Continuum

Satya Sai Baba - man or God?

2011-04-24T12:49:00.002+05:30

The uniqueness of Satya Sai Baba lies in the fact that of no man had it ever been asked in his own life time whether he is God. Today, as his body lies in state for the darshan of millions of his devotees, it would seem fair for his many critics to ridicule his claims to divinity, particularly considering that he died at the age of 86 rather helpless after being on life support system for almost a month and did not fulfill a prophesy that he would live to be 96. Whatever the verdict about his divinity, it cannot be discounted that he was massively popular, highly praised for his many charitable institutions and his teachings were simple and potent enough to inspire many to take to the spiritual life.

It is likely that in the days and years to come, the Sai religion would gather more adherents as the world’s youngest religion nestled in the lap of the world’s oldest religious culture – Hinduism.

The difference between Hinduism and Islam in one sentence

2011-04-01T22:39:00.000+05:30

The difference between Hinduism and Islam is that while the former says that truth can be expressd in many ways, the later says that truth can be expressed only as authorised by the Quran.

On non-Muslims using the word Allah

2011-03-28T23:06:00.001+05:30

Allah is an Arabic word for God. So when anyone speaks of God in Arabic, he would naturally use the word Allah. Thus the word God and Allah are generic in English and Arabic respectively. What precise concepts we have of these words would depend on the religion we follow.

Words are products of language with general meaning, while specific meanings in a language are products of culture. The words of all languages when spoken in another language would mean the same. The word Allah in Arabic would mean the same as the word God in English or Ishwar in Sanskrit. But the same words used in Islamic, Christian or Hindu culture would mean differently in each to the extent that each word would then have a specific connotation. So the word Allah when used as part of expressing oneself in Arabic would have a generic meaning and when used as part of expressing oneself in the context of Islam would havd a specific meaning. This distinction ought to be kept in mind, otherwise it would lead to confusion.

Hinduism - too fine to be defined

2010-07-10T11:18:00.003+05:30

The word "Hindu" came into vogue from the word "Sindhu" as the river at the north-western borders of India was called. While the land of the Indian sub-continent was called by the natives as Bharath, the Persians called the people living by and beyond the river after the name of the river, which was pronounced by them as "Hindu" and later as Indus by the Europeans and India by British. Thus by Hindu was denoted the people living in a particular geographical area irrespective of their religion. The word Hindu does not exist in the Vedas, though some latter scriptures have the word. Today the word Hindu has come to mean a particular religious culture. It is interesting that RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), founded 85 years ago and considered to be India's largest Hindu organization, uses the word Hindu in its geographical context to denote Indian nationalism. However, VHP (Vishva Hindu Parishad), another large Hindu organization, uses the word Hindu to denote all religions born in India. There is also the word "Hindutva", used largely but not exclusively in politics, to denote the essence of Hinduism, which is stated by its proponents as the principle of "live and let live". This principle ensured that for many millennia the inhabitants of the Indian sub-continent did not need a word to identify themselves religiously, except for calling the religions themselves as elucidation of Sanatana Dharma or Eternal Law, because all religious expressions were accepted as the common heritage of everyone living in the ancient land of India. It was with the arrival of Islamic armies in India in the 8th century and more specifically the European traders in the 16th century that the word Hindu got to mean a religious group.

As to what makes a person Hindu in the religious sense, it is difficult to say because it has been famously said that what is true in Hinduism, its opposite is also true. Nevertheless three key words run through entire Hinduism - they are Dharma, Yoga and Karma. Anyone whose life has been touched by the understanding of at least these three words can be said to be a practising Hindu.

RSS must not transform itself into a mere NGO

2010-07-08T00:11:00.001+05:30

It must be appreciated that Hindus have taken to terror (if they have actually done so) only because the terrorist activities of Pakistani sponsored Muslim organizations in India are going on unabated. The Congress and Marxist governments have treated Muslim terrorists with kid gloves (no to POTA so as not to hurt Muslim sentiments) and the consequence has been the development of a Hindu psyche to protect the nation on the principle of "Ushnam Ushname Shanti". It is incumbent, under the circumstances, for the RSS to be sympathetic to "Hindu terrorists". If we are more interested in "respectability", we shall transform the largest, most dynamic, committed and idealistic Hindu organization in the world to a mere NGO. Our war of Independence is not over yet. We still need Bhagat Singhs and Subhash Chandra Boses. Only the RSS can continue producing them.

Women inferior in Hinduism?

2010-05-23T15:14:00.000+05:30

One thing must be understood about Hindu religious culture - it is not scripture centered unlike, say, the Abrahamic religious culture. The highest of Hinduism's teaching is to discover the divinity within through the guide of a self-realised guru, not to prostrate to a God without through a road-map laid out in a scripture. If Hindu scriptures contain expressions where women would seem to be denigrated, it would be equally true that the same scriptures would also contain expressions equating women with divinity. The conclusion invariably drawn by Hindus is not that the scriptures are self-contradictory, but they have to be read in their contexts. The reader of the scriptures is expected to be a person with discriminatory capacities (discriminate as in the capacity to know the relative value of things and not as in "being unfair"). Therefore trying to establish that women have an inferior position in Hindu culture by quoting a few verses out of context flies in the face of the most obvious fact of Hinduism - that it expresses God not just as a male symbol as do the Abrahamic religions but also as a female.

Stray thoughts on the hanging of Kasab.

2010-05-07T12:34:00.003+05:30

It is said that punishment of a criminal, particularly if the punishment is death penalty, is not as much to deter the criminal as to deter potential criminals. The hanging of Kasab would not bring back the lives he killed. It would only avenge the loved ones of the victims. It could be argued that vengeance is not a noble trait and assuaging it would only create a society of vengeance. If the aim of punishment is to deter potential criminals, then punishment for crimes should be so gory that a would-be criminal would shudder at the very thought of getting caught for his crime and would give up his criminal tendencies. Ironically, the goriest punishments are those spelt out in the Shariat. Whether over a millennium of Shariat implementation has created a crime-free society anywhere is a moot question. If it has not, then should the punishments need to be even more gory for the desired effect? Maybe the solution could be to seek transformation of the criminal. But surely, for the transformation of criminals we would need a patient, perseverant and enlightened society. Do we have such a society? The goal of the best of religious masters has been to build such a society. Noble goal but with no widespread success so far. So as things stand, it is better to go in for quick-fix fire-fighting solutions. Kill the murderer and hope to stem the tide of evil clones.

Census on caste?

2010-05-06T11:23:00.002+05:30

I think there should be no census on the caste configuration of Indian society. Instead of strengthening caste identities, caste should be sought to be made a thing of the past. Reservations on the basis of caste should be replaced by reservations on economic basis.

Is God incapable of unconditional love?

2010-05-03T18:49:00.004+05:30

Love, to be truly love, must be unconditional. God loves you is what most religions say. But such religions also seem to be saying God loves you but you have to do such and such a thing or behave in such and such a way if you want God to continue loving you. Can God be capable of conditional love? God would not be God if His love was conditional. In the Bible it is said, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." JOHN 3:16. "So loved" yet conditional. I shall love provided you believe, God seems to be saying. In the Quran it is said, “Say (O Muhammad): ‘If you do love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins: For Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.’” (Qur’an 3:31). Very clearly, it says that if you love Allah you have to follow his messenger Mohammad and only then will Allah continue to love you. Conditional love again. I think it is a suspect God who needs something in return for His love. It would seem that such Gods suffer from a sense of lack as ordinary men do, who were probably, in the first place, the creators of such scheming Gods. Maybe this is inevitable (the conditioning of love) in religions which separate God from His creation.

Beware - the duality trap

2010-04-26T11:32:00.000+05:30

The root cause of all our problems is that we, the human race, have succumbed throughout history to a conditioning of the like-dislike dichotomy. This has led the human mind to be always in conflict with itself in striving ever to be in a certain mode – the mode of, shall we say, comfort. Anything that causes us discomfort in any way we fight against. Such divisiveness has become a human trait incorporated in our very genes. The entire divide that causes all men to suffer from schizophrenia to some degree or other has had, ironically, a solution available with man right from the ancient days – except that only the most perceptive of men and women alone accessed and profited from this ancient wisdom, well known as the advaita vision. Advaita means non-duality and therefore it can be said that man’s problem is the problem of duality.

Enemies of Islam?

2010-04-17T23:06:00.001+05:30

[I wrote the following in reply to a Muslim who wrote on "Enemies of Islam".]

You classify Hindu fundamentalists and Indian nationalists among the enemies of Islam. While I might classify myself as a Hindu, I am not a Hindu fundamentalist and I do not see the possibility of any Hindu being a fundamentalist because Hinduism does not restrict itself to any fundamentals of belief. In fact, belief itself is not sine-qua-non in Hinduism. Of course, this does not mean that there are no Hindus who hate Muslims or Islam. To love and hate is human nature and there is no saying who at what time and for how long would be in the grip of one or the other of the love-hate dichotomy, whatever may be the reason or circumstance.

However, your classifying Indian nationalists among the enemies of Islam is an erroneous classification because there are innumerable pious Muslims in India who would consider themselves Indian nationalists and be ready to give their lives for India over and above anything. Therefore I think your thesis is flawed in its classifications.

Islam, as it has come to be in history, is one of mankind's most pervasive, enduring and colourful phenomena. A Muslim has no reason to be perturbed about their "enemies". As the Arabic saying goes, "Let the dogs bark, the caravan goes on." Nevertheless, nothing can remain static except pieces in museums. Therefore Islam, a living, dynamic religion hardly heading for the museums, will also change in the course of time - not change by editing of the Quran, but change by the priorities of its followers in the wax and wane of history - as with the followers of all religions. For example, war is slowly but surely becoming redundant and the world, as it is evolving, is headed for a more harmonious living together. Muslims, as all others, will stress those aspects of the Quran or other scriptures which stress on harmonious living of all peoples and any call to war mentioned in the Quran or other scriptures would be explained away as only pertaining to certain conditions which may not be existing any longer and therefore not a priority in the age of harmony. Can it be otherwise?

Women's reservation - psychological benefits

2010-03-13T12:15:00.003+05:30

Reservations may not be required in an ideal situation, just like hospitals might not be required in an ideal situation where everyone is healthy. But we have to take into account reality and the more hospitals the better would society be. Similarly, reservation is not a concept that has come out of vacuum. There is something like history and histories largely have predictable trajectories. However, it is man's experience that the trajectory of history, whether medical or social, can be changed. Our history says that certain sections of society were oppressed in certain ways. Reservation was suggested as a way of leveling the playing field. 60 years of experimentation in caste-based social reservations may not have produced ideal results and may have often produced counter-productive results. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that a psychological break-through was achieved and once-oppressed communities have now the confidence to stake their claim in the sunlight of equality. Facts and figures can almost prove or disprove anything. But the psychological benefits, often intangible but real nevertheless, are difficult to quantity. Women's reservation is an idea whose time has come or even come late in the Indian context. Let us have it. Let us support its passage in Parliament and Assemblies and see it as law. Only, we must also ensure that the law would provide for any irregularities and ambiguities to be corrected in the due course of the Bill’s existence in the statute books.

Swami Nithyananda redeems himself.

2010-03-12T13:40:00.002+05:30

If the first video of Swami Nithyananda purportedly having sex was shocking, the second video now showing on the net is even more shocking - I think it is a masterly evidence, released by the Swamiji himself, of his claim that the first video was morphed. This is exactly what the second video proves. There is no sex at all here. Massaging yes, but no sex. And massaging only of Swamiji’s face, shoulders, back and chest. The only question now is whether the Swamiji should have allowed a woman to even touch him, that too in his bedroom. This apart, the woman doing the massaging came through as a trained, disciplined and efficient professional nurse. Maybe she is a disciple - but then she could well have been a sister or mother or daughter, certainly not a sexual paramour.

Who released the second video? Certainly not the folks who released the first video. Why would anyone who wanted the Swamiji’s name tarnished release a video which does not incriminate the Swamiji in any way? Therefore it is obvious that it was released under the instructions of the Swamiji himself. This also reveals that Swamiji had a CCTV installed in his bedroom as a security measure and it was from these genuine tapes that the scoundrel of a driver got professionals to morph and "expose" the Swamiji. Now I understand why the Swamiji is silent about sex in the video - he feels it is absolutely below his dignity to talk about surreptitious sex. With the release of the second tape, he has let all critiques and the public in general do the talking to clear his name.

