Do all religions have the same goal?

The following is a report of the talk by Swami Dayananda Saraswathi at the Narada Gana Sabha last year on one of the most fashionable myth. Though, it has been quite some time since this event happened, it is worth knowing the Sanyasis' thoughts...

Swami Dayananda Saraswathi’s luminous eloquence on a subject of imperative importance: Do all religions have the same goal?

’Only Hindus believe all religions have the same goal. All religions must have a goal and there is no doubt about it. But, they need not be the same or they cannot be the same. Religions are for human beings and not for Gods’; said Swami Dayananda Saraswathi.

While categorizing the religious goals as ‘Dharma’ and ‘Moksha’, Swamiji said that all religions are connected to Dharma and asked, ‘is Dharma universal? Is it religion specific? Does each religion have its own views on Dharma?’
Delving deep on Dharma, Swamiji took the concept of ‘Ahmisa’ and clarified that Ahimsa is not universal.

He connected the concept of Ahimsa to the ‘survival instinct’ of all living beings. ‘There is no exception to the survival instinct and no living being wants to get hurt and no one has the right to hurt others! Ahimsa is not subject to double standards! One can have ones own belief and promote one’s religion by respecting others irrespective of their beliefs.

The ‘freedom’ must not be abused! Though we believe in ‘Ahimsa Paramo Dharma’, other theologies believe in hurting others by various means to achieve their goal. There, the ends do not justify means. For them only end is sacred and not the means and hence they indulge in deception, seduction and coercion,’ averred the Swamiji.

He said that the Abrahamic religions do not accept even one common value whether it is Ahimsa or Mutual Respect or what ever.

Elaborating more on Dharma, Swamiji said, ‘Dharma has a matrix of values to make our choice and we can choose either to do, or not to do, or to differently do! Dharma is not a mandate of God, but a manifestation of God and its basis is knowledge, which doesn’t require to be taught.

This aspect brings the ‘universality of Dharma”. Swamiji added, ‘though law is subject to interpretation, in terms of Dharma all indigenous religions held more or less the same view until they are destroyed’.

Dayananda Saraswathi clearly distinguished between the ‘Moksha’ concept of Sanatana Dharma and the so-called ‘salvation’ propagated by other religions. He said, ‘other religions publicize ‘going to heaven’ as salvation. For them salvation is the need of a condemned or a damned person. They wax eloquent on ‘sin’, ‘sinners’ and ‘saviour’ and they save only sinners!

In the process, they address people of other faiths as ‘sinners’ and say that their God alone can save those sinners. We are not sinners; we are not born out of sin, not in this country; if others say that we are born out of original sin, then they are insulting our parents; we Hindus have highest respect for our parents and we will never subscribe to the view that they are sinners; this is ridiculous! Our prayer must be ‘Oh god, save me from these saviours! They also claim that their God alone can pardon us, save us from our sins for our salvation. They even claim that their God died for us! If somebody died for me, I am not responsible! I have the freedom to take care of myself and I am aware of it’.

Analysing the concept of going to heaven Swamiji said, ‘the other religions talk about heaven as a place, where one can stay permanently and happily without any problem, which are all ‘non-verifiable’ beliefs. Life after death and going to heaven are all non-verifiable.

When you say you are going to a place, then it must be bound by space and time. They say ‘heaven’ is the place of their God, but they also say that their God is ‘formless’. Does ‘formlessness’ require a location? A belief is subject to correction and verification! We believe in different forms of God and that He understands our prayers, which we conduct in different languages.

When a human can respond to different calls and catcalls, God can understand any number of languages. We also believe reaching heaven is a result of ‘Punya’, which in turn is the result of Prayer. Prayer is ‘Karma’ containing specific valid and sophisticated rituals. ‘Karma’ comes from the ‘Kartha’ and as Karthas, we earn Punya by the Karmas of Charity, Dharma, Bakthi, pooja, meditation and penance etc.

When our Punya gets exhausted, we come down to the earth, which means the permanent stay in heaven is denied. When all religions hold non-verifiable beliefs and if all religions accept others religious practices and their beliefs, how can there be a ‘dispute’? Only ‘harmony’ must be there!’

Swamiji concluded by saying, ‘this Jagath (world) is the manifestation of ‘Eshwara’ and ‘Dharma’ is Eshwara and it is non-negotiable. For us, the ‘means’ is much more important than the ‘goal’. We will follow Dharma in our means and God will take care of our end’

For full article refer source:
http://newstodaynet.com/newsindex.php?section=26&id=9383

Tulasi to the rescue of Taj

Jan. 26: Thousands of tulsi (basil) saplings were planted around the Taj Mahal in Agra on Monday to insulate the marble monument against atmospheric pollution
The saplings were distributed free at several points in the city by local forest officials and people were encouraged to participate in the plantation drive.
Organic India Pvt Ltd, a multinational company based in Lucknow that exports tulsi products to the US, Europe and Israel, has extended support to the programme.
Zonal forest conservator R.P. Bharti said that the plantation had been taken up on a massive scale on forest land, between rows of tall trees. “We have a target of planting 20 lakh tulsi plants within the next two months. We are also asking various schools and gram panchayats to join us in this drive,” he said.
According to the official, the tulsi plants will serve to insulate the Agra environment from pollution and will indirectly take care of the health of the heritage monuments, including the Taj Mahal. “The tulsi plant has very good absorptive quality that cleans the air of foul gases. Because the plant has religious significance too, we expect the people to take care of it,” he explained.
The target in the first phase of the drive is to plant 1,00,000 saplings. The department has short-listed the NGOs to be invited to join the effort. The idea is to concentrate on colonies adjacent to the Taj Mahal, mainly Taj Nagri, Shastri Puram, and Kamla Nagar.

Source: Deccan Chronicle

Revamping the IPS

Click on the image (newspaper cutting) below to read the article. An article by an IPS officer on the need to revamp the entire IPS system. Read ahead....

What’s wrong with Islamic community?

M V Kamath

The trouble with India is that it is indestructible. One may hast it, mash it and ground it to the dust but next morning it is up again, wearing a cheerful smile and a forgiving countenance. What can one possibly do to destroy this nation which is a civilization, more that a nation? Starting with the year AD1,000 with Ghazni Mohammad’s invasion, it has faced wave after wave of barbarian attacks from Central Asia, Afghanistan and Europe with equanmity. It was the same story in 2008.

But what does India do? It sends a satellite to the moon, equalling the engineering talents of four of hte 192 member countries of the United Nations who have achieved that feat. If anybody deserves a Bharat Ratna, it is G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman of ISRO. Barbarians, terrorists, jihadists and their like may come and go, but India that is Bharat merrily goes on for over, busying itserlf with science, arts and other civilizational mores. Madhavan Nair and his colleagues represent that side of India. But there is something sick about India’s neighbouring country, Pakistan which has given birth to terrorists - ‘gunmen’ as the BBC so delicately describes them - whose mindset is inexplicable, and with many Indian Muslims as well. And one wants to know what it is that turns even educated young men to resort to mindless killing.

Can someone tell? Three Muslim terrorists accuse of setting up serial blasts in different parts of India, all three in their early 20s had this to say of why they had taken to terrorism, Zia-ur-Rehman, 24, has been quoted as saying: This is jihad for Allah. It is against Maharashtra, for ignoring the Srikrishna Report .... I have no regrets. Mohammad Shakeel, 26, a final year student of economics at Jamia Milia Islamic was angry because in India, according to him, Muslimsare not welcome! There are two options, live a life full of contempt, get abused and insulted, or protest in the name of Allah... I experienced an awakening after I committed my life to Allah. Now, nothing scares me is his explanation. Another Jamia Milia student, Saquib Nisar felt that it is difficult to be a Muslim in India, so he took to jihad ‘for Allah’. And what did they get by setting up serial blasts in four cities and killing a few innocent people? Did they become more welcome to their fellow citizens? And how many more people would they like to kill to get accepted as friends? Apparently these questions have never occurred to them or to leaders like Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, Chief of Lashkar - i - Taiba, Zakir Rehman Lakhvi, Operations Commander of L-I.T in Pakistan who had directed the Mumbai killings, Safdar Nagori, chief of the students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Syed Salahuddin, chief of Hizbul Mujahideen, Mufti Abu Bashar, of the Indian Mujahideen or Manlana Masood Azar, chief of Pakistan - based Jaish-e-Mohammed. Killing is all.

