Organiser,2008 Issues > September 28, 2008
Newlife Christian Prayer meets abuse Hindus
By R Guru Prasad in Mangalore
When ex-prime minister and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and Mallikarjuna Kharge, a senior Congress leader, tried to take political advantage of the situation by visiting the damaged prayer halls, Hindus stopped them to show their damaged house and other belongings. This clearly shows that large number of Hindus are also affected in the attack by Christians. Rumours are thick in the air that some Muslim fundamentalist outfits have joined the Christians in attacking the Hindus, to fight Bajrang Dal and Sri Rama Sena, an active Hindu outfit in Mangalore. Though communal violence is common in Mangalore, the recent Christian violence against Hindus is something new. Usually trivial incidents like teasing, burning crackers for celebrating Pakistan?s victory in the cricket matches, eloping or the big incidents like organising yatras, religious procession etc used to trigger communal violence.
Newlife, one of the 20 missionary centres, belongs to Karnataka Missions Network and started missionary activities six years ago in coastal areas of Dakshin Kannada District. It is actively propagating Christianity in Karnataka, other states and also in few foreign countries through publications, advertisements and through www.newlifevoice.org website. It started publishing and distributing literature Yesu Suvarthe containing glories of Jesus among Christians in Kannada language. But over the period of years locals felt that Newlife was indulging in conversions by alluring the gullible people by offering money, job, medical aid, vehicle etc. What irked the Hindus is that Newlife started distributing their literatures to Hindus to entice them to convert to Christianity. A local person told this correspondent that Newlife started giving instructions to newly converted people to abandon wearing tilak on forehead, not to visit and offer prayers at the Hindu temples, replacing the photos and idols of Hindu Gods and Goddesses with Cross etc. This was the beginning for creating disturbance in the peace-loving society.
With more and more gullible people falling prey to this organisation, Newlife went one step ahead in deriding the Hindu Gods and Goddesses by disdaining Lord Krishna?married to thousands of women (characterless), Ganapati?rests in water after the puja (useless), Kali?wearing skulls all around the neck (ugly) etc., in their pamphlets, CDs and book Satya Darshini. Bangalore North MP, H.T.Sangliana, who is the guardian of Karnataka Missions Network, said that he will lodge a complaint against Newlife if there is an evidence with Bajrang Dal. The local public mentioned that ?the method used by Christian missionaries in converting is like a network or multilevel marketing technique used by MNCs. In the first place they appoint young people by giving them a salary of Rs 4000 to 4500. They will go around meeting the gullible people in market areas, in buses etc., become friends and take them to church to introduce to the father there. Upon introduction they will be paid Rs 2500 per person. Pursuing with them and taking them to Velankanni Church, in Tamil Nadu, they get Rs. 3000. Further follow-up with them and finally conversion to Christianity by changing the name, they get an incentive of Rs 10000 onwards. The more they convert the more bonus points are added. The whole Hindu community is upset because of this.?
More and more Hindus belonging to dominant castes like Brahmins and Vokkaligas have already converted to Christianity in Mangalore and hence their friends and relatives are naturally angry with churches. On Tuesday, the day of Mangalore bandh was called by Sri Rama Sena, protesting the stabbing of their leader on Monday by masked men, there was a network of sms, telling the Christians to respect Hindu sentiments. A few of them read: ?Catholic or Newlife respect culture of this land. Don?t think tolerance of Hindus as their weakness. If we can give land and stone to build churches, we can also pelt and break the same churches. Hindu society fully back Bajrangi guys who are retaliating in Mangalore and the surrounding regions on the issue of publications of denigrating and wrong information about Hindu Gods.?
Karnataka Chief Minister Shri B.S. Yeddyurappa said his government will not tolerate forcible conversions and will take stringent action against missionaries involved in conversions. He also said that his government will investigate about the funds received by churches and other Christian missionaries by issuing a memo to ascertain the credibility of the churches in Karnataka. He further added that the government will take action against those indulging in arson.
Wednesday 30 September 2009
Stop politics of anti-Hindu minorityism
Organiser,2007 Issues > April 29, 2007
Agenda
Stop politics of anti-Hindu minorityism
By Ravi Varma
Wherever they had spread and established themselves in the world, proponents of Christianity and Islam had first destroyed the indigenous culture, traditions and religion of the country before imposing their strange and crude religious practices on the local people, invariably by brute force or despicable methods.
Only Hindus of Bharat were able to resist and preserve their ancient civilisations, religious beliefs and traditions all these years in spite of devilish brutalities of Muslim invaders and later by organised Christian churches with the active support of their colonial armies in India.
There is a well-orchestrated propaganda mounted in India and abroad to condemn Hinduism as a religion of violence, hatred and social discrimination. And at the same time, Semitic religions of Christianity and Islam of foreign origin are glorified and publicized as divine messages of universal love, brotherhood and non-violence. This is a travesty of truth as per their own preaching and practices. Therefore, if such pernicious and scandalous utterances against Hindus and Hinduism by the high priests of Christianity and Islam and their secularist cronies of India do not stop voluntarily, resurgent Hindu youth of the country will be compelled to forcibly stop them. The new generation of Hindu youth has already shed their timidity and cowardice to some extent. It is becoming clearer to them that unless they are forcibly stopped, challenged, rebutted and exposed to the core, dark forces of the Semitic religions of foreign origin and their mercenary secularist friends here will not only vulgarize Hinduism, but will also play havoc in the country by destroying social amity, integrity, traditions and cultural unity of Hindus in India and even Indian nationality. Purpose of this short article, which is based on widely known and documented historical events, is intended not only to rebut the above pernicious propaganda against Hindus and Hindustan but also to show the ugly faces of the exponents of Christianity and Islam to Hindus.
It is through the preachings and practices of their priests and their devout co-religionists that values, principles and philosophical contents of the religion and social culture concerned can be properly assessed. In short, social behaviours and personal habits of a person are sufficient to indicate his cultural background and social status of his family also. Therefore, more emphasis is given to the preachings and practices of the high priests of Christianity and Islam so that we will be able to better understand the philosophy and basic principles of the above Semitic religions.
Strange philosophy that is Mlechhatvam
Both Christianity and Islam are offshoots of the original Semitic religion, viz. Judaism. It is interesting to note here that the high priest of these two derivative religions, i.e. Christianity & Islam, openly advocate and encourage their followers to attack, torture and even murder all those who refuse to accept or get converted to their faiths. These religious teachers also assert and declare that Christians and Muslims have a divine mandate to subjugate and convert the entire humanity to their respective faiths by any means?fair or foul. Therefore both fundamentalist Christian priests and Islamic mullahs have no hesitation to glorify and justify even despicable acts such as murder, genocide, torture, rape and abduction against other religionists as part of their holy wars of religious conversion and conquest?Christians call it by the name ?crusades? and Islamists as ?jehad?. In addition, those who die or are killed during the course of these ?holy? wars are hailed as saints and shaheeds (martyrs.) Apparently all these violent devilish acts are sanctioned and even encouraged by their religious leaders most often swearing by or referring to their holy book?the Bible and the Quran. The above short sketches of the religious leaders of Christianity and Islam are sufficient to understand the basic principles of Christianity and Islam. It is their paid agents and cronies in India who praise and appease Christians and Islamists as vanguards of divine religions, committed to preaching and practicing universal love, brotherhood, peace, tolerance and non-violence. Some of these admirers are unfortunately Hindus. It would have been better if they had voluntarily converted themselves to Christianity or Islam along with their families. That would be very good riddance.
The strange or Mlechha philosophy of both Semitic religions seems to the civilised people of India, the Hindus, as judged from their preachings and practices in the country, as mutually exclusive, mutually destructive and violently intolerant. They do not believe in practising co-existence with other faiths, nor do they tolerate dissent or dissidence from within their own religious communities. Their hostile intolerance and exclusiveness can best be assessed by the behaviour of different religious groups known as denominations, sects or social castes within the Christian and Muslim communities worldwide. For example, Catholics, Protestants, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Jacobites, Suriyanis, Marthomas, Pulaya or Dalit Christians, who are Christians by heredity or conversion having blind faith in their holy Bible, will never allow another caste group even to perform prayers, baptisms, weddings or burials in their exclusive churches because they are all mutually exclusive and inimical to one another. And these Christians want Hindus to believe and admire them as the most tolerant religious community committed to non-violence and coexistence in the world. In the medieval periods, skirmishes, battles, and wars were very frequent between these mutually exclusive, intolerant and destructive Christian castes.
Similarly among Muslims also, there are dozens of mutually exclusive inimical and intolerant religious sub-castes within their community such as Sunnis, Shias, Kurdish, Bohras, Khojas, Aga Khanis, Druse, Ahmadiyas, besides others of African and tribal variants who do not even recognise everyone else as true Muslims. And therefore, they do not socially inter-mingle or allow one another to conduct prayers, marriages, sunnat or burials in their separate and exclusive mosques or by their imams. Unfortunately, even after long contacts and tragic experience with them for centuries, the Hindus in India have not fully and properly understood their strange customs and philosophies because of the persistent propaganda and inducement by their Hindu ?secularists? of various colours.
It should not be forgotten that wherever they had spread and established themselves in the world, proponents of Christianity and Islam had first destroyed the indigenous culture, traditions and religion of the country before imposing their strange and crude religious practices on the local people, invariably by brute force or despicable methods. This is true throughout the world as revealed in all historical records pertaining to different countries, whether in Palestine (old Jerusalem) Arabia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Europe or Asia, and even in the Americas. See the plight of Jews during the Second World War in Christian Europe right under the nose of the Pope in the Vatican. Nobody condemned effectively the Holocaust against Jews in the Christian world! Conquest and destruction of Persia having an ancient civilisation by the vanguards of Arabian Islam and their brutalities there resulted in wiping out of their religion, cultural values and heritage in Iran as later by Christians in the Americas, where there was a flourishing ancient civilisation and culture. Same was the fate of Buddhists in Islamic Afghanistan even recently and Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists in other Muslim countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia even today. What happened to the Red Indians in the Americas and the Aborigines in New Zealand and Australia when European Christians migrated there in their thousands is well known. In the African continent also, victims of Islamic and Christian brutalities were poor indigenous people during their religious wars of conversion and conquest there for spreading Islam or Christianity. Only Hindus of Bharat were able to resist and preserve their ancient civilisations, religious beliefs and traditions all these years in spite of devilish brutalities of Muslim invaders and later by organised Christian churches with the active support of their colonial armies in India. That is the wellknown philosophy and background of both Islam and Christianity and also the experience of the entire world, more so of Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs of India till today. That is the short and real history of Christianity and Islam, which Hindu ?secularists? praise and glorify as divine messages of universal love, brotherhood, peace and non-violence!
Magnanimity of Hindus of Bharat
As all historians and Hindus know, Kerala had long traditional trade contacts with the outside world?Africa, Mesopotamia, Rome and China even before the birth of Christ and Prophet Mohammed. Therefore, traders from those countries very well knew the peaceful nature and universality and high principles of Hindu religion and civilised Hindu society. Under those circumstances, in keeping with the traditions, customs and cultures of Hindus, the Hindu kings of Kerala had no difficulty in allowing traders from those countries of different customs and cultures to continue their trade and also to settle down in the Hindu country of Kerala and live there peacefully without disturbing the local customs and religious practices even after their change of religious faith to Islam or Christianity. They were all treated only as another caste group like Nairs, Ezhavas and other of the broad amorphous Hindu society, but with foreign affiliations. It is interesting to note that Christianity reached Kerala much before the arrival of Islam.
In such a civilised Hindu country of Kerala, it was not surprising that an ordinary but loyal and capable Muslim trader from the fishermen community was raised to the status of a local chieftain and naval chief, viz. Kunjali Marakkar, by the Zamorin Rajas of Kozhikode. (It is another matter that the last Kunjali Marakkar revolted against and betrayed the benevolent Zamorin family decades later, mainly due to his Islamic ambitions.) On another occasion, the Raja of Chirakkal near Kannur willingly gave his daughter in marriage to a Muslim youth, who had saved her from drowning. Besides, the Raja blessed the couple not only with substantial properties from her Arackal Nambiar family (now extinct), but also conferred on his daughter the title of ?Arackal Bibi?. Her consort, who was from an ordinary Muslim family, was honoured with the title of ?Arackal Ali Raja? in traditional Kerala Hindu customs following matrilineal system of inheritance. Even today, family of the Arackal Bibi follows the matriarchal system of inheritance; the senior-most female member of the family is respected as the Arackal Bibi and the senior-most male member as the Arackal Ali Raja (and not the consort of the Bibi.) Such was the cultural influence of Kerala Hindu society on local Muslims who were then peace loving and socially absorbed within Kerala society. Then again, during the reign of Rama Varma Sakthan Thampuran of Kochi, a capable Muslim youth was appointed as his personal bodyguard and conferred with the title Nettur Thangal with authority over the local Muslim community. Till recently, the senior-most member of the family enjoyed the privilege of attending on the King of Kochi as his personal bodyguard, and entitled to participate as an honoured guest in all state events of the Kochi kingdom, including the most important annual Athachamayam procession.
(To be continued)
Agenda
Stop politics of anti-Hindu minorityism
By Ravi Varma
Wherever they had spread and established themselves in the world, proponents of Christianity and Islam had first destroyed the indigenous culture, traditions and religion of the country before imposing their strange and crude religious practices on the local people, invariably by brute force or despicable methods.
Only Hindus of Bharat were able to resist and preserve their ancient civilisations, religious beliefs and traditions all these years in spite of devilish brutalities of Muslim invaders and later by organised Christian churches with the active support of their colonial armies in India.
