Ahmedabad Dynasty-3

Ahmedabad Dynasty-3

The sudden end of the Sultan Bahadur Shah (age 31Y) in the water of Arabian Sea made the Sultanate weaker as he had no son to succeed. Bahadur’s nephew Miran Muhammad Shah - I of Khandesh declared himself Sultan of Gujarat but he died on his way to Ahmedabad in May 1537. Finally, his another nephew of 11 years age Mahmúd Khan was selected as the Sultan. The government was carried on by his regents Darya Khan and Imad ul Mulk. Later when the Sultan joined hands with Alam Khan Lodhi but Darya Khan defeated both and placed Muzaffar Shah as Sultan. 

But Mahmúd and Alam Khan regained strength and Darya Khan had to flee to Burhanpur. Sultan Mahmud following counsel of a bird catcher Charji (Muafiz Khan) ordered execution of his two principal nobles. The nobles besieged the Sultan and though Muafiz was under the protection of the Sultan, Alam Khan’s men killed Muafiz in the presence of the Sultan. Sultan attempted to kill himself. He then driven away Darya Khan and Alam Khan from the Sultanate. Afzal Khan was called back from retirement and was made Minister. Mahmud deprived Rajput Chiefs from the proprietorship of wantas and force Rajput and Kolis to wear red rag on right sleeve as identity mark. Persecutions over Hindus increased. The Sultan lost confidence of the people. One day, Burhan, his servant gave him intoxicating drug, stabbed in sleep and killed him in 1554. The Sultan was only 28 years old. Hindu regarded Burhan as saviour. 

The nobles then place one of the descendants Ahmed Khan/Shah on the seat. As he was a child, the regents and nobles were running the government. Later the Sultanate was divided into divisions: the Sultan was given Ahmedabad and Daskoi as Privy Purse and rest of Gujarat was divided amongst the 12 nobles. In the infightings of the nobles and their men, and before the Sultan gain independence from them, he was assassinated in 1561 and his body was thrown on the sands of Sabarmati river. His reign was for eight years only. 

He was succeeded by the last Sultan of the dynasty Muzaffar Shah-III in 1561 but the true powers were with the nobles. Akbar annexed Gujarat in 1573 and took Muzaffar Shah -III as the prisoner to Agra. It was such an important victory of getting big treasury of Gujarat that Akbar built ‘Gate way of Victory’ Buland Darwaza to commemorate his victory over Gujarat. But in 1583, he escaped from the Agra jail and regain the throne with the help of nobles but again was defeated by the General of Akbar in 1584. He fled and took asylum in Nawanagar and Kathiyawar Forces of Jadejas fought a battle with Mughals at Bhuchar Mori in 1591 to protect him. But when the Jadeja ruler of Kutch State Bharmalji-I surrendered him to Mughals, he finally committed suicide in 1592. The independent Ahmedabad dynasty started with Muzaffar Shah-I in 1407 was ended with the death of Muzaffar Shah-III in 1592.

Persian reads "Isa (Jesus), son of Mary said: 'The world is a Bridge, pass over it, but build no houses upon it. He who hopes for a day may hope for eternity, but the World endures but an hour. Spend it in prayer for the rest is unseen.'"- Inscription in Persian on the main gateway of Buland Darwaza. 

To consolidate Mughals domains in India, Emperor Jalal ud din Muhammad Akbar started a new age of Indianisation of Turk-Mughals by marriage and diplomacy and to run a Secular State paying respects to all religions. They developed centralised system of administration, built strong economy and patron arts and culture. Before British make this country India as one unified entity, Mughals seeded it’s shape.

Punamchand

22 July 2018

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Ahmedabad Dynasty-2 (Bahadur Shah Gujarati)

Ahmedabad Dynasty-2

(Bahadur Shah Gujarati)

The powerful Sultan of the Dynasty Mahmud Begado died at 66 years age in November 1511 and was buried at Sarkhej Roza in Ahmedabad. How big he was in body size, how brave he was and how lavishly he was eating large quantities of meal of eggs, non-veg and other foodstuffs were the talk of Ahmedabad town even after 400 years of his death. He was also known as ‘poison sultan’ as he was given mild quality of poison from childhood to immune to poisons. How important the ‘nobles’ were that when his second son Apa Khan trespassed in the harem of the nobles, he was ordered to be positioned.

