SAFFRON THINK TANK

My own website -- www.greathindu.com

2008-05-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

Now my blog has moved to my own website.

http://www.greathindu.com

New Status of women in Hinduism

2008-05-23T09:48:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of the myths propagated by anti-Hindus to malign Hinduism on women's issues..
1. The Hindu Woman has no right to divorce her husband.
Absoulte crap ! Divorce in Hindus is governed by a modern laws under the ‘Hindu Marriage act 1955. Please see this link and I challenge you that Hindu women have a modern democratic law protecting them and they enjoy facilities that no muslim woman can even dream of ! See divorce section no.13 – there are over 50 options for the woman ! I challenge you to show me any islamic law giving so many priviledges to women !http://www.sudhirlaw.com/HMA55.htm
2. She has no property or inheritance rights.
Nonsense ! THE HINDU SUCCESSION ACT OF 1956:This Act recognized an equal right for women in the matter of inheritance of property. She can inherit the property of father along with her brothers. She can also sell or mortgage the inherited property or use it for herself. For the first time absolute ownership was conferred to a woman by this Act.In muslims the sisters get half of the brothers !
3. Choice of partner is limited because she can only marry within her own caste; moreover her horoscope must match that of the intending bridegroom/family.
Sorry, wrong again ! Castes are not seen during marriage. Horoscopes are only matched if it is an arranged marriage.
4. The family of the girl has to offer an enormous dowry to the bridegroom/family.
Nonsense again !Dowry is given as a gift, and not demanded !It is illegal to demand dowry ! The girl can report to the police if her husband or inlaws demand dowry !See the law:THE DOWRY PROHIBITION ACT OF 1961(there are new latest ammendments to the act- I will post them at your request)
5. If her husband dies she should commit Sati (being cremated with her dead husband). Since today's law forbids Sati, society mainly punishes her in other "holy"
Please provide statistics of Sati for the past 50 years ! Are you living in a dream world ? Read the sati prevention act 1829 and 19875. She cannot remarry.Crap again:In the case of widows.See this :THE HINDU WIDOW RE-MARRIAGE ACT OF 1856:This Act allowed widows to remarry and section 5 of this Act ensured her to enjoy all the rights which a married woman did.In the case of divorced women :http://www.sudhirlaw.com/HMA55.htmDivorced persons. When may marry again.- When a marriage has been dissolved by a decree of divorce and either there is no right of appeal against the decree or, if there is such a right of appeal, the time for appealing has expired without an appeal having been presented, or an appeal has been presented but has been dismissed, it shall be lawful for either party to the marriage to marry again.
6. The widow is considered to be a curse and must not be seen in public. She cannot wear jewelry or colourful clothes. (She should not even take part in her children's marriage!)
Please wake up and come to reality !THE HINDU WIDOW RE-MARRIAGE ACT OF 1856:This Act allowed widows to remarry and section 5 of this Act ensured her to enjoy all the rights which a married woman did.
7. Child and infant marriage is encouraged.
See this:Conditions of a Hindu marriage :(iii) the bridegroom has completed the age of twenty one years and the bride the age of eighteen years at the time of the marriage;http://www.sudhirlaw.com/HMA55.htm
8. Bride burning for dowry:
There are stringent laws against this. Besides mainstream Hindus shun and boycott such shameful incidents which are grossly exaggerated by the post-modern media.

Global famine? Blame the US Federal Reserve

2008-05-09T05:39:00.000-07:00

This article gives real reasons for the global food riots. It also blasts the "Bush myth" that global food shortage is due to overeating by the great Indian middle class.

By Mike Whitney. JournalApril 29, 2008
The stakes couldn’t be higher for Ben Bernanke. If the Fed chief decides to lower rates at the end of April, he could be condemning millions of people to a death by starvation.
The situation is that serious. Food riots have broken out across the globe destabilizing large parts of the developing world. China is experiencing double-digit inflation. Indonesia, Vietnam and India have imposed controls over rice exports. Wheat, corn and soya are at record highs and threatening to go higher still. Commodities are up across the board. The World Food Program is warning of widespread famine if the West doesn’t provide emergency humanitarian relief.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said it best: "It is a massacre of the world’s poor. The problem is not the production of food. It is the economic, social and political model of the world. The capitalist model is in crisis."
Right on, Hugo. There is no shortage of food; it’s just the prices that are making food unaffordable. Bernanke’s "weak dollar" policy has ignited a wave of speculation in commodities which is pushing prices into the stratosphere. The UN is calling the global food crisis a "silent tsunami," but its more like a flood; the world is awash in increasingly worthless dollars that are making food and raw materials more expensive. Foreign central banks and investors presently hold $6 trillion in dollars and dollar-backed assets, so when the dollar starts to slide, the pain radiates through entire economies. This is especially true in countries where the currency is pegged to the dollar. That’s why most of the Gulf States are experiencing runaway inflation. This doesn’t mean that oil depletion, biofuel production, over-population, and giant agribusinesses don’t add to the problem. They do. But the catalyst is the Fed’s monetary policies; that’s the domino that puts the others in motion.
Here’s Otto Spengler’s summary in his recent article in Asia Times, Rice, Death and the Dollar: "The global food crisis is a monetary phenomenon, an unintended consequence of America’s attempt to inflate its way out of a market failure. There are long-term reasons for food prices to rise, but the unprecedented spike in grain prices during the past year stems from the weakness of the American dollar. Washington’s economic misery now threatens to become a geopolitical catastrophe. . . . The link between the declining parity of the US unit and the rising price of commodities, including oil as well as rice and other wares, is indisputable.
"Never before in history has hunger become a global threat in a period of plentiful harvests. Global rice production will hit a record of 423 million tons in the 2007-2008 crop year, enough to satisfy global demand. The trouble is that only 7% of the world’s rice supply is exported, because local demand is met by local production. Any significant increase in rice stockpiles cuts deeply into available supply for export, leading to a spike in prices. Because such a small proportion of the global rice supply trades, the monetary shock from the weak dollar was sufficient to more than double its price." ["Rice, death and the dollar", By Otto Spengler, Asia Times]
The US is exporting its inflation by cheapening its currency. Now a field worker in Haiti who earns $2 a day, and spends all of that to feed his family, has to earn twice that amount or eat half as much. No wonder that six people were killed in Port au Prince in the recent food riots. People go crazy when they can’t feed their kids.
Food and energy prices are sucking the life out of the global economy. Foreign banks and pension funds are trying to protect their investments by diverting dollars into things that will retain their value. That’s why oil is nudging $120 per barrel when it should be in the $70 to $80 range.
According to Tim Evans, energy analyst at Citigroup in New York, “There’s no supply-demand deficit." None. In fact suppliers are expecting an oil surplus by the end of this year.
"The case for lower oil prices is straightforward: The prospect of a deep U.S. recession or even a marked period of slower economic growth in the world’s top energy consumer making a dent in energy consumption. Year to date, oil demand in the U.S. is down 1.9% compared with the same period in 2007, and high prices and a weak economy should knock down U.S. oil consumption by 90,000 barrels a day this year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration." ["Bears Baffled by Oil Highs," Gregory Meyer, Wall Street Journal]
There’s no oil shortage; that’s another ruse. Speculators are simply driving up the price of oil to hedge their bets on the falling dollar. What else can they do, put them in the frozen bond market, or the sinking stock market, or the collapsing housing market? The Fed has gummed up the entire financial system with its low-interest credit scam, now it’s on to commodities where the real pain is just beginning to be felt.
This is what happens when there’s too many dollars sloshing around the system; they all need a place to rest, and when they do, they create equity bubbles. Sound familiar? Indeed. This is Greenspan’s legacy in a nutshell; the dark specter of Maestro will continue to haunt the world until all the hyper-inflated asset-classes (real estate, bonds, stocks, commodities) return to earth and all the red ink is mopped up. That’ll take time, but Bernanke could make things a lot easier if he accepted some responsibility for the current turmoil and raised rates by 25 basis points. That would show speculators that the Fed was serious about defending the currency, which would send the commodities bubble crashing to earth. Prices would go down overnight.
But Bernanke won’t raise rates because he doesn’t really give a hoot about the people in Cameroon who have to scavenge through garbage dumps for a few morsels to keep their families alive. Nor does he care about the average American working-stiff who goes into cardiac arrest every time he pulls up to the gas pump. What matters to Bernanke is making sure that his fat cat buddies in the banking establishment get a steady stream of low interest loot, so they can paper over their bad investments and ward off bankruptcy for another day or two. It’s a joke; it was the investment banks that created this mess with their putrid mortgage-backed securities and other debt exotica. Still, in Bernanke’s mind, they are the only ones who really count.
And don’t expect Bush to step in and save the day either. The "Decider" still believes in the unrestricted activity of the free market, especially when his crooked friends can make a buck on the deal.
From the Washington Times: "Farmers and food executives appealed fruitlessly to federal officials yesterday for regulatory steps to limit speculative buying that is helping to drive food prices higher. Meanwhile, some Americans are stocking up on staples such as rice, flour and oil in anticipation of high prices and shortages spreading from overseas. Costco and other grocery stores in California reported a run on rice, which has forced them to set limits on how many sacks of rice each customer can buy. Filipinos in Canada are scooping up all the rice they can find and shipping it to relatives in the Philippines, which is suffering a severe shortage that is leaving many people hungry." [Patrice Hill, Washington Times]
The Bush administration knows there’s hanky-panky going on, but they just look the other way. It’s Enron all over again — where Ken Lay & Co. scalped the public with utter impunity while regulators sat on the sidelines applauding. Great. Now it’s the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) turn; they’re taking a hands-off approach so Wall Street sharpies make a fortune jacking up the price of everything from soda crackers to toilet bowls.
"A hearing Tuesday in Washington before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission starts a new round of scrutiny into the popularity of agricultural futures, once a quieter arena that for years was dominated largely by big producers and consumers of crops and their banks trying to manage price risks. The commission’s official stance and that of many of the exchanges, however, is likely to disappoint many consumer groups. The CFTC’s economist plans to state at the hearing that the agency doesn’t believe financial investors are driving up grain prices. Some grain buyers say speculators’ big bets on relatively small grain exchanges, especially recently, are pushing up prices for ordinary consumers. ["Call Goes Out to Rein In Grain Speculators", Ann Davis]
"The agency doesn’t believe financial investors are driving up grain prices"?
Prices have doubled, people are starving, and the Bush troop is still parroting the same worn party-mantra. It’s maddening.
The US has been gaming the system for decades; sucking up two-thirds of the world’s capital to expand its cache of Cadillac Escalades and flat-screen TVs; giving nothing back in return except mortgage-backed junk, cluster bombs, and crummy green paper. Nothing changes; it only gets worse. But this time its different. The world is now facing the very real prospect of famine on a massive scale because 12 doddering old banksters at the Federal Reserve would rather bail out their sketchy friends than save the lives of starving women and children. Bernanke, with one swipe of the pen, now has an opportunity to send more people to their eternal reward than Bush. If he cut rates, the dollar will fall, commodities will spike, and people will starve. It’s as simple as that.

UK: Hindu girls targetted by Muslim extremists

2008-04-11T02:30:00.000-07:00

The world's premier detective agency Scotland Yard takes cognizance
Muslim extremists who try to force teenage Hindu girls to convert to Islam are being targeted in a new police crackdown.
The recruiters – often paid £5,000 for each success – are stepping up 'aggressive conversion' tactics, especially around universities, religious leaders believe.
The Metropolitan Police have stepped in after commissioner Sir Ian Blair said many Hindus felt neglected by Scotland Yard.
Some young students have been beaten up and forced to abandon their courses by extremists, Hindu leaders told a security conference.
Islamic extremists invited the girls on dates before beginning campaigns of 'terrorism' until they converted, they claimed.
Ramesh Kallidai, from the Hindu Forum of Britain, said: 'Extremist Muslims make life miserable for Hindu girls.
'Some are petrified; they feel these men have complete hold on them.
One girl was beaten up in the street and others have been forced to leave university.'
The problem was most common in cities such as Birmingham, Leeds and Bradford, he added, while London universities had 'at least two or three cases' each.
Mr Kallidai estimated hundreds of girls had been targeted, with some reports of Muslim boys being offered £5,000 'commissions'.
The National Union of Students said it did not want to discriminate against Muslims but agreed some extremists were causing concern.
They have managed to infiltrate Brunel University in West London, Bedfordshire University, Sheffield Hallam University and Manchester Metropolitan University, according to a Muslim charity.
Sheikh Musa Admani, a 'troubleshooting' imam, fears many radicals are easily by-passing university bans on extremist sects such as Hizb ut Tahrirs and Al-Mujahiroun.
Scotland Yard is to set up a Hindu Safety Forum with 'aggressive conversion' as its top priority.
Sir Ian said: 'There is a feeling in the Hindu community that we have not given them as much attention as other groups.'
(Courtesy: Metro.co.uk)
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=38548&in_page_id=34

Progress of Islam in Society(from 1 to 100%)

2008-03-27T08:31:00.000-07:00

When Muslim population remains around 1% of any given country they will be regarded as a peace-loving minority and not as a threat to anyone:
United States -- Muslim 1.0%
Australia -- Muslim 1.5%
Canada -- Muslim 1.9%
China -- Muslim 1%-2%
Italy -- Muslim 1.5%
Norway -- Muslim 1.8%
At 2% and 3% they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs:
Denmark -- Muslim 2%
Germany -- Muslim 3.7%
United Kingdom -- Muslim 2.7%
Spain -- Muslim 4%
Thailand -- Muslim 4.6%
From 5% on they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population.They will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature it on their shelves -- along with threats for failure to comply. At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves under Sharia, the Islamic Law.
France -- Muslim 8%
Philippines -- Muslim 5%
Sweden -- Muslim 5%
Switzerland -- Muslim 4.3%
The Netherlands -- Muslim 5.5%
Trinidad & Tobago -- Muslim 5.8%
When Muslims reach 10% of the population, they will increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions (Paris -- car-burnings) . Any non-Muslim action that offends Islam will result in uprisings and threats (Amsterdam -- Mohammed cartoons).
Guyana -- Muslim 10%
India -- Muslim 13.4%
Israel -- Muslim 16%
Kenya -- Muslim 10%
Russia -- Muslim 10-15%
After reaching 20% expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings and church and synagogue burning:
Ethiopia -- Muslim 32.8%
At 40% you will find widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks and ongoing militia warfare:
Bosnia -- Muslim 40%
Chad -- Muslim 53.1%
Lebanon -- Muslim 59.7%
From 60% you may expect unfettered persecution of non-believers and other religions, sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels:
Albania -- Muslim 70%
Malaysia -- Muslim 60.4%
Qatar -- Muslim 77.5%
Sudan -- Muslim 70%
After 80% expect State run ethnic cleansing and genocide:
Bangladesh -- Muslim 83%
Egypt -- Muslim 90%
Gaza -- Muslim 98.7%
Indonesia -- Muslim 86.1%
Iran -- Muslim 98%
Iraq -- Muslim 97%
Jordan -- Muslim 92%
Morocco -- Muslim 98.7%
Pakistan -- Muslim 97%
Palestine -- Muslim 99%
Syria -- Muslim 90%
Tajikistan -- Muslim 90%
Turkey -- Muslim 99.8%
100% will usher in the peace of "Dar-es-Salaam" -- the Islamic House of Peace -- there's supposed to be peace because everybody is a Muslim:
Afghanistan -- Muslim 100%
Saudi Arabia -- Muslim 100%
Somalia -- Muslim 100%
Yemen -- Muslim 99.9%Of course, that's not the case.
To satisfy their blood lust, Muslims then start killing each other for a variety of reasons."Before I was nine I had learned the basic canon of Arab life. It was me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe; and the tribe against the world and all of us against the infidel.
-- Leon Uris, "The Haj" Adapted from Dr. Peter Hammond's book: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat

My letter to Hindu girls

2008-03-27T05:18:00.000-07:00

Pic from faithfreedom.org shows how adulterous women are dealt with in Islam. The condemned is wrapped in a sheet and half buried. Muhammadans gather around her and throw stones at her, shouting Allah is great.

Prophet Mohammed categorized women in these categories
1. Muslim Women
2. Muslim and prophet’s wife
3. Slave Muslim women
4. Non-believer women.
5. Slave and non-believer women.
He packed preaching’s for all different categories. Before we go in-depth, let me tell what Quran say about women.
# Women have rights that are similar to men, but men are "a degree above them." 2:228
# A woman is worth one-half a man. 2:282
# Males are to inherit twice that of females. 4:11
# Men are in charge of women, because Allah made men to be better than women. Refuse to have sex with women from whom you fear rebellion, and scourge them. 4:34
# Don't pray if you are drunk, dirty, or have touched a woman lately. 4:43
# Women must cover themselves when in public. 33:59
Now comes to categories of women in Islam……
1. Muslim women – He was so doubtful about the character of women that he unveiled veil for Muslim women, so no disbeliever can see them……. He forbade them to marry to non believers… he forbade them to go out….. talking to men publicly is also restricted …… in short he made women a bed room object.
# Have sex with your women whenever and as often as you like. 2:223
# A husband can accuse his wife of adultery with only one witness. 24:6
# It's OK to have sex with your wives on the night of the fast. 2:187
…in short a Muslim women is respected inside her house and community but need not to keep them out of doubt …… even if she is your mother, sister or daughter…. That’s why a daughter who just touched age of puberty need to veil herself so her father cant see her….. and a mother needs to cover herself so her son cant see her …………..
2. Muslim Wives of Muhammad : This is the worst among all categories. Muhammad had married13 women but never trusted anyone.
# Allah says it is lawful for Muhammad to marry any women he wants. 33:50-51
# If Muhammad's wives are good, Allah will give them "an immense reward." 33:28-29
# The wives of Muhammad will be punished double for lewdness. (And that is easy for Allah.) 33:30
# The wives of Muhammad are not like other women. They must not leave their houses. 33:32-33
# But it's OK for Muhammad's wives to talk with certain people. 33:55
# When Allah or Muhammad decide that a man and woman should marry, they must marry. 33:36
# Muhammad's wives need to be careful. If they criticize their husband, Allah will replace them with better ones. 66:5
3. Slave Muslim women – They are property of their master ….
“It is not lawful for you (to marry other) women after this, nor to change them for other wives even though their beauty attracts you, except those (captives or slaves) whom your right hand possesses. And Allah is Ever a Watcher over all things.” 33:52
A muslim can marry 4 wives but can keep unlimited number of slaves as concubines
4. Non believer women – They are prime targets.. Islam says attack and get them. In Bangladesh and Pakistan thousands of Hindu girls are abducted and forcefully converted to Islam…….
But they can’t attack here in India ……so they have adopted different strategy ….. Inspired by the tunes of their baaps like Salman , Shahrukh and Aamir , they are hovering around the streets of Hindu colonies of each and every district of this nation …. Targeting the innocent Hindu girls.
The devestating effect
In Bhopal alone, every month 20 girls are being converted to Islam. Why? Because Muslim men can’t accept Hindu girl without converting her
"Wed not idolatresses till they believe; for lo! a believing bondwoman is better than an idolatress though she please you; and give not your daughters in marriage to idolaters till they believe, for lo! a believing slave is better than an idolater though he please you. These invite unto the Fire." 2:221
5. Non believer slave girl
– Just an example
One-day Muhammad goes to his wife’s house Hafsa the daughter of Omar and finds her maid Mariah attractive. He sends Hafsa to Omar’s house, telling her that he wanted to see her. When Hafsa leaves, Muhammad takes Mariah to bed and has intercourse with her. Meanwhile Hafsa, who finds out that her father was not expecting her, returns home much sooner than expected, and to her chagrin finds her illustrious husband in bed with her maid.
These are examples to follow …….so tell me what can u expect from the followers….???
Conclusion
The essence of this article is that Islam is not meant for Hindu girls. It is a evil religion has nothing to do with love and morality…..Vulnerable hindu girls are now their prime target … Muslims clerics openly preach about converting Hindu girls and they even sponsor Muslim guys who are on the prowl for Hindu girls.
Today 1000s of Hindu girls are being converted and married but when they see the horrible face of Islamic lascivious philosophy they don’t have any other scope expect killing themselves….
Sadhwi Ritambhara has alone rehabilitating 100s of girls converted to Islam… Some of these girls have thrown out of Islam because they did not free themselves from Hindu mindset …but most of them have seen brutality and shared their life with 3 other wives of their hubby.History tells us that when the army of Akbar in Rajputana surrounded 16000 brave Hindu women, they preferred to kill themselves rather then get defiled by Muslims.

