You must have heard about Bhasmasura. Otherwise you should. The Asura was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva and to appease and also to seek blessings from the God, Bhasmasura held a rigorous ‘Thapas’ (Penance), lasting a prolonged period. Delighted with his rigorous ‘Thapas’ God Shiva appeared before the Asura in all glory and halo, blessed the Asura and told his faithful devotee. “I am very much delighted and am proud of you. I am showering all the blessings on you. You can seek any boon from me and it will be available to you. I am that much satisfied with you, my beloved devotee”.
Asura felt much honoured and with all humility and devotion to the God he worshipped for years appealed to Shiva. “Thank God. I need only one boon from you. May your highness bless me with it”- Asura knelt before the God.
“You may ask me. Your wish would be materialized”.- God Shiva promised him.
“I need a boon from you, your Excellency. On anyone I touch with my finger on his or her fore-head,should in an instant become Bhasma(ashes). Without pondering over the covert intention of the Asura, God Shiva blessed the Asura with the boon he sought from him. “May your wish be materialized”- showering all blessings on the Asura, God Shiva wanted to bid farewell from his worshipper.
“My beloved God, give me a chance to test the boon, first on your highness”.
God Shiva was shocked. The treachery unveiled, but it was too late. The boon once given should not be withdrawn, and fearing the worst, the God ran away to escape from the Asura and the Asura followed him with all the might that he had already obtained from the God after a long period of rigorous penance.
Shiva’s running spree gained momentum and at last he decided to approach God Vishnu and kept him abreast of all that happened. Shiva had known that the only escape route from the Asura was through God Vishnu. In the Puranas it was God Vishnu who rescued many a God from the Asuras, who keeping all the treachery in mind, worshipped Gods and caught in their traps.
“Please help me to find a way out of this dilemma. Only you can help me wriggle out of this predicament.” – God Shiva sought solace from his friend.
God Vishnu meditated for a while and came out from his meditation with a solution.
With his divine powers, within seconds the God turned into an ‘apsaras’- a charming lady with the power to distract the attention of the Asura and passed by him. Asura saw her and at first sight itself Asura got enchanted with the pretty, fatally charming lady and implored her to accept him as his life partner.
The lady agreed but on one condition.
“Would you do whatever I might seek from you?”
The Asura instantly agreed and promised her. That much he was attracted and enchanted by her.
“Then you may do one thing. Before my own eyes you may kindly touch your finger on your forehead. The next moment I shall accept you.”
The Asura was relieved and he thought it a simple thing. Without any hesitation, and without thinking too much in his eager to possess the enchantress he touched his forehead with his own finger. Within seconds the Asura became a handful of Bhasma(ashes).
Again with his divine power, the charming enchantress turned into God Vishnu and thus saved his friend God Shiva from the Asura’s trap.
This puranic story of Bhasmasura has some contemporary dimensions.
The whole world is caught in a web of wicked forces and all across the world are lamenting over the fate of an accursed world. Terrorists, like the proverbial Asuras are on the prowl, leaders across the Globe are busy engaged in talks to eradicate this menace from the face of the Globe as early as possible. Otherwise, the fate of this beautiful world will be in shambles, reminding us of the story of Bhasmasura.
On 26 November, a bunch of terrorists with deadly weapons landed on the shores of India, a journey commenced from Karachi of Pakistan, now the epicentre of terrorism, first by a ship and then by a speed-boat across the Arabian Sea with the sole intention of striking at the financial capital of our country wreaking as much damage as possible. Those Jihadists, all except one were supposed to have been killed by our valiant commandos, some must have escaped the net, not sure. It was a meticulously planned execution of Lashkar-E-Taiba of the wretched leader Hafiz Ali Sayed who is presently well-entrenched in his country. Almost sixty hours of incessant battle, two days, three nights, and one morning, the wicked Jihadists of Lashkar-E-Taiba, who soon after reaching the city escaping the dragnet spread by the security agencies(whether there was such a dragnet is another puzzle, the news that the information was already passed on to the Government about the terrorist attack from sea is anybody's guess) formed groups of threes and fours and spread along the city, got entrenched in famous landmarks of the city like, Taj-Intercontinental, Hotel Oberoi-Trident, Cama Hospital, Nariman House, Leopold restaurant, held some people hostage, shot about 55 innocents at the Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus itself, gunshots, grenade explosions with deafening sounds and cries for help by some victims were heard, but the Jihadists didn’t relent and a carnage of sorts took place, taking the death toll to round about 200 and about 600 wounded and taken to hospitals.