If young Muslims feel isolated, Should’t they ask why it is so? If Muslims insist on isolating themselves, wearing a skull cap to assert their Islamic individuality, forcing their women to wear burqa, refusing to let their daughters get higher education and otherwise refusing to join the mainstream, why blame the majority community? One available explanation is that the Muslims in India have still not reconciled themselves to the reality that they are no longer the rulers to dictate to the majority and in fact, numerically they are in a minority demographically and politically. Hence the internalising of their angst. During centuries of Mughal or Muslim rule, Hindus too, looked inward, but they did not take to terrorism; instead, they took to business and commerce and even more significantly, they found a measure of peace in the Bhakti Cult. It gave them inner comfort, though, for a brief period, there was an upsurge of revolt in Bengal that Bankim Chandra Chatterjee has imortalised in his classic novel Anand Mutt, which talks of a sanyasi rebellion. One is reminded of that when one roads about Sadhvi Pragya.

Then there is the matter of language. Urdu is not the language only or specifically, of Muslims. To make that as a unifying factor for all Muslims is to separate them from their fellow countrymen. Muslims in kerala by necessity have to accept Malayalam as their mother tongue as Muslims in Bengal should treat Bengali. Christians have no such linguistic problem. There is no ‘Christian’ language as such. In her excellent book ‘The Trouble with Islam Today’, Irshad Manji raises the point effectively. She asks: ‘Do Christians make each other feel inadequate for not knowing Greek, the original language of the New Testament? There was a time when Christianity could only be observed in Latin which protected the power of the Vatican’s clerics. Muslims have no Vatican’. But the trouble is; they have mullahs. Christians in Germany speak German, those in France in French etc. Similarly, Muslims in Turkey speak in Turkish and those in Indonesia is Bhasha Indonesia.

That hasn’t made them less Christians or Muslims. But Muslims in India, in an effort to remember the past, want to stick to the Mughal language, urdu, thus killing any possibility of Hindu Muslim togetherness, throughout the country. Why blame Hindus for being a people apart? It is not Hindus who have isolated Muslims. This is a self-inflicted wound by Muslims themselves. India may be a Hindu-majority country, but in no state has any governenment imposed jiziya on Muslims. No state has made any effort to forcibly convert Muslims to Hindus. No state has passed orders that Muslims cannot drive cars as a similar order was passed during Muslim rule when Hindus were not permitted to move in planquins. If anything, Muslims are the most pampered minority in India and the Centre even has a Ministry for Minorities presided over by that joker, Abdur Rehman Antulay. Indian government both at the Central and state levels bend bacward to be helpful to Muslims in the matter of Haj pilgrimage, but apparently our jihadis think they are entitled to such privileges, in defiance of all rules of secularism.

The tragedy is that Muslim youth today insist on staying away from all contacts with other communities and in their self - inflicted alienation, dream up all sorts of fancied hurts. There is not much that the majority community can do except to grin and hear the mindless terrorism inflicted on them which only widens the divide between them and Muslims. But where is the leadership among Muslims to help resolve negative thinking among their young and work hand- in- hand with the rest as follow-Indians working towards peace and prosperity to be shared by all?

The fooling of alienation is all in the mind. Muslims can get over it on their own, but only if they wish to. If they do, one can assure them, they will find that there is no paradise on earth greater then ‘Bharat’ that is India.

Source: http://newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&catid=58

A forgotten hero

Vasudev Balwant Phadke (1845 - 1883)

What the Indian Sepoys tried to do in 1857, the Marathas in three bitter wars and the Sikhs tried in 1840, but failed, one man attempted: to take on the mighty British Empire single handed.

Much of his doings are recorded in his own diary, written while hiding in a Hindu temple from the police. He describes how his feeling were stirred by the terrible famine that gripped western India in 1876/77 and realised that the miseries of India were the consequences of foreign oppressive rule.

Hence in true Hindu spirit he took a vow to stir armed rebellion and destroy the British power in India and re-establish Hindu Raj. For this he did not turn to the effeminate upper classes of India, who could not and cannot revert to such direct action but instead he turned to the sturdy rural Marathas who formed the bulk of the famous Hindu Maratha cavalry that had smashed the pride of Afghans and Mughals and only subsided after three wars with the British.

Here he found ready and able soldiers 'First of all I went to Narooba Wada to perform my prayers and then coming and going on the road I turned the peoples minds against the British . I wished to ruin them. From morning to night, bathing, eating, sleeping I was brooding on this and I could get no proper sleep.

'At midnight I would awake and think how the ruin of the western oppressors would be achieved until I was as one mad. I learnt to fire at targets, to ride and sword and club exercise. I had a great love of arms and always kept two guns and swords'

Phadke began to raid and cut the communications of the British and to raid their treasury. From Dhamari to Khed his fame began to collect. With each raid his monetary position increased, as did the numbers of followers in his desperate cause.

'A child being born does not at once become a man but grow little by little and I saw my struggle with the British as such, from collecting small bands of raiders, to looting the treasuries to raising a band then an army of men for freedom . If I find that there is no success in this world then I shall go to the next to plead for the people of India'

The British government had put a price on his head by now but his following was gradually spreading. At the village of Ghanur he fought an engagement with the British army following which Phadke announced a reward for the killing of each European on a sliding scale depending on that mans position.

For some time he kept up a heroic unequal struggle with the British and their Pathan underlings under Abdul Haque.

Eventually after a fierce fight he was captured in Hyderabad on 21 July 1879. He was charged for waging war against the British government which was proved by his own diary and his statements in court.

There was great public enthusiasm during his trial and vast crowds collected daily to hear him speak to the point where the British were taken aback by his appeal to the common man.

A newspaper 'Deccan Star' in 1880 wrote 'In the eyes of his countrymen, Vasudev Balwant Phadke did not commit any wrong . he showed spirit in trying to relieve the miseries of his countrymen . [and] by sacrificing himself he has averted the danger which sooner or later must follow intolerable oppression. We must consider him a harbinger of good fortune for India'

Realising that he was far too dangerous an individual to remain in India he was transported for life to prison in Aden. He was fettered and placed in solitary confinement. Nevertheless on 13 October 1880 this undaunted man pulled off the door by its hinges and escaped. Unfortunately, he was shortly captured again.

Realising that life was now intolerable and unable to live under the bondage of the hated British he went on hunger strike and this noble son of India died on 17 February 1883.

Here was a single man standing out against what was one the most powerful empires the world has ever seen. The seeds he left grew into a mighty banyan tree with its shoots all over the nation within a short period of time. Soon the guns were booming for freedom all over from the Chaperkar brothers in Maharasthra, the Ghadr movement in Punjab to the revolutionaries in Bengal. He can, with justice, be called the father of militant nationalism and Hindutva in India. It is unfortunate that the stories of such heroes came to be negated under the Nehruivian regime which self-righteously took all credit for India's independence movement.

There are so many unknown heroes in the history of Indian freedom struggle just like him and their contribution to our freedom movement was overshadowed by so called "AHINSAWADIS"."

Source: www.iitralumni.net

Herd of donkeys following the Slumdog

Sorry for another post on the "Slumdog Millionaire" but what hurts me most is people feel proud that a movie about India has received the Golden Globe (in the form of Rahman) and has won 10 nominations to the Oscars. But will the people ever wake up to the real question of what price we have paid for the Global Globe and may be even an Oscar? The movie seems to portray nothing good about India or Hindus. Any Indian in his senses would know who are those responsible for terrorism. A Golden Globe or even an Oscar is as much of value as the money one earns by pimping ones own mother (I am really sorry If I have been harsh but it pains to see Indians following all the rubbish the media comes up with like a herd of donkeys without any thinking). The following seems to be the message from all those Indians who are proud of the 'achievements' of the movie: "Sell India, Earn fame, recognition, money and dont worry we are there to make you heroes"!.... Shame on us!

