Shani worship by women will increase rapes: Swaroopanand Saraswati

[sangom]

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Dear Sangom ji,

I do not know how to respond..tragedy happens anywhere when there is mismanagement and total lack of safety..this is just human behavior.
An incident happening right in a temple shows that one is not save anywhere and we need to use our sense and sensibility to have safety in mind.

BTW going by the logic that Bhadrakali was Ugra becos she was not happy with what was going on in the temple hence this tragedy happened...so which Kali got Ugra for the recent spree of bombings in airports and public places in Europe..remember the recent Brussels airport attack? Brussels Kali got Ugra?

What about 9/11..the twin towers in USA incident?USA Kali was Ugra?

What about the recent collapse of a fly over in Bengal? Calcutta Kali was Ugra?

Coming to the other reasoning that Godhead is finding it hard to stay in a impure temple becos of females who have their menses come there..that shows God is afraid of His own creation.

Is such a God worthy of worship who is afraid of even Hemoglobin?

Also the President of the temple committee who faced difficulty etc surely had his own Karma running its course.So technically another persons Hemoglobin can not rewrite his Karma.

I feel we humans should stop giving God a bad name when we have no answers for anything.

I hear Guns N Roses in my mind now!LOL

Shot through the heart..and you're too blame..Darling..you give God a bad name!

Smt. Renuka,

The problem seems to me, to be our confusing the divinities or deities which are housed and worshipped in temples and the Ultimate Reality as per Adi Shankara's advaita philosophy. We have a tendency to imagine anything going by the appellation "god" in common parlance, to be that Ultimate Reality or Parabrahman, beyond which there is nothing else. But the divinities worshipped in temples are very different from the Parabrahman, in my limited view. Hence we should not try to study & analyse a primary class text-book with the approach needed for a modern research thesis on the same subject.

That is why I said that we may not be correct in discarding the Dwaraka Shankaracharya's comments based on our limited human knowledge. While I do not know whether incidence of rape of women will increase, as a result of women entering the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, there could be some changes in the society as a result of the step, I believe.

 

[sangom]

Our limited knowledge is the base of our life, living everyday.
We have limited knowledge and we have to decide on the basis of our knowledge. That is not going to change. If we postpone all our action when we have limitless knowledge, it will be too late. Or even better as we will never have ultimate knowledge, we better stop living.
We need to get better and more knowledge, that is the only solution.

Auvaiyar says "Katrathu Kai Mann Alavu, Kallathathu Ulagalavu" has been translated as "What you have learned is a mere handful; What you haven't learned is the size of the world". That is true at all time.

If I knew the outcome of every action that I undertake, I will not have to guess. But that is not the case, we have to decide like should i go out, should i buy this product? Everything is based on partial knowledge.

The diver who is willing to bet on partial knowledge is the one who finds the pearl, the person who wants guarantees in life is still sitting on the shore and poor.

Dear Shri Prasad,

I did not say any action, including criticisms of the Shankaracharya's comments, should be postponed because of our limited human knowledge. What all I meant was that we should rather wait and see whether the step (of women entering the sanctum sanctorum of that Shani temple) causes any noticeable changes in the lives of the people, the society.

 

[Vaagmi]

Smt. Renuka,
The problem seems to me, to be our confusing the divinities or deities which are housed and worshipped in temples and the Ultimate Reality as per Adi Shankara's advaita philosophy. We have a tendency to imagine anything going by the appellation "god" in common parlance, to be that Ultimate Reality or Parabrahman, beyond which there is nothing else. But the divinities worshipped in temples are very different from the Parabrahman, in my limited view. Hence we should not try to study & analyse a primary class text-book with the approach needed for a modern research thesis on the same subject.

Ultimate reality according to Adi Shankara's advaita philosophy is not the last word on the entity called God.

That ultimate reality in order to be grasped by human mind had to be formated in the spatial coordinates by humans. It is a convenience just as the ultimate reality of Adi Shankara too is a convenience. The truth is that the reality remains whatever it is while we try to understand it in the language we are familiar with with the equipments we have. It is not as if the deities in the temple with which we associate God has nothing to do with God. I do not need a parabhrahmam whom I can not visualise, grasp with the mind that I am equipped with and with the parameters I am familiar with. That Parabrahmam is a non existent blue horned flying unicorn for me. It may be enchanting to imagine it, it may be very soothing to believe that it is beyond my understanding etc., But it is not of any consequence to me. I will be better without it. I am not prepared to think that the deities are dolls and the bhaktas who worship them are all primary class kids while those who struggle with the idea of an advaitic parabhrahmam beyond all these and not within my grasp as the Phd scholars.