There is a well-orchestrated propaganda mounted in India and abroad to condemn Hinduism as a religion of violence, hatred and social discrimination. And at the same time, Semitic religions of Christianity and Islam of foreign origin are glorified and publicized as divine messages of universal love, brotherhood and non-violence. This is a travesty of truth as per their own preaching and practices. Therefore, if such pernicious and scandalous utterances against Hindus and Hinduism by the high priests of Christianity and Islam and their secularist cronies of India do not stop voluntarily, resurgent Hindu youth of the country will be compelled to forcibly stop them. The new generation of Hindu youth has already shed their timidity and cowardice to some extent. It is becoming clearer to them that unless they are forcibly stopped, challenged, rebutted and exposed to the core, dark forces of the Semitic religions of foreign origin and their mercenary secularist friends here will not only vulgarize Hinduism, but will also play havoc in the country by destroying social amity, integrity, traditions and cultural unity of Hindus in India and even Indian nationality. Purpose of this short article, which is based on widely known and documented historical events, is intended not only to rebut the above pernicious propaganda against Hindus and Hindustan but also to show the ugly faces of the exponents of Christianity and Islam to Hindus.
It is through the preachings and practices of their priests and their devout co-religionists that values, principles and philosophical contents of the religion and social culture concerned can be properly assessed. In short, social behaviours and personal habits of a person are sufficient to indicate his cultural background and social status of his family also. Therefore, more emphasis is given to the preachings and practices of the high priests of Christianity and Islam so that we will be able to better understand the philosophy and basic principles of the above Semitic religions.
Strange philosophy that is Mlechhatvam
Both Christianity and Islam are offshoots of the original Semitic religion, viz. Judaism. It is interesting to note here that the high priest of these two derivative religions, i.e. Christianity & Islam, openly advocate and encourage their followers to attack, torture and even murder all those who refuse to accept or get converted to their faiths. These religious teachers also assert and declare that Christians and Muslims have a divine mandate to subjugate and convert the entire humanity to their respective faiths by any means?fair or foul. Therefore both fundamentalist Christian priests and Islamic mullahs have no hesitation to glorify and justify even despicable acts such as murder, genocide, torture, rape and abduction against other religionists as part of their holy wars of religious conversion and conquest?Christians call it by the name ?crusades? and Islamists as ?jehad?. In addition, those who die or are killed during the course of these ?holy? wars are hailed as saints and shaheeds (martyrs.) Apparently all these violent devilish acts are sanctioned and even encouraged by their religious leaders most often swearing by or referring to their holy book?the Bible and the Quran. The above short sketches of the religious leaders of Christianity and Islam are sufficient to understand the basic principles of Christianity and Islam. It is their paid agents and cronies in India who praise and appease Christians and Islamists as vanguards of divine religions, committed to preaching and practicing universal love, brotherhood, peace, tolerance and non-violence. Some of these admirers are unfortunately Hindus. It would have been better if they had voluntarily converted themselves to Christianity or Islam along with their families. That would be very good riddance.
The strange or Mlechha philosophy of both Semitic religions seems to the civilised people of India, the Hindus, as judged from their preachings and practices in the country, as mutually exclusive, mutually destructive and violently intolerant. They do not believe in practising co-existence with other faiths, nor do they tolerate dissent or dissidence from within their own religious communities. Their hostile intolerance and exclusiveness can best be assessed by the behaviour of different religious groups known as denominations, sects or social castes within the Christian and Muslim communities worldwide. For example, Catholics, Protestants, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Jacobites, Suriyanis, Marthomas, Pulaya or Dalit Christians, who are Christians by heredity or conversion having blind faith in their holy Bible, will never allow another caste group even to perform prayers, baptisms, weddings or burials in their exclusive churches because they are all mutually exclusive and inimical to one another. And these Christians want Hindus to believe and admire them as the most tolerant religious community committed to non-violence and coexistence in the world. In the medieval periods, skirmishes, battles, and wars were very frequent between these mutually exclusive, intolerant and destructive Christian castes.
Similarly among Muslims also, there are dozens of mutually exclusive inimical and intolerant religious sub-castes within their community such as Sunnis, Shias, Kurdish, Bohras, Khojas, Aga Khanis, Druse, Ahmadiyas, besides others of African and tribal variants who do not even recognise everyone else as true Muslims. And therefore, they do not socially inter-mingle or allow one another to conduct prayers, marriages, sunnat or burials in their separate and exclusive mosques or by their imams. Unfortunately, even after long contacts and tragic experience with them for centuries, the Hindus in India have not fully and properly understood their strange customs and philosophies because of the persistent propaganda and inducement by their Hindu ?secularists? of various colours.
It should not be forgotten that wherever they had spread and established themselves in the world, proponents of Christianity and Islam had first destroyed the indigenous culture, traditions and religion of the country before imposing their strange and crude religious practices on the local people, invariably by brute force or despicable methods. This is true throughout the world as revealed in all historical records pertaining to different countries, whether in Palestine (old Jerusalem) Arabia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Europe or Asia, and even in the Americas. See the plight of Jews during the Second World War in Christian Europe right under the nose of the Pope in the Vatican. Nobody condemned effectively the Holocaust against Jews in the Christian world! Conquest and destruction of Persia having an ancient civilisation by the vanguards of Arabian Islam and their brutalities there resulted in wiping out of their religion, cultural values and heritage in Iran as later by Christians in the Americas, where there was a flourishing ancient civilisation and culture. Same was the fate of Buddhists in Islamic Afghanistan even recently and Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists in other Muslim countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia even today. What happened to the Red Indians in the Americas and the Aborigines in New Zealand and Australia when European Christians migrated there in their thousands is well known. In the African continent also, victims of Islamic and Christian brutalities were poor indigenous people during their religious wars of conversion and conquest there for spreading Islam or Christianity. Only Hindus of Bharat were able to resist and preserve their ancient civilisations, religious beliefs and traditions all these years in spite of devilish brutalities of Muslim invaders and later by organised Christian churches with the active support of their colonial armies in India. That is the wellknown philosophy and background of both Islam and Christianity and also the experience of the entire world, more so of Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs of India till today. That is the short and real history of Christianity and Islam, which Hindu ?secularists? praise and glorify as divine messages of universal love, brotherhood, peace and non-violence!
Magnanimity of Hindus of Bharat
As all historians and Hindus know, Kerala had long traditional trade contacts with the outside world?Africa, Mesopotamia, Rome and China even before the birth of Christ and Prophet Mohammed. Therefore, traders from those countries very well knew the peaceful nature and universality and high principles of Hindu religion and civilised Hindu society. Under those circumstances, in keeping with the traditions, customs and cultures of Hindus, the Hindu kings of Kerala had no difficulty in allowing traders from those countries of different customs and cultures to continue their trade and also to settle down in the Hindu country of Kerala and live there peacefully without disturbing the local customs and religious practices even after their change of religious faith to Islam or Christianity. They were all treated only as another caste group like Nairs, Ezhavas and other of the broad amorphous Hindu society, but with foreign affiliations. It is interesting to note that Christianity reached Kerala much before the arrival of Islam.
In such a civilised Hindu country of Kerala, it was not surprising that an ordinary but loyal and capable Muslim trader from the fishermen community was raised to the status of a local chieftain and naval chief, viz. Kunjali Marakkar, by the Zamorin Rajas of Kozhikode. (It is another matter that the last Kunjali Marakkar revolted against and betrayed the benevolent Zamorin family decades later, mainly due to his Islamic ambitions.) On another occasion, the Raja of Chirakkal near Kannur willingly gave his daughter in marriage to a Muslim youth, who had saved her from drowning. Besides, the Raja blessed the couple not only with substantial properties from her Arackal Nambiar family (now extinct), but also conferred on his daughter the title of ?Arackal Bibi?. Her consort, who was from an ordinary Muslim family, was honoured with the title of ?Arackal Ali Raja? in traditional Kerala Hindu customs following matrilineal system of inheritance. Even today, family of the Arackal Bibi follows the matriarchal system of inheritance; the senior-most female member of the family is respected as the Arackal Bibi and the senior-most male member as the Arackal Ali Raja (and not the consort of the Bibi.) Such was the cultural influence of Kerala Hindu society on local Muslims who were then peace loving and socially absorbed within Kerala society. Then again, during the reign of Rama Varma Sakthan Thampuran of Kochi, a capable Muslim youth was appointed as his personal bodyguard and conferred with the title Nettur Thangal with authority over the local Muslim community. Till recently, the senior-most member of the family enjoyed the privilege of attending on the King of Kochi as his personal bodyguard, and entitled to participate as an honoured guest in all state events of the Kochi kingdom, including the most important annual Athachamayam procession.
(To be continued)
Stop politics of anti-Hindu minorityism-II
Organiser,2007 Issues > May 06, 2007
Stop politics of anti-Hindu minorityism-II
Christian and Muslim colonialism
By Ravi Varma
The present successful integration of the Parsi community into the Indian mainstream would not have been possible without the magnanimity extended to them by the local Hindu communities and by the Hindu rulers of Gujarat. That is another shining example of Hinduism in action.
The situation changed dramatically after the entry of European colonial Christianity and the murderous Muslim armies from Mysore led by Hyder Ali and his fanatical son Tipu Sultan into Kerala. This intrusion of hostile outsiders eventually resulted in the degeneration of the mindset and social outlook of the local Christian and Muslim communities.
It should be noted here that both Christians and Muslims in the Hindu kingdoms of Kerala were culturally assimilated with the local traditions and social customs. As such they used to actively participate in the major festivals of the Hindus, even abstaining from cow-slaughter and beef-eating. During the most important occasion of Onam celebrations in Kerala, the Muslims used to visit Hindu homes in the locality wearing Arab costumes and participating in the festivities by performing their traditional dances, with rhythmic beating of hand drums and singing songs in praise of the legendary God Mahabali, locally known as Vairavi Kali. Similarly, the local Christians were also equally active in their participation in Hindu festivals. For instance, during the ceremonial processions of the temple deity at Tripunithura around the surrounding communities for public worship, the Christians of the locality around Karingachira Church in Tripunithura, led by their church, used to light traditional lamps in front of the Church and offer measures of paddy and rice, similar to the practice of Hindus in front of their houses, to honour the deity. A spirit of mutual respect and social amity marked relations between the Hindus and members of the other religions, attesting to the magnanimity of the Hindu community, not by any compulsion or inducement as is the case today. That was Hinduism in action, i.e., Hindutva. However, the situation changed dramatically after the entry of European colonial Christianity and the murderous Muslim armies from Mysore led by Hyder Ali and his fanatical son Tipu Sultan into Kerala. This intrusion of hostile outsiders eventually resulted in the degeneration of the mindsets and social outlook of the local Christian and Muslim communities.
Universality of Hinduism as opposed to narrowness of Islam and Christianity
When Christianity became dominant in the Jewish country of Jerusalem, the neo-Christians began a process of hunting down and chasing out the earlier inhabitants, the generally peace-loving Jewish communities. This, in itself, is an indication that Christianity does not and cannot tolerate other religionists, and, in fact, Christianity has never been committed to universal peace and brotherhood with members of other faiths. Fleeing form the clutches of fanatic Christians, there were many who tried to escape to other countries. One group of Jews fleeing from Jerusalem landed in South India, on the Kerala coast, seeking asylum. The local king at that time, known as the Perumal gave them protection and extended land grants as well as other facilities for their settlement. This was in the first century AD. Since then, Jews have lived in the Hindu state of Kerala, with full freedom to follow their own religion and customs, without any interference from the local Hindu communities. It should be noted here that nowhere in the history of the Jews has there been a similar place in the world where the members of the community were enabled to live free without persecution from the state and local communities. This was to be found only in India, that too in the then Hindu state of Kerala. That is the spirit and practice of Hindutva?Hinduism in action.
Similarly, when the Islamic hordes invaded Persia, which had a great civilisation, heritage and culture, the peaceful followers of Iranian Zoroastrianism were persecuted mercilessly, tortured and massacred, and their fire-temple destroyed, simply in order to eradicate the local traditions and civilisation. This destruction of the local Persian traditions was so complete that only a few thousands of them were able to survive this onslaught. This is Islam in action, an experience that has been repeated worldwide, whether in Pakistan or Bangladesh or Afghanistan, as well as in many other countries. One group of Persians, who did, however, managed to flee from these armies, arrived at the shores of the then Hindu kingdom of Gujarat on the West coast of India and were granted asylum by the local king. These were the forerunners of the present Parsi community in India, a peace-loving and highly enterprising community, who still retain their own customs and traditions. The present successful integration of the Parsi community into the Indian mainstream would not have been possible without the magnanimity extended to them by the local Hindu communities and by the Hindu rulers of Gujarat. That is another shining example of Hinduism in action?Hindutva, which the present-day Christians and Muslims and their mercenary secularist cronies condemn as inhuman!
During the late tenth century, Mahmud of Ghazni invaded India with a large Muslim army and vandalised Hindu Gujarat, destroying many temples and pilgrimage centers. With a view to demoralising the local Hindu communities, he targeted important temples such as the one in Somnath, and in fact, destroyed the temple a number of times, even after the temple was rebuilt by the local communities after his departure. In order to further assert their superiority, the Muslims also erected Islamic structures such as mosques on the very spots where temples used to stand, as in the case of Ayodhya, Kashi, Mathura and Delhi. This is Islam in action?intolerant towards all other faiths and traditions and even vengeful on dissidents within its folds!
