I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

Annual Math

Vantiga

2

Annual Math

Vantiga

2

Punarpratishtha 3

NRI Shibir 3

Age of Saraswat

Community

3-6

SVBF 6

In pictures 7

C A N A D A S A B H A O F C A N A D A S A B H A O F C A N A D A S A B H A O F C A N A D A S A B H A O F

C H I T R A P U R S A R A S W A T SC H I T R A P U R S A R A S W A T SC H I T R A P U R S A R A S W A T SC H I T R A P U R S A R A S W A T S Sweekar A U G U S T 2 0 1 0 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 5

SPECIAL

POINTS OF

INTEREST :

• Upcoming

Satsangs

• Important

Dates

• ANZ Sammelan

(CSCS NEWSLETTER)

August Satsang: The next Satsang will be held on Saturday August 28 at the Mankikar

residence in Burlington on the occasion of PP Parijnanashram Swamiji’s III’s punyatithi.

The invitation circular with directions to the residence will be issued shortly including

RSVP by August 18, 2010.

August 14 Naga Panchami

August 20 Vara Mahalakshmi Vrata

August 28 Punyatithi of Param Pujya Parijnanashram Swamiji III

Sept 01 Shri Krishna Janmasthami

Sept 10 Punyatithi of Param Pujya Anandashram Swamiji

Sept 10 Swarna Gowri Vrata / Haritalika

Sept 11 Shri Ganesh Chaturthi

Sept 12 Rishi Panchami.

Sept 22 Anant Chaturdashi

Sept 23 Chaturmasa Vrata Samapti, Seemollanghana

Sept 24 Mahalaya Paksha Prarambha.

The venue, dates and costs of this event have all been confirmed and following are the de-

tails.

Venue: Quakers Hills Community Hall, Quakers Hill, Sydney

Dates: Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd April 2011, (Easter long weekend)

Catering: This is a fully catered event where in all participants will be provided with

breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea/coffee and dinner for the two days.

Program: Include a variety entertainment program and potentially one outdoor activity,

monthly Satsang and AGM during this event.

Accommodation/Hosting: Some Sydney based members have agreed to host guests.

All are cordially invited to participate in this Meet. Please RSVP.

Upcoming Satsangs

Australia-New Zealand Meet—April 2011

Important Dates in August and September

P A G E 2 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 5

Annual Math Vantiga

Chaturmasya Vrata has commenced in the presence of P.P.Sadyojat Shankarashram Swamiji at Shri Durga

Parmeshwari Mandir, Karla on Ashadha Shukla Purnima Sunday July 25, 2010 and will conclude on Bhadrapa

Shukla Purnima Thursday 23, 2010. See www.chitrapurmath.net for details. The following article details the

events at Karla

Guru Purnima in Karla By Vanita Kumta

We had been to Karla for Guru Purnima. It was a great spiritual experience.

We all Saraswats are indeed twice blessed by Lord Bhavanishankara and a rich Guru Parampara. To make the spiritual

process even more complete we have our present Mathadhipathi Swami Sadyojat Shankarashram who is our beacon of

light, guiding us, holding our hands like a parent would hold a child’s and taking us along the path of life, helping us con-

stantly imbibe the true values of life. HE is at once a gentle inspiring mix of the old and the new. HE is at much at home

with the young and the old, with Sanskrit as with English and Konkani, thus making even the most shy novice in spiritual-

ity & religion at home, helping him learn & improve.

Two very good books on Sadhana Panchakam Vol 1 & Vol 2 were release in the august presence of Swamiji with the

blessings of Devi Durga Parameshwari & Parijnanashram Swamiji (Sanjivani Samadhi Sthal). Both of them are treasure

troves of knowledge on Stotras, Prayers and Pooja vidhis rendered in Sanskrit, English and with beautiful translations in

English. They will be a great help to a student (any age group) who is not as well worst in the Sanskrit language and vari-

ous vidhis.

The presence of Durga Parameshwari and Parijnanashram Swamiji, our present Swamiji Sadyojat Shankarashram and our

divine Guru Parampara could be felt in the air that we breathed, the smiles on the devotees faces, the very hills, valleys and

dales of the beautiful surroundings of picturesque Lonavala and Khandala seemed to reverberate with the Jai Jaykars and

the Omkar resounded in nature.

Swamiji performed Vyas Pooja and all of us present joined in it. The Bhajans had their unique religious fervour with Swa-

miji leading the congregation.

