Being tolerant is not cowardliness

It’s been ages since I wrote something about Hinduism. I was contemplating on whether I really gone out of thoughts on my beautiful religion (let me call it ‘way of life’)…when I got an interesting topic to write on, unfortunately, I had noticed incidents happened in Mangalore last week…my busy schedule has kept me outdated of latest happenings in my mother land…it was really unfortunate to see my ‘tolerant’ brothers coming out of their cuticles and behave violently…though that’s how it appeared when I overlooked the issue with what was available in web, its not the real story…

Again, this issue is not initiated by Hindus, but, as usual, being ‘the majority’, they have become the victims of media…this incident is wholly due to the ‘denigration’ of Hindu Gods by the Missionaries of New Life…after trying out several cheap and dirty methods, finally they got enough guts to besmirch a religion in its own land…here are some quotes from the book ‘Satya (?) Darshini’ that they had distributed in Mangalore…

Urvashi – the daughter of Lord Vishnu – is a prostitute.  Vashitha is the son of this prostitute.  He in turn married his own Mother.  Such a degraded person is the Guru of the Hindu God Rama. (page 48)

When Krishna himself is wallowing in darkness of hell, how can he enlighten others?  Since Krishna himself is a shady character, there is a need for us to liberate his misled followers. (page 50)

It was Brahma himself who kidnapped Sita.  Since Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva were themselves the victims of lust, it is a sin to consider them as Gods. (page 39)

When the Trinity of Hinduism (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) is consumed by lust and anger, how can they liberate others?  Their projection as Gods is nothing but a joke. (page 39).

When Vishnu asked Brahma to commit a sin, he immediately did so.  How can such a “evil brahma” be a Creator of this Universe?  How is it possible for both the sinner and the entity which provoked the sin to be gods?  (page 39)

God, please liberate the sinful people of India who are worshipping False Gods that believe in the pleasures of illicit ‘Vyabichari’ relationships. (Page 39)

I am definitely not trying to justify the action taken by our friends, but, the way they have written their propaganda by denigrating our Gods can kindle anybody. Rest we know. What happened was unfortunate. But, how long can one be ‘tolerant’? How can one endure continuing slanders? I am not supporting violence or denigrations in any form. But, when the government is not ‘secular’ and in favor of minorities, this is bound to happen someday or the other.Especially when a community is hurt and continues to get hurt, they are bound to explode. And, this is not the first time I am hearing a dirty action by missionaries. There were, are and will be many. This came to limelight because of the totally unexpected aftermath.

This is a never ending story…being a neutral person myself, I want real ‘secularism’ in place…I am not against anyone here…but, when you want others to respect you, you must learn to respect others…after seeing the kind of incidents that take place, it can only be a dream to have real ‘secularism’ in India…Where are we going????

Amarnath atrocities, Hurt Hindus

‘Indha naadum nattu makkalum naasamaai pogattum’(Let this country and its citizens go to hell) – This was one famous Tamil dialog uttered by yesteryear villain actor P.S.Veerappa in one of his movies. This is what I said when I heard about Gulam Nabi Azad’s decision on the Amarnath land row. If you are fuddled with what I am talking about, please check any news channel or ‘Google’ it. One of the holy pilgrimages of Hindus, the Amarnath Yatra is popular this year for very bad reasons.

It all started when Jammu & Kashmir government has decided to allot 40 hectares of forest land that falls on the pilgrimage route to the Amarnath shrine board to make temporary accommodation facilities for the pilgrims. When Indian government spends hundreds of crores of rupees every year on the Haj pilgrims no Hindu has ever said a word of protest in this country (including Bajrang Dhal, VHP, Shiv Sena, RSS and groups of such sort). But this petty act in favor of Hindus by the J&K government has kindled the monopoly Muslims of Kashmir. The result is excessive protests, loss of precious lives and more than 500 injured souls.

Now the government has decided to countermand the decision and above all, has decided to transfer the complete control of Amarnath Yatra to the tourism department. In a country which has Hindus as majority, even ‘basic’ facilities are restrained to them and no one bothers about that.

