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A Glorious Hindu Legacy: Indic influence in Southeast Asia.

 

Greater India - The Asianization of Indian Culture    

Introduction:  

Before the term Southeast Asia became common usage, the region was often described as Further or Greater India, and it was common to describe the Indonesian region or Malay Archipelago as the East Indies. The reason may be found in the fact that, prior to Western dominance, Southeast Asia was closely allied to India culturally and commercially. The Ramayana reveals some knowledge of the eastern regions beyond the seas; for instance Sugriva dispatched his men to Yavadvipa, the island of Java or Sumatra, in search of Sita. It speaks of Burma as the land of silver mines. Towards the end of the fifth century, Aryabhatta, the Indian astronomer, wrote that when the sun rose in Ceylon it was midday in Yavakoti (Java) and midnight in the Roman land. In the Surya Siddhanta reference is also made to the Nagari Yavakoti with golden walls and gates.

The Agni Purana, along with many other Puranas, calls India proper as Jambudvipa as distinguished from Dvipantara or India of the islands or overseas India. Seldom has the world seen such a protracted and pervasive cultural diffusion. It stands a monument to the vitality and magnetism of Indian civilization.

(Note: Recently an Ancient statue of Lord Vishnu has been found in Russian town of the Volga region. For more refer to chapter on Suvarnabhumi).

The ancient city of Polonnaruwa in Sri Lanka, the Thousand Pagodas at Pagan in Burma, the colonnaded gallery of Angkor Wat in Cambodia – these relics of past grandeur – bear mute testimony to one of the least known yet most glorious chapters in the history of mankind: that of the classical cultures of ‘Greater India’. 

It was India, at the apogee of her glory and ranking with China and Rome as the three great centers of world culture that brought the flame of civilization to all three areas and imposed the indelible stamp of her religious, philosophical, technical and artistic heritage.

 

The Prambanan temple in Java displays an elegance and majesty which is surely unsurpassed anywhere in South East Asia

Many people respond with an equal or greater joy to Prambanan, a temple complex than Borobudur. 
 The first temple was dedicated to Brahma, the second and largest to Siva, and the third to Vishnu.

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

Watch Prambanan Temple   - Global treasures video

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The eastward expansion of Hindu civilization has not yet been fully traced.  Western scholars were mainly stimulated by their own colonial involvement in the area and generally concentrated attention on their own activities. An idea of the extent of knowledge about Southeast Asia may be gained from an European scholar who wrote in 1861, that, except for Burma, “Indian countries situated beyond the Ganges hardly deserve the attention of History.” 

Burma was presumably excepted because the British by that time had fought two successful wars against her and had annexed Lower Burma to their Indian Empire, and a few British administrators, such as John Crawford, Henry Yule, and Arthur Phayre, had written accounts of their missions and the country. Stamford Raffles in 1817 produced A History of Java from materials collected by a staff of collaborators, but it does not seem to have stimulated much interest among British writers who remained, almost until the end of World War II, excessively preoccupied with the British in India. Neither the realization of the close and ancient Indian cultural contact with Southeast Asia nor the fact that Burma, Malaya, and their other territorial possessions in eastern Asia were tied to Indian administration, evoked British interest in the study of early Southeast Asia. Even today, with the exception of a few notable orientalistss and scholars of cultural history such as Richard Winstedt, G H Luce, H G Quaritch Wales, Reginald Le May, and Roland Braddet, British historians have made little serious inquiry into the cultural past of these Asian countries. A people with no long cultural history of their own perhaps could not be expected to be attracted by the ancient cultural past of the people they dominated.

Equally strange is the attitude of Indian historians towards the cultural past of Southeast Asia. But on the whole they have remained generally indifferent, not even attempting to integrate their own ancient history with that of their neighbors.

The history of Indian expansion covers a period of more than fifteen hundred years.  

George Coedes says, “I am convinced that such research will reveal numerous facts which will indicate a much deeper Indianization of the mass of the population than the sociologists will at present admit.” 

The advent of Indians in Southeast Asia has hardly a parallel in history. It cannot be equated with the arrival of Europeans in America, because the Indians did not go to Southeast Asia as strangers. In view of the ethnic affinities between the prehistoric Austro-Asiatic races of India and those of Suvarnabhumi, contact between the two regions may well go back to the remotest antiquity. References to Suvarnabhumi are found in the Ramayana, the Jatakas, Kathakosa, Niddesa. 

The Ramayana reveals some knowledge of the eastern regions beyond the seas; for instance Sugriva dispatched his men to Yavadvipa, the island of Java or Sumatra, in search of Sita. It speaks of Burma as the land of silver mines. The Kathakosa tells the story of Nagadatta who went to Suvarnadvipa with five hundred ships to conduct a profitable trade. The Jatakas tell many stories of enterprising merchants and princes, sailing to Suvarnabhumi for trade. The Agni Purana, along with many other Puranas, calls India proper as Jambudvipa as distinguished from Dvipantara or India of the islands or overseas India. Seldom has the world seen such a protracted and pervasive cultural diffusion. It stands a monument to the vitality and magnetism of Indian civilization.

(source: India and World Civilization  By D. P. Singhal Pan Macmillan Limited. 1993 Part II p. 80 - 95 and Lost Cities of Asia - By Wim Swaan p. 13).

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Java, Indonesia - The Prambanan Temple


During the early years of the Common era Indonesia became increasingly influenced by Indian civilization and culture. Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms grew up in Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan (Borneo). In the 6th and 7th centuries A.D. the great trading empire of Sri Vijaya, with a powerful centre at Palembang in eastern Sumatra, dominated the Malay Peninsula and much of the Indonesian Archipelago.

Build around the middle of the ninth century, the great temple of Loro Jonggrang at Prambanan, near Yogyakarta, is arguably Central Java's greatest architectural achievment. While not so large as the famous Borobudur, Prambanan displays an elegance and majesty which is surely unsurpassed anywhere in South East Asia

Many people respond with an equal or greater joy to Prambanan, a temple complex (16 km east of Yogya) than Borobudur. Prambanan is best seen shortly after dawn or in the late afternoon when slanting sunlight picks out details with a rounding, golden touch. But it is still beautiful at any time. 

Prambanan was completed about 900 A.D. The highest courtyard contains the principal edifices. Entering from the south you pass a small “court temple.” On your left (west) are three larger temples: the first was dedicated to Brahma, the second and largest to Siva, and the third to Vishnu. Opposite these are three smaller temples which contained the “vehicles” of the gods: the gander (hamsa) of Brahma; Siva’s bull (nandi), a monolithic, amazingly relaxed beast carved with consummate skill, and unfortunately the only “vehicle” remaining; the sun-bird (garuda) of Visnu.  

The largest temple, the masterpiece dedicated to Siva, is also known as Loro Jonggrang a name sometimes given to the whole Prambanan temple complex. As legend tells it, Loro Jonggrang was the daughter of Ratu Boko. She remains at Prambanan as Siva’s consort, Durga, a statue in the northern chamber of the main temple. Other major statues include Agstya, the “Divine Teacher,” in the main temple’s southern chamber; Ganesa, Siva’s son, in the western chamber; an outstanding 3 metre figure of Siva in the central chamber. There is also a multi-faced Brahma in the Brahma temple. 

 

One aspect of Loro Jonggrang’s (Prambanan Temple) appeal is its glorious symmetry and grace. Another is its wealth of sculptural detail.

(image sourece: Java - Insight Guides - By Peter Hutton).

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A wealth of sculptural detail: on the base of the main terrace, the so-called “Prambabab motif." Durga in the main chamber of temple.

 

 

  A perfectly preserved guardian of one of the cardinal directions on the wall of the Brahma temple.  

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Nandi 

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One aspect of Loro Jonggrang’s appeal is its glorious symmetry and grace. Another is its wealth of sculptural detail: on the base of the main terrace, the so-called “Prambabab motif” in which little lions in niches are flanked by trees of life and lively menagerie of kinnaras, hares, geese, birds, deer and a host of other endearing creatures: on the outer balustrade of the terrace, animated groups of singers and dancers, and panels of relaxed, beautiful celestial beings; on the main wall of the temple, the regents of the heavenly quarters; and finally, on the inner wall of the balustrade, the wonderfully vital and utterly engrossing Ramayana episodes which end (on the Siva temple) with the arrival of Langka of Hanuman and his ape army. 

 

    

Lord Ganesha and Rishi Agastya

   

 

(image source: The Art of Southeast Asia - By Philip Rawson p. 252 - 254).

***

The positioning of the reliefs is formal. The movement within each panel is free flowing, filled with fascinating detail. Even the most tumultuous scenes include lovingly rendered touches: monkeys in a fruit tree, birds robbing a grain bin, kitchen scenes. Prambanan’s beauty and variety demand more than one visit. 

(source: Java - Insight Guides - By Peter Hutton  p. 185 - 190). (For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

Prambanan Temple  

Prambanan Indonesias largest Hindu holy place is Prambanan, in Central Java , a religious treasure that dates back to the 9th century and originally included 232 temples. An earthquake struck and for many centuries the buildings lay buried beneath the ground until, in1918, archaeologists began to reconstruct the main temples. The individual sections of the Chandi Lorojongrang were rebuilt like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, which made the reconstruction process particularly laborious, but in 1953 the rebuilding of the central temples was completed. The Chandi Siva Temple rises 47 metres into the sky and is the tallest in Prambanan and contains four inner chambers that face the four points of the compass. The main Hindu god, Shiva, is depicted in the southern chamber, whilst the sculpture of his reborn wife, Durga, is located within the temples northern chamber. Thankfully, due to the hard work and determination of many archaeologists, the symbolic meaning of the old Hindu god, Shiva, God of Destruction and Renewal, is well on its way to being fully realized.

(source: Prambanan Temple   - Global treasures video).

A Colossal work

The last great monument of the Central Javanese period is indeed a colossal work, built when the kings retreated from central to eastern Java. This monument is dedicated to Lord Shiva, and represents the shrine in the form of the cosmic mountain. There were originally no less than 232 temples incorporated into the design. The plan was centred on a square court with four gates containing the eight principal temples. The central one, the largest, about 120 feet high, was devoted to Shiva and faces east. To north and south it is flanked by slightly smaller temples to the two members of the Hindu trinity, Vishnu and Brahma. Facing it is the pavilion containing a statue of Nandi, Shiva's bull-emblem. The walls have splendidly lively reliefs of deities and of scenes from the great Hindu classics, especially the Ramayana. One series of the 'guardians of the directions' is especially beautiful in the manner in which ornamental motifs are integrated with the plastic forms of the bodies; both are derived from the same thematic motifs. A motif peculiar to Prambanam is the lion in an ornamental niche flanked by a pair of panels with ornate jewelled trees. 

 

Chandi Lara Jonggrang, Prambanam model 

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

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(source: The Art of Southeast Asia - By Philip Rawson p. 252 - 254).

The Indonesian Ramayana

The archaeological evidence of the Rama story in Indonesia dates back to the ninth century AD, the period of the Sri Vijaya Empire. It consists of the bas-reliefs at Prambanan in Central Java. These bas-reliefs, considered to be the most splendid depiction of the Rama story in sculpture, do not follow the Valmiki Ramayana. Other reliefs, dating back to the Majapahit period (13th and 14th centuries AD) are at Panataran in East Java. These reliefs have greater affinity with the Valmiki story. 

Indonesia thus presents evidence of both the Valmiki and non-Valmiki versions of the Rama story. The various written versions in Indonesia are the Kakawin Ramayana, the Serat Ram, the Javanese Uttarakanda, the Carit Ramayana the Serat Kanda, and the Rama King. 

The Kakawin Ramayana of Yogisvara is considered to be the oldest written version of Rama story in Indonesia. It is placed between the 10th and 13th centuries AD. The story, with some variations, follows the traditional version given by Valmiki. Its source, however, is considered to be the Bhaatikavya, a Sanskrit work on the Rama story written in Kashmir in the 5th century AD. The Kakawin, like the Bhattikavya, does not contain the Uttarkanda (the last book of the Valmiki Ramayana), nor does it give a detailed account of the Balakanda. This suggests that the Kakawin is based on a version of the Rama story which existed before the First and Last Books of Valmiki were added.  

The Serat Ram and the Carit Ramayana are the modern adaptations of the Kakawin. The Javanese Uttarkanda is a separate work describing the genealogy of Raksasas (demons) and monkeys. The Uttarakanda, although it exists as a separate work, complete the Kakawin Ramayana, which ends only with the Yudhakanda (The Book on War). These works, along with the Kalawin, constitute one of the groups of Ramayana which, with slight variations, follow the Valmiki story. 

In the beginning of the Yuddhakanda (the Book of War), the author disgresses from the main story and begins to relate the life of the Pandavas, the characters of the Mahabharata. He then resumes the Rama story. An interesting observation in Indonesia is that while the oldest written version is the Kakawin, the oldest bas-reliefs at Prambanan do not agree with the Kakawin story, which follows the Valmiki Ramayana.

(source: Hinduism in Thai Life - By Santosh N Desai  p 102 – 105).

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Is UPA Government anti-Hindu?
 
A Muslim President, A Catholic Super PM and a Sikh PM

At a time, when the term secular in India seems largely to be equated with Hindu-baiting, much disquiet is being generated by some events that appear in the nature of an assault on the Sanatan Dharma. Whether by design or coincidence, after the ascent to power of the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre, and the party in states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, there has been an increase in Christian missionary activities in the south.  

Synchronous with this development is the offensive against the Kanchi peeth and its custodians, the senior and junior Shankaracharyas and their aides. These events, along with the revival of the Ayodhya demolition case against BJP President L K Advani and the UC Banerjee report on the Godhra disaster, fosters the impression that the present regime is anti-Hindu. 

If its predecessor was seen by many to be selectively pursuing a communal agenda for political ends, the UPA Government has recoursed to the old game of majority bashing. Much to the dismay of their detractors, Hindus still comprise 80.5 per cent of the population, as per the 2001 census. Their numbers then totaled 827.5 million. Muslims, at 138.2 million, comprised 13.4 per cent, the second largest group but minuscule when compared to the majority community. The 24 million Christians were placed third, at 2.3 per cent. Sikhs, at 1.9 per cent, numbered 19 million. In view of this data, the civilisational ethos of the country remains overwhelmingly Hindu, despite most of the northeast and many tribals becoming Christian. 

Yet, there is good reason to believe that there is no one at the helm to take care of the interests of Hindus, or feel their pain when their beliefs or gurus are assailed. The two top positions in the Indian state - those of President and Prime Minister - are currently occupied by non-Hindus. 

The UPA chairperson's religious affiliation remains ambiguous, since Ms Sonia Gandhi was born a Roman Catholic and presumably nurtures sentiments for her natal faith. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy being Christian, he could not have been expected to rush to the Shankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswati's aid when the Tamil Nadu police arrested him in his state.   

(From Filipe Neri Rodrigues in Goa to Stephan Marandi in Jharkhand -loyally assisted in the holy crusade against the satanic BJP by Margaret Alva, Ajit Jogi, Oscar Fernandes, Rajashekhar Reddy, Ahmed Patel, Jamir and Razi - Sonia was all set to turn the hand into a clenched fist, to muzzle democracy and attain absolute authority.

(source: Holy Roman Empire in Delhi - indiacause.com - newsletter). Refer to Of Course She Needs the Left to Christianize India and Coercive Religious Conversion: A Crime against Humanity - By Dr. Babu Suseelan). Refer to She became loyal to India a trifle late, by 16 years! - By S Gurumurthy. Refer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org and The Burningcross

Sonia Gandhi (the Congress President), attending Ramakrishna Mission function, propounded that  "India remained secular because Hinduism, both as a religion and a way of life, respected other religions and people. Truth is one, the wise pursue it variously."

If truth is one, what is the justification for conversion? Does not conversion by external means constitute violence? Surely Ms. Sonia Gandhi realizes that people need freedom to pursue the truth variously; that attempts at conversion deny this basic freedom; and proselytization, however subtle or coarse (as in the Dangs), is ultimately an assault on the integrity and dignity of other faiths."

(source: Conversion to Christianity: Aggression in India - By Dr. M S Srinivasan p. 96). Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887. and Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in America.

Lalu Seeks Christian Missionary's Aid For Win

Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav is now seeking help from a famous Christian preacher to ensure the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s return to power in the crucial October-November Assembly polls.

Mr Yadav had a meeting with Brother D.G.S. Dinakaran, who runs the Christian faith centre "Jesus Calls" in Chennai, in his hotel room, where he sought his blessings and requested him to pray for his success in the polls, sources close to him said. The preacher was in Patna to address a mass prayer on Saturday and Sunday. "Dinakaran told him (Mr Lalu Yadav) that the RJD would storm back to power but advised him not to eye the chief minister’s chair this time," a senior RJD leader and close confidant of Mr Yadav said. The RJD chief was accompanied by Jharkhand United Progressive Alliance convenor Stephen Marandi, who is known for his long association with Dinakaran. The preacher reportedly asked Mr Lalu Yadav to continue with his secular policies and work for the poor and downtrodden. 

(source: Lalu Seeks Missionary's Aid For Win - asianage.com and christianaggression.org).  For Cruelty inflicted by Christianity - Watch Constantine's Sword movie 

The Centre's Communist allies have made a career out of zealously guarding minority interests, however recondite, while its Bihari socialist component, the RJD, survives on Muslim-OBC support. They both thrive on populism, that challenges the status quo. The disturbing conclusion is that the ruling coalition's policies are subversive in the context of the dominant ethos. 

Two events, in particular, fuel suspicion of a hidden design to alter India's religious and cultural identity. The first is the rapid descent of Christian missionaries in tsunami-hit areas in the south, and their shameful attempts to trade charity for conversions among the victims of the natural disaster. A January 24 report of Rediff on the Net is edifying. The writer, at the site of temporary shelters, built for tsunami victims in Pattancherry village in Nagapattinam, witnessed "a minor scuffle in a corner" between some inmates and a Christian priest and two nuns. The former were resisting the missionaries' attempts to convert them. Eventually, the three were forced to leave the place. 

Elsewhere, said the reporter, the locals complained to the police that a missionary group had taken away their belongings and the relief they had got from NGOs and the Government, which they had kept inside the temple. There was immense anger over the effort to capitalise on their misfortune. At Karakkalmedu village in Karaikkal, for instance, the fact that they had survived the disaster had led to a resurgence of faith in local Hindus. Their faith in their goddess was stronger than before. 

The second such episode concerns the American evangelist Benny Hinn's healing mission in Bangalore, that saw Chief Minister Dharam Singh gracing the event with his presence. Either the Chief Minister was in need of the preacher's intercession himself, or had been instructed to attend the jamboree. There could be no other reason for Karnataka's political supremo to take time out of his busy schedule to give his seal of approval to an exercise, aimed against Hindu idolatry. Why the evangelist was allowed the freedom to launch such an attack begs an answer. It was left to the media to highlight his excesses and force his hasty exit from the country.   

Watch Benny Hinn examined - youtube.com.

As its indifference, if not hostility, to the majority community's feelings becomes evident, the Congress and its allies may soon have to brave Hindu anger.

(source: Is UPA Government anti-Hindu?  by Anuradha Dutt  - dailypioneer.com - January 26 2005).  Refer to Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in America.  For more on Benny Hinn - refer to Benny Hinn Exposed

Note: Contrast this with the treatment given to  Baba Ramdev by CPI member Brinda Karat wife of Prakash Karat, India's most influential Communist today, general secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist versus the one given to fake faith healer Evangelist Benny Hinn. Baba Ramdev is the latest victim of the Congress-Communist campaign to defame and denigrate the symbols of Hindu pride.  Ms. Karat,  one of the most Radical Feminists India ever produced, has accused famous Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev. 

When Marxist leader Brinda Karat attacks Swami Ramdev, she is not attacking Ramdev in particular, she is attacking Hinduism in general.

Hindu gurus are all vulnerable in today's India: The Kanchi Shankaracharya has already been hit. So has Satya Sai Baba. Amritanandamayi has to live under the constant shadow of a hostile Kerala Communist-dominated government. Dhirendra Brahmachari is dead and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is periodically targeted as the 'Guru of the rich', the 'Glib Godman' etc.  

 

     

Baba Ramdev doing yoga and Communist party - Brinda Karat.

Baba Ramdev is the latest victim of the Congress-Communist campaign to defame and denigrate the symbols of Hindu pride.  Accusations against Hinduism of superstition, brainwashing, ritualistic ignorance, date back from British missionaries and have been taken up today by the Communists. 

Watch Swami Ramdev Interview in London - hinduvoice.co.uk.

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May I be forgiven my arrogance, but what Indian gurus have to understand is that for Indian Communists, Hinduism is the Number 1 enemy.  

Accusations against Hinduism of superstition, brainwashing, ritualistic ignorance, date back from British missionaries and have been taken up today by the Communists.

Baba Ramdev and his Yoga technique have attracted adherents from across the globe. His approach is in line with Indian scientific tradition. Hundreds of people vouch for the benefits they experienced by following his teachings. He has become a cult figure with millions, who practice his healthy way to life as a religion. Along with popularising the ancient Indian wisdom of Yoga, he has been tirelessly preaching Indian values, swadeshi and the art to live a life of contentment. In the process, he has contributed to create a commune of patriots in every nook and corner of the country. It is not his medicine but his mission that is the target of the tirade. The Uttaranchal government under Shri N.D. Tiwari has not found anything wrong with the Baba. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav has seen through the game. He said he was with Baba Ramdev. He added, “Guru Ramdev promoted indigenous medicines.” Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar. He said: "I appreciate the work done [by Baba Ramdev] to propagate yoga in a scientific way."

"The way Baba Ramdev is imparting knowledge in Yoga, the entire world was respecting India. Even his medicines are hugely popular and Indians are proud of him. Communists have attacked him because they have always been against the nation. They cannot substantiate their claims.

(source: In defence of Hindu gurus - By Francois Gautier - rediff.com and  Brinda on Baba’s toes organiser.org and Uma Bharati slams Left charges on Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev and Pawar appreciates work of Ramdev. Also refer to chapter on Nature Worship).

We need a Nationalist Front – says Subramanian Swamy 

Swamy calls for nationalist front against Congress. The Janata Party President, Subramanian Swamy, on Thursday called for the formation of a nationalist front, which would include political parties and organisations such as the RSS and the VHP, to oppose and defeat the Congress. Dr. Swamy, a former Union Minister, said here that the fundamental danger today is "to the Hindus in the Indian nation."

"There is a need to trounce the Congress and its allies. For this I am trying to assist in the formation of a nationalist front which will include the RSS and the VHP," he told presspersons.

(source: We need a Nationalist Front – says Subramanian Swamy  - hindu.com).

Refer to VINDICATED BY TIME: The Niyogi Committee Report  On Christian Missionary Activities - Christianity Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee 1956 and Catholic Priests Molest Third World Nuns to Avoid AIDS and The Sunshine of Secularism. Also refer to Christianity Dying In The West? - By M S N Menon - organiser.org). Also refer to Dinosaurs, evangelicals and the state - By Justin Webb - BBC). Refer to Can Hinduism face the onslaught of Project Thessalonica? - By Alex Pomero and Refer to Bible thumpers: Americans are being increasingly stereotyped as stupid - By Arvind Kumar - indiareacts.com). Refer to The Republican War on Science - By Chris Mooney

Thomas Jefferson  (1743-1826) a liberal Christian President of the US, recognized very early the deleterious impact of religion on a pluralistic America which was then getting established. Writing about religion, he said that its negative potential “has been severely felt by mankind, and has filled the history of ten or twelve centuries with too many atrocities not to merit a proscription from meddling with government"

He also objected to religious conversions rather strongly when he said that:

were the Pope, or his allies, to send in mission to us some thousands of Jesuit priests to convert us to their orthodoxy, I suspect that we should deem and treat it as a national aggression on our peace and faith."

(source: Proselytization In India: An Indian Christian's Perspective - By C. Alex Alexander).  Refer to Indian Identity in American Schools - By C Alex Alexander - sulkeha.com. Refer to  Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in America .

Why this war on Hinduism?- These two (Christianity and Islam) hostile ideologies, flawed because they are not based on human experience but on spurious and fantastic literature, are based on a priori illusion that human beings are genetically flawed and can be redeemed only by symbolic conversion and the acceptance of their bookish deity. For instance, if the Christian and Islamic clergy do not propagate and force their sterile ideologies down the throats of unsuspecting or helpless people through dubious means, or do not force them to stay on with censure and punishment, their religions would be wiped out in decades. Europe is a primary example.

(source: Why this war on Hinduism? - By George Thundiparambil - christianaggression.org). Refer to From De Nobili to Clooney: The Christian Methods of Inculturation and Missionary's Dark Legacy and Dutch Christians Target Hindus for Conversion. Refer to Who Killed Our Culture? We Did - By Youki Kudoh - time.com  May 3 1999. Refer to Indian Identity in American Schools - By C Alex Alexander - sulkeha.com. Refer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org and The Burningcross

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India is now 6% Christian: according to World Christian Database
Destruction of Native Cultures of India ?

Since first arriving in the New World, resource-hungry invaders have been systematically persecuting indigenous tribal peoples – all in the name of God. 

As author Norman Lewis (1908 - 2003) notes: 

“The great human tragedy of the missionary conquest of the Pacific is being repeated now in all ‘untouched’ parts of the world. In another thirty years no trace of aboriginal life anywhere will have survived. Many Christian missionaries have perpetrated the destruction of native cultures through their ruthless and relentless practices – from the stripping of forests and theft of land to the wholesale enslavement of populations."

(source: The Missionaries: God Against the Indians – By Norman Lewis - back cover). For more refer to Christian Missionaries and The Burningcross.

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The 2005 edition of the World Christian Database (http://www.worldchristiandatabase.org/) says that India is now 6% Christian.

The government of India last conducted a census on the Indian population in 2001 said that Hindus were 81.4% of the population followed by Muslims at 12.4% and Christians at 2.3%. However, the more recent data from the World Christian Database states that Hindus are now 74% of the population and Christians are 6% of the population. The new survey claims that Catholics have grown from 1.52% of the population in 1970 to 1.66% in 2005. 

Religious breakdown in India according the World Christian Database:

Hindu: 74%
Muslim: 12%
Other Christian: 4%
Catholic: 2%

Sikh: 2%
All other: 5%
Not religious: 1%

Catholic population:
1970: 8,432,713 (1.52%)
2005: 18,250,000 (1.66%).

The recent data suggests that the rampant and aggressive conversion by Christian missionaries is much more widespread than previously acknowledged.

(source: India is now 6% Christian: World Christian Database - christianaggression.org). Refer to VINDICATED BY TIME: The Niyogi Committee Report  On Christian Missionary Activities - Christianity Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee 1956 and The Sunshine of Secularism.  Refer to Why this war on Hinduism? - By George Thundiparambil. Refer to Who Killed Our Culture? We Did - By Youki Kudoh - time.com  May 3 1999. Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887.

Christianity Dying In The West? - By M S N Menon

Christianity is dying in the West. But it is springtime for Christianity in Asia and elsewhere. A Paradox? No. The Pope himself says so. According to Pope Benedict, "there is no longer evidence in the western world for a need of God, even less of Christ."

Dear Hindu reader, are you listening? Do you know the implications of what he says? Perhaps not. But you should know-Christianity is in decline in the West because the West is ashamed of the Christian God Yahweh, who used to drink human blood, and it is flourishing in Asia because Asians are still under the spell of religion. A commission of Bishops (of York and Canterbury), after 16 years of research, declared that the Bible story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ was incorrect. It is this lack of proper evidence of his life and work, which made Ian Wilson, author of Jesus: The Evidence conclude: "There is scarcely a crumb of information to compel a belief in Jesus' existence." Rudolf Bultmann, the greatest New Testament theologian of the 20th century, almost said the same thing. Ernest Kasemann, a specialist on the New Testament at the Tubingen University, says of the research on the life of Jesus: "One is overwhelmed by how little of the accounts about Jesus in the New Testament can be called authentic! Among the distinguished theologians, who authored the book was Prof. Canon Maurice Wiles, Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford. They said; "The historical Jesus never presented himself as incarnate."