All in all it was a memorable experience and we drank it with all our senses, we were bathed in those robes of Ochre with-

out wearing them. Our ears resounded with the divine melodious notes of Mantras, Shlokas and Bhajans. We came back

home thoroughly rejuvenated despite coming home very late & winding up the day, curling in bed in the wee hrs of Mon-

day morning. Such was the effect of a glorious Guru Pournima. It will remain embedded in my memory to eternity.

Paying the annual Math vantiga is not mandatory. But it is a sacred duty of every bhanap who is gainfully em-

ployed. Math depends on the vantigas and sevas performed for daily viniyogas and maintenance of all sacred

samadhis. Even though the vantiga can be given at any time during the fiscal year, the members are requested to

remit their annual vantiga preferably in the beginning of the year. Those who are not certain whether they have

paid their vantigas can call the Sabha Treasure at any time. It is hoped that the members will pay their 2009-

2010 and 2010-2011 vantigas as soon as possible.

**Note: It is preferred to have the majority Vantiga collections finished before the end of October 2010 so that

Vinayak Shanbhag can remit the drafts and cheques by the end of November or early December 2010 to India.

If anyone prefers to give post-dated cheques in Indian Rupess for bank in India (favour of Shri Chitrapur Math)

or in dollar for local bank ( favour of CSCS), CSCS would be able to facilitate such an arrangement as well.

Chaturmas 2010

P A G E 3

The trustees have appealed to all devotees to send contributions and donations to the Manager of the Temple by

M.O., Cheque/DD., drawn in favour of ‘Shrimath Anantheshwar Temple, Vittal’ with full address and tele-

phone number, so that they may send a receipt back. For detailed information about the programme, please visit

the CSCS website.

NRI Shibir 2010 will take place at the Shri Chitrapur Math in Shirali from December 24th, 2010 to

December 30th, 2010. Anyone who is interested should contact Lalita Kulkarni (lalita.kulkarni@gmail.com).

- Courtesy of Dr. Somashekhar Naimpally and Dr. Kanak Raval

Who are Saraswats?

In India, there are at least five Brahmin communities who claim themselves as ‘Saraswat Brahmins’, including: Gaud Saras-

wat Brahmins, Chitrapur Saraswats, Rajapur/Bhalavalikar Saraswat Brahmins, Kashmiri Saraswats, Punjabi Saraswats,

Sindh Saraswats, Kutch Saraswats and Rajasthan Saraswats. This community, as a whole, has produced eminent personalities

including Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Vijay Mallya, Dr TMA Pai, Nandan Nilekani, Girish Karnad, Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Ga-

vaskar, Deepika Padukone, Shyam Benegal, and Guru Dutt.

Though being miles apart from each other for ages all Saraswat legends claim of their ancestors having once lived on the

banks of now extinct river Saraswati. Today, however, there is no doubt that Saraswats are among the oldest living communities in

India – still preserving their own indigenous culture which essentially hails from the Rigveda – that which is believed to have been

written by their forefathers during their stint on banks of river Saraswati.

Their relationship with Saraswati River

Even to this day many Saraswat’s in their daily Sandhyavandana rite swears their allegiance to Rigveda. This apart, several of

Saraswat’ rituals are conducted by reciting the hymns from the texts from Rigveda; firmly establishing links between Saras-

wats, Saraswati River and Rigveda.

According to two distinguished historians and Vedic Scholars Dr. NS Rajaram and Dr. David Frawley for Vedic Aryans the

holiest river was “not Ganga but Saraswati.” This they said because “In Rigveda Ganga is mentioned only once while Saras-

wati is lauded no less than fifty times.” There is at least one whole hymn devoted to Saraswati River. In a famous hymn, Saunaka

Gritasamda, the seer of the second Mandala lauds the Saraswati as ambitame, naditame, devitame Saraswati:

Sarasvati, the best of mothers, the best of rivers, the best of Goddess…

To follow the very descriptions given in the Vedic literature, Saraswati was the greatest river that then used to flow to the west

of the Yamuna but to the east of the Sutlej. According to the seventh Mandala of the Rigveda attributed to the famous Rishi (Sage)

Vasistha, the Saraswati was a mighty stream that flowed from the “mountain to the sea” sustaining the lives of Vedic people:

Pure in her stream, from the mountain to the sea, filled with bounteous abundance for the worlds, nourishing with her flow the

children of Nahusa.

