Hinduism

"The Hare Krishna mantra is a sacred Sanskrit verse, recited as a means to cultivate awareness of a higher power and revive God-realization, known as Krishna consciousness. Rooted in the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism, the Hare Krishna mantra is mentioned in the Kali-Santarana Upanishad, and is central to the path of Bhakti Yoga. Otherwise known as the Maha or "Great" mantra, the Hare Krishna mantra has only four lines, composed of the names of Hindu deities and their energies: Hare, Krishna and Rama. Hare refers to either the energy of Hari (Lord Vishnu) or Hara (Krishna's consort, Shakti). Krishna and Rama are the names of two avatars of Lord Vishnu. The Hare Krishna mantra is chanted as a petition to God, and its meaning can be interpreted as "Oh Lord, oh energy of the Lord, please engage me in your service."

"Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare (full text of the mantra)"

"It is very simple. Hare means, “O energy of the Lord," and Krsna means, ‘‘O Lord Krsna."' Just as there are males and females in the material world, similarly, God is the original male (purusa), and His energy (prakrti) is the original female. So, when we chant Hare Krsna, we are saying, “O Lord Krsna, O energy of Krsna, kindly engage me in Your service.”"

"Actually, it doesn't matter – Krishna or Christ – the name is the same. The main point is to follow the injunctions of the Vedic scriptures that recommend chanting the name of God in this age."

"India's Kumbha Mela amply demonstrates that diversity can be self-organized and not anarchic, even on a very large scale. Held every twelve years, this is the world's largest gathering of people, attracting tens of millions of individuals from all corners of India, from all strata of society, and from all kinds of traditions, ethnicities and languages. Yet there is no central organizing body, no 'event manager' to send out invitations or draw up a schedule, nobody in charge to promote it, no centralized registration system to get admitted. Nobody has official authority or ownership of the event, which is spontaneous and 'belongs' to the public domain. Since time immemorial, numerous groups have put up their own mini-townships and millions go as individuals just to participate in the festivities."

"12 November 1623 – ... As we return'd home at night, we met a Woman in the City of Ikkerì, who, her Husband being dead, was resolv'd to burn her self, as 'tis the custom with many Indian Women. She rod on Horse-back about the City with open face, holding a Looking-glasse in one hand, and a Lemon in the other, I know not for what purpose; and beholding her self in the Glass, with a lamentable tone sufficiently pittiful to hear, went along I know not whither speaking or singing certain words, which I understood not; but they told me, they were a kind of Farewell to the World and her self; and indeed, being utter'd with that passionateness which the Case requir'd and might produce, they mov'd pity in all that heard them, even in us who understood not the Language. She was follow'd by many other Women and Men on foot, who, perhaps, were her Relations; they carry'd a great Umbrella over her, as all Persons of quality in India are wont to have, thereby to keep off the Sun, whose heat is hurtful and troublesome. Before her, certain Drums were sounded, whose noise she never ceas'd to accompany with her sad Ditties or Songs; yet with a calm and constant Countenance, without tears, evidencing more grief for her Husband's death then her own, and more desire to go to him in the other world than regret for her own departure out of this: A Custom, indeed, cruel and barbarous, but withall, of great generosity and virtue in such Women, and therefore worthy of no small praise. They said, she was to pass in this manner about the City, I know not how many dayes, at the end of which she was to go out of the City and be burnt, with more company and solemnity. If I can know when it will be, I will not fail to go to see her, and by my presence honor her Funeral, with that compassionate affection which so great Conjugal Fidelity and Love seems to me to deserve."

"The mythological origin of the practice comes from the story of the goddess Sati, who burned herself to protest her father’s insult to Shiva. However, formal widow burning emerged later, especially among elite Rajput clans during medieval India, and was often linked to notions of honor, purity, and loyalty. Widows who committed sati were believed to become goddesses, and their cremation sites were marked with memorial stones or temples. …Sati must be understood as both a religious rite and a social imposition. While some women may have embraced it as a path to spiritual purity, others were coerced or lacked alternatives. …Modern scholarship emphasizes the need to distinguish between voluntary religious acts and socially enforced violence. Sati’s legacy continues to provoke debates about agency, tradition, and the limits of religious freedom."

