Sanatana Dharma - Aka Hinduism (3rd Bin)

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 04-05-2007, 04:38 AM by Bodhi.)

Surya, you are absolutely right in that 'go' is (also) used to mean 'Light'. And thanks for providing so many more words stemming from 'go'.

And yet, this is completely in synch with the meaning of go as 'sat'. Isn't sat 'perceived' as light too?

Let us understand this, using the opposite. 'tam' is the opposite of 'sat', and tam/tamas does (also) mean darkness. It is also evident from this very famous richa : asato mA sadgamaya, tamaso mA jyitirgamaya, mrityor ma amritamgamaya. (Let us go from asat to sat, from darkness to light, from death to eternal life)

But light is a perception. It is a perception that occurs when sat is perceived through the indriya of vision. (driSti-go-char) Sat can also be perceived through other indriyas - like karna, the hearing indriya (go-karNa : one who perceives go with karna; and; one who causes the go).

Also let us contemplate upon some other examples.

Gopuram. Temple's central column where devapratima is housed, 'the place of 'go' '. Now, that is not 'city of cows'. This is 'house of sat', and yes sat can be perceived as light too.

let us now expand a little bit, to some parallels.

Another beautiful, widelu used and oft mistranslated term, is Pasupati. Parallel to Gopal or Gopati. "literal" meaning of Pasu-pati is 'lord of animals'? But that adjective doesn't make sense to apply to Sri Mahadev, does it? Pasu means animal in exactly that much of sense as Go means cow! Much deeper meaning of Pasu is life (not 'just' animals), and Pasupati in vedic sense means 'lord of life/lives'.

I am not sure about the Bhagwat quotations. Maybe if you can give me the locator/sukta# I can try to study that. But I guess, by go-matar, it might have meant Aditi, as you meantion this as mother of Maruts.

Coming to ambiguity, there is none. From one term, if different meanings are derived, that in itself is not ambiguity. It depends upon context of usage - who is saying it, who is being addressed, what is the topic. Sanskrit is a very fluid language, the words take shape of the container in which these are placed.

Ambiguity comes when people 'misuse' the context. For example Mr. Wiztel is trying to find "historical" evidences from Ashtadhyayi, while largely undermining its authenticity on language-science. Ashtadhyayi is written in context of language, not history - so obviousely it makes sense to derive language-related meanings from it. Likewise Vedas are largely of spiritual concerns, so we should derive spiritual knowledge from it, not animal-husbandry related. Different texts may provide 'hints' into other contexts but it is important to primarily rely upon the context in which the text was developed.

QUOTEgomedha yagna, would be a sacrifice for light of intellect.


In my mind, it would be more generically 'enterprise to attain a sattvik brilliance', or 'efforts of a sattvik intellect'.

Husky · (This post was last modified: 04-05-2007, 07:24 AM by Husky.)

Bodhi's post immediately above (#61) is far more important and interesting, but there's several things I want to remark on about the following excerpts, hope I remember them all.

Posts 53 and 58:
QUOTETherefore they cannot be taken to be individual deities or people as the Westerners interpret this. You find varying western interpretation on what the Devas denote: from Indra being a commanding chief of the Aryan army, who slays Vritra(the chief of the Dasyus) to taking them to be demi-gods as in Odinism.QUOTEWe need to differentiate between Indian polytheism and pantheism and Western polytheism and pantheism(such as Odinism)QUOTEShe [Wendy Doniger] uses an odinist interpretationQUOTESo we shouldn't use the same interpretation. Deva means, if I understand correctly shining(please correct me if I'm wrong). This conveys a sense of energy, not some deity-being controlling nature from heaven(as in Odinism)Odinism is the term used more often by racist groups who *claim* to be practising the Old Religion of NW Europe, when in reality they're just hategroups who just graduated from a christian background and want some other random rallying point.
Of course, not all groups who practise what they call 'Odinism' are racist. However, Asatru (loyalty to the Aesir/true to the Aesir) or Northern Heathenry are the more accurate names that the Old Religion goes by; and so far I've not come across any racist groups on-line who say they are of Asatru.

Now, onto my point.
It seems you are arguing that since western interpretations of events mentioned in the Vedas and Puranas - like that of Wendy Doniger and 'her Children'/Spawn - assume the Indian Gods therein to be like 'Odinist' Gods (referring to the Aesir), it leads to disgusting and desperate tales about the same Gods.

But I have to ask you:
When have orchestrated christocolonial and today's missionary(-funded) subversive readings and interpretations of any Ancient Religion's literature and traditions *not* led to disgusting perversions of the sacred originals and their meanings?
You will find much in this vein was done to the sacred narratives of the Ancient Hellenes and no less done to the Mayans and other native American communities and peoples of the Americas. And this continues today - do you know how the missionaries twist the spiritual knowledge of the Akha hill tribe of Thailand?

Wendy Doniger and her Spawn are in the pay of missionaries - as well as getting funded by the US which has a lot of dough and wants to see India broken up. And to do this, they need to dissolve or otherwise destroy the uniting element first: our Dharmic religions.

The worst possible reaction that any Hindu could have is to try and avoid any of the traditional understandings (there's more than one) of the Devas, just because Wendy or her students twisted it to some unrecognisable and depraved falsehood.

You see, losers like Wendy are working overtime to create christolies about Ganapathi (Courtright I think it was), Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (Kripal) and Shivaji (forgot the dude's name responsible for the tripe on the Great Shivaji). So who is left? Rama? No, other missionaries or christocolonials have already made lies about him: that he was some Oryan tyrant who subdued the poor 'Dravidoid' Rakshasha family of Ravana (no matter Ravana was from Kashmir and a brahmana Rakshasa; and Rakshashas are not human so they can't be 'Dravidoids'). Rama is even made out to be some anti-feminist.... mwahahahahaha. Krishna, then? No, same thing. Kali, the Mother of the Universe? Let's not even go there, the number of lies about her might outnumber all. Shiva? I've personally *seen* some missionary sites with such lies about him that nothing will induce me to cite any sentence from them here. And I'm not talking about the insistence of western 'scholars' on what they feel the sole meaning of the Lingam is. What do they know - theirs is the most superficial of 'studying' forrays into Hindu tradition, besides which they have not the slightest sympathy for their field of 'study'. What could they possibly have learnt, except that (christocolonial rubbish) which they presumed beforehand?

Must we abandon all the traditional knowledge, understanding and experience we have about our cherished Gods, heroes/deliverers of Bharatam like Shivaji Maharaja and spiritual leaders like RP because Wendy and the others (and who knows how many more in the future) have brought forth such heinous willful misinterpretations of the beings who we have long known of by our traditions and history? In our taking offense from Courtright's attempted trampling on Ganapathi, must we retreat into saying that Ganapathi is purely symbolic, when we know that according to Ancient Tradition he is both symbolic *and* a manifestation of what those sacred symbols represent?

Because when a Hindu does that, they are already Christian, and Wendy and the other losers' mission is already accomplished. I will show you an example of what I mean. It is rather appropriate because you mentioned the Aesir: see the contents at the link http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/njal100.html Iceland Accepts Christianity.

There is a statement on that page embedded in an unmentionable, horrific christo 'verse' about the Great Goddess Freya, which converts to christoterrorism uttered (taught as they were to voice it by their christian mentors). I will not repeat it here, as I would never repeat it anywhere. But one cannot miss it.

How is it any different from what the missionary-funded losers like Wendy are saying and writing about Hinduism (and other Ancient Religions) today? And when Hindus believe such things as she writes about the compassionate and noble Mahendran, then we are already on the path to becoming like the christoconverts that the missionaries made from the Icelandic (and other Northern European) peoples centuries ago. Today, christoconverts of India say such things and much worse already. But why should we accept it, internalise it and then try to change our traditional views of our own Gods to avoid having to face such insults. Well, get used to it - no matter which of the many traditional understandings and views of our Gods you retreat to, the christoislamics will be there - like MF Hussein with his garbage paintings or Wendy with her garbage words - to pervert, slander and stain whatever it is you can still cling to. Make no mistake about it. Complete destruction is what they are after.

(In the case of Indian heroes, we are further limited, as there is only a single view: only our historical knowledge of them. Must we be willing to denounce our heroes altogether then, because the liars have slandered them so foully? Where would Hindus be today if Shivaji had not been? We owe him eternal gratitude and only Hindus can remember him respectfully. No one else. When we are lost to him, he and his massive endeavours would have meant nothing and he might as well have never existed. Precisely what the losers want, as Shivaji is another uniting force of the Hindus.)

You are free to understand the Devas as you have been brought up to, or as makes sense to you now. But to me and any others, we have the right to continue to hold onto another, equally traditional, view (as also mentioned in the Vedas and Puranas): that they can and do manifest in forms human-like or animal-like besides being the intelligence or spirit of the natural phenomenon or faculty that they represent. And in that respect, the Devas (as all Hindu expressions of the Divine) are not much different from the Greek Gods, the Aesir and Vanir, the Yoruba of the Africans, or the Gods of the Koreans, and the like. In particular our Gods in this way remind a lot of the Kami of Shinto, who are/is the formless Divine force as well as able to manifest in various forms that man and animal may understand.

Wendy and her kind have a .... 'gift' for seeing garbage where there is a forest of riches. They get *paid* for the subversion. They are part of the christo imperialism of today that desperately needs to create a new 'understanding' of Hinduism amongst Indians so that they can poison our understanding of our own ancient traditions which have been passed down for countless generations. In that way, they hope that future generations will not be Hindu or certainly not happy to be Hindus and can be converted easily. In this, they are no different from the British christocolonials who spent inordinate amounts of efforts in weaning Hindus away from Hinduism.