Interestingly, this very reference ‘from mountain to sea’ gives us a valuable pointer to Saraswati’ geography. But today we

have no river called Sarasvati flowing in this country or elsewhere. The question then is: whatever became of it? Thanks to

archeology and satellite photography we now know that Saraswati gradually became weaker and finally dried up completely

around 1900 or 2000 BCE or even a little bit earlier.

According to several recent findings Vedic Saraswati once used to flow mainly through the channel of what is now an insig-

nificant flow called the Ghaggar close to Indus thus making part of what we now know Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro civiliza-

tions. Even Satellite photos have shown that the Ghaggar was once a great river. Paul-Henri Francfort who recently surveyed

the area calls it the “immense Ghaggar system”.

Punarpratistha – Shri Anantheshwar – Vitthal

Age of Saraswat Community

P A G E 4

S W E E K A R

Intensive research carried by Dr. Frawley and Dr. Rajaram has completely debunked the Aryan-Invasion theory. They have

also strongly established that the so-called Indus Valley or the Harappa civilization (of which Saraswati River is a part) did not

consist of just a few urban settlements. It was a part of a vast civilization that stretched from the borders of Iran to East UP,

with some sites as far south of Godavari River; as far as its duration is concerned, it represents a continuous evolution dating

back to 7000 BCE in terms of the sites and more are being found all the time. So we can see that this great civilization spanned

over 5000 years!

Saraswati’s extinction

Regarding the ending of this great civilization, thanks again to recent archeological and ecological findings, we now know how

that end came about. By putting together those evidences on the basis of archeological and satellite studies it was most certainly

due to gradual depletion of water resources in North India that culminated in a calamitous drought in the 2200 BCE to 1900

BCE period.

Fig. 1: Map showing the flow of Saraswati from ‘mountain to sea’

Fig. 2: Area covered by Indus-Saraswati civilization and its over lap with area covered by early Vedic Civilization.

This was, also, a global phenomenon that affected civilization across an immense

belt from southern Europe to India. The Akkadian (Sumerian) civilization of Meso-

potamia was practically wiped out around 2200 BCE, while in Egypt, the so-called

Old-Empire collapsed. In India itself, the mature Harappa civilization of which

Saraswati was an integral part came to an abrupt end and there were severe dislo-

cations. As SR Rao observed:

In circa 1900 BCE most of the mature Harappa sites were wiped out forcing the in-

habitants to seek new lands for settlement. They seem to have left in great hurry and

in small groups, seeking shelter initially on the eastern flank of the Sutlej and the

Ghaggar and gradually moving towards the Yamuna. The refugees from Mohenjo-

Daro and southern sites in Sind fled to Saurashtra and later occupied interior of the

Peninsula.

P A G E 5

That this was not restricted to India is clear from a recently concluded major French-American study in Mesopotamia. The

report of the study notes:

At 2000 BCE, a marked increase in aridity and wind circulation, subsequent to a volcanic eruption, induced considerable degra-

dation in land-use conditions… this abrupt climatic change evidently caused abandonment of Tell Leilan, regional desertion,

and collapse of Akkadian empire based in southern Mesopotamia. Synchronous collapse in adjacent regions suggests that the

impact of abrupt climatic change was extensive.

Whether a volcanic eruption was sufficient to trigger a drought so destructive may still be open to doubt; but whatever

caused the draught, its effect now seems established beyond all doubts. The authors summarize their momentous findings as

follows:

The abrupt climatic change that generated Habur hiatus I and the associated Akkadian-Gutti-Ur III collapse are synchronous

with climate change and collapse phenomenon documented in the Aegean, Egypt, Palestine, and the Indus. The reoccupation of

the Habur plains [in the northern Mesopotamia] in the 19th century BC and the sudden emergence of centralized Amorite con-

trol… was evidently facilitated by the amelioration of climatic conditions…

These very recent reports make it clear that the ending of Harappan civilization was a part of a world wide climate change

phenomenon that affected all ancient civilizations.

Determining age of Saraswat Community

There is no doubt that Saraswats were the people who played a pivotal role in the authoring of Rigveda. Thus the age of

the Rigveda can easily be regarded as the age of the early Saraswats.

Thanks to our understanding of ancient metallurgy, we can now say that Rigveda must be older than 3500 BCE.

Kunal, a recently discovered Saraswati site in Haryana has yielded silver ornaments. This shows that their metallurgy

must have been quiet advanced; for unlike gold, silver never appears in pure form and has to be extracted by separat-

ing it from other metals like copper. The archeological research dates Kunal to be much earlier than 3000 BCE.