Sri Sri, Osho and Hindu-Muslim polemics

2008-03-27T04:03:00.000-07:00

D R V Acharya examines how Islamic scholar Zakir Naik misled Islamic hordes on Hinduism
First, this is a long article and second I am not a follower of Osho Rajneesh. But I have admired his works and I stop my admiration when the symptoms of greed and materialism becomes evident in his teachings. I like religious, secular and spiritual leaders who have a strong sense of humanism, individuality and service and I felt Rajneesh although he had a strong empathetic social consciousness he never did any practical welfare work for the betterment of society. Rajneesh despite his deep insights into the human condition became a victim of greed and got cut off from the world by his solipsistic tendencies. He eventually became an Ivory tower philosopher albeit an intelligent and colorful one. I have loved reading especially his discourses on the diverse mystical traditions of the world. I also admire his talent of public speaking and his irreverence to religious and political authority. Osho had the guts to critically examine hallowed and respected ideas and people. On most occasions in his public life he exhibited sound reasoning and conveyed extraordinary insights into the human condition.
I recently happened to bump across a website about an Islamic speaker Dr. Zakir Naik and his talks on the concept of God in different religions. Zakir Naik also had a dialogue with the popular self help guru Sri Sri Ravishankar. Although it was termed a dialogue, it turned out to be more of a debate with Zakir Naik pronouncing his typical clichéd Islamic rhetoric with a full fledged debunking of polytheists and idol worshippers. Zakir Naik also picked on Sri Sri Ravishankar for publishing a book on comparative Islam and Hinduism. This book had Sri Sri Ravishankar comparing some Islamic ideas and concepts and claiming that it originated from Hindu culture. Sri Sri Ravishankar not anticipating the confrontation tried to play it down and looked like he wanted to rush back to the cave in his Ashram. He also was openly apologetic about the publication of this book and tried to escape from the awkward situation by claiming that this book was printed in a hurry and it was written with an intent of bringing the two religious communities closer in the context of a Muslim-Hindu riot. He also pledged that he would not allow printing of further copies of the book.
Sri Sri Ravishankar is not generally known for his discursive thinking and intellect and his big strength is his emotional appeal to people based on personal charisma and the excellent PR machinery of his organization. Many a times he has goofed up on public platforms. I had once attended a seminar on ‘Science and Conciousness’ in the Indian Institute of Science and evidenced first hand Sri Sri Ravishankar talking utterly irrelevant things. The other eminent speakers on the podium like the Nobel Laureate Charles Townes (inventor of the laser and maser), the mathematician Roger Penrose and Zoologist Jane Goodall were visibly disturbed by his lack of erudition and grasp of what was being talked about. Sri Sri Ravishankar was also rubbished on stage by the renowned artist and film script writer Javed Akthar. On another occassion Sri Sri wrote an article in a national newspaper comparing Marxism with the teachings of the Bhagwad Gita. He was again rubbished by a lot of readers for his utter lack of understanding of the ‘Dialectical Materialism’ of Marx (he was not aware and never even mentioned anything about this in the article) or the Vedantic teachings of Bhagvad Gita. He was just content in stating simplistic homilies.
Coming back to the the ‘Concept of God’ dialogue, Sri Sri Ravishankar completely misjudged the tenor of the whole programme. The audience were predominantly Muslim and were asking well orchestrated and pre-determined questions which I thought came from the medieval missionary polemic against Hinduism. It took sometime for me to realize that at this age and time there are still majority of the people who do fervently believe in such religious jingoism.Sri Sri Ravishankar’s soft stand and unwillingness to debate and confront put him in an awkward position in the programme.
Zakir Naik is well versed in the art of islamic rhetoric and he is quite capable of mesmerizing his Muslim and other unthinking audiences into deception with confusing, illogical and fallacious arguments. Herd instinct is clearly evident in his followers. He makes up for his lack of critical thinking, scientific and rational sense by parroting and quoting by memory verses from religious books and scriptures by their chapter, page, verse and line numbers. This is taken as a sign of scholarship by his flock. He usually receives standing ovation from the Muslim audience whenever he indulges in these theatrics.
My amusement in this debate became more acute when the debater Zakir Naik put poor Osho Rajneesh to the Islamic litmus test, Surah Ikhlas or the touchstone of islamic theology. This Quranic verse or Sura mentions that God is without equal, without origin, without end, and unlike anything else that exists. This is the definition of Allah in the Quran and every other concept of God is weighed against this to create a semantic game to establish that this concept of god is the supreme most. Rajneesh had no defenders in there so it was an one sided debate with the final judgement of fallibility on Osho pronounced by Zakir Naik. Sri Sri Ravishankar was also apologetic about Rajneesh and he appealed to the audience not to judge other holy men like himself using Rajneesh as the yard stick.
In this article I am trying to defend Rajneesh and eastern traditions against the polemics of the Islamic theologians. My intention of writing this article is because it is clear to me that the worldview and the value system espoused by Osho Rajneesh is far advanced and higher as compared to the value system of the old religions in general and Islam in specific. Rajneesh believed in peace, love, celebration, individuality, freedom of speech and enquiry. He encouraged people to challenge archaic values and traditions. His overall value system is quite humanistic, secular and rational as compared to the narrow parochial values espoused in religions like Islam.
Our scholar Zakir Naik begins his diatribe against Osho Rajneesh with the tone of abhorrence to the Indian godmen and pronounces his judgement before explaining the targeted person’s point of view. Picking Rajneesh is kind of very funny because Rajneesh believed in what can be called a Vedantic or quasi pantheistic God. He borderlined on atheism many times. Rajneesh’s god as can be evidenced from his voluminous discourses is akin to Spinoza’s god to some extent. Osho’s God is not the Allah or a personal God at all, and his system provides no reason for the revelatory status of the Bible or Quran or Vedas or of any religion for that matter. Osho identifies his concept of God with Nature and like Spinoza he employed a reductionist scientism while retaining some traditional eastern terminology. Zakir Naik claims himself to be a student of comparative religion but it is plainly obvious that his knowledge of the Eastern religions is very very superficial and about Osho, he believes what he wants to believe rather than what the Oshoietes or Hindus or Buddhists or Taoists or Jains believe. Also to put things in perspective, although Rajneesh’s worldview is quite similar to Hindu, Buddhist & Taoist worldview he never claimed to be a Hindu either by birth or by conviction. He was born a Jain and remained an eclectic. So to pick on him in a debate on the concept of God in Hinduism and Islam is in the first place wrong. Zakir Naik’s claim that the followers of Osho Rajneesh called him almighty god shows his profound ignorance of Osho Rajneesh, his followers and his teaching and also his ignorance of the concept of god in eastern traditions. The Islamic religion like Christianity and Judaism is based on man’s blind and obedient response to a divine revelation in the form of a book, the Quran. Quran is a medieval text inspired by the arabic god Allah to his last and final messenger Muhammad. The god of Islam is in principle similar to a Monarch who creates and rules the world with a set of laws. The concept of God in Islam is of a God who is apart from the universe and who is a skillful maker of the world. This God stands apart from the world and like a medieval monarch rules the incidents of the world and judges you on the judgement day based on the code of conduct as created in the holy book. You are sent to either heaven or hell based on your submission to the will of Allah and the adherence to the code of conduct as depicted in the Quran. Allah in Islam has no form or can never be depicted. However Allah is depicted through similes and metaphors like Allah is Akbar, ie great or Allah is Rahman or compassionate. The not so subtle Islamic theologians fail to grasp that even ‘figures’ of speech are depictions and are a form of idolatry. Idolatry is very much existent in Islam although in a veiled format. Islam is replete with symbols which are held sacrosanct and any blasphemy to those symbols are not treated kindly by the Muslim diaspora around the world. It is sacrilegious in Islam to picturize or idolize God but the attachment to symbols is quite evident in Islam and it is much more than what is present in the so called condemned pagan idolatrous religions. For example the Islamic prayer is only in Arabic it cant be localized in any other languages. All muslims bow their heads towards mecca for their prayer. Allah is an extremely localized god. So to compare a localized god with localized rituals to the concept of Vedantic Brahman which has no name, form and which permeates all existence is like as they say comparing chalk with cheese. The Islamic scholars are morbidly against idolatry in other religions but the mote in their own eye they seeth not.
Zakir Naik’s claim that Muslims are the culmination of Vedantic teachings of non idolatry is ridiculous to say the least. The intent of the Vedantic assertion about the sadhaka or the person on the vedantic path leaving behind all the idols and symbols means the sacrifice and trancendence of all those constructs of thought like symbols, idols and ideologies to realize the unconditioned consciousness, the eternal which can never be limited by thought which is just memory and the past. In the early part of the previous century people witnessed an enlightened person Baghwan Ramana Maharishi who had no need for any rituals, images, symbols or holy texts and he abided all the time in his true nature which is pure consciousness. When Vedantists talk about the culmination or the embodiment of their tradition they refer to a person like Ramana Maharishi. I wonder what the Muslim practice of non-idolatry has got to do with this state. This clearly shows that self proclaimed scholars like Zakir Naik have absolutely no clue about what Vedanta is all about. His understanding of Vedanta is totally flawed and he is content in just picking up those verses from the Upanishads and Bhagwad Gita which depict the (so called) monotheistic principle of Brahman and which is in some ways similar to the concept of Allah. There is a huge difference between the Monism (even dualism or qualified monism) of the Vedanta to the monotheistic belief in a Sky God like Allah. Monism is the acknowledgement of oneness of the universal principle of consciousness or Brahman.
What is the concept of god according to Vedanta. The Upanishads talk of Brahman as Sat-Chit-Ananda which is truth-consciousness-bliss. The Brahman is both unmanifest and manifest as Brahman or God has to be inclusive of everything. It is both Nirguna and Saguna. It has qualities and no qualities. There is a dialectical process of reasoning which is employed to express the inexpressible quality of Brahman or God. Essentially Brahman is the substratum of all that exists and being the substratum it is also different from all that exists. There is a trancendent quality of Brahman which is in some way similar to the monotheistic God. But the Upanishads are unequivocal in their claim that language fails to describe Brahman which is infinite (Anantha) and therefore it is depicted by dialectic reasoning like ‘It is far and it is near, it is the lowest and it is the highest’. There are many extremely poetic verses in the Vedantic texts which describe the dialectic ‘qualities’ of Brahman. Zakir Naik states that “The major difference between the Hindus and the Muslims is the apostrophe ‘s’. The Hindu says, “everything is GOD”. The Muslim says, “everything is God’s”, GOD with an Apostrophe ‘s’. If we can solve the difference of the Apostrophe ‘s’, the Hindus and the Muslims will be united.” Well Zakir Naik got it all wrong. The difference between Hinduism and Islam is that the Hindu believes that everything is ‘God as well as everything is God’s’ and Islam believes that everything is just God’s. The nearest point of convergence between Hinduism and Islam can be achieved by equating the qualities of Allah to Nirguna / Nirvikalpa Brahman and that is only after sanitizing the Allah concept of all the localized Arabic mumbo jumbo. However Brahman is much more than a transcendent and monotheistic sky god as it is both Nirguna and Saguna. It is without qualities as well as it has qualities. Because a god if he(or she or it) is worth being called a god has to be all encompassing. From the literal interpretation of Quran we can deduce that in Islam, Allah is separate from the world and Allah as a being lives probably somewhere up in the sky or another dimension. It is a sky god religion. If the God is separate from the world then Allah has to have a separate location and hence it becomes physical and materialistic with space-time coordinates . It is important to understand that the Islamic god is not Omnipresent and this god or Allah exists at some specific location which is distinct from the world created by Allah. In the vedic paradigm this is considered as nonsense as the universe has no beggining and end and God if he or she or it is worth being called a god has to be omnipresent and not localized at some corner of the universe from where this god directs all the actions of the world.
The idolatory in Hinduism is a symbolic representation of the divinity of the whole universe itself and in its essential form this brings about a reverence to the whole of this wonderful acausal creation. The Vedanta as also the Jain and Buddhist scriptures clearly mention that the world is acausal and it has always existed. To point to the origin of the universe at a specific time in history either through a God creating the universe or through some big bang is a logical fallacy as we would end up with the question as to what existed prior to this creation. How can something come out of nothing. Most of the eastern religions have deduced that the world has always existed in some form or the other. This appeals to logical and scientific sense than the stories of Genesis or the Islamic creation myth. Hence we find that the eastern religions hold a great attraction to the scientific and metaphysical philosophers of the west.
Now coming to the fact of Rajneesh calling himself Baghwan or God. Osho Rajneesh has clarified many times that he is not the God who created this world. ‘No not me’ he mentioned jokingly once. “I didn’t create this world with all the strife and suffering. I would have created a better place had I been God”. Surely Rajneesh never equated himself to the Allah, the medieval monarch like god. It would be good if Zakir Naik and his cohorts read some of the works of Osho (I have provided a link to a well know Osho site in the end for all the readers) and then try to counter him in arguments. Also he might do well to study Upanishadic texts in proper context rather than just using polemics and picking up verses which suit the rigid monotheistic belief system.
One key thing that most Islamists forget when criticising Hinduism and eastern traditions is that in the eastern tradition the spiritual path is individualistic and not based on a single holy book or frozen canon or teachings of a prophet. Hindu traditions are unlike the ‘collective salvation deal’ espoused by the Abrahamic religions. This individualistic approach although a great step in religious and cultural evolution of humanity has politically weakened Hinduism and it has become an easy target to the devious designs of islamists and christian evangelist missionaries, who are hell bent on bringing down a greater tradition to their crude level of understanding of religion.
Many of the evangelists and mullahs are in the habit of ridiculing some cultural symbols and personalities of the Hindu religion. Unlike the Monotheistic religions which are history centric i.e history is all important for man’s access to god, the eastern traditions have many incarnations, perennial access to truth and it is independent of history. That is the reason why Hindus call their religion ‘Sanatana Dharma’, eternal religion. To confine the advent of religion to a single prophet or set of prophets receiving revealation at a specific point of history is to limit the omnipotence of the divine. The intent of the Upanishadic religion or dharma is not just following a book but living as per the natural laws of life. A book however sacred or profound cannot capture truth because truth is a unitary moment which has to be discovered and rediscovered from moment to moment. So it is very silly from the perspective of Vedanta that God chooses some messenger like Muhamad or Jesus or Abraham or Noah and reveals to him some revelation and some dose of good social conduct and disappears into oblivion for eternity. Why is Allah so limited that he needs to communicate to only one person and the rest of humanity just need to follow all these codified injunctions. The message of the Upanishads is that God or Brahman cannot be captured in words much less in books. The semetic religious cannon can be aptly described as a set of few rules, universalized and canonized forever. However the dharma in the eastern traditions allows for an individualistic context based interpretation.
The Dharmic value system is evolutionary and changes with the changing times exept for certain universal absolutes which are eternal. Hence in the Hindu tradition you have two classes of scriptures, the Shruthi and the Smrithi. Shruthi is the inspired part and are universal in their appeal and application. Smrithi, means that which comes from memory and it comprises of the social rules of conduct and other mundane aspects of human existence. Shruthi is changeless and smrithi is something which needs to be revisted and adapted to changing times and circumstances. Shruthi is somewhat akin to the categorical imperative of Immanuel Kant and Smrithi is similar to the hypothetical imperative. The essential problem with Islam is the mixture of Shruthi and Smrithi in Quran. Hence you find many recommended practices in Quran which were relevant during the time and context of 7th century arabia and which does not make any sense in a multicultural, cosmopolitan, secular and humanistic world. Zakir Naik’s claim that Quran is the greatest book on Art of Living is a ridiculous claim to majority of the people living by humanistic and democratic values. Sri Sri Ravishankar’s ‘Art of Living’ is similar to many modern day Hindu movements and it is an adaptation of yogic principles of health, vedantic theology, value system of modern humanistic psychology and the practices of the human potential movement. Osho Rajneesh contributed a great deal in the evolution of the Human Potential Movement. Islam with its frozen in time approach comes nowhere close to any of these systems in terms of content and quality.
Unlike the essential belief of one supreme being of the monotheistic semetic religions like Islam, the eastern religious traditions have a different paradigm of looking at this rigid structure of belief. There are some eastern traditional lineages which demand a priori belief in a supreme being and this supreme being can be either a male or female or both or neither. There are traditions which believe in the impersonal nature of ultimate reality and it allows multiple representations and multiple access to the one supreme lord. ‘As many people so many paths’ remarked the famous sage of Dakshineshwar, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. This flexibility has been considered and ridiculed as a weakness by many of the monotheistic preachers, however this is the inherent strength of the Hindu tradition. This showcases the inherent liberal and catholic(in the sense of all encompassing) views of the eastern religious paradigm. Monotheism has been rightly stated as My-Theism by several secular critiques of religion like Professor Richard Dawkins.
Some thoughts by Osho on brahman and god - “Brahman has nothing to do with the Christian or muslim idea of God. Brahman means godliness, the divineness that pervades the whole existence… the whole, the holiness of the whole.”. In his own words Osho claimed that he is God based on the following “Samadhi begins with subjective awareness and culminates in realization of our divine self, the all permeating godliness - within and without. This is the state in which the ‘Rishis’ in the east declared ‘Aham Brahmasmi’, the state in which sufi mystic Mansur declared ‘Ana’l Haq’, the state in which Jesus says, ‘I and my Father are one’. This state is called ‘Sambodhi’, enlightenment, divine realization”. When the tombstone of Osho has the message “Osho Never Born and Never Died”, it is a mention to the immortal and unconditioned Consciousness - the Self of all or ‘Brahman’. It is not the physical body of Osho as the physical body is perishable and what is not perishable is consciousness the substratum of all that exists. This Consciousness has no origin and no end, it has no ‘adi’ and ‘antya’. When Osho or eastern mystics affirm that they are God, they mean that everything else is as well God and the individual bodies are like waves in the ocean and the self, which is unconditioned awareness is the ocean itself.
Our ‘scholar of comparative religion’ Zakir Naik accuses Rajneesh of proclaiming himself the God in the Semetic / abrahamic / Islamic religious sense. If these scholars of comparative religions can make up a good study of Rajneesh then hopefully they can come up with some wise arguments than just picking him up on some silly semantics. This is the problem with Muslim scholars, they are just too caught in words, symbols, obedience and adherence to arcane medieval texts that make their minds so closeted. But still they have the nerve or rather the foolhardiness to proclaim that Islam is a scientific religion.If you are a scholar of comparative religion or philosophy the first pre-requisite is to understand the paradigms, models and cultural symbols of that particular religion or school of thought. Without this understanding the interpretation of a particular religion will remain parochial and not true to the spirit. Finally I would like to request all the readers to consider and reflect on two of the greatest sentences from Rig Veda, the oldest known religious scripture in the world - “Truth is one but wise men describe it in many ways” and “Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides”. Let’s not limit the noble thoughts to come from a book or a few more books.

KORAN ON ELIMINATING NON-MUSLIMS

2008-03-27T03:46:00.000-07:00

Yusuf Ali, Pickthal and Shakir are known as the authentic translator of Quran... See how the Koran directs the believers to tear the non-Muslims to shreds.
003.085
YUSUFALI: If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter He will be in the ranks of those who have lost (All spiritual good).
PICKTHAL: And whoso seeketh as religion other than the Surrender (to Allah) it will not be accepted from him, and he will be a loser in the Hereafter.
SHAKIR: And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers.
005.010
YUSUFALI: Those who reject faith and deny our signs will be companions of Hell-fire.
PICKTHAL: And they who disbelieve and deny Our revelations, such are rightful owners of hell.
SHAKIR: And (as for) those who disbelieve and reject our communications, these are the companions of the name.009.029YUSUFALI: Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.
PICKTHAL: Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.
SHAKIR: Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.005.033
(THE PUNISHMENT)
YUSUFALI: The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter;
PICKTHAL: The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom;
SHAKIR: The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement.
014.013
YUSUFALI: And the Unbelievers said to their messengers: "Be sure we shall drive you out of our land, or ye shall return to our religion." But their Lord inspired (this Message) to them: "Verily We shall cause the wrong-doers to perish!
PICKTHAL: And those who disbelieved said unto their messengers: Verily we will drive you out from our land, unless ye return to our religion. Then their Lord inspired them, (saying):Verily we shall destroy the wrong-doers,
SHAKIR: And those who disbelieved said to their messengers: We will most certainly drive you forth from our land, or else you shall come back into our religion. So their Lord revealed to them: Most certainly We will destroy the unjust.
014.014
YUSUFALI: "And verily We shall cause you to abide in the land, and succeed them. This for such as fear the Time when they shall stand before My tribunal,- such as fear the punishment denounced."
PICKTHAL: And verily We shall make you to dwell in the land after them. This is for him who feareth My Majesty and feareth My threats.
SHAKIR: And most certainly We will settle you in the land after them; this is for him who fears standing in My presence and who fears My threat.
014.015
YUSUFALI: But they sought victory and decision (there and then), and frustration was the lot of every powerful obstinate transgressor.
PICKTHAL: And they sought help (from their Lord) and every froward potentate was bought to naught;
SHAKIR: And they asked for judgment and every insolent opposer was disappointed:
014.016
YUSUFALI: In front of such a one is Hell, and he is given, for drink, boiling fetid water.
PICKTHAL: Hell is before him, and he is made to drink a festering water,
SHAKIR: Hell is before him and he shall be given to drink of festering water:
014.017
YUSUFALI: In gulps will he sip it, but never will he be near swallowing it down his throat: death will come to him from every quarter, yet will he not die: and in front of him will be a chastisement unrelenting.
PICKTHAL: Which he sippeth but can hardly swallow, and death cometh unto him from every side while yet he cannot die, and before him is a harsh doom.
SHAKIR: He will drink it little by little and will not be able to swallow it agreeably, and death will come to him from every quarter, but he shall not die; and there shall be vehement chastisement before him.
022.019
YUSUFALI: These two antagonists dispute with each other about their Lord: But those who deny (their Lord),- for them will be cut out a garment of Fire: over their heads will be poured out boiling water.
PICKTHAL: These twain (the believers and the disbelievers) are two opponents who contend concerning their Lord. But as for those who disbelieve, garments of fire will be cut out for them; boiling fluid will be poured down on their heads,
SHAKIR: These are two adversaries who dispute about their Lord; then (as to) those who disbelieve, for them are cut out garments of fire, boiling water shall be poured over their heads.
022.020
YUSUFALI: With it will be scalded what is within their bodies, as well as (their) skins.
PICKTHAL: Whereby that which is in their bellies, and their skins too, will be melted;
SHAKIR: With it shall be melted what is in their bellies and (their) skins as well.
2.021
YUSUFALI: In addition there will be maces of iron (to punish) them.
PICKTHAL: And for them are hooked rods of iron.
SHAKIR: And for them are whips of iron.
022.022
YUSUFALI: Every time they wish to get away therefrom, from anguish, they will be forced back therein, and (it will be said), "Taste ye the Penalty of Burning!"
PICKTHAL: Whenever, in their anguish, they would go forth from thence they are driven back therein and (it is said unto them): Taste the doom of burning.
SHAKIR: Whenever they will desire to go forth from it, from grief, they shall be turned back into it, and taste the chastisement of burning.
004.034
YUSUFALI: Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband's) absence what Allah would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them, refuse to share their beds, And beat them; but if they return to obedience, seek not against them Means (of annoyance): For Allah is Most High, great (above you all).
PICKTHAL: Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great.SHAKIR: Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great.
(9/5) Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

Look who is defending secularism?

2008-03-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

The communist record in strangling democracy is breathtaking
Nilotpal Basu (the Central Secretariat member of the CPM) makes a case for secularism and democracy in his article -- Saving Secularism -- in Deccan Herald dated March 21, 2008. The article is full of gross distortions, which is a common Communist characteristic and needs to be countered. Here is a point-by-point rebuttal with quotes from the original article.
Basu says: “The RSS recognizes the CPM as a major bulwark against its fascistic and communal machinations”.
The RSS is neither fascistic nor communal and thee is no question of recognizing CPM as a major bulwark. In fact, it is the Communists who are closer to fascism if you consider the Wikipedia definition of fascism as an “authoritarian, political ideology (generally tied to mass movement) that considers the individual subordinate to the interests of the state, party or society as a whole.”
Remember Stalin’s large-scale massacre where the victims can be counted in crores. Communists have little regard for democracy as it considers democracy as a “capitalistic” structure. For the Communists, the individuals are indeed subordinate to the State and are just canon fodders for bloody revolution. Even in India, it is no different, if you consider Nandigram and Marad. Regarding RSS, it is a socio-cultural organization that aims at producing men of character in service of the nation and is dedicated to organize the Hindu society.
Basu says: “Unprecedented as it was the CPM headquarters in New Delhi was attacked by the (RSS) goons. They came unannounced and… started pelting stones…”
This is yet another gross distortion. In order to protest agasint the increasing violence against RSS memebs in Kannur district of Kerala, some members of the RSS and other organizations including a large number of women spontaneously marched in a peaceful manner to the CPM headquarters in Dlehi. Betraying their Nandigram style intolerance, the CPM cadres repeated what they have been doing in Kannur – attached the peaceful demonstrators with brickbats and chairs – resulting in unfortunate violence on the Delhi streets.
Basu says: Given the inherent nature of this combine (Sangh Parivar), the importance of keeping constant vigil against them was a prerequisite for safeguarding democracy in the country”
Coming from Communists, this is laughable indeed. The Communist record in throttling democracy is certainly breathtaking. I wonder which Communism Basu is following. If it is not Marxist, it is for him to give the clarification. Communists always believe in the “haves vs have-not” dichotomy and their aversion to democracy is legendary and their role in subversion of democracy has been proved by KGB and Mitrokhin archives.
Basu says: “Therefore, though not yet physically present in a big way in North India and some other parts of the country, the RSS correctly recognized the CPM as a major bulwark against its fascistic and communal machinations”.
This argument is truly pathetic. The Communists are reduced to just two states in the entire nation. Their presence is nil in other parts of the country. Despite this they are having an unholy alliance with the Congress party in pursuit of power. Besides, there are no fascistic or communal machinations, which Basu imagines.
Basu says: “Kannur violence was just a smokescreen. Because in Kannur, as well as in Kerala, since the assumption of the LDF in office, about 13 leaders and activists of the CPM have been killed in an attempt at targeted individual eliminations. Only when faced with resistance in Kannur they are trying to cry hoarse.”
Regarding Kannur, the less said the better. Unable to tolerate the growing strength of RSS, the CPM resorted to murder politics since 1969. More than 60 swayamsewaks have been killed in this district so far. In the whole of Kerala, 192 have been killed so far. It is noteworthy that the Kerala judiciary has, on several occasions, reprimanded the State Police for not preventing such human right abuses by the CPM cadres in Kannur. Particularly scathing were the observations of the Kerala High Court, which openly said that only the presence of central forces could restore normalcy in the region.
Basu says: “But the battle of democracy against fascism – of peace against violence of the type that RSS/BJP wants to perpetrate – and harmony and amity against communal hatred that the Sangh spews will carry on.”
Look who is defending democracy? It is the height of paradox. The Communists have a track record of authoritarianism. USSR has long collapsed while Chain practices totalitarianism. Democracy in Kerala and West Bengal has been reduced to a farce as the Communist party does scientific rigging and political murders to stay in power. As for protecting secularism and preventing communal hatred, Basu would do well to remember that the RSS believes in Sarva Dharma Samabhava (respect for all religions). There is no threat to secularism and democracy from RSS.
On the contrary, it is the atheistic Communists who are a threat to democracy and secularism. Remember the Communist antipathy to religion as the opium of the masses. Religious freedom and secularism are anathema to Communists. Anyway, the Communists are now totally isolated. They have been reduced to just two states in the entire nation. At this rate, only God can save the Communists. Even that is not possible because the Communists do not believe in God.

Government funds for memorials of Islamic invaders: Hindu warriors ignored

2008-03-22T04:21:00.000-07:00

The Government has granted Rs. 25 lakhs for the repair and maintenance of the grave of Ibrahim Lodi, while the memorial to Hemu – the Hindu warrior who challenged Akbar – has been encroached by a mosque.
Who is Ibrahim Lodi? He is the invader who attacked Mewar and was defeated by Rana Sanga. His father Sikander Lodi prohibited Hindus from bathing in the holy tank in Kurukshetra and desecrated the Jwalamukhi temple in Himachal. He executed Bodhan Pandit for saying all religions are equal. His grandfather, Bahol Lodi, came from Afghanistan and exploited the political turmoil in India and through manipulation occupied the Delhi throne. Yet the Government has granted Rs. 25 lakhs for the repair and maintenance of the grave of the invader’s grandson, a monument to our slavish mentality.
The burial of Ibrahim Lodi, killed by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat, is protected while mosque has overtaken the memorial to Hemu, challenger of Akbar in the second battle of Panipal”.
“Hemu” refers to Hem Chander of Rewari, Haryana, a valiant warrior who fought 22 battles and won all, and acquired the title of Vikramaditya in a coronation ceremony held in Purana Kila, Delhi. He fought against Akbar who was also involved in various battles against Maharana Praap. Akbar’s father Humayun was fleeing India when he took shelter in a fort, Amar Kot in Sindh owned by Rana Amarchand; there his wife gave birth to Akbar. Humayun’s father, Babur, was from Afghanistan. Akbar’s guardian, Bairam Khan, brought Hema Chander to Akber after the second battle of Panipat and goaded Akbar to behead the infidel Hema Chander with his sword to earn the title ‘Ghazi’. Hem Chander’s head was taken to Kabul and his trunk gibbeted at the gates of Delhi.
Hemu is recorded as the last Hindu king of Delhi as the power passed on to Mughals and then to the British. It is sad that India is building memorials to the invaders Ibrahim Lodi, Babur, and Akbar, and ignoring our valiant sons who fought to defend our territory and civilization.
In the Third battle of Panipat, Sadashiv Bhau lost to the brutal Ahmed Shah Abdali. Yet there is no worthy memorial, commemorating the young Sadashiv Bhau nor is Hema Chander Vikramaditya acknowledged with respect.
Even more deplorable is the news that the Prime Minister visited the Baghe Babur complex in Kabur, which houses the tomb and mosque of Mughal ruler Babur, and was said to see its dilapidated condition. Babur died in Agra in 1530, but his mortal remains were sent to his “beloved Kabul” in 1543 as per his will.
It is pertinent that all foreign conquerors from Alexander onwards, Greeks, Turks, Mughals, Portugese, British, French and Dutch, were rightly designated as invaders by Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam. Yet we are honoring foreign invaders and denigrating our own heroes. Roads and hotels are named after Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jehangir and even Aurangazeb; few are aware of Indian martyrs like Hema Chander Vikramaditya and Sadashiv Bhau. This attitude reflects a loss of national consciousness and self-respect.
Recently, some British nationals visited Meerut to pay homage to their forefathers who won the 1857 war for the British Empire. China on the other hand made Japan offer a public apology for atrocities committed by Japanese troops in the Second World War.
It would be in the fitness of things for civil society to come forward and build memorials to honour the valiant warriors who gave their lives for our country and civilization. It is time for the youth to rise and initiate a campaign to revive the spirit of national self-respect and confer due recognition and honour to our national heroes.

The Mao-Naxal menace in Hindu terrain

2008-03-22T03:52:00.000-07:00

How the bastard offspring of Communism operates
They are called as the bastard offspring of Communism and are very much against the Hindu way of life. It is also wellknown that they are backdoor operators for other frontal organizations. However, very little is known as to just how Maoists and Naxalites have grown to such alarming proportions in recent years.
So, when officers and officials from Maoist-hit states came together for a conference organised by the Institute for Conflict Management, to discuss strategies to combat the Maoist insurgency, they put down the following as the strategies and the strengths of the Maoists.

Solid recruitment strategy: Officials who have long been in the thick of Maoist insurgency say that the main ploy used by the outfit to recruit people is by catching them young. They say Maoists attract youngsters in the regions where they have considerable clout and involve them in some criminal activity.

"This turns the police attention towards the youngsters. Once that happens, the Maoists suck them in further involve them in graver crimes, ensuring that they can never go back to the mainstream," says a senior official with the Maharashtra government.

It is said that in many cases, the Maoists resort to threats. Former minister in the Andhra Pradesh government Vijayarama Rao adds, "Wherever there is a discontentment, there will always be individuals, organisations and ideologies that will urge the use of violence to air their discontentment. That is what the Maoists are doing in most parts of the country today."

Fight for popular causes:The Maoists also take up popular issues of the common man and seek to project themselves as the key to a solution. "They protest against what they perceive to be injustices meted out to the common man.," says Rao, who has also been the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation. As a downside for the Maoists, there are not many students joining their ranks these days.

Organisational powers: One main reason officers attribute to the rise of the outfit is their strong organisational assets. One officer from Andhra Pradesh who has been in the thick of the issue for a long time says their frontal organization is a bigger threat than their armed units. These frontal organizations are the ones who go to the ground level and shape public opinion.

"We need to device a clear strategy as to how we will counter the frontal organisations. They play a much more important role than what is thought to be," the senior Andhra Pradesh officer warns.

Rajya Sabha member Arun Shourie agrees. Shourie says there is a very urgent need to examine the fontal organisations. "Who are behind these organisations? It is the duty of both the government and the media to find out about the people who are behind these organisations and find out what their interests are," he says.

Propaganda: One thing that all officers are unanimous about is the notion that the media lends a more sympathetic ear to the Maoists than to the State. "The Maoists use the media and the intelligentsia to maximum benefit. A most wanted Maoist can sit in the comforts of his hideout and issue threats to the security forces and the politicians. There is nothing that anyone can do about it because the media is too eager to go in and have his version. Such things are of no value to the public. Neither are they in public interest," an officer from Andhra fumes.

Change according to times: The modern day Maoist is tech savvy; has all the modern weapons and is just too well informed of the issues of the day. One senior police officer, without wanting to be named for this report, says, "We were shocked to find that they were using laptops, data cards and other gadgets with ease. Any modernisation you see in the force in that aspect is the result of us having merely followed them."

Nor is the modern day Maoist going to the masses with issues like land reforms. "He talks about LPG prices, effects of globalization, multi-national companies, liberalization, The World Bank and the World Trade Organisation. They are taking up causes like real estate, SEZs and displacement," says Srinivas Reddy.

Beyond all these, the main strength of the Maoists happens to be the biggest weakness of the State -- a poor understanding of who the enemy is. During the course of the conference, one thing that the serving officers, analysts and the former officers failed to have a consensus on was about the motive of the Maoists. While the serving officers -- those who are in the middle of the rut, fighting it day in and day out -- always invariably spoke of the Maoists as a military organisation. They saw them as a military outfit with territorial ambitions. The former officers and top cops often described the Maoists as a political outfit driven blindly by ideology. The observers, analysts and the journalists -- who too see the problem on a regular basis but as outsiders -- felt they were a bit of both.

