THIS is a compilation of talks presented at the gurupuja held in Chennai in July 2004. In this the orange flag is expounded upon as the guru and integral to gurupuja. Both gurupuja and the orange flag find mention in our Vedas.
Thomas Alva Edison, in the 19th century, recorded Max Mueller’s speech in England on a record. When the record was played to a large audience of intellectuals, they were fascinated to hear Prof Max Mueller’s voice. They praised Edison for his discovery. Prof Max Mueller stood on the dais and addressed the intellectuals thus: “In the morning you heard me and in the afternoon you heard my voice on this instrument. Could you understand what I had said in the morning and what the record of my voice said in the afternoon?”
Nobody in the audience could say anything as they had not understood the language spoken by him, though they were all curious to know about it. To satisfy their curiosity, Max Mueller explained, “It was spoken in Sanskrit language in which the first shloka from the Rig Veda is recited – Agnimah iley purohitam.” He elaborated further by explaining that the Vedas were the oldest treatise of mankind, written when the people of Europe were still jumping like chimpanzees on trees and covering themselves with leaves. He said that if asked which country in the world was most civilised and had progressed the maximum in education and culture, “I would reply ‘India’.” Undoubtedly it was the Indians who had reached the most advanced stage of civilisation and provided much useful information to the world through their Vedas.
Archaeologists and anthropologists consider the Saraswati river as old as 8000 BC and even the Vedas describe it. The author also describes the guru-shishya and gurupuja tradition which we have received in our heritage.
(Suruchi Prakashan, Keshav Kunj, Jhandewalan, New Delhi-110055; www.suruchiprakashan.com)