Begado was succeeded by his eldest son Khalil  Khan. He ruled the kingdom for 15 years and came in conflict with Rana Sanga of Mewar when the later won Malwa. After his death in 1526, his son Sikandar Khan succeeded him but within six weeks, his slave Imad ul Mulk Khush Kadam murdered him in Champaner when he was in sleep and seated Sultán’s 6 years old younger brother Nashir Khan on the thorne and became Governor on his behalf. The ‘nobles’ didn’t accept him and another younger brother Bahadur Khan (20Y) with the help of supporters executed Khush Kadam, poisoned Nasir Khan and ascended the throne in 1527. 

The Sultanate of Ahmedabad was weakened in just one year after the death of Khalil Khan (Muzaffar Shah-II). And at Delhi front, 10000 soldiers of Babar defeated 1 lakh Army of Ibrahim Lodhi in the famous battle of Panipat. Cannons won the war against the Swords. 

Rana Sanga (Sangram Singh) of Mewar made an alliance of the force of Rajputs of Rajasthan, Muslim Rajputs of Mewat and Afghans under Sikandar Lodhi, the son of Ibrahim Lodhi and fought against Babar in the battle of Khandwa in 1527, but were defeated against the Cannons of Babar. The Indian soldiers were getting tired holding heavy swords of 2.5 kg. They looked stronger over the enemies in the first few hours of the battle but by noon they all get tired and then the enemy won them by using low weight find blade swords with a mass slaughter. 

Rana Sanga planed to renew the fight but he was poisoned and killed by his Chief in Chitor in January 1528. Had the alliance been joined by Ahmedabad Sultanate, they would have won the battle of Khandwa because Ahmedabad had stronger arms. But Muslim sultanate was away from the majority Hindu alliance.

After the defeat in battle of Khandwa and death of Rana Sanga, the seat of power of Mewar weakened. His eldest son Bhojraj (husband of Mirabai) died before his father’s death. Second son Rana Ratan Singh succeeded him but was killed. Therefore, third son Vikramaditya Singh became Rana and his mother Maharani Karnavati (grand mother of Rana Pratap) acted as regent. Their protector Raja Bagh Singh and his wife Jodha died in a war with Gujarat Sultan Bahadur Shah in 1535. Rani Karnavati (grand mother of Rana Pratap) sent a Rakhi (holy thread) to Mughal Emperor Humayun addressing him as brother and asked for the help. But he remained standby as it was a war of his Muslim enemy with Hindu King of Mewar or reciprocating the neutrality of Gujarat Sultan in Khandwa war of Rana Sanga with Babar. The war was lost and the fort Chittor was seized. To escape the shame of Muslim Harems, Maharani Karnavati with other women performed Jauhar in front of Trimurti Shiv Temple in the fort on 8 March1535. 

Humayun succeeded his father Babar to the throne of Delhi in 1531 at the age 23Y, but he was inexperienced ruler. Therefore, to the West of Sultanate, his half brother Kamal Mirza took commands over Kabul and Lahore. He was fighting with his two big rivals Sher Shah Suri in the East and Bahadur Shah of Gujarat in the Southwest. At eastern coastal border Bahadur Shah was facing conflicts with Portuguese, and by winning Chittor, he created strong enemy Humayun. 

The letter of Karnavati gave Humayun extra strength to concentrate on the Southwest enemy Bahadur Shah. He was eying over the arms and cannons of Gujarat. Shortly after the jauhar, Humayun Army cut the food supply of victorious Gujarat Army. Rumi Khan a Russian converted to Islam faith was a brave body guard of Bahadur Shah. Bahadur was feeling safe and secure under his guard. But Rumi Khan betrayed him and moved to Humáyún side. Bahadur Shah fled and his army was dispersed. Bahadur Shah fled from Mandsore to Mandu, then Champaner to Ahmedabad, then Cambay (Khambhat) and finally at Diu under Portuguese. Entire belt Malwa and Gujarat (equal to the Delhi Sultanate of Mughals) fell into the hands of Humayun like a ripe mango. Booty of Chittor was the cherry in the cake of Malwa and Gujarat. Humayun annexed Gujarat, Champaner, Malwa and Mandu, but from the east, Farid Khan/Sher Shah Suri (Bihari Afghan) moved to wrest control over Agra, Humayun had to leave Gujarat and marched towards Agra. Bahadur Shah regain the control over Gujarat in 1536. Bassein was given to Portuguese in 1534 and he gave them Daman, Diu, Mumbai and Vasai to buy their support by signing a treaty. But in February 1537 while Bahadur shah was visiting them on a Portuguese ship anchored off the coast of Gujarat, he was killed by the Portuguese and his body was thrown in Arabian Sea. The Viceroy had some information of his kidnapping plan by the Sultan. 