(source:
Christianity Dying In The West? - By M S N Menon - organiser.org). Refer to Can Hinduism face the onslaught of Project Thessalonica? - By Alex Pomero and Christians have Destroyed Various Ethnic Cultures of the World - christianaggression.org. Refer to Bible thumpers: Americans are being increasingly stereotyped as stupid - By Arvind Kumar - indiareacts.com).  Also refer to Dinosaurs, evangelicals and the state - By Justin Webb - BBC). Refer to From De Nobili to Clooney: The Christian Methods of Inculturation and Missionary's Dark Legacy and Dutch Christians Target Hindus for Conversion. Refer to  Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in America. Refer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org and The Burningcross

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Can Hinduism survive such an onslaught? - By J. G. Arora

 

Sir John Woodroffe (1865-1936) the well known scholar, Advocate-General of Bengal and sometime Legal Member of the Government of India. He served with competence for eighteen years and in 1915 officiated as Chief Justice. He had predicted in his book, Is India Civilized: Essays on Indian Culture  p. xlviii, that: 


“In every way, the coming assault on Hindu civilization will be the greatest which it has ever had to endure in the whole course of its long history.”

 

Ibn Warraq put it, "Historically speaking, Monotheism has often shown itself to be ferociously intolerant, in contrast to polytheism on behalf of which religious wars have never been waged."


John P Jones has observed (1908) in his book - India: Its Life and Thought:

"Be it remembered, Christianity never met with so doughty a foe as that which confronts it in this land. The ancient faith of Greece and Rome, which Christianity overcame, were infantile and imbecile as compared with the subtle wisdom and mighty resistance of Brahminism. The conditions of the conflict in India are different from those eve met before by our militant faith. The subtle and deadening philosophy of the land, the haughty pride of its religious leaders, the great inertia of the people, the mighty tyranny of caste, the debasing ritual of Hinduism and its debauching idolatry - all these constitute a resisting fortress whose overthrow seems all but impossible."

(source: India: Its Life and Thought - By John P Jones p. 424). Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887 and The Burningcross

Laxminarayan Sarma – author of Will the next Pope be an Indian Roman Catholic?  

"It is a fact that White colonialism and Christian evangelism are two sides of the same coin. Sword in one hand and the Bible in the other, the white nations sent out marauders into the civilised Orient to enslave, exploit and loot the nations and send the booty home to feed their impoverished populations. And to maintain their stranglehold, the clerics accompanying the marauders converted the colonised populations wholesale, and alienated them from their social, religious and cultural roots. The brain washed and mentally shackled the unconverted sections through their educational institutions, creating a cadre of pro western elite who kept the colonial wheels turning. Circumstances arising out of World War II compelled the white Christian powers to take to their heels leaving behind ruined, impoverished colonies, A large number of former colonies remained backward and impoverished due to the seeds of dissension the colonisers had sown between ethnic groups and communities."

***

 

Spiritual Imperialism ?

Western obsession for promoting religious conversions under the aegis of India's Constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.

 

In 1984, the then Episcopal Bishop of Newark (NJ), John Shelby Spong visited India and wrote the following: 

 

“what I learned about Hinduism enhanced my appreciation for this ancient religious tradition. I saw a beauty in it that was enviable, and I found many points where Christians and Hindus are seeking to deal with the same human needs in remarkably similar ways”. 

 

He admired the absence of the “spirit of missionary imperialism” in Hinduism and questioned whether or not the “Christian claims to possess infallibility or ultimate truth are not signs of a brittle pettiness that cannot endure”.

 

(source: Proselytization In India: An Indian Christian's Perspective - By C. Alex Alexander). Refer to  Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in AmericaRefer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org.

Save Hinduism - By J G Arora

A unilateral war against Hinduism is being waged by anti-Hindu forces to wipe out Hinduism from the face of the earth the way other native cultures and religions have been obliterated from the world.

 

 

 

 

Trimurti: Three aspects of the Supreme One.

 

It is tragic that Hinduism, the faith proclaiming universal brotherhood and one-ness of humanity is the target of vexatious attacks, and is threatened with extinction.

(Artwork courtesy of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. www.krishna.com).

***


It is tragic that Hinduism, the faith proclaiming universal brotherhood and one-ness of humanity is the target of vexatious attacks, and is threatened with extinction.

Indian sub-continent including the present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan and even Zabol in Iran was Hindu land till Muslims attacked the sub-continent in 8th century. Hindus lost Afghanistan to Muslims in 987 in a fiercely fought battle. After many centuries, Muslims got Pakistan in 1947. In 1971, East Pakistan became Bangladesh. Though India is a Secular Republic, Pakistan and Bangladesh are Islamic Republics and have driven out most of the Hindus and Sikhs from their land.

 

 

 

And in independent India, Hindus have undergone genocide and eviction from Kashmir to become refugees in their own country. And even this tragedy has not stirred India's secular souls.

 

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

 

***



It is a sad spectacle to see glorious Hindu religion that once stretched from Afghanistan to Indonesia being reduced to its present pitiable plight. Yet Hinduism can be saved; and will be saved. 

Entire Indian sub-continent was Hindu land with no Muslim presence till Muslim attack in 8th century. Hindus lost Afghanistan to Muslims in 987, and Pakistan in 1947.  At present, just five thousand Hindus and Sikhs are left in Afghanistan. And Pakistan and Bangladesh too present a dismal picture. In 1947, Hindus accounted for 24 per cent of the then Pakistan's population, but now number under two per cent. In Bangladesh Hindus numbered 30 per cent in 1947; but now number nine per cent. Nevertheless, in India, the present percentage of Muslim population is much higher than that in 1947. And independent India has seen genocide and eviction of Hindus from Kashmir to become refugees in their own country. 

And in independent India, Hindus have undergone genocide and eviction from Kashmir to become refugees in their own country. And even this tragedy has not stirred India's secular souls. And under the pretext of bringing democracy to Nepal, anti-Hindu forces, missionaries and Maoists want to shatter the Hindu identity of Nepal, the only Hindu nation in the world.

Apart from discriminatory government control of all prominent Hindu temples (whereas no Christian church or Muslim mosque has been touched by government control), discriminatory Article 30 of the Constitution of India is also demolishing Hinduism. Many Hindus just surrender to attacks on Hinduism since they have been de-Hinduised by Macaulayan education, and brain-washed by anti-Hindu media. And some Hindus indulge in self-flagellation. Since self-pity or self-flagellation or abject surrender has never helped any victim, Hindus will continue to be attacked till they confront their tormentors.

But Hindus can confront their tormentors only if they have the basic weapons of an unbiased media and a strong nationalist political party. 

In India, many of print and electronic media are controlled by anti-Hindu forces. They are denigrating Hinduism, spreading misinformation about Hindu scriptures, dividing Hindu society and hurting Hindu sentiments. Hindus are being brain-washed to forget their religion, heritage and history; and Hinduism is being derided, distorted and destroyed by anti-Hindu media.

Killing of thousands of Hindus in Kashmir and eviction of several lacs of Hindus from Kashmir are no news whereas Gujarat riots which started after Hindu rail passengers were torched at Godhra are always in the news in anti-Hindu media. Infiltration of crores of Pak-Bangla nationals threatening to create one more Islamic country on Indian soil finds no space in media. Similarly, conversion of poorer Hindus to Christianity by fraud, inducement and coercion creates no ripples in anti-Hindu media. Congress-led UPA government has no plan to end discrimination against Hindus, or to confront terrorism and demographic invasion.

And the right effort is bound to bring success as Atharva Veda (7.52.8) proclaims, "Kritam may dakhshine haste, jayo may savya aahitah" ("Effort is in my right hand, and victory in my left"). 

 

(source: Save Hinduism - By J G Arora - centralchronicle.com).  Refer to Indian Identity in American Schools - By C Alex Alexander - sulkeha.com. Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887. Refer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org and The Burningcross.

 

***

Missionaries' target - 'Preying upon'  


Karl Kautsky (1854 – 1938) the leading Marxist thinker of the Second International, defined imperialism as the political domination of underdeveloped countries by developed nations. 

 

Christian mission is merely the religious component of a general program of domination by the West.


(source: Evangelism and the Future of Christianity – by Alister McGrath p. 163). Refer to  Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in America and The Burningcross

George Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers (1795-1869), the famous anthropologist writes: 

“The public at home probably does not appreciate how strongly the majority of field ethnographers, sympathetically anxious to learn all about the customs and religion of the people and working in all parts of the world, have been driven, often against their inclination, to the conclusion that Christian proselytism had done irretrievable harm to native races by disintegrating their culture and to us also by the unrest and antagonism the process evokes.” 

(source: The Clash of Culture and Contact of Races - By George Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers  p. 240). Also refer to Dinosaurs, evangelicals and the state - By Justin Webb - BBC). Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887. and The Burningcross

While commenting upon Biblical Science, George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) the famous playwright, critic and essayist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925, observes:

“Bible is hopelessly pre-evolutionary; its descriptions of the origin of life and morals are obviously fairy tales; its astronomy is terracentric; its notions of the starry universe are childish; its history is epical and legendary: in short, people whose education in these departments is derived from the Bible are so absurdly misinformed as to be unfit for public employment, parental responsibility, or the franchise.” 

(source: voice of dharma). 

***

Over seventy years ago, Mahatma Gandhi stated that: “proselytizing under the cloak of humanitarian work is unhealthy, to say the least. It is most resented by people here."

(source: Gandhi, Mohandas K: In Young India, April 23, 1931).  Refer to Why this war on Hinduism? - By George Thundiparambil.  Refer to Who Killed Our Culture? We Did - By Youki Kudoh - time.com  May 3 1999. Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887. Refer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org. For Cruelty inflicted by Christianity - Watch Constantine's Sword movie 

"Evangelism is an irrational impulse, a form of tyranny over the mind. " - Dr. Babu Suseelan.

If Pakistan and Bangladesh are focused to Islamize India, missionaries are determined to Christianize India. 

While addressing Bishops and priests in New Delhi on 7th November, 1999 (which happened to be Diwali, an important Hindu festival), Pope John Paul II gave a call to convert Asia to Christianity as follows: 

"Just as the first millennium saw the Cross firmly planted in the soil of Europe, and the second in that of America and Africa, so may the Third Christian Millennium witness a great harvest of faith on this vast and vital continent."

Hindus and India are favourite targets for this harvest of faith. Missionaries have already conquered North-East India. Every where else in India, missionaries and their Non Government Organizations (N.G.O.s) having large funds at their disposal are aggressively busy converting poorer Hindus to Christianity under pretence of charitable social service. Reinhard Bonnke, the global evangelist famous for his crusades in Africa, is reported to have stated that during 20 years of his activity in Africa, Christian population rose from 2 percent to 40 percent, and now India tops his conversion agenda. 

With each passing day, India is becoming more Islamic and more Christian; and less Hindu.

The only solution

Though for several centuries, Hindus fought the invaders bravely to defend their faith and motherland, Macaulay's education has made Hindus ignorant of their religion, heritage and history; and indifferent to attacks on Hinduism. Hindus have to re-invent themselves, become pro-active, and tackle this attack at political, social and religious levels.

Genuine secularism ?

Though a sublime concept, 'secularism' has been wrongly equated with anti-Hinduism in India. Since in the name of secularism, sectarian and anti-Hindu agenda is being followed, Hindus and their organizations have to assert themselves and force the government to act as follows.

Article 30 of the Indian Constitution giving special privileges to minorities regarding educational institutions is fragmenting Hindu society since various Hindu sects claim non-Hindu status to get benefit of Article 30. Vide the Supreme Court's judgement reported as Bramchari Sidheswar Shai & Others versus State of West Bengal (AIR 1995 Supreme Court 2089), even Ramakrishna Mission, a leading Hindu organization, unsuccessfully claimed a minority (non-Hindu) status to fall under Article 30. Justice demands that fundamental right under Article 30 must be extended to every community, whether majority or minority.

Government control over Hindu temples is another aberration. Since secularism implies separation of State and religion, government control over Hindu temples is anti-secular, and deprives temples of their income. Besides, it is discriminatory since only Hindu places of worship have been brought under government control.

Why conversions?

Any attempt at conversion from one religion to another by fraud, inducement or coercion is horrible, and must be defeated.

Apart from helping needy sections of society, Hindus and their organizations have to confront and thwart those who are bent upon converting Hindus to Christianity by deception, enticement or force. Inflow of foreign funds meant for subversion and conversion has to be barred. Conversion by fraud, allurement or coercion must be banned. Besides thwarting questionable conversion, all efforts to welcome the converts back to Hindu fold have to be made.

Hindu unity

And only a united Hindu society can tackle anti-Hindu forces.

There is a misconception in some minds that Hindu scriptures sanction the caste system. Vedas, the foundation of Hinduism, are all-embracing and stipulate a casteless and classless society. Innumerable Mantras of Vedas emphasize one-ness, universal brotherhood, harmony, happiness, affection and commonality of entire humanity. All-embracing message of Vedas has to be practised and propagated to foster unity in Hindu society.

Besides, there is an urgent need for a strong global Hindu Forum covering all Hindu sects.

Four Vedas containing 20,416 verses, many Upanishads, Ramayana with 24,000 stanzas, Mahabharata with 1,00,000 stanzas, and several other holy books are the sources of Hinduism. Codification of Hinduism in one book is indispensable to widen its reach. For this codification, appropriate Vedic Mantras and Shlokas of Ramayana, Mahabharata (which contains Bhagvad Gita), and Tirukkural etc. will provide basic material. 

As per Mahabharata, Samvibhaga (sharing of wealth) is an important attribute of Dharma. Many Vedic Mantras direct humans to share their wealth with others. Rig Veda (1-15-8) stipulates, "Let us become God's instruments and distribute fortune to the poor and needy." Similarly, Atharva Veda (3-30-7) commands humans to share their comforts with others. Apart from helping the needy, practice of Samvibhaga will unite Hindu society. If affluent Hindus utilize one per cent of their income to help vulnerable sections, expansionist religions will be unable to prey upon Hindu society.

Besides, every Hindu family has to devote time to defend Hinduism. As per Mahabharata, Dharmo rakshiti rakshitaha (Dharma protects those who protect Dharma).

 

 



Remember your history

Hindus need to remember valour of Dahir, Lalitaditya, Bappa Rawal, Raja Bhoja, Jayapala, Vidyadhar Chandel, Bhimadeva, Govindachandra, Prithiviraj Chauhan, Lakshman Sen, Pratap Rudra, Hakka (Harihara), Bukka (Bukkaraya), Kota Rani, Rana Pratap, Chhatrapati Shiva Ji, Hari Singh Nalwa and many others who defended their faith and every inch of motherland.

 

Today, Hindus in India can fight and defeat the invaders. But tomorrow it will be too late, and Hindus will be crushed in India as they have been crushed in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh which too used to be Hindu lands. Unless Hindus confront their tormentors, and take the above-mentioned measures immediately, Hinduism, also known as eternal religion (Sanatan Dharma) will vanish from this earth just in a few decades. Any further delay or reluctance in fighting the attack will hasten disappearance of Hinduism from the world.

(source: Can Hinduism survive such an onslaught? - By J. G. Arora - Author is the former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax).

 

Refer to VINDICATED BY TIME: The Niyogi Committee Report  On Christian Missionary Activities - Christianity Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee 1956 and Catholic Priests Molest Third World Nuns to Avoid AIDS and The Sunshine of Secularism. Refer to Christianity Dying In The West? - By M S N Menon - organiser.org and The Burningcross

 

Refer to Can Hinduism face the onslaught of Project Thessalonica? - By Alex Pomero and Christians have Destroyed Various Ethnic Cultures of the World - christianaggression.org

Why this war on Hinduism?- These two (Christianity and Islam) hostile ideologies, flawed because they are not based on human experience but on spurious and fantastic literature, are based on a priori illusion that human beings are genetically flawed and can be redeemed only by symbolic conversion and the acceptance of their bookish deity. For instance, if the Christian and Islamic clergy do not propagate and force their sterile ideologies down the throats of unsuspecting or helpless people through dubious means, or do not force them to stay on with censure and punishment, their religions would be wiped out in decades. Europe is a primary example.

(source: Why this war on Hinduism? - By George Thundiparambil - christianaggression.org). Refer to From De Nobili to Clooney: The Christian Methods of Inculturation and Missionary's Dark Legacy and Dutch Christians Target Hindus for ConversionRefer to Who Killed Our Culture? We Did - By Youki Kudoh - time.com  May 3 1999. Refer to  Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in AmericaRefer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org.

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Kali Yuga - The Cosmology of Decay

 

According to to Vedic scriptures, we are now living in the Kaliyuga, the age of Kali. We are given to using the term Kaliyuga quite freely and frequently, not quite knowing its import or significance. 

 

In the Cosmic timetable, Kaliyuga is the last of the four yugas (ages) - Satya yuga, Treta yuga, Dwaparyuga and Kali yuga - called chaturyuga. The duration of Kaliyuga is said to be 432,000 years; of Dvaparayuga 864,000 years; of Tretayuga 1,296,000 and of Satyayuga 17,280,000 years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life of Brahma: The four Yugas.

 

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

 

***

 

Kali Yuga is so called because it is dominated by Kali, the embodiment of evil.

 

According to Hindu scripture, Kali Yuga began at the end of Krishna's bodily lifespan (approximately 5100 years ago, 3102 BC and will last exactly 432,000 years — placing its conclusion in the year AD 428899. Kali Yuga began at the midnight beginning of 18 February 3102 BC. according to the Surya Siddhanta, which is an astronomical treatise that forms the basis of all Hindu and Buddhist calendars.Kali Yuga is the last of four Yuga; upon its conclusion, the world will 'reboot’ into a new Satya Yuga (Golden Age.) This involves the end of the worldas we know it and the return of Earth to a state of paradise

Kali Yuga began at the midnight beginning of 18 February 3102 BC. according to the Surya Siddhanta, which is an astronomical treatise that forms the basis of all Hindu and Buddhist calendars.
Kalki the 10th and final avatar of Vishnu, is expected to appear at this time, riding a white horse and wielding a flaming sword with which to strike down the wicked.

 

 

 

 

 

Kalki the 10th and final avatar of Vishnu, is expected to appear at this time, riding a white horse and wielding a flaming sword with which to strike down the wicked.

***

The Srimad-Bhagavatam (12.2.19-20) describes Lord Kalki's activities as follows: "Lord Kalki, the Lord of the universe, will mount His swift white horse Devadatta and, sword in hand, travel over the earth exhibiting His eight mystic opulences and eight special qualities of Godhead. Displaying His unequaled effulgence and riding with great speed, He will kill by the millions those thieves who have dared dress as kings."

We should make note here that, as the Vedic literature explains, when the Supreme kills anyone, that person is immediately spiritually purified by His touch and because the person is focused on the Supreme Being while leaving his body. Thus, that person attains the same destination as those yogis who spend years steadying the mind in order to meditate and leave their bodies while focused on the Supreme. So being killed by the Supreme is a great advantage for those of a demoniac mentality who would otherwise enter lower realms of existence or even the hellish planets in their next lives.

The Return of the Golden Age

Herein we can understand that Lord Kalki will simply chastise by killing all of the evil kings and rogues and thereby bring in a new era of enlightened beings, a race whose minds will be as clear as crystal. They will produce offspring that will follow the tendencies of real human beings as found in the age of Satya-yuga.

 

(source: The Vedic Universe: Hinduism - alien-ufos.com/forum and Notes on the End of a World - By Rene Guenon). Also refer to Kalki and The concept of Age).

 

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The Puranas: Down to Earth? 
Alone in the Universe?

The Vedas consider Earth as just one station for the train of life – one stop in a universe teeming with life forms and intelligent species. 

The Vedic literature known as the Puranas particularly intrigues forward-thinking readers. The Puranic challenges leads straight to the heart of the cosmic mystery. Besides realizing that we are not alone in the universe, we also become acquainted with our duties and responsibilities as citizens of a universe packed with diversity. Earthy problems of gender and ethnicity  seem quite infantile when compared to Puranic concerns of interplanetary and interspecies relationships. 

Sadly, for so long, Western small-mindedness has banished the Puranas to the Siberia of preposterous myths. 

According to prevailing minds of modernity the zenith of either God’s creation in six days or Darwinian evolution over millions of years, humans on earth were the sole recipients of intelligence in the universe. Therefore, with an erudite knee-jerk reaction, most scholars politely overlooked on vehemently rejected any references by the ancients that might indicate nonhuman intelligence on other planets. 

Outside of the academic establishment, non-mainstream thinkers and researchers ache to know who are the extraterrestrials?  

Here, is a summary of Vedic extraterrestrial themes, especially as presented in the Puranas: 

  • Intelligent life abounds on other planets, many of which have civilizations far more advanced than anything Earth ever had.
  • The sun is indeed the center of the universe – amid many planets that cannot be detected by human eyes or instruments.
  • Interplanetary communication and traveling is as routine as calling from a street payphone or cycling to a neighborhood shop. Previous civilizations on Earth were in constant contact with other planets.
  • Countless universes exist, like bubbles in sea foam. They vary in size and are walled off from one another by immense layers of gross and subtle matter.

 

Intelligent life abounds on other planets, many of which have civilizations far more advanced than anything Earth ever had. Countless universes exist, like bubbles in sea foam.

***

Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947, is a festering sore of government mistrust. It also currently reigns as the world’s most famous UFO event. The French report dares to chastise the USA for an “impressive repressive arsenal” on the UFO issue, and it acknowledges the successful American policy of disinformation. 

Premier science writer Paul Davies, a theoretical physicist, predicts, that if Intelligent life is found on other planets: 

“Almost certainly Christianity would not survive the discovery of advanced alien beings.”

Often traditional Christianity have recoiled at the possibility of non-earthly civilizations. Perhaps more than other religions. Christianity, as conventionally known, runs smack into severe doctrinal difficulties. Jesus Christ is accepted as the exclusive Redeemer of only Earth-domiciled humans. If life equally as intelligent or more exists elsewhere, how does it fit into the New testament plan for salvation? A special new millennium edition of the Wall Street Journal neatly summarized the problem: 

“The Christian creed that God so loved the world he gave it his only son simply assumes that this world alone received God’s main attention. But what if a culture on a different planet harbors a similar belief – or doesn’t?   

"Of all the world's major religions, Christianity is the most species-specific. Jesus Christ was humanity's savior and redeemer. He did not die for the dolphins or the gorillas, and certainly not for the proverbial little green men.

But what of deeply spiritual aliens? Are they not to be saved? Can we contemplate a universe that contains perhaps a trillion worlds of saintly beings, but in which the only beings eligible for salvation inhabit a planet where murder, rape, and other evils remain rife?" 

After all, in the Christian view of the world, Jesus was God's only son. Would God have the same person born, killed, and resurrected in endless succession on planet after planet? 

This scenario was lampooned as long ago as 1794, by Thomas Paine. "The Son of God," he wrote in The Age of Reason, "and sometimes God himself, would have nothing else to do than to travel from world to world, in an endless succession of death, with scarcely a momentary interval of life." Paine went on to argue that Christianity was simply incompatible with the existence of extraterrestrial beings, writing, "He who thinks he believes in both has thought but little of either."

Catholics tend to regard the idea of multiple incarnations as verging on heresy, not because of its somewhat comic aspect but because it would seem to automate an act that is supposed to be God's singular gift. "God chose a very specific way to redeem human beings," writes George Coyne, a Jesuit priest and the director of the Vatican Observatory, whose own research includes astrobiology. "He sent his only son, Jesus, to them, and Jesus gave up his life so that human beings would be saved from their sin. Did God do this for extraterrestrials? ... The theological implications about God are getting ever more serious."

Ernan McMullin, a professor emeritus of philosophy at Notre Dame University , affirms that the central difficulty stems from Christianity's roots in a pre-scientific cosmology. "It was easier to accept the idea of God's becoming man," he has written, "when humans and their abode both held a unique place in the universe."

(source: E.T. and God - By Paul Davies - the atlantic.com).

One of the most powerful leaders of America’s Fundamentalist Protestants sounded a more ominous note. 

On a national broadcast, Pat Robertson (the founder and chairman of the Christian Coalition -- a group dedicated to becoming the most powerful political force in America) advocated that, according to God’s instructions in the old Testament, UFO enthusiasts should be stoned. Denouncing extraterrestrialism, the televangelist charged, “It’s a clear violation of God’s word.” 

(source: Searching for Vedic India – By Devamrita Swami  p. 497 - 508). For more refer to Pat Robertson wants stoning for UFO seekers - greatdreams.com). Refer to Bible thumpers: Americans are being increasingly stereotyped as stupid - By Arvind Kumar - indiareacts.com). Quotes from The American Taliban and Christian Fundamentalists to Push Bible as Classroom "Knowledge" and Bush, the Neocons and Evangelical Christian Fiction: America "Left Behind" - By Hugh Urban and The Christian Right, Dominionism, and Theocracy - publiceye.org. The Crusaders: Christian evangelicals are plotting to remake America in their own image - By Bob Moser - rollingstone.com and Dominionist. Refer to The Republican War on Science - By Chris Mooney. 

(Note: Refer to  A conflict between science and God - By Martin Kettle - Crusade against science in Modern America - Three-quarters of Americans, in other words, still do not accept what Darwin established 150 years ago. Just under half of all Americans believe the natural world was created in its present form by God in six days as described in Genesis. They believe, incredibly, that the earth is only a few thousand years old).

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Airlangga, Hindu Prince of Java

Airlangga (also spelled Erlangga) lived in East Java from 1001 to 1049 and is regarded as a national hero of Indonesia because he wrested control of his homeland from Sumatran overlords. His 23-year reign as king launched an economic, literary and artistic renaissance in Java and Bali.  

During his reign, a court poet named Mpu Kanwa composed the Javanese epic "Arjunavivaha," as an allegory of Airlangga's life. The story takes place on the day the prince, called Arjuna, goes to war. As he faces his enemies, he realizes they are his own family. Grief overwhelms him, and he doesn't know what to do. So he seeks divine knowledge. Then Krishna reveals himself as a vision of transcendental light.  

 

God Vishnu seated on his bird-vehicle, Garuda.

***

Airlangga was buried at a place called Belahan, an ancient brick bathing place surrounded by temples on Mt Penanggungan. Carved in red tufa stone against the back wall of the bathing tank is one of east Java's greatest icons, God Vishnu seated on his bird-vehicle, Garuda. Historians believe this image represents the ascended King Airlangga.

Airlangga is known to have been a keen patron of the arts, notably literature. In around 1035, the court poet Mpu Kanwa produced the Arjuna Wiwaha, which has to this day remained one of Java's most popular classical stories. Adapted from the Indian Mahabharata epic, the poem recounts episodes in the life of the hero sage Arjuna, who was an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. There are reasons to believe that the poem was a portrait of the life of Airlangga himself. He, like Arjuna, was seen as a divine incarnation, apparently laid to rest at Candi Belahan, where he was portrayed in stone as Vishnu on Garuda.

 

Airlangga, Hindu Prince of Java, as Vishnu on Garuda.
His 23-year reign as king launched an economic, literary and artistic rennaissance in Java and Bali.  

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

***

Towards the end of his life, Airlangga was faced with the problem of succession. The rightful heir, the princess Sanggramawijaya, refused the throne, preferring to live her life as a hermit. She is traditionally associated with the legend of Dewi Kilisuci and the cave of Selomangleng at Kediri. Airlangga's realm was, as a result, eventually divided between two of his sons, giving rise to the separate kingdoms of Janggala and Kediri. It was Kediri, however, which was to become the dominant power until the rise of Singosari in the early 13th century.

An Excerpt from "Arjunavivaha"

Then Arjuna saw the entire universe, infinitely divided, and yet one all-embracing mind. Frightened and overcome with awe, Arjuna bowed his head and prayed.

"Lord Krishna…I see beings without number inside your shining form. You have no beginning, nor middle, nor end. You shimmer with brilliant, glowing crowns. I cannot see through the blazing fire of your sunlight."

