bhārata

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté


Many here on HDF are not from India... it is my POV one is therefore not from Hindustān. This Hindustān = hindu + sthāna. Sthāna means abiding in, staying in + Hindu or the Indian continent.

Originally this word Hindu was secular in nature, describing the peoples of India, without consideration for ones religious choice.

But if one is not from Hindustān could you possibly have the affinity and alignment with Bharata? This too is another name for India , but more insightful IMHO.

This bharata , also spelled bhārata has a grand lineage we find in the mahābhārata and also the rāmāyaṇa but I needn't go to these books for this post.

I ask the good reader to consider this POV:
bhārata can be viewed as bhā + rata

• bhā = light or a beam of light , lustre , splendour
• rata = delighting in , intent upon , fond or enamoured of , devoted or attached

Hence bhārata is he or she that delights in and is devoted to bhā, to light, to splendor. And what is this light? The Supreme.

This bhārata is also associated with agni. What is agni? Splendor of flame, of purity, of the Supreme.

Now it is our good fortune that Hindustān = bhārata and can be the leader of the world, to bring us back to delighting in the lustre of the Light, that of the Supreme.

For all of us that are not natives of Hindustān, it seems we can be natives to bhārata , for those that delight in the Supreme on this good earth.

praṇām

[kallol]

Feel honoured and overwhelmed

For those who are new to this forum, Bharata was the son of Shakuntala and Dushyanta from where the name Bharat came. A good informative link is there in wikipedia (though it still carries the Aryan theory) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharata_(emperor)

Love and best wishes.

[kd gupta]

Feel honoured and overwhelmed

For those who are new to this forum, Bharata was the son of Shakuntala and Dushyanta from where the name Bharat came. A good informative link is there in wikipedia (though it still carries the Aryan theory) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharata_(emperor)

Love and best wishes.

That is right and also a simple explanation is as follows :
bishva bharana poshana kara joi, takara nama bharata asa hoi.
who sustains and supports the universe, is called
'Bharata'; .

[saidevo]

namaste Yajvan and others.

When the name Pakistan was chosen from its Urdu and Persian meaning 'Land of the Pure', it referred to the Muslims living in the five northern units of the British Raj: Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh and Balochistan.

As against this, Hindus wanted their country comprising the remaining parts of India named as HindusthAn, since it is their land from time immemorial, so giving the option to the Muslims in this land to either remain affiliated to the Hindu nation that is to be formed, or relocate to Pakistan. Since, most of the Muslims owned properities in their native places in this land, they opted to stay, although the Hindus in Pakistan knew they had no future there, so most of them chose to relocate to HindusthAn. Although the British ruled India then, the Christian population was (and still is) a minor percentage, so they had no say in the name of the nation. Gandhiji, however, refused both the name and the nature of the Hindu nation, and it is history where his and Nehru's prejudiced decisions have landed us in India, with Muslims forming around 15% of Indian population, which is the largest population of them, including the Muslim countries in the world. Anyway, in order not to lose the ancestry of the land, the name BhArat was included as another name, so India, today is officially known as India that is BhArat.

As for the opinion that the term Hindu was not a native term in Sanskrit and was coined by the invaders of India, please check this link:
http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/sho...25&postcount=1

However, BhArata(m) is a great name for India, and as Guptaji has observed, one that supports the universe, so native Hindus would be happy to welcome all non-native Hindus as dharma-prajA--dharmic citizens, of BhArata desham. Thus the ancient Hindu Dharma, sampradAya--tradition, and culture is a legacy to all Hindus, native and non-native.

Thus, it would be in order for non-native Hindus to take a pilgrimage to their spiritual motherland at least once in their lifetime.