Meera Jasmine converted to Hinduism?

This is an article in Haindava Keralam. I commented on it, as marked in red, below.]

Mathrubhumi RSS article

30.06.06 [This is the comment I posted in Haindava Kerala site on the subject of the article about RSS written in Mathrubhumi daily, which was wholly a negative piece. ] I have been out of touch with RSS activities for some time now, having lately become something of a recluse. However, I felt that the writer of the article was getting things out of proportion when, for instance, he stated that Parameswarji got Sangha into the debt trap of Rs.50 lakhs by building a Kendra for Bharateeya Vichar Kendram. Firstly, a balance of Rs.50 lakhs towards the building of a permanent centre for such a vital organisation is no big deal. It is well within Sangha's means to take care of it in its stride. Secondly, to hint irresponsibility in Parameswarji, Kerala's most loved, respected and brilliant swayamsevak, is something only someone who is virulently anti RSS can come up with. Then, the writer accuses Sethuettan of practising partiality. This is a very subjective charge. Anyone who knows Sethuettan knows that he is incapable of doing anything except in the interest of Sangha and he knows that this groupism game is more suited to political parties and is not in Sangha tradition. The writer also said that Kashiatten of VHP does not tow the Sangha line I worked with Kashiatten for some time and I know for a fact that Kashiaten is as much a 'bhakta' of Sangha as a swayamsevak can be. Of course Kashiatten has his own personality and does things in his own style. But when did Sangha ever curb individuality? How can there be creativity if one is not individualistic? Only, the Sangha culture does not cause individualistic behaviour to become selfish behaviour. Sangha does not churn out automatons, but creates wholly rounded dynamic patriots. The article in Mathrubhumi is, in short, is written by a prejudiced chap based on hearsay and baseless gossip. Sangha will go intact from generation to generation, till Bharat Mata once again shines in all glory as the beacon light for the evolution of mankind to her higher destiny.

Sabarimala – the defilement

29.06.06

Why should a young woman’s touching the idol of Sabarimala mean its defilement? How can God be defiled, particularly by His devotees?

Such questions are valid only if the idol of Sabarimala is indeed God. God, by definition, being the absolute, total, infinite – the creator and all that, cannot be contained within a mere idol. In fact, God cannot be contained even by all of man’s capacity to imagine or express himself. It must necessarily be so for that is our very definition of God - the absolute. Since we are finite and need to comprehend the infinite (which is the most intriguing phenomenon of all – how has man come to realize that he is finite and how arose his eternal fascination with the infinite?), we need to have symbols as our jumping stones to a final leap into the infinite. Let us understand that idol worship is one such stepping stone towards man’s eternal journey towards the destination that lies beyond the borders of his most fertile imaginations. In that journey, which is not merely a linear one, but a multi-dimensional one, idols such as Sabarimala’s are hallowed sacred re-charge centres that should not be defiled.

Now that the defilement has taken place, there is no other go but to perform the purificatory rituals that have been prescribed by the sages who have taken all possible and probable failings of man (and woman!) into consideration and laid down the way out of such pitfalls.

The idols are thus man’s precious help in reaching God and if the idols are destroyed or faith in them shaken, those who have taken the path of idols to God will find themselves lost in the midst of the journey.

Of course, it can be argued that if one pathway is closed, there are other pathways. Sure there are – thanks to the culture of acceptance of different pathways to God. But beware of people who argue so. They will lead you finally, after closing all other pathways, to their 'unique' path to God. That’s precisely the danger – if there is just one pre-determined path, then we turn out to be regimented soilders marching to defeat those who don't want to take that path, instead of free-thinking pilgrims on our own path towards divinity and peace onto mankind .

Therefore, while we can question the logic and desirability of the idea of 'defilement of God’, we have no right to stop anyone from believing such a view, so long as such a view is not something that can be said to be a view that is a defilement of mankind or its values.

The sense of defilement of an idol is a sense that arose in the culture of man’s sincere attempts to journey on into the stratosphere of greater understanding of God and fulfillment in God.

Awaken!

15.06.06

Awaken!

Why fret you of outcomes
When the joy is from within?
Outcomes, whatever, leaven life
Making it more abundant.

Thus take all outcomes in your stride
Towards total awakening.
You gain whatever the outcome
Why fret and fall asleep
in the midst of awakenings?

Sacred spaces

03.04.06 Sacred Space is a sine-qua-non for the survival, nourishment, growth and fulfillment of any living organism. To violate sacred spaces is the most heinous of crimes and it is, verily, to protect sacred spaces that Godhood has descended at crucial junctions in man’s history. Sacred spaces are each unique to itself and there can be no homogenization in an ignorant plebian way. The law of sacred spaces would educate us to see the desirability of sustaining the heterogeneity of sacred spaces, each sacred space being unique to itself.