Coming to Shani's effect and Puri Acharya's words on it, it would be better to wait and see what happens as the entry of women is a fait accompli.

 

[prasad1]

The demand for temple entry to all classes has long been a part of the larger struggle for social reform in India. Initially begun as a movement towards seeking equality for Dalits with other caste Hindus, it has now also embraced within its scope Hindu women who seek parity with men in access to temples.

Image courtesy: IBNLive

History of temple entry laws and their constitutionality
Temple entry for Dalits, who had been barred on grounds of "untouchability", was one of the leading social reform movements that ran parallel to the larger Independence movement in the early part of the last century in India. The first legal measure guaranteeing the rights of Dalits to enter temples at par with all other caste Hindus was the Temple Entry Proclamation issued by the then Maharajah of Travancore. It opened the doors of all temples in the princely state of Travancore to all classes of Hindus. This was subsequently followed by the Temple Entry Authorisation and Indemnity Act, 1939 passed in the then Madras Presidency guaranteeing Dalits the right of temple entry there. Other states have followed since, and the aforementioned Maharashtra Hindu Places of Worship Act is one of those laws protecting the rights of all classes of Hindus to access places of worship equally. Article 25(2)(b) of the Constitution of India clarifies that temple entry laws are not tantamount to restriction of individual's right to religion under Article 25(1).

The Constitution protects both an individual right to religion under Article 25 and a denominational right to manage its own religious affairs under Article 26 of the Constitution, so an argument could be made that temple entry laws won't affect a temple used exclusively by a given denomination. The Supreme Court of India in Venkataramana Devaru versus State of Mysore did not think so. In a challenge raised by a temple meant for Gaud Saraswat Brahmins in the coastal regions of the then Mysore state (now Karnataka), the Supreme Court clarified that temple entry laws would also apply to so-called denominational temples. It read the permission to make temple entry laws contained in Article 25 of the Constitution to be applicable as a limitation on the rights of denominations of a religion to manage their own religious affairs, including the running of temples. In effect, as some legal scholars pointed out, it raised the statutory right of Dalits to enter temples to the level of a constitutional right - an interpretation that was perhaps more in line with the Constitution than a pedantic reading would suggest.
As it stands, where a law guaranteeing temple entry for all classes of Hindus for temples which are generally open to the public such a law will validly apply to not just temples which are meant for the general public but also temples for the exclusive use of a denomination. Even if it had been claimed that the Shani Shingnapur temple had been built for a particular denomination of Hindus, women would still have a right to enter such temples under the Maharashtra Temple Entry law.
Shorn of all the legal and religious construction, the justifications offered for denying women entry into places of worship rests on a supposed inferiority of women in matters of religion. Whether such an argument is linked to menstruation, the weakness of physical frame or some other physical attribute of women, the fact remains that the arguments offered for restricting women's entry to religious places is a brute exercise of patriarchal power and nothing more. When such barriers and obstacles in the path of equality of women is being slowly but steadily being eroded in most aspects of society, one hopes that the Constitutional courts of India will find themselves on the right side of history in clearing the path for equal rights for women in matters of religion.

 

[auh]

Dear Shri auh,

I also used to think, for quite some time, in the same way in which our Supreme Court judges now voice their judgements in cases of gender equality. But when the pollution of the Tabra-managed temple due to women coming inside the temple with menstrual pollution, was a test case for me. One of the learned astrologers who formed the panel for the Devaprasnam was my college mate and is a very well-respected astrologer. When I asked him whether menstruation of women made them "polluting" his answer was that he has no scientific proof to provide but,after many years of astrological experience, he now firmly believed that what is written down in the hoary astrological treatises are not wrong and that he has been witness to many "prasnams" in which such kind of pollution had made parihaarams of no effect.

That said, in my limited experience, Prasnam is not connected to any impartialor frenzied state of mind and all the predictions are based on clearly laid down aphorisms and, usually, there is a panel of experienced astrologers in Devaprasnams and this panel discussed each and every observation threadbare before the final comments are committed to paper by the main astrologer.