On similar lines, when Portuguese colonialists invaded Goa and established themselves there in the 16th century, one of their priorities was to spread the European version of Christianity, and with the use of force, engaged in widespread conversions throughout the land. The local temples were destroyed, the Hindus were harassed and humiliated, and Christianity was established. The Pope in the Vatican specially sent to Goa, Francis Xavier, a Jesuit Priest mainly to lead the conversion drive in Goa. Francis Xavier was instrumental in laying waste innumerable Hindu temples, looting and destroying them, and imposing severe restrictions on the local Hindus community by the use of force. His campaign of forcible conversion forced the Brahmins to flee Goa, thereby enabling Francis Xavier to confiscate their properties and enriching the Church. It was his habit to drive local villagers to open public grounds with the help of his band of military ?volunteers? and there to declare them as having been converted to Christianity, irrespective of whether the people gathered there wished to or not! This ?glorious service? to Christianity by Francis Xavier in the name of the Holy Church was acknowledged by the leaders of the Christian Church, albeit posthumously, by conferring ?Sainthood? on him. Thus Francis Xavier became St. Francis Xavier! In this fashion, a Christian saint was specially created for the emancipation of Hindu India, a fitting example of the spirit of Semitic Christianity in action. On similar lines was the creation of a Christian saint specially for the Chinese nation, from among the missionaries that were killed there during the opium wars in China.
When the conversion drive intensified and grew oppressive, thousands of Hindus fled Goa and settled in different parts of what is now known as Karnataka and Maharashtra. One group of Gaud Sarswat Brahmins and Kutumbis from Goa reached the Hindu kingdom of Kochi in present-day Kerala as refugees. In the true spirit of Hinduism, the local King gave them protection and patronage, extending to them land grants as well as facilities for them to engage in trade and other professions. Today, like the Jews in the past, this small community of Konkanis (so-called due to their origins) plays a significant role in the socio-economic life of Kerala. That is the spirit of Hinduism.
Originally, in Malabar (now known as Kerala), it was the members of the poor fishermen community that were converted to Christianity, due to the influence of the earliest Christian missionaries that arrived from the shores of Syria. These Syrian Christians were followers of the Patriarch of Antioch. Not surprisingly, these Christians were assimilated into the local society and there were no communal divides. However, in later years, when the Portuguese discovered that not only were there Christians in Kerala, but also that they were followers of another Christian Church, the Christian missionaries accompanying the Portuguese colonialists decided to use all means to convert these Christians into followers of the Catholic Church headed by the Pope in the Vatican. For this purpose, a Jesuit priest Don Menezes, was specially deputed to Kerala by the Pope in the Vatican. As part of his mission, Don Menezes first tried persuasion and cajoling tactics, but when these proved unsuccessful, he decided to use force. He called for a Synod (a religious gathering of Christians) to held in Udayamperoor near the town of present-day Kochi to be attended by the local Christians. This was resisted by a majority of the local Syrian Christian community, leading to frequent skirmishes and armed conflicts between the two sections of Christians. This gradually escalated to such an extent that priests sent to Kerala from Antioch were even abducted and murdered by members of the Catholic Christian community, at the instigation of the Catholic missionaries. Undaunted, the members of the local and generally peaceful Syrian Christian community took a vow to unitedly oppose the forcible and dubious methods of conversions by the Catholic Christians, at a Christian chapel situated in Mattanchery. This significant event in the history of Syrian Christians in Kerala is known as the Kunam Kurissu Sathyam. Thus the Kunam Kurissu Sathyam is in itself a glaring example of the intolerance of the Catholic Christian Church, and stands, as a stark reminder of a time when conversion drives were forcibly carried out by one Christian community even against another Christian community.
(To be concluded)
Stop politics of anti-Hindu minorityism-II
Christian and Muslim colonialism
By Ravi Varma
The present successful integration of the Parsi community into the Indian mainstream would not have been possible without the magnanimity extended to them by the local Hindu communities and by the Hindu rulers of Gujarat. That is another shining example of Hinduism in action.
The situation changed dramatically after the entry of European colonial Christianity and the murderous Muslim armies from Mysore led by Hyder Ali and his fanatical son Tipu Sultan into Kerala. This intrusion of hostile outsiders eventually resulted in the degeneration of the mindset and social outlook of the local Christian and Muslim communities.
It should be noted here that both Christians and Muslims in the Hindu kingdoms of Kerala were culturally assimilated with the local traditions and social customs. As such they used to actively participate in the major festivals of the Hindus, even abstaining from cow-slaughter and beef-eating. During the most important occasion of Onam celebrations in Kerala, the Muslims used to visit Hindu homes in the locality wearing Arab costumes and participating in the festivities by performing their traditional dances, with rhythmic beating of hand drums and singing songs in praise of the legendary God Mahabali, locally known as Vairavi Kali. Similarly, the local Christians were also equally active in their participation in Hindu festivals. For instance, during the ceremonial processions of the temple deity at Tripunithura around the surrounding communities for public worship, the Christians of the locality around Karingachira Church in Tripunithura, led by their church, used to light traditional lamps in front of the Church and offer measures of paddy and rice, similar to the practice of Hindus in front of their houses, to honour the deity. A spirit of mutual respect and social amity marked relations between the Hindus and members of the other religions, attesting to the magnanimity of the Hindu community, not by any compulsion or inducement as is the case today. That was Hinduism in action, i.e., Hindutva. However, the situation changed dramatically after the entry of European colonial Christianity and the murderous Muslim armies from Mysore led by Hyder Ali and his fanatical son Tipu Sultan into Kerala. This intrusion of hostile outsiders eventually resulted in the degeneration of the mindsets and social outlook of the local Christian and Muslim communities.
Universality of Hinduism as opposed to narrowness of Islam and Christianity
When Christianity became dominant in the Jewish country of Jerusalem, the neo-Christians began a process of hunting down and chasing out the earlier inhabitants, the generally peace-loving Jewish communities. This, in itself, is an indication that Christianity does not and cannot tolerate other religionists, and, in fact, Christianity has never been committed to universal peace and brotherhood with members of other faiths. Fleeing form the clutches of fanatic Christians, there were many who tried to escape to other countries. One group of Jews fleeing from Jerusalem landed in South India, on the Kerala coast, seeking asylum. The local king at that time, known as the Perumal gave them protection and extended land grants as well as other facilities for their settlement. This was in the first century AD. Since then, Jews have lived in the Hindu state of Kerala, with full freedom to follow their own religion and customs, without any interference from the local Hindu communities. It should be noted here that nowhere in the history of the Jews has there been a similar place in the world where the members of the community were enabled to live free without persecution from the state and local communities. This was to be found only in India, that too in the then Hindu state of Kerala. That is the spirit and practice of Hindutva?Hinduism in action.
Similarly, when the Islamic hordes invaded Persia, which had a great civilisation, heritage and culture, the peaceful followers of Iranian Zoroastrianism were persecuted mercilessly, tortured and massacred, and their fire-temple destroyed, simply in order to eradicate the local traditions and civilisation. This destruction of the local Persian traditions was so complete that only a few thousands of them were able to survive this onslaught. This is Islam in action, an experience that has been repeated worldwide, whether in Pakistan or Bangladesh or Afghanistan, as well as in many other countries. One group of Persians, who did, however, managed to flee from these armies, arrived at the shores of the then Hindu kingdom of Gujarat on the West coast of India and were granted asylum by the local king. These were the forerunners of the present Parsi community in India, a peace-loving and highly enterprising community, who still retain their own customs and traditions. The present successful integration of the Parsi community into the Indian mainstream would not have been possible without the magnanimity extended to them by the local Hindu communities and by the Hindu rulers of Gujarat. That is another shining example of Hinduism in action?Hindutva, which the present-day Christians and Muslims and their mercenary secularist cronies condemn as inhuman!
During the late tenth century, Mahmud of Ghazni invaded India with a large Muslim army and vandalised Hindu Gujarat, destroying many temples and pilgrimage centers. With a view to demoralising the local Hindu communities, he targeted important temples such as the one in Somnath, and in fact, destroyed the temple a number of times, even after the temple was rebuilt by the local communities after his departure. In order to further assert their superiority, the Muslims also erected Islamic structures such as mosques on the very spots where temples used to stand, as in the case of Ayodhya, Kashi, Mathura and Delhi. This is Islam in action?intolerant towards all other faiths and traditions and even vengeful on dissidents within its folds!
On similar lines, when Portuguese colonialists invaded Goa and established themselves there in the 16th century, one of their priorities was to spread the European version of Christianity, and with the use of force, engaged in widespread conversions throughout the land. The local temples were destroyed, the Hindus were harassed and humiliated, and Christianity was established. The Pope in the Vatican specially sent to Goa, Francis Xavier, a Jesuit Priest mainly to lead the conversion drive in Goa. Francis Xavier was instrumental in laying waste innumerable Hindu temples, looting and destroying them, and imposing severe restrictions on the local Hindus community by the use of force. His campaign of forcible conversion forced the Brahmins to flee Goa, thereby enabling Francis Xavier to confiscate their properties and enriching the Church. It was his habit to drive local villagers to open public grounds with the help of his band of military ?volunteers? and there to declare them as having been converted to Christianity, irrespective of whether the people gathered there wished to or not! This ?glorious service? to Christianity by Francis Xavier in the name of the Holy Church was acknowledged by the leaders of the Christian Church, albeit posthumously, by conferring ?Sainthood? on him. Thus Francis Xavier became St. Francis Xavier! In this fashion, a Christian saint was specially created for the emancipation of Hindu India, a fitting example of the spirit of Semitic Christianity in action. On similar lines was the creation of a Christian saint specially for the Chinese nation, from among the missionaries that were killed there during the opium wars in China.
When the conversion drive intensified and grew oppressive, thousands of Hindus fled Goa and settled in different parts of what is now known as Karnataka and Maharashtra. One group of Gaud Sarswat Brahmins and Kutumbis from Goa reached the Hindu kingdom of Kochi in present-day Kerala as refugees. In the true spirit of Hinduism, the local King gave them protection and patronage, extending to them land grants as well as facilities for them to engage in trade and other professions. Today, like the Jews in the past, this small community of Konkanis (so-called due to their origins) plays a significant role in the socio-economic life of Kerala. That is the spirit of Hinduism.
Originally, in Malabar (now known as Kerala), it was the members of the poor fishermen community that were converted to Christianity, due to the influence of the earliest Christian missionaries that arrived from the shores of Syria. These Syrian Christians were followers of the Patriarch of Antioch. Not surprisingly, these Christians were assimilated into the local society and there were no communal divides. However, in later years, when the Portuguese discovered that not only were there Christians in Kerala, but also that they were followers of another Christian Church, the Christian missionaries accompanying the Portuguese colonialists decided to use all means to convert these Christians into followers of the Catholic Church headed by the Pope in the Vatican. For this purpose, a Jesuit priest Don Menezes, was specially deputed to Kerala by the Pope in the Vatican. As part of his mission, Don Menezes first tried persuasion and cajoling tactics, but when these proved unsuccessful, he decided to use force. He called for a Synod (a religious gathering of Christians) to held in Udayamperoor near the town of present-day Kochi to be attended by the local Christians. This was resisted by a majority of the local Syrian Christian community, leading to frequent skirmishes and armed conflicts between the two sections of Christians. This gradually escalated to such an extent that priests sent to Kerala from Antioch were even abducted and murdered by members of the Catholic Christian community, at the instigation of the Catholic missionaries. Undaunted, the members of the local and generally peaceful Syrian Christian community took a vow to unitedly oppose the forcible and dubious methods of conversions by the Catholic Christians, at a Christian chapel situated in Mattanchery. This significant event in the history of Syrian Christians in Kerala is known as the Kunam Kurissu Sathyam. Thus the Kunam Kurissu Sathyam is in itself a glaring example of the intolerance of the Catholic Christian Church, and stands, as a stark reminder of a time when conversion drives were forcibly carried out by one Christian community even against another Christian community.
(To be concluded)
Stop politics of anti-Hindu minorityism-III
Organiser,2007 Issues > May 13, 2007
Stop politics of anti-Hindu minorityism-III
?Casteism? in semitic religions
By Ravi Varma
The origin of the obnoxious word ?caste? can itself be attributed to British colonial scholars, who use the term to derisively describe the Indian term jati, which signified various occupational and social characteristics that were peculiar to different social groups, which together made up the diverse and heterogeneous Hindu society. The term has since then been used widely and repeatedly to denigrate and scandalise Hindu society in general, and the so-called upper castes in particular. However, a close study of the definition in the Oxford English Dictionary reveals that the term (and the derogatory sense in which it is applied to Hindu society) seems to be more fitting when applied to the various Christian and Muslim religious sects. The Oxford Dictionary defines ?castes? as hereditary social groups with no social contacts or interactions with other such ?castes?, mainly within the same religious community. In many cases, this mutual exclusiveness also results in intolerance and hostility between the separate social groups. By this definition, the various sects of the Christian community such as Catholics, Syrian Christians, Jacobites, Pentecostal Christians, etc. as well as sects such as the Shias, Sunnis, Aga Khanis, Ahmadiyas, Bohras etc. among the Muslims may also be termed as ?caste? groups, since these groups do not inter-mingle or permit inter-marriages, and positively bar the celebration of religious events such as communion, sunnat, marriage ceremonies and funerals of members from one of these groups to be held in the religious place of the other groups.
However, it can be very well seen that Hindu jatis such as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Patels, Yadavs, etc. are not the same as their social relations and interactions were quite frequent and acceptable, and followed certain well laid-out patterns, from time immemorial. It is a different matter, however, that in recent times, there have been several instances of inter-caste clashes and conflagrations; but most of these may be attributed to the instigators of caste wars as a political ideology, aided and abetted by communal elements aiming to cause social disruption within the country for their own nefarious purposes. Unlike within the intolerant Islamic and Christian communities, most of the so-called ?castes? within the Hindu community were indeed permitted to enter temples, hold religious ceremonies, etc. and interact openly with members of other ?castes? including inter-caste marriages in Kerala Hindu society. It is very clear that it is in fact the Christian and Islamic communities that are caste-ridden and even patronize mutually exclusiveness and mistrust between social groups within their folds, an accusation that has been forced unfairly on the largely tolerant Hindu community.