Slumdog is about defaming Hindus
By Kanchan Gupta
In keeping with American politics of the times, Slumdog Millionaire has been nominated for as many as 10 Oscars and our deracinated media, which constantly looks for inspirational ‘good news’ stories that invariably revolve around Western appreciation of ‘truthful’ portrayal of the Indian ‘reality’, has gone into a tizzy. Saturday’s edition of a newspaper published from New Delhi had a blurb on the front page that read, “The Slumdog story: How ‘Danny uncle’ and his ‘moral compass’ created the biggest ‘Indian’ blockbuster — and why you should watch it.” Predictably, the chattering classes, who had been blissfully ignorant of Vikas Swarup’s Q and A (as they had been of Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger till its perverse denigration of India and all things Indian wowed the judges of last year’s Man Booker prize) are now making a beeline for the nearest bookshop for a copy of the novel, whose title has been suitably changed to Slumdog Millionaire so that the book and the film are eponymous and both publisher and producer can encash the extraordinary hype that has been generated. Late last year, there was similar hoopla over AR Rahman getting the Golden Globe award for the music he has scored for Slumdog Millionaire. An approving pat on the back by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, it would seem, is the most important marker in an artiste’s career. Those Indian musicians who haven’t got the Golden Globe are not worthy of honour at home just as Sahitya Akademi award winners are not worthy of finding space on our bookshelves, leave alone feature on news pages or news bulletins.

The larger point is not really about going gaga over an American award or a British prize, but how they are seen as India being admitted into the charmed circle whose membership is strictly controlled and is by invitation only. That invitation invariably follows a certain pattern; it’s not merely the keepers of the gate chanting, “Eeny meeny miny mo, catch a tiger by his toe, if he hollers let him go…” Apart from the fact that the ‘tigers’ in this case are not hollering but salivating at the prospect of seeing themselves clutching a handful of trophies on Oscar night, the nomination process is far more rigorous than we would think, with filters to keep out those films and books that do not serve the judges’ purpose or pander to their fanciful notions — in this case, of India. Aravind Adiga crafted his novel in a manner that it could not but impress the Man Booker judges who see India as a seething mass of unwashed hordes which worship pagan gods, are trapped in caste-based prejudices, indulge in abominable practices like untouchability, and are not worthy of being considered as an emerging power, never mind economic growth and knowledge excellence. Similarly, Danny Boyle has made a film that portrays every possible bias against India and structured it within the matrix of Western lib-left perceptions of the Indian ‘reality’ which have little or nothing in common with the real India in which we live.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Boyle’s film is about a slum where extreme social exclusion, political suppression and economic deprivation define the lives of its inhabitants. He has made every effort to shock and awe the film’s audience by taking recourse to graphic and gory portrayal of bloodthirsty Hindu mobs on the rampage — the idiom that defines India as it is imagined by the lib-left Western mind — laying to waste Muslim lives (a Hindu is shown slitting a Muslim woman’s throat in an almost frame-by-frame remake of the videotape that was released by the killers of Daniel Pearl) and property. There’s more that makes you want to throw up the last meal you had: Hindu policemen torturing Muslims by giving them ‘electric shock therapy’, street children being physically disfigured and then forced to beg, and such other scenes of a medieval society where rule of law does not exist and every Hindu is a rapacious monster eager to make a feast of helpless Muslims.

Nor is it surprising that Boyle should have cunningly changed the name of the film’s — as also the book’s — protagonist from Vikas Swarup’s Ram Mohammad Thomas (a sort of tribute to the Amar Akbar Antony brand of ‘secularism’ which was fashionable in the 1970s) to Jamal Malik. The name implies a Kashmiri connection, and we can’t put it beyond Boyle suggesting a link between Jamal’s travails — it is his mother whose throat is shown as being slit by a Hindu — and the imagined victimhood of Kashmir’s Muslims who, the lib-left intelligentsia in the West insists, are ‘persecuted by Hindu India’. Asked about the protagonist’s name being changed, Swarup is believed to have said that it was done to “make it sound more politically correct”. There is a second hidden message: The Hindu quizmaster on the ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ show has doubts about Jamal, who gets all the questions right, not because he is a ‘slumdog’ but because he is a Muslim; so he sets India’s Hindu police on the hapless boy. Swarup did not quite put it that way in his book, but the film does so, and understandably the critics in Hollywood who sport Obama buttons are impressed.

The last time depravity was portrayed as the Indian ‘reality’ was when Roland Joffé did a cinematic version of Dominique Lapierre’s City of Joy. In that film, the Missionaries of Charity were shown as the saviours of an India trapped in filth, squalor, poverty and Hindu superstition. Some two decades later, Boyle has rediscovered Joffé’s India and made appropriate changes to fit his film into the Hindu-bad-Muslim-good mould so that it has a resonance in today’s America where it is now fashionable to look at the world through the eyes of Barack Hussein Obama.

In her review of the film, “Shocked by Slumdog’s poverty porn”, Alice Miles writes in The Times: “Like the bestselling novel by the Americanised Afghan Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Slumdog Millionaire is not a million miles away from a form of pornographic voyeurism. Slumdog Millionaire is poverty porn.” Commenting on the BBFC's decision to “place this work in the comedy genre”, she says, “Comedy? So maybe that’s it: I just didn't get the joke.” It’s doubtful whether most Indians, Hindus and Muslims, would get it either if they were to watch Slumdog Millionaire.

Why do we?

A detailed explanation of the reasons for various practices of Hinduism ranging from why do we break coconuts to why fast to what namaste means in addition to a range of other practices of Sanatan Dharma. Know why do we!

Hindu Rituals & Routines

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Academic Work Religion & Spiritual Religion-Hinduism hindu rituals & rout

10 Questions on Hinduism - How many can you answer?

A nice collection of ten most important (or basic) questions and convincing answers. Very often we may find ourselves at the receiving end of these questions either from foreigners to our country and also from our own people yet foreigners to our religion and culture. Read ahead and next time any one quizzes you on these questions, shoot forth these conclusive answers

Hindu 10 Questions

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Hinduism Religion hindu Religion

On “Slumdog Millionaire” & Prejudices - By Saurav Basu

        Back in the good old days when Satyajit Ray often made the most sublime neo-realistic cinema, one Ms. Nargis Dutt caustically charged him with selling Indian poverty abroad. Yet, Satyajit Ray”s films did not feature Calcutta”s slums but the villages of Bengal. There was an undercurrent of poverty in his major films like Pather Panchali, Aparajito and Pratidwandhi but there was human irony. No romanticizing poverty yet ultimately a resounding affirmation of human dignity. Who can forget the immortal scene in Aparajito where a guilt ridden Apu, a poor Brahmana boy rejects his priestly duties towards his mother”s last rites and opts to pursue a modern education instead. Ray”s father was a Brahmo and he himself a recalcitrant Hindu, yet his cinema encompassed everything that represented the best and the worst of Indian civilization ethos.

        Through the vicissitudes of times, India has emerged as a global economy shedding both its Nehruvian rate of growth and the associated stereotypes, although we are admittedly a third world country with sub Saharan level hunger and human development indices. Yet, a share of its misfortune may be attributed to being surrounded by two failed states whose burdens of jihadi terrorism and poverty India has to suffer. Even the slum is an artificial socio-political construct and misrepresents Indian poverty. Indian slums have unpaid electricity accounts yet even today thousands of Indian villages wait electrification; slums have NGOs operating in vain while villages still await their first permanent school buildings. Slums create and sustain criminals yet millions of Indian villages represent a morally and ethical superior way of life and hospitality. Slums in India are infested by some over 30-40 million illegal Bangladeshi migrants who constitute a sizable secular votebank.

