Reflections on the Heart or Reality - series - 2

Reflections on the HEART or REALITY

Reflections on the  HEART  or  REALITY

series -3

The question ‘Who actually am I?’ still remains obscure under a fog bank of doubts due to lack of sufficient experience on the part of the questioner.

“Watch the ‘I’ thought, hold on to it without losing it, it will lead all the way to the Heart.”

As I could locate and follow the ‘I’ thought I felt happy about the lead the above statement and experience gave me and I started enjoying the solitude I felt in my silent inner journey.

But suddenly something stopped me here and in came another wave of doubts. Did I not get the above statement right? I saw a catch here that lead me back to trace the events in my experience. I felt I was again like somewhere in the book titled ‘Catch 22’ by Joseph Heller.

‘I am the ‘I’ vibe or the Aham sphurana which is leading me to a realm of inner silence and I have managed to hold on to it tightly not losing the grip on it. But I find a catch here in my experience. I have to necessarily focus my attention to another aspect of the ‘I’ here.

‘I am watching my ‘I’ thought. So I find another ‘I’ here watching my other ‘I’ thought or Aham Sphurana or ‘I’ vibe. How come there are two ‘I’’s here in me? I was really stuck here.

I remembered Bhagavan’s words here in his ‘Ekasloki’, the second verse in chapter two of Ramana Gita reading “In the interior of the Heart-cave Brahman (Heart) alone shines in the form of the Atman with direct immediacy as ‘I’, as ‘I’…..”

The Forty verses on Reality refers to the ‘I’ - ’I’ as the absolute consciousness. Bhagavan says the understanding of this fact before one is firmly established in the natural state (Sahaja) by constant practice remains intellectual only. Even though this consciousness happens before Sahaja there is in it the subtle intellect. The difference being that in the latter the sense of forms disappear, which is not the case in the former.

The individual with name and form is the false ’I’, the imagined identity, with the notion of limitation as there is no unbroken continuity in it and the awareness of fullness of consciousness is termed as ‘I’-‘I’ because in it there is no limitation which breaks the experience of the ‘I’-‘I’.

The ‘I’-‘I’ remains in all the three states, the waking dreaming and dreamless sleep, whether one is conscious of it or not.

The enquiry ‘Who am I’ leads one to self consciousness and since it relates to the individual it is experienced in one’s being with a centre of experience in the body like a vibrating power house which supplies power to all the parts of the body and maintains life as well  the relation between the physical and the subtler planes in which the individual functions. Actually the vibrations of the consciousness can be felt by one’s calm mind that pays attention to it. It is known as sphurana for the sadhakas which ultimately leads one to the state of Sahaja Samadhi which is otherwise known as the natural state.

(Ref: ‘Ramana Gita’ by Sree Ramanasramam and ‘Know Yourselves’ by Sri.A.R.Natarajan, President, RMCL, Bangalore)

                                                                                                    To be continued...

Indian National Anthem - dedicated to nation on this independece day - 15th August, 2011

Reflections on The "HEART" or "REALITY"

Reflections on the “HEART” or “REALITY”

Series-1

 ~ Praise be to the name of my Guru, Guide and Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi ~

Well, this is just to share a few thoughts with you all on the subject ‘Heart’. Some one asked way back frustrated by this word… “Mr. Krishnan, what’s all this hue and cry about the Heart, I read in poems, film songs, in your Blog http://www.blackandwhiteholes.blogspot.com, in Bhagavan’s literatures etc. The picture of Jesus Christ shows the picture of a Heart on his chest, the term Heart of Hearts, then heart attacks and heart surgeries and someone writing to me ‘you are in my heart’ etc. I said, I too have had this confusion way back and I thought it was a fancy word or a fashion or style to mention the word ‘Heart’.

