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News from the Hindu World

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What’s nectar for secular US is toxin for secular India!

S Gurumurthy


Just a century ago, Max Weber, declared that the Hindus and Buddhists remain backward because they believed in their ancient, faulty faiths!

Weber was a celebrated socio-economic thinker of the West. He counselled that belief in Karma - in which, he believed, fatalism hid - led people to accept their lot as their fate. He thus saw the Hindu-Buddhist faith in Karma as fatal to development itself. He diagnosed that Karma-centric faiths, which denied hopes to individuals, rendered their adherents unfit for modern development process.

Indian intellectualism, particularly in free India, carbon-copied Weber’s thesis and almost accepted that the traditional Indian beliefs are the nemesis of India. This turned the Indian establishment thinking apologetic about not just ancient Indian faiths but about ancient India itself!

Under the pressure of Weber’s interpretation, some bright Indian minds sidestepped the Aurobindo-Vivekananda view on ancient India as world’s future hope. They took refuge in socialist and secular ideas and delegitimised and drove the ancient Indian ideas underground. This enabled free India’s secular intellectualism, which saw ancient Indian thoughts as its principal adversary, declare everything about ancient India - whether it was Patanjali’s Yoga or Krishna’s Gita – as saffron toxic and anti-secular. In the end, Weber prevailed over free India.

Now comes, a full century after Weber theorised on how fatal is Karma, a surprising U-turn in the West. The very idea of Karma, which Weber had diagnosed as the nemesis of India, seems to be emerging as the life vest of the West! The West, fatigued with the ‘greed-is-good’ capitalism for over a century, is now looking for an alternative to the greed-based capitalism.

What is the alternative, which it sees or seeks? Believe it. It sees the alternative in Karma, the very idea Weber had condemned as anti-development. International Business Week in its recent issue (Oct 20, 2006) sees the emergence of ‘Karma Capitalism’, that is, capitalism founded on the idea of karma! The magazine defines karma capitalism as a gentler, more emphatic ethos that resonates in the post-Enron and post-technology bubble in the West.

“Big business is embracing Indian philosophy,” says the “Business Week”. Look at what it sees as Indian philosophy. “Phrases from ancient Hindu texts such as the Bhagwat Gita are popping up in management tomes and on web sites of consultants,” it says. And it goes on: “Top business schools have introduced “self-mastery” classes that use Indian methods to help managers boost their leadership skills and find inner peace in lives dominated by work”.

Not only that. Bhagwat Gita, according to “Business Week”, has replaced the 6th century BC Chinese classic Art of War of Tsun Tsu, which dominated business schools two decades earlier. The magazine says that while it used to be ‘hip in management circles’ to quote from the Chinese classic, the ‘trendy ancient Eastern text on Thursdayis Bhagwat Gita”, which the magazine says “more introspective”.

Earlier this year, says the magazine, a manager at Sprint Nextel Corp penned the inevitable how-to guide: “Bhagwat Gita on Effective Leadership“. More important, the magazine says, Indian born strategists are helping to transform the US corporations. It names several Indians who are among the world’s hottest business gurus. About 10 percent of the professors at business schools such as Harvard, Kellogg, and others are of Indian descent, it says. The senior executives who come to these schools are exposed to the Indian values that are reflected in how these professors of Indian origin think and articulate, the magazine says.

The most influential ones, the magazine says, acknowledge that common themes pervade the work of these professors of Indian origin - like that executives should be motivated by broader purpose than money; that there should be a holistic approach that integrates needs of the shareholders, employees, customers, society and environment; and that the shareholder-driven agenda must be replaced by stakeholder-focused approach. The Business World says that “Indian thinkers are affecting not only the way the managers run companies. They are also furthering their search for personal fulfilment”. In short, it says that the Indian thinking and Indian thinkers are greatly influencing Corporate America.

Corporate America’s influence on the political and economic philosophies of the West is well acknowledged. Economic globalisation has only deepened that influence. The US corporate think tanks exert considerable influence over global media and politics. In effect corporate America is the trend setter for the world. Ironically it was the US that proclaimed itself as the living model of Weber’s prescriptions as the foundation of modern ideas of capitalism and development. And that is where, surprisingly and unbelievably, the U-turn is taking place.

For secular India Bhagwat Gita and Karma Yoga are toxic substances to be kept out of the Indian discourse. The Indian management gurus and spiritual leaders are doing what Swami Vivekananda did over a century ago - namely proclaim that greatness of the Indian thought in the US and import it from the US to India. They are actually validating in the US what has been driven underground in secular India.

If the Indian management gurus did something similar in India it would attract the abuse of the seculars that they are toxifying even business and economics with saffron concepts! It may even charge that the corporate America is becoming addicted to toxic saffron. That is the measure of its hate for thoughts and things Indian. Yes the secular India dismisses as toxin what secular America realises as nectar.

[email protected]

http://www.newindpress.com/column/News.asp?Topic=-97&Title=S%2EGurumurthy&ID=IE620061026142407&nDate=&Sub=&Cat=&
 
Dharampalji, known widely for his highly illuminating work: The Beautiful Tree, among other scholarly works, died some weeks ago. The book refutes the general (mis)conception that it was the British who first set up a structured education system in the country. The book is based on extensive research by Dharampalji, after years of shifting through many historical records, texts and documents kept by the British. The books shows that India had a very well developed and elaborate education system before the British came, which was pretty much dismantled and destroyed by the British in order to instil pro-British, pro-western attitudes among young Indians through the manipulation of the Indian education system.