That is why I believe that "our limited human knowledge cannot be made the basis of judging some of the practices related to our religion".

Regarding your last point, is it not possible that between the Ultimate Godhead or Reality or Parabrahma and us humans, there are many levels of "godhead" each having its own circumscribed powers? Do we have any logical proof that beyond Man, it is only the Parabrahmam and nothing else?

Dear sir,

Thank you for your reply, but however, I am unable to agree with the view that "what is written down in the hoary astrological treatises are not wrong". Or that it could relate to some kind of divinity.

To illustrate the point, I will take the analogy of a person who has absolutely no adverse effect (as apparently noticed) when he touches a live wire (electric wire). Any other person who touches it would have been burnt to cinders. Can we say that he is some kind of godhead? This had come in the news and I remember reading it a long time ago (cannot remember now). But am sure there would be many others. People bending spoons by will power etc. Ripley's believe it or not had some bizzare sequences but am not sure if all of them are staged or real.

On a similar note, somebody in those days could have had a surge of power (ESP etc) and could predict certain things (I believe the pollution etc are actually used for things that could not be predicted or go against such predictions). It is also quite possible that people who experienced similar surges could have coined certain guidelines as to the practice. No one could really be sure of the accuracy of such predictions unless over a period of time the individual proves 100% accurate results. Again, this could be purely individual-centric. Due to our belief of lineage etc., the boys may also be believed to be endowed with degree of powers (sometimes by selection), failing which a relative could be assigned. Or perhaps some other suitable mechanism. You see, everything need not be related to anything divine and neither we need be cowed by such predictions.

Regarding your last point, is it not possible that between the Ultimate Godhead or Reality or Parabrahma and us humans, there are many levels of "godhead" each having its own circumscribed powers? Do we have any logical proof that beyond Man, it is only the Parabrahmam and nothing else?

It is quite possible sir, but what purpose does it really serve? By entering into such an assumption, we are only stepping into another vicious circle of illogical assumptions and unwarranted beliefs.

 

[renuka]

Originally Posted by sangom
Smt. Renuka,
The problem seems to me, to be our confusing the divinities or deities which are housed and worshipped in temples and the Ultimate Reality as per Adi Shankara's advaita philosophy. We have a tendency to imagine anything going by the appellation "god" in common parlance, to be that Ultimate Reality or Parabrahman, beyond which there is nothing else. But the divinities worshipped in temples are very different from the Parabrahman, in my limited view. Hence we should not try to study & analyse a primary class text-book with the approach needed for a modern research thesis on the same subject.

Dear Sangom ji,

If the "entities" worshiped in a temple are very different from Parabrahman that means its highly risky to enter a temples cos these entities have volatile temperaments and seem "revengeful" if you actually believe the recent fire that killed many people were due to the Ugra"entity' not being appeased.

Then what is the use of praying to such entities if they do not seem to display any signs and symptoms of having self control of any sort that too capable of causing death of others?

I have used to word Entity not as a mark of disrespect but just denote uncertainty cos if anything/anyone still has whims and fancies and get Ugra from time to time..I surely would not want to call them Divinity.

Even the common man does not go around killing others when he is Ugra.


BTW if entities worshiped in a temple can actually be Ugra and become dangerous cause fires...increase incidence of rapes...temple committee personnel become afflicted with probelms if rules are broken how come anyone can enter a church with shoes..even menstruating women enter a church and also Gurudwara and no entity there becomes Ugra ever?

How come Jesus or Mother Mary are never known to be Ugra?

We never hear of the Dasha Gurus of Sikhism becoming Ugra in a Gururdwara.

So are we to believe that entities in a Hindu temple are dangerous and lack self control?

Does not make sense right?

So who is it that lacks self control? The entities or humans who make gullible minds believe that a God is angry becos its the human mind that lacks control when they have no answers when challenged.

 

[sangom]

Dear Sangom ji,

If the "entities" worshiped in a temple are very different from Parabrahman that means its highly risky to enter a temples cos these entities have volatile temperaments and seem "revengeful" if you actually believe the recent fire that killed many people were due to the Ugra"entity' not being appeased.

Then what is the use of praying to such entities if they do not seem to display any signs and symptoms of having self control of any sort that too capable of causing death of others?