If they are not able to control the insurgents, no point in having a government. It would be better if army takes over and controls the situation. I have a strong feeling that Kashmir has never belonged to India. It has and it will belong to Muslims and only to them. Even our constitution has been written in favor of them. And the politicians, who don’t even bother to lick their boots to get votes always held their lips zipped in these kind of issues. Even ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi was not an exception when innocent Kashmiri Pandits were expelled from Kashmir.

What ever said and done, this act is nothing but a shame on the Congress government. BJP sure will make this as an election issue. With inflation already causing jerks at the center, hurting the Hindu majority will give Congress a jolt from which they can never recuperate. No Congress person, including Dr. Manmohan Singh and our ‘most secular’ communist leaders have said a word about this issue so far. In fact, some communist parties support the act of Muslim parties like PDP. I feel BJP was far far better ‘secular’ than this Congress government which keeps hurting Hindus every now and then.

Having said about the government, I should mention about the ruthless acts of our fellow Muslim brothers (especially PDP). I don’t have any second thoughts in calling those who protested as ‘Desh Drogis’ as said by Baba Ramdev. Like how billions of Hindus respect the sentiments of Muslims throughout the country, Muslims should learn to respect the religious sentiments of Hindus and ask the Jammu and Kashmir government to transfer the land back to the SASB. But, it will never happen in this ‘secular’ country.

‘Indha naadum nattu makkalum naasamaai pogattum’

Dr. Zakir (Joker) Naik and his comic statements

Happened to see one of the speeches of this so-called scholar(?) in Youtube which instigated me to search and see some of his speeches. Most of what I have seen were the comparisons between Hinduism and Islam. In the following video, he goes to the extreme and says that Prophet Muhamad was the 24th avatar of Vishnu which is the Kalki avatar. Watch this funniest video and how he corroborates his statement.

In another video he quotes a verse from Bhavishya Purana where it was mentioned that ‘a rebel called Muhamad will be born and he will wipe off all the nonbelievers’. When I traced the roots of this verse I shockingly found that Bhavishya Purana was crippled during the mughal period and it has been rejected by most of the Hindu scholars. And originally what is mentioned in Bhavishya Purana can be found here:
Bhavishya-Purana-The-Prediction-of-Islam

The only good thing about this guy is he has read most of the Hindu scriptures but the worst thing is he misinterprets (non-sense interpretation actually) everything in his favor. And it was blatantly evident in the video that I have included above. He is a man of controversies and contradictions. He is running a television channel called ‘Peace TV’ (Holy crap) but he says he supports terrorism and every Muslim should be a terrorist. He says if some one gets converted to Islam from other religions that is totally acceptable but if it happens the other way around, the person is a Kaafir and has to be killed as per Quran, double-standard. Zakir Naik doesn’t stop it there. In another video I have seen him saying Brahma is just a little changed version of Abraham and this proves his level of intelligence.

He talks about similarities between Hinduism and Islam and says he does so to strengthen the belief of Islam in Muslims! But he ends up hurting the feelings of billions of Hindus and profaning our Sacred scriptures. I still wonder how Hindu organizations and leaders allow this guy to continue his misleading non-sense interpretations.

Now lets come to some facts. Vedas date back to 3000 B.C but Islam is in existence only for the past 1800 years (the newest in the major religions in India). Major research done by many people provide evidences for trade between India and Arabia before the existence of Islam. This has paved the way for cultural transfer and lot of Arabs did learn Hindu scriptures and way of life. Even Prophet Muhamad’s uncle was said to have worshiped Lord Shiva. This must clear most of the doubts raised by Joker Naik and prove him who copied what.