Punamchand

21 July 2018

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Ahmedabad Dynasty- 1

Ahmedabad Dynasty-1

Sadharan was his name. He was a Tanka Rajput, changed his faith, converted to Islam and was in service to the Sultan Firozshah Tughluq of Delhi Sultanate. His sister was married to the Sultan Firoz Shah and successor Sultan, Mahmud Shah Tughluq made his son Zafar Khan, the Governor of Gujarat in 1391. When Timur Lang (lame) invaded India in 1398, and made the authority of Delhi Sultanate weaker, Zafar Khan used the opportunity and formally established independent Sultanate of Gujarat at Patan (Anhilwad)in 1407. He then held the new name Muzaffar Shah-I. The ‘Khan’ became ‘Shah’ of Gujarat. His grandson Ahmad Shah founded Ahmedabad in 1411. When he was camping on the bank of river Sabarmati, he saw a hare chasing a ferocious dog. He realised the strength of the water and soil and decided to establish a Capital. The chief of Asawal village Asa Bhil was defeated and the foundation stone of the city was laid on 26 February 1411 at Manek Burj. It was named Ahmedabad to honour four Ahmads: the Sultan, himself, his religious teacher Shaikh Ahmad Khattu Ganj Baksh, and two others, Kazi Ahmad and Malik Ahmad. Jama Masjid of Ahmedabad was built during his tenure. 

Ahmad Shah consolidated the sultanate and was famous for his noble acts but his grandson Mahmud Begado  was the most powerful Sultan of this Muzaffar/Ahmedabad Dynasty. He was seated on the throne at 13 years age and held it for 54 years, captured Pavagadh and Junagadh, and had created fear over Malava and Chittor. Champaner was under the capture of Khichi Chauhan Rajputs. It was founded by Vanraj Chavda and was named after his friend and General Champaraj. Muhammad Begado won Champaner by a trick, did the same to Raval King what Ghori did to Prithviraj. When the soldiers were busy in early morning activities of attending natural call, bathing and dressing, he attacked, captured them and killed them. 

Whenever, there was attack from Sultan of Ahmedabad, Malava used to protect Champaner. To win Malava or keep Gujarat safe from eastern attacks, it was important to hold command over Champaner. Begado won it in November 1482. It then took 23 years to build it into a new capital city and was named Muhammadabad. At the last years of his rule, Portuguese were gaining strength over Arabian Sea. They won the Battle of Diu against the joint fleet of Gujarat, Calicut and others in 1509. It was the starting point of European Colonisation in Asia. 

Many of the buildings of archeological importance of Ahmedabad and Champaner were built during Begada’s rule of 54 years. As the stone masons were Hindus, and were mainly building Jain temples, and the Muslim buildings allowed them to carves tree, leaves, creepers, etc, therefore the buildings of that time carried blend of Indo-Islamic architecture. One may surprise to see elegant interior, motifs of the Sun, diamonds, pots and vines, lotus insignia, fractal carving/Kalpa Vriksha (Holy Tree of Hindus), hanging bells, hangings made of leaves of ashoka tree, Swastik, etc, carved beautifully into the sand stones in Jami/Jama Masjid at Champaner. The Archeological Park is a UNESCO World heritage site. 

Punamchand
19 July 2018

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How generous people are!

How generous people are!

Yesterday morning, I met a Plastic Surgeon, Dr Hemant Saraiya at GCRI Ahmedabad. He made a piece of tongue of a cancer patient which was removed in operation. He made it by using the skin of patient’s wrist area. Cutting the affected part of the tongue and making it with plastic surgery is a long operative procedure of 6 hours and may cost ₹5 lakh in market is free of cost for the poor patients in GCRI. The remuneration to the visiting surgeon is not much but Dr. Hemant is doing with a motive to paying back to the society. He is the only Plastic Surgeon of the world who has donated Blood for 151 times.