Shourie aptly summarized: "It is a political movement with military objectives. At the end of the day, they are all about dominance and control." Srinivas Reddy sums up: "Right now, the State is pitted against an invisible enemy, who is engaging them in an unconventional protracted armed struggle. And we must accept that we lag behind in specific areas and address them."

The divisive vote-bank politics

2008-02-29T06:49:00.000-08:00

Why anti-Brahminism is as bad as anti-Dalitism?
Belgian historian Koenraad Elst described anti-Brahminism as the Indian equivalent of anti-semitism.
“Pope Gregory XV (1621-23) decreed that the missionaries could tolerate caste distinction among Christian converts; but by and large, caste remained an effective hurdle to the destruction of Hinduism through conversion. That is why the missionaries started attacking the institution of caste and in particular the brahmin caste. This propaganda has bloomed into a full-fledged anti-brahminism, the Indian equivalent of anti-Semitism.”
To understand the dynamics of anti-Brahminism, we will have to take a look at caste arithmetic, history and the social nature of Hindu society.
Census based on caste is banned in India since castes are not encouraged in public. The last census on caste was taken in the year 1931. At that time, brahmins comprised 4 percent of the population.
Many estimate that it may have shrunk given the hostile atmosphere in which Brahmins live. However, the percentage of SCs and STs and OBCs have been made available following the reservation scheme. The SCs, STs and OBCs together form 75 percent of Indian population as per data from Mandal Commission records.
Caste wise demographics:
Scheduled Caste 16 percent
Scheduled Tribe 7percent
Other Backward Caste 2 percent
Muslims 13 percent
Sikhs 2 percent
Chrisians 2 percent
Jains & Buddhists 1 percent
Brahmins 4 percent (as per 1931 census)
Others 3 or 4 percent
From this is obvious that KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim) combination would work out to more than 90 percent. So it is natural for the Congress and the secular parties to woo this combine by demonizing the Brahmins on the charges that lower castes have been exploited by Brahmins for centuries. This forms the central crux of the anti-brahmin argument. Besides it is very safe to be an anti-Brahmin since the Brahmins are docile and don’t hit back. Just imagine what would happen if other castes and other religions were targeted.
While there is no denying the Brahmin atrocities and the need for uplifting the Dalits, the other side of the coin has to be factored too. The effects of anti-Brahminism has been disastrous for the Bharathiya psyche. It is a gross distortion of history and it undermines Brahmin sacrifices in ensuring the nation’s continuity.
Remember, the Brahmins have played a stellar role in preserving India’s heritage which have been fully acknowledged by Swami Vivekananda and Gandhi. However, this contribution has not just been ignored but negated by our eminent left historians.
To understand the reason why Hindus survived the Islamic conquests we have to study the fall of Buddhism too. This is what B R Ambedkar wrote on the fall of Buddhism in India following Islamic invasion: "The Musalman invaders sacked the Buddhist Universities of Nalanda, Vikramshila, Jagaddala, Odantapuri to name only a few. They raised to the ground Buddhist monasteries with which the country was studded. The monks fled away in thousands to Nepal, Tibet and other places outside India. A very large number were killed outright by the Muslim commanders. How the Buddhist priesthood perished by the sword of the Muslim invaders has been recorded by the Muslim historians themselves. Summarizing the evidence relating to the slaughter of the Buddhist Monks perpetrated by the Musalman General in the course of his invasion of Bihar in 1197 AD, Mr. Vincent Smith says, "....Great quantities of plunder were obtained, and the slaughter of the 'shaven headed Brahmans', that is to say the Buddhist monks, was so thoroughly completed, that when the victor sought for someone capable of explaining the contents of the books in the libraries of the monasteries, not a living man could be found who was able to read them. 'It was discovered,' we are told, 'that the whole of that fortress and city was a college, and in the Hindi tongue they call a college Bihar.' "Such was the slaughter of the Buddhist priesthood perpetrated by the Islamic invaders. The axe was struck at the very root. For by killing the Buddhist priesthood, Islam killed Buddhism. This was the greatest disaster that befell the religion of the Buddha in India...."
According to Arun Shourie, Hinduism survived largely because of Brahminism: He says: “For the Hindus, every Brahmin was a potential priest. No ordination was mandated. Neither anything else. Every household carried on rituals -- oblations, recitation of particular mantras, pilgrimages, each Brahmin family made memorizing some Veda its very purpose.... By contrast, Buddhism had instituted ordination, particular training etc. for its priestly class. Thus, when the invaders massacred Brahmins, Hinduism continued. But when they massacred the Buddhist monks, the religion itself was killed.”
The priestly Brahmin class managed to preserve India’s spiritual traditions despite ethnic cleansing and genocides. This is not to undermine the contribution of other castes who had played their role by refusing to convert despite their low stature. It is high time that the Brahmin is seen for what he is rather than being demonized.
Social dimensions of Brahmin today: French journalist Francois Gautier says: Rampant anti-Brahmanism, first used by the Muslim invaders, then by the British colonialists and missionaries, is still in vogue at the hands of Nehruvians, Marxists, Indian Christians and politicians in search of the votes of Dalits and Muslims, which combined together make and unmake prime ministers.
Gautier had published an article in Rediff.com – Brahmins as Dalits of Today -- stating that several young Brahmins were working in Sulab Toilets as toilet cleaners, sweepers et al (a job that is usually arrogated to the lower caste Dalits.)
Though Gautier had given this information to the Indian media, they started avoiding him, refused to publish it and some even criticized him as a “RSS stooge”. Certainly when editors, intellectuals and intelligentsia of the day bear anti-brahmin bias and refuse to look at reality, it is a tragedy of the society besides a slur on journalistic tradition which preaches objectivity. Remember, Brahmins are always projected as a fat, rich arrogant community. The selective amnesia of the media when it comes to Brahmin poverty is breathtaking. Is it not?
Sri Aurobindo wrote: 'A Brahmin was a Brahmin only if he cultivated the spiritual temperament and acquired the spiritual training which alone would qualify him for the task.'
Says Gautier, “Thanks to the lingering influence of Nehruvianism, 'Brahmins' remain today a dirty word, even in the face of reality: that Dalits have considerably come up since 1947 in Indian society, that no nation in the world has done so much for its underprivileged (India had a Dalit President -- did the US ever have a Black President?). But the intellectual elite of India, which never mentions these facts, continues to hide its face in the sand like an ostrich, refusing to see the reality.”
Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, the founder of the Sulabh Shauchalaya Movement remarks: 'Society sustained the Brahmins and other upper castes earlier, who upheld the Hindu scriptures and Hindu culture. Today Hinduism is on the decline day-by-day. There is a lack of ancient knowledge. No political party has objected to reservation thanks to vote-bank politics. People have a very short memory. They have forgotten the contribution made by Brahmins to our society.'
And who says that Brahmins and other upper castes are anti-Dalits. Some of India's top avatars, saints and gurus were of low caste and are still worshipped today by all upper castes. Valmiki, the composer of the Ramayana, was a fisherman; Ved Vyasa, the epic poet of the Mahabharata, which also contains the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible of Future Humanity, was the son of a fisherwoman; Krishna was from the shepherd's caste. And are not today's Amritanandamayi or Satya Sai Baba of low caste birth? Don't they have millions of Indians, many of them from upper castes, bowing down to them?
Anti-Brahmanism has to be stopped! This inter-caste war, triggered by the politicians' greed for votes, has to be defused.
Brahmins and Manu Smrithies: Manu Smrithies are the most effective tool used for Brahmin bashing. However, what is not pointed out is that Manu Smrithi has no validity in Hindu soceity. Manu Smriti is part of Samaja Dharma (which is like a constitution which was valid only during a certain period of time). Hindus have more faith in Sanatana Dharma (texts like Bhagavad Gita). According to several other scholars, the Manu Smrithies suffer from interpolation and cannot be relied upon. Most of the Hindus are ignorant about Manu Smrithies and tend to rely more upon classical texts like the Bhagavad Gita.
It is these alien intellectuals who have selected obscure passages from Manu Smrithies and are demonising a largely peaceful community. They do not point out other scriptures like the Gita where the Brahmin is described as a person in whom you find "truthfulness, generosity, absence of hatred, modesty, goodness and self-restraint." Appreciating Brahmins is taboo in India.
What these intellectual worthies do not realise is that most of the Dalit reformers were Brahmins too. This only proves that brahmins are open to reforms and committed to justice.
A smritis, or code of conduct composed by sage Atri defines brahminhood very clearly."By birth, every man is a Shudra (an ignorant person). Through various types of disciplines (samskaras), he becomes a dwija (twice born). Through the studies of scriptures, he becomes a vipra (or a scholar). Through realization of supreme spirit (brahmajnana), he becomes a brahmin."

Zen and the art of Hindu nationalism

2008-02-29T01:13:00.000-08:00

It has become a cliché. The four enemies of Hindutva – the Hindu equivalent of Zionism -- are Islam, Christianity, Communism and capitalism and not necessarily in that order.
Notwithstanding the cliché, it has to be repeated that these indeed form the crux of the problem. There is no way you can escape these dreaded ideologies anywhere in the world.
Regarding Islam, Christianity and Communism, the less said the better. Epics can be written about their genocides. However, capitalism is a silent killer. It is reflected in its side-effects of war, poverty, suicide and abject penury.
The recent war on Iraq was just a side effect of capitalism. Remember the oil for food scheme.Anyway, it is no more a secret to say that we are living in the age of bubble economy. The US Federal Reserve has printed the greenbacks to such an extent that it might well pass as tissue papers in the days to come. The dollar crisis is not a silly conspiracy theory. It is for real and globalization could go for a six despite the heroic efforts of Euro to reinvent itself.
Anyway, these are the Zen lines for the Hindus.
Vote En bloc, Protest en masse
This is what the Jehadis do

Increase numbers, Infiltrate Institutes
Rig the mediaThis is what the Padres do

Ly, slander and character assassinate
This is what Comrades do

Grease palms, Lobby more
This is what Corporates do

Two eye for an eye, A jaw for a tooth
This is what kshatriyas should do

Using Dalits as an artifice for aggression

2008-02-27T11:00:00.000-08:00

The way Mullah, Missionary, Marxist brigade seeks to divide Hindu society
The Mahabharata defines the varna qualities thus: "He in whom you find truthfulness, generosity, absence of hatred, modesty, goodness and self-restraint, is a brahmana. He who fulfills the duties of a knight, studies the scriptures, concentrates on acquisition and distribution of riches, is a kshatriya. He who loves cattle-breeding, agriculture and money, is honest and well-versed in scripture, is a vaishya. He who eats anything, practises any profession, ignores purity rules, and takes no interest in scriptures and rules of life, is a shudra."
The higher the varna, the more rules of self-discipline are to be observed. Hence, a jati could collectively improve its status by adopting more demanding rules of conduct, e.g. vegetarianism.
Untouchability never existed in the Vedas: Untouchability is unknown in the Vedas, and therefore repudiated by neo-Vedic reformers like Dayanand Saraswati, Narayan Guru, Gandhiji and Savarkar. The 1950 constitution outlawed untouchability and sanctioned positive discrimination programs for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes. Lately, the Vishva Hindu Parishad has managed to get even the most traditionalist religious leaders on the anti-untouchability platform, so that they invite harijans to Vedic schools and train them as priests.
Despite this, the Mullah, Missionary, Marxist brigade raises a howl about Dalit atrocities for two reasons as they see it a convenient ploy to divide Hindu society as well as garner international funds. Recently, a Dalit body (obviously funded by the anti-Hindus) had tried to get casteism registered as apartheid in the UN.
What these worthies do not point out is that India’s poverty is largely a result of the colonial/Islamic rule and the plight of the Hindus irrespective of their caste was aggravated largely by the arrival of the invaders. It was these invaders who made a mess of the largely rich and peaceful nation called Bharatvarsh. As Swami Vivekananda rightly said: “The Mohammedans brought murder and slaughter in their train, but until their arrival peace prevailed.”
It must be remembered that the Brahmins of India never wielded arms. It was the Kshatriyas who wielded the political power. The Brahmins were the priestly class who survived on patronage. While, it is true that those in the lower end suffered due to domination by the upper caste, it must be pointed out that there were several other factors like Islamic rule and colonialism which led to the social and economic deprivation of the lower as well as higher end of the society. To pin all the blames for the defects of Hindu society on the upper caste needs a huge stretch of imagination, which the Indian media has in plenty. When it comes to conspiracy theory, the creative imagination of the leftists is beyond imagination.
Rejecting Manu Smrithi: Most of the secularists quote the Manu Smriti to embarrass the Hindus. These include scholars, historians and intellectuals of Left-Missionary persuasion. However Manu Smrithi has no validity in Hindu soceity. Manu Smriti is part of Samaja Dharma (which is like a constitution which was valid only during a certain period of time). Hindus have more faith in Sanatana Dharma (texts like Bhagavad Gita). According to several other scholars, the Manu Smrithies suffer from interpolation and cannot be relied upon. Most of the Hindus are ignorant about Manu Smrithies and tend to rely more upon classical texts like the Bhagavad Gita. Besides, Hinduism is self-reforming and corrects its defects as it happened through so many socio-religious-spiritual reformers down the ages. It goes without saying that attempts at Dalit reforms are on in the right earnest in Hindu society, although a lot remains to be done.
VHP on Manu Smrithi: This is what Ashok Singhal, the VHP President wrote: The “Manu Smriti” or the “Yagyavalkya Smriti” has no connection with Adi Manu or the Sage Yagyavalkya. The “Smritis” were written during the reign of Pushyamitra about 2200 years ago. There is no reference of such Smritis in the Mahabharata.
There are two portions in the Smritis – one is ‘Yama’ and the other is ‘Niyama’. ‘Yama’ consists of eternal values while the ‘Niyamas’ were the periodic governing laws or codes of conduct meant for running the affairs of the state of the then kings. There are more than three hundred Smritis. They have little to do with the eternal values of Dharma. These have been responsible for gross discrimination that is alien to our concept of ‘Ekaatmataa’ (Ekaatm Bhaava/Integralism) that is expounded in our ancient scriptures – the Shrutis (the four Vedas – the eternal revealed scriptures) and the Upanishads.Caste untouchability never existed in the Vedas. It is the creation of the Muslim rule because those who put up a fight and did not convert to Islam were punished for their commitment to their indigenous ethos and thrown out of the society as untouchables. These heroic people are enlisted as scheduled castes. We must differentiate between the ‘scheduled castes’ and the ‘Shudras’. Shudras were held with respect before the advent of the Smritis and the scheduled castes are of recent origin created during the muslim rule.
The Vishva Hindu Parishad totally rejects the “Manu Smriti” as it has no place in a civilized society. The Adi Manu Smriti is the Gita as revealed in Chapter IV of the Gita. The Dharma Sansad and the Margadarshak Mandal of Vishva Hindu Parishad constituted of Dharmacharyas, Sants, Mahamandaleshwars and Mahants have totally rejected caste untouchability as prevalent in the Hindu society today. They have decided to give ‘Mantra Deeksha’ without any discrimination.In the Vedas, there is no discrimination amongst the four Varnas. All are considered genius and masterminds in their own fields and all looked upon one another with respect. Recitation of the Vedic Mantras in daily life was practiced by the entire society irrespective of Varna. As for the Ashram Vyavastha, it enabled the individual-self to gradually unfold and expand his/her horizon of consciousness from micro-self through family, creed, nationality and ultimately attained absolute perfection by identifying with the universal self, the omnipresent divine self. Man started his journey as an individual Brahmachari, proceeded to Grihastha Ashram, then Vaanaprastha Ashram when he dedicated himself to the service of humanity, and finally accepted the Sannyaas Ashram in which he had to surrender his individual self at the feet of the divine for ultimate salvation.

Scientific dogma: When atheists hide behind the façade of science

2008-02-27T10:11:00.000-08:00

Why secular humanists are wrong in lumping Hinduism with Abrahamic faiths
Albert Einstein said: Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. Einstein was not a conservative Jew but he was a Zionist. He believed in in a separate state for Jews – Israel-- just as Hindu nationalists believe in Akhand Bharat (Undivided India).
However Einstein can be said to be a follower of either Deism or Pantheism as he rejected the idea of a personal God. (Deism is a religious philosophy and movement that derives the existence and nature of God from reason and personal experience. Pantheism is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent abstract God or that Universe, Nature and God are equivalent.). Hey, Is not Einstein closer to Hindu brand of advaita (non-duality)?
Now this is the real sceintist’s take on religion and God. While Einstein was not deeply religious in the conservative sense, he had a sense of awe for the working of the universe which led to his pantheistic views and a sense of agnosticism.
However, these days there are many atheists who are lurking behind the façade of science in their bid to destabilise and lump noble religions like Hinduism along with the wrathful killer Abrahmic faiths.
Julian Baggini explains: “What most atheists do believe is that although there is only one kind of stuff in the universe and it is physical, out of this stuff come minds, beauty, emotions, moral values - in short the full gamut of phenomena that gives richness to human life.”
Now atheism is not new to Hinduism. There was Sage Charvaka who was an avowed atheist. It is not atheism that is the problem. It is when atheists use the façade of science to create a totalitarian state that is the problem.
This is what happened with Communists. Their claim was that “Communism is a science”. If Communism was a science, it was scientific dogma because the Communist State of USSR collapsed like a pack of cards. However, before it collapsed, it led to the death of crores of ‘masses’ proving that even atheism can be as dangerous if not more dangerous than the Abrahmic faiths. The Communists who had nowhere to go now branded themselves as secular humanists and are now going all out against religions. That is no problem.
What is objectionable is that the Indian secular humanists (who have abandoned their red ideological underwear for pink) are now hiding behind the facades of science to lump Hinduism along with the Abrahmic faiths.
The way of these intellectual frauds is no doubt unholy. The Abrahmic faiths are wrathful. They divide the world between the believer and the non-believer. They believe in converting the entire world to their faith unlike Hinduism, which believes in, live and let-live. The Abrahamic faiths are single prophet-single book religion unlike Hinduism which have a range of thousands of books and thousands of prophets. The choice is wide for Hinduism.
Yet, these secular humanists are lumping Hinduism with the killer Abrahmic faiths on the pretext that the Dalits are ill-treated and they even go to the extent of lumping it with jehad and inquisition. Forget the numbers involved. These ‘Secularists’ do not have any intellectual honesty. Though crores were killed in jehad, inquisition and bloody revolution, these worthies maintain that casteism is the Hindu equivalent of jehad and inquisition.. The international media helps them by exaggerating violence against Dalits. This is the crux of the matter.
This is how their argument flows: They say that: In religions like Hinduism, it is orthopraxis (religious practices, rituals and societal codes) which is more important than orthodoxy (religious beliefs) unlike Abrahamic faiths which believe in orthodoxy. In both cases, they say, the violation of the rules lead to punishment not less then death. This is how these intellectual frauds lump Hinduism along with killer Abrahamic faiths.
What they do not understand is that Hinduism is a democratic religon and Hindus are free to reject both orthodoxy and orthopraxy. The Hindu religion is like a menu for the seeker of truth. It has everything for everyone. As Swami Vivekananda said: "The great strength of Hinduism is that it does not lay down one dogma for everybody as is the case with Christianity and Islam. The fault with all religions like Christianity and Abrahmic religions that they have one set of rules for all. But Hindu religion is suited to all grades of religious aspiration and progress. It contains all the ideas in their perfect form…." "Universality, which does not preserve individuality, is false. Individuality in universality is the plan of creation... Man is individual and at the same time universal. It is while raising the individual that we realize even our universal nature.? It is because of this spirit of universality that Hinduism has never been a persecuting religion." “You know that the Hindu religion never persecutes. It is the land where all sects may live in peace and unity. The Mohammedans brought murder and slaughter in their train, but until their arrival peace prevailed"

The Hindu concept of war

2008-02-26T05:42:00.000-08:00

Why dharma yuddha is different from jehad and inquisition
Are Hindus pacifist or martian? Now there is a new argument in the mainstream media. They say that Hindu nationalists are not really Hindus. Hinduism is tolerant and a religion of peace and brotherhood, while those in the Hindutva camp are intolerant warmongers. That is the crux of the arguments.
It seems as if there are two sides of Hinduism. One talks of pacifism (Sarve Bhavanthu Sukhinaha May all sentient beings live in peace) and the other talks of war (Arise Arjuna, Fight for the sake of dharma).
What are the codes of dharmayuddha that was followed by almost all Hindu warriors from the ancient to the medieval age? Is it similar to jehad or inquisition in any way?It must be said that dharmayuddha (the Hindu concept of war) is radically different from Jehad or Inquisition or even the modern wars.
The ancient Hindus viewed war as a means to protect dharma and resorted to war only as a last resort when all other efforts to secure peace failed. Dharma Yuddha is more a code of chivalry. It entails that women, children, weak and infirm should not be attacked. No subterfuge is employed. No backstabbing and no fights during the night. It was more of a tournament where warriors showcased their strength.
At the same time, Jehad and Inquisitions are quite different. Both advocate subterfuge and pre-emptive strikes and are waged in the form of religious expansionism. Both the Christian and Muslim warriors attacked with sword in one hand the Bible/Koran in the other. The Koranic concept of war – authored by Malik – justifies pre-emptive attacks and barbarism as it says that the best way to defeat the enemy is to demoralize him and scaring him to the best possible extent. However, this is not the case with dharmayuddha.
The Hindus were forced to change their tactics after the Muslim invasions as most of the Muslims resorted to subterfuge. Prithviraj Chauhan had almost defeated Mohammed Ghori when he feigned surrender and escaped. This generosity on the part of Prithviraj proved too costly and cost him his kingdom.The first Hindu King who employed subterfuge as a part of his war was Shivaji. Shivaji was an expert at guierella warfare. He broke all the rules of the Hindu war book and even attacked at night. This, many say, was necessitated as his adversaries cared little for dharmayuddha. Anyway Shivaji is still remembered as one of the forerunners of Hindu nationalism as his army combated the Muslim army’s warcry of “Allah Hu Akbar” with “Har Har Mahadev”. It was Shivaji who gave the Hindu nationalists a new concept of war where everything was justified as long as the Hindu interests are served.

Bharat vs India: A culture clash

2008-02-25T04:18:00.000-08:00

Bharat and India are not separate pieces of land. However, they are separate states of mind.
While India believes in the West, Bharat reposes its trust in the ancient culture of the land. While India looks towards the west for solutions, Bharat looks within for solutions. The Indian outlook is materialistic, while the Bharathiya ethos views spirit as primary and believes in the spiritual approach. While India believes in self-indulgence, Bharat believes in sacrifices. While India believes in individualism, Bharat believes in family values. The list seems to be endless.
It must be said that India has its birth in Macualay’s minutes. Lord Macualay – the man who designed the Indian education system said: "Our English schools are flourishing wonderfully; we find it difficult to provide instruction to all. The effect of this education on Hindus is prodigious. No Hindu who has received an English education ever remains sincerely attached to his religion. It is my firm belief that if our plans of education are followed up, there will not be a single idolater among the respected classes 30 years hence. And this will be effected without our efforts to proselytize; I heartily rejoice in the prospect'“ Today, the word Macualay’s children refers to the breed of Indians – who are Indians in blood and colour but British in taste, morals and opinions.
During the British rule, there seem to have been two motives working in the minds of the rulers: plundering the wealth of this land and the 'white man's burden ' of civilizing the natives (the term used by them to refer to all Indians). While the plundering was done in the name of the trade, the de-indigenisation of Bharat was achieved through Macualay’s education.
Both the culture shock and the plunder was equally brutal: Perhaps many of us do not know that India was the richest land till the British came on the scene.. Whereas Britain's share in world exports before was only 9% as against India's share of 19% today our share is only 0.5%.
In the Round- table conference in 1931, Mahatma Gandhi in one of his speeches said, "The beautiful tree of education was cut down by you British. Therefore today India is far more illiterate than it was 100 years ago." Immediately, Philip Hartog, who was a parliamentarian stood up and said, "Mr.Gandhi, it is we who have educated the masses of India. And therefore you must take back your statement and apologise or prove it." Gandhiji said he would prove it. But the debate did not continue for lack of time. Later one of his followers, Shri Dharampal, went to the British museum and examined the reports and archives. He published a book "The Beautiful Tree" where this matter has been discussed in great detail. By 1820, the British had already destroyed the financial resources that supported our educational system- a destruction that they had been carrying out for nearly twenty years. But still the Indians persisted in continuing with their system of education. So, the British decided to find out the intricacies of this system. Therefore a survey was ordered in 1822 and was conducted by the British district collectors. In the survey it was found that the Bengal presidency had 1 lakh village schools, in Madras there was not a single village without a school, in Bombay, if the village population was near 100, the village had a school. Teachers as well as students of all castes were in these schools. The Brahmins accounted 7% to 48% of the teachers, and the rest of the teachers in any district, came from other castes. Further all children had their education in their mother tongue.
Losing roots means losing power: How does a nation get weakened? A nation gets weakened when the ignorance of the people about their own roots increases, or when they become ashamed of themselves or of their forefathers. Actually that is where real regression of a nation starts. A nation, which wants to forget about itself and imitate other nations, cannot redeem itself but is on the path of self-destruction. The regression is there in our nation at present. And if we truly do not want to weaken ourselves as a nation, we need to extricate our educational system out of its Macaulayian traits, and obtain a fresh and untainted understanding of our ideals; which have held us together as a nation for nearly ten thousand years.
Only when a nation progresses along its roots, it truly advances. Indigenous growth is better than imitation of the west any day.

From Jaichand to Sachar – The History of Hindu traitors

2008-02-25T02:40:00.000-08:00

Why Hindus are their own enemy
The reasons are not far to seek. Why is it that the great Bharatvarsh with a fount of wisdom and brave warriors succumb to foreign invaders? Why is it that the land -- where milk and honey flowed like Himalayan delight – was subject to abject penury.
If you check out the history of Bharatvarsh, you will see a history of backbiting. When Muhammed bin Qasim attacked Dahir of Sindh, it was Dahir’s astrologers who deserted him stating that they had come to know from their knowledge of astronomy that Sindh will be taken over by Muslims. Besides, they did not remain silent. These astrologers joined hands with the Muslim invaders to facilitate their first intrusion in Bharatvarsh after defeating Dahir –who was beheaded in the war.
The next famous case was that of Jaichand and Prithivraj Chauhan. Jaichand joined hands with Ghori to ensure Chauhan’s defeat. The list goes on. What is interesting is that the Hindu traitors were also betrayed by the foreign invaders. The lessons of history cannot be missed.
Even today, the greatest enemy of the Hindu society is the Hindu himself who makes it easier for the enemies to have a foothold in the society.
Today’s traitors are no doubt the secularists and the human right brigade. These worthies are ultra-sensitive to their foreign bosses and sneeze when the Mullah-Padre-Comrade-Corporate brigade catches a cold.
Sadhvi Rithamabara’s story which enthralled angry Hindus rings true: During the war between the 10th Sikh Guru Guru Gobind Singh and the Mughal King Aurangazeb, there were thousands of bodies lying in the battlefield. The Guru told his aide to burn the Hindu body and bury the Muslim body. However, this aide of the Guru, could not identify the religion of the bodies, so he decided to give all the bodies a mass cremation.
When the Guru came to know of this, he is said to have remarked. We never know if it is true, but the Guru’s message was interesting. Now the Muslims who have been cremated will be reborn in Hindu houses and will continue to undermine Hindu interests.
The message is obvious. These secularists, media persons and human rightwallahs were those dead Muslims who were burned along with Hindu bodies. They are now reborn with Hindu names and Hindu households. Despite this, they continue to work against Hindu interests and help their enemy in destabilizing Hindu society.
The list of Hindu traitors is huge. For the list, perhaps, you have to read the book – India is for sale – by Chitra Subramaniam. Of course, the ever shrieking Teesta Setalvad, Prannoy Roy, Arundatti Roy, Rajdeep Sardesai, Khushwant Singh, Kuldeep Nayyar and Mani Shankar Aiyer are in the top 100 if not the top 10.
The last and the most prominent Hindu traitors happens to be Rajendra Sachar. The Rajendra Sachar report advocates reservations for Muslims in all walks of life claiming that they are being victimized in India. It must be reported that a similar such report had been tabled in the early 19th century – the Hunter’s Report. This report had encouraged Muslims to divide India into two parts. The Sachar Report has become grist to the Muslim mills to divide the nation further. He is the latest Hindu traitor to join the list. Any doubts? As for the human rights brigade, they are very much concerned with terrorists’ right rather than civilian rights. Shedding tears for terrorists come naturally for them. No wonder, they are the same Muslim bodies reincarnating in Hindu households.

