Saffron under Siege

Yogi Ashwini's Blog in Speaking Tree

As early as the Treta Yug, asurs have tried to disrupt creation. Disruption of creation is inevitable. Mahapralay is a natural follow-through of creation and asurs have an important role to play in it. Without the asurs, mahapralay cannot happen, and a new beginning cannot be made.

Everything in creation is cyclical, nothing is linear. There is childbirth, death and rebirth. The sun rises and sets to rise again. A seed gives rise to a tree, which produces more seeds for more trees. Moon follows a cycle, as does water. The cyclical pattern is seen in human evolution, too. Lighter thoughts, thoughts for creation and selfless actions make one rise, and heavier thoughts, asuric disposition put one on the descending cycle.

There is a limit to how much you can rise or fall, and that depends on the influence asurs and devas have in your life. Ravan, for instance, ascended to be one of the greatest pandits of all times who extemporaneously created the Shiv Tandav Stotram, to perfect which calls for sadhna of many years together. He could do that owing to the influence of devik shaktis on him. But as asuric shaktis took over, he started disturbing the rishis and munis, and so his descent began.

Saffron has been worn by rishis and munis since thousands of years, and for thousands of years it has been attacked by the asurs. We all know of Lord Ram, who went to defend the yagya of Rishi Vishwamitra against the attack of asurs. Yagyas create positivity and asurs thrive on negativity.

Creation is never a constant; it is always changing form, going up or coming down. Our life is also never a constant, there are upturns and there are downturns in an individual’s life. In economics, it is said that a company whose graph is horizontal—that is where there is no upturn or downturn—would shut down in a short while. Even a downturn is considered a growth factor. This law is constant in all aspects of creation. It is also applicable to yogis and to huge empires. Upturn and downturn cycles are very important for growth. With every downturn, one must use its momentum to reach a new high.

In today’s world, increasing influence of asuric forces can be traced back to the beginning of invasions by nomadic tribes of the Arabian peninsula and tribes from the far reaches of Europe. Take, for example, the Portuguese invasion of the west coast of India in the sixteenth century which brought in its wake large-scale destruction of temples, burning of ancient scriptures as well as disbanding of yagyas and other spiritual practices in the region or the invasions by Ghori and Ghazni. Mahmud of Ghazni destroyed thousands of temples during his raids, including the Somnath temple in 1025 AD, killing over 50,000 people who tried to defend it. In the early years of British penetration in India, there was an uprising of saints termed as the Sanyasi Revolt. The British, fearing the power of these men in saffron and knowing that they would not be able to establish their rule in India till these people are suppressed, killed 150 saints.

In the present times, the term ‘saffronisation’ has been coined by negative, asuric forces to uproot the Vedic culture and undermine the saints. Corrupt so-called saints are highlighted in the media repeatedly to pull down the image of saffron, while hardly ever is a saint working for animals or the people or environment brought to the fore. Our country is known to produce saints like Ramkrishna Paramhans, Ramana Maharshi and their modern counterparts, but no one talks about them. No one even talks about so-called saints from any other community, when many are known to have committed crimes against humanity. I wonder why only specific few are handpicked by the media.

In such times, it becomes our prime duty to uphold the saffron, by understanding what it is all about, by understanding the Vedas and what they talk about and not a myopic opinion based on a minority highlighted in the media.