I have used to word Entity not as a mark of disrespect but just denote uncertainty cos if anything/anyone still has whims and fancies and get Ugra from time to time..I surely would not want to call them Divinity.

Even the common man does not go around killing others when he is Ugra.


BTW if entities worshiped in a temple can actually be Ugra and become dangerous cause fires...increase incidence of rapes...temple committee personnel become afflicted with probelms if rules are broken how come anyone can enter a church with shoes..even menstruating women enter a church and also Gurudwara and no entity there becomes Ugra ever?

How come Jesus or Mother Mary are never known to be Ugra?

We never hear of the Dasha Gurus of Sikhism becoming Ugra in a Gururdwara.

So are we to believe that entities in a Hindu temple are dangerous and lack self control?

Does not make sense right?

So who is it that lacks self control? The entities or humans who make gullible minds believe that a God is angry becos its the human mind that lacks control when they have no answers when challenged.

Smt. Renukaji,

If we mix up Christianity, Sikhism, Islam and so on, in order to pick some holes in the Hindu system of beliefs and worship, I feel the result will be utter confusion. In case someone feels Christianity or Sikhism is far superior because their "entities" (as per your usage) in their respective places of worship are calm and cool as per the requirements of our modern day notions of equality for, and in, everything, nothing prevents such people from discarding the Hindu religion and following the religion of their choice, is it not. But let us also be aware that there is yet to be a female Pope for the Catholics and some denominations within the Catholic Church have openly flouted the Papal circular that a priest can and may wash the feet of a woman as part of their observances of Easter, saying Christ never washed the feet of any woman follower of his!

The Gurus of Sikhism numbering ten were all humans who lived and died here and had their full freedom of becoming 'ugra' or 'shaantha' during their lifetimes and mostly, their 'ugra' face was against the Moghul or Muslim rulers. It will be illogical to say or believe that these gurus, after leaving this world will become Ugra when displeased, etc. Also, we have to note that there is no Guru after Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708 A.D.) and the Guru Granth Sahib is considered the eternal Guru thereafter.

We are dealing with the customs and beliefs in Kerala temples while discussing the topic of the "Ugra" nature of the Puttingal Bhadrakali of Paravur, Kollam. Most temples of Kerala are created on the basis of Tantric methods and the system of worship, poojas, festivals, etc., are also as per the Tantric manuals. According to the Tantric (belief) system, even if a person does the pooja of Rajarajeswari, if the said pooja is done in the evening and it goes beyond a certain Yaamam of night, the Ugra facet of the Divine feminity only will manifest and the pooja will bring in destructive results only. That is why those who believe in this dictum, still conclude the "Bhagavathi Seva" ( a special pooja invariably to be begun in the evg.) well before 8=30 P.M. or so. Of course, there are many who spend lavish sums and take this pooja even to ten o'clock at night and beyond but whether it brings them good or bad results cannot be judged just as in the case of a laboratory experiment.

These Tantric Murthis are supposed to be capable of getting displeased and turning Ugra, just like Kutti Chaathaan and some variations of the Durga form like Kooshmaandaa, Kaalaraatri, etc. That is why I believe that things are not so simple as to have an aphorism saying any idol worshipped is a replica of the Parabrahman and hence beyond moods and facets, etc. The unseen world, the world beyond death for humans could be very complex just as this world itself is.

 

[sangom]

Dear sir,

Thank you for your reply, but however, I am unable to agree with the view that "what is written down in the hoary astrological treatises are not wrong". Or that it could relate to some kind of divinity.

To illustrate the point, I will take the analogy of a person who has absolutely no adverse effect (as apparently noticed) when he touches a live wire (electric wire). Any other person who touches it would have been burnt to cinders. Can we say that he is some kind of godhead? This had come in the news and I remember reading it a long time ago (cannot remember now). But am sure there would be many others. People bending spoons by will power etc. Ripley's believe it or not had some bizzare sequences but am not sure if all of them are staged or real.

On a similar note, somebody in those days could have had a surge of power (ESP etc) and could predict certain things (I believe the pollution etc are actually used for things that could not be predicted or go against such predictions). It is also quite possible that people who experienced similar surges could have coined certain guidelines as to the practice. No one could really be sure of the accuracy of such predictions unless over a period of time the individual proves 100% accurate results. Again, this could be purely individual-centric. Due to our belief of lineage etc., the boys may also be believed to be endowed with degree of powers (sometimes by selection), failing which a relative could be assigned. Or perhaps some other suitable mechanism. You see, everything need not be related to anything divine and neither we need be cowed by such predictions.