It is a must-read for those interested in learning about India's past, as researched and told, not by a westerner, but by a wise Indian. For those who have not had the opportunity to read the book, the next two posts, taken from different sources, give insight to its contents. Since the book appears to be out of print, one can also download the book from this site: http://multiversitylibrary.com/download.jsp?bookID=76

Dharampalji's profile : http://www.samanvaya.com/frames/ecourse/1st-dindia.htm
 
Observations on Dharampalji's book, The Beautiful Tree, from
source: http://www.indiatogether.org/education/opinions/btree.htm

Contrary to popular belief, the Indian education system at the end of the 18th century compared more than favourably with the British system. Reflections by SIDH of Uttarakhand.


In October 1931 Mahatma Gandhi made a statement at Chatham House, London, that created a furore in the English press. He said, "Today India is more illiterate than it was fifty or a hundred years ago, and so is Burma, because the British administrators, when they came to India, instead of taking hold of things as they were, began to root them out. They scratched the soil and left the root exposed and the beautiful tree perished". The village schools were not good enough for the British administrator, so he came with his programme - every school must have so much paraphernalia, buildings and so forth. There was no recognition for the village schools, and the schools established after the European pattern were too expensive for the people. Gandhiji could not, at that time, respond with statistics to the controversy that followed but subsequently researchers and writers went into the records, mainly British, to reconstruct the history of education in the 18th and early 19th century.


The picture that emerges from the research work of recent years is only a resounding confirmation of what Gandhiji said in London. We now learn, with almost a sense of disbelief, that a large part of the country did have a sustainable education system, as late as even the early years of the 19th century, and that this was systematically demolished over the next 50 years or so. The present education system is, in effect, a legacy of the colonial rule. This system has perpetuated the notion that traditional societies were seeped in ignorance, superstition and rituals for thousands of years and lived a life of abject poverty, which was caused by an extreme form of social discrimination and exploitative socio-political systems. So deep has this notion seeped into our collective consciousness that, it colours the belief of both, providers of education as well as of recipients and aspiring recipients in our society.


Factual records gleaned from the notes of British officials in Indian provinces testify contrary to the prevailing views among the educated classes in our country. The Indian education system at the end of the 18th century compared more than favourably with the system in England about the same time. In all respects, be it the number of schools and colleges proportionate to the population; the number of students; the quality of teachers; the financial support provided from public and private sources; the high percentage of students from the lower castes, and the range of subjects taught; the Indian system of the time was in a better position than the British. We need to appreciate these facts, not with the intent of glorifying the past or to condemn colonialism merely but to help us sort out our goals and strategies today.


Shri Dharmpal, a noted Gandhian and historian, did extensive research in India and abroad and draws mainly from British records of 18th and early 19th centuries. He draws heavily from the reports and writings of English officers (not historians) like Thumas Munro, John Bright, William Lam, and William Digby, Dr. G.W. Leitner and others. In 1812-13, Thomas Munro reported that for areas of the Madras Presidency "every village had a school". Later as Governor of the Madras Presidency he reviewed reports to estimate that "there is one school for every 1000 of the population".

William Adam, a former Baptist missionary turned Journalist, in first report in 1835 observed that every village had at least one school; and that there seemed to be about 1,00,000 schools in Bengal and Bihar in the 1830s. G.L.Prendergast, Bombay Presidency council member stated in 1821 "that in the newly extended Presidency of Bombay "there is hardly a village, great or small, throughout our territories, in which there is not at least one school, and in larger villages more."

In his report on indigenous education in the Punjab, Dr. G.W. Leitner, one time Principal of Government College, Lahore, and for some time acting Director of Public Instruction in the Punjab, stated that "there was not a mosque, a temple, a dharmasala that had not a school attached to it." These observations made in 1852 show that the spread of education in the Punjab around 1850 was of a similar extent to that in Bombay.

The Madras Presidency and Bengal-Bihar data concerning the background of the taught and the teachers presents a kind of revelation. The data is in sharp contrast to the various scholarly pronouncements of the past 100 years or more, which give the impression that education of any sort in India, till very recently, was almost exclusively restricted to the twice born among the Hindus and, and among Muslims, to those of the ruling elite. The actual situation was different, if not contrary.

In the districts of Madras Presidency and two districts of Bihar for which data is available, it was found that children from communities termed 'Sudras' and the castes considered below them predominated in the thousands. In the Tamil-speaking areas of Madras Presidency, 'Sudras' and 'AtiSudras' comprised 70-80 per cent of all school going children. Among the Oriya-speaking areas of the same Presidency, the percentage of children belonging to these two castes was 62 per cent; in Malyalam-speaking areas it was 54 per cent; and in Telugu-speaking areas it was 35-40 per cent. There were 11,575 schools with 1,57,195 children in Madras Presidency and there were 1,094 colleges. Nearly 25 per cent of all children used to go to school and a large percentage of children studied at home. The number of children doing home schooling in Madras district alone was 26,446 while in the city 5,523 children were going to school.