“Don’t beat around the Bush Mr. Krishnan and don’t give me pointless lectures on The Heart. I am keen on going to the bottom of it for once. But I have no inkling as to where I should start. I feel like the dog which kept on circling the Turtle on the beach. My mind can’t fathom this subject and then my attention goes to other easy enjoyable matters.”

As far as I can perceive the modus operandi to reach the heart of the subject ‘Heart’ the first thing that happens in this quest, in chronological order, is the thought:

“I want to sincerely know about the Heart and have its experience since the scriptures as well as the learned ones from time immemorial say that the goal of life is to reach the Heart and abide as that.”

Contemporary thinking and experience along the line of evolution and ways of living of the present times clearly point out that it is possible for a sincere and curious human being to reach the Heart and abide as that wherever he is placed in the walks of his life for example for a king or a queen or their footman or a layman who has no time to resort to scriptural learning let alone the continuous graceful company of the learned ones who take births in the passage of time to guide the masses as per the divine will of the compassionate one, the Heart.

So here it is ‘I’ who wants knowledge of the Heart. It will be silly of one to say ‘please give me knowledge of the Heart as quick as possible because I have many other things in life to attend to’. Again it is the ‘I’ who wants knowledge of the Heart.

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi steps in here and asks the person ‘who are you?’ to which he says my name is Govind. Sri Maharshi again puts forth the question who is Govind to which the perplexed individual says it is ‘I’ only. Who is this ‘I’? He points out to his body and touches his chest on the right side.

Once to a stubborn person who was not satisfied by Sri Bhagavan’s words Bhagavan said “Go back the way you came” jocularly but the meaning implied was ‘go back to your source by any means if you are not satisfied with my answer’.

Sri Bhagavan said “Is it so that your name is written on your body? No. Your body can’t speak. Which part of your body says I AM Govind? It’s the mouth consisting of lips, tongue and the vocal chords which together make speech, that too, if and when the Lungs feel like blowing air through your mouth if and when they get enough supply of blood and oxygen depending upon other functions which is triggered by the neurons in your brain if it is in ‘no damage mode’ so forth and so on. The body leads us nowhere. It is just dead matter consisting of cells which derive energy from a subtlest external energy source outside the body. I say here that even the electrons of the micro matter ‘Atom’ depends on this external energy source with which science has come to a dead end as far as identifying it. The scientists just say “well, there is this external energy which comes into the Atoms but we are yet to explore into its structure”. One can imagine what will happen if they explore into ‘Self enquiry’ methods as a last resort and reach the HEART and abide as that. They will just be happy and throw away all the modern gadgetry into the space as they would have attained the last and the highest item one can ask god to give. Because Heart is the ultimate in Knowledge. You have everything there ever needed by humanity, the meaning, the purpose and the goal of life.

The HEART encompasses everything in the Universe. It forms the Macrocosm. It is beginningless and endless. The Rishis who created the scriptures call it in Sanskrit “HRIDAYAM”. ‘Hrid’ for center and ‘Ayam’ for I am.  ‘I am the centre’. Thus the ‘I’ is also called the Heart. The centre of everything and from which center everything has sprung forth into the relative world.

In the relative world, the objective one, we can read and learn as to what is the Heart. But for having the knowledge of it as experience one has to reach the HEART. A relative can never be the reality because the Reality engulfs the relative which is a part of it. Hence the only way to know the Heart is by becoming the Heart or the Reality or Brahman (in Sanskrit) as can be called.

Here we are back in square one because we do not know who the ‘I’ is. Only the ‘I’ can lead us to the Heart or the Reality. Why? Because it is one’s original identity and not the body. The ‘I’ feeling or ‘I’ thought extends all the way from the Heart to the body. Between the Heart and the Body a false identity, as another ‘I’, also forms as one grows up which is mistaken for the original identity, the ‘I’, as ignorance veils the existence of the original ‘I’ in the body. Here is where a Guide or a Master or a Guru enters in one’s life naturally out of compassion to remove this veil of ignorance from him and help him to retrieve his original identity, the ‘I’. Let us call this ‘I’ as the ‘I’ thought because it is a feeling one has about oneself in his mind.