When Corporations rule the world

2008-02-25T00:07:00.000-08:00

Nuke Hindutva, digital divide and globalisation
When Corporations Rule the World – a book by the American leftist David C Korten – is a searing indictment of an unjust international economic order that we are facing today.
He writes: Most everyone is aware that we live in an unequal world. Few realize, however, just how extreme the inequality has become or how fast the gap between the poor and the super rich is growing. Forbes tells us the world now has 358 billionaires. Their combined net worth exceeds the combined net worth of the world's poorest 2½ billion people. This is but one manifestation of the extreme economic and social distortions created by the globalized free market economy idealized by business publications such as Forbes and Business Week.
Korten's laser-like analysis exposes the way global corporations dominate people and their governments. The situation is no different in India.
After the Cold War ended, the US promoted globalisation in a big way. It opened its markets, cut tariffs and promoted cheap imports. The US Federal Reserve also cut rates and printed more dollars. It thus promoted a global financial architecture by which an unwritten ‘safety rule’ has been enforced on central banks of other nations to hold their reserves in US securities.
Ever since the Indian Government adopted LPG (Liberalisation, Privatization and Globaliastion) after the failure of Nehruvian model of socialism in 1991, the global corporations have upped the ante on their presence in India. Now they are entering sectors never before eyed by large corporations in India like the retail sector and farming. Their entry is sure to make life difficult for the common Indian who is normally at ease in the unorganized sector. That many of their schemes are implemented by greasing palms was poignantly portrayed in journalist Chitra Subramaniam’s book – India is for sale.
It is the Swadeshi Jagran Manch – an affiliate of the Sangh Parivar – which is opposing market globalisation in India. Dattopant Thengadi – the RSS idealogue – was the founder of SJM who decided to launch this movement as he felt that it was needed to thwart the free run of the Corporations in the age of LPG.
When the now Prime Minister and then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh went about selling LPG, he was of the view that the trickle down effects of FDI (Foreign Direct Investments) would lead to equitable growth.
However, the trickle down effect has not taken place and what has taken place is an inequitable growth. Of course, Indian Multinationals like the Tatas and Reliance have benefited. There are more Indian billionaires in the Forbest list and India is now in the Trillionaire Club of Forex Reserves. Those in the rural areas – especially the farmers are bearing the brunt of globalization. Thousands of farmers are said to have committed suicide in rural India due to unsustainability .
India is facing what can be called a digital divide. On the one hand, technology is booming in cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad – which are reaping the benefits of globalisation. On the other hand, there are scenes of deprivations.
The Money Game: Now that India’s forex reserves have crossed a trillion dollars, it is best to analyse the money game – which is not as glittering as it seem. Korten points out that the world's most powerful instrument of governance is not a government. Nor is it a global corporation. Rather it is a global financial system that is running dangerously out of control.
“Each day half a million to a million people--primarily Western Europeans, North Americans, and Japanese--arise as dawn reaches their part of the world, turn on their computers, and leave the real world of people, things, and nature to immerse themselves in playing the world's most lucrative computer game: the money game. As their computers come on line, they enter a world of cyberspace constructed of numbers that represent money and complex rules by which those numbers can be converted into a seemingly infinite variety of financial instruments, each with its own distinctive risks and reproductive qualities. Through their interactions, the players engage in competitive transactions aimed at acquiring for their own accounts the money that other players hold.”
He further says that the Corporations are influencing us in more ways than we think
The world's most powerful corporations are also active in shaping public policy in ways that virtually forces us into a pattern of overconsumption that yields large profits to themselves at the expense of our quality of living. Evidence is mounting that to make our societies sustainable we will have to restructure our systems of production and consumption to largely eliminate:
Dependence on personal automobiles;
Long distance movement of goods and people;
The use of chemicals in agriculture; and
The generation of garbage that we cannot immediately recycle.
Though Korten is a leftist, his message is true enough for the entire world. The Saffron idealogue S Gurumurthy is also in agreement about the precarious position when he says that the US is spending while the rest of the nations are saving in US dollars. It is as if the other nations are saving for the US expenditure.
When Americans spend beyond their means: So far Americans have borrowed through credit cards $2.46 trillion; through sub-prime mortgages $1.3 trillion; and through other mortgages not regarded as prime another $1.5 trillion — all aggregating to $5.26 trillion. By mid-May 2007, the US National Debt stood at approximately at mind-boggling $8.85 trillion -- i.e. approximately $28,000 for every American. The current account deficit of the United States for 2006 is estimated to be in excess of $850 billion. This approximates to 7% of its GDP. Surely, even for the US, this is unsustainable.
As S Gurumurthy says: The US Fed, which is the de facto central bank of the world, is an enigmatic institution whose origins are shrouded in mystery. Its shareholding pattern remains a secret. The US Government has only marginal control over it. Given the Fed’s influence on the world economy, it is imperative to have a global watch on its policies and actions.
The validity of the dollar is also under threat from the rising Euro. Today, though it is the Gulf regions which produces oil, crudes can be purchased only through the medium of dollars through two exchanges at New York at London.
As M R Venkatesh says in his column in Rediff.com: Late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was fully aware of this paradigm. Seeking to exploit the inherent weakness of the US dollar, Saddam wanted to trade his crude in Euros, which would have lead to a lower demand for the US Dollar and thereby triggered a dollar collapse. And those were his 'weapons of mass destruction -- WMD.' And if some analysts are to be believed, Venezuela and Iran too possess the very same WMD. Naturally, it requires some specious arguments and military intervention to protect the US dollar. Never in the history of mankind has a national army protected the national currency so vigorously as the US Army has done is the past decade or so.
The need for an international Hindu lobby: In this age of globalisation, Hindus are badly missing an international lobby sans ideological baggages which can safeguard its interests. The white race guards its race very carefully all the while avoiding the slur of racism, petro-dollars are at the service of Islam anyway. It is the Hindu who is left to defend himself all alone while he is oppressed in various parts of the world like Nepal, Malaysia, Fiji, Europe and US. The creation of an international Hindu lobby is quite feasible given the list of the Hindu Super Rich in Forbes.

Spirituality is India’s only politics

2008-02-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

Why the Hindu brand of spirituality is beyond science, religion, politics and secularism
Spirituality is a much used and abused word. It’s meaning has been dirtied by association with narrow-minded faiths.
What Aurobindo or Swami Vivekananda or for that matter any doyens of Hindu nationalism meant by spirituality is far different from what the west perceives it to be.
The Hindu brand of spirituality is far different from religion. It is the means of centering oneself. It is a means to know one better and go beyond the body, mind and the intellect. Spirituality may be an article of faith for the Hindu society but the practice of spirituality has little to do with faith. It is as much a secular exercise as it is a mystical exercise.
The Hindu brand of spirituality is evolutionary and has two forms. They are (1) Yoga and (2) Tantra. They represent the Yin and Yang of human consciousness. While the former stresses will power, the latter streses devotion and surrender. While the former is male (active), the latter is (female) passive. Both the treatises --Patanjali Yoga Sutra and theVighyan Bhairava Tantra -- have listed practical manuals to enable an individual to go beyond himself.
For instance, the Yoga Sutra lay down the eight limbs – Yama (Rules), Niyama (Regularity), Asana (postures), pranayama (breath), pratyahara (withdrawal of attention), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (absorption in the universal consciousness). On the other hand, the Tantra texts put forth 112 techniques of meditation that enable a person to get rooted in himself.
Unlike Abrahamic faiths -- which are built around belief systems and offer inducements of after life paradise and merrymaking -- the Hindu spiritual texts only teaches us how to deal with the present moment. A study of Hindu spiritual texts makes a man stoical rather than a fanatic (as in the case of Abrahamic or for that matter any other faiths).
Ramana Maharshi – the Sage of Arunachala – never gave any belief systems to the seekers who visited him. He only told them to go deeper into themselves by asking themselves the question: “Who am I?” There was no question of change of faith. It was only about self-knowledge. J Krishnamurthy – another proponent of the non-dual version – preferred to call it awareness. Both Ramana and J Krishnamurthy – in a long line of Hindu seers – were against belief systems and urged the seekers to drop their beliefs and look at reality in the face.
As Swami Vivekananda rightly said: “Every soul is potentially divine” The challenge of spirituality is to manifest the perfection / divinity that is already in man. The Hindu brand of spirituality only aims at manifesting the perfection which is assumed to be the natural state of man.. The Hindu brand of spirituality is beyond religion, science and politics as it is more experential. While science, religion and politics are in the outer domain, spirituality is in the inner domain. While science is exact and verifiable, the experiences of spirituality are relative and unverifiable.
The critics of spirituality : For the postmodern leftists, spirituality is bourgeoise culture.. Their allegation stems from their thinking that religion is the opium of the man. While it is true that religious (a form of belief system) can be the opium of the masses, practical spirituality should liberate the masses rather than enslaving them. The left fails to make a distinction between religion and spirituality.
Postmodernist authors like Meera Nanda claim that the Hindu concepts of advaita, moksha et al are as much misleading as the Abrahamic faiths. What Nanda fails to realize is that Abrahamic faiths are belief systems, while the Hindu spiritual systems are designed to enable a person to shed his illusions. Hindu spirituality does not encourage beliefs, it advocates dropping of the belief system and enables a person to perceive truth / reality in an objective manner. Disciplines like Zen, Tao et al are also on the same line.
Meditation and Neural Fireworks: There is another school of thought which claims that meditation only alters the human nervous system as does alcohol or for that matter any other drug. While it is true that mystical practices like meditation and tantra do lead to variations in the human nervous system, it would be wrong to limit these practices to a few chemical changes in the body. Mystic practices like Yoga and Tantra changes not just the chemical combinations of the body. It changes the entire make-up of the persons from attitudes to energy levels. It also results in the dawning of wisdom that no scientific instruments have been able to measure to date.
While the negative traits of Hindu nationalism is to contain the four demonic ideologies of the Mullah-Padre-Comrade-Corporate brigade, the positive trait of Hindu nationalism is to spread the message of spirituality. I am not saying this. These are the words of the doyens of Hindu nationalism – Dayananda Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda and Aurobindo.

The battle for the Hindu mind

2008-02-24T07:26:00.000-08:00

Evangelical Carpet bombing Although Hindus constitute 85 percent of population, it is the mullah, padre, comrade, corporate brigade which has a free run in India.

The leftists are in control of the media and they are aided by the other three in consonance with Stalin’s idea of a common front. As for academia, it is the Christian missionaries with their large network of educational institutions who are dictating terms. As for the Corporate brigade, their entry into several sectors has raised the shackles of the unorganized business and industries of India. Regarding the Islamic incursions, the less said the better. When the US – with less then one percent of Muslim population – could feel the heat, the Indian situation with Arab petro-dollars is not difficult to imagine. It is as if all the four are ticking time bombs – waiting to explode.
There are several dimensions to the war. While jehad and Communist violence (Naxalites) are downright physical, the Corporate-evangelical war is more or less cultural or financial.
It is a culture war, a paradigm conflict. It is a political invasion from within. It is a bloodless war for the minds, hearts, and souls of Hindus. It is being waged with force, foreign fund and deception in television, in the class rooms, in the media and in the political fields. It is a constant and continuing war on the spiritual tradition of India. It is a war for the Hindu mind. It is a war, which is meant to dominate.
The evangelical incursions: Christian missionaries in India enjoyed much support from European Christian colonial masters who controlled the political, economic and educational institutions for centuries, to 1947. With the active support of the European Christian colonialists, missionaries founded churches, large scale political organizations, and educational institution.
Even after independence, political parties handed over to Christians an influential position in India. Leaders of the Church became key advisers and also exercised political, economic, and educational functions as government leaders. The missionaries have created fronts in the press, economic institutions, commercial enterprises, as well as grabbed urban and forestland, established non-governmental organizations, schools, colleges and formed political parties.
Thanks to minority rights, the Hindus could scarcely match the missionaries in education, media and commerce. Political Christianity formed a special clique, finding their ideal in real estate, education, health industry, media, plantation and commerce. Their ulterior motive was that Christians should be strategically placed in policy decision bodies.
Political Christianity in India is naturally averse to Hindu consolidation and likes to divide Hindu society for practical purposes. That is why these missionaries support caste based organizations and regional political parties. Then Hindus would continue their class division and the Church would accomplish their goal. Christians make it a point to dismiss Hindu spiritual and cultural traditions. The Church had a clear mission to liberate Hindus from their cultural roots and enslave them with rigid, closed, divisive and linear Christian dogma.
Missionaries with the closed, rigid and uncompromising dogma are obsessed with the idea of converting Hindus who believe in pluralism, tolerance and the all inclusive Vedic philosophy. Spiritual vedic thought has always posed a serious challenge and dilemma for the Christian Church. For centuries, unable to challenge the broader and systemic Hindu philosophy, Christian missionaries have resorted to deceptive mind manipulation strategies to trap and convert Hindus.Political parties and secular leaders allowed Christians not only to influence government policies, but also tolerated their attack on Hindu spiritual practices. This political patronage enabled Christians to exercise an influential anti Hindu role in public life and in government.
The power of the Church in India is enormous. Massive inflow of foreign fund helped the Church to influence the media, own large tracts of urban and forestland, control political parties, as well as own commercial and educational institutions. Their explicit purpose, among other things, is to stop Hindu consolidation and get them to fight on caste lines. In order to solidify their growing hegemony, Christians have made alliance with the Congress party, the Marxists, and regional parties as well as with parochial organizations.The explosive effect of this unholy alliance can be gauged by the emergence of Christian power in central and several state governments. Control of educational institutions, trade, plantation and real estate brought wealth to Christians in ways Christians had never known. All the while, Christian organizations received massive amounts from abroad for conversion activities.Christian conquests are more and more commercial and less spiritual. Well-established business, trade and commerce proved better, more wealth producing mode of occupation than spirituality. Concurrent with commercial success, the Church with the help of foreign fund elevated the role of political interference with absolute control of government in many states. Political influence of Christians in India marked the modern scene to an extent unknown before.
Deceptive practices: One of the more alarming trends in India in recent years is the growing number of evangelical Christian organizations. This growth has been accompanied by an astonishing increase in Christian missionary activities, which target Hindus for conversion. Well over 3,000 missionary groups spend over a billion dollar each year for conversion work in India. Evangelical Christian groups sponsor hundreds of full-time missionaries. They also sponsor television and radio programs. Missionaries have sponsored thousands of non-governmental organizations for overt and covert activities for furthering Christian causes. These evangelical Christians use deceptive tactics to attract secular Hindus, journalists, academicians and westernized intellectuals. Evangelical missionary groups use Hindu names for their organizations to attract and trap innocent Hindus. They frequently misquote, mistranslate and misrepresent Hindu scripture and texts in order to use it as a bait and switch game.
Evangelical missionaries are specially trained in human psycology. They know well how to conceal, camouflage, and distort reality. They use sophisticated psycho programming for softening people up for the kill. Like most power plays, softening people up for the kill is dangerous. It is not transparent enough for Hindus to see through and choose to stay out.
Missionary Agenda through other means: Evangelical Christian organizations advertise under the garb of Human Rights, dalit organizations, solidarity movements of the oppressed, Environmental Protection groups and social service agencies. Their goal is to mislead Hindus, to fabricate false reality, erase memory, and soften them for "thought implant". Pamphleteering and misleading advertisement of evangelist Christians are on the increase. There is an upsurge in Christian pamphlets being distributed at Hindu festivals, temples and sacred places of pilgrimage. Missionary groups aggressively distribute Christian publications to denigrate Hindu deities at Sabarimala, Thirupathi, Guruvayoor, Ujjain, Benares, Palani, Uduppi, and Sivagiri where Hindus congregate in large numbers.In addition, missionary groups employ scare tactics, intimidation and violence to discourage and prevent Hindus from organizing protest against deceptive conversion tactics. Evangelical missionary groups engage in a variety of relatively benign deceptions intent to leave secular Hindus with a more positive impression on them. The real purpose for engaging in hidden agenda power plays is conversion of innocent Hindus. Hidden agendas, psycho programming and mind manipulation techniques are used to entice unsuspecting Hindus. Beneath the polished exterior of Christian educational institutions lies a burgeoning political and cultural war machine that strikes at the traditional spiritual values of India.
The Evangelical Carpet bombing : Most of these NGOs display signs of "messiah madness" and manifest a great sense of urgency to convert as many Hindus as possible for creating a Christian vote bank. Recent Christian violence in Orissa, Bihar, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are perfect example of the deceptive practices used by evangelical proselytizing groups. There are at least 500 Christian proselytizing organizations that operate with foreign fund in Orissa and Bihar alone, which are actively targeting Hindus for conversion. Recently deceptive and aggressive conversion efforts have led to escalating tension throughout Bihar.
Putting an end to conversion activities: Conversion is an attack on the basic dignity of human beings. The Missionaries use the desperation of the masses to lure them into their faith. This fact goes unrepresented in the Indian media, which seems to receive the Christian largesse.
There has been an ominously deafening silence from secular political leadership at all levels. This silence itself is complicit in creating a favorable atmosphere for Christian conversion groups. Phony secular leaders engage in ineffective maneuvers to maintain the status quo and avoid unpleasant thoughts because reporting on deceptive missionary conversion practices only makes matters worse
A REPEAT OF EUROPE: Hindus must exercise constant vigilance and educate the masses about the true nature of the hidden agendas of Christian groups and foreign funded NGOs. The value of free speech and the basic right to free expression is not absolute under the Indian constitution. Hindus have the right to oppose Christian hate speech and deceptive practices that may be deemed offensive. Awareness, education and assertive protest seem to be the best way of confronting conversion. In a way, the Hindu society faces the same problem, which Europe faced in the 18th century. The Europeans rejected the Church during the renaissance and chose progress. Even the founding fathers of the US Constitution were aware of this problem. Thomas Jefferson had chosen to create riders that kept the missionaries at bay. The Hindus should do likewise – reject Christianity and choose progress while retaining the best of Hindu spiritual traditions.

Hindu Temples: What happened to them?

2008-02-23T07:09:00.000-08:00

Facts ignored when history is at the service of the party

The Leftists historians in India are experts at the game of demystification. They tend to view anything and everything in terms of class interests.
Their reasoning is that when the medieval Islamic invaders plundered Temples, it was because Temples had a lot of wealth in them. Notwithstanding the thousands of epigraphs and quotes from Chroniclers, the leftists continue to say that the attacks on Hindu Temples were motivated by purely pecuniary gains.
However, it took eminent historians like K S Lal, Sitaram Goel and the permanent Indian gadfly Arun Shourie to call their bluff. K S Lal quoted authentic sources to say that Muhammad Ghaznavi had rejected offers of wealth from the Pandits at Somnath Temple by stating that he was a butshikan (an idol breaker) and not an idol seller. Sitaram Goel collected evidence on nearly 10,000 Temples which were damaged by the medieval Muslims. His book – Hindu Temples: What Happened to Them – is a classic on these themes.
The following is the narration of the "pious performance" by Muslims of plundering and converting Hindu temples to mosques and other Islamic structures.
Name of the structure: Quwwat al-Islam MasjidLocation: Delhi in Uttar Pradesh Inscription:
"This fort was conquered and the Jami Masjid built in the year 587 by the Amir(*), the great, the gloriuous commander of the Army, Qutub-ud-daula wad-din, the Amir-ul-umara Aibeg, the slave of the Sultan, may Allah strengthen his helperes. The materials of 27 idol temples, on each of which 2,000,000 Delhiwals(**) had been spent were used in the construction of the mosque." *The Amir mentioned above was Qutubud-Din Aibak, slave of Muhammed Ghori. **"Delhiwal" was a high denomination coin current at that time in Delhi.
Name of the structure: Mansuri Masjid Location: Vijapur in GujratInscription:
"The Blessed and Exalted Allah says, 'And verily, mosques are for Allah only; hence invoke not anyone else with Allah.' This edifice was originally built by the infidels. After the advent of Islam, it was converted into a mosque. Sermon was delivered here for sixty-seven years. Due to the sedition of the infidels, it was again destroyed. When during the reign of the Sultan of the time, Ahmad, the affairs of each Iqta attained magnificence, Bahadur, the Sarkhail, once again carried out repairs. Through the generosity of Divine munificence, it became like new."
Name of the structure: Masjid at Manv iLocation: Manvi in KarnatakaInscription:
"Praise be to Allah that by the decree of the Parvardigar, a mosque has been converted out of a temple as a sign of religion in the reign of the world- conquering emperor, the Sultan who is the asylum of the Faith and the possessor of the crown, who's kingdom is young, viz. Firuz Shah Bahmani, who is the cause of Exuberant spring in the garden of religion, Adu'l-Fath the king who conquered. After the victory of the emperor, the chief of chiefs, Safdar (the valiant commander) of the age, received the fort. The builder of this noble place of prayer is Muhammad Zahir Aqchi, the pivot of the Faith. He constructed in the year 809 from the Migration of the Chosen (prophet Muhammdad) this Ka'ba like momento."
Name of the structure: Mausoleum of Shykh 'Abdullah Shah Changal Location: Dhar in Madhya PradeshInscription:
"The centre became Muhammadan first by him(*) (and) all the banners of religion were spread... This lion-man came from the centre of religion to this old temple with a large force. He broke the images of the false deities, and turned the idol temple into a mosque. When Rai Bhoj saw this, through wisdom he embraced Islam with the family of his brave warriors(**). This quarter became illuminated by the light of the Muhammadan law, and the customs of the infidels became obsolete and abolished." *Shykh 'Abdullah Shah Changal **In this case the Hindu King was Bhoj II and during his reign Jalalu'd-Din Khalji (AD 1290-1296) of Delhi invaded Malwa. Changal was the Muslim missionary who accompanied Khalji's army. This army after plundering and looting the kingdom of Bhoj II converted a Hindu temple into a mosque and forced the ruler and his subjects to accept Islam.
Name of the structure: Jami' Masjid Location: Malan in GujratInscription:
"...(The Prophet), on him be peace, says 'He who builds a mosque in the world, the Exalted Allah builds for him a palace in Paradise.' In the auspicious time of the government and peaceful time of Mahmud Shah, son of Muhammad Shah, the sultan, the Jami', mosque was constructed on the hill of the fort of Malun (or Malwan) by Khan-i-Azam Ulugh Khan...at the request of the thandar Kabir, (son of Diya), the building was constructed by the son of Ulugh Khan who is magnimonius, just, generous, brave and who suppressed the wrteched infidels. He eradicated the idol-houses and mine of infidelity, along with the idols... with the edge of his sword, and made ready this edifice... He made its walls and doors out of the idols; the back of every stone became the place for prostration of the believer..."
Name of the structure: Jami' Masjid Location: Amod in GujratInscription:
"Allah and His grace. When divine favour was bestowed on Khalil Shah, he constructed the Jami' Masjid for the decoration of Islam; he ruined the idol-house and temple of the polytheists, (and) completed the Masjid and pulpit in its place. Without doubt, his building was accepted by Allah."
Name of the structure: Shrine of Shah MadarLocation: Narwar in Mdhya pradeshInscription:
"Dilawar Khan, the chief among the king's viceroys, caused this mosque to built which is like a place of shelter for the favourites. Infidelity has been subdued, and Islam has triumphed because of him. The idols have bowed to him and the temples have been razed to the ground along with their foundations, and mosques and worship houses are flowing with riches."
Name of structure: Hamman Darwaza Masjid Location: Jaunpur in Uttar PradeshInscription:
"Thanks by the guidance of Everlasting and the Living Allah, this house of infidelity became the niche of prayer. As a reward for that, the Generous Lord constructed an abode for the builder in paradise..."
Name of structure: Jami Masjid Location: Ghoda in MaharashtraInscription:
"O Allah O Muhammed ! O Ali ! When Mir Muhammed Zaman made up his mind, he opened the door of prosperity on himself by his own hand. He demolished thirty-three idol temples and by divine grace laid the foundation of a building in the abode of predition."
Name of structure: Gachinala MasjidLocation: Kurnool District of Andhra PradeshInscription:
"He is Allah, may be glorified..During the august rule of...Muhammed Shah, there was a well established idol-house in Kuhmum...Muhammed Salih...razed to the ground, the edifice of the idol-house and broke the idols in a manly fashion. He constructed on its site a suitable mosque, towering above the building of all."
The above was a presentation of inscriptions on mosques and other Islamic structures in India. These inscriptions, as you clearly read, glorify and justify the acts of the barbaric Muslim invaders by invoking Allah and the Koran. Thus this leads us to the conclusion that Islam openly supports the criminal acts of loot, plunder, rape, murder, torment, torture and destruction!!
Despite these findings, the Indian media and their left cohorts continue to ignore the facts and go ahead with their ‘sick’ular schemes. The eminent historians ranging from Romila Thapar and Irfan Habib have preferred to ignore the inconvenient questions by Sitaram Goel. Koenraad Elst calls this technique as "Strangling by silence".
The travesty of Hindu Temples is that they are not owned by the Hindus. These Temples are owned and maintained by the secular Government of India under the Endowment Act. The further tragedy is that the funds obtained by running of the Hindu Temples do not go for the maintenance and development of the Temples but in fact go towards minority development like the madrasas which are the breeding grounds for terror.
To put an end to such practices, a meeting of Hindu seers, sages and priests had taken place which had resulted in The TIRUPATI DECLARATION
The following are the three cardinal Articles of this Historic Declaration: 1) We Hindus assembled here (in Tirupati) declare that we do not support, directly or indirectly, any group, institution, religion, media, or political force, which preaches, practices or works against Hindu Dharma in this country; 2) We appeal to all the Hindus in this country and elsewhere to subscribe to and support this declaration, the Tirupati Declaration; 3) We want all the Hindu religious endowments to be managed by Hindu bodies, and not by the government. We want the secular government to release all religious endowments from its hold –(July 25, 2006)

When two roads diverge: Voice of India vs RSS

2008-02-23T06:22:00.000-08:00

In any movement, there are conflicts between men of ideas and men of action. You may call it as a combat between idealism and real politik.
Hindu nationalism is no different in this regard. Currently, there are two trends in the movement. One is the intellectual movement with Voice of India as its vanguard and the other is the massive organization of the ubiquitous Sangh Parivar with its vast reach in all sectors from politics to religion and from labour to students wing.
In fact, the clash between men of ideas and men of action is not a new phenomenon in Hindu nationalism. Even in the initial days, V.D. Savarkar and K.B. Hedgewar had differences in their approach. While Hedgewar considered Savarkar too intellectual and less practical, Savarkar did not repose much faith in Dr. Hedgewar’s plans.
The Sangh Parivar views the Voice of India polemics as rash while the Voice of India views the Sangh Parivar as ineffective in implementation of its idea despite the large size of the organization.
Voice of India published a book – Time for Stock Taking – Whither Sangh Parivar – that was a virtual chargesheet against the Sangh Parivar for its failures on many fronts. The basic crux of the allegation is that the Sangh Parivar has taken jargons like Sarva Dharma Samabhava too seriously and has not done enough to expose the dangers of Islamic jihad. The Sangh Parivar’s efforts to bring Muslims into the national mainstream are ridiculed as a “secular influence”.
The Sangh Parivar’s failure to implement its ideologies despite having its own government at power is also mentioned. They have also been targeted for ignoring the four demands of Hindu society – construction of Ram Temple, implementation of Uniform Civil Code, Abrogation of article 370 and scrapping of the Haj Funds.
On the other hand, the Sangh Parivar views Voice of India as being too intellectual and less practical. Managing the multidimensional movement is surely a tough job. Notwithstanding the charges, it must be said that Voice of India has created a group of elite intellectual Hindus who are bent on disseminating their ideologies through any means.
Meanwhile, the Sangh Parivar continues with its task of organization which is a slow process given the vastness and the conservative nature of Hindu society.
To those who are new to these jargons, Voice of India is a publishing house founded by Late Sitaram Goel, an ex-Communist. However, he became a staunch Hindu after meeting his ‘Guru” Ram Swarup and began exposing the machinations of Indian secularists, historians and politicians through his sharp, acerbic and polemical pen. He also inspired a legion of writers to write along the line.
His acidic writing in The Organiser drew the attention of the RSS top brass who did not approve his write-ups although they contained the bitter truth. He started his own publishing house and began exposing leftists and the enemies of the Hindu society in his own inimitable manner.