Now what is left is for the Swamiji is to bring hefty criminal charges against all those who sought to vilify him. He owes it to the Hindu society - for the real purpose of the vilifiers was to vilify Hinduism itself.

Comment on blog "Mind of a mystic" by Dr. R. Murali Krishna

2010-03-10T22:46:00.001+05:30

I felt the video was a fake one because if the intention was to produce a sting, the lights would not have been switched off before the supposed act. So the idea was to show as little of swamiji's body as possible so that the look-alike is not compromised. The other thing is there was no audio to go with the video, which is unlikely for a sting operation. Therefore the whole exercise was not through a hidden CCTV but with a directed camera and look-alikes. There are many other apparent flaws to conclude that the video is fake, which I have elaborated in my blog at "www.kaikulath.blogspot.com".

However, swamiji’s first video statement post the airing of the suspect CD did come as a disappointment. Why is swamiji unable to simply say that he has never had sex with anyone? Why is he asking for time to collect evidence against the falsity of the charges? Swamiji’s unambiguous statement that he has never had sex would leave the onus to prove otherwise to others. If sex is not alien to swamji’s life, then he should have in his teachings glorified it. In the absence of swamiji’s glorification of sex in his teachings, it was understood that swamiji neither had anything to do with sex nor wanted, at least his direct disciples, to have anything to do with it. Therefore the swamiji getting caught, if true, in the midst of sex is a sure call for him to abdicate his role as a traditional Hindu Sanyasi. For Swami Nithyananda at least, given the image he was cultivating, sexual and spiritual life cannot cohabitate.

And why was swamiji speaking from a camouflaged location? It seemed unbecoming of a fearless swamiji. I, as millions of others, am waiting for swamiji to speak again to the public at large from an open forum and clear all misgivings once and for all. What makes spiritual persons worship-worthy is that they live what they teach, unlike say a scholar, whose life need not necessarily be that transparent.

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3304750128448536575&postID=7006984297097257822&page=1&token=1268241215227_AIe9_BFYG93FtBPs_4amXcakK6pEuaSkO2RfQrz9qLowj5BQScoaiXrPMmQICKmXHAgaEjaNduBLFVEMNIg_cQ0uE08y-KlWw8WdH4pm2uhz-gvLVwC3qub3glA6PZt_zB988mf1BZ4DoV9SmyZX7yp7ffxZbyBgqWCJhyjYfBC8GiaOU5bfZaWjo0HU58vnBSigu74Q5TAk4gPDq-bIvmyP6_z3kXkxLruco-Yjarx9xkz7xlCKaeM

Swami Nithyananda's statement

2010-03-08T10:47:00.002+05:30

Swami Nithyananda has issued a statement subsequent to the airing of the scandalous CD. My comment:

The swami's statement is a disappointment, coming as it does after so many days. What evidence is he waiting for to establish the falsity of the charges against him? And why is he speaking from an undisclosed location, even camouflaging his background in the video statement - almost like what the terrorists do? All he has to do is to simply say that he has not had sex with anyone. If he is not able to state this directly and unambiguously, he will always be suspected of trying to escape the charges on technical grounds. I hope the detailed explanation he has promised will salvage his image.

Swami Nithyananda Paramahamsa and the fake sex video

2010-03-04T23:51:00.001+05:30

The video showing Swami in compromising acts is not genuine because:

1. At one point the Swamiji (look alike) sports moustache.

2. From some angles the look-alike does not look like Swami.

3. If it was a sting operation to expose the Swami, and the actress was part of the plot, why was the light switched off at the crucial moment? The whole purpose of the sting operation would have been to expose the Swamiji in the act of sexual intercourse. Why was this act not videographed? Because videographing the sexual act would have exposed Swami’s full body and it would have become clear that it was not the Swami? It seems that the plan was to show as little of the Swami’s body as possible so that the look-alike was not exposed.

4. If the sting operation was carried out without the knowledge of the actress, the movement of the actress sliding up the Swamiji to get water and swami's reaction looks contrived. This indicates that both the Swami and the actress roles were played by look-alikes.

5. Two different girls were involved on two different days, which appears to have been previous night and following morning. A fixed CCTV video would have shown the two girls simultaneously. This proves the videography was carried out with look-alikes who were suitably directed – not by a fixed CCTV from a hidden place.

6. It appears that the Swami got up the second day in the morning, because his yawn is a give away. Then why was the light switched off after some point even in the morning? This also proves that the characters involved are all look-alikes.

7. Why is the Swami looking so intently at the TV even when the actress was massaging his legs and more? Apparently he was waiting for his cue from the director to begin playing the part. If it was the Swami, the reaction to the actress massaging him would have looked natural.

8. If technology to produce a clear video was used, why was the conversation not caught? Because the look-alikes could not imitate the true voices?

Bloody Indian? Shah Rukh Khan’s interview with Berkha Dutt on Sunday 7th August 2010.

2010-02-08T01:29:00.001+05:30

http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1199720

In the 19th minute of the interview, in the context of Farid Zakariah mentioning the Newsweek poll which said Shah Rukh Khan is among the 50 most powerful people in the world, he, Shah Rukh Khan turns modest about his power and says that a movie star can hardly be a powerful person because so many things about a movie are in others’ hands. He further adds, “If I was not in such a vulnerable position of being a movie star, I am going to show power. I am a thinking bloody Indian. I will show power then.”

Was Shah Rukh Khan displaying his secular license in using the phrase “bloody Indian”? Is it not akin to M.F.Hussain displaying his secular license in drawing a nude Saraswati? Would Hussain have drawn a nude Ayesha or Shah Rukh Khan have so casually said “bloody Islam”?

Some food for thought?

Let us face the challange

2009-12-11T22:03:00.000+05:30

I understand your sentiments. Right from the days the Muslims first came to India, they had only one object and that was to subjugate India. They succeeded with the arrival Mohammad Ghori and Baber and ruled India, draining it of her wealth and talent. It was only with the arrival of Guru Gobind Singh and Chatrapathi Shivaji that the Hindus started recovering their strength. But this was again depleted with the arrival of the British and the missionaries. By the time independence came, the Hindus were so weak that a Jinnah could blackmail Congress and get Pakistan.
Once again the tables began to turn on December 6th, 2002 and Hindus saw a new hope and unity when the greatest sign of subjection was demolished and a makeshift Ram Mandir was built in its place. But this was short-lived because the BJP could not follow up the momentum and build the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir and declare India as Hindu Rashtra. Now once again the future of the Hindus is threatened with the UPA government, controlled by Vatican mole Sonia Gandhi, in power. Our only chance of victory is to strengthen the RSS and its parivar organizations. We have to build up our strength and the best way is to strengthen the shakha network, through which men of sterling qualities would be made to lead the Hindu nation to reach the pinnacle of glory. Let each swayamsevak think how he can contribute to the victory of Hindutva. Let us expose the hollow religion that Islam is. Let us express the universal and spiritual vision of Hinduism powerfully.

Heaven on Earth

2009-11-27T11:21:00.000+05:30

From the point of view of man as he is constituted now, existence is seen in the dual mode. He is trapped in the duality mode with his like/dislike dichotomy. What spirituality enables us is (1) to be able to see the perfection in this world of duality by seeing the cause and effect link, (2) to develop our capacity to overcome our like/dislike dichotomy and (3) to thereafter stabilize us in the realm of non-duality.

However, while those who have reached the realm of non-duality enjoy its bliss, the mass of humanity continue to suffer - having not yet reached the higher stage. Up till now spiritual masters sought to raise the suffering masses one at a time and succeeded only with the active participation of the suffering individual.

Probably for the first time in history, Aurobindo sought to raise the suffering masses to the higher stage even without the active participation of the masses by bring down the light of oneness. He sought to augment evolution on a mass scale, an idea, it is said, the Vedas had in its seed form. Aurobindo experimented with methods and declared success and his followers look forward to his efforts bearing fruit in the not too-distant future, as Aurobindo did the ground work even while he was in his physical form, continued after his death by the Mother. Their efforts are predicted to bear full fruit with the tying-up of loose ends going on even now by Aurobindo and the Mother at their higher level of existence.

I would think when such an age dawns, violence shall totally end, with even the tiger and deer living in harmony. Probably pranic energy would take care of sustenance.

Divine Perfection

2009-11-26T11:17:00.000+05:30

In describing myself I do not like to describe myself as representative of any particular thought, because I find beautiful thoughts expressed eloquently everywhere and consider myself an inheritor of them all. But in summation of what might be called eastern thoughts, I have somewhat come to the conclusion that we are perfect and our circumstances are perfect. Our failure to realise this, due to our like-dislike conditioning is the cause of our fragmented mind and a sense of lack. When we get back our wholesome mind, all restlessness and violence will evaporate from our actions. Then perfection will be a reality in a divine way.

But what about ritual massacre of animals?

2009-11-21T21:13:00.006+05:30

What you've said, "Muslims at Hajj are one people", is no doubt true in letter and spirit during the Hajj. This brotherhood of humans (or believers) is verily the spirit of Hajj. My question is, would it not have been even more glorious for Islam if that oneness is spread to all creation and included at least the animals, sparing the poor goats from ritual massacre?

Mercy is encouraged in everything, including the slaughter...There are some requirements of the slaughter in Islam, one of them is to sharpen the blade to relieve the pain of the animals.

Also the sacrifice is given to the poor and the needy.

I think you are completely off the point. The mercy offered here is as between AC current and DC current in capital punishment. Moreover, who has sacrificed here? The goat? A greater sacrifice would have been to go vegetarian.

Ah, I see....It is a massacre if Muslims are doing it in Eid Al-adha, and a celebration if Americans are doing it in their thanksgiving day!

Look, this sort of reply does no good to your claim that Islam is the final and complete religion of God. Therefore how do you compare what Islam teaches and what is the practice of Americans in memory of their arrival in America?

Why is it inhumane to think of animals as food? To take a stance like that is being blind to the overall picture of the way we produce food. In some places in the world, growing crop is not a possibility, furthermore trying to grow crop where it does not naturally grow is overall more harmful to the world and its environment (which include animals). Human were made to be omnivores (look at our teeth) and as such we eat living things to survive (be it plant or animal).

The sacrifice of the animal is not for its blood to reach God. The sacrifice is to show you are willing to donate a part of your property for the sake of God, by donating meat to the needy.

The animal is killed in a humane way. Look at the research on the way Muslims slaughter their meat.

The question is not about man eating animals. Some men used to eat other men. The question is about religion and it culturing influence. If religion caters to the baser instincts of man, then such a religion is more a populist religion than a culturing religion. If any sacrifice is to be made at all, why make animals the scapegoat and try to gain merit on account of it? Killing in a humane way is a contradiction of terms.

Elsewhere in RF there is a thread about mass massacre of animals in a Hindu temple in Nepal. So this ritual is not unique to Mecca. However, the difference is that this ritual is sought to be ended, as it has in many other temples, by reformists. In Islam there is no reformer in sight.

Since I've been advised that I am not to "argue" in Islam directory, I am withdrawing my comments and the Moderator may delete the same. I would like to open another thread. Do I have your permission to quote your comments there?

I don't understand what your problem is exactly!! I don't know why some people adore arguing for nothing.
The sacrifice is not confined to the pilgrims but to all Muslims around the globe.
Nothing is wrong with killing animals for food. And nothing wrong at all with the emphasis on the sacrifice in Eid.
We don't need any kind of reformation regarding this issue. But what we need is to emphasize on how to treat the animals well before their slaughtering like what Sajdah said. Some butchers slaughter them in front of each other which is wrong, we need to correct such behaviors.