Since the ‘I ‘ thought extends all the way from the Heart to your body and mind and make you feel its ‘sphurana’ or ‘vibration’ on a close investigation, Sri Bhagavan insists one to hold on to this ‘I’ feeling or ‘I’ thought dearly which will automatically lead one inward to the core of one’s existence, the Self or the Heart.

But the difficult hurdle here is to hold on to this ‘I’ thought as one may be carried away forcefully from it by the innumerable other thoughts which circumambulate this ‘I’ thought. This happens to a week mind who can’t concentrate one pointedly. The indulgences, the extravaganzas in ones life makes one a slave to the force of habit. So it is necessary for one to limit oneself in activities to remove from the mind all the unnecessary luggage and make it light. Then the mind has all the power pointed at one quest undivided which helps it to travel a long way into one’s inwardness.

Once, another friend put forth a question during one of our satsanghs when ‘Forty verses on reality’ was being read out and discussed. He shot a question straight “what is Inwardness you have been talking about here?”

The answer was “get used to listening inward, sitting in a comfortable posture, with a free mind and just listening”. After  a few sessions of satsanghs he talked again “ I have been listening with closed eyes and with a free mind in a comfortable posture in my house and  I felt light minded as I heard many sounds of the nature to which hitherto I have never bothered to listen”. “But I am yet to know inwardness”.

“Who heard and where did you hear them?” “‘I’ heard them”. “Well, now you have the experience of hearing. Who had it? Close your mouth and eyes and say or think I am Govind.” He said “Yes I could hear it without sound in my mind.” “When I say ‘I’ without sound I hear it inside an empty space in me. I have the experience also now of ‘knowing’ that I heard it without sound in an empty space in me or in my mind. So now ‘I’ know what is meant by the “I THOUGHT” and also the meaning of ‘inwardness’ or looking inward.” “From this experience I arrive at the conclusion that my identity is the “I thought” in me or the “Sphurana” of the ‘I’ feeling in me and that ‘I’ am not the body.

                                                                                                     To be continued….

WHERE'S LOVE GONE

WHERE’S LOVE GONE

People coming down from your altar

Down the slopes of the mountain

I was climbing up the shortest route

Steep rocky falls down under my feet

Watching them moving down slopes

Said they, all that have to be attained

Are ours now the long grinding up hill

Trail has ended for us we are free and

Bestowed with all that we wished for

But then how the return downhill when

The light of love devours one wholly

And become one with no leftovers

I slipped on a rock was hit by the fall

And balancing on a foot was happy to

Watch the party looking at me and

Moving away they could hear my shout

Yet there wasn’t a care all feet hurrying

Away with hands tightly clutching the booty

Cold love in diffused light and dead looks

The luster of love were all made up masks

Once the earnest faces with hands raised

Were they all deceptions of the tricky minds?

Love’s chemistry having only one quality yet

Changed into pungent fumes of acid cocktails

Miracles in the dark splotches of the Moon

Hidden under the brilliant highlands light

Where’s love’s never failing ever trust worthy

Moon beams thou hast promised will engulf

The earnest face and raised hands turned above

Is this a hibernation mistaken for a swoon?

A half baked mind dreaming itself to be the heart

The frog of the well denying the ocean existence

Here I let go oh lord of my grip on the rock and

Into the well woven net of your compassion that’s

Famous for the sure catches of your faithful ones

And lift them up to your altar to merge into your love.