The situation in India with regard to education in 1500 (and it should be remembered that it is a greatly damaged and disorganised India that one is referring to) does not in any sense look inferior to what existed in England then; and in many respects Indian schooling seems to have been much more extensive.
 


  • In England at the end of the 17th century there are Charity Schools whose main purpose was that every child was to learn to read the Bible. Around 1802, the monitorial method of teaching used by Joseph Lancaster (and also by Andrew Bell, supposedly borrowed from India, Ibid pg 246, Note on Indian Education by Alexander Walker quote 'The children were instructed without violence and by a process peculiarly simple. The system was borrowed from the Bramans and brought from India to Europe.
  • Three approaches (seemingly different but in reality complementary to one another) began to operate in the British held areas of India regarding Indian knowledge, scholarship and centers of learning from about the 1770s.One they needed to provide a background of previous precedents to the new concepts being introduced by them. It was this requirement which gave birth to British Indology. Two the conquest of the American civilization led to the disappearance of all written records that existed. They did not want a repeat. Three they wanted to spread Christianity. '
  • For England had few schools for the children of ordinary people till about 1800. In his first report, Adam observed that there exist about 1,00,000 village schools in Bengal and Bihar around the 1830s, not to talk of the rest of India. The content of studies was better than what was then studied in England. The duration of study was more prolonged. The method of school teaching was superior and it is this very method which is said to have greatly helped the introduction of popular education in England but which had prevailed in India for centuries. The only aspect, and certainly a very important one, where Indian institutional education seems to have lagged behind was with regard to the education of girls.
  • It was unthinkable for the British that India could have had a proportionately larger number receiving education than those in England itself.
  • The British asked its Collectors to collect district wise data on number of schools and type of education that I have reproduced excerpts below.
  • The actual situation, which is revealed, was different, if not quite contrary, for at least amongst the Hindoos, in the districts of the Madras Presidency (and dramatically so in the Tamil-speaking areas) as well as the two districts of Bihar. It was the groups termed Soodras, and the castes considered below them who predominated in the thousands of the then still-existing schools in practically each of the areas.'
Madras Presidency 1822-25 (Collectors Reports)



Details of Schools & Colleges



Caste Division of Male school students
Caste: total students (percent)
Brahmins, Chettris: 30211 (20%)​
Vysee: 13459 (9%)​
Soodra: 75943 (50%)
Other Caste: 22925 (15%)​
Muslims: 10644 (6%)​
Total Male Students: 153182 (100%)


 
It is sad that the upper-castes are always accused of committing atrocities against dalits, when in reality, as this and many other articles show, the atrocities are committed by other communities.



Uttar Pradesh tops in crimes against Dalits



New Delhi, Nov 07: Uttar Pradesh has achieved the dubious distinction of reporting the highest number of crimes against Dalits with statistics indicating a "confrontation" between the scheduled castes and OBCs.​

"Uttar Pradesh tops the list of crime against Dalits in the country with 16.8 per cent (4,397 cases).... the commission has received thousand of complaints of atrocities against Dalits, mostly related to land," Fakirbhai Vaghela, acting chairman of the Scheduled Caste Commission, told reporters here.​

He said a majority of cases against Dalits are related to land grabbing by OBCs, and not by upper castes. "Where ever the two communities are stronger, there is confrontation. The atmosphere in the state shows that there is a confrontation between Dalits and OBCs."

Vaghela, in the presence of other members of the commission, said there were over 12000-13000 cases before the commission related to atrocities against Dalits in the state with a majority being land related cases.​

He was also critical of state officials saying they have failed to come forward to address the problems faced by the community, particularly related to atrocities and discrimination.​

UP is followed by Madhya Pradesh with 4,356 cases, Rajasthan (3795), Andhra Pradesh (3117) and Bihar (1824), he said and expressed concern over the low conviction rate and long pendency of such cases.​

"We are equally concerned about lower conviction rate in cases involving Dalits. It is as low as to 29.8 per cent, which meant 70 per cent acquittal," he said, adding that pendency of large number of Dalit cases compounded their problems.​

Bureau Report​

 

Affirmative action in India flips caste roles

By Erica Lee Nelson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
September 25, 2006

NEW DELHI -- Years of affirmative action have upended India's caste system to the point where some upper-caste Brahmins are reduced to working as porters and pedaling rickshaws, while almost half the places in universities will soon be reserved for lower castes and tribal people.

Ramesh Jha, a Brahmin, came to New Delhi because he could not find work in his village in eastern Bihar state, where farming jobs have disappeared and almost all the government jobs are reserved for lower castes.
He now cleans toilets, performing a job once done by only the lowest of castes -- "untouchable" scavengers who cleaned excreta with their bare hands.

India's version of affirmative action has gradually taken hold over the past 50 years, designed to bring justice to those who were long oppressed by the Hindu caste system.
Now the government, using data from a caste census taken in 1931, is on its way to increasing the number of university admissions reserved for lower castes and tribal people to 49.5 percent from 22.5 percent.

When the reservation system was introduced in 1990, violent protests surged through the country and one student immolated himself in protest. This year, large groups of medical and engineering students went on hunger strikes, faced tear gas and left hospitals unmanned for days to participate in protests.
The demonstrators say the quota system will squelch merit in India's most respected universities and further fracture Indian society. More protests are expected when Parliament reconvenes for the winter session.