I am aware that all Muslims sacrifice animals on the day of the Hajj, not just those physically present in Mecca. As a matter the Hajj Eid (celebration) is called Bakri (Goat) Eid by Muslims in the Indian sub-continent. That animals have been killed for food by a majority of mankind since the beginning of history may be a fact. But facts need not be steeped in righteousness. If cannibalism is today considered uncivilized, it could well be that non-vegetarianism might be considered uncivilized in the future. No doubt treating the animals "well before their slaughter" is a step forward in the evolution of man's culture. May Muslims take a fresh look at this ritual from the viewpoint of "ijtihad" or independent reasoning, which I understand is sanctioned by the Quran.

http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/islam/89241-hajj-celebration-peace.html#post1782272

Countering the white-washing of history

2009-09-10T11:12:00.003+05:30

Shivaji-Afzal Khan encounter marks the change of tide in the affairs of Hindus in India. Being subjugated by Muslims for over 500 years, the first stirrings of a Hindu re-bounce were perceived in the religious movement led by Guru Nanak and a 100 years later, in the political activities of Shivaji Maharaj. Had the result of the encounter been otherwise, Hindus would have lost their self confidence so totally that a revival could have been ruled out. However, Hindu-might in full flow was yet a distant possibility and the British could extend their suzerainty to the whole of India without much resistance. British rule, in its turn, would have marked the total triumph of the missionaries in converting the bulk of Hindus. But that was not to be because another encounter took place a 100 years ago – between Ramakrishna Parmahamsa and Narendra Dutta, later to be known the world over as Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda began a spiritual rediscovery among the Hindus, the reverberations of which continue manifesting more and more a hundred years since the charismatic Swami delivered his Advaitic message. A recent survey of church-goers in America pointed out that 76% of them had incorporated Hindu views in their religious outlook. Just as it took a hundred years for a Shivaji to follow a Nanak, a 100 years after Vivekananda, another Narendra, Narendra Modi, is symbolizing a Hindu political ascendancy. It is clear that Hinduism is on the verge of hoisting its triumphant saffron flag on the pages of history after long 1000 years of enfeeblement.

It is this triumphant march that is being sought to be whitewashed by those who do not want the depiction of Shivaji’s victory over Afzal Khan to inspire the present generation. It is this whitewash of history that is reflected in Jaswant Singh's ‘scholarly’ tome on Jinnah. Whitewashing history, incidentally, is a favourite Muslim trait, where they seek to whitewash the blood-stained progress of Islam through the annals of history because it counters their proclaimed stand that Islam is a religion of peace.

Bal Thackeray’s call to plaster the pictureisation of the victory of Shivaji over Afzal Khan all over the place is a call that should be taken up with alacrity by Hindus if they are to seize this moment and defeat the forces that wish to stall its onward march to glory.

The cause of suffering

2009-06-27T22:21:00.001+05:30

Dear Kgana, We suffer if we do not know that we and our circumstances are perfect, were always perfect and will ever be perfect. If we see that one thing leads to another, we would see the inevitability of the situation we are in. An effect has necessarily to be in a certain way because we determined the cause to be in a certain way. How we now react to the effect determines the type of cause we generate for future effect. So the chain is always perfect and when we see the perfection at play, we would not try to change anything but our reaction to a happening. This acceptance of the effect will cause suffering to end and the effect, however horrible it may have seemed at one time, becomes the cause of awakening to the bliss of perfection.

The stroke that has affected your mother is no doubt causing her and all who love her to suffer. Your mother, in the midst of actual suffering, has to take the aid of medical science to get over her immediate suffering. When she is much better, by and by she has to practise techniques of calming the mind, like mantra-recitation. From the vantage point of a calm mind, she would be able to see the perfection of her life and she would never suffer again, come what may.

Varun Gandhi, well spoken

2009-03-17T12:15:00.002+05:30

"Hinduon ki taraf jo haath uthega, ussey Varun Gandhi rokegaa nahin kaat dega", said Varun Gandhi during a meeting in Pilibhit. Attaboy, Varun. You have given the assurance that Hindus want so badly to hear. Hindus have thus far only been hearing that Islam bears Hindus no ill-will - Islam, fancy - the sworn idol smashers!

The non-dual freedom of life

2009-03-17T11:56:00.004+05:30

It is erroneous to assume that a person in the non-dual state fails to notice the dualistic reality of life - it is just that he refuses to get trapped in the dualistic dichotomy of life. Therefore he lives a life of freedom.

Testing times

2009-03-14T12:20:00.001+05:30

A ship is built to sail on waters, not merely for display in a harbour. Similarly, a general is expected to lead his troops in the theatre of war. He can be tested only on the battlefield. A general is barely tested in peace time.

The world of words

2009-03-14T12:15:00.001+05:30

Seeing a stranger, we are not imbued with any power to guess his name. We have to be introduced to get his name. Similarly, for example, our seeing a tree does not necessarily give us the word ‘tree’. Tree is a thing which is so named. Why do we name things? For the sake of communication, of course. If I have met Narayanan and want to tell my friend so, I need to name him to my friend. Otherwise both of us have to be sufficiently patient for me to describe Narayanan for my friend to recognize whom I am talking about. This process is too cumbersome for it to be repeated every time I want to talk about Narayanan to different people. Moreover, Narayanan may mean different things to different people. Therefore I would have to describe him to each differently for him to be properly recognized. Why such labour in communication when I can describe him with a single word. Therefore we see why words are required. For communication – and not just with others, but with ourselves too. Otherwise we are bound to confuse ourselves!

Hemant Karkare - Honour for courage or infamy?

2008-12-23T16:16:00.001+05:30

The Maharashtra government has recommended Ashok Chakra for the 19 policemen killed by the terrorists, which includes Hemant Karkare. Is dying in the line of duty the only qualification to be recommended for the country’s highest gallantry award? While some among the policemen have indeed made heroic efforts to kill the terrorists while falling to their bullets, Hemant Karkare appears to have had no idea what he was in the midst of, let alone attempt to kill the terrorists. He was, sad to say, shot dead like a dog by randomly fired bullets of the terrorists. There is absolutely nothing heroic in his death. No doubt he has to be commemorated for his long, varied and distinguished service in the police force. However, on that fateful day of 26th November 2008, he was clearly out of his depth and drowned ingloriously. Also, it is open to question whether he displayed the required professionalism in handling the so-called Hindu terrorists. In fact, he will be long remembered for his infamous attempts to corrupt a Sadhvi by showing her pornography.

Malegaon blast probe and Mumbai terrorist attack

2008-12-17T17:37:00.001+05:30

The Malegaon blast probe against Hindu involvement under Hemant Karkare must be the most unprofessional probe ever conducted by any professional body in Indian history. What was the need for the ATS to leak unverified statements to the press? Were they bent on tarnishing the name of Hindu organizations under the aegis of a political party? If the Mumbai attacks were not carried out as a commando attack by the terrorists but instead some bombs had been planted in many locations and the perpetrators had vanished, then surely, under the circumstances, the entire blame would have come upon Hindu organizations. However, this was not to be. Not only was it a commando operation, but one commando was caught alive. If this did not happen, then even the 10 dead terrorists would have turned out, under the expert ATS investigation team, to be "unidentified Hindus". Why, they might have even said that the terrorists were uncircumcised. So the Mumbai terrorist attack not only saved the Hindu organizations, it also revealed the Muslim villains and their masters in Pakistan. The enemies of Hinduism faltered just when they had an opportunity to corner Hindu organizations once and for all. This proves that God is with the Hindus.

The incontrovertibility of Existence

2008-12-05T11:23:00.000+05:30

Nothing dies, only changes of form occurs. Now which modern scientist said, Matter can neither be created nor destroyed...
The Wikipedia tells me:
There is a scientific law called the Law of Conservation of Mass, discovered by Antoine Lavoisier in 1785. In its most compact form, it states:
matter is neither created nor destroyed.
In 1842, Julius Robert Mayer discovered the Law of Conservation of Energy. In its most compact form, it it now called the First Law of Thermodynamics:
energy is neither created nor destroyed.
In 1907 (I think), Albert Einstein announced his discovery of the equation E = mc2 and, as a consequence, the two laws above were merged into the Law of Conservation of Mass-Energy:
the total amount of mass and energy in the universe is constant.
Generally, textbooks would add, that mass and energy can interconvert.

The Creation myth

2008-12-05T11:08:00.001+05:30

If Allah created everything, the question who created Allah is valid. If nobody created Allah and Allah always existed, then could not the so-called creation also have always existed? That which ever exists - existence - is life. The so-called creation is nothing other than life taking on different forms. We always exist, only our forms change. We are that which we call Allah.The biggest mistake in the Quran is the claim that Allah created life. It should have said Allah is life. This is what the Vedas proclaim.

Like Prophet, like followers!

2008-11-24T23:41:00.000+05:30

Talking about the Taliban destruction of the Bamiyan statues, a Muslim commented: There is no culture in a Buddha statue.

To which I commented: How would you see culture in a Buddha statue or any statue for that matter. Mohammad did not see them in the idols he destroyed in Mecca. Like Prophet, like followers!

New interpretations of the Quran

2008-11-24T23:23:00.000+05:30

New interpretations of the Quran will emerge in due course to adapt it to the increasing popularity of the ancient Hindu vision of Advaita - the vision that says all existence is one. In fact, Sufism is Advaita expressed by the Muslim mystics of Persia (and maybe Arabia?). Why, Sufism may have even ante-dated Islam. Sufism may well be the future of Islam if the call given by Islam to transcend idol worship reaches its logical conclusion - we cannot have an Allah separate from us. We have to internalize Allah and achieve the Advaita stage, where alone idol worship ends.

Counter terrorism and Hindu nationalists

2008-11-15T13:57:00.001+05:30

The concerned agencies of Government of India had initiated a counter terrorism policy about 3 or 4 years back and it was reported in the media. The aim was to duplicate the mindset of Islamic terrorists to preempt their activities. Col. Purohit appears to be involved in this official strategy and co-opted Hindu nationalists, who would have been only too eager to participate in such a project. This much is evident from the reported confessions of Col. Purohit where he states that the same Muslim squad that prepared the bombs for Islamic terrorists were recruited for Malageon II blasts. The protagonists of the so-called Hindu terror network ought to be released and duly honoured for their patriotism.

http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20223&sectionid=4&issueid=79&Itemid=1

Raj Thackeray the greatest danger to India's integrity

2008-10-20T00:03:00.004+05:30

Raj Thackeray is more dangerous than any Islamic or Naxalite terrorist is to India. I say this because the Islamic and Naxalite threat is a battle between them and the rest of Indian society whereas Raj Thackeray's threat can become a battle amongst all Indian states and this will cause India's disintegration as nothing else can. People like Lalu Prasad Yadav who criticize him are only interested in pouring oil into fire. The nationalists must come out strongly against Raj Thackeray.

The Vedantic visions

2008-08-14T15:34:00.001+05:30

There are three positions that religions of the world take vis-à-vis God. These are that: (1) God is separate from His creation (2) God is linked to His creation and (3) God and His creation is the same. These are the positions of Dvaita, Vishista Advaita and Advaita respectively in the school of Vedanta. These positions are not contradictory positions but positions from three vantage points that afford celebration of divinity.

Hon. Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India:

2008-07-30T13:30:00.000+05:30

Your government first declared Ram never existed. Then you concede Ram existed but he destroyed the bridge he built. Now you say the bridge is not worthy of being a national memorial. Your government may hold weather-cock positions about Ram because political survival is more important for you than national integrity. But being so callous about Hindu religious sentiments, particularly when you go out of your way to appease Muslims with special developmental funds, is most un-secular and undemocratic. Moreover, you never intervened when development work for Amarnath pilgrims was nullified by rescinding land allotted to the shrine board. But here you seem determined to allow Ram Sethu to be destroyed in the name of development work. Even if your government does not recognize Ram, let it at least not destroy the sanctity of Ram’s legendary bridge built to uphold Dharma.

Yours in the name of Bharath Mata.

K.Venugopal

UPA's victory better for BJP in long run

2008-07-22T10:47:00.002+05:30

Defeat of the UPA in today’s confidence vote will spell the end of the Congress. Karat’s tag of ‘sinking ship’ will work on Congressmen to abandon ship. The beneficiaries would be BJP and 3rd front. UPA’s victory would enable the party to consolidate its position in the next 6 months with lots of globalization policy announcements. The losers would be CPI(M) and there would be much infighting in the party. The 3rd front will also wither away, being seen as just a platform for Mayavati’s ambitions. BJP would be back to positioning itself as the only alternative.

Defeat of the UPA, therefore, would spell a period of great flux and would again end in a hung parliament – this time the major contenders the NDA and Third Front – with the UPA, particularly the Congress in a dismal third position. The NDA could well loose out to the Third Front in government formation. But UPA’s victory would bring the position back to square one and the battle would be between the UPA and NDA and the NDA having a greater chance of forming the next government. It would also cause CPI(M) to be singed in its internal fires.