Hindu Nationalists, postmodernists and intellectual dishonesty

2008-02-23T02:53:00.000-08:00

Walter Truett Anderson identifies postmodernism as one of four world views. These four worldviews are the postmodern-ironist, which sees truth as socially constructed, the scientific-rational in which truth is 'found' through methodical, disciplined inquiry, the social-traditional in which truth is found in the heritage of American and Western civilisation and the neo-romantic in which truth is found either through attaining harmony with nature and/or spiritual exploration of the inner self. (Walter Truett Anderson (1996). The Fontana Post-mosernism Reader).
Most of those in the Hindu nationalist movement can fit into the neo-romantic version who believe that truth is found either through attaining harmony with nature and / or spiritual exploration of the inner self. There are some Hindu nationalists who opine that truth may even be found in the heritage of traditional Indian civilization. There are atheists and rationalists too in the vast fold of Hindu nationalism.
In principle, Marxists are supposed to be atheists. In India, the earlier generations of Marxists were indeed atheists, though they followed the Stalinist strategy of a "common front" in forming an alliance with Christians and Muslims against the principal enemy, Hinduism. This way, their secularism of the Marxist is being infiltrated with religious elements. It is becoming a "religious secularism. That is why they are silent on Muslim and Christian excesses.
Christian and Muslim denominational schools -- which receive state funding under Art. 30 of the Constitution (unlike Hindu denominational schools, which are excluded from this provision for not being "minority institutions") -- mix religion with academics in their curriculum. Yet these secular worthies never express any objection to this massive nationwide intrusion of religion into education at vast taxpayers' expense.
Also, when Hindus complain of factual problems such as missionary subversion or Muslim terrorism, it is always dismissed as “RSS propaganda".
Meera Nanda and the Prophets Facing Backwards:
Meera Nanda is a postmodernist who has spun a yarn on Hindu nationalism in her book – Prophets Facing Backward”. In her book she creates a scare scenario about Hindu metaphysics taking on the garb of science.
She says that those who are deeply skeptical about traditional religious claims often are shallowly accepting of New Age, Eastern, and holistic ways of looking at the world.
“But as secularists have begun to take on religion there is a danger that in calling for a rigorous evidence-based examination of one area they leave other areas untouched. In banishing religion from the front door some of these secularists are happily letting other forms of supernatural thinking in through the back. “
“… Attacks by feminists, environmentalists and others on the sins of 'reductionist western science' have created a positive aura around 'holistic science' which, it is claimed, overcomes the gap between the subject and the object. It is easy to debunk faith. Faith is by definition a relationship of trust regardless of evidence. “
“Spiritualism has learned to dress up its metaphysical abstractions in the clothes of empiricism, neuro-physiology and quantum physics. In contrast to the obvious irrationality of believing in an all-powerful, all-knowing invisible being, belief in 'spiritual energies' which can be 'directly experienced' by anyone simply by altering the state of their consciousness can appear so much more rational, even 'scientific'. “
Nanda says that Hindu metaphysics is equally unscientific. Nanda takes Sam Harris, author of "The End of Faith," to task for not being as critical of his own spiritual beliefs as he is of Islamic, Christian, and other fundamentalists.
“But this bilious attack on faith, the aspect of the book which has received all the attention, only sets the stage for what seems to be his real goal: a defense, nay, a celebration of Harris' own Dzogchen Buddhist and Advaita Vedantic Hindu spirituality. Spirituality is the answer to Islam's and Christianity's superstitions and wars, he tells us. Spiritualism is not just good for your soul, it is good for your mind as well: it can make you "happy, peaceful and even wise". Results of spiritual practices are "genuinely desirable [for they are] not just emotional but cognitive and conceptual".
She points along these lines that while God, Allah and Jehovah are abstractions. The same is the case with Hindu metaphysics like “being”, “nonduality” and “pure awareness”
“In science (Thomas Kuhn notwithstanding) anyone with functioning senses, adequate training and right apparatus can see the same star, the same DNA molecule, the same electron. But not everyone with adequate training in meditation techniques, and the right atmosphere, sees the same mystical reality: some see God, some see nothing at all and some, without any meditation at all, see what the mystics see. The mystical beliefs which Harris so approves of are every bit as unscientific, untestable and unverifiable as the religious belief he so aggressively attacks.“
Refuting Meera Nanda and postmodernists : Meera Nanda and her cohorts of postmodernists are actually worried that Hindu spirituality is gaining acceptance among the intellectuals of the west – who have discarded their irrational Abrahamic faith with Hindu/Buddhist/New Age spirituality. She says that Hindu spirituality – even though it may seem sophisticated – is as much shallow as the Abrahamic faiths. She is wrong here. The Abrahamic faiths offer paradise in heaven or Janaat in the afterlife. However, the Hindu spiritual practices are more focused on the moment. Most of the meditation techniques – whether it be the vipassana or Tantra/Yoga – do not offer any after-life inducements. They are ways of getting centred on the self. They are exercises that aim at well-being of the individual with little emphasis on belief. Her storm in the tea cup may disaffect a neophyte not an expert.

The Roots of Hindu nationalism

2008-02-23T01:52:00.001-08:00

An unbroken streak of more than 1000 years The origin of Hindu nationalism is quite debatable. However, the earliest reference to Hindu nationalism comes from the epic Vishnu Purana. The Sanskrit verses state that the the land south of the Himalayas and extending up to the sea is Hindustan or which is the homeland of the Hindus.
The passions of Hindu nationalism were whipped up only after the Islamic invasion. In this regard, Raja Dahir was perhaps the first Hind nationalist. Dahir – the last Sindhi Hindu King -- who fought to his last breath while defending Sindh against the Muslims had remarked before the war that he would be honoured if victorious and history would remember him forever if he were to be martyred for the sake of his motherland. Raja Dahir died in the battle.
When Dahir's severed head was presented to Hajjaj, a courtier sang: "we have conquered Sindh after enormous trouble.... Betrayed is Dahir by Mohammed Bin Qasim's masterly strategy. Rejoice, the evil doers are disgraced. Their wealth has been brought away . . . They are now solitary and brittle as eggs and their women, fair and fragrant as musk-deer, are now asleep in our harems'.'
Similarly, there were a constant flow of Hindu nationalists in the form of Kings, Chieftains, Ministers, Sages and Saints who put in their best efforts to keep afloat the spirit of Hindu nationalism. Others who can be classified under this category are Prithiviraj, Rana Pratap, Krishnadevaraya, Guru Gobind Singh and Shivaji.
After the British entry, Hindu nationalism took on a new dimension. This category of Hindu nationalists were English educated and were in a position to understand both the sides of the coin. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Dayananda Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda and Aurobindo were all for modernization and removal of superstitions while retaining the best of Hindu tradition. Later moderate Congress leaders like Lokamanya Bala Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Roy and Bipin Chandra Paul also had streaks of aggressive hindu nationalism in them and their part in the spread of the ideology cannot be ignored by any standards.
However, exclusive Hindu nationalism was born only after the establishment of Hindu Mahasabha in 1915 and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh in the year 1925. Savarkar and Moonje, who founded Hindu Mahasabha, were convinced that the Congress policy of appeasement was disastrous. They were of the view that the only way the Hindu society could survive was through politicization and militarization of Hindu society. Their vision was on the dot as the docile Hindus had to contend with Muslim bullying and domineering British rulers. In fact, when Savarkar encouraged Hindu youths to enroll in the British army so that they could receive military training, he was jeered as a "recruiting agent" by the eminent leftists of his time. Even the Hindu Mahasabha did not serve Hindu society to itsfullest extent as it only had a nominal support in the Hindu society.
The Hedgewar vision was quite different from Savarkar. Dr. Hedgewar’s diagnosis of the Hindu society was as follows: The Hindu society has everything – talents and resources. However what it lacks is an organizer and organization. It is due to the lack of organization that the Hindu society is diseased. The Sangh – that he founded in 1925 – was supposed to be the panacea for Hindu society’s ills. However, he made it clear that Sangh is not an organization in the Hindu society. It is the organization of Hindu society. Today, the Sangh has spawned into a multifarious organization with its tentacles all across the world.

Hindu Nationalists and Casteism

2008-02-23T00:39:00.000-08:00

According to Prof. Koenraad Elst, Jati and varna have, for the most part, helped rather than hurt Hinduism Read this article to find out why?
In an inter-faith debate, most Hindus can easily be put on the defensive with a single word-caste. Any anti-Hindu polemist can be counted on to allege that "the typically Hindu caste system is the most cruel apartheid, imposed by the barbaric white Aryan invaders on the gentle dark-skinned natives." Here's a more balanced and historical account of this controversial institution.
Merits of the Caste System
The caste system is often portrayed as the ultimate horror. Inborn inequality is indeed unacceptable to us moderns, but this does not preclude that the system has also had its merits.
Caste is perceived as an "exclusion-from," but first of all it is a form of "belonging-to," a natural structure of solidarity. For this reason, Christian and Muslim missionaries found it very difficult to lure Hindus away from their communities. Sometimes castes were collectively converted to Islam, and Pope Gregory XV (1621-23) decreed that the missionaries could tolerate caste distinction among Christian converts; but by and large, caste remained an effective hurdle to the destruction of Hinduism through conversion. That is why the missionaries started attacking the institution of caste and in particular the brahmin caste. This propaganda has bloomed into a full-fledged anti-brahminism, the Indian equivalent of anti-Semitism.
Every caste had a large measure of autonomy, with its own judiciary, duties and privileges, and often its own temples. Inter-caste affairs were settled at the village council by consensus; even the lowest caste had veto power. This autonomy of intermediate levels of society is the antithesis of the totalitarian society in which the individual stands helpless before the all-powerful state. This decentralized structure of civil society and of the Hindu religious commonwealth has been crucial to the survival of Hinduism under Muslim rule. Whereas Buddhism was swept away as soon as its monasteries were destroyed, Hinduism retreated into its caste structure and weathered the storm.
Caste also provided a framework for integrating immigrant communities: Jews, Zoroastrians and Syrian Christians. They were not only tolerated, but assisted in efforts to preserve their distinctive traditions.
Typically Hindu?
It is routinely claimed that caste is a uniquely Hindu institution. Yet, counter examples are not hard to come by. In Europe and elsewhere, there was (or still is) a hierarchical distinction between noblemen and commoners, with nobility only marrying nobility. Many tribal societies punished the breach of endogamy rules with death.
Coming to the Indian tribes, we find Christian missionaries claiming that "tribals are not Hindus because they do not observe caste." In reality, missionary literature itself is rife with testimonies of caste practices among tribals. A spectacular example is what the missions call "the Mistake:" the attempt, in 1891, to make tribal converts in Chhotanagpur inter-dine with converts from other tribes. It was a disaster for the mission. Most tribals renounced Christianity because they chose to preserve the taboo on inter-dining. As strongly as the haughtiest brahmin, they refused to mix what God hath separated.
Endogamy and exogamy are observed by tribal societies the world over. The question is therefore not why Hindu society invented this system, but how it could preserve these tribal identities even after outgrowing the tribal stage of civilization. The answer lies largely in the expanding Vedic culture's intrinsically respectful and conservative spirit, which ensured that each tribe could preserve its customs and traditions, including its defining custom of tribal endogamy.
Description and History
The Portuguese colonizers applied the term caste, "lineage, breed," to two different Hindu institutions: jati and varna. The effective unit of the caste system is the jati, birth-unit, an endogamous group into which you are born, and within which you marry. In principle, you can only dine with fellow members, but the pressures of modern life have eroded this rule. The several thousands of jatis are subdivided in exogamous clans, gotra. This double division dates back to tribal society.
By contrast, varna is the typical functional division of an advanced society-the Indus/Saraswati civilization, 3rd millennium, bce. The youngest part of the Rg-Veda describes four classes: learned brahmins born from Brahma's mouth, martial kshatriya-born from his arms; vaishya entrepreneurs born from His hips and shudra workers born from His feet. Everyone is a shudra by birth. Boys become dwija, twice-born, or member of one of the three upper varnas upon receiving the sacred thread in the upanayana ceremony.
The varna system expanded from the Saraswati-Yamuna area and got firmly established in the whole of Aryavarta (Kashmir to Vidarbha, Sindh to Bihar). It counted as a sign of superior culture setting the arya, civilized, heartland apart from the surrounding mleccha, barbaric, lands. In Bengal and the South, the system was reduced to a distinction between brahmins and shudras. Varna is a ritual category and does not fully correspond to effective social or economic status. Thus, half of the princely rulers in British India were shudras and a few were brahmins, though it is the kshatriya function par excellence. Many shudras are rich, many brahmins impoverished.
The Mahabharata defines the varna qualities thus: "He in whom you find truthfulness, generosity, absence of hatred, modesty, goodness and self-restraint, is a brahmana. He who fulfills the duties of a knight, studies the scriptures, concentrates on acquisition and distribution of riches, is a kshatriya. He who loves cattle-breeding, agriculture and money, is honest and well-versed in scripture, is a vaishya. He who eats anything, practises any profession, ignores purity rules, and takes no interest in scriptures and rules of life, is a shudra." The higher the varna, the more rules of self-discipline are to be observed. Hence, a jati could collectively improve its status by adopting more demanding rules of conduct, e.g. vegetarianism.
A person's second name usually indicates his jati or gotra. Further, one can use the following varna titles: Sharma (shelter, or joy) indicates the brahmin, Varma (armour) the kshatriya, Gupta (protected) the vaishya and Das (servant) the shudra. In a single family, one person may call himself Gupta (varna), another Agrawal (jati), yet another Garg (gotra). A monk, upon renouncing the world, sheds his name along with his caste identity.
Untouchability
Below the caste hierarchy are the untouchables, or harijan (literally "God's people"), dalits ("oppressed"), paraiah (one such caste in South India), or scheduled castes. They make up about 16% of the Indian population, as many as the upper castes combined.
Untouchability originates in the belief that evil spirits surround dead and dying substances. People who work with corpses, body excretions or animal skins had an aura of danger and impurity, so they were kept away from mainstream society and from sacred learning and ritual. This often took grotesque forms: thus, an untouchable had to announce his polluting proximity with a rattle, like a leper.
Untouchability is unknown in the Vedas, and therefore repudiated by neo-Vedic reformers like Dayanand Saraswati, Narayan Guru, Gandhiji and Savarkar. In 1967, Dr. Ambedkar, a dalit by birth and fierce critic of social injustice in Hinduism and Islam, led a mass conversion to Buddhism, partly on the (unhistorical) assumption that Buddhism had been an anti-caste movement. The 1950 constitution outlawed untouchability and sanctioned positive discrimination programs for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes. Lately, the Vishva Hindu Parishad has managed to get even the most traditionalist religious leaders on the anti-untouchability platform, so that they invite harijans to Vedic schools and train them as priests. In the villages, however, pestering of dalits is still a regular phenomenon, occasioned less by ritual purity issues than by land and labor disputes. However, the dalits' increasing political clout is accelerating the elimination of untouchability.
Caste Conversion
In the Mahabharata, Yuddhishthira affirms that varna is defined by the qualities of head and heart, not by one's birth. Krishna teaches that varna is defined by one's activity (karma) and quality (guna). Till today, it is an unfinished debate to what extent one's "quality" is determined by heredity or by environmental influence. And so, while the hereditary view has been predominant for long, the non-hereditary conception of varna has always been around as well, as is clear from the practice of varna conversion. The most famous example is the 17th-century freedom fighter Shivaji, a shudra who was accorded kshatriya status to match his military achievements. The geographical spread of Vedic tradition was achieved through large-scale initiation of local elites into the varna order. From 1875 onwards, the Arya Samaj has systematically administered the "purification ritual" (shuddhi) to Muslim and Christian converts and to low-caste Hindus, making the dwija. Conversely, the present policy of positive discrimination has made upper-caste people seek acceptance into the favored Scheduled Castes.
Veer Savarkar, the ideologue of Hindu nationalism, advocated intermarriage to unify the Hindu nation even at the biological level. Most contemporary Hindus, though now generally opposed to caste inequality, continue to marry within their respective jati because they see no reason for their dissolution.
Racial Theory of Caste
Nineteenth-century Westerners projected the colonial situation and the newest race theories on the caste system: the upper castes were white invaders lording it over the black natives. This outdated view is still repeated ad-nauseam by anti-Hindu authors: now that "idolatry" has lost its force as a term of abuse, "racism" is a welcome innovation to demonize Hinduism. In reality, India is the region where all skin color types met and mingled, and you will find many brahmins as black as Nelson Mandela. Ancient "Aryan" heroes like Rama, Krishna, Draupadi, Ravana (a brahmin) and a number of Vedic seers were explicitly described as being dark-skinned.
But doesn't varna mean "skin color?" The effective meaning of varna is "splendor, color," and hence "distinctive quality" or "one segment in a spectrum." The four functional classes constitute the "colors" in the spectrum of society. Symbolic colors are allotted to the varna on the basis of the cosmological scheme of "three qualities" (triguna): white is sattva (truthful), the quality typifying the brahmin; red is rajas (energetic), for the kshatriya; black is tamas (inert, solid), for the shudra; yellow is allotted to the vaishya, who is defined by a mixture of qualities.
Finally, caste society has been the most stable society in history. Indian communists used to sneer that "India has never even had a revolution." Actually, that is no mean achievement.

The manual of Indian secularism

2008-02-21T08:50:00.000-08:00

How Hindus have become second class citizens in their own land
In India, Christians and Muslims enjoy extra privileges in the name of ‘minority protection’ and ‘Secularism’. A consequence of this ill-advised step is a distortion of language that has made honest debate all but impossible.
The term ‘Secularism’, which means separation of religion and government, has become a tool of discrimination against the Hindus. (Articles 29 and 30 protect linguistic minorities also, but that does not alter the fact that Hindus are discriminated against.) The Indian Constitution draws some of its ideas from the American Constitution but ignores important lessons of history.
In framing the Constitution, the founding fathers of the American Republic showed that they had learnt from Europe’s history of religious conflict by excluding the influence of religion on the affairs of the State by adopting the First Amendment. And this is what secularism really means.
But the framers of the Indian Constitution failed to draw the same lesson and gave special privileges to the predatory religions of Christianity and Islam, which have been tools of imperialism. These special privileges, which sometimes lead to extra-constitutional demands, are being sheltered in the name of ‘Secularism’. This poses grave threat to the integrity of the Indian Republic. It also makes honest debate all but impossible.
The fact there that have not so far been major religious conflicts in India — other than the Jihad in Kashmir — is due to two reasons: (1) the tolerance of the Hindu community and the readiness of its leaders to compromise and even appease; (2) general ignorance on the part of the Hindus of the discriminatory nature of the Constitution and even the legal system.
To take a concrete example, there are massive subsidies for Haj pilgrims, but little help for Kashmiri Hindu refugees in Delhi. The Gujral Government even provided compensation for the victims of a fire in Mecca, but there was no such help for Kashmiri refugees in India. But with rising levels of education and national awareness, neither unlimited tolerance nor continued ignorance on the part of the Hindus can be taken for granted. The Indian Constitution must be revised to remove this poison seed before its insidious effects reach unmanageable proportions.
Here are a few manifestations of hypocritical secularism :
· When President George Bush inaugurated America's National Church, he was not called communal; but when President Dr. Rajendra Prasad inaugurated the renovated Somnath Temple, he was dubbed communal.
· President Ronald Reagan proclaimed year 1983 as the year of the Bible but, if Indian leaders were to declare a year of the Gita, it will surely be termed communal.
· The British monarch is considered a guardian of Christianity even though people of diverse faiths live in that country. The same holds good in Europe and America too vis-a-vis the heads of state and the state religion. but if the Indian President were to describe himself as a guardian of Hinduism, he will surely be branded as communal.
· Shrimad Bhagwad Gita is denied entry into Arab States; but questioning this policy will be deemed communal.
· The Indian Army has built several mosques in Jammu & Kashmir; but if Hindus were to request to build a temple, that would be termed communal.
· Detailing India's glorious heritage is considered communal.
· Muslim madrasas, where Hindus are described as kafirs and the students are taught to hate them, are on the increase. This has resulted in communalism gathering momentum and the prospect of a bloody civil war ending in the break-up of India is looming larger. But any talk of reining in such madrasas is considered autocratic and communal.
The Hindus have the following question for the secularists?
In India 85% of the population is Hindu. If Hindus are intolerant, how come Masjids and Madrasas are thriving? How come Muslims are offering Namaz on the road? How come Muslims are proclaiming five times a day on loudspeakers that there is no God except Allah?
When Hindus gave away 30% of Bharat to the Muslims for a song, why do they have to beg now for their three sacred places out of thirty thousand destroyed by the Muslims?
When the Constitution of India advocates equal rights to all the citizens, then why do we have different laws for people of different religious faiths? Why can't we have a Uniform Civil Code?
When Haj pilgrims are given subsidy, why Hindu pilgrims to Amarnath, Sabarimalai and Kailash Mansarover are taxed?
Why are the temple revenues diverted to fund Haj subsidy and the welfare activities of Muslims and Christians?
Why is post-Godhra blown out of proportion, when no one talks of the ethnic cleansing of four lakh Hindus from Kashmir?
If Muslims & Christians are minorities in Maharashtra, UP, Bihar, etc. are Hindus not minorities in J&K, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, etc.? Why are Hindus denied minority rights in these states?
In what way is J&K different from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu or Uttar Pradesh to have Article 370?
Is there one Mullah or Maulvi who has declared a 'fatwa' against terrorists?
Why did Gandhiji object to the decision of the cabinet and insist that the Somnath Temple should be reconstructed out of public funds, not government funds, when in January 1948 he pressurised Nehru and Patel to carry on renovation of the mosques of Delhi at government expenses?
When Christian and Muslim schools can teach Bible and Quran, why Hindus cannot teach Gita or Ramayan?
The percentage of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh after partition in 1947 was 17 and 25 respectively. Today their percentage is almost nil in Pakistan and 10.5 in Bangladesh. What happened to the missing Hindus? Do Hindus have human rights?

Indian English media and selective amnesia

2008-02-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

Hindu genocides are ignored while others are exaggerated
Chauvinism, revivalism, obscurantism, Hindu backlash, Hindu fundamentalism and plain insanity? This is the way the Indian media describes Hindu nationalists.
The hypocricy of academic sophistry is matched by double standards of the Indian elite. There is a moral and intellectual degeneration when it expresses solicitous concern for minorities. No fear of the Press Council, no respect for the majority sentiments, no shame in voicing undemocratic views – the aim is undiluted appeasement of segments which have taken advantage of the assymitrical secularism in India.
The real problem is that those in the Indian media are dimwits and are suckers for the propaganda of the Mullah-Padre-Comrade-Corporate brigade.
Let us analyse the way the English media in India covered a major event in the post-independent India – the ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Kashmir. More than three lakh Kashmiri Hindu pandits were driven out of their homeland by Islamic militants and were forced to live in refugee camps under inhuman conditions. This tragedy was practically ignored because the victims happened to be Hindus. However, a communal riot that took place in Gujarat (involving a thousand death to the maximum) was internationalized as a case of State failure all because most of the victims happened to be Muslims. There you are – Hindu genocides can be ignored as the media has a secular licence.
The matter did not end here. The media and its cohorts demanded the arrest of the democratically elected Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi under international laws. This only showed their lack of faith in the Indian faith and their transnational loyalties. Of course, the case was ignored but the secular howls did have its ramification as the Gujarat Chief Minister was denied a visa to USA.
When Narendra Modi was given a thumping majority by the electorate, the mainstream English media sneered stating that he cannot travel to the US on a valid visa. Their contempt of democracy was evident.
Islamic rampage in the media: There were several other instances. When The Hindu published a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed, their office was ransacked. All that the newspaper did was to come out with a front apology. However, the same apology was not forthcoming in the case of insult to Hindu deities.But it seems that the Hindus have taken a cue from their jehadi counterparts. The latest that took place was in the case of M F Hussain – who is given to insulting Hindu faith by depicting Hindu deities nude on the pretext of artistic licence. However his artistic licence does not come in the domain of Islam as his Islamic figures are fully clothed. When the NDTV news channel nominated M F Hussain for Bharat Ratna – the highest civilian honour in India – the NDTV office in Ahmedabad was ransacked. Atleast the Gujarati Hindus have realized that the only way to silence the English language media is to attack in an Islamic manner.

Hindu Nationalists for Uniform civil code

2008-02-20T23:50:00.000-08:00

Despite Opposition from Mullah-Padre-Comrade brigade
The term civil code is used to cover the entire body of laws governing rights relating to property and otherwise in personal matters like marriage, divorce, maintenance, adoption and inheritance.
As things stand, there are different laws governing these aspects for different communities in India. Thus, the laws governing inheritance or divorce among Hindus would be different from those pertaining to Muslims or Christians and so on.
The demand for a uniform civil code essentially means unifying all these “personal laws” to have one set of secular laws dealing with these aspects that will apply to all citizens of India irrespective of the community they belong to. Though the exact contours of such a uniform code have not been spelt out, it should presumably incorporate the most modern and progressive aspects of all existing personal laws while discarding those which are retrograde.
What does the Indian Constitution have to say on the subject?
Article 44, which is one of the “directive principles” laid down in the Constitution says: “The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.” As Article 37 of the Constitution itself makes clear, the directive principles “shall not be enforceable by any court”. Nevertheless, they are “fundamental in the governance of the country”.
What has the Supreme Court said on the issue?
Very recently, while hearing a case pertaining to whether a Christian has the right to bequeath property to a charity, the court regretted the fact that the state had not yet implemented a uniform civil code. This is not the first time that the apex court has expressed itself in favour of a uniform civil code or taken a dim view of the government’s and legislature’s inability to bring it into being. There have been other occasions — like during the Shah Bano case and later in the Sarla Mudgal case — where too the apex court has come out strongly in favour of the enactment of a uniform civil code. However, none of these comments are binding on the executive or the legislature and do not amount to orders. At best, they exert some moral pressure on the Indian state to move towards formulating a uniform civil code.
Would a uniform code affect the personal laws of only one community?
Not at all. The perception that a uniform civil code would necessitate changes in only Muslim personal law is quite incorrect. As women’s organisations and others have repeatedly pointed out, personal laws governing different communities in India have a common feature — they are all gender-biased.
For instance, the law pertaining to succession among Hindus is unequal in the way it treats men and women. A truly modern, secular, non-discriminatory and progressive code would, therefore, mean changes in all personal laws. The concept of the “Hindu undivided family”, at least insofar as it pertains to succession, would also obviously have to undergo a change under a uniform civil code. Similarly, Muslim, Christian and other personal laws too would have to change. This also explains why historically changes in personal law have been resisted not just by one community, but by the ruling orthodoxy in all of them.
What had prevented a uniform civil code from coming into being?
Since it involves a change in laws, an obvious prerequisite is sufficient support for the move within Parliament. The reason this has been difficult to achieve has been because most parties have held the view that the reform of laws pertaining to the personal domain is better done by pressure for such change from within communities rather than as an imposition from above. Further, for historical reasons, the demand for a uniform civil code has acquired communal overtones which have overshadowed the innate merits of the proposal.
To put the delay in perspective, however, it should be added that Article 44 of the Constitution is by no means the only directive principle to have not been implemented more than half a century after it was laid down. Most directive principles continue to remain pious doctrines rather than the law of the land.