Since caste cannot always be determined by looks, corrupt government officials are known to create fake lower-caste certificates for anyone who pays. Recently, the Indian Express newspaper obtained a backward-caste certificate for Atal Behari Vajpayee -- a Brahmin and former prime minister -- simply by paying a bribe of less than $10.
Meanwhile, the status of Brahmins in many states is abysmal. In Andhra Pradesh, 44 percent of Brahmins in the 5 to 18 age group dropped out of school at the primary level, according to a book by J. Radhakrishna. And hundreds of thousands of Brahmins who were forced to leave insurgency-hit Kashmir now live as refugees in other parts of India.

Much of the progress made by the lowest castes is attributable to the work of the Sulabh Sanitation Movement in New Delhi, which has worked to improve conditions for those who clean public toilets while training them for other kinds of work.
Its founder, Bindeshwar Pathak, a Brahmin, recalls the day from his childhood that his grandmother forced him to swallow sand and cow manure because he had touched an "untouchable." Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's social movement, he made it his life's work as an adult to fight against that prejudice.
Mr. Pathak, 64, estimates that 13 million toilets are cleaned by members of the manual scavenging caste -- women like Usha who started cleaning sewage when she was 15 years old, just after her marriage. "I was sick when I did that work," says Usha, who uses only one name. "My stomach always felt bad. My employers would never hand me food. They would only drop it on the ground."

The Sulabh Sanitation Movement trained her to make noodles and grind spices to sell to hotels in the area. The community now looks up to her, and she makes enough money to send her children to school.
But, she says, no one in her slum has benefited much from reserved jobs in the government: They only get jobs as cleaners. And no one of her generation has enough education to gain admission to a university, even if the increased reservations are implemented.

Rather, she says, it is members of the subcastes that stand slightly above the untouchables who are in a position to take advantage of the government benefits. In order to correct this imbalance, Mr. Jha says, reserved jobs and places in universities should be allotted on the basis of income rather than caste. "Anyone coming from poverty level should be helped by the government, no matter what the caste, so they can grow and develop," he says.
 
It is a pity that those who truly deserve the quota - the poor - are unable to benefit from this program, because there are too many people abusing the system.​



Imprisonment to Pastor and Son for submitting fake caste certificate


Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Judicial court sentenced a Christian Pastor and his son for submitting a fake scheduled caste certificate to get admission in MBBS.​

Ajaykumar (Crypto Christian) got admission in 1973 MBBS batch in Thiruvananthapuram by submitting a certificate showing Religion as Hinduism and caste as ‘Velan’ and got admission under Scheduled caste reservation. He and his father pastor P.K.George obtained this certificate from Arya Samajam.​

Ajay Kumar got 4 years and his father Pastor George got 2 years rigorous imprisonment. George is the Pastor in Cherthala St. Mary's Lurdh Church.​

Ajaykumar’s brother Anilkumar also got admission in MBBS like this. Now both brothers are practicing as Doctors, Ajay in Kozhikode and Anil in Alapuzha. The whole family were practising Christianity and utilized these caste certificate inorder to get admission for MBBS.

The reasons for putting Hindu names for Christians are aimed to deceive the public and do frauds like this and not for their eagerness to Indianize themselves as some Seculars say.

Aryasamajam also should take extra care in issuing certificates like this and make sure those who got converted to Hinduism are practicing the same too.​


 
The missionaries/evangelists are getting more desparate by the hour, to pump up the numbers of christian converts in many developing countries, and are becoming more daring, bolder, and open in their methods to accomplish their mission. Here's yet another example of their attempts in India, to tarnish the image of hinduism through lies, lies, and... more lies.
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=157&page=16



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Stat govt proposes religious shrines bill

... but fails to mention Aukaf Land!

To curb corruption at religious places, the government of Maharashtra has decided to take over all religious shrines through a new legislation. According to senior government officials the proposed ‘Religious Shrines, Places and Temple Regulations’, will add Rs. 40,000 crore to the government’s coffer. But this law is likely to create resentment as it finds no mention about the Aukaf Land.

After receiving a number of complaints about the growing corruption in many religious places, the government took a decision to introduce legislation to control all the shrines in the state. The draft bill of this proposed law is ready and the government might introduce this in the winter session of the legislature.

In Mumbai city alone, there are 60,000-70,000 religious places. Most of these shrines are surrounded by various controversies and more than 75,000 litigations related to them are pending with the Charity Commissioner’s office. The officials feel that this particular legislation will reduce the litigations and will get some way out to the long pending problems.

Presently some shrines are under government control from which the state is getting two per cent of the total income. In the new bill the provision is made to recover 12 to 15 per cent of the total income. There are more than nine lakh religious shrines and places in the state. With this provision the state will get a fat sum of Rs 40,000 crore in its empty coffer. But this proposed legislation is likely to invite some unavoidable tensions for the government. After the enforcement of this act all Hindu, Jain, Christians and Boudha shrines will be under government control. But this draft bill is totally silent on huge Aukaf Land spread all over the state. This might spark some major problem for the government.

BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT | Saturday, November 11, 2006 8:5:31 IST
http://www.cybernoon.com/DisplayArt...bay&xfile=November2006_inbombay_standard11325
 
Below is one man's point of view on why it would be a mistake for Europe to impose a ban on the Swastika, a symbol held most sacred by the Hindus. It is tragic that the ancient Indian civilization's sacred symbol was stolen by the Europeans, and demonized and sullied, and now faces the ban. Ironic that no one has called for a ban on the cross, because of its association with violence, genocide, and aggression committed, many times over, in the name of Christianity, including the infamous Hitler's holocaust.


Response to European Parliment's Discussion to Ban Swastika

KOLHORN, THE NETHERLANDS, November 14, 2006: (HPI note: The following editorial comment is by Clive Roberts of Holland.)

The European Parliament is engaged in discussions to ban the Swastika. Their awareness of its symbolism is obviously limited to Europe post 1930! May I offer some information?

If you drive to Scotland, and visit the Queen's Scottish residence at Balmoral, then as you leave the car park and cross the bridge over the River Dee, you will see a monument to the fallen dead in (I believe) the First World War. Possibly the Boer War, I forget, as I now live in Holland. The granite around the inscriptions is bordered by hundreds of small Swastikas! This to me is evidence of the positive elements of the relationship which used to exist between Britain and the (at that time) Colonies in the East.

There are many views of the occupation and exploitation of India by Imperialist nations, and Britain had been one of the most aggressive. (I am English, my wife is a devout Hindu from Malaysia). However, this monument at Balmoral is evidence of the knowledge of the healing and spiritual power of the Swastika, right at the heart of the monarchy of Britain, at the height of its involvement with India and other Asian nations.

I was brought up in post-war Britain, and remember well the picture war comics which dominated and thrilled my youth. The then-recent victory over Nazism was of course paramount, perhaps rightly so, and this appealed to the young boys' imagination. The Swastika was of course demonized - the very word as well as the symbol - and used freely as a dramatic aid to the 'action-packed' stories. I still understand the negative emotional impact of the word 'Swastika'. It is deeply burned into the psyche of those of my generation, and that of my parents. However, more positive publicity is needed, and not just amongst the converted - who, of course, constitute the readers of HPI and the Hindu Council.

If the European authority has its way, will we see a team of stone masons surreptitiously removing the Swastikas from the monument at Balmoral Castle? If this should come to pass, and I see it, I will make the most vociferous protest I can! However, in these mad politically correct days, I would be ignored! Regrettably, many people have little ability or inclination to discriminate between the genuine values of religions, and the political purposes to which religion is increasingly being skewed.

http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2006/11/15.shtml#1
 
This is relatively old news item, which appeared on Nov 6, 2006 in The Hindu online edition. Still, for those who have not come across it...


Ayyappa devotees leaving on a 38-day pilgrimage to Sabarimala on foot from Hyderabad on Sunday.

HYDERABAD: These days when people find it hard to trek a mile, here is a group of 97 Ayyappa devotees, who have embarked upon a treacherous 1,148 kilometres journey from Secunderabad to Sabarimala on foot. Clad in their ubiquitous black dress, these barefoot devotees carrying `irumudi' on their head, started from Secunderabad Ganesh Temple on Sunday with minimum luggage but loads of faith.


Such is their faith that nearly 40 debutants have joined the trip this year under the guidance of D.Venu Gopal, a retired Public Health Executive, who is on his 29th pilgrimage and 16th marathon walk to Sabarimala. Comprising of employees, businessmen and lecturers, the devotees will reach Sabarimala on December 11 walking 30 kilometres a day crossing Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

"I have undergone spinal surgery couple of years ago but even that will not be a hindrance to me," says N. Balakrishna, a businessman and resident of Dilsukhnagar. "Many, including my parents have tried to convince me not to attempt the trip, but I am inspired by Venugopal swamy," adds G. Srinivas, a lecturer at Prathiba Junior College.

Walking in two shifts per day from 4 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., these devotees have trained themselves to face the hardships of the journey and rely on each other and donations from other people. "Prior to the journey, we visited Bonthapalli, Keesaragutta and even Yadagirigutta on foot to equip ourselves physically and mentally for the journey,"says Venu Gopal. The fruit of all the hardship is that they would be given a special darshan in the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/06/stories/2006110614430200.htm
 
New Take on India's Caste History?


By meticulous research of the British sources over decades, Dharampal, a follower of Gandhi, has raised questions regarding the belief that India was backward educationally or economically when the British entered. Citing the Christian missionary William Adam's report on indigenous education in Bengal and Bihar in 1835 and 1838, Dharampal established that at that time there were 100,000 schools in Bengal, one school for about 500 boys; that the indigenous medical system that included inoculation against smallpox.​

He believes he has proven, by reference to other materials, that Adam's record was not legend. He relied on Sir Thomas Munroe's report to the Governor at about the same time to prove similar statistics about schools in Chennai. He also found that the education system in the Punjab during the Maharaja Ranjit Singh's rule was equally extensive. He estimated that the literacy rate in India before the British was higher than that in England.​

Long after Dharampal had established that pre-British India was not backward, a 2005 Harvard University Research, India's Deindustrialisation in the 18th and 19th Centuries by David Clingingsmith and Jeffrey G. Williamson affirmed that "while India produced about 25 percent of world industrial output in 1750, this figure had fallen to only 2 percent by 1900." The Harvard University Economic Research also established that the Industrial employment in India also declined from about 30 to 8.5 per cent between 1809-13 and 1900, thus turning the Indian society backward.