I think, from the BJP’s long term interest, better UPA scrapes through the confidence vote.

Om Shanti

2008-06-29T01:35:00.000+05:30

The essence of Hindu teachings is that everything is divine. Which means everything is perfect - every individual and all circumstances are perfect. However, our experience seems to tell us otherwise. We generally feel that our life and circumstances have so many things to be corrected and changed so that we may, perchance, one day become at least free from major suffering, if not actually become perfect. The idea that we and our circumstances, whatever they are at any point in life, is less than perfect occurs because our mind is restless.

Therefore the first (and the last) lessons of Hinduism are to make our minds restful. All of Hinduism caters to this task of making us of restful minds. Since each of us are restless in different ways, Hindu culture has an array of techniques and approaches that will lead us to the calming of our minds – from simply going to a temple and following the rituals there to getting the higher insights by reading the Upanishads or listening to spiritual masters. One day, in the midst of our spiritual pursuits, we shall wake up and see it all – how perfect everything is, has been and shall ever be. This is the promise of Hinduism. A promise given by no other religion. Hinduism alone declares we are divine.

Therefore we Hindus, who are inheritors of the greatest heritage available to man, should cherish Hinduism and find therein a technique, way, method or understanding suitable to us individually and begin our pilgrimage of awakening to our own divinity. Om Shanti.

Honouring the triumvirate of Indian nationalists

2008-06-06T11:48:00.000+05:30

The plan by Maharashtra government to build a memorial to Chattrapathi Shivaji on the model of Statute of Liberty is a praiseworthy one. There should be an all-India effort in the matter on the model of the Vivekananda Memorial. Moreover, this is an opportunity to complete honouring the triumvirate of personages who were by all accounts the greatest saviours of the Indian nation – Adi Shankaracharya, Chattrapathi Shivaji and Swami Vivekananda. In the ideal scheme of things, Chattrapathi Shivaji’s memorial should be built in the sea facing Kolkatta and Adi Shankaracharya’s memorial in the sea facing Mumbai to complement the memorial to Swami Vivekananda on the seas of Southern India – the total effect being one of transcending geographical barriers to a united India.

What money can't buy

2008-06-03T11:20:00.001+05:30

Even in this realistic eulogy of money, you are constrained to say, “The problem is not with money but with man.” Why does man have problems even with money? The best thing that can be said about money is that money could be an opportunity, an opportunity to get us on our feet. But once we are on our feet we need to be free from money, if we are to soar to the greater heights that money can't buy.

Locals stir

2008-06-02T13:56:00.001+05:30

Vis-à-vis Raj Thackery’s locals stir; I feel it is not wrong for ‘locals’ to be given preference for jobs in their own area of residence. But this must be based on an all-India policy. Such a policy should ensure that there would never be any curbs on free movement of Indians to all parts of India. Also allowance must be made for free transfer of employees from all parts of India in the case of companies having branches in different parts of India. However, in the absence of a suitably qualified local candidate, there should be no bar in appointing non-local candidates and candidates so appointed should have the right continue work where appointed so long as the professional relationship of the employer and employee does not run into rough weather. That is to say, the local issue should arise only at the time of fresh appointment. Last but not least, the locals stir should not lead to agitation against those already employed upto a certain cut-off date to be decided on an all-India basis.

Allah's book

2008-06-02T13:42:00.000+05:30

Can we say that the Quran is a book sent by God because as per Islam Allah communicated to Archangel Gabriel who passed it on in bits and pieces to Mohammad over a period of 23 years, who dictated it to various people over the same period and finally a King had it all collated into a book called Quran. A book sent by God or anyone else would be just that, a book. In the case of Quran, it only eventually became a book.

It would have to contain a statement to the effect, “I, God, am sending you this book for your reading pleasure.” But this would not be proof enough unless we are convinced of the veracity of the statement

There is nothing a book can contain to prove that it was sent by God

I take the phrase “sent by God” to mean “divinely inspired” (by divinely inspired I mean a man awake to his inner potential) and since a book can contain only words, the words in the book must convince us that it has been “sent by God.”.

I am not an atheist. The difference I may have with other theists may only be about God's location. Could your question have been born out of the frustration in not getting the atheist to accept any book as being sent by God? But how could they? They don't know of any God.

For me, if man expresses himself through words, the silence upon which his words are built is God. Any work of man that takes us to the silence within us, to our divine nature, proves that we have awoken to our divine nature, however feebly. We would then need no further proof that the particular work is the work of God. There would then be no greater proof of God. The imagery of "God sending down a book" is metaphoric.

Is there God?

2008-05-29T11:59:00.000+05:30

Is there God? Before we answer this question, I think we have to ask: Who is asking the question? You would say, I, I so and so, am asking this question. You will probably also ask, am I meant to ask this question before asking any question at all? I would say, yes. The basic question to ask is: Who or what or why is the questioner. Before the question, seek the questioner. Because when you get to know the questioner, you might no longer have any questions.

There are questions and questions. There is no end to questions. Why are we questioning at all? Is it to get answers to help us along the way? If it is help that we want, why don’t we get such a help that we would never again need any help? Isn’t that what we want? Never to have any problems, to ever live a blissful life? Of course, there is the person who gets his very thrill in living by confronting problems. For the time being we shall leave such a person alone. We shall just say that he is so conditioned that he has become addicted to his conditioning.

So the basic question is, can we have an answer after which we would no longer have any questions? Dead people have no questions, but we are here not talking about dead people. We are talking about being most alive.

I say that the basic question we ought to pose ourselves is, who or what am I? Posing the question is easy enough. But what answers can we expect? Are we, ordinary folks, competent enough to expect the correct answer? Even if we are smug about our capability, how would we know that our answer is correct? Not just for ourselves, but universally. An answer is no answer unless it is an universal answer, universal in principle at least.

There is in human tradition something called ‘authority’. Traditionally ‘authorities’ (in the realm of knowledge) have been the scriptures, acknowledged masters and science. It is they who can give any semblance of finality of acceptance to the great answers of mankind. But in the matter of knowing one’s own self, is an external authority required?

Some queries answered

2008-05-29T11:57:00.000+05:30

1. Even if for argument sake I accept that the BJP is exploiting the Hindus for the sake of votes, I ask you - is there any other political formation that speaks for the Hindus? So my position is I would rather be ruled by an imperfect party supporting the Hindus rather than a perfect anti-Hindu party.

2. You talk about Ram being better-off before he was monopolized by Hindutva Jehadis. But you forget that the Hindus became weak a thousand years ago when the Muslims and then the British colonized India. The Hindus began regaining strength again only through movements of Sanyasis from the 19th century onwards, culminating in our independence and the betrayal of the Muslims in the formation of Pakistan. What we see now is a reassertion of the Hindus and Ram has become a symbol of this reassertion. It is only the anti-Hindus who insult Ram. Hindus are ready to protect Rama’s legacy.

3. Though many places in Ayodhya is claimed to be the birth place of Rama, consequent to the Ramjanmabhoomi movement, the Hindus have absolutely no doubt where exactly Rama’s birth place is.

4. Your perverted mind is displayed when you associate Ram with Jehadi and again with Sonia Gandhi. Jehadi and Sonia Gandhi are foreign, but not Ram, notwithstanding his claimed birth/death place in Ukraine. This is the same situation as the many so-called birth places in Ayodhya itself.

5. You talk of a Ram who cut off a Shudra’s head. What about a Ram who cut off a Brahmin’s head (Ravana’s)? And if you say Ram had reason to cut-off Ravana’s head because Ravana had kidnapped his wife, then he might also have had reason in the Shudra’s case because the Shudra wanted no less than to conquer ‘Devlok’. Rama may have seen the Raksha in such a person who was nurturing a wish to kill celestial beings.

6. About Ram being unable to protect his queen, it only shows the mighty evil that Ravana was, who dared to kidnap even a King’s wife. If Rama had not taken avatar, Hinduism may have disappeared then itself. If Rama exiled his queen, he was only showing how a King had to clear the erroneous notions of his subjects even at the cost of paying a personal price for it.

7. When you ask which Ram is the God of Hindus, be assured that it is the Ram, one and only Ram, who has an eternal place in the hearts of the Hindus, who is a God of the Hindus.

8. About Ram being an Imam e Hind, it is the opinion of a Muslim poet. At least to that extent the Muslim poet has acknowledged Ram existed.

9. Anyone, including Karunanidhi, has the right to ask who Ram is. No doubt they will be educated on the subject in due course of time.

10. About imposing Ram on all Indians, that is the Semitic creed, to impose their only true God on all mankind. Hindus do not impose any God and hence we live and let live with all the 33 crores gods we have.

Concrete and not-so-concrete idols

2008-05-29T11:29:00.000+05:30

Muslims insist they are not idol worshippers. However, unless the mind has a focal point, it would not be able to conceive anything. God, accepted by Islam and all religions as being, per se, beyond the conception of man, has to be brought down to the level of a concept if He is to be worshipped. That “bringing down to the level of a concept” inevitably results in idolatry. In Hinduism, idolatry is obvious because idol worship is celebrated. In Islam idolatry is not obvious because their definition of idols is restricted to that which is made of concrete material. However, even the word “Allah” is an idol because “Allah” is a word and words, though not concrete things, represent that which is concrete. And all representations are idols.

Classic Islam on line

2008-05-29T11:23:00.001+05:30

http://www.cislamonline.com/cms/showthread.php?p=4709#post4709

Complexity no argument for a creator

2008-05-29T11:17:00.001+05:30

Oft it is said that the universe is so complex that it must necessarily have a creator to handle its complexity. However, the very complexity of the universe indicates that there cannot be a “creator” separate from the universe. (Why should we have a double set of complexities – the complexity of the creator and the complexity of the created?) It can only be a case of self-regulation by the universe itself. In other words, our answers to the mystery of the universe has to be found by studying the universe itself, either in totality or in its particulars. Studying the totality is the approach the scientific culture nurtures and studying the particular it what the spiritual culture nurtures. This external and internal discoveries are the legacy of science and religion. Positing a creator only leads to faith and faith, though a solace to the mind of man, will not enlighten us to the truths of our circumstances.

Overlap at peril

2008-05-29T11:07:00.002+05:30

If the ‘believe’ we are talking about here is about opinions or faith, we are certainly entitled to believe the way we want to, provided we don’t foist such beliefs upon others without giving them a fair chance to accept it or reject it. But if we are talking about the rules and regulations of the work-a-day world, whether it is of court judgements, instruction manuals, traffic rules, fixing a motorcycle, writing scientific journals or ordinary correspondence - we need to be precise, there must be common meeting grounds. Both the worlds of belief and science are valid - but they overlap at peril.

Jesus' sacrifice

2008-05-29T10:57:00.000+05:30

It is the central tenet of Christianity that God sent his only begotten son amongst mankind as a ransom for man’s sins. This should have meant that sin in mankind, which entered mankind through the original sin of Adam in disobeying God (and eating the forbidden fruit), the wages for which was death, would have been cleansed by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This should have resulted in everlasting life for mankind since then. However, it appears to me that the ransom of Christ was hijacked by the Church which said that mankind would be assured of everlasting life only if it believes in Jesus Christ. Has Christ’s sacrifice been in vain?

My basic question is whether believe is sine-qua-non for connecting to Christ?

As far as Christianity is concerned, it is a truism that “Jesus died on the cross for our sins”. But the Church and Missionaries still say all of us are sinners. So what was Jesus’ sacrifice all about? For the Church and Missionaries it is about believing Jesus, as if his teachings weren’t good enough to transform us. Further, the Church thinks we have to couple believe with becoming members of the one true church. The missionaries think we have to denounce all religions except Christianity (the pernicious conversion enterprise!). I think Jesus himself meant it is about awakening to the divinity within and without us – as so many of the best teachers of mankind taught. The only “sacrifice” Jesus made and all of us need to make for everlasting life is to reject the hold of the material upon us. Jesus was an example. You don’t need to believe in examples. You have only to understand it.

Bring down anti-religious Chinese communist government!

2008-03-23T23:50:00.001+05:30

The Indian government, supported by Communists and Islamic Jehadis, is not waking up to the fact that what is happening in Tibet is the interference in and suppression of Buddhist religious freedom. Indians should remember that Indian culture, which guarantees religious freedom, needs to display its potency and must call for, launch and support all forces that stand for freedom of religion. We must call for a Buddhist revolution in China. All political parties in India which swear by the name of Ambedkar should come forward to openly declare support for this Buddhist revolution in China. The Hindutva forces would be a natural ally in this endeavour to bring religious freedom to China. As a first move, India should boycott Chinese Olympics.