Afternoon, we had an opportunity to visit a kidney transplant surgery. A healthy young man was donating his one kidney to his cousin of 44 years old whose both kidneys were in failure. Removing a kidney of a healthy person from the side of his body is an art of surgery. Dr. Jamal took utmost care to minimise the cuts to the donor. With two small size cut the laparoscopes were inserted and by fixing clips over the ureters, artery and vein and after cutting them disconnected the 11 centimetre bean shaped kidney from the body. And just applying seven centimetre cut over body for the entry of the surgeon’s hand the kidney was softly taken out and put in the bowl full with ice.

The nurse then immediately moved with the bowl to the adjoining OT where the donor’s cousin was kept ready to receive it. The recipient patient was kept in readiness with a cut over the lower right abdomen. Before transplantation of the donation, they do a procedure over the kidney, draining out the blood (with RBC and WBC), sealing the extra openings and keeping the right length of ureter, artery and vein. It took 10 minutes to Dr Jamal and Dr Sajani to complete the task, then they started the fixing, connecting artery with artery, vein with vein and ureter connecting to the bladder rout. The non functioning and shrunken kidneys of the patient were not disturbed. God has made our body as such a wonderful machine that it will pump more blood to the new kidney and use it for the filtration function. Kidney of a healthy man filters 110-125 ml blood a minute. The new organ will start with small count and may function at 50-60 ml/minute. The donor’s filtration with remaining one kidney will go down to 50 ml/minute, but will slowly rise to 80 ml/minute.

Management of the human auto immune system is a great challenge in kidney transplant. If the patient’s immune system rejects the donation, the entire exercise goes waste. Therefore, they do some tests and perform checks and do the match making before the surgeries. To make the auto immune system of the recipient dormant, little quantity of blood of the donor is injected to the recipient. The immune system then fight and with repeated experiments, it accept it as a permanent visitor of the body. Therefore, when the kidney of the donor is transplanted over the recipient, it remains dormant. WBC is the biggest challenge in transplantation. If the donor’s kidney carry WBC with it, it will be a tarter fight like India and Pakistan and the kidney will die in the immune attack of the recipient. Most of the WBC are removed during the drainage process, but for the residuals, the medicines takes care creating resistance wall against the attack of the immune system. There are methods to make corrections in case of adverse match making, therefore, the kidney chains are traveling beyond the near relatives.

HLA typing is very important for match making of patient and donor. It is the 6th chromosome which encode Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) in human. HLA are proteins or markers found on most cells in our body. Our immune system uses these markers (HLA) to recognize which cells belong in our body and which do not. The immune system come in attack when the foreigner enters. To avoid failure of transplantation, it is necessary to make immune system dormant. This was the research work of Dr H L Trivedi. This is not done routinely. In routine transplant, serum and white blood cells of recipients and donor respectively are cross match in the laboratory. This is known as leukocyte cross-match. If there is no reaction, the donor organ is suitable for transplant in to the recipient.

Now the transplantation is done through Robots. It is a fine surgery with minimal cut and better perfection but expensive. Very few hospitals in the world do this. IKDRC Ahmedabad has this facility. Dr. Pranjal Modi is the surgeon for Robotic surgery. IKDRC is a well known centre in the Country has reached to the present height under the great leadership of Dr HL Trivedi, MD. He has been awarded with Padma Shri. This week, the 27th International Congress of the Transplantation Society in Madrid, Spain has awarded him with ITS Award for Mentorship or Education and Training in Transplantation. This award is considered Nobel Prize in the field of Transplantation Surgeries. Salutes to Dr HL Trivedi.

I wonder, why don’t we match the 6th Chromosome of the couple before marriage to avoid fightings at home. 😂 However, in India Wife (Savitri) is the first donor to her Husband (Satyavan) to save his life. Therefore, there are many cases of wives donating kidney to husbands but rare cases of husbands donating kidney to wives.

