Has the world really changed


Genesis of a name www.nihindia.org When we were thinking of an appropriate name for our online literary journal, we had no idea that the name we chose will end up being so “appropriate”. Before I talk about the hullabaloo, I need to tell another story, the story of Manthan. Manthan, meaning churning, is a story from Hindu mythology. When the king of Devas (Gods), Indra, showed disrespect to the sage Durvasa, he lost his kingdom due to the curse of the sage. To regain his lost powers, he had to get together with his eternal enemies, the demons (rakshsas) and churn the ocean of milk so as to generate amrita (ambrosia) which would make him and the other gods, immortal. Mandhara, the mountain agreed to be the churning stick with Vasuki, the snake god, being the rope. Lord Vishnu, himself became the base of the mountain, to keep it from sinking. The first product of this churning, Samudra Manthan, was a deadly poison, Halahal. Only then did all the treasures come out, one by one, from Kamdhenu (the wish fulfilling cow), the goddess of wine, diamonds, the goddess of wealth, even the wish fulfilling tree (kalpavriksha), finally ending with Amrita. The story follows that the Gods tricked the demons into losing amrita, and fought a war with them due to the same. Hindu mythology is full of symbolism and over ages, scores of philosophers have attempted to interpret the symbolism in this story of Manthan. A few things jump out. Devas represent the good and rakhshsas represent the evil. The participation of both in attaining immortality signify that one has to integrate and harmonize both the positive and negative aspects of ones personality and put both the energies for the common goal. Human mind is always compared to an ocean so the ocean of milk could be considered as human consciousness while mountain stands for concentration. The fact that poison is the first product represents the pain and suffering one endures to reach ones goal. Manthan means the constant struggle in our mind between the good and the evil, and that sometimes we have to deal with the poison that comes out of it. Our attempt with Manthan is to encourage the formation of ideas, to start discussions, to irrigate the fountains of creative thought. But the moment we started several things happened. The first article we received was about a controversial topic. The author was very passionate about the subject but the reviewers were worried about starting the wrong precedence, we did not want to start with a controversial tone. But we also did not want to censor anyone. There was passionate argument, the article was sent to few unbiased people with similar results. While everyone agreed the article was well-written but no one agreed with publishing the article without some deletions, which was against our principles. Then at the same time in another discussion group, a very passionate discussion broke out about another aspect of our organization. A few disagreed over a basic organizational issue so very passionately that it led to a war of words. We were forced to think hard, where is the balance, what should be Manthan about? We do want to stir up the Manthan in everyone’s mind but we sure also want to avoid creating pain, misery, poison. Manthan had to live to its name. With lots of thought, we decided to make some changes. We decided against censoring per se but included moderators. These moderators are people with experience, with knowledge and more importantly with calm and open attitude. Even the Gods needed their seniors to resolve issues, they also needed Vishnu to stabilize the mountain. We will attempt to keep it the way it was supposed to be, an open forum for discussion about anything, science, or non-science, a venue to bring out the amrit that lives in all of us. Manthan will include thoughts about all that is there in life, all that people think about, all the churnings that go on in our minds every day of our life. We will have to deal with the poison that emerges occasionally but the amrit that emerges would be worth the pain. May the churning begin. Mukesh Kumar kumarm@mail.nih.gov

Genesis of a name www.nihindia.org

When we were thinking of an appropriate name for our online literary journal, we had no idea that the name we chose will end up being so “appropriate”. Before I talk about the hullabaloo, I need to tell another story, the story of Manthan.

Manthan, meaning churning, is a story from Hindu mythology. When the king of Devas (Gods), Indra, showed disrespect to the sage Durvasa, he lost his kingdom due to the curse of the sage. To regain his lost powers, he had to get together with his eternal enemies, the demons (rakshsas) and churn the ocean of milk so as to generate amrita (ambrosia) which would make him and the other gods, immortal. Mandhara, the mountain agreed to be the churning stick with Vasuki, the snake god, being the rope. Lord Vishnu, himself became the base of the mountain, to keep it from sinking. The first product of this churning, Samudra Manthan, was a deadly poison, Halahal. Only then did all the treasures come out, one by one, from Kamdhenu (the wish fulfilling cow), the goddess of wine, diamonds, the goddess of wealth, even the wish fulfilling tree (kalpavriksha), finally ending with Amrita. The story follows that the Gods tricked the demons into losing amrita, and fought a war with them due to the same.

Hindu mythology is full of symbolism and over ages, scores of philosophers have attempted to interpret the symbolism in this story of Manthan. A few things jump out. Devas represent the good and rakhshsas represent the evil. The participation of both in attaining immortality signify that one has to integrate and harmonize both the positive and negative aspects of ones personality and put both the energies for the common goal. Human mind is always compared to an ocean so the ocean of milk could be considered as human consciousness while mountain stands for concentration. The fact that poison is the first product represents the pain and suffering one endures to reach ones goal. Manthan means the constant struggle in our mind between the good and the evil, and that sometimes we have to deal with the poison that comes out of it.

Our attempt with Manthan is to encourage the formation of ideas, to start discussions, to irrigate the fountains of creative thought. But the moment we started several things happened. The first article we received was about a controversial topic. The author was very passionate about the subject but the reviewers were worried about starting the wrong precedence, we did not want to start with a controversial tone. But we also did not want to censor anyone. There was passionate argument, the article was sent to few unbiased people with similar results. While everyone agreed the article was well-written but no one agreed with publishing the article without some deletions, which was against our principles. Then at the same time in another discussion group, a very passionate discussion broke out about another aspect of our organization. A few disagreed over a basic organizational issue so very passionately that it led to a war of words. We were forced to think hard, where is the balance, what should be Manthan about? We do want to stir up the Manthan in everyone’s mind but we sure also want to avoid creating pain, misery, poison. Manthan had to live to its name.

With lots of thought, we decided to make some changes. We decided against censoring per se but included moderators. These moderators are people with experience, with knowledge and more importantly with calm and open attitude. Even the Gods needed their seniors to resolve issues, they also needed Vishnu to stabilize the mountain. We will attempt to keep it the way it was supposed to be, an open forum for discussion about anything, science, or non-science, a venue to bring out the amrit that lives in all of us. Manthan will include thoughts about all that is there in life, all that people think about, all the churnings that go on in our minds every day of our life. We will have to deal with the poison that emerges occasionally but the amrit that emerges would be worth the pain. May the churning begin.

Mukesh Kumar

kumarm@mail.nih.gov