Paul Swaraj - Indira loyalist

2008-03-13T18:06:00.002+05:30

Paul Swaraj has in his new book written that Indira Gandhi gave India democracy. Indira Gandhi gave India democracy? What a laugh! She actually planned to kill democracy with her Emergency. She failed because Indians are by and large democrats. However, she succeeded in destroying democracy in the Congress party and today Congress has been reduced to being a handmaiden of a foreign woman.

Not God but Allah

2008-01-08T22:12:00.001+05:30

Once, many years ago, BBC interviewed a leading Muslim scholar/authority. He started off by saying, "I do not believe in God. I know this may shock you - that a Muslim can say he does not believe in God. But I repeat, I do not believe in God. I believe only in Allah." He went on to argue that to a Muslim Allah means much more than what God would mean to a non-Muslim. I think this is the basic conviction a Muslim has about Islam - that no one but a Muslim can ever understand what it is to be religious. It is not for nothing that the leading Islamic theologist today, Dr. Zakir Naik, says that Islam is "confirmed" like 2 + 2 = 4, whereas other religions are not confirmed! However, there is an irony here. One would have supposed that with such a "confirmed" religion Muslims in general would have been a very contended lot being blissful in their world of Allah. But far from it. They are an agitated lot. The world still remains unconquered. And worse, violence is proving less and less an option. The only consolation is "Islam is the world's fastest growing religion". Let's hope it does not hit any road breakers.

Are we God?

2008-01-03T20:03:00.000+05:30

Many religions posit that God created the universe and then claim to have exclusive revelations as to what He expects of us. However, it seems to me that the creator-created dichotomy is artificial and even if we posit that God created it all, it is obvious that the one thing He could not have created would be life, for the simple reason that God is always alive - a dead God is no God. Creation could have started only with life. If there was no life, there would have been no creation. If life ends, then it ought to have had a beginning. So if there was a time when there was no life, life would never have come about. Thus, we can safely say that life is eternal, without beginning and end. And since we have life in us, we can logically say that we have the eternal within us. Hence, when we die, life within us does not die. It will be interesting to note that there are religions which posit that we are not the body that dies, but we are the very life that does not die. As there cannot be two eternals, eternal life is eternal God.Therefore, at least according to certain religions, we are God.

Ulta Reservation

2007-12-20T09:22:00.000+05:30

It is ironic that while the minority Muslim community in India sees reservations as its birth-right, it is the majority Muslim community in Malaysia that is the beneficiary of reservations in that country. 'Minority-I-win, majority-you-loose' seems to be the credo of Islam worldwide.

Merchants of Death

2007-12-12T11:49:00.000+05:30

Modi was clearly speaking in response to Sonia's calling him a Merchant of Death. He wanted to put across that the epithet fits her more since under her dispensation Merchants of Death like Afzal Guru are being protected from the hangman's rope, while Merchants of Death like Shorabbudin meet their nemesis under his dispensation.

A macro or a micro solution?

2007-11-26T23:13:00.000+05:30

It appears to me often that we, as humans, when talking of world problems and its solutions, take it for granted that if our social circumstances can be ingeniously arranged, then we would have brought heaven down on earth. I also wonder whether it could not be that there are no macro problems or solutions, because all the problems are actually those that originate in our own individual heads, reside there, mature there and finally accompany us to the afterlife or wherever. Ergo, if we examine our heads, with or without a shrinker, we might be on the way to the only peace and bliss that’s attainable – that which we create and live by in our own little minds. Maybe I’ve got it thoroughly wrong and I need to head for a shrinker? Any shrinkers out there?

Why we need to be good in English

2007-11-17T13:08:00.000+05:30

In we wish to survive in the battleground that today’s world has become, we need to be armed with the most powerful weapon of the day and that is English. But if English is the most powerful weapon we can have at our command, our own mother tongue is the muscle we need to have. Without muscles we would hardly be able to lift any weapon. Yet, even with Arnie’s muscles, we could be shot through the head by a child if we don’t have a gun ourselves.

By saying thus, I hope I have placed in perspective the role of mother tongue and English, each, in our lives today.

Arrest the creeps on Tehalka

2007-11-02T11:03:00.000+05:30

Those who went on camera (or hidden camera) and revealed that they participated in the communal riots in Gujarat ought to be immediately arrested. That action and ugly reaction happens in the spur of emotional moments is understandable, but to gloat over one’s participation many years down the line and seek to claim individual ‘credit’ for what was obviously mass spontaneous reaction of the masses at large speaks of a pervert mind. Worse, to use the occasion to settle political scores is despicable. Arrest the fellows; they are creeps with pathetic motives who want to exploit an orgy of violence, the lessons of which would be better learnt if analyzed in dispassion and not made an issue of political controversy.

A Prime Minister’s loss of sleep and a Chief Minister’s misfortune – the power of Muslim vote.

2007-10-14T13:51:00.000+05:30

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, quiet reminiscent of Manmohan Singh’s, “I did not sleep all last night” sigh upon hearing the news of Dr. Haneef’s arrest in Australia on terror charges, said, upon hearing that the mother of Rizwanur Rehman, who was allegedly murdered for marrying a Hindu girl, was not coming to meet him as scheduled because he has not agreed to a CBI probe, “We were scheduled to meet at my residence on Oct 10. Till Oct 9 I knew she was coming. But then I read in the papers that she does not want to meet me. This is really my misfortune.” To mitigate his misfortune, the next day the Chief Minister instead went to the house of the victim’s mother.

That a victim’s (the police say it was suicide) mother did not come to meet him became a misfortune for the Marxist Chief Minister and he had to make amends for it by going to meet her would of course seem to be a great humanitarian gesture. The secular press have lauded it thus too. But I wonder if the CM has had similar misfortunes before - maybe in the case of some Hindu victim? Unlikely, because Muslims account for 30% of West Bengal’s electorate and the majority Hindu votes are all secularized and nothing to worry about.

The Sethu of cultural unity

2007-10-14T12:29:00.000+05:30

Former Indian High Commissioner to UK Shri L.M.Singhvi, who passed away a few days ago, was paid a rich tribute in an orbituary by Sudheendra Kulkarni in Indian Express online edition of 14.10.07, titling it "A Saraswati Putra who built many Sethus". Incidentally, it was Vajpayee who called him Saraswati Putra in condoling his demise.

I quote from Kulkarni's orbituary, which illuminates the depth of the word Sethu in the consciousness of India's culture:

Quote: To present a glimpse of his greatness, let me cite a small excerpt from his 1996 speech at Stanford University, titled ‘Building Bridges for India through a Global Indogenic Movement’. The term ‘Sethu’ is very much in discussion these days because of the controversy over ‘Ram Sethu’. But look at the profound sense that Dr Singhvi mined from the word.

"Sethu represents a very meaningful metaphor in the treasure chest of India’s heritage. Even at the risk of sounding archival, I would like to share with you an adage in Sanskrit, which illumines the functional-teleological range and rationale of building Sethus: Sethubandhanam Sarvaranjanam; Sethubandhanam Margasadhanam; Sethubandhanam Snehakaranam; Sethubandhanam Vihita-taram; Sadabhavyam Sadadivyam; Sadasatyam Sanatanam (May bridges be built to secure welfare and happiness of all; to blaze new trails and facilitate passages; for the cause of affection among individuals and groups and for goodwill among nations and peoples; for salvaging that which matters; let this Sethu ever be magnificent and always graced by divine purpose; let it always represent the eternal truths enshrined in the enduring and universal vision of India.)” Unquote

Islam is an idol worshiping religion.

2007-10-12T23:08:00.000+05:30

I contend that Islam is an idol worshiping religion. When I say this, it would be surmised that I am out to create mischief because it is universally understood that Islam is dead against idol worship. But I do not level this charge to taunt the Muslims out of any spite. I love Muslims. They are as human as anyone else. But my problem is with the claim of Islam that it does not believe in idol worship.

In fact all worship is idol worship. It is not possible to worship except that worship be idol worship. The condition of idol worship is that there be a worshipper and a thing worshiped. Muslims might say that there is no “thing” that a Muslim worships. That what they worship is only the unimaginable power called Allah who created the universe. Be it so, except that they have a need to reduce that unimaginable power to a word “Allah”. A sound idol, I might say and the Muslim will say I am merely quibbling to provoke.

However, my deeper reason to accuse Muslims of being the idol worshipers they would rather die than admit is that Islam considers Allah, the creator, as separate from His creation. This means that when we, the creation or creature want to connect with Allah, we have perforce to turn outwards – ever so symbolically proved when the common Muslim raises his vision upwards when he wishes to thank Allah in ordinary conversation. Of course in formal prayers Muslims turn towards Mecca – which becomes the central point to which they direct their prayers. Add to this the fact that the central point contains a huge cube structure, which if the Muslims can get near enough they would lavishly kiss, completes the case that the Muslims are indeed idol worshippers.

The case becomes all the more apparent when we consider that there has been a successful ancient teaching called Adviata which even today continues to be the undercurrent of the oldest religion in the world – Hinduism. Advaita says that God is actually what we essentially are and is not a phenomenon separate from us whom we have to seek for outside and idolize concretely, as Hindu idol-worshippers do - or turn it into a faith, as Muslims do.

Muslims protest at any allegation that the Kaaba represents an idol through or with the help of which they worship Allah. They insist that they worship only Allah and pray directly to Allah. Which is why they find it impossible to even sing Vande Mataram because that would be tantamount for them to worshiping something other than Allah.

Therefore, we cannot ignore the basic question, “What is worship?” It would seem that worship, according to Islam, is the process taught by Mohammad which Muslims are expected to perform 5 times a day. However, it would surprise the reader to know that Mohammad himself was quoted in a hadidth to imply that worship is not merely an external form, its essence is indeed the internal state of mind. Mohammad went on to say that if the approach is right, even sex with one’s wife is worship and would be rewarded by Allah. This was said when his companions asked "How are we going to be rewarded for doing something we enjoy very much?" The Prophet asked them, "Suppose you satisfy your desires illegally, don't you think you will be punished for that?" They replied, "Yes." "So," he said, "by satisfying it legally with your wives, you are rewarded for it." The hadith or its commentary concludes, “This means, they - legitimate sexual intercourse - are acts of worship.”

While I am at present unable to vouch for the genuineness of the Hadith, but if true, it goes on to prove that for Mohammad the very act of living legitimately (as instructed by the Quran) is worship. It being so, and the Kaaba being the centre of the Hajj rituals, there is little doubt that kissing the blackstone embedded in the Kaaba forms a part of Islamic worship - idol worship, pure and simple.

Saying thus, I rest my case.

Heroic bridge and psychological damage

2007-10-10T12:40:00.000+05:30

Someone recently asked me whether it has not been a fact that Hindus have down the millennia come to believe in Rama and the events associated with Rama’s story without seeking any physical evidence for it and would not the Hindus continue to believe in the story of Rama’s bridge even if the mythical bridge makes way for a canal? I told him the whole principle is one of background. Unless we are aware of the background of anything, we would not be able to do justice to the existence of that thing. For example, unless a doctor knows the background or history of the patient, he would not be able to properly treat the patient. It is our experience that if a person is drunk, he would tend to forget his background and may end up being violent to his own family members, though in normal circumstances he would never imagine attacking his own family.

Why, the entire thrust of Hinduism is to make man realize his own nature, his essence, his background, if you may, to solve all his problems (discovery of the atma and all that). This being so, it goes without saying that if Hindus are to forget or cease to be in connect with their past history and culture, as depicted in all their scriptures and literature of ancient times, then Hindus would only be all the easier to prompt to work against their own interests. Hence, the importance of Ram Sethu being saved. It is one of the very rare physical memories of those ancient times we have inherited and we have to ensure that it is left intact so that our progeny would not lose a tangible connection to their history.

Furthermore, just as the Hindus have cherished the story of Rama and events connected to Rama, including the heroic bridge, any slur on the story and events connected would cause irreparable psychological damage to the sense of sanctity of Hindus. This would be a greater damage than the physical damage.

