मैं नर्मदा हूं

मैं नर्मदा हूं

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मैं नर्मदा हूं। जब गंगा नहीं थी , तब भी मैं थी। जब हिमालय नहीं था , तभी भी मै थी। मेरे किनारों पर नागर सभ्यता का विकास नहीं हुआ। मेरे दोनों किनारों पर तो दंडकारण्य के घने जंगलों की भरमार थी। इसी के कारण आर्य मुझ तक नहीं पहुंच सके। मैं अनेक वर्षों तक आर्यावर्त की सीमा रेखा बनी रही। उन दिनों मेरे तट पर उत्तरापथ समाप्त होता था और दक्षिणापथ शुरू होता था।

मेरे तट पर मोहनजोदड़ो जैसी नागर संस्कृति नहीं रही, लेकिन एक आरण्यक संस्कृति अवश्य रही। मेरे तटवर्ती वनों मे मार्कंडेय, कपिल, भृगु , जमदग्नि आदि अनेक ऋषियों के आश्रम रहे । यहाँ की यज्ञवेदियों का धुआँ आकाश में मंडराता था । ऋषियों का कहना था कि तपस्या तो बस नर्मदा तट पर ही करनी चाहिए। 

इन्हीं ऋषियों में से एक ने मेरा नाम रखा, " रेवा "। रेव् यानी कूदना। उन्होंने मुझे चट्टानों में कूदते फांदते देखा तो मेरा नाम "रेवा" रखा।

एक अन्य ऋषि ने मेरा नाम "नर्मदा " रखा ।"नर्म" यानी आनंद । आनंद देनेवाली नदी।

मैं भारत की सात प्रमुख नदियों में से हूं । गंगा के बाद मेरा ही महत्व है । पुराणों में जितना मुझ पर लिखा गया है उतना और किसी नदी पर नहीं । स्कंदपुराण का "रेवाखंड " तो पूरा का पूरा मुझको ही अर्पित है।

"पुराण कहते हैं कि जो पुण्य , गंगा में स्नान करने से मिलता है, वह मेरे दर्शन मात्र से मिल जाता है।"

मेरा जन्म अमरकंटक में हुआ । मैं पश्चिम की ओर बहती हूं। मेरा प्रवाह आधार चट्टानी भूमि है। मेरे तट पर आदिमजातियां निवास करती हैं । जीवन में मैंने सदा कड़ा संघर्ष किया।

मैं एक हूं ,पर मेरे रुप अनेक हैं । मूसलाधार वृष्टि पर उफन पड़ती हूं ,तो गर्मियों में बस मेरी सांस भर चलती रहती है।

मैं प्रपात बाहुल्या नदी हूं । कपिलधारा , दूधधारा , धावड़ीकुंड, सहस्त्रधारा मेरे मुख्य प्रपात हैं ।

ओंकारेश्वर मेरे तट का प्रमुख तीर्थ है। महेश्वर ही प्राचीन माहिष्मती है। वहाँ  के घाट देश के सर्वोत्तम घाटों में से है ।

मैं स्वयं को भरूच (भृगुकच्छ) में अरब सागर को समर्पित करती हूँ ‌।

मुझे याद आया।

 अमरकंटक में मैंने कैसी मामूली सी शुरुआत की थी। वहां तो एक बच्चा भी मुझे लांघ जाया करता था पर यहां मेरा पाट 20 किलोमीटर चौड़ा है । यह तय करना कठिन है कि कहां मेरा अंत है और कहां समुद्र का आरंभ? पर आज मेरा स्वरुप बदल रहा है। मेरे तटवर्ती प्रदेश बदल गए हैं मुझ पर कई बांध बांधे जा रहे हैं। मेरे लिए यह कष्टप्रद तो है पर जब अकालग्रस्त , भूखे-प्यासे लोगों को पानी, चारे के लिए तड़पते पशुओं को , बंजर पड़े खेतों को देखती हूं , तो मन रो पड़ता है। आखिर में माँ हूं।

मुझ पर बने बांध इनकी आवश्यकताओं को पूरा करेंगें। अब धरती की प्यास बुझेगी । मैं धरती को सुजला सुफला बनाऊंगी। यह कार्य मुझे एक आंतरिक संतोष देता है।

त्वदीय पाद पंकजम, नमामि देवी नर्मदे...

नर्मदे सर्वदे 

{अमृतस्य नर्मदा} 

🙏🙏

Swami Vivekanand in Khandwa

A NEW DISCOVERY RELATED TO  FREEMASON OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Recently a news published in Hindi Newpaper “Nai Duniya” dt 18th of January 2018 that 

“Khandwa is associated with the inspiration of the youth.  Swami Vivekananda come to Khandwa before going to Chicago conference and stayed  for 18 days ,he was a  guest of  Babu Haridas Chatterjee’s the than president of Municipal Council of Khandwa.

Now there is a private nursing home where he was a guest. The bed on which he rested and kept the luggage in the closet, was given by Chatterjee family to Dr. Yuji Rathore, a resident of Lalchauki Road in 1980, which is still kept by Rathore family as a heritage.

During this stay Swami Vivekananda gave a lecture in Khandwa's MASONIC LODGE. 

The house in which Swami Vivekananda was a guest was sold to Dr. B.P Mishra in 1982 and Chatterjee family went to Kolkata. Dr. Mishra is operating a private nursing home here. ..Chatterjee family used to tell in their discussion that during Swamij’s stay  at Khandwa, he received a notice from the Chicago conference. After spending nearly 18 days in Khandwa, he left for Mumbai .