Untouchability among Indian Christians
The early converts to Christianity in Kerala were originally from fishermen stock; however, the influx of subsequent streams of Christians has led to several social strata being formed within that community, depending on the influence and money from different European Church groups in India, with each group claiming superiority over the others. A certain group of such Christian converts even claim that they are descendants from the highly respected Namboodiri Brahmins of the past. These ?upper caste? Christians generally look down upon later converts to Christianity, usually from ?lower castes? such as Pulayas and Dalits, treating them as socially inferior and ensuring that they are kept out of the Christian mainstream. Often, these ?lower caste? converts were encouraged to establish and worship in their own churches, mainly in bid to keep them out of the ?upper caste? Christian places of worship. Of course, it is well known that during the times of colonial rule, European churches were ?out-of-bounds? even to the ?native? Christians, a clear indication of the deep rifts and fissures within the so-called ?caste-less? Christian church and community!
Later Developments
It should not be forgotten here that no Christian country in Europe or America, nor even the Pope in the Vatican, had condemned the torture and massacre of millions of Jews by Christians in a major Christian country, viz. Germany. Similarly, in Communist Russia, the ?Christian? dictator Joseph Stalin ensured the systematic liquidation of Jews as well as dissidents opposed to the autocratic regime and eulogized proletarian system of the Soviet Union. This is not surprising because Communism is the illegitimate child born of the semitic religions of Christianity and Islam, from whom they inherited the ideology of mutual hatred, intolerance, exclusiveness and violence. Therefore, nothing better could be expected under the diabolical Marxism and Communism who dogmatically believe in permanent class-war between segregated social groups and in utopian bliss on earth. Like Christianity and Islam, Communism is also of foreign origin and hence anti-Hindu and anti-national everywhere. Founded by a German Jew, Karl Marx, the holy book of the Communists is the Das Kapital. Like its parents, it preaches and practices mutual hatred and intolerance, and professes a state of permanent class-war between the so-called ?haves? and ?have-nots?. Dissidents within its folds are also systematically liquidated, just as the ?no-believers? within Islam and Christianity are eliminated. The only difference is that they differ in their approach to the concept of God. They are all international movements, not confined to any national boundaries. On similar lines, the Nazi movement made famous by Adolf Hitler could also be termed as the spoilt brother of Marxism due to its similarity of character and broad principles, with its prophet in Adolf Hitler, holy book in Mein Kampf, and an underlying ideology of hatred and destruction.
The Situation Today
The above discussion clearly indicates that all these foreign ideologies and religious philosophies are intolerant, and are therefore, not surprisingly anti-Hindu within India. As such, one should not be taken in by their occasionally friendly attitudes and supposedly socially useful activities, which are, in most instances, merely facades and deceptive. Resurgent Hindu youth of today are increasingly aware of this aspect of the semitic religions and are, therefore, organising themselves to resist them. Whether in remote regions of Orissa or in communally sensitive localities such as Bhiwandi in Maharashtra or as exemplified after the massacre of karsevaks in Godhra, Hindu youths of today are quick to react, venting their anger and frustrations against the culprits. Such incidents are an indication of the severe crisis that the country faces. Repeated actions and decisions aimed at appeasement of the religious minorities by the so-called ?secular? government, aided and abetted by openly pro-minority legislature and executive branches of government, have disillusioned the Hindu youth of the country. As part of the appeasement policy followed by successive ?secular? governments, the minority communities in the country enjoy many special privileges and constitutional rights, all at the expense of the majority Hindu community. There are various statutory bodies such as the Muslim Personal Law Board, Waqf Boards, Minority Commission, etc. all conferred with wide-ranging powers, and generally unaccountable to anyone but themselves. In continuation of this policy of appeasement, these religious minorities are also enabled to set up and administer, to the exclusive benefit of their community members, educational institutions imparting higher technical education. In Kerala, they collectively own over 80 per cent of educational institutions. It goes without saying that most, if not all, religious institutions (as well as their vast landed properties and financial assets) of the religious minorities are exempt from government control and supervision. But, in direct contrast, all religious institutions of the Hindu community fall under the control of the ?secular? government, and in many instances, mismanagement and misappropriation of resources belonging to these establishments is rampant. As a direct result of this policy, in the 50 years since Independence, only around 30 Hindu temples have been constructed or renovated while during the same period, over 3000 mosques and Christian churches have been constructed in Kerala alone. It is indeed shameful that, while non-interference by government in the affairs of minority religious institutions is carried to an extreme under ?secular? principles governing the Constitution, exactly the reverse is the case when it comes to Hindu religious institutions. There have been instances of appointments where members from the minority communities have been appointed by the ?secular? governments to boards responsible for the administration of Hindu temples. Well-known examples of this are that of the Muslim Antulay in Maharashtra, who was once appointed to the Trustee Board of the famous Siddhi Vinayak Temple in Mumbai, as well as that of a Christian named Baby who was inducted by the then Communist-led government of Kerala into the Administrative Board of the world-famous Guruvayoor temple. In short, in the name of secularism, interference in the affairs of Hindu temples and religious institutions is considered proper by the so-called ?secularists?, who, at the same time, are convinced that such interference by government in the affairs of minority religious institutions is non-secular and hence illegal and anti-constitutional.
Conclusion
It cannot be denied that India, being a predominantly Hindu country, needs to be treated as a Hindu country, just as countries with Christian majorities such as USA, Britain, France, etc. are Christian countries and those with Muslim majorities such as Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Malaysia, etc. are Islamic countries. Going by the principles of democracy underlying Indian nationhood, any democratic government in the country must be for the Hindu majority, by the Hindu majority, and of the Hindu community, and not for, by and of the minority communities that make up only 15 per cent of the population. Unfortunately, right from the days of Independence, all governments of India, from the negationist and western-educated Pandit Nehru right down to his family members supported by all anti-Hindu secular parties including Communists and Socialists are committed only to the welfare and prosperity of the religious minorities in India, and never that of the majority. Therefore, the country may be said to be having a minority-oriented or minocratic government. The Hindu majority has been, right throughout recent decades, neglected and harassed by the fake democratic and ?secular? governments of India. Under the circumstances, the frustrated and harassed Hindu youth have started realising, albeit at this late hour, that they have nowhere to look for justice. There is a limit to the patience of Hindus. They are consciously getting organised and alert to strongly react or retaliate against any anti-Hindu act or activities anywhere in the country, whether in urban, rural or even remote tribal areas.
The frequent but at the same time isolated Hindu violence in certain Hindu localities during the last decade or so are summarised and cautioned by the visionary Nobel Laureate V.S. Naipaul as the building up of total and widespread Hindu revolution from the lower and frustrated state of the long-neglected Hindu majority of India. It will have serious consequences in the entire country, specially to the appeased and patronize religious minority communities in the country. To paraphrase the prophet of the (now-discredited) religion of Communism, let us repeat to the long-neglected and humiliated Hindu majority of India, that is Bharat, ?You have nothing to lose but the shackles of slavery and humiliation and sufferings under the regime of your discredited political system and community leaders. This type of sham socialism, secularism and discriminatory democracy should go or be booted out of the country.?
It is only in the light of the above sentiments that the great visionary of modern India and inspiration of resurgent Hindu youth, Swami Vivekananda gave the clarion call to the proud Hindu majority, ?Arise! Awake!! And stop not till your goals are achieved in this Hindu rashtra.? Mind you, Hindus have nowhere to go. India is ours and we are proud of being and living in Hindu India.
(Concluded)
Stop politics of anti-Hindu minorityism-III
?Casteism? in semitic religions
By Ravi Varma
The origin of the obnoxious word ?caste? can itself be attributed to British colonial scholars, who use the term to derisively describe the Indian term jati, which signified various occupational and social characteristics that were peculiar to different social groups, which together made up the diverse and heterogeneous Hindu society. The term has since then been used widely and repeatedly to denigrate and scandalise Hindu society in general, and the so-called upper castes in particular. However, a close study of the definition in the Oxford English Dictionary reveals that the term (and the derogatory sense in which it is applied to Hindu society) seems to be more fitting when applied to the various Christian and Muslim religious sects. The Oxford Dictionary defines ?castes? as hereditary social groups with no social contacts or interactions with other such ?castes?, mainly within the same religious community. In many cases, this mutual exclusiveness also results in intolerance and hostility between the separate social groups. By this definition, the various sects of the Christian community such as Catholics, Syrian Christians, Jacobites, Pentecostal Christians, etc. as well as sects such as the Shias, Sunnis, Aga Khanis, Ahmadiyas, Bohras etc. among the Muslims may also be termed as ?caste? groups, since these groups do not inter-mingle or permit inter-marriages, and positively bar the celebration of religious events such as communion, sunnat, marriage ceremonies and funerals of members from one of these groups to be held in the religious place of the other groups.
However, it can be very well seen that Hindu jatis such as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Patels, Yadavs, etc. are not the same as their social relations and interactions were quite frequent and acceptable, and followed certain well laid-out patterns, from time immemorial. It is a different matter, however, that in recent times, there have been several instances of inter-caste clashes and conflagrations; but most of these may be attributed to the instigators of caste wars as a political ideology, aided and abetted by communal elements aiming to cause social disruption within the country for their own nefarious purposes. Unlike within the intolerant Islamic and Christian communities, most of the so-called ?castes? within the Hindu community were indeed permitted to enter temples, hold religious ceremonies, etc. and interact openly with members of other ?castes? including inter-caste marriages in Kerala Hindu society. It is very clear that it is in fact the Christian and Islamic communities that are caste-ridden and even patronize mutually exclusiveness and mistrust between social groups within their folds, an accusation that has been forced unfairly on the largely tolerant Hindu community.
Untouchability among Indian Christians
The early converts to Christianity in Kerala were originally from fishermen stock; however, the influx of subsequent streams of Christians has led to several social strata being formed within that community, depending on the influence and money from different European Church groups in India, with each group claiming superiority over the others. A certain group of such Christian converts even claim that they are descendants from the highly respected Namboodiri Brahmins of the past. These ?upper caste? Christians generally look down upon later converts to Christianity, usually from ?lower castes? such as Pulayas and Dalits, treating them as socially inferior and ensuring that they are kept out of the Christian mainstream. Often, these ?lower caste? converts were encouraged to establish and worship in their own churches, mainly in bid to keep them out of the ?upper caste? Christian places of worship. Of course, it is well known that during the times of colonial rule, European churches were ?out-of-bounds? even to the ?native? Christians, a clear indication of the deep rifts and fissures within the so-called ?caste-less? Christian church and community!
Later Developments
It should not be forgotten here that no Christian country in Europe or America, nor even the Pope in the Vatican, had condemned the torture and massacre of millions of Jews by Christians in a major Christian country, viz. Germany. Similarly, in Communist Russia, the ?Christian? dictator Joseph Stalin ensured the systematic liquidation of Jews as well as dissidents opposed to the autocratic regime and eulogized proletarian system of the Soviet Union. This is not surprising because Communism is the illegitimate child born of the semitic religions of Christianity and Islam, from whom they inherited the ideology of mutual hatred, intolerance, exclusiveness and violence. Therefore, nothing better could be expected under the diabolical Marxism and Communism who dogmatically believe in permanent class-war between segregated social groups and in utopian bliss on earth. Like Christianity and Islam, Communism is also of foreign origin and hence anti-Hindu and anti-national everywhere. Founded by a German Jew, Karl Marx, the holy book of the Communists is the Das Kapital. Like its parents, it preaches and practices mutual hatred and intolerance, and professes a state of permanent class-war between the so-called ?haves? and ?have-nots?. Dissidents within its folds are also systematically liquidated, just as the ?no-believers? within Islam and Christianity are eliminated. The only difference is that they differ in their approach to the concept of God. They are all international movements, not confined to any national boundaries. On similar lines, the Nazi movement made famous by Adolf Hitler could also be termed as the spoilt brother of Marxism due to its similarity of character and broad principles, with its prophet in Adolf Hitler, holy book in Mein Kampf, and an underlying ideology of hatred and destruction.
The Situation Today
The above discussion clearly indicates that all these foreign ideologies and religious philosophies are intolerant, and are therefore, not surprisingly anti-Hindu within India. As such, one should not be taken in by their occasionally friendly attitudes and supposedly socially useful activities, which are, in most instances, merely facades and deceptive. Resurgent Hindu youth of today are increasingly aware of this aspect of the semitic religions and are, therefore, organising themselves to resist them. Whether in remote regions of Orissa or in communally sensitive localities such as Bhiwandi in Maharashtra or as exemplified after the massacre of karsevaks in Godhra, Hindu youths of today are quick to react, venting their anger and frustrations against the culprits. Such incidents are an indication of the severe crisis that the country faces. Repeated actions and decisions aimed at appeasement of the religious minorities by the so-called ?secular? government, aided and abetted by openly pro-minority legislature and executive branches of government, have disillusioned the Hindu youth of the country. As part of the appeasement policy followed by successive ?secular? governments, the minority communities in the country enjoy many special privileges and constitutional rights, all at the expense of the majority Hindu community. There are various statutory bodies such as the Muslim Personal Law Board, Waqf Boards, Minority Commission, etc. all conferred with wide-ranging powers, and generally unaccountable to anyone but themselves. In continuation of this policy of appeasement, these religious minorities are also enabled to set up and administer, to the exclusive benefit of their community members, educational institutions imparting higher technical education. In Kerala, they collectively own over 80 per cent of educational institutions. It goes without saying that most, if not all, religious institutions (as well as their vast landed properties and financial assets) of the religious minorities are exempt from government control and supervision. But, in direct contrast, all religious institutions of the Hindu community fall under the control of the ?secular? government, and in many instances, mismanagement and misappropriation of resources belonging to these establishments is rampant. As a direct result of this policy, in the 50 years since Independence, only around 30 Hindu temples have been constructed or renovated while during the same period, over 3000 mosques and Christian churches have been constructed in Kerala alone. It is indeed shameful that, while non-interference by government in the affairs of minority religious institutions is carried to an extreme under ?secular? principles governing the Constitution, exactly the reverse is the case when it comes to Hindu religious institutions. There have been instances of appointments where members from the minority communities have been appointed by the ?secular? governments to boards responsible for the administration of Hindu temples. Well-known examples of this are that of the Muslim Antulay in Maharashtra, who was once appointed to the Trustee Board of the famous Siddhi Vinayak Temple in Mumbai, as well as that of a Christian named Baby who was inducted by the then Communist-led government of Kerala into the Administrative Board of the world-famous Guruvayoor temple. In short, in the name of secularism, interference in the affairs of Hindu temples and religious institutions is considered proper by the so-called ?secularists?, who, at the same time, are convinced that such interference by government in the affairs of minority religious institutions is non-secular and hence illegal and anti-constitutional.