I am not prolonging with an eyewitness account of all that happened on that faithful day( I had already described the entire episode in an earlier blog dated 30 November 2008 ). But I would like to dissect a bygone period and also point out the genesis of the terrorist drama now being enacted across the world.
Among the countries, the first to come out condemning the all sad happenings is surprisingly and amusingly USA, the one nation solely responsible for sowing the seeds of terrorism by playing World Police. That country’s attempt and eagerness for one up-man ship among the World nations was the main factor for all the subsequent happenings, still going on in our world.
Take for example, the history of Afghan imbroglio.
That nation was in the grip of the erstwhile Soviet Union for a while and as already pointed out, in order to contain the main competitor of USA of that period, encouraged the Taliban, Osama-Bin-Laden and his cohorts, provided them with all logistics , all the other help those elements wanted to rescue Afghanistan from the clutches of erstwhile Soviet Union. Now the number one and most wanted enemy in the World is Osama-Bin-Laden and Ayman-Al-Sawahiri, his deputy once the faithful friends and conscience keepers of USA. Look at the ways the history and relationships play in the infinite expanse of time! Quite a paradox!
Till 9/11, USA had an inherent feeling of superiority (even now, when the nation is undergoing a recession and the economy in shambles) and complacency that they were impervious to terrorist attacks and would continue to be so eternally, so they believed. That complacency was broken and with realization that USA was also prone to the machinations of terrorists across the world, Mr. George Walker Bush jumped to the front hiding his fear and uncertainty, displaying a face of courage vowed to every nation that terrorism would be nipped in the bud, and the dreaded Al- Quaida and its vicious leaders would be brought to justice. Bush with his foolish determination to hunt down the Al- Quaida leaders who were said to be the perpetrators, who was said to be the perpetrators of 9/11 World Trade Centre attack, 2001 embarked on his misadventure, went for the jugular of terrorist movement and its leaders across the world. His first goal was to attack Afghanistan and perpetrate as much destruction as possible, hunt down Osama-Bin-Laden and his cohorts supposed to be hiding in the North-West Frontier of Pakistan, believed to be well-entrenched in their bunkers, nabbing them ‘dead or alive’. The powerful president could only play havoc with the nation by massacaring innocents, men, women and children who were not all involved in Jihadist movement and their only wish was to go on with their lives safely and peacefully. The war only helped to shatter the dreams, hopes and aspirations of those innocent people and to escape from incessant bombings and mayhem they fled to neighbouring countries and settled down as refugees-poverty, diseases, malnutrition and hunger killing them in thousands.
But, the men, they (USA) wanted and to be brought to justice still remain elusive even after years of turmoil-but the lessons Mr.Bush still refuse to learn in the fag end of his presidency. The next to enthrone, Mr. Barack Obama is also determined to pursue Osama-Bin-Laden to the end. Obama - peace loving, cool and diplomatic, thus we all say, is keeping the age-old feeling of superiority of the Americans in the comity of nations. Let the time prove it…
Once Pakistan was the blue-eyed boy of USA, George Bush loved that nation and provided that country with all kinds of aid, weapons, food and billions of Dollars as loan. Some of them as grants. Deep down in his heart, his intention was to contain India at any cost, as he had apprehended the ‘phenomenal growth and development’ of India( my good gracious!). Retd General Pervez Musharaff deliberately played into the hands of Bush always ensured to keep the World leader in good humour to extract the maximum from USA. While the General was encouraging and providing all logistics to the Jihadists to destroy the peace in Jammu and Kashmir, whom he called freedom fighters' self-proclaimed champion of democracy Mr.Bush and his GoP kept mum thus giving silent approval to all the heinous activities- the Jihadist elements of Pakistan perpetrated massive destruction in Jammu and Kashmir, killing about one lakh people including our jawans till now.