        But contemporary film making seems to have appreciated little of these ground realities; instead we find a rehash of the old and improbable rags to riches story in an ultra-regressive style. A magnificent Mumbai slum, two Muslim brothers, a Hindu mob killing innocent Muslim women, criminally amputated children singing Surdas”s songs, Hindu policemen torturing an innocent Muslim boy and a diabolic Hindu game-show host who hands his Muslim contestant to his Hindu police which hates the Amnesty international, and voila, you have all the ingredients for a “secular” potboiler which is on the road to the Oscars! You might argue that it”s not realistic but only fantasy since there is greater probability of winning the jackpot on a lottery ticket without being abused by the police than winning the top prize on a quiz show with 15 unique questions.

        But then you can be kidding with the graphic depiction of blood curdling anti Muslim riot in which a Hindu mob slits the children”s mother, the Indian policeman electrocuting the Muslim suspect or the gory scene of the amputation of the street children by the mafia who are then forced to sing Surdas”s bhajans. The book by Vikas Swarup has the main protagonist named as Ram Mohammad Thomas who was conveniently transformed into a Muslim boy, Jamal Malik who lost his mother to a Hindu mob to make it sound in the author”s own confession more “politically correct.”

        When was the last time in Indian History when an unprovoked Hindu population took to violence? For the recordthe Mumbai riots were incited by fanatical Muslim mobs in the face of the Baburi Masjid demolition. Moreover, it beats me how the consequent Mumbai bomb blasts triggered by local Muslim gangs can be disassociated from the Mumbai riots? And the much maligned Bombay Police recently lost sixteen of its bravest men while defending the city”s freedom of speech and expression against Islamist zealots who wanted to replicate in India, a 7th century Arabia.

        More disturbingly, you have the depiction of the blue bodied Rama whom Hindus consider as Maryada Puroshottam[the best among men] threatening to terminate the existence of the innocent Muslim children. To a question on with which weapons is Lord Rama depicted with in popular iconography, Jamal Malik the protagonist does not remember the grand Ram Lilas which happen across the country or Ram Kathas on televisions. Instead, a Hindu kid dressed like immaculately like Lord Rama stand in the mid of a slum in a threatening pose. And one cannot miss the hatred being portrayed in the face and looks of that young Hindu kid, younger than even Jamaal. Even a 5 year old Hindu kid is a communal bigot and Rama is responsible for all the communal crap. Muslims are seculars and victims by definition. And we need one white director to tell these things to the whole world. Not only this we have forcibly amputated children singing Surdas”s bhajan pining for a glimpse of illusory Krishna?

        This insensitive jaundiced anti Hindu view is reminiscent of Indian leftist cinema where Hindu male characters are black and Muslims white! Remember, Mr and Mrs Iyer where a Hindu mob was searching for circumcised dicks and didn”t even spare a Jew in true Nazi fashion! Never mind that in world history, Hindus are the only people who don”t carry an atom of anti-Semitism, but the director”s flight of “secularist” fancy won critical acclaim. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya in his film Uttara shows a band of Hindu goons burning a Christian church made in service of the lord”s lepers and raping an orphan girl in the process. Expectedly, this rather original gruesome way of story-telling won him the national awards! In the Tamil hit, Dasavathaaram, we find an anti-historical situation fantasizing Shaivite intolerance against Vaishnavs where Ramanujam”s disciple is shown fighting Kulothunga Chola. Based on a solitary description of Chola antagonism in Ramanujam”s writings, we discover the Chola fanatic stealing the idol of Vishnu from Srirangam, ironically the same temple complex which was plundered at least five times by Islamic armies. Similarly, Kamal Hassan in his movie “Anbe Sivam”, shows a pious Shiva devotee injuring the hero who is rescued by a group of benevolent Christian nuns. Previously, in the 70s when anti-Brahmana movement in Tamil Nadu was at its peak, we had Brahmana priests routinely paraded as rascals in Tamil movies.

        “Islamic” sensitivities have extracted book bans from both British and Congress governments. Girja Kumar in his “Book on Trial” has reproduced dozens of cases where Hindu books critical of Islam or the Prophet were banned, and the authors faced arrest or were killed. Salman Rushdie”s flight and Taslima Nasrin”s plight is well known. Lajja almost faced a ban because she had exposed the genocide against Hindus in Bangladesh. Movies on the state of Kashmiri pundits, victims of Islamic genocide against Hindus of Bangladeshis, the Hindu victims of the North East against Christian separatism and also the historical crimes by the armies of Islam and inquisitory Christianity are taboo in a “secular country” They cannot see the light of the day because they are inimical to communal harmony and hurt minority sentiments.

        This ostentatious display of anti Hindu sentiment is of course lost on the jingoists or those ABCDs who go gaga over such pernicious cinema. Sincere critics questioning the dumb plot where a slum boy grows up into a sophisticated leftist JNU product with a flawless English accent are censured by appealing to the authority of the Golden globe awards. They keenly forget the film was precisely designed for that, appeal to the racial sensitivities of those who really matter! Therefore, even the liberation of Jamal is not through out of any indigenous worth, but through an internationally funded poverty alleviation game show [Kaun Banega Crorepati recedes into its international avatar, Who wants to become a millionaire].

Saurav Basu

Source: http://satyameva-jayate.org/2009/01/22/on-slumdog-millionnaire-prejudices-guest-post-by-saurav-basu/#comment-20429

Agnihotra Farming - Is it the future?

SHIMLA, HIMACHAL PRADESH, INDIA, January 11, 2009:

 The State Agriculture University in Himachal Pradesh is experimenting with a concept based on Vedic rituals to boost yield. “The 15 hectares of land within the University campus where the technique of ‘Homa Agnihotra Farming’ is under experiment for over two years is yielding good results,” said Director of Research Chaudhary Sarwan.

In this organic technique of environment-friendly farming, use of fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides is avoided. Plantation of crops is done keeping in mind the religious calendar, or panchangam. About a dozen scientists gather at the farm before sunrise and sunset everyday and chant mantras and perform puja for healthy growth of plants. According to Atul, the initial results have been encouraging as it kills harmful insects and plants are disease-free.

In 2006, the state government asked the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) to study the effect of Vedic mantras and rituals on agriculture and granted US$200,000.

The technique is gaining ground outside the University as well as many farmers in Baldul panchayat area are experimenting with the technique under the supervision of University scientists.

Source: Zee News

Related info at agnihotra.org

Vedic Chanting - Honoured By UNESCO

The oral tradition of Vedic chanting was declared an intangible heritage of humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In a meeting of jury members on November 7, 2003 at Paris, UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura declared the chanting of Vedas in India an outstanding form of cultural expressions.

The proclamation says, “In the age of globalization and modernization when cultural diversity is under pressure, preservation of the oral tradition of Vedic chanting - a unique cultural heritage - has great significance.” A total of 80 entries were received for this purpose from all over the world and the jury members included Dr. Richard Kurin, Director of the Center for Folklore and Cultural Heritage of the Smithsonian Institution (United Nations), Spanish author Juan Goytisolo, Yoshikazu Hasegawa from Japan, Ms. Olive W.M. Lewin, pianist, ethnomusicologist, and director of the Jamaica Orchestra for Youth.

The UNESCO declaration has brought international recognition to the excellence of the Vedic chanting tradition of India, which have survived for centuries encoding the wisdom contained in the Vedas through an extraordinary effort of memorization and through an elaborately worked out mnemonic methods. The purity and fail-safe technique devised for Vedic chanting in the ancient times has given us access to this invaluable ancient literature of humanity in its entirety.

India’s Department of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and Culture took the initiative to put up the candidature of the Vedic chanting to the UNESCO. A presentation was prepared by Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts in New Delhi. The Department has also created a five year action plan to safeguard, protect, promote and disseminate oral tradition of Vedic tradition in terms of their uniqueness and distinctiveness, encourage scholars and practitioners to preserve, revitalize and promote their own branch of Vedic recitation and direct the efforts primarily to help the tradition survive in its own context.

Source: Subhamoy Das, About.com
More info at:

http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg=EN&topic=mp&cp=IN

The light from Kanchi that illumined the world

The story about the life of one of the greatest rishis of modern India. He continues to be a tremendous source of inspiration for thousands. The person is none other than the Kanchi Shankaracharya Chandrashekarendra Saraswathi Swamigal. Watch and enjoy.