But let these people do their worst. They cannot win unless we let them.
(Besides, their lies about our literature don't begin to compare to the facts about the christoislamic characters that jump at any objective person who opens the babble or koran/hadiths. Why would christoislamism *ever* be an option?)

Husky · (This post was last modified: 04-05-2007, 07:52 AM by Husky.)

Forgot to add this. Also about post 58:
QUOTEWe need to differentiate between Indian polytheism and pantheism and Western polytheism and pantheism(such as Odinism)QUOTEIn that sense Santana Dharma is Pantheistic, but not Polytheistic. As we only recognise one supreme soul, and everything else as a manifestation of it.The christo-'anthropologists' of the colonial era were much cleverer than their christian forbears. They could no longer describe their objects of 'study' as pagans, heathens (or the still used term 'unsaved'). No, the 'science' of early anthropology required more scientific-sounding words. The early christians didn't bother to subcategorise the pagans/heathens, as they could all just be indiscriminately massacred into conversion anyway. The problem of the unsaved world became greater to the more 'moral' christos of the colonial times. Forced conversions even massacres were still at full speed ahead, but the world they discovered was bigger and needed to be split into smaller groups for easier consumption.
Thus they started bandying about terms for classifying the various heathens: pantheist, panentheist, henotheist, plain old monotheist or polytheist (hard polytheists and soft polytheists). Hindus have alternately been described by all of these, except for 'hard polytheists'. Let's add animist to the list.

In this way, the many communities 'studied' by christo-anthropologists were put into various boxes marked, for our perusal, with these various terms. The other side of the box was labeled for their own reading - what they always thought in their heads about all us non-christoislamics: heathen pagan animistic unsaved infidels. The complex terms just indicated what model/means of conversion would be best suited to each community that had been studied.

'Animists' were meant to be bulldozed over: like Africans, many Hindu forest and hill and even village communities, the Akha, certain remote native American communities of South America, remote South East Asian populations.
More 'sophisticated' -eists required more sophisticated means of conversion. Today that includes calling in the likes of Doniger et al.

The fact is, we may be all of the above when seen from an anthropological perspective, animists/animystics/animalystics/animatrix/whatever included, but none of them - nor all together - define in the remotest sense what Hinduism (or Shinto or the North American native American Traditions or the others) are.

Ironically, it is most easy to find the box wherein christoislamicommunism has appropriately placed itself. Through the teachings of its own ideology, as can also be traced in its actions all through history, it correctly labeled itself. But I don't think its followers are open to reading it.
It's not the 'monotheist' box christoislamism is found in. No. The box says, in big bold letters which everyone else has been able to read: 'Terrorist (Genocidal ideology)'.

Bharatvarsh · (This post was last modified: 12-06-2007, 04:53 AM by Bharatvarsh.)

QUOTEStop saying Hinduism is the same as other religions

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0n6_lBu07QA
Great speech by the Swami Aksharanand.

12-09-2007, 11:08 PM

National conference of Hindu religious organizations in USA
December 8, 2007

By freelance reporter

New Jeersey (USA): The Hindu Collective Initiative (HCI) of North America is organizing a national conference involving all Hindu religious organizations on December 14, 15, 16 at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando. According to the latest census data, there are more than 2.5 million Hindus living in America and they have built more than 700 Hindu temples and organizations. The purpose of this conference is to bring together all Hindu organizations in USA to identify issues of common interest and work towards solving or resolving them. The Theme of the conference is: The Future of Hindu Dharma in North America.

This conference was inspired by Swami Dayananda Saraswati. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Paramhansa Nityananda, Paramacharya Palaniswami of hinduism Today magazine, Swami Aksharananda of Guyana, Dr. Pranav Pandya of All World Gayatri Pariwar and several other Hindu leaders have committed their full support to the objec tives of this conference which is: to bring together on one platform leaders of all Hindu sampradayas and organizations, as well as top Hindu professors, intellectuals and community leaders, including Western Hindus and Caribbean Hindus, to network and discuss common issues to assure a bright future for Hindu Dharma in North America.

Invited Speakers who are expected to attend include: Sushri Janeshwari Devi (Barsana Dham), Sri Jeffrey Armstrong, Sri Bawa Jain, Dr. David Frawley, Dr. Frank Morales, Dr. Piyush Agrawal, Prof. Rukmani, Prof. Bal Ram Singh, Prof. Siva Bajpai, Prof. Antonio de Nicolas, Prof. Subhash Kak, Prof Jeffrey Long, Prof. TRN Rao, Prof. Ramesh N. Rao, Sri Deosaran Bisnath (President of the Hindu Council of the Caribbean), Sri Chandresh Sharma (Legislator in Trinidad-Tobago) and others.

Conference organizer Ved Chaudhary writes, "On Friday, we'll open the conference taking cognizance of global Hindu human rights issues with a report from the Hindu American Foundation, and with two important exhibits of Hindu Human Rights abuses in Kashmir and Bangladesh. Following this we'll have a session on the Government of India's control of mandirs; how can the government control so completely the practice of India's most dominant religion -Hinduism - and still boast of being secular? Global Hindu Heritage Foundation will present a comprehensive situation paper.

"Within the US, the proposed changes to the R-1 Religious Worker Visa statutes have been identified as a major issue that will result in a significantly adverse impact on the operations of all Hindu temples and organizations all across USA because they depend very heavily on skilled religious workers brought from India, Nepal, or Sri Lanka who have specific skills in Hindu temple construction, or to serve as Hindu priests. Therefore, the HCI as the collective body of all Hindu organizations has invited Mr. Prakash Khatri, Ombudsman, Office of the Citizenship & Immigration services (CIS) to listen to our issues and he has confirmed that he will attend. Stephen Edson, Director of Visa Services in the Department of State, has also been invited to hear our concerns, speak about the proposed changes to the R-1 Religious Worker Visa statutes, and shed light on the proposed course of action in this matter.

"Another major issue we have identified is that many textbooks used in American middle schools and high schools portray India and hinduism in a negative manner as from the British colonial times. HCI is supporting the Educators' Society for the Heritage of India, in trying to collect and provide more current, correct and authentic information about India than is currently available in US school textbooks and libraries. India being the largest democracy in the world, rapidly developing as an economically and technologically advanced nation in Asia, and as Indo-US strategic interests and relationships continue to advance, it is imperative that US school and college students and teachers gain a better understanding of this important part of the world. Many eminent professors are expected to attend the conference to go over the educational materials and work on proactive measures to improve this situation.

Hindu Student Council is organizing a youth session. High school, college and post-graduate students and new generation/ young men and women are encouraged to attend this conference as it relates to the issues of their generation.

For more information, contact: Ved P. Chaudhary, Ph.D., General Secretary, Hindu Collective Initiative (HCI) - North America. He is a former trustee of Rutgers University, and is currently serving as Assistant Commissioner of New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection. 

Email: ved@hcina.org

Shambhu · 01-17-2008, 10:08 AM

Who is a Hindu?
16/01/2008 15:54:30 Dr. Shriharsha Sharma

Who is a Hindu ? This question arises all the time in various situations and Hindus are unable to answer it exactly , precisely , satisfactorily and with confidence.I have asked this question to many people including eminent Hindu scholars, Sadhus, religious leaders, professors and Pandits but without a satisfactory reply. Fortunately I have found the most fitting, exact, precise and above all satisfying definition of a Hindu by a great revolutionary, author, orator, poet and patriot Veer Vinayak Rao Damodar Rao Savarkar. In 1905 while in the prison at Andamon- Nicobar Islands he thus wrote
Asindhu Sindhu Paryanta yashya Bharat Bhoomika,
Pitribhu Punya Bhuschaiva Sa vai Hindu Riti Smritah

There is a vast land between river Sindhu and Hind Mahasagar called Bharat and those who accept that this is their fatherland or / and a holy land, land of pilgrimage are all Hindu.

This definition includes Sanatanis, Saivas, Vaishnavas, Buddhists, Jains, Zorostrians [Parsis] , Arya Samasis, Sikhs, Harijans, members/followers of International Society of Krishna Consciousness or ISKCON, Vanvasis, Tribes , Yogis , Sadhus, Dalits, followers of Swaminarayan, followers of Shri RamkrishnaParamhans, Panthis, Pagans, atheists and various other sects without exception are all Hindus .This is the first lesson the Hindu parents can give to their children. Parents, teachers, Sadhus and leaders must learn this definition and convey and spread the correct information to children and people to unify the Hindu society.

This is worth mentioning that acceptance of the Vedas with reverence, recognition of the fact that the means or ways to salvation are diverse; and realisation of the truth that number of gods to be worship is large, that indeed the distinguishing feature of the Hindu Religion.--- Shri Balgangadhar Tilak.[ Quoted by Supreme Court of Bharat on 2 July 1995.]

Hindus believe in One God. There is no god but God .Hindus are truly monotheist but worship many gods and goddesses and see the same God in them. This needs to be realised at intellectual level by others but they have failed to understand this fact. For example snow, ice, icicle, dew, and vapour are all forms of water but we call them by different names similarly Hindus see the same God in all the gods and goddesses as well as in all the living and non living things this is the most simple thing , Hindus understand this and appreciate this. Hindu scriptures say it boldly, clearly, distinctly and most beautifully

Ekam Sadhvipra Bahuda Vadanti [2]

means that He is one but we call Him by various beautiful names.