On the threshold of law college

14.06.06 On the eve of Ambika's taking up a law course, I would tell her that law is the norm we ought to comply with if our society is to sustain itself as an ordered one. Laws are breached and it is in the interest of Society that the breach is plugged to save the society from disintergrating. Therefore the lawyer, who, as the arrangement has it, steps in only when there is a breach, is always in the two parts of defence and prosecution and has to apply the mechanics of law to ensure that the 'transgressor' has not actually made a wilful transgression but was innocent of the circumstances if he is defending and if prosecuting, to ensure that the 'transgressor' would not get a second temptation to breach and the law itself, in the form of the judge, ensures that it has weighed the assertions of the defense and the prosecution in the scale of justice and passed a fair verdict as to whether the incident before it was a transgression of the law or was innocent of any transgressions. Therefore we can say that law is applied by three forces acting upon it - the defence, the prosecution and the judge. All three, fulfiling their duty in all seriousness and integrity alone can ensure that society sustains itself as a law-abiding one.

Income Tax notices on the Bachchans

14.06.06 Working in a Chartered Accountants’ firm which specializes in Income Tax matters, I can say that Income Tax notices being sent to the Bachchans are no big deal. The Income Tax Department is in the habit of sending such notices to all and sundry in an almost mechanical way. The Department is supposed to work without being overawed by any assessee. It has simply to go by the facts and figures before it. The Bachchans too need not loose any sleep over such notices. They only need to tell their Chartered Accountants to get to work on them notices. And between the CA and the IT Dept. there is a bondage of convenience that makes their relationship an affair that stretches on and on till both have fatted on the eager-to-win-the case assessee and when the affair concludes in the distant future, all the three characters in the drama would continue with their lives as if nothing happened.

World Cup fever

14.06.06 The world-cup fever, particularly as caught in India, is off a virus called 'the need to be excited'. We are all terribly bored and anyone and anything which offers us some excitement has us thrilled. And on bigger the canvas the hapening takes place, the greater it tickles our ego to be a 'part' of it. Actually taking a ball and kicking it around is just fine. It is good for our heatlh and diverts us from occupying our time in less healthier ways. But instead in catching a fever, we have been hooked to participating not in a game but in an entertainment.

A Christian testament

[The following I got from the internet, of course. There is a fine tuning of believes among the many Christian sects. But their larger vision is alike - that Christ is the only salvation.] No human will suffer in the fires of hell for eternity, as taught by mainstream Christianity! This theology is a myth implanted by Satan and supported by theologians. God does not hate you. He loves you! This belief that man has immortality from birth causes fear, worry, unhappiness, misery, the murder of children, and immeasurable harm to the true Christianity. Man is born as a mortal being with the capability of becoming immortal. With the one exception of Jesus Christ, the following list details the possibilities for every human who has ever been born or ever will be born: Human Life Plan According to the Scriptures 1) Each human is born as a mortal being into the kingdom of man. This birth is of water. 2) If a human accepts Jesus Christ as his savior at anytime while that human is living, that human becomes an heir to eternal life. 3) After Jesus returns to the earth, the heirs to eternal life will receive their inheritance when born again as spiritual beings which live forever. This is a spiritual birth. 4) Those humans choosing not to accept Jesus will be cast into the lake of fire and suffer their second death. Since they were resurrected as physical bodies and not spiritual bodies, they are not saved from the fiery second death in hell. 5) All humans are now dead at this point. Those born again as spiritual bodies are no longer humans. They are spiritual children of God who will now rule and maintain the earth under their Lord and brother, Jesus Christ, forever and ever. Thus, based on the scriptures, the possibilities for each individual human are definitely not as horrible as we have been taught for nearly two thousand years!

Secularism a la DMK

12.06.06 When a DMK minister attended a religious function presided over by the Kanchi Shankaracharya, he was pulled up by the DMK Chief Minister and was berated for associating with a ‘disgraced’ religious leader. The DMK Chief Minister thought nothing of hurting the Minister’s religious feelings, apart from prejudging a case which is still in the courts. But the very same Chief Minister went out of his way to ban the Da Vinci Code so as not to have Christian feelings hurt. According to the DMK doctrine, Christians and Muslims have religious feelings whereas Hindus have only communal feelings.