 
Satveer Chaudhary, a practicing Hindu of Indian origin, was re-elected in his dictrict in the US elections held this month. However, he has been a targeted by many christians in the US because he is a Hindu. He faces tremendous career challenges just for being a hindu, and his battles are probably just about to begin.

Concession E-Mail To Hindu Sen.: 'Know Jesus'




Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, a practicing Hindu, was re-elected in District 50 last week on the Democratic ticket, netting 63 percent of the vote. But rather than placing a call to concede the race, his Republican opponent Rae Hart Anderson instead offered him an e-mail concession that he said read like an attempt to convert his religious beliefs.​

"To get a sermon is definitely a surprise," said Chaudhary.​

In her e-mail, Anderson congratulated the senator first, but then went on to add, "It is my sincere wish that you'll get to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior." The message continued, "God waits to be gracious to each person that knows they need to be forgiven. Do you? I think you do. "

"When I read it I just shook my head," said Chaudhary. "This just sums up the type of campaign voters were rejecting."​

Anderson's car was still filled with her campaign signs. WCCO-TV tried to contact Anderson Thursday, even coming out to her Shoreview, Minn. home, but she never returned our calls. Later in the afternoon, Anderson's former campaign manager, Barbara Black, told us Anderson wrote the e-mail because "Chaudhary is not Christian, and he needs to find his soul."

Despite her e-mail, the Senator said he has faith in his constituents, and the tenor of Anderson's e-mail only confirms his belief in their will.​

"I know I'm going to be attacked. If that's all they got, my ethnicity, I must be doing OK for the voters," he said.​


 
A German tourist cremated as per Hindu rituals in Varanasi


Varanasi, Nov.18 (ANI): Since time immemorial the Hindu culture has captivated a lot of foreigners who have been influenced with its rich history and significance in human life.

While commencing his world tour, Scader Hanee Pulric, a German tourist may have hardly anticipated that it's going to be his ultimate journey. While touring India he felt so drawn that he wished to be cremated according to Hindu rites.

Pulric died on Thursday night due to blood cancer. But before dying he repeated his last wish about cremation as per Hindu rituals. His friends fulfilled his wish.

They cremated him as per Hindu rituals in Varanasi, the holy city, on Friday (November 17) at Harishchandra Ghat.

It was sometime back that Pulric learnt from his doctors that he would not live beyond three months as he had blood cancer.

Thereafter Pulric came to Varanasi to die on the pious land.

"His last wish was to be cremated in Varanasi and so we did this" were the only words Joies one of Pulric friends said.

As a part of Pulric's last wish, his ash will be immersed in the River Ganga as a part Hindu death ritual. ANI)

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/83392.php

 
Today's two posts were not deliberately intended to be about Hindu funerals. The two news items are from HPI news.

Body Of Practicing Hindu Buried By People Who Never Knew Who He Was

MALAYSIA, November 10, 2006 (HPI note: This is an editorial press release from the Malaysia Hindu Sangam):www.hindusangam.org.my

The death of a 28 year old man in the prime of his life is always an occasion of grief and sorrow to all, particularly to his family. The Malaysia Hindu Sangam wholeheartedly condemns the actions of the Government (in the form of the Religious Affairs Departments in complicity with the police) in increasing the suffering of the family of the late Chandran Dharmadass, 28, who died on November 8,2006. Totally ignoring the wishes and grief of his mother and wife, about 40 police personnel (some wearing FRU uniforms) escorted an Islamic Affairs Department van in the early hours of Friday morning and buried Chandran at 4:00 a.m. this morning according to Islamic rites at Gopeng.

Ignoring a promise given to the family by a senior police officer in Kuantan that the family would be permitted to carry out their own prayers in their own home before the body was taken away to be buried, the body was taken straight to the Islamic burial ground only stopping for a few moments for the late Chandran's mother and widow to see his body briefly. The senior police officer and religious officers in Gopeng prohibited the widow and mother from reciting any prayers or performing any rites.

The family disputes that Chandran ever converted to Islam. Until his death, he professed himself a Hindu and practised Hinduism. In 2004, Chandran had married a Thai lady according to Buddhist rites, and has a two year old child with her with another child on the way. The Malaysia Hindu Sangam is extremely disappointed that persons totally unknown to Chandran, who did not now the family or the deceased and had never met him before in their lives, interfered in this personal family tragedy to increase the sorrow and suffering of the grieving mother and widow.

http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2006/11/22.shtml#2
 
Blair voices concern over Kazakh Hindus
London: British Prime Minister Tony Blair has raised the issue of alleged harassment of Kazakh Hindus with the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev at a meeting in London.

The meeting took place even as 60 riot police and bulldozers assembled inside a Hindu temple in Kazakhstan and allegedly demolished five Hindu houses, the Hindu Forum of Britain said on Wednesday.

According to the forum, the Kazakh government is allegedly planning to bulldoze a Hindu temple in the Karasai district in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. In their efforts to highlight the plight of Hindus in Kazakhstan, Ashok Kumar, MP, has tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons.