Mother Teresa, reforms and Terrorists

2008-02-20T05:16:00.000-08:00

Church is a MNC with Pope as its CEO after all poverty is big business
Poverty is bad enough and when somebody is making money out of poverty, it isn not just bad it is abominable. Our noble missionaries are doing just that. Christian missionaries have two faces in India. One is represented by the likes Mother Theresa who have made big business out of poverty. The other thrives on terrorism. Remember that the North East is dominated by the Christian missionaries who went there on the pretext of tribal reforms. Both have hoodwinked the naïve Hindus to part with their money to further their own fraudulent schemes.
Christopher Hitchins on the fraudulent enterprise of Mother Theresa: There are many Indians who object to the image of their society and its people that is projected. From Mother Teresa and from her fans you would receive the impression that in Calcutta there is nothing but torpor, squalor, and misery, and people barely have the energy to brush the flies from their eyes while extending a begging bowl. Really and truly that is a slander on a fantastically interesting, brave, highly evolved, and cultured city, which has universities, film schools, theaters, book shops, literary cafes, and very vibrant politics. There is indeed a terrible problem of poverty and overcrowding, but despite that there isn't all that much mendicancy. People do not tug at your sleeve and beg. They are proud of the fact that they don't. The sources of Calcutta's woes and miseries are the very overpopulation that the church says is no problem, and the mass influx of refugees from neighboring regions that have been devastated by religious and sectarian warfare in the name of God. So those who are believers owe Calcutta big time, they should indeed be working to alleviate what they are responsible for. But the pretense that they are doing so is a big fraud.
Indeed Mother Teresa gave India a bad name. The missionaries who come to India on the pretext of service are busy engaging in questionable proselytisation activities.

Check out this incident: An Australian missionary – Graham Staines – was killed in a tribal rage in Orissa by Dara Singh after Staines indulged in denigration of idols held sacred by the tribals. Arun Shourie in his book – Harvesting our Souls – had mentioned that Staines had a hand gun with him at the time of his death and he was not a saint as made out to be. He also had a criminal background in his own country. However, all these were not covered by the Indian media which tarnished India’s reputation by stating that ugly Hindu fundamentalists had burnt to death a poor honest missionary – who was serving tribal deep in the jungle.

Or check another incident when four RSS workers were kidnapped by the NLFT in Tripura. The NLFT was backed by the Presbeterian Church. The RSS refused to pay and the four social workers were put to death.. The Church wields enormous powers in India disproporationate to its percentage of population.

It has the largest chain of education and health care institutions. This was largely because of the largesse dished out to it by the colonial regime before they quit in 1947. Later, they were given additional help through the minority appeasement schemes of the successive Indian Governments..

As Hitchins say most of the guilt-ridden Westerners pay the Church assuming that they are doing noble work in India. However, in India all that they do is mindless proselytisation and emotional blackmail. The ulterior motive is obvious. Education and healthcare are the means to proselytisation.
Finally, an incident occurred when a scribe asked Mother Theresa whether she supported the Church in the Galileo case. The Mother did not bat an eyelid to say that she supported the Church. Obviously, she was a pawn in the hands of the Church.
The Church lobby awarded her the Noble Prize and gave India a bad name as one wretched in poverty. Its dignity was ignored. The missionary report was aptly described as “Gutter Inspector’s Report” by Mahatma Gandhi way back when Catherine Mayo published her work Mother India describing only its negative.

Crypto Christian: Finally, there is a category of Christian in India who retain their original Hindu names despite their conversions. It is said that they do so to convert other unsuspecting Hindus as well as curry favours from their Western bosses. After all, the remote control behind the Indian Prime Minister is an Italian.

Hindutva, Fascism, Zionism and Left

2008-02-20T01:20:00.000-08:00

It is the Leftists who are closer to fascism than the Hindu nationalists

The Left intellectuals in India routinely dub the Hindu nationalists as Hindu fascists. It must be mentioned that the Left fundamentalists are closer to the Fascists than the Hindu nationalists.

First of all, Wikipedia describes a fascist as: Fascism is an authoritarian, political ideology (generally tied to a mass movement) that considers the individual subordinate to the interests of the state, party or society as a whole.
Now let us see how the leftists fare in this: Leftists are authoritarian. Remember Stalin’s large scale massacre. It is a political ideology. For the Communists, the individuals are indeed subordinate to the State. So leftists are closer to fascists.

Let us now check the performance of Hindu nationalists: Hindu nationalists usually abide by Integral Humanism – the ideology propagated by Deendayal Upadhyaya which is in consonance with the vedic rhythm of advaita vedanta.
The Hindu nationalists view life in terms of the four purusharthas (achievements in life). They are: (1) Dharma (Righteousness), (2) Artha (wealth), (3) Kama (desire) and (4) Moksha. The logic is that one has to be righteously earn wealth, satisfy his desire and liberate himself from the cycle of birth and death. Now moksha is a spiritual concept and that is entirely personal (left for the individual to decide).

However, the first three come in polity. A person has to live in a righteous code, earn his honest wealth and satisfy his desire through decent socially accepted means. There is nothing authoritarian about this way of life. As for the State and polity, the Hindu nationalists are not much obsessed with the State as in the west. The emphasis is on individual growth and character. The emphasis is on decentralization and local initiative. The growth model favoured by the Hindu nationalists is swadeshi or self-reliant model. So in a way, the Hindu nationalists are against capitalists as well as communists. It is the middle path of swadeshi (localization) gram vikas (rural reforms), swaraj (self-rule) and suraj (good administration), which in turn leads to Ram Rajya (the Hindu brand of Utopia).

Besides, the allegations of Hindu fascism has been rejected by the Belgian historian Koenraad Elst in his monumental tome Saffron SwastikaiH. Elst says that Savarkar supported the British against Germans by enlisting Hindus in the army. The Communists then branded Savarkar as the recruiting agent of the British. The Communists supported Hitler till his bid to invade Soviet Union. That makes the Leftists more of fascists if logic is respected (which unfortunately the Leftists have abandoned long ago).

If at all Hindu nationalism or Hindutva has any parallel with any other movement in the west, it is Zionism. Both Jews and Hindus have borne the brunt of the world swallowing ideologies (Islam, Christianity and Communism). Both faced genocide in their own lands. Both are fighting for the liberation of their motherland. Just as Zionists faced problems from the religious Jews, so did Hindu nationalists from the religious Hindus. Just as every Jews need not be Zionists, similarly every Hindu need not be a Hindu nationalist or Hindutvavadi. At the same time, Zionists are jews and Hindutvavadi are Hindus. Just as Jews have Hebrew as their root language, Hindus have Samskrit. Both Jews and Hindus do not believe in conversion unlike Islam, Christianity and Communists.
But there are differences also. Jews are monolith. Hindus are diverse. Jews are Semetic and their Gods are wrathful in keeping with their semetic faith. In the case of Hindus, there are various shades and characters – 33 crore gods and still counting along with the formless impersonal variations.

On the nature of Indian Left, it is best expressed by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (no friend of Hindu nationalists) : The Indian Communists are certainly not patriots. They are not interested in the well-being of Indian people, whatever other cause they may be seeking to serve. They speak about the country in a derogatory manner abroad. They preach violence which can only lead to a disastrous civil war.

Hindu Nationalists and Aryan Invasion

2008-02-19T21:43:00.000-08:00

Swami Vivekananda, Dayananda Saraswati and Tilak did not accept Max Muller’s theory of Aryan Invasion. They held that Hindus are indigenous and that the British invented the theory to justify their presence. Modern scientists are in line with their thinking. This article by David Frawley makes it clear
Solid Evidence debunking Aryan Invasion: European scholars following Max Muller in the nineteenth century decided that the Vedic people - whom they called the Aryans after a misinterpretation of that Vedic term - invaded India around 1500 BC. They were said to have overthrown the primitive and aboriginal culture of the time, which was thought to be Dravidian in nature, and brought a more advanced civilization to the land (though they themselves were still regarded as barbarians). The indigenous aborigines were identified as the Dasyus or inimical people mentioned in the Vedas.
The rationale behind the late date for the Vedic culture given by Muller was totally speculative and based only on linguistic grounds. Muller had assumed that the five layers of the four Vedas and Upanishads were each composed in two hundred year periods before the Buddha at 500 BC, as they were in existence by that time.
However, the rates of change for languages are quite speculative, particularly for those languages like Sanskrit or Latin which became scriptural or scholarly languages apart from common dialects. There are more changes of language within Vedic Sanskrit itself than there are in classical Sanskrit since Panini, regarded as a figure of around 500 BC, or a period of 2500 years. As classical Sanskrit has remained the same for that time period, the two hundred year strata for the Vedic language carries no weight at all. Each of these periods could have existed for any number of centuries and the two hundred year figure is likely too short a figure.
The idea that the Aryans were a particular race was not accepted by everyone. Max Muller himself rejected it. Yet it has become ingrained so much that the common mind has accepted it as a fact. This idea of the Aryans as a particular race, speaking a particular language is what I call the "first birth" of the Aryan theory. Yet in its first form, the Aryan invasion was of people who were as or more advanced in culture than the indigenous aborigines that they overcame.
Harappa and Mohenjodaro were not excavated until the early part of the twentieth century. As by this time the 1500 BC date for the Vedic people was accepted and since Harappa was dated before this it was uncritically accepted that the Harappan culture must be pre-Vedic. The Aryan invasion theory was rewritten to make the Aryans the uncivilized destroyers of the civilized Dravidian-Harappan culture. Yet few questioned this rewriting of the Aryan invasion theory in light of new evidence. This we could call the "second birth" of the Aryan invasion theory - in which the Vedic Aryans were not only violent and intolerant but the destroyers of one of the great civilizations of antiquity - which makes the Vedic Aryans appear as proto-Nazis. This is the view of the Aryan invasion that is most commonly accepted today, even after it has been accepted by all scholars that there is no evidence of any Harappan cities being destroyed by invaders. Because it is the most negative view of the Aryans, it has been most seized upon by those opposing Hindu or Vedic culture.
Meanwhile other archaeologists in the early part of this century pointed out that in the middle of the second millennium BC, various Indo-Europeans appear in the Middle East, wherein Indo-European Hittites, Mittani and Kassites conquered and ruled Mesopotamia for some centuries. A Greek invasion of Europe was also postulated for this period, as it marked the period when the Minoan culture declined, which was assumed to be non-Indo-European. Hence an Aryan invasion of Greece and the Middle East was proposed. An Aryan invasion of India was regarded as another version of this same migratory movement of Indo-European peoples around the middle of the second millennium BC, which became one of the most dramatic migrations in the history of the world and for which no real cause has ever been given.
On top of this, excavators of the Indus Valley culture, like Wheeler, thought they found evidence of destruction of the culture by an outside invasion, confirming the idea (though Wheeler's so-called skeletal evidence of the massacre of Mohenjodaro has long since been refuted it still appears in many historical accounts even today!).
Vedic culture was thus said to be that of primitive nomads who came out of Central Asia with their horse-drawn chariots and iron weapons, like the Indo-European Hittites in the Near East who were among the first to use iron weapons, and overthrew the cities of the more advanced Harappan culture, with their cruder culture yet superior battle tactics. It was pointed out that no horses, chariots or iron were discovered in Harappan sites, and since such things are mentioned in the Vedas, this culture must be pre-Vedic.
To support this theory other aspects of the Vedas were molded according to it. Vedic references to destruction of cities were related to Harappa. The Vedic metal ayas was said to be iron, though it is only a generic term meaning metal. Vedic references to the ocean were reduced to mean only the Indus river or some other large body of water in northwest India or Afghanistan. Vedic references to rivers from the Indus to the Ganges, which are merely a list of rivers, were interpreted to show a movement from the west to the east of India. The Aryan invasion theory was imposed on archeological and literary evidence, even if it required altering the data.
This was how the Aryan invasion theory formed. The logic was inevitable. Once the image of invading Aryans was formed, it had to be drawn out to its ultimate form envisioning the Aryans like Atilla the Hun.
The languages of South India are Dravidian, which is a different linguistic group than the Indo-European languages of the North of the subcontinent. The two groups of languages have many different root words (though a number in common we might add), and above all a different grammatical structure, the Dravidian being agglutinative and the Indo-European being inflected. Dravidian languages possess a very old history of their own, which their legends, the Tamil Sangha literature, show a history in South India and Sri Lanka dating back over five thousand years.
Along with the difference of language there is a difference of skin color from north to south of India, with the southerners being darker in skin color (though northerners are hardly light in color by Western standards, with the exception of some people of the far northwest). Though a less pronounced difference than that of language it has been lumped together along with it again assuming that race and language must be the same.
The Aryan invasion theory has been used to explain both the linguistic and racial differences between the peoples of North and South India, and such differences have been put forth as "proof" of the invasion (as if no other explanation were possible). As the Aryans were made into a race, so were the Dravidians and the Aryan/Dravidian divide was turned into a racial war, the Aryan invaders versus the indigenous Dravidians of Harappa and Mohenjodaro. By this view the Vedic people promoted the superiority of their race and language and simply drove away those of different races or languages. We have already discussed how Sanskrit Aryan is never a racial term but a title of respect. Even the Dravidian kings called themselves Aryan. Nor is there anything in Vedic literature that places the Dravidians outside of the greater Vedic culture and ancestry. Hence to place Aryan against Dravidian as terms is itself a misuse of language. Be that as it may, the Aryan and Dravidian divide has also failed to prove itself.
Now it has been determined that there is no such thing scientifically speaking as Aryan and Dravidian races. The so-called Aryans and Dravidian races of India are members of the same Mediterranean branch of the Caucasian race, which prevailed in the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Sumeria and is still the main group in the Mediterranean area, North Africa, and the Middle East. The Caucasian race is not simply white but also contains dark skinned types. Skin color and race is another nineteenth century idea that has been recently discarded.
Darker skin color is commonly found in peoples living in more southern regions and appears as an adjustment mechanism to hotter climates and greater sunshine. For example southern Europeans are darker in skin color than northern Europeans, though they are not a different race because of this. This suggests that the Dravidian branch of the Mediterranean race must have lived in South India for some thousands of years to make this adjustment, and the same thing could be said of the people of North India as well if we would make them originally light-skinned invaders from the north.
The issue of language is similarly more complex. It is now known that Dravidian languages, with their agglutinative patterns, share common traits and are of the same broad linguistic group as such Asian and East European languages as Finnish, Hungarian, old Bulgarian, Turkish, Mongolian and Japanese, the Finno-Ugric and Ural-Altaic branches of languages. As the common point between these groups lies in Central Asia some scholars have recently proposed that the Dravidian peoples originally came from this region.
The same linguistic speculation that led to the Aryan invasion theory has following the same logic required a "Dravidian invasion." Not only are the Dravidians like the Aryans styled invaders into India, they took the same route as the Aryans. The city-state of Elam in southwest Iran, east of Sumeria, which had a high civilization throughout the ancient period, shows an agglutinative structure like the Dravidian, as does possibly the Sumerian itself. This would place Dravidian type languages in Iran as well. Thereby the Dravidians, just like the Aryans, would have migrated (again the reason for which is not clear) from Central Asia and into Iran, with one group moving west to Mesopotamia and the other, apparently larger group, going east into India. Later the invading Aryans are said to have forced the Dravidians to move to the south of the country from their original homeland on the Indus and Sarasvati rivers. (However, we have already noted that there is no evidence of such migrations, nor of any Dravidian references to the Sarasvati like those of the Vedas.)
The Dravidian and Aryan invasion theories turns the migration of particular language/racial groups from Central Asia into a kind of panacea to explain the developments of race and language for much of humanity, particularly for India. However both invasion theories appear far too simplistic given the complex ways in which cultures, languages and races move and interact.
The Dravidian claim to be indigenous to India has, like the Aryan, been discredited by linguistic argument. Yet the argument brings the Aryans and Dravidians back into contact with each other and derives them from the same region, suggesting a long term association between them outside of India. However if we give up the invasion model such association can be better explained by contact within India which we know was an historical fact.
Certainly the present population of India - which even the ancient Greeks and Persians regarded as dark-skinned - was not produced by light-skinned people from Central Asia (whether Aryan or Dravidian). Moreover, there cannot be a Dravidian invasion changing the language but not the population of India just like the Aryan invasion, as the idea is far-fetched to happen once but to happen twice in a row in the same region and by the same route is ridiculous.
If both the Aryan and Dravidian languages of India have affinities with those of Central Asia, and to peoples of different ethnic groups (the Indo-Aryan with the lighter skinned European and the Dravidians with both light-skinned Finns and Hungarians, and Mongolian race Turks) a phenomenon is created that is too complex to be explained by mere migration alone. It takes languages across the racial boundaries that migration theories up-hold and places them on par with other cultural affinities (like art or religion), which are not limited by race.
The linguistic divide between Aryan and Dravidian, as that between the Indo-European and other language groups is also now being questioned. A greater Nostratic family of languages has been proposed that includes Indo-European, Dravidian and Semitic languages and looks for a common ancestor for all three. This requires a greater degree of contact between these groups which remote Central Asia cannot afford. Moreover, there are affinities between Sanskrit and the Munda or aboriginal languages of India, as S. Kalyanaraman has noted, that indicate a long and early contact, if not common evolution, which could have only happened in India. Such Vedic scholars as Sri Aurobindo have stated that the Dravidian and Sanskritic languages have much more in common than has yet been admitted and appear to have a common ancestor.
Dravidian history does not contradict Vedic history either. It credits the invention of the Tamil language, the oldest Dravidian tongue, to the rishi Agastya, one of the most prominent sages in the Rig Veda. Dravidian kings historically have called themselves Aryans and trace their descent through Manu (who in the Matsya Purana is regarded as originally a south Indian king). Apart from language, moreover, both north and south India share a common religion and culture. Prior to Vedic Sanskrit there may have been a language that was the basis of both the Dravidian and Sanskritic languages in India.
The idea that the same culture cannot produce two different language systems may itself be questionable. It may have been the very power of Vedic culture and its sages, with their mastery of the word, that they could have produced not only Indo-European like languages but also Dravidian.
In any case the Aryan/Dravidian divide is no longer sufficient to up-hold the Aryan invasion theory. It leads to a more difficult to maintain Dravidian invasion theory. The Dravidian invasion theory is just a shadow cast by the Aryan invasion theory and reveals the erroneous nature of the latter.
Other aspects of the Aryan-Dravidian divide are predicated upon the invasion theory. For example the idea that South India represents a pre-Vedic Shaivite culture as opposed to the Brahmanical culture of the north follows only from this. Otherwise we see Shaivism in the North, in Kailas, Benares and Kashmir, and Shiva as Rudra of the Vedas. What have thereby been proposed as radical cultural differences between the North and South of India are merely regional variations in the vast cultural complex of the subcontinent and its interrelated spiritual traditions.
Dravidian pride or nationalism need not depend upon the Aryan invasion theory or denigrating the culture of North India. The Dravidians have long been one of the most important peoples of India and, perhaps ironically, have been the best preservers of Vedic culture itself. The best Vedic Sanskrit, rituals and traditions can be found only in the south of India. That South India was able to do this suggests the importance and antiquity of Vedic culture to this region.

The United Colours of Mullah, Padre, Comrade and Corporates in India

2008-02-19T18:52:00.001-08:00

How they undermine Hindu interests

Now Mullahs are always breathing down padre’s neck and the sermon mongering padres are always suspicious and scared of the ever-shrieking and ranting Mullahs. Comrades are always ranting about capitalist exploitation while the Corporates are busy trying to keep unions and frustrated elements at bay. In the same manner, none of these four internationalists are on chummy terms.

However, in India, you see a collusion of interests. All the four are hand in glove with each other. The answer is simple. Their target audience is the uninformed Hindu wallowing in intellectual and in some cases even physical poverty.

The Islamic lobby has never been shy on its goals of Dar-ul-Islam. The Pope had misused his hospitality in India when he had targeted the land for harvesting his souls. The comrades have always declared the allegiance for their fatherlands – which now do not exist – and have reserved it for their revolution while the Corporates see an excellent opportunity to grab the nation’s massive resources.

The only spanner in the wheel is the Hindu. That is why the Hindu is enemy number one among these elements. He is kafir for the Muslims and fit to be either killed or converted. He is heathen for the Christian and should be converted lest he goes to hell. He is the bourgeoise for the Communists and should be overthrown in a revolution. He is an underconsuming market for the Corporates. Which is why Corporates aims at the teeming market and in the process undermines Hindu culture through festivals like Valentine Days or the organization of herd beauty contests like the Miss World.

Besides, there is collusion of interests. Even if Christian-Muslim clashes take place, Hindus are blamed. For instance when a Church blast took place, everybody including the Christians, Muslims, Left and the Media blamed the Hindu fundamentalists until investigations revealed that the explosions had been triggered by Deendar Anjuman – a Muslim body.

There are also cases of cross funding. For instance, MNCs like Colgate Palmolive reserves a part of profits for CSR which are given to NGOs backed by the Christians. Enemies elsewhere, but united in India, that’s the way it is. All that can be said is, hindus beware.

The two magic words of Hindu nationalism

2008-02-19T07:33:00.000-08:00

Without Swadeshi and Hindutva, Indian nationalism loses its meaning

The two magic words of Hindu nationalism were dished out by men who were at loggerhead with each others.
You have guessed it right. While the word “Swadeshi” was popularized and used to a devastating effect by Gandhi, the word “Hindutva” was coined by Veer Savarkar in his seminal work “Hindutva – Who is a Hindu”.
It must be remembered that these two words form the soul of Hindu nationalism. Remember what happened when the BJP abandoned both Hindutva and swadeshi and went to the polls on the plank of development – India Shining. It received a drubbing.
The then BJP leader Pramod Mahajan – the architect of the India Shining poll campaign – had remarked that one cannot encash the same cheque twice. He had given a veiled hint that swadeshi and hindutva were outdated and out of sync with the modern Hindu voters.
How wrong he was. Swadeshi and Hindutva are not just empty words. They symbolize the culture, attitude and the economy of the Hindu nationalists.
Ironically, it was the Sangh Parivar political affiliate which had almost killed the ideology. The BJP, which came to power on the power of these two words, had abandoned Hindutva by almost resorting to appeasement policies. Remember the Haj subsidy and its refusal to pass a bill in favour of the Ram Temple. It had also abandoned Swadeshi when it went all out in its policy of aggressive globalisation without giving a thought to the concerns of the indigenous economy. In fact, the BJP was playing to the media gallery rather than working on its core competence.
By rejecting the BJP, the Congress and the Left combine came to power. However, it must be noted that the vote against the BJP was not a vote for the Congress-Left combine. It was a lesson to the BJP to mend its way and stick to its core ideologies.
Swadeshi and Hindutva are the twin-hearts of Hindu nationalism. Remove it and there is no difference between the Orient and the Occident.
To those who are ignorant about the core concepts of Hindu nationalism, Swadeshi is a by-word for self-reliance. It is symbolic for self-respect and indigenous economy while Hindutva stands for Hinduness in a geographical, cultural and spiritual sense.

After Christian Tirupati, it is now Islamic Hampi

2008-02-18T03:16:00.000-08:00

Now it is the turn of Muslims to convert ruined Temples into dargas.

When the whole of South India was overrun by the Muslim invasion, Hinduism was at stake during 13-14 century AD. At this juncture, Vijayanagara Empire with its capital at Hampi was established in 1336 AD with the sole aim of protecting Hinduism. “But for Vijayanagar, Hinduism would have been reduced to a shadow and a mockery” says Dr. P B Desai, a famous historian.
Paes, a contemporary visitor described Hampi as “the best provided city in the world”, and mentioned that it was “as big as Rome”. Abdul Razzak (1443 A.D) says that it was a city “such that eyes have not seen or ear heard, of any place resembling it upon the earth”. With the fall of Vijayanagar Empire, Hampi was completely destroyed by Muslims in 1565 AD. The area is now full of Temple ruins, defaced idols, fort walls etc.
Hampi is now a world famous tourist centre with a rich cultural background. Situated on the bank of Tungabhadra River, it is the abode of the Lord Virupaksheshwara, the presiding deity of the area, which attracts thousands of devotees. During the historical period, Virupaksha was considered almighty wherein no human king or ruler had any power.
The Unesco has recognised it as a great historical place and has listed it under the World Heritage Series. It is even now a place of pilgrimage visited by thousands of devotees everyday.
Such an area is now wantonly defaced by Muslims; a repetition of what was done in 1565 AD. Many ruined Temples have been converted into Dargas. The Eeranna or Virabhadras Temple near the holy Purandara Mantap has been convered into Honnursabi Darga. The Santana Naga Temple is now Sayyad Bagdad Shah Darga. More than fifty Dargas have appeared in Hanumapada valley. Besides Muslims have begun to perform Namaz illegally in places like Hajara Rama Temple and Maranavami Dibba.
Besides thousands of Hippies who flock to Hampi have converted Hampi into a place of amusement and sexual activities. Liquor and other intoxicating materials are for sale in the area. The resorts cater to their needs. In this area, a Kashmir Muslim youth had a sexual union with a cow a few years ago. The Yoga Bhumi of Hampi has been converted into Bhoga Bhumi by these elements.
Neither the Hampi World Heritage Management authority nor the Deputy Commissioner have taken any action to stop such illegal, immoral activities in a sacred place like Hampi.

Mughal contribution to Hindu genocide

2008-02-17T21:57:00.003-08:00

According to eminent secularist historians, Mughals have been portrayed as patrons of art and culure. Let us do a reality check.