ABOUT KHANDWA MESONIC HALL AND SOME CLUE ABOUT WESTERN FREEMASONIC LOGES 

In this connection “The Times of India” dt Jan 9, 2013 wrote that “with the title “Freemasons celebrate grand lodge of western India's golden in MP.”

Freemasonry was a well-kept secret in Madhya Pradesh since 18th century. Until 2005 when its members initiated a legal battle against state government after the latter ‘seized’ one of their oldest lodges (lodge of central India No. 84)  along with its valuable land citing violations of lease deed…Masonic centres like Rajkot, Vadodara, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad  KHANDWA, Raipur, Nagpur, Jabalpur have old Masonic buildings in fairly good condition. Some other centres have either purchased  or are in process of purchasing properties for holding meetings. High cost of land is causing some problems in this direction. Grand lodge of India and regional grand lodge of western India  provide substantial aid for maintenance and repairs of old properties. 

In another “Times of India” news dt  Feb 10, 2013, Published a interview with “Fiction writer and best-selling author of the Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown, first put Freemasons in the public domain. One of the oldest yet little-known fraternities, they are slowly opening up to the rest of the world, Largely regarded as a secret society and eyed mysteriously by the layman, it’s newly elected Grand Master Vasudeva J Masurekar, India, talks to TOI, debunking the myths associated with the organization. He is the chief of the Indian freemasons and is currently in the Bhopal to attend the golden jubilee celebration of the Western Lodge, Excerpts: 

Q. What is the Grand Lodge doing to ensure security of the Masonic properties including the ancient lodge in the Western India like in Indore and KHANDWA?

A. We taking care of the properties. The Indore lodge dispute is currently subjudice. KHANDWA LODGE HAS BEEN CONVERTED INTO A HOSPITAL.

In the book “Kharshedji Rustamji Cama 1831-1909” by Edwardes, S.m, Publication date 1923 , in the chapter  Two, A Great Masonic Career,  wrote “..Kharshedji Rustamji Cama’s connetion with Freemasonry in Western India dated from the year 1854, when he joined the Lodge ‘ Rising Star of Western India No. 342 S.C. This Lodge commenced its career under a warrant dated 15th December 1843, and was founded specially for the admission of Indian candidates for the Craft…..

 In his capacity of Grand Master Depute he paid official visits to many lodges outside Bombay, as for example in 1893, when he employed his spare time in lecturing on Zoroastrian religious matters at Hyderabad and Secunderabad, and in 1896 when he paid a visit to Chapter ‘ Faith and Charity ’ at Karachi. He also assisted at the consecration of several lodges, such as Lodge ‘ Coronation ’ at KHANDWA.

Image Courtesy: Nai Duniya (News Paper 18th of January 2018 please see the previous post)

Swamiji Swami Nikhileswarananda

Blessed privilege of touching the cot used by Swami Vivekananda while he was the guest of Shri Haridas Chatterji at the house of Shri Anurag Thakur during my visit to Khandwa yesterday

Tobacco and Alcohol

💎 Why do tobacco and alcohol destroy the memory and will?

Why? Because they do so. There is no moral reason. It is a fact. There is a poison in alcohol, there is a poison in tobacco; and this poison goes into the cells and damages them. Alcohol is never expelled, so to say; it accumulates in a certain part of the brain, and then, after the accumulation, these cells no longer function at all — some people even go mad because of it, that is what is called delirium tremens, the result of having swallowed too much alcohol which is not absorbed but remains in this way concentrated in the brain. And it is so radical even that... There is a province in France, for instance, which produces wine, a wine with a very low percentage of alcohol: I believe it is four or five per cent, a very low percentage, you understand; and these people, because they make it, drink wine as one drinks water. They drink it neat, and after some time they become ill. They have cerebral disorders. I knew people of this kind, the brain was disordered, didn’t function any more. And tobacco — nicotine is a very serious poison. It is a poison that destroys the cells. I have said that it is a slow poison because one doesn’t feel it immediately except when one smokes for the first time and it makes one very ill. And this should make you understand that it ought not to be done. Only, people are so stupid that they think it is a weakness and so continue until they get used to the poison. And the body no longer reacts, it allows itself to be destroyed without reacting: you get rid of the reaction.

It is the same thing physically as morally. When you do something you ought not to do and your psychic tells you in its still small voice not to do it, then if you do it in spite of that, after a while it will no longer tell you anything, and you will no longer have any inner reactions at all to your bad actions, because you have refused to listen to the voice when it spoke to you. And then, naturally, you go from bad to worse and tumble into the hole. Well, for tobacco it is the same thing: the first time the body reacts violently, it vomits, it tells you, “I don’t want it at any cost.” You compel it with your mental and vital stupidity, you force it to do so; it doesn’t react any longer and so lets itself be poisoned gradually until it decomposes. The functioning deteriorates; it is the nerves that are affected; they no longer transmit the will because they are affected, they are poisoned. They no longer have the strength to transmit the will. And finally people begin to tremble, they have nervous movements. There are quite a few, one doesn’t need to go very far to find them. And they are like that only because they have committed excesses: they drank and smoked. And when they lift an object, their hands shake (gesture.) That’s what one gets by doing this.

🌸 The Mother ( Question and Answers, Volume-6, page no.74-76)