Airlangga is remembered in today's Indonesia as a model of religious tolerance. He spent his early years living in the forests as an ascetic.  

(source: Airlangga - eastjava.com and Airlangga, Prince of Java).  

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Western Media’s Negative Vision of India – By Francois Gautier
Kumbh Mela a Freak Fair?

 

Western journalism, when it is applied to India, harps on the anecdotal, the superfluous, the derogatory, deforms everything and transforms what is beautiful and noble into a show of freaks..

T
he Kumbh Mela which is taking place at the moment in Allahabad, demonstrates once again to which extent Western journalism, when it is applied to India, harps on the anecdotal, the superfluous, the derogatory, deforms everything and transforms what is beautiful and noble into a show of freaks and fanatics. And wasn't that the headline of The Independent of London "A freak fair? " 

News agencies in Europe and the US are only interested in the photos of Hollywood stars (Madonna, Demi Moore, Richard Gere, Pierce Brosnan, etc) who are going to descend on the Kumbh Mela, even if they will be totally lost amongst the millions of (real) devotees.

Isn't it strange that at the time of globalisation and standardisation of the whole world, at a time when the civilisation of Coca-Cola And MTV reigns supreme from Rio de Janeiro to Manilla, from Paris to Shanghai, at a time when man's collective consciousness is universally lowered to an idiotic level by American television soaps -- Bold and Beautiful or or Friends -- nobody in the West finds it extraordinary that 80 million souls converge by plane, by car, on horseback, on foot towards a place which they consider sacred, to pray to That which is beyond us, to this immanent Force towards which men have aspired to since millenniums?  

 

Nobody in the West finds it extraordinary that 80 million souls converge by plane, by car, on horseback, on foot towards a place which they consider sacred, to pray to That which is beyond us, to this immanent Force towards which men have aspired to since millenniums?  

***

Always these images which denigrate India, always this colonial superior spirit which perpetuates itself in the negative vision which Western journalists have of the Indian subcontinent.

O sadness, O despair that at the beginning of this third millennium, the West remains obsessed by the caste system, or the rise of Indian 'nationalism' (which does not exist) and does not realize the extraordinary miracle that is India, which not only is becoming a great power in Asia, but maybe holds within herself the key to French writer André Malraux's famous (and accurate) prediction: 'the 21st century will be spiritual or will not be.' 

(source: Western Media’s Negative vision of India – By Francois Gautier - rediff.com). For more on Francois Gautier refer to chapter on Quotes and visit his website - Francois Gautier). 


Refer to A conflict between science and God - By Martin Kettle - Crusade against science in Modern America - Three-quarters of Americans, in other words, still do not accept what Darwin established 150 years ago. Just under half of all Americans believe the natural world was created in its present form by God in six days as described in Genesis. They believe, incredibly, that the earth is only a few thousand years old).

 

Refer to Can Hinduism face the onslaught of Project Thessalonica? - By Alex Pomero and Refer to Bible thumpers: Americans are being increasingly stereotyped as stupid - By Arvind Kumar - indiareacts.com). Also refer to Dinosaurs, evangelicals and the state - By Justin Webb - BBC). Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887. and The Burningcross


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Hindu Revival in Indonesia  

Ibn Warraq: "Yes, many of these Muslims who converted back to Hinduism, of course, were originally Hindus. So they were sort of going back, as it were, to their ancestral faith."

***

Hindu empires had flourished in Java for a millennium until they were replaced by expanding Islamic polities in the 15th century, setting the stage for Indonesia becoming the world's largest Muslim nation. . Earlier indigenous Javanese and Hindu traditions were retained by the rural population and even within the immediate sphere of the royal courts, especially in a context of ritual practice. In this sense, the victory of Islam has remained incomplete until today.

 

 

Lord Brahma and Goddess Durga.

The majority of Balinese consider themselves descendants of noble warriors from the Hindu Javanese empire Majapahit who conquered Bali in the 14th century.

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

***

In the 1970s, however, a new Hindu revival movement began to sweep across the archipelago. Hinduism is gaining even greater popularity at this time of national crisis, most notably in Java, the political heart of Indonesia.

The majority of Balinese consider themselves descendants of noble warriors from the Hindu Javanese empire Majapahit who conquered Bali in the 14th century. A growing number of Balinese are conducting pilgrimages to Hindu temples in Java, most of which have been built in places identified as sacred sites in traditional Balinese texts (often written in Old-Javanese language). Balinese have been heavily involved in the construction and ritual maintenance of these new Hindu temples in Java. They further dominate organizations representing Hinduism at a national level. Finally, many Javanese Hindu priests have been trained in Bali.

Most thought-provoking, perhaps, were the emotional accounts of events since 1965 leading up to a resurgence of Hinduism, and the constant references to the famous Javanese prophesies of Sabdapalon and Jayabaya.

A glance at one of the many ancient monuments scattered across its landscape would suffice to remind one of a very different Java, where a succession of smaller and larger Hindu kingdoms flourished for more than a millennium, producing a unique and dynamic mixture of Indic and indigenous Austronesian culture. At the peak of its influence in the 14th century the last and largest among Hindu Javanese empires, Majapahit, reached far across the Indonesian archipelago. This accomplishment is interpreted in modern nationalist discourses as an early historical beacon of Indonesian unity and nationhood, a nation with Java still at its center.

 

The Hindu Epic of Ramayana in Java.

To a large and growing number of equally 'modern' Javanese, however, their ancient Hindu past is still very present indeed, and prophesied to come alive once more in the near future.

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

***


To a large and growing number of equally 'modern' Javanese, however, their ancient Hindu past is still very present indeed, and prophesied to come alive once more in the near future. A utopian Hindu revival movement has emerged in Java over the last three decades of the twentieth century, and is gathering momentum in the turmoil of Indonesia's continuing economic and political crisis. Drawing on ancient prophesies, many of its members believe that a great natural cataclysm or final battle is at hand in which Islam will be swept from the island to conclude the current age of darkness. Thereafter, they say, Hindu civilization will be restored to its former glory - with Java as the political center of a new world order that will last for a thousand years.

In terms of their political affiliation, many contemporary Javanists and recent converts to Hinduism had been members of the old PNI, and have now joined the new nationalist party of Megawati Sukarnoputri. Informants from among this group portrayed their return to the 'religion of Majapahit' (Hinduism) as a matter of nationalist pride, and displayed a new sense political self-confidence.

A common feature among new Hindu communities in Java is that they tend to rally around recently built temples (pura) or around archaeological temple sites (chandi) which are being reclaimed as places of Hindu worship. One of several new Hindu temples in eastern Java is Pura Mandaragiri Sumeru Agung, located on the slope of Mt Sumeru, Java's highest mountain. A common feature among new Hindu communities in Java is that they tend to rally around recently built temples (pura) or around archaeological temple sites (chandi) which are being reclaimed as places of Hindu worship. One of several new Hindu temples in eastern Java is Pura Mandaragiri Sumeru Agung, located on the slope of Mt Sumeru, Java's highest mountain. Pondering with some envy on the secret to the economic success of their Balinese neighbors, several local informants concluded that "Hindu culture may be more conducive to the development of an international tourism industry than is Islam".

(source: Hindu Revival in Indonesia - By Dr Thomas Reuter is Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne's School of Anthropology, Geography & Environmental Studies. This paper was published in The Australian Journal of Anthropology and is being reproduced with their permission.).

***

The prophecies of Sabdapalon and Sri Mapanji Jayabaya

Sabdapalon was a priest and adviser to Brawijaya V, the last ruler of the Hindu empire Majapahit in Java. He is also said to have cursed his king upon the conversion of the latter to Islam in 1478. Sabdapalon then promised to return, after 500 years and at a time of widespread political corruption and natural disasters, to sweep Islam from the island and restore Hindu-Javanese religion and civilization. Some of the first new Hindu temples built in Java were indeed completed around 1978, for example Pura Blambangan in the regency of Banyuwangi. As the prophesies foretold, Mt Sumeru erupted around the same time. All this is taken as evidence of the accuracy of Sabdapalon's predictions.

Together with the prophecy of Sabdapalon to return, after 500 years and at a time of widespread political corruption and natural disasters (in 1978), to sweep Islam from the island and restore Hindu-Javanese religion and civilization, Jayabaya's prophecy has given much heart to the Indonesian Hindu communities.

 

Chandi Mendut, Java, Indonesia bas relief: Kuvera, on the north wall of an antechamber. Kuvera is the God of Wealth, the merchants' deity and has sacks of gold under his feet and wish granting trees besides him. 

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

***

Sri Mapanji Jayabaya reigned over the kingdom of Kediri in East Java from 1135 to 1157 AD. He reunified Java after a split that occurred with the death of his predecessor Airlangga. He is also remembered for his just and prosperous rule, and reputed to have been an incarnation of the Hindu deity Vishnu. He is the archetypal 'just king' (ratu adil) who is reborn during the dark age of reversal (jaman edan) at the end of each cosmic cycle to restore social justice, order, and harmony in the world.

When Japan took Java, in the first weeks of 1942, Indonesians danced in the streets, welcoming the Japanese army as the fulfillment of a prophecy made by King Jayabaya, who foretold the day when white men would one day establish their rule on Java and tyrannize the people for many years – but they would be driven out by the arrival of yellow men from the north. These yellow men, Jayabaya predicted, would remain for one crop cycle, and after that Java would be freed from foreign domination. To most of the Javanese, Japan was a liberator: the prophecy had been fulfilled. The Japanese not only freed Indonesian nationalists from Dutch dungeons, but hired them on as civil servants and administrators. In the waning days of 1944, however, it was clear that Japan could not win the war. The Japanese officially granted Indonesia its independence on August 9, 1945, and the commander of Japan's southeast Asian forces appointed future President Sukarno as chairman of the preparatory committee for Indonesian independence. As one account of Indonesian history puts it, "With the minor exception that three crops had been harvested, Jayabaya's prophecy had been realized."

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabdapalon and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayabaya).

Followers and opponents alike explain the sudden rise of a Hindu revival movement in Java by referring to the well-known prophecies of Sabdapalon and Jayabaya. Sabdapalon is said to have been a priest and an adviser to Brawijaya V, the last ruler of the Hindu empire Majapahit. He is also said to have cursed his king upon the conversion of the latter to Islam in 1478. Sabdapalon then promised to return, after 500 years and at a time of widespread political corruption and natural disasters, to sweep Islam from the island and restore Hindu-Javanese religion and civilization. Some of the first new Hindu temples built in Java were indeed completed around 1978, for example Pura Blambangan in the regency of Banyuwangi. As the prophesies foretold, Mt Sumeru erupted around the same time. All this is taken as evidence of the accuracy of Sabdapalon's predictions.

A further prophesy, well-known throughout Java and Indonesia, is the Ramalan (or Jangka) Jayabaya. The predictions of Jayabaya are also discussed frequently in daily newspapers. These ancient prophesies, indeed, are very much a part of a current public debate on the ideal shape of a new and genuinely democratic Indonesia.The historical personage Sri Mapanji Jayabaya reigned over the kingdom of Kediri in East Java from 1135 to 1157 AD (Buchari 1968:19). He is known for his efforts to reunify Java after a split had occurred with the death of his predecessor Airlangga, for his just and prosperous rule, and for his dedication to the welfare of the common people. Reputed to have been an incarnation of the Hindu deity Vishnu, Jayabaya is also the archetypal image of the 'just king' (ratu adil) who is reborn during the dark age of reversal (jaman edan) at the end of each cosmic cycle to restore social justice, order, and harmony in the world. Many believe that the time for the arrival of a new ratu adil is near (as the prophesies put it, "when iron wagons drive without horses and ships sail through the sky [i.e. cars and airplanes]"), and that he will come to rescue and reunite Indonesia after an acute crisis, ushering in the dawn of a new golden age.

Hindu Javanese emphasize with pride that their ancestors Sabdapalon and Jayabaya represent a golden pre-Islamic age.

(source: Hindu Revival in Indonesia - By Dr Thomas Reuter is Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne's School of Anthropology, Geography & Environmental Studies. This paper was published in The Australian Journal of Anthropology and is being reproduced with their permission. source: 'Great expectations: Hindu revival movements in Java'By Thomas A Reuter 2001 The Australian Journal of Anthropology 12(3): 327-338 and The Religion Report).

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Endless Demonizing of Hinduism in Western Press and Academia
Three Cs stereotypes - Cow, Caste and Curry - Hurting the Hindu psyche?

Debunking someone else’s faith legitimizes one’s own ?

Caste system, untouchables, cow worship, sati, dowry deaths, widows, brahmanical, communal violence are constantly in the news in the West. It is ironic that when Western academia write about Hindu traditions, it is termed freedom of expression however hurtful it is. When Hindus protest the hurt, it is then termed as the rise of Hindu extremism and fundamentalism.

 

Just about every scourge under the sun blamed on Hinduism. The motives behind much "human rights" is to perpetuate what has been called "white privileges".

US Schools of Divinity have ulterior motives in offering degrading interpretations of non-Abrahamic faiths. They have no interest what so ever in teaching any student the virtues of India or its predominant Hindu civilization...

***

Just about every scourge under the sun blamed on Hinduism. The motives behind much "Human rights" is to perpetuate what has been called "White privileges". Even when someone criticizes sati/dowry, the goal frequently is not to produce genuine benefit to others, but is a divisive strategy that benefits the dominant culture. Their goal is to weaken the fabric of Indian society through funding/championing internal cleavages, so as to rule over the third world.   

Most Americans know about India’s 3 Cs: Caste, Curry and Cows and the 3 Ps: Polytheism, Poverty and Population!  

Not too long ago, there were many articles in the US and Indian media about the denigration of Ganesha, Ramakrishna Paramahams, Shivaji etc by the sophomoric writings of Eurocentric American Professors associated with US Schools of Divinity. Complaints about such writings were lodged by both Indian scholars in India as well as scholars from among the NRI communities here in the US and UK. But the latter (critics) were often unfairly caricatured by a few Judeo-Christian as well as Indian “intellectuals” characterizing the critics as Hindu fundamentalists or ignoramuses who are unfamiliar with our Bill of Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression. 

These Schools of Divinity have ulterior motives in offering degrading interpretations of non-Abrahamic faiths. They have no interest what so ever in teaching any student the virtues of India or its predominant Hindu civilization, which has contributed, to the evolution of Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Hinduism’s core value of pluralism and its tolerance of all faiths are seldom highlighted, nor discussed. They also may not have heard from their teachers that India is the seventh most industrialized country in the world, and that it contributed a great deal to ancient mathematics, astronomy, bronze casting, surgery, and vaccination, Yoga, Ayurveda etc

(source: Indian Identity in American Schools - By C Alex Alexander - sulkeha.com). Refer to  Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in AmericaRefer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org. and The Burningcross

***

There is an aggressive push by Christian conservatives, particularly in America, to convert the world. Part of that process is to demonize all other religions and ideologies.

(Refer to Arrogance of Faith - By Forrrest G Wood and to Bible thumpers: Americans are being increasingly stereotyped as stupid - By Arvind Kumar - indiareacts.com). Refer to Indian Identity in American Schools - By C Alex Alexander - sulkeha.com. Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887.

Who Killed Our Culture? Aping the West? 
Lessons for Indians?

A Japanese actress mourns her country's obsession with American values.  

The Americans, meanwhile, had Coca-Cola, chocolate, family life, music and dance--all the pleasures we lacked. The goal of post-war Japan was to catch up with America by every means available. The economy took off; we ran up the ladder and became a first-class economic power, pretending all the while not to see the huge hole in the mind, the distrust of our own country.

Most of today's young people grew up in the absence of some important values. They aren't positive about being Japanese, nor about their own identity. But at the same time we have to hold on to our own culture. We have become polluted by American culture, contaminated by materialism. We don't love our country, don't respect it. 

We are negative about our culture: traditional things are seen as old-fashioned, and everything new is good. Social order and moral standards have disappeared. Some people are even obsessed with denying their Japaneseness. Many girls dye their hair and tan their skin. The streets and towns of Japan are made to look like France or America. Our cities were destroyed and re-created to resemble a foreign country. Traditional culture is not even accessible to most of us; it is disappearing into oblivion. This makes me very sad. We are copying everything about America just because it is American. 

(source:  Who Killed Our Culture? We Did - By Youki Kudoh - time.com  May 3 1999).

***

Hate Literature by Christian Evangelicals in India 

Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970) English logician and philosopher, best known for his work in mathematical logic and for his social and political campaigns, including his advocacy of both pacifism and nuclear disarmament. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.He wrote in 1954, 

"Christianity has been distinguished from other religions by its greater readiness for persecution. “The whole contention that Christianity has had an elevating moral influence can only be maintained by wholesale ignorance or falsification of the historical evidence.”

(source: Arrogance of Faith - By Forrrest G Wood  p. 26). Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887. Refer to  Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in AmericaRefer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org. and The Burningcross

***

The magazine Indian Messenger (September 1998) calls the great Kumbha Mela, which attracts millions of Hindu devotees, a superstitious deception. “The belief that the mud of sins in human souls can be purified for ultimate liberation through Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati is superstitious. The Kumbha Mela represents this superstitious deception,” it says. But strangely in a superstitious tone and words it claims: “Liberation from sins can be attained only by the unpolluted blood of Christ the virtuous.” Note not only the superstitions but also the audacity of the suggestion.

Shri Sai Baba, to these Christian fundamentalists, is a satanic spirit and Mata Amritanandamayi a mentally retarded woman. To quote: “The miracles said to have been performed by Sai Baba is mere magic. Satanic spirit dwells in him. Mata Amritanandamayi is a mentally retarded woman. She is half mad and what she does is stupidity”.

Again, the Haindava Suvishesheekaranam says: “No Hindu gods and goddesses exists who have not surrendered to Christ. If Krishna, Rama and Indra surrendered before Christ, what other evidence is necessary to prove that he is the only true God” (p. 181-182).

This Christian fundamentalist propaganda literature often describes Bharat as a “State of Devil”.  Dr K. P. Yohannan in his book Anant Prakash mein Jeevan Vyatheeth Karain writes: “Every time a Hindu is baptized and converted to Christianity, there is a great disturbance in the State of Devil” (p. 114). Hindu religious and community leaders have been termed as “devils” and “satanic” powers by the same author.

Dr. Yohannan’s is not the solitary instance. In fact, he is one of the many who project such views. Another statement in a book named Samvaad: Kyon and Kaisai (Masibi Drishtikon Se) by Dr Benzami Khan are equally inciting: “Moral values play a negligible role in Hindu religion” (p. 98).

If these literatures are to be believed, then all the good things and positive aspects of Hinduism have come from Christianity because it is deeply influenced by the preaching of Christ-be it the Bhakti movement or the stories of Krishna or even that of Shiva! They claim abrasively that the stories of Krishna have been taken from the story of Christ with minor changes! “In fact Christ became Krishna in India,” says the book of Dr Benzamin (p. 71).

 

***


Common Hindu traditions are always ridiculed. For example application of bindi, tilak sindoor are jeered at as devil eye and related to satanic spirits. “Even though tilak is considered a symbol of Shiva by the Hindus, the use of these symbols is dangerous and gives them an opportunity to come under the influence of satanic spirit. Thus girls beware,” says the book published by Masihi Sahitya Sanstha (see Hindi translation of. Sex, Love and Marriage by Zac. Poonen, p. 102).

For obvious reasons, the missionaries have always been trying to mislead people on the census data. But certain reports, which they do for their internal consumption, are highly revealing and equally disturbing. For example the Church Growth Centre reports that by the end of the 20th century the Christian population will increase 13 times as compared to that at the beginning of the century. It further clarifies that the increase of the non-Christian population would be only 4.6 times during the same period. “In 1900 there were 60 non-Christians for one Christian and by the end of the century there will be only 20 non-Christian to every Christian. Christians’ estimated population in the year 2000 will be 50 million,” the report says.

According to the report entitled Trends and Issues in Evangelisation in India by Augustine Kanjamala SVD, a CBCI Secretary: “In the North-East, conversions among the tribals continue. During the last 30 years the Catholic population has increased nine fold to nine lakhs. In Arunachal Pradesh about 10,000 people join the Church per year, half of them into Catholic Church. In West India more than 45,000 Bhils have joined the Church (The Church In’ India: Its Missions Tomorrow, p. 40).

The same report reveals: “Amri, Kerbi tribal people in Assam have totally declared to become Christians for the prosperity of the tribe.” According to it every day 4,000 new Christians are added to the Church, and 35 new congregations are formed every week. One can very well imagine the aggressive nature of the “harvesting plan”.

In their “hate and insinuation” literature, even Sikhs are not spared. A section of the Sikh community is often compared to thieves and dacoits. (Page 180 of Uttar Bharat tatha Pakistan main Masihi Dharma by Bishop Deendayal and published by Hindi Theological Literature Committee, Jabalpur). To substantiate its point the author refers to “historical instance” when Sikh soldiers allegedly attacked the enemy from behind and indulged in looting.

The missionary propaganda literature has throughout indulged in spreading canards against the Hindu society. It also twists and misrepresents the facts. For instance: “The old Hindu political, economic and philosophical writings like Kautilya’s Artha Sastra and Manu Samiti did not count the dalits and the tribes as human being. The Vedas treated them as Chandals, Gita and Mahabharata showed them as wild animals like monkeys and Rawanas.” This is what you read in Bishop Nirmal Minz’s book Rise Up, My People, And Claim the Promise. He goes on to write: “In the past they (tribes) have been treated as something less than human, according to Hindu attitudes and understanding.”

Finally, if these propagandists are to be believed, the majority of the Hindus are slaves, untouchables, Poor, looters, thieves and nonbelievers. A book Confusion called Conversion by Sunder Raj is entirely devoted to malign the Hindu people. 

Now tell us who are the haters of the other religionists? 

(source: Hate Literature by Christian Evangelicals in India - saag forum.com).  Refer to Quotes from The American Taliban. Refer to VINDICATED BY TIME: The Niyogi Committee Report  On Christian Missionary Activities - Christianity Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee 1956 and The Sunshine of Secularism. Refer to Can Hinduism face the onslaught of Project Thessalonica? - By Alex Pomero and Christians have Destroyed Various Ethnic Cultures of the World - christianaggression.org.

Why this war on Hinduism?- These two (Christianity and Islam) hostile ideologies, flawed because they are not based on human experience but on spurious and fantastic literature, are based on a priori illusion that human beings are genetically flawed and can be redeemed only by symbolic conversion and the acceptance of their bookish deity. For instance, if the Christian and Islamic clergy do not propagate and force their sterile ideologies down the throats of unsuspecting or helpless people through dubious means, or do not force them to stay on with censure and punishment, their religions would be wiped out in decades. Europe is a primary example.

(source: Why this war on Hinduism? - By George Thundiparambil - christianaggression.org). Refer to From De Nobili to Clooney: The Christian Methods of Inculturation and Missionary's Dark Legacy and Dutch Christians Target Hindus for Conversion Also refer to Dinosaurs, evangelicals and the state - By Justin Webb - BBC). Refer to A conflict between science and God - By Martin Kettle - Crusade against science in Modern America - Three-quarters of Americans, in other words, still do not accept what Darwin established 150 years ago. Just under half of all Americans believe the natural world was created in its present form by God in six days as described in Genesis. They believe, incredibly, that the earth is only a few thousand years old). Refer to The Republican War on Science - By Chris Mooney and The Crusaders: Christian evangelicals are plotting to remake America in their own image - By Bob Moser - rollingstone.com and Dominionist. Refer to Who Killed Our Culture? We Did - By Youki Kudoh - time.com  May 3 1999. Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887. and The Burningcross

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Taste of Their Own Medicine ? Judaism threatens Church in Mizoram, Manipur

 

Nearly 111 years after its advent in Mizoram and Manipur, Christianity has now waken up to the potent threat that the star of David posed to the Cross in the two north-eastern states.The Christian theologians and researchers have of late launched a campaign to counter the growing affinity of some Mizos and Kukis (a tribe of Manipur) towards Judaism.

The synagogues in Aizawl and Imphal have a number of regulars since ages. But what have alarmed the Christian scholars in the two states are recent media reports from Jerusalem that a team of Rabbis from Israel would soon land in the region to conduct mass conversions.

“Such mass conversion of people from Christianity to Judaism will destroy the social fabric of both the tribes. It is the need of the hour that we launch a social movement against any such move,” said P C Biaksiama of the Christian Research Centre in Aizawl.


Although almost all Mizos, who earlier practised indigenous faiths, embraced Christianity by mid 1940s, some of them in early 1970s noticed that many of their traditional customs and rituals matched with those of the Jews. This made them believe that their ancestors had been Jews and lived in Israel.

“The Church has never been convinced with what they (Bnei Menashes) say. They have never been taken seriously. Theirs is a small community, at least till now,” said Rev Colney of the Mizoram Presbyterian Church Synod.

‘Religious invasion’

But Dr Biaksiama said not only the Church, but also the Centre and state government should now wake up to this “religious and cultural invasion”, as the promise of a “better living standards” in Israel may tempt many more to join the Bnei Menashes.

“The mass conversion by foreign priests will pose a threat not only to social stability in the region, but also to national security. A large number of people will forsake loyalty to the Union of India, as they all will become eligible for a foreign citizenship,” he said.

(source: Taste of Their Own Medicine: Judaism threatens Church in Mizoram, Manipur - christianaggression.org). For more refer to chapter on Conversion. Refer to Christianity Dying In The West? - By M S N Menon - organiser.org.

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Ricky Williams - From NFL to Ayurveda

 

He's no longer Ricky Williams the football player. He plans to become Ricky Williams the holistic healer. It's been more than 10 months since Williams, one of the premier running backs in the National Football League, last ran off tackle for the Miami Dolphins and four months since he suddenly announced his retirement at age 27.

Then he dropped from sight. But now Williams has turned up about as far away from professional football as you can get, as a student of the ancient Indian medical system known as Ayurveda. In the Sierra foothills, no less. Williams is now a month into a 17-month course at the California College of Ayurveda (pronounced I-yur-vay-da) in Grass Valley, a city of 12,000 in the Gold Country, about 45 miles northeast of Sacramento. 

Harmonious pursuits

"Ayurveda deals with using your environment to put yourself in balance,'' he said. "I've realized, both on a psychological and physical level, that the things we do in football don't bring more harmony to your life. They just bring more disharmony." 

The 5-foot-10 Williams weighs 210 pounds, about 25 fewer than his playing weight. He looks healthy and happy. As part of his Ayurveda studies, he said, "I try to give foods and herbs attributes and find out which ones balance me out.''

(source: Ricky Williams: From NFL to Ayurveda - SFGate.com and Former running back turns up at holistic medicine school

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Ayurveda: Ancient Medicine of India - by Jonathan Klemens   

 

Dhanvantri is also the name of several historical figures who are very important to the development of Ayurveda. 

Ayurveda, claimed to be the oldest and most complete medical art, is the 7,000 year old Indian art of healing and rejuvenation that is recently becoming widely available and popular in the West.  Texts dating back before the Christian era attest to the skills of Ayurvedic practitioners in minor and major surgery including cosmetic surgery, and the removal of gallbladders and tumors.  Due to the extreme complexities of this art, this chapter will present only an introduction to the art.  To fully appreciate the many facets of this ancient healing art, one must consult a certified Ayurvedic practitioner.

Ayurveda is one of the most complete holistic types of medicine in the world including everything from herbal therapy, diet, aromatherapy, therapeutic emesis, blood letting, oil massage, steam baths, fasting, astrology, Yoga, mudras (hand yoga), meditation, gem stone therapy, color therapy, and metal therapy. Ayurveda is a holistic soundness of body (shrira), mind (manos) and self (autman).  In 1947, the newly independent Indian government established national councils to oversee Ayurvedic training, practice, and research.  I will just discuss Ayurvedic herbal therapy, gem stone therapy and color therapy since Yoga, meditation, mudras, aromatherapy and massage are covered in other chapters. Ayurveda and Yoga are interconnected.