Now, if you are really interested in learning the origin of Islam please visit :

Pre-Islamic Arabia
History of Islam

Kali Yuga

If you are a Hindu who is somewhat conversant with the Hindu epics or puranas or vedhas, you are bound to know the concept of ‘Yuga’ and especially ‘Kali Yuga’. Even today, when some extreme illicit crime is committed by someone, old people say ‘its all due to Kali Yuga’. As per Bhagavata Puranam, we are all living in ‘kali Yuga’ now which has a life of 4,32,000 years. It is quite astounding to see the kind of clairvoyance ancient Hindus have had about the Kali Yuga. I am sharing here some of the predictions prognosticated in Srimad Bhagavatam which we are already seeing or we(or our descendants) are going to see in future.

* Humans taking birth in this era will usually be radiant, bad tempered, greedy and untruthful. The personality will be plagued by flaws such as jealousy, ego, anger, pleasure, instinct, desires and greed.

* All types of problems such as ailments, lethargy, anger, mental diseases and hunger, thirst tend to aggravate. Gradually even happiness and comforts of humans become decadent and morbid.

* Religion, truthfulness, cleanliness, tolerance, mercy, duration of life, physical strength and memory will all diminish day by day because of the powerful influence of the age of Kali.

* Wealth alone will be considered the sign of a man’s good birth, proper behavior and fine qualities. And law and justice will be applied only on the basis of one’s power.

* Men and women will live together merely because of superficial attraction, and success in business will depend on deceit. Womanliness and manliness will be judged according to one’s expertise in sex, and a man will be known as a brahmana just by his wearing a thread.

* A person’s spiritual position will be ascertained merely according to external symbols, and on that same basis people will change from one spiritual order to the next. A person’s propriety will be seriously questioned if he does not earn a good living. And one who is very clever at juggling words will be considered a learned scholar.

* As the earth thus becomes crowded with a corrupt population, whoever among any of the social classes shows himself to be the strongest will gain political power.

* The citizens will suffer greatly from cold, wind, heat, rain and snow. They will be further tormented by quarrels, hunger, thirst, disease and severe anxiety.

* The maximum duration of life for human beings in Kali-yuga will become fifty years.

* Although the foolish accept the body made of earth, water and fire as “me” and this earth as “mine,” in every case they have ultimately abandoned both their body and the earth and passed away into oblivion.

* Religion, truth, thoughts, pity, age, energy, memory all shall get gradually emaciated and drained.

* People will love only their own children and family and will not hesitate to deceive their own friends, benefactors.Judges of events shall favor the wealthy and the impoverished shall be denied justice.

* Any lake or reservoir situated far away will be referred as a holy shrine. Growing hair will be an indication of beauty. People will take interest in religious actions so as to become prosperous and successful.

* Girls, 8-10 years old shall become pregnant while boys of the age of 10-12 years shall have children. On the sixteenth year itself the hair will turn white. Youth shall become alike old men and old men shall become energetic and youthful.

* Women will engage in sex with inferior men, servants and animals inspite of having a good husband.

* Lord Kalki will appear in the home of the most eminent brahmana of Sambhala village, the great soul Vishnuyasa. Lord Kalki, the Lord of the universe, will mount His swift horse Devadatta and, sword in hand, travel over the earth exhibiting His eight mystic opulences and eight special qualities of Godhead.

* When the Supreme Lord has appeared on earth as Kalki, the maintainer of religion, Satya-yuga will begin, and human society will bring forth progeny in the mode of goodness.

Hinduism for Agnostic – Part 4

You can get the previous articles from this series from here: Part1, Part2, Part3

Religion is all about believing. I strongly believe that almost every Hindu custom has a scientific, logical, historical or spiritual meaning and significance. I also feel that by knowing these we can better follow the customs rather than getting habituated to them mechanically without knowing the importance. I want to reiterate that Hinduism is a way of life and it has changed its shape according to the people, without losing its roots. Thats why some of the customs like Sati and Animal sacrifice in a large extent have become obsolete with the time. Hinduism modernizes (rejuvenates would be an apt word) itself along with the world.