Wordy-narcissist

12.06.06. Narcissism – the love of oneself to an abnormal degree – when it pertains to a writer’s excessive love for his own writings, is pathetic. Or is it? Is narcissism actually indicative of an individual’s capacity to be a light onto oneself? Any way, why I bring up the subject is that I seem to, since having become a blogger, derive tremendous pleasure in reading and rereading my blog. Am I, therefore, a wordy-narcissist?

Abolish Wakf & therefore abolish Islam itself

[This is a piece I got from the net. I have commented on it within red brackets a.] ABOLISH WAKF & THEREFORE ABOLISH ISLAM ITSELF Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Wakf Board on March. 9, 2005 claimed that the Taj Mahal was a religious place of Muslims and demanded it be taken out of control of Archaeological Survey of India and declared a wakf property. [Is Taj Mahal a mosque?] Mohd Usman, Chairman of the Board, told reporters here that since the Taj Mahal has the grave of Mughal emperor Shahjahan and a mosque, [Where within the Taj Mahal precincts is there a mosque? If the Taj Mahal is a graveyard, does it make it a mosque?] it is a religious place for the Muslim community [Are graveyards religious palces of Muslims?] and therefore it should be a wakf property and not under ASI [How did the ASI come to acquire it?]. The Board has issued notices to the Central government and the ASI in this connection and says that the Board is planning to take a ex-parte decision on March 30, 2005 to register the monument as waqf property if the ASI and Centre government fail to appear before it. This issue has brought forward the need for abolishing Wakf. The Wakf is the biggest urban landlord in India which the outcome of conquest on India and includes some 30,000 temples that were turned in to mosques. The institution of Wakf was abolished by the caliph of all Sunni Islam and the Ottoman Emperor in 1917 and thus, there are no Wakfs in Turkey, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq. In 1956, Wakf was abolished in Tunisia. During 19th century an Indian dispute over the Wakf was declared to be invalid by the British judges and they described the Wakf as "a perpetuity of the worst and the most pernicious kind". Yet Jinnah persuaded the Legislative Council in Delhi to pass the Wakfs Act of 1913 and we are suffering its ill effects even now. India is the result of the merger of 565 princely states, at the time of Independence, that owned their respective principalities and Wakf Act on these constituents is an aberration of law. All these years, the temple issues were treated as a property dispute. With Wakf being brought in the issue of Bhojshala at Dhar, Taj Mahal, and for Ayodhya it may viciate the relations between the communities and 1946 may revisit us. So GOI should take steps to abolish Wakf Act.Another historic aspect that is not told in our classes is that Taj Mahal was a Vedic Temple and its construction and photographs prove the point. Taj Mahal, is considered as one of the great wonders of the world. It was supposed to have been built as an expression of Shah Jahan’s love for his wife Mumtaz. Yet there is evidence that the Taj Mahal was never built by Shah Jahan and Taj Mahal pre-dates Shah Jahan by several centuries and was originally built as a Hindu temple or palace complex. Shah Jahan merely acquired it from its previous owner, the Hindu King Jai Singh. the photographic evidence that will provide greater insights into this. The point to consider is how much more of India's history has been distorted if the background of such a grand building is so inaccurate.Archaeology Survey of India (ASI) has been researching the evidence that proves the Taj Mahal and many other buildings were not of Muslim origin, and those interested can read "The Question of the Taj Mahal" (Itihas Patrika, vol 5, pp. 98-111, 1985) by P. S. Bhat and A. L. Athavale. It uncovers the reasons for the rumors and assumptions of why it is said that Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal, and presents all the inconsistencies of why that theory doesn't hold up. It also covers such things as the descriptions found in the old Agra court papers on the Taj; descriptions and measurements of the building in the old records; Aurangzeb's letter of the much needed repairs even in 1632 which is unlikely for a new building; records that reveal Shah Jahan acquired marble but was it enough for really building the Taj or merely for inlay work and decorative coverings; the observations of European travelers at the time; the actual age of the Taj; how the architecture is definitely of Indian Hindu orientation and could very well have been designed as a Shiva temple; the issue of the arch and the dome; how the invader Timurlung (1398) took back thousands of prisoner craftsmen to build his capital at Samarkhand and where the dome could have been incorporated into Islamic architecture; how it was not Shah Jahan's religious tolerance that could have been a reason for Hindu elements in the design of the Taj; how the direction of the mosque does not point toward Mecca as most mosques do; [this is something of a clinching evidence if it is a fact that all mosques 'point' towards Mecca. If there are exceptions, why?] the real purpose of the minarets at the Taj; the Hindu symbolism recognized in the Taj which would not have been allowed if it was truly Muslim built; and even as late as 1910 the Encyclopaedia Britannica included the statement by Fergusson that the building was previously a palace before becoming a tomb for Shah Jahan; and more. "An Architect Looks at the Taj Mahal Legend" by Marvin Mills, is a great review of the information available on the Taj Mahal and raises some very interesting questions that make it obvious that the Taj could not have been built the way or during the time that history presents, which makes it more like a fable than accurate history. This suggests a construction date of 1359 AD, about 300 years before Shah Jahan. The True Story of the Taj Mahal. This article by P. N. Oak (from Pune, India) provides an overview of his research and lists his 109 proofs of how the Taj Mahal was a pre-existing Hindu temple palace, built not by Shah Jahan but originally at least 500 years earlier in 1155 AD by Raja Paramardi Dev as a Vedic temple. Mr. P. N. Oak is another who has done much research into this topic, and such a study is hardly complete without considering his findings. The evidence he presents here is a most interesting read, whether you agree with it all or not, or care for some of the anger in his sentiment. Mr. Oak has presented his own conclusions in his books, most notably Taj Mahal--The True Story (ISBN: 0-9611614-4-2). The Letter of Aurangzeb ordering repairs on the old Taj Mahal in the year just before it is said to have been completed. The Badshahnama is the history written by the Emporer's own chronicler. This page shows how Aurangzeb had acquired the Taj from the prevous owner, Jai Singh, grandson of Raja Mansingh, after selcting this site for the burial of Queen Mumtaz. This site http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A5220 gives the BBC's view on the Taj Mahal and briefly explains both sides of the story, that maybe Shah Jahan built the Taj and maybe he didn't. [The writer should expand this article by giving a brief history of how the Wakf Board came about and what's its constitutional validity today].