Jodha Akbar: Reel Vs Real

An article by Nachiketas in Newstoday on the movie Jodha Akbar. The article was authored at the time of its release. Though it may seem outdated, it is worth knowing who the real Akbar was. Beware of such films in the future. An excellent analysis of Fact Vs Fiction. Read ahead...

The release of Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodhaa Akbar has once again sparked off the debate on artistic freedom versus historical fact. Does Bollywood have a licence to distort history while making 'epic romances'?

The Rajputs are up in arms against the depiction of Jodhaa as Akbar's wife. However, is that the only controversial element of the movie? Does history validate the depiction of Akbar as a benevolent and tolerant emperor?

Reviewing the movie for AOL India, Noyon Jyoti Parasara writes, 'While your heart goes for the love between the two protagonists, the film leaves you at such heights of emotions that you would literally be shaking with excitement! The film also comes at a very right time as Akbar indeed could be a role model for people and rulers today. The king not only had a secular vision, but also a will to know what the common man wanted, apart from being kind hearted and noble.' (sic)
While gullible movie buffs like Parasara are being taken for a ride, the public would do well to keep their critical faculty alive while they are in the theatre. The research team hired by Ashutosh Gowariker (consisting of historians and scholars from New Delhi, Aligarh, Lucknow, Agra and Jaipur) seems to have fed him with an overdose of the secularised version of history that is usually taught to our kids through the official NCERT history textbooks.
Anyone who has read alternative narratives of Akbar’s life through original sources will be appalled to see the contrast of Jodhaa Akbar vs History:

Jodhaa Akbar: 14-year old Akbar refuses to behead Hemu and other enemy kings out of compassion. Bairam Khan does the dirty job for him and titles Akbar as a ‘Ghazi.’

History: Ahmad Yadgar, the Afghan historian records that Hemu was brought before Akbar unconscious, after he was injured by a chance arrow which struck his eye and was beheaded by Akbar himself. Hemu's head was sent to Kabul and hung outside Delhi Darwaza, while his torso was hung outside Purana Qila, to create terror amongst the Hindus. Acting in the spirit of a true Ghazi, Akbar constructed a victory pillar made from the heads of the dead soldiers, just like his grandfather Babur did. Pictures of such towers are displayed at the National Museum (New Delhi) and Panipat Museum (Haryana).

Jodhaa Akbar: Akbar was a kind hearted emperor who avoided bloodshed and plunder.

History: Vincent Smith in his Akbar the Great Mogul points out that Akbar ordered the massacre of 30,000 people (mostly peasants) who had taken shelter at Chittor Fort and let loose an army of 300 elephants on them! When the Rajputs in his service pleaded with him to stop this inhuman aggression on civilians, Akbar replied, 'I am in no mood to listen to the sound of good words. My ears are at present attuned only to enjoy the clang of the sword'. Blood, not nectar, holds the key to the success of a sovereign. Give me war. Peace is of no avail to me.'

Jodhaa Akbar: Akbar was a kind administrator who reduced the burden of taxation on the common man

History: Professor Meenakshi Jain, an expert on the history of the Mughal rule in India points out that, 'the sheer magnitude of the revenue demand under the Mughals is carefully concealed'. In many cases, the total tax liability of the peasants became so enormous that they were forced to sell their wives, children and cattle to meet the state demand. It is surely significant that almost sixty percent of the total Jama (state revenue) under Akbar was spent maintaining a military establishment in an era which saw no foreign invasions. In Kashmir for example, Akbar discovered that two-thirds of the crop was being extracted from the peasants and reduced it to 50 percent.

Jodhaa Akbar: Akbar adopted a policy of broad religious toleration, abolished Jizya and founded the new religious sect Din-i-Ilahi, much to the anger of the orthodox Muslim religious leaders of his time.

History: Abul Qasim Namakin, in his account Munshaat-i-Namakin quotes the fathnama-i-Chittor issued by Akbar after the brutal plunder of Chittor which speaks volumes of his tolerance: 'As directed by the word of Allah, we remain busy in jihad and we have succeeded in occupying a number of forts and towns belonging to the infidels and have established Islam there. With the help of our bloodthirsty sword we have erased the signs of infidelity from their minds and have destroyed temples in those places and also all over Hindustan.' This auspicious fathnama is in fact a foretaste of the victories to follow. Written by the Royal Order at Ajmer on 10th of the month of Ramzan 975 A.H.”

Such is the contrast between the Akbar of Ashutosh Gowariker’s imagination and the real Akbar of Indian history.

Source: http://newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&catid=29&id=5771

Arun Shourie on terrorism

A talk by Shri Arun Shourie on terrorism.

Oh! Asin

Tarun Vijay

I was about to title this column "Ghaznis in Kathmandu". The holiest shrine of the Hindus, the Shiva temple of Lord Pashupatinath in the former Hindu state of Nepal was stormed and desecrated. The chief priest was manhandled and forced to resign just because he happened to be of Indian origin.

In Nepal, there was a time when any sense of belonging to India brought glory and respect. Now, anyone with an Indian tag is insulted and humiliated. And look who is directing this hooliganism? Mr Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda, the darling of South Block who got a red-carpet welcome from the Hindus of the right, left and centre varieties. People in Delhi who know that he "butchered" 15,000 Nepalese Hindus in the last decade of his Maoist revolution were dying to have a handshake with him. We are like this only.

So the "butcher" got all the accolades, spoke sweet one-liners, like "our relations are Ayodhya-to-Janakpur-Dham-kind, cordial and civilizational", meaning Ram (Ayodhya)-Sita (Janakpur) bonds exist between India and Nepal. Wow!

And then he smiled in his Kathmandu office. Being the patron of the Pashupatinath Temple board by virtue of his post, he ordered that the chief priest must be of Nepali origin. His army of rogues, Young Communist league, stormed the temple, broke open its main gates, humiliated the chief priest, anointed the newly brought Mr Bishnu Dahal as chief priest, and hurrah! A revolution had just begun!

It's been three days since puja was conducted at the age-old temple, which has been synonymous with the identity of Nepal. Three gates out of four have been closed. I spoke to the ousted chief priest, Mahabaleshwar Bhatt. He seemed to be terrified in his home as if under house arrest. "No sir, " he said, "I have resigned on my own, I was not feeling physically fit to perform the onerous duties of chief priest. Everything will be right, I am sure, I trust in Shiva." And he hung up. Then I spoke to the Kanchi Shankaracharya. He was sad and anguished. He said that if a new priest had to be appointed, care should have been taken not to disrupt the puja and the new priest should have been well versed in performing the duties in the service of the lord.

Hindus of this Hindustan couldn't save the honour of our revered Shankaracharya. How can we expect them to save the honour of Pashupatinath in the neighbouring country?

The media and the channels sought to play down the episode. Just imagine, if the atheist Communists had stormed the Vatican or if Mecca was sought to be cleansed of "alien elements" by the anti-Saudi king elements, what would have been the reaction the world over?

This has happened in Nepal in spite of a Supreme Court stay against changing the priest. When the World Hindu Federation (Vishwa Hindu Mahasangh) people tried to hold a press conference in protest, it was attacked by the same Young Communist League elements. It was left to Rajnath Singh, BJP president, to speak to the president and the prime minister of Nepal conveying deep anguish of Hindus over the storming of the Pashupatinath Temple. But there are other Hindus too and they have a right to ask the PM and the super PM why they were silent. Would they have ignored an assault on a dilapidated mosque in Nepal? Or, to refresh everyone's memory, would they have remained silent if something of a similar nature had happened to non-Hindus in Denmark?

So I turned to Ghajini, the inexplicable name of a person whose last name is Dharmatma. The film is a beautiful remake of Memento. The hero, Sanjay, played by Aamir Khan, is deeply hurt and anguished because Ghajini Dharmatma, the bad, ugly villain, kills his beloved, Kalpana, played by a sparklingly charming Asin. And he takes revenge in a decisive manner, though he suffers from short-term memory loss, medically explained as '"anterograde amnesia". A handsome, wealthy, successful entrepreneur, who loves life and doesn't interfere in any other person's business, is turned into a highly disabled guy, for no fault of his. He becomes a loner and a dejected man who is left with nothing in this cruel world that would attract him. He is hurt. Hence he decides to take revenge on the person who killed his beloved.

