Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
Do you feel overwhelmed seeing all the threats our Dharma is facing right now? Let me introduce you to a soul who stood tall in a similar situation - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
To give context to non-Maharashtrians on why exactly he’s worshipped so much, he basically lived all his life as a brave lion in a pit of snakes - India was being torn apart by Mughals in the North, the Shahis like Nizams, Azil & Qutub in the South, and Portuguese & foreign traders in the West.
All of them encouraged violent & forceful conversions of innocent Hindus into Islam or Christianity, raping our women, castrating our men, and selling our kids as slaves in the thousands.
In the middle of this storm, a 15-year-old boy, who was the son of jagirdar serving the Mughal Empire , cut his thumb on a Shivling, swearing with his small gang of Malvas, to fight for the dream of Swarajya - independent rule of Indians.
He started with absolutely nothing in his hands, and still managed to give a tough fight to all enemies, leaving us with two big timeless gifts.
First, most of us only know Maharaj as a fast-acting, fighter warrior but his brain was even mightier than his sword - reading his story is like getting a playbook template on extremely cunning political & military strategy - he knew when to shake hands and play defence, like when he surrendered his captured forts, and he knew when to go on the offence, also using deceit when it was required.
Second, this brings us to the point that Shivaji inspired his loyal armies & generations after him to fight for a Hindu Rashtra - not for some personal religious agenda but because he wanted to stop the oppression of Hindus at the hand of the Islamic tyrants. He was just & respectful to all women, releasing those captured in war, he handled the Holy Q’oran with respect, and he was just to all.
But he was also a devout, unapologetic and proud Hindu, worshipping Bhavani Ma, taking advice of sants, and restoring hundreds of Hindu temples only which had been broken to build mosques.
He kept our enemies at bay for 35 years directly and single-handedly stopped their dream of an Islamic India from coming true. With his Coronation Ceremony, he was the first true Hindu king of the land in centuries.
So to use modern woke labels like “secular” to describe him as an insult to his legacy & dynamic personality which was staunchly Maratha & Hindu.
Just remember that if Maharaj hadn’t fought, you wouldn’t have had the privilege of being born a free Hindu, nor would you have temples to visit.
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