Further to this it may be appropriate to mention the following verse which also gives clear message that Hindusthan means place[ sthan] of Hindus or land of Hindus or Hinduland [e.g. England ,land of English people, Ireland , land of Irish people ] .Hindusthanâs ancient name is Bharatvarsh.

Uttare cha Samudrashya Himadreshu cha Dakshinam,
Tadvarsha Bharat Nama Bharati Tatra Santati. [3]

The land which is north to the Hind Mahasagar[ Indian Ocean] and south to the mighty, magnificent Himalayas is Bharat, sons and daughters of this ancient land are called Bharati or Bbharatiya[Hindusthani]

Bharat also means knowdge or Gyan means away from ignorance or away from darkness so Bharat means land of source of light or knowledge. True knowledge is in the Ved so Bharat is also known as Ved Bhoomi.

Bhayam Ratam Bharatam [4]

means Bharat is submerged in light or is full of light so foundation and backbone of Bharat is knowledge where life is led by knowledge therefore ignorance and superstitions have no place in the land of Hindus.

What unite us are our spiritual and cultural heritage and its inner and most powerful strength since beginning of our civilisation.

Our heroes and heroines are supreme who inspire and guide us just remembering their names provide new and instant energy, strength, courage, hope and peace to name a few e.g. Raam, Krishna, Arjun, karn,Bhishma, Mahaveer, Buddha, Sri Raamkrishna, Dhruva,Prahalad, Hanuman,Sita, Radha,Tiruvallavur, Adi Sankaracharya, Guru Nanak, Samarth Guru Raamdas,Shivaji, Maharana Pratap, Bhamasah, Sant Yogeshwar, Swaminarayan, Meera Bai, Tulsidas, Guru Tegh Bahadur, Guru Govind Singh, Valmiki, Vedavyas, Kalidas, Swami Dayanand, Swami Vivekanand, Ramana Mahirishi, Srila Prabhupad, Valmiki, Soordas, Kabir,Subhas Chandra Bose, Khudi Ram Bose,Bhagat Singh,Chandra Shekhar TiwariAzad,, Bankim chandra chattopadhyaya, Sri Aurvindo, Dr.Hedegewar, Mangal Pandey,Sardar Ballabha Bhai Patel, Veer Savarkar, Dr. Ambedkar , Yogi Yoganand, Srila Prabhupad, Swami Chinmayanand, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi,Sivaya Subramaiyaswami, Sai Baba, Sri Sri, Sri Ravishankar, Swami Ramdev, Swami Satyamitranand Giri, Sadhavi Umashree Bharati,Shri RameshBhai Oza and Sadhavi Ritambhara there is no end to this list and we are proud of them.

We recite the following Slok while bathing which is so satisfying and unifying us from Himalayas to Hind Mahasagar and all the Hindus living anywhere in the world

Gange Cha Yamune Chaiva Godavari Saraswati,
Narmade Sindhu Kaveri Jalesminsannidhim kuru.[ 5]

A Hindu while chanting this Slok prays to sacred rivers e. g. Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswati, Narmada,Sindhu and Kaveri to come and join in the water being used for bath or shower. It is a unique and enlightening experience and at the same time so unifying which inspires me to say that one Hindu is for all and all Hindus are for one.

Origin of the word Hindu has been traced from an ancient scripture called Brihanardi Puran in which there is a verse

Himalayan Samabhya Yavat Bindusarovaram,
Hindusthanmati Gyatam Hii Antarakshar Ayogatah.[6]

It means the country between the Himalayas and Bindu Sarovar is Hindusthan so combining the first letter Hi of Himalayas and last compound letter Ndu of word Bindu forms Hindu so purely and simply this is a Sanskrit word. Our ancestors wrote so much including two largest epics Raamayan and Mahabharat and foreigners gave us the name Hindu cannot be accepted .This verse is also mentioned in the Nardeeya Puran Which is a short version of original Brihannardi Puran.

Hinam Nashyati Iti Hindu[ 7 ]

means those who uphold righteousness and fight ignobleness are Hindu.

Our motherland is also known as OM Bhoomi, Ved Bhoomi, Avatar Bhoomi, Devi Bhoomi, Devata Bhoomi, Punya Bhoomi, Rishi Bhoomi, Teerth Bhoomi, Gurukul Bhoomi, Guru Bhoomi, Sanskrit Bhoomi, Sanskriti Bhoomi,Sabhyata Bhoomi, Sant Bhoomi,Van Bhoomi, Veer Bhoomi,Raam Bhoomi, Krishna Bhoomi, Ras and Raas Bhoomi and Mahaveer Bhoomi, Buddha Bhoomi,Tiruvallavur Bhoomi, Kavi Bhoomi,Kavya Bhoomi, Sangeet Bhoomi,Nritya Bhoomi, Maharana Pratap Bhoomi, Shivaji Bhoomi, Lakshami Bai Bhoomi,Guru Nanak Bhoomi, Hedegewar Bhoomi, Sardar Patel Bhoomi, Veer Savarkar Bhoomi and above all Matru Bhoomi which inspired Shri Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya who wrote Vande Mataram.

I am a Hindu, my ancestors come from Hindusthan and my holy places or places of pilgrimage are in Hindusthan. In Hindusthan over many thousands of years the Dharma, culture, civilisation, traditions, philosophy,Yog vidya, Ayurved, music, literature, arts , fine arts, dance, and languages had developed without outside compulsion and force in total harmony with nature and eternal laws that is why it is so pure and unique and if you approach with open mind then you will love it and you will find vast treasure in it and that is the experience of many people around the world , so try to know more about it you will be spiritually, morally and culturally richer and peaceful.

Everything in Hindusthan is attached to word Hindu and greatest strength of Hindus has been the freedom of expression in thought, talk and action .The culture of this country is Hindu Culture, the history of this country is the history of Hindus, so is the architecture, literature, sculpture, folklore, poetry, dramas, stories, comics, sorrow and laughter, music, languages and heritage around us is all Hindu. Where ever Hindus went they took their culture and religion and people were attracted so adopted without compulsion or force so south east Asian countries fell in love with Hindu culture and the influence can be seen in these countries from Mangolia to Burma to Luthvania and now in Europe and America.

We must go a bit back and deeper and infact it has all its source from Sanatan Dharma. All the religions of Hindusthan are branches of Sanatana Dharma which is generally known as Hinduism .Hinduism has the capacity and capability to accommodate all those who believe in the freedom of individual in thought, talk and action following the eternal laws of equality, justice and freedom in development of humanity.

The time has come that Hindus must rename India officially as Hindusthan which is long over due, this will bring a new energy in Hindus and make them feel proud, bold, assertive, responsible and courageous. This is the demand of majority Hindus and cannot be ignored anymore.

A very simple fact I would like to mention here is this that anybody can become a Hindu according to the above definition so you do not have to be a born Hindu. Swami Dayanand Saraswati first started conversion of Muslims and Christians who were converted from Hindus and later Swami Vivekanand came in favour of this and promoted this and recently Swami Chinmayanand, Sivaya Subramaniya swami came in favour of this.

Can a Hindu boy marry a non-Hindu girl? The answer is yes but he must convert her as a Hindu by giving her a Hindu name and introducing her to Hinduism so that children have no confusion in their identity and bringing up.

Can a Hindu girl marry a non-Hindu boy? The answer is yes .The Hindu boys and girls must be bold, assertive, progressive and strong in their character. They must learn about their religion, culture and traditions only then it is possible and here the parents and guardians of society must play their roles with farsightedness and responsibility to teach them to survive and preserve the interest of their culture.

The reconversion work is going on in Hindusthan and all over to get Hindus back where they truly belong. This is a sacred duty of every Hindu to welcome these brothers and sisters whom we had lost and create a society so that we do not lose them to foreign faiths because we have been divided by these foreign faiths as a result our motherland was divided. Before the arrival of these invaders, Muslims and Christian we were the most prosperous, happy and peaceful this is the fact we must know.

I wish to quote a speech of Lord Macaulay given in British Parliament in 1835 regarding greatness, superiority and civilisation of Hindus.

âI have travelled across the length and breadth of Hindusthan[ India ] and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief, . Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we
would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore , I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system , her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own , they will lose their self-esteem, their native self- culture and they will become what we want them, a truly a dominated nation.â

This was the most unfortunate strategy adopted by British government and they destroyed everything good in India which had taken her to develop thousands of years.

So India was looted, plundered, cheated, betrayed and divided by British rule. The conversion to Christianity of Hindus and tribes people began by Christian missionaries, moral values declined, people were divided on castes, race and religion for the benefit of British. English schools, universities were started to teach that everything native is inferior to English and a new class of people were trained to help the British to rule over India but none of them ever reached to the highest post. The English became the main language for administration ,education and elite .Everything native was pushed in the corner and people were forced to feel inferior comparing English or white and this mentality existing even today such has been the effect of foreign rule on Indians.
The British rule further divided the already divided people and created new castes of Anglo- Indian Christians and Christians were the most favoured in key jobs, and promotions.

Macaulay did the incalculable harm and succeeded in his plan to rule by destroying native way of life through English education in India but this poison is doing the harm to India even today so in order to reverse the process and make India great again we have to organise, plan and bring back the lost values, morals by establishing faith in our native culture and spiritualism. The key to bring good values in the society is to introduce Sanskrit and native languages in all schools and colleges that is where our ancient teaching are. It may take time but it is within our capacity and capability. We must take words of Sri Aurobindo and save ourselves by saving Sanatana Dharma/ Vaidic Dharma/ Hinduism and remember Dharmo rakshati rakshite means protect your Dharma and Dharma will protect you.