A vibe's pangs

A vibe’s pangs

Her hands dangling down like pure white marble carved

Like her heart that poured moon beams cool into my head

When we went around the crowded village fair stalls, the

Clinking of glass, my heart beat so fast, a sweet jab on it

I placed the pang in my heart’s depth where we met again

Blue and green and red so dark they were part of her hands

Why it took so long to be back in their place, my fault it was

Poor thing I held her hands the music from her hands n voice

Told me that it was the beginning and end of our lives, it’s time

I took her home with me I can’t stand this pang that burns me alive

To The Diving Board

  To the diving board

I see your face dripping morning dews always
 you stand so close yet do not see my heart
you don’t Stay as one but a thousand in your mind

Not your fault you are snow flakes in winter

 I try to put you in one piece in my heart

But the wind of changes drags you back into bits

Look at my photo and I see you in my heart
touch my photo and you touch me in my heart
your whispers to me I hear them in my heart
  your roots have gone very deep into my heart

The heart listens to prayers yours and mine
 your mind belongs to your heart only like

The waves belong to the depths of the sea, you

Dive deep and deep into the mind’s beginning

Where a door opens to one heart yours and mine

When you find yourselves in one piece in my heart

I wait for you there remember a dream come true.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

About this poem:
I'm the heart

A DISC WITHOUT MEMORY

A disc without memory

~~~~~~

I abandoned my memory

 A pain looking back indeed

Then it dawned on me

 I can still live it all

In every single event

 Alzheimer’s nor Dementia

 Events all  living neither DejaVu

When I wish for it I can just live in

The same moment I relish by Jove!

Memory back was a concept a laugh

 Pooh-pooh! I won’t be sold again

A smile it brings to my face alas!

The span of time is, here and now

Time in a thought is memory stored

A delusion created by thought alone

 Life a moment of awareness doubtless

Unbound by time and space it shines

~~~~~~~~

About this poem:
In awareness there is no memory.

Bhagavan's magnificient effulgent form

 my master's magnificient effulgent form

                                     
                                          a presence that crosses all barriers of time and space

The Milky way on a clear night

PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO VIEW 

THE MILKY WAY

  http://vimeo.com/dakotalapse/plainsmilkyway

THE URGENCY FOR  “SELF ENQUIRY”  IN INDIA 

A  SECULAR  STATE

For creating Awareness in Individual

~~~~~~~~~~

The need for realizing own identity for oneself first..in a secular state India secondly and the world, nay, the universe thirdly..

 ~~~~~~

Secularism has two distinct meanings.

1. It asserts the freedom of religion, and freedom from religion, within a state that is neutral on matters of belief, and gives no state privileges or subsidies to religions.

2. It refers to a belief that human activities and decisions should be based on evidence and fact, and not superstitious beliefs, however devoutly held, and that policy should be free from religious domination. For example, a society deciding whether to promote condom use might consider the issues of disease prevention, family planning, and women's rights. A secularist would argue that such issues are relevant to public policy-making, whereas Biblical interpretation or church doctrine should not be considered and are irrelevant.

We are all not secular. But trying to be secular. (Ref: yahoo India Answers)

The articles below, needless to say, will give the readers an in depth view of the population in India, a conglomeration of the religions and cast systems prevalent in the country each with its own philosophy, beliefs and ritualistic ways of leaving.

Of course, it is a matter of evolution we can say for the crude to be refined in good time but then the evolution has brought us to a point where human awareness has started shining in the form of a Govt. and intelligent ways of controlling a large conglomeration of systems and beliefs and leading them towards the goal in life, meaning and purpose, a govt. capable of pointing out what is necessary and what is not for the society which way to go and which way not. For this to be effective it has to be a repository of awareness itself capable of instilling much awareness into the minds of the sheep it is shepherding.

But what is Awareness then? What is its source?

                                                       

Let us pause for a moment here before we go into the structure of HUMAN AWARENESS as it is possible that a negative thought may immediately arise in many as to its existence due to ignorance and lack of proper guidance towards that area.

All of us have faith in our personal gods or philosophies and their guidance in our daily life. We are well AWARE of this fact that it gives us utmost confidence to be with our personal gods and philosophies from which we draw confidence and strength.