Punamchand
8 July 2018

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Shivambu

Shivambu 

Shiv means good-blissful and Ambu means water. It is a water that can cure many diseases. Water is one of the important elements of the basic five. There are chapters in Ayurveda on Mutra Chikitsa. 

Do you know, the present generation preferring RO water is suffering from B-12 deficiencies? It was not the case in past, when people used to drink raw water fetched from the wells, ponds, river, etc, they were not deficient in Vit-B-12. Why? Because animal urine is the major source of Vit B-12. Animals urinate all around, get into water and become our drink😊 It is the uria, the food for the plants. It is antiseptic. When the iodine and tetanus were not there, people were using urine as antiseptic guard in case of small injuries. 

Nothing is useless in this world. Waste of one is the wealth of others. If the chemicals can cure diseases, why can’t the biochemicals? 

What is milk? White water/blood carry nutrients. What is meat? Dead cells of animal body but have nutrients. Similarly, urine is a water with some chemicals that is useful in curing some diseases. If radiation and chemotherapy can work on human bodies why can’t the urine? 

In Naturopathy, many have tried this chikitsa and many have been cured. It is a matter of faith too. Khushwant Singh could live for 98 years with single or double malt drinks and Morarji Desai could live for 99 years with Shivambu. It is the choice of individual. 😂 Lol. 

Punamchand 
6 July 2018

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Secrets of Hinduism 5

Secrets of Hinduism 5 (लय चिंतन)

Atmagyan, ‘know thyself’ is the question, and all the Hindus are searching for it’s answer. Dhoop, deep, pujan, archan, bhajan, kirtan, daan, vrata-upvas, tirtha paryatan, punya, sadkarma; consciously or unconsciously, the culture is in search of God, in search of it’s root. 

The answer is simple: Atma (thyself) is Parmatma (Brahman). But how to believe? The cause Brahman is not separate from the action the Atma. Therefore, the world around us is the expression of the Brahman. As Atma is Brahman and the world around is Brahman, therefore everything around is expression of mine. Then whom should I complain for good or bad?

We know the development and changes in our body from womb to death. The body we live in is passing through the stages of life cycle and becomes our identity: foetus, Baby/infant, toddler, preschooler, child, adolescent/teenager, young adult, middle age adult, retired, elderly and dead. One can easily travel back thinking of his/her present body, and the body of past as adult, youth, child, baby, foetus and fusion stage of the egg and sperm. By thinking of effect and it’s cause, step by step, it is easy to rest in the roots of the body and it’s creator the parents. Our parents live in us.

If the Pot (effect) is seen through it’s cause Earth, the pot becomes earth. Similarly, all the ornaments made from Gold are Gold. The effect and cause are the same. Look at a flower. It has come from a plant (cause). But the plant has come from the earth, therefore it is Earth only. The earth has come from water, therefore, it is Water. The water has come from fire, therefore, it is Fire. The fire has come from the air, therefore, it is Air. The Air has come from ether, therefore, it is Ether/Sky. The ether has come from Virat, therefore it is Virat. The Virat has come from Hiranyagarbha, therefore, it is Hiranyagarbha. The Hiranyagarbha has come from Ishwara, therefore, it is Ishwara. The Ishwara has come from the Brahman, therefore the flower is Brahman. If our intellect stays in cause instead of effect, it is easy to rest in the main cause, the Brahman. 

We have five sense organs and five action organs. Through them we enjoy five subjects (sound, touch, form, taste, smell) while eating, drinking, mating, etc, during the cycle of human life. Five subjects have roots in our mind. Therefore, rest them in the mind. The mind has command from the intellect, therefore, rest the mind in the intellect. The individual intellect has roots in universal intellect (Mahat), therefore rest the intellect in the universal intellect. The Mahat gets strength from the Chaitanya, the Peaceful Soul, therefore rest it into the Peaceful Soul, our Swaroopa. 