"Yea, I am persuaded, that the English breast has not a more joyous sensation on seeing the launch of a ship, than these inhuman beings experienced at the launch of an immortal spirit, loaded with all its aggravated sins, into an awful eternity!"

"A word may here be said about the important though cruel customs of Sati and Jauhar prevailing in medieval times. With the loss of power and constant danger of attack, the customs of Sati and Jauhar were gaining strong roots not only among the Kshatriyas, but among other people also. However, the most significant fact about these customs is that except perhaps by Muhammad Tughlaq, no serious attempt was made to put a stop to such an inhuman system of self-immolation. On the other hand it was universally admired. Even an extremely cultured man like Amir Khusru exclaimed: “See how noble it is”. Ibn Battiita witnessed the Sati on many occasions and gives many unhappy details. Jauhar was prevalent both in the north and the south. During Timir’s invasion Muslim women also performed Jauhar when Bhatnir was sacked.”"

"She chose her ruin, and resign'd her life, In death undaunted as an Indian wife."

"They [the Mughals] do not, indeed, forbid it (satī) by a positive law, because it is a part of their policy to leave the idolatrous population, which is so much more numerous than their own, in the free exercise of its religion; but the practice is checked by indirect means."

"'Tis the procession of a funeral vow, Which cruel laws to Indian wives allow, When fatally their virtue they approve; Cheerful in flames, and martyrs of their love."

"The evening sun-beams threw their golden light, And smiling ushered in the bridal night; The gay procession wound its happy way In colours brilliant as the jocund day. The pipe, the viol, and unceasing drum, Proclaim to all, the blooming bride is come! Light dancing maids the gaudy train prolong, And Gunga’s banks are startled, too, with song. Thousands rush forth the joyous scene to hail, And lend their voices—lest the music fail; The bride reclined, in costly jewels dressed— Jewels less bright than hope within her breast; Of sweetly-scented flowers, a snowy braid, Pure as the fancies of the espousèd maid, In her black hair a striking contrast show, While o’er her neck the sable ringlets flow. The bride reclined; a crimson litter bore Her blushing charms along the sacred shore. What joy is breaking from her large dark eye— The vivid lightnings of a tropic sky! The rosy veil is archly drawn aside To show the glances she affects to hide. ’Tis all a modest maiden dare betray— The sudden sparkle of a meteor’s play. No band may give those features to the light, Save his who takes her to his hall tonight. Hark, from that hall what happy spirits break! What joyous revelry the echoes make! Lo, the young lord awaits her at the porch, While mid-day bursts from each attending torch. The maid has reached her bridegroom’s home at last:— The morning came, and all her joy had passed; Death had gone over like a wild simoom, And marked her youthful husband for the tomb. And must be only suffer? Still the pride Of youth and beauty lives, the lovely bride. She, too, must die: some savage god, unknown To Christian climes, demands her for his own. The pile now rears aloft its awful head, Where late the bride her gay procession led: Still ring the notes of merriment: the strain Of mirth still sweeps along the crowded plain. Why rush the thousands? Why this grand display Of pomp and pride? A widow burns today! Must the same mirth, the same bright hues appear To grace the bridal, and to deck the bier? Is there no sorrow in the hurrying throng? Will the wild herd still pour the maddening song? No breast to sympathise, no tear to fall, No trembling hand to elevate the pall? It is some jubilee;—it cannot be, That death is hailed with such a savage glee. Another bridal! see the gathering fire; The altar stands upon that burning pyre! There, in still death, the bridegroom waits his spouse: To bind their union, and renew her vows, Calmly she stands, and gazes o’er the scene, Unnerved by thoughts of what she might have been. How changed that day, on which, almost from birth, Arose the star of all her hopes on earth! For, pledged in childhood, all her charms had grown (So fondly thought she) for that day alone; To bless his sight, whose name was wont to share In every wish and every childish prayer, Since first she lisped the mighty Brahmah’s name! Yet now unawed she views the spreading flame; With false devotion gazes on the pile And moves to die—with a contented smile; Waves a farewell; and, stedfast to the last, Scorns on this world one lingering look to cast. Yes! she rejects this world without one thought Of all the bliss but yesterday had brought; Sees unconcerned an aged father stand, And scarcely owns the pressure of his hand; Hears a loved brother urge her on to die With cold indifference: not a rebel sigh Bursts to declare that yet one pulse remains, Against her will to throb at human pains. Beyond this transient earth her heart is set; She dreams that happiness may meet her yet; Thinks, like a phoenix, ’tis her fate to rise Pure from her ashes, to adorn the skies; And bear (for all her torments seek but this) Her husband with her to divide her bliss, For this she suffers, and for this she dies; Disowns, for this, all nature’s dearest ties. O noble spirit! In a Christian’s cause, A martyr’s crown, and a whole world’s applause, To bury the hopes, and mitigate the pain, Have oft displayed their tempting lures in vain: Heroes have shrunk before the torture’s wheel, And e’en in martyrdom have stooped to feel. Yet here, each day, in agonising fires, For sinful man some gentle dame expires, Gentle and pure, with every tender fear A woman knows, yet all forgotten here. A cheerful victim, lo, she mounts the pile, While the flame quickens in the fragrant oil: The thickening smoke now circles o’er her head; Her husband’s bosom forms an easy bed. Here she reclines, nor seeks a safer rest; No couch so sweet as his unconscious breast. While the fire wreathes around each quiv’ring limb, She feels it not, she slumbers upon him;— A fleeting rest: with him she wakes, to reach Eternal joy, for thus the Vedahs teach. Too fatal error! Oh! that such a mind To truth divine should still continue blind! She will not doubt: devoted to her creed, She claims the glory, and demands the meed; Courts the proud triumph of a Hindoo bride, Betrothed in life, in death to be allied."