Burning of Missionaries

Death sentence for murdering the Australian missionaries? Death sentence for killing invading foreign soldiers? If defending national sovereignty is sacrosanct, then why not defending religious sovereignty? Isn’t there a law that says that killing in self-defence is not murder?

Many would say that defending the nation is appropriate but defending religion likewise is amiss because religions ought to ever be in a flux, with people being free to seek refuge in whichever religion they fancy whenever they want. Religious conversions, therefore, say such people, is the order of a free society.

I ask, is not religious conversion based on the premise that one religion is better than another? It might be that individuals might prefer this or that religion. But the culture should be an acceptance of all religions being valid, each in its own way. Therefore mankind should celebrate its various religions, not propogating one religion to the denigration of all others.

28.01.05

Padma Shree for Gladys Stains. For conversions? I think such an award should have been given to Dara Singh, the symbol of opposition to conversions. Conversion is born out of the belief that one’s religion is the only true religion. This is not Hindu thinking. All religions are so many different ways to the same goal. And then again they talk about secularism? According to them it has two definitions – sarvadharma samabhava and separation of state and religion. On both these counts only Hinduism passes muster. In fact secularism is an uniquely Hindu vision. And to think that Nehru has been getting the credit for secularism!

Corruption and Education

09.06.06

According to me, so long as we are materialists (that is, dependent on the external), we cannot but end up being corrupt. We have to be spiritual (dependent on the power within ourselves - i.e. 'in-dependent') to be free from all forms of corruption. Corruption begins with the feeling of lack and in truth this is an erroneous feeling because this feeling is based on ignorance. Our search for ending our perceived lack continues till we realise that there never was, is or will be a lack in us – for we are as perfect as the idea of perfection we have. Understanding this is true education. Today what goes on in the name of education is simply a training in technology – training in all sorts of methods to eradicate the sense of want that is nagging us. How can our training and technology help us when in actual fact we have no need for them?

And so on and so forth goes the argument. A very boring subject really, but a vital subject none-the-less. Traditionally Indian culture has called this subject Vedanta. So, according to me, if we want to make education corruption free, we must be teaching/learning the Vedantic principles. Swami Sukhabodhananda, I can make out from his talks on TV, is a great teacher of Vedanta. Lok Hith should think of inviting persons like him to talk. (There might be a problem here because ‘secular’ folks might say that he is preaching Hinduism. But if we understand that quintessential Hinduism is nothing but the art of freedom, then such ‘secular’ folks might see Hinduism in a new light). If we call any non-Vedantic speakers, they would only be talking of proper action. The effect would be to simply make corruption an ordered thing so that we don’t feel guilty about corruption. We need speakers who understand that the problem cannot be solved by any type of action, but by an understanding – an awakening to our true self and the reality.