My fellow Hindus, what a fall!

2007-10-08T22:54:00.000+05:30

Hindu temples have long been game for the covetous eyes of secular political parties in India. Secularism, as is well known as practised in India, means non-interference in the affairs of Muslims and Christians and neutering Hindus in their affairs. This time when they came to power, the Marxists in Kerala decided to be the role model of secularism and leave competing Congress far behind and with no doubt in anyone's mind as to who is truly the secular champion of India. Their two pronged strategy was pandering to the religious minorities while simultaneously scorching the very ground of Hindu religious sentiments. For example, by bringing a purposely flawed education bill they ensured that minority institutions continued to thrive and favour the elite. However, in the case of the Hindus, they brought in a well thought out Devasom Bill and without any opposition captured the temples of Kerala. They ensured that the Bill would not be a mere legislation on paper by bringing a rabidly anti-Hindu marxist as Minister. This minister made it his daily practise to insult the Hindus and pour contempt on Hindu rituals. The latest is his minions granting the contract for making the famous Aravana payasam of the even more famous Sabarimala temple to a Muslim. The Marxists signaled that their conquest of the temples was complete and they would now run the temples on truly secular principles (that is, they would allow non-Hindus to run the temples) when the Minister said with a veneer of legality that he would not interfere in the questionable tendering process that gave the tender to a non-Hindu because the decision was taken by the Devasom Board and he is not the one to interfere in the rights of the Devasom Board. He could finally sound liberal because he has by now already packed the Devasom Boards with his nominees. With his henchmen in place, he has the opportunity to wash his hands off any blood.

My fellow Hindus, what a fall!

Kumaraswamy - a bout of fevicol-ingitis

2007-10-05T12:29:00.000+05:30

I wonder what the Dad-son duo of Deve Gowda and Krishnaswamy are croaking about vis-à-vis the local election results being a mandate for them to continue with the Chief Ministership disregarding the power-sharing agreement entered into with BJP 20 months ago. While the JDS got 1499 seats (an increase of 360% over their previous 415 seats), the BJP got a no-less-impressive 1170 seats (an increase of 330% over their previous 351 seats). Moreover the Congress, getting 1581 seats (suffering a 30% decrease compared to their previous tally of 2232 seats) is still the largest single party. By JDU logic, the mandate actually went in favour of Congress! Would the JDU therefore hand-over the Chief Ministership to the Congress?

The fact of the matter is that Kumaraswamy is suffering from a bout of fevicol-ingitis, which makes it difficult for him to vacate his seat of power, stuck to it as he is. Here’s wishing him recovery without having to undergo operation removal in the election theatre.

Ram Jethmalani - nuked India better than nuclear India

2007-10-04T06:55:00.000+05:30

Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer’s article on 28th Sept 07 in the Asian Age warned of the dangers of any nuclear deal with USA and emphasized the need for India to pursue independent non-nuclear options for self-sufficiency in power. While Iyer’s article reveals that he still carries his communist baggage of anti-Americanism (picked up from the days when he was a Minister in the first communist government in the world in Kerala), Ram Jethmalani’s response to Iyer (3rd October, Asian Age) was the response of an out and out rooter of Americanism. What is intriguing, however, is when Jethmalani says, “I say that India does not need bombs. If the Pakistanis or the Chinese have plans to destroy us with nuclear bombs, I would rather allow them to do so.” He continues, “Gandhi’s India will never plan the murder of the human race. Unfortunately Marxist philosophy neither sees the force of moral action nor respects the inscrutable forces of providence which ultimately destroy insane murderers of fellow beings.”

On one hand Ram says we are inadequate to the task of meeting our power needs and have necessarily to cooperate with the US, on the other hand he prefers India being nuked rather than possess even deterrent nuclear bombs.

Senility appears to have finally caught up with the great Ram Jethmalani.

Times of India - sack your copy writer.

2007-10-02T20:08:00.001+05:30

Today, October 2nd, Times of India devoted its full front page to a write-up on Mahatma Gandhi, saying we needed a second October. It went on to say that Mahatma Gandhi created history and rewrote geography.

What is meant by "rewrote geography"? I condemn the insinuation that partition of India was a creditworthy event and the Mahatma's honourable legacy. Times of India needs to apologise for this slip and immediately sack its copywriter in contrition.

The way secularism works in India.

2007-09-25T10:32:00.000+05:30

On one hand the UPA government wants to benefit the Muslims through exclusive development projects on the basis of their religion (via Sachar report) while on the other hand they want to deny Hindus their religion on the basis of a particular development project (Sethu Samudram Project). In other words, accept Islam to benefit Muslims and deny Hinduism to hurt Hindus. This is the art of secularism in India.

Sanyasi’s explanation worse than ‘twisted news’.

2007-09-23T23:15:00.001+05:30

VHP leader Swami Vedanti’s call for Karunanidhi’s head over the latter’s Ram remarks was actually made in the context of a Muslim Minister’s call for the head of those who caricatured Prophet Mohammad and if Swami Vedanti had persisted that he could be arrested or whatever only after the ex-Minister is first arrested, it would have been quite logical. But now when the swami says that his statement was twisted by the press and he was only quoting Hindu texts on the price of blasphemy, he is obviously missing the Hindu spirit. The idea of blasphemy is alien to the Hindu culture and scriptures, particularly the Bhagwad Gita. Freedom to believe or disbelieve is the sine-qua-non of Hindu culture.

Whatever, the Ram Sethu agitation has begun with a bang. Its success would depend on the kind of leadership that takes it along. We would do well not to have anyone without the courage of conviction in the ranks of the movement’s leadership.

========================

25.09.2007

Swami Vedanti should not have retracted his statement. If he called for Karunanidhi's head, he was justified because Karunanidhi had ridiculed the very essence of his religion. He should have said he is ready for any punishment for giving such a call, but arrest me only after you arrest the Muslim minister who called for the Danish cartoonists' heads. Instead, the Swamiji not only retracts his call, but worse, he says that he was just quoting the punishment for blasphemy in the Hindu scriptures including Bhagwad Geeta. Swamiji should know that the freedom to accept or not accept a religion is the very birthright given to a Hindu by the Hindu culture. No Hindu scriptures have any blasphemy laws, least of all Bhagwad Geeta. In fact, Hindu scriptures are Shrutis. Swamiji may at best be able to quote from some Smriti. But have we not abandoned all those Smrits long ago?

So I condemn the Swamiji not for calling for Karunanidhi's head, but for not having the courage of his conviction and attempting to give an erroneous picture of Hinduism. He has to be removed from VHP.

Irresponsible journalism

2007-09-22T14:07:00.000+05:30

Seema Mustafa, the Asian Age’s star journalist, has reported in the front page of today’s (22.09.07) Asian Age that Delhi Gymkhana Club’s election is due later this month and that in the fray for Presidentship are our country’s serving Chief of Army Staff Gen. J.J.Singh and head of Western Air Command Air Marshal P.S.Ahluwalia. This much is fair journalism. But she went on to allege that Gymkhana Club “has become a war zone for the Indian Army and Air Force”. She has insidiously mentioned that the Club “has several representatives of defence manufacturing companies and middle-men as its members”. For our benefit she has also reported that the two contenders are not on talking terms – “instead of speaking politely to each other to work it out, they kept throwing verbal darts at each other”. She goes on to make the startling revelation that “The Gymkhana Club contest has sharpened difference between the Army and the Air Force, with officers who are members taking polarized positions.” and takes the opportunity to add that “the services are divided outside as well”, what with each group being pitted against the other in the matter of even promotions.

Being a frequent reader of her regular articles in the Asian Age, I am convinced that she is committed to take an Islamist-Left view of all matters, particularly being ribald against the Hindutva forces. Therefore her sensationalist reportage of a mere local club election (albeit a prestigious one), to the extent of casting aspersions on the integrity of our top officers and even the defence institution itself is in keeping with the Islamist-left discomfort with any national/nationalistic institution.

Seema Mustafa’s article comes in the wake of a High Court verdict sentencing 4 journalists to imprisonment for casting aspersions on a retired Chief Justice of India. Since her article under the head “General fights air marshal for post at Delhi elite club” is more contemptuous in nature, she ought to be prosecuted by law.

Is Ka'aba part of Allah?

2007-09-21T23:45:00.000+05:30

Some Mullah has issued a Fatwa against Salman Khan for idol-worship by participating in Ganesh pooja. I would wish to ask the Mullah, what about the Ka'aba in Mecca? Why do the Muslim pilgrims get so thrilled upon seeing it that they kiss the black stone embedded in it? Muslims maintain that they worship only Allah and nothing else. If so, why do they keep the black stone in the centre of their most holy mosque? Just the way Hindus keep the idol at the centre of their temple. If Muslims kiss their idol, circumbulate around it, sip zam zam water - the Hindus bow to their idol, circumbulate it and sip theertha water. Any difference? And yet if the Muslims say they worship only Allah, it can only mean that the Ka'aba is part of Allah!

Advani, soldier of Hindutva

2007-09-21T14:05:00.000+05:30

There is talk in newspapers about Advani once again taking the reins of BJP. While there will be no replacement of Rajnath Singh, Advani indeed needs to be the face of BJP once again. Except for the 'Jinnah fiasco', Advani has been an impeccable leader. Even the Jinnah episode was a misplaced one due to the unexpected immaturity shown by some leaders of the Sangha Parivar itself. Advani had only pointed out to the Pakistanis the secularism advised by Jinnah to his compatriots in the Pakistani Constituent Assembly. Which was such an irony, coming from a man who had just partitioned a nation on the basis of religion. Advani wanted eyes to open in Jinnah's own bastion. But some twisted reporting by the Indian media suggested that Advani was championing the arch villian of partition. The impluse of all who know Advani should have been to doubt such reports, but some of our own leaders preferred to go by newspaper reports and even went to the extent of calling Advani a traitor. The great man he is, Advani bore it all, without even once going for an ugly rukus over the issue within the Sangha Parivar. Thanks to his maturity, he saved Sangha from schisms over personality clashes.

Sangha no doubt must have gone over the whole episode dispassionately and concluded that Advani was more wronged than wrong. Hence, his deserving rehabilitation.

Carry on, soldier of Hindutva - we are with you.

M.F.Hussain and Karunanidhi - birds of a feather

2007-09-21T13:49:00.000+05:30

DMK's Karunanidhi is surely kindered to M.F. Hussain. Both love to rubbish Hindu sentiments and both restrict their rubbish to Hinduism. If Karunanidhi finds it comfortable to quote Valmiki calling Rama a drunkard, would he also feel comfortable quoting the Hadiths pointing to Mohammad being a child-molester, what with his pre-puberty marriage and all that? No, not at all. Karunanidhi, like M.F. Hussain, practises freedom of expression only in the Hindu melieu. They need to be taught that Hindus will no longer tolerate being ridden roughshod upon.

The secular kowtow

2007-09-21T11:47:00.000+05:30

A judge of the High Court wonders aloud if the famous Siddhi Vinayak Temple ought not to be relocated as a security measure, considering it could be subject to rocket launchers from nearby high-rise buildings. Probably he would recommend that it be relocated to a mountain in a deserted area! I think actually it is the judge who ought to be relocated to a mental hospice.

It is galling that such comments are passed nonchalantly, particulary in the wake of opinions that Rama is only a mere mythical character, a big white lie, a drunkard and what not. It is gratifying that Advani is being heard on this subject. With his sharp intellect, broad wisdom and great grasp of the nuances of political implications, he is not going to allow idiotic comments to go unchallanged in the name of secular perogative. (That is to say, the freedom to rubbish Hindu sentiments while kow-towing to Muslim sentiments.)

Communist hatred and communist opportunism at play.

2007-09-12T14:22:00.000+05:30

So the cat's out of the bag. Karat in his latest book wants India to collaborate with China for our energy needs. China is OK but not America. Why? Plain communist antipathy towards the power ever ready to call the communist bluff. An added bonus now is Muslim votes. Communist hatred and communist opportunism at play!

The error of Islam

2007-09-11T22:24:00.000+05:30

When Islam says there is only one God, is it not reducing God to a countable object? If something has to be countable, it has to be less than the total. Therefore, according to Islam, Allah is less than the total.