"The holy fights by Moslem heroes fought, The saintly works by Christian hermits wrought And those of Jewry or of Sabian creed— Their valour reaches not the Indian's deed Whom zeal and awe religiously inspire To cast his body on the flaming pyre."

"And like the dead of Ind I do not fear To go to thee in flames; the most austere Angel of fire a softer tooth and tongue Hath he than dreadful Munker and Nakir."

"The word Chakra is Sanskrit, and signifies a wheel. It is also used in various subsidiary, derivative and symbolical senses, just as is its English equivalent; as we might speak of the wheel of fate, so does the Buddhist speak of the wheel of life and death; and he describes that first great sermon in which the Lord Buddha propounded his doctrine as the Dham­machakkappavattana Sutta (chakka being the Pali equivalent for the Sanskrit chakra) which Professor Rhys Davids poetically renders as “to set rolling the royal chariot-wheel of a universal empire of truth and righteousness”. That is exactly the spirit of the meaning which the expression conveys to the Buddhist devotee, though the literal translation of the bare words is “the turning of the wheel of the Law”. The special use of the word chakra with which we are at the moment concerned is its application to a series of wheel-like vortices which exist in the surface of the etheric double of man."

"I teach no mode of awakening the centres, because right impulse, steady reaction to higher impulsions, and the practical recognition of the sources of inspiration, will automatically and safely swing the centres into needed and appropriate activity. This is the sound method of development. It is slower, but leads to no premature development, and produces a rounded unfoldment; it enables the aspirant to become truly the Observer and to know with surety what he is doing; it brings the centres, one by one, to a point of spiritual responsiveness, and then establishes the ordered and cyclic rhythm of a controlled lower nature. (p. 261/2)"

"These seven force-centres are frequently described in Sanskrit literature, in some of the minor Upanishads, in the Puranas and in Tantric works. They are used today by many Indian yogis. A friend acquainted with the inner life of India assures me that he knows of one school in that country which makes free use of the chakras - a school which numbers as its pupils about sixteen thousand people scattered over a large area... It appears also that certain European mystics were acquainted with the chakras. Evidence of this occurs in a book entitled Theosophia Practica by the well-known German mystic Johann Georg Gichtel, a pupil of Jacob Boehme, who probably belonged to the secret society of the Rosicrucians. It is from this work of Gichtel’s that our Plate III is reproduced by the kind permission of the publishers."

"The evolution of the centres is a slow and gradual thing, and proceeds in ordered cycles varying according to the ray of a man's Monad. (p. 173) The centres in physical matter are recognised as being simply focal points of energy located on the etheric body, and having a definite use. This use is to act as transmitters of certain forms of energy consciously directed by the... Self, with the intent of driving the physical body (which is not a principle) to fulfil egoic purposes. (p. 1155)."

