The Quran and other publications

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

Illitrate Mohammad and his masterpiece Quran

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

Can neither be destroyed nor needs to be created.

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

On imitation sans understanding

22.01.07

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

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