Zahiru'd-Din Muahmmed Babur(CE 1526-1530)
Source: Babur NamaPlace:Chanderi (Madhya Pradesh)
In AH 934 (CE 1528) I attacked Chanderi and by the grace of Allah captured it in a few hours...We got the infidels slaughtered and the place which had been daru'l - harb for years was made into a daru'l-islam.
Babur's poem on killing Hindus
For the sake of Islam I became a wanderer;I battled infidels and Hindus.I determined to become a martyr.Thank God I became a Ghazi(killer of non-Muslims)
Quoted in Dr. Harsh Narain's article:Rama-Janma Bhumi Muslim testimony Indian Express Feb,26,1990 Place:Uttar Pradesh
Since the establishment of Zahiru'd-Din Ghazi's rule ...officers and religious leaders spread Islam vigorously destroying Hindu faith. We cleared of the filth of Hinduism from Faizabad and Avadh.
Guru Nanak on Babur's atrocities: Source:Rag Asa Guru Nanak Dev witnessed first hand the atrocities Babur committed on Hindus and recorded them in his poems. He says:
Having attacked Khuraasaan, Babar terrified Hindustan. The Creator Himself does not take the blame, but has sent the Mugal as the messenger of death. There was so much slaughter that the people screamed. Didn't You feel compassion, Lord? pg (360)
On the condition of Hindu women in Babur's monster rule:
Those heads adorned with braided hair, with their parts painted with vermillion - those heads were shaved with scissors, and their throats were choked with dust.They lived in palatial mansions, but now, they cannot even sit near the palaces.... ropes were put around their necks, and their strings of pearls were broken. Their wealth and youthful beauty, which gave them so much pleasure, have now become their enemies. The order was given to the soldiers, who dishonored them, and carried them away. If it is pleasing to God's Will, He bestows greatness; if is pleases His Will, He bestows punishment pg(417-18)
On the nature of Mughal rule under Babur:
First, the tree puts down its roots, and then it spreads out its shade above. The kings are tigers, and their officials are dogs; they go out and awaken the sleeping people to harass them. The public servants inflict wounds with their nails. The dogs lick up the blood that is spilled. Source:Rag Malar, (pg.1288)

Jahangir(1605-1628)
Source: Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri
Though in the beginning of his rule Jahangir followed the humanistic rule of his father Akbar the great -the policy of sulehkul even issued a proclamation against the forcible conversion of Hindus to Islam, he revoked Akbar's orders that those who have been forcibly converted from Islam could return to Hinduism. He severely punished Kaukab, Sharif and Abdul Latif for showing inclination to Hinduism. He also prohibited the free inter-marriage customs between Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir. Hindus marrying Muslim girls and those who had already married were given a choice between Islam and death. Many were killed.
Jahangir's torture of Guru Arjun Dev ji: Guru was imprisoned at Lahore fort. He was chained to a post in an open place exposed to the sun from morning to evening in the summer months of May to June. Below his feet a heap of sand was put which burnt like a furnace. Boiling water was poured on his naked body at intervals. His body was covered with blisters all over. In this agony Guru used to utter.
Tera Kiya Metha lage, naam padarath Nanak mange(whatever you ordain appears sweet. I supplicate for the gift of name)
The Guru was ordercd to be executed. In addition a fine of Rupees two lakhs was imposed on him. Some historians say that, as a measure of clemency at the intervention of Mian Mir, this fine was imposed in lieu of the sentence of death. The Sikhs offered to pay the fine themselves but the Guru forbade them to do so. He replied to the Emperor,
"Whatever money I have is for the poor, the friendless and the stranger. If thou ask for money thou mayest take what I have; but if thou ask for it by way of fine, I shall not give thee even a Kaurz (penny)." The Guru accepted death by torture

Shah Jahan(1658-1707)
In 1632 Shah jahan ordered that all Hindu temples recently erected or in the course of construction should be razed to the ground. In Benares alone seventy six temples were destroyed. Christian churches at Agra and Lahore were demolished. In a manner befitting the Prophet he had ten thousand inhabitants executed by being "blown up with powder, drowned in water or burnt by fire". Four thousand were taken captive to Agra where they were tortured to try to convert them to Islam. Only a few apostacised, the remainder were trampled to death by elephants, except for the younger women who went to harems.
Shahjahan put enormous eonomic pressure on Hindus particularly peasents to become Muslims. The criminals too were forced to become Muslims.
Source: Badshah Nama, Qazinivi & Badshah Nama , Lahori
When Shuja was appointed as governor of Kabul he carried on a ruthless war in the Hindu territory beyond Indus...The sword of Islam yielded a rich crop of converts....Most of the women (to save their honour) burnt themselves to death. Those captured were distributed among Muslim Mansabdars.
Source: Manucci, Storia do Mogor vol-II p.451 & Travels of Frey Sebastian Manrique
Under Shahjahan peasents were compelled to sell their women and children to meet their revenue requirements....The peasents were carried off to various Markets and fairs to be sold with their poor unhappy wives carrying their small children crying and lamenting. According to Qaznivi Shahjagan had decreed they should be sold to Muslim lords.
Aurangazeb(1658-1707)
Aurangzeb considered himself "The Scourge Of The Kafirs" (non-believers) and closed Hindu schools and libraries. In his lifetime he destroyed more than 10,000 Hindu, Buddhist and Jam temples and often erected mosques in their stead.3 In 1669 in Agra he had hacked off the limbs of the recalcitrant Hindu King Gokla and in 1672 several thousand revolting Hindus were slaughtered in Mewat.
Source: Maasi-i-Alamgiri
· Issued general order to destroy all centers of Hindu learnings including Varnasi and destroyed the temple at Mathura and renamed it as Islamabad
· In Khandela (rajastan) he killed 300 Hindus in one day for they resisted the destruction of their temple.
· In Udaipur all Hindus of the town were killed as they vowed to defend the temple of Udaipur from destruction.
· 172 temples were destroyed in Udaipur.
· 66 temples were pulled down in Amber. All Hindu clerks were dismissed from the office of the Imperial empire.
· In Pandhpur , Maharashtra, the Emperor ordered and executed the destruction of temple and butchering of cows within the temple.
Aurangazeb also tortured to death the disciples of Guru Tegh bahadur before his death and also killed Guru. Guru Tegh Bahadur - the pride of Hindustan was martyred for he spoke for the persecuted Hindus of Hindustan. Aurangazeb also killed Guru Gobind singh's two children aged less than ten by walling them alive for not accepting the choice of Islam. In Punjab Muslim governors killed hundreds of Sikh children and made Sikh women eat the flesh of their own killed children. Banda Bahadur another great Sikh martyr before being tortured to death was also made to eat the flesh of his own children killed before his eyes. Any Muslim bringing the head of a dead Sikh was also awarded money.
Guru Tegh Bahadur's Supreme sacrifice for Kashmiri Hindus
In 1674 CE Aurangzeb ordered that the Hindus of J&K be converted to Islam by force from the Kashmir side. Harassed beyond any human measure by Sher Afgan Khan, the Governor of Kashmir, the prominent Brahmins of Kashmir led by Pandit Kirpa Ram (who later became Sanskrit tutor of Guru Govind Singh, appeared before the Guru at Anandpur on the 25th May, 1675 CE, and appealed for protection. In His infinite compassion Guru tegh Bahadur assured them total protection. Guru proclaimed His resolve to protect the Dharma of Bharath,
"Go and tell the Governor that Guru Tegh Bahadur is our leader. If you convert him to Islam, we shall become Muslims of our own accord."
On getting this message, Aurangzeb ordered the arrest of the Guru. For courting arrest, the Guru started towards Agra from Anandpur on the 11th July, 1675 CE At Agra, when the soldiers came to arrest the Guru.
Aurangazeb tortured Guru's disciples before his own eyes to break Guru's resolve.The qazis asked Bhai Mati Dass a disciple of Guru ,
"Embrace Islam and enjoy the pleasures provided by the goveInment. Moreover when you die as a Muslim, you will go to heaven where there will be streams of milk, many kinds of wine to drink and beautiful women to enjoy. If you do not embrace Islam, your body will be sawn into two."
Bhai Mati Dass replied,
"I can sacrifice hundreds of such heavens for Dharma. I don't need women nor wine. I see all the happiness in the path of Dharma."
After his refusal, the qazis asked him his last wish, to which he replied,
'When I am being cut with the saw, let my face be towards my mentor so that I may behold my Guru till my last breath and he may keep on seeing me so that he may be convinced how happily I reach my last destination.'
By the order of the qazis, the executioners sawed Bhai Mati Dass into two by axe on the 8th November, 1675 CE, in Chandani Chowk, Delhi.
On the 9th November, 1675 C.E, the Qazis ordered that Bhai Dayal Dass be seated in a cauldron of boiling water... Before putting Bhai Dayal Dass in the cauldron of boiling water, the qazis said,
"There is still time. Embrace Islam and save yourself from pains otherwise you will face greater agony than your companion. You have seen how cruelly he was sawn."
Bhai Dayal Dass replied,
"You could not harass my companion. Did you notice, how calmly he was meditating on the word of his Guru when he was being sawn. Having made mockery of bodily pains, he had diffused into the Supreme Being. Hurry up and let my soul attain unity with the Lord."
On his reply in the negative, the executioners sat him in the cauldron of boiling water. He stayed on sitting in the water with an unwavering mind. His flesh separated from his bones and his soul merged into the Supreme Being. (Source: From the work of Sri.Santok Singh Jagdev.Published by SGPC) Established in His Divine resolve of Dharma Guru Tegh Bahadur tolerated all the tortures of Aurangazeb with smile. Guru Tegh Bahadur was threatened and given a choice to embrace Islam or death.
Guru chose Death rather than deviating from the path of Dharma. Guru sat in meditation and was beheaded by Aurangazeb. Aurangazeb killed Guru physically but Guru's words eternally power the hearts of every child of Hindustan. He had said in the face of death:
Bah Jinahn di pakariyeSar dije bah na chhoriyeTegh Bahadur bolyaDhar payae dharma na chhoriye
Give up your head,but forsake not those whom you have undertaken to protect.Says Tegh Bahadur, sacrifice your life,but relinquish not your Dharma

Four great men in Sandhi Kala

2008-02-17T11:47:00.000-08:00

1948 was catastrophic for the four men who lived and breathed Hindu nationalism.

In Hindu astrology, it is Kal (time) that determines our fate. During good times, good things happen and during bad time, you reap the results of your prior bad action.

One of the bad time is called sandhi kala. Sandhi Kala refers to a particularly bad period in a person’s life where life teaches you nasty lessons.

One such sandhi kala happened in 1948 and it included four great men. It is an easy guess. Gandhi, Godse, Savarkar and Golwalkar. Gandhi died, Godse was hanged and the other two had to face the ignominy of false accusations that took decades to wipe out. It threw back the momentum of Hindu nationalist movement by a few decades.

Let us compare the four men whom I consider great in their own ways.

Gandhi was truly a Mahatma (atleast by astrological standards given that he was an ajanabahu (hands extending almost to the knees). His role in granting India freedom is also undeniable. However, great men make great mistake and his appeasement policies also led to untold tragedies. His pacifist approach meant that enemies of Hindu society had a field day in loot, arson, rape and murder. At the time when he was shot, the nation was going through birth pangs after vivisection – which is probably the bloodiest vivisection in the history of mankind.

His killer Godse was an equally remarkable men. Gandhi was lucky enough not to be shot by a terrorist but by a man equally committed in his mission and the one who faced the fruits of his action stoically. It must be mentioned that Godse was a man who loved hot coffee and detective novels. The atrocities on Hindus were unbearable for him and he thought that the root cause of Hindu cowardice was the pacifist approach of Mahatma. He took his decision to the logical end and surrendered himself. His urn of ashes are still waiting to be immersed in the Sindhu River of Undivided India. When will it happen?

The side effect of this murder was equally disastrous. Both Savarkar and Golwalkar were arrested and their organizations were banned despite the absence of evidence. Government propaganda along with left ensured that both received bad press ever since.
Bad times do not spare even great men. 1948 was catastrophic for these men – who lived and breathed Hindu nationalism.

Santa and intellectual poverty of Hindu Society

2008-02-17T11:05:00.000-08:00

So long as Hindus continue in their intellectual poverty, they will continue to be exploited.

As a child you are told fairy tales about Santa Claus or for that matter some other gods or deities. You believe in them. As you grow up, you realize the reality and forget them. Is it not?

What happens if you don’t? There are several cases where people live in fantasyland throughout their lives due to intellectual poverty.
The same is true about Hindu society. I am referring to the consistent attacks on it by Islam and Christianity. Despite these humiliating intolerant aggression, the average Hindu still believes in the silly old jargon of Sarva Dharma Samabhava (All religions are the same) and Ekam Sat Vipra Bahuda Vadami (There is one Truth and the wise tell it by so many name). These jargons are fit for kids. The grown up should realize the hypocrisy of other religionists. But some people never grow up.

The plain truth is that all religions are not the same. While Hinduism is tolerant, Christianity and Islam are intolerant. Hinduism is broadminded while the other two are closed and fanatic. But tell this to an average Hindu, he will stick to the jargon of secularism. The average Hindu is richly fed on a diet provided by the pseudo-secular media and even the Hindu organizations – which were supposed to lead them out of its stupor – are taking the poor Hindus for a ride.

I once asked a high ranking leader in a Hindu organization why they still held aloft the jargon of Sarva Dharma Samabhava. I was told that the intellectual poverty of Hindu society could not be removed overnight and it was better if they could use it to their advantage.
When will Hindu society wake up from its stupor? When I asked this question to several other Hindu activists, all they told me was that deep sleep required a rude awakening. I wonder how many more fidayeen attacks are needed before the Hindu society wakes up from its intellectual poverty.

FROM SAVARKAR TO MODI: The Unofficial History of Modern Hindu Nationalists

2008-02-13T01:43:00.000-08:00

These are the chapters of my forthcoming book which will be released soon. Entries in blog are excerpts from the book.

Chapter – 1: The Original Icons
V.D. Savarkar – For being the first and the foremost political Hindu
Dr. .K. B. Hedgewar –For organizing Hindu nationalists
M.S. Golwalkar – For bringing the Hindu vision in action
Deendayal Upadhyaya – For the ideology of “Integral Humanism”
Ram Swarup – For being India’s only communalist

Chapter -2 Political Hindus
Sardar Vallabhai Patel – For Somnath and saving Bharat from the Nawabs
B. R Ambedkar – For refusing to convert to Islam/Christianity
S. P. Mookherjee – For kickstarting a Hindu political outfit
Atal Behari Vajpayee – For moulding consensus on Hindutva
Lal Krishna Advani – For his rath yatras and Hindu political parlance
Balraj Madhok – For sticking to his position on hardline Hindutva
Bal Thackeray – For being the benign Hindu dictator that he is
Subramaniam Swamy – For his stellar role during emergency and after
Murli Manohar Joshi – For re-saffronising Indian education
Narendra Modi – For being the leading political Hindu of our time

Chapter – 3: The Organizers
1. Balasaheb Deoras – For giving a social thrust to the movement
2. Prof. Rajendra Singh – For being RSS chief when BJP came to power
3. Dattopant Thengadi – For establishing the world’s largest labour front
4. Eknath Ranade – For his act in setting up Vivekananda Rock Memorial
5. H. V. Sheshadri – For being at the helm of RSS in critical moments
6. K.S. Sudarshan – For his efforts to get minorities into the mainstream
7. K. N. Govindacharya – For his ideology and organizational skills
8. Nanaji Deshmukh – For new dimensions in social work
9. Ashok Singhal – For a masculine touch to Hindu religion
10. Ram Gopal – For establishing Hindu Munani

Chapter-4: The Intellectual Renaissance
S. Gurumurthy – For he is better known as the “One-man manifesto”
Arun Shourie – For being India’s best known permanent gadfly
David Frawley – For being the first Vedacharya in US
Dharam Pal – For writing books that challenged the British theories
P. Parameshwaran – For an intellectual dimension to the Sangh parivar
K. R Malkhani – For going hammer and tong against Indira Gandhi
M.V. Kamath –For his entry made Hindu nationalism respectable
Girilal Jain – For softening India’s largest selling newspaper
Devendra Swarup – for his long time Hindu polemics
Tarun Vijay For his almost daily defence of the Saffron position
Francois Gautier - For his crusade to rehabilitate Kashmiri pandits
Devi Muthu – For daring The Hindu (English daily) to change its name
Prafulla Goradia – For being the long-term Editor of BJP Today
Rajeev Sreenivasan – For his blogs are a must-read
Arun Jaitley – For his suave defence in whatever situations
S.L. Bhairappa – For digging Islamic graves
Nirad C Chaudhury – For his dig at the Nehruvian Stalinists
Swapandas Gupta – For his right-wing columns
Chandan Mitra – For the first right wing English daily in India

Chapter5: Science
Dr. Deepak Chopra – For his Ageless Body and Timeless Mind
Dr. Subash Kak – For relating Vedic science to nuclear physics
Dr. N.S. Rajaram – For his debunking Aryan Invasion
Dr. R. Mashelkar – For fighting patent issues
Vandana Shiva – For her environmental dimensions

Chapter-6: Historians
K.S. Lal – For bringing out truth on bloody Islamic conquests of India
Sitaram Goel – For taking on India’s eminent pseudo historians
S.P. Gupta – For bringing out the truth on Ayodhya Temple
P.N. Oak – For stating Taj Mahal is Tejo-Mahal - a Hindu Temple
Koenraad Elst – For his exposing “negationism” in India
Shrikant Talageri – For deciphering the Indus script
Harsh Narain – For a linguistic approach

Chapter-7: Academics
K.M. Munshi – For establishing Bharathiya Vidya Bhawan
Madan Mohan Malaviya: For establishing Benares Hindu University
J.S. Rajput – For heading NCERT during saffron period

Chapter-8: Economists
Jay Dubashi – For giving a saffron twist to economics
M. G. Bokhre – For writing Hindu economics
Anna Hazare – For implementing Swadeshi

Chapter –9: The Religious Defenders
Swami Chinmayananda – For combining spirituality and fiery speeches
Pejawar seer – For breaking conventions to boost the movement
Uma Bharti – For being the the first CM in saffron
Sadhvi Rithambara – For her firebrand speeches in Ayodhya
Acharya Giriraj Kishore – For constantly bringing up issues
Pravin Togadia – For being too provocative

Chapter-10: Spiritual category
Osho Rajneesh – For stating that India is a spiritual vibe
Maharshi Mahesh Yogi – For his hopping Nationalism
Srila Prabhupad – A Semitic version of Hindu nationalism
Sri Sri Ravishankar: For taking nationalism to the upper crest
Mata Amrutananda Mayi – For her hugging spree
Baba Ramdev – For being India’s first Hindu tele-evangelist
Sai Baba – For a heady mix of religion, magic and nationalism
U.G. Krishnamurthy – For the iconoclast gave a new definition
Panduranga Shastri Athavale – For the Swadhyaya movement
Dalai Lama – For acknowledging Hindu roots
Pramukh Swamiji Maharaja - For setting up the world’s largest Temple
Tarun Sagar – For continuing the legacy of Acharya Tulsi
Asaram Bapu - For being politically incorrect

Chapter-11: Hindu Nationalists by default
1. Sanjay Gandhi – for doing what Hindu nationalists only dream of
2. Rajiv Gandhi – for unlocking the Babri structure
3. P .V. Narasimha Rao – for remaining mute to Babri demolition
S Prasannarajan – For consistently exposing Hindu detractors
V.S.Naipaul – For his defence of Ayodhya as a “historical corrective”
George Fernandes – For a Christian to be the convener of NDA
B. Premanand – For the Indian skeptic to uphold Charvaka
Anwar Shaikh – For he is a Muslim to reconvert to Hinduism

Chapter-12: How not to be a Hindu nationalist
Nathuram Godse – For his extreme ideology which led to killing
(2) Satischandra Pandey – For hijacking Indian Airlines
(3) Dara Singh – For an international uproar after Staines killing
(4) Bangaru Laxman – For having his palm greased by Tehelka
(5) Babu Bajrangi – For taking Hindu defence to outrageous proportions

Chapter-13: Hindu wave through entertainment
Ramanand Sagar – For he was the pivot of the Ram wave
(2) B R Chopra – For His Mahabharat intensified Hindu feelings
(3) Manoj Kumar – For being well known as Mr. India
(4) Kavi Pradeep – For his lyrics along nationalist lines
(5) Uncle Pai – For his Amar Chitra Katha series (6)
(6) Anup Jalota – For his bhajans invited underworld threats

How Muslims should treat Hindus according to Koran

2008-02-13T00:36:00.000-08:00

The mainstream media says that Islam is a religion of peace and brotherhood. Let us do a reality check.

Islam is triumphant, idolatory is subdued. Had not the law exemption from death by the payment of tax, the very name of Hind, root and branch would have been extinguished: Amir Khusrao, Persian poet during the 13th century.
Mohammedan conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. The bitter lesson that may be drawn from this tragedy is that eternal vigilance is the price of civilization. A nation must love peace, but keeps its powder dry: American historian Will Durant on the Mohammedan conquest of India.
Every Indian should make a pilgrimage to Vijayanagar (Hampi) just to see what the (Muslim) invasion of India led to. They will see a totally destroyed town.”: Noble laureate V.S. Naipaul

To understand this cruel treatment by the Muslims one has to understand why Islam originated. As Anwar Sheikh, a free thinker has said in his book, Islam is nothing but a Arab National Movement. This movement was the dream of Mohammed who wanted everything under his control. Islam was a convenient religious excuse for him to do this.
For this movement to be successful, Mohammed had to find a way to control mindless people and justify the brutal merciless killings. Thus Islam was devised and propagated by a band of dacoits.
To start with, the Great Mohammed divided the Arabian society in two tight compartments:
Momins
Kafirs
The word momin means believer in Mohammed and Allah. In contrast a kafir is a non-believer. The momins did not have to be better men than the Kafirs in terms of character or consciousness. Momins had only to recite the Kalima (incantation)- "there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his Prophet." By doing that the 'momins' become qualified to kill as many kafirs as they could or pleased, looting and burning their belongings and enslaving their women and children in the process.
The momins were not of course risking their lives for nothing. Four-fifths of the booty and prisoners captured in war was theirs in accordance with the law laid down in the Quran by the prophet himself. The prisoners included quite a number of fair and young maidens who could set any momin's mouth watering. No wonder that the infant state of Islam at Medina was able to assemble very soon quite a number of dedicated swordsmen without spending a penny from its own coffers. The principle of free enterprise applied to plunder an pillage was functioning with full force.
The prophet of Islam proclaimed that Allah has assigned the whole world to the momins. Not a patch was to be left for the kafirs to dwell. But it seems that Allah's knowledge of geography was not so good. It looks like Allah's Prophet Mohammed had not heard of many lands beyond Syria, Iraq, Persia, Ethiopia, and Egypt. Notwithstanding this lack of geographical knowledge, the prophet divided the world in two contending spheres--darul-Islam(the zone of peace where the mulsims were the dominant element) and darul-Harb (the zone of war where the kafirs or non-muslims held sway). Anwar Sheikh says, "The philosophy that lies behind Islam is stunning and proves the consummate political skill of the Prophet Mohammed: by declaring all Muslims as one nation and the non-Muslims as another, he created the Two Nation Theory, perpetually setting Muslims against non-Muslims. Again, he stressed that in this struggle the Muslims would be victorious."
We see this philosophy in practice in the modern times. The partition of India was based totally on this. Here Pakistan and Bangladesh are darul-Islam whereas India is darul-Harb. The recent religious wars in Bosnia were also based on this.
Anwar Sheikh further says, "I am referring to the prophet's declaration that Allah has made him the Model of Practice for his followers. It has come to mean that the Muslims must copy him in everything, they must eat, drink, walk and talk like him, even must look like him, that is, they grow beard like his, have a similar hair-cut and dress like him. This is what is called followings the Sunnah .i.e., the Prophetic: Model which is the guarantee of salvation. One can easily say that Islam has been designed to induce respect and love for Arabia. There are express commands of the Prophet, which state that a person is not Muslim until he loves him more than his own father and mother. The idea is that people must be weaned from their own nationalities and motherlands, and attached firmly to Mecca. This is the reason that the Muslims of India call their own homeland as the battlefield and Arabia the fountain of peace and celestial glory. Now, it is perhaps, easy for you to understand why the Muslims of India partitioned their own motherland for practicing the Arab cultural values in Pakistan (and Bangladesh)."
To ensure the superiority of darul- Islam the prophet, Mohammed took the following steps:
When Adam was evicted from paradise, he came to Mecca where he built the first house of God. Thus, he identifies Godliness with Kabba, a sanctuary of Mecca where God lives.
For the purpose of imposing Arab psychological superiority on non-Arab Muslims, he decreed that they must prostrate five-times- a-day facing Mecca. This is not only an act of submission to Mecca, the capital city of Arabia, but also proves beyond a shadow of doubt that God lives in Mecca, otherwise why should people prostrate in that direction?
A Muslim must not defecate himself or answer the call of nature facing Mecca. It is a blasphemous act in view of the sanctity of Mecca.
When Muslims die, they must be buried facing Mecca, which is the guarantee of their salvation.
To make sure that the Arabs enjoy economic opulence, the Prophet made Hajj as obligatory ritual for his followers. It is a pilgrimage to Mecca. There are countless Indian Muslims who sell their homes and personal belongings to undertake this journey.
The muslims must love Arabia because the prophet did so. They must follow him as the Divine Model of Practice. This is what Islam expects of muslims. If they don't, they are sure to enter hell because the Prophet will not intercede on their behalf. Intercession is the special power of the Prophet Mohammed. He will recommend paradise for his followers on the Day of Judgment. His recommendation is final and Allah cannot deny it. It is available to all murderers, rapists, arsonists, cheats, thugs, pickpockets and pimps provided they are followers of the Prophet. On the contrary, all Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, Christians will be cast into a flaming hell, no matter, how pious and God-fearing they may have been. Piety has no meaning and value without believing in Mohammed and the greatness of his homeland. Intercession is the climax of the Prophet's National wisdom--It is this Muslim belief, which gives them the hope of free sex and economic abundance, and they feel obliged to kill in the name of Islam. This is why they are ever ready to stab their motherland. After all, caring about one's country entails sacrifices whereas the comforts of paradise are sweet and splendid. And it is especially so when they involve no moral responsibility.
After reading the above passages you should be able to comprehend the true nature of a muslim and the reason behind the countless killings, rapes, arsons, and loots done by muslims throughout history. Now I will quote from the Quran below to support what I have stated above. The chapters and verse numbers are also stated here for refernce.
Verses from the Koran: VIII/12: When thy Lord inspired the angels (saying:) I am with you. So make those who believe stand firm. I will throw fear into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Then smite the necks and smite of them each finger.
Here one can clearly see that the Quran is openly saying to the muslims to give a torturous death to those who are non-believers of the Islamic faith.
XCVIII/6: Lo! those who disbelieve, among the people of the Scripture and idolaters, will abide in fire of hell. They are the worst of created beings.
From the above passage you can clearly see that according to Mohammed, Allah has reserved a special place for non- mulsims--HELL!
IX/5: Then when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor- due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
This verse tells us that muslims are free to convert non-muslims by force and brutality. If unsuccessful in doing so, they are free to kill.
IX/73: Oh Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites! Be harsh with them. Their ultimate abode is hell, a hapless journey's end.
LXIX/30-37: (It will be said)Take him and fetter him and expose him to hell fire. And then insert him in a chain whereof the length is seventy cubits. Lo! he used not to believe in Allah the tremendous, and urged not on the feeding of the wretched. Therefore hath he no lover hear this day nor any food save filth which none but sinners eat.
Here we get a description of how to punish Non Muslims. This is in practice even today in Islamic countries. In fact, the Sikh Gurus and their families were tortured by muslims as prescribed in the Quran. For example, Sikh guru Tegh Bahadur on refusing to accept Islam, was brought to the prison in a cage like he was a wild animal. Three of his disciples were murdered in front of him. One of them was Bhai Mati Das. He was sawed alive. The other was wrapped up in cotton and burnt alive. Bhai Dyala, the third one, was boiled alive. Guru Tegh Bahadur himself was brutally tortured and killed in a similar fashion. We see further support of these types of torments in the verses below.
XLIV/43-50: LO! the tree of Zaqqum (The tree that grows in the heart of hell bearing fruits like devil's heads) - the food of the sinner. Like molten brass, it seetheth in their bellies as the seething of boiling water. (And it will be said): Take him and drag him to the midst of hell, then pour upon his head the torment of boiling water. Saying: TASTE! LO! thou wast forsooth the mighty, the noble! Lo! this is that whereof ye used to doubt.
IX/123: O ye who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are near to you and let them find harshness in you and know that Allah is with those who keep their duty (unto Him).
IV/144: O Ye who believe! choose not disbelievers for your friends in place of believers. Would you give Allah a clear warrant against you ?
This verse clarifies the fact that a true Muslim can never be a friend of a person of another faith. People who believe otherwise are under delusion.
IX/29: Fight those who do not profess the true faith (Islam) till they pay the jiziya (poll tax) with the hand of humility.
This verse in Quran gave birth to the law that all non muslims living in an Islamic state have to pay the jiziya or poll tax for the privilege of being there. These people are called zimmis and are allowed to live and work in the Islamic lands under the following 20 disabilities: (one has to wonder if apartheid was derived from this)
They are not to build any new places of worship.
They are not to repair any old places of worship which have been destroyed by the muslims.
They are not to prevent muslim travellers from staying in their places of worship.
They are to entertain for 3 days any Muslim who wants to stay in their homes and for a longer period if the muslim falls ill.
They are not to harbor any hostility or give aid and comfort to hostile elements.
They are not to prevent any one of them from getting converted to Islam.
They have to show respect to every Muslim.
They have to allow Muslims to participate in their private meetings.
They are not to dress like muslims.
They are not to name themselves with Muslim names.
They are not to ride on horses with saddle and bridle.
They are not to possess arms.
They are not to wear signet or seals on their fingers.
They are not to sell or drink liquor openly
They are to wear a distinctive dress which shows their inferior status and separates them from Muslims.
They are not to propagate their custom and usages among the muslims.
They are not to build their houses in the neighbourhood of muslims.
They are not to bring their dead near the graveyards of the muslims.
They are not to observe their religious practices publicly or mourn their dead loudly.
They are not to buy muslim slaves.
Here again I have stated another handful of facts which expose the true nature of Islam. Any logical person by now should have realized that Islam is meant for the lowest of the low. The followers of Islam are mindless tyrannical demons who know nothing better than killing and torturing people in the name of Allah. And they do this because a pervert named Mohammed, among other things, promised his followers 72 Houris (Beautiful Virgin Women) and virility of 100 men in 'Jannat' (Heaven). This is very puzzling--why virility of 100 men and only 72 houris? Why not 100 houris? The answer is very simple--the prophet Mohammed promises these "pious" muslims that they will also be given 28 young boys in addition to the 72 houris for their sexual pleasure.
Following are the quotes from the Calcutta Quran petition.
When the sacred months are over, slay the idol worshippers wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them. If they repent and take to prayer and pay the alms tax, let them go their way. Allah is forgiving and merciful (Surah 9; ayat 5)
Allah and his apostle repose no trust in idolators (Surah 9: ayat 7)
Believers, do not befriend your fathers or brothers if they choose unbelief in preference to faith. Wrong-doers are those that befriend them (9.23 Page 121)
Believers, do not choose the infidels rather the faithful for your friends. Would you give Allah a clear proof against yourselves? (5: 144)
The baseless creatures in the sight of Allah are the faithfules who will not believe (8:55)
In truth, the unbelievers are an open enemy to you (4: 101).