"Only one in a thousand aspirants is at the stage where he should begin to work with the energy in the centres, and perhaps even this estimate is too optimistic. Better far that the aspirant serves, and loves, and works, and disciplines himself, leaving his centres to develop and unfold more slowly, and therefore, more safely. Unfold they inevitably will, and the slower and safer method is (in the vast majority of cases), the more rapid. Premature unfoldment involves much loss of time, and carries with it often the seeds of prolonged trouble. (p. 590)."

"Let me take the example of a man who is filled with fear... The vibrations radiated by an astral body in that state will at once attract any fear-clouds that happen to be in the vicinity; if the man can quickly recover himself and master his fear, the clouds will roll back sullenly, but if the fear remains or increases they will discharge their accumulated energy through his umbilical chakra, and his fear may become mad panic in which he altogether loses control of himself... In the same way one who loses his temper attracts clouds of anger, and renders himself liable to an inrush of feeling which will change his indignation into maniacal fury - a condition in which he might commit murder by an irresistible impulse, almost without knowing it. Similarly a man who yields to depression may be swept into a terrible state of permanent melancholia; or one who allows himself to be obsessed by animal desires may become for the time a monster of lust and sensuality, and may under that influence commit crimes the thought of which will horrify him when he recovers his reason. All such undesirable currents reach the man through the navel chakra."

"The kind of emotion which affects the navel chakra in the manner before-mentioned is indicated in Dr. Besant’s A Study in Consciousness, where she divides the emotions into two classes, those of love and those of hate. All those on the side of hate work in the navel chakra but those on the side of love operate in the heart."

"Fortunately there are other and higher possibilities... there are clouds of affection and of devotion.. he who feels these noble emotions may receive through his heart chakra a wonderful enhancement of them, such as is depicted in Man Visible and Invisible in Plates XI and XII."

"It’s interesting to see how your body’s energy chakras are closely correlated with the endocrine glands."

"The force of kundalini.. We hear much of this strange fire and of the danger of prematurely arousing it; and much of what we hear is undoubtedly true. There is indeed most serious peril in awakening the higher aspects of this furious energy in a man before he has gained the strength to control it, before he has acquired the purity of life and thought which alone can make it safe for him to unleash potency so tremendous."

"He, who fasts on the (Rāma) Navamī, takes bath and makes a donation, is liberated from all perils of birth by having a glance at the Janmasthāna."

"Only by visiting it a man can get rid of staying (frequently) in a womb (i.e. rebirth). There is no need for making charitable gifts, performing penance or sacrifices or undertaking pilgrimages to holy spots. On the Navamī day the man should observe the holy vow. By the power of the holy bath and charitable gifts, he is liberated from the bondage of births."

"“By evening, we had arrived at Shri Kshetra Ayodhya and stopped at the Kale Rama temple. The festival of Ramnavami (the day Lord Rama was born) was only a few days away and so the city of Ayodhya was milling with some seven to eight lakh pilgrims and holy men. I had never seen so many sadhus and bairagis together. There were also many pilgrims from the south.” (p. 177)"

"The Ramnowmee, or festival commemorating the birth of Rama, fell with the eighth day of the Mohurrum, on the 30th March, 1871. The public part of the Hindoo festival at Bareilly consists in carrying out an idol of Rama to a grove on the outskirts of the city, where the image is washed and adorned with flowers, and, after ceremonial performances, brought back again to the temple. For the going and returning of this procession a route had to be laid down and Police were called in in large numbers to accompany and direct it. Its direction was widely apart from that taken by the Mahomedan processions accompanying the tazias; and as neither sect was allowed to pass through the more crowded thoroughfares of the town, there was no danger of an accidental collision. But the events showed that a portion of the Mahomedan community had resolved at all costs to interrupt the Hindoo festival, to attack the procession and-to plunder the Hindoos in different parts of the city. The procession ‘was a very large one and was accompanied by 4OO Police and several of the District Officers. It started about 2 P. M., and was to return an hour before sunset The grove was quickly reached and the due ceremonies performed. About half an hour afterwards the procession was attacked on its way back, not far from the temple, at a turning in the road. With much difficulty the assailants were beaten off, and the idol brought back without the procession being broken up. But meanwhile the Mahomedan mob, failing in its attack upon the procession, broke into parties and fell back upon the city, intent on rapine and bloodshed."