It is quite possible sir, but what purpose does it really serve? By entering into such an assumption, we are only stepping into another vicious circle of illogical assumptions and unwarranted beliefs.

Dear Shri auh,

When we discuss about things like god, idol, Parabrahmam, etc., we are dealing with entities for which we have no scientific proof at all. I, therefore, feel that comparison with items like shock-proof men, people who chew and eat tube lights, etc., will be erroneous if not odious.

I have given my detailed views in post #32 above and will only like to emphasize that trying to measure and control the "unknown" with our limited human capacity will not be a step in the right direction. If and only if we have a person who has gone fully beyond into the realms of "after-death" and has come back to tell us that there is nothing over there which cannot be recognised and explained (away) by human logic, can we embark into such a kind of voyage (of justifying things as per our ideas of god, equality, etc., and rejecting everything contrary to these as non-existent. We did not create this world though we may be able to destroy it almost. Even then we will not know what lies beyond, in the unknown worlds.

 

[renuka]

Smt. Renukaji,

If we mix up Christianity, Sikhism, Islam and so on, in order to pick some holes in the Hindu system of beliefs and worship, I feel the result will be utter confusion. In case someone feels Christianity or Sikhism is far superior because their "entities" (as per your usage) in their respective places of worship are calm and cool as per the requirements of our modern day notions of equality for, and in, everything, nothing prevents such people from discarding the Hindu religion and following the religion of their choice, is it not. But let us also be aware that there is yet to be a female Pope for the Catholics and some denominations within the Catholic Church have openly flouted the Papal circular that a priest can and may wash the feet of a woman as part of their observances of Easter, saying Christ never washed the feet of any woman follower of his!

The Gurus of Sikhism numbering ten were all humans who lived and died here and had their full freedom of becoming 'ugra' or 'shaantha' during their lifetimes and mostly, their 'ugra' face was against the Moghul or Muslim rulers. It will be illogical to say or believe that these gurus, after leaving this world will become Ugra when displeased, etc. Also, we have to note that there is no Guru after Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708 A.D.) and the Guru Granth Sahib is considered the eternal Guru thereafter.

We are dealing with the customs and beliefs in Kerala temples while discussing the topic of the "Ugra" nature of the Puttingal Bhadrakali of Paravur, Kollam. Most temples of Kerala are created on the basis of Tantric methods and the system of worship, poojas, festivals, etc., are also as per the Tantric manuals. According to the Tantric (belief) system, even if a person does the pooja of Rajarajeswari, if the said pooja is done in the evening and it goes beyond a certain Yaamam of night, the Ugra facet of the Divine feminity only will manifest and the pooja will bring in destructive results only. That is why those who believe in this dictum, still conclude the "Bhagavathi Seva" ( a special pooja invariably to be begun in the evg.) well before 8=30 P.M. or so. Of course, there are many who spend lavish sums and take this pooja even to ten o'clock at night and beyond but whether it brings them good or bad results cannot be judged just as in the case of a laboratory experiment.

These Tantric Murthis are supposed to be capable of getting displeased and turning Ugra, just like Kutti Chaathaan and some variations of the Durga form like Kooshmaandaa, Kaalaraatri, etc. That is why I believe that things are not so simple as to have an aphorism saying any idol worshipped is a replica of the Parabrahman and hence beyond moods and facets, etc. The unseen world, the world beyond death for humans could be very complex just as this world itself is.

Dear Sangom Ji,

I have no problems if there are no female priests or female Popes cos I prefer males to do all the donkey work.

But if a temple is capable of harboring entities of the Ugra kind which are bound by rules and regulations of Tantra..I guess then this is not true worship in the real sense.

No wonder Lord Krishna clearly states that

Whatever a man may sacrifice to other gods, O son of Kuntī, is really meant for Me alone, but it is offered without true understanding.

 

[auh]

Dear Shri auh,

When we discuss about things like god, idol, Parabrahmam, etc., we are dealing with entities for which we have no scientific proof at all. I, therefore, feel that comparison with items like shock-proof men, people who chew and eat tube lights, etc., will be erroneous if not odious.