We will see some instances of what we follow today and its implicit significance in this and next parts:

1) Applying Vibhuti (Bhasma – The Holy ash):

Bhasma means ‘thing which destroys our sins and makes us remember the Lord’. Bha stands for bhartsanam (to destroy) and sma stands for smaranam (to remember). Therefore, the application of Bhasma portrays the destruction of evil and the remembrance of the divine. It is also called as ‘Vibhuti‘ (which means ‘glory’) as it gives glory to the one who applies it and ‘raksha‘ as it protects the person from evil and ill health. The ash also indicates that the body is perishable and one day we will end up as ashes. We should therefore not get too attached to it.

Bhasma is specially attached with Lord Shiva who applies ash all over His body. Thats why Shiva devotees apply tripundra (Bhasma applied as 3 lines). With a red spot in the centre, it symbolizes Shiva-Shakti (the unity of energy and matter that creates the entire seen and unseen universe).

It can also be seen as ‘Ash is what remains when the wood is burnt completely. Ash does not decay. Similarly, the Lord is the only imperishable truth that remains forever’. Bhasma also has medicinal value and it is used in many Ayurvedic medicines. It absorbs the excess moisture from the body and prevents cold and headaches.

2) Breaking coconuts

Offering of animals to God (Bali) was quite common in ancient days. Offering an animal symbolizes offering of our animal like tendencies to God. This slowly got faded away and replaced with offering a coconut. Coconut is one of the most common offering in all the temples. We also offer coconuts in all occasions. What does this symbolize?

The covering of the coconut is removed except for a tuft on the top making it look like a human head. By breaking this we break our ego. Along with the white kernel of the coconut (our pure mind) we offer the God the coconut juice (our inner tendencies). The three marks on the coconut are even thought to represent the three-eyed Lord Shiva.

3) Worshiping Kalasha

Before the creation came into being, Lord Vishnu was recumbing on His snake-bed in the milky ocean. The water in the Kalasha symbolizes the primordial water from which the entire creation emerged. Thus it is considered to be a life giver to all. The mango leaves and coconut kept in the Kalasha represent the process of creation. The red or white color thread tied around its neck or all around in an intricate diamond pattern represent the ‘love’ that ‘binds’ all in creation. It is also said that ‘When the pot is filled with water or rice it is known as Purnakumbha representing the inert body which when filled with the divine life force gains the power to do all the wonderful things that makes life what it is’. The Kalasha is therefore considered auspicious and worshiped.

That is why even during the Kumbabhishekam (Holy consecration) of a temple, holy water is brought in Kalashas and poured. It is believed that the energy that is created by the chant of Slokas is absorbed by the water and it is distributed to the devotees by sprinkling on them.

The enlightenment will continue in the next part…

References:
1) Why do we – Swamini Vimalanandha & Radhika Krishnakumar
2) Hindu Rituals & Customs – Rajaram

Hinduism for the Agnostic – Part 3

In the previous articles ( Part1 , Part2), we have seen how Hinduism and its scriptures are special. Now, we will glide through the ‘broadmindedness’ of Hinduism.

To repeat again, Hinduism is not only a religion; it’s a way of life for billions of Hindus. The processes, rituals, yaggnyas, litanies and whatever has been defined in the Vedhas, Upanishads and the scriptures have an in-built consideration for all the living beings. Whether you are aware or not, being a Hindu, you are praying the Almighty for the wellness of the whole world and not only for yourself. This beautiful religion has organized itself like that.

Almost all the Hindu rituals have a place for the verse ‘Sarve Jana Sukino Bhavanthu’ which means ‘Let everyone live happily’. It never says ‘Let Hindus alone live happily’. It wishes for the goodness of every living human being, whether s/he is a Hindu or not. Most of the Hindus, especially Brahmans must be aware of the ‘Tharpanam’(ritual performed for the ancestors who are no more) performed on every Amavasya (no-moon day). A sloka which is uttered at the end of the Tharpanam is,

Yesham na matha na pitha na bratha

na bandhu na anya gothreenah:
thae sarve trupthimayanthu
mayothsrushtaih kusodakai
Trupyatha, Trupyatha, Trupyatha’

Which means ‘Let the aathmaas of those who has died with out their parents, siblings or relatives and without any Gothra (familial identity by paternal heredity) left be satisfied with this sesame and water’. Satisfying your ancestors is your duty as per Hinduism, but while doing that you are made to unknowingly satisfy the ones who don’t have anybody left on this earth to satisfy them. I admire this ‘broadmindedness’ of Hinduism.