The origin of Ayurveda is based on ancient Hindu texts (Vedas) compiled by Rishis, or holy men.  The word is derived from the Sanskrit words "ayur" (life) and "veda" (knowledge). It includes natural therapies like proper breathing, nutrition, meditation, and aromatherapy in a manner that involves the interrelationship of the mind, body and spirit.  Common therapies include herbal, animal and mineral remedies, oil massages and steam baths.  The goal of Ayurveda medicine if the purification of body and mind and the balancing of the body’s vital energies - to develop a personal knowledge of life.  The body’s vital energy is moved through the seven major chakras, or energy centers (refer to the next chapter on Yoga for a more detailed discussion of chakras). Disease occurs from uncorrected imbalances brought about by stress, poor lifestyle choices, and poor diet.  A recent study in the "Journal of Social Behavior and Personality," said that Ayurvedic purification, including body massage and an herbal enema, reduced free radicals in the blood, increased energy, improved digestion, and reduced symptoms of illness.

This ancient art is based on the premise that everyone is born with a basic, genetically determined constitution.  Each constitutional type is an expression of the five elements or basic qualities that exist in the universe.  Practitioners diagnose patients by observation, questions, touch and taking pulses.  The diagnosis is very detailed using the radial pulse, tongue, face, lip, nails, and eyes.  The information obtained is used to assign the patient to one of three main constitutional types and then to various subtypes.  The determined classification dictates dietary modifications and selection of remedies tailored to the patient’s specific constitution.

The identification, and subsequent treatment, of an individual’s unique constitution is determined by their tridosha, which is composed of varying amounts of the three doshas: vata, pitta and kapha. Vata is the biological combination of ether and air - it involves the principle of bodily movement.  Pitta is fire and water - it governs digestion and metabolism.  Kapha is earth and water - the structural matter and lubrication of the body.  Everyone has a unique constitution, or “prakruti,” which is a special combination of the three doshas.     

(source: Ayurveda: Ancient Medicine of India  - by Jonathan Klemens - naturalhealthweb.com).

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The Dieng Temples of Java, Indonesia

Chandi: The art of Indianized Java    

The religious structures in Java are commonly called Chandis, a term which originally meant a commemorative building.

One particular term for a temple most often seen in Java is called the chandi. It refers to a structure based on the Indian type of single celled shrine, with a pyramidal tower above it, and a portico. Later chandis may have additional external cells on the three walls. A chandi served as a cult focus, housing a potent icon or a group of icons. As in other countries, these were often identified with particular royal persons. The chandi was, like the temple-mountains of Cambodia, a representation of the cosmic Mount Meru, an epitome of the universe. The names of Javanese chandis bear are those of the Hindu epics heroes, such as Arjuna and Bhima.  

(source: The Art of Southeast Asia - By Philip Rawson p 208).  

 

Chandi Arjun and Chandi Sumar – Dieng plateau. 8th to 9th century. These early temples follow the same pattern of diminishing storeys as the early shrines in Cambodia and Champa.  

The religious structures in Java are commonly called Chandis, a term which originally meant a commemorative building. 

(image source: The Art of Southeast Asia - By Philip Rawson).

***

Indianization of the Archipelago

A highly sophisticated civilization emerged in Southeast Asia, whose cosmology, literature, architecture and political organization were all closely patterned on Indian models. These kingdoms are best known for the wonderful architectural monuments which they created: Prambanan, Borobudar, Angkor, Pagan and others. Java was known by Indian chroniclers as early as 600 BC. It was known as "Yavadvipa" India was to have a profound influence on Java. 

The great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, visiting Java, said: "I see India everywhere, but I do not recognize it."

 

5th century Inscription of a Hindu ruler of west Java, King Purnavarman.

***

The eerie strangeness of  Dieng Plateau, its proximity to the heavens, may have been among the reasons that men labored there to erect the series of temples that still dominate the plateau. Built to honor Shiva, and probably constructed in the early decades of the 8th century, the Dieng temples are remarkable for their simplicity and their sparse ornament. 

The main group of temples is named after the heroes and heroines of the Mahabharata. Arjuna, Puntadewa, Srikhandi, Subhadra, Gatokacha and Bhima  stand in the centre of a flat field. A millennium ago the marsh was drained by a complex series of tunnels; the remains can still be seen on the northwest corner of the field, but they no longer work.   

 

Shiva from Dieng plateau. 

(image source: The Art of Southeast Asia - By Philip Rawson).

***

Chandi Gedung Songo – is dedicated to Siva. This temple was built around the same time as the one on the Dieng Plateau in the early 8th century.  

Candi Sukuh – Built in the middle of the twilight years of the glorious Majapahit dynasty, it strikes a disquieting alien chord with its flat topped Egyptian step pyramid and its Mayan calendar carvings. Its reliefs are crude after the sculptural finesse of Loro Jonggrang. In its setting of steep, pine clad hills, Sukuh possesses an impressive grandeur. In the main courtyard are interesting sculptures, enhanced by the eclectic styles. Three enormous flat-backed tortoises stand on a stone flagged courtyard. A sharp beaked garuda is hovering, an anthropomorphic elephant. 

 

Candi Sukuh strikes a disquieting alien chord with its flat topped Egyptian step pyramid and its Mayan calendar carvings. 

The religious structures in Java are commonly called Chandis, a term which originally meant a commemorative building.

For more refer to chapter on India on Pacific Waves? and on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor.

***

 

Chandi Banon

 

Sage Agastya - divine teacher and Lord Vishnu from Chandi Banon, Java. 9th century.

 

(image source: The Art of Southeast Asia - By Philip Rawson).

***

One of the finest statues of Ganesha from Chandi Banon is now housed in the Djakarta Museum Practically nothing now remains of Chandi Banon, a Saivite monument near Borobudur.

(source:  Java - Insight Guides - By Peter Hutton and The Art of Southeast Asia - By Philip Rawson). (For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

(Note: Recently an Ancient statue of Lord Vishnu has been found in Russian town of the Volga region. For more refer to chapter on Suvarnabhumi).

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The story of another Shankaracharya during British Raj - By Krishnanand Sagar

This reminds me of the inspiring story of another Shankaracharya during the British Raj. He was His Holiness Shri Bharati Krishna Teertha (1884-1960) the then Shankaracharya of Sharada Peeth, Dwarka, who later on in 1925 became the Shankaracharya of Goverdhana Peeth, Puri (and the renowned founder of Vedic mathematics).

At the time of the non-violent cooperation movement in 1921, Bharati Krishna Teertha delivered a speech in the Khilafat Conference held at Karachi. The subject of the speech was ‘Rajadharma and Prajadharma’. The speech was considered to be seditious by the government of the day and so he was arrested and kept in the Karachi central jail.

The warrant of arrest served on him stated: “Venkataraman alias Bharati Krishna Teertha, a Hindu, who calls himself a Shankaracharya.”

Assailing this in his address to the jury, His Holiness thundered: “The veriest Tyro in Indian religious technique knows that while an English commoner on being raised to peerage has the liberty to and does often voluntarily, assume a new name, a Hindu on entering Holy Orders, has not the liberty to but must necessarily and as a religious rule discard the old name, and not assume but accept the name newly conferred on him by his guru, in accordance with the rules celebrately laid down for this purpose in the Hindu scriptures. Thus, whereas Sir Rufus Issac had the liberty to and actually did assume the name Lord Reading, Prof. Venkataraman Shastri on taking sanyas had not the liberty to assume but had perforced to and did therefore accept the new name ‘Swami, Shri Bharati Krishna Teertha bestowed on him by his guru. Under these circumstances, it was obvious that to speak of us as ‘one Venkataraman alias Bharati Krishna Teertha, a Hindu, who calls himself (or has assumed the title) Shankaracharya’ is no less reprehensible than to speak of ‘one Rufus Issac alias Reading, a Jew, who calls himself (or has assumed the title) Viceroy of India’.”

Ultimately the government had to release him. Again in December 1922, Bharati Krishna delivered a series of public lectures in Monghyr (Bihar) on ‘Dynamic Hinduism’. The topic of one of the lectures of the series was ‘Dharma, Swarajya, Raj Bhakti and the heinousness of British Raj’. British officials were very perturbed over it and arrested him on December 26, 1922. As a Dharma guru of Hindus, he was offered a chair to sit upon in the court, but he told bluntly that as the post of Shankaracharya was much higher than that of a magistrate, his seat should also be higher and if that was not possible, he would prefer to stand. He then carried on his arguments in the court, standing all the time. He defended his actions for three weeks. He was asked to give a surety not to deliver lecture for one year or undergo imprisonment for a year. Shankaracharya preferred to undergo imprisonment. He was kept in Bhagalpur jail, from where he was released in 1924.

In 1925 Prince of Wales visited Bharat. The British government wrote to Shankaracharya that the Hindus considered the king of the country the representative of Lord Vishnu, therefore he should ask his disciples to welcome the Prince of Wales as such. Shankaracharya fearlessly wrote back:

“The work of Vishnu is to work after the well-being of his people. One who can do so can only be called a representative of Vishnu according to Hindu shastras. A king, who instead of looking after the welfare of his subjects, exploits them can never be the representative of Lord Vishnu.”

The government was terribly annoyed at this bold answer. High government officials complained about this to the aged head of Goverdhana Peeth, Shri Madhusudan Teertha. But Madhusudan Teertha replied that he also accepted the views of Bharati Krishna as authentic as far as Hindu Dharma was concerned. At that time Bharat was under foreign rule. Shankaracharya Bharati Krishna stood against foreign rule and did not bow his head even in those adverse circumstances. That is the tradition of our dharmacharyas.
Now the time has changed and we have our own government. People expect from this government not to toe the line of foreign rulers. It should behave according to the Indian traditions and try to become the representative of Lord Vishnu by its deeds. Lord Vishnu gives full respect to the dharmacharyas; he gave respect even to Bhrigu Rishi who strode with his foot on the chest of Lord Vishnu. 
Unfortunately, in the present context, the behaviour of the Tamil Nadu government and the Central Government towards Shankara-charya Shri Jayendra Saraswati is un-Vishnu like. They should stop to denigrate him.

(source: The story of another Shankaracharya during British Raj - By Krishnanand Sagar - oraganiser.org).

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Ramayana Murals - Silver Pagoda/Royal Palace of Cambodia

 

The walls surrounding the compound – the oldest part of the palace – are covered with frescos depicting episodes from the Khmer version of Ramayana, the Reamker.

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

***

The Reamker - the Khmer version of Ramayana - has always been a cornerstone of Cambodian culture, and pagodas have traditionally commissioned artists to paint the epic on their walls, Ly Daravuth said.

The Reamker tells the story of Rama who, with the help of his brother and the monkey Hanuman, tries to rescue his wife Sita from a 10-head and 20-arm demon. In the Reamker, Rama becomes Preah Ream and his wife Neang Seda. The 12 years it takes him to free her from the island of Langka are filled with battles between supporters of the demon and of Preah Ream. Once reunited, Preah Ream orders his wife killed, doubting her love for him. His brother decides to let her escape to the forest, where she gives birth and raises her son. Years later, the son is reunited with Preah Ream-his father-who attempts to win back Neang Seda's heart and eventually succeeds.

Throughout the story, gods and goddesses come in aid of people, and magic is ever present. For instance, Hanuman can shift shape and, at one point, makes himself huge so that his tail can form a bridge for Preah Ream's soldiers to reach the island of Langka. The god Preah En changes himself into a water buffalo and leads Neang Seda to a safe haven when she is left to fend for herself in the forest.

"This is no ordinary tale," said Ang Choulean, an anthropologist and the director of the Department of Culture for the Apsara Authority. "In traditional Cambodia, characters [of the Reamker] were considered deities."

(source: unknown).

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Saraswati River and Political Prejudice in India - By Surajit Dasgupta

 

"Ambitame, naditame, devitame, Sarasvati"- "O best of mothers, O best of rivers, O best of goddesses, Sarasvati"

               - 
About 4,500 years ago the Sarasvati was eulogized thus in the Rig Veda.

***

Satellite images taken by the Geographic Information Systems of the National Geographic Society concur with the Rig Veda. Geological records indicate that during the late Pleistocene period, the Himalayas constituted a frozen mass and there were glaciers in place of rivers. When the climate warmed, these glaciers began to break up and the frozen water trapped within surged forth in great floods to inundate the alluvial plains below. The Rig Veda refers to this first interglacial period in the Holocene era as marking the break-up of glaciers and the release of pent up waters that flowed out to form seven mighty river channels referred to as the “Sapta Sindhu” — traced from east to west.

The “Sapta Sindhu” refers to the Saraswati, Satadru (Sutlej), Vipasa (Beas), Asikni (Chenab), Parosni (Ravi), Vitasta (Jhelum) and Sindhu (Indus) rivers. Among these, the Saraswati and the Sindhu were major rivers that flowed from the mountains right down to the sea. 

The hymns in praise of the Saraswati are probably some of the oldest, composed more than 8,000 years ago.

For 2,000 years, between 6,000 and 4,000 BC, the Saraswati flowed as a great river. R D Oldham (1886) was the first geologist who argued logically, pointing to the great changes in the drainage pattern of the rivers of Punjab and western Rajasthan that served to convert a once fertile region into a desert. According to geological and glaciological studies, the Saraswati was supposed to have originated in the Bandapunch massif (the Saraswati-Rupin glacier confluence at Naitwar in western Garhwal).

The river, which had originated from Kapal teerth in the Himalayas in the west of Kailash, flowed southward to Mansarovar and then took a turn towards the west. Even today, the Saraswati flows from the south of Mana pass which meets the Alaknanda river, three kilometres away in the south of Mana village. Descending through Adibadri, Bhavanipur and Balchapur in the foothills to the plains, the river took a roughly south-westerly course, passing through the plains of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat before finally debouching, it is believed, into the ancient Arabian Sea at the Great Rann of Kutch. 

 

The hymns in praise of the Saraswati are probably some of the oldest, composed more than 8,000 years ago.

The Saraswati was obliterated within a short span in the Quaternary period of the Cenozoic era through a combination of destructive catastrophic events. Unfortunately, we believe what or who we are only when the West says we are so. In this case, if it helps, so be it. The spirit of science rests in challenging every idea, no matter how established it has been. 

***

In its long journey, the Saraswati is believed to have had three tributaries — the Shatadru (Sutlej) originating from Mount Kailas, the Drishadwati from the Shiwalik Hills and the old Yamuna. These flowed together along a channel presently known as the Ghaggar river — also known as the Hakra River in Rajasthan and the Nara in Sindh. Some experts consider these two rivers to be a single course whereas others consider the upper stretch of the Saraswati as the Ghaggar and the lower course as the Hakra. Still others refer to the Ghaggar as the Saraswati’s weak and declining stage.

The Saraswati was obliterated within a short span in the Quaternary period of the Cenozoic era through a combination of destructive catastrophic events. Its decline appears to have started any time between 5,000 and 3,000 BC, probably precipitated by a major tectonic event in the Shiwalik Hills of Sirmur region. Geological studies reveal that the massive landslides and avalanches were caused by destabilising tectonic events that occurred around the beginning of Pleistocene period, about 1.7 million years ago in the Shivalik domain extending from Potwar in Pakistan to Assam in India. Those disturbances, linked to the uplift of the Himalayas, continued intermittently. Presumably, one of these events must have severed the glacier connection and cut off the supply of water from the melting glaciers to this river. As a result, the Saraswati became non-perennial and dependent on monsoon rains. The diversion of its waters through the separation of its tributaries led to the Saraswati’s breaking up into disconnected lakes and pools and, ultimately, to being reduced to a dry channel bed. But the Saraswati hasn’t disappeared, it has merely dried up in some stretches.

Archaeological evidence: Most of the archaeological sites of the erstwhile civilisation are located on the Saraswati river basin. There are four Harappan and pre-Harappan sites in Punjab, in addition to the sites in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. These sites are located at Rupar (present Ropar), Nihang Khan, Bara and Sirsa valley. Harappan culture flourished in the western part of Punjab around 2500 BC. It is believed that the Harappans entered through the Indus Valley into Kalibangan valley on the left bank of Ghaggar (erstwhile Saraswati) and spread to Punjab along the Saraswati river. Carbon dating of the material at Kalibangan suggests that Harappan culture flourished around 2500 BC in India and existed for 1,000 years. So the present day geomorphologic set-up did not exist till 1500 BC and the Indus, the Sutlej and the Beas followed independent courses to the sea. 

Evidence from Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems of the National Geographic Society, USA: A remote sensing study of the Indian desert reveals numerous signatures of palaeochannels in the form of curvilinear and meandering courses, which is identified by the tonal variations. The Saraswati river could be traced through these palaeochannels as a migratory river. Its initial course flowed close to the Aravalli ranges and the successive six stages took west and north-westerly shifts till it coincides with the dry bed of the Ghaggar river.

Renowned meteorologist Yash Pal and others have found that the course of the Saraswati in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan is clearly highlighted in the Landsat imagery by the vegetation cover thriving on the rich residual loamy soil along its earlier course. Digital enhancement studies of IRS-1C data (1995), combined with Radar imagery from European Remote Sensing satellites ERS 1/2 identified subsurface features and recognised the palaeochannels beneath the sands of the Thar desert. A study by NRSA, based on satellite-derived data, has revealed no palaeochannel link between the Indus and the Saraswati, confirming that the two were independent rivers.

The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, has made a breakthrough in its research on the existence and probable location of the mythical Saraswati. The Rajasthan Ground Water Department undertook the task to “unearth” the river with the collaboration of BARC and the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad (a wing of ISRO) in 1998. If the effort is successful, those living in the desert belt of Rajasthan will hopefully be supplied more than 3,500-year-old water derived from palaeochannels believed to be the mythical Saraswati. But just because the project was initiated by the politically incorrect BJP-led government, should we turn a blind eye to what the geologists of the West, too, support?

Unfortunately, we believe what or who we are only when the West says we are so. In this case, if it helps, so be it. The spirit of science rests in challenging every idea, no matter how established it has been. And history and geography, of all things, if held hostage by political prejudice, become the ilk of Doordarshan of the Rajiv Gandhi era, if not the Tass agency of the Soviet regime.

(source: Because it helps, so be it - By Surajit Dasgupta - thestatesman.net). For more refer to the chapter on Aryan Invasion Theory.

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I am inspired by India’s heritage says Valentino, Italy’s top designer

Couturier Valentino Garavani is Italy’s most famous designer. And for this year’s Festa Italiana, the annual cultural festival put together by the Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce, Valentino is sending down his latest fashion collection. Valentino’s show will be staged at the beautiful environs of the 200-year-old Asiatic Society in Mumbai, on December 5, and at New Delhi’s Purana Qila on December 8.

‘‘I love India and have been there many times, but this time I had previous commitments I could not possibly postpone,’’ says the 72-year-old designer in an exclusive email interview. ‘‘A catwalk show is the most powerful and emotionally involving way of presenting my work.’’

The maker of elegant and glamourous clothes is quite the traditionalist. ‘‘India’s heritage is one of the most fascinating and inspirational of all,’’ he says. ‘‘My 2002 haute couture collection was entirely inspired by India. But there have always been Indian themes running through all my collections. It’s definitely a reference for my idea of beauty and grace.’’

Though he claims to not follow Indian fashion or other designers, Valentino says India should not fall prey to a global Euro-centric fashion, like Japan and China have. ‘‘I consider the sari deeply elegant—it is one of the most grounding elements of what haute couture is all about,’’ he adds. ‘‘In India, modernity and tradition can find a fine balance without erasing a unique heritage. Homogeneity is never a good thing.’’

(source: I am inspired by India’s heritage  says Valentino, Italy’s top designer - expressindia.com).

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Jealous God and Historicity

For the Advaitinis, reality is one, undifferentiated, unchanging, formless entity. That is the point of ultimate reference. 

By contrast, for the Old Testament, as for the Quran, the point of ultimate reference is God or Allah. Many attributes are ascribed to this ultimate entity, none as sternly as those of the ‘Jealous God’ – the God whose principal concern is whether or not you and I acknowledge His supremacy. Who proclaims that He shall condone every transgression but not one – namely, our failure to recognize and acclaim that He is supreme. 

Contrast this attitude – The historicity or lack of it of Avatars is of no consequence at all, says Swami Vivekananda. Nor does the doctrine owe it greatness and truth to the fact that it was expounded by or revealed by them. On the contrary; the Vedas do not owe their authority to Krishna, Swami Vivekananda affirms repeatedly, Krishna derives his authority from the fact that he was the finest teacher of the Vedanta. ‘Krishna of the Gita is perfection and right knowledge personified’, writes Gandhiji, ‘but the picture is imaginary. That does not mean that Krishna, the adored of his people, never lived. But perfection is imagined. The idea of a perfect incarnation is an aftergrowth.’ It is just that he performed extraordinary service for humanity, that he lived an extraordinarily religious life, says Gandhiji. 

As this is the perspective, Swami Vivekananda says with the greatest naturalness:  …”There is that most wonderful theory of Ishta which gives you the fullest and freest choice possible among these great religious personalities. You may take up any one of the prophets or teachers as your guide and the object of your special adoration; you are even allowed to think that he whom you have chosen is the greatest of the prophets, greatest of all the Avatars. There is no harm in that, but you must keep to a firm background of eternally true principles. The strange fact here is that the power of our incarnations has been holding good with us only so far as they are illustrations of the principles of the Vedas..” And the Vedas exclude nothing, indeed they include that Nothing too. The ‘eternally true principles’ Vivekananda is referring to are as non-sectarian, as non-denominational as, say, the Buddha’s sermons on meditation. A return to fundamentals in this case cannot but spell tolerance and inclusiveness. 

Next, comes the attitude of the religions to The Book, the repository of that ultimate revelation. Is the Book just an aid – as the Upanishads are and the Sutras of the Buddhists – books that contain suggestions – of the greatest possible insight, pearls of great price, of course – as to how we may proceed, but books which themselves say that they must be transcended? Or is The Book itself an idol, one that, like the Quarn, contains everything, one that must be believed in every particular because God sent it down, one that may never be questioned, one in which nothing will ever date, one to which nothing will ever need to be added? The contrast is vivid as it is consequential....

(source: Indian Controversies – by Arun Shourie p. 616 - 624). Refer to The War of Religions and The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre.

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Astronomy and Cosmology at Angkor Wat

The Solar Numbers at Angkor Wat

"The great Vishnu temple at Angkor Wat is known to have been built according to an astronomical plan. A little understood solar formula of the temple is identical to the one in the 2nd millennium BC Indian text called Shatapatha Brahmana. It was an expression of the Shatapatha astronomy."  

                                            - says Dr Subhask Kak

 

The great Vishnu temple at Angkor Wat is known to have been built according to an astronomical plan.

(image source: webmaster's own collection of photos taken during a recent visit).

***

Architectural plans published by Nafilyan (1969) were examined to Assess possible astronomical alignments in context of written records of the Khmer empire and specifically the reign of Suryavarman II (1113-1150AD) during which the complex was built.  Twenty-two possible alignments are identified and their relationship to bas relief and Hindu time cycles examined.

Conclusions:  1. The rising sun appears aligned on equinox and solstice days with the western entrance of Angkor Wat.2. The movements of the moon can be observed from a variety of positions within the temple, and lunar cycles may have been recorded in the three sets of libraries.3. The bas reliefs of the third gallery can be understood in relation to the movements of the sun, which establish their counterclockwise direction. 4. The measurements of the temple appear proportional to calendric and cosmological time cycles.

(source: http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/9811040 and http://www.du.edu/~rstencel/Courses/angkor.htm).  (For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

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Does Hinduism Teach That All Religions Are The Same? -  By Dr. Frank Gaetano Morales

Historically, pre-colonial classical Hinduism never taught that all religions are the same. This is not to say, however, that Hinduism has not believed in tolerance or freedom of religious thought and expression. It has very clearly always been a religion that has taught tolerance of other valid religious traditions. However, the assertion that a) we should have tolerance for the beliefs of other religions, is a radically different claim from the overreaching declaration that b) all religions are the same. And this confusion between two thoroughly separate assertions may be one reason why so many modern Hindus believe that Hindu tolerance is synonymous with Radical Universalism. To maintain a healthy tolerance of another person’s religion does not mean that we have to then adopt that person’s religion!

In keeping with the Vedic adage that the guest in one’s home is to be treated with as much hospitality as one would treat as a visiting divinity, Hinduism has always been gracious to the followers of non-Hindu religions, and respectful of the gods, scriptures and customs of others. The tolerance and openness of Hinduism has been historically unprecedented among the wider community of world religions, universally acclaimed, and very well attested.

The common mistake that is often made, however, is to mistake the long-held Hindu tradition of tolerating other religions with the mistaken notion that Hinduism consequently encourages us to believe that all religions are exactly the same. We have mistaken Hindu tolerance with Radical Universalism. The leap from tolerance of other faiths to a belief that all religions are equal is not a leap that is grounded in logic. Nor is it grounded in the history, literature or philosophy of the Hindu tradition itself.

 

 

Historically, pre-colonial classical Hinduism never taught that all religions are the same.

Hinduism has always been gracious to the followers of non-Hindu religions, and respectful of the gods, scriptures and customs of others. The tolerance and openness of Hinduism has been historically unprecedented among the wider community of world religions, universally acclaimed, and very well attested.

***

A tragic occurrence in the very long history of Hinduism was witnessed throughout the 19th century, the destructive magnitude of which Hindu leaders and scholars today are only beginning to adequately assess and address. This development both altered and weakened Hinduism to such a tremendous degree that Hinduism has not yet even begun to recover. The classical, traditional Hinduism that had been responsible for the continuous development of thousands of years of sophisticated culture, architecture, music, philosophy, ritual and theology came under devastating assault during the 19th century British colonial rule like at no other time in India’s history. For a thousand years previous to the British Raj, foreign marauders had repeatedly attempted to destroy Hinduism through overt physical genocide and the systematic destruction of Hindu temples and sacred places. Traditional Hinduism’s wise sages and noble warriors had fought bravely to stem this anti-Hindu holocaust to the best of their ability, more often than not paying for their bravery with their lives. What the Hindu community experienced under British Christian domination, however, was an ominously innovative form of cultural genocide. What they experienced was not an attempt at the physical annihilation of their culture, but a deceivingly more subtle program of intellectual and spiritual annihilation. It is easy for a people to understand the urgent threat posed by an enemy that seeks to literary kill them. It is much harder, though, to understand the threat of an enemy who, while remaining just as deadly, claims to seek only to serve a subjugated people’s best interests. '

During this short span of time in the 19th century, the ancient grandeur and beauty of a classical Hinduism that had stood the test of thousands of years, came under direct ideological attack. What makes this period in Hindu history most especially tragic is that the main apparatus that the British used in their attempts to destroy traditional Hinduism were the British educated, spiritually co-opted sons and daughters of Hinduism itself. Seeing traditional Hinduism through the eyes of their British masters, a pandemic wave of 19th century Anglicized Hindu intellectuals saw it as their solemn duty to "Westernize" and "modernize" traditional Hinduism to make it more palatable to their new European overlords. One of the phenomena that occurred during this historic period was the fabrication of a new movement known as "neo-Hinduism". Neo-Hinduism was an artificial religious construct used as a paradigmatic juxtaposition to the legitimate traditional Hinduism that had been the religion and culture of the people for thousands of years. Neo-Hinduism was used as an effective weapon to replace authentic Hinduism with a British invented version designed to make a subjugated people easier to manage and control.

(source: Does Hinduism Teach That All Religions Are The Same? - By Dr. Frank Gaetano Morales, Ph.D. - darmacentral.com). Refer to Who Killed Our Culture? We Did - By Youki Kudoh - time.com  May 3 1999.

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My religion takes you to heaven, yours to Hell. Can God be so partial?  
Arrogant and Offensive claims to Sole possession of Truth?

This chapter is in no way anti-Christian but rather anti-conversion. It provides information about the insidious campaign that is taking place to reduce and wipeout Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and other Vedic traditions that are followed by large sections of humanity in India and around the world. 

***

George H Smith, in one of his many polemics against Christianity, pointed out that:

"the concept of Hell" has resulted in an incalculable amount of psychological torture, especially among children where it is employed as a terror tactic to prompt obedience."

