love to everybody,

Himendra

 

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Barua25
Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2006 11:16 AM
Subject: Re: Acute inferiorty complex IC

Dear Himen-da:
Thanks for your note.
Regarding Assamese having an 'inferiority complex' (written as IC henceforth) I have been saying this for decades now. This is something one can only feel or realize seeing the day to day actions of the Assamese people as a group on national or international level. First we will have to 'recognize the fact that we have this IC. From my side I can write a essay citing examples of Assamese IC. Now some people may not like to agree with me. To them I will simply ask to either counter my arguments or give me some examples whereby we can say that Assamese are not suffering from IC. However, I don't exactly understand when you say we need to discuss this in the net. What we can achieve by discussing this in the net? And I think we have discussed this issue many times in the net.  This is something we can remove by our leaders first by getting rid of this 'IC' themselves and then educating the people by their actions. (Please note that we use the net not to solve problems but just to use it as a 'sounding borad' to test our idea's. From that angle the net is a very cruel sounding borad. It will hit one back and may hurt if the idea is not sound or true.)
 
Regarding the slogan "deshatkoi momai dangar nohoi"  I would not like to equate this unnecessarily with Krishna's killing Bhishma simply because it will not serve any purpose unless of course one is trying to make poor Lasit an Assamese Krishna.  I think we should not try to defend or justify Lasit more than what he did. Let us leave it a historical fact and let us try to utilize this fact to the advantage of the future of the Assamese. (BTW please note that we try to write ethnic Assamese phonetics in Roman script in the net as opposed to your Sanskritised transliteration writing. So we would write the phrase more like  'dexotkoi mwmai dangor nohoy'. May explain details later. )
 
Regarding your other  slogan "desh matho eta dharana, thikanar shesh shari", all I can say is that so far I know this is a personal statement (a philosophical quote one may say) being used by Priyanku Sarma in the net. Here again please note that Priyanku used the correct Assamese ethnic spelling as : Dex matho eta dharona, thikonar xex xari..., and not what you spelled above. (Thank you Priyanku). Probably if there is anything more to its meaning, Priyanku can respond.
 
Now coming to the meaning of the word 'dharona', I think you are trying too hard to find the meaning in Sanskrit grammar book. Please note that this is a simple Assamese word, and many a times, the same word may mean slightly different in Sanskrit than in Assamese. We should try to use the Assamese meaning. From that point, 'dharona' is a simple Assamese word, meaning 'conception' or 'idea' or 'comment' etc. The meaning is clear when we say the Assamese sentence "Ei ghotonatw xomporke twmar ki dharona baru?" Some netters like Alpana and others probably may give you better sentence using the Assamese word 'dharona'.  Anyhow the full meaning of the Priyanku's quote will be : A country is nothing an idea which is only required to use as a last phrase in one's address.  In fact I like this poetic (Omor Khyam type) quote, and I can write volumes in support of this poetic or philosophical statement.
 
Hope this will make some clarifications. More later.
Thanks
Rajen
 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
To: Barua25
Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2006 8:32 AM
Subject: Acute inferiorty complex

Dear Rajen,
 
Thanks for your letter. The points that you have raised in this letter should definitely be discussed in the net.
 
But, I think what you so correctly said on March 5, 2006 "Assamese are already suffering from acute inferiorty complex"   should be given to PRIORITY in the discussion in the assam-net.
 
I congratulate you for pointing out this terrible thing "inferiorty complex" and most earnestly request you to run a discussion on this point in the net. I am trying to start this discussion by quoting Lachit's "deshatkoi momai dangar nohoi" (My uncle is not greater than my country)".
 
The slogan "deshatkoi momai dangar nohoi" (My uncle is not greater than my country)" is actually a re-statement of what Lord Shrikrishna stated in Bhagavadgita. Killing of grand-uncle Bhishma at the "Declared Battle of Kurukshetra"  was justified by Lord Shrikrishna to establish righteousness. The word "righteousness" is the translation of the word "dharma" of the verses 7&8 Chapter 4 of Bhagavadgita.
 
When Lachit said "deshatkoi momai dangar nohoi" (My uncle is not greater than my country)", he was using the word "desha" to mean a Motherland whose defense was our righteous right. What Lachit said at the spur of the moment appears like a "slogan" to us. This may give some answer to the objection of Jugal Kalita [I apologize if I misunderstood him] about slogans.
 
Another slogan is floating in the net "desh matho eta dharana, thikanar shesh shari" --- I am finding it difficult to translate this into English because the meaning of the word "dharana" is not clear to me. I see "dharana" as the sixth step of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga: (1) Yama,  (2)Niyama, (3) Asana,  (4) Pranayama, (5) Pratyahara, (6)Dharana, (7) Dhyana, and  (8) Samadhi.  
 
The propounder of the slogan "desh matho eta dharana, thikanar shesh shari" should give the meaning of the word "dharana"and explain why "dharana" has been equated with "desha". Correct me if I am wrong, I think the slogans like  "desh matho eta dharana, thikanar shesh shari" are generating the acute inferiorty complex"  that you pointed out.
 