Mohammad and the cartoons - the meeting point

Musings

The Muslims see the cartoons as an insult. What they say is, criticize if you must but do not insult. Why swallow an insult, particularly if you are more than a billion strong. The cartoonist says that a message needed to get across - that the Muslim is unnecessarily being a fanatic. The cartoonist has a point, and the Muslim is not being unfair if he feels insulted. So where's the meeting point?

There will be meeting points only if the world is suffused with democracy and libralism.

It might seem ironic (because the system seems often to spew much hate mongering) but the internet might turn out to be a great source for spreading the democratic and liberal spirit world-wide.

Jesus a myth?

Imaginary Apostles and their Imaginary Master JESUS – Shocking NO HISTORICAL JESUS!!

Religion is the equivalent of modern day’s political parties to corner power and wealth for its leaders. [Religion is that which teaches you that the external glittering world is not that which would give you peace – it teaches that there is a world within which we must discover if we are to live a life of lasting joy. The masters’ and the disciples’ tradition of teaching and preserving the teaching has led to organisations. Later on such organisations became a culture onto themselves, losing the spirit but maintaining the letter. Inevitably such organisations spewed selfish men they are the ones who have given religion a bad name.] Also the religions provided the cheapest form of labour for its leaders as priests and nuns. [This might be the case of corrupted organisations, but originally and truly, all the intentions were truly divine.] Shocking information I found about the Christianity is that Jesus could be just a mythical figure and never existed in reality. [Even if Jesus did not exist, isn’t the myth an indication of a possibility that man could be divine?] A scientific enquiry known as ‘Historical Jesus’ is going on by Western scholars and they say that the Twelve Apostles and the Twelve Disciples are just as imaginary as their master Jesus. [If in the present day world we have Gurus and shishyas, why couldn’t a great Guru called Jesus have existed?] BBC had reconstructed a 1st Century Jewish man which could be the real Jesus [If Jesus never existed, why bother about any Jesus at all? That’s because it was not simply the case of a man called Jesus who exist or did not – if was the consequence of his existence, no matter real or imagined. If nothing, we have to explain the influence of the Bible, do we not?] if he ever lived on earth and the picture is entirely different from the Jesus picture presented by the Church [That’s fine. Jesus presented by the Church has made Jesus an improbable entity.]. For Christians, the most important documents relating to Jesus are the four Gospels in the Bible. These purport to be eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus in the first century CE (Common Era). Gospels are given in the names of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; but we do not actually know that they were by these people. Gospels are not good historical evidence of Jesus existence, or of what he said and did as these were not written by eyewitnesses and are written at the least 37 years after the death of Jesus if he ever lived. [This proves that Jesus was an influential man, to be written of years after his death.] By comparative textual studies, Alvar Ellegard in his book 'Jesus: One Hundred Years Before Christ ' says that the gospel accounts of Jesus' life and sayings were written approximately 100 years after Jesus is supposed to have lived, and so 100 years later than alleged contemporaries such as St Paul, St Clement and the Jewish historian Josephus. Biblical scholars readily admit that the Gospels were written by unknown authors not personally acquainted with Jesus as late as 80 years after his alleged death. The letters known to be genuine Pauline epistles and those believed to be probable are completely silence on Jesus' parentage, when he might have lived, his trial, his death, or even his ethical teachings. Paul in many of his theological disputes do cite Jesus, but he does not appear to have been aware of what Jesus allegedly taught in the Gospels. If there was no Jesus who lived in the early part of the first century and if the early Christians did not believe such a thing, then what could be the basis for what they did believe? It is accepted that the earliest Gospel to be written was Mark, no earlier than 70 C.E., but it is not likely that the author lived in Palestine considering his ignorance of basic Palestinian geography. If the Gospel was not written by an eyewitness to the events described, then it is not accurate reports. According to the Gospels, Jesus was supposed to be a public figure and well known. Given that fact, one should be able to presume that he would have been known to some historians and that they would make mention of him. Jesus of Nazareth may not have existed in actual history. Gospels are mythic tale, like walking on water, splitting of 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes to feed 5,000, the healing of the sick and disabled, the calming of the storm at sea, the resurrection, and the claim to be the greatest of Yahweh's prophets. New Testament has Tales of virgin births, divine heroes, and miracle workers which were relatively common 2,000 years ago and simply did not mean what they do to us today. One such mythical hero was Mithras, a Persian deity, who was said to have been sent by a father-god to vanquish darkness and evil in the world. Born of a virgin (a birth witnessed only by shepherds), Mithras was described variously as the Way, the Truth, the Light, the Word, the Son of God, and the Good Shepherd and was often depicted carrying a lamb upon his shoulders. Followers of Mithras celebrated December 25 by ringing bells, singing hymns, Black Friday, commemorating Mithras' sacrificial bull slaying. Mithras could be the Jesus of today. The Christian church destroyed records of Jesus and at one time, anyone attempting to preserve writings which were hostile to Jesus was subject to the death penalty. The Church also falsified other records so that it unlikely we will ever be able to say with certainty that Jesus ever existed.