The same Bush sent his confident the Secretary Of State, Condoleeza Rice to India first on hearing the news of Pakistani Jihadist elements played with fire in our nation, condemning the incident in no uncertain terms. Ms.Rice went to Pakistan soon after the visit to India, met President Asif Ali Sardari and demanded him to initiate tough and stern action against the Jihadist elements in the country as USA was in possession of evidence pointing out to involvement of Pakistani security establishment in the Mumbai carnage. Remember, now India and USA are on good terms particularly after the Civil-Nuclear Deal ‘consummation’ and USA is not that much in good terms with Pakistan because of frequent skirmishes along the North-West Frontier Province and occasional trespassing of boundaries in spite of repeated warnings by Pakistan.
On the pretext of – “Wiping out” the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) from the land of Iraq- Bush sent lakhs of troops into Iraq and engaged in fierce battle, which started from the year 2003, thus destroying the last remnants of Mesopotamian Civilization, revered and respected by all around the world, killing crores of people including infants, forcing a lot of people fleeing from the country seeking safe havens, Saddam Hussein hanged after a mock trial and installing a puppet Government under Noori-Al-Maliki, an American stooge. Actually it was not the issue of WMD that mattered as Hans Blix, UN Representative after conducting extensive inspection found no such weapons and reported to the UN. United Nations has no value before the eyes of USA and hence ignored report and embarked on a war mission. USA had actually business interests in the Oil-rich nation and to extract the maximum for their use found a pretext in the form of elimination of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).
Asura felt much honoured and with all humility and devotion to the God he worshipped for years appealed to Shiva. “Thank God. I need only one boon from you. May your highness bless me with it”- Asura knelt before the God.
“You may ask me. Your wish would be materialized”.- God Shiva promised him.
“I need a boon from you, your Excellency. On anyone I touch with my finger on his or her fore-head,should in an instant become Bhasma(ashes). Without pondering over the covert intention of the Asura, God Shiva blessed the Asura with the boon he sought from him. “May your wish be materialized”- showering all blessings on the Asura, God Shiva wanted to bid farewell from his worshipper.
“My beloved God, give me a chance to test the boon, first on your highness”.
God Shiva was shocked. The treachery unveiled, but it was too late. The boon once given should not be withdrawn, and fearing the worst, the God ran away to escape from the Asura and the Asura followed him with all the might that he had already obtained from the God after a long period of rigorous penance.
Shiva’s running spree gained momentum and at last he decided to approach God Vishnu and kept him abreast of all that happened. Shiva had known that the only escape route from the Asura was through God Vishnu. In the Puranas it was God Vishnu who rescued many a God from the Asuras, who keeping all the treachery in mind, worshipped Gods and caught in their traps.
“Please help me to find a way out of this dilemma. Only you can help me wriggle out of this predicament.” – God Shiva sought solace from his friend.
God Vishnu meditated for a while and came out from his meditation with a solution.
With his divine powers, within seconds the God turned into an ‘apsaras’- a charming lady with the power to distract the attention of the Asura and passed by him. Asura saw her and at first sight itself Asura got enchanted with the pretty, fatally charming lady and implored her to accept him as his life partner.
The lady agreed but on one condition.
“Would you do whatever I might seek from you?”
The Asura instantly agreed and promised her. That much he was attracted and enchanted by her.
“Then you may do one thing. Before my own eyes you may kindly touch your finger on your forehead. The next moment I shall accept you.”
The Asura was relieved and he thought it a simple thing. Without any hesitation, and without thinking too much in his eager to possess the enchantress he touched his forehead with his own finger. Within seconds the Asura became a handful of Bhasma(ashes).
Again with his divine power, the charming enchantress turned into God Vishnu and thus saved his friend God Shiva from the Asura’s trap.
This puranic story of Bhasmasura has some contemporary dimensions.
The whole world is caught in a web of wicked forces and all across the world are lamenting over the fate of an accursed world. Terrorists, like the proverbial Asuras are on the prowl, leaders across the Globe are busy engaged in talks to eradicate this menace from the face of the Globe as early as possible. Otherwise, the fate of this beautiful world will be in shambles, reminding us of the story of Bhasmasura.