It has never stopped itself with wishing good things to Human beings alone. Hinduism’s broadmindedness extends to all the living beings and various slokas and verses from Vedhas and other Hindu scriptures ascertain that.

Hinduism has always embraced other religions as they are. It never projected the Deities of other religions as evils to spread its principles. Hinduism believes that different religions are merely different paths to God. It is embedded in Hinduism’s philosophy that it is wrong to exclude others. Whenever it has faced a threat from its heretics, Hinduism’s got rid of them by embracing them and accepting their inimical ideas. That’s why Hinduism was able to revive itself when Buddhism and Jainism spread like a forest fire across India. That is why with more than 80% of the population being Hindu, India is able to shine as a secular country.

You can believe anything and be a Hindu, or nothing at all. A self-indulging epicurean has a place, in the materialistic school called Charvaka. Even the most radical atheist can be a good Hindu, called Nastika. There’s a place for everyone here. It respects everyone as they are. It wishes for the wellness of even those who hate Hinduism. What else can I say? I am just out of words with the majestic feeling of belonging to this ‘broadminded’ religion.

– Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavanthu –
–Will continue with more enlightenment–

Hinduism for the Agnostic – Part 2

To read Part 1, please click here

When famous fiction writers like Jules Verne, H G Wells write about how the world is going to be in their stories, we awe their power of imagination. When we read Nostradamus’s works, we correlate with what is present today and celebrate his level of intelligence and clairvoyance. But again, did we ever read what has been said in our own Vedhas and Epics. Bhagavatam discusses everything from the past till the end of this world. It is quite surprising that whatever is mentioned in Bhagavatam is happening as it is.
For example, a few points from Srimad Bhagavatam on how Kali Yug(the prevailing Yuga) will be:
SB 12.2.1: Sukadeva Gosvami said: Then, O King, religion, truthfulness, cleanliness, tolerance, mercy, duration of life, physical strength and memory will all diminish day by day because of the powerful influence of the age of Kali.
SB 12.2.2: In Kali-yuga, wealth alone will be considered the sign of a man’s good birth, proper behavior and fine qualities. And law and justice will be applied only on the basis of one’s power.
SB 12.2.3: Men and women will live together merely because of superficial attraction, and success in business will depend on deceit. Womanliness and manliness will be judged according to one’s expertise in sex, and a man will be known as a brahmana just by his wearing a thread.
SB 12.2.5: A person will be judged unholy if he does not have money, and hypocrisy will be accepted as virtue. Marriage will be arranged simply by verbal agreement, and a person will think he is fit to appear in public if he has merely taken a bath.
SB 12.2.11: The maximum duration of life for human beings in Kali-yuga will become fifty years.
(contd..)

Can you belie with any of the above said points?

Bhagavatam has even predicted the exact day and time on this world is going to be swallowed by the Samudhra (Ocean) which again is going to be so accurate. Only thing whoever is reading this won’t be there to see it happen.

When our epics discuss about Pushpak and Brahmastra we laugh at them. We just don’t correlate them with the Flights and Missiles of today and wonder their creativity and prescience. We know only NASA’s achievements on astronomy and we (that includes me) never bothered to know even know who is Aryabatta and what is his contribution to today’s astronomy. Sanskrit which is being projected as the language of Hindus and being neglected today has innumerous treasures in it which are yet to be excavated. We should keep in mind that by neglecting Sanskrit, Sanskrit is not losing anything but only we are losing the hoarded wealth which is present in it.