The propounder & supporters of the slogan "desh matho eta dharana, thikanar shesh shari"  should come forward to compare it with  Lachit's "deshatkoi momai dangar nohoi".
 
In my opinion, Lachit's "deshatkoi momai dangar nohoi" will expel the acute inferiorty complex --- a new, unwanted twist of Assamese mind --- that you so correctly pointed out.
 
With the best wishes,
Himendra
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Barua25
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 10:52 PM
Subject: Re: deshatkoi momai dangar nohoi

Dear Himenda:
Thanks for your response. Glad to know that the book was a part of your course.
Regarding the historical data of the story, I think you need to have some back up. Because it is such a horrifying story, it may give the people a completely different picture about Islam. The actual reality however may be quite different. The reason I am saying this is because there is also a opposite side of the story. According to one theory, the religion that suffered most during the Islamic invasion was mainly Buddhism. Buddhism was an organised religion without any defense which was completely wiped out. Hinduism survived under the caste system. Many Brhamins helped and aided the Islamic rulers in the destruction of Buddhism. Many Buddhist temples overnite become Shiva temples etc. Also  the theory says that there was actually no forced conversion at all from Hindus to Islam. That is why one donot find any high caste Hindus being Muslim. All that conversion that happened were the low caste Hindus and they converted themselves to Islam mainly because of the equality that they gained under Islam and to avoid the exploitation from upper caste Hindus.  Today one finds the whole of Bangladesh a Islamic country which were at one time wholly a Buddhist country. There were hardly any Brahmin or any high caste Hindus in Bagladesh. In fact the exploited downtrodden Hindus were taking shelters from exploitation from Hindus upper caste in those three shelter religions: namely Buddhism, Islam and Christianity.
 
On the other hand I have heard story of enmass village conversion to Islam not by force from Islam but due to rejection from the Hindus. There story appeared in Prantik magazine in Assam, a Brahmin village in Assam was converted to Islam because somebody has thrown beef in the village well, and Hindus have refused to accept the village back as Hindus. The village finally had to take to Islam, The Sharmas started to write Ahmed overnite etc.  
 
So there may be many sides of the coin, and one need to be careful in making any general statement before checking the facts.
Thanks
Rajen
 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 6:28 PM
Subject: deshatkoi momai dangar nohoi

Dear Rajen,

 

Sorry for the delay in replying !

 

The statement that you referred in your letter below came up in a panel discussion in 1989 at Harvard University where the manuscript of my book "Don't Burn My Mother!" was discussed in a movie script-writing course. (By the way, I got an A in that course ! My added benefit was that I got to see a number of classic movies with commentaries & discussions  at the Harvard University Movie Club --- those were a few wonderful months for me !)

 

Unfortunately, 17 years later now, I don't remember the name of the history scholar who made that statement. It was my fault that I did not follow it up to find it in historical reference or book or article written by any historians. I'll now dig it up and let you know.

 

Normally, I furnish a word "assumption" before such statements, which you may have noticed in my other writings.   IF     I miss, please let me know, I'll correct immediately ! All historical facts must be supported by cross-reference, according to the principle of historical studies. I really apologize for missing the word "assumption" before this statement. I thank you for correcting me.

 

In this connection, I urge the netters to ponder over the “story” that Lachit beheaded his own uncle for lapse of duty in the Battle of Saraighat and uttered the famous slogan: "deshatkoi momai dangar nohoi" (My uncle is not greater than my country) --- this statement was boldly etched at the entrance of the Assam Assembly Hall in Shillong when Shillong was the capital of Assam.

 

Now, I have heard that some people have raised serious objection that this statement cannot be accepted as historical truth due to lack of cross-reference. The netters may throw some light on this. 

 

Throughout my life, I grew up with Lachit's  "deshatkoi momai dangar nohoi" , and it pained me beyond any consolation that I could not include "deshatkoi momai dangar nohoi"  in my article “ATAN BURAGOHAIN SAKO” because some historian would object. However, in spite of all precautions, the idea of “ATAN BURAGOHAIN SAKO” and the idea of the statue of Swargadev Chakradhwaj Singha were rejected on the grounds that the bridge would encourage garbage dumping, the statue would be a sore thumb, the existing white pillar is an excellent "ABSTRACT" element, the statue of Swargadev Chakradhwaj Singha  would be ugly, “what they did in their time is fine --- we need not build any sako (bridge) or statue to commemorate them” ------ and a hoard of many other "wise" comments.

 

I request the netters to find out the historical truth about Lachit's  "deshatkoi momai dangar nahoi" and advice me if I can include it in a revised version of the article “ATAN BURAGOHAIN SAKO” .

 

With the best wishes,

Himendra

----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 10:17 AM
Subject: invasion of Indo-Gangetic plains by Muslims

>On January 29, 2006, I clearly wrote in the net that “To protect a family during the early period of invasion of Indo-Gangetic plains, if a family of had five >brothers, two would take conversion to Islam to protect the remaining three.
 
Dear Himen-da:
I just want to ask you one question. Do you have any proof of the above statement?
If yes, can you support with any historical reference or book or article written by any historians?
I never heard such statement from any quarter. So it is very important that we absolutely find the truth
Rajen.

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