The motion said: “This House, prior to the visit of the President of Kazakhstan, condemns the harassment of and discrimination against Hindu minorities in Kazakhstan; notes that Hindus in the Karasai district have had land, barns and cows confiscated, have been threatened with demolition of their houses, and denied the right to own land.”

http://sify.com/news/othernews/fullstory.php?id=14335727
 
When the news of Germany's call for a ban on swastikas throughout the EU came to the forefront, many Hindu and Jain groups in Europe and elsewhere protested the move. Now, apparently Germany has retracted its stand, and will not be pushing for the banning of Swastika throughout the EU.

Germany Backs Off Urging European Union to Ban Swastika

BRUSSELS, January 29, 2007:

Germany will not push during its presidency of the European Union for an EU-wide ban on the swastika and will leave the decision to punish Holocaust deniers in the hands of member states, Berlin said on Monday. Germany said earlier this month it wanted to harmonize rules throughout the 27-member bloc for dealing with Holocaust deniers and for punishing displays of the symbol of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party, banned in Germany and several other states.

But, setting out plans for an EU-wide anti-racism law on Monday, it said it would not seek to prohibit "specific symbols such as swastikas." The German statement did not say why it had decided against pushing for EU bans on swastikas, but some other EU countries are wary of such legislation and so a community-wide ban may not be achievable.

Germany's new draft suggests that incitement to racism and xenophobia would be punishable by at least 1 to 3 years of jail in all 27 EU states, while leaving to each state to decide on the specifics.

http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2007/1/29.shtml#1
 
Academically speaking.

Someone once told me that Hitler's swastika and Hinduism swastika are in opposite in directions i.e., the arms opening clockwise (Hinduism) and anti-clock wise (Nazi)? Is it true?
 
Someone once told me that Hitler's swastika and Hinduism swastika are in opposite in directions i.e., the arms opening clockwise (Hinduism) and anti-clock wise (Nazi)? Is it true?
Yes, the two symbols are opposite. However, if a person sees the Hinduism one, he will not know (except for careful observers).
 
Yes, the two symbols are opposite. However, if a person sees the Hinduism one, he will not know (except for careful observers).

Not entirely correct. The hindu swastika can be both left facing (anticlockwise) and right facing (clockwise), although the right one is used more often. Where the Nazi use might differ (I use 'might' because the Nazis were inconsistent in the symbol until after 1920s, where they adopted the specific party symbol, with the swastika in black, slightly rotated along the axis, printed on a white circle laid over red flag or background. Thus any difference if any might be in the rotation along the axis, and the particular color combinations that the Nazis adopted for their flag. However, if some neo-nazi kid draws it haphazardly on a public toilet door (which you are likely to find in many western countries), with the axis perpendicular instead of rotated and without the specific color combinations, it could well be the hindu symbol.

The issue ultimately is that Germany sought a ban in all forms or types of swastika. This means that any semblence to the Nazi symbol, whatever shape, size, rotation or no rotation, color or no color, would have been a big No-No in the EU had the German proposal gone through. That would have been a terrible blow to the Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and host of other ancient civvilizations that have always considered the swastika as a symbol of goodness, purity, prosperity and good fortune.

One can find more information on the swastika in http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/lg/lg_ch-07.html
 
THE LARGEST single gathering of people on Earth may hold the key to living together in harmony, researchers from St Andrews and Dundee believe.
Psychologists from the two universities have been studying the 30 million-strong crowd at the Kumbh Mela, in Allahabad, northern India.

And despite the noise and crowds—which would normally create stress—people at the month-long Hindu festival became more generous, supportive and orderly.

The Ganges festival—which ended yesterday—provides a unique opportunity to observe mass psychology. Psychologists, who worked with peers from Lancaster University, have just returned from the Mela. Dr Clare Cassidy, of St Andrews University said, “Many people argue that crowds are bad for you. “But in the Mela we found that people become more generous, more supportive and more orderly rather than less.

“This is the opposite of a ‘walk on by’ society, it is a community where people are attentive to the needs of strangers.” Her colleague Professor Steve Reicher said the festival had fundamental lessons for our understanding of how society works. He said, “Despite the fact that the Mela seems designed to increase stress in every way—it is very noisy day and night, very unhealthy, and very packed—what we found was that actually people feel serene, peaceful and unstressed.

“These various findings raise very important questions about the nature of collective participation and how it can affect both individual well-being and social cohesion.” The professors have been studying the Mela alongside Dr Nick Hopkins of Dundee University and Dr Mark Levine from Lancaster University, in collaboration with colleagues from several Indian universities.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2007/02/02/newsstory9253005t0.asp
 
Marxist take over of Hindu Temples in Kerala

Dr. Babu Suseelan


Hindu Temples are the centre of cultural preservation. Hindu Temples are abode of God where rituals, ceremonies and cultural practices are preserved and help Hindus to purify consciousness. Hindu temples are a symbol of our dynamic Vedic culture and living tradition that holds eternal spiritual truths that are relevant today as they were thousands of years ago. Hindu Temples represent our cultural aspirations, tradition and spiritual heritage.

For hundreds of years, Islamic invaders and Christian colonialists have vandalized our temples, stole our temple wealth, looted temple gold and jewels and encroached temple lands. Hindu temples were razed to the ground or burnt down and deities were destroyed, desecrated or stolen.