"It cannot be emphasised too strongly that Christianity has a vested interest in human misery. Christianity, more than any religion before or since, capitalized on human suffering; and it was enormously successful in insuring its own existence through the perpetuation of human suffering."

(source: Atheism: The Case Against God - By George H Smith (Prometheus, 1989) p. 299). George mith  is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies, California. Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887. Refer to  Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in AmericaFor Cruelty inflicted by Christianity - Watch Constantine's Sword movie

***

Monopoly over God?

Jewish Leader blasts Evangelical "zealots" - Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the liberal Union for Reform Judaism, said "religious right" leaders believe "unless you attend my church, accept my God and study my sacred text you cannot be a moral person."

"What could be more bigoted than to claim that you have a monopoly on God?"

(source: Jewish Leader blasts Evangelical "zealots" - yahoonews.com).  Also refer to Dinosaurs, evangelicals and the state - By Justin Webb - BBC). Refer to The War of Religions and The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887. Refer to  Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in Americaand The Burningcross

Pope Benedict Solves Mystery of Pedophile Priests ?

On April 19, 2005, in an arcane rite of “transubstantiation” known only to the College of Cardinals, the rabid Rottweiler Ratzinger became, with a puff of white smoke, the kindly, thoughtful Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th Bishop of Rome and leader of one billion Catholics worldwide.  

During Benedict’s million-dollar-a-day junket to the United States , a trip that the Vatican admits is a P.R. opportunity to change a German Rottweiler into an American Golden Retriever, the mystery of pedophile priests was cleared up . . . sort of. According to Benedict, it is America ’s “increasingly secular and materialistic culture” that caused priests to fondle and rape children. Keep in mind that the “materialistic” remark is coming from a guy who has been seen sporting a pair of custom-cobbled red shoes, Gucci sunglasses, ceremonial gowns by Gamarelli, and listening to an iPod Nano while tens of millions of Catholics worldwide struggle to feed their families, much less put shoes on their feet or sunglasses on their faces.  

(source: Pope Benedict Solves Mystery of Pedophile Priests . . . Sort of - By Robert Weitzel).

***

Truth (God) is one but the wise call it by many names

In India, for thousands of years, one type of worship or way of realization of God never infringed upon other gods. It was because of this reason that the Indian mindset was moulded/shaped by the rishis [great teachers] who presented a worldview of lokah samasta sukhino vabantu and proclaimed the unity and oneness of God. That is why there are four authoritative texts of the Hindus—Vedas, adhering to the message of monism/Advaitam/unitarianism or the strong foundation of monotheism. Hence, each Veda proclaimed the message of monotheism of first degree without any obscurity: Rig Veda proclaims pranjanam Brahma; Yajur Veda highlights aham Brahmasmi; Sama Veda announces tatvamasi; and Atharva Veda confirms ayammathma Brahma

Above all, the Rig Veda mantra of eakam sat vipra bahuta vadanti (Truth is one but the wise call it by many names) became the basis of the Hindu approach to other faiths. Thus, in the light of this Hindu approach, let us examine the recent controversies on the question of proselytism.  

According to Sri Aurobindo, in his book, India's Rebirth (ISBN 2-902776-32-2) page 141, says: 

"The mentality of the West has long cherished the aggressive and quite illogical idea of a single religion for all mankind, a religion universal by the very force of its narrowness, one set of dogmas, one cult, one system of ceremonies, one array of prohibitions and injunctions, one ecclesiastical ordinance. That narrow absurdity prances about as the one true religion which all must accept on peril of persecution by men here and spiritual rejection or fierce eternal punishment by God in other worlds. This grotesque creation of human unreason, the parent of so much intolerance, cruelty, obscurantism and aggressive fanaticism, have never been able to take firm hold of the free and supple mind of India".

(source: India's Rebirth - By Sri Aurobindo p. 141).

 

      

The Rig Veda mantra of eakam sat vipra bahuta vadanti (Truth is one but the wise call it by many names) became the basis of the Hindu approach to other faiths.

"The mentality of the West has long cherished the aggressive and quite illogical idea of a single religion for all mankind, a religion universal by the very force of its narrowness, one set of dogmas, one cult. This grotesque creation of human unreason, the parent of so much intolerance, cruelty, obscurantism and aggressive fanaticism, have never been able to take firm hold of the free and supple mind of India".

***

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan did not consent with the Christian notion of true and false religion. In fact, he went so far as to say that the idea of one single religion for the humankind is illogical:

"The illogical idea of one single religion for all mankind, one set of dogmas, one cult, one system of ceremonies which all individuals must accept on pain of persecution by the people and punishment by God, is the product of unreason and intolerance. A religion represents the soul of the people, its peculiar spirit, thought, and temperament. It is not a mere theory of the supernatural which we can put on or off as we please. It is an expression of the spiritual experience of the race, a record of its social evolution, an integral element of the society in which it is found [Radhakrishnan 1969:81-82]."  

Sri Ramakrishna is recorded to have made the same point about the variety of paths:

“God can be realised through all paths. It is like your coming to Dakshineswar by carriage, by boat, by steamer or on foot. You have chosen the way according to your convenience and taste; but the destination is the same. Some of you have arrived earlier than others, but all have arrived” (cited in Neufeldt 1987:67). And he also presented the claim that all religions are true as the equivalent of this point: “God can be realised through all paths. All religions are true. The important thing is to reach the roof. You can reach it by stone stairs or wooden stairs or by bamboo steps or by a rope. You can also climb up by a bamboo pole” (cited in Neufeldt 1987:68). 

(source: The Question of Conversion in India - By Sarah Claerhout, Jakob De Roover and The Burningcross

On the contrary, On November 6, 1999 Pope John Paul II in his sermon at the Sacred Heart Cathedral of New Delhi, openly stated, 

“Just as in the first millennium the Cross was planted on the soil of Europe, and in the second on that of the Americas and Africa, we can pray that in the third Christian millennium, a great harvest of faith will be reaped in this vast and vital continent [Asia]”.

We should take this call on its face value as the Pope is the head of a big Christian faction. No doubt this call was an open challenge upon the sovereignty of a democratic country and its people, while considering the political statuesque of the Pope, i.e. the head of another sovereign country [even though its area is below 250 acres], the Vatican city. No doubt it was part of a conspiracy going on in Christendom all over. On the basis of the sermon of Pope, we should see the American President George Bush’s Asian Christianisation project worth one thousand crore dollars. 

The World Christian Encyclopaedia
, Vol. I, 2nd edition, 2001, p. 366 of OUP, New York reads on India as follows: “Christians and Muslims will probably both find room to grow in the mosaic of India’s peoples so that by 2025, Christians account for 7.4 per cent and Muslims for 12.2 per cent while Hindus decline under 73 per cent [down from 80 per cent in 1900]...
With sustained growth over the next few decades, Christianity could grow to nearly 10 per cent of India’s population by a.d. 2050. Hindus will potentially decline as a percentage of India’s population as other religions continue to win adherents over the next few decades.”

In the light of this insight, one should see the Hindu antipathy over the minority approach of en masse dismemberment of a community/culture. No doubt this proselytisation process is suicidal insofar as a civilisation is concerned. Under the guise of charitable service, a Kenyan national, Brother Bernard, on a visiting visa and some nuns of the above missionary organisation in an economically backward Hindu settlement, were opposed and blockaded at the entrance of the hamlet by some youth hailing from all non-communal political parties. This piece of news is being vocally debated upon in the mainstream newspapers of Kerala. One year back another US citizen, named Rev. Joseph Cooper, with a visiting visa, publicly ridiculed and belittled Hindu gods and goddesses in a Christian convention at Kilimannoor, near Trivandrum. The public however managed to control the situation and the state government along with the ruling and opposition front paved the escape route for the missionary, who violated visa norms from the eyes of law as had happened in the case of Brother Bernard recently. Both were engaged in conversion of Hindus, but those who are responsible to bring them before law, closed their eyes wilfully.

Sister Nirmala, the Mother Superior of the Missionaries of Charity, who pretends to respect secularist values, clearly explained their approach towards other religions in the following words:  

“Christianity is the only religion which is totally true; the other religions are true only partially.”  

The CMI, the monastic order of the Catholic church, in their document relating to their education policy published in 1991 for private circulation, states that the ultimate aim of their education service in India is “to grant acquaintance with the persona of Jesus Christ and His Gospel” to the Hindu boys. 

It is interesting to see that Francis Xavier, who was responsible for the establishment of the ‘Holy Inquisition of Goa’, in which Hindu women were raped and immolated alive and Hindu places of worship were desecrated, has been elevated to sainthood, and Christian educational institutions in India are being established in his name. The same Francis Xavier wrote to his monastic authorities at Portugal about his ‘heroic deeds’ in India in the following words: “I order everywhere the temples to be pulled down and idols broken. I know not how to describe in words the joy I feel before the spectacle of pulling down and destroying the idols.” [Kanayalal M. Talreja: Holy Vedas and Holy Bible, p. 18].

Jawaharlal Nehru pictures the vulgar face of the ‘Holy Inquisition’ in his work Glimpses of World History, p. 191 as follows:

“About this time, the
Inquisition, that terrible weapon which Roman Church forged to crush all who did not bow down to it, was established in Spain. Jews, who had prospered under the Saracens, were now forced to change their religion, and many were burnt to death. Women and children were not spared.”

At present, several regions in India have begun to stomach such an abnormal level of Muslim/Christian population growth and all these places are becoming the epicentres for divisive as well as subversive activities.

All the Christian-dominated states of north-east are labouring for the cause of our national disintegration. What a paradox it is! In short, one thing is clear that wherever in India, minority religious groups secure a decisive role, they turn against the national interest. They cannot digest other faiths. Their religion and God is not for peaceful coexistence. Let me quote the Bible: “Think not that I am came to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father; and the daughter against her mother; and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” [Mathew, Ch. X, Aphorisms 34, 35]. Christianity is looking too smart with its concealed biting teeth, posing a potential threat, seemingly different from that of Islam. They are not ready to reread their theology on the basis of time and space. This means they are not ready for any compromise on the question of conversion. This is also very clear from the words of the Pope. Now the Christians have a 31 per cent share in the world population, Muslims have 19.6 per cent and the Hindus have 14 per cent. Both of them are targeting the Hindus—the most unorganised religious/ethnic section in the world. 

(source: My religion takes you to heaven, yours to hell. Can God be so partial? - By Dr C. I. Issac). Refer to VINDICATED BY TIME: The Niyogi Committee Report  On Christian Missionary Activities - Christianity Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee 1956 and The Sunshine of Secularism.and Catholic Priests Molest Third World Nuns to Avoid AIDS

Refer to The Republican War on Science - By Chris Mooney. Refer to  Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in American and The Burningcross

Refer to Christianity Dying In The West? - By M S N Menon - organiser.org. Refer to Can Hinduism face the onslaught of Project Thessalonica? - By Alex Pomero and Christians have Destroyed Various Ethnic Cultures of the World - christianaggression.org and refer to Bible thumpers: Americans are being increasingly stereotyped as stupid - By Arvind Kumar - indiareacts.com and Quotes from The American Taliban. Also refer to Missionary's Dark Legacy and Dutch Christians Target Hindus for Conversion. The Crusaders: Christian evangelicals are plotting to remake America in their own image - By Bob Moser - rollingstone.com and Dominionist.

Refer to From De Nobili to Clooney: The Christian Methods of Inculturation and American Christian Fundamentalist Leader Calls for Global War - By Yoginder Sikand - christianaggression.org). Refer to A conflict between science and God - By Martin Kettle - Crusade against science in Modern America - Three-quarters of Americans, in other words, still do not accept what Darwin established 150 years ago. Just under half of all Americans believe the natural world was created in its present form by God in six days as described in Genesis. They believe, incredibly, that the earth is only a few thousand years old).

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'Ma Ganga' becomes Mekong 

The mighty river Mekong that flows through six Southeast Asian countries gets its name from India's holiest and biggest river, the Ganges. 

"Me is a shorter version of mae or mother and Kong is from Ganga," Pradeep Kumar Kapur, India's ambassador to Cambodia, told IANS after welcoming the first India-ASEAN car rally into the country.

The 4,350-km Mekong is the longest river in Southeast Asia, the seventh longest in Asia and the 12th longest in the world.

Cambodia has ancient and historic ties with India and some of its oldest rulers came from India. The name Cambodia comes from the Indian king Kumbha who married a Cambodian princess Mera. The old name of Cambodia is Kampuchea.

A caravan of 60 cars carrying 240 people are part of the 8,000-km, 20-day car rally which is tracing a historic land route across southeast Asia from India's northeast to Indonesia. The rally ends at Batam, Indonesia Dec 11.

(source: 'Ma Ganga' becomes Mekong).

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor and Seafaring in Ancient India).

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Academic Researchers Versus Hindu Civilisation - By Gautam Sen

Indian studies in the West (especially the US and the UK) are overwhelmingly hostile to their object of study. In the first place, ethnocentric and parochial perceptions will usually dominate when one culture critically evaluates another. And once the resulting interpretative canon becomes firmly established through common consent, prolonged practice and appropriate imprimaturs, it becomes painfully difficult to dislodge, even if it is motivated by an intellectually disingenuous political rationale. In the case of the contemporary Western critique of India, and increasingly Hinduism, its rationale and sheer perversity can be attributed to mundane political reasons and international power politics.

'Scorched earth' techniques of 'academic' investigation are typified by the disgraceful and (as it also happens) dubious scholarly methods employed by an American academic, who engaged in gross abuse of the Indian Saint Ramakrishna. Some morally bankrupt Hindu psychoanalyst (the closest modern social science gets to witchcraft) supported this author deviously, though without the courage to do so explicitly. He took out political insurance for himself by confessing that he had portrayed a fictional character inspired by Ramakrishna sympathetically, in a novel. Such scholarly discourse is equivalent to stripping someone's mother naked in public because it merely violates the taboo of shame and causes no actual bodily injury.

British colonial roots of Cold War hostility towards India

The long-standing Anglo-Saxon critique of Hindu society and independent India has roots in the visceral British hatred of the educated Hindu elites of late nineteenth century Bengal that they themselves had originally sponsored. The resulting confluence of British imperial interests and subsequent Muslim politics in India is too well known to require detailed recounting.

 

 

An unbroken straight line can be drawn, from this burgeoning British hostility towards Hindus over a hundred years ago to the constant fabrications of British journalists and editors in the print media and television about India today. 

***

An unbroken straight line can be drawn, from this burgeoning British hostility towards Hindus over a hundred years ago to the constant fabrications of British journalists and editors in the print media and television about India today. These contemporary lies will one day transmute into 'unassailable' archival material, cited in journals by academics to assert the superiority of their research methodology and dismiss the amateur investigator.

Attempts by academics to injure Hindu civilisation

The 'expose' of Indian Hindu 'mumbo jumbo', the irrationality of its licentious and sensual religion also serves to defuse India's significance in the public imagination. The exotic may be fascinating, but it is not a legitimate way of life recommended for imitation in the sane real world. But when a supreme interpreter (Wendy Doniger) of myth, with vast evident knowledge of Hinduism and Hindu society, casually espouses the oxymoron of Hindu fundamentalism as a conceptual category one's confidence in her wider scholarly competence begins to waver. Hindus may be bad people, their politics may be reprehensible, they may be extremists, violent, but the notion of religious fundamentalism, which has a very specific meaning about the relationship between literal textual interpretation and behavioural norms, does not advance the understanding of Indian society and politics.

The collaborationist Indian left and the West

Allied to the designs of US Cold War politics and its academics an overwhelming majority of India's English speaking scholars has been mobilised in a veritable campaign against the alleged dangers of a Hindu awakening in India. These native scholars and their assorted domestic allies wield influence disproportionate to their numbers, a counterpart of the Anglicised consumer, who, despite numerical paucity, generates vast advertising revenues for India's English newspapers, though this too is changing as the pockets of the 'untutored' bulge with cash. What are their motives?

(source: Academic Researchers Versus Hindu Civilisation - By Gautam Sen - sulekha.com). Refer to Christianity Dying In The West? - By M S N Menon - organiser.org. Refer to Bible thumpers: Americans are being increasingly stereotyped as stupid - By Arvind Kumar - indiareacts.com). Refer to Who Killed Our Culture? We Did - By Youki Kudoh - time.com  May 3 1999. Refer to Communismwatch and cpmterror.

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Why India has had an anti-Hindu tendency since Independence
Nehru's Marxist attitude toward religion

Arrogance and elitism are the hallmarks of the India's leftist intellectuals.

Jawaharlal Nehru had a word of caution for those mixing religion with politics: it is a kind of self-intoxication which dulls the mind and prevents clear thinking. 

"I do not take to religion; I resent its ways and outlook. I see no escape from any conflict of the mind in that fashion. Nor do I approve of allowing my mind to sink into a sentimental morass, which is soothing no doubt and often helps in a small way, but which is not good enough," says Nehru, in a letter written on May 22, 1944, from Ahmadnagar fort to his sister, Vijayalakshmi Pandit. "It is a kind of self-intoxication which dulls the mind and prevents clear thinking. It is indeed the sentimentalism and emotionalism about religion which I dislike; I do not mind the philosophic aspect of it," he says. Nehru saw religion overladen with this sickly sentimentality and spurious emotion. "The relief it gives may be compared to the relief obtained from some intoxicating drug or alcoholic drink," he says in the letter, published in a new book, "Nehru's letters to his sister before freedom (1909-1947)." "Most people find some adjustment, consciously or unconsciously, in religion and the ways and practice of some kind of religion, added on to life's daily tasks," writes Nehru but adds "that is hardly an adjustment of thought and action; it is a kind of surrender, or so I think, and thus a way of escape from the problem.

(source: Why India has had an anti-Hindu tendency since Independence - hinduismtoday.com).  Refer to Who Killed Our Culture? We Did - By Youki Kudoh - time.com  May 3 1999. Refer to Communismwatch and cpmterror.

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Deconstructing Indian Secularism
Secular Fundamentalism?

The phenomenon of 'Secular Fundamentalism' itself is the result of an ideology replacing a religion. The fervor that these secular creatures possess is like that of a religious zealot. One can see this kind of fervor in converts (for example, a Hindu converted to Christianity or Islam would tend to over-compensate by being more zealous and fundamental than the ones who are natively of that religion) -- which in turn unleashes the process of conversions and so on. 

Steeped in the 'high' traditions of religious denigration (since religion is a dirty word for them), these secular zealots -- specifically those Hindus with the brown sahib mentality and education, do not realize that what they denigrate. 

It is a culture and not a religion (as Ms. Burkha Dutt so eloquently puts it ..."we were blind to the idea that for most in India, religion is about culture, inextricably linked to the everydayness of their lives…"). It is an entire way of life [there are other cultures and other countries with similar traditions -- the real Chinese (not the red brigands, but the Taoists, the Buddhists, the traditionally alive Chinese), or the Japanese]. By rejecting the validity of the religion, these secularists rejected an entire way of life (for 95% of their brethren). 

They take extreme pleasure in denigrating Indian heritage (at least anything that did not stem from the Mogul or other Islamic empires). 

They make comments similar to Macaulay's: “Even a library full of Indian classical literature does not match up to a single book in English”. They believe in the 'Aryan Invasion Theory' or if a little more sensible 'The Aryan Migration Theory' (neither of which are worth even a second look and have been proven to be suspect imperialistic propaganda initiated in the 19th Century by European Christian philologists) and try to maintain the Aryan-Dravidian divide myth, fanning anti-Brahminical hatred. They generically label everything Hindu as evil, propagating the myth that social phenomena such as the Varna and Jati systems are actually results of Sanatana Dharma. And this misconception thus established to be factual is used to browbeat anyone who tries to speak in favor of Sanatana Dharma (in defiance of the Church of Secularism in India). They harp on and on about the 'intolerance' of the Hindus (because there have been occurrences of Hindu-Moslem riots). Why, have they ever stopped to think of the fact that one cannot clap with a single hand (more effective in Hindi 'ek haath se taali nahi bajti hai)? Moreover, if one were to dig deep enough, I guess they'd find some very 'secular' politicians behind the outbreak of these riots. The average Indian has enough troubles as it is, and does not need to exacerbate these by adding rioting to it.

(source: Deconstructing Indian Secularism - By Rudra - sulekha.com). Refer to Communismwatch and cpmterror.

***

Indian ‘peculiar’ Secularists 

The Indian Secularists are the most peculiar creatures on earth! I think they are not even sure of what they are arguing for. While, on the one hand, they denigrate religion (read " Hindu") saying that it is the opium of masses, they themselves have become inebriated with an even more potently intoxicating opium, namely secularism! Today, ironically, all these secularists, communists, progressives, modernists (and what have you) rally behind, and espouse, the cause of INTOLERANCE, and the real danger to India comes, not from the Hindus, but from these very same people. I strongly argue that the need of the hour is not this dirty word anymore, but Tolerance, and Co-existence, which the Sanatana Dharma never lacked. 

Secularism is just another monotheism.  

Show me a Hindu radio station or Hindu favoring newspaper that has enough circulation to reach all Hindus. The national newspapers won't even publish letters sympathetic to Hindus. The true threat to Indian secularism is the thunderous silence maintained by the secularists on any issue regarding Abrahamic religions. Even the slightest criticism of these religions is considered as anti-secular. On the other hand continuous criticism of Hindu dharma is in their view essential for the welfare of secularism. It is this double standard that is eroding support for secularism.

Take the example of the mosque in the Kolkata airport. The issue has reached such a pass that a mosque in the middle of Kolkata airport can not be removed even though the Government acknowledges that it is a security risk and is preventing the airport from extending their runways. Union minister of state for North-East states, Tapan Sikdar on Tuesday blamed the West Bengal government for not doing much to shift a mosque located close to the runway at the N.S.C Bose International Airport in Kolkata. “The state government had no hesitation in removing three temples on Jessore Road that were coming in the way of development of the airport, but for the mosque, it kept silent,” Sikdar said while replying to queries of members of the Swadeshi Research Institute.

(source: unknown). Refer to Who Killed Our Culture? We Did - By Youki Kudoh - time.com  May 3 1999. Refer to My People, Uprooted: "A Saga of the Hindus of Eastern Bengal"  - By Tathagata Roy

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How to become a Hindu? - By Michael Moore  

"Since we cannot create, we have no right to kill any living entity, and therefore man-made laws that distinguish between killing a man and killing an animal are imperfect"   

~ Swami Prabhupada - Founder of ISKON

***

The Sanctity of Life

The Isa Upanishad tells us that everything, from a blade of grass to the whole cosmos, is the home of God. God lives in every corner of existence. Therefore the whole creation is sacred. The Ganga is the symbol of that holy spirit that permeates every river and holy mountain. Kailash is the holy mountain, but all mountains are holy because God lives there. The cow is holy because ultimately all the animal kingdom is holy. This sense of the sacred in the whole of creation is fundamental to our relationship with nature.

Western civilization considers human life to be sacred, but Hindus have gone much further and said that not only human life but all life is sacred. Therefore all life forms, not just human beings, must be revered and respected. This is the reason for being vegeterian, which is ecological in the deepest sense. 

(source: Vedic Ecology: Practical Wisdom for Surviving the 21st century - By Ranchor Prime p. 96). For more refer to chapter on Nature Worship

Michael Moore author and filmmaker of Fahrenheit 9/11 has written:

"Entering Hinduism has traditionally required little more than accepting and living according to Hindu beliefs. Among those beliefs is that the cow should be revered as a mother to all because of the nourishing milk it provides. Therefore slaughter of cows is sacrilegious. "  

(Note: More than 25 billion animals are killed for food every year in the United States. This video shows the lives and deaths of chickens, cows, and pigs and makes a poignant case for vegetarianism and humane legislation. For more on animal slaughter - refer to http://www.meetyourmeat.com/).

Generally, the steps to becoming a Hindu are:   

  • Join a Hindu worship community (you could find one near you at www.hindu.org/temples-ashrams/  

  • Complete a course of study comparing Hinduism to other beliefs. 

  • Discuss your changed beliefs with representatives of your former faith, and if needed, obtain a letter of release from your former religious organization. 

  • Adopt a Hindu name at a name-giving ceremony. 

  • Run an announcement in a local newspaper for three days explaining that you have severed your ties with your former faith and have adopted a new name. 

  • Obtain a certificate testifying that an authorized Hindu priest has approved your entrance into the faith. 

(source: Stupid White Men ...and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation! Michael Moore   p. 133). Refer to Bible thumpers: Americans are being increasingly stereotyped as stupid - By Arvind Kumar - indiareacts.com). Refer to The Republican War on Science - By Chris Mooney. For more refer to How to Become a Hindu - By Hinduism Today publisher Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami).

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What's in a Name? It is about Hindu Identity and Pride?

Many non-Hindus are completely ignorant of Hinduism, as a religion, and Hindus, equally are confused of their identity, and not only shirking to introduce themselves as Hindus, but also unable to give any definition of Hinduism, and one comes across several “Jacksons”, “Pauls”, “Siegals”, and “Auroras”, who suffer from their religious ignorance, try to hide their Hindu names respectively as Jai Kishans, Pals, Sehgals, and Aroras, in order to improve their images by identifying themselves with “whites” of similar names.

(source: The Philosophy of Hinduism - By Galav). Refer to Who Killed Our Culture? We Did - By Youki Kudoh - time.com  May 3 1999.

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OM say Germans as they take to Yoga

From Berlin to Cologne, Hamburg to Munich, modern-day Germans are using yoga to get fit and explore the body-mind connection, according to German radio Deutsche Welle.

Yoga has long since been transformed from a flaky pursuit of ex-hippies into one of the West's most pervasive fitness trends. 

Throw a stone on any New York or Los Angeles street, and it seems you'll hit someone on the way to a yoga class, exercise mat in tow. Stars like Madonna, Sting and Gwyneth Paltrow have praised its virtues, and new yoga studios are sprouting in US cities like mushrooms after a rain.

Now, yoga's rocketing popularity has crossed the ocean. In all its styles and variations, Germans can't seem to get enough of yoga.

Kumud Schramm, spokeswoman for Germany's Yoga Teachers' Association, said more than three million Germans do yoga on a regular basis, and there are over 8,000 teachers to serve them. "We're really experiencing a boom in yoga," said Schramm. "Our lives are hectic, demanding, and take us to the limits of our physical and psychological limits. "People are seeking quiet, relaxation, and a look inside themselves. That's what they get with yoga."

Germany's latest fitness trend has its roots in a Vedic 3,500-year-old system that seeks to join the body and mind, using breathing techniques and meditation mixed with a series of physical postures, or Asanas. Today, however, yoga has moved more into the mainstream, and its focus is often just as much physical fitness as mental well-being. Yoga today is just as often seen as a good workout or a relaxation method as a stop on the road to enlightenment.

(source: 
OM say Germans as they take to Yoga - newindpress.com. Refer to chapter on Yoga and Hindu Philosophy.

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Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay

“The Races of Men. the means by which, in my judgment, the Asiatic, the African and the Indian will be brought into the Christian fold, will be by the propagation and extension of the White Races, carrying with them the Christian religion and European culture, with the untold blessings which follow in their train. The Greeks, in ancient times, propagated themselves by colonization - the Romans by conquest. From these two sources have originated all the great impulses which have been given to the civilization of the World. In one or the other of these ways have the blood and culture of the superior been diffused among the inferior races...The mission of the White Races upon the earth, seems to have been, as I have said, to civilize and Christianize it. For this the Creator has specially endowed them. Iie has given them powerful intellects; frames and constitutions wonderfully adapted to the vicissitudes of climate the extremes of heat and cold. He has made them ambitious, discerning and reckless of danger. Above all, he seems to have implanted in their bosoms an instinct which, in spite of themselves, drives them forward to the fulfillment of their lofty mission.”

(source:
Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay - By George Otto Trevelyan). Refer to The War of Religions and The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre.

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Hindu Mythbusters

Do Hindus eat monkey brains? You would think so if you saw the film "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." Though some western viewers might have taken this Hollywood excess with a pinch of salt, many still have misperceptions about Hinduism--from the horrors of caste to the burning of widows. Yes, and don’t forget rat worship, arranged child marriages, female infanticide, dowry and the killing of young brides.