How come this AWARENESS? It has come from our faiths truly. We have innumerable faiths here to point out here but then they have all created just one kind of AWARENESS only in man. It is intelligence, knowing capacity, to be very simple, of everything under the sun, nay, in the Universe.

If we pile up all the writings on all the scriptures of all the religions and beliefs and faiths it may look like a hill made up of books alone.

If this is true why hate rises in man instead of love which is the basis of life itself? We find understanding as well as misunderstandings. Awareness and lack of awareness intermingled in the society every where.

Hence it has become a top priority matter that awareness on awareness has to be created in the masses, in every nook and corner of our nation and the world.

Now we come to the structure of Awareness. To put it in a nut shell or to begin with:

Awareness is knowledge; it is intelligence; it is memory; it is ones own identity…

The word Cow when read or heard as sound opens up the knowledge or truth about the Cow; until then this knowledge was not there; one becomes aware of the existence of Cow.

The very word Awareness when read or heard as sound makes us think about it and we know that we are awake or knowing.

Human awareness can accommodate the entire universe when guided or pointed out properly. But as all of us know there are hurdles created by a multitude of divisions in all walks of human life which can be overcome by spreading the message of Awareness or creating more and more Awareness in all the sections of the society from a neutral point of view and attitude to be accepted and understood by one and all.

In the wake of time many repositories of Awareness in human form according to the need of the time in the History existed  and their guidance have crossed the time barriers to enlighten the human masses still and also will do unto eternity. But then the methods adopted by them in spreading awareness underwent changes in the passage of time when communication became more and more sophisticated.

Naturally the tom toms have become obsoletes; the minds have expanded taking in more and more lessons on awareness and we are here and now where we know the space and time are twins born in the Heart and the Heart loops the human body inside out and becomes the identity itself to an individual and the body waits to disintegrate into the five natural elements.

In the wake of innumerable ways of creating Awareness to individual and from the point of view of a shepherd or a mighty learned leader who is a repository of Awareness himself/herself/themselves and with qualities to rule, guide and lead masses to life’s goal purpose and meaning the Govt.of India, Ministry of Culture and Heritage, after a scrutiny of many simple and  neutral ways of  education acceptable to any citizen due to its direct approach to human problems and solutions, have recommended the Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi known as “SELF ENQUIRY” (WHO AM I ?  to be officially recognized as a Human Resources Development  concept especially due to its secular nature, neutral attitudes, and simple methods that can be understood by a layman to a king and put to practice in daily life.  This leads to the truth that own identity is the ever shining Awareness only and not the body and that awareness and body goes hand in hand when meaning is achieved by the individual.

The Govt. of India also released a postal stamp of Ramana Maharshi in due course.

A three day international convention on “Principles and practice of Self Enquiry” was organized by the central Govt. in Bangalore under the auspices of the RAMANA MAHARSI CENTRE FOR LEARNING, BANGALORE  way back where representatives of Ramana Maharshi Centres  from all over the world participated and expressed their interest in Self Enquiry as a method for creating Awareness in all the world powers of the modern age.

                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three most populous countries in the world, China (1.34 billion), India (1.21 billion) and USA (308.7 million) together constitutes more than 40% of the total population of the world.

Let us look at the Census of India 2001 figures which give us an idea on the vast net works of religions in India  which have been responsible for creating Awareness among their groups.