"“Then Mahadeva said to the goddess, “I have told you the advantages of Ayodhya, the Sarayù, the Birthplace, and the day of the Navami. He who hears them, or relates them to others, obtains salvation in the end after having enjoyed all pleasures.”"

"On the 24th of the Tschet month, a big gathering of people is taken here to celebrate the birthday of Rama, so famous in entire India.”"

"By the impact of the festival of the Rāmanavami, bathing in the Sarayu river, having a darśan of the idol of Lord Rāma and beholding the Janmabhūmi, all they went to the Sāntānaka Loka by planes."

"By the merit of visit to Janmabhūmi, the darśana of the idol of Lord Rāma, bathing in the Sarayū river and the impact of the festival of the Rāmanavamī (the birthday of Rāma)all went to the Santanaka Loka in a plane."

"O best of sages! I made a darśana on the Rāmanavamī day."

"If people fast on the Rāmanavamī day, bathe in the Sarayū and make donation, they are liberated from the bound of birth."

"In that connection, the reading of varna, ‘colour, social class’, as referring to skin colour, was upheld as proof of the racial basis of caste. To put this false trail of 19th -century race theory to rest, let us observe here that neither the Rg-Veda nor the Manu Smrti connects varna to skin colour. The term varna, ‘colour’, is used here in the sense of ‘one in a spectrum’, just as the alphabet is called varna-mâla, ‘rosary of colours’, metaphor for ‘spectrum (of sounds)’. So, the varna-vyavasthâ is the ‘colour system’, i.e. the ‘spectrum’ of social functions, the role division in society. Just as the existence of social classes in our society doesn’t imply their endogamous separateness, the Vedic varna-s were not defined as endogamous castes."

"The idea is that all varnas are contained in every individual, instead of every individual being comprised within one of the varnas."

"Discussing the early Vedic period, V.M. Apte says that the Rig Veda refers to the varnas in a way that cannot be considered discriminatory or hierarchical. He concludes that the Brahmins did not constitute an exclusive caste or race and the prerogative of composing hymns and officating at the services of the deities in the age of the Rig Veda was not entirely confined to men of priestly families. Even the other vocations such as being a poet or a physician were more flexible. Apte emphasizes that in the Rig Veda, there is not even a remote hint of prohibitions of inter-dining or intermarrying among the varnas; these are the prohibitions that have been considered the most serious forms of oppression in recent times."

"The case for color as a dominant factor in the development of caste was not supported by the evidence of historical literature, and that it was foreign scholars who had made it so."

"The four varnas were created by me on the basis of individual character and occupation."

"In my opinion, the semantic development has passed through varna, "colour", in the sense of "one in a spectrum", with the spectrum of colours serving as a metaphor for other spectrums, e.g. varnamala, literally "garland of colours", meaning "garland of sounds", "sound spectrum", "alphabet". Society too is a spectrum, viz. a spectrum of functions or varnas."

"It has, at any rate, been an extremely consequential mistake. That white Aryan invaders defeated black aboriginal resisters has been taken over by numerous authors, including many who had no ideological agenda but naïvely lapped it up. It underpinned a second and similar mistranslation, viz. that the Sanskrit term for “caste”, varṇa, means “colour” in the sense of “skin colour” In fact, varṇa means “one in a spectrum”: a colour in the visual spectrum, a class in the social spectrum, but also a letter in the sound spectrum (hence varṇamāla for “alphabet”). The whole edifice of the “racial Aryan”, notorious through its Nazi application but equally popular in British colonial discourse and among its Indian copycats, was based on nothing better than a simple mistranslation... Actually, jati has all the meanings which the word “race” had in the 18th-19th century: kinship group, nation, race, species. Thus, manava-jati means “the human race”, or more accurately, “the human species”. And varna, “colour”, has nothing to do with skin colour, but refers to symbolic colours allotted to the elements, the cardinal directions, and likewise also to the layers of society... Moreover, “Colour” might even not be the original, Vedic meaning of varNa. Reformist Hindus eager to disentangle the institution of varNa from any doctrines of genetic determinism, derive it from the root var-, “choose” (as in svayamvara, “[a girl’s] own choice [of a husband]”), with the implication that one’s varNa is not a matter of birth but of personal choice. This seems to tally with Stanley Insler’s rendering, in his classic translation of The Gathas of Zarathustra, of the corresponding Avestan term varanA as “preference” (which other translators sometimes stretch to mean “conviction”, “religious affiliation”). But we believe that the root meaning is even simpler.... In the Rg-Veda, the word varNa usually (17 out of 22 times) refers to the “lustre” (i.e. “one’s own typical light”, a meaning obviously related to “colour”) of specified gods: Usha, Agni, Soma, etc. As for the remaining cases, in 3:34:5 and 9:71:2 it indicates the lustrous colour of the sky at dawn. In 1:104:2 and 2:12:4, reference is only to quelling the varNa of the DAsas, - meaning “the Dasas’ luster” (in the first case, Ralph Griffith translates it as “the fury of the DAsa”). Finally, in the erotic Rg-Vedic hymn 4:179, verse 6, where Agastya, in doing the needful with his wife Lopamudra to obtain progeny, is said to satisfy “both varNas”, this is understood by some as referring quite plainly to the two families of husband and wife, who rejoice in the arrival of a grandchild. Since the hymn mentions the conflict between sexuality and asceticism, others interpret it as meaning “both paths (of worldliness and world-renunciation)”. At any rate, there is simply no question of reading a racist meaning into it."