Conclusion
It cannot be denied that India, being a predominantly Hindu country, needs to be treated as a Hindu country, just as countries with Christian majorities such as USA, Britain, France, etc. are Christian countries and those with Muslim majorities such as Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Malaysia, etc. are Islamic countries. Going by the principles of democracy underlying Indian nationhood, any democratic government in the country must be for the Hindu majority, by the Hindu majority, and of the Hindu community, and not for, by and of the minority communities that make up only 15 per cent of the population. Unfortunately, right from the days of Independence, all governments of India, from the negationist and western-educated Pandit Nehru right down to his family members supported by all anti-Hindu secular parties including Communists and Socialists are committed only to the welfare and prosperity of the religious minorities in India, and never that of the majority. Therefore, the country may be said to be having a minority-oriented or minocratic government. The Hindu majority has been, right throughout recent decades, neglected and harassed by the fake democratic and ?secular? governments of India. Under the circumstances, the frustrated and harassed Hindu youth have started realising, albeit at this late hour, that they have nowhere to look for justice. There is a limit to the patience of Hindus. They are consciously getting organised and alert to strongly react or retaliate against any anti-Hindu act or activities anywhere in the country, whether in urban, rural or even remote tribal areas.
The frequent but at the same time isolated Hindu violence in certain Hindu localities during the last decade or so are summarised and cautioned by the visionary Nobel Laureate V.S. Naipaul as the building up of total and widespread Hindu revolution from the lower and frustrated state of the long-neglected Hindu majority of India. It will have serious consequences in the entire country, specially to the appeased and patronize religious minority communities in the country. To paraphrase the prophet of the (now-discredited) religion of Communism, let us repeat to the long-neglected and humiliated Hindu majority of India, that is Bharat, ?You have nothing to lose but the shackles of slavery and humiliation and sufferings under the regime of your discredited political system and community leaders. This type of sham socialism, secularism and discriminatory democracy should go or be booted out of the country.?
It is only in the light of the above sentiments that the great visionary of modern India and inspiration of resurgent Hindu youth, Swami Vivekananda gave the clarion call to the proud Hindu majority, ?Arise! Awake!! And stop not till your goals are achieved in this Hindu rashtra.? Mind you, Hindus have nowhere to go. India is ours and we are proud of being and living in Hindu India.
(Concluded)
Atma Jyoti Ashram:
Organiser,2009 Issues > July 05, 2009
Debate
Atma Jyoti Ashram:
Wolf in sheep’s clothing
By Swami Devananda Saraswati
The sponsorship of Ramana Ashram and the publication of the Atma Jyoti Ashram brothers’ articles under assumed Hindu names in the Ramana Ashram journal Mountain Path is not really surprising. Sri Ramana Ashram is a family business headed by a hereditary trustee. The current president is the Advaita Vedanta paralogist VS Ramanan. The Ashram was declared a non-Hindu institution in 1963.
This kind of advice is irresponsible, especially when made to foreign seekers who take the guru’s instruction as divine word. Christianity is based on a false doctrine of vicarious salvation, and there is nothing in Hindu scripture or the ancient Rishi tradition to support the ill-conceived advice handed out to foreign seekers by Hindu teachers who do not want to take spiritual responsibility for their charges.
In Catholic Ashrams: Sannyasins or Swindlers, Sita Ram Goel describes the Christian missionary strategists’ plan to infiltrate Hindu society and gain the confidence of the people: “Christianity has to drop its alien attire and get clothed in Hindu cultural forms. In short, Christianity has to be presented as an indigenous faith. Christian theology has to be conveyed through categories of Hindu philosophy; Christian worship has to be conducted in the manner and with the materials of Hindu puja. Christian sacraments have to sound like Hindu samskaras; Christian churches have to copy the architecture of Hindu temples; Christian hymns have to be set to Hindu music; Christian themes and personalities have to be presented in styles of Hindu painting; Christian missionaries have to dress and live like Hindu sannyasins; Christian mission stations have to look like Hindu Ashrams. And so on, the literature of Indigenisation goes into all aspects of Christian thought, organisation and activity and tries to discover how far and in what way they can be disguised in Hindu forms.”
The late Sita Ram Goel wrote this in 1988, and he would not be surprised to learn that Christian priests and monks in America have adopted these very tactics to attract a whole generation of American youth interested in Hindu spirituality, back to Christianity. The leader in this movement today is Abbot George Burke of Atma Jyoti Ashram in Cedar Crest, New Mexico. He is better known on the Internet as Swami Nirmalananda Giri.
Isha Jyoti to Atma Jyoti
Atma Jyoti Ashram was originally called Sri Isha (Jesus) Jyoti Sannyas Ashram and was located at Borrego Springs, California. Fr. George Burke is a Greek Orthodox Christian priest, and if reports are correct, most or all of the community of brothers attached to him are Christian priests.
On a visit to India, Fr. George met the Bengali saint Ananda Mai Ma. She is said to have instructed him to remain in the Christian religion and continue his Christian practices. This is not unusual advice from a Hindu guru. In spite of their enlightenment, most are grossly ignorant of Christianity’s ideology and imperial designs, its triumphant, sectarian prayers and bloody rituals. Hindu gurus advise their foreign followers to remain in the religion of their forefathers, not realising the negative consequences of their thoughtless words.
This kind of advice is irresponsible, especially when made to foreign seekers who take the guru’s instruction as divine word. Christianity is based on a false doctrine of vicarious salvation, and there is nothing in Hindu scripture or the ancient Rishi tradition to support the ill-conceived advice handed out to foreign seekers by Hindu teachers who do not want to take spiritual responsibility for their charges.
Ananda Mai’s alleged instruction suited Fr. George and his followers and they quoted her later as their authority to don the ochre robes of Hindu sannyasis and adopt the Sanskrit titles and names of Smartha Dasnami monks. The fact that Ananda Mai Ma was not an initiated Dasnami sannyasin and had no authority to give them ochre robes or Dasnami titles did not deter them in the impersonation drama.
They continued to perform the bloody sacrifice of the Christian Mass in secret, even as they presented themselves in public as simple, unaffiliated Hindu monks. It was the old fraud of Robert de Nobili and Henri Le Saux being repeated on an unsuspecting public, only this time it was an American and not an Indian public being duped by persuasive snake oil salesmen.
Om on Cross
At one point in their career, while still the Sri Isha Jyoti Sannyas community in Borrego Springs, they were caught out in their charade by none other than the Shaiva Siddhanta Church in Hawaii. The brothers did carpentry for a living, being followers of the Carpenter, and one of the items they produced for sale was a Roman cross with the sacred Hindu word-symbol ‘Om’ nailed to its cross bars. They sent a sample to Hinduism Today with the hope of attracting sales. They got instead a negative response and a return of the obscene article. Hindus, even modern American Hindu converts, are deeply offended by this kind of syncretism and do not understand the appeal it has for New Agers and gay Christian priests who flaunt it on their cassock fronts as a sign of their radical universalism.
Catholic writer S. Kulandaiswami said vis-à-vis Fr. Bede Griffiths and his bastardised Om-on-Cross iconography: “Ritual, rites, and ceremonies in Hinduism have not been changed to suit the whims of modern innovators. Griffiths, by superimposing the sacred word ‘Om’ on a Cross, imagines he has created a new spiritual phenomenon. On the contrary, he confuses and insults both Hinduism and Christianity. He fails to realise that by such acts he is neither enriching Christianity nor honouring Hinduism. One has to respect the unique rites and rituals of each religion, which placed in another context, will be meaningless and confusing.”
In a later debate published in the letters column of The Indian Express, Chennai, in 1989, The Hindu correspondent S Venkatachalam wrote: “It is highly outrageous and objectionable to compare … Hindu leaders and religious heads with the Christian missionary experimentalists like Bede Griffiths, Hans Staffner and the Christian missionary Fr. Henri Le Saux, the so-called Abhishiktananda. Swami Vivekananda, Gandhiji, Ramana Maharshi and Paramacharya of Kanchi never resorted to such experimentation of a “cocktail religion” or “masala and kichidi religion” by mixing religious symbols, donning the dress of a Christian father or Muslim mullah, building church-like or mosque-like temples, fabricating Bible or Quran-like Hindu shlokas, or asserting that Rama or Krishna or Shiva is the only God and by accepting Him alone one can get salvation.”
The Sri Isha (Jesus) Jyoti Sannyas Ashram brothers did not succeed in pedalling their original handcrafted ‘Om-on-cross’ to the Hindus of Hawaii then, but in their new incarnation as sadhus of Atma Jyoti Ashram they have succeeded in getting advertising space in Hinduism Today and the sponsorship of Ramana Ashram in Tiruvannamalai. Yet they remain, so far as we know, Christian priests in orange robes with false Sanskrit names and titles, the usual New Age bells and beads added. They are quite a success in Christian duplicity, if not in true Hindu spirituality.
The sponsorship of Ramana Ashram and the publication of the Atma Jyoti Ashram brothers’ articles under assumed Hindu names in the Ramana Ashram journal Mountain Path is not really surprising. Sri Ramana Ashram is a family business headed by a hereditary trustee. The current president is the Advaita Vedanta paralogist VS Ramanan. The ashram was declared a non-Hindu institution in 1963.
Theosophists and Benedictines
Though Ramanan is the editor of Mountain Path as required by law, the de facto editor is the Australian theosophist Christopher Quilkey, a disciple of the anti-modernist French Sufi Rene Guenon. Quilkey is assisted by the American Catholic Benedictine monk Brother Michael.
Brother Michael divides his time between Shanti Vanam near Tiruchirappalli, the Benedictine hermitage of the notorious Christian missionary Fr. Bede Griffiths, and Ramana Ashram in Tiruvannamalai. He is a Catholic priest and will say, Mass whenever and wherever the Catholic spirit moves him, including Ramana Ashram and other places of Hindu pilgrimage and worship. His other duty is to vet articles sent to Mountain Path and forward them to Christopher Quilkey in Kodaikanal for acceptance and publication. Ramanan shows little or no interest in the articles selected for publication, and though the ashram follows Vedic Brahminical traditions and can afford to employ a professional, it is not able to find and keep a responsible and dedicated Hindu editor for its magazine.
Ramanan appears to be in a state of denial regarding Christians in his own ashram and missionaries in general. He writes, “There is no doubt that Christianity has, over centuries been a proselytising religion and some of the preachers had indulged in scurrilous propaganda against Hindu beliefs and mores. But there is nothing to worry. The worst is over and the Vedantic Truth is eternal and imperishable. I know a number of Christian priests who revere Hinduism and Vedanta. It is well known that Westerners are increasingly being drawn to Yoga and Vedanta which Swami Vivekananda called the ‘Religion of the Future.’”
Nothing to worry, eh? The worst is over, eh? Either Ramanan is a fool or he is in league with the Christian missionaries who publish in the ashram journal.
The first articles to appear in Mountain Path by an Atma Jyoti Ashram member were by a Catholic priest who resides in Tiruvannamalai and calls himself Swami Sadasivananda Giri. The articles were inoffensive enough, but because it was known to a number of sadhus and Ramana Ashram devotees that the author was in fact a Christian priest masquerading as a Hindu sannyasi, the matter was brought to the Ramana Ashram president’s attention with the request that Sadasivananda be identified by his real Christian name and titles to Mountain Path readers.
The letter was ignored, and when the April-June 2009 issue of Mountain Path appeared, it was discovered that not only did Swami Sadasivananda’s article appear without proper identification, but an article by Fr. George Burke, Greek Orthodox abbot of Atma Jyoti Ashram, New Mexico, was also included under the name Swami Nirmalananda Giri. The request to identify Christian contributors to the journal was not only denied by the Ramana Ashram president Ramanan, but a strong message of contempt and scorn for Hindu sannyas traditions was given out by the Mountain Path editor and his dubious, uncommitted assistants.
Infiltration by Impersonation
The problem of Christian priests and missionaries masquerading as Hindu sannyasis is an old one in India. The impersonation drama was first carried out by Robert de Nobili in Madurai in the 17th century.
It was continued and made notorious by Fr. Bede Griffiths (aka Swami Dayananda) in the 20th century, though his collaborator, the French Benedictine monk Fr. Henri Le Saux, was without doubt the most successful Hindu sadhu impersonator. He is known to this day by his assumed Sanskrit name Swami Abhishiktananda, and had none other than the late Swami Chidananda Saraswati of Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh as a patron.