This error of Islam is reinforced by the Islamic teaching that the Creator and His creation are not one, but separate entities. This error is also obvious if we see that before Allah created the universe, nothing existed except Allah. If there was only Allah, then surely Allah created the universe from the reality that Allah was. Therefore the Creator and His Creation are not separate entities but different aspects of the same entity.

Thus, the correct teaching ought to be not that there is one God and a separate creation, but that all creation is God in multitudinous divine expressions. The correct teaching, as put forth by Hinduism, leads man to discover his divinity whereas a God separate from his creation, as put forth erroneously by Islam, leads man to reduce himself to a slave of Allah. Being thus a slave of Allah, he acts not as per the divinity of Allah, but as per the limitation of his own mind. Hence, Islam is not spiritual but identity oriented.

2 comments:
ஜயராமன் said...
SirA very interesting post. Thanks for this.If there is only one Unit, then total is same like the unit. Therefore, in the case of OneGod, the discrepancy does not arise.In Hinduism also, there is only one advaita. Ofcourse, the advaita concept is entirely different, but the "oneness" idea is same.Allah is nothing but an alter-ego of Muhammad. There are many contradictions to Allah's world. Allah also resides in a heaven and the creation of that heaven has not been clear. If the heaven is also created by Allah, Where was he before that. If Allah's heavan also exists with Allah, who created that?Also, If allah created this world, why is there so much difference in wealth and happiness in the world? Why Allah has not given any good resources to his own land (middle east) which was an uninhabitable desert before oil was found. Why did he allow all his followers to suffer for millienum?I am sure that if you examine all these questions, then Islam will turn out to be empty conceptually.ThanksJay
Wednesday, September 12, 2007 1:46:00 PM
Venu said...
Thank you for your comment. I also got the opportunity to go through your blogs. Deep stuff you've written. I shall be revisiting them to offer my humble comments.Meanwhile, about this "There is only one God" teaching of Islam - it is, according to Muslims, not a discovery by man in his heightened consciousness. It is (as Muslims believe), a proclamation that came down from God to man. Now why on earth would God proclaim that there is only one God? If He (Allah) teaches man how to reach him, then would man have any doubt as to who or how many Allah is? But in the Quran there is no teaching as to how man can reach God. The only teaching is how man can be a good slave of Allah. A good slave also means a loyal slave. Therefore, to ensure no divided loyalties, Allah proclaims that He is the one and only God. In truth, Quran, as innumerable other scriptures, is not from a phenomenon separate from man, but from insights experienced by a self-realized soul. But probably unique in Mohammad’s case, when compared to say Krishna, Buddha, Shankaracharya or Jesus, was that he (Mohammad) often relapsed from his heightened consciousness. Which is why Quran has quite a lot of ‘Satanic’ verses where Mohammad orders killing for no reason but that of difference in faith – the same Mohammad who in another verse said that to kill one man is to kill humanity.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007 9:07:00 PM
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Bhagwad Geeta for a restful mind

2007-09-11T21:16:00.000+05:30

Everything in the natural state is in the state of dharma, that is, harmony. It is when there is disharmony, due to the restless mind, that the mighty ones strive to restore harmony. Bhagvad Geeta is the art and science of the restful mind. It is only the restful mind that can ensure harmony in society. Therefore it is incumbent on all human beings, not just Hindus or Indians, to learn the science and art of the restful mind, as taught in the Bhagvad Geeta.

No value for Hindu sentiments?

2007-09-11T15:01:00.000+05:30

The point is, since the time of Ramayana it is believed by the Hindus that Rama built a bridge connecting Dhanushkodi (India) and Thalaimannar (Sri Lanka) to move his army to defeat Ravana and rescue Sita. As if to prove this, there exists a "30-kilometre-long naturally occurring chain of sand banks". Why not leave alone the formation, whether a natural one or man (monkey) made? Doesn't Hindu sentiments have any value at all?

Mohammad's progress

2007-09-10T11:33:00.000+05:30

[I got the following from the Net. Quite a curious progression.]

A biography of our prophet reconstructed from ayas of Quran for the benefits of Quran only muslims.

MO WAS INITIALLY NOMINATED AS A SLAVE

He started his career in Mecca with the rank of a Slave .2.23 We reveal verses unto our slave MuhammadHis duties were just to warn people .25.1 He is a warner to the peoples.

HE WAS NO BETTER THAN AN AVERAGE JOE

He didn't even know if God intended to put him in hell or heaven..46.9 I do not know what will be done with me I am just an ordinary warner .'.

HE HAD NO AUTHORITY

He had no power or charge over the people..17.54 we, have not sent thee to take charge of them..

AFTER FEW YEARS MO WAS MADE A PROPHET / MESSENGER

98.2 I am messenger/prophet from Allah

ORIGINALLY HIS MESSENGERSHIP WAS ONLY FOR MECCA AND IT'S SUBURBS

6.92 And this (the Qur'an) is a blessed Book which We have sent down, confirming (the revelations) which came before it, so that you may warn the Mother of Towns ( i.e. Makkah) and those around it.42.7 We sent by inspiration to thee so that you warn the Mother of Cities (Mecca) and those around her.

THEN HE WAS MADE A MESSENGER FOR ALL ARABS

36.6 In order that you may warn a people whose forefathers were not warned, so they are heedless.14.4 (Hilali / Khan) We sent not a Messenger except with the language of his people, in order that he might make (the Message) clear for them.44.58 We have made this Koran easy for thee in thine own tongue, that they may take the warning.41.44 And if We had made it a Quran in a foreign tongue, they would certainly have said: Why have not its communications been made clear? What! a foreign tongue?( for us arabs)

LATER HE WAS MADE MESSENGER FOR ALL PEOPLES AND CREATURES

25.001: Blessed is He Who sent down the Quran upon His servant that he may be a warner to all the nations. 21.107 We have sent you as mercy unto all creatures. In his new position it became mandatory for all to make Mo their judge in all disputes.4.65 By the Lord, they can have no Faith, until they make thee judge in all disputes between them.

HIS NEXT PROMOTION WAS " SEAL OF PROPHETS"3

3.40 He is the "Seal of the Prophets". Seal of Prophets had additional perks of getting the top facilities in paradise.17.79 (Hilali,Khan) Your Lord will raise you to Maqaman Mahmuda (a station of praise and glory, i.e. the highest degree in Paradise!).

HE WAS THEN PROMOTED TO "ASSOCIATE ALLAH"As " Associate Allah", Mo's orders were made at par with Allah's orders and both their names came side by side in decision making as well as authority to be obeyed .

3.32,4.13,59,69,5.92,8.1,20,46,9.71,24,47,51,52,54,56,33.33,47.33,49.14,58.13,64.12 "Obey Allah and obey Mohammed" 33.036: It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision: if any one disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path.

HIS FINAL PROMOTION WAS "ALLAH IN CHARGE"

Finally Allah decided to step down and give total authority to Mo.4.80 Obeying Mohammed is obeying Allah.Giving a pledge to Mo became giving a pledge to Allah. 48:10 Verily, those who give pledge to you (O Muhammad) they are giving pledge to Allâh.

EVEN ALLAH SENT HIS PRAYERS TO MO

33.56 (hilali/Khan) Allah sends His Salat (prayers) and salutes to the Prophet (Muhammad SAW) .

Divinity

2007-09-07T21:38:00.000+05:30

Divinity is not a phenomenon external to man. It is what man essentially is and he can awaken to it by going through and beyond his consciousness. The science of idol worship is an aid for man to awaken to the power within himself - the power that transforms itself into avtars and rishis from time to time to inspire man to the science of self-discovery.

"Historical reality behind the myth of Krishna"

2007-09-06T22:59:00.000+05:30

Amor said...
what's the historical reality that lies behind the myth of krishna?amor
September 3, 2007 2:07 PM

History is the recording of events gone by. The further back in time an event whose recording has survived to the present times, the more likely that event had a tremendous impact historically, otherwise memories of that event and its recording would have been forgotten in due course of time. Krishna's life was one such event which obviously had a tremendous impact in his times and subsequent times. All titanic events are embellished in its recording. Men would stand in awe of such personalities and events. We call such recordings myths, but if this is not satisfactory for the modern man with a professional approach, Krishna's life too could be reduced by historians to a bare-thread portrayal. In the simplest of labeling, Krishna was a Guru. If a student of history were to study the hagiography of Sri Satya Sai Baba, a modern day guru, he will understand the inevitability of great gurus becoming myths.

Food first for the body or soul?

2007-09-05T12:01:00.000+05:30

Swami Vivekananda said that you have to fill a hungry stomach before you can enlighten an ignorant soul. Since enlightenment is simply being connected to our innermost self and this connection is the sine-qua-non of controlling even hunger, I am wont to say that a man ought to be taught the principles of self-connection even before being fed. This is particularly so because what Swami Vivekananda said is being construed as conceding that we should take care of our material well-being before plunging into spiritualism, whereas what Swami Vivekananda was literally thinking of was the hungry masses of India who were totally impoverished, starving and slavish. Even to such a suffering mass of people, I would say that as you cook food for them, as they are eating, we ought to tell them to search for the more nourishing food within. Today, a 100 years later, a great majority of the starving masses of Swami Vivekananda’s times have moved away from the edg. They now have the bare minimum needed to survive and are poised to go beyond in the material realm, what with the surge to being a global power and all that. This much we can credit to India’s post-independent progress, even though it started of at a ridiculed ‘Hindu rate of growth’ pace. Therefore today, doubly so, food for the soul is even more urgently to be fed than food for the body.

Allah, the imperfect creator?

2007-09-03T20:31:00.002+05:30

To the question, "Who founded Islam?" if you, a non-Muslim, thought Prophet Mohammad is the correct answer, then you are in error. According to Muslims, Islam existed right from the first man Adam. In the course of time, man began to wander away from the true path of Islam and even interpolate the original holy book and debase it. Allah therefore had to preforce again send the same message of Islam through a messenger. This was repeated many times till Allah got fed up and sent down the original message for the last time in the form of the Quran through Mohammad the last messenger. This is how the Islamic theology goes.

It can be agreed that Allah does not have to send another messenger because the last message through Mohammad has remained intact upto the present and has Allah's own guarantee that it will remain intact till the end of time. However it cannot be denied that the majority of mankind has still not come to accept Allah's last ditch message and worse, many so-called believers have strayed from the message. The terrorists, for example (particularly so because Islam proclaims that it is a religion of peace). This being the case, when is Allah going to bring mankind onto his path? Does it mean that till the very end Allah would not have succeeded? Is it because he forsaw this being the case that he has revealed the apparatus of the last judgement? Does this, again, not mean that Allah has created a flawed creation and forever a part of his creation has to roast alive in hell as a proof of this?

The truth is that no God would have created anything imperfect. And indeed, there is no imperfection on earth. Hinduism proclaims this. It is only that many are not beneficiaries of this perfection because they are still in the ignorant mode of maya. But eventually everyone wakes up to the reality of perfection, after many lifetimes maybe, but wakes up nevertheless to see that there never was any imperfection and it was only an illusion. This is the Hindu teaching. Islam, unfortunately is straddled with an Allah who has been imperfect with his creation and punishes his creatures for it by roasting them eternally in hell.

This is why Islam is unable to go beyond the relationship of Master and slave between the creator and his creation whereas Hinduism proclaims that all creation is divine and we have just to wake up to this fact.

Science says, let's discover the ultimate before naming it. Islam says, we've named the ultimate Allah - and thereby all discovery ends.

2007-09-03T15:54:00.000+05:30

You [http://www.islam101.com/] have quoted the following in the beginning of your site:

"In the 1994 Pulitzer Prize winning photograph on the left, an African boy, nothing but a skeleton, was trying to crawl towards a U.N. Food Shelter, about one kilometer away. Behind his back, a few yards away was a vulture waiting for the boy to die to feast. The vulture did not attack the living boy. It could have. But it has God-given law that it follows. Even the animals have law of God that they obey. Not the man. So many governments, groups and individuals have become worst than the vultures! May God have Mercy on the suffering humanity!"

You say that the vulture could have attacked the boy but it did not because it follows a God-given law. You lament that man tends not to follow God-given laws. What you mean is that animals are totally programmed by God whereas man is not. That is to say, God has given man a free-will. Why do you think God did thus?

I think it is truer to say that there is no such God who programmed animals and gave man free-will. This is just the typical theory of people who need an eternal father figure for psychological reasons and who therefore ascribe all observable facts as His doing. Wouldn't it be more honest if we await what science would unfold by and by of the mysteries of the universe?