One argument that I often get from so many of my friends of other religions is that there is no proper structure for Hinduism. There is no single Holy Book which completely tells what Hinduism is. There is no single God or Deity. Same religion is practiced in different ways in different parts of the country. My single answer to all these questions is, that is how Hinduism differs from other religions. Unlike other religions, nobody knows the origin of Hinduism. It is the oldest amongst the prevailing religions. It doesn’t have a single founder. Vedhas, Upanishads and all the scriptures defined during various periods define each and every nuances of Hinduism. Vedhas are Shruthis which are spread between generations to generations only by listening and reciting them. There is no single author for Vedhas and Upanishads but all collectively address the humanity and define the way of living, service to God and humanity. Over a period of time, the practices have changed their shape according to the people who are using it. But the basic defined principles still remain the same.

All the deities that we worship, in one way or the other, related with one family. Or else, it must be an incarnation of one deity for some cause. Like the 10 avatars of Maha Vishnu and various avatars of Shakthi and other deities. But at the end of the day, all lead the humanity to the same ‘Moksha’. This is what is defined in a beautiful sloka,

Aakasath pathitham thoyam,
Yada gachathi sagaram,
Sarva deva namaskara
Sri kesavam prathi gachathi

Meaning:
Like how all the water that falls from the sky reaches the sea, all prayers(salutations) done to all Gods reach Lord Narayana.

References: ‘Enge Brahmanan’ -Cho.Ramaswamy
Srimad Bhagavata Puranam

Will meet you all with more interesting things about Hinduism in next part….

Hinduism for the Agnostic – Part I

Hinduism – One of the oldest religions of this world. One of the most ancient cultures which has given numerous things, values and principles to the humanity. The only religion which has revived and rejuvenated itself whenever it was under threat. The only religion that I am aware which encourages its followers to question anything and everything right from the customs to the very existence of a concept called God. What is the current state of Hinduism and the mind set of so-called Hindus? Do we still have trust in the ways of life defined by our ancestors. If not following, do we at least respect what they have defined for us? A small attempt from me with the little possible data I have, to make all the Agnostic Hindus and others who don’t believe to realise what Hinduism has offered for them.

When an article was published in the Time magazine, about the capabilities of the foetus to grasp the things its mother is reading or doing, we accept it without any questions. We wonder about the experiment, research and the intelligence levels of the Westerners to arrive at this conclusion. But have we ever realized that this has been found out and discussed by Hinduism at a time when there was no culture and identity at the west. Mahabharath says Abimanyu (Arjuna’s son) was born with the innate ability to break into the Chakra Vyuha without any training because he heard Lord Krishna and Arjuna discussing about that when he was a foetus. Mahabharath says he was only aware of how to break and get into a Chakra Vyuha but he doesn’t know how to get out of it as it was not discussed by Krishna and Arjuna. Similarly, Prahalatha born with inherent Bakthi towards Maha Vishnu as he has listened to the preaching of Naradha when he was not even born.

How many of us have accepted this before it was scientifically proven by the Westerners? When some thing was told in our Vedhas, Upanishads and Epics, we question and belie to the core of the concept. But when the same is told by Westerners, we believe it blindly without any questions. This is not a case now or for the past few years, this has been the case with the Hindus for ages.

This cannot be solely attributed as the fault of Hindus. The very basic structure and nature of this religion allows every one to question anything and everything and get clarified. It doesn’t believe in people trusting anything blindly. That is the beauty of Hinduism. The following, said by Lord Krishna in Bhagavat Gita corroborates my statement. Lord Krishna says,
“This is the way. You are my friend. I am doing only wise things to you. Divest yourself from the worldy things and reach me. I will clear off all your sins. Be understood that, whichever is reputed, whichever is beautiful, whichever is unassailable is created from my luminance…..Think deeply, in detail and choose whichever is your wish and whichever you feel is better for you”

Read the last line again. This is what we call as ‘Swadharma’. After saying everything, Lord Krishna gives us the freedom to choose as per our wish. This is again the beauty of Hinduism. It gives us the liberty to choose whichever we feel is better for us. That’s why it is often called a way of life than a religion. It does not enforce anything on you. It does not expect anything from you. Like one of my friends has pointed out in his blogs, this level of freedom is what making Hindus slip from their customs.

MORE TO COME SOON