The presence of silver ornaments at Kunal shows that it is much later than the society described in the Rigveda. This is

because Rigveda dose not know silver. The oldest Sanskrit word for silver is Rajata Hiranyam – literally ‘white gold’ –

and it is mentioned for the first time in Yajurveda. This evidently disapproves the currently ascribed date of Rigveda as

1200 BCE as Kunal is evidently the last phase of the Saraswati civilization. Interestingly though there are proofs to sug-

gest a date marking the end of the Saraswati civilization there is no evidence to suggest its exact beginnings.

Thus Dr. Rajaram has suggested that:

All we have to do is look hard and deep along the Sarasvati and other Vedic rivers. Such sites are likely to date to 3500 BCE

or earlier. These when found are likely to be from the Age of Rigveda. The key identifying factor will be the relatively primi-

tive metallurgy of their artifacts.

P A G E 6

S W E E K A R

Conclusion:

Today, though we have archeology telling us that: there was extensive trade between the Harappans, Egyptians and Sumer-

ians besides presenting existence of science and mathematics much advanced to that age, our understanding of the Harappa

Mohenjo-Daro or better put Sindu-Saraswati civilization is incomplete.

Though we have evidence to suggest existence of now extinct Saraswati we are yet to find evidence to suggest beginning of

the civilization. However with the available information we can fairly conclude that:

1. Saraswats, who once lived on the riverbed of Sarasvati, have a history equivalent to that of the Rigveda.

2. The riverbed of an extinct river found by American and French satellites near Harappan excavation are of Saraswati as

the very description of the riverbed matches that of Saraswati mentioned in Rig Veda.

3. The Kunal excavations discovered on the riverbed of Sarasvati belong to the Yajurveda period dating earlier than 3000

BCE. And because Rigveda was written much earlier than Yajurveda the current idea of Rigveda being authored around

1300 BCE is false.

4. Given this we can firmly conclude that Sarasvati civilization of which Saraswats were once an integral part has a his-

tory of at least five thousand years.

Article by: Dr. Mahesh Prabhu, Fellow of Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, London (UK).

i. Mandala Pooja on Friday, August 6, 2010

According to the Aagama sastras that guide temple rituals "Mandala Pooja” must be performed for a

period of 48 days after the completion of the Maha Sampkshana or Maha Kumbhabhishekam. The Man-

dala puja enhances the divine presence in the re-consecrated moola (main) vigrahaas. To mark the

completion of these rituals, the Mandala pujas will be performed on Friday, August 6th, 2010. Please

bring your family and friends to the Temple, participate in the celebrations and obtain the divine bless-

ings.

ii. Dr. Abdul Kalam, Former President of India is expected to visit the temple in September. Details to

follow.

9.00 am Guru Prarthana

9.15 am Maha Sankalpam

9.30 am Ganapathi Pooja & Punyaha

Kalasha Sthapana and Kalasha Pooja

10.00 am Homa

11.00 am Purnahuthi

11.30 am Abhishekam / Pooja

12.30 pm Maha Mangalaarthi followed by Maha Prasada (Lunch)

Sringeri Vidya Bharati—Upcoming Events

P A G E 7

S W E E K A R

FUTURE SATSANGS

Those who wish to sponsor future satsangs are

requested to contact Maya Kulkarni.

Canada Sabha of Chitrapur Saraswats (CSCS) Chitrapur Heritage of Canada Inc. (CHCI)

Board of Trustees: Maya Kulkarni, Vivek Kulkarni, Kishore Nadkarni, Vinayak Shanbhag,

Ganesh Shenoy, Pramod Udiaver, Gautam Ullal.

Editorial Team: Vinita Bijur, Vivek Kulkarni, Sadanand Mankikar, Ganesh Shenoy

Web: Deepali and Vinayak Shanbhag

Contact: 2540 Armour Crescent Burlington, Ontario Canada L7M 4T4 Phone: (905) 319-1073 www.canadasabha.com info@canadasabha.com

Articles for publication as well as questions, inquiries etc. may be forwarded by e-mai l to Vivek Kulkarni (kulkarni77@rogers.com) or Sadanand Mankikar (sadanand.mankikar@gmail.com) or by mail to 2540 Armour Crescent, Burlington, Ontario L7M 4T4.

FUTURE

SATSANGS

Those who wish to

sponsor future

satsangs are

requested to contact

Maya Kulkarni.

Courtesy: Gourang Kodical of

Bangalore

Punyatithi of Param Pujya Parijnanashram Swamiji III on August 28

Courtesy: Collection of

Jnanesh Chandavarkar of

Bangalore