India would rise with rise of Sanatana Dharma, that India would Sink if Sanatana Dharma sank, and that India would die if it were at all possible for Sanatana Dharma to die. ------Sri Aurobindo.

This is the history that whoever came to our country until 8 th. century they all accepted Hinduism and our way of life and became Hindu without force and wherever we went we took our culture and message of Hinduism, they accepted it as a great gift and these countries became Hinduised and this is visible even today in South East Asia.

Buddhism a branch of Hinduism spread and established in Sri Lanka , Burma, Thailand, Vietnam , Bourneo, Java, Sumatra, Cambodia, Japan, Korea, Tibet and China where it established without a single conflict ,war or killing .Taoism,Confucianism and Buddhism have lived and progressed side by side for thousands of years without violence , so what is the secret of these great religions and cultures, because they have developed naturally following the eternal laws respecting each other and do not go for violence to convert or prove superiority . This is recorded that Buddhism had established itself in each and every village of China by year 65 A. D. without any force, violence or threat but with love, respect , help and understanding each others concerns for the sufferings around , to reduce or minimise the sorrow in order to make the world more peaceful and trouble free. Now Buddhism has spread in all the continents and so has Hinduism.

The world has changed a lot and for Hindus to survive they have to put a stop to conversion of Hindus to Islam and Christianity which has been going on in Hindusthan by force, cheating and all the dirty tricks by Muslims and Christians . First it happened during Islamic invasions and rule and now happening by the force of petrodollars . Later the conversion of Hindus started by Christian [ French, Portugguege, Dutch, English ] invaders and rulers. These conversions have been going on since arrival of Islam as invaders, later joined by Christians destroying everything native. The time has come to pass a law to stop conversion of Hindus. This is a great game of numbers and everyday Hindus are decreasing in number and if this goes on unchecked then Hindus would be in minority, this is a grave situation. This process can be controlled and reversed by the followings

One civil law for all without exception, One couple one child without exception, expel all the illegal immigrants, severe all the contacts with Pakistan and Bangladesh and expel foreign Christian missionaries, if you really wish Hindustan to be healthy, wealthy, strong, peaceful and developed .

http://haindavakeralam.com/HkPage.aspx?P...367&SKIN=B

02-10-2008, 08:09 PM

http://cpmindia.blogspot.com/2008/02/marxi...anti-hindu.html

THE DANGEROUS FACES OF MARXIST CULTURAL DESTRUCTION
Dr. Babu Suseelan (Feb. 9, 2008)

DECEPTIVE MARXIST DECONSTRUNCTION

Marxists and their cohorts are relatively clear what they want to achieve in India. They want the destruction of Hindu civilization and establishment of a proletariat Marxist state. For the last seventy five years, Marxists are working hard to realize their misguided and dangerous goals through positive sounding slogans such as "inclusion", "human rights", "feminist empowerment", "classless society", and "women's rights". With these positive sounding words, Marxists call for the destruction, in every possible way to deconstruct Hindu thoughts and bring down the Hindu culture.

The Marxists who gained power in Kerala and West Bengal failed miserably with their utopian economic policies and they were successful only in distributing poverty and unemployment. Cultural Marxists with their destructive and radical objectives are now focused around undermining the Hindu culture that kept India together for thousands of years.

Cultural reconstruction and destruction has become a policy of Marxists in India. This made possible not only through conscious vandalism against Hindu temples, but also with the creation of an actual culture of violence against Hindu cultural institutions.

Marxist plan to change Hindu temple practices, rituals, cultural tradition and management of Hindu temples is based on their false claim that all principles of our existence are historically situated and structured by bourgeois. These traditional Hindu experience and institutional force including the language, symbols, environment, art, music, temple festivals, literature as well as values and ethics stand in the way for Marxist expansion. These systems need to be reconstructed. Marxists want to deconstruct our traditional cultural precedents, ideas, frameworks, beliefs and philosophy. These Marxist deconstructionists claim that our social bonds and value system, culture and spiritual practices, temples, social institutions and education perpetuate bourgeois power. These beliefs and practices that connect people together must be deconstructed or destroyed.

For several years, Marxists in Kerala and West Bengal have been tinkering with our education, revising temple festivals, rituals, and spiritual practices. Their goal is to obliterate our culture and our customs by systematic deconstruction. Marxists have introduced Devasom Bill in Kerala for the takeover of Hindu temples including Guruvayoorappan Temple, Sabarimala Temple and various high income producing Hindu temples. Marxist government has introduced several restrictive ordinances to permanently ban traditional percussion, fireworks and timeline to permanently ban temple festivals and traditional cultural programs. For Hindus, the temple is the abode of God, the focus for all aspects in life of Hindus-religious, spiritual, cultural and social. It is a center where God can be approached and where divine knowledge can be discovered. Marxists are keen on destroying our temples founded on a platform with a devilish mixture of deception, coercion, and propaganda and government power. It represents one of the most deceptive and dangerous cultural destruction plan in India- a fact which most pseudo secularists and political leaders either do not know or choose to ignore.

There is something sick in these destructive plans to loot temple wealth and permanently destroy and exterminate or vanquish our cultural values. These morally aberrant policies have the infinite capacity to inflict harm to Hindu society.

MISGUIDED MARXIST RHETORIC 

Now the deadly Marxist government in Kerala has recommended to the Supreme Court to permanently alter sabarimala Temple practices, women's dress code and temple rituals. These concepts and policies are straight out of the Communist Manifesto wrapped in the rhetoric of women's rights and equality and freedom. Couched under the phrase "for the common good", "feminist empowerment" and "freedom for women", Marxists are trying to erase our spiritual practices, ethics and family values into the handouts of Marxism. If Marxists could persuade women in the name of liberty and empowerment to abandon traditional culture, Marxists reason that this could lead to a deadly blow to Hindu family values.

Marxists embrace today's feminist movement with a deceptive goal to use women to undermine and destroy the culture by forcing them to abandoning Hindu cultural practices and by not carrying on the critical task of transmitting the culture to the next generation. The Marxist cultural deconstruction is to advance the destruction of women, and families while convincing them they are somehow victims of Hindu social structure. Marxists want to implement perception management techniques relying on the ignorance of gullible Hindus with well-crafted plan. Marxists use deceptive propaganda jargons for a long march through our culture. It is a total Marxist culture war designed to destroy Hindu culture from within. In order to win 'the heart and mind" of targeted Hindus, Marxists use psychological warfare techniques to induce attitude change, educational reform and propaganda. Thought control methods combined with perception management techniques are used as a powerful form of coercive manipulation. Marxist thought control system tries to replace individual Hindu identity with communist identification.

Marxists have also put radical sex education in schools. It is the best way to destroy traditional sexual morality and weaken the family. Children are urged to deride and ignore parental authority, and percepts of traditional morality.

Worse, the Congress Party headed by Italian catholic Sonia, phony secularists and bogus intellectuals seem to be allies of those Janus faced Marxist forces who would override our spiritual and religious practices. This Marxist plan for the destruction of our culture is a very real threat to our nation, our cultural foundation and social fabric. Anti-Hindu forces from within and without our country continue to try to tell us that these cultural changes are in tune with social transformation around the world. They laugh at us for our traditional, all inclusive and open thought system. These naÃ¯ve Marxists see a terrible beauty struggling to be born, a beauty that would sweep away our sacred civilization and bring us into a brave Communist world.

SECLECTIVE MARXIST ATTACK ON HINDUS

Marxists have no qualms when attacking Hindus, but they are very sensitive about attacking Islamic and Christian religious and social practices. We rarely hear any words from the Marxists to liberate Muslims and Christians from their rigid, fundamentalist and non-compromising dogmas. Can anyone think of one speech wherein Marxists have expressed a word against Talak, (divorce), polygamy, child marriage and Jihadi terrorism of Muslims as well as coercive religious conversion, and deceptive propaganda of Christians? Where is the outrage from the Marxists when Muslims and Christians want to retain special privileges and religious laws?

In fact, Marxists have made an unholy alliance with Muslim and Christian organizations and marshalling their battalions with the help of Jihadi and missionary warriors against unorganized Hindus. The sheer extent to which the Marxists, Jihadis and Christian Missionaries have been responsible for proving funding and logistical support for subversive forces against Hindus makes for chilling reading. They collude in pursuit of their hidden agenda to destroy Hindu civilization. They undertake secretive and often open initiatives in order to organize psychological operations against Hindus. They provide funding, training, literature, logistical support to organize subversive groups in the name of self-help groups, human rights organizations, feminist movement, dalit support groups and anyone who has the "wrong" priorities and anti-Hindu agenda. Money looted from temples is funded for phony psychological research projects in order to assist Marxists, Muslims and Christians for reaching Hindu targets. They work together for slander campaigns against Hindu organizations like RSS, VHP and Bajarang Dal.

LOOKING FORWARD: THINGS WORTH FIGHTING FOR

Political leaders, religious leaders and social activists, along with vast majority of Hindus who believe in ideals of Hindu culture must understand that open war has been declared on Hindutva and the cultural roots of India. Only Hindu spiritual values hold the country together. It is time to stop pretending that all religions are the same. Hindus and Christians, Muslims and the Marxists who adhere to alien dogmas have divergent view of political power, morality of power and the use of power. They resort to force, violence and threats more quickly, and compared with Hindus favor policies of coercion and threats. The unholy alliance recruits "useful idiots' to influence and indoctrinate gullible Hindus through subtle psychological operations.