Sources: Anwar Shaikh's book : Arab Imperialism
The Calcutta Koran petition published by the Voice of India.)

Holy Cow: What’s wrong with eating beef?

2008-02-13T00:30:00.001-08:00

What is objectionable is the torture that goes in the name of halal.

Eating beef is good for health! It is rich in protein and makes for cheap diet for the poor starving Muslims. What about the old cattles which are left to starve anyway?

I am not saying this. This is how the secular media defends cattle stealing by the Muslim community on Hindu terrains. Now, eating beef is a secular issue. Granted, everybody in the west does it. The western diet chiefly consists of beef in the hamburger. And why the hullabaloo about the holy cow by the Hindus?
Now the question about beef is not so simple. In India, cow is not just bovine, it is divine and an object of veneration. Besides, cattle slaughter is banned in India. In fact, in furtherance of jehad, the Muslims do make it a point to steal cattle as they know it angers Hindus. In fact, a Mullah had made it abundantly clear that beef eating is also a part of jehad in India since it angers the kafirs. Besides, the Muslims don’t have anything called as mercy killing. They go ahead with halal which can be quite a gruesome torture for the cattle. Since halaal involves slow killing. It must be also mentioned that halaal is banned in Europe. To ban halal in India is surely a holy cow for the pseudo-secular Indian Government.

Communal Seduction in Secular India

2008-02-13T00:28:00.001-08:00

What is disorienting is the open call by Mullahs to the faithful to abduct women of other faiths!
The most obnoxious feature of Islam is the open call to its member to abduct women from other faiths to increase their numbers. For instance, the Mullahs in UK openly exhorted the Muslim youths to seduce, entrap and convert Sikh women to Islam. The Muslim youths -- it is said -- were also rewarded in terms of 10,000 pounds for converting a single Sikh woman.
This obviously is a stark remainder of jehadi days where the strategy was to kill the men and take the women. However, with times, the jehadis have changed and the present strategy is to seduce.
The foxy jehadis know that the modern women from other faiths are least obsessed with religion, brainwashed as they are by secularism, multiculturalism and humanism. So the strategy is to seduce them with wealth and wine, entrap them and finally force them to convert.
Now this strategy is not just reduced to Sikhs and Hindus. Even Princess Di was no exception. There were deeper conspiracy theories that Dodi planned to foist his yet-to-be-born son on the British throne. The British Intelligence which sensed the danger of the situation finished the story in a planned car accident. If this be the case with the Princess -- who was seduced by Muslim men well within the security reach of the Palace, then God save the plane Janes.
Anything connected with sex is no doubt secular. However, it becomes a touchy issue when it comes to inter-community faith.
Consider secularism in India. Akbar’s Hindu wives are a proof of his secularism. Sultan’s harems filled with Hindu women are also proofs of their broadmindedness. What they do not factor is that these women were taken at sword point, they were subject to harassment and conversion.
Even today, the same harem mentality continues. Take the case of the murder of Rizwan-ul-Reheman following his marriage to a Hindu girl, Priyanka Todi. The case is still under investigation.
Rizwan Ul Reheman had promised to convert to Hinduism and that perhaps led to his killing. Now seduction is secular and there can be no faulting there.
However, it is a question of honor for any Hindu or for that matter any white man who would have quite a heart burn if he sees a white woman with a black man.
There is also the question of secularism. God is one and all religions are the same. The Hindu girls are taught. So they find it a convenient excuse to elope with Muslim men..
Babu Bajrangi -- who has made a living saving Hindu girls eloping with Muslim men – in an interview to Outlook had remarked that saving a Hindu woman from Muslim is a million times more virtuous than saving a cow.
In India, women and cow are holy issues. Land, Women and Wealth are a cause for all disputes. The easiest way to insult a man is to either insult his God, take away his woman (wife, daughter or sister). This is exactly what the minorities specialize at.
It is not that seduction is unknown to Hindus who also happen to be the author of Kamasutra. But Hindu seduction is secular. Muslim seduction is communal. In that the married woman becomes a breeding cow in the demography game.
Rather than wait for those naïve girls and women to elope, it is better to tell them about the facts. Inform them about the cruelties involved. Ask her whether she is willing to be a willing breeding cow in the service of a medieval faith.
These days, the film industry (especially bollywood) also preach the values of secular love over narrow communal consideration. Muslim men take advantages of the liberals secularism to hoodwink naïve Hindu girls who are anyway reeling under the impact of increased testerstones.
Consider also how much hue and cry a Muslim man raises when a Hindu man flicks a Muslim girl. The film Bombay created a ruckus when it showed a Muslim girl eloping with a Hindu man. However, films like Jodhaa Akbar -- which is a distortion of history -- portrays Akbar as genuine and subtly encourages women of other faiths to consider inter-religious marriages. Such movies are canon fodder for jehadis.
For the west, sex is just like a sneeze. It is a release from the other end. But in India, virginity is equated with family honour. Deflowering a virgin from the other community is sufficient to spark a communal riot. Muslims do it all the time and they have it coming towards them.
Hindu girls should also be taught the values of Hinduism, which are quite modern and secular. In fact, it is eternal. The secularism of Sarva Dharma Samabhava (all religions are equal) should be done away with. Will she eat beef? Will she spend her entire life in purdah? Ask her? Educate her on the dangers of Muslim ways. Will she end up in a brothel? Educate her on these aspects – not on Sarva Dharma Samabhava and the docile secularism of the liberal society. It is better to do so before she elopes.
After all Mullahs exhort the true Muslims to flick women from other communities. Don’t they? Finally, I have never seen a single secularist who is happy to see his sister or daughter elope with a Muslim man? If you have, do tell me?

Demographic siege in Bharatvarsh

2008-02-13T00:26:00.001-08:00

Hindu nationalists have two main objectives: to save civilization from swallowing ideologies and to disseminate the indigenous spiritual ideology.
The major issue that the Hindu nationalist have to contend with is demography. Pakistan poet Iqbal had once remarked that democracy is a number game where heads are counted and not weighed. Muslims believe in number game and their penchant for increasing population is recorded worldwide. The Hindu population in Pakistan, which stood at 19.2 percent in 1948, has declined to 1.6 percent as per the 1998 Pakistani census. Similarly, the Hindu population in Bangladesh, which was 28 percent in 1941, has declined to 9.2 percent in 2001. It is obvious that the drastic reduction of Hindu population was due to their persecution by the Islamic majority of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The demographic situation in India is no better. The book – Religious Demography of India – published by the Centre for Policy Studies, Chennai claims that if the Hindu population declines in a similar manner, they would form less than 50 percent of the population b the year 2060. Alarming indeed. If we consider the population of entire India (including Jammu and Kashmir as well as Assam) the Hindu population has declined by 6.74 perent while the Muslim population has increased by more than 3.03 percent. It should also be mentioned that an increased Muslim population also leads to shift in the political dynamics. Muslims vote en-bloc and even their minority votes have a lot of bearing on the ultimate results.

The drastic demographic changes are even confirmed by secularist publications. The total fertility rate (TFR) is 3.4 children per woman. Muslims have considerably higher fertility than any other religious group. Muslim women have a TFR of 4.4, which is 1.1 children higher, then the TFR for Hindu women (Manorama Year Book 96, pg 458-459).

Muslims, who constitute barely one percent of the US population, have made the Americans paranoid about their security following 9/11. The Noble prize awarded to Sir V S Naipaul soon thereafter was a testimony to the havoc that the jehadi Islamic ideology can wreak. There is not even a single Islamic nation in the world that swears by secularism and it is obvious that the swelling of Islamic population would mark the herald of Talibanism and sound the death knell for other religionists. In this context, the Hindu nationalists have the additional responsibility of preserving civilization from the forces of barbaric medievalism.
Hindu population in Bangladesh region
Year Percentage (%)
1941 28.0
1951 22.0
1961 18.5
1974 13.5
1981 12.13
1991 10.52
2001 9.2
Sources: Census of India 1941, Census of East Pakistan, Bangladesh Government Census
Population of Kashmiri Hindus
Year Percentage (%)
1901 7% *
2001 0.5 %
( estimate)*Imperial Gazetteer of India, volume 15. 1908

Hindu Terminologies

2008-02-13T00:24:00.000-08:00

The Hindu view is far different from western concepts. Check out your knowledge of Hindu terminologies.

Hindu : The word Hindu is often mistaken to be a religion. However, the word Hindu has more to do with geography and culture. During the ancient days, India was referred to as Hindusthan (the land beyond the River Sindhu) and the inhabitants were called Hindu. So Hindus refer to indigenous people of India. This theory has gained more credibility especially after the demise of the Aryan Invasion Theory. Western thinkers like Max Muller conceptualized the Aryan Invasion Theory to justify the imperialist presence in India.
Hindu Dharma: Hindu dharma does not denote religion. Dharma can be loosely translated as codes of righteousness Hindu dharma is a way of life of the people of Bharatvarsh / Hindustan / India. There is no single prophet, no single scripture, no single faith – very much unlike Christianity and Islam which can be categorized as cults. In Hinduism there are innumerable schools of thoughts, innumerable gods and innumerable ideologies. Hinduism is highly democratic and its adherents are free to choose. They also have the option to remain atheists or agnostics as some of the Hindu schools of thoughts were indeed atheistic and agnostic. It should also be noted that dharma is of three types: Sanatana dharma, samaja dharma and vyakti dharma.
Sanatana dharma: It refers to the eternal positive values that mankind is supposed to uphold. They include values like love, compassion, courage et al. Sanatana means eternal. That is why these values can never be outdated.
Samaja Dharma : It refers to societal codes. It is like a constitution of the society. It changes from society to society and from time to time.
Vyakti Dharma: It refers to personal values and freedom. Worship, beliefs and lifestyle comes in this category.
Hindutva : This word was first coined by the famed revolutionary Veer Savarkar in his seminal book : Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? However, of late, leftits and their ilk often use this word to describe fascism of Hindu variety. Hindutva is nothing but Hinduness. When Savarkar coined this word, he had the concerns of indigenous Indians in mind as most of the Hindus during his days were in the sway of foreign ideologies (Islam, Christinatiy, Communism, Capitalism, hedonism et al). That is why he coined the word Hindutva to refer to the original way of life of the people of Hindustan / India/ Bharatvarsh.
Hindu Nationalism: The origin of this movement is debatable. However, it gained momentum after Muslim attacks on India With an intention of saving Hindu dharma, the kshatriyas (Hindu warriors) grouped themselves against the Muslim invaders towards the ultimate aim of flushing them out. Their move almost succeeded when Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Mohammed Ghori and was able to drive him out. However, his misplaced generosity proved disastrous as Ghori re-attacked India and was victorious. During the later period, Rana Pratap and Shivaji were the icons of Hindu nationalism. Today, Hindu Nationalism is chiefly an intellectual movement to remove the vestiges of colonialism/ communism / Islam and Christianity from the Hindu mind. The chief aim of the Hindu nationalists is the establishment of Hindu Rashtra.
Hindu Rashtra: This term is often translated as Hindu nation or state. However, the word Rashtra is far different from the western concept of nationhood or a theocratic state. Hindu Rashtra is neither political nor theocratic. It is more along cultural line. It stems from the logic that the people of India are united by culture and lifestyle rather than religion and politics.
Akhand Bharat: (Undivided India) is a term that refers to regions that had a Hindu majority in the past, before the Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent and post-colonial partition. Popular conceptions of Akhand Bharat differ. Some regard Undivided India as Akhand Bharat, while some opine that Afghanistanand even Iran, which come within the Indian sphere of influence form a part of Akhand Bharat. It includes all of the current Republic of India as well as the nation-states of Afghan, Bangla and Pakistan particularly the Punjab and Sindh region), Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Apart from Afghanistan, this is basically the same as the formerly-existing Indian Empire which lasted until the end of the colonial era in India in 1947. Akhanda Bharatam is the Sanskrit name for this region. The geographic frontiers of this region is held to range from the Himalayan region in the north to the ocean in the south, the borders of Bharathavarsh as outlined by Hindu epics.
Swadeshi: The Swadeshi movement (part of Indian Independence movement) was a successful economic strategy to remove the British Empire from power and improve economic conditions in India through following principles of swadeshi (self-sufficiency). Strategies of the swadeshi movement involved boycotting British products and the revival of domestic-made products and production techniques. Swadeshi, as a strategy, was a key focus of Gandhi who described it as the soul of Swaraj (self rule).
RSS or Sangh: Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (National Volunteers' Organisation), also known as the Sangh or the RSS, is a Hindu nationalist organization India. It was founded in 1925. The RSS is active throughout India and abroad as the Hindu Swayamsewak Sangh.
Their general philosophical outlook is cultural nationalism known as integral humanism aimed at preserving the spiritual and moral traditions of India. The RSS believes Hinduism is not simply a religion but a way of life. The proclaimed purpose of the organization is "serving the nation and its people in the form of God - Bharata Mata (Mother India) and protecting the interests of the People who treat India as their motherland". As it reflects in their everyday hymn before the saffron flag - their real Guru, Param Waibhavan ney tumetat swa rashtram which in Sanskrit means, "for establishing you on the supreme pedestal of glory, o my motherland i shall lay everything that belongs to me".The Sangh has a heirarchial structure to their organization, with the sarasangachallak being the highest rank.
The RSS ideology: Its Hindutva philosophy states that it stands by eternal phrases like Ekam Sat Viprah Bahudha Vadanti and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. (Truth is One, Sages Call it by Many Names. The Whole Universe is one Family). However, the RSS primarily believes in organizing the Hindu society. Its belief is that the Hindus have everything and its duty is only to organize the resources at their command.
Sangh Parivar: (Family of Associations) refers to the family of Hindu organizations built around RSS. Sangh Parivar organisations promote swadeshi, hindu nationalism and integral humanism.
Apart from RSS, the Sangh Parivar comprises
SJM (Swadesh Jagran Manch), the economic wing
ABVP (Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) – students’ wing
Vidya Bharati – the educational wing
BVKA (Bharatiya Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram) – tribal wing
Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh – labour wing
Rashtriya Sevika Samiti – women’s wing
BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) --the political wing
Vishwa Hindu Parishad - the religious wing
Bajrang Dal – the activist wing
BKS (Bharatiya Kisan Sangh) - the farmer’s wing
The Sangh Parivar is involved in more than 60,000 service activities.
Shakhas: It means "branch" Sanskrit.
Most of the organisational work of the RSS is done through the coordination of shakhas, or branches. These shakhas are run every morning (prabhat shakha), evening (sayam shakha) or night (ratri shakha) for 1 hour in public places and are open to people of all castes, creeds or social and economic status. Currently about 50,000 shakhas are run throughout India. Apart from 42,000 daily gatherings, there are about 5,000 weekly and 2,000 monthly gatherings conducted throughout the length and breadth of the country.
These shakhas are usually operated in playing grounds without any offices. At the end of the shakha prayer "Namaste Sadaa Vatsale Matrubhoome" (which means "My salutation to you, ever loving motherland") is recited.
These shakhas are the core building blocks of RSS structure. During a Shakha, the activities consist of Games, Yoga, discussions on broad range of social topics, prayer to Mother India and an inspirational session (baudhik). The RSS uniform consists of a black cap, white shirt and khakhi-coloured shorts. On the day of 'Guru Poornima' the RSS vounteers pay tributes to the 'Bhagwa Dhwaj' - the saffron flag, which has considerable symbolic importance.
Swayamsewak: An RSS volunteer who attends shakha is referred to as a "Swayamsevak". A Swayamsevak is sometimes appointed as a Sanghchalak, meaning group administrator, and is given the task of leading and organizing the Shaka's events.
Integral Humanism: Integral humanism is the political philosophy of the BJP and the former BJS (Bharathiya Jana Sangh). It was first propounded by Deendayal Upadhyaya. It is espoused by most Hindutva organizations. Upadhyaya has argued that western philosophies are not acceptable as a blueprint for society because of their "preoccupation" with materialism and their overall over-looking of the social well-being of the individual. He saw both capitalism and socialism as essentially flawed -- stimulating as they do greed, class antagonisms, exploitation and social anarchy.
His proposal was an "integral" approach that attempts to create a harmonious society. This could be done, he argued, by satisfying the needs of the body (hunger, shelter), the mind (traditions), intelligence (reforms), and the soul (common aspirations of a people that shape their unique culture).
Upadhyaya said that each nation creates institutions to satisfy needs, and these much be reshaped so that the group solidarity could be sustained and maintained under changing circumstances. He argues that Bharathiya tradition builds on the social nature of people and obliges them to create institutions meant to enhance social solidarity. Advaita Vedanta or the principle of recognising ourselves in all life, is seen as the philosophic underpinning of this view.
Shiv Sena: A Hindu rightwing political party in Maharashtra headed by Bal Thackeray which is not connected with the Sangh Parivar in any way.
Hindu Mahasabha: It is a Hindu nationalist organization which was originally founded in 1915 to counter the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress. The president of Hindu Mahasabha was V D Savarkar. Dr. Hedgewar also served the organisation. Hedgewar later left the Mahasabha to form Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh. Soon after India's Independence, and the subsequent assassination of Gandhi, a good number of Hindu Mahasabhaites joined Bharathiya Jana Sangh nder the leadership of S. P Mukherjee, who had left Hindu Mahasabha and joined hands with the RSS to float a political party under the control and supervision of RSS. Mukherjee had left Mahasabha after his proposal to allow Muslims to gain membership was turned down by the followers of V.D. Savarkar.
The Born Again Hindu: Anwar Shaikh (the man who reconverted to Hinduism after he became aware of his ancestral root) said: I came to the conclusion, all of a sudden, that it was Muhammad himself who was telling the people how to bow before him in the name of Allah, as though it were a command from Allah. By now, I felt that this veil of ignorance had been lifted from my mind.
I was no longer willing to study the Koran through faith. I started reading it critically and rationally. And as I went through it, I realized the Koran did not appeal to me anymore the way it used to do, the way it had for the last twenty-five years…The moment I started reading the Koran critically, it looked entirely [like] another book to me.

Various Faces of Hindu Internationalists

2008-02-11T19:15:00.000-08:00

Do you know that Hindu nationalists are not a monolith. Check out all the hues and colours of Hindu nationalism.
Media often portrays Hindu nationalists as a lunatic fringe bent on creating a theocratic state. However, there is more than what meets the eye. Hindu nationalists are not a monolith. There are different shades among them – which is usually not caught by the lens of the media that is so much obsessed with the west.

Hindu nationalism is chiefly an intellectual movement that aims at removing the vestiges of colonialism, Islam, Communism and Christianity from the Hindu mind. The mission intent of conservative Hindu nationalists is to establish Hindu Rashtra. However, in the age of globalisation, most of the Hindus believe in nothing short of a Hindu world. This, many believe, is possible through an assertive international Hindu lobby. Hindu internationalism--an extension of Hindu nationalism -- is an ideology that is catching on.

Different Shades: Over the years, Hindu nationalists have branched into several hues and shades. They have also been influenced by the ideologies of their adversaries besides having their own indigenous ideals. The Hindu nationalists who are influenced by their adversaries in an attempt to overcome them can be broadly framed into four categories (1) Jehadi Hindu nationalists (2) Left Hindu nationalists (3) Evangelical Hindu nationalists (4) Corporate Hindu nationalists.

(1) Jehadi Hindu nationalists: They are those who are influenced by Islam and insist that the Muslims be paid back in their own jehadi coin.

The best known among this school of thought is Sadhvi Ritambara. There are several others who endorse this school of thought but are unwilling to come out in the open for the fear of being branded as fundamentalist. On the question of Indian Muslims, the fiery Sadhvi had remarked in one of her speeches that Indian Muslims have only two places left for them – Pakistan or Qabristan (Pakistan or the graveyard). She further quoted the Koran to say that the holy book directs the true Muslims to wage an all-out war against the Kafirs and that Hindus have no choice but to retaliate in the same manner and even more effectively. The logic is that Hindus should also turn jehadi to counter Islamic jehad. Her words have translated into reality. The normally docile Gujarati Hindus turned Islamic in response to the burning down of the S-6 Sabaramati Express train in Godhra by Muslim extremists.

This is what Rajeev Srinivasan, a columnist from Rediff.com had to say: Let us remember what happened: A group of 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya, mostly women and children, were burned alive in a railway coach when the train was stopped in a Mohammedan area. Commonsense suggests, given that a large crowd of Mohammedans had gathered at 7 am in an area that had seen widespread infiltration by extremists, that there was some malice aforethought and it is likely that the Mohammedans in fact set the train on fire. Nobody else had the motive or the means. Torching 59 women and children, most sane people would concede is extreme provocation. Consider what the Americans did hen there was similar grave provocation against them, and 3,000 of them were killed on 9/11. I said then that they didn’t riot because they knew the State would take revenge for them (unlike in India). The American military invaded Iraq, and have killed some 500,000 Mohammedans so far, in addition to destroying large parts of Iraq. This, in addition to the estimated 500,000 Iraqi children – an entire generation – killed, because of punishing American embargos. The kill ratio: 500,000 to 3,000 – Sevneteen to one.”

At the ground level, there are numerous Hindu activists who claim that they are tired of pacifist methods adopted by Hindu leaders and it is high time that the Hindus turned Islamic in response. However, the mainstream Hindu nationalists, especially leaders do not endorse this line.

(2) Left Hindu nationalists: They are those who are influenced by the left, have leftist traits in them like atheism, activism, revolution and fighting fro the underdogs. However they also happen to espouse the cause of Hindu Rashtra.

To a certain extent, Veer Savarkar falls in this category. He was an atheist and advocated revolutionary changes in Hindu society like making it casteless and non-vegetarian. Most of the time he was the underdog as he had to contend with the mighty British empire first and the massive Congress party later. Most of his suggestions were so radical that it was unacceptable to the normally conservative Hindu society at large. The Hindu Mahasabha (the party that he led) had received a major blow during his time as Shyama Prasad Mookherjee had resigned following assertions that Savarkar’s Hindutva was out of touch with Hindu society, which allows only for gradual changes.

Another Hindu nationalist who can be framed into this category was BMS leader Dattopant Thengadi. He spent time with Communist trade unions to study their pattern. He later conceived Bharathiya Mazdoor Sangh – which became the world’s largest trade union – beating the Communists at their own game. However, he continued his tirade against globalisation even when the NDA was in power – which many believed was the result of his long association with the left school of thought.

(3) Evangelical Hindu nationalists: They are those who favour the spread of Hinduism through service and pacifist methods. There are many Hindu missionaries who have emulated the Christian model, though not with as much ferocity and success. Srila Prabhupad of ISKCON, Mahesh Yogi, Sri Sri Ravishankar are popular while the most popular tele-evangelist today happens to be Baba Ramdev. The only son of God theory holds good as most of these Gurus have a messiah mentality and their organizations have the trapping of cults.

(4) Corporate Hindu nationalists: They are those who favour the corporate mode of development. They are supporters of globalisation and also happen to be supporters of the Hindu cause. Most of the second generation BJP leaders today, including Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley and Arun Shourie fall in this category. However, this school of thought does not find much favour with the mainstream Hindu nationalists, though they are considered indispensable. The Hindus are equally suspicious of US intentions. The saffron idealogue S Gurumurthy – in his column- had claimed that the Federal Reserve – which prints the US dollars – was an enigma wrapped in mystery. His contention was that a clique which the world hardly knows is manipulating the global economy and the Federal Reserve – which is accused of overprinting the US dollar – now needs a global watch. After all, the US economy is now hit by recession.

The Original Hindu nationalists: It must be mentioned that all the above-mentioned categories are largely a reaction and a way of counteracting the ill-effects of the alien ideologies. The original Hindu Nationalists are very much tuned to the spiritual culture of Bharatvarsh and are in no way affected by either Islam or Christianity, or Marx and Macualay. The original Hindu nationalists are indigenous

Indigenous Hindu nationalists: They are the ones who advocate the return to the roots. Organic farming, natural lifestyle, yogic discipline, holistic living, decentralization, rural reforms and eco-sensitivity are high on their agenda. They are the Hindu nationalists at their pristine best. However, the only problem is to translate their vision into reality, given the high degree of urbanization, pollution and corporatisation during the day. Most of the Hindu nationalists of yore belong to this category. The best known among them was M S Golwalkar, better known as Guruji in nationalist circles. He was more interested in matters spiritual until his Guru directed him to go back to where he belonged.

Not a monolith: Besides Hindu nationalists are not a monolith as suggested by a section of the media. There are several instances of differences. Savarkar – the founding father of modern Hindu nationalism – had little faith in RSS. Ashok Singhal of the VHP and L K Advani of the BJP had differences on the issue of Ram Temple. More famous is the spat between Dattopant Thengadi and A B Vajpayee on issues of globalisation. There were differences of opinions on the positioning of the Hindu ideology between Sitaram Goel – the founder of Voice of India – and H V Sheshadri – the RSS idealogue. VHP’s Pravin Togadia had accused Narendra Modi of not doing enough for the Hindu society.