I have given my detailed views in post #32 above and will only like to emphasize that trying to measure and control the "unknown" with our limited human capacity will not be a step in the right direction. If and only if we have a person who has gone fully beyond into the realms of "after-death" and has come back to tell us that there is nothing over there which cannot be recognised and explained (away) by human logic, can we embark into such a kind of voyage (of justifying things as per our ideas of god, equality, etc., and rejecting everything contrary to these as non-existent. We did not create this world though we may be able to destroy it almost. Even then we will not know what lies beyond, in the unknown worlds.

Dear sir, the comparison is not with parabrahmam here. It is only between two types of mortals - between one who claims to divine the future (based on beliefs about god, and a system of divination, etc) and a person who does not even know why he has such a paranormal power (able to resist shocks etc), and hence apt. It is due to our own reservations and beliefs that we tend to view certain things as holy/sacred and the rest as trivial.

I agree that we have limited capacity, but it is through questioning and through a scientific approach, we try to push those frontiers. In that aspect, anything that falls outside our capacity would have to be classified as "blind belief" even if it is a practice of yore. By patenting such unproved beliefs as sacrosanct, we are only encouraging the masses into a parochial realm of the mind from which there is no escape.

Thank you.

 

[prasad1]

This is what happens when you believe in superstitions and your ignorance "GUIDE" your actions.
3 burnt alive in Jharkhand for practising witchcraft

RANCHI: For suspected witchcraft three persons were burnt alive after they were locked inside a house by an irate mob in Lohardaga's Kairo police station on Sunday night. The victim Gowardhan Bhagat was a rich man (by village standard) and people believed that his wealth was an indirect product of his involvement into sorcery and witch-craft. "Three sons of Bhagat are well placed - one engineer, one in BSF and the third in Jharkhand police," the SP said.

Illiteracy and superstition lead to such horrendous acts.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-get-science-centres/articleshow/51869529.cms

 

[Iyyarooraan]

Only the religious heads will kill the religions to pave way for the birth of an enlightened soul. An irreligious world will be abetter place with each being head. In today's world no religious preaching is necessary nor group ism to entrench a few.



.

 

[sangom]

Dear Sangom Ji,

I have no problems if there are no female priests or female Popes cos I prefer males to do all the donkey work.

But if a temple is capable of harboring entities of the Ugra kind which are bound by rules and regulations of Tantra..I guess then this is not true worship in the real sense.

No wonder Lord Krishna clearly states that

Whatever a man may sacrifice to other gods, O son of Kuntī, is really meant for Me alone, but it is offered without true understanding.

Smt. Renukaji,

First, let me apologize for my irregular visits to the forum, which is due to the unusually hot summer here, as it makes the first floor very very hot and also affects my health adversely. Luckily, today is a bit cooler, due to summer rains yesterday.

BG, I consider was a later interpolation into Mahabharata, and an ridiculous job at that, because no sane person will waste so much time in a battle field to exhort an unwilling "Chela" into war and that too, to kill his family elders, guru, and siblings, etc. This text together with the booster dose of Srimadbhagavatham was for establishing the cowherd Krishna as an incarnation of God Almighty and to make the orthodox vedic Hindus (consisting only of the twice-born, since they alone had access to the religion in those days) to accept Krishna as a worshipable "deity" in the pantheon of avatars till then created by those ancient scribes.

The central theme of BG, shorn of all its very many embellishments is:

सर्वधर्मान् परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।
अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ॥

(sarvadharmān parityajya māmekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja |
ahaṃ tvā sarvapāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ ||)

Does this not ring similar to the Christian exhortation of Jesus being the only path and end and He will cleanse you of all your sins and assure "Swargaraajya" upon your death, if only you join and faithfully follow the Christian Path?

It therefore appears to me that we need not take the verse cited by you and supposed to have been said by Krishna in his build up to prove to Arjuna (and thus frighten and knock him down unconscious two Chapters later!) as anything more than सर्वधर्मान् परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज in a modified form; there is no great philosophical aphorism contained in it. If the upper caste hindus were so much convinced of what is said in that sloka, why is it that temples for many other gods were constructed and those deities worshipped throughout this sub-continent, all through the intervening centuries? Obviously, people have taken all this with a pinch of salt, as the saying goes!