(to be concluded)
Debate
Atma Jyoti Ashram:
Wolf in sheep’s clothing
By Swami Devananda Saraswati
The sponsorship of Ramana Ashram and the publication of the Atma Jyoti Ashram brothers’ articles under assumed Hindu names in the Ramana Ashram journal Mountain Path is not really surprising. Sri Ramana Ashram is a family business headed by a hereditary trustee. The current president is the Advaita Vedanta paralogist VS Ramanan. The Ashram was declared a non-Hindu institution in 1963.
This kind of advice is irresponsible, especially when made to foreign seekers who take the guru’s instruction as divine word. Christianity is based on a false doctrine of vicarious salvation, and there is nothing in Hindu scripture or the ancient Rishi tradition to support the ill-conceived advice handed out to foreign seekers by Hindu teachers who do not want to take spiritual responsibility for their charges.
In Catholic Ashrams: Sannyasins or Swindlers, Sita Ram Goel describes the Christian missionary strategists’ plan to infiltrate Hindu society and gain the confidence of the people: “Christianity has to drop its alien attire and get clothed in Hindu cultural forms. In short, Christianity has to be presented as an indigenous faith. Christian theology has to be conveyed through categories of Hindu philosophy; Christian worship has to be conducted in the manner and with the materials of Hindu puja. Christian sacraments have to sound like Hindu samskaras; Christian churches have to copy the architecture of Hindu temples; Christian hymns have to be set to Hindu music; Christian themes and personalities have to be presented in styles of Hindu painting; Christian missionaries have to dress and live like Hindu sannyasins; Christian mission stations have to look like Hindu Ashrams. And so on, the literature of Indigenisation goes into all aspects of Christian thought, organisation and activity and tries to discover how far and in what way they can be disguised in Hindu forms.”
The late Sita Ram Goel wrote this in 1988, and he would not be surprised to learn that Christian priests and monks in America have adopted these very tactics to attract a whole generation of American youth interested in Hindu spirituality, back to Christianity. The leader in this movement today is Abbot George Burke of Atma Jyoti Ashram in Cedar Crest, New Mexico. He is better known on the Internet as Swami Nirmalananda Giri.
Isha Jyoti to Atma Jyoti
Atma Jyoti Ashram was originally called Sri Isha (Jesus) Jyoti Sannyas Ashram and was located at Borrego Springs, California. Fr. George Burke is a Greek Orthodox Christian priest, and if reports are correct, most or all of the community of brothers attached to him are Christian priests.
On a visit to India, Fr. George met the Bengali saint Ananda Mai Ma. She is said to have instructed him to remain in the Christian religion and continue his Christian practices. This is not unusual advice from a Hindu guru. In spite of their enlightenment, most are grossly ignorant of Christianity’s ideology and imperial designs, its triumphant, sectarian prayers and bloody rituals. Hindu gurus advise their foreign followers to remain in the religion of their forefathers, not realising the negative consequences of their thoughtless words.
This kind of advice is irresponsible, especially when made to foreign seekers who take the guru’s instruction as divine word. Christianity is based on a false doctrine of vicarious salvation, and there is nothing in Hindu scripture or the ancient Rishi tradition to support the ill-conceived advice handed out to foreign seekers by Hindu teachers who do not want to take spiritual responsibility for their charges.
Ananda Mai’s alleged instruction suited Fr. George and his followers and they quoted her later as their authority to don the ochre robes of Hindu sannyasis and adopt the Sanskrit titles and names of Smartha Dasnami monks. The fact that Ananda Mai Ma was not an initiated Dasnami sannyasin and had no authority to give them ochre robes or Dasnami titles did not deter them in the impersonation drama.
They continued to perform the bloody sacrifice of the Christian Mass in secret, even as they presented themselves in public as simple, unaffiliated Hindu monks. It was the old fraud of Robert de Nobili and Henri Le Saux being repeated on an unsuspecting public, only this time it was an American and not an Indian public being duped by persuasive snake oil salesmen.
Om on Cross
At one point in their career, while still the Sri Isha Jyoti Sannyas community in Borrego Springs, they were caught out in their charade by none other than the Shaiva Siddhanta Church in Hawaii. The brothers did carpentry for a living, being followers of the Carpenter, and one of the items they produced for sale was a Roman cross with the sacred Hindu word-symbol ‘Om’ nailed to its cross bars. They sent a sample to Hinduism Today with the hope of attracting sales. They got instead a negative response and a return of the obscene article. Hindus, even modern American Hindu converts, are deeply offended by this kind of syncretism and do not understand the appeal it has for New Agers and gay Christian priests who flaunt it on their cassock fronts as a sign of their radical universalism.
Catholic writer S. Kulandaiswami said vis-à-vis Fr. Bede Griffiths and his bastardised Om-on-Cross iconography: “Ritual, rites, and ceremonies in Hinduism have not been changed to suit the whims of modern innovators. Griffiths, by superimposing the sacred word ‘Om’ on a Cross, imagines he has created a new spiritual phenomenon. On the contrary, he confuses and insults both Hinduism and Christianity. He fails to realise that by such acts he is neither enriching Christianity nor honouring Hinduism. One has to respect the unique rites and rituals of each religion, which placed in another context, will be meaningless and confusing.”
In a later debate published in the letters column of The Indian Express, Chennai, in 1989, The Hindu correspondent S Venkatachalam wrote: “It is highly outrageous and objectionable to compare … Hindu leaders and religious heads with the Christian missionary experimentalists like Bede Griffiths, Hans Staffner and the Christian missionary Fr. Henri Le Saux, the so-called Abhishiktananda. Swami Vivekananda, Gandhiji, Ramana Maharshi and Paramacharya of Kanchi never resorted to such experimentation of a “cocktail religion” or “masala and kichidi religion” by mixing religious symbols, donning the dress of a Christian father or Muslim mullah, building church-like or mosque-like temples, fabricating Bible or Quran-like Hindu shlokas, or asserting that Rama or Krishna or Shiva is the only God and by accepting Him alone one can get salvation.”
The Sri Isha (Jesus) Jyoti Sannyas Ashram brothers did not succeed in pedalling their original handcrafted ‘Om-on-cross’ to the Hindus of Hawaii then, but in their new incarnation as sadhus of Atma Jyoti Ashram they have succeeded in getting advertising space in Hinduism Today and the sponsorship of Ramana Ashram in Tiruvannamalai. Yet they remain, so far as we know, Christian priests in orange robes with false Sanskrit names and titles, the usual New Age bells and beads added. They are quite a success in Christian duplicity, if not in true Hindu spirituality.
The sponsorship of Ramana Ashram and the publication of the Atma Jyoti Ashram brothers’ articles under assumed Hindu names in the Ramana Ashram journal Mountain Path is not really surprising. Sri Ramana Ashram is a family business headed by a hereditary trustee. The current president is the Advaita Vedanta paralogist VS Ramanan. The ashram was declared a non-Hindu institution in 1963.
Theosophists and Benedictines
Though Ramanan is the editor of Mountain Path as required by law, the de facto editor is the Australian theosophist Christopher Quilkey, a disciple of the anti-modernist French Sufi Rene Guenon. Quilkey is assisted by the American Catholic Benedictine monk Brother Michael.
Brother Michael divides his time between Shanti Vanam near Tiruchirappalli, the Benedictine hermitage of the notorious Christian missionary Fr. Bede Griffiths, and Ramana Ashram in Tiruvannamalai. He is a Catholic priest and will say, Mass whenever and wherever the Catholic spirit moves him, including Ramana Ashram and other places of Hindu pilgrimage and worship. His other duty is to vet articles sent to Mountain Path and forward them to Christopher Quilkey in Kodaikanal for acceptance and publication. Ramanan shows little or no interest in the articles selected for publication, and though the ashram follows Vedic Brahminical traditions and can afford to employ a professional, it is not able to find and keep a responsible and dedicated Hindu editor for its magazine.
Ramanan appears to be in a state of denial regarding Christians in his own ashram and missionaries in general. He writes, “There is no doubt that Christianity has, over centuries been a proselytising religion and some of the preachers had indulged in scurrilous propaganda against Hindu beliefs and mores. But there is nothing to worry. The worst is over and the Vedantic Truth is eternal and imperishable. I know a number of Christian priests who revere Hinduism and Vedanta. It is well known that Westerners are increasingly being drawn to Yoga and Vedanta which Swami Vivekananda called the ‘Religion of the Future.’”
Nothing to worry, eh? The worst is over, eh? Either Ramanan is a fool or he is in league with the Christian missionaries who publish in the ashram journal.
The first articles to appear in Mountain Path by an Atma Jyoti Ashram member were by a Catholic priest who resides in Tiruvannamalai and calls himself Swami Sadasivananda Giri. The articles were inoffensive enough, but because it was known to a number of sadhus and Ramana Ashram devotees that the author was in fact a Christian priest masquerading as a Hindu sannyasi, the matter was brought to the Ramana Ashram president’s attention with the request that Sadasivananda be identified by his real Christian name and titles to Mountain Path readers.
The letter was ignored, and when the April-June 2009 issue of Mountain Path appeared, it was discovered that not only did Swami Sadasivananda’s article appear without proper identification, but an article by Fr. George Burke, Greek Orthodox abbot of Atma Jyoti Ashram, New Mexico, was also included under the name Swami Nirmalananda Giri. The request to identify Christian contributors to the journal was not only denied by the Ramana Ashram president Ramanan, but a strong message of contempt and scorn for Hindu sannyas traditions was given out by the Mountain Path editor and his dubious, uncommitted assistants.
Infiltration by Impersonation
The problem of Christian priests and missionaries masquerading as Hindu sannyasis is an old one in India. The impersonation drama was first carried out by Robert de Nobili in Madurai in the 17th century.
It was continued and made notorious by Fr. Bede Griffiths (aka Swami Dayananda) in the 20th century, though his collaborator, the French Benedictine monk Fr. Henri Le Saux, was without doubt the most successful Hindu sadhu impersonator. He is known to this day by his assumed Sanskrit name Swami Abhishiktananda, and had none other than the late Swami Chidananda Saraswati of Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh as a patron.
(to be concluded)
Atma Jyoti Ashram: Wolf in sheep’s clothing - II
Organiser, 2009 Issues > July 12, 2009
Atma Jyoti Ashram: Wolf in sheep’s clothing - II
The diabolical game of evangelists in a Hindu Ashram
By Swami Devananda Saraswati
Hindu society has become secularised in the cities and teachers are faced with multicultural audiences from different countries and traditions. It is therefore incumbent on all Hindu gurus in India and abroad to put their philosophical teaching into its original religious context, so that it cannot be distorted and abused by Hinduism’s scholarly Marxist and Christian enemies.
This is how ancient Greece became a Christian country, and how modern India is fast becoming a Christianised Hindu country.
The new twist in the criminal impersonation of Hindu sadhus is that Christian priests in the US are adopting Hindu names and dress in order to deceive and entrap America seekers who have already rejected the false doctrines and superstitions of Christianity, in the hope of bringing them back to Jesus and the Church.
Missionary activity in India has peaked under the benevolent gaze of the Christian-Congress UPA regime of Sonia Gandhi. Andhra Pradesh is now said to be 30 per cent Christian and growing, with Tamil Nadu following closely behind. Both states will soon rival Kerala with their Christian populations.
The real problem is not missionaries flashing American dollars or dressing up as sadhus in order to deceive unsuspecting villagers. Christians in India are doing what Christians have always done throughout history: They are subverting and subsuming the non-Christian cultures and societies that they are not able to conquer by force.
The real problem is with Hindu leaders—political, social, cultural, and religious leaders. They are first of all in a state of denial, unwilling or unable to admit the Christian threat and the grave implications it has for Hindu civilization and society. Or, like the editors of the Ramana Ashram journal Mountain Path, they take the out-dated, irresponsible, and non-Vedic theosophical view that all religions are one and the same anyway, so what does it matter if a few million villagers become dollar Christians.
Or, and this is especially true of Hindu religious leaders, they recognise the Christian threat, but are not sufficiently equipped or knowledgeable to counter it. Unlike Christian priests who study Hindu scriptures and doctrines in depth for years, they have never read the Bible or studied the imperialist Christian ideologies formulated out of the Bible story. They are helpless, and they are made even more helpless by their own superficially understood and secularised doctrines of an abstract, impersonal, and all-pervasive Brahman godhead.
Every popular religious teacher in India today espouses some form of Advaitic philosophy. Even the popular Chennai Christian newspaper Deccan Chronicle carries a weekly “spiritual” column of secularised Neo-Vedantic commentary called “Vedanta Rocks!” This de-mythologised Vedanta with its abstract terminology and concept of Oneness is the great love of the modern Indian secular sophist or Jesuit-trained Christian casuist. They can turn these Hindu concepts and ideals any which way they like and use them for any amoral purpose when taken out of their original Hindu religious context.
Deconstructing Advaita Vedanta
Most modern Indian religious teachers do take Advaita Vedanta out of its original Vedic religious context, and in doing so give a potent weapon to the enemy with which to attack Hindu religion and undermine Hindu society and culture. Sita Ram Goel, in Catholic Ashrams, writes: “[T]he literature of Indigenisation provides ample proof that several Hindu philosophies are being actively considered by the mission strategists as conveyors of Christianity. The Advaita of Shankaracharya has been the hottest favourite so far. The Vishistadvaita of Ramanuja, the Bhakti of the Alvar saints and Vaishnava Acharyas, the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Vichara of Ramana Maharishi are not far behind.”
The medieval Acharyas and more recent teachers of Vedic spirituality like Ramana Maharishi were able to know without difficulty the religious identity and affiliations of their disciples. They did not have to search out and verify their students’ political and religious backgrounds. This is no longer true today. Hindu society has become secularised in the cities and teachers are faced with multicultural audiences from different countries and traditions. It is therefore incumbent on all Hindu gurus in India and abroad to put their philosophical teaching into its original religious context, so that it cannot be distorted and abused by Hinduism’s scholarly Marxist and Christian enemies.