GOVT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner , India

Source : Religion, Census of India 2001

Religion returns in Indian census provide a wonderful kaleidoscope of the country s rich social composition, as many religions have originated in the country and few religions of foreign origin have also flourished here. India has the distinction of being the land from where important religions namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism have originated at the same time the country is home to several indigenous faiths tribal religions which have survived the influence of major religions for centuries and are holding the ground firmly Regional con-existence of diverse religious groups in the country makes it really unique and the epithet unity in diversity is brought out clearly in the Indian  Census.                                                       Ever since its inception, the Census of India has been collecting and publishing information about the religious affiliations as expressed by the people of India. In fact, population census has the rate distinction of being the only instrument that collets the information son this diverse and important characteristic of the Indian population. TABLE 21: DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION BY RELIGION Religion Number % All religious communities 1,028,610,328 100.0 Hindus 827,578,868 80.5 Muslims 138,188,240 13.4 Christians 24,080,016 2.3 Sikhs 19,215,730 1.9 Buddhists 7,955,207 0.8 Jains 4,225,053 0.4 Others 6,639,626 0.6 Religion not stated 727,588 0.1 Source : Religion, Census of India 2001    At the census 2001, out of 1028 million population, little over 827 million (80.5%) have returned themselves as followers of Hindu religion, 138 million (13.4%) as Muslims or the followers of Islam, 24 million (2.3%) as Christians, 19 million (1.9%) as Sikh, 8 million (0.80%) as Buddhists and 4 million (0.4%) are Jain. In addition, over 6 million have reported professing other religions and faiths including tribal religions, different from six main religions.     Hinduism is professed by the majority of population in India. The Hindus are most numerous in 27 states/Uts except in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab.    The Muslims professing Islam are in majority in Lakshadweep and Jammu & Kashmir. The percentage of Muslims is sizeable in Assam (30.9%), West Bengal (25.2%), Kerala (24.7%), Uttar Pradesh (18.5%) and Bihar (16.5%).     Christianity has emerged as the major religion in three North-eastern states, namely, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya. Among other states/Uts, Manipur (34.0%), Goa (26.7%), Andaman & Nicobar Islands (21.7%), Kerala (19.0%), and Arunachal Pradesh (18.7%) have considerable percentage of Christian population to the total population of the State/UT.     Punjab is the stronghold of Sikhism. The Sikh population of Punjab accounts for more than 75 % of the total Sikh population in the country. Chandigarh (16.1%), Haryana (5.5%), Delhi (4.0%), Uttaranchal (2.5%) and Jammu & Kashmir (2.0%) are other important States/Uts having Sikh population. These six states/Uts together account for nearly 90 percent Sikh population in the country.    The largest concentration of Buddhism is in Maharashtra (58.3%), where (73.4%) of the total Buddhists in India reside. Karnataka (3.9 lakh), Uttar Pradesh (3.0 lakh), west Bengal (2.4 lakh) and Madhya Pradesh (2.0 lakh) are other states having large Buddhist population. Sikkim (28.1%), Arunachal Pradesh (13.0%) and Mizoram (7.9 %) have emerged as top three states in terms of having maximum percentage of Buddhist population.    Maharashtra, Rajsthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujrat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi have reported major Jain population. These states/Uts together account for nearly 90 percent of the total Jain population in the country. The percentage of Jain population to the total population is maximum in Maharastra (1.3%), Rajsthan (1.2%), Delhi (1.1%) and Gujrat (1.0%). Elsewhere in the country their proportion in negligible. THE INDEPENDENT  -- Asia

India in uproar over decision to include caste in national census

Critics say traditional distinctions of class have no place in a would-be global power

By Andrew Buncombe in Delhi

Friday, 14 May 2010

                            AP

    (A Dalit, or 'untouchable,' family in the heavily populated state of Uttar Pradesh)

"The fight against caste is best fought when we know the enemy. Caste For the first time since the days of the British Raj, officials in India are to ask people their caste as part of the national census, the biggest of its kind in the world. It is a move that has triggered intense controversy about a painful, vexing subject that the country cannot leave behind.

Having initially chosen not to include caste, the Indian government apparently gave in to demands from opposition parties and decided that, for the first time since 1931, census officials would ask respondents to say what traditional Hindu grouping they belong to.

The decision has sparked fierce debate. Defenders of the move say it will provide up-to-date information about the size and needs of various groups that will be vital for providing grants and reserved jobs and college places for those at the bottom of the caste ladder.