On 26 November, a bunch of terrorists with deadly weapons landed on the shores of India, a journey commenced from Karachi of Pakistan, now the epicentre of terrorism, first by a ship and then by a speed-boat across the Arabian Sea with the sole intention of striking at the financial capital of our country wreaking as much damage as possible. Those Jihadists, all except one were supposed to have been killed by our valiant commandos, some must have escaped the net, not sure. It was a meticulously planned execution of Lashkar-E-Taiba of the wretched leader Hafiz Ali Sayed who is presently well-entrenched in his country. Almost sixty hours of incessant battle, two days, three nights, and one morning, the wicked Jihadists of Lashkar-E-Taiba, who soon after reaching the city escaping the dragnet spread by the security agencies(whether there was such a dragnet is another puzzle, the news that the information was already passed on to the Government about the terrorist attack from sea is anybody's guess) formed groups of threes and fours and spread along the city, got entrenched in famous landmarks of the city like, Taj-Intercontinental, Hotel Oberoi-Trident, Cama Hospital, Nariman House, Leopold restaurant, held some people hostage, shot about 55 innocents at the Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus itself, gunshots, grenade explosions with deafening sounds and cries for help by some victims were heard, but the Jihadists didn’t relent and a carnage of sorts took place, taking the death toll to round about 200 and about 600 wounded and taken to hospitals.
I am not prolonging with an eyewitness account of all that happened on that faithful day( I had already described the entire episode in an earlier blog dated 30 November 2008 ). But I would like to dissect a bygone period and also point out the genesis of the terrorist drama now being enacted across the world.
Among the countries, the first to come out condemning the all sad happenings is surprisingly and amusingly USA, the one nation solely responsible for sowing the seeds of terrorism by playing World Police. That country’s attempt and eagerness for one up-man ship among the World nations was the main factor for all the subsequent happenings, still going on in our world.
Take for example, the history of Afghan imbroglio.
That nation was in the grip of the erstwhile Soviet Union for a while and as already pointed out, in order to contain the main competitor of USA of that period, encouraged the Taliban, Osama-Bin-Laden and his cohorts, provided them with all logistics , all the other help those elements wanted to rescue Afghanistan from the clutches of erstwhile Soviet Union. Now the number one and most wanted enemy in the World is Osama-Bin-Laden and Ayman-Al-Sawahiri, his deputy once the faithful friends and conscience keepers of USA. Look at the ways the history and relationships play in the infinite expanse of time! Quite a paradox!
Till 9/11, USA had an inherent feeling of superiority (even now, when the nation is undergoing a recession and the economy in shambles) and complacency that they were impervious to terrorist attacks and would continue to be so eternally, so they believed. That complacency was broken and with realization that USA was also prone to the machinations of terrorists across the world, Mr. George Walker Bush jumped to the front hiding his fear and uncertainty, displaying a face of courage vowed to every nation that terrorism would be nipped in the bud, and the dreaded Al- Quaida and its vicious leaders would be brought to justice. Bush with his foolish determination to hunt down the Al- Quaida leaders who were said to be the perpetrators, who was said to be the perpetrators of 9/11 World Trade Centre attack, 2001 embarked on his misadventure, went for the jugular of terrorist movement and its leaders across the world. His first goal was to attack Afghanistan and perpetrate as much destruction as possible, hunt down Osama-Bin-Laden and his cohorts supposed to be hiding in the North-West Frontier of Pakistan, believed to be well-entrenched in their bunkers, nabbing them ‘dead or alive’. The powerful president could only play havoc with the nation by massacaring innocents, men, women and children who were not all involved in Jihadist movement and their only wish was to go on with their lives safely and peacefully. The war only helped to shatter the dreams, hopes and aspirations of those innocent people and to escape from incessant bombings and mayhem they fled to neighbouring countries and settled down as refugees-poverty, diseases, malnutrition and hunger killing them in thousands.