Apostle Paul and the Early Church Fathers conquered ancient Greece by forcibly secularising Greek society. They divided the unity of Greek religion and mythology from Greek philosophy and philosophic terminology. They then secularised and appropriated Greek philosophic terminology and took the Greek religious concept of an Unknown God for themselves. The religious vacuum that followed in Greek society was filled in with the Jesus cult and other Christian superstitions. Indian bishops are perpetrating the same apostolic fraud today when they claim the Tamil saint Tiruvalluvar was a disciple of the legendary St. Thomas! They add to their cultural crime by claiming his “secular” ethical treatise Tirukkural as their own sectarian Christian book.
This is how ancient Greece became a Christian country, and how modern India is fast becoming a Christianised Hindu country. The difference is that in modern India, ill-informed Hindu spiritual teachers and ashram administrators are assisting Christian predators in the downfall and obliteration of Hindu religion and culture.
Perhaps we are mistaken; perhaps we have been misinformed about Atma Jyoti Ashram and its abbot Fr. George Burke. Perhaps he and his disciples have converted to Hinduism and gone through Vedic samskaras of purification and name change under the guidance of a Hindu priest.
If that is the case, let them produce their certificates of de-baptism and apostasy from the Christian religion. As they claim to be Smarta Dasnami sannyasins with Giri titles, let them produce their certificates of sannyasa from a recognised Dasnami mahamandaleshwar and math. They can post these important documents of religion on their website. We will then give them our blessing, for their good sense in religion and spiritual endeavour, and hold our peace.
Links and References
1] Atma Jyoti Ashram and their Jesus-in-India propaganda with Swami Devananda’s comments: http://vivekajyoti.blogspot.com unadulterated.html
2] Hinduism Today, “Catholic Ashrams: Adopting and Adapting Hindu Dharma”: http://www.hinduismtoday.com
3] Catholic Ashrams in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org
4] Catholic Ashrams: Sannyasins or Swindlers by Sita Ram Goel, Voice of India, New Delhi, 1994: http://www.indiaclub.com
5] Christian Aggression: “Catholic Ashrams: Sachidananda Ashram gets a woman Acharya” http://www.christianaggression.org
6] History of Hindu-Christian Encounters by Sita Ram Goel, Voice of India, New Delhi, 1996: http://voiceofdharma.org
7] Radical Universalism by Frank Morales: http://www.dharmacentral.com.
(Concluded)
Atma Jyoti Ashram: Wolf in sheep’s clothing - II
The diabolical game of evangelists in a Hindu Ashram
By Swami Devananda Saraswati
Hindu society has become secularised in the cities and teachers are faced with multicultural audiences from different countries and traditions. It is therefore incumbent on all Hindu gurus in India and abroad to put their philosophical teaching into its original religious context, so that it cannot be distorted and abused by Hinduism’s scholarly Marxist and Christian enemies.
This is how ancient Greece became a Christian country, and how modern India is fast becoming a Christianised Hindu country.
The new twist in the criminal impersonation of Hindu sadhus is that Christian priests in the US are adopting Hindu names and dress in order to deceive and entrap America seekers who have already rejected the false doctrines and superstitions of Christianity, in the hope of bringing them back to Jesus and the Church.
Missionary activity in India has peaked under the benevolent gaze of the Christian-Congress UPA regime of Sonia Gandhi. Andhra Pradesh is now said to be 30 per cent Christian and growing, with Tamil Nadu following closely behind. Both states will soon rival Kerala with their Christian populations.
The real problem is not missionaries flashing American dollars or dressing up as sadhus in order to deceive unsuspecting villagers. Christians in India are doing what Christians have always done throughout history: They are subverting and subsuming the non-Christian cultures and societies that they are not able to conquer by force.
The real problem is with Hindu leaders—political, social, cultural, and religious leaders. They are first of all in a state of denial, unwilling or unable to admit the Christian threat and the grave implications it has for Hindu civilization and society. Or, like the editors of the Ramana Ashram journal Mountain Path, they take the out-dated, irresponsible, and non-Vedic theosophical view that all religions are one and the same anyway, so what does it matter if a few million villagers become dollar Christians.
Or, and this is especially true of Hindu religious leaders, they recognise the Christian threat, but are not sufficiently equipped or knowledgeable to counter it. Unlike Christian priests who study Hindu scriptures and doctrines in depth for years, they have never read the Bible or studied the imperialist Christian ideologies formulated out of the Bible story. They are helpless, and they are made even more helpless by their own superficially understood and secularised doctrines of an abstract, impersonal, and all-pervasive Brahman godhead.
Every popular religious teacher in India today espouses some form of Advaitic philosophy. Even the popular Chennai Christian newspaper Deccan Chronicle carries a weekly “spiritual” column of secularised Neo-Vedantic commentary called “Vedanta Rocks!” This de-mythologised Vedanta with its abstract terminology and concept of Oneness is the great love of the modern Indian secular sophist or Jesuit-trained Christian casuist. They can turn these Hindu concepts and ideals any which way they like and use them for any amoral purpose when taken out of their original Hindu religious context.
Deconstructing Advaita Vedanta
Most modern Indian religious teachers do take Advaita Vedanta out of its original Vedic religious context, and in doing so give a potent weapon to the enemy with which to attack Hindu religion and undermine Hindu society and culture. Sita Ram Goel, in Catholic Ashrams, writes: “[T]he literature of Indigenisation provides ample proof that several Hindu philosophies are being actively considered by the mission strategists as conveyors of Christianity. The Advaita of Shankaracharya has been the hottest favourite so far. The Vishistadvaita of Ramanuja, the Bhakti of the Alvar saints and Vaishnava Acharyas, the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Vichara of Ramana Maharishi are not far behind.”
The medieval Acharyas and more recent teachers of Vedic spirituality like Ramana Maharishi were able to know without difficulty the religious identity and affiliations of their disciples. They did not have to search out and verify their students’ political and religious backgrounds. This is no longer true today. Hindu society has become secularised in the cities and teachers are faced with multicultural audiences from different countries and traditions. It is therefore incumbent on all Hindu gurus in India and abroad to put their philosophical teaching into its original religious context, so that it cannot be distorted and abused by Hinduism’s scholarly Marxist and Christian enemies.
Apostle Paul and the Early Church Fathers conquered ancient Greece by forcibly secularising Greek society. They divided the unity of Greek religion and mythology from Greek philosophy and philosophic terminology. They then secularised and appropriated Greek philosophic terminology and took the Greek religious concept of an Unknown God for themselves. The religious vacuum that followed in Greek society was filled in with the Jesus cult and other Christian superstitions. Indian bishops are perpetrating the same apostolic fraud today when they claim the Tamil saint Tiruvalluvar was a disciple of the legendary St. Thomas! They add to their cultural crime by claiming his “secular” ethical treatise Tirukkural as their own sectarian Christian book.
This is how ancient Greece became a Christian country, and how modern India is fast becoming a Christianised Hindu country. The difference is that in modern India, ill-informed Hindu spiritual teachers and ashram administrators are assisting Christian predators in the downfall and obliteration of Hindu religion and culture.
Perhaps we are mistaken; perhaps we have been misinformed about Atma Jyoti Ashram and its abbot Fr. George Burke. Perhaps he and his disciples have converted to Hinduism and gone through Vedic samskaras of purification and name change under the guidance of a Hindu priest.
If that is the case, let them produce their certificates of de-baptism and apostasy from the Christian religion. As they claim to be Smarta Dasnami sannyasins with Giri titles, let them produce their certificates of sannyasa from a recognised Dasnami mahamandaleshwar and math. They can post these important documents of religion on their website. We will then give them our blessing, for their good sense in religion and spiritual endeavour, and hold our peace.
Links and References
1] Atma Jyoti Ashram and their Jesus-in-India propaganda with Swami Devananda’s comments: http://vivekajyoti.blogspot.com unadulterated.html
2] Hinduism Today, “Catholic Ashrams: Adopting and Adapting Hindu Dharma”: http://www.hinduismtoday.com
3] Catholic Ashrams in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org
4] Catholic Ashrams: Sannyasins or Swindlers by Sita Ram Goel, Voice of India, New Delhi, 1994: http://www.indiaclub.com
5] Christian Aggression: “Catholic Ashrams: Sachidananda Ashram gets a woman Acharya” http://www.christianaggression.org
6] History of Hindu-Christian Encounters by Sita Ram Goel, Voice of India, New Delhi, 1996: http://voiceofdharma.org
7] Radical Universalism by Frank Morales: http://www.dharmacentral.com.
(Concluded)
Oppose the visit of United States
Oppose the visit of United States
Commission for International Religious
Freedom to India - Ashok Singhal
June 28 2009 Organiser
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=297&page=2
Press statement issued by Shri Ashok Singhal, International President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
United States Commission for International Religious Freedom is a self-appointed committee as an expression of the big brother attitude of USA to enquire into the status of religious freedom in other countries. It was set up in 1998.
US has no moral right to set up such a commission poking its nose into the internal affairs of other nations and this commission has no legal sanction from UNO.
This commission is concerned only about the Christians in other countries whenever there is a hue and cry by the Church that the Christians are persecuted in such countries. They never bother about the status of religious and racial discriminations meted out to other religionists in the western countries including the US.
This commission has prepared a list of 13 countries wherein they feel the Christian missionaries have not been allowed to freely proselytise the local non-Christians disrupting the social fabric in those countries.
This list does not include any country wherein atrocities are perpetrated on the Hindus or the Buddhists like Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Afghanistan, etc.
If anyone glances over the pages of the constitutions of the western countries, he will be able to realise that there are many restrictions on the religious freedom of the non-Christians in those countries.
But this so-called Commission for International Religious Freedom would not bother about the religious freedom of non-Christians in those countries. Is there absolute religious freedom for the non-Christians in US?
US is not secular as it proclaims to be. Various court decisions say so. Their laws and institutions are necessarily based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of Mankind.
The operation of judicial system in US is directed by the tenets of Christianity. At least half of the ten commandments are on the statute books in one form or another.
There is a tendency to regard Hindu-based religious movements such as ISKCON, Transcendental Meditation groups, Rajnish groups etc, as cults.
Under the guise of being a cult, a religious organisation can be sued for millions of dollars if even one disgruntled or disappointed former disciple is found who feels he was taken advantage of.
Many Hindu-based and yoga movements in US and other western countries have been sued as cults.
The criticism against cults is that they are outside the cultural religious norms, that they are intolerant of majority religions, that they divide the families and turn individuals against their upbringing.
Precisely this is what the Christian missionaries are doing in India, nay the whole of non-Christian world.
People may believe that in America, all religions are treated equally. But this is not the fact of life.
For example, it is still very difficult for Hindus to build temples in the United States, particularly in areas in which fundamentalist Christians are strong.
To put it in perspective, one would say that it is over ten times harder in America to build a temple where Hindus live in large numbers than it is to build a church.
But in India churches crop up anywhere and everywhere even if there is not even a single Christian living in that area.
There are several restrictions in building temples in US. Temples must not outwardly look like a temple, but should look like a school or Church or the local government would not approve of it.
While there are a few Hindu-style temples in America, these are exceptional and special efforts to be allowed.
The textbooks in the western schools and the western media routinely portray Hinduism as cults, idolatry or even as eroticism.
Booklets and pamphlets denigrating Hindu religion and distorting the Hindu religious literature and epics are frequently distributed hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus in many parts of our country.
To quote Swami Vivekananda in this regard
“...every Christian child is taught to call the Hindus ‘vile’ and ‘wretches’ and the most horrible devils on earth.
“Part of the Sunday school education for children in USA consists of teaching them to hate everybody who is not a Christian and the Hindus especially, so that from their very childhood, they may subscribe their pennies to the Christian missions abroad.
“...Look again at the books published in Madras against the Hindu religion. If a Hindu writes one such line against the Christian religion, the missionaries will cry fire and vengeance.” (Complete Works 1990, Vol. IV; p. 345)
So this commission has never done anything about the prevailing religious freedom in the West with several restrictions.
China has never allowed this commission to visit its country.
This commission has not visited Kashmir, the northeastern provinces and other such areas where the Hindus are a minority and are subjected to atrocities by the non-Hindu majority of those provinces. But it will express its concern over the minor attacks on Christians in Orissa, Gujarat and Karnataka.
We cannot grant any monopoly for the Americans to poke their nose into the internal matters of our country and a government with self-respect should not allow this commission to visit India.
If the government allows this commission to visit India, it would be opposed tooth and nail by Hindus all over the country.
India is a country which gave asylum to the Christians who were persecuted in Syria in Antioch and Damascus even in the 4th century. They have been living here peacefully till this date.
India gave asylum to the Persians when they had to flee Persia fearing forcible conversions by the Arabian invaders. These Zoroastrians who took asylum in Gujarat are all leading prosperous and fearless lives till this date.
When the Jews sought asylum in India after being driven out of their land, they have been taken care of by us. But this was not the case with the countries in the West where the Jews were persecuted.
We don’t need any certificate form the so-called commission about the religions freedom enormously enjoyed by Christians and Muslims in this land. Let US look at its back before poking its nose into our internal affairs.
This US Commission for International Religious Freedom was not allowed to visit India from 1998 to 2008.
But all of a sudden just before the recent elections the Government of India lifted the ban on the visit of this commission probably at the instance of Sonia Gandhi.
One more thing that has to be brought before the world is this—that the C¬¬church is misusing the freedom of religion guaranteed in our Constitution and is indulging in anti-national activities.