This is called “Laya Chintan”, merger of action into it’s cause. Slowly slowly, with long term practice, the mind rest in the peace, not after the death but in this life only. आत्मज्ञानी भवतु। 😂 

ॐ द्यौ: शान्तिरन्तरिक्षँ शान्ति:,
पृथ्वी शान्तिराप: शान्तिरोषधय: शान्ति:।
वनस्पतय: शान्तिर्विश्वे देवा: शान्तिर्ब्रह्म शान्ति:,
सर्वँ शान्ति:, शान्तिरेव शान्ति:, सा मा शान्तिरेधि॥
ॐ शान्ति: शान्ति: शान्ति:॥

Punamchand

31 May 2018

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Secrets of Hinduism-4

Secrets of Hinduism-4

The Supreme Being is Omnipresent, Omnipotent. There is no space in the Universes where He is absent. Whether in the five elements of nature: ether, air, fire, water and earth; or in the life of the creatures, He is present everywhere in the Universes. He is Chaitanya, live, always with us wherever we are. 

The Supreme Being embodied with knowledge of creation, Maya was formed, and from Maya the sprout Hiranya Garbha born and he creates the subtle world along with the five elements (panchikaran) of the nature. Supreme Being is Chaitanya (live) and Omnipresent, therefore, HE is everywhere, in live objects as well as in non-live objects. For an example, HE is present in me as well as HE is present in my office table. My body, in a format is a physical body and Jada like the table, but my body looks live and moving but the table doesn’t. 

Why? 

Because I am not only a physical body but also carrying a subtle body. The table doesn’t have the subtle body. The subtle body embodied with my physical body has a capacity to reflect the image of the Supreme Being. For an example, there is a wall and there is a mirror. The wall won’t reflect the Sunlight but the mirror will accept and reflect it. In theory, the subtle body is Jada, but as it is made of Satva, it is pure, therefore it accept the light of the Chaitanya, therefore, it looks alive. We all are not real but are the reflectors of the light of the Supreme Being. (The pictures before us are like a cinema, where everything on the screen is light only but we see the pictures in it) 

From all the creatures on the Earth to the other creations in the universes: yaksha, gandharva, kinnar, Devas, Asuras, Rakshasas, etc, whether living in the Seven higher worlds: bhu, bhuvas, svar, mahas, janas, tapas, and satya; or in the seven lower worlds or underworlds are atala, vitala, sutala, rasaataala, talatala, mahaatala, paatala; all are Jeevas, enjoy the good or bad fruits of their Karmas and move on into the cycle of birth and rebirth. The Indra and Brahma are the titles hold by the Jeevas till they carry the power of the fruits needed for the posts. 

Our subtle body is made of 17 elements: five knowledge senses, five action senses, five Pranas, mind and wisdom. The mind and wisdoms (inner core) carry the strength to accept the light of the Supreme Being. When a person dies, the subtle body departs, and his physical body becomes Jada like the Table. Then the dead body and the table are the same, Jada. The departed subtle body then holds a new body and takes rebirth. In the new birth, the mind continues the same. If somebody commits suicide to get rid off his mind, he can’t, because the mind travels with him in the next birth. Look at our siblings, they are born from the same parents, but their minds and wisdoms make them different from each other. 

The journey of birth and rebirth continues till the cycle doesn’t end with the knowledge of thyself. If the universe created by the God disappears (with his will) (night of Kayamat), the story doesn’t end. When the new Universe is created the jeevas/creatures have to follow the path of the fruits of their Karmas of previous Universe. 

Knowledge of thyself is the only answer for the Moksha (liberation), freedom from the cycle of birth and rebirth because the Samsara in any form is full of misery. The Samsara is like a stem of banana or like an onion,  one may remove the slice after slice but won’t get anything out of it. 

Hinduism is a religion of 80% Karmakand (rituals), 16% Upasana (prayers) and only 4% Gyan (knowledge). The Vedas and Six Vedangas give knowledge of Apara, to attain worldly things in 14 lokas with the help of rituals and prayers but can’t give liberation. 96% of the rituals and prayers are for the lot who wishes to continue in the drama and only 4%, the Knowledge of Upanishads, the Para, is for the Jeevas to resign from the drama and to liberate from the Samsara !!!

Some of the questions have no answers? Which came first, the chicken or the the egg? the tree or the seed? The Brahman, the Maya, the Ishwara, the Jeeva, the World, the ignorance, are eternal. None has answer, when they begin and when end...अनादि अनंत: 

Atma Gyan (know thyself) is the only answer for the liberation. One has to search for the answer, Who am I ?

Who are you?

Punamchand
28 May 2018

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