Koranic and Biblical teachings were often cited for the demolition of Hindu Temples.Christian colonialists continued the tradition of encroaching temple property and destroying temples until 1947. British colonial masters have introduced several legislation in Kerala to take over Hindu temples and property in Kerala. British policy has inflicted heavy burden on Hindu temples. Temples have lost their enormous wealth and suffered severe transformation. Hindu temples were improvised and disappeared.

Government took over temple lands and property. Even after 1947 secular governments have continued this policy against Hindu temples and began appointing atheists and non believing secular politicians as Devasom Board Members and Temple administrators. Huge income from temples including Sabarimala and Guruvayorrappan temple become under the control of the government. Huge temple funds were looted and spent for nefarious political purposes.

MARXIST SEIZURE OF HINDU TEMPLES

Now the Marxist government in Kerala has dismantled the Hindu Devasom Boards and introduced new law for the complete take over of Hindu Temples in Kerala. Under the new law, Marxist government can appoint atheist, non practicing Hindus as temple managers and administrators. Government will have the ultimate control of managing temple workers, temple funds and distribution of funds. The goals are to loot Hindu temple funds and confiscate temple property. The new law will also helps Marxists to destroy Hindu culture, demoralize devotees and please their Muslim and Christian political partners.

Throughout its existence in India, everything the Marxist party touched has been marred with lies, tyranny, massacre, and terror on Hindus. Traditional Hindu spiritual culture and ethical principles have been violently attacked, and social structures have been deconstructed by force. Hindu harmony among different sects and people have been twisted into class struggle and hatred. The Marxist rule in Kerala and west Bengal is the darkest and the most dangerous period of Hindus in history.

Under the new law introduced by atheist Marxists in Kerala, the government can monopolize Temples, control its wealth, property and gold deposits. The atheist government can appoint people hostile to Hindu temple services as Temple administrators, pujaris, temple workers and managers. Hindu devotees, Hindu cultural and social organizations, local temple committees will have no say in temple rituals, practices or management of Hindu temples under the new law. It is the complete and total take over of Hindu temples in Kerala. The Marxist government has never hesitated to use power to control and force to loot Hindu temple funds. It is an attempt to rape Hindu spirit and morale in order to maintain absolute control and political power over Hindus.

MARXIST CAPRICOUS AND DECPTIVE PRACTICES

Marxist are irreligious, atheists and opposed to religious practices. But their hatred is limited only to Hindus. Marxists say one thing about religion and practice another thing. Marxists have long-term plan for coexistence with Muslims and Christians. They are sincere each other and share honour and grace. They coexist and support each other in sincere manner to attack and destroy Hindus.

History teaches us that there is deeply-rooted patriarchal clean system among Marxists, Christians and Muslims that serve as a fundamental barrier against Hindus. This somewhat mutually dependent relationship was used for exploitation of Hindus. Previously the Marxist government introduced laws to expropriate Hindu property and gave to Christian and Muslim plantation owners. Christians and Muslims receive cores of rupees from foreign sources and they have rich mosques, churches, plantations, wealth producing properties, institutions for profit and huge funds in the bank.

The Marxist government dare to introduce any law to interfere their Church or Mosques or confiscate their wealth and property. The Marxists make no pretence of such wanton take over of Hindu temples and temple wealth. Their choice restricts mainly to Hindu temples not to wealthy Churches and Mosques.

Hindu organizations like Hindu Aiyka Vedi, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad have expressed strong protest and concern about the Marxist Hindu devasom ordinance law and urged Hindus to take steps to prevent the complete take over of Hindu temples.

Sri Swami Chaitanya, Director of Bhagavat Gita Center, and Pejawar Mat Swamiji have issued strong protest statements against Marxist attempts to take over Hindu Temples. They have urged that Hindu temples should be left to Hindu organizations for management. If fully implemented the provisions of the law will make Hindus second class citizens in their own country with no control of their own temples, cultural practices and rituals. Non Hindu politicians and atheists will have complete control over Hindu temples and spiritual institutions, Madams, Ashrams, Vedic schools and Hindu religious schools. Government can take over any Hindu religious institutions for pretentious reasons. And the government administrators are not answerable to any Hindu cultural organizations, TempleCommittees and devotees.

It is strange that some caste based organizations (NSS) joined with the Marxist bandwagon. Their complicity and even active collaboration with the Marxist government will have disastrous consequences. Most caste based organizations and leaders except SNDP leader vellappally Natesan chose not to challenge and ignored the HinduTemple persecutors. Many political leaders dropped out, withdrew, eased into simplistic, intellectually barren statements. Several secular leaders and phony intellectuals are in deep denial and silence on the thunderous onslaught on Hindu temples with paralyzed detachment. Gripped in the dark age of leftist secularism, they are in seemingly insecure detachment.

THE WAY OUT

The only solution to this tragedy is a meaningful commitment to Hindutva and assertive power display. Hindus must find ways to express their long unmet needs and confront these demons who are bent on destroying our spiritual practices and temples. Hindus should not tolerate or hide from the monsters willing to destroy our sense of Hindu community. Hindus can no more remain live in fantasy and passivism.

We hope that those who are still deceived by the Marxist policies will now see its nature clearly, purge its poison, extricate their minds, its evil control, free themselves from the shackles of terror, and abandon for good all illusions about Marxism.

http://www.haindavakeralam.org/PageModule.aspx?PageID=2931&SKIN=C
 
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