As always, sensational aspects are magnified, and a deeply complex religion is seen as some sort of a primitive idol-worshipping cult.

So who will set the record straight in the West? After all, here in America, Hinduism is not organized religion with a huge PR machine and official spokespeople. It is simply a way of life, a philosophy of living practiced by individuals in whichever way they choose, each working toward salvation. 

In a small town in rural Pennsylvania, yet another Hindu is debunking myths for non-Hindus. Dr. Jeffery D. Long is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Elizabethtown College and received his PhD in comparative religious studies at the University of Chicago, focusing on Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Long, who is 34, has been involved with informal study of Hinduism since his childhood and ultimately embraced it.  The most common misconception of Hinduism that he has encountered has to do with cows and Gods: “There is a commonly held view that if people in India ate their cows, their hunger problem would vanish. This is, of course, absurd.” He explains to these skeptics the symbolic importance of the cow in Hinduism, as well as the fact that respect for the cow is really emblematic of respect for all life.  As for the perception that Hindus are idol-worshippers, Long explains the symbolism involved in murtipuja and the respects in which the many Gods are simultaneously One God. 

Michael W. Smith, 61, of St. Francis, Minnesota, has been teaching high schoolers, college students and adults about Hinduism for 30 years. Smith, who acquired knowledge through reading and from his gurus, says: “Christians generally think of Hinduism in terms of idol-worship, a belief in false gods rather than a single God, cults, devil worship, primitive superstitions and the abuses of the caste system and ill-treatment of women."

(source: Hindu Mythbusters - beliefnet.com). Refer to Bible thumpers: Americans are being increasingly stereotyped as stupid - By Arvind Kumar - indiareacts.com).

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India under Islamic threat?
Listening to Sufi music as thousands are murdered - By Arun Shourie

Islamic fundamentalism and its ally Left-wing extremism are responsible for grave threats to India. The State remains in denial.

Since 1989, more than 13,500 civilians and 5,250 security personnel have been killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. By contrast, over the same period, 29 persons have been indicted for terrorism in the state — 13 between 1989 and December 2002; since then, 16.

A symptom of the way things are. The courts won’t deliver. When someone — at the greatest risk to his life — acts to save the country, they shriek, ‘‘human rights violation’’. During the last 20 years, about 64,000 have been killed in terrorist-related violence.

All of them have been killed within the territory of India. 

(source: Listening to Sufi music as thousands are murdered - By Arun Shourie - indianexpress.com).

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Hindu Influence in Java - Chandi Penataran

Penataran is the largest and most important Hindu temple complex in East Java. It lies Just 10 kilometres north of Blitar on the lower slopes of Mt Kelud. Dedicated to the God Siva, the temple was in use for at least three hundred years, from the 14th to 16th centuries. Most of the buildings which can be seen today, however, were constructed during Majapahit's golden century. The layout of the temple is similar to that found in the Balinese pura today. A number of small buildings are scattered within a sacred, walled enclosure, with the largest and most important temple at the rear of the complex. Hindu legends, among them the Ramayana epic, are carved in relief on the temple walls and terrace foundations.

 


The heavy sinous snakes of the Naga temple envelop the squat, square structure with the palpability of living pythons. The religious structures in Java are commonly called Chandis, a term which originally meant a commemorative building.

(image source:  Java - Insight Guides - By Peter Hutton).

***

The Chandi Penataran complex, is in Broadway’s patois, a sleeper. It gathers momentum slowly, gradually dissolving the feeling of anticlimax which is a typical first reaction: it has no soaring Loro Jonggrang pinnacle, no stupendous mass like Borobudur. The heavy sinous snakes of the Naga temple envelop the squat, square structure with the palpability of living pythons. Another level, and the magnificent boldness and bravura of the main temple commands the vision. And then there are the enthralling Ramayana reliefs. Suddenly it all fits. The flat vista of the beginning becomes a wonderland of new details, new discoveries.

Penataran's stones were cut and carved and assembled over a period of 250 years though most of the surviving buildings date from the great years of Majapahit during the 1300s.

 

Ramayana relief at Chandi Pantaran.

(image source:  Java - Insight Guides - By Peter Hutton).

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

***

The superb reliefs on the base of the sanctuary tell only part of the Ramayana story, but happily a part which is filled with action and excitement: followed anticlockwise the panels (interspersed with medallions of birds and animals) unfold the drama of Hanuman's secret mission to Ravana's palace on the island of Lanka, his capture, his escape, and finally his ferocious battle in which the death of the giant Kumbhakarna anticipates the eventual demise of Ravana on the sharp end of one of Rama's arrows. 

A hundred meters or so to the rear of the temple there's a small bathing place. Steps lead to cool, inviting water, and the walls of the pool are lushly carved with birds, beasts and flowers. It bears the date 1415, which probably makes it the oldest still used bathtub in Java.

Chandhi Sangosari

was the last monuments to be erected by the Singosari dynasty. The main structure of the temple was compeleted, but not all decoration was completed. Of the statues which once inhabited the temple's chambers only one remains: Agastya, the Divine tEacher and mentor of Shiva.

 

 

Dwarapala - door guardian

(source:  Java - Insight Guides - By Peter Hutton).

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Catholic Ashrams ? Indianization of Christianity ?

Catholic adoption and adaptation of those things that Hindus regard as their sacred heritage and spirituality, a policy the Catholics have named "inculturation." It is a complex issue involving doctrine, cultural camouflage, allegedly deceptive conversion tactics and more

The Shantivanam ashram looks like a rishi's home transported from Vedic times to the banks of the sacred Cauvery River at a forested place near Trichy in South India. A pilgrim's first impressions are strong, and very Hindu: the elaborately colorful Hindu shrine; the bearded, saffron-robed "swami" seated cross-legged on a straw mat; devotees practicing yogic meditations, even chanting Hindu scriptures.

But these impressions gradually prove false. First, the eye detects that the courtyard shrine is for Saint Paul and that "puja" is actually a daily Mass, complete with incense, arati lamps, flower offerings and prasadam. Finally, one meets the "swami", learning he is Father Bede "Dayananda" Griffiths, a Christian "sannyasin" of impeccable British background.

This is a Christian ashram, one of more than 50 in India, which are variously described as "experiments in cross-cultural communication," "contemplative hermitages that revolve around both Christian and Hindu ideas," or (less charitably) "institutions to brainwash and convert India's unwary masses." Are these places to be endorsed by Hindus as worthy attempts to share each other's spirituality? Or are they a spiritual oxymoron, a contradiction of terms, because the Christians are interested in sharing - dialogue is the term they use - only as a means to conversion?


Hindu leaders are more and more aware that the Indianization of Christianity is a serious matter. They remember the fate of the American Indian religion and the native spiritual traditions of Africa and South America. More recently they recall that the Hawaiian people who numbered nearly 500,000 a century ago, are now less than 50,000 - their culture gone, their language spoken by a mere 500 people and their gods worshipped by a dying handful of kahuna priests.  All this was the effective and intentional bequest of a few dedicated Christian missionaries - good people who thought their work necessary and divinely ordained. The purpose which drove these early missionaries to eliminate non-Christian faiths and cultures has not changed. It has become more subtle, more articulately argued. It is certainly more of a problem to Africans, but India's Hindus would do well to remain alert and informed. That is why it is essential to examine and understand such places as Father Bede's Shantivanam.

Father Griffiths is an anomaly - a Hindu on the outside, a Catholic on the inside. And he's not the only one.

G.M. Jagtiani of Bombay wrote: "A mischievous attempt is being made by some Christian missionaries to wear the saffron robe, put tilak on their forehead, recite the Gita, and convert the Hindus to Christianity." S.Shanmukham of the Hindu Munnani, Kanyakumari, states: "Once I met an orange-robed sannyasin. I took her to be a Hindu sannyasin. When asked, she said 'I have put on this dress so that I can come in contact with Hindus very easily and tell them about Christianity.'" R.Chidambasaksiamma, Kanyakumari said. "It seems to be a sinister plan to make people accept Christ as God, the only God. They adopt all the philosophies and practices of Hindus but would accept only Jesus as God. It is only a development of their original plan of Indianisation of Christianity."

At the root of these criticisms is a deep distrust of the Christians in India. Imposed by force from the outside, Christianity is still considered an unwelcome intrusion from the West. Even Mahatma Gandhi stated that from the time Christianity was established in Rome in the third century, "it became an imperialist faith as it remains to this day." This unfortunate legacy has never been forgotten by the Hindus. Though the military backing is no longer present, enormous sums of money are sent into India for the use of missionaries. A well-monied and successful missionary is regarded as a threat to the national stability.

The official government document, Madhya Pradesh Report on Christian Missionary Activities (1956) stated, "evangelization in India appears to be a part of the uniform world policy to revive Christendom for re-establishing Western supremacy and is not prompted by spiritual motives. The objective is apparently to create Christian minority pockets with a view to disrupt the solidarity of the non-Christian societies. The ulterior motive is fraught with danger to the security of the State."

Christians are only three percent of India's population, yet they control 25% of all schools and 40% of all social service organizations. Their Western affiliations give them political entree and cultural clout beyond their numbers. Christians are widely viewed as not necessarily strongly loyal to the nation, the Catholics in particular being thought to be under the direct rule of the Vatican. The Madhya Pradesh report also says, "Because conversion muddles the convert's sense of unity and solidarity with his society, there is a danger of his loyalty to his country and state being undermined."

(source: Catholic Ashrams - hinduismtoday.com). Refer to VINDICATED BY TIME: The Niyogi Committee Report  On Christian Missionary Activities - Christianity Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee 1956 and The Sunshine of Secularism and and Catholic Priests Molest Third World Nuns to Avoid AIDS. Refer to Christianity Dying In The West? - By M S N Menon - organiser.org. and Christians have Destroyed Various Ethnic Cultures of the World - christianaggression.org.

Refer to From De Nobili to Clooney: The Christian Methods of Inculturation. Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887.

Catholic Church Expands Deceptive Program of "Indianization"

(Note: Catholic Church in India is making clever adjustments to make itself more palatable to Indians. This continues a process begun hundreds of years ago when some of the first Catholic missionaries to the country pretended to be like Hindu sadhus. The external adaptations, however, were not accompanied by any change in the Catholic philosophy that all non-Catholics are denied heaven.)

The Catholic church will take up the study of Sanskrit, adapt to monastic life in an ashram and adopt the Hindu ritual of aarti during mass if the movement towards Indianisation of the church gets the nod from 400 priests and five bishops congregating in Pune. The Catholic church has already adopted a number of Indian traditions and practices and has come a long way, four decades after the historic Second Vatican Council (1962-65) brought an epochal shift in the modern church through its declaration on religious liberty. Pune's Papal Seminary, which has ordained over 1,250 priests during the past 50 years, has continued with its modernisation effort along with its associate institutions such as the Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV), formerly the Pontifical Anthenaeum, and the De Nobili College. Pune-based Catholic leaders such as Joseph Neuner, Kurien Kunnumpuram, Francis X D'Sa, John Vattanky and Subhash Anand have been stressing for lesser control from the Vatican, to make the church "truly Indian and genuinely Christian."

Pandikattu Kuruvilla, teacher of philosophy at JDV and the Papal Seminary's rector, Ornellas Coutinho, explained that a number of Indian religious customs and practices have already been embraced by the Catholic church to become truly Indian. "A number of Christian priests, for example, strictly follow the ancient Indian ashram system of monastic life, such as those at the Bethany Vedavijnana Peeth (Pune), Satchitananda Ashram (Trichy), Kurusumala Ashram (Kerala) and the Sameskshna Ashram (Kalady, Kerala)," said Kuruvilla. "Practising vegetarianism, organizing satsangs and reading Bhagvad Gita are some of the changes that have taken place," he said.

(source: Catholic Church Expands Deceptive Program of "Indianization" - hinduismtoday.com).

Why this war on Hinduism?- These two (Christianity and Islam) hostile ideologies, flawed because they are not based on human experience but on spurious and fantastic literature, are based on a priori illusion that human beings are genetically flawed and can be redeemed only by symbolic conversion and the acceptance of their bookish deity. For instance, if the Christian and Islamic clergy do not propagate and force their sterile ideologies down the throats of unsuspecting or helpless people through dubious means, or do not force them to stay on with censure and punishment, their religions would be wiped out in decades. Europe is a primary example.

(source: Why this war on Hinduism? - By George Thundiparambil - christianaggression.org). Refer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org.

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Tsunami hit South India: Calamity of epic proportions
Death, devastation, tears, relief

" Nature's majesty is even more awesome deep in the universe, where suns explode and black holes swallow entire solar systems. 

" Hindus believe just as construction is important, so is devastation. Nothing is permanent except the Soul." 

***

Imagine going for a morning walk along the sea as you do every morning. The sea is a Pacific influence and you perhaps dip your toe in the water. But before you realize what’s happening, you are caught in one of the worst natural calamities in living memory. For hundreds in Chennai’s Marina Beach on Sunday morning, it was nightmarishly like this. For thousands of fisherfolk, who had gone like every morning into the sea, it was again the same story — suddenly being caught in a phenomenon, tsunami, which struck India for the first time in recorded history.

The country was still coming to grips with the nature and scale of the disaster. The toll, according to the government, was 2,000 and rising, but other estimates put the toll at over 3,000. And there’s no news yet of 45,000 people in Car Nicobar and Greater Nicobar where a quake of 7.5 magnitude hit early in the morning. The trigger for the tsunami — a destructive wave train created by an undersea disturbance — was an 8.9 magnitude earthquake, just off the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island.

There were a series of aftershocks, creating mammoth waves that hit coastal Tamil Nadu, where the toll was the highest, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Pondicherry. Orissa and West Bengal escaped relatively unscathed, with only two deaths reported till evening.
Over a thousand deaths are feared in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with extensive damage to the airport at Car Nicobar, just 115 nautical miles (about 300 km) from Sumatra, and Campbell Bay. The airport at Port Blair was damaged too, but a couple of flights took off later with fleeing tourists. Many more are still stranded.

In Tamil Nadu, the toll is expected to touch 2,500, with one report putting the figure at over 1,000 in Nagapattinam district alone. Cuddalore and Kanyakumari were the other badly-hit districts. Hundreds of pilgrims, including SC Judge GP Mathur, were left stranded on Vivekananda Rock near Kanyakumari. Hundreds of fishermen were missing and Chennai was inundated by what witnesses called six-metre-high waves. The Kalpakkam nuclear power also reported an influx of sea water, but officials said it was "fully safe"

 

“All the planet is vibrating” from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy’s National Geophysics Institute.

.

Most Powerful Quake in 40 Years Triggers Death and Destruction 

Dec. 26 - The most powerful earthquake in 40 years struck south Asia this morning, triggering tsunamis that smashed into villages, resorts and tourist isles, killing thousands and leaving hundreds missing. Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia were hit hardest as the tsunamis, some 30 feet high, washed away fishermen, tourists, cars and beachside stalls. The earthquake, which generated tidal surges that could be felt as far away as Africa, hit at 6:58 a.m. local time about 100 miles off the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra. It measured 8.9 on the Richter scale, which made it the largest in the world since 1964 and the fifth largest since 1900, according to the National Earthquake Information Center at the United States Geological Survey.

“All the planet is vibrating” from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy’s National Geophysics Institute. Speaking on SKY TG24 TV, Boschi said the quake even disturbed the Earth’s rotation.

The quake occurred at a place where several huge geological plates push against each other with massive force. The survey said a 620-mile section along the boundary of the plates shifted, motion that triggered the sudden displacement of a huge volume of water.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6754820/  

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“A creed religion like Christianity... is constantly competing against all other religions — and, what is more, doing so on their own home grounds. Its success is measured in terms of the number of converts it makes."  

                                          ~ 
Michael Arnheim author of Is Christianity True (Skeptic's Bookshelf Series).
Refer to  Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in America and The Burningcross 

***

Natural Disaster - "a phenomenal opportunity" to convert the Hindu Heathens?
Purses with string attached?

Christianity Condition for Tsunami Aid

The Swedish Save the Children organization is concerned that many tsunami victims in Thailand aren’t being given help unless they convert to Christianity.

The pressure comes from Christian charities, primarily from the United States. Complains about the situation are reflected in a survey conducted by the Swedish and British Save the Children organizations, together with the United Nations children’s fund, UNICEF. Speaking to the newspaper “Svenska Dagbladet” the head of Swedish Save the Children’s tsunami relief in southeast Asia says in some places it feels like the 19th century, when missionaries demanded conversion as a condition for food and clothing.

The newspaper reports that when its reporters visited several orphanages, the children, who were Buddhist, were wearing t-shirts with slogans like “God loves you” and “Jesus is the way”.

(source: Christianity Condition for Tsunami Aid).  Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887.

***

Christian Organizations Reach Out to Tsunami Victims

The Christian website, Crosswalk.com, published a long story about Christian relief efforts following the tsunami ("source"). While the Christian charity exhibited by the rapid response of Christian organizations is admirable, the ulterior motives of conversion expressed by some are disturbing:

Some excerpts:

...."Doctor Ajith Fernando, who is considered by some to be the "Billy Graham of Sri Lanka,' heads up the Youth for Christ (YFC) office there. A long-time friend and partner of NDI, he wrote to Williams from Sri Lanka: 'What a sad day this has been! We keep hearing of more and more friends and loved ones of friends who have died or lost much of their belongings. The death toll for Sri Lanka alone is over 10,000 and keeps rising. We have prayed and wept for our nation for many years. The most urgent of my prayers has always been that my people would turn to Jesus. I pray that this terrible, terrible tragedy might be used by God to break through into the lives of many of our people.' "

 

 

The most urgent of my prayers has always been that my people would turn to Jesus. I pray that this terrible, terrible tragedy might be used by God to break through into the lives of many of our people.' "

***


...."In the wake of this disaster, Gospel For Asia's 1.5 million-member Believers Church in India is rallying support and deploying its leadership and members to minister to those suffering both physically and spiritually. 'In times like these, we know that God opens the hearts of those who suffer, and we pray that as our workers demonstrate God's love to them, many of them will come to know for the first time that real security comes only through Him,' Gospel For Asia president K.P. Yohannon said. He add, 'We ask that our brothers and sisters in the West take the time today to pray for these millions of victims, that they will feel God's presence and grace in a special way.' "

(source: Christian Organizations Reach Out to Tsunami Victims  Refer to VINDICATED BY TIME: The Niyogi Committee Report  On Christian Missionary Activities - Christianity Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee 1956 and The Sunshine of Secularism and Catholic Priests Molest Third World Nuns to Avoid AIDS

Refer to Christianity Dying In The West? - By M S N Menon - organiser.org. and Christians have Destroyed Various Ethnic Cultures of the World - christianaggression.org. Also refer to and Missionary's Dark Legacy and Dutch Christians Target Hindus for ConversionRefer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887. and The Burningcross

Indian Missionaries Get Rs.600 crores for Tsunami Conversions from UK

UK-based Disaster Emergency Committee's Contribution
(to India from its overall Rs 2800 crores)
Contributing Agency Rupees (crores)
Action Aid 60.46
CAFOD 126.31
CARE 18.44
Christian Aid 84.48
Concern India 2.93
Oxfam India 31.57
Save the Children 46.40
Tearfund* 23.02
World Vision 146.40
HelpAge India 36.28

Total 576.29

(*Comprising Discipleship Centre (DC), Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief (EFICOR) and Salvation.

(source: Indian Missionaries Get Rs.600 crores for Tsunami Conversions from UK - christianaggression.org).

Christian groups see disaster relief as an opportunity to create converts

As Western humanitarian organizations unleash an armada of relief supplies and workers into Asia's crisis zone, some evangelical Christian groups aim to bring the Gospel to the victims, as well.

Religious groups promise to be a major presence in the massive relief and reconstruction effort. InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based non-government organizations, reports that of its 55 member agencies providing tsunami aid, 22 are faith-based.

Most of the religious players, including the Red Cross, the American Jewish World Service, and Lutheran World Relief, have rules against proselytizing.
At the same time, though, evangelical groups active in Asia, including the Southern Baptists' International Mission Board, Gospel for Asia, and the Christian and Missionary Alliance, say the Bible always impels them to create converts to the faith.

"This [disaster] is one of the greatest opportunities God has given us to share his love with people," said K. P. Yohannan, president of the Texas-based Gospel for Asia. In an interview, Yohannan said his 14,500 "native missionaries" in India, Sri Lanka, and the Andaman Islands are giving survivors Bibles and booklets about "how to find hope in this time through the word of
God."

In Krabi, Thailand, a Southern Baptist church had been "praying for a way to make inroads" with a particular ethnic group of fisherman, according to Southern Baptist relief coordinator Pat Julian. Then came the tsunami, "a phenomenal opportunity" to provide ministry and care, Julian told the Baptist Press news service.

In Andhra Pradesh, India, a plan is developing to build "Christian communities" to replace destroyed seashore villages. In a dispatch that the evangelical group Focus on the Family posted on its Family.org Web site, James Rebbavarapu of India Christian Ministries said a team of U.S. engineers had agreed to help design villages of up to 400 homes each, "with a church building
in the center of them."

Yohannan said Sri Lankan officials are "extremely angry" with Christian missionary work and want to outlaw proselytizing. Some states in southern India have anti-conversion laws that bar "fraudulent manipulation," he said, adding: "I cannot tell you there is a hell awaiting you because it can be interpreted as a fear tactic." But one of the states, Tamil Nadu, recently repealed its law, and others don't enforce theirs, Yohannan said.

(source: Some Christian groups spread supplies - and the word - By Jim Remsen - Philadelphia Inquirer - Jan 09, 2005).

For more on Christian Fundamentalism Agenda in USA, refer to:

A conflict between science and God - By Martin Kettle - Guardian and Quotes from The American Taliban and Christian Fundamentalists to Push Bible as Classroom "Knowledge" and Bush, the Neocons and Evangelical Christian Fiction: America "Left Behind" - By Hugh Urban and The Christian Right, Dominionism, and Theocracy - publiceye.org. and Dinosaurs, evangelicals and the state - By Justin Webb - BBC. and Cornell President Says "Intelligent Design" Religion, Not Science and American Fundamentalists Also refer to Battlefield Earth - By Bill Moyers and The Godly Must Be Crazy - By Glen Scherer and Rapture or Rupture? - By Bryan Zepp Jamieson. Refer to The Republican War on Science - By Chris Mooney and Resurgence Of Religious Right Among Top Concerns - totallyjewish.com.  More evangelicals turning up in elite circles, schools - By Laurie Goodstein and David D. Kirkpatrick - The New York Times/May 22, 2005. The Crusaders:
Christian evangelicals are plotting to remake America in their own image
- By Bob Moser - rollingstone.com
and Dominionist. Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887.

Refer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org and The Burningcross

Watch Sewa or Service work by RSS.

***

Why Asian Tsunami Is News, But Not The Destruction of Falluja

Writing in New Zealand's Pacific Media Watch after the Asian tsunami last year, journalist Mike Whitney observed: "The American media has descended on the Asian tsunami with all the fervour of feral animals in a meat locker. The newspapers and TVs are plastered with bodies drifting out to sea, battered carcasses strewn along the beach and bloated babies lying in rows. Every aspect of the suffering is being scrutinized with microscopic intensity by the predatory lens of the media".

"This is where the western press really excels: in the celebratory atmosphere of human catastrophe" he noted, asking, "where was this 'free press' in Iraq when the death toll was skyrocketing?"


(source: Why Asian Tsunami Is News, But Not The Destruction of Falluja - Kalinga Seneviratne - christianaggression.org).

***

Physician, heal thyself first!
The Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

There was just a quiet satisfaction that a country which believes in its divine right to offer gratuitous advice to everyone on every conceivable subject was now being shown up with its pants down. BBC World, the world's most infuriatingly sanctimonious TV channel, didn't need to lace its footage with the sepulchral voice that accompanies every calamity in 'Bungler-dish' and sub-Saharan Africa. The chaos of New Orleans was the worst advertisement for Western civilization in a very long time.

Yet, what I find inexplicable is why there weren't armies of volunteers bringing food, water and medicines into New Orleans. In the aftermath of every flood or earthquake in India, we see home-grown organisations such as the Ramakrishna Mission, Bharat Sevasram Sangh, RSS and assorted Rotary Clubs taking charge of emergency services and complementing the Government machinery. Have voluntary agencies disappeared from the US? Are American NGOs only for export?

More significant was the irrelevance of Church bodies. The evangelists who litter the landscape of the Deep South are cash-rich and have an amazing knack of turning up at odd places promising deliverance. How come we didn't hear of them providing solace to their flock and engaging in Christian charity in New Orleans? There are reports that the few charity workers who turned up beat a hasty retreat after being threatened. What does this reveal about the supposed importance of Christian values in the civic life of America? And to imagine US evangelists have the gumption to preach to Indians.

(source:
Physician, heal thyself first! - By Swapan Dasgupta - christianaggression.org). 

For more refer to Black lawmakers angry about federal response to Katrina - cnn.com. and The Poverty of America - By Jeremy Seabrook. - This is what the poor of India and all the other hopeful countries of the world have been taught to envy and to long for. This is the supreme achievement of the richest societies the world has ever known; and it is the model, not merely preached, but actually imposed by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and the governments of the G8. That they are in no position to tell anyone else what to do is the enduring lesson from the disaster which has befallen, not merely Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, but American society itself, as it has demonstrated to the world its indifference towards those for whom the designation 'loser', 'no-hoper', 'failure' is applied as a stigma of moral, as well as material, incapacity.

Also refer to Katrina Response Problems Spurs Racism Charges - capitolhillblues.com and New Orleans Unmasks 'Apartheid - American Style'- rense.com and Katrina exposed America's seamy side - By T V R Shenoy - rediff.com

***

Evangelists are organizing their resources to help victims in exchange for conversion and we need to guard victims from this move . Please activate our calendar in the field and send reports on any conversions by Evangalists. We learnt from our sources that Vatican has committed huge funds for the purpose of conversions in exchange of relief aid to victims, their activists are geared to "harvest souls" . Such incidents are dream come true for Christian Evangelists, though they smartly deny their statements convey hidden messages .

Statements of Christian Evangelist soon after Gujarat Earth Quake :

John Dayal sees a chance to practice his faith: "This is an opportunity to show the love of the Christ to all the people—but it will be cruel to suggest that the evangelists or the churches see it as a Christian opportunity of winning souls."

Peter told ENI that while Christians do not have "an eye on conversion" as they provide help, if villagers see Christians staying for the long haul, "it is natural that some of them will approach us later with a request to become Christians."

 

"This is a moment for the clergy to turn the pangs of calamity into an opportunity to show the love of the Christ," said Eduardo M. Faleiro, a Christian member of the Indian Parliament. "The Christians also need to do some introspection and see how we can spread the message of Jesus Christ."

***

"This is a moment for the clergy to turn the pangs of calamity into an opportunity to show the love of the Christ," said Eduardo M. Faleiro, a Christian member of the Indian Parliament. "The Christians also need to do some introspection and see how we can spread the message of Jesus Christ."

(source: saag.org http://www.saag.org/bb/view.asp?msgID=10227). Watch Sewa or Service work by RSS.

Jet setting Christian Evangelist comes looking for orphans in a 747 Boeing 

'It is the longest journey I have taken by road during the past many years. In the time that took for me to reach here from Chennai, I would have made half the journey from New York to Chennai'. So said jet-setting K A Paul, an India-born US-based Christian evangelist, at the coastal village of Thazhanguda in Cuddalore on Thursday, soon after speaking to a small group of people affected by the tsunami. Soon after his Boeing 747 (for the uninitiated he takes pains to explain that there are just two such planes in the world and the other one is used by the US President) touched down in Chennai, he had called on the Tamilnadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.

The group that he has brought to India comprises celebrities like Evander Holyfield, Miss World runner-up Nazinin Afshin-Jam from Canada, a Fox TV reporter accompanied by a videographer and several other such people. 