Asin, I mean Kalpana in the movie, trusts everyone, tries to help every distressed person, and she dies, longing to be united with his love. Sanjay suffers brutalities, yet survives with a memory loss. He even forgets who his enemy is and starts following the enemy's instructions. But he is taken to the right path by a friend, takes revenge and wins public applause.

It has taught me a lesson. We, the Hindus, suffer pathetically from short-term memory loss. We forget that the leaders we trust take us nowhere. Yet we vote for them year after year. A Pashupatinath stormed makes small news. A Shankaracharya arrested and humiliated turns into secular celebration. Temples bombed are easily forgotten and patriots turned into refugees become an accepted norm of democratic compulsions. No revenge. We have been brutalized and humiliated for centuries. Yet we love our assailants. Short-term memory loss? Revenge? That's only for movies. Good guys like us must show large-heartedness and tolerance. Tolerance, even if Kalpana is killed.

In times like this, Asin's charm helps us to keep our cool and have some hope in future. The anguish has to be reserved for the polling day.

Source: Times Of India

What can one Hindu do? - By Dr. Babu Suseelan

If you are a Hindu and are concerned with the present state of affairs, begin by identifying the nature of the problem. The battle is primarily intellectual, political, social and religious. Politics is the practical implementation of the ideas that dominate our culture. One cannot fight or change the consequences without fighting and changing the cause, nor can one attempt any practical implementation without knowing what one want to implement.

In an intellectual battle, one need not convince every one. History is made of minorities, or more precisely, intellectual movements which are created by minorities. They make history. Intellectuals with foresight and commitment can develop abstract and functional strategies to change the society. An intellectual battle is a battle for man's mind, not an attempt to enlist blind followers. Only people who understand them can propagate ideas. An organized movement has to be preceded by an educational campaign, which require active and willing participants. Such trained persons are the necessary precondition of any attempt to change the Hindu society.

The immense changes, which must be made in every walk of life, cannot be made singly, piecemeal or retail. But the factor that underlies and determines every aspect of Hindu life is Hindu ideals. Teach every man the right Hindu ideals and his own mind will do the rest. The starting paoint is the family. Teach your children Panchatantra, Ramayana, Bhagavat Gita, Bhagavatam, Mahabharata, Chanakya Sutra, Vedas, Upanishads and Darsanas. These books contain everything you need to know about moral life, healthy living and spiritual directions. Practice our rituals, protect it and promote it without reservations. Make temple visit a daily routine. Partcipate in temple festivals and pilgrimage.

Hindus cannot exist without practicing and protecting Hinduism. Every Hindu is not intellectual innovators, but they are receptive to the ideas, when and if it is offered. There are also great numbers of Hindus who are indifferent. Such Hindus accept subconsciously dualistic and divisive ideas of other religions and thoughts without critical evaluation. They also accept whatever is offered by the distorted secular culture, and swing blindly with any transient ideas. They are merely oscillators-be they politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen, or educators-and by their own choice, irrelevant to the fate of the world.

Today, most Hindus are acutely aware of cultural pollution, coercive religious conversion, Jihadi terrorism, ideological confusion, distorted secularism, and political turmoil created by the pseudo secularists and alienated intellectuals. But they are anxious, confused and groping for answers. Are we able to enlighten them? Can we answer their questions? Can we offer them a consistent ideology? Do we know how to convince them? Are we immune from the fallout of the constant barrage aimed at the destruction of our Hindu culture? To provide them with clear, consistent, and correct concepts, we need an intellectual, social and political struggle.

If we want to influence a country's intellectual trend, the first step is to bring order to our own ideas and integrate them into a consistent case, to the best of our knowledge and ability. Knowledge necessarily includes the ability to apply abstract principles of Hinduism to concrete problems, to recognize the principles to specific issues, to demonstrate them, and to advocate a consistent course of action. Our Rishis and Acharayas have given us philosophical guidelines in the Vedas, Upanishads and Darshanas.Our Puranas and Ithihasas are replete with examples, illustrations and guidelines to handle any imaginable human problem.

How can we propagate our ideals of Hinduism? Do not wait for a national audience. Speak on any scale open to you, large or small---to your friends, your associates, your professional organizations, or any legitimate public forum. You can never tell when your words will reach the right mind at the right time. You will see no immediate results---but it is of such activities that public opinion is made.

Do not pass up a chance to express your views on important issues affecting Hindus. Whether it is discrimination, prejudice, race relations, international affairs, religious conversion, terrorism, distorted secularism, fundamentalism, personal law, polygamy, or any social, political or religious issues. Write letters to the editors of newspapers and magazines, to TV and radio commentators and, above all, to the political leaders.

Remember, the best democracy is still no guarantee against intolerance and bigotry, and eternal vigilance is an expression that will never become obsolete. The opportunities to speak about Hindu philosophy are all around you. Hindus need to repeatedly examine incidence and issues of prejudice and false propaganda. Hindus should not keep silent when the philosophy of Hinduism and Hindu values are being questioned. Always be vigilant and recognize warning signs of intolerance and its perpetrators, and contribute to efforts to preserve religious freedom to practice and promote Hindu values.

Always explore the nexus of pseudo-secularists and deprogrammers who want to demoralize Hindus. Above all, do not join the wrong ideological groups or movements, in order to do something. By ideological (in this context), I mean group or movements proclaiming anti-Hindu values.

It is important to establish close working relationships with genuine Hindu organizations to foster coordination, cooperation and coalitions addressing specific Hindu needs. All across the globe thousands of volunteers regularly give their time and talents to make a positive difference in the lives of Hindus. They are proud of their part in a great endeavor. For Hindu society to prosper and survive, we all must live up to our responsibilities as Hindus.

It is a mistake to think that the intellectual movement to propagate Hindu ideals is without difficulties. It requires a profound conviction, that ideas based on Hinduism are important to you and to your own life. If you integrate that conviction to every aspect of your life, you will find many opportunities to enlighten others.

There is no short cut to achieve our objectives. Hindu philosophy is a permanent fuel and ideological powerhouse. So propagate it with activism. If others destroy our identity, and establish a mechanical, all exclusive, narrow minded and rigid political philosophy and life style, it will be the default of those who keep silent. We are still free enough to speak, organize and act. Do we have time? No one can tell. But time is on our side-because we have an indestructible and invincible thought system-Hindu ideals.

From complete article visit
http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HkPage.aspx?PAGEID=7940&SKIN=B

Global imbalance - An imminent dollar crisis

A talk by Shri M R Venkatesh on globalisation. He delves deep and makes a critical analysis of the globalisation and whether it is a success or a failure. A video worth watching. Happy watching!

Science nearing Krishna

New finds take archaeologists closer to Krishna

CHENNAI: The conch and the Sudarshana Chakra are unmistakable. Although the figures do not match popular images of Kirshna sporting a peacock  feather, archaeologists are convinced that the coins are of Krishna, revered as an avatar of Vishnu."These square coins, dating back to 180- BC, with Krishna on one side and Balram on the other, were unearthed recently in Al Khanoun in Afghanistan and are the earliest proof that Krishna was venerated as a god, and that the worship had spread beyond the Mathura region," says T K V Rajan, archaeologist and founder-director, Indian Science Monitor, who is holding a five-day exhibition, In search of Lord Krishna,' in the city from Saturday.

Having done extensive research in Brindavan, Rajan is convinced that a lot of the spiritual  history of ancient India lies buried. "Close to 10,000 Greeks, who came in the wake of Alexander the Great, were Krishna's devotees. There is an inscription by Heliodorus, the Greek ambassador at Takshila , which reads Deva, deva, Vasudeva. Krishna is my god and I have installed this Garuda Pillar at Bes Nagar (now in Bihar),'" says Rajan. 