Hindus in general are turning away from political power and moving into a self-contained world of introspection, self-blame, denial, avoidance and tolerance. Meanwhile the unholy nexus of Marxists, Christians and Muslims are mired in politics, exercising power, and use of wealth and might. And this state of affairs, long and deep is likely to continue. When it comes to setting national priorities, determining threats, defining challenges, promoting self-interest, as well as fashioning and implementing self-protecting policies, Hindus are inept and fearful.

Among Hindus, there are different perspectives and they differ on problem solutions. It is time for Hindus to expose their insanities and inanities of Marxist extremism and hidden agendas for the deconstruction of Hindu society. If Hindus are outwitted by these dogmatists, they will opt for treachery, perfidy, denial and appeasement, our country will go to ruin in the end. This is a lesson taught by history.

A people strong in their culture and spiritual faith are sure to emerge victories. When people are united and confident of sure victory, they will not be afraid of any formidable enemy.

Hindus should realize that tolerance of the intolerant political dogmas and tolerance of "anything goes" attitude is a mark of degeneration. Our reawakening will start when we identify enemies of our survival and confront their ulterior schemes against our survival and return to our Dharma with strength and valor.

**acharya** · 03-05-2008, 11:42 PM

http://ramesh-n-rao.sulekha.com/blog/post/...rld-of-myth.htm

The World of Myth
Feb 7 2005 | Views 8884 | Comments (221)
The 'clash of civilizations' is mostly about the adumbration of religious ideas and the practice of religion. This clash is acted out by Muslim fundamentalists who cut the throats of hapless journalists, engineers, and other Christians, born-again or not, lost in the alleys of Karachi or Karbala or Kirkuk. Fellow Christian religionists then drop 3,000-pound bombs from 30,000 feet up in retaliation. Meanwhile both seek to poke the eyes of Hindus, who demand from the two some promise of a 'Sarva dharma samabhava' (All religions are equal) which by all accounts is a concept dead on arrival at the Vatican or in Mecca. Roman, Greek, Mesopotamian and other pagan cultures are 'dead and buried', and the tribal cultures and religions of Africa, Australia, and South America have been decimated. What is left for the predatory religions are one another and the pesky Hindus who keep pushing wrongly, I believe, the idea of 'Sarva dharma samabhava'.

In a recent conference that I attended, one of the speakers told the Hindu-American audience that if they are confronted with the question â 'So, what is your Bible?' â to tell the questioner that Hindus don't have a single book but a library. This 'sound bite' made us all happy but we were still left with the queasy feeling that the reality on the ground was much harsher and more invidious.

One way it is invidious can be discerned from how 'religions', 'myths' and 'philosophies' are taught in American schools and colleges. I am told that only two American universities offer a Ph.D. in Indian philosophy. It seems as if the learned scholars of Indic and Hindu traditions in the West have taken to heart the assertion by the maverick Nirad Chaudhuri. In his bombastic, know-it-all style, the diminutive Bengali with a Napoleon complex proclaimed that, âThere is no such thing as thinking properly so called among the Hindus, for it is a faculty of the mind developed only in Greece, and exercised only by the heirs of the Greeks.â (The Continent of Circe: An Essay on the Peoples of India, paperback, p. 163). Chaudhuri also mimicked the Christian missionaries and the Muslim fundamentalists when he compared the books of the Semitic religions with the Vedas: âTheir (Vedas) prestige is not accounted for either by their contents or by the use that has been made of them. The Judaic, Christian, and Islamic books are revealed scriptures of the type made familiar by these historic religions, but the Vedas are, if I might extend the word used for the religion of the Hindus for their basic texts as well, 'natural' scriptures. They are not the word of any God or gods, but mostly words addressed to gods.â

Because the Hindus are marked as neither having a religion nor expounding any philosophy, then much of what is contained in their scriptures is proclaimed 'myth'. Mythologies can be interesting, profound, symbolic, and entertaining. I don't have any problems with mythologies. However, when a distinction is made between mythology and religion, and mythology and philosophy, then we see the continuation of the divide between peoples of the 'book', and peoples 'without books' as well as those who have too many books.

The problem struck home when I discovered that a 'world mythology' course taught in our university to bright 13-15 year olds in a 'summer academy' included 'Greek, Roman, Hindu, Chinese, Buddhist, and Native American mythology' but not any Semitic mythology. The course instructors were my good friends and colleagues, who seemed to have bought into the distinction without a protest. They taught the Ramayana and the Mahabharata as mythology in the course and deleted Christian, Muslim, and Jewish stories. The World Mythology textbooks they used included the Ramayana as myth but did not include any stories from the Bible or Koran. Separate translations of the Mahabharata were prescribed to the teenagers as part of the readings for the class. I protested. The Mahabharata was removed as a separate text, but the confusion continued about what is myth and what is religion. What I have noted is the extreme reluctance to include specific and explicit mention of Christianity in the course.

One can very easily speculate the reasons why the administrators of the program advised instructors what not to include, but it is distressing to see how easily teachers are seduced to teach such intellectually dishonest courses. Whatever the reasons for their decisions, such practices go on to perpetuate the false divide between Semitic/ monotheistic religions and the 'other' world religions. Unfortunately, we know that throughout the world the two aggressive monotheistic religions are considered 'great religions', while other religions/ religious traditions are relegated to 'myth' and 'false religions' status. To perpetuate that 'myth', whether benignly or otherwise, in a university or school setting, is extremely dangerous.

Many of the 'World Mythology' textbooks do not include Muslim and Christian stories. Reviewers on the Amazon web site, for example, include comments like these: 'The title is something of a misnomer. This is a fine collection of ancient myths found throughout world history. However, it is intellectually dishonest because the author fails to recognize some of the most powerful myths in human history -- namely those found in the Bible and Koran'. You will not find the names of Adam and Eve, or Jesus or Mary, or Mohammed or Allah in these textbooks, whereas Rama, Krishna, Indra, Buddha all make multiple appearances, including pictures of Benares!

I told my colleagues that the Mahabharata is considered by many as the 'Fifth Veda', not just because it includes the Bhagavad Gita but because Vyasa himself is considered an incarnation of the Gods and Ganesha is his amanuensis. The Ramayana of course is a story about Rama and Sita, and all over India they are worshipped as Gods and not merely as 'folk heroes' (as Indian Marxists claim), I reminded them.

I also pointed out that there is a group of scholars, led by S. N. Balagangadhara of the University of Ghent, who have been arguing that 'religion' in the Western sense is scientifically false, and that Hinduism is not a religion in the Western/ Semitic sense. Balagangadhara's study of the encounter between the early Christians and the Roman pagans and between the modern Europeans and the Indian pagans, leads him to formulate the following problem: (a) Christianity recognizes itself as a religion; (b) The terms under which Christianity recognizes itself as a religion are also the terms under which Islam and Judaism recognize themselves as religion; Â© Christianity singled out both the Roman and the Indian traditions as rival religions; (d) Judaism and Islam also singled out these same traditions as their religious rivals; (e) Both the Roman and the Indian traditions did not recognize themselves in the descriptions Christianity, Islam, and Judaism gave of them: they did not conceive of themselves as rivals to these three.

Without accepting the fact that their religions are 'scientifically false', some Western teachers of 'myth', however, continue to make the distinction between religion and myth, privileging the former over the latter. A little more nuanced in their understanding of world cultures and other religions, some teachers argue that when teaching about myth to young students one has to be careful about their sensitive nature. Thus, Christian mythology is not included for it might distress students to find out that what they believe is 'true' includes 'stories/ fiction'. These teachers define mythology as 'a set of stories, beliefs, and traditions of a people, accrued over time'. 'We don't evaluate them as good or bad stories', they proclaim.

But these practices raise some questions in the American context:

1. Are students in these classes only Christian?
2. Are they all of such strong faith and belief that including stories from Christian mythology will shock and discomfort them?
3. Are there Muslim and Hindu students in the classes?
4. Why are Muslim and Jewish mythologies not taught as part of the course if the concern is only about Christian students? Is it because of the fear what the Jewish-American League or the Council on American-Islamic Relations will do if they find out?
5. Is sensitivity to students' concern more important than academic honesty and academic integrity?
6. If students are sensitive about such matters, would instructors then go the extent of not teaching Darwinism and scientific cosmology to Christian students?
7. If there is a Hindu student in class, how are the instructors going to explain why his/ her religion can be taught as mythology and not his/ her classmates' religion?
8. Hinduism is not 'dead' like Roman and Greek and Pagan 'religions'. There are one billion Hindus in the world, and they have survived despite the best efforts of proselytizers and marauders to convert them or to erase their religious/ spiritual/ cultural identities. The Mahabharata and the Ramayana are part of the daily spiritual life of Hindus all over the world.
9. Most importantly, will the deliberate decision to exclude Christian, Muslim, and Jewish mythologies make these teachers willing collaborators in a belief system that categorizes religions as 'true' and 'false'? India is still a battleground and a marketplace for buying and trading souls, as most of the rest of the world is. How will the deliberate exclusion of Semitic faiths from World Mythology courses affect students who then may continue to believe that indeed there is merit to the unverifiable claims of aggressive monotheistic traditions?
Bringing such academic concerns to the fore is tricky. One always has to take into consideration matters of 'academic freedom', and what rights teachers have in bringing in different kinds of material to the classroom, and who has what kinds of rights in critically evaluating such practices. I was one among a group of eight Indian-American representatives that met with Emory University officials this past February regarding the idiosyncratic interpretation of Ganesha by Emory University professor Paul Courtright in his book, 'Ganesha â Lord of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings'. I have also written about University of Chicago professor Wendy Doniger who was quoted in The Philadelphia Inquirer calling the Bhagavad Gita 'a dishonest book' that 'justifies war.' Thus, when I found out what was happening in my own school, I had to raise the matter with the administrators of the summer program, and the teachers who taught the course.

