Spying for the enemy

[This is comment on blog condemning the media for exposing the 3 rings of security proposed to protect the Indian Cricket team from terrorist attacks.]

While it is the duty of agencies involved in security arrangements to keep their plans secret, it should also be laid down as the duty of the media not to expose anything which would compromise the security of the nation or its people. Such news exposes should be classified as spying and should incur the wrath of provisions against spying for the enemy.

The Quran and other publications

Dear Citizen Kane, I have read the Quran (Marmaduke Pickthall, English) and I have enjoyed the grandeur of its literature. I have not made an in-depth study to discover how amazing it is. I hope to do so one day, Inshallah. But do you honestly think that the Quran is the only book that has been described in superlative language by non-believers? I believe that as far as publications in English go, the majority opinion is right - that nothing beats Shakespeare. And if you are talking about spiritual depths or scientific knowledge, the Vedas are acknowledged by a large number of non Hindus to be a corpus of unsurpassable magnitude.

Illitrate Mohammad and his masterpiece Quran

Dear Citizen Kane, You say, "... the [scientific] verses appeared from the mouth of an unlettered and unlearned person..." Why do you keep saying this? Don't you know that the words of the Quran are Allah's words and not Mohammad's? There is no one among the Hindus who does not believe God (except the atheists among them) and the miracles God performs. The Goddess of Mookambika is known to make the dumb speak. But in the higher explanation of these things, it is the consciousness rising to higher levels and expressing itself. In modern times, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was also illiterate. But the pearls of wisdom that issued forth from his lips are timeless.

Can neither be destroyed nor needs to be created.

Even if the whole of creation is annihilated by God or by accident, only the form will change. It will rebuild itself because its basic aspect, consciousness, can never be destroyed or needs to be created.

On imitation sans understanding

22.01.07

Your saying that Shafai school of thought raises hands before bowing because Mohammad did it for a period is interesting. Mohammad kissed the Aswat in Kaaba and that became part of Hajj ritual, without anyone ever understanding why Mohammad did it.

This reminds me of a story where a puja was going on and a cat came into the hall. The pujari asked his assistant to remove the cat from the place but the cat kept coming back. Being a harmless fellow, he did not want his assistant to hurt the cat in a fit of rage. So he told his assistant to tie the cat to a pole and feed it milk. The cat then dozed off. From the next pooja onwards the cat was tied up before the pooja and kept content with milk so that it is out of harms way. Needless to say, the succeeding generations of pujaris did not start a puja without tying a cat to a pole and giving it milk, even if it had to hunt for a cat miles around. The pujari and Mohammad must have frowned from high heavens!

Rahul Gandhi in gang rape charge

21.01.07

Since this could amount to character assassination of a member of India's most well-known political family, an independent enquiry must be conducted to verify the facts. If it is a false charge, as I suspect, then the so-called victim must be penalized. If it is true, then of course, the law should be allowed to take its own course.

The last messenger

You say there were many books sent out by Allah including the Bible but you also say that they have become corrupt. That is, no book has remained uncorrupt except the Quran. It would have been OK if the Quran is seen by everyone as a perfect book. In its fundamentals itself it appears flawed.

For instance when Allah says there is no god but Him, isn't Allah able to understand that the intention behind all prayers are that it reaches an absolute force? How can any human being pray to any force other than Allah because Allah, according to the Quran, is the only absolute force? Then why did Allah allow his messenger to destroy idols and idol worshippers? On the other hand if Allah wanted everyone to pray in a certain way, then that way would have been the way followed by Adam and Eve and all their descendents since. But it appears that the way of prayers that Muslims have adopted today is a new one initiated by Mohammad and not anything described in the Quran.

Then Allah says that Mohammad is his final messenger. In spite of the fact that the message itself is intact, many different schools of thought erupted immediately after Mohammad’s death. So the finality of the final message did not last even one generation.

My whole point is that Muslims ought to practice Islam to the best of the ability without trying to claim that it is the only true religion. It is nothing but one of the innumerable expressions of man's religious experiences that will continue to flower as long as man continues to live.

Quran - commonplace and warnings.

Most of the verses in the Quran are commonplace advice that are found in all religious scriptures and books of moral stories. What gives the verses its uniqueness is the fear Allah attempts to put into you and force you into abject loyalty. Not a verse passes without Allah reminding you of his power and your lack of all freedom. What good things any man would even otherwise do is reiterated in the Quran as a command from Allah. This is the feeling one gets from a reading of the Quran. I was told by my Sufi friend that there are layers and layers of meaning in each verse. Nevertheless, I ask myself where the uniqueness is when Allah says:

"Alif Laam Raa. A book which we have revealed to you (Muhammad) so that you may lead the people from out of the darknesses into the light by their Lord's leave to the path of the All-Mighty, the Praiseworthy."