According to him the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has unearthed many sites that throw fresh light on the era of Krishna. "ASI is expected to release the full findings next year. Many of the unearthed artifact have a close resemblance to materials of what is believed to be the Harappan civilisation. The findings may show that Krishna's life was the dividing line between India's spiritual history and the society's gradual shift towards a materialistic one," says Rajan. 

Interestingly, a lot of what has been uncovered closely resemble the narration in the texts of Mahabharatha and the Bhagavatham," he adds. Both the spiritual works are revered by the Hindus as their holy books. 

It has been over five years since the discoveries were made at Tholavira near Dwaraka, close to Kutch. Much progress has been made due to the application of thermoluminous study (TL) in ascertaining the age of artifact. "It is possible to get the diffusion of atomic particles in the clay pottery unearthed and arrive at an accurate date," points out Rajan. Tholavira itself is believed to be the capital city as detailed in the opening chapters of Bhagavatham. Rajan points to an image of a plough, made of wood, which is mentioned in the Bhagavatham. 

The findings could lay a trail to understanding Krishna's life (said to be 5,000 years ago) and times, as a historical fact, says Rajan. The exhibition will be open till December 31 at Sri Parvathy Gallery, Eldams Road. 

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chennai/New_finds_take_archaeologists_closer_to_Krishna/articleshow/3898205.cms#write

Intellectual Terrorism

A talk by Mrs. Radha Rajan - Editor Vigil Online on Intellectual terrorism. She minces no words and holds the English educated 'secular' brains of India responsible for the cancer plaguing the country. She urges each one of us to awaken the Kshatriya within us and fight for Dharma. A must watch. Below is the link where you can find more such enlightening videos.

http://www.haindavakeralam.com/AV/ShowAV.aspx?RowID=46&SKIN=V

A clarion call from a Teacher: Awake Arjunas

The below is an excerpt from the speech by a teacher Sasikala, in which the teacher rips apart the secular mask of communists and exposes the true colour of Communists and Jehadi's. I had a tough time in making it brief not knowing what to add and what to neglect. A must read for all Hindus. The teacher has given a clarion call to the Hindus and especially the youth. Awaken O Arjunas, Awaken.

"Let me state firmly that no conversions, what so ever, have taken place here. Reason being that there was only one Christian in this world and he was crucified. There has been no Christian since, and there will never be, so how can there be any religious conversions? In the last two millennia there was only one Christian and he was not left alone to live his life in peace; he was crucified....

The minority communities are not the ones who are responsible for the problems faced by the Hindu society. The politicians are not the ones who are responsible for the plight of the Hindu society, but we ourselves are, we and we alone. We cannot blame any one else. If we Hindus could realise who we are, if we could stand together, there would have been no need for all this moaning, wailing and breast-beating. For a long long time the Hindu has been crying. To stem the tears of the Hindu populace, when the Hindu organisations started asserting themselves, then the others started taking notice and became wary.

The fault lies not with the one hundred and forty one legislators.
The fault lay with us, the Hindus who walked long distances to polling booths and elected the scum-bags.
The fault lay with us, the Hindus who repeatedly shout slogans in their support and re-elect them.
With the seriousness with which we bathe and apply sandal paste on our foreheads, with that same seriousness and dedication we mark our votes on just about any electoral symbol.
It is we the gullible Hindu populace who is responsible for our plight.
Do the legislators who having obtained the mandate from us even bother to spare us a thought or to shed a lone tear at our misery?

......Let us reflect deeply about this poverty. Exactly how do the Hindus become poverty stricken? Don’t they have wealth? Yes, there are crores of Rupees accumulated in great temples like Guruvayur, Sabarimala, Ettumanur and Vaikom. We ordinary folks, thinking that we have no succour but the Lord, depositing the coins drenched in our sweat and tears, created huge wealth in those temples.

After every mandala kaalam, the government treasury directly receives 3000 crore Rupees from Sabarimala temple.
Guruvayur temple receives cash offerings from the devotees to the tune of one and a half crore Rupees every month.

If the Hindus could ever demand accountability for this vast accumulation of wealth, there would be no need for such a meeting here. We are guilty of negligence and apathy in this matter, both you and I. Have we ever enquired where all this wealth goes? Is Lord Krishna receiving all these coins every month after opening the Hundis? Is that what the Hindu believes? Whither go the crores, the gold and the silver amassing in the Hundis of that temple?

The Marxist motive behind the alleged land reforms was not to give land to the poor so they can have means to livelihood; rather the motive was to grab land from the Hindu. When the vast lands owned by the temples were grabbed by the Marxist government the Hindu people did not react. Some white haired people from that generation are still present with us. Those people did not react, not out of fear or out of cowardice, but out of magnanimity. “Service to janatha is service to Janardhan”. Let peoples hunger be appeased first, we can serve the Lord later.

Hindus are like the silk worm. They are both in the same state. The silk worm spins out of its own body fine delicate filaments that attract admiring, “Oohs and Aahs” from the spectators. Don’t they also tell the Hindus, “Oh, so tolerant Hindus”, “Oh, so magnanimous Hindus”, “Oh, so peaceful Hindus”? Such flowery descriptions they have for the Hindus. Such flowery descriptions are reserved for the silkworm too. And what happens after that? The silkworm is boiled and killed and the silk is taken away and worn by others. The silk worm is trapped in its cocoon and killed for the sole reason that the silk cocoon makes very attractive silk.

If the government is secular then it has no right to administer Hindu temples. If the secular government considers itself as having the right to administer Hindu temples, then it must also administer Christian churches and Muslim mosques too. Do they dare do so? They will break out in sweat and quake in their boots even to think about it. It is not like grabbing the property of the shameless Hindus....

The day the Hindu becomes a forty nine percent minority, on that day this thing called secularism will become extinct in this country. Secularism is required only as long as the Hindu is not yet a minority.

Where is this secularism in Kashmir? There is no secularism in Kashmir. Do you know why? Kashmir is a Hindu minority place.

Where is secularism in Nagaland? Nagaland has been claimed for Christ. They don’t want any thing to do with Hindu India.

Malaysia was a secular country until they discovered that Muslims have become the majority. They have no use for secularism any more.

So the day the Hindu becomes minority in India, on that day the office of secularism will be locked and barred for ever. Of course, secularism should be locked and thrown away. Secularism is functioning at our expense. We need to be aware and conscious of the fact.

Let me end my discourse with a story. In Tamil Nadu there are lots of temples by the road side. One of the temples was a Ganapathy temple. A labourer was pulling a cart along side when a wheel of the cart sunk into a ditch. The labourer saw the Ganapathy temple and prostrated in front of the deity. He offered one coconut as offering and sought divine help in moving the heavily laden cart out of the ditch. The cart did not move. Sensing that he offered too less, he now raided the bid to two coconuts. Still there was no movement. Slowly he increased the bid to one hundred and eight coconuts and yet the cart remained where it was stuck. The labourer who was so full of piety and was imploring for divine intercession now leaped off the ground in frustrated fury and yelled, “no more coconuts for you”, and proceeded to jack up the wheel using planks as levers.

His strength ebbing away the labourer drenched in his sweat sank into the ground uttering one last prayer to the divinity and lo behold his cart started moving up and out of the ditch as though it was being pushed by and invisible elephant. The labourer was astonished; the Ganapathy who refused to help even when offered one hundred and eight coconuts, now comes to his aid with a mere prayer! Then he hears a disembodied voice, “God is not your employee. God is not your employee to work for you after taking wages from you. God is that which gives you the reward for your efforts.”

If others are poaching our people from our faith, then it is not the gods who should prevent this, but we ourselves should. If we fight to prevent conversions, then God’s blessings will be with us, have no doubts in this matter. We must act on behalf of Sanatana Dharma.

Arjuna didn’t want a fight but he was compelled by Lord Krishna to take up weapons and then the Lord guided him unerringly to victory. Only if Partha takes up Gaandiva bow and fight on the side of Dharma will the Partha Saarathy grant victory to Arjuna.

Let valiant youth assembled before me transform into Arjunas and fight on the side of Dharma, this is my prayer to the Almighty"..