Some Indian-Americans don't see much merit in complaining about these matters or correcting what is egregiously wrong in American school textbooks or classroom practices. For them, Hinduism is a 'mish mash' of cultural practices accrued over millennia. Most of these beliefs and practices is plain obscurantist nonsense, they proclaim. By conflating the obscurantist aspects of Hinduism with the world of Hindu knowledge and culture, they ignore the explicit practice of religious supremacy and academic discrimination in their own neighborhood. By labeling these concerns as merely that of the 'Hindu Right' or of the 'RSS' Indian-American activists and academics are collaborating in the decimation of local culture and religious practices in India.
Â© Ramesh N. Rao., all rights reserved.

Bodhi · 03-06-2008, 05:11 PM

Wishing everyone a Happy Maha Shiva Ratri today

<img src='http://www.zeenews.com/images/shiva_150.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

QUOTEâArise, awake!â is Shivaratriâs messageÂ

Sri Sri Ravishankar

Shivaratri is the day of Lord Shiva. Shiva is the lord of meditation and therefore the lord of awakening. Shiva Tatva means to be awakened. Shivaratri is thus an occasion to awaken oneâs self from all sorts of slumber.

Shivaratri is not a night to be slept over. One should try and be up through the night. It signifies being aware of everything you have and being grateful about it. Be grateful for the happiness which leads to growth, and also for sadness which gives a depth to life. This is the right way of observing Shivaratri.

For the pious, the following method of Shiva worship is advisable â sit down in lotus posture, do some Pranayam to stabilize your breath, then indulge in Dhyana, followed by chanting of âOm Namah Shivayâ. It is the greatest mantra and the devout should drown himself in its Kirtan.

Shivaratri worship leads to fulfillment of a devoteeâs wishes. There are certain days and time frames in a year that enhance oneâs mental and spiritual faculties. In such times, whatever one wishes, materializes. Shivaratri is one such day. All this is very scientific.

Going to temples on this day is OK but you should remember that Shiva is everywhere. The meaning of Kailasa (legendary abode of Shiva in Himalayas) is celebration. So where there is happiness and celebration, Shiva is present.

Whether in Sanyasa or Sansara, you canât escape Shiva. Feeling his presence all the time is the essence of Shivaratri. That is the real Sanyasa.

No worship is complete without offering something to the deity. Shiva is a very simple lord, he is innocent â bholanath. One just needs to offer bel-patra to him. But in this simplicity is a deep message. Bel-patra offerings signify the surrender of all three aspects of oneâs nature â Tamas, Rajas and Sattva. You have to surrender the positives and negatives of your life to Shiva and become carefree! The greatest offering is your self.

To offer oneâs self is the key to happiness in life. Afterall, why do you get sad? It is mainly because you are not able to achieve something in life. At such times you should surrender everything to the all knowing God. The greatest power is in surrender to the divine. Itâs like a drop owning the ocean. If a drop remains separate, it will perish. But when it becomes the ocean, it is eternal!

(The above is an excerpt from an exclusive conversation that Sri Sri Ravishankar had with Zee News.)Â

http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=428351&sid=ZNS

**acharya** · 03-12-2008, 09:45 AM

Link: http://download.yousendit.com/6F9B09436CFC94FA

Dr Balu speech given in Los Altos about
his book and research on religions

05-11-2008, 08:57 PM

Dr. Subramanian's Talk in NJ - Hindus under Siege, the way out

06-09-2008, 07:27 AM

Is there a Hindu fundamentalism - by David Frawley

Husky · (This post was last modified: 06-10-2008, 03:48 PM by Husky.)

Long article, some excerpts. In fact, I don't know if this is the start of the article or not, since it's from Dr KalyanaRaman's web page which is very long http://docs.google.com/View?docID=ajhwbk..._620hs8zfc
which contains the entire article. I pulled the stuff I found interesting:
QUOTEGrammar and Siva
(HinduDharma: Vyakarana) 
Siva temples have a mandapa (pavilion or hall) called " vyakarana-danamandapa". In Tamil it has come to be called " vakkanikkum mandapam". There are such halls in many temples in the Chola territory of Tamilnadu. One such is in Tiruvorriyur near Madras. Why should there be a mandapa for grammar in Siva temples? What is Siva's connection with language? Is not Siva in his form of Daksinamurti all silence?
[...]

When Nataraja dances, Sanaka and his brother sages, Patanjali Vyaghrapada and so on stand round him. They are great ascetics, so they are able to see the dance. Nataraja's dance can be seen only by those who have the inner vision of jnana. The Lord himself bestowed on Arjuna the divine eye with which the pandava could see his cosmic form. Vyasa imparted the same power to Sanjaya so that he could describe this wondrous form to Dhrtarastra. Only they (Arjuna and Sanjaya) could see Krsna's universal form. Others on the battlefield of Kuruksetra could not. Because of the great efforts made by them, the celestials, the sages and yogins obtained the divine eye to see the dance of Nataraja. In the Gita such sight is called "divya-caksus" (divine eye).Â Â

Sanaka and others saw the dance with their real eyes. Visnu played the drum called the maddala, while Brahma kept time. At the close of the dance, the concluding beats(cappu) produced fourteen sounds. It is these fourteen that are referred to in the stanza ("Nrttavasane", etc) as "navapancavaram"; "nava" is nine and "panca" is five, so fourteen in all. "Nanada dhakkam navapancavaram. " If the number of sounds produced by Nataraja's dhakka is fourteen, the branches of Vedic learning are also the same number (caturdasavidya). If the foundation of Hindu dharma is made up of these fourteen vidyas, Nataraja'a cappu produced fourteen sounds which, according to the verse, were meant for the [Atmic] uplift of Sanaka and others. You must have seen in the sculptural representations of Daksinamurti in temples four aged figures by his side. They are the Sanaka sages. It is not Saiva works like the Tevaram and the Tiruvacakam alone that mention how instruction was given to the four but also the Vaisnava songs of the Azhvars.Â Â

The fourteen sounds produced by Nataraja's drum are the means by which the reality of Siva is to be known and experienced within us in all its plenitude. Nandikesvara has commented upon the fourteen sounds in his Sivabhaktisutra.Â Â

Among those present at Nataraja's dance was Panini. His story is told in the Brhatkatha which was written by Gunadhya in the Prakrt called Paisaci. Ksemendra produced a summary of it in Sanskrit and, based on it, Somadeva Bhatta wrote the Katha-sarat-sagara. It is the source of some of the stories of The Arabian Nights, Pancatantra and Aesop's Fables. Perunkathai is a Tamil version, the title being Tamil for Brhatkatha.Â Â

The story of Panini is told in the Katha-sarit-sagara. In Pataliputra (modern Patna), in Magadha, there were two men called Varsopadhyaya and Upavarsopadhyaya - the second was the younger of the two. Upakosala was Upavarsopadhyaya's daughter. Panini and Vararuci were Varsopadhyaya's students. Panini made little progress in his lessons. So his teacher asked him to go to the Himalaya and practise austerities. The student did so and through the grace of Isvara received the power to witness the tandava dance of Nataraja. With this divine gift of the Lord, Panini indeed saw the tandava and heard the fourteen sounds at its conclusion. For him these sounds meant the fourteen cardinal sutras of grammar and on them he based his Astadhyayi. As its very name suggests, this work, which is the source book of Sanskrit grammar, has eight chapters.Â Â
Â
The fourteen sounds are recited at the upakarma ceremony. Since they emanated from the drum of Mahesvara(Nataraja), they are called "Mahesvarasutras". Human beings can produce only inarticulate sounds on the musical instruments played by them. The hand of Paramesvara is verily the Nadabrahman and Sabdabrahaman incarnate, so his cappu on the damaruka at the conclusion of his tandava sounded as a series(garland) of fourteen letters:Â
1. a i un; 2. rlk; 3. e on; 4. ai auc; 5. hayavarat; 6. lan; 7. nama nana nam; 8. jha bha n; 9. gha da dha s; 10. ja ba ga da da s; 11. kha pha cha tha tha catatav; 12. kapay; 13. sa sa sar; 14. hal-iti Mahesvarani sutrani.
[...]

How did Panini make use of the fourteen sounds? He created an index from the sutras to vocalise the letters or syllables together. According to the arrangement made by him, the first letter or syllable of a sutra voiced with the last letter or syllable of another sutra will indicate the letters or syllables in between. For example, the first syllable of "hayavarat", "ha", and the last letter of "hal", "l", together make "hal". This embraces all the consonants in between. Similarly, the first letter of the first sutra, "a", and the last letter of the fourth sutra together form "ac"-this includes all the vowels. The first letter of the first sutra and the last letter of the fourteenth sutra together form "al" - it includes all letters.Â Â
"Halantasya" is one of the sutras of Astadhyayi. "Al" itself has come to mean writing.

Sahitya-Ratnakara. The author of this poetical work is Yajnanarayana Diksita who composed it 400 hundred years ago during the reign of Raghunatha Nayaka of Tanjavur. Diksita was a great devotee of Siva and in one of his hymns there is a reference to grammar.