"[Trautmann likewise points out that there is no contextual evidence supporting the nontraditional interpretation of varna, “colour, caste” as “skin colour”:] “On the evidence of use it appears that varna here simply means ‘category, social group’.”"

"The true conclusion to be drawn from the Rig Veda is not that the Varna system did not exist, but that there were only three Varnas and that Shudras were not regarded as a fourth and a separate Varna. The second piece of evidence I rely on is the testimony of the two Brahmanas, the Satapatha and the Taittiriya. Both speak of the creation of three Varnas only. They do not speak of the creation of the Shudra as a separate."

"What is the difference between Caste and Varna as understood by the Mahatma? I find none. As defined by the Mahatma, Varna becomes merely a different name for Caste for the simple reason that it is the same in essence—namely pursuit of ancestral calling. Far from making progress the Mahatma has suffered retrogression. By putting this interpretation upon the Vedic conception of Varna he has really made ridiculous what was sublime. While I reject the Vedic Varnavyavastha for reasons given in the speech I must admit that the Vedic theory of Varna as interpreted by Swami Dayanand and some others is a sensible and an inoffensive thing. It did not admit birth as a determining factor in fixing the place of an individual in society. It only recognized worth. The Mahatma’s view of Varna not only makes nonsense of the Vedic Varna but it makes it an abominable thing. Varna and Caste are two very different concepts. Varna is based on the principle of each according to his worth-while Caste is based on the principle of each according to his birth. The two are as distinct as chalk is from cheese. In fact there is an antithesis between the two. If the Mahatma believes as he does in every one following his or her ancestral calling, then most certainly he is advocating the Caste System and that in calling it the Varna System he is not only guilty of terminologicale inexactitude, but he is causing confusion worse confounded. I am sure that all his confusion is due to the fact that the Mahatma has no definite and clear conception as to what is Varna and what is Caste and as to the necessity of either for the conservation of Hinduism."

"G.C. Pande, the noted Sanskrit scholar, says that only the Dharmashastra in the post-Vedic period started to pervert the original idea of varna by conflating it with jati. And this period is when the ritual superiority of the brahmins got converted into a more or less formal hereditary right of priesthood."

"We are reminded of this famous verse in the Tamil compendium of didactic poetry, Nālaṭiyār: When men speak of ‘good varna’ and ‘bad varna,’ it is a mere figure of speech, and has no real meaning. Not even by possessions, made by ancient glories, but by self-denial, learning, and energy is varna truly determined."

"The Hindus have been so much humiliated and insulted since 1947 that sometimes it seems doubtful whether they are living in their own country adding that in Kashmir & Punjab Hindu blood is being shed so much so that even in Ayodhya unarmed Kar Sevaks including the Sadhus were brutally killed."

"Bullets for the kar sevaks, biryani for the Kashmiri militants."

"I regret giving orders to shoot kar sevaks at Ayodhya. My decision to order firing at kar sevaks was to save Muslim minorities. This decision was needed to keep the faith of Muslims in this country intact.”"