# posted by Anandkumar_V @ 3:34 AM 0 comments links to this post

Rahul Mahajan's predicament

05.06.06.

Rahul – what a fall.

Rahul Mahajan has fallen. We have all fallen one time or the other in our lives and often many times, but we were able to pick ourselves up and continue with life, largely because the public at large had not noticed us fall. We are largely anonymous folks. Unfortunately for Rahul Mahajan, whatever else he was destined to, he was not destined to be anonymous.

If he is a person who has had spiritual training, then right now (and he is on his way to the jail right now) he would in all probability be enjoying life to the brim, nothing really touching him – for spiritual training gives you the capacity to get up and continue walking after a fall, as if nothing had happened. The past is past, dead and gone. If I have broken your laws, then the ball is in your court. Right now I am not breaking any laws, am I? The only way a spiritual person might lose would be the shattered image the public may have of him. But then a spiritual person would not seek to form any image in the first place. So what shatters is an image formed by others, for which the spiritual person is not responsible.

But in all likelihood, Rahul Mahajan may be quite far from any spiritual attainment. He would not have got into this mess if he was onto spiritualism.

Let us say he was an addict. And Vivek Moitra was his Guru. The Guru has paid for it. Rahul may be sentenced to some months in jail on charges of consumption of drugs. But would other things come out? About homosexuality? Worse, about Pramod Mahajan’s supposed hidden millions? And each time Rahul is punched by the media, the BJP’s image takes a beating. BJP simply cannot escape Rahul’s predicaments.

Ban of cow slaughter

06.08.03

Ban on cow slaughter.

Is the ban on cow slaughter a great thing? Undoubtedly. The ban should eventually extend to all slaughter. That would lead to vegetarianism and non-violence as a way of life. But such thoughts are idealistic. Idealists are invariably jolted before long by reality. For reality says it takes all sorts to make the world and the spectrum of characters range from the crudest to the most subtle. Nevertheless, the fundamental job of a Government is to protect the lives of its citizens , which, it goes without saying, includes its denizens.

Scheme of living

29.09.03

How important is marriage in the scheme of living? The importance of not just marriage but of all activities in the scheme of living can be put in proper perspective only if we are aware of the purushartha or purpose of living. It might be said that the purpose of living could be any purpose we set for ourselves. But that reasoning would incorporate the follies of our ignorance and surely something as sacred as life would not have it’s living based on ignorance. Therefore, we come to the question of how to live a life that would do justice to the sacredness of life.

We might want to define life as an isolated phenomenon but since there is no life separate from our consciousness of it and a sterile definition of life would take us to the realm of academics and since consciousness is a subjective experience, our seeking to understand consciousness, identified as our forays into meditation, is the only process of defining life. Thus, it is apt to take recourse to the gleamings of the greatest of the meditators, the Rishis of yore, as a sounding board for our understanding of consciousness.

The sense of lack

20.10.03.

The sense of lack.

Whenever we want to do something, whatever, we can be sure that we are in lack of something. We would assume, thereby, that all action is in fulfilment of one lack or the other. Within the immediate range, this seems obvious. But speaking long term, the fulfilment we seek through action is a settling of our restless mind. Ironically, the restless mind is hardly settled by any action whatsoever. If action does not settle the mind, what would? To get the answer, we have to know what makes the mind restless. Is restlessness the true nature of the mind? No. Then what causes it? What causes a restless mind is our sense of incompleteness. We ever feel something is lacking so naturally the question is what is lacking? It appears this is the question we are born to answer in more ways than one. We imagine by doing this or getting that we would end our lack because we see only into the immediate vincity and imagine that our lack is material. Truly, our lack is caused by ignorance, which supposes we have a lack remedial this way or that. But the truth is we have no lack. We are complete. We feel negatively only because we are not in communion with our soul, wherein we shall experience the fullness of our being.

Soul

17.11.03.