Isn’t it said in the Upanishads: Asato Maa Satgamaya, Tamoso Ma Jyotir Gamaya, Mrityo Maa Amritam Gamaya?

IMA and Pranayama

[This is a blog I could not comment on. The writer had pointed out IMA's prejudice against Baba Ramdev.]

Dear Anil, You have put the whole thing in proper perspective. I was suffering from Asthma since childhood (I am now 52) and tried all allopathic medicines including inhaler but all relief was temporary and even caused side effects. I went to an ashram more than 15 years ago and learnt a rarely taught pranayama and my asthma was completely cured and I've never had it again.

There may be a lot of quacks around and by all means verify their claims but let us not be prejudiced against Swami Ramdas only because he has become a symbol of health rejuvenation.

To truly live

To truly live, we should not try to change the way we feel. We have to be aware of our feelings without analysing it or even trying to understand it. It will reveal itself to become our next feeling. Let feelings come and go and new ones arise - we simply have to keep seeing it in a detached manner.

Wife beating in the Quran

Wife beating is not tenable in today's world, whatever the justification. How could God's word be so obscurantist? Satanic verses still remain in the Quran. A revision is called for.

On Singur

Aren't there wastelands that could be used for industrial development? Should fertile farmland be forever destroyed? If farming is no longer remunerative, it is for the best of minds to find a solution to that, not by ceasing farming altogether, but by cooperative farming etc.

It is common sense that first and foremost a society or nation has to be self-sufficient in food production. We can enjoy our drive in a dream car later.

In Muscat in those days

I was in Muscat in the good old days when you bump into the Sultan every so often. Sultan Qaboos and his family, unlike the Saudi Royal family, are not religious bigots. They have allowed a little more religious freedom than in neighbouring Islamic countries. (If they allow more than that, they might not be able to claim they are Muslims.) Alas, it might not last beyond the Sultan's rule.

Loyalty and Spirituality

13.01.07

I am growing more and more convinced that Islam, as I understand through the writings of Muslims I read, particularly in conjunction with other religions, is more about loyalty than spirituality.

The Pioneers

13.01.07.

The ancient folks are venerated because they were the pioneers. The succeeding generations have added to their understanding and the future generation will continue to do so, each generation pioneering one thing or the other. So we have our heroes (and villains too - the chaps who try to destroy where the heroes create). This is as it should be.

Rarest of rare crimes.

Judges sometimes appear to act on mood deciding which is the rarest of rare crimes, otherwise they would not have let free the slaughterers of a school master in Kerala in front of his class children, saying it was not the rarest of rare crimes! I think that was the rarest of rare crime by anyone anywhere in the world. The Marxist killers deserve to be hung alongwith with Afzal Guru and Santosh Yadav.

Comparisons

[This is response to a blog on rediffmail.com, which I did not post. ]

I think you are misleading when you compare Connect 2006 and Ashok Singhal's Birthday meet. The subjects are different. Even if you say that ultimately both meets were impacting India, you have to concede that India is a multi-dimensional entity (as any other nation) and nationalistic frevour in no way hinders economic boom. In fact, they complement each other. Man does not live by bread alone.

[This is in response to a blogger who blamed the parents for the Nithari killings.]

You are somewhat heartless. How can any parent wish ill for their children? The parents did complain to the police, who refused to entertain them. Or maybe the police kept giving them hope that they would return. These poor people did not have access to politicians because they did not have votes. And they had other children to feed, so they could not leave their daily wage jobs and organize long drawn protests. The whole story is not out yet. I am sure the parents were given false assurances by middle-men who lied to them very cunningly. Whatever, let us grieve with the parents and for the parents. They are the victims. And let us do our bit to ensure that all the villains are given no less than the noose, with no one, howsoever remotely connected with the killings, shown any leniency.

Continuum - a new coinage

Oh, I did not mean that I made up the word when I said I coined the word. What I meant was that I used the already existing word to mean my own idea of talking non-stop - where the talk goes on and on - it continues, the unending continuum.

The greatest disease

The greatest disease is not Aids or cancer, but "what-will-the-others-think" fear. For example, it is our attempts to interrupt or camouflage the normal ageing process that makes our ageing experience an ugly one. Aging is not tantamount to ill heath. Moreover, if we are spiritual, we can remain healthy even in the midst of our ill-heath – ironic but true.

Writing history

Writing history is a tricky affair. There is not just history, but versions and versions of it. I think it is best if Governments or official agencies keep their hands off writing history. In fact, history ought not to be taught at schools or colleges at all. It could be pursued as a personal choise and propogated by individuals who are interested in the subject. For the rest, history should be left to their imaginations.