"British Vs Muslim Rule In India"

         When we talk about "Struggle for Independence", we almost always refer to our movements against British rule. We always maintain that, British occupation is the most dreadful thing that happened to us , in India. Yes, it is true that, during the time the freedom movement took momentum it was British who was ruling over India. I also agree and take cognizant about the drain of wealth from India to England and all the atrocities for which British can be held responsible.

               Think  about  preceding  800  years,  when  India  was ruled  by  the  Arabs  and Turkish  slaves. Think about the 17  times  raid  done  by  Mahmud  of  Ghazni and the amount of wealth he siphoned out of India He alone took away 100 times more wealth than the British could in 200 years (If interested read my posting on that chronicle or request to reproduce) . He never settled here but built his capital Ghazni, with 700 million Gold coin, the Wealth looted from us. Even Mohammed Ghori ruled from Kabul and Babur resented that he had to live in Delhi. Humayun spent all most all his life in Iran. Most of the Muslim ruler had their one foot in India and the other foot in Iraq,Istanbul or Uzbekistan (like many of their descendants even now) .

                         What they did?? They sent the looted wealth on the horse or Camel's back. They enslaved Hindus and transported them to their country of origin (12 millions of them are still roaming as stateless persons in Eastern Europe--Roma people). They built their own Capitals like Ghazni, Samarkhand and Istanbul. For us they never built one hospital, one institution for education and one road (except patching up of the road which already existed from Kolkata to Lahore -- Grand trunk road). Taj Mahal, a converted Hindu temple complex into a Tomb never served any purpose except that it caused a famine due to the excessive tax imposed on poor Hindus. Muslim rule also saw a ever increasing converted Muslims ,where there was not even one before 762 AD. We also witnessed the destruction of our educational institutions like Nalanda, Taxshila and many more education center of excellence in the old world. Everything sacred to the Hindus were destroyed.

                  Can we blame the British like that ???? At least British gave us Calcutta University and many other educational institutions across India (Very few British children got educated there), Many many hospitals, Good roads, Railway , magnificent building (Parliamenet House and Rastrapati Bhawan and so many others). More over we had to borrow the British administrative system for us.

              Show me just one very good institution that the Muslims built for the use of common Indian Hindus. Identify one system that can be called as a social welfare system and administration which is common people oriented.

I am ready to learn from you, as my knowledge is not good and sufficient.

By Dr.M.K.Debnath

THE KING AND GOLDEN COIN

Once a sadhu was sitting underneath a tree with some of his followers and was speaking Krishna katha and doing bhajan and kirtana.

The king of that country happened to pass by, followed by his ministers, and many people in a grand procession.

The king looked at that sadhu and asked his minister, Who is he ? What is he doing?

The minister said, Maharaj, he is a mahamurkha. He has no intelligence and creates only disturbances.

Then king went ahead. but that night he thought very deeply ,oh, there is some fool in my kingdom, whoever is the greatest fool, Ill reward him.

The next morning he called his minister and gave him a gold coin, this is the reward for the greatest fool in my kingdom

The minister went around asking various people , Are you a murkha?

People laughed and no one was willing to accept that he was fool. After searching for the whole day and not finding anyone, he was tired and morose.

He finally came to the sadhu, who was chanting peacefully. On enquiring, the minister told his agony of not finding any fool, and feared of Kings punishment.

The sadhu said, Why should the king inflict punishment on you? All right I am the greatest fool.

The minister gave him the coin, immediately the sadhu threw it into the garbage.The minister thought that sadhu threw the gold coin in the garbage, definitely, he is greatest fool.Finally minister reported the whole incident to the king.

A few years passed and the king was on his deathbed.This sadhu went to him, and on seeing the king lamenting, he told the king,You are going to die, but you have collected so much wealth. Why are you so morose? Will not all this wealth go with you? Wont you take all these opulence with you?

No, said the King and then sadhu replied,Then you have not earned the real wealth that will follow you, the bhakti dhana, paramaartha dhana, prema dhana. The material wealth is subject to destruction. One who has not earned real wealth is the greatest fool. You are the greatest fool of this kingdom, and so you deserve this gold coin as a reward!

Moral of the stroy:

Just like the king we all are all fools to accumulate wealth, and other opulence, finally at the time of death, we wont be able to take a tiny needle, what to talk of the wealth that we accumulate. Whatever goes with us is the spiritual account. So instead of working like a dog we have to think about accumulating the prema dhana ( love for Krishna ) for Krishna, because nothing else will follow us at the time of our last breathe.

Everyone in the material world is full of thoughts about how to maintain his family, how to protect his wealth. We plan various ways to keep our wealth secure(in form of investments, property, when only Krsna knows if we are going to enjoy our hard labor in future or not), but all our attempts will soon wash out, when death grabs our life air.

We forget that we have to die one day, there is no escapism in case of death.We have come and we have to go. We are fools to think that now we will earn enough money, then when we become old, we will enjoy it. Anything in this material world cant be enjoyed for long, unless it is used in the service of Krishna.

Srila Prabupada advises us that Material possessions, however alluring they may be, cannot be permanent possessions. Therefore one has to voluntarily give up such possessions, or one has to leave such possessions at the time of quitting this material body. The sane man knows that all material possessions are temporary and that the best use of such possessions is to engage them in the service of the Lord so that the Lord may be pleased with him and award him a permanent place in His param dhaama".

As stated in Srimad Bhagavatam 3.30.3,

yad adhruvasya dehasya / saanubandhasya durmatih
dhruvaani manyate mohaad / grha-kshetra-vasuni ca

"The misguided materialist does not know that his very body is impermanent and that the attractions of home, land and wealth, which are in relationship to that body, are also temporary. Out of ignorance only, he thinks that everything is permanent."

Srila Prabhupada quotes in the puport to the above verse that the materialist thinks that persons engaged in Krishna conciousness are crazy fellows wasting time by chanting Hare Krishna but actually he does not know that he himself is in the darkest region of craziness because of accepting his body as permanent. And, in relation to his body, he accepts his home, his country, his society and all other paraphernalia as permanent. This materialistic acceptance of the permanency of home, land, etc., is called the illusion of maya.