For complete text of the speech visit

http://www.haindavakeralam.com/hkpage.aspx?PageID=7945&SKIN=C

Global Crisis - Why America is responsible?

The following is a talk by S Gurumurthy, a leading freelancer journalist who is credited with exposing Dhirubai Ambani and his Reliance Group. In this, he deals with the present Global Crisis. He gives a full picture of the reason for the failure of America, how its life style and culture are responsible for what it is today. Watch the whole video to appreciate it fully.

The History and Mystery of the Iron Pillar

The skill and the technology possessed by ancient Indians may not be agreed by present day 'secular' historians, but the truth cannot be suppressed for long. The Iron Pillar standing tall at Mehrauli, Delhi is stands proof of how advanced science was in ancient India. The pillar which has not rusted for the past 1600 years has been found to be the handiwork of a great Vishnu Bhakth namely Chandragupta II Vikramaditya. The inscriptions on the pillar are in Sanskrit and refer to the mighty king. Inspite of all these evidences, school children will still continue to be taught that it was the Mughals who were responsible for the pillar. Yes, the Mughals were responsible for stealing the pillar from its original place! 

 It is arguable that Indian scientists and technologists were producing high-quality corrosion-resistant iron and steel as early as 400 AD. There is considerable evidence of the ingenuity of ancient India’s metallurgists in the form of permanent installations, museum exhibits and pillars installed in places of worship across the country. The most famous of these – one which has defied and confounded students and professors of metallurgy in India and abroad — is the 32 ft high pillar of rust-free iron sited contiguous to the 239 ft tall red sand stone in Qutb Minar  (constructed by Qutb-ud-Din Aibak in 1199 AD to commemorate the victory of Mohammud Ghori over the Rajputs in 1192). And the wonder of this metallurgical marvel is that it has not rusted or succumbed to atmospheric corrosion despite being unprotected against the elements for over 1600 years. During the past two centuries since the existence of this wonder pillar was brought to public attention by British archaeologist James Prinsep in 1817, over 250 books have been written on this subject. The first systematic research was done by British metallurgist Sir Robert Hodfield in 1912, and since then several scientists from across the world have researched, presented papers and written books on the pillar. 

“The iron pillar in Delhi fascinates scientists all over the world, due to its excellent resistance to atmospheric corrosion. This is an attempt to explain the story behind the pillar in a very simple manner, so that a lay reader can appreciate the history, science and technology of the iron pillar. In addition the artistic merit of the pillar is highlighted …It is sincerely hoped that the imagination, especially of the young readers, will be fired by the facts and ideas presented in this book,” writes Balasubramaniam. 

The Story of the Delhi Iron Pillar traces the history of this metallurgical wonder and recounts that it was engineered in Udayagiri. The author reveals that the iron pillar was originally installed atop a hill near Udayagiri in the hinterland of Madhya Pradesh during the reign of Chandragupta II Vikramaditya (374-413 AD) of the Gupta dynasty. The original site of the pillar was the exact location where the imaginary line that is the tropic of cancer crosses India from where one can observe the sun rising in the east and setting in the west on spring and autumn equinox days. However in 1234 King Iltutmish (1210-36 AD) the third sultan of Delhi’s slave dynasty captured Udaygiri and transported the pillar to Delhi as part of his victory booty. 

That the Delhi iron pillar is indeed an engineering marvel was conceded by the president of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, London. The incumbent professor of materials and metallurgical engineering at IIT-Kanpur, Balasubramaniam also unravels the mystery of the amazing durability of Delhi’s iron pillar. According to him unnamed engineers of that era used the film forming quality of phosphoric acid to create a thin protective layer of ‘misawite’, a compound of iron, oxygen and hydrogen to prevent rusting and corrosion. This protective film encapsulated the pillar within three years after its erection and has been growing imperceptibly since. Today 1,600 years later, the film is of a thickness of one-twentieth of a millimeter. 

Source: Prof. R. Balasubramaniam’s Story of the Delhi Iron Pillar 

Indian Tradition and Nature

The following is an article by Mitchell Danino, a French journalist who has a deep knowledge about Indian culture and its history. In this, he has highlighted the starking contrast between how nature is viewed by the West and how Bharat has seen it. Now you see it for yourself

The West have no doubt done a remarkable and often courageous work in the last few decades, but they do not have the monopoly of an understanding of Nature. They forget that science is not necessarily the best tool to understand Nature—if it were, why should it have caused so much destruction to this earth, that too in the span of two centuries, a mere flash in the planet’s life ?

In fact, since the start of the Judeo-Christian tradition, the West broke away from Nature and began regarding her as so much inanimate matter to be exploited (a polite word for plunder). That unfortunate attitude, which has resulted in the ruthless abuse we see all over the world, can be traced all the way to the Old Testament and to the Genesis. On that fateful sixth day, Jehovah proclaims, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let him rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground....” And he said to newborn man, “Fill the earth and subdue it” (1:26 & 1:28). Jehovah does not stop there ; for some mysterious reason, he seems to hold the earth responsible for man’s sins. After generously cursing various nations through a succession of fire-spewing prophets, he turns his wrath to our poor planet : “Say to the southern forest : ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says : I am about to set fire to you, and it will consume all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched’ ” (Ezekiel, 20:47). “I will make the land of Egypt a ruin and a desolate waste among devastated lands” (ibid., 29:10, 12). “See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it ; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants.... The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered” (Isaiah 24:1, 3). “Cursed is the ground because of you” (Genesis 3:17). And so on, Book after ranting Book.

The contrast with the ancient Indian attitude is as stark as could be. Indian tradition regards the earth as a goddess, Bhudevi ; her consort, Vishnu, the supreme divinity, incarnates from age to age to relieve her of the burden of demonic forces—sometimes of humanity itself. This he does out of love for the earth, his companion. Sita means “furrow,” and she returned to the earth whence she came. Shiva too is bound to the earth through Parvati, daughter of Himavat, i.e. the Himalayas. Earth and Heaven are therefore inseparable : “Heaven is my father ; my mother is this vast earth, my close kin,” says the Rig-Veda (I.164.33). Earth is as sacred as Heaven, since she is our mother, not a dead heap of “natural resources.” Nature, rather than an adversary to be conquered and despoiled, is our best defence : “Blue water, open space, hills and thick forests constitute a fortress,” says the Kural (742). Rivers from Ganga to Sarasvati and Cauvery are goddesses, mountains from the Himalayas to the Vindhyas are gods ; many trees are regarded as sacred (the pipal has been so since the Indus Valley civilization at least) ; so are many smaller plants and flowers too, such as those still used in rituals, and a number of animals, from the cow to the peacock. The whole of Nature is seen as pervaded with the divine Spirit. This was of course the view of most of the ancient world, from the Greeks (for whom the earth was Gaia and Demeter) to the Norsemen, the Mayas and Aztecs, and the Red Indians. But all those cultures were wiped out by the steamroller of the Judeo-Christian advance, to which any worship of Nature was “idolatry” (that is also the attitude of Islam).

Strangely, even in India the sages of old had foreseen a waning of this communion with Nature. During the Kali Yuga, says the Shiva Purana (II.1.23), one of the many signs of growing chaos is that the merchant class “have abandoned holy rites such as digging wells and tanks, and planting trees and parks.” Note that planting trees was then a “holy rite.” Today’s relentless wave of utilitarianism is the cause of this steep decline, yet we can see something of that deep reverence subsist in many aspects of Indian life, from the “sacred groves” still found in some villages to the “bhumi puja” at the start of any construction. Even some borewell contractors will perform a small puja before drilling the earth.

So if to Westerners Nature is a “discovery,” and often a shallow one, we Indians have nothing to discover there : we only need to revive the old spirit and infuse it into modern methods, including scientific ones. In doing so we must remember that science is no more than a tool, and a dangerous one as we now know. We will be able to use it rightly only if we keep alive in our hearts our deeper relationship with our material mother. And if we should certainly take a leaf out of Western ecologists’ book as regards their sense of commitment and organization, on the other hand they could also imbibe with great benefit something of the ancient Indian approach. The two together could work wonders.

Source: http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/articles_english.html