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Ankur
- VHPA - DC Newsletter Vol. 1 No 1
Vikram Samad 2062, Phalgun, Shukla Pakcha (March 20, 2006).
301 Saybrooke View Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20877
In this issue
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 Little
by little
Oh Blessed Sprout,
I give my life
To be right Here -
witnessing
your ever-birth
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Welcome to the first issue of Ankur, a Vishwa Hindu Parisad
of America Washington DC chapter publication. This little effort
strives to engage the Hindu community in Washington DC -Baltimore
area. The underlying goals of the Ankur are to share information
on activities related to community, education and foster networking
among Hindus living in Washington DC area. We would like to acknowledge
many wonderful contributions by our seniors to this inaugural
issue of the newsletter. These individuals demonstrate that our
community and its friends are vibrant and thoughtful. Thank you!!
As an integral element of newsletter outreach efforts, we will
continue to involve our readers in its progress. We welcome your
suggestions and I encourage you to criticize! and contribute so
that we can make it better in future. I am excited about this
newsletter and I hope that you enjoy reading it. ---- Editor.
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Our Debt To The Society
In how many ways and how immensely are we indebted to our society! Then will it be befitting on our part to go on merely enjoying all its fruits and merits without caring for doing our duty towards it? It has been said in our Shastras that a person should live on what is left after offering to the society. Thus it is our first duty to absolve ourselves from that debt of gratitude. Therein lies the fruitlessness of our life.
- Guru Golwalkar Ji
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The Story of Young Vardhaman Mahavir
Vardhaman Mahavir was a prince born
to Siddharath and Priyakarini in a village near modern day Patna.
Vardhaman implies growing. Vardhaman grew stronger from day to day.
He was intelligent as he was handsome. At the age of five he did
not know what fear was. Once he was playing with his friends when
a wild elephant began to run towards the playground crushing everything
in its path. The children screamed and shivered with fear.
They panicked and ran in every direction. But Vardhaman stood fearless,
firm and still. The elephant saw the little boy and stretched out
it's trunk to strike him. The boy escaped and as the elephant lowered
it's trunk again, Vardhaman quickly climbed on the crown of the
elephant and seated himself on the neck. He patted it on the cheek
and forehead and brought it under control.
On another morning Vardhaman and his friends were playing atop a
banyan tree when suddenly one of the boys screamed: "A serpent!
A very large serpent! A python!" The boys on the tree top were frightened
and quickly jumped down. But Vardhaman stayed there unmoved.
The python tried to terrify him. It hissed and put out its tongue.
It beat its tail close to the prince. But Vardhaman sat still like
a mountain of courage. The serpent accepted defeat. Vardhaman stepped
on the serpent and used it as a ladder to climb down the tree. From
that day Vardhaman was also known as Mahavir, since Mahavir means
the one who is extremely brave.
Mahavir renounced the life of a prince at the age of thirty-two
and became an ascetic. He traveled from place to place and meditated.
He finally attained the state of blessedness, Kaivalya, and became
known as the Jin or the Conqueror. He had conquered the desires
of his mind. He preached a set of doctrines which later came to
be called Jainism. He attained freedom from the cycles of birth
and death at the age of 72. This state is also called Nirvana. Mahavir
taught the doctrine of Ahimsa, that is - non-violence towards plants,
animals and human beings. Mahavir was a firm believer in the Law
of Karma, which says that each person is responsible for the consequences
of his or her actions and must reap their fruits in this or future
life. He taught us to practice five vows: non-violence, truthfulness,
non-stealing, chastity, and non-attachment and three jewels: right
faith, right knowledge and right conduct. - credit, Hindu net.org
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