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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Congress’ solo path for ‘ideological survival’

Mumbai: The Congress party’s decision to contest the forthcoming BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections independently is being viewed as an attempt to reclaim its ideological space among the public and restore credibility within its cadre, senior leaders indicated. The announcement - made by AICC General Secretary Ramesh Chennithala alongside state president Harshwardhan Sapkal and Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad - did not trigger a backlash from the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi...

Congress’ solo path for ‘ideological survival’

Mumbai: The Congress party’s decision to contest the forthcoming BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections independently is being viewed as an attempt to reclaim its ideological space among the public and restore credibility within its cadre, senior leaders indicated. The announcement - made by AICC General Secretary Ramesh Chennithala alongside state president Harshwardhan Sapkal and Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad - did not trigger a backlash from the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners, the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT). According to Congress insiders, the move is the outcome of more than a year of intense internal consultations following the party’ dismal performance in the 2024 Assembly elections, belying huge expectations. A broad consensus reportedly emerged that the party should chart a “lone-wolf” course to safeguard the core ideals of Congress, turning140-years-old, next month. State and Mumbai-level Congress leaders, speaking off the record, said that although the party gained momentum in the 2019 Assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it was frequently constrained by alliance compulsions. Several MVA partners, they claimed, remained unyielding on larger ideological and political issues. “The Congress had to compromise repeatedly and soften its position, but endured it as part of ‘alliance dharma’. Others did not reciprocate in the same spirit. They made unilateral announcements and declared candidates or policies without consensus,” a senior state leader remarked. Avoid liabilities He added that some alliance-backed candidates later proved to be liabilities. Many either lost narrowly or, even after winning with the support of Congress workers, defected to Mahayuti constituents - the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena, or the Nationalist Congress Party. “More than five dozen such desertions have taken place so far, which is unethical, backstabbing the voters and a waste of all our efforts,” he rued. A Mumbai office-bearer elaborated that in certain constituencies, Congress workers effectively propelled weak allied candidates through the campaign. “Our assessment is that post-split, some partners have alienated their grassroots base, especially in the mofussil regions. They increasingly rely on Congress workers. This is causing disillusionment among our cadre, who see deserving leaders being sidelined and organisational growth stagnating,” he said. Chennithala’s declaration on Saturday was unambiguous: “We will contest all 227 seats independently in the BMC polls. This is the demand of our leaders and workers - to go alone in the civic elections.” Gaikwad added that the Congress is a “cultured and respectable party” that cannot ally with just anyone—a subtle reference to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which had earlier targeted North Indians and other communities and is now bidding for an electoral arrangement with the SS(UBT). Both state and city leaders reiterated that barring the BMC elections - where the Congress will take the ‘ekla chalo’ route - the MVA alliance remains intact. This is despite the sharp criticism recently levelled at the Congress by senior SS(UBT) leader Ambadas Danve following the Bihar results. “We are confident that secular-minded voters will support the Congress' fight against the BJP-RSS in local body elections. We welcome backing from like-minded parties and hope to finalize understandings with some soon,” a state functionary hinted. Meanwhile, Chennithala’s firm stance has triggered speculation in political circles about whether the Congress’ informal ‘black-sheep' policy vis-a-vis certain parties will extend beyond the BMC polls.

The Science of AUM — And Geometry Before Pythagoras

Bharat’s rich heritage shows that long before modern science, our sages explored the universe through sound, geometry, and consciousness.

ree

ॐ – the most divine chant that we have known since time immemorial. The chant that we relate to divinity and spirituality. To start with, it's not OM; it's A U M


Do you know that there is a sound of the "heartbeat" of the Earth, and the sound vibration is at a specific frequency?


First proposed by German physicist Winfried Schumann in 1952 and later confirmed experimentally, the Earth’s electromagnetic field is shaped by global lightning activity. These lightning strikes generate waves that become trapped between the Earth’s surface and the ionosphere, forming standing waves known as Schumann resonances. The strongest of these vibrations—at about 7.83 Hz—is often called the planet’s heartbeat or natural tuning fork for life.


When chanted correctly, the vibrations produced by AUM are believed to generate a frequency that can harmonise or synchronise with the Earth's natural frequency of 7.83 Hz. This is the frequency where you connect to nature and the divine, and hence we use ॐ during our prayers.


The 7.83 Hz frequency falls right at the border of the human brain's alpha waves (8−12 Hz) and theta waves (4−8 Hz). Alpha waves are associated with calm, relaxed alertness and a meditative state, and theta waves are linked to deep relaxation, meditation, creativity, and intuition. And the confluence of the two is the core objective of meditation, and hence ॐ is what we chant while meditating.


AUM chanting begins in the abdomen with the “A” sound, rises through the chest and throat with the “U”, and ends with the humming “M” resonating in the crown of the head. This upward vibration is said to energise the body’s chakras, fostering peace and well-being.What scientists uncovered barely 75 years ago has been part of our tradition for millennia. And the wisdom of ancient India didn’t end with sound and vibration — even in mathematics and geometry, our sages showed extraordinary insight long before their Western counterparts.


Ancient Indian geometry

As children, we learnt that the square of a right triangle’s hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of its other two sides. A principle known as Pythagoras’ Theorem, attributed to the Greek mathematician Pythagoras around 500 BCE.


But centuries earlier, India’s learnt Rishis (Gyaanis) had explored similar concepts and more. The Śulba Sutras—meaning “rules of the cord”—described the geometry and mathematics used to design Vedic fire altars.Among the eight major texts, the oldest is the Baudhayana Śulba Sutra, though the science behind these rituals predates the written records.


In 800 BCE, Rishi Baudhayana had written some of these Sutras.

1. Pythagorean Theorem

Sutra 1.12 - Aksnayā Rajju


दीर्घस्याक्ष्णया रज्जुः पार्श्वमानी, तिर्यग् मानी च यत् पृथग्भूते कुरुतस्तदुभयाङ् करोति।


English Translation:  The rope stretched along the length of the diagonal [of a rectangle] produces an area that the vertical and horizontal sides make together.


Meaning: The area of the square drawn on the diagonal (hypotenuse) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares drawn on the vertical (length) and horizontal (breadth) sides.


2. Value of the Square Root of 2

Sutra: I.61-62 (Elaborated in Āpastamba Śulbasūtra I.6)


समस्य द्विकरणी। प्रमाणं तृतीयेन वर्धयेत् तच्चतुर्थेनात्मचतुस्त्रिंशोनेन सविशेषः।


English Translation: "The diagonal [dvikaraṇī] of a square. The measure [side length] is to be increased by a third and by a fourth, decreased by the thirty-fourth part [of that fourth]. That is its diagonal approximately."


Formula (implied): If the side of the square is a = 1, the length of the diagonal (\sqrt{2}) is approximately:

1 + 1/3 + 1/(4 × 3) - 1/(34 × 4 × 3)


We may not have been the first—Egyptian and Babylonian scholars also studied these concepts—but the depth of our Rishis’ knowledge is remarkable. Sadly, they are often seen merely as ascetics, when in truth they were profound scholars and scientists.


Whether it’s the hum of AUM resonating with the Earth’s heartbeat or the geometric brilliance of our Rishis, ancient Indian wisdom endures. It reminds us that science and spirituality were never separate — only two paths to the same truth.

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