Suspend laws, end terrorism?

2007-09-03T14:33:00.000+05:30

If tough laws would add to terror, as a TOI survey contends, would doing away with laws end terrorism?

BJP - abandoning nationalism for appeasement

2007-09-03T10:43:00.000+05:30

The BJP’s greatest strength was its ideology of Hindutva, which it inherited from the RSS. Hindutva in politics is the working out of Hinduism’s vision of freedom – freedom from want, freedom from fear and indeed attaining the freedom of all freedoms – that of moksha. This covered the grounds of economics, defense and spirituality. However, somewhere down the line BJP appears to have become embarrassed by Hindutva, probably because it got infected by pseudo secularism, which it had earlier criticised. The fall is obvious because now the BJP has become a votary of restoring Wakf Land to the Muslims.

Right from its inception, the RSS has been organizing people not on the basis of their religion, but on the basis of Indian nationalism with a view to make our nation, the great ancient Hindu Rashtra, a glorious nation once more. Neither the RSS nor the BJP sought to attract people on the basis of religion. And those attracted towards it were taught to be Indians first and Indians last. But this appears to have changed.

BJP is now seeking Muslim votes by promising to get Wakaf lands back for them, without any attempt to teach the Muslims that the Indian nation ought to be greater than Islam, which is a product of Arabic nationalism – that there ought to be an Islam rooted in Indian culture which says that though the truth is one, it is expressible in many ways. This proves that the Muslim leaders in the BJP have themselves not imbibed the nationalism that the Sangha Parivar seeks to have imbibed on its members. Instead, its Muslim leaders are pandering to the exclusivity of Islam. It is even more ironic, considering that Muslims believe that once a Wakaf land, forever a Wakaf land, without the right of the state to even think of acquiring it for the greater common good. Precisely a case of diluting nationalism, which the BJP once swore to represent.

The BJP ought not to take its core constituency of nationalists for granted.

Consciousness and Awareness

2007-09-01T20:39:00.000+05:30

Consciousness is inherent in all living beings. When we humans use the power of consciousness to awaken to reality from moment to moment, it is called awareness.

Advani, lead the way

2007-08-27T12:09:00.000+05:30

The left is blackmailing the Congress on purportedly the Nuclear-deal but actually on their Anti-Americanism. While the BJP has consistently maintained that it was not against the nuclear-deal per se but only against some clauses in it, the impression was the BJP was opposing just for the sake of opposing and in the process imperiling our growing friendship with USA. It is well that Advani has now come out to clearly say that all that is required is an amendment in the Indian Atomic Energy Act to ensure that India’s sovereignty is not compromised in the deal. He has also pointed out that while the 123 agreement USA has with China says that the 123 agreement will override all national laws, the 123 agreement with India gives each nation the right to frame its stand to safeguard its national interest.

Advani, the great communicator. May he come on the centre-stage.

CPI-M hypocrisy

2007-08-23T17:31:00.001+05:30

Vis-a-vis opposing the nuclear deal and suporting the UPA government, CPI-M is hunting with the hounds and running with the hare. Their hypocrisy will be seen through. Worse, their mortal fear of the BJP.

Headless Chicken!

2007-08-23T12:31:00.000+05:30

The Left Brigade led by the Marxists and the ‘Secular’ brigade led by Lalu Prasad Yadav are against the Nuclear deal with America. The Left is pro-China and their communist blood is unable to bear the thought that India with the help of America would become stronger than a China ruled by communists. Whereas the secular brigade would prefer we settled with a pipeline deal with Iran through Pakistan because that is what the Muslim constituency would want. It is unfortunate that the BJP is keeping company with the Left-Secular-Islamic alliance. BJP should support Manmohan Singh on the nuclear deal with America. Otherwise we would fit the tag of headless chicken as colourfully put by Ronen Sen.

Hindus – yes to refugees, no to infiltrators. Muslims – contrary?

2007-08-21T15:47:00.000+05:30

India has, for ages, been the refuge of the persecuted. From the Jews after the sack of their temple in Jerusalem, Arab merchants, Parsees from Persia, Syrian Christians, Armenians, Tibetans fleeing the Communist purge, Bangladeshis upon Pakistani genocide to the Sri Lankan Tamils escaping Sinhalese persecution.

Today when Taslima Nasreen has sought refuge in our land, it is in keeping with our tradition to offer her refuge. This would reflect the space we afford for everyone, no matter what their convictions. A space of inviolability produced by the Hindu culture of acceptance.

Hindus by and large welcome her whereas Muslims appear to be against offering her refuge as they have no space for contrarian religious opinion. The irony here is that when it comes to infiltrators, whether from Pakistan or Bangladesh, the Mullahs do not hesitate to provide logistical support to amalgamate them inconspicuously into the population at large while organizations like the Shiv Sena want the infiltrators to be sent back.

Is this difference of approach what it is that makes one a nationalistic and the other an anti-nationalist?

BJP should support Manmohan Singh.

2007-08-20T19:36:00.000+05:30

20th August, 2007.

With the BJP having already said they are not per-se against the nuclear deal but only against some clauses in it, they should support Manmohan Singh at least morally on this issue. We cannot have the Leftists and supporters of Islamic Talibanisation (the so-called secular parties) break our growing relationship with USA. The pseudo-secular parties of India are, inter-alia in opposing the deal, pitching for an Indo-Iran alliance! In order to challenge Talibanisation, let the Hindutva forces align with America and Christians world-wide.

Talibanised polity

2007-08-20T19:09:00.000+05:30

I do not fear God for the simple reason that God is not someone out there for me. How can I fear my own essence? Marxists are such folks that they would even support Pakistan if Pakistan can help destroy Hindutva forces. And all Indian polity, with the exception of those who have come out of the playing fields of the Shakha, are willing to appease Muslims to such an extend that they would not mind the Muslim polity in India becoming Talibanised. Hard facts, my friend.

India Talibanised?

2007-08-18T20:05:00.000+05:30

By now the Indian masses should have been out on the streets protesting against Islamic intolerance. This is not happening because the Congress and Left, being natural allies and running most of the governments since independence, have been lulling the majority Hindus to be politically correct in appeasing the minorities. If it were not for the RSS and the unmeasured strength and influence of the sanyasis and gurus of India, we would have already become an Islamic satellite nation. The only way to save the integrity of India and the Hindus is to strengthen the RSS and honour our sanyasis and gurus. Otherwise, as Neeraj Agarwal says, http://www.ndtvblogs.com/views/viewcomments.asp?gl_guid=&blogname=khabarbazaar&q_blogid=18747&ref=8/18/2007%207:56:52%20PM the Taliban dream will be realised.

Taslima and M.F. Hussain - Facts vs. Imagination

2007-08-14T18:16:00.000+05:30

[This is in response to the blog “Why Muslims hate Taslima Nasreen” by Ansari Mohammed Rehan.]

http://www.ndtvblogs.com/views/viewcomments.asp?gl_guid=&blogname=rehan&q_blogid=18553&ref=8/14/2007%205:27:31%20PM

Unless there is freedom of expression, humans will be stunted. Only through freedom can truth be discovered, lived or re-lived.

To compare Taslima and M.F. Hussain is misplaced. Taslima's was a rebellion against the Islamic society that she felt was oppressing women. She is or was herself a Muslim. Whereas M.F.Hussain was simply giving wings to his imagination when he painted, for example, Sita riding nude on Hanuman's tail. While freedom of expression includes freedom to run riot imaginatively, Hussain has consistently chosen Hindu icons to be colourful with. Why no icons from his own religious world of Islam? Thus I would see M.F. Hussain as a hypocrite whereas Taslima's is a cry of an oppressed womanhood under Islam.

Another point. For example, I might find it questionable that a much married man in his 50s who again marries a 9 year old girl is touted as a model of mankind and may write about it. Would I thereby be charged for character assassination or hurting of religious sentiments? The point is, I would be basing my expression on facts like Taslima and not on imagination like Hussain.

The essence of Islam

2007-08-13T15:39:00.000+05:30

13.08.07

[Pursuant to attack on Taslima]

The essence of Islam is not just faith, but its establishment as the chosen religion for mankind. This alone explains its determination to silence opposition. Christianity was in the same league, but Christians, awakened by the forces of secularism and democracy, have by and large reduced the Church's role to just ministering the flock and not as an arbiter of mankind's destiny. Since the Muslims do not have a church but only loose cannon Mullahs, there is a need to sober them to reality. Appeasing them, as secularism in India tends to do, would not sober the Mullahs. Only a zero-tolerance approach to fanaticism would do it. Would India rise to the occasion?

Taslima and intolerent Islam

2007-08-09T22:49:00.000+05:30

[On reading that Taslima was attacked in Hyderabad by Muslims for criticizing Islam.]

Truth does not need to be defended. The greatest truth is that we are God, as expounded in the Advaitic vision. There has never been any history of anyone dying or killing to protect or spread this vision. On the other hand, Islam, which is an idolatrous religion par excellence as it seeks to place Allah on a pedestal never to be questioned but only followed slave-like, would naturally go to war to protect its God. Because unlike Hindu idol worshippers, the Muslims believe their single idol Allah created them (and everything else). The Hindu idol worshipers know they created the idols in order to discover God within themselves. Therefore expect Muslim intolerance and violence in the name of Allah to continue unabated so long as there are people who believe that Islam is a stunted religion.

The You Tube challenge

2007-07-24T15:33:00.000+05:30

The biggest challenge yet to the reading habit may come from You Tube. When we can select the subject we want to hear, with the bonus of seeing the speaker or the background being described. The book, at least to new readers, may seem too much of a bother. But no one having gone through the thrill of snuggling into bed and into a mystical world with a promising book would trade their book for anything else - the You Tube challenge notwithstanding.

Response to a typical Muslim blog

2007-07-04T19:49:00.000+05:30

[NDTV these days have so mined their comments slot that it is difficult to get a comment through unscathed. I post my comments to a typical Muslim blog here]

You say if you consider leaders, scholars and scientists proportionate to their population, Muslims have produced more leaders than any other ethnic group. Here, I think you are forgetting the Jews. And if you consider over the entire span of human civilization, then it has to be the Hindus, because they are the longest surviving cultural group. Again, if you consider just the so-called modern period, then the contribution of Muslims to modern science, discovery and technology is almost zilch.

About fundamentalism being present in all religions, it is only Mohammad the founder of Islam who showed his fundamentalist (intolerant) tendencies by destroying the idols of others’ religions.

The RSS is a nationalistic organization and just because India does not find a mention in the Quran, do not think she is not sacred. India is the field of mankind’s most successful spiritual quests and therefore India is sacred and believing so is nationalism. There is nothing fanatical about it. It is all about reverence.

Many Hindus oppose secularism because in India secularism has come to mean appeasing the Muslims for votes.

Godse is a hero because he saw the partition of India as an unforgivable sin. But he erred in holding Gandhi responsible for it. He should have bumped-off Jinnah, one of the persons who have made it to your ‘Great-Muslims’ list. Maybe he thought that Jinnah stands exposed anyway and it is Gandhi that needs to be exposed. He chose to do it, unfortunately, rather dramatically.

Muslims have never co-exited peacefully with other faiths. Jinnah’s two-nation theory is proof of it.

When I comment, I reiterate, I do not mean Muslims as individuals or even as a community. I only refer to Muslims who portray themselves as blue-blooded products of Islam. In this respect I see neither Dr. Kalam nor Azim Premji as products of Islam. It is their excellence in the secular fields that has made them what they are. Moreover, their mindset is unlikely to invalidate others’ religions, unlike a loyal Muslim who insists only Islam is valid.

An ode to RSS

2007-06-25T21:24:00.000+05:30

I do not know what your experience of the RSS is, but to the best of my experience, they are wholly dedicated to inculcating nationalism in the hearts of the populace at large. That they choose to call this nationalism Hindu nationalism does not reduce their nationalism to just those who believe in Hinduism. For the RSS the word Hindu is akin to Bharath, as in Bharath Mata ki Jai. However, I must concede that the BJP has not been successful enough in upholding the national vision of the RSS in the field of politics - they often find it difficult to transcend electoral compulsions. Nevertheless, due to the unfading light of nationalism emanating from the RSS, we shall pass through the present darkness and live to see resurgent India as the pride of humanity.