Soul

The soul of a thing, of anything – would it be the same as the soul of every other thing? If we say ‘same’, then we also mean that there is only one soul, for what is same (in totality) cannot be dual. When we reduce anything to its soul, we are essentially identifying the substratum of creation. The substratum being the ocean, creation is the waves. Vedanta says the substratum is consciousness. Like the ocean and waves being one, there is nothing other than consciousness in this world. But if the oceans and waves are one, whence come its sense of difference? In other words, why does consciousness have its sense of difference? Because that is the very nature of consciousness. For it is the sense of difference that makes for consciousness. Otherwise consciousness becomes unconsciousness.

Why does the conscious become unconscious? For consciousness to be there must be unconsciousness. The unconscious is the seed, the conscious the plant. Thus, we see that it is best to say that the substratum of consciousness is the unconscious. Unconscious is Brahman. Consciousness is Ishwar. And consciousness, Ishwar, having being brought forth by the sense of difference, differentiates and thus creates. Consciousness is the capacity to differentiate. It is this capacity that leads to creativeness.

The unconscious is not devoid of consciousness. It is only a state when its capacity to differentiate and thus be conscious of itself is not used. You could say that consciousness is at rest. Why? So that it can create again.

When does the steam of creativity or differentiation run out? When does creation reach a state of Pralaya? Does it mean there is a limit to creation or differentiation or consciousness? The whole process is cyclic, where the end is only coming back to the beginning. The cycle is infinite.

Restless-restful syndrome

17.11.03

Restless-restful syndrome.

The culture of the restless and the culture of the restful – this is the basic antithesis in the experience of man.

Iraqi turbulence

10.05.04.

Iraqi turbulence

Iraq. National upsurges are quite in order and its consequences are normally limited to the nation in question. But what we have in Iraq is the Islamic element and therefore the Iraqi conflict resolution would have an effect on India with its huge Islamic community. Islamic activism led to the partition of India. Islamic activism can lead to turbulence the world over. Such turbulence can be quelled only if the source of the turbulence is correctly identified. The source is the Quran with its vision of the setting up of a world state based exclusively on its teachings.

The spiritual being

25.11.03.

“All man’s miseries derive from his not being able to sit quiet in a room alone.” [Blaise Pascal]

“Our greatest experiences are our quietest moments.” [Nietzsche]

“SILENCE AND SOLITUDE” SENTIMENTS OF fray Luis De Leon. “And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power – I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.”

Christianity is the biggest fraud on human race - right conclusion, wrong arguments

Saturday, May 13, 2006

[I am here commenting on a blog in blogsphere. Oftimes we may agree on the conclusion but disagree on the reasonings. Here is an example. I might agree that Christianity is the biggest fraud on the human race (what with their 'only son of God' and 'only salvation' thesis) but this blogger is trying to 'scientifically' deprecate Christianity when his science itself is a bit immature.]

Christianity is the biggest fraud on human race

[It is fine to say that Christianity is the biggest fraud. But what is your basis for this opinion? Do not expect me to take you for your word. Here is a critique of your opinion.]