 

Sri Lankan and Indonesian authorities have banned the adoption of children affected by the tsunami

***

Driving in a luxury bus into the deserted beach in Thanzhanguda, where the surging waters killed at least 38 people and rendered hundreds of others homeless, the group of foreigners carrying cameras drew the attention of the villagers, particularly children and women, who almost besieged them. The condescending Paul finds the crowd that has gathered on the shores an ideal audience for his sermon. He seeks to drive home the point that they were all alive because of Jesus Christ through his translator. To that crowd Paul also makes a appeal to send orphans to his establishment. To the couple of journalists from Chennai, who were on the beach at that time, he says that he has Rs 4000 crore ($ 800 million) at his disposal for providing immediate relief to 10 countries in the next one and a half months. 

(source: Christian Evangelist comes looking for orphans in a 747 Boeing - newstodaynet.com - January 7 2004).

Sri Lanka bans tsunami adoptions

The Sri Lankan authorities have banned the adoption of children affected by the tsunami until further notice. The move follows concern expressed by the UN that some orphans were being targeted by criminal gangs.

Indonesia bans foreign adoptions 

The head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) hailed Indonesia on Thursday for banning adoptions of children orphaned in the tsunami disaster, amid growing concerns about human trafficking.

"That's an example of a government taking action to counter a criminal element," UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy told reporters in Jakarta.
"These are countries with a long tradition of extended families. Let's see first if the extended family is willing and capable of taking in the children," she said.

(source:
Sri Lanka bans tsunami adoptions and Sri Lanka bans tsunami adoptions).

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Charity and Relief work done by Hindu organizations for the Tsunami disaster  

"Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice
Whatever charity you give, whatever austerity you practice, do it as an offering to Me"  - Bhagavad Gita 9.27. 

"The only gift is giving to the poor;
All else is exchange.
  –  Thirukkural 221.

"If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity, and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character."   - Swami Vivekanada.

***

Western Monopoly over Humanitarian Aid - Are Hindus Victims Only? 

Note: Foreign & Indian press always mention the Red Cross, Oxfam, Gospel for Asia or some (other) Christian organization in connection with the Tsunami relief work, but never the Hindu organizations that are far more active in the field. As usual, Hindus are good only to be victims...? However, opposing Christian missionaries is by default a Hindu radical or Hindu Nationalists in the Western Press and in India's English Language Media. 

According to our Shastras, each Hindu is supposed to contribute one-sixth of his income to the society.

Here is a list of some organizations: 

Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari

Vivekananda Kendra, a spiritually oriented service organization with head quarters at Kanyakumari has taken up a massive relief work for the rehabilitation of the Tsunami Tidal Wave affected people. Kendra has taken up relief work in the coastal areas from Tiruvanmiyur to Mahabalipuram of Chennai, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and from Rameswaram to Kanyakumari strip.

Arya Samaj Adopts Three Villages in Nagapattanam

Senior Arya Samaj leaders from Delhi, Gandhidham and Mumbai are in Tamil Nadu since Sunday to supervise and co-ordinate the Relief work being done there by Arya Pratinidhi Sabha Tamil Nadu. All this work is being done under the auspices of International Arya League. The fisherman are the worst affected people of the region but the other thing which nobody has noticed or is working for is that a lot of agricultural land has been washed out and is now salty and uncultivable for quite some time. The farmers will have been left with no means of earning their livelihood. They will now have to work as labourers.

Arya Samaj has adopted three villages namely Samundampettai and Puthukupam in the Nagapattam area. The volunteers of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha Tamil Nadu are working ceaselessly to provide relief to the affected people. They are removing the dead bodies and performing their last rites using Ghee and Havan Samagri. They are also busy in the cleaning up operations and in helping the affected people in every possible way.

(source:
Arya Samaj Adopts Three Villages in Nagapattanam).

 

Collecting funds by Hindu organizations

***

Art of Living Foundation gives Rs.150 crore tsunami aid

Indian spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, touring tsunami-hit areas in Sri Lanka, has donated Rs.1.5 billion through his Art of Living Foundation towards relief operations in Sri Lanka and India.

The spiritual leader oversaw relief work being done by volunteers of the Art of Living Foundation in this island nation. The foundation is planning to set up orphanages and homes for destitute women in the affected areas in India and Sri Lanka. The foundation is running a large refugee camp in Port Blair, Andamans. Two hundred tonnes of relief material has been airlifted to the Andamans Islands and 300,000 litres of drinking water sent, a foundation release said.

(source: Art of Living Foundation gives Rs.150 crore tsunami aid - newindpress.com).

Seva Bharathi Tamilnadu 

Seva Bharathi, a nationalist service organization, had undertaken such big task earlier also in Lattur (Maharashtra), Uttarkasi (UP), Punjab and Gujarat. In Nagapattinam, Seva Bharathi has started relief work within a couple of hours atter the Tsunami strike. Swayamsevaks from various parts of tamilnadu and Karnataka collected relief materials and sent them to the base camp at nagapattinam. Also many spiritually oriented service organizations from various parts of the country sent the materials which they have collected.

AIM for Seva Disaster Relief Centre - Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Anaikatti


The next day, 31st of December 2004, the volunteers went to Seruthur. An eerie silence greeted them. It was a picture of desolation and destruction in the wake of the Tsunami. There were over 650 houses in that village, of which 300 houses had been swept away. Of the 200 dead, most of them were children and women. One of the local residents said that in the stretch between Vedaranyam and Tharangampadi, a whole generation of children has been swept away. 

(source: AIM for Seva ).

Mata Amritha announces Rs 100 cr for relief

The biggest relief measure announced so far, the Mata Amritananda Math in Kerala has announced a Rs 100 crore tsunami relief for the affected states. The Math also has plans to study the Tsunami phenomenon, the Mata said. If the government permitted, the Math proposes to reconstruct all the houses that have been completely destroyed by the tsunami attack across Kerala. These houses will be built according to the specifications of the government. The Math proposes to build houses consisting of two rooms, a kitchen, a small veranda and a toilet.

Other relief activities to be undertaken pending government sanction are: Rs 1000 for buying kitchenware for every affected family in the coastal states


(source: Mata Amritha announces Rs 100 cr for relief - timesofindia.com).

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The Usual Biased and mischievous Reporting in Western Press 

Shunned, India's untouchables gather tsunami dead - By Terry Friel

They are the "untouchables"; the lowest of the low in India's ancient caste system. No job is too dirty or too nasty, and they are the ones cleaning up the rotting corpses from last week's killer tsunami. The overwhelming majority of the 1,000 or so men sweating away in the tropical heat to clear the poor south Indian fishing town of Nagapattinam, which bore the brunt of the giant wave, are lower caste dalits from neighbouring villages. Locals too afraid of disease and too sickened by the smell refuse to join the grim task of digging friends and neighbours out of the sand and debris. They just stand and watch the dalits work. "I am only doing what I would do for my own wife and child," says M. Mohan, a dalit municipal cleaner as he takes a break to wash off some of the grime of the day's work. "It is our duty. If a dog is dead, or a person, we have to clean it up." Mohan and other sanitation workers from neighbouring municipalities are working around the clock to clear Nagapattinam, for an extra 50 cents a day and a meal.

Dirty jobs: Caste still plays a defining role in much of Indian society. Over 16 percent of India's billion plus people are dalits. Despite laws banning caste discrimination, they are still routinely abused, mistreated and even killed. They do the jobs others won't -- they clean toilets, they collect garbage, they skin cows. For Mohan, illiterate, uneducated and low caste, the only way to get a government job and the security and pension that come with it, was as a municipal sanitation worker. For some Indians, untouchables are less than human. Just over two years ago, five dalits were lynched near New Delhi after a rumour spread that they had killed and skinned a cow, revered as sacred in India. 

Comments on sulekha.com on this report

"Sickening; day after day the same crap. This is just voyeuristic reporting. Terry Friel imports Mexicans to these menial jobs for him. In short, this chap is hard pressed to find some "good story" - so he comes up with this Dalit thing. What is odd is - he clearly says they are government workers. Why not consider them just that - government workers doing their job?"

 

"There are people of all castes and religions (including Muslims) doing burying , burning and cleaning of corpses of humans and animals. It is sad and sickening that even during a tragic time like this people want to push their agenda. 

What does Mr. Terrry Friel and his like want ? All Hindus should convert to his brand of book religion ? What good has that done to the people of Africa, South America or Philippines ?"

Watch Sewa or Service work by RSS.

***

"It is like saying, only Hispanics clean the toilets and garbage in USA. This is a biased and vindictive report by Terry Friel who has a history of twisting facts and throwing in unrelated news items to push whatever agenda he is selling. It is not just Dalits (untouchables) who are cleaning the corpses. How can Mr. Terry Friel say somebody is from Dalit or another caste when I myself, an Indian, cannot do that just by looking at someone. Does Mr. Friel speak Tamil , the local language ? Does Mr. Friel know that Nagapattinam is a predominantly Christian area with a famous church called Velankani.  

"There are people of all castes and religions (including Muslims) doing burying, burning and cleaning of corpses of humans and animals. It is sad and sickening that even during a tragic time like this people want to push their agenda. What does Mr. Terrry Friel and his like want ? All Hindus should convert to his brand of book religion ? What good has that done to the people of Africa, South America or Philippines ? "

Over 4900 bodies buried in worst affected Nagai

The Red Cross, with the help of RSS volunteers, has undertaken mass burials all over the district. Even bodies which could not be identified had been buried as they were highly decomposed, he said.

 

 

    

Selfless Service

RSS volunteers performed funeral rites to 1,100 bodies recovered from the tsunami-hit areas in this district alone. 
The RSS is the Hindu nationalist organization that everybody in the West loves to hate. Whenever a disaster strikes they are the first ones to reach the area and do the lowest work that no one else wants to do. They have members from all castes
.

Watch Sewa or Service work by RSS.

***

The RSS is the Hindu nationalist organization that everybody in the West loves to hate. Whenever a disaster strikes they are the first ones to reach the area and do the lowest work that no one else wants to do. They have members from all castes.

The Hindu newspaper is one of the oldest newspapers of India with a marked leftist / Marxist bias despite its name. They do their best to not report anything good about Hindu organisations.

Following an SOS from Nagapattinam district collector, RSS sent volunteers from all over the State to the affected areas. The volunteers performed funeral rites to 1,100 bodies recovered from the tsunami-hit areas in this district alone. The relief works in Kanyakumari district were coordinated with the Ramakrishna Mission and a medical camp is functioning with doctors and volunteers.

Of course none of the Western press will publish these news items because these go against their pre-conceived notions of painting Indians as a backward caste-ridden society.

(source: Shunned, India's untouchables gather tsunami dead - By Terry Friel and Over 4900 bodies buried in worst affected Nagai and RSS rushes help to tidal wave victims and http://www.sulekha.com/news/ThreadComment.aspx?cid=532257 and democraticunderground- discussion board). Also refer to Black lawmakers angry about federal response to Katrina - cnn.com. Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887.

Refer to From De Nobili to Clooney: The Christian Methods of Inculturation and American Christian Fundamentalist Leader Calls for Global War - By Yoginder Sikand - christianaggression.org). Also refer to and Missionary's Dark Legacy and Dutch Christians Target Hindus for Conversion. Refer to  Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in AmericaRefer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org.

***

US study clubs RSS, al-Qaeda -  By  Rand Corporation
Demonizing the RSS?

"Naturally Rand will not dare scrutinise American fanatics like Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition (surely an NRM), who makes no pretense about his espousal of violence to achieve political ends. 

 

   

Pat Robertson publicly asked the US Government to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

***

The renowned tele-evangelist publicly asked the US Government to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for posing "a terrific danger" to America by "exporting Communism and Islamic extremism." Addressing his "The 700 Club" show on August 22, 2005, Robertson proclaimed that if Chavez feared America was plotting to assassinate him, "we really ought to go ahead and do it... It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war."

RSS is one of the few organized bulwarks against this nefarious (conversion) design; hence the demonization as violent, terrorist, totalitarian.

(source: RSS@terrorist.com - By Sandhya Jain - dailypioneer.com - September 6 2005). Also refer to Exploring Religious Conflicts? RAND as New Religious Media (NRM) - By Dr S Kalyanaraman - indiacause.com and Some Question Robertson's Katrina Charity - abcnews.com and Robertson's rhetoric of entitlement - workingforchange.com and Robertson's 'fatwa' - By Eric Margolis - torontosun.com and Catholic Priests Molest Third World Nuns to Avoid AIDS Refer to Quotes from The American Taliban

Refer to Christian Fundamentalism Agenda in USA:

Bible thumpers: Americans are being increasingly stereotyped as stupid - By Arvind Kumar - indiareacts.com and Dinosaurs, evangelicals and the state - By Justin Webb - BBC).  Refer to Christian Fundamentalism Agenda in USA. Refer to: A conflict between science and God - By Martin Kettle - Guardian and Quotes from The American Taliban and Christian Fundamentalists to Push Bible as Classroom "Knowledge" and Bush, the Neocons and Evangelical Christian Fiction: America "Left Behind" - By Hugh Urban and The Christian Right, Dominionism, and Theocracy - publiceye.org. and Dinosaurs, evangelicals and the state - By Justin Webb - BBC. and Cornell President Says "Intelligent Design" Religion, Not Science and American Fundamentalists Also refer to Battlefield Earth - By Bill Moyers and The Godly Must Be Crazy - By Glen Scherer and Rapture or Rupture? - By Bryan Zepp Jamieson. Refer to The Republican War on Science - By Chris Mooney and Resurgence Of Religious Right Among Top Concerns - totallyjewish.com.  More evangelicals turning up in elite circles, schools - By Laurie Goodstein and David D. Kirkpatrick - The New York Times/May 22, 2005. The Crusaders:
Christian evangelicals are plotting to remake America in their own image
- By Bob Moser - rollingstone.com
and Dominionist. Refer to As America declines, the Bible thumpers take hold - By Ramesh Rao - indiareacts.com.  How the Dominionists Are Succeeding in Their Quest for National Control and World Power - yuricareport.com.

Refer to Christianity Dying In The West? - By M S N Menon - organiser.org.  Refer to Can Hinduism face the onslaught of Project Thessalonica? - By Alex Pomero and Christians have Destroyed Various Ethnic Cultures of the World - christianaggression.org. Also refer to and Missionary's Dark Legacy and Dutch Christians Target Hindus for Conversion

Refer to Christian Pat Robertson Denounces Hinduism as "Demonic - Hinduism Today July 1995.

Refer to Christian Televangelist Calls for Venezuelan President's Assassination and RSS rescues Christian priests - hindustantimes.com and World stunned as US struggles with Katrina - yahoo.com and Venezuela Curbs Missionaries After Robertson's Threat - By Patrick Markey CARACAS, Venezuela 26 Aug 2005 23:24:18 GMT Reuters. The Crusaders:
Christian evangelicals are plotting to remake America in their own image
- By Bob Moser - rollingstone.com
and Dominionist. 

Invasion of Iraq and the Ushering in of Global Christendom and Pax-Americana ?

While the Western press is awash with stories, real and exaggerated, about ‘Islamic fundamentalists’, rarely is mention made about Christian fundamentalists, who, with their vast resources and close links with the current American administration, are a potentially more menacing threat than their Muslim counterparts. According to newspaper reports more than a third of Americans are associated with one or the other Christian fundamentalist outfit, most of which are fiercely anti-communist, anti-Muslim and are passionate advocates of free-market capitalism, global American hegemony and the myth of the civilizing mission of white America. In recent years, these fundamentalist groups have been engaged in aggressive missionary work in other countries as well, including in the so-called ‘Third World’. Fired by a passionate hatred for other religions, which they dismiss as ‘false’ and even ‘Satanic’, they are today among the most well-funded missionary groups in large parts of Asia and Africa. 

(source: American Christian Fundamentalist Leader Calls for Global War - By Yoginder Sikand - christianaggression.org). How the Dominionists Are Succeeding in Their Quest for National Control and World Power - yuricareport.com.

Refer to Pharmaceutical Giant Pfizer Donates Rs 1 Cr to Missionary Agency - christianaggression.org - Pharmaceutical major Pfizer and World Vision India on Thursday announced a grant of Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) under an economic rehabilitation programme for Tsunami affected communities, which WVI will extend as micro-finance development loans.

***

RSS rushes help to tidal wave victims

Volunteers of Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS) are doing their best in relief operations in coastal districts to help people affected by tidal waves. The immediate task was to supply food, medicines and clothing.

Another demanding task was the disposal of the dead. RSS rushed volunteers from Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, Trichi, Ambur and Erode and they joined hands with local volunteers in the operations. Students of Vivekananda College in Thiruvedagam and Madurai have also teamed up with them to render help.

Following an SOS from Nagapattinam district collector, RSS sent volunteers from all over the State to the affected areas.

The volunteers performed funeral rites to 1,100 bodies recovered from the tsunami-hit areas in this district alone.

The relief works in Kanyakumari district were coordinated with the Ramakrishna Mission and a medical camp is functioning with doctors and volunteers. The RSS also installed a mineral water plant in Tiruvarur and distributed 20,000 litres of safe drinking water per day. In Chennai too, the volunteers swung into action and distributed 20,000 food packets within hours of the tragedy and provided hundreds of blankets and sarees. The RSS is collecting rice, utensils and clothes for distribution, a press release from the RSS headquarters in Chennai said. RSS has appealed to the people to contribute medicines, clothing and financial assistance to assist fishermen in getting boats, fishing nets and other infrastructure facilities.

(source: RSS rushes help to tidal wave victims - newstodaynet.com).

Watch Sewa or Service work by RSS.

Selfless Sevice:

Note: In the Bhuj earthquake they were at the forefront, shoulder to shoulder with the army jawans, carrying out the most difficult part of the service, of evacuating the dead and providing them the last rites with dignity and honour. None of those who usually claim to be the most charitable in India were to be seen there. There was very little acknowledgement of these services by our biased media then. But selfless service does not need such an acknowledgement.

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Hindus Protest Newsweek Magazine Report on Hindu View of Tsunami

The Hindu American Foundation (website here) is protesting the article, "Countless Souls Cry Out to God" by Kenneth L. Woodward, religion editor for Newsweek. They are concerned that the "Hindu" view of the disaster, given by a non-Hindu Western academic, does not reflect the actual views of Hindus.

First we excerpt the article, then give the letter to the editor sent to Newsweek by HAF.

The article opens:

"The waters that rose up from the deep last week, drowning tens of thousands of people across a wide arc of South and Southeast Asia, were a cataclysm of Biblical proportions. But most of those who survived to weep and mourn--like most of those who died--had never heard of Noah or the Biblical God of Wrath, figures so familiar to Christians and Jews; they were, instead, Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists. Caught up in the disaster, they had no time for religious ceremonies of any kind. In Sri Lanka, as in coastal southern India and along the beaches of Indonesia, there was only time to dig huge holes in the ground and shovel in the dead. 'In this kind of tragedy, there is no religion,' said Syed Abdullah, a local imam in the ancient south Indian port of Nagapattinam, where Muslims, Hindus and Christians have lived together peacefully for centuries. 'Let the dead be buried together. They died together in the sea. Let their souls get peace together.' But no survivor of a disaster of this magnitude can long avoid asking the Job-like questions, 'Why us? Why here? Why now?' "

It proceeds next to this explanation:

"HINDUS: Those hardest hit by last week's tsunami were poor fishing communities whose inhabitants--mostly Hindus--are untutored in refined theological speculation on life and death. For them, all of life is controlled by the play of capricious deities. Yet their religious world views and practices provide a measure of spiritual relief from the toil of their labor. Along the coast of south India, Hindus tend to worship local deities, most of them female and far down the Hindu hierarchy of divinities. But like Shiva and other classic gods and goddesses, these local deities are ambivalent: they have the power to destroy as well as to create. The ocean itself is a terrible god who eats people and boats, but also provides fish as food. 'Hindus use the deities to think about and explain happenings like the tsunami as destructive acts of god,' says Richard Davis, a specialist in South Asian Hinduism at Bard College in New York. 'Relating to the local deity and cooling her anger through propitiation is more important than thinking about personal or collective guilt for what has happened.' "

HAF responds:

Dear Newsweek magazine:

We at the Hindu American Foundation have been inundated by Hindu readers of Newsweek magazine expressing outrage over the perfunctory coverage of the Hindu perspectives on suffering in the aftermath of the tsunami tragedy in Kenneth Woodward's article ("Countless Souls Cry Out to God," January 10, 2005). Our respondents feel strongly that the coverage of Buddhism, Islam and Christianity was appropriate and equitable while the Hindu coverage was categorically deficient. Below, we have briefly sought to encapsulate the most basic Hindu understanding of the cause of suffering and how even the most unschooled Hindu would strive to understand their personal calamities. We sincerely hope you will begin to address your most inequitable coverage of this issue by publishing more complete depictions of the Hindu faith such as the following:

Dear Editor:

Kenneth Woodward's depiction of the Hindu view of suffering after the devastating South Asian tsunamis was deeply flawed ("Countless Souls Cry Out to God," January 10, 2005). Mr. Woodward dismissed Hindu victims as "untutored" animists who viewed the disaster as the hapless consequence of "capricious deities" and compounded the error by referring to Hindu perception of God by the lower case "g." In so doing, Mr. Woodward perpetuated the most obsolete misconceptions of Hinduism. Followers of panentheistic monotheism, Hindus believe that there is one God who is omnipotent and omnipresent throughout the universe and worshipped by people in different forms according to their individual perceptions. Hardly capricious, Hindus perceive God's grace as always flowing and easily felt by those who open their minds to receive that blessing.

Multiple millennia before Buddhism, Hindu scripture defined the relationship between reincarnation and karma. Recognizing an eternality of existence, Hindus take comfort in the face of calamity knowing that while the body may die and be shed as old clothes, the immortal soul continues its journey in the next life along its path towards God. Individuals are architects of their destiny, and just as every action must have an equal reaction, Hindus believe and take comfort that in suffering, a karmic account that may have accumulated many lifetimes before has been cleared.

There is no cosmic interplay of ambivalent, competing gods as the article implies, and the Hindu view of suffering is much more nuanced and profound then 

Mr. Woodward's insulting depiction of an unpropitiated ocean god unleashing fury. It was a disservice to your readers to provide an erroneous depiction of a faith that inspires more than a billion people and is a source of comfort to so many of the tsunami victims.

Aseem R. Shukla, M.D., Member, Board of Directors, Hindu American Foundation, Inc.
Hindus Protest Newsweek Magazine Report on Hindu View of Tsunami. Refer to Countless Souls Cry Out to God" by Kenneth L. Woodward

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Questionable ABC News Report - By Frank Gaetano Morales

ABC News: January 10 2005  -  Dan Harris, attempted to report on the effects that the recent tsunami disaster is having on people's faith. While his reports on Islam and Christianity were fair and sympathetic, he decided to lump Hinduism and Buddhism together and create a stereotyped and derogatory image of both religions. It was especially full of inaccuracies about Hinduism,

While I am sure that ABC News had the best of intentions in reporting on the nature of religious faith in the wake of this tragic event, as an academician in the field of Philosophy of Religion and Hindu Studies, as well as a practicing Hindu, I was highly dismayed by how Mr. Harris chose to portray the theological teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism. In reporting on the religious response to the tsumani, however, Mr. Harris makes the mistake of unthinkingly lumping Hinduism and Buddhism into the same category, and reporting upon these two distinct faiths as if they were one. Islam and Christianity, on the other hand, were given the due respect of being reported upon independently.

Though certainly originating in the same geographic area, Hinduism and Buddhism are radically different religions, with very different philosophies, concepts of the Absolute, and approaches to the question of human suffering, a fact that almost any scholar of South Asian religion, or even a common follower of either religion, could have easily confirmed.

While respected religious leaders who actually represent their respective communities are quoted in explaining the Islamic and Christian perspectives, a professor (Dr. Robert Thurman) is used as the "spokesperson" of both Hinduism and Buddhism. Thus actual religious leaders representing these two important world religions were denied the opportunity of explaining their respective faiths from an insider perspective.


Mr. Harris makes several assertions about the beliefs of Hinduism and Buddhism that simply are not factual and that are highly prejudiced in nature. First, Mr. Harris makes the unfounded proclamation that
neither religion believes in the concept of one almighty God. While this is arguably true of Buddhism (which is atheistic by self-definition), Hinduism is recognized as a religion that is predicated on the belief in one, omnicompetent divine Being i.e., God.

Further, Mr. Harris makes the stereotypically derogatory and untrue statement that the concept of karma is based upon a type of "cold logic." To say that this is a simplistic and uninformed description of a highly complex philosophical concept would be putting it quite lightly.

Rather than presenting inaccurate and prejudiced caricatures of Hindu and Buddhist religious principles, Mr. Harris would have done his audience a much better service had he actually spoken to authentic Hindu and Buddhist leaders, and done his research into these two ancient and venerable religions a bit better. Hindus and Buddhists, after all, watch the evening news too.
 

(source:
Questionable ABC News Report - By Frank Gaetano Morales).  Refer to  Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in AmericaRefer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org.

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God killed tsunami victims because they were heathens - says Rev. Kim Hong-do

Rev. Kim Hong-do of Seoul’s Kumnan Methodist Church, the largest Methodist church in Korea, gave on Jan. 2 in which he said that the victims of Dec. 26’s earthquake and tsunamis that devastated much of South Asia were killed because they didn’t believe in Jesus.

It was the judgment of God. In Aceh, Indonesia, where 65,000 people were killed, two thirds of the people are Muslim, and many Christians have been killed by rebels. Massacred. In Chennai, India, where 30,000~40,000 were killed, Hindus had gone on the rampage, killing many Christians and burning chapels.

(source: God killed tsunami victims because they were heathens - says Rev. Kim Hong-do).

Refer to 'America's tsunami' leaves trail of death, chaos - New Orleans under six metres of water; martial law declared - In one Mississippi county alone, death toll is at least 100 - Hundreds of thousands without shelter, food, fresh water - Officials say it could be months before people can go home.

"This is our tsunami" said A. J. Holloway, shellshocked mayor of Biloxi, Mississippi, after a storm surge churned up by deadly Hurricane Katrina swallowed up his city.  

Refer to Is Katrina God's punishment for abortion? - salon.com 8/30/05 -  In an e-mail message we just received, a group calling itself Columbia Christians for Life alerts us to the fact that a satellite image of Hurricane Katrina as it hit the Gulf Coast Monday looks just like a six-week-old fetus.And in case you're not getting the point, the e-mail message spells it out in black and white: "Louisiana has 10 child-murder-by-abortion centers," the groups says, and "five are in New Orleans."  Also refer to Repent America.

Also refer to World stunned as US struggles with Katrina - The world has watched amazed as the planet's only superpower struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with some saying the chaos has exposed flaws and deep divisions in American society.  The pictures of the catastrophe -- which has killed hundreds and possibly thousands -- have evoked memories of crises in the world's poorest nations such as last year's tsunami in Asia, which left more than 230,000 people dead or missing. "Not a single tourist caught in the tsunami was mugged. Now with all this happening in the U.S. we can easily see where the civilized part of the world's population is."

America - Welcome to the Third World - By Saviat Sarvate - When I first came here from India nearly 30 years ago, Americans often asked me about floods, droughts and epidemics in my native country. The patronizing tone of these queries betrayed most Americans' simple belief that "It could never happen here." We immigrants too seemed to implicitly believe this dictum.

Ironically, America's response to the predicament and suffering of Katrina's victims has been eerily reminiscent of that of a Third World country.
You only have to look at the faces of the victims to understand why they haven't been instantly helicoptered to dry ground, why they have been allowed to languish like animals in a crowded Superdome with no sanitation, water, or food, why there has been no outpouring of offers from concerned citizens to host them in their homes. In the meantime, countries of the so-called "Third World" have learned to take better care of their citizens, as was demonstrated in India's response to the recent tsunami. Today, the underclass in India has a loud enough voice that the kind of neglect of the victims that has been seen on the images broadcast from New Orleans would create political and social furor in my home country. Of course, immigrants like me have always been aware of the "caste system" in America. Though I was a Brahmin in India, upon arrival in this country I felt part of the margins of society. But Hurricane Katrina really brought home to me the heartbreaking fact that the poor of the world happen to be "untouchables" regardless of whether they live in America or India. (Pacific News Service, Sep 02, 2005).