The Church has floated several outfits in the name of serving the oppressed and depressed classes in India and fighting for their rights.
In the north-eastern parts of our country alone 18 such outfits are functioning. Several such outfits are operating in the South also. These outfits instigate one community against another resulting in communal clashes.
When a large number of persons of both the clashing communities get displaced from their homes and villages these outfits in the name of setting-up relief camps for them, convert the people. This has been going on systematically for the past sixty years since Independence.
Several Church outfits have been indulging in anti-national activities in the north-eastern areas and tribal areas in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Orissa promoting hatred among different communities and disrupting the social fabric.
This was exposed by the Niyogi Commission appointed by the then Congress government in Madhya Pradesh in the fifties.
As recommended by the Niyogi Commission, the Freedom ¬¬¬ of Religion Act was enacted in Madhya Pradesh to be followed by the Congress-ruled Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh and later on in Himachal Pradesh Tamil Nadu and Gujarat by the then ruling parties.
The Church has been protesting against these legislations which restrict only the fraudulent and forcible conversions.
Last year Swami Laxmanananda, who was rendering a yeoman’s service for the uplift of the tribals at Kandhamal District in Orissa was murdered by the Christian miscreants fearing that these service activities of Swamiji would block the road for free conversions among the tribals by the Church.
Similarly, Swami Shanti Kali Maharaj, a Hindu saint, was killed in Tripura for the same reason, a few years back.
In the light of the above facts we demand the setting-up of a commission by Government of India at the national level to probe into the nefarious activities carried on by the outfits backed by the Church in several parts of our country. The commission should also inquire into the flow of foreign funds to such organisations and how the funds are misused for conversions and promoting communal hatred among the different Hindu communities
Commission for International Religious
Freedom to India - Ashok Singhal
June 28 2009 Organiser
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=297&page=2
Press statement issued by Shri Ashok Singhal, International President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
United States Commission for International Religious Freedom is a self-appointed committee as an expression of the big brother attitude of USA to enquire into the status of religious freedom in other countries. It was set up in 1998.
US has no moral right to set up such a commission poking its nose into the internal affairs of other nations and this commission has no legal sanction from UNO.
This commission is concerned only about the Christians in other countries whenever there is a hue and cry by the Church that the Christians are persecuted in such countries. They never bother about the status of religious and racial discriminations meted out to other religionists in the western countries including the US.
This commission has prepared a list of 13 countries wherein they feel the Christian missionaries have not been allowed to freely proselytise the local non-Christians disrupting the social fabric in those countries.
This list does not include any country wherein atrocities are perpetrated on the Hindus or the Buddhists like Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Afghanistan, etc.
If anyone glances over the pages of the constitutions of the western countries, he will be able to realise that there are many restrictions on the religious freedom of the non-Christians in those countries.
But this so-called Commission for International Religious Freedom would not bother about the religious freedom of non-Christians in those countries. Is there absolute religious freedom for the non-Christians in US?
US is not secular as it proclaims to be. Various court decisions say so. Their laws and institutions are necessarily based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of Mankind.
The operation of judicial system in US is directed by the tenets of Christianity. At least half of the ten commandments are on the statute books in one form or another.
There is a tendency to regard Hindu-based religious movements such as ISKCON, Transcendental Meditation groups, Rajnish groups etc, as cults.
Under the guise of being a cult, a religious organisation can be sued for millions of dollars if even one disgruntled or disappointed former disciple is found who feels he was taken advantage of.
Many Hindu-based and yoga movements in US and other western countries have been sued as cults.
The criticism against cults is that they are outside the cultural religious norms, that they are intolerant of majority religions, that they divide the families and turn individuals against their upbringing.
Precisely this is what the Christian missionaries are doing in India, nay the whole of non-Christian world.
People may believe that in America, all religions are treated equally. But this is not the fact of life.
For example, it is still very difficult for Hindus to build temples in the United States, particularly in areas in which fundamentalist Christians are strong.
To put it in perspective, one would say that it is over ten times harder in America to build a temple where Hindus live in large numbers than it is to build a church.
But in India churches crop up anywhere and everywhere even if there is not even a single Christian living in that area.
There are several restrictions in building temples in US. Temples must not outwardly look like a temple, but should look like a school or Church or the local government would not approve of it.
While there are a few Hindu-style temples in America, these are exceptional and special efforts to be allowed.
The textbooks in the western schools and the western media routinely portray Hinduism as cults, idolatry or even as eroticism.
Booklets and pamphlets denigrating Hindu religion and distorting the Hindu religious literature and epics are frequently distributed hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus in many parts of our country.
To quote Swami Vivekananda in this regard
“...every Christian child is taught to call the Hindus ‘vile’ and ‘wretches’ and the most horrible devils on earth.
“Part of the Sunday school education for children in USA consists of teaching them to hate everybody who is not a Christian and the Hindus especially, so that from their very childhood, they may subscribe their pennies to the Christian missions abroad.
“...Look again at the books published in Madras against the Hindu religion. If a Hindu writes one such line against the Christian religion, the missionaries will cry fire and vengeance.” (Complete Works 1990, Vol. IV; p. 345)
So this commission has never done anything about the prevailing religious freedom in the West with several restrictions.
China has never allowed this commission to visit its country.
This commission has not visited Kashmir, the northeastern provinces and other such areas where the Hindus are a minority and are subjected to atrocities by the non-Hindu majority of those provinces. But it will express its concern over the minor attacks on Christians in Orissa, Gujarat and Karnataka.
We cannot grant any monopoly for the Americans to poke their nose into the internal matters of our country and a government with self-respect should not allow this commission to visit India.
If the government allows this commission to visit India, it would be opposed tooth and nail by Hindus all over the country.
India is a country which gave asylum to the Christians who were persecuted in Syria in Antioch and Damascus even in the 4th century. They have been living here peacefully till this date.
India gave asylum to the Persians when they had to flee Persia fearing forcible conversions by the Arabian invaders. These Zoroastrians who took asylum in Gujarat are all leading prosperous and fearless lives till this date.
When the Jews sought asylum in India after being driven out of their land, they have been taken care of by us. But this was not the case with the countries in the West where the Jews were persecuted.
We don’t need any certificate form the so-called commission about the religions freedom enormously enjoyed by Christians and Muslims in this land. Let US look at its back before poking its nose into our internal affairs.
This US Commission for International Religious Freedom was not allowed to visit India from 1998 to 2008.
But all of a sudden just before the recent elections the Government of India lifted the ban on the visit of this commission probably at the instance of Sonia Gandhi.
One more thing that has to be brought before the world is this—that the C¬¬church is misusing the freedom of religion guaranteed in our Constitution and is indulging in anti-national activities.
The Church has floated several outfits in the name of serving the oppressed and depressed classes in India and fighting for their rights.
In the north-eastern parts of our country alone 18 such outfits are functioning. Several such outfits are operating in the South also. These outfits instigate one community against another resulting in communal clashes.
When a large number of persons of both the clashing communities get displaced from their homes and villages these outfits in the name of setting-up relief camps for them, convert the people. This has been going on systematically for the past sixty years since Independence.
Several Church outfits have been indulging in anti-national activities in the north-eastern areas and tribal areas in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Orissa promoting hatred among different communities and disrupting the social fabric.
This was exposed by the Niyogi Commission appointed by the then Congress government in Madhya Pradesh in the fifties.
As recommended by the Niyogi Commission, the Freedom ¬¬¬ of Religion Act was enacted in Madhya Pradesh to be followed by the Congress-ruled Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh and later on in Himachal Pradesh Tamil Nadu and Gujarat by the then ruling parties.
The Church has been protesting against these legislations which restrict only the fraudulent and forcible conversions.
Last year Swami Laxmanananda, who was rendering a yeoman’s service for the uplift of the tribals at Kandhamal District in Orissa was murdered by the Christian miscreants fearing that these service activities of Swamiji would block the road for free conversions among the tribals by the Church.
Similarly, Swami Shanti Kali Maharaj, a Hindu saint, was killed in Tripura for the same reason, a few years back.
In the light of the above facts we demand the setting-up of a commission by Government of India at the national level to probe into the nefarious activities carried on by the outfits backed by the Church in several parts of our country. The commission should also inquire into the flow of foreign funds to such organisations and how the funds are misused for conversions and promoting communal hatred among the different Hindu communities
Bigotry, oppression and discrimination of converted Christian dalits
Bigotry, oppression and discrimination of converted Christian dalits
By Dr Babu Suseelan; Organiser, July 5, 2009
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=298&page=25
Are Indian churches interested in social transformation? Of course not. Throughout recent Indian history, we can see, Hindu leaders like Swami Vivekananda, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Gopal Krishna Goghale were engaged in social reformation and social upliftment of dalits and the socially oppressed.
The pertinent issue that needs to be discussed in the present context is the false teachings about Christian prophecy and biblical interpretations that threaten our culture, social fabric and freedom. Oppression, exploitation and discrimination of Dalits, Blacks, Red Indians, and non Christians is nothing new. It happened before, and it is still happening.
Discrimination of converted Dalit Christians by the church and oppression are converging into the precise pattern of the Christian missionaries sinister plans that brought catastrophe to the Blacks, Red Indians and Latin Americans.
Christian ideology of justice, social equality, human rights and liberty are involved in deception. The church expanion in India depends to a substantial extent on the literal and brutal deprivation of liberty, equality and social justice for thousands of forcefully and deceptively converted dalits. The goal of the church is to overspread their political power all over India. It is comparable to the earlier conquest of Christianity in Latin America, and Africa which were also motivated in part to bring Christian domination and destroy native cultures, as well as by hunger for land and resources.
In India, Christian churches are actively engaged in psychological warfare, mental misdirection and political interference to convince pseudo secularists that the church is building an empire of liberty and social justice. In reality, the ruthless and powerful church is driven by self-interest as much as or more than, by the dream of uprooting Hindus.
Are Indian churches interested in social transformation? Of course not. Throughout recent Indian history, we can see, Hindu leaders like Swami Vivekananda, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Gopal Krishna Goghale were engaged in social reformation and social upliftment of dalits and the socially oppressed.
The most distinguished fact of Hinduism is the freedom of the individual to rise above their social class. Christianity in India was interested in indoctrination, land grab, deforestation, coercive religious conversion and political power. The Christian churches have a vested interest in growing inequality, poverty, social crisis and discrimination. The Christians in India enjoy extra privileges, unlimited freedom, and special status to convert Hindus only to enslave them with their rigid, mechanical, non-compromising desert dogma.
Christians in India preach ideas of social equality, liberty, social justice and human rights only to protect their self interest and economic-political power. The evangelists in India preach empty slogans of love, peace and justice. These things should be viewed with skepticism. Nothing seems quite real because the church wants to oppress dalits and discriminate lower class converted Christians. Even superficial Christian slogans and social gregariousness are illusory and false. The churches are also good in spreading despair among the dalits, arms to the Naxalites, Maoists and Naga Christian terrorists. They have a systematic plan for destabilising India and misdirecting Hindus. The sinister plans of the churches pose a great danger not only to India but to every Hindu as well.
By Dr Babu Suseelan; Organiser, July 5, 2009
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=298&page=25
Are Indian churches interested in social transformation? Of course not. Throughout recent Indian history, we can see, Hindu leaders like Swami Vivekananda, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Gopal Krishna Goghale were engaged in social reformation and social upliftment of dalits and the socially oppressed.
The pertinent issue that needs to be discussed in the present context is the false teachings about Christian prophecy and biblical interpretations that threaten our culture, social fabric and freedom. Oppression, exploitation and discrimination of Dalits, Blacks, Red Indians, and non Christians is nothing new. It happened before, and it is still happening.
Discrimination of converted Dalit Christians by the church and oppression are converging into the precise pattern of the Christian missionaries sinister plans that brought catastrophe to the Blacks, Red Indians and Latin Americans.
Christian ideology of justice, social equality, human rights and liberty are involved in deception. The church expanion in India depends to a substantial extent on the literal and brutal deprivation of liberty, equality and social justice for thousands of forcefully and deceptively converted dalits. The goal of the church is to overspread their political power all over India. It is comparable to the earlier conquest of Christianity in Latin America, and Africa which were also motivated in part to bring Christian domination and destroy native cultures, as well as by hunger for land and resources.
In India, Christian churches are actively engaged in psychological warfare, mental misdirection and political interference to convince pseudo secularists that the church is building an empire of liberty and social justice. In reality, the ruthless and powerful church is driven by self-interest as much as or more than, by the dream of uprooting Hindus.
Are Indian churches interested in social transformation? Of course not. Throughout recent Indian history, we can see, Hindu leaders like Swami Vivekananda, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Gopal Krishna Goghale were engaged in social reformation and social upliftment of dalits and the socially oppressed.
The most distinguished fact of Hinduism is the freedom of the individual to rise above their social class. Christianity in India was interested in indoctrination, land grab, deforestation, coercive religious conversion and political power. The Christian churches have a vested interest in growing inequality, poverty, social crisis and discrimination. The Christians in India enjoy extra privileges, unlimited freedom, and special status to convert Hindus only to enslave them with their rigid, mechanical, non-compromising desert dogma.
Christians in India preach ideas of social equality, liberty, social justice and human rights only to protect their self interest and economic-political power. The evangelists in India preach empty slogans of love, peace and justice. These things should be viewed with skepticism. Nothing seems quite real because the church wants to oppress dalits and discriminate lower class converted Christians. Even superficial Christian slogans and social gregariousness are illusory and false. The churches are also good in spreading despair among the dalits, arms to the Naxalites, Maoists and Naga Christian terrorists. They have a systematic plan for destabilising India and misdirecting Hindus. The sinister plans of the churches pose a great danger not only to India but to every Hindu as well.
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