Others are equally adamant that caste should have no place in a country seeking to throw off the shackles of poverty, malnutrition and illiteracy and looking to assume a position as a leading world power.

Among those who have strongly criticised the decision is Amitabh Bachchan, the near-legendary Bollywood actor considered the elder statesman of Hindi movies.

Writing on his blog, Mr Bachchan said that when census officials arrived at his house in Mumbai, he told them that his caste was "Indian".

"My father never believed in caste and neither do any of us," he added. "He married a Sikh, I married a Bengali, my brother a Sindhi, my daughter a Punjabi, my son a Mangalorean... in his autobiography he had [said] future generations of his family should marry into different parts of the country."

In traditional Hinduism there were four main castes and hundreds of sub-groups. In addition there were the "untouchables", who were considered to have no place in society and who are now more usually called Dalits.

For centuries, what job a person did, where they lived, what food they ate and where they were cremated depended largely on their caste. One of those who sought to reform the system was the independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, who, along with social campaigners such as Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, argued that caste had no place.

As India has developed, and as more people have moved to the cities, the rigid caste restrictions have loosened slightly. Yet although discrimination on the basis of caste is banned by the constitution, for hundreds of millions of people caste remains a defining, and often debilitating, label. Even now, English-language weekend papers carry pages of adverts for arranged marriages, all categorised under various castes. And a number of online sites cater exclusively to one caste.

Caste also remains hugely important in the world of business and finance. A recent study by the Indian economist Sukhdeo Thorat and Princeton University sociologist Katherine Newman found that having a low-caste surname significantly cut the chances of winning a job interview.

Caste can have deadly repercussions. Parts of northern India are blighted by so-called "honour killings", incidents in which a young woman is murdered by members of her family for having an affair, or eloping, with a man from the "wrong" caste or clan. In one recent high-profile case, police in Jharkhand arrested the mother of a young female journalist, Nirupama Pathak, who was found smothered to death.

The middle-class family, who were opposed to Ms Pathak's planned marriage to a lower-caste man, say she committed suicide. However, her boyfriend claims she was murdered. The young woman's father, a bank manager, told local reporters: "We were trying to convince her to marry within our own caste. That does not mean we killed her."

Despite its purported wish to move away from caste, India has repeatedly opposed including caste in UN guidelines against discrimination. It insists that it is an internal matter for India. At the same time, caste has increasingly become an important means of organising politically.

Kumari Mayawati, the so-called Dalit Queen who heads the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), has four times ridden to the position of chief minister of India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, with the support of its poorest and most downtrodden people.

Those who want to include caste in the census say the data gathered can be used to help those in need. Writing in the Hindustan Times Sagarika Ghose, a senior broadcaster, said: is an immutable, invisible and overwhelming reality in our daily lives.

"If we continue to act as if caste does not exist, or deny its existence, we would be failing to do battle with one of the most urgent social inequalities of our time."

Some Dalits fighting for empowerment also believe the information will help, especially if is made publicly available. Pushpa Salaria, head of the Dalit Rights Protection Forum, said: "If we have a census which is centralised then we can have information about weaker sections and minority groups. It will help us know the majority of our country."

India's Caste System

* The caste system has existed for more than 3,000 years in India. In traditional Hinduism, there are four main castes.

* At the top are the Brahmins, the teachers and priests. Next come the Kshatriyas, who are soldiers and administrators. The Vaishyas make up the trading class. The final group is the Sudras, the farming and peasant class.

* In addition there were those considered outside of society and "untouchable" and who are now more usually called Dalits, or in Indian law, "scheduled castes".

* Dalits face routine discrimination with a crime committed against a member of the group every 20 minutes, according to the Dalit Solidarity Network-UK, citing government figures.

* However, the group said this was likely to be a only a fraction of actual incidents since many Dalits did not lodge cases for fear of reprisals.