Adau pani-ninadato' ksara-samamnayopadesena yah
Sabdanamanusasananyakalayat sastrena sutratmana
Bhasyam tasya ca padahamsakaravaih praudhasayam tam gurum
Sabdarthapratipatti-hetumanisam Candravatamsam bhaje
--- Sahitya-Ratnakara, 11. 124

"Aksara-samamnayam" in this stanza means grammar, a grouping together of letters. Isvara's breath constitutes the Vedas. The wind produced by his hand [as he beats the drum] is "Aksara-Veda", the Mahesvara-sutras. It is called "sabdanusasanam". "Pani-ninadatah" means "produced sounds with your hands" or "the sounds came by to Panini". Thus the words have two meanings. The idea is that Panini created his grammar with the sounds produced by Isvara with his hand.

The stanza goes on to say: "With the movement of your hand the sutras of grammar were created and with the movement of your feet its commentary has been produced. " Patanjali, author of the Mahabhasya, was an incarnation of the primordial serpent Adisesa. Adisesa is now the anklet of Parameshvara. It is in keeping with this that the poet says that Siva created the bhasya with the movement of his feet. He concludes by remarking that sound and meaning originate in Siva.

In this way, Siva is the prime source of grammar. That is why there are mandapas in his temples where vyakarana is to be taught.

Works on Grammar
(HinduDharma: Vyakarana)
In the stanza [in the previous chapter ] we saw that the poet calls Siva "Candravatamsa". It means the god who has the moon for a head ornament. "Candrasekhara" and "Indusekhara" mean the same. Remarkably enough, "Indusekhara" occurs in the titles of two grammatical works. One is Sabdendusekharam, and the other pariposendusekharam. A student who has read grammar up to Sabdendusekharam is considered master of the subject.
If there are thirty books on Siksa, there are any number on grammar. Foremost among them are Panini's sutras, Patanjali's bhasya for it and vararuci's vartika (mentioned earlier). I make this statement in the belief that Vararuci and Katyayana are the same person. Some think that they are not. Vararuci was one of the "Nine gems" of Vikramaditya 's court.

Bhartrhari's Vakyapadiyam is also an important grammatical treatise. There are said to be nine [notable] Sanskrit grammar works, "nava- vyakarana". Hanuman is believed to have learned them from the sun god. Sri Rama praises him as "nava-vyakarana -vetta ". One of these nine works is Aindram authored by Indra. It is said that the basic Tamil grammar book, the Tolkappiyam, follows Aindram.
Excerpts from Hindu Dharma by Kanchi Sâankaracharya, Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi
http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part7/chap2.htmNever knew a history of Grammar would be so exciting. But then, it's Hindu Grammar <!--emo& Smile

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 06-11-2008, 07:44 PM by Bodhi.)

Husky, then you would also enjoy other similar stories. In particular there is this one about the origin of nATya (dramatics). One variant has this story as narrated in some purANa-s, that once nArada got into the delusionous pride of being the best musician in the creation. To shun his ego, shiva who is also the king of nATya - naTarAja, started singing, dancing and playing his damaru to the audience including the indra etc and bramhA and viShNu. This performance was so heart-touching that, not only nArada's ego got purified, but also one of the viShNu's toes started melting and the divine fluid started flowing from his feet like tears. Seeing this, brahmA held forth his kamaNDalu and gathered the molten toe of viShNu. This fluid remained in the heavens, gathered up in brahmA's kamaNDalu until king sagar's descendants, particularly king bhagIratha, succeeded in persuading brahmA to release one stream/drop from that fluid to earth, which ultimately came to be known on earth as bhAgIrathI/ga~NgA.

now on vyAkaraNa, you may enjoy hauma's interesting entry about the pre-pANini 'aindra vyAkaraNa' (the grammar of indra) etc: http://manasataramgini.wordpress.com/2008/...it-grammarians/

Husky · (This post was last modified: 06-13-2008, 06:00 PM by Husky.)

In return for that Bodhi, here's something else to do with Shiva's Tandava and Adishesha, from a book on Hindu Gods:
Once Shesha Naga, on whom our MahaVishnu reclines, saw the glorious Tandava and was so moved by its dazzling beauty, that the Sarpam even left the side of MahaVishnu for a period in its desire to experience the vision again.

(I think Adishesha may have learnt by now, though: in future it will coil itself around MahaVishnu and Lakshmi, securing them fast to himself, and then slither - with them in tow - to see the Tandava <!--emo& Smile

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />)

**acharya** · 06-13-2008, 08:11 PM

What the author is describing is the social engineering affecting the entire world.
India has been the target of western media for social engineering and also target of education by the western powers before independence and after independence..

This two tools of social engineering has a deep impact on Hindus and Indians.
Hindus have to control their own media and also their own education.
This is a must for long term survival and make sure that future generation do not balme the present generation for being careless and without imagination

Indian education is the

The Death of Traditional Hinduism
QUOTEFrom Dr. Frank Morales
http://hinduism.about.com/od/history/a/neohinduism.htm

A tragic occurrence in the very long history of Hinduism was witnessed throughout the 19th century, the destructive magnitude of which Hindu leaders and scholars today are only beginning to adequately assess and address. This development both altered and weakened Hinduism to such a tremendous degree that Hinduism has not yet even begun to recover.

British Attack on Hinduism
The classical, traditional Hinduism that had been responsible for the continuous development of thousands of years of sophisticated culture, architecture, music, philosophy, ritual and theology came under devastating assault during the 19th century British colonial rule like at no other time in India's history.

Innovative Cultural Genocide
What the Hindu community experienced under British Christian domination, however, was an ominously innovative form of cultural genocide. What they experienced was not an attempt at the physical annihilation of their culture, but a deceivingly more subtle program of intellectual and spiritual annihilation. It is easy for a people to understand the urgent threat posed by an enemy that seeks to literary kill them. It is much harder, though, to understand the threat of an enemy who, while remaining just as deadly, claims to seek only to serve a subjugated people's best interests.

Anglicized Hindu Intellectuals
During this short span of time in the 19th century, the ancient grandeur and beauty of a classical Hinduism that had stood the test of thousands of years, came under direct ideological attack. What makes this period in Hindu history most especially tragic is that the main apparatus that the British used in their attempts to destroy traditional Hinduism were the British educated, spiritually co-opted sons and daughters of Hinduism itself. Seeing traditional Hinduism through the eyes of their British masters, a pandemic wave of 19th century Anglicized Hindu intellectuals saw it as their solemn duty to "Westernize" and "modernize" traditional Hinduism to make it more palatable to their new European overlords. One of the phenomena that occurred during this historic period was the fabrication of a new movement known as "neo-Hinduism".

What is Neo-Hinduism?
Neo-Hinduism was an artificial religious construct used as a paradigmatic juxtaposition to the legitimate traditional Hinduism that had been the religion and culture of the people for thousands of years. Neo-Hinduism was used as an effective weapon to replace authentic Hinduism with a British invented version designed to make a subjugated people easier to manage and control.

The Christian and British inspired neo-Hinduism movement attempted to execute several overlapping goals, and did so with great success:

a) The subtle Christianization of Hindu theology, which included concerted attacks on iconic imagery (archana, or murti), panentheism, and continued belief in the beloved gods and goddesses of traditional Hinduism.
b) The imposition of the Western scientific method, rationalism and skepticism on the study of Hinduism in order to show Hinduism's supposedly inferior grasp of reality.
c) Ongoing attacks against the ancient Hindu science of ritual in the name of simplification and democratization of worship.
d) The importation of Radical Universalism from liberal, Unitarian / Universalist Christianity as a device designed to severely water down traditional Hindu philosophy.

The Death of Traditional Hinduism
The dignity, strength and beauty of traditional Hinduism was recognized as the foremost threat to Christian European rule in India. The invention of neo-Hinduism was the response. Had this colonialist program been carried out with a British face, it would not have met with as much success as it did. Therefore, an Indian face was used to impose neo-Hinduism upon the Hindu people. The resultant effects of the activities of Indian neo-Hindus were ruinous for traditional Hinduism.

The Dilemma
The primary dilemma with Hinduism as we find it today, in a nutshell, is precisely this problem ofâ¦
1) Not recognizing that there are really two distinct and conflicting Hinduisms today, Neo-Hindu and Traditionalist Hindu; and
2) With Traditionalists being the guardians of authentic Dharma philosophically and attitudinally, but not yet coming to full grips with the modern world, i.e., not yet having found a way of negotiating authentic Hindu Dharma with an ability to interface with modernity and communicate this unadulterated Hindu Dharma in a way that the modern mind can most appreciate it.

A Confused Existence
Hinduism will continue to be a religion mired in confusion about its own true meaning and value until traditionalist Hindus can assertively, professionally and intelligently communicate the reality of genuine Hinduism to the world.

**acharya** · 06-13-2008, 08:12 PM

Hollywood Hinduism
Part 2: Art Vs Morality
More of this Feature
â¢ Part 1: Art Vs Morality
â¢ Part 2: Art Vs Morality
Join the Discussion
"Is it OK to use religious symbols and characters in works of art in whatever form the artist chooses?" OPENHINDU
Film Reviews

â¢ Bollywood Hollywood
â¢ The Fire & the Rain
â¢ Monsoon Wedding

Madonna
At the MTV awards ceremony in 1998, Madonna had dressed a la Lord Shiva and set the fashion world agog on Indian themes. Couture houses and fashion designers have, since then, encashed a lot on this message of Madonna that India is hot.