But, the men, they (USA) wanted and to be brought to justice still remain elusive even after years of turmoil-but the lessons Mr.Bush still refuse to learn in the fag end of his presidency. The next to enthrone, Mr. Barack Obama is also determined to pursue Osama-Bin-Laden to the end. Obama - peace loving, cool and diplomatic, thus we all say, is keeping the age-old feeling of superiority of the Americans in the comity of nations. Let the time prove it…
Once Pakistan was the blue-eyed boy of USA, George Bush loved that nation and provided that country with all kinds of aid, weapons, food and billions of Dollars as loan. Some of them as grants. Deep down in his heart, his intention was to contain India at any cost, as he had apprehended the ‘phenomenal growth and development’ of India( my good gracious!). Retd General Pervez Musharaff deliberately played into the hands of Bush always ensured to keep the World leader in good humour to extract the maximum from USA. While the General was encouraging and providing all logistics to the Jihadists to destroy the peace in Jammu and Kashmir, whom he called freedom fighters' self-proclaimed champion of democracy Mr.Bush and his GoP kept mum thus giving silent approval to all the heinous activities- the Jihadist elements of Pakistan perpetrated massive destruction in Jammu and Kashmir, killing about one lakh people including our jawans till now.
The same Bush sent his confident the Secretary Of State, Condoleeza Rice to India first on hearing the news of Pakistani Jihadist elements played with fire in our nation, condemning the incident in no uncertain terms. Ms.Rice went to Pakistan soon after the visit to India, met President Asif Ali Sardari and demanded him to initiate tough and stern action against the Jihadist elements in the country as USA was in possession of evidence pointing out to involvement of Pakistani security establishment in the Mumbai carnage. Remember, now India and USA are on good terms particularly after the Civil-Nuclear Deal ‘consummation’ and USA is not that much in good terms with Pakistan because of frequent skirmishes along the North-West Frontier Province and occasional trespassing of boundaries in spite of repeated warnings by Pakistan.
On the pretext of – “Wiping out” the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) from the land of Iraq- Bush sent lakhs of troops into Iraq and engaged in fierce battle, which started from the year 2003, thus destroying the last remnants of Mesopotamian Civilization, revered and respected by all around the world, killing crores of people including infants, forcing a lot of people fleeing from the country seeking safe havens, Saddam Hussein hanged after a mock trial and installing a puppet Government under Noori-Al-Maliki, an American stooge. Actually it was not the issue of WMD that mattered as Hans Blix, UN Representative after conducting extensive inspection found no such weapons and reported to the UN. United Nations has no value before the eyes of USA and hence ignored report and embarked on a war mission. USA had actually business interests in the Oil-rich nation and to extract the maximum for their use found a pretext in the form of elimination of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).
It is worthwhile to note here that even the late Saddam Hussein was a close friend of USA in his mission to annihilate lakhs of Kurds and that closeness ended only when the Kuwait war broke out in 1991 under the regime of George Bush Senior.
Interestingly, the nation keeping the largest number of WMD is USA itself.
Similarly, the Palestine-Israeli issue, and USA always siding with Israel in its efforts to target Palestinians and killing them, has created wide-spread discontent among the Arab Nations and Jihadist elements, thus providing manure to the wide-spread growth of terrorism in various corners of the World.
Muslim community across the Globe deeply dischanted and angered with the USA and thus leading many among them to turn to Jihadism and massive destruction.
Even at this critical moment in contemporary scenario, it seems USA has still not learned much. The nation which once provided all logistical help to Jihadists are now seen engaged in wiping out Jihadism from the face of earth with humble requests from all across the World!
What a Tamasha!
Tail-Piece: I regret having compared God Shiva to George Bush and would like to mention here that Mr.Bush himself has turned out to be a Bhasmasura of the contemporary world. Where is God Shiva now is a billion dollar question.
Interestingly, the nation keeping the largest number of WMD is USA itself.
Similarly, the Palestine-Israeli issue, and USA always siding with Israel in its efforts to target Palestinians and killing them, has created wide-spread discontent among the Arab Nations and Jihadist elements, thus providing manure to the wide-spread growth of terrorism in various corners of the World.
Muslim community across the Globe deeply dischanted and angered with the USA and thus leading many among them to turn to Jihadism and massive destruction.
Even at this critical moment in contemporary scenario, it seems USA has still not learned much. The nation which once provided all logistical help to Jihadists are now seen engaged in wiping out Jihadism from the face of earth with humble requests from all across the World!
What a Tamasha!
Tail-Piece: I regret having compared God Shiva to George Bush and would like to mention here that Mr.Bush himself has turned out to be a Bhasmasura of the contemporary world. Where is God Shiva now is a billion dollar question.
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