Science may have caught up with the Bible, which says that Adam and Eve are the ancestors of all humans alive today. [It is very logical that human beings trace their ancestors to a lesser number of people till they reach the mathematical dead end of one father and one mother.] This theory is impossible as per the scientists. [It is impossible that this theory is impossible. Even if we evolved from monkeys, tracing back the parentage would lead to lesser and lesser monkeys till we come to a father monkey and a mother monkey as the original parents of us all.] Now it is being said that there is no historical Jesus [there can only be a historical Jesus] and that Christianity is the biggest fraud committed by some determined group of writers on human race. [This writer says that Christianity is the biggest fraud on the basis of scientific opinion. I am considering the scientific opinion as we go along, but in my opinion Christianity is a fraud because the Church talks about God and his only begotten son and this son being the only gateway to salvation. This is a fraud. It would be truer to say that Jesus was a self-realised man, as many before him and since were and God is a concept to help man build-up the superstructure of truth by and by.] In the scientists' version, based on DNA analysis, ''Adam,'' the genetic ancestor [what is the meaning of this new term ‘genetic ancestor’?] of all men living today, and ''Eve,'' the genetic ancestor of all living women, seem [note the word ‘seem’ – they are just not sure] to have lived 84,000 years apart. [so say the scientists now. After sometime, they may say something else.] In science, unlike the Old Testament, Eve came before Adam [unless they were contemporaries, how could the succeeding generations have come about] and the analysis of Y chromosome [why analyse only Y chromosome, it is the be all and end all in our search for understanding of human genesis?] shows that Adam was an African. [By saying ‘Adam was an African’, are they confirming that there was an Adam, whatever his colour was?] A common modern male ancestor, Adam, is a mathematical concept [What does the writer mean by this? By saying Adam is a mathematical concept does he say anything specific about Adam?] and made their appearance about 59,000 years ago, and the common modern female ancestor, Eve made her appearance some 1,43,000 years ago. [How did the human race come about if the female and male were separated by such a vast period of time? Does not the scientific theory make less sense than the religious theory?] Prior to the modern male there were males but they were more related to chimpanzees than modern man based on the study of a noncoding region of the Y chromosome and Haplotype 1A, defined by an A at a particular site, appears to be ancestral because the A is found in chimpanzees, and that in humans, it occurs only in some Africans [something occurs both in animals and man and therefore they are related. Sure, eyes occur in all living beings and therefore we are all related]. The study even pinpointed the living men whose Y chromosomes most resemble Adam's, [The assumption is that Adam has been identified] are few Ethiopians, Sudanese, and Khoisan people living in southern Africa, including groups once known as Hottentots and Bushmen. [so what?] The genes reflect known history. Fossil records suggest that Homo sapiens, or modern humans, first appeared in Africa about 150,000 years ago, then moved out and spread across the world fairly quickly: perhaps 50,000 years ago to Europe and as long as 60,000 years ago to Australasia. It is concluded that the last common ancestor of modern humans was a population probably in Africa, suggesting a recent African origin for all the modern 'races' and excluding Neanderthals and other non-African archaic humans form direct ancestry to modern humanity. Chapter 8.6 of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Evolution covers this quite briefly. But detailed studies have pinpointed the fact that the modern male and female had a gap of tens of thousands of years. [The modern male and female must have been contemporaries, obviously. If any study suggests otherwise, the study is a frace.] Females have two X-chromosomes, whereas males have one X and one Y. Only men carry a Y chromosome. All the information in a man's Y chromosome is passed to his son, and every man's Y chromosome carries a virtual pedigree of his male family history. This could be one subconscious reason why Hindus are very particular to have a male child to carry forward the legacy of their father. Using mutation rates of genes, as molecular clocks the small DNA differences between different men's Y-chromosomes are used to figure out how populations from around the world are related, and where and when these populations evolved. Eve’s identity was traced by analysing the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) passed exclusively from mother to daughter. The genetic trail leading to Y-Adam was found to be at the same place where the modern female ancestor, mitochondrial Eve lived. Using mtDNA, the genetic ‘Eve’ was found to have lived 1, 43,000 years ago. The so-called races have no genetic basis, but genetics have relevance only to ethnic and geographic groups. Comparing date collected from the two genetic systems, the researchers found consistency in the estimates of the timing of the various migratory events out of Africa. At the level of the Y chromosome there is very little difference and the skin colour differences are strictly a consequence of climate. Women were good at passing on their genes, while men were less lucky. One tribe conquers another tribe and mate with all the women. Polygamy and a few dominant males get to marry and have children and the rest see their genes consigned to the rubbish heap of posterity. Also if a man has only daughter, he would not pass off his Y chromosome and so would chalk up a big zero in the ‘Adam’ and ‘Eve’ genetic stakes. The data show that variants in the Y chromosome, which sons inherit from their fathers, have a different geographic distribution from variants in mtDNA, which is passed from mother to daughter. Particular mtDNA markers are widespread. Women on different continents often carry the same markers, showing that women move more than men. It may be that women move into their husband’s homes and have their children farther from their birthplaces. Thus over the millennia, women spread their genes farther than men do, eventually across entire continents. But most variations in the Y chromosome are restricted to small geographic areas. Finally in simple language it means that the early eve had males of different genetic markers and after a period of 84,000 years later, the Adam who is the forefather of all males living today met Eve’s descendent female. [I am not able to understand the logic of scientific theory – is the writer saying that for 84,000 years there were only females? But how is this possible? How could females have come about without males around?] This also calls for a review of the stories of Bible, and as per scientists there never was a Jesus Christ [which scientists? How could scientists say there was no one named Jesus Christ? Or are they saying there could not have been anyone with traits ascribed to Jesus Christ? What traits did they consider to say that they were not possible in a man?] also known as that there is no historical Jesus. So, Christianity is the biggest fraud on human race.

[As to whether Christianity is fraud or not might be determined in many ways. But to base it on ‘scientific’ findings is premature. Because the scientists are also clueless as to the truth of creation. They are good at naming various phenomenon and we assume that in so naming a phenomenon, the scientist has unravelled the mystery of it all. This is an erroneous understanding. Religion makes it more interesting than naming a phenomenon – they tell a plausible or exciting story about it, but actually are no nearer to understanding the truth.]

# posted by Anandkumar_V @ 3:36 AM 0 comments links to this post