Trudie Styler
At a recent fundraiser for the Tibetan Peace Garden at London's Royal Opera House pop-star Sting's wife Trudie Styler was seen wearing a skirt featuring Lord Ganesha as a design motif. This was genuinely appreciated by those Hindus who want to see India on the world stage, and obviously, there can be few for whom these uses of Hindu symbols, gods and goddesses may seem ungodly.

Xena: Warrior Princess
In February 1999, Xena: Warrior Princess, one of the world's most popular TV serials, showed Hindu mythological characters Lord Krishna, Hanuman, Kali, and Indrajit doing things they never did in traditional tales and epics. Some thought it sacrilegious; others saw it as an exposition of Hindu ideas to Western audience.

Mike Myers
Another instance of cultural insensitivity was aired on the April 1999 issue of Vanity Fair where photographer David LaChapelle's shot of Mike Myers posed as a cartoonish Hindu deity was published as a photo spread. Public opinion on this issue has been varied. Members of South Asian Journalists Association considered it blasphemous, and many Hindus found the pictures grotesque and offensive. The Newsweek declared "Maybe it's time Hollywood gave up the Hinduism thing". However, there were others who found it a spirited and friendly attempt to "cross cultural lines".

The Bottom Line
However, the entire concept of judging works of art is quite relative. It greatly depends on an individual's aesthetic tastes, preferences, temperament and forbearance. Many people are of the opinion that art is a free creation of an artist, who has complete license to give art whatever form or sound s/he chooses. But is it morally right to reap creative benefits at the cost of maligning the cultural and religious sentiments of another sect? Therefore, it remains an open debate whether such depictions are OK by any standard. But the bottom line is that it's not as easy to understand the culture, symbols and essence of Hinduism as finding them colourful enough for use in films or fashion.

Previous Articles

Husky · 06-27-2008, 07:48 PM

http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/...6_timeline.html
Titled: Hindu Timeline
The same is available at several Hindu sites

Shambhu · 07-16-2008, 05:12 AM

From the above timeline:

2050 Arnold Toynbee (1889 - 1975) predicted that in 2000 the West will still dominate Earth, but in the 21st century India will conquer her conquerors. Religion worldwide will regain its earlier importance, and world events will return to the East where civilization originated.

2094 Will Durant foretold in The Story of Civilization, "India will teach us the tolerance and gentleness of mature mind, understanding spirit and a unifying, pacifying love for all human beings."

----

Very good timeline, other than that they say:
-4 Jesus of Nazareth (-4 to -30 CE), founder of Christianity, is born, traditionally in Bethlehem of Judea (dates according to current Biblical scholarship

They are not yet familiar with Caesar's Messiah; time will take care of that.

I was happy with:

53 A Christian legend places the death of Saint Thomas, one of Christ's 12 Apostles, in Chennai. But history offers no evidence he ever came to India and shows that Bharat's first Christian community was Kerala's Syrian Malabar Church, founded in 345 by Thomas of Cana.

and
-4004 Archbishop Usher's (17th century) supposed date of the creation of the world, based on genealogies in the Old Testament.

dhu · 08-25-2008, 09:18 AM

There are distortions in Hindu society. Fight within
By Sandhya Jain

QUOTEIn an age with a plethora of god-men, gurus, preachers, some so popular as to have ashrams in many states and even in many countries, it is an astonishing truth that society is rudderless, adrift on an ocean of hedonism, without spiritual and moral guidance.

The fault lies with Star Gurus who seek self-aggrandisement by building huge cult followings and five-star ashrams where rich Indian and foreign devotees can practice yoga and meditation in comfort, in salubrious, resort-like environs. Justifying the Marxist slander of religion as the opium of the people, they peddle lullabies to frustrated millions seeking release from lifeâs myriad problems. Such vicarious redemption is totally un-Hindu, and extremely harmful, as it turns a blind eye to festering evils and allows them to multiply under cover of a guruâs benign gaze.

As the majority community, the ill-health of the Hindu community impacts the nation as a whole. Other religious communities may have problems, but their impact is in proportion to their relative numbers. Hindus therefore dominate the national discourse when it comes to social problems, most notably the growing menace of dowry, female foeticide, sexual harassment, and new forms of exploitation in the natal and marital homes. Then there are new forms of caste animosities and perverted forms of addressing religious issues.

In sharp contrast to the vigorous debates by social and religious reformers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, independent India and particularly the twenty-first century is conspicuous for an absence of social, religious, and political leadership. In an era in which mass communications have made it so easy to reach out to the people, there are no great men to analyze and articulate the ills of the day, much less offer solutions.

Today, the most obvious place to begin a critique of our religious leadership is Amarnath. It is well-known that the Muslim-majority Government of J&K had decided to allot a small piece of land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board for building facilities for pilgrims. This was deliberately exploited by a section of the ruling coalition to whip up sentiments in view of the forthcoming elections, and violence broke out. As Hindus refused to take it lying down, casualties are increasing even as the Jammu-Pathankot highway is blockaded to make the protests punitive for Srinagar âs fruit-sellers.

While all the Muslim political leaders of Kashmir have come out and opposed land transfer for Amarnath pilgrims, the few sane voices of Muslim religious leaders have been drowned in the din. But the deafening silence of Hindu religious leaders on the matter is inexplicable. Amazing as it sounds, some modern godmen have flown to Seattle, USA, to endorse the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal, and though they peddle âHindu wares like yoga and meditation,â their followers abroad claim status as non-Hindu spiritual groups (whatever that means).

The events in Kashmir must legitimately be viewed as a new form of jihad against Hindu pilgrims, but no high-flying international swami has dared call upon the Hurriyat leadership to stem the violence! Worse, some of them have actually asked the aggrieved Hindus to practice non-violence - after sustained police violence that is taking Hindu lives daily. Police in fact even stole the body of a man who consumed poison out of excessive grief over the land issue, and tried to burn it hastily with tyres and kerosene, until peopleâs action retrieved the body. Clearly Hindu society has to provide its own leadership in such critical times.

Just 80 years ago, social reformer Swami Shraddhanand made such an impact upon north Indian society that even Muslims were attracted to his meetings, and some converted back to the dharma (this was the reason why he was murdered). Today, very well-known gurus are refusing to help the families of devotees asking them to speak up against inter-religious marriages, and to counsel their young children from taking the risk of breaking community ties for marriages that may not work. It is well-known that many high profile inter-religious marriages have ended in divorce, leaving young mothers in a peculiar quandary regarding the upbringing of their offspring.

Closer home, there are too many distortions within the Hindu family that are going unaddressed by social and religious leaders. Most pressing are the rising incidents of dowry - which even the highly publicized incidents of returning barats and refusing to marry greedy grooms - have not been able to quell. Even the full salaries of working women - grabbed instantly the minute they are received - do not satisfy the greed of those addicted to getting everything free. Closely related to this is the rising incidence of female foeticide, as families who regard young wives as a resource to extract funds from the natal families of the girls, do not want daughters who might need similar dowries!

Despite the clampdown by the legal systemâthanks to the fact that womenâs groups woke up to the menace very earlyâfemale foeticide has warped the male-female population ratio in several states, which is unlikely to be rectified easily. Many communities now pay a bride price to buy brides from girl-surplus states, yet female foeticide increases among groups that do not bother to think that by the time their sons marry, there may be no girls with dowries but girls for whom a price has to be paid! Hindu religious leadersâbarring Jathedar Vedanti who declared it immoral and illegal for Sikhsâhave maintained inexplicable silence on these rising atrocities within the family and society.

Such myriad problems naturally cause a spiralling divorce rate. Here again, there are complex issues, which are not addressed by social activists, the legal system, or religious leaders. Currently, Government ministers and judges are urging aggrieved women not to âmisuseâ the law to settle scores with estranged husbands and in-laws.

Yet the root cause of such alleged âmisuseâ remains un-addressed, which is that aggrieved women are pushed by their lawyers to use the existing provisions of the law to get justice, because the law does not address the actual problems. If there was a sensible mechanism to assessing the genuine grievances of women leaving the marital home, if there was a time-bound facility for divorce for unhappy women and reasonable legal charges, if the system showed an ability to dispense justice rather than settle âcases,â there would be no reason to settle scores through whatever legal provisions are available. Women seeking exit from unworkable marriages need a break, not a sermon.

From the time Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and similar stalwarts spoke out for widow remarriage, womenâs education, economic empowerment and later marriages, to the current religious leadershipâit is a story of social stagnation. Old evils are being reinvented in more virulent forms because there is no desire to invest time and energy in identifying the fixing the problems. Thus, the cults of various gurus rise and their personal affluence soars heavenwards in direct proportion as society languishes in escapism and despair.

The flip side of this story is that an increasing number of people, thousands upon thousands, are fast making their way back to the traditional temples and pilgrimages that have ever been the sources of Hindu dharma. As the hoary founts of dharma are rejuvenated by the bhakti of believers, the glitter of 5-star ashrams will dim, and traditional bhajan-mandalis, kathas, and lilas will return to the centrestage. As small groups congregate in small temples and compounds, the real problems of the people will be heard and solutions found. Hindu dharma was created by sadhus and sants who walked on foot, not by those who travelled in aeroplanes. It was created by those who talked to the people, not by those who talked to media. Like Prahlad who had to find his own way in a universe dominated by his father Hiranyakasipu and aunt Holika, Hindus will have to find their own way out of the morass.

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