Refer to Black lawmakers angry about federal response to Katrina - cnn.com and Our Homegrown Third World - commondreams.org and Catholic Priests Molest Third World Nuns to Avoid AIDS and Evangelist Franklin Graham Sees 'Revival' for New Orleans - Evangelist Franklin Graham told an audience that Hurricane Katrina could lead to a spiritual rebirth of what he called a sinful New Orleans.``There's been satanic worship. There's been sexual perversion,'' Graham said Monday in an appearance at Liberty University. ``God is going to use that storm to bring revival. God has a plan. God has a purpose.''

Refer to Christianity Dying In The West? - By M S N Menon - organiser.org. and Christians have Destroyed Various Ethnic Cultures of the World - christianaggression.org. Refer to The Republican War on Science - By Chris Mooney. Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887. Refer to  Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in AmericaRefer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org.

Donate to American Hindu Foundation for Hurricane Victims - AHA's Katrina Relief Effort

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More Negative portrayal of Hindu Gods? BBC News
Spreading Hate, Anger and fear in communities

I met Lokesh Pillai, a student from Nagpur, Maharashtra. Lokesh was at the Christian pilgrim centre of Velanganni when the tsunami struck

"Twenty of us were on our annual pilgrimage to Velanganni. We came to worship "Mata" [Virgin Mary].

Then a huge wave came. It was very strong... it was like the Hindu serpent god, Seshnag. It was tall and wide and kept stinging with enormous force. Some boats came to help us but they in turn were sunk. I could not see anything clearly. I could only see the cross. 

(source: Swept out to sea, unable to swim and survived - BBC news.com). Refer to and The Burningcross

***

Velankanni:  Death in the Churchyard! 

It was a watery death for hundreds of pilgrims thronging the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health, the famous Catholic pilgrim centre in Velankanni in coastal south India, on the Sunday after Christmas.

"We are still pulling out bodies from the beach. It would have been celebration at this time of the year in our church. But sadly, our shrine has suddenly turned out to be a burial ground," says Father P Xavier, rector of the shrine.  

 

"But sadly, our shrine has suddenly turned out to be a burial ground," says Father P Xavier, rector of the shrine.

Velankanni temple was taken over from Hindus and converted into a church by the Portuguese.

Watch Sewa or Service work by RSS.

***

Every year some 20 million pilgrims flock to the shrine from all over India and abroad. It was meant to be a day of celebration. It was the beginning of the holiday season, and thousands, including the sick and the infirm, had come to pray at the shrine. The Tamil mass in the shrine was over and the Malayalam mass had begun. Hundreds of Malayalis from neighouring Kerala were attending mass and tragedy struck. Those on the shore scurried for cover from the wall of water. But the force of the waves blew most of them away. Though the waves receded in the same lightening speed that it had come, hundreds were caught in the swirling waters and pulled back into the sea.

(source: Velankanni: Death in the churchyard! - by George Iype - rediff.com). Refer to Christianity Dying In The West? - By M S N Menon - organiser.org.

Note:  Velankanni Temple was taken over from Hindus and converted into a church by the Portuguese. The twin temples dedicated to Mariammman earlier was named as Vel illangu kanni devi temple and the twin sister's temple is now also called Vel thanda devi located at near by sikkil. 

For more refer to The Myth of Saint Thomas and the Mylapore Shiva Temple  - haamsa.org). Refer to From De Nobili to Clooney: The Christian Methods of Inculturation. Also refer to and Missionary's Dark Legacy and Dutch Christians Target Hindus for ConversionRefer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org and The Burningcross

***

Tiruchendur Temple Escapes Tsunami

Tiruchendur Lord Murugan Temple is on the sea shore - within 100 metres of the waves. The temple entrance is near sea level, and the cave inside is sloping down to the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Lord Subramaniam (Murugan). 

 

In the history of the temple, it is mentioned that the Water God (Lord Varuna) has promised Lord Murugan that he will not cross the boundary of the temple. It seems the Water God has kept his promise. 

Jagadguru Adi Sanakara (8th century) visited the Tiruchendur temple and offered prayers. The famous hymn Sri Subramanya Bhujangam and Kandar Kali Venpa were composed at this sacred spot.

Watch Sewa or Service work by RSS.

***

When we stand in front of the deity, the sea water level outside is higher than our heads. There is every likelihood that tidal waves and tsunamis can rush in and fill the cave temple with sea water. In the history of the temple, it is mentioned that the Water God (Lord Varuna) has promised Lord Murugan that he will not cross the boundary of the temple. It seems the Water God has kept his promise

While the tsunami on has lashed the eastern coast of India and inundated all places near the coast deeply, the sea water did not enter the temple. At 10:00 Hrs on the fated day, the sea near the temple receded by a kilometer - people could see there a big crater with rocks visible - gradually the sea came back to its original level. But sea water has entered Jeeva Nager located opposite Tiruchendur Bus stand at 12:30 Hrs. All other coastal areas near Tiruchendur were affected by the lashing of tsunami. The Temple area is unaffected as the sea receded there as though to keep the promise given

(source: Tiruchendur Temple Escapes Tsunami - hinduismtoday.com). 

Note: Jagadguru Adi Sanakara (8th century) visited the Tiruchendur temple and offered prayers. The famous hymn Sri Subramanya Bhujangam and Kandar Kali Venpa were composed at this sacred spot.

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Indian Communists waging War against Hindu Charities but not on Christian or Islamic Charities ? 

They say the organization, which has raised more than $14 million from Indian Americans since 1989, has sent money to groups allied with Hindu fundamentalists. The IDRF says it does not discriminate, however. "We are not a sectarian or religious organization," said Mukund Kute, an engineer from North Wales and a local volunteer for the group. "We follow this in letter and spirit."

A Hindu temple in this area has become ground zero for the local tsunami-relief efforts of a Maryland nonprofit, the India Development and Relief Fund. The fund has tapped into distrust for the Indian government by soliciting donations for nongovernmental organizations instead.

Even so, as the youth group at the Bharatiya Temple in Montgomeryville ties blue ribbons as insignias of the drive, and as members talk about leveraging matching funds from employers such as Merck & Co. Inc., IDRF has its own critics.


"I have not heard about that criticism. I don't believe in that," said Patri
Prasad, a Bucks County real estate agent and a vice president of the Council of Indian Organizations, a group that plans to pool donations for IDRF's relief fund.

A dozen Indian churches in the area will send money to the Marthoma Church in India to rebuild one village. The Islamic Center of South Jersey, a Palmyra mosque with many Indian members, is considering ICNA Relief, an Islamic organization, to receive its donations.

(source: Confusion: Indians here wrestle with where to give - By Gaiutra Bahadur - Philadelphia Inquirer Sun, Jan. 02, 2005). Note that this writer is against "Hindu bias" but not against "Muslim bias" or
"Christian bias. 

For more refer to FOIL - Forum for Indian Leftists. Refer to Christianity Dying In The West? - By M S N Menon - organiser.org.

***

Cricket for Conversion : ICC - World Vision Nexus 

It has been brought to my attention that the International Cricket Council is holding a benefit match to help tsunami victims -- ticket sales are already proceeding in full swing.

While we should applaud the ICC's social commitment and compassion, we should strongly question their choice of aid agency to receive the proceeds from this benefit match. They have chosen World Vision International, an organization with a patently
transparent conversion agenda and track record in third world nations. I am amazed that the representatives of their Executive Council including Mr. Jagmohan Dalmia meekly went along with this.


It would be more powerful for Hindu, Buddhist and progressive organizations of all faiths to protest this -- rather than isolated individuals. We should unite and stridently question what possessed the Cricket Council, a promoter and symbol of diversity and multiculturalism, to designate a beneficiary like World Vision for its fundraiser.

To offer aid to an organization with an explicit agenda to uproot people from their native belief systems is to doubly victimize the victim. Let what the tsunami left behind of the region's cultural and spiritual diversity not be washed away as well!


(source:
Cricket for Conversion : ICC - World Vision Nexus - saag.org). World Vision is a CHRISTIAN relief aid and development organization serving the poor from all castes and religions in India for 40 years!

Please Sign Petition:  Stop Cricket Proceeds from Funding Missionaries
http://www.petitiononline.com/Tsumatch/petition.html

***

Vivek Oberoi: Missionary and Liquor Lobbies Drove Us Out

Kalaivani knows that Vivek Oberoi is an actor. But she did not expect him to come to her house at Pattinacherry near here to inaugurate a computer centre today.

`Project Hope' for tsunami victims has moved out of Thevanampattinam in Cuddalore district to Pattinacherry. And Mr. Oberoi is not apologetic about it. "We have given up," he says. Especially, the project to build permanent houses at Thevanampattinam. Mr. Oberoi says his donors slowly backed out as land allotment got delayed and he faced media backlash for unfulfilled promises. "Nobody bothered to find out what happened at Thevanampattinam." 

He said pro-conversion and liquor lobbies tried to "discredit" the effort from day one, when he refused to let them be part of the project; he found it difficult to explain to the villagers that he was not abandoning them but was leaving the place to bring in funds for providing permanent rehabilitation.

(source: Vivek Oberoi: Missionary and Liquor Lobbies Drove Us Out - By Sandhya Soman - The Hindu Karaikal  April 2 2005). Watch Sewa or Service work by RSS.

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Reaction to the Tsunami - Wrath of a Vengeful God?

Australian religious leaders have interpreted the tsunami as a warning from God. Leaders from several faiths said the killer waves were caused by God's anger with human immorality. Anglican Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, said the will of God involved His creation of the world but it also involved His judgment on the sinfulness of humanity.

"Disasters are part of His warning that judgment is coming," Dean Jensen said. 

It was not long ago the Kerala Christian, T. John, when he was the civil aviation minister in Karnataka state, had said that the Gujarat earthquake, was the punishment of God to the people for ill-treating Christians in Gujarat.

On his Web site Watch.org, Bill Koenig writes: "The Biblical proportions of this disaster become clearly apparent upon reports of miraculous Christian survival. Christian persecution in these countries is some of the worst in the world." Eight of the 12 countries hit -- Malaysia, Burma, Bangladesh, Somalia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia, he says -- "are among the top 50 nations who persecute Christians."

(Note: On 9/11 nearly 3500 people died in nation that is predominantly Christian. Can we say that this was due to the persecution of non-Christians?). Refer to Biblical God is Wrathful, Vedic God is Benevolent Friend

Koenig, who lives in Alexandria and started the site in 1996, sees the South Asian disaster as an example of Christian exceptionalism. "What happened, and we see this happen over and over again, was that Christians, supernaturally, have been able to escape from harm's way," says the self-described Christian fundamentalist. " 'For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, not ever shall be,' " he says, quoting from Matthew 24:21. 

Tarek Fatah, a progressive Muslim leader and television host based in Toronto. Fatah expressed astonishment that anyone would consider Tamil Nadu, Aceh, Sri Lanka, Somalia, the Islands of Nicobar and Andaman to be “beaches of prostitution, tourism, immorality and nudity. “What sick mind could come up with this description? The Kuwaitis and Saudi Islamists lecturing the world about morality is an outrage,” he added. He said the people of South Asia did not need self-righteous sermons but assistance. “Or is it that in the eyes of most Kuwaitis and Saudis, the dead belonged to the despised underclass who live as fourth class citizens in the Gulf States. “Dark skinned Indian, Sri Lankan, Indonesian; truck drivers, cooks and maids; all children of a lesser God in the eyes of these Islamists of the Gulf,” he said.

But Islamists continue to curse America, praying Allah to 'strike it with many tsunamis to wash away the Black (White) House, Wall Street and all its inhabitants'. Many saw the fact that numerous mosques remained standing in stricken countries as a precursor of the victory of Islam.

"God struck the beaches of debauchery, nudism and prostitution," said one internet user. "God warns humanity against perpetuating injustice," wrote another, while a third applauded 'the harbinger of the Islamic caliphate'.

Dr Appupillay Bala, president of the Hindu Council of Australia, said that he did not believe the tsunami was a direct result of God's anger.

"I don't think most Hindus would say that it's a punishment from God. I don't think they'd believe that God would punish us collectively," Dr Bala said.

(source: unknown).

Another so called specialist in "South Asian Hinduism" blabbers on about Hinduism on MSNBC.com

Countless Souls Cry Out to God

"Hindus tend to worship local deities, most of them female and far down the Hindu hierarchy of divinities. But like Shiva and other classic The ocean itself is a terrible god who eats people and boats, but also provides fish as food. "Hindus use the deities to think about and explain happenings like the tsunami as destructive acts of god," says Richard Davis, a specialist in South Asian Hinduism at Bard College in New York. "Relating to the local deity and cooling her anger through propitiation is more important than thinking about personal or collective guilt for what has happened."

Comments on Yahoo group

The article begins with nonsense such as the following which the writer evidently learned in his Sunday School sermons

"... Hindus—are untutored in refined theological speculation on life and death. For them, all of life is controlled by the play of capricious deities."

MSNBC could not find a Hindu to comment on this but they did find a Akbar Ahmad to render an Islamic perspective.

What a monumentally ignorant whopper! I guess you don't need to do a stitch of homework to be a journalist. Not even take a peek at Google, much less an encyclopedia.

(source: Countless Souls Cry Out to God - msnbc.com and Yahoo group - IndianCivilization). Refer to Can Hinduism face the onslaught of Project Thessalonica? - By Alex Pomero Also refer to and Missionary's Dark Legacy and Dutch Christians Target Hindus for Conversion. Refer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org and The Burningcross.

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Assault on tradition - By Subhask Kak

Forrest G Wood ( ? ) the author of Black Scare: The Racist Response to Emancipation and Reconstruction, is Professor of History at California State University. He has written: 

"Christianity – from Richard the Lion Hearted to Billy Graham – has almost certainly been responsible for more worldwide proselytizing and obtrusion than any religion in history. One can wonder how many “infidels” have been killed or enslaved in the name of Christ."

"On the other hand, the biblical mandate to “teach all nations” led to Christian domination of Europe and virtually the entire New World, from whence it reached back across oceans to every continent. By the beginning of the 20th century there were few corners of the planet that had not been tapped by the emissaries of Jesus Christ."

(source: Arrogance of Faith - By Forrrest G Wood  p. 17 - 30). Refer to Who Killed Our Culture? We Did - By Youki Kudoh - time.com  May 3 1999. Refer to of Crimes of Christianity - By G W Foote and J M Wheeler Progressive Publishing Co. London. 1887 and The Burningcross.

***

Modernity is associated with the idea of industrialization, a strong nation-state system and identity, progress, rationality, reason and objectivity that emerged in the mid-eighteenth century Western Europe. All this sounds great, but there is a price to pay. Mechanistic logic in human affairs results in oppression and regimentation, objectification of life, and alienation and loss of freedom. From it arise self-hate and destructive behaviour.

The end of the Cold War led some to announce the end of history; in reality, it only intensified the struggle in different societies between modernity and tradition. In the US, the right has exploited the deep unhappiness with the oppressive aspects of modernity by promoting its economic and social agenda as a palliative, when, in reality, its policies promote further 'industrialization' of human affairs. The right's prescriptions may be false; but it is winning because the left has not come up with a consistent argument to counter it. Meanwhile, the 'industrialization' of human affairs marches on, facilitated by new technologies. This globalization is not only in the spread of American pop-culture or control of increasing public space by the multinational corporations, it is also in the practice of law, which in traditional society was quite decentralized. Modernity in the legal sense is the notion that only the state or the sovereign can lay down the body of rules for citizens to follow. Here it draws from the tradition of the Christian Church with its claim to be the sole interpreter of law.

The resistance of Muslims to westernizing modernization is natural, given that it sees itself as a revelation that supersedes Christianity. But the agents of westernization have been surprised by the claims of other non-Western societies for validity of their culture and attachment to their own social and legal arrangements. This explains the puzzlement of the westernized elite at the continuing affirmation of many for the Hindu tradition.  

 

Umamaheshvara.

"Anything 'Hindu' is quickly denigrated in many ways, not only by many followers of the monotheistic religions, but also those who imagine and assert that a modern world, by which is often meant a Western-inspired world, can do without so-called primitive religion and cultural traditions.

***

The Matter of Law

The modernist is puzzled because he does not understand the Hindu tradition, a situation getting worse due to the declining knowledge of the classical foundations of this tradition. According to Werner Menski in his path-breaking Hindu Law: Beyond Tradition and Modernity (Oxford University Press, 2003), “Hindu law today must be seen as a postmodern phenomenon, displaying its internal dynamism and perennial capacity for flexibility and realignment.” Menski argues that the modernist reading of the tradition is a caricature, perpetuated because “studying Hindu law is often seen as regressive activity.” 

Menski adds:

"Anything 'Hindu' is quickly denigrated in many ways, not only by many followers of the monotheistic religions, but also those who imagine and assert that a modern world, by which is often meant a Western-inspired world, can do without so-called primitive religion and cultural traditions. Lawyers (as well as more recently whole cohorts of diasporic Indian scholars)... have had specific reasons to argue for modernity. Colonialism added its own ideologies and arguments to subjugate not only Hindus, but also Hindu law, all in the name of universalistic legal constructs.

In the complex process of scholarly manipulation, many scholars have engaged (often unwittingly) in misleading and sometimes simply wrong representation of Hindu 'tradition'. Prominent amongst these misrepresentations is the assumption that ancient Hindu texts 'prescribed' certain rules, which even infects the most intricate subaltern writing.

The stakes are very high since they have implications for the manner in which India will be able to respond to the pressures of globalization. Menski reminds us:

Arguments about the inherent political incorrectness and modern irrelevance of Hindu law have conveniently forgotten that the so-called modern traditions have their own roots in specific Western cultural and religious traditions. So how could Indian be called upon to 'modernize', if that simply meant, at one level, shedding the social and cultural concepts that make up the fabric of the various hybrid Indian identities? How can hundreds of millions of Hindus be expected, let alone forced, to abandon Hindu law?

Modernity, calling on all 'others' to assimilate to the supposedly higher, apparently secular and 'modern' value system represented by the West, amounted to thinly veiled pressure to abandon various indigenous traditions and convert to the supposedly universal notions of modernity. In other words, modernity expected and demanded unidirectional assimilation to alien lego-cultural norms and models, and a stepping outside of one's own inherited traditions. It demanded de-Hinduization, abandoning of Hindu customs, habits, and traditions. While modernity was, at one level, not concerned about religion, it expected the modern world citizen to be of a secular disposition, thus seeking to prescribe one particular religious perspective as appropriate for modernity.

(source:  Assault on tradition - By Subhask Kak - sulekha.com). Refer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org.

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Christianity Crumbles in the West while Christian missions are still in business in the Hindu-Buddhist world

“In an ironical reversal of roles,” reports Arthur J. Pais, “priests from India are going out to the West, not so much to spread the faith as priests from the West journeyed to the East to do, but to keep the Church’s institutions going.” He finds “5,000 foreign priests who come on a five-year contract negotiated between bishops in America and their respective countries”. Among them 500 are from India. “Another 250 [Indian] priests are either working for their master’s degree or a Ph.D. and work part-time in churches, hospitals, schools, prisons and rehabilitation centres, offering religious instructions and counselling. Several of them work as chaplains in the American armed forces.”

Indian nuns too are now increasingly needed in America. “Most of the Indian nuns here belong to Mother Teresa’s convents, and they work in the slums in the Bronx and in Chicago... They are venturing into areas most Americans would rather ignore.” The author concludes, “Catholicism is still a potent force in developing countries like India while in the more consumerist West its missionary fervour has considerably dimmed. Though Indian priests and nuns may be co-opted to work in the poorer parishes of America, they seem to be doing their bit to keep the religion alive.”2 I came across quite a few of these Indian priests and nuns during my travels in Europe and America in 1979 and 1989.

The situation in AD (anno Domini, year of the Lord) 1980 was summed up by the World Christian Encyclopaedia after a statistical survey. “Christianity,” it says, “has experienced massive losses in the Western and Communist world over the last 60 years. In Europe and North America, defections from Christianity — converts to other religions or irreligion — are now running at 1,820,500 former Christians a year. This loss is much higher if we consider only church numbers: 2,224,800 a year (6,000 a day). It is even higher if we are speaking only of church attenders: every year some 2,765,100 church attenders in Europe and North America cease to be practising Christians within the 12-month period, an average loss of 7,600 every day...At the global level these losses from Christianity... outweigh the gains in the Third World.” A large number of churches all over Europe stand abandoned or uncared for. Many churches have been made into buildings for non-religious use. Many others have been sold to non-Christians who have converted them into their own places of worship.

Why has it happened? “The point simply is,” observes Koenraad Elst, “that we, European Christians of many generations, have outgrown Christianity. Most people who left the church have found that they are not missing anything, and that beliefs which provided a framework for interpreting and shaping life, were but a bizarre and unnecessary construction after all. We know that Jesus was not God’s Only-begotten Son, that he did not save humanity from eternal sin, and that our happiness in this world or the next does not depend on believing these or any other dogmas.” In fact, it is wrong to talk any more of a “Christian West”, as most of us continue to do."

The fact that Christian missions are still in business in the Hindu-Buddhist world, should not lead to the inference that the controllers of the missions in the West care for saving of heathen souls. What it simply means is that powerful political interests in the West as also the Western intelligence networks find the missions handy for destabilizing the governments and disintegrating the social fabrics in the Hindu-Buddhist world. Yesterday it was the formidable military might of the West which was maintaining the crusaders for Christ. Today it is the fabulous wealth of the West which keeps the merchants of Jesus in business. The merchants have not only been able to retain the organisational weapons which they had forged in the heyday of Western imperialism, they have also kept on multiplying the weapons with the help of mammoth finance and media power which the West has placed at their disposal. Let no one make the mistake of seeing religious faith in the sprawling missions and seminaries and hierarchies in the East. Thorn trees have never been known to blossom with flowers.

It is, therefore, sadly surprising that the Jesus of the gospels should continue to retain his hallow in the land of the Veda-Vedanga, the Itihasa-Purana, the Dharmasastras, the Saddarsanas, the Tripitaka, the Jainagama, and the bhakti literature. Christianity is accepted as a religion not only by the westernised Hindu elite but also by Hindu saints, scholars, and political platforms.

“When staying in India,” says Koenraad Elst, “I find it sad and sometimes comical to see how these outdated beliefs are being foisted upon backward sections of the Indian population by fanatical missionaries. In their aggressive campaign to sell their product, the missionaries are helped a lot by sentimental expressions of admiration for Christianity on the part of leading Hindus. Many Hindus project their own religious categories on the few Jesus episodes they have heard, and they base their whole attitude to Christianity on what I know to be a selective, incoherent and unhistorical version of the available information on Jesus’s life and teaching...”

(source: Christianity Crumbles in the West - hamsa.org). Refer to Christianity Dying In The West? - By M S N Menon - organiser.org. Also refer to and Missionary's Dark Legacy and Dutch Christians Target Hindus for Conversion

Refer to Can Hinduism face the onslaught of Project Thessalonica? - By Alex Pomero.  Refer to Who Killed Our Culture? We Did - By Youki Kudoh - time.com  May 3 1999. Refer to and The Burningcross

Why this war on Hinduism?- These two (Christianity and Islam) hostile ideologies, flawed because they are not based on human experience but on spurious and fantastic literature, are based on a priori illusion that human beings are genetically flawed and can be redeemed only by symbolic conversion and the acceptance of their bookish deity. For instance, if the Christian and Islamic clergy do not propagate and force their sterile ideologies down the throats of unsuspecting or helpless people through dubious means, or do not force them to stay on with censure and punishment, their religions would be wiped out in decades. Europe is a primary example.

(source: Why this war on Hinduism? - By George Thundiparambil - christianaggression.org). Refer to The Swami Devananda Saraswati Interview with Rajeev Srinivasan - christianaggression.org.

American Christian Fundamentalist Leader Calls for Global War - By Yoginder Sikand - christianaggression.org - While the Western press is awash with stories, real and exaggerated, about ‘Islamic fundamentalists’, rarely is mention made about Christian fundamentalists, who, with their vast resources and close links with the current American administration, are a potentially more menacing threat than their Muslim counterparts. According to newspaper reports more than a third of Americans are associated with one or the other Christian fundamentalist outfit, most of which are fiercely anti-communist, anti-Muslim and are passionate advocates of free-market capitalism, global American hegemony and the myth of the civilizing mission of white America. In recent years, these fundamentalist groups have been engaged in aggressive missionary work in other countries as well, including in the so-called ‘Third World’. Fired by a passionate hatred for other religions, which they dismiss as ‘false’ and even ‘Satanic’, they are today among the most well-funded missionary groups in large parts of Asia and Africa. 

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Aishwarya Rai and Lord Ganesha 

 

     

A Two hundred year old Siddhivinayak Ganesh temple in Mumbai

***

Unlike some of her Hollywood counterparts, Rai's very much like the women she portrays: wholesome, dutiful and deeply religious. So much so, she insisted we visit her favorite temple (Siddhivinayak Temple for this interview. It's more than 200 years old and every week more than 100,000 people come from all over India to make offerings and pray to Lord Ganesh, the half-elephant/half-man Hindu god of happiness. 

At the temple, Rai started attracting more worshippers than Lord Ganesh. 

She says being treated as sort of a goddess in this way, "makes me feel guilty. I'll be very honest. When there's a distraction at the place of worship I kinda get a bit guilty. And I kind of say, 'Lord, forgive me. This isn't intended.'" 

Despite the attention, Rai says she doesn't think much about the way she looks. 

"I am really OK with the way I look, It's fine," she says. "All this is transient. I mean, it's really, you know, it changes with time, and that's the external."

(source: The World's Most Beautiful Woman? - cbsnews.com/ 60 minutes). Refer to Who Killed Our Culture? We Did - By Youki Kudoh - time.com  May 3 1999.

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Did You Know? 

India Was Once the Richest Country in the World

According to Economist Angus Maddison (1926 - ) in The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective, the region that today comprises the Indian subcontinent held the largest share of the world's gross domestic product until the beginning of the 16th century, when it was rivaled by China, and then again throughout most of the 18th century. 

At the end of the 16th century, India's great wealth sustained a population of more than one hundred million people. 

In "India, the Silicon Jewel of the East" (Digital Journal, May 13, 2004), Paul William Roberts states, "There was an abundance of arable land, and the state of Indian agriculture compared favorably with any of the Western European countries. Right down to the subsistence-oriented peasant, everyone saw a good return on land and labor. There was a large and vigorous skilled workforce turning out not just cotton but luxury items for the barons, courts and ruling classes. Consequently, the economy produced a fabulous financial surplus."

From the early 18th century until the beginnings of the 19th century, when India enjoyed a 24.4 % share of the world's gross domestic product (see table) economic historian Paul Bairoch conforms, the region enjoyed a 25 % share of the global trade in textiles. It was the world's leading manufacturer of handicrafts and handloom textiles. 

Bairoch writes, "More important, there was a large commercialized sector with a highly sophisticated market and credit structure, manned by a skilful and in many instances very wealthy commercial class."  

Paul William Roberts adds, "Methods of production and of industrial and commercial organization could stand comparison with those in vogue in any other parts of the world. India had developed an indigenous banking system. Merchant capital had emerged with an elaborate network of agents, brokers and middlemen. Its bills of exchange were honored in all the major cities of Asia."

 

Gross Domestic Product in Millions of Dollars

Year

1000 1500 1600 1700

India

33.8 60.5 74.3 90.8
China 26.6 61.8 96.0 82.8
Western Europe 10.2 44.3 66.0 83.4
World Total 116.8 247.1 329.4 371.4

 

Maddison studied numerous sources and derived historical world gross domestic product (GDP) totals by assembling evidence on changes in population, retaining the 1990 international dollar as the temporal and spatial anchor in the estimation of movements in GDP and per capita GDP, and filling holes in the evidence with proxy estimates. 

(source: Hinduism Today -  April/May/June 2005 p. 15). (For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

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